of the sad Condition in which Adam was after he had eaten the forbidden Fruit and upon the sense of his Fault had hidden himself from God hoping at least wishing he had done so when God enquiring after him though knowing well enough where he was asked him this Question Adam where art thou He makes this Answer for him proper enough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I am where they are who are not able to look upon God where they are who obey not God I am where they are who hide themselves from their Maker where they are who are fled from vertue and are destitute of wisdom I am where they are who tremble by reason of guilt and cowardise This being the melancholick condition of wretched sinners after they come to consider how things are with them in the cool of the day when the heats of their Wine and Lust are over their ranting mirth ended their Passions becalm'd and they begin to bethink themselves and to reflect upon their Extravagancies and are made to hear that still voice which call'd to Adam after his prevarication Wise men having compared the sprightly erect chearful temper of good men with this Law justly pronounced that vertuous persons do not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Not only exceed a vitious man in that which is honest but also overcome him in pleasure for which only the sinner seems to betake himself to wickedness And this pleasure is so considerable that Aristotle could say that it did exceed that of the wicked those Fugitives from Vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that it is more pure and more solid and so is as another calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a pleasure as one shall never have cause to repent of But those pains which I forementioned are more considerable because they are both more pungent and more lasting than those of the Body which made Simplicius say of them That they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that they are more grievous stay longer and are harder to be cured A bodily Distemper is more easily relieved than an evil Conscience take away the present pain and the Body returns to its health but the soul is pain'd with the remembrance of what is past and the sear of what is to come which is so great an affliction that many times it makes the present state intolerable Therefore Holy Scripture and Ancient Philosophers called the state of Sin the Death of the Soul So our Saviour said of the vitious Prodigal that he was dead and the Apostle of the wicked world that they were dead in sins and trespasses and the Heathen Philosopher the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. The death of the soul is the deprivation of God and Reason which are accompanied with a turbulent conflict of inordinate passions And that none might think that he dully supposed that an Immortal Being can dy he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Not that they cease to be but that they fall from the happiness of life And in another place he says that wickedness is the corruption of an Immortal Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it corrupts it as much as is possible For this reason when any of Pythagoras's Sholars abandoned the practise of Vertue and lest his Society they hung up a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an empty Coffin for him looking upon him as one dead And they might very well do so for is it not the destruction of a reasonable Being to be corrupted in those Principles which are essential to it to be spoiled in its best Faculties to be hindred from the free exercise of its Natural Powers to be bereav'd of that joy which a man hath when he acts according to that which is best in him to be deadned to a vital sense of his chief good and to be deprived of the love of God which is the very life of good men Whatsoever intercepts the favourable Influences of God's Benignity doth as much contribute to the death of the soul as he would promote the bodie 's life who by some fatal obstruction of the inward passages should hinder the communication of vital Spirits to all the parts of the body What joy can a man have when the indwelling God is grieved and the Fool lives in contradiction to the connate Principles of his soul 2. This brings me to the second Demonstration of the Reasonableness of Repentance because sin is an insolent contempt of that excellent order which God hath planted in Humane Nature which is his Law upon it and is the ornament and preservation of it There are few who have so little use of their soul bestoweds upon them but that they know they are better than their Bodies and that the Faculties of it do transcend those of the sensual Part and that the mind doth not only understand what is best but hath Authority bestowed upon it to govern the bodily Appetites which being inferiour in Nature and needing a Guide ought to receive Law from it The soul doth discover being it self taught of God by its natural light and super-added Revelation what is the happiness to which it was made the best good of which it is capable and shows the means by which it may be attained directs assists in the use of them propounds rational Arguments to persuade to use and persist in the use of them can baffle such Objections as are raised either by the homebred Enemy or Forreign Tentations to hinder the soul in its chearful progress towards its Felicity The soul tells us what satisfaction is allowable to the bodily appetites disting uisheth between lawful and unlawful utterly forbids the latter and commands that there be no excess in the former shows what Moderation is and the benefit of it and represents the mischief as well as the sin of excess threatens death upon the eating of all forbidden Fruit. Order is then observed as it ought to be when all the Faculties do obey this Superior upon whom God hath bestow'd power to discern Freedom of choice and authority to command For which reason ancient Philosophers have call'd it by very agreable Names as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is the part to which is committed the guidance of all the rest It was called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which rides and governs the lower Faculties as the Charioteer doth his Horses with Rains because it was placed in man to guide the Affections and conduct the Faculties of soul and body in what way they should go and what pace and to teach them when to rest and when they went astray to curb their Extravagancies and to reduce them into the right Path. It is worthy of all reasonable Beings to maintain this Dignity and it is their Duty to see that it be not trampled upon This made a great Philosopher say that when a man is assaulted by any
speaking in him c. To which one may very well add What was St. Paul only a Servant of Christ's in Notion of Mind but not in Obedience of Will who had served him faithfully so many years and suffered the loss of all things for him and was ready to do so again Whom the Law of the Spirit of Life had made free from the Law of Sin and Death who lived but no longer he but Christ in him willing what he would in him and doing what he would by him for to him he had resign'd Soul and Body Strange Is it the Art of a true Christian to contrive how he may evade his Duty instead of doing it Will any wise man build the peace of his Conscience and lay the stress of his hopes upon Excuses Can any man make us believe that the chief of the Apostles was so dull as not to see a difference between an Excuse and an Aggravation Doth any thing aggravate a sin more than to commit it against ones conscience Was this the sincerity of an old Disciple the attainment of Paul the aged Had he but so learn'd Christ or taught him no better To excuse himself that he sinned he did what his Conscience told him he should not have done He hath rejected this vile pretence as much as can be in two places where he speaketh plainly of himself I have lived in all good Conscience to this day i. e. according to the Principles of Vertue which he had being a Jew and what did he grow worse afterward No for he saith that having received Christian Principles he did then as being more obliged exercise himself always to have a Conscience void of offence to God and Man It had been a brave Defence had it not for the Primitive Christians to have told the Heathens according to this interpretation that they desired to be better than they but were indeed as bad especially since they had received in their Regeneration a power which enabled them to overcome those sins to which the Heathens were slaves For so the same Apostle Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh. Not that he meant dully if they live in the Spirit they should not live in the Flesh no but that if you follow the conduct of the Spirit you will receive those assistances from it which shall enable you to overcome those Tentations which Hypocrites pretend as the only Excuses why they live after the Flesh. But these assistances must be made use of A man may be overcome of another not stronger than himself if he will not use the Arms which he hath to defend himself It is promised that if we resist the Devil he shall fly from us But can any man think that if he do not resist the Devil he will fly from him or that his yielding to the Devil will be any excuse to him when he is overcome and made his Slave when he did not resist him To close this since foolish Excuses are useless in these matters let every sincere Christian say to himself O my soul it is time for thee to know what thou hast attained in Christian Religion to seek a proof of Christ dwelling in thee and to find a good Evidence of true goodness What doth all that thou hast done amount to Dost thou find in thy self a thankfulness which is in some good measure answerable to the goodness of Christ's Love and the many Benefits which thou hast received from him Hast thou that Reverence towards him which is due to the Dignity of his Person Is thy Temper conformable to his Gospel and thy Life to his holy Example Dost thou only please thy self in the contemplation of Divine Truths and rest in the speculation of heavenly things dost thou not also endeavour to find the power of Gospel Motives working in thy soul to the ends for which they were propounded Dost thou carefully read the holy Gospel that thou mayest not be ignorant of or forget any part of thy Duty and then pray with hearty Devotion for Grace to help thee to obey and then makest use of what is bestowed that thou mayest receive more as need shall require Dost thou give thy self leave to make Hypocritical Excuses for Disobedience and pretending that Christ is made Righteousness to us thinkest that thou mayest indulge some sin in thy self or rather abhorring that falsness doest thou endeavour to give Testimony of thy Love to Christ's Person by obeying his Commands and seekest Reconciliation with God only upon the terms which he hath appointed Dost thou find that as the first purposes of thy soul were to obey so the habitual inclination of thy mind doth propound still the same way and that the constant workings and daily motions of thy soul are all set for the accomplishment of thy holy purposes The good man who finds that it is thus with him will be conscious to himself of his sincerity to God the inward sense and feeling of his soul will tell him that his Conversion is sincere as a man knows himself to be an honest man who endeavours in all his actions to keep himself close to the Rules of good Life 5. To what hath been said I need ad no more but that the sincere Christian makes a daily progress towards the perfection of degrees goes on to perfection as the Author to the Hebrews said The sincere Christian doth not make it his work vainly to compare himself with others whose defects he thinks he hath espied and please himself in what he hath attained because they are not so good but humbly desires by daily endeavors to grow better than himself and to bring the sincerity of his estate nearer to the perfection of Degrees He is mindful of the advice given to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. He grows in knowledge who understands his way to God better and better for the light of the Righteous shines more and more to perfect day The Traveller that understands his way pretty well having a great Journey to go riseth it may be by Moon-light or takes the first dawnings of the Morning for his Guidance but as the day comes on he grows more assur'd by the clear light But he grows in Grace too i. e. he is bettered in soul and does his Duty to God better and rides on more confidently and with more speed as the Traveller doth when he hath more light to assure him of his way We learn from the Apostles of the Gospel Assistances bringing a good Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a perfect man to that measure of stature which is full of Christ and makes the Christian like a man who is arrived to those years which bestow upon him a great vigor of strength a firm constitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle prayed for the Corinthians which he there calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consummation in grace which the
defect A sinner among other words in Scripture is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to miss the mark and therefore he should repent and learn to aim better Sin among other names is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a going astray He must needs be out of his way who by sin is departed from the God of his life and therefore he should take up as the Apostles advice is Repentance towards God i. e. he ought to repent and return to God We have been told and that truly that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the beginning and end of all happy life and perfection is the lifting up of our souls to God And by another that man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a man doth naturally return to God and therefore if we have by sin gone astray from him and our own Nature it is most reasonable as his words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to repair the mischief of our flight from above from God and Vertue by returning to him To show the reasonableness of Repentance a little further I shall only add two things to be considered viz. 1. That sin is the sickness deformity and pain of the soul. 2. That it is a bold contempt of that excellent Order which the Divine Wisdom hath planted in Humane Nature 1. Sin is the sickness deformity and pain of the soul and is as destructive of its health beauty and safety as distempered humours defect in any Member solution of parts or dislocation of a Joynt can be to the Body and if it be not timely cured will be the death of the Soul Therefore the recovery of a sinner is expressed in Scripture by words which signifie Restoring of health to a sick Man the cure of a wound the Reparation of a decayed or lost Sense the setting of a dislocated Bone in the right place again and giving ease to one that is in pain And there is good Reason for it For is not an ignorant mind as bad as a blind eye A will disabled to all virtuous choice worse than a lame hand And vile affections more ugly than distorted Members An evil Conscience as afflictive as a Cancer in the Breast Pining Envy as vexatious as the gnawing of the Stomach Are not the Furies of Lust and the Rage of Drunkenness or Hellish Malice as unnatural Distempers in the Soul as Feverish heats in the Body Is not the Soul as much tormented with thinking of the folly of Surfeits as the Body is afflicted with the bad consequences of them Is not insatiable desire of worldly Greatness Riches and Pleasure as bad as the Hydropick Thirst A man would think himself in a bad Condition if he should find himself deprived of Sense deformed in any principal Member weakned in the powers of his Body troubled with a deaf Ear a lame Hand and gouty Feet his Blood inflamed and feel himself racked with the pain of the Stone he would have so little pleasure in himself that he would hate life But he who is corrupted with sin is in a worse condition for he hath neither beauty health or vigour in his Soul He is maimed in his excellent Faculties disabled to the use of his best powers and hath defaced the beauty of his Soul which is Vertue A good man is pleased with himself because he feels that his soul is in health and that all his powers are in due symmetry and finds that in his soul which should make a man in love with himself He perceives as Plato said that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as his Scholar Plotin expressed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Psalmists words beautiful within that his soul is adorn'd with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo called it with compleat vertue which is the highest participation of the Divine Nature by which we are capable to imitate God which we then do when our souls are inriched with the sincere Love of God true Wisdom venerable Prudence exact Justice Godlike Benignity generous Courage lovely Temperance pure Chastity discreet Moderation composed Passions and in short when we have as he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honest Endeavours good Designs prudent Conversation temperate Manners and indeed all the Actions and Dispositions of Vertue These are the fair Delineations of the Divine Image and finding those in his soul a good man is pleased with himself and desires to be as he is But these beautiful Characters of Immortal Spirits are all defac'd by wickedness and after they are blurr'd whensoever the sinner is forc'd to hold a Looking-glass before his soul he throws it away because he cannot endure to see himself Aristotle said well concerning this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A bad man hath no love love for himself because he finds nothing in himself that is worthy to be loved Much to the same purpose Philo Iud. A wicked man hath no joy in himself after he hath debauched his Nature and vitiated whatsoever was good in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having now nothing to rejoyce in And writing upon that Verse in Genesis that after man had perverted his Nature by sin as a punishment the Earth brought forth for his sake Briers and Thorns I saith he and so did his heart too it could not do otherwise adding these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. for what else can grow or spring upon the soul of a Fool but such passions as do prick and wound it Besides that which I have said upon this matter I must add one particular mischief and that no small one which will always disturb a sinner till he return to God by Repentance and that is an evil Conscience a Serpent in the Bosome which hath been well represented in our Saviour's Discourses by a Worm gnawing the Bowels or as a Rust fretting the heart a Fire in the Veins It is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Euripides calls it a Divine Goad sticking in the soul which the Heathens acknowledged under the name of the Thespesian Vipers and the merciless Furies This Cotta the Atheist if we may believe Tully confessed to be a very great vexation without reference to God his words are these Sine ullà Divina ratione grave ipsius conscientiae pondus est It is as vexatious as the company of an unpleasant Ghost to such as are haunted by it day and night who can never be quiet till it be laid But when respect is had to God which it must and will have for it is his Deputy the case is much worse for it will torment the sinner both with the sense of his Disfavour under which it puts him at present and with the fear of that punishment which it makes him expect in time to come It is a huge misery to be in such a state as makes a man afraid of God which the guilt of sin always doth This I cannot better say than in the words of a forementioned Author who speaking
sensual Tentation he ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to stir up his rational power to defend its proper Dignity and to secure the exercise of its Faculties according to their proper nature and so to keep the Reason of his mind from being enslav'd Who knows not that the Irascible Faculty which is in us will tempt us when occasion is offered to answer Reviling with Reproach and Wrong with Revenge but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is able as Simplicius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to suffer the Dog which is in us to bark much less to bite and to return Good for Evil both in Words and Actions Entreating for Rudeness and for Cursing Prayers And for the Concupiscible part it can deny what it craves it can reduce the sensual Appetite to that order which Nature requires and bring it into a less compass than the just measure of Nature if it please and to show its full Authority over all sensual Inclinations and Impressions it can appoint what is contrary to their Tendence and having resolved against it can put what it hath decreed in Execution and so though the Inferior part rebel it shows its power being enabled by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to restrain it and maintain its own Superiority I'ts true bodily Objects presented by the Senses will enter into the imagination and by sudden Phantasms make some impression upon the soul but the mind can cast them out again can withdraw it self from the consideration of them can presently think upon other things and as it pleaseth deliberate whether that which the flesh desires be fit to be granted or no and if it be not can reject it and not only refuse to do that which would gratifie the sensual part but the quite contrary St. Iames says that Lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Tentations to sin are presented if the Will embrace them Lust conceives and if it goes on to action it brings forth death but if a man reject the Allurement and deny the consent of his Will and refuse to act according to the incitations of fleshly Appetites the Cockatrice is killed in the shell and so cannot live to bite and hurt Thus we are secure in the Observation of God's Order which if we neglect the mischief of our disregard will soon appear in the ill Consequences which attend it For God hath so framed the Nature of our Souls and so ordered our most important Concerns that we can never break his Order but we shall suffer for it What we neglect at present will meet us in bad effects afterward When a man hath slighted the Government of himself and laid the Rains upon the neck of the Beast he shall soon find himself serv'd by his unruly Passions as Hippolytus was by his Horses thrown and torn Philosophers called inordinate Appetite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Beast with many Heads It is bad enough to contest with one Beast but it is much more hazardous when a man must scuffle with many To this dangerous Combat a sinner condemns himself When he hath parted with his Reason he hath subjected his mind to the command of every insulting Appetite and must comply with every foolish Phansie Being made the slave of sin he must as the Apostle says serve divers Lusts and so must needs be in a brave condition being under the Arbitrary Command not of one Tyrannical Patron but many having indeed as many Lords as Lusts and how basely they use their vitious slaves commanding by turns the poor wretches feel to their grief by the perpetual disturbance which they receive from them being sometimes more then half drowned with Wine sometimes set on fire with Wrath at other times swelled till they are ready to break with Pride and often thrown into all dirty pleasures I am not ignorant that some hardned sinners say That they feel not the pains of sin which are so talked of neither are they much concerned though they break that precise order which is forementioned They are well pleased with the life of Sense and are willing to go as their Appetites lead them they esteem that order good enough which some call Hurry though they be censured yet they think themselves well paid for what they do with sleshly Divertisements and whatever Divines or Philosophers say to the contrary they see no cause to repent of their course To these men I shall only say two things 1. That it is no sign of health in a man to want feeling 2. That there are Monsters in the World but no Argument can be made from them against Nature 1. It is no sign of health in a man to want feeling Is a man to be acounted well because he is in an Apoplexie and so not sensible of what you say or do to him Doth any man reckon it a perfection in his body to want feeling or any other sense The soul hath its Apoplexie too A man may so debauch his Nature with vitious practises that at last he shall be past feeling and commit all filthiness with greediness as the Apostle saith He sins and pleaseth himself that he feels no remorse Is glad that he is listed in the number of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He become a whining Penitent No he is one of the Fortes Esprites He makes a mock of sin Tell him of Repentance tell them that are weary of their lives he is well enough Let the sick send for the Physician out of his Bed He may sleep long enough for him he needs him not It s ridiculous talk to speak to him of a spiritual Guide he can govern himself This seems to be well but the Friends of a sick person are much troubled when they perceive that he is not sensible of pain or danger and they take it for a sign of approaching death neither do they entertain any hope of life till they have brought him to a sense of his sickness weakness The Scripture tells us of a seared Conscience of such whose minds are darkned and of a reprobate mind an undiscerning soul and of a hardned heart as callous as a Labourer's hand and of a heart waxen gross that is a soul which hath no more sense of God than the fat heart of an Ox which in other places is called the spirit of slumber nothing can awake such a person to mind his most important concerns A wicked life benums a sinner and we are no more to regard his judgment of things than what a blind man says of colours A reprobate mind is that sad punishment which God doth often inflict upon wilful sinners Since we know this we need not wonder that they do not repent though their Condition be most dangerous for they understand it not 2. There are Monsters in the World but no Argument can be taken from them against Nature Will any body say
of this Curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his Iealousie shall smoke against that man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven He that despiseth the methods of God's grace and continues his Disobedience and yet perswades himself that all shall be well with him doth highly provoke God The Hope of the Disobedient is a great part of their Disobedience for it is a presumptuous believing against the express Declarations of God's Will and they shall be punished for it as an aggravation of their other sins Such people slight the Divine Threatnings disbelieve the Truth and Power of God concerning their performance but they shall pay dear for it especially in the great day of Wrath when Christ will come in flaming Fire to render Vengeance to those who acknowledge God no better and do wilfully disobey his Gospel This misery is dreadful because the Sufferings to which the Impenitent will be condemned are so great that now they would be intolerable but which then they shall be made to endure Of this I shall give account 1. By a brief Rehearsal of the Descriptions of them which we find in Holy Scripture 2. By the deep Impressions which they will make upon the spirits of damned Impenitents of which we are told in Holy Writ 3. By setting down four particular Notices which we have received concerning the dreadfulness of that state 1. By a brief Rehearsal of the Descriptions of the misery of Impenitents which we find recorded in Holy Scripture It hath pleased God to express the future Torments of Impenitent Souls by taking resemblances from the bodily pains with which they are now acquainted and hath chosen the most sharp of those which men suffer on Earth to be Emblems of those far greater which they shall suffer in Hell I shall name a few of them Sometimes that miserable Condition is described by the Torment of Fire than which nothing is more sharp which is called Matth. 5. 22. Hell Fire which Chap. 13. 49 50. is called a Furnace of Fire into which the wicked shall be cast in the end of the World and Rev. 21. 8. a Lake of Fire and Brimstone into which several sorts of sinners there named shall be thrown Heb. 10. 27. it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated Fiery Indignation because of the fierceness of Divine Vengeance This is terrible and therefore such as are obnoxious to it are there said to be under a fearful expectation of Iudgment It was a pain unspeakably dreadful which those old sinners endured who were inclosed in Sodom and made to perish in the noysom smoke of Brimstone and the unsupportable Torment of Fire But that is nothing to that which will be kindled in Hell where the Fire will never go out nor the Persons who are burnt in it ever be consumed Sometimes this Punishment is called the Gnawing of the never dying Worm sometimes it is represented by utter Darkness which signifies the utmost disconsolateness of a dismal Condition Happiness in Holy Writ is called Light and Heaven the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Those who are cast into utter Darkness are removed to the farthest Distance from God who is the Fountain of Life and in whose Light the Blessed see Light It is called The Blackness of Darkness i. e. the most Horrid into which no glimpse of Light shines This state is worse than that of a Malefactor who is condemned to be made up between two Walls there to perish in Darkness Hunger and Solitude Sometime this dreadful misery is signified by a Pit which hath no bottom into which the ungodly are to be cast and sometime by the Torment of a perpetual Rack sometime by a Cup of Wrath called the Wine of the Wrath of God mixt with bitter Ingredients and in this World God doth make sinners to drink some drops but in the great day he will make them drink up the Dregs of it the bitter Wrath which lies in the bottom in which is no Alloy of Mercy Lastly by the pains of the second Death which the ungodly must endure which is a thousand times worse than the first for that is but a Temporal separation of the Soul from the Body this an Eternal separation of Body and Soul from God 2. The greatness of this Misery is plainly declared by the deep impressions which we are told it will make upon the spirits of damned Impenitents as we perceive the acuteness of pain which men suffer by the grievousness of their Cries Our Saviour says that in the place to which the Impenitent shall be condemned there will be weeping and gnashing of Teeth These are Expressions of extreme grief and show the extremity of Misery A small matter will not make one cry out nor a little cold make the Teeth chatter No it is because the great day of wrath is come and who shall be able to abide it The Impenitent would then be glad of Annihilation it would be good for them that they were nothing or as our Saviour says That they had never been born In great Anguish they will say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Rocks cover us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb But the Rocks will be as deaf to the Impenitent then as they are to God now 3. Thirdly The Impenitents misery is made known to them by four particular Notices which are given them of their dreadful Condition in the other World 1. They are told beforehand what Company they shall have in Hell and that is no better than the Devil and his Angels Haters and hated of God So the Sentence runs Go ye cursed into the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels You hold of his side and it is fit you should share in his Lot I called you to the hopes of my Mercy and offered you a part in the happiness of Obedient Souls but you rather chose to comply with your own and my Enemy and to perish with Satan rather than to hearken to me Get you gone from me and all the blessed into that Fire which was not designed for you but was appointed as the punishment of Devils but since you would have your portion in it I confirm your choice This is sad For the Devils were always and are still Enemies to Mankind They were Murderers from the beginning and are Malicious to the end To be shut up with such Companions is a greater Torment than to be nailed up in a Vessel among Serpents Will impenitent sinners be able to endure this Can they dwell with everlasting Burnings Can they make an