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SERMON XII.

DEATH THE ENTRANCE INTO AN UNTRIED

STATE.

PART III.

Job xiv. 10.-Man dieth, and wafeth away; yea, man giveth up the ghoft, and where is he?

Now proceed to the third view of death which the text gives us; namely, that the foul, on its separation from the body, enters into a new and unknown state.

The foul is neither reduced to nothing by death, nor is it condemned to a state of infenfibility, till the refurrection. This laft opinion, indeed, is what fome have foolishly maintained; but, both reason and fcripture, demonftrate the contrary. The very nature, and effential qualities of the human foul, require us to believe, that a being, whose powers are exerted in thinking, can never ceafe to think, without ceafing to be. To deprive it of thought, is to deprive it of exiftence; and to pretend that the foul cannot act without the body, and therefore, when in a state of separation, that it is reduced to infenfibility, is falfe in fact; for we find, that, in a state of union, there are feveral of the foul's operations, fuch as, reflecting on its own nature and powers, and on fpiritual and divine

divine things, which have no dependence on its connection with the body. How much more, then, will it be capable of high exertion, in a state of feparate existence? This is fo much a fact, that it is more difficult to conceive how a fpirit acts in conjunction with matter, than how it can act of itself.

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But the vanity and falfehood of this opinion, of the foul's infenfibility till the general refurrection, will appear beyond all contradiction, if we confider, that it is directly contrary to feveral paffages of fcripture. "Bleffed are the dead," faid the voice from heaven," that die in the Lord, from henceforth;' that is, from the time of their death. Our Saviour faid to the penitent thief on the crofs, "This "day thou shalt be with me in paradife." The apostle Paul declares his full affurance, that, when abfent from the body, he would be prefent with the Lord: And, in another place, he expreffes his belief in the fame opinion, "I am in a ftrait between two, hav"ing a defire to depart, and to be with Chrift, which " is far better (@)." "Hence, alfo, we read of the fpirits of just men made perfect, which are already with Jefus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and of multitudes of faints furrounding the throne of God and the Lamb, together with the holy angels, uniting in their fongs of praife; while time is running on, and the difpenfations of Providence towards our world, are working their way to the confummation of all things.

Thus, it evidently appears, both from fcripture and reason, that the foul, on its feparation from the body, is not reduced to a ftate of fleep or infenfibility; but that it enters into a new and unknown world. It becomes not only an unembodied and feparate fpirit, difentangled from the incumbrance of an earthly tabernacle, but it enters on a new fcene of life, where its fpiritual powers are awakened to greater vigour and activity. But, more particularly,

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(«) Phil. i. 23.

1. The foul, on its feparation from the body, removes to a new place. It paffes from the narrow current of time, and launches into the untried and boundlefs ocean of eternity. It leaves this unsubstantial tabernacle of clay, together with this narrow fpot of earth, and takes its flight into those vastly extended dominions, over which He prefides, who has the keys of hell and of death. It removes from this earth, and enters into the upper or lower regions of the vast invifible world; for, no fooner is the divid ing ftroke given by death, and the parting ftruggle over, than, on the one hand, the fouls of the righteous afcend into the manfions of ineffable light and glory; while, on the other hand, the fouls of the wicked, are driven away by evil angels, as executioners of the divine wrath, to that place of endlefs torment and mifery prepared for them, and there to be referved to the judgment of the great day.

2. The foul, on its feparation from the body, enters into new fociety and converfation. It has no longer the body, and fenfible objects, to converfe with; its connection with thefe, being diffolved by death. It removes to the world of fpirits; with the manner of whofe intercourfe, it is wholly unacquainted. It is easy to believe, at the fame time, that it is within the limits of almighty power, to establish a medium of communication between one intelligent being and another, in every poffible mode of their existence. Our conjectures on this fubject, must, from the darknefs which covers futurity, be vague and uncertain; but our prefent manner of communication, the flow of reafon through a material channel, is a proof of the fact; and, to unembodied fpirits, unacquainted with man, it would appear a ftill more doubtful point, and they would be more at a lofs to conjecture, in what manner the grofs fubftance of our bodies could be employed for the purpofes of reasonable communication. The foul, then, when it takes its flight from the body, muft afsociate either with good angels, and the fpirits of juft men

made

made perfect; or with devils, and the spirits of the damned. If it be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and prepared for glory, it joins the church of the First-born on high, and fhares with them in their blifsful communion; but if it leaves the body, unpardoned, and unfanctified, it is thruft down to the miferable fociety of wicked and infernal fpirits, where there is nothing but weeping and wailing, and torment and destruction, from the prefence of the Lord, for ever.

3. The foul, at death, enters on new employment of its active powers. In the prefent ftate, our inquiries are chiefly directed to material objects. We contemplate the perfections of God in the works of his hand, in the effects of infinite wifdom, and in the amazing productions of almighty power. But we fee in part, and we know only in part. We are, as it were, confined in a dungeon, where, from a fmall opening, we behold the beauties of nature. Our fituation in this world, fixes us down to local and felfish confiderations. Our point of reafoning is so narrow, that we can come to very few general conclufions. The operations of nature and providence are partly exposed to our view ; but the amazing fources of love and confolation, the general plans of wisdom and gradual perfection, lie beyond our obfervation. However keen we are to pry into a future ftate, in whatever anxious manner we endeavour to look forward, there is a vail of impenetrable obfcurity which interrupts the prospect. This vail is removed by death. Thofe who are holy and prepared, no fooner leave the body, than they are delightfully employed in the inceffant praifes of God and of the Lamb, and in whatever unknown exercifes may be afligned them, agreeable to their nature, and of the most noble and exalted kind. But, how different: the employment of the unfanctified foul, when dif lodged from the body! For, then, it reflects, with unavailing grief, and inceffant felf-condemnation, on its own folly and madness, while it was in the world; it

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mourns

mourns under the dreadful feeling of its mifery; and looks forward, with horror and defpair, to thofe endless torments which it is doomed to fuffer.

Laftly, The ftate, on which the foul enters at death, is unchangeable and everlasting. There is no alteration in its condition after its feparation from the body; as the tree falls, fo it fhall lie: no repentance for the wicked after death; no retrieving of their folly; no accefs to the mercy of God, who then becomes their unrelenting and inexorable foe. And, with respect to the righteous, there is no falling from the poffeffion of that happiness to which they are admitted by death. The promise of God can never fail; and the inheritance which they receive, is incorruptible, and fadeth not away. Death, in fhort, introduces the foul into an eternity of happinefs or mifery, which, when millions of ages have elapsed, will be ftill to begin.

Thefe are the reflections which fhould occur to the mind, in confidering death as the paffage of the foul to an unknown and eternal state.

And now, my brethren, is it not an awful and folemn thing, to die? The obvious fuggeftions of reafon and experience concerning it, do indeed fhow death to be a great and important change. If we only confider it as a diffolution of this mortal frame; if we only regard it as cutting us off from the world, and all its enjoyments; as putting an end to all our feafons of grace, and opportunities of fervice; even this view of death makes it a matter of infinite im portance, and deferving of ferious reflection. But when we look forward, and obferve the vaft confequences of death, in that inyisible world to which it is the paffage and the entrance, this gives it a far, more terrible afpect, and fhould effectually convince us how folemn a thing it is to die. With what feri-. ous concern then fhould we think of our laft moments, when our fouls muft lease the habitation of duft, and take up their everlafting abode, either in

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