kept his Native Integrity yet our Blessed Saviours Incarnation Doings and Sufferings occasioned by the Laps were as primarily intended by God as the very Creation it self For the All-wise and All-good God infallibly knowing what Use Man would make of the Freedom of his Will designed his Creation no sooner than he did a Way which should not only prevent the defeating of the End for which he made man but would also be a means to advance it to an higher degree of Perfection than it could have had without it whilst man has by the Blessed Incarnation of the Son of God of which hereafter in the 9th Section and the gracious Sequel of it far greater Motives to the Love of God in which Felicity consists sect 4. par 13. than by the Creation and all other things besides whatsoever and consequently a certain Means of augmenting the intensness of his Affection to God and thereby the greatness of his eternal Bliss as will hereafter be made out sect 11. 6. This occasional interruption over I go on to shew that Grief Fear Discord Damnation and the Torments of Hell are so many several Branches of the Tree of the knowledg of good and evil For as for Grief it is a Passion which arises from the Sense of an incumbent Evil and Fear from the apprehension of an evil approaching so that in regard there could have no evil happened if Man had continued innocent there would have been neither Fear nor Grief in the World. Nor should Discord or Wars have been found amongst men if their Appetites had continued regular and subject to Reason for generally it is because that several men desire the same single thing which one alone can but enjoy at the same time that differences arise which if the Parties concerned be Sovereigns often grow to Wars But whatever other cause of Dissentions there be 't is the effect of immoderate Desires which sprouted from the Tree of the knowledg of good and evil There is then no Misery incident to Man if Damnation and the Pains of Hell be within the List but derives its Origin from thence which that they are shall be the Work of the following Section to make appear SECT VII Eternal Damnation or the perpetual Loss of Bliss inevitably follows from the perpetual Alienation of the Souls Affections from God. Eternal Torments or the Pains of the Damned necessarily for ever accompany their impious Desires of preferring worldly Vanities before the Enjoyment of God. Hence by these two an Aversion from the Creator and a Conversion to the Creature Man makes himself eternally miserable 1. SInce it has been proved Sect. 4. par 13. that eternal Felicity consists in the immense Pleasure Joy and Contentment that flows from the Beatific Vision or Intellectual Sight of God and that the same Pleasure Joy and Contentment is the Love of Complacency or Delight whereby the Soul inseparably adheres to God with all its might sect 4. par 14. 't is plain that such Alienation of the Soul's Affections from God as shall for ever deprive it of such adherence to him must of necessity deprive it of everlasting Bliss 2. And in regard an everlasting deprivation of Bliss is that eternal Misery which the Schools call Poena Damni 't is clear that Damnation or the perpetual Loss of Bliss inevitably follows the perpetual Alienation of the Souls Affection from God. 3. And whereas it is impossible to alienate the Souls Affections from God upon his own account because in him is no appearance of evil 't is manifest that for the gratifying of some inordinate Desire as the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or Pride of Life man's Soul is alienated in affection from God. 4. Wherefore if the Souls Affections be in this Life so bent upon Riches Honour Luxury Revenge or other worldly Contentment that it prefers any of them before the enjoyment of God and thence makes choice thereof as its chief Good and Felicity or the thing wherein it is above all others delighted it must needs be that whatsoever Soul departs this Life so affected must either forsake and leave off that its desire or be satisfied with the Fruition of the Thing desired or else be eternally tormented for to be for ever deprived of that which the Soul perpetually longs for will be an endless affliction 5. And first That a Soul departing this Life with an habitual affection to some worldly Vanity wherein it delights cannot ever shake off that its Desire is apparent from this that the Will which is an essential Faculty of the Soul can never be void of some Desire or other and that it is unconceivable how it should part with those it is habitually possessed of when it leaves the Body since it is certain that the love of God in pious Souls begun here on Earth continues after Death and accompanies them to Heaven as will be seen sect 13. par 2. and that the Nature of Qualities or habitual Dispositions whether good or bad as to their inherence in the Soul is in all men alike And secondly That those Lusts which inseparably adhere to mens Souls after death can never with the enjoyment of what they desire be satisfied is as certainly true as that their Return to the Earth to enjoy the Pleasures of this World shall never come to pass And thirdly that men who have inordinate desires shall after death endure Torments answerable to the strength of Affection which they have for the Things they lust after and cannot possibly enjoy may be gathered from the afflicted miserable condition of those Persons upon Earth whose Hearts are irrevocably set on Riches Honour Luxury Revenge c. when they find themselves totally disappointed of what they earnestly desire For does not Experience shew us that the Heart of many a covetous Wretch is so cemented to his Gold that when it is stollen from him his Life which before he would not have exchanged for Heaven becomes his Hell so as that he hastens by the first thing in his way to be delivered from it And are not the Thoughts of some vain-glorious and ambitious men so intent upon Honour that falling into Disgrace their very Hearts burst for grief of the want of that alone amidst the affluence of almost all other worldly Goods besides As sad distress befals not a few forlorn Lovers whose Affections are so fast glewed to their Mistresses that they judge no Pain like that of frustrated Love insomuch that they chuse the readiest for the best way of offering violence to their restless wearisom Lives What shall I say of envious and revengeful wishes not accomplished than which no Viper can more cruelly gnaw mens Hearts If then mens Desires may be so violent and the frustrating of them so grievous as hath been said while the Soul is involved in a Body of Clay how fierce will the one and how intolerable will the other be when its Operations are not damped thereby Object
1. 'T is a Maxim That men cannot desire what they know is impossible to be had which if true the damned cannot retain any affection for the things of this world because they are certain they must never return to earth to get possession of them Solut. That Maxim is true only of as many as are governed by right Reason but not of such as are overborn by Passion or Wilfulness For wherefore should the ambitious man's heart burst through grief for the loss of Honour if he either hoped to be restored to it again or that his Affections were taken off it since none kill themselves with Sorrow while there is hope of having what they wish nor grieve for want of that which they have no desire to When the Miser has lost his Gold if he either saw an appearance of getting it again or found a willingness in his Mind to forget it he would not be so hasty as for dispatch sake to be his own Executioner Nor is the poysonous Cup acceptable to the distressed Lover because his Mistress is not at hand but because his hopes of enjoying her is at an end and yet his desire of mutual Embraces is no whit lessened but more enlarged thereby And if the Maxim hold not good in those and other vicious men while in the Flesh neither will it when they are departed hence seeing their Affections are so far from leaving them that they are encreased and become more vehement by the Souls being separated from its Body of lumpish Earth Object 2. There be several Places in holy Scripture where Hell is set forth by such a Fire as seems plainly to denote an external material Fire as the Furnace of Fire Mat. 13. 42. Vnquenchable Fire Mark 9. 43. The Lake of Fire Revel 20. 15. The Flames of Hell therefore are not an internal but an external Fire Solut. Since the Reasons given above shew that the Demned are most grievously tormented with the internal and unquenchable Flames of their own ardent and perpetually frustrated Desires the Furnace of Fire and the Lake of Fire spoken of in Scripture must either be another Hell of tormentive Flames or else but Expressions fitted to the Capacities of the generality of the People who are to be taught in Words adapted to their Understandings to signifie unto them the extremity of the Pain and Misery which vicious men for ever suffer after Death But that there are more Hell-Fires than of one kind mentioned in Scripture is no where I think to be met with in it And in regard the Torments of Hell are described likewise by the Worm that dieth not Mark 9. 44. by weeping and gnashing of Teeth as also by outer Darkness Mat. 22. 13. as well as in the other Places by Fire and that these Expressions are certainly Tropical since a Worm cannot gnaw upon the Souls of the Damned which yet are held to endure the Pains of Hell before their re-union to the Body that Spiritual Substances cannot really shed Tears nor gnash Teeth and that there is no Darkness amidst abundance of material Fire it will be I presume an hard matter to produce a convincing Argument why the Furnace of Fire and the Lake of Fire must of necessity be literally understood especially seeing the Damned endure intolerable Pain though there be no external Punishment at all in any sort whatsoever inflicted on them Add hereunto that whereas in Matth 5. 22. it is written Whosoever shall say unto his Brother thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell-Fire Dr. Hammond has it in the Margin liable to the Fire in the Valley of Hinnom which Fire being long since extinct cannot in a Literal Sense signifie the tormentive Flames of Hell. Besides why the Pleasures and Joys of Heaven should be mystically represented in the 21st and 22d Chapters of the Revelation of St. John and yet the Pains and Torments of Hell set forth by Fire in the 20th Chapter should admit of none but a Literal Interpretation is a thing unaccountable If Reply were made that the Apocalyps is wholly Mysterious whereas other Scriptures are so only here and there I would retort That then the Lake of Fire Revel 20. 15. is not to be understood according to the Letter no more than the pleasant Objects of Delight Rev. 21 and 22. quoted before of the New Jerusalem which if so by Hell-Fire in other Places of Sacred Writ is not meant a material Fire except the Lake of Fire in the Revelation and the Furnace of Fire in St. Matthew and unquenchable Fire in St. Mark relate not all to one and the same manner of Torment which if any one will say they do not let him bring a convincing Reason for so doing and be believed Lastly Whereas if Hell-Fire be a Torment externally forced on the wicked several Difficulties to my apprehension insuperable offer themselves as First How a material Substance can immediately act on an immaterial which is not essentially united with it Secondly Why a finite Act or a Thing done and past should be punished with endless Pain And Thirdly Wherefore the Creator should eternally afflict his Creature for no good at all to himself for doing of that which can neither really harm nor grieve him especially since that which men call Vindicative Justice cannot in Reason be exercised either by God or Man as shall hereafter be made appear in the 10th Section But in this other way of mens frustrated vicious desires tormenting themselves there 's no need of those or any such like strange and unreasonable Suppositions while the damned are their own Tormentors and yet voluntarily persist in those desires wherewith they are tormented because in the Object of them is their conceived Felicity placed For the Covetous Ambitious Voluptuous or Revengeful Mind could not at all relish the spiritual Joys of Heaven nor would exchange what it more values for the full Fruition and perpetual possession of them according to that which we find elegantly said by the Author of the Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety Alas what Delight would it be to the Swine to be wrapped in fine Linnen and laid in Odors his Senses are not gratified by any such Delicacies nor would he feel any thing besides the Torment of being withheld from the Mire And as little Complacency would a Brutish Soul find in those purer and refined Pleasures which can only upbraid not satisfie him But what still more confirms the Truth of that which has been writ in this Section according to the Doctrin asserted in it Heaven and Hell are directly set against each other and the several ways that lead unto them diametrically opposite to one another For the Joys of Heaven are the fulfilling the Souls desires in the fruition of the really chief Good of man. The Torments of Hell the Frustration of the Souls desires of some falsly supposed Chief Good. Virtue the Way of Bliss is the preferring the Love of God before the Love of the World.
will his Love to God be excited till at length if his Faith continue operative it grows into an Habit by which he is put into a State of Salvation or the direct Way to everlasting Bliss Sect. 11. Nor is this the whole benefit of an active Faith for when Charity is thus by its means wrought in the Soul Faith doth not straight give over its Function and begin to be idle but grows more vigorous and lively whilst the Soul being enflamed with the Love of God sets it a fresh on work about the Object the Motives and other Helps of Bliss whence Charity becomes not only confirmed and strengthened but augmented also For although it have frequent need of the Exercise of Faith only to maintain and preserve its Habit that it be not lost by reason of the many Temptations alway ready to ensnare the Affections of the Soul yet in regard the more that Faith is conversant about the Object and Means of Bliss it will from thence be obvious to the Intellect to discover still farther Excellencies in God and greater Love and Kindness in him towards wretched Man it cannot churse but that fresh Representations of Loveliness in God being often made the Soul will become more vigorously affected towards God especially when Charity is in good plight having no present Adversary or Temptation to encounter with 4. After Faith Hope lifts up its Head and 't is twofold either such as precedes Charity or is subsequent to it even as we have seen Faith to be Paragr 3. The Hope which precedes Charity is subservient to Faith in assisting it to beget the Love of God in the Soul in manner here following When Faith has begot some imperfect desires of Bliss before Charity be habitually seated in the Soul some slender hope will arise from the glowings whereby the Soul perceives herself to grow warm in Affection towards God that he will be graciously pleased to perfect the good Work he has already begun in her This Hope tho weak contributes something to Charity if not choaked by fresh Sin for while the Soul hopes for what she desires her desires of what she hopes for is quickned thereby Nevertheless till an habitual Love to God above all things or Charity be throughly framed in the Soul there 's no Spiritual Life therein but only previous dispositions preparing for it Such Hope is therefore by the Schools termed informis and the other Hope which follows Charity is called formata because Charity gives Live and Vigor to it for no man has a firm well grounded Hope that he shall ever inherit Bliss till he find within himself that he has an hearty unfeigned Love to God and really persues the known Means appointed by him to procure a full Fruition of him Thus is Charity the Parent of a true and lively Hope and to this intent that she may be a Stay and Comfort to her Mother for while men rationally hope to enjoy what they love they are cherished confirmed and strengthened thereby in their Love because they have confidence arising from a well-grounded Hope that their Love is not in vain Wherefore the greater our Charity is till perfect that it excludes Hope through possession of the thing hoped for the stronger will our Hope be and the stronger our Hope is the greater Encouragement will be given to Charity which perfected is Felicity Object 2. The Love of God in Heaven may be an adhering with delight to the Object of Felicity or a Complacency Joy and Satisfaction arising from the Beatific Vision or Contemplation of the Divine Excellency But the Love of God upon Earth seems rather to be a Desire only to enjoy him eternally than any the least real participation of Bliss or the Enjoyment of God. Solut. Every true hearted sincere Desire to enjoy God eternally is an Effort and vigorous striving of the Soul to be throughly satisfied with the full fruition of him for ever which since it is caused by the Delight it finds in the solid and devout Consideration and Meditation of the Divine Excellency or of Gods wonderful gracious Kindness to man apprehended by Faith or of both the greater inward Joy and Spiritual Contentment men have in thinking of Gods transcendent Excellency and of his stupendious Kindness shown to Man the stronger will their Desires grow to obtain a full Possession of him to Eternity whence it appears that the Desire to enjoy God is an effect of Charity or Delight taken in him and not Charity it self but is a very great Advancer of it in that it puts men upon the exercise of all things which are known to be available to the Fruition of God and indeed is so like to Charity that it is not without a near Inspection discernable from it yet certainly is distinct from it as may be farther gathered from the constant answer we use to give to one demanding of us why we so earnestly desire this or that thing which is because we have a great Love for it or take much delight in it but do not ever say we love a thing or are delighted with it because we desire it In fine then I take it to be cleared that Charitas viae and Charitas patriae the Love of God here and hereafter differ only as the less and more perfect whence I conceive arose that common Saying of Divines Gratia est semen Gloriae and the occasion of calling aswell Grace as Glory the Kingdom of Heaven in Scripture SECT XIV The Moral habits Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance are truly Virtues in that respect only as they further Charity What the Office of each of them in particular is as 't is subservient unto Charity 1. HAving shown after what manner the Theological Virtues Faith and Hope are useful and serviceable unto Charity it follows to be considered of how the moral Virtues Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance minister help thereunto in respect of which alone they are truly Virtues and not otherways For since Charity here and hereafter is Felicity the one begun the other perfected Sect. 13. and that Felicity is the ultimate End of Man Sect. 4. it certainly follows that not any thing at all is virtuous or good to man as man or a Rational Creature made to inherit Bliss but what is in some respect or other advantagious and beneficial to Charity so that although he be commonly esteem'd a Prudent Man who discreetly orders his actions to some honest end proposed a just man whose care it is to do uprightly in the Affairs of the World a stout man who behaves himself couragiously against his Countries Foes a temperate man who regularly moderates his Appetite about Meat and Drink yet is not any of these truly virtuous by so doing except he do it out of Love to that End whereunto all his Actions ought either mediately or immediately to tend because in the obtaining of that alone Humane Nature is perfected the Man made happy whereas other
Annotator's Answer to one who would needs prove the Sovereignty of God's Will over his Goodness from hence that it would have been better to have created the World sooner than he did the Answer is this If the World could not be ab aeterno which the Annotator had elsewhere made good it could not but must commence on this side of Eternity and be of finite years I leave to the Opposer to prove that it has not been created assoon as it could be and that is sufficient to prove that its late Production is not inconsistent with that Principle that God's Goodness always is the measure of his Actions For suppose the World of as little continuance as you will if it was not ab aeterno it was once of as little and how can we discern but that this is that very time which seems so little to us Annotations upon Lux Orientalis Chap. 9. pag. 59. This I take to be no less a solid than ingenious Answer to the Objection but withal think that it affords a sufficient ground of Argument whereby to evince that no Hypothesis whatsoever of a praeexistent happy State can be rationally founded on this Presumption that it was better or more agreeable to the Divine Wisdom that it actually should be because in appearance convenient and possible that it might be For supposing the Creation of the World to be good for the Creature as no doubt it is it being impossible that the Creator should be bettered thereby how apt will Man's narrow Reason be to suggest from thence that the sooner it was created the better it would be for them And yet nevertheless considering that Wisdom and Goodness are essential to God so that he cannot but do what all things reckoned upon is absolutely best and that we are ascertain'd by inerrable Testimony of the late Creation of the World we must of necessity conclude that we are deceived in thinking that it had been better that the World should have been of long continuance And therefore we can be no more certainly assured that there really was a praeexistent happy state of Souls because it seems to our short Reasoning that it would have been better for them then it doth follow that the world had continued longer than the holy Scripture assures us it hath because in appearance it would have been better for the Creature for whose Benefit it was made that it had done so Objection 12. If the only end designed by God in creating the World was to communicate and to do good to the Creature and that being immutable he still retains the like Kindness and Good-will to them which he did at first I see no possibility of giving any good account why the Almighty whose Will is irresistable either created not Men and Angels in an indefectible State or at least preserved not all as well as some of them from endless Misery But the difficulty in that respect vanisheth if it be indeed true which is usually said that Gods ultimate Intent in creating the World was to glorifie himself in the final Condition of Men and Angels and that either by shewing his absolute Soveraignty and uncontroulable Dominion in making a Decree of Election and Reprobation antecedent to any Covenant between himself and the Creature Or else by making known his Justice executed upon some Offenders and his Mercy exhibited to others after Terms of Reconciliation had been propounded by the Creator but could not be observed on the Creatures part save only by some few predestinated ones Or lastly by executing due Vengeance after sufficient however inefficacious Grace tendred to all upon the wilful Rejecters thereof and by rewarding with Beatitude the cordial Embraces of it All which Opinions though different from each other yet they every one of them centre in this that the Almightie's great and ultimate End in creating the World was to glorifie himself eternally in the final Estate of the Elect and Reprobate Men and Angels Answer Since every thing done by God as well as Man ought to be done for some good End and that the Divine Nature is totally incapable of any good either of Profit or Pleasure save only what is eternal and essential to him Sect. 8. Solut. of Object 1. it necessarily follows that God created not the World to acquire any good at all to Himself and consequently that it was wholly framed to procure the Benefit of the Creature This allowed of to be true there must be some other cause known to God why he created not Men and Angels in an indefectible State or at least prevented not every ones eternal Ruine than that he sought to acquire to himself everlasting Glory by the manifestation of his Power Justice and Mercy in the final Salvation of some and Damnation of others of his Creatures albeit the same could in no respect whatsoever be discerned by Man what it is But yet it is not I think a thing totally estranged from Human Reason to conceive and apprehend how and in what respect it is better for the Creature that the World was created then otherwise notwithstanding that some both Men and Angels perish everlastingly For let it be considered that it was agreeable to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to communicate Being and withal that it was impossible to create any single Creature or Species of Creatures however excellent Sect. 3. Par. 8. and our reason will straightway lead us to discover that the infinitely wise and good God propounded to himself the creating such a Complex and Universe of Beings as that the most comprehensive and excellent End which whatsoever could be created should in its whole Latitude be possibly able to aspire to might be attained Which great and noble End each part of the Universe in its proper Station was by the Almighties admirable Disposal and ordering to concur together to produce under himself the principal Cause always promoting the same on his part yet so as that he leaves every second intermediate Cause to act according to its own Nature save only in some cardinal Instances where the Divine Wisdom sees a necessity of an extraordinary or miraculous working above Nature to prevent a Failure too great in respect of the grand designed End to be permitted since otherwise the World would have been made to small or no effect Wherefore seeing Man of all the Creatures upon Earth is alone Rational and determins himself to Action his Nature would be violated which were in effect to unman him if he should be otherwise moved or wrought upon to act than according to his own voluntary Choice founded in the Rational Faculties of the Soul the Intellect and the Will. Which Choice if it be made according to Right Reason in an hearty preferring the Love of the Creator before the Love of the Creature or in placing the Souls Affections upon God as its sole Supream Good and on all other things as subservient to the Enjoyment of him will bring every Man in