Two Discourses, Section 2
§.
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. 'Tis 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 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 (ſays 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 conjunct together, and diſtinct from the Body, as well as from Sin and Corruption. Elſewhere it is declared the ſubject firſt and originally wrought on, Eph. 4. 23. Be renewed [in the Spirit of your Minds.] Look round about the Text, and what is the [Ʋs] wrought on? plainly this Inward Man, by the Coherence afore and after. Ask yet 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 only whilſt in our Bodies, but when ſeparated 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 Ʋs: the Soul bears the Perſon, carries away the Grace with it.
Add to this, the Time here ſpecified in Obſerva quôd non in futuro dicit, Parabit …s. Non demumparabitur; ubi jam induendum eſt, &c. Muſc. in locum.the Text, in which we are wrought upon: It is but this Life, and during the term thereof. Hath wrought us, ſays 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 Peterperfect 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 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 ſays of Man, There is no work after this Life; No remembrance, Eccl. 9. 10.ſays David: namely, which Pſal. 6. 5.hath any influence into a Man's Eternity. So there is no working upon us in order thereunto, after Death: God hath done his Do [hath wrought] and Man hath finiſhed 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 only; therefore only what in this Life he hath wrought. And for this he hath wrought us, (ſays the Text.)