think himself well because he is not hanged as soon as condemned when the Judge hath set a day for his Execution Alas what small security is in that short respite Dost thou not know that the goodness of God leads thee to Repentance and yet wilt sin and so treasure up wrath to thy self by hardness of heart against the day of the Revelation of Gods just Judgment The Fool puts the Evil day far from him which how near it is God only knows 4. This is also one addition to this folly that he will sin when he hath been told not only that there is a set Day of Judgment and consequently of Punishment though delayed a while but also that a sinner by a course of impenitence may be shut up in a state inevitably obnoxious to the punishment of that Day a long while before the person dies and so comes to his particular Judgment One may so much grieve the Lord as the Israelites did in the Wilderness that he will swear they shall never enter into his rest They may sin so long that no place is left for Repentance and so no hope of Mercy It is a dreadful curse when God saith Let them fall from one wickedness to another that so often and the sins so great that they never come into his Righteousness Gray hairs are upon the foolish sinner and he perceives not that he grows old in sin and guilt My Spirit shall not always strive with men Pharaoh having hardned his heart against several miraculous Declarations of Gods Power and Anger was irrecoverably destinated to Ruin though God told him that he preserved him a while to show his power and anger upon him before he utterly destroyed him The sins of the Amorites were not at the full Who knows whether he hath filled up the measure which God will stop at yet fond sinners add to it daily When our gracious Saviour perceived Ierusalem to be in this case he wept over it and said O Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I have gathered thee O that thou hadst in this thy day seen the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes We know that men by sin may grow so stupid as to their minds that they will pray for life to that which is dead and as to their Affections they may be given up to those which are so vile as that it is a shame to mention them and grow so base that they will sell Heaven as Esau did his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage I have heard of a man who having been drunk overnight and passed over a very narrow Bridge which no sober Horsman durst attempt being brought the next day to see what danger he went through fell down in a swoon upon the sight of it But sinners are so besotted with the love of sin that they will on though they are shewed before that the Bridge they are going to is impassable and that the Lake of Fire and Brimstone is under it This is enough to have shown the folly of sin which whosoever is guilty of when he considers it will find reason enough to be ashamed of himself 3. The third consideration in this matter is that high Injustice of which he makes himself guilty that sins There is nothing in the world so due to any person as Obedience is to God That which is made by another ought to receive Law from him There is nothing more absurd in Nature than for a Creature to be its own This was the Root upon which the misery of Mankind grew at first that they would be sui juris their own Law-givers and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still he which sins knows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but his own Appetites and this he declares in his Actions And sometimes it comes to that boldness that he says so in words too as those Miscreants Our lips are our own who is Lord over us Monstrous absurd It is not so unjust or shameful for Lacqueys to ride on Horseback and Princes to attend them on foot as for a Creature to think to be at its own dispose and to speak and do what it will No said those pious souls who understood their estate thou hast made us and not we our selves And therefore as the Apostle adds we should so speak and so do as those who shall be judged by the Creators Law and give an accompt to him who will pass a severe sentence upon the injustice of Disobedience Men are mightily concerned for their own dues and take it ill if any deprive them of their Right Shall not the God of heaven and earth regard what is due to him by a Right which is transcendent to all created propriety See what notice God takes of his wrongs A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I be a Father where is mine Honour If I be a Master where is my fear Art not thou ashamed who art by nature but a Servant to deny the homage which is due to the Soveraign Lord of the World and yet art very careful of those petty Rights which are only due to thee by his appointment Dost thou think it a shame for Creatures to do unjustly to one another and yet dost not blush to wrong thy God This is so strange a thing in Gods accompt that as the Prophet Malachi tells us God wonders at it Will a man rob God It is most unlikely yet you have robbed me God had bestowed the Land of Canaan upon them but reserved to himself as Lord Proprietor several Tithes and Offerings which he would have paid to him as an Acknowledgment of himself of whom they held what they enjoyed They pay'd not these Dues But God doth not care for it possibly Doth he not See what follows ye are curs'd with a dreadful curse because you have robbed me even this whole Nation He which truly repents turns with shame for the wrong which he hath done to his God and blushes as a penitent Thief when he brings back stollen goods As a Thief is ashamed when he is found so is the House of Israel And so we read in the Confessions of those good men which prayed to God for 'em when they made their Repentance publick they were ashamed and confounded when they considered the wrongs which they had done to God To thee O Lord belongs Righteousness but to us shame and confusion of face to us not only the men of Iudah and Inhabitants of Ierusalem but to our Kings and Princes because we have sinned against thee So Ezra and others 4. This shame is heightened by this in that he which sins against God is guilty of most hainous Ingratitude He which sins offends his most good God abuseth his best Friend Dost not thou who sinnest slight him in whom thou livest movest and hast thy being affront him who hath fed and clothed thee all thy days This Ingratitude is so great an aggravation of the
he was not to have sinned 1. This is reasonable for no man is sensible of danger approaching but he will endeavour to prevent it as soon as he can and he may delay so long that it will grow impossible If a mans House be on fire will he not presently endeavour to quench it If he be bitten with a Serpent doth he not seek for present remedy He which is fallen into sickness makes haste to send for a Physician every body knowing that recovery is then most to be hoped for when proper Remedies are used in time A Disease may prevail so far by neglect of those Medicines which would have cured it at first that neither they nor any other will be able to do it afterward Delay in this affair makes the work grow harder By repeating of sin the Offender hardens his heart and though afterwards he turn Penitent he will find his task more difficult because instead of a slighter disposition which he might have more easily conquered at first he must now conflict with a firm habit Shall he which cannot outgo a Footman hope to outrun Horsmen 2. The demerit of sin encreaseth by delaying to return Can he hope for mercy who hath stood out in rebellion to the last He which delays to repent treasures up wrath against himself when as God knows if his wrath be kindled but a little there is no man able to endure it It is strange that any Conceit should come into a mans Head that acknowledgeth his dependance upon God to make him defer his return to him by repentance It is possibly this He means at last to repent of his negligence Doth he and yet is deliberately negligent at present It is a new sort of Vertue this to sin pretending an intention to repent and as odd a kind of wisdom to abuse infinite goodness in hope to find that favour of which the course of life which we chuse makes us infinitely unworthy and being continued in will give us strong reasons to despair of when we dy 3. Pardon is not to be had no nor repentance when we will He who is so gracious that he pleaseth to pardon when we truly repent hath not promised we shall have grace to repent when we please We are advised in Holy Writ to seek the Lord whilst he may be found and when that is we are told I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me How applicable this is to the matter of Repentance we may see by what is said in the fith and sixth verses of Psalm 32. David was in great distress by reason of Divine Wrath which lay upon him for his sins whereupon he took himself to repentance speedily bewailing and openly confessing his Faith to to God and so returning to his duty found pardon For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found He that knows how great a matter it is to be reconciled to an offended God and that there is a time of finding mercy which if it be slipt the sinner is eternally undone will thereupon make what speed he can to return to God and humbly seek his favour in a seasonable address lest he lose himself with the opportunity It is not many years since the Master of a Ship loitering ashore and not taking the advantage of one Tide when the Wind blew fair with which other Ships went out was forced by contrary Winds to stay in the Port till the forementioned Ships made their Voiage and return'd They are bold people but extremely sottish who slight opportunities of doing that which belongs to their chief good when they know they cannot command the stay or return of such seasons Dost thou slight God in thy youthful health when to have served him early is the unspeakable consolation of old age and which they who then want it would purchase with all the World if they had it upon their Death-bed Is not old age burthen enough except it be plagued with the heavy remembrance of a wicked life This hath made many to cry out with him in the Tragedy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Alas for me that men may not grow younger twice and as often old that so I might in my after life correct what was not well done in the former part of it 4. Though a man begin never so soon this work of Repentance is not to be done of a sudden It will require great pains and much time and therefore none is to be lost Can sin which hath taken deep root in the soul be drawn up at the first pull Can our unwillingness to do it be mortified in a moment Is a habit of sin soon master'd No but as we have been longer in contracting it and so making it stronger it will not be conquered but by the contrary habit of Vertue which requires time to be implanted grow and get strength in the soul. It may be that we have many Vices to overcome and do we hope to do that presently We have committed many Errors and can we repent of them all on a sudden We have many things to do and those not easie to one accustomed to sin We are to make our selves Vessels meet for our Masters use but it will require time to do it considering how we are put out of order by sin and therefore all possible speed is necessary in the practise of Repentance 2. As Repentance must be speedy so it must be sincere and that we shall find if it answer those descriptions of it which are given in holy Scripture vvhere it is called The renewing of the mind crucifying the old man and his deeds putting off the body of sin and destroying it crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts purging our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in Gods fear being made new creatures and partakers of a Divine Nature vvith many more expressions to the same purpose The Sense of which is comprehended in these four Particulars 1. Sincere Repentance begins in a change of the inward disposition for which Reason the true Convert is called a new man as we learn from Eph. 4. and the alteration is so great that it denominates the Penitent to be a new Creature which is not meant as to Transubstantiation of Nature but Emendation of Temper making the Penitent not another person but a better Man A few Scriptures considered will make this so plain that every one may know what it means and judge himself accordingly It consists in two things 1. In change of Apprehension 2. In Alteration of Affection 1. In change of Apprehension he which is truly Penitent hath another sense of things than he had before which the Apostle calls renewing in the spirit of the mind by which he now understands the goodness of God and perceives that to be perfect and most acceptable of which he had but mean thoughts before
Romans having obtained he said of them that they were full of goodness Our Saviour is said to have grown in stature of body in spirit and in favour with God and Man i. e. to have increased in such Vertues and abounded in such Actions as did exceedingly please God and Man St. Iohn calls this prospering in soul by merciful Additions of grace which he prayed for his Friend Gaius That which a good man should endeavour in this matter St. Paul hath expressed to the life in his own practise i. e. I have not yet attained I am not made perfect but I follow on that I may get to the further end Christ leading me by the hand and helping me forward which makes me to forget what is behind and to add to what I have done well creeping forward and pressing towards the Mark that I may not come short of the prize I will end this Discourse with a short Gloss upon what is said by David in a pathetick Psalm who makes mention of the great desire which the Israelites had under the Mosaick Dispensation to go to Ierusalem that there they might enjoy the presence of God in his Temple and this passion did so transport them that they envied the Happiness of Sparrows and Swallows Birds which had leave to make their nests there but more admired the felicity of God's Servants who dwelt in that House enjoying the manifestations of the Divine Presence and praising God continually for the many and great Mercies which they had received from him and then pronouncing them happy in whose hearts were the ways thither i. e. who set and prepared their minds resolving to be there and passing from Valley to Valley for the Rode lay from Hill to Hill with unwearied steps travelled till they came to that most desirable place This doth every sincere Christian his aim is at the heavenly Ierusalem i. e. the Vision of Peace which is in the presence of God and he makes all his life one constant Journey thither and is therefore truly called one of that Generation of Travellers who march towards Sion and each day of his life is a step in his way and though by the common accidents of this life he may be so hindred that he shall slack his pace awhile and by the slumbers of the Night necessary to refresh his wearied Body his more active thoughts are laid asleep yet the very Night passing on with silent Minutes carries him as a ship under sail doth the Passenger sleeping in his Cabbin nearer to his Port and when he is awake perceiving that he is still in his way he goes on rejoycing and makes what haste he can to come to his Journeys end the fruition of God in Heaven Having shown the Nature of Repentance I come now to urge the Practise of it with three Motives which are these 1. The first is taken from the reasonableness of Repentance in its own Nature 2. The second is that Encouragement which we have to it from the goodness of God who is willing to forgive the Penitent 3. The third is taken from the great and inevitable Mischief which awaites Impenitence 1. It is fit that sinners should repent because sin is the most unnatural thing in the World The state of sin is a contra-natural Temper and the actions in which it expresseth it self are most unreasonable When Iohn the Baptist was sent before our Saviour to prepare his way that is to dispose men for the receiving of his Gospel which is called Luke 1. 17. to make a people ready prepared for the Lord when he begun his work by turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just he was said Mat. 17. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to restore all things the word signifies Reponere in naturae congruentem statum to reduce men into a state agreeable to Nature which by sin was discomposed What can be more unnatural than for the hearts of Fathers to be set against their Children and for Children to hate their Parents Out of that unreasonable course of sin he brought them by Repentance into their natural Station For the reason asoresaid sin in Scripture is called distraction of mind for when the Prodigal Son made sensible of his Error returned to his Duty he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come to himself Sin had made him mad The Prophet Isaiah gives notice of the same thing when he said Shew your selves men return to your mind ye Transgressors He that sins runs away from God and his own Reason both at once Resipiscentia the Latin word for Repentance says the same for he that Repents doth as Lactantius says Mentem quasi ab insaniâ recipere St. Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to awake one out of a drunken sleep Those who slight the great Reasons of their Duties to God and leave themselves to be hurried on in the course of their lives by brutish Appetites act but like men who are mad or drunk and they will confess it if ever they do return to a right use of their mind and settled thoughts which he hath lost who thinks he may be and do what he will Nothing but want of Reason will make any man prefer the loose Wit of a mad man and the wild motions of a Lunatick before the wise thoughts and regular actions of sober men He which sins tears all the Obligations by which God hath engaged him to Obedience breaks all the Bonds which his Almighty Creator hath laid upon his Soul as the Frantick in the Gospel did those which were upon his Body but he hath another sense of things and will not do so when he is restored to a right mind It 's true it did not please God at first to make us immutable yet that we might not fall into Error by sudden Actions he made us able to deliberate and since we do nothing so well usually but it may be bettered and do many things so ill that they ought to be mended he gave us the power of Animadversion that by reflecting upon our selves and actions we might correct by after endeavours that which was not so well done at first and it is most reasonable that we should make use of this power and fit for the Penitent to say It was best indeed not to have sinned but it is next best to repent and since I cannot recall what is past yet I will mend it as well as I can as he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will endeavour to undo what was ill done in my former life I will as St. Iohn said of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do what I can to destroy my sins Another Penicent said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. having committed a base sin I will endeavour to mend it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among other things signifies to resume a work to do it better to make up a
their fault What could you not watch with me one hour in this my great Agony yet he mercifully both told them their Danger and how to avoid it and made some Excuse for them saying The Spirit is willing but the Flesh weak Besides this he plainly showed his good Temper when upon the Cross he deprecated the Vengeance of the Eternal Father and prayed it might not fall upon such as had sufficiently deserved it These Considerations do give vast encouragement to sinners to repent since by them they see how easily they may come to Mercy To which I shall only add one more which is That God hath declared himself highly pleased when sinners do repent and accept of his pardon For this take our Saviour's word I say unto you that there is great joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth This our Saviour further expresseth in the Parable of the Prodigal which follows in the same Chapter for when he came back from his vicious Course it is said there that his Father when he was afar off had compassion on him ran to meet him fell on his Neck and kissed him that is gave him all signs of Reconciliation expressed all decent Joy for his Return in killing the fatted Calf to make him a Feast and adding Musick and Dancing to make it pleasant Though these things are spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we think worthily and rightly of God when by such Expressions we understand how acceptable our Repentance is to him and by that are moved to repent And now upon the forementioned Considerations how can the sinner but fall upon his knees and say O Lord I am sensible of my folly I am pain'd with my guilt I am so obnoxious to thy wrath that if thou shouldst mark my sin in order to punishment I know I should not be able to abide it but I see there is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared thy goodness leads me to Repentance and I will follow its gentle conduct and return to thee And thus I make my Prayer O Lord though I most justly deserve to be condemned yet I beseech thee not to condemn me What profit is there in my Blood Behold I offer thee for my Ransom a better Life than my own that of thy dear Son and since thou didst commend thy Love to mankind that he should die for sinners O grant me part in that Love Since thou wast pleased to make to meet upon him the Iniquities of us all lay mine upon him I beseech thee It is easier for thee to pardon my sins than to have given thy dear Son to be a Sacrifice for them He hath more pleased thee by his Obedience than I have grieved thee by my Disobedience The voice of his Blood cries lowder for pardon than my sins for vengeance Since thy beloved Son died for our sins and rose again for our justification since thou hast reconciled me to thee by his death now much more let me be saved by his life And O blessed Jesus since thou didst not refuse to die for my sins I pray thee that I may not die for them too After thy Incarnation thou didst declare that thou camest not to be ministred unto but to serve others and O unexpressible kindness to give thy life a Ransom for many it is sufficient for the sins of all the World leave not mine out I beseech thee but let me be one of the Redeemed made happy by thee because thou madest thy Soul an Offering for their sins Thou wast pleased among thy Titles of Glory to take this of a Saviour and as thou didst not then despise that merciful Office so neither art thou yet weary of it Save me even me also I pray thee and say unto my Soul that thou art my salvation It is long ago that thou didst call to thee all such as are weary and heavy laden I am one of those O Lord my sins ly heavy upon me like a load of Sand and without thy help the Burden will grow intolerable I beseech thee according to thy gracious promise to take it off and give me ease O Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the World Thou wast pleased in the days of thy Flesh to pity the miseries of sinners Thy Compassion is not withered thy pity is not dried up it extends it self from Generation to Generation thou shewest mercy to thousands and savest to the utmost of all times all that come unto God by thee I come unto the Eternal Father hoping in thy mediation save me I beseech thee O Prince of pity Thou didst command thy Servants to preach Repentance and Remision of sins in thy Name and didst pray for such as should believe in thee through their Word I am one of those most merciful Jesus let the benefit of thy prayer reach me also Thou undertookest to make Intercession for sinners and didst beg their Release as well thou mightest for thou didst pay their Debt O pray for me also most merciful Advocate When thou wentest into thy Glory thou didst not leave the Remembrance of poor Souls behind thee but didst let them know before thy departure hence that thou wast going to appear in the presence of God for them remember me too now thou art in thy Kingdom O Lover of Souls who ever livest to make Intercession Before I proceed to the last Motive lest the former should miss their desired Effect I will stay here and briefly answer two Objections which without any just ground some have made to their own hinderance in this Affair 1. One saith That notwithstanding all which hath been discoursed concerning the goodnefs of God yet I do not know whether he intends any kindness towards me in his Declarations because he may be some secret will have debarred me from having any benefit by them 2. Another saith It may be God would pardon me if I did repent but what am I better for that since I find in my self no Power to repent 1. To the first After all that full Declaration which God hath made of his goodness dost thou doubt his Reality And though he hath affirmed his readiness to save doft thou think that by some hidden Will he hath resolved thy Damnation Let me then say to thee in the words of a late Divine of this Church O thou Hypocrite because thou hast two wills one in thy Words and another in thy mind dost thou think that God hath so too that he speaks one thing and means another That he hath a secret will contradictory to his revealed If it be secret how camest thou to know it No thou art wicked in making God a lyar and dissembler like thy self So he I will add That such blasphemous words without Repentance will be severely accounted for one day and that God will reprove thee and set this among thy other sins in order before thee Leave of these vile Imaginations and never let
of this Curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his Iealousie shall smoke against that man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven He that despiseth the methods of God's grace and continues his Disobedience and yet perswades himself that all shall be well with him doth highly provoke God The Hope of the Disobedient is a great part of their Disobedience for it is a presumptuous believing against the express Declarations of God's Will and they shall be punished for it as an aggravation of their other sins Such people slight the Divine Threatnings disbelieve the Truth and Power of God concerning their performance but they shall pay dear for it especially in the great day of Wrath when Christ will come in flaming Fire to render Vengeance to those who acknowledge God no better and do wilfully disobey his Gospel This misery is dreadful because the Sufferings to which the Impenitent will be condemned are so great that now they would be intolerable but which then they shall be made to endure Of this I shall give account 1. By a brief Rehearsal of the Descriptions of them which we find in Holy Scripture 2. By the deep Impressions which they will make upon the spirits of damned Impenitents of which we are told in Holy Writ 3. By setting down four particular Notices which we have received concerning the dreadfulness of that state 1. By a brief Rehearsal of the Descriptions of the misery of Impenitents which we find recorded in Holy Scripture It hath pleased God to express the future Torments of Impenitent Souls by taking resemblances from the bodily pains with which they are now acquainted and hath chosen the most sharp of those which men suffer on Earth to be Emblems of those far greater which they shall suffer in Hell I shall name a few of them Sometimes that miserable Condition is described by the Torment of Fire than which nothing is more sharp which is called Matth. 5. 22. Hell Fire which Chap. 13. 49 50. is called a Furnace of Fire into which the wicked shall be cast in the end of the World and Rev. 21. 8. a Lake of Fire and Brimstone into which several sorts of sinners there named shall be thrown Heb. 10. 27. it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated Fiery Indignation because of the fierceness of Divine Vengeance This is terrible and therefore such as are obnoxious to it are there said to be under a fearful expectation of Iudgment It was a pain unspeakably dreadful which those old sinners endured who were inclosed in Sodom and made to perish in the noysom smoke of Brimstone and the unsupportable Torment of Fire But that is nothing to that which will be kindled in Hell where the Fire will never go out nor the Persons who are burnt in it ever be consumed Sometimes this Punishment is called the Gnawing of the never dying Worm sometimes it is represented by utter Darkness which signifies the utmost disconsolateness of a dismal Condition Happiness in Holy Writ is called Light and Heaven the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Those who are cast into utter Darkness are removed to the farthest Distance from God who is the Fountain of Life and in whose Light the Blessed see Light It is called The Blackness of Darkness i. e. the most Horrid into which no glimpse of Light shines This state is worse than that of a Malefactor who is condemned to be made up between two Walls there to perish in Darkness Hunger and Solitude Sometime this dreadful misery is signified by a Pit which hath no bottom into which the ungodly are to be cast and sometime by the Torment of a perpetual Rack sometime by a Cup of Wrath called the Wine of the Wrath of God mixt with bitter Ingredients and in this World God doth make sinners to drink some drops but in the great day he will make them drink up the Dregs of it the bitter Wrath which lies in the bottom in which is no Alloy of Mercy Lastly by the pains of the second Death which the ungodly must endure which is a thousand times worse than the first for that is but a Temporal separation of the Soul from the Body this an Eternal separation of Body and Soul from God 2. The greatness of this Misery is plainly declared by the deep impressions which we are told it will make upon the spirits of damned Impenitents as we perceive the acuteness of pain which men suffer by the grievousness of their Cries Our Saviour says that in the place to which the Impenitent shall be condemned there will be weeping and gnashing of Teeth These are Expressions of extreme grief and show the extremity of Misery A small matter will not make one cry out nor a little cold make the Teeth chatter No it is because the great day of wrath is come and who shall be able to abide it The Impenitent would then be glad of Annihilation it would be good for them that they were nothing or as our Saviour says That they had never been born In great Anguish they will say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Rocks cover us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb But the Rocks will be as deaf to the Impenitent then as they are to God now 3. Thirdly The Impenitents misery is made known to them by four particular Notices which are given them of their dreadful Condition in the other World 1. They are told beforehand what Company they shall have in Hell and that is no better than the Devil and his Angels Haters and hated of God So the Sentence runs Go ye cursed into the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels You hold of his side and it is fit you should share in his Lot I called you to the hopes of my Mercy and offered you a part in the happiness of Obedient Souls but you rather chose to comply with your own and my Enemy and to perish with Satan rather than to hearken to me Get you gone from me and all the blessed into that Fire which was not designed for you but was appointed as the punishment of Devils but since you would have your portion in it I confirm your choice This is sad For the Devils were always and are still Enemies to Mankind They were Murderers from the beginning and are Malicious to the end To be shut up with such Companions is a greater Torment than to be nailed up in a Vessel among Serpents Will impenitent sinners be able to endure this Can they dwell with everlasting Burnings Can they make an