Part 1
NICHOL S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES.
PURITAN PERIOD.
THE
WORKS OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
VOL.
COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational
Union, Edinburgh. JAMES BEGG, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgh.
THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University,
Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas s Episcopal Church
Edinburgh. WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church
History, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presby
terian Church, Edinburgh.
<Sntrral Dttor.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, M.A., EDINBURGH.
THE WORKS
THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
SOMETIME PRESIDENT OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE, OXFORD.
Wtb (Smral fttface BY JOHN C. MILLER, D.D.,
LINCOLN COLLKGE ; HONORARY CANON OF WORCESTER J RBCTOR OP ST MARTIN S, BIRMINGHAM.
^ntr gtamrir
BY ROBERT HALLEY, D.D.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE INDEPENDENT NEW COLLEGE, LONDON.
VOL. XII.
SERMONS AND NOTES OF SERMONS.
INDEXES.
EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL.
LONDON: JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN: G. HERBERT.
M.DCCC.LXVI.
EDINBURGH .
PRINTED BY JOHN GRE1Q AND SON,
OLD PHYSIC GAEDENS.
CONTENTS.
PAGE AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY FOR THE SPIRITS
OF JUST MEN, TJPON DISSOLUTION, DEMON
STRATED. . . . .2 COR. V. 5. .1 THE GREAT INTEREST OF STATES AND KINGDOMS. Ps. CV. 14, 15. 81 A GLIMPSE OF ZION P, GLORY; OR, THE CHURCH S BEAUTY SPECIFIED. . . . REv. XIX. 6. . 61 THE WORLD TO COME ; OR, THE KINGDOM OF
CHRIST ASSERTED. . . . EPH. I. 21, 22. 81
ZERUBBABEL S ENCOURAGEMENT TO FINISH THE
TEMPLE. . . . ZECH. IV. 6-9 . 101
APPENDIX. ..... . .129 INDEX. . . . 149 INDEX OF TEXTS. . . 239
AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY
FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN, UPON DISSOLUTION,
DEMONSTRATED.
VOL. XII.
AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY
FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN, UPON DISSOLUTION,
DEMONSTRATED.
Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath
given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 2 Con. 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 be
ginning, and a taking possesion of our eternity.
That these words should aim at this self-same thing, cannot be discerned 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 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 G-od hath of our inward man, to renew it day by day. Where inward man is strictly the soul with its graces, set in opposition to our outward man, the body with its
appurtenances, which he saith daily perisheth, that is, is in a mouldering and
decaying condition.
Chap. v. 1. For ice know, that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens.
In this 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 we, 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. Grod, that in this life was so * See Vol. VII. p. 356. ED.
4 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY [2 COB. V. 5.
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 plun dered 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 habitations. Death is a failing (it is your city phrase also when a man proves bankrupt). A statute of bankrupts comes forth then upon your old house, statutinn est
omnibus semel mori, and upon all you have ; and then it 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. 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 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 promiseth 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.
Ver. 2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our
house which is from heaven.
In this 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.
Ver. 8. If so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. In this verse he gives an wholesome caution by the way, and withal in
sinuates 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 deaths, that is, not devoid of
grace, and so exposed to shame and wrath, as Kev. xvi. 15.
Ver, 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened : not
for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swal
lowed up of life.
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 dissolution, in differ ence 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, ver. 1, and that still taken in the sense
spoken of in the second 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 has a death in it, and &o it lives but a dying life ; that this life may be exchanged, yea, swal-
2 COR. V. 5.J FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN. 5
lowed 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 per formed 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 folly. This interpretation, and the suiting of all the phrases used in this fourth
verse, to hold good of this exchange at death, I cannot, through straitness
of time, give an account of now. I have lately, and very largely, done it
elsewhere.
This for the coherence. I hasten to my text. Ver. 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit.
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, sic, avro roiJro, For this self-same thing God hath wrought us, which serves us as a clue of thread drawn through the windings of the former verses, to shew us that one and the same indivi
dual 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 self-same 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
tabernacles by death, as Peter did, and speaks of himself, 2 Peter 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, 3, 4 is that self-same thing here, as some would, for indeed, as Mus eums 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 salf-same thing ; and so it is not that desire of
* us, ourselves and souls, as wrought for that
glory in us is spoken of, but
glory.
If it be asked what is the special proper scope of these words as touching this glory of the soul, the answer in general ; it 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 resurrection. And it is as if the apostle had said, Look into your own souls and consider God s dealings with you hitherto, viz. :
6 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY [2 CoR. V. 5.
1. First, the operation of his hands ; for what other is the meaning or
mystery, says he, of all that God is daily so at work with you in this life ? What else is the end of all the workings of grace in you, and of God that is
: He that hath wrought us, that is, our souls, for this very thing, is God.
the worker ? This is his very design
2. 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 becoiiiingnesses or
meetnesses, 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, Arc. And so in the point of the 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 answering correspondently 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.
I. That it is finis opens et operantis, the end of the work itself upon us, and of God as an efficient working for an end, God huth wrought on us for
this very thing.
II. It is opus dignum JJeo 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
all three persons, which, how clearly evidenced out of the text, will appear when I have despatched these former doctrines. Doct. 1. That it is a strong argument that God hath provided a glory for
separate 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 natu ral to the words, which will serve as materials out of which to make forth that argument.
First, that the thing here said to be wrought is grace or holiness, which
is a preparation unto glory. (1.) Grace is the work, and so, Philip, 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
* Who hath wrought us ; there similarly, We are his workmanship. And (2.) secondly, this work is a preparation to glory ; for, for one thing lo be first wrought in order to another, is a preparation thereunto. Now, saith the text, He hath wrought us for this thing ; and Kom. 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 hath called ; likewise Col. i. 12, Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light
says,
: meet, by making us saints. So, then,
2 COR. V. O.j FOB THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN. 7
had prepared, hath made meet, is all one with who hath wrought us for
this thing. Here, The second, 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, origin
ally, 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 Peter i. 24. But you, having purified your souls, being born again of
incorruptible seed (our bodies are made of corruptible seed, which is the
opposition there) by the word of God, which lives and 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 yet, 1, If our .earthly taber
nacle (that is, our body) be dissolved, we have, &c., that is, this inner man, our souls, have ; for the body is supposed dissolved. So likewise, ver. 4, we in this tabernacle, that is, our souls in these bodies. More expressly
after, ver. 8, our very souls, not only whilst in our bodies, but when sepa rated from our bodies, have the ice 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, ver. 5, hath wrought us; the soul bears the person, carries away the grace with it. Add to this, the time here specified in the text, in which we are wrought upon
: it is but this life, and during the term thereof.* Hath wrought us,
says the apostle ; not in the future, who shall work us for it. That hath
wrought, referring to the work of conversion at the first, 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 self-same 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
* Observa quod non in futuro dicit, parabit nos. Non demum parabitur
: ubi jam indueudum est, &c. Muse, in locum.
8 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY [2 COR. V. 5.
then, there is no parabit in that other world. Bat, 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.
First, That grace or holiness, because they are immediately wrought in the soul, that 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 dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken 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.) First, 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 less principal debtor ; but that, to be sure, shall pay for it.
* It is
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 excep tion, and contrary fate too), the spirit is life because of righteousness. 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 up into life. And why ? because of righteousness, which is Christ s 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, G-od 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 adds, He that raised up 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 other, 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 soul, or of itself is the immediate subject of sin ; yet the original means or channel through which it conies down, and is derived unto us, is the generation of our bodies. The body therefore con gruously 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
2 COR. V. 5.] FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN.
or spirit, which is the offspring of God, having now true holiness and rightousness 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 abiding, 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 founda
tion of the substantial parts of this first reason out of this one scripture, thus directly and explicitly holding this forth.
2. I come to the argumentation itself, which ariseth out of these
: (1.) That the soul is the immediate subject of grace ;
things laid together
(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 pre
paration 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 conveniency upon each, or at least all these grounds when put together.
First, Consider the soul as the immediate subject of this working and pre
paration for glory. Hence, therefore, this will at least arise, that the in
herency or abiding of his grace wrought in this soul, depends not upon its
conjunction with the body ; but so as it remains as an everlasting and per
petual conserver of that grace stamped on it ; yea, and carries it all with itself, as a rich treasure innate unto it 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 G-od remains incorruptible, or the word of God abides for ever?
1 Pet. i. 23, 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 it is it should
partake the benefit thereof, and live upon them now when 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 now appear, that it was the
soul which was the sole intrinsic and immediate receptive of all this holiness. This is the first. Add also, Secondly, 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. Rea son good, that look as in priority, grace, the preparation unto glory, was
wrought, so, in that order of priority, glory itself should be communicated. And, therefore, seeing its fate is to abide a while alone, therefore first to en
joy, and drink both the juice and fruit of that vine it is the root of.
* Magis conveniens videtur, ut anirnae in quibns per prius fuit culpa et meritum, prius etiam vel puniantur vel prscmientur. Aquinas cont. Gent. lib. iv. cap. xix. sec. 3.
10 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY [2 COR. V. 5.
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 essen
tial of glory, the substance of that life that swallows up all, but (as we said on ver. 4) G-od s immediate presence, and our knowing him face to face, as we are known ? Now of this the apostle doth in these 6th, 7th, and 8th verses,
expressly inform us, that the separate soul is not only capable thereof, but
* Therefore, says he, we are always confident,
that it then begins to enjoy it :
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. Let us withal view this place in the
light, by bringing the one to the other, which that passage, 1 Cor. xiii. 12, doth cast upon it :
* 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 be in Christ s presence (here). And to be sure, the body is in no
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 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 resurrection in the
body.
Only this must be added, that whilst indeed the soul is at home in this
body, this earthly tabernacle, it is not capable of the sight of the glory of God, i. e. 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 over-hearer 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 contrary, 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 vouchsafed him might not be in the body as well as out of it. Whereas God had otherwise long since peremp
torily 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.
2 COR. V. 5.] FOB THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN. H
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
ever he 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 im
mediate 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 pre
paration to glory ; then, as Peter said in the case of admitting the Gentiles
to baptism, What should hinder that these souls should not be glorified in
stantly, when out of their bodies ? Acts x. 47. 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 demur or caveat might yet be 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 as
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 and 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 pre
pare 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 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 forms enter without delay. Now grace is expressly termed a pre
paration 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
Arnorites), 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 thougavest me to do; and now (what now, and presently now remains 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 con-
gruity only ; for whereas by God s ordination there are two ways of com munion with him, and but two unto all eternity, either that of faith, which we have at present, or 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. 13, Now we see in a glass, then lace to face. These two, now and
then, do divide the dispensations for eternity of time to come. The like in
12 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY [2 CoR. Y. 5.
Peter, 1 Epist. i. 8, In whom, though now you see him not (as you one
day shall), yet believing. If, therefore, when the soul goes out of the
body, that way of communion by God utterly ceaseth, 2 Cor. xiii. 8-13, that door and passage will be quite shut up, God having, 1 Thes. i. 11, John vi.
28, fulfilled all the work of faith (the work of God) with power that ever he
intended, then surely sight must succeed according 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 right eousness 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 communions with God until the
resurrection, which those Scriptures so much do contradict : John ix. 51, and xi. 26, He that believeth hath everlasting life, &c., and shall never (no, not for a moment)
* die. 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 intended, 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 perfect is to come, but the imper fect 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, nimelyfaith, is swallowed up in
perfect, namely sight.
And then further, if we thus grant, as we must, this separate soul to have
this sight, or nothing now left it to enjoy Grod any way by, then it can be 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 differs from
faith. Neither is that ultimate enjoyment or happiness 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, although it shall be then raised and intended unto far higher degrees of perfection. And for a conclusion of this first point, 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.
I am aware how these words,
* receiving the end of your faith, the salva
tion of your souls, are interpreted of that joy unspeakable and full of glory, which the verse afore had spoken, that many saints through believing do in
this life enjoy, as being salvation imperfect, and the earnest of it in the same
kind, and so a part of the reward of faith received in hand, as we say, or
aforehand, and vouchsafed over and above the ordinary way of living by
2 COE. V. 5.] FOE THE SPIEITS OF JUST MEN. 13
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 subor
dinate to it ; and I have learned to take the most comprehensive sense the Holy Ghost may be supposed to aim at in any scripture ; but if this sense should directly alone obtain, 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 the soul through believing such joys, much more when faith ceaseth he will vouchsafe the same soul a fuller enjoyment of himself at the
ending of faith ; for why else are these present joys termed salvation, and that as distinct from that right to salvation, which otherwise faith at all times estates us into, but for this, that these joys are an entrance into, and a taking
; possession of, glory, over and above what ordinary faith giveth ? and therefore they have the name given them as being the earnest of the same kind, unto that greater sum is to be paid, as in all contracts it useth
to be, at the end of that performance on one part, which end is when faith ends ; and so that is made the set date or time when this full payment is to
begin, which this earnest aforehand bindeth God unto.
And it were hard to suppose that God would give such a part of these joys, even whilst faith continues, for so long a time as until the resurrection, and then withdraw all communication of himself, both in joy and faith also. But
* Who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit.
I leave the prosecution of this argument till I come to those words,
I also know that by this phrase, the salvation of our souls, 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, while 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. xxvi. 16, 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. x. 28, Fear not them that are able to kill but the body, and are not able 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 sal
vation. So in this chapter, You have purified your souls, &c., as the im mediate susceptive of the incorruptible seed, as was observed. Then again, in chap. ii. 11, Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; and
ii. 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. 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 scriptures, 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, ii
14 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY
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 synecdochically 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 con
firm all which,
That which further invited me to this place was this phrase, The end of
your faith, especially upon the consideration that he speaks it unto such
Christians who in these times were (as he foretells, chap. iv. 4) shortly to be
martyred, and at present were sorely tried (verse 7 of this chapter, and in
the last verse of the fourth). He thereupon instructeth and exhorteth them
to commit their soul, when they die, to be kept by 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 deter
mines 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, Philip, iii. and Heb. x. 39. Apostasy and unbelief are said to be a drawing back unto perdition. 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 Rom. 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 ; Ko/z/^o/Agvo/, 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 it, 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.
2. 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 proper and a
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.
And 3. The end of your faith, that is, as being that for which the great
God, who keeps us by his power through faith unto salvation, ver. 5, hath
2 COR. V. 5.] FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN. 15
* the work of faith,
wrought this faith in you. Accordingly we find it termed
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, chap. i. 4, compared with ver. 12. And
* this self-same thing he hath wrought us. And there
so speaks my text, for
fore, when this faith shall cease which he wrought for this, he will attain his end without delay. And you, says he, shall attain your end also ; and faith
thus ceasing, if this salvation 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.
4. 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 meaning
is, that your faith, which is but an imperfect knowing God, shall then, when it ceaseth, be swallowed up of sight, which is all one with that salva
tion 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
soul 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 cloth 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 you 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 afterwards. So here now
believing (which is the principle at the present which 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 soul. So that still it car
ries 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. 10. And let me add this, that the apostle on purpose doth bring the mention
of this supereminent fruit of faith, Even now when we see not, that be
lieving, 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
* Oh think with yourselves what
is implicitly as if he had said unto them,
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 know
ledge of him by faith, which sees him but as absent darkly
! And further, give me leave to improve this notion. You may take this * TiKos pro rsXftuffig.
16 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLOEY [2 COR. V. 5.
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 sepa rate 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 immediately ; yea, the weakness of 3
7our bodies and bodily spirits will not permit 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 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 under
take 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. (8.) 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.
But, lo ! a greater matter is here. It is not simply said, God hath
wrought us for this, but He that hath wrought us for this thing is God ;
thereby calling upon us to consider how great an hand or efficient is here, even God, who hath discovered in a transcendent manner his glory, in the
ordaining and contriving of this work unto this great end. Take it not,
therefore, as a bare demonstration given from God s working us to this end, such as is common to other agents, as hath been said. But further, a cele
bration of the greatness and glory of God, in his having contrived this with
so high an hand, like unto the great God ; and is as if he had said, There is
a design in this worthy of God ; he hath shewn himself in this to be the
great God indeed. He that hath wrought us for this is God. When God s ordinary works are spoken of, it sufficeth himself to say, God
did thus, or this ; but when God s works of wonder, then often you find such an illustrious note of reflection upon, and pointing at him, to have done as God. And it is ordinary among men, when you would commend the known worth of the artist, to say, He that wrought this is such a man, so to com mend the workmanship.
And thus both when the Holy Ghost speaks of this glory itself, which is
the end, for which here his style is, Whose maker and builder is God, Heb.
xi. 10 ; and in like equipage here of preparation to that end, he saith, He
that hath wrought us for this thing is God. In this very chapter, 2 Cor. v.,
to go no further, when the great work of salvation in the whole of it is spoken
of, he prefaceth thus to it, All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself, &c. ; that is, in this transaction he hath appeared like that God of whom all things else are, and so more eminently in this than in all, or at
least, any other work. What there is said of salvation in the whole, is here
of that particular salvation of a separate soul. You have the like emphasis
put, Heb. ii. 10, of bringing many sons to glory. It became him, says the
text. Now, put all together, and the result is,
2 COR. V. 5.] FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN. 17
The second point. That to have provided a glory for separate souls of just men, wrought upon in this life, is a dispensation becoming the great God, yea, and that there is an artifice and contrivement therein worthy of God, and like unto
himself, such as he hath shewed in other his works of wonder.
There are two branches of this doctrine, which I set otherwise out thus :
1. That it is a thing becoming the great God, thus to deal with such a
separate soul, having been wrought upon.
2. That God hath designed, and brings forth therein, a glorious artifice and contrivement, such as argue him a God wise in counsel, and wonderful in working.
1. First branch of this second doctrine, that it becomes God. The account of this becomingness is best made forth by comparing and
bringing together into an interview, both the inward and outward condition of such a soul, and then the relations which God bears to it, such as should
thereupon move him through his good pleasure thus to deal with it. You know I at first undertook chiefly reasons of congruity or becomingness, and such always consist of two parts ; and when the one answereth and
suiteth to the other, then the harmony of such a reason is made up.
Let us therefore consider,
I. What is on the soul s part. II. What is on God s part. I. On the soul s part. Therein two things.
(1.) The species, the kind, and intrinsecal rank of being, which this creature we call the soul thus wrought upon stands in afore God.
(2.) The outward condition or case this soul is left in upon its parting with the body, unless God takes it up into glory.
(1.) First, For its rank or kind of being. Therein two things.
[1.] This soul was by its first creation a spirit, and that in the substance or native kind thereof, and in that respect, considered apart for its union with the body, is in a more special manner allied unto God, than all other
creatures, but angels, are.
You have the pedigree of man, both in respect of body and soul, set out, Acts xvii. ; the extract of our bodies, in ver. 26,
* He hath made of one blood all nations of men. So then on that side, as we say, in respect of our
bodies, there is a consanguinity of all men, being made of one blood, between one another : but then in respect of our souls, we are God s offspring, ver.
28, and so on that side there is an alliance, not of consanguinity, unto G-od, upon the account of having been created immediately by him, and in the
very substance of our souls made like him, and in his image ; and yet we are not begotten of his essence or substance, which is only proper to his
great Son. And in a correspondency unto this, God is styled, Heb. xii. 9, the Father of our spirits, in distinction from the fathers of our flesh or bodies (see the words) ; which alliance or fatherhood, take it as in common with all men s spirits, lieth in this, that he not only created our souls imme
diately out of nothing, but in his own image, as to the substance of them ; which image or likeness other creatures did not bear, which yet were made out of nothing, as the chaos was ; both which appear by putting two places together
: Zech. xii. 1, He frameth their spirits, speaking of the souls of men, and that altogether, saith the psalmist, Ps. xxxiii. 15 ; so Ainsworth and others read it, that is, both, each of those sprits, and also wholly and VOL. XII. B
18 AN IMMEDIATE STATE OF GLORY [2 COR. V. 5.
totally, every whit of the substance of them. Creatio est productio totius entis ;
for creation differs from generation in this, that it is a raising up or produc
ing the whole of a being out of mere nothing, that is to say, altogether, whereas generation presupposeth pre-existent matter ; as in the generation of
our bodies, which are not wholly and every whit of God immediately, but
the parents afford the matter, and the formative virtue besides, by which our
bodies are framed. So then, in respect of our first creation, our souls, apart
considered, are thus allied to God, to which our bodies are not ; being spirits
in the very being of them, that altogether do owe that their being to him.
But there is a taint come upon the souls of all men by sin, so as this alliance
is thereby worn out, yea, forfeited, until it be restored. Now, therefore, these
souls, the only subject of our discourse, being such as God hath wrought, and so are become his workmanship by a new and far nobler creation, and
thereby created spirit anew, according to what Christ says. That which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Hereupon these souls are spirit, upon a double
account. As you say of sugar, it is doublerefined, so this is now become a
spiritual spirit, or spirit spiritualised and sublimated ; yea, and thereby the
inward sanctuary, the holy of holies, the seat of God s most spiritual worship, Eom. vii. 22, 25, which the body is not, but only as it is the outward temple or instrument of this new-made spirit.
And hereupon that original affinity to God of spirit, is not only restored, but endeared, for now there is both the stuff, or the ground-work, and then
the workmanship, or embroidery upon it, and both of them the works of God ; that so look as the gold wrought upon commends the enamel, and
then again the enamel enhanceth the value of the gold, so as both are con
sidered in the price, so it is here with this soul wrought by God in botli
respects.
1 2.] Secondly, consider we now again the case and outward condition of
such a soul, that of itself would fall out to it upon the dissolution of the body.
1. It fails of all sorts of comforts it had in and by its union with the body in this world : Luke xvi, 9, When you fail, says Christ, speaking of
death ; it is your city phrase when any of you break, and perhaps are thereby driven into another kingdom, as the soul now is.
2. Then, if ever, a man s flesh and his heart fails, Ps. Ixxiii. 26.
3. And, which is worse, a man s faith faileth or ceaseth after death, and
all his spiritual knowledge as in this life ; it is the express phrase used
1 Cor. xiii. at the 8th verse, and which is prosecuted to the end of that
chapter ; and so all that communion it had with God in this life is cut off.
It is of all creatures left the most destitute and forlorn, if God provides not.
4. And yet, fourthly, it is now upon death, which it never was afore, imme
diately brought into the presence of God. Naked soul comes afore naked God : Eccles. xii. 7, Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; and
the spirit shall return unto God that gave it. It is put out of house and
home, and turned upon its Father again.
This as to the soul s condition.
II. God s part.
This is a special season for God to shew his love to such a soul, if
ever afore or after ; an opportunity such as falls not out, neither afore, whilst
it was in the body, nor after, when it is united to the body again at the re
surrection. If ever, therefore, he means to shew a respect unto a poor soul, which is his so near kindred and alliance, it must be done now. We read,
* My flesh and my heart faileth (as at death to be sure it
in Ps. Ixxiii. 26,
doth), but God is the strength of my heart, both in this life and at death,
* and my portion for ever ; in the life to come without any
to support me,
2 COR. V. 5.] FOR THE SPIRITS OF JUST MEN. 19
interruption or vacant space of time, as that ever imports. And that David
spake this with an eye unto the glory to come, when heart, and flesh, and all