it and providing for it is his natural work which his natural affection moves him to But his threatning or correcting of it is in respect of the other his strange work which he doth not as a Parent but as an offended Parent Thus punishing is God's strange work such as he doth not as he is God but as he is an offended God and yet this work of his may continue for ever as we have an Example in the fallen Angels And I think his everlasting punishment is more plainly as well as more frequently discovered against wicked Men than it is against wicked Spirits in the holy Scripture Lastly The Death of Christ is so far from disproving our Doctrine that it doth most strongly confirm it For if God did punish his Son with an accursed Death when he bare the sins of his People in this World what wonder is it if he punish the impenitent with an everlasting curse or punishment in the World to come Nor did Christ dye to make an atonement for the sins of any such as might easily be proved if it were necessary Proof 16 R. Such Punishment agrees not to the mercifulness of the Creator to his Creature p. 185. to impose such a Punishment on any of them And then he adds some places that say he is rich in mercy and the like B. Surely this would be very good news for the Devils to hear of if it were true But we have our Lord's words to assure us of their everlasting punishment Matth. 25. and elsewhere which shew my Author was mistaken in thinking that it cannot stand with his goodness as he is their Creator Yet we say not that he will punish any thus as they are Creatures but as they are offending and rebellious Creatures And as for his Mercy we have spoken of it before and though it be great yea infinite yet it hath its proper object and will not be acted in opposition to his truth which tells us of everlasting punishment for the wicked as well as of Eternal life for the Righteous Proof 17 R. Sin cannot overcome his love where Sin abounded p. 186. Grace abounds much more Rom. 5.20 This declares the mercy of God to be greater than sin if so the grace of God is to all even to the worst of men for sin abounds in them most And where sin abounds grace saith the Apostle abounds much more If so then all their sins shall be forgiven And if any were to suffer eternally how doth grace abound to them much more where sin hath abounded Answer this if you can B. This is a precious Proof indeed and such as he hath shewed his chiefest strength in and therefore he is pleased to triumph over the poor ignorant Men that Preach up the Doctrine of Everlasting Punishment c. as though he had a certain and an everlasting victory over them as to this particular Thus and thus the case stands and Answer this if you can As brave a Challenge as any Gentleman of his Quality ever need to make to such as we But did he not argue against his own conscience as well as against us and our Doctrine or could he really believe that this Proof was unanswerable if so we shall have cause to consider the words of Solomon The Fool rageth and is confident Behold Sir the work is undertaken your command with me is as good as a Law and I will Answer you if I can And first I will deal with your first Assertion that sin cannot overcome his love which is such a speech as I have seldome met with in any Book but yours If it be meant of God's faithful Servants of humble and penitent sinners I grant that his love will overcome in due time all their sins and be magnified towards them by pardon here and glory hereafter Rom. 8.35 for What shall separate them from the love of Christ Rom. 8. But if he speak of the proud contemners of his Word and ways and the deceitful workers of iniquity that continue such then though we care not to say that their sin doth overcome his love yet we confidently affirm that it will so provoke his wrath as to cause him to punish them for ever in the life to come See Col. 3.6 John 3.36 Matth. 25.46 Psal 92.7 and many other places His second Assertion That God's mercy is greater than sin hath been spoken to already and I need now to say but this about it That it is greater than the sin of Devils and yet Devils shall suffer for ever for their sins and so we may say God's healing power is stronger and greater than Diseases and yet Men dye by them for all that His third Assertion That the grace of God is to all even to the worst of Men if it be meant of his saving grace or such mercy as accompanies salvation is a gross untruth for the Gospel tells us that he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16. v. 16. And his other That all the sins of all Men shall be forgiven is as loud an Error and let him prove it a truth if he can Thus much for his Vanity His Subtilty follows Where sin abounds grace much more abounds Rom. 5.20 therefore the grace of God abounds to all sinners yea to the worst for sin abounds most in them And if they suffer eternally How doth grace or mercy abound to them Yea doubtless this is the Beast that carries the Bell but let us pursue it a little His gross abuse of Rom. 5.20 and we shall perceive that 't is not a pretty Creature but a horrible deformed Monster For I dare challenge Mr. R. and all his Brethren yea all Mankind to shew me any one Text of Scripture that ever was more abominably abused more wretchedly wrested whether by Papists Socinians Atheists or any sort of Men than this Text of St. Paul is in this case by Him For when the Apostle saith where sin did abound grace did abound much more he doth not mean that God will shew himself most gracious to them that have committed the most or greatest sins for then Pharaoh Judas and Jezabel should be more blessed than Moses Joseph and the Virgin Mary And our Damners and Sinkers be more happy than the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs For sin hath most abounded in them if we take Mr. R. his sense of the word But the abounding there mentioned is the abounding of it in the sense and feeling of the sinner that God's gracious goodness hath appeared most wonderful in the eyes of those Penitent sinners to whom sin hath appeared most vile and hateful That the abounding of sin in that place is of this nature the words just before will make evident for we read thus therein the Law entred that the offence might abound Surely it was not given to make men abound the more in sin or to make them more sinful than otherwise they would be but to make men more
Hinnom aforesaid This he enlargeth upon to little purpose for several pages together but that is the substance of his discourse so far as it opposeth my Doctrine and where he doth not oppose the Truth I can let him alone very contentedly nor need I be large upon this point we have enough for the upholding the Doctrine asserted whether this Text will serve to that end or not and that it need not be judged altogether impertinent to our purpose notwithstanding that which he hath said may be gathered in part from that which was said but now upon the word Gehenna upon which he had plaid the same Critick Mr. Calvin and Vatablus who could see as far as an ordinary man into a Text of Scripture whether they may compare with Mr. Richardson or not They I say count it no absurdity to interpret it of Hell for that place of Torture is as fit by a common figure to denote the place of Torment for the ungodly Vid. Synops Crit. in Esay 30 as Paradise the place of Pleasure was to signifie the place appointed for the Saints happy Mansions Of the Worm that never dyeth As Logicians say of an Absurdity that one being granted a thousand will follow it So Mr. R. being so vain as to discourse as he hath done upon other particulars was not afraid to shew himself so absurd as to give a suitable gloss upon these words of our Saviour where their Worm never dieth telling us that this is in this present life he means only in this life if he mean any thing to his purpose And to make it good he citeth Mark 9.44 Mark 9.43 44. p. 32. misprinted Mark 6. and Revelations 14.10 11. wherein he hath shewed himself very impartial for he hath not spared himself and his Cause There being hardly any Scriptures more apparently destructive of it than those the latter I have mentioned before the former I shall now insist on The words are these Mark 9.44 opened p. 32. to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where viz. in which Hell their Worm speaking of the wicked never dyeth this is only in this life saith Mr. R. strange certainly for our Lord tells us 't is in Hell And I hope Mr. R. himself will not be so bold as to interpret Hell in this Text of the Grave For there is no Worm in the Grave but such as dyeth in a little time And this is so remarkable that it is set down three times within six Verses and therefore seems to note something more than a Punishment in this life only If he take it to be meant properly of a real and natural Worm 't is a sign he hath a Worm in his own Pate if he take it figuratively of the Worm of Conscience or the furious Reflections thereof upon its own wilful wickedness and its fierce Accusations c. as 't is commonly understood then he may not deny it to be after this present life is ended Those Accusations and Terrors of Conscience that Judas found in himself a little before he hang'd himself were doubtless continued in his Soul after its separation from the body and my Author cannot handsomly deny it unless he have entertained the sottish Dream of the Socinians That the Soul is asleep after the death of the Body And thus I have spoken to all that is in any tolerable sense considerable in the former part of his Book to the 32 page of it In that page he deals with another Text of Scripture but seeing it is such as I would not urge to prove Everlasting Punishments by and seeing his Discourse upon it is in a great part wild and extravagant I shall not trouble my self or my Reader with it but rather proceed to the 36 page where he hath something fit to be examined as of the Burning the Tares in Matth. 13. of the word Cursed c. which will be the Subject in part of the next Paragraph CHAP. II. SECT III. Mr. R's Inventions upon the Parable of the Tares Of the Tares in Matth. 13. of the word Cursed of Eternal Damnation of the word Fire and of the Corporeity of Hell-fire Mr. R. The Burning of the Tares p. 36. Matth. 13. i. e. at the end of the World v. 39. The Tares are the wicked the Harvest is the end of the World by which it appears that the Wicked with the Earth shall be consumed by fire v. 40.42 2 Pet. 3.7 BUT what will not those men venture to say that are resolved to maintain a bad Cause by the strength of their own ungodly wits The Wicked shall be consumed with the Earth it self and by this it appears saith he No such matter say I this is false in it self and therefore cannot appear to be true by that Text in St. Matth. That it is false in it self I need name no more than that formerly insisted on in 1 Cor. 15. the dead shall be raised incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 Those of the Wicked that are now dead shall be raised to life again at Judgment yea to a state of Incorruption and Immortality Of Burning the Tares and that these places do not speak the contrary is evident to those that duly consider them The former runs thus v. 40. c. As the Tares are gathered and burned in the Fire so shall it be with the wicked in the end of this world The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom them that do Iniquity and v. 42. shall cast them into a Furnace of fire c. For my part I cannot conceive how he should make an Argument for it from hence unless it be from the comparison between them as thus The Tares are burned so as to remain no longer Tares But so shall it be at the end of the world in respect of the wicked And if he would reason so there is little reason we should much regard it They shall be burned as the Tares viz. as they shall in some respects i. e. certainly irresistibly as worthless things and the like But it follows not that they shall burn in the same manner in every thing as the Tares burn or that the fire shall have the same effects upon them which it hath upon the Tares 't is manifest it shall pain them and Torment them make them weep and gnash their teeth for vexation but surely it shall not make the Tares do so Esay 42. The Lord is as a man of War saith the Prophet shall I therefore apply Mr. R's Logick to that saying and infer in spight of Religion and good sense that the Lord is not in many places at once because a man of War is not or that the Lord is mortal because a man of War is so God forbid It is enough that he is like a man of War in other things or terrible as a man of War and as it were ready armed against his
And that so great sinners are worthy of more punishment than corporal death I believe was scarce ever doubted of by any but Mr. R. that ever were acquainted with Scripture and the sound writings that explain it yea I doubt not but the proudest Jesuit in the world would easily grant it and if it be needful to be proved these considerations may be sufficient for it Sin deserves worse punishment than corporal Death 1. That this is no more than the Beasts and Birds endure who never sinned they dye and dye totally whereas men though never so wicked dye only in their bodies as all but Atheists will acknowledge And can we think an obstinate rebellious sinner deserves no worse than that which the most harmless useful creatures do suffer 2. That the best of the Saints suffer death as well as the worst yea some of them have suffered much worse viz. by conflicting many years with horrid Temptations to despair and the like as Mr. Glover a most excellent Christian in the Book of Martyrs is said to have been in despair five years together And shall we think the wicked are worthy of no worse evil than the best of God's children have undergone God forbid p. 102. In the former part of his Book He tells us of some Books that were burnt in London by the Hangman and saith thereupon the same Spirit is alive to burn this which he hath written And I think it doth as well deserve that honour as ever any book in the world did as may appear not only by what hath been seen of it hitherto but also and especially by that which follows to the end of it and particularly by this act of his in this Page I am upon viz. by urging Rom. 6.21 to prove that there is not any thing to come after Death to speak in his own plain words p. 141. lin 16. Surely it is more than bad enough to doubt whether there be any thing to come after Death or not much worse to hold absolutely that there is not for that contradicts the Scriptures which tell us that after Death there is a Judgment and a Vengeance to be inflicted on them that obey not the Gospel of Christ 2 Thess 1.9 Hebrews 9.27 Heb. 9.27 and in a word everlasting shame and contempt to the wicked he means Dan. 12.2 c. But for a Man to act Mr. R.'s part and to urge Holy Scripture in defence of such a Heathenish Opinion who can imagine how horrible a thing it is in the eyes of God I doubt not but he would suffer worse than corporal Death for it if God should deal with him after his deserts what ever slight thoughts he hath of it And how far these words The end of these things is Death I say how far these words are from proving that there is no Punishment for any after Death is so plain that there 's little need of any thing to be said about it for Death here signifies as before Eternal damnation As when it is said if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that is be Damned Rom. 8.13 for however they live they are as much subject to temporal Death as 't is clear Proof 3d. R. Their Opinion of a Punishment never to end makes not sin p. 146. but Christ to be the cause of their so suffering for if Christ had not come there had been no Resurrection and if no Resurrection there could be no Punishment after Death But Christ may not be supposed to be the cause of their Punishment c. B. If this be a Proof it is a very ugly one certainly and will not be much valued by them that know what Christ or Sin or Punishment is However I shall not think much to say something to it I confess Christ is said to be the cause of the Resurrection of the Dead He is the efficient cause of the Resurrection of the wicked as he is God of the same substance with his Father and he is the Meritorious cause of the Resurrection of the Saints as their Head and Mediator I mean as their Resurrection is a glorious Resurrection in Philip. 3.11 If by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead * Intelligit non simplicem sed gloriosam Zanch. in loc Now observe his Argument Without the Resurrection the wicked could not be punished after Death Christ is the cause of their Resurrection if they be raised therefore if they suffer for ever Christ is the cause of it which is absurd This is manifestly his Proof in this matter and how absurd it is may be shewed in a Parallel case as thus Without life and strength Men could not rob on the High-way but it is God that gives them life and strength and without him they could not have them therefore God is the cause of their Robbing Would not a Christian abhor such a Reasoning as this yea would not the Devil himself be almost ashamed of it and yet if I am not most exceedingly mistaken it is as good a Reasoning as that of his yea the very same in kind If he had not forgotten all his Logick he might have remembred that Causa sine quâ non is not a cause strictly and properly so called but only a pre-requisite condition c. Sine ullo causali Influxu as the Learned Scheibler expresseth it * Topic. de causis cap. 2. Artic. 4. If my Author had not had Ink and Paper or something that might serve in stead of them he could not have written these his many Infallible Proofs yet if we speak properly it was not his Ink or his Paper or any such thing that was the cause of his writing them but his Error and his desire of defending it c. And seeing his great weakness in this particular it will not be much amiss to bring in to his Assistance the Learning of his Learned Brother Mr. Tho. Hobbs of Malmesbury who though in some things he speaks more honestly than my Author hath done yet is no approver of the Doctrine I contend for For in his Leviathan Chapter 44. p. 346. as the Reverend Dr. Tully citeth him in his Exposit Symboli he supposeth the Everlasting Punishment spoken of in the Gospel A Digression to Mr. Hobbs to be meant not of every Damned Man in particular but only to be specifical and to respect divers of them successively so as that one should be punished a time and then be turned into nothing then another to come in his place and so soon as he is annihilated another after him and another again after him and so on Which doubtless was the fruit of his own Invention for I verily believe it never came into the Head of any Man before him But I answer Answ 1 1. By his leave there can be no Everlasting Punishment upon them at this rate unless they who are first annihilated are made alive again after their annihilation for if they
the exercise of Mercy and works of Love in particular more than Sacrifices at the hands of his people for the particle there used is not an absolute Negative but a Comparative only as in the Text before Ezek. 18.23 Vid. Rivet in Hos 6.6 where the Particle not doth not deny his pleasure to punish but compares his will of punishing with his will of returning and of their Salvation in case they turn in Truth and prefers the latter before the former Now if we do but state the matter thus and infer the conclusion according to the sense of the Text it will need little or nothing more to be said for its confutation for who sees not the vanity of this Argument God regards the exercise of Charity and Works of mercy more than Sacrifices therefore none shall be punished for ever c. If he will take leave to infer thus I will give him leave to make the same conclusion from the History of Job's Cattel or the fiery Tails of Sampsons Foxes He concludes this Proof with a very great truth That God abhors cruelty but 't is such a Truth as little concerns either his design it self or the things that he had said immediately before but is brought in by the head and shoulders and is forced to stand in this improper place by the meer violence of his Resolute Pen. If he would make it serve his turn he must of necessity make it appear that God cannot punish an impenitent sinner everlastingly without being cruel which I am confident he cannot do and do verily hope he will not undertake to do And if he think so I might easily subdue his error if it be not maintained by an invincible perverseness and that by telling him wherein the cruelty of a punishment consisteth to wit not in the duration of it or degree of it but in the nature and merit of it As first when the person punished is not fit to bear the punishment as if a man should punish the perverseness of a child with a Rack instead of a Rod or as if he should disown and disinherit him for some smaller acts of disobedience to him This were cruelty because the punishment in the one is of such a nature as is unfit for the child to bear and in the other because 't is such as is not due for such an offence nor deserved by it as it respects man And therefore our honest Professors that revile and reproach us behind our backs for preaching God's word and taking their Tythes and make lyes of us for telling them the sad Truths that concern them are like enough to be indicted for cruelty when the Judge of the world shall come for though these things through his good Providence do not hurt us much yet they are things that are not deserved upon the former accounts and therefore are no better than cruelties in the eyes of him whose we are and whom we serve And on the other side though a punishment be never so great and grievous yet if it be such as the person punished doth deserve for his offence it is not cruelty but justice That wretched Villain Ravilliack that murthered that Renouned King of France in his Coach King Henry the IVth if I mistake not was afterwards taken and Tormented to death in a fearful manner yet I believe there were few honest men that ever accused his Judge of cruelty for condemning him to such a death because they knew he had well deserved it by the horrid crime he had committed And now having taken so much pains to make good his bad cause in the nineteen Proofs that we have seen there is no doubt but he will make the best use he can of his strength and skill in his 20th and last Proof as the Candle gives a great light a little before it goes out And behold what it is Proof 20 R. 'T is not for the glory of God to impose such a Punishment upon any man p. 189. for glory lieth not in imposing great and terrible Punishment but in mercy and forgiveness Exod. 34.6 7. But by his leave I judge otherwise and do not doubt but it is for his glory to impose great Punishment upon the wicked namely for the glory of his Justice which he doth not so much as pretend to disprove unless it be by telling us that glory consisteth in mercy and forgiveness for which he alledgeth Exod. 34.6 7. And how vain all this wisdome is a few Lines may discover for certainly God's glory doth not lye only in mercy and forgiveness for he was glorified upon his greatest Enemies even hard-hearted Pharaoh himself Rom. 9.17 yet he was not glorified in a way of mercy upon him but in a way of vengeance and severity and the same may be said of the Devils And in that Text in Exodus as the Lord proclaims himself to be merciful and gracious so one that will by no means clear the guilty or wicked so remaining And the not clearing of them is not an act of mercy my Author himself being Judge Then he adds thus R. Proverbs 10.12 'T is said Love covereth all sins But what of that for it doth not mean that God's love will cover or forgive all Men's sins penitent or impenitent no sure the Prophet tells us of some Esay 27.11 That he that made them will not have mercy upon them 'T is meant therefore of the love of Men one towards another Love so far as it prevails will cause a Man to cover to wit to overlook and pass by the sins of his Brethren against him vid. Synopsin crit in Pro. 10.12 so far as with a good conscience he may But he proceeds R. God doth all things for his glory p. 190. and it is more for his glory to save all men than to save a few In what sense we hold that few shall be saved hath already been shewed To wit comparatively with them that dye in their sins and perish for otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Rev. 7.9 the number of them that are saved is a great number Now if Mr. R. supposeth that 't is more for God's glory to save all Men than to save some only he may enjoy his Opinion but ought not to impose it upon us as an undoubted truth without a sufficient proof which he hath not been pleas'd to give us The Apostle speaks all in a Verse of them that are saved 1 Cor. 1.18 and of them that perish Surely then God doth not save all for we read of some that perish but he doth what is most for his glory saith Mr. R. himself Therefore it is not most for his glory to save all or to save the Impenitent And if it were most for his glory to save all Men why would it not be most for his glory to save all the Angels too for is not their nature as noble and their salvation as precious as Man's And yet
shall have Spiritual instead of the weak comforts of the creatures they shall have the strong consolations of God instead of Temporal habitations on Earth they shall have eternal Mansions in their Fathers house Joh. 14.2 instead of Food and Physick Rev. 21.4 they shall have perfect and perpetual health and ease and the joy of their Lord shall be their strength instead of Psalms and Thanksgivings in the Churches they shall have the Hallelujahs of Heaven the High Praises of their God and the full fruition of their Fathers love But the wicked in Hell shall have none of these things their cursed state will exclude all Blessednesses as 't is evident and needs not now be proved by me 4. Peace 4. They shall lose all their peace which before they had for though there be no peace to the wicked as the Prophet saith that is no true sound well-grounded peace that may deserve to be called peace yet a kind of peace they have in their sins yea some kind of peace from their sins as from their ignorance and hardness of Heart but in hell their peace will leave them and they will have as little quietness as before they had Religion and Conscientiousness If Doctrine and Application can disturb them in some measure Damnation and Torment will do it much more 5. Hopes 5. They will then lose their hopes also wicked men as I said before are unreasonable men and therefore will hope for that which God hath not promised them the Word doth not promise Heaven unto them otherwise than in case of true Repentance and Conversion but they will hope to come thither though they are yet in love with those sins that they should repent of I believe there are few of them but have a strange hope to be happy at last though destruction and misery are in their ways And therefore they will not be at the pains of being seriously Religious because they hope to do well enough without so much ado But those of them that dye such as they have lived and so come to Hell will fail of what they hoped for and lose all the hopes of it The hope of unjust men perisheth Prov. 11. Prov. 11.7 Job 27.9 And Job in like manner What is the hope of the Hypocrite when God taketh away his Soul And if his hope shall perish when God takes his Soul from his Body how far must he be from all hope when he casteth him Body and Soul into Hell The hope of the Righteous shall be gladness but the hope of the wicked shall be shame and confusion A Continuation of the Positive part of the Damneds misery HAving spoken of the Privative part of the Damneds misery Positive Misery or the losses they shall sustain I shall now Treat with God's Assistance of the Positive misery that they shall suffer And first Bodily Pain they shall suffer extream pain in their Bodies The extremity of it is plainly intimated in this that they shall go into everlasting fire Matth. 25.41 Fire we know is the most Tormenting creature the pains that are caused by it are most sharp of any and therefore the Papists have so much delight to torture the Hereticks as they call them by Burning and to oppose their obstinacy with Faggot-Arguments And doubtless if they had not had a good God and a good Cause on their side they could not possibly have withstood them A small fire can fill a man with pains intolerable though no more but one finger be scorched with it A man would not be content to live one year in a burning Brick Kiln if he might gain the wealth of a hundred Kingdoms and be sure to enjoy it a hundred years And we may easily assure our selves that Hell fire will be more grievous than any other for these following Reasons 1. Because it is such as is prepared on purpose for punishment Hell-fire worse than any other and the product of God's fiercest wrath and therefore must needs be of a more tormenting nature than our ordinary fire which is the effect of his gracious Providence and was made for the help and comfort of mankind 2. Because the Saints themselves may be afflicted with other fire and the greatest of them have been so but Hell fire is proper and peculiar to the wicked and sure that evil must needs be worser which is proper to the enemies of God than that which his Servants may be afflicted with To which I may add this also that it is such a fire as the evil Angels shall suffer in Matth. 25.41 prepared for the Devil and his Angels If any shall say perhaps Hell-fire is not a real corporeal Fire but somewhat else figuratively expressed by the name of fire I answer 'T is lawful to suppose that it is real fire and the absurdities that my Author would fasten upon that Opinion are nothing but the irregularities of his own imaginations as you may see in that Chapter where I have examined them And if the word Fire were figurative it would be no matter of relief to the Damned's miseries but rather an aggravation of them For those things that are figuratively expressed in Scripture do commonly exceed those things by which they are expressed As God who is called a Father for his love to his People is more loving than any earthly Father and Heaven which is called Paradise is more glorious and blessed than ever Paradise was Names of Hell And as Hell is called Fire absolutely in that Text so it is called elsewhere a Furnace of Fire a terrible word indeed and which is more terrible a Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone O how dreadful must that place and state be supposed to be which is set forth unto us by such dreadful names in holy Scripture See Matth. 13.41 42. Revel 21.8 So to name no more it is called a Prison As Heaven is set out by things delightful so Hell is set out by that which is distastful and loathsome amongst which a Prison is one and Hell is called so in 1 Peter 3.19 And it is the worst of Prisons if we consider the properties of it A Prison 1. It is a dark Prison Darkness is naturally an uncomfortable thing They that fear nothing in the light yet are apt to be afraid of every thing when they are alone in the dark Paul and his Companions had but an unpleasant sailing when neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars appeared to them for several Days together And the Egyptians were little less than astonished at that Plague of thick Darkness that was upon them for three Days time Exod. 10. they were in such an amazement at it that they rose not from their places all that time And if God should take away the Sun or command it to with hold its Beams and Light we should take little pleasure in living upon the Earth But the Darkness of Hell is worse than all this Jude
a great adversary that delights in nothing more than in his hopes of seeing thee in the same Hell with himself do not joyn with him in working out thy own destruction He will surely do it if he can nor hath he any more compendious way and Method to undo thy Soul than to keep thee from considering thy State seriously and the dreadful danger thou art in while thou givest thy self up to the service of Sin and dost not chuse the fear of the Lord But to come directly to the point in hand Thou darest not spend any serious thoughts upon such matters lest it should distract thee It seems then thou takest thy self to be well in thy wits as yet and if thou art so indeed I may hope thou wilt not think it unreasonable to make use of thy Reason for the good of thy Soul I mean by answering for this particular these following Queries 1. Whether there can be any more dreadful or damnable distraction than for a man to follow his sins and not consider his danger to rebel against the King of Heaven wilfully and deliberately and not to take time to consider what he is doing and which way he is tending I think there can be no greater madness than this unless a greater degree of the same kind and I hope Reader thou art of the same opinion 't is sad to see a man that is thus mad for his Soul to neglect it still and plead that he doth so for fear of being mad O what monstrous madness is this 2. Whether thou wouldst Reason at this rate in other matters of far smaller moment Suppose thou hadst passed through some infected houses where the most were dead of the Disease and one say unto thee Alas man O how fearful is thy case consider the danger and seek out for help for those houses had the Plague and 't is ten to one but thou art infected c. wouldst thou reply I dare not consider of it lest the thoughts of my danger and death should dull my Spirits and make me Melancholy And why should not men Reason so in such cases but that they less mind their Souls concerns than their Bodies 3. Whether thy Reason was not given thee to consider of the state of thy Soul in order to its eternal welfare and whether God doth not require thee to consider thy ways what they are and what they tend to Hag. 1.5 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your ways and Esay 1.3 he complains that his people did not consider And can you think that 't is the way to be mad to consider of them or that God will take away the use of your reason because you use it according to his will and command A Caution Yet think not of thy danger despairingly nor draw any sadder conclusions from the consideration of thy present state than the Scripture alloweth of Say not I must needs be damned because I am not yet in a state of Salvation or that thou must certainly go to Hell because thou hast been hitherto in the way to it c. 'T is not despairing of Salvation but returning from thy sins that is the work thou hast to mind and if thou returnest in Truth as sure as there is a Hell so surely thou shalt escape it through the Mercies of the Living God Read for thy comfort Esay 55.7 Dir. 2 Be sure to shun all gross and scandalous sins and all such company how merry soever that may be likely to draw thee to them or to harden thee in them 'T is as vain to promise your self Heaven while you walk in any way of gross wickedness as to promise your selves life and health when you resolve to take the rankest poyson I have told you in times past saith the Apostle and now tell you also that they that do such things not only those there mentioned but such like shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And especially Take heed of such courses as are injurious to men vengeance from God is most plainly intimated to be the Reward of such doings 1 Thess 4.6 That no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter for the Lord is the Avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified Yea this course hath brought men to a hell here on earth Spira a famous Gentleman of Cittadella a Civil-Lawyer who was almost a Miracle of Spiritual misery and breathed out Woes and Terrors to himself continually discovered the sad thoughts that he had of his former practises in that kind confessing his sin with a most sorrowful heart His words are these Spira 's life p. 3. lin 1. translated I was exceedingly covetous of money and accordingly I applied my self to the getting of it corrupting justice by deceit and inventing ways to delude it Good causes I either defended deceitfully or sold them to the Adversary perfidiously Bad causes I maintained with all my might opposing often the known truth c. He saw That money was too hardly earned which was gotten with the loss of Justice and Truth Noverint universi caveant universè Dir. 3 Take heed of your Company Make not the known enemies of Religion and holiness your ordinary familiar Companions But mistake me not I am not perswading you to forsake your necessary Relations but your unnecessary wicked Companions and there is no hope of your Salvation till you are heartily willing to forsake them a companion of fools or wicked men that are notoriously such shall be destroyed Prov. 13.20 These are likely to frustrate as far as is possible the means of grace and Salvation to thy Soul keeping thee from Hearing or Reading or other duties when thou shouldst be about them and hardening thy heart against God's fear O how many that seemed very hopeful for Heaven a long time have yet at last been taken and overcome by this snare of the Devil and went to hell for company shun them carefully as you love your souls forsake the foolish live Pr. 9.6 better leave them than perish with them Dir. 4 If you would escape hell content not your selves with a false and ungrounded hope of escaping do not conclude your safety from false and insufficient grounds He that lyeth in an infected bed and hopeth that he is in no danger of the Disease because his Smell and Taste is good or on any the like insufficient ground and reason is not only never a whit the safer for his hope but is really so much the more in danger because he contents himself with his dangerous condition and concludes his safety from that which will not warrant any such conclusion Just so in the present case He that is in the way towards hell and yet hath a strong hope upon unsound grounds that he is not in danger of it is not the safer because he hopes but the more in danger because he hopes upon unsound grounds here therefore I shall name some sandy foundations upon which
the Pharisees made light of him and derided him in Luke 16.14 Thus of the 4th Direction Direct The 5th If you would escape Hell make sure of a true and sound conversion and wait upon God in the use of all holy means for it But above all things take heed you mistake not in so great a concern nor think your selvs converted when it is not so Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven And surely if a Man cannot come to Heaven without it he cannot escape Hell without it neither Now you must not think your selvs converted while you are predominantly in love with any wicked course whatsoever or in plainer English while you count sin your liberty and priviledge and had rather follow any way of wickedness than a way of real and universal religiousness if it were not for fear of the shame of the World or the damnation of Hell Many I doubt not are religious sober civil just c. out of constraint not willingly and forbear gross sin more out of dread of punishment than out of any love to God or obedient regard to his Will and Law serving God as the poor Indians did the Devil viz. for fear lest otherwise he should do them a mischief And what do you think is such service worth assuredly very little or rather nothing in the sight of God who seeth the principles of Mens works and services and looks more upon the Bent of the mind and will than the matter of the work Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 A blockish slavish unwilling service when the work is done which he had rather should not be done is fit only for a sensless Deity or a dumb Idol not for the high and holy one Believe it you are not truly and savingly converted till God and holiness have the main disposition of your hearts and wills till you had rather have God in Christ for your everlasting portion to enjoy than Honor and Wealth and all this World 's good till then you are but Worldlings till you had rather walk in a way of holiness than follow the most gainful Trade of sin As a false defrauding servant is never turned to be a true and faithful servant till he had rather be true and faithful to his Master than to cheat and defraud him Pray therefore for your selves as the Apostle for the Thessalonians that God would direct your hearts to his love or as our Church that he would encline your hearts to keep his Law Dir. 6 Acquaint thy self with Christ search the Scriptures and see how sufficient a Saviour he is how able and willing to receive and relieve returning sinners Did he reject any that were but truly willing to accept of him Did he not come into the World to save such and complain that the People would not come unto him that they might have life Them that come unto him with true faith and repentance he will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 O sinner if thou wilt heartily forsake the Devils drudgery he will save thee from Hell and all its damnation If thou turnest from every evil way and givest thy self up to him relying wholly upon his merit and righteousness he will give thee acceptance in the sight of his Father and deliver thee from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. ult So much for the use of Direction I come now to one or two Uses more and so shall put a period to my Discourse In the next place then It may serve for our Instruction and may teach us not to envy at the prosperity of wicked Men nor to judge Gods ways to be unequal because of their impunity joyned with final impenitency in this present World No cause to judge so when we consider that he hath a Hell to punish them in for there the sinner shall have enough of sin and such wages as is suitable to his works of iniquity There the proud sinner shall be low enough the jovial sinner shall be sad enough the sottish sinner be thirsty enough the Revengeful sinner have vengeance enough the Damner and Sinker be damned enough and sink deep enough into the lake of fire There they that tyrannized over pious Christians shall be insulted over by the Devil and be buffeted by the unclean Spirits they that willingly forget their God and Souls shall remember their sins whether they will or not they that made light of Christ and Sermons shall be loaded to the full with wrath and curses and in a word they that grinn'd at godliness shall gnash their teeth at their impieties God to whom vengeance belongeth will avenge himself upon them and punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence 2 Thess 1.8 9. Lastly Let me hence add a word to the godly in general let them be exhorted to grow more and more 1. In Grace and holy obedience for what love what service what obedience can ever be suitable to that goodness of God which saves them through Christ from the everlasting punishment their sins deserve We may well exhort them to all holy duties by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 They can never do too much for his Glory that hath done so much for their Salvation for he will give them eternal Life and they shall never perish Joh. 10. 2. In comfort and spiritual joy Rejoyce in the Lord always saith the Apostle to such Phil. 4.1 Christ is their all-sufficient Saviour and they shall surely be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 why should any worldly Troubles trouble them overmuch since they shall have none in the world to come Death can do no more than rot them and hell no more than fright them Rejoyce therefore O faithful Christian and give thanks at the remembrance of the goodness of thy God the joy of the Lord is thy strength O let it be thy work too Yea most certainly it shall be so at the coming of Christ to judgment He will then receive thee to himself Joh. 14.3 His love shall then be stronger than death and conquer the last enemy for thee Thou shalt be filled with Joy and Glory when the wicked shall have their fill of shame and sorrow and shalt be accepted graciously with him when all the enemies of his Holiness shall be banished from his Presence and be buried alive in everlasting fire And now bless the Lord O my Soul for all his gracious Providences and in special for all his gracious Assistances in this small Work Say not This Work thy Hand to End hath brought Or This thy Labour hath attain'd unto Say rather thus This God by me hath wrought He 's Author of that little Good I do To Him be Glory for ever and ever FINIS