Chapter XL
That as the soul is the immediate subject of grace, which is a preparation to
glory, and capable of it, so the soul is instantly, after its departure out of
the body, received into that state of glory.
Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath
given unto us the earnest of his Spirit. 2 COB. V. 5.
There is no point of more moment to all, nor of greater comfort to saints,
than what shall become of their souls when they die. It is our next stage, and things that are next use more to affect us. And, besides, it is the
beginning, and a taking possession of our eternity.
That these words should aim at this selfsame thing, cannot be dis
cerned without consulting the foregoing part of the apostle s discourse; and yet I cannot be large in bringing down the coherence, having pitched upon what this fifth verse contributes unto this argument, which alone will
require more than this time allotted, having also very largely gone through
412 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. XI.
the exposition of the foregoing verses elsewhere, and I now go but on where I left last. But yet to make way for the understanding the scope of my text, take the coherence in brief thus : In the 16th verse of the foregoing chapter (where the well-head of his discourse is to be found) he shews the extraordinary care God hath of our inward man, to renew it day by day ; where inward man is strictly the soul with its graces, set in opposition unto our outward man, the body with
its appurtenances, which he saith daily perisheth ; that is, is in a moulder
ing and decaying condition.
In the first verse of this fifth chapter he meets with this supposition, but what if this outward man, or earthly tabernacle, be wholly dissolved and pulled down, what then shall become of this inner man ? And he resolves it thus, that
* if it be dissolved, we have an house, a building of God, in the heavens. And what is the ice but this inner man he had spoken of, renewed souls, which dwell now in the body as in a tabernacle, as the inmates that can subsist without it ? And it is as if he had said, If this inward man be destituted of one house, we have another. God, that in this life was so careful over this inner man, to renew it every day, hath made another more ample provision against this great change. It is but its removing from one house to a better, which God hath built. As
yourselves (to speak in your own language) if wars should beset you, and your country-house were plundered and pulled down, you would comfort
yourselves with this, I have yet a city-house to retire unto.
Neither is the terming the glory of heaven, and that as it is bestowed upon a separate soul, an house, alien from the Scripture phrase, Luke
xvi. 9, That when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habita
tions. Death is a failing (it is your city phrase also, when a man proves bankrupt). A statute of bankrupt comes forth then upon your old house statutum est omnibus semel mori and upon all you have ; and then it is that there is a receiving or entertaining that otherwise desolate soul into
everlasting habitations, that is, into an house eternal in the heavens, as the text.
Nor yet is the phrase of terming heaven a city house remote neither ;
for, Heb. xi., ver. 13, Abraham and the patriarchs died in faith (mark
that). In faith or expectation of what? He had told us, ver. 10, he looked for a city, whose builder and maker is God. What is a city but an aggregation and heap of houses and inhabitants ? Multitudes had died
afore Abraham, and gone to heaven, from Adam, Abel, Seth, downwards ; and God promised him peace at his death, and a being gathered to those
fathers, Gen. xv. 15. There was then a city built, and already replenished with inhabitants ; and, amongst others, an house provided for him, that is, his soul, built of God, and ready furnished against this removal.
In the second verse he utters the working of the affections of Christians towards their being clothed upon with this house ; and so in order to this
enjoyment of it, their desiring even to be dissolved, which Paul also utters of himself, Philip, i. Now if the first verse speaks of the glory of a
separate soul when he calls it an house, this second verse must intend the same.
In the third verse he gives an wholesale caution by the way, and withal
insinuates why he used the word clothed upon in the foregoing verse, thus speaking of the glory of such a separate soul, even because it is
absolutely necessary that all our souls be found clothed first, and renewed with grace and holiness, and not be found naked at our
CHAP. XI.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLOKY. 413
deaths ; that is, not devoid of grace, and so exposed to shame and wrath, as Rev. xvi. 15.
The fourth verse gives a genuine and sincere account why a Christian doth thus groan, and that after dissolution itself, in order to this glory, which he sets out with an accurate distinction of their desires of dissolu
tion in difference from like desires in all other men. First, negatively, not
for that being burdened we desire to be unclothed or dissolved, that is, simply for ease of those burdens ; nor out of a despising of our bodies we now wear, as their heathen wise men and philosophers did, and others do. No. But, secondly, positively, for this, as the top-ground of that desire, that we would be clothed upon with that house (spoken of verse 1, and
that still taken in the sense spoken of in the 2d verse), to the end that
this mortal, animal life which the soul (though immortal in itself) now leads in the body, full of sins, clogged with a body of death and miseries
(each of which hath a death in it), and so it lives but a dying life ; that
this life may be exchanged, yea, swallowed up, by that which is life indeed, the only true life, the knowing God as we are known, and enjoying him ;
all which, as to our souls, is truly performed at our dissolution, although the final swallowing up the mortality of our bodies also doth yet remain to be accomplished ; which will be done at the latter day, at that change both of body and soul, though in respect of the body it will be completed as then more fully.
The current of the four former verses running thus steadily along in this
channel, the stream in this verse continues still the same. There is one word in this verse 1/$ aiiro roDro, for the self-same thing God hath wrought us which serves as a clue of thread drawn through the
windings of the former verses, to shew us that one and the same individual
glory hath been carried on all along, and still is in this verse also. So then we see where we are.
What this self-same thing should be, ask the first verse, and it will tell you ; it is that house eternal in the heavens, a building of God, prepared by him against the time that this earthly house is dissolved. Ask the second verse ; it is the same house we groan to be clothed upon with, when the other is pulled down. Ask the fourth verse ; and more plainly, it is that life which succeeds this mortal life the soul now lives in this body, and swallows up all the infirmities thereof. And then here it follows, Even for this self-same thing, &c. So then, if the glory of the separate soul be the subject of any of these verses, then of all, and so of this verse
also.
And to be sure it cannot be that extraordinary way of entrance into
glory by such a sudden change, both of soul and body into glory at once, without dissolution, should be the selfsame thing here aimed at. For it was not the lot of any of those primitive Christians, of whom the Holy Ghost here speaks this, he hath wrought us for this thing, that they should be in that manner changed, and so enter into glory ; but the contrary. For they all, and all saints since for these sixteen hundred years, have put
off their tabernacle by death, as Peter did, and speaks of himself, 2 Pet.
i. 14, and therefore the Scripture, or Holy Ghost, foreseeing, as the phrase
is, Gal. iii. 8, this change would be their fate, would not have uttered
this of them, God hath wrought us for this, whom he knew God had not
designed thereunto.
Neither is it that those groaning desires spoken of in the foregoing verses, 2-4, is that self-same thing here (as some would), for indeed,
414 OF THE BLESSED STATE [ClIAP. XI.
as Musculus well, if the apostle had said, He that hath wrought this
thing in us, &c., that expression might have carried it to such a sense; but he saith, He that wrought us for the self-same thing ; and so it is not that desire of glory in us is spoken of, but us, ourselves, and souls as wrought for that glory.
If it be asked, What is the special proper scope of these words, as touch
ing this glory of the soul ? the answer in general is to give the rational
part of this point, or demonstrative reasons to evidence to believers, that indeed God hath thus ordained and prepared such a glory afore the resur
rection. And it is as if the apostle had said, Look into your own souls, and consider God s dealings with you hitherto, viz. :
1. The operation of his hands. For what other is the meaning or mys tery (says he) of all, that God is daily so at work with you in this life ? What else is the end of all the working of grace in you, and of God that is the worker ? This is his very design
: he that hath wrought us (that is, our souls) for this very thing is God. Besides the evidence the work gives, there is also, over and above, the earnest of the Spirit given to your souls, now whilst in your bodies, in
joy, full of glories of the same kind (as earnests are) of what fulness of
glory they are both capable of then, and shall be filled with, when severed from your bodies : who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit. We preachers have it in use, as to allege proofs of Scripture for the points or subjects we handle, so to give reasons or demonstrations of them. And so doth our apostle here of this great point he had been treating of. And such reasons or demonstrations run often upon harmony and congruity of one divine thing or truth kissing another ; also upon becomingnesses or
ineetncsses, that is, what it becometh the great God to do. For instance, in giving an account why God, in bringing many sons to glory, did choose to effect it by Christ s death, rather than any other way, It became him, says he, Heb. ii. 10,
* for whom are all things, and by whom
are all things, &c. And so in the point of resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 21, Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead ; that is, it was congruous, harmonious, it should thus be ; the one answer
ing correspondency to the other. The like congruity will be found couched
here, in God s bringing souls to glory afore that resurrection.
Now there are two sorts of harmonious reasons couched in the forepart of these words, He that wrought us for this is God.
1. That it is finis operis et operands, the end of the work itself upon us, and of God as an efficient working for an end. God hath wrought on us
for this very thing.
2. It is opus dignum Deo authore, a work as he is the great God, and as a thing worthy and becoming of God as the author of it. He that hath
wrought us for this thing is God.
There is a third point to be superadded, and that is, it is the interest of
: which, how clearly evidenced out of the text, will appear when I have despatched these former doctrines.
all three persons
Obs. That it is a strong argument that God hath provided a glory for sepa rate souls hereafter, that he hath wrought us, and wrought on us a work
of grace in this life.
Ere the reason of this will appear, I must first open three things natural
to the words ; which will serve as materials out of which to make forth
that argument.
1. That the thing here said to be wrought is grace or holiness, which is
CHAP. XI.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 415
a preparation unto glory. (1.) Grace is the work: and so, Phil. i. 6, termed, the good work. A frame of spirit, created to good works : Eph. ii. 10, We are his workmanship, created unto good works. The text here says,
* who hath wrought us. There similarly, We are his workmanship. And (2.) secondly, This work is a preparation to glory
for, for one thing to be first wrought in order to another, is a preparation thereunto. Now, saith the text, he hath wrought us for this thing ; and Rom. ix. 23, it is in terminis, the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared to glory ; which was by working holiness : for it follows, ver. 24, even us whom he had called. Likewise, Col. i. 12,
< who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Meet, by making us saints. So then, had prepared, hath made meet, is all one with who hath wrought us for this thing. 2. What is the principal subject wrought upon, or prepared and made meet for glory ? It is certainly the soul, in analogy to the phrase here. We use to say (when we speak of our conversion), since my soul was wrought on. And though the body is said to be sanctified, 1 Thes. v. 23, yet the immediate subject is the soul ; and that primitively, originally : the body by derivation from the soul. And hence it is the soul (when a man
dies) carries with it all the grace by inherency
: All flesh is grass, which withers ; that is, the body with all the appurtenances, saith Peter, 1 Epist. i. 24. But you, having purified your souls, being born again of incor
ruptible seed (our bodies are made of corruptible seed, which is the oppo sition there), by the word of God, which lives arid abides for ever : And this is the word he says he means) which by the gospel is preached every day unto you, ver. 25, and by preaching is engrafted in your souls, purifying your souls, ver. 22. In no other subject doth that word, as preached, for ever abide. For the body rots, and in the grave hath not an inherent, but a relative holiness (such as the episcopal brethren would have to be in churches consecrated by them), because once it was the temple of the Holy Ghost, who dwells in us.
And that it is the soul the apostle hath here in his eye, in this discourse of his in my text, as that which he intends the subject here wrought upon, appears, if we consult the well-head of his discourse about the soul, which is the 16th verse of the 4th chapter. Our inward man, says he, is renewed, &c. (there is your wrought upon here), whilst the outward (the body) perisheth. Which soul, in being called the inward man, connotates at once both grace and the soul conjunct together, and distinct from the body, as well as from sin and corruption. Elsewhere it is declared the subject first and
originally wrought on : Eph. iv. 23, Be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Look round about the text, and what is the us wrought
"on ? Plainly this inward man, by the coherence afore and after. Ask verse 1, If our earthly tabernacle, that is, our bodies, be dissolved, WE have, &c., that is, this inner man, our souls, have ; for the body is supposed dis solved. So likewise, verse 4, WE in this tabernacle, that is, our souls in these bodies. More expressly after, verse 8, our very souls, not only whilst in our bodies, but when separate from our bodies, have the WE given them ; We are willing to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. The WE present with the Lord, and absent from the body, is, nor can be, no other than a separate soul in its estate of widowhood. And so here, verse 5, hath wrought us : the soul bears the person, carries away the grace with it.
3. Add to this the time here specified in the text in which we are
416 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. XI.
Itr Niai nam wrouyiu, reierrmg LU me wui*. ui uuuvcioiuu mo Who hath made us meet to be partakers, &c., Col. i. 12 ; and who doth
continue still to work us, the preterperfect being often put by the apostle
for the present, God renewing the inner man day by day, chap. iv. 16.
so working upon it, in order to this selfsame thing continually. Unto
which words there, these here have an evident aspect, yet so as that time
of working is but during this life ; for it is whilst the outward man is
mouldering, and that by afflictions, which during this moment work an
eternal.weight of glory, ver. 17. And that is expressly said to be but this
present time, Rom. viii. So then there is no parabit in that other world ;
but, as Solomon says of man, there is no work after this life, Eccles. ix. 10; no remembrance, says David, Ps. vi. 5 ; namely, which hath any influence
into a man s eternity ; so there is no working upon us in order thereunto
after death ; God hath done his do, hath wrought, and man hath finished
his course ; as Paul of himself, and in this chapter of my text, ver. 10,
Every man receiveth the things done in his body, be they good or evil.
Those things that are done in this body only ; therefore only what in this
life he hath wrought. And for this he hath wrought us, says the text.
These things premised, I come to the argument to be raised out of them,
to prove the point in hand.
1. That because grace or holiness are immediately wrought in the soul,
therefore, when the body dies, the soul shall be taken up into life. That
this is a meet and congruous ordination of God, the Scripture itself owns, and seems so to pitch the reason of it in Rom. viii. 10, 11 : And if Christ
be in you, the body is dead because of sin ; but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
dead
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. He gives an account
of what is to become hereafter both of the bodies and souls of them in whom Christ is. (1.) For the body that is condemned to die, the body
is dead because of sin. By body, I understand the same which he in the
llth verse terms the mortal body to be raised up, which, says he, is dead,
that is, appointed to die, as one sentenced to death you term a dead man. And this because of sin. It was meet that that first threatening of dying should have some effect to evidence the truth of God therein. Only God
is favourable in his ordination in this, that he arresteth but the body, the
< It is
less principal debtor. But that (to be sure) shall pay for ii :
appointed to all men once to die, even for men that are in Christ, as this
place of the Romans hath it. Then (2.) follows, what remains, the soul of
such an one when the body dies. But, says he (speaking by way of
exception, and contrary fate too), the Spirit is life, because of righteous
ness. The Spirit is the soul in contradistinction to the body. This, when
the body dies, is life; he says not living only, or immortal, but is swallowed
* Because of righteousness, which is Christ s
up into life. And why ?
image; and so preserves, and by God s ordination, upon dying,
_ elevates the
soul, which is the immediate and original subject of it, which is the point
in hand. For this thing it is God hath wrought it. But then, because
the query would be, Shall this body for ever remain dead because of (this
first) sin, and bear this punishment for ever? No. Therefore (3.) he
* Observa qubd non in future dicit, parabit nos. Non demum paralitur ; ubi jam induendum est, &c. Muse, in locum.
CHAP. XI.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 417
adds, He that raised np Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. So at last, and then bringing both body and soul together unto complete glory.
And the congruity of reason that is for this appointment is observable, something like to that 1 Cor. xv., As by man came death, so by man came also the resurrection from the dead. For that sin that condemned us to this death we had from the first Adam by bodily generation, as the channel or means of conveying it, who was (as Heb. xii.) Father of our flesh. The arrest therefore goes forth against the body which we had from that Adam, because of that sin, conveyed by means of our bodies; for though I must not say the body defiles the soui, or of itself is the immediate subject of sin, yet the original means or channel through which it comes down and is derived unto us, is the generation of our bodies. The body, there
fore, congruously pays for this, and the death thereof is a means to
let sin out of the world, as the propagating it was a means to ; bring sin in ; but an holy soul or spirit, which is the offspring of God, having now true holiness and righteousness from the second Adam communicated to it and abiding in it, and being not only the immediate subject thereof, but further, the first and original subject from and by which it is derived unto the body ; the womb, into which that immortal seed was first cast, and in which the inward man is formed, and in respect of a constant abid
ing in which it is that seed is termed incorruptible. Hence, therefore, says God of this soul, It is life. It shall live when this body dies. There
is nothing of Christ s image but is ordained to abide for ever. Charity never fails, 1 Cor. xiii. 8; his righteousness endures for ever, 2 Cor.
ix. 9 ; and therefore is ordained to conserve and elevate unto life the
subject it is in, and that is the soul. This, as a foundation of the sub
stantial parts of this first reason, out of this one scripture, thus directly and explicitly holding this forth.
I come, 2, to. the argumentation itself, which ariseth out of these
things laid together. (1.) That the soul is the immediate subject of grace.
(2.) The first and primitive susceptive thereof. (3.) And itself is alone and immediately capable of glory, which grace is a preparation to. And
(4.) that God, afore our deaths, hath wrought all of grace he intends to work in preparation to glory. Out of all these a strong argument doth
arise, that such a soul upon death shall be admitted unto glory, and not be
put to stay till the time of the resurrection, when both soul and body shall be joined again together. And that this holdeth a just and meet con-
veniency upon each, or at least all these grounds when put together,
(1.) Consider the soul as the immediate subject of this working and
preparation for glory. Hence, therefore, this will at least arise, that the
inherency or abiding of this grace wrought in this soul depends not upon its conjunction with the body, but so as it remains as an everlasting and
perpetual conserver of that grace stamped on it ; yea, and carries it all with
itself, as a rich treasure innate unto wherever it goes, when separate from the body. I say, it either hath in it, or appertaining unto it, all that hath been wrought for it, either in it or by it. Rev. xiv. 13, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord : and their works do follow them. They go to heaven with them, and after them. And in what subject else is it that the seed of God remains incorruptible, 1 Peter i. 23, or the word of God abides for ever? ver. 25. Or how else comes that saying to be performed, 1 John ii. 17, He that doth the will of God endures for ever ? Having therefore all these riches by it, and as complete (as here it shall be), meet VOL. VII. D d
418 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. XI.
it is it should partake the benefit thereof, and live upon them, now it is
single and alone, and in its widow s condition, And it is an opportune season, that by a glory given it for "that holiness, this should appear, that
it was the soul which was the sole intrinsic and immediate receptive of all
this holiness. This the first. Add also,
(2.) Its being the first and primitive subject of holiness, from which it is
derivatively in the body. Meet it was this soul should not be deferred till
the appurtenance of it be united to it, but be served first, and admitted
into that glory ordained ; and by having itself first possession given of that
inheritance, the body might in its season be admitted derivatively thereinto from it, after that renewed union with it by the resurrection.* Reason
good, that look as in priority grace, the preparation unto glory, was
wrought, so in that order of priority glory itself should be communi
cated. And therefore seeing its fate is to abide awhile alone, therefore
first to enjoy and drink both the juice and the fruit of that vine it is the
root of.
And (3.) it being in itself, when separate, as immediately capable of
this glory, as when it shall be again united to the body ; for what is the
essential of glory, the substance of that life that swallows up all, but (as we said on ver. 4) God s immediate presence, and our knowing him face to
face as we are known ? Now of this the apostle doth in the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses expressly inform us, that the separate soul is not only capable
thereof, but that it then begins to enjoy it : Therefore, says he, we are
always confident, knowing that whilst we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight)
: we are confident, I
say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with
the Lord ; where to be present with the Lord, and to live by sight,
is expressly made the privilege of a soul absent from the body, which can mean no other state than that of the soul between the death of the body and the resurrection. For whilst it is present in the body afore death, it
is absent from the Lord ; and when it shall be present with the Lord, after
the resurrection, it shall not then be any more absent from the body. This
conjunction therefore of absent from the body and present with the Lord,
falls out in no state else, but only in that interim or space of time between. And let us withal view this place in the light (by bringing the one to the
* For 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. To see as in a glass, darkly there, is to walk by faith here : but to see face to face, and to know God as we are known (so there) is all one ; and to attain to sight, and to be in Christ s presence (here). And to be sure the body is in no
other) which that passage, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, doth cast upon it :
estate whatever capable of knowing God as we are known of him ; none
durst ever affirm that. For besides that the spiritual knowledge of God is
proper to an intellectual nature ; further, so to know God as God knows
us, and so to be elevated to the similitude of God s understanding, is not communicable to the body. We may as well dare to affirm God himself
to be a body, as that our bodies are capable of ever being raised up thus
to know God. Hence therefore, whether the soul be out of the body, as
after death, or so in the body as it shall be after the resurrection, yet still
it is the soul that is immediately alone capable of that sight and knowledge
* Quin magis conveniens videtur Tit animse in quibus per prius fuit culpa et meri-
tum, prius etiam puniantur rel prsemientur. Aquinas cont. Gent. lib. 4. cap. 81.
sect. 3.
CHAP. XL] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 419
of God. And therefore seeing it depends not on the body, it is as well
capable of it afore the resurrection without the body, as after the resurrec
tion in the body.
* at home in this
Only this must be added, that whilst indeed the soul is
body (this earthly tabernacle), it is not capable of this sight of the glory of God, that is, so as to continue in the body and enjoy it, for it would crack this earthen vessel ; as 1 Cor. xv. 50,
* Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. And although Paul, as a stander by, was an overhearer and an eye-witness (by way of revelation and vision) of what
the spirits of just men in glory do enjoy, 2 Cor. xii. ; even as on the con
trary the angels are often standers-by on earth, and overseers of us what
is therein done (as the phrase is, Zech. iii. 7) ; yet he was not estated into
it, or admitted a possessor thereof himself, no more than angels into an
earthly estate, and therefore could not say whether the revelation vouch
safed him might not be in the body as well as out of it ; whereas God had
otherwise long since peremptorily determined that question, that no man could see God and live, that is, at once continue in this body and see him
face to face. And Paul here in my text also determines it, that whilst we are at home in the body, as now, we are absent from the Lord ;
they are two incompatible estates ; but still when that which thus lets
(this body) is taken out of the way, the soul itself is sufficiently capable, as
truly as ever it shall be.
(4.) But if this argument from these be yet judged not home enough, but
short ; then let us in the fourth place add what force the third premise will
give to it concerning the time of God s working on us, to drive all closer home, namely, that God hath wrought upon the soul in this life all that he ever means to work by way of preparation for glory. For this thing God hath wrought us, which though it might, with the enlargements and
sub-arguments that now shall follow, be made an argument alone, yet I choose to cast it into this total to make the whole the more strong.
Therefore (4.) gather up the demonstrations thus ; if the soul be the immediate and first subject of grace, which is a preparation to glory, and
capable of this glory when out of the body ; and God the great agent or worker hath wrought all that ever he means to work in it this way, by way of preparation to glory ; then, as Peter said in the case of admitting the
Gentiles to baptism, Acts x. 47, What should hinder that these souls should not be glorified instantly when out of their bodies ? If indeed, as the
papists, and corrupted Jews, and heathens have feigned, there were any work to be after wrought, a purgatory or the like, then a demurrer or caveat
might be yet put in to suspend this their admission into glory ; but the
contrary being the truth, then, &c. Now the strength of the argument from
this latter, superadded to the rest, stands upon two strong grounds.
First, If we consider what is common to God in this with all other but
ordinary wise efficients or workers, that are intent upon their ends, which must be given to him, the only wise all-powerful God (who is here said, a3 an efficient, to work us for this end). When any ordinary efficient hath
brought his work to a period, and done as much to such or such an end as he means to do, he delays not to accomplish his end and bring it to execu
tion, unless some overpowering impediment do lie in his way to it. If
you have bestowed long and great cost upon any of your children, to fit and prepare them for any employment, the university suppose, or other
calling, do you then let these your children lie truants, idle and asleep at
home, and not put them forth to that which you at first designed that their
420 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. XL
education unto ? Will you suffer them (in this case) to lose their time ; do you know how to do good to your children ? And doth not God ? We see God doth thus in nature. We say when the matter is as fully prepared as ever it shall be, that the form enters without delay ; now grace is expressly termed a preparation to glory. Also God doth observe this
in working of grace itself, when the soul is as fully humbled and emptied, and thereby prepared for the Lord by John Baptist s ministry, as he means
to prepare it, the work of justifying faith presently follows. In all his
dispensations of judgments or mercies he observes the same. When men s
sins are at full (as of the Amorites), he stays not a moment to execute
judgment ; so in answering the faith of his people waiting on him for mercies. And thus it is for glory, I have glorified thee on earth (the only place and condition of our glorifying God), I have finished the work thou gavest me to do ; and now (what now, and presently now remained
there, follows) glorify me, &c. Thus spake Christ our pattern.
Secondly, There is this further falls out in this case and condition of such a soul, as doth indeed call for this out of a kind of necessity, and not of congruity only. For whereas by God s ordination there are two ways of communion with him, and but two, unto all eternity
: either that of
faith, which we have at present ; and of sight, which is for hereafter ; into these two the apostle resolves all God s dispensations to us ; ver. 7 of this
chapter, We walk by faith (namely, in this life), not by sight. And
again, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, Now we see in a glass, then face to face. These
two, now and then, do divide the dispensations for eternity of time to come. The like in Peter, 1 Epistle i. 8, In whom, though now you see him not
* yet believing. If therefore, when the soul goes out of the body, that way of communion with God by faith utterly ceaseth, 1 Cor. xiii. 8, the door and passage will be quite shut up ; God having fulfilled all the work of faith ( the work of God, John vi. 28) with
(as you one day shall),
power, 2 Thes. i. 11, that ever he intendeth ; then surely sight must succeed acccording to God s ordination, or otherwise this would inevitably follow, that the soul would be for that interim, until the resurrection, cut
off from all communion with God whatever, having yet all its acquired holiness of sanctification abiding in it, and righteousness accompanying of
it all that while. Look therefore as a child hath two, and but two, ways of
living, and when the one ceaseth the other succeeds, or death would follow in the womb it lives by nourishment from the navel, without so much as breathing at the mouth ; but it no sooner comes into the world but that former means is cut off, and it liveth by breath, and taking in nourishment by the mouth, or it must instantly die so stands the case with the soul here between faith and sight ; so that we must either affirm, that the soul dies to all spiritual actings and communion with God until the resurrection, which those scriptures so much do contradict :
* He that believeth hath eternal life, &c., and shall never (no, not for a moment) die, John viii. 51, chap. xi. 26 ; and in those promises it is not simply a sluggish immortality, but to live, and act, and enjoy God (which is our
life) must needs be meant. Or we must on the other side affirm, that the
life of faith ceasing, and God yet having that way wrought all that ever he
intendeth, that then sight of God face to face must come in its place ; which indeed the apostle in that 1 Cor. xiii. affirms in saying, ver. 10, When that which is perfect is come, then that which is but in part is done away. There is not an utter ceasing of the imperfect, and then an
interval or long space of time to come between ; and then that which is
CHAP. XI.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 421
perfect is to come ; but the imperfect is done away by the very coming of
that which is thus perfect. And in the 12th verse he explains himself, that the imperfect is this our seeing now in a glass darkly, that is, by faith ; and that perfect to be that seeing God face to face, as that which
presently entertains us in that other world. Nay, the apostle admits not
so much as a moment of cessation, but says, that the imperfect is done
away, ver. 10, and vanisheth, as ver. 8, by the coming in of the perfect upon it ; and so the imperfect, namely, faith, is
* swallowed up of the
perfect, namely, sight. Now if we thus grant (as we must) this separate soul to have this sight, or nothing now left it to enjoy God any way by, then it is no other than glory it is admitted unto ; for the sight of God
face to face, and to know as we are known, is the very essence of glory, as
it diners from faith. Neither indeed is that ultimate enjoyment or happi ness in God, which souls shall have after the resurrection, any other (in name or thing) than the sight of God, as it is thus distinguished from
faith, and therefore the soul is now admitted to the same enjoyment it
shall be then for kind, although it shall be then raised and intended unto
far higher degrees of perfection.
And for a conclusion, that which follows in that place lately cited out of
1 Peter i. 9, Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, may as fitly serve for the confirmation of all these latter foregoing notions
as to any other sense interpreters have affixed.
* Receiving the end of your faith, the
I am aware how these words,
salvation of your souls, are interpreted of that joy unspeakable and full
of glory, which the verse afore had spoken of : In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory ; so as in those joys vouchsafed the saints are said to receive the
salvation of their souls, as being the earnest of it in the same kind, and so
a part of the reward of faith received in hand (as we say), and vouchsafed
over and above the ordinary way of living by faith. This interpretation I no way gainsay, nor will go about to exclude ; for I know it doth consist with that other I am about to give, and is subordinate to it ; but if this
sense should obtain that it were directly alone intended, yet by consequence, and at the rebound, it doth strongly argue the point in hand. For if whilst
faith continues God is pleased to vouchsafe such joys, much more when
faith ceaseth he will vouchsafe a fuller enjoyment ; for why else are these
present joys termed salvation ? That is, in a sort, part of the taking
possession of salvation aforehand, and that is distinct from the right to
salvation, which faith in ordinary gives without such joys at all times to all
believers ; they have the name given them as being an earnest of the same
kind, of that greater sum. And again, why are these present joys termed
the salvation of their souls ? But because they are intended by God, being also now wrought immediately in the soul, without the body s influence, to be an earnest that it is their souls when without their bodies shall have
that fuller possession given them, and so this earnest assigneth this pay ment to be made to this legatee, the soul, specified as the first receiver of
it. [2.] Every payment having a day or set time appointed for it, which
the earnest obligeth the trustee unto, as well as to make payment itself, and useth to be at the end of the performance on his part to whom the
contract is made, this therefore is as elegantly designed to be the end of
their faith ; there is the day of payment. And [3.] it would be hard to
think that God should give forth joys whilst faith continues, and then for
so long a time as till the resurrection withdraw all communication of
422 OF THE BLESSED STATE . [ClIAP. XI.
himself, both of faith, and joy through sight also. Surely they are not
left worse than in this life they were.
I also know the soul, being the eminent part of man, is often in Scripture, by a synecdoche, put for the whole person. And I must not deny but that
ultimately it is intended here, it extending itself to the whole of salvation
first and last after faith ended ; which sense, on the other hand, many interpreters are for.
I only contend for this, that the salvation of the soul is intended also of that salvation which falls out in the midst between these joys (the earnest) in this life, and that ultimate salvation at the resurrection, that is the
salvation of the soul whilst separate, as being the next. It hath a weight in it that salvation and damnation should so often be said to be of the soul
by Christ himself, as Mat. xvi. 26, What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world (and so provide for his body), and lose his own soul ? and
again, in speaking of the soul, as considered apart from the body, Mat.
* Fear not them that are able to kill but the body, and are not able
x. 28,
to kill the soul. But that which is more conjunct to my purpose, it is observable that this our apostle Peter should choose to use in this Epistle, more than any other apostle, this phrase of soul in relation to salvation, either as being the eminent subject, and sometimes as the single subject both of grace and salvation ; so in this chapter, You have purified your souls, &c., as the immediate susceptive of the incorruptible seed (as was
observed). Then again, in chap. ii. 11, Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ; and ver. 25, Ye are returned to the bishop of your souls; which he speaks as being the eminent part, and (upon separation from the body) the special charge he hath pastoral care of. And more
directly to our purpose, chap. iv. ver. 19, he exhorts them when they come
to die, to commit their souls to God, as then being to be separate from
their bodies. Now it were hard to think that this salvation to come should bear the title and name of the salvation of the soul in this and other
Bcriptures, Heb. x. 39, James v. 20 ; and that yet when this soul shall in the other world come to subsist for a long time single and alone, and then be properly and without figure a mere soul, without a body, a lonesome soul ; that during that state it should not be the subject of this salvation, and so intended here, when more properly and literally, if ever, it is the
salvation of the soul. And it would be yet more strange that the phrase, salvation of the soul, should be wholly restrained unto that estate of the soul when remitted to the body at resurrection, and only unto that. And that word the soul should serve only s}
7necdochically as a part put to signify the whole man, as then it is to be raised up ; but especially it were
strangest of all, if it should be confined and limited in this place of Peter, wherein this salvation of the soul is set forth for the comfort of such as were to lay down their tabernacles of their bodies for Christ (as this Peter
speaks of himself in the next Epistle) and whose faith was then to cease with their lives, whose expectations therefore he would in this case certainly pitch upon that salvation of the soul next, which is this of the soul separate. To confirm all which,
That which further invited me to this place was this phrase, the end of your faith, especially upon this consideration, that he speaks it unto such Christians who in these times were (as he foretells, chap. iv. ver. 16)
shortly to be martyred, and at present were sorely tried (ver. 7 of this
chapter) ; and in the last Terse of the fourth he thereupon instructeth and exhorteth them to commit their souls (when they die) to be kept by
"J OF THE SAINTS IN GLOEY. 423
CHAP. XI.
God. And so, understood in a proper and literal sense, this salvation of
their souls is in all respects termed the end of their faith.
First, In that it is the next and immediate event that faith ends and
determines in, as death is said to be the end of life ; so noting forth that when faith ends, this salvation of the soul begins and succeeds it. The end of a thing signifies the immediate event, issue, period thereof; as of
wicked men it is said, whose end is destruction, Phil. iii. 19 ; and Heb.
* drawing back unto perdition ;
x. 39, apostasy and unbelief are said to be a
and, on the contrary, there faith is termed a believing to the salvation of
the soul ; and both note out the final event and consequent of each, and
salvation of the soul to be the end of faith, when men continue and go on
to believe, until their faith arrive at and attaineth this salvation of the soul. To this sense also, Horn. vi. 22, you have your fruit in holiness, and the
end everlasting life. And the apostle Peter, having in the foregoing verses
celebrated the fruits and workings of their faith in this life, as in supporting them gloriously under the sorest trials, ver. 7, and then sometimes filling
their hearts with joy unspeakable and glorious, ver. 8, he here at last
concludeth with what will be the end or issue of it in that other life, when faith itself shall cease, and what it is that then they shall receive,
receiving, after all this, the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls,
Kofjugtfisvoi, in the present, by a frequent and usual enallage of time, being
put for the future ; for ye shall receive (or being about to receive), to shew
the certainty of it ; that when faith shall end, you may be sure on t, even
of that salvation (that great salvation so spoken of by the prophets, ver.
10) of your souls, which as it hath no end to be put unto it, as faith hath,
so no interruption or space of time to come between, during which your souls should not be actually saved ; a salvation of your souls singly, whilst
through death they shall so exist, as well as of the same souls primarily, and more eminently, when both soul and body shall be reunited.
* The end of your faith, that is, of your aims and expectations in your faith ; the end importing the aim or expectation, which is also a
Secondly,
proper and literal sense of that word. And upon this account also the
salvation of the soul, when they should die, that being the very next thing
their eyes must needs be upon, is therefore here intended.
l the end of your faith ; that is, as being that for which
And, thirdly,
* keeps us by his power through faith unto salvation,
the great God (who
ver. 5) hath wrought this faith in you. Accordingly, we find it termed
the work of faith, 1 Thes. i. 3, which when God hath fully wrought, and
brought to that degree he aimed at in this life, or, to use the apostle s own
expression of it, 2 Thes. i. 11, when God hath fulfilled the work of faith
with power, he then crowneth it with this salvation of the soul without
end. As James speaks of patience, when it hath had its perfect work,
* for this self same thing he hath wrought us. And therefore when this faith shall cease, which he wrought for this, he will attain his end without delay ; and you,
chap. i. 4, compared with ver. 12 ; and so speaks my text,
says he, shall attain your end also. And faith thus ceasing, if this salva
tion of the soul did not succenturiate * and recruit it anew, the end of this
faith were wholly and altogether present destructive loss unto the soul in
its well-being until the resurrection.
Fourthly, The end signifies the perfection and consummation of anything,
as Christ is said to be the end of the law, Rom. x. 4 ; and so the mean
ing is, that your faith, which is but an imperfect knowing God, shall then,
* To succenturiate is to fill up the centuries or companies of an army. ED.
424 OF THE BLESSED STATE [CHAP. XI.
when it ceaseth, be swallowed up of sight (which is all one with that sal vation here) tanquam perfectibile, a perfection, as that which is imperfect is said to be by that which is perfect, 1 Cor. xiii. 10. Thus much for the literal and proper import of the word end.
Now, then, if we take the word end in its proper meaning, and the word soid likewise in its native proper meaning also, which sense in reason should be first served (when the scope will bear it), then it makes for that purpose more fitly which we have had in hand.
That nothing may be wanting in this last place cited to make up all the
particulars in the foregoing sections insisted on, so it is that the apostle Peter doth further plainly insinuate that this salvation here consisteth in the sight and vision of Christ (which was one particular afore mentioned), accompanied with joy unspeakable and glorious. The coherence, if ob served, makes this forth clearly ; for whereas in the verse immediately fore going he had commended their present state of faith by this,
* Whom now, though ye see not, yet believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious, that now you see not (in this life) is set in opposition, and carries a pro mise with it of a time to come wherein they should see, even as Christ said to his disciples, John xiii. 33 and 36 compared, Whither I go, I now say to you ye cannot come, but thou shalt follow me aftenvards. So here now believing (which is the principle at the present w^hich you live upon) * you see him not, but when the end of your faith shall come you shall then see him ; and in this it is consisteth the salvation of your souls. So that still it carries on what I have afore spoken unto, that when faith ceaseth, sight cometh, yea, perfects and swallows it up, as was said even now out of 1 Cor. xiii. And let me add this, that the apostle on purpose doth bring in the men tion of this supereminent fruit of faith, even now when we see not, that
believing, ye yet rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious ; on purpose, I say, to make way for the raising up their thoughts and apprehensions how infinitely transcending that salvation of their souls must be, when faith
ending, they attain to sight, to see him face to face whom their souls have loved. It is implicitly as if he had said unto them, Oh think with your selves what joy, what glory that must needs be, which exceedeth and surpasseth this that now accompanies your faith, in an answerable proportion, as much as sight of Christ s presence, and face to face, must be supposed to excel the knowledge of him by faith, which sees him but as absent, darkly
! And further, give me leave to improve this notion ; you may take this assured evidence, that your souls shall then see and enjoy God when your faith shall cease, which will be [when once your souls shall come to be
separate from your bodies by death, in that even now in this life it is your souls and spirits that are the immediate receptives or partakers and subjects of such glorious joys.
The soul enjoys them, though in the body yet, without the help or con currence of the body, or the phantasms of it. Yea, such raptures do pass understanding, that is, the common way of understanding, which, by the use and help of the body, or images in the fancy, the mind exerciseth in other things, and which do concur with the understanding ordinarily in faith. But this joy falls into and is illapsed within the soul itself imme
diately ; yea, the weakness of your bodies and bodily spirits will not per mit you to have so much of this joy as otherwise the soul is now capable of by faith. And therefore by this experimental taste aforehand in your
CHAP. XII.] OF THE SAINTS IN GLORY. 425
own souls, you may be ascertained that your souls, when separate from
your bodies by death, as well as when united again unto their bodies, shall
enjoy this great salvation.
And thus much for the first point raised out of the words, which did
undertake an argumentation for a separate soul s glory and happiness.
(1.) From the condition of the soul, as the immediate subject of grace
wrought in it. (2.) From God s ordination of the work wrought, to raise
the soul up to life, whilst sin should bring dissolution upon the body.
(3.) From the scope of the worker, God himself, who as an efficient, will
accomplish the end, when his work for that end is finished. And all these
as comprehended in what the very first view and front of the words of my
text hold out, God hath wrought us for the self-same thing.