Two discourses I. of the punishment of sin in hell, demonstrating the wrath of God to be the immediate cause thereof : II. proving a state of glory for just men upon their dissolution / by Tho. Goodwin ...

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And for a Conclusion of this first Point, that which follows in that place lately ci∣ted 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 unspeaka∣ble, and full of glory, which the Verse afore had spoken, that many Saints through be∣lieving do in this life enjoy, as being sal∣vation imperfect, and the earnest of it in the same kind, and so a part of the Re∣ward 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 gain∣say, 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 ob∣tain, yet by consequence, and at the re∣bound, 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 salvati∣on, which otherwise Faith at all times e∣states us into, but for this, that these joys are an entrance into, and a taking posses∣sion of Glory, over and above what or∣dinarily Faith giveth? And therefore they have the name given them, as being the earnest of the same kind, unto that great∣er fum is to be paid (as in all Contracts it useth to be) at the end of that perfor∣mance 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 bind∣eth 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 with∣draw 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 Scrip∣ture, by a Synecdoche, put for the whole person. And I must not deny but that ultimately it is intended here, it extend∣ing 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 salva∣tion of the soul is intended also of that Sal∣vation which falls out in the midst be∣tween 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 con∣junct 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 sub∣ject 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 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, sal∣vation of the Soul, should be wholy re∣strained 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 Pe∣ter, 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 ex∣pectations 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 ex∣horteth them to commit their souls (when they die) to be kept by God: And so un∣derstood in a proper and literal sence, this salvation of their souls is in all respects ter∣med, The end of their Faith.

First, in that it is the next and imme∣diate 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 suc∣ceeds 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. A∣postacy 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 fore∣going verses celebrated the fruits and workings of their faith in this life, as in

supporting them gloriously under the so∣rest trials, v. 7. and then sometimes filling their hearts with joy unspeakable and glori∣ous, 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 non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 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 crown∣eth it with this Salvation of the Soul with∣out 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.

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 swal∣lowed 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 pur∣pose, more fitly, which we have had in hand.

Notes

• Heb. 10. v. last. Jam. 5. v. last.
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