observe did report of Them to the Asiaticks who slandered and persecuted them Take notice saith he of the late and daily Earthquakes compare our estate with theirs They he means Christians have more confidence to God-ward then you have 15. This was The solid Truth whose liveless Lineaments or obscure Picture nature had drawn unto the Heathen in the former indefinite Notions or Suggestions The best fruits of a good conscience the principal end why we are to study and labor for the preservation of our Consciences void of offence towards God and man throughout the whole course of our life is that we may be enabled in that last day to stand without horror or confusion before the Son of Man As peace of conscience breedeth confidence so the onely Fountain whence this peace of conscience can issue must be our reconciliation to that supreme Judge whose doom or Censure the Consciences of meer natural men implicitly or by instinct of Nature dread albeit they cannot apprehend the express manner of the Judgement to come or who it is that shall be Judge Both these and all like points which are necessary unto true Christian Faith must be learned out of the Book of Life Thus much of the First General viz. Heathen Notions of a Judgement to come c. we proceed to the second according to the method proposed in the 9 th Chapter CHAP. XI By what authority of Scripture the Exercise of this Final Judgement is appropriated unto our Lord Jesus Christ 1. THat there was to be a Judgement general to all but most terrible to the wicked and ungodly was a Truth revealed before any part of the sacred Books now extant were written But if it be a Revelation more ancient then the written Canon what warrant can we have to believe it besides Tradition Is then Tradition a sufficient warrant for us to believe unwritten verities or Revelations made to Gods Saints for many thousand years ago It is not unless the Tradition be expresly avouched by some Canonical Writer But then it or rather the Vouchers authority concerning the truth of the Tradition is to be believed So that our Belief in this Point must be resolved into a written verity or a parcel of Canonical Scripture The Revelation concerning the final Judgement whereof we now speak was made to Enoch before the Flood The Avoucher of this Revelation is St. Jude ver 14 15. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints To execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Besides the authority of St. Jude which makes this Tradition to be no more a meer Tradition but Canonical Scripture we have other more special Grounds to believe that Enoch did thus Prophesie then we have to believe any other pretended Revelations which are not contained in Scripture The truth and certainty of this Judgment denounced by Enoch was so publickly and notoriously known that the Hebrew Church before our Saviours incarnation did begin the Writ or Instrument of their Great and terrible Excommunication with the first words of Enochs Prophesie Dominus veniet the Lord shall come As if they meant to bind the party whom they excommunicated besides all other punishments or infamies over to this Grand Assize But is there in this Prophecie any particular character of Christ Any pregnant intimation that this Great Judge of the world should be the Second Person in the Trinity rather then The First In the words themselves there is no peculiar Character of Christ save only in The Title LORD which as we said before is peculiar to Christ whether it be in the Original exprest by the word Jehovah or Adonai whensoever Judgment or visible exercise of Jurisdiction Regal is the subject or matter of the prophetical discourse as in this Prophecy of Enoch it is Besides this Character in the words of the prophecie the Prophet himself Enoch was a lively Type of Christ the great Prophet in the very ground of his Title to Lordship and Jurisdiction Enoch was translated that he should not see death but before his translation had this testimony that he Pleased God Hebr. 11. 5. Before his Translation he denounced this Wo or Curse against all that continue in ungodliness fore warning the world withal that the Lord himself whose Embassador he was should come to put his Embassage in execution The congruity of the Fact or Type with the Body fore-shadowed implies that this Propheeie was then to be fulfilled after the Prince of Prophets had been translated as Enoch was from earth but in a higher degree then Enoch was into heaven it self And albeit before his translation he had a more ample Testimony then Enoch had this is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased yet was he not made Lord and King and Judge till after his Resurrection and Translation From that time the Angels and Principalities and Powers even all the Hoast of Heaven intimated by Enoch became by that Title subject unto him That Christ is that very Lord against whom those ungodly men whom Enoch mentions did speak such bitter words our Apostle St. Paul though obscurely yet fully implies in the conclusion of his first Epistle to the Corinthians chapt 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Let him be accursed or excommunicated with that Great and terrible Excommunication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Lord shall come for so they call their Excommunication as we do Writs by the first words of the Writ or Instrument and these were the first words of Enochs Prophecie Veniet Dominus The Lord shall come The full meaning or implication of the Apostle is That whosoever doth not love the Lord Jesus shall be liable to all the Iudgments or Woes denounced by Enoch against the hard speeches of ungodly Sinners which they have spoken against their Lord and Iudge 2. That God is Judge of all the Earth that there shall be a final Judgment generally awarded to all the Inhabitants of the Earth by God himself the places of the old Testament are infinite I shall only touch the principal or more pregnant testimonies to this purpose To begin with the First Gen. 18. 22. When the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom Abraham stood yet before The Lord and drawing neer he said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked ver 23. And again ver 25. To slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee Shall not The Judge of all the Earth do right Thus he spake in the case of Sodom whose Judgment this Lord and Judge of all the earth was then
bounds do the same things she doth by Equivalencie and run to the same End by a quite contrary way The Romish Church it cannot be denyed makes her Popes and Prelates with other Pillars of their Church plain Idols They which out of an undiscreet and furious zeal seem most to abhor this kind of Idolatry commit Sacrilege and rob God of his honour as the Romish Church doth And he that robs God of his honour doth the very same thing and no other which an Idolater doth Now they are said in Scripture to rob God of his honour and to commit an abomination more then heathenish for the heathen do not spoil their Gods which defraud him of his tithes offrings which were due unto the Priest for his ministration and service in Gods House But they rob God of his honour more immediately and more directly which despise or contemn his Embassadors not in word only but in taking that Authority from them which he hath expresly given unto them and which is worst of all in seeking to alienate it unto them over whom he hath in matter of salvation appointed them Guides and Overseers That Precept of our Apostle I am sure will stand good when all Laws or Intendments of Laws to confront it will fail Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves Heb. 13. 17. What Rule doth he mean meerly Civil or Temporal No! What then Ecclesiastick Not that only But the Rule of Government spiritual such as is proper to the Bishops of the Church For so it follows for they to whom you are to submit your selves watch for your souls as they that must give an accompt and you are therefore to obey that they may do their office with joy and not with grief for that saith the Apostle is unprofitable for you Now that in this plenty of preaching and frequencie in hearing The most hearers profit so little in the School of Christ the true Reason is for that men do not submit themselves unto their Pastors in such sort as they ought but think it his Duty or Office only to preach and their duty only to hear not to be Ruled or Governed by him whereas the ones preaching is vain and the others hearing is vain unless this duty of obedience be first planted in their hearts The Pastors Grief which ariseth from neglect or contempt of this Duty will prove in the issue the Peoples Curse 8. But the main stream of Popery from which the name of Babylon is derived unto Rome was the Absolute Infallibilitie of the Romish Church Representative The branches of this supposed absolute Infallibilitie were Two The First That the sense of Scriptures which that Church doth maintain or avouch concerning Faith or Manners is alwayes Authentick undoubted and true But whereas many Points as well of Doctrine as Practise concerning Faith and Manners were in that Church established by Prescription and Use without so much as any Pretence of warrant from Scripture They were inforced in the Second Place to maintain That the Unwritten Traditions of the Church were of equal Authoritie with the Scriptures and that the present Church was as Infallible in her Testimony of the One as in her Judgment of the other The Infallible Consequence of which supposed Infallibilitie is This That the people were absolutely to believe whatsoever that Church should propound unto them as a Point of faith or practise commendable and to abjure whatsoever that Church should condemn for heresie or ungodliness By Absolute Belief or obedience they intend a belief or obedience not only without Condition or scruple in the first undertaking but without Reservation of appeal upon any new discovery of dangers unseen unsuspected in the first undertaking The Churches Authority once declared was in their Divinity sufficient to quell or put to silence all succeeding Replies or mutterings of Conscience Both these dangerous Errors were well Reformed The later stream or puddle of Traditions in a manner drained by this Church and State For every Bishop at his Consecration doth solemnly promise or vow not to propound any thing to the people as a Point of Faith unless it be either expresly conteined in the Scripture or may be thence deduced by necessary Inference To bind or tie all Bishops thus solemnly unto the observance of this Rule the wisdom of those Times had these Reasons Not only to curb or restrain the licentious Abuse of Bishops former Authoritie but because they knew that the people were in many Cases concerning the service of God and other Christian duties bound to yeeld more credence and obedience to their Bishops and Pastors then unto men not called to Sacred or Pastoral Function It is One Thing to believe any Doctrinal Proposition as A Point of Faith necessary to salvation Another to believe it so far as we may safely adventure upon any practise or duty injoyned by superiors That is to believe it not Absolutely but Conditionally and out of such belief to obey them not absolutely but conditionally that is with reservation of freedom or libertie when either the truth shall be better discovered then now it is or greater dangers appear then for the present we do suspect The Obedience which we give unto Superiors may be Ex Fide of Faith albeit the points of doctrine or the perswasions out of which we yeeld this obedience be not De Fide No points of Faith or necessary to salvation 9. But a great many well-meaning men there were who shortly after this happy Reformation could not content themselves to stand upon such sure Termes of Contradiction unto the Romish Church as the first Reformers had done but sought in this Point which was indeed above all others to be abhorred to be most extremly Contrary unto her Wherein then doth that Contradiction to the Romish Church wherein the first Reformers of Religion did entrench themselves and wherein doth the Extream Contrarietie whereunto others more Rigid Reformers if they could have effected their Projects would have drawn this Church and Land consist The Romish Church as you heard before did make Unwritten Traditions a Part of the Rule of Faith as soveraign as the written Word of God and did obtrude those observances which had no other warrant then such Tradition as altogether necessary to salvation The First Reformers of this Error were contented to contradict them only in this And their Contradiction is expresly mainteined partly in the Articles of Religion partly in the Book of Consecration of Bishops The Contradiction is This That all things necessary to salvation are contained in Scripture which is all one as to say That the Scripture is the only Rule of Faith Yet did they not for all this utterly reject All use of Tradition or Ceremonies as you may find expressed in the thirty fourth Article in which though Rites and Ceremonies or other customs of the Church be not injoyned in particular as they take for granted by God himself
fulfilled until the last Judgement or in the life to come is acknowledged and well observed by a late learned Jesuit And this Interpretation being proffered by a man of that profession I entertain the rather because it affords us a facile and commodious interpretation of all or most of those places whether in the Old Testament or in the New which the Romish Church the Iesuits in special insist upon for the glorious Prerogatives of the visible Church and of the visible Roman Church above all Churches visible How many instances soever or places they bring whether general for the visible or militant Church or for the glory of the Roman Church in special this One Answer will give satisfaction to all They are meant of the visible or militant Church Inchoativè but of the Church triumphant Consummativè They are meant of the visible or militant Church indefinitely that is some particular members of the visible Church have undoubted pledges or earnests of those glorious promises in this life which notwithstanding shall not be either universally punctually or solidly accomplished save onely in the members of the Church triumphant Christs Church whether we consider it as militant or triumphant is an essential or integral part of his Kingdom and as his Kingdom so his Church hath its first plantation or beginning here on earth Both have a right or interest in the glorious promises made to the Church universal neither Church nor Kingdom here on earth can have entire possession of the blessings or prerogatives promised until it be given them by the Great King at the day of Final Judgment Of this rank is that prophecie Jer. 31. 34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more This Place no man denies was literally verified in the Effusion of the Holy Ghost upon our Saviours Ascension But shall not be punctually and solidly fulfilled until the day of Judgment be past Then the true members of Christs Church shall neither need Tradition nor the written Word they shall be all immediately taught of God and have his Laws most perfectly and indeliblely written in their hearts The gates of hell shall not then in any wise prevail against them not so far as to annoy their bodies or interrupt their peace and happiness Of this intire happiness and perfection the Church Militant had a pledge or earnest in the effusion of the Holy Ghost and all that be true Members of Christs Church have a superficial draught or picture of this entire happiness in their hearts But Christ at his Ascension was so far from annulling the use of preaching or teaching one another that as the Apostle tels us Eph. 4. 11 12 13. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers more extraordinary then any had been during the time of the Law for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of faith c. 10. Thus to interpret the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Church indefinitely taken can be no Paradox seeing the predictions of our Saviour himself concerning his Kingdom must of necessity be thus interpreted witness that Prediction to omit others Matth. 16. 27 28. The Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Verily I say unto you there be some standing here that shall not tast of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom The later part of this Prediction or the Experiment answering unto it was exemplified in Peter Iames and John within seven dayes after For these Three were Spectators of his Transfiguration in the Mount And his transfiguration was but a representation or exemplification of that glory wherein he shall appear in the day of Judgment when he shall give these Apostles and all that shall obey his precepts full possession of the Kingdom of God prepared for them But albeit these three Apostles had not onely their eyes but their ears true witnesses of his glory as of the glory of the onely begotten Son of God for so it is said Matth. 17. 2. His face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light and ver 5. A bright cloud over shadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased hear him Yet miserable men had they been for all this if their hopes or expectations had been terminated or accomplished with this transient glorious spectacle or voice Both the voice and the spectacle were but earnests or pledges of that everlasting joy or happiness which they were to expect in the perpetual fruition of the like sights or sounds in the life to come Of this sort or rank is that Prophecie of Esay 2. 4. And he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into Plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more There was at the birth of this great Judge a glimps exhibited of this Universal Peace which shall not be universally established before the last and final Judgement All the Nations of the Earth were quiet and free from any noise of War when he came first into the World For Janus his Temple was then shut And after he shall be revealed again unto the World from Heaven there shall be neither Death nor Famine nor the Sword Howbeit even the dearest of his Saints which have lived since his first Birth were to endure a perpetual War in their Pilgrimage here on earth and the end of their War is to make them capable of this everlasting peace 11. Another Prediction of his coming to Judgement there is which must be interpreted according to the former Rule that is Inchoativè or in part of his first coming to visit us in humility and to instruct the World but Completivè or fully of his second coming to Judge the World Mal. 3. 2 3. But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth For he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope And he shall sit as a refiner or purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness So certain and so general is the former Rule of interpretation that not this prediction of Malachi's onely and the like of other Prophets but the fulfilling of them related by the Evangelists cannot rightly be interpreted without the
grow unto an holy Temple in the Lord. 9. Christ as you heard before is not the Corner-stone or Foundation only but the Temple of God A Greater and more spacious Temple then all the building which is erected upon him which groweth up in him We must be living stones we must be Pillars in the house of God we must be Temples of God that is an habitation of God through the Spirit but no Foundations no chief corner-stones these are Christs prerogatives Behold I have graven thee to wit the Spiritual Sion saith the Prophet Isa 49. 16. upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me that is as a late Interpreter of the Romish Church saith I have pitched thy foundations in my hands by the wounds which I received in them By whose diduction or rent a place was opened for this future edifice to be erected in him And for this cause Christ who is the Rock was every way digged into in his side in his hands in his feet The mysterie whereof is that he might exhibit a firm foundation out of which the fabrick of the Church should grow That we then become living stones in this edifice it is from our immediate Union with this chief corner-stone being united to him he is fashioned in us and by him fashioned in us we become living stones growing stones we grow from living stones to living pillars from living pillars to living Temples or habitations for our God That the children of God are not onely living stones but from living stones grow into pillars our Saviour himselfe hath taught us by S. John Rev. 3. 12. Him that overcometh will I make A Pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and if wee be pillars in the temple of God we must be as immediately placed on the foundation or chief corner-stone as S. Peter or Christs other Apostles were We must be as intire Temples as they were And for this reason our Saviour adds upon every one whom he makes a pillar the name of God and the name of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh out of Heaven Know ye not saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 19. That your bodie is the temple of the Holy Ghost As wee say the Kings presence makes the Court So it is Gods Holy Spirits extraordinary presence in man which makes him his Temple And the Reason why Christ is called The Temple of God is because the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily And for the like reason every one in whom Christ dwelleth by faith is in a participated sense called The Temple of God And as visible Cities consist of severall houses and as the beautie of every Citie consists in the Uniformitie of houses well built and joyned together so the heavenly Jerusalem consists of several Temples whose beautie or Uniformitie consists in this that Christ Jesus is the life and light of every severall Temple and that his spirit is uniformely diffused through all 10. Christ as you have read before Communicates his Titles unto his Saints but not the Reall Prerogative of his Titles He is The Rock so was Peter a rock so are wee rocks but not The rock on which the Church is built He is the Chiefe Corner-stone we are living stones he is the temple and the Priest of the most high God and he makes us both temples and Priests unto his God So saith S. Peter 1. Ep. cap. 2. vers 5. Yee all as lively stones are built up a spirituall house an holy Priest-hood to offer up Spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ The Modell of this spirituall Temple and Priest-hood that is of the new Jerusalem and the service of God performed in it was exhibited by Moses Exod. 24. 4 5. at the making of the first covenant Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up earely in the morning and builded an altar under the Hill and twelve pillars according to the 12. tribes of Israel And he sent yong-men of the Children of Israel which offered burnt offrings and sacrificed peace offerings of Oxen unto the Lord. Immediately after this Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu saw the God of Israel and there was under his feete as it were a paved work of a saphire stone and as it were the bodie of Heaven in his clearnesse ver 9. The yong men which he sent to offer sacrifices as the best interpreters observe were the first-born of their families For till that time and at that time which was before the consecration of Aaron and his sonnes it was Lawfull for the First born male of every family to execute the office of the Priest This was his dutie So that every family was as a little parish-Church and had his Priest to performe this service of God Now though all that are built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles are not admitted to be Architects or master-builders though all be not publick teachers or pastors yet all that are or hope to be parts of this building have the same Prerogative which the First-born males of Israel had before Aaron was consecrated All must be Priests to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices unto God But seeing wee must grow unto an holy temple and growth as was said before supposeth nutrition let us now see what is the nourishment by which we must grow from living stones to be living pillars from pillars to be living Temples yea Kings and Priests unto our God 11. The nature and qualitie of the Nutriment by which wee must grow cannot in fewer words be more pithily exprest than it is by S. Peter 1 Pet. 2. cap. vers 2. It is the sincere milk of the word But how good soever the nutriment be it doth not kindly nourish unlesse wee have an appetite to it Therefore the same Apostle addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desire or long after the sincere milk of the word We must then desire to have the word dwell in us plentifully and wee must desire to have it sincere that is pure and unmingled Now this milk may become unsincere or mingled sometimes by the default of the Pastor or teacher sometimes by the default of the hearers The dutie which concernes us teachers is that wee do not mingle the word with the Traditions of men how ancient soever they be This is the fault of the Romish Church which the Church our mother hath sufficiently prevented by publick edicts or decrees But many otherwise averse enough from Traditions of the Romish or other ancient Church ofttimes corrupt it with their own Conceits or Phansies which will easily mingle themselves with the word unlesse we speak out of premeditation and have both art and leasure to revise and examine aswell our own meditations as the meditations or expositions of others whose help wee use Since the ordinary Gifts of the Spirit did cease there is no facultie under the sun which more requires the help of art and study than the
and Dignity of Lord and to put on The Affection of a Priest perpetually to make intercession on our behalf for Remission of sins past Rom. 3. 26. and for Grace whereby for the future we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Seeing then we have so great an High Priest Let us hold fast our Profession And let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and finde grace to help in time of need Worthy is THE LAMB that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing Revel 5. 12. And THE LAMB shall overcome them for He is LORD OF LORDS and KING OF KINGS Rev. 17. 14. SECTION III. Of Christs coming to Judgement 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ That every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Acts 17. 30. But now God commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given all men assurance in that he raised him from the dead Daniel 7. 9. Rom. 14. 9. To this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living We shal All stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ Every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God Revel 20. 12. CHAP. IX THe First Words contain an undoubted Maxim or principal Article of our Faith yea such a Plurality of Articles of Christian Belief that I could not choose fitter for continuation of my former Argument concerning Christs Lordship or Dominion And His Dominion as was said before was A Dominion both of Property and of Jurisdiction We are his servants not our own Men as we say we may not dispose of our own souls or bodies much less of our bodily imployments or endeavours as We please but as He pleases Or in case we wrong him by alienating the imployments of our bodies or of our souls from his service who hath the full Dominion of Propertie we cannot exempt our selves from his Dominion of Jurisdiction to which all flesh is lyable without Appeal Now of his Dominion of Jurisdiction or of his Royal Power over us the Exercise of Final Judgment is the Principal Part And of this Judgment the general Sum or Abstract is contained in 2 Cor. 5. 10. Before I enter upon the Particulars therein contained I am in General to advertise That albeit the Scripture be such A Compleat Rule of Christian Faith That neither those which are appointed to interpret the Scriptures ought to propose or commend any point or doctrine as an Article of Faith unto others nor are others bound to believe any thing as a Point of Faith unless it be either expresly contained in the Scriptures or may out of the express testimonies of them be deduced by infallible Rules of Reason and Art Yet in the things believed because contained in Scripture there is a Difference to be observed Some things we believe without any Ground at all besides the meer Authority of Scriptures Other things we beleive from the Authority of Scriptures too yet so as we have the truth which the Scriptures teach concerning them ensealed unto us by Experiments answering to the Rules of Scriptures And these Experiments be of two sorts Either Observable in the general Book of Nature and course of times or Observable in our selves Of this later rank are the Articles of the Godhead of the Creation of Divine Providence of Original Sin of Final judgment and of Life and Death everlasting The Being of a Godhead or Divine Power the very Heathens which knew not Scriptures did in some sort believe of Gods Providence and of Judgment after this life the Heathens likewise had divers Notions which were as rude materials or stuffe unwrought The frame or fashioning of which Notions into true and Christian Belief cannot otherwise be effected then by the Rules of Scripture which are The Lines by which the structure or edifice of Faith must be squared or wrought Now whatsoever the Heathens without the help of Scriptures or Divine Revelations did believe or conceive concerning the Points mentioned Every Christian man which doth believe the Scriptures though but by an historical Faith may much better believe and conceive by the help of Scriptures albeit his affections be not as yet sanctified by the Spirit of Grace although he be but in the Estate of a meer Moral or Natural man so he be not delivered up unto a Reprobate sense The Branches then of my Meditations concerning this Grand Article of Christs coming to Judgment shall be in general These First Of the Natural Notions which the Heathens had and which every natural man so his Conscience be not seared may have Experienced in himself of a Final Judgment after this life or of a Recompence according to his wayes or works The Second By what Authoritie of Scriptures the Exercise of this Final Iudgment is appropriated to Christ The Third The manner of Christs coming to Iudgment The Fourth The parties that are to be Iudged to wit the Quick and the Dead The Fifth The Sentence or Award of this great Iudge and that is Everlasting Life or Everlasting Death Thus you see Three Principal Articles of Our Creed to wit This of Christs coming to Iudge the quick and the dead and the Two last viz. The Resurrection of the body and The life everlasting are so link't together that they cannot be so commodiously explained in several as they may be in this proposed Link or Chain CHAP. X. Of the Natural Notions which the Heathens had and the Internal Experiments which every true Christian may have answering to these Notions of a Final Judgment 1. THe Notions which the Heathens had of a Iudgment to passe upon them after this life were of Two Sorts Either Implicite and Indirect such â—s give better Testimony to us then they made of it to themselves or Direct and Express though indefinite and imperfect and mingled for the most part with some errour And these Later are most frequent in the ancient heathen Poets Many of whose Testimonies to this purpose are so Express and direct that they may well seem to have been taken from some scattered Traditions of that truth which God had revealed unto the Patriarchs before the Law was written or from the written Law it self which it is probable Plato with some other Philosophers and Poets had read at the least received at the second hand However unless the truth concerning this point delivered in Scriptures had been imperfectly implanted in mens hearts by nature these meer natural men could not have submitted their Assent or Opinions unto it That not the ancient Poets onely but the ancient Philosophers had an
yet obedience is due unto them in particular and they which disobey or transgress them in any particular are to be punished or made Examples lest others be emboldened to do the like And the Reason why they would have such punished which I would request you to observe is lest their impunity should minister offence to the weak brethren And a man cannot give greater offence to the weak or ignorant then by emboldening them to disobedience in Cases wherein obedience is due But soon after these Publick Injunctions other Private Spirits rose up which out of desire to be Extreamly Contrary to the Romish Church concerning Traditions did expresly contradict their Lawful Governors in that Article The Contrary Error into which they run by seeking to avoid the error of the Romish Church was in brief This That no Christian man is bound to obey superiors in matters of sacred Rite or Ceremony or in Duties of ordinary practise unless their Governors or such as demand their Obedience can shew them expresse Authority of Scripture or can convince their understandings that God by his Word doth enjoyn them to obey in these particulars But thus to oppose the Romish Church by way of Contrarietie is but to seek the overthrow of a Tyranny by the Erection of an Anarchie For if the Flock or inferior members of the Church owe no obedience unto their superiors but upon these Termes then Pastors Prelates yea Kings should owe the same obedience unto the meanest Tradesmen or Day-labourers that Tradesmen or Day-labourers owne to them For Pastors and Prelates even Kings themselves are bound to obey the Word of God by whomsoever it shall be manifested or made known unto them and to obey it in every particular which it manifestly injoynes And if obedience were not due to Pastors Prelates and Kings in matters concerning the service of God or sacred Rites until they can shew warrant for every particular which they enjoyn out of Gods word there were no obedience at all due unto them but unto Gods Word only And every man might say to them as the Emperour said to the Pope Non Tibi sed Petro. But so the Sacred Rule of Faith and manners should be not the Author of such Order as we believe it is but an occasion of confusion in every Christian Estate or Congregation 10. But this is the happiness of the English Church or Clergie that all the Arguments which have been or can be brought by Factious or discontented spirits in matters of Rites Ceremonies or Discipline do draw their strength from such false or mistaken Principles as if way were given to their growth or exercise of their force they could not peck the least hole in the Miter or make the least thirle in the Surpellice without working a proportionable crack or flaw in the Royal Crown Their Authors disobedience to Lawes or Discipline Ecclesiastick would quickly induce if opportunitie served open rebellion against the Prerogative Royal. Reason and Experience had taught the Heathen States-men That it was a matter of like sufferance or equally insufferable to live Ubi omnia Licita et ubi nihil Licitum In A State wherein all must be subject to the Will of One man and in a place where every man may do what he will A Tyran is like a Ravenous Beast which devours all that comes within his Walk or Range but which there are many wayes for a wise man to escape But if a Tyrannie once dissolve into an Anarchie Homo homini fit Lupus every man becomes a Wolfe unto his neighbour Their habitations or places of meeting become but nests of waspes or serpents 11. Let Rome then be accounted as it was when our Forefathers departed from it and as it still remains the spiritual Babylon Let the Pope be a Tyran more cruel and Barbarous then Nebuchadnezzar or Belshazzar yet let us remember that when God called his people out of Babylon he called them unto Jerusalem which is by interpretation the vision of peace A citie as the Psalmist in the literal sense perhaps meant compacted But in the mystical or Emblematical sense a City at unity in it self The long Durance of an hard and forein yoke had taught them subjection unto their native Governours Zerubbabel their Prince and Jesus their High-Priest The hatred contempt and scorn which they had endured amongst barbarous Aliens was a Cement to unite their hearts in brotherly affections But we by misimploying our peace and securitie of dread from the Enemy have turned the Grace of God into wantonness and transformed that Christian Libertie which our forefathers purchased with their Ashes into such Licentiousness as if we had departed out of Babylon to build a Babel in Jerusalem How have our Printing-houses become the Cels and Arcenals of strife and contention And our Pulpits been made Babels or Towers of Confusion When the men which came from the East attempted to build a Tower unto Heaven God as you know confounded their Language that they could not understand one another and the enterprize was dissolved and the enterprizers were dispersed over the face of the earth This was the Lords doing and therefore it was a confusion which did not end in Contention Though one of them did not understand another Yet we do not read but that every man did well understand himself But our misery is that every one will over-understand another when he doth not half-understand himself or the matter whereof he writes or speaks and so raiseth contention without an Adversarie and builds up a Babel without help making a confusion without mixture of Language only by pouring out his own simplicitie ignorance and malice and making no conscience of taking Gods Name in vain quoting Scripture to no other end then to countenance blasphemie or to dazle the eyes of the unlearned whilst he transforms the Nature and Goodness of God into worse similitudes then the Papists or Heathen do One while speaking against Arminians another while unwittingly pleading for them one Page containing a comfortable Use or Application whereas in the next before and after it he hath laid the Doctrinal Foundations of despaire or more then desperate presumption Thus to contradict themselves is so familiar and natural unto them that they cannot endure to be contradicted by any others which in the spirit of meekness would shew them the way how they might maintain all those Conclusions which they so much labour for and that without giving advantage to the Adversaries without dissension or disagreeing from themselves 12. These are the men that must be disclaimed as no true members of the English Church or at least no fit Expositors of her Tenets Otherwise we shall be inforced to grant that our Church participates as well of Babel or Beth-aven as of Bethel I have been the bolder to insist the longer upon This Point because some of good place and Authority in the Church and Common-weale take notice That some unlicensed and scandalous
Kiriath-jearim who for prophesying against Hicrusalem was put to death 240. years after Zechariah by Jehoiachim King of Judah and by his Council of State and of Warre and was fetcht back from Egypt whither he had fled for refuge by Elnathan the son of Achbor a great Counsellor of State and other Commissioners for this purpose unto Iehoiachim who slew him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people And this Prophets blood and other indignities done unto him and to his Calling after his death were Required of that Present Generation of the King especially For as Ieremie perhaps taking his hint from this Bloody Fact had foretold so it came to pass that Iehoiachim was cast out of Ierusalem not into the Graves of the Common people but into the Open Fields for he had no other burial then the Burial of the Ass or other like contemptible creature But however the blood perhaps of this Prophet amongst many others was to be further Required of this Present Generation Yet Zacharias was the Last and I think the First of all the Prophets which at the moment of his death did beseech God to Require his blood and to revenge his death And this I take is the true Reason why Our Saviour after he had indicted the Jews of the blood of all the Prophets and righteous men shed from the foundation of the world should instance only in Abel the son of Adam and Zacharias the son of Iehoiada or Barachiah Christs Instance in Abel literally and punctually referres to that Dialogue betwixt God and Cain Gen. 4. 10. The Lord said unto Cain where is Abel thy Brother And he said I know not Am my brothers keeper And he said what hast thou done The voyce of thy brothers blood cryeth to me from the ground and now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand But did the voyce of Zacharias his blood cry in like manner unto the Lord after his death or sollicit the like Curse or vengeance upon them which shed it or their posteritie as Abels did yes besides the fore-mentioned Imprecation Lord look upon it and Require it which was uttered by him after a great part of his blood and Spirits were spent his blood spake as bad things as that of Abels For so the Iewish Rabbins besides that Cluster of seven deadly sins committed by their fore-fathers at once in the murther of Zacharias mention another Circumstance subsequent not recorded in Scripture or not so plainly as a Christian Reader without their Comment or Tradition would take notice of it which in my Opinion doth better illustrate that passage of Scripture whereon they ground or seek to countenance it then any Christian Commentator hath done Our Fathers say they in shedding Zacharias's blood did not observe the Law of the blood of the Deer or Hart For so it was commanded Levit. 17. 13. Whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel or of the strangers that so journ among you which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten he shall even pour out the blood thereof and cover it with dust But Zacharias blood though shed in the Temple was not so covered it was apparent To this purpose they allege that of the Prophet Ezekiel chap 24. 6. Wo unto the bloody City Her blood is in the middest of her she set it upon the top of a rock she poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust that it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance No question but the Prophets entire purpose was to indict Jerusalem as our Saviour doth in my Text of all the Innocent blood that had been shed before his time within her Territories and withall to note her Impudence in committing such foul sins so openly without care to cover the conspicuous marks of her own shame Yet this no way argues that the Prophets did not point out some Memorable and Prodigious Fact which might serve as an Emblem of her shameless carelessness in all the rest Such Allusions to particulars sufficiently known in their own times are very usual in the Prophets This is the special Reason why their Writings in General are so obscure to us why some of their Metaphors seem harsh or farre fetcht because in truth their speeches in these Cases are not meerly Metaphorical but include Historical References to some famous Accidents present or fresh in memory From the same Cause all antient Satyrists or such as tax the capital vices of their own times are hardly understood by later Ages without the Comments of such as lived with them or not long after them as our Posterity within few years will hardly understand some passages in the Fairie Queen or in Mother Hubbards or other Tales in Chaucer better known at this day to old Courtiers then to young Students It may be these murtherers sayd of Zachariah as their posteritie said of our Saviour His blood be on us and on our Children It is not likely they would be careful to cover it with dust or wipe the stain of it whilest fresh out of the wals or stones of the Temple because they had solemnly forsaken the House of the Lord and made a league to serve Groves and Idols willing perhaps to let the Print of his blood remain to terrifie others from beeing too forward in reproving the King and His Council for their offences against God But whether the marks of it were left on purpose or through mere forgetfulness of this people God in his Providence as the Prophet intimates suffered it so to remain To cause fury to come and to take vengeance For whereas this fact or forgetfulness to cover it was in the words before attributed to Jerusalem Her blood is in the middest of her she set it up on the top of the Rock she poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust The Prophet after intimation of the Cause why it so remained To cause fury c. Immediately adds in the Person of God I have set her blood upon the top of a rock that it should not be covered Of these words no meaning can be rendred more natural then This To wit That God did suffer the print of Zachariah's righteous blood to remain in the Temple as it were to sollicit vengeance for all the rest that had been or should be shed in Jerusalem to crie unto him as Abel's did from the earth which as it seems was not covered certainly the voice of it was not smothered with dust How long the stain of blood especially dashed out of the body by violence will be apparent upon stones or moist wals experience doth not often teach because it is usually covered or wiped off whilest it is fresh Yet some prints of blood have longer remained unless Domestick Traditions be false on stones then the blood it self could have done by course of
29 § 9. Fol. 3586. I suppose this was preached at St. Ma. in Oxon. Nothing is called Little or great but in Comparison with other things Lev. 23. 27. ☜ The occasion of Baruchs complaint Two Doctrines or two Propositions A Corollarie added to the former Things indifferent yea lawful things by Circumstances become unlawful He means some man that had turned to the Church of Rome Good men are and ought to be most religious in worst Times Sympathie planted in Bruites See the Sermons upon this Text. Fol. 3610. ☞ ☜ Apathie a Symptom of a graceless obdurate mind Numb 32. 6. 2 Sam. 11. Uriah Godfrey of Bulloign Argia in Statius Of Portia see Plutarch in vita Bruti The Author omits the Second Doctrine to be handled in the next Sermon and passeth to the Corollarie which he proves by Instance A Great Warning and a Greater Truth Libro 6. de providentia Dei See more Instances of Stupidity in the end of the Attributes Salvian This was preached in Oxon after the visitation by the Plague A Forward Souldier Petrus Strozius See Val. Maximus de Cupiditate Uiae Epist Lib. 1. Epist 22. See Lanoue Paradox second Page 204. Thuanus Lib. 26. pag. 543. colum 1. See Busbequius his fourth epist De Rebus Turc Lament 4. 10. Zephaniah 2. 3. The Doctrine handled in Hypothesi An Objection 1 King 21. 2 Kings 22. 18. 19 20. The Objection pressed home The Answer to the former Objection 2 Chron. 32. 25 26. 2 King 23. 30. 2 Chron. 35. 21 24. Ezek. 14. 20 21. From a double Aspect A twofold Sympathie ariseth See Chap. 14. §. 6. Fol. 3439. Quaere whether he mean his Sermons upon Jer. 26. and other Texts printed 1637. Or Pharaohs Hardning See Book 10. Fol. 3222. ☞ See the following Sermon upon Matthew 23. 37. ☜ I suppose he means His Treatise of Prodigies or divine Fore-warnings betokening Blood which was lost in his life time and cannot yet be found Salvian in his 6. 7. Books de Gubern Matth. 7. 1. Rom. 14. 4. The Text is A Conclusion Q. From what Premisses inferred The Limitation of the Conclusion The Extent of the Conclusion Another Limitation ☞ Two Instances in Ahab and David who by judging others did condemn themselves See Book 10. Fol. 3018. and 3099. The Minor of the foregoing Syllogism ☞ ☜ See Book 4. or justifying Faith Sect. 2. The composition of Hypocrisie Pharisaical Two special sins of the Ancient Jews The Antient Jews sins The later Jews Reformation See a following Sermon upon that Fact Christs true Exposition of the Negative part of the fourth Commandement Take we heed of condemning our selves by judging the later Jews See the fourth chapter of this Book Fol. 3342. See Book 8. ☜ ☜ ☞ A Romish error requiring Reformation An Error of the Contraire extreme disparaging The Reformation A Factious Schismatical Book modestly Censured Apostolical and Episcopal Power under heathen Princes and after Princes were Christianed The Antient Heathens gave and Turks give more to their Priests then some professing Christianity do to theirs both for Power and Maintenance A Precept will be in force when pretences will be out of date The main Error of the Romish Church Infallibilitie both in expounding holy Scripture and in attesting Traditions See the second and third Books The Two former Romish Errors well Reformed The Temper Bounds of the Right and Rigid Reformer The Cure of the Error by the Right Mean The Error extreamly Contrary to the Romish Error ☞ In his Sermon before the King upon Jer. 26. pag. 32. he saith divide the sins of 40. years last past into ten parts the sins of the Pulpit and the Presse would be a large Tenth See signes of the Times pag. 57. 58. Three Points purposed A Romish Eror causing Doubt of Salvation viz The intention of the Priest c. A Romish Priest may damn an Infant through neglect or malice by the Doctrine of that Church See Soto in 4. Senten dis 1. Q. 5. Art 8. Romish Priests have a strange Negative voice The Second Point The Remedie of the Contrarii as bad as the Diease About This Point See Book 4. and Book 10. cha 51 52 53. and Serm. on Jer. 26. pag. 13. and signs of the Times p. 62. Upon this Text See Book 7. Chap. 18 19. See Book 10. Fol. 3274. Where this Author sayes 300. Bellarmines 300 Valentiaes could not do the Protestant Religion so much harm as Dr. Hessels did taking advantage of this Doctrine Of this Division see Lib. 10. Fol. 3153 3275. See Book 10. Fol. 3262 and signes of the Time p. 63. The Third Point How Fides is Fiducia see Book 10. cap. 52. See Chapt. 4. Fol. 3338. Idolatry transforms the Divine Nature into unfit similitudes The late R. R. Bishop of Winchester B. Andrews in his Sermon on that Theme The Worshipping of Imaginations the root of Idolatry See the fifth Book ☜ Some Writers not Papists transform the Divine Nature Paraeus See Book 10. Fol. 3012. ☜ See Book the Fifth The Sayings of dying men remarkable Three points considerable The Circumstance of time Observations and Uses out of the story and circumstances Touching Retaliation see the 6. Book or Treatise of Gods Attributes 2 part §. 4. chap. 31. page 343. A Cluster of Deadly Sins in the Horrible murther of Zechariah the High-Priest Levit. 17. 13. See the next Sermon upon this Text. Gen. 19. 9. Pto. 28. 4. Wisd 2. 12. 1 Joh. 3. 12. Of Pharisaical Hypocrisie See Book 4. and second Sermon on Jer. 26. See the Sermen upon that Text immediately precedent The Former Sermon on 2 Chron. 24. 22 I suppose was preached at Court This at Oxford Of the Jews Calamities see Book 1. chap. 23. and 27. The first Question Who this Zechariah was This punctually agrees with the Copy The Temple and the Altar Why Zachariah called the son of Barachiah See Dr. Hammonds Notes on Matth. 23. fol. 125. where he cites Josephus Lib. 4. cap. 19. for another Zacharias killed by the Zelots immediately before the Seige which puts a short end to this Question The Second Question Why our Saviour instanceth in Zechariah Zachariah the only Prophet that dyed with an Imprecation See Fol. 3721. ☞ The Third Question A Paraphrase or Exegesis of Christs loving and threatning expressions A Paraphrase or Exegesis of our Saviours meaning or Implication How Christs death was A Cause of the Jews Calamities The Son of God in a peculiar manner to the Jews King of Old Psa 74. 10 Luke 4 6. Ezek. 7. 21 24. Dan. 4. 17. See fol. 3729. where this was the 4 Question propounded From Abels to Zachariahs death were 3000. years from Zach. to these words spoken were 00. or 900. See a following Sermon on 2 Kings 23. 26. A Generation contains thirty years betwixt Manasseh's and Iosiahs death were about thirty three years The Objection is hardened by taking in Abels Blood Zechariah was slain 900. years Abel 3800. years before Christ spoke
truth of Scriptures or cannot give a Reason of his Faith or one that neither thinks of Heaven or Hell and such Infidels there be almost in every Congregation But an Unbeliever a man may be although in the General he believe whatsoever the Scripture saith concerning the Resurrection of the Body or Life and Death everlasting unless withall he lay this his Belief to heart unless he have a true estimate as well of the reward proposed to good deeds as of the punishment proposed to evil doers It was a wise Saying of one that was not the wisest Doctor in his time Tractare res humanas norunt plurimi aestimare pauci Many there be that have skill enough in humane affairs that want no wit to atchieve the ends which they propose to themselves and yet but a few which know how to esteem or prize the ends at which they aym aright And of all our Errors and Defects there be but Two General Roots The first An overprizing of secular ends or contentments The second An undervaluing of matters Heavenly specially of Life and Death everlasting The true Reason why many who can discourse well of Heavenly matters and can give a reason of their belief sufficient to convince the Gainsayers of the truth which they believe are not so able to take or give the true Estimate of the things believed is much what the same with that which Philosophers assign Why yong men are no fit Auditors of moral Philosophy or why they prove not so good Proficients in this study as in other Arts and Sciences To learn the Mathematicks as Arithmetick or Geometry yong men or children are as apt as men of mature age And in natural Philosophy they finde no difficulty save onely want of Experience which is never attained unto in just and full measure without length of time or competent number of years Howbeit in the former Studies though all their life time were youth men might attain to the same measure of experience in the same course of time or number of years that they could if all their life were mature age But so it is not in moral Philosophy What is the reason The Philosopher tells us It is because yong men or men whose affections are unsetled can have no taste of moral Goodness or of the sweetness of true vertue And as his Master before him had observed Omnis vita gustu quodam ducitur We must have a Taste or Relish of good or evil or else we shall neither follow the one nor eschew the other with that constancy with that life and courage which is required to Vertue or Morality We may do many good things which a good Christian ought to do and yet not live a Christian life As Herod did Mark 6. 20. who feared and observed Saint John Baptist as a holy Just Man and heard him gladly and when he heard him did many things yet cut off his head 7. To lead a Christian life is more then to be a meer Moral Man although it always includes Morality in it And whatsoever is required to a moral life That and more is necessarily required to a Christian and Godly life And seeing the framing of a true Christian Life depends very much upon the true belief of this Article of Everlasting Life and Everlasting Death the most effectual Method which Gods Ambassadors can use to this end must be to exhibit a true taste or relish of the Goodness contained in the one and of the Evil comprized in the other And this is the Method which by Gods assistance I mean to follow First To set down directions whence or by what means we may take a Tast or Rellish without danger to our souls of Everlasting Death And Secondly How the like Tast or Rellish may be had of Everlasting Life or at the least how we may frame unto our selves a true though a short measure by which we may by diligent meditation take a better Estimate of Both then most men do I will begin with The means how to estimate everlasting Death because it is much easier to have some Tast or Rellish of it then of everlasting Life There is no evil which a man in this life doth suffer no pain or grief but may in some sort serve a diligent meditator to take a view or estimate of the horrors of the second death But alwayes the greater the evil is which we have suffered or have experience of the more fit measure it is for calculating the endless miseries of the Second Death And The very cogitation or remembrance of such particular evils as we have actually suffered or have experience of will be more effectual to withdraw us from those means or practises which procure them then the representation or contemplation of evils in their nature far greater but of which we have had no Tast or experience 8. A Memorable Experiment in this kind we have recorded by Justine and other good Writers of those Scythians which had waged war so long in Asia that their Wives growing weary of their absence did marry with their slaves or bond-men And their slaves being willing to defend the possessions which they had usurpt took arms against their Masters at their return But were quickly routed without stroke of Sword or dint of Lance or other usual weapon of war In stead of these their Masters charged them on horseback with whips in their hands with success according to their own fore-cast or expectation Of hurts or wounds made by Sword or Lance as they wisely did forecast their slaves had formerly had no experience they never had felt the smart or grief of either But their backs had been accustomed to the scourge or lash and the very sight of these weapons reviving the memory of their former smart more affrighted them on a suddain then any terror of war besides could have done To have tried their courage or fortunes either by push of Pike or dint of Sword they would have been more forward then wiser men Dulce bellum inexpertis Want of experience in this kind would have made them for the first brunt at least more insolent and fool-hardy whereas the very sight and noise of the whip whereof they had so often tasted did presently dant them and make them seek their security from it by confused flight The Historical Truth of this Relation and good success of their Stratagem is sealed unto us in the Publick Coin of that Country whose stamp to this day is a man on Horse-back with a whip in his hand 9. It would be a great comfort to us that are Gods Embassadors if we could but perswade men to be as afraid to wrong or deface the monuments of men deceased as the modern Turks are to offer the least indignity unto ordinary papers scattered in the streets or to be as careful in preserving the Goods of the Church as these Infidels are to preserve the least scrap of paper that would otherwise
perish What is the reason why they are so careful in these Toyes and we so negligent in matters of such moment and the like They have a Tradition whether received from Mahomet himself or from his Successors their Mufties I know not but a Tradition they have which they strongly believe That before they can enter into such a heaven as they dream of they must pass over a long iron grate red hot without any other fence to save their naked feet from scorching save only so much paper as they shall preserve from perishing Now of the pains or tortures which the violent heat of Iron produceth in naked bodies they have a kind of feeling or experience The conceit or Notion of this pain is fresh and lively and works more strongly upon their affections then the dread of hell fire doth upon many Christians albeit there is no Christian which doth not believe the fire of hell to be everlasting whereas the Turk thinks this his supposed Purgatory to be but temporary and between pains temporary and pains everlasting there is no proportion How then comes it to pass that this superstitious fear of pains but temporary should so far exceed our true fear or belief of pains uncessant and everlasting Many which truly believe there is a Hell whose fire never goeth out yet conceive this fire to be an immaterial fire a fire of whose heat or violence they have no sense or feeling in this life a fire altogether unknown unto them And as no man much desireth that good which he knoweth not how great soever it be so no man much feareth that evil whereof he hath no sense or feeling no experimental knowledge whereby to measure the greatness of it but only believes it confusedly or in gross and hence it is that the acknowledgment or belief of such a fire how great soever it may seem to be in the General abstract conceit is but like a spacious Mathematical body which hath neither weight nor motion which can produce no real effects in the soul or affections of man For this reason I have alwayes held it a fruitless pains or a needless curiosity to dispute the Question Whether the fire of hell be a material fire or no that is such a fire as may be felt by bodily senses seeing most men conceive no otherwise of things immaterial or spiritual then as of Abstract Notions or of Mathematical Magnitudes As the determination of this Question were it possible in this life to be determined would be fruitless So the chief reason which some have brought to prove the Negative to wit That it is not a material fire is of no force in true Philosophie much less in Divinitie 10. Their chief Reason is This That if hell fire were a material or bodily fire it could not immediately work upon the soul which is an immaterial or spiritual substance But let them tell us how it is possible That the soul of man which is an immortal substance should be truly wedded to the body or material substance and I shall as easily answer them That it is as possible for the same soul to be as really wrought upon by a material fire As possible it is for material fire to propagate death without End to both body and soul as it is for the immaterial or immortal soul to communicate life without end to the material substance of the body For the bodies of the damned shall never cease to be material substances and they shall live to everlasting pains by a life communicated unto them from their immaterial and immortal souls And as the bodies do live continually by reason of their continual union with their living immaterial souls so the soul may die the second death continually by its union with or imprisonment in material but everlasting fire Or if any man be of opinion that hell fire is no material fire or hath no resemblance of that fire which we see and know yet let him believe that it is a great deal worse and that the greatest torture which in this life can come by fire is though a true yet but an imperfect scantling of the torments of the life to come and the danger will be less Of this opinion were the Antients and this conceit or notion of hell fire did in some bring forth very good effects So Eusebius in his Fifth Book and first Chapter of his Ecclesiastical Story tels of one Biblis a woman which had professed Christianity but was so danted with the cruel persecutions of Christians that she renounced her profession and was brought unto the place where the Christians were executed with purpose to withdraw others from constancie in their profession by her expected blasphemie against Christ and reproachful aspersions upon Christians But the very sight of those flames wherein the Martyrs were tortured did throughly awake her out of her former slumber her very fear or rather conceit of such torments which they for the time suffered did afford her a measure or scantling to calculate the incomparable torments of hell fire which being now awaked she began to bethink her self that she must suffer them without hope of release if she should deny Christ or renounce her calling and thus expelling the lesser fear by the greater she resolutely professed her self to be a true Christian in heart and so contrary to the expectation of the persecutors and her own former resolution increased the number of the glorious Martyrs and incouraged others after her to endure the Cross 11. But albeit the Scripture usually describes the horrour of the second death by a fire which never goeth out or by a lake of fire and brimstone and so describes it either because that fire is of such nature and quality as these descriptions literally and without Metaphor import or because these are the most obvious and most conspicuous representations of the pains and horrours of hell which flesh and blood are generally most acquainted with most afraid of yet many other branches of pains and tortures there be besides those which fire of what kind soever can inflict and of these several pains most men respectively may have as true a rellish or sensible representation as they can have of hell fire You have read before that as there is in this life A body of sin which hath as many members as there be several senses or several faculties of the soul So there is a body of the second death every way proportionable to the body of sin The extreamitie or deadliness of all the pains discontents or grievances which are incident to any bodily sense or facultie of the soul in this life are contained either Formaliter that is as we say in kind in the body of the second death or Eminenter that is either in a worse kind or in a greater measure then in this life they could be endured though but for a minute and yet must be endured everlastingly in the life to come