Two Discourses, Section 5
§.
But if this Argument from theſe be yet judged not home enough, but ſhort: Then let us in the fourth place add what Force the third Premiſe will give to it, concerning the Time of God's working on us, to drive all cloſer home; namely, That God hath wrought upon the Soul in this Life, all that ever he means to work, by way of Preparation for Glory. For this thing God [hath wrought us] which tho 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, Act. 10 47.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 the reſt, ſtands upon two ſtrong Grounds.
Firſt, if we conſider what is common to God in this with all other, but ordinarywiſe Efficients or Workers, that are intent upon their Ends, which muſt be given to him, the only Wiſe All-powerful God, (who is here ſaid, as an Efficient, to work us for this End.) When any ordinary Efficient hath brought his Work to a period, and done as much to ſuch or ſuch an End as he means to do, he delays not to accompliſh his End, and bring it to execution; unleſs ſome over-powring impediment do lie in his way to it. If you have beſtowed long & great Coſt upon any of your Children, to fit and prepare them for any Imployment; The Ʋniverſity ſuppoſe, or other Calling; Do you then let theſe your Children lie Truants, idle, and aſleep at home, and not put them forth to that which you at firſt deſigned that their Education unto? Will you ſuffer them (in this caſe) to loſe their time, Do you know how to do good to your Children, and doth not God? We ſee God doth thus in Nature. We ſay, when the Matter is as fully prepared as ever it ſhall be, that the forms enter without delay: Now Grace is expreſly termed a preparation to Glory. Alſo God doth obſerve this in working of Grace it ſelf, when the Soul is as fully humbled and emptied, and thereby prepared for the Lord by John Baptiſts Miniſtry, as he means to prepare it; the work of juſtifying Faith preſently follows. In all his Diſpenſations of Judgments or Mercies, he obſerves the ſame. When mens ſins are at full (as of the Amorites) he ſtays not a moment to execute Judgment: So in anſwering the Faith of his People waiting on him for Mercies. And thus it is for Glory; I have glorified thee on earth, (the only place and condition of our glorifying God) I have finiſhed the work thou gaveſt me to do: And now (what now, and preſently now remains there, follows) Glorifie me &c. Thus ſpake Chriſt our Pattern.
Secondly, there is this further falls out, in this Caſe and Condition, of ſuch a Soul, as doth indeed call for this out of a kinde of neceſſity, and not of congruity only. For whereas by God's Ordination there are two ways of Communion with him, and but two, unto all Eternity; either that of Faith, which we have at preſent; and of Sight, which is for hereafter. Into theſe two, the Apoſtle reſolves all God's Diſpenſations to us, ver. 7. of this Chapter, We walk by faith, (namely, in this life) not by ſight. And again, 1 Cor. 13. 12. [Now] we ſee in a glaſs, [Then] face to face. Theſe two [Now] and [Then] do divide the Diſpenſations for Eternity of time to come. The like in Peter, 1 Epiſt. 1. 8. In whom though [Now] you ſee him not, (as you one day ſhall) yet believing. If therefore when the Soul goes out of the Body, that way of communion with God by Faith utterly ceaſeth (a)2 Cor. 13. 8, 13., that door and paſſage will be quite ſhut up; God having (b)1 Theſ. 1. 11. John 6. 28.fulfilled all the work of faith (The work of God) with power, that ever he intendeth: Then ſurely Sight muſt ſucceed according to God's Ordination, or otherwiſe this would inevitably follow, That the Soul would be for that interim, until the Reſurrection, cut off from all communion with God, whatever; having yet all its acquired holineſs of Sanctification abiding in it, and Righteouſneſs accompanying of it all that while. Look therefore as a Childe hath two, and but two wayes of living, and when the one ceaſeth, the other ſucceeds, or Death would follow: In the Womb it lives by nouriſhment from the Navel, without ſo much as breathing at the mouth: but it no ſooner comes into the world, but that former means is cut off, and it liveth by breath, and taking in nouriſhment by the mouth, or it muſt inſtantly die. So ſtands the caſe with the Soul here between Faith and Sight: So that we muſt either affirm, That the Souls dies to all ſpiritual actings and communions with God until the Reſurrection, which thoſe Scriptures ſo much do contradict, He that believeth hath eternal life, &c. and ſhall never (no not for 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.