Of the Blessed State of Glory

Which the Saints Possess After Death

by Thomas Goodwin

Table of Contents

Chapter I: Of the blessedness of a dying believer

Chapter II: That the soul of a believer doth not sleep till the resurrection

Chapter III: That the souls of believers, immediately after their separation from the body

Chapter IV: That the souls of believers do, immediately after the death of the body, pass into a state of glory

Chapter V: A state of glory for believers upon their dissolution

Chapter VI: That the clothing mentioned in the text, 2 Cor. 5:3

Chapter VII: What is meant by the phrase, 2 Cor. 5:3, of being 'found naked.'

Chapter VIII: The words of the text explained, and their coherence with the first and second verses

Chapter IX: The true and eminent grounds of a Christian's groanings after dissolution, severed from the false grounds of other men

Chapter X: The positive ground or reason why a Christian desires dissolution is, that the weak and sinful life which he now lives may be swallowed up of an heavenly and eternal life

Chapter XI: The Soul Received into that State of Glory

Chapter XII: The glory unto which the separate soul is received

Chapter XIII: Whether the State of Souls are Different After the Resurrection

Chapter XIV: A particular enumeration of the glories of that state into which the separate soul enters immediately after death

Chapter XV: Of the glories of heaven, and the happiness of glorified saints therein

CHAPTER I

Of the blessedness of a dying believer.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.—REV. 14:13.

MY design is to discourse from this text concerning death, which is the shooting the gulf into the separate state of souls.

1. It is apparent from the words immediately preceding, that the season, and so the occasion of these, was an imminent danger of saints suffering unto death, and all other persecutions accompanying the 'keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.' This is pointed at as with the finger, and that twice in that 12th verse. 'Here,' says he, 'are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.' That particle here, in historical narration, is set to note out the time when some observable thing fell out, as well as it doth a place, wherein Piscator glosseth Upon that word thus, In hac parte prophetiæ, for an historical prophecy began anew at the 12th chapter, which from thence goeth over all times, viz., from the primitive till the day of judgment. And this particle here accordingly points at some special succession and occurrent that falls out in a particular time, as a time wherein there would be extraordinary trials of the patience of saints to the utmost; the word patience, by a metonymy, signifying the objects or matters of the exercise of patience; the particle here likewise points at such sad occurrences to fall out at that time as would try every vein of their hearts who kept the commands of God, and also denotes that God would then vouchsafe such measures of patience to his people as should be signally eminent and singular, and deserving this remark, 'Here is the patience.'

If you be desirous to know the time wherein these things are to fall out, look back to and compare herewith another passage in the 13th chapter foregoing, wherein you have at once an entire scheme or representation of the rise, power, and cruelty of Christian Rome, when turned antichristian, and of her followers and adherents. And there you find a note of animadversion inserted: ver. 10, 'He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.' And suitably to this, next ensuing 14th chapter, there is given another like entire map and representation of an opposite company, that followed the Lamb, in a succession all along contemporary with the times of that beast's reign, and of his associates. And you find in the middle part of that story there the same reflections for substance that are here given, and there first uttered; and here in the appointed time marked out, when death and all cruelties were to be executed on these saints. It is again repeated here in verse 12 of this chapter, as that which occasioned these words of my text in verse 13, where you find death and dying also spoken of, answerably to their being killed in that passage of the former chapter. So then we know where we are, and the persons whom the words concern; and withal a punctual designation of the time, all which the 7th to 11th verses do instruct us in, teaching us to reckon from the beginning of the breaking forth of the light of the everlasting gospel in the height of antichristian darkness that went afore, preached by three angels, each after another, age after age, and more clearly the latter than the foregoing, discovering Rome to be Babylon, and ordained to ruin; and crying louder and louder against their idolatries, and calling upon men to worship God alone; and also detecting their unwritten traditions, which they had mingled with the gospel. All which you may observe to be apparently reflected upon in those verses 6–11, 'And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wrath of her fornications. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.' And the notice of this, as the special season, will conduce towards the understanding some things of moment in the text, as you will more clearly discern when I come to open that word henceforth in the text. This for the season and occasion.

2. The scope and ultimate design of the words was to comfort, hearten, and strengthen those saints in their suffering death, when any of them should be called thereunto for Christ. And as to comfort, so withal to direct and excite them, that in their dying for the Lord and his cause, they should especially look to this, to 'die in the Lord.' And that also all other saints, who were expectants of death every moment, should live as dying men, and put and keep their spirits into a posture of dying daily, as those that might be hurried to death they know not how soon, and therefore ought to be daily in the continual exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And though it might be their lot to die in their beds a natural death, yet they should see to it that they exert and put forth all sorts of dying graces, whereby to glorify Christ their Lord and God in their hearts in their dying, to the utmost they were able; as much as possible, as if they were dying at a stake for Christ.

3. The substance of the matter itself spoken, sufficiently sheweth this to be the scope of the words: 'Blessed are the dead,' says he, 'that die in the Lord,' &c. Which matter is summarily resolved into these three things:

(1.) That there is a state of full and perfect blessedness to be entered into, and possessed by the souls of saints, as soon as they are dead; which is the mind of that first saying, 'Blessed are the dead.' Which blessedness is further amplified in the latter clause, because they then shall rest from their labours, and their works follow them. Unto which the voice from heaven super-adds a pronouncing them blessed that die in the Lord; that is, that die in a lively faith, and stedfast hope in the Lord.

(2.) That this might be effected in the hearts and spirits of dying believers; and thereby that full blessedness, promised in the first saying, attained, and believers' hearts established in it, the Holy Spirit hath passed a promise of his own, to make it good in those suffering times; and from thenceforth to bless multitudes of his dying saints so to die in faith, and hope, and the exercise of other dying graces. 'Yea, saith the Spirit;' which I take to be an engagement and further promise of the Comforter himself, undertaking more than ordinarily to accomplish in believers' hearts what the voice had spoken, testifying to the truth of it, and engaging his word to see it performed.

(3.) With all these, take in the importance of that small word, 'from henceforth,' as denoting a special privilege of suffering saints, in those persecuting, bloody times; and so running along thorough the succeeding gospel times downwards.

All these things mixed together with, and digested by faith, having been spoken, and thus spoken—1, by an immediate voice from heaven; 2, commanded to be registered into the sacred canon; and, 3, attested over and besides by a personal warrant of the Holy Ghost,—may perhaps be esteemed as one of the strongest and most spiritful cordials that ever was compounded for men that are a-dying, or that live in a continual expectation of death, they know not how soon. And perhaps it may come to be so valued by those, if not in this, yet in following generations, whom the efficacy of this following word, 'from henceforth,' takes hold of, it reaching and extending to the end of the world, and for ever, for our comfort, if we would apprehend it; but for certain unto theirs upon whom the latter ends of the world are a-coming, in which the light of the everlasting gospel will grow. So as what the apostle says upon his own having discoursed of the resurrection and glory that follows thereupon,—in 1 Thess. 4:18, 'Comfort one another with these words,'—the same you may write upon this alabaster box of cordial, the outscription on it, Comfort for dying saints. And the precious ingredients within do speak it. It is no wonder, then, that this voice from heaven should so solemnly command the recording of this saying: 'The voice said unto me, Write;' which puts a singular remark of honour upon it, in that this single passage should have so particular a command concerning it, to write it. Whereas in chap. 1:11, at the entrance of this whole revelation, there had been a general command, 'Write,' once for all. And by virtue of that command it was, he still did write what he saw or heard revealed to him; unless once when he was forbidden to write, chap. 10:4; but this, and none but two more other, have such an indigitated redoubled command for them. And the one of them is the invitation of the Lamb's bride to her marriage with Christ: Rev. 19:9, 'And he saith unto me, WRITE, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.' And the other is, when the marriage is consummated, Rev. 21:5. And read with them the verses afore and after, for they contain the sayings he was to write: ver. 3, 4, 'And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them: and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Then ver. 6, 7, 'And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega: the beginning and the end: I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.' This is the blessedness of the new Jerusalem, which John saw come down from heaven, ver. 2, 'And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.' And this, in my text, is the blessedness of souls separate, who, in the mean while, go to heaven. Both are proclaimed by a voice from heaven; and I believe it is the voice of God himself, that sits upon the throne, that uttereth both. And if of the whole scripture it be said, that 'whatever was written, was written that we, through the scriptures, might have hope,' as Rom. 15:4, then surely this single piece, the words of my text (which is commanded to be written), above many other scriptures; for over and besides its coming from heaven immediately, it hath also the broad seal of the grand witness on earth, the Spirit, 1 John 5, set to it; after it is written and spoken, 'Yea, saith the Spirit,' &c. And it so directly and solemnly speaking to the point of blessedness in heaven, to be presently enjoyed by dying souls, must needs be intended to give us hope, the hope of all hopes: 'That blessed hope,' Tit. 2:13.

Obs. That for dying saints to have their souls enabled to exercise faith and hope on the Lord Christ in the hour of death, is a singular and super-added blessing, over and above that of being blessed in heaven.

'Blessed are the dead,' that is the common inheritance of the saints in light; but 'Blessed are those that die in the Lord' is an additional privilege. Even as to believe is a gift common to all saints, but 'to you,' says the apostle to the Philippians, Philip. 1:29, 'is given not only to believe, but to suffer;' and yet to believe is far the greater gift of the two, for in that is our salvation, and it is absolutely necessary thereunto; but so is not suffering, for a saint may be saved without it, though not without believing. Yet in that manner, and upon the same account that the apostle magnifies suffering when added to believing, and that it is a farther special privilege over and above believing, so it is here in this case of the blessedness of a believer who dieth in the Lord. I do not say that to die in the Lord is in itself a greater blessing than the glory that follows in heaven, or that no saint comes to enjoy the blessedness of heaven unless he dies in the full exercise of faith. There are many cases fall out to the contrary, and it may in that respect serve as a relief, that the blessedness of heaven is spoken of as distinct from this of dying in the Lord. But yet still it is a blessing in itself alone considered, to whomever it is vouchsafed, and it is a blessing over and besides that of heaven. And we may comfort such a saint so dying with this thought, that God hath given not only to enter into heaven when he dies, but hath blessed him in his dying with a lively faith, and stedfast hope in the Lord Jesus.

1. It is a great blessing, comparatively to the case of many other saints in dying, whose happy lot it is not to have such vigorous actings of faith and hope at that hour. And therefore such dying in the Lord is pronounced as a blessedness in the second place, after the declared blessedness of all believers who die in a state of salvation, and as additional to it.

2. It is a martyrs' blessing, who are the eldest sons of blessedness among an the sons of adoption, and unto them it is generally vouchsafed. The design of this voice from heaven, Rev. 14:13, is to speak unto martyrs, and to comfort, encourage, and direct them in their dying, and to make a promise to them of their being extraordinarily blessed in the most violent and torturing death. And to bring a Christian's heart (especially in time of youthful of manly years) to be cheerfully willing to die in the ordinary way, there is need of great supplies of the Spirit; and the apostle had great expectation of them, whether he lived or died, Philip. 1:19, 20. And therefore to be in any measure assisted at such a moment is a special and singular blessing to a man. But to have faith overcoming unbelief, and triumphant in the victory, and to have the whole soul filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory, not only to hold his trust and confidence in Christ to the end, Heb. 3:14, so as to die quietly and composedly, having his heart stayed on the Lord Jesus, as knowing on whom he hath believed, but to be 'filled with all joy and peace in believing,' and to 'abound in hope,' Rom. 15:13, this is a martyr's privilege and portion. And now then, for any Christian to have a martyr's confidence and joys, without a martyr's sufferings, how inestimable a blessing must this be!

3. The soul is blessed who dies in the Lord, because in that very hour Christ admits him into the actual possession of the eternal inheritance which he had purchased. It was this reception which Stephen prayed for: Acts 7:59, 'Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.' And he not only receives it into his own bosom, but he brings it to God, and presents it to him with a joy infinitely more abounding than can be in us. So that then it is that Christ is glorified and rejoiceth in us, and so we may be said rather to die to the Lord and his interest than to ourselves. And therefore,

4. The believer is blessed who dies in the Lord; that is, who dies in the lively exercise of faith and hope, because Christ is infinitely more glorified upon us by such our dying than ever he was in our whole lives. We do not only then take up from him a new estate, and are removed into it, and as truly admitted by him as our gracious Lord unto that eternal house above, not made with hands, as ever any tenant is admitted by the lord of the manor; but he then makes us completely qualified for our new glorious habitation. He consumes all our lusts, and makes our spirits perfect, and perfectly meet for the eternal inheritance, 2 Cor. 5:1–5.

5. The believer is blessed who dies in the Lord, because he hath the Spirit to support him in that hour, which would otherwise be dark and gloomy. The Spirit was given us for 'that hour,' as a friend is said to be 'born for adversity,' Prov. 17:17. And certainly he who was given for a comfort to thee all thy life long, and hath delivered thee out of all thy distresses and fears, will certainly carry thee through this; and though thy heart should for a while fail thee together with thy flesh, yet God and his Spirit will not fail thee, Ps. 73:26. And truly the interest of the Spirit's own glory (besides that he is that good Spirit to do good to us), his interest, I say, moved him. No merchant more rejoiced to bring his adventure home into the haven, after he had carried the same safe through so many storms, than the Spirit doth rejoice to bring a soul he hath wrought upon, and who was committed to his trust, safe to heaven. If a Christian be but 'reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you,' 1 Pet. 4:14; that is, the Spirit of God becomes a Spirit of glory upon them, and in them, viz., as he enables them to bear it with a glorious joy, surpassing what the greatness and heroicness of a natural spirit would do; yea, exceeding that extraordinary assistance the same Spirit gives upon other occasions to the same persons. And thus the Spirit of glory rests upon the soul of a dying believer, and this is made good in many believers with joy at their death; and yet it is more ordinarily seen in supporting at the least the spirits of all, and in giving supplies of the Spirit to the most, as the apostle's word is, Philip. 1:19. And he speaks it in relation to death as well as life, as will appear by comparing vers. 20, 21.

Use 1. Let us look to it, that we die so as to be blessed, that we die in the Lord. To die is a business no man doth but once, and is a business of the greatest moment of any we ever performed; and therefore, to be directed and assisted in it, is answerably a great blessedness. If we miscarry, and fail much in some acts that are of great consequence in our lives (as who hath not done?), yet we relieve ourselves with this thought, that we hope to be more assisted, and to do better at other times in our following course. And oftentimes errors in our lives are sanctified by the Spirit to be a good warning, and provocative to do better afterward. But if we miscarry in dying, we shall never have an opportunity to amend the fault. If we were indeed to revive, and die a second time, the error might be rectified and repaired; but, alas! it is appointed for all men but once to die; and therefore to transact that well, must needs be a blessing indeed.

Use 2. Let us regard it as the end, and the last act which will finish the whole. Let us regard it as the conclusion, that shuts up the story of our days past, and through which we enter upon eternity. Let us regard it as the centre of all the promises that are made to us for this life, in distinction from the life to come. Let us look on it as the point, whereon we stand, between the life we have passed, and that other we are entering into. It is the end that crowns all, which is foregone in doing well; yea, dying in the Lord is the crown of perseverance. That and conversion are the two greatest blessings; and as the one is the Alpha, so the other is the Omega. Conversion puts us into Christ; but death, and holding our confidence to the end, possesseth us of Christ: Heb. 3:14, 'For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.'

CHAPTER II

That the soul of a believer doth not sleep, or is not in a state of inactivity, till the resurrection.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?—JOHN 11:25, 26.

There is no truth but hath in this age, amongst us, been either controverted, contradicted, or questioned; and among others, that great fundamental one, concerning the active life, and glorified state of a believing soul after death: some saying, it perisheth until the resurrection; others, that it liveth not a life worthy of the name of a life, nor of so much activity as it hath now by faith, but tantum non, or in effect in a state akin to death; it sleepeth all the time, until the day of the resurrection, when it is awakened with the body. And this they argue upon occasion of those speeches in Scripture, of the saints' sleeping. Now our Lord and Saviour hath, upon occasion of Lazarus his death, and his then present state after death, and also in relation to his resurrection, which Christ meant to effect afore their eyes, uttered something home unto this point.

First, Christ himself had termed his death a sleep, verse 11, for verse 13 it is interpreted by John to be spoken of his death. Now, then, in Christ's sense, to sleep and to die is manifestly all one: the one being a metaphorical or similitudinary expression; the other a literal, plain, real expression, of one and the same thing, which is manifestly what is said, verse 14, 'Jesus said plainly to them, Lazarus is dead;' insomuch as death is, in plain terms, the same that sleeping was in the metaphor, which he was occasioned thus plainly to express, because they, his disciples, dreamed of no other sleeping as meant by our Lord, than of one who is still alive, and takes bodily rest; as appears by verses 12, 13, 'Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep.' Hence in Christ's intention, that part of Lazarus only, that is, his body, which plainly died, that only is said metaphorically to sleep. And so Lazarus is said to sleep, as in respect thereof only; so as those that will affirm the souls of just men to sleep, must affirm that, in plain terms, their souls do also die. For Christ (who began that expression, which the apostles after him used) intended both to be one and the same, and so Lazarus his sleep to be really a death; and therefore both the one and the other were intended but of and in respect of the body, unless they will affirm that souls do die.

Now our Saviour Christ further, to vindicate his meaning for such a sense as I have assigned, doth at the 25th verse affirm two things of himself, and correspondently two things of us believers, by virtue of our union with him, that are members of him. 1. Says he, 'I am the resurrection;' and, 2, 'the life;' both which he speaks of what he will be effectively to us; as elsewhere, John 14:19, he speaks, 'Because I live, ye shall live also.' And from these two, Christ draws two distinct assertions concerning us:

1. The first concerning the resurrection. 'He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.' So as if you should suppose both body and soul dead, yet I must not lose them, says Christ, but raise them up; and so whatever of them any may suppose to die, as the body doth, I will be sure to raise it up, for I am the resurrection.

2. But then, secondly, Christ assures you, and delivers it for a certain truth, that the noble, chief part of every believer, and which is indeed himself, doth never die, after his believing. So it follows, 'And whosoever liveth, and believeth on me, shall never die.' That life which he had by believing, which is his proper life, he shall never lose; nor shall that life ever cease, or sleep. Even as Christ's own life doth not, nor shall not; for 'I am the life' (says he), a continual principle and fountain of life; that never ceaseth communicating life unto those that are mine. I am the life, as to mine own soul, so to his; and therefore there is that in him shall never die, and therefore not sleep (for in Christ's sense sleeping is one and the same with death); and that is his soul. And again, at the latter day, it is not his soul that is raised up, as it was not his soul that slept, or died, but his body only, or the man in respect of the body. And further, it is said of Christ, that he now lives a more glorious life then when on earth (as in Rom. 6:10, it is said of Christ's life, after his death, 'In that he lives, he lives unto God'); and that likewise we are to 'reckon ourselves alive unto God, through Christ our Lord;' that is, to be for ever alive unto God as he was; for he is the life, and the pattern of the life; and so there shall be no cessation of it, as there was not in his soul, in or upon his death.

And this, says Christ, as it is a certain truth in itself, so likewise so necessary a truth for you that are believers, that I would have you put it into your creed: 'Believest thou this?' says he to Mary; and accordingly it was put into the creed of all believers by the primitive saints. The resurrection of the body they limited only to the body; and so death and sleeping to the body only; but as to express the state of the soul, they added 'life everlasting: amen.'

So then, this is the result: that a believer, in respect of his soul, doth continue to live, after death, a life of activity and blessedness, and never dies nor sleeps. Christ pronounced it in Lazarus his case, whilst as yet dead, as a distinct thing from his resurrection; and speaks so not in respect of any new life at the resurrection. And indeed seeing that by death faith is done away, 1 Cor. 13, that which is perfect comes in the room of it; and then for certain the soul is not in a worse case, enjoys not a lower life, to be sure, after death, but is made perfect with that which is the perfection of faith, and therefore with a life that is far more perfect than that of faith; for the spirits of just men are then made perfect; and this life of faith is styled but imperfect, and therefore done away.

CHAPTER III

That the souls of believers, immediately after their separation from the body, live an happy life in the enjoyment of God, proved from the account which we have of the state of dying saints both in the Old and New Testament.

Of the glory of the body after the resurrection, I have discoursed largely in another treatise.* The design of my present discourse is to prove that the souls of dying saints do live a life of perfect holiness and blessedness in the enjoyment of God and Christ in the heavens, until the resurrection.

1. It is a life.

2. It is a life of perfect holiness.

3. It is a life of blessedness in the enjoyment of God.

4. It is a life of the saints living in a company together.

5. As for the place, it is in the heavens.

No one proof will comprehend all and each; but one will arise out of one proof, another out of another. Neither will I range the proofs to the method of these particulars as heads, but rather go over the Scriptures from first to last; which opened, you will sometimes see one of these particulars arise, sometimes another, and out of the whole each and all of these.

1. I shall, concerning this estate, produce proofs out of the Old Testament.

2. Out of the New.

In the Old Testament I shall instance only in Abraham, because it will carry the condition of all other believers of the Old Testament with it; he being the 'father,' and so the pattern, 'of all the faithful.'

I observe, that Christ and the apostles affected (if I may so speak) to use the instance of him to prove the greatest foundations of religion. Christ used it to prove the resurrection and the soul's immortality against the Sadducees, who denied both: Mat. 22:32, 'Have you not read that which was spoken by God to you, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.' And the instance of Abraham is also alleged by Paul in the point of justification, by James for sanctification. In like manner our divines have had their first recourse to Abraham's case, to prove this state of blessedness to the souls of men that die in the faith, immediately after their death. It is evident that God preached to him the foundations of the gospel in plain and real terms; and so it falls out, that in one and the same chapter (namely, Gen. 15) God delivers to him,

1. The great and fundamental point of justification by faith, and that by imputation, than which the gospel knows no higher. So ver. 6, 'And he believed in the Lord, and it was counted or imputed to him for righteousness;' which Paul invincibly urgeth in two epistles.

2. And, secondly, what heaven is, and wherein man's happiness consists. He declares it plainly, Gen. 15:1, 'I myself am thy shield,' that is, in this life, 'and thy exceeding great reward,' after this life ended. For reward is after the finishing of work; and therefore, having said before, 'Walk before me, and be upright,' what is this reward but the blessedness of heaven without types or metaphors, nakedly, and in the substance and quintessence of it expressed? Christ himself (of whom, and for whom the 16th Psalm was professedly penned) says no other, nor no more of it: Ps. 16:5, 6, 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance,' &c. For the joy of which was set afore him it was that he laid down his life, endured his cross, and his 'heart was glad, and his flesh did rest in hope,' as in the psalm it suitably follows: ver. 9, 'For in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore,' ver. 11, all in God alone.

3. Thirdly, God takes in the same chapter a fit occasion to acquaint him for his comfort what the condition of his soul should be: 'Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age.'

Now the making forth of the happy state of his soul after death (then to have God his exceeding great reward), as also of the rest of the soul of just men, in the whole Old Testament, is absolved in these four particulars:

1. By a more narrow consideration of the coherence of these words, as here they stand circumstantiated with those observations, which the New Testament makes upon these words afore and after. The promise to Abraham was made in a vision given him, and is circumstantiated afore and after with the promises of Canaan to his seed after the fourth generation. 'And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterwards they shall come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.' And Stephen plainly commenting on these very words, Acts 7:5–7, takes notice, that as for Abraham himself, 'God gave him none inheritance in it, no, not to set his foot on;' yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 'And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years,' verses 5, 6. Which is the sum of these very verses in Genesis. And Paul, afterwards further opening the mystery of this, shews, that God would thereby signify, that he meant and intended him, and those succeeding patriarchs Isaac and Jacob, a far better state and condition, expressed by country or city filled with inhabitants, which in the mean time was to be enjoyed by them, seeing that they to whom the promises were first made did not yet possess Canaan, but their seed. So Heb. 11:9, 10, 'By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country,'—observe that,—'dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' And verse 13, 'These all died in faith, not having received the promises, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they which say such things declare plainly'—observe that—'that they seek a country.' It is evidenced by this, that they to whom the promise of Canaan was first made fell short thereof, verse 16. But now, that is, upon this declaration of God's that they should not possess Canaan, it was that they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. The meaning is, it was shewed hereby, that their expectations were diverted and pitched by God on a state of blessedness in heaven in the enjoyment of God. For it follows, 'God is not ashamed to be called their God,' according to that elsewhere, 'I am the God of Abraham,' &c. And here it is said, 'I am thy exceeding great reward;' which speeches of God were greater words than the promise of Canaan, and God should have been ashamed to have spoken these things, if he should have disappointed them of the promise of Canaan, and given that to their seed after them, and if he had not reserved some greater and more excellent thing in the mean time to be possessed by them, which was worthy of that title, 'I am the God of Abraham,' &c. Yea, their seed should have been in a far better condition than they, if they must have stayed for that heavenly country till the general resurrection; for then these to whom the promises were first and chiefly given, would have had far the worst of it in comparison of their seed. For their seed should have possessed the land, and yet have as soon been possessed of the glory of the resurrection as Abraham and Isaac were. Then observe, how in the entrance to this paragraph, Heb. 11 verse 13, there is this clause, 'These all died in faith.' Why is that so specially put in? For it had been said, that whilst they lived, they had professed that they sought another country, and desired an heavenly, verses 14, 16. But over and above, you see, it is added, they died in the faith; because, upon their deaths it was, that God promised their entrance into that heavenly country, and they accordingly in dying believed to enjoy it, which they had here seen afar off, but by faith, and pursued after but by desires.

Now to return again to Gen. 15:15. After God had declared himself his exceeding reward, and declared him justified from all sins, and gave forth, that not he but his seed should possess Canaan, then to quiet him, he declares what should be his state after death, that so he might die in the faith thereof. For thy bodily estate thou shalt live long, and to a good age, and be buried: this was an outward blessing. 2. Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, or as some read it 'into peace:' this for thy soul. And, 3, thou shalt pass into a country and city already better inhabited; namely, with all thy godly forefathers. And this God mentions, first, because the height of his comfort and expectation lay in that. And this, says God, shall be thy condition in the mean time, whilst thy seed are possessing the earthly Canaan, instead of thine own personal possessing of it.

This, by comparing all these things together, serves to illustrate in the general the scope of these words, and this assertion out of it. More particularly, there are two phrases to be attended to: 1. 'Thou shalt go to thy Fathers;' 2, 'in peace,' or, as some read it, 'into peace.' And both these phrases were first used of Abraham about his dying, by way of promise; they are the first in all the book of God.

So then the second thing for the making forth of this will be the opening this phrase, 'Thou shalt go to thy fathers.' By which some would have no more meant than this, thou shalt die; so Vatablus and others. And it is certain death is always thereby meant; and whenever it is said, they 'slept with their fathers' (which is up and down in the books of Kings and Chronicles), it certainly doth signify death only; the sleep, namely, of their bodies in the common receptacle of the earth. But when it is said, 'they go to their fathers,' or 'are gathered to their fathers,' the just query will be, whether further what concerns the soul and the state thereof is not thereby principally intended? Now, so it falls out, that when Abraham's dying itself cometh to be recorded, this here promised, of being gathered to his fathers, is distinctly and apart, and over and above his dying, mentioned, as importing some further thing after death, and that besides his burial also. And this being the promise beforehand, must be supposed to intend one of the greatest comforts God could give him against his dying, and his not possessing personally that land; and so it is to be interpreted by what we find in the records of his death. Now, chap. 25:8, it is thus said, 'Then Abraham gave up the ghost,' as of Christ it is said, 'and died, and was gathered to his people,' which inteprets this here of going to his fathers, 'and his sons buried him.' Here are enumerated (as I take it) all that concerns death distinctly or apart: 1, a giving up the soul into the hands of God; 2, the death of the man, or dissolution of the personal union between soul and body, namely, that he died and ceased to be a man as before; 3, 'and was gathered to his people,' and this is a thing distinct from death, for he mentioned that before, and it follows after his dying, and is distinct from his burial also, for that follows after this: ver. 9, 'His sons buried him.' So then that gathering to his people, which is distinct from giving up the ghost, from death and burial, imports something besides all those other.

Again, as this was then first promised and spoken of Abraham's death, so we find all these four things in the same words and in the same order, even the very same said of Isaac: Gen 35:29, 'And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.' The like is said of Moses and Aaron in Deut. 32:50, 'Die and be gathered unto thy people; even as thy brother Aaron died, and was gathered to his people.' So that to be gathered to his people in Abraham and the rest of these holy ones, was a distinct thing from death, and the consequent of it.

If next the inquiry be what more especially this means, to go to his fathers, and to be gathered to his people, taken thus, distinct from dying, burial, &c., the account lies fair that it respected the soul and the state thereof after his death. For to be gathered to his fathers and people, imports a company of people not only extant, but selected and gathered together already, to whom he goes and is gathered. Our Saviour Christ, speaking of this our Abraham and all the godly departed, says, that 'now they live unto God,' Luke 20:28, when as to the world's eye they are not. There is then a people, a company of souls that live unto God, whom when an holy man gives up the ghost his soul is gathered unto, whilst the body lies buried in the grave.

1. Gathering imports a careful sorting or collection of things that were confusedly dispersed, as Isa. 57:8;* and so that, though all sorts are in this world mingled, both good and had together, as tares and the wheat, yet now the good are gathered, sorted, and reserved, and kept safe together. The same phrase is indeed used in common of had as well as good, as of Ishmael in the very same chapter the phrase is used as well as of Abraham (of which Ishmael, where you will rank him I will not dispute, you know he persecuted Isaac, and is made a type of the covenant of works, if supposed wicked). In the same Gen. 25:17 it is said, 'And he gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered to his people.' But though the phrase is in common use of good and bad, both having immortal souls to be gathered, yet each is to be understood in their respective sense. The one went to his people, the other to theirs, according as their condition was when they died.

2. More especially the souls of God's saints may well be said to be gathered to their people and their fathers when they die, because they go to that peculiar place where all their godly countrymen and ancestors are. Nor doth it hinder to be understood of Abraham, albeit the most of his countrymen and many of his fathers might be idolaters, seeing many of both ranks were pious, and went to God when they died, and might be styled his people, though little of kin to him, that were the people of that God whom he served. Yea, as well might all the faithful that were before him be termed his fathers, whether carnally he were descended of them or no, as all the faithful that came after him be termed his sons.

And indeed, if there were such a gathering of souls into a company in the other world, that they all went to one and the same place, and to one and the same company, this would destroy what is here first spoken of Abraham as a promise and a blessing, as also of the rest, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron. It had been a loss and a disadvantage to have gone into the popish limbus, which differs little from hell with them for place; it having also the punishment of loss accompanying it, which is the worst part of hell's punishments.

Abraham had a great company of holy and godly fathers, Adam, Enoch, Noah, &c., forerunners of holiness (which are termed our fathers), Abel and of the seed of Seth, which had been gathered afore him in the other world, whom God promiseth him here, that when he died he should go unto.

And the consideration of its opposite may greatly conduce to confirm and illustrate this different respective gathering of souls to their several companies, as intended in that phrase, though common to both, Judges 2:10. For this serves that notion of Mr Mede,* that in the Old Testament, the first and most ancient phrase to express going to hell was to go to the company of the giants; so he renders it of many places of the Proverbs: Prov. 9:18, 'He that goes into the strange woman knows not (or considers not) that the giants are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell;' and Prov. 21:16, 'The man that wandereth out of his way shall remain in the congregation of the dead.' The original is rephaim, of the giants. This Alapide and others have taken notice of also. The giants were those men eminently wicked, that lived afore the flood, upon whom the flood came and swept them to hell; for by reason of them 'the iniquity of the earth was great,' Gen. 6. And because hell had a flush of them, and was replenished at once with such a numerous addition, hence from their company it bore the name of the place of the giants. Yea, and they were those of whom Peter instanceth in, when he speaks of 'the spirits in prison,' or in hell, to whom in the ministry of Noah Christ preached, 1 Pet. 3:20. So then, for wicked men to be gathered to their fathers (namely, in wickedness), was all one as to go to the giants; that is, eminently wicked, who were men of renown for wickedness.

Now then, if wicked men are gathered to the congregation and company of wicked men as severed from the godly; then answerably, when Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob died, and are said to be gathered to their fathers, it is meant of their predecessors in holiness. And that it is said of Abraham first, was because he was the father of all the faithful to come, and because by this time heaven had a considerable company of the spirits of just men made perfect, from Abel's time, even the godly out of many generations. And truly if we consider the importance of that, which in the first introduction unto this discourse was asserted, that Abraham and these fathers whilst they lived are said to have sought and desired a better country and city made by God, it comes all to one, for that was to go to a city and country plentifully inhabited and replenished with those of their own kind, tribe, and affinity. This a country at city speaketh and supposeth, and so differs not from going to his fathers, or being gathered to his people, that is, to his countrymen and kindred.

And which yet more adds to the confirmation of this, our Saviour, when he would express the Gentiles being gathered and going to heaven, he doth it thus: Mat. 8:11, 'They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.' Their going to heaven is set out by their going to these renowned fathers, to their company, to their place and enjoyments, to whom the promises of heaven more eminently were made, and therefore it is in effect to say that they should go to their fathers, even as wicked men do to theirs.

3. It was promised to Abraham that he should 'go to his fathers in peace,' or 'into peace,' Gen. 15:15. By peace you know the Jews expressed the whole of blessedness, the affluence of all happiness. Answerably in the New Testament peace is wished as the effect, and the total effect of grace, or the utmost that grace in the heart of God hath designed to us. The Jewish ordinary wish at parting was, 'Go in peace,' which is all one with that usual phrase, 'I wish you all happiness.' When therefore God promiseth this to Abraham at his death, look as God's well-wishes and promises must be supposed of greater good things than man can wish or give, so far doth this promise made by God exceed all that man can be supposed to desire of happiness unto another his friend, as Abraham was to God. And so this phrase also intends a future happiness after death unto his soul, when his body should be laid in the ground, as the next words shew.

I know the phrase of dying in peace is sometimes used in Scripture to express such a death or departure hence, as in a man, the great desires of a man's heart are accomplished, so as there is nothing left to detain him. As when Jacob saw Joseph, 'Now let me die,' says he, Gen. 46:30; and as, Luke 2:26, 29, in the case of Simeon, 'It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ:' ver. 29, says he, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word;' whose speech may yet be well supposed to have this meaning, Now let me depart hence into that peace in heaven, which thou hast provided for those that wait upon thee, from which I have hitherto been detained to see this sight of my Saviour, and according to thy word. For else his soul may well be thought to have desired still to live and to see his works, and hear his gracious words, which 'kings and prophets,' Christ said, 'did desire to hear and see;' whereas he now leaves him in his swaddling clothes to go into this peace we speak of, on which his hopes were fixed.

But that which more confirms the assertion, that this great and first promise to Abraham (besides what hath been said, that it was made to his soul, distinct from that made to his body), was intended not of an outward, quiet death only, but of going to rest and happiness, is the correspondency which this holds with that promise, which, in analogy to this made to Abraham, we find made to every believer, that walks in his uprightness, as Abraham did, Gen. 17:1. The state of all after death, who walk in such uprightness, we have expressed, Isa. 57:1, 2, 'The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.' Their state after death follows: 'He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds. Whoever he be that walketh in his uprightness:' or each one walking, or that walketh, &c.; which words are evidently spoken of the happiness of souls after death, and so do fitly interpret this promise he made to Abraham in the like case. It is their state after death is spoken of, for their death is spoken of, ver. 1, in their perishing (as to this world) and being taken away: and as the comfort and consequent thereof, it is said, 'He shall enter into peace.' He to be sure, shall be blessed. The prophet Isaiah speaks of it as of a new state or condition succeeding the former, for it is entering into it; and it holds correspondency with that of Christ, 'Enter into thy Master's joy,' Mat. 25:23; and it agrees also with another phrase of 'entering into life,' Mat. 18:8. And the words of Isaiah are exactly parallel to that which was said of Abraham, and in the same order. 1. He shall enter into peace and blessedness, as to the soul. 2. They shall rest in their beds, that is, their graves; death being the sleep of the body, as often it is expressed in the New Testament, unto which the words of the prophet answer in another place: Isa. 26:19, 'Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy new is as the new of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead'. And this entrance into peace is therefore meant of the soul's entering into joy and peace, during that time that the body rests in its bed, namely, the grave. Nor is it spoken of martyrs only, that die in evil times by persecution, but, on the contrary, of those that die afore such times approach; yea, and universally, of every one that walks uprightly.

4. Now, fourthly, for a confirmation of all this, Christ in the New Testament hath termed (whilst yet the state and language of the Old Testament was in force) that state of bliss which souls then departing had, 'Abraham's bosom,' Luke 16:22. And their being gathered thither, as expressed in the Old, is styled by Christ, a being 'carried by angels thereunto.' And indeed Abraham having been set up as the father of all the faithful, as their state on earth is named a life of faith common to him and them, so the estate of their souls also in glory, until the resurrection, is expressed by the state of his soul as the chief guest, in whose bosom they all are to lie, or sit down as guests with him at the same feast.

Now though that story of Lazarus and the rich man be but a parable, yet, as every parable, so that must have a principal and substantial scope, and main drift it centres in, and from that drift we may as safely argue as from any other scripture. Now it hath no scope but what is utterly insignificant, if this be not the scope of it; namely, to shew the different state of godly men and wicked men after this life. It signifies nothing, if not this; and if so, again it is as evident, that that state of the soul afore the resurrection is there intended. For the time of the opposite rich man's torment was whilst his body lay buried, and the time of Lazarus's happy state immediately followed on his death. So ver. 22: 'And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried.' It was also, when Dives had brethren on earth, capable of being warned to avoid coming into that place. See verses 27, 28: 'Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.' It was also afore the general resurrection; for, ver. 30, he pleads, that 'if one went from the dead, they would repent.' Lastly, it was whilst they had Moses and the prophets to attend unto, as the means of salvation, to whom Abraham refers them: ver. 31, 'And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.' And therefore also was it a state of souls, as supposed under the Old Testament, when Moses and the prophets were the chief means of salvation, and no scripture else extant. And that Lazarus his lying in Abraham's bosom was heaven, and an heavenly condition, may be confirmed by these two things:

1. That he was carried into it by angels. Now their only walk is between heaven and earth, 'ascending and descending upon Christ,' John 1:51. They go not to hell. It is also the place which the angels belong unto, for themselves are the inhabitants of heaven.

2. But secondly, and more expressly, the saints of the Old and New Testament are said 'to sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven,' Mat. 8:11, which is not the state of the gospel, for Abraham lived not in those times, but a state of glory. For oppositely it is said, ver. 12, that 'the children of the kingdom shall be cast into utter darkness.' So then, put altogether, Abraham's soul upon his death, went to his godly fathers, into peace; Adam, Enoch, Noah, and the rest of the saints in the Old Testament after him, are said to enter into peace, each of them after the example of Abraham, Isa. 57; yea, in the New Testament, to be carried where Abraham is, to be laid into Abraham's bosom, as the common receptacle of souls 'gathered to their fathers,' says the Old Testament, and carried to their fathers, says the New. And this place is the kingdom of heaven, as Mat. 8:11. Hence, then, the argument riseth strong, that all the godly of the New* Testament, from the first to last, from Abel to Lazarus, were upon their deaths carried to heaven. And further, that they were all found there that were dead, when Christ hung on the cross, appears by Col. 1:20: 'And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.' In which speech it is certain, that those of mankind in heaven are meant, however the angels may come in; for men are properly the subjects of reconciliation (the angels but analogically); for they are men, and not the angels, who sing, 'Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood,' Rev. 5:9. Compare the angels' song with this, ver. 12. And indeed, though the patriarchs were all in heaven already, yet Christ paid for their atonement, 'for he died for the redemption of sins, that were under the Old Testament,' Heb. 9:15. And I will say, that they must all have come down from heaven again, if his sacrifice for their redemption had not been offered up.

Now that which in the Old Testament was Abraham's bosom, and sitting down with Abraham, that in the New is called being with Christ, and paradise, and the kingdom of heaven. The style, indeed, is altered. 'The God of Abraham,' said the Old Testament. 'The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' says the New, Eph. 1:3. So 'to be gathered to their fathers,' 'to be with Abraham,' was the old description of heaven; 'to be with Christ,' which is best of all, is the character of it in the New. 'This day shalt thou be with me in paradise,' says Christ to the dying thief.

The Scriptures of the New Testament speak more punctually and abundantly this point, 'Christ having brought life and immortality' (and all the gradual advances of it) 'to light.'

1. There are some which are so plain that I shall not insist on them, viz., the example of the converted thief, to whom Christ said, 'This day shalt thou be with me.' And the instance of Stephen seeing, when he was to die, the heavens opened, and therein the glory of God, and saying, 'Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit,' Acts 7.

2. Another set of instances is in Luke 16:9, 'And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations;' and in 2 Cor. 5 from the 1st to the 11th.

I shall explain that instance which we have in Luke 16:9. Those everlasting habitations there mentioned manifestly are in heaven, where are many mansions, and the words are the moral part of the parable of the steward. That look as that steward, when he saw he must quit his office of stewardship, and be put out, considered with himself, 'What shall I do?' ver. 3, and resolved to make friends of his master's debtors, ver. 5, that when he was put out of his stewardship they might receive him into their houses, ver. 4; and this was wisely done, says Christ, ver. 8. And do you imitate this wisdom of his, though not the wickedness of it; as if Christ had said, 'In this world ye are but for a time, the places and stations, riches, power, &c., you must give over, and what will ye do then for the next world?'

1. Christ expresseth death, and the soul's going out of this world, by our 'failing;' that is, either as of a steward turned out of house and means, or as a merchant that breaks, that hath a statute of bankrupt sued forth against him. Such a statute is death, statutum est omnibus semel mori. When spirits fail, friends on earth fail, riches fail, and cannot deliver; when a man's soul goes naked out of this world into another, even as he came naked into it, then the rich, the great, the most potent and honourable, are bankrupts. And this time, 'when you fail,' is not the day of the resurrection, for then we are set up again and restored. The body is sown in weakness at death there, and then is the failing, but it riseth in power.

2. Christ shews that at that time the soul is put to it what it shall do, and whither it· shall go? ver. 3; 'The steward said within himself, What shall I do?' The soul hath reason (and Christ adviseth it) to consider what it should do next upon its failing; for the soul is immortal, and must go somewhither. Animula vagula quæ abibis in loca, said the Emperor Adrian* when dying.

3. He compares the state of the other world in heaven to a city or country, where are many inhabitants gathered, already replenishing of it, and accordingly many houses built, and all accommodations. Abraham and the other patriarchs are said in the Old Testament to be gathered to their fathers. It comes all to one with what is said in the New; Heb. 11:10, 'For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' And ver. 14 it is said that 'they sought a country,' that is, an heavenly. As every city supposeth inhabitants there dwelling, and therein houses, &c. and suitable accommodations for inhabitants, so Christ in analogy expresseth it here, that when we fail, and are to be gathered to our fathers gone before us, 'they may receive us into everlasting habitations;' that we having done good to them, or those of their kind and country, now gone to heaven, they may receive us, and welcome us into house and home. He expresseth it after the manner of men: when one comes to a strange country, what is more desirable than that a man should have friends there, that should, as it were, welcome a naked newcomer. What kind hospitality is it in God, that he should receive a man into his house and home for the good which he did here! And this habitation is no other than in heaven, for it is called an eternal, real habitation, first, for the soul without the body, then for soul and body too, 2 Cor. 5; for where the souls and persons of just men live for ever, there to be sure is heaven. Now, that after the day of judgment they shall live in heaven, none ever denied; and if, when they die and fail, they are received into the same, then they are at that present admitted into heaven, and heavenly habitations, as well as afterwards. If the souls of just men were admitted into any other than what is heaven afore, into heaven only after their bodies were united, then the place which first received them could not be called eternal habitations.

Use. Do good, then, especially unto the elect and household of faith: do good to these above other, for thou wilt be gathered to them, and they will acknowledge it, or God at least on their behalf; and it will be a joy to thee then, and may be a comfort to thee now, to think that there are those in heaven to whom, or to their children or relations for their sakes, thou hast done good.

CHAPTER IV

That the souls of believers do, immediately after the death of the body, pass into a state of glory

That the souls of believers do, immediately after the death of the body, pass into a state of glory, demonstrated from the design of the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 4:17, 18.—To encourage the saints to endure all afflictions and calamities of this life; and from his design in 2 Cor. 5:1–4, to comfort them against all apprehensions of death.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; whilst we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know, that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, bring burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.—2 COR. 4:17–5:4.

One eminent part of the good news of the gospel is the blessed estate of souls instantly upon the dissolution of their bodies; and this, in the name of all the primitive Christians, doth the apostle here utter as their faith: 'We know,' &c. So, then, we have it not as Paul's doctrine alone, but as the common faith of Christians. And that,

In these two points:

I. That our bodies shall be raised at the last day. And,

II. That in the mean time our souls shall live.

In these two did Christ instruct Mary in the 11th chapter of John. The first is in ver. 25, 'He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:' there is the resurrection of the body; the second is in ver. 26, 'And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?' In answer to the resurrection of the body Christ had prefaced. ver. 25, 'I am the resurrection;' in answer to the living of the soul he says, 'I am the life.' 'Believest thou this?' says he. Put this into thy creed, as the primitive believers did into theirs.

In correspondency to both these two so positive assertions of Christ, I observe our apostle's preface in the foregoing chapter, ver. 13, 'We believe, and therefore speak;' and what are those points we believe, and therefore utter with confidence? 1. The resurrection of the body, with the glory that follows thereupon. The ultimate object of our faith, ver. 14, 'Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.' 2. The glory of the soul in the mean time presently after dissolution; this is in verse 1 of this chapter, 'For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'

This is certain, that the Holy Ghost hath penned in the latter part of the foregoing chapter, and in these words, more lines about the state of glory than in anyone scripture again together in the whole book of God.

And the controversy is, what state of glory it is that in these words is meant.

I shall fix the state of this controversy by these few premises:

1. That the apostle's punctual and proper scope is to comfort himself and all believers against death; for he puts the case in such terms: 'If this body be dissolved;' he speaks but generally afore, &c., in chapter 4, but he in the fifth chapter particulariseth the case of death; and again he utters this comfort in the name of all Christians in the world: 'We know, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,' &c. And it is intended to shew what comfort and cordials believers have against fainting at the thoughts of death, for this verse, by this word FOR, &c., carries us up to the 16th verse as a reason why 'we faint not, always being delivered to death,' &c.

2. The question then next is, what it is should be that proper, special matter of comfort against death in this 5th chapter, ver. 1, &c. And hereupon comes the difference of the opinions to be stated.

1. Whether only that, if their earthly bodies be now dissolved, their souls should have instead thereof other manner of bodies, as compared to 'another house' for their souls to dwell in, namely, those bodies which shall be made glorious at the resurrection?

Or, 2, it may be queried, whether the whole glory of the soul, either whilst without the body till the resurrection, or with the body after the resurrection, is meant? Yet so as that, however, immediately upon dissolution the soul should have a glory which is ready prepared for it, which the apostle calls here 'our house;' and which after dissolution it presently should enter into, and is entertained in, and takes as it were possession first of, until both body and soul shall be joined again together, to a more full and complete possession of the same glory for ever.

So as the difference in general between these two opinions is, that the one confines the whole only to the glory the soul shall have in the body; the other opinion of ours enlargeth itself to the glory of all states from the instant of death, and so through all eternity, and affirmeth that according to the intent of this scripture this glory commenceth or beginneth from the time of dissolution; so as their opinion excludeth or cutteth off all that part of the glory of men's souls out of the body, and not to be meant in this place; but ours takes in all, only it doth particularly contend for this, that the glory of the soul out of the body being that which is next, and of general concernment to the saints till the resurrection, and that being a space for so long a time to come, even almost two thousand years from the time of the apostle's writing, this meaning should therefore be intended by him.

But yet more particularly, to the end that the state of this difference of opinion may be understood, and thereby also what the conduct or steerage of our ensuing discourse is to be, it must be further related concerning that opinion of those that makes the glory of the body the subject of the apostle's discourse.

1. How that some of them seem to interpret the whole of the paragraph, from verse 1 to verse 10, of the glory of soul and body only when joined together. Yet it may be withal observed of those interpreters, that when they come to give the meaning of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th verses, they there fall flat; or as treading upon ice do slide them over, not openly affirming of either which is meant; when yet they had openly interpreted the four first verses of the glory of the body when joined to the soul only. For indeed the words in those 6th, 7th, and 8th verses are so clear for the soul's glory apart, without the body, and for its presence with the Lord when separate, that they could not oppose that meaning. Only I find Grotius so daring as to interpret those words, 'present with the Lord, ver. 8, to be meant of the state after the resurrection, when yet the words speak of that presence which falls out when we are 'absent from the body' in the very words afore.

2. Estius therefore, an ingenious papist, halves the matter, and takes part with this first opinion for the body's glory,* so far as the five first verses go; but then when he comes to the 6th verse he falls in with the other opinion, and says, that all the next words from thence are meant of the state of the soul after the resurrection, and accordingly he begins his comment upon the words of that 6th verse thus: 'That because some might say (upon this discourse of the apostle hitherto in the first five verses held), that this glory of the body (which you comfort us withal) is not presently attained after death, but perhaps is a long while yet to be expected, that therefore now, in the 6th verse, the apostle subjoins and falls upon the glory of the soul separate.' And from thenceforward Estius is as fully ours (as to this point) as could have been desired. He might have been so sooner, even from the very first verse; there was reason enough for it.

3. Calvin, upon the first five verses being to interpret what was meant by 'our house in and from heaven,' plainly says, it is uncertain whether it signifies a state of blessed immortality which befalls (immediately) after death, or whether the body made glorious, such as it shall be after the resurrection. There is no inconvenience in either sense, says he; but in the end he closeth with this sense, that the blessed state of the soul after death (so then he prefers that of the glory of the soul when separate to be meant) should be the beginning of this building, but the consummation should be the glory of the last resurrection. And this exposition, says he, the whole context doth best make good. So that he also carries it to both states. This is his judgment of the first five verses. But then for the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th verses he is fully in it, that the state of the soul after death is only meant. Thus, both in his comment on that place, ver. 8, as also in his set treatise de Ψυχοπανουχία against the soul's sleeping, he argues it from the whole of this our apostle's discourse here, as a most plain and cogent scripture, which to resist (he says) were to resist the Spirit of God in it.

I profess to be of holy and most judicious Calvin's mind in this his sense of this scripture, and shall endeavour to make forth that the whole of this so large a discourse is meant of the state and glory of the soul after death, not excluding, but taking in that also after the resurrection, which that one word, if no more, doth invincibly argue and take in, when he terms it 'eternal in the heavens.' And therefore the whole from first to last, even to eternity, must be intended. Only I shall in this discourse of mine plead alone for the separate soul's glory, leaving the state after the resurrection to those that will read their comments, or any other that will contend for it.

4. It is meet also to take notice of what is the proper state of the question between us and other interpreters, whilst we shall be upon the first verse, distinct from what will be the state of the question, when we come to the 2d, 3d, 4th verses. In the first verse, they of that first opinion well near universally say, the apostle, for the comfort of all saints against death, delivers this doctrine, of their having one day spiritual, renewed, glorious bodies, instead of these earthly; yet so as withal they acknowledge his scope in that verse to be, that it is God's more general appointment for all saints first to die, and to be dissolved, and then by a resurrection of their bodies, to have new bodies restored at and by the resurrection. Thus they interpret the matter of this first verse, 'We know,' &c.

But then, as for the 2d, 3d, and 4th verses, they affirm his scope to be, that the saints, knowing that by the ordinary dispensation they cannot have such bodies glorious, unless first they die, yet this dying being abhorrent to nature, the apostle expresses thereupon the saints' desire, rather to be clothed upon with glory whilst they continue in their bodies alive, and so to be immediately changed without dissolution, but yet with this correction or supposition, that they be found of the number (if it should fall out to be God's good pleasure) of those saints that are alive, and clothed with bodies at the resurrection, and not dead or naked, as the generality of the saints will, at the approach of that day, be found to be. Thus they interpret the 3d verse. So then with them the doctrine of the first verse is, that we shall have glorified bodies by a resurrection after dissolution first, and that as the general case of believers; but that, notwithstanding, the object of the saints' desires expressed in the 2d, 3d, and 4th is, to have the privilege to escape that dissolution, and have a glory put upon their bodies without it, as an exception to that general rule; and to have that change, which indeed is spoken of to be at the resurrection, of them that shall be then alive, at the same time that those that are dead do rise.

Now, 5thly, the state of the question which I propose to the proof is, whether the apostle's scope be not to comfort these Corinthians, and the generality of the saints, with this, that when their bodies are dissolved, they shall have a glory in the mean time until the resurrection; and further, my undertaking is, that he carries this great truth (as his scope) uniformly on throughout all the following verses to verse 10.

Ere I do begin with the first verse, it will be very conducible to consult whether this had not been his scope likewise, in the last verses of the former chapter, immediately preceding this first verse, which I the rather choose, because, in doing so, I shall by degrees make approaches (beginning thus further off), which I hope will in the end surround and carry this difficult stronghold of Scripture, which hath been so often taken and won by parties of different persuasions, as each have imagined to themselves. The connection between those latter verses of the former chapter and this first verse, is so innate and congenial, as we should lose some of our strength in this argument, if we did not take along with us what they aforehand have spoken.

The words of the latter verses of the former chapter are these, 2 Cor. 4:16–18, 'For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.'

Which words, suppose they were considered absolutely, and singly, and as cut off from their correspondency with this 5th chapter, do yet contain strong evictions, that not only the glory of the body at the resurrection, but the whole of the glory both of the soul separate afore as well as after, is aimed at in them.

1. In that whilst we live and continue here in this world, our inner man is said to be renewed daily, that is, grows young within us, whilst our outward man, that is, our body and outward condition of estate, name, and whatever else thereto belonging, perisheth. So as though we lose every day on that hand, yet this inward man every day grows up stronger and more vigorous. And what is or can be intended hereby, other than to make way and lay a foundation for this truth (as by an evident token), that between that utter perishing of the body by death, that will in the end befall us, and that restauration of it by the resurrection (spoken of, verse 16), this inner man is ordained to live in the mean time without that body or outward man, and therefore is growing up of itself alone unto a maturity, as that which is intended to live another day, as we say, when severed and apart? To evidence which, you see (says he) how unto sense the body goes down, and the soul thrives (as the 3d Epistle of John 2d verse hath it), as being that whose estate God hath a care of; it being to live with himself during that interstitium or meantime, even as the chicken grows in the shell unto a maturity, and then breaks it, and flies away into another and better estate, which is the prophet's comparison, Ps. 90:10. And can you think that this inner man, thus nourished to a virility by God, shall be turned into a languid condition when severed? or have a dead sleep or palsy take it, and so chill until the resurrection? No; it is in a tendency to perfection, as Heb. 12 shews.

2. Consider in the words how, during this life (wherein the outward man is a-perishing), that glory to come is all the while a-working for this inward man; and this inward man also is all that while a-being wrought upon, and making ready for that glory, and both fall out together, but during the space only of this life. The one you have in the 17th verse of the 4th chapter, and the other at the 5th verse of the 5th chapter. It is said, that God himself works us, 'for the self-same thing.' And God's renewing our inward man in the 4th chapter, is the same thing with God's working us, chapter 5, and working us for that self-same glory spoken of in chap. 4:17, which is wrought for us by afflictions; yea, and (which is God's artifice in it) the self-same afflictions which work that so exceeding weight of glory, are used by God to work our inward man for that glory. And (which is most observable to our purpose) both these workings, the one of glory without us, the other of renewings of grace within us, are but in the space and during the time of this life, and both continue all the while and cease together. The afflictions work best in that moment, and our souls they are also wrought upon but during that moment, and the determining of both ends with our lives. For as it is but the afflictions of this moment that work the glory, so it is the dispensation of God in this life only that renews the soul, and but whilst in the outward man; and at death, and with death; all such workings of either are at an end. And what doth this mean and argue, but that the working of both ending in that one period, that therefore these two, the inward man and glory, that had gone as together, though divided, should at and upon death (the common period to both) meet, and be joined or married together, the inward man being made ready for that glory as fully as ever it shall be, and that glory made ready for it? What then shall let, or who shall forbid, that these two should not be joined together? Surely this is the time, the full time for this soul's enjoyment and first entrance into that glory it was wrought for.

3. Add to this account of the apostle, the series, order, and succession of time he sets for these things. The time allotted for these workings, he says, is but for a moment, and that moment is but the term of each of our personal lives; so expressly, Rom. 8:18, they are called the sufferings of this present time. And the next stage he sets is an eternal life and glory, without any mention of any other space coming between. He mentions these two, and but these two, and these two immediately succeeding each the other; and comforts us, not only that our afflictions are but for this moment, but withal chiefly to note the shortness of the time, unto the beginning or entrance into eternal life and glory, which is ready wrought for the soul, and the soul for it, during that moment. And that the ending of that moment is the beginning of that eternity, and that that ceasing, and afflictions therewith, eternal glory succeeds, so that these two divide time betwixt them. But if there had been so long a space as two thousand years afore that beginning of this eternity to come, between this moment and the resurrection, he either would have excepted it, or not have put this moment and eternity so together. It is the account of times which he here maketh. And believers that groan as they count and reckon the greatness of the glory, as Rev. 8:18, so in these groaning they do reckon or account the time, till their freedom and enlargement; and the thought of the shortness thereof doth comfort them, as well as the greatness of the glory expected. No apprentice or servant counteth his time more till he is free, and shall set up for himself, than a believer doth, and than the apostle doth for them, both in this place and that other in Rom. 8. And to be sure, that term of two thousand years, if these souls had been to stay for this glory so long (which the Holy Ghost, who wrote this, fore-knew and we have the prospect and experience of sixteen hundred years being now past), is not to be reckoned as a moment. Therefore the apostle would not have reckoned this moment and eternity in so successive an order, and have left out the account of thousands that were to come between them, when he intended thus to comfort them, even to a moment's time, when the very thought of two thousand years' stay would have been a long time indeed unto such eager and groaning souls, as ver. 2–4 of this chap. 5 they are set forth to be, unless the apostle had some way satisfied them about the interim, as appeareth by the cry of 'How long!' of those separate souls, Rev. 6. Nay, if these souls here wrote to (supposing them to exist and to be after death) should have had an intermission of enjoyment of God for two thousand years to come, this time of so long interval, that would have proved to be unto such souls, who had been inured unto communion with God already during this moment of afflictions, and sometimes had enjoyed the earnests of heaven (as in the 5th verse of this 5th chapter you have inserted as an argument for separate souls' enjoyment), a far greater weight of affliction than what the afflictions of this present time amount unto, which is but for a moment; and the apostle might rather have indicated and termed them the afflictions of that interval to come, than those of this present time, as in Rom. 8 he speaks.

4. The like division of things, connoting the same succession of time, in the 18th verse (which is the last of this chapter) seconds and confirms this: 'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' In this division of things he sums up the whole of what we are to run through, or which can be supposed we should run through in and under all times for ever, or that shall befall us from that instant wherein any saint at present is, for they are all either temporal or eternal. The temporal he also calls things which are seen, visible here in this world by our worldly eyes or natural eyes; the eternal, which are not seen, that is, not otherwise than by faith, which is 'the evidence of things not seen, and substance of things hoped for,' Heb. 11:1. By temporal, then, he means the good or evil things enjoyed or suffered in this life or world; and by eternal, all and the whole that are to come, as the reward of what was done in this life, in the other world to come, which are things as yet unseen otherwise than by faith and hope, and therefore the things that are wholly to come are unseen, according to that Rom. 8:24, 'Hope that is seen is not hope.' And further, by distinguishing or opposing these two, temporal and eternal, he withal connotates and divides the whole length of time we are to run through, even as he had afore more plainly done by his 'moment' and 'eternity' in the words of the 17th verse. Now I would ask unto which of these two doth the state of the soul (of an holy soul) till the resurrection belong? It is certain not to temporal, though it should be cut off from the account of that time, which follows after the resurrection. It might indeed be said, temporal as in respect to the time, namely, of its duration, merely for the term of its widowhood from the body, which ends with the resurrection; yet to be sure, it is none of those temporal things which the apostle here terms temporal, for they are such things only as are for the term of this life, and so styled because they last but for this time, in distinction from those other to come. And besides this state of the soul, after this temporal ended, is unseen in this life by us otherwise than by faith, as well as what shall be after the resurrection. So then, that state of the soul after death must be cast, as that which belongs unto eternal; and both that and all after makes up together but one entire eternal, whether of that state of the soul separate, or that of it after the resurrection. For so, and not otherwise, is the distinction or opposition unto the temporal enjoyments of this life made up full, and exact, and complete, whereas if this state of the separate soul were not included and comprehended under that of eternal, this division were utterly imperfect, unless any one will say that there are two temporal states of the soul afore the general resurrection, and that from that time only eternal things do commence and begin, which no man will dare to affirm. So then, as eternal doth begin, as we say, a new account, so the state of the soul separate and that of the resurrection are made up, as to that one new era or account, and are summed up into one total of eternity. And we in common speech use to say, that when a man dies he enters into his eternity, because it is the beginning of a man's reward, whether of punishment or of glory, whether whilst his soul remains severed, or is joined again to the body. Now if this separate state must be put unto that part of the account of what is eternal, then you must necessarily take in glory too; for so in the 17th verse he had said, 'an eternal weight of glory;' and again, chap. 5:1, 'an house eternal in the heavens.' So then we must not exclude this separate state from glory; for after temporal is ended, it is an eternal which succeeds, and that eternal, saith the apostle, is glory; and an eternal house also stands ready to receive the soul, which is all one with glory. And although the state of it out of the body be temporal in this sense, that is but for a time; yet this separate state being a part, yea, the beginning of the possession of that glory which shall never end, but be more perfectly and fully consummated when the soul and body are reunited, therefore the glory in both states is termed eternal, because from the time of the first possession of it that glory is continued to all eternity, and is the same glory for kind, though not for degrees.

So, then, the argument riseth strong from all these things. As we use to argue against purgatory, that there being but two ways mentioned in Scripture, the broad and the narrow, and but two bounds and endings of those ways, eternal life or eternal death, there are but two sorts of passengers, righteous and unrighteous, which the Scriptures speak of, and therefore no third or intermediate condition between; so I argue (out of our apostle) there being but these two stages and measures of time, temporal of this life, eternal in the other mentioned by him; and when and where the one ends, the other must be reckoned to begin, there being no state or space between, and also this eternal state being so expressly termed glory, eternal glory; and the inward man or soul itself being eternal, and to exist when the body, the outward, perisheth, and this soul being wrought for that self-same thing, shall not such a soul invincibly conclude, when it comes to die, My now, my present moment, and all temporal things, are ended with me? Welcome eternity, and the possession of things not hitherto seen, but hoped for, which the apostle tells me is no other than 'an eternal weight in glory,' which now begins, the other being ended.

A second head of arguments may be taken from the special connection and coherence which the words of the text, 2 Cor. 5:1, hold with these foregoing words in chapter the 4th, which the particle for doth carry us back again unto: 'For we know that if,' &c. It is an account, says Musculus, given, why that we Christians look so intently upon things eternal, and on that same eternal weight of glory; for we full well know, that if this earthly house were dissolved, we shall enter upon them. The things that are temporal cease, and our eternity then begins. We come then presently to be partakers of that eternal weight of glory; or, which is all one, of that eternal house in heaven. And therefore we have good reason to look upon, and intently to mind, those things eternal, so as to overlook the other. For there is but this little, so little a while, between us and our enjoyment of them, even but till our dissolution. This faith brings eternal things to us, and not to look at them as things afar off. And it is the nearness of things, and not the greatness only, if apprehended far distant, that doth affect men. Faith is a telescope, an optic glass (to which the allusion may seem to refer) that brings them near to us, as glasses use to represent things otherwise greatly remote; and because they are so near as our death is, therefore we are affected with them.

These words, 'For we know,' &c., carry us also to the 16th verse, and so bring in a new reason, why 'we faint not' at the thoughts of dying: ver. 16, 'Therefore we faint not,' no, not at death. 'For we know,' &c. It is a continuation of reasons thereof. Now observe the parallel between his comforts, or reasonings to comfort Christians, both there and here.

1. There, against the miseries of life, this is made a reason, why we faint not; inasmuch as our outward man only doth perish, but then the inward man is renewed. But then, further, to shew God's uninterrupted care towards us in this life, in this renewal of the inward man, he further adds, 'renewed every day.'

2. Answerably here (ver. 1), and in as congruous an harmony, comes in this cordial against death: that even when this outward man is dissolved, our inward man shall, from that instant of time, without interruption or discountenance,* have entrance into glory. As there was not a day passed over their heads in this life, in which their inward man was not more or less renewed, so when dissolved, or upon death, in like manner they shall not stay a day, not from being renewed only, but from being 'swallowed up of life' (as our Lord Christ says to the thief on the cross: Luke 23:43, 'To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise'); and to insinuate this, the apostle adds these words 'eternal in the heavens,' in an opposite parallel unto that other expression, 'day by day.' Eternity is a continuation of time for ever, without succession of day by day, as the schoolmen have observed. Eternity is spoken of here to shew, that as upon dissolution there is a beginning of it to the inward man, so there is a continuation without intermission, in like manner as there had been in this life a continued renewing of them day by day. And it is therefore that he heartens us not to faint any more at death than at afflictions, because God is proportionably as much careful over us in one state as in the other. That as he did not renew us for one day only, and then suspend his work for a year, or many years, and then visited us again, but every day renewed us in this life, so likewise, when this outward man comes to be dissolved, this inward man hath an eternal house. For God stays not forbearing to glorify us for many thousand years, or until the resurrection. 'The days of darkness are many' (as Solomon says of lying in the grave) until then; but here is an eternal follows upon dissolution, a beginning of a continued Ævum, when time shall be no more, as to this glorified soul.

Now, then, to bring it home to the point in hand; were there not an entering into glory for that inner man, as instantly to succeed dissolving, without suspense, as the renewal of that inward man is that accompanies afflictions, and which was continued without interruption, the souls of believers would not have had so full consolation against fainting at the thoughts of death and at its approach, as it had against those other miseries of life. But if we take the apostle's words in the sense which hath been given, there is full and abundant consolation against all fear of death. For the believer may say, it matters not how soon I die, since whenever I die I enter presently into glory, and therefore I will not faint at death. I need not care when, or how, I lay down my life, seeing there is a present provision made. This one thought renders the consolation home and complete every way; whereas that other opinion, that he should post us off to the resurrection, reacheth not to this, for 'hope so long deferred would make the heart faint and sick;' whereas here the nearness of it, and the greatness of that glory, both of them coming upon a man's soul both at once, do swallow up all thoughts of trouble or discomfort any way. And this reason did in part cause Musculus to incline to our opinion, as it hath been stated.

And now, ere we go on, let us take a pause and consider a little, that after the apostle had forelaid all the things—1, of an inner man (in distinction from the body), which sure God had such a care of to preserve, &c.; and, 2, that these afflictions (which are but the perishings, the moulderings of the outward man) work an eternal glory, and for whom but for this inner man on purpose renewed to enjoy it? 3, that these afflictions are for the moment of this life, namely, whilst this inward man dwells in this outward man, which is going to destruction; and then, 4, that this eternal succeeds, when this temporal life ends; unto which eternal he calls all their intentions to be fixed upon it;—I say, when he had thus forelaid these things, and brought down the series of his discourse thus far, he then immediately, upon all this, brings in the supposition and mention of death in this first verse: What (says he) if not only our 'outward man perish,' but be utterly 'dissolved,' the whole house 'pulled down.' What then? Call but in a jury of all men, and of all saints, and what would their expectations be upon? Certainly upon this. What should, upon that dissolution, become of that inner man he talked of, when left a widow and alone, and separate from the body? If a sage heathen, as Plato, or Socrates, had been discoursing so sadly of the immortality of the soul, how it grows wiser as the body grows older, and then had fallen into the supposition of the dying of the body, and had but said, if this body be dissolved,—surely all his auditors would expect and desire instantly to hear something of what should be the state of that soul he had predicated to be immortal, which, when this body is dissolved, shall still subsist. But our apostle had much more engaged himself from the materials of his former discourse to answer our expectations in this, for he had not only instructed them with the knowledge of an immortal soul, but how that soul was preparing to be furnished, fraught and fitted with graces every day, and how an eternal weight of glory was working for it. And he had called off their eyes from all things in this world, and fixed them on these eternal; and then after all comes in with the case and supposition of death. He doth certainly, therefore, in his following answer, speak home and close to that which should be the common expectation of all men in such a case. As it is the voice of all men in general, 'Who will shew us any good?' Ps. 4, so more especially, when we come to die, what will then next befall us, and come unto us? This the parable of the steward shews us: I must (says he) be turned out of house and home; 'what shall I do?' Luke 16:3, 4; that is, what shall I do next, Animula vagula quæ abibis in loca? But above all men, this would be the special expectation of saints. The apostle Paul therefore, being to give an answer in this case himself, having started the question, he, for the comfort of all saints, may well be thought to frame his answer unto what is the more general care, the pressing and next thought or solicitude of all saints.

But then add to this the periphrasis, or circumstance of speech, by which the apostle chose to express the supposition of death, and it will still induce us to think that the answer or resolution he gives should be to this very point, namely, the state of the soul when separate. To this end, observe how he expresseth dying. He saith not in plain and short words, 'if we die,' which is the usual way of speech, but frames it thus, 'if our earthly house of this tabernable were dissolved;' which circumlocution of speech I look upon as the sluice between the apostle's former discourse (chap. 4) and what he here discourseth (chap. 5 ver. 1 to ver. 10) concerning what is to follow with respect to the state of the soul after death. As death itself is the passage between both worlds, so he lets in and applies all he had spoken but indefinitely of eternity and glory (in the latter part of chapter 4), and brings it all down definitely ad articulum mortis, as we say, to the point and supposition of dying, as the time designed by God to be the epocha from whence all those glories fore-mentioned in that fourth chapter are to commence, and begin, and take place in that same 'inner man;' and so the stream onward unto the 10th verse carries on a more particular discourse concerning the state of this inner man after separation from the body.

It is, I say, most remarkable that by this circumlocution, 'if our earthly house,' &c., he doth most lively represent death to be such a separation of this inward man from the outward, the body, as that this inner man doth survive and still exist as it did afore; and to that end look as in the former—finxit duos homines, saith Gualter—he represented the condition of the soul in the body by two men, an inward and an outward, on purpose to set forth how, whilst the outward perished, there was still an inward man was still renewed during this life, so in like manner, now that death comes to be expressed, fingit duo domicilia, he sets up the comparison of two houses, which this inner man removes from, and unto, thereby manifestly declaring that it subsisted still, yea, and but shifted its dwelling-house at death; which could be to no other end done than still to make way to shew what would become of this inner man after this separation. Now to this end he termeth this outward man an house, as unto which the soul is the inmate. And who knows not that the indweller doth, and can live and survive without his house? Neither his life nor livelihood depends upon it, nor none of his inward worth or wealth which he personally carries about him; it is but his removing out of it. And that word, 'our earthly house,' plainly intimates that this inner man, the indweller, bears away the name of the person, assumes the title of lord and owner, and so carries it away alone from the body, as the lord of a manor-house doth from his house; as if the soul should say, My house is dissolved, but I myself am still safe, and as I was; I myself am not dissolved, it is but my house. Yea, which more fully demonstrates this, he termeth it a 'tabernacle,' when it is elsewhere termed an house, yet but of 'clay,' dissoluble, and whose 'foundation is in the dust,' soon thrown down, as the house built on the sand. But lest that should signify too much dependency of this inmate upon it, that by tenderness and obnoxiousness to cold and weather, when exposed, it might die (as shell-fishes and snails, when their shell is crushed, and they are separated from it, die), he therefore adds, it is a tabernacle. Now a tabernacle is a covering that hath not so much as a foundation which houses have, but it is merely a covering, and is set up but as for present conveniency for a shelter; and he that dwells in it is himself so little dependent on it, that he can take it and carry it on his back, and pitch it when and where he pleaseth: and it is used by pilgrims, and wanderers, and soldiers, as you know, that least of all depend upon these tents. Heb. 11:9, it is said of Abraham that 'by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob; for he looked for a city which hath foundations,' &c. They were sojourners that dwelt in tabernacles, and tabernacles had not foundations. And this was a type and a shadow to them, and to us in them, that both they then, and we now (that is, our souls), do dwell in bodies, that are but tabernacles; for the apostle tells us, ver. 13, that by this, and other their speeches, 'they confessed they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth, declaring plainly,' namely, by these as types and sayings of theirs, 'that they sought a country,' ver. 14. Doth not this parallel further argue the apostle's intent to be to speak to that point, What should become of this inner man, now it comes to subsist alone? Certainly he doth not ablegate us to the resurrection, when it shall have its body again, but means to shew what God will do with it in the mean time, in this interim of subsistence by itself out of the body.

Another head of arguments is drawn from the terms in which he forms and shapes his resolution unto this supposition of death; or, 'If we die.'

1. 'We have,' &c. As this inner man is the person, and bears the title of it, so when by death it is turned out of house and home, we can comfortably say, ἔχομεν, 'we have,' that is, instantly, presently, an house prepared, ready. It is not habebimus, 'we shall have; namely, at the resurrection. Look as the next thought of every man, good and bad, upon the supposition of death, 'If we die,' is, what is next? so as readily, as roundly the apostle answers to it, and says, 'We have,' &c. And truly what needed more words to persuade any that this was his meaning? If he should say 'We have,' and yet intend habebimus, 'We shall have,' which is the sense that other interpreters would put upon it, he had, when so great an expectation had been raised of what should be next and immediately, greatly disappointed us. Yea, and though you suppose that sometimes in the phrase of the New Testament the present tense is put to express the future, yet in this case the apostle would not have made use of such a criticism. Sure, if ever he would speak plainly, and in the most direct sense, then sorely now. As Christ, in the case of comforting his disciples with the promise of heaven, says, 'If it had not been so, I would have told you,' John 14:2, so here the apostle would not have held them underhand with an expression of 'we have,' when yet he meant no more than 'we shall hue,' retaining them under hopes of a reversion; for distance of time is a great matter in the case. Now he intends their comfort here, as in 2 Cor. 5, even as Christ did there, in John 14. And he intended the utmost of their comfort; and so surely speaks as plainly as to the point of time, according to the tenor of his expression, as Christ did as to the reality of the thing itself. So then Estius is very dilute in his interpretation, when he says that the apostle, by the words 'we have,' only means 'we shall have.' For it is certain that now we have the first fruits and beginnings of eternal life, and 'he that believes shall never die,' John 11.

2. Put the particle if, and the words we have, together, and consult the analogy of speech in all languages.

(1.) Such a posture and form of speech ordinarily importeth when; and so to say, 'if it be dissolved,' is all one as to say, 'when it is dissolved.' And this speech here, and that of our Saviour, Luke 16:9, insisted on, is parallel as to the phrase, as well as in the subject matter (now Christ's words are, 'When ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations'); only this here of the two is more significant and punctual. That if it so fall out (fall it out when it will), we have a present provision. And it is as if a man should say, I have at present a mean cottage, a country house I dwell in; but if changes come by fire or tempest, wars or plunderings, that this be ruined, I have another dwelling, a city house (to which heaven's glory is compared, Heb. 11:10), ready built and furnished to remove unto. Insomuch, that it is the same as if, in like speech, the apostle had said, We shall never want an house; but if we be driven hence, we have another. But if his meaning were, that for that other house we must wait the resurrection, we should in the mean time have been left at a loss in our thoughts for an house.

(2.) The like frame of speech to this, 'If this were dissolved, we have,' &c., we ordinarily use, when we look at the present condition as an hindrance to what, if that were removed, we should presently enjoy as more happy and more desirable. So that it is as if he had said (pursuing his begun discourse, and the eager intention and working of his mind, and its fixing on this eternal state, of which in the last verse afore), We should have possession of this glory presently, instantly, were it not for this same body that stands in our way, and keeps us from it. If it were but dissolved once, we have a glory ready. The apostle hereby expresseth how a Christian looks at this body, as at present, as an impediment, as that which lets (as the apostle speaks in another case) us in our way; and till it be taken out of the way we are detained. Thus we speak of one that hath a great estate in land, which is out in a lease to another, or of a widow's estate in a copy; if that lease were out, and expired, or that widow dead, I have instantly the possession of a great estate to fall to me; I have it, it is mine already; there is nothing but a little time, or such an one's life between me and it; if they were but dead once, I have it. The like you say of an heir under age; and so here, if this earthly house were dissolved, and the lease of this life but expired, I have another to enter into.

Now that which strengthens this to have been his scope in this form of speech are two things.

1. That he maketh the demonstrative effect of this to be a groaning: ver. 2, 'For in this we groan, earnestly desiring,' &c. Now, groans are expressions of earnest desires, that are obstructed, hindered, and oppressed, and kept from their attainment. Groans superadd that unto desires simply considered; and that phrase, ἐν τοῦτῳ, 'in this we groan,' either refers to earthly house, that is, whilst we are in this tabernacle; or it serves to express time, ἐν τοῦτῳ χρόνω, interea temporis, 'in the mean time we groan.'* And both these come to all one, to shew the ground of groaning, namely, because either during the time of our being in the house, till the time of that lease is out, time hinders us, or that whilst this body lasts and remains undissolved we cannot arrive to that other house, but we are kept from it, and hindered; or else ἐν τοῦτῳ is for this, or upon this account, we groan, namely, because we are detained from the enjoyment of our desires. These interpretations fall all in to our purpose.

2. In the 6th and 8th verses he expressly makes a being at home in the body an absence from the Lord and a man's own people; and he makes these to be the two peregrinations, such as whilst the one lasteth the other is not attainable, nor doth or can begin; so as in plain and express words, he teacheth them to look at our being in the body as an hindrance and a let to the enjoyment of the Lord. And therefore we desire rather to be absent from the body; and we groan, saith the 2d verse, in this body as that which hinders us and keeps us from our other house: 'For if this were dissolved, we have,' &c. Now, if either of these two senses given of this form of speech hit the apostle's intention, as both lie fair, either that if (as noting time) it were dissolved, we have, &c.; or that further, our being in the body is an impediment to the other; if either of these (as it is hard if one or both do not), it carries the point in hand.

3. Let us consider those two metaphors—of an house, ver. 1, and of a garment, ver. 2, 3—under the notion of which he shapes the substance of his answer, and by which the Holy Ghost chose to signify the condition we are to have if dissolved: 'We have,' saith he, 'a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' 'And we groan to be clothed upon,' ver. 2, 3. And we shall find by the coherence of this place and other scriptures, that they fully fall in with and serve our assertion, namely, they serve to express the glory itself which we are to have in the heavens, as well of the soul whilst separate from the body as when again joined to the body.

Now, those that would exclude the glory of the soul whilst separate as having been in this place intended, they withal do narrow these metaphors to the body itself, when it shall be made glorious. And one great argument of theirs is taken from the opposition used here, that if by our earthly house of this tabernacle be meant our bodies, then by our house made without hands in the heavens must be intended also our bodies, as they shall be made heavenly at the resurrection, 1 Cor. 15; even as there earthly man and heavenly man are set in opposition. And in this lies a great part of their strength; but now I turn it otherwise, not only by way of answer, but by way of argument to the contrary: that if by the metaphors of house, and garment, or clothing, the glory of heaven itself, whether of soul separate, or of soul and body, be meant in Scripture, and not necessarily the body alone as an house made glorious with and for the soul to dwell in, then there is an open way, and the plea lies fair for the separate soul's claim to this house and clothing upon in the mean time. But that under these metaphors the glory of heaven itself, abstractly considered, is meant, is evident,

1. From the context; for what is this 'eternal in the heavens' here, but that which, but two verses afore it, he had styled 'an eternal weight of glory'?

2. It is evident from other scriptures.

An house: Luke 16, 'Receive you into heavenly habitations,' ver. 9; and John 14:2, 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' And the glory itself is compared to an house, because a man enters into it, and dwells in it: 'Enter into thy Master's joy,' for it is too great to enter into the Master himself. It is called too 'a building of God, not made with hands.' The same is spoken of the glory itself, of heaven, and not of the body. It is 'a city which hath foundations, whose maker and builder is God,' Heb. 11:10. A city is an aggregation of houses and buildings; of houses that are not tabernacles, but are fixed, and have foundations for perpetuity, which in the text is 'eternal in the heavens,' in opposition unto this tabernacle house; and is the opposition made there also, ver. 9, 'dwelling in tabernacles.'

3. That other phrase, of a garment, you have, Rev. 6:11, used to express the glory of the saints in that other world. Yea, those that are for that other sense, and interpret this house from heaven to be our bodies, are yet forced, or at least must acknowledge that phrase twice used, ver. 2 and 4, being clothed upon, to be meant of glory, for it cannot be meant that we remaining in these bodies should yet be over and above clothed upon with other bodies over them. It were absurd to say, he should mean a putting new bodies for substance over these we have already; as Musculus hath observed. So as even according to their interpretation which they would put upon it, glory abstractly considered must be intended as that wherewith we are clothed upon; and if under that phrase, clothed upon, glory abstractly considered is intended by their sense, then under the word house also the same must be intended. For the apostle joineth both as one: ver. 2, 'To be clothed upon with our house that is from heaven.' And again, in ver. 4, it is life that is said to swallow up the mortality; and therefore glory simply considered is the thing the apostle intended in his discourse. And if so, this of an house, &c., are applicable as well to the soul, to be clothed upon therewith, without the body, as when it is in the body; for that the soul separate is capable of glory, none can deny.

In the fourth place, to come yet nearer and more home to the point in hand, the glory of the soul when separate from the body is in the Scriptures (yea, it falls out in those very scriptures fore-mentioned) plainly and directly intended under these two metaphors, thereby expressing that state of glory men's souls have when apart from their bodies.

1. That the soul when separate from the body hath an house of glory, or a glorious condition compared to an house, provided for it. This is clear by that of Luke 16, 'That when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations,' which must be our house in heaven; for it is that house in which everlastingly the soul dwells both out of the body first and with the body for ever.

2. The other, of being clothed upon, we have Rev. 6:9, 11, 'And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And white robes were given unto every one of them.' You see they are the souls of them that were slain, and that whilst going naked out of their bodies, that have robes given to cover and array them as a reward—as the word given imports: 'The gift of God is eternal life,' Rom. 6—white robes, ensigns of glory and blessedness. When they come to heaven they are anew installed, both kings and priests (as this book hath it), and accordingly clothed with new robes.

1. As kings: so David, 1 Chron. 15:27; Joseph as governor, Gen. 41:42; Mordecai, Esther 6:11.

2. As priests, who, when first brought into the inner court of the temple, had their vestments put on, so these souls, when find entered into the holy of holies, that is, heaven (as the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks), are clothed in their robes. This is more plain, chap. 7:13–15, 'These have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.' It is an allusion to the custom of the priests when anew admitted into the temple.

3. And thirdly, White robes are an ensign of glory. The angels of glory, when they appear, they do appear clothed in long white garments, Mark 16:5; John 20:12. The same is said of these souls, because now made like the angels.

4. For souls separate to be thus 'clothed upon,' agrees with the phrase 'naked,' used in the text, as alluding unto the state of the soul new coming out from being clothed with a badge, and so having robes put over it. And this more properly than it could be spoken of souls continuing in their bodies without dissolution, of which more anon.

In the last place, It may be observed, that he speaks of this house and glory as now ready and built, standing empty as it were, and waiting for as inhabitants. It is 'a building of God, not made with hands.' And that you may see, I do not observe this without ground; compare with it that parallel of Heb. 11:10: 'Abraham looked for a city, whose maker and builder is God'; and ver. 16, 'Wherefore God was not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city,' and had done so when he first called himself his and their God. And Christ in like manner says: 'I go to prepare a place for you; in my Father's house are many mansions.' Now of the body, that spiritual body to come, it could not be thus said, that it were built and prepared already. For it is as yet to be raised up, and it lies in the grave until that day, as Peter speaks of David, Acts 2. And again, when is this declared concerning Abraham and those patriarchs? The words are spoken of what was provided and prepared for their souls against their death; as that which comforted them against their not possessing Canaan, but dwelling in tabernacles, and so also against that their deaths, as I shewed, and as the matter indeed evidenceth of itself.

And the parallel and correspondency of that place, concerning those saints of the Old Testament, and of this my text concerning the hopes of the saints of the New, is very great and strong. In the verse afore, ver. 9, it is said, 'Abraham sojourned as in a strange land, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob'—types both of their own, and of our dwelling in the term of this life, in these earthly houses and tabernacles. For when the Jews, his seed, were possessed of this land, and dwelt in houses of stone, yet they were to keep a feast in tabernacles once a year, to shew they dwelt but as in tabernacles at the best, shortly to be pulled down. And yet, 'looking' all that while 'for a city, whose maker and builder is God'; when their tabernacle condition should be ended. And God, to comfort these patriarchs against this their tabernacle life at present, and their dying without the possession of Canaan, tells them he had already prepared a city (which is an aggregation of houses) for them. And in the styling himself their God and their great reward, as to Abraham he doth, he thereby sheweth at once, both that their souls should still live (for as Christ says, 'God is the God of the living'), and also that he had took care of them, made provision for them, and would not for the least space of time leave them destitute, but had prepared another country and houses to entertain them in. Wherefore saith the text twice, 'God is not ashamed to be called their God'; even because he had made such abundant provision for them, like to the great God indeed. If but a man should have a friend that were turned out of house and home, and should not have an house to entertain him instantly upon it, he would be ashamed. And so would God, says he, if he had not prepared a city for them. Abraham is called the friend of God, even as God styles himself his God. And Abraham therefore shall not want (no, not for a moment) entertainment when his tabernacle condition ceaseth. Nay, God hath prepared another aforehand on purpose for him.

CHAPTER V

A state of glory for believers upon their dissolution

A state of glory for believers upon their dissolution, demonstrated from those vehement and earnest desires which God hath implanted in them after such a state.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.—2 COR. 5:2, 3.

The sense of the first verse being thus fixed to specify the glory of the soul upon the body's dissolution, our next work is to examine whether the following words do give up themselves thereto, yea or no. For if they should be found averse to, and not correspondent herewith, or favour another sense in the second verse, we profess we must relinquish it in the first verse also, although we may safely and assuredly take the sense of the first verse as the cynosura or polestar, to steer us in the ensuing interpretation of the rest. This first verse, as it leads on the rest, so it holds the balance, which is evident by this, that he there utters what is the faith of a Christian concerning the glory to come, when he is dissolved. And in ver. 2, &c., he proceeds to shew the effects or workings of the heart and affections towards this glory, as flowing from this faith. True saving faith or knowledge always works upon the affections suitably to the object believed or known: 'For we know,' &c., says the first verse,—there is the act of faith; 'For we groan, earnestly desiring,' vers. 2, 4,—there are the affections flowing from this faith, and flowing from it as the effect from the cause. Hence then it will evidently follow, that look what glory it is that, in the first verse, he hath proposed as the object of our faith, the very same we aforehand conclude to be the object of our desires and groanings, vers. 2–4, which is evident again by ver. 5: 'Now he that wrought us for the self-same thing is God,' &c. This is the conclusion of his discourse from ver. 1, as from thence he draws a thread through the whole afore, and ties a knot of it at ver. 5, by telling us that the self-same glory which he had spoken of (ver. 1) as the object of faith, and as the object of our desires (vers. 2, 4), was the end aimed at in working all these, and whatever else effects of grace in us. I say, then (in the apostle's own phrase), it is one and the self-same thing of glory which still he professeth to carry through all these verses, from the first to the last. Let this be our rule then, and let us keep to the same, the exposition of all that follows.

But although (as I said) we might safely conclude and take for granted, that this is the sense of these second and third verses, the same which is of the first, yet we will still put the issue upon a particular examination of each word in the second and third verses. I shall go from word to word, and see how all will comply with this interpretation, that the glory of the soul, after death, is first in order here intended.

'For we groan.' He had said afore, 'We know, if this tabernacle be dissolved, we have,' &c. This particle for leads on a demonstration from the effect. It is a demonstration or evidence.

1. That there is such a glory for the soul. For God's Spirit would not otherwise have stirred up such groaning desires (which is Aquinas his note upon the place, and it is a good one), for if there be no regular desire in nature, says he, but that by God's ordination there is an object existent for it, then surely not in grace; and therefore it must be so here, that if the Spirit of God doth work such vehement desires after such a glory, that then there is such a glory extant or ordained to be. 'Blessed are those that thirst, for they shall be satisfied,' Mat. 5:6.

2. It is an evidence that our faith is real faith, and that we Christians do truly know, and really believe so much. Why? For we constantly groan after this things we thus know, desires following upon knowledge.

3. This particle for, with what follows, comes in as an undoubted sign and evidence who they are that are the persons here that shall be partakers of this glory: they are such as, upon the faith and knowledge they have of this glory, do groan earnestly after it day and night, and thereby do particularly come to know, and are personally assured thereof, because they find their desires constantly maintained in them after it; and so the words run as to this sense, We know, and we know it by this, for we groan after it. For such continual groans are the infallible effect of true and sanctifying faith, and so tokens and evidences to the persons in whom they are, that this glory is ordained for them; yea, and as the apostle says, Rom. 8:23, They are 'the first-fruits of the Spirit,' and so the very beginning and earnest of that glory, as the 5th verse also speaks.

This may serve for the opening of the connection; now for the point itself afore us, I argue for it out of what hath been said. This second verse being thus intended as a demonstration that there is a blessedness estated upon holy souls upon dissolution (which hath been proved to be the full scope of the first verse), and that demonstration being founded on this, that if God hath wrought groaning desires after an object, he hath also designed that object to be existent, wherewith to satisfy those desires; and if so, then certainly this blessedness of souls we speak of must be the very thing groaned after and desired in this second verse. For it is made the object of our faith, ver. 1, whereas if we take the interpretation others give of this second verse, the demonstration would then lie cross to itself, viz., that upon dissolution there is such a glory ordained the soul, because God daily stirs up desires in Christians after a glory, to be put upon their bodies without dissolution at all. Now this were most incongruous and utterly improper, for not only the one followed not from the other, but the latter doth run upon a contrary supposition to that other, and therefore can never be made a demonstration of the former. I would exemplify the absurdity of this by a like instance. Suppose a woman hath an husband condemned to die; would this be taken as a legal evidence, that the prince had estated on her a dowry or widow's estate if her husband die; because, forsooth, it can be proved he set her on work to petition and desire of him that her husband might not die, but have an estate settled on him and on her, both living still together; certainly she could make no claim at all of an estate or widow's dowry after her husband's death thereby. For the latter runs upon a supposition of what is clean contrary to the former. It might indeed be morally argued that the prince did bear a good will and respect to the woman, to take care of her if her husband were dead, but legally she could not plead that such a jointure or dowry were his declared intendment; and the like invalidity of evidence would be found here.

But if we understand it, that this groaning is a demonstrative of the truth and reality of that faith which a Christian is said to have (ver. 1) concerning that glory, and of his propriety in it upon this ground; because these groanings are wrought by God in his heart, as the sure and proper effects of such a faith, which carrieth his soul out in desires after that glory he believes; this doth absolutely and necessarily require that that very same glory which is the object of this faith for* knowledge, should also be the object of those his desires; for knowledge worketh upon the desire in the virtue of the object known, or at least it must be granted to work it towards the object known. But now in this case to say we know, and know by faith, there is a glory for our souls when our bodies are dissolved (as intended in the first verse); because we are carried out to desire a glory of our bodies and souls, without any dissolution of our bodies (as intended in the second verse). Here is no consequence at all between these two as cause and effect, for they have several objects; it must therefore necessarily remain that it is one and the same individual sort of glory is believed and also groaned for, insomuch as if the glory of the soul upon dissolution of the body be in the first verse intended, as that which is believed, it must be the same and no other that is groaned for, ver. 2. And indeed the object of both is therefore specified and set out under one and the same expression in both verses, namely, 'our house.' Thus much may suffice for what this demonstrative particle for doth afford.

2. The next words are, 'In this,' ἐν τόυτῳ, 'we groan.'

There are three interpretations put upon this phrase, and each and all of them will comport and fall in with my argument in hand.

1. Ἐν τόυτῳ, 'In this,' is put (says Beza) for interea temporis, ἐν τόυτῳ χρόνῳ, 'in the mean time,' he referring us to Acts 24:16 for the like usage of the phrase. And so taken, the words of both verses will look at one another thus: 'We know, if our earthly house be dissolved, we have a glory then at that time to be given us: for in the mean time, namely, until that our dissolution, we groan for it.' This interpretation so connected evidently points out the time of dissolution to be the last period of that groaning, and the beginning of the enjoyment of that glory. There is only an interim, or space of time till then.

A second sense given is, that the phrase 'in this' signifies, 'in this tabernacle,' as ver. 4 seems to explain it. But yet even then, if unto this you join but that clause, 'if this tabernacle were dissolved' (which will still be sure to follow us, and enter its claim to be taken in as the terminus and occasion of our groaning), then certainly it falls most naturally to this sense, that in this tabernable we groan for that glory, which when it is dissolved, we shall have in a condition that is out of it; and that whilst we are in this earthly tabernacle, we therefore groan until it be dissolved, upon the assured knowledge that if once it were dissolved, we have a glory in heaven ready to be given to us.

The third sense given is, 'unto this we groan,' or 'for this.' Thus the oriental versions, the Syriac and Arabic, render it. A Lapide, out of the first of them, gives this sense in those plain words, that we groan for this, that our mortal house were dissolved; and so the sense runs clear, that seeing we know, we cannot, in the ordinary course set by God, ver. 1, attain this glory unless dissolved; we groan out of an eagerness of desire, even for that dissolution itself, in order, and in a tendency thereunto; even as Paul says, Philip. 1:23, 'I desire to depart' (as our translators have rendered it), namely, in order 'to be with Christ.' And truly although dissolution is not in direct words made the object of our groaning here, yet take the whole contexture, and it is tacitly, and perhaps necessarily, supposed and implied in this place. And to that end it was the apostle made that correction and limitation of his meaning: ver. 4, 'We groan, being burthened: not that we would be unclothed;' that is, whereas I had said, even we groan for this alteration, being burthened, yet not simply, or for its own sake, or the natural consequent thereof, case from burdens, or the like, but to the end to obtain that glory which cannot be had without a dissolution.

3. The next words are, 'we groan.' The apostle having pitched the date of our expectations to be dissolution, there appears therein a special reason why we should be said to groan (that is his first word) as well as to desire (which he adds), which how it makes for our sense I shewed upon ver. 1. The effect of which lies in this, that because this earthly vile body stands in the way between us and the immediate enjoyment of this glory, this therefore gives us just occasion of groaning in this tabernacle. Groans, we know, are properly desires obstructed and hindered; and we in this tabernacle (till it be dissolved), looking upon ourselves as hindered and detained all that time from that desired glory, hence we groan. And further perhaps it is said, that we groan in this tabernacle, or, in the mean time of this life, for this dissolution, as in a distinction from the desires which separate souls in glory have for that greater fulness of glory to come at the day of judgment; which are desires in them indeed, but not groans; they being satisfied and quieted in the mean season with a glory suitable to that condition of separate souls, they being made spirits perfect, as perfect as the spirits of men separate from their bodies can be. 'A white robe being given every one of them,' Rev. 6:11, they are bidden therewith to rest. But in saints on earth there is a groaning until their change from this burdensome life shall come, and their pilgrimage and apprenticeship be out. 'We that are' (that is, existent) 'in this tabernacle,' we do groan, and we only, ver. 4.

And hence a new argument may be added, strengthening and confirming what hath been urged, that if the souls of saints departed had not such robes, that is, a glory instantly given them when out of this tabernacle, truly it would occasion, after their departure hence, new groanings, or the same to be still continued; and then the apostle would not have terminated our groaning only unto our being in this tabernacle, or in this meantime, nor would he have confined it only to this life. But if 'we groan here, being burthened' (as verse 4 hath it), we should have had occasion to have groaned a second time in the other world also, if glory had been suspended, and we had still been delayed, especially withal considering that eagerness of desire which the apostle there expresseth to be in us, after a being clothed upon. But, says our apostle, 'in this we groan,' and in this only. And, therefore, there is a blessedness in the other world, that waits for our souls against our coming thither, which is bestowed presently upon the soul, which satisfies it, and prevents all groanings for ever, after dissolution.

Obj. Unto all this, it is objected by those of the other opinion, that in Rom. 8 the object of the groaning of the saints is expressly said to be that state of glory that follows upon the resurrection, and therefore that also is here intended. The words there are, 'Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body,' ver. 23.

Ans. For answer, 1. Neither we nor they can deny, but that both that fulness of glory at the resurrection, as also this entrance into and beginning of glory, which the spirits of just men made perfect do in the mean time enjoy, are, and ought to be the objects of Christians groaning for here in this life; and if both are, and ought to be, then look, as some scriptures mention the one more eminently as the object of our desires, so some other scriptures must also be supposed to do the other; and so that hinders not at all, that this should be the meaning of the apostle here, yea, it would rather seem, that as that of the Romans speaks of our groaning for the redemption of the body, so it leaves room for this here to speak more eminently of that, which is for the soul's glory in that meantime, until that of the body be added.

Ans. 2. Secondly, I answer, There is a different ground or occasion mentioned for that groaning there and for this here; which distinct characters are engraven upon each to mark out the one for that one sense, the other for this other. The occasion of their groaning, Rom. 8, is the doctrine of the 'restitution of all things,' the 'revelation and glorious liberty of the sons of God,' ver. 19, 21, to be manifested to all the world, and to be accompanied with the freeing the whole creation from that 'vanity' and 'bondage' they are now in, and for them to have a participation of some privilege in a suitable proportion. And so that groaning, which the saints have thereupon, is after that which is common with the whole creation, in the universal perfection of it, and of us saints, as the object of it there; but this can no way be drawn as a necessary instance, that should give a law to the same intendment of this groaning here, where the occasion is upon another thing, which in the mean time falls out, 'What if our earthly house be dissolved,' which falls out to some Christians or other every day. But what then? Why then, 'we have an house,' &c., a glory in the heavens ready for us; and this groaning here coming in upon the mention of glory in the interim, ver. 1, hence it hath for its object the state that is next, even of the soul upon its dissolution. So as the ground of this groaning is a particular case, and upon an occasion different from that other in Rom. 8.

Ans. 3. Again, 3, if they urge that place as parallel to this, because of the word groaning, we must take liberty to urge another parallel place, because of the word 'desiring,' which is in order of the next word in this verse to be taken notice of. We groan earnestly, desiring. Now, elsewhere, the object of our desires in this kind is made that glory the soul hath upon dissolution: Philip. 1:23, 'Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better;' yea, and to depart first, as it is in order to our being with Christ; that is the object of his desires there. So then set one against the other.

4. The next word is, desiring. The doubling of these two shew the instant eagerness of desire; as in Gen. 31:30, 'Longing, thou longedst,' or, 'desiring, thou desiredst.' Thus also, in Luke 22:15, 'With desire have I desired;' as a woman longing, or groaning in travail to be delivered, and desiring to bring forth a child. Now such vehement longings and double desires are usually, if not always, pitched upon what is to be had presently, and not long delayed. When we see not much time in view betwixt, then it falls out that desires are quickened, and doubled, and sharpened, even by what is near, and very near. Now the glory at the resurrection, although greater in itself, yet is and was to them afar off, and so yet to us. 'But if we were once but dissolved, we should have an house.' This 'salvation is near' (as the prophet speaks), there are but a few moments between, but a few inches. It is this proximity, or nearness, that moves and stirs up a desiring. 'We desire,' &c.

But further, consider it is with groaning we desire. There is some emphasis, both put together, to our purpose. Groaning respects the present condition of misery and frailty: ver. 4, 'we groan, being burthened;' and desiring respects the glory that is to follow dissolution. Take a woman in travail, groaning under pains, and withal suppose her being told, and assured, or to know assuredly, that when she is delivered she shall have a son, a man-child, which man-child shall, thirty or forty years after, become a great emperor over many dominious; but for the present, upon her delivery, he shall be born a king, and made happy and glorious: certainly, her groaning desires in this case would be pitched upon this that is next, and more immediately, to follow upon her delivery. Her very pains, and present throes and groanings, would rather so direct and guide her thoughts and desires, rather than to cheer herself merely with what should be many years after. For, alas! she is in present pain, and in that case to think of a present deliverance, and thereupon withal of a present greatness and glory, though less, would move her much more in groaning to desire.

That which is desired is, 'to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven,' as it follows in the next words. That by 'our house from heaven,' which is also here compared unto a 'clothing,' that under the notion of both these metaphors and similitudes, the glory of the souls departed afore the resurrection was clearly expressed in the Scriptures, I shewed in opening the first verse. Therefore, I shall not at all insist on those words any more, but my business now is to be taken up about this expression, 'clothed upon;' and so I shall shew why the glory of the soul, even afore the resurrection, should be termed 'a clothing upon,' implying an upper garment unto the soul when separate from the body. And hereupon begins a second controversy, from what hitherto hath been prosecuted, upon ver. 1—this word 'clothed upon' being used twice by the apostle here, and those other words that follow as an explication of it, clothed and naked, putting us upon a new disquisition. Those that understand the first verse to speak (under the metaphor of an house, &c.) of our glorious bodies to be given us at the resurrection, do similarly, or in a correspondent like manner, interpret these words, clothing and nakedness, ver. 3, to refer unto our bodies. The soul of a saint dead, and separate from his body, is said (say they) to be naked. But we that stand for that other interpretation given of verse 1, that the glory of the soul presently upon dissolution is intended, do in a suitableness to that opinion say, that these metaphors of clothed and naked are used in reference unto the clothing by grace, holiness, or the righteousness of Christ. And so our being clothed upon with glory doth respect a putting of glory over that soul that is first found clothed with these here in this life.

And accordingly, either as the soul at dissolution wants or is devoid of these, it is said to be naked; as having put on these, it is said of it that it is clothed, and so in a prepared disposition unto glory; and answerably it is either left for ever utterly naked and exposed to God's wrath, or it is clothed upon with that glory in heaven provided for all such who are clothed with Christ's righteousness. Whereas the other interpretation says, the glory of heaven and immortality put upon both soul and body is the clothing upon that is here intended, our bodies, say they, being the natural clothing to the soul.

As to their opinion, they, to carry it on throughout, are constrained to make some variation in the sense of the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th verses, as I observed at my entrance into the 1st verse. For they say, that in that first verse the apostle intends to utter the general faith of all Christians to be this, that if they die, and their bodies be dissolved, yet, however, they are sure to have their bodies restored with glory by the general resurrection; but then, as for the 2d, 3d, 4th verses, they say his scope should be, that in consideration they must thus first die, and have their bodies dissolved, and their souls and bodies first to part (which is so abhorrent a thing to nature), therefore Christians do generally groan rather to have their souls continue still clothed in the body, and so without dying, both of them together to be clothed upon with the glory from heaven, which one day our bodies shall have; and this they make the meaning of the 2d verse: 'For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.' And yet, because such desires are not regular, nor such as they ought to be, if carried out to things impossible, or which God never willeth, therefore the apostle adds a correction to these desires, as grounded upon a supposition of what is God's ordination towards some saints: ver. 3, 'If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked;' namely, that seeing it will be the lot of some saints to be found alive at the day of judgment, who shall not die, but have their bodies on the sudden changed and clothed upon with glory (as you have it in 1 Cor. 15:51, 52, and 1 Thes. 4:15, 17); and this being then a known and common notion possessing the hearts of all believers in those primitive times, accordingly these interpreters do suppose that Paul here utters his own, and directs all their desires generally to groan after this privilege, that they might not die, but that, without being dissolved, their bodies might be changed into glorious bodies without any more ado. And unto this sense they interpret* the 3d verse, 'If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked;' that is, say they, our desire or groaning is limited to this supposition; or with this correction, saith Piscator, 'If so be' it prove to be our lot to live to that day, and so being then still clothed with our bodies, or alive, 'we be not found naked'; that is, in the number of those saints that are dead; so that being clothed, they interpret, found clothed with their bodies; and nakedness they oppositely interpret to be death, and to be found naked, to be of the number of the generality of the saints who will be dead, and their souls separate and naked from their bodies just at the resurrection. And then the words of the 4th verse do (as they suppose) with full stream fall into their channel: ver. 4, 'For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened' with daily miseries and infirmities: 'not for that we would be unclothed;' that is, we would not die, nature causeth us to abhor that, but we would be clothed upon alive; that is, living in our bodies until that day. We would rather have our bodies (which are but as a garment to the soul) clothed upon with that glorious state, that so 'mortality,' which is now the condition of our bodies, might be consummately, and once for ever, 'swallowed up of life,' as at that day it will be to those that so remain, yea, unto all else that then shall rise, as in 1 Cor. 15 you have it. This is the brief sum of their opinion.

In which interpretation of theirs there is this apparent variation (I might say deviation, for such it will be found anon) between what they deliver to be the sense of the first verse, and of the other that follow, that the apostle should intend in the first verse the resurrection itself of glorious bodies after dissolution, and death first supposed; but in the following verses, they divert to another supposition, namely, unto a glory of our bodies without dissolution or a resurrection, and under that consideration make it the object of all Christians' groans and desires.

But we on the other hand frame our interpretation uniformly, as to one and the same thing being the object both of our faith and groans, thus,

1. That the saints know by faith, that if once these earthly tabernacles were dissolved, they have, instantly upon that dissolution, an house and clothing of glory prepared and ready built to entertain them, both then, and so for ever, whether in the body or out of the body, afore or at the resurrection; and they knowing this assuredly by faith, do therefore,

2. Groan for the time of their dissolution, as the next and first stage or that glory; as Job did, Job. 14:14, 'All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.' They groan out of eagerness of desiring the possession of that glory which is thus to begin when this miserable life is ended, and then a life will begin which shall never have an end.

3. Those who thus groan and expect are yet withal admonished to be careful, and earnestly solicitous to put on more and more the inner man, to be clothed with grace, and to be found having the righteousness of Christ, and to keep their garments close about them to the last, lest they be found naked, which is the case and condition of multitudes of professors when God takes away their souls; and unto that end it is that the apostle inserts this by way of caution or warning: 'If so be that being clothed, we be not found naked,' ver. 3. And to put them in continual mind of this, and to make way for this caution, as expressed under these metaphors, it was that he on purpose chose that other metaphor of being (whereby to express the possession of heavenly glory) clothed upon, as that which supposeth a being found under-clothed with grace and holiness, the necessity of which clothing by grace he illustrateth by the contrary condition of these men's souls that depart this life devoid of this clothing. How inconceivably miserable must they be that are 'found naked,' not of their bodies only, but of all spiritual clothing, and thereby lie exposed to the wrath of God, driven out of all shelter, house, and home, and covered with nothing but confusion of face!

CHAPTER VI

That the clothing mentioned in the text, 2 Cor. 5:3, doth import the spiritual clothing of the soul in this life as a preparation unto glory.

The difference of interpretation being thus stated, there are two things to be treated of in the 2d and 3d verses.

1. That clothing, and answerably nakedness here, are similitudes that do refer unto spiritual clothing of the soul while in this life, as it is a preparation unto glory, or to a being clothed upon.

2. I shall shew the incongruities that accompany that other interpretation, which asserts that clothing and nakedness should relate simply to our mortal bodies.

1. The account and demonstration of the first will be despatched by these ensuing conclusions or considerations.

(1.) No man can deny but that the ordinary and frequent use of these two phrases in these scriptures (when they are used as metaphors, and applied to the soul, both which is the case here, whatever sense be taken) is intended of spiritual clothing or nakedness, especially when thus conjoined, and set as in opposition together, clothed and not naked, as here, which doubling of it must have a special emphasis in it, and that as to our sense, and against theirs, of which more in the sequel. 'I counsel thee,' says Christ, Rev. 3:18, 'to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;' and in Rev. 16:15, 'Blessed is he that keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.' He turns it both ways (as it is here), clothed and not naked. This last place I cite, because in many copies and scholias* upon this 3d verse of my text, it is found in the margin thereof, and thereby we are referred unto it as a comment upon the words.

(2.) If the next inquiry be, what more particularly the Scripture holds forth, to be our spiritual clothing, to be obtained first in this life, in order to that order, it is to be considered, that the scripture last cited mentioned garments in the plural, as indeed in use amongst men the ordinary apparel of every man consists of more garments than one, and that in distinction from his uppermost garment he is clothed upon withal. So that the clothing of the soul in this life, though consisting of two garments, is reckoned but as one clothing, in distinction from that glory we are clothed upon withal in the other world. Now, this clothing in this life are (as Calvin observes upon this place) two: 1. Christ's righteousness. 2. Sanctification of the Spirit.

[1.] Christ and his righteousness put on by faith: Gal. 3:26, 27, 'For ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ;' which is fitly termed a clothing, for a clothing serves for a covering of nakedness and deformities, and sometimes sores and defilements. And our justification by Christ's righteousness is in that respect styled a covering to us, as well as on adorning of us, and making us righteous in the sight of God. Therefore in one and the same place righteousness is said to be imputed, and thereby sins to be covered, as the apostle clearly argues it, Rom. 4:6, 7. By his comparing the words used of David's justification, Ps. 32, expressed by covering sin, and of Abraham's justification, which was an 'imputation of righteousness without works' of our own, it is apparent that this righteousness with which we are clothed must be another's, for also it is said to be imputed to us. And whose not Christ's obedience, Rom. 5:19, is said to make us righteous, whose name is 'Jehovah our righteousness,' as the prophet hath it? This his righteousness also is that fine linen, clean and white, given the church against her marriage: Rev. 19:7, 'The marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready;' and ver. 8, 'To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the clean linen is the righteousness of saints.' This is Christ's, and not our own righteousness. For, 1, it is given her over and above her being made ready, under which is meant that readiness or her preparedness of sanctification for glory (as after will appear) to shew that it was her own; for it is said she herself made herself ready by the help of grace. But of this other righteousness it is said, that it is 'granted unto her' as a further gift and donary of her husband. The spouse, the woman, useth to send fine linen against marriage to the husband of her making; but here the husband sends the wife a clothing of his own making. Yea, and it is not only said that fine linen was given her, but that it was granted she should be clothed with it, importing a righteousness merely put over her, and so put on by faith, and not wrought by herself. And besides all this, what I assert is evident from another reason. Our righteousness is not fine, and clean, and white, but as menstruous rags, intermingled with defilements; but this righteousness imputed, and with which we are clothed, is both clean, without impurity, and white, as estating unto glory. Unto all this may be added, that he, in Rev. 19:8, by way of eminency points at it, for he says, that this is 'the righteousness of the saints.' In the Greek it is, 'this fine linen are the righteousness[es] of the saints;' which Brightman with vehemency urgeth against the popish justiciaries, and layeth it at their door. He asserts not (says he) the righteousness of the saints is this fine linen, but this fine linen, thus granted her to be clothed withal, is that which is the righteousness of the saints, that only righteousness which they stand righteous before God withal; even they that are most holy need to be clothed with it to come to the presence and enjoyment of their husband, and to be clothed with it over and besides their own righteousness. And what I have asserted is also evident from this, that every saint in particular is justified by this righteousness, hath a share in it, yea, hath the whole of it for his justification, therefore it is termed δικαιωμάτα, in the plural. So then Christ and his righteousness is a clothing put upon the soul in this life, in order to that other life.

[2.] The second thing is our own inward holiness, and our walking holily. You find both in Eph. 4:22–24, 'That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on that new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.' And to the same effect the apostle speaks, Col. 3:9, 10, 'Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.' And further, both places affirm, the image of holiness in man was at his first creation to have been a clothing to his soul, so as it might have been said of him then, He was clothed, and not naked; which accordingly appears also by this, that when by sin he had lost that image, he fled even from God, as naked in soul as well as in body, Gen. 3.

But let us in the mean time observe not a little of resemblance or parallel between these two places now cited, and this of our apostle that is afore us, which is something to the further carrying on the proof what should be the apostle's scope here. You may remember, we observed (as in order to our opening the first verse of this fifth chapter) how the apostle, by way of introduction, thereto had spoken of our souls, considered as distinct from the outward man of our bodies, as an inward man, which was renewed from day to day (so ver. 16 of chap. 4), and then we made some parallel between these words, and some particulars in this first verse. Now observe how further this is carried on in these scriptures now cited under the metaphor of being clothed. For he useth the very same language. An inner man there is made the subject of this clothing; also that inner man there, by being clothed, is still said to be further renewed. The words are express: 'Put on the new man, which is renewed in the spirit of your minds.' And that is the most inward part of our souls, in distinction from our outward man. Now then let us first take and put these things mentioned in this place in like manner together. 1. An 'inward man renewed,' whilst the 'outward perisheth;' and 2, when this outward man is dissolved, we, that is, our souls, be 'clothed, and not found naked.' And then let us bring these two alleged parallel places unto these, and they will readily inform us, that the soul clothed with the image of God, and found such at the dissolution of the outward man, is all one with that inward man, which in our lifetime was daily renewed, whilst the outward man did moulder and perish; which as you know is the plain sense that hitherto hath been driven at; so as he useth but a new metaphor in this second verse, chap. 4, of clothing, to express what he had afore spoken of this renewing.

2. The second consideration is, that this other phrase of being clothed upon with glory is fitly and congruously spoken in relation to this of our souls being first clothed with Christ's righteousness, and with holiness in this life, as in order to our being clothed upon with glory in that other, which will appear from those reasons.

(1.) Take the thing itself; it is evident that grace and Christ's righteousness are in this life in order unto, and a necessary preparation unto glory, as an under-clothing, fitted and suited to an upper clothing-upon. That look as if you will lay varnish, you must first lay some colour capable of it, or it loseth its gloss and verdure; so it is here.

[1.] Our being clothed with Christ and his righteousness is a necessary pre-requisite to glory, because it gives the right to it as to an inheritance: so in that place, cited for that purpose, Gal. 3:27, 29, 'those that have put on Christ are heirs;' and so in many places more.

[2.] Holiness in heart and life, that other part of our clothing in this life, which is next us, is everywhere termed a preparation to this glory, 'without which no man shall see God,' Heb. 12:14; yea, without which 'no man can see God,' John 3:3. The church, therefore, by her decking herself with holiness, is said to make herself ready for the meeting of her husband, in that fore-cited Rev. 19:7, which in Rom. 9:23 is termed 'a preparation to glory.' And thus likewise in Eph. 5:26, 27, Christ 'sanctifieth and cleanseth his church, that he might present it to himself a glorious church.' And it is not to be passed over, that what is in 2 Cor. 5:2, 3, spoken in a way of metaphor, of being clothed, in order to clothing upon, our apostle, in the fifth verse of the same chapter, as to the reality of the thing, utters thus: 'He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God;' that is, he that by working grace and holiness in us hath fitted us for this glory, which in the phrase of this third verse is expressed, hath clothed us to be clothed upon; or, if you will have it in the language of the psalmist, Ps. 45:13, 'The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold; she shall be brought unto the king,' and his palace, ver. 15, 'in raiment of needle-work;' which how that answers to this, 'He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God,' I leave to any man to judge. The context, then, confirms the reality of this metaphor.

[3.] The metaphor itself tells us that glory is a clothing upon, as a garment put over these garments first had in this life; that is, it is an upper garment, which among all nations hath been made use of pro veste honoraria, as a sign of difference of persons of honour from others. Every man hath his ordinary clothes, but men of houour and rank have, besides, upper garments, to shew their dignity, superiority, &c. Kings and nobles have their ordinary wearing apparel for every day, but when they go to be crowned, or to be invested kings or nobles, or go to parliament, they have robes or mantles, upper garments proper to their greatness. Thus Joseph, when advanced second in the kingdom, was arrayed in vestments of fine linen, Gen. 41:42, Pharaoh commanding them to bow before him. Thus Daniel was arrayed by Belshazzar, Dan. 5:29; and thus also was Mordecai clothed, Esther 8:15, 'He went out of the presence of the king in royal apparel,' as his upper garment, 'being in a garment of fine linen and purple,' as his ordinary garment besides. And to this day the kings of these Eastern nations do put, as a sign of honour, an upper garment on those they favour. The Great Turk lets no ambassador with his followers come afore him, but he gives them upper vestments out of his own wardrobe, and lets them wear their own ordinary apparel besides. Thus the saints, when they are first actually installed kings in heaven, have Christ's righteousness, and their own holiness, which they had obtained and worn in this life. But these are but as their common apparel, worn every day, that is, both in this life and the life to come; and as ordinary apparel, though consisting of two garments, is yet reckoned but as one sort of apparel, taken in distinction from those upper, so both Christ's righteousness and our holiness are in that respect reckoned but as a clothing, because it is that in this life we are clothed withal; and this robe of glory also, unto which sanctification prepared, and Christ's righteousness gave right, is an upper garment, 'a clothing upon;' though indeed Christ is our clothing in both. Christ in glorification is as an upper garment, but in justification he is an under garment, because in this life; but yet still 'Christ is all in all' in both.

And this notion, that glory is as an upper garment, that place seems to favour: Rev. 6:11, 'White robes were given unto every one of them' (speaking of souls in glory), given them now when new come to heaven (as the context shews), and yet they did come clothed to heaven, with 'garments dipped in the blood of the lamb,' which they had in this life, Rev. 7:14, yet now anew are robes given them: glory must therefore be said to be a clothing upon. And truly let it be considered by critics if στολαὶ, robes, especially white robes, doth not sometimes, in the use of the word, properly and peculiarly import upper garments of honour and dignity which great persons are clothed upon withal. And if at any time the word is strictly used to express such, I would then say that it means so here; for he speaks of robes of glory, and those granted anew. Sure I am that στόλη is so used restrictim, sometimes as the word robe amongst us is used both pro veste senatoria, the upper robes that senators wear (and so among the Greeks), and also pro veste sacerdotali, for priests' upper garments; in both which respects the Pharisees affected to wear such garments, Luke 20:46, Mat. 23:5. Which places we translate, 'They desire to walk in long robes' (it is the same word), the ensigns, forsooth, of their dignity, rule, and greatness.

CHAPTER VII

What is meant by the phrase, 2 Cor. 5:3, of being 'found naked.'

The third consideration is about the import of this addition, 'and not found naked.' It must have an emphasis in it; for he contents not himself to say, 'if being clothed,' but he illustrates it also by its opposite, 'and not be found naked.' One reason was, to knock off the hands of many carnal and temporary professors of Christianity found in all ages, who pretend to this hope of being clothed upon with this glory when they die, as well as sincere professors, for whose sakes he reasonably puts, 'us, if we be not found naked.' This is spoken in relation unto persons, and it is but a partial reason; but chiefly it is added to express the perfect contrary condition of such as are not clothed; namely, to connotate the woful and miserable condition of such. It notes out not only a bare vacuity of that clothing, though that fundamentally, but further the damage, the detriment, and misery that is the consequent thereof; namely, that they shall not only for ever be deprived of that glory others are clothed upon withal, but as naked souls be opposed to wrath, and have no fence or shelter from it. And this carries it far beyond what that other sense of theirs talks of. Now, to strengthen this sense of nakedness spiritual, there are three or four things help forward the arguing of it.

1. It is argued from the further analogy of the story of Adam. As to understand that phrase of being clothed, we had recourse to the image of God in Adam at his first creation, so now, suitably to find out what it is to be found naked, we must have recourse to him in his fallen state. Thus Beza, though to another purpose, sends us thither, and says there is here an allusion to that nakedness of his; and so he illustrates how the body at the resurrection is naked, if found without glory. But I shall have recourse to it, and to the identity of it, as shewing the condition of the soul's misery in appearing before God destitute of righteousness, in relation unto which appearing the word 'found' is here added.

We read, Gen. 3:7, 8, 10, 11, that 'their eyes were opened, and they saw (or) knew they were naked, and were afraid, and hid themselves from the presence of the Lord because they were naked; as really, so also in their own sense. They were bodily naked afore; yet now, and not till now, they discern this nakedness spiritual, and are sensible, not of that want of bodily clothing, they needed not have fled from God's presence for that: 'Who will harm you, if you do that which is good?' To be sure, God will not. But they found they had now lost the image of God. But that was not all, for that loss simply alone considered, corrupt man layeth not to heart, but the consequent misery ensuing hereupon was that which amazeth them. Their consciences found themselves now laid open to confusion and shame afore God's presence, and exposed unto his wrath, his image being gone. And therefore they out of horror hid themselves from God, being afraid, as the text there hath it.

2. A second evidence of this is, that in other scriptures wherein cautions about spiritual clothing are given, as also here, there the like caveat of taking heed of being found naked is in like manner given; even as here, 'If being clothed, we be not found naked.' And, to my knowledge, to no sense else are the words thus turned both ways. I shall mention the places: Rev. 3:17, 'Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;' namely, when thou comest thyself to appear afore God. So then it is not the want of that clothing simply, but the consequent of it, the shame of that nakedness, for which that nakedness is mentioned. And who upon considering this will not be ready to say that this to be sure is spoken in allusion to our first parents' spiritual condition, reproaching those to have been more wretched than their first parents. For in Genesis it is said that 'their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked;' but 'thou knowest not,' says Christ here, 'that thou art naked,' yea, and blind too, in that thou art not sensible of thy nakedness, as they were. To the same effect, Rev. 16:15, he presents to them the misery and the woeful consequence of not keeping their garments, 'lest he walk naked, and they see his shame;' the like is in Ezek. 16:4, 5, 7. Their spiritual nakedness is set forth by their being 'cast out to the loathing of their persons in the day that they were born.'

3. And indeed otherwise the addition, 'clothed and not naked,' had been superfluous. For if it were intended as in our ordinary way of speech it is, not to be clothed, and to be naked, and so e contra, are all one and the same. So he had spoken in this phrase, but the same thing which in that other of 'being clothed' he had done. But thus taken it puts a further and higher matter upon it, namely, that look as those who are clothed in that manner that hath been spoken shall be clothed upon with glory, so they that are found naked are exposed unto shame, and cast into utter darkness. It imports an opposite state of misery unto that glory which the true saints are clothed upon withal.

4. But that which, when added to these, chiefly argue the word naked to be taken in this spiritual sense, is the word 'found,' which the apostle would needs also put in, and not simply say, and 'not be naked,' but 'be not found naked.' Found! I would ask, of whom? Of God? Yes, surely. 'We have a building of God,' so ver. 1, for to be clothed upon withal by God, according as we are found of him, 'if we be not found naked,' says the text, namely, by God; which the apostle Peter thus expresseth, 2 Peter 3:14, 'That ye may be found of him (God) in peace.' It is a judicial finding of God, as a judge now coming to dispose of us to life or death, according as he shall find us naked or clothed; and it is put to the worser part if found naked. It is a judicial word to this day, you say the jury 'found' it so or so, upon trial, namely. So the phrase is in the Scripture too: 'found a liar,' Prov. 30:6; 'found guilty,' ver. 10. So when God punisheth, he is said to 'find out iniquity,' Gen. 44:16; as also in relation thereto he is said to 'make inquiry or search for blood,' Ps. 9:12. And truly as the instance of Adam hath helped us to understand what to be clothed and to be naked is, so also it will help to find out what it is to be 'found naked.' God stayed a while, but in the cool of the evening he came, and came to make inquisition in what state Adam was. 'Adam, where art thou?' Gen. 3:9. Adam had lost God's image, and naked God found him, and cast him out of paradise. The phrase is yet more express, when Christ cometh to judge of men's conditions, in order either to life or death; this is that very thing which (as in terminis it is held forth) God makes the subject of his grand inquest, 'clothed or naked.' Mat. 22:11, 12, 'When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.' If you will have it in the words of the text, he was found naked. 'Friend,' says he, as to Judas, 'how comest thou hither, not having a wedding garment?' And you know what follows: 'Cast him where weeping and wailing is.' Christ hath a time when he purposely visits: 'When the king came in,' says ver. 11. And it is a day wherein he adjudgeth to hell, ver. 13. And his eyes search narrowly, and pry into every one's condition. He spies out a man which had not on a wedding garment; not one escapes him. And so, on the contrary, one that hath put on Christ, and is clothed with his righteousness, and with holiness of heart and life, which is the clothing we speak of, he is said to be found in Christ. Which was Paul's aim against that time: Phil. 3:9, 'That I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ.' Against that wedding feast, it is granted the believer to be arrayed with this robe, as you heard out of Rev. 19:8. And now all these things, how far do they shut off that other interpretation?

4. The fourth consideration shall be about the time of God's finding men, and making inquisition, whether clothed or naked, in order to glory or shame. Now if the time of our dissolution be a time in which this solemn inquisition is made, and at which every soul is found and viewed, whether clothed or naked, in order unto shame or glory, then this interpretation still lies fairer; for it is the point in hand. Let us consider: 1, As to the thing itself, whether this be not a time of such a judicature? 2, Whether any hints make for it in the text?

(1.) As to the thing itself, the time after death is the first most solemn time, wherein God makes this inquisition. For, first, then it is that God takes solemn cognizance of souls, and their spiritual condition; when he calls for them, and they appear solemnly afore him. This the instance of Adam is a precedent to us of. It was a private day of judgment, as this also is. God stayed a while, and was patient, but when he called Adam personally unto him, and he appeared afore him, Adam was found naked; and God passed a trial and a sentence upon him. Why now at death it is that God 'takes away men's souls,' Job 27:8. It is God that doth it, whether it be he sends for it by a good angel, as he did to Lazarus, or by a had one: Luke 12:20, God said, 'This night they shall require, or call for thy soul back again;' for, alas, it was but lent. You see there it is God gives the particular commission, and sends for the soul to himself: 'God said,' &c. His children he sends for home (as the phrase, ver. 8 of this 2 Cor. 5 imports), as men for their children at the university, or in travel. And wicked men he sends for, as a justice doth to apprehend a felon, to clap him up in prison against the assizes. So says Mercer on that word in Job, 'He shall take away his soul;' that is, hale, and pull it out of its own dwelling, unto prison and judgment. So it is that it is said of all men, 'The soul returns to God that gave it,' and lent it, Eccles. 12:7. It returns to God, then, or at that time when the body goes to the earth. I find in that great assembly, that glorious presence, Heb. 12:23, where 'angels and spirits of just men are made perfect;' that is, souls are swallowed up into life; that in the next words there is this description of God, even as he sits amongst these, 'and to God the judge of all.' For even now, afore the great day of judgment, and whilst men's souls are in a separate estate, he sits, as a judge of all, both good and bad, amongst those glorious spirits; which is seen in this, that the spirits of just men are taken up by a judgment passed on them, ere they sit down there. And in like manner he is a judge of others also (for of all it is he is said to be the judge), and so by the like judgment the souls of wicked men are cast into prison; as it is expressly said of the souls of the old world, after God had taken them away by death, 1 Peter 3:19. Now it is a certain rule, God never judgeth or casts into prison until he hath passed a trial upon those he so commits, and hath found them so or so. You find it in the case of Sodom. But especially, he casts no soul into prison until he hath found him naked. This the parable shews; when the guests appeared afore him, he then saw a man without a wedding garment. He then took cognizance of it and him. And further, he examines him, and convinceth him he wanted it; and then, and not till then, cries, 'Cast him into utter darkness, where weeping and wailing is.' So then, if upon dissolution men's souls are cast by him into utter darkness and prison, it is, and must be, because they are then and at that time found naked, and judged so by him. And though there is a public judgment at the great day to manifest, justify, and publish this afore all the world, yet at death there is a more private and personal judgment, and a finding of souls, whether clothed or naked, and a disposing of them accordingly, either to a being clothed upon with robes of glory, if found clothed with grace (as the souls of martyrs, Rev. 6), or cast into hell, as the rich man's soul was, Luke 16. The one is as the assizes, the former as the private cognizance and commitment of the Justice of Peace, perhaps long afore the assizes.

(2.) If now, surrounded with this light, we will but with an impartial eye look round about the words here, and the context, we may easily discern, that they are most naturally accommodate to express the state of souls after their dissolution. Certainly, if they suit or fit any time or season that can be supposed, they are eminently applicable unto this, and therefore so intended, as may appear by some characters in the text.

[1.] To begin with what was last spoken of; there are two judgments, one at death, the other at that great day. Why may it not then be rationally conceived, that after his discourse of this separate state of the soul ended, verse 9, he therefore purposely brought in the mention of that public judgment: verse 10, 'For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad;' having in the beginning of that his discourse, verse 3, spoken of this other, that is more private and personal, at dissolution; and so of both judgments, this as precedaneous unto the soul's glory whilst separate, that latter as foregoing that ensuing glory of body and soul conjoined. Surely, the setting the one thus with the other hath a great comeliness in it, and makes an harmony in this structure of his discourse.

[2.] But, 2dly, the apostle himself had set for us, and pointed us unto the time of dissolution, as the time when our hopes are, that if our bodies were dissolved, we have a glory to be clothed upon withal. And in these words he puts in a necessary caution, 'if so be, we be found' preparatively 'clothed, and not naked;' which no man can deny, but that as to the thing itself complies fully with that time. It hath therefore been a wonder to me, that any should pass all this off to another time, and say, that of this time this is not to be meant at all. Truly, I will lake the apostle's time afore any other, when all things thus correspond and agree with it. Nay, if he had not set it, I should have been induced to have applied it to that time. If you had any prophecy, and saw all things punctually to agree, and to centre in such a point of time, would you not say, This surely is the time, and these the fulfilling of it?

[3.] But, 3dIy, the very metaphor used by the apostle, and chose out here as ex proposito to express himself by, viz., 'not to be found naked,' doth secretly and yet most elegantly connotate, together with and over and above all that else hath been spoken of the import of it, the very separate state of an ungodly soul, now come out of the body, to be the very subject he is a-speaking of. Such a soul at death goes naked forth of the body, for which I do not urge that we go naked out of the world in Job's sense, for that is meant of the body as well as the soul; for he had said afore, 'Naked I came into the world;' and that, to be sure, is meant of body and soul conjoined, yet so as of the two, in worldly respect, the wicked man comes less naked into the world than he goes out of it; for at coming in, many children come clothed with right to inheritances in this world, and there is a great difference of persons in that respect; so as by virtue of their birth, they have all good things in a readiness for them richly to enjoy. Besides that the soul is then clothed with a body, which makes it capable of the enjoyment of all things in this world, therefore the apostle, comparing both conditions together, 1 Tim. 6:7, says of the latter only, as more undoubted and apparent, that it is certain 'we carry nothing out of this world;' for the soul then is stripped of the body also, and no such respects attend it into the other world. Nor will I urge, that death is as a birth, namely, into that other world; and so the soul itself now goes naked, as soul and body once did into this, stripped of all. I will not follow the allusion, that the sorrows or pangs of death are usually termed birth-throes, ὠδιναι, nor how that angels (good or bad) attend the delivery, as midwives, to catch the poor naked soul, and carry it to 'the Father of spirits,' as God is called, Heb. 12, who, if it be a true son, owns it, blesseth it, covers it with glory; but if it be a bastard, rejects it. But I go upon that better warrant, that the apostle hath here a glance at the state of souls stripped of their bodies, inasmuch as at the 4th verse he expressly termeth death a being unclothed, as in relation to the body, which none can deny. But yet still (observe it), when he speaks of godly men (as there), he terms it but a 'being unclothed,' that is, a mere want of the body, for he is still clothed with grace. But speaking of wicked men's state when dead, he terms it 'nakedness,' not only or barely in respect of their bodies, but chiefly in respect of a nakedness every way, that doth accompany their souls, in regard of the want of grace, and of Christ's righteousness, and in regard also of shame, wrath, and everything else, that nakedness in Scripture can and doth spiritually import. Now the taking of unclothed, verse 4, to be all one with naked, verse 3, is one cause of the mistake in our interpreters; whereas the being naked is spoken by way of ignominy, as hath been said, and so shews how from that time such a soul is exposed to shame and misery, yea, and thereby actually enters into that misery, and that because it is now separated from the body. And that is the genuine notion I insist on, for explication of which, though indeed it is true that the soul was really naked when in the body (as Moses seeing God, that is invisible, did view the people of Israel naked, Exod. 32), yet the miseries of its nakedness do not break in upon it until now, when it is despoiled of its body; nor doth this appear till then. For confirmation of which consider,

First, That by God's own ordination the time of this life, and of the soul's being in the body, is ordained as a screen betwixt God and men's souls. The body is as a midst-thing between him and the soul. And so it becomes through God's ordination a time of patience, long-suffering, as to those in Noah's time it is said to be; and yet when they were dead, their spirits were cast in prison. And answerably, men's souls, whilst in their bodies, are said to be 'preparing for wrath,' Rom. 9, with much long-suffering on God's part, Rom. 9:22. There is a sluice betwixt God's wrath and them; but in the other world, when out of the body, the naked soul and God himself do meet. The soul then, and not till then, returns to God immediately, though in this life, the apostle tells us, he is not far off from any of us, Acts 17. Now the soul lies naked to all God's wrath, the cataracts of heaven are set open, and it hath no shelter, for the sluice of God's patience is with the dissolution of the body pulled up. And this following upon death, the apostle did most elegantly so express it, as connotating at once all these things.

Secondly, As there is this truce betwixt God and men's souls in the reality of the thing, so at the dissolution of the body, and not till then, it is that men find themselves naked. When is it that 'the hope of the hypocrite' is said to 'perish,' but when 'God takes away his soul.' To the very last moment, he in the parable was ignorant of this, and therefore upon the challenge, that he wanted a wedding garment, it is said, 'He was speechless.' Till then, many men 'know not they are naked,' Rev. 3:17. And therefore in respect of their eyes being then, and not till then, opened to discern it, they may be said to be found naked, as in the text.

5. The fifth and last consideration concerns the manner of these words coming in here, verse 3, 'If so be that being clothed,' &c. Ἔιγε, some express it by way of limitation, that is, of restraint unto the truly godly and believers, to shew this privilege of being clothed upon with glory to be proper and confined to them alone, with difference from all others, that are found wicked and ungodly. I would rather call it, an wholesome and necessary both condition and caution, given by the way to the saints themselves, together with relation specially had unto carnal and presumptuous professors, who pretend assurance, and profess to know and groan for death, with the same expectations as the apostle brings in the saints.

(1.) It is by way of a necessary condition; Col. 1:22, 23, 'Christ will present you holy, and unblameable in his sight,' ἔιγε, 'if so be, ye continue grounded in the faith,' &c.

(2.) It is by way of a necessary caution unto saints, to keep and hold fast their garments; in which manner that useful parenthesis comes in: Rev. 16:15, 'Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.' It is usual to insert such admonitions: so in this very 2 Cor. 5:9, 'Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.'

(3.) It is by way of holding forth to all, the truth ad genuineness of Christian profession in their expectation of glory: 'If so be that being clothed,' &c.; even as Eph. 4:21, the same words is used: 'Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus.'

(4.) It is spoken with special respect unto presumptuous professors, that there being a faith and hope in them concerning these things that is not genuine but counterfeit, they might be put in mind to search into themselves, whether they had this wedding garment, yea or no. There were wise virgins that had oil in their vessels, and foolish which had not, and so were shut out; so here is the same case. Thus, Rev. 3:17, 18, that admonition comes in, 'Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, ad have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; ad white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear ad anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.'

And truly this in the close, for the confirmation of that interpretation we have given of clothed, &c., as that which respecteth grace, as a prerequisite to glory, or being clothed upon. I may add some remarks on those words, 'If so be also that being clothed.' It is not ἔιγε barely (as in the places cited), but καὶ also is added unto clothed. It is Calvin's* observation (and for aught I have elsewhere found), his alone. 'This sense,' says he, 'namely, of being clothed with grace and Christ's righteousness, is fetched out of the particle etiam, or also (as it ought to be translated), which, for amplification's sake, was without doubt inserted; as if Paul had said, There is and shall be a new garment upon death ready for believers, if so be in this life also they have been clothed.' And I must confess, the emphaticalness that this etiam, or also, puts upon this being clothed, did as much serve to put my mind off from all those other interpretations as any passage else whatsoever in the words. And when I went to set down in my mind their senses of being clothed with a body, and then put but these words, 'if so be also,' in therewith, they seemed all dilute unto me, and there appeared not anything that should deserve such a notoriety, such an exaggeration or amplification. But if we interpret it of grace and Christ's righteousness, they are so rich, so noble a clothing, as are worthy of such a mark of notoriety expressed by the word also, and being pointed at thereby, as prerequisite to glory. And in the like way of exaggeration, or eminency, doth this word καὶ, or also, come in: ver. 5, 'Who hath also given us his Holy Spirit.'

Obj. There are two objections, I find, made against these words being made a condition or caution given to saints.

Obj. 1. That, in the foregoing sentence, there being no promise made, nor no positive declaration of anything as requisite to be done, or to be in us, but only the common desire of all saints expressed, viz., to be clothed upon, unto which, as so expressed, a condition or caution to be added seems not proper.

Ans. 1. It is true, it is not a condition of the desire or act of groaning itself, as it comes from them, but of the object or thing itself desired; namely, being clothed upon, which shall be (says he) if we be also clothed.

Ans. 2. Whereas there may prove an overweening and mistake in some that pretend to desire or groan after this, or a negligence in the best, to take heed to be fitly qualified; such a caution is in that case seasonable to be made to them, though it be not properly a condition of the desire itself.

Ans. 3. And 3dly, We may carry up the reference of these words also higher, even to relate to ver. 1, as thus, 'We have an house in heaven, if this were dissolved: if so be that being clothed with grace,' &c. And so it serves as a condition thereof.

Obj. 2. The second objection is this, that he speaking these things of the most eminent of saints, as himself and other the ministers of the gospel (chap. 4), and so of all saints, whereof many were assured of their present condition in grace, and so of salvation—'We know,' &c.—or at least of such persons as he takes for granted are holy, in this case to add, if so be ye have grace, and be not found naked, was for him to detract from what he had supposed already of those he spake of.

Ans. I answer, It is to shew the necessary connection that is betwixt glory and having grace, and continuance therein to the end. Although the persons be such as have the things that accompany salvation, yet Paul of himself says, 'Lest, when I have preached to others, I myself be a cast-away,' 1 Cor. 9:27. And to the sincerest Colossians reconciled by the blood of Christ, Col. 1:21, he yet puts in this caution or condition (ver. 22) unto their being presented at the latter day by Christ, 'If ye continue in the faith,' &c. And thus too in Rom. 8, 'There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ.' So he begins, and in the end of the chapter, says he, 'None shall separate us from the love of God;' and yet (ver. 13) he gives this caution unto such: 'If ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live.' Other answers might be framed out of what hath been spoken afore.

Nor doth this interpretation, that it should be meant of the time of death, exclude the glory at the resurrection, as if being clothed with grace, and not found naked, were only a necessary condition at a man's death, but would stand a saint in no stead at the resurrection (which might be made another objection). No. But all this is true, first of the soul at death, and then at the resurrection; again, also, for as then there will be a new and open judgment afore all the world, so a new inquiry, by ripping up our hearts and lives to be,* whether we had been clothed or naked in this life before and at our deaths. And grace, and Christ's righteousness that we had here in this life, will then stand us in as much stead as they did at death.

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CHAPTER VIII

The words of the text explained, and their coherence with the first and second verses.

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 swallowed up of life.—2 COR. 5:4.

The first verse expresseth the common faith of the primitive Christians in this great point, that, when their bodies should be dissolved, they expected a glory for their souls afore the resurrection.

The second verse expresseth the lively and vehement working of their affections, in groaning desires thereupon, by and through dissolution to arrive at that glory; which groans are the immediate effect of that faith.

The third verse is a caution intermingled by the apostle, as by the way, unto all that professed this expectation, to be sure to get and keep their garments, lest they be found naked at their dissolution, and so frustrated of that glory, and exposed unto shame and wrath, Rev. 16.

In this fourth verse he returns afresh to sigh forth the groaning desires of himself and other saints after the same glory, with a greater vehemency and enlargement of affection than was afore expressed. That he assumed the uttering the former desires expressed in verse 2 is evident in the very reading of the words, and confirmed by this parallel between them.

1. He had said, ver. 1, 'If this earthly house of this tabernacle,' &c., here in ver. 4 he says, 'We that are in this tabernacle,' &c.

2. He had said, ver. 2, 'We in this do groan to be clothed upon with our house,' he speaks the same in ver. 4; so that he brings down, we see, the first and second verses into this fourth verse; and therefore the substance, spirit, and scope of both verses is by infusion soaked into and contained in this fourth verse, and is further impregnated and heightened.

If the question be, what in this repetition of his is added to what had been expressed afore in verse the second?

The answer is, that in this fourth verse he farther gives the true and genuine account upon which a sincere believer is moved thus to groan, with a most accurate distinction from what are the false grounds whereupon all other sorts of men are moved to wish or groan for death, as Christians used to do. And so the thing which is new in this fourth verse is both the manner of these desires, together with the explicit ground thereof, neither of which had been so nakedly and distinctly expressed in that former 2d verse.

The scope which by many interpreters is put upon the words is, that many Christians knowing and believing that, in that ordinary way and course which is set and appointed by God, we are to wait until the resurrection for the accomplishment and perfection of our glory; and also, that in the mean time our bodies must first be dissolved ere we can come to or arrive at that consummated glory of soul and body together; and that nature in us shrinking at this dying (all men naturally abhorring death), that therefore it should be here intended that the saints do groan as being burdened with the very thoughts of dying, and therefore do secretly desire not to die at all; which (say they) is expressed in those words, 'not to be unclothed,' that is, not of their bodies at all. But instead thereof their desires do vehemently soar to this, that they might, both bodies and souls (whilst they remain yet unparted), be glorified together without any more ado; and that thus at one leap they might, without taking the degree of death, be clothed upon with their house from heaven, in full consummated glory the first instant, whilst yet they were clothed with their bodies; and this they would have effected and by virtue of such a change as is mentioned in 1 Cor. 15, 'We shall not all die, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.' And this change, which is answerable to the resurrection of others from the dead, will swallow up all mortality of the body so as we shall be at once completely swallowed up of life. This interpretation they give under the countenance of the foresaid change, which will yet be but the lot of some saints, and indeed of those only who shall be found alive at the instant of the resurrection, which privilege yet these would have to be the desires of all the saints here, as that which they would rather wish! As also because of that seeming parallel between those two following words of the apostle here, 1 Cor. 15:53, 54, 'For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And then shall be brought to pass the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory;' which words they judge exactly parallel with these words here, 'clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.'

But the scope and sense which I contend for runs upon a clear contrary supposition (which supposition the apostle did begin his discourse with, ver. 1), founded on those words, 'if our bodies be dissolved,' &c., wherein he doth not only tacitly imply that the ordinary course set by God for the saints' arrival at glory is the dissolution of their bodies, and that the saints generally know and make account of this, but he further makes the supposition of this as de facto in the event, that when that this shall once be done and come to pass, that our bodies be dissolved, and then 'we have an house,' &c. And this he lays as the foundation whereunto he suits the rest of his building, in this following discourse, to their relief against the time of this their dissolution, and the groanings and desires after the glory which shall follow that dissolution. And as in the second verse he had begun to express their general desires after it, so here in this fourth verse he persisteth with a reiterated vehemency to set out their groanings continued still upon the same supposition, that if their bodies be dissolved once, they know they have an house to be clothed upon with; they looking upon dissolution only as the common gate and passage appointed by God, whereby their souls, in their several ages and generations, shall first and soonest come to that blessed attainment which is their first entertainment in heaven.

Now, that the words of this fourth verse will comply with and give themselves up to this sense and interpretation, and fully suit with it, will appear when I come to open every particular in the words. In the mean while we may aforehand take up a new general reason for the confirming this our grand assertion, that the glory of the soul separate upon dissolution is in this fourth verse continued by the apostle to be set out as the object of a believer's groanings, as well as it had been in the second verse. And the reason hereof is drawn from the series and straight current that runs through all in a succession from the first verse, with the other verses down to this fourth verse, and likewise which this fourth verse retains with the former, and then descendeth down to the fifth verse also; which reason you may frame in this mould. That look what glory it is, and what subject in man it is, that is the object of a Christian's faith in the first verse, and of a Christian's groanings in the second verse, the very same glory, and the same thing in us, is that which the apostle intends as the object of a Christian's desires and groanings here in this fourth verse. But the glory of the soul separate upon dissolution is that glory which is held forth in verse the first and second, &c. Therefore the same is intended in this fourth verse also. That the glory of the soul separate, &c., is the house intended, ver. 1, I have before largely, and I hope invincibly, proved. And that the same glory in verse 1 is intended also in verse 2 as that which 'we groan for, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,' is evident also. For as in the first verse he declares what their faith was—'We know that if this be dissolved, we have,' &c.,—so in the second he shews what their affections were pitched upon, this their groaning being the effect of that faith. And indeed it is impossible in this condition but that the glory which by faith they expected, ver. 1, it should be the very same they groan for, ver. 2; for affections follow knowledge home to the door of that object which knowledge apprehending doth propose unto us. And the other main proposition, viz., that the glory we are said to groan after, ver. 2, is the very same with the object of our groaning here, ver. 4, is evident.

1. Because this fourth verse is a reassuming, for the substance, of what was said in the second verse, and also in the first verse, as uttering the same groaning desires, though with a fresh renewed vehemency. But yet it is a groaning after one and the same glory, which glory is therefore in the fourth verse continued to be expressed under the same metaphor he had used afore, ver. 2, namely, to be clothed upon; even as ver. 2, 'Desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven;' of which house also he had first spoken in ver. 1, 'We have an house in the heavens;' although herewith he over and above adds a further and more plain explanation what that house and glory we are clothed upon with is, even a 'swallowing up this mortality of life.'

2. Again, secondly, he utters the present condition of the saints till dissolution under one and the same metaphor which he had used in ver. 1 and ver. 2. In ver. 1, he speaks of 'our earthly house of this tabernacle;' in ver. 2, he says, 'in this,' (namely, this tabernacle) 'we groan;' and then he useth the same word again here in ver. 4 more indigitately, 'We that are in this tabernacle,' still to refer us to the first verses, as speaking to the same thing which this fourth verse speaketh to. For otherwise he might have simply said, 'We that are in the body;' but by repeating this metaphor of tabernacle, he again would mind us of the short continuance of the soul's abode therein, and also of that existence the soul, the indweller, is to have when that tabernacle shall be dissolved.

3. And thereby, thirdly, he shews he would have us carry down those words in ver. 1, 'We knowing, that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,' &c., as in common to be repeated and supplied in the fourth verse. And then the connection will thus run current through all the four verses: 'We who are in this tabernacle, knowing that, if this earthly tabernacle were dissolved, we have a house in the heavens to be clothed upon withal, do therefore groan to be clothed upon therewith, and therefore do also groan for dissolution in order thereunto; for we know that if this tabernacle were but once dissolved, we have another house ready,' &c. Thus those words in ver. 1, 'if this earthly tabernacle were dissolved,' will still follow us down hither into this fourth verse, and will challenge that it should be admitted and taken into the interpretation thereof; and thereupon this will inevitably follow, that the glory of the soul upon dissolution is that which is the object of this groaning in this fourth verse.

4. Lastly, That one and the same glory is steadily and homegeneally thus carried along through the 1st, 2d, 4th verses, the very first words of the 5th verse do conclusively shew: 'He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.' What is this but that one and the self-same glory before spoken and treated of, whether under the metaphor of an heavenly house, and being clothed upon therewith, or more plainly expressed as a life that swallows up mortality? This glory is one and the self-same thing that he had been speaking of in the fourth verse, and in all the rest of the former verses. The apostle's whole discourse is a woof of thread, and one and the same runs through all; and the want of attendance unto this strict uniform connection of the matter of these verses one with the other hath been the cause of those mistakes in those fore-specified interpretations, wherein some expositors have taken liberty to interpret these verses of several sorts, or subjects rather, of glory, as of the soul separate in one, and in another verse of the glory that shall accrue upon the resurrection of the body, and of that glory only; and then in another verse they interpret it of a third way of coming to glory, viz., that change of body and soul without either dying or rising again; whereas the apostle's discourse doth speak of one and the self-same thing, us in ver. 5 he on purpose and professedly speaketh. And so the whole discourse is spun of an even thread, and it is apparent that he speaks of the glory of a separate soul all along.

Only I shall premonish the reader in this place once for all, that this plea of mine put in of the glory of the soul separate, as now it hath been stated, is far from excluding that consummated glory at the resurrection to be also intended. For a believer may have in the first place, as next in prospect, the glory of his soul when separated, in his eye and desires, and yet withal he may have ultimately in view that further glory of the resurrection to come after, as that which he expects and longs for also, but yet each in their due order. These two, both the things themselves and our desires after them, may and do well successively both stand together, and therefore I oppose that opinion of the glory at the resurrection no further than as any would have that resurrection glory solely to be meant, and would exclude altogether the apostle's intendment of the separate soul's glory in the mean time. But as for the other sense of a believer's having desires not to die at all, but to be changed, if this sense I have now given be the genuine purport of the words, it will indeed (I confess) perfectly overthrow and exclude that other interpretation of a desire of non-dissolution; for that is contradictory to this of mine, and indeed unto the apostle's supposition at first, 'if our earthly house be dissolved,' that leads on to all that follows, as hath been observed.

I shall now give a general division of the words of this fourth verse. The groanings of a Christian after dissolution being the common scope and subject of this verse, the rest thereof, as belonging to and setting forth those groanings, may be divided into general parts, whereof some will admit of lesser divisions after.

1. The persons that groan are set out with their present condition, 'We that are in this tabernacle.'

2. The occasion of their groanings, and the cause why they groan, is expressed to be their 'being burdened.'

3. There is a vindication of Christians in their groanings after dissolution with difference from all other men, in these words, 'Not for that we would be unclothed.'

4. There is the true account itself why they groan: 'Being burdened, not that they would be unclothed, but clothed upon with their house in heaven.'

5. That glory is signified by that metaphor more plainly expressed: 'that mortality might be swallowed up of life.'

1. I shall first consider the persons and their present condition, as represented in those words of this fourth verse, 'We that are in this tabernacle.' Some restrain the word we unto the apostle himself, and his brethren the apostles, and those eminent fellow-labourers with him in the ministry, because of these he had spoken in the persons we, and us, and our all along in the fourth chapter, in his setting out their sufferings, labours, and persecutions; and this, with some difference (as to the frequency and hazard of them) from other ordinary saints (as appears in verses 12, 14, 15), and so proposing themselves in all their sufferings, and in this their confidence of glory, as examples unto the vulgar ordinary Christians. And truly if we should measure this by the ordinary temper of Christians in our times, we would be induced to think that what the apostle speaks of groanings and desires after dissolution, and the glory that follows, should have been intended only of some of those eminent saints then, who had received 'the first fruits of the Spirit,' Rom. 8, beyond what in comparison other saints have received. And indeed, how remote are saints now-a-days from those desires to be dissolved, but on the contrary are fearful of dying. But yet, considering that the apostle speaks of and sets out those persons or subjects who were intended by the general character common to all saints in the next words, 'we that are in this tabernacle;' and also holds forth that assurance of salvation, and a joyful waiting for that day; and also considering that an establishment, and anointing, a sealing, and the earnest of the Spirit, were privileges common to those Corinthian Christians, and other primitive Christians, together with the apostles (as he expressly says, chap. 1:21, 22 of this Epistle); this warranteth us to judge that this word we was intended of the body of saints in those days; and if there be any (as in our days there be many) that do not thus desire and groan, it is yet their duty in this their condition, as well as it was the duty of the apostles. We, for unto the saints he had both intended it and appropriated it all along, appears from these words, 'We know we have an house,' expressing the common faith of believers; and in verse the 2d he says, 'We groan after our house;' and he terms it 'our house,' as being the proper demesnes of them as saints, their freehold and distinct property, and accordingly he annexeth their present condition in common as was said, 'we in this tabernacle.' The truth is, the popish commentators would fain carry it unto apostles and eminent Christians alone, who they say went immediately to heaven. And they assign a middle place, purgatory, for the vulgus sanctorum, for the common vulgar saints; whereas if the Scripture should be intended generally of them, and of their being taken up into glory at dissolution, that middle state would utterly fall to the ground.

'We that are in this tabernacle;' that is, that have our present existence or being in the body, which is our present tabernacle, we that lead as yet a tabernacle life. He says not merely we groan in this tabernacle, but 'we that are in this tabernacle do groan;' putting a further and more especial emphasis upon it. And thereby he doth not only tacitly insinuate,

(1.) The soul to be the person that indwells in that tabernacle our bodies at the present for a while; but,

(2.) He intimates withal that there is another state, existence, and condition of other saints, namely, of souls out of this tabernacle upon dissolution, whose condition these tabernacle saints had in their eye, whilst they utter their desires after such a state, as far more desirable, and which they are aspiring unto, and thereby they are provoked the more to groan after the same; and indeed our attendancy to this very discrimination of one sort, we in this tabernacle, and of another sort implied, expressed by the word we in the word they, who are out of it, may have a great influence into this our interpretation, and add a mighty confirmation to it.

And to this purpose it is to be noticed that, as by that fore-mentioned character of the ground and manner of their groanings, he intended to distinguish saints from other men, as has been said, and will be demonstrated, so by this periphrasis, 'we that are in this tabernacle,' he intendeth to difference the state of saints on earth from their brethren and fellow-citizens in heaven, so styled Philip. 3:20, Rev. 6:10. It is as if he had said, Some of us are already housed in heaven, in our standing house there (as ver. 1 and ver. 4 he calls it), whilst others of us dwell yet in tabernacles to be dissolved. God's family is said to consist of some on earth and some in heaven, Eph. 3:15. The words there, 'of whom' (namely, Christ) 'the whole family in heaven and earth are named,' speak of two parts of the same family, whereof some are in their country-house, some in the city-house. Thus in like manner here, he by way of discrimination setting out that one part or company of them abiding on earth, 'we that are in this present tabernacle,' he thereby insinuates another part or company that are in heaven, both making up the whole society and fraternity of saints belonging to God. And there is a further differencing character, and note of this distinction, which follows and confirms this, viz., that we only in this tabernacle are those that groan, whereas the other have their desires satisfied in a great measure, Rev. 6, and do not groan, not being burdened as we on earth are.

And this difference of state between the saints on earth and those in heaven, other scriptures do in phrases similar to this in like manner insinuate. Thus in this very chapter, ver. 10, he says, 'Every man shall receive' (at the day of judgment, namely) 'the things done in this body.' That clause of limitation imports, as another state to be of their souls out of their bodies till that day of judgment, so that they shall be responsible and answer only for the things done whilst in their bodies, and not for what they shall do when out of them in that separate state. Between men's deaths and that judgment day there doth intervene a long space of time, as for instance take Cain's soul, it hath been perhaps five thousand years out of his body in hell, and during all that time both his or others' souls so existing separate out of their bodies have not ceased to act some way or other; but yet (says the apostle) he or they shall answer only for what was done in their bodies, in distinction from what they do in the separate state of their souls; and thus the distinction of 'we in this tabernacle' is in a like analogy to be understood.

And now if in this place, ere we go further, we shall look round about us and set all things together, but so far as hitherto we have gone, unto what other intent or purpose more imaginably congruous, and more artificially fitting one thing to the other in this his discourse, should the apostle insert, yea, reiterate and inculcate this clause, 'we that are in this tabernacle,' than that which we have been proving. For having begun his discourse in ver. 1, 'We know, if this tabernacle were dissolved, we have an house or glory ready for us,' he (in this verse 4) doth again once more remind them of their souls being the inmates, and that their bodies were but temporary tabernacles, shortly to be taken down and dissolved, and that then their souls are to exist out of them. And he also makes this superadded insinuation, that other of their brethren who have been dissolved have taken possession of those eternal habitations, whilst themselves remain still in this tabernacle life burdened and groaning; and why should they be brought in hereupon (in ver. 2 and in this ver. 4) again groaning, and groaning again, but because they have in their eyes and hearts, whilst they thus groan, that other state of glory which those blessed souls, that are out of those tabernacles, are in actual enjoyment of? And if they sigh and groan because themselves are burdened, they put forth another in the consideration thereof. And besides, what glory is this they groan for, but that which at the first was begun to be set afore them as a mark of their high calling? 'We know, that if our earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have an house in heaven.' And what other house is it they groan to be clothed with (as it there follows), but that same very house which upon dissolution their other brethren that are out of this tabernacle have already taken possession of afore them; and with the thoughts of which house ready for them, they in the first verse had comforted themselves, that if this (their) tabernacle were (in like manner) dissolved, we have, &c. For it stands prepared for us, were we but once dissolved and absent from the body, as in Rom. 8 we find it more plainly spoken. And the consideration of those things do whet our desires, and make them more eager to be at home (as the 8th verse expresseth the state of glory of the soul separate), 'at home,' that is, in our aforesaid houses of glory, and in our own country, as that word importeth. How congruous and concinnate are all those passages round about us, from first to last, in such their mutual reflections one upon another, and connections one with another, as to this sense we contend for.

We do groan earnestly, as ver. 2 it is translated. And have we not reason, think you, when not only by sense we feel such heavy loads as we that are in this tabernacle do hourly sustain and suffer; and whilst withal by faith we know what blessedness there is ready for us in the other world, and which we know our elder brethren are admitted into, and do now enjoy (they having got the start of us by their being dismissed and got out of this tabernacle afore us), and have their mortality swallowed up of life, whilst we (poor souls) are the oppressed ones of the earth, under all sorts of miseries, and do carry about with us a body of death, and are restrained the while from that other enjoyment only by our existence in this tabernacle; and nothing else lets or is between us and so great an happiness, which is our inheritance?

The fresh and renewed thoughts of these things set together, as by the apostle they are on purpose penned, how mightily, may we well think, would they move the heart of Christians, that are assured of their salvation! No wonder if he says at once, 'We groan, desiring,' ver. 2, and then says it twice in this 4th verse again. Even all on the contrary he doubles it, 'Rejoice; and again I say, rejoice;' as with a joy of all the most intense and vehement. Oh, thinks such a soul, if I were but dissolved once, it would not barely quit me of these burdens; but it would instantly put me into that possession my fellow-brethren are already in. And what is dissolution? it is but the shooting the bridge, the gulf between the one state of a dying life here, and that other of glory, when the mortality of this dying life shall be swallowed up of that which is life in the fulness of it. And thus, upon those terms, as it is thus stated and apprehended, the saints being surrounded with those thoughts, a dissolution becometh the joyful object of their groanings, as it is of the apostle's desires, Philip. 1; and though dissolution be not explicitly said, yet it is virtually and implicitly in the scope, or in the strength of all manifestly intended, and desired as a means to that further end. 'We that are in this tabernacle,' and the rest that follow, from the making a not-dying at all, or an absolute non-dissolution to be the object of their desires in this place, which the other interpretations would put both upon it and us. Thus much for the description of the persons that groan, &c., and what may be argued therefrom. I shall now consider the occasion of their groaning.

2. 'Groan, being burdened;' that is the second head, and is brought in here as the approximate occasion of their groanings, but chiefly as conducing to his illustrating that difference (which follows) between the saints and others in their groanings after dissolution. The words, 'being burdened,' come in between these two speeches: 1, after the words, 'we that groan;' and, 2, before those latter words, 'not for that we would be unclothed;' and so pays contribution to both, and hath its aspect to and influence upon both. That is, first, it hath a respect unto their groaning as some occasion of it, though a less principal one; for then, having done that service, it serves another, viz., that from thence the apostle should take rise to explain how and why it is, and how and why not, that we Christians do groan for dissolution, with difference from other men.

Two things are herein to be attended.

(1.) A tacit concession or grant, that indeed a Christian is a burdened creature; and comparatively to other men, the most burdened of any other, which in the foregoing chapter he had related of himself and others his brethren.

(2.) That they are sensible enough of those burdens, and are unto their own sense and feeling thus burdened. For hereupon they groan, which must be out of a sense thereof.

[1.] There is this concession or grant, that indeed of all other sorts of men a Christian is the most burdened, in respect of the multitude, variety, and greatness of his grievances: we having not only all the miseries that are tributa vivendi, the common and ordinary taxes and tributes of life in this world, that come upon us in common with others, as sickness, loss of friends, and the like; but further, we have all sorts of persecutions, that are tributa Christi, the double, yea centuple imposts for our religion. As to our names, 'all men speak evil of us,' and we are as 'the offscouring of the world' to this day. And then, in real damages, in estates, &c., we are by reason of persecution 'without a certain abiding place, we suffer hunger, nakedness, imprisonments, banishments, deaths' (all which he recites in chap. 4); and all which he sums up into that total, in 1 Cor. 15:15, 19, 'In this life we are of all men most miserable,' not to mention the burden they carry about with them in their own souls, from sins, which other men make the greatest comfort and happiness of their lives, and therefore are said to live in them, but which make us to cry out, 'Oh, miserable men that we are,' &c.

[2.] He would have all men know that they are as sensible of those burdens, as any other men are or can be supposed to be: and that the reason why they do bear them so patiently and silently as they do (only with groanings and sighings), is not from a sturdy stoical principle, as if they professed a want of sense and affection, which was the counterfeit and palliated profession of their wisest philosophers, who would be esteemed eminent and singular for wisdom and virtue amongst men. No (says he); in opposition hereunto, we acknowledge that we are burdened, and are sensible to the quick; and groan after death, yet not like unto other men, but have another kind of relief which supports us.

CHAPTER IX

The true and eminent grounds of a Christian's groanings after dissolution, severed from the false grounds of other men

The true and eminent grounds of a Christian's groanings after dissolution, severed from the false grounds of other men.—That a Christian doth not desire death merely on this alone account, that it will give him case in freeing him from all the miseries and sorrows of this present life.

3. Of all other sorts of men that were, or had been ever heard of in the world, the Christians in those primitive times were observed to be the greatest undervaluers of life, and ambitious aspirers after death and dissolution. It is made the common character of them: Rev. 12:11, 'They loved not their lives to death;' and it was our great apostle's public profession of, and concerning himself: 'I count not my life dear to me, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God,' Acts 20:24. It was observed that those first Christians came to martyrdom as young men and maidens use to do to their weddings; yea, as to their own marriages. They cheerfully, being called thereto, exposed themselves to death. As we are always delivered to death, says the apostle, 2 Cor. 4:11, so we are willing, says he, 2 Cor. 4:8. And those heathens that were observators of this, being strangers to the principles of Christianity, not knowing the grounds and motives which inspired their souls hereunto, imputed these high most raised actions and aspirements unto false principles, or such causes as they found in themselves, and that might any way be supposed to be in the hearts of men.* And as in judging of a Christian's ways and general course of life, they attributed the singularity thereof unto pride, hypocrisy, affectation, so in like manner in this point, of not loving their lives, they ascribed this eagerness after dissolution partly to stoicism and insensibility, which some of their own philosophers professed (of which sect you read, Acts 17), or to a wearisomeness of life, because they were so persecuted and spoken against, or (as the apostle hath spoken of their condition) because they were in this life of all men the most miserable. And so they were looked upon in that respect as men that wished for death and could not find it. And this (besides what might therein concern the spirits of Christians themselves) gave a just occasion to the apostle to lay down here that account of the principles Christians go upon in this particular, with difference from what are or were found in others, who at any time wish and groan for death. But although the apostle also acknowledgeth that these burdens have some influence (as there is all reason they should) into their desire after dissolution, yet then take the case as it is truly stated in our hearts, and all these burdens arise not so high, or prevail not so far upon us, as to cause us to desire death simply (as the heathens or others use to do) for an avoidance of present miseries; but know (says he) that our religion, and that alone, presents us with, and holds up to our faith, and assures us of a glorious crown and estate of life, when this mortal is ended, whereby mortality shall be swallowed up of life, whereof we have the earnest, ver. 5; and this is it that raiseth and ennobles our spirits to this height of confident willingness to die, as in the following verse 6th he expresseth.

He presenteth such a principle, ver. 4, in the name of Christians, as never was found in any carnal heart, nor is, nor can be understood by them. He presenteth this principle in these words, 'not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon.'

These words shew why and why not, how and how not, a Christian groans after dissolution, and so do of themselves fall into two parts.

(1.) Negative, or a removal of what might be supposed the ground: 'not for that we would be unclothed,' or not that that alone would ever cause such a desire in us.

(2.) Positive, or the true prevailing utmost ground why and from which it proceedeth: 'but for that we would be clothed upon.' And this centres in the highest thing that the object of their aims could centre in: 'that mortality might be swallowed up of life.'

It is of moment to know the meaning of the phrase 'for that,' since it is the hinge upon which both the negative and positive do turn; concerning which observe two things.

1. That in the Greek ἐφʼ ᾧ, for that, is so placed as it indifferently pertains to either of these; for the tenor or station of the words in the Greek run thus: 'For that, not we would be unclothed, but to be clothed upon.' And thus read, it, having first served the negative (which is the first part), it stands as fairly ready, and was in its posture reserved to be carried to, and joined also with, the affirmative or positive part, and is so to be joined therewith thus: 'But for that we would be clothed upon.'

2. The true import of the phrase is known to be to render the reason or the because why an act or action is said to be done or not done. It imports the ὅυ χαριν, or the ὅυ ἕνεκα, 'for the sake of which,' or the respect upon which, or the end or aim for which, anything is done.'* And so here it serves to set forth the genuine aim or meaning of the spirit of a Christian, and the true reason or inducement whereby he is prevailed upon as to the point of desires of his dissolution. We ordinarily use the like way of speech. Suppose a brother or some other near relation, presenting a suit against a murderer of his friend or relation, should by way of account or vindication of his act, and his sincere aims therein, utter himself to this purpose: I prosecute this suit, being thus nearly related and concerned in the person, not for that I seek the death of this man simply as a man, nor for that I have been injured by him, that so I might be revenged, but that public justice might be done, and that both divine and human law, that he that sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, may have its due course and be satisfied; in this speech this particle for that, though it be placed in the forefront, viz., the negative part of his speech, yet is what in common is carried to the other, 'but for that I would justice should be done,' &c. The parallel between that and this in the text is easily discerned.

1. Now then, I shall first consider the negative: 'Not that we would be unclothed.' These words are a professed renuntiation of such lower ends and motives from having the sway in a Christian's desires of dissolution, by which other men are induced thereunto, and which yet they, finding no other in themselves, were and are apt to impute unto Christians. The motives negative herein are two.

(1.) In these words, 'not to be unclothed,' being taken singly and alone, that is, we Christians do not groan to die merely to be unclothed or rid of our bodies, which was one of the noblest and highest grounds the wiser and great spirits among the heathens did pretend unto and gloried in, as that which made them willing to die. They had such valuation for that diviner part, their souls, and thought so contemptuously of the worst part, their bodies, that they looked on death as a freedom from the cumber of them. And thus under the metaphor of being clothed, the apostle hits and meets with that principle, which the sagest of them cheerfully embraced death upon, which was to put off the body, as a man would do a heavy garment, that clogs and hinders him, to the end to be more agile, nimble, lightsome, and active, as they thought their souls would be, when they had their mittimus from their bodies.

They taught the immortality of the soul as well as we Christians, and also the free acting of the soul without the body; but withal they taught their disciples to contemn the body, and complained of the conjunction or immersion or our souls with it and into it, as if the great God had done it wrong, to put so divine and vigorous a spirit into so dark and damp a dungeon or prison (that was their ordinary word, σῶμα quasi σημα, so Plato*), and in the Book of Wisdom you may see how the effects of this principle had tainted the Jews themselves, for Solomon is brought in there saying, Was a soul put into a defiled body? They thought the soul's high-born aspirements, and soarings, to be captived, depressed, obstructed, and kept down (as a soaring bird kept in a cage), and its activeness to be confined and interrupted by the soul's conjunction with the body. Like as a man in prison sees but out of a loop-hole or through a grate, so (thought they) the captived soul takes in things by outward senses, and therefore they look upon being unclothed and out of it, and look consequently upon death as a gaol delivery, or as the letting a bird fly loose in the open air, the native element for it. The apostle contradicts this principle, and insinuates that we Christians have learned otherwise, that the conjunction of the body and soul was a happy match, when God first made it, and made man 'a living soul,' Gen. 2; that is, a soul ordained to live in a natural body. This was that which originally from the first and for ever the soul was ordained for, although we do find that by being fallen into sin it is not only 'appointed for all men once to die,' and were it not for our hope that is renewed in the soul, ad for the glory which upon separation from the body it shall be therefore clothed upon, the soul of itself subsisting alone would be a most lame, weak, and imperfect, and inactive creature. And further, that the body is thus a clog to the soul, is but accidental through man's own default; and hence we Christians dare not simply wish for a freedom from our bodies, or groan for death. Therefore we dare not in our desires wish for death, and so contradict and blaspheme God's ordination, as their best philosophers have done; but we wait God's pleasure, to whom we live, and to whom we die. That the apostle in this passage should have some glance and eye upon those principles of the heathen, we perceive by the honourable elogium he presently gives of the soul's dwelling in the body, whiles he terms it a being 'at home in the body;' for so indeed it is in the ordination of God, and its natural institution and make; and therefore to be rid of it, and simply to be unclothed, is not that for which we desire to die. This is the first motive disclaimed in this negative.

But it will be replied, that the burdens that you otherwise bear in the body (which you confess) do yet raise up these eager desires in you. For answer to this there is,

(2.) A second negative wherein this other low and under motive more common to man, and which was more ordinarily imputed to Christians, is disclaimed, and that is, not for that we are burdened; that is, our being burdened is not the reason whereupon alone we would be unclothed, which word had immediately preceded; and now put that into the balance with the former, yet both that and the former weigh not unto such a prevalency as would alone excite and draw forth those vehement desires in us.

This word burdened is placed (as you may well observe) purposely between these two, 'we that are in this tabernacle,' the words before it, and those that follow, 'not that we would be unclothed.' It is placed so on purpose (I say), that it might illustrate the more, and render the genuine desires and aims of a Christian herein the more illustrious. It first, referring unto our being in this tabernacle, declares, that whilst we are in it, we are and shall be burdened. But then again, its reference unto these words, 'not that we would be unclothed,' serves to this sense, that although we be thus burthened, it is not upon the load hereof, that the saints do determinately desire to be unclothed, no; if that were all, this alone would not be prevalent with us. And so it is as if he had said, We groan being burdened: not that we would be unclothed simply for ease from them, not upon that consideration alone or chiefly. Thus Beza renders the coherence: Non tædet nos vitæ ipsius, not that we are weary of life, viz., by reason of our burdens, sed futuræ desiderio ardemus, but we are inflamed with desires after that other life to come. So as though it be said, we groan being burdened, as we have reason, and that may also be taken in to help forward such our desires, even as lesser aims, that alone would not be effectual to move unto such or such a thing, do yet contribute together with a greater one. So here, our burdens are but the lees principal; they are not that which alone or chiefly do sway, they are far from making up the full motive, why we should desire to die. They indeed may and ought to be considered, and it was fit the apostle should make mention of them, for the reasons before specified, when we opened the import of what was in that word; yea, they are some kind of ingredient motives thereunto, especially when we have so great a glory, as the certain consequence of death, in our view; but yet otherwise these bold no balance. And you may observe how these words, 'not for that we would be unclothed,' come instantly in as treading upon the heels of the before-mentioned, 'being burthened,' as a correction and allay, as if he had spoken too much in saying, 'we groan being burthened.' And this would seem as if he were there upon the point of calling in again that word, at least, that though he let it stand, being (as we say) out, yet that he might not be misunderstood in it, as if that did cast the balance, he corrects the sense of it. No, says he; we would not be unclothed for that we are burdened, since that bears no weight comparatively in the scale. But more generous and glorious aims in the positive part weigh most, viz., that mortality should be swallowed up of life. As if he had said, That of our burdens is not worthy of consideration in comparison of the other; they are but the smaller dust of the balance, too light to cast the scale; but it is that eternal weight of glory, which being dissolved we shall be assuredly possessed of, and which we have in our hearts and eyes, that mainly turns the balance; whereas other men, especially the heathens in those times, if they were in a distress, and burdened, there was no other ho with them, but presently to die, so to avoid and escape out of their burdens, and so in a pet they were wont to die. This was ordinary amongst the great spirits among them.

But the Christians, who are more noble, have not so learned Christ, who himself gave us an example in this particular, who though a man of sorrows more than all other men, yet waited until he had finished the work his Father had given him to do, and until his time was come, yea, and also prayed not that we should be taken out of this world, namely, until the time appointed by the Father. Therefore, we that are in this tabernacle by God's appointment, set and placed there, as sentinels or perdues in war, are patiently to endure those burdens, as chastisements for our sins, which God brings upon us, or which by sinning we have brought upon ourselves. We are to endure them also to honour the profession of our religion, and with submission to the will of God to wait his time of deliverance, which we ought not to anticipate; we ought to attend the time which he bath fore-appointed, being well assured that of all things outward (which God hath taken upon him to determine in this world), the time of saints their being in the body is the most wisely set and fixed of all others. For if of men in general it be said, Job. 7:1, 'Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?' then especially of holy men, that are so dear to God, whose death is said therefore to be precious to him, and therefore the time of their lives must needs be so too; for in relation to their lives, their death is said to be precious, when and how he will appoint it. 'My times are in thine hand,' says David; 'Our breath and all our ways,' says Daniel. Thus of all mankind the saints, 'whether they live, or whether they die, are the Lord's,' Rom. 14:8; the Lord's in a special manner, and by a special property, and interest in them. He is a sovereign Lord both of time and of them, as he that is the grand master, and lord, and disposer of life, who 'hath the keys of death,' and to whom 'belong the issues of death,' and therefore the saints are quietly to 'wait all the days of their appointed time;' and for this cause they do not, nor dare not, out of a weariness, or burden of life, desire to be unclothed; though when death shall come, and God's will therein be manifested, they then will and do relieve themselves with the thought of being eased from those burdens, which are therefore in this argument here mentioned. And this, as it is the true posture of a truly instructed Christian, especially when assured of God in Christ, so it is the meaning and drift of the apostle in this place.

It is to this purpose observable, how to the end to shew that those persecutions and burdens are not the predominant incentives, or fomenters of such vehement desires of death, he in the 6th and 8th verses doth in his own name, and in the name and behalf of true Christians, in the conclusion utter their spirits thus: 'Therefore we are always confident,' or 'daring,' as the word imports. Then he says it a second time, verse 8; that is, our spirits do indeed rise up the more, and are steeled against all encounters, come what will come through the will of God upon us. Indeed, we have a boldness in all, because if the worst come that can come, we know the certain issue. So far then are true Christians from pusillanimity, or shrinking of their spirits into that hole of death, as an evasion from their incumbent burdens, that there is a boldness and erection, or insurgency of spirit raised up against all these, as more than conquerors in them, and all by reason that we know (as he had said, verse 1), 'If our earthly tabernacle be dissolved,' we are secured and insured, 'we have an house in heaven.' And this speech in verse 6 and verse 8 doth come in as an inference from this doctrine, taught from the first verse downwards.

We being then set in this world by God, to live to him and unto his glory, and to abide his time and will for so doing, as Christ did; nay, we being set in the midst of sufferings, ought to eye him, his will, his glory, and to have our desires so poised by our judgments, that though our desires run out in groanings to be swallowed up of life for our own happiness, yet our wills, as they are thus poised by our judgments, will return this modest answer which immediately follows in verse 8, 'We are willing rather to be absent from the body,' though as it follows there, it is 'to be present with the Lord.' Unto this last issue and determinate upshot doth all come, to be 'willing rather.' Indeed, the affectionate part in their groans is vehement and ardent, but the determining and resolving part in their wills is moderate, and is uttered but by a rather, a little more than indifference. And therefore, as if he had uttered too much confidence in the other word, 'we are always confident,' he corrects it by a softer expression, 'we are willing rather;' for this consideration, after mentioned by their wills, deliberately rises in the greatest vehemency by the breakings in of glory upon them, as being men in a strait between two, like as a needle equally distant between two load-stones. As the apostle speaks of his own desires, Philip. 1, there is such a mixture of considerations meet in it, as though they have great affections rise up one way, yet they are checked again with the thoughts of God's will, that they should do him service by their lives, which make them but 'willing rather.'

And the opening of this negative part of the apostle's vindication and renuntiation of these lower ends, argues a more noble, elevate, and generous temper and frame of spirit. And we gave* a character of a true Christian, worthy of the profession of our Christianity, whereof all other professions do fall short; and answerably this interpretation, that I have driven in this 4th verse, speaks of far greater spiritualness, suited to a gospel spirit by far, than that they should be supposed to desire a change without dying at all, such a desire having a foundation only in that loathness to die, which is so natural to us.

CHAPTER X

The positive ground or reason why a Christian desires dissolution is, that the weak and sinful life which he now lives may be swallowed up of an heavenly and eternal life.

That which is next to be considered is, the positive account of what is the predominant reason and respect upon which we Christians groan for dissolution. 'But for'—this we have in these words,—'that we would be clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life;' in which are two things to be attended.

1. His expressing of that glory upon dissolution under the same metaphor he had before taken up in ver. 2, and in the same sense and extant he had there used it in. It is as if the apostle had said, The aim of us Christians is not simply to die, and be unclothed, but that our souls be clothed upon with that glory which, upon our unclothing, is prepared for us; he intending 'clothing upon' in the same and no other sense in this verse than he had used it in the second verse, this verse being a repetition of the substance of that. How being 'clothed upon' in that second verse respects the glory of the soul at dissolution, and is thus termed a clothing upon, in respect unto the soul's first having been clothed with holiness in the time of this life, as the preparation to it, I have before largely explained and proved in the opening of that verse second, to which I refer the reader.

2. The second thing to be considered is, what is the issue or consequence, and likewise what is the aim, of being thus clothed upon? It is to have the mortality in which we live swallowed up of life; which doth more really explain what is the substance of the soul's aims in its groaning, than what [is] described under the dark metaphor of being 'clothed upon.' Herein he speaks plainly, and not in parables or metaphors, and interprets what he means by clothing upon. For indeed this latter clause, 'mortality being swallowed up of life,' doth swallow up into itself all that had been said of glory in the former words; for, 1, it oppositely answers unto the words, 'we groan being burdened,' In the substance thereof is this word mortality, which is the opposite to this of life, and it includes and takes up into itself all those burdens the soul had, under that word burdened, complained of, as the subject-matter it groans to have swallowed up and abolished. 2. These words, 'swallowed up of life,' speak the whole spirit and quintessence of that glory which that other metaphor, of being clothed upon, can be supposed to intend. It is life, says the apostle, pure life; a life so rich, so overflowingly abundant, as by the overcoming vehemency thereof it doth in an instant consume all that is evil or mortal in the soul, and all misery and imperfection appertaining to that condition which it had whilst in the body.

There are two principles in a holy soul fore-mentioned which do carry it forth unto these aspirements.

1. The grace and holiness it is clothed withal, ver. 2, 3, which, being but an imperfect preparation to glory, maketh it restless to be clothed upon fully with that which is its sole perfection, even as naturally as matter prepared and disposed useth to long after that form which it is prepared unto. And this is more plainly insinuated in the next verse: ver. 5, 'Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.' It is what hath been wrought in us by God, that puts us upon this desire of being clothed upon.

2. The second principle upon which a Christian desires dissolution is, the taste which a soul hath already had of an heavenly life here, which the words groaning and desiring do import, that taste being the drawer forth of those desires after a more full and perfect enjoyment of that life in God. Thus speaks the psalmist, 'if so be you have tasted how good the Lord is;' and to the same purpose he says in another place, 'Thy loving-kindness is better than life.' These sweet sippings the soul hath had: a little further lift, says one, would have lift my soul to, heaven. They do enthirst the soul unsatisfiedly to desire to drink down the whole of that sweetness and blessedness that is in God, or rather (as the word here in the Greek signifies) to be drunk up of that life itself, as a drop is by the ocean.

Thus you have seen the inwards of a Christian, the secretest workings of his heart and affections in his desires of death cut up before you, as by a two-edged sword, that divides between the negative, what not, and the affirmative, which declares what are a Christian's principal motives herein. This gives demonstration of the nobleness of a Christian spirit; and the apostle turns this flaming sword both ways. And indeed then a matter comes to be fully cleared, when that which is spurious, false, and counterfeit, and yet hath an appearance of truth, is separated from what is true and genuine; which our apostle hath here performed, even as in other affections (to discover the spiritualness of them) it is his wont to do. Thus in point of godly sorrow and mourning for sin (which is a most spiritual disposition, when rightly stated, as it flows in a Christian's heart), in this very Epistle, he thus speaks, chap. 7:9, 10, 'I rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry to repentance, for ye were made sorry after a godly manner.' It is turned both ways, you see (even as here), negatively and affirmatively, so to express with all clearness the genuine spiritual temper of that grace, with difference from all other sorrow, though for sin. And both alike are distinguished; this here, and that of godly sorrow there. 'I rejoice,' says he, not simply 'that ye were made sorry,' although it were for sin; and in like manner says he here, 'not for that we would be unclothed,' as simply so considered, or merely to be eased of our burden; so the negative in both are parallel. And then there giving the true and proper positive ground of that sorrow, he says that he rejoiced that they 'sorrowed after a godly manner.' And here in this text he answerably gives the positive ground of a Christian's groaning, viz., to be 'clothed upon, and swallowed up of life.' And thus the positive principle in both are parallel also. And so that text of 2 Cor. 7:9, 10 most aptly serves to illustrate this text of 2 Cor. 5:4.

The interpretation of these words, 'that mortality might be swallowed up of life,' will best be managed by way of assoiling or answer to one of the greatest difficulties or objections that doth or may occur against this interpretation of mine, which I have again and again given—an objection which hath even almost universally induced interpreters to another exposition.

The first difficulty or objection lies thus, that this phrase is used of the resurrection of the body: 1 Cor. 15:54, 'When this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death shall be swallowed up in victory.' And therefore, say they, this verse must be intended of the change of the body at the resurrection (for that is the argument the apostle treats of in that chapter, and thereunto is this speech of swallowing up applied); even then when there will be the last and total change and consummation of all mortality whatsoever. And the word 'swallowing up' imports with it also both a sudden and a complete change, a totality, a consummation, which is not made of all mortality until the resurrection. And I confess that Æstius his so pungent urging the parallel of the phrases there and here, that the phrase there carrying it to the general resurrection, therefore it should be so here, did the most stick with me of all objections else to move me to think that the glory of the resurrection should only be intended in this place also. It is also to be considered that it is the body which is in common acceptation the sole subject of mortality, as here the word is translated; as also that until that day there is not a final swallowing up of mortality.

But on the other hand I found that there is at death a 'mortal,' τὸ θνητὸν, and that which truly and in a most just sense is to be termed a death, which at dissolution is done away; yea, and a far greater death than what is removed at the resurrection of our dead bodies. And this death is then swallowed up with as much suddenness, and with as great a vehemency of power, as shall in the resurrection be put forth upon our bodies. And this death is then swallowed up by a life which is transcendently such, and only deserves, in some respects, the name of life; and into which now at dissolution the soul is taken up, and swallowed up withal. These considerations made me still adhere to this my interpretation. It may be farther added, that this phrase 'swallowed up,' &c., here, is at least as applicable unto the change made upon the soul at death, as it is unto the change made upon our bodies at the resurrection; and, indeed, is to be applied and intended of both. For if Calvin says it is uncertain of the two which was meant (although he professeth to incline unto our interpretation) throughout the whole of the apostle's discourse, then I dare be bold to say, if both may be meant, then both should be. It is and hath been a certain rule with me, that when a scripture doth equally, or some way alike, perpend or incline towards two acceptations of the words, and so may take in two senses that are not repugnant, that then it is to be in a latitude taken in both.

I shall therefore demonstrate that at dissolution there is a mortality swallowed up of life; and so the words are applicable as well unto the condition of the soul then, as at the resurrection they are applicable to the condition of the body.

1. In these words, 'this mortal,' we have the thing said to be 'swallowed up.' And by reason of this word, those who are for the other interpretation think they have an advantage for them, because the soul is immortal, and so it cannot be said of it that 'mortality is swallowed up of life.' But most properly of the body at the resurrection, that phrase or words may be used.

But although the soul in the substance of it be immortal, yet take the condition of life which it now leads whilst in this tabernacle, and it may be most truly said it hath a mortality adhering to it, yea, inhering in it as the adjunct of it. There is a mortal state the person is in; there is an animal life, as one calls it; there is a dying life, a life of death, in which as to a great part the soul now lives. And it is the present state, or this dying life of the soul, which he here speaks of. For,

1. He speaks of that which we have in this tabernacle—'We that are in this tabernacle'—and so whilst we are in this tabernacle, we have a mortal body which we carry about with us, which shall be swallowed up. It is the present mortal body afore dissolution, as much as that future mortality after in the grave, he first points us unto.

2. What he had in the foregoing sentence expressed by burdens that accompanied this life, the same he intends and comprehends under the notion and name of mortal. And it is as if he had said, It is this mortal life that so burdens us. What is implied in both these expressions is that one and the same thing, though under two several words, which we groan at, longing to exchange them for the abundancy of that other life. And thus all the frailties and miseries that are now the adjuncts or tributes of this life, come into the total of this mortal life. For,

3. It is termed so, as it is set in opposition unto that other life (of which it is swallowed up), that which is life only, and only deserves the name of life, the true and eternal life, life indeed. And as all those happinesses and blessednesses, that are the concomitants of that state, are termed 'life,' so all the contrary miseries of this present sorry life we lead in the flesh, are comparatively termed 'a mortal life,' or a dying condition. And you may observe how in that 1 Cor. 15 mortal there is set in opposition unto immortality, because the subject there that is said to be mortal are the dead bodies of saints, which are by the resurrection made immortal. But here it is opposed unto life in the quintessence of what is life. It is opposed to pure life, to the substance of eternal life, whereof the soul, we all know, is the immediate and most proper subject. And therefore oppositely this mortal or miserable life, which the soul leads in this body whilst we are in this tabernacle, is that which is stated 'the mortal' here; insomuch as though the soul itself is an immortal spirit, yet the life it leads and lives in this body is (set those small twinklings of the life of grace aside) but a mortal, frail, dying life, that deserves the name of death rather than of life, which a gracious soul, being sensible of, therefore desires, and groans after this next change. In our ordinary language we use to say of dying, that it is the change of a mortal life for an immortal life.

Other proofs out of other scriptures for the analogy of this phrase are many. Consult that first fatal sentence against us, Gen. 2:17, 'That day thou eatest, thou shalt surely die.' Did not Adam live after his eating the forbidden fruit nine hundred and thirty years? how is he then said to have died that very day? The meaning is, that from that day he entered into a state of a mortal life, insomuch as his whole life was but a lingering death, in regard of the frailties, miseries, and sorrows of it. It is the language also up and down in this very epistle. Every danger a man is exposed unto is termed a death. In the very chapter afore my text, 'We that live are always delivered to death,' chap. 4:11; 'in deaths oft,' chap. 11:23. The like we have 1 Cor. 9:10.* Every sickness is a little death, for it tends to death; so every cross. All worldly sorrow of heart is a mortal thing, and so expressed, 2 Cor. 7:10, 'Worldly sorrow causeth death'; and sometimes it presently kills, as Nabal's heart died within him, 1 Sam. 25:37. Every worldly, carnal sigh and sorrow is a step towards death. Every infirmity hath a mortality in it, and gives a stroke at life; for it is not the last blow fells the tree, but each, yea, every small one that takes away the least chip. Solomon hereupon plainly terms this present life a sick life;' yea, Eccles. 4:2, he terms it a life worse than death: 'Wherefore,' says he, 'I praised the dead, which are already dead, more than the living, which are yet alive;' that is, I commended and valued the condition of a man that is outright dead, and put out of his pain, rather than of men living, but as between death and life, all whose motions are but throes to death, as those of a fish out of the water, its element. Now, forasmuch as he prefers death, his meaning evidently is that their life, in respect of the miseries that accompany it, hath in a true estimate more of what may be justly termed death than the mortal state of their tabernacle. So then, to be sure, there is 'mortal' enough in both these respects, which is fit matter to be swallowed up of life, and this at a godly man's dissolution.

I shall next consider the other phrase, 'swallowed up,' which also is as fitly applicable to this change at death, whether we consider the suddenness of it, or the perfection of the attainments of the soul thereupon; both which this word imports as fully as it can be supposed to import them both at the resurrection in 1 Cor. 13:10, 'When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.' The word καταργηθήσεται is elsewhere translated 'destroyed,' 'abolished.' Thus in Rom. 6:6, the apostle speaking there of the body of death which was crucified with Christ, says it is to 'be destroyed,' which is at once suddenly, totally, perfectly done at death. And in the 8th verse of this 1 Cor. 13 it is rendered 'vanished.' As the shadows do when the light comes in upon them, they disappear suddenly, in a moment, and perfectly. Thus that phrase there, 'done away,' and 'swallowed up' here, are in effect all one; only there it is applied unto a doing away of what is imperfect, by a full perfection coming in upon it; even as the imperfect light of the very first dawn (if the sun were supposed to rise the next moment after that dawn) would be done away and swallowed up into perfect light in an instant. But this swallowing up here is applied also unto miseries, and frailties, and corruptions; but the thing or matter itself comes all to one. For if there come in upon us such a perfection as doth away in an instant all imperfections of gifts and graces, and renders them perfect (whereof that speech, 1 Cor. 13, is intended), then, to be sure, corruptions are done away together therewith, or else their graces would not be made perfect, as at death they are said to be by this life succeeding.

If the question be, Whether what is spoken in 1 Cor. 13 be intended of the time of dissolution?

The answer is fair on our side. For he speaks of that time when faith ceaseth and is turned into sight: ver. 12, 'Now we see through a glass darkly' (namely, by faith); 'but then face to face: now I know but in part; but then shall I know, even also as I am known. And now abideth faith.' But then faith, and the knowledge by faith, are done away, ver. 8. Now bring these words to the words of the apostle, in what follows my text. 2 Cor. 5:7, 'Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, and not by sight;' and so are absent, not seeing, as we are seen, face to face. But when we are 'absent from the body, and present with the Lord,' as ver. 8, then, as those that are present, we see face to face. So then, both places do speak of dying, and of the change that is made then: in the one, imperfections are said to be done away by what is perfect, and accordingly their souls are termed, 'spirits made perfect,' Heb. 12:23; in this other, all miseries and burdens of a mortal life and condition are swallowed up. Thus then the phrase is matched, and that by the like (and indeed for substance the same); and that too in respect of the time of dissolution.

What is it that this mortal is swallowed up of? It is swallowed up of 'life.' And upon a strict and narrow view and consideration, it will appear that it is more proper to apply this to the change of the soul at dissolution, than to that of the body at the resurrection. For what life is it? τῆς ζωῆς, that life, the text calls it, that which only is true life: 'This is eternal life, to know thee the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent,' John 17. And 1 John 5:20, 'This is the true God, eternal life.' God and Christ is this life, who is the fountain of life: and 'your life is hid with Christ in God,' Col. 3:3. And of this life it is that the soul, the immortal spirit in man, is the immediate and proper subject, and capable thereof. The body hath but an overflow of it, viz., the shine of that brightness of glory which is in the soul, as the lantern shines with the light that is put into it; within the body is but a glory suitable to its capacity, as it is a body; but it is 'our hearts shall live for ever,' as Christ promiseth as the effect of his death, Ps. 22:26. Now if it be such a pure life that is here said to swallow up this mortal (in the sense it hath been interpreted in), then that change which is made upon the single soul itself at death, when the soul alone exists, lies more fair to be intended. For this expression of life nakedly and barely speaks the very spirit and quintessence of that happiness which it then singly enjoys. It is a pure life of living in God, as knowing him, and seeing him face to face. You may observe in that 1 Cor. 15, when the change of the body is insisted on (whether the change of them that are alive, or of them that are dead, raised by a resurrection out of the grave), that there he expresseth that change of the body by an adjunct that is proper to the body: 'This mortal,' says he, 'shall put on immortality; this corruptible, incorruption;' which are the opposite attributes of the old and new bodies: mortal and corruptible of the old, and immortality and incorruption of the new. But here he instead thereof says, life, that life (as hath been said) which is the proper happiness of the soul. Vorstius,* who is of the other opinion, and would draw this verse and all the rest unto the change of the body, because of this word mortal, seems yet aware of this, and therefore takes on him to correct the apostle in his speech or saying, being 'swallowed up of life.' It should be rather (says he) swallowed up of immortality, because that word would carry it to the change of the body. But, by his leave, the apostle, as on purpose, changeth the word in this Second Epistle, from what he had used in his First Epistle, and says, swallowed up of life; and life imports the substance, the essence of life, but immortality a continuance of that life. The one is the subject the other the adjunct, and therefore these are mentioned as distinct, 2 Tim. 1:10.

And it doth indeed most elegantly and lively set out this great change of the soul's life made at death, that whereas, whilst it was in this tabernacle, it lived a sick, dying, mortal life; for it is then taken up into the great element and fountain, both of souls and of life, to live in God, who is the Father of spirits and great element of souls, from whom they came and unto whom they return (as sparks do to their native element of fire); and who is the fountain of life (as the psalmist calls him), yea, life itself. So as by their being taken up unto him, they are of him, and by him, and into him swallowed up, even as darkness is swallowed up of light; and indeed 'in him is light and no darkness at all,' no death, no frailty, no sin. And therefore no sooner is a poor soul coming forth of the body, having yet had in itself (to that very instant) a body of death cleaving to it (like one of the palsy, half of him is dead, yea, quite dead), but this abundancy of life that is in God instantly shales off, works out all that filth, frailty, misery, and purifies and makes the soul white and perfect, and renders it to be all life, and joys, and activity in God, and it doth this in an instant; even as, on the contrary, men's natural spirits are licked up by a blast of lightning, or as if you should see a lump of metal, full of dross cleaving to it, cast into an hot furnace (made so vehemently hot as those are when bells are cast), you would see that fire in an instant purge away and consume all that dross, swallow it up, and assimilate the metal into itself, that the metal itself would appear all of it as fire itself. My brethren, this life of ordinances, and that communion we have with God therein, is but a dull furnace, our lusts melt slowly; yea, it is long ere we can get our hearts to melt in sorrow for them; but this furnace of God's immediate presence, arrived unto at death, is a quick and fiery forge: melts, dissolves, separates the soul from all its dross, imperfection, corruption, and quits it of all in an instant; and further, makes as great a change in it as if you should see a diamond taken out (if you could suppose the sun had that virtue) of mud, and from a sink, and made to shine a glorious star in heaven; to express all which the apostle most happily chose out this word, 'swallowed up of life.'

I shall conclude, that if we will rightly and truly judge in this matter between these two, 1 Cor. 15 and this of 2 Cor. 5, we must be sure to take and put these two together, both 'mortal' and 'swallowed up,' &c. And if we compare that mortal that is swallowed up at death, with that mortal that is swallowed up at the resurrection, we shall find that at death there is a greater mortal (observe how I pitch on that) that is as a sacrifice to be swallowed up then, than there is by the resurrection. For here is a 'body of sin and death' swallowed up, besides all the casualties, calamities, miseries, obnoxiousnesses to sorrows, which, as so many mortal wounds that fester, will make an end of and swallow up this poor life in the end. But at the resurrection all the mortal that is swallowed up, is but the body taken out of its dust. There is no other mortal but this to be done away then; for all these other mortals were taken away afore, at and upon the soul's departure from the body; and there is no other mortality then remaining to be swallowed up but this of the body only. I confess, indeed, that in this respect, that change at the resurrection will excel, inasmuch as it is the last act, and the consummation of all; and that then both soul and body will have a greater access and state of life and glory than the soul whilst separate had; yet still there will not be so great a swallowing up of so great mortality as there is at death, nor will it fitly be said that the life of the soul (that had a perfection of grace and glory afore the resurrection) is then swallowed up of life in so high comparison unto what it had afore; but with respect of sinful corruption and mortality abolished, and so of spiritual life induced into the soul, there is at death that difference as will justly bear the style of a being swallowed up of life. And it is as sudden a change, and by as strong and vehement a power wrought in us, as at the resurrection.

CHAPTER XI

The Soul Received into that State of Glory

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 COR. 5:5.

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 '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 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 mouldering 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 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. 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 16:9, '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 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. 11, 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. 15:15. 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. 1. 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 deaths; that is, not devoid of grace, and so exposed to shame and wrath, as Rev. 16:15.

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 dissolution 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—εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, '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 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 tabernacle by death, as Peter did, and speaks of himself, 2 Pet. 1:14, and therefore the Scripture, or Holy Ghost, foreseeing, as the phrase is, Gal. 3:8, 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, 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 touching 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 resurrection. 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 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 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 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. 2:10, 'for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,' &c. And so in the point of resurrection, 1 Cor. 15:21, '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.'

1. That it is finis operis et operantis, 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 or all three persons: which, how clearly evidenced out of the text, will appear when I have despatched these former doctrines.

Obs. 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 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 a preparation unto glory. (1.) Grace is the work: and so, Phil. 1:6, termed, 'the good work.' A frame of spirit, 'created to good works:' Eph. 2:10, '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. 9:23, 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. 1:12, '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. 5:23, 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. 1:24. 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. 4:23, '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 dissolved. 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 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. 1:12; 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. 4:16. 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. 8. So then there is no parabit in that other world; but, as Solomon says of man, there is no work after this life, Eccles. 9:10; no remembrance, says David, Ps. 6:5; 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. 8:10, 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.) 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 11th 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 exception, 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 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 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. 15, '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. 12) '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 comes down and is derived unto us, is the generation of our bodies. The body, therefore, 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 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. 13:8; his 'righteousness endures for ever,' 2 Cor. 9:9; 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 substantial 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 conveniency 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. 14:13, '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 1:23, or the word of God abides for ever? ver. 25. Or how else comes that saying to be performed, 1 John 2:17, '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 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 communicated. 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 other) which that passage, 1 Cor. 13:12, 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 to 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 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. 15:50, '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. 12; 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. 3:7); 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 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 10:47, '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, 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 or such an end as he means to do, he delays not to accomplish his end and bring it to execution, 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 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. 13:12, '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 1:8, '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 with God by faith utterly ceaseth, 1 Cor. 13:8, the door and passage will be quite shut up; God having fulfilled all 'the work of faith' ('the work of God,' John 6:28) 'with power,' 2 Thes. 1:11, that ever he intendeth; 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 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 8:51, chap. 11:26; 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. 13 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 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 differs from faith. Neither indeed 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, 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 1:9, '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 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 payment 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 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. 16:26, '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. 10:28, '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 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. 2:11, '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. 4. 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 scriptures, Heb. 10:39, James 5:20; 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 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 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. 4. ver. 16) shortly to be martyred, and at present were sorely tried (ver. 7 of this chapter); and in the last verse of the fourth he thereupon instructeth and exhorteth them to 'commit their souls' (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 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. 3:19; and Heb. 10:39, 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. 6:22, '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 coucludeth 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,' Κομιζόμενοι, 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.

Secondly, '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 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.

And, thirdly, '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 wrought this faith in you. Accordingly, we find it termed 'the work of faith,' 1 Thes. 1:3, 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. 1:11, 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. 1:4, compared with ver. 12; and so speaks my text, 'for this selfsame 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, says he, shall attain your end also. And faith thus ceasing, if this salvation of the soul did not succeuturiate* 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. 10:4; 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 salvation here) tanquam perfectibile, a perfection, as that which is imperfect is said to be by that which is perfect, 1 Cor. 13:10. 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 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 observed, makes this forth clearly; for whereas in the verse immediately foregoing 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 promise with it of a time to come wherein they should see, even as Christ said to his disciples, John 13:33 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 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. 13.

And let me add this, that the apostle on purpose doth bring in the mention 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 yourselves 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 concurrence 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 your 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 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 ten hold out, 'God hath wrought us for the self-same thing.'

CHAPTER XII

The glory unto which the separate soul is received

The glory unto which the separate soul is received, demonstrated from this consideration, that God is the efficient of it.

But lo! a greater matter is here. It is not simply said, 'God hath wrought us for this;' but, 'he that hath wrought 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 celebration 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 commend 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 builder and maker is God,' Heb. 11:10. 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. 5 (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. 2:10, 'of bringing many sons to glory;' 'it became him,' says the text. Now put all together, and the result is—

Obs. 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 argueth him a God wise in counsel, and wonderful in working.

1. 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.

(1.) Let us therefore consider on the soul's part,

[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 take it up into glory.

[1.] For its rank or kind of being, there are two things.

First, This soul was by its first creation a spirit, and that in the substance or native kind thereof, and in that respect (considered apart from 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 17, 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 God, 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. 12:9, '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 immediately 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. 12:1, 'He frameth their spirits' (speaking of the souls of men), and that 'altogether,' saith the psalmist, Ps. 33:15 (so Ainsworth and others read it); that is, both, each of those spirits, and also wholly and 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 producing 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 stuff, 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, which our bodies are not, being spirits in the very being of them, that altogether do owe that their being to him. But—

Secondly, 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,' John 3:6. Hereupon these souls are spirit upon a double account; as you say of sugar it is double-refined, 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, Rom. 7:22, 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 groundwork, 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 considered in the price, so it is here with this soul wrought by God in both respects.

[2.] 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.

First, It fails of all sorts of comforts it had in and by its union with the body in this world: Luke 16:9, '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.

Secondly, Then if ever a man's 'flesh and his heart fail,' Psalm 73:26.

Thirdly, 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. 13, 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.

And yet, fourthly, it is now upon death (which it never was afore) immediately brought into the presence of God. Naked soul comes afore naked God: Eccles. 12:7, '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 tamed upon its Father again. Thus much as to the soul's condition.

(2.) But, secondly, let us consider what it becomes God on his part to do. 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 resurrection. 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 in Ps. 73:26, 'My flesh and my heart faileth,' as at death to be sure it doth, 'but God is the strength of my heart,' both in this life and at death, to support me, 'and my portion for ever,' in the life to come, without any 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 in this world he foresaw would fail him, is evident by what he had immediately meditated in the words afore, ver. 24, 'Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel;' so in this life; 'and afterwards,' that being ended, 'shall receive me into glory.' The contemplation whereof makes him cry out again, ver. 25, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee?' For all things else will fail me one day, when my flesh utterly fails me also, 'and there is none upon earth' (where he had at present many comforts and comforters) 'in comparison of thee.' You see God is the portion of the whole of his time, even 'for ever,' as ver. 26, and his estate in heaven and earth divide that time and portion between them, and no middle state between both, but when the one ceaseth the other begins, for between them two must be the for ever; and when all fail him, which he had on earth, then God alone becomes his happiness in heaven. But this only in general shews what God is and will be to a soul in this condition.

But I having undertaken to proceed by way of congruity, I must further more particularly shew how, in a correspondency to this inward and outward state of this soul, he shews himself God, and how meet and becoming a thing it is for God to receive it into glory, upon the consideration of many relations, which he professedly beareth to such a soul.

1. God is a Spirit, and thereupon, in a special manner (as Wisd. 11:26), the Lord is 'a lover of souls' above all his other creation. So it is there, 'Thou art merciful to all because they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.' 'God is a Spirit.' When therefore this naked and withal sublimated spirit (by its being born again by his own Spirit), and so assimilated to God himself, a pure spark, now freed and severed from its dust and ashes, flying up (or is carried rather by spirits, the angels, Luke 16:22, out of their like spiritual love to it as a spirit, Heb. 1:14) unto that great Spirit, that element of spirits, it will surely find union and coalition with him, and be taken up unto him; for if, as Christ speaks, John 4:23, 'God being a Spirit, therefore seeks for such as worship in spirit and truth;' that is, he loves, delights in such, as a man doth in a companion or friend who suits him. And doth God seek for such whilst they are on earth? Then, surely, when such spirits shall come to him, and have such a grand occasion, and (indeed) the first occasion in such an immediate way to appear before him in such a manner, and upon such a change as this, as they never did before; these spirits also having been the seat, the inner temple, of all this spiritual worship and sanctifying of him in this world; surely God, who sought such afore, will now take them into his bosom and glory. We also read, Isa. 57:15, 16, of the regard he bears to persons of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive them, upon this superadded consideration, that they are souls and spirit, and so thereby allied to him, the lofty One. Hear how in this case he utters himself: 'The Spirit would fail afore me,' says he, 'and the souls which I have made.' He speaks of their very souls properly and respectively considered, and them it is which he considering, and it moves him unto pity, for he speaks of that in man, whereof God is, in a peculiar manner, the maker or creator: 'The spirit which I have made,' says he; and it is one of the eminent titles he takes into his coat, 'The framer of the spirit of man within him,' Zech. 12:1, as in many other places. This is argued also in that he speaketh of that in man, which is the subject sensible of his immediate wrath: 'I will not contend for ever; nor will I be always wroth.' (This I have observed in what is public of mine.*) Now what moves him to remove his wrath from such an one? 'The spirit would fail,' says he. Now doth God thus profess to have a regard to them in this life, and that upon this account, that they are spirits, lest they should rail or faint? and shall we not think that when indeed otherwise they do fail (as after death you have heard, even now, Christ himself expresseth they would), and would, upon all these considerations before-mentioned, sink into utter desolation, unless they were 'received into everlasting habitations,' as Christ there also speaks, do we think that God will not now entertain them? 'The time is now come, the full time to have pity on them.'

2. God at this season forgets not, but full well remembers his relation of being their creator both by the new, and also first creation, the new reviving and ingratiating the remembrance of the first: 'The souls which I have made,' said he in Isaiah; but, in our Peter, this is more express, and mentioned as that which indeed moves God (and should be accordingly a support to our faith) to take care of our souls when we come to die, even upon this account, that he is 'the faithful creator of them,' 1 Pet. 4:19: 'Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him, in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator.' He speaks this specially unto such as were continually exposed unto persecution unto death for Christ in those primitive times; which therefore ver. 12, he terms the 'fiery trial,' and ver. 17, forewarns them of a time of judgment' which was begun, and going on upon 'the house of God,' such as they had not yet felt; who yet, Heb. 10:32–34, had suffered reproach and spoiling of their goods, as Peter writes to the same Jews; hereupon Peter pertinently instructs them to commit the keeping of their souls unto God; at death it is that, when men's bodies are destroyed, and so the season when their souls to be separated therefrom should be committed to God's care, as our darling* (as our translation) or lovely soul, when separate (as others), as Christ in David speaks, Ps. 22; and Peter had in his eye Christ's example, and pointed them thereunto, who at his death committed his separate soul or spirit into the hands of God, Luke 23:46; and the word 'commit' (παραθήσομαι) is one and the same in both these places, only there is this difference, that whereas Christ says, 'Father, I commit,' Peter substitutes another title of God's (there being more than one relation moving God, and strengthening our faith to this), even of 'faithful creator.' And I understand not the first creation only or chiefly here meant by Peter, but the second creation chiefly, which brings into repute and acceptation with God the first again together with its own, and so God is thereupon engaged to be faithful in his care and provision for such souls, according to his promises. And faithfulness doth always respect and refer unto promises. And my reason why thus I understand it, is, because I find God's faithfulness still annexed unto his calling of us; that is, converting us, which is all one with this new creation: 'Faithful is he that hath called you;' that is, made you new creatures, 1 Cor. 1:9; 1 Thes. 5:24; and I find that David also urges it upon God as a motive, as in other psalms, so Ps. 138:8, 'Forsake not the work of thine hands;' that is, this double workmanship of thine, of the first, and then superadded unto that of the second creation, which he urgeth thereby to move him to perfect the work begun, and to be 'merciful unto him for ever,' in the former part of that verse.

3. God professeth himself the 'Father of spirits;' which relation, though it speaks his being the Creator of them at the first, yet hath something more of bowels in it. It says withal something further, when it falls out that such spirits as he is a Father unto by the first creation are also the subjects of his eternal love, by grace and election unto the adoption of children, as Eph. 1:3–5; see the words; which love having accordingly taken hold of their souls by a work of grace wrought upon them in this life, thereby owning them as his in this case, that God that is a Father of their spirits by the law of the first creation, is in a more transcendent manner become the Father of the same spirits by grace, and the second creation superadded. Hence it falls out, in a parallel way, that (as was said) such souls were become spirit upon a double account; that is, spirits for the substance of their being, and again spirit by being born again of the Spirit; so answerably it is, that God stands in relation unto them as a Father of their spirits upon the like double respect. And this is equitable upon a very great account; for this relation of Father is more eminent to his grace by election, and then again by the grace of his second creation, than it could be any way supposed to be by the first creation; and therefore is set and pitched in like singularity and eminency upon the same object, that is, their spirits. And hence it may well, yea, must, be supposed and acknowledged, that if God did make such a darling of the soul, such an account of it by creation as to entitle himself so specially the Father thereof, then certainly this love of grace much more hath in like equipage taken up the same gracious special relation in its kind, of Father thereunto. Not only because nature shall never be found to exceed grace in its favours, but that indeed the motives are far greater, that God should extend the like and greater privileges, where he meant to love, by election and choice, than he did where he loved only by a due and meet law of creation. So that when God shall profess himself a Father to their spirit, speaking to such as are his elect, he strongly insinuateth thereby that he is by grace like wise the Father of their spirits in a peculiar manner. And truly that speech of our Saviour at his death confirms it: 'Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.' It was not barely as a Father of his spirit by creation (as you all know), but by everlasting love, and so in that respect also in a peculiar manner the Father of his spirit; and therefore as to a Father he commends his separate spirit unto him. And this he did, although he was to rise again in less than three whole days' space.

Now we read, Heb. 12:9, the apostle, to hold forth this very relation of God's being a Father of spirits, with this promise thereunto annexed, that they should live; which relation of Father, &c., although it be there explicitly spoken in respect of their first creation, which is common unto the saints with others, yet being uttered of and unto men in the state of grace (as those were supposed whom he there exhorteth, and that to move them to be subject unto him as such, with promise that they should live), it evidently respecteth not merely the relation of Father in respect of what was past, the act of creating them, but it looketh to the future, that they depended upon him, as children do upon fathers for their future livelihood; so these, for to live in him, and with him, as a Father to their spirits by grace, for I take hold of that word, 'and live.' This life is well interpreted by verse 14, 'They shall see God;' that is, be glorified. And so I conclude all this, that if he would have them be subject unto God in holiness, as upon that relation, as unto the Father of spirits, with this promise, that they should live, then surely one special aim of the promise is answerable, and hath this eye, that God, as the Father of their spirits, will therefore take care of their spirits singly, and so when separate, that they shall live; and that accordingly he will give demonstration of this special relation borne to their spirits (when the occasion shall be), considered apart in bestowing this life on them. And truly when is it more proper for him to shew himself a Father, than when their souls, after their subjection to him in holiness here accomplished, and when that as naked spirits they come to stand in need, and stand afore him in his presence, being now turned out of house and home, and quite cashiered out of this world, and come stripped and naked of all but holiness unto their Father (for it is said, 'They return to God that gave them'), who proves to be their Father by grace? And doubt not of it but he will certainly then own them, and give them a Father's blessing, and not reject them as if they were but bastards and no children (as that chapter to the Hebrews speaks), but as spirits, who [are] as sons that have served him, and been subject to him.

4. Add to this, fourthly, God his being our God, which is more home to the demonstration of this point than all the former. The text says, 'He that wrought us for this is God.' I add, he is your God. And this alone, if we will take the Scripture's verdict, will carry it; and, lo, as he is styled 'the Father of spirits' in common, and yet withal a Father of their spirits out of special love, so in like manner he is styled both 'the God of the spirits of all flesh,' Num. 16:22 (that is, of man, Job 12:10), thus in common; and also to his elect, 'I am your God by grace.' And these two relations, God and Father, are commensurate, and exactly parallel, whether they be applied unto all men common, or to the elect in special; he is termed 'the God of the spirits,' and likewise 'the Father of the spirits' of all men; so in common answerably he is your God, and your Father by special grace to his elect, both which in this latter respect you find yoked hand in hand, Job 20:17. Look how far he is a God of the one, so far a Father also extendeth in the other; and look how far that he is our God, so far reacheth also that he is our Father. If therefore the God of our spirits to provide for them, because he is our God, then answerably the Father of our spirits in the like peculiarness, because our Father. And so the proof of this fourth particular will add further strength and confirmation to that we presented in the former.

Now, that his being our God (which is the substance of the covenant of grace) doth engage him to provide glory for separate souls, that one instance of Abraham (the father of the faithful, and we all his sons personated in him) is a sufficient evidence. God did profess himself 'the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;' and unto Abraham, Gen. 15:1, personally, 'I am thy abundant reward' (which respected the life to come), and his friend, 2 Chron. 20:7.

Now, the Scriptures of the New Testament do improve this relation of God's unto us unto two inferences drawn from Abraham's instance, whereof the one is the point afore us.

The first is Christ's inference from thence, that therefore Abraham's soul lives; and Abraham, both soul and body, shall rise again: for 'God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,' Mat. 22:32. Thus Christ.

2. Paul's collection from the same promise is, that God had provided in the mean time for Abraham's soul, afore the resurrection, a city and an house therein for him. Thus Heb. 11:16, 'But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.' To give light to this: Paul had represented the story and case of Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs in the verses afore to have been this, that God had indeed promised the land of Canaan to him and them, ver. 8, 9, whereupon, ver. 13, it is said, that 'these all died in faith, not having received the promises, being strangers in the land;' yea, not having a foot of land in the land of promise, as Stephen speaks, Acts 7:5–7. And also Paul, in the 9th verse of this Heb. 11. Now, then, when they died, what was it their faith expected instead thereof? The 10th verse tells us, 'He looked for a city, whose maker and builder is God;' from which compared observe, that when he died, his faith is thus pitched to look for this city, instead of that land of Canaan promised. This was the expectation of their faith on their part. Well, but how doth it appear that this flowed from God's having professed himself to be the God of Abraham, &c., his reward, and his friend? You have this clear in the 16th verse, where you have the whole summed up as the conclusion of the story, and as the proof and ground hereof, 'but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly;' there is their faith and expectation when they should come to die. Then it follows, 'Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city;' which is spoken in full answer to that their expectation at their deaths, to shew that God, in professing himself to be their God, he had thereby engaged himself, according to his own intent, in that promise, to make this provision for them at their deaths. The words are express: 'wherefore God is not ashamed.' What should this mean, in this coherence, but that his declaring himself to be their God did import and carry this with it, that he had provided this estate for them at their death, even an heavenly; and that otherwise (as the apostle glosseth upon it) he had not come up unto the amplitude of, not filled full this covenanted engagement and profession of his being their God. Will you have it in plain English (as we speak)? If he had not made this provision for their souls, he would have been ashamed to have been called their God. Thus deeply doth this oblige him, that he is our God and Father, which is the point in hand.

And judge of this in the light of all that reason we have hitherto carried along; and again, let this inference of the apostle mutually serve to confirm us in all that reason. For poor Abraham to be driven out of his own country by God, who called him to his foot, and said no more, but as a master to his servant, Take your cloak and follow me (who must presently, without more ado, trig and foot it after his master), as Isa. 41:2, and then to live a stranger in the land of promise, upon the faith that God would be his God: which faith in him was also to cease when he came to die; if this God in this case should not have taken care to answer his faith in some greater way, instead of the possession of Canaan, and that after, upon his being turned out of that country too, which he sojourned in during this life; if God had not provided another house, or country, or city for his soul, that was to live, to bring it into, when it should be deprived of all in this world, the apostle tells us, God (in this case) would have been ashamed to have been called his God: which now, having provided so abundantly for him upon dying, there is superabundant cause to say, God is not ashamed; for that is a diminutive, implying that he infinitely exceedeth that their expectation could be supposed to be.

Let us but view the force of this inference of the apostle's (and so of all the reasonings hitherto read) but according to man, or what is found amongst men (and God will be sure infinitely to surpass men in his ways of favour). Take an ordinary friend; if his friend be turned out of house and home, plundered, banished, driven out of all, as the steward in that parable, Luke 16, was, and comes to his friend at midnight, as in that other parable, Luke 11:5, 6, will not his friends entertain him into their houses, as verse 9 of Luke 15; yea, and rise at midnight to do it, as verses 5, 6 in that parable of Luke 11. Shall profession of friendship engage and oblige men to do this, and shall not God's professing himself to be our God, father, and friend, engage his heart much more? Nay, will he not so entertain them, as shall exceed all wonderment? What need I say more than this? 'Wherefore he is not ashamed to be called their God.' He will therefore give you an entertainment that shall be worthy of his being your God.

5. The fifth and last consideration is, that these separate souls having done and finished all their work, that in order to glory God hath appointed them for ever to do, they now at death appear afore him as a judge and rewarder. And that is the fifth relation moving God to bestow at this season such a glory on them. How that then the soul returns to God, you have heard again and again out of Eccles. 12:7, and that it is upon the account of his being the judge thereof at the end of their work in this life. The Chaldee paraphrase hath long since glossed upon it: It returns to God, that it may stand in judgment afore him. In this life it came unto God by faith, as the apostle speaks, 'believing that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,' Heb. 11:6; and now at the end of its faith it comes unto God for the reward of its faith, as some interpret that 1 Pet. 1:9 (which we so largely have insisted on). This is certain, that in that promise to Abraham, to be his God, Gen. 15:1, he intended and included his being to him an exceeding great reward. And so we come to connect this fifth head with the foregoing. And, therefore, if the being his God moved him to prepare that city against his death (as hath been said), then surely his being his reward doth also then take place. I shall not omit it, because it falls in the next chapter, Heb. 12:23, that in that stupendous assembly of heaven, 'God the judge of all' is mentioned between 'the church of the first-born which are written in heaven;' this afore; and 'the spirits of justified men made perfect;' this after it; for there are none of these first-born, or the spirits of just men, do come to sit down there, but they pass the award of this judge first, for they sit down by him; and surely, having done all their work in the time of that day is allotted to each man to work in, it is a righteous thing with God to give them a reward in the evening of this day (which is Christ's time set for rewarding, and it is the twelfth and last hour succeeding the eleventh of the day,* Mat. 20:6 and 9 compared), which is when the night of death comes. Now there is a law given by God, Lev. 19:13, that the wages to a man hired should be given him, by him that set him a-work, in his day, that is, says the Septuagint, the very same day, so as his work, or the wages of his work, 'abide not with thee all the night until the morning,' says God, Deut. 24:15. Did God take care for hirelings, when their work was done, not to stay any space of time, no, not a night? and doth he not fulfil this himself unto his sons that serve him? Surely yes; he defers not, nor puts them off to the morning of the resurrection, as the psalmist elegantly calls it, Ps. 17:15. It abides not with him all that dark and lonesome night, or space after death, in which their bodies rest in the grave, which is termed 'man's long home,' Eccles. 12:5: and, 'The days of darkness are many,' says Solomon. No; he rewards them in the evening of the day, besides what he will and to it in thee morning. It is observable that Rev. 6:9, 10, concerning the separate souls slain for Christ, that whilst they cry for justice on their enemies only—'And when he had opened the sixth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?'—that they had white robes given them to quiet them in the mean time: ver. 11, 'And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season;' till they heard that vengeance also was executed on that Roman empire for their bloodshed. And thus to deal is a righteous thing with God.

Thus you have seen the point confirmed from all sorts of relations that God bears onto us, by congruous reasons, that so it becometh God, the great God, to do. 'He that hath wrought us for this thing is God.' And so much for this branch of this second doctrine.

2. The second branch of it is this, that there is a glorious contrivement and workmanship carried on in this dispensation of his, like unto the great God indeed. This carries on this point yet higher; for it is not only an ordination becoming God (upon the respects mentioned), but there is an artifice, a workmanship in it, such as he useth to shew in his works of wonder, even in this, that he should work upon men's souls in this life, and then bring them into a glory he had in the mean space been a-working also for those their souls. This is the great God indeed.

When God secretly bestows cost and curiosity in preparing matters for such or such an end, and then again as hiddenly hath laid out a greater art, skill, and workmanship upon that end itself; and then hath exactly suited and matched the one to the other: when all comes to be finished, and both wrought and brought together, then will an infinite surpassing glory arise onto God out of all, which deserveth to have this notoriety, that is here put upon it, 'he that hath wrought this for that is God.' And lo, this is found here, which is demonstrated, if we view,

(1.) Each of these workmanships singly and apart.

(2.) Jointly, as designed and fitted each to the other.

(1.) Each singly: If there were no such ordination of the one for the other, yet so considered, they deserve to have each an 'He that hath wrought this is God' to be written under it.

[1.] For his artifice in working us in this life. Learned Cameron* hath but one note upon this whole fifth chapter, and it falls to be upon this very word 'who hath wrought,' and it is this: This word (says he), as used by the Septuagint, signifies rem expolire rudem et informem. ὁ δὲ κατεργασάμενος, to polish a thing that is rude and without fashion; for which he gives instance out of Exod. 35:33, in Bezaleel's work (whom, as the 31st, 32d verses speak of him, 'God hath filled with his Spirit in all wisdom, in all workmanship, to devise cunning work'). And again, the same word is used of the temple-work (that other was for Moses's tabernacle), 1 Kings 6:26, by Solomon, which how transcendent a structure it was, you have all read or heard. An infinitely surpassing art then hath the Spirit himself (who is the immediate worker in this) shewn in the framing, and hewing, and curiously carving and engraving those living stones, that grew up into a 'temple unto God,' 1 Pet. 2:5; especially considering the utter remoteness, indisposedness, yea, crookedness, and perverseness in the matter wrought upon (our souls, filled with the contrary form and workmanship of Satan), 'Ye are his workmanship,' says the apostle, Eph. 2:10. And truly, if we could enlarge upon all the varieties of dealings God useth to each soul to work it, the several sorts of gracious dispositions he impresseth and carveth upon it, the manifold actings of every soul drawn forth by him, you may take a view of some in the very next chapter to that of my text, 2 Cor. 6, from the 4th verse: 'In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.' What a glorious embroidery upon the soul of a poor believer will in all these things appear, when finished! Ps. 45:13, 14: 'The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needle-work.'

[2.] For his art and workmanship bestowed in the glory of the soul in the other world; if any work (but Christ, God-man) be his master-piece, it is the framing of that house and building spoken of verse 1 of this chapter. 'We have a building of God, a house not made with hand: and the 11th of the Hebrews, ver. 10, expressly useth two artificial words, τεχνίτης, the artificer in it, and δημιουργὸς, the builder of it, that is, who hath shewn his art and skill in building of it. So then in each his workmanship appears. I do but and this towards the confirmation of the main point in hand.

Hath the great God perfected both works upon the soul, as much as he means to work, in heaven? also prepared* a building for it? and will he then (think we) let both lie empty? Of the one, says Heb. 11:16, 'He hath prepared for them a city;' of the soul, in like manner, 'he hath wrought us for this self-same thing.' Will God (think we) leave this his house to stand desolate, when he hath been at such cost in both? Doth any man or landlord build or repair an house, and then let it lie empty, when he hath a tenant fit for it? God is said not to be a foolish builder in respect to perfecting; and he is much less a careless builder, to neglect to take his tenants into it, when both are ready and fitted each for other. This for the first, viz., the consideration of each singly.

(2.) Let us consider them next jointly; that is, as they are in such a manner wrought apart, so as to suit and match one the other, when brought together in that manner, as it must be said of them, 'For this thing hath God wrought us;' yea, and therein it is he hath appeared to be the great God.

For therein, even to wonderment, doth the glory of God in his works appear, and that he is wise in counsel, and wonderful in working, when he hath hiddenly contrived one thing for another, whenas each are in themselves and apart glorious. It is said by David of himself (and it is true of all men in their measure), Ps. 139:15, 'I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth;' that is, in my mother's womb, as the context shews; which are termed the lower parts of the earth, as when Christ is said, Eph. 4, to have 'descended into the lower parts of the earth;' that is, to be conceived in the womb of a virgin. When a child is born, a lump of flesh animated with a soul comes forth curiously wrought, &c., but wrought for what? In David's person (in which this was spoken) it Was for a kingdom, the supremest condition of enjoyments in this world. But in every other man that is born, it is, that he was curiously wrought, in a fitness and capacity to all things that are in this world, made and prepared exactly for it, long afore it came into the world; you may see it in Adam (our first pattern) more lively. God was busy for six days in making this world; the angels all that while stood wondering with themselves to what end, or for whom all this was prepared, Job 38:7. At the end of the sixth day they saw God to set down into the world this little thing called man, and then they ceased their wonderment; for they saw all this world (prepared aforehand) set in man's heart, and all in man curiously wrought and fitted for all things made in this world, richly to enjoy, as 1 Tim. 6:17. We may apply that in the text to this; it appeared, that he that made man for this self-same thing is God; both works of wonder apart, and yet as fitted to each other. All wonderment exceeding—I might much more enlarge upon the suiting of Christ the head and husband, and the church his body and wife, wrought and growing up to him in all ages, both apart secretly and hiddenly prepared, and each so glorious in themselves, and yet put together. Let us refer our admiration hereat until the latter day. Just thus it is in fitting the soul for that glory; and again, that glory in heaven for that soul: God works the one for the other apart. The very similitude in the former verses do import so much; he styleth glory in heaven being a clothed upon, and holiness here he compares to an under garment, which that of glory is to be put over, or upon. There was never a curious artist in making garments that ever took measure of the proportions of an upper and under garment, to fit the one to the other, as God hath in proportioning his work upon us here, and his preparation of glory for each of us in the world to come. He hath took exact measure, and his law is (that designed his own workings on both hands aforehand), that 'every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour,' 1 Cor. 3:8.

Now the artifice of God in both these lies in this, that each are hiddenly contrived apart, and yet so gloriously matched, as wrought one for the other; which is an argument as if two artificers, the one in the East Indies, the other in the West, should the one make the case, the other make the watch, unknown each to other, and both workmanships of the highest curiosity in their kind, and when both brought together they exquisitely it the one the other.

And what, have I been telling you all this while an artificial pleasant story? Doth not this scripture tell the very same? For a close, do but now at last take a view and prospect of our apostle's whole discourse, the round and circle whereof begun at ver. 16 of chap. 4, and endeth with my text; and do you not find it speak (to use the text's language) the very self-same thing?

1. He tells us there of an inward man renewed whilst the outward is a-perishing, to the end it may live and subsist alone, when the body is wholly dissolved (there he lays his foundation). And it not this all one with what the test says? God works us (these souls) day by day, even as the child is curiously wrought in the womb, to subsist of itself alone in this world; so this inward man in that other.

2. He then immediately subjoins, ver. 17, that all afflictions (which are nothing else but the perishings of this outward man), as also all things and dispensations else that do befall us, they are secretly at work too all that while; so set to work by God (who works the inner man daily unto such a measure of grace) and these to work, and by his ordination procure a proportionable weight, for God works all these things in weight and measure;—'our light affliction works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory'—as shall in a comely and in the exactest manner answer and suit that curious workmanship on the inward man; and it is observable that the same word for working is used in that verse that is used in my text; but yet these are but outwardly a-work, as inferior artificers or instruments. Therefore,

3. He further declares, ver. 1 of this chapter, this God himself is at work about this glory, who as the master-workman that hath the draft and platform of all afore him, drawn by his own designing, he viewing the inward work on us, the outward work of means and dispensations, and knows aforehand what degree of holiness to bring us ultimately unto; he according unto these, as patterns, is a-framing a building for us in heaven, exactly suited to the working of all the other, which building he prepares and makes ready for this inner man to entertain it when the body is dissolved: 'If our earthly house were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,' of either men or means, or of our own graces, but of God. But every soul hath a state of glory proportioned to all these, ready built for it against this time; even as statues in stone are framed and carved to be set up in such a curious arch framed for them by the builder. Now then,

4. And but the words of my text, which is the close of this his discourse, and it opens all the scene, 'He that wrought us for the self-same thing is God.' The apostle's couclusion answers his beginning; he began in chap 4. ver. 16, and the circle ends in my text. And this is God, who is wise in working and wonderful in counsel.

Obs. 3. That it is the interest and engagement of all three persons to see to it that a righteous separate soul be brought to glory at dissolution.

And this carries it yet higher, even to the highest, and gives the most superabundant security and assurance of this thing that can be given, and superadds above all the former. But you will ask me how I fetch this out of my text? Thus,

1. You see here are two persons expressly named, God the Father, namely, and the Spirit. This is a rule, that where the name God, and then some other besides of the two persons, Christ or the Spirit, are mentioned therewith as distinct, there God is put personally (not essentially only) to express the Father; now here the Spirit or Holy Ghost is mentioned distinct from God, for it is said that this God 'hath given the Spirit,' which also Christ so often speaketh of the Father as I need not insist on it.

2. It is another rule, that in any scripture where two persons are mentioned as concurring in any thing or matter, there the other third person also must be understood to have his special share therein also, as when he wisheth 'grace and peace from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ;' it is certain the Holy Ghost is as specially understood, as indeed we find him in that apostolical blessing as distinctly spoken of as the Father or Christ. Thus it must be here, Christ must be taken in, who also in John is so often said to give the Spirit when the Father gives him, as it is said here he hath 'for this same thing.'

But, 3, you have even Christ also not far off interested in this self-same thing in the next verse and verse 8: 'absence from the Lord,' whilst in the body, ver. 6; and 'presence with the Lord,' when separate from the body, ver. 8. This Lord is Christ; the phrase of the New Testament concerning Christ runs in this style, to be with Christ, 'this day with me,' to be where I am and see my glory; so Christ. 'To be with Christ,' is best of all; and 'we shall be ever with the Lord.' So Paul.

Use 1. Doth God work us for this thing ere he brings us to it? What hath God wrought hitherto upon thee or thee in order to this end? It is a blunt question, but the text puts it in my mouth, How many souls are there living in the profession of Christianity that know not what this means, to have a work wrought on them, anew upon them, over and above what moral honesty, which was nature's portion, and the common profession of Christianity adds thereunto by custom and mere education? An honest Turk, professing also and observing the principles of his religion, upon the ground of his education only (and a religion every man must have), will as soon go to heaven as thou, for all thy religion is founded but upon the like foundation that his is. I tell thee, that Christian religion is not a thing so cheap, nor salvation by Christ at so low a rate. Thou must have a work upon thy soul suited unto all the truths thus professed, in the power and efficacy of them. They must enter thy soul by a spiritual faith and frame, and mould it anew to a likeness to them. Carry home therefore the caveat our apostle hath put in ver. 3, 'If so be that being clothed, we be not found naked' of grace and holiness wrought, and Christ's righteousness by spiritual efficacious faith applied (faith in earnest), bowing the soul to be obedient unto Christ, as heartily and as honestly as it expects salvation by Christ, as without which thou wilt never be saved. This is our religion; and when at death thy soul, thy poor lonesome soul, being stripped of all things in this world—even the body and all—shall come afore the great God and Jesus Christ, what will the inquiry be? as Mat. 22:11, 'When the king came in to Bee the guests, he saw a man had not the wedding-garment,' he spied him out; 'and the man was speechless,' ver. 12; 'Take him and bind him,' says he, 'and cast him into utter darkness,' ver. 13. The other that were clothed were admitted unto the marriage; and as the psalmist, the words of which are here alluded unto, 'She was brought unto the king' (the very title which in both these places is given to Christ, see ver. 11) 'in raiment of needle-work,' and this clothing is of God's working, and so my text falls in with both; there is no admission unto Christ without it. This is the first use.

Use 2. Hath God begun to work this good work in thee? He will perfect it; whereof the text gives this assurance, that he hath wrought it for this thing, that is, for this end, and God will not lose his end. Besides he says he hath given earnest.

Use 3. Thou saint, be content to live; for whilst thou livest thou art under God's working in order unto glory. Value life; it is a season of being wrought upon; and to be sure thou shalt live no longer than whilst God is some way or other a-working this. What an advantage is it that all thy sins, occasioned by living long, shall surely be forgiven, and nothing of thy score be uncut off for thee, but all the righteousness that is wrought upon thee, and wrought by thee, and therefore wrought by thee because upon thee,—for being wrought upon we work, and all is rather, 'God hath wrought us,' than that we have wrought—all thy righteousness (I say) shall remain for ever. All the time thou remainest in this life thy soul is ripening or maturing for glory.

How great a comfort is that! In explicating the doctrinal part, I gave instance of a child in the womb curiously wrought all that time in order to its living and subsisting afterwards in this world, Ps. 139:15. It is a dark place the womb which the child is wrought in; and it lives there in a stifled condition, it cannot breathe, it takes nourishment but at the navel (a way invented and prepared of God merely for that season), it lies boiling, tossing, and tumbling, and sleeping away the most of its time, and gives now and then a faint stirring to shew it is still alive, and it is a life scarce worth the name of life; well, but all this is a-being wrought and fitted to live another freer and braver life in this world. And this is your present case: your life is hid, it is to come; all that you find in this world is but that God hath wrought you for the self-like thing. And if this child we spake of should be forced out of the womb afore the due time, it would have the more imperfect life in this world; so here, if you could suppose a saint should die afore the full birth of his soul's being wrought on. Therefore be content to wait God's leisure until your change shall come.

Use 4. No matter what befalls thee, so it works towards this end; let whatever be, so thou findest God to go on with this design, that he works upon thy soul; be it upward, in communion with himself, or downward, in disowning thyself, thy vileness and corruptions, so it works. Thou hast afflictions that break thy heart, as reproach broke Christ's heart, says the psalmist in his name; no matter, so they work upon thy soul. Know then that they are set a-work by the hand that sent them, to 'work a far exceeding weight of glory' for thee: 'If by any means' (says Paul), no matter what, so the work go on. A carver comes with his chisels, and cuts off this piece, and cuts into that part of the stone; no matter, a stately statue, bearing the image of some person of honour, is to be set up for perpetuity, and is accordingly a-framing; so, though God carves his image out of thy flesh, no matter. Comfort thyself, and think not much at any condition whilst (as Paul says) it turns to thy salvation. Election sent thee not into this world to have a great name (perhaps God will load it), nor to be rich, or to have power, but to work thee for this self-same thing, and if thou seest that plough a-going (though it makes deep furrows on thy back, yea, heart), yet so that this seed be sown therein, rejoice, 'for thou shalt bring thy sheaves with thee.' For myself, so that I find election pursuing its design, of making me holy, and blessing me with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, as Eph. 1:4, I care not, I would not care, what befalls me in this world.

CHAPTER XIII

Whether the State of Souls are Different After the Resurrection

Whether the state of glory into which separate souls enter after death, and in which they live until the resurrection, be not different from that which they shall possess after that glorious day, and in what the difference consists.

Before I can set forth any positive particulars of their blessedness, I find it necessary to discuss this question, whether there be not two several states of glory after this life.

1. Of souls separate, differing from that which is,

2. After the day of judgment.

Towards the resolution of this,

1. I give this explanation, that I intend not this difference simply of degrees of glory, but of something further, although I confess I know not what term to express it by, as whether I should call them several removes from glory to glory, or several conditions of glory rather than states. However, I think there is more than a difference simply of degrees, for this reason, because differing degrees of glory, in the several persons that are glorified, do accompany each of these states (if so I may call them). As for example, one degree of glory is given to Paul, another to Apollos, or to any one is given ordinary, another to more eminent saints. Such degrees of glory are supposed to accompany them, with a various difference according to their works. The souls of men that die in the Lord have in their separate condition a variety of degrees of glory among them, according to their works; for of them it is said, Rev. 14, that 'their works do follow them,' which is all one as to say, as of the last reward of judgment it is said, they have a blessedness proportionable to what that condition will bear and suit to, or according to their works. For to 'rest from their labours' is equal and alike to all; but of the positive reward it is said, that their works follow them (as the measure of God's dispensation), and follow them to procure an answerable and suitable reward unto that condition which such souls are then in. This difference therefore of degrees runs along through all, from first to last, unto eternity; but differing conditions, or differing states of glory is another thing, and of that is the query to be understood.

The propositions therefore which I assert are these,

I. That there are several states after the separation of the soul, or after death, which the souls of saints do run through.

II. That they attain not their fulness of glory, for all sorts of glory, till after the day of judgment.

It is evident from the instance or example of Christ himself, our pattern and forerunner in all; for that rule which Christ utters upon the point of persecution is general, and will hold true here, that the servant is not above his master, who purchased all that the servant is to enjoy. Now it is evident that Christ himself, as to his soul, did not attain a glory during its separate estate in any proportion like unto that he had when risen again, nor such as he had after he ascended, and was received up to glory, as Paul's speech is, 1 Tim. 3:16. Nay, his soul could not have attained it, although all that which his soul was to suffer was, as himself said, 'It is finished' (and unto the consummation of the sufferings of his soul doth that speech refer); yet his whole person, yea, and his soul, remained still under a state of humiliation, because his body, and in respect thereof his person, had not yet satisfied for the utmost farthing, which remained still to be paid; and therefore it had been improper for his soul to have entered into a fulness of glory whilst that part of the man Jesus, viz., his body, the copartner of that soul, yea, of that person, was under that first curse, which was, 'To dust thou shalt return.' His soul also was in its widowhood or separation, and thereby as yet so far partaker of that first curse, viz., of being severed from the body, which was a part of the curse, and is a forlorn estate of itself in respect to the primitive ordination of God at the first creation of man.

Yea, Christ when ascended had not his full glory, neither hath it until that great day of the resurrection; for he is in expectation of his glory being more completed in the entire conquest of all his enemies, Heb. 10:13. Likewise till then he wants his body, which is the church, which is his fulness, Eph. 1:23, and therefore doth come then to be admired in all his saints: 2 Thes. 1:10, 'When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.' Only this privilege indeed falls on his part, as he is Lord, and the first fruits of all, that as he rose on the third day, to the end that he might not see corruption, so being ordained our forerunner, Heb. 4, and to prepare a place for us, he therefore was first in the mean while to govern the world, and to enter into glory long afore us, he yet expecting our accomplishment, and we being expectants of that full glory he in the mean time enjoys. Hence, therefore, it may well become us, and it may well be entertained by us poor creatures, as to follow our Lord wherever he goes, so to pass through whatever conditions he ran through; and that not only whilst our souls are widows to that other part of manhood, according to nature (and it is becoming that the soul without it should not be perfect), but withal, in respect of that—curse I will not call it now, but—sentence of death pronounced against us all in Adam, which arrested the soul when it was first separated from the body, and is continued during its separate condition. The soul, therefore, cannot be supposed in this estate to have that full enfeoffment unto glory, whilst the other half of man, and itself too, remains under such a sentence.

Hence the stream of the New Testament runs and centres in the great day as carrying away the glory from all afore it; and also, as being 'that day' for the misery of the wicked, as if there were none else till then. All is everywhere almost referred unto that day, both for punishment to the wicked and reward to the godly. The bad are but as kept in prison, 1 Peter 3:19, though with some torment, Luke 16, but the great punishment is to follow after the resurrection and judgment, which is called therefore 'the resurrection of damnation,' John 5:29. I will name but one scripture common to both: 2 Thes. 1:7–9, 'And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.' Insomuch as it was the occasion to the fathers almost generally to speak so low things of this interim condition, and is an occasion unto others either wholly to deny any glory to souls separate, or greatly to diminish from it with respect to the generality of the saints departed, as the papists and others do. And it is certain that the glory of the last day will comparatively rise to be so great, as this of the soul separate hath no glory in comparison of it. And the principles of our common Christianity (which are related in Scripture concerning this point) afford this responsible ground for it, harmonious to reason.

1. For then, and not till then, Christ hath all his saints about him, and himself (as was said) is complete every way.

2. Then, and not till then, it is that the soul and body are united together again, for Christ redeemed the body as well as the soul; and if the fathers were not perfect without us, Heb. 11:40, then by the same reason is not the soul perfect without the body. God's charge to Christ was, as to lose none of his number, so to lose οὐδὲν, nothing of them, and therefore not only to entertain their souls, but also to raise their bodies. John 6:39, 'And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' God hath the soul of Abraham with him, but still he reckons he hath not Abraham, that is, the whole of him, until the resurrection; for from thence Christ argues that Abraham must rise, because God is called Abraham's God, Mat. 22:32.

3. At the latter day, and not till then, there comes to be a full assembly of all saints: 2 Thes. 1:10; 'When he shall come to be glorified in all them that believe.' He shall then have all about him, and his body complete; and till then, before that time, it will still be said, as in another case, there are brethren not yet fulfilled. A general assembly there falls not out until then; and if it was reasonable to quiet the separate souls to stay till the rest of their brethren should be killed, then it is as reasonable to quiet them to stay out their full glory, till all of the saints (whether to be killed or not) are fulfilled, or their number accomplished, πληρώσονται, that so, as Christ says, 'All may rejoice together,' John 4:36.

4. There is the solemnity, the pomp of Christ's entrance, when (as the apostle to the Hebrews, Heb. 1:6, speaks), where God bringeth his first begotten into the world, attended with all the angels, and appearing in the utmost glory of his Father, on purpose to be admired in his saints, and by the glory he bestows upon them. No wonder, then, if the great glory be reserved to that day, whereas this admission of our souls in the mean time unto glory is as a secret entrance incognito, as we say, which is done every day, and apart singly.

5. The glory of our souls in the mean while is but an occasional dispensation for a short time, and brought in by death the fruit of sin. They are in the case of friends, who by some present disaster are put out of house and home, and come to us unawares and on the sudden. This condition is occasioned by the curse upon Adam's fall, Thou shalt die. Souls thereupon returning to God, do recommend themselves into his hands, as driven out of house and home. He therefore bestows them, as it were, in the mean while, as well as may be for that condition. He lodgeth them in beds, Isa. 57:2, conveniently, suitably to that their estate, but this is but for shift, and till they shall be better provided for; but the glory after the latter day was the great thing designed afore sin or death fell out, or redemption from sin. That fulness of glory the body and soul was ordained unto is the centre of all God's decrees concerning us. It is regnum antemundanum, and it shall remain for ever without any accident or change to intervene or interupt it. 'We shall be ever with the Lord,' whereas afore, though our souls were with the Lord, yet so as Christ and we seem for a season to part, and our souls come down into our bodies, and rise to meet the Lord (as the same place shews), but this latter dispensation of glory is once for all, and to hold to eternity one and the same unchangeably, 1 Thes. 4:16, 17. The dead in Christ shall rise, and then be caught up to meet the Lord: 'And so we shall be ever with the Lord.' That is the condition afterwards, which admits not (no, not for the twinkling of an eye) so much as any looking off from him, much less a parting for ever. No wonder then, if God hath so reserved the splendour of glory for that day, and then makes a new state of glory, as if there had been no glory afore.

The third is, 1, to find out what is common to the estate of glory of a separate soul, [what it] hath in common with the state after the day of judgment.

2. To find out what is properly belonging to the state of its separation.

1. That we may find out what is common to both states, it is meet for us here to know and consider that under the same expressions found in Scripture common unto both, there is yet intended a vast difference and disproportion in the glory vouchsafed either to the one or the other. Therefore we must be aware of such expressions, and not presently think that the same are used common to both, therefore the same state of glory is indifferently intended. Two great errors I conceive have been committed about this matter.

(1.) That the New Testament speaking so high and great things of the glory both at and after the day of judgment, the glory of the souls separate hath been too much eclipsed to some apprehensions, and utterly denied by others, and but carelessly and negligently spoken of by most, especially the ancients.

(2.) Others treating of it do hand overhead, and confusedly shuffle together,* or apply what is said of the one unto the other, in such a manner as if there were not any difference as to the soul's condition in either state, but only that the body is glorified at last; whereas certainly, by what the Scripture speaks, there must be found a vastly differing disproportion between those two states, and that not alone in respect of the conjunction of the body to the soul (which alone would not be so much, if the soul's happiness in itself were not in its proportion therewith also advanced), but in respect of God's communications of himself to the soul itself, the proper vessel of glory. I may safely say of this difference what the apostle in comparing the estate of the law and gospel doth, 2 Cor. 3:10, 'That which is made glorious' in this separate estate, 'hath no glory in respect of that which excelleth' at and after the day of judgment.

Now that which hath occasioned this promiscuous or confused way of handling the blessedness of both estates (as in respect to the soul), as if they were one and the same, hath been this, that the Scriptures utter the happiness of each estate in many things under one and the same expressions as common to both, and therefore it is inferred from thence that the thing itself is but one and the same, without any such excessive disproportion to be found between them, especially seeing that in that state after the day of judgment there is but only an addition of glory to our bodies then conjoined, but that of the soul is one and the same in both states. As, for instance, it is said that the state of separate souls is a being with Christ, which, as Paul says, is best of all, and what is there said more of that state after the day of judgment? The place also wherein the souls are afore the day of judgment is said to be the heavens, and the same is said of the place after that day; and therefore it would seem that there should not be any such difference between the one and the other. This is a common apprehension and inference therefrom. I shall endeavour to contribute some things in general unto the clearing of these confused entanglements about this matter, by these three assertions or conclusions.

1. That indeed the same expressions are used of the blessedness of the soul in both conditions, yet,

2. That these expressions must still be understood with a vast difference and disproportion. Which,

3. I shall confirm from this, that the very same expressions are used in Scripture of extraordinary communions with God and Christ in this life, that are used of the state of souls either separate afore or after the day of judgment; between which yet and that in heaven all do acknowledge a vast difference. And the inference from all will be, that notwithstanding the same expressions of these two states in glory, yet a great and exceeding difference may be found between them.

1. The same expressions indeed are used of both states.

(1.) Both are called a crown, which is given to that state of souls immediately after death: Rev. 2:10, 'Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.' And yet a new crown shall be set upon our heads at the latter day, 2 Tim. 4:8, 1 Pet. 5:4, 2 Tim. 1:18; all which places refer to our crowning at the latter day.

(2.) Both states are a being present with Christ. The condition of the soul, when absent from the body, 2 Cor. 5:8, is said to be present with the Lord, and to be with Christ, which is best of all. In like manner, of that state after the day of judgment it is said, 'We shall ever be with the Lord,' 1 Thes. 4:17. That expression also in John 17 is spoken of both states, 'that they may be with me,' says Christ, 'where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me.'

(3.) Both are termed the sight of God and Christ. That state after the latter day is so called: 1 John 3:2, 'Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.' When he shall appear, namely, at the latter day. And he speaks it as if we had never seen him afore, and as if then only we began to see him, and then also only began to be like him. And therefore a late writer doth boldly restrain that sight (1 Cor. 13:12, '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') unto that of the latter day, for this reason, that Paul there not expressing whether he spake of the resurrection or the state in the mean time, therefore John here determines it, and confines that also spoken by Paul unto our seeing him at the latter day.* But it is certain that our souls shall see him afore, 2 Cor. 5:6, 7. Then it is, when we are in the body, that we walk by faith, and not by sight; but when absent from the body, we are so present with the Lord, as we walk by sight, as the opposition of sight unto faith there shews.

2. I now come to shew, that though the same expressions are used, yet we are to understand the latter state of the soul after the resurrection, as still exceeding the former, with a vast difference and disproportion, which will much reconcile Scripture, and dissolve doubts about this doctrine; the assertion is made out many ways.

(1.) All the saints are in the mean while presented as expectants, and so to have their eyes fixed on the last day, as if they overlooked this middle state between. And yet this interim of the soul's blessedness is a part of their eternity, 2 Cor. 5:1, Luke 16:9, where in both places that eternal house, and those eternal habitations, are spoken of the separate soul's condition. Thus in the Old Testament, David's expectation was, Ps. 17:15, 'When I awake' (that is, at the resurrection), 'I shall be satisfied with his image.' And thus Job also speaks, Job. 19:23–26. And again, in the New Testament, the character of a believer is, a person waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Thus the Corinthians are described, 1 Cor. 1:7. Thus the Thessalonians are deciphered, 1 Thes. 1:10. It was Christ's coming that their hope fixed and terminated on.

(2.) Yea, the separate souls that are in heaven wait for it, Rev. 6, and are comforted with this, that they shall stay but till the number of God's elect is fulfilled. That place also in Job 14:14, 'If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come.' Ainsworth in his book entitled Communion of Saints, interprets of the soul's waiting after death, till that great change shall be at the resurrection; of which change it is elsewhere said, that 'he shall change our vile bodies, like unto his glorious body, Philip. 3:21, and 1 Cor. 15:51. It was that which the eye of Job's soul was then, and should all along the time of his lying in the grave, be fixed upon.

(3.) Yea, Christ's hope whilst his body lay in the grave (although his soul was in paradise), was fixed on the glory after his resurrection: Ps. 16:9, 10, 'Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope: for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.'

(4.) Yea, the whole creation is brought in as waiting together with us: Rom. 8:19, 23, 'For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies.' The apostle here holds up that glory which is that day to be bestowed, as the great glory indeed; in the fore-view of which it was, that those primitive saints 'reckoned not the sufferings of this present time worthy to be compared with the glory then to be revealed,' ver. 18; namely, at the redemption of our bodies spoken of, verse 23.

(5.) The reward of the saints is so spoken of, as if not any at all were given until that day; so 2 Tim. 4:8, 'Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing;' which is also called 'Christ his day,' or 'the day of the Lord Jesus,' 1 Cor. 1:8, chap. 5:5, 2 Cor. 1:14, Philip. 1:6, chap. 2:16; 'the day of redemption,' Eph. 4:30; and κατʼ ἐξοχὴν, 'that day,' 1 Thes. 5:4, 2 Thes. 1:10, 2 Tim. 1:12, 18; and the day unto which our reward is referred, as in those places is withal held forth; and in like manner Peter also speaks, 1 Epistle 1:4, that their life of hope lies in expectation of an 'inheritance reserved in heaven for them, ready to be revealed in the last times.'

(6.) The punishments of wicked men in hell, as well as this glory to be revealed, are both one and the other alike spoken of as then only, and not afore to begin. 2 Thes. 1:8–10, 'In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,' &c. And this is spoken of that time 'when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, which is at that day.' And the spirits of wicked men are said to be in prison, 1 Peter 3:19, and tormented, Luke 16:25, and the soul is said to be killed and cast into hell after the body is killed, as well as soul and body at the latter day, Luke 12:4, 5. That which is inferred from hence at least is, that there is a super-excelling weight of glory then to be revealed, and communicated, which is hid in God till then (as in Col. 3:3, the apostle speaks), even as there was a surpassing glory of things of the gospel, that lay hid in God during the times of the Old Testament, as Eph. 3:9, and it may raise up our hearts unto an infinity of expectation of what this glory will rise up to in the end, by what we yet hear and read is the glory of souls separate afore that day. As Job saith of God, 'How little do we know of him!' so as little can we know what he can or will do for his children, and what entertainments he hath for them in the other worlds, he who hath an incomprehensible power to effect, and an eternity of time before him to perform all in. When we hear of this next state of souls, and the glory thereof, we cannot imagine what better thing there is, or can be yet behind which shall so much exceed; and yet there is so great an one as this foregoing comes not into remembrance, as the prophet speaks.

3. The third assertion, which tends to reconcile these two, is, that the like or some* expressions are used of such special manifestations of God and Christ to the soul, through faith here on earth, that are used of either of these states of glory. And therefore look, as a vast difference is found between such dispensations on earth from those in heaven, so why upon the premises may not such a disproportion likewise be understood in an analogy between those two states of glory, under one and the same expressions? Especially, if we make up the parallel, that look as there is a vast difference between those special dispensations on earth, and such other as are ordinarily vouchsafed to faith whilst we are on earth, so in a parallel way may in their spheres the like be found between those two states. Now the instances that prove the same expressions to be used of God's special manifestations in this life, that are also used of the state of glory, are many.

(1.) These manifestations are styled the sight of God. Thus Job, speaking of an extraordinary manifestation of God unto him, Job 42:5, and comparing therewith his experiences in former times, 'I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,' saith he, 'but now mine eye seeth thee.' Thus in like manner the prophet speaks: Isa. 6:5, 'Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts,' which Christ interprets of 'seeing his own glory,' John 12. Now, Job plainly termeth that his own last and present manifestation vouchsafed him sight, in so vast a way of difference from all former ways of knowledges of God vouchsafed, or whatever foregone discoveries had been made unto faith, that he terms those but as an hearing of the ear, as if it were by another sense, at least a lower sense, but this latter was by sight. And indeed such revelations, which he thus terms sight, are of the highest kind of those vouchsafed in this life, having 'joy unspeakable and full of glory' to accompany them; which we yet find denied by the apostle Peter to be sight, in comparison of the lowest state in heaven, 1 Peter 1 ver. 8, in those words, 'In whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.' This therefore of Job's and Peter's was indeed but faith, and not sight, in comparison to that of the soul's after this life, of which Peter speaks, verse 9, terming the salvation of their souls the next end and reward of their faith. Take any Christian that walks by ordinary faith (which is but as walking in the common daylight of the sun, be it overcast), and let him be set down with Job's light, and his spirit be raised up to that presence and revelation that was made of God to Job, and that soul will instantly say, Now I see God so as I never did afore. And yet his former faith must be acknowledged a sight of God; but this latter to differ as much from the former as a man walking in a clear sunshine day, that looks full upon the sun itself, doth differ from his walking in the ordinary daylight in a dark, cloudy day. Thus far doth faith thus elevated differ and transcend itself at such times, and yet at this its highest elevation it is still but faith, but yet so far exceeding that ordinary convene with God by faith, that it is as no sight in comparison thereunto; for faith at this its highest elevation is but of 'things not seen,' Heb. 11. Why then may it not without offence be said, that vision or sight of God and Christ which we shall have at the latter day, shall be so far raised and elevated above what our souls enjoyed afore, as it will in comparison be as if we had never seen them; and yet both may be justly termed (as they are) the sight of God and Christ, utterly differing from that of faith in this life; for the sight is not as in a glass only, as that of faith is said to be, but face to face, each of them, as the apostle, speaking at once of the sights of both those states to come in the other world in opposition to that of faith, expresseth it, 1 Cor. 13:12. The sun, if it were further removed up into the heavens, would seem but as a star; and therefore some have fancied each star to be a sun, though at such a distance they seem so small to us as they do. Or if one looks through an inverted optic glass to view the sun, yet then it appears but as a star; but turn the other end, and it appears the sun indeed. Now, unto the souls separate (though in heaven) Christ is but as the morning star, Rev. 22:16, in comparison of what at the latter day God and Christ will appear to be.

(2.) A second instance, that the same expressions are used of communions with God in this life that are used of those after, is the phrase of seeing God's face, which all acknowledge the highest expression of that glory in which the utmost of the blessedness in heaven doth consist; yet even this is attributed to an high communion with God in this life. Thus it is said of Jacob, Gen. 32:30, 'And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for,' says he, 'I have seen God face to face.' It was spoken of an extraordinary drawing near of God to him; and so Moses also expresseth himself, Exod. 33:11, 'And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,' &c. And yet he saw but his back parts: ver. 23, 'And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen.'

(3.) In this life, under the gospel, we behold 'the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christi,' 2 Cor. 4:6; which yet is made the difference between what is vouchsafed to us in the state of glory, 1 Cor. 13:12, and what we see in this life; and yet again the same is used of the kingdom of Christ, Rev. 22:3. In like manner in that holy of holies in the heavens, where Christ now is, and where we shall be with him after the day of judgment, the sight of God is termed a seeing his face and enjoying his presence. So Christ, Ps. 16:11, speaks of it: 'In thy presence is fulness of joy;' and therefore, Heb. 9:24, he is said to appear ad faciem Dei, before the face of God (so Beza renders it), or in the presence of God, as our translation hath it.

(4.) The phrase of being with God and Christ is alike used of strong communion with God in this life, and also of that happiness in both states hereafter. David having his heart for some time taken up a-morning with strong fellowship with God, says of it, Ps. 139:18, 'When I awake, I am still with thee,' even in this life. And of the soul's state in paradise the like expression is used; 'To-day,' says Christ, 'shalt thou be with me in paradise.' 'To be with Christ,' says the apostle, 'is best of all.' It is spoken of the state of the soul after dissolution. Then, again, the same phrase is also used of the state after the day of judgment, 1 Thes. 4:17, 'Then we shall be for ever with the Lord.'

(5.) The phrase of dwelling in God is alike used of all states. In this life we dwell in God by ordinary communion: 1 John 4:15, 'Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God'; and in extraordinary manifestations the soul dwells in God: John 14:21, 'He that keeps my word, my Father will love him, and I will love him, and manifest myself unto him.' And, ver. 23, 'We will come to him, and make our abode with him.' The same expression is used of the states of souls, 2 Cor. 5:1, 'We have an house of God,' which is interpreted, Rev. 7:15, 'that God shall dwell upon;' so it is in the Greek. Finally, and above all, after the day of judgment, Christ will then give up his present kingdom to his Father, and God shall be all in all, 1 Cor. 15, and the kingdom he shall then give up lies in the dispensation and communication of himself to the souls now in heaven; for during the time allotted his kingdom, he is as much in heaven as in earth, Mat. 28:18. And how much this communication of God, when he is all in all, will exceed what is the communication of himself to the blessed saints now, none but God and Christ himself do or can know.

If further unto these several sorts of dispensations, through pure faith vouchsafed to Job and others, serving to illustrate the like difference in the other world, we shall also add those visions and revelations made unto Stephen and Paul, whilst they were in this life, it will much conduce to enhance the disproportion between two states of glory. For Stephen, to whom the heavens were opened, saw otherwise than by faith the glory of God, and Christ standing at his right hand; and yet this sight was but afar off, and but with his bodily eyes. Now, assuredly, when his soul was out of that his body, he had a sight of both God's glory and of Christ, that transcended this, which his soul had, whilst abiding in flesh and blood, or indeed was capable of; seeing flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God in that manner, as when the soul is unclothed thereof. Some of the fathers, speaking of the receptacles of souls, term them atria à longè, but as the courts or suburbs of heaven, and as afar off in comparison; and those separate spirits they style souls sub altare, 'under the altar,' as signifying, that in that state they do not see, nor can see the glory of God, and Christ at the right hand, in that manner as after the end of the world they shall see them; whereas of that other state their expressions are, that they shall be super altare, placed above the altar; yea, in the holy of holies (say I), and so behold God and Christ in a nearer manner.

If this comparison made of Stephen's sight, which was above the sight of faith, and yet below what his soul after enjoyed, be not sufficient to demonstrate the difference aforesaid, then let us climb a step higher. Paul at his conversion had seen Christ appearing in his glory, Acts 9, as Stephen had done, and yet his soul was preferred to an higher sight, whilst he was rapt up into the heavens; and yet during that while also he remained and continued but an appurtenance of this world, an inmate belonging thereunto, and was to come down and live here again as formerly; and yet this his rapture, and revelations, and visions, did far exceed either that of his own vouchsafed him at his first conversion, or that of Stephen's; so as his face shining with it he was a candidate or rather inceptor of glory. And yet still we must say that Paul's separate soul, when it was carried into heaven and made perfect, did and doth to this hour enjoy that fruition of God and Christ which all his visions amounted not unto. For why? He was not then admitted into the state and number of the blessed ones, but only taken up as a stander-by, that overheard things unspeakable; and yet this vision infinitely exceeded any revelation of any kind or degree formerly made to his faith or afterwards.

I conclude then, if God's manifestations in this life admit such variety of ascents as we see by all these instances they have done, why may not God's dispensations yet remaining for us in the other world be framed unto so vast a disproportion as I have been arguing for?

CHAPTER XIV

A particular enumeration of the glories of that state into which the separate soul enters immediately after death.

The Revelation being for the most part the representation of a long and sad story of martyrdoms and sufferings of the church, ending in a glorious kingdom of Christ, God was pleased to intermingle special comforts, suited to those sufferings in the mean while, till that kingdom shall appear. The deaths and martyrdoms of saints are everywhere up and down related in that book in several ages; as chap. 2:3, 10, 13, 19; chap. 3:10; chap. 6:9–11; chap. 11:7–10; chap. 12:11, 13, 17; chap. 13:7, 10, 15; chap. 14:12, 13.

2. Our* character of the primitive saints (for all the rest) is in Rev. 12:11, 'They loved not their lives unto the death.' I may say, that as the apostles were 'set forth unto death last,' so these Christians first, not in time only, but for eminency. Saints have more cause to prize their lives for the opportunity of serving God in this life than other men; yet that part of life they might have lived until natural death, and therein have done service unto God, they valued not; those that were young did not value it, but gave it up.

Now observe we his method of comforts for them, and all the saints from first to last, and all along.

1. In the very prologue to that body of prophecy that follows (chap. 5:10), ere any seals were opened, or trumpets blown, the representatives of the whole church comfort themselves with this, 'we shall reign on earth.' They looked on this, as that which would be the close and conclusion, whatever falls out in the mean time until then. And as answering thereunto, at the very end and close of all, we find the event to correspond, Rev. 20:4, 6. Then when all enemies are destroyed, and after so long a time in suffering run out, this kingdom fore-understood by them is then given them. But yet still to shew what; their souls should have in the mean time (for it was a long time unto the kingdom, especially to those first saints well nigh two thousand years), Christ takes special care to insert in this book, what the state of their souls after death should be till then; and he doth it setly, and at large, upon two eminent occasions. There were two eminent times of sufferings, and ranks of sufferers; 1, those under heathenish Rome, till Christianity overcame the red dragon; 2, from antichrist, or Christian Rome, the beast. Now observe,

1. That in the midst of, or rather against, the time of the greatest persecutions under heathenish Rome, Christ to comfort them all tells them what glory he would in the mean time give their souls: Rev. 6:9–11, 'And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes 'were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also sad their brethren that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled.' This is spoken but to the first rank of sufferers, the first fruits of sufferers by heathenish Rome, and that now under the fifth seal, at the last and greatest of their sufferings, in Diocletian's time. He chose there to insert it, though it was intended for all that suffered afore also, as those words shew, 'O Lord, how long?' They had brethren, you see, to come; they had another company that were to suffer under another power, antichristian Rome: Rev. 13:10, 'He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that killed with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.' Lo, God, who speaks once and twice, speaks a second time in special to those, as he had-done to those other, and that upon the occasion of a most eminent and general suffering by that beast: Rev. 14:12, 13, 'Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'

Wherein, 1, observe the juncture of the time wherein it is spoken; and to this purpose take notice, that this 14th chapter describes that company which Christ had had all along antichrist's reign, ver. 1, 2, &c. (as the 13th chapter had done antichrist's adherents); and the 14th chapter describes also the several progresses of the gospel by three degrees: and when it came to the third degree, ver. 9, that professors enlightened by the gospel began boldly and with a loud voice to challenge that beast of Rome to be the beast or antichrist, and that they would all be damned, ver. 10, if they entertained not the gospel, which was done by Luther, &c., then arose the greatest persecution that ever had been afore. The time hereof lasted long, between Luther's first preaching and the reformation, or quiet harvest by supreme authority crowned, which follows: ver. 14–16, 'And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the throne thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.' It was a great time of sufferings. Thus twice God spake it, and that a part unto each.

Then, 3, at the 20th chapter he speaks at once to both, when all sufferings were over, and comforts them with the coming in of that kingdom or new Jerusalem, which they had rejoiced so to think of aforehand at the first, when it was as then almost two thousand years off.

1. The first sort is those that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the word of God, those who were the primitive sufferers, witness that Jesus was their Lord, and King, and Saviour, and that themselves were Christians; that was their testimony.

2. Another sort is those which 'had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.'

And, 3, the first promise made, chap. 5, is prophesied of to be fulfilled, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, and had the honour of being priests and kings, which from the first was said of them: chap. 1 ver. 6, 'And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father.'

Let me add this; I take it, the promises unto the overcomers at the close of every epistle to the seven churches, are for the most part, if not all of them, made concerning the blessed state of the souls of saints in heaven, and in Christ's kingdom afore the day of judgment, which I shall now describe to you, from particular instances concerning the state of a believer's soul departed, collected for the most part out of the book of the Revelation.

Having by these generals made my way, I come to the particulars that any way concern, or that are ingredient into, the glory of souls separate.

1. When the soul goes forth out of the body at death, the second death hath no power over it: Rev. 2:11, 'He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.' This promise is unto one who hath finished his course with a victory, which is at death, and so still in the close of all those epistles it runs, 'to him that overcometh;' and in the verse afore, ver. 10, it is expressly declared, that that overcoming is at death, as having been a conflict until then: 'Be faithful unto death,' &c. The promise therefore concerns the soul at, and upon, and so after death; and hence, to comfort them at and against that first death, it is said that the second death shall not hurt them, namely, then. This negative in view may seem but a small matter to the expectations of believers, but it is a great matter to us as sinners. For,

(1.) It imports that the devil, that hath the power of death, shall not lay an hand, or so much as a finger-touch, on them. A believer doth then after Christ's example commend his soul into the hands of God, and 'God, as a faithful creator,' 1 Peter 4:19, will be sure to keep them from Satan's clutches. When thy soul goes forth, he shall not hurt nor fright thee; for God will give him a charge, as he did to Laban concerning Jacob. There was a dispute indeed between a good angel and the bad in Jude, what should be done with Moses's body, but not the least altercating word passed about his soul; and God will cut off all disputes about thy soul also, as he did about the soul of Moses. God himself secured that from all debates of angels, good or bad, about it. Some have understood those words, Deut. 34:5 (which according to the Hebrew are read, 'Moses died,' ad os Domini, 'at the mouth of the Lord'), with this paraphrase (which some of the Jewish writers also did conceive to be the sense), ad osculum oris Domini, 'at the kiss of the mouth of the Lord.'* Even as the nearest loving friend (as was the Roman manner) useth to take the last breath of his dying friend into his body with a kiss, that so did God suck out Moses's soul into himself.

But believers have a plainer warrant, and clearer word of testimony (however that paraphrase is elegant), from the apostle, Heb. 2:14, that 'Christ through death, having destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil, hath (thereby) delivered us from the fear of death' (and so of the fear of the devil at our death), unto the fear of which all men are justly subject, not at death only, but 'all their lifetime.' But believers have no cause at all of any such fear, for that of our Saviour added may mightily add to our comfort at that hour: John. 5:24, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.' This is a great privilege for a man apt to fear that when his soul is forth the devils may appear about him. But do not fear; Hands off, says Christ. Thou carriest a passport and safe conduct with thee, signed and sealed; and if thou need not fear the second death, thou needest not fear the devil, that hath the power of that death.

2. Thy soul shall have angels to wait on thee, to take thy soul when it comes forth, as the midwife doth the child, when it comes forth of the womb. The angels carried Lazarus's soul into Abraham's bosom, Luke 16:22. The devils take others' souls away. Of apostates while they live, Christ says, that 'men shall take them,' John 15, as the Pharisees did Judas, which is an heavy judgment. But at death the devils take their souls: Luke 12:20, 'This night they shall require thy soul.' Who are those they? Hell is a prison; so in Peter, 1 Peter 5, Luke 12:58, 'And the judge delivers to the officer, and the officer casts in prison.' This officer is the devil, that hales souls to that prison, and therefore Paul says of him, that he 'hath the power of death.' Indeed, at the day of judgment the good angels, Mat. 25, are said to throw both men and devils to hell, but until then the devils are the chief leaders of wicked men's souls to hell.

Now that the good angels should do this for us at death, it is for state, and to grace us, as kings send some great noblemen of their court to attend those they would honour into their great city, and unto court; and it is by this Christ shews his value of us. And as at the latter day, when the wedding is to be solemnised, he will come himself and fetch us—John 14:3, 'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also,'—so now at death in the mean while he sends his angels to bring his espoused unto him.

3. The soul is in heaven instantly. It was three o'clock afternoon when Christ died, and about after six the day ended; and the even of the passover the next day began soon after, as the Jewish scruple shews, about the thieves hanging on the cross any part of that day to come; for which they brake their legs to despatch them afore the evening, which was the beginning of that next day; as you read, John 19:31, 32. And Christ knowing what would fall, and that they should die afore that evening of that next day began, spake unto the good thief on this wise: 'This day thou shalt be with me in paradise;' that is, afore night comes. Heaven is ready long since, and reserved for you, 1 Peter 1:4, 5, and thy soul hath been preparing and making meet for it, and in an instant it is 'swallowed up of life,' 2 Cor. 5:4. And the angels, like the sunbeams or flames of fire, are swift of flight, 'flying swiftly,' as the angel Gabriel said to Daniel, Dan. 9:21. And hence, as soon as thou beginnest to be 'absent from the body,' or ceasest to be at home in the body, thou art 'present with the Lord.' And 'if this body be dissolved,' ἔχομεν, 'we have an house ready prepared,' for Christ went to prepare it, John 14; and he hath prepared for every soul his proper apartment, Mat. 20:23.

4. At thy dying, so far as thou hast been 'rich in faith and good works,' thy heart will be strengthened, both at death and thy passage to heaven, 'to lay hold upon eternal life,' 1 Tim. 6:18, 19. And as thou art just a-coming thither, and near to set thy first foot on that most holy ground, thou shalt find a 'rich entrance,' πλουσίως, or an 'abundant large entrance' into those holy courts. Those 'everlasting doors,' the broad gates of heaven, will be thrown wide open for thee, for lo, here comes an heir, a rich heir of life.*

5. Either at the instant of death, or in that passage to heaven, thy soul shall be fully purified from sin, and made perfectly holy, Heb. 10:23. The church in heaven is said to consist of angels (whose style is the holy angels), and of 'the spirits of just men made perfect.' These just men, whilst men, and their souls abiding in their bodies, were but just imperfectly, though just in God's acceptation (as Job, and others we read); but the souls of these men now when separate are made perfect; that is, in that sort of righteousness (their sanctification) wherein they were deficient afore. To the same purpose the apostle speaks: 1 Cor. 13:9, 10, 'For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.' It is to be understood of a comparison between the state of this life, which is the time and condition wherein we are imperfect, and oppositely to that other state, when this life is ended. 'Now we know but in part, and prophesy in part.' And there is the like reason of holiness, we are holy but in part. And that it is after this life ended that that which is perfect doth begin, is evident from these words, 'when that which is perfect comes, that which is imperfect is done away;' and é contra, when that which is in part is done away, then that which is perfect comes. Now at and upon death it is that knowledge and prophesying are done away, and therefore then it is that perfection begins; and although that way of knowledge or faith, which now we have, is done wholly away, yet love (verse 8), and so holiness, fails not, but is perfected. And the reason for this is, because God then takes up our souls into 'the presence of his glory,' for us to 'know him as we are known,' &c., which though it may admit of degrees, as the comparison of that after the day of judgment shews, yet it is for the kind of it a being admitted unto the glory of God, and not to know 'as in a glass,' but 'face to face.' Now though the knowledge of God, as imperfectly revealed in the way of faith, may consist with an answerable imperfect holiness (as here it doth), yet the communication and revelation of the glory of God itself unto sight, cannot consist with imperfect holiness. For if so, then it would be with a mixture of sin remaining, which God, who is a consuming fire to all sin, and every degree thereof, will not, and cannot bear, and the soul itself would have more torment than happiness in such a sight. Moses could not see God's face and live, but when he was made perfect he might. David says, 'I will behold thy face in righteousness,' Ps. 17:15, which otherwise he could not behold. The substance of this reason we find in Jude 24, 'Now to him that is able to keep you from falling;' that is, into any grosser evil (for he speaks that of his keeping us in the midst of indwelling corruptions in this life); 'and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.' This is when this life is ended, and immediately succeeds the former, for there is no keeping us from falling in that other world, for the danger of sinning is over. But then we, being to be admitted to the presence of his glory, must be found faultless, for that presence of his glory can endure no spot, or imperfection in our grace, no, not the least. That the souls of saints are 'present with the Lord,' the apostle often tells us, 2 Cor. 5:8; and that we are admitted to the presence of his glory, that instance of Stephen shews, that Stephen when dying saw his glory, Acts 7:55; and verse 59, he died crying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;' that is, in respect unto a being received unto that presence of his glory, it was that our dying Stephen, when his soul was now departing, cries, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Now unto what it is that Christ receives our souls that Rom. 15:7 informs us: 'As Christ,' says he, 'hath received us unto the glory of God.' There indeed it is spoken of his having received us into the right of that glory in this life; but this new receiving us at death is, and must therefore be, his receiving us unto the possession of it, which in this life we have not, and otherwise there were no new act of receiving, nor addition to the former, now when we come to die.

If any doubt or scruple ariseth in thee from hence, that thou findest at present an infinite depth of sin, lusts, and corruptions, and the greater part of thy heart like that of the earth overflown with that sea; if thou art troubled, that thou hast had experience of so slow a procedure, and of so difficult a winning ground upon them for many years, though thou hast by faith been continually applying Christ's death to them; and if hereupon thou art ready to say, How then shall I hope and believe, that in an instant all those corruptions will be purged out, and holiness perfected in me? for answer, consider,

1. That in this work thy soul is merely passive, whereas in working out of corruptions whilst thou livest here, God goes the pace of thine own faith and endeavours, and attempers his work thereto: Rom. 8:13, 'If you through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh.' But in this last completing and filling up of holiness, God doth that alone upon thee, as a reward of thy former imperfect endeavours, and as a part indeed, or rather foundation, of glorifying of thee; and therefore, look as in believing thou art passive, so in this.

2. It is a new state and condition that thou art at death entering into, differing from faith. Thy enjoyment of God after death is to be by sight, and accordingly thy soul must be disposed for it, which it cannot be but by perfect holiness; and therefore the like time and pauses to work out corruption as were during the life of faith are not to be expected. God suits the dispensation answerable unto the state and condition he puts us into.

3. You may help your faith in this, by considering the great change which at the latter day shall be in a moment wrought upon the bodies of the saints, by him who 'shall change our vile bodies to be like unto his glorious body, through his power by which he subdueth all things to himself.' The bodies of these saints that are then alive shall, 'in the twinkling of an eye, be changed,' and of mortal be made immortal, and of natural bodies spiritual, and the bodies of them in the grave, that not stink only, but are rotted there, and the atoms and dust of many of them scattered and dispersed, in an instant God will work that great change which the apostle so much celebrates, 1 Cor. 15. And why shouldst thou not believe the same for thy soul? especially seeing thou hast had experience of so great a change wrought in thee in thy regeneration, from the state and power of sin that once held thee, which was a far greater change than this, being but of degrees of holiness; but that was a change from a total state of sin, and the power of it, unto holiness, though imperfect.

6. There is a great solemnity used upon the soul's arrival and first coming thither. I shall take my first rise from that 24th of Jude, 'Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.' There are two words that import thus much: 1. A presenting to himself afore the presence of his glory; 2. A doing this with exceeding joy or triumph.

1. That latter of exceeding joy is a joy on all hands, both on the soul's part, which now first enters into joy, and which, to be sure, hath good cause to rejoice. The believing soul rejoiced when it saw not Christ, but only believed on him; and it rejoiced with a joy unspeakable; much more now then when it sees him. There is joy also of the glorified saints, especially of those that knew thee, and were there afore thee, who are therefore said to receive us when we die into their eternal habitations, Luke 16:9. It is spoken after the manner of men, as friends use to entertain and welcome strangers formerly known to them that come from far, though they belonging to the same country themselves were in afore them. And if there be joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner among the angels, as Christ says, then there is joy at the new coming of such a soul to heaven, especially among those angels that bring them thither, and among those other saints fore-mentioned. But, above all, there is joy in the heart of God and Christ. For if there be joy in thine own heart, and in the angels and saints, much more in Christ's heart; for Christ hath the great purchase of his blood now come home, and his long expected venture is now arrived safe, and past all danger. And there is the same joy in the heart of God, who chose thee, and had set his heart upon thee from everlasting, and thou comest home to himself, having been sent for by him, when thou hadst been long absent from him, and wandering in a sinful miserable world. Did the father of the prodigal rejoice, and make a feast, and justify by this that 'it was meet he should make merry and be glad, because he that was lost is found'? Luke 15; then meet it is also in its proportion that there should be the like joy when a soul that hath been absent from God his Father and his Father's house, John 14:1, 2, so many years, and during all that space in great danger of having been lost through manifold temptations and hazards, and which had been all along so miraculously kept, and 'preserved in Christ' (as is said in the first verse of this our Jude), it is very meet that when he first arrives, and appears in the presence of his Father, there should likewise be great rejoicing; and there is great cause for it; and indeed the same reason is for this as was for the other. And truly, whosoever will consider each word used here, as, 1, presented to himself (now so as not afore), and, 2, but now first made perfectly unblameable and faultless, and now new come into God's presence as not afore, may easily discern that such a thing as this (though spoken thus after the use and manner of men) should be intended in this exceeding joy.

As also it is evident that it is intended of this first appearing of such separate souls afore the presence of God, which begins after this life ended upon dissolution. For at the first appearing in any one's presence that love us among men, there useth such exceeding joy to follow and accompany it. Besides, that this joy refers to their having escaped and passed through so many rocks and hazards which other souls had shipwrecked upon, as the whole foregone scope of that Epistle had shewn, and thereby is to be understood in the first place of that first admission into God's presence, as also that this time is the first when we are made completely faultless, ἄμωμοι, that devils nor angels cannot find any matter of blame, nor any such thing, no, not the least.

The first word (that imports solemnity) is, that it is said God presenteth them unto himself, as Christ elsewhere is said to present us unto God. The Greek word ἵστημι here used signifies both to make and to establish; and so understood, it imports God's making or establishing us in perfect holiness afore his presence. It also signifies to make present, or to set before one' presence. And farther, if we compare this with other like scriptures, it will prove in sense and scope the same as παρίστημι; for we find, Eph. 5:26, that word in like manner spoken of Christ: 'That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish.' And that faultlessness there is especially spoken of sanctification, as by the verse afore appears, 'that he might sanctify it,' &c. So, when he presents it perfectly sanctified to himself, as being her husband, and she his spouse, he is likewise said to present us to his Father, in whose sight and presence we are to appear, Col. 1:22, 'To present you holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight,' &c. In his sight there is meant of the Father, and the word present in those places is a word of solemnity, used of presenting the male children unto God (and accordingly it is spoken of Christ when presented in the Temple, Luke 2:22), or of a spouse unto an husband when first brought into his presence, as of Eve it is said, Gen. 2:22, 'God brought her to Adam' as his wife. So, then, God the Father here, when he hath completely rendered and made us perfectly holy, presents us to himself as his chosen children, according to Eph. 1:4, 5, 'He hath chosen us to be holy, and without blame before him in love, and bath predestinated us unto the adoption of children to himself.' And we being now at death accordingly made perfectly holy, and without blame, he then presents us to himself (saith Jude here); and Jesus Christ, when any soul his spouse being made without wrinkle, and now cometh first so unto him, presents it to himself and to his Father as his spouse and his child; and he doth this by the same reason as when the whole church shall come together, being become 'without fault, spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,' as at the latter day he then will present her to himself, and solemnly to his Father; though that is done with infinitely greater solemnity when it is of the whole church, as the apostle, Eph. 5:27, tells us; but in the mean time he doth it to every particular soul, at first approach into the presence of that glory. The same reason in a proportion holds for this latter as well as the former; so it is confirmed by this, that at the saint's conversion Christ is said to present us to his Father, to own and take us as first given to him by Christ; and he doth this often afterward by intercession.

It was a memorable speech of an holy man, when dying, to this effect: Though I am now, said he, at present filled with the assurance of God the Father's love, and that he will receive me, yet I should dread to appear afore so great a glory, were not Christ there in heaven to present me to him.

CHAPTER XV

Of the glories of heaven, and the happiness of glorified saints therein.

For I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.—ROM. 8:18.

My design is to raise up your hearts to heaven, and to consider that great glory which God hath prepared for them that love him, to open and describe heaven, whereof there are many uses, both to those that are in the state of nature, and those that are in the state of grace. There is nothing more powerful to bring men to Christ, nothing more proportionable to a principle of self-love; and there is nothing that is a greater encouragement to the godly, that they may willingly and with cheerfulness pass through the afflictions of this life, that they may pass through the evil world with their hearts raised up to heaven. The apostle, from the 17th verse to the end of this chapter, sends it in, beating this upon the hearts of God's people in stealing* their hearts, and raising them up against tribulations; and among the rest this is one encouragement, to consider the joy which shall not only be revealed to us, but in us, which we shall be made partakers of. The consideration of heaven, which is so little thought on by us Christians, this I would lay open to you. In the excellency of which glory, that we might more clearly behold it, we might look upon many things, but I will only name two.

First, I will consider it comparatively; and this the text leads us unto, 'For I reckon not the sufferings,' &c. Secondly, Simply as it is in itself.

First of all, To know this great glory, let us compare it with all other things, with all the goods the creature can afford, with all the things here below, which our hearts doat so much upon, as pleasures, honours, riches, beauty, &c. They are not to be compared to it; it transcends all the glory of this world, all the good things we are capable of; one leaf of this tree of life is better than all the fruits that grow in this world, Rev. 22. Out of the bowels of this earth are raised gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones, which serve but for the materials of the walls of this city and for paving the streets of it; the most glorious things this world hath, serve only for the gates of the temple. If the outside be so glorious, consider how glorious must the inside be, how beautiful must it be within! No creature this world hath, is worthy so much as to shadow it; all the creatures be swallowed up with this glory, even as a drop is swallowed up with the ocean. Solomon, in all his royalty, the most magnificent, rich, and glorious prince the world ever had, lived indeed at the best rate; he had the very quintessence of all earthly glory and joys, insomuch that a queen herself was amazed to see his great glory. Yet let me tell you, this Solomon, which is now in heaven, ten thousand times exceeds all the glory and pomp he had on earth; I say, the glory he hath now in heaven excels that glory he had on earth, being on his throne in all his royalty, even as much as he did then excel himself above what he was in his mother's womb. We see then the good things of this life are not worth talking of; they come far short, they are 'not worthy to be compared' with the glory of heaven.

In the second place, compare this glory with the afflictions we suffer here, and it doth, as the apostle saith, weigh them all down, not only the afflictions which befall one man, but all men. Take all of them, be they what they will be, and lay them in one balance, and heaven and its glory in another, and it will weigh them all down, even as a grain of sand will be weighed down of the whole world. There is no reckoning to be made of them in respect of heaven, and yet one of these afflictions will eclipse all the good we enjoy here; for if we are afflicted, we take no pleasure in all our worldly contentments. Therefore we see that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.

In the third place, to make a farther demonstration of this to you, there is a joy which God's people are capable of in this life, the joy of the Holy Ghost, which is 'unspeakable and glorious,' one drop of which transcends infinitely all the joy the creatures can afford us. My brethren, have you ever heard of this joy? have you ever tasted of it? hath God ever raised your hearts to see it and his glory? If you have but tasted, as the apostle saith, how good the Lord is, you will say with David, Ps. 4:6, 7, 'Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me. Thou hast put gladness into my heart, more than in the time when corn and wine and oil increased.' This is the joy which comes fresh from the fountain. If the devil himself, when he transforms himself into an angel of light, affords more comfort to the heart of an hypocrite than the world can do, why then how much more doth the joy of the Holy Ghost, which comes from the true fountains, if it be shed abroad in your heart! And hence it was that the martyrs suffered so willingly, and ran through so many persecutions; and yet the glory which is in heaven, if it be compared to this, infinitely transcends it. The joy which shall be revealed swallows up all these joys which we have here, even as the sea swallows up mole-hills; it is nothing in comparison of heaven, it is but as a drop to the ocean; and yet one drop of this joy of the Holy Ghost is more excellent than oceans of worldly comforts. All the joy of this world is but as a drop to the ocean, nay, the infinite drops will make a sea, yet infinite worlds will not make heaven; but indeed infinite drops of this joy will make heaven, because it is of the same nature. Yet this joy of the Holy Ghost is not comparable to the joys of heaven. Why? It is but the earnest of our inheritance: 2 Cor. 5:5, 'Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.' God doth fashion and prepare his people here, by some small revenues of their joys, which shall come in hereafter; and all that the Holy Ghost makes us partakers of in this life is but as a sixpence in respect of the whole payment of glory we shall have in heaven, Phil. 3:14. The Scriptures calls it so more but the sealing of the Holy Ghost, the earnest of our inheritance. Indeed, it is of the same nature with the great sum of which it is an earnest; for you know an earnest differs from a pledge in this, a pledge is of another kind, but the earnest of the same kind with the payment. And so the joy of the Holy Ghost is of the same kind with that which is laid up for us, but it is but an earnest; and there is a difference in the manner of producing it. Whatsoever we have here as our earnest is but from the light of faith. We cannot see Christ from whom we have it, we only believe on him as he is absent. We never saw him, and yet this works a joy unspeakable and glorious, 1 Peter 1:8. Whilst we apprehend him by faith, it is but as absent from him: 'Therefore we are always confident,' 2 Cor. 5:6, 'knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.' And if we have such joy in his absence, and seeing but a small glimpse or cranny of light coming to us by faith, if this, I say, be so glorious, what will it then be when we shall see him as he is, in which is fulness of joy? By faith we see him, but not all; and this causeth joy unspeakable and glorious; what then to see him in perfection, and have his presence in the fulness of it, whose presence in the least degree of it goeth far beyond all the sight of him we have in the highest degree of faith, yea, in all the degrees of faith! And yet the least degree of faith excels all the joy the world can give; and therefore do but think with yourselves what heaven is.

Compare it with those joys and that glory the saints that are now in heaven enjoy, which infinitely transcends both the good things of this world and the joy of the Holy Ghost; and yet there is a glory to be revealed after the day of judgment that will transcend the present joy of the glorified saints. The least drop of joy here that comes from the Holy Ghost transcends the joy of the world; the joy the saints in heaven now have as much transcends the joy of the Holy Ghost as it doth that of the world; yet after the day of judgment there is a fuller treasure of joy to be broken up; and therefore let this raise up your hearts to conceive of the exceeding weight of glory laid up for the elect, the saints who are now in heaven at the well-head of comforts, who bathe themselves in these rivers of pleasures they have, and are capable of more joy than we can conceive of. One saint in heaven hath more glory and joy in his heart than all the joy that is on earth, and yet at the latter day, their glory will as far transcend that they have now, even as it doth ours upon earth. I may say of their condition as the apostle doth, Heb. 11:40, 'God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.' While the saints are without their fellows, they are not come to the highest degree of perfection: Heb. 12:23, 'To the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.' There is a perfection to be given them (which they yet have not) when all their fellow-saints, all their fellow-brethren, when the whole number of the faithful are together; then shall a new treasure be broken up, 2 Thes. 1:10, 'who shall come' (saith the text, speaking of Christ) 'to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired by all those that believe.' We do usually admire a thing when our expectation is exceeded; now the angels and the souls of the glorified saints in heaven have seen and enjoyed many glorious things already, and they look for far more glorious things; but yet Christ will bring forth a glory at that day beyond their expectations: he will not only be admired by wicked men, but all that believe shall admire this, he will then put them to a new amazement. Let now the consideration of this glory raise up your hearts to seek for it, that so such an unvaluable and great price may not pass out of your hands, even the exceeding great riches of glory laid up for us, Again, stand amazed at the love of God, that hath prepared such glory for you.

Thus much comparatively; now, secondly, let us consider this heavenly glory simply as it [is] in itself; and because things are best known by their causes, we will begin with them.

And first of all, I shall consider the efficient cause of this great glory; and that is the great God of heaven and earth, whose greatness and glory we cannot comprehend, but only by his works. He is the efficient cause of heaven and all its glory; he built this great city, and all his works shall be like himself. If king Ahasuerus make a feast, he will make it like a king; much more the King of kings will provide for his servants whom he feasts. He made a world, and how glorious is it! but if he make a heaven, think with yourselves what a heaven it will be. The Scriptures, Heb. 11, commend this to us, comparing the 10th and 16th verses together, 'For he looked,' saith he, 'for a city' (speaking of Abraham) 'which hath foundations, whose builder and founder is God;' and then ver. 16, 'God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath built for them a city;' mark the reason. In the first place, it is said to be a city, whose builder and founder is God; God is the artist of it, he shewed his art in it; in this building of heaven God shewed himself an artificer; indeed, God hath made other great works, as the world, but he hath shewed no art upon this in comparison of heaven. The heavens which we see are but the feeling* of this heaven which God hath prepared for his saints, and yet they are very glorious; but yet he hath bestowed no cost in comparison, he hath shewed no art on it in respect of heaven; he hath bestowed all his cost on this, and in making heaven he shewed himself an artificer. And would you know the reason of it? It is because heaven is his standing house. Kings, you know, use to enrich their standing houses; they bestow more cost upon them than others. Now this world, my brethren, is not a house that hath foundation, but it was builded by God as a stage upon which, when men have acted their parts, it is to be thrown down; it is set up for a few thousand years, which are nothing to him, and then he means to pull it down, and he will then burn it; but heaven is God's standing house, his palace; and therefore consider what great cost God hath bestowed on it. Again, it is said to be a city prepared: Mat. 25:24, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.' He speaks as if God had been a great while in making heaven (God hath been long in contriving it); nay, further, saith Christ, 'I go to prepare a place,' as if it were still in finishing, or as if it were not yet finished. Not but that all God's works are perfect from the beginning, but it is spoken after the manner of men, that we might expect great glory, for which there is such great preparation. And, saith Christ, 'If it were not so, I would have told you.' Think what you will think of it, and it will be answerable, God will fulfil it. Heaven is a city prepared. If there be but preparation for a coronation of an earthly king a month or a quarter of a year, there are great things expected, and yet more is shewed; but now God hath been always in preparing heaven, he hath been making of it from the beginning of the world. David laid up materials for the temple, and Solomon builded; so God prepares heaven, and Christ builds it. And therefore, consider with yourselves, there are great things to be found; expect what you can, and it shall be answered. And thus you see God hath made a heaven with a foundation; he hath been long in preparing of it; he set up the world in six days, but he bath been setting up heaven, as I may so say, six thousand years; and therefore let this raise up your hearts to consider what a weight of glory God hath laid up for those that love him.

Secondly, Consider the meritorious cause of it, which is Christ the Lord of glory. Christ Jesus himself hath purchased it for us in his blood, he hath laid the foundation of it, his blood was laid out for it; he spun this thread of glory out of his own bowels, and therefore we may well argue the greatness of this glory, seeing that his blood hath obtained it, Eph. 1:18. It is there called 'the riches of the glory of his inheritance.' All the inheritance that Christ hath, he distributes unto the saints. This is said to be a purchased possession; why, now my brethren think with yourselves, what shall be the revenues of glory purchased by his death? Think what a large possession the blood of Christ will procure. Consider with yourselves what this will amount to. And this is heaven, heaven is the revenues of Christ's blood. Think, I say, what glorious heaven it must needs be which Christ's blood hath purchased for us. This is that he aimed at in laying down his life for us; for justification, adoption, and sanctification, are but the way to glorification; and we are justified, adopted, and sanctified all to this end, that we might be glorified. Consider, therefore, what Christ's blood will be worth, what the revenues of it will come to; and therefore what hath been said of heaven, let it move you, and work upon you. If I should single out any man present, any particular man in this congregation, as our Saviour did the young man in the gospel, and bid him forsake all, and he shall have treasure in heaven, this would be a great offer. Now I single out every man here present; consider with yourselves, you all stand arrested before God, you deserved to be accursed, and to be eternally so, yet if you leave all your iniquities, repent and believe, you shall have glory in heaven. Methinks now you should lay hold on this offer, and think no strictness too much, so you could get heaven. If you were merchant-like men, you would not let heaven, this precious heaven, pass you; you would lay hold on it, and spend all you had to get it, and to be made partakers of those invaluable treasures. Do but think with thyself, thou canst not bid enough for it: 1 Cor. 9:25, 'Strive and run, so run that you may attain; and every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it that they may have a corruptible, but we an incorruptible, crown.' And if men be so careful here on earth to obtain temporal preferments, much more, then, run to get that preferment which of all other is the chief, even everlasting happiness in heaven. It is for heaven, an incorruptible crown, for heaven that transcends all other things; and think with yourselves how it will trouble you if you come short of your prize! What a fearful and sorrowful voice will it be to you—who can express your anguish?—when you hear heaven and your crown is parted from you! It was a pitiful saying to Nebuchadnezzar, 'Thy kingdom is departed from thee;' much more will it then be to any of us to hear that we have lost heaven; how will it astonish thee to hear Christ say, Heaven and thy crown is departed from thee, thou must be turned to devils for ever, this will be thy condition to the end! It is our duty to speak unto you, we can but exhort you, we can do no more: Mat. 10:14, 'If they will not retain it,' saith he, 'shake off the dust of your feet as a testimony against them.' If ye look not to yourselves in this life, this will he the event of it. Oh, how will it fret you to the heart; what unutterable perplexities will you be in, when you see others follow Christ to his glory, and you yourselves have that curse denounced against you, 'Go, you cursed,' &c. Alas, then, it will be too late to get heaven! Oh what terror and amazement, what bitter anguish, to think heaven came near unto me; it was offered me, and yet, because I would not part with some darling sin, some beloved corruption, some base lust, I have lost my interest in it; I must not partake of those rivers of pleasures in heaven. This certainly will be the issue, except here, whilst you have space, you make sure of this crown to yourselves by faith and repentance.

3. I proceed, in the third place, to the exemplary cause; and the greatness of this glory appears from this. This exemplary cause is the glory of Jesus Christ himself. Consider the great glory of the Lord of glory is the nearest pattern of it, and therefore in Scripture that glory the saints shall have in heaven is said to be 'like his;' we shall be like the Lord of glory. He is not only made the efficient and meritorious cause, but also the exemplary cause of this glory; and what can be said more than this, we shall be made like to Christ Jesus, who is the Lord of glory, the eye of all things, the first-born of every living creature, in whom all excellencies remain, and all fulness dwells! Oh, then, what infinite glory to be like what Jesus Christ now is! Why, thou shalt be made like to him: John 17:24, 'That they may behold my glory which thou hast given me;' but that is not all, though this was sufficient to make us happy. A beggar may behold the glory of a king, and be never the happier for it; nay, be more sad in his thoughts, because none of his glory reflects upon himself; but, saith our Saviour, John 17:22, 'The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.' We shall wear the same kind of glory which Christ wears, and he wears all the glory both of heaven and earth about him at all times; what kind of glory shall we then wear? We shall be made 'like unto his glorious body.' As we were all born like Adam, so we shall he made like Christ; for we are said to he 'predestinated, to be made conformable to the image of his Son,' so that as we were predestinated to be made like him in grace and sufferings here, so likewise in glory. We 'see here but as in a glass the glory of Christ,' and yet 'are changed into the same image from glory to glory: 2 Cor. 3:18, 'But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' If we seeing him here upon earth as an holy and righteous man, conceive him to have such glory in him, consider, brethren, what that shall he when we shall see him as he is; what a comfort will that be, when we shall see him face to face in heaven, and being made partakers of his glory, we shall he like him: 1 John 3:2, 'Behold, now we are the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall he like him.'

4. In the fourth place, let us consider both the object and subject of this glory. And first, the object of this happiness is not any other creature, but God himself; no creature in heaven and earth is the matter of our happiness, but God himself will be made happiness to us; he will not only be the efficient cause, but the material cause of our happiness: Gen. 17, he sums up all in himself, 'I will,' says be, 'be an all-sufficient God unto thee.' He promises himself, not heaven separated from himself, but he will give us his own glory; and he doth not only promise us great and glorious things to be created by him, but he himself will be our heaven: Ps. 73:25, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none that I desire on earth, besides thee.' Mark the phrase, indeed there are all other things here on earth which we may stand in need of; but, saith David, though I have need of them, yet none of them all I desire besides thee. God alone made David happy, for indeed God himself makes heaven, though there were neither saint nor angel; indeed, they are all there, but we need nothing but God and Christ to make us happy. It is said of the glorious city described in the Revelation, this glorious city which is indeed the immediate forerunner of heaven: Rev. 21:23, 'The city had no need of sun or moon to shine in it, for,' saith he, 'the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.' Why, my brethren, though there be many glorious things in heaven, though there be the fruition of the company of saints and angels, yet that is not it which makes us happy; but God is our happiness. Indeed, the glorious societies of the glorified bodies of saints is very delectable, and ten thousand times excels all the delights of creatures here below; yet, I say, we have no need of them to make us happy, it is but overplus; God himself and Christ Jesus make our heaven and happiness. Think now with Yourselves what heaven is. Are we all able to consider what it is to have God to be our happiness? It is impossible for you to conceive it, and for me to express it. I can no more reveal what God will do to you, than this light can reveal the light of the sun, which can be known by no light but its own. In the first place, God contains all things; all manner of divine perfections are bound up in him. The pleasures of this earth are scattered here and there, and therefore the soul goes wandering up and down from one creature to another, from one flower to another, because some part of his happiness is in one, some part in another; but, my brethren, in God we have all happiness summed up, and wrapped together, all our delights are together in him: Rev. 21:7, 'He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.' Consider with yourself that God himself can but inherit all things, and indeed he is all things; and if we have God for our God, we shall inherit all things; he will be meat and drink, wife, husband, and whatsoever else unto us, he will be all things to us himself; and therefore it is said, 1 Cor. 14:18, that at the day of judgment, 'when Christ shall give up the kingdom, then all things shall be put under him, that God may be all in all;' which implies two things:—

First, That God himself will be our happiness. He will be happiness enough, for he is all in all.

Secondly, That he will be all unto us in a more transcendent manner than the glory of the creatures. I may compare these joys of heaven to those receipts which contain the very spirits of things, the very life and quintessence of things extracted out, a little quantity whereof, as much as will lie on a knife's point, is of more virtue and efficacy to work upon a man's body (because they are the spirits) than a great quantity of all other drugs; so now these contentments which God gives are the very spirits of comforts, which will add more happiness than all the drugs of worldly pleasures can administer unto us. For all the happiness that could be had here, nay, further, all the happiness God could create to men as men here on earth, are but as one drop to the bottomless ocean of God's glory; and yet this falls short, this is too scant a comparison; for I say, infinite millions of drops will at length make an ocean, but ten thousand millions of the glories of this world cannot make up one drop of the glory which is in God. Thus God will be all things to us, and all things in a transcendent manner.

Again, thirdly, God will pour out himself unto us; he will give us communication with himself of this his infinite happiness, he will pour out all his glory unto us; Eph. 3:19, 'That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God,' which will give all comfort; open thy mouth wide, he is able to fill it; for one drop of God will fill thee full; he will fill thee with fulness, and fulness of the best kind. Oh, what ineffable comfort will this be, when the vessels of mercy shall be thrown into this bottomless sea of glory! Therefore do but think with yourselves, what a happiness this will be, when you shall be made partakers of God's glory, of all the blessedness that is in God; for although he cannot give us his glory essentially, yet it shall as truly seem to make us happy as it doth to make him glorious.

Fourthly, We shall be made one with him; they are Christ's own words: John 17:21–23, 'That they all may be one; as thou, O Father, art in me, and I in thee, even that they be also one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory that thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.' My brethren, what is it that makes God happy, but God himself; and what is that which makes Christ so happy, but that he is equal with God the Father? Now, if God make himself happy, how happy shall we be then when we communicate with God in this his happiness. To be one with him, then, must needs make us happy. Indeed, we cannot be one with him as Christ is, for he is the brightness of his glory, the express image and character of his person; he is the natural Son of God, and of the same nature with God; but we shall be made one with him so far as the creature is capable of, and the next union to that which God and Christ have one with another we shall have. And again, being made one with God, we shall rejoice in all that God rejoiceth in. That God is so glorious a God, it shall make thee glorious; thou shalt have all those joys by revenues out of what he now lives in heaven, thou shalt rejoice more in God's happiness than in thine own; the more happiness riseth to God, the more riseth to thee; that which is the matter of God's glory be the matter of ours; it is the nature of love, that it rejoiceth in the love of the person beloved: John 14, 'You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.' Our Saviour saith also to his disciples, 'If ye loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said I go to the Father.' Now, my brethren, if we shall rejoice in the same God rejoiceth in, both in that joy which is intrinsecal within him, and in that joy which is extrinsecal, whereby he delights in all his works and providence; if both these, I say, shall be in us, how glorious shall we be! John 15:11, Christ saith, 'These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.' And this is not to be understood of our Saviour's joy, of the hopes he had of them, but that the joy which is in Christ shall be in us: that 'my joy,' saith he, 'may be in you.' We shall enter into our Master's joy, Mat. 25:23, 'and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we joy also in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ,' Rom. 5:2. We shall not only rejoice in a created glory, which he shall bestow upon us, but further, you shall rejoice in God's own glory.

Use. Let us therefore take God for our portion, whatsoever else becomes of us, whatsoever befalls us; let what will come, what afflictions, what throbs, what miseries or crosses will come, heaven will make amends for all; God will be better to thee than all. Put them all in one balance, and God with that glory he will bestow on you in another balance, and he will over-weigh them all, for they are not worthy to be compared to this glory. This was it that made the martyrs run through so many persecutions and tortures, and that with cheerfulness; they took God for their portions; so they had him, they cared not what became of their bodies. For, saith Paul, 'we look not to things which are corruptible, but to things which are eternal.' And because it is probable, yea, and more than probable, that there are degrees of glory in heaven, that God will reward every one according to their works, do not only content yourselves to go to heaven, but endeavour to serve God more, that you may have great glory in heaven; be abundant in good works, hoard up good works, according to which glory shall be weighed to you in heaven. Let not pleasures hinder thee of the least degree of glory, for to have but one pearl added to thy crown is more than the whole world. Commit therefore no sin that might hinder your attaining of glory, for what though God pardon thy sin? Yet thou losest glory which thou mightest have gotten whilst thou wast committing the sin, the least shred of which glory transcends all the glory of the world.

Now we come to the subject of this glory, the vessel which shall receive this infinite mass of glory; and that is the soul for it is called the salvation 'of our souls;' the soul which will hold so much is the vessels of this glory, for the body shall be exceeding glorious, yet the soul is the receptacle which must receive this glory: Rom. 9:23, 'And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared unto glory.' And St Peter calleth Christ the salvation of our souls: 'the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.' My brethren, your soul, howsoever you value it, is capable of more glory than this world can afford, the pleasures of which will fill your soul no more than one drop will fill a cistern, or a little shower the place where the ocean stands, Eccles. 3:11. Now, it is said that in this life God will put a world into the heart of man, and yet all that world will not fill it. Why, my brethren your souls are narrow in this life in respect of that they shall be hereafter; they hold but little in respect of that they shall hold in heaven; they are but little bladders which there shall be blown up; they are but clung bladders in respect of that they shall be in heaven hereafter, which may appear in this: Solomon had a very large heart, he had as many notions in him as the sands of the sea-shore for number, and yet the soul of the least child in heaven, happily but new come out of its mother's womb, exceeds all the knowledge which Solomon had on earth. Our souls are capable of more joys than the senses can give, they are not able to satisfy it; it will drink up more glory even in one hour than the senses can provide in many hundred years, it will drink them all up at one draught. My beloved, your senses cannot let in the King of glory; such narrow gates cannot receive such infinite great glory, Ps. 24.

In heaven the doors of your hearts shall be opened; and when those doors are open, even when the everlasting doors of your hearts are open, they cannot contain the glory, you must be contained in it; 'Enter,' saith Christ, 'into thy Master's joy.' If the joy of the Holy Ghost in this life pass all understanding and believing, and we rejoice* with joy unspeakable and full of glory, how much more in the world to come shall our joys pass all understanding, when we shall have fruition of God's presence, which is life itself? Your souls have two great gulfs, viz. the understanding and the will, which must and shall be satisfied.

1. The understanding shall be satisfied. Now, saith Solomon, the eye of the body is not satisfied with seeing, it can comprise half the world in it. And if the eye of the body be so hard to be satisfied, much more the eye of the soul. And yet in heaven this shall be satisfied, this gulf shall be satisfied: Ps. 17:15, 'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.' He was to lay his head in the grave for a while, but he should arise when the heavens shall be no mom. As Job said, 'I shall see him again;' so David, 'I shall awake, and then I shall be satisfied with thy likeness' 'Shew us the Father,' saith Philip, John 14:18, 'and it sufficeth us.' You will say, if you could but see God, it would suffice; and indeed you may well say so, for the sight of God will suffice you. Why, you shall see God, John 17:24. For Christ doth desire this especially, those who are his to make happy, to be with him, to behold his face: 'Father, I will that they also that thou hast given me to be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.' So Mat. 5:8, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,' they shall be able to behold him. If the Queen of Sheba, who had seen so much glory before, and being a queen had partaken of so much glory in herself, if she, I say, was so astonished, so amazed, that she had no spirit in her when she saw Solomon's wisdom, and his magnificency in honour and riches, how much more shall the glory of God ravish us, part of which we never saw; no, not the glimpse of it. Oh how wilt thou be amazed with joy when thou shalt see his glory, and see him as he is, when we shall know as we are known, and God knows us as far as can be! 1 Cor. 13:12, 'For we now see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now we know but in part; but then we shall know even as we are known.' All our sight of him here, it is but as in a glass. Now, what a great difference it is to look upon a man who is behind us, and to turn our face and to look truly and stedfastly upon him! There is infinitely more difference betwixt that sight we have of God by faith on earth, and that perfect sight of him, and fruition of his glory, which we shall have in heaven. Why, the eye of a man's body is but a small thing, and the apple of it much smaller, and yet by the help of this little sun the body is able to take half the world into it at once; how much more shall the eye of our understanding conceive infinite joys (past our apprehension here) when it hath the light of God's glory shining about it: Ps. 36:8, 9, 'They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fulness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.' Whenas the sun of glory comes to shine about us, we shall even draw God into our souls; and thus, you see, the first gulf shall be filled.

2. The second gulf of man's soul is the will. Thou hast a will, and amongst all the affections of it, love is most comfortable. Now, that shall be fully satisfied; we shall be satisfied with God's loving-kindness, Psalm 73. For all other affections bring pain with them, but love is always comfortable: Philip. 2:1, 'If there be any consolation of Christ, if any comfort of love.' We love things here on earth that cannot love us again, as money, riches, and the like; how much more shall we love* itself? Indeed, as Solomon saith, the love of friends is very delectable: Prov. 27:9, 'Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.' The same testifies David in his lamentation for Jonathan: 2 Sam. 1:26, 'I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of a woman.' But, I say, though the love of friends be great, Jonathan exceeding lovely, yet they are not so lovely as God; for it cannot be affirmed of them that they are love itself, as God is. Oh, then, how pleasant will it be when this vast affection of love shall be satisfied! God will come into us and dwell with us; and do but think what a pleasant thing it is to have the great God of heaven and earth to dwell together with the creature in unity, to have him who is love itself to dwell in us to all eternity! It is said, 1 Pet. 1:8, 'Whom having not seen you love; in whom, though you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable, and glorious.' If that be a cause to make you rejoice so unspeakably, how much more joyful will you be when you enjoy his presence, not only to kiss him through the lattice, as here we do, enjoy only his presence through his ordinances, but to lie in the bosom of his love, to be enfolded in those everlasting arms of his mercy; to be loved of love itself, to be made partaker of all his goodness. And God's love is free, he loves us without any cause in ourselves. Why, then, brethren, consider with yourselves what is the height, depth, breadth, and length of God's love, what it is to be 'filled with all fulness of God,' Eph. 3:8. Oh what a bottomless sea of God's love shall we be flung into, one drop of which is better than the gold of Ophir, yea, surpasseth the whole earth!

In the last place, I will endeavour to shew the final cause, and demonstrate the greatness of heaven, by the end why God hath prepared all this glory, and the persons for whom.

1. For whom is it that God hath been from everlasting preparing glory? Is it not for his saints? Is it not for his friend and spouse? Is it not for Sion? Heb. 12:22–24, 'But you are come into Mount Sion, and into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of the sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.' God hath reserved heaven for us; heaven is made for the feasting of his first-born; he hath in heaven all his children about him; there shall be called a general assembly of them, one will not be away. You know parents bestow the most cost when they have their children all at once together; they respect no cost, looking to the joy which is set before them. They have joy unspeakable in the presece of their children together, and therefore at times of rejoicing men winl send for their children home. Now, my brethren, God will have all his children home; he will have a general invitation; the great congregation of the elect shall be called together. He will have them all at home, and therefore he must needs make great provision. Consider what he hath vouchsafed to wicked men, the worst of men, who run away with the blessings of the world, though they are such as God hath set himself against to hate with an eternal hatred! Why, then, think with yourselves what he hath prepared for those that love him, whom with an everlasting love he hath loved in his Son, for his Son's sake, which is as great as himself! Certainly to them he will communicate himself to the uttermost. I say, then, think with yourselves what God hath prepared for those that love him.

2. Secondly, Consider the end for which this is, and that is, to manifest his own glory. He truly hath had a great deal of glory out of this world already; for 'the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.' He hath bad a great deal of glory out of this world by justifying poor sinners, and sanctifying their hearts, and also by punishments inflicted upon wicked men; but all this is nothing to that glory he meaneth to have, not comparable to that he will have in heaven: 2 Thes. 1:10, 'When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and be admired of all them that believe.' We think wonderful things of God, and yet all our thoughts shall come far short of the excellency of his coming. He will come beyond our expectation; he will come to purpose, to be admired of all them that believe. The matter of God's glory, the revenues of it, must come out of you; the chiefest of his glory, as for the manifestation of it, must come forth of you; for he will come to be glorified in his saints: he will then shew how glorious a God he is by manifestation of his glory. It must come forth of that, he will come to be glorified in his saints; he will then shew how glorious a God he is, by manifesting what glorious creatures he hath made. It is not a little glory that will content God; it is not a little glory that will content king when he meaneth to take state, Rom. 1. He will glorify himself as God, or else he would never have begun; he would never have gone about it unless he meant to do it to the utmost. And in what doth this his glory consist? Why, in making us glorious; and the manifestation of his glory, as he is God, comes from us. It is true, indeed, God's essential glory cannot be added unto us, but the manifestation of his glory shall arise to us; we shall have it communicatively, as when you see the sun reflect upon the waters: though you see not the sun itself, yet you see as perfect a manifestation of it as if you should see the sun itself. So likewise, though you cannot have God's glory essentially, yet you shall have it perfectly communicated to you, manifested in you, 2 Cor. 8:23; and therefore the saints are there called 'the glory of Christ.' Now think with yourselves, God hath had infinite vast thoughts of glorifying himself; there hath been a fountain of thoughts in him for that cause, and that unceasing spring which hath run in God from all eternity must needs make a vast sea; and who must be the vessels that must go into this, into whom all this must be emptied? Are they not those that love him, those that he hath loved with an everlasting love? Why, then, do but think with yourselves how unutterable are the joys we shall have in heaven.

I would add something more to it, if anything more can be added to it; and if I but mention the properties, they will farther add to this glory, and make it abound. I will name no more than those we have already laid down to our hands; 1 Pet. 1:4, 5, 'Elect to an inheritance incorrupted and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, revealed in the last times.'

In the first place, it is an inheritance, the deed of which runs for ever to Christ and his heirs. The subtlest lawyer that is, yea, such an one as can almost find a knot in a bulrush, shall not be able to pick the least hole in your evidence. It is an inheritance also to which every one of you shall be heirs, and shall have an everlasting possession in it. It is not in heaven as it is in this world, where the elder brother is only heir, and goes away with the inheritance, when many times the younger are beggars; but in heaven it is not so, for there we shall be all heirs and co-heirs with Christ. And the reason of it is, because it is called the inheritance of the saints: Col. 1:12, 'Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' Why, my brethren, now you know light is such a thing as is common to all, so that if there were ten thousand times more men in the world than there is, they might enjoy it; neither doth any envy at the light another hath. Now heaven is an inheritance of the sons in light, which we shall be partakers of, and therefore there shall be no envying of one another's happiness and light in glory. You may be all heirs; yea, you shall be all heirs; there are no younger brethren. Again, alas! in this life the livings we possess, and the inheritance of them, passeth from one to another, from the father to the son; yea, and further, all the evidence they have will be burned one day; they will be made void at the day of judgment. The whole world will be burned, and what will become of their inheritance?

2. But now, secondly, this inheritance is eternal, incorruptible: 2 Cor. 5:1, 'For we know, that if this earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building with God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;' an inheritance that will be for ever. Why, now think what eternity is, and think of it again, it will even amaze your thoughts. Length of time is that which multiplies our joys here upon earth; for to enjoy a thing many years is our greatest joy, and if we can so enjoy it, their lies our comfort; hence those words of the rich man in the gospel, 'Soul, take thy rest, for thou hast goods laid up for many years.' What a happiness then is it, not only to enjoy an inheritance many years, but for ever, to have goods laid up for ever! What a mercy is it that they are for ever! The eternity of them adds to our joys. It was a rejoicing to David that God would give him a kingdom; but more, that he would prepare a kingdom to his house a great while: 2 Sam. 7:18, 19, 'Then went king David, and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And was this yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come.' David took it for a great favour, that God would bestow a kingdom upon him; and yet, saith he, 'this was but a small thing in thy sight.' What! Was it a small thing to give a kingdom? No; but there Was another thing more than a kingdom, and that was, that his posterity should sit on the throne for a great while; this made the mercy the greater. If heaven's glory should last but for a few days or years, it were worth more seeking after than all the things of this world. Now we make a great strife for momentary trifles in this world, but heaven shall last for ever. It hath an everlasting evidence, it shall never have an end. The day thereof is for a long day, for it is for eternity, and a day. Again, David was to die himself, and to leave the glory of his kingdom to another, yet he took it for a great favour and mercy that it was promised to his house for a great while; but now in heaven we shall never die; we shall possess our kingdom in our own persons to everlasting: whereas the pleasures and riches we enjoy here must go to others. The rich man in the Gospel sings to his soul, 'Soul, thou hast goods in store laid up for many years; eat, drink, and take thy rest;' but mark the answer, 'Thou fool, this night shall thy glory be taken from thee.' Now in heaven it is far otherwise, we shall never be deprived of our glory; why, let not the least thought of jealousy come into our minds. For this place is incorruptible, and not only incorruptible in itself, but also in those that enjoy it; we shall be ever with the Lord, we shall be the persons. The kingdoms of this world were brave places if they might have no end, the kings of them exceeding happy if they might never die, but live always. But, alas! though they live like gods, they shall die like men. Now in heaven there is no such thing, there is no dying, nor talk of dying, but mortality shall be swallowed up of immortality; we shall enjoy those inexhaustible rivers of pleasures to eternity.

3. Now we come to the next property. It is 'incorruptible and undefiled,' 1 Peter 1:4. All the comforts we have in this life are mixed with sin, yea, with the impotency of sin and misery; so that one saith well to this purpose. Though the joys of a king be many and greater than others', yet they have as many sorrows attending upon them as joys, and if not crosses, yet sin, the greatest cross of all, if men be sensible of it. But heaven is undefiled, there is no anguish, no grief, no tears, no sorrows, but joys to all eternity. There shall be no vexing Canaanites to trouble you, neither outward nor inward enemies: Isa. 35:10, 'And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come with songs, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall fly away.' Here the [evil] of sin afflicts us, the punishments due unto the same affright us; one man is troubled with a lust which he would fain master, another man cries out with the apostle, 'O miserable man that I am!' &c. Qualms come over many men's hearts for the guilt of sin, and how many throes have they before they can get sin abandoned! Another is vexed with some tormenting malady and grievous sickness in his body; but in heaven we shall be freed from these sorrows, there shall be neither soul nor body sick: Isa. 33:24, 'And they' in heaven 'shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.' There shall be no thought of the pardon of sin, for the inhabitants that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities; that is, those sins which they have committed in this life shall be forgiven there. There is no thought of sin in heaven, there it shall be everlastingly buried in oblivion.

Obj. But you will say, This glory may wither and decay; it may wax old and decline.

Ans. There is no fading in heaven, 'for with God there is no variableness,' no, not so much 'as a shadow of changing.' The glory of kingdoms decay daily, and monarchies fall; as the Roman empire, what a glorious monarchy was it! But now it is come almost unto a bare title. But in heaven there is no decaying, no falling, there is always a full spring-tide without ebb. The infinite mass of glory which thou shalt receive at the last day, thou shalt keep for ever. After as many millions of years expired as there are hairs on thy head, it shall be as bright as it was on the last day; and the reason of it is because of God's presence. We shall be present with him who is the fountain of life, whose streams of glory must needs issue to eternity; for 'at his right hand is fulness of joy, and rivers of pleasure flow from him for evermore.' So long as God fades not, heaven will never fade. When God himself fades, when that fountain can be dried up, then those rivers of pleasures shall cease flowing, but that is impossible, for he is the well of life. What is the reason that precious stones decay not, but that there is no dross or corruption in them? As the diamond being pure in itself fades not away, but always keeps a lustre and splendour in it, whereas other base stones that have dross in them, soon decay and moulder away; in like manner, though this world have dross in it, and by reason of that perisheth, yet in heaven there is no dross of sin or corruption, and therefore it cannot fade.

Why now you will say again, Grant all this you have said before, yet I doubt I may be bereaved of it. It may be taken away from me by violence, for kingdoms in this life are taken away, and kings are deprived of their dignities. But there is no fear of this in heaven, it is kept for you sure enough, no moths of corruption to make you sin, no violence of Satan's temptations to make you fall. For though the devil and sin crept into paradise, yet neither of them shall come into heaven: Mat. 6:20, 'Lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal.

But you will say again, If I could once get thither, I had no cause to fear, I should never fall if I were once in heaven; but I fear the vileness of my own heart, I fear I shall be defiled with my corruptions and by Satan. And as David said, 'I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul,' I am afraid I may perish hereafter; though I now be in the state of grace, I may fall and never come thither.

But look further; it is said, 'it is reserved for you, who are kept by the power of God to salvation;' you are kept for it, Christ hath reserved it for you, who saith further, 'Of those which thou hast given me, I have not lost one.' If all the power of the Creator lie for it, you shall not lose it; but it doth, therefore you shall not lose it. And lastly, thou shalt not stay long for it, thou shalt not be a probationer, but till thy death at the farthest; it is laid up ready for thee, a crown of glory waits and stays for thee. But now all these things are shewed; this is the misery, that we will not believe: 'In my Father's house,' saith he, 'there are many mansions; if it had not been so, I would have told you.' He will not deceive us; believe him on his word. We use to believe the promise of a man we judge faithful; much more let us credit God, who is truth itself. Therefore, as ever we would be partakers of these joys, and have part and portion in these eternal comforts; let the belief of them be stedfast, and though there be many uses to be made of this, yet this is the chief, that we would believe this truth. Indeed, you believe; but I say unto you, believe, and again believe. Those that entered not into the promised land, entered not because they did not believe. This is the cause that men perish, and enter not into God's rest. I say, therefore, believe God, seeing he hath fulfilled all his promises, and hath not failed in one since the beginning. The land of Canaan he gave according to his promise long before: 1 Kings 8:23, 'Lord, thou keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants; verse 56, 'Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised by the hand of his servant Moses.' If he hath promised that ten kings shall destroy the whore (as indeed he did), she shall be destroyed. He will not fail in his promise; he hath spoken, and he will make it good; he is abundant in mercy and truth; yea, he will be better than his word. Let me speak therefore to you that are yet in the state of nature, who still delight in your sins; if you believed these things, surely you would not doat on your sins as you do, it would make you utterly abandon them.

And also let me say something to you, whose eyes God hath opened, who are in the state of grace. Surely, if you laboured more and more to persuade yourselves of this, you would not be so glued to the world as you are; it would make you like men of another world, you would be transformed, and be even as if you were in heaven. Let, then, all your carriage and manner of conversation be here, as if you were in your inheritance above; let all your thoughts be in heaven; let your hearts take possession of this incorruptible crown, whilst your bodies are on earth.

MONERGISM BOOKS

Of the Blessed State of Glory Which the Saints Possess After Death by Thomas Goodwin Copyright © 2020

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Table of Contents

Chapter I: Of the blessedness of a dying believer

Chapter II: That the soul of a believer doth not sleep till the resurrection

Chapter III: That the souls of believers, immediately after their separation from the body

Chapter IV: That the souls of believers do, immediately after the death of the body, pass into a sta

Chapter V: A state of glory for believers upon their dissolution

Chapter VI: That the clothing mentioned in the text, 2 Cor. 5:3

Chapter VII: What is meant by the phrase, 2 Cor. 5:3, of being 'found naked.'

Chapter VIII: The words of the text explained, and their coherence with the first and second verses

Chapter IX: The true and eminent grounds of a Christian's groanings after dissolution, severed from

Chapter X: The positive ground or reason why a Christian desires dissolution is, that the weak and

Chapter XI: The Soul Received into that State of Glory

Chapter XII: The glory unto which the separate soul is received

Chapter XIII: Whether the State of Souls are Different After the Resurrection

Chapter XIV: A particular enumeration of the glories of that state into which the separate soul ente

Chapter XV: Of the glories of heaven, and the happiness of glorified saints therein