The agonies of death are expressed in scripture, by a -f* word which signifies " the travailing pains of a woman,"*' yea, by the sharpest and most acute pains they at that time feel, Acts ii. 24.
And yet all are not handled alike roughly by the hands of death ; some are favoured with a desirable gu^avacr/a, gentle and easy death.
It is the privilege of some Christians to have their souls fetched out of their bodies, as it were by a kiss from the mouth of God, as the Jewish Rabbins use to express the manner of Moses' death. Mr. Bolton felt no pain at his death, but the cold hand of his friend, who asked him what pain he felt. Yea, holy Bayneham in the midst of the flames, professed it was to him as a bed of roses.
Every believer is equally freed from the sting and curse of death ; but every one is not equally favoured in the agonies and pains of death.
2. Separation from the body is to be considered hi facto esse, i. e. in the result and issue of all those bitter pangs and agonies, which end in the actual dissolution of soul and body. " X Death, *' or actual separation, is nothing else but the dissolving of the tie " or loosing of the bond of union betwixt the soul and body." " § Some call it the privation of the second act of the soul, that is, " its act of informing or enlivening the body.'' Others, accord- ing to the scripture-phrase, the departing of the soul from the body. So Peter stiles it, 2 Pet. i. 15. /xg7a rriv ziMr^v s^odov, after my departure, i. e. after my death. Augustine || calls it the laying down of a heavy burden, provided there be not another burden for the soul to bear aftewards, which will sink it into hell.
In respect of the body, which the soul now forsakes, it is called " the putting off this tabernacle," 2 Pet. i. 14. and, " the dissolve " ing the earthly house or tabernacle," 2 Cor. v. 1.
In respect of the termijius a quo, the place from which the soul removes at death, it is called our departure hence, Phil. i. 23. or
* Seeing the separation made by death is not natural, nor even violent, it follows, from the ajtproved opinion of philosophers, that it may be called preternatural. Conunb.
f Tag ojhivag ra '^avara, mortis dolorcm.
% Qa'jarog ?$•/ "^vyryjg xat COJ/Marog dia7jjgic, vel animc; a corjtore discessus. Vives.
§ Privatio actus secundi ejusdem animce^ id est, ivformationis seu unionis erga corpus Conimb.
II Rtiiclio corporis deposifio sarcince gravis, modo alia sarcina non patietur, qua homo prcpcipiteiur in ge/icnnam. August.
^ A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
our weighing anchor, and loosing from this coast or shore, to sail to another.
In respect of the terminus ad quem^ the place to which the spirits of the just go at death, it is called our going to, or being with the Lord, Phil. i. 23. To conclude, in respect of that which doth most lively resemble and shadow it forth, it is called our falling asleep, Acts vii. 60. our sleeping in Jesus, 1 Thes. iv. 14. This metaphor of sleep must be stretched no farther than the Spirit of God designed in the choice of it, which was not to favour and coun- tenance the fancy of a sleeping soul after death, but to represent its state of placid rest in Jesus' bosom, if it refer at all to the soul ; for I think it most properly respects the body ; and thence the sepul- chres, where the bodies of the saints were laid, got the name of Koi/xrprjcia, dormitories, or sleeping places *.
This is its last farewell to this world, never more to return to a low animal life more. Job vii. 9, 10. " For as the cloud is con- " sumed and vanished away, so he that goeth down to the grave '' shall come up no more : he shall return no more to his house, " neither shall his place know him any more."" The soul is no more bound to a body, nor a retainer to the sun, moon, o^ stars, to meat, drink, and sleep, but is become a free, single, abstracted being, a separate and pure spirit, which the Latins call lemures, ma^ies, ghosts or souls of the dead, and my text, Spirits inade per- Ject ; a being much like unto the angels, who are, ■bwaixiig aSMfj^alag, bodiless beings. An angel, as one speaks, is a perfect soul, a soul is an imperfect angel : I do not say, that upon their separation, they become angels, for tliey will still remain a distinct species of spirits. Angels have no inclination to bodies, nor were ever fettered with clogs of flesh, as souls were -j*. And by this you see what a vast difference there is betwixt these two considerations of death : how ghastly and affrighting is it in its previous pangs ! how lovely and desirable in the issue and result of them ! which is but the change of earth for heaven, men for God, sin and misery, for perfection and glory.
Prop. 3. The separation of the soul and body, makes a great and wonderful change upon both, but especially upon the soul.
There is a twofold change made upon man by death, one upon his body, another upon his soul. The change upon the body is great and visible to every eye. A living body is changed into a dead carcase . a beautiful and comely body into a loathsome spec- tacle: that which was lately the object - of delight and love, is
* Locus sepulturce consecreius, '/^oi/JLTjTYitiov, hoc est, dormitorium appellatur. f Semper a corporis compedibus et nexibuslibcri^ i. e. Always free from the clogs acd fet- ters of the body.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN". ^9
hereby make an abhorrence to all flesh ; " Bury my dead out of my " sight," Gen. xxiii. 4.
What the sun is to the greater, that the soul is to the lesser world. When the sun shines comfortably, how vegete and cheer- ful do all things look ! how well do they thrive and prosper ! the birds sing merrily, the beasts play wantonly, the whole creation enjoyeth a day of light and joy : but when it departs, what a night of horror followeth ! how are all things wrapt up in the sable mantle of darkness ! or if it but abate its heat, as in winter, the creatures are, as it were, buried in the winding-sheet of winter's frost and snow : just so is it with the body, when the soul shineth plea- santly upon it, or departs from it.