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 Tabernacles 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 general It is to give the rational 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 God's dealings with you hitherto viz. First the operation of his hands For what other is the meaning or mystery says he of all that God is daily so at work 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 the work gives there is also over and above the earnest of the Spirit given to your Souls now whilst in your Bodies in Joy full of Glories of the same kind as Earnests are of what fulness of Glory they are both capable of then and shall be 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 allege 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 Christ's Death rather than any other way It became him says 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 God's 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 opérantis 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 says 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 Analogy 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 Pet. 1. 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 says 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
contradict He that believeth hath eternal life c. and shall never no not for Joh. 9. 51. 11. 26. 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 ver 10. and vanisheth as ver 8. by the coming in of the perfect upon it and so the imperfect namely Faith is swallowed up of the perfect namely Sight And then further 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 can be 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 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 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. 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 that many Saints through believing do in this life enjoy as being salvation imperfect and the earnest of it in the same kind and so a part of the Reward of Faith received in hand as we say or aforehand 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 And I have learned to take the most comprehensive sence the holy Ghost may be supposed to aim at in any Scripture But if this sence should directly alone obtain yet by consequence and at the rebound it doth strongly argue the Point in hand For if whilst Faith continues God is pleased to vouchsafe the Soul through believing such joys much more when Faith ceaseth he will vouchsafe the same Soul a fuller enjoyment of himself at the ending of Faith For why else are these present joys termed Salvation and that as distinct from that right to salvation which otherwise Faith at all times estates us into but for this that these joys are an entrance into and a taking possession of Glory over and above what ordinarily Faith giveth And therefore they have the name given them as being the earnest of the same kind unto that greater fum is to be paid as in all Contracts it useth to be at the end of that performance on one part which end is when Faith ends And so that is made the set Date or time when this full payment is to begin which this earnest aforehand bindeth God unto And it were hard to suppose that God would give such a part of these joys even whilst Faith continues for so long a time as until the Resurrection and then withdraw all communication of himself both in Joy and Faith also But I leave the prosecution of this Argument till I come to those words Who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit I also know that by this phrase The salvation of our souls the Soul being the eminent part of man is often in Scripture by a Synecdoche put for the whole person 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 only contend for this That the salvation of the soul is intended also of that Salvation which falls out in the midst between these joys the earnest in this life and that ultimate Salvation at the Resurrection that is the Salvation of the Soul whilst 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 World 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 chap. 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 special charge he hath pastoral 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 Heb. 10. v. last Jam. 5. v. last 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
for the Devil and his Angels as Christ says And what it should be that should torment them or be the immediate Executioner of vengeance on them the imagination of Man confined to worldly Agents and Instruments cannot divine or take in Other Scriptures go Metaphorically to work in setting out this Punishment by things outwardly sensibly dreadful But these Scriptures of all other that are my Texts do more plainly and without parables declare it to us in its immediate Causes and from them do leave us to infer the fearfulness For instance other Scriptures set it out to us as a Prison 1 Pet. 3. 19. large enough to be sure to hold Men and Devils The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. As also by their being retained in Chains of Darkness 2 Pet. 2. 4. where Men must lie till they have paid the utmost farthing Mat. 5. 26. where is nothing but darkness utter darkness blackness of darkness Jude 4. that is an emptiness of all Good not a Beam of Light to all Eternity Also a place of torment Luke 6. 48. where there is not admitted one drop to cool ones Tongue Luke 15. in the midst of the most raging scorchings Also I find it elsewhere expressed by the most horrid Punishments and Tortures that were found amongst the Nations cutting Men in peices dividing them in the midst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24. 49 51. tearing them in peices Psal 50. last cutting them up to the Back-Bone Heb. 4. 12 13. * See for this The interpretation hereof in the Child of Light c. pag. 49 50. drowning Men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. and that with Milstones about their Necks as Christ adds Mat. 18. 6. to make sure they never rise again also unto a being cast bound Hand and Foot Mat. 22. 13. into Fire to be burnt alive a Furnace of Fire twice in one Chapter Mat. 13. 42 49 50. A Lake of Fire and so drowned over Head and Ears for ever A Lake fed with a Stream of Brimstone which of all matter that feedeth Fire is the most fierce Then again Eternal Fire and that never to be Rev. 14. 19. Rev. 19. 20. Chap. 20. 10. 14. 25. chap. 21. 18. Mat. 3. 1. Mat. 18. 8. Mat. 25. 41. slackt or extinguisht And you may with the like Analogy go over what ever else of torment is most exquisite to outward Sense But these and all else you can imagine are but Shadows and Similitudes as I my self heard one upon the Rack of terror of Conscience cry out in a like comparison These are but Metaphors to what I feel and indeed unto what the thing it self is As to say of Heaven there are Rivers of Pleasures a City whereof the Strees are of Gold the Gates of Pearl and such like they are but metaphorical Descriptions for it is God himself that is the Fountain of Life and oppositely it is said of the Wrath to come That God is a consuming Fire Heb. 12. last But these Scriptures which I have read they all speak essences quintessences And as Hell is said to be naked before the Lord Job 16. 16. and without a covering so do these words lay Hell open nakedly not unto our senses but to the understanding of us and then they leave us to infer how fearful And although these Scriptures consist of words that differ yet they conspire together in the same scope and matter viz. to set out Damnation to us in the true and proper Causes and the real horridness thereof argued from those Causes CHAP. I. The Subject of this Discourse set out and reduced to two Heads The first That God's Wrath is the immediate Cause of the Punishment of Sin in Hell I Shall confine my self to these two Heads And in handling thereof what the one of these Scriptures is wanting in the other will supply in what the one is dark the other explains The Heads themselves I shall take as I find them in the first of these Scriptures Heb. 10. 31. First that God himself by his own Hands that is the power of his Wrath is the immediate Inflicter of that Punishment or Destruction of Men's Souls in Hell It is a falling into the Hands of God Secondly the dreadfulness of that Punishment inferred and argued there-from It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Which two are the Doctrinal parts of this Discourse For the first That God himself is the immediate Inflicter c. For Explication We must distinguish how that God performs two parts herein 1. Of a Judg to give forth the Sentence by his Authority 2. Of an Avenger a party injur'd and provoked and as such the Inflicter My scope in this distinction is that we may in reading the Scriptures that speak of this Punishment know how to put a difference and not transfer the whole of God's Agency in this matter unto that of sentencing it as a Judg only And besides that many Scriptures do apart shew this distinction there are some that still carry along with them both these Agencies or Hand of God in it together and yet as distinct the one under the term of Wrath and Vengeance the other under the Notion of its being a Judgment the Judgment of God and the Judgment of Hell-Fire * Quid à justo Dei infligitur Gerard de inferno Sect. 30. as Mat. 23. 33. Thus first the Text Heb. 10. terms it some while Vengeance and fiery Indignation ver 30. 27. then again Judgment as ver 27. a fearful looking for of Judgment and ver 30. The Lord will judge c. The like Rom. 2. 5 8 9. where all is reduced in like manner to these two God's righteous Judgment and his Wrath and Indignation treasured up Also 2 Thess 1. The righteous Judgment of God ver 5 6. there is the Sentence and destroyed from the glory of his Power as the inflicting cause ver 9. likewise Rom. 9. as Soveraign Lord he shews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority in this Punishment ver 21. and then as the immediate Inflicter Wrath and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Power of his Wrath. And ver 22. that speech of our Saviour about this matter One Evangelist Luke 12. 5. records it Who is able to cast into Hell * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as a Judg who casts a Malefactor into Prison The other Mat. 10. 28. Who is †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able to kill the Soul and to destroy Body and Soul in Hell Noting thereby that he useth his Intrinsick Power and Force as the Inflicter I shall be large in handling and proving this latter as a great Truth concerning which I further premise That I would not be understood to exclude other Miseries as inflicted by Creatures used as God's Instruments accompanying this but that which I contend for is that principally and eminently above all such it is
Fire in this very Epistle Heb. 12. last Our God is a consuming Fire There are two Creatures which God assimulates himself unto in contrary respects 1. To Light as often And God is Love 1 John 4. and both these are spoken of him in respect of what he is to the Saints in Glory Light is of all Creatures the most comfortable And in his Light it is we see Light And the State of Glory is therefore termed the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. The second is to Fire and this on the contrary in relation to what he is to Men in Hell And the Parallel runs upon what he is immediately unto both by Analogy of Reason Of all Creatures Fire is the most dreadful the most raging subtile and piercing in its Operation and so God in his Wrath must be understood under that Similitude to be and therefore it is his Wrath is termed fiery Indignation 2. Those words in their coherence are an allusion to those extraordinary Punishments executed under the old Law For in ver 28. he inforceth his Argument the scope of which was to aggravate this Punishment as à minori from the instances of those Punishments that did befal Men that died for despising Moses Law some of them we read were destroy'd by Fire and therein he more especially refers us to those examples of Nadab and Abihu who perished through Fire Lev. 10. 1 2. where the very words the Apostle here used to set out this Punishment by are used by Moses and so more evidently shew the allusion to be made thereunto There went out Fire from the Lord and devoured them says that Text and yet he argues from thence the surpassing soreness of this Punishment above that from that Fire though it were a Fire even from Heaven it self that kill'd them But more of this hereafter II. 2 Thess 1. 8 9. I come Secondly to that other Scripture 2 Thess 1. 8 9. In flaming Fire taking Vengeance of them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power Where it is to be observed that though he mentions flaming Fire and the Ministry of his mighty Angels which accompany Christ's appearing yet he clearly resolves the ultimate and immediate Cause of Wicked Mens Destruction into the immediate Presence and Glory of Christ's Power ver 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power So as herein is set forth 1. The Punishment 2. The Causes of that Punishment First For the Punishment there is 1. The Nature of it it is termed Destruction 2. The duration of it everlasting Destruction Secondly The Causes of it From or by the Presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power That Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate From is causal imports the efficient Cause as in all those Salutations Grace and Peace From the Father and From Jesus Christ it doth Rom. 1. 7. 2 Cor. 1. 2. that is as from the Fountain the principal and sole Authors and Efficients of Grace and Peace And thus the word is used in multitudes of places else And accordingly we find in other Scriptures also that God and Christ are the immediate Causes of Peace Thus 2 Thess 3. 16. Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you Peace c. and Chap. 2. 16 17. The Lord Jesus Himself comfort your Hearts Now on the contrary when in like manner he says everlasting Destruction from his Face Presence and the Glory of his Power it may and is to be understood the Lord Himself personally by his own meer Presence and by the Strength of his own Power inflicteth their Destruction for ever they dye by no other Hand This Particle From as in Speech we often use it hath led some from the true intent of the Apostle They thereupon supposing this the meaning that they are punished with Destruction From the Presence that is out of the Presence of Christ as if this were the fufilling that Speech of Christ Depart from me into everlasting Torment This though it be true of this Destruction spoken of here in respect of Christ's local Presence consider him as he is Man yet as Slater upon the place well says To him that attentively considers the Words the Causes of Destruction are held forth herein For 1. he says not simply or alone that they are punish'd from his Presence but further adds from the Glory of his Power the same Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from being therefore in common to be applyed to the one as well as the other Now the intent of the latter from his glorious Power cannot note forth that they were punished out of or from without his glorious Power as in respect of Absence but the contrary that the Presence and Efficacy of it is to be that which is the Author of their Punishment so that it imports nothing less than absence or a withdrawment by God or a throwing them out of his Presence but positively an efficiency or energy put forth by him and so carries with it the relation and influence of an efficient Cause If indeed he had added instead hereof either from his Glory or from his Blessedness unto that other from his Presence it might have carried both unto poena Damni the punishment of Loss that is to note out what they had lost and wanted the Communication of and so their exclusion from the Participation of God's Face and Blessedness which is more ordinarily termed his Presence and together therewith had noted out an exclusion also of this sense which I argue for but his saying also from the Glory of his Power manifestly notes Power put forth in Execution and inflicting that Destruction and glorifying Himself on them thereby And Secondly Further know that the Word here used is not potestas as of a Judg that is Authority whereof John 5. 27. The Father hath given the Son of Man Authority to execute Judgment And in relation unto which in ver 5. of this Chapter he had termed it The righteous Judgment of God But the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies inward personal Strength Vigor Robur such as a Giant hath in his own * Ipsa vi◠naturae per se considerata Illyricus Limbs And therefore when their Destruction is said to be from his Power as thus denoting personal Strength the intendment must needs be to denote a putting forth of that Strength which is in himself to destory them Parallel with that in Rom. 9. 22. What if God willing to shew his Wrath and make his Power known on the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction of which anon Yea and Thirdly even this other Phrase destroyed from his Presence doth likewise as fully close with this sense to note the efficient Cause of their
and Body c. or his downfal from a petty Kingdom Did these begin now at length so sadly to return upon him so as in the end his Spirit should begin to take them in and lay them at length to Heart which at first he in an holy Gallantry had made so light of Oh no he had fully concocted and digested all that had been occasioned from all or any of these and had quieted himself with one or two good Cordials namely that the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken and blessed be the Name of the Lord Chap. 1. 21. And again shall we receive good from the hand of the Lord and not evil Chap. 2. 10. which had carried away all that Sorrow might have been stirring in him from these What might be the matter then that was the cause of these so high disturbances The next Words ver 4. do enform us For the Arrows of the Almighty are within me the Poyson whereof drinks up my Spirits The Terrors of God do set themselves in Array against me Let us go on duly to weigh and consider these Passages of his Heman he in his Horrors had complained Psal 88. 7. That God's Wrath lay hard or heavy on him and says no more of it But Job here He in like manner feeling the like weight thereof goes about to express how heavy and how great the burthen was of his Grief that was caused thereby And he calls for a mighty Scale to weigh it in Such a Scale as might be large enough to contain all the Sands of the Sea Oh that my Grief were throughly weighed and my Calamities laid in the Ballance together for now it would be heavier than the Sand of the Sea His meaning is that to have his Grief and Calamity put in one of the Scales and the Sand of the Sea in the other his Calamity would be infinitely heavier His invention was heightned by what he really felt The greatness of it made him Eloquent For as Love so deep sense of Misery useth so to do And he pitcheth as you see upon the weightiness of Sand to express it by which is of all things the weightiest as Solomon tells us Prov. 27. 3. A Stone is heavy and the Sand is weighty Yea and the Sand of the Sea which take both those Sands within the Sea at the bottom of it and those also scattered without on the Shoar they do make an immence bulk and body condensated if they were gathered together into one heap as the Waters were into one place when God made the Sea Job had a most sublime Fancy as the high strains of that whole Book shew And this is in view a compaparison vast and great enough one would think as could be used But yet further observe how he breaks off that attempt of his to express it by this or by any such comparisons though in appearance never so hyperbolical Which breaking off his next Speech utters My Words says he are swallowed up As a small thing is swallowed up of a greater as a drop of the Ocean as one small scattered Sand would be in the bulk of all those Sands of the Sea when cast in among them So were all these his vast expressions and comparisons he had used although thus great which yet from all Rhetoricians would have had the name of Hyperboles far exceeding the reality But yet in his sense and feeling were swallowed up by the thing it self I feel my Words fall short says he so Broughton paraphraseth on those Words And therefore he cuts himself off from using any more or higher decipherings of it of any kind if any could have been found as being all but meer Metaphors too light and holding no weight with that far exceeding weight of Misery he felt as the Apostle on the contrary comparing present Afflictions and the Glory to come together speaks but Job here he gives it clean over as a thing unexpressible And in stead of all Essays that way he chooseth rather to speak and shew the Cause thereof the same which I in this Treatise have endeavoured to do And thereby he sets forth in a Reality the dreadfulness of it indeed And more than by all things whatever that his Grief could have been compared unto This you have in these Words For the Arrows of the Almighty are within me he had sores without in his Body and Afflictions in his outward Man or Condition Fears without and Terrors within he complains not that you hear of them at all Oh but they are these Arrows that are within me says he the Arrows of the Almighty That is which none but an Almighty Hand could shoot and shoot so deep such Arrows as could come out of no other Forge or Quiver The Soul of a Man is a Spirit of a vast depth and God and God alone can shoot up into it unto the Arrow Head And yet again besides the strength of the Arm that shoots them and the forkedness of the Arrows themselves they were all as Arrows that are dipt in Poyson envenomed with the guilt of his Sins which as Chap. 13. 23. 26. God had now set on upon his Soul Thou makest me possess the Sins of my Youth Thus it follows in the next Words And the Poyson thereof drinks up my Spirit They do not only let out the Spirits which Wounds made by other Arrows use to do but they drink them up The Strength and Violence of the Venom of them had such an Efficacy on his very Soul and the very Spirit and Life thereof as they drank all up Again it follows And the Terrors of God have set themselves in array against me God drew forth his Wrath as it were into an ordered Army into Rank and File at once to fall upon him If one Man had an whole Army set against him and each armed Man therein were to shoot a Bullet or an Arrow into him at once and if withal we could make the Supposition that that Man should have his Life still renewed after each Wound given so as never to dye and yet they still to renew to shoot all at once every moment how dreadful is this to any ones Thoughts thereof but yet these are but Men not God whose Arrows he says these were Oh that he would destroy me says Job that is kill me out-right so ver 8 9. Oh that I might have my Request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me and that he would let loose his Hand and cut me off Well But Job canst thou not stir up thy Spirits and harden thy self against all these present Sorrows The Spirit of Man will bear its Infirmity if it be steel'd with resolution To this Job himself gives answer by way of preoccupation to this effect That if Death indeed or a being utterly cut off should come upon me with all that Host of Fears whereof elsewhere Job tells us Death
all these Considerations thereby also exhorteth them to that which is the only true Wisdom even to turn unto the Lord so to escape that Wrath that is to come And he as an holy Man that knew the Terror of the Lord doth thus persuade Men And O let our Souls be persuaded by it And to this end USE I Would first persuade you to believe that there is this Wrath to come VVe knowing the Terror of the Lord that is our selves being assured by believing that such a Wrath is in the Heart and Breast of God against impenitent Sinners as also understanding what and how dreadful that Wrath is we do persuade Men 2 Cor. 5. 11. And for Men to apprehend and believe it is the first most effectual Engine to persuade them by God did not ere he placed these Souls of ours in our Bodies first carry them down to Hell and then up to Heaven that so we having a fore-knowledg of either by Sight and Sense might then be left to act in this World accordingly But God hath left only the Revelation of both these unto Faith in this World by the Word Heb. 11. 7. 'T is said Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with Fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House By the which he condemned the VVorld and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith You know how the Day of this great Wrath to come the Day of Judgment is assimilated by Christ to the Days of Noah Mat. 24. 37 38 39. And that among other in respect of the Security and Unbelief that is and will be afore it comes in the Hearts of Men about it which is Christ's special scope there And the place in the Hebrews cited answerably reckoneth that Faith of Noah who being forewarned of the Flood was moved with Fear and prepared an Ark to save himself and his Family amongst those other Instances of Saving Faith which that Chapter doth enumerate as that which had this Wrath to come signified thereby in his eye Shewing withal the Foundation of the Condemnation of that World to lie in this That though Noah declared this Wrath to come unto them by his Preaching and Example for as he was a Preacher of Righteousness so of this Wrath as Enoch also had been yet they believed it not because it was unseen as the words of that 7th Verse are For these things then happened in Types of what was to fall out concerning this great Wrath to come that Destruction of the old World being but the shadow of this as expresly 't is interpreted to be 1 Pet. 3. 20. The Spirits in Prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the Long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing The like Figure whereunto is Baptism which now also saves us If the Ark was of Salvation then the Flood of Damnation and that then as the word also now evidently shews This Wrath it is a thing to come as that of the Flood then was to them stiled therefore the Wrath to come and so it is a thing not seen and so is reckoned amongst the Objects of Faith Men indeed have some lesser stitches in Conscience afore-hand both from it and about it but little do they imagine that these will or should ever become the matter of such torturing Aches as they rise up to in the end Men do as little imagine this of these fore-running Warnings or secret Gripings and Twitches as the Old World did then that the usual Clouds of Heaven that caused Storms would have ever swell'd to the drowning of the World Nor indeed doth this fall out to Mens Souls until the Curse or Wrath of God enters like Oil into their Bones as the Psalmist speaks of Judas Psal 109. 18. For this Wrath is in the mean time a thing hidden in the Breast and Bosom of the Almighty and is therefore termed a Treasure of Wrath A Treasure because hid so Treasures use to be they are termed hidden Treasures Prov. 2. 4. and elsewhere And for the same reason the coming of it upon Men is called the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of Luk. 19. 42. God As the things belonging to Mens Peace so their Destruction are hidden from their Eyes Though Damnation slumbers not 2 Pet. 2. 3. but is in its March and proceedeth in its approaches towards them every hour nearer and nearer yet Men slumber in respect of the belief thereof and not so much as dream of it in their Slumber 1 Thess 5. 3 6 9. The Apostle's complaint there is the same in effect with that of Moses Who knows the Power of thine Anger so as to apply his Heart to Wisdom The Baptist who began the publishing of the Gospel he began it with forewarning Men of this Wrath and stiled it the Wrath to come And Christ whose office was to preach that Gospel seconds him therein and terms it Hell-Fire c. Now observe how he speaks to the Pharisees about it O ye Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the Wrath to come Mat. 3. 7. 'T is Vox admirantis as if he had said 'T is strange that the Preaching of Wrath to come should any way startle yours so hardened Hearts as to see you here attending at my Sermons and that the Consideration thereof should any way arrest or make any dint upon your Souls The reason of his Wonder was because indeed Men believe it not or very slightly Who hath demonstrated it unto you as his word is And Christ useth the very same word about this matter Luke 12. 5. I will forewarn you or demonstrate to you whom you shall fear even him that can destroy in Hell All this still tends to shew how hidden it is from the most of Men. The very same Unbelief is more darkly and in other terms expressed in the Old Testament Deut. 32. 29. O that they would consider their latter end And Eccles 11. 8 9. Remember the Days of Darkness for they are many But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Now to help you a little in the belief of this Besides what the Scriptures speak hereof 1. Consult thine own Heart Thou hast a busy Principle within thee Conscience that like a Spy sent in from an adverse Party into anothers Quarters observes and takes notice of all that passeth not thy Actions or Speeches only but what is done in thy Privy-Chamber or Closet of thy Soul and not only so but thou mayest hear the noise of his Pen still a running and punctually writing that which it observeth and there is not a Motion a Lust a Desire a Purpose an End a flying Thought but it diligently doth set down and can give thee the Sense thereof and thou canst not stop the Course hereof And what is the meaning of all this but that thy Judgment is continually a preparing thine Examination a taking
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 wholy restrained unto that estate of the Soul when remitted to the body at 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 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 these times were as he foretells ch 4. ver 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 die to be kept by God And so understood in a proper and literal sence 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. Apostacy and 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 final event onsequent of each and salvation of the soul to be the end of faith when men continue and go on to believe until their faith arrive at and attaineth this Salvation of the Soul To this sence also Rom. 6. 22. You have your fruit in holiness and the end everlasting life And the Apostle Peter having in the foregoing verses 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 whilst 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 proper and a literal sence 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 chap. 1. 4. compared with verse 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 and 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 until the Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 sence 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 foregoing 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 foregoing he had commended their present State of Faith by this Whom now though you see not yet believing rejoice 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
Destruction The Word in the Original is from his Face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now God's Anger or Wrath is as well and very frequently expressed by his Face in Scripture as his Favour useth to be For the Face as well holds forth Anger and Wrath as Favour and Grace Thus Lev. 20. 6. I will set my Face against that Soul and will cut him off that is I will put forth mine Anger to destroy him And Lament 4. 26. where it is translated the Anger of the Lord in the Hebrew and in your Margents it is The Face of the Lord. As there is the Light of God's Countenance in which is Life so the rebuke of God's Countenance at which we perish Psal 80. 16. Even as the Wax is said to melt at the Presence of the Fire Psal 68. 2. and often elsewhere So then to be destroyed from his Face and Presence is all one as to say from his Anger and Wrath. And we have both exegetically met in one Scripture Rev. 6. last They said to the Mountains Fall on us to hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb and suitably this Destruction here in 2 Thess 1. is said to be both from God and Christ Even as the Happiness of Heaven is immediately from the Presence of God and Christ Rev. 21. 23. And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it For the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof Thus on the contrary is it in Hell and so at the day of Judgment it is the Face of God and the Face of the Lamb that the Wicked most of all do dread as that which is the Inflicter of their Torment As for any Objection from those words in flaming Fire c. I shall answer it afterwards III. Scripture Rom. 9. 23. CHAP. III. This Passage explicated only so far as concerns the Execution Several Particulars in the Words that shew the Power of God's Wrath to be the inflicting Cause and immediately inflicting this Punishment An Explication of a fourth Scripture Rom. 2. 8 9. added for the confirmation of all I Shall insist on this Passage but so far as it respects the Execution of this Destruction in Hell after much Long-Suffering passed and not to touch at all upon any thing of that Point of Rejection from Eternity whether intended or not But that the Words should respect the Execution in Hell which is the Point only before us I take that as clear and much for granted And the Reason is because it is the Glory of Heaven which in the next Words the Apostle joins with it and sets by it as Parallels illustrating each the other So ver 23. And that he might make known the riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory In Heaven namely The only thing which by the way I observe is That the Sin of the Creature is that which prepareth or fitteth the Creature for the execution of this Punishment And a difference may be observed in this though otherwise a Parallel as put in cautiously by the Apostle that God himself prepareth the Saints to Glory ver 23. but the other are fitted that is by themselves unto Destruction ver 22. ere he destroyeth them The Point afore me is that God's Wrath and his Power are to be the immediate Inflicters of that Destruction There are several Particulars in the Words which taken singly might perhaps be sufficient to prove this but laid all together will become a strong eviction thereof 1. That God's Wrath and his Power or the Power of his Wrath are spoken of as the inflicting or executing Causes is evident For it is a Power of Efficiency here spoken of as whereby God produceth this Destruction as a Cause doth its proper Effect and accordingly He is said to make known and shew his Power and Wrath therein like as the force and virtue of an efficient Cause is made known and demonstrated in and by the Effect it produceth And so is spoken to the same Effect with what in Chap. 1. 20. he had said that his Power and Godhead is clearly seen from the Creation of the World and understood by the things that are made He that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mighty one as the blessed Virgin there by way of Eminency styles him Luke 1. 49. is said to shew strength with his Arm Ver. 51. And here to make known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word suited to that other his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posse or what is possible to be done by him It is then a power of Strength and Energie or Efficacy with his own Hands and Arm and that according to the utmost of his Ability as the word imports And so the Power here spoken of is an inflicting Power that works and effects this Destruction and not that of Authority only or a Power of Liberty to do as one pleaseth as the Potter with the Clay For that kind of Power he had afore ascribed to God in this matter in the foregoing Verse which this Word here is distinct from And this is one step unto which add 2. It is his Power joined with his Wrath that is the Power of his Wrath or his Wrath in the Power of it For thus Moses the Man of God Psal 90. 11. had long afore put them together when he speaks of this very Wrath in Hell of which here the Apostle doth For after he had 1. set out the Time and Condition of Man in this Life The days of our years are threescore years and ten c. and then 2. We fly away so expressing Death and our going into another World Then 3. follows Who knows the Power of thine Anger As that which succeedeth and seizeth after Death upon the most of Mankind dying in their Sins The Apostle here mentions Power and Wrath apart but Moses there maketh Power an Attribute of his Wrath and so considered it hath a double meaning and both serving our purpose 1. That Wrath stirs up his Power and draws it out unto this Execution and therefore Wrath is the first of the two here mentioned yea further that it is his Power as it becomes heated inflamed and intended by Wrath that inflicteth this And as a Man in his Anger strikes a greater blow so may God be supposed to do when represented as thus smiting in his sore displeasure And 2. That God's very Wrath and Anger if but shewn and revealed by him to Mens Souls hath such a Power in it that that alone is enough to destroy them The nearest resemblance that the Scriptures Fiery Indignation in the Text. Psal 22. 14. make of this Wrath is that of Fire of which anon and that as Fire melting Wax by the very Presence of it As therefore when we would express the Power of Fire we say the Power of the Heat that