by Thomas Goodwin
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.—REV. 14:13.
Thomas Goodwin’s Of the Blessed State of Glory Which the Saints Possess After Death is nothing less than a soaring meditation on the Christian’s final hope—an extended doxology clothed in rich, Puritan theology. In a world that trivializes death or drowns in fear of it, Goodwin lifts our eyes to heaven and anchors our souls in the unshakeable promise that to depart and be with Christ is “far better” (Phil. 1:23). This work is not for the merely curious, but for the spiritually hungry—those who long to understand what awaits the believer at the very moment of death.
Goodwin contends, with great clarity and warmth, that the souls of the saints do not sleep or wait in some vague holding place, but are immediately ushered into a state of unspeakable glory and conscious communion with Christ. With biblical precision and pastoral insight, he draws from Revelation 14:13 and 2 Corinthians 5 to show that death is not the end, but the very threshold of rest, reward, and radiant joy for those in Christ. The believer, he says, not only escapes wrath but is welcomed into “Abraham’s bosom,” the immediate presence of the Savior—received by angels, crowned with comfort, and transformed into the likeness of Christ.
What sets this treatise apart is its deeply experiential tone. Goodwin does not write as a detached theologian but as a seasoned shepherd preparing souls for the most decisive moment of their earthly pilgrimage. He addresses the common fears and fainting fits of dying saints, offering a Spirit-filled vision of death not as an enemy, but as the final act of faith—an entrance into the reward of grace. He magnifies the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the hour of death, showing how the Comforter carries believers through the veil with joy and peace, even giving them foretastes of heavenly glory while still in the body.
This book is a balm for the afflicted, a guide for the dying, and a trumpet blast of hope for all who live with eternity in view. Read it slowly. Read it prayerfully. And let Goodwin, with the wisdom of heaven and the heart of a pastor, teach you how to die well—by teaching you how blessed it is to die in the Lord.
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Table of Contents
--------Chapter I: Of the blessedness of a dying believer.
--------Chapter II: That the soul of a believer doth not sleep, or is not in a state of inac...
--------Chapter III: That the souls of believers, immediately after their separation from th...
--------Chapter IV: That the souls of believers do, immediately after the death of the body,...
--------Chapter V: A state of glory for believers upon their dissolution, demonstrated from ...
--------Chapter VI: That the clothing mentioned in the text, 2 Corinthians 5:3, doth import ...
--------Chapter VII: What is meant by the phrase, 2 Corinthians 5:3, of being ‘found naked.’
--------Chapter VII: The words of the text explained, and their coherence with the first and...
--------Chapter IX: The true and eminent grounds of a Christian’s groanings after dissolutio...
--------Chapter X: The positive ground or reason why a Christian desires dissolution is, tha...
--------Chapter XI: That as the soul is the immediate subject of grace, which is a preparati...
--------Chapter XII: The glory unto which the separate soul is received, demonstrated from t...
--------Chapter XIII: Whether the state of glory into which separate souls enter after death...
--------Chapter XIV: A particular enumeration of the glories of that state into which the se...
--------Chapter XV: Of the glories of heaven, and the happiness of glorified saints therein.