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
planted in man an universal love to man especially to his own off-spring be they obedient or disobedient What Bowels of love in Parents c. p. 170. They do not desire their off-spring though disobedient should suffer such a torment as these men speak of one Year to an end therefore God will not inflict extreme miseries upon men for ever since they are his off-spring as they are his Creatures for God is not less merciful than man B. THis is the substance of his proof And if it be sufficient to prove what he intends by it God's mercy and Parents pity not alike in all things it will be sufficient for other purposes too which Christians will not judge it to be viz. to prove that the Devils shall not suffer extreme punishments without end and that Christ was not punished extremely for the offences of such as we For the former we will take his Argument and urge it thus Parents would not desire to cast their Children into an irrecoverable state of misery upon their first act of disobedience towards them How can we think then that God would cast the Angels that were the noblest of all the works of his hands into an irrecoverable state of misery upon the commission of the first sin against him for God is not less merciful than Man Doubtless the Proof is as strong this way as the other way and yet it is not strong enough nor will not cannot prevail upon them that believe what the Scripture saith in the case for let us prove what we will yet the Apostle hath told us 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. Matth. 25.41 that God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down c. 2 Pet. And hath prepared everlasting fire for them Matth 25. And therefore whatsoever proofs are brought to the contrary are not Proofs truly so called but Sophistical Arguments and meer deceits For the latter also we may reason as strongly after the same rate A good Father would not have his beloved Son that never offended him be severely punished for those offences that he never committed therefore much less would the God of all Mercy lay the punishment of our sins upon his Holy Son Jesus in whom his Soul delighted One Egg is not more like another than this is like my Author's Proof aforesaid And though it might be approved by Socinians yet Christians will not be wrought upon by it Esay 53. while they read and believe Rom. 4.25 compared with Rom. 5.8 and in one word the 53d Chapter of Esay And thus we have seen how far this his Proof is from being infallible and therefore the Reader will not think I am bound to say any thing more unto it yet for his farther satisfaction I will add thus much viz. That God is not as Man in every thing for then he should not be a God indeed nor may his goodness and Man's be compared together any farther than the Scriptures will allow of And though he be more merciful than Man is and will shew forth more love and kindness to the meanest of his faithful servants than the most compassionate Parent ever did or can do to his beloved Child yet his saving Mercy hath its proper objects and is not extended promiscuously to all the Sons of Men. He is free in the exercising of it and hath mercy on whom he will And his Mercy no more binds him to save All Men than it did to save all Angels The wicked and impenitent are the objects of his wrath as the Returning sinners are the objects of his love Again God is not only a God of Mercy Psal 94.1 but a God of Vengeance To him vengeance belongeth Psal 94. where the word vengeance is mentioned twice in one verse And he is the Supreme Law-giver and Governour of the World Now as he is such it belongs to him to see that his obstinate and uncurable Enemies may not go unpunished And though he desires not their punishment for everlasting to use Mr. R.'s word as it is a punishment yet he will inflict it as it is an Execution of Justice and a discovery of his holiness and hatred of sin and the like And to come to the comparison a Father that is a Judge and a Law-giver as well as a Father and as such hath made a Law that such and such offenders shall suffer so many Months imprisonment who ever they be may not dispense with that Law if it be just no not in the case of his own Children when they commit the said offences So the God of Mercy being a Judge and Law-giver is engaged by his Honour and Justice to punish sin which is the transgression of his Law according to its desert If you say it is not punished upon the Saints I answer That it was punished upon their Surety Christ Jesus in their place and they are freed by the merit of his sufferings But it is not so with the Enemies of his holiness so remaining they must answer for themselves Proof 9 R. If men had deserved everlasting punishment yet why may not God shew that mercy as not to inflict it as well as to let the Rain fall upon them that no way deserve it p. 171 172. Men often shew more kindness to disobedient Children than they deserve And may not God do the same B. This if Man had deserved such punishment is spoken only for Argument sake for he doth not grant it to be a truth but it hath been proved before whether he will grant it or not But this being supposed What then For saith he why may not God shew so much mercy as not to inflict it upon them that deserve it as he gives the rain to them that deserve it not I answer He doth shew so much mercy upon many such yea many thousands as not to inflict it on them All that truly turn from their evil ways and believe on his Son Christ Jesus shall for his sake be secured from it and he will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serveth him But if he ask Mal. 3.16 17. why he may not shew such mercy upon all in general or upon the wicked that continue such Then I except against his question for we are not concerned in this case to enquire what he may do but what he will do Things revealed by his own confession belong to us now he hath revealed his will to the contrary as in other places so in that so often mentioned Matth. 25. These shall go away into everlasting punishment and to take vengeance of them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1.9 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction c. 2 Thess But he hath not said he will give them no Rain while they live on Earth and therefore is free to give it them though they deserve it not So that for a Man to ask why God
it and providing for it is his natural work which his natural affection moves him to But his threatning or correcting of it is in respect of the other his strange work which he doth not as a Parent but as an offended Parent Thus punishing is God's strange work such as he doth not as he is God but as he is an offended God and yet this work of his may continue for ever as we have an Example in the fallen Angels And I think his everlasting punishment is more plainly as well as more frequently discovered against wicked Men than it is against wicked Spirits in the holy Scripture Lastly The Death of Christ is so far from disproving our Doctrine that it doth most strongly confirm it For if God did punish his Son with an accursed Death when he bare the sins of his People in this World what wonder is it if he punish the impenitent with an everlasting curse or punishment in the World to come Nor did Christ dye to make an atonement for the sins of any such as might easily be proved if it were necessary Proof 16 R. Such Punishment agrees not to the mercifulness of the Creator to his Creature p. 185. to impose such a Punishment on any of them And then he adds some places that say he is rich in mercy and the like B. Surely this would be very good news for the Devils to hear of if it were true But we have our Lord's words to assure us of their everlasting punishment Matth. 25. and elsewhere which shew my Author was mistaken in thinking that it cannot stand with his goodness as he is their Creator Yet we say not that he will punish any thus as they are Creatures but as they are offending and rebellious Creatures And as for his Mercy we have spoken of it before and though it be great yea infinite yet it hath its proper object and will not be acted in opposition to his truth which tells us of everlasting punishment for the wicked as well as of Eternal life for the Righteous Proof 17 R. Sin cannot overcome his love where Sin abounded p. 186. Grace abounds much more Rom. 5.20 This declares the mercy of God to be greater than sin if so the grace of God is to all even to the worst of men for sin abounds in them most And where sin abounds grace saith the Apostle abounds much more If so then all their sins shall be forgiven And if any were to suffer eternally how doth grace abound to them much more where sin hath abounded Answer this if you can B. This is a precious Proof indeed and such as he hath shewed his chiefest strength in and therefore he is pleased to triumph over the poor ignorant Men that Preach up the Doctrine of Everlasting Punishment c. as though he had a certain and an everlasting victory over them as to this particular Thus and thus the case stands and Answer this if you can As brave a Challenge as any Gentleman of his Quality ever need to make to such as we But did he not argue against his own conscience as well as against us and our Doctrine or could he really believe that this Proof was unanswerable if so we shall have cause to consider the words of Solomon The Fool rageth and is confident Behold Sir the work is undertaken your command with me is as good as a Law and I will Answer you if I can And first I will deal with your first Assertion that sin cannot overcome his love which is such a speech as I have seldome met with in any Book but yours If it be meant of God's faithful Servants of humble and penitent sinners I grant that his love will overcome in due time all their sins and be magnified towards them by pardon here and glory hereafter Rom. 8.35 for What shall separate them from the love of Christ Rom. 8. But if he speak of the proud contemners of his Word and ways and the deceitful workers of iniquity that continue such then though we care not to say that their sin doth overcome his love yet we confidently affirm that it will so provoke his wrath as to cause him to punish them for ever in the life to come See Col. 3.6 John 3.36 Matth. 25.46 Psal 92.7 and many other places His second Assertion That God's mercy is greater than sin hath been spoken to already and I need now to say but this about it That it is greater than the sin of Devils and yet Devils shall suffer for ever for their sins and so we may say God's healing power is stronger and greater than Diseases and yet Men dye by them for all that His third Assertion That the grace of God is to all even to the worst of Men if it be meant of his saving grace or such mercy as accompanies salvation is a gross untruth for the Gospel tells us that he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16. v. 16. And his other That all the sins of all Men shall be forgiven is as loud an Error and let him prove it a truth if he can Thus much for his Vanity His Subtilty follows Where sin abounds grace much more abounds Rom. 5.20 therefore the grace of God abounds to all sinners yea to the worst for sin abounds most in them And if they suffer eternally How doth grace or mercy abound to them Yea doubtless this is the Beast that carries the Bell but let us pursue it a little His gross abuse of Rom. 5.20 and we shall perceive that 't is not a pretty Creature but a horrible deformed Monster For I dare challenge Mr. R. and all his Brethren yea all Mankind to shew me any one Text of Scripture that ever was more abominably abused more wretchedly wrested whether by Papists Socinians Atheists or any sort of Men than this Text of St. Paul is in this case by Him For when the Apostle saith where sin did abound grace did abound much more he doth not mean that God will shew himself most gracious to them that have committed the most or greatest sins for then Pharaoh Judas and Jezabel should be more blessed than Moses Joseph and the Virgin Mary And our Damners and Sinkers be more happy than the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs For sin hath most abounded in them if we take Mr. R. his sense of the word But the abounding there mentioned is the abounding of it in the sense and feeling of the sinner that God's gracious goodness hath appeared most wonderful in the eyes of those Penitent sinners to whom sin hath appeared most vile and hateful That the abounding of sin in that place is of this nature the words just before will make evident for we read thus therein the Law entred that the offence might abound Surely it was not given to make men abound the more in sin or to make them more sinful than otherwise they would be but to make men more
Lands had suffered and doubtless not so great in all respects as the Land of Sodom had done So that most desolate is in substance no more than very desolate And so understand the King of Terrors or most terrible of that which is very terrible as Death may be and is to many though there be a worse thing after Death to them that dye in their sins And indeed Death is most terrible as it hath relation to that which comes after it which is enough for this new cavil Consider 9. R. Sin is punished to the full in this life Ezek. 36.18 I poured out my fury upon them p. 123 124. then he adds would ye have it to be punished to the full in this life and afterwards with a punishment never to end then after some extravagancies he adds in the next page 't is as disagreeable to justice to punish sin twice as to receive the payment of a debt twice B. Herein I confess he hath hit the mark as well as if he had been Thomas Gunne himself for the whole state of the question turns upon this hinge whether sin be punished to the full in this life And as Mr. R. and I can agree but in few things so in this we differ as much as may be for I say it is not and my reasons are these 1. Because many ungodly men have had a continued state of prosperity and scarce ever felt any thing that they accounted a punishment yea nothing more common than for such persons to conclude their sins are pardoned because they do not find themselves punished for them I was envious at the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73. 1 to 6 verse and in the following words he tells us they are not in trouble like other men nor doth he intimate any visible Judgments that come upon them in this life And can Mr. R. perswade himself that the sins of such men were punished to the full in this life 2. Because the day of wrath is after this life even at the coming of Christ See Job 21.30 compared with the Text in the Margin * 2 Pet. 2.9 3. Because their sins make them worthy of everlasting punishment See the first Chapter of this Book in answer to the question how it is just to punish temporal offences eternally But on the contrary my Author contends that sin is punished to the full in this life or at least he saith so if we can take his word for it But how he will prove it who can tell For those texts of Scripture which speak of his pouring out his fury upon the wicked in this life as Ezekiel 36.18 are far from proving that there is no wrath for them in another life Yea so far as that they will manifestly prove the contrary for if God punish sin in the day of his Patience how much more will he punish it hereafter in the day of his wrath which is called the day of the Revelation of his righteous Judgment and the day of perdition to ungodly men Rom. 2.5 in 2 Pet. 3.7 They shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt after they slept as it were in the dust of the earth Dan. 12. and yet we know many of them have been brought to shame in this world and suffered shameful deaths for their crimes Object But it is not agreeable to justice to punish sin twice no more than to receive the payment of a debt twice saith Mr. R. Solut. But certainly God best knows what is justice and what is agreeable to it and there is no unrighteousness in him and his word tells us of wrath to come as well as wrath present and of everlasting punishment as well as temporal Matth. 25. 1 Thess 1. 1 Thess 1.10 And the punishment he will inflict upon the impenitent in another world will be so far from any appearance of injustice as that it will be the revelation of his righteous judgment in the Text aforesaid Rom. 2.5 Nor is it any shew of injustice to punish sin twice unless the former were as much punishment as sin deserves as a man may justly be required to make several payments of a debt when the first payment is not to the full and if my Author can prove that sin deserves no more or longer punishments than the punishments of this present life he will shew himself a man of rare acuteness Consider 10 His Tenth consideration is little different from the former it being an assertion of the like nature viz. That there is not a worse thing than Gods fury wrath and anger and these saith he are poured out in this life he means to the full so as that there shall be no more of it remaining for any man in another life His abuse of Scripture p. 125. And how will he prove that these are poured out to the full in this present life Why by these places Ps 78.49 Ps 85.3 Job 14.13 The former he renders thus he poured out all his fierce anger but by his leave the Text saith no such thing but rather thus he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger or as Junius renders aestum irae suae the heat of his anger namely by bringing great calamity upon them here in this world but how will that prove there is no punishment for the impenitent of them hereafter So Psal 85.3 is spoken of Gods own people whom he would magnifie his Mercy upon Thou hast covered all their sins Thou hast taken away all thy wrath viz. from them whose sins he forgave But must it be so therefore with his Enemies too that dye in their sins and would never consent to forsake them while they lived So upright Job speaks of wrath that would be past as to himself But must there be no wrath hereafter for the mischievous Hypocrite Sure that was far from his thoughts The Hypocrites in heart do heap up wrath Job 36 13â— viz. against themselves as 't is plain and needs no proof Wherefore if he blame those that make too bold with the Scripture he must needs pass a hard censure on himself too Yet there is one phrase which to the men of his Religion may seem to favour his assertion viz. the accomplishing of God's anger in this world Ezek. 5.13 Ezek. 5.13 Considered Thus will I accomplish mine Anger viz. by the Judgments mentioned in the verse before Famine c. But those people there spoken of may be considered either personally or civilly and nationally his anger may be accomplished as to National judgments when it is not so as to personal punishments as in Sodom c. 2. We may take the word Anger for the threatnings of punishment which he had made against them in particular as Rom. 1.18 The wrath or anger of God is revealed from Heaven i. e. His threatnings are set forth So here v. 12. A third part of thee shall dye with the Pestilence and with Famine shall they be
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
the exercise of Mercy and works of Love in particular more than Sacrifices at the hands of his people for the particle there used is not an absolute Negative but a Comparative only as in the Text before Ezek. 18.23 Vid. Rivet in Hos 6.6 where the Particle not doth not deny his pleasure to punish but compares his will of punishing with his will of returning and of their Salvation in case they turn in Truth and prefers the latter before the former Now if we do but state the matter thus and infer the conclusion according to the sense of the Text it will need little or nothing more to be said for its confutation for who sees not the vanity of this Argument God regards the exercise of Charity and Works of mercy more than Sacrifices therefore none shall be punished for ever c. If he will take leave to infer thus I will give him leave to make the same conclusion from the History of Job's Cattel or the fiery Tails of Sampsons Foxes He concludes this Proof with a very great truth That God abhors cruelty but 't is such a Truth as little concerns either his design it self or the things that he had said immediately before but is brought in by the head and shoulders and is forced to stand in this improper place by the meer violence of his Resolute Pen. If he would make it serve his turn he must of necessity make it appear that God cannot punish an impenitent sinner everlastingly without being cruel which I am confident he cannot do and do verily hope he will not undertake to do And if he think so I might easily subdue his error if it be not maintained by an invincible perverseness and that by telling him wherein the cruelty of a punishment consisteth to wit not in the duration of it or degree of it but in the nature and merit of it As first when the person punished is not fit to bear the punishment as if a man should punish the perverseness of a child with a Rack instead of a Rod or as if he should disown and disinherit him for some smaller acts of disobedience to him This were cruelty because the punishment in the one is of such a nature as is unfit for the child to bear and in the other because 't is such as is not due for such an offence nor deserved by it as it respects man And therefore our honest Professors that revile and reproach us behind our backs for preaching God's word and taking their Tythes and make lyes of us for telling them the sad Truths that concern them are like enough to be indicted for cruelty when the Judge of the world shall come for though these things through his good Providence do not hurt us much yet they are things that are not deserved upon the former accounts and therefore are no better than cruelties in the eyes of him whose we are and whom we serve And on the other side though a punishment be never so great and grievous yet if it be such as the person punished doth deserve for his offence it is not cruelty but justice That wretched Villain Ravilliack that murthered that Renouned King of France in his Coach King Henry the IVth if I mistake not was afterwards taken and Tormented to death in a fearful manner yet I believe there were few honest men that ever accused his Judge of cruelty for condemning him to such a death because they knew he had well deserved it by the horrid crime he had committed And now having taken so much pains to make good his bad cause in the nineteen Proofs that we have seen there is no doubt but he will make the best use he can of his strength and skill in his 20th and last Proof as the Candle gives a great light a little before it goes out And behold what it is Proof 20 R. 'T is not for the glory of God to impose such a Punishment upon any man p. 189. for glory lieth not in imposing great and terrible Punishment but in mercy and forgiveness Exod. 34.6 7. But by his leave I judge otherwise and do not doubt but it is for his glory to impose great Punishment upon the wicked namely for the glory of his Justice which he doth not so much as pretend to disprove unless it be by telling us that glory consisteth in mercy and forgiveness for which he alledgeth Exod. 34.6 7. And how vain all this wisdome is a few Lines may discover for certainly God's glory doth not lye only in mercy and forgiveness for he was glorified upon his greatest Enemies even hard-hearted Pharaoh himself Rom. 9.17 yet he was not glorified in a way of mercy upon him but in a way of vengeance and severity and the same may be said of the Devils And in that Text in Exodus as the Lord proclaims himself to be merciful and gracious so one that will by no means clear the guilty or wicked so remaining And the not clearing of them is not an act of mercy my Author himself being Judge Then he adds thus R. Proverbs 10.12 'T is said Love covereth all sins But what of that for it doth not mean that God's love will cover or forgive all Men's sins penitent or impenitent no sure the Prophet tells us of some Esay 27.11 That he that made them will not have mercy upon them 'T is meant therefore of the love of Men one towards another Love so far as it prevails will cause a Man to cover to wit to overlook and pass by the sins of his Brethren against him vid. Synopsin crit in Pro. 10.12 so far as with a good conscience he may But he proceeds R. God doth all things for his glory p. 190. and it is more for his glory to save all men than to save a few In what sense we hold that few shall be saved hath already been shewed To wit comparatively with them that dye in their sins and perish for otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Rev. 7.9 the number of them that are saved is a great number Now if Mr. R. supposeth that 't is more for God's glory to save all Men than to save some only he may enjoy his Opinion but ought not to impose it upon us as an undoubted truth without a sufficient proof which he hath not been pleas'd to give us The Apostle speaks all in a Verse of them that are saved 1 Cor. 1.18 and of them that perish Surely then God doth not save all for we read of some that perish but he doth what is most for his glory saith Mr. R. himself Therefore it is not most for his glory to save all or to save the Impenitent And if it were most for his glory to save all Men why would it not be most for his glory to save all the Angels too for is not their nature as noble and their salvation as precious as Man's And yet