Lands had suffered and doubtless not so great in all respects as the Land of Sodom had done So that most desolate is in substance no more than very desolate And so understand the King of Terrors or most terrible of that which is very terrible as Death may be and is to many though there be a worse thing after Death to them that dye in their sins And indeed Death is most terrible as it hath relation to that which comes after it which is enough for this new cavil Consider 9. R. Sin is punished to the full in this life Ezek. 36.18 I poured out my fury upon them p. 123 124. then he adds would ye have it to be punished to the full in this life and afterwards with a punishment never to end then after some extravagancies he adds in the next page 't is as disagreeable to justice to punish sin twice as to receive the payment of a debt twice B. Herein I confess he hath hit the mark as well as if he had been Thomas Gunne himself for the whole state of the question turns upon this hinge whether sin be punished to the full in this life And as Mr. R. and I can agree but in few things so in this we differ as much as may be for I say it is not and my reasons are these 1. Because many ungodly men have had a continued state of prosperity and scarce ever felt any thing that they accounted a punishment yea nothing more common than for such persons to conclude their sins are pardoned because they do not find themselves punished for them I was envious at the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73. 1 to 6 verse and in the following words he tells us they are not in trouble like other men nor doth he intimate any visible Judgments that come upon them in this life And can Mr. R. perswade himself that the sins of such men were punished to the full in this life 2. Because the day of wrath is after this life even at the coming of Christ See Job 21.30 compared with the Text in the Margin * 2 Pet. 2.9 3. Because their sins make them worthy of everlasting punishment See the first Chapter of this Book in answer to the question how it is just to punish temporal offences eternally But on the contrary my Author contends that sin is punished to the full in this life or at least he saith so if we can take his word for it But how he will prove it who can tell For those texts of Scripture which speak of his pouring out his fury upon the wicked in this life as Ezekiel 36.18 are far from proving that there is no wrath for them in another life Yea so far as that they will manifestly prove the contrary for if God punish sin in the day of his Patience how much more will he punish it hereafter in the day of his wrath which is called the day of the Revelation of his righteous Judgment and the day of perdition to ungodly men Rom. 2.5 in 2 Pet. 3.7 They shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt after they slept as it were in the dust of the earth Dan. 12. and yet we know many of them have been brought to shame in this world and suffered shameful deaths for their crimes Object But it is not agreeable to justice to punish sin twice no more than to receive the payment of a debt twice saith Mr. R. Solut. But certainly God best knows what is justice and what is agreeable to it and there is no unrighteousness in him and his word tells us of wrath to come as well as wrath present and of everlasting punishment as well as temporal Matth. 25. 1 Thess 1. 1 Thess 1.10 And the punishment he will inflict upon the impenitent in another world will be so far from any appearance of injustice as that it will be the revelation of his righteous judgment in the Text aforesaid Rom. 2.5 Nor is it any shew of injustice to punish sin twice unless the former were as much punishment as sin deserves as a man may justly be required to make several payments of a debt when the first payment is not to the full and if my Author can prove that sin deserves no more or longer punishments than the punishments of this present life he will shew himself a man of rare acuteness Consider 10 His Tenth consideration is little different from the former it being an assertion of the like nature viz. That there is not a worse thing than Gods fury wrath and anger and these saith he are poured out in this life he means to the full so as that there shall be no more of it remaining for any man in another life His abuse of Scripture p. 125. And how will he prove that these are poured out to the full in this present life Why by these places Ps 78.49 Ps 85.3 Job 14.13 The former he renders thus he poured out all his fierce anger but by his leave the Text saith no such thing but rather thus he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger or as Junius renders aestum irae suae the heat of his anger namely by bringing great calamity upon them here in this world but how will that prove there is no punishment for the impenitent of them hereafter So Psal 85.3 is spoken of Gods own people whom he would magnifie his Mercy upon Thou hast covered all their sins Thou hast taken away all thy wrath viz. from them whose sins he forgave But must it be so therefore with his Enemies too that dye in their sins and would never consent to forsake them while they lived So upright Job speaks of wrath that would be past as to himself But must there be no wrath hereafter for the mischievous Hypocrite Sure that was far from his thoughts The Hypocrites in heart do heap up wrath Job 36 13â— viz. against themselves as 't is plain and needs no proof Wherefore if he blame those that make too bold with the Scripture he must needs pass a hard censure on himself too Yet there is one phrase which to the men of his Religion may seem to favour his assertion viz. the accomplishing of God's anger in this world Ezek. 5.13 Ezek. 5.13 Considered Thus will I accomplish mine Anger viz. by the Judgments mentioned in the verse before Famine c. But those people there spoken of may be considered either personally or civilly and nationally his anger may be accomplished as to National judgments when it is not so as to personal punishments as in Sodom c. 2. We may take the word Anger for the threatnings of punishment which he had made against them in particular as Rom. 1.18 The wrath or anger of God is revealed from Heaven i. e. His threatnings are set forth So here v. 12. A third part of thee shall dye with the Pestilence and with Famine shall they be
it is the saddest destruction to be in a perpetual state of misery This I say is a more dreadful destruction than to be annihilated and therefore fittest to be called a destruction And if he think the word destruction must signifie of necessity annihilation and cannot signifie a state of misery and punishment he had best remove those difficulties that lye in his way in my first Chapter where the sense of the word hath been cleared against the Socinians And what doth he think to mention but one Text for many of the words of our God in Hosea O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Hosea 13.9 Surely he doth not think it is meant that they had turned themselves into nothing but that by their sins they had brought themselves into a miserable condition and made themselves liable to greater miseries In the following Page he runs very swiftly and disputes us into absurdities after this manner The Word saith p. 129. Their end is destruction R. Philip. 3. Their Opinion saith They shall never be destroyed nor ever end The Word saith The last Enemy is Death 1 Cor. 15. Their Opinion saith There is a worse thing after Death to be endured without end B. There are a sort of Men in the World that have wit and subtilty and some kind of Learning too that yet are little better than fools for want of grace and holy wisdom to make a good use of their wits and therefore we use to say of them that they are simple and cunning And whether my Author be not somewhat of Kin to these kind of Men let my Reader judge For in these last passages there is something of subtilty yea enough to deceive the ignorant and unstable and the Men that are inclining to his Opinion but if we view them narrowly they will not appear more subtile than silly For the former runs upon a false supposition that the destruction threatned to the wicked is a Natural destruction whereas it means only a Moral destruction viz. Condemnation and Punishment as was seen before But he saith their end is said to be destruction which he thinks is contrary to us who teach that there shall never be an end of them but that they shall always remain under Punishment But it doth not mean as he would have it that the destruction there spoken of doth make an end of them or imply the dissolution of their natures for we have seen the contrary before and if he entertain such a perswasion he may easily be brought to believe upon the same ground that Everlasting life or happiness will make an end of the Saints for 't is said Their end is everlasting life Rom. 6.22 Wherefore by end we are to understand their final and unchangeable state and portion in another World which is everlasting destruction or misery to the wicked as it is everlasting life or glory to the Righteous But of this I have said something before The other labours under as much weakness as the former for observe it is not said in 1 Cor. 15. that the last enemy is Death absolutely as if there were no worse thing to come after but thus only The last enemy that shall be destroyed 1 Cor. 15.26 is Death where he leaves out that main passage which carries the whole sense of the Text. Just as the Devil alledged the Psalmist he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee and left out the following words in all thy ways or the ways God hath appointed thee to walk in See Matth. 4.6 compared with Psal 91.11 Vid. Muscul in Loc. Now we grant that Death is the last Enemy that shall be destroyed though it shall not be the last evil that by the wicked shall be endured p. 130. In the next Page he heaps up many places to prove that Eternal life belongs not to the wicked To which I answer by distinguishing of the word if he take it as the Scripture doth for Eternal glory and happiness I grant it but if he mean it only of an Eternal continuance in life as life is opposed only to Corporal Death or Annihilation then I say it will agree to the wicked also after the General Resurrection as in its due place hath been manifested The Devils shall not have Eternal life in the sense aforesaid as it is promised to the People of God but yet they shall be eternally alive and live the life of spiritual substances else they could not suffer eternally in the Everlasting fire as we have proved they shall R. If Adam had never sinned he should have dyed nevertheless p. 131. This is proved first because he had a Natural body and was of the Earth earthly and therefore mortal and corruptible B. Whatsoever strength and goodness may be in this kind of Reasoning it is no more than the World hath been acquainted with before ever it was blessed with the sight of his Book the Learned Reader may find it amongst the most Reasonable Doctrines of those Masters of Reason as they would be counted I mean the Socinian Hereticks See Ostorod Instit cap. 33. And it is easily answered by distinguishing of the word Mortal It may be taken two ways as to this present case either first to signifie a person that may die and is capable of dying and so I grant Adam was always mortal which his Reasons sufficiently prove but if we mean it of one that must dye I deny that Adam was mortal in state of Innocency for whatsoever may be said of a possibility of dying he should never have been actually under the power of death if he had not sinned By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin c. Rom 5.12 A porta in Def. fidei cap 27. Aslingii l. c. p. 2. l. 5. q. 2. They that would see a larger discourse on this subject may consult these in the Margin where they may see the Author of this opinion R. Mr. Bolton saith If Adam had stood he could not have conveyed to us a Body Immortal or not dying in his Treat of Heaven p. 131. B. This Gentleman's word is not overmuch to be valued as to the Authors he citeth so he citeth Mr. Bolton here non bona fide as they say in plain English very corruptly For in that place the words run thus our condition speaking of the Saints in Heaven is a thousand times more happy and glorious than if we had stood still with Adam in his Innocency and Felicity for if so he could but have conveyed to us bodies Immortal potentiâ non moriendi ex Hypothesi as they say but in Heaven they shall be Immortal impotentiâ moriendi if he knew not what that means for a few good words I shall be content to tell him if he doth know he cannot but know that he granteth no subjection to the power of death to proceed from the nature of
Adam or his posterity but from their sinfulness and that they should not have dyed but upon the supposal of sin And I think he hath done no good office to suggest such a thing as this concerning Mr. Bolton to make the world believe that such an able and faithful Teacher of Divine Truth would play any the least part of the Socinians damned Game In the two following pages he is very vain p. 132. and p. 133. and deserves not my Ink to he spent upon him and if I should lay open all his weaknesses 't is possible I might be thought to deal over hardly by him those therefore that little concern the point in hand or are answered already I need not concern my self with I pass therefore to the next p. 134. where the substance of his many words is thus in brief That if death be the punishment of sin then Christ by freeing his people from the punishment of their sins must free them from dying which he doth not I answer Christ by freeing them from the punishment of sin hath also freed them from death so far forth as 't is a punishment viz. from an accursed death The Faithful therefore though they suffer death yet they suffer it not as a punishment properly so called nor in a way of vengeance but in a way of mercy and therefore blessed are they that dye in the Lord. That pale horse though it sometimes affrights them Philip. 1.23 yet it is sent on a good errand viz. to bring their Souls into the blessed presence of their Lord and Saviour which the Apostle assures us in the same Text is far better than to live with their friends in this sinful world p. 135 136. In the 135 and 136. pages there is nothing that I think it worth while to trouble my self with some things being beside his purpose and others in a great measure against it And that which is for it how do the wicked perish for ever if they must live for ever is no new dish but only the old coleworts new sodden and how much it is worth is discoverable from that which was said but a little before to what he had offered about eternal life in pag. 130. p. 137. R. Men build much in this point upon the second death but what that death is they cannot agree B. I think he is much mistaken in this and do not doubt but Orthodox Divines are very well agreed in their Judgments about it and describe it with little variation one from another But the main mischief is that their Judgment of it agrees not to his and if his be infallible theirs must needs be erroneous R. Mr. Perkins saith the Second death is a total separation from God and if so it is not a punishment without end and seeing God is every where if they be any where how can they be absent from God B. But as Mr. Perkins was as wise a man as himself so his speech herein is not so absurd as he imagines it to be yea I doubt not but it is sound and good and now I shall consider briefly what he saith unto it 1. if so then it is not a punishment without end what warrant he hath to make such an Inference from it I for my part cannot understand for what if that Separation be everlasting as we believe it to be then it will be vanity to say so yea a contradiction too So that this Collection of his is utterly groundless unless he understand this Separation to be by Annihilation and if he do so I have shewed the absurdity of it sufficiently already in disproving the Doctrine of the Annihilation of the wicked 2. R. If they be any where how can they be absent from God seeing God is every where But certainly he must be a very silly man that can think Mr. Perkins was such a fool as to suppose that they could be absent from the Lord in a proper sense or out of his presence I dare say that was very far from his mind and he needed no more to be taught the doctrine of God's Omnipresence than wicked men need to be comforted by his Book against the fears of Damnation yet because he hath mentioned the word Absent from God I may lawfully put him in mind of that Text of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.6 in 2 Cor. while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord he did not think he and the rest of the Faithful were where God is not while they lived in this world and yet he expresses it after that manner because here they were as it were absent from the comfortable presence of God in comparison of that comfort which their Souls should have in his Glorious Presence after they had left their bodies So in this case we mean by the Second Death the total and perpetual Separation of the wicked and impenitent from the comfortable Presence and the glorious Presence of God Luke 13.28 as when they shall be shut out of his glorious Kingdom and depart from Christ to dwell with the Devil and his Angels And though this be not a death properly so called yet it may fitly be called by that name because of the terror of it Death being naturally the most terrible thing as Heaven is fitly called Paradise for the pleasure and purity of it Luke 23 4â—2 though it be not that place which was mentioned in the 2. of Genesis And if a state of worldly troubles may be called a Death in 2. Cor. 1.10 compared with the 8. verse how much more may a state of endless punishment be called by that name See Rev. 21.8 And thus having vindicated Mr. Perkins from Mr. R's cavils I shall pass over the idle discourses of the 139 and 140 pages and speak a few words of that which seems more worthy of my censure in 141 page thus p. 141. R. We read in Rom. 2.31 of very great sinners proud spightful Inventors of evil things and such like yet the word saith not Ro. 6.21 that they are worthy of more than death and if death be the end of these things then there is not any thing to come after death B. This is a rare piece of Learning indeed and such as the common sort of Preachers never had the confidence to teach their hearers either from the Pulpit or the Press But that it may not be thought better of than it deserves let us examine it briefly the main strength of his Speech lies in this That God hath not said that those wicked ones mentioned in that place were worthy of any more than death true indeed they were worthy of no more punishment than death for that death there spoken of is nothing less than eternal Damnation And thus the unpardonable sin 1 Joh. 5.16 called by St. John a sin unto death that is such a sin as necessarily and infallibly brings eternal damnation upon the sinner
that they are but Fools that do so Pro. 14.9 Yet alas how many such Fools are to be found and that too amongst those that are counted good honest understanding Men What if they never so grosly neglect and forget the God that made them what if they slight his holy Commandments and turn away their Ears never so frequently from hearing his Law Pro. 28.9 and so run the hazard of having their Prayers rejected What if they are so proud that they care not for God nor value a sound Sermon half so much for the bettering of their Souls as they do the smallest piece of a rotten Dunghill for the bettering of their Lands In a word what if they rail at us for desiring to make them better Christians than they care to be spight at their Neighbours and defraud and oppress their poor Brethren and do the Devil any service in the World that may but please or profit themselves make their Purses heavier and their Hearts lighter c. Yet I say they can make a small matter of it and can see no great harm in it or at least no such great harm in any of these things but that they can easily dispense with it for the attaining of those great ends which they propose unto themselves therein But Reader if these Men could but look beyond the Grave and see what is doing in the other World among the Souls of such ungodly ones as themselves If they could but see in a lively and sensible way how many are now Damned for those sins which they are so much in love with and be able to apprehend what sad thoughts those miserable Souls now have of their delightfullest gainfullest wickednesses which have laid them under Eternal vengeance Then believe me they would judge otherwise of these things than now they do I grant indeed there are other means whereby to see the evil of sin as namely the clear Glass of God's Sacred Laws and the Red Glass of Christ's Bloud and Sufferings c. These doubtless may be sufficient to shew sin in its proper Colours to a spiritual eye and will be confessed to be so by all sorts but blockish Papists and blasphemous Socinians But this Point that I am now upon might convince the blindest Worldling of it in case he would truly believe and consider it For he must needs grant there is much evil in that which the Righteous God will punish with Everlasting Torment How vile and hateful how hainous and horrible must that be which the God of all Goodness and Mercy will shew his Eternal Displeasure against How sad a work must that be which hath such a Death for its wages as sin hath yea all sin Rom. 6. ult For the Apostle speaks of sin in general as sin and not of such or such a sin in particular in Vers 23. As hath been excellently cleared by our Protestant Worthies against the Romanists * Ames Anti. Bel. Cham. T. 3. lib. 6. cap. 12. though the Mercy of God delivers them that turn unto him And so it may discover the madness of ungodly sinners that walk in the way to everlasting misery but this will afford matter enough for another Section CHAP. IV. SECT II. Discovering the horrible madness of wicked men in adventuring upon this dreadfullest Misery Inform. 3d. of the madness of the wicked c. FRom hence also we may fitly inform our selves of the monstrous madness of wilful and resolute sinners that will run the hazard of so great misery for the fulfilling of their sinful lusts and humors in this present world Solomon often calls such men Fools and St. Paul stiles them unreasonable men * 2 Thess 3.2 And certainly their folly and unreasonableness appear in nothing more than in their venturing of their Immortal Souls in the ways of Destruction they are apt enough to fear Plagues and Famines Bonds and Imprisonments or any ordinary Calamities yea they are afraid to obey the Commands of their God and their Consciences lest they should run into some inconveniences by so doing and scarce dare to come to the place of Gods publick worship and service in a constant and diligent manner lest some Factious Atheists should call them fools for their pains Psal 9.17 Psal 145.20 But as for the everlasting punishment that is threatned against them and which they cannot possibly escape while they are followers of wickedness these they have little fear of they dread not the dreadfullest dangers and if in love to their Souls we warn them of it and desire them to take heed in time and turn from their evil ways before it be too late they will thank us for nothing as 't is commonly said and advise us to take care of our selves and not to trouble our selves with them But if they did but know aright the greatness of that misery that the damned shall endure they would shun the ways that lead to it and not walk in any way of wickedness for the gaining of all the wealth on earth yea they would be as loth to continue in a state of sin as to stay in a house that is on fire over their heads That therefore I shall endeavour in the next place to discover And here I must needs say with the Apostle who is sufficient for these things who can fathom the depth of the Damneds sorrows what heart can conceive them or what words can express them for who knoweth the power of God's wrath or how miserable it can make the enemies of his holiness But though we cannot fully set forth the Terror of the Lord upon them yet we may soon see so much of it as may make it appear to be most exceedingly terrible as he that cannot sound the depth of the Sea yet he may quickly find that 't is very deep I shall now endeavour to demonstrate with all convenient brevity the dreadfulness of the Damnation and punishment that the wicked that live and dye such shall surely undergo The extreme misery of the wicked in Hell discovered I shall not now speak of the perpetuity of it having spoken much of it before and almost as much as need to be spoken on that subject and much more I am sure than Mr. Richardson or any of his Abetters will ever be able to answer in this world or the world to come but rather of the extremity of it and that in Two generals which will admit of a large consideration 1. The Happiness and comfort that they shall miss of or lose 2. The miseries pains and positive sorrows that they shall sustain and lye under 1. 1. In their Banishment from Christ They shall be banished from the Blessed Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ In their day they would not be commanded by him but in His day they shall be commmanded from him He himself will say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity Matth 7.21 and oh what a misery will
the word many we may by a very usual figure understand All and so we find it is put for All in several Texts of Holy Writ Psal 97.1 The Lord reigneth let the earth be glad let the multitudes of the Isles or the many Isles be glad thereof i. e. let all Countries be glad of it Let all the faithful in all Nations comfort themselves by the thoughts of his Soveraignty and Dominion over all So in Rom. 5. Through the disobedience of one viz. Adam many were made sinners viz. All those that descended from him in a Natural way And if any that are dead or sleeping in c. should not awake and arise hereafter it must be the wicked for that 's our Adversary's Opinion in the case but that cannot be supposed nor cannot stand with the truth of this Text which tells us that some of those many shall arise to everlasting shame and contempt Which is most direct for my purpose And so plain that I cannot guess any thing that can with any shew of reason be objected against it For first If the wicked shall awake to everlasting contempt The proof of the point from Dan. 12. it cannot be but they must remain as to their Natures and Personal Beings and not be annihilated And secondly If they awake to everlasting contempt and shame it must needs follow that they shall be everlastingly under shame c. As in case Mr. R. his Book against Hell c. should bring his name into perpetual reproach among Christians it must needs be perpetually under reproach And the everlasting shame is everlasting in the same sense as the glory of the righteous in the same verse is everlasting And thus I have proved the everlasting punishment of the wicked in another World from several Scriptures See also to the same purpose Matth. 3.12 Luk. 3.17 Matth. 18.8 Mark 9.47 Jo. 3.36 Revel 19.20.20 vers 10. and many more Rev. 14.11 which thy own Reading may furnish thee with And thus having proved the Point by several Texts of Scripture Some Scripture Arguments for the Doctrine I shall now add ex abundanti some Scripture-Arguments to confirm it And the first is this The wicked and impenitent shall always or to all Eternity have a Being But they shall not have a Being in Joy and Happiness nor in a middle state between Happiness and Misery therefore they shall always have a Being in Misery and Torment 1. From the everlastingness of their Being The Major or first Proposition is easie to be proved For first The Dead shall be raised incorruptible in 1 Cor. 15.52 What Dead doth he mean surely all of them since he makes no distinction between one sort and another in this respect As when it is said that the Sea shall give up her Dead The wicked shall always have a Being that is all her Dead And if we shall suppose that it must be meant only of the Dead Saints or as the Scripture calls it 1 Cor. 15.52 the Dead in Christ then it might be said as properly that the Dead shall not be raised incorruptible for we might mean it of the wicked that are Dead yea it might be more properly said so for the wicked that are dead are many more than the Saints that are dead because most of the Living never were Saints indeed Now the Denomination being to be given from the greater part I see no Reason why it might not more fitly be said The Dead shall not be raised incorruptible than to say the contrary if only the dead Saints should be raised Nor hath my Author or any for him ever been so resolute as to affirm the word Dead to signifie the Saints more than the wicked And their Souls being immortal we cannot think that God will unite them at Judgment to Mortal Bodies If God had meant that the Bodies of the wicked after the Day of Judgment should dye again in a proper sense surely he would not raise them at that Day from their Graves If Death and Destruction of their Flesh were the great wrath they were to lye under the Worms would be sufficient Executioners of his wrath upon them What need any such Miracle be wrought upon them as the quickning and raising of their putrified Bodies if he intended they should dye and corrupt again So then the first Proposition is certain that the wicked themselves shall be raised to an Immortal state at the Day of Judgment They that would come but seldome to the Church shall not have the Happiness to lye always in the Grave they shall be remembred in that bond of forgetfulness and not dye like Bruits though they lived like such The wicked shall not be happy to Eternity The second thing to be proved is this That the wicked shall not have a Being in Happiness after the Day of Judgment This I need not be large in proving to them that know any thing of Holy Scripture They shall come forth to the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28 29. which will be far enough from all Happiness in the least degree though they were joyful enough when they were Damning and Sinking on Earth yet they will be sorrowful enough when their Damned Petition is granted when they sink irrecoverably into Damnation it self when instead of thinking themselves Companions for Gentlemen they will find themselves companions for Devils Damnation doubtless will destroy all joys whatsoever Matth. 25.41 and the curse that shall be on them will seclude all blessedness Nor shall they be in a middle state between Happiness and Misery after the Day of Judgment for there is no such middle state thought of by any sober Christians nor so much as dream'd of by the Papists themselves whatsoever properties Purgatory may have in it before the Day of Judgment yet they hold it shall cease for ever after that Day and nothing remain but Heaven and Hell and Joy and Torment to be the places and portions of reasonable Creatures And this conceipt is abundantly confuted by what hath been said already for Wrath and Damnation and the Curse are or imply a proper state of Misery not a middle state between Misery and Happiness Wherefore the Consequence is clear as the Light The Conseq cleared for if the wicked shall always have a Being after the Day of Judgment and yet never have a Being in Happiness then it must needs follow that they must have a Being always in Misery and Torment And this I think is a plain Argument and that which follows is no less plain being taken from the nature of Divine Justice It is thus good Reader Divine Justice requires that the Wicked that continue such A second Argument taken from God's Justice 1. Cleared should be punished for ever Therefore they shall be punished for ever The Consequence will not be denied The Antecedent is proved thus If the wicked are always worthy of Punishment for their Wickedness then
And that so great sinners are worthy of more punishment than corporal death I believe was scarce ever doubted of by any but Mr. R. that ever were acquainted with Scripture and the sound writings that explain it yea I doubt not but the proudest Jesuit in the world would easily grant it and if it be needful to be proved these considerations may be sufficient for it Sin deserves worse punishment than corporal Death 1. That this is no more than the Beasts and Birds endure who never sinned they dye and dye totally whereas men though never so wicked dye only in their bodies as all but Atheists will acknowledge And can we think an obstinate rebellious sinner deserves no worse than that which the most harmless useful creatures do suffer 2. That the best of the Saints suffer death as well as the worst yea some of them have suffered much worse viz. by conflicting many years with horrid Temptations to despair and the like as Mr. Glover a most excellent Christian in the Book of Martyrs is said to have been in despair five years together And shall we think the wicked are worthy of no worse evil than the best of God's children have undergone God forbid p. 102. In the former part of his Book He tells us of some Books that were burnt in London by the Hangman and saith thereupon the same Spirit is alive to burn this which he hath written And I think it doth as well deserve that honour as ever any book in the world did as may appear not only by what hath been seen of it hitherto but also and especially by that which follows to the end of it and particularly by this act of his in this Page I am upon viz. by urging Rom. 6.21 to prove that there is not any thing to come after Death to speak in his own plain words p. 141. lin 16. Surely it is more than bad enough to doubt whether there be any thing to come after Death or not much worse to hold absolutely that there is not for that contradicts the Scriptures which tell us that after Death there is a Judgment and a Vengeance to be inflicted on them that obey not the Gospel of Christ 2 Thess 1.9 Hebrews 9.27 Heb. 9.27 and in a word everlasting shame and contempt to the wicked he means Dan. 12.2 c. But for a Man to act Mr. R.'s part and to urge Holy Scripture in defence of such a Heathenish Opinion who can imagine how horrible a thing it is in the eyes of God I doubt not but he would suffer worse than corporal Death for it if God should deal with him after his deserts what ever slight thoughts he hath of it And how far these words The end of these things is Death I say how far these words are from proving that there is no Punishment for any after Death is so plain that there 's little need of any thing to be said about it for Death here signifies as before Eternal damnation As when it is said if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that is be Damned Rom. 8.13 for however they live they are as much subject to temporal Death as 't is clear Proof 3d. R. Their Opinion of a Punishment never to end makes not sin p. 146. but Christ to be the cause of their so suffering for if Christ had not come there had been no Resurrection and if no Resurrection there could be no Punishment after Death But Christ may not be supposed to be the cause of their Punishment c. B. If this be a Proof it is a very ugly one certainly and will not be much valued by them that know what Christ or Sin or Punishment is However I shall not think much to say something to it I confess Christ is said to be the cause of the Resurrection of the Dead He is the efficient cause of the Resurrection of the wicked as he is God of the same substance with his Father and he is the Meritorious cause of the Resurrection of the Saints as their Head and Mediator I mean as their Resurrection is a glorious Resurrection in Philip. 3.11 If by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead * Intelligit non simplicem sed gloriosam Zanch. in loc Now observe his Argument Without the Resurrection the wicked could not be punished after Death Christ is the cause of their Resurrection if they be raised therefore if they suffer for ever Christ is the cause of it which is absurd This is manifestly his Proof in this matter and how absurd it is may be shewed in a Parallel case as thus Without life and strength Men could not rob on the High-way but it is God that gives them life and strength and without him they could not have them therefore God is the cause of their Robbing Would not a Christian abhor such a Reasoning as this yea would not the Devil himself be almost ashamed of it and yet if I am not most exceedingly mistaken it is as good a Reasoning as that of his yea the very same in kind If he had not forgotten all his Logick he might have remembred that Causa sine quâ non is not a cause strictly and properly so called but only a pre-requisite condition c. Sine ullo causali Influxu as the Learned Scheibler expresseth it * Topic. de causis cap. 2. Artic. 4. If my Author had not had Ink and Paper or something that might serve in stead of them he could not have written these his many Infallible Proofs yet if we speak properly it was not his Ink or his Paper or any such thing that was the cause of his writing them but his Error and his desire of defending it c. And seeing his great weakness in this particular it will not be much amiss to bring in to his Assistance the Learning of his Learned Brother Mr. Tho. Hobbs of Malmesbury who though in some things he speaks more honestly than my Author hath done yet is no approver of the Doctrine I contend for For in his Leviathan Chapter 44. p. 346. as the Reverend Dr. Tully citeth him in his Exposit Symboli he supposeth the Everlasting Punishment spoken of in the Gospel A Digression to Mr. Hobbs to be meant not of every Damned Man in particular but only to be specifical and to respect divers of them successively so as that one should be punished a time and then be turned into nothing then another to come in his place and so soon as he is annihilated another after him and another again after him and so on Which doubtless was the fruit of his own Invention for I verily believe it never came into the Head of any Man before him But I answer Answ 1 1. By his leave there can be no Everlasting Punishment upon them at this rate unless they who are first annihilated are made alive again after their annihilation for if they
wise man that is of his Opinion R. 4. This Opinion maketh many to murder themselves that they may not live to encrease their sin and consequently their Punishment in another world This Opinion saith he maketh this mischief But as he doth not prove it so I deny it For 't is not this Opinion but their mistakes about it and other Delusions and Temptations that maketh them so to do And it would be no hard matter to prove that this Doctrine rightly believed would be a powerful Preservative against self-murder for if Murderers are so much in danger of such * Rev. 21.8 misery he that believes so will not easily be perswaded to murder himself to bring this misery upon him yet we must not judge that all self-killers are self-murderers or damned persons R. 5. The contrary Opinion tends most to comfort those persons whose friends have dyed and left no testimony of their conversion to God This Reader is the present case what course we should take to comfort those persons who are afraid their friends shall suffer the everlasting punishments as dying without any signs of a true Conversion My Author thinks it the best way to tell them that there is no such thing for any man to suffer though finally wicked and impenitent This indeed were a very quick and easie way if it were but as safe too but certainly it is not as my first Chapter hath sufficiently shewed where the proof of the point is given at large and far above all that Mr. R. or all his Brethren can ever Answer to it The surer and more warrantable ways for men to quiet their minds in that case are as follows 1. To judge charitably and hope the best of their deceased Friends The Case of those that fear the worst of their deceased Friends considered and not too confidently to perswade themselves of their everlasting misery because they could not see such signs of true Conversion as might be wished For though we may be sure that all they are lost for ever and beyond all hopes of recovery that die unconverted yet we cannot be so sure of such and such particular persons that they did die unconverted for God's Judgments are a great deep and his Ways past finding out God may work his gracious work in the Soul at the last minute of life if he so please and we cannot prove that he will not do so Object Obj. But if a man should not shew any signs of Repentance to his last hour 't is very doubtful if he be ever converted indeed and we have much more grounds for our Fears than for our Hopes concerning him Answer 'T is very true and cannot justly be denyed if a man be not godly 'till his dying day 't is ten to one but he will dye an ungodly man and if he do so he is certainly undone for ever in 2 Pet. 3.7 The day of Judgment is called a day of perdition to such persons But then consider 1. That if your Friends have lived and dyed ungodly and so are fallen into everlasting Punishment yet it was God that cast them into that Punishment He alone hath the Keys of Hell and of Death and none but he could adjudge them to it and therefore they must not murmur at it since it was He that hath done it Thus the Psalmist Psal 39. I was dumb Ps 39.9 and opened not my mouth in a way of impatience he means for thou Lord hast done it 2. As it was God that hath done it so he hath never done it but when it was fit to be done he is perfectly just in this severe Dispensation of casting the impenitent into Everlasting Punishment The proof of which I have given in the end of my first Chapter Assuredly The Lord is holy in all his ways and Righteous in all his works Psal 145.18 and if we doubt of it now there shall hereafter be a Revelation of his Righteous judgment Rom. 2. If they continued his Enemies must he save them because they were your friends or must their Relation to you hinder the Judge of the world from doing Right Surely not 3ly Your excessive sorrow from the fear of your Friends misery will do no good at all but only disquiet your hearts in vain for it will not please God nor profit them but rather unfit you for the duties that are incumbent upon you and therefore submit to God and pray to him to abate your sorrows 4ly Instead of murmuring at God's Dispensations in any kind give him thanks for his patience and forbearance towards you and the means of grace that are afforded you And be assured what ever be the state of the Dead your selves shall be happy enough if you turn to him in sincerity Esay 55.7 while you live on Earth 5ly Study the vile nature of sin view it in the Glass of God's holy Law and in the Sufferings of Christ c. See how it crosses the will and dishonours the Name of the great God See how it breaks his Law resists his Power denies his Soveraignty disparages his Wisdome despises his Threatnings and abuses his Mercy c. If we did rightly apprehend these things we should be so far from murmuring at our Maker for condemning some that we should greatly admire that he doth not condemn all sinners in the World Proof 7 R. We read in Esay 57. v. 16. The words of the Lord himself saying I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth c. Therefore he will not punish for ever B. If he were deservedly looked upon as an absurd fellow that made his Answer concerning Onyons when the question was proposed concerning Garlick only what an intolerable absurdity is my Author guilty of when he urgeth such a Text for the Impunity of the wicked which manifestly speaks of the Mercy of God to the Saints In the foregoing Verse he tells us He will look with an eye of favour that is to him that is of an humble and a contrite Spirit v. 15. And then he adds I will not contend for ever viz. with such a one But will this prove that he will not contend for ever with any others with them that are so proud that they care not for God that go on wilfully in the ways that his Soul hateth and will not be reformed surely not If Mr. R. will see no difference between the godly and the wicked the humble Christian and the proud-hearted Hypocrite yet our God will and will also make others see the difference hereafter when the one shall be separated from the other Mal. 3.18 as the Sheep from the Goats Matth 25. setting the one on his right hand and the other on his left Doubtless the boldest Hypocrite will tremble then and their hopeless cries be far louder in another World than their scornfullest laughter was in this CHAP. III. SECT IV. The remaining part of his Infallible Proofs examined Proof 8 R. God hath
All may be taken of all sorts as before and if I should answer thus Mr. R. might find it hard enough to confute it 2. That the will of God is to be distinguished in this case it may signifie either his Appointing will or his Approving * Vid. Chamier de praedestin l. 7. cap. 6. will God may be said to will the Salvation of All in general by his Approving will because he thus willeth them to walk in the way of Salvation and to shun those things that tend to their Ruine As a King may be said to will that none of his subjects should be put to death because he approves not of but wills them to shun those evil ways which make them deserve such punishment from him But yet in case they prove Thieves or Murderers or unsufferable Enemies to the Common-wealth in any other way he wills that they should die for it and appoints them to be put to death and that without any disparagement to his goodness and merciful disposition So in case men will not forsake their wicked ways and turn to God and his true service the Judge of the world doth will their deserved Punishment and will punish them with an Everlasting destruction * 2 Thess 1.9 and that without any impeachment of his Mercy and Goodness In a word he doth not so will the Salvation of All in general as to bring them to Salvation that 's plain since strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to Salvation Matth. 7.14 and few there be that find it And that this Text aforesaid doth not mean any such thing is plain for he would that All should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth even his Gospel and word of Truth But 't is clear God doth not so will that All should come to the knowledge of his Truth as to bring them infallibly to the knowledge of it Therefore he doth not so Will that all shall be saved as to bring them infallibly to Salvation The Argument is good because the Apostle maketh no difference between God's Willing that All should be saved and his Willing that all should come to the knowledge of his Truth And the word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I find is not active but passive only and accordingly it is rendred in our Translation not He Willeth to Save all but He Willeth that all should be saved The former would infer the certain Salvation of All for who hath resisted his Will but not so the latter as the excellent Author in the Margin hath proved in his most Learned Animadversions against Mr. Hoard * B. Davenant p. mihi 17â— c. which our new Predestinarians I hope have so much wisdom as not to oppose He addeth The Protestants in Poland say there will come a time wherein the fallen Angels and the wickedest men shall be set free from Punishment he means B. And what of all that Doth he think they were infallible that we should believe so meerly because they say so Why did he not set down some of their Reasons for it had he done so I would have been content to examine them as I have done his and doubt not but I could Answer them as easily by God's ordinary assistance 2. Whom doth he mean by the Protestants of Poland If he means the best and soundest Protestants as the Denomination ought to be à potiori I say if he means the Orthodox Protestants of that Countrey such as Arnoldus Maccovius Chrzastovius the latter of which wrote against the Arrians * In cap. 1. Johan Evangel in general as the two former against Socinus and Smalcius or * Author Censurae Confess Socin Salinarius Clementinus Zabarovius Zarnovecius c. If he mean such Protestants of Poland as these and the like I utterly deny that ever they taught such Doctrine and if my Author would read their worthy Works he might soon see very much to the contrary But if he mean the Heretical Protestants of Poland who were called Protestants in opposition to Papists and yet were as bad or worse than Papists in doctrine such as Smalcius Archisevius Ostaradius c. then I do not deny but they might be of the opinion that Mr. R. speaks of But the judgment of these men will not go far with me for I am well assured that such rank Socinians as they were not guided by a good Spirit and I think they were not Protestants or Christians unless in the same sense as Rebels are Subjects i. e. bad Subjects p. 177. R. All men are in God for in him we live and move and have our Being And if all men are in God all men are in Christ for He and the Father are one Jo. 10. Now all confess that all who are in Christ shall be saved Rom. 8.1 B. O admirable profoundness and learning enough to puzzle those Mahometan Priests that blew their blinding Powder into the eyes of the People and no less mischievous to the minds of his deluded Disciples than that Powder was to the Gazâ—rs upon Mahomet's Tomb I dare forfeit one of my Fingers if he can shew me a more base and more wilfully-distorted speech a more gross and wretched piece of sophistry in any of the Writings of the Romish Foxes than this under consideration Surely it is hard to guess which he strained most herein his wits or his conscience For my part I do verily judge that he offered violence to both of them And that he should take so much pains in vain may well be matter of vexation to him and yet so he hath done and no better For consider How all men are in God 1. When it is said in the Acts That in God we live and move and have our Being speaking of Men in general that doth not mean that he is the Saviour of all Men in a special sense but that he is the upholder maintainer and preserver of all Men not that all Men have an interest in his saving mercy but that they are sustained by his power and common providence so as that they could not live or move or have a Being without him Wherefore In him we live is as much as if it were said By him we live c. for the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth commonly signifie By or Through 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as we find in Hebr. 1.1 God who in times past spake to our Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son where the Greek hath it in the Prophets and in his Son but the sense of it is by the Prophets and therefore our Translators have rendered it by the Prophets c. And so in the Latine 'tis expressed by Per instead of In Daven in Col. cap. 1. v. 16. by Beza and others And other Instances are given by the excellent Bishop