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 sayes of man There is no work after this life No remembrance sayes David namely which hath any influence into a mans Eternity So there is no working upon us in order thereunto after death God hath done his Do hath wrought and man hath finish'd 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 onely therefore onely 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 Holinesse because they are immediately wrought in the Soul that therefore when the body dyes 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 righteousnesse But if the spirit of him that raised us Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall 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 11. verse termes the mortall body to be raised up which sayes he is dead that is appointed to die as one sentenced to death you term a dead man And this because of sinne It was meet that that first threatning of dying should have some effect to evidence the truth of God therein Onely God is favourable in his ordination in this that he arresteth but the Body the lesse principall 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. followes what remains the soul of such an one when the body dyes But sayes he speaking by way of exception and contrary fate too The Spirit is life because of righteousnesse The Spirit is the Soul in contradistinction to the Body This when the body dies is Life He sayes not living onely or immortall but is swallowed up into life And why because of righteousnesse which is Christs image and so preserves and by Gods 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 Quaerie would be Shall this body for ever remain dead because of this first sin and bear this punishment for ever No Therefore 3. he addes He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall 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 channell or means of conveying it who was as other Father of our flesh The arrest therefore goes forth against the body which we had from that Adam because of that sin conveyed by means of our bodies for though I must not say the body defiles the soul or of it self is the immediate subject of sin yet the originall means or channel through which it comes down and is derived unto us is the generation of our bodies The Body therefore congruously payes 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 holinesse and righteousnesse from the second Adam communicated to it and abiding in it and being not onely the immediate subject thereof but further the first and originall subject from and by which it is derived unto the body The womb into which that immortall 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 sayes God of this Soul It is life It shall live when this Body dies There is nothing of Christs Image but is ordained to abide for ever Charity never fails His Righteousness 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 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 joyned 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 where-ever 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 Revel. 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 or the Word of God abides for ever Or how else comes that saying to be performed 1 Joh. 2. 17. He that doth the will of God endures for ever Having therefore all these
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 clothed upon with our house which is from heaven In this Verse he utters the working of the affections of Christians towards their being clothed upon with this house and so in order to this enjoyment of it their DESIRING even to be dissolved which Paul also utters of himself 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 clothed we shall not be found naked In this Verse he gives an wholesome Caution by the way and withall insinuates why he used the word clothed 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 clothed first and renewed with Grace and Holiness and not be found naked at our deaths that is nor 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 unclothed but clothed 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 dissolutions in difference from like desires in all other men First Negatively not for that being burthened we desire to be unclothed 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 clothed upon with that house spoken of Ver. 1. and that still taken in the sense spoken of in the 2. Ver. to the end that this mortal animal life which the Soul though 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 swalloed up by that which is life indeed The onely 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 accomplish'd 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 This Interpretation and the suiting 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 elswhere This for the Coherence I hasten to my Text TEXT Ver. 5. Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is GOD who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit THe current of the four former Verses running thus steadily along in this chanell the streame in this verse continues still the same There is one word in this verse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} For this self-same thing God hath wrought us which serves as a clue of thred drawn through the windings of the former verses to shew us that one and the same Individuall 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 eternall 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 grone 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 mortall life the soul now lives in this body and swallows up all the infirmities thereof And then here it followes 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 1600 years have put off their Tebernacles 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 3 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 't is not that desire of glory in us is spoken of But us our selves 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 generall It is to give the Rationall 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 Gods dealings with you hitherto viz. First the operation of his hands For what other is the meaning or mysterie sayes he of all that God is daily so at work at with you in this life What else is the end of all the workings 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 that work gives there is also over and above the earnest of the Spirit given to your souls now whilest in your bodies in joy full of glories of the same kind as earnest are of what fulnesse of glory they are both capable of then and shall be
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 widows 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 the first Adde also Secondly its being the first and primitive subject of Holiness from which it is derivatively in the body Meet it was this Soul should not be deferred till the appurtenance of it be united to it but be served first and admitted into that Glory ordained and by having 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 awhile alone therefore first to enjoy and drink both the juyce and the fruit of that Vine it is the Root of And 3. it being in it self 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. Gods 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 onely capable thereof but that it then begins to enjoy it Therefore sayes he we are alwayes 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 priviledge 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 onely in that interim or space of time between And let us withall 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 Christs 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 ever affirm that For besides that the Spiritual Knowledge of God is proper to an Intellectual nature Further So to know God as God known us and so to be elevated to the similitude of Gods 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 Onely 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 Kingdome of God And although Paul as a stander-by was an over-hearer and an eye-witness by way of Revelation and Vision of what the Spirits of just men in Glory do enjoy 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 le ts this body is taken out of the way the Soul it self is sufficiently capable as truly as ever it shall be §. But if this Argument from these be yet judged not home enough but short Then let us in the fourth place added what force the third Premise will give to it concerning the Time of Gods 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 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 Demurre 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
celebrated the fruits and workings of their faith in this life as in supporting them gloriously under the sorest trials v. 7. and then sometimes filling their hearts with joy unspeakable and glorious v. 8. he here at last concludeth with what will be the end or issue of it in that other life when faith it self 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 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 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 v. 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 whilest through death they shall so exist as well as of the same souls primarily and more eminently when both soul and body shall be reunited 2. The end of your Faith that is of your aims and expectations in your Faith the end importing the aim or expectation which is also a proper and literall sense of that word And upon this account also the salvation of the soul when they should die that being the very next thing their eyes must needs be upon is therefore here intended And 3. The end of your faith that is as being that for which the great God who keeps us by his power through faith unto salvation v. 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 Apostles 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 ch. 1. 4. compared with v. 12. and so speaks my Text for this self-same thing he hath wrought us And therefore when this Faith shall cease which he wrought for this he will attain his end without delay you says he shall attain your end also and Faith thus ceasing if this salvation of the soul did not succenturiate and recruit it anew the end of this Faith were wholly and altogether present destructive losse unto the soul in its well-being untill the Resurrection 4. The End signifies the perfection and consummation of any thing 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 fore-going 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 fore-going he had commended their present state of faith by this Whom NOW though you see not yet believing rejoyce 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 Joh. 13. 33 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 adde 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 rejoyce 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 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 Christs 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 Minde exerciseth in other things and which do concurre 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
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 onely 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 of Holies the seat of Gods most spiritual Worship which the body is not but onely as it is the outward Temple or Instrument of this new-made Spirit And hereupon that original Affinity to God of Spirit is not onely restored but endeared for now there is both the stuff or the ground-work and then the work-manship 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 worse0 a mans Faith faileth or ceaseth after death and all his spiritual Knowledge 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 part §. This is a speciall 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 whilest 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 the 73. Ps. 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 v. 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 v. 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 v. 26. and his estate in heaven earth divide that time 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 when all faile him which he had on earth then God alone becomes his happinesse in heaven But this onely in generall 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 speciall manner as Wisd. 11. 26. The Lord a lover of souls above all his other creation So it is there Thou art mercifull to all because they are thine O LORD THOU LOVER OF SOULS God is a Spirit when therefore this naked and withall 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 out of their like spirituall love to it as a Spirit 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 whilest 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 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. 16 17. of the regard he bears to persons of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive them upon this superaded consideration that they are souls and spirit so thereby allied to him the lofty one Hear how in this case he utters himself The Spirit would fail afore me sayes he 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 sayes he and it is