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 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
Correction he adds By the Breath of his Nostrils that is still measuring it as spoken after the similitude and manner of Men by the most ordinary and weakest putting forth of his Power And yet we see if he puts forth no more he blows us to Destruction when his intent is to destroy And why For of us the Scriptures use a comparison suitable thereto in saying that We are but as the Dust of the Ballance Isa 40. 15. Yea all the Nations put all together are but as the small Dust of the Ballance As that little that is left in the Ballance when what is weighed is taken forth which is easily blown away with a Man's Breath Again yet lower in Man his Nod is of less force than his Breath and yet Lo at the rebuke of his Countenance we perish Psal 80. 16. He can look on one that is proud and abase him and his Eye can cast about Rage and Destruction Job 40. 11 12 13. He had said before ver 9. Hast thou an Arm like God He riseth from the Power of his Nod the weakness of his Power unto the Power of his Arm And so may we from his Looks to his Breath from that to his little Finger from that to his Fist from that to his Arm and Hands in which his Strength is said to lie Luke 1. 51. O think how dreadful then it must needs be to fall into those Hands as here in the Text into those Hands I say that measure the Waters in the hollow of them that span the Heavens and at the same time comprehend also all the Dust of the Earth in one grasp as one of us doth a little Pebble And verse 15. Takes up the Isles as a very little thing as you would do Hazel-nut-shells out of a Pail of Water Now for thee a poor Grashopper to be taken into those hands and to be grip'd and crush'd and squeezed with the might thereof But the Scripture expressions go further yet to have this God like a Mill-stone fall upon thee with his whole weight which is Christ's comparison Mat. 21. 44. Thy Wrath lies hard upon me said Heman You see in Summer little green Flies creeping upon green leaves which if a Man doth but touch they die such a slight Creature art thou in comparison to this God Or further as Job's comparison is that this Great and Mighty God should run upon thee as a Mighty Giant with his full force the utmost of his Force as a Man doth upon his Enemy yet so Job speaks of it Chap. 16. 14. And in another place the same Job that he should take thee about the Neck and throttle thee O what do we poor Potsheards of the Earth striving with our Maker as Isaiah speaks chap. 45. 9. Or as Christ spake from Heaven will Flesh think to kick and spurn against such Iron Pricks and Pikes which run up into the Soul whilst it strikes upon them And that we may yet further have a through sensibleness of our obnoxiousness and exposedness to this Great God let us withal consider his absolute Sovereignty over us as well as his Power What an inconsiderable portion doth any one Soul and every one is singly to deal with him for his own particular bear unto this Infinity of Being and Glory to whom not one Nation but all Nations and not only all Nations that are now extant in the World but that ever have been or shall be are counted as nothing yea less than nothing What a little thing is this Island of ours to the whole Body of Nations And yet all Isles are to him but a little thing as Isaiah speaks Lord think thou what am I to Thee or any Man that thou shouldest regard him Yea and being sinful why should any Man as he is of himself think that God should have any stick or demurr within him to withhold himself from destroying him every moment For lo even the greatest of Men that have been of greatest Wisdom Parts being Sinners he hath in his distance and greatness laid them aside and regarded them not at all Job 38. last He regards not the Wise in Heart What is all or any Excellency in thee to him There is therefore no way but to turn unto him and seeing you must fall into his hands prevent him by putting your selves into his hands This great Arm of his may be held Isa 27. 5. Let them take hold of my Strength Fury is not in me There is an Arm also of another one that is Christ who can deal with God for thee and overcome him Isa 53. 1. To whom is the Arm of the Lord so he termeth Christ revealed Thus you have seen and heard something of the Greatness of this God and that but in general as he is the Author of this Punishment and thereby this Punishment aggrandized unto us and yet how little do we know of him as Job speaks §. II. The second Head of Demonstrations from the Capacity of the Soul the Subject of this Punishment And from this that it is the Destruction of the Soul II. SUbjoin hereunto the consideration of what is the eminent Subject of this Punishment the Soul of Man and that the Issue of this Punishment is no less than the Destruction of that Soul And these two which I join together will afford further Reflections to help us to conceive of the fearfulness of this Punishment And the Consideration hereof cometh in most pertinently next unto the foregoing wherein the Power of the Agent was spoken to but now in this the Capacity of the Subject or Patient and the Receptivity thereof of Impressions from this Worker That the Soul is the immediate Vessel of this Wrath that I spake to afore Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them that kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell The former part of which words evidently import 1. That the Soul alone and immediately in it self and not only in respect of what it suffers with or from the Bodies suffering is the Subject of this Punishment tho the Body also is And 2. Christ concludes that it is the Destruction of both Body and Soul You know also the Rule That the Measure of every Agent 's working upon another must be taken from the Capacity of the Subject which the Impression is made upon as well as from the Power of the Agent that works Fire works more fiercely upon Oil and Brimstone than upon Stones or upon Dust or Sands You may discern this in the parts of your own Body Rheum falling upon the Lungs doth not torture so as falling upon a Tooth a Joint or Eye How also are the inward parts capable of more exquisite Torment as by the Stone c. bred in them than the outward are by any Cuttings or Wounds Now the Soul of Man is capable of more exquisite Impressions from God's hand in that it is an intelligent
Psal 50. 21. and sets his Terrors in Battel aray against thee 't is Job's Expression Chap. 6. 4. and the same Word in both places And as it marshalls all so whets on to Vengeance Prov. 1. 25. Ye have set at naught all my Counsel I will therefore laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear cometh 'T is Wisdom speaks this ver 20. Be not deceived says the Apostle God is not mocked Gal. 6. 7. it imports two things 1. That Sinners think to illude and deceive God As what is it else to think to defer Repentance to the last and then to come and flatter and look to be saved as if they had served him from the very first Moment of their Lives they herein think to go beyond God 2. That in such cases God's Wisdom takes it and resents it to the height Nothing adds unto Provocation more in a Man that is Wise than to perceive how another Man thinks to go beyond him and impose upon his Wisdom And it is Wisdom in a Man that makes him he would not be mockt deceived or trifled withal this Principle riseth up in God's Heart the Judg of all the World Again his Holiness crys out to him against the Sinner Thou art a pure God and I can endure to behold no Iniiquty and the Eyes of my Glory have been provoked by this Sinner continually Then says Justice too I must be satisfyed to the utmost Farthing and have the last drop of Blood that is in their Souls and this their Punishment executed on their own Persons is all I shall have or can recover for all the dishonour hath been done thee For Christ through their unbelief hath not taken off one Farthing of their Debt but all is left and remains upon their own Score And I can no other way recover Glory but by having it out of them And therefore it is that an Eternity is required because but by an Eternity of Suffering it is that they can come to satisfy Prov. 27. 20. Hell and Destruction are never full or satisfied as the next Words shew the meaning to be Then says Truth and Righteousness their whole Lives have been contrary to my Love the whole actings and the courses of them have been but a making a Lye a Web of Hypocrisy continually woven and vended Rev. 22. 15. That love and make a Lye and Rom. 3. 13. Their Tongues are full of falshood and deceit and again Give them their Portion with Hypocrites whom of all else I hate says Truth Then boyls up Jealousy Every Creature hath been an Idol and made their God and set up in God's stead and they have been enflamed with them as of Idolaters the Prophet speaks Idols of Jealousy have all their Lusts been and the Glory due to me hath been given to them But you will say will not Mercy at last speak a good Word for them will it not allay and moderate all these No but turn as fiercely against them as any other Attribute and plead I indeed did a long while restrain all these other Attributes that were provoked every Moment Whom God endured with much long suffering says Rom. 9. 22. And that they have lived so long free from Wrath hath been by means of me I waiting for their Repentance which hath cost me Millions I have spent Riches on them in forbearance of them All which now is to be reckoned to them in Wrath. You have it Rom. 2. 4 5. They have despised the riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and long-Suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth them to Repentance But after their hardness and impenitent Heart treasure up unto themselves Wrath c. And says Grace I was presumed on and made a stale to and defender of their Lusts and was turned into Wantonness Jude 4. And thus all in God is set as it were a Fire against a Sinner and as I may so speak do turn all in him into fury And look as to God's People all in God is assimulated into Love towards them and they live in and dwell in Love and see nothing else as it were in God but Love God is Love says the Apostle namely to his own 1 John 4. 16. Nothing else appears or rather all that is in him appears in that Hue under that Dye with that Tincture So here on the contrary all in God is turned into Fury Laesa patientia fit furor Though he is not so of Himself Fury is not in me says he Isa 27. but Sin hath made him such §. VI. A Fourth Head of Demonstrations drawn from those Instances both of Good and Bad Men their having suffered these kind of Terrors in this Life A Fourth Head of Demonstrations is taken from the Instances given both of Good and Bad Men. Which Instances as I then alledged to prove the immediateness of God's inflicting it So now I shall from thence present some Inferences of the fearfulness hereof Do but sit down a little with Job and Heman who were the Instances of Good Men Or go to that Roll which the Scriptures have recorded of Cain and Judas and others or which Ecclesiastical Stories or present Examples of our Age have afforded of Men in Horror weigh and perpend their crys and roarings and consider what a sad Spectacle such Instances afford 1. Of Good Men Heman I insisted in afore and acquainted you with his Complaints as sad as Man can utter I reserved that of Job specially for this Place as I then professed All the while that he had but Afflictions common to Men and although he was every way surrounded with them as being visited with a loathsom Disease his Body fill'd with Dolours and Pains his Children lost Servants destroyed by Fire from Heaven his Estate quite gone unto an Extremity of Poverty his Wife abhorring his Breath and tempting him to Blasphemy All this while the Text tells us Chap. 2. 10. That in all this did not Job sin with his Lips but was quiet and patient as the Holy Ghost in the New Testament takes notice of him Jam. 5. You have heard of the Patience of Job Well but God himself in the end came in upon him with his immediate Wrath. And now will you hear of his Impatience too He was not prickt to the quick till now But then he begins to Curse the day of his Birth Chap. 3. 1 2 3. and at that rate talks all along that Chapter For brevity let us only consult his Lamentations in Chap. 6. ver 2 3 4. Oh that my grief were throughly weighed and my Calamity laid in the Ballances together for now it would be heavier than the Sand therefore my words are swallowed up The rest that follows I shall add by and by What was it caused this sudden out-cry and alteration in Job's Spirit from that still and sedate frame we left him in before What was it the thoughts of his lost Estate Children Wife's unkindness or the Pains of his Bones
is the King I could harden my self against that yea and to endure the pains of the most exquisite Tortures any kind of Death could inflict if thereby God would thus cut me off Then indeed if such News of Death were brought me I should yet have comfort yea I would harden my self in Sorrow So ver 10. And let it be the worst Death he can put me to for so it follows let him not spare Oh but they are these Arrows of his own within me these I cannot bear So ver 12. Is my Strength the Strength of Stones or my Flesh Brass that I should be able to endure and bear up my self against these Encounters Oh no. Read on those his Expressions further roared forth by him in Chap. 16. ver 12 13 14. He hath broken me asunder he hath also taken me by the Neck and shaken me to peices and set me up for his Mark. His Archers compass me round about he cleaveth my Reins asunder and doth not spare He poureth out my Gall upon the Ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant What should I instance in more or how to comment on them That which in the second place is proper next to be done is to provoke those that are secure Sinners c. and others also that are awakened to raise but up their Thoughts from the Consideration hereof to infer and gather how dreadful this Punishment in Hell must be above all that these Dispensations can represent unto us And this is most strongly inferred from these Examples whether they be the Examples of Good Men as Job was or bad Men as Cain and Judas were in both which I formerly instanced in I shall make Inference from each of these apart as in the first Section I also did in arguing from them the immediateness c. 1. From these of good Men. If you consider that all these Terrors wich Job and Heman endured from God were yet all in Love out of so solid and substantial a Love permanent and abiding in God's Heart all this while towards them and that all these were but chastisings of them for tryal and to make them partakers of his Holiness And besides what manner of Anger was it towards them It was but Anger which Love stirred up and those his Afflictions were accompanied and joyned all with everlasting kindness and thoughts of Peace all the while According to that in Isa 54. 8. In a little Wrath I hid my Face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redemer Yea those two known Cordial Recipes so frequently made use of and commonly taken by most Christians in their distresses and cited by two Apostles and Christ himself from Heaven Happy is the Man whom God correcteth Jam. 1. 12. chap. 5. 11. Heb. 12. 5. Apoc. 3. 19. Therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty were first spoken and directed unto this our Job whilst in the midst of these Afflictions in chap. 5. 17. And are particularly applyed to that his Condition in the worst of it by the Holy Ghost Jam. 5. 11. Yea and all this that was upon Job was in it self how great soever it seemed to his sense but the touch of God's little Finger Job 1. 11. Oh think then how great will that Vengeance be which is pure Wrath Rev. 14. which is out of Fury as was shewn which is the fiery Indignation of Patience abused boyl'd up into Fury This that befel them is said to be but a little Wrath and for a Moment And yet as also it is said Psal 2. ult If God be angry but a little who is able to abide it then what will this last and extream Vengeance reserved for Hell be These Chastisements of Job's and Heman's were in comparison of what awaits Men in Hell but as Rods of Birch or Rushes which we use to whip our Children withal Psal 89. 32 33. Then will I visit their Transgressions with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail These were all Rods of Mercies own gathering and making the Stripes whereof are not so deep but they may be and were healed again as in the same Book you also find it chap. 5. 18. He maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole and so was Job in the Issue thus healed And Heman likewise and 1 Kings 4. 31. made thereby one of the wisest Men in the World Yea but these wherewith wicked Men in Hell are eternally lash'd and cut off are Rods of Revenges making Rods of Iron as the Psalmist in that second Psalm speaks to break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel never to be set together again or made whole Again those stroaks on the Children of God are in measure as Isa 27. 7 8. but of these in Hell it may be and is said that Wrath cometh upon them without measure Again in the midst of these Corrections he remembers Mercy but in this of Hell there is Judgment without Mercy Jam. 2. 13. In those other Stripes given his Children God himself is afflicted and feels every Stroak he gives them as Jer. 31. 20. and Isa 64. But in these in Hell Vengeance and Justice do satisfy themselves in their deserved Damnation It is stiled a Sacrifice to him Mark 9. 48 49. compared and elsewhere 2. The same Inference may be much more raised from those Instances given of bad Men suffering in this Life the like Terrors to these mentioned If we but consider that when they fall and seize upon them in the greatest extremity that yet then they are in comparison to what remains to them in Hell but as the sippings of the top of that Cup here the Dregs whereof are reserved for them there to drink to the bottom as Psal 75. 8. In the Hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the Wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the Dregs thereof all the Wicked of the Earth shall wring them out and drink them Those Words he poureth out of the same and but the Dregs thereof are an opposition each to other shewing how that in this Life God promiscuously poureth forth the same from the upper part thereof both upon good and bad And that all that is but the overflowings of what is uppermost but the Dregs the brackish bitter Stuff is reserved for Hell And the truth is Men can bear but the sippings thereof here Should they drink but a little deeper their Souls would be giddy and reel out of their Bodies in a Moment As the Joys of Heaven cannot be inherited by Flesh and Blood so nor the Torments of the fulness of this Wrath. * Tam Bonorum quam Malorum intollerabilis magnitudo est But in Hell their Bodies shall be nealed as we
all these Considerations thereby also exhorteth them to that which is the only true Wisdom even to turn unto the Lord so to escape that Wrath that is to come And he as an holy Man that knew the Terror of the Lord doth thus persuade Men And O let our Souls be persuaded by it And to this end USE I Would first persuade you to believe that there is this Wrath to come VVe knowing the Terror of the Lord that is our selves being assured by believing that such a Wrath is in the Heart and Breast of God against impenitent Sinners as also understanding what and how dreadful that Wrath is we do persuade Men 2 Cor. 5. 11. And for Men to apprehend and believe it is the first most effectual Engine to persuade them by God did not ere he placed these Souls of ours in our Bodies first carry them down to Hell and then up to Heaven that so we having a fore-knowledg of either by Sight and Sense might then be left to act in this World accordingly But God hath left only the Revelation of both these unto Faith in this World by the Word Heb. 11. 7. 'T is said Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with Fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House By the which he condemned the VVorld and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith You know how the Day of this great Wrath to come the Day of Judgment is assimilated by Christ to the Days of Noah Mat. 24. 37 38 39. And that among other in respect of the Security and Unbelief that is and will be afore it comes in the Hearts of Men about it which is Christ's special scope there And the place in the Hebrews cited answerably reckoneth that Faith of Noah who being forewarned of the Flood was moved with Fear and prepared an Ark to save himself and his Family amongst those other Instances of Saving Faith which that Chapter doth enumerate as that which had this Wrath to come signified thereby in his eye Shewing withal the Foundation of the Condemnation of that World to lie in this That though Noah declared this Wrath to come unto them by his Preaching and Example for as he was a Preacher of Righteousness so of this Wrath as Enoch also had been yet they believed it not because it was unseen as the words of that 7th Verse are For these things then happened in Types of what was to fall out concerning this great Wrath to come that Destruction of the old World being but the shadow of this as expresly 't is interpreted to be 1 Pet. 3. 20. The Spirits in Prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the Long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing The like Figure whereunto is Baptism which now also saves us If the Ark was of Salvation then the Flood of Damnation and that then as the word also now evidently shews This Wrath it is a thing to come as that of the Flood then was to them stiled therefore the Wrath to come and so it is a thing not seen and so is reckoned amongst the Objects of Faith Men indeed have some lesser stitches in Conscience afore-hand both from it and about it but little do they imagine that these will or should ever become the matter of such torturing Aches as they rise up to in the end Men do as little imagine this of these fore-running Warnings or secret Gripings and Twitches as the Old World did then that the usual Clouds of Heaven that caused Storms would have ever swell'd to the drowning of the World Nor indeed doth this fall out to Mens Souls until the Curse or Wrath of God enters like Oil into their Bones as the Psalmist speaks of Judas Psal 109. 18. For this Wrath is in the mean time a thing hidden in the Breast and Bosom of the Almighty and is therefore termed a Treasure of Wrath A Treasure because hid so Treasures use to be they are termed hidden Treasures Prov. 2. 4. and elsewhere And for the same reason the coming of it upon Men is called the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of Luk. 19. 42. God As the things belonging to Mens Peace so their Destruction are hidden from their Eyes Though Damnation slumbers not 2 Pet. 2. 3. but is in its March and proceedeth in its approaches towards them every hour nearer and nearer yet Men slumber in respect of the belief thereof and not so much as dream of it in their Slumber 1 Thess 5. 3 6 9. The Apostle's complaint there is the same in effect with that of Moses Who knows the Power of thine Anger so as to apply his Heart to Wisdom The Baptist who began the publishing of the Gospel he began it with forewarning Men of this Wrath and stiled it the Wrath to come And Christ whose office was to preach that Gospel seconds him therein and terms it Hell-Fire c. Now observe how he speaks to the Pharisees about it O ye Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the Wrath to come Mat. 3. 7. 'T is Vox admirantis as if he had said 'T is strange that the Preaching of Wrath to come should any way startle yours so hardened Hearts as to see you here attending at my Sermons and that the Consideration thereof should any way arrest or make any dint upon your Souls The reason of his Wonder was because indeed Men believe it not or very slightly Who hath demonstrated it unto you as his word is And Christ useth the very same word about this matter Luke 12. 5. I will forewarn you or demonstrate to you whom you shall fear even him that can destroy in Hell All this still tends to shew how hidden it is from the most of Men. The very same Unbelief is more darkly and in other terms expressed in the Old Testament Deut. 32. 29. O that they would consider their latter end And Eccles 11. 8 9. Remember the Days of Darkness for they are many But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Now to help you a little in the belief of this Besides what the Scriptures speak hereof 1. Consult thine own Heart Thou hast a busy Principle within thee Conscience that like a Spy sent in from an adverse Party into anothers Quarters observes and takes notice of all that passeth not thy Actions or Speeches only but what is done in thy Privy-Chamber or Closet of thy Soul and not only so but thou mayest hear the noise of his Pen still a running and punctually writing that which it observeth and there is not a Motion a Lust a Desire a Purpose an End a flying Thought but it diligently doth set down and can give thee the Sense thereof and thou canst not stop the Course hereof And what is the meaning of all this but that thy Judgment is continually a preparing thine Examination a taking
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
As unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed ver 10. As sorrowful yet alway rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things ver 11. O ye Corinthians our mouth is open unto you our heart is enlarged What a glorious Embroydery upon the Soul of a poor Believer will in all these things appear when finished Psal 45. 13 14. The King's daughter is all glorious within her Cloathing is of wrought Gold she shall be brought unto the King in Rayment of needle-work 2. For his Art and Workmanship bestowed in the glory of the Soul in the other World if any work but Christ God-man be his Master-piece it is the framing of that House and building spoken of ver 1. of this chap. We have a building of God a house not made with hands And the 11. of the Hebrews v. 10. expresly useth two artificial words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Artificer in it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Artificer in it and the Builder of it that is who hath shewn his Art and Skill in building of it So then in each his Workmanship appears I do but add this towards the confirmation of the main point in hand Hath the Great God perfected both Works upon the Soul as much as he means to work in Heaven Also prepared a Building for it And will he then think we let both lie empty of the one sayes Heb. 11. 16. He hath prepared for them a City of the Soul in like manner He hath wrought us for this self-same thing will God think we leave this his House to stand desolate when he hath been at such cost in both Doth any Man or Landlord build or repair an House and then let it lie empty when he hath a Tenant fit for it God is said not to be a foolish Builder in respect to perfecting and he is much less a careless Builder to neglect to take his Tenants into it when both are ready and fitted each for other This for the first viz the consideration of each singly §. Let us consider them next joyntly that is as they are in such a manner wrought apart so as to suit and match one the other when brought together in that manner as it must be said of them For this thing hath God wrought us Yea and therein it is he hath appeared to be the great God For therein even to wonderment doth the Glory of God in his Works appear and that he is wise in counsel and wonderful in working when he hath hiddenly contrived one thing for another when as each are in themselves and apart glorious It is said by David of himself and it is true of all men in their measure Psal 139. 15. I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth that is in my Mother's Womb as the context shews which are termed the Lower parts of the Earth as when Christ is said Eph. 4. to have descended into the lower part of the Earth that is to be conceived in the Womb of a Virgin when a Child is born a lump of flesh animated with a Soul comes forth curiously wrought c. but wrought for what in David's person in which this was spoken it was for a Kingdom the supremest condition of enjoyments in this World But in every other man that is born it is that he was curiously wrought in a fitness and capacity to all things that are in this World made and prepared exactly for it long afore it came into the World you may see it in Adam our first pattern more lively God was busie for six dayes in making this World the Angels all that while stood wondring with themselves to what end or for whom all this was prepared At Job 36. 7. the end of the sixth day they saw God to set down into the World this little thing called Man and then they ceased their wonderment for they saw all this World prepared aforehand set in Man's heart and all in Man curiously wrought and fitted for all things made in in this World richly to enjoy as 1 Tim. 6. 17. We may apply that in the text to this it appeared That he that hath made Man for this self-same thing is God both works of wonder apart and yet as fitted to each other All wonderment exceeding I might much more enlarge upon the suiting of Christ the Head and Husband and the Church his Body and Wife wrought and growing up to him in all ages both apart secretly and hiddenly prepared and each so glorious in themselves and yet put together Let us defer our Admiration hereat until the latter day Just thus it is in fitting the Soul for that glory and again that glory in Heaven for that Soul God works the one for the other apart The very similitude in the former verses do import so much He styleth Glory in Heaven a being clothed upon and Holiness here he compares to an under-garment which that of Glory is to be put over or upon There was never a curious Artist in making Garments that ever took measure of the proportions of an upper and under Garment to fit the one to the other as God hath in proportioning his work upon us here and his preparation of Glory for each of us in the World to come He hath took exact measure and his Law is that designed his own workings on both hands aforehand that every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour 1 Cor. 3. 8. Now the Artifice of God in both these lies in this That each are hiddenly contrived apart and yet so gloriously matcht as wrought one for the other which is an argument as of two Artificers the one in the East-Indies the other in the West should the one make the Case the other make the Watch unbeknown each to other and both Workmanships of the highest curiosity in their kind and when both brought together they exquisitely fit the one the other §. And what Have I been telling you all this while an artificial pleasant Story Doth not this Scripture tell the very same For a close do but now at last take a view and prospect of our Apostle's whole Discourse The Round and Circle whereof begun at chap. 4. ver 16. and endeth with my Text and do you not find it speak to use the Text's Language the very self-same thing 1. He tells us there of an inward Man renewed whilst the outward is a perishing to the end it may live and subsist alone when the body is wholly dissolved there he lays his Foundation And is not this all one with what the Text sayes God works Us these Souls day by day Even as the Child is curiously wrought in the Womb to subsist of it self alone in this World so this inward Man in that other 2. He then immediately subjoyns v. 17. That all Afflictions which are nothing else
redeemeth thy Life from Destruction there is Salvation from Sin and Hell the privative part Who crowneth thee with Loving-kindness and tender Mercies over and above deliverance and satisfieth thy mouth with good things there you see also is the positive part You might observe the very same in this 49. Psalm Thou shalt redeem me c. and Thou shalt receive me By all that hath been spoken although you are saved from it yet look down into Hell a little as it hath been set out to you And think with your selves Hath God delivered me from so great a Death and given me such a deliverance as this from a death so dreadful and eternal also How would the Devils and Spirits in Prison prize an escape and deliverance from Wrath present and to come if they could be supposed capable thereof yea if they had no more A Nobleman or Favourite that hath run into great and high Treasons to have but meer Life given him how would he value it though he never saw the Court more nor were never restored unto his Estate and Dignities had he but wherewithal to live If a Man were in danger to be drowned and a Rope were thrown him and a Crown and bidden take his choice with promise Thou shalt be King of all the World if thou come to shore safe with the Crown on thy Head of the two he would in this case take hold of the Rope and refuse the Crown And why because it is Salvation and his Life But for a Man to be both wasted safe to shore and then arriving there to have this Crown besides how great Salvation would this be valued stupendous Grace and Love These things the Saints should consider chiefly unto two ends and purposes 1. To be thankful to God and Christ 2. To comfort their own Souls I. To be thankful both to God and Christ 1. To God the Father It was his part to contrive the whole design of our Salvation to the end to set forth his Love to us And the Scripture spreads afore us the Love of the Father herein upon this double consideration 1. That he appointed us not to Wrath which otherwise we should have in the issue and execution by reason of Sin fallen under 2. That he ordained us to Salvation You have an express Scripture for both these setting forth the Love of God the Father hereby 1 Thess 5. 9. God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation Here are first two parts of the Mercy vouchsafed 1. Deliverance from Wrath. 2. Salvation Then the Love of the Father in his not appointing us to Wrath and so not to leave us under it as well as appointing us to Salvation and both as appointments of God the one as well as the other And then in the second Epistle chap. 2. ver 13. he provokes them unto thankfulness for this But we are bound to give thanks always unto God for you who hath from the beginning chosen you unto Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth which he speaks with reference to what was done to others ver 12. compared Let me speak to you then in the Apostles Language Oh what thanks are your selves then bound if the Apostle gave them for others to give unto God for your selves to whom God hath given Faith and Holiness upon both these respects 2. To Jesus Christ for that hand which he had in this our Deliverance from Wrath thus expresly 1 Thess 1. ult Ye wait for his Son from Heaven even Jesus who delivered us from the Wrath to come Here again you have these two parts of Salvation set together 1. His coming from Heaven which they waited for with hopes of his carrying them thither as he tells them chap. 4. ver 17. We shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then 2. which the Apostle adds with an Emphasis even Jesus who delivered us from the Wrath to come Take in that too says he and forget it not to endear your Jesus to you and for ever know him by this Character It is that Jesus who delivered you from the VVrath to come It was the Fathers work indeed to appoint and ordain this Deliverance and us unto the benefit of it through Faith but it was our Jesus his Son's work to effect and accomplish it 't was his Soul that paid for all And the manner or way how he delivered us from this Wrath heightens this his Love yet more for he delivered us from it by being made himself a Curse for us Gal. 3. 23. The second thing I propounded was To comfort your Souls in the consideration of this Salvation and Deliverance Thus Christ Psal 16. 9 10. for his deliverance Therefore my Heart is glad my Flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell thou wilt shew me the path of Life c. And David in the 49. Psalm which led on to this doth comfort himself also ver 15. when of wicked Men he had said Like Sheep they are put into Hell as some read it Death shall feed on them He then for his own particular comforts himself with this But God shall redeem my Soul from the power of Hell for he shall receive me And the Apostle to the Thessalonians epist 1. chap. 5. having ver 9. set before them as was afore opened that God had not appointed them to Wrath but to obtain Salvation he subjoins ver 11. Wherefore comfort your selves together FINIS An Immediate STATE OF GLORY FOR THE Spirits of Just Men upon Dissolution DEMONSTRATED BY THO. GOODWIN D. D. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1680. 2 COR. 5. 5. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit THere is no Point of more moment to All nor of greater Comfort to Saints than what shall become of their Souls when they die 'T is our next Stage and things that are next use more to affect us And besides it is the beginning and a taking possession of our Eternity That these words should aim at this self-same thing cannot be discerned without consulting the fore-going part of the Apostle's Discourse and yet I cannot be large in bringing down the Coherence having pitched upon what this fifth Verse contributes unto this Argument which alone will require more than this time allotted having also very largely gone through the Exposition of the foregoing verses elsewhere and I now go but on where I left last But yet to make way for the understanding the Scope of my Text take The Coherence in brief thus In the 16th Verse of the fore-going Chapter where the Well-head of his Discourse is to be found he shews the extraordinary Care God hath of our inward Man to renew it day by day where Inward Man is strictly the Soul with its