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body together at the resurrection, then all those circumstances of effectual motive to piety are collected in our doctrine, viz. the 'immediate nearness of them' in the Separate State, and the public appearance, the universality, the completeness, the sensibility, and the duration of them after the great rising-day.

I might yet take occasion, from this objection, to give a further reason, why the Apostles more frequently draw their motives of hope and fear from the resurrection and the great judgment, i. e. that even that day of recompence was generally then supposed to be near at hand,' and so there was less need to 'insist upon the joys and sorrows of the Separate State.

As the patriarchs and the Jews of old, after the Messiah was promised, were constantly expecting his first coming, almost in every generation till he did appear, and many modes of prophetical expression in Scripture (which speak of things long to come, as though they were present or just at hand) gave them some occasion for this expection, so the Christians of the first age did generally expect the second coming' of Christ to judgment, and the resurrection of the dead, in that very age wherein it was foretold. St. Paul gives us a hint of it in 2 Thess. ii. 1, 2. They supposed the day of the Lord was just appearing.' And many expressions of Christ concerning his return or coming again after his departure, seemed to represent his absence as a thing of no long continuance. It is true, these words of his may partly refer to his coming to destroy Jerusalem; and the

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coming in of his kingdom among the Gentiles, or his coming by his messenger of death, yet they generally, in their supreme and final sense, point to his coming to raise the dead and judge the world: And from the words of Christ also concerning John, chap. xxi. 22. "If I will that he tarry till I come;" it is probable that the Apostles themselves at first, as well as other Christians, might derive this apprehension of his speedy coming.

It is certain, that when Christ speaks of his coming, in general and promiscuous and parabolical terms, whether with regard to the destruction of Jerusalem or the judgment of the world, he saith, Matth. xxiv. 34. "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” And the Apostles frequently told the world, the coming of the Lord was near, Phil. iv. 5. "The Lord is at hand," Heb. x. 25. "Exhorting one another, so much the more as you see the day approaching." And that this is the day of the "coming of Christ," ver. 37. assures us, "For yet a little while, he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Rom. xiii. 12. "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep. The night is far spent, the day is at hand." 1 Pet. iv. 5. "To him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead." Ver. 7. "The end of all things is at hand." James v. 8, 9. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Behold the judge standeth at the door." Rev. xxii. 10. "Seal not up the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." Ver. 12. “And behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me,

to give to every man as his work shall be:" And the sacred volume is closed with this assurance, ver. 20. " Surely I come quickly," and the echo and the expectation of the Apostle or the church, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

It is granted, that in prophetical expressions, such as all these are, some obscurity is allowed: And it may be doubtful, perhaps, whether some of them may refer to Christ's coming by the destruction of Jerusalem, or his coming to call particular persons away by his messenger of death, or his appearance to the last judgment. It is granted also, it belongs to prophetical language to set things far distant, as it were, before our eyes, and make them seem present or very near at hand. But still these expressions had plainly such an influence on primitive Christians, as that they imagined the day of resurrection and judgment was very near: And, since the prophetical words of Christ and his Apostles seemed to carry this appearance in them, and to keep the church under some uncertainty, it is no wonder that the Apostles chiefly referred the disciples of that age to the day of the resurrection for comfort under their sufferings and sorrows: And, though they never asserted that Christ would come to raise the dead and judge the world in that age, yet, when they knew themselves that he would not come so soon, they might not think it necessary to give every Christian, nor every church, an immediate account of the more distant time of this great event, that the uncertainty of it might keep them ever watchful: And even

when St. Paul informs the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord was not so very near as they imagined it, 2 Thess. ii. 2. yet he does not put it off beyond that century by any express language.

Thus we see there is very good reason why the New Testament should derive its motives of terror and comfort chiefly from the resurrection and the day of judgment;' though it is not altogether silent of the Separate State of souls, and their happiness or misery, commencing, in some measure, immediately after death, which has been before proved by many Scriptures cited for that purpose.

Here let it be observed, that I am not concerned in that question, Whether human souls separated from their bodies have any other corporeal vehicle to which they are united, or by which they act during the intermediate state between death and the resurrection? All that I propose to maintain here, is, that that period or interval is not a state of sleep, i. e. utter unconsciousness and unactivity: And, whether it be united to a vehicle or no, I call it still the Separate State, because it is a state of the soul's separation from this body, which is united to it in the present life.

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SECTION V.

More Objections answered.

SINCE this book was written I have met with se. veral other objections against the doctrine here main. tained; and, as I think they may all have a sufficient answer given to them, and the truth be defended against the force of them, I thought it very proper to lead the reader into a plain and easy solution of them.

Object. VII. Is not long life represented often in Scripture, and especially in the Old Testament, as a blessing to man? And, is not death set before us as a curse or punishment? But, how can either of these representations be just or true, if souls exist in a Separate State? Are they not then brought into a state of liberty by death, and freed from all the inconveniences of this flesh and blood? By this means death ceases to be a punishment, and long life to be a blessing.

Answ. It is according as the characters of men are either good or bad, and according as good men know more or less of a Separate State of rewards or punishments, so a long life, or early death, are to be esteemed blessings or calamities in a greater or a less degree.

Long life was represented as a blessing to good men, in as much as it gave them opportunity to en. joy more of the blessings of this life, and to do more

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