Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	fear_v	life_n	4,543	5	5.0312	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79466	Hell, with the everlasting torments thereof asserted. Shewing 1. Quod sit, that there is such a place. 2. Quid sit, what this place is. 3. Ubi sit, where it is. Being diametrically opposite to a late pamphlet, intituled, The foundation and pillars of Hell discovered, searched, shaken, and removed. For the glory of God, both in his mercy and justice, the comfort of all poor believing souls, and the terrour of all wicked and ungodly wretches. Semper meditare Gehennam. / By Nich. Chevvney, M.A.	Chewney, Nicholas, 1609 or 10-1685.	1660 (1660)	Wing C3805; Thomason E1802_2; ESTC R209913	50,666	128

of Lights and the God of all comfort present and present in an action of mercy and yet a horror of great darkness fell upon Abraham the father of the faithful When God talked personally and presentially with Moses Moses hid his face for saith that Text Exod. 13.6 He was afraid to look upon God When we look upon God in those terrible judgements which he hath executed upon some and see that there is nothing between us and the same judgements for we have sinned the same sins and God is still the same God what can we do but stand in awe of him that we sin not He urgeth that place in John 1.4.18 to prove this fear and sin but to little purpose for the wise man saith Prov. 1.7 Timorem domini esse initium sapientiae The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome and therefore Jonah to the Ninivites Joh. 3.4 and John Baptist to the Jewes Mat. 3.10 and all the Prophets to sinners have used to provoke them to this fear by threatning the dangers that were imminent if they repented not But yet afterwards when men are reclaimed from their iniquities converted to God and have made some progress in his service then do they change every day more and more their fear into love until they arrive at last unto that state whereof S. John there speaketh which cannot be suddenly nor fully expected of any S. August hath a pretty expression to this purpose He saith That fear is the servant sent before to prepare place in our hearts for his Mistress's love who being once admitted into and possessed thereof fear departeth and gives place unto love But where this fear never entereth at all it is impossible that ever love should take up a habitation And albeit this fear of punishment be not in those that are come up to that degree of perfection of which the Apostle there speaks or is at leastwise less in them then in others yet being joyned with that reverence that becomes it it is most necessary and profitable for such Christians whose life is not so perfect nor love so great This appeareth by that of our Saviour Christ Luk. 12.5 Fear him who after he hath killed hath pomer to destroy both body and soul in hell Also S. Paul testifieth of himself 1 Cor. 9.27 That he kept under his body and brought it into subjection least that by any means when he had preached to others himself should be a cast away meaning thereby that notwithstanding all those favours which he had received from God yet he retained such a fear of God as that he was careful of those relapses which considered in their own nature deserved exclusion out of those heavenly habitations the glory whereof in a very great measure he hath had some ocular demonstration of Now my friend Anonymus if such a man as S. Paul did thus stand in awe of the justice of God notwithstanding his Apostle-ship and those rare endowments with which he was plentifully furnished for the execution and administration of the same a man so holy as he what ought we to be in whose consciences remaines the guilt of many thousand notorious impieties This know saith the same Apostle Ep. 5.5 That no Whoremonger or unclean person or covetous man which is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God And as though this had not been sufficient he adds Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience As if he should say Those that flatter you in your sinnes and boulster you up in your iniquities with this tush God is merciful and is easily won to pardon these or the like impieties notwithstanding a delightful continuance therein These men do but deceive you for the wrath and vengeance of God cometh upon the Children of disobedience for these very things The Author to the Hebrews tells us Horrendum esse incidere in manus Dei viventis That it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God The same Apostle rendring a reason Deus enim noster est ignis consumens for our God is a consuming fire They then that will not believe Gods justice nor are in any measure terrified with his threats against sin but presuming of his mercy do continue in their impiety shall suddenly be surprised and irrecoverably be confounded when Gods judgments do seize upon them I but saith Anonymus this causeth Melancholly and exceeding trouble of mind Truly if we consider the condition that we are in by nature we have very small cause to be jovial For 1. There is a captivity wherein we are violently detained under the slavery of sin and Satan S. Paul knew it and speaks of it Rom. 7.25 and in the sense thereof cryeth out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me I hope Anonymus will not be so fool-hardy as to say this trouble of the Apostle was a sinne who being sensible of it could not but be troubled with it Indeed there is no Turk so hurries his Gallie-slaves and puts them to so base services as sin doth her Captives Give me one that hath been in this Captivity and by the mercy of God is freed from it scit quod dico He knows what I say is certainly true 2. There a Prison too Ask David else who never was in any Goal what he means when he said Psal 88.8 I am so fast in prison that I knew not how to get out What else caused him to cry out so passionately Psal 142.7 O bring my Soul out of Prison And S. Mat. 4.16 saith of some to whom Christ preached here That they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death even as men in a Dungeon use to do 3. There are Chains too A sinner is tyed with the Chains of his own sins Prov. 5.22 With the bonds of iniquity Acts 8.23 And these are they for which David gives thanks to God Psal 116.16 That he had broken them in sunder A man need no other bonds if once he come to feel them The galls that sinne makes in the conscience are the entering of the Iron into his soul But perhaps these are not felt by some no not felt Take this then for a Rule If Christ heal them that be broken-hearted broken-hearted we must be ere he can heal us He is Medicus cordis the Physitian of the heart indeed but it is cordis contriti of the broken heart it is a condition ever annexed to make us the more capable and likewise a disposition it is to render us the more curable It is our fault and a great fault it is that we are more ready to laugh with the merry Philosopher then to weep with the mourner Mirth seldom knocks twice at our doors without entrance but sorrow shall not in so long as we our selves with all the miserable helps that we can muster up can

continuance of punishment is limited with the continuance of the fact Among men Adultery is but a short pleasure yet often pursued with a long pennance But the duration of torment respects the disposition of the delinquent Poenae singulorum inaequales intentione poenae omnium aequales duratione Aquin. The pains of all are equal in continuance unequal in grievance But Secondly and more particularly I answer It will appear to be most just both in respect of the mind and intention of the sinner of the matter wherein he sinneth and of the person against whom he sinneth First The mind and intention of the sinner considered it will appear to be most just for though the act it self the sin committed be but temporal and finite yet the mind of the sinner is eternal and infinite insomuch that if he could live ever he would sin ever and therefore as Gregory saith Quia mens in hac vita nunquam voluit carere peccato justum est ut nunquam careat supplicio Because the mind of man in this life would never be without sinne it is just that it should never be without punishment in the life to come 2. If the matter and subject of sinne be considered we shall find it to be of and in the soul like as then the wounding of the body causeth the death and destruction of the same by reason of which there is no returning unto life again so sinne being the death of the soul it must necessarily follow that it be perpetual and everlasting 3. Sin as it is a transgression of the Law of God is so much the more heynous As he that smiteth the Prince to whom principally and especially he ows his Allegiance doth more grievously offend then he that striketh a private person So every sin is of an infinite nature because of the infinite dignity of the person and his glorious Majesty against whom it is committed and therefore it deserveth an infinite punishment which because it cannot be infinite secundum intentionem in the intention and greatness of it it remaineth that it should be infinite secundum durationem in respect of the duration and continuance of the same Now further the equity of Gods justice in punishing the temporal act of sin with eternal torments Hugo doth fitly illustrate by these examples Like as saith he when marriage is contracted per verba de praesenti By words uttered in the present-tense though the contract it self in respect of the ceremony thereof be soon done yet the marriage as the substance thereof remaineth in force all the life long So when the Soul and Sin are contracted together it is no marvell this contract holding so long as the soul endureth if it deserve everlasting punishment And like as where the fewel and matter of the fire continueth the flame still burneth So sin leaving a blot in the soul being the matter of Hell fire is eternally punished because there is still matter for that everlasting fire to work upon Thus then we see it 's no injustice in God to punish sin eternally he doth but reward them whom he so punisheth according to their works For though the action of sinne be temporall Voluntas tamen peccandi quae per paenitentiam non mutatur est perpetua saith Gorrhan Yet the will to sinne which is not changed by repentance is eternal and perpetual For the further description of Hell the Scripture useth three principall terms The Worm that never dyeth Outer Darkness And fire that cannot be quenched Mark 9.44 First The Worm This must not be understood of a corporal worm which if it were would be terrible enough for a man to live alwayes dying and die alwaies living with an adder sucking and stinging his vital parts But we must know that after the worlds dissolution there shall remain no mixt body but only man no generation or corruption in the revived bodies Therefore this worm cannot be corporal but spiritual the stinging of a vexed gauled tormented and tormenting conscience This oh this is even Infernum in mundo a Hell on earth and consider O consider Qualiter sentient in inferno what it shall be to their sense who shall be tormented therewith in Hell it self It is so essential a part of their torment that Christ Jesus makes a threefold repetition thereof in one yea at the close of one Sermon Mark 9.44 Where their worm dyeth not And again ver 46. Where their worm dyeth not and again ver 40. Where their worm dyeth not and their fire goeth not out Great yea very great and inexpressible must this punishment needs be which our Saviour doth so often inculcate within so smal a space The Heathen Poets made this one of those three furies which they fictioned to torment the damned Scindes latus una flagello Alter a tartareis sectos dabit anguibus artus Tertia fumantes incoquet igne genas One brings the Scorpion which the conscience eats T'other with Iron whips the back flesh beats While the third boils the soul in scalding heats But if the testimony of a Heathen will not pass for currant or bear no weight at all with us hear then what an ancient Christian Poet Prudentius by name saith to this purpose Praescius inde Pater liventia tartara plumbo Incendit liquido piceasque bitumine fossas Infernalis aquae furvo suffodit Averno Et Phlegethontaeo sub gurgite sanxit edaces Perpetuis scelerum paenis obrodere vermes The prescient Father black hell burns With scalding lead and ditches turns Into a flame with sulphur mixt Th'internal streams rolling betwixt And gnawing worms hath put therein To torture wretches for their sin Some take this worm to be recordatio prateritorum the remembrance of things past and they are either sins committed or good things enjoyed Of sins which shall so long gnaw their souls and bodies like a vulture preying on their hearts as the remembrance of former iniquities committed shall continue which will be for ever Of good things enjoyed S August observes that of the rich mans pleasure Omnia dicit Abraham de praeterito He speaks of all in the time past and gone Dives erat vestiebatur epulabatur recipisti There was a rich man did lare did go had received all past and vanished away all like the counterpane of a lease expired or like wages received and spent before hand This fuisse felicem the remembrance of what he had been must need be a sharp corrosive to him So that for these poor rejected and damned wretches to remember the evils they have done is bitter the good they once had more bitter the good they might have had most bitter Therefore fore it is good councel for us now pravidere mala futura ne recordemur bona praeterita to foresee with fear the evil that shall be hereafter least we remember with grief the good that hath been heretofore O that our fore-sight were but half so sharp as our sense Let us now

liable to I am sure Mollerus was of another mind who saith The Psalmist there declars the miserable condition of all those who live and die in their sins Aeternis punientur paenis They shall be everlastingly punished And Musculus reads the place thus Animi impiorum cruciatibus debitis apud inferos punientur The Souls of the ungodly shall be punished in Hell with deserved Torments Also Psal 18.5 The sorrows of Hell compassed me about Some read the bands or ropes for Chebel signifies both but in the plural number Cheblee rather signifieth Sorrows as of a Woman in Travail The word Scheol is Translated Hell Osiand Pellican So the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ropes or Bands of Hell And they so apply it first to David Credebam me ob peccata mea inferno proximum I thought sometimes by reason of my sinnes that I was nigh to Hell So Pellican And what let but that this good man might justly fear the indignation of God when he considered the heynousness of his impieties Then to Christ as prefigured in David Qui peccatum maledictum factus propter nos inferni dolores cruciatus sensit Who being made a sin and curse for us did feel those sorrows and torments of Hell which we had deserved So Osiander also Videbar captus in laqueis inferni quasi in infernum detrudendus c. I seemed as taken in the snares of Hell as like to one thrust down and deteined there because of the burden of sin which lay upon me But if it be Objected that this punishment and these sufferings and that death which our Saviour Christ endured cannot be said to be eternal because they lasted but a time which being expired they were likewise finished I answer that a thing may be said to be eternal two waies either in respect of the Substance or in respect of the Circumstance the being or continual being of a thing in the former sense Christ suffered eternal death not in the latter He suffered the essential part of those Torments which all the Elect should have suffered unto all eternity though not the circumstantial in respect of duration Besides eternal death in the phrase and dialect of the Scriptures doth not signifie the perpetual dissolution of body and soul as some do understand it for so the damned themselves do not suffer eternal death but either the immeasurable greatness of infernal torments or the everlasting continuance of the same The first of which is Essential the other but accidental that Christ suffered this he could not ought not to undergo Could not because he is Eternal Life it selfe God blessed for ever Amen Ought not because it was his office and his great undertaking in the same to free us from death by conquering the power and taking a way the sting thereof Lastly Christ may be said to suffer eternal death potentially if we may borrow that expression to declare our full and direct intention though not actually that is a death alwayes enduring though not by him alwayes to be endured There is this proportion between that death which we should have suffered and that which Christ did suffer for us the one being infinite in time the other infinite in weight and measure The Son of God then truly suffered eternal death in respect of the greatness of those miseries which he endured and the sense of Gods wrath in those sufferings which he sustained This may be more clearly illustrated if we consider wherein this eternal death of which we speak doth principally confist which on all hands is acknowledged to be in these two things namely the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense both which Christ our Redeemer suffered for us Of loss when being fastned to the Cross he was as it were at least for a time cast out from the presence of God and deprived of the apprehension of his favour as appears by that sad complaint and doleful exclamation which he made Mat. 26.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Nor are they competent Judges of the condition of the Lord Jesus who thus sadly cryed out that say it was because God had left him in the hands of the wicked Jews to use him at their pleasure for many of Gods servants have been exposed to like malice and mischief and yet never so passionately affected with it as to cry out in the midsts of their sufferings that God had forsaken them because their enemies have prevailed against them No no it was the sensible apprehension of Gods dereliction that constrained him to break out into that dolorous exclamation Of sense when he drank so deep of the Cup of divine wrath that as Mark 14.33 expresseth it he was sore amazed and he himself complaineth Mat. 26.38 that his very soul was heavy unto the death And in this sense if there were no other may we maintain that Article of our Creed and in spight of Opposition truly affirm that Christ descended into Hell At which Anonymus doth shrewdly carp and with which boldly quarrels saying These words are not to be found in the most ancient Creeds and so would beat us with our own rod But admit they be not yet can we not believe as some do think and say that they crept into our Creed by negligence for they came not in at a heat or hand over head but with grave advice and great deliberation were there inserted And as Calvin Just 2.16.8 saith of them They were received with the common consent of all the Godly and that there are none of the Fathers but do make mention of them So that it matters not when or by whom they were inserted seeing there is nothing therein contained setting aside some unnecessary interpretations thereof but what is consonant to the analogy of faith proposed to us in the most sacred word of God And if the bitterness of some against them be such that they will not suffer them to have admittance Calvin in the place fore-cited doth undertake to make it plain that there is so much of our Redemption interressed therein that they cannot be omitted without an apparent loss of much fruit and benefit conveighed to us by the sufferings of our Saviour who in the working out of our Redemption underwent the heavy burden of Gods wrath and felt those very infernal pains as an effect thereof which we had deserved that we might everlastingly be freed from the same Thus David Psalm 116.3 speaking in the person of Christ saith Angustiae infernales invenerant me The pains of Hell gat hold upon me Nor is it impossible saith Willet to feel the Toments of Hell though not in the proper place For the place considered in it self conduceth little to the suffering of the wrath and curse of God saith Polyander If Christ saith he tormented the Devils as themselves complain Mat. 8.29 in the Land of Judea out of that infernall place God could bruise Christ for our sinnes by the

and polluted persons into Hell To this last judgement of the Sanhedrim doth Christ appropriate that kind of murder which is by open reviling of a Brother that he might notifie the heynousness of this sinne then which more is the pitty none commonly is accounted lighter nor more familiar And that no man might justifie himself but that every man laying his hand on his heart may acknowledge that by evill will rancour and reproache against his brother he hath violated the commandement and thereby hath deserved death and damnation in the judgement of God as much as open and notorious murder did deserve condemnation in the judgement of men The Gloss that Anonymus puts upon the words thereby to carry them to another sense and wring from them another signification is corrupt and his reasons alledged to that purpose not worth the answering Again Luk. 16.23 speaking of that rich Man And in Hell he lifted up his eyes being in torments c. This he saith is no proof nor the less because he saith it but why not because saith he it is a Parable not a History We have but his bare word for it for Marlorate calls it a History in which saith he Christ describes spirituall things under such figures and in such terms as he knew would be most obvious to our capacity and so best apprehended and applyed by us Besides Tertullian contra Marcion Hillar in enar Psal 2. Ambr. on Luc. and many others call it so Now whether we shall believe Anonymus his single report and repute of it or all these pious and learned Authors in their joynt issue concerning it let the Reader judge For my part I think it no less then blasphemy to say that it is a fabulous and feigned story for Christ who is truth it self used not to sport with fictitious tales to allure with vain pollicitations or terrifie his Auditors with idle disguises or phantastical appearances as the Poets of old in their Fables of Sisyphus Tantalus and the Elisian fields these were the whole heaven wide from truth but this of our Saviour was most true Yet grant it to be a Parable why then saith Anonymus we are not to grant a Doctrine upon it to which I reply that the scope and proper intent of Parables is either manifest and certain or else conjectural and uncertain if uncertain then may not a Doctrine be founded thereon unless we have some supply from other places of Scripture for the clearer illustration and more firme confirmation of the same and in this sense it is as is commonly affirmed Theologia parabolica non est argumentativa Parabolical Divinity is not Argumentative That is to say when the scope of a Parable is doubtful as concerning those things which beyond the purpose are collected from the circumstances of a Parable But if the purpose and drift of a Parable be apparent why may not some certainty be collected and something proved thence so we pass not the bounds or wander from the purpose the scope thereof The words then of Christ in this Parable do evidently declare that the souls of the faithful immediately after they are separated from their bodies are transported to a place of joy and happiness and that the souls of the wicked so separated are cast into misery and torment As for other things which are but as it were circumstantially added they are not ought not strenuously to be urged in proving Doctrines of Faith seeing they serve for illustration onely and make little to any other purpose Moreover if all those places which consist of figurative and parabolical speeches be doubtful and uncertain and so prove nothing What certainty I pray you may be gathered out of the Scripture seeing that very many and the very necessary and material truths in the scriptures are parabolical and figurative 1. If no Doctrine may be built upon Parables many excellent Sermons of our Saviour Christ the great Bishop of our Souls were preached and penned in vain and to no purpose which were spoken in Parables to the people and are in and under the same parables commended unto us but this is most absurd to think And therefore that 2. If all Scripture given by divine inspiration be Profitable for Doctrin for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in righteousness then that scripture which is contained in Figures and comprehended in Parables is profitable for Doctrine and will also afford certain ground for the same But the first is true Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written aforetime saith the Apostle were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Therefore the latter also 2 Tim. 3.16 All the reasons by Anonymus alledged to the contrary not being worth one figge I will add one Scripture instance more and then draw to a conclusion of this first circumstance Rev. 14.10 The same speaking of those wicked ones which worshipped the Beast and his Image c. shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. We have here in this denuntiation or divine Anathema these particulars to be considered 1. What is denounced to wit That they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God 2. The quality of this wrath to wit Without any mixture of mercy 3. The measure of it to wit A Cup of indignation 4. The effect of it to wit Torment by fire and brimstone And 5. In whose presence to wit Of the holy Angels and of the Lamb. First That which is denounced is That as they drank of sinne which was the wine of Babylons fornication so they should drink of Punishment wine for wine but wine of the wrath of God It was sweet though poysonable wine of which they drank first but it shall be sharp and sowre of which they shall drink next and that most justly too because as the Lord sayes Isai 5.4 He looked for sweet Grapes at their hands who owned the Christian name and claimed the priviledge to be of his Church but behold sowre Grapes therefore of such Grapes as they gave to him such wine he returns back to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indignation and fury as Psal 75.8 In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the wine is red c. And Ier. 25.15 Thus saith the Lord Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand Secondly The quality of this wrath It is without mixture to wit of any Mercy So Ribera Non erat mistum divinis miserationibus There was a time when mercy might have been had without any mixture of justice which being neglected now justice must be executed without any mixture of mercy God hath suffered much and he hath suffered long too much in burden long in continuance he hath not been eased by repentance he is

nature which that infernal fire should work upon yet such is the powerful judgement of that Almighty Arbiter of the world justly willing their torment that he can make Spirits most sensible of those fiery tortures and such is the obedible submission of their created nature that they may be immediately wrought upon by those appointed pains And as this inspection cannot be with too much caution no more can the conclusion that is drawn there from be with too much heed for he that makes it spiritual fire onely goes about to make it no fire at all It is therefore by the consent of many of the Godly learned held to be a coporal fire which being granted there arise notwithstanding some exceptions against the same Object 1. If it be corporal how can it diversly torment divers Reprobates There is but one fire in Hell but yet that fire doth not excruciate and torment all the wicked which are therein after one manner and measure the more wicked men have been here the more wretched shall they be there The mighty shall be mightily tormented Res For Answer For the better understanding hereof we must know that this fire is the instrument of divine Justice now no instrument works onely by its own virtue and after its own manner and in its own measure but is regulated ordered and disposed according to the will and power of the first Mover The Fire in a Furnace is augmented or qualified according to the will of him that kindles it or hath to do with it so is this enflamed or mitigated by the power and will of God Isai 30.33 The breath of the Lord like a River of Brimstone doth kindle it One and the same fire doth otherwise burn Iron then Wood or Straw and that as one saith well Secundum duritiem vel durationem materiae According to the nature of the incensed matter is the rage and fury of the fire Gregory in the Fourth Book of his Dialogues hath a notable saying to this purpose Quod hic diversitas corporum illic agit diversitas peccatorum That which is wrought here by the diversity of bodies is wrought there by the diversity of sins one and the same fire may be common to all yet may it afford a several degree of pain to every one according to the pleasure of the great disposer Object 2. If it be corporal fire it must be maintained with fewel or else it will quickly languish and be extinguished But there is no fewel in Hell at least no such fewel as can maintain it to eternity for saith Anonymus the wicked are compared to chaffe and stubble and so are quickly consumed and come to nothing but will he say they are such because they are compared unto such would he be contented that any man should inferre because he as a man is compared to a beast that perisheth therefore he is a beast I suppose he would rather reply nullum simile est idem For that Similitude and Identity are different things as He that is like me is not my self Indeed man is compared unto such in respect of his fading condition in this life but this mortal shall after put on immortality These bodies shall be so rarified as they shall not admit of a diminution much less of an annihilation Ans We let him pass and answer that the bodies and souls of the damned shall be loco carbonum lignorum instead of fewel and because those materials as they are qualified are everlasting it follows that Hell fire must be everlasting also for it is against the nature of fire to cease so long as it hath any combustible matter to feed upon Obj. 3. If it be corporal fire then it is of the same species with our fire now we know what the nature of this fire is but not of that Answ In the bodies which are the matter of the fire there may be a difference as lignum igneum ferrum ignitum burning Wood and burning Iron differ still it is fire though diverse from ours in certain properties which are unknown to us and if it be the blessed will of God may we never know them But seeing it is substantial and corporeal fire it will not be amiss to take notice of some particulars wherein it differs from this elementary fire of ours which may be considered in these five respects 1. In regard of Heat our fire is hot nor is there any element in the extreamest fury more afflictive to the sense then fire but the fire of Hell is far more hot and more afflictive The fire in a Lantsckip which is ignis pictus a painted fire or that purgatory fire which is ignis fictus a feigned fire yet hath so warmed the Popes Kitchin is a better representation of elemental fire then elemental can be of that fire which is eternal That furnace whose heat was septupled Dan. 3.19 insomuch that the flames thereof licked up them for whom it was not meant was raging very raging and of great violence but not a glowing sparkle compared to the everlasting fire of Hell 2. In regard of Light our fire comforts in shining that is oppressed with horrible darkness Ardet noster lucet Our fire burns and in burning shines but this as divine Justice hath disposed it burns but shines not unless it be for the greater torment of those that are frying in it Vim comburendi retinet illuminandi amisit saith Basil It retains the property of burning it hath lost the property of shining Therefore it is called Hades Sine sole domus a House without light The Apostle Jude calls it the black darkness The darkness of Aegypt was strong and horrid so thick that it was palpable yet nothing to the darkness of Hell In Aegypt they had but an over-casting they enjoyed the glorious light of the Sun again in Hell Non videbunt lumen in aeternum They shall never see light more 3. Elemental fire burns the body onely Eternall the soul also The passion of the body is but the body of passion the soul of pain is the pain of the soul yet if a consumable body be not able to endure burning flames for a day how will an unconsumable soul and body be able to endure the scorching flames of Hell for ever 4. Elemental fire as it burns so it consumes Hell fire rageth more and wasteth less The reprobate shall have the punishment Uri to be burned but not the happiness Exuri to be burned out So Prosper when he saith Poennae gehennales puniunt non finiunt corpora Hell torments punish but do not finish the bodies In Hell there is no cessation of fire burning nor of matter burned The Poet Prudentius speaks thus sadly of it Vermibus flammis summis cruciatibus aevum Immortale dedit Senio ne flamma periret To Worm and Fire to Torments there No term he gave they cannot wear If this fire were terminable it might then be tolerable but being endless

to see them participando by a blessed partaking of them such a sight is not permitted to the children of perdition They see them to the grief of their hearts and terror of their souls that they cannot enjoy them but are for ever deprived of them But how could that rich Man spoken of in the Gospel or how can other damned spirits be said to see the glory of Heaven when as they want those luminary Organs of the body the disposition of sight besides the great distance between the several places and the the thick darkness interposed which is a great question with Anonymus I shall easily remove this block out of the way for even Spirits see though not with bodily eyes they have the eyes of intelligence and apprehension by which they are able to distinguish matters of intricacy and perplexity and that at distance too much more between Light and Darkness They apprehend this Glory either universally or particularly An universal apprehension they have whereby they perceive the Saints to be in great glory in particular what this Glory is they know not They see it and they see so much of it as shall augment their torment Tam propter invidiam alienae faelicitatis quàm propter carentiam illius quietis both in regard of others gain and their loss the transcendent happiness which the Saints are for ever made partakers of and their own want of the same Now if it be granted That the damned shall see the glory of Heaven then it will probably follow that Hell is in the Air onely separated with a great unpassable gulf that either may not come to other And I have read of certain Hills whose tops have bin so near one to another that men might talk one to another but could not without many days travel come one to another If they do not see it then it is as probable that it may be in the bowels of the Earth However it is below down-wards in the more inferior parts of the workmanship of him who as the Poet styles him is Ille opifex rerum the great Creator of all But precisely to determine whether in the Air or in the Water or on the face of the Earth or in the Center of the Earth or in the center of the worlds Center Tegitur non legitur periculose disquiritur tutò ignoratur is kept secret and not discovered is safe to be ignorant of cannot but be dangerous to dispute That saying of Scaliger would be a seasonable curb to restrain us from a curious indagation and scrupulous enquiry after the place it self if it were minded of us Nescire velle quae Magister optimus Docere non vult erudita inscitia est What the great Master will not have made known Our greatest Wisdome is to let alone Yet thus far may we boldly conclude concerning it That as just Spirits separated from their bodies do presently ascend into the Emperial Heaven there to possess joy and happiness so the Souls of hard obdurate and impenitent sinnets whose hearts neither the mercies of God could mollifie nor his Judgements terrifie are confined below to the inferior Elements there to remain in everlasting miseries and torment And this as I take it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be wise to sobriety according to the wholsome advice of the Apostle But to determine positively where Hell is and to measure out and to dispose of every foot conteined in the same is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audacious curiosity and is carefully to be avoided by us Now because there is a difference among some that are more nice then wise about the Ubi Anonymus concludes against the Quod to the bewraying either of his ignorance or infidelity or both because men will not be rash in it therefore such Atheists will rashly deny it If any then shall ask further concerning the local place of Hell I answer with Socrates I was never there my self and my hope is never shall be nor spoke I with any that came from thence and therefore cannot satisfie his curiosity herein I confess many doubt concerning Hell Ubi sit where it is none can describe Quid sit What it is but all all I mean in their right minds do agree Quod sit That there is such a place where the damned shall be imprisoned and in which tormented unto all eternity Seeing then as we have upon good reason concluded that Hell is a descent downwards let us keep our selves so far as we can from it while we live that it may never devour us when we dye Sin is a burden that presseth down-ward The Prophet Zachary 5.7 compares it to a Talent of Lead how heavy was it on the back of Judas it never left him till it had pressed him down to his own place As the heaviest bodies draw to the Center of the Earth so do the saddest and heaviest spirits such as the mercy of God hath quite forsaken draw down to the Center of Hell Sinne brings a man easily down Facilis descensus Averni Things nearest Heaven take less care for Earth The Fowls of the air neither plow nor sow nor carry into Barns But men most love that which they must shortly leave and think seldom or never of that place where they must after the consummation of a short time here abide for ever O Lord give me the grace to consider the evil of my wayes Et semper cogitare Gehennam ne in gehennam incidam If nothing else will work me to repentance to think often of Hell here that I may not fall into hell for ever hereafter The life of the damned is a death without end the death of the damned is to live in eternal Torments VVhen the wrath of God shall cease towards them then shall Torments cease to be inflicted on them But the wrath of God is Eternal therefore their plagues must needs be eternal also VVhen those damned wretches shall repent of their impieties then shall they be freed from their miseries But the space of repentance was by them neglected and the grace of repentance is now denied Therefore there is no deliverance to be expected O Eternity eternity thou alone dost add to and aggravate the punishments of the damned beyond all measure Their misery is grievous in respect of the acerbity and sharpness thereof more grievous in respect of the variety and diversity thereof but most grievous in respect of the eternity and everlastingness thereof Anonymus how advisedly and upon what grounds I know not for all his pretended reasons make nothing to that purpose saith That this opinion as he calls it to wit of the everlasting duration of Hell torments hath caused much sin I answer How lightly soever he seems to set by it by the term he puts upon it it was a real substantial truth before his Cradle was made and will be so when his Coffin shall be rotten And if corrupt men will draw hellish conclusions from heavenly

sheeps cloathing If Rome had not some truth she would never be believed if she were not full of errors her followers could not be deceived As the Apostles from God so the faithful Ministers of God from the Apostles by the commandment of God do warn us of these things that we fall not into the error of the wicked It may be that we slight them speaking but they of whom they warn us would give much to have them hold their peace You know the story Philip of Macedon besieging Athens sent Legates to the City that if they would deliver into his hands ten of their Orators such as he should chuse whom he pretended to be disturbers of the Common-wealth he would raise his siege and be at peace with them But Demosthenes quickly smelt out his plot and with the consent of the Athenians returned him this Apological answer The Wolves came to Treat of a League with the shepherds and told them thus All the fraud and discord betwixt you and us ariseth from a certain generation of Dogs which you maintain among you deliver up those Dogs we will be good friends with you neither will we any wayes wrong you The Dogs were delivered up the Peace was concluded the shepherds secure But O the woful and cruel massacre that was presently made amongst the poor Lambs they were all devoured the Shepheards undone and all by parting with their Dogs If the Popish and Schismatical faction who like Sampsons Foxes are joyned together by the tayls though their heads seem to be different one from the other could once get the Ministers of the Gospel to hold their peace or procure them to be muzzled by Authority or to be delivered over to their wolvish cruelty woe were to our poor souls Error would then play Rekes Darkness triumph Hell make play-days Truth would languish and all goodness lye prostrate on the Earth As little as they are now regarded or as much as they are slighted we should then dearly miss them and earnestly wish for them and say blessed are they that come to us not onely in the name of the Lord as most seducers do but sent from the Lord to his glory our establishment Let us then while we do enjoy them gather strength from them against vacillation and inconstancy There be some of whom the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Tim. 4.4 That will turn away their Ears from the Truth unto Fables very toyes will lead away fools Alas a quid novi carries them any where A new fashion does not more take your proud Lady a new Play your roaring Gallant a new Tavern your deep Drinker a new Trick your nimble Cheater nor a new Drug your gulling Emperick then a new opinion does your light-heel'd Schismatick Christ questions the Jews Mat. 11.7 What went ye out into Wilderness to see a Reed shaken with the wind yea rather O ye Reeds shaken with the wind what vvent ye out into the Wilderness to see a vanity lighter then your selves yet as the golden Calf took the Israelites because it vvas made of their Earings So a fictitious conceit transporteth too many among us because it is made fit for their Ears Let us truly vveigh the folly of inconstancy Heb. 13.9 Be not carried about with strange Doctrines for it is a good thing for the heart to be established with grace To be loose then in the main joynts of Religion must needs be very bad The tottering wall is soon blown down but being down who shall erect and set it up again The righteous soul is like a body of a square figure turn it on which part you will lay it how you list it will still be constant and like it self An unstable Christian is the worlds worst movable a little resembling the Silk-worm but not of such profit one day you shall find him a fly another a Maggot very seldom twice in the same shape Take Gold and throw it into the water yet it loseth neither value nor colour cast it into the fire and it comes forth the purer but dirt is hardned with the fire and dissolved with the water The Sons of levity are such as that which they are joyned withall would have them to be hard or soft cold or hot tall or low great or small of any temper Their souls are like common strumpets they take in all suggestions If one say there is no Hell they believe it If another shall come and say there is no Heaven no Angel no God they are apt to be taken with it For shame let us be steddy before we be laid in the steddy Earth where there is no motion at all In the Grave the most pragmatical busie-body shall be quiet There is no shifting of ground no changing of sides there They that troubled all the Country with their fantastical Opinions to get themselves a name shall there lie as quiet as their fellow-clods The body shall be confined to one place the soul to another without shifting or removing till the time come that they be removed to the Bar and brought before the Tribunal of the Lord Jesus to receive secundum opera according to their works I confess we are Sheep apt to wander but we shall not if we keep our Shepherd We are Chickens apt to stray but we may be secure under the wings of our Hen. God is our Shepherd let us keep close to him never any trusted in him and did miscarry The Holy Catholick Church she is the Hen under whose Wings we have been hatched up hitherto let us carefully brood our selves under the same from the danger of the Kite Let us keep in the one and depend upon the other by our Faith and Prayers and all the forces of Satan shall not remove us from the Truth Which God of his mercy Grant we may to his Glory our own Comfort and the good Example of others Amen There is an Excellent Piece of the same Authors Extant against the Socinians with an History of their Lives and Deaths FINIS