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
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
they were born for nothing but to eat and drink and snort and sport c. or as the worthy Author of the Discourse of the Decay of Piety that live in the world as the Leviathan in the Sea to take their Pastime in it and to make up the parallel delight themselves to devour their Underlings Matth. 6. Col. 3. c. or as the Scripture Phrases it that be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God that set their affections mainly on things upon earth and not the things that are above that mind nothing seriously but Heathen like what they shall eat and what they shall drink and with what they shall be cloathed These I call Sensual Gentry and I will be content to be judged by any but themselves whether I may not fitly call them so and may lawfully say somewhat the more to them because others say so little Yet lest I should lye open to too many Censures for it and lest my plainness should be interpreted to be folly pride or peevishness or the like I think it meet to mention some passages out of several Writers that speak as bluntly to these men as I can do and yet will be confessed to be such as knew well what belongeth to Learning Grace and good manners First the famous Cambridge Orator speaks thus in his Poem Mr. G. Herberts Church Porch O England full of sin but most of sloth Spit out thy Phlegm and fill thy Breast with glory Thy Gentry bleats as if thy native cloath Transfus'd a Sheepishness into the Story Not that they all are so but that the most Are gone to grass and in the Pasture lost That worthy Divine of Broughton * Mr. R. Bolton in Northhampton-shire in his excellent Assize Sermon at the end of his four last things complained of the great degeneration of the modern Gentry speaking to this effect They are so vainly brought up and so strangely pufft up with insolency and Self-esteem c. that commonly by such time as they come to strength of body and mind corrupt affection obtains its full strength and height and hardness in their hearts and I am afraid if we go on meaning without a Reformation our Posterity will find in the next age the basest Generation of English that ever breathed in this famous Kingdom So he in p. 217 and 218. of the said work And whether this thing he feared be now come to pass or not I do not say let others judge The forementioned excellent Doctor also in that very Sermon makes as bold with them Dr. Saunderson speaking to those Gallants that do nothing for the good of humane Society but live as if they were made for no other ends but to eat and drink and sleep and game c. tells them however they might take it that the poorest contemptible creature that cryes Oysters in the streets for a livelihood deserves his Bread better than these brave men and his course of life is better approved of God and every wise man than theirs And as he adds a Horse that is not good for the Cart nor the Way nor the Race nor the Wars nor any other service though he be never so well made never so well shaped and never so well clothed yet is but a Jade still and after the Application of it adds the titles of honour which in courtesie we give you we bestow upon their memories whose degenerate off-spring you are and they no more belong to you than the Reverence the good man did to Isis belonged to the Asse that carried her Image And thus having cleared my way I shall now come directly to my intended work to exhort the brave Gentile sinners to consider the things that concern them which I take to be one of the fittest Uses that can be made of the Doctrine of Hell Torments The Exhortation c. Since there is a state of extream and everlasting punishment for the ungodly in another world 't is high time Sirs to look about you and to take care of your neglected Souls before you have lost them O consider this you that forget God and use all diligence to escape this wrath to come your Estates are better than other mens and your Breeding too as you would have us to think and are your Selves more contemptible or less worthy of your care and Religious regard Surely not You know that your time is passing and will return no more Death is at your backs as it were that pale horse will shortly overtake you and tread your honour in the dust and can you doubt of this or make light of it You are not sure to live another day you know nothing to the contrary but your Souls may be called for this very night Luke 12.20 though you have built your Barns never so largely to lay up your substance in and can you think the remembrance of the pleasures of a Sensual careless life will make death more safe or comfortable to you or if it could yet we are well assured it cannot make Hell Torments the more tolerable and as you are not more capable of escaping them if you dye in a state of sin unconverted so if you fall into them they will be as terrible to you as to other men though you are a little better armed against the crosses of this world than other men yet you have no more security against the curse of the Law and the wrath of God You have no musick that can charm the Devil or abate the fury of his Malice no Playes or Romances that can delight you after death no Clothes that can adorn you in the eyes of God no money that can bribe your Judge or purchase a Pardon at his hand In a word no Courage that can bear up your Spirits against the Terrors of Judgment if it find you in an unrenewed state and destitute of that Grace and Holiness that naturally you disregard O that you did but know any ways but by experience what a sad creature a Gentleman in Hell will be And that you may never know it in that way give me leave I beseech you to caution you against some special sins that are most likely to bring Great men thither 1. Pride and haughtiness of mind 1. Pride What if you speak great swelling words and look as big as a blown bladder scorning God and man at once yet you must come down a little lower if ever you dwell in the high and lofty place you must of necessity lay aside your loftiness and stoop so low as to take up that poor despised thing Religion and walk humbly with your God before you can see the Kingdom of Heaven Esay 2.12 Mic. 6.8 The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty And the proud shall be as the stubble in the day of his Anger Mal. 4.1 and pride goes before destruction saith Solomon And how apt the heart
the way Thou goest in and fear going astray More careful this will make Thee to avoid All evil and still keep Thee well employ'd This will Thee cause to shun the Paths of sin And mind the End when ought Thou dost begin Nought wilt Thou do God's Justice to incense If Hell Thou dost believe sin's Recompence What for some short-liv'd sinful pleasure shall I incur the Pains of Death perpetual What for some short-breath'd perishing delight Shall I forgo the Beatifick sight Which Heav'n affords and this of loss entwine With pains of Sense No Hell shall ne'er be mine On such unequal Terms Though sin entice I 'l never buy it at so dear a Price Most true it is thy Faith should work by Love The Love of God and Man should chiefly move Thee to decline what ever may offend An Holy God yet may the fearful end Sin leads to sometimes thought on move Thee more Than all the charmes of Love could heretofore Live thinking oft then on the Pains of Hell Which none escape but Those that here live Well S. N. Acrosticks upon the Name of the Author J. B. J OHN is his Name in Hebrew Jochanan Which signifies at least a Pious man O n whom his God his Grace hath multiplied More than on multitudes of men beside H is upright Life and painful Labours give Most signal proofs of this where he doth live N o one can justly spot the Coat he wears Nor through his fault blaspheme the Name he bears B RANDON I add that you assur'd may be The Author 's him I mean and none but he R ight such an one as John describ'd 'T is he Who is what this his Name notes him to be A Man though young in Years yet old in Grace Whose Gifts among the Elder may take place N or doth't become the Gravest to despise His Youth whose Actions speak him gravely wise D oubtless God's Church is happy in such Youth Skilful to strike Gaths with the stone of Truth O n whom whoso shall cast Dirt of contempt Let such see how themselves may be exempt N ought have I more to add his Christ'n name is John A name of Grace annext to Natures name Brandon Ad Authorem Hexastichon PRosâ sic Prologi vice carmina qualia feci Si Naturae negat facit Indignatio versum Qualemcunque potest quales ego vel Cluvienus Juv. Sat. 1. Num. 15. Quae tua si statuunt Nomina Parce mihi Parcas quòd Primùm proso sermone Rogatus Scribere causatus dans Tibi signa Rei Exìn quòd lusi Numeris super horrifera Re Haud benè compositis Nec tibi digna tuli Sum tamen Proximus tibi amicus Amicus tuus fidelissimus S. N. THE TABLE THe Epistle giving an Account of the Author 's Writing CHAP. I. SECT I. The Introduction with some Reflections upon the Author of the opposed Pamphlet pag. 1. CHAP. I. SECT II. An endless state of punishment for the wicked in another World proved and those Proofs vindicated from the Exceptions of Mr. Richardson and his Brethren the Socinians p. 3. CHAP. I. SECT III. Other Texts of Scripture urged and Arguments grounded on Scripture p. 12. CHAP. II. SECT I. A Tast of Mr. Richardson's Grapes in the beginning of his Garden or a Discovery of his gross Sophistry and grievous Impertinencies in the former Pages of his Discourse p. 23. CHAP. II. SECT II. Mr. R. his Observations upon Hell-fire the Damnation of Hell the rich Man and Lazarus Tophet the Worm that never dyeth observed and censured p. 26. CHAP. II. SECT III. Mr. R.'s Inventions upon the Parable of the Tares of the word Cursed of Eternal Damnation of the word Fire with a Query of the Corporiety of Hell-fire p. 29. CHAP. II. SECT IV. His pleasant Game or a view of that pretty sport that he makes with the various Opinions of learned Men about the place where Hell is fixed p. 34. CHAP. II. SECT V. His admirable Combate with Mr. Ed. Leigh upon the Point and his causless Triumph over him being a Vindication of the said Mr. L. his arguments p. 38. CHAP. III. SECT I. Mr. R.'s Attempt to remove as he calls the main Pillars of Hell-Torments p. 46. CHAP. III. SECT II. The strong Man armed and his strength tried or Mr. Richardson's deep considerations considered p. 61. CHAP. III. SECT III. Mr. Richardson's Richest Learning discovered or his many Infallible Proofs disproved p. 70. CHAP. III. SECT IV. The remaining part of his Proofs from the 7th to the last being the 20th carefully examined p. 89. CHAP. IV. SECT I. The Uses of the Point by way of Information in several particulars p. 113. CHAP. IV. SECT II. A discovery of the madness of wicked Men in following their sins c. And their extreme misery hereafter that dye such here p. 116. CHAP. IV. SECT III. An humble and serious Exhortation to the Gentry and others which concludes with some questions to the damners and sinkers p. 132. CHAP. IV. SECT III. A Continuation or a word to the better sort of Gentry viz. the Religious p. 140. CHAP. IV. SECT IV. Particular directions for the escaping of Hell-torments being six in number with a caution to all and a consolatory conclusion to the servants of God p. 145. The Authors distance from the Press has occasioned these ERRATA'S which the Reader is desired to Correct PAge 2. Line 23. add most probably p. 16. l. 31. for Bond read Land p. 38. l. 21. for Instance r. Sense p. 51. l. 7. for innovation r. invention p. 66. l. 3. add Almost p. 99. l. 1. leave out for p. 120. l. 31. for strange r. strong p. 134. l. 31. for selves r. souls p. 138. l. 7. leave out the word Two p. 142. l. 32. for furious r. Serious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR Everlasting Fire NO FANCY CHAP. I. SECT I. The Introduction with some Reflexions upon the Author of the opposed Pamphlet THAT the way of the wicked deceiveth them Prov. 12.26 is one of the Sacred Oracles of that God who cannot lye nor be deceived It fills them with Sorrow when they look for Joy and is as the Gall of Asps within them even then when it is sweet to their Mouths and pleasing to their corrupt affections Job 20.14 Mr. Caryl See the late Expositor in his Notes upon the place But O how bitter will it be to them hereafter when all the sweetness of it is past and ends in those sorrows that never end when their continued Rebellions against the King of Heaven have laid them under perpetual punishment and bound them in everlasting Chains of Darkness and Damnation Object But say some we hope there is no such danger for that Doctrine hath been suspected of late yea Mr. R. hath professedly opposed it His Light hath discovered the rotten Foundations upon which it is built and hath proved all those black and dismal Imaginations concerning it to be no better than the effects
Justice requires that they should always have it for it is the part of Justice to render what is deserved But the wicked supposing them to have a Being always after the Day of Judgment as was proved just before must needs be always worthy of Punishment Rom. 6. ult The wages of sin being Death even Eternal Death or Damnation as appears by the Antithesis and other places Let any sober man judge whether the punishing of sin always upon them that always deserve punishment Gen. 18.25 Psal 9.7 8. 2 Tim 4.8 c. be not more agreeable to the nature of that God who is a holy God and abhorring iniquity who is the supreme Law-giver and Soveraign Lord and in a word the Judge of the world and the Righteous Judge than the letting of it go unpunished If a Judge on earth is not counted so just as he should be when he appoints no punishment or but a small punishment for a Fact that deserves a great punishment How shall God's justice be cleared as he is the Governour of the World if he should punish them but for a time who are worthy to be punished for ever That Vindictive justice is Essential to God is the great Foundation-Doctrine upon which the Champions of the common Faith have proceeded Alting in Cat. Palat q. 40. Arnoldus in Relig. Socin cap. 1. de essentia Dei Sect. 38 39 40. c. in opposing the Socinians who I think are the most formidable party of all Satans Host of Hereticks see those in the Margin and others mentioned by Dr. Owen in his Preface to his Defence of the Trinity and especially that Learned Doctor himself in his Diatrib de Justitiâ vindic cap. 15. where he well defends the Arguments of the famous Lubbertus against the Acute oppositions of Dr. Twisse about this particular point Object 1 2. Defended But this I foresee will not pass with some Readers unless it be defended against the objections that may most naturally be brought to the contrary 1. Say some At this rate of Arguing it seems to follow that the Saints themselves should be punished everlastingly for their sins for they also deserve such punishment and they can do nothing to abate the evil of sin or remove the evil desert of them Answer But for answer to such men let it be considered that the case is far different between the Saints and the wicked in this respect God will deal with them in a way of wrath they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath and they are reserved to the Day of Judgment to be punished 2 Pet. 2.9 for so the Apostle tells us of the unjust and our Saviour hath told us that they shall be accountable for idle words in Matth. 12. But he will deal with his Saints in a way of Mercy and spare them according to the greatness of his Mercy Mal. 3.17 yea he will spare them as a man spareth his Son that serveth him And no wonder since he spared not his own Son for their sakes in Rom. 8.32 And though his justice be most strict and infinite as being His justice who is God the Judge of all and glorious in Holiness yet it requires not a double satisfaction but is if I may so speak fully contented with Christs satisfaction and sufferings in their behalf who bore their sins and had the Chastisement of their peace upon himself 1 Pet. 2.2 Esay 53. But as for the ungodly that live and dye such it is not so with them they shall never be able to plead the satisfaction of Christ in their behalf for he will disown them before the Holy Angels and say unto them Depart from me Matth. 7.23 So that there is a valuable consideration upon the account of which Divine Justice may dispense with the punishment of the Saints even Christs sufferings for them but it is not so with the wicked and impenitent Object 2 But say others God is as just c. now and his justice as strict now as ever it will be and since it doth not move him to punish the Wicked according to their deserts now why may we not hope the same for hereafter Answer 1 Because he hath told us he will condemn them hereafter however he spare them for the present 2 Pet. 2.9 He knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the Day of Judgment to be punished What if he let them alone in the day of his Patience wherein he is minded to make known his long-suffering yet he will not always be mocked as St. Paul intimates in the Epistle to the Galat. What if his Justice doth not move him to punish them now how will it follow that it will not hereafter when the Day of Wrath is come and when the Righteous Judge shall come from Heaven on purpose to render unto them according to their works and to take vengeance on them that obey not his Gospel in 2 Thess 1.8 9. And here a question is very needful to be resolved viz. How it can be just with God to punish the sins of a short life-time with Everlasting punishment Possibly sinful men being blinded with sin and self-love may not discern the Equity of that severe Dispensation How it can be just to punish Temporal offences eternally but that will not prove it to be unequal If God might do nothing but what they approve of he should not be known to be a God indeed And while he is such he may do whatsoever he pleaseth most justly to any of his Creatures His very Will is the Rule of Righteousness And therefore to question whether it can be just with God to punish the Impenitent Enemies of his Laws everlastingly when we have seen so plainly that it is his Will so to do is the very first-born of folly Answer 2 2. There is something that looketh like an everlasting punishment which yet is not thought to be any injustice amongst men in this World Princes do not count it unjust to put those men to death that transgress the fundamental Laws of their Land as Murderers and common Robbers c. And yet that is after a sort an Everlasting punishment as taking them away for ever from all the priviledges honours and comforts of the Common-wealth that they were capable of if they had lived longer And for many offences they are commonly adjudged to perpetual Banishment or Imprisonment And what is an offence against a King and Country in comparison of an offence against the God of Heaven surely nothing unto it nor would it be any offence indeed or deserve any punishment if it were not an offence against God Answer 3 3. The desert of sin is not to be measured by the shortness of the time wherein it was committed It is not counted so here on earth A reproachful word to a Prince though it be spoken in less than a minutes time yet deserves perpetual Imprisonment as being spoken against that person
who is of so great dignity and to whom he owes the Honour of a true Subject And if the Prince and he should live for ever it were just that he should keep him in Prison for ever till he acknowledge his fault and humble himself unfeignedly for it as the Wicked in Hell will not to any purpose They will not humble themselves for their sins in any Religious way no not then when they are tormented for them as may be discovered ere long And if an offence against a man may deserve perpetual Imprisonment how much more may an offence against God deserve perpetual Damnation What are all the men in the world to him Behold saith the Prophet All Nations before him are as nothing Esay 40.17 and vanity Answer 4 4. It is not contrary to justice but an executing of just vengeance for God to condemn the sinful Angels to everlasting Punishment 2 Pet. 2.4 2 Pet. 2.4 He spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell when once they had sinned God spared them not his Justice took hold on them immediately and condemned them to Everlasting punishment for their state is expressed by St. Jude v. 6. by Everlasting chains under darkness and our Saviour tells us that Everlasting fire is prepared for them Matth. 25. v. 41. And certainly no man will question whether they shall be punished Everlastingly by that Everlasting fire or not unless he be bewitched by Mr. R's evil Spirit And though it were severity and strict Justice so to deal with them yet we know it was no injustice at all for He is a Righteous God and without Iniquity And though His ways are sometimes past finding out Deutr 32.4 Psal 9.7 Rom. 11. yet still we must say as those in the Revelation Just and True are thy ways O King of Saints Assuredly he will not punish the Devils themselves one whit longer than their sins deserve And if the sins of Angels are justly punishable with Everlasting punishments must we not acknowledge the same concerning sinful men and their sins Is sin any better thing in Men than in Angels or is God any fitter to be despised and dishonoured by them than by the other Doubtless if it make the noblest Beings worthy of Everlasting shame it must needs make their Inferiors so too To which let me add thus much that he hath laid more engagements upon Men to obey him than he hath done upon the fallen Angels He hath given Time and Means and Motives to Repent and promiseth Mercy and Salvation in and through Christ Esay 55.7 in case they forsake their evil ways and turn unto him which he hath not done for the fallen Angels And as for the Inferiority of Mans Nature to the Nature of Angels That I say is so far from excusing or extenuating their fault in sinning against him as that it seems very plainly to aggravate the offence If it be so horrible for Angels and Powerful Spirits to cross his Will and oppose his Laws and Government it seems to be much worse for Dust and ashes so to do As 't is a greater piece of Impudence for a mean person to contradict his Prince than for Lords and Nobles so to do Answer 5 5. 'T is not unknown what Miseries sin brought upon the Lord Jesus when he stood in the place of sinners It made him sweat as it were drops of Bloud it made his Body subject to Buffettings Scourgings Wounds and Death yea a shameful and accursed Death Matth. 27. Luke 23. c. it made his name subject to reproaches and Accusations and bitterest Scoffs and Taunts from the basest and wickedest men It made his Soul to be full of Sorrow though it were free from all spot of sin It made him a man of Sorrows on Earth who is the Matter of Heavens Joy It made him to be despised and rejected of men and live a life of continual Persecutions who is the object of the Angels Worship and at whose Birth they sang A Hymn of Praise Thus we see what Miseries he bore when he undertook for sinners and bare their sins 1 Pet. 2.24 And yet the sins that Christ became answerable for were not any sins of the Impenitent that live and dye such for if he had made satisfaction for them they should not be condemned for them as we know they shall Now if Christ suffered so much when he undertook for them that in time should repent if they came to years how great must that punishment be which the Impenitent must bear when they must answer for themselves That which in the Penitent man made Christ to suffer so great things for a time being imputed to him as the surety for the sinner must needs in the impenitent deserve Everlasting Punishment It is more for Christ to suffer for a time than for sinful men to suffer for ever He being * Rom. 9.5 God as well as man that which by Imputation to Christ made him liable to temporal vengeance and the curse of the Law must needs make the sinner worthy of Eternal vengeance being inherent in him and acted by him and attended with final impenitence as it is in them that perish Answer 6 Sixthly Sin being committed against a God of Infinite Majesty and Excellency as a dishonour to his Name and a violation of his Law must needs deserve a kind of Infinite Punishment for Justice requires a kind of proportion between the fault and the punishment Now because the wicked cannot bear a punishment that is infinite in weight and degree to compensate the wrong done to an Infinite Majesty therefore they must bear a punishment that is Infinite in duration and continuance Answer 7 Seventhly An Everlasting Punishment is suitable if not to the Act of sin so properly yet to the principle of sinning There is such a corrupt disposition in wicked Men that they would sin perpetually if they could There is no ungodly course they have delighted themselves in but they would do so still if they might have their own choice If a Lyar a malicious Miser a Contemner of God's Ordinances should live ten thousand years he would be as very a Lyar as covetous and malicious c. as ever he was And the like may be said in other cases The hearts of the children of men are fully set to do evil Eccles 8.11 They would have sinned for ever and why should not they suffer for ever what more just than that those should never want for sorrow that would never consent to forsake their sin If a man were to live on Earth never so many thousands of years and his Prince should know he would always be of a Rebellious disposition he would think he had reason enough to keep him in prison all that time And yet as was said before there is no comparison between the Princes of this world and the God that made it The Wicked cease not offending when they are in
after this life meerly because they are so instructed viz. by those unskilful Preachers whom they had the unhappiness to hear so that the only reason why they fear such a Punishment is because of the Instructions they have had about it The 1. Evidence Now this I deny It is not meerly from the Instructions of others that men apprehend and fear a Punishment after Death For the Heathens of old who were far from being instructed by our Preachers had strange and powerful thoughts of a Punishment for bad men after death Witness their Expressions about Sisyphus Tantalus Rhadamanthus and the Stygian Lake several passages in Virgils Æneids c. And how many might we hear of that in the days of their health and strength were as confident as could be and feared no sin that they liked of that were also grosly ignorant and cared for no Instructions unless it were how to get money and enrich their Land c. that yet have been in great fear when a dangerous sickness seized upon them O they shall dye they shall die and what shall become of them then And how should they have such Impressions upon their Spirits if they had not a sense of this Truth as ignorant as they are The 2. Evidence And what if the Instructions they had about it be a means of the Terror upon their Consciences this rather confirms the point than confutes it for sometimes the thoughts of an Everlasting state of Punishment hereafter is so powerful upon them and so terrible to them that they can neither eat nor drink nor sleep nor take any comfort in wealth and friends in Wine or Musick or any of those things they naturally most delight in Yea fills their mouths with horrid cryes and groans and hath put them into such violent shakings as hath shook the Beds yea the Chambers they lay in Read the memorable History of Francis Spira and others and you will see what Agonies and Terrors the Apprehension of Everlasting miseries hath caused in them Now hence I would offer Mr. R. this Dilemma to deal with Either these unspeakable Terrors were natural works of Conscience The Authors Argument as awakened by its God and Judge or else they were occasioned by the Instructions they formerly had about this matter If he say the former then he doth as good as grant what I contend for for that 's the only reason of his denial of the proof because Conscience doth not act so of it self but by vertue of some former teachings And whether he grant it or no it must needs be a proof of it for the natural workings of Conscience are from God and therefore suppose the certainty of their objects in their respective kinds As because it is natural to the Conscience to urge a man to pay what he owes while he is able thence it follows unavoidably that it is a real duty so to do If he say the latter that these extreamest terrors are occasioned by those Instructions about a future Everlasting punishment then he is cast also For what can he think makes those Instructions so powerful upon him they have not naturally such effects for many hear them often and regard them not And if it be from a supernatural power it must be Gods work or the Devils not the Devils for he would rather make men forget and slight such Instructions lest they should be frighted out of his slavery If from God it must needs follow that there is such a state for God would not deceive them Mr. Leigh his second Argument vindicated Mr. Leigh adds The Heathen believed a Punishment for bad men after this Life Therefore there is such a Punishment Mr. R. Answers in these words 1. Why did you not say and prove that they held they should be in Torments without end The Heathens do not believe any such Punishment after this Life p. 56-59 for they deny the Resurrection of the Body And then he goes on after his own way from the 56 to 59 page telling us a story of Pythagoras the Philosopher for so he calls him as though there had been a Pythagoras the Divine from whom to be distinguished and also of Plato and his Sacrifice c. which are not fit for my paper to be filled with and therefore I leave them p. 58. as more proper for his own Pamphlet and for the Book that he so gravely mentioneth I mean Mr. Jesse his Almanack And if Mr. Richardson had spent that time in making Almanacks which he spent in composing this precious piece it might have been more for his comfort or at least less for his sorrow when he comes to dye But to come to the point why did not Mr. Leigh say and prove that the Heathens believed a Punishment for bad men never to end Since I have undertaken this Task I must suppose my self obliged to make Mr. R. some Answer in the case and it is thus in short It was in all probability because he thought there was no need of saying it or proving it nevertheless if it may be any Satisfaction to Mr. R. or his Proselytes I shall be content to say it and prove it too The former is in effect done already the latter I shall now endeavour to do by citing some passages out of some of their writings If he please to read Seneca the Tragedian In Amphitryone he shall find something to that purpose Sanguine Humano abstine c. Then he adds The Testimony of Heathens Seneca Certus inclusos tenet Locus nocentes utque fert fama Impios Supplicia vinculis saeva perpetuis domant Where he may fitly note that expression ut fert fama which speaks it to have been the common apprehension of men in those days how strange soever he is pleased to make of it Ovid also in some of his Books if I mistake not in his Book de Ponto hath these two remarkable Verses Nec mortis poenas mors altera finiet hujus Ovid. de Ponto Horaque erit tantis ultima nulla malis i. e. This Death all times doth far transcend Its pains shall never know an end And we may find upon tryal that he was as much mistaken in saying that the Heathens deny the Resurrection of the Body Heathens Testimony of the Resurrection for if he mean it universally I can affirm the contrary for some of them did speak of it not obscurely speaking of the Souls of men Mille peractis Oblitae ditem redeunt in corpora lustris Syllius Italicus And the other Seneca hath somewhere a speech very plain for it Lucius An. Seneca Veniet iterum qui nos in lucem reponet dies In English thus Another Day shall bring to light Those whom pale Death drew out of sight 2. He Answers p. 59. what if the Heathens do hold as you say p. 59. His second Answer examined must we believe in Religion as the Heathens
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
it is the saddest destruction to be in a perpetual state of misery This I say is a more dreadful destruction than to be annihilated and therefore fittest to be called a destruction And if he think the word destruction must signifie of necessity annihilation and cannot signifie a state of misery and punishment he had best remove those difficulties that lye in his way in my first Chapter where the sense of the word hath been cleared against the Socinians And what doth he think to mention but one Text for many of the words of our God in Hosea O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Hosea 13.9 Surely he doth not think it is meant that they had turned themselves into nothing but that by their sins they had brought themselves into a miserable condition and made themselves liable to greater miseries In the following Page he runs very swiftly and disputes us into absurdities after this manner The Word saith p. 129. Their end is destruction R. Philip. 3. Their Opinion saith They shall never be destroyed nor ever end The Word saith The last Enemy is Death 1 Cor. 15. Their Opinion saith There is a worse thing after Death to be endured without end B. There are a sort of Men in the World that have wit and subtilty and some kind of Learning too that yet are little better than fools for want of grace and holy wisdom to make a good use of their wits and therefore we use to say of them that they are simple and cunning And whether my Author be not somewhat of Kin to these kind of Men let my Reader judge For in these last passages there is something of subtilty yea enough to deceive the ignorant and unstable and the Men that are inclining to his Opinion but if we view them narrowly they will not appear more subtile than silly For the former runs upon a false supposition that the destruction threatned to the wicked is a Natural destruction whereas it means only a Moral destruction viz. Condemnation and Punishment as was seen before But he saith their end is said to be destruction which he thinks is contrary to us who teach that there shall never be an end of them but that they shall always remain under Punishment But it doth not mean as he would have it that the destruction there spoken of doth make an end of them or imply the dissolution of their natures for we have seen the contrary before and if he entertain such a perswasion he may easily be brought to believe upon the same ground that Everlasting life or happiness will make an end of the Saints for 't is said Their end is everlasting life Rom. 6.22 Wherefore by end we are to understand their final and unchangeable state and portion in another World which is everlasting destruction or misery to the wicked as it is everlasting life or glory to the Righteous But of this I have said something before The other labours under as much weakness as the former for observe it is not said in 1 Cor. 15. that the last enemy is Death absolutely as if there were no worse thing to come after but thus only The last enemy that shall be destroyed 1 Cor. 15.26 is Death where he leaves out that main passage which carries the whole sense of the Text. Just as the Devil alledged the Psalmist he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee and left out the following words in all thy ways or the ways God hath appointed thee to walk in See Matth. 4.6 compared with Psal 91.11 Vid. Muscul in Loc. Now we grant that Death is the last Enemy that shall be destroyed though it shall not be the last evil that by the wicked shall be endured p. 130. In the next Page he heaps up many places to prove that Eternal life belongs not to the wicked To which I answer by distinguishing of the word if he take it as the Scripture doth for Eternal glory and happiness I grant it but if he mean it only of an Eternal continuance in life as life is opposed only to Corporal Death or Annihilation then I say it will agree to the wicked also after the General Resurrection as in its due place hath been manifested The Devils shall not have Eternal life in the sense aforesaid as it is promised to the People of God but yet they shall be eternally alive and live the life of spiritual substances else they could not suffer eternally in the Everlasting fire as we have proved they shall R. If Adam had never sinned he should have dyed nevertheless p. 131. This is proved first because he had a Natural body and was of the Earth earthly and therefore mortal and corruptible B. Whatsoever strength and goodness may be in this kind of Reasoning it is no more than the World hath been acquainted with before ever it was blessed with the sight of his Book the Learned Reader may find it amongst the most Reasonable Doctrines of those Masters of Reason as they would be counted I mean the Socinian Hereticks See Ostorod Instit cap. 33. And it is easily answered by distinguishing of the word Mortal It may be taken two ways as to this present case either first to signifie a person that may die and is capable of dying and so I grant Adam was always mortal which his Reasons sufficiently prove but if we mean it of one that must dye I deny that Adam was mortal in state of Innocency for whatsoever may be said of a possibility of dying he should never have been actually under the power of death if he had not sinned By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin c. Rom 5.12 A porta in Def. fidei cap 27. Aslingii l. c. p. 2. l. 5. q. 2. They that would see a larger discourse on this subject may consult these in the Margin where they may see the Author of this opinion R. Mr. Bolton saith If Adam had stood he could not have conveyed to us a Body Immortal or not dying in his Treat of Heaven p. 131. B. This Gentleman's word is not overmuch to be valued as to the Authors he citeth so he citeth Mr. Bolton here non bona fide as they say in plain English very corruptly For in that place the words run thus our condition speaking of the Saints in Heaven is a thousand times more happy and glorious than if we had stood still with Adam in his Innocency and Felicity for if so he could but have conveyed to us bodies Immortal potentiâ non moriendi ex Hypothesi as they say but in Heaven they shall be Immortal impotentiâ moriendi if he knew not what that means for a few good words I shall be content to tell him if he doth know he cannot but know that he granteth no subjection to the power of death to proceed from the nature of
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
And that so great sinners are worthy of more punishment than corporal death I believe was scarce ever doubted of by any but Mr. R. that ever were acquainted with Scripture and the sound writings that explain it yea I doubt not but the proudest Jesuit in the world would easily grant it and if it be needful to be proved these considerations may be sufficient for it Sin deserves worse punishment than corporal Death 1. That this is no more than the Beasts and Birds endure who never sinned they dye and dye totally whereas men though never so wicked dye only in their bodies as all but Atheists will acknowledge And can we think an obstinate rebellious sinner deserves no worse than that which the most harmless useful creatures do suffer 2. That the best of the Saints suffer death as well as the worst yea some of them have suffered much worse viz. by conflicting many years with horrid Temptations to despair and the like as Mr. Glover a most excellent Christian in the Book of Martyrs is said to have been in despair five years together And shall we think the wicked are worthy of no worse evil than the best of God's children have undergone God forbid p. 102. In the former part of his Book He tells us of some Books that were burnt in London by the Hangman and saith thereupon the same Spirit is alive to burn this which he hath written And I think it doth as well deserve that honour as ever any book in the world did as may appear not only by what hath been seen of it hitherto but also and especially by that which follows to the end of it and particularly by this act of his in this Page I am upon viz. by urging Rom. 6.21 to prove that there is not any thing to come after Death to speak in his own plain words p. 141. lin 16. Surely it is more than bad enough to doubt whether there be any thing to come after Death or not much worse to hold absolutely that there is not for that contradicts the Scriptures which tell us that after Death there is a Judgment and a Vengeance to be inflicted on them that obey not the Gospel of Christ 2 Thess 1.9 Hebrews 9.27 Heb. 9.27 and in a word everlasting shame and contempt to the wicked he means Dan. 12.2 c. But for a Man to act Mr. R.'s part and to urge Holy Scripture in defence of such a Heathenish Opinion who can imagine how horrible a thing it is in the eyes of God I doubt not but he would suffer worse than corporal Death for it if God should deal with him after his deserts what ever slight thoughts he hath of it And how far these words The end of these things is Death I say how far these words are from proving that there is no Punishment for any after Death is so plain that there 's little need of any thing to be said about it for Death here signifies as before Eternal damnation As when it is said if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that is be Damned Rom. 8.13 for however they live they are as much subject to temporal Death as 't is clear Proof 3d. R. Their Opinion of a Punishment never to end makes not sin p. 146. but Christ to be the cause of their so suffering for if Christ had not come there had been no Resurrection and if no Resurrection there could be no Punishment after Death But Christ may not be supposed to be the cause of their Punishment c. B. If this be a Proof it is a very ugly one certainly and will not be much valued by them that know what Christ or Sin or Punishment is However I shall not think much to say something to it I confess Christ is said to be the cause of the Resurrection of the Dead He is the efficient cause of the Resurrection of the wicked as he is God of the same substance with his Father and he is the Meritorious cause of the Resurrection of the Saints as their Head and Mediator I mean as their Resurrection is a glorious Resurrection in Philip. 3.11 If by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead * Intelligit non simplicem sed gloriosam Zanch. in loc Now observe his Argument Without the Resurrection the wicked could not be punished after Death Christ is the cause of their Resurrection if they be raised therefore if they suffer for ever Christ is the cause of it which is absurd This is manifestly his Proof in this matter and how absurd it is may be shewed in a Parallel case as thus Without life and strength Men could not rob on the High-way but it is God that gives them life and strength and without him they could not have them therefore God is the cause of their Robbing Would not a Christian abhor such a Reasoning as this yea would not the Devil himself be almost ashamed of it and yet if I am not most exceedingly mistaken it is as good a Reasoning as that of his yea the very same in kind If he had not forgotten all his Logick he might have remembred that Causa sine quâ non is not a cause strictly and properly so called but only a pre-requisite condition c. Sine ullo causali Influxu as the Learned Scheibler expresseth it * Topic. de causis cap. 2. Artic. 4. If my Author had not had Ink and Paper or something that might serve in stead of them he could not have written these his many Infallible Proofs yet if we speak properly it was not his Ink or his Paper or any such thing that was the cause of his writing them but his Error and his desire of defending it c. And seeing his great weakness in this particular it will not be much amiss to bring in to his Assistance the Learning of his Learned Brother Mr. Tho. Hobbs of Malmesbury who though in some things he speaks more honestly than my Author hath done yet is no approver of the Doctrine I contend for For in his Leviathan Chapter 44. p. 346. as the Reverend Dr. Tully citeth him in his Exposit Symboli he supposeth the Everlasting Punishment spoken of in the Gospel A Digression to Mr. Hobbs to be meant not of every Damned Man in particular but only to be specifical and to respect divers of them successively so as that one should be punished a time and then be turned into nothing then another to come in his place and so soon as he is annihilated another after him and another again after him and so on Which doubtless was the fruit of his own Invention for I verily believe it never came into the Head of any Man before him But I answer Answ 1 1. By his leave there can be no Everlasting Punishment upon them at this rate unless they who are first annihilated are made alive again after their annihilation for if they
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
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
of man is to it when it is attended with wealth and worldly greatness I need not say 2. Take heed of fleshly lusts which war against the Soul 2. Fornication as St. Peter speaks in 2 Pet. 2.9 10. The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment but chiefly them that walk in the lust of uncleanness c. So St. Paul Heb. 13.4 Adjudicabit exitio Piscat in Loc. 3. Idleness and unprofitableness Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge i. e. condemn They that would not be divorced from their Harlots shall be married to Hell-fire See Rev. 21.8 3. If you would escape the miseries of another world be sure to take heed of an idle and unprofitable life in this Surely Sirs they are like to partake of little good hereafter that care not to do good here If Plays and Romances have not thrust the Gospel out of your minds Matth. 25.30 I shall not need to tell you of the dreadful doom of the unprofitable Servant Is it not sad to see how little good is done in the World by many of those that are best able to do most and how many there be among us who have hundreds it may be thousands a Year that yet do not give all the Year round so much as the price of a good Periwig toward the Relief of their poor distressed Brethren as though such as are raised to such high fortunes were gotten above the Law of Charity or as if they thought the greatness of their wealth would well excuse them in the neglect of those good works it was given for or as though they had thought it an honour to them to have the Papists say that they are Solifidians The neglect of this is no such harmless Peccadillo as these Men may be apt to account it We read in the Gospel that our Lord will condemn Men at the great Day for this sin especially and make a particular mention of it as a procuring cause of Condemnation Matth. 25.41 c. He will say unto them Depart from me c. For when I was an hungred in his members he means ye gave me no meat when I was thirsty ye gave me no drink c. So then they that were able to do good to their poor Christian Brethren and were not willing to do it in some conscionable way will be punished for ever for this sin if they dye such as they lived and when they have lost their Souls and Heaven it will be no satisfaction to them to remember that they kept or saved their Money they that would not live as Christians shall not be spared because they were Gentlemen I might also caution you against Cruely and Oppression scorning of Reproofs and scoffing at Religion in the serious faithful Followers of it but I have not time to say all that might be said unto you 4. Mispending of Time The next thing that I would entreat you to be heedful against is mis-spending of your time He that is careless of that is therein careless of his God his Soul his Duty and every thing that most concerns him and therefore is most apparently as yet in the ready way to Hell See that ye walk circumspectly redeeming the time is no Precept of mine but of the Apostle * Eph. 5.15 16. or rather of God by him and if Gentlemen are not concerned with it it would be hard to prove that any others are Believe me Sirs your time is one of your choicest Treasures nor can you name any thing besides God's grace and your Souls that can be compared with it for preciousness What would you not give for another years time in order to your preparation for an endless life in case you were to dye to morrow And though I am not concerned to accuse you of mispending your time yet I may lawfully put you in mind of it and desire you to call your selves to account for it before your God doth Compare I beseech you the time that you spend in excessive sleeping in trimming and adorning in feasting and long meals in pomp and state and vain curiosity in vain thoughts and worldly cares in Cards and Dice and other Games at home and abroad in fruitless and unedifying Books in idle company and needless visits in vain discourses and delights in doing ill or doing nothing I say do but compare this time that is spent in these ways with that time which is spent in a serious seeking and serving of God in reading of good Books in thinking of good things in governing your Families religiously in relieving the poor in encouraging your Charge in the ways of God or any thing else that tends to the promoting of piety in your selves or others And let your own consciences tell you which is most For in many of our Gentry the time that is spent in the latter is no more in comparison of that which is spent upon the former than the poor Man's wages for a days work to their Yearly Incomes Their whole business and work is sports and pastimes so that we might describe them in those words in Exod. 32. They are a People that sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play But such provide but ill for themselves nor can it be safe for them to be so prodigal of time that have Death and Judgment before them a Hell to escape and a Heaven to prepare for 5. There is another sin that some who go for Gentlemen are sadly in love with Rash Imprecations and must not be forgotten in this Discourse I mean horrid Swearing and Imprecations Damning Sinking and the like And surely if Damnation be a real thing and not a Dream it must needs be a damnable thing in the highest sense rashly and profanely to imprecate it upon themselves What wonder is it if these Men have Hell for their portion that commonly have Damnation it self for the matter of their prayer And if they did only shame themselves by this wickedness the matter were not so much but they alas shame their profession also and bring a grievous reproach upon the holy Prayers of our Church 'T is the corrupt Lives and cursed Speeches of such Professors that harden the deluded Separatists in their prejudice against them as the Quakers and such like I read not many Moneths ago a passage to this purpose more than plain enough in a Quaker's Pamphlet where speaking to some Persons of this bad quality he expresseth himself after this manner You cry out God damn us and God confound us and soon after you go to your Church and say We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thus Reader this clause in our Letany We beseech thee to hear us good Lord than which it is hard to imagine any thing more humble or pious or better becoming a serious Christian is matter of greatest scorn and contempt to these poor Creatures and all because it is Profaned and Unhallowed
the Pharisees made light of him and derided him in Luke 16.14 Thus of the 4th Direction Direct The 5th If you would escape Hell make sure of a true and sound conversion and wait upon God in the use of all holy means for it But above all things take heed you mistake not in so great a concern nor think your selvs converted when it is not so Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven And surely if a Man cannot come to Heaven without it he cannot escape Hell without it neither Now you must not think your selvs converted while you are predominantly in love with any wicked course whatsoever or in plainer English while you count sin your liberty and priviledge and had rather follow any way of wickedness than a way of real and universal religiousness if it were not for fear of the shame of the World or the damnation of Hell Many I doubt not are religious sober civil just c. out of constraint not willingly and forbear gross sin more out of dread of punishment than out of any love to God or obedient regard to his Will and Law serving God as the poor Indians did the Devil viz. for fear lest otherwise he should do them a mischief And what do you think is such service worth assuredly very little or rather nothing in the sight of God who seeth the principles of Mens works and services and looks more upon the Bent of the mind and will than the matter of the work Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 A blockish slavish unwilling service when the work is done which he had rather should not be done is fit only for a sensless Deity or a dumb Idol not for the high and holy one Believe it you are not truly and savingly converted till God and holiness have the main disposition of your hearts and wills till you had rather have God in Christ for your everlasting portion to enjoy than Honor and Wealth and all this World 's good till then you are but Worldlings till you had rather walk in a way of holiness than follow the most gainful Trade of sin As a false defrauding servant is never turned to be a true and faithful servant till he had rather be true and faithful to his Master than to cheat and defraud him Pray therefore for your selves as the Apostle for the Thessalonians that God would direct your hearts to his love or as our Church that he would encline your hearts to keep his Law Dir. 6 Acquaint thy self with Christ search the Scriptures and see how sufficient a Saviour he is how able and willing to receive and relieve returning sinners Did he reject any that were but truly willing to accept of him Did he not come into the World to save such and complain that the People would not come unto him that they might have life Them that come unto him with true faith and repentance he will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 O sinner if thou wilt heartily forsake the Devils drudgery he will save thee from Hell and all its damnation If thou turnest from every evil way and givest thy self up to him relying wholly upon his merit and righteousness he will give thee acceptance in the sight of his Father and deliver thee from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. ult So much for the use of Direction I come now to one or two Uses more and so shall put a period to my Discourse In the next place then It may serve for our Instruction and may teach us not to envy at the prosperity of wicked Men nor to judge Gods ways to be unequal because of their impunity joyned with final impenitency in this present World No cause to judge so when we consider that he hath a Hell to punish them in for there the sinner shall have enough of sin and such wages as is suitable to his works of iniquity There the proud sinner shall be low enough the jovial sinner shall be sad enough the sottish sinner be thirsty enough the Revengeful sinner have vengeance enough the Damner and Sinker be damned enough and sink deep enough into the lake of fire There they that tyrannized over pious Christians shall be insulted over by the Devil and be buffeted by the unclean Spirits they that willingly forget their God and Souls shall remember their sins whether they will or not they that made light of Christ and Sermons shall be loaded to the full with wrath and curses and in a word they that grinn'd at godliness shall gnash their teeth at their impieties God to whom vengeance belongeth will avenge himself upon them and punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence 2 Thess 1.8 9. Lastly Let me hence add a word to the godly in general let them be exhorted to grow more and more 1. In Grace and holy obedience for what love what service what obedience can ever be suitable to that goodness of God which saves them through Christ from the everlasting punishment their sins deserve We may well exhort them to all holy duties by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 They can never do too much for his Glory that hath done so much for their Salvation for he will give them eternal Life and they shall never perish Joh. 10. 2. In comfort and spiritual joy Rejoyce in the Lord always saith the Apostle to such Phil. 4.1 Christ is their all-sufficient Saviour and they shall surely be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 why should any worldly Troubles trouble them overmuch since they shall have none in the world to come Death can do no more than rot them and hell no more than fright them Rejoyce therefore O faithful Christian and give thanks at the remembrance of the goodness of thy God the joy of the Lord is thy strength O let it be thy work too Yea most certainly it shall be so at the coming of Christ to judgment He will then receive thee to himself Joh. 14.3 His love shall then be stronger than death and conquer the last enemy for thee Thou shalt be filled with Joy and Glory when the wicked shall have their fill of shame and sorrow and shalt be accepted graciously with him when all the enemies of his Holiness shall be banished from his Presence and be buried alive in everlasting fire And now bless the Lord O my Soul for all his gracious Providences and in special for all his gracious Assistances in this small Work Say not This Work thy Hand to End hath brought Or This thy Labour hath attain'd unto Say rather thus This God by me hath wrought He 's Author of that little Good I do To Him be Glory for ever and ever FINIS