his Brethren shall undertake to prove it I will undertake to Answer them And to that which he hath said I reply thus That Christs Sufferings in the place of his people were sufficient to deliver them from everlasting punishment though he did not suffer for ever for his Temporal Sufferings were of infinite merit and value as being the Sufferings of an Infinite Person the Eternal Son of God whom all the Highest Angels are enjoyned to worship or in St. Paul's phrase God over all blessed for ever in Rom. 9. Rom. 9.5 For like as the greatness of an Injury is measured by the greatness of the person that suffers it so the value of the satisfaction is esteemed by the Excellency of the Person that makes the Satisfaction as is well observed by the excellent and acute Author in the Margin in his Anatome Samosatenianismi Mart. Z. Thalyaeus quaest 1. Arg. 11. p. mihi 81. Actus secundi necessitatem supplevit tum dignit as personae tum pondus passionum c. But of this something hath been said already only I may add thus much that the eternity of Christ's Sufferings if it might be supposed could not work our deliverance if his Temporal Sufferings could not For according to strict justice He being to suffer in our place could not deliver us till he had suffered sufficiently for us But now in case he had been to suffer for ever he should never suffer sufficiently till he had suffered for ever which 'till implies a contradiction since Eternity can never expire wherefore his rare invention in this case is nothing worth And whereas we suppose the dignity of Christ's person as he is God to add such a value to his Sufferings that his Temporal Sufferings may serve instead of our Eternal Sufferings he gives us this for Answer That the Godhead of Christ did not suffer which I confess is a Truth but nothing at all to the purpose for though his Godhead did not suffer yet he who is God did suffer though only in his humane Nature And it was more for God to suffer for a time than for sinful creatures to suffer for ever and with his Sufferings for his people God his Father is fully satisfied since he hath given himself for them an Offering and a Sacrifice of sweet smelling savour to God Eph. 5.2 But against this he objecteth after this manner p. 157. R. God was never unsatisfied He is Perfect Infinite Blessed unchangeable and how could he be so if he were unsatisfied at any time B. Herein he doth greatly mistake our meaning and supposeth that we hold God was discontented when we say there was need of a satisfaction to be made unto him for the sins of his people Thick Ale certainly that could fill the Gentlemans head with such gross Imaginations That indeed were as bad Divinity as most that hath come from Rome or Malmsbury and needs no more to confute it than the consideration of those Perfections of God which my Author mentioneth But to recover him out of this Error we would tell him that we mean not by a Satisfaction such a thing as makes God better contented or happier than he was before that were madness so much as to imagine but such a thing as Answers the demands of his Law and Justice which necessarily require that sin should be punished according to its demerit either upon the sinner himself or his Surety as the Learned Dr. Owen hath excellently demonstrated in his Diatriba upon that subject * De Justitiâ Divinâ which my Author I hope will not undertake to confute And now let us proceed to the remaining Proofs that he gives us in the following pages p. 162. p. 162. Proof 4 R. Zephan 1.18 He shall make a speedy Riddance of them in the day of his wrath But to continue for ever in Punishment is no speedy Riddance So the pouring out his Anger is called a Day which agrees not to a punishment that never ends B. Bold men will not scruple to act like themselves he that hath perverted so many other Texts to his purpose will do the like by this yet 't is fit we should tell him of it whether he will repent of it or no Wherefore we desire him or his companions to observe that the Text doth not say as he saith but thus The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his Jealousie for he shall make a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land Which words manifestly speak of a National judgment here in the World but prove nothing of such a quick dispatch in another world after the day of general Resurrection And as for the word Day it is not always used to signifie a day and no more or thereabouts but a time indefinitely as when we read of an Evil day and of the day of Visitation and the like In that day the Lord alone shall be exalted Esay 2.17 and what day is that Surely for ever after this world is ended Eternity will be the day of his Glory and no less shall be the day of his Favour to his Servants and of his Vengeance upon his Enemies Proof 6 R. The opinion of a punishment never to end doth cause much sin I deny that p. 163 c. Here he adds several Proofs such as they are some of the choicest of which I shall examine R. 1. It causeth fear True indeed it doth so but is it therefore the cause of sin If so what shall we think of the threatnings of God's judgments in this world doubtless they cause or should cause fear in the wicked man yet he had not best say that they cause or should cause sin in them R. 2. Fear troubles the hearts of many of the Lords people he means his Faithful people and Christ saith Let not your hearts be troubled John 14. It seems he would have their Fears removed by telling them that there is no hell nor Everlasting Punishment for any after this life But wise men will not go that way to work in comforting the Godly but rather will comfort them by telling them that Christ hath saved them from it and delivered them from that wrath to come R. 3. If the Soul apprehends it self lyable to Everlasting Punishment it cannot submit to God or be quiet What doth he mean in saying It cannot submit to God If he means a contentedness to undergo that Everlasting punishment we say God requires them not so to be content but rather to be content to turn to him and his service and to accept of Christ as Saviour and Lord that they may in a way of Faith and Holiness escape that Punishment If he mean any thing else he may keep his meaning to himself unless the world had need of it And if he think wicked men should be quiet with their Spiritual state aand live contentedly and securely in a state of sin I must profess I know no
Luke 9. And he that would not suffer his Enemies to endure a short punishment by fire will not inflict a worse that shall never end B. All this is as vain as that which before he hath offered us and will receive a quick dispatch For this kindness he shewed forth was in the day of his patience but when the day of wrath is come he himself will come in flaming fire to take Vengeance on them that abuse his Patience and obey not his Gospel Which is told us by that Apostle of Christ that well understood the greatness of the love of Christ 2 Thess 1.9 And when he concludes that Christ will not inflict eternal punishment by fire upon any from his Clemency in sparing those particular persons that the Disciples would have destroyed by Fire Herein I say v. 41. he seems to have forgotten the 25 of Matthew wherein we read that he will adjudge them on his left hand to everlasting fire even all the ungodly in general for they shall not stand in the Judgment Psal 1. that is not be absolved but condemned in that day Proof 14 p. 182. R. Such punishment agrees not to the fruits of the holy God The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy c. B. How he will make this a Proof that there is no everlasting punishment for the wicked in another life I cannot apprehend yea I am confident it hath not so much as a shew of it and therefore I shall say nothing to it for though I have engaged to answer his Subtilties and Sophistical Arguments yet his meer Impertinencies and silliness it is below me to meddle with Proof 15 p. 183. 184. R. Such punishment agrees not to the Nature of God for God is Love and is kind to the unthankful and the evil Luke 6. If God should only Love them that love him do not the Publicans the same God's Love and Mercy is infinite and delighteth in Mercy Mic. 7.18 and punishment is his strange act Esay 28.21 and Christ dyed to answer the Law that we brake B. This is the substance of this 15th Proof and is large enough if good enough To the first part I reply If it be contrary to God's Nature to punish sin for ever then the Devils should not be punished by him for ever the contrary to which we have seen already 2. If it be contrary to God's Nature to punish sin for ever it is not contrary to his Nature to preserve the sinners Being for ever and when he will ever be a sinner and so ever worthy of punishment I say if it be contrary to his Nature to punish sin thus because he is a God of Love it would be as contrary to his Nature to suffer sin to be in the World because he is a God of Holiness and Righteousness If Mr. R. say He is Love Essentially I say in like manner he is Holiness Essentially and when he would swear by himself he swears by his Holiness in the Psalms and elsewhere And if the matter be duly weighed I do not question but it will appear a stranger thing that God should suffer sin to be committed than that he should punish it as it deserves after it is committed especially where it is attended with final impenitence as in the Damned 3. God is a God of vengeance as well as of love and as the Saints are objects of his love so the wicked and impenitent are the objects of his wrath and the wrath of God abideth on them John 3. v. ult Obj. But he is kind to the unthankful and the evil Sol. True indeed he is so in this World He waits on them day after day and year after year and gives them many times more advantages for their Souls good than they care to improve and loads them daily with his benefits yea he is more kind to them than they are to themselves giving them Sermons which they care not to hear and Bibles and good Books which they care not to read unless it be in a profane and hypocritical way to excuse themselves from coming to Church But yet if they go on still in their sins and abuse his kindness to the end and continue to be the Children of Disobedience his Mercy will not follow them in another World but his Wrath will come upon them as St. Paul tells us in the Epistle to the Colossians Col. 3.6 To the next thing that he urgeth That if God should only love them that love him he should do no more than the Publicans I say unto this as follows viz. That we do not say or suppose any such thing as that God only loves them that love him he loved his Elect from Eternity and if he had not loved them before they loved him they had never loved him for all their love is from his 1 Jo. 4.19 and they therefore love him because he loved them first Yea God loves all with a common love as they are his Creatures The School-man spake not amiss upon the Point Deus diligit omnes homines Aquinas apud Davenant in Animadvers c. in quantum vult omnibus aliquod Bonum c. God saith he loveth all Men in as much as he willeth some good unto all Men yet he willeth not all that is good to all Men That is p. 170. he hath some special good which he bestoweth only upon some persons as Heaven or Salvation only upon the Righteous for St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 6. The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God So that though God may be said to love all Men after a sort yet he doth not so love the wicked that remain such as to give them Pardon and Salvation If Mr. R. hath any proofs to the contrary we desire him to bring them forth to light and shall readily if God permit examine them to the full Well but he is Infinite in Mercy and delighteth in Mercy Very true But may he not appear to be Infinite in Mercy unless he save his impenitent Enemies Sure he may And though he delighteth in Mercy yet he hath Vessels of Wrath as well as of Mercy and reserveth wrath for his Enemies Nahum 1.2 and when he will be pouring out his wrath upon them yet then he will discover his delight in Mercy and the infiniteness of his Mercy to Thousands and Thousands of his faithful Servants Esay 28.21 opened But he Objects That Punishment is called his strange Work in Esay 28.21 But first The word strange in that place is expounded by some of a great and wonderful work and of an extraordinary judgment and if we take it this way it is far from serving his purpose so much as in shew Or secondly It may be taken for such a work as flows not naturally from him but is occasioned and as it were enforced by the sins and provocations of Men. As in a Father to his Child His comforting of
the word many we may by a very usual figure understand All and so we find it is put for All in several Texts of Holy Writ Psal 97.1 The Lord reigneth let the earth be glad let the multitudes of the Isles or the many Isles be glad thereof i. e. let all Countries be glad of it Let all the faithful in all Nations comfort themselves by the thoughts of his Soveraignty and Dominion over all So in Rom. 5. Through the disobedience of one viz. Adam many were made sinners viz. All those that descended from him in a Natural way And if any that are dead or sleeping in c. should not awake and arise hereafter it must be the wicked for that 's our Adversary's Opinion in the case but that cannot be supposed nor cannot stand with the truth of this Text which tells us that some of those many shall arise to everlasting shame and contempt Which is most direct for my purpose And so plain that I cannot guess any thing that can with any shew of reason be objected against it For first If the wicked shall awake to everlasting contempt The proof of the point from Dan. 12. it cannot be but they must remain as to their Natures and Personal Beings and not be annihilated And secondly If they awake to everlasting contempt and shame it must needs follow that they shall be everlastingly under shame c. As in case Mr. R. his Book against Hell c. should bring his name into perpetual reproach among Christians it must needs be perpetually under reproach And the everlasting shame is everlasting in the same sense as the glory of the righteous in the same verse is everlasting And thus I have proved the everlasting punishment of the wicked in another World from several Scriptures See also to the same purpose Matth. 3.12 Luk. 3.17 Matth. 18.8 Mark 9.47 Jo. 3.36 Revel 19.20.20 vers 10. and many more Rev. 14.11 which thy own Reading may furnish thee with And thus having proved the Point by several Texts of Scripture Some Scripture Arguments for the Doctrine I shall now add ex abundanti some Scripture-Arguments to confirm it And the first is this The wicked and impenitent shall always or to all Eternity have a Being But they shall not have a Being in Joy and Happiness nor in a middle state between Happiness and Misery therefore they shall always have a Being in Misery and Torment 1. From the everlastingness of their Being The Major or first Proposition is easie to be proved For first The Dead shall be raised incorruptible in 1 Cor. 15.52 What Dead doth he mean surely all of them since he makes no distinction between one sort and another in this respect As when it is said that the Sea shall give up her Dead The wicked shall always have a Being that is all her Dead And if we shall suppose that it must be meant only of the Dead Saints or as the Scripture calls it 1 Cor. 15.52 the Dead in Christ then it might be said as properly that the Dead shall not be raised incorruptible for we might mean it of the wicked that are Dead yea it might be more properly said so for the wicked that are dead are many more than the Saints that are dead because most of the Living never were Saints indeed Now the Denomination being to be given from the greater part I see no Reason why it might not more fitly be said The Dead shall not be raised incorruptible than to say the contrary if only the dead Saints should be raised Nor hath my Author or any for him ever been so resolute as to affirm the word Dead to signifie the Saints more than the wicked And their Souls being immortal we cannot think that God will unite them at Judgment to Mortal Bodies If God had meant that the Bodies of the wicked after the Day of Judgment should dye again in a proper sense surely he would not raise them at that Day from their Graves If Death and Destruction of their Flesh were the great wrath they were to lye under the Worms would be sufficient Executioners of his wrath upon them What need any such Miracle be wrought upon them as the quickning and raising of their putrified Bodies if he intended they should dye and corrupt again So then the first Proposition is certain that the wicked themselves shall be raised to an Immortal state at the Day of Judgment They that would come but seldome to the Church shall not have the Happiness to lye always in the Grave they shall be remembred in that bond of forgetfulness and not dye like Bruits though they lived like such The wicked shall not be happy to Eternity The second thing to be proved is this That the wicked shall not have a Being in Happiness after the Day of Judgment This I need not be large in proving to them that know any thing of Holy Scripture They shall come forth to the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28 29. which will be far enough from all Happiness in the least degree though they were joyful enough when they were Damning and Sinking on Earth yet they will be sorrowful enough when their Damned Petition is granted when they sink irrecoverably into Damnation it self when instead of thinking themselves Companions for Gentlemen they will find themselves companions for Devils Damnation doubtless will destroy all joys whatsoever Matth. 25.41 and the curse that shall be on them will seclude all blessedness Nor shall they be in a middle state between Happiness and Misery after the Day of Judgment for there is no such middle state thought of by any sober Christians nor so much as dream'd of by the Papists themselves whatsoever properties Purgatory may have in it before the Day of Judgment yet they hold it shall cease for ever after that Day and nothing remain but Heaven and Hell and Joy and Torment to be the places and portions of reasonable Creatures And this conceipt is abundantly confuted by what hath been said already for Wrath and Damnation and the Curse are or imply a proper state of Misery not a middle state between Misery and Happiness Wherefore the Consequence is clear as the Light The Conseq cleared for if the wicked shall always have a Being after the Day of Judgment and yet never have a Being in Happiness then it must needs follow that they must have a Being always in Misery and Torment And this I think is a plain Argument and that which follows is no less plain being taken from the nature of Divine Justice It is thus good Reader Divine Justice requires that the Wicked that continue such A second Argument taken from God's Justice 1. Cleared should be punished for ever Therefore they shall be punished for ever The Consequence will not be denied The Antecedent is proved thus If the wicked are always worthy of Punishment for their Wickedness then
nothing of that place which is commonly called by that Name Scripture assures us that there was a Garden in Eden Gen. 2.8 in which Man was placed yet I might say without absurdity That it speaks nothing distinctly of that place for it tells us only that it was East-ward in the general but saith not what part of the World it was in how long or how broad or how near to the place where Jerusalem stood or the like So in p. 6. He gives us another chip of the same Block Page 6 for he tells us that the word Hell is not found in the Hebrew or Greek And that the word Sheol which is so translated signifies properly the Grave A very precious Revelation and such as might be well accepted if my Author or any of his Judgment would but impart it kindly to those Noble spirited Gentlemen that are Inamorato's to a play and frequent those Places where all things are common For might they not go the more pleasantly thither when they are assured that if they dye when they are at worst they shall go to no worse a place than the Grave and that there is no other nor worser Hell than it for that which precise Men have rendered by the word Hell doth properly signifie the Grave But yet let them not trust too much to this kind of Learning for if they please to consider what I have to say unto it they will find it is not worth one Glass of good Wine Mr. R.'s invention to prove no Hell will prove as strongly that there is no Devil For if this were a proof that there is no Hell viz. that the word so rendered signifies another thing sometimes then I say at the same rate of arguing we might prove as well and as wisely that there is no Devil neither for the word Devil is not found in the Greek Testament since an English word is not a Greek word And that which is translated Devil in the 4th of Matth. and other places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is known to signifie an ill-conditioned Man a Detractor Railer Accuser and such like This I say is the proper importance of the original word And yet sobâ—r Christians will believe in spight of all Mr. R.'s subtilty that it signifies in that Chapter the same that we use to call by that name even the great implacable adversary of Mankind and cannot doubt of it if they read the 10. and 11. Verses of that Chapter And this is that which he hath offered us upon the word Sheol He adds something like it upon the word Gehenna But of that with God's leave in the next Section CHAP. II. SECT II. Mr. R. his Observations upon the word Hell-Fire Damnation of Hell c. Of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Of Tophet Of the Worm that never dyeth censured R. Hell-Fire in Matth. 5. and other places signifies the Fire that was in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom And the word Gehenna which is used for Hell P. 12. and 14. is borrowed from the Valley of Hinnom BUT by his leave the former is denied Hell-Fire in the Gospel doth only allude to that Fire in the Valley of Hinnom Jer. 7.31 where as the Prophet Jeremy sheweth the People most cruelly sacrificed their Children in the Fire Of Hell to the Idol Moloch And is it not very fit for the place of Torment for the Enemies of God to be expressed by this place of Wickedness and Torture As the word which notes a mischievous Person is fitly used to signifie the Devil as was noted before And that the casting into Hell-fire cannot signifie the casting into the Fire of Hinnom aforesaid is manifest because that Fire had been put out long ago and the place turned to another use by the good King Josiah as we find in 2 King 23.10 Gehenna what And for the word Gehenna we confess it is borrowed from the Vally of Hinnom that place of Torture aforesaid and therefore is very fit to express the place appointed for the Punishment of the Wicked c. And that it only alludes to that place Per Metaphoram uti Piscator in Scholiis super Matth. 5.22 Matth. 10.28 but doth not mean the place it self is manifest by what was now said neither was that a place for the Soul to suffer in or for the Body after its Death as the Hell which our Saviour speaks of most certainly is Matth. 10. but rather fear him who is able to destroy Soul and Body in Hell and that too after the Body is killed Luke 12.5 that is He can quicken the dead Body and make it live in the Torments of Hell Of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke the 12. Having pleased his Humour upon the word Gehenna in the 16. and 17. Pages to as little profit to himself or his Reader as can well be desired He proceeds in the following Pages to darken the Light of the word Everlasting from thence to the 22 page of his Book p. 16 17. and 23. which they that admire for good and sound may conveniently Read the foregoing Chapter where I have examined them severally This Reader I thought fit to mention that thou mayst not think I do wilfully pass over any thing in his Pamphlet that is not grosly impertinent Then in the 23 page he passeth his grave censure upon that Text in St. Luke cap. 16. concerning the Rich man and Lazarus where he tells us that it is but a Parable And that I am confident was no new discovery of his own it was found out long before the world had any benefit by this Book of his Then having time and paper to spare he undertakes to prove it by no less than Ten Reasons as the Socinians of old urged 30 Arguments against Infant Baptism But as all theirs were deceitful arguments so Nine of his Ten Reasons are needless ones for in such a case one may be sufficient And when he hath gained what he contends for that it is a Parable yet he hath gained very little as to the cause he hath undertaken For as the Learned Mr. Baxter saith very well If that of the Rich man in Hell and Lazarus should be no more than a Parable Saints Rest part 2. cap. 10. Sect. 4. yet it seems very unlikely that Christ would teach them by such a Parable as seemed so evidently to intimate the Souls Happiness or Misery immediately after death if there were no such thing So say I in like manner it were very strange that Christ should teach them by such a Parable as seems so plainly to intimate a Hell or Torment for the Souls of the ungodly that dye such though they dye Rich if there were no such matter The next place of Scripture he hath taken a view of is Esay 30.33 Of Tophet Esay 30.33 p. 26. c. where he tells us we must understand by Tophet only the Valley of
Enemies c. 2 Pet. 3.7 not for Mr. R. Nor will that of St. Peter make for him for there 't is only said that the day of Judgment will be a day of perdition to ungodly men And Perdition is no more than the word Destruction signifies and if he tells us Destruction when spoken of the wicked is meant of the destroying their Natures and consuming their Substance as the fire doth Tares or Stubble we may answer him sufficiently from what hath been said in Chap. 1. Sect. 2. towards the end and in the Margin Cap. 1. Sect. 3. upon 2 Thess 1.9 Of the word Cursed p. 38. The word Cursed comes next to hand upon which he gives us several notes It is to be Barren to be a Fugitive and a Wanderer c. and then he adds several Texts wherein it signifies as he saith so to be But I pray Sir is this all that it may be supposed to signifie if not 't is nothing to our purpose if it be then let it be made appear that it signifies so and no worse when 't is said Depart from me ye cursed c. Matth. 25. He that concludeth it must signifie to be Barren when spoken of wicked men Matth. 21. because it signifies so when spoken of Trees will prove himself to be but a wooden Disputant Of Eternal Damnation p. 39. Mr. R. p. 39. Eternal Damnation is in the Greek Eternal Judgment and a Judgment is a Sentence c. Whether he will render the original word by Damned or Judged I shall not much regard in the present case for the judging of the wicked is apparently the Damning or condemning of them Matth. 25.41 Heb. 6.2 opened We read in Hebrews the 6.2 of Eternal Judgment What will my Author say to this for he cannot well call it an Eternal Sentence for 't is plain The sentence that Christ will pass is not to be called Eternal for it will be passed in a little time yea in a moment in comparison the Judgment therefore is called Eternal rather in respect of the state that men shall be adjudged unto whether of Joy or of Torment and which will be the wicked mans portion I need not now stand to discover He proceeds to the word Fire and to enquire what manner of fire the Fire of Hell if any such thing be may be called by us Of the word Fire and Corporal fire c. p. 40. whether Corporal or not For the first He gives us several senses of the Word and tells us it is sometimes used to signifie God's Word sometimes God himself by a Figure c. Which Observations I have no cause at all to admire since they are matters of small difficulty and little cause to thank him for since they are designed for a bad end These therefore I pass over Q. If Corporal fire or not and shall consider rather the Learning which his next page is beautified with viz. in answer to the question in the Margin He contends for the Negative Mr. R. The Fire of Hell cannot be Corporal Fire p. 41 c. for these Reasons following And then He mentions no less than Eight that thou may'st perceive that his Brain is not cursed viz. not barren or unfruitful And though I am not bound to follow him in all his follies yet some of those Reasons that seem strongest I shall not think much to consider of His first reason Mr. R. One Reason is this Because Corporal Fire consumes the Combustible matter cast into it But the Fire of Hell they say consumes not the Persons cast into it therefore it is not Corporal Fire Answer If the Fire of Hell be Corporal Fire yet nothing proves that it must needs consume them that are cast into it For it is not to be considered what it might do in an ordinary and a natural way but what the God of all Power will have it to do and hath appointed it to do The reason why that Fire that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrha did consume them was not so much because it was Corporal Fire as because God had appointed it to consume them Matth. 25.41 46. But how can my Author prove that the Fire of Hell is appointed to consume the wicked and impenitent It is appointed rather to Torment and Punish them and therefore in Matth. 25.41 They that shall be sent away with a Curse into Everlasting Fire shall be so far from being consumed that they shall be in Everlasting Punishment Vers the last And in Matth. 13.42 Matth. 13.42 't is said they shall be cast into a Furnace of Fire not where they shall be consumed to ashes but where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth which cannot be when they are consumed Mr. R. himself being Judge And if the wicked should be cast into Hell-fire only to be consumed by it then I say the case would be no worse with them in respect of the Fire of Hell than the case of Malefactors in respect of the Faggot-fire here on Earth yea no worse than the case of faithful Martyrs of Christ for they were consumed by Fire as to their Bodies And he that can think it will be no worse with the Enemies of God in the World to come than it was with his Servants in this World must stoutly deny the faith and strongly oppose his own wits also His 2d reason 2d Reason Mr. R. Corporal Fire may be quenched but Hell-fire they say cannot But is it we that say so or is it not our Lord that saith so yea three times in a few Verses Mark 9.44 Where the Fire is not quenched i. e. not at all or never As when 't is said He that believeth not the Son but lives and dies in unbelief shall not see life or happiness not at all that is And if it be Corporal Fire God is able to continue it for ever as well as for a Time And let Mr. R. prove that he will not continue Corporal Fire in Hell if he can 3d. reason 3. Things seen are Temporal only saith Paul Hell-fire therefore if Corporal is not Eternal for Corporal fire is seen But the Apostle doth not mean that nothing visible is Eternal for the Body of Christ is a visible Body yet Eternal 2. Hell-fire though it were Corporal is not actually seen by Mortal Eyes in this Life and therefore is not proved to be Temporal by that Text. But possibly some may say What is your Judgment in the case If it were worth while to tell thee it is thus The Author's Opinion of Hell-fire That the Fire of Hell is partly Figurative and partly Real and Corporal or that in some Scriptures it is to be taken in the former sense in the latter in others 1. Partly Figurative For Example When it is said that the Everlasting Fire is prepared for the Devil and his Angels in Matth. 25. I am apt to think that the
Lands had suffered and doubtless not so great in all respects as the Land of Sodom had done So that most desolate is in substance no more than very desolate And so understand the King of Terrors or most terrible of that which is very terrible as Death may be and is to many though there be a worse thing after Death to them that dye in their sins And indeed Death is most terrible as it hath relation to that which comes after it which is enough for this new cavil Consider 9. R. Sin is punished to the full in this life Ezek. 36.18 I poured out my fury upon them p. 123 124. then he adds would ye have it to be punished to the full in this life and afterwards with a punishment never to end then after some extravagancies he adds in the next page 't is as disagreeable to justice to punish sin twice as to receive the payment of a debt twice B. Herein I confess he hath hit the mark as well as if he had been Thomas Gunne himself for the whole state of the question turns upon this hinge whether sin be punished to the full in this life And as Mr. R. and I can agree but in few things so in this we differ as much as may be for I say it is not and my reasons are these 1. Because many ungodly men have had a continued state of prosperity and scarce ever felt any thing that they accounted a punishment yea nothing more common than for such persons to conclude their sins are pardoned because they do not find themselves punished for them I was envious at the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73. 1 to 6 verse and in the following words he tells us they are not in trouble like other men nor doth he intimate any visible Judgments that come upon them in this life And can Mr. R. perswade himself that the sins of such men were punished to the full in this life 2. Because the day of wrath is after this life even at the coming of Christ See Job 21.30 compared with the Text in the Margin * 2 Pet. 2.9 3. Because their sins make them worthy of everlasting punishment See the first Chapter of this Book in answer to the question how it is just to punish temporal offences eternally But on the contrary my Author contends that sin is punished to the full in this life or at least he saith so if we can take his word for it But how he will prove it who can tell For those texts of Scripture which speak of his pouring out his fury upon the wicked in this life as Ezekiel 36.18 are far from proving that there is no wrath for them in another life Yea so far as that they will manifestly prove the contrary for if God punish sin in the day of his Patience how much more will he punish it hereafter in the day of his wrath which is called the day of the Revelation of his righteous Judgment and the day of perdition to ungodly men Rom. 2.5 in 2 Pet. 3.7 They shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt after they slept as it were in the dust of the earth Dan. 12. and yet we know many of them have been brought to shame in this world and suffered shameful deaths for their crimes Object But it is not agreeable to justice to punish sin twice no more than to receive the payment of a debt twice saith Mr. R. Solut. But certainly God best knows what is justice and what is agreeable to it and there is no unrighteousness in him and his word tells us of wrath to come as well as wrath present and of everlasting punishment as well as temporal Matth. 25. 1 Thess 1. 1 Thess 1.10 And the punishment he will inflict upon the impenitent in another world will be so far from any appearance of injustice as that it will be the revelation of his righteous judgment in the Text aforesaid Rom. 2.5 Nor is it any shew of injustice to punish sin twice unless the former were as much punishment as sin deserves as a man may justly be required to make several payments of a debt when the first payment is not to the full and if my Author can prove that sin deserves no more or longer punishments than the punishments of this present life he will shew himself a man of rare acuteness Consider 10 His Tenth consideration is little different from the former it being an assertion of the like nature viz. That there is not a worse thing than Gods fury wrath and anger and these saith he are poured out in this life he means to the full so as that there shall be no more of it remaining for any man in another life His abuse of Scripture p. 125. And how will he prove that these are poured out to the full in this present life Why by these places Ps 78.49 Ps 85.3 Job 14.13 The former he renders thus he poured out all his fierce anger but by his leave the Text saith no such thing but rather thus he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger or as Junius renders aestum irae suae the heat of his anger namely by bringing great calamity upon them here in this world but how will that prove there is no punishment for the impenitent of them hereafter So Psal 85.3 is spoken of Gods own people whom he would magnifie his Mercy upon Thou hast covered all their sins Thou hast taken away all thy wrath viz. from them whose sins he forgave But must it be so therefore with his Enemies too that dye in their sins and would never consent to forsake them while they lived So upright Job speaks of wrath that would be past as to himself But must there be no wrath hereafter for the mischievous Hypocrite Sure that was far from his thoughts The Hypocrites in heart do heap up wrath Job 36 13â— viz. against themselves as 't is plain and needs no proof Wherefore if he blame those that make too bold with the Scripture he must needs pass a hard censure on himself too Yet there is one phrase which to the men of his Religion may seem to favour his assertion viz. the accomplishing of God's anger in this world Ezek. 5.13 Ezek. 5.13 Considered Thus will I accomplish mine Anger viz. by the Judgments mentioned in the verse before Famine c. But those people there spoken of may be considered either personally or civilly and nationally his anger may be accomplished as to National judgments when it is not so as to personal punishments as in Sodom c. 2. We may take the word Anger for the threatnings of punishment which he had made against them in particular as Rom. 1.18 The wrath or anger of God is revealed from Heaven i. e. His threatnings are set forth So here v. 12. A third part of thee shall dye with the Pestilence and with Famine shall they be
And that so great sinners are worthy of more punishment than corporal death I believe was scarce ever doubted of by any but Mr. R. that ever were acquainted with Scripture and the sound writings that explain it yea I doubt not but the proudest Jesuit in the world would easily grant it and if it be needful to be proved these considerations may be sufficient for it Sin deserves worse punishment than corporal Death 1. That this is no more than the Beasts and Birds endure who never sinned they dye and dye totally whereas men though never so wicked dye only in their bodies as all but Atheists will acknowledge And can we think an obstinate rebellious sinner deserves no worse than that which the most harmless useful creatures do suffer 2. That the best of the Saints suffer death as well as the worst yea some of them have suffered much worse viz. by conflicting many years with horrid Temptations to despair and the like as Mr. Glover a most excellent Christian in the Book of Martyrs is said to have been in despair five years together And shall we think the wicked are worthy of no worse evil than the best of God's children have undergone God forbid p. 102. In the former part of his Book He tells us of some Books that were burnt in London by the Hangman and saith thereupon the same Spirit is alive to burn this which he hath written And I think it doth as well deserve that honour as ever any book in the world did as may appear not only by what hath been seen of it hitherto but also and especially by that which follows to the end of it and particularly by this act of his in this Page I am upon viz. by urging Rom. 6.21 to prove that there is not any thing to come after Death to speak in his own plain words p. 141. lin 16. Surely it is more than bad enough to doubt whether there be any thing to come after Death or not much worse to hold absolutely that there is not for that contradicts the Scriptures which tell us that after Death there is a Judgment and a Vengeance to be inflicted on them that obey not the Gospel of Christ 2 Thess 1.9 Hebrews 9.27 Heb. 9.27 and in a word everlasting shame and contempt to the wicked he means Dan. 12.2 c. But for a Man to act Mr. R.'s part and to urge Holy Scripture in defence of such a Heathenish Opinion who can imagine how horrible a thing it is in the eyes of God I doubt not but he would suffer worse than corporal Death for it if God should deal with him after his deserts what ever slight thoughts he hath of it And how far these words The end of these things is Death I say how far these words are from proving that there is no Punishment for any after Death is so plain that there 's little need of any thing to be said about it for Death here signifies as before Eternal damnation As when it is said if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that is be Damned Rom. 8.13 for however they live they are as much subject to temporal Death as 't is clear Proof 3d. R. Their Opinion of a Punishment never to end makes not sin p. 146. but Christ to be the cause of their so suffering for if Christ had not come there had been no Resurrection and if no Resurrection there could be no Punishment after Death But Christ may not be supposed to be the cause of their Punishment c. B. If this be a Proof it is a very ugly one certainly and will not be much valued by them that know what Christ or Sin or Punishment is However I shall not think much to say something to it I confess Christ is said to be the cause of the Resurrection of the Dead He is the efficient cause of the Resurrection of the wicked as he is God of the same substance with his Father and he is the Meritorious cause of the Resurrection of the Saints as their Head and Mediator I mean as their Resurrection is a glorious Resurrection in Philip. 3.11 If by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the Dead * Intelligit non simplicem sed gloriosam Zanch. in loc Now observe his Argument Without the Resurrection the wicked could not be punished after Death Christ is the cause of their Resurrection if they be raised therefore if they suffer for ever Christ is the cause of it which is absurd This is manifestly his Proof in this matter and how absurd it is may be shewed in a Parallel case as thus Without life and strength Men could not rob on the High-way but it is God that gives them life and strength and without him they could not have them therefore God is the cause of their Robbing Would not a Christian abhor such a Reasoning as this yea would not the Devil himself be almost ashamed of it and yet if I am not most exceedingly mistaken it is as good a Reasoning as that of his yea the very same in kind If he had not forgotten all his Logick he might have remembred that Causa sine quâ non is not a cause strictly and properly so called but only a pre-requisite condition c. Sine ullo causali Influxu as the Learned Scheibler expresseth it * Topic. de causis cap. 2. Artic. 4. If my Author had not had Ink and Paper or something that might serve in stead of them he could not have written these his many Infallible Proofs yet if we speak properly it was not his Ink or his Paper or any such thing that was the cause of his writing them but his Error and his desire of defending it c. And seeing his great weakness in this particular it will not be much amiss to bring in to his Assistance the Learning of his Learned Brother Mr. Tho. Hobbs of Malmesbury who though in some things he speaks more honestly than my Author hath done yet is no approver of the Doctrine I contend for For in his Leviathan Chapter 44. p. 346. as the Reverend Dr. Tully citeth him in his Exposit Symboli he supposeth the Everlasting Punishment spoken of in the Gospel A Digression to Mr. Hobbs to be meant not of every Damned Man in particular but only to be specifical and to respect divers of them successively so as that one should be punished a time and then be turned into nothing then another to come in his place and so soon as he is annihilated another after him and another again after him and so on Which doubtless was the fruit of his own Invention for I verily believe it never came into the Head of any Man before him But I answer Answ 1 1. By his leave there can be no Everlasting Punishment upon them at this rate unless they who are first annihilated are made alive again after their annihilation for if they
wise man that is of his Opinion R. 4. This Opinion maketh many to murder themselves that they may not live to encrease their sin and consequently their Punishment in another world This Opinion saith he maketh this mischief But as he doth not prove it so I deny it For 't is not this Opinion but their mistakes about it and other Delusions and Temptations that maketh them so to do And it would be no hard matter to prove that this Doctrine rightly believed would be a powerful Preservative against self-murder for if Murderers are so much in danger of such * Rev. 21.8 misery he that believes so will not easily be perswaded to murder himself to bring this misery upon him yet we must not judge that all self-killers are self-murderers or damned persons R. 5. The contrary Opinion tends most to comfort those persons whose friends have dyed and left no testimony of their conversion to God This Reader is the present case what course we should take to comfort those persons who are afraid their friends shall suffer the everlasting punishments as dying without any signs of a true Conversion My Author thinks it the best way to tell them that there is no such thing for any man to suffer though finally wicked and impenitent This indeed were a very quick and easie way if it were but as safe too but certainly it is not as my first Chapter hath sufficiently shewed where the proof of the point is given at large and far above all that Mr. R. or all his Brethren can ever Answer to it The surer and more warrantable ways for men to quiet their minds in that case are as follows 1. To judge charitably and hope the best of their deceased Friends The Case of those that fear the worst of their deceased Friends considered and not too confidently to perswade themselves of their everlasting misery because they could not see such signs of true Conversion as might be wished For though we may be sure that all they are lost for ever and beyond all hopes of recovery that die unconverted yet we cannot be so sure of such and such particular persons that they did die unconverted for God's Judgments are a great deep and his Ways past finding out God may work his gracious work in the Soul at the last minute of life if he so please and we cannot prove that he will not do so Object Obj. But if a man should not shew any signs of Repentance to his last hour 't is very doubtful if he be ever converted indeed and we have much more grounds for our Fears than for our Hopes concerning him Answer 'T is very true and cannot justly be denyed if a man be not godly 'till his dying day 't is ten to one but he will dye an ungodly man and if he do so he is certainly undone for ever in 2 Pet. 3.7 The day of Judgment is called a day of perdition to such persons But then consider 1. That if your Friends have lived and dyed ungodly and so are fallen into everlasting Punishment yet it was God that cast them into that Punishment He alone hath the Keys of Hell and of Death and none but he could adjudge them to it and therefore they must not murmur at it since it was He that hath done it Thus the Psalmist Psal 39. I was dumb Ps 39.9 and opened not my mouth in a way of impatience he means for thou Lord hast done it 2. As it was God that hath done it so he hath never done it but when it was fit to be done he is perfectly just in this severe Dispensation of casting the impenitent into Everlasting Punishment The proof of which I have given in the end of my first Chapter Assuredly The Lord is holy in all his ways and Righteous in all his works Psal 145.18 and if we doubt of it now there shall hereafter be a Revelation of his Righteous judgment Rom. 2. If they continued his Enemies must he save them because they were your friends or must their Relation to you hinder the Judge of the world from doing Right Surely not 3ly Your excessive sorrow from the fear of your Friends misery will do no good at all but only disquiet your hearts in vain for it will not please God nor profit them but rather unfit you for the duties that are incumbent upon you and therefore submit to God and pray to him to abate your sorrows 4ly Instead of murmuring at God's Dispensations in any kind give him thanks for his patience and forbearance towards you and the means of grace that are afforded you And be assured what ever be the state of the Dead your selves shall be happy enough if you turn to him in sincerity Esay 55.7 while you live on Earth 5ly Study the vile nature of sin view it in the Glass of God's holy Law and in the Sufferings of Christ c. See how it crosses the will and dishonours the Name of the great God See how it breaks his Law resists his Power denies his Soveraignty disparages his Wisdome despises his Threatnings and abuses his Mercy c. If we did rightly apprehend these things we should be so far from murmuring at our Maker for condemning some that we should greatly admire that he doth not condemn all sinners in the World Proof 7 R. We read in Esay 57. v. 16. The words of the Lord himself saying I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth c. Therefore he will not punish for ever B. If he were deservedly looked upon as an absurd fellow that made his Answer concerning Onyons when the question was proposed concerning Garlick only what an intolerable absurdity is my Author guilty of when he urgeth such a Text for the Impunity of the wicked which manifestly speaks of the Mercy of God to the Saints In the foregoing Verse he tells us He will look with an eye of favour that is to him that is of an humble and a contrite Spirit v. 15. And then he adds I will not contend for ever viz. with such a one But will this prove that he will not contend for ever with any others with them that are so proud that they care not for God that go on wilfully in the ways that his Soul hateth and will not be reformed surely not If Mr. R. will see no difference between the godly and the wicked the humble Christian and the proud-hearted Hypocrite yet our God will and will also make others see the difference hereafter when the one shall be separated from the other Mal. 3.18 as the Sheep from the Goats Matth 25. setting the one on his right hand and the other on his left Doubtless the boldest Hypocrite will tremble then and their hopeless cries be far louder in another World than their scornfullest laughter was in this CHAP. III. SECT IV. The remaining part of his Infallible Proofs examined Proof 8 R. God hath
we Preach Men into Despair But if they dye as they lived and so come to Hell the thing they so much feared will come upon them there will be an absolute total and everlasting desperation Their hope shall perish Pro. 11.7 They will be no more able to hope for any comfort than to annihilate the Heavens And how bitter this will be who can tell for verily Desperation is a Hell it self said one who I hope is in Heaven Francis Spira Fifthly Their Souls will be exceedingly miserable 5. Conscience accusing through the rebukes and accusations of their own Consciences They do sometimes accuse them on Earth or else our reproofs of their sins would not so greatly offend them how much more will they do so in Hell when they are throughly awakened and enlightened and quickned by the wrath of their Judge for then they will have nothing to do but to testifie against them and torment the sinners for not obeying them before A wounded spirit or conscience who can bear said Solomon and yet the wounds of the Spirit and troubles of the Conscience do sometimes tend to the Health and Salvation of the Soul through the help of the Spirit of God how intolerable then must the state of the Damned be whose wounds of Conscience will never be healed who will ever be tormented with its ragings and rebukes And O how much matter of accusation and rebuke will it then have against them How will conscience work 1. When they think of the excellency and eternity of that blessedness they have lost and how they have lost it for sin and vanity and those things that perished in the using c. 2. When they think with themselves how fair they were many of them for Heaven how highly they were exalted in Gospel priviledges having the Word of Life and Salvation and the Ministry of it among them which if they had improved as they might and ought to have done they might have been as those Saints whose glory they behold with so much envy and astonishment 3ly When they remember how much time and Golden opportunities they had to consider of their ways and seek that grace and mercy that would save them which they trifled away as nothing worth 4ly When they remember how often they were perswaded to return and how often they were convinced of the evil of their ways of the necessity of turning and yet in spight of all would go on still in their trespasses O that sinners would consider of this when they still enjoy the instructions and exhortations of a plain and faithful Ministry How they will one day wish that they had been willing to obey it or that they had never been able to hear it It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha at the Judgment Day than for such That Sodom that was the shame of the World for wickedness and the most eminent instance of Divine vengeance of any People under Heaven being burnt with Fire and Brimstone from thence yet that Sodom shall be in a better case at Judgment than the neglecters of this so great Salvation Matth. 11.24 It will be some abatement of their Torment that they had not those means of grace those constant Sermons those strong perswasions and clear convictions that Gospel-sinners had They shall not have so much darkness of sorrow because they rebelled not against so much light 5ly When they remember what cost and charges they were at what care and pains they took many of them in Satan's shameful services How they adventured the shame and censures of the World the loss of their health their peace their life to please the Devil and their wicked humours How they stifled their consciences shut their eyes against the light rejected Christ and Glory his Word and his Kingdom for the deceitful pleasures and profits of sin and took more pains in the way to destruction than ever any pious Man did in the way to Heaven How perfect a Hell will Hell be unto them where their own Consciences shall be their Tormentors where their Accusation and Rage shall never cease Mark 9. v. 44. where their Worm shall never dye Doubtless they will then be in the saddest sense a Terror to themselves It were easie to name many other particulars that will aggravate the Damned's Misery But I have other things to speak of and therefore pass them by However that little I have said already if we write everlasting upon it will in some measure shew the folly of them that will venture their Souls in any way of wickedness Matth. 16.26 though it were to gain the whole World by it The great Objection answered But say some If Damnation be such a dreadful thing as you make it to be and be also everlasting what will you say of the goodness of God which the Scripture speaks so often of Or how can it stand with the goodness of a God viz. with Infinite Goodness to cast his Creatures into so great misery especially if we suppose this shall be the case of most Men as you asserted before I answer He that hath well weighed what was replyed to Mr. R. when he cavilled somewhat to the same purpose need not be much troubled with this Objection Nevertheless I shall not grudge a large Answer to it it being that which is most commonly urged by selfish sensual sinners and hath not been wholly forgotten by the Author of that Paradoxical Book De Amplitudine Regni Coelestis * Caelius Secundus Boni Natura est Communicari quomodo Deus Pater Miserationum c. It is the nature of good to communicate it self and the more he communicates his goodness the more he discovers it And how shall God appear to be the Father of Mercies and Infinite in Mercy if his saving beatifying Mercy be not extended to the greatest part of Adam's Posterity So He. But though a Man cannot go through a thick Hedge without scratches yet he may go by it at an easier rate so he that cannot make his way through objected difficulties yet may pass them by and hold fast the truth in spight of them And as to this particular if thy reason cannot untie this Knot let thy faith cut it asunder And if thou canst not see how the Infiniteness of God's goodness can stand with the everlasting punishment of the Creature yet believe it nevertheless for the sake of that Word that testifies both of them unto us For as our Lord Christ hath told us There is none good but God viz. absolutely Matth. 19. unchangeably infinitely good So he hath told us no less plainly That the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment Matth. 25. And therefore 't is certain the one is not contrary to or inconsistent with the other whatsoever the wits or follies of Men may judge of it And that thy Reason as well as thy faith may have some satisfaction in the case I shall lay down these
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
they were born for nothing but to eat and drink and snort and sport c. or as the worthy Author of the Discourse of the Decay of Piety that live in the world as the Leviathan in the Sea to take their Pastime in it and to make up the parallel delight themselves to devour their Underlings Matth. 6. Col. 3. c. or as the Scripture Phrases it that be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God that set their affections mainly on things upon earth and not the things that are above that mind nothing seriously but Heathen like what they shall eat and what they shall drink and with what they shall be cloathed These I call Sensual Gentry and I will be content to be judged by any but themselves whether I may not fitly call them so and may lawfully say somewhat the more to them because others say so little Yet lest I should lye open to too many Censures for it and lest my plainness should be interpreted to be folly pride or peevishness or the like I think it meet to mention some passages out of several Writers that speak as bluntly to these men as I can do and yet will be confessed to be such as knew well what belongeth to Learning Grace and good manners First the famous Cambridge Orator speaks thus in his Poem Mr. G. Herberts Church Porch O England full of sin but most of sloth Spit out thy Phlegm and fill thy Breast with glory Thy Gentry bleats as if thy native cloath Transfus'd a Sheepishness into the Story Not that they all are so but that the most Are gone to grass and in the Pasture lost That worthy Divine of Broughton * Mr. R. Bolton in Northhampton-shire in his excellent Assize Sermon at the end of his four last things complained of the great degeneration of the modern Gentry speaking to this effect They are so vainly brought up and so strangely pufft up with insolency and Self-esteem c. that commonly by such time as they come to strength of body and mind corrupt affection obtains its full strength and height and hardness in their hearts and I am afraid if we go on meaning without a Reformation our Posterity will find in the next age the basest Generation of English that ever breathed in this famous Kingdom So he in p. 217 and 218. of the said work And whether this thing he feared be now come to pass or not I do not say let others judge The forementioned excellent Doctor also in that very Sermon makes as bold with them Dr. Saunderson speaking to those Gallants that do nothing for the good of humane Society but live as if they were made for no other ends but to eat and drink and sleep and game c. tells them however they might take it that the poorest contemptible creature that cryes Oysters in the streets for a livelihood deserves his Bread better than these brave men and his course of life is better approved of God and every wise man than theirs And as he adds a Horse that is not good for the Cart nor the Way nor the Race nor the Wars nor any other service though he be never so well made never so well shaped and never so well clothed yet is but a Jade still and after the Application of it adds the titles of honour which in courtesie we give you we bestow upon their memories whose degenerate off-spring you are and they no more belong to you than the Reverence the good man did to Isis belonged to the Asse that carried her Image And thus having cleared my way I shall now come directly to my intended work to exhort the brave Gentile sinners to consider the things that concern them which I take to be one of the fittest Uses that can be made of the Doctrine of Hell Torments The Exhortation c. Since there is a state of extream and everlasting punishment for the ungodly in another world 't is high time Sirs to look about you and to take care of your neglected Souls before you have lost them O consider this you that forget God and use all diligence to escape this wrath to come your Estates are better than other mens and your Breeding too as you would have us to think and are your Selves more contemptible or less worthy of your care and Religious regard Surely not You know that your time is passing and will return no more Death is at your backs as it were that pale horse will shortly overtake you and tread your honour in the dust and can you doubt of this or make light of it You are not sure to live another day you know nothing to the contrary but your Souls may be called for this very night Luke 12.20 though you have built your Barns never so largely to lay up your substance in and can you think the remembrance of the pleasures of a Sensual careless life will make death more safe or comfortable to you or if it could yet we are well assured it cannot make Hell Torments the more tolerable and as you are not more capable of escaping them if you dye in a state of sin unconverted so if you fall into them they will be as terrible to you as to other men though you are a little better armed against the crosses of this world than other men yet you have no more security against the curse of the Law and the wrath of God You have no musick that can charm the Devil or abate the fury of his Malice no Playes or Romances that can delight you after death no Clothes that can adorn you in the eyes of God no money that can bribe your Judge or purchase a Pardon at his hand In a word no Courage that can bear up your Spirits against the Terrors of Judgment if it find you in an unrenewed state and destitute of that Grace and Holiness that naturally you disregard O that you did but know any ways but by experience what a sad creature a Gentleman in Hell will be And that you may never know it in that way give me leave I beseech you to caution you against some special sins that are most likely to bring Great men thither 1. Pride and haughtiness of mind 1. Pride What if you speak great swelling words and look as big as a blown bladder scorning God and man at once yet you must come down a little lower if ever you dwell in the high and lofty place you must of necessity lay aside your loftiness and stoop so low as to take up that poor despised thing Religion and walk humbly with your God before you can see the Kingdom of Heaven Esay 2.12 Mic. 6.8 The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty And the proud shall be as the stubble in the day of his Anger Mal. 4.1 and pride goes before destruction saith Solomon And how apt the heart
of man is to it when it is attended with wealth and worldly greatness I need not say 2. Take heed of fleshly lusts which war against the Soul 2. Fornication as St. Peter speaks in 2 Pet. 2.9 10. The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment but chiefly them that walk in the lust of uncleanness c. So St. Paul Heb. 13.4 Adjudicabit exitio Piscat in Loc. 3. Idleness and unprofitableness Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge i. e. condemn They that would not be divorced from their Harlots shall be married to Hell-fire See Rev. 21.8 3. If you would escape the miseries of another world be sure to take heed of an idle and unprofitable life in this Surely Sirs they are like to partake of little good hereafter that care not to do good here If Plays and Romances have not thrust the Gospel out of your minds Matth. 25.30 I shall not need to tell you of the dreadful doom of the unprofitable Servant Is it not sad to see how little good is done in the World by many of those that are best able to do most and how many there be among us who have hundreds it may be thousands a Year that yet do not give all the Year round so much as the price of a good Periwig toward the Relief of their poor distressed Brethren as though such as are raised to such high fortunes were gotten above the Law of Charity or as if they thought the greatness of their wealth would well excuse them in the neglect of those good works it was given for or as though they had thought it an honour to them to have the Papists say that they are Solifidians The neglect of this is no such harmless Peccadillo as these Men may be apt to account it We read in the Gospel that our Lord will condemn Men at the great Day for this sin especially and make a particular mention of it as a procuring cause of Condemnation Matth. 25.41 c. He will say unto them Depart from me c. For when I was an hungred in his members he means ye gave me no meat when I was thirsty ye gave me no drink c. So then they that were able to do good to their poor Christian Brethren and were not willing to do it in some conscionable way will be punished for ever for this sin if they dye such as they lived and when they have lost their Souls and Heaven it will be no satisfaction to them to remember that they kept or saved their Money they that would not live as Christians shall not be spared because they were Gentlemen I might also caution you against Cruely and Oppression scorning of Reproofs and scoffing at Religion in the serious faithful Followers of it but I have not time to say all that might be said unto you 4. Mispending of Time The next thing that I would entreat you to be heedful against is mis-spending of your time He that is careless of that is therein careless of his God his Soul his Duty and every thing that most concerns him and therefore is most apparently as yet in the ready way to Hell See that ye walk circumspectly redeeming the time is no Precept of mine but of the Apostle * Eph. 5.15 16. or rather of God by him and if Gentlemen are not concerned with it it would be hard to prove that any others are Believe me Sirs your time is one of your choicest Treasures nor can you name any thing besides God's grace and your Souls that can be compared with it for preciousness What would you not give for another years time in order to your preparation for an endless life in case you were to dye to morrow And though I am not concerned to accuse you of mispending your time yet I may lawfully put you in mind of it and desire you to call your selves to account for it before your God doth Compare I beseech you the time that you spend in excessive sleeping in trimming and adorning in feasting and long meals in pomp and state and vain curiosity in vain thoughts and worldly cares in Cards and Dice and other Games at home and abroad in fruitless and unedifying Books in idle company and needless visits in vain discourses and delights in doing ill or doing nothing I say do but compare this time that is spent in these ways with that time which is spent in a serious seeking and serving of God in reading of good Books in thinking of good things in governing your Families religiously in relieving the poor in encouraging your Charge in the ways of God or any thing else that tends to the promoting of piety in your selves or others And let your own consciences tell you which is most For in many of our Gentry the time that is spent in the latter is no more in comparison of that which is spent upon the former than the poor Man's wages for a days work to their Yearly Incomes Their whole business and work is sports and pastimes so that we might describe them in those words in Exod. 32. They are a People that sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play But such provide but ill for themselves nor can it be safe for them to be so prodigal of time that have Death and Judgment before them a Hell to escape and a Heaven to prepare for 5. There is another sin that some who go for Gentlemen are sadly in love with Rash Imprecations and must not be forgotten in this Discourse I mean horrid Swearing and Imprecations Damning Sinking and the like And surely if Damnation be a real thing and not a Dream it must needs be a damnable thing in the highest sense rashly and profanely to imprecate it upon themselves What wonder is it if these Men have Hell for their portion that commonly have Damnation it self for the matter of their prayer And if they did only shame themselves by this wickedness the matter were not so much but they alas shame their profession also and bring a grievous reproach upon the holy Prayers of our Church 'T is the corrupt Lives and cursed Speeches of such Professors that harden the deluded Separatists in their prejudice against them as the Quakers and such like I read not many Moneths ago a passage to this purpose more than plain enough in a Quaker's Pamphlet where speaking to some Persons of this bad quality he expresseth himself after this manner You cry out God damn us and God confound us and soon after you go to your Church and say We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thus Reader this clause in our Letany We beseech thee to hear us good Lord than which it is hard to imagine any thing more humble or pious or better becoming a serious Christian is matter of greatest scorn and contempt to these poor Creatures and all because it is Profaned and Unhallowed
way surely everlasting punishment much more And on the other side that wicked men would be more bold to sin if they were fully perswaded that there shall be no everlasting punishment after this life and say as the Epicure Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye is so plain that I shall not write one line to prove it yet nevertheless I shall consider what he hath said to disprove it And first to pass over his extravagancies from the 92. page to 102. about the Decree of God as relating to mans fall and the like points which are thrust in perforce by the head and shoulders His Arguments to prove the Belief of Hell no preservation from sin and have no more to do with the point in hand than the Lines of his Book with the Beams of the Sun I say passing these I shall come directly to his Reasons in the 103. page thus Mr. R. That the belief of Hell torments is no such preservative from sin is evident for the greatest sinners believe there is such and yet sin still But what doth he mean by such a preservative from sin and by believing them If he mean in the former a total and compleat preservative such as keeps them from all sin Examined I confess it is not such a preservative or if he mean it of such as preserves them from the common practice of gross sins I grant it also But yet the belief of Hell is a preservative from sin in some measure and keeps wicked men so far as it is believed by them from sinning with so much greediness security and peace as otherwise they would As the Laws of the Land against Robberies and Murders do keep men from committing such crimes so often and so securely as otherwise they would do though they do not wholly restrain them from those crimes And now let us examine his Reason or proof viz. Because the greatest sinners do believe there is a Hell and yet sin still as much as ever This saith he maketh it evident that the belief of Hell is no such preservative against sin But this proof proves nothing nor would he himself like of it in another case for if he be not an Atheist he will easily grant that the belief of a God doth really tend to cleanse mens hearts and reform their lives yet there is not any grosser wickedness in the world than those that are committed by some who profess to believe there is a God and do believe it after a sort and would abhor that man that should say there is none He adds for confirmation as follows R. for though they be never so wicked yet they hope the Torments of Hell which they believe do not belong to them or that they may repent before they dye c. Just so may I say of the other For though men believe there is a God yet they too often hope that he sees them not or that he is not much offended with their wickedness or the like And yet I will not doubt but the belief of a God tends in it self to do some good upon men nor doth my Author himself imagine that an Atheistical opinion is a friend to Religion but an enemy it And secondly what doth he mean by a Belief of Hell torments If he mean it of a slight belief a fleeting opinion that they are real while they know little reason why they should believe them but only because others are of that judgment This I confess is no great preservative from sin but a grounded and fixed belief of them is assuredly a great preservative from it as was seen before P. 103. The following lines contain no great matter but only a story of a drunken Arminian that said he was at present in a state of Damnation but to morrow when sober should return into a state of grace And why might he not have told us as well of John a Leydon's many Marriages or Knipperdoling's Breathing upon the people when he bad them receive the Holy Ghost And what if the Arminian spoke so sottishly when he was drunk or were of the same principles when he was sober yet he never was so blind when drunk or so bold when sober as to deny there is a Hell and to compare the terrors and torments thereof with the flames of Purgatory and the Chimerical Bulbeggars that women sometimes fright little children with as he hath done in page 88. and 90. of his admired Book Secondly he proceeds after this manner R. If fear of Hell were a preserver against sin His second Reason p. 104. then those that are delivered from that fear and believe they shall be saved would sin more than others which is not so Very true if they have nothing more or better to preserve them from sinful courses but if they have the love of God and holiness in their hearts they will shun the ways of sin though freed from the fears of Hell In a word though the godly would eschew evil when he is freed from the fears of Hell yet the wicked man would follow it the more if he were so And I doubt not but many such have been more bold to do wickedly since his Book against Hell came into the world than ever they were before In the 105. page p. 105. He hath nothing that is worth a large consideration yet that which may seem any thing pertinent shall not be omitted viz. That the lusts of men are stronger than the fears of Hell No wonder if they be so in this Age wherein such a skilful workman as Mr. R. hath used all his craft to make them believe there is no Hell But if men's belief of it were stronger the fear of it would prevail against their strongest sinful lusts so as that they would not give themselves over to follow and fulfil them in their ordinary course In the 106. page He hath several Texts of Scripture as Psal 19.11 p. 106. Malachi 2.2 and others which tend not so much as in shew to confirm that which he had undertaken to prove But possibly he might suppose that some will think the better of his Book when they see so many Scriptures in one page though they be not serviceable to his design And having spoken somewhat Heathenishly before he will now make his Reader amends in part with a Divine Axiome of his own in the 106. page line 3. If sinners could enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season yet they will find that they have made a bad bargain of it Which I confess is a truth but it will better appear to be so by my Doctrine than by his If they live and dye ungodly and so come to everlasting miseries they will see what a bad bargain it was to purchase those miseries with the pleasures of sin for a season but if they be turned into nothing at the day of Judgment as he would have us think Then in that state
if I might call it a state they could not be sensible of any of their follies in chusing the pleasures of sin before the pleasures of piety Doubtless too many in the world yea too many that I know in the world would think it no very hard bargain but rather account it a happiness in some degree if they could but please themselves as they would with their lyes and slanders The fruits of Mr. R's Doctrine their malice and profaneness c. and be assured at the same time that they should suffer no worse punishment than to be turned into nothing after they had wrought all the mischief they are able Would they not then be content if the Laws of the Land would allow it to hear a Sermon but once a year and cast off the very shew of Religion Would they not be content to sit round a Barrel in the midst of a Green on the Lord's day in the Afternoons yea in the Forenoons too and desire no better company than New Cards and Old Stories all the day long Would not a desperate Damning Gallant be more welcome to them than a Preacher and his shameless Whorish Heathenish Boastings be more pleasing to their honest hearts than the best Sermons of the other Yea would they not count him a useless creature and think him unworthy so much as of the dregs of their Merry-go-down for all the pains that he took to prevent their Damnation For if it can do them no more hurt than to consume them to nothing they will not much value it since that which makes an end of them will also make an end of their Sorrows and that it will do no worse they have this pamphlet to perswade them but let them not trust to it for its Author was not infallible Mr. Samuel was no Prophet nor Mr. Richardson any of those that wrote by the Spirit And what he pretends for it from the Destruction of the wicked hath received a censure in the first Chapter p. 107 c. In the 107. page and those that follow to the 113. page he speaks little or nothing that needs to be examined by me for it tends not so far as I can apprehend to strengthen his cause in general nor to confirm that particular point which he hath last endeavoured to defend And having no more to say to him as yet I shall clear one truth which tends to make my way the plainer when I shall meet with him again viz. when I come to take a view of his considerations c. in the 113 114. pages The endless punishment of the Devils proved and the rest The truth that I assert in this case is thus That the fallen Angels shall be punished with everlasting punishment Matth. 25.41 We read of everlasting fire prepared for them therefore they shall suffer everlastingly in it for if they should suffer in it but for a time to what purpose to speak with Reverence should everlasting fire be prepared for them The word everlasting which hath hitherto been looked upon as one of the saddest properties of that fire would signifie very little in point of Terror if it did not suppose the everlastingness of their punishment for whom it is prepared As the durableness of a Dungeon or Prison will be matter of small consideration to those that shall endure but a little while in it And their perpetuity under punishment may also be cleared from their perpetuity in sinning their everlasting impenitency The Devils are past all true repentance for their sins and therefore they that continue impenitent are called the children of the Devil ye are of your father the Devil said our Saviour to the obstinate Jews of old And if the Devils will never truly repent of their sins what wonder if they never be released out of punishment yet I do not conclude they should be forgiven if they should repent for God hath not made any promise of Mercy to them upon any terms nor hath he provided any Mediator for them To which I might add as equally serviceable to my present purpose those places of Scripture that tell us that the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Matth. 12.32 And if it never be forgiven they that commit it shall never come out of punishment after the day of Wrath is come upon them And thus we have seen the certainty of the Devils everlasting punishment which of it self will cut asunder the sinews of several of Mr. R's Arguments as shall be seen in the next Section CHAP. III. SECT II. The strong man armed and his strength discovered or Mr. Richardson's deep considerations considered HItherto he hath fought as it were at a distance but now in the following part of his Pamphlet he comes more close and strikes down-right blows upon the Antichristian Priests and all sorts of Priests to use his own words that so he may if it be possible beat them out of their fond conceits about the everlastingness of hell torments And though the number Seven be accounted a Number of perfection yet he will go as far as Ten for so many considerations it hath pleased him to offer us in the 113 c. pages And though his folly hath been somewhat evident by what hath been said yet I think I may affirm the same of it which the Queen of Sheba once did of Solomons wisdom p. 113. that one half of it Reader hath not been told thee p. 113. l. 1. Mr. R. Several considerations that there is not to be any punishment that shall never end B. O fortunate sir what happy Planet were you born under that ever you should be able and willing to do such a great work as this and so effectually to strengthen the hearts of the enemies of God in their most raging resolute wickednesses Well If you make good what you have undertaken you shall surely have the credit of it eris mihi magnus Apollo yea and for your diligent endeavour in this kind you shall by my consent refresh your heart with Malmsbury Ale be a Chaplain to Mr. Hobbs and contemplate the beauty of his famed Leviathan But let us come to the work and consider a little your several considerations and we will not disturb their good order but take them one after another as they come to hand R. p. 113. l. 6. first we do not find the place of Hell mentioned in any of the six days work of God and if it be not found in Gods Creation it is a ground for us to judge that it is of mans Creation viz. a vain imagination c. B. These are plain words indeed and he hath spoken no parable therein but how well he hath spoken a few words will discover For first how would he behave himself if he were to dispute with any such as the Sadducees of old who held there was no Angel or Spirit for they might very easily argue thus We read not in the