he widest, so it is the durablest, as
it is substantial here, so it is perpetual hereafter. When all the other
differences between men shall be abolished, this alone shall remain, and
therefore you have it in the next verse, "To be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." This division that is
begun here, shall grow wider for all eternity. There shall be a greater
difference after this life, and a more sensible separation. Death and
life, eternal death and eternal life, are the two sides of this
difference, as it shall shortly be stated. When all other degrees and
distances of men shall be blotted out and buried in eternal oblivion,
there shall no vestige or mark remain, of either wisdom, or riches, or
honour, or such like, but all mankind shall be, as to these outward
things, levelled and equalized, this one unseen and neglected difference
in the world shall appear and shine in that day when the Lord maketh up
his jewels, "then he will discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that feareth God, and him that feareth him not," Mal. iii. 18.
The carnal and spiritual man have opposite affections and motions. The
spirit of the one is on a journey or walk upward, "after the Spirit," and
the spirit of the other is on a walk downward, towards the flesh, and the
further they go, the further distant they are. The one shall be taken up
to the company of the spirits of just men made perfect, and to the
fellowship of angels, the other shall be thrown down into the fellowship
and society of devils. And truly it is no wonder it fall so low, for all
its motions in the body were downward, to the fulfilling of the lusts of
the flesh. Thus you see the difference will grow wider and more sensible
than it is yet between the godly and ungodly, in this world it doth not so
evidently appear as it will do afterward. As two men, that leave one
another, and have their faces on contrary arts,(179) at the beginning the
distance and difference is not so great and so sensible, but wait a
little, and the further they go, the farther they are distant, and the
wider their separation is. Even so, when a Christian begins to break off
his way from the common course of the world it doth not appear to be so
different from it as to convince himself and others; but if his face be
towards Jerusalem above, and his heart thitherward, certainly he will be
daily moving further from the world, till the distance be sens