TWO DISCOURSES I. Of the Punishment of Sin in Hell Demonstrating the Wrath of God to be the immediate Cause thereof II. Proving a State of Glory for Just Men upon their Dissolution BY THO. GOODWIN D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard M. DC XCIII To the Reader THo we judg it needless to speak much of this eminent Author whose Praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches yet we could not but give some account of the publishing of these small Tracts at this time Many who well knew how mighty this Man of God was in the Scriptures and how skilful from his great Abilities and long Experience in the interpreting of them have impatiently desired the publishing of his Labours but that being a Work of time it was thought fit to gratify them in the interim with this short Treatise And tho his excellency lay chiefly in wading into the great Deeps of the Gospel yet among many other Discourses this of Hell was made choice of wherein we think you have the true scriptural Notion of it We judged that such a rousing Argument might not be unseasonable in so secure and Atheistical an Age as this and that the Profound Mysteries of the Gospel excellently discovered in his Lectures upon the Ephesians might be the more welcom to those who have known the Terrors of the Lord or have their Senses exercised to discern spiritual things Upon the request of some we have also added a Discourse of the State of Glory for the Saints immediately after this Life being very suitable to Times of Suffering since it was the constant Method of the Apostles to keep up in the Eyes of the Primitive Saints the Glory of another World as what was proper to support them under the Sufferings of this And 't was one main design of the Transfiguration of Christ in the presence of Peter James and John who were to be great Sufferers in the Times of the New Testament as Moses and Elias had been under the Old intimating what the Saints in after Ages might expect in a Conformity to Christ after all their Sufferings We therefore judg both Treatises fitly joined together Punishments and Rewards being great Motives which God proposeth to Obedience and Perseverance in Holiness and are both necessary at this time to be urged the one to awaken hardened and secure Persons the other to encourage Christians to go on in a holy Course through all the difficulties of this degenerate Age. That both Discourses may be bless'd of God to the ends for which they were designed shall be the Prayer of Thankfull Owen James Barron The Contents HEb 10. 30 31. 2 Thes 1. 8 9. Rom. 22. explained at large from page 1 to 5. § I. Chap. 1. The Subject of the Discourse set out and reduced to 2 Heads 1. That God's Wrath is the immediate Cause of the Punishment of Sin in Hell 2. The dreadfulness of that Punishment inferred and argued therefrom from p. 5. to p. 8. Chap. 2. The first Sort of Proofs from divers Scriptures from p. 8. to p. 21. Chap. 3. Rom. 9. 23. explicated only so far as concerns the Execution Several particulars in the words that shew the power of God's Wrath to be the immediate inflicting Cause and immediately inflicting the Punishment An Explication of Rom. 2. 8 9. added for confirmation of all p. 21 to 35. Chap. 4. That this immediate Wrath of God is set forth in Scripture unto us under the similitude of Fire and fiery Indignation The Examples of persons devoured by Fire in the old Testament shadows of this Punishment by the immediate Wrath of God This the fire wherein the Devil and his Angels be tormented p. 36 to 55. Chap. 5. A second sort of proofs Demonstrations from Instances both of wicked 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 p. 55. to 78. Chap. 6. Containing the Reasons 1. God's Justice 2. Avenging Wrath otherwise not satisfied A Demonstration added p. 78 to 111. Chap. 7. A fourth sort of additional Confirmations drawn from the Harmonies that are between it and other divine Truths p. 111 to 115. § II. The dreadfulness of the Punishment in Hell argued from all and each of the particulars treated of in the former section page 115 to 117. § 1. The first head of Demonstrations from this in general that it is a falling into the hands of God immediately p. 117 to 132. § 2. The 2d head of Demonstrations from the capacity of the Soul the subject of this Punishment and this that it is the destruction of the Soul p. 132 to 140. § 3. The 3d. head of Demonstration drawn from the final causes formerly mentioned As 1. The Glory of God 2. The manifestation of his Power p. 141 to 156. § 4. Demonstrations taken from the satisfying God's Justice which is the 2d particular Attribute p. 156 to 167. § 5. Demonstrations taken from the satisfying of avenging Wrath the 3d. particular Attribute p. 167 to 177. § 6. A fourth head of Demonstrations drawn from those Instances both of good and bad Men their having suffered those kind of Terrors in this life p. 177 to 191. § 7. The last head of Demonstrations that it is a falling into the hands of the living God and what that further superadds to the dreadfulness of the Punishment p. 191 to 197. § III. Some Vses Corollaries Meditations p. 197 to 257. A SERMON intituled An immediate State of Glory for the Spirits of Just Men upon dissolution demonstrated from 2 Cor. 5. 5. pag. 259. ad finem A DISCOURSE OF THE Punishment of Sin in HELL DEMONSTRATING That the Wrath of God is the immediate Cause of that PUNISHMENT HEB. 10. 30 31. For we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord. And again The Lord shall judg his People It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God 2 THESS 1. 8 9. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power ROM 9. 22. What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endureth with much long-suffering the vessels of Wrath fitted to destruction WHat Hell and Destruction are is a Mystery as well as what Heaven is And the true and proper Notion or Conception of either are a Riddle to the most of Men. As Eye hath not seen Ear not heard nor hath it entred into the Heart of Man the Natural Man what God hath prepared for those that love him so nor what God hath prepared for them that hate him For it is the same and no other punishment but that which is prepared
in Jeremy Thy way and thy doings have procured these things to thee and this is thy Wickedness as it follows there in Jer. 4. 18. Yet still these are all of them deficient and fall short in representing unto the Heart and Conscience the demerit of Sin even so far as by the effects it may be known and the Soul yet further is capable to feel But if once the Wrath and Indignation of the Great God come into the Soul and Conscience this when felt doth bear some answerable proportion as an effect unto so great an Evil as Sin is which it hath deserved and when revealed unto and impressed upon the Sinner's Conscience it hath also the fullest dimensions of such an Evil even to the Sinner also as Sin justly deserveth as far as any way the Creature is capable Then it is that the Sinner feels and takes in the evil of Sin not as in secundary outward effects only and such all other Punishments whatsoever are in comparison to the Wrath of God and therefore fall short but in this case it feels immediately the demerit of Sin in that which is the Cause the only Cause the highest Cause of all other secundary Punishments which Sin hath also deserved whereof it also is the cause And this Dispensation of immediate Wrath riseth up unto the exactest demonstration of the evil that is in Sin which any way from Effects can be made or given unto the Creature 4. Of this immediate Wrath as it is an evil of Punishment the Conscience and intellectual part in Man's Soul is not only capable to be made the Vessel the Receptacle thereof but it lies immediatly exposed unto it It is bare and naked unto him with whom we have to do Heb. 4. 13. as in respect to God's knowledg so of God's punishing as I have elsewhere shewn Conscience is as an open Door or In-let or as an open Window is to the Sun so it to God for him to come in at at any time That when ever God will but take upon him to perform and execute the part of a Judg and Avenger a Conscience that is guilty lies exposed nakedly and barely unto his Anger to receive the strokes and impressions of it For I ask What is God's Justice against Sin but his just Anger against Sin as Rom. 3. 5. the Original hath it And what is a guilty Conscience but that in Man that is naturally suscipient or apprehensive of it And these two are suited as Faculty and Object and are as it were made one for the other there needs no third or other thing if God but please to hold forth his Anger and apply the Corrosive to the Sore so this unto the Soul to convey his own displeasure by Conscience hath an ear to hear what God will speak without any Medium to convey the Voice Look as Faith is a Principle peculiarly fitted to take in God's free Grace and Christ's Righteousness such is Conscience when guilty unto God's Wrath immediatly susceptive of it If God will but set a Mans Sins in order afore him and withal say unto Conscience I am angry yea look but angrily and present himself as such then Conscience instantly like the sensible Plant is struck shrinks and falls down For if God be angry but a little as Psal 2. last and rebuke us in his Anger Psal 6. 1. then at the very rebuke of his Countenance we perish Psal 80. And it is most certain that God can reveal his Anger to the Soul immediatly as well as his Favour And what is this Punishment we are speaking of but the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God revealed as afore others so principally to a Man 's own Soul as vers 9. And what is that Judgment but God's Judgment expressed as in sentencing so in shewing his Anger and Wrath against Sin as the whole stream of that Scripture shews It is therefore the Wrath and Face of God and the Lamb when discovered which a guilty Conscience flies from Rev. 6. 16. That as Luther says Animus sibi male conscius potius ad Diabolum ipsum ferretur quam ad Deum accederet It had rather be brought afore the Devil and see his face than see God's Terror of Conscience what is it but all one and God's Wrath in Conscience See it in its contrary Peace which we call Peace of Conscience which passeth Vnderstanding is rather denominated the Peace of God which passeth understanding Phil. 4. 7. than Peace of Conscience although Conscience be the Subject pacified and whose Peace and Quietus est it is And in like manner Terror is stiled the Terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 11. And these things may perhaps afford as true a Light towards the understanding of that Maxim of the Apostle Rom. 2. 8 9. Indignation and Wrath viz. of God Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul as the seat of their Anguish of Man that doth evil as any other And withal shew how it comes to pass that this Tribulation is executed from that Wrath even by the reception of Conscience For of Conscience also the following words vers 15. do there speak and that as in order unto Judgment vers 16. 5. I add as a Corollary from this that Conscience though it be thus naked and open to God and his Wrath yet it is so great a secluse so fast and privy a Cabinet so intimate a Power and Principle in and unto the Soul it self and so entirely reserved unto God himself who is the Lord thereof as it is not immediately subjicible to or to be broke open by Creatures No not those who are superiour Spirits to it either Angels or Devils they are not able to terrify the Conscience until it hath been first made raw and tender by God God only made the Heart and God only knows the Heart and God only can come at and strike at the root of the Heart The Devils or Angels can come but into an outward Room the Fancy and cast in Images thereinto the Fancy being the Souls Looking-glass wherein it vieweth its own thoughts and from which it takes off into it self the Species that are cast in there Also they may stir bodily Passions both which I have elsewhere shewn but they cannot enter into the Closet of the Soul God only is intimior intimo nostro as the Ancients express it God only is greater than our Hearts as the Apostle expresseth it Conscience is a Book so fast clasp'd as it is God's Prerogative alone to open it which he then at that day will do and thereunto that likewise may be applied He openeth and none shuts and he shuts and none opens That Speech holds as true of Conscience as of any other thing And as it is a Book which he alone can open so in which he alone can write over every Man's Sins not with Ink but with Wrath which like Aqua fortis every letter of it shall eat into the Soul According unto that in
speak of Glass that they may endure this Fire All the Terrors of Conscience here are as is said of the Joys of the Saints but the earnest-Pennies Farthing-Tokens in comparison to that great immensely vast Treasure of Wrath to come you have heard the Scriptures speak of All here is but the Shadow of Death and yet if that can wither Mens Souls so what will the blackness of darkness do as the Apostle speaks of this The utmost threatned here is that The Anger of the Lord shall smoke against a Man Deut. 29. It is but Smoke but in Hell it breaks forth into raging Flames * Luke 16. 24. of the fiercest Fires that fill every Corner and break out at all the Windows of the Soul §. VII The last Head of Demonstrations That it is a falling into the Hands of the Living God and what that further super adds to the dreadfulness of this Punishment THe fifth and last Head which represents the dreadfulness of all this unto an infinity is that it is a falling into the Hands of the living God The living God The former exaggerations have been raised from falling into the Hands of the Great Powerful Just and Avenging God but this further of the Living God Which of all other Attributes the Apostle hath singled forth to set out the dreadfulness of it by and is therefore most of all to be heeded by us as having as much weight in it to the thing in Hand as any of the other The Living God notes out not only God's Activity and how the whole of his Life and Being is engaged and active in this Punishment as was noticed But further both that 1. He shall execute this to Eternity and 2. That during that whole space of Eternity he will permanently continue to inflict it His being the Living God notes out 1. Eternity 2. With a continuation of acting all that while And so his being the Living God both threatens and effecteth 1. an eternal and 2. a continual Death in those that are the Subjects thereof And to imply so much it is that he hath that Denomination specially and so eminently given him here when this Punishment is spoken of First consider thy Soul is an immortal Soul as to the duration of it and that this Great God is the Living God And Sin in thee and the Injury of it to God is an eternal Stain which Hell Fire cannot eat out or satisfy God for but in an Eternity of time And therefore whilst God lives and thou livest he will inflict it on thee That 's one meaning Again God's Life as it is in himself a continual Act so in its being attributed to him with respect to this Punishment it imports his continued acting therein without cessation or intermission For he doth it as the Living God Job whilst he endured the Terrors of the Almighty complains they were so uncessant that God suffered him not to take Breath Job 9. 18. he followed his Stroaks so thick with one Breach as he there speaks upon another You have both these set forth in one and the same Scripture Rev. 14. 10 11. He shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God and he shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoak of their Torment ascendeth up for ever and ever And they have no rest Day nor Night First they have no rest Day nor Night That shews they have no intermission And then that the smoak of their Torment ascends up for ever shews the Eternity Yea and further to strike out dull Hearts with the sense of this Eternity if one ever be not enough another is added For ever and ever Which Eternity as you know our Saviour is still careful to indigitate when he speaks of Hell in love and warning unto Mens Souls that they might be moved by the moment thereof to endeavour to escape it Now it being thus this infinitely superadds unto all the former The former Heads have given Demonstration to us wherein the substance of this great Punishment consists And then comes in this as the fatal and final rowling Stone upon the Grave or Sepulchre of Souls And with the Grave Hell is oft parrallel'd Or these two imports thereof are as two Mill-Stones hung about the Necks of those that are plunged into this Lake to sink them down for ever For these two things mentioned do work in the Spirits of those that undergoe it Perfect Fear and perfect Despair The Effects of both which make up a perfection of Misery in such a State 1. Perfect Despair Hope was given to reasonable and intelligent Natures and in peculiar unto them to be as a breathing hole in time of Misery to keep up Life in such an one whereby to sustain it self And the reasonable Soul being in its duration Eternal and having an Eternity of time to run through and sail over hath this Priviledge denied to Beasts to take a prospect or fore-sight of time that is yet to come and if it can spy out any space or spot of time in which it shall have happiness or ease or out-live its Misery it will not utterly die yea it will harden it self against present Misery with this Thought that however it shall not always be thus with me But on the contrary here by reason of this ability of fore-sight it comes to pass that a wretched Soul in Hell viewing and turning over all the Leaves of Time to Eternity both finds that it shall not out-live that Misery nor yet can it find one space or moment of Time of Freedom and Intermission having for ever to do with him who is the Living God And then it dies and dies again and sinks into a Gulph of Despair for the future as well as it is swallowed up with present sense of Wrath. 2. Perfect Fear Which these likewise cause and keep up within that Soul and that continually of all their Misery that is yet to come And the nature of Fear is to out-strip a Man's Misery and to take them up afore they come as Hopes use to do our Comforts So as by reason thereof it comes to pass that the Soul is not only tormented by what it at present feels but with the thought of all that is to come which still further strikes that Soul through and through So as this Thought that it will be with me thus for ever and ever makes it compleatly miserable Yea hereby the Soul doth come all along in every instant to endure and be possessed in Fears and Dreadful Apprehensions of all that Woe that in Eternity is yet to come as well as that at present THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN in HELL God's WRATH the immediate CAUSE SECT III. Some Uses Corollaries Meditations A COROLLARY IF God in his Wrath be the immediate Inflicter of that Punishment for Sin then certainly he is not the Lib. 1. de Praedest ad Monymum
for the Devil and his Angels as Christ says And what it should be that should torment them or be the immediate Executioner of vengeance on them the imagination of Man confined to worldly Agents and Instruments cannot divine or take in Other Scriptures go Metaphorically to work in setting out this Punishment by things outwardly sensibly dreadful But these Scriptures of all other that are my Texts do more plainly and without parables declare it to us in its immediate Causes and from them do leave us to infer the fearfulness For instance other Scriptures set it out to us as a Prison 1 Pet. 3. 19. large enough to be sure to hold Men and Devils The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. As also by their being retained in Chains of Darkness 2 Pet. 2. 4. where Men must lie till they have paid the utmost farthing Mat. 5. 26. where is nothing but darkness utter darkness blackness of darkness Jude 4. that is an emptiness of all Good not a Beam of Light to all Eternity Also a place of torment Luke 6. 48. where there is not admitted one drop to cool ones Tongue Luke 15. in the midst of the most raging scorchings Also I find it elsewhere expressed by the most horrid Punishments and Tortures that were found amongst the Nations cutting Men in peices dividing them in the midst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 24. 49 51. tearing them in peices Psal 50. last cutting them up to the Back-Bone Heb. 4. 12 13. * See for this The interpretation hereof in the Child of Light c. pag. 49 50. drowning Men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. and that with Milstones about their Necks as Christ adds Mat. 18. 6. to make sure they never rise again also unto a being cast bound Hand and Foot Mat. 22. 13. into Fire to be burnt alive a Furnace of Fire twice in one Chapter Mat. 13. 42 49 50. A Lake of Fire and so drowned over Head and Ears for ever A Lake fed with a Stream of Brimstone which of all matter that feedeth Fire is the most fierce Then again Eternal Fire and that never to be Rev. 14. 19. Rev. 19. 20. Chap. 20. 10. 14. 25. chap. 21. 18. Mat. 3. 1. Mat. 18. 8. Mat. 25. 41. slackt or extinguisht And you may with the like Analogy go over what ever else of torment is most exquisite to outward Sense But these and all else you can imagine are but Shadows and Similitudes as I my self heard one upon the Rack of terror of Conscience cry out in a like comparison These are but Metaphors to what I feel and indeed unto what the thing it self is As to say of Heaven there are Rivers of Pleasures a City whereof the Strees are of Gold the Gates of Pearl and such like they are but metaphorical Descriptions for it is God himself that is the Fountain of Life and oppositely it is said of the Wrath to come That God is a consuming Fire Heb. 12. last But these Scriptures which I have read they all speak essences quintessences And as Hell is said to be naked before the Lord Job 16. 16. and without a covering so do these words lay Hell open nakedly not unto our senses but to the understanding of us and then they leave us to infer how fearful And although these Scriptures consist of words that differ yet they conspire together in the same scope and matter viz. to set out Damnation to us in the true and proper Causes and the real horridness thereof argued from those Causes CHAP. I. The Subject of this Discourse set out and reduced to two Heads The first That God's Wrath is the immediate Cause of the Punishment of Sin in Hell I Shall confine my self to these two Heads And in handling thereof what the one of these Scriptures is wanting in the other will supply in what the one is dark the other explains The Heads themselves I shall take as I find them in the first of these Scriptures Heb. 10. 31. First that God himself by his own Hands that is the power of his Wrath is the immediate Inflicter of that Punishment or Destruction of Men's Souls in Hell It is a falling into the Hands of God Secondly the dreadfulness of that Punishment inferred and argued there-from It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Which two are the Doctrinal parts of this Discourse For the first That God himself is the immediate Inflicter c. For Explication We must distinguish how that God performs two parts herein 1. Of a Judg to give forth the Sentence by his Authority 2. Of an Avenger a party injur'd and provoked and as such the Inflicter My scope in this distinction is that we may in reading the Scriptures that speak of this Punishment know how to put a difference and not transfer the whole of God's Agency in this matter unto that of sentencing it as a Judg only And besides that many Scriptures do apart shew this distinction there are some that still carry along with them both these Agencies or Hand of God in it together and yet as distinct the one under the term of Wrath and Vengeance the other under the Notion of its being a Judgment the Judgment of God and the Judgment of Hell-Fire * Quid à justo Dei infligitur Gerard de inferno Sect. 30. as Mat. 23. 33. Thus first the Text Heb. 10. terms it some while Vengeance and fiery Indignation ver 30. 27. then again Judgment as ver 27. a fearful looking for of Judgment and ver 30. The Lord will judge c. The like Rom. 2. 5 8 9. where all is reduced in like manner to these two God's righteous Judgment and his Wrath and Indignation treasured up Also 2 Thess 1. The righteous Judgment of God ver 5 6. there is the Sentence and destroyed from the glory of his Power as the inflicting cause ver 9. likewise Rom. 9. as Soveraign Lord he shews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority in this Punishment ver 21. and then as the immediate Inflicter Wrath and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Power of his Wrath. And ver 22. that speech of our Saviour about this matter One Evangelist Luke 12. 5. records it Who is able to cast into Hell * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely as a Judg who casts a Malefactor into Prison The other Mat. 10. 28. Who is †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able to kill the Soul and to destroy Body and Soul in Hell Noting thereby that he useth his Intrinsick Power and Force as the Inflicter I shall be large in handling and proving this latter as a great Truth concerning which I further premise That I would not be understood to exclude other Miseries as inflicted by Creatures used as God's Instruments accompanying this but that which I contend for is that principally and eminently above all such it is
Fire in this very Epistle Heb. 12. last Our God is a consuming Fire There are two Creatures which God assimulates himself unto in contrary respects 1. To Light as often And God is Love 1 John 4. and both these are spoken of him in respect of what he is to the Saints in Glory Light is of all Creatures the most comfortable And in his Light it is we see Light And the State of Glory is therefore termed the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. The second is to Fire and this on the contrary in relation to what he is to Men in Hell And the Parallel runs upon what he is immediately unto both by Analogy of Reason Of all Creatures Fire is the most dreadful the most raging subtile and piercing in its Operation and so God in his Wrath must be understood under that Similitude to be and therefore it is his Wrath is termed fiery Indignation 2. Those words in their coherence are an allusion to those extraordinary Punishments executed under the old Law For in ver 28. he inforceth his Argument the scope of which was to aggravate this Punishment as à minori from the instances of those Punishments that did befal Men that died for despising Moses Law some of them we read were destroy'd by Fire and therein he more especially refers us to those examples of Nadab and Abihu who perished through Fire Lev. 10. 1 2. where the very words the Apostle here used to set out this Punishment by are used by Moses and so more evidently shew the allusion to be made thereunto There went out Fire from the Lord and devoured them says that Text and yet he argues from thence the surpassing soreness of this Punishment above that from that Fire though it were a Fire even from Heaven it self that kill'd them But more of this hereafter II. 2 Thess 1. 8 9. I come Secondly to that other Scripture 2 Thess 1. 8 9. In flaming Fire taking Vengeance of them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power Where it is to be observed that though he mentions flaming Fire and the Ministry of his mighty Angels which accompany Christ's appearing yet he clearly resolves the ultimate and immediate Cause of Wicked Mens Destruction into the immediate Presence and Glory of Christ's Power ver 9. Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power So as herein is set forth 1. The Punishment 2. The Causes of that Punishment First For the Punishment there is 1. The Nature of it it is termed Destruction 2. The duration of it everlasting Destruction Secondly The Causes of it From or by the Presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power That Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate From is causal imports the efficient Cause as in all those Salutations Grace and Peace From the Father and From Jesus Christ it doth Rom. 1. 7. 2 Cor. 1. 2. that is as from the Fountain the principal and sole Authors and Efficients of Grace and Peace And thus the word is used in multitudes of places else And accordingly we find in other Scriptures also that God and Christ are the immediate Causes of Peace Thus 2 Thess 3. 16. Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you Peace c. and Chap. 2. 16 17. The Lord Jesus Himself comfort your Hearts Now on the contrary when in like manner he says everlasting Destruction from his Face Presence and the Glory of his Power it may and is to be understood the Lord Himself personally by his own meer Presence and by the Strength of his own Power inflicteth their Destruction for ever they dye by no other Hand This Particle From as in Speech we often use it hath led some from the true intent of the Apostle They thereupon supposing this the meaning that they are punished with Destruction From the Presence that is out of the Presence of Christ as if this were the fufilling that Speech of Christ Depart from me into everlasting Torment This though it be true of this Destruction spoken of here in respect of Christ's local Presence consider him as he is Man yet as Slater upon the place well says To him that attentively considers the Words the Causes of Destruction are held forth herein For 1. he says not simply or alone that they are punish'd from his Presence but further adds from the Glory of his Power the same Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from being therefore in common to be applyed to the one as well as the other Now the intent of the latter from his glorious Power cannot note forth that they were punished out of or from without his glorious Power as in respect of Absence but the contrary that the Presence and Efficacy of it is to be that which is the Author of their Punishment so that it imports nothing less than absence or a withdrawment by God or a throwing them out of his Presence but positively an efficiency or energy put forth by him and so carries with it the relation and influence of an efficient Cause If indeed he had added instead hereof either from his Glory or from his Blessedness unto that other from his Presence it might have carried both unto poena Damni the punishment of Loss that is to note out what they had lost and wanted the Communication of and so their exclusion from the Participation of God's Face and Blessedness which is more ordinarily termed his Presence and together therewith had noted out an exclusion also of this sense which I argue for but his saying also from the Glory of his Power manifestly notes Power put forth in Execution and inflicting that Destruction and glorifying Himself on them thereby And Secondly Further know that the Word here used is not potestas as of a Judg that is Authority whereof John 5. 27. The Father hath given the Son of Man Authority to execute Judgment And in relation unto which in ver 5. of this Chapter he had termed it The righteous Judgment of God But the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies inward personal Strength Vigor Robur such as a Giant hath in his own * Ipsa vi◠naturae per se considerata Illyricus Limbs And therefore when their Destruction is said to be from his Power as thus denoting personal Strength the intendment must needs be to denote a putting forth of that Strength which is in himself to destory them Parallel with that in Rom. 9. 22. What if God willing to shew his Wrath and make his Power known on the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction of which anon Yea and Thirdly even this other Phrase destroyed from his Presence doth likewise as fully close with this sense to note the efficient Cause of their
Vessels of Mercy all will acknowledg that when it is spoken of as in relation to Heaven as here it is that importeth Souls their being set apart to be immediately filled with the Love and Mercy of God that as God is Love so that they as Vessels swim in that Ocean for ever That they dwell in God immediately and are filled with fulness of him And why should not then this other of being Vessels of Wrath be intended in the same Sense also and that Sense be urged accordingly Especially seeing it is evident that one scope of the Apostle here was to make a Parallel between the eternal Glorification of the one and eternal Destruction of the other and accordingly between what are to be the Causes of them And if so the Law of this Parallel will also carry it to this that as the Saints in Heaven have an immediate Participation of God that likewise in Hell there shall be oppositely an immediate Participation of God's Wrath. In Heaven they are not said to be Vessels of Mercy because God shews them Mercy only by created Benefits or Gifts bestowed or because they have God's Mercy communicated by Creatures though it must be affirmed that there is a confluence of these but because God himself appears all in Love Mercy and Kindness to them And it is not nothing that according to the same Analogy of Speech unto this Particular in multitudes of Scriptures in the New Testament This Destruction is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Singularity Eminency and simply stiled Wrath and the Wrath of God And so it bears away that Denomination from all other Punishments by Creatures except that by Magistrates in God's stead and who bear the Image of God Rom. 13. 5. so bearing the Name of its immediate Cause The Baptist he began that stile in the New Testament The Wrath to come Mat. 3. by way of destinction from all that is executed in this Life And the whole New Testament afterwards much useth that Phrase As when the day of Judgment is stiled the day of Wrath Rom. 2. And elsewhere It is equivalent to say a Child of Hell Mat. 23. 15. And a Child of Wrath Eph. 2. 3. To say fitted to Destruction as Rom. 9. and ordained to Wrath 1 Thess 5. 9. To say Damnation hasteneth 2 Pet. 2. 3. And the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of Disobedience Col. 3. 6. As in like manner on the contrary Saved from Wrath Rom. 5. Delivered from Wrath through Christ 1 Thess 1. ult is all one and saved from Death and Hell elsewhere And this is usually termed the Wrath of God so Joel 3. ult Col. 3. 6. and Eph. 5. 6. Rom. 9. 22. That which I would observe from both is that according to the general Analogy of common Speech in all Languages the punishment as the Effect bearing the Denomination of that which is the immediate Instrument of the principal Agent in that Punishment Thus the torture by the Rack is called the Rack whipping the Rod. So in Deaths Crucifying was termed the Cross Hanging the Gallows Thus 't is in the Punishments which Men execute That in like Analogy of Speech this ultimate Punishment should so generally be termed Wrath and the Wrath of God by way of eminency and difference from all other fore-running effects of Wrath executed by Creatures in this Life this still strengthens the former Notion that it is indeed the Wrath of this God it self in a way of eminent difference from what by Creatures he doth in Wrath pour out that is the inflicter of that Punishment I shall for the close of this cast in one Scripture-Testimony more both to confirm this Interpretation of Wrath given upon Rom. 9. and the whole of the Point in hand It is IV. Rom. 2. 8 9. Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish unto every Soul of Man that doth evil c. I observed afore from the second Verse of this Chapter how that this Punishment was termed both the Judgment of God ver 2. as denoting God to be the Judge and also Wrath as of God the Avenger Now in these Words ver 8 9. the Apostle pursueth the latter more fully when he says Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to every Soul of Man These are two pairs or Conjugates of Causes and Effects 1. Indignation and Wrath as the Causes 2. Tribulation and Anguish as the two Effects and that on the Souls of Men which are the Vessels of this Wrath and Indignation and Subjects of that Tribulation and Anguish thence arising And truly his instancing in the Soul which though it often signifies the whole Person yet here seems purposely done as being that in or of Man which alone is immediately capable of this Indignation and Wrath of God and the Impressions or Effects of Anguish there-from and is the proper seat of that Anguish and Tribulation And that Phrase of Wrath its being said to be treasured up in the 5th verse suits this For what is the Treasury or Magazine thereof but the Heart and Bosom of God Himself in which it lyes hid as Treasures use to do in some secret place Even as the Saints Life is said to be hid in God Col. 3. 3. compare Deut. 32. 24. I shall but further superadd that noticed Ira Dei est infernus Diaboli omnium Damnatorum Famed by Gerard in his Common Place De inferno Sect. 30. out of Luther's Enarrations or Commentary upon Genesis Chap. 45. upon the 14 15. ver Also by Fabritius saying of Luther which out of deep experience of the Wrath of God in his Soul at his first Humiliation and Conversion he had learned The Wrath of God is Hell the Hell of Devils and all damned Spirits CHAP. IV. That this immediate Wrath of God is in Scripture set forth unto us under the Similitude of Fire and fiery Indignation The Examples of Persons devoured by Fire in the Old Testament Shadows of this Punishment by the immediate Wrath of God This the Fire wherein the Devil and his Angels are tormented THere hath been nothing more divertive of the Thoughts of Men from apprehending or so much as imagining God's immediate Wrath to be a cause of that Punishment in Hell then that the Scriptures do so often make mention of Fire c. as the Instrument thereof and so Mens conceptions do terminate therein and go no further But I shall rather on the other hand make an Argument of it Namely that indeed the Scriptures do set out this immediate Wrath of God under the Similitude Resemblance and Representation of Fire and that sometimes when Hell-fire is spoken of the Wrath of God is intended thereby Unto which I yet Preface this That I must not nor dare I say that there is no material Fire in Hell ordained for Punishment to Mens Bodies but that it is Rational that the Body having sinned as well as the Soul it should have a meet recompence of Reward suited thereto
which by its own acknowledgment of a Judgment made unto God when he shall come to judge binds over it self and with it self the whole Soul for the Payment And upon that account is to be reckoned the chief Obligee and therefore the Execution is justly to be served upon it and through it upon the whole Soul 2. If we take in together with Conscience the understanding part in Man the Intelligentia or the Spirit of the Mind in the summity of it That is really to be accounted also the Principal in respect of its share in the very acts of Sinning so as justly the Guilt of every act is refunded upon it as the principal Actor For it is betrusted by God with the steering and management of the whole Soul with the conduct of it as the General By reason of that Light God at first seated in it it was appointed for ever to be the Guide and Leader of the Will and Affections And therefore God justly requireth the account or the defaults and miscarriages of the whole at its Hands According to the equity of those Rules declared concerning Rulers of the People Jer. 5. 4 5. These have known the way of the Lord c. As also from that other like to it given forth touching the Priests and which we find so often inculcated in Ezekiel I will require their Blood at the Priests Hands And all these founded upon one and the same common ground common unto Conscience with these namely Conscience and Knowledg there being the Guides And yet in that Conscience gives but an ineffectual weak warning against Sin which should powerfully sway the whole and the Spirit of the Mind or the practick Understanding doth still wickedly give secret consent unto Sin c. Hence therefore that denunciation in Ezekiel holds that God will require the Blood of the Soul at its hands Although the Soul the Will and Affections do perish too in their Iniquity as it is there spoken And for this cause it becomes Justice to punish this chief Agent and Offender or this great Minister of State in sinning and to make these the Seat of the Execution above any or all other Faculties 2. It will furthermore agree with the Rules of Justice yea it will be a special Trophy unto Justice to have Sin it self in the Guilt of it made as far as possibly to be it's own Tormentor and Instrument of the highest Punishment in and unto the Soul that hath sinned There is no Sword like unto that will Justice say to slay a Sinner withall It is of all other the most proper and exquisite way of punishing For the Sinner to eat for ever of the Fruit of his own Ways and Prov. 1. 31. to be filled with their own Devices and their Iniquity to slay them This is the justest and highest Doom which Wisdom it self can invent or God's Power execute The very same doth Jeremy also speak Jer. 2. 19. Thine own Wickedness shall correct thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Certainly for the Sinner to feel in the most intimate and immediate manner that may be the bitterness of the Guilt of Sin and to find that that above all other Punishments that can be inflicted is the sharpest and severest this is a transcendent strain of Justice indeed Now this is most exquisitely accomplish'd through that proper capacity which Conscience and the intellectual part in Man have as to this very thing And in their being the Seat of the Guilt of Sin they are thereby further fitted to become the Vessel or Receptacle of this the highest Punishment This is in a great measure verified by that in Isa 59. 11 12. We roar all like Bears And what was it that caused this For our Transgressions are multiplied before thee and our Sins testify against us For our Transgressions are with us they dwell with and possess us and we possess them as Job also speaks And as for our Iniquities we know them It was their very knowing of their Sins as set on by God that made them thus roar which is the loudest and wildest Tone of Grief and Note of insufferable Torment And observe how that that Knowledg had two things in contemplation which caused the Roaring 1. Sin together with the Wrath of God Our Transgressions are multiplied afore thee And so they had God in their eye as a Judge which those words shew We look for Salvation but it is far from us v. 11. And 2. They testify against us This was the accusation of their own Consciences themselves So as it was Conscience which was the Seat the Habitation as it were where these two took up their dwellings continually quartered upon and possessed Jeremy says the same To see and know how bitter a thing it is to sin c. And though these Scriptures speak not immediately of Hell yet they do clearly point out to us what and wherein the most exquisite punishment of Sin lieth and by what effected namely Knowledg of Sin and Wrath whether it be in Men in forerunning Anguish in this Life or hereafter in Hell in the fulness of it 3. It is not nor can it be the meer Spiritual evil that is in Sin as Sin is Sin and an opposite to true Holiness and as it stands in a contrariety to the Holiness and Goodness of God that is not it which Men in Hell shall spiritually know and see so as to lay to heart the evil thereof in that respect No for that is the peculiar effect of Grace and proper to the Saints even as to see the Beauty that is in Holiness as it is Holiness likewise is It is therefore Sin in the bitter effects thereof only whereby Souls still remaining wholly sinful as those in Hell do can come to know this bitterness of Sin Now to prosecute this The evil of Sin is not sufficiently or perfectly felt no not in the effects of it by the Conscience of a Sinner so as it may be until it be felt in that which is the highest and most transcendent and proper most immediate and first-born effect thereof of all other And that is no other than the Wrath and Indignation of the All-powerful God For that his Wrath shall break in upon the Sinner and so considered it is the most proper effect of all other of the demerit of Sin God being stirred up and provoked thereunto by Sin Do you provoke the Lord to Jealousy 1 Cor. 10. 22. The like Jer. 7. 19. Sins are as a heap of Charcoal wicked Mens Consciences the Oven and God's Wrath the Fire Let this Fire be put into this Coal and let both meet in a guilty Conscience and it instantly becomes a fiery Oven within it self And as concerning all other Punishments I may say it That all other of what kind or from whomsoever although they are all the effects and deserts of Sin according to 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
Wrath than other even as in the Body some Parts are more of Pain If a Man would avoid a scalding drop to be let fall upon any Part of all other he would fence his Eye You see how a Mote a Flie troubleth it a scalding drop of Oyl would much more So it is in the Faculties of the Soul You read there is the Spirit of the Mind Eph. 4. 23. Now God will wound even that and aims at it in this Punishment A wounded Spirit who can bear says Solomon If a Man's Flesh be torn and cut he may yet bear up himself but if his Bones be broken who can stand Now the immediate Stroaks of God are so compared by David as unto the breaking of the Bones in comparison of other dealings of God with and Inflictions from God towards us The next thing which I mention but as an Appendix to this Head is that it is the Destruction of the Soul So Christ and the Apostle again and again They are said to be lost and though Men may Metaphysically dispute that it is better to Be though in Hell than not to Be Yet Christ hath said it were better not to have been born I shall say no more as to this Head than what the Apostle expresseth this by in the 1 Tim. 6. 9. in saying That Men are drowned in Perdition and Destruction one would think for him to have expressed Death and Destruction it might have been enough to have said that a Man were drown'd or sunk down to the bottom of Waters or the like Materials that would suffocate a Man But to say he is drowned in Perdition it self or that Perdition and Destruction are the Pit the Lake he is plunged into what can be said beyond it And yet here he is not content with one single Word to express that by neither as to have said drowned in Perdition but must double it and add another Word Destruction also Destroyed therefore over and over Drowned over Head and Ears as we say and all that is in them drowned and sunk into Perdition the whole Soul yea the whole Man No part above Water Destroyed with a double Destruction both for Object double and also for the Subject of it both Body and Soul So Christ says §. III. A third Head of Demonstrations drawn from the final Causes formerly mentioned As 1. The Glory of God 2. The Manifestation of his Power THe third Head that affords matter of Exaggeration to our Thoughts whereby to infer the fearfulness of this Punishment is taken from the Ends or Final Causes mentioned in that first Section The Ends I say which God hath in and is provoked by unto this Punishment And as I then singly argued from each of them the immediateness of God's Hand therein so now I shall from each of the same The dreadfulness hereof There were three Attributes of God in Special and his Glory in Common which God aimeth at the Manifestation of in this ultimate Guerdon or Reward for Sin 1. The Manifestation of the Glory that 's in Common then particularly 1. Of his Power 2. The satisfying of his Justice 3. Of his Wrath. The Scriptures I then had recourse to do specify all these I shall speak to these in this Section and to the other in the following 1. In General that he aimeth at his Glory in it which is God's general aim and is common to these and all other Attributes is evident His Glory as it is to be manifested to us is but the result or shine of all or any of his Attributes manifested In that place of Prov. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself that is for his Glory for that is himself My Glory I will not give to another it follows yea even the wicked for the day of evil The day of evil there is the day of Punishment the Wicked themselves also making and preparing themselves by Sin thereto but so as thereupon God manifests his Glory upon them as well as upon all things else which he hath made in their several seasons and kinds And Solomon doth mention this of Punishment as one Eminent Instance of all things else whatever that are for his Glory and which will be ordered then by him thereunto in a special manner And because it being so great an evil Men might think otherwise Yea but says Solomon God seeks and will have a Glory out of this Punishment as well as out of all things else of which ye all acknowledg that God made them for himself And so in that 2 Thess 1. 9. They are said to be punisht from the Glory of his Power that is from his Power glorifying himself on them as I afore expounded it And as it is for the Glory of this his Power so by the same reason of all or any of those other Attributes he is pleased to put forth therein I shall premise two Maxims from whence fore-laid the Inference for the dreadfulness of this will more readily rise in an infinite height unto our more serious and sober Apprehensiions The first That all things which God doth for his own Glory he will perform them like himself that is like God and so make the utmost of every thing that that subject Matter whatever it be will afford of Glory to him This Rule is ascertained to us as from the Nature of God so from that saying of the Apostle Rom. 1. 21. where he condemns the Gentiles that they glorified him not as God that is in such a manner as was worthy of him they came not up to that height of Glory so great a God must have given unto him from Creatures Now if it be the Sin of Creatures that they fall short in glorifying God as God then be assured that if God himself undertakes and professeth to do a thing for his Glory he will in the whole of it and issue thereof either glorify himself as God or never begin to essay or meddle with it but would have let it alone for ever 2. From hence take this also along with you to carry it in your view through each particular that follows That then if God seeks to glorify himself in a way of Punishment that Punishment must be answerably great and proportioned to raise up a Glory unto God such as shall glorify him As God in that way For it is the Punishment or the Judgment it self which he executes as the Psalmist says out of which this Glory must spring This Punishment as it is a Punishment is that wherein God will be glorified as God That is it is the Soil which this Crop of his Glory is to grow up out of and the Crop or Harvest of Glory can be but what the fertility of that Soil as such affords These things in general fore-laid Now 3. The greatness or vast comings in of that Glory God reckons upon from this may rise up in your view by these Particulars 1. Had it not been that in comparison of
circa medium Author of Sin Fulgentius among other highly-evincing demonstrations of it casts in this Iniquitatis cujus est Vltor non est Autor God is not the Author of Sin whereof he is the Avenger Which Maxim is founded upon an high Principle of Reason and Equity God puts the whole of this matter so far off from himself that he lays all both Sin and Punishment wholly upon Man so as although the Punishment it self be from his own just Wrath that is provoked to inflict it yet even thereof he thus speaks Do they provoke me to Anger 't is true they do but do they not provoke themselves to the Confusion of their own Faces So as he ascribes his own Wrath that inflicts that Punishment whollly to themselves returns even that upon themselves As if he had said I am angry indeed c. 't is true yet they are more the provoking Causes of that Anger than my self They spight but themselves when they sin against me Like unto which is that Speech also Rom. 2. 4 5. Thou treasurest up Wrath unto thy self Thou to thy Self although it be God's Wrath in his Breast that is treasured up yet the treasuring of it up is aseribed unto themselves God will send his Son Jesus Christ on purpose to clear all such imaginable Suspicions and Suppositions that Men or Devils can cast upon him for condemning of Men or executing this Punishment himself Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard Speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him His work at that Day is to convince yea and to convince is named first as well as to execute Judgment And it is certain that in order thereto he will speak all Fairness Equity Justice and Reason 't were not Conviction else and he will have all his Saints and Angels about him as Judges and Witnesses He will have all the World to hear it and how equal it is for him to execute so sore a Vengeance And as he will convince them of their Deeds to be ungodly and deserving it so of their hard Speeches and that whatever his Decrees were they themselves were ungodly and their Deeds ungodly and ungodlily committed Mark but how he doth ungodly them And he will convince them and stop their Mouths for ever Christ sent him in the Parable speechless to Hell Mat. 22. 12. And this is one great Service the Man Christ Jesus is to do for God at the latter day And if he should not do this satisfyingly and clear all these things he must shut up his Books and come off the Bench and proceed no further either to Sentence or Execution A MEDITATION LEt our Meditation upon what hath been delivered be what Moses hath prompted to us and let us make the same use thereof which he also did The 90th Psalm was penned by Moses as the Title shews A Prayer of Moses the Man of God and it was composed by him in his latter days after he had seen in forty years an whole Generation in a Nation of Men removed out of this World and their Carcases fallen in the Wilderness a Spectacle so sad as perhaps not any one Man in the World hath seen or Age afforded but at the Flood afore or since in so short a compass of time His Song is a Funeral Elegy or Meditation of Death made upon that whole Generation verse 3. Thou turnest Man to Destruction and sayest Return ye Children of Men. And verses 5 6. Thou carriest them away as with a Flood In the morning they are like Grass which groweth up in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth And God from that time began also to stint and limit Man's years to that measure which it hath held to unto this day Vers 10. The Days of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of Strength they be fourscore years yet is their Strength Labour and Sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away Our Souls fly away like Birds when the Shell is broke and then Hell follows as the Revelation speaks as in reality so in Rev. 6. 8. Moses's Discourse And that was it which was the matter of deepest and saddest thoughts in this Meditation unto him of any other Verse 11. it follows Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger Even according to thy Fear so is thy Wrath. Which he utters 1. By way of Lamentation He sighing forth a most doleful complaint against the Security and Stupor he observed in that Generation of Men in his times both in those that had already died in their Sins as well as of that new Generation that had come up in their room who still lived in their Sins O! says he Who of them knoweth the Power of thine Anger namely of that Wrath which followeth after Death and seizeth upon Mens Souls for ever that is who considers it or regards it till it take hold upon them He utters it 2. In a way of Astonishment out of the apprehension he had of the greatness of that Wrath Who hath known the Power of thine Anger that is who who hath or can take it in according to the greatness of it Which he endeavours to set forth as applying himself to our own apprehensions in this wise Even according to thy Fear so is thy Wrath. Where those words thy Fear are taken objective and so is all one and the Fear of thee And so the meaning is that according to whatever proportion our Souls can take in in fears of thee and of thine Anger so great is thy Wrath it self You have Souls that are able to comprehend vast Fears and Terrors they are as extensive in their Fears as in their Desires which are stretched beyond what this World or the Creatures can afford them to an Infinity The Soul of Man is a dark Cell which when it begets Fears once strange and fearful Apparitions rise up in it which far exceed the ordinary proportion of worldly Evils which yet also our Fears usually make greater than they prove to be But here as to that Punishment which is the effect of God's own immediate Wrath let the Soul enlarge it self says he and widen its apprehension to the utmost fear what you can imagine yet still God's Wrath and the Punishment it inflicts are not only proportionable but infinitely exceeding all you can fear or imagine Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger It passeth knowledg Now the Use Moses makes of all this Doctrine of Death and Wrath in the next following verse 12. is this So teach us to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts to VVisdom This he spake to God in behalf of that present Generation that then survived and by spreading afore them