resurrection and the great judgment, i. that day of recompence was generally th to be 'near at hand, and so there was insist upon the joys and sorrows of th State. As the patriarchs and the Jews of old Messiah was promised, were constantly his first coming, almost in every generatio appear, and many modes of prophetical in Scripture (which speak of things long though they were present or just at hand) some occasion for this expection, so the of the first age did generally expect 'the se ing' of Christ to judgment, and the resur the dead, in that very age wherein it was St. Paul gives us a hint of it in 2 Thes They supposed the day of the Lord was ju ing.' And many expressions of Christ c his return or coming again after his departu ed to represent his absence as a thing of no tinuance. It is true, these words of his n refer to his coming to destroy Jerusalem 1 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, may refer to Christ's coming by the de Jerusalem, or his coming to call particu away by his messenger of death, or his to the last judgment. It is granted also to prophetical language to set things far d were, before our eyes, and make them se or very near at hand. But still these c had plainly such an influence on primitive as that they imagined the day of resurr judgment was very near: And, since the words of Christ and his Apostles seem this appearance in them, and to keep the der some uncertainty, it is no wonder that tles chiefly referred the disciples of that day of the resurrection for comfort under ferings and sorrows: And, though they ne ed that Christ would come to raise the judge the world in that age, yet, when themselves that he would not come so s might not think it necessary to give every nor every church, an immediate account o distant time of this great event, that the u of it might keep them ever watchful: 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. L answer given to them, and the truth against the force of them, I thought it to lead the reader into a plain and easy them. Object. VII. Is not long life represer Scripture, and especially in the Old Tes blessing to man? And, is not death set a curse or punishment? But, how can eit representations be just or true, if souls e parate State? Are they not then brought of liberty by death, and freed from all the ences of this flesh and blood? By this r ceases to be a punishment, and long blessing. Answ. It is according as the charact are either good or bad, and according as know more or less of a Separate State of punishments, so a long life, or early death esteemed blessings or calamities in a great degree. Long life was represented as a blessing men, in as much as it gave them opportun joy more of the blessings of this life, and t |