Chapter III
Of the first state men run through, viz., that of innocency. A brief draft
of all those several states or conditions through which God leadeth the elect
of mankind. Together with a comparison of those states together.
Our most holy, wise, and gracious God had, in his everlasting purposes,
(as by the event appears) fore-ordained several estates and dispensations
(whereof some are inferior and subordinate one unto the other, and whereof one is utterly contrary and perfectly opposite to that happiness he intended) which he would lead his elect of men through, as so many several degrees they take ; yea, and oppositions and hazards they are to pass through, ere
the last and most royal crown of glory be set upon their heads. And this he chose to do, to the end to magnify and set forth the glory of his own
grace at last, as also to carry and lead us still on with wonder from one unto the other, and to prepare us to entertain that consummate happiness at last with unalterable* astonishment and adoration. God hath not dealt
thus with the elect angels, who have had no changes ; but us, the sons of
men, he shifteth from vessel to vessel, and shifteth us first from one con
dition, then another, till he hath brought us to that utmost refinement which may render us in the highest manner meet and capable of himself
immediately. To this end he at first created us in a pure and natural
condition in Adam, and he the first of mankind ; to let us see our imwn
or bottom, what by the law of creation it was that was our due, and how remote we were by that due from that glory he supernaturally in Christ, * Qu. unutterable ? ED.
CHAP. III.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 35
the second Adam, had intended ; that since grace freely had designed us an higher, the disproportion might appear, that so what was the gift of
grace might rise up to its full glory. Then he lets us fall into sin and wrath, which utterly spoiled and defaced that first native beauty we had by creation, and plunged us into a contrary depth of misery. But then, after that again, he gives forth the gospel, which discovers Christ as a redeemer from sin and wrath, who withal brings a life and immortality to light, which by faith apprehended by us, puts us into the state of grace, and a
participation of Christ, such as is suitable to the relation of the gospel in this life, far excelling Adam s state.
But then, last of all, and after all this, God hath a reserve, a surpassing weight of glory to be revealed in us, and that also admits of its degrees, of which anon.
And these I thought best in this place to give the brief entire view of, not only for the pleasantness of the prospect when in brief set together, but because it will serve as the clearest introduction or general preface unto all the treatises that are to follow, which have for their particular and set
subjects these several estates and conditions. This discourse being to handle the state of Adam in his purest naturals, with a comparison be tween him and Christ, and his state and our state of grace under the
gospel, in other discourses which are to follow, I shall, 1, treat of man s sinful and corrupt estate, and the misery thereof, which serves further, by way of contraries, to magnify the glory of God s grace, and his Christ, as revealed in the gospel ; then, 2dly, the state of salvation by Christ, which the elect are brought and raised up into by the grace and work of all three
persons, which is rendered to us the more illustrious, both by the imme
diately preceding misery which we are delivered from, and then by its sur
passingly excelling that first and best estate ; then, 3dly, I shall discourse of the last and best condition of the elect, which is the state of glory.
That which at present I am to do is only, 1. To give an account of God s dispensations herein.
2. Shortly to enumerate the particular states, and compare them in their comely gradations or subordinations of each to other.
For the first, the account hereof consists in two things
1. That it is and hath been the manner of God, in other works of his, to proceed by like steps and degrees ; to proceed from less perfect to more perfect ; and to put great distances and disproportions, yea, from
contraries.
2. The reasons of it. The first contains two things in it.
1. That it hath been his manner in other works, which will help us to understand his proceeding in these. Thus, in making this visible world, he first began with a rude lump, that had no form, Gen. i. 2, neither
essential nor accidental ; which was actually nothing, potentially all things, therefore called earth and waters, but in truth a darkness and deep confusion without form. Then he divides that lump into four lofts and rooms, and
puts in forms thereto to perfect that mass, and so makes the four elements; then he finisheth and fits up those several lofts and chambers with inhabi
tants, garnisheth the fiery heavens with stars, fills the waters with fishes, the air with birds, the earth with beasts. And of these, those that had a more perfect kind of life were still created in order, after the other more
imperfect, and still the latter containing in them the perfections of the former ; and then, last of all, man, the end, the existence, the lord of
36 OF THE CREATUBES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
all, that hath the excellency of angels, sun, moon, and stars in him, as
Eccles. xii. 2.
And whereas God had another man to come, the Lord from heaven, who
is God and man, and for him to make another world, a new heaven and a new earth, which he intended more than this, yet his ordination in his
decrees was to make this first world more imperfect, as the preludium and
preparative to this new world of Christ s ; which ordination and method of
his the apostle hath expressly set before us, as needfully to be noticed by
us, 1 Cor. xv. 46, where, speaking of both these men, Adams, and their
* That was not first which was spiritual ; that is, that man Christ, and that estate of spiritual perfection he brings in, was not to be first, but
worlds,
last ; but first that which was natural, and afterwards that which is
spiritual. God laid that estate of Adam but as the first rude draught, the
groundwork to be filled up. God proceeded ab imperfection ad perfecting, by degrees from natural to spiritual. And in the framing and rearing up this new second world, he observes the same method.
1. In the very prophecy and foresignifying of it aforehand, God pro ceeded
<ffo\vf&tgu$, by several parcels, and cast the revelation of him into
several shapes and representations, flroXurgocrSJg, Heb. i. 1, proceeding from more imperfect to what is perfect, as a preludium thereunto.
First. He makes a covenant with the Jews, in outward appearance little
better than a covenant of works (whereof it bears the name), then brings in that of grace, established upon better principles and promises. The
first at best, as the best of the Jews understood it, but imperfect to the end ; as Heb. xi. 40,
* That they without us should not be made perfect. And that first covenant, how doth he deliver it with all possible state
! brings down heaven to earth, and makes an heaven upon a
and;majesty
dusty mountain in Binai ! How gloriously speaks he in thunder ! By
angels how terribly
! Makes Moses, a mediator, approach to him with his
! Erects a ministry, how richly clothed ! A
face shining, how brightly
! A worship therein, how
tabernacle, after that a temple, how magnificent
! And intends all this but as an imperfect show. For he finds
costly
fault with this covenant, ministry, worship, and all, Heb. viii ; disannuls
it for the weakness and unprofitableness of it, Heb. vii. 9, and then brings in
* a better covenant, a more excellent ministry, Heb. viii. 7, a greater and more perfect tabernacle, Heb. ix. 11. And even in that carnal way he
: first, there was but altars, then a tabernacle, then a
proceeded by degrees
temple. And then again, in that worldly temple, how was there first that which was imperfect
! and then comes that which was holy and more perfect. Three courts there were. The outward court for the people, Rev. xi. 1,
less glorious ; the second for the priests, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shew-bread ; and after the second veil a third, the
holiest of all, Heb. ix. 2-4, &c., which had the golden censer, the ark
overlaid with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and the cherubims of glory ; and this was eminently called the glory, the type of heaven. And then, when God came indeed to erect the new world under the gospel, Heb. ii. 4, 5, how still doth he proceed from the more
imperfect to what is perfect, ere he hath brought us to the height of all
! Into how many heavens, one after the other, will he bring us !
perfection
1. He makes a new creation in his people s hearts, a new work there ; so 2 Cor. v. 17, Old things are passed away, all things are become new*
in a believer s heart ; and this out of a darkness, a chaos, 2 Cor. iv. 6. And 2. Then he brings that new creature into a new world of the ordi-
CHAP. III.] OF THEIR STATE BY CBEATION. 87
nances and things revealed and fitted to this new creature, which are
deservedly called, The kingdom of heaven ; whereby a man is said to have a being lift up to heaven, &c., as Capernaum. And all the glory of
that revelation made on Sinai is called but earth to this, which is truly a heaven in comparison of it, Heb. xii. 25, 26, yet this heaven he will shake
as he did that earth, and remove this heaven as he did that earth (so Heb.
xii. 26, 27), . and bring his elect into a new heaven new in comparison to this now, Eev. xxi., whenas once again all is to become new, ver. 4, 6. And then, after that new heaven and new earth, where righteousness dwells, the epistles of Paul and Peter tell us that he will bring us into an heaven
of heavens, so called, not in relation only to natural heavens, but spiritual heavens foregoing it, which shall be the end, the perfection of all ; and so, Rom. vi.;22, is called rz\og [from rz\su, perficio}, the end, the perfection; even as Christ is called
* the end of the law, Rom. x. 4. And as the law made nothing perfect, but Christ, so even all these foregoing heavens are
(though in themselves, some of them comparatively to others foregoing,
perfect, yet) compared to this last and utmost, but imperfect, which is the end of all.
The second is, that in all these gradual representations of his, he so
orders it, that the latter shall still exceed the former, and so exceed, as the former shall hold no comparison therewith ; and therefore, the more of them we can find out the better. Thus how did the world, ordered, gar nished, and adorned, exceed the chaos, which was darkness and confusion ? The second day s work exceeded the first; the third the work of the
second. And as much did the little world, man, the epitome of all the
great world, excel all, so as heathens stood astonished at it. But infinitely more doth Christ, the second Adam, exceed the first, 1 Cor. xv. 45-47,
&c., and his world, this of Adam s ; and likewise the ministration of the second covenant, the gospel, that of the first, the law, that, 2 Cor. iii.
10, *;it had no glory in comparison of this which excelleth. And then the new heavens and the new earth to come, will so exceed this heaven, even
* the former shall
this. kingdom of heaven we now, or the saints, enjoy, that
not be remembered, Isa. Ixv. 17. And as it was prophesied that the ark and service of the temple, Jer. iii. 16, should be so exceeded by the gospel, that it should be remembered no more, so will the new heavens exceed
these, that all here shall be remembered no more, nor come into mind an expression shewing how much the former should be excelled by the
latter, even so much, that as it useth to fall out in things and objects
eminently excelling, they so swallow up the mind that all other things are
not thought on, but forgotten, as if they had never been. As the glory of
the sun puts out the glory of the moon, so shall this exceed that former, that it shall not come to mind.
Now, to add a true reason why God is pleased thus in his works to pro ceed in general :
1. To shew the perfection of his efficiency and workmanship. It argues a weakness in an efficient to do worse, when it hath done better ; but per
fection, still so to exceed, and put down the former.
2. It shews his various and manifold wisdom, fl-eXusro/x/Xofi tfop/a, or his much or mighty varying wisdom, as Chrysostom expounds that phrase, Eph. iii. 11. His wisdom is in itself one, but we could not see it in itself
at once. Therefore he shews it by several representations of it and him
self, in several effects ; and that shews wisdom also not simply various, but much, mightily differing and excelling, to shew the vastness of his
OF THE CEEATUEES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
wisdom, \vho could cast himself into so many forms, and frame so many several patterns of worlds and conditions, not only infinitely differing from, but as much excelling each other.
And thirdly, ^This is a way and course he knew would take the creature most, for unto its capacity hath God herein applied himself. Now we find that our spirits are taken and led on with much more pleasure, and brought into a greater wonderment and admiration of a thing transcendently excel
lent, when things of less worth, yet to our apprehensions (whilst we see no
better) most excellent, are presented first. So we have heard, in enter tainment of great ones, their cunning suitors have led them into stately rooms, where sumptuous banquets have been prepared, and from thence carried them into other far more exceeding, to set off the latter so much the more, and make it great indeed. So it is in masques and shows, in which there are several presentments involved one beyond another. And thus doth and will God entertain his children. And what can be more to draw the creatures into wonderment, than first to present them with such a work, so perfect in their apprehensions as they know not where anything should be added to it, to make it more perfect, or taken away, as Solomon speaks of God s works, Eccles. iii. 14 (though haply in a further sense
also), and yet then to bring them unto another frame and building differ
ing, infinitely exceeding, the other. What is there will wrap up in more astonishments ! Now, never did the art of man present such a prospective piece which, as 3-011 know, carries the eye through several rooms, one beyond another, as is this which God hath made, and the worldreveals unto us. As for the second head propounded, the scheme of these several estates, and the subordination of them.
1. The scheme of them.
(1.) There is the estate of pure nature wherein Adam was created, and in him we, which he and we should have enjoyed on earth, which had an happiness in its kind most perfect and complete.
(2.) The second is the estate of grace we are brought into here by the second Adam under the gospel, and the privileges enjoyed by faith and hope, which, if it were made up complete (though but within its own sphere, without addition of glory), would afford an higher and super-excelling hap piness than that of Adam.
(3.) The third is the estate of glory hereafter, in which there might haply be found out in Scripture three degrees ; whereof two are but steps to the highest throne we shall be set in.
[1.] That of the souls of men separate, till joined to the body, during which time, though made perfect in grace, and with addition of glory, yet not with that degree which at the resurrection soul and body shall receive.
^ [2.] That estate of the soul and body, when first joined in Christ s visible kingdom, and the day of judgment, which transcends that of the soul s alone.
^ [3.] That of the soul and body, when Christ shall have given up his kingdom to his Father, when God shall be all in all.
All which may further be cast into this series : that whereas God, known and enjoyed, is the supreme happiness of man in all conditions, God hath ordained several ways, differing not only in degrees, but kind, of knowing and enjoying of him. All which the apostle reduceth to a dichotomy, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, either, 1, in a glass, or in a riddle, darkly, now
* Qu. word ? ED.
CHAP. III.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 89
in this world ; or, 2, face to face in that to come. The one we may call
specularis cognitio ; the other, intuitiva : the one mediate and merely in
alio, in another thing ; that other immediate in se, as in himself, face to
face. And answerable to each of these knowledges of him, is there an
enjoyment of him by the will, goes along therewith, to delight and rest
satisfied in him. For the understanding and the will are commensurated
and proportioned each to other, according to that known rule, in quantum
cognoscimus, in tantum amamus ; in quantum amamus, in tantitm gaudemus. So much, or so far as we know God aright, we love him ; so far as we love
him, we rejoice in and are made happy by him.
M This specular or mediate knowledge of God in this world, is either,
1, such as that which Adam had, seeing and enjoying him in the creatures,
which was his glass, as it was said of old, speculum creatura ; or enjoying him in and by the covenant of works, the glass of the law, accompanied
with peace of conscience following the doing his will ; or at the best, but
seeing and enjoying him in visions and apparitions, as the fathers of old
did. Or else, 2, it is that knowledge which we have of him by revelation
in the glass of the gospel, this covenant of grace, in which the glory of God
shines forth in the face of Jesus Christ as in a glass, as 2 Cor. m. 18 and
peace^which
chap. iv. 6 compared. Which is accompanied often with,
<
passeth understanding, joy unspeakable and glorious, as 1 Peter i., and
but only as in this glass. And if we compare either this knowledge of God
in Christ presented in this glass with that of Adam, his will be found to be
but as in a riddle, darker and obscurer far, for the kind and way of knowing
him, though for degrees in its own kind it was more complete. And in
like manner, the least drop of joy of the Holy Ghost, the droppings of
heaven, which he puts into the heart, will be found more than all Adam s
full springs of peace, which arose but out of his own conscience, which was
but as a spring on earth in comparison of this other. And both these
ways of knowing and enjoying God, which a believer in part here hath, I
take it to be the apostle aims at, ver. 8, calling the one, namely^ that by
relation* in the gospel, prophesying, which is the means of revealing God
in Christ by the Scriptures, which are the glass and ordinance that present
God in Christ most lively to us ; the other, knowledge, namely, that obtained
by the creatures, as some have differenced these two.
But then there is a knowledge which is face to face, as being more
immediate, after this life ; whereof, I take it, there are two degrees also,
whereof the one shall exceed the other. The first is, the seeing and
enjoying Christ the Lord personally in glory, face to face, and so the God
head in him. So as still the chiefest and eminentest way of knowing and
enjoying the Godhead should be in Christ only, which I take is the
chiefest way both for the souls separate, both before and at the resurrec
tion, till the day of judgment be over, when we shall see him as he is,
and be made like him ; which infinitely transcends our seeing God m
Christ here ; when Christ himself is made known but imperfectly in a glass,
in ordinances of grace, and is truly a seeing face to face, namely, of the
Lord Christ, bem* compared with our way of seeing him here absent, by
faith, and not by sight, as Cor. v. 6-8. Yet so as there is a second and
further decree of seeing God in himself, face to face, far more exceeding,
that is, for us to see him face to face, as Christ himself now doth ; when
he shall have given his kingdom up, by which only, as by him administered,
God is more eminently to be known, till the tday of judgment is over. Ihen
* Qu. revelation ? ED
40 OF THE CEEATURES, AND THE CONDITION [BOOK II.
shall God become all in all immediately himself, which must needs exceed
all else, as God himself exceeds all these ways of revealing him.
Thus hath God ordained to bring us by steps and degrees to that parti cipation of himself which creatures are capable of. And in bringing us into his immediate presence and conjunction, to entertain us first with lower, though all most glorious representations of himself ; even as kings are wont to do, in admitting ambassadors into their presence, so God admits
us, 1, by creatures and visible apparitions ; 2, in his Son revealed absent in a glass ; then, 3dly, by his Son s own personal entertainment of us ; who, 4thly, shall deliver us up to God, to enjoy God, as himself doth.
And as I have given a brief delineation thus of the particulars, so I will make the like brief comparison of them each with other.
1 . If we compare the first branch of that last division given with the
latter, how doth the latter way exceed it ! For to see God, and enjoy him but in creatures, as Adam did, and in the ordinances and revelations of the gospel, is as in a glass, and makes it at best but as an accidental
happiness, as comparatively divines calls it. That only of seeing God and Christ face to face, as in himself essentially, is the truest happiness. The one is but the shadow ; the other, the substance in which true hap piness consists.
But, 2dly, more particularly, the distance between each of these four
degrees is such, that, 1, all the knowledge which Adam had of God in the
creatures, the law and apparitions, was out as seeing one in his footsteps and shadow, and in types and resemblances, as all these were seculum speculi t as was said of old. As in like manner were these revelations under the
law, which were but the shadow, Heb. x. 1, and not the image. 2. That
knowledge by revelation in the glass of the gospel, in seeing Christ therein, which is said to be the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor.
iii. 18 and chap. iv. G compared, as yet but as seeing the image of one that is absent in a glass, and so but the representation of him in his Son, who is his image, and that but as presented in a glass absent, which though nearer than the other, yet how remote from the real communication of himself!
3. That after this life ended, till after the day of judgment, will be but the enjoying God more eminently in his Son, who is not absent any more, but personally present in his glory
: That they may see my glory, John
xvii. 24. Which adds infinitely to both the former, and is the seeing and
enjoying the substance of that image of God, the image only of which we here enjoy. It is to view face to face the brightness of God s glory shining in Christ, of which but the glimpse or reflection we here could see.
But then, 4thly, to behold that glory as in itself, and as this his Son, that before represented it to us, himself sees it ; and for God himself to be his own presenter of himself, will infinitely yet more transcend.
And thus each of these are to what succeed them but as perfectibilia ad
perfectivum, as groundworks and foundations laid for the other still to
perfect them and swallow them up ; that still, as that which is more
perfect succeeds that which was before (and in comparison thereunto was but
imperfect), is done away. And as the knowledge of God in the creatures
is swallowed up, and vanisheth, as it were, in the presence of God in Christ
presented in the gospel and so indeed would Adam s certainly have done, if Christ had been propounded to him ; and so doth all Old Testament
knowledge of God vanish before this same, as the shadow, as Col. ii. 17, or as the morning star, as 2 Peter i. 19, when the sun appears so will,
CHAP. IV.] OF THEIR STATE BY CREATION. 41
much more, this of Christ now be swallowed up, and vanish afore the
enjoyment of God in Christ, in his glory and his kingdom. And so the
apostle tells us, that knowledge and prophecy shall cease and fail ; and
this, that is but in part, shall be done away, 1 Cor. xiii. 10. And so in
like manner, the same apostle tells us, 1 Cor. xv., that the kingdom or
eminency of Christ himself shall in comparison cease, and be given up to the presence of his Father, when God shall be all in all. 1 Cor. xv. 24-28, Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down all rule, and all
authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, All things are
put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.