service for God in the world: And especially since, in ancient times, there was much darkness upon this doctrine of the future state, and many good men had not so clear a knowledge of it. Long life was also a blessing to wicked men, because it kept them in a state wherein there were some comforts, and withheld them, for a season, from the punishments of the Separate State.

Death was doubtless a punishment and a curse when it was first brought into human nature by the sin of Adam, as it cut off mankind from the blessings of this life, and plunged him into a dark and unknown state: And if he were a wicked man, it plunged him into certain misery.

But, since the blessings of the future state of happiness for good men are more clearly revealed, long life is not so very great a blessing, nor death so great a punishment to good men; for death is sanctified by the covenant of grace to be an introduction of their souls into the Separate State of happiness, and the curse is turned in some respect into a blessing. Object. VIII. Was it not supposed to be a great privilege to Enoch and Elijah when they were translated without dying? But, what advantage could it be to either of them to carry a body with them to heaven, if their souls could act without it?

I answer, when Enoch and Elijah carried their bo. dies to heaven with them, it was certainly a sublime honour and a peculiar privilege which they enjoyed, to have so early an happiness both in flesh and spirit conferred upon them so many ages before the rest of

mankind: For though the soul can act without the body, yet as a body is part of the compounded nature of man, our happiness is not designed to be complete till the soul and body are united in a state of perfection and glory: And this happiness was conferred early on those two favourites of heaven.

Object. IX. Was it not designed as a favour when persons were raised from the dead under the Old Testament or the New, by the Prophets, by Christ, and by his Apostles? But what benefit could this be to them, if they had consciousness and enjoyment in the other world? Was it not rather an injury to bring them back from a state of happiness into such a miserable world as this?

Answ. 1. Since these souls were designed to be soon restored to their bodies, and the persons were to be raised to a mortal life again in a few days, it is probable they were kept just in the same state of immemorial consciousness, as the soul is in while the body is in the deepest sleep; and so were not immediately sent to heaven or hell, or determined to a state of sensible happiness or misery. Then when the person was raised to life again, there was no remembrance of the intermediate state, but all the consciousness of that day or two vanished and were forgotten for ever, as it is with us when we sleep soundly without dreaming.

Answ. 2. If those who were raised by Christ, or the Prophets, or the Apostles, were pious persons, they submitted by the will of God to a longer continuance in this world, amidst some difficulties and

sorrows, which submission would be abundantly recompenced hereafter. If they were not good per

sons, their renewed life on earth was a reprieve from punishment. So there was no injury done to any of them.

As for those who were raised at the resurrection of Christ,' and were seen by many persons in the holy city,' there is no doubt but they were raised to immortality, and ascended to heaven when Christ did, as part of his triumphant attendants, and went to dwell with him in the heavenly state.

Object. X. If the martyrs and confessors were to be partakers of the first resurrection in Rev. xx. 4, 5. would not this be a punishment instead of a blessing, to be called from the immediate presence of God and Christ and angels, to be re-united to bodies on earth and dwell here again with men? Therefore it seems more probable, that the souls of these holy martyrs had no such separate existence or enjoyment of happiness.

Answ. Perhaps neither that text nor any others in the Bible foretell the resurrection of any number of persons to an animal earthly life again in this world: Perhaps that prophecy means no more, than that the cause of Christ and religion, for which men were martyred and beheaded heretofore, shall rise again in the world, and the professors of it in that day shall be in flourishing circumstances for a thousand years, or a very long season: So that in prophetic language these words do not signify the same individual mar

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tyrs or confessors, but their successors in the same faith and practice.

Or if there should be any resurrection of good men to an animal life in this world, foretold by the prophets, and intended by the great and blessed God, I doubt not but they would be here so far separated from the wicked world where sins and sorrows reign, that it would be a gradual advance of their happiness beyond what they enjoyed before in the Separate State.

Object. XI. Though man is often said to be a compounded creature of soul and body, yet in Scripture he is represented as one being: It is the man that is born, that lives, that sleeps or wakes, and that rises from the dead. This is evident in many places of Scripture, where these things are spoken of; and it seems to be the law of our nature or being, that we should always act and live in such a state as souls united to bodies, and never in a state of separation.

Answ. Though there are several Scriptures which represent man as one being, viz. soul and body united, yet there are many other Scriptures which have been cited in the former parts of this essay, wherein the souls and the bodies of men are represented as two very distinct things: The one goes to the grave at death, and the other either into Abraham's bosom, or to a place of torment; either to dwell with God,' to be present with Christ the Lord,' and to become one of the spirits of the just made perfect, or to go to their own place as Judas did. Now those texts where man is represented as one being, may be ex

plained with very great ease, considering man as made up of two distinct substances, viz. body and spirit united into one personal agent, as we have shewn before: But the several texts where the soul and body are so strongly and plainly distinguished, as has been before represented, there is no possible way of representing these Scriptures but by supposing a Separate State of existence for souls after the body is dead, which makes it necessary that this exposition should take place.

Object. XII. How comes death to be called so often in Scripture a sleep, if the soul wakes all the while?

Answ. Why is the repose of man every night called sleep, since the soul wakes, as appears by a thousand dreams? But as a sleeping man ceases to act in the businesses or affairs of this world, though the soul be not dead or unthinking, so death is called sleep, because during that state men are cut off from the businesses of this world, though the soul may think and act in another.

Object. XIII. The Scripture speaks often of the general judgment of mankind at the last great day of the resurrection, but it does not teach us the doctrine of a particular judgment, which the soul is supposed to pass under when every single man dies; why then should we invent such a supposition, or believe such a doctrine of a particular judgment in a Separate State?

Answ. It is evident in many Scriptures, as we have shewn before, that the souls of men after death are represented as enjoying pleasure or punishment in