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
fathers Gen. 15. 15. There was then a City built and already replenish'd with Inhabitants and amongst others an house provided for him that is his Soul built of God and ready furnished against this removal Verse 2. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven In this Verse he utters the working of the affections of Christians towards their being clothed upon with this house and so in order to this enjoyment of it their DESIRING even to be dissolved which Paul also utters of himself Phil. 1. Now if the first Verse speaks of the glory of a separate Soul when he calls it an house this second Verse must intend the same Verse 3. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked In this Verse he gives an wholesome Caution by the way and withall insinuates why he used the word clothed upon in the fore-going Verse thus speaking of the glory of such a separate Soul even because it is absolutely necessary that all our Souls be found clothed first and renewed with Grace and Holiness and not be found naked at our deaths that is nor devoid of Grace and so exposed to shame and wrath as Rev. 16. 15. Verse 4. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burthened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life The fourth Verse gives a genuine and sincere account why a Christian doth thus groan and that after dissolution it self in order to this glory which he sets out with an accurate distinction of their desires of dissolutions in difference from like desires in all other men First Negatively not for that being burthened we desire to be unclothed or dissolved that is simply for ease of those burthens nor out of a despising of our bodies we now wear as their Heathen Wise-men and Philosophers did and others do No But secondly Positively For this as the top-ground of that desire That we would be clothed upon with that house spoken of Ver. 1. and that still taken in the sense spoken of in the 2. Ver. to the end that this mortal animal life which the Soul though Immortal in it self now leads in the body full of sins clogg'd with a body of death and miseries each of which hath a Death in it and so it lives but a dying life that this life may be exchanged yea swalloed up by that which is life indeed The onely true Life the knowing God as we are known and enjoying him All which as to our Souls is truly performed at our Dissolution although the final swallowing up the mortality of our bodies also doth yet remain to be accomplish'd which will be done at the latter day at that Change both of Body and Soul though in respect of the Body it will be completed as then more fully This Interpretation and the suiting of all the phrases used in this 4th Verse to hold good of this Exchange at death I cannot through straitness of time give an account of now I have lately and very largely done it elswhere This for the Coherence I hasten to my Text TEXT Ver. 5. Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is GOD who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit THe current of the four former Verses running thus steadily along in this chanell the streame in this verse continues still the same There is one word in this verse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} For this self-same thing God hath wrought us which serves as a clue of thred drawn through the windings of the former verses to shew us that one and the same Individuall Glory hath been carried on all along and still is in this verse also So then we see where we are What this self-same thing should be ask the first verse and it will tell you it is That house eternall in the Heavens a building of God prepared by him against the time that this earthly house is dissolved Ask the second verse it is the same house we grone to be clothed upon with when the other is pulled down Ask the fourth verse and more plainly It is that life which succeeds this mortall life the soul now lives in this body and swallows up all the infirmities thereof And then here it followes Even for this self-same thing c. So then if the glory of the separate soul be the subject of any of these verses then of all and so of this verse also And to be sure it cannot be that extraordinary way of entrance into Glory by such a sudden change both of soul and body into glory at once without dissolution should be the self-same thing here aimed at For it was not the lot of any of those Primitive Christians of whom the Holy Ghost here speaks this He hath wrought us for this thing that they should be in that manner changed and so enter into glory but the contrary For they all and all Saints since for these 1600 years have put off their Tebernacles by death as Peter did and speaks of himself 2. Pet. 1. 14. and therefore the Scripture or Holy Ghost foreseeing as the phrase is Gal. 3. 8. this change would be their fate would not have uttered this of them God hath wrought us for this whom he knew God had not designed thereunto Neither is it that those groaning desires spoken of in the foregoing verses 2 3 4. is that self-same thing here as some would for indeed as Musculus well If the Apostle had said He that hath wrought this thing in us c. That expression might have carried it to such a sense But he saith He that wrought us for the self-same thing And so 't is not that desire of glory in us is spoken of But us our selves and souls as wrought for that glory If it be asked what is the special proper scope of these words as touching this glory of the Soul The answer in generall It is to give the Rationall part of this point or demonstrative Reasons to evidence to believers That indeed God hath thus ordained and prepared such a glory afore the Resurrection And it is as if the Apostle had said Look into your own souls and consider Gods dealings with you hitherto viz. First the operation of his hands For what other is the meaning or mysterie sayes he of all that God is daily so at work at with you in this life What else is the end of all the workings of Grace in you and of God that is the worker This is his very design He that hath wrought us that is our souls for this very thing is God Besides the evidence that work gives there is also over and above the earnest of the Spirit given to your souls now whilest in your bodies in joy full of glories of the same kind as earnest are of what fulnesse of glory they are both capable of then and shall be
eternal weight of glory ver. 17. and that is expresly said to be but this present time Rom. 8. So then there is NO PARABIT in that other world But as Solomon sayes of man There is no work after this life No remembrance sayes David namely which hath any influence into a mans Eternity So there is no working upon us in order thereunto after death God hath done his Do hath wrought and man hath finish'd his course as Paul of himself and in this Chapter of my Text ver. 10. Every man receiveth the things done in his body be they good or evil Those things that are done in this Body onely therefore onely what in this life he hath wrought And for this he hath wrought us says the Text §. These things premised I come to the Argument to be raised out of them to prove the Point in hand First that Grace or Holinesse because they are immediately wrought in the Soul that therefore when the body dyes the soul shall be taken up into life That this is a meet and congruous ordination of God the Scripture it self owns and seems so to pitch the reason of it in Rom. 8. 10 11. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse But if the spirit of him that raised us Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you He gives an account of what is to become hereafter both of the bodies and souls of them in whom Christ is 1. First for the body that is condemned to die The body is dead because of sin By Body I understand the same which he in the 11. verse termes the mortall body to be raised up which sayes he is dead that is appointed to die as one sentenced to death you term a dead man And this because of sinne It was meet that that first threatning of dying should have some effect to evidence the truth of God therein Onely God is favourable in his ordination in this that he arresteth but the Body the lesse principall debtor But that to be sure shall pay for it It is appointed to all men once to die even for men that are in Christ as this place of the Romans hath it Then 2. followes what remains the soul of such an one when the body dyes But sayes he speaking by way of exception and contrary fate too The Spirit is life because of righteousnesse The Spirit is the Soul in contradistinction to the Body This when the body dies is Life He sayes not living onely or immortall but is swallowed up into life And why because of righteousnesse which is Christs image and so preserves and by Gods ordination upon dying elevates the soul which is the immediate and original subject of it which is the point in hand For this thing it is God hath wrought it But then because the Quaerie would be Shall this body for ever remain dead because of this first sin and bear this punishment for ever No Therefore 3. he addes He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies So at last and then bringing both body and soul together unto compleat glory And the congruity of reason that is for this appointment is observable something like to that 1 Cor. 15. As by man came death so by man came also the resurrection from the dead For that sin that condemned us to this death we had from the first Adam by bodily generation as the channell or means of conveying it who was as other Father of our flesh The arrest therefore goes forth against the body which we had from that Adam because of that sin conveyed by means of our bodies for though I must not say the body defiles the soul or of it self is the immediate subject of sin yet the originall means or channel through which it comes down and is derived unto us is the generation of our bodies The Body therefore congruously payes for this and the death thereof is a means to let sin out of the world as the propagating it was a means to bring sin in but an holy soul or spirit which is the Off-spring of God having now true holinesse and righteousnesse from the second Adam communicated to it and abiding in it and being not onely the immediate subject thereof but further the first and originall subject from and by which it is derived unto the body The womb into which that immortall seed was first cast and in which the inward man is formed and in respect of a constant abiding in which it is that seed is termed incorruptible Hence therefore sayes God of this Soul It is life It shall live when this Body dies There is nothing of Christs Image but is ordained to abide for ever Charity never fails His Righteousness endures for ever and therefore is ordained to conserve and elevate unto life the subject it is in and that is the Soul This as a foundation of the substantial parts of this first Reason out of this one Scripture thus directly and explicitly holding this forth §. I come 2. to the Argumentation it self which ariseth out of these things laid together 1. That the Soul is the immediate Subject of Grace 2. The first and Primitive Susceptive thereof 3 And it self is alone and immediately capable of Glory which Grace is a preparation to And 4. that God afore our deaths hath wrought all of Grace he intends to work in preparation to Glory Out of all these a strong Argument doth arise That such a Soul upon death shall be admitted unto Glory and not be put to stay till the time of the Resurrection when both Soul and Body shall be joyned again together And that this holdeth a just and meet conveniency upon each or at least all these grounds when put together First consider the Soul as the immediate subject of this working and preparation for Glory Hence therefore this will at least arise That the inherency or abiding of this Grace wrought in this Soul depends not upon its conjunction with the Body but so as it remains as an everlasting and perpetual conserver of that Grace stampt on it yea and carries it all with it self as a rich Treasure innate unto it where-ever it goes when separate from the Body I say it either hath in it or appertaining unto it all that hath been wrought for it either in it or by it Revel. 14. 13. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord And their Works do follow them They go to Heaven with them and after them And in what subject else is it that the Seed of God remains incorruptible or the Word of God abides for ever Or how else comes that saying to be performed 1 Joh. 2. 17. He that doth the will of God endures for ever Having therefore all these
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
filled with when severed from your bodies Who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit §. We Preachers have it in use as to alledge proofs of Scripture for the points or subjects we handle So to give Reasons or Demonstrations of them And so doth our Apostle here of this great point he had been treating of and such Reasons or Demonstrations run often upon Harmony and Congruity of one Divine Thing or Truth kissing another Also upon Becomingnesses or Meetnesses that is what it becometh the great God to do For instance In giving an account why God in bringing many sons to glory did choose to effect it by Christs death rather than any other way It became him sayes he Heb. 2. 10. For whom are all things and by whom are all things c. And so in the point of the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 21. Since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead that is it was congruous harmonious it should thus be the one answering correspondently to the other The like congruity will be found couched here in Gods bringing souls to glory afore that resurrection Now there are two sorts of harmonious Reasons couched in the fore-part of these words He that wrought us for this is God I. That it is Finis operis operntis The End of the Work it self upon us and of God as an Efficient working for an End God hath wrought on us for this very thing II. It is Opus Dignum Deo Authore A Work as he is the great God and as a thing worthy and becoming of God as the Author of it He that hath wrought us for this thing is GOD There is a third point to be superadded and that is It is the Interest of all three Persons Which how clearly evidenced out of the Text will appear when I have dispatched these former Doctrines I. Doctrine That it is a strong Argument that God hath provided a Glory for separate Souls hereafter That He hath wrought us and wrought on us a Work of Grace in this life Ere the Reason of this will appear I must first open three things natural to the words which will serve as materials out of which to make forth that Argument First that the Thing here said to be wrought is Grace or Holiness which is a preparation unto Glory 1. Grace is the Work And so Phil. 1. 6. termed The good Work A frame of Spirit created to good Works Eph. 2. 10. We are his Workmanship created unto good Works The Text here sayes Who hath wrought us There similarly We are his WORKMANSHIP And 2. Secondly this Work is a preparation to Glory For for one thing to be first wrought in order to another is a preparation thereunto Now saith the Text He hath wrought us for this thing and Rom. 9. 23. it is in terminis The vessels of Mercy which he had AFORE PREPARED TO GLORY which was by working Holiness for it follows ver. 24. Even us whom he hath called Likewise Col. 1. 12. Who hath MADE us MEET to be partakers of the inheritance of the SAINTS in light Meet by making us Saints So then Had prepared Hath made Meet is all one with Who hath wrought us for this thing Here The second what is the principal Subject wrought upon or prepared and made meet for Glory 'T is certainly the Soul in analogie to the phrase here We use to say when we speak of our Conversion Since my soul was wrought on And though the Body is said to be sanctified 1 Thess. 5. 23. yet the immediate subject is the Soul and that primitively originally the Body by derivation from the Soul And hence it is the Soul when a man dies carries with it all the Grace by inherency All flesh is grass which withers that is the Body with all the appurtenances saith Peter 1 Epist. c. 1. v. 24. But you having purified your Souls being born again of incorruptible seed our Bodies are made of corruptible seed which is the opposition there by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever And this is the Word he sayes he means which by the Gospel is preached every day unto you ver. 25. and by preaching is engrafted in your Souls purifying your Souls ver. 22. In no other subject doth that Word as preached for ever abide For the Body rots and in the grave hath not an inherent but a relative Holiness such as the Episcopal Brethren would have to be in Churches consecrated by them because once it was the Temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells in us And that it is the Soul the Apostle hath here in his eye in this discourse of his in my Text as that which he intends the Subject here wrought upon appears if we consult the Well-head of his discourse about the Soul which is the 16 ver. of the 4 Chap. Our inward man sayes he is renewed c. there is your wrought upon here whilst the outward the Body perisheth Which Soul in being call'd the inward man connotates at once both Grace and the Soul conjuct together and distinct from the Body as well as from Sin and Corruption Elswhere it is declared the subject first and originally wrought on Eph. 4. 23. Be renewed in the Spirit of your mindes Look round about the Text and what is the US wrought on plainly this Inward man by the Coherence afore and after Ask ver. 1. If our earthly tabernacle that is our Body be dissolved WE have c. that is This inner man our Souls have for the Body is supposed dissolved So likewise ver. 4. WE in this tabernacle that is our Souls in these Bodies More expresly after ver. 8. our very Souls not onely whilst in our Bodies but when separate from our Bodies have the WE given them We are willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord The We present with the Lord and absent from the Body is nor can be no other than a separate Soul in its estate of widowhood And so here ver. 5. Hath wrought US The Soul bears the Person carries away the Grace with it Add to this the Time here specified in the Text in which we are wrought upon It is but this life and during the term thereof Hath wrought us sayes the Apostle not in the future Who shall work us for it That hath wrought referring to the work of Conversion at the first Who HATH MADE us meet to be partakers c. Col. 1. 12. and who doth continue still to work us the Preterperfect being often put by the Apostle for the Present God renewing the inner man DAY BY DAY Chap. 4. 16. So working upon it in order to this self-same thing continually Unto which words there these here have an evident aspect yet so as that time of working is but during this life For it is whilst the outward man is mouldring and that by afflictions which during this moment work an
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
separate souls Glory and Happiness 1. From the Condition of the Soul as the immediate subject of Grace wrought in it 2. From Gods Ordination of the Work wrought To raise the soul up to life whilst Sin should bring Dissolution upon the body 3. From the Scope of the Worker God himself who as an Efficient will accomplish the end when his work for that end is finish'd And all these as comprehended in what the very first view and front of the words of my Text hold out God hath wrought us for the self same thing §. But lo a greater matter is here It is not simply said God hath wrought us for this but HE that hath wrought us for this thing is GOD Thereby calling upon us to consider How great an Hand or Efficient is here Even God who hath discovered in a transcendent manner his Glory in the Ordaining and Contriving of this Work unto this great End Take it Not therefore as a bare Demonstration given from Gods working US to this end such as is common to other Agents as hath been said But further a Celebration of the Greatness and Glory of God in his having contrived this with so high an Hand like unto the great God And is as if he had said There is a design in this worthy of God HE hath shewn himself in this to be the great God indeed He that wrought us for this is God When Gods ordinary Works are spoken of it sufficeth himself to say God did Thus or This But when Gods Works of Wonder then often you finde such an illustrious note of Reflection upon and pointing at Him to have done as God And it is ordinary among men when you would commend the known worth of the Artist to say He that wrought this is such a Man so to commend the Workmanship And thus both when the holy Ghost speaks of this Glory it self which is the End for which here His style is Whose Maker and Builder is God Heb. 11. 10. And in like equipage here of preparation to that End he saith He that hath wrought us for this thing is God In this very Chapter 2 Cor. 5. to go no further when the great Work of Salvation in the whole of it is spoken of he prefaceth thus to it All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself c. that is in this transaction he hath appeared like that God of whom all things else are and so more eminently in this than in all or at least any other work What there is said of Salvation in the whole is here of that particular Salvation of a separate Soul You have the like Emphasis put Heb. 2. 10. of bringing many sons to glory it became him says the Text Now put all together and the result is The SECOND POINT That to have provided a Glory for separate Souls of just men wrought upon in this life is a dispensation becoming the great God yea and that there is an artifice and contrivement therein worthy of God and like unto himself such as he hath shewed in other his works of Wonder There are two Branches of this Doctrine which I set otherwise out thus 1. That it is a thing becoming the great God thus to deal with such a separate Soul having been wrought upon 2. That God hath designed and brings forth therein a glorious artifice and contrivement such as argueth him a God Wise in Counsel and Wonderful in Working I. First BRANCH of this second Doctrine That it becomes God The account of this becomingness is best made forth by comparing and bringing together into an enterview both the inward and outward condition of such a Soul and then the relations which God bears to it such as should thereupon move him through his good pleasure thus to deal with it You know I at first undertook chiefly Reasons of Congruity or Becomingness and such always consist of two parts and when the one answereth and suiteth to the other then the Harmony of such a Reason is made up Let US therefore consider 1. What is on the Souls 2. What on Gods part §. I. On the Souls part Therein two things First the species the kinde and intrinsecal rank of being which this creature we call the Soul thus wrought upon stands in afore God 2. The outward condition or case this Soul is left in upon its parting with the body unless God takes it up into glory First for its rank or kinde of being Therein two things 1. This Soul was by its first creation a Spirit and that in the substance or native kinde thereof and in that respect considered apart for its union with the body is in a more special manner allied unto God than all other creatures but Angels are You have the Pedegree of man both in respect of Body and Soul set out Acts 17. the extract of our bodies in ver. 26. He hath made of one blood all nations of men So then on that side as we say in respect of our bodies there is a Consanguinity of all men being made of one blood between one another But then in respect of our Souls we are Gods off-spring ver. 28. and so on that side there is an alliance not of Consanguinity unto God upon the account of having been created immediately by him and IN the very substance of our souls made like him and in his Image and yet we are not begotten of his Essence or Substance which is onely proper to His Great Son And in a correspondency unto this God is styled Heb. 12. 9. The Father of our Spirits in distinction from the fathers of our flesh or bodies see the words which alliance or fatherhood take it as in common with all mens spirits lieth in this That he not onely created our Souls immediately out of nothing but in his own Image as to the substance of them which image or likeness other creatures did not bear which yet were made out of nothing as the Chaos was both which appear by putting two places together Zech. 12. 1. He frameth their Spirits speaking of the Souls of men and that altogether saith the Psalmist Psal. 33. 15. so Ainsworth and others reade it that is both each of those Spirits and also wholly and totally every whit of the substance of them Creatio est productio totius entis for creation differs from generation in this that it is a raising up or producing the whole of a being out of meer nothing that is to say altogether whereas generation presupposeth pre-existent matter as in the generation of our bodies which are not wholly and every whit of God immediately but he parents afford the stuff the matter and the formative vertue besides by which our bodies are framed So then in respect of our first creation our souls apart considered are thus allied to God which our bodies are not being Spirits in the very being of them that altogether do owe that their being to him But there is
a taint come upon the souls of all men by sin so as this alliance is thereby worn out yea forfeited until it be restored Now therefore these Souls the 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
space Now we read Heb. 12. 12. the Apostle to hold forth this very relation of Gods being a father of spirits with this promise thereunto annexed That they should live which relation of Father c. although it be there explicitely spoken in respect of their first Creation which is common unto the Saints with others yet being uttered of and unto men in the state of Grace as those were supposed whom he there exhorteth and that to move them to be subject unto him as such with promise that they should live it evidently respecteth not meerely the relation of Father in respect of what was past the act of creating them but it looketh to the future That they depended upon him as children do upon Fathers for their future livelihood so these for to live in him and with him as a father to their Spirits by Grace For I take hold of that word and live this life is well interpreted by ver. 14. They shall see God that is be glorified and so I conclude all thus that if he would have them be subject unto God in holinesse as upon that relation as unto the father of spirits with this promise That they should live then surely one speciall aim of the promise is answerable and hath this eye That God as a Father of their spirits will therefore take care of their spirits singly and so when separate that they shall live And that accordingly he will give demonstration of this special relation born to their spirits when the occasion shall be considered apart in bestowing this life on them and truly when its more proper for him to shew himself a Father then when their souls after their subjection to him in holinesse here accomplished and when that as naked spirits they come to stand in need and stand afore him in his presence being now turned out of house and home and quite cashired out of this world and come stript and naked of all but holinesse unto their Father for it is said They return to God that gave them who proves to be their Father by Grace And doubt not of it but he will certainly then own them and give them a Fathers blessing and not reject them as if they were but Bastards and no children as that Chapter to the Hebrews speaks but as spirits who as sons that have served him and been subject to him Add to this Fourthly God his being our God which is more home to the demonstration of this point then all the former The Text sayes He that wrought us for this is God I adde he is your God And this alone if we will take the Scriptures verdict will carry it and loe as he is styled The Father of spirits in common and yet withall a father of their spirits out of special love So in like manner he is styled both The God of the spirits of all flesh that is of man Job 12. 20. thus in common and also to his Elect I am your God by grace And these two relations God and Father are commensurate and exactly parallel whether they be applied unto all men in common or to the Elect in special he is termed The God of the Spirits and likewise The Father of the Spirits of all men So in common answerably he is Your God and Your Father by special grace to his Elect both which in this latter respect you finde yoked hand in hand Joh. 20. 17. Look how farre he is a God of the one so farre a Father also extendeth in the other And look how farre that he is our God so farre reacheth also that he is Our Father If therefore the God of our Spirits to provide for them because he is our God then answerably the Father of our Spirits in the like peculiarness because our Father And so the proof of this fourth Particular will adde further strength and confirmation to that we presented in the former Now that his being our God which is the substance of the Covenant of Grace doth engage him to provide glory for separate Souls That one instance of Abraham The Father of the faithful and we all his sons personated in him is a sufficient evidence God did profess himself The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and unto Abraham Gen. 15. 1. personally I am thy abundant reward which respected the life to come and his Friend 2 Chron. 20. 7. Now the Scriptures of the New Testament do improve this relation of Gods unto us unto two inferences drawn from Abrahams instance whereof the one is the point afore us The first is Christs inference from thence That therefore Abrahams soul lives and Abraham both soul and body shall rise again for God is not the God of the dead but of the living Matth. 22. 31. Thus Christ 2. Paul's collection from the same Promise is that God had provided in the mean time for Abrahams soul afore the Resurrection a City and an House therein for him Thus Heb. 11. 16. But now they desire a better country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City To give light to this Paul had represented the story and case of Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs in the verses afore to have been this That God had indeed promised the Land of Canaan to him and them ver. 8 9. whereupon ver. 13. it is said That these all died in faith not having received the promises being strangers in the land yea not having a foot of land in the Land of Promise as Stephen speaks Acts 7. 5 6 7. And also Paul in the 9th verse of this Heb. 11. Now then when they died what was it their faith expected in stead thereof The 10th verse tells us He looked for a City whose maker and builder is God From which compared observe That when he died his faith was thus pitch'd to look for this City in stead of that Land of Canaan promised This was the expectation of their faith on their part Well but how doth it appear that this flow'd from Gods having professed himself to be the God of Abraham c. his reward and his friend You have this clear in the 16th verse where you have the whole summ'd up as the Conclusion of the story and as the proof and ground hereof but now they desire a better Country that is an heavenly there is their faith and expectation when they should come to die Then it follows Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City which is spoken in full answer to that their expectation at their deaths to shew that God in professing himself to be their God he had thereby engaged himself according to his own intent in that promise to make this provision for them at their deaths The words are express Wherefore God is not ashamed what should this mean in this Coherence but that his declaring himself to be their
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 Davids person in which this was spoken it was for a Kingdome 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 fitnesse 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 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 mans heart and all in man curiously wrought and fitted for all things made 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 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 refer our Admiration hereat untill 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 Holinesse 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 afore-hand 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 artificiall 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 Apostles whole discourse The Round and Cicle whereof begun at v. 16. of ch. 4. and endeth with my Text and do you not find it speak to use the Texts language the very self-same thing 1. He tells us there of an inward man renewed whilest the outward is a perishing to the end it may live and subsist alone when the body is wholly dissolved there he layes 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 ver. 17. that All Afflictions which are nothing else but the Perishings of this outward man as also All things and dispensations else that do befall us they are secretly at work too all that while so set to work by God who works the inner man daily unto such a measure of Grace and these to work and by his ordination procure a proportionable weight for God works all these things in weight and measure our light affliction works for us a far more exceeding and eternall WEIGHT of glory as shall in a comely and in the exactest manner answer and suit that curious workmanship on the inward man and it is observable that the same word for working is used in that verse that is used in my Text but yet these are but outwardly a work as inferiour Artificers or Instruments Therefore 3. He further declares 1. verse of this chapter That God himself is at work about this glory who as the Master-workman that hath the draught and platform of all afore him drawn by his own designing he viewing the inward work on us the outward work of meanes and dispensations and knows afore-hand what degree of holinesse to bring us ultimately unto he according unto these as patterns is a framing a building for us in Heaven exactly suited to the working of all the other which building he prepares and makes ready for this inner man to entertain it when the body is dissolved If our earthly house were dissolved we have a building of GOD an house not made with hands of either Men or Means or of our own Graces but OF GOD But every soul hath a state of Glory proportioned to all these ready built for it against this time even as Statues in stone are framed and carved to be set up in such a curious Arch framed for them by the Builder Now then 4. Adde but the words of my Text which is the close of this his discourse And it opens all the Scene He that wrought us for this self-same thing is GOD The Apostles conclusion answers his beginning he began in v. 16. ch. 4. and the circle ends in my Text And This is GOD who is wise in working and wonderfull in counsel §. But there is a third point yet remains Doctrine III. That it is the interest and engagement of all Three persons to see to it that a righteous separate soul be brought to glory at dissolution And this carries it yet higher even to the highest and gives the most superabundant security and assurance of this thing that can be given and superadds above all the former But you will ask me How I fetch this out of my Text Thus 1. You see here are Two Persons expresly named God the Father namely and the Spirit This is a Rule that where the name God and then some besides other of the Two Persons Christ or the Spirit are mentioned therewith as distinct There God is put personally not essentially onely to expresse The Father