rather then they would entertain or admit Communion or desire and practices with them T is possible it may be said that the reason of the difference is because Origens opinion was contrary to Scripture and that this other is not To this I shall make no further reply then in the words of Vincentius Lirin Imo planè nemo unquam Magistrorum fuit qui pluribus divinae legis uteretur exemplis His only fault then must bee that he urged divine Testimonies in uncatholick Interpretations And whether that have not place here also I leave it to every one to consider and so saith Lirinensis again Dum parvipendit antiquam religionis Christianae simplicitatem dum se plus cunctis sapere praesumit dum Ecclesiasticas traditiones veterum Magisteria contemnens quaedam scripturarum capitula nova more interpretatur meruit ut de se quoque Ecclesiae Dei diceretur Si surrexit in medio Tui Propheta Thirdly then to come to your Testimonies from Scripture of the N T especially for proof of the affirmative And 1. for the use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is acknowledg'd that these words properly signify the same that in English death or dying doth But that this should be limited to utter destruction and annihilation is most unreasonable For in the using of this argument it is foreseen and granted that death is taken sometimes for death in and unto Sin Only 't is suggested that those are mysticall and metaphoricall Sences Hereupon I infer that if the words be taken sometimes mystically and metaphorically and yet no assurance that they are so but because they are us'd in a matter whereto death as it signifies a separation of Soul and Body is unappliable then may they by the same reason be taken so elsewhere and not bound to that one which is thought to be the sole literal and proper signification If Death appear to signify in Scripture somewhat beside utter destruction then how can the wickeds utter destruction be concluded from the mentions of their death c Against this it avails not to say that the one is the proper but the other only metaphoricall notion of it for it being granted that the scripture useth Metaphors in one instance why may it not in another as probably This is sufficient to the force of that argument But then ex abundanti I adde that the Notion of Death for utter destruction i. e. Annihilation being only usefull to the disputer it will be hard for him to produce any one place either in Old or New Testament I might adde or in any other Author where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. signifies Annihilation It signifies indeed the separation of Soul from Body very frequently but that is not founded on supposition that in that separation either of the parts much lesse both utterly perish Nay the doctrine for which the proposer of the questions disputes supposes him not to mean death in that notion for then Eternall death the wickeds portion must be eternall separation of Soul and Body which is exclusive of all reunion or resurrection at the day of Judgment which the Disputer averts as hereticall Nay 't is to be observ'd that when our Saviour came nearest the expressing this matter or annihilation he chooseth two other Phrases not this of death or anything that way inclining having never been born and having a milstone hanged about the Neck and being cast into the midst of the Sea which by an imperfect resemblance seemeth meant on purpose to signifie annihilation And yet it is also observable to the main question that either of these states and so annihilation is better and more desirable then the Lot which in Gods decree awaites a betrayer of Christ a wicked man for that one fact Thus far by way of evacuating all force in that Argument To this I shall adde somewhat Positive toward the laying foundation for the evincing the contrary viz. That death in scripture use is as 't is granted in the objection oppos'd to life Life then ordinarily signifies that which results from the union of Soul and Body but it also signifies the result of another union Unio Virtutis betwixt God and the Soul or betwixt God and both In the former of these it signifies spirituall life both as that signifies living well whereby the passages of spiritual vertue betwixt God and us are kept open and free and as it signifies pardon of sin the contrary whereto is expressed by separating and hiding his face and turning himself from us In the latter viz. betwixt God and the Soul and Body i. e. Person of man it signifies Gods favour and protection of which under the style of Gods presence the Psalmist saith that in it is life And then as all felicity is the certain effect or consequent of this kind of union so life oft signifies felicity even that of the highest Magnitude And all this not Mystically or Metaphorically that I know of or if it did that exception is of no force as hath already been shew'd but as litterally and with as full propriety as the union of Soul and Body is call'd Life God being as the School saith out of St Augustin intimior cuicunque rei creatae then the Soul is to the Body and so the several parts of that union more necessary to the several sorts of life signified thereby Mean while it is evident that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life belongs not to being simply for all Ents have not life or to miserable being non est vivere sed valere vita but to greater or lesser degrees of happy and joyfull being the utmost of which is so naturally expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it wants not the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oft times to do it If thou wilt enter into life Mat. XIX 17. and VII 14. and XVIII 8. i. e. the happy being in Heaven Which is so properly that which is call'd life that this we live here scarce deserves the appellation in comparison with it Now in proportion to these acceptions of life must the Notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. be calculated Had life signified most properly being simply taken there might have been some pretence that the contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should denote the contrary to being viz. Annihilation But when it signifies those so many other things and not simple entity 't is most rationall that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should both technically and properly signify the opposites to those severals wicked life the displeasure of God a miserable being here separation of Soul from Body of both from God and above all endless torments in another World Joh. viii 51 52. and that as somewhat to be seen and tasted which were not so well appliable to annihilation and in many other places I instance in one or two more first Heb. 2 14. because there it seems to mee to have a mark
Unextinguishablenesse of the one must be answered with the durableness of the other Tenthly For the same and like Phrases in the Old Testament granting according to the mind of the Objector that they include the second death after the general judgment yet still this avails nothing to the desir'd conclusion unlesse it be farther prov'd that those Words and Phrases do signify absolute utter destruction or annihilation for upon that only the affirmative of the question depends and for that there is no least pretence of proof offer'd here Eleventhly For the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will never be usefull to the disputer for if the first death be the Act of separation of Soul and Body and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the torments of Hell but the state or continuance of that separation as it will be found to signify in all the places of the Bible and in the most and best heathen Authors then the second death being the taking away them must by consequence be founded in the reunion of the Soul and Body that reunion being in propriety the dissolving of separation Act and State both Granting therefore that the casting of death and Hades I must set that word instead of Hell which in use signifies another thing even that whereunto it is there said to be cast into the lake of Fire Revel 20.14 is the second death and the converting those Act and State into a State of sensitive and real misery what can follow thence to the disputers advantage That according to the Rabbinical Notion it signifies final and utter destruction Why let it do so and the result is that then death being finally and utterly destroy'd a never ceasing State of being though that most miserable now takes place and that is eternity of torments far remov'd from annihilation for though utter destruction of positive Entities may be deem'd to signify annihilation yet when attributed only to privative Entities death and Hades it can in no reason signifie annihihilation but the contrary restauration to being i. e. to union of Soul and Body But then secondly that the Rabbins or Chaldae Paraphrast Deut. 33.6 or Is 22.14 meant by second death to denote absolute negation of all being must not be allowed for Deut. 33.6 the Hebrew reading let Reuben live and not die and the Chaldae Paraphrast using the Phrase of the second death that can infer no more then by that Phrase they explain'd what they deem'd already meant by the Hebrew word duly rendred dying and there is no reason or colour for saying that that signify'd annihilation dye he might yet not be annihilated And the like is apparent of the other place Is 22.14 so much therefore for that To proceed then will it be for the Objectors advantage that the second death is express'd by the lake of Fire and Brimstone and that evidently referring to the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah To this I reply first that 't was a tempestuous Rain of Fire and Brimstone that consumed Sodom and not a Lake and so the reference doth no farther hold then the Fire and Brimstone i. e. The terrible stinking and furiously burning Fire and that gaines nothing to the disputer The Fire of Hell may be as searching and noysome as is possible without being finite utterly consuming or annihilating Nay secondly when the Men of Sodome and Gomorrah the inhabitants as well as the Walls were burnt to ashes by that Fire and Brimstone to which that lake bears some resemblance what probability is there that either those walls that were burnt to ashes were annihilated or els that all that people were then annihilated so as to be uncapable of being rais'd and judged at the day of doom Or if they were wherein did their punishment appear to be greater then the portion of any other more moderate wicked man which in the disputers sence shall be so finally annihilated and sure reap no advantage by the state that expects him in the intervall Lastly will his advantage be that as death by being cast into the lake is suppos'd to be utterly destroyed so whoever else is cast into the lake shall be utterly annihilated That I suppose the specially design'd advantage but as it was said it will prove none because death being a privative thing the destroying of that necessarily infers not only a positive Resurrection but consequent to it an undying State and that is contrary to the disputers pretentions And then though those privations be destroy'd by being cast into the lake yet it no way followes that men by being cast in thither shall be destroyed also The concluding thus were as if putting off the prophetical expression one should say in plain words After the death of Adam and all his posterity and their continuing in the state of separation some thousands of years they shall be rais'd againe and their Souls eternally united to their bodyes and of those so rais'd many should be cast into as eternal flames the former of these is parallel to the casting of Hell and Hades into the lake the latter of the persons into the same lake Ergo as there shall be no more separation of Souls from Bodies so there shall be no more punishing of wicked men whereas indeed the very contrary followes The destroying of death is the commencing of this endless miserable life therefore proov'd to be endlesse because death is destroyed and so life comes universally and so to continue eternally instead of it for else death and Hades or that which is more then death annnihilation should returne to have their being again which it was decreed they should not and therefore they are said to be cast into the lake 'T is true indeed if Hades signified the place of Hell or state of torments then the casting this into the lake would be the finishing those torments whether after Origens way or any other it matters not but this as hath been said is not the importance of hades but the State of death as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Act of it To what hath last been said that which followes in the bottome of p. 3. will be found no competent answer The first Answer is that the destruction of death and Hades is spoken properly in reference to them whose Names are in the Book of life But first if this were true then one of my former conclusions must needs be granted that Hades signifies not Hell Torments for that being destroyed to those that were under it the Godly were never under these but the state of the dead in universum Yet secondly it is not true for v. 12. I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened the Books of Register of all mens deeds from which the book of life following is different and the Dead were judged the Dead indefinitely i. e. sure all the dead and yet more deictically by enumeration of all particulars concern'd in it The sea gave up its
Dead and Death and Hades delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every Man according to their Workes Here 't is evident that Death and Hades are properly spoken in reference to all that were to be judged according to works and not only to them whose names were written in the Book of Life And so that evacuates the first Answer The second Answer is that they that are not written in that Book shall never suffer such a Death as brings to Hades but shall fall into a worse the second Death But to this I reply that this distinction hath no ground in the text but contrary wise both Death and Hades are equally there said to be destroy'd to all that were under them both whose names are and are not written in the book of life As therefore to the Godly that Death that leads to Hades is destroy'd so equally to the Wicked and then they are both rendred eternall and then the Wickeds being cast into this lake is not cannot be to be destroy'd there but being a lake of fire to be tormented there eternally as is most apparent v. 10. where the Divell was cast into this lake and the beast and the false Prophet said to be there already yet were not annihilated by being cast thither but as it follows shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever That they fall into a worse death I willingly grant and think it usefull to the cause I defend for suppose a Wicked Man whose impiety costs him dear here one of the Divels saddest Martyrs cruciated with the Diseases his Sins have brought on him in an exquisite manner many years and at last either seiz'd on by the hand of Justice and delivered to a wittily tormenting Death or exercised many years with the rack of Stone and Strangury or the like and at last by these horrid miseries his Soul rent from his Body and he continue in Hades many Hundred years and certainly partake of no good in that estate at the utmost but rest from the labours of his former life Can it in this case be said that the second Death is worse then this and yet this second Death defin'd by a swift Annihilation Certainly it cannot Nothing but long continued if not endless Torments can be said worse then those so long continued Torments But whereas it is added that the second Death is absolute and eternall destruction as the scripture elsewhere speaks I reply that the scripture no where speaks so never uses second death of any such thing as annihilation nor ever seems in any other words to say of any wicked man that he shall be annihilated As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I grant it parallel to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but can see no Argument producible thence that either of them denotes annihilation being both so much more proper to denote Torments and those eternall For the valley of Hinnom 't is known that Children were not burnt to Ashes there but put into hollow brazen vessels and there fryed and scorched a most lingering pain and therefore call'd Tophet from the Timbrels that there us'd to sound to drown the noise of their dismal cryes And for the lake the Text is expresse they that be tormented without intermission Day and Night without cessation for ever and ever And though the valley of Hinnom being on Earth was not a state of of Eternall but temporary punishments yet that is no prejudice for being to take a resemblance from earth and humane punishments where nothing was eternall the most that could be was to take the sharpest and most lingering Torments thereby to expresse those which being most sharp were eternall also Thus much for the Texts of Scripture and phrases therein which seem favourable to the affirmation but duly weighed have not so prov'd Now for the Consideration taken from God's Attributes of Justice and especially of Mercy p. 4. There seem to me to be three weak parts in the arguing First that to those sins which are committed under temptations and infirmities of ours not generally releiv'd by a sufficiency of auxiliary grace God's eternal punishments are suppos'd to be affix'd by them that maintain such punishments of eternal torments Certainly they that thus doe doe amiss and by so doing give great occasion to those that believe them to find other measures for justice in God then those which he hath prescrib'd to men whereas in matters of this nature God is content to be judg'd by our Tribunal and measures Judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard and Are not my wayes equal But they that maintain God's requirings Mic. 6. to be proportion'd to his shewings and the sufficiency of the Divine grace ready for all that will make use of it and therein found the justice of punishing those that do despise or neglect those meanes so liberally and abundantly provided for them by God have given no cause for that exception It is by them on the contrary marked out as an act of superabundant mercy that God forsakes not upon the first refusals and not making use of his grace he is long-suffering and most willing and most ardently labours that all should come to repentance even such as have long resisted his Evangelical methods of rich grace Secondly that weight is laid upon the Temporalness of the sins committed in this world intimating I suppose the unproportionableness of Temporal to Eternal and therein founding an objection against the Justice of those punishments This I suppose is believ'd to have force against those that are wont to answer it by compensating the want of weight in the temporariness of the sin and sinner partly by the eternity of God against whom the sin is committed partly by the preparedness and inclination of the man to sin eternally in case he should live eternally And I shall confess that I have alwaies look'd on those as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as the Schools have many not able fully to satisfy humane understanding and have therefore been careful in several writings to offer surer grounds of satisfaction in this matter by laying the weight on the option which is by God given us of eternal blisse on one side as the reward of our Evangelical obedience as on the other of eternal woe on our wilful denying and this finally and obstinately persever'd in which makes it most just that they that resolutely and inexorably make this choice of never so much ill to themselves should have none but themselves to blame for the unhappinesse of their portion Thirdly that God in inflicting punishment is compar'd with man in respect of the compassion supposeable in him to see any the worst man thus afflicted Whereas I conceive God is to be look'd on here only as the Rector of the Universe whose office it is to proceed in the work of Judicature without passion on either side You may see it in a Judge on Earth which if he be a
deprivation of life and all that is precious here and very much more of bitterness after it And this is further inforced by their being not consumed but tormented with Fire and Brimstone not here as Sodom was in the presence of men but in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. i. e. by the sentence of Christ with his assembly of Angels in judgment and so vers 11. the smoak not simply as Rev. 19.3 nor of their burning or consuming as in Isay it was but of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night quite contrary to death whereby men rest from their labours and to annihilation much more which is a perfect cessation and that eternal as opposite as was possible to having no rest day nor night so chap. 19.20 where 't is said of the beast and the false prophet the Roman Idolatry and Magick c. i. e. the eminent supporters of the former by Magick and auguries the principal factors for the holding up the Heathen Worship Apollonius Tyanaeus c. See note on Rev. 13. g.h.i.k. that they were cast alive into a Lake burning with Fire and Brimstone the meaning in all reason must be that they were from this life sentenced to be cast into exquisite torments not that they were utterly destroy'd or consumed but as infallibly removed to that place of Torments as if they had gon down quick Bodies and Soules together into Hell Here indeed is nothing said of the perpetuity of those Torments but that is expresly set down chap. 20.10 not only as far as concernes the Divel that was to bear them company and was cast into the Lake where they are which by the way must either inferre that the Divels who are not deemed to enter on their full punishment till the day of Doom shall then also be annihilated or that the wicked who are then in the same condition with the Divels shall not be consumed or annihilated but particularly as to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Beast and the Prophet shall be tormented for ever and ever And if you shall demand why I said not this thus particularly in the Paraphrase and Annotations on the places of the Revelation I answer that it was not agreeable to my design on that Book which was only to set down the grand lines and branches of that obscure Prophetick Writing and not more nicely to descend to every minute expression in it Where it is said pag. 12. l. 8. That to apply any passages in the Revel to that which is to follow after the last judgment is not so Prophetical and therefore not so probable a sence I answer that all that is future as surely all that followes the last judgment is may well be ingredient in a Prophecy and so in this probably enough if either speaking of vengeance on wicked men this be added over and above their visible portion for that sure is very fit in a Christian Prophecy when wicked men oft thrive very prosperously here 'till the day of full iniquity and their accounts comes and then they die oft but as other men and would not deterr any man from following their steps if we were not admonisht that after death they must meet with a dismal Portion or speaking of the end of the World and the day of doom the several allotments of men be there seasonably mention'd also as we see it is in Rev. 20.12 13 14 15. As for the last reserve that if the punishment here described be to be understood of that which followes the last Judgment yet no expression used in any of those Texts doth necessarily signifie an absolute eternity of positive Torments I answer that undoubtedly some do I instance in Rev. 20.10 as it hath been formerly inlarged on day and night for ever and ever expresseth an absolute eternity as much as any words of man can do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth plainly denote positive torments and referring peculiarly to a rack doth thereby denote the kind of positive torments to be such as are not designed to ending the life but to continuing it in great paines for so we know the Rack is among men Now for the exceptions to Rev. 20.10 I must adde somewhat 1. 't is suggested that that seems not to be spoken of the last final judgment I grant it is not but of the houre of death whereon I suppose those wicked mens Soules cast into the Fire of Hell and never rescued from thence till Body and Soul together at the day of doom being joyned in those torments they are shut up thither to all eternity Secondly 'T is suggested that it seems not to be meant of Hell i. e. Gehenna into which none were ever cast alive i. e. before the first death To this I answer that to be cast alive into Hell is a phrase like to that of going down quick into Hell used of them whom the earth swallowed up Wherein 't is more then possible that such notorious sinners might go Bodies and Soules together to Hell without any previous separation by death by the same analogy whereby we believe that Enoch and Elias went up bodies and souls into heaven without seeing death and whereby we believe the same of those that shall be found alive at Christ's coming both wicked and Godly But then secondly if this be not certain enough to be adhered to then the phrase will signify as suddenly and really to be cast into those Flames and there to be tormented as they could be imagin'd to be if bodies and souls together they should be cast alive thither and so this is a direct prejudice to the sleeping of their souls or receiving any interval of rest from their passing out of this life and their entring into the torments of hell Of the places in the Apocalypse some things are added to the taking off from their force First a desperation of any certain understanding of that book To which I answer that 't is but a panick and popular fear which is the author of that desperation and keeping men from the study of it makes it necessarily unintelligible whereas First there be many repeted passages of Christ in it designed on purpose to excite men to the studying of it Secondly there are evident characters which serve as keyes to the understanding of it and nothing but the seeking and fancying depths and mysteries in it hath made it so mysterious the meaning nearest to literal and such as by comparing it with other prophecies appears to be the one prophetical signification of each passage will be found to be the truest and they that strein higher and seek farther off to find what was never intended by the inspirer or the Amanuensis are the men that have made this Prophecy obscure which would otherwise be as perspicuous as any one of the greater Prophets of the Old Testament Secondly when 't is suggested that the places
generous and valiant sinner may meet and grapple with The which is put in practise by framing easy Characters of the inflictions apportion'd to transgression and likewise shortning the date of their duration And indeed this method of procedure seems to be the last effort of resolute Impiety when men determin'd not to leave their sin rifle the regions of darknesse for their shelter and seek a refuge in perdition fulfilling the prophetick strain and high Hyperbole of making a Covenant with Death and being at an agreement with Hell A method which though not perfectly unknown unto precedent generations was rarely ventur'd on but seems left like to the barbarous Western VVorld to be invaded and possest by this our Age. Even that which having attempted Mischiefs beyond all common practise was in reason to look out for salvo's and excuses no lesse peculiar And as if these would not be authentick if only whisper'd in discourse we have liv'd to see them made the Argument of Books and magisterially disputed as sober truths and maximes of Divinity For besides the preparatory Doctrine of the Socinians who teaching men to disbelieve that Resurrection which God asserts leave it an easy task to overthrow that which themselves contriv'd We have in our own language been solemnly instructed that the pains of Hell are nothing but the luxuries of Earth the drudgery of getting Children and living or'e again that age which sensual men would live for ever We have bin likewise taught those pains dwell only in the phancy nay in the VVishes and importunate desires of them that are tormented as if the flames of the infernal Tophet had bin the painted Fires of Purgatory and every criminal were his own Hell and pain and Devil too Lastly we have been taught that the severity of the day of judgment shall pass upon its self when death shall learn to dye damnation be condemn'd and perdition be destroy'd Whilst men have brought again from the infernal pit that monstrous Heresy which should have justify'd its doctrine by having been its self consum'd there and lost unto Eternity Alass who will from henceforth be afraid of sin if it only punish by inflicting pleasure torment by baiting us with keen desire or end in painless deperdition We can dwell with consuming fire and peacefully cohabit with everlasting burning if the flames be only those of lust or of desire or be they real ones if they utterly consume and are so great as to be withal most friendly and calcine us in a moment Which severals being thus nakedly premis'd there will not need a farther Preface to manifest how very seasonable the subjects of the ensuing discourses are nor more to justify the Edition of them unlesse it may be useful to declare that these considerations were so weighty as to perswade thereto the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London who was entrusted with these Venerable Remains though he otherwise is very jealous without much caution to commit and will not suffer any other person to bring the posthumous labours especially the occasional private letters of his friend to publick light least though every thing which fell from that Excellent Pen merits its readers full reception yet wanting the advantage of a review it may not altogether merit and deserve its Author that is be not so exactly absolute as whatsoever past his second view was sure to be May the Charity of the one in writing and the other in publishing these discourses be answer'd in the advantage of the Reader who can only by being convinc'd there is a Hell escape the knowing what it is and will happily confute these Papers by being a Proselyte unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudgment worthy of God or An assertion of the Existence and Duration of Hell Torments SIR AS soon as I had made my last dispatch to you it pleased God to fasten me to my bed for some dayes by the returne of a fit which hath been my frequent exercise from whence being now after five dayes remov'd to my chaire I have some liberty to review your question and think it best with my pen in my hand to offer to you in the same order which you have us'd my thoughts of every period And first for the termes of the Question they want somewhat of Expresness For supposing as you doe that the Wicked rise and are judged and adding from hence that their sentence shall be that they shall utterly be destroyed yet it is uncertain whether that sentence shall be immediately executed or after some space or if immediately whether by a swift or lingering destruction For he that should affirm the wicked to be at the last judgement committed to a fire which should torment for many hundred or thousand years and at last consume and annihilate them would affirme the affirmative of this question and so he that advanc'd from 1000 ds to millions of years and ages of sufferings concluded at any the longest last with abolition And then the arguings that are after us'd from Gods Justice c would be of little force if no more but this were design'd to be gained by them For it were sure as much Justice to punish eternally as to punish millions of years and then annihilate when the supposed ground of Injustice is the lightness or shortness of the Acts so punished which would in the Eye of Law and Equity bear as little i. e. no proportion with many Millions of Ages as with duration absolutely infinite I shall therefore take it for granted by him that proposeth the question that he means destruction immediately following the dooms-day sentence and that no lingering but swift destruction Next then p. i. for Origens opinion granting it right stated as I think it is I demand for what reason that is mention'd Is it not for this because Origens Doctrine was deem'd an Heresy in the Church and that of some ill and dangerous consequence to be believed If so then it must be considered whether they that deem'd Origens Hereticall can appear to have been more favourable to this which will not be found or whether the ill consequences of this be not as dangerous as of Origens i e. whether the belief of no future punishment to the wickedst Hypocrites in the world save only of swift annihilation will not be as forcible a meanes of securing wicked men that have no tast or spirituall joyes in the admitting of any gainfull evill as the belief that after a long space of horrible torments proportionably encreas'd to their number of Sins and the aggravations thereof they shall one day no body knowes when when the Divells have been punish'd enough for their highest rebellions and continued hating and opposing of God be delivered out of their flames and made partakers of vision of God and society of Saints and Angels which they ever hated and never desire to see or be in their company and have suffer'd all those torments
well-natur'd man never willingly pronounces sentence dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox but yet must utterly disclaim his Office if he do not secundùm allegata probata pronounce that sentence which the Law prescribes against such or such a fact and resist all temptations of his compassion in so doing Such a severity is that of God's which the office which belongs to him in the World exacts of him even when he swears that he is far from delighting in the death of him that dies and most passionately exhorts to repent and live and imputes it to absolute wilfulnesse for which no reasonable account can be given by any man that he will thus suffer Should he never make such lawes to represse Sin by assur'd expectation of eternal punishment we might easily judg what a World or rather Wildernesse of savage Creatures this Universe would be by what it now is even after all this severity of menace and interdict T was therefore most just and most necessary that he should thus have ordein'd and enacted these sad lawes And therefore in great Justice and Wisdome and without any resistance from his infinite goodnesse and mercy He thus enacted And having done so should he as oft as any one came to suffer according to those Lawes retract or dispence with set his Compassion to evacuate the processe and frustrate all the wise designes of this his Justice Certainly no man would ever expect this of an all-wise lawgiver or after he hath set his Seal to this grand Indenture so solemnly as by his Son's promulgating and signing it with his blood imagine that his Compassion should thus tempore non suo interpose when there are so many more proper seasons wherein he hath effectually demonstrated himself to have as much of that to every the wickedst man that perisheth as any the tender'st father even David ever own'd to the most desperate rebel Son Absolon that finally refuseth all returning to mercy 'till at length he perisheth in the midst of his Sin to the wounding his Fathers heart These are three competent exceptions to that part of the arguing taken from Gods attributes And therefore to the additional considerations for the strengthening thereof the reply will be easy that if they are the greatest part of the World that falls under this severity this is but necessarily consequent to that greatest part being such as that sentence most justly and indispensably belongs to and consequently not such whose guilts are truly suggested to be thus more venial and of an ordinary degree but only such as proceed from malice and obstinacy grosse negligence or groundlesse presumption For for all other sins of infirmity ignonorance and even wilfull timely retracted by repentance there is remedy prepar'd under the Gospell Only whereas to the two heads of infirmity and ignorance as proofs of the more ordinary degree of guilt the Objecter addes negligence strength of temptation corruption of nature affection evil education and example and then in grosse farther addes many other circumstances both positive and privative abating the hainousnesse of the guilt This will deserve to be better consider'd both because the most of these as the case truely stands yield no matter of just excuse to any for so 't is sure of examples of men when in evident opposition to the commands and intermination of God so of affection or sensitive passion when in contradiction to reason and humane nature the upper soule which ought to exercise its dominion given it by God over those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bestial part of the man and not be corrupted and led captive and blindfold by it so again evill education when contrary to the light of naturall conscience corruption of nature when repair'd by grace temptations of the flesh or world or Devill when infinitely outweigh'd by contrary motives to obedience and good living and because some of them have much of malignity in them which may well enhance not lessen the guilt Of this sort I chiefly instance in negligence such as it may be supine and wretchlesse which in a creature and servant containes all degrees of enhancing any sin 't is wilfull for he might be more careful 't is obstinate for he is oft warn'd of it by the noxious effects which he cannot but discerne of it and the Master 's continual precepts to the contrary 'T is presumptuous still imagining he shall find mercy when God assures him he shall not in this way and upon that groundlesse confidence still presuming to offend 'T is most ungrateful scorning and contemning to make any use of the greatest treasures of grace all ready for him that would use tolerable diligence 'T is an act of horrible pride in despising God himself his precepts threats promises of infidelity both active and passive not believing God not being faithful to his service And it self being nothing in effect but height of Idlenesse and that doing or admitting much more ill omitting much more good meerly to gratify that one swinish vile pleasure of sloth then any covetous voluptuous man doth for his greatest treasures or tast fullest sensualities it hath as it were all the aggravations of all other sins collected into one sink or kennel In this place the description assign'd the worst of men viz. men of flagitious and contumacious lives may perhaps deserve some animadversion For if this be the one measure to which eternal punishments are thought commensurable 't is possible there may be great and dangerous mistake in it For 1. There are many principles of godless living all meeting in the effect casting off the yoke of God's obedience and so equally deserving to fall under the severity of those lawes by which the world was created and manag'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the two comprehensive names of them but there are several under each Under the first pride and rage and revenge c. under the second voluptuousnesse of all sorts Covetousnesse desire of praise c. And every of these have a foundation in our corrupt nature and temptations from without also And as one soyle is more unhappily qualify'd for the one so another is for another And if all the restreints commands preventions excitations invitations engagements mercies punishments of God all his Methods of armature and fortifying each man against these domestick enemies and traitours of his may not be permitted to have any force toward his rescue out of this slavery to any of these sins there is little reason of excuse that will hold the pleading for any of these The contumacy is in effect the same in each in him that askes God forgivenesse for his intemperance every day and every night wallowes in it as to him that goes on sullenly and demurely and hath no regret to it The aggravations are several but the difference of the degrees of malignity hardly discernible Or if the disadvantage be on the side of the stout flagitious offender this is no
eternal death may be truly cald everlasting punishment because though death should inferre annihilation wherein there is nothing ergò no punishment yet Death it self is something and is joyned with real paines as well as privations but of those or any other reality the state of annihilation is not capable and then to say everlasting punishment though that were supposed to signify no more then everlasting poena damni yet must it be founded in everlasting being for no man can be punished everlastingly by deprivation of bliss that hath not a being at all to be thus capable of devesting or deprivation for non entis nulla est affectio But to this it is replied that the text saith not the wicked shall be everlastingly punished but they shall go into a punishment and that punishment shall be everlasting and such is everlasting death To this I answer that there is no ground of this distinction in the Text which saith together they shall depart into everlasting punishment which is certainly the very form that would be used if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were designed to be never so positively punitive if it were into the furnace of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Secondly 't is replyed that a man may suffer or be punished by that which he doth not actually feel and many attempts are made for the proof of this But it is sufficient in a word to say that none of the proofs come home to the state of annihilation whereof only our question is A mad man or fool may suffer though they discern it not a dead man who is not annihilated but lives in his better part may suffer in his memory children friends here much more while he lives may he without folly desire to avert such sufferings but he that is not is not capable of any of these and if I were sure that to morrow I should be nothing no real consideration of my self but either present care of others good or perhaps irrational phansy would incite me to make any provision for after that morrow So again privation of possible felicity is to any one that hath being a real punishment because he is a looser though not sensible of what he hath lost but to him that is not 't is an absolute nullity and were a man sure to be annihilate the fear of this were unreasonable for that time when he should be nothing and the only thing that renders it reasonable now is because he hath a being and hopes to continue it or whatsoever he is seduced to believe to the contrary yet still he desires it and as long as he hath life may well desire and cannot choose but wish all the accomplishments and even images of it and at once fear the loss of life and all felicities which either do or may accompany life But still this man's being subject to this fear because capable of the causes of it is no proof of his being punished who is supposed not to be he that hath a being and desires the continuance of it suffers when he looseth it but he that hath no being is not to be esteemed by these measures any more then he that hath never yet been is this day punished by not being created or conceived till to morrow Nor to this is it any way consequent as is objected that the desire of everlasting life should not be a reasonable desire For though it be reasonable to fear the privation of a reasonable desire yet this fear is only incident to him that hath a being and he that hath no being cannot have desire how reasonable soever it is for him that hath a being to have it The Sadduces had a being when they desir'd praise and though they believed no immortality of souls yet they believed durability of memory and memory was a kind of image of life and they that despaired of the body might take some content in the shadow but even that a meer shadow and phansy too which also would be at an end whensoever their being were supposed to be so So again the same Sadducee whilst he lived might fear death because he enjoyed somewhat which he was unwilling to loose and because death it self though it were thought to enter him on a state of nothingness yet was it self something both respectu sensus damni And beside the Sadducee could hardly be Sadducee enough in the point so as not to have some fear of the contrary however he still had a being and was to be unwilling to loose it But that having no being should be real punishment to him that is not is above my comprehension As to what is said in the objecter's person p. 10. at the beginning that if he believed annihilation he would yet as much fear the punishment as he desires everlasting life I shall grant it on this presumption that he now believes he shall enjoy everlasting life but then he that thus desires and fears is supposed to exist and to him 't is granted that deprivations are penal and again though he would fear that yet sure he would never fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the notion of eternal sensible punishments and scorchings of fire I know not whether all that I have said of the nature of the privative punishments be maturely said or no as non entis non est affectio so I have alwaies found it hard to satisfy my self concerning any thing of that which is not Only I rest my self in this that my mistake if it be such is sure of so nice a making that I cannot my self discern it and therefore it is not to be imagined that the truth of Christ's speech should hang on so weak a string as it must if by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ meant no more then eternal deprivation of being For if that which is not cannot be eternally punished how can the wicked be said to depart to eternal punishment when they are annihilated For everlasting judgment I acknowledg it signifies no more then the former imported and so is to be concluded by the discourse on that 'T is the adjudging to a state which shall last to all eternity or a sentence wherein the eternity of him that is judged is concern'd Next for their worme never dying I have three things to add First that the worm in dead bodies devoureth very slowly and leasurely and so is as fit as any thing could have been to express lingring torments Secondly that the worm devoureth not the whole body the bones and firmer pars are not liable to her malice and so 't is most unfit to express utter annihilation of the whole Thirdly that the worm being peculiar to dead and putrified bodies is a most lively representation of gnawings and miseries after death and then when instead of mortal worms which are the only instruments of gnawing on dead bodies there is somewhat else threatned by Christ which is fit to be expressed by the style
Fire and Brimstone into which they are cast which must be a very strange figurative expression if it signify no more then their own voluntary acts appetitions and aversations Thirdly it is manifest that those diseases which precede many Men's deaths do change their appetitions and aversations The luxurious Man on his sick Bed hath not those vehement desires of Weomen delicate meats c. which he had in his health Why then should I think that after Death his appetites of what he desir'd in via viz. in his life and health should continue to him Nay 4. When Souls are divested of those Bodies which were the necessary Instruments and also the fomenters of those carnall sins and again when the body before its re-union is so chang'd as not to be sustein'd as in via it is by eating and drinking 't is not imaginable it should retain those natural desires which in via it had And when they no more marry in Hell then Heaven and are as equal to evill Angels as the Saints in Heaven are to good ones and the natural end of all carnal desires ceasing it is not imaginable God should continue those desires to them for ever Or if any should so conceive many strange wild consequences unfit to name would be equally probable equally unimaginable 5. By this stating the losse of Heaven will from hence only be penal that Men desir'd Heaven in via or judg'd it fit to be desired And if so it will be no punishment to them that never thought of it at all as infidels or despised it as they did all spirituall joyes and thought it not worth desiring as they that placed all their appetites on carnall and material pleasures which are the worst sort of men who in consequence hereunto must be least punisht in Hell poena damni Having said thus much against your Scheme I owe my self the pains of adding a word or too for the defence of the way that I have us'd in the Practical Catechisme viz. by considering the option given to us by God wherein you seem to me not to have observ'd that on which the chiefe weight of my account was design'd to lie That God propos'd to Men life and death blessing and cursing eternal joyes and eternall paines as the Rector of the Universe I take for granted and so do you as an Article of our Faith So that of the an sit the question is not but considering the transitory short pleasures of sin the onely question is How eternal paines are with any justice proportion'd to them and to that the answer is Not that they are proportion'd to them but that there is no need they should be because God having propos'd the joyes of Heaven and much more immunity from these paines upon termes put absolutely in our power it is meerly our own fault not imputable to the decree of God if we fall under those hardest paines The extremity of which was primarily design'd as by all prudent Lawgivers punishments are to deter men from those sins which are fenced with so thorny an hedge not that they may be inflicted on any but that all may be kept innocent and in this sence 't is ordinarily observ'd that the everlasting Fire which is threatned men was prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels Yet when such threats are entred into those lawes whereby the Universe is governed it is just and reasonable that they should be also actually perform'd on the disobedient else it were as good nay better to all political ends that they had never been made or promulgate And if still when they come to be inflicted they appear to be hard or above the proportion of the offence there are yet other wayes of superseding that exception beside the evacuating the decree viz. The several branches of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which the Gospel hath provided in this matter First That those which wee could not either by Physical or moral possibility avoid should not be charg'd upon us to this condemnation as Original sinne sinnes of Weaknesse Ignorance sudden surprise Indeliberation c. Secondly That know deliberate voluntary sinnes if timely retracted by repentance Humiliation Confession change of mind shall not fall under it Thirdly That God gives sufficient grace to avoid all willful sin and again sufficient grace to repent when it hath been committed and inflicts it not till he sees men go on obstinately and that they will not repent Fourthly That he calls and warns and importunes them to consult their own safety to make use of his grace timely and not obstinately to harden their hearts against their own mercy and so to perish in despight of mercy Fiftly That he offers not only deliverance from these torments but over and above eternal joyes upon so easy termes of so moderate nay desireable performances that they which will neglect so great Salvation propos'd to them with so many advantages and concurrence of all rationall motives and finally make so mad a choice as to take Hell as it were by violence cannot but be thought worthy to take their portion in that lake be it never so punitive and endless Because though in respect of that one sinne the short pleasure that comes in to them by sin compar'd with intensive endlesse flames there is no proportion yet 1. In respect of their obstinacy and unexcusablenesse 2. In respect of God's tendernesse using all wise means of moderating the rigour of his Law by the Gospel though not by utter abrogating his Lawes which becomes not either a just or wise Lawgiver or Rector of the Universe all shew of Injustice is remov'd particularly by the second taken alone much more in union with the first and third the rule being owned by all rationall men volenti non fit injuria be the evill never so great 't is just they should have it that finally make it their choice so doth the persevering Impenitent and that not only an hasty passionate choice as Nero's Mother's Occidat modò imperet which yet Historians observe to have brought her death justly upon her but a deliberate stanch obstinate constant choice when their Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifyer have us'd all prudent probable meanes to gaine them to better counsels and choices but all in vain they die because they will die When yet they are oft warn'd and expostulated with of the irrationalnesse of that will or choice 'T is true when they come to suffer their own choices they are far from liking them as Xiphilin observ'd of Neroe's Mother in the foremention'd case and then 't is likely would fly from them call to the mountaines to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb But their choices being primarily terminated in the pleasant sinnes and but consequentially in the paines annexed to them by God's Law 't will be as unreasonable that they which have chosen the former should be freed from the latter as that he that hath bought a Commodity at a price