his Brethren shall undertake to prove it I will undertake to Answer them And to that which he hath said I reply thus That Christs Sufferings in the place of his people were sufficient to deliver them from everlasting punishment though he did not suffer for ever for his Temporal Sufferings were of infinite merit and value as being the Sufferings of an Infinite Person the Eternal Son of God whom all the Highest Angels are enjoyned to worship or in St. Paul's phrase God over all blessed for ever in Rom. 9. Rom. 9.5 For like as the greatness of an Injury is measured by the greatness of the person that suffers it so the value of the satisfaction is esteemed by the Excellency of the Person that makes the Satisfaction as is well observed by the excellent and acute Author in the Margin in his Anatome Samosatenianismi Mart. Z. Thalyaeus quaest 1. Arg. 11. p. mihi 81. Actus secundi necessitatem supplevit tum dignit as personae tum pondus passionum c. But of this something hath been said already only I may add thus much that the eternity of Christ's Sufferings if it might be supposed could not work our deliverance if his Temporal Sufferings could not For according to strict justice He being to suffer in our place could not deliver us till he had suffered sufficiently for us But now in case he had been to suffer for ever he should never suffer sufficiently till he had suffered for ever which 'till implies a contradiction since Eternity can never expire wherefore his rare invention in this case is nothing worth And whereas we suppose the dignity of Christ's person as he is God to add such a value to his Sufferings that his Temporal Sufferings may serve instead of our Eternal Sufferings he gives us this for Answer That the Godhead of Christ did not suffer which I confess is a Truth but nothing at all to the purpose for though his Godhead did not suffer yet he who is God did suffer though only in his humane Nature And it was more for God to suffer for a time than for sinful creatures to suffer for ever and with his Sufferings for his people God his Father is fully satisfied since he hath given himself for them an Offering and a Sacrifice of sweet smelling savour to God Eph. 5.2 But against this he objecteth after this manner p. 157. R. God was never unsatisfied He is Perfect Infinite Blessed unchangeable and how could he be so if he were unsatisfied at any time B. Herein he doth greatly mistake our meaning and supposeth that we hold God was discontented when we say there was need of a satisfaction to be made unto him for the sins of his people Thick Ale certainly that could fill the Gentlemans head with such gross Imaginations That indeed were as bad Divinity as most that hath come from Rome or Malmsbury and needs no more to confute it than the consideration of those Perfections of God which my Author mentioneth But to recover him out of this Error we would tell him that we mean not by a Satisfaction such a thing as makes God better contented or happier than he was before that were madness so much as to imagine but such a thing as Answers the demands of his Law and Justice which necessarily require that sin should be punished according to its demerit either upon the sinner himself or his Surety as the Learned Dr. Owen hath excellently demonstrated in his Diatriba upon that subject * De Justitiâ Divinâ which my Author I hope will not undertake to confute And now let us proceed to the remaining Proofs that he gives us in the following pages p. 162. p. 162. Proof 4 R. Zephan 1.18 He shall make a speedy Riddance of them in the day of his wrath But to continue for ever in Punishment is no speedy Riddance So the pouring out his Anger is called a Day which agrees not to a punishment that never ends B. Bold men will not scruple to act like themselves he that hath perverted so many other Texts to his purpose will do the like by this yet 't is fit we should tell him of it whether he will repent of it or no Wherefore we desire him or his companions to observe that the Text doth not say as he saith but thus The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his Jealousie for he shall make a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land Which words manifestly speak of a National judgment here in the World but prove nothing of such a quick dispatch in another world after the day of general Resurrection And as for the word Day it is not always used to signifie a day and no more or thereabouts but a time indefinitely as when we read of an Evil day and of the day of Visitation and the like In that day the Lord alone shall be exalted Esay 2.17 and what day is that Surely for ever after this world is ended Eternity will be the day of his Glory and no less shall be the day of his Favour to his Servants and of his Vengeance upon his Enemies Proof 6 R. The opinion of a punishment never to end doth cause much sin I deny that p. 163 c. Here he adds several Proofs such as they are some of the choicest of which I shall examine R. 1. It causeth fear True indeed it doth so but is it therefore the cause of sin If so what shall we think of the threatnings of God's judgments in this world doubtless they cause or should cause fear in the wicked man yet he had not best say that they cause or should cause sin in them R. 2. Fear troubles the hearts of many of the Lords people he means his Faithful people and Christ saith Let not your hearts be troubled John 14. It seems he would have their Fears removed by telling them that there is no hell nor Everlasting Punishment for any after this life But wise men will not go that way to work in comforting the Godly but rather will comfort them by telling them that Christ hath saved them from it and delivered them from that wrath to come R. 3. If the Soul apprehends it self lyable to Everlasting Punishment it cannot submit to God or be quiet What doth he mean in saying It cannot submit to God If he means a contentedness to undergo that Everlasting punishment we say God requires them not so to be content but rather to be content to turn to him and his service and to accept of Christ as Saviour and Lord that they may in a way of Faith and Holiness escape that Punishment If he mean any thing else he may keep his meaning to himself unless the world had need of it And if he think wicked men should be quiet with their Spiritual state aand live contentedly and securely in a state of sin I must profess I know no
wise man that is of his Opinion R. 4. This Opinion maketh many to murder themselves that they may not live to encrease their sin and consequently their Punishment in another world This Opinion saith he maketh this mischief But as he doth not prove it so I deny it For 't is not this Opinion but their mistakes about it and other Delusions and Temptations that maketh them so to do And it would be no hard matter to prove that this Doctrine rightly believed would be a powerful Preservative against self-murder for if Murderers are so much in danger of such * Rev. 21.8 misery he that believes so will not easily be perswaded to murder himself to bring this misery upon him yet we must not judge that all self-killers are self-murderers or damned persons R. 5. The contrary Opinion tends most to comfort those persons whose friends have dyed and left no testimony of their conversion to God This Reader is the present case what course we should take to comfort those persons who are afraid their friends shall suffer the everlasting punishments as dying without any signs of a true Conversion My Author thinks it the best way to tell them that there is no such thing for any man to suffer though finally wicked and impenitent This indeed were a very quick and easie way if it were but as safe too but certainly it is not as my first Chapter hath sufficiently shewed where the proof of the point is given at large and far above all that Mr. R. or all his Brethren can ever Answer to it The surer and more warrantable ways for men to quiet their minds in that case are as follows 1. To judge charitably and hope the best of their deceased Friends The Case of those that fear the worst of their deceased Friends considered and not too confidently to perswade themselves of their everlasting misery because they could not see such signs of true Conversion as might be wished For though we may be sure that all they are lost for ever and beyond all hopes of recovery that die unconverted yet we cannot be so sure of such and such particular persons that they did die unconverted for God's Judgments are a great deep and his Ways past finding out God may work his gracious work in the Soul at the last minute of life if he so please and we cannot prove that he will not do so Object Obj. But if a man should not shew any signs of Repentance to his last hour 't is very doubtful if he be ever converted indeed and we have much more grounds for our Fears than for our Hopes concerning him Answer 'T is very true and cannot justly be denyed if a man be not godly 'till his dying day 't is ten to one but he will dye an ungodly man and if he do so he is certainly undone for ever in 2 Pet. 3.7 The day of Judgment is called a day of perdition to such persons But then consider 1. That if your Friends have lived and dyed ungodly and so are fallen into everlasting Punishment yet it was God that cast them into that Punishment He alone hath the Keys of Hell and of Death and none but he could adjudge them to it and therefore they must not murmur at it since it was He that hath done it Thus the Psalmist Psal 39. I was dumb Ps 39.9 and opened not my mouth in a way of impatience he means for thou Lord hast done it 2. As it was God that hath done it so he hath never done it but when it was fit to be done he is perfectly just in this severe Dispensation of casting the impenitent into Everlasting Punishment The proof of which I have given in the end of my first Chapter Assuredly The Lord is holy in all his ways and Righteous in all his works Psal 145.18 and if we doubt of it now there shall hereafter be a Revelation of his Righteous judgment Rom. 2. If they continued his Enemies must he save them because they were your friends or must their Relation to you hinder the Judge of the world from doing Right Surely not 3ly Your excessive sorrow from the fear of your Friends misery will do no good at all but only disquiet your hearts in vain for it will not please God nor profit them but rather unfit you for the duties that are incumbent upon you and therefore submit to God and pray to him to abate your sorrows 4ly Instead of murmuring at God's Dispensations in any kind give him thanks for his patience and forbearance towards you and the means of grace that are afforded you And be assured what ever be the state of the Dead your selves shall be happy enough if you turn to him in sincerity Esay 55.7 while you live on Earth 5ly Study the vile nature of sin view it in the Glass of God's holy Law and in the Sufferings of Christ c. See how it crosses the will and dishonours the Name of the great God See how it breaks his Law resists his Power denies his Soveraignty disparages his Wisdome despises his Threatnings and abuses his Mercy c. If we did rightly apprehend these things we should be so far from murmuring at our Maker for condemning some that we should greatly admire that he doth not condemn all sinners in the World Proof 7 R. We read in Esay 57. v. 16. The words of the Lord himself saying I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth c. Therefore he will not punish for ever B. If he were deservedly looked upon as an absurd fellow that made his Answer concerning Onyons when the question was proposed concerning Garlick only what an intolerable absurdity is my Author guilty of when he urgeth such a Text for the Impunity of the wicked which manifestly speaks of the Mercy of God to the Saints In the foregoing Verse he tells us He will look with an eye of favour that is to him that is of an humble and a contrite Spirit v. 15. And then he adds I will not contend for ever viz. with such a one But will this prove that he will not contend for ever with any others with them that are so proud that they care not for God that go on wilfully in the ways that his Soul hateth and will not be reformed surely not If Mr. R. will see no difference between the godly and the wicked the humble Christian and the proud-hearted Hypocrite yet our God will and will also make others see the difference hereafter when the one shall be separated from the other Mal. 3.18 as the Sheep from the Goats Matth 25. setting the one on his right hand and the other on his left Doubtless the boldest Hypocrite will tremble then and their hopeless cries be far louder in another World than their scornfullest laughter was in this CHAP. III. SECT IV. The remaining part of his Infallible Proofs examined Proof 8 R. God hath
he will not save the wicked Angels as was proved therefore it appears he did not count it most for his glory so to do And if I should say that the saving of some only only the Penitent and Returning sinners I speak of them that are of years tends most to the glory of God's mercy Mr. R. may not honestly deny it for his just severity and vengeance upon some sets off his mercy towards others The blackness of darkness reserved for the wicked makes the Inheritance of the Saints in Light appear the more glorious and the mercy that brings them to it by so much the more admirable And having seen what he cannot do viz. that he cannot make good what he hath undertaken he tells us at last what he cannot think p. 190. lin 19. R. I cannot admit to think any thing that is cruel to be in God B. This his disability he takes doubtless for his perfection and I for my part shall readily grant it to be so for he must needs be very weak or very wicked that can be perswaded to think any such thing And I verily believe he never heard any of those Divines that he so much undervalues preach or speak any thing that sounded that way I shall add only these two particulars concerning it 1. That God is not cruel in punishing the impenitent for ever since they are worthy of such punishment as before 2. That though there is nothing of cruelty belonging to the nature of God yet there is of Justice and Vengeance and Severity against sin Consider the Example of the fallen Angels and the sufferings of Christ And this severity is so far from being inconsistent with his goodness that St. Paul joyns them both together Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God c. And if our Author shall think his severity to be cruelty we can tell him of a Day wherein he shall have light enough to see his folly Thus Reader I have led thee and I hope safely through the manifold dark Maze's and crooked Labyrinths of Mr. R. his new-found Wilderness and know not what I should need to say more unto him unless it be to admonish him of his design and to bespeak him in the words of that precious Man of God Bishop Jewel to that Pestilent Popeling Mr. Harding at the end of his Defence Deceive not the simple they are bought with a Price Bish Jewel they are the People of God for whom Christ hath shed his Blood Your shifts are miserable you trouble your self as a Bird in the Lime the more you strive the faster you cleave you cannot bridle the Seas you cannot blind the Sun-beams Give place to the glory of God whether you will or no the Truth will prevail And now Good Reader having given thee the Proof of this Doctrine and the Defence of it against Mr. Richardson's violence and wrath I would humbly invite thee to ponder a little upon it to thy profit To which purpose I shall endeavour to assist thee in the Uses and Improvement of it which is the next particular to be spoken to and indeed the chiefest of all CHAP. IV. SECT I. Containing some Uses of the Doctrine aforesaid SInce Eternal Damnation is not a Dream Vse 1. For Information of the World's Vanity since Everlasting Fire is not a Fancy but a Real thing Then in the first place let us hence be informed of the vanity of all Worldly things yea of the best and bravest of them Indeed the Men of the World will set their hearts upon it let us say what we can from Reason or Scripture to the contrary And if you tell them they have more need of Grace than Gold or of a good Sermon than of a Barrel of good Beer they cannot understand how it can be Their earthly sensual wisdome is not able to apprehend it to any purpose and the most of them will not be wise till 't is too late But however they value earthly things because they are most suitable to their earthly minds yet assuredly they have not that goodness in them which they expect to find at least not that which can be worthy of the principal affection and esteem of their hearts and that partly because of that little good that they are able to do for them in this life for they cannot give any sound content to an Immortal Soul That which is capable of God can never be filled with the Creature Where is the Man that ever was satisfied with the greatest Riches that had not something better than his Riches and the like may be said in other things And as they cannot content the Soul so they cannot secure the Body neither If God do not more for the wealthiest Man than all his Wealth can do he will fall into mischief every moment Yea it cannot procure him one good Night's rest Dan. 6.18 when he hath most need of it Though Darius kept his Money and his Kingdom too yet it is said his sleep went from him But there is a greater vanity than all this for as the greatest of this World 's good cannot content a Man sufficiently in prosperity nor comfort him sufficiently in adversity so it cannot secure him from Hell or save him from Everlasting Burnings It cannot work his deliverance from it nor prove his deliverance from it The former is plain and needs no proof Though the Papists will sell us Pardons for Money yet they cannot assure us that the one or the other can secure us from Hell And the other is no less plain for we read expresly of a Rich man in Hell Luke 16. and we find in Job that God regardeth the Rich no more than the Poor If he be ungodly and dye so he shall not come to Heaven because he had the World at will And if he go to Hell what will all his former comforts be to him or how will the Remembrance of them comfort him What will it be to live in ease for a time if afterwards they live in Torment for ever What will it be to have Honour for a while if afterwards they suffer Everlasting contempt What will it be to be clothed with Silk or Silver and to fare deliciously every Day if afterwards they be clothed with Hellish flames and drink of the Cup of God's fiery Indignation In a word what will it be to enjoy the World and miss of Heaven or in our Saviour's phrase to gain the whole World and lose their Souls Lord put me not off with earthly enjoyments let not any thing be my portion that may consist with thy displeasure 2d Informat of the vileness of sin A second Branch of Information which will naturally spring from the Doctrine aforesaid will be this viz. Concerning the vile nature of Sin That 's almost the only thing that sinners are wont to make light of yea many of them make but a mock at it And though the wise Man tells us
publick Duty and to hear that word often that is able to save their Souls Shew your Zeal for the Solemn Service of your God and let them know how greatly you love the Habitation of his House and the place where his Honour dwelleth This would be a means to bring them often thither if not for love yet for shame and fear and if they come within the sound of God's Word whatsoever it be that moves them so to do there is hopes they may be the better for it or at least not so bad so blind and bold and hardened in sin as if they had been drinking or prating with their ungodly Companions when they should be hearing the Word of their Lord. 2. To shew your Zeal against Drunkenness common Swearing and all other gross sin by punishing it according to the Laws of the Land and to shew most of your favour and kindness to those Persons or Families that seem to have the greatest kindness for Religion 3. To discourse with your Neighbours in an edifying way Let your speech savour of Grace and discover your seriousness for your God and Souls Let them know by your words the holy temper of your hearts Tell them how glad you would be to be more holy than you are to be perfectly conformed to the will of Christ and how little you value all this World 's good in comparison of his love and the enjoyment of it in Heavenly glory Tell them what thoughts you have of the state of an ungodly Professor and that you would not be in such a case for all the Wealth in the Earth Tell them of the preciousness of Time and the greatness of that work which they must do for their Souls therein and if they seem careless of it ask them seriously some awakening Questions As 1. Do you not know that you are Men and that your reason was given you to make you capable of serving your God with a reasonable service that is a ready willing and conscionable service And do you not know that he is always present with you and pondereth all your goings 2. Do you not know you must shortly dye and your Souls enter immediately into an endless state of joy or sorrow according as you dye godly or ungodly Christians 3. Doth not God deserve infinitely more than your highest love your best obedience The Heavens declare his glory and may it become you to forget him and live to his dishonour Do you not admire the beauty and brightness of the starry Heaven and will you venture to lose all the glory and joy which dwells in the Heaven of Heavens for the transitory pleasures or profits of sin O how much good might a few of such questions or speeches do from a Gentleman's mouth upon his Tenents or Neighbours Souls 4ly Engage them in the reading of Scripture and such Books as open and apply the great truths and duties in it as Bishop Taylor 's Rules of Holy Living the Whole Duty of Man Mr. Baxter's Books of Death and Judgment or any other that your Prudence and Piety shall think fit for them Such private innocent companions I doubt not have been a means of saving many a Soul Engage them also to a constant course of Prayer by themselves and with their Families for the often approaching to God in so holy a work whether with a Book or without will shame them from gross sins and make them more serious in their provisions for Eternity 5. Do all you advise them to your selves and be ready to do good to their Bodies and Names in any reasonable way as well as to their Souls and then there is no doubt but your good Examples and good Counsels may do them good And your labour in all will not be too much in so great a work as the saving of Souls from the second Death My next work is to Exhort All in general high and low rich and poor one with another Surely my Brethren you had need be heedful to your selves since Hell is real O consider your ways and use all possible means to escape the Damnation of Hell I hope I shall not need to add any Motives to it if you believe its dreadfulness and your own deservings And as for Directions for it the following Section will supply you with them CHAP. IV. SECT IV. Containing some Directions to escape Hell Torments Presupposition THis part of my Discourse is designed for such especially as are yet in the ready way to Hell as common Swearers Lyars Drunkards Sabbath-breakers and such like to which I may add our factious spightful Professors that mix very wisely as they think their Malice and their Religion together whose wicked spight against their Parish-Ministers is most blessedly turned into a pure zeal for private Meetings abhorring Churches as profane places and crying out when the time and company is fittest Down with them down with them even to the ground And in a word Hypocrites Worldlings careless and ungodly Persons To such I now speak and to them I would give these following Advices in order to the escaping of Hell-torments Dir. 1 After you have remembred how well you deserve them and how worthy the least sin makes you of them Rom. 6. last vers The wages of sin is Death viz. Eternal Death or Damnation for to Eternal Life it is opposed in the verse much more all your sins together with your obstinacy and impenitency in and under them c. I say having considered your deservings consider carefully the danger of your present state of sin O think a little yea think much how uncertain your life is and how impossible it will be to scape Hell if you dye in an unconverted unsanctified state see Matth. 18.3 Hebr. 12.14 and other places And withall how intolerable its miseries will be to you if for the love of sin you be sent thither The light afflictions of this World are greatly dreaded by many and carefully provided against by sober and prudent Men How much more should the extremity of endless Torments O consider what it is to be for ever I say for ever under the insupportable wrath of the great God and whether the utmost that sin can do for you may rationally encourage you to run the hazard of so great a misery This is the first thing that I would advise you to in this case and if the escaping of everlasting misery be not a thing worthy of our most serious thoughts that may tend that way nothing in the World is nor will Men be apt to provide against a danger till they see and consider the reality and certainty of it and the like Except But say some this is harsh counsel and we cannot take it To consider of such sad matters alas we cannot do it we dare not do it if we should think much of such things we are afraid it might make us mad Answer But Sinner take heed in time and do not deceive thy self thou knowest thou hast
the Word of God or knowest but little reason why thou should'st believe so then I would advise thee to read those that may confute thy unbelief or confirm thy faith in that particular as Bishop Ward 's Sermon against Anti-scripturists Dr. Stillingfleet's Orig. Sacr. and the truly Honourable Sir Charles Woolsley his Grounds and Reasons of Scripture-Belief Dr. Allestry his Sermon of the Authority of the Scriptures Mr. Baxt. Rest part 2. cap. 4. with these in the Margin But if thou dost believe it to be so I trust thou wilt believe the Doctrine I plead for For the Scripture testifies of it in words as plain as can be desired viz. in Matth. 25. last verse and many other places To begin with that Matth. 25. last verse These the ungodly that shall be set on Christ's left hand Matth. 25.46 in the former verses shall go away into Everlasting Punishment What can ever be spoken more plain or more plainly to our purpose than this is They shall go away into Everlasting Punishment 1. Vrged therefore they shall be punished everlastingly For if one were to tell us such or such are to be imprisoned perpetually How could he express it more clearly than by saying That they must go into perpetual Imprisonment And these words are the words of Him who was and is the Son of the Father and most perfectly acquainted with his Counsels Purposes Truths and Ways and had no need to fright the wicked World with such a sad Doctrine if it were not a Truth This is that Marpesian Rock which Mr. Richardson was not able to fasten his Teeth in yet nevertheless 2 Vindicated from Mr. R.'s Exceptions He hath snapt at it Five Times together p. 18 c. where he hath several glosses upon the word everlasting which as by Him applyed are worthy to be had in everlasting detestation 1. He tells us That the Fire of Tophet is so called His first Exception because it did burn Day and Night But here our Lord speaks not of the Fire of Tophet Removed but of the Everlasting Punishment of the Wicked And let Him shew us where any punishment is call'd Everlasting Punishment because it lasted for some days and nights Job his Pains were doubtless Day and Night yea for a considerable time too yet 't is not said he suffered Everlasting Pains The Psalmist said God's hand was heavy upon him Day and Night Psal 32.4 yet it is no where said that he was under Everlasting Affliction The word Ever and Everlasting His second Exception p. 19. are used to note a Limited Time as in Exodus 40.15 We read of an Everlasting Priesthood yet that Priesthood did not last for ever in the largest sense but only till the Son of God was come in the Flesh This is the substance of that which he saith in the greatest part of the 19. Page of his Book Removed And it is easily removed out of the way Let us put it into a form of Arguing and it will be exactly thus The word Everlasting in some places is used to signifie but a limited time therefore it must signifie just the same when 't is spoken of the Punishment of the wicked in Matth. 25. last verse Now were not this a pitiful way of reasoning and most apparently inconsequent See a parallel case in the word save To save sometimes signifies only to be a means of Salvation and an Instrument in God's hand of bringing Men into the way of Salvation as when Ministers are said to save them that hear them 1 Tim. 4.16 Shall we therefore say that Christ is but an Instrumental means of Salvation God forbid for He is the Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5.9 Phil. 3.20 And The Saviour by way of Emphasis Answer 2d 2. Though in some places of the Old Testament the word Everlasting doth signifie a limited Time yet Mr. R. doth not shew us any place in the New Testament where it is so taken much less can he shew any Texts therein that call a Temporal Punishment an Everlasting Punishment or any thing like it Answer 3d. 3. Those things which were called Everlasting and yet lasted but for a time were such as were not capable of an absolute and proper Everlastingness The Priesthood in Exodus 40. was not capable of perpetuity being Typical of the Priesthood of Christ that great High-Priest Heb. 4.14 as the Apostle calls him who was appointed to put an end to all former priesthood and Sacrifice by offering up Himself once for All. But the Wicked shall be capable of Everlasting Punishment properly so called for their very Bodies shall be raised Incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 In 1 Cor. 15. The Trumpet shall sound and the Dead i. e. All the Dead shall be raised incorruptible Answ The 4th 4. It must needs be meant of an endless Punishment for I find it is the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Matth. 25.46 that is used by St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.18 where he speaks of things Eternal in contradistinction to Things Temporal in 2 Cor. The things that are seen are temporal but the things that are not seen are eternal * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea it is the same word in the Original which is used by our Lord to express the Eternity of the Saints Happiness Matth. 25.46 These shall go away into Everlasting Punishment and the Righteous into Life Eternal So that if the Punishment of the wicked that continue such be not an endless Punishment we may be at a great doubt whether the Happiness of the Saints shall be endless happiness or not since the same word as was said is used of both of them And now having Answered his first and chiefest Exceptions against this Proof we shall not fear to Examine those which follow and thirdly thus R. Fire may be said to be Everlasting His third Exception p. 19. when it doth not go out till the Combustible Matter is consumed and then he adds The Fire that destroyed Sodom is called Eternal Fire because it went not out till the City was consumed Jud. 7. Answered This is his third gloss upon the word Everlasting in the latter part of the 19. Page And first A Fire may be called Everlasting by his Logick when it goeth not out till the Combustible Matter is consumed It seems then if Mr. Richardson should be pleased to roast his Cat His absurdity shewed in another case to make a Breakfast for those worse than Antichristian Priests that fright the World so needlesly by their Doctrine of Everlasting Punishments for the Wicked he might then bespeak them thus Behold Sirs and see for here is an Everlasting Fire And if the poor ignorant Men should ask him how that can be true since the Fire will be out in a little time He could answer them That it may be called Everlasting because it will last till the Faggots are consumed but if
in that Text doth not mean only a punishment of long continuance but an endless state in Punishment This I say hath been Evidenced before by such Considerations as Mr. Richardson and his Angels will never be able to Answer See my 4. Answer to his second Exception in this same Section Thus we have seen my Authors Glosses upon the word Everlasting and their unserviceableness to his Design so that we may now lawfully write over them the words of the Wise man Eccles 1.2 Vanity of Vanities All is Vanity The Socinians gloss removed And now I cannot conceive any other Exception against this proof that is worthy to be considered unless it be that of Mr. R. his Brethren whom he calls the Protestants of Poland I mean the Socinians who would have us think the Everlasting Punishment that the Wicked are in danger of to be the Total Abolishment of their Natures to all Eternity or in one word Osterod compend Relig. in Polonia florentis Valent. Smalcius disp de Baptism Everlasting Annihilation Thus the Authors in the Margin Their Arguments for it I shall not trouble my English Reader with the Learned may see them in their Opposites Calovius in Socin profligat q. De Morte aeternâ Stegman Photin Refut disput 56. quaest 4. and many others who have sufficiently Answered them The Author's Arguments against the Socinian Interpretat of the word Punishment I shall content my self to urge my Arguments against them herein which as they are not at all the better for being mine so I hope they are never a whit the worse for Truth is the same when spoken by the meanest And first thus 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used is the same which is used of the Life or happiness of the Righteous And since it signifies a positive state in the one how can it be questioned whether it signifies the like in the other so that if the Everlasting Life do note a Being in Happiness it is easie to infer that Everlasting Punishment doth note in like sort a Being in Misery and not an Abolishing of their Beings Nor do I find that word used as an Epithete to any thing but that which is positive in sense at least if not in sound And if it might be good sense to say A man may be Annihilated for ever yet I am apt to doubt whether it be so to say that He may suffer an Everlasting Annihilation for Everlastingness doth imply a lastingness as a thousand includes a hundred and by consequence Partit Metaph l. 2. Sect. 13. quaest 3.2 a subject lasting which in this case is not found Duratio est permanentia Rei in esse as the Learned Martinius most truly 2. They shall go away into this Everlasting Punishment to go away into it implies a positive state yea and their going away viz. from Christ and his Glorious Presence will be none of the smallest parts of their Punishment and therefore is mentioned first Depart from me into c. Matth. 25.41 The Holy Father of old S. Chrysost in Matth. Homil. 24. who had as little need of these mens Learning as of their Religion did confidently affirm it to be the greatest Punishment of all But it would be little Punishment to them or rather none to depart from Christ if at the same time they should depart from themselves too and be turned into nothing Answer 3 3. This Punishment here spoken of Matth. 25. is the saddest of all that ever the Enemies of God endured for there will be the Day of Wrath Matt. 12.36 wherein God will render them the full wages of their Iniquities not abating them so much as for Idle words and therefore it is called in Scripture The Terrible day of the Lord to the wicked though not to the Saints but it would not be the greatest Punishment if it were but the turning them to nothing This I say would not be the saddest Punishment unto them but rather a securing them from all Punishment for when they have no being at all they cannot be under any sorrow nor be sensible of any Punishment Answer 4 4. If the Wicked at Judgment should be turned into nothing and have their Natures abolished that Punishment if it might be so called would be no other than the inanimate and unreasonable creatures shall undergo for they shall then remain no longer the Universal flames will soon consume the creatures in and upon the face of the Earth And can any men think the Punishment of the wicked and impenitent who are compared to * Matth. 7.6 Acts 20.29 Psal 22.12 Dogs and Swine and Wolves and wild Bulls in Scripture yea who are called Enemies of God and Children of the Devil * Psal 37.20 Psal 92.9 John 8.44 and have served him to their Makers dishonour all their days on Earth I say can any men perswade themselves that these wretched mischievous ones shall be in no worse condition for Misery than the pretty Birds and harmless Lambs and the rest that did all the work for which they were made and never transgrest their Makers Law surely if they can we may justly bespeak them in the words of the Apostle Gal. 3.1 O foolish men who hath bewitched you And thus I have vindicated that Sacred Text of our Saviour from the false glosses and fallacious Exceptions of Mr. R. and his Companions And so the Argument it self They shall go away into Everlasting Punishment therefore they shall be for ever in Punishment is sound and firm and the subtilties of a Thousand hells shall never be able to Answer it And now it will be time to put an end to this Second Section CHAP. I. SECT III. Other Texts of Scripture Urged and Arguments grounded on Scripture 2 Thess 1.9 urged and cleared THe next place of Scripture that I shall name for the confirmation of the Point is 2 Thessal 1.9 where he tells us that they who obey not the Gospel of Christ shall be punished with everlasting Destruction They shall be punished with that Punishment which the Apostle calls by the name of Destruction and that Destruction he tells us is an everlasting Destruction therefore it must needs follow that they shall be under punishment Everlastingly If Mr. R. should say any thing to the word Everlasting we may find some satisfaction in the foregoing Section where it hath been largely discoursed of If he Cavil about the word Destruction and pretend it is meant of the Destruction of their Beings by turning them into nothing then we may see something to the contrary in the three latter parts of the last Section in Answer to the Socinians To which I shall now add these Three particulars Destruction in that Text is not Annihilation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 1. That this Everlasting Destruction is such as comes unto them in a way of Vengeance as in the 8. Verse To take vengeance on those or as 't is
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
have spoken of a punishment never to end and have wept for them that should suffer that if there were any such to be endured by any B. It is not unfit to be noted how blind those Men are that have not a mind to see the Truth He would have spoken of such a Punishment if there had been such c. As some Men will face us down and vow most stoutly that they did not those things which we saw them do So Mr. R. by that speech of his would make Christians believe that our Lord never spake any thing to that purpose when they have often read his plain words concerning it Matth. 25. last Verse These shall go away into everlasting punishment But saith he He would have wept for them that should have suffered such a Punishment And so he might for ought he knows to the contrary for many things that Jesus did are not written Joh. 21. But it is not written so of him True but what of that for in the Gospel we read of some that should dye in their sins and be shut out of Heaven Matth 7.14 c. and yet we read not that he wept for them which notwithstandiâ—g was a misery in the saddest sense His 6. Consideration is an Assertion p. 120. That Scripture maketh no mention of any Punishments but those in this life which certainly argues more strength of his Brow than of his Brain 31. to the end and will not be believed by them that believe the 25. of Matth. to mention no more at this time for therein we find a Day wherein all Nations shall be gathered before Christ and have their sentence according to their works to everlasting life or punishment which will be after most of them have been dead a long time as I need not prove to them that believe that Article of our Creed that He shall come to judge the quick and the dead There is nothing more that needs to be considered by me but only his heaping up Texts of Scripture one upon another for upon this occasion in this 120. page he hath as many Texts as Lines which yet prove no more that there shall be no punishment after this life than Mr. Hobbs his Latine Epistle to Mr. Wood will prove Dr. Fell to be no Scholar And this Reader may be a caution to thee that thou dost not always conclude the Excellency of a Book or a Sermon from the multitude of Texts of Scripture that are alledged therein for a Man may name many when most of them are little to the purpose they are brought for and then they will profit thee no more than the Meat that goes beside thy Mouth will nourish thee 'T is not how many Texts but how pertinent to the point in hand that is to be most regarded p. 121. R. God's punishment of sin is not of so large an extent as his mercy Psal 108. Thy mercy is great above the Heavens And more of the same excellency which they that want may read in the same page I shall not trouble my self to transcribe it B. We would know what he means when he saith God's punishment of sin is not of such a large extent as his mercy If he mean that the principle of it and whence it flows viz. God's Justice is not so extensive as his mercy I may safely deny it His Justice being Infinite as it is the Justice of an Infinite Being If he means it of the exercising mercy and his inflicting punishment Then I say in like manner that the objects of punishment are as many yea more than the objects of his special and saving mercy All that live and dye ungodly shall feel his vengeance and they are without controversie the greatest Number Wide is the Gate that leads to destruction Matth. 7.14 15 and many there be that go in thereat and on the contrary Narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it That of the Psalmist That his mercy is great above the Heavens signifies no more than the Infiniteness of his mercy in that it knows no bounds but was from everlasting predestination and shall be to everlasting glorification upon the objects of mercy even them that fear him but doth not intimate that he will actually pardon more sinners than he will punish p. 122. R. Death in Job is called the King of Terrors therefore Death is the greatest punishment and the most terrible But if there were an everlasting punishment after Death Job 18.14 that would be the King of Terrors for Death is not terrible in comparison of that B. This reasoning is not so strong as at first view it may seem to be and is very far from proving that Death is the worst punishment that ungodly sinners are subject to For first What necessity is there of expounding Job 18.14 of death The Text doth not mention Death and I know nothing in the Context that will force us to interpret it thereof The Learned * Interpretum pene dixerim Coryphaeus Vti Doctiss Polus in praef ad vol. 2. Synops Mercerus a Man well skilled in the Hebrew renders it by gravissimos terrores which may be in this life as well as in another The King of Terrors by a common Hebraisme signifies powerful commanding conquering Terrors which may be fitly understood of the Soul in its separated state when the Terror of the Lord and the immediate impressions of his wrath have taken hold upon the impenitent Soul Well but my Author will not so easily yield to have it understood of any thing but Death because that is most for his design wherefore let us see if taken in that sense it will be any help to his cause and I shall not fear to undertake the Negative I will prove I say that it will not For the King of Terrors is but most terrible if we make the most of it that we can Now Death may be said to be most terrible though there be a greater terror after Death For most terrible is not necessarily the very uttermost terror that can be but in general very terrible As when the Thunder shook down the Houses in Amsterdam upon the Heads of them that dwelt therein it may lawfully be said that it was a most terrible Day to them yet the Day of Judgment will be more terrible than that 2 Pet. 3.10 wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Earth with the works therein shall be burnt up So when Men are said to be most excellent Scholars or Souldiers we mean only that they have very good skill in Armes and Arts but not that they do exceed all others therein And in a word the Scripture-phrase is Consonant to this for in Ezekiel 33. Ezek. 33.28 the Lord threatned to lay the Land most desolate yea he assured them of it I will lay it most desolate and yet it suffered not a greater desolation than other
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
aforesaid in his Comment on the Epistle to the Colossians Now when he saith If all Men are in God all Men are in Christ I grant it in the sense aforesaid All men are by Christ for he upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power And to the last passage Heb. 1.3 'T is commonly confessed that All who are in Christ shall be saved To this I say my Return is thus That if he mean All who are Members of Christ's Mystical Body or that have an Interest in Christ's Merits and Righteousness as it is meant in Rom. 8. v. 1. Then I grant that All who are in Christ shall be saved which that very Text demonstrateth But I utterly deny that All men are in Christ in this sense of the word But if he mean All that are by Christ made and maintained in the World by him then I deny that All such shall be saved for in this sense the Devils may be said to be in Christ Colos 1.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus Mr. R.'s rich Invention is proved to be worth nothing but scorn and contempt R. In Rom. 5. The second Adam in saving p. 178. is put in opposition to the first Adam in sinning And if All Nations shall be blessed as was foretold in Gen. 22. Every particular must also for the general word All includes every particular And it is a great lessening of the riches and fulness of God's grace and goodness to say that God hath made this World for All and the best World but for a few B. That which he would have us gather from Rom. 5. is manifestly thus That as all Mankind are liable to destruction by means of the first Adam so all shall be freed from it by the merit of the second Adam Jesus Christ But I cannot think how he will find any Text in it Rom. 5.18 cleared that may be made very serviceable for such a design unless it be the 18. Verse of that Chapter As by the offence of one judgment came upon all Men to condemnation so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to justification of life But this will easily be answered For the comparison there made between Adam and Christ is not in respect of the Number of Persons that are saved or destroyed but in respect of the causes of Salvation and Damnation That as the cause of Damnation even sin is originally only from Adam so the cause of Salvation even Righteousness and Justification is wholly from Christ As all sinners became sinners through the first Adam and so are liable to damnation through him so all justified Persons are justified through Christ the second Adam and have a right to Heaven only through his Righteousness imputed to them So that when Paul saith by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to justification of life it is not so to be taken as if Justification were common to All men but that it is through the Righteousness of Christ that All who are justified are justified viz. that none are justified otherwise As the Psalmist saith the Lord upholdeth all that fall Psal 145.14 not that he upholdeth every one that falls for some fall irrecoverably as Judas Pharaoh the Sinners against the Holy Ghost c. but that All who being fallen are upheld and preserved from falling away utterly are so upheld only by him Hanc Deo tribuit gloriam quod sine ejus ope nemo sustentetur Musculus in Psal 145. as a worthy Expositor on the place This glory saith he the Psalmist ascribes to God viz. That without his help none are upheld Rom. 8.30 Whom he justified them he also glorified but God doth not glorifie them that live and dye unconverted for Except ye be converted Matth. 18.3 ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18.3 Therefore neither doth he justifie any such Persons Nor is he more fortunate in alledging Gen. 22.18 for though All in it self be inclusive of every particular Genes 22.18 opened yet in that place all Nations cannot signifie all particular Persons of every Nation for if all Nations should be blessed in this largest sense none should be cursed as our Lord will say unto many at the last Day Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed Wherefore by all Nations understand some of all Nations or if you will many of all Nations even all true believers in every Nation And that the word all Nations doth not always mean all men in general Esay 2.2 is plain by Esay 2.2 where it is said that All Nations should flow to the Mountain of the Lord's house which cannot be said of all in general and is expressed by many in the 4. of Micah 1. Vers And as for the fulness and riches of God's goodness it is not to be judged of by the number of them that are saved by it The goodness of God how to be judged of but rather by the way and manner wherein and whereby they are saved and by that great Salvation which his People shall partake of Briefly thus The riches of God's grace and goodness is seen in the excellency of its effect For Life is a more excellent thing than Death and Righteousness than Sin and secondly in the powerfulness of the work for it argueth a greater power to save than to destroy to justifie than to condemn as 't is a greater matter to reform a few than to corrupt and harden a great many against the holy Ordinances and ways of God An Idle Hypocrite is too well able to do the one but a painful Minister is scarce able to do the other And by the way we do not say as Mr. R. that God hath made the best World or Heaven but for a very few For many shall come from the East and the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven yet they are few in comparison of them that miss of Heaven Matth. 7.14 as was seen before from the words of him whom he dares not I hope contradict or cavil at And if a Man can think it is an obscuring of God's goodness to say that he hath not made Heaven for so many as he hath made the Earth for he may think it much more a denying of his goodness to say that he hath made comfortable provisions for the Birds and Beasts and at the same time reserved many thousands of mighty Angels for extream and everlasting punishment Yet so it is whether my Author allow of it or not he that spares the one did not spare the other He that prepares Food for these in this world hath prepared everlasting fire for those in another world Yet if a man do hence object and cavil against God's goodness 't is a sign he hath little goodness himself See 2 Pet. 2. Judes Epist Matth. 25.41 and as little wit but he goes on R. Shall we
that they are but Fools that do so Pro. 14.9 Yet alas how many such Fools are to be found and that too amongst those that are counted good honest understanding Men What if they never so grosly neglect and forget the God that made them what if they slight his holy Commandments and turn away their Ears never so frequently from hearing his Law Pro. 28.9 and so run the hazard of having their Prayers rejected What if they are so proud that they care not for God nor value a sound Sermon half so much for the bettering of their Souls as they do the smallest piece of a rotten Dunghill for the bettering of their Lands In a word what if they rail at us for desiring to make them better Christians than they care to be spight at their Neighbours and defraud and oppress their poor Brethren and do the Devil any service in the World that may but please or profit themselves make their Purses heavier and their Hearts lighter c. Yet I say they can make a small matter of it and can see no great harm in it or at least no such great harm in any of these things but that they can easily dispense with it for the attaining of those great ends which they propose unto themselves therein But Reader if these Men could but look beyond the Grave and see what is doing in the other World among the Souls of such ungodly ones as themselves If they could but see in a lively and sensible way how many are now Damned for those sins which they are so much in love with and be able to apprehend what sad thoughts those miserable Souls now have of their delightfullest gainfullest wickednesses which have laid them under Eternal vengeance Then believe me they would judge otherwise of these things than now they do I grant indeed there are other means whereby to see the evil of sin as namely the clear Glass of God's Sacred Laws and the Red Glass of Christ's Bloud and Sufferings c. These doubtless may be sufficient to shew sin in its proper Colours to a spiritual eye and will be confessed to be so by all sorts but blockish Papists and blasphemous Socinians But this Point that I am now upon might convince the blindest Worldling of it in case he would truly believe and consider it For he must needs grant there is much evil in that which the Righteous God will punish with Everlasting Torment How vile and hateful how hainous and horrible must that be which the God of all Goodness and Mercy will shew his Eternal Displeasure against How sad a work must that be which hath such a Death for its wages as sin hath yea all sin Rom. 6. ult For the Apostle speaks of sin in general as sin and not of such or such a sin in particular in Vers 23. As hath been excellently cleared by our Protestant Worthies against the Romanists * Ames Anti. Bel. Cham. T. 3. lib. 6. cap. 12. though the Mercy of God delivers them that turn unto him And so it may discover the madness of ungodly sinners that walk in the way to everlasting misery but this will afford matter enough for another Section CHAP. IV. SECT II. Discovering the horrible madness of wicked men in adventuring upon this dreadfullest Misery Inform. 3d. of the madness of the wicked c. FRom hence also we may fitly inform our selves of the monstrous madness of wilful and resolute sinners that will run the hazard of so great misery for the fulfilling of their sinful lusts and humors in this present world Solomon often calls such men Fools and St. Paul stiles them unreasonable men * 2 Thess 3.2 And certainly their folly and unreasonableness appear in nothing more than in their venturing of their Immortal Souls in the ways of Destruction they are apt enough to fear Plagues and Famines Bonds and Imprisonments or any ordinary Calamities yea they are afraid to obey the Commands of their God and their Consciences lest they should run into some inconveniences by so doing and scarce dare to come to the place of Gods publick worship and service in a constant and diligent manner lest some Factious Atheists should call them fools for their pains Psal 9.17 Psal 145.20 But as for the everlasting punishment that is threatned against them and which they cannot possibly escape while they are followers of wickedness these they have little fear of they dread not the dreadfullest dangers and if in love to their Souls we warn them of it and desire them to take heed in time and turn from their evil ways before it be too late they will thank us for nothing as 't is commonly said and advise us to take care of our selves and not to trouble our selves with them But if they did but know aright the greatness of that misery that the damned shall endure they would shun the ways that lead to it and not walk in any way of wickedness for the gaining of all the wealth on earth yea they would be as loth to continue in a state of sin as to stay in a house that is on fire over their heads That therefore I shall endeavour in the next place to discover And here I must needs say with the Apostle who is sufficient for these things who can fathom the depth of the Damneds sorrows what heart can conceive them or what words can express them for who knoweth the power of God's wrath or how miserable it can make the enemies of his holiness But though we cannot fully set forth the Terror of the Lord upon them yet we may soon see so much of it as may make it appear to be most exceedingly terrible as he that cannot sound the depth of the Sea yet he may quickly find that 't is very deep I shall now endeavour to demonstrate with all convenient brevity the dreadfulness of the Damnation and punishment that the wicked that live and dye such shall surely undergo The extreme misery of the wicked in Hell discovered I shall not now speak of the perpetuity of it having spoken much of it before and almost as much as need to be spoken on that subject and much more I am sure than Mr. Richardson or any of his Abetters will ever be able to answer in this world or the world to come but rather of the extremity of it and that in Two generals which will admit of a large consideration 1. The Happiness and comfort that they shall miss of or lose 2. The miseries pains and positive sorrows that they shall sustain and lye under 1. 1. In their Banishment from Christ They shall be banished from the Blessed Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ In their day they would not be commanded by him but in His day they shall be commmanded from him He himself will say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity Matth 7.21 and oh what a misery will
we Preach Men into Despair But if they dye as they lived and so come to Hell the thing they so much feared will come upon them there will be an absolute total and everlasting desperation Their hope shall perish Pro. 11.7 They will be no more able to hope for any comfort than to annihilate the Heavens And how bitter this will be who can tell for verily Desperation is a Hell it self said one who I hope is in Heaven Francis Spira Fifthly Their Souls will be exceedingly miserable 5. Conscience accusing through the rebukes and accusations of their own Consciences They do sometimes accuse them on Earth or else our reproofs of their sins would not so greatly offend them how much more will they do so in Hell when they are throughly awakened and enlightened and quickned by the wrath of their Judge for then they will have nothing to do but to testifie against them and torment the sinners for not obeying them before A wounded spirit or conscience who can bear said Solomon and yet the wounds of the Spirit and troubles of the Conscience do sometimes tend to the Health and Salvation of the Soul through the help of the Spirit of God how intolerable then must the state of the Damned be whose wounds of Conscience will never be healed who will ever be tormented with its ragings and rebukes And O how much matter of accusation and rebuke will it then have against them How will conscience work 1. When they think of the excellency and eternity of that blessedness they have lost and how they have lost it for sin and vanity and those things that perished in the using c. 2. When they think with themselves how fair they were many of them for Heaven how highly they were exalted in Gospel priviledges having the Word of Life and Salvation and the Ministry of it among them which if they had improved as they might and ought to have done they might have been as those Saints whose glory they behold with so much envy and astonishment 3ly When they remember how much time and Golden opportunities they had to consider of their ways and seek that grace and mercy that would save them which they trifled away as nothing worth 4ly When they remember how often they were perswaded to return and how often they were convinced of the evil of their ways of the necessity of turning and yet in spight of all would go on still in their trespasses O that sinners would consider of this when they still enjoy the instructions and exhortations of a plain and faithful Ministry How they will one day wish that they had been willing to obey it or that they had never been able to hear it It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha at the Judgment Day than for such That Sodom that was the shame of the World for wickedness and the most eminent instance of Divine vengeance of any People under Heaven being burnt with Fire and Brimstone from thence yet that Sodom shall be in a better case at Judgment than the neglecters of this so great Salvation Matth. 11.24 It will be some abatement of their Torment that they had not those means of grace those constant Sermons those strong perswasions and clear convictions that Gospel-sinners had They shall not have so much darkness of sorrow because they rebelled not against so much light 5ly When they remember what cost and charges they were at what care and pains they took many of them in Satan's shameful services How they adventured the shame and censures of the World the loss of their health their peace their life to please the Devil and their wicked humours How they stifled their consciences shut their eyes against the light rejected Christ and Glory his Word and his Kingdom for the deceitful pleasures and profits of sin and took more pains in the way to destruction than ever any pious Man did in the way to Heaven How perfect a Hell will Hell be unto them where their own Consciences shall be their Tormentors where their Accusation and Rage shall never cease Mark 9. v. 44. where their Worm shall never dye Doubtless they will then be in the saddest sense a Terror to themselves It were easie to name many other particulars that will aggravate the Damned's Misery But I have other things to speak of and therefore pass them by However that little I have said already if we write everlasting upon it will in some measure shew the folly of them that will venture their Souls in any way of wickedness Matth. 16.26 though it were to gain the whole World by it The great Objection answered But say some If Damnation be such a dreadful thing as you make it to be and be also everlasting what will you say of the goodness of God which the Scripture speaks so often of Or how can it stand with the goodness of a God viz. with Infinite Goodness to cast his Creatures into so great misery especially if we suppose this shall be the case of most Men as you asserted before I answer He that hath well weighed what was replyed to Mr. R. when he cavilled somewhat to the same purpose need not be much troubled with this Objection Nevertheless I shall not grudge a large Answer to it it being that which is most commonly urged by selfish sensual sinners and hath not been wholly forgotten by the Author of that Paradoxical Book De Amplitudine Regni Coelestis * Caelius Secundus Boni Natura est Communicari quomodo Deus Pater Miserationum c. It is the nature of good to communicate it self and the more he communicates his goodness the more he discovers it And how shall God appear to be the Father of Mercies and Infinite in Mercy if his saving beatifying Mercy be not extended to the greatest part of Adam's Posterity So He. But though a Man cannot go through a thick Hedge without scratches yet he may go by it at an easier rate so he that cannot make his way through objected difficulties yet may pass them by and hold fast the truth in spight of them And as to this particular if thy reason cannot untie this Knot let thy faith cut it asunder And if thou canst not see how the Infiniteness of God's goodness can stand with the everlasting punishment of the Creature yet believe it nevertheless for the sake of that Word that testifies both of them unto us For as our Lord Christ hath told us There is none good but God viz. absolutely Matth. 19. unchangeably infinitely good So he hath told us no less plainly That the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment Matth. 25. And therefore 't is certain the one is not contrary to or inconsistent with the other whatsoever the wits or follies of Men may judge of it And that thy Reason as well as thy faith may have some satisfaction in the case I shall lay down these
following Considerations 1. That there is in God Bonitas Regiminis as well as Beneficentiae In plain English thus There is in God the goodness of a Governour and the goodness of a Benefactor now his punishing the wicked with Eternal Damnation is not at all contrary to his goodness in either of these sences 1. 'T is plain It is not contrary to the goodness of his Government He is the great Governour of the World and therefore is called a King a great King the King eternal c. in Holy Scripture Malac. 1.14 1 Tim. 1.17 Cap. 6.15 and as he is such it belongeth to him to punish obstinate and impenitent offenders according to their deserts and without this the goodness of his Government namely the wisdom and righteousness of it would not be discovered to his Creatures Even amongst Men they are not accounted good Governours that do not punish the disobedient according to their deserts and maintain the honour of Government thereby And if a Man suppose that the wicked do not deserve to be punished for ever who would gladly be wicked for ever he little knows what wickedness is and the equity of this dispensation hath been cleared in the first Chapter of this Book towards the end of it 2. It is the goodness of God's nature that he hates sin and wickedness 'T is his Excellency that he cannot look on iniquity else he were not a Holy God and without Holiness he could not be a God indeed for his Holiness is Essential to him and therefore when he would swear by himself he swears by his Holiness Now if the goodness of his nature doth make him to hate sin it cannot be any disparagement to his goodness to punish it accordingly since the punishing of it is but the just demonstration of his hatred against it and he that shall go about to argue the contrary will shew himself a bad Logician and a worse Christian 3. If it were not contrary to his goodness to threaten Everlasting Punishment and Destruction to the wicked Matth. 25. 2 Thess 1. c. and to tell us of such Punishment for them so continuing then certainly it cannot be contrary to his goodness to make good that word by inflicting such punishment Whatsoever Men pretend herein for the extolling of God's goodness yet he will not think himself honoured by them when they would exalt it against his Holiness and Truth 4. These Learned Objectors should not act so unlearnedly as to argue the doing of that upon the account of his goodness which cannot be done upon the account of his wisdome nor complain of his casting those into Hell whom his wisdome sees to be utterly unfit for Heaven The Enemies of God and Holiness are not fit to dwell in his Holy place A Swine is fitter for a Prince's Presence-chamber than an unholy Soul for Heaven And if Hell be fitter for them than Heaven 't is fit that they should be sent to Hell rather than Heaven for 't is fit they should have what is fittest for them If an ungodly Man should be brought to Heaven it would be little comfort to him yea I doubt not but he would count it a misery if he should come there in such a state The imperfect graces of his People on Earth as discovered in gracious practises are matter of trouble and grief unto him and he had rather be amongst the Beasts of the Field than be in company with those that would move him to be Holy in good earnest How contrary then would the Holiness of God be unto him and what a vexation would it be to him to see those glorified whom he so much delighted to vilifie and disgrace to see those silly precise ones as he counted them sitting with Christ upon his Throne whom he thought more worthy to be trodden under foot by such as he Thus miserable would an ungodly Man be in Heaven and is it not fitter that he should be miserable in Hell Is it not more proper and congruous that he should torment himself in the place of Torment than in the place of Glory and Blessedness And secondly Let me tell the Objector that God will sufficiently appear to be good in a way of Beneficence also though the wicked be under Everlasting Condemnation This is so plain that I need not spend much time in the proof of it for it would not be accounted a reasonable thing that a King on Earth should be charged with unmercifulness for condemning of Rebels to perpetual Imprisonment He will appear a gracious and bountiful King for all that while he takes care of the honour and safety of his true Subjects Thus will the King of Heaven appear to be bountiful and gracious and abundant in goodness in his gracious dealings towards all his faithful Servants 2. He is very bountiful to the wicked themselves yea to the very worst of them here in this World He gives them that Breath which they so often breathe out to his dishonour and the reproach of his Gospel He gives them all that time which now they mispend and those precious means of grace which they so unthankfully despise and abuse He gives them drink to quench their thirst though they drown their reason with it and preserves them every minute and moment from many secret and unknown dangers besides those that are open and visible in which respect he is said to be the Saviour of all Men. * 1 Tim. 4.10 Yea he gives them time to repent and promises of mercy when they unfeignedly return from sin to his service in Esay 55.7 c. And as for the Number of them that perish which Coelius Of the Number of the Damned and Mr. R. think so strangely of we may easily perceive it is not so much to be wondered at nor may not be imagined to be any disparagement to the Divine Goodness A sober Christian may receive some satisfaction from the words of his Lord in Matth. 7.14 Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Is it fit these Men should make a question of that which their Lord who is Truth it self hath so positively told us Nevertheless I shall add a few Considerations to rectifie our thoughts hereabouts that on that account we may not charge our God foolishly And 1. How many soever they be that perish yet none of God's true servants ever shall John 10.28 Christ will give them eternal life and they shall never perish John 10. 2. Those many that perish were all out of the way of Salvation and would not be perswaded to turn into it by a true Conversion What wonder if Destruction and Misery be their end when they are in their ways as St. Paul in Rom. 3.16 Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known He that chuseth to travail in a Ship that is bound for Spain may not wonder if at last he