Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	body_n	death_n	sting_n	3,690	5	11.8999	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79466	Hell, with the everlasting torments thereof asserted. Shewing 1. Quod sit, that there is such a place. 2. Quid sit, what this place is. 3. Ubi sit, where it is. Being diametrically opposite to a late pamphlet, intituled, The foundation and pillars of Hell discovered, searched, shaken, and removed. For the glory of God, both in his mercy and justice, the comfort of all poor believing souls, and the terrour of all wicked and ungodly wretches. Semper meditare Gehennam. / By Nich. Chevvney, M.A.	Chewney, Nicholas, 1609 or 10-1685.	1660 (1660)	Wing C3805; Thomason E1802_2; ESTC R209913	50,666	128

continuance of punishment is limited with the continuance of the fact Among men Adultery is but a short pleasure yet often pursued with a long pennance But the duration of torment respects the disposition of the delinquent Poenae singulorum inaequales intentione poenae omnium aequales duratione Aquin. The pains of all are equal in continuance unequal in grievance But Secondly and more particularly I answer It will appear to be most just both in respect of the mind and intention of the sinner of the matter wherein he sinneth and of the person against whom he sinneth First The mind and intention of the sinner considered it will appear to be most just for though the act it self the sin committed be but temporal and finite yet the mind of the sinner is eternal and infinite insomuch that if he could live ever he would sin ever and therefore as Gregory saith Quia mens in hac vita nunquam voluit carere peccato justum est ut nunquam careat supplicio Because the mind of man in this life would never be without sinne it is just that it should never be without punishment in the life to come 2. If the matter and subject of sinne be considered we shall find it to be of and in the soul like as then the wounding of the body causeth the death and destruction of the same by reason of which there is no returning unto life again so sinne being the death of the soul it must necessarily follow that it be perpetual and everlasting 3. Sin as it is a transgression of the Law of God is so much the more heynous As he that smiteth the Prince to whom principally and especially he ows his Allegiance doth more grievously offend then he that striketh a private person So every sin is of an infinite nature because of the infinite dignity of the person and his glorious Majesty against whom it is committed and therefore it deserveth an infinite punishment which because it cannot be infinite secundum intentionem in the intention and greatness of it it remaineth that it should be infinite secundum durationem in respect of the duration and continuance of the same Now further the equity of Gods justice in punishing the temporal act of sin with eternal torments Hugo doth fitly illustrate by these examples Like as saith he when marriage is contracted per verba de praesenti By words uttered in the present-tense though the contract it self in respect of the ceremony thereof be soon done yet the marriage as the substance thereof remaineth in force all the life long So when the Soul and Sin are contracted together it is no marvell this contract holding so long as the soul endureth if it deserve everlasting punishment And like as where the fewel and matter of the fire continueth the flame still burneth So sin leaving a blot in the soul being the matter of Hell fire is eternally punished because there is still matter for that everlasting fire to work upon Thus then we see it 's no injustice in God to punish sin eternally he doth but reward them whom he so punisheth according to their works For though the action of sinne be temporall Voluntas tamen peccandi quae per paenitentiam non mutatur est perpetua saith Gorrhan Yet the will to sinne which is not changed by repentance is eternal and perpetual For the further description of Hell the Scripture useth three principall terms The Worm that never dyeth Outer Darkness And fire that cannot be quenched Mark 9.44 First The Worm This must not be understood of a corporal worm which if it were would be terrible enough for a man to live alwayes dying and die alwaies living with an adder sucking and stinging his vital parts But we must know that after the worlds dissolution there shall remain no mixt body but only man no generation or corruption in the revived bodies Therefore this worm cannot be corporal but spiritual the stinging of a vexed gauled tormented and tormenting conscience This oh this is even Infernum in mundo a Hell on earth and consider O consider Qualiter sentient in inferno what it shall be to their sense who shall be tormented therewith in Hell it self It is so essential a part of their torment that Christ Jesus makes a threefold repetition thereof in one yea at the close of one Sermon Mark 9.44 Where their worm dyeth not And again ver 46. Where their worm dyeth not and again ver 40. Where their worm dyeth not and their fire goeth not out Great yea very great and inexpressible must this punishment needs be which our Saviour doth so often inculcate within so smal a space The Heathen Poets made this one of those three furies which they fictioned to torment the damned Scindes latus una flagello Alter a tartareis sectos dabit anguibus artus Tertia fumantes incoquet igne genas One brings the Scorpion which the conscience eats T'other with Iron whips the back flesh beats While the third boils the soul in scalding heats But if the testimony of a Heathen will not pass for currant or bear no weight at all with us hear then what an ancient Christian Poet Prudentius by name saith to this purpose Praescius inde Pater liventia tartara plumbo Incendit liquido piceasque bitumine fossas Infernalis aquae furvo suffodit Averno Et Phlegethontaeo sub gurgite sanxit edaces Perpetuis scelerum paenis obrodere vermes The prescient Father black hell burns With scalding lead and ditches turns Into a flame with sulphur mixt Th'internal streams rolling betwixt And gnawing worms hath put therein To torture wretches for their sin Some take this worm to be recordatio prateritorum the remembrance of things past and they are either sins committed or good things enjoyed Of sins which shall so long gnaw their souls and bodies like a vulture preying on their hearts as the remembrance of former iniquities committed shall continue which will be for ever Of good things enjoyed S August observes that of the rich mans pleasure Omnia dicit Abraham de praeterito He speaks of all in the time past and gone Dives erat vestiebatur epulabatur recipisti There was a rich man did lare did go had received all past and vanished away all like the counterpane of a lease expired or like wages received and spent before hand This fuisse felicem the remembrance of what he had been must need be a sharp corrosive to him So that for these poor rejected and damned wretches to remember the evils they have done is bitter the good they once had more bitter the good they might have had most bitter Therefore fore it is good councel for us now pravidere mala futura ne recordemur bona praeterita to foresee with fear the evil that shall be hereafter least we remember with grief the good that hath been heretofore O that our fore-sight were but half so sharp as our sense Let us now

hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable so might the wicked say If in this life onely we have sense of sorrow we are of all men most happy Lastly Every Prince is allowed this concurrence to his state that as he hath a pleasant Palace for himself his Nobles and his Attendants so he hath a Goal and Dungeon for Theeves and Traytors That Heaven is glorious where the great King keeps his Royal and Magnificent Court the outer side of whose pavements we delight to behold and admire the transcendent beauty thereof So is that Hell a dismal Dungeon where he secures his Enemies the out-side whereof men are not permitted to have a sight of lest they should be presently struck dead with the horror of the place They that have seen the flames and heard the roarings of Aetna the flashing of Vesuvius the thunderings and burning flakes evaporating from those marine Rocks have not yet seen no not so much as the very glimmerings of Hell A painted Fire is a better shadow of these then these can be of Hell torments and the miseries of the damned therein Having then cleared our passage thus far let me in sober terms ask Anonymus this question Dost thou verily whosoever thou art believe as thou writest that there is no Hell Quis daemonum it a credit What Devil doth believe so they know it and feel it Why art thou come to torment us before the time torments they knew were prepared for them and a time when these torments should be fully and fatally inflicted on them and loath they were to suffer before that time Shall not men tremble to deny what the Devils are forced to confess What eat drink and play Epicure Post mortem nulla voluptas No pleasure after death none indeed to reprobates there is nothing but Hell for them and they will find but small pleasure in that O Anonymus Anonymus take that Councel which the Father gives Crede fuge credendo fugies Believe it and avoid i● by believing thou shalt avoid it We are sure there is such a place let us be but half so sure that we may escape it we shall do well enough Fear it that we feel it not If we tremble at these torments while the wicked laugh and are jovial we shall put off our fear of them laugh and be merry when trembling and astonishment shall seize upon them as Daniel 4.19 said to that Monarch Let not the Dream trouble thee the dream shall be to them that hate thee and the interpretation to thine Enemies So may I say Let us from the bottom of our hearts repent and bewail our former iniquities believe the exceeding great and precious promises of mercy which God in Christ hath set before us and then the terrours of this place will not be terrible unto us the terrours shall be to the devils that hate God and to the Reprobates his Enemies that daily provoke God For their tormenting cares we shall have flourishing Crowns in the communion of Saints and Angels 2. And so I come unto the next question namely What Hell is Though it were far more easie to enform the Reader what it is not then what it is yet will I make the best discovery thereof that I am able according to our first Proposal And if any complain of want of Method let him know that the nature of the place admits of none For who can speak orderly and methodically of that Quod nec modum nec methodum novit that knows no Method keeps no Order And if any man expect an absolute description of this place I excuse my self with that of the Poet fore-cited Non mihi si centum linguae But as Pythagoras guest at the stature and pitch of Hercules by the length of his foot and we say in the Proverb Ex ungue leonem so by shadow and resemblance we may a little conceive what it is in sufferrance It is then that place to which the Justice of God confineth reprobates for their eternal punishment The plagues whereof are external internal and eternal External which consists 1. In a privation of all comfort a privative cause hath a positive effect Tully banished from Italy though it were into Greece the Academy of the world wept bitterly when he remembred Rome Exiled Demosthenes though he found much kindness among his Enemies yet would shed tears in abundance when he looked towards Athens The captive Jews hung up their Harps when they remembred Sion Ovid laments that Roma relinquenda est he must leave that famous and flourishing City but when he considers Scythia est quo mittitur he could not be comforted It is the most unhappy part of unhappiness to remember former welfare 2. In a sensible passion of universal anguish the sight being punished with weeping smoke and the direful aspect of ugly Devils and their damned crew the ears with the dreadful howlings horrid blasphemies and horrible roarings of those miserable Caitiffs that are there tormented the taste with thirst and hunger even hot and dry empty and unsatisfied the smell with noysome scents and filthy savours the feeling with scorching and burning even as it were to the frying of the very marrow in the bones yea the whole frame and fabrick of their once trimmed bodies shall be defaced and deformed dull heavy and unweildly as a brand in a great fire no part free from burning such is the extremity universality of those pains Internal That consists in a plenary desertion of God they shall be utterly deprived of his glorious presence in whose favour is life and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore but never to be seen or tasted by these damned wretches nor shall they behold the sweet and amiable countenance of the Lord Jesus Christ or enjoy communion with his Saints but shall be as continual sinners so continual sufferers Two contrarieties being reconciled in them which otherwise would be impossible the one extream Presumption the other extream Despaire Presumption for with bitter malice and a curst heart they shall perpetually blaspheme and despitefully sinne against the spirit of grace Rev. 16.11 Desperation without all hope of mercy or admitting one thought of Peace The one being a sin against the justice of God the other against his Mercy both these proceeding from that sting of conscience which they continually feel and is that worm which never dyeth Eternal not determinable with time for then time shall be no more everlastingness shal make their sorrows absolute If all the lives I say not men women and children onely but of all and every of the Creatures that ever lived upon the earth or shall live to the worlds end were all added one to another and all spun into one life this one life of these damned wretches exceeds them all Ubi per millia millia annorum cruciandi nec in seculo seculorum liberandi saith S. August Myriades of years shall not determine or put

nature which that infernal fire should work upon yet such is the powerful judgement of that Almighty Arbiter of the world justly willing their torment that he can make Spirits most sensible of those fiery tortures and such is the obedible submission of their created nature that they may be immediately wrought upon by those appointed pains And as this inspection cannot be with too much caution no more can the conclusion that is drawn there from be with too much heed for he that makes it spiritual fire onely goes about to make it no fire at all It is therefore by the consent of many of the Godly learned held to be a coporal fire which being granted there arise notwithstanding some exceptions against the same Object 1. If it be corporal how can it diversly torment divers Reprobates There is but one fire in Hell but yet that fire doth not excruciate and torment all the wicked which are therein after one manner and measure the more wicked men have been here the more wretched shall they be there The mighty shall be mightily tormented Res For Answer For the better understanding hereof we must know that this fire is the instrument of divine Justice now no instrument works onely by its own virtue and after its own manner and in its own measure but is regulated ordered and disposed according to the will and power of the first Mover The Fire in a Furnace is augmented or qualified according to the will of him that kindles it or hath to do with it so is this enflamed or mitigated by the power and will of God Isai 30.33 The breath of the Lord like a River of Brimstone doth kindle it One and the same fire doth otherwise burn Iron then Wood or Straw and that as one saith well Secundum duritiem vel durationem materiae According to the nature of the incensed matter is the rage and fury of the fire Gregory in the Fourth Book of his Dialogues hath a notable saying to this purpose Quod hic diversitas corporum illic agit diversitas peccatorum That which is wrought here by the diversity of bodies is wrought there by the diversity of sins one and the same fire may be common to all yet may it afford a several degree of pain to every one according to the pleasure of the great disposer Object 2. If it be corporal fire it must be maintained with fewel or else it will quickly languish and be extinguished But there is no fewel in Hell at least no such fewel as can maintain it to eternity for saith Anonymus the wicked are compared to chaffe and stubble and so are quickly consumed and come to nothing but will he say they are such because they are compared unto such would he be contented that any man should inferre because he as a man is compared to a beast that perisheth therefore he is a beast I suppose he would rather reply nullum simile est idem For that Similitude and Identity are different things as He that is like me is not my self Indeed man is compared unto such in respect of his fading condition in this life but this mortal shall after put on immortality These bodies shall be so rarified as they shall not admit of a diminution much less of an annihilation Ans We let him pass and answer that the bodies and souls of the damned shall be loco carbonum lignorum instead of fewel and because those materials as they are qualified are everlasting it follows that Hell fire must be everlasting also for it is against the nature of fire to cease so long as it hath any combustible matter to feed upon Obj. 3. If it be corporal fire then it is of the same species with our fire now we know what the nature of this fire is but not of that Answ In the bodies which are the matter of the fire there may be a difference as lignum igneum ferrum ignitum burning Wood and burning Iron differ still it is fire though diverse from ours in certain properties which are unknown to us and if it be the blessed will of God may we never know them But seeing it is substantial and corporeal fire it will not be amiss to take notice of some particulars wherein it differs from this elementary fire of ours which may be considered in these five respects 1. In regard of Heat our fire is hot nor is there any element in the extreamest fury more afflictive to the sense then fire but the fire of Hell is far more hot and more afflictive The fire in a Lantsckip which is ignis pictus a painted fire or that purgatory fire which is ignis fictus a feigned fire yet hath so warmed the Popes Kitchin is a better representation of elemental fire then elemental can be of that fire which is eternal That furnace whose heat was septupled Dan. 3.19 insomuch that the flames thereof licked up them for whom it was not meant was raging very raging and of great violence but not a glowing sparkle compared to the everlasting fire of Hell 2. In regard of Light our fire comforts in shining that is oppressed with horrible darkness Ardet noster lucet Our fire burns and in burning shines but this as divine Justice hath disposed it burns but shines not unless it be for the greater torment of those that are frying in it Vim comburendi retinet illuminandi amisit saith Basil It retains the property of burning it hath lost the property of shining Therefore it is called Hades Sine sole domus a House without light The Apostle Jude calls it the black darkness The darkness of Aegypt was strong and horrid so thick that it was palpable yet nothing to the darkness of Hell In Aegypt they had but an over-casting they enjoyed the glorious light of the Sun again in Hell Non videbunt lumen in aeternum They shall never see light more 3. Elemental fire burns the body onely Eternall the soul also The passion of the body is but the body of passion the soul of pain is the pain of the soul yet if a consumable body be not able to endure burning flames for a day how will an unconsumable soul and body be able to endure the scorching flames of Hell for ever 4. Elemental fire as it burns so it consumes Hell fire rageth more and wasteth less The reprobate shall have the punishment Uri to be burned but not the happiness Exuri to be burned out So Prosper when he saith Poennae gehennales puniunt non finiunt corpora Hell torments punish but do not finish the bodies In Hell there is no cessation of fire burning nor of matter burned The Poet Prudentius speaks thus sadly of it Vermibus flammis summis cruciatibus aevum Immortale dedit Senio ne flamma periret To Worm and Fire to Torments there No term he gave they cannot wear If this fire were terminable it might then be tolerable but being endless

it must needs be easless Lastly Our Fire may be quenched but the fire of Hell never goes out Our Fire is maintained with Wood and put out with Water but that as it hath nothing to maintain it so nothing to extinguish it All their weeping cannot mitigate the fierceness of those flames And if there be any tears they shall rather be like oyl to feed it then like water to quench it The sum then is this The Torments of Hell are comprised under fire because that is the most violent and vehement of all the elements whatsoever Water doth only kill Fire doth vex terrifie and torment in killing yea which is worse this fire doth never kill Let fools then solace themselves with a conceit that there is no such place they will one day find it and feel it to their misery Without doubt it is good for us Semper cogitare gehe●nam And as we desire to escape the fire of Hell let us avoid the fire of sin There are certain fiery sins that shall find fiery punishments S. Paul calls lust a burning sin It is better to marry then to burn who then would burn in lust here that fears to burn in Hell hereafter Rage and Malice are burning sinnes therefore anger is called Excandescentia a waxing hot They that nourish this fire within them are nourished for a worse fire without them Blasphemy is a burning sinne let those whose mouthes flame with Oathes and whose Tongues are set on fire of Hell venting nothing but cursed speeches fear these torturing and tormenting flames Drunkenness is a burning sin too much wine is the oyl of Hells own lamp They inflame the reckoning till they enflame their brains enflame their bloods enflame their bodies purchase as much sickness as comes to a burning fever and as much sin as serves to enflame their own Hell All the world is on fire with sin to make work for the fire of Hell And there is but one only way to put it out The water and blood that came out of the most precious side of the Lord Jesus only that water can quench the fire of sin in us here and that blood quench the fire of Hell against us for ever hereafter I might here enlarge my self with the consideration of the dire and dismal effects of these torments which are principally two to wit Weeping and gnashing of Teeth Mat. 8.12 Fletus de ardore stridor dentium de frigore saith Rabanus Weeping caused by the hear and gnashing of Teeth by reason of the cold This declares that there are these two extremitis in Hell intollerable Heat and incomparable Cold Greg. on Mat. 8. Called therefore Avernus absque vera temperatura where the freezing cold shall not mitigate the scorching heat nor the scorching heat qualifie the freezing cold It is observable that while we are here the expence of Tears outwardly mitigates and allayes the sorrow that lies hard and heavy within and gives an ease to the surcharged heart So the Poet est quaedam flere voluptas The burden of indigestible grief as it were venting and emptying it self at the eyes but Hell by eternal tears could never yet qualifie eternal pains Besides if we do admit of weeping here as the Text is plain for it it ariseth from the extream perturbation of the soul and the horrible anguish of the body and may be said to be rather a howling like Dragons then any true shedding of tears Yet seeing one effect of the horrors in Hell is weeping and such weeping as shall never be comforted Let us prevent our weeping there by weeping here where we may be comforted The time of living is the time of repenting if we die without repentance repentance is dead to us for ever Weep then here and the time will come when God will wipe away all these Tears from our eyes For God hath disposed Flentes ad risum ridentes ad fletum weepers to laughing and laughers to weeping Gnashing of Teeth This is another effect of these Tortures and ariseth from the sense of some sorrow mixed with indignation a just and fit punishment that they who once gnashed their Teeth at others should gnash their Teeth at their own Torments they shewed their teeth in derision They shall gnash their teeth in indignation O the dreadful horror and fearful terror of this sad and direful place where there is neither help nor hope No help God will not Saints or Angels cannot nor would the damned themselves help one another if they could for they rather wish all others damned with them then that any should be freed from them No hope Men say in extream passions if it were not for hope the heart would break there is no hope in Hell yet the heart must hold It is a misery to these damned souls that it cannot break ever in a dying condition yet without any hope of expiration Seeing then there is no help no hope of help in that place of torment Let us seek help while we may have it and make much of hope that we may be enriched by it The Apostle tells us Rom. 5.5 That hope maketh not ashamed because it is never disappointed for if it could be illuded it would be ashamed Now if we would hope wel we must do well He that tempts God does not hope in God that hoping thrusts all upon God and will out of a lazie devotion do nothing for himself Many stretch themselves upon their beds as Lepidus in the shade and cry out O utinam hoc esset salvari but you know who said it Take that unprofitable servant and cast him into outer darkness It is in vain for a man to hope to do well hereafter as most men do when he continues doing nothing but that which is evil here The means must be used where hope is nourished Hope is onely for the present it hath nothing in reversion the Saints in heaven have no hope for they are in full possession of joy the damned in Hell have no hope for they are in full possession of torment Onely the living have hope and in the living God is their hope which he encrease here that it may be comfortably consummated hereafter 3. The last question is Ubi sit Where the place of torment is I know that to rest within the bounds and limits of precedents is to over-active and to curiously inquisitive persons a thing very contemptible nothing is accounted wisdom with such but what is exalted above the reach and pitch of those that went before us To rest in positive divinity and Articles confessed by all the Churches to be content to know that there is a Hell wherein tortures and torments are provided for the damned and there is a Heaven too wherein salvation is prepared for the just and raise no estimation no emulation no opinion of singularity by the way onely to edifie and not to amaze onely to bring men to an assent and to a practise and not to an

to see them participando by a blessed partaking of them such a sight is not permitted to the children of perdition They see them to the grief of their hearts and terror of their souls that they cannot enjoy them but are for ever deprived of them But how could that rich Man spoken of in the Gospel or how can other damned spirits be said to see the glory of Heaven when as they want those luminary Organs of the body the disposition of sight besides the great distance between the several places and the the thick darkness interposed which is a great question with Anonymus I shall easily remove this block out of the way for even Spirits see though not with bodily eyes they have the eyes of intelligence and apprehension by which they are able to distinguish matters of intricacy and perplexity and that at distance too much more between Light and Darkness They apprehend this Glory either universally or particularly An universal apprehension they have whereby they perceive the Saints to be in great glory in particular what this Glory is they know not They see it and they see so much of it as shall augment their torment Tam propter invidiam alienae faelicitatis quàm propter carentiam illius quietis both in regard of others gain and their loss the transcendent happiness which the Saints are for ever made partakers of and their own want of the same Now if it be granted That the damned shall see the glory of Heaven then it will probably follow that Hell is in the Air onely separated with a great unpassable gulf that either may not come to other And I have read of certain Hills whose tops have bin so near one to another that men might talk one to another but could not without many days travel come one to another If they do not see it then it is as probable that it may be in the bowels of the Earth However it is below down-wards in the more inferior parts of the workmanship of him who as the Poet styles him is Ille opifex rerum the great Creator of all But precisely to determine whether in the Air or in the Water or on the face of the Earth or in the Center of the Earth or in the center of the worlds Center Tegitur non legitur periculose disquiritur tutò ignoratur is kept secret and not discovered is safe to be ignorant of cannot but be dangerous to dispute That saying of Scaliger would be a seasonable curb to restrain us from a curious indagation and scrupulous enquiry after the place it self if it were minded of us Nescire velle quae Magister optimus Docere non vult erudita inscitia est What the great Master will not have made known Our greatest Wisdome is to let alone Yet thus far may we boldly conclude concerning it That as just Spirits separated from their bodies do presently ascend into the Emperial Heaven there to possess joy and happiness so the Souls of hard obdurate and impenitent sinnets whose hearts neither the mercies of God could mollifie nor his Judgements terrifie are confined below to the inferior Elements there to remain in everlasting miseries and torment And this as I take it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be wise to sobriety according to the wholsome advice of the Apostle But to determine positively where Hell is and to measure out and to dispose of every foot conteined in the same is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audacious curiosity and is carefully to be avoided by us Now because there is a difference among some that are more nice then wise about the Ubi Anonymus concludes against the Quod to the bewraying either of his ignorance or infidelity or both because men will not be rash in it therefore such Atheists will rashly deny it If any then shall ask further concerning the local place of Hell I answer with Socrates I was never there my self and my hope is never shall be nor spoke I with any that came from thence and therefore cannot satisfie his curiosity herein I confess many doubt concerning Hell Ubi sit where it is none can describe Quid sit What it is but all all I mean in their right minds do agree Quod sit That there is such a place where the damned shall be imprisoned and in which tormented unto all eternity Seeing then as we have upon good reason concluded that Hell is a descent downwards let us keep our selves so far as we can from it while we live that it may never devour us when we dye Sin is a burden that presseth down-ward The Prophet Zachary 5.7 compares it to a Talent of Lead how heavy was it on the back of Judas it never left him till it had pressed him down to his own place As the heaviest bodies draw to the Center of the Earth so do the saddest and heaviest spirits such as the mercy of God hath quite forsaken draw down to the Center of Hell Sinne brings a man easily down Facilis descensus Averni Things nearest Heaven take less care for Earth The Fowls of the air neither plow nor sow nor carry into Barns But men most love that which they must shortly leave and think seldom or never of that place where they must after the consummation of a short time here abide for ever O Lord give me the grace to consider the evil of my wayes Et semper cogitare Gehennam ne in gehennam incidam If nothing else will work me to repentance to think often of Hell here that I may not fall into hell for ever hereafter The life of the damned is a death without end the death of the damned is to live in eternal Torments VVhen the wrath of God shall cease towards them then shall Torments cease to be inflicted on them But the wrath of God is Eternal therefore their plagues must needs be eternal also VVhen those damned wretches shall repent of their impieties then shall they be freed from their miseries But the space of repentance was by them neglected and the grace of repentance is now denied Therefore there is no deliverance to be expected O Eternity eternity thou alone dost add to and aggravate the punishments of the damned beyond all measure Their misery is grievous in respect of the acerbity and sharpness thereof more grievous in respect of the variety and diversity thereof but most grievous in respect of the eternity and everlastingness thereof Anonymus how advisedly and upon what grounds I know not for all his pretended reasons make nothing to that purpose saith That this opinion as he calls it to wit of the everlasting duration of Hell torments hath caused much sin I answer How lightly soever he seems to set by it by the term he puts upon it it was a real substantial truth before his Cradle was made and will be so when his Coffin shall be rotten And if corrupt men will draw hellish conclusions from heavenly

keep it out He that sees heaven lost Paradise vanished the Earth accursed Hell enriched the World corrupted all Man-kind defaced will have small cause to laugh Man fell by affectation of joy he must rise again by the affection of sorrow That part of the world that shall be cast into the bottomless lake spend the days in laughter that part which shall rejoyce for ever must be first drowned in tears For my own part I am none of those that desire to go merrily to hell I had rather have Gods Vinegar then Anonymus his Oyl Gods Wormwood then his Manna Gods Justice then his mercy Sorrow and mourning here then misery and torment for ever hereafter For a conscience troubled in it self is Odor quietis as Noahs sacrifice was a favour of rest with God I but saith he this opinion for he will not allow it any other term provoketh to despair I confess to despair of the mercy of God is a sinne of a very high nature but for ought I see not so frequent as is by some imagined I have read of whole sects whole bodies of Hereticks that denyed the communion of Gods grace to others The Cathari denyed that any man had it but themselves The Novatians denyed that any man could have it again having once lost it by some deadly sin committed after Baptism But I never read of any sect that denyed it to themselves no sect of despairing men We have some somewhere sprinkled one in the old Testament Cain and one in the New Testament Judas and one in the Ecclesiastical story Julian but no body no sect of despairing men Therefore he that abandons himself to this sin of desperation sins with the least reason of any for he prepares his sin above Gods mercy and he sinnes with the fewest examples of any for God hath diffused this light with an evidence to all that all sins excepting that sin which is not without a great deal of difficulty and some incertainty defined the sin against the Holy Ghost may be forgiven unto men yea unto all men without exception But we must take heed least in magnifying the mercy of God we decry his justice while we seek to keep some few poor souls from dashing themselves to pieces on the rock of despair we give not occasion to thousands to engulf themselves on the quick sands of presumption And so we cast out one Devil with another and the latter prove the greater Presumption is a sin to which we are naturally prone and therefore the more dangerous Soon is a man invited to make much of himself to approve and applaude his own endeavours to look big upon his own performances hardly won to his own affliction or brought about to his own disestimation Despair is a thing grievous to trembling nature Not often doth that Archer of Hell head his Arrows with such displeasing assaults Besides this hath often turned invito diabolo to a hearty contrition for sinne and a holy conversion from sinne like a violent Fever that hath boyl'd up all the choller and corruption of sin so that a man becomes the better after it But to presume is so sweet a sin to flesh and blood that it once foiled Innocence it self Satan hath not a more tryed shaft in all his quiver then to perswade men while they are sinning to bear themselves boldly upon the favour of God Therefore as the wise Man eats moderately of the dish which he best likes because he knows there is more danger of surfeit in that then in all the rest So it becometh us to be most shie and heedful of that sinne which we know will soonest take us and take God from us We may say of them both Despair and Presumption as the Israelitish woman did of Saul and David in their harmony after the slaughter of Goliah Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands so where despair hath hurried away some with a great deal of noise and clamour presumption hath engulfed more many more without any noise at all Together with this sin of despair in his Linsey woolsey discourse he links the performance of holy duties I know the Devil and his instruments are profest Enemies thereunto but after that way which they deny so will we worship the God of our Fathers The Tree is known by the fruits It is not well said but well done thou faithful servant that by the mercies of God in the merits of Jesus will gain acceptance and admittance Hath not God promised to reward every man according to his works Hath not Christ our Saviour confirmed us by the same promise and will this fellow make them lyers Doth not the Apostle enjoyn his Corinthians 1.9.24 So to run that they may obtain Did not Jacob wrestle with Christ the Angel of the Covenant for a blessing and prevail And how did he wrestle but by prayer and supplication As the Prophet excellently expresseth it Hos 12.3 4. What is this but with Diogenes to trample upon Platoes pride with more pride to condemn our presumption as he judges it with greater presumption For by his new Divinity or rather old fustian he presumes to cross even the Lord Jesus Christ himself who wills us Mat. 7.7 to ask that we may have And S. James 4.2 tels us the reason why we have not even because we ask not Methinks they should be ashamed to print and publish to the world that which is so apparently cross and contrary to the word of God thereby seeking to bring men into a cursed condition even to neglect contemn the performance of those duties which we are enjoyned for to do in the name of the Lord Jesus What will he what can he say to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.12 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling And that of the 1 Cor. 15.58 Be stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world c. laying up for themselves a good foundation Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly saith Christ and my reward is with me to give to every one according to his works Therefore it is evident notwithstanding his negation that we may escape Hell and do our selves much good though not for yet by our good works Surely after we have prayed for hallowing Gods name the coming of his Kingdom c. We may pray not onely for daily bread but pardon of and power against sinne and not lose our labour We are commanded to hear Isai 55.3 that our souls may live For though God hath promised and Christ hath purchased all good things for believers yet we cannot not so soon at least expect them unless wee seek for them by those means which are appointed See what the Prophet saith to this purpose Ezek. 36.37 God hath an intention of good towards his people Yet saith he I will be enquired of by