The Soul of Man, Part 8 · Doctrine · Question 6 – Corollary
QUERIE VI.
Whether the separated Souls of the just in Heaven do incline to a re-union with their own Bodies? and how that re-union is at last effected?
That these blessed Souls have no such inclination or desire, these reasons seem to perswade.
1. That their Bodies, whilst they lived in them, were no better than so many Prisons. Many were the prejudices, damages and miseries they sustained and suffered in them.Animam conceptu suo obstruit, & obscurat; & concretione carnis in…aecat, unde illi velut per carneum specular obsoletior lux verum est. Proculdubio cum vi mortus exprimitur de concretione carnis, & ipsa expressione colatur, certè de oppanso corporis …r…mpit in apertam, ad meram, & puram, & suam lucem. Tertul. de Anima. It kept them at an uncomfortable distance from the Lord, 2 Cor. 5.6. Their bemoaning cries spake their uneasie state. How often hath every gracious Soul thus lamented it self! Wo is me that I dwell in Mesheck. It inclosed their Souls within it's mud walls, which intercepted the light and joy of God's face. Death therefore did a most friendly office, when it set it at liberty, and brought it forth into its own pure and pleasant light and liberty. These blessed Spirits now rejoyce as Prisoners do in their recovered liberty: and can it be supposed after all these sufferings, groans, and sighs, to be dissolved; they can be willing to be embodied again? Surely there is as little reason for Souls at liberty, to desire to be again embodied, as there is for a Bird got out of the Snare or Cage, to flie back again to its place of confinement and restraint. Yea, when we consider how loth some holy Souls when under the excruciating pains of sickness, and as yet in the sight of this alluring World; have been to …ear of a return to it, by the recovery of their health; we cannot think, but being quite out of the sight of this, and in the fruitions of the other World, the thoughts of the Body must needs be more loathsome to them than ever.
We read, that when a good man in time of his sickness was told by his friends, that some hopeful signs of his recovery began now to appear; he answered, And must I then return to this Body? I was as a sheep driven out of the Storm, almost to the Fold; and then driven back into the storm again: Or as a weary Traveller near his home, who must go back again to fetch something he had neglected: or as an Apprentice whose time was almost out, and then must begin a new Term. Of some others it hath been also noted, that the greatest infirmities they discovered upon their death-bed have been their too passionate desires to be dissolved, and their unsubmissiveness to Gods will in their longer stay in the Body. Now, the Bodies of the Saints being so cheerfully forsaken, and that only upon a foretaste of Heaven by Faith; how can it be thought they should find any inclination to a re-union, when they are so abundantly satisfied with the joys of his face in Heaven? Certainly the Body hath been no such pleasant habitation to the Soul that it should cast an eye or thought that way, when it is once delivered out of it. If it were burdensome here, a thought of it would be loathsome there.
2. We have shew'd before, that the separate Soul wants not the help of the Body, but lives and acts at a more free and comfortable rate than ever before. 'Tis true, it is not now delighted with meat and drink, with smells and sounds as it was wont to be: but then it must be considered, that it is happiness and perfection not to need them. It is now become equal to the Angels in the way and manner of its living; and what it enjoyed by the ministry of the Body, it eminently and more perfectly injoys without it. What perfections can the Soul receive from matter?Anima rationalis nihil perfectionis recipit à materia, quod extra il…am non posset recipe…; ergo cum sep… rata fuerit in il…am propensa non dicetur. Conimbr. What can a lump of flesh, add to a Spirit? And if it can add nothing to it, there is no reason why it should hanker after it, and incline to a re-union with it. It added nothing of happiness to it, but much of trouble, and therefore becomes justly undesireable to it.
3. The supposition of such a propension and inclination, seems, no way to suit with that state of perfect rest which the Souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. The Scriptures tell us that at death they enter into rest, Isa. 57.2. Heb. 4.9. That they rest from their labours, Rev. 14.13. But that which inclines and desires (especially when the desired enjoyment as in this case is suspended so long) must be as far from Rest, as it is from satisfaction in the enjoyment of the thing desired. We know what Solomon hath observed of such a life, (and his observation is experimentally true) that hope defer'd, makes the heart sick, Prov. 13.12. Who finds not his own desires a very rack to him in such cases. If we be kept but a few days in earnest expectation and desire of an absent Friend, and he comes not, what an uneasie life do we live? But here we must suppose some have such an unsatisfied life for hundreds, and others for thousands of years already, and how much longer they may remain so, who can tell? We use to say lovers hours are full of Eternity. These reasons seem to carry it for the Negative.
But if the matter be weighed once more, with the following reasons in the counter scale, and prejudice do not pull down the balance; we shall find the contrary conclusion much more strong and rational. For
Argument I.
THE Soul and Body are the two essential constitutive parts of Man; either of these being wanting, the Man is not compleat and perfect. The good of the whole, is the good of the parts themselves, and every thing hath a natural desire and appetite to its own good and perfection.Anima separata ad unionem corporis prope…sa est, nam illa vult totius compositi actualem constitutionem; cum propter hanc tanquam finem illa sit, & in entium latitudine inveniatur. Atque haec est illa perfectio quam anima obtinet ex illo appetitu: nam bonum totius compositi, est bonum ipsarum partium. Affirmandum ita que est, animan separatam naturaliter desiderare resurrectionem. Alstedii Nat: Theol. pars prima, p. 214, 215. 'Tis confessed, the Soul for as much as concerns it self singly, is made perfect, and enjoys blessedness in the absence of the Body; but this is only the perfection and blessedness of one part of man; the other part viz the Body, lies in obscurity and corruption: and till both be blessed, and blessed together in a state of composition and reunion, the whole man is not made perfect. For this therefore the Soul must wait.
Argument II.
THough death hath dissolv'd the Union, yet it hath not destroyed the relation betwixt the Soul and Body; that dust is more to it than all the dust of the whole earth. Hence it is that the whole person of a Believer is sometimes denominated from that part of him, namely his Body which remains captivated by death in the grave. Hence 2 Thes. 4.15. dead believers are called those that sleep, which must needs properly respect the Body, for the Soul sleeps not; and shews what a firm and dear relation still remains betwixt these absent Friends. Now we all know the mighty power of relation, if it be least among entities, yet surely it is one of the greatest things in the World in efficacy.
It is difficult to bear the absence of our dear Relatives, especially if we be in prosperity, and they in adversity. As the case here is betwixt the Spirit in Heaven, and it's Body in the Grave: This associated with Angels, that prey'd upon by Worms. Ioseph's case is the liveliest Embleme that occurs to my present thoughts to illustrate the point in hand. He was advanced to be Lord over all Aegypt, living in the greatest pomp and splendor there;Gen. 43.29, 30, 31. but his Father and Brethren were at the same time ready to perish in the land of Canaan. He had been many years separated from them, but neither the length of time, nor honours of the Court could alienate his affections from them. O see the mighty power of Relation! No sooner doth he see his Brethren, and understand their case, and the pining condition of Iacob his Father, but his bowels yearned, and his compassions rolled together for them. Yea, he could not forbear, nor stifle his own affections, though he knew how injurious his Brethren had been to him, and betrayed him, as the Body hath the Soul: Yet all this notwithstanding, he breaks forth into tears and outcries over them, which made the house ring again with the news that Ioseph's brethren were come. Nor could he be at rest in the lap of honour and plenty, until he had gotten home his dear and ancient Relations to him. Thus stands the case betwixt Soul and Body.
Argument III.
THE regret, reluctancy, and sorrows expressed by the Soul at parting, do strongly argue its inclination to a re-union with it, when it is actually separated from it. For why should we surmise that the Soul which mourn'd and groan'd so deeply at parting; which clasp'd and embraced it so dearly and affectionately; which fought, strugled and disputed the passage with death every foot and inch of ground it got; and would not part with the Body till by plain force it was rent out of its arms: should not when absent, desire to see and enjoy its old and endeared friend again? Hath it lost its affection, though it continue its relation? thats very improbable. Or doth its advancement in Heaven make it regardless of its Body which lies in contempt and misery? that's an effect which Christs personal glory never produced in him towards us, nor a good mans perferment would produce in him to his poor and miserable friends in this World, as we see in the case of Ioseph but now instanced in. It is therefore harsh and incongruous to suppose the Souls love to the Body was extinguished in the parting hour, and that now, out of sight, out of mind.
Object.But was it not urged before in opposition to this assertion, that the Souls of the righteous looked upon their Bodies as their Prisons, and sighed for deliverance by death, and greatly rejoiced in the hope and foresight of that liberty death would restore them to? How doth this consist with such reluctancies at parting, and inclinations to re-union?
Sol.The objection doth not suppose any man to be totally free from all reluctancies and unwillingness to die. The holiest Souls that ever lived in Bodies of flesh will give an unwilling shrug when it comes to the parting point, 2 Cor. 5.2. But this their willingness to be gone arises from two other grounds, which make i… consistent enough with its reluctancies at parting, and inclination to a second meeting.
(1) This willingness to die, doth not suppose the Souls love to the Body to be utterly extinguished, but mastered and overpowered by another and stronger love. There is in every Christian a double love, one natural, to the Body, and the things below; the other supernatural, to Christ, and the things above; the latter doth not extinguish, though it conquer and subdue the other. Love to the Body pulls backward, love to Christ pulls forward, and finally prevails. This is so consistent with it, that it supposes natural reluctation and unwillingness to part.
(2) The willingness of Gods people to be dissolved, must not be understood absolutely, but comparatively: In that sense the Apostle will be understood, 2 Cor. 5.8. We are confident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. (i. e.) Rather than to live always a life of sin, sorrow, and absence from God. Death is not desireable in and for it self, but only as it is the Souls outlet from sin, and its inlet to God.
So that the very best desire it but comparatively, and it is but few who find the love of this animal life subacted and overpowered by high raised acts of faith and love. The generality even of good Souls feel strong renitencies, and suffer sharp conflicts at their dissolution. All which discovers with what lothness and unwillingness the Soul unclasps its arms to let go its Body. Now as Divines argue the frame of Christs heart in Heaven, toward his people on earth, from all those endearing passages and demonstrations of love he gave them at parting; so we here argue the continued love and inclination of the Soul to its Body after it is in Heaven, from the manifold demonstrations it gave of its affection to it in this World; especially in the parting hour. No considerations in all the World, less than the more full fruition of God, and freedom from sin, could possibly have prevailed with it to quit the Body, though but for a time, and leave it in the dust. Which is our third Argument.
Argument IV.
AND as the dolorous parting hour evidenceth it, so doth the joy with which it receives it again at the Resurrection. If it part from it so heavily, and meet it again with joy unspeakable; sure then it still retained much love for it, and desires to be re-espoused to it, in the interval. Now, that its meeting in the Resurrection is a day of joy to the Soul, is evident, because it is called the time of refreshment, Acts 3.19. And they awake with singing out of the dust, Isai. 26.19. If the direct and immediate scope of the Prophet point not (as some think it doth) at the Resurrection, yet it is allowed by all to be a very lively allusion to it; which is sufficient for my purpose. And indeed none that understands and believes the design and business of that day, can possibly doubt but there was reason enough to call it a time of refreshment, a singing morning; for the Souls of the righteous come from Heaven with Christ, and the whole host of shouting Angels; not to be speclators only, but the subjects of that days triumph. They come to re-assume, and be reespoused to their own Bodies, this being the appointed time for God to vindicate and rescue them from the tyrannical power of the Grave, to endow them with spiritual qualities at their second marriage to their Souls, that in both parts they may be compleatly happy. O the joyful claspings and dear embraces betwixt them, who but themselves can understand! And by the way, this removes the objection forementioned, of the miseries and prejudices the Soul suffered in this world in and from the Body. For now it receives it a spiritual Body, (i.e.) so subdued to and fitted for the use of the Spirit, as never to impede, clog, or obstruct its motions and inclinations any more, 1 Cor. 15.44. In this hope it parted from it, and with this consolation it now receives it again.
Argument V.
THere are many Scriptures which very much favour, if they do not positively conclude the Souls inclination to and desire to be re-united with its own body, even whilst it is in the state of its single glorification in Heaven; certainly our Souls leave not our Bodies at death, as the Ostrich doth her Egg in the sand, without any farther regard to it, or concernment for it, but they are represented, as crying to God to remember, ave… and vindicate them, Rev. 6.1…, 11. How long, Lord, how long wilt thou not avenge our blood? our blood, speaks both the continued Relation, and suitable affection they have to their absent Bodies.
And to the same sense a judicious and learned Pen expounds that place, Iob 14.14. (which is commonly, but I know not how fitly, accommodated to another purpose) all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come: which words by a diligent comparing of the Context appear to have this for their proper scope and sense.
Iob in the former verse had expressed his confidence by way of Petition,Mr. How's Blessedness of the Righteous, p. 170, 171. that at a set and appointed time God would remember him, so as to recal him out of the Grave; and now minded to speak out more fully, puts the Question to himself, If a man die, shall he live again? And thus answers it, all the days of my appointed time (that is, of the appointed time which he mentioned before, when God should revive him out of the dust) will I wait till my change come: that is, that glorious change, when the corruption of a loathsome Grave, should be exchanged for immortal glory: which he amplifies, and utters more expresly, Ver. 15. Thou shalt call, and I will answer; thou shalt have a desire to the work of thy hands, thou wilt not always forget to restore and perfect thine own Creature. And surely this waiting is not the act of his inanimate sleeping dust, but of that part which should be capable of such an action: q. d. I, in that part which shall be still alive, shall patiently wait the appointed time of reviving me in that part also which Death and the Grave shall insult over in a temporary triumph in the mean time.
Upon these grounds I think the inclination of the separated Spirits of the just to their own Bodies, to be a justifiable Opinion. As for the damned, we have no reason to think such a re-union to be desireable to them: for alas, it will be but the increase and aggravation of their torments; which consideration is sufficient to over-power and stifle the inclination of nature, and make the very thoughts of it horrid and dreadful. To what end (as the Prophet speaks in another case) is it for them to desire that day? It will be a day of darkness and gloominess to them; re-union being designed to compleat the happiness of the one, and the misery of the other.
But before I take off my hand, and dismiss this question, I must remember that I am Debtor to two Objections.
Objection 1.
The Soul can both live and act separate from the Body, it needs it not; and if it don't want, why should it desire it?
Solution.
The life and actings of the glorified are considerable two ways. (1) Singly and abstractly for the life and action of one part: and so we confess the Soul lives happily and acts forth its own powers freely in the state of separation. (2) Personally, or concretely, as it is the life and action of the whole man, and so it doth both need and desire the Conjunction or re-union of the Body: for the Body is not only a part of Christs purchace, as well as the Soul, and is to have its own glory as well as it: but it is also a constitutive part of a compleat glorified person, and so considered, the Saints are not perfectly happy till this re-union be effected, which is the true ground and reason of this its desire.
Object. 2.
But this Hypothesis seems to thwart the account given in Scripture of the rest, and placid state of separate Souls: for look as Bodies which gravitate and propend, do not rest, so neither do Souls which incline and desire.
Solution.
There is a vast difference betwixt the Tendencies and Propensions of Souls in the way to glory, and in glory: we that are absent from the Lord, can find no rest in the way; but those that are with the Lord can rest in Jesus, and yet wait without anxiety, or self torturing impatience, for the accomplishment of the promises to their absent Bodies, Rev. 6.10, 11.
COROLLARY.
Let this provoke us all to get sanctified Souls to rule and use these their Bodies now for God: this will abundantly sweeten their parting at death, and their meeting again at the Resurrection of the just: Else, their parting will be doleful, and their next meeting dreadful.
And so much for the Doctrine of Separation.