Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
VI. Beside these wild notions, the perverse curiosity of man
has introduced two others. Some have supposed that the
whole man dies, and that souls are raised again together with
bodies; others, admitting the immortality of souls, suppose they
will be clothed with new bodies, and thereby deny the resurrection
of the flesh. As I have touched on the former of these
notions in the creation of man, it will be sufficient again to
apprize my readers, that it is a brutish error, to represent the
spirit, formed after the image of God, as a fleeting breath which
animates the body only during this perishable life, and to annihilate
the temple of the Holy Spirit; in short, to despoil that
part of us in which Divinity is eminently displayed, and the
characters of immortality are conspicuous, of this property; so
that the condition of the body must be better and more excellent
than that of the soul. Very different is the doctrine of
Scripture, which compares the body to a habitation, from which
we depart at death; because it estimates us by that part of our
nature which constitutes the distinction between us and the
brutes. Thus Peter, when near his death, says, “Shortly I
must put off this my tabernacle.”[643]
And Paul, speaking of
believers, having said that “if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building in the heavens,” adds
that “whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord.”[644]
Unless our souls survive our
bodies, what is it that is present with God when separated from
the body? But the apostle removes all doubt when he says
that we are “come to the spirits of just men made perfect.”[645]
By which expression he means, that we are associated with the
holy fathers, who, though dead, still maintain the same piety
with us, so that we cannot be members of Christ without being
united with them. If souls separated from bodies did not retain
their existence so as to be capable of glory and felicity, Christ
would not have said to the thief, “To-day shalt thou be with
me in paradise.”[646]
Supported by such undeniable testimonies,
let us not hesitate, after the example of Christ, when we
die, to commend our spirits to God; or, like Stephen, to resign
them to the care of Christ, who is justly called the faithful
“Shepherd and Bishop of souls.” Over-curious inquiry respecting
their intermediate state is neither lawful nor useful.
Many persons exceedingly perplex themselves by discussing
what place they occupy, and whether they already enjoy the
glory of heaven, or not. But it is folly and presumption to
push our inquiries on unknown things beyond what God permits
us to know. The Scripture declares that Christ is present
with them, and receives them into paradise, where they enjoy
consolation, and that the souls of the reprobate endure the torments
which they have deserved; but it proceeds no further.
Now, what teacher or doctor shall discover to us that which God
has concealed? The question respecting place is equally senseless
and futile; because we know that the soul has no dimensions
like the body. The blessed assemblage of holy spirits being
called the bosom of Abraham, teaches us that it is enough for
us, at the close of this pilgrimage, to be received by the common
Father of believers, and to participate with him in the fruit of
his faith. In the mean while, as the Scripture uniformly commands
us to look forward with eager expectation to the coming
of Christ, and defers the crown of glory which awaits us till
that period, let us be content within these limits which God
prescribes to us—that the souls of pious men, after finishing
their laborious warfare, depart into a state of blessed rest,
where they wait with joy and pleasure for the fruition of the
promised glory; and so, that all things remain in suspense till
Christ appears as the Redeemer. And there is no doubt that
the condition of the reprobate is the same as Jude assigns to
the devils, who are confined and bound in chains till they are
brought forth to the punishment to which they are doomed.
