the rest stands upon two strong Grounds First if we consider what is common to God in this with all other but ordinary wise Efficients or Workers that are intent upon their Ends which must be given to him the onely Wise All-powerful God who is here said as an Efficient to work us for this End When any ordinary Efficient hath brought his Work to a period and done as much to such or such an End as he means to do he delays not to accomplish his End and bring it to execution unless some over-powring impediment do lie in his way to it If you have bestowed long and great Cost upon any of your Children to fit and prepare them for any Imployment The University suppose or other Calling Do you then let these your Children lie Truants idle and asleep at home and not put them forth to that which you at first designed that their Education unto Will you suffer them in this case to lose their time Do you know how to do good to your Children and doth not God We see God doth thus in nature We say when the Matter is as fully prepared as ever it shall be that the form enters without delay Now Grace is expresly termed a preparation to Glory Also God doth observe this in working of Grace it self when the Soul is as fully humbled and emptied and thereby prepared for the Lord by John Baptists Ministry as he means to prepare it the Work of justifying Faith presently follows In all his Dispensations of Judgements or Mercies he observes the same When mens sins are at full as of the Amorites he stays not a moment to execute Judgement So in answering the Faith of his People waiting on him for Mercies And thus it is for Glory I have glorified thee on earth the onely place and condition of our glorifying God I have finished the work thou gavest me to do And now what now and presently now remained there follows glorifie me c. Thus spake Christ our Pattern Secondly there is this further falls out in this Case and Condition of such a Soul as doth indeed call for this out of a kinde of necessity and not of congruity onely For whereas by Gods Ordination there are two wayes of Communion with him and but two unto all Eternity either that of Faith which we have at present and of Sight which is for hereafter Into these two the Apostle resolves all Gods Dispensations to us ver. 7. of this Chapter We walk by faith namely in this life not by sight And again 1 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see in a glass Then face to face These two Now and Then do divide the Dispensations for Eternity of time to come The like in Peter 1 Epist. 1. 8. In whom though Now you see him not as you one day shall yet believing If therefore when the Soul goes out of the Body that way of communion with God by Faith utterly ceaseth (a) that door and passage will be quite shut up God having (b) fulfilled all the work of faith The work of God with power that ever he intendeth Then surely Sight must succeed according to Gods Ordination or otherwise this would inevitably follow That the Soul would be for that interim until the Resurrection cut off from all communion with God whatever having yet all its acquired holiness of Sanctification abiding in it and Righteousness accompanying of it all that while Look therefore as a Childe hath two and but two wayes of living and when the one ceaseth the other succeeds or Death would follow In the Womb it lives by nourishment from the Navel without so much as breathing at the mouth but it no sooner comes into the world but that former means is cut off and it liveth by breath and taking in nourishment by the mouth or it must instantly die So stands the case with the Soul here between Faith and Sight So that we must either affirm That the Soul dies to all spiritual actings and communion with God until the Resurrection which those Scriptures so much do contradict He that believeth hath eternal life c. and shall never no not for a moment die and in those Promises it is not simply a sluggish Immortality but to live and act and enjoy God which is our life must needs be meant Or we must on the other side affirm That the life of Faith ceasing and God yet having that way wrought all that ever he intendeth That then Sight of God face to face must come in its place which indeed the Apostle in that 1 Cor. 13. affirms in saying ver. 10. When that which is perfect is come then that which is but in part is done away There is not an utter ceasing of the imperfect and then an interval or long space of time to come between and then that which is perfect is to come but the imperfect is done away by the very coming of that which is thus perfect And in the 12th Verse he explains himself That the imperfect is this our seeing Now in a glass darkly that is by Faith and that perfect to be that seeing God face to face as that which presently entertains us in that other world Nay the Apostle admits not so much as a moment of cessation but sayes That the imperfect is done away v. 10. and vanisheth as v. 8. by the coming in of the perfect upon it and so the imperfect namely Faith is swallowed up of the perfect namely Sight Now if we thus grant as we must this separate Soul to have this sight or nothing now left it to enjoy God any way by Then it is no other than Glory it is admitted unto For the sight of God face to face and to know as we are known is the very essence of Glory as it differs from Faith Neither indeed is that ultimate Enjoyment or happiness in God which Souls shall have after the Resurrection any other in Name or Thing than the sight of God as it is thus distinguished from Faith and therefore the soul is now admitted to the same enjoyment it shall be Then for Kind although it shall be then raised and intended unto far higher degrees of Perfection §. And for a Conclusion of this first Point that which follows in that place lately cited out of 1 Pet. 1. v. 9. Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls may as fitly serve for the confirmation of all these latter fore-going Notions as to any other sense Interpreters have affixed I am aware how these words Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls are interpreted of that joy unspeakable and full of glory which the Verse afore had spoken of In whom though Now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory so as in those joyes vouchsafed the Saints are said to receive the salvation of their souls as being the earnest of it in the same kind
and so a part of the Reward of Faith received in hand as we say and vouchsafed over and above the ordinary way of living by Faith This Interpretation I no way gainsay nor will go about to exclude for I know it doth consist with that other I am about to give and is subordinate to it But if this Sense should obtain that it were Directly Alone intended yet by consequence and at the rebound it doth strongly argue the point in Hand For if whilest Faith continues God is pleased to vouchsafe such joyes much more when faith ceaseth He will vouchsafe a fuller Enjoyment for why else are these present joyes termed Salvation That is in a sort part of the taking possession of Salvation aforehand and that as distinct from the Right to Salvation which Faith in ordinary gives without such joyes at all times to all believers they have the name given them as being an earnest of the same kind of that greater summe And again why are these present joyes termed the Salvation of their SOULS But because they are intended by God being also now wrought immediately in the Soul without the body's influence to be an earnest that it is their Souls when without their bodies shall have that fuller possession given them and so this earnest assigneth this payment to be made to this Legatee the SOUL specified as the first receiver of it 2. Every payment having a day or set time appointed for it which the earnest obligeth the trustee unto as well as to make payment it self and useth to be at the end of the performance on his part to whom the contract is made this therefore is as elegantly designed to be the end of their faith there 's the day of payment And 3. it would be hard to think that God should give forth joyes whilest faith continues and then for so long a time as till the Resurrection withdraw all communication of himself both of faith and joy through sight also Surely they are not left worse than in this life they were I also know the Soul being the eminent part of man is often in Scripture by a Synecdoche put for the whole And I must not deny but that ultimately it is intended here it extending it self to the whole of Salvation first and last after Faith ended Which sense on the other hand many interpreters are for I onely contend for this That the salvation of the soul is intended also of that Salvation which falls out in the midst between these joyes the earnest in this life and that ultimate Salvation at the Resurrection that is the Salvation of the Soul whilest separate as being the next It hath a weight in it that Salvation and Damnation should so often be said to be of the soul by Christ himself as Mat. 26. 16. What shall it profit a man to gain the whole word and so provide for his body and lose his own soul And again in speaking of the Soul as considered apart from the Body Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them that are able to kill but the body and are not able to kill the soul But that which is more conjunct to my purpose it is observable that this our Apostle Peter should choose to use in this Epistle more than any other Apostle this phrase of Soul in relation to Salvation either as being the eminent subject and sometimes as the single subject both of Grace and Salvation So in this Chapter You have purified your souls c. as the immediate susceptive of the incorruptible seed as was observed Then again in ch. 2. 11. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul and 8. 25. Ye are returned to the Bishop of your Souls Which he speaks as being the eminent part and upon separation from the body the speciall charge he hath pastorall care of And more directly to our purpose ch. 4. last v. he exhorts them when they come to die to commit their souls to God as then being to be separate from their bodies Now it were hard to think that this Salvation to come should bear the title and name of the salvation of the soul in this and other Scriptures and that yet when this Soul shall in the other world come to subsist for a long time single and alone and then be properly and without figure A meer soul without a body a lonesome soul That during that state it should not be the subject of this Salvation and so intended here when more properly and literally if ever it is the salvation of the soul And it would be yet more strange that the phrase salvation of the soul should be wholly restrained unto that estate of the soul when remitted to the body at the Resurrection and onely unto that And that word the soul should serve onely synecdochically as a part put to signifie the whole man as then it is to be raised up but especially it were strangest of all if it should be confined and limited in this place of Peter wherein this salvation of the soul is set forth for the comfort of such as were to lay down their tabernacles of their bodies for Christ as this Peter speaks of himself in the next Epistle and whose faith was then to cease with their lives whose expectations therefore he would in this case certainly pitch upon that salvation of the soul which was next which is this of the soul separate To confirm all which That which further invited me to this place was this phrase The end of your Faith especially upon the consideration that he speaks it unto such Christians who in those times were as he foretels ch. 4. v. 4. shortly to be martyred and at present were sorely tried v. 7. of this Chapter and in the last verse of the fourth he thereupon instructeth and exhorteth them to commit their souls when they come to die to be kept by God And so understood in a proper and literall sense this salvation of their souls is in all respects termed The end of their Faith First in that it is the next and immediate event that Faith ends and determines in as Death is said to be the end of life So noting forth that when Faith ends this Salvation of the Soul begins and succeeds it The end of a thing signifies the immediate event issue period thereof As of wicked men it is said whose end is destruction Phil. 3. Heb. 10. last v. Apostasy unbelief are said to be a drawing back unto perdition And on the contrary there Faith is termed a believing to the salvation of the soul And both note out the finall event and consequent of each and salvation of the soul to be the end of faith when men continue and go on to believe untill their faith arriveth at attaineth this Salvation of the Soul To this sense also Rom. 6. 22. You have your fruit in holinesse and the end everlasting life And the Apostle Peter having in the foregoing verses
A State of Glory FOR SPIRITS OF JUST MEN UPON DISSOLUTION DEMONSTRATED A SERMON preached in Pauls Church Aug. 30. 1657. before the Rt. Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London By THO: GOODVVIN D. D. President of Magd. Coll. Oxon. LONDON Printed by J. G. for Robert Dawlman 1657. TICHBORN Mayor Tuesday the first of Septemb. 1657. IT is ordered That Doctor Thomas Goodwin be desired from this Court to print his Sermon at Pauls the last Lord Day And further Mr. Alderm. Thomson is desired to use all endeavours with him to that purpose SADLER TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir ROBERT TICHBORNE Lord Major Together with the Honourable COURT OF ALDERMEN Of the Renowned CITY of LONDON Greatly Honoured THis imperfect Piece and almost born out of due time puts it self forth into the world by your Command but like Zarah giving out the hand the body to which that appertained remaining still in the womb For this Sermon is but one member and indeed not so much the Hand as the Foot that is the latter part of a larger Bulk or Body of Sermons preached just afore elswhere upon those foregoing Verses of this Chapter My real purpose after your Order for this one was To have presented the whole entire Discourse unto YOV I found not time so much as leisure and spirits failing me in the performance I have therefore done as the Midwife for that Childe did in the same Gen. 38. 28. bound upon this foot for by your force and in obedience to you it comes wrong and backward this Scarlet thred of Dedication saying as she This is come forth first That if hereafter the rest may see the light You may know if You will vouchsafe it how to own and appropriate them all as Yours as being thus consecrated to You by these in respect of the publication the first-fruits of that whole Lump And now what is my earnest desire and prayer for you but according to the tendency of the matter it might be blessed to be an Helper to your Faith against the Time of your being unclothed of your flesh your going into another world where you all profess to look for another and better CITY that is an Heavenly whose Maker and Builder is God who hath or must work Us for the self-same thing or we perish everlastingly And my Lord I have particularly directed it to wait on your Honour in the contemplation of this very Aim as a Signall whereof Providence and not my Design having seemed to give forth this semblance in that it allotted no other season for it could not come forth one day sooner for its attendance on you but the very DAY of your being VNCLOTHED of your office which are little civil deaths and going out of this your transitory Government over this great CITY the best and best governed in the world But the honour of this performed amongst us you still remain clothed with and will ever wear yea and be clothed upon to a glory for it at the latter day Those things even now said unto you all being the brief Collect of this ensuing Sermon I turne into a Prayer for you all who am Your true Honourer and Servant in the Gospel THO: GOODVVIN Mag. Coll. Oxon. Oct. 23. 1657. 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 Apostles discourse and yet I cannot be large in bringing down the coherence having pitch'd 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 fore-going Verses elswhere 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 16 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 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 an 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 In-mates 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 it 's 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 Countrey-house were plundred 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 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 Bankrupt comes forth then upon your old house Statutum est omnibus semel mori and upon all you have and then it is that there is a receiving or entertaining that otherwise-desolate Soul into everlasting habitations that is into an house eternal in the heavens as the Text Nor yet is the phrase of terming Heaven A City-house remote neither for Heb. 11. ver. 13. Abraham and the Patriarchs died in faith Mark that in faith or expectation of what He had told us ver. 10. He looked for a City whose Builder 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
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
one of the eminent titles he takes into his coat The framer of the spirit of man within him Zach. 12. ch. 1. as in many other places This is argued also in that he speaketh of that in man which is the subject sensible of his immediate wrath I will not contend for ever nor will I be alwayes wroth This I have observed in what is publick of mine Now what moves him to remove his wrath from such an one The spirit would faile says he Now doth God thus professe to have a regard to them in this life and that upon this account that they are Spirits lest they should FAILE or faint and shall we not think that when indeed otherwise they do faile as after death you have heard even now Christ himself expresseth they would and would upon all these considerations before-mentioned sink into utter desolation unlesse they were received into everlasting habitations as Christ there also speaks Do we think that God will not now entertain them The time is now come the full time to have pity on them 2. God at this season forgets not but full well remembers his Relation of being THEIR CREATOUR both by the new also first creation the new reviving ingratiating the remembrance of the first The SOULS which I HAVE MADE said he in Esay But in our Peter this is more expresse and mentioned as that which indeed moves God and should be accordingly a support to our Faith to take care of our Souls when we come to die even upon this account that he is the faithfull creatour of them 1 Pet. 4. last Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the KEEPING OF THEIR SOULS to him in well-doing as unto a FAITHFUL CREATOR He speaks this specially unto such as were continually exposed unto persecution unto death for Christ in those Primitive times which therefore v. 12. he termes the fiery triall and ver. 17. forewarns them of a time of judgement was begun and going on upon the house of God such as they had not yet felt who yet Heb. 10. 32 33 34. had suffered reproch and spoyling of their goods as Peter writes to the same Jews hereupon Peter pertinently instructs them to commit the keeping of their souls unto God At death you know it is that when mens bodies are destroyed and so the season when their souls to be separated therefrom should be committed to Gods care as our Darling as our Translation or lovely soul when separate as others as Christ in David speaks Ps. 22. And Peter had in his eye Christ example and pointed them thereunto who at his death committed his separate Soul or Spirit into the hands of God Luke 23. 46. and the word commit is one and the same in both these places onely there is this difference that whereas Christ sayes Father I commit Peter substitutes another title of Gods there being more than one Relation moving God and strengthening our Faith to this even of faithfull creatour And I understand not the first creation onely or chiefly here meant by Peter but the second creation chiefly which brings into repute and acceptation with God the first again together with its own and so God is thereupon engaged to be faithfull in his care and provision for such souls according to his promises And faithfulnesse doth alwayes respect and refer unto Promises and my reason why thus I understand it is because I find Gods faithfulnesse still annexed unto his calling of us that is converting us which is al one with this new creation Faithfull is he that hath called you that is made you new creatures 1 Cor. 1. 9. 1 Thes. 5. 24. And I find that David also urges it upon God as a motive as in other Psalms So Ps. 138. 8. Forsake not the works of thine own hands that is this double workmanship of thine of the first and then superadded unto that of the second creation which he urgeth thereby to move him to perfect the work begun and to be mercifull unto him for ever in the former part of that verse 3. God professeth himself the FATHER of SPIRITS which relation though it speaks his being the Creatour of them at the first yet hath something more of bowels in it it sayes withall something further when it falls out that such Spirits as he is a Father unto by the first creation are also the subjects of His eternall love by Grace and Election unto the Adoption of children as Eph. 1. 3 4 5. see the words Which love having accordingly taken hold of their souls by a work of Grace wrought upon them in this life thereby owning them as his in this case that God that is a father of their Spirits by the law of the first creation is in a more transcendent manner become the father of the same spirits by Grace and the second Creation superadded Hence it falls out in a parallel way that as it was said such souls were become Spirit upon a double account that is spirits for the substance of their being and again spirit by being born again of the spirit so answerably it is that God stands in relation unto them as a father of their spirits upon the like double respect And this is equitable upon a very great account for his relation of Father is more eminent to his Grace by Election and then again by the grace of his second Creation then it could be any way supposed to be by the first creation And therefore is set and pitcht in like singularity and eminency upon the same object that is their spirits And hence it may well yea must be supposed and acknowledged That if God did make such a darling of the Soul such an account of it by creation as to entitle himself so specially the father thereof then certainly this love of grace much more hath in like equipage taken up the same gracious special relation in its kind of Father thereunto not onely because Natura shall never be found to exceed Grace in its favours but that indeed the motives are far greater that God should extend the like and greater priviledges where he meant to love by election and choice then he did where he loved onely by a due and meet law of creation So that when God shall professe himself a father to their spirits speaking to such as are his Elect he strongly insinuateth thereby That he is by Grace likewise the father of their spirits in a peculiar manner And truly that speech of our Saviour at his death confirmes it Father into thy hands I commit my spirit It was not barely as a father of his spirit by creation as our all know but by everlasting love and so in that respect also in a peculiar manner the Father of his spirit and therefore as to a Father he commends his separate Spirit unto him And this he did although he was to rise again in lesse than three whole dayes
unto them that they should rest yet for a little season till they heard that vengeance also was executed on that Roman Empire for their blood shed And thus to deal is a righteous thing with God Thus you have seen the Point confirmed from all sorts of relations that God bears unto us by congruous Reasons that so it becometh God the great God to do He that hath wrought us for this thing is God And so much for this first Branch of this second Doctrine §. The II. BRANCH of the second Doctrine That there is a glorious Contrivement and Workmanship carried on in this Dispensation of his like unto the great God indeed This carries on this Point yet higher For it is not onely an Ordination becoming God upon the respects mentioned but there is an Artifice a Workmanship in it such as he useth to shew in his Works of Wonder even in this That he should work upon mens Souls in this life and then bring them into a glory he had in the mean space been a working also for those their souls This is the great God indeed When God secretly bestows Cost and Curiosity in preparing matters for such or such an end and then again as hiddenly hath laid out a greater Art Skill and Workmanship upon that End it self and then hath exactly suited and matched the one to the other when All comes to be finish'd and both wrought and brought together then will an infinite surpassing Glory arise unto God out of all which deserveth to have this Notoriety that is here put upon it He that hath wrought this for that Is GOD and lo this is found here which is demonstrated if we view 1. Each of these Workmanships singly and apart 2. Joyntly as designed and fitted each to the other §. 1. Each singly If there were no such ordination of the one for the other yet so considered they deserve to have each an He that hath wrought this is God to be written under it 1. For his Artifice in working us in this life Learned Cameron hath but one Note upon this whole fifth Chapter and it falls to be upon this very word who hath wrought and it is this This word says he as used by the Septuagint signifies Rem expolire rudem informem To polish a thing that is rude and without fashion for which he gives instance out of Exod. 35. 33. in Bezaleels work whom as the 31 32 verses speak of him God had filled with his Spirit in all Wisdome in all Workmanship to devise cunning work And again the same word is used of the Temple-work that other was for Moses Tabernacle 1 King 6. 36. by Solomon which how transcendent a structure it was you have all read or heard An infinitely surpassing Art then hath the Spirit himself who is the immediate worker in this shewn in the framing and hewing and curiously carving and engraving those living Stones that grow up into a Temple unto God 1 Pet. 2. 5. especially considering the utter remoteness indisposedness yea crookedness and perverseness in the matter wrought upon our Souls fill'd with the contrary form and workmanship of Satan Ye are his workmanship says the Apostle Eph. 2. 10. And truly if we could enlarge upon all the varieties of dealings God useth to each Soul to work it the several sorts of gracious dispositions he impresseth and carveth upon it the manifold actings of every soul drawn forth by him you may take a view of some in the very next chapter to that of my Text 2 Cor. 6. from the 4. v. In much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses v. 5. In stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings v. 6. By purenesse by knowledge by long-suffering by kindnesse by the holy Ghost by love unfeigned v. 7. By the word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left v. 8. By honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true v. 9. As unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed v. 10. As sorrowfull yet alway rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things v. 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 Kings 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 v. 1. of this ch. We have a building of God a house not made with hands And the 11. of the Hebrews 10. expresly useth two artificiall words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Artificer in it and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 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 adde 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 stand desolate when he hath been at such cost in both Doth any man or Landlord build or repaire 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 lesse a carelesse 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 appeare and that he is wise in counsel and wonderfull 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 mothers womb
Now here the Spirit or holy Ghost is mentioned distinct from God For it is said that This God hath given the Spirit which also Christ so often speaketh of the Father as I need not to insist on it 2. It is an other Rule That in any Scripture where Two Persons are mentioned as concurring in any thing or matter There the other Third Person also must be understood to have his speciall share therein also as when he wisheth grace and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ 'T is certain the holy Ghost is as specially understood as indeed we find him in that Apostolicall blessing as distinctly spoken of as the Father or Christ Thus it must be here Christ must be taken in who also in John is so often said to give the Spirit when the Father gives him as it is said here he hath For this same thing But 3. You have even Christ also not farre off interested in this self-same thing in the next verse and v. 8. Absence from the Lord whilest in the body v. 6. and presence with the Lord when separate from the body v. 8. This Lord is Christ the phrase of the New Testament concerning Christ runs in this style To be with Christ This day with me To be where I am and see my Glory So Christ To be with Christ is best of all and we shall be ever with the Lord So Paul Use 1. Doth God work Us for this thing ere he brings us to it What hath God wrought hitherto upon Thee or Thee in order to this end 'T is a blunt question but the Text puts it in my mouth How many souls are there living in the profession of Christianity that know not what this means to have a work wrought on them a-new upon them over and above what morall Honesty which was Natures portion and the common profession of Christianity addes thereunto by custome and meer education An honest Turk professing also and observing the Principles of his Religion upon the ground of his education onely and a Religion every man must have will as soon go to Heaven as Thou for all thy Religion is founded but upon the like foundation that his is I tell thee that Christian Religion is not a thing so cheap nor Salvation by Christ at so low a rate Thou must have a work upon thy soul suited unto all the truths thus professed in the power and efficacy of them They must enter thy soul by a spirituall faith and frame and mold it anew to a likeness to them Carry home therefore the Caveat our Apostle hath put in ver. 3. If so be that being clothed we be not found naked of Grace and Holiness wrought and Christs Righteousness by spiritual efficacious faith applied Faith in earnest bowing the Soul to be obedient unto Christ as heartily and as honestly as it expects salvation by Christ as without which thou wilt never be saved This is our Religion and when at death thy Soul thy poor lonesome Soul being stript of all things in this world even the Body and all shall come afore the great God and Jesus Christ what will the enquiry be as Matth. 22. 11. When THE KING came in to see the guests he saw a man had not the Wedding-garment he spied him out And the man was speechless v. 12. Take him and hinde him says he and cast him into utter darkness v. 13. The other that were clothed were admitted unto the Marriage and as the Psalmist the words of which are here alluded unto She was brought unto the KING the very Title which in both these places is given to Christ see ver. 11. in rayment of Needle-work and this clothing is of Gods working and so my Text falls in with both There is no admission unto Christ without it This the first Use Use 2. Hath God begun to work this good work in thee he will perfect it whereof the Text gives this assurance that he hath wrought it for this thing that is for this end and God will not lose his end Besides he says he hath given earnest Use 3. Thou Saint be content TO LIVE for whilst thou livest thou art under Gods working in order unto Glory Value life 't is a season of being wrought upon And to be sure thou shalt live no longer than whilst God is some way or other a working this What an advantage is it that all thy sins occasioned by living long shall surely be forgiven and nothing of thy score be uncut off for thee but all the righteousness that is wrought upon thee and wrought by thee and therefore wrought by thee because upon thee for being wrought upon we work and all is rather God hath wrought us than that we have wrought All thy righteousness I say shall remain for ever All the time thou remainest in this life thy Soul is ripening or maturing for Glory How great a comfort is that in explicating the Doctrinal part I gave instance of a Childe in the Womb curiously wrought all that time in order to its living and subsisting afterwards in this world 'T is a dark place the Womb which the Childe is wrought in and it lives there in a stifled condition it cannot breathe it takes nourishment but at the Navel a way invented and prepared of God meerly for that season it lies boiling tossing and tumbling and sleeping away the most of its time and gives now and then a faint stirring to shew it is still alive and it is a life scarce worth the name of life Well but all this is a being wrought and fitted to live another freer and braver life in this world And this is your present case your life is hid it is to come all that you finde in this world is but that God hath wrought you for the self-like thing And if this Childe we spake of should be forced out of the womb afore the due time it would have the more imperfect life in this world So here if you could suppose a Saint should die afore the full birth of his Souls being wrought on Therefore be content to wait Gods leisure until your change shall come Use 4. No matter what befals thee so it works towards this end let whatever be so thou findest God to go on with this design that he works upon thy soul be it upward in communion with himself or downward in disowning thy self thy vileness and corruptions so it works Thou hast afflictions that break thy heart as reproch broke Christs heart says the Psalmist in his name no matter so they work upon thy Soul Know then that they are set awork by the hand that sent them to work a far exceeding weight of glory for thee If by any means says Paul no matter what so the work go on A Carver comes with his Chissels and cuts off this piece and cuts in to that part of the Stone No matter a stately Statue bearing the Image of some Person of Honour is to be set up for perpetuity and is accordingly a framing So though God carves his Image out of thy flesh no matter Comfort thy self and think not much at any condition whilst as Paul says it turns to thy salvation Election sent thee not into this world to have a great Name perhaps God will load it nor to be Rich or to have Power but to work thee for this self-same thing and if thou seest that Plough a going though it makes deep furrows on thy back yea heart yet so that this seed be sown therein rejoyce for thou shalt bring thy sheafs with thee For my self so that I finde Election pursuing its design of making me holy and blessing me with spiritual blessings in heavenly places as Ephes. 1. 4. I care not I would not care what befalls me in this World FINIS Observa quòd non in futuro dicit Parabir nos Non demum parabitur ubi jam induendum est c. Musc. in lucum Eccle. c. 9. v. 10 Psal. 6. v. 5. 1 Cor. 13 8. 2 Cor. 9. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 23. Ver. 25. Magis conveniens videtur ut animae in quibus per prius fuit culpa meritum prius etiam vel puniantur vel praemientur Aquinas cont. Gent. Lib. 4. cap. 91. sect. 3. 2 Cor. 12. Acts 10. 47. (a) 2 Cor. 13. 8 13. (b) 1 Thes. 1. 11 John 6. 28. John 9. 51. Chap. 11. 26. Heb. 10. v. last Jam. 5. v. last {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Joh. 3. Rom. 7. 22 25. Luke 26. 22. Heb. 1. ult. Child of Light walking in Darknesse Psal. 22. See Ainsw. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Numb. 16. 22. Heb. 11. 6. Gen. 15. 1. See Burgensis Maldonat c. Lev. 19 13. Deut. 24. 15. Eccles. 12. 5. In his Myrothecium {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Job 36. 7. 1 Pet. 1. Acti agimus 2 Cor. 9. 9. Psal. 139. 15. Phil. 3.