That which is alledged by some to solve this difficulty, is, that virtue has its own reward; and therefore, the good man cannot but be happy, whatever troubles he meets with in this life, since he has something within himself that makes him so. But to this it may be replied, that this cannot give the least satisfaction, that the divine distributions are just and equal, to those who are destitute of this inward comfort; and the principal ingredient in that internal happiness which arises from the exercise of religion and virtue, consists in the divine approbation, and the interest which such have in that love, which shall discover itself more fully, when the soul, being separate from the body, shall enjoy the happiness resulting from it in another world: Therefore, this is so far from militating against the doctrine we are maintaining, that it affords a considerable argument to support it.
If it be objected also, on the other hand, that sin brings its own punishment along with it, in that uneasiness which the wicked find in their own breasts; concerning whom it is said, They are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest; whose waters cast up mire and dirt, Isa. lvii. 20. This also proves the immortality of the soul; inasmuch as this fear arises from a sense of guilt, whereby persons are liable to punishment in another world, who are not in the least concerned about the punishment of sin in this, and are ready to conclude themselves out of the reach of human judicature; therefore, that which they are afraid of, is God’s righteous judgments in another world, which they cannot, by any means, free themselves from the dread of. We must therefore conclude that this is as natural to man, considered as sinful, as the hope of future blessedness is to one that is righteous; and both these are the result of a divine impression enstamped on the souls of men, which affords an evident proof of their immortality.
The objections against this doctrine, are generally such as carry in them the lowest and most abject thoughts of human nature in those who may truly be said to despise their own souls. When they pretend, as was before observed, that they are material, this is to set the soul on a level with the body; for matter, how much soever it be refined, when it is resolved into the particles of which it consists, has no excellency above other material beings.
As to the objections that are brought against this doctrine from scripture, by which the frailty of this present life is set forth: These do not in the least tend to overthrow the immortality of the soul. Thus, when it is said in Eccles. iii. 19, 20. That which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them: As the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; all go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. It is plain, that Solomon here speaks of the inferior part of man, in which he has no pre-eminence above the beasts, as the body is resolved into dust, as well as the bodies of the brute creatures; but then the following words sufficiently confute the objection, in which it is said, the spirit of man goeth upward; whereby he asserts, not only the superior excellency, but the immortality of the soul.
Again, when it is said in chap. ix. 5. The living know that they must die, but the dead know not any thing; neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. This is sufficiently answered by only reading the following words; by which it appears, that their memory is forgotten; and they are said to have no farther reward in this world; or, as it is expressed, They have no more any portion for ever, in any thing that is done under the sun; but this does not in the least intimate that they have no portion in what respects the things of another world; and, indeed, their labour being unrewarded here, affords us an incontestible argument, that they shall have it hereafter, when the soul leaves this world.
And as for other scriptures, that seem to intimate as though death put an end to all those actions of religion which were performed by good men in this life, as in Psal. xxx. 9. ‘When I go down to the pit, shall the dust praise thee, shall it declare thy truth?’ and, ‘The dead praise not the Lord; neither any that go down into silence,’ Psal. cxv. 17. and what Hezekiah says to the same purpose, ‘The grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth,’ Isa. xxxviii. 18. These and such-like expressions intend nothing else but this; that the praises of God cannot be celebrated by those who are in the state of the dead, in such a way as they were by them while they lived in this world, viz. in the assemblies of his saints, from which they are separated, being no longer considered as members of the militant church; neither are they apprized of, or affected with the things done in this lower world, in which respect they are said to know nothing: But this does not in the least, militate against their praising God with the church triumphant, and having those privileges conferred upon them, which are adapted to a state of immortality and eternal life.
As to what is farther objected by others, that the immortality of the soul respects only the righteous; because the apostle says in 1 John ii. 17. ‘The world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever.’ This sense given of the words contradicts all those scriptures that speak of the punishment of sin in another world; for if none are said to abide for ever, but the righteous, or they who do the will of God; the wicked must necessarily go unpunished. Therefore we must understand the word abiding in the same sense as the Psalmist does, when he says, ‘The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,’ Psal. i. 5. which does not signify their not existing in a future state, but not being admitted into the congregation of the righteous, or made happy with them therein.[[143]]
II. We shall consider the happiness that the members of the invisible church enjoy; which is called communion with Christ in glory, as it includes in it perfect holiness; accordingly we read of the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb. xii. 23. This perfection consists in the rooting out all those remainders of corruption, and those habitual inclinations to sin, that they were never wholly freed from in this world. The most that can be said concerning a believer at present, is, that he has a principle of spiritual life and grace, which inclines him to oppose, and stand his ground against, the assaults of sin that dwelleth in him, whereby it is mortified, but not wholly destroyed. The work of sanctification is daily growing to perfection, though it does not fully attain to it: But when the soul leaves the world, it arrives to perfection in a moment; so that the power which man had at first, to yield sinless obedience, which was lost by the fall of our first parents, is regained with great advantage. For this perfection of holiness not only denotes a sinless state, but the soul’s being confirmed therein; and accordingly it is said to be received into the highest heaven, the place into which no unclean thing can enter; where there is spotless purity, as well as everlasting happiness; and here they are described as beholding the face of God in light and glory. These things need not be particularly insisted on in this place, since the same privileges are said, in a following answer, to belong to believers after the day of judgment, both in their souls and bodies, when they shall be received into heaven, and be made perfectly holy and happy, and be blest with the immediate vision of God[[144]]; Therefore all that we shall consider at present, with relation hereunto, is,
1. That the soul is immediately made partaker of this blessedness on its separation from the body.
2. It is farther described as waiting for the full redemption of the body, which is still supposed to continue under the dominion of death, though united to Christ, and consequently under his special protection: Upon which account believers are said, when they die, to rest in their graves as in their beds, till their bodies are again united to their souls at the last day.