their Joyfull Sense of the Happy Change And to compare their own Condition with that of Lost Miserable Souls To think of the Hell they deserv'd and others suffer and they themselves did sometime fear and compare it with the Rest and Peace and Joy and Glory that they now partake of will add to their Felicity And who can tell how great that is even before the Resurrection For eye hath not seen 1 Cor. ii 9. nor ear heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him It is represented in Scripture by and above all such Pleasures as do most sensibly Delight us to set forth the Joys of Heaven to be unspeakable and full of Glory When the Divine Image shall be perfected the Body of Sin and Death removed all our Darkness Impurity and Corruption healed And if there were nothing else but a perfect and eternal Freedom and Deliverance from Sin with all the Causes Concomitants and Effects of it they to whom it is now the greatest Burden Trouble and Sorrow must account it an Unspeakable Felicity But the Soul shall then awake as out of Sleep to see and know things as really they are and be in a state of more vigorous Activity than while it animated the Body But what the Blessedness will be of Faith turned into Vision when all the Powers of the Soul are enlarged raised and suited to the views of God's Glory by Christ and made more receptive of Divine Communications is what we want Words to describe and can think and speak of but very imperfectly For now we see thro' a Glass darkly but hereafter Face to Face without interruption or obscurity This we know that they shall not only escape the Damnation of Hell but enter into a state of Happiness the Joy of their Lord. We read of Glory to be revealed in them and Glory conferred on them In general as to real and positive Blessedness for the Souls of Good Men after Death even before the Day of Judgement we have not only the Testimony of Scripture but somewhat from the Light of Nature * Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous Chap. 10. All the Philosophers who believ'd the Immortality of the Soul and how few but did allow it they profess to believe the Happiness of the Souls of Good Men in separation from the Body for knowing nothing of the Resurrection of the Body they could not dream of a sleeping Interval till the Day of Judgment The like we may say of a state of postitive Misery for wicked Souls after Death Here in this parable is a Lost Soul condemn'd to Torment assoon as departed this Life before the Resurrection And Torments so extream as that the most inconsiderable Refreshment would be reckon'd a great Relief The Discourse is fram'd according to the Nature of a Parable between the Rich Man in Hell and Abraham in Heaven and Lazarus with him How fain would he now change Conditions with the Beggar whom he neglected and despised at his Door What would he give to be comforted as he is But he lift up his Eyes in Torment unexpressible Torment and so the Scriptures every where represent it Rom. ii 8. 'T is call'd Indignation and Anguish Tribulation and Wrath. 'T is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Psal xi 6. He will wound the Head of his Enemies Psal lxviii 21. We read of a Lake of Fire a Lake of Brimstone a Furnace of Fire of tearing in pieces cutting in pieces dividing in the midst drowning in Perdition of being bound hand and foot and cast into Fire to be burnt of outer darkness chains of darkness the great Winepress of the wrath of God c. Be sure the Sufferings of the wicked in the other World are greater than we can endure for obeying God in this otherwise the threatning of such a Punishment would not be an effectual restraint from Sin But how extream must be that Punishment set forth by the violence of Fire enraged with Brimstone and prepared by the wrath of God for the Devil and his Angels And the Sting of a guilty enraged Conscience as the biting and gnawing of a Worm on the most tender part 'T is represented in such a manner as is most proper to impress the quickest sense of terrour on our minds to strike our Imagination with the Extremity as well as the Reality of those Sufferings And if the Expressions be but Metaphorical they make the Torments the greater as intimating rather that they are but faintly shadow'd by what is most grievous in this World We read of being tormented in Flames and yet of Darkness Everlasting Fire and * See Dr. Lightfoot 's Genuine Remains 8o. 1700. Explanation of difficult Texts Decad 11 § 6. Outer Darkness The fearfull state of Sinners under the Wrath of God describ'd by both We read that the Aegyptians under the plague of Darkness saw not one another neither arose any from his place Ex. x. 23. This the Psalmist gives an account of in these terms Psal 88.49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his Anger Wrath and Indignation by sending evil Angels among them The Indignation of God without any beam or spark of his Favour is Darkness indeed And the Devils may rage and roar and terrify and yet Sinners be held in Chains of Darkness that they cannot stir God is represented as a Consuming Fire Heb. xii ult a Devouring Fire and Sinners fall into his hands as an Avenging Judge Isa xxxiii 14 We read of his Fiery Indignation to devour his Adversaries of his Wrath and Power to be made known Rom. ix 22. and glorified in their Destruction And who knows the Power of his Anger said Moses the Man of God who saw his Glory The Wrath of God is the Hell of Devils and of all the Damned If he be angry but a little we can't stand at the rebuke of his Countenance we perish what then if he stir up all his Wrath in the day of his fierce Anger when he comes to execute Judgment and to render Vengeance from the Glory of his Power upon the Wicked fitted for and reserved to Destruction You may fancy the most terrible things can be dreaded of Fire and Brimstone Wracks and Tempests boiling Pitch scalding Lead or a burning Furnace and being kept alive for a long time to suffer such exquisite pains But all we can hereby reach to conceive of the Pains of Hell falls as much short of the Torments of the Damned as one little spark of Fire on the hand compared with the furious rage of Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace heated seven times hotter than ordinary 'T is impossible for the most awakened Conscience to conceive the Horrour of it Who can tell how God can punish or what the guilty Soul can be made to suffer under the Wrath of a provoked God! when he comes to be revenged for all
Heaven and Hell OR The Unchangeable State OF Happiness or Misery For all MANKIND In Another WORLD Occasion'd by the Repentance and Death of Mr. Shetterden Thomas who departed this Life April 7 1700. Aetat 26. Preach'd and Publish'd at the Desire and Direction of the Deceased With some Particulars he order'd should be mentioned in hope of doing Good to Others By John Shower With a further Account of some Passages of his last Sickness by a Pious Lady who often visited him LONDON Printed by J. Heptinstall for John Sprint at the Bell in Little-Britain 1700. THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. DANIEL THOMAS OF HIGHGATE SIR I Should look on my self as justly expos'd to the Censure of the World if before a Treatise of so serious a Nature and such Important Consequence I should prefix any thing that looks like Flattery either of You or of the Honoured Lady the Relation of whose Discourse with Your Deceased Brother in his last Sickness is here annex'd How much You reckon'd Your self indebted to Her for that Instance of her Friendship I have heard You acknowledge with great Thankfulness You have reason to own the singular Goodness of God who gave him so Merciful a Season of Repentance and his Grace as we charitably hope to make use of it to better purpose than most late Penitents do I endeavour'd to be Faithful to him while he liv'd and to fulfil his Desire after his Decease in what was Preach'd and is now more largely Publish'd May neither You nor I lose the Impressions of this Instructive Providence or of that Awful Subject it led me to treat of If no Others should profit by either I wish with all my Heart and most earnestly beg it of God that You and Yours may Sir I shall only put You in mind with what Kindness and Affection he sent for Your Children a little before his Death and recommended to You and my Sister a particular Care of their Education in the Knowledge and Fear of God and mention'd it with Pleasure that they were like to have that Advantage May both of them live to have it and improve it to Honour God in the World and partake of the Blessings of the Everlasting Covenant And may All mine do so likewise Which is the Earnest Prayer of him who is with unfeigned Respect SIR Your Affectionate Brother and Faithful Servant J. Shower London May ult 1700. The CONTENTS INtroduction The Scope of the Parable The Different Conditions of Mankind after Death p. 4. The Souls of Good Men are in a State of Rest and Happiness before the Resurrection Why called Abraham's Bosom p. 7. A positive State of Misery and Torment for the Wicked in another World p. 13-28 Both States after Death Vnchangeable p. 29. The Blessedness of the Saints Everlasting p. 31. The Gulf fix'd as to the Misery of the Wicked without Release or End p. 36. The Socinian Doctrine concerning the Annihilation of the Wicked after the Day of Judgment disprov'd from Scripture The Objections against the Endless Misery of the Wicked answer'd p. 47. Application Inference 1. Now or Never is the Season to prepare for Eternity p. 55. 2. How valuable a Talent is the Time of our present Life p. 58. The Evil of Idleness 3. How Awful and of how great Consequence for any one to die and pass into the other World p. 63. What a Change will Death make to a Wicked Man 4. We may take our Measures of Men's Wisdom or Folly according to their Care or Negligence in preparing for the Eternal World p. 77. How Inconsiderable is the longest Life on Earth compar'd with an Endless Duration A thousand Years in God's Sight but as one Day p. 86. Lastly What a hazard to delay Repentance to the last Hour or to a Sick-Bed p. 86. The Example of the Thief on the Cross considered as Extraordinary and prov'd to give no Encouragement to such a Delay p. 88. The Excellency of his short Prayer Lord Remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom p. 95. Death-Bed Repentance deceitfull and uncomfortable p. 103. Exhortation 1. To be Establisht in the Belief of the Scripture Doctrine concerning the two Eternal States and labour to be suitably affected with the Consideration of Heaven and Hell p. 106. 2. Let us hearken to Moses and the Prophets to Christ and his Apostles if we would ever have a Place in Abraham's Bosom and escape the Torments of Hell p. 121. They who will not believe Scripture Revelation 't is probable would not be perswaded though one came from the Dead p. 123. An Account of the last Sickness and Repentance of Mr. Sh. T. p. 132. Some Particulars warn'd against by his Desire A further Account of some Passages of his last Sickness by a Pious Lady who often visited him p. 156. HEAVEN and HELL OR The Unchangeable State of Happiness or Misery after Death S. LUKE XVI 26. And besides all this between us and you there is a great Gulf fixed WE are told by the Wise Man what becomes of the Body and the Soul when they part at Death how the Body that was fram'd out of the Dust of the Ground returns thither and the Soul which is of Divine Original returns to GOD the Father of Spirits to Elohim which signifies a Judge as well as a Creator to be dispos'd of by him in another World Eccl. xii 3 Then shall the Dust return to its Earth and the Spirit to God that gave it It is not to be annihilated extinguished or destroy'd but returns to GOD as the final Arbiter of its Eternal State That there is such a State of Happiness or Misery of Rest or Torment for departed Souls and that both states are unchangable is what this Parable may instruct us in There is a Gulf fix'd between the Blessed and Miserable after Death either sort unalterably Happy or unchangeably Miserable There is an irreversible Decree of Heaven to determine the Felicity of the Saints to be everlasting and to conclude the Wicked in a state of Misery without Relief or End As there is no fear of Change for the Happy Souls in Abraham's Bosom so is there no hope of Alleviation or Period of the wretched condition of Sinners in Hell This is the Important Subject I would now Explain Evidence and Apply And can there be any that more deserves and calls for your most serious Attention It is one part of the Design and Scope of this Parable of our Saviour concerning the Rich-man and Lazarus to affirm this A Parable it must be granted tho' mixt with somewhat Historical as the mention of a Poor-man by name who may be suppos'd to have been notorious and known among the Jews for his extream Poverty and Distress The different State and Condition of Men departed this Life is express'd by our Saviour in a Parabolical way the more effectually to insinuate the Truths he would teach us with the greater Advantage to move the Affections of his Hearers
From this Parabolical Description of the different Condition of the Souls of Men after Death I would observe First That the state of Mankind after Death is a Condition of Real Positive Happiness or Misery of Comfort or Torment Secondly That both these States are fixed and unchangeable The Blessed shall never be Miserable and the Miserable shall never cease to be so First When the Union between the Soul and Body is dissolved by Death the Soul of every Man passeth into a state of Happiness or Misery This we may plainly learn from this Parable Ver. 22 23. When the Beggar died he was carry'd into Abraham's Bosom And the Rich Man also died and was buried it may be he had a pompous Funeral the only Advantage if it be one of the Rich above the Poor after they are dead and in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torment The one had his good things here the other his evil things But now the one is comforted the other tormented Ver. 25. This is an account of departed Souls before the Resurrection for the Rich Man is said to be in Torment while his five Brethren were alive and he desired that One should be sent to admonish and warn them that they might not come to this place of Torment We read but of two sorts at the Day of Judgment The Sheep and the Goats the one pronounced Blessed the other Accursed The one to go away into everlasting Life and the other into everlasting Punishment God hath told us that he will render to every Man according to his Works And as Man is capable by his Reasonable Nature of giving an Account of his Actions and of being rewarded or punish'd in another World those very Faculties which give him this Capacity and distinguish him from the inferiour Creatures do suggest this and fill him with Hopes and Fears accordingly So that comparing the Righteousness and Justice and the other Infinite Perfections of God with the present Dispensations of Providence some such different state by the very Light of Nature as well as Scripture may be expected hereafter The assurance therefore of God's being infinitely Wise and Just gives us to expect that a Difference will be made between these in another World which we see is not done now And the rather because Civil Society can never be supported if there be no Restraint upon the Lusts and Passions of Men and these can never be sufficiently restrain'd without the Hopes and Fears of another World and as these therefore are natural we may conclude 'em true and that there is another World and a Future State of Happiness or Misery We read in this Parable of the different Character and Condition of the Rich Man and Lazarus in this World But we read also of the Happiness of the one and the Misery of the other as soon as they died The Comforts of the one and the Torments of the other were doubtless unexpressibly great tho we may allow an Addition to both upon the Re-union of Body and Soul at the Resurrection of the Dead But more particularly First The Souls of good Men at Death enter into a state of Rest Happiness and Bliss That of Lazarus being carried into Abraham's Bosom Mat. xviii 11. The meaning of that Expression our Saviour seems to interpret in another place when he says Many shall come from the East and from the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Alluding to a Feast where the Guests sat so as to be half kneeling and the most honourable place was to be next to that of the Master to lie as it were in his Bosom As is said of the Beloved Disciple concerning Christ If it denote an eminent degree of Blessedness in Heaven it infers a positive state of Happiness after Death called the Bosom of Abraham rather than of Adam Enoch or Noah because the Promises were especially made to him and to his Seed belong'd the Covenant and the Adoption And he is propounded as a Pattern of Faith and Obedience and called the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful And they who imitate him shall be gathered into his Bosom and be made partakers of Blessedness and Glory with him This is called Paradise by our Saviour Luk. xxiii 43. And we learn from St. Paul where this Paradise is even in the third Heavens The Ancients call the Place and State before the Resurrection The Porch of the Sanctuary the Courts of the Lord the hidden Seats or Tabernacles of the Godly the Place of Refreshment the Rest of Security an Habitation with God c. From what our Saviour said to the Penitent Thief on the Cross and from what we may gather from this Parable concerning Lazarus the Immediate Happiness of the Souls of Good Men in another state is affirmed That they are not to tarry for their Felicity till the Resurrection Acts vii 59. So when the Body of Stephen falls asleep the Lord Jesus received his Spirit And the Apostle desires to be uncloath'd of this Earthly Tabernacle 2 Cor. v 8. 1 John iv 17. that his Soul might enter into the House not made with Hands That he might be present with the Lord. He desir'd to be dissolved that he might be with Christ as what was far better much more better And the same Phrase being with Christ or being present with him is us'd for the Happiness of the Saints after the Resurrection 1 Thess iv 14 17. intimating that it is the same sort of Happiness and is so much preferrable to any present Enjoyment of God in this World that this is call'd an Absence from him We likewise read of the Souls of the Martyrs who came out of great Tribulation and had washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb Rev. vii 14. That they are before the Throne of God serving him in his Temple And that is interpreted of his Immediate Presence in Another Place for the Lord God Almighty Chap. xxi 22. and the Lamb are said to be the Temple How excellent a Change will Death make upon the Soul 's leaving the Body If it pass into a Glorious Paradise and hear a Voice from him that sits upon the Throne Enter into thy Master's Joy Poor Lazarus was lately very miserable at the Rich Man's Door now very happy in Abraham's Bosom Lately cover'd with Sores and Ulcers now cloathed with Glory Lately pining with Hunger now all his Wants are supplied His extream Poverty made him the other day despised by the Rich Man he could find no Entrance at his Gates no Admission no Relief but now he is envy'd for his Happiness The difference which departed Souls will feel of their Happy State from what they lately were and the Sense they have of the Evils they are Deliver'd from will give an Accent to their Happiness The fresh Remembrance of what they were in this World will help
his abused Mercies for all the Contempt of his Authority when he will shew forth his Wrath. Oh! fear him who after he hath killed the Body hath power to cast Soul and Body into Hell We have heard as * J. Cooper Prospect of the Heavenly Glory Ch. xi 8vo lately printed one expresses it of some who have endured breaking on the Wheel ripping up of their Bowels fleaing alive racking of Joynts burning of Flesh pounding in a Mortar tearing in pieces with Flesh-hooks boyling in Oyl roasting on hot fiery Gridirons c. And yet all these tho' you should superadâ— thereto all Diseases such as the Plague Stone Gout Strangury or whatever else you can name most torturing to the Body together with the most Inhumane Cruelties prodigious Butcheries executed by the most bloody Persetors upon the Martyrs of Christ in any Age they would all come infinitely short tho' they were all collected into one extreamest Torment of that Wrath that Horror that unconceivable Anguish which the Damned must inevitably suffer every Moment without any Intermission of their Pains in Hellish Flames What a terrible change must Death then make in one that fared deliciously every Day and was cloathed in Purple and fine Linnen his Winter and Summer Garment to be stript of all his pleasant things To be reduc'd to the greatest Extremity as in one Moment to sink from an Earthly Paradise into a Lake of Fire After so much Plenty and Abundance Luxury and Superfluity to awake in Flames to want a drop of Water to cool his Tongue The Poor Man supplicated in vain for Relief from him a little while ago but now he begs some Relief of the Poor Man Father Abraham have Mercy upon me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his Finger in Water and cool my Tongue Son remember saith he that thou in thy Life-time hadst thy good things but Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented What 's become of his delicate Wines and various Dishes his rich Ornaments numerous Attendants and all the Particulars that went to accommodate his Pomp and Pleasure and maintain his Luxurious Living Now he is dead he lifts up his Eyes in Torment What a terrible change will it be for one that in this World was Loved Caress'd Respected liv'd in Plenty and Abundance and wanted nothing to eat drink and be merry What a Change for such a one to die and his Soul awake in Torments At the very moment that she leaves the Body to find she 's extreamly miserable and lost for ever separated from all the Good she loved and delighted in and plung'd into an Abyss of unspeakable Misery The Remembrance of good things past will make the Sufferings of Evil to be much more intolerable There is much of Torment in the remembrance of their past Enjoyments and Actions what they have had and what they have done and what they have lost To remember how fair they once stood for Heaven but forfeited neglected and despised it The Remembrance of their past Opportunities which are gone will be their Torment If they could never think of the past Mercies of God or of the Grace and Love of Christ that called them to Repentance and offered them Salvation it would ease and mitigate a great part of their Torment Whereas they shall know and remember and think of it how they were called advised and warned But there was some Trifle which they preferr'd before Heaven They shall be convinc'd fully convinc'd that they deserve all the Miseries they suffer and have none to blame but themselves That 't is just with God to banish them from Heaven out of the Region of Light and Joy And this they shall reflect upon to their unspeakable Anguish for the knowledge of the Soul will be more clear and lively and extended when separated from the Body And accordingly the Passions of the Soul will be more violent and impetuous Their Eyes shall be opened and the Vail upon their Hearts removed Their Sins shall be set in order before them and they shall know how much God hates Sin and what is the Obliquity Deformity and Injustice of it What Opposition to the Holiness of God and what Ingratitude for all his Mercies is included in it with all the other Aggravations of their Guilt as against Knowledge Convictions Promises c. And they shall not be able to forget any thing of this or to free themselves one moment from such thoughts They shall see nothing and think of nothing but what shall afflict them They shall remember for what momentary Pleasures they lost the Joys of Heaven and are driven from the presence of the Lord. What plain warnings they once had but they would not hearken nor consider As is accordingly threatned Isa LXV 12 13 14. Because when I called ye did not answer but did evil before mine eyes Therefore thus saith the Lord God Behold my Servants shall eat and drink but ye shall be hungry and thirsty Behold my Servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Behold my Servants shall sing for joy of Heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of Heart and shall howl for vexation of Spirit And in the Extremity of their Sufferings we read that they shall gnaw their Tongue for pain and blaspheme the God of Heaven because of their pains Rev. xvi 10 11. You may judge a little of the Extremity of their Sufferings by what we have heard or seen of the Anguish of a Distressed Conscience when but a Spark of the Divine Displeasure falls on the Soul how Confounded and Amazed how Restless and Terrify'd are Men in such a Case when they shall cry out Psalm lxxviii 6.7 15 16 17. Job xvi 12 13 14. Thy Wrath lies hard upon me thy fierce Wrath goeth over me While I suffer thy Terrors I am distracted and ready to die It is not possible fully to understand what Fears and Agonies what Trembling what Horror what Despair that Man must feel within himself who apprehends his Soul is lost or like to be lost For the real Belief of the Immortality of the Soul with some awakened Apprehensions of God's deserved threatned Vengeance when brought home to a Man 's own particular case must needs distress him and fill him with Amazement What can you speak to him or what can be done for him to give him Ease any further than you can give him Hope 'T is an Evidence that this is little believed and considered because there are no more who cry out in such Terror and Distress of Soul But several under the sense of one Sin have been perplexed in Conscience so as to be in Danger of Destroying themselves and of being swallowed up in Despair God can set it on with such a sense of Guilt that shall rend the Heart in pieces with the most desperate Rage and none of the Pleasures of Sense no Musick no merry Company no nor the Spirits of Wine shall be
able to stifle the Convictions or cure the Fears or silence the Reflections of an accusing Conscience Which can make a Man so very miserable as to wish he had never been or that he might cease to be or that he might be any other Creature Nay some have wish'd that they were rather in Hell than in their present Horror And if it may be thus for * Mr. Bolton one Sin Oh! what restless Anguish what intolerable Wrath what gnashing of Teeth what gnawing of Conscience what despairing Roarings what horrible Torments may every Impenitent Sinner expect when the whole black and bloody Catalogue of all his Sins shall be marshal'd together at once against him and every one keen'd with as much torturing Fury as the infinite Anger of Almighty God can put into it after that he hath with incorrigible Stubbornness outstood the Day of his gracious Visitation If a little Sense of God's Wrath hath such direful Effects in this World what will it be when all his Waves shall go over them Now they may sip a little drop of the bitter Cup they may taste a little of the uppermost part of it and they can't live under this what will it be in Hell to drink the Dregs of that Cup of Trembling You may guess somewhat by what Francis Spira said in his despairing Anguish under the Guilt of his Apostasie Oh! that I were gone from hence Oh! that some body would let out this weary Soul Never was Man alive a Spectacle of such Misery I feel God's heavy Anger it burns like the Torments of Hell within me and afflicts my Soul with Pains unutterable Verily Desperation is Hell it self The Damned in Hell I think endure not the like Misery He being sound in his Mind and Memory he yet wished to be in the case of Cain or Judas Oh saith he if I could but conceive the least spark of Hope in my Breast of a better state hereafter I would not refuse to bear the most heavy wrath of the great God for two thousand Years so that at length I might get out of misery Oh! that God would let loose his hand upon me I would scorn the threats of the most cruel Tyrant and bear Torments with the most invincible Resolution and glory in the outward Profession of Christ till I were choakt with the Flame and my Body burnt to ashes You may have now a wounded Spirit and an uneasie Conscience but a plentifull Estate and company of Friends and many other things to lessen your burden The Arrows of the Almighty strike now but one part and not all But when all thy Sins shall be set in order before thee and God shall stir up all his wrath thy Terrour Distress and Anguish without any thing to alleviate or abate it will be unexpressible and unsupportable Secondly Let us now consider that both these States of Happiness and Misery are Vnchangeable and Everlasting The state of Lazarus in Blessedness and of the Rich Man in Torment were neither of them to be alter'd There is an unpassable Gulf fixt by the Eternal Counsel and irrevocable Decree of God That the Damned shall never ascend to Heaven nor the Blessed ever sink into Hell The Calamities of the one and the Felicity of the other shall never cease 'T is Everlasting Life 't is Everlasting Destruction The whole Frame of the Christian Religion is built upon this Truth That Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel as to the Blessedness or Misery after Death We must renounce our Christianity and throw up our Bibles condemn the Son of God for an Impostor and the Holy Scriptures for a Fable and all the wisest men that have ever been in the World as Fools for believing the Gospel of Christ if there be not two Eternal States of Blessedness or Misery after Death Our Lord's account of the proceedings of the Last Day Matt. xxv and the Issue of the Final Judgment is express in this matter And it is called Eternal Judgment Heb. vi 2. Not for the continuance of its Administration but in regard of the Effects and Consequences of it For tho' we know not how long the Day of Judgment will last yet the Execution is to follow of Eternal Rewards and Punishments First As to the Blessedness of the Saints They that would pass from us to you cannot saith Abraham Not that any would chuse for one hour to be absent from God in Heaven if they might but upon supposition they would they cannot If Abraham had desired Lazarus and Lazarus had been willing yet the Gulf was fixt Accordingly we read of Everlasting Life Joh. vi 27.40.47 51 54 58. Ch. viii 51 Ch. xi 26. Heb. xiii 14. 2 Cor v. 1. Heb ix 5. 1 Pet. i. 4. 2 Pet i 11. Rev xxi 4. 1 Cor. xv 57. Eternal Glory Eternal Salvation an Eternal Inheritance that fadeth not away the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Everlasting Habitations a Continuing City a House Eternal in the Heavens Pleasures at God's Right Hand for ever And that they that believe on Christ shall never taste Death That they cannot dye for they are equal to the Angels who always behold the Face of their Heavenly Father and abide in the Light of his Countenance That they shall bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam who should never dye and by whom at last Death shall be swallowed up in victory After millions of Years and Ages the Felicity of the Saints shall be as far from ending as when their Souls were first received into Paradise The Infinite Love of God the Everlasting Merit of Christ and the Unchangeableness of the Covenant of Grace assures us they shall be Happy for ever They shall eat of the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God Ro iii. 12. and be Pillars in the Divine Temple and go out no more To live for ever in the Light and Love and Joy of Heaven Oh! what a Thought is that How may it swallow up all our other Thoughts If one day's Communion with God on Earth be better than a thousand elsewhere what shall we think of immediate Everlasting Communion with God in Heaven When we shall see him as he is and love him more than we can now think and that not for a Day or a Week but for thousands and millions of Years yea for a long and blessed Eternity that will never be over For it is an Immortal Inheritance 't is an Everlasting Kingdom We shall reign with God and with the Lamb for ever We shall see him love him praise him and enjoy him for evermore What we shall see and know will never lessen in our Eye and Esteem What we shall love will never cease to be lovely What we shall praise will always deserve our praise And what we shall enjoy we shall never be weary of enjoying God shall be All in All to fill every power and capacity of the
Soul that there shall be nothing to incline nor cause a change It is a little thing to say the Blessedness and Joy of the Saints shall last as many Years as there has been drops of Rain faln from Heaven since the beginning of the World for it shall endure as long as there is a God in Heaven and He is the same who was and is and is to come from Everlasting to Everlasting Our God shall live for ever Our Saviour will never die and we shall live for ever in his light and love and likeness Blessedness and Eternity shall be united How great a thing is this to say my God and Saviour and for ever mine Eternal Life is all the World in one word and more than ten thousand Worlds To be ever with the Lord to have an immovable Happiness in the presence of the ever-living God To say my Portion is sure and can never be lost It is mine for ever what a glory is this Now I may lose my Health or Credit or Friends or Life but the Gift of God by Jesus Christ is Eternal Life Nothing shall ever separate us from the Love of God in Christ This is the very Spirit of Heaven the Crown of the Blessedness of the Saints To be for ever the objects of his Infinite Love to enjoy a Felicity that shall never decay or be diminished never be forfeited or lost It will rather always encrease for we cannot possibly know God all at once New Beauties will still discover themselves in an Infinite Object and therefore we shall love him more and more by knowing him more and so our Joy will continue and encrease without fear or danger of a period But we shall know and love and rejoyce more and more without end Oh! how imperfectly do our weak and shallow Thoughts conceive of this Blessed Eternity To be Blessed with the Lord in Glory and never dye To rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and ever to rejoyce To live for ever belov'd of God and to be joyfull and happy in his Love for ever Oh! what Hearts have we that can admit the hopes of this without a Transsport without despising all those things that people call Great upon Earth but are ended with us in a dying hour * See more on this Head Reflections on Time and Eternity Sect. xx Secondly The Gulf is fixt as to the Misery and Torment of the Wicked They have no Expectation of Release Eternal and Everlasting are joyn'd with the Torments of Hell as well as with the Blessedness of Heaven These shall go away into Everlasting Punishment Though their Bodies be held Prisoners in the Grave till the Resurrection their Souls are in misery waiting for their final doom And at the last day of the World they shall be found in the same state as at the day of Death and then be punish'd with Everlasting Destruction The terrible Sentence is Depart ye cursed into everlasting Fire This is the acknowledged Doctrin of the Christian Church in all Ages and most expressly asserted in the Holy Scriptures We read of a Worm that never dies of a Fire that shall never be quenched Everlasting Punishment Eternal Damnation Everlasting Destruction the Blackness of Darkness for ever a Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone where they shall be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever and where the smoke of their Torment ascendeth up for ever and ever This Doctrin is very cunningly undermin'd by some upon the account of their corrupt Principles and boldly deny'd by others for the sake of their ill Practices The Adversaries of the Divinity and Satisfaction of Christ would have the Punishment of the Wicked at the Day of Judgment to consist in * Ignis Eternus in Sacris Literis vocatur non is in quo res ei injecta aeternum uritur nec unquam consumitur sed qui ita rem exurit ac consumit ut illa in Aeternum non restituatur in integram vel qui tam diu ardet donee res illa planè in totum comburatur ut ex eâ nihil prorsus remaneas Ita Esai 66. ultimo Dicitur de occisis quod vermis eorum non morietur nimirum sicut vermis qui in cadavere alique nascitur tamdiâ— vivit nec moritur donec cadaver fuerit prorsus absumptum Vide Marc. 9.44 Videtur haec locutio sumpta ex Esai 34.9 10. ubi Propheta divina judicia Idumaeis interminatur Mutabuntur torrentes ejus in picem terra ejus in Sulphur eritque Terra ejus pro Pice ardente noctu interdiu non extinguetur in seculum ascendet Fumus ejus Crellii Comment in Mat. 18. v. 8. Comment in 1 Cor. 15. Ut vero Deus in omnibus justitiae tenax est ita hic quoque super neminem extendet panam meritis â—jus majorem Nullà autem possunt esse peccata â—am gravia quae sâ—mpiternis cruciatibus possent aequart Wolzogenius in Matth. 25. v. â—6 See more Passiges of this kind in Bishop Pearson on the Creed Art XII and Dr. Edwardâ— of the Socinian Creed 8vo Chap V. Annihilation a total and eternal Dissolution of their Persons that they shall be eternally destroyed and consumed so as to exist no more Whereas the Scriptures sets forth the Misery of Sinners in the next World under such Expressions as plainly denote the Existence of the Sufferers Would any one describe Annihilation by being plung'd into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they shall have no Rest Day nor Night for ever The word Perdition Destruction Death us'd for the Sufferings of the Wicked in another World do manifestly import extreme Misery and not Annihilation God is said to destroy Nations when he brings great Calamities upon them An Oppressour may destroy many Persons and Families and yet is not supposed to Annihilate them The Prodigal is said to perish for Hunger tho' he were yet alive So for the Expression of losing the Soul for a Man to lose his Soul is to perish eternally in the other World in our Saviour's sense of that Expression Matt. XVI 26. What shall it profit a Man to gain the World and lose his Soul The word we render lose signifies to have a Mulct inflicted on him to lose it in a way of Punishment to be punish'd in his Soul And 't is brought in as an Argument why a Man should not fear Temporal Death but lay down his Life when our Saviour calls him to it Because if he should save his Life and yet lose his Soul as to the other World though he gain'd as much as can be suppos'd of this World He would be a miserable Creature and make a foolish Bargain To understand the losing of the Soul only of a Temporal Death would be to destroy the Argument which our Lord brings it for yea it would be a Reason against their doing that which in the foregoing Verse he tells them they ought to do even lay down their
Lives for him As to the Expressions The Wrath of God abideth on him Joh. iii. 36. and he shall not see Life which are likewise objected I would ask How can the Wrath of God be executed so as to abide on One who hath no Existence but is Annihilated Their abiding under Wrath doth not deny but suppose their Existence and Continuance in Being So of that Expression Matth. iii. 12. the Chaff shall be burnt up with unquenchable Fire for if the burning this Chaff be to consume and annihilate it why is it by a Fire that cannot be quenched when it has done its work it should be put out Besides To suppose the Wicked shall be Annihilated at the Day of Judgment is to equal all Sinners as to any Punishment after the Day of Judgment for one Man cannot be more Annihilated than another Whereas the Scripture is express That it shall be more tolerable in the Day of Judgment for some than for others Yea this would infer a very unjust Inequality of Punishment for then the case of those who died in their Sins at the beginning of the World would be very hard in comparison of such as died towards the end of it Suppose one died the last year or month before Christ's Coming and another that died in his Sins before the Flood the former I suppose the greater Criminal would come to an end of his Sufferings in a very short time whereas the other and suppose a less Offender who died in the beginning of the World has been suffering the Wrath of God for some thousands of Years If the Damnation of the Wicked at the Day of Judgment be Annihilation what account can be given of this Inequality of Punishment But the Endless Misery of the Wicked in another World is positively affirmed by our Saviour no less than five times in six Verses of one Chapter Mark IX 43-48 and in many other places Not only is the Fire said to be Everlasting where they shall be tormented and so Absolutely Everlasting as never to be quenched But so certain that it shall never be quenched that the Smoke thereof shall ascend for ever and ever The Sentence of their Condemnation will never be reverst Their Condition is never to be alter'd but their Torments will be endless and their Misery eternal If you believe the Holy Scriptures and the Gospel-Revelation concerning the Design of Christ's Coming into the World to save Sinners from future Wrath you will less wonder that they who deny the Divinity of Christ should endeavour to put out the Fire of Hell and make the Eternal Damnation of Sinners a meer Fiction For what need of the Son of God to come from Heaven and take our Nature and dye for our Sins to deliver us from Wrath to come if there be no such Wrath to come after the Day of Judgment There is reason to fear that many who hearken to the Socinian Principles as to Christ's Deity and Satisfaction little know the tendency of their Doctrine For what can the scoffing Atheist desire more than to lose his Being for ever since an happy one in another World he does not expect If the professed Belief of what the Scriptures so plainly speak concerning the Torments of Hell hath no more Influence to restrain men from Sin but the World be still so bad how much worse would it be if there were nothing at all of this to be fear'd 'T is manifest that the Providence of God in all Ages has made use of this Doctrine to preserve Humane Society from ruine by outragious Wickedness And therefore they that would take away this Fence and deliver Mankind from these Fears as groundless and unreasonable do most effectually serve the Design of the Devil to promote Sensuality and Licentiousness and turn serious Religion out of the World For 't is found by Experience that the Promise of the Heavenly Felicity does not so much affect us as threatned Damnation 'T is to escape the Latter men are brought to consider the Certainty and Greatness of the Former And it is one of the great Motives made use of in the Gospel to restrain Men from Wickedness and awaken them to give all Diligence to work out their own Salvation but if they were once set free from the Fear and Belief of Eternal Punishments one of the most powerfull Restraints from Sin and Motives to Religion is Remov'd But there are Others who oppose this Doctrine because a Vicious Life hath made it their Interest to do so They desire to follow their Pleasures without being disturbed by any such Fear and so would fain perswade themselves that there will be no such Everlasting Hell hereafter Nay there be many who have made bold with Conscience and contracted such Guilt that if the Holy Scripture be true they must be undone in another World And are forc'd to flee to Infidelity or Socinianism as a Refuge after Shipwrack to make themselves easie or at least to lessen their Fears when they think of dying And who doth not know what a Byass upon Men's Understandings Interest and Inclination will cast How easily do we believe what we desire should be true and how hardly are we perswaded of the Truth of that which in its Consequences speaks Terror to our own Case But whatever shifts any such may make for a little while to keep Conscience quiet they will find e're long to their Eternal Sorrow all their little Cavils and Objections answered if they will not now consider things in order to their Conviction Did they better know the Evil of Sin and the Infinite Majesty and Glory Purity and Justice Authority and Soveraignty of GOD who is Despised Affronted and Disobeyed by Sinners they would sooner understand the weakness of their Pleas against the Christian Faith They would not lay so much stress on what they pretend That they would not serve any of their Enemies in such a manner if it were in their Power They say they would not punish any Injuries and Affronts against them at that Rate as we suppose God threatens to do No surely they ought not For what is an Offence Affront and Injury against a Weak Perishing Sinful Worm compar'd with Obstinate and continued Contempt of GOD The Glorious and Eternal Majesty of Heaven and Earth Have you any such Dominion and Soveraignty over your Enemies Any such Propriety in them and Right to their Obedience Can you Challenge that from them which God may Demand of us Have you ever obliged them with any such Benefits as he hath loaded us withall It is from slight Thoughts of the Evil of Sin against the Holy Ever-Blessed GOD that makes us think it hard for GOD to punish finally Obstinate Rebels with Everlasting Wrath. We should rather be Thankfull that he hath so faithfully warn'd us of it and bid us to fear him who is able to cast Body and Soul into Hell And by how much the more terrible and severe such threatned Punishment