in the Grek to give vengeance to those that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And can he be said to give vengeance to them when he takes away their very Beings and so maketh them uncapable of receiving any punishment at all Surely not The lawful Magistrate under Christ is appointed to act the part of a Revenger upon them that do evil * Rom. 13.4 And that vengeance which according to God's Ordinance he inflicts upon Malefactors is commonly such as they are very sensible of And shall not ungodly sinners feel their punishment to the purpose as we say when the Supream Law-giver shall set himself purposely to execute wrath and render vengeance to them yea doubtless they shall For when He will execute vengeance upon them Ezek. 25.17 they shall then know that He is the Lord as the Prophet speaks But 't is plain they could not do so if his vengeance did consist in taking away their Being that which is not cannot know any thing 2. Destruction is not used in Scripture in reference to Men to signifie any such thing as the Total abolishment of their Natures Let any of my Author's Opinion disprove this by any Text whatsoever Indeed 't is said of the old World that the Flood came Matth. 24.39 and took them all away but 't is omnes only not totos it took away All those Persons viz. out of the Land of the Living But it did not take away the whole Natures Their Souls are living still And God will be so far from destroying the Souls of the wicked as to their Nature and Being as that he will quicken and raise their Bodies which Death and Worms had destroyed formerly Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the just and the unjust saith St. Paul in the Acts. And they shall be raised for good and all as we say so as to see corruption no more for ever 1 Cor. 15.52 3. That to destroy signifies in respect of the wicked a state of real Misery and Torment as when it is said Matth. 10.28 that God is able to destroy Body and Soul in Hell that is to fill them with perfect Misery And if it were meant of destroying their Beings then that dreadful word Hell which is added as an aggravation of the destruction would signifie just nothing in point of Terror for if a Man be turned into nothing it is all one whether it be in the one or the other for nothing is no nearer to something in Heaven than in Hell And thus also the word is used very often in our own Language As when we say of Oppressors that they have destroyed whole Families we do not mean that they have turned them into nothing but that they have brought them into a calamitous condition And this I hope may be enough for that Text and I think it is not too much A third place I shall offer Matth. 25.41 urged for it to prove the everlastingness of the Punishment of the wicked is Matth. 25.41 He shall say unto them on his left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. They must depart viz. really by changing place as Christ is departed or gone into Heaven in 1 Pet. 3. 1 Pet. 3. ult last vers where it is the same Greek Verb that is used in both places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so supposeth the continuance of their Being 2. They must depart not into Nothing or such a state if I might so call it as the World was in before its Creation but into Fire 3. And this Fire of what sort soever it be God knoweth is an everlasting Fire in the same sense as the Life and Happiness of the Righteous is everlasting Life in 46. verse yea it is that everlasting Fire which the Devils shall be for everlasting punished with v. 41. as in the Text it self and therefore certainly is everlasting in the saddest sense or without end And if any Man shall say they may be cast into this everlasting Fire but not suffer everlastingly in it he had need have no less than Mr. Richardson's Learning to enable him to give a good Account of his speech And he that can conceive any such thing as probable may by the same degree of acuteness perswade himself 2 Pet. 1.11 that the Saints may go into the everlasting kingdom of Christ and yet possibly not dwell everlastingly in it which yet they will hardly question in the least measure while they have so many faithful promises of a Happy Eternity * 1 Thess 4.17 Rev. 22.5 c. A fourth Text of Scripture which may conveniently be urged for the everlastingness of the punishment of the wicked is Daniel 12.2 Daniel 12.2 urged and opened Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt But before I come to speak of that which most directly concerns my present purpose Many how understood it will not be amiss to explain the word many for some have gathered from thence that there shall be no general Resurrection The weakness of which Opinion to speak no worse of it I might shew from a great many places These two for brevity sake I shall content my self with Jo. 5.28 29. The hour is coming wherein All that are in the Grave shall hear his Voice Jo. 5.29 and come forth c. So then there are none excepted And in the 24. chap. of the Acts it was the Apostles belief Acts 24.15 That there shall be a Resurrection of the just and the unjust that is of all and every one of them for if the just there do mean All the just the unjust must mean All the unjust for the phrase is alike of both of them so that he that grants the one may not deny the other And therefore that Text in Daniel cannot tend to strengthen that Opinion which that we may the better perceive these three things may be considered 1. That the Multi ex dormientibus many of them that sleep vid. Synops crit in loc is in substance the same as if it were said Multi dormientes i. e. Those many that are sleeping in the Dust of the Earth And then it will be no less than if it were said All of them 2. That the Proposition is particular only and therefore will not warrant a Universal Negative to be inferred from it Many Saints or Multitudes of Saints shall be caught up together to meet the Lord Jesus 1 Thess 4.17 at his coming to Judgment is a Truth Yet we cannot truly conclude that All shall not Doubtless their Lord will receive them all as well as any And St. Paul makes no difference between himself and the rest of the faithful in respect of that priviledge 3. Many sometimes put for All. By
the word many we may by a very usual figure understand All and so we find it is put for All in several Texts of Holy Writ Psal 97.1 The Lord reigneth let the earth be glad let the multitudes of the Isles or the many Isles be glad thereof i. e. let all Countries be glad of it Let all the faithful in all Nations comfort themselves by the thoughts of his Soveraignty and Dominion over all So in Rom. 5. Through the disobedience of one viz. Adam many were made sinners viz. All those that descended from him in a Natural way And if any that are dead or sleeping in c. should not awake and arise hereafter it must be the wicked for that 's our Adversary's Opinion in the case but that cannot be supposed nor cannot stand with the truth of this Text which tells us that some of those many shall arise to everlasting shame and contempt Which is most direct for my purpose And so plain that I cannot guess any thing that can with any shew of reason be objected against it For first If the wicked shall awake to everlasting contempt The proof of the point from Dan. 12. it cannot be but they must remain as to their Natures and Personal Beings and not be annihilated And secondly If they awake to everlasting contempt and shame it must needs follow that they shall be everlastingly under shame c. As in case Mr. R. his Book against Hell c. should bring his name into perpetual reproach among Christians it must needs be perpetually under reproach And the everlasting shame is everlasting in the same sense as the glory of the righteous in the same verse is everlasting And thus I have proved the everlasting punishment of the wicked in another World from several Scriptures See also to the same purpose Matth. 3.12 Luk. 3.17 Matth. 18.8 Mark 9.47 Jo. 3.36 Revel 19.20.20 vers 10. and many more Rev. 14.11 which thy own Reading may furnish thee with And thus having proved the Point by several Texts of Scripture Some Scripture Arguments for the Doctrine I shall now add ex abundanti some Scripture-Arguments to confirm it And the first is this The wicked and impenitent shall always or to all Eternity have a Being But they shall not have a Being in Joy and Happiness nor in a middle state between Happiness and Misery therefore they shall always have a Being in Misery and Torment 1. From the everlastingness of their Being The Major or first Proposition is easie to be proved For first The Dead shall be raised incorruptible in 1 Cor. 15.52 What Dead doth he mean surely all of them since he makes no distinction between one sort and another in this respect As when it is said that the Sea shall give up her Dead The wicked shall always have a Being that is all her Dead And if we shall suppose that it must be meant only of the Dead Saints or as the Scripture calls it 1 Cor. 15.52 the Dead in Christ then it might be said as properly that the Dead shall not be raised incorruptible for we might mean it of the wicked that are Dead yea it might be more properly said so for the wicked that are dead are many more than the Saints that are dead because most of the Living never were Saints indeed Now the Denomination being to be given from the greater part I see no Reason why it might not more fitly be said The Dead shall not be raised incorruptible than to say the contrary if only the dead Saints should be raised Nor hath my Author or any for him ever been so resolute as to affirm the word Dead to signifie the Saints more than the wicked And their Souls being immortal we cannot think that God will unite them at Judgment to Mortal Bodies If God had meant that the Bodies of the wicked after the Day of Judgment should dye again in a proper sense surely he would not raise them at that Day from their Graves If Death and Destruction of their Flesh were the great wrath they were to lye under the Worms would be sufficient Executioners of his wrath upon them What need any such Miracle be wrought upon them as the quickning and raising of their putrified Bodies if he intended they should dye and corrupt again So then the first Proposition is certain that the wicked themselves shall be raised to an Immortal state at the Day of Judgment They that would come but seldome to the Church shall not have the Happiness to lye always in the Grave they shall be remembred in that bond of forgetfulness and not dye like Bruits though they lived like such The wicked shall not be happy to Eternity The second thing to be proved is this That the wicked shall not have a Being in Happiness after the Day of Judgment This I need not be large in proving to them that know any thing of Holy Scripture They shall come forth to the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28 29. which will be far enough from all Happiness in the least degree though they were joyful enough when they were Damning and Sinking on Earth yet they will be sorrowful enough when their Damned Petition is granted when they sink irrecoverably into Damnation it self when instead of thinking themselves Companions for Gentlemen they will find themselves companions for Devils Damnation doubtless will destroy all joys whatsoever Matth. 25.41 and the curse that shall be on them will seclude all blessedness Nor shall they be in a middle state between Happiness and Misery after the Day of Judgment for there is no such middle state thought of by any sober Christians nor so much as dream'd of by the Papists themselves whatsoever properties Purgatory may have in it before the Day of Judgment yet they hold it shall cease for ever after that Day and nothing remain but Heaven and Hell and Joy and Torment to be the places and portions of reasonable Creatures And this conceipt is abundantly confuted by what hath been said already for Wrath and Damnation and the Curse are or imply a proper state of Misery not a middle state between Misery and Happiness Wherefore the Consequence is clear as the Light The Conseq cleared for if the wicked shall always have a Being after the Day of Judgment and yet never have a Being in Happiness then it must needs follow that they must have a Being always in Misery and Torment And this I think is a plain Argument and that which follows is no less plain being taken from the nature of Divine Justice It is thus good Reader Divine Justice requires that the Wicked that continue such A second Argument taken from God's Justice 1. Cleared should be punished for ever Therefore they shall be punished for ever The Consequence will not be denied The Antecedent is proved thus If the wicked are always worthy of Punishment for their Wickedness then
who is of so great dignity and to whom he owes the Honour of a true Subject And if the Prince and he should live for ever it were just that he should keep him in Prison for ever till he acknowledge his fault and humble himself unfeignedly for it as the Wicked in Hell will not to any purpose They will not humble themselves for their sins in any Religious way no not then when they are tormented for them as may be discovered ere long And if an offence against a man may deserve perpetual Imprisonment how much more may an offence against God deserve perpetual Damnation What are all the men in the world to him Behold saith the Prophet All Nations before him are as nothing Esay 40.17 and vanity Answer 4 4. It is not contrary to justice but an executing of just vengeance for God to condemn the sinful Angels to everlasting Punishment 2 Pet. 2.4 2 Pet. 2.4 He spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell when once they had sinned God spared them not his Justice took hold on them immediately and condemned them to Everlasting punishment for their state is expressed by St. Jude v. 6. by Everlasting chains under darkness and our Saviour tells us that Everlasting fire is prepared for them Matth. 25. v. 41. And certainly no man will question whether they shall be punished Everlastingly by that Everlasting fire or not unless he be bewitched by Mr. R's evil Spirit And though it were severity and strict Justice so to deal with them yet we know it was no injustice at all for He is a Righteous God and without Iniquity And though His ways are sometimes past finding out Deutr 32.4 Psal 9.7 Rom. 11. yet still we must say as those in the Revelation Just and True are thy ways O King of Saints Assuredly he will not punish the Devils themselves one whit longer than their sins deserve And if the sins of Angels are justly punishable with Everlasting punishments must we not acknowledge the same concerning sinful men and their sins Is sin any better thing in Men than in Angels or is God any fitter to be despised and dishonoured by them than by the other Doubtless if it make the noblest Beings worthy of Everlasting shame it must needs make their Inferiors so too To which let me add thus much that he hath laid more engagements upon Men to obey him than he hath done upon the fallen Angels He hath given Time and Means and Motives to Repent and promiseth Mercy and Salvation in and through Christ Esay 55.7 in case they forsake their evil ways and turn unto him which he hath not done for the fallen Angels And as for the Inferiority of Mans Nature to the Nature of Angels That I say is so far from excusing or extenuating their fault in sinning against him as that it seems very plainly to aggravate the offence If it be so horrible for Angels and Powerful Spirits to cross his Will and oppose his Laws and Government it seems to be much worse for Dust and ashes so to do As 't is a greater piece of Impudence for a mean person to contradict his Prince than for Lords and Nobles so to do Answer 5 5. 'T is not unknown what Miseries sin brought upon the Lord Jesus when he stood in the place of sinners It made him sweat as it were drops of Bloud it made his Body subject to Buffettings Scourgings Wounds and Death yea a shameful and accursed Death Matth. 27. Luke 23. c. it made his name subject to reproaches and Accusations and bitterest Scoffs and Taunts from the basest and wickedest men It made his Soul to be full of Sorrow though it were free from all spot of sin It made him a man of Sorrows on Earth who is the Matter of Heavens Joy It made him to be despised and rejected of men and live a life of continual Persecutions who is the object of the Angels Worship and at whose Birth they sang A Hymn of Praise Thus we see what Miseries he bore when he undertook for sinners and bare their sins 1 Pet. 2.24 And yet the sins that Christ became answerable for were not any sins of the Impenitent that live and dye such for if he had made satisfaction for them they should not be condemned for them as we know they shall Now if Christ suffered so much when he undertook for them that in time should repent if they came to years how great must that punishment be which the Impenitent must bear when they must answer for themselves That which in the Penitent man made Christ to suffer so great things for a time being imputed to him as the surety for the sinner must needs in the impenitent deserve Everlasting Punishment It is more for Christ to suffer for a time than for sinful men to suffer for ever He being * Rom. 9.5 God as well as man that which by Imputation to Christ made him liable to temporal vengeance and the curse of the Law must needs make the sinner worthy of Eternal vengeance being inherent in him and acted by him and attended with final impenitence as it is in them that perish Answer 6 Sixthly Sin being committed against a God of Infinite Majesty and Excellency as a dishonour to his Name and a violation of his Law must needs deserve a kind of Infinite Punishment for Justice requires a kind of proportion between the fault and the punishment Now because the wicked cannot bear a punishment that is infinite in weight and degree to compensate the wrong done to an Infinite Majesty therefore they must bear a punishment that is Infinite in duration and continuance Answer 7 Seventhly An Everlasting Punishment is suitable if not to the Act of sin so properly yet to the principle of sinning There is such a corrupt disposition in wicked Men that they would sin perpetually if they could There is no ungodly course they have delighted themselves in but they would do so still if they might have their own choice If a Lyar a malicious Miser a Contemner of God's Ordinances should live ten thousand years he would be as very a Lyar as covetous and malicious c. as ever he was And the like may be said in other cases The hearts of the children of men are fully set to do evil Eccles 8.11 They would have sinned for ever and why should not they suffer for ever what more just than that those should never want for sorrow that would never consent to forsake their sin If a man were to live on Earth never so many thousands of years and his Prince should know he would always be of a Rebellious disposition he would think he had reason enough to keep him in prison all that time And yet as was said before there is no comparison between the Princes of this world and the God that made it The Wicked cease not offending when they are in
nothing of that place which is commonly called by that Name Scripture assures us that there was a Garden in Eden Gen. 2.8 in which Man was placed yet I might say without absurdity That it speaks nothing distinctly of that place for it tells us only that it was East-ward in the general but saith not what part of the World it was in how long or how broad or how near to the place where Jerusalem stood or the like So in p. 6. He gives us another chip of the same Block Page 6 for he tells us that the word Hell is not found in the Hebrew or Greek And that the word Sheol which is so translated signifies properly the Grave A very precious Revelation and such as might be well accepted if my Author or any of his Judgment would but impart it kindly to those Noble spirited Gentlemen that are Inamorato's to a play and frequent those Places where all things are common For might they not go the more pleasantly thither when they are assured that if they dye when they are at worst they shall go to no worse a place than the Grave and that there is no other nor worser Hell than it for that which precise Men have rendered by the word Hell doth properly signifie the Grave But yet let them not trust too much to this kind of Learning for if they please to consider what I have to say unto it they will find it is not worth one Glass of good Wine Mr. R.'s invention to prove no Hell will prove as strongly that there is no Devil For if this were a proof that there is no Hell viz. that the word so rendered signifies another thing sometimes then I say at the same rate of arguing we might prove as well and as wisely that there is no Devil neither for the word Devil is not found in the Greek Testament since an English word is not a Greek word And that which is translated Devil in the 4th of Matth. and other places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is known to signifie an ill-conditioned Man a Detractor Railer Accuser and such like This I say is the proper importance of the original word And yet sobâ—r Christians will believe in spight of all Mr. R.'s subtilty that it signifies in that Chapter the same that we use to call by that name even the great implacable adversary of Mankind and cannot doubt of it if they read the 10. and 11. Verses of that Chapter And this is that which he hath offered us upon the word Sheol He adds something like it upon the word Gehenna But of that with God's leave in the next Section CHAP. II. SECT II. Mr. R. his Observations upon the word Hell-Fire Damnation of Hell c. Of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Of Tophet Of the Worm that never dyeth censured R. Hell-Fire in Matth. 5. and other places signifies the Fire that was in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom And the word Gehenna which is used for Hell P. 12. and 14. is borrowed from the Valley of Hinnom BUT by his leave the former is denied Hell-Fire in the Gospel doth only allude to that Fire in the Valley of Hinnom Jer. 7.31 where as the Prophet Jeremy sheweth the People most cruelly sacrificed their Children in the Fire Of Hell to the Idol Moloch And is it not very fit for the place of Torment for the Enemies of God to be expressed by this place of Wickedness and Torture As the word which notes a mischievous Person is fitly used to signifie the Devil as was noted before And that the casting into Hell-fire cannot signifie the casting into the Fire of Hinnom aforesaid is manifest because that Fire had been put out long ago and the place turned to another use by the good King Josiah as we find in 2 King 23.10 Gehenna what And for the word Gehenna we confess it is borrowed from the Vally of Hinnom that place of Torture aforesaid and therefore is very fit to express the place appointed for the Punishment of the Wicked c. And that it only alludes to that place Per Metaphoram uti Piscator in Scholiis super Matth. 5.22 Matth. 10.28 but doth not mean the place it self is manifest by what was now said neither was that a place for the Soul to suffer in or for the Body after its Death as the Hell which our Saviour speaks of most certainly is Matth. 10. but rather fear him who is able to destroy Soul and Body in Hell and that too after the Body is killed Luke 12.5 that is He can quicken the dead Body and make it live in the Torments of Hell Of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke the 12. Having pleased his Humour upon the word Gehenna in the 16. and 17. Pages to as little profit to himself or his Reader as can well be desired He proceeds in the following Pages to darken the Light of the word Everlasting from thence to the 22 page of his Book p. 16 17. and 23. which they that admire for good and sound may conveniently Read the foregoing Chapter where I have examined them severally This Reader I thought fit to mention that thou mayst not think I do wilfully pass over any thing in his Pamphlet that is not grosly impertinent Then in the 23 page he passeth his grave censure upon that Text in St. Luke cap. 16. concerning the Rich man and Lazarus where he tells us that it is but a Parable And that I am confident was no new discovery of his own it was found out long before the world had any benefit by this Book of his Then having time and paper to spare he undertakes to prove it by no less than Ten Reasons as the Socinians of old urged 30 Arguments against Infant Baptism But as all theirs were deceitful arguments so Nine of his Ten Reasons are needless ones for in such a case one may be sufficient And when he hath gained what he contends for that it is a Parable yet he hath gained very little as to the cause he hath undertaken For as the Learned Mr. Baxter saith very well If that of the Rich man in Hell and Lazarus should be no more than a Parable Saints Rest part 2. cap. 10. Sect. 4. yet it seems very unlikely that Christ would teach them by such a Parable as seemed so evidently to intimate the Souls Happiness or Misery immediately after death if there were no such thing So say I in like manner it were very strange that Christ should teach them by such a Parable as seems so plainly to intimate a Hell or Torment for the Souls of the ungodly that dye such though they dye Rich if there were no such matter The next place of Scripture he hath taken a view of is Esay 30.33 Of Tophet Esay 30.33 p. 26. c. where he tells us we must understand by Tophet only the Valley of
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
Adam or his posterity but from their sinfulness and that they should not have dyed but upon the supposal of sin And I think he hath done no good office to suggest such a thing as this concerning Mr. Bolton to make the world believe that such an able and faithful Teacher of Divine Truth would play any the least part of the Socinians damned Game In the two following pages he is very vain p. 132. and p. 133. and deserves not my Ink to he spent upon him and if I should lay open all his weaknesses 't is possible I might be thought to deal over hardly by him those therefore that little concern the point in hand or are answered already I need not concern my self with I pass therefore to the next p. 134. where the substance of his many words is thus in brief That if death be the punishment of sin then Christ by freeing his people from the punishment of their sins must free them from dying which he doth not I answer Christ by freeing them from the punishment of sin hath also freed them from death so far forth as 't is a punishment viz. from an accursed death The Faithful therefore though they suffer death yet they suffer it not as a punishment properly so called nor in a way of vengeance but in a way of mercy and therefore blessed are they that dye in the Lord. That pale horse though it sometimes affrights them Philip. 1.23 yet it is sent on a good errand viz. to bring their Souls into the blessed presence of their Lord and Saviour which the Apostle assures us in the same Text is far better than to live with their friends in this sinful world p. 135 136. In the 135 and 136. pages there is nothing that I think it worth while to trouble my self with some things being beside his purpose and others in a great measure against it And that which is for it how do the wicked perish for ever if they must live for ever is no new dish but only the old coleworts new sodden and how much it is worth is discoverable from that which was said but a little before to what he had offered about eternal life in pag. 130. p. 137. R. Men build much in this point upon the second death but what that death is they cannot agree B. I think he is much mistaken in this and do not doubt but Orthodox Divines are very well agreed in their Judgments about it and describe it with little variation one from another But the main mischief is that their Judgment of it agrees not to his and if his be infallible theirs must needs be erroneous R. Mr. Perkins saith the Second death is a total separation from God and if so it is not a punishment without end and seeing God is every where if they be any where how can they be absent from God B. But as Mr. Perkins was as wise a man as himself so his speech herein is not so absurd as he imagines it to be yea I doubt not but it is sound and good and now I shall consider briefly what he saith unto it 1. if so then it is not a punishment without end what warrant he hath to make such an Inference from it I for my part cannot understand for what if that Separation be everlasting as we believe it to be then it will be vanity to say so yea a contradiction too So that this Collection of his is utterly groundless unless he understand this Separation to be by Annihilation and if he do so I have shewed the absurdity of it sufficiently already in disproving the Doctrine of the Annihilation of the wicked 2. R. If they be any where how can they be absent from God seeing God is every where But certainly he must be a very silly man that can think Mr. Perkins was such a fool as to suppose that they could be absent from the Lord in a proper sense or out of his presence I dare say that was very far from his mind and he needed no more to be taught the doctrine of God's Omnipresence than wicked men need to be comforted by his Book against the fears of Damnation yet because he hath mentioned the word Absent from God I may lawfully put him in mind of that Text of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.6 in 2 Cor. while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord he did not think he and the rest of the Faithful were where God is not while they lived in this world and yet he expresses it after that manner because here they were as it were absent from the comfortable presence of God in comparison of that comfort which their Souls should have in his Glorious Presence after they had left their bodies So in this case we mean by the Second Death the total and perpetual Separation of the wicked and impenitent from the comfortable Presence and the glorious Presence of God Luke 13.28 as when they shall be shut out of his glorious Kingdom and depart from Christ to dwell with the Devil and his Angels And though this be not a death properly so called yet it may fitly be called by that name because of the terror of it Death being naturally the most terrible thing as Heaven is fitly called Paradise for the pleasure and purity of it Luke 23 4â—2 though it be not that place which was mentioned in the 2. of Genesis And if a state of worldly troubles may be called a Death in 2. Cor. 1.10 compared with the 8. verse how much more may a state of endless punishment be called by that name See Rev. 21.8 And thus having vindicated Mr. Perkins from Mr. R's cavils I shall pass over the idle discourses of the 139 and 140 pages and speak a few words of that which seems more worthy of my censure in 141 page thus p. 141. R. We read in Rom. 2.31 of very great sinners proud spightful Inventors of evil things and such like yet the word saith not Ro. 6.21 that they are worthy of more than death and if death be the end of these things then there is not any thing to come after death B. This is a rare piece of Learning indeed and such as the common sort of Preachers never had the confidence to teach their hearers either from the Pulpit or the Press But that it may not be thought better of than it deserves let us examine it briefly the main strength of his Speech lies in this That God hath not said that those wicked ones mentioned in that place were worthy of any more than death true indeed they were worthy of no more punishment than death for that death there spoken of is nothing less than eternal Damnation And thus the unpardonable sin 1 Joh. 5.16 called by St. John a sin unto death that is such a sin as necessarily and infallibly brings eternal damnation upon the sinner
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
they were born for nothing but to eat and drink and snort and sport c. or as the worthy Author of the Discourse of the Decay of Piety that live in the world as the Leviathan in the Sea to take their Pastime in it and to make up the parallel delight themselves to devour their Underlings Matth. 6. Col. 3. c. or as the Scripture Phrases it that be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God that set their affections mainly on things upon earth and not the things that are above that mind nothing seriously but Heathen like what they shall eat and what they shall drink and with what they shall be cloathed These I call Sensual Gentry and I will be content to be judged by any but themselves whether I may not fitly call them so and may lawfully say somewhat the more to them because others say so little Yet lest I should lye open to too many Censures for it and lest my plainness should be interpreted to be folly pride or peevishness or the like I think it meet to mention some passages out of several Writers that speak as bluntly to these men as I can do and yet will be confessed to be such as knew well what belongeth to Learning Grace and good manners First the famous Cambridge Orator speaks thus in his Poem Mr. G. Herberts Church Porch O England full of sin but most of sloth Spit out thy Phlegm and fill thy Breast with glory Thy Gentry bleats as if thy native cloath Transfus'd a Sheepishness into the Story Not that they all are so but that the most Are gone to grass and in the Pasture lost That worthy Divine of Broughton * Mr. R. Bolton in Northhampton-shire in his excellent Assize Sermon at the end of his four last things complained of the great degeneration of the modern Gentry speaking to this effect They are so vainly brought up and so strangely pufft up with insolency and Self-esteem c. that commonly by such time as they come to strength of body and mind corrupt affection obtains its full strength and height and hardness in their hearts and I am afraid if we go on meaning without a Reformation our Posterity will find in the next age the basest Generation of English that ever breathed in this famous Kingdom So he in p. 217 and 218. of the said work And whether this thing he feared be now come to pass or not I do not say let others judge The forementioned excellent Doctor also in that very Sermon makes as bold with them Dr. Saunderson speaking to those Gallants that do nothing for the good of humane Society but live as if they were made for no other ends but to eat and drink and sleep and game c. tells them however they might take it that the poorest contemptible creature that cryes Oysters in the streets for a livelihood deserves his Bread better than these brave men and his course of life is better approved of God and every wise man than theirs And as he adds a Horse that is not good for the Cart nor the Way nor the Race nor the Wars nor any other service though he be never so well made never so well shaped and never so well clothed yet is but a Jade still and after the Application of it adds the titles of honour which in courtesie we give you we bestow upon their memories whose degenerate off-spring you are and they no more belong to you than the Reverence the good man did to Isis belonged to the Asse that carried her Image And thus having cleared my way I shall now come directly to my intended work to exhort the brave Gentile sinners to consider the things that concern them which I take to be one of the fittest Uses that can be made of the Doctrine of Hell Torments The Exhortation c. Since there is a state of extream and everlasting punishment for the ungodly in another world 't is high time Sirs to look about you and to take care of your neglected Souls before you have lost them O consider this you that forget God and use all diligence to escape this wrath to come your Estates are better than other mens and your Breeding too as you would have us to think and are your Selves more contemptible or less worthy of your care and Religious regard Surely not You know that your time is passing and will return no more Death is at your backs as it were that pale horse will shortly overtake you and tread your honour in the dust and can you doubt of this or make light of it You are not sure to live another day you know nothing to the contrary but your Souls may be called for this very night Luke 12.20 though you have built your Barns never so largely to lay up your substance in and can you think the remembrance of the pleasures of a Sensual careless life will make death more safe or comfortable to you or if it could yet we are well assured it cannot make Hell Torments the more tolerable and as you are not more capable of escaping them if you dye in a state of sin unconverted so if you fall into them they will be as terrible to you as to other men though you are a little better armed against the crosses of this world than other men yet you have no more security against the curse of the Law and the wrath of God You have no musick that can charm the Devil or abate the fury of his Malice no Playes or Romances that can delight you after death no Clothes that can adorn you in the eyes of God no money that can bribe your Judge or purchase a Pardon at his hand In a word no Courage that can bear up your Spirits against the Terrors of Judgment if it find you in an unrenewed state and destitute of that Grace and Holiness that naturally you disregard O that you did but know any ways but by experience what a sad creature a Gentleman in Hell will be And that you may never know it in that way give me leave I beseech you to caution you against some special sins that are most likely to bring Great men thither 1. Pride and haughtiness of mind 1. Pride What if you speak great swelling words and look as big as a blown bladder scorning God and man at once yet you must come down a little lower if ever you dwell in the high and lofty place you must of necessity lay aside your loftiness and stoop so low as to take up that poor despised thing Religion and walk humbly with your God before you can see the Kingdom of Heaven Esay 2.12 Mic. 6.8 The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty And the proud shall be as the stubble in the day of his Anger Mal. 4.1 and pride goes before destruction saith Solomon And how apt the heart
publick Duty and to hear that word often that is able to save their Souls Shew your Zeal for the Solemn Service of your God and let them know how greatly you love the Habitation of his House and the place where his Honour dwelleth This would be a means to bring them often thither if not for love yet for shame and fear and if they come within the sound of God's Word whatsoever it be that moves them so to do there is hopes they may be the better for it or at least not so bad so blind and bold and hardened in sin as if they had been drinking or prating with their ungodly Companions when they should be hearing the Word of their Lord. 2. To shew your Zeal against Drunkenness common Swearing and all other gross sin by punishing it according to the Laws of the Land and to shew most of your favour and kindness to those Persons or Families that seem to have the greatest kindness for Religion 3. To discourse with your Neighbours in an edifying way Let your speech savour of Grace and discover your seriousness for your God and Souls Let them know by your words the holy temper of your hearts Tell them how glad you would be to be more holy than you are to be perfectly conformed to the will of Christ and how little you value all this World 's good in comparison of his love and the enjoyment of it in Heavenly glory Tell them what thoughts you have of the state of an ungodly Professor and that you would not be in such a case for all the Wealth in the Earth Tell them of the preciousness of Time and the greatness of that work which they must do for their Souls therein and if they seem careless of it ask them seriously some awakening Questions As 1. Do you not know that you are Men and that your reason was given you to make you capable of serving your God with a reasonable service that is a ready willing and conscionable service And do you not know that he is always present with you and pondereth all your goings 2. Do you not know you must shortly dye and your Souls enter immediately into an endless state of joy or sorrow according as you dye godly or ungodly Christians 3. Doth not God deserve infinitely more than your highest love your best obedience The Heavens declare his glory and may it become you to forget him and live to his dishonour Do you not admire the beauty and brightness of the starry Heaven and will you venture to lose all the glory and joy which dwells in the Heaven of Heavens for the transitory pleasures or profits of sin O how much good might a few of such questions or speeches do from a Gentleman's mouth upon his Tenents or Neighbours Souls 4ly Engage them in the reading of Scripture and such Books as open and apply the great truths and duties in it as Bishop Taylor 's Rules of Holy Living the Whole Duty of Man Mr. Baxter's Books of Death and Judgment or any other that your Prudence and Piety shall think fit for them Such private innocent companions I doubt not have been a means of saving many a Soul Engage them also to a constant course of Prayer by themselves and with their Families for the often approaching to God in so holy a work whether with a Book or without will shame them from gross sins and make them more serious in their provisions for Eternity 5. Do all you advise them to your selves and be ready to do good to their Bodies and Names in any reasonable way as well as to their Souls and then there is no doubt but your good Examples and good Counsels may do them good And your labour in all will not be too much in so great a work as the saving of Souls from the second Death My next work is to Exhort All in general high and low rich and poor one with another Surely my Brethren you had need be heedful to your selves since Hell is real O consider your ways and use all possible means to escape the Damnation of Hell I hope I shall not need to add any Motives to it if you believe its dreadfulness and your own deservings And as for Directions for it the following Section will supply you with them CHAP. IV. SECT IV. Containing some Directions to escape Hell Torments Presupposition THis part of my Discourse is designed for such especially as are yet in the ready way to Hell as common Swearers Lyars Drunkards Sabbath-breakers and such like to which I may add our factious spightful Professors that mix very wisely as they think their Malice and their Religion together whose wicked spight against their Parish-Ministers is most blessedly turned into a pure zeal for private Meetings abhorring Churches as profane places and crying out when the time and company is fittest Down with them down with them even to the ground And in a word Hypocrites Worldlings careless and ungodly Persons To such I now speak and to them I would give these following Advices in order to the escaping of Hell-torments Dir. 1 After you have remembred how well you deserve them and how worthy the least sin makes you of them Rom. 6. last vers The wages of sin is Death viz. Eternal Death or Damnation for to Eternal Life it is opposed in the verse much more all your sins together with your obstinacy and impenitency in and under them c. I say having considered your deservings consider carefully the danger of your present state of sin O think a little yea think much how uncertain your life is and how impossible it will be to scape Hell if you dye in an unconverted unsanctified state see Matth. 18.3 Hebr. 12.14 and other places And withall how intolerable its miseries will be to you if for the love of sin you be sent thither The light afflictions of this World are greatly dreaded by many and carefully provided against by sober and prudent Men How much more should the extremity of endless Torments O consider what it is to be for ever I say for ever under the insupportable wrath of the great God and whether the utmost that sin can do for you may rationally encourage you to run the hazard of so great a misery This is the first thing that I would advise you to in this case and if the escaping of everlasting misery be not a thing worthy of our most serious thoughts that may tend that way nothing in the World is nor will Men be apt to provide against a danger till they see and consider the reality and certainty of it and the like Except But say some this is harsh counsel and we cannot take it To consider of such sad matters alas we cannot do it we dare not do it if we should think much of such things we are afraid it might make us mad Answer But Sinner take heed in time and do not deceive thy self thou knowest thou hast
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