(1.) " Ye are come, saith he, to mount Sion,] not the earthly, but the spiritual Sion. Mount Sion was the place celebrated above all the world for the worship of God, Psal. Ixxxvi. 7. " All my " springs, saith God, are in thee."" There was the temple, the ark; of the covenant, the glory of the Lord dwelling between the chertc^ hims. The pi'iests that attended the service of God had their resi- dence there, as the angels have in heaven. Thither the tribes went up from all quarters of Judea, Psal. Ixxxiv. as the children of God now do to heaven, from all quarters of the world. Judea was the best kingdom in the world ; Jerusalem the best city in that kingdom; and Sion the most glorious place in that city. Here Christ taught his heavenly doctrine ; near to it he finished his g]o» rious work of redemption. Hence the everlasting gospel went forth into all the world : And, on these considerations, it is put to signify the gospel-church, or state in this place, and is tlierefore called the heavenly Jerusalem, in the following words. We do not
* CrebrU micnt i'^nibus ccther ; i. e. The sky shines with freguejit Hghtnings,
aU A TREATISE OF THE SOUL Of MAN.
come to the literal Sion, nor to the earthly Jerusalem ; but to the gospel-church, or state, which may be called a heaven upon earth, compared with that literal Jerusalem.
(2.) Ye are come " to an innumerable company of angels.""] To * myriads of angels^ sl myriad is ten thousand, but myriads in the plural number, and set down indefinitely too, may note many mil- lions of angels : And therefore we fitly render it, " to an innumer- able company of angels."
They had the ministry of angels as well as we, thousands of them ministered to the Lord in the dispensation of the law at Si- nai, Psal. Ixviii. 17. But this notwithstanding, we are come to a much clearer knowledge, both of their present ministry for us on earth, Heb. i. 14. and of our fellowship and equaUty with them in heaven, Luke xx. 36.
(3.) " Ye are come to the general assembly, and church of the /' first-born, whose names are written (or enrolled) in heaven."'] This also greatly commends and amplifies the privileges of the New- Testament believers. The church of God in former ages was cir- cumscribed and shut up within the narrow hmits of one small kingdom, which was a garden inclosed out of a waste wilderness : But now, by the calling in of the Gentiles, the church is extended far and wide, Eph. iii. 5^ ij. It is become a great assembly, com- prising the believers of all nations under heaven ; and so speaking of them collectively, it is the general convention or assembly, which is also dignified, and ennobled by two illustrious characters, viz. (1.) That it is the chitrch of the Jirst-boi'n, i. e. consisting of mem- bers dignified and privileged above others, as the first-born among the Israelites did excel their younger brethren. (2.) That their names are xcritten in heaven, i. e. registered or enrolled in God's book, as children and heirs of the heavenly inheritance, as the first-born in -|- Israel were registered in order to the priesthood. Numb. iii. 40, 41.
(4.) Ye are come " to God, the Judge of all.""] But why to God the Judge ? This seems to spoil the harmony, and jar with the other parts of the discourse. No, they are come to God as a righteous Judge, who, as such, will pardon them, 1 John i. 9. Crown them, 2 Tim. iv. 8. and avenge them on all their op- pressing and persecuting enemies, 1 Thes. i. 5, 6, 7.
(5.) "And to the spirits of just men made perfect."] A most glorious privilege indeed ; in which we are distinctly to consider,
* Mi/|/a(?/i/ ayyi^Mv^ i. e. Myriads of angels. The Hellenists use the word jj/o^tadaCf i. e. Myriads, without any addition to signify an innumerable multitude. Grot.
f The first-born of the Israelites were registered in an earthly register, but these iu an heavenly register.
A TfiEATISE OP THE SOUL 01' MAN.
1. The quality of those with whom we are associated or taken into fellowship.
2. The way and manner of our association with them.
1. The quality of those with whom we are associated, or to whom we are said to be come ; and they are described by three characters, viz.
(2.) Spirits of just men.
(3.) Spirits of just men perfected, or consummated.
(1.) They are called spirits, that is, immaterial substances, strict- ly opposed to bodies, which are no way the objects of our exterior senses, neither visible to the eye, or sensible to the touch, which were called properly souls whilst they animated bodies in this lower world ; but now being loosed and separated from them by death, and existing alone in the world above, they are properly and strictly stiled spirits.
(2.) They are the spirits of just men.] Man may be term.ed just two ways, (1.) By a full discharge and acquittance from the guilt of all his sins, and so believers are just men, even whilst they live on earth, groaning under other imperfections, Acts xiii. 39.
Or, (2.) By a total freedom from the pollution of any sin. And though in this sense there is not " a just man upon earth that doth good, and sinneth not,"" Eccl. vii. 22. yet even in this sense Adam was just before the fall, Eccl. vii. 29. according to his original con- stitution ; and all believers are so in their glorified condition ; all sin being perfectly purged out of them, and its existence utterly destroyed in them. On which account,
(3.) They are called the spirits of just men made jyCi; feet,] or con- summate. The word perfect is not here to be understood abso- lutely, but by way of synecdoche ; they are not perfect in every re- spect, for one part of these just men lies rotting in the grave : but they are perfected, for so much as concerns their spirit ; though the flesh perish and lie in dishonour, yet their spirits being once loosed from the body, and freed radically and perfectly from sin, are presently admitted to the facial vision and fruition of God, Avhich is the culminating point (as I may call it) higher than which the spirit of man aspires not ; and attaining to this^ it is, for so much as concerns itself, made perfect. Even as a body at last lodged in its centre, gravitates no more, but is at perfect rest ; so it is with tlie spirit of man come home to God in glory, it is now consummate, no more need to be done to make it as perfectly happy as it is capable to be made ; which is the first thing to be considered, viz. the qua- lity of those with whom we are associated.
2. The second follows, namely, the way and manner of our as^
S2 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAX.
sociation with these blessed spirits of just men, noted in this expres- sion, [we are come.'\ He saith not, zee shall come hereafter, when the resurrection had restored our bodies, or after the general judg- ment; but, we are come to these spirits of just men. The mean- ing whereof we may take in these three particulars.