of man is to it when it is attended with wealth and worldly greatness I need not say 2. Take heed of fleshly lusts which war against the Soul 2. Fornication as St. Peter speaks in 2 Pet. 2.9 10. The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment but chiefly them that walk in the lust of uncleanness c. So St. Paul Heb. 13.4 Adjudicabit exitio Piscat in Loc. 3. Idleness and unprofitableness Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge i. e. condemn They that would not be divorced from their Harlots shall be married to Hell-fire See Rev. 21.8 3. If you would escape the miseries of another world be sure to take heed of an idle and unprofitable life in this Surely Sirs they are like to partake of little good hereafter that care not to do good here If Plays and Romances have not thrust the Gospel out of your minds Matth. 25.30 I shall not need to tell you of the dreadful doom of the unprofitable Servant Is it not sad to see how little good is done in the World by many of those that are best able to do most and how many there be among us who have hundreds it may be thousands a Year that yet do not give all the Year round so much as the price of a good Periwig toward the Relief of their poor distressed Brethren as though such as are raised to such high fortunes were gotten above the Law of Charity or as if they thought the greatness of their wealth would well excuse them in the neglect of those good works it was given for or as though they had thought it an honour to them to have the Papists say that they are Solifidians The neglect of this is no such harmless Peccadillo as these Men may be apt to account it We read in the Gospel that our Lord will condemn Men at the great Day for this sin especially and make a particular mention of it as a procuring cause of Condemnation Matth. 25.41 c. He will say unto them Depart from me c. For when I was an hungred in his members he means ye gave me no meat when I was thirsty ye gave me no drink c. So then they that were able to do good to their poor Christian Brethren and were not willing to do it in some conscionable way will be punished for ever for this sin if they dye such as they lived and when they have lost their Souls and Heaven it will be no satisfaction to them to remember that they kept or saved their Money they that would not live as Christians shall not be spared because they were Gentlemen I might also caution you against Cruely and Oppression scorning of Reproofs and scoffing at Religion in the serious faithful Followers of it but I have not time to say all that might be said unto you 4. Mispending of Time The next thing that I would entreat you to be heedful against is mis-spending of your time He that is careless of that is therein careless of his God his Soul his Duty and every thing that most concerns him and therefore is most apparently as yet in the ready way to Hell See that ye walk circumspectly redeeming the time is no Precept of mine but of the Apostle * Eph. 5.15 16. or rather of God by him and if Gentlemen are not concerned with it it would be hard to prove that any others are Believe me Sirs your time is one of your choicest Treasures nor can you name any thing besides God's grace and your Souls that can be compared with it for preciousness What would you not give for another years time in order to your preparation for an endless life in case you were to dye to morrow And though I am not concerned to accuse you of mispending your time yet I may lawfully put you in mind of it and desire you to call your selves to account for it before your God doth Compare I beseech you the time that you spend in excessive sleeping in trimming and adorning in feasting and long meals in pomp and state and vain curiosity in vain thoughts and worldly cares in Cards and Dice and other Games at home and abroad in fruitless and unedifying Books in idle company and needless visits in vain discourses and delights in doing ill or doing nothing I say do but compare this time that is spent in these ways with that time which is spent in a serious seeking and serving of God in reading of good Books in thinking of good things in governing your Families religiously in relieving the poor in encouraging your Charge in the ways of God or any thing else that tends to the promoting of piety in your selves or others And let your own consciences tell you which is most For in many of our Gentry the time that is spent in the latter is no more in comparison of that which is spent upon the former than the poor Man's wages for a days work to their Yearly Incomes Their whole business and work is sports and pastimes so that we might describe them in those words in Exod. 32. They are a People that sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play But such provide but ill for themselves nor can it be safe for them to be so prodigal of time that have Death and Judgment before them a Hell to escape and a Heaven to prepare for 5. There is another sin that some who go for Gentlemen are sadly in love with Rash Imprecations and must not be forgotten in this Discourse I mean horrid Swearing and Imprecations Damning Sinking and the like And surely if Damnation be a real thing and not a Dream it must needs be a damnable thing in the highest sense rashly and profanely to imprecate it upon themselves What wonder is it if these Men have Hell for their portion that commonly have Damnation it self for the matter of their prayer And if they did only shame themselves by this wickedness the matter were not so much but they alas shame their profession also and bring a grievous reproach upon the holy Prayers of our Church 'T is the corrupt Lives and cursed Speeches of such Professors that harden the deluded Separatists in their prejudice against them as the Quakers and such like I read not many Moneths ago a passage to this purpose more than plain enough in a Quaker's Pamphlet where speaking to some Persons of this bad quality he expresseth himself after this manner You cry out God damn us and God confound us and soon after you go to your Church and say We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thus Reader this clause in our Letany We beseech thee to hear us good Lord than which it is hard to imagine any thing more humble or pious or better becoming a serious Christian is matter of greatest scorn and contempt to these poor Creatures and all because it is Profaned and Unhallowed
if I might call it a state they could not be sensible of any of their follies in chusing the pleasures of sin before the pleasures of piety Doubtless too many in the world yea too many that I know in the world would think it no very hard bargain but rather account it a happiness in some degree if they could but please themselves as they would with their lyes and slanders The fruits of Mr. R's Doctrine their malice and profaneness c. and be assured at the same time that they should suffer no worse punishment than to be turned into nothing after they had wrought all the mischief they are able Would they not then be content if the Laws of the Land would allow it to hear a Sermon but once a year and cast off the very shew of Religion Would they not be content to sit round a Barrel in the midst of a Green on the Lord's day in the Afternoons yea in the Forenoons too and desire no better company than New Cards and Old Stories all the day long Would not a desperate Damning Gallant be more welcome to them than a Preacher and his shameless Whorish Heathenish Boastings be more pleasing to their honest hearts than the best Sermons of the other Yea would they not count him a useless creature and think him unworthy so much as of the dregs of their Merry-go-down for all the pains that he took to prevent their Damnation For if it can do them no more hurt than to consume them to nothing they will not much value it since that which makes an end of them will also make an end of their Sorrows and that it will do no worse they have this pamphlet to perswade them but let them not trust to it for its Author was not infallible Mr. Samuel was no Prophet nor Mr. Richardson any of those that wrote by the Spirit And what he pretends for it from the Destruction of the wicked hath received a censure in the first Chapter p. 107 c. In the 107. page and those that follow to the 113. page he speaks little or nothing that needs to be examined by me for it tends not so far as I can apprehend to strengthen his cause in general nor to confirm that particular point which he hath last endeavoured to defend And having no more to say to him as yet I shall clear one truth which tends to make my way the plainer when I shall meet with him again viz. when I come to take a view of his considerations c. in the 113 114. pages The endless punishment of the Devils proved and the rest The truth that I assert in this case is thus That the fallen Angels shall be punished with everlasting punishment Matth. 25.41 We read of everlasting fire prepared for them therefore they shall suffer everlastingly in it for if they should suffer in it but for a time to what purpose to speak with Reverence should everlasting fire be prepared for them The word everlasting which hath hitherto been looked upon as one of the saddest properties of that fire would signifie very little in point of Terror if it did not suppose the everlastingness of their punishment for whom it is prepared As the durableness of a Dungeon or Prison will be matter of small consideration to those that shall endure but a little while in it And their perpetuity under punishment may also be cleared from their perpetuity in sinning their everlasting impenitency The Devils are past all true repentance for their sins and therefore they that continue impenitent are called the children of the Devil ye are of your father the Devil said our Saviour to the obstinate Jews of old And if the Devils will never truly repent of their sins what wonder if they never be released out of punishment yet I do not conclude they should be forgiven if they should repent for God hath not made any promise of Mercy to them upon any terms nor hath he provided any Mediator for them To which I might add as equally serviceable to my present purpose those places of Scripture that tell us that the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Matth. 12.32 And if it never be forgiven they that commit it shall never come out of punishment after the day of Wrath is come upon them And thus we have seen the certainty of the Devils everlasting punishment which of it self will cut asunder the sinews of several of Mr. R's Arguments as shall be seen in the next Section CHAP. III. SECT II. The strong man armed and his strength discovered or Mr. Richardson's deep considerations considered HItherto he hath fought as it were at a distance but now in the following part of his Pamphlet he comes more close and strikes down-right blows upon the Antichristian Priests and all sorts of Priests to use his own words that so he may if it be possible beat them out of their fond conceits about the everlastingness of hell torments And though the number Seven be accounted a Number of perfection yet he will go as far as Ten for so many considerations it hath pleased him to offer us in the 113 c. pages And though his folly hath been somewhat evident by what hath been said yet I think I may affirm the same of it which the Queen of Sheba once did of Solomons wisdom p. 113. that one half of it Reader hath not been told thee p. 113. l. 1. Mr. R. Several considerations that there is not to be any punishment that shall never end B. O fortunate sir what happy Planet were you born under that ever you should be able and willing to do such a great work as this and so effectually to strengthen the hearts of the enemies of God in their most raging resolute wickednesses Well If you make good what you have undertaken you shall surely have the credit of it eris mihi magnus Apollo yea and for your diligent endeavour in this kind you shall by my consent refresh your heart with Malmsbury Ale be a Chaplain to Mr. Hobbs and contemplate the beauty of his famed Leviathan But let us come to the work and consider a little your several considerations and we will not disturb their good order but take them one after another as they come to hand R. p. 113. l. 6. first we do not find the place of Hell mentioned in any of the six days work of God and if it be not found in Gods Creation it is a ground for us to judge that it is of mans Creation viz. a vain imagination c. B. These are plain words indeed and he hath spoken no parable therein but how well he hath spoken a few words will discover For first how would he behave himself if he were to dispute with any such as the Sadducees of old who held there was no Angel or Spirit for they might very easily argue thus We read not in the
by the pestilent Tongues of these Hyperdiabolical Gentlemen these Damnable Damning Sinking Gallants O Sirs if you are guilty of this sin consider of it for the Lord's sake and do no more so wickedly O that I might disswade you from it by any means to that end I will propose unto you these Two questions The Damners questioned 1. What if you should be pleased to lay aside your Atheism and adventure to believe that there is a God to whom vengeance belongeth would you not then account it reasonable to honour him by a better Prayer than God damn us c. and think it more needful to beg his mercy than to imprecate his Vengeance And if you think that there is no God and that Religion is only a silly thing that came into the World by chance through the force of foolish causeless fears as some of your companions are willing to perswade themselves It may be worth your while to Read and Consider what that excellent Gentleman * Sir Charles Woolsley p. 77. hath replied unto it in his most Rational discourse of the unreasonableness of Atheism and to answer it if you can 2. What if you did but see that wicked Spirit that tempts you thus fearfully to challenge your Maker and dare him to destroy you would you not then take heed how you yield to his temptations and follow his counsel And is it not much worse to feel damnation than to see the Devil Why then should you rashly imprecate so great a mischief upon your selves and run the hazard of bearing that wrath we are assured he doth tremble at * James 2.19 3. What if you had been among those Swaggerers in Bohemia mentioned by Dr. B. in his Theatre of God's Judgments * p. 552. out of an approved Author * Jo. Fincelius who having delighted themselves in the night with profane Speeches and wicked wishes much like that aforesaid though not quite so bad were found dead in the morning with their necks broken and crushed as if a Cart-wheel had gone over them with bloud also flowing out of their mouths and nostrils to the astonishment of all that saw them Surely had you seen this sad Spectacle you would hardly make so bold with the God of Judgment as to dare him to destroy you Well if you will not be warned by such examples your selves he can make you examples to others and if such a death be dreadful Damnation is worse incomparably worse how light soever you may make of it as you must needs grant if you believe there is any such thing if you do not let it please you to vindicate your good friend Mr. R. and make good his Arguments against my Answers 4. What makes you to be so fearful when any extraordinary signs of God's power appear Psal 77.17 18. If his Thunder do but shake the Earth under you if his Lightnings singe your well-set Hair if a terrible Tempest overtake you in the field and tear the Oaks in pieces under which you stand for shelter your courage will fail and your stoutest hearts tremble as a Leaf how then can you bear up under his fiercest wrath and endure that damnation which you so commonly and fearlesly imprecate on your selves 5. If Damnation be so slight a matter as by your speeches you seem to make of it why are you commonly so much afraid of dying They who walked in your ways and talked in your Language most stoutly and presumptuously yet spake very faintly when a deadly disease took hold of them some of your Quality when their Physician told them they were not like to recover fell into a horrrid rage and could scarce forbear cursing him to his face And yet Damnation is ten thousand times dreadfuller than death if all our Religion hath not deceived us To lye in the place of darkness is as nothing to the living in the place of Torment Read but the foregoing Chapter and you may see so much Terror in it as might hinder you from wishing it upon your selves though it were never so much in fashion amongst the Hectors of our Times They would not delight themselves in Damn my Bloud if they knew the fierceness of Hell-fire And if they can see themselves so far in danger of it as to desire heartily to escape it they may fitly read some directions for that purpose in the latter pages of this Discourse If any expect an Apologie for what I have said to these men he is likely to be disappointed of his expectation and if they themselves shall call me Stoick or Clown or Puritan for my pains I shall be content to take it at their hands and will as I verily hope say no worse to them than I would to those that are infected with the Plague viz. The Lord be merciful unto you And now I leave them being willing to speak a few words to their Betters namely The Serious and Religious Gentry CHAP. IV. SECT III. A Continuation or a word of Exhortation to the Religious Gentry ANd now good Reader since I am to treat of so Noble a Subject I do really wish for thy sake that I could speak what is sutable to it and that which might be as worthy of thy Reading as the Persons to whom I speak are of thy Love and Respect but alas my manifold imperfections will be a more than sufficient hindrance so that I cannot promise thee any thing extraordinary herein yet if plain Truth may be pleasing thou mayst fitly read what follows They are as Gold not only choice but rare And though some of them as I have heard are lately gone to their beloved Lord Sir T. R. c. yet blessed be God there be some of them still remaining in our sinful Land long may they live and let those hearts be faint that wish them evil Their Character I shall first tell you who I mean by Religious Gentry and then speak a word of Exhortation with all humility unto them For the former The Religious Gentleman is one that minds his God above his Money and placeth his Happiness in a higher world than this he lives in one that scorns nothing so much as sin and desires nothing so much as a Conformity to Jesus Christ and an absolute fruition of his Love and Glory 'T is his highest Ambition to be a Favourite in the Court of Heaven and the best of his Buildings are disesteemed by him in comparison of the many Mansions that are there his Tongue keeps time and tune with his Mind and Conscience he doth not make or love a Lye he looks upon such Drolling as a piece of damnable fooling he counts it no pride to make his boast of God nor no shame to speak often of his Attributes and Excellencies He will glorifie his God in his body also and therefore will not adventure to dishonour him with the Apparel he puts upon it God having given him his right shape he sees
no reason why he should be mis-shapen by any monstrous fashions In a word as he is Religious so he is not afraid to own and follow the Exercises of Religion in publick as well as in private He seeks not for the Golden mean between Saintship and Atheism but is resolved to be a Saint so far as he may though the proud should call him Puritan for it He goes as joyfully to God's house as the Sensual gallants to a Play-house and comes out with more as well as better satisfaction He goes not to Church to save his Credit or his Purse to see Fashions or to censure his Minister but to discharge his Duty and adorn his Profession to Serve his God and Save his Soul and therefore he had rather go Twice a day than Once a month This Reader is the nature and quality of these excellent Persons I am speaking of and however thou mayst wonder at it I dare affirm there are some such to be found among us and to them I am now with all Christian respectfulness to address my self The Exhortation Honoured Sirs since Hell is no Fancy since the miseries thereof are real intolerable and eternal give me lieve I beseech you to urge upon you these following Duties The First Duty 1. To rejoyce in the Lord and delight your selves in the Thoughts of his Great Goodness towards you For he hath freed you for ever from all this Misery That Cloud of Vengeance which will fall upon the Careless Gallants at the last day shall be far from you You may meet with many distresses but nothing of Damnation shall ever come near you for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 2. Whosoever believeth on him to wit with a holy and True Faith such as is attended with a Religious life shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 When the awakening Trumpet shall send forth its Echo's to the ends of the Earth it shall be no matter of amazement unto you when you shall look out of your Graves and see the Lord of Glory Armed with irresistible power clothed with shining Majesty and flaming Vengeance attended with all his Troops of holy Angels Cherubins and Seraphins honoured with their loudest shouts their highest praises their joyfullest Acclamations c. yet then I say your hearts shall not fail for you shall come forth to the Resurrection of life Joh. 5.29 and be raised up for heaven not for hell wherefore serve your God with gladness and do not so much humor the Devil or honour this malignant world as to be afraid of its enmity or to be discouraged at the worst it can do against you That Gracious God whom you serve is able to deliver you from all evils and as he hath saved you from the power of sin and the punishment of Hell so he will be your shield from smaller dangers Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Second Duty Secondly To be often in the Heavenly Duty of Praise and Thanksgiving This Tribute you owe for every Mercy you partake of how much more for your deliverance from the Everlasting Punishment Methinks Sirs you should delight your selves abundantly in Paying of it and Praise your great deliverer with enlarged hearts O let that be a main part of your work here which shall be your Beatifying employment in the high and Holy place When Sensualists are delighting themselves in Songs of Lewdness and Vanity let your hearts be delighted with Songs of Praise If the Blind man in the Gospel Luke 18. ult could follow Christ so joyfully glorifying God merely because he was cured of his blindness O what Joyful Praises should your hearts be filled with and your glory your Tongues be exercised in when you are saved through Christ from the Everlasting Darkness and destruction and shall shortly see an end of all your Sorrows Third Duty Value not overmuch the Scorns and Censures of the ungodly world fear not the reproach of men Esay 51.7 nor be afraid of their revilings while you walk in the Holy way No reason for it for why should they fear the contempt of any that are secured from the everlasting shame Fourth Duty Another duty which I would humbly exhort you to is this To do what you can to save others from Hell Not that you can save them in a way of absolute yower by working saving Grace in their Souls nor in a way of Merit by procuring Heaven for them This 't is confessed you cannot do But yet you may do that which the Scripture calls a Saving of them namely Perswade them to be careful of their own Salvation and occasion them to use the means of Salvation that are afforded them And what can be imagined more excellent and honourable or more truly worthy of a Religious Gentleman than this Motives to it I might add in great variety from the Glory of God the Worth of the Soul the Love of Christ the Honour of his Gospel the honourableness of the Duty in it self To conquer Towns and Castles and Kingdoms is but a poor and worthless project to the furious endeavours of Saving a Soul But methinks God's goodness to your selves might be a very powerful engagement upon you so to do if there were no other reason for it As the King in the Parable Oughtest thou not to have forgiven thy fellow-servant seeing I forgave thee so may it be said much more in this case ought you not to do your best to save others from Hell since your God hath been so merciful as to save you And I beseech you Sirs let it be remembred what opportunities and advantages you have above other men to do good to your Neighbours Souls Your Place and Authority will bear a great sway with them they will regard your words and examples when they will not regard ours Happy would many a poor Minister account himself if his People would mind the commands of God which he urgeth upon them in the name of Christ half so much as they would mind the words of a Man of Place and Wealth If you shew a love to a Church and a plain Sermon they will seem to do so for their credit sake and will not dare to call the one a Steeple-house or the other a Puritanical Preachment Now you may be Instrumental to their Salvation or deliverance from Hell many ways especially these following 1. In general by your own example by living godly righteously and soberly in your general course They will be more capable of believing profaneness sottishness and injurious doings to be hateful things when they see them so carefully shunned by such as you In particular If you would be a means of saving your Neighbours Souls from Hell let it please you to observe these following Directions 1. Endeavour to engage them to