CHAPTER 31; OF THE STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH, AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
Paragraph 1. The bodies of
men after death return to dust, and see corruption;1 but their souls,
which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately
return to God who gave them.2 The souls of the righteous being
then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are
with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for
the full redemption of their bodies;3 and the souls of the wicked
are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved
to the judgment of the great day;4 besides these two places, for
souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
1 Gen. 3:19; Acts
13:36
2 Eccles. 12:7
3 Luke 23:43; 2 Cor.
5:1,6,8; Phil. 1:23; Heb. 12:23
4 Jude 6, 7; 1 Peter
3:19; Luke 16:23,24
Paragraph 2. At the last
day, such of the saints as are found alive, shall not sleep, but be changed;5
and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none
other;6 although with different qualities, which shall be united
again to their souls forever.7
5 1 Cor. 15:51,52;
1 Thess. 4:17
6 Job 19:26,27
7 1 Cor. 15:42,43
Paragraph 3. The bodies of
the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies
of the just, by his Spirit, unto honour, and be made conformable to his
own glorious body.8
8 Acts 24:15; John
5:28,29; Phil. 3:21