he should tell them so his speech would seem as Ridiculous unto them as his Book is Odious unto me And in case He should suffer them to be familiar with him 't is possible they might tell him that at this rate of Arguing his own Beard might be called an Everlasting Beard for it is capable of growing whiles the nourishing matter lasteth i. e. whiles there is any considerable moisture remaining in his Pericranium And what Spirit I would demand hath moved him to make use of that Sacred Text of S. Jude to justifie such a piece of Learning by Jud. 7. opened I find not any Expositors of Note that Interpret that Eternal fire there mentioned of That fire that consumed the Cities nor is there any shew of Reason why it should be so called so far as I can apprehend and if the reason were as Mr. R. would have it because it went not out while the Combustible matter lasted why might we not call the flame of a Farthing Candle an Everlasting fire since it will last till the wiek is spent but rather do they interpret it of the Everlasting Wrath and Vengeance of God Dr. Willet on Jude Mr. Baxter Saints Rest Part 2. cap. 10. which is fitly compared to fire in various respects which I need not now insist on Dr. Willet makes it a proof of their Everlasting punishment and Mr. Baxter makes it an Argument of the present Punishments of the wicked in Soul immediately after death in opposition to those that imagine their Misery to be put off till the Day of Judgment And if Mr. R. should Interpret the Everlasting punishment after the same manner of a punishment that shall last as long as the wicked shall endure He will overthrow his whole design for they shall endure for ever and see corruption no more after they are once raised from the grave 1 Cor. 15.52 in the Text aforesaid Fourthly R. What if the Fire were Everlasting yet it will not follow that That which is cast into it is Everlasting His fourth Exception p. 20. to which he adds The wicked are compared in Scripture to Chaffe and Stubble which will not be long in consuming Answer 1 The Text under consideration speaks not of Everlasting Fire but of Everlasting Punishment And if it should be granted that there may be an Everlasting fire and no person everlastingly burning in it yet he doth not imagine there can be an everlasting punishment for the wicked and yet no wicked man to be punished with it for ever Answer 2 2. If it were not for contradicting such a man as Mr. R. why might we not say that it will follow that the persons cast into that fire shall be there for everlasting because the Fire it self is everlasting for without the supposal of their continual burning in that everlasting fire I say without that the word everlasting which flames with more terror than the fire it self and makes it most exceedingly intolerable should stand in effect for a Cypher and become a meer Bug-bear to fright fools withal for if a wicked man be soon consumed after he is cast into Hell fire then the everlastingness of it afterwards will be as nothing unto him he being upon that supposal past its fury Answer 3 3. And if Mr. R. had been so minded why might not he have preached glad tydings to the devils themselves for he might bespeak them thus Rejoyce O ye unclean Spirits or at least Despair not for who knows but your punishments may be ended in time for what though Christ tells us of Everlasting fire prepared for you yet it will not follow that ye shall suffer everlastingly in it Yet however his Book hath pleased them as being so dangerous to the Souls of men I am confident they would take little comfort in such a comfortable preachment as this And if his work should not prove to be done well in what he taught us in this Exception we must excuse him the better because he hath endeavoured to mend it by offering this following Observandum viz. That R. the wicked are compared in Scripture to Chaffe and Stubble which are not long in consuming in any fire that they fall into So then that 's the proposition Mr. R. his excellent Comparison examined from which his Reader he hopes is wise enough to draw the conclusion that therefore the wicked shall not be always burning in hell-Hell-fire because they are compared to Stubble which will not burn long before it be consumed And at this rate it might as well be concluded that they shall not suffer in it so much as one minutes time for a great deal of Stubble if cast into a violent fire may be consumed in less than a minute Yet if my Author should say the word Everlasting may mean no more than a minutes time we shall know in some measure what answer to give him in that case And I would fain know how this Comparative Argument will hold for Comparisons as they say non currunt quatuor pedibus i. e. do not hold in all respects but in some only Psal 22.6 David compares himself to a Worm yet we will not say therefore that he had no bones in his body nor no reason in his Soul because a Worm hath not So the Scripture saith the Saints are as Christ himself was in this world as He was so are we in this world yet it follows not that the Saints are here without any sin because Christ was so 'T is enough that they are as he was in other respects namely subject to scorn and contempt and manifold troubles and temptations So the wicked are as Chaffe and Stubble in some respects that is fitted for vengeance and not able to resist it when it comes upon them as Stubble is fit for fire and cannot resist its violence or the like R. 'T is to be noted that the Scripture sometimes useth such words as do exceed their signification Nahum 3.9 His fifth Exception p. 20. as in Nahum 't is said That the Æthiopian Army was infinite that is very great Answer 1 But first At this rate it would follow that the Everlasting Punishments of the Wicked after the Day of Judgment must be Punishments of very long continuance for doubtless Everlasting is as proper to signifie very long as Infinite is to signifie very great Yet this will not suit with the Theologie of Mr. R. his Masters or Brethren as may be shewed in time and place nor doth it well agree with that Opinion which he would promote by his Comparison of the quick dispatch which the Stubble receives from the fire it 's cast into Answer 2 Secondly he saith well that it is sometimes so for therein he gives us to understand that it is not always so and by consequence that there is no necessity of expounding it so in the words of our Saviour in Matth. 25. ult M. 25.46 And that the word Everlasting
the Word of God or knowest but little reason why thou should'st believe so then I would advise thee to read those that may confute thy unbelief or confirm thy faith in that particular as Bishop Ward 's Sermon against Anti-scripturists Dr. Stillingfleet's Orig. Sacr. and the truly Honourable Sir Charles Woolsley his Grounds and Reasons of Scripture-Belief Dr. Allestry his Sermon of the Authority of the Scriptures Mr. Baxt. Rest part 2. cap. 4. with these in the Margin But if thou dost believe it to be so I trust thou wilt believe the Doctrine I plead for For the Scripture testifies of it in words as plain as can be desired viz. in Matth. 25. last verse and many other places To begin with that Matth. 25. last verse These the ungodly that shall be set on Christ's left hand Matth. 25.46 in the former verses shall go away into Everlasting Punishment What can ever be spoken more plain or more plainly to our purpose than this is They shall go away into Everlasting Punishment 1. Vrged therefore they shall be punished everlastingly For if one were to tell us such or such are to be imprisoned perpetually How could he express it more clearly than by saying That they must go into perpetual Imprisonment And these words are the words of Him who was and is the Son of the Father and most perfectly acquainted with his Counsels Purposes Truths and Ways and had no need to fright the wicked World with such a sad Doctrine if it were not a Truth This is that Marpesian Rock which Mr. Richardson was not able to fasten his Teeth in yet nevertheless 2 Vindicated from Mr. R.'s Exceptions He hath snapt at it Five Times together p. 18 c. where he hath several glosses upon the word everlasting which as by Him applyed are worthy to be had in everlasting detestation 1. He tells us That the Fire of Tophet is so called His first Exception because it did burn Day and Night But here our Lord speaks not of the Fire of Tophet Removed but of the Everlasting Punishment of the Wicked And let Him shew us where any punishment is call'd Everlasting Punishment because it lasted for some days and nights Job his Pains were doubtless Day and Night yea for a considerable time too yet 't is not said he suffered Everlasting Pains The Psalmist said God's hand was heavy upon him Day and Night Psal 32.4 yet it is no where said that he was under Everlasting Affliction The word Ever and Everlasting His second Exception p. 19. are used to note a Limited Time as in Exodus 40.15 We read of an Everlasting Priesthood yet that Priesthood did not last for ever in the largest sense but only till the Son of God was come in the Flesh This is the substance of that which he saith in the greatest part of the 19. Page of his Book Removed And it is easily removed out of the way Let us put it into a form of Arguing and it will be exactly thus The word Everlasting in some places is used to signifie but a limited time therefore it must signifie just the same when 't is spoken of the Punishment of the wicked in Matth. 25. last verse Now were not this a pitiful way of reasoning and most apparently inconsequent See a parallel case in the word save To save sometimes signifies only to be a means of Salvation and an Instrument in God's hand of bringing Men into the way of Salvation as when Ministers are said to save them that hear them 1 Tim. 4.16 Shall we therefore say that Christ is but an Instrumental means of Salvation God forbid for He is the Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5.9 Phil. 3.20 And The Saviour by way of Emphasis Answer 2d 2. Though in some places of the Old Testament the word Everlasting doth signifie a limited Time yet Mr. R. doth not shew us any place in the New Testament where it is so taken much less can he shew any Texts therein that call a Temporal Punishment an Everlasting Punishment or any thing like it Answer 3d. 3. Those things which were called Everlasting and yet lasted but for a time were such as were not capable of an absolute and proper Everlastingness The Priesthood in Exodus 40. was not capable of perpetuity being Typical of the Priesthood of Christ that great High-Priest Heb. 4.14 as the Apostle calls him who was appointed to put an end to all former priesthood and Sacrifice by offering up Himself once for All. But the Wicked shall be capable of Everlasting Punishment properly so called for their very Bodies shall be raised Incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 In 1 Cor. 15. The Trumpet shall sound and the Dead i. e. All the Dead shall be raised incorruptible Answ The 4th 4. It must needs be meant of an endless Punishment for I find it is the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Matth. 25.46 that is used by St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.18 where he speaks of things Eternal in contradistinction to Things Temporal in 2 Cor. The things that are seen are temporal but the things that are not seen are eternal * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea it is the same word in the Original which is used by our Lord to express the Eternity of the Saints Happiness Matth. 25.46 These shall go away into Everlasting Punishment and the Righteous into Life Eternal So that if the Punishment of the wicked that continue such be not an endless Punishment we may be at a great doubt whether the Happiness of the Saints shall be endless happiness or not since the same word as was said is used of both of them And now having Answered his first and chiefest Exceptions against this Proof we shall not fear to Examine those which follow and thirdly thus R. Fire may be said to be Everlasting His third Exception p. 19. when it doth not go out till the Combustible Matter is consumed and then he adds The Fire that destroyed Sodom is called Eternal Fire because it went not out till the City was consumed Jud. 7. Answered This is his third gloss upon the word Everlasting in the latter part of the 19. Page And first A Fire may be called Everlasting by his Logick when it goeth not out till the Combustible Matter is consumed It seems then if Mr. Richardson should be pleased to roast his Cat His absurdity shewed in another case to make a Breakfast for those worse than Antichristian Priests that fright the World so needlesly by their Doctrine of Everlasting Punishments for the Wicked he might then bespeak them thus Behold Sirs and see for here is an Everlasting Fire And if the poor ignorant Men should ask him how that can be true since the Fire will be out in a little time He could answer them That it may be called Everlasting because it will last till the Faggots are consumed but if
Hinnom aforesaid This he enlargeth upon to little purpose for several pages together but that is the substance of his discourse so far as it opposeth my Doctrine and where he doth not oppose the Truth I can let him alone very contentedly nor need I be large upon this point we have enough for the upholding the Doctrine asserted whether this Text will serve to that end or not and that it need not be judged altogether impertinent to our purpose notwithstanding that which he hath said may be gathered in part from that which was said but now upon the word Gehenna upon which he had plaid the same Critick Mr. Calvin and Vatablus who could see as far as an ordinary man into a Text of Scripture whether they may compare with Mr. Richardson or not They I say count it no absurdity to interpret it of Hell for that place of Torture is as fit by a common figure to denote the place of Torment for the ungodly Vid. Synops Crit. in Esay 30 as Paradise the place of Pleasure was to signifie the place appointed for the Saints happy Mansions Of the Worm that never dyeth As Logicians say of an Absurdity that one being granted a thousand will follow it So Mr. R. being so vain as to discourse as he hath done upon other particulars was not afraid to shew himself so absurd as to give a suitable gloss upon these words of our Saviour where their Worm never dieth telling us that this is in this present life he means only in this life if he mean any thing to his purpose And to make it good he citeth Mark 9.44 Mark 9.43 44. p. 32. misprinted Mark 6. and Revelations 14.10 11. wherein he hath shewed himself very impartial for he hath not spared himself and his Cause There being hardly any Scriptures more apparently destructive of it than those the latter I have mentioned before the former I shall now insist on The words are these Mark 9.44 opened p. 32. to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where viz. in which Hell their Worm speaking of the wicked never dyeth this is only in this life saith Mr. R. strange certainly for our Lord tells us 't is in Hell And I hope Mr. R. himself will not be so bold as to interpret Hell in this Text of the Grave For there is no Worm in the Grave but such as dyeth in a little time And this is so remarkable that it is set down three times within six Verses and therefore seems to note something more than a Punishment in this life only If he take it to be meant properly of a real and natural Worm 't is a sign he hath a Worm in his own Pate if he take it figuratively of the Worm of Conscience or the furious Reflections thereof upon its own wilful wickedness and its fierce Accusations c. as 't is commonly understood then he may not deny it to be after this present life is ended Those Accusations and Terrors of Conscience that Judas found in himself a little before he hang'd himself were doubtless continued in his Soul after its separation from the body and my Author cannot handsomly deny it unless he have entertained the sottish Dream of the Socinians That the Soul is asleep after the death of the Body And thus I have spoken to all that is in any tolerable sense considerable in the former part of his Book to the 32 page of it In that page he deals with another Text of Scripture but seeing it is such as I would not urge to prove Everlasting Punishments by and seeing his Discourse upon it is in a great part wild and extravagant I shall not trouble my self or my Reader with it but rather proceed to the 36 page where he hath something fit to be examined as of the Burning the Tares in Matth. 13. of the word Cursed c. which will be the Subject in part of the next Paragraph CHAP. II. SECT III. Mr. R's Inventions upon the Parable of the Tares Of the Tares in Matth. 13. of the word Cursed of Eternal Damnation of the word Fire and of the Corporeity of Hell-fire Mr. R. The Burning of the Tares p. 36. Matth. 13. i. e. at the end of the World v. 39. The Tares are the wicked the Harvest is the end of the World by which it appears that the Wicked with the Earth shall be consumed by fire v. 40.42 2 Pet. 3.7 BUT what will not those men venture to say that are resolved to maintain a bad Cause by the strength of their own ungodly wits The Wicked shall be consumed with the Earth it self and by this it appears saith he No such matter say I this is false in it self and therefore cannot appear to be true by that Text in St. Matth. That it is false in it self I need name no more than that formerly insisted on in 1 Cor. 15. the dead shall be raised incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 Those of the Wicked that are now dead shall be raised to life again at Judgment yea to a state of Incorruption and Immortality Of Burning the Tares and that these places do not speak the contrary is evident to those that duly consider them The former runs thus v. 40. c. As the Tares are gathered and burned in the Fire so shall it be with the wicked in the end of this world The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom them that do Iniquity and v. 42. shall cast them into a Furnace of fire c. For my part I cannot conceive how he should make an Argument for it from hence unless it be from the comparison between them as thus The Tares are burned so as to remain no longer Tares But so shall it be at the end of the world in respect of the wicked And if he would reason so there is little reason we should much regard it They shall be burned as the Tares viz. as they shall in some respects i. e. certainly irresistibly as worthless things and the like But it follows not that they shall burn in the same manner in every thing as the Tares burn or that the fire shall have the same effects upon them which it hath upon the Tares 't is manifest it shall pain them and Torment them make them weep and gnash their teeth for vexation but surely it shall not make the Tares do so Esay 42. The Lord is as a man of War saith the Prophet shall I therefore apply Mr. R's Logick to that saying and infer in spight of Religion and good sense that the Lord is not in many places at once because a man of War is not or that the Lord is mortal because a man of War is so God forbid It is enough that he is like a man of War in other things or terrible as a man of War and as it were ready armed against his
Enemies c. 2 Pet. 3.7 not for Mr. R. Nor will that of St. Peter make for him for there 't is only said that the day of Judgment will be a day of perdition to ungodly men And Perdition is no more than the word Destruction signifies and if he tells us Destruction when spoken of the wicked is meant of the destroying their Natures and consuming their Substance as the fire doth Tares or Stubble we may answer him sufficiently from what hath been said in Chap. 1. Sect. 2. towards the end and in the Margin Cap. 1. Sect. 3. upon 2 Thess 1.9 Of the word Cursed p. 38. The word Cursed comes next to hand upon which he gives us several notes It is to be Barren to be a Fugitive and a Wanderer c. and then he adds several Texts wherein it signifies as he saith so to be But I pray Sir is this all that it may be supposed to signifie if not 't is nothing to our purpose if it be then let it be made appear that it signifies so and no worse when 't is said Depart from me ye cursed c. Matth. 25. He that concludeth it must signifie to be Barren when spoken of wicked men Matth. 21. because it signifies so when spoken of Trees will prove himself to be but a wooden Disputant Of Eternal Damnation p. 39. Mr. R. p. 39. Eternal Damnation is in the Greek Eternal Judgment and a Judgment is a Sentence c. Whether he will render the original word by Damned or Judged I shall not much regard in the present case for the judging of the wicked is apparently the Damning or condemning of them Matth. 25.41 Heb. 6.2 opened We read in Hebrews the 6.2 of Eternal Judgment What will my Author say to this for he cannot well call it an Eternal Sentence for 't is plain The sentence that Christ will pass is not to be called Eternal for it will be passed in a little time yea in a moment in comparison the Judgment therefore is called Eternal rather in respect of the state that men shall be adjudged unto whether of Joy or of Torment and which will be the wicked mans portion I need not now stand to discover He proceeds to the word Fire and to enquire what manner of fire the Fire of Hell if any such thing be may be called by us Of the word Fire and Corporal fire c. p. 40. whether Corporal or not For the first He gives us several senses of the Word and tells us it is sometimes used to signifie God's Word sometimes God himself by a Figure c. Which Observations I have no cause at all to admire since they are matters of small difficulty and little cause to thank him for since they are designed for a bad end These therefore I pass over Q. If Corporal fire or not and shall consider rather the Learning which his next page is beautified with viz. in answer to the question in the Margin He contends for the Negative Mr. R. The Fire of Hell cannot be Corporal Fire p. 41 c. for these Reasons following And then He mentions no less than Eight that thou may'st perceive that his Brain is not cursed viz. not barren or unfruitful And though I am not bound to follow him in all his follies yet some of those Reasons that seem strongest I shall not think much to consider of His first reason Mr. R. One Reason is this Because Corporal Fire consumes the Combustible matter cast into it But the Fire of Hell they say consumes not the Persons cast into it therefore it is not Corporal Fire Answer If the Fire of Hell be Corporal Fire yet nothing proves that it must needs consume them that are cast into it For it is not to be considered what it might do in an ordinary and a natural way but what the God of all Power will have it to do and hath appointed it to do The reason why that Fire that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrha did consume them was not so much because it was Corporal Fire as because God had appointed it to consume them Matth. 25.41 46. But how can my Author prove that the Fire of Hell is appointed to consume the wicked and impenitent It is appointed rather to Torment and Punish them and therefore in Matth. 25.41 They that shall be sent away with a Curse into Everlasting Fire shall be so far from being consumed that they shall be in Everlasting Punishment Vers the last And in Matth. 13.42 Matth. 13.42 't is said they shall be cast into a Furnace of Fire not where they shall be consumed to ashes but where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth which cannot be when they are consumed Mr. R. himself being Judge And if the wicked should be cast into Hell-fire only to be consumed by it then I say the case would be no worse with them in respect of the Fire of Hell than the case of Malefactors in respect of the Faggot-fire here on Earth yea no worse than the case of faithful Martyrs of Christ for they were consumed by Fire as to their Bodies And he that can think it will be no worse with the Enemies of God in the World to come than it was with his Servants in this World must stoutly deny the faith and strongly oppose his own wits also His 2d reason 2d Reason Mr. R. Corporal Fire may be quenched but hell-Hell-fire they say cannot But is it we that say so or is it not our Lord that saith so yea three times in a few Verses Mark 9.44 Where the Fire is not quenched i. e. not at all or never As when 't is said He that believeth not the Son but lives and dies in unbelief shall not see life or happiness not at all that is And if it be Corporal Fire God is able to continue it for ever as well as for a Time And let Mr. R. prove that he will not continue Corporal Fire in Hell if he can 3d. reason 3. Things seen are Temporal only saith Paul Hell-fire therefore if Corporal is not Eternal for Corporal fire is seen But the Apostle doth not mean that nothing visible is Eternal for the Body of Christ is a visible Body yet Eternal 2. Hell-fire though it were Corporal is not actually seen by Mortal Eyes in this Life and therefore is not proved to be Temporal by that Text. But possibly some may say What is your Judgment in the case If it were worth while to tell thee it is thus The Author's Opinion of Hell-fire That the Fire of Hell is partly Figurative and partly Real and Corporal or that in some Scriptures it is to be taken in the former sense in the latter in others 1. Partly Figurative For Example When it is said that the Everlasting Fire is prepared for the Devil and his Angels in Matth. 25. I am apt to think that the
if I might call it a state they could not be sensible of any of their follies in chusing the pleasures of sin before the pleasures of piety Doubtless too many in the world yea too many that I know in the world would think it no very hard bargain but rather account it a happiness in some degree if they could but please themselves as they would with their lyes and slanders The fruits of Mr. R's Doctrine their malice and profaneness c. and be assured at the same time that they should suffer no worse punishment than to be turned into nothing after they had wrought all the mischief they are able Would they not then be content if the Laws of the Land would allow it to hear a Sermon but once a year and cast off the very shew of Religion Would they not be content to sit round a Barrel in the midst of a Green on the Lord's day in the Afternoons yea in the Forenoons too and desire no better company than New Cards and Old Stories all the day long Would not a desperate Damning Gallant be more welcome to them than a Preacher and his shameless Whorish Heathenish Boastings be more pleasing to their honest hearts than the best Sermons of the other Yea would they not count him a useless creature and think him unworthy so much as of the dregs of their Merry-go-down for all the pains that he took to prevent their Damnation For if it can do them no more hurt than to consume them to nothing they will not much value it since that which makes an end of them will also make an end of their Sorrows and that it will do no worse they have this pamphlet to perswade them but let them not trust to it for its Author was not infallible Mr. Samuel was no Prophet nor Mr. Richardson any of those that wrote by the Spirit And what he pretends for it from the Destruction of the wicked hath received a censure in the first Chapter p. 107 c. In the 107. page and those that follow to the 113. page he speaks little or nothing that needs to be examined by me for it tends not so far as I can apprehend to strengthen his cause in general nor to confirm that particular point which he hath last endeavoured to defend And having no more to say to him as yet I shall clear one truth which tends to make my way the plainer when I shall meet with him again viz. when I come to take a view of his considerations c. in the 113 114. pages The endless punishment of the Devils proved and the rest The truth that I assert in this case is thus That the fallen Angels shall be punished with everlasting punishment Matth. 25.41 We read of everlasting fire prepared for them therefore they shall suffer everlastingly in it for if they should suffer in it but for a time to what purpose to speak with Reverence should everlasting fire be prepared for them The word everlasting which hath hitherto been looked upon as one of the saddest properties of that fire would signifie very little in point of Terror if it did not suppose the everlastingness of their punishment for whom it is prepared As the durableness of a Dungeon or Prison will be matter of small consideration to those that shall endure but a little while in it And their perpetuity under punishment may also be cleared from their perpetuity in sinning their everlasting impenitency The Devils are past all true repentance for their sins and therefore they that continue impenitent are called the children of the Devil ye are of your father the Devil said our Saviour to the obstinate Jews of old And if the Devils will never truly repent of their sins what wonder if they never be released out of punishment yet I do not conclude they should be forgiven if they should repent for God hath not made any promise of Mercy to them upon any terms nor hath he provided any Mediator for them To which I might add as equally serviceable to my present purpose those places of Scripture that tell us that the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Matth. 12.32 And if it never be forgiven they that commit it shall never come out of punishment after the day of Wrath is come upon them And thus we have seen the certainty of the Devils everlasting punishment which of it self will cut asunder the sinews of several of Mr. R's Arguments as shall be seen in the next Section CHAP. III. SECT II. The strong man armed and his strength discovered or Mr. Richardson's deep considerations considered HItherto he hath fought as it were at a distance but now in the following part of his Pamphlet he comes more close and strikes down-right blows upon the Antichristian Priests and all sorts of Priests to use his own words that so he may if it be possible beat them out of their fond conceits about the everlastingness of hell torments And though the number Seven be accounted a Number of perfection yet he will go as far as Ten for so many considerations it hath pleased him to offer us in the 113 c. pages And though his folly hath been somewhat evident by what hath been said yet I think I may affirm the same of it which the Queen of Sheba once did of Solomons wisdom p. 113. that one half of it Reader hath not been told thee p. 113. l. 1. Mr. R. Several considerations that there is not to be any punishment that shall never end B. O fortunate sir what happy Planet were you born under that ever you should be able and willing to do such a great work as this and so effectually to strengthen the hearts of the enemies of God in their most raging resolute wickednesses Well If you make good what you have undertaken you shall surely have the credit of it eris mihi magnus Apollo yea and for your diligent endeavour in this kind you shall by my consent refresh your heart with Malmsbury Ale be a Chaplain to Mr. Hobbs and contemplate the beauty of his famed Leviathan But let us come to the work and consider a little your several considerations and we will not disturb their good order but take them one after another as they come to hand R. p. 113. l. 6. first we do not find the place of Hell mentioned in any of the six days work of God and if it be not found in Gods Creation it is a ground for us to judge that it is of mans Creation viz. a vain imagination c. B. These are plain words indeed and he hath spoken no parable therein but how well he hath spoken a few words will discover For first how would he behave himself if he were to dispute with any such as the Sadducees of old who held there was no Angel or Spirit for they might very easily argue thus We read not in the
shall have Spiritual instead of the weak comforts of the creatures they shall have the strong consolations of God instead of Temporal habitations on Earth they shall have eternal Mansions in their Fathers house Joh. 14.2 instead of Food and Physick Rev. 21.4 they shall have perfect and perpetual health and ease and the joy of their Lord shall be their strength instead of Psalms and Thanksgivings in the Churches they shall have the Hallelujahs of Heaven the High Praises of their God and the full fruition of their Fathers love But the wicked in Hell shall have none of these things their cursed state will exclude all Blessednesses as 't is evident and needs not now be proved by me 4. Peace 4. They shall lose all their peace which before they had for though there be no peace to the wicked as the Prophet saith that is no true sound well-grounded peace that may deserve to be called peace yet a kind of peace they have in their sins yea some kind of peace from their sins as from their ignorance and hardness of Heart but in hell their peace will leave them and they will have as little quietness as before they had Religion and Conscientiousness If Doctrine and Application can disturb them in some measure Damnation and Torment will do it much more 5. Hopes 5. They will then lose their hopes also wicked men as I said before are unreasonable men and therefore will hope for that which God hath not promised them the Word doth not promise Heaven unto them otherwise than in case of true Repentance and Conversion but they will hope to come thither though they are yet in love with those sins that they should repent of I believe there are few of them but have a strange hope to be happy at last though destruction and misery are in their ways And therefore they will not be at the pains of being seriously Religious because they hope to do well enough without so much ado But those of them that dye such as they have lived and so come to Hell will fail of what they hoped for and lose all the hopes of it The hope of unjust men perisheth Prov. 11. Prov. 11.7 Job 27.9 And Job in like manner What is the hope of the Hypocrite when God taketh away his Soul And if his hope shall perish when God takes his Soul from his Body how far must he be from all hope when he casteth him Body and Soul into Hell The hope of the Righteous shall be gladness but the hope of the wicked shall be shame and confusion A Continuation of the Positive part of the Damneds misery HAving spoken of the Privative part of the Damneds misery Positive Misery or the losses they shall sustain I shall now Treat with God's Assistance of the Positive misery that they shall suffer And first Bodily Pain they shall suffer extream pain in their Bodies The extremity of it is plainly intimated in this that they shall go into everlasting fire Matth. 25.41 Fire we know is the most Tormenting creature the pains that are caused by it are most sharp of any and therefore the Papists have so much delight to torture the Hereticks as they call them by Burning and to oppose their obstinacy with Faggot-Arguments And doubtless if they had not had a good God and a good Cause on their side they could not possibly have withstood them A small fire can fill a man with pains intolerable though no more but one finger be scorched with it A man would not be content to live one year in a burning Brick Kiln if he might gain the wealth of a hundred Kingdoms and be sure to enjoy it a hundred years And we may easily assure our selves that Hell fire will be more grievous than any other for these following Reasons 1. Because it is such as is prepared on purpose for punishment Hell-fire worse than any other and the product of God's fiercest wrath and therefore must needs be of a more tormenting nature than our ordinary fire which is the effect of his gracious Providence and was made for the help and comfort of mankind 2. Because the Saints themselves may be afflicted with other fire and the greatest of them have been so but Hell fire is proper and peculiar to the wicked and sure that evil must needs be worser which is proper to the enemies of God than that which his Servants may be afflicted with To which I may add this also that it is such a fire as the evil Angels shall suffer in Matth. 25.41 prepared for the Devil and his Angels If any shall say perhaps Hell-fire is not a real corporeal Fire but somewhat else figuratively expressed by the name of fire I answer 'T is lawful to suppose that it is real fire and the absurdities that my Author would fasten upon that Opinion are nothing but the irregularities of his own imaginations as you may see in that Chapter where I have examined them And if the word Fire were figurative it would be no matter of relief to the Damned's miseries but rather an aggravation of them For those things that are figuratively expressed in Scripture do commonly exceed those things by which they are expressed As God who is called a Father for his love to his People is more loving than any earthly Father and Heaven which is called Paradise is more glorious and blessed than ever Paradise was Names of Hell And as Hell is called Fire absolutely in that Text so it is called elsewhere a Furnace of Fire a terrible word indeed and which is more terrible a Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone O how dreadful must that place and state be supposed to be which is set forth unto us by such dreadful names in holy Scripture See Matth. 13.41 42. Revel 21.8 So to name no more it is called a Prison As Heaven is set out by things delightful so Hell is set out by that which is distastful and loathsome amongst which a Prison is one and Hell is called so in 1 Peter 3.19 And it is the worst of Prisons if we consider the properties of it A Prison 1. It is a dark Prison Darkness is naturally an uncomfortable thing They that fear nothing in the light yet are apt to be afraid of every thing when they are alone in the dark Paul and his Companions had but an unpleasant sailing when neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars appeared to them for several Days together And the Egyptians were little less than astonished at that Plague of thick Darkness that was upon them for three Days time Exod. 10. they were in such an amazement at it that they rose not from their places all that time And if God should take away the Sun or command it to with hold its Beams and Light we should take little pleasure in living upon the Earth But the Darkness of Hell is worse than all this Jude
we Preach Men into Despair But if they dye as they lived and so come to Hell the thing they so much feared will come upon them there will be an absolute total and everlasting desperation Their hope shall perish Pro. 11.7 They will be no more able to hope for any comfort than to annihilate the Heavens And how bitter this will be who can tell for verily Desperation is a Hell it self said one who I hope is in Heaven Francis Spira Fifthly Their Souls will be exceedingly miserable 5. Conscience accusing through the rebukes and accusations of their own Consciences They do sometimes accuse them on Earth or else our reproofs of their sins would not so greatly offend them how much more will they do so in Hell when they are throughly awakened and enlightened and quickned by the wrath of their Judge for then they will have nothing to do but to testifie against them and torment the sinners for not obeying them before A wounded spirit or conscience who can bear said Solomon and yet the wounds of the Spirit and troubles of the Conscience do sometimes tend to the Health and Salvation of the Soul through the help of the Spirit of God how intolerable then must the state of the Damned be whose wounds of Conscience will never be healed who will ever be tormented with its ragings and rebukes And O how much matter of accusation and rebuke will it then have against them How will conscience work 1. When they think of the excellency and eternity of that blessedness they have lost and how they have lost it for sin and vanity and those things that perished in the using c. 2. When they think with themselves how fair they were many of them for Heaven how highly they were exalted in Gospel priviledges having the Word of Life and Salvation and the Ministry of it among them which if they had improved as they might and ought to have done they might have been as those Saints whose glory they behold with so much envy and astonishment 3ly When they remember how much time and Golden opportunities they had to consider of their ways and seek that grace and mercy that would save them which they trifled away as nothing worth 4ly When they remember how often they were perswaded to return and how often they were convinced of the evil of their ways of the necessity of turning and yet in spight of all would go on still in their trespasses O that sinners would consider of this when they still enjoy the instructions and exhortations of a plain and faithful Ministry How they will one day wish that they had been willing to obey it or that they had never been able to hear it It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha at the Judgment Day than for such That Sodom that was the shame of the World for wickedness and the most eminent instance of Divine vengeance of any People under Heaven being burnt with Fire and Brimstone from thence yet that Sodom shall be in a better case at Judgment than the neglecters of this so great Salvation Matth. 11.24 It will be some abatement of their Torment that they had not those means of grace those constant Sermons those strong perswasions and clear convictions that Gospel-sinners had They shall not have so much darkness of sorrow because they rebelled not against so much light 5ly When they remember what cost and charges they were at what care and pains they took many of them in Satan's shameful services How they adventured the shame and censures of the World the loss of their health their peace their life to please the Devil and their wicked humours How they stifled their consciences shut their eyes against the light rejected Christ and Glory his Word and his Kingdom for the deceitful pleasures and profits of sin and took more pains in the way to destruction than ever any pious Man did in the way to Heaven How perfect a Hell will Hell be unto them where their own Consciences shall be their Tormentors where their Accusation and Rage shall never cease Mark 9. v. 44. where their Worm shall never dye Doubtless they will then be in the saddest sense a Terror to themselves It were easie to name many other particulars that will aggravate the Damned's Misery But I have other things to speak of and therefore pass them by However that little I have said already if we write everlasting upon it will in some measure shew the folly of them that will venture their Souls in any way of wickedness Matth. 16.26 though it were to gain the whole World by it The great Objection answered But say some If Damnation be such a dreadful thing as you make it to be and be also everlasting what will you say of the goodness of God which the Scripture speaks so often of Or how can it stand with the goodness of a God viz. with Infinite Goodness to cast his Creatures into so great misery especially if we suppose this shall be the case of most Men as you asserted before I answer He that hath well weighed what was replyed to Mr. R. when he cavilled somewhat to the same purpose need not be much troubled with this Objection Nevertheless I shall not grudge a large Answer to it it being that which is most commonly urged by selfish sensual sinners and hath not been wholly forgotten by the Author of that Paradoxical Book De Amplitudine Regni Coelestis * Caelius Secundus Boni Natura est Communicari quomodo Deus Pater Miserationum c. It is the nature of good to communicate it self and the more he communicates his goodness the more he discovers it And how shall God appear to be the Father of Mercies and Infinite in Mercy if his saving beatifying Mercy be not extended to the greatest part of Adam's Posterity So He. But though a Man cannot go through a thick Hedge without scratches yet he may go by it at an easier rate so he that cannot make his way through objected difficulties yet may pass them by and hold fast the truth in spight of them And as to this particular if thy reason cannot untie this Knot let thy faith cut it asunder And if thou canst not see how the Infiniteness of God's goodness can stand with the everlasting punishment of the Creature yet believe it nevertheless for the sake of that Word that testifies both of them unto us For as our Lord Christ hath told us There is none good but God viz. absolutely Matth. 19. unchangeably infinitely good So he hath told us no less plainly That the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment Matth. 25. And therefore 't is certain the one is not contrary to or inconsistent with the other whatsoever the wits or follies of Men may judge of it And that thy Reason as well as thy faith may have some satisfaction in the case I shall lay down these