Part 6
[4.] Lastly, The case of ill example, Matth. 18:7. They who in words, actions, or behaviour, set an ill copy to others, they will not readily in a sinful world miss some to write after them, following their criminal example. But the more followers they get, the greater will be their guilt; and the longer they are followed, the longer will their accounts run on, even as long as they are followed, though dead and gone. And it is often seen, that the ill example of parents especially runs in a train of sin from generation to generation.
Thus it is evident, that the cup of the sin of the damned may be increasing or filling up after death; and if so, their torment will be increased accordingly against the day of final reckoning. And they may know their sin to be still going on in the world, while it is not in their power to stop its course; and therefore they cannot miss fearful expectations of additional misery against the last day.
Thus far of the state of separate souls in the other world.
II. Of the State of Soul and Body reunited, in the other World
Having spoken of the state of separate souls in the other world, we come now to inquire into the state of soul and body reunited. And for clearing of this also, we shall,
1. Inquire into the state of reunited souls and bodies in general.
2. Consider the different states of reunited souls and bodies, in the other world.
I. We are to inquire into the state of reunited souls and bodies, or whole men, in the other world, in general. This state takes place after the resurrection, general judgment, conflagration, and departure of the righteous and wicked, each into the respective places of their eternal abode in the other world, and continues for ever. And we may view it in the following particulars.
1. They shall be in a state of living for ever and ever. As separate souls do not sleep, from death till the resurrection; so the soul and body then reunited shall never be dissolved again; so the whole man shall be in life for ever from the moment of the resurrection; there will be no graves in the other world, but the great one, hell, where all the wicked will be together buried alive. That the saints in heaven will ever live, is evident. That the damned in hell will be eternally alive too, appears from this that their punishment of sense there will be without end, Matth. 25 ult. with ver. 41. Rev. 20:10. It is true, the state of the damned is called a state of death, and eternal destruction; but it is so called only in opposition to a happy life and state of salvation. Their life will be a death; they will be ever dying, but never die out; otherwise their pain of sense could not be eternal. So it is in the other world, where we are to live indeed, to live without dying.
2. We will live there in the same bodies we live in here. The very term resurrection implies this. If there were other bodies that were to be made for us, that would be a creation, but not a resurrection of the body. It is this mortal, this vile body, that will be raised for us to live in there, 1 Cor. 15:53. Phil. 3:21. Besides, it is inconsistent with the divine equity, that the bodies of the saints, the temples of his Spirit,
that were employed in his service, should be left in the dust, and other bodies glorified; and that the bodies that sinned should lie at ease, and other bodies suffer in hell. And surely it is as easy for Omnipotence to raise the old body, as create a new one.
3. But we will live there without the means of life, now in use with us. Now the body that is to die must be daily held up by the appointed means of life; the clay tabernacle needs more mud and earth to patch it up with every now and then. But in the other world our bodies will be supported without them. There will be no use of meat and drink there, 1 Cor. 6:13. The saints in glory shall be satisfied without them, Rev. 7:16. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;" and the damned, even those that had their full tables and fine liquors, whatever need they may have of them, shall not for ever have the favour of a drop of water, Luke 16. Now much time is spent by saints and sinners in sleep; but there will be no sleeping there, Rev. 4:8. and 14:11. They are miserable men who know no other, or better comforts than these.
4. The business and affairs of this life have no place there. Solomon observes, that all the labour of man is for his mouth, Eccl. 6:7. But though we will have our bodies there, there will be no eating and drinking there; and that will cut off that labour there; there will be no ploughing, sowing, and reaping, and other business depending thereon. There will be no business there for clothing, and housing. There is a quite new state of matters there, Rev. 21:5. The affairs of this life are for our trial in the way; but then we will be come to our journey's end; and our entertainment there will be a reward according to our works done here.
5. Earthly relations will be dissolved there, death puts an end to them, Job 3:18, 19. and they will not be made up again at the
resurrection, Matth. 22:30. There will be a general levelling in the other world; no difference left among men, but what piety or wickedness has made. There the servant and the master will be alike in other respects, and every burdened one will bear his own burden alone. There will be no more husband and wife there; for then the mystery of God is finished, and the number is made up to receive no further addition.
6. We will be separated and sorted there into two very different societies, places, and states, Matth. 25 ult. Now persons and things in this world, good and bad, are mixed, as in a corn-field where grow wheat and tares together; but in the other world there will be no such mixture; every one will be disposed of there in the due order, to be with Christ or with the devil, in heaven or hell, perfectly happy or completely miserable. And each part of that world will be stocked with inhabitants vastly more numerous than ever this world was; since all generations of the righteous will be in heaven, and all generations of the wicked will be in hell.
7. There will be no communication or intercourse betwixt the two societies, Luke 16:19. The saints in heaven will know the misery of the damned, and the damned will know the happiness of the saints, as appears from that parable; but there will be no passage from the one place to the other. The impassable gulf between them will bar all communication. The saints will not desire to go into the place and company of the damned: and the pit with her bars will be about the damned for ever, that they cannot get out into the place and society of the saints.
Lastly, Our first state there will be eternal, Matth. 25 ult. There will be no end of the happiness of the saints, and no end of the misery of the damned. The world to come will ever be so; when millions of ages
are past, it will be as far from an end as at its beginning, for it will have no end.
Inf. Let us look forward unto the life we are to have in the other world after the resurrection, and consider that the manner of life we have here is passing, Let them no more be our main questions, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? and, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? for the time will come when these things shall be in eternal disuse. Let us not sink our minds into the affairs of this life; for a little time will put an end to them. Let us improve the relations we stand in for our personal well-being in another world, and beware they be not ruining snares to us. Let us now separate ourselves from this world lying in wickedness, as we would not be eternally separated with them from the society of the saints.
II. We shall now consider the different states of reunited souls and bodies in the other world; namely, in heaven and hell. And,
FIRST, Of the state of men, soul and body, in heaven. In the general, they will be in a state of complete happiness of the whole man there. Betwixt death and the resurrection, they are happy, but incompletely; the one half of the man, the soul, is happy; but the other half of the man, the body, lies in the dust. But the bodies of the saints being raised at the last day, they will be completely happy in the whole man.
1. They will be in an inconceivably-happy place there, Rev. 21:10, 11. We spoke something of the place already; but certainly it is a place happy beyond what we can conceive while here. It is a paradise for pleasure, a kingdom for spaciousness, a palace for splendour and glory, and a Father's house for kindness. The most pleasant places of this world are but a wilderness in comparison with it, a strange country to the saints.
2. They will be in eternal uninterrupted light there. Truly light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun; but how much more sweet must the light of heaven be, that so far outdoes the light of the sun, that our mortal bodies which bear the one, are not able for the other? 1 Tim. 6:16. And no wonder, for it is not the sun, but the Lamb, not the rays of light from the sun or moon, but the glory of God himself, that lightens heaven, Rev. 21:23. Hence there is no night there, no darkness for ever, but an eternal day. Our sun cannot enlighten our whole globe at once, but when it is day in one hemisphere, it is night in the other. But what can set bounds to the glory of an infinite God, that lightens it?
3. They will be free from, and beyond the reach of all evil there. There will be no hazard from within, and none from without, Rev. 21:25. They will be free of sin there; there will be no body of death to molest them in that place; they will have no inclination to sin more; no temptation can reach them there; nay there is no possibility of their sinning there being confirmed in a state of perfection through the merit of Christ. They will be freed from all their troubles and sufferings there; they are beyond the reach of devils and wicked men, and the time of the Lord's trying them is over and ended.
4. There are no wants to them there, Rev. 7:16. They have a needy life of it here, but there all their wants will be made up. Their long complaints will then be eternally silenced. There will be no wants of the things of this life, more than of a candle in the brightest sunshine; there will be no wants of spiritual enjoyments, no desertions, or hiding of God's face there. There are many things in this world that will not be in heaven; but all that they will or can desire, will be there for them, and therefore they can be in no want there. There would be wants in heaven to the wicked, whose desires
are not regulated; so that they could not be happy there. But there will be none to the saints.
5. All imperfections and badges of imperfection shall be done away there. Whatever denotes the imperfection of our state here, shall be removed there; insomuch that the ordinances of preaching the word, the sacraments, &c. shall be honourably laid aside, even as the scaffolding is taken down when the house is built; the occasional graces of the Spirit, such as patience, &c. duties, such as watching, mourning, for sin, &c. are laid aside, as the sword when the war is over. Faith is turned into sight, and hope into enjoyment.
6. There will be a confluence of all good in their state there, necessary to make them completely happy.
1st, The constitution of their bodies will be heavenly, 1 Cor. 15:43. So that the case of the saints' bodies will in that world be as far preferable to their case now, as heaven is to earth. Their bodies now are a spring of much sin, sorrow, and trouble to them; but then will their bodies be advanced into a state of perfect happiness, as well as their souls.
This will come to pass, through the reforming of their bodies in the likeness of Christ's glorious body, at the resurrection, Phil. 3:21. The bodies of all are now fashioned in the likeness of the first Adam, and of him fallen, 1 Cor. 15:47, 48. for he is the father of us all, the father of our flesh, Acts 17:26. And so our bodies are mortal, inglorious, weak, and earthly, like his. But the bodies of believers are melted down in a grave, till they are reduced to dust again, and every the least lineament of Adam's image is gone; then at the resurrection Christ takes their dust and forms it into a body like unto his own, the body of the second Adam; and in this new fashion and frame it
continues for ever after in the other world. So the bodies of the saints will be,
(1.) Incorruptible there, 1 Cor. 15:42. as the body of Christ is. They will be no more liable to death nor diseases. No pains, nor uneasiness can affect them any more; nothing will be about them for ever that may create loathing to themselves or others; neither will they be liable to be worn with age; but they will be in perfect soundness for ever.
(2.) They will be glorious bodies there, 1 Cor. 15:43. The inhabitants of heaven will all of them be beauties, perfect beauties, without a metaphor. They are now all glorious within, though some of them be hard favoured, and others of them deformed, naturally or accidentally; then they will be all glorious without too; not only beautiful in their faces, but the whole body over, Matth. 13:43, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." There will be a heavenly glory on their whole bodies, making them amiable and lovely, surpassing the most framed beauties now as the light of the sun doth the shining of a candle. This will be their clothing, and other clothing they will need none, 2 Cor. 5:2.
(3.) They will be powerful and strong bodies, 1 Cor. 15:43. All flesh now is grass, weak and withering: but there will be no weakness nor weariness there; nay, the now weak and feeble saint shall be as David, and David as the angel of God. How else would they be fit for the eternal weight of glory, for continual uninterrupted exercise? 1 Cor. 15:50. The strongest man would be unable to bear the heavenly glory; the clay tabernacle in its present state would fly all in pieces; but they will be able to bear it.
(4.) They will be spiritual bodies, 1 Cor. 15:44. They will be true bodies still, but endowed with spirit-like qualities. They will be no
more clogs to the soul, but as ready and fit for the exercise of heaven, as if they were spirits. Naturalists observe, that bodies the more they are raised from the earth towards heaven, the lighter they become; surely then when they are in the highest heaven, their weight and ponderousness must be gone. They are spiritual bodies.
2dly, Their souls in their bodies will shine in their purity and perfection of the divine image, 1 John 3:2, "When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." At death the souls of the saints are so glorified, however inglorious they were while in the body. But being housed again in their glorified bodies, they will retain their heavenly lustre for ever, shining there as the candle through the lantern. And here,
(1.) Their understanding will be perfect for ever, 1 Cor. 13:12. "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." No more scales of ignorance will then be on the eyes of their understanding. Their capacity will be enlarged, to know God and his works.
(2.) Their will, will be perfectly conformed to the will of God, and completely satisfied, having all that they would have, and as they would have it. Then will be said to every saint, without limitation, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." They shall never know more what it is to be balked of their will for ever. Psal. 17 ult. "As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
(3.) Their affections shall all be perfectly heavenly. All uneasy and unpleasant affections will be discarded there; no sorrow shall ever spring up in them more, Rev. 21:4, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." All earthly affections
shall be for ever laid aside; the dregginess of them makes them unmeet for the heavenly state; and they shall no more be able to pick on them, than our dunghills can on the sun, Matth. 22:30, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in heaven." They will be all love, loving God in perfection, and all persons and things else in him only.
(4.) Their memory of things past will be fresh. It will be so with the damned in hell, Luke 16:25, 28. And how can it be doubted as to the saints in heaven, in a state of perfection? No sorrowful reflection indeed can have place in their state, but things sometimes sorrowful will be remembered with joy in the deliverance therefrom. And the looking back into their wilderness-state, their stormy voyage through the sea of this world, will fill them with wonder and praise. They will remember the times, places, means, and instruments of their acquaintance with Christ, and communion with God in the world, by which they have been brought to all that happiness, Luke 16:9. 1 Thess. 2:19.
(5.) Lastly, They will have an executive faculty answering to their will. Now the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak; so that they cannot do what they fain would; but find themselves like a bird with a stone tied to its foot, that aims to fly, but cannot. But there they shall be able to put in execution whatever they will do or desire to do.
3dly, They will be happy in the glorious society of heaven, being joint inhabitants with them there.
(1.) They will have the society of one another there, being all gathered together into one lovely company, the general assembly of the first born, Heb. 12:21. All the saints that from the beginning to the end of the world shall have lived in any part of the earth, will be altogether there, an innumerable multitude of the redeemed, all
shining ones. And since they are in a state of perfection, I wonder how it can be questioned, but they will know one another, their friends and acquaintance on earth, and get new acquaintance and knowledge of those at least that have been most eminent in the church on earth; or how the use of speech and conversation among them can be doubted.
(2.) They will have the society of the holy angels there, Heb. 12:22. They will be no more afraid of angels, when they themselves are become their equals, Luke 20:36. But they will join them in the heavenly choir, singing their hallelujahs. And whether angels shall assume airy bodies for conversing with the saints or not, there is no reason to think that they will be in a place with the angels, and yet incapable of conversing with them.
(3.) They will have the society of the man Christ there, 1 Thess. 4:17, "So shall we ever be with the Lord." They will see him with their bodily eyes, who loved them, and gave himself for them: they will see that very body that was for them crucified without the gates of Jerusalem. They will see him there shining in inconceivable glory, as their Lord, Saviour, and Redeemer; and compass his throne for ever with songs of salvation.
Lastly, They will have the presence and full enjoyment of God in Christ there, Rev. 21:7, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Here is the highest pinnacle of the saints' happiness in heaven; without this they cannot be happy completely, no not in heaven; and in the full enjoyment of him, they will be so happy, that it is impossible they can desire more for the satisfying of them. For he is an ocean of unbounded perfection. It lies in two things.
[1.] They will enjoy God in Christ, by sight of the divine glory, to the complete satisfying of their understanding, Matth. 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." The sight they will have of the divine glory is a full and clear knowledge of God, to the utmost of their enlarged capacities, as by seeing face to face, Rev. 22:4. 1 Cor. 13:12. What heart can conceive the happiness of being freely let into the view of the infinite divine perfections! Men have a mighty satisfaction in the sight of taking objects, as a curious garden, a splendid palace; but we are swallowed up when we think of being let into the view of the infinite divine perfections, where there must be something always new.
[2.] They will enjoy God in Christ, by experience of the divine goodness, to the complete satisfying of their will, Rev. 7:16, 17, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;—for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." There is an all-fulness of goodness in God, an inexhaustible fountain of it, and they shall have an unrestrained participation of it, Psal. 36:8, 9, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light." Rev. 21:3, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." He will make of his goodness to flow into them for ever, and there shall be nothing to hinder them from all of it they can desire. And it is impossible they can desire any thing beyond it.
4thly, They will have a fulness of joy there, Psal. 16:11. Rivers of pleasures run in Immanuel's land. Joy unspeakable shall fill their hearts for ever, and appear in the countenances, where never again shall the least cloud of sorrows sit down. Now is the sowing time of
tears, but then is the reaping time of joy; and that harvest wherein they bring back their sheaves rejoicing, will never be over.
5thly, All their happiness, joy, and glory, they will have eternally through Christ, as the great means of communication betwixt God and them, Rev. 21:23. "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." They will continue for ever members of Christ, and members as members must needs live by communication with the head. So that the immediate enjoyment of God in heaven, is to be understood only in opposition to the intervening of outward means.
6thly, There will be degrees of glory among them, 1 Cor. 15:41, 42. "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." The reward will be according to, though not for their works; and they who have glorified God most by suffering or acting for him, will be the more highly advanced in glory by him, Luke 19:17, 19. Howbeit all of them will have what they can hold, the least as well as the greatest, as when bottles of different sizes are filled.
7thly, They shall be perfectly sure, that this their happy state shall last for ever. They know it now by faith in the word, how can they doubt of it then in a state of perfection? Their having any doubt of it could not but breed some anxiety, inconsistent with perfect happiness.
Lastly, Then shall the chief, last, or farthest end of man, be reached. And that is the glory of God, for which end they are made completely happy, in the full enjoyment of God, Prov. 16:4; Rom. 11 ult. So being made perfectly happy, they will answer that end in glorifying God, by
loving, praising, and serving him perfectly, to all eternity, Psal. 86:12, 13. "I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." Rev. 7:9, 10. "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Ver. 15. "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth in the throne shall dwell among them." Chap. 22:3. "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.
Inf. 1. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. He is the best of masters, whatever hardships his servants be put to here. Heaven will make amends for all.
2. They who are truly godly do best consult not only the welfare of their souls, but of their bodies too. The way of faith and holiness is the way to reach the cure of all maladies at length; it is the way to get a sound body, with all the advantages of strength, comeliness, liveliness, &c.
Lastly, The faith of this should arm believers against the terror of death and the grave. Why not melt down the old crazy vessel, to be new shaped?
SECONDLY, Let us next view the state of men, soul and body in hell. Having viewed the state of men after the resurrection in the happy part of the other world, we must now consider the state of men after
the resurrection in the regions of horror in the other world. An awful subject! but necessary. That part of mankind that shall justly be doomed to that part of the other world, will be absolutely miserable there. Concerning which these following things may be considered.
1. They will be totally and finally separated from God there, excommunicated from his presence, Matth. 25:41. Now they say to God, "Depart from us," while he is following them with mercy and offers of peace; then they will be wholly and for ever put away. And this is the punishment of loss. There are these six things in it.
(1.) They will have no part in the habitation of the just, Matth. 8:11, 12. They will have no footing in the better country, no seat in the mansions of glory. They will lose heaven, the seat of the blessed; and while the godly are taken within the city, they cannot enter the gates, but must lodge without for ever, Rev. 21:15.
(2.) They will be excommunicated from the presence of the saints, and have no share in the happy society. They cared not for their company here, if it was not to serve a turn; and there they shall be freely parted for ever. The company of the righteous being gone into the marriage, the door is bolted against them, that they cannot get in, no not if it were to lie among their feet, Matth. 25:10.
(3.) They will be excluded from the presence of the holy angels. They will have at the resurrection a terrible meeting with them, Matth. 13:49. and a more dreadful parting with them, ver. 50. never to meet again. It is another kind of angels with whom they must eternally lodge.
(4.) They will be locally separated from the man Christ. They shall never come into the place where he shines in his glory. He will effectually order their getting away out of his presence, by a terrible
voice from his throne, Matth. 25:41. "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And they shall go away one way, and he another with his saints; and they shall never meet again. However he courted them in this world, and they still fled from him, and would have none of him, they will never have a good word for them or to them, from him any more.
(5.) They will be relatively separated from God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They cannot be locally separated from him, who is every where present, in hell as well as in heaven, Psal. 139:8. But there will be a relative separation, in an eternal blocking up of all comfortable communication between God and them; as when parties break up a treaty of peace, and part with hostile mind, proclaiming war against one another. Now though God is not their God by covenant, yet he is their Benefactor, and they get much benefit by that relation, Luke 6:35. But then it is broke off for ever.
Lastly, They will be for ever under a total eclipse of all light of comfort and ease spiritual and bodily, Matth. 22:13. "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him away into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Hos. 9:12. "Wo also to them when I depart from them." Whatever good thing in body or mind they now enjoy is from God, as the light is from the sun; and therefore God totally withdrawing from, it is impossible that any thing good or comfortable can remain with them; but even as when there is but one chink in a house to let in the light, and that is stopt, there must needs be a total darkness.
2. They will be miserable both in body and soul there; for they must depart into everlasting fire, Matth. 25:41. How can it be otherwise in the lake of fire and brimstone, as it is called? Rev. 20:10.
As to the state of their bodies there, though they be new-framed of their dust, yet it will be to no advantage but to fit them for a state of eternal misery. And we may take a view of it in these three things.
(1.) Their bodies will be base, inglorious, and loathsome, Dan. 12:2. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake— some to shame and everlasting contempt." Isa. 65:24. "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." No beauty can possibly be found in them there, but their countenance will be for ever ghastly and frightful, as in the pangs of the second death. They will be like so many dead carcases there for unsightliness, while death preys on them there buried out of the sight of all, in the pit of destruction.
(2.) There will be no health nor soundness in them there. How can there be in bodies suffering the vengeance of eternal fire? What hale side can one have to turn him to, swimming in a lake of fire? They will be in torments, Luke 16:23.
(3.) Yet will they be of such a constitution as to bear up, and not faint away under their torments there, Matth, 25 ult. They will ever be in the pangs of death, but never die out. The power of God will keep them up in that case, that they shall not have the favour of fainting nor dying out.
As to the state of their souls in their bodies there.
(1.) Their minds or understandings will be fitted to carry on their misery there. They will be impressed there with clear notions of things, that here they either know not, or would not know; but then they will only be so known as to aggravate their misery, Luke 16:23,
"And in hell he lift up his eyes—and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." They will know then what God is, Christ, sin, heaven, hell, and this world then past. Their minds will then be fixed and active; fixed on their misery, and active in turning it about in all its shapes, without possibility of diversion from the thoughts of it. The impressions of wrath will be deep there.
(2.) Their will, as it will for ever continue enmity against God, so it will be crossed for ever by him. What they would, they shall never obtain; and what they would not, shall be eternally bound on them. In the state of trial they would needs have their will, and many times they got it; but they will get it no more, when once there; the will of God will resist it for ever. Hence there is no rest for them, Rev. 14:11.
(3.) Their affections will all be tormenting, Matth. 22:13, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." All pleasant passions, whether of one kind or another, will then be rooted out: no joy nor delight in any object whatsoever will spring up with them any more. But they will be brim-full of sorrow, racked with anxiety, filled with horror, galled with fretfulness, and darted through with despair, Rev. 16:21. Their souls stocked with strong lusts, and sinful habits contracted in their life, will be left to pine on in them for ever; eagerly desiring to have them gratified, but no gratification of them possible. So they will be under an eternal gnawing hunger after something to satisfy the large cravings of their sinful wretched souls; but there will be nothing to be had for ever for that end, Luke 16:25.
(4.) Their consciences will ever be awake there, and witness to their faces that they are justly ruined, and have ruined themselves, Matth. 22:12. It will present to them their sins through the whole course of their life, and cut them with remorse for them. It will upbraid them with their unbelief, witness against them that they were warned, but
would not hearken. And so it will be in them a gnawing worm that dieth not.
(5.) Their memories will be fresh there, Luke 16:25. Sins sometimes buried and out of mind with them, will be called to mind with all their aggravating circumstances. They will have a galling and cutting remembrance of the pleasures of sin, which they sometime thought themselves happy in; of the profits of sin that they sometimes hugged themselves in. Times, places, means, instruments, when, where, and by which they were ruined, or might have been brought into a state of salvation, will all be remembered there.
Lastly, The wrath of God will sink into their souls there, Psal. 109:18. Vindictive justice will make inconceivable impressions on them, that will melt their souls like wax in the midst of their bowels. Some of God's own people have felt some drops of wrath here, that if they had continued but a little longer, they would have fainted away under them. What will the full shower of it be in hell, where every stone of that hail is the weight of a talent? Rev. 16:21.
3. They will be shut up in outer darkness there, Matth. 22:13. Hell is the place of outer darkness. It is so called in opposition to the glorious light that the saints within heaven do enjoy. The Jews had their marriage-suppers by night, and so while the guest-chamber was filled with lights, there was nothing but darkness without. So while the saints are in heaven, in eternal light at the marriage supper of the Lamb, the damned are without in darkness. It must be so; for light is sweet to the eyes, and nothing sweet can be there. When Christ suffered on the cross, there was an eclipse for the same reason. But it went off, for Christ overcame death; but the eclipse in hell can never go off. And the darkness there is a deep darkness, it is the mist of
darkness that never clears, 2 Pet. 2:17. the blackness of darkness, Jude, 13. Hence,
(1.) Dismal and melancholy must the state of the damned be, in that region of horror, where is not the least comfortable gleam of light to their eyes. As there is no night in heaven, but eternal day, so there is no day in hell, but an eternal night, an everlasting gloom. If there were no more in it, it would be terrible never to see the light.
(2.) They will not range up and down as vain men now do in the world, diverting themselves with this and the other object. There is nothing to be seen there to please the eye. The Egyptian darkness was an emblem of it, which gives the reason of the phrase, chains of darkness, as was before observed. And accordingly the damned are said to be bound hand and foot, Matth. 22:13. in which posture one cannot range from place so place, but at most toss and roll himself like a sick man on his bed.
4. They will have the society of devils there, being shut up with them in the same pit of destruction, Matth. 25:41. Rev. 20:10. As the saints in heaven shall be happy in the society of God himself, Christ, and his holy angels; so will the damned be miserable in the society of the devil and his angels. How dreadful would it be to dwell in the pleasantest spot of the earth haunted by the apparitions of devils? how much more than all that to be shut up in the pit of hell, in the Lake of fire with them, when they shall be filled with wrath to the brim!
5. There will be degrees of torment and misery in hell, the torments of some more grievous than others. All there will be unspeakably miserable, and unpitied in their misery; but the misery of some will be screwed up to a greater height than that of others. As sinners classed themselves on earth, in higher or lower forms, in
dishonouring God; so will they be classed in their punishment, Matth. 13:30. "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them." As there are many mansions in heaven, so will there be many bundles in hell; bundles of ignorants, worldlings, swearers, unclean, persecutors, mockers, hypocrites, &c. And the more means of reformation any had, and the greater height of impiety they went to under these means, the more miserable will their case be there, Luke 12:47, 48. Matth. 24 ult.
6. Their misery will be eternal there, and they will know that it will be so, Matth. 25:41. "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." Prov. 14:32. "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness." It will be everlasting, without intermission, Rev. 14:11. "The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night." No breathing time will be allowed there, but the floods of wrath will be incessantly flowing in upon them. There will be no clearing of the storm that blows there, for ever so short a while. It will be eternal, without ending, Rev. 20:10. "They shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever." There is no end to be for ever expected of the easeless torments there. And the damned knowing this, will be cut for ever with despair, and rage, like wild bulls in a net."
Lastly, And thus God will be glorified passively, in those who now will not actively glorify him, Prov. 16:4. "The Lord hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." God made man for his glory, capable of enjoying him for ever; he cannot fail short of his end, and therefore he will be glorified upon those who now refuse to answer the end of their creation.
Inf. 1. Sin is a most dreadful evil. Here is a looking-glass wherein you may see it so. How great must the filthiness of it be, that provokes a
gracious holy God, to bury the sinner in such a horrible pit out of his sight! How deep must the guilt be, that cannot be washed out with such fearful punishment, so as to have an end!
2. God is a God of terrible justice, a severe avenger of sin. O correct your mistakes of God by this, Psal. 50:21. He gave a demonstration of his justice, in the burning of Sodom; here he gives an eternal demonstration of it.
Lastly, There is nothing that possibly can make the life of an impenitent sinner in this world desirable which has such a miserable end.
The Doctrine of the other World applied
And now, after having viewed this present world, we have given you some description of the other world, to let you into a necessary view of it; it remains to shut up that weighty subject with some application of the whole.
FIRST, Believe the report from the word concerning the other world firmly; and let it have deep impression on your souls. Consider of it timely with all earnestness, stretch your views beyond this present world, look into the world to come, with the prospect of the word which has been cleared in some measure unto you. There are two things very prevalent in this world, in reference to the other world.
First, Thoughtlessness about it. Men spend their days as in a dream, going through this world with the other world seldom coming into their view, never entering into any suitable thoughtfulness about it. The reasons hereof are,
1. The reigning vanity of the minds of men, Eph. 4:17, 18. The light and frothy mind cannot find entertainment in any thing that is not like itself, light and vain. Therefore thoughts of the other world are shunned, as a bird delighting to skip from bush to bush, would shun the tying of a stone to its foot. But alas! what avails that, since going into that world cannot be shunned that way?
2. Throng of the cares of this life, Matth. 13:23. Men's hearts are so stuffed and perplexed with these, that the concerns of another world cannot get entrance into their hearts; cumbered about many things, the one thing needful is forgot. Hence death surprises many in such a throng, and hurries them away into another, when they were not at all thinking on it, Psal. 146:4. Luke 12:20.
3. An averseness of heart to the other world. The hearts of most men are so wedded to this world, that for as great a hell as it is, they would desire no better heaven than what they could make here. They are in no case content to leave it, and go into another world. And their aversion to it makes them thoughtless about it, that they really shun the thoughts of it as much as they can, since they can have no pleasure in them.
4. A fond conceit of coming in time enough to think of the concerns of the other world, when they come near the borders of it; though alas! they know not how near they are to it, and their foot may slip, and they pass into it ere ever they are aware.
Lastly, Satan has a great hand in it, who endeavours to hoodwink sinners, and to be continually buzzing into their ears other things, that may keep them from serious thoughts about it; and all to compass their ruin.
Secondly, Unbelief of it. Men are not only thoughtless about it, not turning their thoughts that way; but when the report of it is brought to them, they do not believe it. There is a root of Atheism and infidelity in the minds of men, as to things not seen, so that they hear these things as idle tales. The evidences of this are,
1. The little impression these things make on the minds of men, when they hear them. How many do hear the report of the other world with as little concern as they could hear an idle story, which they had no manner of concern about? The account of the joys of heaven does not move them, and that of the terrors of hell makes no suitable impression.
The supine negligence and carelessness about our part in the other world. If in the time of hearing men are somewhat moved, yet they are like the sieve taken out of the water when they go away, they lose all. They are not effectually stirred up to take some course whereby they may flee from the wrath to come, and may become heirs of heaven. If it were but a cot house they had, in case they were to remove out of it, they would be careful to secure another for themselves. But they know they must die, yet they are quite careless as to where they are to lodge next.
Lastly, The unaccountable misspending of time, either trifling or doing evil; doing nothing or what is worse than nothing. Did men believe, that now they are sowing for eternity, that what they now do in this world, they are to eat the fruit of in the other world; would they be so barren in good works, and so lavish in sinful courses and actions?
Wherefore I beseech you consider seriously of the world to come, and believe the report about it.
I. About the being of it. O to believe firmly, that there is another world, a heaven and a hell; a receptacle of joy for the departed souls of the godly, whereinto their bodies also are to be received after the resurrection; and a receptacle of horror for the souls and bodies of the wicked.
2. About the state of men in it, as held forth in the word; how that there they arrive either at the highest pinnacle of happiness or misery; and to continue unchangeable for ever and ever. To inforce the exhortation I offer the following motives.
1. Consider ye have by the providence of God heard much of it from the word of God. The Lord of the other world has appointed his messengers to speak of it to us in this world, that we may make ready for it in time. When the Lord has been sounding the alarm, let us not be deaf to his call, but know and believe that we are to march into the other world. It will be an aggravated guilt to be thoughtless about it, after hearing so much of it, or to entertain the report as idle tales.
2. The world we have been hearing of, we will all see at length; and see it not afar off, but being in it. We might be the less concerned about it, if we were never to go there; but thither we must all go. And it may well apologize for our insisting so much on it, that we are to be inhabitants there, eternal inhabitants there. It must be infatuation to be thoughtless or unbelieving about it.
3. It will not be long ere we will be there. We have but a handbreadth of days to pass, and then we are there; our age, which is as nothing before the Lord, being once run through, we pass into that other world. Our life here is but a short preface to a long eternity; a skip from the womb to the grave, and we have made considerable progress in it already. And we are not far from the entrance of the passage into the other world, and in a little we will be in one of the
parts of it, join the inhabitants thereof, and be settled in the state of it.
4. We know not how soon we may be there. The journey to the other world is not alike long to all. It is but a short journey the longest of it; but God brings some there by a short cut, and they are at the end when they think there is a great part of the way before them.
Lastly, A happy part there will never be reached without serious thoughts about it, and a firm faith in it.
SECONDLY, Improve the believed report of the other world suitably. If there is really another world, a world to come, and such as from the Lord's word it has been reported of to you; without controversy it is a matter of the greatest concern to us, and ought to influence our whole life. And it is not a true faith of it, that does not influence our conduct accordingly. Now if we would improve it suitably,
First, Improve it to a speedy choice of the way to the happy part of it, and entering upon it without delay. We are all going to the other world; but as there are two very distant parts of it, so there are two as really different ways therein, viz. the broad way, and the narrow way, Matth. 7:13, 14. If you take the broad way, it will have a miserable ending; if the narrow, a happy ending. Therefore choose well speedily, and enter on the happy way without delay. And,
1. Choose and enter speedily into the personal way, the Lord Jesus Christ, John 14:6. Unite with him by faith, Eph. 3:17. He is Lord of the other world, and heir of all things; match with him, and heaven shall be your dowery. The keys of hell and death hang at his girdle; but them that come unto him he will in no wise cast out. Here is the sure bargain for eternity. Enter personally into the covenant of grace, by believing on Christ.
2. Choose and enter speedily on the real way, the way of holiness, Isa. 35:8. For "without holiness no man shall see the Lord," Heb. 12:14. If ye mind the holy city in the other world, ye must be holy in all conversation. If ye hold the way of looseness and licentiousness, profanity, or formality, it will undoubtedly land you in the unclean place in the other world. As ye sow ye will reap.
Secondly, Improve it to a lowering of your esteem of this present world, and weaning your hearts from it, 1 John 2:15. A right view of the other world would make this with all its gaudy show little in our eyes.
1. Seek not your portion in it. Leave that to those who have no expectation of the treasure in heaven; make the best of it they can, they will make a sorry portion of it, Psal. 17:14, 15. Take ye that advice, if ye be wise, Matth. 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Let the riches, honours, and pleasures of the other world be the great conquest you are set for; and the things of a present life only a byhand work.
2. Set not your hearts upon it, but use it passingly, 1 Cor. 7:29–31. Carry yourselves not as natives, but as pilgrims and strangers in it. What a folly would it be for the traveller to let his heart go out on the conveniences of the inn, which he is quickly to leave; on the pleasant places by the way, where he is but passing?
3. Do not value yourselves upon your possessions in it, and your expectations from it. The former are very precarious, which he may soon be deprived of; the latter very uncertain, wherein ye are fair to be disappointed. The world's mountains in expectation, often dwindle into molehills of enjoyment. But value yourselves, according to the possessions and expectations from the other world.
Thirdly, Improve it to a Christian bearing of your afflictions with patience, Luke 21:19. Jam. 5:7. If we observe well, we will see that many times it is a falling into afflicting circumstances in this world, that makes us look first after the other world; and the same is what makes people look to it again, after prosperity has made them forget it. And having believingly looked into the other world, when we look back again to our afflictions, we will be the more able to bear them patiently. For,
1. We will thereby find them to be comparatively light burdens. That which makes our afflictions so very heavy, and us so uneasy under them, is the weighing them in the balance with other things of this world; our sorrow and other's joy, our poverty and other's wealth, our wants and other's enjoyments; that is the devil's rack, which he aims to put the afflicted on, that they may be made to murmur, spurn, rage, and quarrel. But lay them in the balance with the other world's joys and sorrows, they will be light as a feather, 2 Cor. 4:17, 18.
2. We will find them thereby to be short also, ib. The afflicted are ready to cry out, their trouble never ends, they can see no out-gate. Why, but because they look not to the other world, a view of which would soon make them see they are mistaken. Job 3:17, "There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest." What are our afflictions here of the longest continuance, but like the inconveniencies a traveller meets with on the road? If he is going to his father's house, he easily digests it, knowing that he will be easy there; if they be carrying him away to prison, he easily digests it, seeing that it will be worse with him. In both cases he bears it, knowing he is not to stay with them.
3. We will thereby see ourselves the more nearly allied to the saints in glory in the other world, by companionship in tribulation. Where are they in the other world, that had their good things in this world, and where are they that had their evil things? Luke 16:25. If ye look through the upper part of that world, there ye will see the man of sorrows, the man of God's right hand there, and all his happy attendants persons that came out of great tribulations, Rev. 7:14; the sore tried Abraham, the burdened man Moses, the afflicted David, the persecuted Paul, the mournful Heman, &c. If ye look to the lower part of it, there ye will see those that spent their days in wealth, and in a moment went down to the grave, Job 21:13. in a merry jovial life; the dancing Herodias, the rich glutton that fared deliciously every day, &c. A serious look of this sort to the other world, would make us embrace our cross, and say, Lord, let me not taste of the dainties of the wicked, nor get my heaven here.
Lastly, We will thereby see ourselves a fitting and squaring for heaven. Stones to be laid in the temple above must be cut and hewed before they come there. Afflictions are God's hewing tools, whereby he smooths people for that building; and rough and hard stones we are, that take much hewing. Instruments of our afflictions are but the hands he employs for smoothing the stones for his building.
Lastly, Improve it to suitable endeavours to prepare for that other world. If ye prepare not for it, ye do not believe the report of it. And,
1. Labour to be habitually prepared for it. Get out of your natural state, into the state of grace; live no longer without the bond of the covenant, but personally enter into it, by believing on Christ. Ye must be converted, ye must be born again, and become new creatures.
2. Labour to reach actual preparation for the other world, being always ready to go into it at the call. Let your thoughts dwell much
upon it; carry yourselves as strangers in this world, let there be no standing controversy betwixt God and you; and timely dispatch your generation work, and watch and wait till your change come. Consider what you have heard of the other world, and lay it to heart.
THE GREAT CARE AND CONCERN NOW,
THAT OUR SOULS BE NOT GATHERED WITH SINNERS IN THE OTHER WORLD,
CONSIDERED AND IMPROVED
The substance of some Sermons preached at Ettrick, in the year 1729
PSALM 26:9
Gather not my soul with sinners.
WHOEVER believes and considers the doctrine of the other world, must needs improve it to a horror of the state of the ungodly there, on the one hand, and a desire of the state of the godly on the other. He cannot miss to join the Psalmist in this text, saying, Gather not my soul with sinners. In which words we have to observe,
1. Something taken for granted, or supposed, namely, that the souls of men are to be gathered, each to those of their own sort, which is at death, Gen. 25:8. Now there is a promiscuous multitude in this world, good and bad together, like corn and chaff in a barn-floor, or fishes in a net; but they are gathered in the other world, some into the happy, others into the miserable company, every one to those of their own sort.
2. Something expressed, namely, a horror of the congregation of sinners in the other world. "Lord, (says he,) gather not my soul
among their souls; when I remove hence, let me not take up my lodging among them; let me not drop into their company, state and condition in the other world."
3. The connection. This request comes in natively on a reflection the Psalmist makes on the disposition of his soul, and his way, in this world. His conscience witnesseth his dislike of associating with the ungodly, ver. 4, 5, "I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers; I have hated the congregation of evil doers, and will not sit with the wicked; "his love and liking to the presence of God and the congregation of the saints, ver. 8, "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." So he prays with hope, Gather not my soul with sinners: q. d. Lord, I have no liking of the company of ungodly sinners here; it is a burden to me in this world; let me not be shut up with them in the other world. My soul loves thy house; let me not be with sinners excluded eternally from thy presence.
The text plainly affords the following doctrine, viz.
DOCT. Now is the time that people should be in care and concern, that their souls be not gathered with sinners in the other world.
In discoursing from this doctrine, we shall,
I. Consider some things implied in it.
II. Shew who are the sinners, that we are to have a horror of our souls being gathered with in the other world.
III. What it is for one's soul to be gathered with sinners in the other world.
IV. Consider his care and concern; or shew, what is implied in this earnest request, "Gather not my soul with sinners."
V. Give the reasons, why we should be in such care and concern.
VI. Make application.
I. We shall consider some things implied in the doctrine. It implies,
1. The souls of men in their bodies in this world, are in a scattered and disorderly condition, saints and sinners in one place, one outward condition, all mixed through other; the tares and the wheat are in one field; corn and chaff in one floor; fish good and bad in one net; sheep and goats in one flock; Ham in the ark, Judas in Christ's family, and profane hypocrites with sincere Christians, in one visible church. This mixture has a threefold effect.
(1.) It keeps both parties uneasy, Gen. 3:15. The saints are uneasy with the conversation of sinners, 2 Pet. 2:7. and sinners with that of saints, who are an eye-sore to them, Gen. 19:9. The one wearies to have the other out of their world, the other many a time to be away from among them. Their principles, aims, and manner of life are opposite; and they cannot unite more than the iron and clay.
(2.) They are an embargo upon one another, so that this world is neither so good nor yet so bad, as otherwise it would be. It is with the world in this case, as with the believer in whom there is a mixture of flesh and spirit, Gal. 5:17. The conversation of sinners often infects saints, leads them into snares and temptations; handling of pitch they are defiled, and are often made to come mourning out of her company, as Peter in the high priest's hall. Sometimes again saints win on sinners, to turn them from the evil of their ways, 1 Cor. 7:12, 13, 16. 1 Pet. 3:1. And even where that is not gained, yet it does
something to keep the world in external order, beyond what it would be if all were alike, no mixture of saints in the society, Matth. 5:13. like salt that keeps it from rotting and stinking, as otherwise it would do.
(3.) There is a mixed dispensation of providence in the world; sometimes fair weather, sometimes foul; sometimes public mercies dispensed, sometimes public calamities; for God has his friends and his enemies both in one company; and the society meets with tokens of God's good-will for the sake of the one, and tokens of anger for the sake of the other.
2. The souls of men in the other world will be orderly ranged into different congregations, according to their different natures and dispositions, saints and sinners, who will make two unmixed societies. This implies two things.
(1.) A separation of the disagreeing parties now mixed, Matth. 3:12. The good and bad mixed in this world will be separated there; they will not make but one society more, as they did here; and the separation will be a thorough one, not one goat left among the sheep, nor one sheep among the goats, Psal. 1:5. Matth. 13:41. For all the mixture that is here, there will be a cleanly separation there, whatever were the ties of political, ecclesiastical, or domestical relations among them. Matth. 24:40, 41, "Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left."
(2.) A gathering of their separate parties into their respective societies they belonged to, whereby they will be ranged according to their kind and sort; saints with saints, and sinners with sinners. For there will be two, and but two congregations in the other world, Christ's and the devil's, Psal. 1:5; the bundle of life, 1 Sam. 25:29, and
the bundle of death, Matth. 13:33. Many are misplaced here, and get wrong names; some of the devil's goats appear in sheep's clothing, and are mistaken for such as belong to Christ; some of Christ's sheep are busked up by the malicious world in wolves' skins, as if they belonged to the devil. But nothing of that will be there.
3. Death is the gathering time, which the Psalmist has in view in the text. Ye have a time here that ye call the gathering time, about the term, when the servants are going away, wherein ye gather your strayed sheep that every one may get their own again. Death is God's gathering time wherein he gets the souls belonging to him, and the devil those belonging to him. They did go long together, but then they are parted; and saints are taken home to the congregation of saints, and sinners to the congregation of sinners. And it concerns us to say, "Gather not my soul with sinners." Whoever be our people here, God's people, or the devil's, death will gather our souls to them.
Lastly, It is a horrible thing to be gathered with sinners in the other world. To think of our souls being gathered with them there, may make the hair of one's head stand up. Many now like no gathering like the gathering with sinners; it is the very delight of their hearts, it makes a brave jovial life in their eyes. And it is a pain to them, to be gathered with saints, to be detained before the Lord on a sabbath day. But to be gathered with them in the other world, is a horror to all sorts.
(1.) The saints have a horror of it, as in the text. To think to be staked down in their company in the other world, would be a hell of itself to the godly. David never had such a horror of the society of the poor, the diseased, the persecuted, &c. as of sinners. He is content to be gathered with saints of whatever condition; but, Lord, says he, "Gather not my soul with sinners."
(2.) The wicked themselves have a horror of it, Numb. 21:10. "Let me die the death of the righteous," said the wicked Balaam, "and let my last end be like his." Though they would be content to live with them, or be with them in life, their consciences bear witness that they have a horror of being with them in death. They would live with sinners, but they would die with saints. A poor unreasonable selfcondemning thought. I believe, that if drunkards, unclean persons, mockers of religion, embracing and rejoicing in one another, should as Belshazzar see the form of a hand writing on the wall, that it is the purpose of God, their souls should be gathered with one another in the other world, they would be struck and ready to faint away with horror, thinking, "Ah! shall my soul be gathered with drunkards, harlots, mockers?" &c.
Wherefore since all have a horror of their souls being gathered with sinners in the other world, have a horror of being gathered with them now in their way. For it is an absurd thing to think, that you shall live with sinners, and yet die with saints. Balaam wished to reconcile these contradictions, but found it would not do, Numb. 31:8.
II. I come to shew who are the sinners, that we are to have a horror of our souls to be gathered with in the other world. All men in this world are sinners absolutely considered, and so was David himself; Eccl. 7:22. "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not." But some are sinners comparatively, in comparison with others that are righteous; they are grievous sinners, as the word properly signifies; hence they are classed with publicans, a most odious sort of people among the Jews, Matth. 9:10.
Now sinners, grievous sinners, in the scripture use of the word, are all unrighteous persons, as appears from the opposition of these terms, Psal. 1:5. "Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." Prov. 13:21. "Evil pursueth sinners; but to the righteous good shall be repaid." Matth. 9:13. He that is not righteous, is in the scripturesense a sinner, a grievous sinner. Hence,
1. All unjustified persons are sinners; for they are unrighteous before God, as being without an imputed righteousness on them, Rom. 5:19. And since all unbelievers are unjustified, whatever is their manner of life, they are such sinners; they walk naked before God, and their shame is not covered.
2. All unconverted, unsanctified, unregenerate persons are sinners; for they are unrighteous as being without an implanted righteousness, Psal. 51:13. Rom. 5:8. They are not brought back to God, but are in a course of straying from him; their unholy set of spirit remains, their nature is not changed.
Thus all natural men are sinners, whose state in the other world is horrible, whatever their appearance and way may be here. There are four sorts of them.
1. The grossly ignorant, who neither know nor care for knowing the foundation points of religion. These cannot be but sinners; for however harmless they may be among men, they are grievous sinners before God as being in darkness, 1 John 2:11. Matth. 6:23. And miserable will they be whose souls are gathered with them in the other world, Isa. 27:11. "It is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour."
2. The profane, who give the loose to their lusts, in the pollutions of the outward man. Such as profane swearers, who set their mouths against the heavens, whom God will not hold guiltless; unclean
persons, whom God will judge; scoffers of piety, maligners, and mockers of seriousness, whose hands shall be made strong; in a word, all those who are loose and licentious in their lives. These are sinners with a witness; and wo to them whose souls shall be gathered with them in the other world, Gal. 5:19–21. "They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Luke 19:27. "Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me."