of Atra Bilis and to have no ground at all in the Scriptures Sol. What he hath done in this particular is too well known in the World and how well he hath done it is my Business to discover in this Book And I trust Good Reader that thou wilt perceive by that which follows that he hath not done it well nor indeed any better than the Socinian hath proved that there is no Trinity or than the Atheist hath proved that there is no God The Method observed And now I shall proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this following Method 1. To lay down some Arguments to prove the Everlasting Punishment of the wicked that live and dye such 2. To examine the said Book in all the principal parts and passages of it for it will not be worth while to speak of all he hath written there being very many Impertinencies in it 3. To improve the Doctrine in a practical way for Instruction Exhortation c. But before I speak of either of these it may seem needful to say something of the Author of this precious Piece which I am to deal with 1. Who the Author was If any Man should ask me who it was I would answer It was O Grande nomen Mr. S. Richardson even that admired Resolute Richardson whom the good Men of his Party did boast of so greatly and supposed to be a fit Match for the London-Ministers viz. indefinitely for any of them or for All of them to deal with See the Author in the Margin * Mr. J. Collings Vindic. Ministerii my Preface to the Reader sub finem And therefore some may imagine I have been too venturous to engage voluntarily with so great a Champion as He But yet Reader I am not discouraged I hope to come off clear and to pass without hurt through all the Pikes of his Arguments and Subtilties for God and his Truth are greater and stronger than Mr. R. and his Fallacies But to return to that which I was speaking of I say it was He whom the World is so much beholding to for the Book I am opposing For I have seen his Name prefixed to it though it be not set in that Edition of it which I have and perhaps it might be as good policy to conceal his Name in the second Edition as it was to mention it in the former 2. What he was But though it may be easily gained what his Name was yet it may be more difficult to discover what Himself was I remember the old saying Noscitur ex socio c. A dark Fellow is to be expounded by his Companions It might be questioned whether Mr. R. were himself of any Religion for all Religions have a Hell in their Creed and yet he hath none in his wherefore his Opinion concludes him of the doubtful gender in point of Religion so that we must be forced as was said to expound him by his Companions And if you would know who they were and what Perswasion they were of you may fitly consult the Anabaptists Confession of Faith Printed Anno Dom. 1644. which that * Dr. Featly Light of our Church now fixt in a Higher Orb was sometimes pleased to pass some Animadversions upon I mean in his Book called The Dippers dipt Where he tells you and you may safely take his word for it That the said Confession was subscribed by Paul Hobson Thomas Gunne and others of the same stamp and amongst the rest by S. Richardson to whom I would wish if he be living saving Mercy and a sound Mind And thus much by way of Introduction to my following Discourse The first particular whereof is now to be presented to thy serious thoughts and favourable censure CHAP. I. SECT II. An endless state of Punishment for the Wicked and Impenitent proved and the Proofs thereof vindicated from the Exceptions of Mr. R. and his Brethren THE fittest Method of procedure in my present Design seems to be that which is mentioned viz. To prove the truth of the Doctrine contended for before I meddle with the main Body of Mr. R. his Sophistical Argumentations namely that abovesaid And herein I do not undertake to convince the Atheist or drive him out of his Resolved Infidelity but rather to confirm the Christian in the Belief of this Doctrine which he hath been so often put in mind of by his Teachers And the first Argument that I would propose Scripture-Testimony the strongest Argument is the Testimony of God in Scripture and that is indeed the strongest of all Arguments and the most convincing to the Soul and Conscience As the learned have sufficiently evinced Vid. Crakanthorp Logic. de Argum. à Testimonio Logicos passim de Testimonio Disputantes for Truth is Essential to the True God Item Scheibl Topic. cap. 31. sect 50. Titus 1.2 He cannot lye A Man may be a Man though he be not true in his word but God could not be a God if he were not so Keckerm Log. lib. 3. cap. 13. for God to be false in his Word implies a manifest contradiction And there is nothing more natural to a Man in his right Wits than to conceive his Maker to be True in all that he saith or revealeth Wherefore if we have the Testimony of God for it in his written Word we may safely build upon it I say His written Word for that 's the Testimony that we are to enquire of Esay 8.20 And as for those inward Impulses Revelations A digression of Revelations Enthusiastick impressions c. and Suggestions of the Spirit which some have sufficiently boasted of and more than sufficiently trusted to as to Divine Testimonies they have often proved to be the Delusions of the lying Spirit and the false lights which the Prince of Darkness hath set up in the blinded hearts of those that shut their eyes against the light of that Word which is able to save our Souls having them so dreadfully dazelled with the glory of the light within them as they use to speak whose Enthusiastick Errors have been examined by many worthy Men. Spanhem Syntag Theol. Beckman Exercitat in Appendice c. And their vanity hath been shewed by famous or infamous instances in Mr. Sam. Cleark His Mirror Cap. 27. Exampl 17. Concerning the horrid Delusions which a Gentleman in Warwick-shire fell into after he looked to be taught by Revelations and Inspirations and had refused to hear any conformable Minister preach c. As also of one Mr. Gilpin in the same Chapter The sum of which History I have briefly set down in my Caution against Quakerisme Near the end I say if we have the Testimony of God in his written Word for the Doctrine I assert then we may be bold to believe it and must believe it though Mr. R. and his Companions in Infidelity should write never so many Books against it Reader if thou dost not believe the Scriptures to be
the way Thou goest in and fear going astray More careful this will make Thee to avoid All evil and still keep Thee well employ'd This will Thee cause to shun the Paths of sin And mind the End when ought Thou dost begin Nought wilt Thou do God's Justice to incense If Hell Thou dost believe sin's Recompence What for some short-liv'd sinful pleasure shall I incur the Pains of Death perpetual What for some short-breath'd perishing delight Shall I forgo the Beatifick sight Which Heav'n affords and this of loss entwine With pains of Sense No Hell shall ne'er be mine On such unequal Terms Though sin entice I 'l never buy it at so dear a Price Most true it is thy Faith should work by Love The Love of God and Man should chiefly move Thee to decline what ever may offend An Holy God yet may the fearful end Sin leads to sometimes thought on move Thee more Than all the charmes of Love could heretofore Live thinking oft then on the Pains of Hell Which none escape but Those that here live Well S. N. Acrosticks upon the Name of the Author J. B. J OHN is his Name in Hebrew Jochanan Which signifies at least a Pious man O n whom his God his Grace hath multiplied More than on multitudes of men beside H is upright Life and painful Labours give Most signal proofs of this where he doth live N o one can justly spot the Coat he wears Nor through his fault blaspheme the Name he bears B RANDON I add that you assur'd may be The Author 's him I mean and none but he R ight such an one as John describ'd 'T is he Who is what this his Name notes him to be A Man though young in Years yet old in Grace Whose Gifts among the Elder may take place N or doth't become the Gravest to despise His Youth whose Actions speak him gravely wise D oubtless God's Church is happy in such Youth Skilful to strike Gaths with the stone of Truth O n whom whoso shall cast Dirt of contempt Let such see how themselves may be exempt N ought have I more to add his Christ'n name is John A name of Grace annext to Natures name Brandon Ad Authorem Hexastichon PRosâ sic Prologi vice carmina qualia feci Si Naturae negat facit Indignatio versum Qualemcunque potest quales ego vel Cluvienus Juv. Sat. 1. Num. 15. Quae tua si statuunt Nomina Parce mihi Parcas quòd Primùm proso sermone Rogatus Scribere causatus dans Tibi signa Rei Exìn quòd lusi Numeris super horrifera Re Haud benè compositis Nec tibi digna tuli Sum tamen Proximus tibi amicus Amicus tuus fidelissimus S. N. THE TABLE THe Epistle giving an Account of the Author 's Writing CHAP. I. SECT I. The Introduction with some Reflections upon the Author of the opposed Pamphlet pag. 1. CHAP. I. SECT II. An endless state of punishment for the wicked in another World proved and those Proofs vindicated from the Exceptions of Mr. Richardson and his Brethren the Socinians p. 3. CHAP. I. SECT III. Other Texts of Scripture urged and Arguments grounded on Scripture p. 12. CHAP. II. SECT I. A Tast of Mr. Richardson's Grapes in the beginning of his Garden or a Discovery of his gross Sophistry and grievous Impertinencies in the former Pages of his Discourse p. 23. CHAP. II. SECT II. Mr. R. his Observations upon Hell-fire the Damnation of Hell the rich Man and Lazarus Tophet the Worm that never dyeth observed and censured p. 26. CHAP. II. SECT III. Mr. R.'s Inventions upon the Parable of the Tares of the word Cursed of Eternal Damnation of the word Fire with a Query of the Corporiety of Hell-fire p. 29. CHAP. II. SECT IV. His pleasant Game or a view of that pretty sport that he makes with the various Opinions of learned Men about the place where Hell is fixed p. 34. CHAP. II. SECT V. His admirable Combate with Mr. Ed. Leigh upon the Point and his causless Triumph over him being a Vindication of the said Mr. L. his arguments p. 38. CHAP. III. SECT I. Mr. R.'s Attempt to remove as he calls the main Pillars of Hell-Torments p. 46. CHAP. III. SECT II. The strong Man armed and his strength tried or Mr. Richardson's deep considerations considered p. 61. CHAP. III. SECT III. Mr. Richardson's Richest Learning discovered or his many Infallible Proofs disproved p. 70. CHAP. III. SECT IV. The remaining part of his Proofs from the 7th to the last being the 20th carefully examined p. 89. CHAP. IV. SECT I. The Uses of the Point by way of Information in several particulars p. 113. CHAP. IV. SECT II. A discovery of the madness of wicked Men in following their sins c. And their extreme misery hereafter that dye such here p. 116. CHAP. IV. SECT III. An humble and serious Exhortation to the Gentry and others which concludes with some questions to the damners and sinkers p. 132. CHAP. IV. SECT III. A Continuation or a word to the better sort of Gentry viz. the Religious p. 140. CHAP. IV. SECT IV. Particular directions for the escaping of Hell-torments being six in number with a caution to all and a consolatory conclusion to the servants of God p. 145. The Authors distance from the Press has occasioned these ERRATA'S which the Reader is desired to Correct PAge 2. Line 23. add most probably p. 16. l. 31. for Bond read Land p. 38. l. 21. for Instance r. Sense p. 51. l. 7. for innovation r. invention p. 66. l. 3. add Almost p. 99. l. 1. leave out for p. 120. l. 31. for strange r. strong p. 134. l. 31. for selves r. souls p. 138. l. 7. leave out the word Two p. 142. l. 32. for furious r. Serious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR Everlasting Fire NO FANCY CHAP. I. SECT I. The Introduction with some Reflexions upon the Author of the opposed Pamphlet THAT the way of the wicked deceiveth them Prov. 12.26 is one of the Sacred Oracles of that God who cannot lye nor be deceived It fills them with Sorrow when they look for Joy and is as the Gall of Asps within them even then when it is sweet to their Mouths and pleasing to their corrupt affections Job 20.14 Mr. Caryl See the late Expositor in his Notes upon the place But O how bitter will it be to them hereafter when all the sweetness of it is past and ends in those sorrows that never end when their continued Rebellions against the King of Heaven have laid them under perpetual punishment and bound them in everlasting Chains of Darkness and Damnation Object But say some we hope there is no such danger for that Doctrine hath been suspected of late yea Mr. R. hath professedly opposed it His Light hath discovered the rotten Foundations upon which it is built and hath proved all those black and dismal Imaginations concerning it to be no better than the effects
in the Grek to give vengeance to those that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And can he be said to give vengeance to them when he takes away their very Beings and so maketh them uncapable of receiving any punishment at all Surely not The lawful Magistrate under Christ is appointed to act the part of a Revenger upon them that do evil * Rom. 13.4 And that vengeance which according to God's Ordinance he inflicts upon Malefactors is commonly such as they are very sensible of And shall not ungodly sinners feel their punishment to the purpose as we say when the Supream Law-giver shall set himself purposely to execute wrath and render vengeance to them yea doubtless they shall For when He will execute vengeance upon them Ezek. 25.17 they shall then know that He is the Lord as the Prophet speaks But 't is plain they could not do so if his vengeance did consist in taking away their Being that which is not cannot know any thing 2. Destruction is not used in Scripture in reference to Men to signifie any such thing as the Total abolishment of their Natures Let any of my Author's Opinion disprove this by any Text whatsoever Indeed 't is said of the old World that the Flood came Matth. 24.39 and took them all away but 't is omnes only not totos it took away All those Persons viz. out of the Land of the Living But it did not take away the whole Natures Their Souls are living still And God will be so far from destroying the Souls of the wicked as to their Nature and Being as that he will quicken and raise their Bodies which Death and Worms had destroyed formerly Acts 24.15 There shall be a Resurrection of the just and the unjust saith St. Paul in the Acts. And they shall be raised for good and all as we say so as to see corruption no more for ever 1 Cor. 15.52 3. That to destroy signifies in respect of the wicked a state of real Misery and Torment as when it is said Matth. 10.28 that God is able to destroy Body and Soul in Hell that is to fill them with perfect Misery And if it were meant of destroying their Beings then that dreadful word Hell which is added as an aggravation of the destruction would signifie just nothing in point of Terror for if a Man be turned into nothing it is all one whether it be in the one or the other for nothing is no nearer to something in Heaven than in Hell And thus also the word is used very often in our own Language As when we say of Oppressors that they have destroyed whole Families we do not mean that they have turned them into nothing but that they have brought them into a calamitous condition And this I hope may be enough for that Text and I think it is not too much A third place I shall offer Matth. 25.41 urged for it to prove the everlastingness of the Punishment of the wicked is Matth. 25.41 He shall say unto them on his left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. They must depart viz. really by changing place as Christ is departed or gone into Heaven in 1 Pet. 3. 1 Pet. 3. ult last vers where it is the same Greek Verb that is used in both places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so supposeth the continuance of their Being 2. They must depart not into Nothing or such a state if I might so call it as the World was in before its Creation but into Fire 3. And this Fire of what sort soever it be God knoweth is an everlasting Fire in the same sense as the Life and Happiness of the Righteous is everlasting Life in 46. verse yea it is that everlasting Fire which the Devils shall be for everlasting punished with v. 41. as in the Text it self and therefore certainly is everlasting in the saddest sense or without end And if any Man shall say they may be cast into this everlasting Fire but not suffer everlastingly in it he had need have no less than Mr. Richardson's Learning to enable him to give a good Account of his speech And he that can conceive any such thing as probable may by the same degree of acuteness perswade himself 2 Pet. 1.11 that the Saints may go into the everlasting kingdom of Christ and yet possibly not dwell everlastingly in it which yet they will hardly question in the least measure while they have so many faithful promises of a Happy Eternity * 1 Thess 4.17 Rev. 22.5 c. A fourth Text of Scripture which may conveniently be urged for the everlastingness of the punishment of the wicked is Daniel 12.2 Daniel 12.2 urged and opened Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt But before I come to speak of that which most directly concerns my present purpose Many how understood it will not be amiss to explain the word many for some have gathered from thence that there shall be no general Resurrection The weakness of which Opinion to speak no worse of it I might shew from a great many places These two for brevity sake I shall content my self with Jo. 5.28 29. The hour is coming wherein All that are in the Grave shall hear his Voice Jo. 5.29 and come forth c. So then there are none excepted And in the 24. chap. of the Acts it was the Apostles belief Acts 24.15 That there shall be a Resurrection of the just and the unjust that is of all and every one of them for if the just there do mean All the just the unjust must mean All the unjust for the phrase is alike of both of them so that he that grants the one may not deny the other And therefore that Text in Daniel cannot tend to strengthen that Opinion which that we may the better perceive these three things may be considered 1. That the Multi ex dormientibus many of them that sleep vid. Synops crit in loc is in substance the same as if it were said Multi dormientes i. e. Those many that are sleeping in the Dust of the Earth And then it will be no less than if it were said All of them 2. That the Proposition is particular only and therefore will not warrant a Universal Negative to be inferred from it Many Saints or Multitudes of Saints shall be caught up together to meet the Lord Jesus 1 Thess 4.17 at his coming to Judgment is a Truth Yet we cannot truly conclude that All shall not Doubtless their Lord will receive them all as well as any And St. Paul makes no difference between himself and the rest of the faithful in respect of that priviledge 3. Many sometimes put for All. By
nothing of that place which is commonly called by that Name Scripture assures us that there was a Garden in Eden Gen. 2.8 in which Man was placed yet I might say without absurdity That it speaks nothing distinctly of that place for it tells us only that it was East-ward in the general but saith not what part of the World it was in how long or how broad or how near to the place where Jerusalem stood or the like So in p. 6. He gives us another chip of the same Block Page 6 for he tells us that the word Hell is not found in the Hebrew or Greek And that the word Sheol which is so translated signifies properly the Grave A very precious Revelation and such as might be well accepted if my Author or any of his Judgment would but impart it kindly to those Noble spirited Gentlemen that are Inamorato's to a play and frequent those Places where all things are common For might they not go the more pleasantly thither when they are assured that if they dye when they are at worst they shall go to no worse a place than the Grave and that there is no other nor worser Hell than it for that which precise Men have rendered by the word Hell doth properly signifie the Grave But yet let them not trust too much to this kind of Learning for if they please to consider what I have to say unto it they will find it is not worth one Glass of good Wine Mr. R.'s invention to prove no Hell will prove as strongly that there is no Devil For if this were a proof that there is no Hell viz. that the word so rendered signifies another thing sometimes then I say at the same rate of arguing we might prove as well and as wisely that there is no Devil neither for the word Devil is not found in the Greek Testament since an English word is not a Greek word And that which is translated Devil in the 4th of Matth. and other places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is known to signifie an ill-conditioned Man a Detractor Railer Accuser and such like This I say is the proper importance of the original word And yet sobâ—r Christians will believe in spight of all Mr. R.'s subtilty that it signifies in that Chapter the same that we use to call by that name even the great implacable adversary of Mankind and cannot doubt of it if they read the 10. and 11. Verses of that Chapter And this is that which he hath offered us upon the word Sheol He adds something like it upon the word Gehenna But of that with God's leave in the next Section CHAP. II. SECT II. Mr. R. his Observations upon the word Hell-Fire Damnation of Hell c. Of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Of Tophet Of the Worm that never dyeth censured R. Hell-Fire in Matth. 5. and other places signifies the Fire that was in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom And the word Gehenna which is used for Hell P. 12. and 14. is borrowed from the Valley of Hinnom BUT by his leave the former is denied Hell-Fire in the Gospel doth only allude to that Fire in the Valley of Hinnom Jer. 7.31 where as the Prophet Jeremy sheweth the People most cruelly sacrificed their Children in the Fire Of Hell to the Idol Moloch And is it not very fit for the place of Torment for the Enemies of God to be expressed by this place of Wickedness and Torture As the word which notes a mischievous Person is fitly used to signifie the Devil as was noted before And that the casting into Hell-fire cannot signifie the casting into the Fire of Hinnom aforesaid is manifest because that Fire had been put out long ago and the place turned to another use by the good King Josiah as we find in 2 King 23.10 Gehenna what And for the word Gehenna we confess it is borrowed from the Vally of Hinnom that place of Torture aforesaid and therefore is very fit to express the place appointed for the Punishment of the Wicked c. And that it only alludes to that place Per Metaphoram uti Piscator in Scholiis super Matth. 5.22 Matth. 10.28 but doth not mean the place it self is manifest by what was now said neither was that a place for the Soul to suffer in or for the Body after its Death as the Hell which our Saviour speaks of most certainly is Matth. 10. but rather fear him who is able to destroy Soul and Body in Hell and that too after the Body is killed Luke 12.5 that is He can quicken the dead Body and make it live in the Torments of Hell Of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke the 12. Having pleased his Humour upon the word Gehenna in the 16. and 17. Pages to as little profit to himself or his Reader as can well be desired He proceeds in the following Pages to darken the Light of the word Everlasting from thence to the 22 page of his Book p. 16 17. and 23. which they that admire for good and sound may conveniently Read the foregoing Chapter where I have examined them severally This Reader I thought fit to mention that thou mayst not think I do wilfully pass over any thing in his Pamphlet that is not grosly impertinent Then in the 23 page he passeth his grave censure upon that Text in St. Luke cap. 16. concerning the Rich man and Lazarus where he tells us that it is but a Parable And that I am confident was no new discovery of his own it was found out long before the world had any benefit by this Book of his Then having time and paper to spare he undertakes to prove it by no less than Ten Reasons as the Socinians of old urged 30 Arguments against Infant Baptism But as all theirs were deceitful arguments so Nine of his Ten Reasons are needless ones for in such a case one may be sufficient And when he hath gained what he contends for that it is a Parable yet he hath gained very little as to the cause he hath undertaken For as the Learned Mr. Baxter saith very well If that of the Rich man in Hell and Lazarus should be no more than a Parable Saints Rest part 2. cap. 10. Sect. 4. yet it seems very unlikely that Christ would teach them by such a Parable as seemed so evidently to intimate the Souls Happiness or Misery immediately after death if there were no such thing So say I in like manner it were very strange that Christ should teach them by such a Parable as seems so plainly to intimate a Hell or Torment for the Souls of the ungodly that dye such though they dye Rich if there were no such matter The next place of Scripture he hath taken a view of is Esay 30.33 Of Tophet Esay 30.33 p. 26. c. where he tells us we must understand by Tophet only the Valley of
and shall easily grant him that Hell in that place doth not signifie the Lake of Fire though it doth elsewhere And for the sense of it either Death and Hell may be said figuratively to be cast into the Lake because they are conquered and triumphed over by Christ and as it were condemned and so may by a figure be spoken of as of Persons condemned in that respect or else Hell may be taken by a common figure for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 16.18 As when it is said in Matth. 16. That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church That is the power and policies of all the Devils shall not be able to ruine it Vide Piscatorem in loc The gates being as places of strength to a City so the places also where the chief Council was held 48. c. In the 48 49 50. pages His Pen dropped so much Vanity as that I shall not think it worth while to trouble mine with it But afterwards he speaks thus p. 51. Mr. R. Others say plainly they cannot tell where Hell is as some had held it was in one place some in another Thus being full of Mirth at their different Opinions he expresseth himself very freely in these following words R. As it is reported of Father Cotton the Jesuit p. 52. that he could not find out a plain place of Scripture to prove Purgatory by and therefore asked the Devil for one So they are at as great a loss to prove their Hell of Torments by a plain Text. O admirable man Well might he be a Ring-leader among the Anabaptists and his name be an honour to their Printed Confession whose wit was so far from being cursed or unfruitful as that it brought forth with ease such a blessed comparison as this But first he might have left out his story of the Jesuits enquiring of the Devil c. For he dares not say our Ministers enquire of the Devil for a Text to prove Hell by Nor secondly have they any need to enquire of him for that purpose The Scripture is plain enough in the case Matth. 10.28 Matth. 10.28 to name no more at present is very full for it Fear not them that can kill the body but rather fear him who can destroy Body and Soul in Hell Mr. R. shall be a Prophet if this do not prove a Hell of Torment For to destroy in this place doth not signifie to turn into nothing or destroy their Being * See Cap. 1. Sect. 3. for the Soul shall remain for ever as all but Atheists confess besides what was noted upon the word Destroy in the place before cited in the Margin To Destroy therefore in that place is to punish And to punish in Hell is manifestly spoken as an aggravation of that Punishment or destruction Hell cannot mean the Grave in that place For the Soul is not destroyed in any sense in the Grave what then can it mean but a place of Torment so called the Valley of Hinnom is no receptacle for Souls and therefore Gehenna or Hell in that Text doth not mean that very place but only as was said alludes to it p. 53. In the next page he gives us a proof of his confidence and concludes with such passages as Crown the work and are the Cream of the whole Jest R. Line 8 See ye not the great uncertainty they are at His Rhetorical Query Do ye not see by their Reeling Staggering and Stumbling that they are so drunk that they can find no ground to stand upon c. Than which a sober man can hardly speak any thing that savours of more profaneness pride and sottishness And if we weigh the speech aright we shall find defective in its Naturals as well as its Morals in point of Truth as well as Goodness For 't is more true to say that Orthodox Divines are at a certainty in the case than that they are at an uncertainty For they are certain in the matter though uncertain in one of the smallest circumstances They are perfectly agreed that Hell is no Fancy though they differ about the place where it is fixed and they may differ still without any danger to the Souls of men unless they are so unreasonable as to conclude that That is in no place whose place is not certainly known And Secondly They cannot rightly be said to Reel and Stagger that differ from each others in such small matters Such differences are no signs of Drunkenness yet if my Author will call it so so let him do And if he had but given them a more particular name and said the Black coats or the Covetous Priests instead of They and These men and then talked of their Reeling Staggering and Stumbling the Quakers might have called him an upright man and almost have sworn by the Light within them that he was come out of the Darkness and the Witchcraft and spake very honestly as the Spirit moved him Soon after he applies that Text in Esay 44. p. 54. He frustrates the tokens of Lyars and maketh Diviners mad c. And if we were uncertain whether there be a Hell or not yet we may be very certain that there is a Devil when they that are pretenders to Religion are so shameless and profane as to abuse the Scriptures in this manner CHAP. II. SECT V. Mr. Richardson's Combate with Mr. Ed. Leigh and his Triumph over him p. 54 c. to 74. THE said Mr. Ed. Leigh I can say little of any farther than his Works discover him and thereby I think he hath shewed himself a man of considerable Learning Parts and Painfulness For he hath wrote more than a little and the least Book he ever wrote is much better as well as bigger than this I am opposing of And doubtless if he had not been a man of some note Mr. R. would have thought it somewhat below him to give him such a large consideration as he hath done I shall now undertake his vindication and endeavour to make good several of his Arguments for the present point against Mr. R. his Exceptions and Answers p. 54 55. Mr. Leigh The Consciences of men are many times afraid of a Punishment after this life Therefore there is such a Punishment to be feared p. 55. Mr. R. Replies p. 55. That 's no proof of it for mens Consciences are as they are instructed according to the Proverb Such as the Doctor such the Scholar And hence it is that the Conscience of a Papist tells him 't is a sin to eat meat on Friday Yet that 's no proof of its being so Conscience a proof of a Punishment after this Life I answer as follows The Comparison he useth about the Papists Conscience will not argue any thing but only illustrate that which he spake before the instance of which if I mistake not is thus That mens Consciences tell them there is a Punishment for the wicked
the Popish iniquity have thought it their best Policy to be silent concerning it since that time But my Author will go higher than so aâ—d shake the Authority of the Hebrew and Greek Copies that are extant in the world And well might he contend with the London Ministers as his friends boasted he should if he could prove the word that they preached to be uncertain and their Greek Testaments supposititious Books but though he cannot prove them to be so yet he will give men occasion to suspect them for such witness his Speech aforementioned possibly he might remember the Counsel of the Poet Horatius Si vis esse aliquis facinus aliquod Audeas egregium c. i.e. If thou wouldst be a man of Fame Thou must do something of great name Other Considerations to prove the Purity of the Original Copies of Scripture And now Reader That thy heart may be throughly antidoted against Mr. R's most pestilent suggestion I shall offer thee these following Considerations 1. That Books of another nature are seldom questioned after this manner when did you hear any man making any doubt whether the Books of Plato of Aristotle Hippocrates and of Pliny and Galen Plutarch of Theophrastus and Cicero of Homer and Hesiod of Suetonius and Florus Tacitus and Livy were the writings of those men whose names they bear or whether they are agreeable to those Copies which they wrote at first So that the Writings of Philosophers and Poets Physicians Historians Naturalists Moralists though very ancient shall pass currantly for theirs whose names they go under and are not imagined to be corrupted or altered from what they were at first Mr. R. doth not insinuate any doubt in that case But when it comes to that which concerns our precious Souls that word which contains our rules in Life our comforts at death and our foundations of hope as to a better world hereafter O then his patient heart is moved his Doubts and Fears and Suspicions are suggested he kicks and flings and lays about him extreamly he throws his blackest dust in our Faces that we may have no eyes to see nor no reason to apprehend that those Copies of the Bible which we have among us are the same in sense and substance with them that the Pen-men of Scripture wrote And all because we have not those Original Copies to shew as we have not of the other for he cannot shew us any of Plato's c. hand-writing Is it not manifestly the work of the Devil to cast doubts in mens minds about the one while he raiseth no doubts about the other It seems he can be content to have us believe that other Books are what they pretend to be but he is not so willing that we should believe the same of God's Book and no wonder for he knoweth the belief of that will be more likely to do us good than the belief of the other Argu. 2 2. If the Scripture were corrupted in the Originals it must be by such as believed it to be the word of God or such as did not If he say by them that believed it so to be then I would fain know how those that had so much Religion as to believe it should at the same time have so much profaneness as to go about to corrupt the Copies of it Would not the heart of the wickedest man fail him when he was about such a horrid design if he had but the least thought that it was the Word of his Maker that he set himself to corrupt If he say it was corrupted by those that did not believe it to be the Word of God but looked upon it as a piece of deceit and a politick innovation to keep fools in awe then why should they trouble themselves to corrupt it doubtless they would think it were corrupt enough already and would not much envy the holy Christians any of those delights and comforts which they had in it or from it And if they should ever have undertaken such a work it being that which would require much time and pains to do it to any purpose it must be supposed that they must have had some considerable motives from credit or profit of which no rational account I dare say can ever be given Nor can it be proved that ever any such thing was designed by the enemies of Christian Religion Julian the Apostate Emperor Acerrimus ille Christi hostis as an excellent Author styles him * Zanchius in Tom. 8. Orat. 1. He I say is well known to have been as fit a man to manage such a work as most ever was in the world for he had wit and learning in abundance he had also great power without him and an impenitent hardned heart within him and employed all his power and policy to the ruine not only of Christians but Christianity and accordingly he proceeded in mischiefs by Banishments and Imprisonments fire and Sword and by pulling down Churches and by putting down all Schools of Learning the two latter of which some that go for Christians among us could have wished him good success in yet I have not found that ever he did any such thing as this we are speaking of or that he employed any others about it to corrupt the Copies of Scripture that were in the hands of Christians or to counterfeit it by any other writing He was crafty enough to take other courses against Christianity that were easier to be followed And if any such thing were done how soon would it be discovered If a Protestant should Print some Mass-Books with some considerable alterations leaving out a prayer to the Virgin Mary and putting in a Prayer to Christ instead of it how quickly would the Romanists espy the change how soon would the Bulls roar from Babylon * Revel 17.5.9.18 How many Declarations Manifesto's and Testimonies would be published speedily in the world to prevent the intended mischief and to assure all that were concerned that those Books were not Authentick or Catholick or allowed under the Hands of the Pope's Holiness And do ye think that the Christians in the Primitive times were not as zealous for the Scriptures as the Papist's are for the Mass-Books or that they would not have been as careful to discover such forgeries in or about them if any such things had been A 3d. Argument for the Purity of Scripture c. 3. If the Scripture were counterfeited or the Original Copies corrupted by any it must be by blockish and ignorant Persons or by Men of considerable Wit and Learning The former would not undertake such a work or if they should they could not manage it and carry it on Nor may we well imagine the latter for certainly Men of wit in any tolerable sense could not but apprehend the difficulty of such a work the Copies being dispersed among Christians that valued them more than all the wealth of the World and would be as careful to preserve
he will not save the wicked Angels as was proved therefore it appears he did not count it most for his glory so to do And if I should say that the saving of some only only the Penitent and Returning sinners I speak of them that are of years tends most to the glory of God's mercy Mr. R. may not honestly deny it for his just severity and vengeance upon some sets off his mercy towards others The blackness of darkness reserved for the wicked makes the Inheritance of the Saints in Light appear the more glorious and the mercy that brings them to it by so much the more admirable And having seen what he cannot do viz. that he cannot make good what he hath undertaken he tells us at last what he cannot think p. 190. lin 19. R. I cannot admit to think any thing that is cruel to be in God B. This his disability he takes doubtless for his perfection and I for my part shall readily grant it to be so for he must needs be very weak or very wicked that can be perswaded to think any such thing And I verily believe he never heard any of those Divines that he so much undervalues preach or speak any thing that sounded that way I shall add only these two particulars concerning it 1. That God is not cruel in punishing the impenitent for ever since they are worthy of such punishment as before 2. That though there is nothing of cruelty belonging to the nature of God yet there is of Justice and Vengeance and Severity against sin Consider the Example of the fallen Angels and the sufferings of Christ And this severity is so far from being inconsistent with his goodness that St. Paul joyns them both together Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God c. And if our Author shall think his severity to be cruelty we can tell him of a Day wherein he shall have light enough to see his folly Thus Reader I have led thee and I hope safely through the manifold dark Maze's and crooked Labyrinths of Mr. R. his new-found Wilderness and know not what I should need to say more unto him unless it be to admonish him of his design and to bespeak him in the words of that precious Man of God Bishop Jewel to that Pestilent Popeling Mr. Harding at the end of his Defence Deceive not the simple they are bought with a Price Bish Jewel they are the People of God for whom Christ hath shed his Blood Your shifts are miserable you trouble your self as a Bird in the Lime the more you strive the faster you cleave you cannot bridle the Seas you cannot blind the Sun-beams Give place to the glory of God whether you will or no the Truth will prevail And now Good Reader having given thee the Proof of this Doctrine and the Defence of it against Mr. Richardson's violence and wrath I would humbly invite thee to ponder a little upon it to thy profit To which purpose I shall endeavour to assist thee in the Uses and Improvement of it which is the next particular to be spoken to and indeed the chiefest of all CHAP. IV. SECT I. Containing some Uses of the Doctrine aforesaid SInce Eternal Damnation is not a Dream Vse 1. For Information of the World's Vanity since Everlasting Fire is not a Fancy but a Real thing Then in the first place let us hence be informed of the vanity of all Worldly things yea of the best and bravest of them Indeed the Men of the World will set their hearts upon it let us say what we can from Reason or Scripture to the contrary And if you tell them they have more need of Grace than Gold or of a good Sermon than of a Barrel of good Beer they cannot understand how it can be Their earthly sensual wisdome is not able to apprehend it to any purpose and the most of them will not be wise till 't is too late But however they value earthly things because they are most suitable to their earthly minds yet assuredly they have not that goodness in them which they expect to find at least not that which can be worthy of the principal affection and esteem of their hearts and that partly because of that little good that they are able to do for them in this life for they cannot give any sound content to an Immortal Soul That which is capable of God can never be filled with the Creature Where is the Man that ever was satisfied with the greatest Riches that had not something better than his Riches and the like may be said in other things And as they cannot content the Soul so they cannot secure the Body neither If God do not more for the wealthiest Man than all his Wealth can do he will fall into mischief every moment Yea it cannot procure him one good Night's rest Dan. 6.18 when he hath most need of it Though Darius kept his Money and his Kingdom too yet it is said his sleep went from him But there is a greater vanity than all this for as the greatest of this World 's good cannot content a Man sufficiently in prosperity nor comfort him sufficiently in adversity so it cannot secure him from Hell or save him from Everlasting Burnings It cannot work his deliverance from it nor prove his deliverance from it The former is plain and needs no proof Though the Papists will sell us Pardons for Money yet they cannot assure us that the one or the other can secure us from Hell And the other is no less plain for we read expresly of a Rich man in Hell Luke 16. and we find in Job that God regardeth the Rich no more than the Poor If he be ungodly and dye so he shall not come to Heaven because he had the World at will And if he go to Hell what will all his former comforts be to him or how will the Remembrance of them comfort him What will it be to live in ease for a time if afterwards they live in Torment for ever What will it be to have Honour for a while if afterwards they suffer Everlasting contempt What will it be to be clothed with Silk or Silver and to fare deliciously every Day if afterwards they be clothed with Hellish flames and drink of the Cup of God's fiery Indignation In a word what will it be to enjoy the World and miss of Heaven or in our Saviour's phrase to gain the whole World and lose their Souls Lord put me not off with earthly enjoyments let not any thing be my portion that may consist with thy displeasure 2d Informat of the vileness of sin A second Branch of Information which will naturally spring from the Doctrine aforesaid will be this viz. Concerning the vile nature of Sin That 's almost the only thing that sinners are wont to make light of yea many of them make but a mock at it And though the wise Man tells us
that they are but Fools that do so Pro. 14.9 Yet alas how many such Fools are to be found and that too amongst those that are counted good honest understanding Men What if they never so grosly neglect and forget the God that made them what if they slight his holy Commandments and turn away their Ears never so frequently from hearing his Law Pro. 28.9 and so run the hazard of having their Prayers rejected What if they are so proud that they care not for God nor value a sound Sermon half so much for the bettering of their Souls as they do the smallest piece of a rotten Dunghill for the bettering of their Lands In a word what if they rail at us for desiring to make them better Christians than they care to be spight at their Neighbours and defraud and oppress their poor Brethren and do the Devil any service in the World that may but please or profit themselves make their Purses heavier and their Hearts lighter c. Yet I say they can make a small matter of it and can see no great harm in it or at least no such great harm in any of these things but that they can easily dispense with it for the attaining of those great ends which they propose unto themselves therein But Reader if these Men could but look beyond the Grave and see what is doing in the other World among the Souls of such ungodly ones as themselves If they could but see in a lively and sensible way how many are now Damned for those sins which they are so much in love with and be able to apprehend what sad thoughts those miserable Souls now have of their delightfullest gainfullest wickednesses which have laid them under Eternal vengeance Then believe me they would judge otherwise of these things than now they do I grant indeed there are other means whereby to see the evil of sin as namely the clear Glass of God's Sacred Laws and the Red Glass of Christ's Bloud and Sufferings c. These doubtless may be sufficient to shew sin in its proper Colours to a spiritual eye and will be confessed to be so by all sorts but blockish Papists and blasphemous Socinians But this Point that I am now upon might convince the blindest Worldling of it in case he would truly believe and consider it For he must needs grant there is much evil in that which the Righteous God will punish with Everlasting Torment How vile and hateful how hainous and horrible must that be which the God of all Goodness and Mercy will shew his Eternal Displeasure against How sad a work must that be which hath such a Death for its wages as sin hath yea all sin Rom. 6. ult For the Apostle speaks of sin in general as sin and not of such or such a sin in particular in Vers 23. As hath been excellently cleared by our Protestant Worthies against the Romanists * Ames Anti. Bel. Cham. T. 3. lib. 6. cap. 12. though the Mercy of God delivers them that turn unto him And so it may discover the madness of ungodly sinners that walk in the way to everlasting misery but this will afford matter enough for another Section CHAP. IV. SECT II. Discovering the horrible madness of wicked men in adventuring upon this dreadfullest Misery Inform. 3d. of the madness of the wicked c. FRom hence also we may fitly inform our selves of the monstrous madness of wilful and resolute sinners that will run the hazard of so great misery for the fulfilling of their sinful lusts and humors in this present world Solomon often calls such men Fools and St. Paul stiles them unreasonable men * 2 Thess 3.2 And certainly their folly and unreasonableness appear in nothing more than in their venturing of their Immortal Souls in the ways of Destruction they are apt enough to fear Plagues and Famines Bonds and Imprisonments or any ordinary Calamities yea they are afraid to obey the Commands of their God and their Consciences lest they should run into some inconveniences by so doing and scarce dare to come to the place of Gods publick worship and service in a constant and diligent manner lest some Factious Atheists should call them fools for their pains Psal 9.17 Psal 145.20 But as for the everlasting punishment that is threatned against them and which they cannot possibly escape while they are followers of wickedness these they have little fear of they dread not the dreadfullest dangers and if in love to their Souls we warn them of it and desire them to take heed in time and turn from their evil ways before it be too late they will thank us for nothing as 't is commonly said and advise us to take care of our selves and not to trouble our selves with them But if they did but know aright the greatness of that misery that the damned shall endure they would shun the ways that lead to it and not walk in any way of wickedness for the gaining of all the wealth on earth yea they would be as loth to continue in a state of sin as to stay in a house that is on fire over their heads That therefore I shall endeavour in the next place to discover And here I must needs say with the Apostle who is sufficient for these things who can fathom the depth of the Damneds sorrows what heart can conceive them or what words can express them for who knoweth the power of God's wrath or how miserable it can make the enemies of his holiness But though we cannot fully set forth the Terror of the Lord upon them yet we may soon see so much of it as may make it appear to be most exceedingly terrible as he that cannot sound the depth of the Sea yet he may quickly find that 't is very deep I shall now endeavour to demonstrate with all convenient brevity the dreadfulness of the Damnation and punishment that the wicked that live and dye such shall surely undergo The extreme misery of the wicked in Hell discovered I shall not now speak of the perpetuity of it having spoken much of it before and almost as much as need to be spoken on that subject and much more I am sure than Mr. Richardson or any of his Abetters will ever be able to answer in this world or the world to come but rather of the extremity of it and that in Two generals which will admit of a large consideration 1. The Happiness and comfort that they shall miss of or lose 2. The miseries pains and positive sorrows that they shall sustain and lye under 1. 1. In their Banishment from Christ They shall be banished from the Blessed Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ In their day they would not be commanded by him but in His day they shall be commmanded from him He himself will say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity Matth 7.21 and oh what a misery will
that be unto them It was grievous to them to be banished from their friends in the world to be shut up close in a Prison or Pest-house from the comfort and Society of their old acquaintance c. But how grievous will it be to be banished from Christ and be separated everlastingly from all the comforts of his Presence and Favour This this will be a bitter thing indeed and more dreadful than a Thousand Deaths for Consider O Christian Rev. 25.23 't is He that is the Glory of Heaven the Eternal Light of that City of God 't is He that is the Angels Joy and at whose Birth they sang an Hymn of Praise a little of His Divine Consolations have revived the drooping Spirits of his Servants have Crowned their Souls with blessed Peace and turned the Shadow of Death into the Morning as the Prophet elegantly expresseth himself How bravely did the Holy Martyrs Triumph over the saddest and sharpest of humane miseries filling their mouths with Glorious Praises when they were ready to be filled with Smoke and Flames and all through the sense of their interest in Christ and the lively hopes of happiness with him after this life ended And in many others of later times The joy of their Lord hath made them more than Conquerers over all the fears and sorrows of Death Millions of Praises to the Lord our God let Heaven and Earth praise Him for he hath remembred us in our low estate and hath redeemed us to himself said that worthy man * Mr. Janway a little before he gave up the Ghost But now those Consolations of Christ which his Saints partake of in Heaven are doubtless far beyond all that they were sensible of here on Earth Phil. 1.21 for to be with him there is far better as St Paul assures us and yet these Consolations shall be no comfort to them that dye in their sins for they shall have nothing to do with them he will say unto them Matth. 25.4 Depart from me ye cursed And O how cursed will their case then be and how miserable will they then account themselves for they will then lose all other comforts with him which is the next thing to be spoken to 2 In their loss of all other comforts Secondly the wicked in the world to come shall lose all other comforts too whatsoever here they took comfort in shall then be taken from them Now they make a good shift without spiritual Consolations and though they seldom think of Christ and his Kingdom with any seriousness yet the thoughts of present enjoyments delight their Souls and Sensual Contentments do supply the want of Spiritual ones unto them But if they come to Hell as they needs must if they go on still in their sins they will miss of all their Sensual enjoyments But to come to some particulars 1. Wealth and Honour 1. They will lose their worldly wealth and honour they that minded their mony more than Heaven shall lose both Heaven and money too Their Riches will not profit saith the Scripture in the day of wrath the heat of that day will melt their best coin for all things of this inferior world shall be dissolved and burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 They shall see all their pleasant things in flames before themselves are cast into the fiery-lake How speedily will their stately Buildings curious Gardens costly Clothes and richest Jewels then be spoiled and destroyed for ever Their meat and drink will also be denyed unto them because they despised the Bread of Life and wilfully starved their precious Souls and desired not in truth of heart the sincere milk of the Word that they might grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. Their Minds and Memories and Consciences will have many foul sins to feed on but their mouths will have no fine bits to feed on for whatsoever Sensual good may be expected in the Turks Airy Paradise 't is sure there is no such thing to be hoped for in the Devils fiery prison Their honours also will be then at an end since they must arise to shame and everlasting contempt Dan 12.2 2. Loss of rest and ease 2. The Damned will lose all bodily rest and ease and sleep The place of Torment they must be cast into will admit of no refreshment at all They that wearied others with their wickedness before will then be wearied with it themselves and though they could sleep very soundly in God's house of Prayer yet they shall not sleep so much as one wink in his house of punishment That saddest word Go ye cursed will keep them awake for evermore They shall lose also all their carnal Mirth and Worldly Joy 3. Mirth Here they had it many of them in abundance their hearts were light when their Consciences were loaded with guilt And though they said unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways yet the Pipers and Singers were more welcome to them Job 21. they take pleasure in the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound thereof yea rather than want Mirth they will laugh at Religion and make Doctrine and Use the matter of their Sport But then these things will be at an end the Candle of the wicked will be put out They that would not take up Religion nor chuse God's Fear lest it should make them dull and melancholy shall then be merry no more for the Matter of their Mirth we have seen will then be taken from them and God will distribute Sorrows in his Anger yea their own eyes shall see their destruction Job 21.17.20 and they shall drink of the Wrath of the Almighty as it is set forth in that Chapter Quest But how shall they live may some say in such a condition For will not so much misery break their hearts and will not life fail when it hath no means to support it no food nor sleep c. Answer I Answer No that may not be imagined They must needs live still because God will not suffer them to dye they that lived on earth as though they had thought their Souls were mortal shall in Hell find their bodies to be immortal they shall be raised incorruptible 1 Cor. 15. and what if they want the natural means of Life as food and sleep yet the principal cause of Life will still remain even the will and pleasure of the Almighty But I shall not say any thing more of this point here having spoke unto it already and maintained it against the wisest of Mr. R's oppositions Object But say some the Saints themselves must part with their worldly comforts at last as well as the ungodly the universal flames will burn up their dwellings c. as surely as the dwellings of the wicked Sol. True indeed But though they must part with these things yet they shall be no losers thereby because they shall have better instead of them Instead of Natural delights they
13. The blackness of darkness for ever 2. It is a fast Prison such as they that are once in shall never be able to get out of The Doors of it are shut upon them by the Justice Truth and Power of the Almighty 3. It is a tormenting Prison Other Prisons are places where the Malefactors are reserved for Punishment but may have some ease and comforts during their aboad therein But Hell-Prison is the place of Punishment where the wrath of God is executed continually upon his Enemies I say continually for they shall be punished with an everlasting and therefore an ever-continuing destruction 2 Thess 1.8 9. The Doctrines of the Holy God were grievous to them though they heard of them but now and then What intolerable grief may the displeasure of God cause in them when they lye under it continually And the more dreadful will this Prison be to the Slaves of Satan because it will be if I may so call it a convincing Prison unto them Therein they shall be made to see their deserts as well as to feel their Punishment Though they shall have no light of comfort there yet they shall have a light of conviction The Lord Jesus at the Day of Judgment shall come from Heaven to convince all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds And doubtless Jude 14.15 that conviction will remain upon them when they are in Hell They will then be able to know what it was that they are sent thither for and that they are so miserable not meerly for God's good pleasure but for their own evil doings for obeying the Devil more than God for chusing the ways of wickedness before his holy pleasant Paths for rejecting the counsels of his Word and refusing to return that they might live They will then be able enough to understand that it was their loving of Darkness or Ignorance better than Light that made Christ say unto them I know you not and to cast them into that blackness of Darkness eternally Their mischievous designs and spightful dealings that hath laid them under the Vengeance of God and the malice of the Devil their mocking at Religion and laughing at Reproofs that hath moved God to laugh at their Calamity and mock at all their Woes and Cries Their Heathenish liberty on God's Holy-day that hath made them to be bound in those Chains of Damnation The Pride and Profaneness and Unconscionableness of their Hearts the cruelty and injustice of their hands the Deceit Hypocrisie and Baseness of their Tongues with all their witty fine-mouth'd Railings that brought them to that place of Torment and made their Bloud and Bones so Hot in that everlasting fiery Prison I might add more of their Bodies misery but I shall pass to that which is greater the miseries of their Souls for as they were most in sin so they will be also most in Punishment If a Man were never so full of pain in his Body The misery of their Souls yet if his Soul have some rest and comfort he is very far from perfect misery But alas it will not be so with the damned in Hell their Souls will be as far from ease as their Bodies for they will be afflicted perpetually with all sorts of tormenting passions and that 1. By sorrow in the saddest sense our Blessed Lord 1. By sorrow when he stood in the place of sinners had great experience of sorrow he was a Man of sorrows Esay 53. and acquainted with griefs and said that his Soul was exceeding sorrowful Matth. 26.28 O what sorrows then may we think will fall upon the Souls of the wicked in Hell If the Soul of that Holy One were so afflicted when he stood in the room of others what will be the case of them that must bear their own sins and answer the demands of Justice themselves Psal 32.10 The Psalmist tells us that many sorrows shall be to the wicked and as it is sometimes verified here in this World so certainly it will be most eminently fulfilled in the World to come How merry soever they may be on Earth our Lord assures us that they will be weeping and wailing Matth. 8.12 when they come to Hell And how happy would they think themselves to be if they might come out of Punishment when they have wept as many Tears as there be Drops in the Ocean 2. By shame Secondly By shame The boldest sinner of them all will then be ashamed when his eyes are open to see his sins and God's Majesty against whom they were committed with all the shameful aggravating circumstances of them How will they be confounded to see the Judge of the World set them on his left hand in the sight of Men and Angels and assign them their Portion amongst unclean Spirits And surely their confusion in Hell will not be less than that confusion that they suffered before they were there That punishment to which they are judged cannot be less than that which they suffered while they were brought forth to be judged They that gloried in their shame and made their Boast of their sins in the Day of God's patience will not do so in the Day of his Wrath. 3. By rage Thirdly They will be afflicted in their Souls by fury and rage these passions they were often tormented with on Earth upon small occasions yea many times upon no just occasion at all If a Man did but speak against the sins that they love yea if he did but admonish them soberly in private and entreat them for the love of Jesus to forsake those ways which his Soul hateth presently what a rage are they in and how mightily do storms of wrath arise in their Breasts and if they could kill them with a wish or burn them in their Beds with a fierce and fiery word they were likely to live but a few Hours longer If they have lost but a little of their estates or but so much as missed of a good Bargain they are ready to fret beyond measure at it But what will it be to lose their Souls and Heaven and endure the pains of Hell for the love of their foolish Lusts on Earth what unspeakable vexation will this be unto them when they have nothing at all to make up the loss to asswage their pain or abate their misery in any respect And thus our Saviour assures us the wicked will have as weeping so gnashing of teeth too when they shall see Abraham Isaac Matth. 8.11 12. and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and they themselves shut out Fourthly In Hell they will be tormented by Desperation 4. Despair This is a fearful thing indeed and almost the only thing that wicked Men are much afraid of When we labour to beat down their false hopes of salvation and tell them they cannot be saved without that holiness that they yet hate they have no more compendious way to make our Sermons odious than to report that
no reason why he should be mis-shapen by any monstrous fashions In a word as he is Religious so he is not afraid to own and follow the Exercises of Religion in publick as well as in private He seeks not for the Golden mean between Saintship and Atheism but is resolved to be a Saint so far as he may though the proud should call him Puritan for it He goes as joyfully to God's house as the Sensual gallants to a Play-house and comes out with more as well as better satisfaction He goes not to Church to save his Credit or his Purse to see Fashions or to censure his Minister but to discharge his Duty and adorn his Profession to Serve his God and Save his Soul and therefore he had rather go Twice a day than Once a month This Reader is the nature and quality of these excellent Persons I am speaking of and however thou mayst wonder at it I dare affirm there are some such to be found among us and to them I am now with all Christian respectfulness to address my self The Exhortation Honoured Sirs since Hell is no Fancy since the miseries thereof are real intolerable and eternal give me lieve I beseech you to urge upon you these following Duties The First Duty 1. To rejoyce in the Lord and delight your selves in the Thoughts of his Great Goodness towards you For he hath freed you for ever from all this Misery That Cloud of Vengeance which will fall upon the Careless Gallants at the last day shall be far from you You may meet with many distresses but nothing of Damnation shall ever come near you for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 2. Whosoever believeth on him to wit with a holy and True Faith such as is attended with a Religious life shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 When the awakening Trumpet shall send forth its Echo's to the ends of the Earth it shall be no matter of amazement unto you when you shall look out of your Graves and see the Lord of Glory Armed with irresistible power clothed with shining Majesty and flaming Vengeance attended with all his Troops of holy Angels Cherubins and Seraphins honoured with their loudest shouts their highest praises their joyfullest Acclamations c. yet then I say your hearts shall not fail for you shall come forth to the Resurrection of life Joh. 5.29 and be raised up for heaven not for hell wherefore serve your God with gladness and do not so much humor the Devil or honour this malignant world as to be afraid of its enmity or to be discouraged at the worst it can do against you That Gracious God whom you serve is able to deliver you from all evils and as he hath saved you from the power of sin and the punishment of Hell so he will be your shield from smaller dangers Psal 84.11 The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Second Duty Secondly To be often in the Heavenly Duty of Praise and Thanksgiving This Tribute you owe for every Mercy you partake of how much more for your deliverance from the Everlasting Punishment Methinks Sirs you should delight your selves abundantly in Paying of it and Praise your great deliverer with enlarged hearts O let that be a main part of your work here which shall be your Beatifying employment in the high and Holy place When Sensualists are delighting themselves in Songs of Lewdness and Vanity let your hearts be delighted with Songs of Praise If the Blind man in the Gospel Luke 18. ult could follow Christ so joyfully glorifying God merely because he was cured of his blindness O what Joyful Praises should your hearts be filled with and your glory your Tongues be exercised in when you are saved through Christ from the Everlasting Darkness and destruction and shall shortly see an end of all your Sorrows Third Duty Value not overmuch the Scorns and Censures of the ungodly world fear not the reproach of men Esay 51.7 nor be afraid of their revilings while you walk in the Holy way No reason for it for why should they fear the contempt of any that are secured from the everlasting shame Fourth Duty Another duty which I would humbly exhort you to is this To do what you can to save others from Hell Not that you can save them in a way of absolute yower by working saving Grace in their Souls nor in a way of Merit by procuring Heaven for them This 't is confessed you cannot do But yet you may do that which the Scripture calls a Saving of them namely Perswade them to be careful of their own Salvation and occasion them to use the means of Salvation that are afforded them And what can be imagined more excellent and honourable or more truly worthy of a Religious Gentleman than this Motives to it I might add in great variety from the Glory of God the Worth of the Soul the Love of Christ the Honour of his Gospel the honourableness of the Duty in it self To conquer Towns and Castles and Kingdoms is but a poor and worthless project to the furious endeavours of Saving a Soul But methinks God's goodness to your selves might be a very powerful engagement upon you so to do if there were no other reason for it As the King in the Parable Oughtest thou not to have forgiven thy fellow-servant seeing I forgave thee so may it be said much more in this case ought you not to do your best to save others from Hell since your God hath been so merciful as to save you And I beseech you Sirs let it be remembred what opportunities and advantages you have above other men to do good to your Neighbours Souls Your Place and Authority will bear a great sway with them they will regard your words and examples when they will not regard ours Happy would many a poor Minister account himself if his People would mind the commands of God which he urgeth upon them in the name of Christ half so much as they would mind the words of a Man of Place and Wealth If you shew a love to a Church and a plain Sermon they will seem to do so for their credit sake and will not dare to call the one a Steeple-house or the other a Puritanical Preachment Now you may be Instrumental to their Salvation or deliverance from Hell many ways especially these following 1. In general by your own example by living godly righteously and soberly in your general course They will be more capable of believing profaneness sottishness and injurious doings to be hateful things when they see them so carefully shunned by such as you In particular If you would be a means of saving your Neighbours Souls from Hell let it please you to observe these following Directions 1. Endeavour to engage them to
publick Duty and to hear that word often that is able to save their Souls Shew your Zeal for the Solemn Service of your God and let them know how greatly you love the Habitation of his House and the place where his Honour dwelleth This would be a means to bring them often thither if not for love yet for shame and fear and if they come within the sound of God's Word whatsoever it be that moves them so to do there is hopes they may be the better for it or at least not so bad so blind and bold and hardened in sin as if they had been drinking or prating with their ungodly Companions when they should be hearing the Word of their Lord. 2. To shew your Zeal against Drunkenness common Swearing and all other gross sin by punishing it according to the Laws of the Land and to shew most of your favour and kindness to those Persons or Families that seem to have the greatest kindness for Religion 3. To discourse with your Neighbours in an edifying way Let your speech savour of Grace and discover your seriousness for your God and Souls Let them know by your words the holy temper of your hearts Tell them how glad you would be to be more holy than you are to be perfectly conformed to the will of Christ and how little you value all this World 's good in comparison of his love and the enjoyment of it in Heavenly glory Tell them what thoughts you have of the state of an ungodly Professor and that you would not be in such a case for all the Wealth in the Earth Tell them of the preciousness of Time and the greatness of that work which they must do for their Souls therein and if they seem careless of it ask them seriously some awakening Questions As 1. Do you not know that you are Men and that your reason was given you to make you capable of serving your God with a reasonable service that is a ready willing and conscionable service And do you not know that he is always present with you and pondereth all your goings 2. Do you not know you must shortly dye and your Souls enter immediately into an endless state of joy or sorrow according as you dye godly or ungodly Christians 3. Doth not God deserve infinitely more than your highest love your best obedience The Heavens declare his glory and may it become you to forget him and live to his dishonour Do you not admire the beauty and brightness of the starry Heaven and will you venture to lose all the glory and joy which dwells in the Heaven of Heavens for the transitory pleasures or profits of sin O how much good might a few of such questions or speeches do from a Gentleman's mouth upon his Tenents or Neighbours Souls 4ly Engage them in the reading of Scripture and such Books as open and apply the great truths and duties in it as Bishop Taylor 's Rules of Holy Living the Whole Duty of Man Mr. Baxter's Books of Death and Judgment or any other that your Prudence and Piety shall think fit for them Such private innocent companions I doubt not have been a means of saving many a Soul Engage them also to a constant course of Prayer by themselves and with their Families for the often approaching to God in so holy a work whether with a Book or without will shame them from gross sins and make them more serious in their provisions for Eternity 5. Do all you advise them to your selves and be ready to do good to their Bodies and Names in any reasonable way as well as to their Souls and then there is no doubt but your good Examples and good Counsels may do them good And your labour in all will not be too much in so great a work as the saving of Souls from the second Death My next work is to Exhort All in general high and low rich and poor one with another Surely my Brethren you had need be heedful to your selves since Hell is real O consider your ways and use all possible means to escape the Damnation of Hell I hope I shall not need to add any Motives to it if you believe its dreadfulness and your own deservings And as for Directions for it the following Section will supply you with them CHAP. IV. SECT IV. Containing some Directions to escape Hell Torments Presupposition THis part of my Discourse is designed for such especially as are yet in the ready way to Hell as common Swearers Lyars Drunkards Sabbath-breakers and such like to which I may add our factious spightful Professors that mix very wisely as they think their Malice and their Religion together whose wicked spight against their Parish-Ministers is most blessedly turned into a pure zeal for private Meetings abhorring Churches as profane places and crying out when the time and company is fittest Down with them down with them even to the ground And in a word Hypocrites Worldlings careless and ungodly Persons To such I now speak and to them I would give these following Advices in order to the escaping of Hell-torments Dir. 1 After you have remembred how well you deserve them and how worthy the least sin makes you of them Rom. 6. last vers The wages of sin is Death viz. Eternal Death or Damnation for to Eternal Life it is opposed in the verse much more all your sins together with your obstinacy and impenitency in and under them c. I say having considered your deservings consider carefully the danger of your present state of sin O think a little yea think much how uncertain your life is and how impossible it will be to scape Hell if you dye in an unconverted unsanctified state see Matth. 18.3 Hebr. 12.14 and other places And withall how intolerable its miseries will be to you if for the love of sin you be sent thither The light afflictions of this World are greatly dreaded by many and carefully provided against by sober and prudent Men How much more should the extremity of endless Torments O consider what it is to be for ever I say for ever under the insupportable wrath of the great God and whether the utmost that sin can do for you may rationally encourage you to run the hazard of so great a misery This is the first thing that I would advise you to in this case and if the escaping of everlasting misery be not a thing worthy of our most serious thoughts that may tend that way nothing in the World is nor will Men be apt to provide against a danger till they see and consider the reality and certainty of it and the like Except But say some this is harsh counsel and we cannot take it To consider of such sad matters alas we cannot do it we dare not do it if we should think much of such things we are afraid it might make us mad Answer But Sinner take heed in time and do not deceive thy self thou knowest thou hast
a great adversary that delights in nothing more than in his hopes of seeing thee in the same Hell with himself do not joyn with him in working out thy own destruction He will surely do it if he can nor hath he any more compendious way and Method to undo thy Soul than to keep thee from considering thy State seriously and the dreadful danger thou art in while thou givest thy self up to the service of Sin and dost not chuse the fear of the Lord But to come directly to the point in hand Thou darest not spend any serious thoughts upon such matters lest it should distract thee It seems then thou takest thy self to be well in thy wits as yet and if thou art so indeed I may hope thou wilt not think it unreasonable to make use of thy Reason for the good of thy Soul I mean by answering for this particular these following Queries 1. Whether there can be any more dreadful or damnable distraction than for a man to follow his sins and not consider his danger to rebel against the King of Heaven wilfully and deliberately and not to take time to consider what he is doing and which way he is tending I think there can be no greater madness than this unless a greater degree of the same kind and I hope Reader thou art of the same opinion 't is sad to see a man that is thus mad for his Soul to neglect it still and plead that he doth so for fear of being mad O what monstrous madness is this 2. Whether thou wouldst Reason at this rate in other matters of far smaller moment Suppose thou hadst passed through some infected houses where the most were dead of the Disease and one say unto thee Alas man O how fearful is thy case consider the danger and seek out for help for those houses had the Plague and 't is ten to one but thou art infected c. wouldst thou reply I dare not consider of it lest the thoughts of my danger and death should dull my Spirits and make me Melancholy And why should not men Reason so in such cases but that they less mind their Souls concerns than their Bodies 3. Whether thy Reason was not given thee to consider of the state of thy Soul in order to its eternal welfare and whether God doth not require thee to consider thy ways what they are and what they tend to Hag. 1.5 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your ways and Esay 1.3 he complains that his people did not consider And can you think that 't is the way to be mad to consider of them or that God will take away the use of your reason because you use it according to his will and command A Caution Yet think not of thy danger despairingly nor draw any sadder conclusions from the consideration of thy present state than the Scripture alloweth of Say not I must needs be damned because I am not yet in a state of Salvation or that thou must certainly go to Hell because thou hast been hitherto in the way to it c. 'T is not despairing of Salvation but returning from thy sins that is the work thou hast to mind and if thou returnest in Truth as sure as there is a Hell so surely thou shalt escape it through the Mercies of the Living God Read for thy comfort Esay 55.7 Dir. 2 Be sure to shun all gross and scandalous sins and all such company how merry soever that may be likely to draw thee to them or to harden thee in them 'T is as vain to promise your self Heaven while you walk in any way of gross wickedness as to promise your selves life and health when you resolve to take the rankest poyson I have told you in times past saith the Apostle and now tell you also that they that do such things not only those there mentioned but such like shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And especially Take heed of such courses as are injurious to men vengeance from God is most plainly intimated to be the Reward of such doings 1 Thess 4.6 That no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter for the Lord is the Avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified Yea this course hath brought men to a hell here on earth Spira a famous Gentleman of Cittadella a Civil-Lawyer who was almost a Miracle of Spiritual misery and breathed out Woes and Terrors to himself continually discovered the sad thoughts that he had of his former practises in that kind confessing his sin with a most sorrowful heart His words are these Spira 's life p. 3. lin 1. translated I was exceedingly covetous of money and accordingly I applied my self to the getting of it corrupting justice by deceit and inventing ways to delude it Good causes I either defended deceitfully or sold them to the Adversary perfidiously Bad causes I maintained with all my might opposing often the known truth c. He saw That money was too hardly earned which was gotten with the loss of Justice and Truth Noverint universi caveant universè Dir. 3 Take heed of your Company Make not the known enemies of Religion and holiness your ordinary familiar Companions But mistake me not I am not perswading you to forsake your necessary Relations but your unnecessary wicked Companions and there is no hope of your Salvation till you are heartily willing to forsake them a companion of fools or wicked men that are notoriously such shall be destroyed Prov. 13.20 These are likely to frustrate as far as is possible the means of grace and Salvation to thy Soul keeping thee from Hearing or Reading or other duties when thou shouldst be about them and hardening thy heart against God's fear O how many that seemed very hopeful for Heaven a long time have yet at last been taken and overcome by this snare of the Devil and went to hell for company shun them carefully as you love your souls forsake the foolish live Pr. 9.6 better leave them than perish with them Dir. 4 If you would escape hell content not your selves with a false and ungrounded hope of escaping do not conclude your safety from false and insufficient grounds He that lyeth in an infected bed and hopeth that he is in no danger of the Disease because his Smell and Taste is good or on any the like insufficient ground and reason is not only never a whit the safer for his hope but is really so much the more in danger because he contents himself with his dangerous condition and concludes his safety from that which will not warrant any such conclusion Just so in the present case He that is in the way towards hell and yet hath a strong hope upon unsound grounds that he is not in danger of it is not the safer because he hopes but the more in danger because he hopes upon unsound grounds here therefore I shall name some sandy foundations upon which
the Pharisees made light of him and derided him in Luke 16.14 Thus of the 4th Direction Direct The 5th If you would escape Hell make sure of a true and sound conversion and wait upon God in the use of all holy means for it But above all things take heed you mistake not in so great a concern nor think your selvs converted when it is not so Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven And surely if a Man cannot come to Heaven without it he cannot escape Hell without it neither Now you must not think your selvs converted while you are predominantly in love with any wicked course whatsoever or in plainer English while you count sin your liberty and priviledge and had rather follow any way of wickedness than a way of real and universal religiousness if it were not for fear of the shame of the World or the damnation of Hell Many I doubt not are religious sober civil just c. out of constraint not willingly and forbear gross sin more out of dread of punishment than out of any love to God or obedient regard to his Will and Law serving God as the poor Indians did the Devil viz. for fear lest otherwise he should do them a mischief And what do you think is such service worth assuredly very little or rather nothing in the sight of God who seeth the principles of Mens works and services and looks more upon the Bent of the mind and will than the matter of the work Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a willing mind 1 Chron. 28.9 A blockish slavish unwilling service when the work is done which he had rather should not be done is fit only for a sensless Deity or a dumb Idol not for the high and holy one Believe it you are not truly and savingly converted till God and holiness have the main disposition of your hearts and wills till you had rather have God in Christ for your everlasting portion to enjoy than Honor and Wealth and all this World 's good till then you are but Worldlings till you had rather walk in a way of holiness than follow the most gainful Trade of sin As a false defrauding servant is never turned to be a true and faithful servant till he had rather be true and faithful to his Master than to cheat and defraud him Pray therefore for your selves as the Apostle for the Thessalonians that God would direct your hearts to his love or as our Church that he would encline your hearts to keep his Law Dir. 6 Acquaint thy self with Christ search the Scriptures and see how sufficient a Saviour he is how able and willing to receive and relieve returning sinners Did he reject any that were but truly willing to accept of him Did he not come into the World to save such and complain that the People would not come unto him that they might have life Them that come unto him with true faith and repentance he will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 O sinner if thou wilt heartily forsake the Devils drudgery he will save thee from Hell and all its damnation If thou turnest from every evil way and givest thy self up to him relying wholly upon his merit and righteousness he will give thee acceptance in the sight of his Father and deliver thee from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. ult So much for the use of Direction I come now to one or two Uses more and so shall put a period to my Discourse In the next place then It may serve for our Instruction and may teach us not to envy at the prosperity of wicked Men nor to judge Gods ways to be unequal because of their impunity joyned with final impenitency in this present World No cause to judge so when we consider that he hath a Hell to punish them in for there the sinner shall have enough of sin and such wages as is suitable to his works of iniquity There the proud sinner shall be low enough the jovial sinner shall be sad enough the sottish sinner be thirsty enough the Revengeful sinner have vengeance enough the Damner and Sinker be damned enough and sink deep enough into the lake of fire There they that tyrannized over pious Christians shall be insulted over by the Devil and be buffeted by the unclean Spirits they that willingly forget their God and Souls shall remember their sins whether they will or not they that made light of Christ and Sermons shall be loaded to the full with wrath and curses and in a word they that grinn'd at godliness shall gnash their teeth at their impieties God to whom vengeance belongeth will avenge himself upon them and punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence 2 Thess 1.8 9. Lastly Let me hence add a word to the godly in general let them be exhorted to grow more and more 1. In Grace and holy obedience for what love what service what obedience can ever be suitable to that goodness of God which saves them through Christ from the everlasting punishment their sins deserve We may well exhort them to all holy duties by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 They can never do too much for his Glory that hath done so much for their Salvation for he will give them eternal Life and they shall never perish Joh. 10. 2. In comfort and spiritual joy Rejoyce in the Lord always saith the Apostle to such Phil. 4.1 Christ is their all-sufficient Saviour and they shall surely be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 why should any worldly Troubles trouble them overmuch since they shall have none in the world to come Death can do no more than rot them and hell no more than fright them Rejoyce therefore O faithful Christian and give thanks at the remembrance of the goodness of thy God the joy of the Lord is thy strength O let it be thy work too Yea most certainly it shall be so at the coming of Christ to judgment He will then receive thee to himself Joh. 14.3 His love shall then be stronger than death and conquer the last enemy for thee Thou shalt be filled with Joy and Glory when the wicked shall have their fill of shame and sorrow and shalt be accepted graciously with him when all the enemies of his Holiness shall be banished from his Presence and be buried alive in everlasting fire And now bless the Lord O my Soul for all his gracious Providences and in special for all his gracious Assistances in this small Work Say not This Work thy Hand to End hath brought Or This thy Labour hath attain'd unto Say rather thus This God by me hath wrought He 's Author of that little Good I do To Him be Glory for ever and ever FINIS
they were born for nothing but to eat and drink and snort and sport c. or as the worthy Author of the Discourse of the Decay of Piety that live in the world as the Leviathan in the Sea to take their Pastime in it and to make up the parallel delight themselves to devour their Underlings Matth. 6. Col. 3. c. or as the Scripture Phrases it that be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God that set their affections mainly on things upon earth and not the things that are above that mind nothing seriously but Heathen like what they shall eat and what they shall drink and with what they shall be cloathed These I call Sensual Gentry and I will be content to be judged by any but themselves whether I may not fitly call them so and may lawfully say somewhat the more to them because others say so little Yet lest I should lye open to too many Censures for it and lest my plainness should be interpreted to be folly pride or peevishness or the like I think it meet to mention some passages out of several Writers that speak as bluntly to these men as I can do and yet will be confessed to be such as knew well what belongeth to Learning Grace and good manners First the famous Cambridge Orator speaks thus in his Poem Mr. G. Herberts Church Porch O England full of sin but most of sloth Spit out thy Phlegm and fill thy Breast with glory Thy Gentry bleats as if thy native cloath Transfus'd a Sheepishness into the Story Not that they all are so but that the most Are gone to grass and in the Pasture lost That worthy Divine of Broughton * Mr. R. Bolton in Northhampton-shire in his excellent Assize Sermon at the end of his four last things complained of the great degeneration of the modern Gentry speaking to this effect They are so vainly brought up and so strangely pufft up with insolency and Self-esteem c. that commonly by such time as they come to strength of body and mind corrupt affection obtains its full strength and height and hardness in their hearts and I am afraid if we go on meaning without a Reformation our Posterity will find in the next age the basest Generation of English that ever breathed in this famous Kingdom So he in p. 217 and 218. of the said work And whether this thing he feared be now come to pass or not I do not say let others judge The forementioned excellent Doctor also in that very Sermon makes as bold with them Dr. Saunderson speaking to those Gallants that do nothing for the good of humane Society but live as if they were made for no other ends but to eat and drink and sleep and game c. tells them however they might take it that the poorest contemptible creature that cryes Oysters in the streets for a livelihood deserves his Bread better than these brave men and his course of life is better approved of God and every wise man than theirs And as he adds a Horse that is not good for the Cart nor the Way nor the Race nor the Wars nor any other service though he be never so well made never so well shaped and never so well clothed yet is but a Jade still and after the Application of it adds the titles of honour which in courtesie we give you we bestow upon their memories whose degenerate off-spring you are and they no more belong to you than the Reverence the good man did to Isis belonged to the Asse that carried her Image And thus having cleared my way I shall now come directly to my intended work to exhort the brave Gentile sinners to consider the things that concern them which I take to be one of the fittest Uses that can be made of the Doctrine of Hell Torments The Exhortation c. Since there is a state of extream and everlasting punishment for the ungodly in another world 't is high time Sirs to look about you and to take care of your neglected Souls before you have lost them O consider this you that forget God and use all diligence to escape this wrath to come your Estates are better than other mens and your Breeding too as you would have us to think and are your Selves more contemptible or less worthy of your care and Religious regard Surely not You know that your time is passing and will return no more Death is at your backs as it were that pale horse will shortly overtake you and tread your honour in the dust and can you doubt of this or make light of it You are not sure to live another day you know nothing to the contrary but your Souls may be called for this very night Luke 12.20 though you have built your Barns never so largely to lay up your substance in and can you think the remembrance of the pleasures of a Sensual careless life will make death more safe or comfortable to you or if it could yet we are well assured it cannot make Hell Torments the more tolerable and as you are not more capable of escaping them if you dye in a state of sin unconverted so if you fall into them they will be as terrible to you as to other men though you are a little better armed against the crosses of this world than other men yet you have no more security against the curse of the Law and the wrath of God You have no musick that can charm the Devil or abate the fury of his Malice no Playes or Romances that can delight you after death no Clothes that can adorn you in the eyes of God no money that can bribe your Judge or purchase a Pardon at his hand In a word no Courage that can bear up your Spirits against the Terrors of Judgment if it find you in an unrenewed state and destitute of that Grace and Holiness that naturally you disregard O that you did but know any ways but by experience what a sad creature a Gentleman in Hell will be And that you may never know it in that way give me leave I beseech you to caution you against some special sins that are most likely to bring Great men thither 1. Pride and haughtiness of mind 1. Pride What if you speak great swelling words and look as big as a blown bladder scorning God and man at once yet you must come down a little lower if ever you dwell in the high and lofty place you must of necessity lay aside your loftiness and stoop so low as to take up that poor despised thing Religion and walk humbly with your God before you can see the Kingdom of Heaven Esay 2.12 Mic. 6.8 The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty And the proud shall be as the stubble in the day of his Anger Mal. 4.1 and pride goes before destruction saith Solomon And how apt the heart
of man is to it when it is attended with wealth and worldly greatness I need not say 2. Take heed of fleshly lusts which war against the Soul 2. Fornication as St. Peter speaks in 2 Pet. 2.9 10. The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment but chiefly them that walk in the lust of uncleanness c. So St. Paul Heb. 13.4 Adjudicabit exitio Piscat in Loc. 3. Idleness and unprofitableness Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge i. e. condemn They that would not be divorced from their Harlots shall be married to Hell-fire See Rev. 21.8 3. If you would escape the miseries of another world be sure to take heed of an idle and unprofitable life in this Surely Sirs they are like to partake of little good hereafter that care not to do good here If Plays and Romances have not thrust the Gospel out of your minds Matth. 25.30 I shall not need to tell you of the dreadful doom of the unprofitable Servant Is it not sad to see how little good is done in the World by many of those that are best able to do most and how many there be among us who have hundreds it may be thousands a Year that yet do not give all the Year round so much as the price of a good Periwig toward the Relief of their poor distressed Brethren as though such as are raised to such high fortunes were gotten above the Law of Charity or as if they thought the greatness of their wealth would well excuse them in the neglect of those good works it was given for or as though they had thought it an honour to them to have the Papists say that they are Solifidians The neglect of this is no such harmless Peccadillo as these Men may be apt to account it We read in the Gospel that our Lord will condemn Men at the great Day for this sin especially and make a particular mention of it as a procuring cause of Condemnation Matth. 25.41 c. He will say unto them Depart from me c. For when I was an hungred in his members he means ye gave me no meat when I was thirsty ye gave me no drink c. So then they that were able to do good to their poor Christian Brethren and were not willing to do it in some conscionable way will be punished for ever for this sin if they dye such as they lived and when they have lost their Souls and Heaven it will be no satisfaction to them to remember that they kept or saved their Money they that would not live as Christians shall not be spared because they were Gentlemen I might also caution you against Cruely and Oppression scorning of Reproofs and scoffing at Religion in the serious faithful Followers of it but I have not time to say all that might be said unto you 4. Mispending of Time The next thing that I would entreat you to be heedful against is mis-spending of your time He that is careless of that is therein careless of his God his Soul his Duty and every thing that most concerns him and therefore is most apparently as yet in the ready way to Hell See that ye walk circumspectly redeeming the time is no Precept of mine but of the Apostle * Eph. 5.15 16. or rather of God by him and if Gentlemen are not concerned with it it would be hard to prove that any others are Believe me Sirs your time is one of your choicest Treasures nor can you name any thing besides God's grace and your Souls that can be compared with it for preciousness What would you not give for another years time in order to your preparation for an endless life in case you were to dye to morrow And though I am not concerned to accuse you of mispending your time yet I may lawfully put you in mind of it and desire you to call your selves to account for it before your God doth Compare I beseech you the time that you spend in excessive sleeping in trimming and adorning in feasting and long meals in pomp and state and vain curiosity in vain thoughts and worldly cares in Cards and Dice and other Games at home and abroad in fruitless and unedifying Books in idle company and needless visits in vain discourses and delights in doing ill or doing nothing I say do but compare this time that is spent in these ways with that time which is spent in a serious seeking and serving of God in reading of good Books in thinking of good things in governing your Families religiously in relieving the poor in encouraging your Charge in the ways of God or any thing else that tends to the promoting of piety in your selves or others And let your own consciences tell you which is most For in many of our Gentry the time that is spent in the latter is no more in comparison of that which is spent upon the former than the poor Man's wages for a days work to their Yearly Incomes Their whole business and work is sports and pastimes so that we might describe them in those words in Exod. 32. They are a People that sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play But such provide but ill for themselves nor can it be safe for them to be so prodigal of time that have Death and Judgment before them a Hell to escape and a Heaven to prepare for 5. There is another sin that some who go for Gentlemen are sadly in love with Rash Imprecations and must not be forgotten in this Discourse I mean horrid Swearing and Imprecations Damning Sinking and the like And surely if Damnation be a real thing and not a Dream it must needs be a damnable thing in the highest sense rashly and profanely to imprecate it upon themselves What wonder is it if these Men have Hell for their portion that commonly have Damnation it self for the matter of their prayer And if they did only shame themselves by this wickedness the matter were not so much but they alas shame their profession also and bring a grievous reproach upon the holy Prayers of our Church 'T is the corrupt Lives and cursed Speeches of such Professors that harden the deluded Separatists in their prejudice against them as the Quakers and such like I read not many Moneths ago a passage to this purpose more than plain enough in a Quaker's Pamphlet where speaking to some Persons of this bad quality he expresseth himself after this manner You cry out God damn us and God confound us and soon after you go to your Church and say We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Thus Reader this clause in our Letany We beseech thee to hear us good Lord than which it is hard to imagine any thing more humble or pious or better becoming a serious Christian is matter of greatest scorn and contempt to these poor Creatures and all because it is Profaned and Unhallowed