prize of the high calling and it is some ground that I have got already something that I have attain'd but yet it is but a little but upon a hope that I shall have him that indeed is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my eye therefore I strive with all my might and press hard to the mark c. And thus the blood of Christ gives an efficacy unto all the precepts and the promises of the Gospel and they are all of them by this means of a cleansing nature they do purge the Conscience they have all a cleansing property Fifthly The blood of Christ doth purge the Conscience by sprinkling all means that it shall tend unto a mans purification that as by sin all things do become means to defile the Conscience so by the blood of Christ all things shall become means to purge the Conscience Tit. 1.15 Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and Conscience is defiled For under the law the sprinkling of the blood was not onely upon the person but upon the book and the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministery Heb. 9.19 Implying that none of these would have been instruments of purging of the Conscience if they had not themselves been first purged by the blood of Christ But what are the means that thus purge the Conscience First The word of God Ephes 5.26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the word and John 15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you c. Mens Consciences are purged by it but yet in it self it will increase the defilement as unto all unregenerate men it does Heb. 6.7 The ground that drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected and is nigh to cursing And yet if Christ sprinkle it with his blood it will surely purge the Conscience and all the purging vertue that the word has is because his blood was sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice Secondly All other ordinances also 2 Cor. 3 3. First that of the ministery ye are our epistle and though ye have Ten thousand instructers yet not many Fathers but I have begotten you through the Gospel Now even this ordinance that was appointed for their cleansing will but increase their pollution of themselves if their uncircumcised heart should rise against the message they bring them to believe in the blood of Christ and then God in judgment says to his ministers go make the heart of this people fat let their hearts be hardened and their spirits rise against it that hearing they may hear and not understand least they be converted and I should heal them the Lusts of men are thereby the more exasperated and drawn forth as it did in the Pharisees under Christs ministery their enmity did rise to the sin against the Holy Ghost besides Blasphemy against the son of man but that the ministery is effectual to any souls it is onely the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon all the ordinances thereof and it will purge if Christ in it sit as a refiner of silver in his shop and do concurr in the ordinances to their refinement Thirdly The example of the Saints are a means of purging the Conscience Phil. 3.17 Be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample c. When a man doth observe unto what a pitch of holiness and purification the Saints of God have attained as the example of Christ so of the saints also such pressing forward to more spirituality such growth in grace and in knowledg such love to all Saints this is a great means to raise the hearts of them that fear God to give all diligence to be as they were holy in all manner of conversation But yet they will be a means of pollution of themselves even these glorious examples of Christ and his followers if not sprinkled with the blood of Christ and as the Pharisees looking upon the holyness of the Saints they were the more inraged so the more lively men do see holyness in the practise of it they hate it so much the more Fourthly Hos 2.6 Jer. 31.18 Isa 18. Afflictions When the Lord sends it upon any of his children this is all their fruit to take away their sin but yet afflictions will of themselves purge no mans Conscience but rather defile it as we see how the rage of mens spirits are drawn out by it as King Ahaz sin'd yet more the more he was afflicted and Revel 16.9.10 They did gnaw their tongues with pain and did blaspheme the God of Heaven but repented not of their evil deeds bray a Fool in a Morter and yet his folly will not depart from him but yet if Christs blood do sprinkle our crosses they shall be as corasives to eat out the proud flesh and they shall tend to heal him whom they had wounded Fifthly Sometimes the Lord will do it by sins in giving him up to some publick open and scandulous fall as he did with David lets him fall into that great evil of murder and adultery and that made him to wash himself throughout and it was a means to keep him low and to preserve him from sin all his life time after and we have the like instance in Peter in denying the Lord and cursing and swearing that he never knew him when thou art converted says Christ to him strengthen thy bretheren for he would be the stronger afterwards as a bone broke c. and the less apt to fall into sin Surely sins of themselves being filthiness it self cannot purge but will defile but yet sprinkled with the blood of Christ they shall be an occasion of purging Sixthly Sometimes the Lord will do it by leaving a man to the winnowings of Satan in some furious and violent temptation Satans aim is thereby to sift out all grace and to leave nothing but chaff in the soul for we fight not against flesh and blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that concerne Heaven and Eternity and commonly men are foiled by them and are the more filthy by a touch of the wicked one 1 John 5.19 But when the Lord doth sprinkle a temptation with the blood of Christ it shall be a means to purge the soul and the poyson of it shall be tempered into a wholesome medicine as it was unto Paul * A Messenger of Satan c. 2 Cor. 12.7.8 It is sometime purging and sometimes preventing Physick to keep the soul from being lifted up c. The same may be said of mercies and of all the dispensations of providence for all shall work together for good that is for a mans spiritual and eternal good because they are all yours Creatures and providences
seat and will exalt the humble and lowly Sixthly Keep a good Conscience towards enemies Job 3.129 30. it was a brave temper in Job If I rejoyced at the destruction of him that hated me or lift up my self when evil found him c. and our Saviour bids us Mat. 5.44 pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you c. forgive them and be willing to do them good if thine enemy hunger feed him for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good if they be thy enemies without a cause or for telling them the truth they are more their own enemies then thine therefore pity them The accidental part or less principal part of the torments of Hell we have hear under the Metaphor of the never dying Worm And now I come unto the principal part and that which is essential to it and that is the fire that never can be quenched and here I must mind you of what Christ sayes Joh. 3.12 I have spoken to you Earthly things and you believe not Spiritual things under Earthly resemblances for our weak eyes need to have the species condensed by such spectacles as these are spiritualia capere non possumus nisi adumbrata c. How shall you believe if I tell you of Heavenly especially when the joys of Heaven and the pains of Hell are laid down in any measure before you this latter I am now to speak to the fire which cannot be quenched it 's a thing disputed amongst Divines and the fathers of old have differ'd in it and the Schoolmen after them whether the fire by which the damned in Hell shall be tormented be not Material and Corporeal fire but Metaphorical only some of them say that it is Corporeal and of the same nature with that fire we have here because it must torment the bodies of men and others say that it cannot be Corporeal for then it cannot work upon Spirits as the Devils and the Souls of men are and hence Durandus and others have found out a way that by the power of God he can elevate Corporeal agents in their operations so that they shall work upon Spiritual subâ—â—ances and as the Soul is affected here by its union with the body so it shall be hereafter c. But these things seem not at all to agree with the word of God nor the manner of the speaking of the Spirit of God therein who hath wholly expressed Heaven and Hell to us by Metaphors because in its proper Speech and if the Lord should speak of things as they are we could not understand them it 's questioned by some Divines by what names the estate and condition of the damned was expressed in the Old Testament and it is wholly resolved into certain Metaphors taken from some exemplary acts of vengeance upon sinners the first remarkable judgment that came upon the world was the Deluge now we read in Gen. 6. Of Giants that were in the Earth men of renown whose wickedness was so great upon the Earth that the Lord repented that he had made man and takes up a resolution in judgment to destroy them that he had created from the Earth and these being the first that did eminently and remarkably perish therefore Pro. 21.16 't is said The man that wanders out of the way of understarding shall remain in the Congregation of the dead the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place receives its name from those wicked men who were in the eyes of all men remarkably the first inhabitants and this is conceived to be the first title that in Scripture is any where given to the place of the damned the next judgment was the destruction of Sodom God condemning them with an overthrow and turning it into a dead Sea a fiery and Sulphurious Lake where every thing dyes nor can any thing live in it and a smoak that continually ascends up and by that also in Scripture Hell is expressed the Lake that burns with fire and Brimstone for ever and it is Jude 7. suffering the vengeance of Eternal fire There is another expression of it that is very famous there was near Jerusalem a place that was called Tophet as Schal conceives from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tympano because of the several Musical Instruments that were used there when the Jews did sacrifice their children unto Molech and burnt them caused them to pass through the fire unto the Devil and to testifie that they did it from the heart though they were never so dear yet they must rejoyce in it and dance at the sacrifice it was the Valley of the sons of Himon this place was thus polluted by sin and with the blood of men poor inocent ones And this place of Idolatry Josiah did pollute and commanded all the dead bodies and all the unclean things of the City to be cast therein and for the consuming of those a continual fire was kept there and God did execute special vengeance in this place because in it the Lord destroyed 185000. of the Assyrian Camp and there the Jews were slain themselves when the Babylonish Army took the City and hence Isa 30. and last verse For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he has made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it this place that was so famous for judgment and vengeance is used to express the torments of Hell the place of the damned it is called Tophet and hence also I conceive the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath its name from Himon for the greatness of the misery it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grave and destruction Pro. 15.11 There is nothing done in Hell and in the bottomless pit but it is open to the Lord he knows and orders all in it and therefore is the Devil called Abadon the destroyer for the terror and unquietness thereof it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.4 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to trouble vex and disquiet a man and it s called for the uncomfortableness and continual fear of it darkness by which all misery is expressed in the Scripture and to set forth the perfection of it it is called utter darkness Mat. 8.12 but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness c. That is extra Ecclesiam regnum Christi for the Kingdom of God is an inheritance in light Col. 1.12 so all the miseries of men without Christ are called darkness and a darkness that is without even there where all the wicked of the world shall be so Cartwright and some think that it is Comparativum Superlativi loco and it signifies maximas profundismas and so Pareus c. And for the eternity of it its called the deep Luke 8.31 and Rev.
spiritual unto the souls of men No man can do good to the soul but God and no man can inflict punishment upon the soul but God men may hurt the body and they have no more that they can do and in eternal good things or evil things those that concerne the life to come for truely a man cannot know love or hatred by all that is before him here the soul must have an eternity to be punished in all evils in this life which have an end are too low and too short to punish the soul with as all good things in this life are too narrow to cover the soul with c. Secondly The Covenant by which they are bound over unto this wrath is an eternal Covenant an everlasting Covenant there are two heads or two publick persons a first and a second Adam under whom as by the sons of Noah the whole Earth is over spread and with these two Covenants made as with two heads and there are two sorts of men the elect and the unregenerate children of the bond-woman and of the free and there are two destinct places Heaven and Hell answerable unto these and one Covenant is everlasting as well as the other not only the covenant of Grace but the covenant of Works also and therefore the curse of the Covenant remains upon men unto eternity and they are bound over unto eternal wrath Gal. 10. Deut. 29.21 as the Lord Christ has put an end unto this Covenant and abolished it unto all that are in him being himself made under it and satisfying the precept and the curse of it and so he did cancel it as a hand-writing against us nailing it unto his Cross Col. 2.14 And so they that are in Christ are freed from the Law as a Covenant but unto all other men it remains a Covenant still and they remain under the curse of it for ever and the wrath of God abides upon them Joh. 3.36 for the Gospel doth not properly bring them under wrath but leaves them under it for ever Thirdly The guilt and stain of sin upon the soul is eternal also the act of sin is transient momentum quod delectat c. But the guilt of sin is permanent the relation between God and the creature is eternal and 〈◊〉 is an eternal obligation upon the creature because he is bound unto God by an eternal Law and the transgression of that Law carries with it an eternal guilt there is not a sin that a man commits but it is laid up amongst the Lords Treasures Deut. Jer. 17.1 and it is also laid up in their own Consciences sin is a debt Mat. 6.12 Which will as all other debts are be ever due till it be paid if it be a thousand years since it was committed yet it due still and the continuance of the time will never wear it out amongst men much less will it being before the Lord and God keeps his debt-books Isa 65.6 Behold it is written before me I will recompence it even recompence it into their bosome c. And there is an utter inability in us to pay the debt we owe to God or to make him any satisfaction we have nothing to pay and not one drop of the blood of Christ shall go to pay any part of thy debt â—â—ing once cast into prison and thou shalt not come out thence being once cast into Prison till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing and satisfaction thou canst never make for the offence is against an infinite God and thou art but a finite creature and here is thy misery that because thou canst never satisfie fully therefore thou must be for ever satisfying all that thou canst do will not blot out one sin there is nothing but the blood of Christ can do it when all the world was drowned by a floud it could not wash away the guilt of sin and when it shall be on fire it shall not be able to purge one sin and when a man shall lye in Hell for ever even the fire of Hell cannot purge the soul of one sin Ignis infernalis non est purgatorius sed punitorius c. Fourthly God after this Life shall not only reward men according to their actions but their intentions and the desires of their hearts Now mens desires unto sin are infinite and eternal if they could live for ever they would sin for ever and they are never satisfied with sinning and therefore it is compared unto drunkenness Deut. 29. a man adds drunkenness unto thirst and none do call in for Wine so fast as they that have had too much already and it is as Hell that cannot be satisfied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lust is infinite and the more a man is glutted with it the less he is satisfied and could he live for ever he would sin for ever and if he could do more wickedly against God he would as the Lord says thou hast spoken and done evil things against me as thou couldest doing evil with both hands earnestly Mich. 7.3 in every sin they have infinite and eternal desires after sinning even in that short time that they have to live in it voluissent sine fine peccare Greg. Breve fuit opere sed longum esse constat pertinaci voluntate Bern. Fifthly Because they never repent but are hardned in the same way of sinning they remain the same men still and have the same will unto evil unto eternity in Hell that they had when they were here upon earth so that if God should take a man out of Hell and set him upon the earth again with a possibility of mercy he would go on in the same way of sinning with as much greediness and more then ever he did in the time of his Life for this is a rule amongst many of the School-men voluntas morientis confirmatur in eo statu in quo moritur And therefore as the Saints in Heaven dying in a state of grace are in bono confirmati so the wicked dying in a state of sin are in malo obfirmati that whereas in this life in wicked men there is an inability to repent yet there is a possibility of repenting and of returning from sin and there is a restraint upon their Lust and there be here many common graces and common workings of the spirit of grace but then all restraint upon mens Lusts shall be taken away all the Law of nature shall cease and God shall let out mens Lusts unto the utmost in judgment and whereas in Heaven all acts of grace habent rationem praemii so in Hell all acts of sin shall have rationem poenae and God will say he that is filthy let him be filthy still c. And therefore Divines do say that in this Life men are servants unto sin but it is but servitus inchoata but in Hell there shall be servitus consummata for here there is some restraint unto sin but there shall be none hereafter but a man shall be given over to it and the more a man is given over to sin in this Life the neerer to Hell he comes Lastly Men shall be companions after this Life with the Devil and his Angels for that is the sentence Matt. 25.41 Depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels they that have been servi in culpa must be socii in poena c. They that have all their days fulfilled the Devils Lusts they must expect to have his reward they that have followed the Lamb and have suffered with him and been persecuted for him shall reign with him and they that have followed Satan and have sinned with him they shall suffer with him Now the Devil has had a long time of sinning from the beginning of the World to the end of it he is the last enemy that shall be destroyed when death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake and therefore surely as he hath had a long time of sinning so he must have a long time yea even an eternity in suffering and therefore let no wicked man deâ—eive himself for the same torâ—ent the same fire for the naâ—â—re of it though not for the â—egree of it is reserved for thee â—nd thou shalt be tormented with â—he Devil and his Angels to all eâ—ernity FINIS ERRATA PAge 25. line 8. a fullpoint after cause p. 37. l. 18. after child a fulpoint p. 61. l. 7. for Ainon read Hinnoâ—â— p. 80. l. 1. hostile congressu p. 100. l. 17. for wayges read wages p. 107. l. 22. for act read out p. 133. for ire read irae p. 138. for nulle read nullae and for panitentia read paenitentiâ— p. 151. for book read book p. 238. l. 12. for my sins read thy p. 249. for caesa read laesa p. 260. l. 4. for access read excess
THE Worm that Dyeth not OR HELL TORMENTS In The CERTAINTY AND ETERNITY of Them Plainly Discovered in several Sermons Preached on Mark Chap. the 9th and the 48. v. By that Painful and Laborious Minister of the Gospel William Strong And now published by his own Notes as a means to deter from Sin and to stir up to Mortification LONDON Printed by T. R. and M. D. and are to be sold by Fra. Titon at the three Daggers in Fleet-street 1672. GOOD READER A Discourse of Hell cannot be unprofitable and unseasonable in an age wherein many deny the eternal recompenses others live as if they did not believe them yea among those that take on a stricter form of living many carry it on with such coldness and deadness that their conversations no way look like a flight from wrath to come or a pursuit after eternal life and therefore they need to be awakened Sermons of Hell may keep many out of Hell yea it concerneth the best and most serious to know what wrath they have escaped to quicken their thankfulness for that they are as brands plucked out of the burning As it heightned the sence of their deliverance to the Israelites when they looked back and saw the Egyptians tumbling in the waters of the Red-Sea which they passed through without harm surely they that cannot endure to hear of Hell or read of Hell discover too much of the guilt and security of their own hearts presumption is a coward and a run-away but Faith supposeth the worst Psal 23.4 and so encountreth its enemy in the open fields if the torments prepared for the disobedient and impenitent be so â—orrible and grievous we all need to be more srious in settling our eâ—erâ—â—â— interests upon a sure bottom and fâ—undation and to learn that holy mixture of serving God with fear and rejoycing with trembling and so to take sanctuary at the Lords Grace and enter our selves heirs to the priviledges of the Gospel that our claim may never be disproved nor our hope leave us ashamed This is the design of these Sermons of the reverend Author which were transcribed from his own Notes not indeed prepared for the Press but the Pulpit and if they want any thing of that accuracy which might be expected from one so able in the work of the Ministry The Candid Reader will distinguish between what is intended to be spoken to one Auditory and written to the World and how much is reserved to be uttered on the suddain in the heat and vigour of speaking for enlivening and polishment on such occasions What is left was conceived useful and therefore put into thy hands The Blessing of God Almighty go along with it and sanctifie it to thy Soul which is the hearty Prayer of thy Servants in the Lords Work Tho. Manton J. Rowe MARK 9.48 Where their Worm dyeth not and the Fire is not quenched MY purpose is to break up those Treasures of wrath which God hath reserved for his enemies Psal 90.11 Ephes 3.19 which not only passeth knowledge but also fear his love to his People passeth knowledge his wrath to his enemies passeth fear a full discovery by me you cannot expect seeing it passeth knowledge and answerable affections in you I cannot expect to the utmost seeing that it passeth fear but if it may be a means to deter you from sin and a motive unto mortification I shall have my end in the discourse as Christ his end in the exhortation The words are to be considered either respective in reference unto what goes before and so we see them several times repeated to press the duty of mortification of a mans dearest darling Lust his most pleasant and most profitable sin that sin is resembled unto a body in Scripture is clear Rom. 7 4. the body of sin and the body of death and that some sins are in this body â—s the right hand and the right eye is as clear also called a mans sweet morsel his own iniquity the peccatum in deliciis the right eye is in the body the dearest and the right hand is most usefull serviceable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profitable and advantageous to the body but if it be a stumbling block to thee and cause thee to offend God and forsake the way of his obedience then cut it off pluck it out it is a hyperbolical expression Sic animo tuo comparatus esto though thou do not actually yet intentionally and in thy purpose and resolution of heart part with what is dearest to thee then that it should be a means or an occasion of sin unto thee and the reason it given better enter into life maimed that is though thou think'st if thou part with such a lust thou shouldest live uncomfortably and be as a maimed and but half a man all thy days yet in common reason the whole is better than any part therefore better suffer the excision of a member than the dissolution of the body in your own judgement and the judgement of the World be counted imperfect men all your days rather than suffer the destruction of the body and soul in Hell Hence we are to learn First that whatever is near and dear unto a man if it be an occasion of his sin either to hinder from duty in omission or to provoke unto any lust by way of commission a man is to reject it with ind gnation pluck it out â—ut it off cast it from him The dearest thing must be parted with either as a snare or as a sacrifice Secondly Even Gods own people may have some dear pleasant and profitable lusts right hands to be cut off and right eyes to be plucked out Thridly If they should part with them they may look upon themselves and the World may count them as maimed men but Fourthly though they may seem so to themselves and the World to judge of them yet it is their best course that they could take Fifthly The good and evill of all things is to be judged by the end and issue of it i'ts better because thou enterest into life and it 's worse because keeping them thou wilt indanger body and soul in hell Sixthly Legal motives are of use even to the regenerated and therefore Christians may use them and not be legal Christians indeed the more ingenious services are the better and the more freely and readily the heart comes off from sin upon the principles of the Gospel and performes duty from a spirit of love fearing the Lord and his goodness obeying from a cord of love and thankfulness the love of Christ constraining But yet this will work no longer than grace hath the upper hand and if corruption prevail to call in these helps is not only lawfull but necessary But to come to the words of my Text They are a description of that destruction that keeping a right hand or a right eye that offends a man will bring upon him It is destruction in hell even of
the whole man body and soul for to keep one member or to please one pleasant gainfull darling Lust In the torments of hell there are two parts First something Privative a privation of all good whatsoever might make them happy and something Positive an addition of whatever might make them miserable The first is expressed by Christ depart from me ye cursed Mat. 25.41 The Positive part of the torments of hell are set forth in these words where their worm dyeth not wherein we may observe First the torment of the Creature from God 2dly From himself something principal and something accidental that from God which is the principal part of heâ—l torment is the fire the less principal the worm In the words therefore is discribed the positive part of the torments of hell First that which is Essential and principal the Fire Secondly That which is less Principal the Worm Thirdly The eternity of them both the fire is never quenched nor the Worm never dies I will take them as they lye in the Text and begin first with that which is less principal the Worm their worm never dyes Here we may note two things First the torment it self a Worm Secondly the particularity of the torment Their Worm Every man shall have his own Worm The words are taken out of Isa 66.24 The Lord had promised the glorious deliverance of the Church and had threatned the utter destruction of his enemies and when they were destroyed the Saints should look upon them and triumph over them the Saints shall have dominion over them in the morning and they shall go forth in their contemplation and consider not only their present outward condition and misery but their eternal condition Their Worm never dyes and their fire is not quenched to all Eternity and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh To begin with the Torment it self it 's a Worm which is not to be understood literally but metaphorically of something that holds some resemblance and some analogy to it Now a Worm in Scripture is put to resemble two things First something that is despicable and to be contemned fear not thou worm Jacob Secondly something that is tormenting and continually vexing and so it 's in this place here the Phylosophers tell us Nihil est in intellectu c. And therefore the Lord is pleased to help our understandings to express spiritual things by earthly similitudes and resemblances as Christ saith of the Misteries of the Gospel he could not speak them as they were but by earthly things that is in respect of the manner of delivery though the things were in themselves spiritual and if the Lord do it by things that men have experience of in this life how much more the things that are reserved for the World to come as the joys of Heaven by all good things the torments of hell by all evill things Whatever is most terrible to sence and most tormenting as Fire Brimstone darkness and a Worm which are only to help our understanding in those things which both pass fear and knowledge as after death it is set forth as a thing dreadfull to nature to have worms breed out of a man and feed upon him Job 24.20 as Job speaks The Worms shall feed sweetly on him he shall be no more remembred c. And the greatest persons that have lain upon beds of Ivory and have had Tapistry for their covering must say unto the worms ye are my sisters the Moth eats them as a garment and the Worm devours them as wooll c. Now to have these bodies that have been cloathed sumptuously and fed delicately to be cloathed with worms and to become their food is sad and even dismal to nature after a mans dissolution But if these worms should breed in a man and feed upon him whilst he were alive it would be much more terrible as it was a torment invented by a Tyrant to keep a man in a Coffin and feed him till by his own filth he breed worms and these worms devoured his flesh and he dyed by them The judgement that came upon Herod by the immediate stroak of an Angel Acts 12.23 and the same judgement is said to be inflicted upon Maximinus the Emperor that his body putrify'd bred worms continually Now this is a fearfull thing and dreadfull to nature to come upon the body but what will it be for a worm to be gnawing upon the soul for ever For in respect of that fire in Hell our fire here is but a painted fire it 's true also in reference to the Worm therein This being a Metaphorical expression let us come to open it a little what it is and wherein the resemblance doth consist This Worm is generally to be understood of the furious reflection of the soul upon it self in consideration of it's by past life neglected opportunities and it 's present hopeless and unrecoverable condition and so the tormenting acts of Conscience upon the man are resembled by the Worm and the resemblance lies in two things First a Worm is bred out of the putrifaction of the subject in which it is now in the conscience of men there is much corruption the conscience is as it were the sink where all the evil in a man is there is first much of the filthiness and defilement of sin in the conscience Tit. 1.15 Their conscience is defiled Mat. 23.27 like whited Sepulchres outwardly fair but inwardly full of rottenness and all uncleannesse they may easily breed worms Heb. 9.14 Secondly All the guilt of sin in the soul settles upon the conscience and it needs purging for all the works done by an unregenerate man are dead works because they proceed from a dead nature and because they all tend unto death and though these things be the work of the whole soul and every faculty yet the guilt of them all is laid upon the conscience and if there be so much filthiness and putrifaction both of guilt and defilement in the conscience it is no wonder if it breed a worm as all other putrifactions do and this being the worst it is not strange if it breed the worst and the most devouring Worm Secondly It doth alwayes gnaw upon the subject in which it is bred and so it is with this Worm it is alwayes feeding upon the soul and that for ever For it is with a mans spirit as with mill-stones when there is nothing else it grindes it self c. Now God will stop the current of all the creatures after this life Luke 16.25 There shall be nothing from without for the spirit of a man to feed upon and then it will turn in upon it self for ever Here most of the acts of a mans soul are direâ—â— upon objects without him there are few reflexe acts man will not turn in upon himself But then a mans acts shall be full of reflection upon himself for ever Now this furious reflection of the
3.17 be it known unto thee O King we will not serve thy gods c. Acts 1.20 We cannot but speak a necessity is laid upon me I must preach c. Jer. 20 9. The Word was in him as fire he could not forbear it is the impulse of Conscience that was the cause there is a double necessity Externa interna c. Now according unto this order and subordination of the faculties so shall the torment be Conscience is subject to none but God therefore the spirit of bondage shall come into the Conscience and trouble that and this shall torment the whole man and as God does usually set up Governours and they become Instruments of wrath over the kingdoms where they dwell if they be good they are a special blessing they are the breath of our Nostrils the stay of our Tribes the Chariots and Horsemen but if they be wicked they ruine the kingdom Psal 75.3 Saul had even destroyed the Nation they are ravening Lyons and evening Wolves Zeph. 3.3 So it is in the government of the inward man if the Conscience be good it s the greatest blessing and if evil the greatest curse for as none has the Power the Authority and the Opportunity to undo a people like those that have the Rule over them so it is with the Conscience there is nothing hath that Authority and Oppertunity to undo a man like it because it is alwayes with him where soever he goes and therefore 〈◊〉 Mala domestica Austine compare an evil Wife and an evil Conscience because they are both intolerablâ— burdensome evils a continual droping none have the Opertunity 〈◊〉 Torment like these Thirdly Conscience here has 〈◊〉 great hand in corrupting the whoâ— man and therefore it is no wondeâ— if hereafter it should have the greâ— hand in Tormenting him First Here Conscience is blinâ— and does not shew a man what is 〈◊〉 Duty and so many men Sin igâ—rantly for want of an inlightneâ— Conscience when the eye of 〈◊〉 man is darkned Math. 6. Hoâ— great is that darkness Secondly Conscience is dead a spirit of slumber is upon it that though it know things to be evil yet it stirs not against them or if it does it is but faintly but a good Conscience exerciseth Authority over the whole man and smites him when ever he does evil as 1 Sam. 24.17 Thirdly it is erroneous and carries men unto evil violently under a pretence of good a zeal not according to knowledg Joh. 16.2 For zeal persecuting the Church Tantus eram Saulus â—hat he thought him worthy of eternal death that descented from the Authority of his Religion in any thing it is from a deceived heart an erroneous Conscience Fourthly Conscience will be bribed by Lust takes in carnal reason and corrupt principles and will be satisfied in them Rom 1. imprisons truths in unrighteousness 1 Tim. 4.2 And it is insensible of any thing and it is just with God that that Officer in the man that had the great hand in corrupting should also have the great hand in tormenting the whole man Quest 4. Fourthly Why is not Conscience a Worm here as well as hereafter in Hell First Because Conscience cannot work of it self unless the Spirit of God awaken it c. Secondly Here is the working time of Conscience its suffering time shall be hereafter Here Conscience has great workes to do and great talents to imploy Heb. 13.18 The charge of the whole Life lies upon the Conscience and the Lord haâ— here a great house 2 Tim. 2.20 Understand it of the World or of the Church yet he has in it Vessek of Honour and some to Dishonour Now Why does God suspend the torment of the Devils It is because Christ has much work for them to do and they would have no pleasure in Sin if their Torments were fuller so it is with wicked men also and therefore the Lord has appointed a working time for Conscience to perform its viatory office and he has a pointed a suffering time for Conscience allo and he will not Torment them before that time Thirdly Hereby the Lord does exalt his own patience and long suffering so much the more for Sin being an infinite evil and a man that is but dust to provoke God to his Face and to do it the rather because God forbears them and sin the more because God forbears them and because of his patience because sentence is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the children of men are fully set to do evil now that God should bear with much patience and long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and that the Lord should not stretch forth his own hand against them but that he should also suspend the working of their one Consciences and should not let loose the reins upon them which would bring them down in the midst of their galantry as Belshazer Felix Judas c. And that God should keep a hand upon their Consciences and withhold their own thoughts from flying upon them it does wonderfully set forth the patience of God The Lord knows how to reserve the wicked to the day of wrath Fourthly Many things here which stop the mouth of Conscience shall hereafter be removed and then Conscience will speak The Worm of Conscience is to the Soul as they say the disease of the Wolf is to the Body If it be fed with something from without will eat the less inwardly but take away all supplies from without and it destroys inwardly as all the good things of this Life will be gone and then the Soul turns in upon it self and will be its own Tormentor foâ— ever Rev. 20.12 And I saw thâ— dead small and great stand before God and the Books were openedâ— and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Deaâ— were judged out of those things whicâ— were written in the Books according to their works It is an allusion to the day of judgment That 's granted by all The books opened are First the book of the Law and Gospel Secondly of Gods Omnisciency Thirdly of his Decre Fourthly the book of Conscience All those ancient Records that lay hid as Colours in the dark Rom. 2.15.16 or as something that is written with the juice of a Lemon you may read it when you bring it to the fire but not till then But we will now set forth those Tormenting acts of Conscience hereafter which shall be as the gnawings of this never dying worm but before we come to speak unto them perticularly it 's necessary that these four things be premised First That after this Life the Spirit of God shall come into the Conscience of a wicked man as a spirit of bondage fully for ever Conscience is but a subordinate power and acts allways with reference to a higher Law as a rule and a higher power as a Judge it is Regnum sub graviore Regno And therefore it never works by it self
that are there cannot be easily purged those unclean stables cannot be soon swept there is no power in nature to purge it for we are dead in trespasses and sins and what is more sutable to dead men then dead works and it is necessary to consider that if Conscience is not purged here it will never be purged and there is but one means in the world will do it First Consider the disease and that is a Conscience defiled with dead works as all the works of an unregenerat man are he being a dead man c. And Conscience is defiled onely by sin and there are two things in sin that defile the Conscience First the guilt of it Secondly the defilement of it and hence Divines say that as a good Conscience is either honeste bona pacate bona purged from the filth purified and and pacified in respect of the guilt So there is a twofold evil Conscience either moleste mala a Conscience disquieted with the guilt of sin or else vitiose mala polluted with the defilement the filth of sin and a mans Conscience must be purged from both these Secondly Here is the Medicine that must purge the Conscience from both these and that is the blood of Christ by the blood of Christ is meant that perfect satisfaction that he did give unto the justice of God for the sin of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim 2.6 A price every way answerable to the debt that we did owe Now there was a double debt that man did owe to God a debt of obedience as he was a creature and a debt of service as he was a sinner a debt of suffering the one answering the precept and the other the curse of the Law and both are here meant by the blood of Christ his whole and perfect satisfaction his active and passive obedience Onely our whole redemption is attributed to his blood Ephes 1.7 We have redemption through his blood because this was the last payment for the debt that Christ did pay for us was as a debt that men pay upon a bond by several parcels a little at one time and a little at another but the debt is not paid nor the bond cancelled till it be all paid so though indeed all the acts of obedience that Christ did perform in our nature they were for us and were part of that obedience that we did owe all the acts of obedience that he performs in the dayes of his humiliation takeing our nature upon him he did as our surety and many of his sufferings went before his death for he was dying all the while the thirty three years that he lived upon the earth being indeed a man of sorrows a worm and no man his suffering in his hunger and thirst labour and weariness and all the persecution that he suffered from men after he set his foot upon this earth they are to be counted as part of his satisfaction but yet the shedding of his blood upon the Cross and being delivered unto death for us this was the last and great act and from the last payment which did fully satisfie the debt and cancel the bond hence it has its denomination and so the whole satisfaction of Christ as our sacrifice and surety is here meant by the blood of Christ Thirdly The manner how this medicine doth work this Cure it is by sprinkling of it a man must have his heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience It is a Typical expression taken from the sacrifice under the Law the sacrifice must not onely be killed but the bloud must be sprinkled also where the pascal Lamb was to be slain they must take the blood in the Basin and with a branch of Hysope sprinkle it upon the dore-posts not that the Angel had need to have a signal that he might pass over their houses for he knew them well enough but they had need of it that they might thereby have their faith tried and strengthened in the sprinkling of that blood of which the blood of the Lamb was but a Type So Exod. 24.8 When they had offered the sacrifice Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon all the people Lev. 14.14 and when the Leaper was cleansed he came to the door of the Tabernacle and brought a trespass offering and the Priest did take of the blood and put it upon his right ear and the thumb of his right hand And in answer to all this Type the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 And this sprinkling is nothing else but the application of his merit and satisfaction of this blood unto a mans own particular soul for in Christ's sacrifice there was a satisfaction and application the one is in killing the sacrifice and the other in sprinkling the blood and this is done when by a mighty work of the Holy Ghost the Conscience affected and afrighted with the guilt of sin doth rely and cast it self upon this satisfaction to be a sacrifice for him then is this satisfaction apropriated and applied unto him so this blood as sprinkled is a speaking blood it speaks better things then the blood of Abel that is it speaks so in the Conscience non vindictam clamat sed veniam Conscience is pacified and a man thereby puts his sins upon the head of the Beast Our sacrifice is a sufficient satisfaction and the Conscience is not terrified with the guilt of sin as if it were his own and as if he were to satisfie in his own person no more for the soul saith he was made sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief And here are these six things taken in by the soul to pacifie the Conscience in respect of guilt First When the soul sees by a spiritual and heavenly teaching that the great plot and design of God under the second Covenant is to take away sin Heb. 10.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To take sin off the sinner for if God will be just he must punish the sin and if he be mercifull in sparing the sinner there must be a way to separate the sin from the sinner and this the Lord will do by an act of Sovereignty such as he did never exercise unto persons under the first Covenant and that is by imputing of our sin unto another who was righteous 2 Cor. 5.20.21 and he was made sin for us who knew no sin he will be just and therefore there shall not be commutatio justitiae and he will be merciful and therefore there must be à commutatio personae there had been else no place for mercy to have come onely there is this one cause the Lord will change the person and by an act of absolute sovereignty the Lord will count it so that the sin shall be in Gods account in the guilt of it taken off from the one in
rowl away the stone from the grave but it was done in a legal and judiciary way and therefore he is said to be justified He is near that justifies me 1 Tim. 3.16 Isa 50.8 And by this he doth convince the World of righteousness because the Lord delivered him from death Because he doth go to the Father Sixthly For a Soul by an Almighty power of God to rest upon this satisfaction of his and to plead it before God for himself at his judgment seat First To look upon Christ as dying not for himself but as a surety for in justification and the purging of Conscience from the guilt of sin the eye of Faith is mainly set upon Christ crucified Christ as dying and that as a surety to make satisfaction 1 Cor. 2.2 Heb 9.22 I desire to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucyfied for without sheding of blood there is no remission For though it is true that the personal excellencies that be in Christ are the objects of Faith yet that Faith as it comes to Christ in the act of justyfication and being quit of the guilt of sin it mainly looks upon Christ dying Christ satisfying Secondly To look upon Christ as a representative head as one in whom I died as a surety so as one in whome I rose he was justyfied and I in him because as he dyed for me so for me he was justified also and Christ was formerly condemned therefore there must an act of aquiting pass upon Christ and therefore Heb. 9.28 That it was so apeared plainly for he did bear the sins of many in respect of the guilt of them and he shall apear the second time without sin that is have the guilt of no sin charged upon him in oposition unto his former bearing our iniquities he shall be aquitted before men and angels and therefore he rose as the first fruits as a person representing all the rest of the elect and he was justified in the spirit that is raised up by the power of the divine nature thereby he was manifested to be justified and as he is sanctified as a common person and receives an Image for us that we must bear the Image of the heavenly there is life eternal laid up in him so he is justified as a common person from the guilt of sin that not any iniquity remains unsatisfied for in his behalf that is the ransom in his death is fully paid and as we were condemned in Adam a common person so it is reason we should be justified by Christ as in a common person also now when a soul by an almighty work of the spirit of God looks upon all these acts of Christ and the soul rests upon them in respect of the guilt of sin he doth put his sins upon the head of his surety and looks upon himself as acquitted in his justification and casts himself upon it that he may attain it thus the blood of Christ is said by a mighty work of the spirit on Christs part and faith on ours to be sprinkled upon our Consciences to purge them from the guilt of dead works Quest But how shall I know whether there be such an almighty power put forth in me that I may stay my soul upon Christs blood thus satisfying that I might be able thereby to see my Conscience purged and pacified and the terrour of sin taken away Answ A man shall know this almighty work of the spirit sprinkling this blood of Christ upon the Conscience by enabling a man unto that which all the power and improvement of a natural Conscience cannot perform and it will be seen in three things First When a mans Conscience awakened and convinced of sin doth yet make after reconciliation with God and union with Christ for a natural Conscience can find it easie to believe while he goes on still in his sins and Conscience is a sleep and indeed the faith of most men is but a good conceit of themselves from the self flatery of their own hearts but as soon as Conscience is awakened by and by they fly from God and look upon him as an enemy Luke 3.5 there are Mountains to be made a plain and there are Valleys to be fill'd now when a soul considers himself under the condemnation of sin the curse of the Law and looks upon God as an angry judge and yet saith I have heard that the Lord of Israel is a mercifull God and if mercy save me I shall be saved and if mercy destroy me I shall but dye I will fly to him whom I have offended and lye down at his footstool there is nothing in the world that I desire like unto reconciliation with him and I would be reconciled to him in his own way the way of union with Christ I would he found in him not having my own righteousness I would submit to the way of the Gospel Oh blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputes this righteousness and he is made the righteousness of God in Christ when a soul thus convinced of sin saith God be mercifull to me a sinner I will now go to him and leave my self with him let him do as it seemeth good to him as David said if the Lord delight in me he will save me c. truly all the power of nature improved can never make men leave themselves with God in this manner Secondly When a mans sins are discovered and the Lord leads a man into the wardrope of Christs righteousness and enables him to see how there is enough therein to cover them all and as God saw enough of Christs righteousness to satisfie him in point of justice so the Lord doth by a glorious light shew unto the soul enough of Christs righteousness to satisfy also in point of guilt that the soul can in some measure in Christ answer all the objections that Conscience can make by some spiritual reasonings drawn from the Lord Jesus Christ as when Conscience objects sin is a transgression of the Law but the soul answers the sufferings of Christ are the humiliation of the Law-giver sin is a dishonour to God in point of goods but Christ that made all things with him and had the same title unto all that God the Father had he laid down all and became poor and took a new title unto all he had more then a world to lay down sin did wrong God in point of honour but he that was the brightness of his glory did abase himself and made himself of no reputation and did bring thereby more honour to God he being subject to him then the subjection of all the creatures could have done it was a higher honour to the Soveraignty of God to have his son a servant then could have been to have had the service of all the creatures and he can do him more service and bring him in more glory in an hour then all the creatures could have done if man had stood to eternity sin did offend
God but Christs righteousness did please him in him his soul delights and is well pleased sin blotted out Gods Image in man Christ restored it again we were full of all unrighteousness and he fulfilled all righteousness my sins are all hainous but greater were charged upon Christ he was a sufferer as a Traytor a blasphemer a Drunkard a Seducer a Conjurer a Devil he was made sin for us he made his grave with the wicked and thy heart was very wicked and full of enmity when thou didst commit sin but Christs heart was holy and full of love to God when he satisfied for it thou didst delight in sin and so did Christ delight to suffer he was payned till his sufferings were ended thou didst sin openly at such a time and such a place c. The Lord suffered without the gate openly in the view of all and as thy sin is the greatest sin so is his most shamefull suffering in the most solemn time as it were before all the world and in a most infamous place as the greatest malefactor as it were at Tyburne and for the company he suffered in it was between two Theeves c. when a soul is able to silence the guilt and clamour of his Conscience by answering all that Conscience can object by finding out something in the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ to answer it and faith is not nonplussed truly this is a work of an almighty power for while men go on in the pleasures of sin so long sin is nothing sin sits with no weight upon them but when their Conscience is awakened to it by and by their spirits are overwhelmed with it as Judas was now for a man to see sin in its utmost dimensions and not to spare and be streightned in his humiliation and yet when Conscience has said its worst yet for him to be able to look into Christ and see something in him that shall answer all its accusations with as great strength of spiritual reason as the other can be objected and for a mans soul to be stay'd by such thoughts when he is even going down to the pit this is an almighty power Thirdly When a man is convinced of sin and sees himself to be an undone man knows not whether God will be mercifull unto him or no he walks in darkness in point of justification and yet his heart is kept in a constant awe of sinning against God he would do nothing that should displease him for a world his darling lust doth yield and strike sail to the contrary grace Sam. 50.10.11 he fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant he would do nothing that should displease him for a world and yet he knows not whether he shall find mercy with him or no but his soul takes up an unchangeable resolution against sin and sayes I will walk no more in a way of sinning saved or damned I will be willing to obey him and count it my happiness to do him service and I will be willing to wait upon him let him do with me as it seems good in his sight if casting a mans self upon Christ make a man fear to sin against him there is an almighty power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all the power of a natural Conscience will never make the man to yield up his darling-lust as there is a Conscience moleste mala full of perplexity in respect of guilt and the purging of the Conscience therein lies in its pacification when a man looking upon sin in its greatness and exceeding sinfulness and yet can see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the satisfaction of Christ unto which as a City of refuge he flyes being pursued Heb. 6.18 and upon that he casts himself and pleads it before the judgment seat of God that the debt is paid and the surety acquited and this he doth either by an act of recombancy and reliance or else by an act of assurance as the Lord is pleased to clear his interest and so the man is for ever perfected according to his Conscience that is Heb. 9.6 though sin doth cleave to him and the guilt of sin may by Satan be presented to him yet conscience flying unto Christ for a refuge and finding in him a perfect satisfaction the man casts all upon his surety and his Conscience is calm and serene as a man himself indebted must needs be when he knows that his surety hath paid his debt and though there be a dayly application of this unto the soul yet there is but one oblation and the man upon this ground hath no more Conscience of sin in respect of the guilt of it for ever and this pacification of the Conscience is the perfection of the man c. But there is a Conscience also that is vitiose mala full of the defilement and pollution of sin 1 Tit. 1.15 All evil is put under too heads malum triste afflicting evil or malum turpe defiling evil and sin has in it both these as it binds a man over unto all afflicting evil so there is a guilt and as it doth fill a man with all polluting evil so there is a defilement a macula a stain and filthiness of sin and it hath all the filthiness in the World in it it is leprosy pollution in blood a sepulcher and the rottenness thereof it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very excrement of wickedness Jam. 1.21 that if there could be any thing more filthiness then naughtiness it self it is sin it has defaced the image of God and the native beauty of the soul and it hath brought upon a man positive filthiness even the image of the Devil and the dreadful marks of hellish deformity that cannot be washed away with Niter and much Sope Jer. 17.1 Though this be an universal pollution that overspreads the whole man defiles body and soul and spirit yet the main defilement of sin lyes in the Conscience and where every sin doth add to the pollution as every act intends the habit above all the faculties the defilement of the Conscience is increased thereby Now the great pollution of the soul lyes in a spirit of slumber Conscience letting a man commit evil and not to tell him it is evil and in his sencelesness under sin Isa 29.10 Ephes 4.19 Being bribed by Lust and passions and pleasures to give consent to a sin and to plead for it for Conscience to pass sentence for a sin and that in the name of God 1 Joh. 16.2 and say that it is a duty and stirs up a man to it which it may be is one of the greatest sins of his Life Conscience pleads for sin and excuses a man falsly speaking peace to a man in a corrupt and cursed state saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst c. In a reprobate sense to be in such a mind that Conscience approves things that
9.1 The Well or the deep or the bottomless pit because a mans estate there is eternal there is no changing a man sinks into a bottomless pit where there is no hope that ever a man shall rise again a great gulf there is and there is no changing of a mans state so ever Thus doth the spirit of God in Scripture by Metaphors of all sorts of things that are dreadfull unto sence set forth the condition of the damned and the torments that he has reserved for them in the life to come Thus we see that God has done alâ— in a Metaphorical way and by borrowed expressions and so I conceive it is in this place and therefore it will be necessary that we do inquire what the Lord doth usually expresâ— by fire in Scripture and thereby wâ— shall find out the meaning of thâ—â— fire in the text that never shall bâ— quenched I find in Scripture many things expressed by fire but to ouâ— present purpose especially these two first the wrath and displeasure of the great God which does break forth upon men as fire upon stubble and and so it 's expressed in Deut. 4.24 Heb. 12. last The Lord thy God is a consuming fire and it is said that the light of Israel shall be for a fire c. The same God that is a fire for light unto his people comforting them and shinein upon them the same ignis vorans to his enemies as briars and thorns in one day so Deut. 32.22 For a fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn to the lowest Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a grave where the bodies of men are buried but there is also a lower grave and a deeper destruction for their souls therefore is the wrath of God in Scripture commonly expressed by fire Secondly By the fruits and effects of wrath all miseries and calamities that come upon men whatsoever Psal 66.12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went thorow fire and water all manner of miseries thou broughtest us forth into a wealthy place c. Through the wrath of the Lord is the Land darkened c. Isa 2.19 And the people shall be as fewel for the fire and so Glausius does expound that place Isa 24.15 Wherefore glorifie the Lord in the fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had spoken of great afflictions that God would bring upon the people even desolation and destruction but yet the Lord will not make a full end some shall be left as the shaking of an Olive-tree and as the Grape gleanings after the Vintage and they shall sing for the Majesty of the Lord and shall glorify the Lord in the fires in all those sad things and tokens of his wrath that have come upon other men in their sight and yet they have been preserved even in the fires By fire Here I conceive to be meant all the positive part of the torments of Hell and because they are not onely upon the soul but also upon the body as in Heaven there shall be all bodyly perfections so there shall be also in Hell all bodily miseries whatsoever may make a man perfectly miserable Therefore the wrath of God and all the positive effects of this wrath is here meant by fire First To begin with the wrath of God and that is the fire that is here meant and hence the Doctrine is this That it is the wrath of God in Hell Doct. that shall be the great Tormentor the immediate Executioner Here God doth punish men by the creatures but hereafter they shall fall immediately into the hands of the living God This we shall prove by these arguments and demonstrations First After this life God shall be be all in all as it is said 1 Cor. 15.28 In this life all Gods dispensations are by the creatures he governs by them by Magistrates and Ministers and Angels and also he doth permit the Devils to have power and dominion but he will then put down all rule and authority and power not onely Magistrates and Ministers but even Angels and Devils when the dispensatory kingdome of Christ in this World shall have an end then all these creature-administrations shall cease no more comforts by ordinances and Relations no more miseries by enimies but God shall be all in all either in mercy or in wrath and all the misery of the creatures shall be from hence Rom. 9.22 It is to shew his wrath and to make his power known 2 Thes 1.9 punished with eternal destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power therefore as in Heaven the comforts of souls shall come in mainly from God imediately so in Hell shall their terrour also for all the comfort of the creatures shall cease and it is the wrath of God immediately that shall be the great torment Secondly After this Life God doth intend to dispence all his wrath and to show it forth as the wrath of a God Psal 78.38 And if he will do so he must do it immediately as it Heaven if he will shew forth the love of a God he must do it immediately and therefore though God could comfort a man exceedingly by the creatures yet they are to mean to testifie Gods Love Eccles 9 1. There is no creature that is a vessel that car receiven all the Love of God and empty it into the man so he cannot know hacred for there is no creature can be 〈◊〉 able to receive all the 〈…〉 and therefore as in Heaven there shall be something beyond all creature comforts so in Hell shall be something beyond all created miseries Therefore Rom. 9.22 They be called vessels of wrath that God made to receive it Thirdly The wrath of God after this Life shall he such as passeth knowledge and passeth fear Who knows the power of thy wrath Psal 90.11 Now there is no creature can fill the Soul all the goodness that is in the creature cannot satisfie the hope of man and all the evil in the creature cannot satisfie the fears of man there will still be something that will go beyond a mans knowledg and that a mans fears will go beyond and therefore we commonly say men are more feard then hurt But in Heaven as the soul will be satisfied beyond all the good of the creatures and that beyond a mans hopes for the Lord will come to be admired in his Saints Now 2 Thes 1. Admiration is the overplus of Expectation so in Hell the Soul will be filled with torment beyond what was or can be apprehended in the creatures and as the good will pass a mans hopes so will the evil in Hell pass a mans fears but this cannot be in the creature for the good of it cannot pass the one and all the evil of it cannot go beyond the other and therefore if a mans comforts were only created all the comforts in the World would not make up Heaven or happiness for they are but
offering for sin there is a sacrifice and there is a fire that must consume it Christ was the sacrifice and the wrath of God was the fire to consume him and these are the extremities of the sufferings of Christ now in all this Christ dyed as our surety and paid our debt Lâ—k 23.3 and if this fire did burn so fiercely in him that was the Green Tree that was not so fit Fuel to burn because there was no sin in him what will it do in us that are dry Trees now if the main of Christs sufferings were from the wrath of God immediately we may safely conclude that the sufferings due to us and which the wicked shall undergo in Hell for the substance of them shall be the same from the wrath of God immediately upon the Soul though there be no Creature in Heaven or Earth to set it on this wrath that did seize so siercely upon the green Tree will surely consume the dry And it must needs be so Reasons that the wrath of God upon wicked men in Hell shall be their great and immediate torment for none can do it but God alone and that if we consider the offence to be punished or else the subject of this punishment First if we consider the offence that deserves it it is sin which is committed chiefly against God and the punishment of it must be a recompence The Wages of sin is death 2 Thes 1. 't is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to every sinner c. Now who is able to take an estimate of the evil that is in sin and the wrong that it has done unto God there are two things in sin damnum injuria a wrong in point of goods and in point of honour sin has destroyed all the Creatures who is able to value the loss of a whole world but only he that made it and the loss of a Soul but he that purchased it and who is able to judge of the glory of God and the infinite wrong that is done him by sin no Creature in Heaven or in Earth can and therefore if all the powers of the Creatures were put into one to torment a man but for one sin they were never able to give unto him the wages and the recompence of one sin proportionable unto the wrong that God has susteined thereby either in point of goods or honour for there is more evil in one sin then there is or can be good in any of the Creatures therefore God must put his own Power the power of his wrath unto the work if he will have the wages of any one sin payd Judges here do condemn men themselves and pass the sentence upon them but they leave it unto others to execute them because they can do it as effectually as themselves but it is not so here if God will have a sinner pay the utmost farthing he must exact it of him himself for sin is out of measure sinful it passeth the thoughts of Men and Angels to conceive and therefore the punishment is greater then they can inflict it is God alone can do it Secondly If we respect the subject upon which this punishment is to light That is chiefly to be punished that has the chief hand in the sin Now Sin is mainly the sin of the Soul Mic 6.7 Rom 6.16 Though the creature might punish the body yet the mâ—â—â— torment is to be laid on the Soul but the Soul is capable of more to recent then all the creatures in Heaven and Earth can inflict God only is the Father of Spirits and the correction and discipline of Spirits do belong to him alone we commonly say that the Devils in Hell shall be the tormenters of souls there as if there work there were only to torment men for ever whereas they shall be chiefly tormented themselves for there is a Lake of fire and brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels and yet you say he can torment the soul being a spirit but alass the torment must be destruction 1 Thes 1.9 from the presence of the Lord c. Now all the devils in Hell could never inflict any thing that should distroy the soul or take away all good from the soul and fill it full of misery they can never satisfy the capacity of the Soul in good nor in evil the Soul is a vessel of wrath and will hold more then all the creatures can put into it and will live it 't is only under the wrath of God that the Soul dyes and therefore they that can kill the Body they are not able to kill the Soul God only can create Mat. 10.28 therefore God only can annihilate therefore God only can inflict a punishment worse then annihilation Mat. 26.24 It had been good for that man he had not been born that thus comes under the punishment of God this is a dreadful confideration Secondly It is an act fit for none but God for it is First An act of justice 2 Thes 1.5 In the day of Revelation of the righteous judgement of God when God will manifest his justice to the utmost Now Who is able to shew forth the justice of God in the extent and glory of it but himself When God will manifest an attribute to the World he doth it by himself immediately if he would shew his Power he will make a World if he would shew his Holyness he gives his Son and if his Glory he makes Heaven and if his Justice he makes Hell Now As nothing can do the former but Gods immediate hand so nothing can do the latter also for to manifest an attribute is an act and glory of God for as none can shew forth his mercy so none can shew forth and declare his Justice but himself Secondly It is an act of wrath Rom. 3.5 Rom. 2.5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath Now no creature is able to shew forth the wrath of the great God here there is a little wrath manifested in them his wrath is kindled but a little Psal 2. last c. And he corrects in measure but when the Lord shall cause his whole wrath to arise and punish man out of measure that no creature is capable of doing no creature can pour out all the grace of God neither and therefore God made choice of Christ who was God and man to lay up all his treasures of grace and mercy in answerable to those infinite thoughts of mercy and grace that were in himself 1 John 5.11 And this life is in his Son and so no creature can shew forth all Gods wrath he must do it by himself Thirdly It must be an act of vengeance which is the royalty of God that he claims to himself and he will not give unto any other Heb. 10.30 For we know him that has said vengeance belongs unto me I will recompence saith the Lord and
God and the greatest can do no more then kill the body as the life of the Soul comes from God only so does the death of the Soul also for he only is the father of spirits and the Lord loves variety in his dominion over us he will for a time govern by the Creatures and comfort by the Creatures and afflict by them but hereafter he will then govern by himself immediately and comfort and afflict by himself immediately the one in this life and the other in the life to come First Vse This informes us that there are certain men that are children of wrath knowing the terror of the Lord we would perswade you to fly from the wrath to come for it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Here first I will shew you who the persons are that be the children of wrath Secondly what we would perswade them to if the Spirit of God joyn with us therein First Who they are and unto whom this use is directed that there are some children of wrath is plain Isa 10.6 The people of my wrath that is appointed to wrath and Isa 34.5 a sword is bathed in Heaven which doth express the decree and purpose of wrath it is upon the people of his curse now if this be true of temporal wrath how much more of eternal wrath which the Apostle saith is the condition of all men by nature even of the elect of God as well as of others before they are converted Ephes 2.3 We by nature were dead in trespasses and sins as well as others and children of wrath now they are said to be the children of it because they were born to it and it is their inheritance all that ever they must look for men appointed to it as a child of death is a man deserving death and appointed thereunto and as the Saints are called the children of light so are these also children of wrath so if you would ask for whom is this wrath and who according to the rules of the word are under it it is every man that is in a state of nature and a state of unregenerasy But how should a man know who it is that is in a state of nature surely a man may know if he will but behold his face in the Glass of the Word and discerne what manner of person he is James 1.24 There is a judgment that passeth upon the eternal states of men in the Word of God 1 Cor. 14.25 Ezek. 20 The man is judged of all and the secrets of his heart are made manifest and he saith that God is in you of a truth a man looking into the Word may discerne what his estate is Now first they are children of wrath that are children of disobedience Col. 3.6 for these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience John He that is born of God sinneth not non operatur peccatum he that committeth sin is the servant of sin and he that commits sin is of the Devil that is that lives and lyes in any known way of sinning that he doth reserve unto himself a sweet Morsell that he cannot cast out that the comfort of his life comes in by he eats the bread of wickedness and drinks the Wine of violence he feeds upon huskes and upon ashes Isa 44.20 over whom sin has dominion and it reigns in their mortal body and they obey it in the lust thereof and take care to make provision for 't thou art yet in my sins and not only sins of commission but sins of omission for such also this fire is prepared Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire Mat. 25 prepared for the Devil an his Angels for I was hungry and ye gave me no meat it is not you took away my meat and naked and ye robbed me of my cloathing I was amongst you and ye put me into prison but ye did not visit me and Minister unto me c. So that even sins of omission also prove an unregenerate state and will make a man lyable unto this wrath at the coming of the Lord. Secondly The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. 1. who withhold the truthin unrighteousness When men are convinced that such things are duties and will acknowledge them and that such things are sins and yet for some worldly ends and base respects will not forbear to practise them as many of the Pharisees were convinced that Christ was the Messiah and yet for fear of the Jews durst not confess him Joh. 12.42 that go on in sin against their own light and convictions from day to day and against many warnings and admonissions and his own remembrances of the dealings of God both with himself and others that have been engaged in sinfull courses and truly this fire will not burn hotter upon any sort of sinners in the world then they that sin against light and in this manner do withhold the truth in unrighteousness Thirdly They are asted by no other spirit but the spirit of this world for there is a double spirit that men are acted by in all their actions the Spirit of God acts some men and the spirit of the world acts others they that are regenerate have received the Spirit of Christ and where the spirit of Christ is there are all the fruits of the Spirit and the inward man is in some measure conformed unto Christ whereas other men are acted by no other rules but the custom of the world for worldly ends that look no higher then the things of this life and the things that are seen whereas a man that is regenerate has received another spirit that acts him by another rule for he is led by the Spirit and unto a higher end he looks upon the things that are not seen Fourthly 2 Cor. 4. In this are the children of God manifest and the children of the Devil he that doth not righteousness is not of God and he that loves not his brother verse the 14. We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren now when a mans heart is imbittered against the Saints of the most high he doth wish evil to them and if any evil doth befall them he rejoyceth and at least if he can do no more he will inwardly please himself that they are brought low it 's an argument that thou art one of the Serpents seed and thy envy is both thy sin and thy Plague as it is the Devils I will put enmity sayes God between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the Woman the enmity is put into the Devils Curse and if thou didst love him that did beget thou wouldst love them that are begotten of him and thou that dost hate the Image of God wheresoever it is and the more thou dost see of the Image of God in the man the more thou
dost hate him as Christ said of the Pharisees which of you can accuse me of sin I heve done many good works amongst you for which of them do you stone me so the people of God may say you cannot accuse them but for the good that they have done you for wheresoever they are they are as dew upon the Grass thou shalt be a blessing only men hate the image of God in them as it 's said of Panther animal hominibus inimicissimum it doth so hate a man that it will fly at the picture of a man so it is but a little relemblance of God that is in the best of the Saints here in this life and yet men hate God so that they cannot endure his image in any man Tert. Bonus vir Caius seius sed ideo malus quia Christianus This shews that thou art an unregenerate man a child of the Devil and not new born unto God Now thou art a child of wrath and for thee is this eternal fire prepared Secondly Mark 3.7 I would exhort you all to flee from the wrath to come it is the greatest evil that can befall a soul and therefore that which above all things else a man should fly from Fuga is conversant only about that which is evil and that which a man apprehends to be so Now the greater the evil is the more hasty is the flight Now There is no evil like to that of the wrath to come therefore let the whole soul be put out in this to fly from it as the most dreadful destruction that can befall a soul First Consider there is a possibility to escape it truly it is in vain to exhort a man to fly from that which he cannot scape as it is a vain thing for men to think to fly from death or judgment that they cannot escape it will overtake them and so for them to think to fly from any threatening in the word of God if they do continue in their sins it will certainly overtake them Did not my word overtake your Fathers says the Lord But this wrath a man may so fly from as to escape for Christ wins souls from the kingdom of Satan every day he translates them out of the kingdome of Satan which is the kingdom of darkness into the kingdome of his dear Son and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a metaphor taken from translating a man from his native soil translating a man as you do Colonies and so many are translated dayly and they pass from death to life Oh! That the Lord would perswade you knowing the terrour of the Lord to fly from the wrath to come Christs is a kingly conquest and he has not a subject in his kingdome but he has won him from the kingdome of Satan and all that number that are called and chosen and faithful that are with the Lamb were all once in Satans kingdome and all the Saints that are or shall be in glory they were all of them children of wrath as well as thou even Abraham the Father of the faithful who together with his Father Terah and Nachor and his brother Lot Josh 24.23 all served other Gods beyond the River only God called this righteous man to his foot Isa 41.2 And therefore there is as great a possibility for thee to escape this wrath as there is for any man in the World therefore fly from it Satan never wins again any one Soul out of the kingdome of Christ for the Father that gave them to Christ is stronger then all and no man can pluck them out of his hands and he doth now win ground of the kingdome of Satan and gains souls from him every day indeed after this life Heaven and Hell sha divide the World and there is a gulph set there is no changing places if a man would come from Hell to Heaven he cannot for a mans eternal state is cast and there is no change of it unto eternity and therefore the judgment passed upon a man at the last day is called eternal judgment Heb. 6.2 because the doom and sentence that shall be passed upon a man there is for eternity and therefore make hast fly from the wrath to come delay not the time for that hastens for if death should overtake thee before thou hast made this escape thou wilt be a child of wrath and lye under wrath for ever but here there is no gulf set but there may be a translation out of darkness Secondly Consider that after this Life you shall have to do with God immediately you shall fall into the hands of the living God immediately and Gods workings by the creatures shall have an end Now we find what fearful effects of wrath have been brought forth if God do but arme the creatures against a man if the Lord do but cause Lice to seise upon Herod they devour him immediately and he gives up the ghost and if the Lord give a man up into the power of Satan to torment him at his pleasure and we see how many thousand miseries he would bring upon him as we see in his dealing with Job when yet the Lord gives him only a power over the body and estate not over his soul and his life and yet How did he lay a load upon him That his life was a burden to him and he chused to dye rather Now if God can shew forth so much wrath by a creature how much more by his own immediate hand And if God in the creatures now do chastise with Rods by his own hand he will then do it with Scorpions His little finger will be heavier than the creatures loins for as a man cannot know Love by all that is before him because all the creatures cannot convey the Love of God unto the soul as it is so a man cannot know hatred by all that is before him for all the creatures together cannot dispence unto a man the whole displeasure of God that is Gods own work therefore fly from it if we should fly from it in the stream much more in the fountain Thirdly It is done by way of revenge and therefore it must needs be dreadful for Deut. 32.31.41 He has said vengeance is mine and I will repay there shall be a just recompence of reward to every sinner Heb. 2.1.3 Now if we consider what a wrong sin is it is such an infinite evil that all the created comforts and good things of this life cannot make satisfaction for they being only created good things but sin is an act committed against an infinite and an uncreated Good and between created and uncreated finite and infinite is no proportion Rom. 7.13 Sin is out of measure sinful and therefore the wrath of God is out of measure dreadful for it must be a just revenge a full recompence Isa 27.6.7 He will punish his people in measure but he will punish his enemies without measure because it is done in justice
therefore he will suffer his whole displeasure to arise Now if it be so fearful a thing when the Lord lets out but a little of his wrath if his wrath be kindled but a little How much more when he doth stir up all his wrath and deals with men by fury poured out Fourthly The subject upon which this wrath shall light shall be the Souls of men but especially a mans Conscience which is the tenderest part even the eye of the Soul and the Soul of man is capable of wrath beyond what all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth can inflict there is not enough in this world to fill the sences of man Eccle. 1.8 the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing for there is nothing beneath God will satisfie it Ps 17. last but as in Heaven the Soul shall be satisfied and fill'd with his love so in Hell it shall be satisfied and fill'd with his wrath and it 's this filling the Soul with misery that is properly the death of the Soul and therefore Christ saith that the Creatures can but kill the body and there is no more that they can do they cannot kill the Soul because they cannot fill it neither with good things nor with evil as there is nothing but the glory of God can make a man perfectly and fully happy so there is nothing but the wrath of God that can make a man fully and perfectly miserable Fifthly Rom. 2.5 It is wrath by long patience treasured up the patience and goodness of God should lead to repentance which a man despising treasures up wrath against the day of wrath c. The Lord doth bear long and because sentence against evil workers is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of men are fully set in them to do evil and therefore they mock at the coming of the Lord to take vengeance 2 Pet. 3 3. where is the promise of his coming he is pressed under their abominations as a Cartfull of sheaves and yet he bears still and lets men despise his goodness fill up their measure and out-stand the day of his patience which has its Period and then caesa patientia fit furor if once he doth whet his glittering Sword and his hand take hold of judgement a fire is kindled in his anger that will burn for ever and the more his patience and goodness has been despised the greater treasure of wrath is laid up and the more will be brought forth at the day of payment for it must be a just recompence of reward Sixthly This wrath doth come upon men very suddenly and unavoidably 't is sudden destruction swift damnation 2 Pet. 2.1 though a man may have gone on and prospered in a way of sinning long but yet a hand of vengeance will overtake them as the swelling in a great wall that comes suddenly down wrath has hung over a man a long time the decree has travelled with judgement long but it comes suddenly as the travel of a woman God feeds them as sheep in a large Pasture and then brings them forth to the slaughter Rev. 14.18 19. there is a fatting time and there is a killing time there is a ripening time and a reaptime gather the Grapes and trample the Wine-press for her Grapes are fully ripe thrust in the Sicle c. and the Angel thrust in his Sicle and cast it into the great Wine-press of the wrath of God and that comes upon men suddenly when they expect it not and they are ensnared and taken and it will come unavoidably there is no way to escape it when the day of vengeance is come though men have scaped it before but now all the power of the Creaturts cannot relieve a man Neh. 1.10 But though they be solded as thorns yet they shall be devoured as stubble that cannot resist the fire as the dust to the Beesom Isa 14.24 so will the Lord sweep them to destruction in his wrath Psal 80.10 They perish at the rebuke of thy Countenance look when God will cast a man into destruction that man will become a humble petitioner to the Mountains to fall upon him and hide him from the wrath of him that is upon the Throne and from the Lamb. Lastly It shall be pure wrath judgment without mercy Joh. 2.13 Rev. 14.10 They shall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God without mixture for there shall be utter darkness that is purae tenehrae and it shall be inflicted upon them with delight the Lord saith I will ease me of my adversaries and he will laugh at your calamity smiling wrath is dreadfull and his spirit shall be quieted thereby Zach. 6.8 a judge here though he condemn the malefactour yet he pities the man but the Lord will laugh at him they that are children of wrath are a sacrifice of a sweet savour to God But you will say What should we do to escape it 1 Thes 1.10 There is no way but Christ to diliver us from the wrath to come and there is no way but by being one with him and that is First By being cut off from the old root Rom 11.24 Rom. 7.4 divorced from the old Husband by a work of conviction showing a man that he is under the curse and Hell is his proper place and by a work of humiliation for all the pleasures of sin which are now damp'd and a man is now under the apprehension of the displeasure of God and of self-loathing for it Rom. 7.9 Sin revived and I dyed sath the Apostle Secondly Upon this there is a discovery made of Christ unto the soul that there is redemption in him to be had that we perish not and that he is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto him And all this is but the fruits of the ancient agreement between Christ and the Father God was in Christ reconciling the World God did love to have is so and this is seeing the Son Joh. 6.36 Joh. 12 4â— The drawing of the Father John 1.44 No man can come to me except the Father draw him c. Thirdly The soul has an instinct after union has received a touch of the spirit of God Elijahs mantle has fallen upon him so that nothing will satisfie him but union with Christ Phil. 3. he looks at that in all ordinances in which he is conversant to win Christ is his only aim and he will not be bribed with any other thing as a false spirit will be if he have gifts and some raisedness in parts and qualifications and a name to live among men he is satisfied and Conscience is very quiet but a soul that has received this magnetick touch from the spirit is put off with nothing besides Christ it moves to him as naturally as the stone unto its center Fourthly He accepts of Christ upon his own terms gives up it self to him Receives Christ with all his promises and all
again the Lord shall judge his people It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God He forbids private revenges and saith to his disciples if he smite thee on the one cheek turne the other c. As there are none avenge here below but Magistrates his Vicegerents to shew that it is the priviledg of none but himself hereafter Now if he has reserved it unto himself here surely he will take it to himself hereafter in the disposing of the eternal estates of the greater part of the World Angels and Men to give this honour unto the creature that they should take vengeance the Lord will never do it but it is and shall be an act of his own immediate wrath and here the three persons hath in Scripture their opera appropriata if the Father be provoked the Son is an advocate with the Father and the Holy Ghost strives with him but when all the persons shall joyn together the Son will plead no more and the spirit strive no more but all joyn in this great work of vengeance and the spirit of God as in Heaven he shall be a spirit of Adoption and Glory so in Hell a spirit of bondage and torment for ever Isa 30. last There are two things in it to be observed First Here is fire and brimstone that is unquenchable fire for brimstone is pertinasissimum ignis fomentum and there is not a little but a River of brimstone and what is this fire and brimstone It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit of the Lord burning in it his wrath is the fire and the brimstone also and his spirit for as the spirit is not onely fire but oil because his grace is upheld by the daily supplies of its own grace notwithstanding all mens unthankfulness so his wrath is not only fire but brimstone there is a continual supply of wrath to eternity that makes this fire of Tophet to be eternal and unquenchable fire Object But Satan is said to have the power of Death and is called Abaddon the destroyer and therefore it seems Satan is the instrument that God will use in tormenting them that as here they were commanded by him and subjected unto his temptations so they should be under him for ever tormenting them Answ First Satan is said to be the destroyer in respect unto sin which is the destruction of the creature and lays the foundation of a mans eternal destruction as he is called a murderer John 8. so he is called a destroyer because by him man was deceived and seduced and this is not spoken in refference to his inflicting of Death but in respect of drawing a man unto sin and so he is said to be the destroyer and in respect of many temporal punishments that the Lord by him doth bring in the destruction of persons and kingdomes and he is therefore called the destroyer because it his whole work to destroy and he intends nothing else in all that he doth but destruction and Satan is said to have the power of death it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notes authority as well as power but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is strength and power only to do it so he doth inflict death upon men when God imploys him for Satan is used in such dishonourable services as to have the power of death as the executioner hath that puts men to death and torments them that the Judge doth give into his hand Secondly When a wicked man is put to death the devils attend and they take his soul and hurry it to the place of torment as the Angels do the souls of the Saints Luke 16. and therefore it is said thou Fool this night shall they require thy soul Luk. 12.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil is present and demands the soul and takes it and caries it into the place of torment that it is adjudged too even to its own place where Judas went so that the Devil inflicts upon men and carries them to Hell Thirdly At the last and general judgment Satan shall accuse them being condemned together with him he shall take them to Hell with him for this wrath is prepared for the Devil and his Angels But this kingdome of â—atan shall last no longer then the kingdome of the Angels and all rule and all authority shall be put down when Christ shall have given up the kingdome unto the Father and the Angels shall rule over the elect no more so the Devil shall rule over the reprobate no more but now God shall be all in all In Heaven he shall be all in all in mercy and in Hell he shall be all in all in wrath and there shall be no more any dominion of one Creature over another God will no more use one Creature to reward another or to punish another but himself shall be all in all Object But in Heaven there be many created comforts therefore in Hell there are many created miseries and therefore the wrath of God is not the only Executioner there as you affirm Answ It 's true there are many miseries there from the Creatures the place is a Dungeon of darkness it is the bottomless pit abissus the deep as there is a great deal of sweetness in the place in Heaven and Glory so there is much misery here from the place for there are Chambers of death Secondly From the Company the friends of a Soul and the enemies and all restraining grace and the Law of nature shall cease and sin shall be acted to the life as part of a mans punishment and they shall be set one against another for ever Dives had torment by the coming of his brethren the man shall be tormented by the coming of his wife and his children and his Companions here on earth c. Thirdly From the upbraidings of Satan for his malice shall never cease and therefore he will in this respect be shewing a man his folly and endeavour to torment him more and more Isa 21.14 and will deride him and there is nothing more bitter to a man then to be scorned in misery and derided and this men may look for in Hell at the hand of Satan he will mock at them for ever and never shew thee the least pity for thou art bound up amongst the Tares in the same bundle with the Devil and all his crew thus indeed there are some created miseries in Hell but yet it is the wrath of God that is the great torment that as in all created blessings here it is his love that is the root and the Fountain of them and they are all nothing unless that go before they all stand but for a Cypher so unless his wrath go before all these torments would be but Cyphers and the Soul would live there is no Creature that can kill the Soul they may indeed kill the body and a small Creature can do so if it be armed by