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
be all annihilated one after another at last there will be no Punishment upon any of them and to suppose them to be raised from the Dead to suffer for a time and then to be annihilated and afterwards to be made and made alive again that they may suffer again This I say as it would not be approved by other Christians so 't is a question whether it would not be looked upon as a great absurdity by himself And he that can imagine such a thing as probable may by the same perfection imagine them to be annihilated and made again vice versa every Hours space for the Scripture saith no more for the one than the other And he that can think so must needs have a very working fancy or rather a mighty Wind-mill in his Pate Ans 2 Secondly If this might pass for true or probable concerning the successive punishment of Damned Men it might be thought so in like sort of damned Spirits or Devils That some of them shall be punished for a time and then be annihilated and others be punished and so of the rest which yet no Christian in the World I believe ever dreamed of Ans 3 Thirdly When they are raised from the Dead they shall be raised incorruptible so far shall they be from total corruption or annihilation 1 Cor. 15. They shall seek Death but shall not find it Revel 9th Ans 4 Fourthly The Text it self confutes this conceit and shews us clearly that the Everlasting Punishment shall be upon the wicked in Individuo upon every particular Person among them that are found such at the Day of Christ For the words are thus Matth. 25. v. 46. These i. e. these in particular shall go away into everlasting punishment as much as if he had said Every one of them shall be punished everlastingly as in Revel 7.14 These are they that are come out of great Tribulation And if the former part of the 46. Verse doth not mean an everlasting punishment upon every one of the wicked in particular how shall we be assured that the latter part of the Verse means the everlasting happiness of every righteous Man in particular for I will be judged by Mr. Hobbs himself whether the Greek Pronoun there used do not denote a particularity as plainly in the one as in the other But I need say no more to this Error of his since that worthy Doctor in the place cited hath proclaimed its vileness in these words Regnum tenebrarum de quo ibi delirat maxime promovet c. p. 142. And in the following Lines he assures us that Mr. Hobbs compares the state of the Damned in and under Punishment to the troubles of a Married state here in the World which was such a piece of wisdome as his Parents I dare say did never teach him And is accounted by the same pious Person not only ridiculous but Atheistical * Dr. Tully 143. Lin. 4. And then he adds Nec istam sanè circa Impios in orco suo Ethnicorum ullus etiam dementissimus insaniam unquam insanivit In plain English that the silliest Heathen never had such a mad conceit in his Head Is it not strange Mr. H. doth not chastise him by publishing a Latin Epistle concerning him but if ever he should I hope the Printer will not give much for the Copy of it lest he should be a loser by it And if one Limb of his Leviathan be so monstrous See Bish Bramhall against it what a frightful Creature may the whole Leviathan be But now it will be time to return to Mr. R. to examine his Fourth Proof which is thus His 4th proof Christ came to deliver his People out of the hands of all their enemies and to save them from all the miseries that they are subject to p. 149. but there is no mention made in Scripture of his delivering them from a punishment after Death So He in p. 149. Answered I answer There is mention made of it implicitly and in substance though not expresly in those very words For it is said that he redeemed them from the curse of the Law Gal. 3. and from the wrath to come in 1 Thessal 1. last verse In a word The wicked shall arise out of their Graves to punishment Dan. 12.2 John 5.29 and come forth to the Resurrection of Damnation from which Christ hath freed the Saints And here under this fourth Proof for many Pages together from the 150. to 161. he hath such a wild Discourse as his Reader I dare say never met with in any other Book whatsoever I shall not transcribe it at large for why should my time be spent so vainly especially considering how much of usefuller work I have to do but shall only present thee with some of the choicest flowers therein which will smell no whit better than stinking weeds And the first is thus p. 151. R. If a Punishment for ever be due to man for sin Christ must have suffered for ever to free us from it B. In these words we may note first his Opinion and secondly his Proof of it His Opinion which they discover is this That everlasting Punishment is not due to Man for sin or that he doth not deserve to be punished for ever for his sin It seems then though he prayed for some things as he tells us in the Epistle to the Reader yet he never prayed to be delivered from endless punishment as ten thousands of his betters have done and if God should cast him into it he must not find fault since he never desired him to save him from it And hereby we may perceive how far he goes beyond the very worst of Papists and Sectarists that are among us The one though they have too many silly Dreams about Purgatory yet they do not doubt of the Everlastingness of hell Torments or of the desert of them by the sins of men being taught the one and the other by their great Masters in the Catholick Faith as Bellarm. de amiss grat l. 1. cap. 14. Valentia Tom. 2. disp 6. quaest 17. punct 4. and others who cite the Schoolmen for it largely enough * Vid. Baronii disp de Peccato mortali c. part 2. Sect. 3. And the other though they are little in love with our Liturgie in general or our Letany in particular yet they count it no Superstition to pray as we do therein from Everlasting Damnation Good Lord deliver us So that he differs herein from these persons as much as from Orthodox Protestants and the Church of England And seeing he is singular herein he had need give us a very good Proof of his Opinion before he may hope to win us to it But behold what it is R. If everlasting punishment be due to us for sin then if Christ free us from it he must suffer everlastingly himself B. But this will need a proof as much as the other and when he or
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
Justice requires that they should always have it for it is the part of Justice to render what is deserved But the wicked supposing them to have a Being always after the Day of Judgment as was proved just before must needs be always worthy of Punishment Rom. 6. ult The wages of sin being Death even Eternal Death or Damnation as appears by the Antithesis and other places Let any sober man judge whether the punishing of sin always upon them that always deserve punishment Gen. 18.25 Psal 9.7 8. 2 Tim 4.8 c. be not more agreeable to the nature of that God who is a holy God and abhorring iniquity who is the supreme Law-giver and Soveraign Lord and in a word the Judge of the world and the Righteous Judge than the letting of it go unpunished If a Judge on earth is not counted so just as he should be when he appoints no punishment or but a small punishment for a Fact that deserves a great punishment How shall God's justice be cleared as he is the Governour of the World if he should punish them but for a time who are worthy to be punished for ever That Vindictive justice is Essential to God is the great Foundation-Doctrine upon which the Champions of the common Faith have proceeded Alting in Cat. Palat q. 40. Arnoldus in Relig. Socin cap. 1. de essentia Dei Sect. 38 39 40. c. in opposing the Socinians who I think are the most formidable party of all Satans Host of Hereticks see those in the Margin and others mentioned by Dr. Owen in his Preface to his Defence of the Trinity and especially that Learned Doctor himself in his Diatrib de Justitiâ vindic cap. 15. where he well defends the Arguments of the famous Lubbertus against the Acute oppositions of Dr. Twisse about this particular point Object 1 2. Defended But this I foresee will not pass with some Readers unless it be defended against the objections that may most naturally be brought to the contrary 1. Say some At this rate of Arguing it seems to follow that the Saints themselves should be punished everlastingly for their sins for they also deserve such punishment and they can do nothing to abate the evil of sin or remove the evil desert of them Answer But for answer to such men let it be considered that the case is far different between the Saints and the wicked in this respect God will deal with them in a way of wrath they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath and they are reserved to the Day of Judgment to be punished 2 Pet. 2.9 for so the Apostle tells us of the unjust and our Saviour hath told us that they shall be accountable for idle words in Matth. 12. But he will deal with his Saints in a way of Mercy and spare them according to the greatness of his Mercy Mal. 3.17 yea he will spare them as a man spareth his Son that serveth him And no wonder since he spared not his own Son for their sakes in Rom. 8.32 And though his justice be most strict and infinite as being His justice who is God the Judge of all and glorious in Holiness yet it requires not a double satisfaction but is if I may so speak fully contented with Christs satisfaction and sufferings in their behalf who bore their sins and had the Chastisement of their peace upon himself 1 Pet. 2.2 Esay 53. But as for the ungodly that live and dye such it is not so with them they shall never be able to plead the satisfaction of Christ in their behalf for he will disown them before the Holy Angels and say unto them Depart from me Matth. 7.23 So that there is a valuable consideration upon the account of which Divine Justice may dispense with the punishment of the Saints even Christs sufferings for them but it is not so with the wicked and impenitent Object 2 But say others God is as just c. now and his justice as strict now as ever it will be and since it doth not move him to punish the Wicked according to their deserts now why may we not hope the same for hereafter Answer 1 Because he hath told us he will condemn them hereafter however he spare them for the present 2 Pet. 2.9 He knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the Day of Judgment to be punished What if he let them alone in the day of his Patience wherein he is minded to make known his long-suffering yet he will not always be mocked as St. Paul intimates in the Epistle to the Galat. What if his Justice doth not move him to punish them now how will it follow that it will not hereafter when the Day of Wrath is come and when the Righteous Judge shall come from Heaven on purpose to render unto them according to their works and to take vengeance on them that obey not his Gospel in 2 Thess 1.8 9. And here a question is very needful to be resolved viz. How it can be just with God to punish the sins of a short life-time with Everlasting punishment Possibly sinful men being blinded with sin and self-love may not discern the Equity of that severe Dispensation How it can be just to punish Temporal offences eternally but that will not prove it to be unequal If God might do nothing but what they approve of he should not be known to be a God indeed And while he is such he may do whatsoever he pleaseth most justly to any of his Creatures His very Will is the Rule of Righteousness And therefore to question whether it can be just with God to punish the Impenitent Enemies of his Laws everlastingly when we have seen so plainly that it is his Will so to do is the very first-born of folly Answer 2 2. There is something that looketh like an everlasting punishment which yet is not thought to be any injustice amongst men in this World Princes do not count it unjust to put those men to death that transgress the fundamental Laws of their Land as Murderers and common Robbers c. And yet that is after a sort an Everlasting punishment as taking them away for ever from all the priviledges honours and comforts of the Common-wealth that they were capable of if they had lived longer And for many offences they are commonly adjudged to perpetual Banishment or Imprisonment And what is an offence against a King and Country in comparison of an offence against the God of Heaven surely nothing unto it nor would it be any offence indeed or deserve any punishment if it were not an offence against God Answer 3 3. The desert of sin is not to be measured by the shortness of the time wherein it was committed It is not counted so here on earth A reproachful word to a Prince though it be spoken in less than a minutes time yet deserves perpetual Imprisonment as being spoken against that person
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
sensible of sin and of the evil of it The Law saith that Learned Expositor upon the place auget peccatum Paraeus in Rom. 5.20 non efficiendo sed monstrando It encreaseth sin or maketh it abound not by causing of it but by discovering of it and Piscator saith the offence there is not taken properly for the offence it self but figuratively for the knowledge of it and makes this the sense of it that the grace of Christ hath appeared to be more powerful to save Believers than sin is to destroy them Thus I have given an Answer to his Proof and if he like it not he may confute it if he can Proof 18 R. God is just and equal but such an extream misery p. 187. never to end is not equal B. 'T is a sign he spent most of his strength in the last Proof since this next is so exceeding weak It seems he judgeth that it cannot be just with God to punish sinners eternally and not only judgeth so but saith so too To suffer Torment never to end is not equal But though he hath adventured to say so yet his Word is not sufficient for it nor is he a fit man to judge of the equity of Gods Dispensations But 1. If the sin of Angels may be justly punished upon them for ever as few besides himself will question then may the sins of men also for sin is as bad a thing in the one as in the other and God is as worthy to be obeyed by men as by Angels 2. 'T is no wonder if guilty sinners in a natural state do not so easily discern the equity of this severe Dispensation 't is the nature of sin to blind the eyes of its followers nor can we fully know the evil and vileness of sin unless we could fully apprehend the Excellency of that God against whom it is committed 3. Yet we have seen so much as may satisfie a sober Christian in the case in the latter end of the first Chapter of this Book wherefore I shall not need to say any more of the equity of such punishment unless my Author shall Answer what is said therein Proof 19 p. 188. R. It is no profit or pleasure to God to have any man suffer endless Torments He hath no pleasure in the death of any Ezek. 18. much less can it be any pleasure to him for any so to suffer Hosea 6.6 He is said to desire Mercy and not Sacrifice if so he desires none should be sacrificed in a torment never to end God abhors cruelty B. This kind of Reasoning is such as may well become a man of his Principles and suits so fully to his blessed design and to what he had said in other places that we need not doubt but he was guided herein by the self same Spirit The former part of it contains these two Propositions 1. That it is no profit to God to have any man suffer endless punishments 2. That it is no pleasure to him For the first I say thus That if that would prove that God will not have any man suffer for ever at the same rate of Reasoning he might prove that none of the wicked Angels shall suffer for ever For certainly God is no more profited by their sufferings than by the sufferings of sinful men and yet Christians will believe that the wicked Angels shall suffer for ever and I have shewed some reason why they should believe so It was no profit to God to make the world for what need could he have of it who had All-sufficiency in himself and yet Mr. R. doth grant that God hath made it He grants also that God will make his Saints happy and glorious in Heaven and yet I believe he is not so weak as to imagine that God hath any need of their Happiness and Glory nor had he any need of the Death of his enemies in this world and therefore could not be profited by their deaths and yet he hath brought them to death very often and in the most remarkable manner His Second Proposition is this That 't is no pleasure to God to punish any man or any wicked man for ever If he mean 't is no such pleasure to him as 't is to have them obey him or that he is not so pleased with their misery as he is with their obedience or with their happiness in case they were obedient Then we may grant it without wrong to our cause But if he mean that God's pleasure is not in it in any sense then I deny it for it is the good pleasure of his will to punish the impenitent as surely as it is to give the Kingdom of Heaven to his Saints They shall suffer everlasting punishment for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Matth. 25.46 and since they suffer it not besides the good pleasure of his Will or contrary to it they suffer it with his Will or agreeable to it The Text of Ezekiel ch 18.23 runs thus Have I any pleasure that the wicked should dye or be damned and not that he should return from his ways and live And so the sense is clear against him more than for him and he hath no way to make it appear to be for him but only to mention the first part of the verse without the second wherein he acts like you know whom See Matth. 4.6 compared with Psal 91.11 take the words together as they lye Have I any pleasure that the wicked should die and not that he return c. and then it is as much as if he had said I take more pleasure to have them turn and be saved than to have them go on in sin and be damned But if they will not turn they shall not be saved nor escape damnation and therefore Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye Ezek. 33.11 saith the Lord in the same Book plainly shewing us that they must dye or be damned if they go on still in their Trespasses and never turn But the latter part of this Proof is if possible more strange than the former viz. God desires Mercy and not Sacrifice therefore he desires not that any should be sacrificed in a punishment never to end As for his Expression of mens being Sacrificed in punishment for ever I do not well approve of it and could easily prove it to be very unfit for the punishment of the wicked is not a Sacrifice for their sins since it makes no atonement for them either Typically or Really wherefore instead of that he might more fitly draw his Conclusion thus Therefore he desires not that any should suffer punishment for ever Now observe Reader the strength of this Argument God desires mercy and not Sacrifice therefore he will not punish any man eternally How could he speak more at random if he had striven to do it for This is meant of his Preceptive will namely that he values obedience in the general or
they were born for nothing but to eat and drink and snort and sport c. or as the worthy Author of the Discourse of the Decay of Piety that live in the world as the Leviathan in the Sea to take their Pastime in it and to make up the parallel delight themselves to devour their Underlings Matth. 6. Col. 3. c. or as the Scripture Phrases it that be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God that set their affections mainly on things upon earth and not the things that are above that mind nothing seriously but Heathen like what they shall eat and what they shall drink and with what they shall be cloathed These I call Sensual Gentry and I will be content to be judged by any but themselves whether I may not fitly call them so and may lawfully say somewhat the more to them because others say so little Yet lest I should lye open to too many Censures for it and lest my plainness should be interpreted to be folly pride or peevishness or the like I think it meet to mention some passages out of several Writers that speak as bluntly to these men as I can do and yet will be confessed to be such as knew well what belongeth to Learning Grace and good manners First the famous Cambridge Orator speaks thus in his Poem Mr. G. Herberts Church Porch O England full of sin but most of sloth Spit out thy Phlegm and fill thy Breast with glory Thy Gentry bleats as if thy native cloath Transfus'd a Sheepishness into the Story Not that they all are so but that the most Are gone to grass and in the Pasture lost That worthy Divine of Broughton * Mr. R. Bolton in Northhampton-shire in his excellent Assize Sermon at the end of his four last things complained of the great degeneration of the modern Gentry speaking to this effect They are so vainly brought up and so strangely pufft up with insolency and Self-esteem c. that commonly by such time as they come to strength of body and mind corrupt affection obtains its full strength and height and hardness in their hearts and I am afraid if we go on meaning without a Reformation our Posterity will find in the next age the basest Generation of English that ever breathed in this famous Kingdom So he in p. 217 and 218. of the said work And whether this thing he feared be now come to pass or not I do not say let others judge The forementioned excellent Doctor also in that very Sermon makes as bold with them Dr. Saunderson speaking to those Gallants that do nothing for the good of humane Society but live as if they were made for no other ends but to eat and drink and sleep and game c. tells them however they might take it that the poorest contemptible creature that cryes Oysters in the streets for a livelihood deserves his Bread better than these brave men and his course of life is better approved of God and every wise man than theirs And as he adds a Horse that is not good for the Cart nor the Way nor the Race nor the Wars nor any other service though he be never so well made never so well shaped and never so well clothed yet is but a Jade still and after the Application of it adds the titles of honour which in courtesie we give you we bestow upon their memories whose degenerate off-spring you are and they no more belong to you than the Reverence the good man did to Isis belonged to the Asse that carried her Image And thus having cleared my way I shall now come directly to my intended work to exhort the brave Gentile sinners to consider the things that concern them which I take to be one of the fittest Uses that can be made of the Doctrine of Hell Torments The Exhortation c. Since there is a state of extream and everlasting punishment for the ungodly in another world 't is high time Sirs to look about you and to take care of your neglected Souls before you have lost them O consider this you that forget God and use all diligence to escape this wrath to come your Estates are better than other mens and your Breeding too as you would have us to think and are your Selves more contemptible or less worthy of your care and Religious regard Surely not You know that your time is passing and will return no more Death is at your backs as it were that pale horse will shortly overtake you and tread your honour in the dust and can you doubt of this or make light of it You are not sure to live another day you know nothing to the contrary but your Souls may be called for this very night Luke 12.20 though you have built your Barns never so largely to lay up your substance in and can you think the remembrance of the pleasures of a Sensual careless life will make death more safe or comfortable to you or if it could yet we are well assured it cannot make Hell Torments the more tolerable and as you are not more capable of escaping them if you dye in a state of sin unconverted so if you fall into them they will be as terrible to you as to other men though you are a little better armed against the crosses of this world than other men yet you have no more security against the curse of the Law and the wrath of God You have no musick that can charm the Devil or abate the fury of his Malice no Playes or Romances that can delight you after death no Clothes that can adorn you in the eyes of God no money that can bribe your Judge or purchase a Pardon at his hand In a word no Courage that can bear up your Spirits against the Terrors of Judgment if it find you in an unrenewed state and destitute of that Grace and Holiness that naturally you disregard O that you did but know any ways but by experience what a sad creature a Gentleman in Hell will be And that you may never know it in that way give me leave I beseech you to caution you against some special sins that are most likely to bring Great men thither 1. Pride and haughtiness of mind 1. Pride What if you speak great swelling words and look as big as a blown bladder scorning God and man at once yet you must come down a little lower if ever you dwell in the high and lofty place you must of necessity lay aside your loftiness and stoop so low as to take up that poor despised thing Religion and walk humbly with your God before you can see the Kingdom of Heaven Esay 2.12 Mic. 6.8 The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty And the proud shall be as the stubble in the day of his Anger Mal. 4.1 and pride goes before destruction saith Solomon And how apt the heart
the Pharisees made light of him and derided him in Luke 16.14 Thus of the 4th Direction Direct The 5th If you would escape Hell make sure of a true and sound conversion and wait upon God in the use of all holy means for it But above all things take heed you mistake not in so great a concern nor think your selvs converted when it is not so Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven And surely if a Man cannot come to Heaven without it he cannot escape Hell without it neither Now you must not think your selvs converted while you are predominantly in love with any wicked course whatsoever or in plainer English while you count sin your liberty and priviledge and had rather follow any way of wickedness than a way of real and universal religiousness if it were not for fear of the shame of the World or the damnation of Hell Many I doubt not are religious sober civil just c. out of constraint not willingly and forbear gross sin more out of dread of punishment than out of any love to God or obedient regard to his Will and Law serving God as the poor Indians did the Devil viz. for fear lest otherwise he should do them a mischief And what do you think is such service worth assuredly very little or rather nothing in the sight of God who seeth the principles of Mens works and services and looks more upon the Bent of the mind and will than the matter of the work Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 A blockish slavish unwilling service when the work is done which he had rather should not be done is fit only for a sensless Deity or a dumb Idol not for the high and holy one Believe it you are not truly and savingly converted till God and holiness have the main disposition of your hearts and wills till you had rather have God in Christ for your everlasting portion to enjoy than Honor and Wealth and all this World 's good till then you are but Worldlings till you had rather walk in a way of holiness than follow the most gainful Trade of sin As a false defrauding servant is never turned to be a true and faithful servant till he had rather be true and faithful to his Master than to cheat and defraud him Pray therefore for your selves as the Apostle for the Thessalonians that God would direct your hearts to his love or as our Church that he would encline your hearts to keep his Law Dir. 6 Acquaint thy self with Christ search the Scriptures and see how sufficient a Saviour he is how able and willing to receive and relieve returning sinners Did he reject any that were but truly willing to accept of him Did he not come into the World to save such and complain that the People would not come unto him that they might have life Them that come unto him with true faith and repentance he will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 O sinner if thou wilt heartily forsake the Devils drudgery he will save thee from Hell and all its damnation If thou turnest from every evil way and givest thy self up to him relying wholly upon his merit and righteousness he will give thee acceptance in the sight of his Father and deliver thee from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. ult So much for the use of Direction I come now to one or two Uses more and so shall put a period to my Discourse In the next place then It may serve for our Instruction and may teach us not to envy at the prosperity of wicked Men nor to judge Gods ways to be unequal because of their impunity joyned with final impenitency in this present World No cause to judge so when we consider that he hath a Hell to punish them in for there the sinner shall have enough of sin and such wages as is suitable to his works of iniquity There the proud sinner shall be low enough the jovial sinner shall be sad enough the sottish sinner be thirsty enough the Revengeful sinner have vengeance enough the Damner and Sinker be damned enough and sink deep enough into the lake of fire There they that tyrannized over pious Christians shall be insulted over by the Devil and be buffeted by the unclean Spirits they that willingly forget their God and Souls shall remember their sins whether they will or not they that made light of Christ and Sermons shall be loaded to the full with wrath and curses and in a word they that grinn'd at godliness shall gnash their teeth at their impieties God to whom vengeance belongeth will avenge himself upon them and punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence 2 Thess 1.8 9. Lastly Let me hence add a word to the godly in general let them be exhorted to grow more and more 1. In Grace and holy obedience for what love what service what obedience can ever be suitable to that goodness of God which saves them through Christ from the everlasting punishment their sins deserve We may well exhort them to all holy duties by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 They can never do too much for his Glory that hath done so much for their Salvation for he will give them eternal Life and they shall never perish Joh. 10. 2. In comfort and spiritual joy Rejoyce in the Lord always saith the Apostle to such Phil. 4.1 Christ is their all-sufficient Saviour and they shall surely be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 why should any worldly Troubles trouble them overmuch since they shall have none in the world to come Death can do no more than rot them and hell no more than fright them Rejoyce therefore O faithful Christian and give thanks at the remembrance of the goodness of thy God the joy of the Lord is thy strength O let it be thy work too Yea most certainly it shall be so at the coming of Christ to judgment He will then receive thee to himself Joh. 14.3 His love shall then be stronger than death and conquer the last enemy for thee Thou shalt be filled with Joy and Glory when the wicked shall have their fill of shame and sorrow and shalt be accepted graciously with him when all the enemies of his Holiness shall be banished from his Presence and be buried alive in everlasting fire And now bless the Lord O my Soul for all his gracious Providences and in special for all his gracious Assistances in this small Work Say not This Work thy Hand to End hath brought Or This thy Labour hath attain'd unto Say rather thus This God by me hath wrought He 's Author of that little Good I do To Him be Glory for ever and ever FINIS