in the Grek to give vengeance to those that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And can he be said to give vengeance to them when he takes away their very Beings and so maketh them uncapable of receiving any punishment at all Surely not The lawful Magistrate under Christ is appointed to act the part of a Revenger upon them that do evil * Rom. 13.4 And that vengeance which according to God's Ordinance he inflicts upon Malefactors is commonly such as they are very sensible of And shall not ungodly sinners feel their punishment to the purpose as we say when the Supream Law-giver shall set himself purposely to execute wrath and render vengeance to them yea doubtless they shall For when He will execute vengeance upon them Ezek. 25.17 they shall then know that He is the Lord as the Prophet speaks But 't is plain they could not do so if his vengeance did consist in taking away their Being that which is not cannot know any thing 2. Destruction is not used in Scripture in reference to Men to signifie any such thing as the Total abolishment of their Natures Let any of my Author's Opinion disprove this by any Text whatsoever Indeed 't is said of the old World that the Flood came Matth. 24.39 and took them all away but 't is omnes only not totos it took away All those Persons viz. out of the Land of the Living But it did not take away the whole Natures Their Souls are living still And God will be so far from destroying the Souls of the wicked as to their Nature and Being as that he will quicken and raise their Bodies which Death and Worms had destroyed formerly Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the just and the unjust saith St. Paul in the Acts. And they shall be raised for good and all as we say so as to see corruption no more for ever 1 Cor. 15.52 3. That to destroy signifies in respect of the wicked a state of real Misery and Torment as when it is said Matth. 10.28 that God is able to destroy Body and Soul in Hell that is to fill them with perfect Misery And if it were meant of destroying their Beings then that dreadful word Hell which is added as an aggravation of the destruction would signifie just nothing in point of Terror for if a Man be turned into nothing it is all one whether it be in the one or the other for nothing is no nearer to something in Heaven than in Hell And thus also the word is used very often in our own Language As when we say of Oppressors that they have destroyed whole Families we do not mean that they have turned them into nothing but that they have brought them into a calamitous condition And this I hope may be enough for that Text and I think it is not too much A third place I shall offer Matth. 25.41 urged for it to prove the everlastingness of the Punishment of the wicked is Matth. 25.41 He shall say unto them on his left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. They must depart viz. really by changing place as Christ is departed or gone into Heaven in 1 Pet. 3. 1 Pet. 3. ult last vers where it is the same Greek Verb that is used in both places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so supposeth the continuance of their Being 2. They must depart not into Nothing or such a state if I might so call it as the World was in before its Creation but into Fire 3. And this Fire of what sort soever it be God knoweth is an everlasting Fire in the same sense as the Life and Happiness of the Righteous is everlasting Life in 46. verse yea it is that everlasting Fire which the Devils shall be for everlasting punished with v. 41. as in the Text it self and therefore certainly is everlasting in the saddest sense or without end And if any Man shall say they may be cast into this everlasting Fire but not suffer everlastingly in it he had need have no less than Mr. Richardson's Learning to enable him to give a good Account of his speech And he that can conceive any such thing as probable may by the same degree of acuteness perswade himself 2 Pet. 1.11 that the Saints may go into the everlasting kingdom of Christ and yet possibly not dwell everlastingly in it which yet they will hardly question in the least measure while they have so many faithful promises of a Happy Eternity * 1 Thess 4.17 Rev. 22.5 c. A fourth Text of Scripture which may conveniently be urged for the everlastingness of the punishment of the wicked is Daniel 12.2 Daniel 12.2 urged and opened Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt But before I come to speak of that which most directly concerns my present purpose Many how understood it will not be amiss to explain the word many for some have gathered from thence that there shall be no general Resurrection The weakness of which Opinion to speak no worse of it I might shew from a great many places These two for brevity sake I shall content my self with Jo. 5.28 29. The hour is coming wherein All that are in the Grave shall hear his Voice Jo. 5.29 and come forth c. So then there are none excepted And in the 24. chap. of the Acts it was the Apostles belief Acts 24.15 That there shall be a Resurrection of the just and the unjust that is of all and every one of them for if the just there do mean All the just the unjust must mean All the unjust for the phrase is alike of both of them so that he that grants the one may not deny the other And therefore that Text in Daniel cannot tend to strengthen that Opinion which that we may the better perceive these three things may be considered 1. That the Multi ex dormientibus many of them that sleep vid. Synops crit in loc is in substance the same as if it were said Multi dormientes i. e. Those many that are sleeping in the Dust of the Earth And then it will be no less than if it were said All of them 2. That the Proposition is particular only and therefore will not warrant a Universal Negative to be inferred from it Many Saints or Multitudes of Saints shall be caught up together to meet the Lord Jesus 1 Thess 4.17 at his coming to Judgment is a Truth Yet we cannot truly conclude that All shall not Doubtless their Lord will receive them all as well as any And St. Paul makes no difference between himself and the rest of the faithful in respect of that priviledge 3. Many sometimes put for All. By
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
of Atra Bilis and to have no ground at all in the Scriptures Sol. What he hath done in this particular is too well known in the World and how well he hath done it is my Business to discover in this Book And I trust Good Reader that thou wilt perceive by that which follows that he hath not done it well nor indeed any better than the Socinian hath proved that there is no Trinity or than the Atheist hath proved that there is no God The Method observed And now I shall proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this following Method 1. To lay down some Arguments to prove the Everlasting Punishment of the wicked that live and dye such 2. To examine the said Book in all the principal parts and passages of it for it will not be worth while to speak of all he hath written there being very many Impertinencies in it 3. To improve the Doctrine in a practical way for Instruction Exhortation c. But before I speak of either of these it may seem needful to say something of the Author of this precious Piece which I am to deal with 1. Who the Author was If any Man should ask me who it was I would answer It was O Grande nomen Mr. S. Richardson even that admired Resolute Richardson whom the good Men of his Party did boast of so greatly and supposed to be a fit Match for the London-Ministers viz. indefinitely for any of them or for All of them to deal with See the Author in the Margin * Mr. J. Collings Vindic. Ministerii my Preface to the Reader sub finem And therefore some may imagine I have been too venturous to engage voluntarily with so great a Champion as He But yet Reader I am not discouraged I hope to come off clear and to pass without hurt through all the Pikes of his Arguments and Subtilties for God and his Truth are greater and stronger than Mr. R. and his Fallacies But to return to that which I was speaking of I say it was He whom the World is so much beholding to for the Book I am opposing For I have seen his Name prefixed to it though it be not set in that Edition of it which I have and perhaps it might be as good policy to conceal his Name in the second Edition as it was to mention it in the former 2. What he was But though it may be easily gained what his Name was yet it may be more difficult to discover what Himself was I remember the old saying Noscitur ex socio c. A dark Fellow is to be expounded by his Companions It might be questioned whether Mr. R. were himself of any Religion for all Religions have a Hell in their Creed and yet he hath none in his wherefore his Opinion concludes him of the doubtful gender in point of Religion so that we must be forced as was said to expound him by his Companions And if you would know who they were and what Perswasion they were of you may fitly consult the Anabaptists Confession of Faith Printed Anno Dom. 1644. which that * Dr. Featly Light of our Church now fixt in a Higher Orb was sometimes pleased to pass some Animadversions upon I mean in his Book called The Dippers dipt Where he tells you and you may safely take his word for it That the said Confession was subscribed by Paul Hobson Thomas Gunne and others of the same stamp and amongst the rest by S. Richardson to whom I would wish if he be living saving Mercy and a sound Mind And thus much by way of Introduction to my following Discourse The first particular whereof is now to be presented to thy serious thoughts and favourable censure CHAP. I. SECT II. An endless state of Punishment for the Wicked and Impenitent proved and the Proofs thereof vindicated from the Exceptions of Mr. R. and his Brethren THE fittest Method of procedure in my present Design seems to be that which is mentioned viz. To prove the truth of the Doctrine contended for before I meddle with the main Body of Mr. R. his Sophistical Argumentations namely that abovesaid And herein I do not undertake to convince the Atheist or drive him out of his Resolved Infidelity but rather to confirm the Christian in the Belief of this Doctrine which he hath been so often put in mind of by his Teachers And the first Argument that I would propose Scripture-Testimony the strongest Argument is the Testimony of God in Scripture and that is indeed the strongest of all Arguments and the most convincing to the Soul and Conscience As the learned have sufficiently evinced Vid. Crakanthorp Logic. de Argum. à Testimonio Logicos passim de Testimonio Disputantes for Truth is Essential to the True God Item Scheibl Topic. cap. 31. sect 50. Titus 1.2 He cannot lye A Man may be a Man though he be not true in his word but God could not be a God if he were not so Keckerm Log. lib. 3. cap. 13. for God to be false in his Word implies a manifest contradiction And there is nothing more natural to a Man in his right Wits than to conceive his Maker to be True in all that he saith or revealeth Wherefore if we have the Testimony of God for it in his written Word we may safely build upon it I say His written Word for that 's the Testimony that we are to enquire of Esay 8.20 And as for those inward Impulses Revelations A digression of Revelations Enthusiastick impressions c. and Suggestions of the Spirit which some have sufficiently boasted of and more than sufficiently trusted to as to Divine Testimonies they have often proved to be the Delusions of the lying Spirit and the false lights which the Prince of Darkness hath set up in the blinded hearts of those that shut their eyes against the light of that Word which is able to save our Souls having them so dreadfully dazelled with the glory of the light within them as they use to speak whose Enthusiastick Errors have been examined by many worthy Men. Spanhem Syntag Theol. Beckman Exercitat in Appendice c. And their vanity hath been shewed by famous or infamous instances in Mr. Sam. Cleark His Mirror Cap. 27. Exampl 17. Concerning the horrid Delusions which a Gentleman in Warwick-shire fell into after he looked to be taught by Revelations and Inspirations and had refused to hear any conformable Minister preach c. As also of one Mr. Gilpin in the same Chapter The sum of which History I have briefly set down in my Caution against Quakerisme Near the end I say if we have the Testimony of God in his written Word for the Doctrine I assert then we may be bold to believe it and must believe it though Mr. R. and his Companions in Infidelity should write never so many Books against it Reader if thou dost not believe the Scriptures to be
and shall easily grant him that Hell in that place doth not signifie the Lake of Fire though it doth elsewhere And for the sense of it either Death and Hell may be said figuratively to be cast into the Lake because they are conquered and triumphed over by Christ and as it were condemned and so may by a figure be spoken of as of Persons condemned in that respect or else Hell may be taken by a common figure for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 16.18 As when it is said in Matth. 16. That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church That is the power and policies of all the Devils shall not be able to ruine it Vide Piscatorem in loc The gates being as places of strength to a City so the places also where the chief Council was held 48. c. In the 48 49 50. pages His Pen dropped so much Vanity as that I shall not think it worth while to trouble mine with it But afterwards he speaks thus p. 51. Mr. R. Others say plainly they cannot tell where Hell is as some had held it was in one place some in another Thus being full of Mirth at their different Opinions he expresseth himself very freely in these following words R. As it is reported of Father Cotton the Jesuit p. 52. that he could not find out a plain place of Scripture to prove Purgatory by and therefore asked the Devil for one So they are at as great a loss to prove their Hell of Torments by a plain Text. O admirable man Well might he be a Ring-leader among the Anabaptists and his name be an honour to their Printed Confession whose wit was so far from being cursed or unfruitful as that it brought forth with ease such a blessed comparison as this But first he might have left out his story of the Jesuits enquiring of the Devil c. For he dares not say our Ministers enquire of the Devil for a Text to prove Hell by Nor secondly have they any need to enquire of him for that purpose The Scripture is plain enough in the case Matth. 10.28 Matth. 10.28 to name no more at present is very full for it Fear not them that can kill the body but rather fear him who can destroy Body and Soul in Hell Mr. R. shall be a Prophet if this do not prove a Hell of Torment For to destroy in this place doth not signifie to turn into nothing or destroy their Being * See Cap. 1. Sect. 3. for the Soul shall remain for ever as all but Atheists confess besides what was noted upon the word Destroy in the place before cited in the Margin To Destroy therefore in that place is to punish And to punish in Hell is manifestly spoken as an aggravation of that Punishment or destruction Hell cannot mean the Grave in that place For the Soul is not destroyed in any sense in the Grave what then can it mean but a place of Torment so called the Valley of Hinnom is no receptacle for Souls and therefore Gehenna or Hell in that Text doth not mean that very place but only as was said alludes to it p. 53. In the next page he gives us a proof of his confidence and concludes with such passages as Crown the work and are the Cream of the whole Jest R. Line 8 See ye not the great uncertainty they are at His Rhetorical Query Do ye not see by their Reeling Staggering and Stumbling that they are so drunk that they can find no ground to stand upon c. Than which a sober man can hardly speak any thing that savours of more profaneness pride and sottishness And if we weigh the speech aright we shall find defective in its Naturals as well as its Morals in point of Truth as well as Goodness For 't is more true to say that Orthodox Divines are at a certainty in the case than that they are at an uncertainty For they are certain in the matter though uncertain in one of the smallest circumstances They are perfectly agreed that Hell is no Fancy though they differ about the place where it is fixed and they may differ still without any danger to the Souls of men unless they are so unreasonable as to conclude that That is in no place whose place is not certainly known And Secondly They cannot rightly be said to Reel and Stagger that differ from each others in such small matters Such differences are no signs of Drunkenness yet if my Author will call it so so let him do And if he had but given them a more particular name and said the Black coats or the Covetous Priests instead of They and These men and then talked of their Reeling Staggering and Stumbling the Quakers might have called him an upright man and almost have sworn by the Light within them that he was come out of the Darkness and the Witchcraft and spake very honestly as the Spirit moved him Soon after he applies that Text in Esay 44. p. 54. He frustrates the tokens of Lyars and maketh Diviners mad c. And if we were uncertain whether there be a Hell or not yet we may be very certain that there is a Devil when they that are pretenders to Religion are so shameless and profane as to abuse the Scriptures in this manner CHAP. II. SECT V. Mr. Richardson's Combate with Mr. Ed. Leigh and his Triumph over him p. 54 c. to 74. THE said Mr. Ed. Leigh I can say little of any farther than his Works discover him and thereby I think he hath shewed himself a man of considerable Learning Parts and Painfulness For he hath wrote more than a little and the least Book he ever wrote is much better as well as bigger than this I am opposing of And doubtless if he had not been a man of some note Mr. R. would have thought it somewhat below him to give him such a large consideration as he hath done I shall now undertake his vindication and endeavour to make good several of his Arguments for the present point against Mr. R. his Exceptions and Answers p. 54 55. Mr. Leigh The Consciences of men are many times afraid of a Punishment after this life Therefore there is such a Punishment to be feared p. 55. Mr. R. Replies p. 55. That 's no proof of it for mens Consciences are as they are instructed according to the Proverb Such as the Doctor such the Scholar And hence it is that the Conscience of a Papist tells him 't is a sin to eat meat on Friday Yet that 's no proof of its being so Conscience a proof of a Punishment after this Life I answer as follows The Comparison he useth about the Papists Conscience will not argue any thing but only illustrate that which he spake before the instance of which if I mistake not is thus That mens Consciences tell them there is a Punishment for the wicked
he will not save the wicked Angels as was proved therefore it appears he did not count it most for his glory so to do And if I should say that the saving of some only only the Penitent and Returning sinners I speak of them that are of years tends most to the glory of God's mercy Mr. R. may not honestly deny it for his just severity and vengeance upon some sets off his mercy towards others The blackness of darkness reserved for the wicked makes the Inheritance of the Saints in Light appear the more glorious and the mercy that brings them to it by so much the more admirable And having seen what he cannot do viz. that he cannot make good what he hath undertaken he tells us at last what he cannot think p. 190. lin 19. R. I cannot admit to think any thing that is cruel to be in God B. This his disability he takes doubtless for his perfection and I for my part shall readily grant it to be so for he must needs be very weak or very wicked that can be perswaded to think any such thing And I verily believe he never heard any of those Divines that he so much undervalues preach or speak any thing that sounded that way I shall add only these two particulars concerning it 1. That God is not cruel in punishing the impenitent for ever since they are worthy of such punishment as before 2. That though there is nothing of cruelty belonging to the nature of God yet there is of Justice and Vengeance and Severity against sin Consider the Example of the fallen Angels and the sufferings of Christ And this severity is so far from being inconsistent with his goodness that St. Paul joyns them both together Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God c. And if our Author shall think his severity to be cruelty we can tell him of a Day wherein he shall have light enough to see his folly Thus Reader I have led thee and I hope safely through the manifold dark Maze's and crooked Labyrinths of Mr. R. his new-found Wilderness and know not what I should need to say more unto him unless it be to admonish him of his design and to bespeak him in the words of that precious Man of God Bishop Jewel to that Pestilent Popeling Mr. Harding at the end of his Defence Deceive not the simple they are bought with a Price Bish Jewel they are the People of God for whom Christ hath shed his Blood Your shifts are miserable you trouble your self as a Bird in the Lime the more you strive the faster you cleave you cannot bridle the Seas you cannot blind the Sun-beams Give place to the glory of God whether you will or no the Truth will prevail And now Good Reader having given thee the Proof of this Doctrine and the Defence of it against Mr. Richardson's violence and wrath I would humbly invite thee to ponder a little upon it to thy profit To which purpose I shall endeavour to assist thee in the Uses and Improvement of it which is the next particular to be spoken to and indeed the chiefest of all CHAP. IV. SECT I. Containing some Uses of the Doctrine aforesaid SInce Eternal Damnation is not a Dream Vse 1. For Information of the World's Vanity since Everlasting Fire is not a Fancy but a Real thing Then in the first place let us hence be informed of the vanity of all Worldly things yea of the best and bravest of them Indeed the Men of the World will set their hearts upon it let us say what we can from Reason or Scripture to the contrary And if you tell them they have more need of Grace than Gold or of a good Sermon than of a Barrel of good Beer they cannot understand how it can be Their earthly sensual wisdome is not able to apprehend it to any purpose and the most of them will not be wise till 't is too late But however they value earthly things because they are most suitable to their earthly minds yet assuredly they have not that goodness in them which they expect to find at least not that which can be worthy of the principal affection and esteem of their hearts and that partly because of that little good that they are able to do for them in this life for they cannot give any sound content to an Immortal Soul That which is capable of God can never be filled with the Creature Where is the Man that ever was satisfied with the greatest Riches that had not something better than his Riches and the like may be said in other things And as they cannot content the Soul so they cannot secure the Body neither If God do not more for the wealthiest Man than all his Wealth can do he will fall into mischief every moment Yea it cannot procure him one good Night's rest Dan. 6.18 when he hath most need of it Though Darius kept his Money and his Kingdom too yet it is said his sleep went from him But there is a greater vanity than all this for as the greatest of this World 's good cannot content a Man sufficiently in prosperity nor comfort him sufficiently in adversity so it cannot secure him from Hell or save him from Everlasting Burnings It cannot work his deliverance from it nor prove his deliverance from it The former is plain and needs no proof Though the Papists will sell us Pardons for Money yet they cannot assure us that the one or the other can secure us from Hell And the other is no less plain for we read expresly of a Rich man in Hell Luke 16. and we find in Job that God regardeth the Rich no more than the Poor If he be ungodly and dye so he shall not come to Heaven because he had the World at will And if he go to Hell what will all his former comforts be to him or how will the Remembrance of them comfort him What will it be to live in ease for a time if afterwards they live in Torment for ever What will it be to have Honour for a while if afterwards they suffer Everlasting contempt What will it be to be clothed with Silk or Silver and to fare deliciously every Day if afterwards they be clothed with Hellish flames and drink of the Cup of God's fiery Indignation In a word what will it be to enjoy the World and miss of Heaven or in our Saviour's phrase to gain the whole World and lose their Souls Lord put me not off with earthly enjoyments let not any thing be my portion that may consist with thy displeasure 2d Informat of the vileness of sin A second Branch of Information which will naturally spring from the Doctrine aforesaid will be this viz. Concerning the vile nature of Sin That 's almost the only thing that sinners are wont to make light of yea many of them make but a mock at it And though the wise Man tells us
that they are but Fools that do so Pro. 14.9 Yet alas how many such Fools are to be found and that too amongst those that are counted good honest understanding Men What if they never so grosly neglect and forget the God that made them what if they slight his holy Commandments and turn away their Ears never so frequently from hearing his Law Pro. 28.9 and so run the hazard of having their Prayers rejected What if they are so proud that they care not for God nor value a sound Sermon half so much for the bettering of their Souls as they do the smallest piece of a rotten Dunghill for the bettering of their Lands In a word what if they rail at us for desiring to make them better Christians than they care to be spight at their Neighbours and defraud and oppress their poor Brethren and do the Devil any service in the World that may but please or profit themselves make their Purses heavier and their Hearts lighter c. Yet I say they can make a small matter of it and can see no great harm in it or at least no such great harm in any of these things but that they can easily dispense with it for the attaining of those great ends which they propose unto themselves therein But Reader if these Men could but look beyond the Grave and see what is doing in the other World among the Souls of such ungodly ones as themselves If they could but see in a lively and sensible way how many are now Damned for those sins which they are so much in love with and be able to apprehend what sad thoughts those miserable Souls now have of their delightfullest gainfullest wickednesses which have laid them under Eternal vengeance Then believe me they would judge otherwise of these things than now they do I grant indeed there are other means whereby to see the evil of sin as namely the clear Glass of God's Sacred Laws and the Red Glass of Christ's Bloud and Sufferings c. These doubtless may be sufficient to shew sin in its proper Colours to a spiritual eye and will be confessed to be so by all sorts but blockish Papists and blasphemous Socinians But this Point that I am now upon might convince the blindest Worldling of it in case he would truly believe and consider it For he must needs grant there is much evil in that which the Righteous God will punish with Everlasting Torment How vile and hateful how hainous and horrible must that be which the God of all Goodness and Mercy will shew his Eternal Displeasure against How sad a work must that be which hath such a Death for its wages as sin hath yea all sin Rom. 6. ult For the Apostle speaks of sin in general as sin and not of such or such a sin in particular in Vers 23. As hath been excellently cleared by our Protestant Worthies against the Romanists * Ames Anti. Bel. Cham. T. 3. lib. 6. cap. 12. though the Mercy of God delivers them that turn unto him And so it may discover the madness of ungodly sinners that walk in the way to everlasting misery but this will afford matter enough for another Section CHAP. IV. SECT II. Discovering the horrible madness of wicked men in adventuring upon this dreadfullest Misery Inform. 3d. of the madness of the wicked c. FRom hence also we may fitly inform our selves of the monstrous madness of wilful and resolute sinners that will run the hazard of so great misery for the fulfilling of their sinful lusts and humors in this present world Solomon often calls such men Fools and St. Paul stiles them unreasonable men * 2 Thess 3.2 And certainly their folly and unreasonableness appear in nothing more than in their venturing of their Immortal Souls in the ways of Destruction they are apt enough to fear Plagues and Famines Bonds and Imprisonments or any ordinary Calamities yea they are afraid to obey the Commands of their God and their Consciences lest they should run into some inconveniences by so doing and scarce dare to come to the place of Gods publick worship and service in a constant and diligent manner lest some Factious Atheists should call them fools for their pains Psal 9.17 Psal 145.20 But as for the everlasting punishment that is threatned against them and which they cannot possibly escape while they are followers of wickedness these they have little fear of they dread not the dreadfullest dangers and if in love to their Souls we warn them of it and desire them to take heed in time and turn from their evil ways before it be too late they will thank us for nothing as 't is commonly said and advise us to take care of our selves and not to trouble our selves with them But if they did but know aright the greatness of that misery that the damned shall endure they would shun the ways that lead to it and not walk in any way of wickedness for the gaining of all the wealth on earth yea they would be as loth to continue in a state of sin as to stay in a house that is on fire over their heads That therefore I shall endeavour in the next place to discover And here I must needs say with the Apostle who is sufficient for these things who can fathom the depth of the Damneds sorrows what heart can conceive them or what words can express them for who knoweth the power of God's wrath or how miserable it can make the enemies of his holiness But though we cannot fully set forth the Terror of the Lord upon them yet we may soon see so much of it as may make it appear to be most exceedingly terrible as he that cannot sound the depth of the Sea yet he may quickly find that 't is very deep I shall now endeavour to demonstrate with all convenient brevity the dreadfulness of the Damnation and punishment that the wicked that live and dye such shall surely undergo The extreme misery of the wicked in Hell discovered I shall not now speak of the perpetuity of it having spoken much of it before and almost as much as need to be spoken on that subject and much more I am sure than Mr. Richardson or any of his Abetters will ever be able to answer in this world or the world to come but rather of the extremity of it and that in Two generals which will admit of a large consideration 1. The Happiness and comfort that they shall miss of or lose 2. The miseries pains and positive sorrows that they shall sustain and lye under 1. 1. In their Banishment from Christ They shall be banished from the Blessed Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ In their day they would not be commanded by him but in His day they shall be commmanded from him He himself will say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity Matth 7.21 and oh what a misery will
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
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
publick Duty and to hear that word often that is able to save their Souls Shew your Zeal for the Solemn Service of your God and let them know how greatly you love the Habitation of his House and the place where his Honour dwelleth This would be a means to bring them often thither if not for love yet for shame and fear and if they come within the sound of God's Word whatsoever it be that moves them so to do there is hopes they may be the better for it or at least not so bad so blind and bold and hardened in sin as if they had been drinking or prating with their ungodly Companions when they should be hearing the Word of their Lord. 2. To shew your Zeal against Drunkenness common Swearing and all other gross sin by punishing it according to the Laws of the Land and to shew most of your favour and kindness to those Persons or Families that seem to have the greatest kindness for Religion 3. To discourse with your Neighbours in an edifying way Let your speech savour of Grace and discover your seriousness for your God and Souls Let them know by your words the holy temper of your hearts Tell them how glad you would be to be more holy than you are to be perfectly conformed to the will of Christ and how little you value all this World 's good in comparison of his love and the enjoyment of it in Heavenly glory Tell them what thoughts you have of the state of an ungodly Professor and that you would not be in such a case for all the Wealth in the Earth Tell them of the preciousness of Time and the greatness of that work which they must do for their Souls therein and if they seem careless of it ask them seriously some awakening Questions As 1. Do you not know that you are Men and that your reason was given you to make you capable of serving your God with a reasonable service that is a ready willing and conscionable service And do you not know that he is always present with you and pondereth all your goings 2. Do you not know you must shortly dye and your Souls enter immediately into an endless state of joy or sorrow according as you dye godly or ungodly Christians 3. Doth not God deserve infinitely more than your highest love your best obedience The Heavens declare his glory and may it become you to forget him and live to his dishonour Do you not admire the beauty and brightness of the starry Heaven and will you venture to lose all the glory and joy which dwells in the Heaven of Heavens for the transitory pleasures or profits of sin O how much good might a few of such questions or speeches do from a Gentleman's mouth upon his Tenents or Neighbours Souls 4ly Engage them in the reading of Scripture and such Books as open and apply the great truths and duties in it as Bishop Taylor 's Rules of Holy Living the Whole Duty of Man Mr. Baxter's Books of Death and Judgment or any other that your Prudence and Piety shall think fit for them Such private innocent companions I doubt not have been a means of saving many a Soul Engage them also to a constant course of Prayer by themselves and with their Families for the often approaching to God in so holy a work whether with a Book or without will shame them from gross sins and make them more serious in their provisions for Eternity 5. Do all you advise them to your selves and be ready to do good to their Bodies and Names in any reasonable way as well as to their Souls and then there is no doubt but your good Examples and good Counsels may do them good And your labour in all will not be too much in so great a work as the saving of Souls from the second Death My next work is to Exhort All in general high and low rich and poor one with another Surely my Brethren you had need be heedful to your selves since Hell is real O consider your ways and use all possible means to escape the Damnation of Hell I hope I shall not need to add any Motives to it if you believe its dreadfulness and your own deservings And as for Directions for it the following Section will supply you with them CHAP. IV. SECT IV. Containing some Directions to escape Hell Torments Presupposition THis part of my Discourse is designed for such especially as are yet in the ready way to Hell as common Swearers Lyars Drunkards Sabbath-breakers and such like to which I may add our factious spightful Professors that mix very wisely as they think their Malice and their Religion together whose wicked spight against their Parish-Ministers is most blessedly turned into a pure zeal for private Meetings abhorring Churches as profane places and crying out when the time and company is fittest Down with them down with them even to the ground And in a word Hypocrites Worldlings careless and ungodly Persons To such I now speak and to them I would give these following Advices in order to the escaping of Hell-torments Dir. 1 After you have remembred how well you deserve them and how worthy the least sin makes you of them Rom. 6. last vers The wages of sin is Death viz. Eternal Death or Damnation for to Eternal Life it is opposed in the verse much more all your sins together with your obstinacy and impenitency in and under them c. I say having considered your deservings consider carefully the danger of your present state of sin O think a little yea think much how uncertain your life is and how impossible it will be to scape Hell if you dye in an unconverted unsanctified state see Matth. 18.3 Hebr. 12.14 and other places And withall how intolerable its miseries will be to you if for the love of sin you be sent thither The light afflictions of this World are greatly dreaded by many and carefully provided against by sober and prudent Men How much more should the extremity of endless Torments O consider what it is to be for ever I say for ever under the insupportable wrath of the great God and whether the utmost that sin can do for you may rationally encourage you to run the hazard of so great a misery This is the first thing that I would advise you to in this case and if the escaping of everlasting misery be not a thing worthy of our most serious thoughts that may tend that way nothing in the World is nor will Men be apt to provide against a danger till they see and consider the reality and certainty of it and the like Except But say some this is harsh counsel and we cannot take it To consider of such sad matters alas we cannot do it we dare not do it if we should think much of such things we are afraid it might make us mad Answer But Sinner take heed in time and do not deceive thy self thou knowest thou hast