That body which was fed so assiduously, cared for so anxiously, loved so passionately^, is now tumbled into a pit, and left to the mercy of crawling worms. The change which judgment made upon that great and flourishing city Nineveh, is a fit emblem to sha- dow forth that change which death makes upon human bodies : that great and renowned city was once full of people, which throng- ed the streets thereof; there you might have seen children play- ing upon the thresholds, beauties shewing themselves through the windows, melody sounding in its palaces : but what an alteration was made upon it, the prophet Zephaniah describes, chap. ii. 14. " Flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the " nations ; both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the '' upper lintels of it : their voice shall sing in the windows; deso- " lation shall be in the thresholds, for he shall uncover the cedar- " work."
Thus it is with the body when death hath dislodged the soul : worms nestle in the holes where the beautiful eyes were once placed ; corruption and desolation is upon all parts of that stately structure. But this being a vulgar theme, I shall leave the body to the dust from whence it came, and follow the soul, which is my proper subject, pointing at the changes which are made on it.
The essence of the soul is not destroyed or changed by the body's ruin ; it is substantially the self-same soul it was when in the body. The supposition of an essential change would disorder the whole frame and model of God's eternal design for the redemption and glorification of it, Rom. viii. 29, 30. But yet, though it un- dergo no substantial change at death, yet divers great and remark- able alterations are made upon it, by sundering it from the body. As,
1. It is not where it was : it was in a body, immersed in matter, married unto flesh and blood ; but now it is out of the body, un- clothed and stript naked out of its garments of flesh, like pure gold melted out of the ore with which it was commixed ; or as a bird let
90 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
out of her cage into the open fields and woods. This makes 3t great and wonderful change upon it.
2. Being free from the body, it is consequently discharged and freed from all those cares, studies, fears and sorrows to which it was here enthralled and subjected upon the body's account : it puts off all those passions and burdens with it : never spends one thought more about food and raiment, health and sickness, wives and chil- dren, riches or poverty, but lives henceforth after the manner of angels. Mat. xxii. 30. It is now unrelated to, and therefore uncon- cerned about all these things.
3. In the unbodied state it is perfectly freed from sin, both in the acts and habits ; a mercy it never enjoyed since the first mo- ment it dwelt in the body. The cure of this disease was indeed begun in the work of sanctification ; but it is not perfected till the day of the souFs glorification. It is now, and not till now, a spirit made perfect ; that is, a soul enjoying its perfect health and recti- tude : No more groans, tears, or lamentations, upon the account of indwelling sin.
4. The way and manner of its converse with, and enjoyment of God is changed. There are two mediums by which souls converse with God in the body, viz.
(1.) One internal, to 7vit, faith.
(2.) The other external, to 7vit, ordinances.
(1.) If a man walk with God on earth, it must be in the use and exercise of faith, 2 Cor. v. 7. Nor can there be any communion carried on betwixt God and the soul without it, Heb. xi. 6.
(2.) The external mediums are the ordinances of God, or duties of religion, both public and private, Psal. Ixiii. 2. Betwixt these two mediums of communion with God, this remarkable difference is found : The soul may see and enjoy God by faith, in the want or absence of ordinances ; but there is no seeing or conversing with God, in the greatest plenty and purity of ordinances, without faith. Heb. iv. 2.
But in the same moment the soul is cut off from union with the body, it is also cut off from both these ways of enjoying God, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Isa. xxxviii. 11. But yet the soul is no loser; nay, it is the greatest gainer by this change. The child is no loser by ceasing to derive its nourishment by the navel, when it comes to receive it by the mouth, a more noble way, whereby it gets a new pleasure in tasting the variety of all delectable food. Hezekiah be- moaned the loss of ordinances upon his supposed death-bed, saying, " I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living :''' q. d. Now farewell temple and ordinances ; I shall never go any more into his temple, where my soul hath been so often cheered and refreshed with the displays of his grace and goodness ; I shall
A TIIEATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 31
never more join with the assembly of his people on earth. And suppose he had not, sure he would have lost nothing, had he then exchanged the temple at Jerusalem, for the temple in heaven ; and communion with sinful imperfect saints on earth, for fellowship with angels, and " the spirits of just men made perfect.*" By this change we lose no more than he loseth, who whilst he stands de- lightfully contemplating the image of his dearest friend in a glass, hath the glass snatched away by his friend, whom he now seeth face to face.
Upon this change of the mediums of communion, it will follow, that the communion betwixt God and the separate soul, excels all the communion it ever had with him on earth, in (1.) The clearness. (%) The sweetness. (S.) The constancy of it.
(1.) Its visions of God, in the state of separation, are more clear, distinct, and direct than they were on earth ; clouds and shadows are now fled away : The soul now seeth as it is seen, and knoweth as it is known ; its apprehensions of God there, differ from those it had here, as the crude and confused apprehensions of a child do, from those we have in the manly state.
(2.) They are also more sweet and ravishing : As our visions are, so are our pleasures; perfect visions produce perfect pleasures: The faculties of the soul now, and never till now, lie level to that rule, Matth. xxii. 37. The visions of God command, and call forth all the heart and soul, mind, and strength, into acts of love and delight. It was not so here ; if the spirit was wiUing, the flesh was weak ; but there the clog is off from the foot of the will.
(3.) More constant, fixed, and steady. It is one of the greatest difficulties in religion to fix the thoughts and cure the wildness and rovings of the fancy : the heart is not steady with God ; and hence are its ups and downs, heatings and coolings ; which are things un- known in the perfect state. By all which it appears, the change by dissolution is great and marvellous, both upon the body and soul, but upon the soul more especially.