Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A31280
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An impartial examination and refutation of the erroneous tenents of Thomas Moor in his dangerous writings intituled Clavis Aurea &c. wherein he is not ashamed to insinuate his being the Elias mentioned in Malachi, denies an Hell, or future punishment, and boldly asserts the inevitable salvation of all men.
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T. C.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing C135; ESTC R35832
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20,498
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25
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more than their Hearts could Wish whilst he was plagued all the Day long and chastened every Morning But when he went into the Sanctuary and there Recognized his Interest in God he knew the Reason of these differing Dispensations that the former had but a miserable Portition and that his though attended with the Cross was far more Elegible Therefore in the Conclusion he Addresses himself to God Psalm 73. 1 2 3 4 5 c. 14 15 23 24. Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast upholden me by my right Hand thou shalt Lead me by thy Counsel and afterwards Receive me to Glory ' T is most certain that the Sufferings of this Life in the highest Degree which Christians can Experience are not worthy to be compared with their future Glory Rom. 8. 18. and therefore they have Cause to bless God instead of Murmuring or Repining Yet to Imagine that such shall be Coheirs of the same eternal Happiness who not only enjoy the Quietness of this World 's imaginary Pleasures but Live and Die in an unregenerate Course wholly void both of restraining and sanctifying Grace is to make them the special Favourites of God and does much more derogate from divine Goodness and Purity than to Believe that he will Inflict infinite Punishment for finite Sins for the latter is not only warranted in and by the Scriptures but 't is agreeable to right Reason That the absolute Soveraign and Creator of all things should Impose such Laws upon his Creatures either as to Rewards or Punishments as seem best to his own unsearchable Wisdom and Pleasure Such Foolish and Atheistical Arguings as seem to Impeach Limit or Direct the Supream Being are briefly yet sufficiently Refuted by the Apostle Paul Rom. 9. 20 21. 2 Col. 2. 8. and may be ranked with that dangerous Philosophy and vain Deceit against which he gives a seasonable Caution Secondly Next to an impartial Search into the Divine Oracles too much neglected and no less perverted I would wish T. M. and every other Person that does but so much as Hesitate at the Belief of a future Punishment to make it their Business to Converse with such dying Persons as have been most negligent in the great Concerns of another Life and especially with the most bold and daring Atheists who turn all Religion into Ridicule and by a kind of Infernal Philosophy which their grand Master is always ready to furnish them with appear as Champions not for but against the Truth whilst the feeble Nexus of Health or uninterrupted Union between Soul and Body lasts and they can Swim in temporal Pleasures Such hesitating Person or Persons may then if not Case-hardened chance to meet with some more effectual Convictions than whilst they are partially Busied in defending their own erroneous Notions When the dark Shades of Death appear and the Soul apprehending the nearness of its inevitable Separation hath the clearest Idea's of things and can no longer be cajol'd into a servile Compliance with the Organs of Sense then is the fittest time to mark its Apprehensions of a future State As some have anticipated the Joys of Heaven and been so brim-full at the Soul 's taking its flight from this earthly Prison that they could scarce contain it So many others who in the Series of their Lives have seemed wholly void both of the Fear and Belief of a future Hell have had such plentiful foretasts of it in their own Breasts and so powerfully preached them to others as was sufficient to have overcome the most Stoical Apathy in any Spectator How have they then Confuted their own former Principles and Practice with the most passionate Clamours the bitterest Reflections and the evident Tokens of Intollerable Torments What would they not then give for a little Respite to Convince the World as well by Practice as Words of their former Mistake What a dismal thing must it needs be with such inexpressible Horrour and as it were the Beginnings of Hell to Lanch forth into the Ocean of Eternity Then there will be a certain but a terble Conviction of all those who now either professedly or practically disregard a future Punishment though they may at present seem so Confirmed in their Stupidity as not only to Reject Moses and the Prophets c. but if possible a Messenger from the Dead The next Erroneous Assertion to be Examined is Fourthly That Man in his Primitive Innocency hath not nor now hath in any measure a free Will or Choice in himself But that Adam 's Fall and the greatest particular Transgressions ever since were by Divine Predestination and Compulsion That our first Parents in their primitive State of Paradisical Innocency were endowed with a freedom of Will or Choice in respect to their Obedience or Disobedience to the Divine Commands and though not absolutely free Agents because under the Limitation of a righteous Law not impossible to be performed were in no wise constrain'd to Violate or Infringe it without their own voluntary Deviation and that God the Fountain of all Grace and Goodness though in his unsearchable Wisdom and eternal Foresight permitting and providing an Expiation for Sin neither was nor could be in any respect the efficient or impulsive Cause thereof is very agreeable to the Scope of the holy Scriptures and the sense of the antient Christians Aug. lib. 1. de Orig. 〈◊〉 cap. 4. Ambros lib. 1. 〈…〉 cap. 1. But this Doctrine it seems is strange to T. M. who tells us in his Myst of Iniq. p. 24. That he cannot imagine or believe that God could certainly foresee Adam's Fall if an equal power was given him to stand or fall and the reason he gives is because he viz. T. M. cannot plant in his Mind any Idea of the way and manner of such foresight Doubtless they who will attempt to measure out Infinite Wisdom Knowledge Power or any other of the Divine Attributes by the narrow limits of depraved Reason had better never meddle with things of so sublime a nature And indeed 't is much more safe and commendable not only for such but for all persons to avoid prying too curiously into the unsearchable depths of the Divine Counsels the Eternal Essence Purposes and Decrees of the incomprehensible Trinity as also their wonderful manifestations in time in the mysterious work of Creation and Redemption whereby 't is so easie for frail Man whilst blinded with the thick foggs of these lower Regions and especially without great caution and humility to run into a Labyrinth of Errour and just that God should suffer him so to do Without soaring so high after speculative Knowledge we have sufficient ground for admiration and praise whilst we consider That the Tree of Life is not wholly lost that God hath not left Mankind in this miserable estate altogether destitute of help and hope Col. 1. 15. Eph. 2. 20. Rev. 3. 14. Col. 1 16. John 1. 3. Rom. 5. 15. 16 17 18 19. Mat. 11
till the Bridegroom's Coming also from his seasonable Caution to the Unbelieving Jews to walk while they had the Light Joh. 12. 35. together with his assertion to the same obstinate Jews dying in their sins Joh. 8. 21. Whither I go ye cannot come As Death leaves Judgment finds us For if there had been any middle state of probation doubtless the Apostle Paul would not have been altogether silent in this case when he tells us 'T is appointed for all men once to dye but after this the Judgment Heb. 9. 27. And if St. Peter had thought the work of Faith and Repentance so indifferent in this Life or attainable in another 't is scarce probable he would have pressed it so earnestly in his Advice to the scattered Saints to use all diligence that they might make their Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Solomon advises to an industrious improvement of the present time because there is no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither we are all hastening Eccl. 9 10. The good King Hezekiah in his thankful acknowledgments to God after a signal Reprieve from the Jaws of Death and we may suppose him to have had as right apprehensions of that dark and silent state as any Man utters these expressions The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy Truth Isa 38. 18 19. What can be understood by that Scripture Metaphor as the Tree falls so it shall lye whether c. but that this Life is the only acceptable time the only day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 2. and if once pass'd is irrecoverable for ever and that death when ever it strips us of these Tabernacles will fix our Souls in an unchangeable state either of Happiness or Misery according to the bent of our hearts and lives in this World And notwithstanding T. M's sophistical Inference and confident Conclusions I heartily wish that neither he nor any others may neglect the great and essential work of Faith whilst conversant in the paths of time lest a future remembrance of the present opportunity prove an aggravation of Torment when all hope and comfort shall be cut off for ever Secondly 'T is very absurd to imagine that Faith shall be given to Souls already possessed of an eternal state since this imperfect state of Mortality is the only proper time for the exercise of it Faith is indeed the most pretious Jewel to poor bewildred Mortals on this side Jordan Hereby they may sometimes like Moses from the top of Pisgah get a glimpse of the promised Canaan for their present consolation and support whilst sojourning in the Tents of Kedar Psalm But when they are once safely arriv'd on the other side and have reach'd the sweet Air of the upper Regions leaving behind all the filthy Garments and heavy cloggs of corruption Faith which was before so valuable becomes swallowed up in fruition and they will no more need or make use of it than a Man restor'd to perfect strength will the Crutches with which he was formerly supported in an accidental Lameness And for such as dye wholly without Faith what middle state shall we imagine them to be lodg'd in that can capacitate them for the exercise of this essential Grace Since the Scriptures mention but two Receptacles for the spirits of all Men when dislodg'd from their earthly Prisons viz. the eternal bosom of Divine Love where Faith ceases as having attain'd its end and the Society of accursed Angelical Spirits where Faith if present could not be less unsuitable Therefore waving further Arguments in so clear a case I proceed to consider the third Assertion of the same blasphemous strain often repeated in the several Writings of the said T. M. viz. That there is no Hell or future state of Eternal Punishment but by those terms we are to understand only the troubles of this Life It seems needless to enumerate the many undeniable Testimonies in holy Writ for clearing the certainty of a future eternal Punishment Since nothing can be more plain though T. M. is not afraid to smooth over with inconsistent Glosses some of the most Remarkable Luke 16. as the Parable of Dives and Lazarus and of the Goats on the left Hand Sentenced to everlasting Punishment Mal. 25. ult verse 41. together with the Form of that dreadful Sentence Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Advice to Pluck a right Eye c. rather than to have the whole Man cast into Hell Fire where the Worm dieth not and the Fire is not quenched The Lake of Fire and Brimstone mentioned in the Apocalypse into which all whose Names are not written in the Book of Life shall be cast c. All which he will have to be no more than Bugbears to frighten the World or at most but figurative Expressions to signifie the Troubles of this Life His suggesting a Double Eternity or everlasting Clav. Aur. p. 12. one during the Continuance of the Body on Earth and the other hereafter in the unbodied State is so ridiculous as also his Application that it needs no Answer Without running into nice Disputes about the Locality of Hell or the Kind of Fire c. which are at best but opposing Humane Reason to Divine Wisdom and Authority and a very dangerous Step towards Atheism It is most certain from the whole Scope and Harmony of the sacred Records both of all the old and new Testament that there is a real not imaginary Hell or State of eternal Punishment allotted to all obstinate and finally impenitent Sinners And whether we ought to esteem the Scriptures of unquestionable Verity a Cheat and Christ himself who is the Way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14. 6. an Impostor or T. M. is not difficult to Determine But First If there be no other Hell than the Troubles of this Life Then the most eminent Servants of God have generally been the greatest Objects of his Wrath and many of the most hardened Sinners felt little or nothing of it What do we find more frequent than that the best of Gods Children have been most sorely exercised with Afflictions in this Life and yet out of a gracious End and as a Badge of his Paternal Love Heb. 12. 6 7. Rev. 3. 19. to Purge away their Dross that they may come forth as tryed Gold and be better fitted for the highest Manifestations of his Grace and Favour whilst others who make choice of their good things in this Life have been suffered to go on in an uninterrupted Course of sensual Pleasures without any remarkable Check Crosses or Calamities to the Period of their Lives Something of this Nature the Royal Psalmist observed and records as a stumbling Block to him for a time When he beheld their Eyes standing out with Fatness That they were not in Trouble c. but had