Chapter IV
That the souls of believers do, immediately after the death of the body, pass
into a state of glory, demonstrated from the design of the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. iv. 17,18. To encourage the saints to endure all afflictions and
calamities of this life; and from his design in 2 Cor. v. 14, to comfort them against all apprehensions of death.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, workethfor us afar wort
exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; whilst we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which
are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. .For we know, that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. For in this ice groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed, we shall not
be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being bur
dened: not for that ice would be unclothed, but clothed iqion, that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. 2 COR. IV. 17-V. 4.
One eminent part of the good news of the gospel is the blessed estate of
souls instantly upon the dissolution of their bodies ; and this, in the name
of all the primitive Christians, doth the apostle here utter as their faith : We know, &c. So, then, we have it not as Paul s doctrine alone, but as
the common faith of Christians. And that, In these two points
I. That our bodies shall be raised at the last day. And,
II. That in the mean time our souls shall live. In these two did Christ instruct Mary in the llth chapter of John. The
first is in ver. 25, He that believeth. on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : there is the resurrection of the body ; the second is in ver.
* And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this ? In answer to the resurrection of the body Christ had prefaced, ver. 25, I am the resurrection ; in answer to the living of the soul he
26,
says, I am the life. Believest thou this ? says he. Put this into thy
creed, as the primitive believers did into theirs.
In correspondency to both these two so positive assertions of Christ, I
observe our apostle s preface in the foregoing chapter, ver. 13, We believe, and therefore speak ; and what are those points we believe, and therefore
utter with confidence? 1. The resurrection of the body, with the glory that follows thereupon. The ultimate object of our faith, ver. 14, Know
ing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 2. The glory of the soul in the mean time
( For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have
presently after dissolution ; this is in verse 1 of this chapter,
a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
This is certain, that the Holy Ghost hath penned in the latter part of
the foregoing chapter, and in these words, more lines about the state of
glory than in any one scripture again together in the whole book of God.
And the controversy is, what state of glory it is that in these words is
meant.
I shall fix the state of this controversy by these few premises
CHAP. IV.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 357
1. That the apostle s punctual and proper scope is to comfort himself and all believers against death ; for he puts the case in such terms : If
this body be dissolved; he speaks but generally afore, &c., in chapter iv., but he in the fifth chapter particulariseth the case of death ; and again he utters this comfort in the name of all Christians in the world :
* We know,
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, &c. And it is intended to shew what comfort and cordials believers have against fainting
at the thoughts of death, for this verse, by this word FOR, &c., carries us up to the 16th verse as a reason why
* we faint not, always being delivered
to death, &c.
2. The question then next is, what it is should be that proper, special matter of comfort against death in this 5th chapter, ver. 1, &c. And here upon comes the difference of the opinions to be stated.
1. Whether only that, if their earthly bodies be now dissolved, their souls should have instead thereof other manner of bodies, as compared to another house for their souls to dwell in, namely, those bodies which shall be made
glorious at the resurrection ?
Or, 2, it may be queried, whether the whole glory of the soul, either whilst without the body till the resurrection, or with the body after the
resurrection, is meant ? YeVso as that, however, immediately upon disso
lution the soul should have a glory which is ready prepared for it, which the apostle calls here
* our house ; and which after dissolution it presently should enter into, and is entertained in, and takes as it were possession first of, until both body and soul shall be joined again together, to a more
full and complete possession of the same glory for ever.
So as the difference in general between these two opinions is, that the one confines the whole only to the glory the soul shall have in the body ; the other opinion of ours enlargeth itself to the glory of all states from the instant of death, and so through all eternity, and afiirmeth that according to the intent of this scripture this glory commenceth or beginneth from the time of dissolution ; so as their opinion excludeth or cutteth off all that
part of the glory of men s souls out of the body, and not to be meant in
this place; but ours takes in all, only it doth particularly contend for this, that the glory of the soul out of the body being that which is next, and of
general concernment to the saints till the resurrection, and that being a
space for so long a time to come, even almost two thousand years from
the time of the apostle s writing, this meaning should therefore be intended
by him.
But yet more particularly, to the end that the state of this difference of
opinion may be understood, and thereby also what the conduct or steerage of our ensuing discourse is to be, it must be further related concerning that
opinion of those that makes the glory of the body the subject of the apostle s
discourse.
1. How that some of them seem to interpret the whole of the paragraph, from verse 1 to verse 10, of the glory of soul and body only when joined
together. Yet it may be withal observed of those interpreters, that when
they come to give the meaning of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th verses, they there fall flat ; or as treading upon ice do slide them over, not openly
affirming of either which is meant ; when yet they had openly interpreted the four first verses of the glory of the body when joined to the soul only. For indeed the words in those 6th, 7th, and 8th verses are so clear for the
soul s glory apart, without the body, and for its presence with the Lord when separate, that they could not oppose that meaning. Only I find
358 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. IV.
Grotius* so daring as to interpret those words, present with the Lord,
ver. 8, to be meant of the state after the resurrection, when yet the words
speak of that presence whieh falls out when we are absent from the body
in the very words afore.
2. Estius therefore, an ingenious papist, halves the matter, and takes
tthis first opinion for the body s glory,- so far as the five first
part with
verses go ; but then when he comes to the 6th verse he falls in with the other
opinion, and says, that all the next words from thence are meant of the
state of the soul after the resurrection, and accordingly he begins his com ment upon the words of that 6th verse thus :
< That because some might
say (upon this discourse of the apostle hitherto in the first five verses held), that this glory of the body (which you comfort us withal) is not presently attained after death, but perhaps is a long while yet to be expected, that
therefore now, in the 6th verse, the apostle subjoins and falls upon the
glory of the soul separate. And from thenceforward Estius is as fully ours (as to this point) as could have been desired. He might have been
so sooner, even from the very first verse ; there was reason enough for it.
3. Calvin, upon the first five verses being to interpret what was meant by our house in and from heaven, plainly says, it is uncertain whether it
signifies a state of blessed immortality which befalls (immediately) after
death, or whether the body made glorious, such as it shall be after the
resurrection. There is no inconvenience in either sense, says he ; but in
the enclhe closeth with this sense, that the blessed state of the soul after
death (so then he prefers that of the glory of the soul when separate to be
meant) should be the beginning of this building, but the consummation
should be the glory of the last resurrection. And this exposition, says he,
the whole context doth best make good. So that he also carries it to both
states. This is his judgment of the first five verses. But then for the
6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th verses he is fully in it, that the state of the soul
after death is only meant. Thus, both in his comment on that place,
ver. 8, as also in his set treatise de Yu;/oTavou;//a against the soul s sleeping, he argues it from the whole of this our apostle s discourse here, as a most
plain and cogent scripture, which to resist (he says) were to resist the Spirit of God in it.
I profess to be of holy and most judicious Calvin s mind in this his sense
of this scripture, and shall endeavour to make forth that the whole of this
so large a discourse is meant of the state and glory of the soul after death, not excluding, but taking in that also after the resurrection, which that one
word, if no more, doth invincibly argue and take in, when he terms it
eternal in the heavens. And therefore the whole from first to last, even
to eternity, must be intended. Only I shall in this discourse of mine plead alone for the separate soul s glory, leaving the state after the resurrection
to those that will read their comments, or any other that will contend
for it.
4. It is meet also to take notice of what is the proper state of the
question between us and other interpreters, whilst we shall be upon the
first verse, distinct from what will be the state of the question, when we come to the 2d, 3d, 4th verses. In the first verse, they of that first
opinion well near universally say, the apostle, for the comfort of all saints
against death, delivers this doctrine, of their having one day spiritual,
renewed, glorious bodies, instead of these earthly ; yet so as withal they
acknowledge his scope in that verse to be, that it is God s more general * Estius in locum.
CHAP. IV.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 859
appointment for all saints first to die, and to be dissolved, and then by a
resurrection of their bodies, to have new bodies restored at and by the
resurrection. Thus they interpret the matter of this first verse, We
know, &c. But then, as for the 2d, 3d, and 4th verses, they affirm his scope to
be, that the saints, knowing that by the ordinary dispensation they cannot have such bodies glorious, unless first they die, yet this dying being abhorrent to nature, the apostle expresses thereupon the saints desire, rather to be clothed upon with glory whilst they continue in their bodies
alive, and so to be immediately changed without dissolution, but yet with
this correction or supposition, that they be found of the number (if it
should fall out to be God s good pleasure) of those saints that are alive, and clothed with bodies at the resurrection, and not dead or naked, as the
generality of the saints will, at the approach of that day, be found to be. Thus they interpret the 3d verse. So then with them the doctrine of the first
verse is, that we shall have glorified bodies by a resurrection after dissolution
first, and that as the general case of believers ; but that, notwithstanding, the object of the saints desires expressed in the 2d, 3d, and 4th is, to have the privilege to escape that dissolution, and have a glory put upon their bodies without it, as an exception to that general rule ; and to have
that change, which indeed is spoken of to be at the resurrection, of them
that shall be then alive, at the same time that those that are dead do rise.
Now, 5thly, the state of the question which I propose to the proof is, whether the apostle s scope be not to comfort these Corinthians, and the
generality of the saints, with this, that when their bodies are dissolved,
they shall have a glory in the mean time until the resurrection ; and further, my undertaking is, that he carries this great truth (as his scope) uniformly on throughout all the following verses to verse 10.
Ere I do begin with the first verse, it will be very conducible to consult whether this had not been his scope likewise, in the last verses of the former chapter, immediately preceding this first verse, which I the rather
choose, because, in doing so, I shall by degrees make approaches (beginning thus further off), which I hope will in the end surround and carry this
difficult stronghold of Scripture, which hath been so often taken and won
by parties of different persuasions, as each have imagined to themselves. The connection between those latter verses of the former chapter and this
first verse, is so innate and congenial, as we should lose some of our strength in this argument, if we did not take along with us what they aforehand have
spoken.
The words of the latter verses of the former chapter are these, 2 Cor.
iv. 16-18, For which cause we faint not ; but though our outward man
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory ; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal ; but
the things which are not seen are eternal.
Which words, suppose they were considered absolutely, and singly, and
as cut off from their correspondency with this 5th chapter, do yet contain
strong evictions, that not only the glory of the body at the resurrection, but
the whole of the glory both of the soul separate afore as well as after, is aimed at in them.
1. In that whilst we live and continue here in this world, our inner man
is said to be renewed daily, that is, grows young within us, whilst our
360 OP THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. IV.
outward man, that is, our body and outward condition of estate, name, and whatever else thereto belonging, perisheth. So as though we lose
every day on that hand, yet this inward man every day grows up stronger and more vigorous. And what is or can be intended hereby, other than to make way and lay a foundation for this truth (as by an evident token), that between that utter perishing of the body by death, that will in the end befall us, and that restauration of it by the resurrection (spoken of, verse
16), this inner man is ordained to live in the mean time without that body or outward man, and therefore is growing up of itself alone unto a maturity, as that which is intended to live another day, as we say, when severed and
apart ? To evidence which, you see (says he) how unto sense the body goes down, and the soul thrives (as the 3d Epistle of John 2d verse hath it), as being that whose estate God hath a care of; it being to live with himself during that interstitium or meantime, even as the chicken grows in the shell unto a maturity, and then breaks it, and flies away into another and better
estate, which is the prophet s comparison, Ps. xc. 10. And can you think that this inner man, thus nourished to a virility by God, shall be turned into a languid condition when severed ? or have a dead sleep or palsy take it, and so chill until the resurrection ? No ; it is in a tendency to
perfection, as Heb. xii. shews.
2. Consider in the words how, during this life (wherein the outward man is a-perishing), that glory to come is all the while a-working for this inward man ; and this inward man also is all that while a-being wrought upon, and making ready for that glory, and both fall out together, but during the space only of this life. The one you have in the 17th verse of the 4th chapter, and the other at the 5th verse of the 5th chapter. It
is said, that God himself works us, for the self-same thing. And God s renewing our inward man in the 4th chapter, is the same thing with God s working us, chapter v., and working us for that self-same glory spoken of in
chap. iv. 17, which is wrought for us by afflictions ; yea, and (which is God s artifice in it) the selfsame afflictions which work that so exceeding weight of glory, are used by God to work our inward man for that glory. And (which is most observable to our purpose) both these workings, the one of
glory without us, the other of renewings of grace within us, are but in the space and during the time of this life, and both continue all the while and cease together. The afflictions work best in that moment, and our souls they are also wrought upon but during that moment, and the determining of both ends with our lives. For as it is but the afflictions of this moment that work the glory, so it is the dispensation of God in this life only that renews the soul, and but whilst in the outward man ; and at death, and with death, all such workings of either are at an end. And what doth this mean and argue, but that the working of both ending in that one period, that therefore these two, the inward man and glory, that had gone as
together, though divided, should at and upon death (the common period to both) meet, and be joined or married together, the inward man being made ready for that glory as fully as ever it shall be, and that glory made ready for it ? What then shall let, or who shall forbid, that these two should not be joined together ? Surely this is the time, the full time for this soul s enjoyment, and first entrance into that glory it was wrought for.
3. Add to this account of the apostle, the series, order, and succession of time he sets for these things. The time allotted for these workings, he
says, is but for a moment, and that moment is but the term of each of our
personal lives ; so expressly, Bom. viii. 18, they are called the sufferings
CHAP. IV.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 361
of this present time. And the next stage he sets is an eternal life and
glory, without any mention of any other space coming between. He men
tions these two, and but these two, and these two immediately succeeding each the other ; and comforts us, not only that our afflictions are but for
this moment, but withal chiefly to note the shortness of the time, unto the beginning or entrance into eternal life and glory, which is ready wrought for the soul, and the soul for it, during that moment. And that the ending of that moment is the beginning of that eternity, and that that ceasing, and
afflictions therewith, eternal glory succeeds, so that these two divide time betwixt them. But if there had been so long a space as two thousand
years afore that beginning of this eternity to come, between this moment and the resurrection, he either would have excepted it, or not have put this moment and eternity so together. It is the account of times which he here maketh. And believers that groan as they count and reckon the
greatness of the glory, as Rev. viii. 18, so in these groaning they do reckon or account the time, till their freedom and enlargement ; and the thought of the shortness thereof doth comfort them, as well as the greatness of the
glory expected. No apprentice or servant counteth his time more till he
is free, and shall set up for himself, than a believer doth, and than the
apostle doth for them, both in this place and that other in Rom. viii. And
to be sure, that term of two thousand years, if these souls had been to
stay for this glory so long (which the Holy Ghost, who wrote this, fore-knew, and we have the prospect and experience of sixteen hundred years being now past), is not to be reckoned as a moment. Therefore the apostle would not have reckoned this moment and eternity in so successive an
order, and have left out the account of thousands that were to come between
them, when he intended thus to comfort them, even to a moment s time, when the very thought of two thousand years stay would have been a long time indeed unto such eager and groaning souls, as ver. 2-4 of this chap. v.
they are set forth to be, unless the apostle had some way satisfied them about the interim, as appeareth by the cry of How long
! of those separate
souls, Rev. vi. Nay, if these souls here "wrote to (supposing them to exist and to be after death) should have had an intermission of enjoyment of God for two thousand years to come, this time of so long interval, that would have proved to be unto such souls, who had been inured unto com munion with God already during this moment of afflictions, and sometimes had enjoyed the earnests of heaven (as in the 5th verse of this 5th chapter you have inserted as an argument for separate souls enjoyment), a far
greater weight of affliction than what the afflictions of this present time amount unto, which is but for a moment ; and the apostle might rather have indicated and termed them the afflictions of that interval to come, than those of this present time, as in Rom. viii. he speaks. 4. The like division of things, connoting the same succession of time, in the IStluverse (which is the last of this chapter) seconds and confirms
this : While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal. Iii this division of things he sums
up the whole of what we are to run through, or which can be supposed we should run through in and under all times for ever, or that shall befall us from that instant wherein any saint at present is, for they are all either
temporal or eternal. The {temporal he also calls things which are seen, visible here in this world by our worldly eyes or natural eyes ; the eternal, which are not seen, that is, not otherwise than by faith, which is
* the
362 OF THE BLESSED STATE [ClIAP. IV.
evidence of things not seen, and substance of things hoped for, Heb. xi. 1. By temporal, then, he means the good or evil things enjoyed or suffered in
this life or world ; and by eternal, all and the whole that are to come, as the reward of what was done in this life, in the other world to come, which are
things as yet unseen otherwise than by faith and hope, and therefore the
things that are wholly to come are unseen, according to that Rom. viii. 24,
Hope that is seen is not hope. And further, by distinguishing or oppos
ing these two, temporal and eternal, he withal connotates and divides the whole length of time we are to run through, even as he had afore more
* moment and
* eternity in the words of the 17th verse. Now I would ask unto which of these two doth the state of the soul (of an
plainly done by his
holy soul) till the resurrection belong ? It is certain not to temporal, though it should be cut off from the account of that time, which follows
after the resurrection. It might indeed be said, temporal as in respect to
the time, namely, of its duration, merely for the term of its widowhood from the body, which ends with the resurrection ; yet to be sure, it is none
of those temporal things which the apostle here terms temporal, for they are such things only as are for the term of this life, and so styled because
they last but for this time, in distinction from those other to come. And
besides this state of the soul, after this temporal ended,,.is unseen in this
life by us otherwise than by faith, as well as what shall be after the resur
rection. So then, that state of the soul after death must be cast, as that which belongs unto eternal ; and both that and all after makes up together but one entire eternal, whether of that state of the soul separate, or that of
it after the resurrection. For so, and not otherwise, is the distinction or
opposition unto the temporal enjoyments of this life made up full, and
exact, and complete, whereas if this state of the separate soul were not
included and comprehended under that of eternal, this division were utterly
imperfect, unless any one will say that there are two temporal states of the
soul afore the general resurrection, and that from that time only eternal
things do commence and begin, which no man will dare to affirm. So
then, as eternal doth begin, as we say, a new account, so the state of the
soul separate and that of the resurrection are made up, as to that one new
era or account, and are summed up into one total of eternity. And we in common speech use to^say, that when a man dies he enters into his eternity, because it is the beginning of a man s reward, whether of punishment or of
glory, whether whilst his soul remains severed, or is joined again to the
body. Now if this separate state must be put unto that part of the account
of what is eternal, then you must necessarily take in glory too ; for so in the
* an eternal weight of glory ; and again, chap. v. 1,
17th verse he had said,
* an house eternal in the heavens. So then we must not exclude this
separate state from glory ; for after temporal is ended, it is an eternal which
succeeds, and that eternal, saith the apostle, is glory ; and an eternal house
also stands ready to receive the soul, which is all one with glory. And
although the state of it out of the body be temporal in this sense, that is
but for a time ; yet this separate state being a part, yea, the beginning of
the possession of that glory which shall never end, but be more perfectly and fully consummated when the soul and body are reunited, therefore
the glory in both states is termed eternal, because from the time of the first
possession of it that glory is continued to all eternity, and is the same
glory for kind, though not for degrees.
So, then, the argument riseth strong from all these things. As we use
to argue against purgatory, that there being but two ways mentioned in
CHAP. IV.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 363
Scripture, the broad and the narrow, and but two bounds and endings of
those ways, eternal life or eternal death, there are but two sorts of passen
gers, righteous and unrighteous, which the Scriptures speak of, and therefore
no third or intermediate condition between ; so I argue (out of our apostle)
there being but these two stages and measures of time, temporal of this
life, eternal in the other mentioned by him ; and when and where the one
ends, the other must be reckoned to begin, there being no state or space
between, and also this eternal state being so expressly termed glory, eternal
glory ; and the inward man or soul itself being eternal, and to exist when
the body, the outward, perisheth, and this soul being wrought for that self
same thing, shall not such a soul invincibly conclude, when it comes to
die, My now, my present moment, and all temporal things, are ended with me ? Welcome eternity, and the possession of things not hitherto seen,
but hoped for, which the apostle tells me is no other than an eternal
weight in glory, which now begins, the other being ended. A second head of arguments may be taken from the special connection
and coherence which the words of the text, 2 Cor. v. 1, hold with these
foregoing words in chapter the 4th, which the particle for doth carry us
back again unto : For we know that if, &c. It is an account, says Mus-
culus, given, why that we Christians look so intently upon things eternal, and on that same eternal weight of glory ; for we full well know, that if
this earthly house were dissolved, we shall enter upon them. The things
that are temporal cease, and our eternity then begins. We come then pre
sently to be partakers of that eternal weight of glory ; or, which is all one,
of that eternal house in heaven. And therefore we have good reason to
look upon, and intently to mind, those things eternal, so as to overlook the
other. For there is but this little, so little a while, between us and our
enjoyment of them, even but till our dissolution. This faith brings eternal
things to us, and not to look at them as things afar off. And it is the
nearness of things, and not the greatness only, if apprehended far distant,
that doth affect men. Faith is a telescope, an optic glass (to which the
allusion may seem to refer) that brings them near to us, as glasses use to
represent things otherwise greatly remote ; and because they are so near as
our death is, therefore we are affected with them.
These words, For we know, &c., carry us also to the 16th verse, and
so bring in a new reason, why we faint not at the thoughts of dying
ver. 16, Therefore we faint not, no, not at death. For we know, &c.
It is a continuation of reasons thereof. Now observe the parallel between
his comforts, or reasonings to comfort Christians, both there and here.
1. There, against the miseries of life, this is made a reason, why we
faint not ; inasmuch as our outward man only doth perish, but then the
inward man is renewed. But then, further, to shew God s uninterrupted
care towards us in this life, in this renewal of the inward man, he further
* renewed every day. 2. Answerably here (ver. 1), and in as congruous an harmony, comes in
adds,
this cordial against death : that even when this outward man is dissolved,
our inward man shall, from that instant of time, without interruption or
discountenance,* have entrance into glory. As there was not a day passed
over their heads in this life, in which their inward man was not more or
less renewed, so when dissolved, or upon death, in like manner they shall
not stay a day, not from being renewed only, but from being swallowed
up of life (as our Lord Christ says to the thief on the cross : Luke xxiii.
* Qu. discontinuance ? ED.
364 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. IV.
43, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise ) ; and to insinuate this, the apostle adds these words eternal in the heavens, in an opposite parallel unto that other expression, day by day. Eternity is a continu ation of time for ever, without succession of day by day, as the schoolmen have observed. Eternity is spoken of here to shew, that as upon dissolu-
tion;there is a beginning of it to the inward man, so there is a continu ation without intermission, in like manner as there had been in this life a continued renewing of them day by day. And it is therefore that he heartens us not to faint any more at death than at afflictions, because God is
proportionably as much careful over us in one state as in the other. That as he did not renew us for one day only, and then suspend his work for a
year, or many years, and then visited us again, but every day renewed us in this life, so likewise, when this outward man comes to be dissolved, this inward man hath an eternal house. For God stays not forbearing to glorify us for many thousand years, or until the resurrection. The days of darkness are many (as Solomon says of lying in the grave) until then ; but here is an eternal follows upon dissolution, a beginning of a continued JEvum, when time shall be no more, as to this glorified soul.
Now, then, to bring it home to the point in hand ; were there not an
entering into glory for that inner man, as instantly to succeed dissolving, without suspense, as the renewal of that inward man is that accompanies
afflictions, and which was continued without interruption, the souls of
believers would not have had so full consolationj against fainting at the
thoughts of death and at its approach, as it had against those other miseries of life. But if we take the apostle s words in the sense which hath been
given, there is full and abundant consolation against all fear of death. For the believer may say, it matters not how soon I die, since whenever I die I enter .presently into glory, and therefore I will not faint at death. I need not care when, or how, I lay down my life, seeing there is a present pro vision made. This one thought renders the consolation home and complete every way ; whereas that other opinion, that he should post us off to the
resurrection, reacheth not tofthis, for hope so long deferred would make the heart faint and sick ; whereas here the nearness of it, and the great ness of that glory, both of them coming upon a man s soul both at once, do swallow up all thoughts of trouble or discomfort any way. And this reason did in part cause Musculus to incline to our opinion, as it hath been stated.
And now, ere we go on, let us take a pause and consider a little, that
after the apostle had forelaid all the things 1, of an inner man (in dis tinction from the body), which sure God had such a care of to preserve, &c. ; and, 2, that these afflictions (which are but the perishings, the
moulderings of the outward man) work an eternal glory, and for whom but for this inner man on purpose renewed to enjoy it ? 3, that these afflic tions are for the moment of this life, namely, whilst this inward man dwells in this outward man, which is going to destruction ; and then,
4, that this eternal succeeds, when this temporal life ends ; unto*which eternal he calls all their intentions to be fixed upon it ; I say, when he had thus forelaid these things, and brought down the series of his discourse thus far, he then immediately, upon all this, brings in the supposition and mention of death in this first verse : What (says he) if not only our out ward man perish, but be utterly
* dissolved, the whole house pulled down. What tnen ? Call but in a jury of all men, and of all saints, and what would their expectations be upon ? Certainly upon this. What should, upon that dissolution, become of that inner man he talked of, when left a
CHAP. IV.J OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 36 5
widow and alone, and separate from the body ? If a sage heathen, as Plato, or Socrates, had been discoursing so sadly of the immortality of the soul, how it grows wiser as the body grows older, and then had fallen into the
supposition of the dying of the body, and had but said, if this body be
dissolved, surely all his auditors would expect and desire instantly to
hear something of what should be the state of that soul he had predicated to be immortal, which, when this body is dissolved, shall still subsist. But
our apostle had much more engaged himself from the materials of his former
discourse to answer our expectations in this, for he had not only instructed them with the knowledge of an immortal soul, but how that soul was pre
paring to be furnished, fraught and fitted with graces every day, and how an eternal weight of glory was working for it. And he had called off their
eyes from all things in this world, and fixed them on these eternal ; and
then after all comes in with the case and supposition of death. He doth
certainly, therefore, in his following answer, speak home and close to that which should be the common expectation of all men in such a case. As it
* Who will shew us any good ? Ps. iv., so more especially, when we come to die, what will then next befall us, and come unto us ? This the parable of the steward shews us : I must
is the voice of all men in general,
(says he) be turned out of house and home ; what shall I do ? Luke xvi.
8, 4 ; that is, what shall I do next, Animula vagula qua; abibis in loca f But above all men, this would be the special expectation of saints. The apostle Paul therefore, being to give an answer in this case himself, having started
the question, he, for the comfort of all saints, may well be thought to frame his answer unto what is the more general care, the pressing and next
thought or solicitude of all saints.
But then add to this the periphrasis, or circumstance of speech, by which the apostle chose to express the supposition of death, and it will still
induce us to think that the answer or resolution he gives should be to this
very point, namely, the state of the soul when separate. To this end, observe how he expresseth dying. He saith not in plain and short words,
* if we die, which is the usual way of speech, but frames it thus, if our
earthly house of this tabernable were dissolved ; which circumlocution of
speech I look upon as the sluice between the apostle s former discourse
(chap, iv.) and what he here discourseth (chap. v. ver. 1 to ver. 10) con
cerning what is to follow with respect to the state of the soul after death. As death itself is the passage between both worlds, so he lets in and applies
all he had spoken but indefinitely of eternity and glory (in the latter part of chapter iv.), and brings it all down definitely ad articulum mortis, as we
say, to the point and supposition of dying, as the time designed by God to be the epocka from whence all those glories fore-mentioned in that fourth
chapter are to commence, and begin, and take place in that same inner man ; and so the stream onward unto the 10th verse carries on a more
particular discourse concerning the state of this inner man after separation from the body.
It is, I say, most remarkable that by this circumlocution, if our earthly house, &c., he doth most lively represent death to be such a separation of
this inward man from the outward, the body, as that this inner man doth
survive and still exist as it did afore ; and to that end look as in the former
finxit duos homines, saith Gualter he represented the condition of the
soul in the body by two men, an inward and an outward, on purpose to set
forth how, whilst the outward perished, there was still an inward man was
still renewed during this life, so in like manner, now that death comes to
366 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. IV.
be expressed, fingit duo domicilia, he sets up the comparison of two houses, which this inner man removes from, and unto, thereby manifestly declar
ing that it subsisted still, yea, and but shifted its dwelling-house at death ; which could be to no other end done than still to make way to shew what would become of this inner man after this separation. Now to this end he termeth this outward man an house, as unto which the soul is the inmate. And who knows not that the indweller doth, and can live and survive with
out his house ? Neither his life nor livelihood depends upon it, nor none
of his inward worth or wealth which he personally carries about him ; it is
but his removing out of it. And that word, our earthly house, plainly intimates that this inner man, the indweller, bears away the name of the
person, assumes the title of lord and owner, and so carries it away alone from the body, as the lord of a manor-house doth from his house ; as if
the soul should say, My house is .dissolved, but I myself am still safe, and
as I was ; I myself am not dissolved, it is but my house. Yea, which more
fully demonstrates this, he termeth it a tabernacle, when it is elsewhere termed an house, yet but of clay, dissoluble, and whose foundation is in
the dust, soon thrown down, as the house built on the sand. But lest that
should signify too much dependency of this inmate upon it, that by tender
ness and obnoxiousness to cold and weather, when exposed, it might die
(as shell-fishes and snails, when their shell is crushed, and they are separated from it, die), he therefore adds, it is a tabernacle. Now a tabernacle is a
covering that hath not so much as a foundation which houses have, but it
is merely a covering, and is set up but as for present conveniency for a
shelter; and he that dwells in it is himself so little dependent on it, that he
can take it and carry it on his back, and pitch it when and where he
: and it is used by pilgrims, and wanderers, and soldiers, as you know, that least of all depend upon these tents. Heb. xi. 9, it is said of Abraham that by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in
pleaseth
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob ; for he looked for a city which hath
foundations, &c. They were sojourners that dwelt in tabernacles, and
tabernacles had not foundations. And this was a type and a shadow to
them, and to us in them, that both they then, and we now (that is, our
souls), do dwell in bodies, that are but tabernacles; for the apostle tells
us, ver. 13, that by this, and other their speeches, they confessed they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth, declaring plainly, namely, by these as types and sayings of theirs, that they sought a country, ver. 14. Doth not this parallel further argue the apostle s intent to be to speak to
that point, What should become of this inner man, now it comes to subsist
alone ? Certainly he doth not ablegate us to the resurrection, when it
shall have its body again, but means to shew what God will do with it in
the mean time, in this interim of subsistence by itself out of the body.
Another head of arguments is drawn from the terms in which he forms
and shapes his resolution unto this supposition of death ; or, If we die.
1. * We have, &c. As this inner man is the person, and bears the title
of it, so when by death it is turned out of house and home, we can com
fortably say, %o^ev, we have, that is, instantly, presently, an house pre
pared, ready. It is not habebimus, we shall have ; namely, at the resur
rection. Look as the next thought of every man, good and bad, upon the
supposition of death, If we die, is, what is next ? so as readily, as roundly the apostle answers to it, and says, We have, &c. And truly what
needed more words to persuade any that this was his meaning ? If he
< We have, and yet intend habebimus, We shall have, which
should say
CHAP. IV.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 367
is the sense that other interpreters would put upon it, he had, when so great an expectation had been raised of what should be next and immediately,
greatly disappointed us. Yea, and though you suppose that sometimes in
the phrase of the New Testament the present tense is put to express the
future, yet in this case the apostle would not have made use of such a
criticism. Sure, if ever he would speak plainly, and in the most direct
sense, then surely now. As Christ, in the case of comforting his disciples with the promise of heaven, says, If it had not been so, I would have
told you, John xiv. 2, so here the apostle would not have held them under hand with an expression of we have, when yet he meant no more than we shall have, retaining them under hopes of a reversion ; for distance
of time is a great matter in the case. Now he intends their comfort here,
as in 2 Cor. v., even as Christ did there, in John xiv. And he intended
the utmost of their comfort ; and so surely speaks as plainly as to the point of time, according to the tenor of his expression, as Christ did as to the
reality of the thing itself. So then Estius is very dilute in his interpreta
tion, when he says that the apostle, by the words we have, only means we shall have. For it is certain that now we have the first fruits and
beginnings of eternal life, and he that believes shall never die, John xi.
2. Put the particle if, and the words we have, together, and consult the
analogy of speech in all languages.
(1.) Such a posture and form of speech ordinarily importeth when; and
* when it is dissolved. And this speech here, and that of our Saviour, Luke xvi. 9, insisted on, is
so to say, if it be dissolved, is all one as to say,
parallel as to the phrase, as well as in the subject matter (now Christ s words are,
* When ye fail,- they may receive you into everlasting habitations ) ;
only this here of the two is more significant and punctual. That if it so
fall out (fall it out when it will), we have a present provision. And it is
as if a man should say, I have at present a mean cottage, a country house
I dwell in ; but if changes come by fire or tempest, wars or plunderings, that this be ruined, I have another dwelling, a city house (to which heaven s glory is compared, Heb. xi. 10), ready built and furnished to remove unto. Insomuch, that it is the same as if, in like speech, the
apostle had said, We shall never want an house ; but if we be driven hence, we have another. But if his meaning were, that for that other house we must wait the resurrection, we should in the mean time have been left at
a loss in our thoughts for an house.
(2.) The like frame of speech to this, If this were dissolved, we have,
&c., we ordinarily use, when we look at the present condition as an hin
drance to what, if that were removed, we should presently enjoy as more
happy and more desirable. So that it is as if he had said (pursuing his
begun discourse, and the eager intention and working of his mind, and its
fixing on this eternal state, of which in the last verse afore), We should have possession of this glory presently, instantly, were it not for this same
body that stands in our way, and keeps us from it. If it were but dissolved
once, we have a glory ready. The apostle hereby expresseth how a
Christian looks at this body, as at present, as an impediment, as that which
lets (as the apostle speaks in another case) us in our way ; and till it be taken out of the way we are detained. Thus we speak of one that hath a
great estate in land, which is out in a lease to another, or of a widow s
estate in a copy ; if that lease were out, and expired, or that widow dead, I have instantly the possession of a great estate to fall to me ; I have it, it
is mine already ; there is nothing but a little time, or such an one s life
368 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. IV.
between me and it; if they were but dead once, I have it. The like you say of an heir under age ; and so here, if this earthly house were dissolved, and the lease of this life but expired, I have another to enter into.
Now that which strengthens this to have been his scope in this form of
speech are two things.
1. That he maketh the demonstrative effect of this to be a groaning: ver. 2,
* For in this we groan, earnestly desiring, &c. Now, groans are
expressions of earnest desires, that are obstructed, hindered, and oppressed, and kept from their attainment. Groans superadd that unto desires simply considered ; and that phrase, sv rourw, in this we groan, either refers to
earthly house, that is, whilst we are in this tabernacle ; or it serves to
express time, sv roiJrw %govw, interea temporis, in the mean time we
* And both these come to all one, to shew the ground of groan
groan.
ing, namely, because either during the time of our being in the house, till the time of that lease is out, time hinders us, or that whilst this body lasts and remains undissolved we cannot arrive to that other house, but we are
kept from it, and hindered ; or else sv rovru isfor this, or upon this account, we groan, namely, because we are detained from the enjoyment of our desires. These interpretations fall all in to our purpose.
2. In the 6th and 8th verses he expressly makes a being at home in the
body an absence from the Lord and a man s own people ; and he makes these to be the two peregrinations, such as whilst the one lasteth the other
is not attainable, nor doth or can begin ; so as in plain and express words, he teacheth them to look at our being in the body as an hindrance and a
let to the enjoyment of the Lord. And therefore we desire rather to be absent from the body ; and we groan, saith the 2d verse, in this body as
that which hinders us and keeps us from our other house : For if this were
dissolved, we have, &c. Now, if either of these two senses given of this form of speech hit the apostle s intention, as both lie fair, either that if
(as noting time) it were dissolved, we have, &c. ; or that further, our being in the body is an impediment to the other ; if either of these (as it is hard if one or both do not), it carries the point in hand.
3. Let us consider those two metaphors of an house, ver. 1, and of a
garment, ver. 2, 3 under the notion of which he shapes the substance of
his answer, and by which the Holy Ghost chose to signify the condition we are to have if dissolved :
* We have, saith he,
* a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And we groan to be clothed upon, ver. 2, 3. And we shall find by the coherence of this
place and other scriptures, that they fully fall in with and serve our asser
tion, namely, they serve to express the glory itself which we are to have
in the heavens, as well of the soul whilst separate from the body as when
again joined to the body.
Now, those that would exclude the glory of the soul whilst separate as
having been in this place intended, they withal do narrow these metaphors to the body itself, when it shall be made glorious. And one great argu ment of theirs is taken from the opposition used here, that if by our earthly house of this tabernacle be meant our bodies, then by our house made without hands in the heavens must be intended also our bodies, as they shall be made heavenly at the resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. ; even as there
earthly man and heavenly man are set in opposition. And in this lies a
great part of their strength ; but now I turn it otherwise, not only by way of answer, but by way of argument to the contrary
: that if by the meta- * Beza in locum in Acts xiv. 16.
CHAP. IV.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 369
phors of house, and garment, or clothing, the glory of heaven itself, whether
of soul separate, or of soul and body, be meant in Scripture, and not neces
sarily the body alone as an house made glorious with and for the soul to dwell in, then there is an open way, and the plea lies fair for the separate soul s claim to this house and clothing upon in the mean time. But that under these metaphors the glory of heaven itself, abstractly considered, is
meant, is evident, 1. From the context ; for what is this
* eternal in the heavens here, but
* an eternal weight of
that which, but two verses afore it, he had styled
glory ?
2. It is evident from other scriptures. An house: Luke xvi., Receive you into heavenly habitations, ver. 9; and John xiv. 2, In my Father s house are many mansions. And the
glory itself is compared to an house, because a man enters into it, and
* Enter into thy Master s joy, for it is too great to enter into
dwells in it :
the Master himself. It is called too a building of God, not made with hands. The same is spoken of the glory itself, of heaven, and not of the
body. It is a city which hath foundations, whose maker and builder is God, Heb. xi. 10. A city is an aggregation of houses and buildings ; of houses that are not tabernacles, but are fixed, and have foundations for
perpetuity, which in the text is eternal in the heavens, in opppsition unto this tabernacle house ; and is the opposition made there also, ver. 9,
* dwelling in tabernacles.
3. That other phrase, of a garment, you have, Rev. vi. 11, used to ex
press the glory of the saints in that other world. Yea, those that are for
that other sense, and interpret this house from heaven to be our bodies, are yet forced, or at least must acknowledge that phrase twice used, ver. 2 and 4, being clothed upon, to be meant of glory, for it cannot be meant that we remaining in these bodies should yet be over and above clothed upon with other bodies over them. It were absurd to say, he should mean a
putting new bodies for substance over these we have already ; as Musculus hath observed. So as even according to their i interpretation which
they would put upon it, glory abstractly considered must be intended as
that wherewith we are clothed upon ; and if under that phrase, clothed
upon, glory abstractly considered is intended by their sense, then under the word house also the same must be intended. For the apostle joineth both as one : ver. 2, To be clothed upon with our house that is from heaven. And again, in ver. 4, it is life that is said to swallow up the
mortality ; and therefore glory simply considered is the thing the apostle intended in his discourse. And if so, this of an house, &c., are applicable as well to the soul, to be clothed upon therewith, without the body, as when
it is in the body ; for that the soul separate is capable of glory, none can
deny.
In the fourth place, to come yet nearer and more home to the point in
hand, the glory of the soul when separate from the body is in the Scrip tures (yea, it falls out in those very scriptures fore-mentioned) plainly and
directly intended under these two metaphors, thereby expressing that state
of glory men s souls have when apart from their bodies.
1. That the soul when separate from the body hath an house of glory, or a glorious condition compared to an house, provided for it. This is
clear by that of Luke xvi., That when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations, which must be our house in heaven ; for it is that VOL. vn. A a
370 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. IV.
house in which everlastingly the soul dwells both out of the body first and with the body for ever.
2. The other, of being clothed upon, we have Rev. vi. 9, 11, And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And white robes were given unto every one of them. You see they are the souls of them that were slain, and that whilst going naked out of
their bodies, that have robes given to cover and array them as a reward
as the word given imports : The gift of God is eternal life, Rom. vi. white robes, ensigns of glory and blessedness. When they come to heaven
they are anew installed, both kings and priests (as this book hath it), and
accordingly clothed with new robes.
1. As kings: so David, 1 Chron. xv. 27; Joseph as governor, Gen.
xli. 42; Mordecai, Esther vi. 11.
2. As priests, who, when first brought into the inner court of the temple, had their vestments put on, so these souls, when first entered into the holy of holies, that is, heaven (as the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks), are clothed
* These have washed
in their robes. This is more plain, chap. vii. 13-15,
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. It is an allusion to the custom of the priests when anew admitted into the
temple
temple.
3. And thirdly, White robes are an ensign of glory. The angels of
glory, when they appear, they do appear clothed in long white garments, Mark xvi. 5 ; John xx. 12. The same is said of these souls, because now made like the angels.
4. For souls separate to be thus * clothed upon, agrees with the phrase naked, used in the text, as alluding unto the state of the soul new com
ing out from being clothed with a badge, and so having robes put over it. And this more properly than it could be spoken of souls continuing in their bodies without dissolution, of which more anon.
In the last place, It may be observed, that he speaks of this house and
glory as now ready and built, standing empty as it were, and waiting for
its inhabitants. It is a building of God, not made with hands. And
that you may see, I do not observe this without ground ; compare with
it that parallel of Heb. xi. 10 : Abraham looked for a city, whose maker and builder is God ; and ver. 16, Wherefore God was not ashamed to be
called their God : for he hath prepared for them a city, and had done
so when he first called himself his and their God. And Christ in like manner says
: I go to prepare a place for jou ; in my Father s house are many mansions. Now of the body, that spiritual body to come, it could not be thus said, that it were built and prepared already. For it is as yet to be raised up, and it lies in the grave until that day, as Peter speaks of
David, Acts ii. And again, when is this declared concerning Abraham and those patriarchs ? The words are spoken of what was provided and pre pared for their souls against their death ; as that which comforted them
against their not possessing Canaan, but dwelling in tabernacles, and so
also against that their deaths, as I shewed, and as the matter indeed evidenceth of itself.
And the parallel and correspondency of that place, concerning those
saints of the Old Testament, and of this my text concerning the hopes of
the saints of the New, is very great and strong. In the verse afore, ver. 9,
CHAP. V.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 371
it is said, Abraham sojourned as in a strange land, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob types both of their own, and of our dwelling in
the term of this life, in these earthly houses and tabernacles. For when
the Jews, his seed, were possessed of this land, and dwelt in houses of
stone, yet they were to keep a feast in tabernacles once a year, to shew
they dwelt but as in tabernacles at the best, shortly to be pulled down. And yet, looking all that while for a city, whose maker and builder is God ; when their tabernacle condition should be ended. And God, to com
fort these patriarchs against this their tabernacle life at present, and their
dying without the possession of Canaan, tells them he had already pre pared a city (which is an aggregation of houses) for them. And in the
styling himself their God and their great reward, as to Abraham he doth, he thereby sheweth at once, both that their souls should still live (for as
* God is the God of the living ), and also that he had took
Christ says,
care of them, made provision for them, and would not for the least space of time leave them destitute, but had prepared another country and houses
to entertain them in. Wherefore saith the text twice, God is not ashamed to be called their God ; even because he had made such abund ant provision for them, like to the great God indeed. If but a man should have a friend that were turned out of house and home, and should not have an house to entertain him instantly upon it, he would be ashamed. And so would God, says he, if he had not prepared a city for them. Abraham is called the friend of God, even as God styles himself his God. And Abraham therefore shall not want (no, not for a moment) entertain ment when his tabernacle condition ceaseth. Nay, God hath prepared another aforehand on purpose for him.