Graces set in opposition unto our Outward Man the Body with its Appurtenances which he saith daily perisheth that is is in a mouldring and decaying condition Chap. 5. ver 1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens In this first verse of this fifth Chapter he meets with this Supposition But what if this outward Man or earthly Tabernacle be wholly dissolved and pull'd 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 your selves to speak in your own Language if Wars should beset you and your Country-House were plundered and pull'd down you would comfort your selves 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 't is your City-Phrase also when a Man proves Bankrupt a Statute of Bankrupts comes forth then upon your old House Statutum est omnibus semel mori and upon all you have and then it is a receiving or entertaining that otherwise desolate Soul into everlasting Habitations that is into an House eternal in the Heavens as the Text. Nor yet is the Phrase of terming Heaven a City-House remote neither for Heb. 11. 13. Abraham and the Patriarchs died in Faith Mark that In Faith or Expectation of what He had told us ver 10. He looked for a City whose Builder is God What is a City but an Aggregation and Heap of Houses and Inhabitants Multitudes had died afore Abraham and gone to Heaven from Adam Abel Seth downwards and God promiseth him Peace at his Death and a being gathered to those Fathers Gen. 15. 15. There was then a City built and already replenish'd with Inhabitants and amongst others an House provided for him that is his Soul built of God and ready furnished against this Removal Verse 2. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven In this Verse he utters the working of the Affections of Christians towards their being cloathed upon with this House and so in order to this enjoiment of it their desiring even to be dissolved which Paul also utters of himself Phil. 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 Verse 3. If so be that being cloathed we shall not be found naked In this Verse he gives an wholesom Caution by the way and withal insinuates why he used the word cloathed upon in the fore-going Verse thus speaking of the Glory of such a separate Soul even because it is absolutely necessary that all our Souls be found cloathed 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. Verse 4. For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burthened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life The fourth Verse gives a genuine and sincere Account why a Christian doth thus groan and that after dissolution it self 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 burthened we desire to be uncloathed or dissolved that is simply for ease of those Burthens 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 cloathed upon with that House spoken of Verse 1. and that still taken in the Sence spoken of in the second Verse to the end that this mortal animal Life which the Soul tho immortal in it self now leads in the Body full of Sins clogg'd 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 tho in respect of the Body it will be compleated as then more fully This Interpretation and the suting of all the Phrases used in this 4th Verse to hold good of this Exchange at Death I cannot through straitness of time give an account of now I have lately and very largely done it elsewhere This for the Coherence I hasten to my Text. TEXT Verse 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit THe Current of the four former Verses running thus steadily along in this Chanel the Stream in this Verse continues still the same There is one word in this Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this self-same thing God hath wrought us which serves us as a Clue of Thread drawn through the Windings of the former Verses to shew us that one and the same 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 cloathed 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
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 Matth. 22. 31. 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 6 7. And also Paul in the 9th verse of this Heb. 11. Now then when they died what was it their Faith expected in stead 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 was thus pitch'd to look for this City in stead of that Land of Canaan promised This was the expectation of their Faith on their part Well but how doth it appear that this flow'd 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 summ'd up as the Conclusion of the Story and as the proof and ground hereof but now they desire a better Countrey 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 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 death 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 nor 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 Cloke 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 in stead 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 tell 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 imploying 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 freind be turn'd out of house and home plundred banished driven out of all as the Steward in that parable Luk. 16. was and comes to his Friend at midnight as in that other Parable Luk. 11. 5 6. will not his friends entertain him into their houses as ver 9 of Luk. 16. yea and rise at midnight to do it as ver 5 6. in that Parable of Luk. 11. Shall profession of friendship engage and oblige men to do this and shall not God's professing himself to be our God Father 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 The fifth and last Consideration is That these separate Souls having done and finish'd 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 Eccl. 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 Heb. 11. 6. seek him 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 he intended and included his being to him an exceeding
As unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed ver 10. As sorrowful yet alway rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things ver 11. O ye Corinthians our mouth is open unto you our heart is enlarged What a glorious Embroydery upon the Soul of a poor Believer will in all these things appear when finished Psal 45. 13 14. The King's daughter is all glorious within her Cloathing is of wrought Gold she shall be brought unto the King in Rayment 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 ver 1. of this chap. We have a building of God a house not made with hands And the 11. of the Hebrews v. 10. expresly useth two artificial words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Artificer in it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Artificer in it and 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 add 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 sayes 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 §. Let us consider them next joyntly 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 when as each are in themselves and apart glorious It is said by David of himself and it is true of all men in their measure Psal 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 part 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 busie for six dayes in making this World the Angels all that while stood wondring with themselves to what end or for whom all this was prepared At Job 36. 7. 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 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 hath 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 defer 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 a being 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 matcht as wrought one for the other which is an argument as of two Artificers the one in the East-Indies the other in the West should the one make the Case the other make the Watch unbeknown each to other and both Workmanships of the highest curiosity in their kind and when both brought together they exquisitely fit 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 chap. 4. ver 16. 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 is not this all one with what the Text sayes God works Us these Souls day by day Even as the Child is curiously wrought in the Womb to subsist of it self alone in this World so this inward Man in that other 2. He then immediately subjoyns v. 17. That all Afflictions which are nothing else