Death to be seiz'd by the Devil and carry'd into the place of Torment Oh dismal Thought to have the Confidence of a whole Life broken in pieces in one Moment How terrible to be found at Death under the Wrath of God when they would never believe it nor consider it till too late You can now Read or Hear a Sermon of an * See more of this Serious Reflections on Time and Eternity Sect. xix Everlasting Hell and of the Misery of a Lost Soul as one can bear a terrible Description of a Shipwrack who never was at Sea but it will be quite another thing if when you expect to be sav'd you drop into Hell O look into the other World make the Supposition of your own Death and what is like to follow Admit the serious Thoughts of it for a few Moments Retire sometimes on purpose for this But with how few can we prevail for so much as this You will not be perswaded to it lest it spoil your Mirth damp your Pleasure make you Melancholly and Sorrowful but if you die in Sin there will be nothing but Sorrow after Death And in your present Case I may say As the Lord lives and as thy Soul lives there 's but a Step between thee and Death between thee and Intollerable Endless Wrath. Now if you are a little awaken'd by a serious Sermon Book or Providence and Conscience begins to trouble you and make you uneasie you have many things to divert and quiet it but hereafter there will be nothing of all this How little is this believed by such as talk with a seeming Bravery of laying violent Hands upon Themselves And in case of extream Pain or any great Disappointment to put an end to their own Lives to dispatch themselves and die by their own Hands Is not this to proceed without the Leave of the great Governour of the World whose Propriety they destroy and against whose Providence they Rebel by such an Act * That it is unlawful according to Natural Principles See Mr. Adams's Essay concerning Self Murther 8vo newly printed But if there be a Heaven or Hell to follow Death which the greatest part of Mankind in all Ages at least of all Christians ten thousand to one have believed how hazardous and destructive is their Folly Fourthly We may hence take our Measures of Wisdom and Folly according to Mens Conduct and Care with reference to the other World and the two Eternal States of Mankind One would wonder how things of so great Moment should be forgotten and not alwaies in our Minds Would it not be strange * Dr. Spurstow Medit. xliii Upon Time and Eternity 8vo if a Man who was to be judg'd to morrow and receive the Sentence either of a Cruel Death or of a Rich and Honourable Estate should not keep in mind the Business of the next approaching Day without tying a scarlet thread on his Finger to mind him Is it not strange that the Infinitely greater things of Eternal Life or Death should not be remembred and thought of when we know not what a Day may bring forth Will not the Folly be Inexcusable as well as the Punishment of Sinners Dreadfull who shall feel Everlastingly what they would not be perswaded to fear Suppose a Man much desirous of Sleep and in his perfect Mind should have an Offer made of one Nights sweet Rest on condition to be punisht an hundred years for it would he accept of Sleep on such terms And do not they far worse and make a more foolish Choice who for the short Pleasures of Sin will lose Eternal Life and hazard the enduring of Endless Misery What is it that makes our Cares and Fears so Preposterous That we are afraid of a little Suffering here and not of Hell That we are Anxious about to morrow and Thoughtless of Eternity That we dread the Lightning and slight the Thunderbolt What Name can be given to that Folly for a Man to own his Soul may be lost for ever and yet take no Care to save it To believe an Everlasting Heaven and yet be at no Pains to obtain it To own the Horror of God's Eternal Wrath for Impenitent Sinners and yet Live and Die without Repentance These are Extravagancies beyond common Madness and of more Dangerous Consequence What will become of that Man's Wisdom who is not Wise enough to prevent Eternal Misery Who liv'd with some tolerable Reputation as a Wise Man in this World and yet so Dies as to call himself Fool for ever and suffer to all Eternity the Effects of his Folly Can the World and all that I shall gain of it save me from Wrath to come Bring me off when I appear before the Barr of Christ Prevent the Sentence of Condemnation or Release me from the Pit of Hell if I am once sent there Or will it be any Refreshment in the place of Torment to think what a brave Figure I made on Earth How many Hundreds a Year I had How Large and Beautifull Pleasant and Convenient a Dwelling How much I was Honour'd How many Servants to Attend me How many Thousand Pounds I got spent or laid up or had the Disposal of Will the Thoughts and Remembrance of these things give me any Comfort in Everlasting Burnings What 's all this to me if once my Soul be Lost Let us then judge Righteous Judgment and we cannot but conclude that is Wisest and Best which will prove so at Last Not to Believe the Eternal Torments of Hell after such Clear Evidence and Repeated Declaration of the Word of God is egregious Folly But not to Disbelieve them and yet do nothing to escape is more Astonishing Who would drink a Draught of cooling Liquor if told there is Poison in the Glass And yet Men go on in Sin and Drink in Iniquity like Water though they are told the Wages of Sin is Eternal Death All the Pleasures of many Years in a course of Sin cannot compensate for a Man's Burning in a Furnace at the End of that time though but for four and twenty hours How is it then that the repeated Threatnings of Everlasting Destruction should not weigh more to keep us from Sin than the Gain of a little Money or the pleasing a Friend or gratifying an Appetite in the short Enjoyment of a forbidden Pleasure Who would chuse to to be treated like a Prince or a King for one Day or Week or Month if he knew he must at the end of that time be rackt and tortur'd to Death and finish his Days in Exquisite Torments And what is this in Comparison of Dying the Second Death Suppose that Origen's Opinion should be true * Bishop Jer. Taylor The Foolish Exchangs Serm. XIX That Cursed Souls should have a Period to their Tortures after a Thousand Years would it not be madness to chuse the Pleasure or Wealth of a few Years now with Danger Trouble and Uncertainty and for this to endure
their Joyfull Sense of the Happy Change And to compare their own Condition with that of Lost Miserable Souls To think of the Hell they deserv'd and others suffer and they themselves did sometime fear and compare it with the Rest and Peace and Joy and Glory that they now partake of will add to their Felicity And who can tell how great that is even before the Resurrection For eye hath not seen 1 Cor. ii 9. nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him It is represented in Scripture by and above all such Pleasures as do most sensibly Delight us to set forth the Joys of Heaven to be unspeakable and full of Glory When the Divine Image shall be perfected the Body of Sin and Death removed all our Darkness Impurity and Corruption healed And if there were nothing else but a perfect and eternal Freedom and Deliverance from Sin with all the Causes Concomitants and Effects of it they to whom it is now the greatest Burden Trouble and Sorrow must account it an Unspeakable Felicity But the Soul shall then awake as out of Sleep to see and know things as really they are and be in a state of more vigorous Activity than while it animated the Body But what the Blessedness will be of Faith turned into Vision when all the Powers of the Soul are enlarged raised and suited to the views of God's Glory by Christ and made more receptive of Divine Communications is what we want Words to describe and can think and speak of but very imperfectly For now we see thro' a Glass darkly but hereafter Face to Face without interruption or obscurity This we know that they shall not only escape the Damnation of Hell but enter into a state of Happiness the Joy of their Lord. We read of Glory to be revealed in them and Glory conferred on them In general as to real and positive Blessedness for the Souls of Good Men after Death even before the Day of Judgement we have not only the Testimony of Scripture but somewhat from the Light of Nature * Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous Chap. 10. All the Philosophers who believ'd the Immortality of the Soul and how few but did allow it they profess to believe the Happiness of the Souls of Good Men in separation from the Body for knowing nothing of the Resurrection of the Body they could not dream of a sleeping Interval till the Day of Judgment The like we may say of a state of postitive Misery for wicked Souls after Death Here in this parable is a Lost Soul condemn'd to Torment assoon as departed this Life before the Resurrection And Torments so extream as that the most inconsiderable Refreshment would be reckon'd a great Relief The Discourse is fram'd according to the Nature of a Parable between the Rich Man in Hell and Abraham in Heaven and Lazarus with him How fain would he now change Conditions with the Beggar whom he neglected and despised at his Door What would he give to be comforted as he is But he lift up his Eyes in Torment unexpressible Torment and so the Scriptures every where represent it Rom. ii 8. 'T is call'd Indignation and Anguish Tribulation and Wrath. 'T is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Psal xi 6. He will wound the Head of his Enemies Psal lxviii 21. We read of a Lake of Fire a Lake of Brimstone a Furnace of Fire of tearing in pieces cutting in pieces dividing in the midst drowning in Perdition of being bound hand and foot and cast into Fire to be burnt of outer darkness chains of darkness the great Winepress of the wrath of God c. Be sure the Sufferings of the wicked in the other World are greater than we can endure for obeying God in this otherwise the threatning of such a Punishment would not be an effectual restraint from Sin But how extream must be that Punishment set forth by the violence of Fire enraged with Brimstone and prepared by the wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels And the Sting of a guilty enraged Conscience as the biting and gnawing of a Worm on the most tender part 'T is represented in such a manner as is most proper to impress the quickest sense of terrour on our minds to strike our Imagination with the Extremity as well as the Reality of those Sufferings And if the Expressions be but Metaphorical they make the Torments the greater as intimating rather that they are but faintly shadow'd by what is most grievous in this World We read of being tormented in Flames and yet of Darkness Everlasting Fire and * See Dr. Lightfoot 's Genuine Remains 8o. 1700. Explanation of difficult Texts Decad 11 § 6. Outer Darkness The fearfull state of Sinners under the Wrath of God describ'd by both We read that the Aegyptians under the plague of Darkness saw not one another neither arose any from his place Ex. x. 23. This the Psalmist gives an account of in these terms Psal 88.49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his Anger Wrath and Indignation by sending evil Angels among them The Indignation of God without any beam or spark of his Favour is Darkness indeed And the Devils may rage and roar and terrify and yet Sinners be held in Chains of Darkness that they cannot stir God is represented as a Consuming Fire Heb. xii ult a Devouring Fire and Sinners fall into his hands as an Avenging Judge Isa xxxiii 14 We read of his Fiery Indignation to devour his Adversaries of his Wrath and Power to be made known Rom. ix 22. and glorified in their Destruction And who knows the Power of his Anger said Moses the Man of God who saw his Glory The Wrath of God is the Hell of Devils and of all the Damned If he be angry but a little we can't stand at the rebuke of his Countenance we perish what then if he stir up all his Wrath in the day of his fierce Anger when he comes to execute Judgment and to render Vengeance from the Glory of his Power upon the Wicked fitted for and reserved to Destruction You may fancy the most terrible things can be dreaded of Fire and Brimstone Wracks and Tempests boiling Pitch scalding Lead or a burning Furnace and being kept alive for a long time to suffer such exquisite pains But all we can hereby reach to conceive of the Pains of Hell falls as much short of the Torments of the Damned as one little spark of Fire on the hand compared with the furious rage of Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace heated seven times hotter than ordinary 'T is impossible for the most awakened Conscience to conceive the Horrour of it Who can tell how God can punish or what the guilty Soul can be made to suffer under the Wrath of a provoked God! when he comes to be revenged for all
Soul that there shall be nothing to incline nor cause a change It is a little thing to say the Blessedness and Joy of the Saints shall last as many Years as there has been drops of Rain faln from Heaven since the beginning of the World for it shall endure as long as there is a God in Heaven and He is the same who was and is and is to come from Everlasting to Everlasting Our God shall live for ever Our Saviour will never die and we shall live for ever in his light and love and likeness Blessedness and Eternity shall be united How great a thing is this to say my God and Saviour and for ever mine Eternal Life is all the World in one word and more than ten thousand Worlds To be ever with the Lord to have an immovable Happiness in the presence of the ever-living God To say my Portion is sure and can never be lost It is mine for ever what a glory is this Now I may lose my Health or Credit or Friends or Life but the Gift of God by Jesus Christ is Eternal Life Nothing shall ever separate us from the Love of God in Christ This is the very Spirit of Heaven the Crown of the Blessedness of the Saints To be for ever the objects of his Infinite Love to enjoy a Felicity that shall never decay or be diminished never be forfeited or lost It will rather always encrease for we cannot possibly know God all at once New Beauties will still discover themselves in an Infinite Object and therefore we shall love him more and more by knowing him more and so our Joy will continue and encrease without fear or danger of a period But we shall know and love and rejoyce more and more without end Oh! how imperfectly do our weak and shallow Thoughts conceive of this Blessed Eternity To be Blessed with the Lord in Glory and never dye To rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and ever to rejoyce To live for ever belov'd of God and to be joyfull and happy in his Love for ever Oh! what Hearts have we that can admit the hopes of this without a Transsport without despising all those things that people call Great upon Earth but are ended with us in a dying hour * See more on this Head Reflections on Time and Eternity Sect. xx Secondly The Gulf is fixt as to the Misery and Torment of the Wicked They have no Expectation of Release Eternal and Everlasting are joyn'd with the Torments of Hell as well as with the Blessedness of Heaven These shall go away into Everlasting Punishment Though their Bodies be held Prisoners in the Grave till the Resurrection their Souls are in misery waiting for their final doom And at the last day of the World they shall be found in the same state as at the day of Death and then be punish'd with Everlasting Destruction The terrible Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire This is the acknowledged Doctrin of the Christian Church in all Ages and most expressly asserted in the Holy Scriptures We read of a Worm that never dies of a Fire that shall never be quenched Everlasting Punishment Eternal Damnation Everlasting Destruction the Blackness of Darkness for ever a Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone where they shall be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever and where the smoke of their Torment ascendeth up for ever and ever This Doctrin is very cunningly undermin'd by some upon the account of their corrupt Principles and boldly deny'd by others for the sake of their ill Practices The Adversaries of the Divinity and Satisfaction of Christ would have the Punishment of the Wicked at the Day of Judgment to consist in * Ignis Eternus in Sacris Literis vocatur non is in quo res ei injecta aeternum uritur nec unquam consumitur sed qui ita rem exurit ac consumit ut illa in Aeternum non restituatur in integram vel qui tam diu ardet donee res illa planè in totum comburatur ut ex eâ nihil prorsus remaneas Ita Esai 66. ultimo Dicitur de occisis quod vermis eorum non morietur nimirum sicut vermis qui in cadavere alique nascitur tamdiâ— vivit nec moritur donec cadaver fuerit prorsus absumptum Vide Marc. 9.44 Videtur haec locutio sumpta ex Esai 34.9 10. ubi Propheta divina judicia Idumaeis interminatur Mutabuntur torrentes ejus in picem terra ejus in Sulphur eritque Terra ejus pro Pice ardente noctu interdiu non extinguetur in seculum ascendet Fumus ejus Crellii Comment in Mat. 18. v. 8. Comment in 1 Cor. 15. Ut vero Deus in omnibus justitiae tenax est ita hic quoque super neminem extendet panam meritis â—jus majorem Nullà autem possunt esse peccata â—am gravia quae sâ—mpiternis cruciatibus possent aequart Wolzogenius in Matth. 25. v. â—6 See more Passiges of this kind in Bishop Pearson on the Creed Art XII and Dr. Edwardâ— of the Socinian Creed 8vo Chap V. Annihilation a total and eternal Dissolution of their Persons that they shall be eternally destroyed and consumed so as to exist no more Whereas the Scriptures sets forth the Misery of Sinners in the next World under such Expressions as plainly denote the Existence of the Sufferers Would any one describe Annihilation by being plung'd into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they shall have no Rest Day nor Night for ever The word Perdition Destruction Death us'd for the Sufferings of the Wicked in another World do manifestly import extreme Misery and not Annihilation God is said to destroy Nations when he brings great Calamities upon them An Oppressour may destroy many Persons and Families and yet is not supposed to Annihilate them The Prodigal is said to perish for Hunger tho' he were yet alive So for the Expression of losing the Soul for a Man to lose his Soul is to perish eternally in the other World in our Saviour's sense of that Expression Matt. XVI 26. What shall it profit a Man to gain the World and lose his Soul The word we render lose signifies to have a Mulct inflicted on him to lose it in a way of Punishment to be punish'd in his Soul And 't is brought in as an Argument why a Man should not fear Temporal Death but lay down his Life when our Saviour calls him to it Because if he should save his Life and yet lose his Soul as to the other World though he gain'd as much as can be suppos'd of this World He would be a miserable Creature and make a foolish Bargain To understand the losing of the Soul only of a Temporal Death would be to destroy the Argument which our Lord brings it for yea it would be a Reason against their doing that which in the foregoing Verse he tells them they ought to do even lay down their
we disbeliev'd it But we are here told that the Testimony of God in the Holy Scriptures is à more certain Evidence than that can be If such a One should come from the Dead what could he tell us of Heaven and Hell more than has been told us already by Moses and the Prophets by Christ and his Apostles Can there be greater Arguments made use of to bring Men to Repentance than are in the Holy Scriptures Can we hear of a better Heaven or a hotter Hell than is described in the Word of God Or may we hope for the Concurrence of God's Grace with that rather than with his Word Such an Apparition may affect our Senses and strike our Minds a little for the present but would not turn the Will nor change the Heart nor reform the Life We see that by the Case of Pharaoh who had several Miraculous Plagues one would think enough to convince him but he harden'd his Heart still We see it in the History of the Jews who notwithstanding the sight of continu'd Miracles for forty Years they are complain'd of as a Stiffneck'd Ps lxxviii 22 23 24. Rebellious People Yea our Lord himself rose from the Dead and his Resurrection was confirm'd by Five Hundred Witnesses and yet how few Believ'd it We cannot have such Certainty of a particular Apparition as of the Resurrection of Christ And you 'd find it hard to distinguish a true Miracle in that case from a Counterfeit How many in the Church of Rome are deceived by Stories from the Dead If you had your Desire granted in this would you not be tempted to take it for a Spectre a Phantom a waking Dream a melancholy Mormo But if you should believe it and it should affright you for a little while yet 't is very probable that the Impression would by degrees wear off As we find by the Recovery of Persons from the Brink of the Grave who apprehended themselves in the very terrour of Death and the Pains of Hell did almost compass them about they were then full of Sorrow for Sin made many Resolutions against it but we find upon restored Health it quickly comes to nothing they relapse into their old Sins and are not perswaded even by their own Convictions If Lazarus had been sent to the Rich Man's Brethren was it likely they would have Believed him Might they not have plausibly rejected the Message and suppos'd it to be a Cheat How could they imagin that Abraham would take such a one into his Bosom as poor Lazarus or employ him on such an Errand 'T would have been a Disgrace to their Family to Believe such a Report of their Brother's Damnation especially when brought by such a Messenger It may be they would no more have hearken'd to Lazarus now testifying from the other World than heretofore when begging at their Brother's Door The Lusts and Vices of Men would very likely hinder the Success of such a Miracle as this and find ways and shifts to evade the Force of it as well as resist the Evidence and Force of what is laid down in the Scriptures What is said here in the Parable to be denied to One Lazarus was granted as to Another that is our Lord did raise one of that Name from the Dead after he had been Dead four Days and yet some of them who knew him before and when he was Dead and Risen again and convers'd with him afterwards yet were not convinced by that Miracle of Christ to Believe on him for we read Joh. xi 53. That from that very Day of raising Lazarus The High Priests and Rulers took Counsel together how they might put him to Death And we read of One blind and dumb and possessed of a Devil who was healed by Christ Matth. XII 22. where were three Miracles in one and yet it did not convince for we read ver 38. Certain of the Scribes and Pharisees say unto him Master we would see a Sign And after our Lord had miraculously fed Five Thousand Persons with Five Loaves and Two Fishes Joh. VI. some of those very Men who had seen the Miracle and eaten of it and were so far convinced for the present as to say to one another This is of a Truth the Prophet that should come into the World Yet the next Day or within a Day or two when he told them they followed him for the Loaves They say unto him What Sign shewest thou that we may See and Believe as if he had never wrought a Miracle before Yea the Disciples of Christ himself who were Witnesses of so many Miracles were not so far perswaded by them as not to forsake him nay not to deny him To Conclude We are not to expect any such Extraordinary Method for our Conviction while the standing Revelation of the Will of God in the Scriptures is sufficient and the Doctrin there taught hath been abundantly confirm'd by Miracles And if one should rise from the Dead and appear to us 't is probable enough it would not perswade us to Repent if the Word of God will not perswade us But no other Sign our Lord says shall be given but that of Jonas the Prophet That is what 's signified by it the Resurrection of Christ And that hath been Confirm'd by numerous and undeniable Miracles by all manner of Evidence and Proof that such a matter of Fact is capable of Which will leave us without Excuse if we Believe not his Doctrine the Truth of which is sealed by his Rising from the Dead We should therefore study the Holy Scriptures and the Rational Grounds of our Believing Christ to be the Son of God and consequently that All that he hath told us of the Other World will most infallibly come to pass His Resurrection confirms the Truth of all And we are not to expect Any more to Rise from the Dead till We our Selves do unto our Last Judgement The Book is seal'd as the Gulf too is fixt And they that hear not Moses and the Prophets Christ and the Apostles are not like to be perswaded at all But if the Gospel continues to be hid 2 Cor. iv 3. it is hid to them who are Lost AS to our Deceas'd Friend Mr. Shatterden Thomas whose Repentance and Death occasion'd this Discourse and at whose Desire I preach'd and publish it what I shall say concerning him from my Self shall be more in the General because several Particulars I apprehend will be mention'd with more Advantage from the Account given of him by a very Worthy and fit Person who frequently visited him in his last Sickness whose Acquaintance with him Love to the Memory of his good Mother Respect for his Family and Relations and tender Compassion to his Case made her willing to discourse him and give that serious Counsel and Advice which oftentimes is better and more effectually receiv'd from such a Friend than from a Minister And his just Regard for her Quality and Character