his mighty Angels in flaming Fire but not spoken of as the Causes of the Destruction it self that follows The Angels further serve to gather Men from all the four Corners of the World Mat. 13. 41 42. to hale and bring them afore the Judge and after Sentence to cast them into the place of Torment called there A Furnace of Fire but not of their making but God's They do but deliver them into the dreadful place wherein Execution is acted and performed 2. This Fire which he appears with is to burn up this visible World as a fore-running Sign to shew the fierceness of the Fire of that Wrath which shall after prey and seize upon the invisible World that is Mens Souls and Devils for ever Not that Mens Souls are to be burnt up with no other Fire than what the World is burnt withal but that which burns the visible World is an Example and Demonstration of that other Fire that is kindled in his Anger that shall in the end Burn to the bottom of Hell This as to Deut. 32. 22. what may be objected out of that place 3. I deny not from other Scriptures a created Fire in Hell Let but that also be allowed which some of the Antients also speak of that there is a double Fire there One inward in Mens Souls Another outward Gerson aptly applyeth Vermis ignis uterque duplex interior exterior Interior qui urit rodit cor exterior qui rodit urit corpus Innocentius Damnati ab intus extra Erunt in acerbissimo cruciatuum genere foris devorati ab igne ab intus ut Clibanus ignis positi Gerson Ser. 1. de Sanctis that place of the Psalmist fore-cited Psal 21. 19. unto that of this inward Fire Thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven the Lord shall swallow them up in his Wrath and the Fire shall devour them The Fire of an Oven is a fit similitude of a Fire within as into which Fire is put to heat it and the heat made more intense by the cavity or hollowness of the place Whereas to be cast into a Furnace of Fire as Christ speaks or into a Lake of Fire as Apoc. imports a Fire without into which the Matter or Persons to be burnt are cast And thus much for bare Scripture-Testimonies many other there are which might be here collected to confirm this but are scattered in several parts of this Discourse in a duer place CHAP. V. A second sort of Proofs Demonstrations from Instances both of Wicked Men and Holy Men who have felt in this Life Impressions of God's immediate Wrath And that such Impressions are Evidences of what in the fulness is in Hell A Second sort of Proofs are Demonstrations from Instances in Scripture of Persons in this Life who have felt Impressions of this Wrath of God in their Souls upon God's rebuking them for Sin And these Instances of Experience upon Record being added to those fore-gone Scripture-Testimonies will serve as ruled Cases joined unto Maxims in Law alledged both of them for the proof of one and the same thing and will give yet more clear Demonstration what is meant by Wrath and what Hell is in the fulness of it And being joined to the former do altogether give an abundant evidence of this great Truth I say 1. Of Men in this Life And if any should deny the Truth hereof or that which we have been prosecuting themselves perhaps ere they dye may be made miserable Examples verifying of both and out of their own woful Experience live to confess and acknowledg the Truth herein For God doth in this Life single out some both of his Children and others to whom he gives a taste what the one should for ever have undergone but that Christ did it for them and of what the other must under-goe for ever without Repentance Whereof those Instances that follow are undeniable Evidences And 2. These Terrors are wrought by God's immediate Hand And from immediate Impressions and Representations of his Wrath made by him on their Souls and to their Consciences For as God puts Joy into the Hearts of his Children in this Life by the immediate Light of his Countenance as Psal 4. ver 6. Lord lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon us and ver 7. Thou hast put Gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased And again whom though we see not yet believing we rejoice with Joy unspeakable and glorious as the Apostle speaks of those Primitive Saints Even so when he is pleased to rebuke Man for Sin he doth the like in a way of Contraries on Men both Good and Bad correcting them by and with Anguishments from the like immediate Stroaks of his own Anger God is the Father of all Spirits and of the Spirits of his own Children upon a double Creation And if the Fathers of our Bodies Heb. 12. 9. See for these things more largely The Child of Light walking in Darkness corrected us and had power to do it with bodily Punishment by bodily Instruments do we think that our Souls which lie naked afore God Heb. 4. 13. are not as immediately subject and exposed to his Correction as a Father of Spirits And if so that then he may and doth sometimes choose to correct even his own Children with no other Rods but of his own which are the immediate Emanations streamings and dartings of his own Displeasure Which when they feel they wax pale and wan and wander up and down like unto Ghosts in Hell as if they were cut off by his Hand And that those Anguishments which either of these feel are from God's immediate Hand alone those that have felt the smart thereof do readily acknowledg for it is not in the power of any Creature to strike so hard a stroak And you shall hear some of themselves by and by speak out so much whilst they were under the present sense thereof These things premised There are two things to make this Demonstration compleat First the Instances themselves of Persons in this Life On the evidence of which the main stress lies for the proof of the Assertion The second is that such immediate Impressions of Divine Wrath are Evidences of what kind of Torment it is which in the fulness of it befalleth Men in Hell and that both proceed from the same immediate Cause The Instances are of two sorts That so we still may have under two or three Witnesses this Word established 1. Of Good and Holy Men. 2. Of Bad and Wicked Men. 1. For Instances of Holy Men there are divers of them As of Job see his complaints Chap. 6. ver 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12. The Arrows of the Almighty are within me the Poison whereof drinks up my spirit The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me Oh that it would please God to destroy me that he would loose his hand
Destruction The Word in the Original is from his Face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now God's Anger or Wrath is as well and very frequently expressed by his Face in Scripture as his Favour useth to be For the Face as well holds forth Anger and Wrath as Favour and Grace Thus Lev. 20. 6. I will set my Face against that Soul and will cut him off that is I will put forth mine Anger to destroy him And Lament 4. 26. where it is translated the Anger of the Lord in the Hebrew and in your Margents it is The Face of the Lord. As there is the Light of God's Countenance in which is Life so the rebuke of God's Countenance at which we perish Psal 80. 16. Even as the Wax is said to melt at the Presence of the Fire Psal 68. 2. and often elsewhere So then to be destroyed from his Face and Presence is all one as to say from his Anger and Wrath. And we have both exegetically met in one Scripture Rev. 6. last They said to the Mountains Fall on us to hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb and suitably this Destruction here in 2 Thess 1. is said to be both from God and Christ Even as the Happiness of Heaven is immediately from the Presence of God and Christ Rev. 21. 23. And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it For the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof Thus on the contrary is it in Hell and so at the day of Judgment it is the Face of God and the Face of the Lamb that the Wicked most of all do dread as that which is the Inflicter of their Torment As for any Objection from those words in flaming Fire c. I shall answer it afterwards III. Scripture Rom. 9. 23. CHAP. III. This Passage explicated only so far as concerns the Execution Several Particulars in the Words that shew the Power of God's Wrath to be the inflicting Cause and immediately inflicting this Punishment An Explication of a fourth Scripture Rom. 2. 8 9. added for the confirmation of all I Shall insist on this Passage but so far as it respects the Execution of this Destruction in Hell after much Long-Suffering passed and not to touch at all upon any thing of that Point of Rejection from Eternity whether intended or not But that the Words should respect the Execution in Hell which is the Point only before us I take that as clear and much for granted And the Reason is because it is the Glory of Heaven which in the next Words the Apostle joins with it and sets by it as Parallels illustrating each the other So ver 23. And that he might make known the riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory In Heaven namely The only thing which by the way I observe is That the Sin of the Creature is that which prepareth or fitteth the Creature for the execution of this Punishment And a difference may be observed in this though otherwise a Parallel as put in cautiously by the Apostle that God himself prepareth the Saints to Glory ver 23. but the other are fitted that is by themselves unto Destruction ver 22. ere he destroyeth them The Point afore me is that God's Wrath and his Power are to be the immediate Inflicters of that Destruction There are several Particulars in the Words which taken singly might perhaps be sufficient to prove this but laid all together will become a strong eviction thereof 1. That God's Wrath and his Power or the Power of his Wrath are spoken of as the inflicting or executing Causes is evident For it is a Power of Efficiency here spoken of as whereby God produceth this Destruction as a Cause doth its proper Effect and accordingly He is said to make known and shew his Power and Wrath therein like as the force and virtue of an efficient Cause is made known and demonstrated in and by the Effect it produceth And so is spoken to the same Effect with what in Chap. 1. 20. he had said that his Power and Godhead is clearly seen from the Creation of the World and understood by the things that are made He that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mighty one as the blessed Virgin there by way of Eminency styles him Luke 1. 49. is said to shew strength with his Arm Ver. 51. And here to make known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word suited to that other his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posse or what is possible to be done by him It is then a power of Strength and Energie or Efficacy with his own Hands and Arm and that according to the utmost of his Ability as the word imports And so the Power here spoken of is an inflicting Power that works and effects this Destruction and not that of Authority only or a Power of Liberty to do as one pleaseth as the Potter with the Clay For that kind of Power he had afore ascribed to God in this matter in the foregoing Verse which this Word here is distinct from And this is one step unto which add 2. It is his Power joined with his Wrath that is the Power of his Wrath or his Wrath in the Power of it For thus Moses the Man of God Psal 90. 11. had long afore put them together when he speaks of this very Wrath in Hell of which here the Apostle doth For after he had 1. set out the Time and Condition of Man in this Life The days of our years are threescore years and ten c. and then 2. We fly away so expressing Death and our going into another World Then 3. follows Who knows the Power of thine Anger As that which succeedeth and seizeth after Death upon the most of Mankind dying in their Sins The Apostle here mentions Power and Wrath apart but Moses there maketh Power an Attribute of his Wrath and so considered it hath a double meaning and both serving our purpose 1. That Wrath stirs up his Power and draws it out unto this Execution and therefore Wrath is the first of the two here mentioned yea further that it is his Power as it becomes heated inflamed and intended by Wrath that inflicteth this And as a Man in his Anger strikes a greater blow so may God be supposed to do when represented as thus smiting in his sore displeasure And 2. That God's very Wrath and Anger if but shewn and revealed by him to Mens Souls hath such a Power in it that that alone is enough to destroy them The nearest resemblance that the Scriptures Fiery Indignation in the Text. Psal 22. 14. make of this Wrath is that of Fire of which anon and that as Fire melting Wax by the very Presence of it As therefore when we would express the Power of Fire we say the Power of the Heat that
proportions of Justice fore-mentioned which are most near and sacred to him 2. The second Assertion That it is also requisite yea necessary I speak it as in relation to Justice attaining its ends For all mediate Punishments executed by Creatures being deficient as unto that wherein the very Essence of this Punishment lies they all not reaching the Inwards of the Spirit of the Mind and Conscience and seeing that without God's wrath revealed therewith by God himself all such Punishments would not compleat the Justice of God in a Punishment in any tolerable measure suitable Then if Justice will have its perfect work and bring its Suit against the Sinner unto the ultimate issue it is requisite God himself put his immediate hand to the execution For otherwise this Work of Justice will not be perfect as yet every of his Works in their kind are said to be And so he should not only fall short of satisfying his Justice but also by not doing that towards it which is in his power to do and which he is Lord of he should not in any tolerable measure content it Especially if we further consider that when all is done that can be done this Punishment will not arise to a perfect satisfaction for the Creature 's punishment will not afford it and therefore it doth for ever suffer but only unto what may be had out of them towards it I shut this Point up therefore with this that If God be Judg Himself he will do this work Himself which none else can perform for him and without which all else would be utterly imperfect and defective For upon what hath been afore argued I may say of all other Punishments and Punishers although set by God upon a Man what the Apostle says of those legal Ordinances though instituted by God for his Worship That they could not make the Service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience So nor all outward Torments take them alone without God's Wrath accompanying them they cannot make a perfect or compleat Punishment as pertaining to the Conscience And all this also shews one sufficient reason of Difference why earthly Kings and Judges leave the Execution of Traytors and Offenders wholly unto others Because they have no more Power as in respect of Execution to inflict a condign Punishment than other Men but others can do it as exquisitely and their Justice be as fully satisfied thereby but it is not so here And for these causes God is so far from staining his Glory thereby which other Judges would esteem to be so as that it is the only way fully to recover his Glory And so much for that Argument drawn from satisfying of Justice A second Reason is drawn from satisfying of Vengeance or Avenging Wrath as against Enemies which heightens Justice Thus in many places in the Old and New Testament Deut. 32. Rom. 12. 19. 2 Cor. 10. 6. Rev. 6. 10. In which last place God is stiled both a Judg and an Avenger Judg and Avenge say the Saints there A Judg most commonly doth acts of Justice in the behalf of others but an Avenger is one that doth or seeks Justice in his own Cause and in his own behalf and Interest therefore the next a-Kin seeking the Life of a Murtherer was termed an Avenger of Blood Now God is more nearly concerned in this than any Creatures can be in what may concern Vengeance in them for what ever Injury This is therefore poena vindictae as of one enraged and provoked Patience having been abused as Rom. 9. 22. and so is turned into Fury Now there are two properties of Vengeance from whence I argue this being put together First that it is the property of Revenge to vent it self upon that which is principal in the Injury and to make that the Vessel of its Wrath it will never be satisfied else Now that is the Soul of Man which is the chief seat and subject of the Corruption of Sin the chief Cause of the Act proceeding from thence and that in which the Guilt arising from both doth principally abide The Body is but instrumental in what the Soul doth yea and in some and the greatest Sins the Soul hath the sole and immediate Hand This Soul therefore which is the chiefest Vessel of Sin must be the chief Vessel of Wrath. Indignation and Wrath upon every Soul of Man that doth evil Rom. 2. 8. whereof this undeniable Instance is given by God that the Soul is it that suffers for the whole Man until the Resurrrection as the Instance of the Rich Man shews And it must be no less an immediate Sufferer although not the alone Sufferer but much more after the day of Judgment unto Eternity A second thing which Vengeance affecteth is that the person that wrought the Injury dye by the hand of himself that is the Avenger It loves to do that work it self And this especially holds good in this cause of God's and seeing it is to recover glory to God by shewing Vengeance He comes to be glorified rendring Vengeance from the glory of his Power I need not go about to form up any Argument from hence for these two things especially the latter do speak home unto the Point And being added unto what hath been spoken in the former Head of Justice may be sufficient There is a third thing which as I said both Divine Justice and Vengeance do conspire in and that is the utter Destruction of that which is the principal Offendor which is the Soul it is the nature of Vengeance to work the Destruction of that it is set against And in this case of Sin God's Justice also doth the same the demerit of Sin is such as it exciteth Vengeance to it And therefore in both these places which are my Texts Destruction is mentioned as the issue and product of this Revenge and Wrath. So in 2 Thess 1. 6 7. To render Vengeance on them who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction and Rom. 9. 22. to make known the power of his Wrath on those Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction Destroyed they shall be though not in regard of being for they are to be Vessels of Wrath and therefore to be still kept whole in respect of being else they could hold no Wrath And that is another property of Vengeance to have the Party made sensible of its Misery and that his Enemy is even with him And therefore God upholds their Being but destroys their Souls in regard of well being Now that is never till it be stript of every Comfort and every corner of the Soul be filled with Misery For if any corner be empty it is not destroyed it will not die Now this third or last thing doth of it self afford at least a Demonstration ab effectis from the event and effects of this Punishment That therefore it is God's immediate hand that inflicts this Punishment Which Demonstration is to be added unto the former Reason which was drawn from the Causes