Philosophers were of this opinion That wicked people shal go after they depart hence into a horrible place called Tartarus where they shal be eternally tormented that good men shal go after their departure out of this life into a pleasant place called Elizium where they shal live happily for ever Which opinion of theirs clearly shews that they had some imperfect notions of Mans future Eternity either in torment or happiness Again they who write of the world tel us That the people of every Nation in the world are of some Religion and they who are of any Religion do hold That there is a life after this life where it shall go well with the good and ill with the bad of mankinde for ever Why else are they Religious Doubtless that must needs be a manifest Truth that appears to be so not onely by the light of the holy Scriptures but also by the Light of Nature and the common opinion almost of all people in the world Nay by the common practise of the Divel himself who as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour endeavouring by his temptations apparitions possessions and wiles with deâ—uded sinners to deprive as many of mankind of eternal salvation as possibly he can and to bring them at last unto everlasting damnation from which Good Lord deliver us CHAP. III. Describes the misery of that everlasting condition of woe and punishment that the wicked shall go into at the the end of the world HAving hitherto proved the Doctrine Of mans future Eternity I shall in the next place explain it and first of all I shall mournfully look downward towards the miserable Eternity of such as shall be damned and shew you so far as I know it by Scripture-Revelation wherein the misery of their everlasting punishment which is the punishment of punishments doth chiefly consist namely in these three particulars 1. In their punishment of loss 2. In their pain of sense 3 In the everlastingness of both these kinds of punishment First The misery of that everlasting cursed and damned condition that the wicked shal go into at the end of this world doth consist in their punishment of loss and that in these four respects 1. They shal be punished with the loss of the comfortable and beatisical presence of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost They shall depart and go away from the Lord in such a sort as that they shal never have any savour nor any refreshing from the presence of the ever-blessed and glorious Trinity God being the chief good and the greatest felicity and his loving kindness being better then life therefore to be punished with the loss of his favour will be as it were the everlasting death of the damned and their greatest loss and saddest misery 2. They shal be punished with the loss of heaven that place of celestial rest and blessedness where God is said to dwell whither Christ is ascended and where the Lord will manifest himself unto his people to their everlasting comfort and happinesse There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth saith our Saviour when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all the Prophets in the kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out Luke 13. 28. 3. They shall be punished with the loss of the blessed Communion of all the holy Angels in heaven for seeing they shal be punished with the loss of the favourable presence of God with the loss of heaven it follows that they shal be punished with the loss of the joyful fellowship of all the holy angels who do alwaies behold the face of God in heaven Mat. 18. 10. 4. They shal be punished with the loss of the comfortable company of all the Saines in heaven and of all their glorious perfections heavenly priviledges for sith they shal depart from the Lord and shal be shut out of heaven and cast into hell where they shal for ever remain unpardoned and unsanctified retaining their vile hearts and sinful natures therefore it necessarily follows that they shal be deprived of the happy society of all the Saints and of all those celestial perfections and blessed priviledges that they shal enjoy when they shall be ever with the Lord in the kingdome of heaven Luko 16. 22 to 27. We think their loss to be very great who are punished with the loss of the temporal good things of this life but alas What is that to the loss of the eternal good things of the life to come A Godly Gentleman observing the gallant accommodations of a pious Noble man took occasion to speak to him after this Christian manner My Lord said he you had need make sure of heaven or else when you die you will be a great looser it infinitely concerns both great and small to make sure work about their Salvation otherwise when they die they will be great losers for they will lose not onely their comforts on earth but also the joyes of heaven and that without all hope of recovery Luke 16. 23 24. Secondly the misery of that wofull and cursed condition called The damnation of hell that the wicked shal go into after the day of Judgement doth consist in their pain of sense or in that sensible pain that they shall bee punished withall in hell that terrible place of torment and that in sundry particulars worthy of our most serious consideration 1. They shâ—l be punished universally with a sensible pain all over as in their bodies and in all the parts thereof and in their souls and in all the faculties thereof These shal go away into everlasting punishment it is spoken of the wicked after they were condemned to go in their bodies and souls into Everlasting fire prepared for the divel and his angels Mat. 25. 41 46. 2. They shall be punished extreamly with a grievous sensible torment in their whole man for They shall go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched and into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Mark 9. 46. Rev. 21. 8. Though fire and brimstone be terrible yet the thing thereby signified is more terrible indeed indeed the largest and most capacious heart alive cannot conceive how extream their pain and misery will be upon whom the total wrath of God shall abide for ever John 3. 36. Rev. 14 10. Iâ— â—aâ—n if Judas if Spira and others were so grievously tâ—rmented with despair and horrour of Conscience when the terrours of God were upon them and if the wrath of God upon Christ for a while caused his soul to be exceeding heavy and made his bodie sweat as it were great drops of blood how extreamly will the infinite fierce wrath of God torment the damned in hell when it shall abide on them for all Eternity 3. They shall be punished continually without having any ease intermission or freedom from pain throughout the infinite space of Eternity how can it be
otherwise sith they shall be cast into the Bottomless pit of hell where their worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched where they have no rest day nor night but are tormented continually continually Rev. 14. 10 11. I have somtimes thought in my sickness What if the Lord should alwaies afflict me with such a pain as this is and should continue me to endure it to all eternity how miserable then wouâ—d my life be and yet saith a learned Author after a long sickness what is a sick-bed to hell What is a Fever to those everlasting burnings where the fit never goeth off the fire never goeth out the worm never dieth Mark 9. 44. 4. They shal be punished remedilâ—sly without ever having any remedy or any help or hope of remedie The Author to the Hebrews tels us That if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineâ—h no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearfull looking for of judgement and â—iery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Hebrews 10. 26 27. The Sacrifice of Christ is the onely true Sacrifice if that be quite rejected it can be no more reiterated neither can there be any other found elsewhere and so nothing but remediless misery is to be expected they who shal finally refuse Jesus Christ our ever dear redeemer shal be condemned to hell without all possibility of being redeemed out of it and without all hope of having any comfort in it and so they will be left to utter desperation without either help or hope of remedy but here is not all for Thirdly The misery of that dâ—plorable punishment and fulness of all cursedness called The second death which impenitent unbelievers and ill-livers must endure in Hell at the end of the world consists in the everlastingness of it their punishment of loss and pain of sence will last throughout all-Eternity Hearken what the Scripture saith about the miserable Eternity of such as shal be damned They shall go away into everlasting punishment they shal suffer the vengeance of eternal fire the blackness of darkness is reserved for them for ever they shall be tormented for ever and ever Mat. 25. 46. Jude v. 7. 13. Rev. 20. 10. Oh these words Everlasting eternal ever ever ever how plainly and fully do they prove the everlastingness and the perpetuity of the punishment of the damned in Hell After they have been punished with the loss of the happiness of heaven and with the sense of the horrour of Hell as many years as there are grass piles upon the earth as there are drops of water in the sea as there are sands by the sea shoar as there are motes in the Sun as there have been leaves on all the trees that ever grew as there have been hairs upon the heads of all mankind from the first till the last born I say after they have been punished so many years â—ay more after they have been punished so many millions of years as it is possible for the mind of man to conceive their most fearful punishment will be no nearer an end for it will ever last and never end never never Their souls are immortal already and their bodies shal be raised everlasting the judgement that shal be passed upon them is eternal Hell that place of torment they shal be turned into continues for ever their worm of conscience is ever-living and the wrath of God which shal abide on them is everlasting therefore their punishment shal be everlasting everlasting Though we may look forward and forward towards their miserable eternity yet we shal never see the end of it and they will never find an end of it for after it is once begun it is like a circle that hath no end at all or like that Prison that whosoever were cast into it could never get out again In all the miseries mankind meet withall in this world they have this poor comfort they hope their misery will have an end but the wicked in Hell can have no such hope and therefore no such comfort for they wil know after Christ hath condemned them to go into everlasting fire that their punishment wil be everlasting and endless If any say unto me What is the Eternity of the Damned in Hell my reply is this It is the Everlastingness of their hellish pain and misery whereby it will ever last and never end never never O all ye careless sinners see here in this miserable eternity eternity eternity the great and abominable evil of sin and the sad fruit of it See here what that wrath to come is you ought to flee from and how much it concerns you to fear God who can cast both soul and body into hell See here where the broad way of affected ignorance unbelief and wickedness will end even within the wide gate of the dreadful prison of Hell from whence there is no return Behold here what your sins will bring you unto at last unless you truly repent of them and apply Christ by Faith for pardon of them and power against them And flatter not your selvs in hope of a tolerable hell as thinking that if you be damned that you may endure the torments of hell as well as others For verely verely no finite heart can conceive how great the pain and misery of the damned will be who shal be punished by an infinite God for an infinite guilt throughout the infinite space of Eternity One says wel We can go no further in comprehending that which is incomprehensible then to know it to be incomprehensible It is not for nothing that God hath ordained Tophet of old and that Christ hath so often threatned hell and everlasting punishment against impenitent and unbelieving sinners For for as sure as the promises of heaven and life eternal are true so sure the threatnings of hell and everlasting punishment are true and they shall be fulfilled in God's appointed time and way Mat. 5. 18. ch 25 46. Though Reprobate sinners are but finite Creatures and did sin but for a time yet because they sinned against an infinite good God and against the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God and did never repent of their sins but would have sinned eternally if they had lived eternally therefore these offence is infinite and it will be just with God to punish them wiâ—h an everlasting punishment and so with an infinite punishment in respect of duration Rom. 3. 8 Rom. 6. 23. Although all the damned shal be everlastingly punished with the loss of the felicity of heaven and with the sence of the misery of Hell yet by how much any of them have been greater sinners then others of them by so much their degrees of punishment will be the greater according to the opinion of most expositors upon these Texts of Scripture Mat. 11. 22
deliver you from everlasting punishment and to bring you to life eternal after this life is ended Math. 6. 10. 13. Luke 21. 36. Pray in your hearts with ejaculations to God pray in secret pray in your families pray in publick pray without ceasing 1 Thes. 5. 17. Our Saviour saith ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7. 7. And Saint Paul tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10 13. Thirdly make use of the two New Testament Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper which are to continue to the end of the world Mat. 28. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 26. Make use of your Baptisme by way of meditation as sure as you were baptized so sure you shall be pardoned and saved if you truly believe in Christ for Baptisme is not only a Signe but also a Seal thereof to all true believers Markâ—6 â—6 16. Rom. 4. 11. Again make use of the Lords Supper by your receiving of it as often as you may be called to it and prepared for it and as often as you receive do it in remembrance of the Lords death and of the great ends of his death which was to deliver all those who rightly believe in him from wrath to come and to purchase an heavenly inheritance for them As sure as you shall receive Christ by faith in this Sacrament so sure the blessed benefits of his death and passion shall be confirmed unto you in it Matth. 26. 28. Rom. 4. 11. Fourthly obey the Ministers of Gods word who are set over you in the Lord and submit your selves unto them for they watch for your soules as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief Hebr. 13. 17. Remember what Jesus Christ hath said in this case He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10. 16. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them and that you may be blessed in the practice of them consider these four motives First consider that if you think of these things so as to do thereafter then you may assuredly conclude that you shall escape everlasting punishment inherit life eternall at the end of this life and you may draw your conclusion of assurance into such a like Christian Syllogisme as this which may serve instead of an use of examination They who know those things that make them wise to salvation who repent of their sins and believe in Christ who sincerely live a holy life shall not perish but have everlasting life saith the Lord in his holy word But those who follow the afore mentioned directions may say we through grace have learned those things that make us wise to salvation we repent of our sinnes we believe in Christ and we sincerely desire and endeavour to live a holy life Therefore we shall escape everlasting punishment enjoy life eternal after our temporall life is ended And if so how happy will you be that ever you were borne consider of it as it is briefly expressed in these Scriptures when Christ shall appeare you shall be like him where he is there you shall be that you may behold his glory and see him as he is face to face you shall be ever with the Lord in whose presence is fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore and so as perfectly happy as possibly you can be Secondly consider that if through carelesnesse you forget the duties you have been exhorted unto so as finally to neglect them then you may sadly fear that when the Lord shall weigh you in his ballance that you wil befound wanting and in the number of those who shall bee doomed at the last day to go away into everlasting punishment and then wo wo to you it had been good for you if you had never been born In the fear of God consider the miseries that will come upon you at the last day if you dye without repentance toward God and without faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and seriously think with your selves how sad your condition will be if you be condemned with the wicked of the world to depart from the Lord and from heaven his dwelling place and to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched and into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And how can ye escape the damnation of hell if you walk in the broad way that leadeth to it and if you live and dye such ignorant and disobedient sinners as the Lord expresly threatens to punish with everlasting destruction from his presence and from the glory of his power 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9. Hebr. 2. 3. Some have been moved with fear of hell fire to cause these words of the Prophet Isaiah Who amongst us shall dwel with everlasting burnings Isa. 33. 14. to be written in letters of gold over their Chimney-pieces O that you who read and hear these things would be so moved with fear of hell and fire eternal as to begin forthwith to prepare to escape it Thirdly consider What it is for which you neglect to provide for your own eternal well-fare Is it not either for sin it self which is altogether evil or else is it not for the love you bear to this present world either to the pleasures â—riches or honours of it all which are but casks of happiness and gilded emptiness yea they are not onely vain but vanity it self Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity and therefore they are no provisions for a blessed eternity And will you venture to neglect the great duties which concerns your eternal salvation either for so vile a thing as sin or for such vain things as cannot satisfie your immortal souls God forbid you should do so God forbid you should do so King Lysimachus being constrained through thirst to yield his Kingdom to the Scythians for a cup of cold water when he had drunk it said O for what a small pleasure have I parted with my great kingdom whosoever shall loose the eternal good things of the world to come to gain the temporal good things of this world will have cause to say when it is too late O for how small a matter have I lost the everlasting Kingdome of heaven For What is a man profited saith our Saviour if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shal a man give in exchange for his soul Mans eternal salvation is more worth yea infinitely more worth then the whole world Fourthly Consider that the time of your life is the onely time that you have to provide for your eternal condition if it be not done here there is no
to inherit life eternal and so all the world shall go into one of these two places or states of Eternity after that time shall be no more The truth of this weighty point of Divinity may appear these two waies 1. By Divine Testimonie 2. By Humane Testimonie First This appeares to be so by the Divine Testimonie of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures who saith concerning the wicked that they shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Mat. 25. 46. When Jesus Christ shall sit upon the Throne of his glory the people of all nations shall be gathered before him and he will distinguish them into two sorts namely into sheep and goates Mat. 25. 31. 32. By Goats are meant the Reprobate of all mankind who dyed in their sins and out of Christ though many of them did profess saith yet none of them had that Faith unfained which worketh by Love for when Christ in his poor Members was an hungred they gave him no meat and when he was naked they clothed him not and these are the unbelieving and the ungodly of the world who shal go away into everlasting punishment that is they shall go into hell to suffer everlasting punishment By Sheep are to be understood the Elect of God taken out of all sorts of mankind who were redeemed justified and sanctified by Jesus Christ many whereof had opportunity to shew forth their faith in Christ and their love unto Christ by their Charity to the poor people of Christ for when Christ in his poor Members was sick and in prison they visited him and when he was hungry and naked they fed him and clothed him And these are the righteous in Christ Jesus who shall go into Life Eternal that is they shall go into heaven to enjoy life eternal Mat. 25. 35 36 37 46. Again This is proved by the Parable of the tares of the field in the thirteenth chapter of Saint Matthews Gospel If you well observe our Saviours Exposition of this â—arable you will find that all people in the world are compared unto good Seed and Tares By Tares are meant the children of the wicked one who were of their Father the Divel for his lusts they would do though many of them were Christians by name and Believers by profession yet they were but formal Christians and feigned Believers being such as did offend and such as were workers of iniquity And these in the end of this world shall be cast into a Furnace of fire that is into Hell-fiâ—e where there is for ever wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 13 40 41 42. Rev. 16. 10 11. By good Seed is to be understood the children of the Kingdom who were joint-heirs with Christ of the Kingdome of Glory and these at the last day shall be received up into the third Heaven and shall shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father and that for evermore for of his Kingdom there shall be no end Mat. 13. 38 43. This Divine Doctrine may be further illustrated and yet more strongly confirmed by these two Scripture-Arguments First at the great Assizes of the whole world when all mankind shall so appear before the tribunal of Christ as that the secrets of their hearts shall be laid open they will be found either such as were ignorant and disobedient and out of Christ or such as were knowing obedient and interessed in Christ. They who shal be found at that notable day of discovery such as had no part in Christ such as knew not God and as obeyed not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shal be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes. 1. 7. But they who shall be found at that great day of Trial such as were in Christ such as did know the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and such as did truly believe in Christ and sincerely obey him shall be saved with eternal salvation Heb. 5. 9. Therefore all mankind at the end of the world shal go into an everlasting condition either of wo or weal. Secondly either all mankind after the day of Judgment shall go into an everlasting condition either of happiness or misery or else some of mankind shall be turned into nothing or else some of mankind shall go into some third place or state But not any of mankind shall be turned into nothing for the wicked of all mankind shall go into everlasting punishment therefore they shall have an everlasting being otherwise there would be a punishment inflicted none indured which is a contradiction and the righteous among mankind shall go into life eternal and therefore they shal subsist live for ever and so none of mankind shall be annihilated or consumed and turned into nothing Nor shall any of mankind go into any third place or state because there is no place nor state to be found in the Word of God for any of mankind to go into after this world is ended besides hell and heaven besides the cursed condition of everlasting punishment and the blessed state of life eternal and how can any of mankind go into that which is not Therefore we may certainly conclude That all mankind at the end of this world shall go in their bodies and souls into an everlasting condition either of glory or misery The wicked shall go into an everlasting condition of pain and calamity and the righteous shal go into an everlasting condition of rest and glory and so all shall go into an eternal state either of felicity or misery after that time shall be no longer Here it might be shewed that the Doctrine Of Mans everlasting condition in the world to come hath been received for a Truth ever since this world began The holy Partriarchs Prophets and Apostles and the Old and New Testament Saints believed it and acknowledged it so did the ancient Fathers after them the greatest part of Christians in all ages and parts of the world And all the Reformed Churches now in Christendom do confess it and do earnestly contend for this Fundamental Article of the Catholick faith But I labour to be brief and therefore instead of insisting upon the Antiquity of this point I shall refer you to the Scriptures and Authors in the Margin and to the last Article of Athanasius's Creed of the Nicene Creed and of that ancient Creed commonly called The Apostles Creed whereby you may see with your own eyes that this is no new but an ancient Truth which hath been received in the Church of God in all ages of the world Secondly This infallible Doctrine may be proved if further proof be needful by humane testimony and as I may say with the Apostle Acts 17. 28. by certain of our own Poets for the wiser sort both of Poets and