Psal 16. 11. Not the fulnesse of the vessell there may be an evaporation in that but of an Ocean that admits no droughts of a Spring that is continually fed and to this fulnesse is added perpetuity in the same verse for evermore that if we suppose this fulnesse may shed or spend the holy Ghost tels us it is an everlasting fulnesse It is a bounty that continues for ever up to the brim The Originall is very significant in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place There shall be a saturiry of joys The souls of the blessed shall have their fill of happinesse There shall be no want or deficiency nor place for a request And this satiety shall be Saturitas cum Hebraeis maximam abundantiam significat Gerard. eternized And so the Prophet Isa 35. 10. speaking of the future glory of believers he saith there shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Everlasting joyes on their heads to shew the immarcessiblenesse of the Saints glory Their sight of God admirations of Christ full draughts of the Spirits joyes and those divine Raptures which shall flow from that communion they enjoy with unspotted Angels and glorified Saints shall never receive the least abatement or graduall decrease Their felicities shall never decay nor after millions of ages grow tedious but their joy shall spring in the same vivacity for ever And so the miseries of the damned they shall not be slackned or mitigated by continuance of time their woes shall be as wearisome and painfull after many ages as the first moment Nor shall the accustomednesse of the damned to endure the fury of God and the torments of Satan so harden or ease the persons that they shall be any thing the more insensible or inapprehensive of the pain That of the Prophet is very remarkable and seriously to be considered The * Isa 30. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flaming breath of God shall ever feed their torments And therefore the same Prophet Isa 33. 14. makes mention of Everlasting burnings the calamity shall ever be in the same impetuous fury Nor shall one sparke of divine fury and displeasure die or be blown â—ver There shall be no decay or waste either in the love or wrath of God towards those who are cast upon eternity The love of God to the blessed shall be as vigorous and full after innumerable centuries as at the first enterview with the Saints Duration in eternity as it cannot inflame so it shall not allay divine affection Gods heart shall be as much Jer. 31. 3. let out after numberlesse ages to his glorified ones as at the first arrivall at their heavenly Countrey There shall no dampe seise on Gods inexpressible love Indeed what should procure a decrease of Gods love to his people in glory Sinne and deviation and whatever may have Rev. 21. 27. the sent of the least irregularity is banisht heaven there will be no failings or misdoings to wrincle the face of God into a frown to speak after the manner of men And therefore as there shall not be any aversation in God to his glorified Saints so neither shall for ever the least faintnesse or abatement surprise divine affection And so neither shall the wrath of God to the damned ever wear away or be allayed The wrath of God to the reprobate is no passion that time Heb. 12. 29. Apostolus hic Mosem secutus non de gratia sed de ultione dei loquitur Corn. A lap may quench or moderate but the execution of Gods just severity which shall alwayes burn in an equall flame And indeed what can the damned produce to mitigate or divert Gods wrath Alas neither their tears nor their blasphemies nor their cries can do it all these are but the echoes of divine justice Nothing but the bloud of Christ can allay this heat and that fountain is dry to the dead sinner that is cast upon eternity No surely Gods indignation as it is just so it shall be ever full nor shall eternity wast or spill one drop of the Vials of his wrath Here indeed God Jer. 18. 8. makes frequent promises upon repentance Ezek. 33. 14. of turning away from his wrath and laying aside his rod but in eternity God shall whip the damned with Scorpions for ever nor shall one sparke of his anger be quenched by multiplyed durations there shall be no waste in his incensed yet just fury CHAP. VII Concl. 7 Man 's eternall condition admits of no future hopes or expectations ETernity confines all the hopes both of the blessed and the reprobate there is then an end of all the expectations of man Here indeed the faith of a believer swels and the sailes of hope are filled with future expectations of greater promotions Heb. 11. 25 26. and blessednesse having an eye to the recompence of reward Nay oftentimes 1 Cor. 15. 19. Meditation is sweetned when enlarged in the thoughts of those transcendent possessions which shall crown eternity How doth a believer here often pleasingly compute his riches he shall enjoy in the immediate vision and perpetuall smile of God Nay the very formall professour is raised and elevated in the hopes of future although but fancied glory But eternity is the nil ultra the stop of all expectation the end and period of the souls anhelations And this will appear more clearly if we divide eternity into its usuall duplicity For the hopes of the blessed they shall all run out in eternity 1. Because they enjoy all the end of their hopes the fruit and issue of all their prayers tears sighs and patient Heb. 11. 13. expectations After Jobs change there was an end of all his waiting Job 14 14. Heaven is such an harbour as will satisfie to the full all the curious inquisitions the fervent supplications the vast high and boundlesse computations of the Saints It containes quicquid desiderabile quicquid optabile quiquid amabile whatever is desirable appetible or lovely Whatever was comprised in the large circuits of the Saints hopes or fell within the travailes of their most ambitious thoughts is to be found in glory There the glorified believers shall rejoyce in the supernumerary accomplishments of all the desires Jacob said it is Gen. 45. 28. enough I shall see Joseph before I die but the glorified Saint shall say it is 2 Cor. 12. 9. enough I shall see God and never die Grace is sufficient but glory is superabundant In eternity the Saint shall enjoy whatever his eye can glance at there shall be a plenary satisfaction of all his hopes of all the pantings and breathings of his soul There shall be no future or further expectation in the eternity of the blessed because they have arrived at perfection and to look for any thing beyond perfection is a vain contradiction if it could be surpassed and outvied it were no longer perfection but imperfection what may be better'd Perfectum est cui
the wound raze the sore open the corture quicke the wrack in the extremity 3. Consider what vast disproportion there is between the pleasure and misery of a lust its delightfulnesse is transient Rom. 5. 17. a perfume that quickly will evaporate how soon did our first Parents eat their fruit but the world to this day cannot rid it self of the miserable consequence of that wofull banquet As a lease is not writing an hour but the tenour of it will not be worn out in many years the satisfaction of sin is suddenly abortive in the twinkling of an eye but the weight the guilt the enditement the condemnation the torment of it is eternall Ah! how Act. 12. 23. marcessible the rose of sin how sharpe and durable the rod that will be turned into an everlasting Scorpion Now therefore not to spin out Quia deo nos totos omni nostra debemus certe in infinitam ejus majestatem injurii sunt aeternam mortem merentur qui vel in minima re sanctissimam ejus voluntatem transgrediuntur the argument in hand any further how should there be sudor sanguis sweat and bloud drawn out against every corruption what prayers sighs teares strugglings wrestlings against the inhumanity of sin and cruelty of lust canst thou hang in chaines with flames scorching thee for ever Indeed the thoughts of eternity might put a stone into the sling to strike dead Goliah-lusts What for sin to damne me for ever totally and finally to disinherit me and exclude me my Fathers presence to all eternity Never to see his face more Rally such thoughts as these against the onsets of corruption As Caesar said in a battel he fought against one of Pompeys sons at other times he fought for honour but then for his life Ah soul thou sightest for thy life thy Christ thy portion thy God thy soul thy eternity Now watch cry weep contest against every sin thy everlasting condition waites upon it Advant 7 The thoughts of eternity would inflame our love to Jesus Curist He hath brought immortality to light What argument 2 Tim. 1. 10. of love would this be to the believer he will crown me with unwithering glory with diamonds that Joh. 3. 16. shall never receive dampe the River of his bloud shall bring me to an Ocean of joy Eternity of joy is but the purchase of Christs death he hath Luk. 22. 29. bought a lease of glory that will never expire we may magnifie the Lord Jesus for our endlesse bottomlesse happinesse that is to come how sweet my Saviour who can immortalize my honour and transforme it into a never-dying dignity Every glance of eternity should spring new and more lively affections in us to Jesus Christ should warme the heart with more impetuous love Our blessed eternity Suscepit tristitiam nostram ut nobis largiretur laetitiam suam Aug. is the primogeniture of Christs merits the rich result of his sufferings the glorious master-piece of his philanthropie his love to mankind Joh. 3. 16. Christ saith there God so loved the Omnia perpessus est ut nos ab omnibus liberaret timuit ut nos a timore liberaremur doluit ut dolores a nobis abessent Cyril world so as to send Christ his beloved to make a crown of immortality to set on the heads of his people How should our hearts bubble forth in sacred adorations of and divine affections to Christ the great Patron of eternall happinesse who hath found out for us a mint of glory that shall enrich us for ever If at any time thou find thy love to Christ decline be in a swoone or surprised with some cold distemper look down upon the sea of eternity and this ice will turne into a flame Let all believers say Thanks be to Jesus Christ for eternity And consider Christ hath bought eternity by temporall sufferings and yet without any injustice 1. For his sufferings were equivalent to eternity though not in the duration yet in the magnitude of them what agony what torment Isa 63. 3. was our Saviour wrackt with when he supposed his Father had forsaken him My God my God c. his soul Mar. 14. 33. was heavy to death how deep were his Videmus quam graves dolores angores etiam piis quandoque sensus irae divinae incutiat cum tamen non pro aliorum sed pro suis tantum peccatis doleant iram dei sentiant cumque in poenis illis deus non effundit totam iram suam Isa 78. 38. Infinitis ergo modis major fuit moestitia in Christo in quem peccata mundi erant conjecta in quem totam iram suam Pater coelestis effuderat Gerard. wounds how weighty his burden how full of trembling his cup when he lay under the mountains of the guilt of all the elect Therefore what was wanting in time and duration was made up abundantly in weight and measure How bitter were his tears how painfull his sweat how sharpe his incounters how dreadfull his death insomuch as he seems to decline the end of his coming into the world and he supplicates his Father to take off the fine and release him from his ingagement nature in Christ himself seems to sink under the future massacre that God decreed Act. 2. but man acted so that easily ye may discerne the time of Christs suffering will be compensated with the terrour of it do but compute how many vials of Gods inexpressible insupportable wrath Christ drunk of and the question is at an end 2. For a second reply to this question let it be considered the bloud of him which was shed was the bloud of him that was God as well as man Act. 20. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pure bloud Heb. 12. 24. of the omnipotent deity so that the Eph. 1. 14. divinity of Christ sheds an unreckonable masse of merit on his bloud shed which hath purchased as many rare prerogatives for the Saints here viz. justification sanctification adoption grace supports strength the Comforter c. which are the precious pledges of future and greater happinesse so likewise which is the summe of all Eternity of glory with himself And Cant. 5. 5. how should this argument set our hearts on fire in love to the Lord Cant. 1. 13. Jesus and make him lie as a bundle of Myrrhe and Camphire between our breasts And we might well enquire why might not heaven set with the Sun and our glory be overshadowed with a suddain night 1. Our duties are short momentary and transient we are quickly weary Gal. 6. 9. of wel-doing the golden chaines of duty how soon do we shake them off as being burden some shackles and unpleasant to the delicate flesh 2. Our affections to Christ are short-breathed quickly cold the pulse of our spirituall love soon beates faintly and a suddain languour surpriseth our most divine Anhelations And 3.
nakednesse but sin and blasphemy shall cover them as a garment hell shall be the stewes of wickednesse as well as the prison of misery So that to close up this conclusion as the carriere and violence of sin not abating neither shall the terme or time of torment passe away in the reprobates eternity CHAP. X. Concl. 10 Man 's eternall condition admits of no mixture or moderation ALL things in eternity are in the superlative degree Every thing is scrued up to the highest No blended joyes in heaven joyes dampt with tears nor mitigated miseries in hell when the joyes of heaven are described how gloriously are they represented 1 Cor. 2. 9. In heaven there shall be joy in its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its height 1 Joh. 3. 2. in its fulnesse and musick of glory in Isa 64. 4. its sweetest harmony Moderation here is a vertue in eternity it is an anomaly a meer impossibility The happinesse Quid quaeris ut ascendat in linguam quod in cor non ascendit Aug. in Psal 85. of the Saints shall be as the Sun at noon-day in its most sublime ascent The beatificall vision can be no moderate or ordinary possession but joy in its ravishment felicity in its glory Perfection is the perpetuall signe in heaven And so the miseries of hell are fire in its hottest inflamations no slak't or allayed flames Here indeed David may sing Psal 101. 1. and we may feel mercy and judgment we may observe black and white providences the face of providence sometimes looks pleasant with a smile and sometimes clouded with a frowne mixt together the heat of indignation allayed with the waters of compassion but in heaven there is mercy no judgement and in hell judgement no mercy In eternity there is no blending by a composition of contrarieties Here is correction in judgement Jer. 10. 24. afflictions weighed in the scales of pity and commiseration but in the eternity of the reprobate there is judgement no correction pure flames of wrath as Philos speak fire and heat ad octo Cogita homo quoslibet mundi cruciatus quasque seculi poenas intende animo quosque tormentorum dolores quascunque dolorum acerbitates compara hoc totum gehennae leve Isid Eternity is the wombe of extremity either of delight in transcendency or sorrow in extremity The felicities of the blessed shall be alwayes in a full Sea and the fit of the damneds paine shall be alwayes upon them in the greatest misery the Saints happinesse shall be incomparable and the sinners agonies shall be intolerable Every thing in eternity whether possession or execution shall be stretcht out and wound up to its superlative capacity De poenis excogitari non potest quod ibi non erit Orig. All things shall be boyld up to the height And it must be so For there can be no mixture or mean in the eternity of the Saints It is inconsistent with the price of Christs bloud which hath purchased the revenues of the Saints eternall happinesse shall the bloud of him that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God as well as man procure or purchase an indifferent or mixt happinesse glory that may be overmatcht or that may be raised to an higher enjoyment how would this stain the royalty of Christs bloud Shall so few that is comparatively enjoy the Phaenix-glory that shall arise from the ashes of Christs sufferings and shall that revenue be ordinary or indeed capable of being surpassed A moderate possession is not proportionate to Christs bleeding passion Could we compute what the riches of his merits are or how much value is contained in one groane of him who was innocency it selfe we might easily collect how superlative the joyes of the Saints must be which flow from the fountain of Christs merit Let Arithmeticians cast up what one drop of Christs bloud comes to at the rate how much the Isa 53. 11. travell of Christs soul comprehends and then how exploded will the opinion be if any such be of a mixt or moderate possession in glory what felicities must that bloud purchase which can fetch out the staine of those scarlet sinnes by which the infinite God hath been provoked And therefore Isa 1. 18. Christs purchase speaks the Saints glory Superlative And so doth the magnificence of God himself who gives eternall life to his people If Alexander shall boast of Rom. 6. 23. donum Alexandri Alexanders gift what do the gifts of God weigh what massie happinesse is included in them Heaven as it is the price of Christs bloud so it is the fruit of Gods bounty which must needs be transcendent especially these 3. things being seriously perpended Heaven is Gods last gift his fatherly donation the Saints inheritance not their pension but their portion their ultimate honour In glory God gives like himself gives Col. 1. 12. himselfe the summe of all beatitudes In eternity the Saints have what they must trust to and that is superlatively enough This glory is Gods consummative bounty Luk. 12. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdome And God in his last gift will not as I may speak crown with a silver crown I mean one that may be bettered will not give comparative happinesse that may admit of a higher degree Not like Herod give halfe of Mar. 6. 23. a Kingdome Gods magnificence invests the Saints with superlative glory Let it be considered whom doth God install in glory not so much his creatures as his children his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his little flocke such as his heart yearns after Can transcendent Isa 49. 15. affection bestow a moderate fruition Surely there will be a proportion between the fulnesse and the fruite of Gods love fulnesse of love can give no lesse then fulnesse of Joy It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of a father and the affection of a God 1 Joh. 4. 16. of a father whose love is his nature and of a God who hath all treasures of bounty by him and his love is the key to these treasuries being oyled with the bloud of Christ so Gods relation it amplifies the superabundancy of the Saints eternall possession this addes to the account The fathers promise lies upon record and inrolled for the most glorious promotions to the glorified Saints Let us but traverse that one text Isa 53. 11. He shall see the travell of his soul and be satisfied Ah remember the word satisfied what can satisfie the love of Jesus Christ to his Saints but most transcendent glory to those believers who are the redeemed by his bloud the birth of his travell nay and the travell of his soul the agonies and sweats of his soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saints were born with the soarest travell and therefore shall be crowned with sweetest felicitie according to that Joh. 17. 24. That where I am they may be also As it were installed in the same Coronation according to Christs
prey to the perplexities of his disquieted mind he throwes himself upon the bed which was his bed of thorns and denies to eat he refuseth the common commands of nature it self And indeed Convulsion fits and agonies wrack the thoughts of covetous and ambitious men how restlesse their designes how unsatisfied their desires there is a perpetuall tempest in their cogitations Absalon and Achitophel those twines of ambition 2 Sam. 16. 21. with what amazement and hurry do they pursue their traitorous conspiracy Sin and earth they are the quicksilver and disease of mens thoughts they are the very earthquake of mens meditations But eternity Psal 104. 34. is the center and rest of the souls Contemplations As Dauid saith of God that his meditations of him were sweet In conversing with eternity our thoughts meet with a harbour there is something to stay and stop and satisfie the ambition of the soul there is God the portion Christ the rock heaven the refuge joy the musick and everlastinguesse the triumph of the believer Nay there is some contentment in viewing and contemplating on the eternity of misery As it is the triumph of Gods vengeance and wonder of his justice the wofull reward of sin the souls pregnant and lively caveat the lanthorne to guide the soul to avoid the rock and escape the bottomlesse gulfe of endlesse perdition there is something in eternity to settle and compose the meditations of man The world and lust they are but the Maze and Meander of mens thoughts What care do men take what hazards Eccles 2. 22 23. do they run what paines of body plotting of brain conflicts of passions biting of conscience disrepute among men Any thing and every thing will men undergoe to acquire the vain vexations of the world or the filthy satisfactions of sin Amnon 2 Sam. 7. 2. growes lean is vexed and sick for his sister Thus men torment their own minds for these outward or sinfull enjoyments make themselves perpetuall drudges and servitours to the times fawn flatter comply couple strike in with the instruments and authors of their hopes hazard their salvation and consciences to swimme Adorare vulgus jacere â—scula omnia serviliter pro imperio Tacit. Hist And I may too pro peccato through all to their adored haven whether the paint of the creature or the pleasure of a sin These concussions and confusions attend the distempered thoughts of man when they have either outward things or lust for their object But eternity allayes all tumults in our meditations when the soul bethinks it self Where shall I leane my head where lodge my soul where find my home where build my nest for ever these thoughts shed a serenity on the spirit of man As Christ saith Mat. 11. 28. that those that came to him shall find rest for their souls and those that fix their contemplations on eternity shall find a bottome shall find ground to anchor their thoughts upon here is the Nil ultra the pillar our meditations cannot sail beyond therefore reason may attract our thoughts to be much on eternity Eternity it is the study of grace more then of reason All the graces of a believer they have an eye to eternity Repentance turne the soul to God to prevent and eternall losse of Gods presence the eye of penitency is toward eternity the eye weepes for sin here that it may not weep by sin in eternity here the penitent drenches himself in tears that in his everlasting condition he may not be Mat. 8. 12. drowned in misery here he is weeping Luk. 13. 28. with brokennesse of heart that hereafter he may not be weeping with gnashing of teeth And here indeed he fils his eyes with tears that hereafter in eternity God may wipe away all tears from his eyes Rev. 7. 16. And so love is inflamed upon the point of eternity because the Saints shall lie Isa 35. 10. everlastingly in the armes of Christ Who will not love that husband that shall crown his Spouse with everlasting joy Indeed the love of a Saint to Christ is but the imperfect relation and darke picture of Christs love to a Saint Christs love is eternall Joh. 13. 1. and the Saints love breaks out towards Christ because his love is eternall Eternity as it is put into Saints portion it is the bellowes of the Saints love it fans and oyles those flames What can be more incentive to the believers affection then that Christ shall endow him with everlasting possession It is the Everlasting crowns the gift of Christ and fires the love of a believer For ever for ever to have his soul sweetned with the pleasant smiles of the Lord Jesus Can. 5 7. and alwayes to lie in his soft and beatificall embrace how sick of love must this make the Saint The grace of love likewise principally glanceth its eye upon our future eternity Faith acts immediately upon eternity Heb. 11. 16. as the Apostle speaks It is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. that is those things that are within the vail of eternity Faith it doth bring down those felicities a believer shall inherit hereafter to him here below and puts the believing soul in perfect possession Faith is the eye of the soul by which we peep through the curtains of mortality and take a view and foretaste of heavenly things This glorious grace hath that rare power that it can either sublimate the soul and carry it up into the bosome of Christ or bring down Jesus Christ as a bundle of myrrhe into the bosome of a believer Eternity is the very prospect of faith it is usuall Pisgah sight Faith takes the soul as the Lord did Moses and gives it a view Exod. 31. 1. of Canaan Here lies the difference between Fides est credere quod non vides cujus veritas merces est videre quod credidisti Aug. in Joan. the eye of faith and the eye of sense the one is circumscribed by a present view we see only what is before us but faith can take a survey of eternity it self and lay a present claim to a future inheritance The Fides divina credit quae non videt quae nullo sensu assequitur credit infallibiliter sive praeterita sunt sive praesentia sive futura Par. excellency of this grace is remarkable in this it can draw the Arras from before the glory of heaven it selfe We sail upon the Ocean of eternity here already in the barke of faith In a word this grace presentiates eternity and looks on our future condition as already attained to in all its considerables it layes the soul in the everlasting armes of Christ by its vigorous and undaunted acts thus faith is a grace that doth cast an immediate eye upon the Sâ—a of eternity And Hope its tendency is wholly towards eternity and the rare possessions thereof It is
Saint concludes all the excellencies 2 Pet. 3. 9 10. of the creature shall crumble into the same dust with me but one dram of grace shall not leave my soul to see corruption If I am stript of Qui fidem gratiam semel habet eam amittere non potest Benef. the cloaths I wear and put on the same putrid garment which Job did on the dunghill when he was cloathed with soares yet having but the least measure of grace I shall triumph for ever my grace is my jewel which I shall not lose for ever Eternity sheds a beauty on grace it self Grace is the fiery chariot to carry up the Eliahs to glory and it is the glory the eternall felicity that sets the price on the fiery chariot of grace For could the same expiration stop the breath of grace and our lives together how low would the market of grace be I meane versus hominem in reference to us But again Eternity is the state of graces perfection Grace before it comes to eternity is like silver before it is coyned Eternity is the Mint to coyn grace with the most glorious image and superscription Grace in heaven hath 1 Cor. 13. 12. its last hand is flowred into perfection is dissolved into the pearl of superlativenesse We should alwayes think on eternity upon this account as there our graces shall be refined into In coelo erit absque nube amaenitas absque nocte claritas absque labe puritas Guliel A lard the highest power and purity eternity is the proper study of a gracious heart in the point of his graces How sweet should this Contemplation be to the Saint though here often his love hath its winter in his breast yet in eternity it shall be fire ad octo and a flame that hath neither the smoake of corruption blended with it nor yet any allaying of imperfection In eternity grace is drawn to the life wants no degrees no measures no reflections grace here is polisht with glory In eternity there shall be the coronation of grace grace shall be crowned Rev. 3. 21. with glory Every gracious soul shall be as Esther made Queen in eternity Gods everlasting smile shall recompense and honour the grace of a Saint All the graces of a Saint in Gen. 40. 43. eternity shall be as Joseph advanced from a prison to a throne from the darke prison of the body to a place of pure and rare perfection The graces of a Saint here are like a star imprisoned in a cloud but in heaven shall be as a star or rather the Sun in a clear and glorious skie Eternity shall crown and inaugurate faith and love with the perfect sight of God who was the sole and constant object of all their actings and exercise here Eternity is the explanation of grace We shall never know fully the value and power of grace What were its designes here what the meaning of it how rare the beauty of holinesse is till we come to eternity And if I could drag your thoughts from the lees they are setled upon to center in eternity Consider in eternity the reason of the Saints patience under the shot of trouble their zeal when flames were Dan. 3. 17 18. their reward their undaunted faith winged hope flaming love their rowing against the stream and slighting the Comet of honour their despising Heb. 11. 25 26. the delicacies and soft temptations of pleasure their repudiating the silver bait of riches will fully be known in eternity that will expound all this and be the comment of the strange and vigorous acts and exercises of grace In eternity we shall know why Job had rather abide his torment then leave his faith Why Abraham should rather destroy his Son then displease his God and Moses entertain affliction then court temptation eternity shall be the interpretation of all In eternity we shall know the reason why Daniel would rather incur Dan. 6. a Premunire then lay aside his usuall oraisons and prayers though but for a day or two and why the Martyrs rather kisse their chaines with a Josephs kisse then their Christ with a Judas his kisse and why Paul would 2 Tim. 4. 6. rather be a Martyr for Christ then Act. 13. 11. a God to the people all this in eternity shall be unfolded in a plain explication In a word Eternity shall unriddle all the designes intentions exercises heights fights resolutions ambitions and conquests of glorious grace Thus eternity is a gracious as well as a noble rationall and seasonable study But Fill your thoughts designes and meditations with eternity which is the most profitable study this serious study is the wombe of multifarious advantages Could ye alwayes be glancing at and thinking of eternity ye would find the Philosophers stone to turn all into gold The solemne thoughts of eternity would cure the soul of many usuall distempers which frequently doe attend it Advant 1 This would be the checke of sin were men more mindfull of eternity they would be lesse passionate after iniquity Would the soul once begin to reason May not this Non tanti emam poenitere Dem. sin damne my soul to eternity and render me the subject of everlasting wrath And will the sweetnesse of my present lust countervail scalding lead burning pitch boyling oyle empoysoned arrowes in my soul for ever Those furies and torments unmixt calamities and superlative miseries that the damned scrietch and cry under for evermore Will the poor helplesse thoughts of a transient lust or pleasure of an unconscionable or inordinate action will these miserable comforters and naked shadowes any way solace me under the scorching wrath of God Thoughts of eternity would strangle the thoughts of sin Our corrupt nature is the poyson of temptation but our meditations of eternity would be poyson to temptation Joseph makes the enquiry when assaulted by his lascivious Mistresse How can I do this and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. And every tempted soul might make this answer to all temptations How can I yeild to this and murder and assasinate my soul to eternity The thoughts of eternity would divorce the soul from the lustfull embraces of sin and look on those painted Jezabels as the everlasting troublers of the soul Let the tempted patient alwayes look upon sin in the multiplying glasse of eternity and conclude this sin which my corrupt judgement perhaps cals veniall may blast my hopes stop my ambitions checke my desires destroy my comforts and ruine my soul for ever Could we or did we set sail for eternity in our Contemplations how much 1. Treachery such as Absalom Joab 2 Sam. 3. 27. Judases treason was inconsiderable 2 Sam. 16. 2. to it Mat. 26. 49. 2. How much filthinesse 3. How much guilt to condemn the soul for ever 4. How much madnesse would be found in every sin Surely could we paraphrase upon a future condition pain without
his honour Psal 17. 15. to execute his commands live upon his promises and to breath after Joh. 4. 32. his everlasting presence This was the worke God sent thee into the world for to advance the fame of his Majesty adore the eternall being and to publish the transcendencie of all his glorious attributes Ah consider a piece of clay thy body a winged piece of duration thy life a Rom. 17. 17. few floating enjoyments thy present inheritance were never set out by God to be the taske and the toil of thy care and animosities 2. Nor is thy care for the world any thing to eternity Thy eternall conditoâ—n Ibi erit fames maxima erit enim tanta inopia ut damnati neque guttam aquae poterunt habere Bonav in glory shall want no supplies in misery shall finde none not a drop of water to coole nor to cherish The rich man shall not find his barnes in eternity though happily with much care and sweat he obtained the filling of them Nero shall not finde his Crown in his everlasting condition though he tortured both brain and conscience to wear the imperiall lawrell Eternity explodes all creature-enjoyments the Saints in glory shall live at a higher rate then the mean and perishing provisions of the world 1 King 17. 6. Elijah doth not want now a Raven to be both his cooke and his caterer And the damned in their endlesse misery shall want the crummes that fell from their own tables In a word carke for thy soul professour thinke of the gulfe of eternity This mouldy bread thou carest for will be no food there Our everlasting condition hath no to morrow no yeares of famine or plenty therefore provide for thy everlasting soul get thy name ingrossed in the lease of glory with Gods hand and the Spirits seal to it and then Providence will either spread thy table here or bring thee to thy Fathers house where thou shalt keep an everlasting festivall And let this additionall consideration come into the account viz. That those outward enjoyments which mens cares are fixt upon and many are so sollicitous to gain and atchieve may occasionally prove the unhappy murtherers of the soul and drown it in everlasting perdition How often do Joh. 14 2. Deut. 6. 12. the riches and delights of the world effascinate the minde blind the understanding Dan 4. 30. 2 Chron. 26. 16. wantonize the spirit inâ—briate Luk. 12. 21 22. the affections seare the conscience Luk. 18. 23. and hearden the heart of the possessors of them and open quatenus instrumenta as instruments the flood-gates of eternall wrath upon them Then the whole amounts to thus much that eternity well weighed will cure the frensie and distraction of mens spirits for sublunary contenements Advant 9 The thoughts of eternity would make us admire Christianity Only the Christian profession acknowledges the state 2 Tim. 1. 10. and the way to eternity What fancies and forgeries doe other professions hold forth and acknowledge The Jewes look for a Messiah to come as if the way to heaven were yet to be found out The Turkes have a tradition and frantick opinion that wicked men at the great day shall carry their sinnes in satchels after their Captaine Cain and such like ridiculous inventions Divers of the Pagans suppose another temporall life to succeed this and therfore give their dead cloaths and money and other appurtenances to bear their charges there Only the Christian profession can unriddle the mystery of eternity How many thousands shall tast of eternity of misery that never heard of an eternity of being this perpetuall estate is only written in a Christian character the knowledge of Christ is our only conduct to the Mar. 16. 16. knowledge of eternity Gospell knowledge Purgatorium est duplex unum in quo est poena damni sensus alterum in quo est poenadamni tantum Bell. Nemo manet in purgatorio ultra decem annos Domin a Soto can only lead us to the mount to behold a future Canaan and teach us how to escape a future Tophet True Evangelicall profession brings us to the shoar to view the Ocean of eternity How do the Romanists themselves defile and adulterate the doctrine of eternity with their fiction of Limbus Patrum Purgatory Limbus Puerorum and many of their guilefull Non est desperatio aut metus gehennae in purgatorio est carentia divinae visionis est poenasensus inflicta est poena ignis Bell. yet gainfull inventions Only the doctrine of the Gospell unmaskes the riddle of our boundlesse and bottomelesse eternity gives us a map of heaven drawes a landskip of glory opens to the believer the wardrobe of eternall beatitude Rev. 21. 16 17 18 19 c. And in Evangelicall story how lively are the flames of hell described how clearly the paines horrours despaires everlasting doomesday is set down and at large deciphered And they said to the rockes Rev. 6. 16. and mountaines Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Thus onely the Christian faith gives a prospect of evernity which is one of the articles of its beliefe Advant 10 The thoughts of eternity would be a good preparation for death Such thoughts would Observetur suavis mutatio quod cadentibus mors non est miseria aut perditio sed transitur ad vitam aeternam Chemn conduce much to cast us into such a frame that death should not be the womb of our fears but of our joys not our affrightment but our contentment our dying day should be reckoned our wedding day the day of our dissolution the day of our coronation The thoughts of eternity Tolle tunicam hanc graviorem da mihi leviorem Greg. would put us upon getting an interest in eternity which would familiarize meet with and sweeten death it self and put the soul upon enquiries after it How would our everlasting condition well studied frame us to a serious patient and joyfull embracement of death that the gracious expectant having sent his heart to heaven before looks on death but as a good wind to carry him to the Ocean of a joyous eternity Now we may hoise sail upon that sea he had been long in the meditation of Nay what wrestlings with God for assurance Phil. 1. 23. for one smile upon the soul in the face of Christ for God to open his pardon and let him read it what desires that God would draw the curtain and let the soul see Jesus Christ what diving into and searching after tokens of love broken pieces of the ring and former experiences would the thoughts of eternity produce And all by way of preparation for death This endlesse state well ballanced in a serious and continued meditation would make the soul restlesse and in a constant motion till death which originally is a curse as being
is one of the chiefest pearles in the Crown Now let us strive after and make it our great plot and designe to obtain this Angelicall happinesse Let the noblenesse of the argument be a golden spur to you to pursue this service It is the Angels happinesse to be confirmed in a glorious eternity and let it be your sollicitousnesse it is their felicity let it be you duty Those blessed Spirits who never eclipsed Gods glory with one single offence rejoyce in this that they are sealed to a blessed eternity And shall not we endevour after pray for draw out all our designes to attain the accomplishment of that happinesse which runs 1 Tim 5. 21. parallel with the felicity of the unsinning Angels viz. to get a bond for Luk. 20. 36. heaven This is to wit to make sure of eternity to be in an equality with the Angels Arg. 3 A third plea may be to promote this duty To lose eternity is not only a naked privation a meer losse a disappointment only of happiness When we lose heaven we do not onely as the mariner Mat. 25. 12. lose our good winde which Mat. 16. 26. would bring us to the harbour but the losse of eternity compriseth all Jon. 14 16. varieties of misery privative miseries the losse of God of Christ of the Poenae damnatis secundum corpus secundum animam infligentur Corpus quidem poenis variis quoad omnes sensus afficietur anima secundum omnes suas potentias cruciabitur Gerson soul of the Comforter of the Saints company of what we have enjoyed of what we did enjoy of what we might enjoy positive miseries torment of soul anguish of mind agonies of conscience exquisite dilacerating corroding torture of body as more â—ully hereafter The losse of eternity it comprehends accumulative exaggerated multiplied pullulated calamity Misery from God from Sâ—tan from the good Angels from our selves As Condemnation doth not only deprive the Prisoner of the liberty of his person the credit of his name the enjoyment of his possessions the refreshing of his friends but it exposes him to the burden of his chaines the reproach of the world and to the torment and shame of a suddain execution And therefore let this fire your hearts to secure eternity else ye will be exposed to as many varieties of misery as there are sparks in the surnace or wounds in your own conscience The losse of eternity includes all possibilities of future misery David complaines he Psal 44. 22. was killed all the day long but in losing eternity we shall be killed to all eternity Arg. 4 Let this incentive be added The neglect of this duty of making sure our eternity It disappoints the end of our creation the offers of grace the promises of the Gospell the voice of Christs bloud the cals of heaven and the constant courting and incitation of the Spirit within us All these with an unanimous voice cry out to the soul let your first worke be to secure your everlasting condition the methods Luk. 19. 42. thods of divine Providence the sweet Rev. 2. 10. yet severall varieties of Gospell dispensation Joh. 3. 16. the striving patience waiting Luk. 22. 29. importuning of God himself cry out Make sure eternity The promises of God are nothing but bonds for eternity the offers of grace invite us to eternall glory the rules counsels directions by a holy manuduction lead us in the way to eternity therefore the Gospell it selfe is called eternall Rev. 6. 14. And this omission of this duty will cast a reproach and defamation on all the indulgence of divine compassion Arg. 5 And lastly consider this duty of securing eternity is not only plausible but feasible Smiles from God may be had an interest in Christ may be gained a worke of grace may be acquired Rom. 8. 16. some token some pledge of Gods love may be purchased some internall Eph. 1. 4. testimony and witnesse may be suppenaâ—d 2 Cor. 1. 22. by prayers and tears and expectation some privy seal private bond for eternity may be found out and therefore let all thy capacities be De electione sua unusquisque nostrum securus esto securita e non carnis sed spiritus non sensus experientiae quae est alterius vitae sed fidei qua peâ—severamus in charitate Christi ad finem Polan Synt. wound up heart hand time talents strenght to get a bond for eternity The Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 10. cals upon us to make our Calling and Election sure Now Election is our eternity a priori and Glory is our eternity a posteriori the one before the creation of world and the other after the dissolution of it God I say imposeth it upon us as our duty to make our election sure and therefore our election to Psal 84. 11. eternity and our possession of it may be made sure God layes not commands on us which imply impossibilities No but as election so glory may be ascertained the spring of mercy is in election and it bubbles out in calling and runs to and fro in obedience and faith and at last it loseth it self in the Ocean of glory So that its possibility of accomplishment should be a good inducement to duty and how sweet a smile from God gained at last as most certainly it may be unlesse the default lie in us which God shall morgage to thy soul for thy security of eternall blessednesse will be I may admire but not depaint or describe And that this branch of the exhortation may not be incomplete let me carry the torch before you in some few directions Dir. 1 Be earnest in prayer Prayer perfumed in the bloud of Christ hath the key of the Treasury door where all blessings are stor'd up It is an omnipotent duty so God himself saith Isa 45. 11. Concerning the works of my hands command ye me The Prayer of faith can draw the curtain from before Gods face scatter the cloud between him and the soul cause God to hold forth the scepter of grace and can induce Rom. 5. 5. Jesus Christ to shed a dew of love upon the soul fervent invincible importunate believing irrefistible prayer can as it were take the ring from off Christs finger and put it upon the suppliants This Protomartyr Stephen Act. 7. 53. when he was breathing out his last breath in holy prayer God drawes the curtaines of the heaven and shewes him his glory and Christ at his right hand Prayer as it can banish that scrupulous muntinie of the soul so it can make way for a soul-satisfying smile And pray for these three things 1. A soft heart 1 Pet. 3. 16. 2. A serene conscience And 1 Tim. 1. 5. 3. A spirit fired with zeal This threefold cord hell it self cannot break these three divine characters are Christs marke for glory the pledges of that love he will be drawing out to
eternity To assure thy eternity Dir. 2 Labour after a reall and rich faith a faith which continually breaks out and sparkles forth in vigorous acts and the sparke of faith will at last be turned into the flame of assurance which is is only praemium fidei emeritae the compensation of a long-fighting and experienced faith Assurance it is the triumph of faith its jubilee its present hallelujah its consummation the Spirit at last as the Philosophers stone will turn the silver of faith into the gold of assurance Faith is only assurance in incunabulis in the cradle and assurance is faith with the crown Thus Job after all the conflicts wrestlings and exercises of his faith with the losse of his estate the malice of a Devill the cursing and cursed temptations of his wife the scoffes and hypocrisies of his friends he at last breakes out into a triumphant assurance I know my Redeemer lives and Joh 19. 26. that with these eyes I shall see him c. Causa instrumentalis fiduciae est fides fidei verbum Faith will sprout out and bloffome forth into a greater certainty And therefore pray read hear and use all those means which usually generate and produce faith Dir. 3 That thou mayest finde some evidence for thy everlasting condition study holinesse and exactnesse of life Thou canst not walke with a trembling heart even foot and watchfull eye and yet miscarry I speak not of a morall unblameablenesse but of an evangelicall holinesse that is when we study to tread surely and walke in-offenfively upon a threefold account 1. Obedience to God 2. Love to Christ And Joh. 14. 15. 3. Pity to our own souls Now Sanctification is the eccho of Election Holinesse the blossoming of happinesse and Piety the dawning Bona opera sunt via ad regnum Nostra conversatio in coelis est per vitam coelestem quia in terris vitam agimus puram qualem Angeli agunt in coelo A Lap. of felicity and therefore a holy conversation is called a conversation in heaven Phil. 3. 20. While we live purely and walke closely with God we draw a map of heaven we live more like Angels then Men we are as corporeall Angels we enjoy heaven upon earth two wayes 1. In a pure conversation 2. In spirituall consolation 2. Pet. 1. 8. In a holy life we follow Christ in the same tracke to glory Thou 1 Cor. 11. 1. mayest read thy eternall life in thy Prov. 24. 16. spirituall and see Vestigia beatitatis in vestigiis sanctitatis I speak of holinesse ratione partium non graduum of parts not degrees else heaven door would be shut to all but God expounds desires after perfection for the attainment of it So you may see Gods smile and your own crown in the glasse of a holy life and so thou mayest assure eternity to thee by beginning heaven before thou comest to heaven Dir. 4 If thou wouldest have something to shew for thy eternity Often enter into the withdrawing room of thy own heart and search for some tokens of love there Thou mayest read the intentions of Coelum non tantum sit super nos juxta nos circa nos sed intra nos Gods concerning thee in the impressions of thine Men need not climbe up to heaven in a vain curiosity to search the records and register book to see whether their names be pricked down for glory They may dive into their own souls and see Gods will concerning them in his worke upon them as the Mariner in the darke night that he may finde whether he be near land or no throwes down his plummet and happily he observes himself near the shoar but it is not by his eye but his plummet throw down the plummet make a curious narrow impartiall diligent search into thy own soul and see what humility what self deniall what sin-abhorrency what affectionatenesse to Christ what ravishings of the Spirit what love to the Ordinances what zeal for Gods glory what contempt of the world what sympathy with the afflictions and desires after the society of the Saints c. And if thou findest any impressions of grace any spirituall work any saving savory distinguishing operations upon thy heart that the Spirit hath been there with his cure thou art in the port of a glorious eternity already thou mayest see the face of God in the water of thine own heart If Christ sit Eph. 3. 17. in the throne of thy heart here by a Confirmavit quasi sigillo promissiones suas deus dando juxta eas pignus futurae haereditatis gratiam sc qua nos vexit signavit in filios dei Chrys Theod. worke of grace thou shalt sit in the throne with him and enjoy the weight of glory the work of grace foreruns the wayes of glory grace and glory differ non specie sed gradu in degree not kind as our Divines speak here the Spirit is a refining spirit above a ravishing the Spirit doth seal Eph. 1. 13. as well as sift it doth win to Christ and so to glory Col. 1. 27. as well as wean and winnow it from sin the Spirit is the pawn as well as the Eph. 1. 14. purifier of the soul grace is but the dawning heaven is the noon day 2 Cor. 1. 22. death will blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory So the Psalmist joynes grace and glory together as indeed they are individuall and inseparable Psal 84. 11. grace doth but usher in glory grace is but the greener fruit of heaven So that to get security for heaven and eternall felicity is to search for some privy token in thy own soul see the prints of Jesus Christ there and he will know his own hand when death shall summon thee to him Dir. 5 That thou mayest get some oertainty of thy everlasting condition Electionis nostra ad viram aeternam comes est crux afflictio a mundo sed ejusdem comes â—st victoria certa Polan Labour after not only a patience under but a joyfulnesse in afflictions and trouble It is the Apostles advice Jam. 1. 2. and the character of a Christian the heir of the promises to triumph in tribulation to carry Christs Crosse with gladnesse and not wearisomenesse therefore Martyrdome in the Absit mihi gloriari nisi in cruce Christi crux est scala heatae aeternitatis A Lap. primitive times was called Corona Martyrii the Crown of Martyrdome the Crosse going before Crown It is the Apostles argument Rom. 7. 18. If so be that we suffer with him we shall also be glorified together observe the together inseparably unquestionably If we drinke of the cup of gall with him we shall likewise drinke of the cup of gladnesse with him if we fall into the Martyrs fire we shall likewise enter into the Masters joy when a believer is filled with alacrity in suffering it is probable he
mischief as the wiseman saith which Prov. 6. 18. have chaunted after the viall as the Prophet speaks which have often Amos. 6. 4. posted to execute the commands of the inordinate will and sinfull affections which have pleased the wanton soul in its measures and dances shall in eternity be fettered with the burning irons and bear the shackles of ever-flaming wrath and be copartners with the rest of the body in a common execution 4. The heart of the reprobate which here hath been desperately wicked hereafter in eternity shall be intolerably tormented Here it hath been the cage of uncleannesse and hereafter it Jer. 17. 9. shall be the furnace of misery and every lust it hath harboured shall be Jer. 5. 27. turned into a Scorpion an Aspe a Mat. 15. 19. Fury here it was the sink of all those venemous principles the sinner acted by and hereafter it shall be the Sodome which shall be ever consuming Gen. 19. per tot with fire and brimstone and those very corruptions which here checkered the sinner shall hereafter cruciate him and what here was his pleasure shall in hell be his torture And so all parts of the body shall be wrackt in a perpetuall conflagration Then all the haughty looks of a sinner shall be taken down How little will the flames of hell respect the lovelinesse and beauty of those bodies which here they were painted with but as death and the wormes did not reverence the feature of their delicate bodies so neither will the flames of eternity spare their comelinesse And let these three things be subjoyned to this Argument All the parts nerves arteries every parcell and member of the body of the damned after the resurrection shall be all tortured together not by way of succession of priority or posteriority Here indeed diseases run from one part of the body to another and as some parts are full of so others are free from pain But no part of the bodies of the reprobate shall escape the seisure of Gods wrath and hell flames the vengeance of God shall be searching Mat. 25. 41. and tear every vein of the damned In ignem aeternum est totaliter non tantum corpus sed totum corporis All the members shall suffer in a common destruction There shall not be one sinew unstretcht it shall not be with the members of the body as with the sentinels that one should relieve another but as there shall be no relaxation so no exemption All the parts of the body shall be tortured with the extremest pain Indeed happily here some parts of the body have been more forward and froward in sin then others but in eternity every part shall be pullied up and scrued with the extreamest rigour and in the most insufferable perplexity As the Father speaks Adesse erit intolerabile The most choise tender delicate parts of the body which here it may be should not suffer the discourtesie of a gentle blast shall in hell Nunquam dei oculos memoriam manus effugere posset pecator Theoph. be excoriated and unbowelled by unspeakable and inexorable severity Those sost and curious parts of the body which the mimick Dames and proud Gallants of the world have indulged and enshrined in so much bravery shall in eternity suffer the most bloudy tragicall and everlasting execution nor shall the Ladies vail or the Curtizans maske secure their beauty when they shall have no other looking-glasse to see themselves in but the glasse of Gods severe and eternall wrath but the bodies of the most dissolved and effeminated sinners shall be wrackt with a generall torture Here age and diseases can wrinckle their lovelinesse and in eternity wrath and vengeance shall take away all ease and mitigation All the parts and members of the bodies of the damned shall be tortured without the least consumption of them Miseries shall not wast them shall corrode them but not consume them Here diseases do not only tire the spirits but waste the body the face loseth its colour the stomach its appetite the knees tremble with feeblenesse and the flesh melts away But though every part of the body in eternity shall be parched and scorcht with consuming fire yet nothing of its Heb. 12. 29. strength or capacity to endure torment shall for ever be abated for could the parts of the body sinke and gradually consume the whole in time would fall into an extinction which is a felicity God will never give the grant of to the damned reprobate And as all the parts of the bodies and faculties of the souls of the damned shall be tortured with misery for ever so all the senses shall bear their part in the inexpressible doom Those galleries which men so delightfully walke in here those windowes and perspectives of the soul through which the sinner often espies the Bathsheba whose beauty enthrals him those senses which sinners have so studied to bribe and gratifie Esau his tast Gen. 25. 30. Herod his eare Act. 12. 23. Ammon his eye 2 Sam. 13. 6. c. I say these senses which have been the inlets of sin the eye of Pride the tast of drunkennesse the hearing of curiosity vanity and errour c. Those senses which have been the spies of temptation to finde out the bait the panders of the heart to gratifie its lusts and ambitions the Nihil est in intellectu quod non prins fuit in sensu Arist alii false and treacherous sentinels of the soul shall in the dungeon of eternity not only be imprisoned from their pleasant liberty and recreative satisfactions they here enjoyed but be filled and fed with those miseries and distasts which are most noysome and abominable to their susceptible capacities as more particularly 1. The sight shall be cruciated and afflicted with many ghastly and distastfull objects Nihil nisi tremendum Oculi cruciabuntur Daemonum aspectu Ger. nihil nisi horrendum nihil nisi eavendum objectum erit visus Nothing but tragedies and tragicall executions the wounds and wasts the torments and tribulations and terrous of themselves and others shall be the everlasting object of the damneds view The rowling Quoad visum est ibi luminis privatio quod delectabile est oculis videre Gerson eye of the wanton sinner which often fed it self here with beautifull objects whether complexioned in a face or painted in the rarest prospects of the creature shall see nothing but what shall be the fountain of horrour and amazement And the bloudshot eye which diseased hath looked upon every object with malignity and envy shall see nothing but the perpetuall slaughters of doomed malefactours And 2. The hearing of the damned which Quoad auditum est ibi sonus horribilis gemitus miserabilis blasphemia execrabilis Id. it may be here was often raised and ravished with exquisite musickes and pleasing harmonies which oftentimes committed sensuall idolatry with the the Viall and Lute
be to accumulate their infelicity Their souls shall not be refreshed with the dewes of celestiall happinesse God in the full passage of eternity shall not once draw the curtain to refresh the damned with a transient view of that glory which shall for ever encompasse his Saints I might here superadd their exile and banishment from the harmonies and hallelujahs of heaven those seraphicall musicks which are the everlasting redundancies of the Angels obedience and the Saints joy And I might likewise take notice of the damneds exclusion from the refreshment of common pitty and commiseration The reprobates in eternity shall not Prov. 1. 26. have the Levits courtesie the refreshment of a compassionate look they shall eternally be banisht all moaning Psal 92. 8. language they shall never hear the Ipsimet damnati sese invicem odio prosequentur ac miseriis suis mutuo insultabunt Ger. sounding of the bowels of man nor be indulged with the compassions of God I say these things might be enlarged but this punishment of losse which the damned shall be afflicted with will more clearly appear when the gain the felicities of heaven shall come into debate and discussion I now fall upon the punishment of sense consisting in all those actuall torments which the damned shall undergoe which as David speaks of Gods works Psal 40. 5. Many O Lord my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. are thy wonderfull works And as Nestor spake of the miseries they endured at the siege of Troy so I may say of those calamities they are not more grievous for their nature then numerous for the account As the Father comprised all in one short sentence Ibi nihil aderit boni nihil aberit mali But I shall comprise those chief punishments which shall consume and torment the damned under these few heads They shall be tortured with the scorching heat of fire mentioned in many places of Scripture Mat. 18. 9. Mat. 3. 12. Mar. 9. 48. Luke 16. 24. c. Now for the handling of this particular I shall dispatch it in these three things 1. Quest Whether this infernall fire be materiall or no Answ Answ There are many who seem to affirme it and use many arguments Gehenna illa quae etiam stagnum ignis sulphuris dicta est corporeus ignis erit cruciabit corpora damnatorum Aug. de civ dei for the assertion As 1. In the articles of faith we are to adhere to the letter unlesse evident and necessary occasion draw us from a literall interpretation Now these miseries are often called fire Mat. 15. 41 c. And 2. To this fire is ascribed sulphur flames wood Isa 30. 33. Now the Word would not give such properties to immateriall fire 3. The bodies of men cannot be more exquisitely tormented then with fire one spark is exceeding dolorous And Nebuchadnezzars furnace was but a type of hell and therefore there is no reason to recede from their opinion And then on the contrary part it is urged 1. That corporeall fire can make no impressions on a spirit as the Devils and the souls of men are All agents Daemonas animas â—ationales non aliter cruciari igne corporeo quidam asserunt contra suam voluntatem quam quod in eo detineantur tanquam in perpetuo carcere Thom. as Philosophers observe doe act on a capable object now spirituall substances are not so to materiall agents Now to this it is answered 1 Our souls here are often afflicted in corporeall distempers Et corpore afflicto anima ipsa dolet 2. Although coporeall fire doe not act on the soul by a physicall and naturall power yet God can infuse a power into fire as the instrument of his wrath and vengeance even to scorch and singe the souls of the damned Though fire cannot do it as Divines observe Virtute physica tamen virtute hyperphysica And it is a good observatioâ— a learned man that Talis est cujusque rei natura actio qualem Deus creator Omnipotens eam vult esse si corpora damnatorum urantur non consumantur nonne illud est miraculum Et quomodo dicitur ignis contra naturam agere cum agat voluntate Dei that is The nature and the action of every thing is such as the Almighty creator will have it and commands it to be if the bodies Alii dicunt si ignis infernalis esset materialis tum extingui posset sed resp sicut corpora damnatorum etsi comburuntur tamen non consumuntur sic ignis inferni etsi se exerit in damnatorum poena tamen non extinguitur Vtrumque ergo est per miraculam of the damned are burned and not consumed is not this a miracle as the bush Exod. 3. in the beginning And then how can that fire be said to act against its own nature that acts according to the will of the God of nature and therefore it may be asserted that the fire of hell may reach the souls of the damned if God give it a command or impose on it a quality and power so to do Now to clear the whole in a word The infernall fire may be considered two wayes 1. Ratione sui in reference to it self and so it cannot have any power on a spirituall substance 2. Ratione agentis principalis cujus est instrumentum in regard of the principall agent whose instrument it is and so it can act upon spirituall beings and make the same painfull impressions as it would do upon corporall But not further to amplifie the controversie that saying of St. Augustine is August remarkable Cujusmodi ignis infernalis est hominem scire arbitror neminem nisi forte cui Spiritus divinus ostendit i. e. None can know what this fire is of what kind of what power unlesse extraordinarily the Spirit of God reveal it to him And another piously Let us earnestly importune the Lord that this knowledge whether the fire of hell be materiall or not be never manifested to us by experience Quest 2 And it would not be any great digression if we should examine the difference between our fire and infernall fire wherein the vast diversity lies Our fire can be extinguisht the hottest flames can be put out by the greatest streames the holy fire of the heart love cannot be quenched no not by many waters Cant. 8. 7. but Job 20. 26. the fire of the hearth can be extinguished Deut. 32. 22. the greatest conflagrations will either die of themselves or be quenched by an exterior power But the fire of hell is an everlasting flame tears cannot quench it bloud cannot allay it Could the damned weep an Ocean they could not extinguish one sparke of this fire Our fire must be maintained by continuall supplies of fuell take away the pile of wood and the fire goes out but the fire of hell shall not be Isa 30. 33. fed with wood but with wrath Gods indignation shall