History of the six days work of the Creation of Angels therefore there be no such creatures in the world If Mr. R. denies the proposition he must forget the first of Genesis or shew us some place of it that mentions the making of Angels Mr. R's first consideration proves as well that there is no Angel which he cannot do If he deny the consequence he must disparage the Learning of no less man than himself for his is just of the same complexion There is no mention of a Hell in the six days works therefore there is no Hell so that if this consideration will prove there is no Hell it will also prove there is no Angel and consequently no Devil neither for Devils are confessed to be no other than wicked Angels or Spirits and if so the Damner's imprecation the Devil take me will be only Nonsense and not profaneness or wickedness Nor Heaven of Glory 2. May he not at the same charges prove as well that there is no place of glory for the Righteous as that there is no place of torment for the Wicked for 't is a question whether the Heaven of Glory be mentioned in the first of Genesis or not It is said indeed there God created the Heaven but the Hebrew is rendred by Fagius Vid. Synops Crit. in Gen. 1. Coelum hoc i. e. This Heaven that is the visible Heaven and other good Divines are not afraid to say that Moses in that Chapter meant only to reckon up the visible works of God in the former part of it and yet I shall not doubt whether there be another Heaven above that because I am not certain that any such is intended in that place but do believe it because of the Testimony of other Scriptures and so will I believe there is a Hell because it is mentioned in other places though it be not in the first of Genesis His second Consideration is no less vain than the former as thus R. Solomon was the Wisest of men p. 114. and yet in his writings he mentions no Hell nor any everlasting Punishment c. which he would have done if he had known of them B. What doth he think of Proverbs 15.24 The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from Hell beneath Doth not Solomon speak of Hell in that place or can he perswade us that it means no more than the grave when experience shews that the best and wisest do not scape that no more than the worst yet that Hell there mentioned is manifestly supposed to be such as the wise walking in the way of wisdom may certainly escape 2. Christ was wiser than Solomon himself Matth. 25.46 and he hath told us of everlasting punishment whether the other hath or not 3. Solomon speaks not at least not plainly of the Deity of the Holy Ghost of the union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the person of Christ or of the imputation of his Righteousness to believers yet Christians have believed those points and I hope the Socinians shall never baffle us out of our Faith therein In a word though Solomon were the wisest man yet God never intended that all Truth should be comprised in the small Books that he hath written In his Third Consideration p. 115. he tells us out of the Hebrew Doctors writings of the seven thousand years in the world to come in which all Souls shall be blessed If such a piece of Jewish learning be pleasing to such a Rabbi as Mr. R. yet that 's little reason why I or other Christians should be in love with it and I think it more worthy to be slighted than to be answered And that which he concludes with The Jews were great searchers of Scripture and if everlasting punishment were to be found therein they would have seen it This I say is as little to be regarded for no wise Man ever thought that the Jews ever saw or acknowledged all Scripture-truths they had as many errors and weaknesses as other Men. p. 116. R. The Saints recorded in Scripture did not believe there was any punishment for any to endure that shall never end for in their penitential confessions they do not confess such punishment to have been deserved by them Dan. 9 To us belongs confusion of face This is his fourth Consideration p. 117 118. And in the following Lines we have the second part of it to the same Tune in these words We do not find that ever they gave thanks for such a deliverance or so much as prayed for it which yet could not but appear the greatest deliverance if they had known of it B. The substance of this Reasoning is thus The Saints did not confess any Everlasting Punishment to be deserved by them c. I answer Yes they did implicitly confess so much for in the Text he mentions in 9. Daniel To us belongs confusion of face it is not limited to temporal confusion and therefore may fitly be extended to Eternal confusion Psal 44.23 Psal 44.23 They pray thus O cast us not off for ever which was an acknowledgment that God justly might have cast them off for ever for their sin And in Psal 79.5 Lord wilt thou be angry for ever Is not that an acknowledgment that he might pour out his anger upon them i. e. punish them for ever for their sins And if it were as he would have it the Argument would prove but little for the Saints in Scripture did not expresly confess that they deserved to be given over to the Devil's Tyranny to be possessed and terrified and tormented by him and yet Christians will not doubt but their sins deserve so much To the 2d part And the other may be answered as easily for though I should grant that the Saints in Scripture did not expresly give thanks for their deliverance from endless punishment yet that is far from proving that there is no such thing for they did not give thanks in that manner for Heaven it self and their appointment to it yet we are very sure that there is a Heaven and that they are appointed to it 2. I do not remember that ever they said we give thee thanks O Lord for giving us thy Holy Spirit to instruct us and yet the Text tells that it was so in those very words Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest also thine Holy Spirit to instruct them And yet they could not but know that it was a very great benefit to allude to my Author's expression Nor did they pray expresly and in Terminis to be delivered from evil spirits and their malice and violence Yet I verily believe they want not will nor power to do us violence every Hour in the Day if our God did not over-rule and restrain them Consid 5. R. Christ when on Earth did weep for the Jews p. 119. because of that desslation that was to come upon them would he not much more
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR EVERLASTING Fire no Fancy BEING AN ANSWER TO A LATE PESTILENT PAMPHLET ENTITULED The Foundations of Hell-Torments shaken and removed wherein the Author hath laboured to prove that there is no Everlasting Punishment for any Man though finally wicked and impenitent after this Life His Considerations Considered and his Cavils Confuted Together with a Practical Improvement of the Point and the Way to escape the Damnation of Hell By JO. BRANDON late of Oriel Colledge Oxon now a Minister of the Church of England Quos mala praesentia non corrigunt ad sequentia perducunt Gregor Dialog JOB xi 3. Should thy lies make Men hold their peace and when thou mockest shall no Man make thee ashamed LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1678. Hic Liber cui Titulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IMPRIMATUR GEO. HOOPER Rmo D no D no Gilb. Arch. Cant. a Sacris Domestic June 7. 1677. To the Right Honourable HENRY EARL of STARLIN RIGHT HONOURABLE THough I may easily apprehend that some will not be wanting who will look upon these Lines with an evil Eye and argue from worse Principles than those of Logick that I am proud and presumptuous in making use of Your Name in this sort yet upon mature deliberation I have adventured so to do resolving rather to run the hazard of their hardest censures than to neglect so fit an opportunity of testifying to the World my Humble Respects to Your Honour and my grateful thoughts of Your manifold favours towards Me and Mine To see some Men live as if Hell and its Everlasting Sorrows were but Scarecrows and Melancholy Fancies and then to see others hardening them in their Infidel impieties by making them believe that it is so indeed And that they have gotten the knowledge of this Devilish Doctrine by praying to the God of Heaven as my Author pretends very smoothly in his Preface This my Lord is sufficient to provoke a patient and peaceable spirit The displeasure of my Heart against his Execrable Book hath now engaged my Pen against it And with the Poetical liberty I may truly say Si natura negat facit indignatio Librum Certainly it is great pity that a Book of this kind I deal with should pass one Year to an end without a full and formal Confutation And I was almost ready to Write a Satyr against my many Betters that have a great deal more Learning and a little more leisure than my self for suffering it to go so long without Controul Well I have now through Providence finished that Work which they should have done long before For a Pamphlet of this nature must needs be as worthy of a severe Reproof as those Pieces that have been licensed by his Holiness at Rome which they have so often and so excellently opposed For 't is worse to believe Hell a Dream than to believe Purgatory to be a Real thing And now Right Honourable besides my Obligations to You it may seem in other respects very proper to present You with a Discourse of this sort because the Reality of Hell thus Proved Defended and Applied may by God's help make You still more and more careful of that great Work which I perswade my self Your Honour is truly careful of already viz. To lead Others in the way to Heaven by Your good Example The Lord Jesus multiply his choicest blessings upon Your Self Your Virtuous Lady and the rest of Your Family granting You height of Honour and length of Days the real comforts of his Holy Ordinances and the Eternal Felicities of his Father's House So praying resteth Your Honours in all Duty and Humble Observance JOHN BRANDON TO THE READER CHristian Reader It was the Apostle's prediction that in the latter dayes perillous times should come 2 Tim 3.1 which I think hath been more than sufficiently verified in this last Age And no wonder since so many perillous Books have been published year by year to pervert the Faith and corrupt the manners of the Christian world Of which I might name a great many but there is scarce any for the bigness of it more eminet in this kind than this of Mr. R. which I have undertaken by God's assistance to Examine and Confute For though many could wish that there were no Hell nor Everlasting punishment for the Wicked and Impenitent yet there be few or none that have said so with so much confidence as my Author hath done I Confess to give the Devil his due some of the Socinian Worthies have suggested something of this Nature Vid. Calov Socin proflig de Morte aeterna and sometimes have pretended a Reason or two for it But none of them that I know of did ever speak it so roundly or take so much pains to prove it as he hath done Rejoyce in sin O ye unrighteous and be glad all ye that are hollow in heart Triumph and boast O ye Enemy of Holiness and let your hearts be hardened against the fear of evil come now and take your fill of what you most love and walk securely in the ways of your own hearts go oft to the Ale-house and seldom to Gods house let Cards be more with you than Bibles and be wiser now than to mind that Melancholy thing which Precise fools call by the name of Religion and the Fear of God in short set a Cup on your Table and a Whore on your Knees and sing aloud your basest Epithalamiums and profanest Songs that you have yea let them delight your honest Souls day by day for what though these things are known in Heaven and offend most grievously your glorious Lord yet the matter is not much as to any great danger therein for your Preachers sad Doctrines are but deceits and Delusions you need not to fear any Everlasting Damnation however you live or however you die For this good Gentleman hath given you many Infallible proofs that there is no such thing to be feared see the latter part of his Book But yet Take heed sinners and do not bless your selves overmuch in your iniquities for what if this Learned man should be mistaken and his Infallible Proofs should prove to be nothing but fair shews and real Deceits what a case would you then be in if you should die as you have lived And that they are such and no better I for my part do verily believe And if thou canst doubt of it Christian Reader be pleased to compare his Proofs and my Answers together Object But say some what need I have troubled my self to Confute him since there are many others that can do it better Answer To which I reply as the Learned Amesius in Coron ad Col. Hagiens in praefat ad Ecclesias Belgicas Licet hanc provinciam ab aliis potius quam à me capessendam esse judicem à me tamen potius quam à nemine viz. That though I grant it were fitter for many others to
comes thither As little cause have we to wonder that they should have Hell for their end that make wickedness in some kind or other their common way and will not consent unfeignedly to turn into the Holy Path And that this is the case of the most among us is so sadly apparent that I may lawfully spare the pains of proving it 3. It is no disparagement to the goodness of a King or Judge to condemn common Robbers or Murderers nor to condemn many of them Yea Justice requires him so to do and their Multitude can be no reason at all to excuse them in their wickedness If these Men should meet with many to abuse them though it were only in words and one should say you need not take it ill seeing there are many that do so they would not think very well of his speech And must the just Judge of the whole World spare the wicked and impenitent because there are many of them If so how shall the Judge of the World do right for all the World knows that were not Righteousness nor any thing like it And if that any Man could prove that 't is unreasonable that many impenitent sinners should be sent to Hell he might as wisely prove that 't is so for any at All to be sent thither For if many Persons under the same guilt deserve not the same Punishment a few that are so do not deserve it neither The Number doth not alter the Case 4. It cannot be denied but the greatest part of Men by far is actually ungodly and unconscionable sensual and disobedient and it must needs be granted that such are fitter for Hell and punishment than for Heaven and happiness and the delightful fruition of the Holy God And it is not to be questioned but the most of the wicked continue such still Must a Man believe that the Enemies of God and holiness will be in love with God and holiness because they are the greatest Number If one Man that dyeth unconverted may go to Heaven we may as well suppose that another may and another again and so of others still So that either we must suppose that all that dye in their sins go to Hell or else none and which is most like to be true they that know the Scriptures may easily apprehend 5. If Mens judgments were not blinded by guilt and selfishness they would think it more wonderful that God should suffer such a Deluge of wickedness to go unpunished in this World than that he should punish it according to its desert in another World 6. What if God should send but one wicked Man of a Thousand to Hell and save all the rest would they not acknowledge and admire his Mercy and Beneficence Well though he will not do so yet we know not but there may be as great a communication of his goodness as that amounts to For as the Heaven of glory doth incomparably exceed the inferiour Heavens and Earth in bigness So it is judged by sober learned Men that there be ten thousand times more holy and blessed Spirits there than there be wicked Men in Earth or Hell and they were as wise * Gassendus and others as other Men that supposed the Planets and other Luminaries of Heaven to be inhabited by Spirits as the Earth is by Men and Beasts And when I observe that all places almost here below both in Air and Water as well as Earth are inhabited by Birds or Flies or Fishes or some other living Creatures I am very willing to imagine that the more glorious parts of God's handy-work which so dazle our eyes but a little to behold are not empty but possessed by such excellent Inhabitants as are suitable to their magnitude and glory Thou knowest not Reader how many Millions of Creatures are over thy head that are filled with their Maker's love and goodness and therefore entertain no hard thoughts of it nor murmur at the just Judgments of thy God upon the obstinate Enemies of his holy Laws how many soever they may be And thus I have answered the Objection aforesaid and may now fitly proceed to a farther improvement of the Doctrine pleaded for in a way of Exhortation and Caution to several sorts of Men of which with God's leave in the ensuing Paragraph CHAP. IV. SECT III. Containing a Use of Exhortation and Caution to the Gentry and others HAving proved the point so plainly before and cleared it now at large from the grand objection about its consistency with the Divine Goodness I shall urge it by God's permission upon several sorts of men amongst us And I may fitly urge it upon those in the first place that are first in place viz. The Gentry of our Land I need not doubt but some or other will think me a pragmatical person in the very worst sense and may be willing to ask me what I have to do with such Well if they have any great desire to do so let them do it by all means for why should they lose their longing But if they are reasonable men I may hope to prevent that query by giving them this following account in brief Namely that I am a debtor to all and am bound especially as I am a Minister to do good to all so far as I may and it is as much worth my pains to endeavour to prevent the damnation of these as to prevent the Damnation of meaner men for their Souls are as precious and their sins as dangerous as others And it is very proper to speak somewhat to such persons because they are most taken notice of and their Examples most powerful to lead others in the way to Salvation or destruction 1. To the Sensual Gentry There be two sorts of Gentry amongst us 1. Sensual careless ones 2. Serious and Conscientious First of the former and certainly I had need be careful how I speak to those men that have ruined so many that never durst to speak to them so plainly as I intend to do Who are such But before I go any further I must express my self clearly and shew whom I mean by Sensual Gentry even those that take more care how to please their senses and sensitive Appetites than their Consciences or their God that make more account of Gain than Godliness and regard not who or how many they ruine so they may but raise themselves by it that slight the Laws of the Eternal King and care no more for a plain sound Sermon than for a dish of stinking meat that grosly undervalue the glory of Heaven and think themselves as happy as need to be if they have but health and wealth and honour here c. Dr. Saundersons Serm. in 1 Cor. 7.24 or in the words of the Reverend Bishop Saunderson that spend half the day in sleeping half the night in Gaming and the rest of their precious time in other pleasures and vanities to as little purpose as they can devise as if
aforesaid in his Comment on the Epistle to the Colossians Now when he saith If all Men are in God all Men are in Christ I grant it in the sense aforesaid All men are by Christ for he upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power And to the last passage Heb. 1.3 'T is commonly confessed that All who are in Christ shall be saved To this I say my Return is thus That if he mean All who are Members of Christ's Mystical Body or that have an Interest in Christ's Merits and Righteousness as it is meant in Rom. 8. v. 1. Then I grant that All who are in Christ shall be saved which that very Text demonstrateth But I utterly deny that All men are in Christ in this sense of the word But if he mean All that are by Christ made and maintained in the World by him then I deny that All such shall be saved for in this sense the Devils may be said to be in Christ Colos 1.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus Mr. R.'s rich Invention is proved to be worth nothing but scorn and contempt R. In Rom. 5. The second Adam in saving p. 178. is put in opposition to the first Adam in sinning And if All Nations shall be blessed as was foretold in Gen. 22. Every particular must also for the general word All includes every particular And it is a great lessening of the riches and fulness of God's grace and goodness to say that God hath made this World for All and the best World but for a few B. That which he would have us gather from Rom. 5. is manifestly thus That as all Mankind are liable to destruction by means of the first Adam so all shall be freed from it by the merit of the second Adam Jesus Christ But I cannot think how he will find any Text in it Rom. 5.18 cleared that may be made very serviceable for such a design unless it be the 18. Verse of that Chapter As by the offence of one judgment came upon all Men to condemnation so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to justification of life But this will easily be answered For the comparison there made between Adam and Christ is not in respect of the Number of Persons that are saved or destroyed but in respect of the causes of Salvation and Damnation That as the cause of Damnation even sin is originally only from Adam so the cause of Salvation even Righteousness and Justification is wholly from Christ As all sinners became sinners through the first Adam and so are liable to damnation through him so all justified Persons are justified through Christ the second Adam and have a right to Heaven only through his Righteousness imputed to them So that when Paul saith by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to justification of life it is not so to be taken as if Justification were common to All men but that it is through the Righteousness of Christ that All who are justified are justified viz. that none are justified otherwise As the Psalmist saith the Lord upholdeth all that fall Psal 145.14 not that he upholdeth every one that falls for some fall irrecoverably as Judas Pharaoh the Sinners against the Holy Ghost c. but that All who being fallen are upheld and preserved from falling away utterly are so upheld only by him Hanc Deo tribuit gloriam quod sine ejus ope nemo sustentetur Musculus in Psal 145. as a worthy Expositor on the place This glory saith he the Psalmist ascribes to God viz. That without his help none are upheld Rom. 8.30 Whom he justified them he also glorified but God doth not glorifie them that live and dye unconverted for Except ye be converted Matth. 18.3 ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18.3 Therefore neither doth he justifie any such Persons Nor is he more fortunate in alledging Gen. 22.18 for though All in it self be inclusive of every particular Genes 22.18 opened yet in that place all Nations cannot signifie all particular Persons of every Nation for if all Nations should be blessed in this largest sense none should be cursed as our Lord will say unto many at the last Day Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed Wherefore by all Nations understand some of all Nations or if you will many of all Nations even all true believers in every Nation And that the word all Nations doth not always mean all men in general Esay 2.2 is plain by Esay 2.2 where it is said that All Nations should flow to the Mountain of the Lord's house which cannot be said of all in general and is expressed by many in the 4. of Micah 1. Vers And as for the fulness and riches of God's goodness it is not to be judged of by the number of them that are saved by it The goodness of God how to be judged of but rather by the way and manner wherein and whereby they are saved and by that great Salvation which his People shall partake of Briefly thus The riches of God's grace and goodness is seen in the excellency of its effect For Life is a more excellent thing than Death and Righteousness than Sin and secondly in the powerfulness of the work for it argueth a greater power to save than to destroy to justifie than to condemn as 't is a greater matter to reform a few than to corrupt and harden a great many against the holy Ordinances and ways of God An Idle Hypocrite is too well able to do the one but a painful Minister is scarce able to do the other And by the way we do not say as Mr. R. that God hath made the best World or Heaven but for a very few For many shall come from the East and the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven yet they are few in comparison of them that miss of Heaven Matth. 7.14 as was seen before from the words of him whom he dares not I hope contradict or cavil at And if a Man can think it is an obscuring of God's goodness to say that he hath not made Heaven for so many as he hath made the Earth for he may think it much more a denying of his goodness to say that he hath made comfortable provisions for the Birds and Beasts and at the same time reserved many thousands of mighty Angels for extream and everlasting punishment Yet so it is whether my Author allow of it or not he that spares the one did not spare the other He that prepares Food for these in this world hath prepared everlasting fire for those in another world Yet if a man do hence object and cavil against God's goodness 't is a sign he hath little goodness himself See 2 Pet. 2. Judes Epist Matth. 25.41 and as little wit but he goes on R. Shall we
that be unto them It was grievous to them to be banished from their friends in the world to be shut up close in a Prison or Pest-house from the comfort and Society of their old acquaintance c. But how grievous will it be to be banished from Christ and be separated everlastingly from all the comforts of his Presence and Favour This this will be a bitter thing indeed and more dreadful than a Thousand Deaths for Consider O Christian Rev. 25.23 't is He that is the Glory of Heaven the Eternal Light of that City of God 't is He that is the Angels Joy and at whose Birth they sang an Hymn of Praise a little of His Divine Consolations have revived the drooping Spirits of his Servants have Crowned their Souls with blessed Peace and turned the Shadow of Death into the Morning as the Prophet elegantly expresseth himself How bravely did the Holy Martyrs Triumph over the saddest and sharpest of humane miseries filling their mouths with Glorious Praises when they were ready to be filled with Smoke and Flames and all through the sense of their interest in Christ and the lively hopes of happiness with him after this life ended And in many others of later times The joy of their Lord hath made them more than Conquerers over all the fears and sorrows of Death Millions of Praises to the Lord our God let Heaven and Earth praise Him for he hath remembred us in our low estate and hath redeemed us to himself said that worthy man * Mr. Janway a little before he gave up the Ghost But now those Consolations of Christ which his Saints partake of in Heaven are doubtless far beyond all that they were sensible of here on Earth Phil. 1.21 for to be with him there is far better as St Paul assures us and yet these Consolations shall be no comfort to them that dye in their sins for they shall have nothing to do with them he will say unto them Matth. 25.4 Depart from me ye cursed And O how cursed will their case then be and how miserable will they then account themselves for they will then lose all other comforts with him which is the next thing to be spoken to 2 In their loss of all other comforts Secondly the wicked in the world to come shall lose all other comforts too whatsoever here they took comfort in shall then be taken from them Now they make a good shift without spiritual Consolations and though they seldom think of Christ and his Kingdom with any seriousness yet the thoughts of present enjoyments delight their Souls and Sensual Contentments do supply the want of Spiritual ones unto them But if they come to Hell as they needs must if they go on still in their sins they will miss of all their Sensual enjoyments But to come to some particulars 1. Wealth and Honour 1. They will lose their worldly wealth and honour they that minded their mony more than Heaven shall lose both Heaven and money too Their Riches will not profit saith the Scripture in the day of wrath the heat of that day will melt their best coin for all things of this inferior world shall be dissolved and burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 They shall see all their pleasant things in flames before themselves are cast into the fiery-lake How speedily will their stately Buildings curious Gardens costly Clothes and richest Jewels then be spoiled and destroyed for ever Their meat and drink will also be denyed unto them because they despised the Bread of Life and wilfully starved their precious Souls and desired not in truth of heart the sincere milk of the Word that they might grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. Their Minds and Memories and Consciences will have many foul sins to feed on but their mouths will have no fine bits to feed on for whatsoever Sensual good may be expected in the Turks Airy Paradise 't is sure there is no such thing to be hoped for in the Devils fiery prison Their honours also will be then at an end since they must arise to shame and everlasting contempt Dan 12.2 2. Loss of rest and ease 2. The Damned will lose all bodily rest and ease and sleep The place of Torment they must be cast into will admit of no refreshment at all They that wearied others with their wickedness before will then be wearied with it themselves and though they could sleep very soundly in God's house of Prayer yet they shall not sleep so much as one wink in his house of punishment That saddest word Go ye cursed will keep them awake for evermore They shall lose also all their carnal Mirth and Worldly Joy 3. Mirth Here they had it many of them in abundance their hearts were light when their Consciences were loaded with guilt And though they said unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways yet the Pipers and Singers were more welcome to them Job 21. they take pleasure in the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound thereof yea rather than want Mirth they will laugh at Religion and make Doctrine and Use the matter of their Sport But then these things will be at an end the Candle of the wicked will be put out They that would not take up Religion nor chuse God's Fear lest it should make them dull and melancholy shall then be merry no more for the Matter of their Mirth we have seen will then be taken from them and God will distribute Sorrows in his Anger yea their own eyes shall see their destruction Job 21.17.20 and they shall drink of the Wrath of the Almighty as it is set forth in that Chapter Quest But how shall they live may some say in such a condition For will not so much misery break their hearts and will not life fail when it hath no means to support it no food nor sleep c. Answer I Answer No that may not be imagined They must needs live still because God will not suffer them to dye they that lived on earth as though they had thought their Souls were mortal shall in Hell find their bodies to be immortal they shall be raised incorruptible 1 Cor. 15. and what if they want the natural means of Life as food and sleep yet the principal cause of Life will still remain even the will and pleasure of the Almighty But I shall not say any thing more of this point here having spoke unto it already and maintained it against the wisest of Mr. R's oppositions Object But say some the Saints themselves must part with their worldly comforts at last as well as the ungodly the universal flames will burn up their dwellings c. as surely as the dwellings of the wicked Sol. True indeed But though they must part with these things yet they shall be no losers thereby because they shall have better instead of them Instead of Natural delights they
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
following Considerations 1. That there is in God Bonitas Regiminis as well as Beneficentiae In plain English thus There is in God the goodness of a Governour and the goodness of a Benefactor now his punishing the wicked with Eternal Damnation is not at all contrary to his goodness in either of these sences 1. 'T is plain It is not contrary to the goodness of his Government He is the great Governour of the World and therefore is called a King a great King the King eternal c. in Holy Scripture Malac. 1.14 1 Tim. 1.17 Cap. 6.15 and as he is such it belongeth to him to punish obstinate and impenitent offenders according to their deserts and without this the goodness of his Government namely the wisdom and righteousness of it would not be discovered to his Creatures Even amongst Men they are not accounted good Governours that do not punish the disobedient according to their deserts and maintain the honour of Government thereby And if a Man suppose that the wicked do not deserve to be punished for ever who would gladly be wicked for ever he little knows what wickedness is and the equity of this dispensation hath been cleared in the first Chapter of this Book towards the end of it 2. It is the goodness of God's nature that he hates sin and wickedness 'T is his Excellency that he cannot look on iniquity else he were not a Holy God and without Holiness he could not be a God indeed for his Holiness is Essential to him and therefore when he would swear by himself he swears by his Holiness Now if the goodness of his nature doth make him to hate sin it cannot be any disparagement to his goodness to punish it accordingly since the punishing of it is but the just demonstration of his hatred against it and he that shall go about to argue the contrary will shew himself a bad Logician and a worse Christian 3. If it were not contrary to his goodness to threaten Everlasting Punishment and Destruction to the wicked Matth. 25. 2 Thess 1. c. and to tell us of such Punishment for them so continuing then certainly it cannot be contrary to his goodness to make good that word by inflicting such punishment Whatsoever Men pretend herein for the extolling of God's goodness yet he will not think himself honoured by them when they would exalt it against his Holiness and Truth 4. These Learned Objectors should not act so unlearnedly as to argue the doing of that upon the account of his goodness which cannot be done upon the account of his wisdome nor complain of his casting those into Hell whom his wisdome sees to be utterly unfit for Heaven The Enemies of God and Holiness are not fit to dwell in his Holy place A Swine is fitter for a Prince's Presence-chamber than an unholy Soul for Heaven And if Hell be fitter for them than Heaven 't is fit that they should be sent to Hell rather than Heaven for 't is fit they should have what is fittest for them If an ungodly Man should be brought to Heaven it would be little comfort to him yea I doubt not but he would count it a misery if he should come there in such a state The imperfect graces of his People on Earth as discovered in gracious practises are matter of trouble and grief unto him and he had rather be amongst the Beasts of the Field than be in company with those that would move him to be Holy in good earnest How contrary then would the Holiness of God be unto him and what a vexation would it be to him to see those glorified whom he so much delighted to vilifie and disgrace to see those silly precise ones as he counted them sitting with Christ upon his Throne whom he thought more worthy to be trodden under foot by such as he Thus miserable would an ungodly Man be in Heaven and is it not fitter that he should be miserable in Hell Is it not more proper and congruous that he should torment himself in the place of Torment than in the place of Glory and Blessedness And secondly Let me tell the Objector that God will sufficiently appear to be good in a way of Beneficence also though the wicked be under Everlasting Condemnation This is so plain that I need not spend much time in the proof of it for it would not be accounted a reasonable thing that a King on Earth should be charged with unmercifulness for condemning of Rebels to perpetual Imprisonment He will appear a gracious and bountiful King for all that while he takes care of the honour and safety of his true Subjects Thus will the King of Heaven appear to be bountiful and gracious and abundant in goodness in his gracious dealings towards all his faithful Servants 2. He is very bountiful to the wicked themselves yea to the very worst of them here in this World He gives them that Breath which they so often breathe out to his dishonour and the reproach of his Gospel He gives them all that time which now they mispend and those precious means of grace which they so unthankfully despise and abuse He gives them drink to quench their thirst though they drown their reason with it and preserves them every minute and moment from many secret and unknown dangers besides those that are open and visible in which respect he is said to be the Saviour of all Men. * 1 Tim. 4.10 Yea he gives them time to repent and promises of mercy when they unfeignedly return from sin to his service in Esay 55.7 c. And as for the Number of them that perish which Coelius Of the Number of the Damned and Mr. R. think so strangely of we may easily perceive it is not so much to be wondered at nor may not be imagined to be any disparagement to the Divine Goodness A sober Christian may receive some satisfaction from the words of his Lord in Matth. 7.14 Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Is it fit these Men should make a question of that which their Lord who is Truth it self hath so positively told us Nevertheless I shall add a few Considerations to rectifie our thoughts hereabouts that on that account we may not charge our God foolishly And 1. How many soever they be that perish yet none of God's true servants ever shall John 10.28 Christ will give them eternal life and they shall never perish John 10. 2. Those many that perish were all out of the way of Salvation and would not be perswaded to turn into it by a true Conversion What wonder if Destruction and Misery be their end when they are in their ways as St. Paul in Rom. 3.16 Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known He that chuseth to travail in a Ship that is bound for Spain may not wonder if at last he
no reason why he should be mis-shapen by any monstrous fashions In a word as he is Religious so he is not afraid to own and follow the Exercises of Religion in publick as well as in private He seeks not for the Golden mean between Saintship and Atheism but is resolved to be a Saint so far as he may though the proud should call him Puritan for it He goes as joyfully to God's house as the Sensual gallants to a Play-house and comes out with more as well as better satisfaction He goes not to Church to save his Credit or his Purse to see Fashions or to censure his Minister but to discharge his Duty and adorn his Profession to Serve his God and Save his Soul and therefore he had rather go Twice a day than Once a month This Reader is the nature and quality of these excellent Persons I am speaking of and however thou mayst wonder at it I dare affirm there are some such to be found among us and to them I am now with all Christian respectfulness to address my self The Exhortation Honoured Sirs since Hell is no Fancy since the miseries thereof are real intolerable and eternal give me lieve I beseech you to urge upon you these following Duties The First Duty 1. To rejoyce in the Lord and delight your selves in the Thoughts of his Great Goodness towards you For he hath freed you for ever from all this Misery That Cloud of Vengeance which will fall upon the Careless Gallants at the last day shall be far from you You may meet with many distresses but nothing of Damnation shall ever come near you for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 2. Whosoever believeth on him to wit with a holy and True Faith such as is attended with a Religious life shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 When the awakening Trumpet shall send forth its Echo's to the ends of the Earth it shall be no matter of amazement unto you when you shall look out of your Graves and see the Lord of Glory Armed with irresistible power clothed with shining Majesty and flaming Vengeance attended with all his Troops of holy Angels Cherubins and Seraphins honoured with their loudest shouts their highest praises their joyfullest Acclamations c. yet then I say your hearts shall not fail for you shall come forth to the Resurrection of life Joh. 5.29 and be raised up for heaven not for hell wherefore serve your God with gladness and do not so much humor the Devil or honour this malignant world as to be afraid of its enmity or to be discouraged at the worst it can do against you That Gracious God whom you serve is able to deliver you from all evils and as he hath saved you from the power of sin and the punishment of Hell so he will be your shield from smaller dangers Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Second Duty Secondly To be often in the Heavenly Duty of Praise and Thanksgiving This Tribute you owe for every Mercy you partake of how much more for your deliverance from the Everlasting Punishment Methinks Sirs you should delight your selves abundantly in Paying of it and Praise your great deliverer with enlarged hearts O let that be a main part of your work here which shall be your Beatifying employment in the high and Holy place When Sensualists are delighting themselves in Songs of Lewdness and Vanity let your hearts be delighted with Songs of Praise If the Blind man in the Gospel Luke 18. ult could follow Christ so joyfully glorifying God merely because he was cured of his blindness O what Joyful Praises should your hearts be filled with and your glory your Tongues be exercised in when you are saved through Christ from the Everlasting Darkness and destruction and shall shortly see an end of all your Sorrows Third Duty Value not overmuch the Scorns and Censures of the ungodly world fear not the reproach of men Esay 51.7 nor be afraid of their revilings while you walk in the Holy way No reason for it for why should they fear the contempt of any that are secured from the everlasting shame Fourth Duty Another duty which I would humbly exhort you to is this To do what you can to save others from Hell Not that you can save them in a way of absolute yower by working saving Grace in their Souls nor in a way of Merit by procuring Heaven for them This 't is confessed you cannot do But yet you may do that which the Scripture calls a Saving of them namely Perswade them to be careful of their own Salvation and occasion them to use the means of Salvation that are afforded them And what can be imagined more excellent and honourable or more truly worthy of a Religious Gentleman than this Motives to it I might add in great variety from the Glory of God the Worth of the Soul the Love of Christ the Honour of his Gospel the honourableness of the Duty in it self To conquer Towns and Castles and Kingdoms is but a poor and worthless project to the furious endeavours of Saving a Soul But methinks God's goodness to your selves might be a very powerful engagement upon you so to do if there were no other reason for it As the King in the Parable Oughtest thou not to have forgiven thy fellow-servant seeing I forgave thee so may it be said much more in this case ought you not to do your best to save others from Hell since your God hath been so merciful as to save you And I beseech you Sirs let it be remembred what opportunities and advantages you have above other men to do good to your Neighbours Souls Your Place and Authority will bear a great sway with them they will regard your words and examples when they will not regard ours Happy would many a poor Minister account himself if his People would mind the commands of God which he urgeth upon them in the name of Christ half so much as they would mind the words of a Man of Place and Wealth If you shew a love to a Church and a plain Sermon they will seem to do so for their credit sake and will not dare to call the one a Steeple-house or the other a Puritanical Preachment Now you may be Instrumental to their Salvation or deliverance from Hell many ways especially these following 1. In general by your own example by living godly righteously and soberly in your general course They will be more capable of believing profaneness sottishness and injurious doings to be hateful things when they see them so carefully shunned by such as you In particular If you would be a means of saving your Neighbours Souls from Hell let it please you to observe these following Directions 1. Endeavour to engage them to
the Pharisees made light of him and derided him in Luke 16.14 Thus of the 4th Direction Direct The 5th If you would escape Hell make sure of a true and sound conversion and wait upon God in the use of all holy means for it But above all things take heed you mistake not in so great a concern nor think your selvs converted when it is not so Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven And surely if a Man cannot come to Heaven without it he cannot escape Hell without it neither Now you must not think your selvs converted while you are predominantly in love with any wicked course whatsoever or in plainer English while you count sin your liberty and priviledge and had rather follow any way of wickedness than a way of real and universal religiousness if it were not for fear of the shame of the World or the damnation of Hell Many I doubt not are religious sober civil just c. out of constraint not willingly and forbear gross sin more out of dread of punishment than out of any love to God or obedient regard to his Will and Law serving God as the poor Indians did the Devil viz. for fear lest otherwise he should do them a mischief And what do you think is such service worth assuredly very little or rather nothing in the sight of God who seeth the principles of Mens works and services and looks more upon the Bent of the mind and will than the matter of the work Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 A blockish slavish unwilling service when the work is done which he had rather should not be done is fit only for a sensless Deity or a dumb Idol not for the high and holy one Believe it you are not truly and savingly converted till God and holiness have the main disposition of your hearts and wills till you had rather have God in Christ for your everlasting portion to enjoy than Honor and Wealth and all this World 's good till then you are but Worldlings till you had rather walk in a way of holiness than follow the most gainful Trade of sin As a false defrauding servant is never turned to be a true and faithful servant till he had rather be true and faithful to his Master than to cheat and defraud him Pray therefore for your selves as the Apostle for the Thessalonians that God would direct your hearts to his love or as our Church that he would encline your hearts to keep his Law Dir. 6 Acquaint thy self with Christ search the Scriptures and see how sufficient a Saviour he is how able and willing to receive and relieve returning sinners Did he reject any that were but truly willing to accept of him Did he not come into the World to save such and complain that the People would not come unto him that they might have life Them that come unto him with true faith and repentance he will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 O sinner if thou wilt heartily forsake the Devils drudgery he will save thee from Hell and all its damnation If thou turnest from every evil way and givest thy self up to him relying wholly upon his merit and righteousness he will give thee acceptance in the sight of his Father and deliver thee from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. ult So much for the use of Direction I come now to one or two Uses more and so shall put a period to my Discourse In the next place then It may serve for our Instruction and may teach us not to envy at the prosperity of wicked Men nor to judge Gods ways to be unequal because of their impunity joyned with final impenitency in this present World No cause to judge so when we consider that he hath a Hell to punish them in for there the sinner shall have enough of sin and such wages as is suitable to his works of iniquity There the proud sinner shall be low enough the jovial sinner shall be sad enough the sottish sinner be thirsty enough the Revengeful sinner have vengeance enough the Damner and Sinker be damned enough and sink deep enough into the lake of fire There they that tyrannized over pious Christians shall be insulted over by the Devil and be buffeted by the unclean Spirits they that willingly forget their God and Souls shall remember their sins whether they will or not they that made light of Christ and Sermons shall be loaded to the full with wrath and curses and in a word they that grinn'd at godliness shall gnash their teeth at their impieties God to whom vengeance belongeth will avenge himself upon them and punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence 2 Thess 1.8 9. Lastly Let me hence add a word to the godly in general let them be exhorted to grow more and more 1. In Grace and holy obedience for what love what service what obedience can ever be suitable to that goodness of God which saves them through Christ from the everlasting punishment their sins deserve We may well exhort them to all holy duties by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 They can never do too much for his Glory that hath done so much for their Salvation for he will give them eternal Life and they shall never perish Joh. 10. 2. In comfort and spiritual joy Rejoyce in the Lord always saith the Apostle to such Phil. 4.1 Christ is their all-sufficient Saviour and they shall surely be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 why should any worldly Troubles trouble them overmuch since they shall have none in the world to come Death can do no more than rot them and hell no more than fright them Rejoyce therefore O faithful Christian and give thanks at the remembrance of the goodness of thy God the joy of the Lord is thy strength O let it be thy work too Yea most certainly it shall be so at the coming of Christ to judgment He will then receive thee to himself Joh. 14.3 His love shall then be stronger than death and conquer the last enemy for thee Thou shalt be filled with Joy and Glory when the wicked shall have their fill of shame and sorrow and shalt be accepted graciously with him when all the enemies of his Holiness shall be banished from his Presence and be buried alive in everlasting fire And now bless the Lord O my Soul for all his gracious Providences and in special for all his gracious Assistances in this small Work Say not This Work thy Hand to End hath brought Or This thy Labour hath attain'd unto Say rather thus This God by me hath wrought He 's Author of that little Good I do To Him be Glory for ever and ever FINIS