And it deserves a most serious animadversion, that this vast ca- pacity of the soul for eternal blessedness, must of necessity make it capable of so much the more misery and self-torment, if at last it fail of that blessedness : For it is apparent they do not perish be- cause they are uncapable^ but because they are unwilling ; not be- cause their souls wanted any natural faculty that others have, but because they would not open those they have, to receive Christ in the way of faith and obedience, as others did.
Think upon this you that live only to eat, and drink, and sleep, and play, as the birds and beasts in the field do ; What need was there of a reasonable soul for such sensual employments ? Do not your noble faculties speak your designation for higher uses ? And will not you wish to exchange souls with the most vile and despicable animal in this world, if it were possible to be done ? Certainly it were better for you to have no capacity of eternal blessedness (as they have not) if you do not enjoy it ; and no capacity of torment beyond this life) as they have not) if you must certainly endure it.
Inf. 5. If our souls and bodies must be separate shortly^ how pa^ tiently should zee bear all lesser separations^ that may and will be made, betwixt us and any other enjoyments in this world ?
No union is so intimate, strict and dear, as that betwixt our souls and bodies. All your relations and enjoyments in this world, hang looser from your souls than your bodies do: and if it be your duty, patiently and submissively, to suffer a painful parting pull from your bodies ; it is doubtless your duty to suffer meekly and patiently a separation from other things, which are but a prelude to it, and a mere shadow of it. It Is good to put such cases to our- selves in the midst of our pleasant enjoyments.
1 have now many comfortable relatives in the world ; wife, chil- dren, kindred, and friends ; God hath made them pleasant to me, but he may bereave me of all these. Doth not providence ring such changes all the world over ? Are not all kingdoms, cities, and towns, full of the sighs and lamentations of widows, orphans, and friends bereaved of their pleasant and useful relations.? But if God will have it so, it is our duty to bound our sorrows, remembering the time is short, 1 Cor. vii. 29. In a iew days we must be stript much nearer, even out of our own bodies by death.
God may also separate betwixt me and my health by sickness, so that the pleasure of this world shall be cut off from me ; but sick- ness is not death, though it be a prelude and step towards it ; I
102 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX.
may well bear this with patience, wlio must submissively bear sharper pains than these ere long. Yea, and well may I bear this submissively, considering that by such imbittering and weaning providences, God is preparing me for a much easier dissolution, than if 1 should live at ease in the body all my days till death comes to make so gi'eat and sudden a change upon me.
God may also separate betwixt me and my liberty by restraint. It hath been the lot of the best men that ever were in the world ; and if it should be ours also, we should not be much startled at it, considering these bodies of ours must be shortly pent up in a straiter, darker, and more loathsome place of confinement, than any prison in this world can be. The grave is a darker, place. Job xvii. 13. and your abode there will be longer, Eccl. xi. 8.
These, and all our other outward enjoyments, are separable things, and it is good thus to alleviate our loss of them.
Inf. 6. How lieavenhj should the tempers and frames of those souls he icJio are candidates for heaven^ and must be so shortly numbered ivith the Sjririts of just men made perfect.
It is reasonable that we all begin to be that which we expect to be for ever ; to learn that way of living and conversing, which we believe must be our everlasting life and business in the world to come. Let them that hope to live with angels in heaven, learn to live like angels on earth, in holiness, activity, and ready obe- dience.
There is the greatest reason that our minds be there, where our Souls are to be for ever. A spiritual mind will be found possible, congruous, sw^eet, and evidential of an interest in that glory, to all those holy souls, who are preparing and designed for it.
1. It is possible, notwithstanding the clogs and entanglements of the body to be heavenly-minded. Others have attained it, Phil. iii. 20. Two things make a heavenly conversation possible to men, viz.
(1.) The natural abilities of the mind.
(2.) The gracious principles of the mind.
(1.) The natural abilities of the mind, which can, in a minute'^s time, dispatch a nimble messenger to heaven, and mount its thoughts from this to that world in a moment. The power of co- gitation is a rich endowment of the soul, such as no other creature on earth is participant of. Though spiritual thoughts be not the natural growth of the soul, yet thoughts capable of being spiritua- lized are. And without this ability of projecting thoughts, all in- tercourse must have been cut ofl*.
(2.) The gracious principles implanted in the soul, do actually incline the mind, and mount its thoughts heaven-ward. Yea, this will prove more than a possibility of a conversation in heaven ;
A TREATISE OF THE ^OUL OF MAN. 108
>vhiist saints tabernacle on earth, in bodies of flesh, it will almost prove an impossibility that it should be otherwise, for these spiri- tual principles setting the bent and tendency of the heart heaven- ward, we must act against the very law of our new nature, when we place our affections elsewhere.
2. A mind in heaven is most congruous, decorous, and comely for those that are the enrolled inhabitants of that heavenly city. Where should a Christian's love be, but where his Lord is ! Our hearts and our homes do not use to be long asunder. It becomes you so to think, and so to speak now, as those who make account to be shortly singing hallelujahs before the throne.
3. It is most sweet and delightful : no pleasure in this world is comparable to this pleasure ; Rom. viii. 6. " To be spiritually " minded is life and peace."" It is a young heaven born in the soul in its way thither.
4. To conclude : It is evidential of your interest in it : an agree- able frame is the surest title. Col. iii. 1, 2. Mat. vi. 21. If heaven attract your minds now, it will centre them for ever.
Use 2. This doctrine of the separation of the spirits of the just from their bodies, as it lies before you in this discourse affords a singular help to all the people of God, to entertain lovely and plea- sant thoughts of that day ; to make death not only an unregretted, but a most pleasant and desirable thing to their souls.