The Soul of Man, Part 8 · Doctrine · Proposition 2
PROP. II. Actual Separation may be considered either in fieri, in the previous Pangs and foregoing Agonies of it; or in facto esse, in the last separating stroke which actually parts the Soul and Body asunder, lays the Body prostrate and dead at the feet of Death, and thrusts the Soul quite out of its ancient and beloved habitation.
1. LET it be considered in the previous pangs and fore-running Agonies which commonly make way for this actual Dissolution: And to the people of God, this is the worst and bitterest part of death, (except those conflicts with Satan which they sometimes grapple with on a death-bed,) which they encounter at that time. There is (saith one) no ponyard in death it self, like those in the way or Prologue to it. I like not to dye, said another, but I care not if I were dead; the end is better than the way. The conflicts and struggles of Nature with death are bitter and sharp, pains unknown to men before, whatever pains they have endured: Nor can it be expected to be otherwise, seeing the tyes and ingagements betwixt the Soul and Body are so strong, as we shew'd before.
The Soul will not easily part with the Body, but disputes the passages with death from Member to Member, (like resolute Souldiers in a stormed Garrison) till at last it is forced to yield up the Fort Royal into the hands of victorious death, and leave the dearly beloved Body a Captive to it.
This is the dark side of death to all good men, and though it be not worth naming, in comparison with the dreadful consequents of death to all others, yet in it self it is terrible.
Separation is not natural to the Soul, which was created with an inclination to the Body:Cum separatio naturalis non sit, neque etiam violenta; sit consequ…ns▪ ut ex approbata Philosophorum approbatione, praeternaturalis esse dicatur. Conim…r. 'tis natural indeed to clasp and embrace, to love and cherish its own Body; but to be divided from it is grievous and praeternatural.
foreign, partus dolo…em.The Agonies of death are expressed in Scripture by a word which signifies the travelling pains of a Woman, yea, by the sharpest and most acute pains they feel, even the birth-pangs, or bearing throe, Acts 2.24.
And yet all are not handled alike roughly by the hands of death; some are favoured with a desirable foreign, gentle and easy death▪
'Tis the priviledge of some Christians to have their Souls fetcht out of their Bodies as it were by a kiss from the mouth of God, as the Jewish Rabbins use to express the manner of Moses his death. Mr. Bolton …elt no pain at his death, but the cold hand of his friend who asked him what pain he felt. Yea, holy Bayn…ham in the midst of the flames, professed it was to him as a Bed of Roses.
Every Believer is equally freed from the sting and curse of death; but every one is not equally favoured in the agonies and pains of death.
2. Separation from the Body is to be considered in facto esse, (i. e.) in the result and issue of all these bitter pangs and Agonies which end in the actual dissolution of Soul and Body. *foreign, vel anime à corpore discessus. Vives.Death, or actual separation, is nothing else but the dissolving of the tye, or loosing of the bond of Union betwixt the Soul and Body. †Privatio actus secundi ejusdem animae, id est, informationis seu unionis erga corpus, Conim…r.Some call it the privation of the second Act of the Soul, that is, its Act of informing or enlivening the Body. Others, according to Scripture phrase, the departing of the Soul from the Body. So Peter stiles it, 2 Pet. 1.15. foreign, after my departure, (i.e.) after my death.Relictio c…rporis depositio sarcine gravis, modo aliea sarcina non patietur, q…â homo praecipitetur in gehennem. August. Augustine calls it the laying down of an heavy burthen, provided there be not another burden for the Soul to bear afterwards, which will sink it into Hell.
In respect of the Body which the Soul now forsakes, it is called the putting off this Tabernacle, 2 Pet. 1.14. And the dissolving the earthly House or Tabernacle, 2 Cor. 5.1.
In respect of the terminus à quo, the place from which the Soul removes at death, it is called our departure hence, Phil. 1.23. or our weighing Anchor and loosing from this coast or shoar to sail to another.
In respect of the terminus ad quem, the place to which the Spirits of the just go at death, it is called our going to, or being with the Lord, ibid. To conclude, in respect of that which doth most lively resemble and shadow it forth, it is called our falling asleep, Acts 7. ult. our sleeping in Iesus, 1 Thes. 4.14. This Metaphor of sleep, must be stretched no further than the Spirit of God designed in the choice of it, which was not to favour and countenance the fancy of a sleeping Soul after death; but to represent its state of placid rest in Jesus's bosom, if it refer at all to the Soul: for I think it most properly respects the Body;Locus Sepulturae consecratus, foreign, hoc est, dormitorium appe…i… tur. and thence the Sepulchres where the Bodies of the Saints were laid, got the name of foreign, Dormitories, or sleeping places.
This is its last farewel to this world, never more to return to a low animal life more, Iob 7.9, 10. For as the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more; he shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. The Soul is no more bound to a Body, nor a Retainer to Sun, Moon or Stars, to meat drink and sleep, but is become a free, single, abstracted being, a separate and pure Spirit, which the Latins call Lemures, Manes, Ghosts or Souls of the dead, and my Text Spirits made perfect, a being much like unto the Angels who are foreign, bodiless Powers. An Angel, as one speaks, is a perfect Soul, a Soul is an imperfect Angel. I do not say that upon their Separation they become Angels; for they will still remain a distinct Species of Spirits.Semper à corporis compedibus, & nexibus liberi. Max. Tyr. Angels have no inclination to Bodies, nor were ever fettered with cloggs of flesh as Souls were. And by this you see what a difference there is betwixt these two considerations of death. How gastly and affrighting is it in its previous pangs! how lovely and desireable in the issue and result of them! which is but the change of Earth for Heaven, men for God, sin and misery for perfection and glory.