Two Discourses, Section 6
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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 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 onelyonly unto that. And that word, the ſoul, ſhould ſerve onelyonly 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, foreign, 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.foreign pro foreign
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.