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 16. ver of the 4. Chap. Our inward Man says he is renewed c. there is your wrought upon here whilst the outward the Body perisheth Which Soul in being call'd 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 Vs wrought on plainly this Inward Man by the Coherence afore and after Ask yet 1. If our earthly Tabernacle that is our Body be dissolved we have c. that is This inner Man our Souls have for the Body is supposed dissolved So likewise ver 4. We in this Tabernacle that is our Souls in these Bodies More expresly after ver 8. our very Souls not only whilst in our Bodies but when separated 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 ver 5. Hath wrought Vs the Soul bears the Person carries away the Grace with it Add to this the Time here specified in Observa quôd non in futuro dicit Parabit â—s Non demumparabitur ubi jam induendum est c. Musc in locum 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 Peterperfect 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 mouldring and that by Afflictions which during this moment work an eternal weight of Glory ver 17. and that is expresly 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 No remembrance Eccl. 9. 10. says David namely which Psal 6. 5. hath any influence into a Man's Eternity So there is no working upon us in order thereunto after Death God hath done his Do hath wrought and Man hath finished his course as Paul of himself and in this Chapter of my Text ver 10. Every Man receiveth the things done in his Body be they good or evil Those things that are done in this Body only therefore only what in this Life he hath wrought And for this he hath wrought us says the Text. §. These things premised I come to the Argument to be raised out of them to prove the Point in hand First that Grace or Holiness because they are immediately wrought in the Soul that therefore when the Body dies the Soul shall be taken up into Life That this is a meet and congruous Ordination of God the Scripture it self 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. First for the Body that is condemned to die The Body is dead because of Sin By Body I understand the same which he in the 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 threatning 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 compleat 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 other Father of our Flesh The Arrest therefore goes forth against the Body which we had from that Adam because of that Sin conveyed by means of our Bodies for tho I must not say the Body defiles the Soul or of it self 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 Off-spring of God having now true Holiness and Righteousness from the second Adam communicated to it
the King of terrors Job 18. 19. were setting down his siege about him and that all the Iniquities of his heels or ways which are Deaths strongest Forces The Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15. 5 6. were as an Army formed up encompassing him round which out of Psal 40. 12. I have shewed to have been his case and the very Metaphor he there also useth But now David was so steeled as though he placed himself thus aforehand in the full view and face of all these single and alone in the midst of them he yet outdares them all as the Apostle did Rom. 8. ult strengthned with this for the Lord will receive my Soul which Phrase of Speech to be the same that a dying Saint useth you all know And this part of his Speech v. 5. might have come in as comfortable an Use as any other of that former Doctrine the innumerable number of Sins but that this other part that now follows doth properly belong unto what hath been now last insisted on and so I rather placed both here The second thing is The opposite state of wicked Men in their Lives and in relation to their dying and also at and after Death by which he both illustrates and expounds his meaning in ver 5. to be to utter his own blessed condition at his Death v. 15. and to that purpose it is he further dilates upon the death of wicked Men in the rest of the Psalm And which is indeed a kind of Summary of what in the former Meditation I have prest During their Lives they trust in their Wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their Riches v. 6. and yet they see as the word is v. 10. that they cannot redeem their own or others precious Souls from bodily Death or obtain of God by a Ransom that they should live for ever For he sees the wise Man die like as the Fool and so leave their Wealth to others Thus in v. 7 8 9 10. That which therefore miserable Wretches they relieve themselves with against this is Their inward thought is that their Houses shall continue for ever and their Dwelling-places to all Generations They call their Lands after their own Names and their Posterity approve their Sayings v. 13. Tho when he dies he shall carry nothing away his Glory shall not descend after him c. And whither goes he when he dies His Soul so 't is in the Original and varied in the Margin shall go to the Generation of his Fathers to the Company of those Giants of the Old World from whom Hell hath its Name so oft in the Proverbs And where are they all The Spirits in Prison So the Apostle resolves us speaking of the Men of the old World 1 Pet. 3. 19. And they shall never see Light or comfort more says the Psalmist But as for me says David v. 15. God shall receive me into the bosom of his Love and Bliss And then again upon their dying They are laid as Sheep in the Grave Death shall feed on them and prey upon them The first Death upon their bodies in the Grave the second Death upon their Souls And their Beauty shall consume in the Grave so as at the morning as there of the Resurrection the greatest Personages that have had such a Gleam of Glory to attend them whilst they lived accompanied perhaps also with dominion over others shall then rise such ugly shabby Death-eaten and Hell-eaten Creatures as we use to say Moth-eaten all their Beauty being preyed upon that 's his word and consumed And such shall they appear in Judgment where the upright whom they despised shall have dominion over them ver 14. But says David God shall redeem my Soul from the power of the Grave For he shall receive me Selah And for the further illustration of all this and how it relates unto Death I shall only cast in a manifest parallel between what David here had meditated about the condition of wicked Men at Death with what our Lord himself hath seconded it withal in expressions fully herewith agreeing treating of wicked mens dying also Luke 12. 16. unto ver 21. 'T is the Parable of that rich Man whose Soul was taken away that night 1. Says David Their inward thought is c. ver 11. And says Christ He thought within himself so ver 17. 2. Whilst he lived he blessed himself so David ver 18. namely in those his inward Thoughts about his Goods and Posterity And the like speaks Christ to be the inward speech and applauding himself of his rich Man He says to his Soul Soul thou hast many Goods laid up for many years take thine ease and be merry Again 3. of this Man Christ says Thou Fool this night c. ver 20. And David of his This their way is their Folly ver 10. 4. And finally the reason of that their Folly which both Christ and David give do center in one and the same This Night thy Soul shall be required thee then whose shall these things thou hast provided be Thus Christ ver 20. and David correspondently His Soul shall go c. They shall never see light ver 19. and he shall carry nothing away but leave his Wealth to others verses 10 17. But still withal let us remember what David's conclusion is concerning himself at his Death and which he placeth in the midst as the center of his Discourse which hath all this other about wicked Men round about it to the end to magnify the Mercy thereof to himself But God shall redeem my Soul and shall receive me Selah The Mercy of both which the last Use of all that next follows doth concern and so shuts up this Discourse USE Let all Believers from hence learn how to set a due and full value upon that Salvation which they profess to expect and which God hath designed to give them Our great and gracious God the more to bind and oblige the redeemed of the Sons of Men unto himself hath twisted their Salvation of a double Cord of Love 1. A privitive one seen in what they are snatcht out of which is termed a being saved from Wrath Rom. 5. A delivering from Wrath 1 Thess 1. 10. An escaping the Damnation of Hell Mat. 23. 33. A not so much as entring into Condemnation John 5. 24. 2. The other a positive part The Glory to be revealed the greatness of which no Tongue can utter or Heart conceive That Blessedness or Glory conferred on the elect Angels and that favour shewn them hath not this privative part of Salvation to greaten it further then as by way of prevention in that God upheld them from falling into the Merit or Desert of it Whereas we Men are all become guilty afore God were actually under Wrath Children of Wrath even as others one as well as another Ephes 2. And the weight of this he in that Scripture would have them put
Destruction The Word in the Original is from his Face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now God's Anger or Wrath is as well and very frequently expressed by his Face in Scripture as his Favour useth to be For the Face as well holds forth Anger and Wrath as Favour and Grace Thus Lev. 20. 6. I will set my Face against that Soul and will cut him off that is I will put forth mine Anger to destroy him And Lament 4. 26. where it is translated the Anger of the Lord in the Hebrew and in your Margents it is The Face of the Lord. As there is the Light of God's Countenance in which is Life so the rebuke of God's Countenance at which we perish Psal 80. 16. Even as the Wax is said to melt at the Presence of the Fire Psal 68. 2. and often elsewhere So then to be destroyed from his Face and Presence is all one as to say from his Anger and Wrath. And we have both exegetically met in one Scripture Rev. 6. last They said to the Mountains Fall on us to hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb and suitably this Destruction here in 2 Thess 1. is said to be both from God and Christ Even as the Happiness of Heaven is immediately from the Presence of God and Christ Rev. 21. 23. And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it For the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof Thus on the contrary is it in Hell and so at the day of Judgment it is the Face of God and the Face of the Lamb that the Wicked most of all do dread as that which is the Inflicter of their Torment As for any Objection from those words in flaming Fire c. I shall answer it afterwards III. Scripture Rom. 9. 23. CHAP. III. This Passage explicated only so far as concerns the Execution Several Particulars in the Words that shew the Power of God's Wrath to be the inflicting Cause and immediately inflicting this Punishment An Explication of a fourth Scripture Rom. 2. 8 9. added for the confirmation of all I Shall insist on this Passage but so far as it respects the Execution of this Destruction in Hell after much Long-Suffering passed and not to touch at all upon any thing of that Point of Rejection from Eternity whether intended or not But that the Words should respect the Execution in Hell which is the Point only before us I take that as clear and much for granted And the Reason is because it is the Glory of Heaven which in the next Words the Apostle joins with it and sets by it as Parallels illustrating each the other So ver 23. And that he might make known the riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory In Heaven namely The only thing which by the way I observe is That the Sin of the Creature is that which prepareth or fitteth the Creature for the execution of this Punishment And a difference may be observed in this though otherwise a Parallel as put in cautiously by the Apostle that God himself prepareth the Saints to Glory ver 23. but the other are fitted that is by themselves unto Destruction ver 22. ere he destroyeth them The Point afore me is that God's Wrath and his Power are to be the immediate Inflicters of that Destruction There are several Particulars in the Words which taken singly might perhaps be sufficient to prove this but laid all together will become a strong eviction thereof 1. That God's Wrath and his Power or the Power of his Wrath are spoken of as the inflicting or executing Causes is evident For it is a Power of Efficiency here spoken of as whereby God produceth this Destruction as a Cause doth its proper Effect and accordingly He is said to make known and shew his Power and Wrath therein like as the force and virtue of an efficient Cause is made known and demonstrated in and by the Effect it produceth And so is spoken to the same Effect with what in Chap. 1. 20. he had said that his Power and Godhead is clearly seen from the Creation of the World and understood by the things that are made He that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mighty one as the blessed Virgin there by way of Eminency styles him Luke 1. 49. is said to shew strength with his Arm Ver. 51. And here to make known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word suited to that other his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posse or what is possible to be done by him It is then a power of Strength and Energie or Efficacy with his own Hands and Arm and that according to the utmost of his Ability as the word imports And so the Power here spoken of is an inflicting Power that works and effects this Destruction and not that of Authority only or a Power of Liberty to do as one pleaseth as the Potter with the Clay For that kind of Power he had afore ascribed to God in this matter in the foregoing Verse which this Word here is distinct from And this is one step unto which add 2. It is his Power joined with his Wrath that is the Power of his Wrath or his Wrath in the Power of it For thus Moses the Man of God Psal 90. 11. had long afore put them together when he speaks of this very Wrath in Hell of which here the Apostle doth For after he had 1. set out the Time and Condition of Man in this Life The days of our years are threescore years and ten c. and then 2. We fly away so expressing Death and our going into another World Then 3. follows Who knows the Power of thine Anger As that which succeedeth and seizeth after Death upon the most of Mankind dying in their Sins The Apostle here mentions Power and Wrath apart but Moses there maketh Power an Attribute of his Wrath and so considered it hath a double meaning and both serving our purpose 1. That Wrath stirs up his Power and draws it out unto this Execution and therefore Wrath is the first of the two here mentioned yea further that it is his Power as it becomes heated inflamed and intended by Wrath that inflicteth this And as a Man in his Anger strikes a greater blow so may God be supposed to do when represented as thus smiting in his sore displeasure And 2. That God's very Wrath and Anger if but shewn and revealed by him to Mens Souls hath such a Power in it that that alone is enough to destroy them The nearest resemblance that the Scriptures Fiery Indignation in the Text. Psal 22. 14. make of this Wrath is that of Fire of which anon and that as Fire melting Wax by the very Presence of it As therefore when we would express the Power of Fire we say the Power of the Heat that
as well as that the Soul should But yet so as either of them have this meeted out to them according to their vastly differing share and hand and acting which they had in sinning in which the Soul is always the principal Actor and in some Sins the sole Agent and Subject To be sure in Heaven there is a confluence of created Excellencies suited to the Bodies of Saints made Spiritual as well as God Himself the Happiness of their Souls and sure I am that on the contrary it is distinctly said of each and apart That God destroys both Body and Soul in Hell Mat. 10. 28. And accordingly each of them with a Punishment suited unto each The Passage of Scripture unto which the gathering will be of several others for the proof of this my present Assertion which is the subject of this Chapter is that of our Apostle in the 28. ver of this Heb. 10. a little afore my Text he there setting forth the Judgment to come in the Causes and Effects of it to be A fiery Indignation devouring the Adversaries I did but touch upon it before when I drew out other Arguments from this Text but then reserved a fuller handling of this by it self The Original hath it The Indignation of Fire But Indignation is in and from the Heart of an intelligent Person provoked which is God as the Text shews Grotius therefore interprets it The Anger of God but adds putting forth it self by Fire I suppose he means by corporeal Fire as its Instrument But why not rather The Anger of God Himself Devouring his Adversaries as Fire and so to relate to the manner of his Anger its working as represented under the Similitude of Fire seeing God Himself is in this Epistle stiled a Consuming Fire which interprets this And in this Expression of fiery Indignation which Devoureth He hath particular reference unto those of all other the most extraordinary Judgments upon Nadah and Abihu Lev. 10. 2. There came out Fire from the Lord and devoured them They are in terminis the very Words of the Apostle here And Respici videtur Historia quae est Numb 16. 35. Lev. 10. 2. Grotius we may take in also that so we may have two Witnesses too to confirm this our Interpretation of the Apostles Allusion That two hundred and fifty Princes perished by Fire from the Lord in the Rebellion of Corah Numb 16. 30. This as for what examples is referred unto Now to raise up our Thoughts unto how much a sorer Punishment the fiery Indignation that remained for these Gospel-Adversaries should be he suggests how transcendently the Gospel exceeds the Ministration of Moses Law in these Words that follow He that despised Moses Law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace Moses Law the old Covenant as joined with the Law Ceremonial was sprinkled or consecrated with the Blood of Beasts Chap. 9. 19 20 21. But the Gospel of the New Covenant and the Persons enlightned thereby have been sanctified by the Blood of the Son of God If then such an extraordinary fiery Judgment befel the despisers of this Moses Law thus sprinkled c. what fiery Indignation proportionably must it be that shall befal the treaders down both of the Book Covenant and sacred Blood of Christ And in this lies the weight and strength of the Apostle's Argument That Maxim of the Judicial Law which is annexed that Despisers died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses is brought in for that grand Circumstance's sake whereby the Apostle heightneth both the Iniquity of those Persons destroyed by Fire who sinned afore many thousand Witnesses the whole Congregation of Israel As likewise this other far transcending guilt of these Adversaries who had renounced Christ and his Blood openly afore the whole World and Christian Church So Chap. 6. 6. 'T is said they did put the Lord Jesus to an open shame and they are the same Persons whom he threatens this against here and speaks of there But still by what surpassing Proportion may we estimate or suppose as the Apostle calls us to do how much this fiery Indignation is sorer then that outward devouring them by Fire 'T is certain that Moses Law and that sprinkling with Beasts Blood c. which he argues from held but the proportion of Types †As he had expresly called them in that chap. 9. 9. and again in this chap. 10. ver 1. Figures and Shadows But the New Covenant and Christ's Blood c. of the Substance and Reality comparatively to these Then in like manner his intent in proposing these examples of Judgments by Fire was as of those that hold the Proportion but of a Type a Figure of this fiery Indignation that is to come upon the treaders down of the Blood of Christ For indeed a meer bodily Death the sharpest as those by Fire were is but as the Shadow of Death unto the second Death the thing intended here which is utterly another kind of thing In Heb. 10. ver 1. He says of the good things of the Gospel that what the Law held forth were but the Shadows of those good things to come as Canaan of Heaven Chap. 4 c. the like 2 Col. 17. And why may it not be also said that as all the good things under the Law the best were but shadows of those good things to come so that the highest and worst of outward evil things executed then were in like manner but shadows of those evil things which the Gospel brings to Light as the Punishment of Sin And we may see in his succeeding Discourse in this same Chapter how he having first instanced in the Good he after instanceth in the highest of Evil in these Words I am upon ver 27 28 29 30 31. And in like manner the like extraordinary Judgments then are expresly said to have happened to them as Types so in the Greek and Margin 1 Cor. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rudiores imagines perfectioris 11. Types not meerly monitory of like Events but withal prefigurative of Punishment of an higher kind c. What Death could be outwardly sorer than See Lucan of the Effects of the stingings by African Serpents upon Cato's Souldiers Lib. 9. to be destroyed of Serpents ver 9. and those fiery too Numb 21. 6. the Effects of whose Stings are described to be as dolorous as being burnt alive But under the Gospel Sin and the Law and so God's Wrath these as the substance are set out to be the Sting of that Death to come 1 Cor. 15. 55. * As the brazen Serpent was the shadow of Christ John 3. So the stingings of those fiery Serpents the like Figures of the stinging of Sin
and God's Wrath. Again ver 10. destroyed of the Destroyer Who was the Destroyer then Angels So Heb. 11. 28. And what Destruction or Destroyer under the Gospel is it that is typified out by these even God Himself who as by Christ is said to kill the Soul and destroy Body and Soul in Hell So ere the Apostle took off his Pen from prosecuting that Argument in the very same Chapter he in full effect says as much in setting afore them how it was God's Power and Wrath instead of those other Destroyers with which Sinners have now to do ver 22. Do you provoke the Lord to Jealousie are you stronger than he I might confirm this Notion from other Types 1 Cor. 15. 44 45. This fore-laid To approach nearer to our purpose in hand there are two things further to be done 1. as touching the Type it self what kind of Fire that was which devoured them And the manner of their Deaths The Fire was another manner of Fire than this our Elementary common Fire This was Fire from Heaven and therefore said to be a Fire from the Lord that devoured them it was such a Fire as blasts of Lightning are which strike and blast and shrivel the Spirits of a Living Body in an instant which is evident by the manner of their Deaths The Hebrew Doctors say of it that it was a Fire which burnt their Souls not their Bodies their meaning is their Bodies were not consumed or devoured by it for Lev. 10. 5. 't is said They carried their Bodies and Coats into the Tent as untouch'd It was therefore such a Fire as Lightning is from Heaven which useth to strike and lick up Mens Spirits in an instant when yet in the mean time it consumes not breaks not so much as Skin or Flesh which our Elementary Fire preys first and most upon It was therefore a far subtiller Fire then Culinary or Kitchin Fire which suitably served as the fittest and nearest Type of this fiery Indignation and of the vengeance which it executes And this was but the Shadow The second is What the substance answering to these Types should be This I shall set out by two things 1. What is the thing or subject devoured by this fiery Indignation It is the immortal Souls of Men these are the Fewel which this Fire doth prey upon As to the truth of the thing it self I need not insist on it But the Analogy of that as the Shadow and this as typified thereby that is the matter afore me Let it be considered that the Death and Destruction of the immortal Soul in Man could not any other way be more lively shadowed forth than by such a devouring as Moses word is or licking up the vital and animal Spirits that run in the Body when yet the Body it self remains unburnt Thereby demonstrating that it was such a Fire as struck immediately at that which is the Fountain of Life it self in the Body and at that which is the Bond the Vinculum the Tye of Union between Soul and Body for such are those Spirits And yet not so much as to singe the outward bulk or carcase of the Body There could have been nothing invented in the whole compass of Nature to have born a resemblance so near to shadow forth the Immortal Soul as those spirits running in Man's Blood and Arteries do which some affirm to be the very Animal and Vital Soul in Man Sure I am they are as the Oyl whereby Life is preserved and fed and in the Blood is the Life says Moses our best Interpreter in this Neither doth this Shadow hold a Similitude in this particular only but in another like case as evidently The pouring forth of the Blood of the Beasts that were Sacrificed under the Old Law was particularly ordained to signify Christ his pouring forth his Soul unto Death as Esay speaks As well as in general that the Sacrifice of those Beasts did typifie forth Christ's Sacrifice in the whole of it And this was as near a Representation of that Particular as could any way be made by what was corporeal in Beasts or else in the whole Creation for a Sacrifice of Mankind or the Blood of Men God liked not to be made to him in his Worship could possibly have been found to pourtray it forth The second thing is that the substance shadowed forth by that Fire was no other than the Indignation or Wrath of the great God Himself which is termed Fiery Indignation here For Proof of which I insist not that some Shim thereof this Shadow it self doth cast in Moses his saying again and again in Terminis that a Fire from the Lord c. which hath a great Emphasis and Resemblance of this in it But for proof I ask First Where shall we find or how Omnes ignes hujus Mundi sunt ut ignis Pictus ad ignem 〈◊〉 shall we imagine any created Fire so to exceed that Fire from Heaven recorded in that Story and so far exceeding it as the Substance doth a Shadow or such as should melt down Immortal Souls You may sooner invent or imagine a Fire so much comparatively hotter than that of the Sun it self which is the contract of Fire and Light and so much exceeding it as should be able to shrivel up this Sun into a burnt black Coal as to imagine any such created Fire so transcending this of Lightning from Heaven as shall thus devour reasonable Souls and Immortal Spirits that in the substance of them as being Spirits do bear the image of God In what Furnace will you think to find such a Fire No where but in the Bosom of him who hath here said Vengeance is mine even of God himself 2. To confirm this What created Fire can be conceived more subtile or powerful than the Angels themselves are conceived to be whom as Heb. 1. 7. out of the Psalms the Apostle compareth to Flames of Fire that is in our European Language to Lightning Now then I ask when Christ says Mat. 25. 41. Go into the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels shewing that Man's Punishment shall be from the same hand that the Punishment of those evil Angels is what Fire can be supposed such that can work on Angelical Natures who themselves have Power over Fire of Fire of Lightning from Heaven as in Jobs case was seen None other but that which as the Apostle resolves us if we will rest in it That our God is a consuming Rev. 14. Fire Heb. 12. ult So that considering the State and Condition of the Devil I cannot but celebrate that fore-cited conclusive Speech of Luthers Ira Dei est infernus Diaboli omnium damnatorum It is the Wrath of God that is the Hell of the Devil and of all the damned For there can be no other Fire in which the Devils can be tormented Outward washings may as soon reach Conscience as Heb. 9. 9. 1 Pet. 3. 21. as such created
of it For I argue asking this Question What is able to fill the Soul of Man with good or evil The Soul which was created in so large a Capacity as to be filled with God and with none but God himself He only is able to fill the vast corners of it with either Creatures like it self may afflict and torment it much especially whilst in the Body so much as to cause it to desire Death and a being out of the Body but the Soul they are never able to destroy The Soul is a Castle so strong built as it can bear the Assaults of all its fellow-Creatures and sustain it self and not sink into Destruction Nothing can destroy the well-being of the Soul but God's Power For it is said They may kill the Body but God only can kill the Soul And else according to that Argument of Christ Fear not them that can kill the body only c. they were to be feared as God himself is if they could kill the Soul as God can do For Christ says God is therefore to be feared and only to be feared because he can destroy both Body and Soul And he redoubleth it with an Emphasis Fear him yea I say unto you Fear him Luke 12. 5. Indeed one Evangelist says Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell which expresseth no more but an act of Authority to sentence and cast into Hell as the Judge doth into Prison Yet the other Evangelist puts it upon this because he is able to kill the Soul and that only he is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell He says not barely to cast into Hell as by way of Authority but adds kills and destroys in Hell when they are cast thither For God is both Judg and Avenger And therefore if it be Destruction 't is evident He only can and must do the execution And therefore in the Text 2 Thes 1. 8 9. their being punished with everlasting Destruction is attributed to the glory of his Power These are some of the Reasons of this great Point CHAP. VII A fourth sort of additional Confirmations drawn from the Harmonies that are between it and other Divine Truths I Shall in the last place cast in some Harmonies or Congruities and Correspondencies which this holds and makes up with other Divine Truths And in such Harmonies and Concords there is much of Reason at least to confirm if not demonstrate Truths in Divinity 1. To begin where I left Hereby it comes to pass that as the Souls of Men and other Spirits were immediately made and created by God who is therefore in a peculiar respect and with an opposite distinction to the Fathers of our Bodies said to be the Father of Spirits and the God of the Spirits of all Flesh So that their last termination or end should be into and by his immediate Hands also This makes up a congruous and suitable Dispensation That look as they receive their first Being from him likewise they should return to him as Ecclesiastes speaks as to their sole and immediate Author and Creator and so receive from him as a Father of Spirits their Portion at his immediat Hands And Man 's ultimate end either way is called their Portion Psal 11. 6. Mat. 24. 51. whether it be in blessedness as their Inheritance out of his Love or Misery as the wages of their Sin And thus hereby God himself is made the end and the beginning or terminus the Alpha and Omega of Souls to whom be Glory for ever 2. Thereby also there comes to pass an answerableness and a proportion held between the two conditions of Heaven and Hell Which the Apostle seems to make the ultimate aim and determination of God's Counsels Unto which all in this World are but preparations as he calls them Thus Rom. 9. 22 23. for the shewing forth of his own immediate Glory What if God willing to shew his Wrath and to make his Power known endured with much long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction And that he might make known the riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory And thirdly also It is said that after that Christ the Judg of All hath delivered up his Administration and Kingdom unto his Father then God should become all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. not in respect of Being that is not as if the Being of all things shall return into God again as some have wickedly dreamed Or that God's blessed Being and the Creatures should become one that can never be 'T is a contradiction to say a Creature made out of nothing should come to be of it self and such God in his Being is But all in all in respect of immediate Dispensation And so look as to the Vessels of Mercy he will then be all in all so that they shall not need the light of the Sun and the Moon c. that is the comfort of any Creature though all created Excellencies in the Spirit and quintesence of them shall be there why should it not be also meant that the same God which makes up a Parallel seeing Mens Sins deserve it shall be all in all in Hell too in a contrary way to the other 4. And the rather this may be thought because when God shall have caused this visible World to pass away the Earth and the Heavens we now behold as some judicious Divines have inclined to think from Job 14. 12. and other Scriptures either by turning them into nothing or into their first Chaos And so there being none that is of this old World left but pure Heaven and Hell which are as two spiritual Places or Worlds and therein these two sorts of Creatures rational either those who are wholly Spirits as Angels good and bad or the Spirits of Men whose Bodies are raised Spiritual and so fitted for that other kind of World both of which are capable of Happiness or Wo from him That then these two sorts of intelligent Natures God and they being left thus alone the bruitish part of the World being done away should have to do with him for ever immediately either in a way of Wrath or Blessedness And so God shall be all in all in either Worlds and this to be the final ending and Catastrophe of all But these I urge not but only mention THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN in HELL SECT II. The dreadfulness thereof argued from all and each of the Particulars treated of in the former Section HEB. 10. 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God THe second thing at first propounded to be handled was the dreadfulness of this Punishment It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God Which being an inference from the foregoing words and not a simple affirmation only do come in with an amazing kind of implication wherein the Apostle leaveth it to our own Thoughts to conceive
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
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 His Righteousness 1 Cor. 13. 8 2 Cor. 9. 9. endures for ever 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 it self 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 it self is alone and immediatly 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 First 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 stampt on it yea and carries it all with it self as a rich Treasure innate unto it wherever it goes when separate from the Body I say it either hath in it or appertaining unto it all that hath been wrought for it either in it or by it Rev. 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 1 Pet. 1. 23 25. of God remains incorruptible or the Word of God abides for ever 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 when it is single and alone and in its Widow's condition And it is an opportune season that by a Glory given it for that Holiness this should now appear That it was the Soul which was the sole intrinsick and immediate Receptive of all this Holiness This is the first Add also Secondly It s being the first and primitive Subject of Holiness from vhich it is derivatively in the Body Meet it was this Soul should not be deferred till Magis conveniens videtur ut animae inquibus per prius fuit culpa meritum prius etiam vel puniantur vel praemientur Aquinas cont Gent. lib. 4. cap. 19 § 3. the Appurtenance of it be united to it but be served first and admitted into that Glory ordained and by having it self 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 it self should be communicated And therefore seeing its Fate is to abide a while alone therefore first to enjoy and drink both the Juice and Fruit of that Vine it is the Root of And 3. it being in it self when separate as immediatly 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 v. 4. God's immediate Presence and our knowing him face to face as we are known Now of this the Apostle doth in these 6 7 and 8 Verses expresly 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 expresly made the Privilege of a Soul absent from the Body which can mean no other State than that of the Soul between the Death of the Body and the Resurrection For whilst it is present in the Body afore Death it is absent from the Lord and when it shall be present with the Lord after the Resurrection it shall not then be any more absent from the Body This Conjunction therefore of absent from the Body and present with the Lord falls out in no State else but only in that Interim or space of time between Let us withal view this Place in the Light by bringing the one to the other which that Passage 1 Cor. 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 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 Knowledg 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 Knowledg 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
follow me AFTERWARDS So here NOW believing which is the Principle at the present which you live upon you see him not but when the end of your faith shall come you shall then see him and in this it is consisteth the salvation of your soul So that still it 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. 12 13. And let me add this That the Apostle on purpose doth bring the mention of this supereminent fruit of faith Even now when we see not that believing ye yet rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious On purpose I say to make way for the raising up their thoughts apprehensions how infinitely transcending that salvation of their souls must be when Faith ending they attain to Sight to see him face to face whom their souls have loved It is implicitly as if he had said unto them Oh! think with your selves what Joy what Glory that must needs be which exceedeth and surpasseth this that now accompanies your faith in an answerable proportion as much as sight of Christ's presence and face to face must be supposed to excel the knowledge of him by faith which sees him but as absent darkly And further give me leave to improve this Notion You may take this assured evidence That your souls shall then see and enjoy God when your faith shall CEASE which will be when once your souls shall come to be separate from your bodies by death In that even now in this life it is your Souls and Spirits that are the immediate receptives or partakers and subjects of such glorious Joys The soul enjoys them though in the body yet without the help or 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 it self 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 finish'd And all these as comprehended in what the very first view and front of the words of my Text hold out God hath wrought us for the self-same thing §. But lo a greater matter is here It is not simply said God hath wrought us for this but He that hath wrought us for this thing is God Thereby calling upon us to consider How great an Hand or Efficient is here even God who hath discovered in a transcendent manner his Glory in the ordaining and contriving of this Work unto this great end Take it not therefore as a bare Demonstration given from God's working Vs 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 it self which is the End for which here his stile is Wbose Maker and Builder 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 The Second Point That to have provided a Glory for separate Souls of Just Men wrought upon in this Life is a Dispensation becoming the Great God yea and that there is an Artifice and Contrivement therein worthy of God and like unto himself such as he hath shewed in other his Works of Wonder There are two Branches of this Doctrine which I set otherwise out thus 1. That it is a thing becoming the Great God thus to deal with such a separate Soul having been wrought upon 2. That God hath designed and brings forth therein a glorious Artifice and Contrivement such as argue him a God Wise in Counsel and Wonderful in Working I. First Branch of this second Doctrine That it becomes God The Account of this Becomingness is best made forth by comparing and bringing together into an Interview both the inward and outward Condition of such a Soul and then the Relations which God bears to it such as should thereupon move him through his good pleasure thus to deal with it You know I at first undertook chiefly Reasons of Congruity or Becomingness and such always consist of two parts and when the one answereth and suiteth to the other then the Harmony of such a Reason is made up Let Us therefore consider 1. What is on the Soul's part 2. What is on God's part §. I. On the Soul's part Therein two things 1. The Species the Kind and intrinsecal Rank of Being which this Creature we call the Soul thus wrought upon stands in afore God 2. The outward Condition or Case this
Soul is left in upon its parting with the Body unless God takes it up into Glory First For its Rank or Kind of Being Therein two things 1. This Soul was by its first Creation a Spirit and that in the substance or native kind thereof and in that respect considered apart for its Union with the Body is in a more special manner allied unto God than all other Creatures but Angels are You have the Pedigree of Man both in respect of Body and Soul set out Acts 17. The Extract of our Bodies in v. 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 Off-spring v. 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 stiled 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 Mens 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 Psal 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 meer nothing that is to say altogether whereas Generation presupposeth pre-existent matter as in the generation of our Bodies which are not wholly and every whit of God immediately but the Parents afford the matter and the formative virtue besides by which our Bodies are framed So then in respect of our first Creation our Souls apart considered are thus allied to God to which our Bodies are not being Spirits in the very Being of them that altogether do owe that their Being to him But there is a taint come upon the Souls of all Men by Sin so as this alliance is thereby worn out yea forfeited until it be restored Now therefore these Souls the only subject of our Discourse being such as God hath wrought and so are become his Workmanship by a new and far nobler Creation and thereby created Spirit anew according to what Christ says That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Hereupon these Souls are Spirit upon a double account as you say of Sugar it is double-refined so this is now become a spiritual Spirit or Spirit spiritualized and sublimated yea and thereby the inward Sanctuary the Holy Rom. 7. 22. 25. of Holies the seat of God's most spiritual Worship which the Body is not but only as it is the outward Temple or Instrument of this new-made Spirit And hereupon that original Affinity to God of Spirit is not only restored but endeared for now there is both the stuff or the ground-work and then the workmanship or embroidery upon it and both of them the Works of God that so look as the Gold wrought upon commends the Enamel and then again the Enamel enhaunceth the value of the Gold so as both are considered in the price so it 's here with this Soul wrought by God in both respects §. Secondly Consider we now again the Case and outward Condition of such a Soul that of it self would fall out to it upon the Dissolution of the Body 1. It fails of all sorts of Comforts it had in and by its union with the Body in this World Luke 16. 9. When you fail says Christ speaking of Death 't is your City-phrase when any of you break and perhaps are thereby driven into another Kingdom as the Soul now is 2. Then if ever a Mans flesh and his heart fails Psal 73. 26. 3. And which is worse a Man's Faith faileth or ceaseth after Death and all his spiritual Knowledg as in this Life 't 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 turned upon its Father again This as to the Souls Condition II. God's part §. This is a special season for God to shew his Love to such a Soul if ever afore or after an opportunity such as falls not out neither afore whilst it was in the Body nor after when it is united to the Body again at the Resurrection if ever therefore he means to shew a respect unto a poor Soul which is his so neer Kindred and Alliance it must be done now We read in Psal 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 unto 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
it self out fairly to its full length yet some last but a very little while and those of the greatest size cannot long Oh but how many intervening Casualties are there that afore do put it out The Candle of the Wicked shall be put out and Destruction cometh upon them Job 21. 17. that is ab extrinseco from without How many Thieves in the Candle or fatal Accidents do Men meet with that unawares consume it Immoderate Sorrows and Cares swale it Intemperance like too much Oyl poured thereon to feed it choaketh and extinguisheth it Too much Intention of Mind turns the Flame downwards upon it self and so it evaporates Often another Mans Breath in seasons of Malignity which fall out more or less every year blows and puffs it out A Friends Breath comes in with an infectious Vapour and throws his Soul out who visits him Yea an unskilful or else a mistaking hand of a Physician who undertakes to snuff and brighten it unwarily clean snuffs the Candle out Yea Men strong and vigorous go to the Grave in a moment as in the same 21. chapter of Job ver 13. Yea as Psal 55. 15. they go quick to Hell it is an allusion to Corah Dathan c. Numb 16. 30 33. of whom 't is said twice They went alive to Hell Many die so suddenly that they are in Hell in a trice and as it were ere quite dead And truly the most of Men live in this World like silly Sheep in a Pasture as David's Similitude is Psal 4. 9. 14. They are See Ainsw put into Hell like Sheep so some It notes out their Security in respect of that slaughter which comes upon them This Man dies then that then another and they regard it not even as the Sheep do not when the Butcher as his Pleasure is takes out first one then another and carries them to the Shambles whilst the rest feed on and know not that themselves are a fatting to the day of Slaughter also Let us consider also what millions of Transgressions are we guilty of in one Day Oh then what in thy whole Life And what a reckoning will the Sins of thy whole Life come to when every Commandment shall bring in their Bills and that thou hast to do with a God who 1. hath all thy Sins before him Isa 65. 6. Behold it is written afore me but I will recompence c. 2. That will never forget any one of them Amos 8. 7. The Lord hath sworn Surely I will never forget any of their Works 3. With a God who will bate thee nothing Every Transgression shall receive a just recompence of reward He spared not his own Son Rom. 8. and will not thee unless by regeneration thou hast a Portion in his Son Think with thy self what a case thou art in if thou must answer Justice for all and every one of these DAVID's Meditation Psal XLIX The most of these things hitherto by way of Use spoken by me are no other than what David himself spends one whole Psalm together upon it is Psal 49. and styles it The Meditation of his Heart vers 3. which caused me to entitle that former about what it is to dye a Meditation rather than an Vse as I had done that of Moses also Psal 90. This of David's I shall here add to set the deeper seal and weight upon all that hath been treated He begins the Psalm and shews the moment of these matters though in view but ordinary with as solemn a Preface and Proclamation calling upon attention and heed hereto as any where we find in Scriptures 1. In the first verse he summons all the World into a Ring about him Hear ye this all the People give Ear all the Inhabitants of the World And 2. particulariseth forth his Auditors into all sorts of Conditions vers 2. Both low and high rich and poor together For why what he was to utter to them did as much concern the one as it did the other and behoved them all alike to look to as being that which especially concerned them in respect unto their Being in the other World how different soever their Condition was in this And 3. he cries up the matter it self as the greatest Wisdom vers 3. and a deep mysterious Parable and dark saying vers 4. My Mouth shall speak of Wisdom and the Meditation of my Heart shall be of Vnderstanding I will incline mine Ear unto a Parable I will open my dark saying upon the Harp Now what should this matter be It was to declare two things which take up that whole Psalm The first how in the style of a Be it known to all Men for we have seen he publisheth it to all he aloud declares I for my part am not afraid to die and go into that other World Which confidence of his he greatens by this Supposition superadded That if when he should come to die all the Sins of his whole Life were presented afore his view yet notwithstanding he should not be afraid thus ver 5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when the Iniquities of my heels shall compass me about A strange confidence which yet he found reason for from God For he challengeth all or any thing to bring in reason to the contrary let them all say Wherefore should I fear And yet his other Psalms as well as his Story tell us what an infinite number of Sins were upon his score and how sensible he was thereof And that this bold Speech of his relates specially to the day of Death or days wherein he might have cause to fear it though I will exclude no other times of Trouble that were yet to come before in this Life to be intended by him which Interpreters wholly carry it unto that this is his scope I shall make appeal to the whole drift of what follows throughout the Psalm which concerns the state of wicked Men in their Death which I shall by and by shew But specially I argue it from the reference and correspondency this Speech hath with and to vers 15. God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah There you have the reason or ground of this his Confidence which he had at first uttered in ver 5. perfectly expressed as that which he opposed unto all Therefore 's or Wherefore's to the contrary yea though they should be fetch'd from his very Sins that might if any thing make him afraid But there in that resolve of his ver 15. he centers and landeth this which he had so confidently uttered in ver 5. And all the rest of his discourse that comes between is apparently about the opposite condition of wicked Men As that they must die and what their estate is in and after Death all which was but to illustrate this Confidence of his He plainly in this ver 5. puts himself into the supposition as if he were then to die and as if Death