Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n
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A60136
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Heaven and hell, or, The unchangeable state of happiness or misery for all mankind in another world occasion'd by the repentance and death of Mr. Shetterden Thomas, who departed this life April 7, 1700, aetat. 26 : preach'd and publish'd at the desire and direction of the deceased ... / by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1700
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Wing S3672; ESTC R34242
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59,115
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their Joyfull Sense of the Happy Change And to compare their own Condition with that of Lost Miserable Souls To think of the Hell they deserv'd and others suffer and they themselves did sometime fear and compare it with the Rest and Peace and Joy and Glory that they now partake of will add to their Felicity And who can tell how great that is even before the Resurrection For eye hath not seen 1 Cor. ii 9. nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him It is represented in Scripture by and above all such Pleasures as do most sensibly Delight us to set forth the Joys of Heaven to be unspeakable and full of Glory When the Divine Image shall be perfected the Body of Sin and Death removed all our Darkness Impurity and Corruption healed And if there were nothing else but a perfect and eternal Freedom and Deliverance from Sin with all the Causes Concomitants and Effects of it they to whom it is now the greatest Burden Trouble and Sorrow must account it an Unspeakable Felicity But the Soul shall then awake as out of Sleep to see and know things as really they are and be in a state of more vigorous Activity than while it animated the Body But what the Blessedness will be of Faith turned into Vision when all the Powers of the Soul are enlarged raised and suited to the views of God's Glory by Christ and made more receptive of Divine Communications is what we want Words to describe and can think and speak of but very imperfectly For now we see thro' a Glass darkly but hereafter Face to Face without interruption or obscurity This we know that they shall not only escape the Damnation of Hell but enter into a state of Happiness the Joy of their Lord. We read of Glory to be revealed in them and Glory conferred on them In general as to real and positive Blessedness for the Souls of Good Men after Death even before the Day of Judgement we have not only the Testimony of Scripture but somewhat from the Light of Nature * Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous Chap. 10. All the Philosophers who believ'd the Immortality of the Soul and how few but did allow it they profess to believe the Happiness of the Souls of Good Men in separation from the Body for knowing nothing of the Resurrection of the Body they could not dream of a sleeping Interval till the Day of Judgment The like we may say of a state of postitive Misery for wicked Souls after Death Here in this parable is a Lost Soul condemn'd to Torment assoon as departed this Life before the Resurrection And Torments so extream as that the most inconsiderable Refreshment would be reckon'd a great Relief The Discourse is fram'd according to the Nature of a Parable between the Rich Man in Hell and Abraham in Heaven and Lazarus with him How fain would he now change Conditions with the Beggar whom he neglected and despised at his Door What would he give to be comforted as he is But he lift up his Eyes in Torment unexpressible Torment and so the Scriptures every where represent it Rom. ii 8. 'T is call'd Indignation and Anguish Tribulation and Wrath. 'T is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Psal xi 6. He will wound the Head of his Enemies Psal lxviii 21. We read of a Lake of Fire a Lake of Brimstone a Furnace of Fire of tearing in pieces cutting in pieces dividing in the midst drowning in Perdition of being bound hand and foot and cast into Fire to be burnt of outer darkness chains of darkness the great Winepress of the wrath of God c. Be sure the Sufferings of the wicked in the other World are greater than we can endure for obeying God in this otherwise the threatning of such a Punishment would not be an effectual restraint from Sin But how extream must be that Punishment set forth by the violence of Fire enraged with Brimstone and prepared by the wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels And the Sting of a guilty enraged Conscience as the biting and gnawing of a Worm on the most tender part 'T is represented in such a manner as is most proper to impress the quickest sense of terrour on our minds to strike our Imagination with the Extremity as well as the Reality of those Sufferings And if the Expressions be but Metaphorical they make the Torments the greater as intimating rather that they are but faintly shadow'd by what is most grievous in this World We read of being tormented in Flames and yet of Darkness Everlasting Fire and * See Dr. Lightfoot 's Genuine Remains 8o. 1700. Explanation of difficult Texts Decad 11 § 6. Outer Darkness The fearfull state of Sinners under the Wrath of God describ'd by both We read that the Aegyptians under the plague of Darkness saw not one another neither arose any from his place Ex. x. 23. This the Psalmist gives an account of in these terms Psal 88.49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his Anger Wrath and Indignation by sending evil Angels among them The Indignation of God without any beam or spark of his Favour is Darkness indeed And the Devils may rage and roar and terrify and yet Sinners be held in Chains of Darkness that they cannot stir God is represented as a Consuming Fire Heb. xii ult a Devouring Fire and Sinners fall into his hands as an Avenging Judge Isa xxxiii 14 We read of his Fiery Indignation to devour his Adversaries of his Wrath and Power to be made known Rom. ix 22. and glorified in their Destruction And who knows the Power of his Anger said Moses the Man of God who saw his Glory The Wrath of God is the Hell of Devils and of all the Damned If he be angry but a little we can't stand at the rebuke of his Countenance we perish what then if he stir up all his Wrath in the day of his fierce Anger when he comes to execute Judgment and to render Vengeance from the Glory of his Power upon the Wicked fitted for and reserved to Destruction You may fancy the most terrible things can be dreaded of Fire and Brimstone Wracks and Tempests boiling Pitch scalding Lead or a burning Furnace and being kept alive for a long time to suffer such exquisite pains But all we can hereby reach to conceive of the Pains of Hell falls as much short of the Torments of the Damned as one little spark of Fire on the hand compared with the furious rage of Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace heated seven times hotter than ordinary 'T is impossible for the most awakened Conscience to conceive the Horrour of it Who can tell how God can punish or what the guilty Soul can be made to suffer under the Wrath of a provoked God! when he comes to be revenged for all
Soul that there shall be nothing to incline nor cause a change It is a little thing to say the Blessedness and Joy of the Saints shall last as many Years as there has been drops of Rain faln from Heaven since the beginning of the World for it shall endure as long as there is a God in Heaven and He is the same who was and is and is to come from Everlasting to Everlasting Our God shall live for ever Our Saviour will never die and we shall live for ever in his light and love and likeness Blessedness and Eternity shall be united How great a thing is this to say my God and Saviour and for ever mine Eternal Life is all the World in one word and more than ten thousand Worlds To be ever with the Lord to have an immovable Happiness in the presence of the ever-living God To say my Portion is sure and can never be lost It is mine for ever what a glory is this Now I may lose my Health or Credit or Friends or Life but the Gift of God by Jesus Christ is Eternal Life Nothing shall ever separate us from the Love of God in Christ This is the very Spirit of Heaven the Crown of the Blessedness of the Saints To be for ever the objects of his Infinite Love to enjoy a Felicity that shall never decay or be diminished never be forfeited or lost It will rather always encrease for we cannot possibly know God all at once New Beauties will still discover themselves in an Infinite Object and therefore we shall love him more and more by knowing him more and so our Joy will continue and encrease without fear or danger of a period But we shall know and love and rejoyce more and more without end Oh! how imperfectly do our weak and shallow Thoughts conceive of this Blessed Eternity To be Blessed with the Lord in Glory and never dye To rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and ever to rejoyce To live for ever belov'd of God and to be joyfull and happy in his Love for ever Oh! what Hearts have we that can admit the hopes of this without a Transsport without despising all those things that people call Great upon Earth but are ended with us in a dying hour * See more on this Head Reflections on Time and Eternity Sect. xx Secondly The Gulf is fixt as to the Misery and Torment of the Wicked They have no Expectation of Release Eternal and Everlasting are joyn'd with the Torments of Hell as well as with the Blessedness of Heaven These shall go away into Everlasting Punishment Though their Bodies be held Prisoners in the Grave till the Resurrection their Souls are in misery waiting for their final doom And at the last day of the World they shall be found in the same state as at the day of Death and then be punish'd with Everlasting Destruction The terrible Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire This is the acknowledged Doctrin of the Christian Church in all Ages and most expressly asserted in the Holy Scriptures We read of a Worm that never dies of a Fire that shall never be quenched Everlasting Punishment Eternal Damnation Everlasting Destruction the Blackness of Darkness for ever a Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone where they shall be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever and where the smoke of their Torment ascendeth up for ever and ever This Doctrin is very cunningly undermin'd by some upon the account of their corrupt Principles and boldly deny'd by others for the sake of their ill Practices The Adversaries of the Divinity and Satisfaction of Christ would have the Punishment of the Wicked at the Day of Judgment to consist in * Ignis Eternus in Sacris Literis vocatur non is in quo res ei injecta aeternum uritur nec unquam consumitur sed qui ita rem exurit ac consumit ut illa in Aeternum non restituatur in integram vel qui tam diu ardet donee res illa planè in totum comburatur ut ex eâ nihil prorsus remaneas Ita Esai 66. ultimo Dicitur de occisis quod vermis eorum non morietur nimirum sicut vermis qui in cadavere alique nascitur tamdiâ— vivit nec moritur donec cadaver fuerit prorsus absumptum Vide Marc. 9.44 Videtur haec locutio sumpta ex Esai 34.9 10. ubi Propheta divina judicia Idumaeis interminatur Mutabuntur torrentes ejus in picem terra ejus in Sulphur eritque Terra ejus pro Pice ardente noctu interdiu non extinguetur in seculum ascendet Fumus ejus Crellii Comment in Mat. 18. v. 8. Comment in 1 Cor. 15. Ut vero Deus in omnibus justitiae tenax est ita hic quoque super neminem extendet panam meritis â—jus majorem Nullà autem possunt esse peccata â—am gravia quae sâ—mpiternis cruciatibus possent aequart Wolzogenius in Matth. 25. v. â—6 See more Passiges of this kind in Bishop Pearson on the Creed Art XII and Dr. Edwardâ— of the Socinian Creed 8vo Chap V. Annihilation a total and eternal Dissolution of their Persons that they shall be eternally destroyed and consumed so as to exist no more Whereas the Scriptures sets forth the Misery of Sinners in the next World under such Expressions as plainly denote the Existence of the Sufferers Would any one describe Annihilation by being plung'd into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they shall have no Rest Day nor Night for ever The word Perdition Destruction Death us'd for the Sufferings of the Wicked in another World do manifestly import extreme Misery and not Annihilation God is said to destroy Nations when he brings great Calamities upon them An Oppressour may destroy many Persons and Families and yet is not supposed to Annihilate them The Prodigal is said to perish for Hunger tho' he were yet alive So for the Expression of losing the Soul for a Man to lose his Soul is to perish eternally in the other World in our Saviour's sense of that Expression Matt. XVI 26. What shall it profit a Man to gain the World and lose his Soul The word we render lose signifies to have a Mulct inflicted on him to lose it in a way of Punishment to be punish'd in his Soul And 't is brought in as an Argument why a Man should not fear Temporal Death but lay down his Life when our Saviour calls him to it Because if he should save his Life and yet lose his Soul as to the other World though he gain'd as much as can be suppos'd of this World He would be a miserable Creature and make a foolish Bargain To understand the losing of the Soul only of a Temporal Death would be to destroy the Argument which our Lord brings it for yea it would be a Reason against their doing that which in the foregoing Verse he tells them they ought to do even lay down their