(2.) His sealing, witnessing, and assuring work. We have a full account in the scriptures, of these offices and works of the Spirit, and some spiritual sense and feeling of them upon our own hearts, which are two good assurances that there are such things as his bearing witness with our spirit, Rom. viii. 16. " his sealing us to " the day of redemption," Eph. iv. 30. " his earnest given into " our hearts,1' 2 Cor. i. 22. All which acts and works of the Spirit have a direct and clear aspect upon the life to come, and the happi- ness of our souls in the full enjoyment of God to eternity ; for it is to that life we are now sealed ; and of the full sum of that glory, that these are the pledges and earnests. But if our souls perish by death, these witnesses of the Spirit are delusions, and his earnests are given us but in jest.
(3.) His comforting work is a sweet fruit and effect sensibly felt and tasted by believers in this world. He is from this office stiled the Comforter, John xvi. 7. signanter, et eminenicr. He so comforts as none other doth, or can. And what is the matter of his com-
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forts, but the blessedness to come, the joys of the coming world ? John xvi. 13. Eye hath not seen, &c.
Upon the account of these unseen things, he enableth believers to glory in tribulation, Rom. v. 4. to despise present things, whether the smiles or the frowns of the world, Heb. xi. 24. and ver. 26. But if the being of our souls fail at death, these are but the fantastic joys of men in a dream, and the experiences of all God's people are found but so many fond conceits, and gross mistakes.
5. This supposition overthrows the doctrine of the resurrection, which is the consolation of Christians. We believe, according to the scripture, that after death hath divorced our souls and bodies for a time, they shall meet again, and be re-united, and that the joy at their re-union will be to all that are in Christ, greater than the sorrows they, felt at parting. This seems not incredible to us, whatever natural improbabilities and carnal reasons may be against it, Acts xxvi. 8. and that because the Almighty Power, which is able to subdue all things to himself, undertakes this task, Phil. iii. 21.
We believe this very same numerical body shall rise again, Job xxi. 27. by the return of the same soul into it, which now dwelleth in it ; and that we shall be the same persons that now we are : the remunerative justice of God requiring it to be so.
We believe the souls of the righteous shall be much better accom- modated, and have a more comfortable habitation in their bodies than now they have, 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43. seeing they shall be made like unto Christ's glorious body, Phil. iii. 22. and that then we shall live after the manner of angels, Luke xx. 36. without the necessities of this animal life. These are the things we look for according to pro- mise; and this expectation is our great relief against (1.) The fears of death, 1 Cor. xv. 55. (2.) Against the death of our friends and relations, 1 Thes. iv. 14. (3.) Against all the pressures and afflictions of this life, Job xix. 25, 26, 27.
But if the being of our souls fall at death, all hopes and comforts from the resurrection fail with it ; for it is not imaginable that the body should rise till it be revived, nor how it should be revived, but by the re-union of the soul with it : and if it be not the same soul that now inhabits it, we cannot be the same persons in the resurrection we are now ; and consequently, this supposition subverts not only the doctrine of the resurrection, but,
6. It overthrows also the faith of the judgment to come. For if the soul perish, the body cannot rise ; or if it rise by a new- created soul, the person raised is another, and not the same that lived and died in this world ; and consequently the rewards and punishments to be bestowed and awarded to all men in that day
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cannot be just and equal : for we believe, according to the scriptures, that,
(1.) The actions which men perform in this life, are not transient, but are filed to their account in the world to come : Gal. vi. 7. here we sow, and there we reap. Actions done in this world are two ways considerable, viz. physically, or morally ; in the first consi- deration they are transient, in the last permanent and everlasting. A word is spoken, or an act done in a moment, but though it be past and gone, and perhaps by us quite forgotten, God registers it in his book, in order to the day of account.
(2.) We believe that God hath appointed a day in which all men shall appear before his judgment-seat, to give an account of all they have done in the body, whether it be good or evil, 2 Cor. v. 10.
(3.) And that in order hereunto, the very same persons shall be restored by the resurrection, and appear before God, the very same bodies and souls, which did good or evil in this world : Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? Justice requires that the re- wards and punishments be then distributed to the same persons that did good or evil in this world : which strongly infers the immortality of the soul, and that it certainly overlives the body, and must come back from the respective places of their abode, to be again united to them, in order to their great account.
By all which you see the clearest proof of the sours immortality, and how the contrary supposition overthrows our faith, duties, and comforts. Yet notwithstanding all this, how apt are we to suspect this doctrine, and remain still dissatisfied and doubting about it, when all is said ? Which comes to pass partly from the subtlety of Satan, who knows he can never persuade men to live the life of beasts, till he first persuade them to think they shall die as the beasts do. (2.) And partly from the influence of sense and reason upon us, whereby we do too much suffer ourselves to be swayed and imposed upon in matters of the greatest moment in religion. For these beino* proper arbiters and judges in other matters within their sphere, they are arrogant, and we easy enough to admit them to be arbiters also in things that are quite above them. Hence come such plausible objections as these :
Object. 1. The soul seems to vanish and die, when it leaves the body : for when it hath struggled as long as it can to keep its posses- sion in the body, and, at last, is forced to depart, we can perceive nothing but a puff of breath, which immediately vanishes into air, and is lost.
Solid. We cannot perceive, therefore it is nothing but what we do and can perceive, viz. a puff of vanishing breath. By this argu- ment the being of the soul in the body is as questionable as afterits
578 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.