Pet iii 19 "By which also he went and preached unto
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main hindrance.
I will tell you where I think it lies : (1.) In thehesitancy and staggering of our faith aboutthecertainty and reality of things invisible.
(2.) In some special guilt upon the conscience, which discourages us. (3.) In a negligent and careless course of life, which is not ordinarityblessed with much evidence or comfort. (4 ) In the deep engagements of our hearts to earthly things : they could not be so cold to Christ, if they were not over-heated with other things.
Till these distempers be cured, no arguments can prosper that are spent to this end. The Lord dissolve all those ties betwixt us and this world, which hinder our consent and willingness tobediffolved, and to be with Christ, which is far better.
And now we have had a glance and glimmering light, a faint umbrage of the state of the separated fouls of the just in heaven : it remains that I shewyou somewhat of the state and case of the damned fouls in hell. A dreadful representation it is ; but it is necessary we hear of hell, that we may not feel it.
T * ** 1 PET. iii. 19. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.
IN the former discourse we have had ajustviewofheaven, and of the spirits of just men made perfect, the inhabitants of that blessed region of light and glory.
In this scripture we have the contrary glass, representing the unspeakable misery of those fouls or spirits which are separated by death from their bodies for a time, and by fin from God for ever ; arrested by the law, and secured in theprisonofhell, unto the judgment of the great day.
Afermonofhellmaykeep some souls outofhell, and a sermon of heaven may be the means to help others to heaven : the desire of my heart is, that the conversations of all those who shall read these discourses of heaven and hell, might look more like a diligent flight from the one, and pursuit of the other.
The scope of the context is a persuasive to patience, upon a prospect of manifold tribulations coming upon the Christian churches, strongly enforced by Christ's example, who both in his own person, v. 18. and by his spirit in his servants, v. 19. exercised wonderful patience and long-suffering as a pattern to his people.
This 19verse gives us an account of his long-suffering towards that disobedient and immorigerous generation offinners,
A. Treatise of the Soul of Man. on whom he waited an hundred and twenty years in the mini. stry ofNoah.
There are difficulties in the text. *Estius reckons on less than ten expositions of it, and faith, " It is a very difficult scripture in " ththejudgmentof almost all interpreters;" but yet I must say, those difficulties are rather brought to it, than found in it.
It is a text which hath been rackt and tortured by Popith expofitors, to make it speak Christ's local descent into hell, and to confess their doctrine of purgatory ; things which it knew not.
But, if we will take its genuine sense, it only relates the fin and misery of those contumacious persons, on whom the spirit of God waited fo long in the ministry ofNoah; giving an account of, 1. Their fin on earth ...
2. Their punishment in hell.
1.Their fin on earth, which is both specified and aggravated.
(1. ) Specified ; namely their disobedience. They were sometimes. disobedient andunperfuadable ; neither precepts nor examples couldbringthem to repentance.
(2.) This their disobedience is aggravated by the expence of God's patience upon them for the space of an hundred and twenty years, not only forbearingthem so long, but striving with them, as Moses expresseth it; or waiting on them, as the apostle, here : but all to no purpose; they were obstinate, stubborn, and unperfuadable to the very last.
2.Behold, therefore, inthenextplace, the dreadful, but most just, and equal punishment of these sinners in hell; they are called, spirits in prison, i. e. the souls now in hell † .
At that time when Peter wrote of them, they were not entire men, but/pirits, in the proper sense, i. e. separated fouls, bodiless, and lonely fouls : whilst in the body, it is properly a soul; but when separated, a spirit according to scripture-language, and the strict notion of such a being.
These spirits, or fouls,in the stateoffeparation, are said to be in a prison, that is, in hell, as the word elsewhere notes, Rev. xx.
7. andJude, ver.6. Heaven and hell are the only receptacles of departed, or separated fouls .
Thusyouhave, in a few words, the natural, and genuine sense of the place, and it is but wasting time to repeat, and refel the many false, and forced interpretations of this text, which corrupt minds, and mercenary pens, have perplexed, and darkened it
* Psal . xxxi. 6. Eccl xii. 7. Ads vir50.
†Locushicomniumpaeneinterpretumjudicio dificillimus. Eftius,
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withal: That which I level at, is comprised in this plain pro. position.
Doct. Thit the souls or spirits ofallmenwhodie in a fate of unbelief and disobedience, are immediately committed to the prison of hell, there to suffer the wrath ofGoddue to their fins.
Hell is shadowed forth to us,infcripture,bydiversmetaphors; " for we cannot conceive spiritual things, unless they are fo
" cloathed and shadowed out unto us †." Augustinegives this reason for the frequent use of metaphors and allegories, in scrip. ture, because they are fo much proportioned to our senses, with which our senses have contracted an intimacy and familiarity ; andthereforeGod, to accomodatehistruth to our capacities,doth as it were, this way embody it in earthly expressions, according to that celebratedobfervation of the Cabbalists, Lumenfupremum nunquam defcenditfine indumento; the pure, and supreme light never descends to us without a garment or covering.
In the Old Testament, the place and state of damned fouls, isfet forth
by metaphors taken from the most remarkable places, and exemplary acts of vengeance upon sinners in this world ; as the overthrow of the giants by the flood, those proHelbcalled the digious sinners that fought against heaven, and were Tweptby the flood, into the place oftor. place of giants
To this Solomon is conceivedtoallude, and why. in Prov. xxi. 16. " The man that wanders out of the way ofun.
"derstanding, shall remain in the congregation of the dead;" in the ments.
Hebrew it is, he hall remain with the Rephaims, or giants.
These giants were the men that more especiallyprovokedGod to bring the flood upon the world; they are also noted as the first inhabitants of hell, therefore from them the place of torment takes its name, and the damned are said to remain in the place of giants.
Hell called Tophet, and Sometimes hell is called Tophet, Isa. xxx. 33 .
This Tophetwas in the valley ofHinnon, and was famous for divers things. There the children of why.
Israel caused their children to pass through the fire toMoloch, or sacrificed to the devil, drowning their horririble shrieks and ejaculations with the noifeofdrums.
In this valley also was the memorable slaughter of eighteen hundred thousand of the Affyriancamp, by an angel, in one night.
There, also, the Babylonians murdered the people of Jerufa + Spiritual i a capere non poffumus, nisiadumbrata,
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. lem, at the taking of the city, Jer. vii. 31, 32.
So that Tophet was a mere shambles, the public chopping-block, on which the limbs of both young and old were quartered out, by thousands.
It was filled with dead bodies, till there was no place for burial.
By all which it appears, that no spot of ground in the world was fo famous for the fires kindled in it to destroy men, for thedoleful cries that ecchoed from it, or the innumerable multitudes that perished in it; for which reason it is made the emblem of hell.
Sometimes it is called a " lake of fire burning with brimstone," Rev. xix.
20.denoting the most exquisite torment,by an intense anddura. ble flame.
Hell a lake of fire.
And in the text, it is called a prison, where the spiAprison. rits of ungodly men are both detained and punished.
This notion ofa prison gives us a lively representation of the miserable state of damned fouls, and that especially in the following particulars.
First, Prisoners are arrested, and seized by authority of law; it is the law which sends them thither, and keeps them there ; the mittimus of a justice is but the instrument of the law, whereby they are deprived of liberty, and taken into custody.
The law of God, which sinners have both violated and despised, at death takes hold of them, and arrests them.
It is the law which claps up their spirits in prison, and in the name and authority of the great and terrible God, commits them to hell.
All that are out of Christ, are under the curse and damning sentence of the law, whichnowcomes to be executed on them,Gal. iii. 10.
Secondly, Prisoners are carried, or haled to prison, by force and constraint ; natural force backs legal authority : the law is executed by rough and resolute bailiffs, who compel themtogo, though never so much against their will; this also is the case of the wicked at death : Satan is God's bailiff, to hurry away the law-condemned fouls to the infernal prison.
The devil hath the power of death, Heb. ii. 14. as the executioner hath of the bodyofacondemned man.
Thirdly, Prisoners are chained and bolted in prison, to pre- 'vent their escape ; so are damned spirits secured by the power of God, and chained by their own guilty and trembling consciences, in hell, unto the timeofjudgment, and the fulness of misery; not that they have no torment in the meantime : alas ! were there no more but that fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation, spoken of by the apostle, Heb. x. 27. it were an inexpreffible torment ; but there is a farther degree of tor
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ment to be awarded them at the judgment of the great day, to which they are therefore kept, as in chains and prisons.
Fourthly, Prisons are dark and noisome places, not built for pleasure, as other houses are, but for punishment; so is hell.
Jude, ver. 6. " Reserved in everlasting chains under darkness," as he there describes the placeoftorments, yea, utter darkness,
Matth. viii. 12. extreme or perfect darkness.
Philosophers tell us of the darkness of this world, Non dantur purae tenebrae, that there is no pure or perfect darkness here, without some mixture of light; but there is not aglade of light, not a spark of hope or comfort shining into that prison.
Fifthly, Mournful sighs and groans are heard in prisons: Pfals xcvii. II. Let the " fighingofthe prisoners come before thee," faith the pfalmist.
But deeper sighs and emphatical groans are heard in hell, " There shall be weeping and wailing, and " gnashing of teeth," Matth. viii. 12.
Those that could not groanunder the sense of fin on earth, shall howl under anguish and desperation in hell.
Sixthly, There isa time when prisoners are brought out of the prison to be judged, and then return in a worse condition than before, to the place from whence they came. Godalfo hath appointed a day for the solemn condemnation of those spirits in prison.
The scriptures call it " the judgment of the "great day," Jude ver. 6. from thegreatbusinessthat is to be done therein, and the great and solemn assembly that shall then appear before God.
But I will insist nolongeruponthedisplayof the metaphor; my business is to give you a representation of the state and condition ofdamnedfouls in hell, and to assist your conceptions of them, and of their state.
It is a dreadful fight I am to give you this day; but how much better is it to fee, than to feel that wrath ? The treasures thereof shall shortly be broken up,andpouredforth upon the spirits of men.
You had in the former discourse, a faint umbrage of the fpititsofjust men in glory ; in this you will have an imperfect representation of the spirits of wickedmen in hell: and look, as the former cannot be adequate and perfect, because that happiness surpaffeth our knowledge; foneither can thisbe fo, because the misery of the damned passeth our fear.
Thecafeand state of a damned spirit will be belt opened in these following propositions.
Proposition 1. That the guilt of allfin gathers to, and settles VOL .II.
Cce
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. in the conscience of every Christless sinner, and makes upavaft treasure of guilt in the course of his life in this world.
The high and awfulpowerofconfciencebelonging to the understanding faculty in the soul of man, was spoken to before, as to its general nature, and that conscience certainly accompanies it, and is inseparable from it, was there shewed; I am here to confider it as the feat or centre of guilt, in allunregenerate and lost fouls.
For look, as the tides wash up, and leave the slime and filth upon the shore, even so all the corruption and fin that is in the other faculties of the soul, fettle upon the conscience.
" Their mind and conscience (faith the apostle) is defiled," Tit. i. 15. it is, as it were, the fink ofa sinner's foul, into which all filth runs, and guilt settles.
The conscience of every believer is purged from its filthiness by the blood of Christ, Heb. ix. 14. his blood and his spirit purify it, and pacify it, whereby it becomes the region of light and peace; but all the guilt which hath been long contracting, through the life of an unbeliever, fixes itself deep and fast in his
'conscience; " It is written upon the tables of their hearts, as "with a pen of iron," Jer. xvii. 1. i. e. guilt is as a mark or character, fashioned or engraven in the very substance of the soul, as letters are cut into glass with a diamond.
* Conscience is not only the principle engagee, obliged unto God as a judge,but the principal director and guide of the soul, in its courses and actions, and consequently, the guilt of all fin falls upon it, and rests in it.
The soul is both the spring and fountain of all actions, that go outward from man, and the term or receptacle of all actions inward; but in both forts of actions, going outward, and coming inward, conscience is the chief counsellor, guide, and director in all, and so the guilt which is contracted either way, must be upon its head.
It is the bridle of the soul, to restrain it from fin; the eye of the soul , to direct its course; and therefore is principally chargeable with all the evils of life.
Bodily members are but instruments, and the will itself, as high and noble a faculty or power as it is, moveth not, until the judgment cometh to a conclusion, and the debate be ended in the mind Now, in the whole course and compass of a sinner's life in this world, what treasures of guilt must needs be lodged in his conscience What a magazine of fin and filth must be laid up there? It is said ofa wicked man, Job xx. 11. " His bones are
" full of the sins of his youth ;" meaning his spirit, mind, or conscience, is as full of fin, as bones are of marrow ; yea, the very fins of his youth are enough to fill them: andRom. ii. 5.
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they are said " to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath," which is only done by treasuring up guilt ? for wrath and guilt are treasured up together in proportion to each other.
Every day of his life vast sums have been cast into this treasury, and the patience of God waiteth till it be full, before he calls the sinner to an account and reckoning, Gen. xv. 16.
Prop. 2. All the fin and guilt, contracted upon the souls and consciences of impenitent men in this world, accompanies and follows their departed fouls to judgment, and there brings them under the dreadful condemnation of the great and terrible God, which cuts off all their hopes and comforts for ever.
" If you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins,"
John viii. 24. And Job xx. 11. " His bones are full of the fins " of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust."
No proposition lies clearer in scripture, or should ly with greater weight on the hearts of sinners: nothing but pardon can remove guilt; but without faith and repentance there never was, nor shall be a pardon, Acts x. 43. Rom. iii. 24, 25. Luke xxiv.
46, 47.
Look, as the graces of believers, so the fins ofunbelievers follow the soul whithersoever it goes. All their finswho die out of Christ, cry tothemwhenthey gohence, We are thy
works, and we will follow thee.
The acts of finare transient, but the guilt and effects of it are permanent ; and it is evident by this, that in the great day, their consciences, which are the books of records, wherein all their fins are registred, will be opened, and they shall be judged by them, and out of them,
Rev. xx. 12 .
Now, before that general judgment, every foul comes to its particular judgment, and that immediately after death : of this
I apprehend the apostle to speak inHeb. ix. 27. " It is appointed " for allmen once to die, but after that the judgment."
The soul is presently stated by this judgment in its everlasting and fixed condition. The soul of a wickedman appearing before God, in all its fin and guilt, and by him fonterced, immediately it gives up all its hope, Prov. xi . 7." When a wicked man
" dieth, his expectation shall perish; and the hope of the unjust "man perisheth."
His strong hope perisheth, as some read it, i. e. his strong delusion : for, alas, he took his own shadow for abridge over the great waters, and is unexpectedly plunged intothegulphof eternal misery, as Matth. vii. 22.
This perishing, or cutting offofhope, is that which is called CCC 2 Etiamspes valentiffima, i.e. Even the strongest hope.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man, in scripture thedeathofthefoul, for folongthe soul will live,as it hath any hope. The deferring of hope makes it sick, but the final cutting offofhope strikes it quite dead, i. e. dead as to all joy, comfort, or expectation of any for ever, which is that death which an immortal fout is capable to suffer : The righte ous hath hope in his death , but every unregenerate man in the world breathes out his last hope in a few moments after his last breath, which strikes terror into the very centre of the soul, and is a death-wound to ir, Prop. 3. Thefouls of the damned are exceeding largeandcapacious subjects of wrath and torment ; and in theirfeparate state their capacity is greatly enlarged both by laying asleep all those affections whose exercise is relieving, and throughly awakeningatt thosepaffions which are tormenting.
The soul of man beingbynature a spirit, an intelligent spis rit, and, in its fubttantial faculties, assimilated to God, whose image it bears ; it must, for that reason, be exquisitely sensible of all the impressions and rouches of the wrathofGod upon it.
The spirit of man is a molt tender, sensible, and apprehensive creature; the eye of the body is not to sensible of a touch, a nerve of the body is not so sensible when pricked, as the spirit of man is of the least touchofGod's indignation upon it. "A " wounded fpiritwho can bear ?" Prov. xviii, 14.
Other external wounds upon the body, inflicted either by man or God, are tolerable; but that which immediately touches the spirit of man, is insufferable : who can bear or endure it ?
And as the spirit of man hath the most delicate and exquisite sense of misery; so it hath a vast capacity to receive, and let in the fulness of anguish and misery into it: it is a large vessel, called, Rom. ix. 22. "A vessel of wrath fitted to destruction.
The large capacity of the soul is seen in this, that it is not in the power of all the creatures in the world to satisfy and fill it: it can drink up, as one speaks, all the rivers of created good, and its thirst not quenched by such a draught, but after all, it cries, Give, give. Nothing but an infinite God can quiet and satisfy its appetite and raging thirst.
And as it is capable and receptive of more good than is found in all the creatures, so it is capable of more misery and anguish thanallthecreatures can inflict upon it.
Let all the elements, of men on earth, yea, all the devils and damned in hell, conspire, and unite in a design to torment man; yet whentheyhave done all, his spirit is capable of a farther degree of torment ; a torment asmuchbeyond it, as a rack isbeyondahardbed,or the sword in his bowels is beyond the fcratchofa pin. The devils
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Indeedaretheexecutioners and tormentorsofthedamned; but if that were all they were capable to suffer, the torment of the damned would be, comparatively, mild and gentle towhatthey are. Oh, the largeness of the understanding of man, what will it not take into its vast capacity !
But add to this, that the damned fouls have all those affections laidinadeep and everlasting deep, the exercises whereof would be relieving,by emptying their souls ofanypart of their misery; and all those passions throughly and everlastingly awakened, which increase their torments.
The affections of joy, delight and hope, are be numbed in them, and laid fast asleep, never to be awakened into act any more.
Their hope,in scripture, is saidtoperish, i. e. it so peritheth, that, after death, it shall never exertanother act to all eternity.
The activity of any of those affections would be like a coolinggale, or refreshing spring, amidst their torments; but as
Adrianlamentedhimself, Nunquamjocosdabis,Thou shalt never be merry more.
And as these affections are laid asleep, so their passions are rouzed, and thoroughly awakened totormentthem ; so awaken. ed,as never to sleep any more. The souls of men are sometimes jogged and startled in this world, by the words or rods of God, but presently they leep again, and forget all: but hereafter the eyes of their souls will be continually held waking, to behold and confider their misery, their understandings will be clear and most apprehensive; their thoughts fixedanddetermined ; their consciences active and efficacious; and, by all this, their capacitytotake in the fullest of their misery, enlarged to the uttermolt.
Prop. 4. The wrath, indignation,and revengeofGodpouredout, as the just rewardoffin, uponthesocapaciousfouls of the damned, istheprincipalpart of their misery in hell.
In the third proposition I shewedyou, that the souls of the damnedcanhold more misery than all the creatures can inflict upon them.
When the soul suffers from the handofman, itsfuf ferings are but either by way of tympathy with the body; or if immediately,yet it is but a light stroke the hand ofacreaturecan give: But when it has to do with a fin-revengingGod, and that immediately, this stroke cuts off the spirit of man, as 'tis expressed, Psal. lxxxviii. 16. The body is the cloathing of the soul
Most of the arrows thotat the soul in this world, do but stick in thecloaths (i. e.) reach the outwardman: But in hell, the spirit of man is the white at which God himself shoots.
All his envepomed arrows strike the soul, which is, after death, laid bare
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. andnakedtobe wounded by his hand. At death, the soul ofe verywickedmanimmediately falls into the hands of the living
God; and " it isa fearful thing to fallintothe hands of the liv. ingGod," astheapostlespeaks, Heb.x. 31. Their punishment is " from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his
" power," 2 Thef. i. 9. They are not put over to their fellow creatures to be punished,but God will do it himself, and glorify his power,as well as his justice, in their punishment. The wrath of God lies immediately upon their spirits, and this is the " fiery
" indignation which devoureth the adversaries," Heb. x. 27. A fire that licks up the very spirit of man. Who knoweth the power of his anger ! Plal. xc. 11. How insupportable it is, you maya littleguessby that expression of the prophetNahum, chap . i. 5, 6. " The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and
" the earth is burnt at his presence; yea, the world, and all " that dwell therein.
Who can stand before his indignation ?
"And who can abide in the fierceness of his anger ? His fury " is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by
" him."
And as if anger and wrath were not words ofa fufficientedge and sharpness, it is called fiery indignationandvengeance, words denoting the most intense degree of divine wrath.
For indeed his power is to be glorified in the destruction of his enemies, and therefore now he will do it to purpose. He takes them now into his own hands. No creature can come at the soul immediately, that is God's prerogative, and now he hath to do with it himself in fury, and revenge is poured out. " Can thy hands be
" strong, or thy heart endure when I shall deal with thee?"
Ezek. xxii. 14. Alas ! the spirit quails and dies under it. This is the hell ofhells .
What doleful cries andlamentings have we heard from God's dearest children, when but some few drops of his anger have been sprinkled upon their souls,here in this world ! But, alas ! there is no compare betwixt the anger, or fatherly discipline of God over the spirits of his children, and the indignation poured out from the beginning ofrevenges upon his enemies.
Prop. 5. Thefeparatespirit of a damned man become's a tor. mentor to itself by the various and efficacious actings of its own conscience, which are afpecial part of its torment in the other world.
Conscience,which should have been the sinners curb on earth, becomes the whip that must lash his soul in hell.
Neither is there any faculty, or power belonging to the soul of man, so fit and able to do it as his own conscience. That which was the feat
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and center of all guilt, now becomes the featandcenter of all torments. The suspension of its tormenting power in this world isa mystery, and wonder to all that duly confider it.
For certainly should the Lord let a sinner's conscience fly upon him with rage, in the midst of his fins and pleasures, it would put him into a hell upon earth, as we see in the doleful instances ofJudas,
Spira, &c. But he keeps ahandofrestraintupon them, generally, in this life, and suffers them to sleep quietly by a grumbling or feared conscience, which couches by them as a sleepy lion, and lets them alone.
But no sooner is the Christless soul turned out of the body, and cast for eternity at the bar of God, butconfcience is rouz . ed, and put into a rage never to be appeased any more.
It now racks and tortures the miserable soul with its utmost efficacy and activity. The mere presages and forebodings of wrath, bytheconfciences of sinners in this world, have made them lie with a ghastly paleness in their faces, universal trembling in all their members, a cold sweating horror upon their panting bosoms, like men already in hell: But this, all this, is but as the sweating of the stones before the great rain falls.
The activities of conscience (especially in hell) are various, vigorous, and dreadful to confider, such are its recognitions, accusations, condemnations, upbraidings, Shamings, and fearful expectations.
1. The confciencesof the damned will recognize, and bring back the fins commited in this world fresh to their mind : For what is conscience, but a register, or book of records, wherein every fin is ranked in its proper place and order ! This act of conscience is fundamental to all its other acts ; for it cannot accuse, condemn, upbraid, or shame us for that it hath lost out of its memory, and hath no sense of.
Son remember, said Abraham to Dives, in the midst of his torments.
This remembrance of fins past, mercies past, opportunities past, but especially of hope past and gone with them, never to be recovered any more, is like that fire not blown (of which Zophar speaks) which consumes him, or the glittering sword coming out of his gall, Job
XX. 24. c.
2. It chargeth and accuseth the damned soul; and its charges are home, positive, and self-evident charges : A thousand legal and unexceptionable witnesses cannot confirm any point more thanone witness in a man's bosom can do, Rom. ii. 15. It con victs, and stops their mouths, leaving them without any excuse or apology.
Just and righteous are the judgments ofGodupon thee, faith conscience : In all this ocean of misery, there is nos
Treatise of the Soul of Man. onedropofinjury or wrong : The judgment of God is accord a ingtotruth.
3. It condemns as well as chargeth andwitnesseth, and that with a dreadful sentence; backing and approving the sentence and judgment of God, I John iii. 21. every self.destroyer will be a self-condemner: This is a prime part of their misery.
Prima esthaet ultio, quodfe Judice, nemonocens abfolvitur, improba quamvis Gratiafallacispraetoris vicerit urnam.
Juv. Sat.13.
4. The upbraidings of conscience, in hell, are terrible and insufferable things: To be continually hit in the teeth and twitted with our madness, wilfulness, and obstinacy, as the cause of all that eternal misery which we have pulleddownupon our own heads , what is it, but the rubbing of the wound with salt and vinegar? Of this torment holy Job was afraid, and therefore refolvedwhat in him lay to prevent it, when he saith,
Job xxvii. 6. " My heart (i.e. conscience) shall not reproach " me so long as I live." Othe twits and taunts of conscience are cruel cuts and lashes to the soul !
5. The thamings of conscience are unsufferable torments.
Shame arifeth from the turpitude of discovered actions.
If some mens secret filthinesses were but published in this world, it would confound them; what then will it be, when all shall lie open, as it will, after this life, and their own consciences shall caftthe shameofalluponthem? They shall not only bederided by God, Prov. i. 26. but by theirownconfciences also.
Lastly, the fearful expectations of conscience, still looking forward into more and more wrath to come, this is the very sum and complement of their misery.
What makes a prison so dreadful toa malefactor, but the trembling expectation he there lives under of the approaching afsizes ? Much after the same rate, or rather after the rate of condemned persons pre. paring for execution, do these spirits inprisonlive in the other world.
But alas no instance or similitude can reach home to their case.
Prop. 6. That which makes the torments and terrors of the damned spirits so extreme and terrible, is, that they areume lievable miseries, and torments for ever.
They are not capable either of, 1.A partial relief, by any mitigation, or 2.A complete relief, by a final cessation.
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1. Not of a partial relief, by any mitigation; could they but divert their thoughts from their misery, as they were wont to do in this world, drink and forget their sorrows ; or had they but any hope of the abatement of their misery, it would be a relief to them : But both these are impossible.
Their thoughts are fixed and determined : to remove them (though but for a moment) from their misery, is as impossible as to remove a mountain : Their fin and misery is ever before them.
As the blessed in heaven are bono tonfirmati, so fixed and settled
inblessedness, that they are not diverted one moment from beholding the blessed face of God, for they are ever with the Lord : So the damned in hell are malo obfirmati, so settled and fixed in the midst of all evil, that their thoughts and miseries are inseparable for ever.
2. Much less can their undone slate admit the least hope of relief by a final cessation of their misery.
All hope perisheth from them, and the perishing of their hope is the plainest proof that can be given of the eternity of their misery. For were there but the remotest possibility of deliverance at last, hope would hang upon that possibility : And whilst hope lives, the soul is not quite dead ; the death of hope is the death of a man's spirit : The cutting off of the soul from God, and the last act of hope to fee or enjoy him for ever, is that death which an immortal soul is capable of suffering. " Depart from " me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," is that sentence which
Itrikes hope and foul dead for ever .
In these six propositions you have the true and terrible representation of the spirits in prison, or the state of damned souls.
I have not mentioned their affsociation with devils, or the dismal place of their confinement, which, though they complete their misery, yet are not the principal parts of it, but rather accessories to it, or rivers running into the ocean of their misery.
The sum of their misery lies in what was opened before, and the improvement of it is in that which followeth.
Infer. 1. Is this the state of ungodly fouls after death ? Then it follows, that neither death nor annihilation are the worst of evils incident to man.
Aristotle calls death the most terrible of all terribles, and the schoolmen affirm annihilation to be a greater evil than the most miserable being : But it is neither so, nor fo; the wrath of God, the worm of conscience, are much more bitter than death.
The pains of death are natural and bodily pains : The wrath of God and anguish of conscience are spiritual and inward : Those are but the pains of a few hours or days, these are the unrelieved torments of eternity.
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And as for annihilation, what a favourwould the damned account it! Indeed if we respect the glory of God'sjustice, which is exemplified and illustrated in the ruin of thete mise rable fouls, it is better they should abide as the eternal monuments thereof, than not to be at all; but with respect to themselves we may fay, as Chriftdoth of the son ofperdition, Mat. xxvi . 24. " Good had it been for them if they had never been
" born ."
For a man's foul to be of no other use than a vessel of wrath, to receive the indignation, and be filled with the fury of God; surely an untimely birth, that never was animated with a reasonable foul, is better than they: For alas ! they seek for death, but it flies from them. The immortality of their souls, which was their dignity and privilege above other creatures, is,now their misery, and that which continually feeds and perpetuates their flame.
Here is a being without the comfort of it, a being only to howl and tremble under divine wrath, a being therefore which they would gladly exchange with the contemptibleft fly, or most lothfome toad, but it cannot be exchanged, or annihilated.
Infer. 2. Hence it follows, that the pleasures off in are dear bought, and cofily pleasures.
There is a greater difproportion betwixt thatpleature and this wrath, than betwixt a drop of honey and a sea of gall. Could a man distil all the imaginary pleasure of fin, anddrinknothing else but the highest and most refined delights of it all his life, though his life should be protracted to the term of Methuselah's; yet one day, or night, under the wrath of God would make it a dear bargain.
But, 1. 'Tis certain finhathnofuch pleasures to give you: They are embittered either by adverse strokes of providence from without, or painful and dreadful gripes and twinges of confci ence, within; Jobxx. 14. " His meat in his bowels is turned,
"it is the gall of afps within him. "
2. 'Tis as certain, the time ofa sinner is near its period when he is at the height of his pleasure in fin : For look, as high delights inGodspeak the maturity of a soul for heaven,. and it will not be long before such be in heaven; so the heights of delight in fin, answerably speak the maturity offuch a soul for hell, and it will not be long e'er it be there.
Sin is now a big embryo, and speedily the soul travails with death.
3. According to the measure of delights men have had in fin, will be the degrees and measures of their torments in hell,
Rev. xviii. 7. fo much torment and sorrow, as there was delight, and pleasure in fin.
4. To conclude, " the pleasures of fin are but for a season,
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as you read, Heb. xi. 25. but the wrath of God in hell is for everandever. There is a time when the pleasures of fin canpotbe called pleasures to come, but the wrath of God that will still be wrath to come. Oh! confider for what a trifle you fell your souls.
When Lyfimachus parted with his kingdom for adraught of water, he said when he had drank it, For how
Short a pleasure have If old a kingdom! And Jonathan lamented, 1 Sam. xiv. 43. " Italled but a little honey, and I must die."
Satan would not charm so powerfully as he doth with the pleasures off in, if this point were well believed, and heartily applied.
In'er. 3. What a matchless madness is it to castthefoul into God'sprijon, to save the body out of man'sprison!
Men have their prisons, and God hath his: But because the one is an object of sense, and the other an object of faith, that only is feared, and this flightedall over this unbelieving world ; except by a very small number of men, who tremble at the word of God. Now this I say is the height of madness, and will appear to be so in a just collation of both in a few particuculars.
(1.) Man's prison restrains the body only, God's prison foul and body, Mat. x. 28.
The spirits of men (as my text speaks) are the prisoners there. Oh! what a vast odds doth this single difference make ! A thousand times more than the captivating and binding of the greatest king or emperor differs from the imprisonment of a poor mechanic or vagrant beggar. (2.) In man's prison there are many comforts and unSpeakable refreshments from heaven, but in God's prison none, but the direct contrary. You read of the apostles, Acts xvi.
25 how they sang in the prison: The SpiritofGod made them a banquet of heavenly joys, and they could not but sing at it :
Though their feet were in the stocks, their spirits were never more at liberty.
Algerius dated his letters from the delectable orchard of the Leonineprison; where, faith he,flows thefweateft nectar.
Another tells us, Christ was always kind to him ; but since he became a prisoner for him, he even overcame himself in kindness.
I verily think (faith he) the chains of my Lord are all overlaid with pure gold, and his cross perfumed.
But the worst terrors of the prisoners in hell come from the presence of the Lord, 2 Thef. i. 9. " God is a terror to them."
(3 ) The cause for which a man is cast into prison by men, may be his duty, and so his conscience inust be at least quiet, if not joyful in such sufferings. So was it with Paul, Acts xxviii. 20. " For the hope of Israel am I bound with this
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"chain: " This diffuses joy and peace through the conscience into the whole man.
But the caute for which men are cast into God's prison, is their fin and guilt, which arms their own consciences against them, and makes them, as you heard before, self-tormentors, terrors to themselves. What odds is here ! (4.)
In man's prison the most excellent company and sweet society may be found.
Paul and Silas were fellow prisoners. In queen Mary's days the most excellent company to be found in England was in the prisons : Prisons were turned into churches.
But in God's prison no better society is to be found than that of devils and damned reprobates, Mat. xxv. 41.
(5.) In man's prisons there is hope ofa comfortable deliverance, but in God's prifonnone: Mat. v. 26. " Thou shalt not come out thence
" till thou hast paid the last mite." 'Tis an everlasting prison.
Compare these few obvious particulars, and judge then what is to be thought of that man, who stands readier to cast himself into any guilt, than into the least suffering.
What is it but as if am an should offer his neck to the sword, to save his hand?
The Lord convince us what trifles our estates, liberties, and lives are to our souls, or to the peace and purity of our consciences.
Infer. 4. What an invaluable mercy is the pardon of fin, whichfets the soul out of all danger of going into this prison!
When the debt is satisfied, amanmaywalk as boldly before
the prifondoor as he doth before his own : They that owe nothing, fear no bailiffs.
'Tis the law (as I said before) that commits men to prison, a mittimus is but an instrument of law; but the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them that believe, Rom. viii. 4. Yea, they are made the righteousness of God in bım, 2 Cor. v. 21. There can be no process of law against them.
For who shall condemn when it is God thatjustifieth? Rom. viii. 33, 34. And that Divine justice might be no bar to our faith and comfort, he adds, It is Christ that died; and yet farther, to assure us that his death had made plenary satisfaction to God for all our sins and debts, it is added, yea, rather, that is risen again : q.d. If the debts of believers to Godwerenot fully paid and fatisfiedfor by thebloodofChrist, how comes it to pass that our surety is discharged, as by his resurrection he appears to be ! Oh believer ! thy bonds are can cell'd, the hand-writing that was against thee is nailed to the cross, the bloodofChrist hath done that for thee that all the gold and filverinthe world could not do, I Pet. i. 18, 19. " It is a * coun
*Αντίλυθρον eft pretium ex adverfo refpondens.
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" terprice fully answering to thy debts," Mat. xx. 28.
And hence, to the eternaljoyof thy heart, result three properties of thy pardon, which are able to make thine eyes guth out with tearsofjoy whilst thou art reading of it.
1. It is a free pardon to thy soul, though it cost Christ dear, its costs thee nothing. We have redemption,even" the remif- " fion of fins, according to the riches of his grace," Eph. i. 7.
The project of it was God's, not thine; the price for it was Christ's blood, not thine; the glory and riches of free grace are illustriously displayed in thy forgivenness.
2. It is as full as it is free ; a complete and perfect cause produceth a complete and perfect effect, Acts xiii. 39. " Justified
" from all things."
Whatever thy fins be for nature, number, or circumstances of aggravations, they cannot exceed the value ofthemeritoriouscauseofremiffion. ThebloodofChrift cleanfeth us from all fin.
3. It must be as firm as it is free and full, even an irrevocable pardon for evermore.
Christ did notshedhisblood at a hazard ; thewayofjustificationby faith, makes the promise sure, Rom. iv. 16. The Justified shall never come again under condemnation. Oh the unspeakable joy that flows from this spring ! Oh the triumphsoffaith upon this foundation !
Is it not ravishing, melting, overwhelming, and amazing, to think thus with thyself! Here sit I with a joyful, plenary, free pardon of fin in my hand, whilst many, who never finned to that height and degree I have, lie groaning, howhng, sweating, and trembling under the indignation of God, poured out like fire upon their souls in hell. A greater sinner saved, and lesser damned.
Ohhow unspeakably sweet is that rest into which my terrified and disquieted foul is come by faith ! Rom. v. 1. Heb. iv.
3- "We which have believed, do enter into rest."
Oh blessed calm after a dreadful tempest ! This poor breast of mine was lately panting, sweating,tremblingunderthehorrorsofwrath to come, terrified with the visions of hell. No other found was in mine ears, but that of fiery indignation todevourtheadversaries .
Oh what price can be put upon my quietus eft ! What value upon a pardon, delivered as it were at the ladder's foot! Oh precious hand of faith that receives it! But oh the most preciousbloodof Christ which purchased it ! IfSatannow come with his accusations, the law with its comminations, death with its dreadful summons, I have in a readiness to answer them all.
Here is the law, the wrath of God, and everlasting burnings, the just demerit off in uponone side, and a poor sinful creature on the other: But the covenantofgracehath solved all. Anast
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. of oblivion is past in heaven, " Iwillforgivetheiriniquities,and " their fins and transgressions will I remember no more."
In this act of grace my foulisincluded; I am in Christ, and there is no condemnation.
Die I must, but damned I shall not be:
My debts are paid, my bonds are cancelled, my conscience is quieted: let death do its worst, it thalldo me no harm; that blood which fatisfiedGod, may well satisfy me.
Infer.
5. How amazingly fad and deplorable is the security, andftilness of the consciences offinners, under all their own guilt, and the immediate danger of God's everlasting wrath!
Philosophers observe that before an earth-quake the wind lies, and the weather is exceeding calm and still, not a breath of wind going. So it is in the consciences of many, just before the tempest and storm of God's wrath pours down upon them.
What a golden morning opened upon Sodom, and began that fatal day ! Little did they imagine showers of fire had been ready to fall from so pleasant and serene a sky as theyfaw over their heads. How secure, still, and unconcerned are those today, who it may be shall rage, roar, and tremble in hell to morrow! Caesar hearing of a citizen of Rome who was deep in debt, andyetslept soundly, would needs have his pillow, as supposing there was some strange, charming virtue in it,
It is wonderful to confiderwhat shiftmenmake to keep their consciences in that stilness and quiet they do, under such loads of guilt, and threatnings of wrath, ready to be executed upon them.
It must be strong opium that so stupifies and benumbs their consciences; and upon inquiry into the matter we shall find it to be the effect of, 1. A trong delusion of Sat an.
2. A spiritual judicial stroke of God.
1. This stilness of conscience,upon the brink of damnation, proceeds from the strong delusions of Satan ; blinding their eyes: and feeding their false hopes: He removes the evil day at many years imaginary distance from them, and interposeth many a fair day betwixt them and it, and in that interposed season, time enough to prepare for it; without such an artifice as this, his house would be in an uproar,but this keeps all in peace, Lukexi. 21. " Byprefuminghe feeds their hopes, and by their hopes destroys their souls *."
Some he diverts from all serious thoughts of this day by the pleasures, and others by the cares of this life : and to that day cometh upon them uns awares, Luke xxi. 34.
Prafumendosperans,etsperandopercunt.
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2. This stilness of conscience, in so miserable and dangerous a state, is the effect of a spiritual, judiciat stroke of God. upon the children of wrath.
That's a dreadful word, Ifa. vi.
10. "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes:" The eye and ear are the two principal doors or inlets to the heart; when these are shut, the heartmustneedsbe insensible, as the † fatofthebody is. There isa spirit of a deep sleep poured outjudicially upon somemen,
Na. xxix. 10. such as that uponAdam when God took a rib from his side, and he felt it not: But this is upon the soul, and is the fame as togiveupaman to are probate lenfe.
Infer. 6. The case of distressed consciences upon earth, is exreeding fad, and calls upon all for the tenderest pity, and utmost helpfrommen.
You see the labourings of conscience, under the sense of guilt and wrath, is a special part of the torments of hell ; of which there is not a livelier emblem or picture, thanthediftresses of consciences in this world.
It must be thankfully confeffedthere are twogreatdifferences betwixt the terrors ofconfciencehere, and there: One, in the degrees of anguish, the other, in the reliefs of that anguish.
The ordinary distresses ofconfciencehere, compared with those of the damned, are as the flame ofa candle to a fiery oven, a mildandgentle fire; or as the sparks that fly out of the top of a chimney, to the dreadful eruptions ofVesuvius, ormountErna.
Besides, these are capable of relief, but those are unrelievable :
Theirheartsdie, because their hope is perished from the Lord.
But yet of all the miseries and distresses incident to men in this world, none like those of distressed consciences; the terrors of God set themselves in array, or are drawn up in battalia against the soul, Job vi. 4. "Whilst I faffer thy terrors (faith
"Heman) I am distracted," Psal. Ixxxviii. 15. Yea, they not only distract, but cut off the spirit, ashe adds, ver. 16. They lick up the very spirit of am an, andnonecan bear them, Prov. xviii. 14. for now a man hath to do immediately with God; yea, with the wrath of the great and dreadful God: And this wrath, which is the most acute and sharp of all torments, falls uponthemost tender and sensible part, the spirit and mind which now lies open and naked before him to be wounded by it. No creature can administer the least relief, by the application of any temporal comfort or refreshment to it. Gold and silver, wife
† Naturalists agree that fat not only makes animals unruly, but also, is void offenfation.
Gluff.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. and children, meat and melody, signify no more thanthedrawing off a silk stocking to cure theparoxysms ofthegout.
All that can be done for their relief, is by seasonable, judicious, and tender applications of spiritual remedies : And what canbedone,ought to be done for them. What heart canheara voice like that of Job, " Have pity upon me, have pity upon me,
" O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me;" and not melt into compassion over them ? Is there a word of wisdom in thy heart, let thy tongue apply it to the relief of thy distressed brother : Whilst his heart meditates terror, let thine meditate hisfuccour.
It is not impossible but thou, who lendest a friendly hand to another, mayest, e'er long, need one thyself; and he that hath ever felt the terrors of the Almighty upon his soul, hath motive enough to draw forth the bowels of his pity to another in the like case.
Alas for poor distressed souls, who have either none about themthatunderstand, and are able and willing to speak a word in season to their weary fouls, or toomanyaboutthem toexasperate their sorrows, and persecute them whom God hath smitten.
You that have both ability and opportunity for it, are under the strongest engagements in the world to endeavour their relief with all faithfulness, seriousness, compassion, and constancy.
Did Christ shed his blood for the saving of fouls, and wilt not thou spend thy breath for them ? Shall any man that hath found mercy from God, shew none to his brother ? God forbid. A soul in hell is out of your reach ; but these that are in the suburbs of hell are not : The candle of intense sorrow is put to the thread of their miserable life; and should they be suffered to drop into hell, whilst you stand by as unconcerned spectators of such a tragedy, you will have little peace.
Your unmercifulness to their souls will be a wound to your own.
Infer. 7. Be hence informed of the evil that is in fin, be convinced of the evil that is in it, by the eternal misery that followeth it.
If hell be out of measure dreadful, then fin must be out of measure sinful : The torments of hell do not exceed the demerit of fin, though they exceed the understandings of men to conceive them. God will lay upon noman more than is right.
Sin is the founder of hell; all the miseries and torments there, are but the treasures of wrath which sinners, in all ages, have been treasuring up; and how dreadful soever it be, it is but the'Aντιμis in, the recompense which is meet, Rom. vi. 23.
" The wages of sin is death. "
We have flight thoughts of fin; Fools make a mock off in :
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But if the Lord by the convictionsofmens confciencesdidbut lead them thro' the chambers of death, andgivethem a fight of the wrath to come; could we but fee the piles that are made in hell(as the prophet calls them, Ifa. xxx. 53.) to maintain the flames of vengeance to eternity; could we but understand in what dialect the damned speak of fin, who see the treatures of wrath broken up to avenge it, surely it would alter our apprehenfionsof fin, and strike cold to the very hearts of sinners.
Cannot the extremity and eternityofhell-torments exceed the evil that is in fin? What words then can express the evil of it? Hell flames have the nature of a punishment, butnotofan atonement.
Oh think on this, you that look upon finasthe veriest trifle, that will fin for the value of a penny, that look upon on all the bumiliations, broken-hearted confessions, and bitter moans of the saints under fin, as frenzy, or melancholy, lighting them asacompanyofhalf-wittedhypochondriac persons ! Thou that neverhadft one sick night, or faddayin all thy life upon the account of fin, let me tell thee, that breast of thine must be the feat of for row; that frothy airy spiritofthine must be acquainted with emphatical fobs and groans. God grant it may be on this side hell, by effectual repentance; else it must be there, in the extremity and eternity offorrows, Jafer. 8. What enemies are they to the souls of men, who are
Satan's instruments, to draw them into fin, or whosufferfin to die upon them !
When there were but two persons in the world, one drew the other into fin; and among the millions of menandwomen now in the world, where are there two to be found that have innocafe been Inares to draw some into fin? Some tempt defignedly, taking the devil's work out of his hands; others virtuallyandconfequentially, by examples, which have a compelling power to draw others with them into fin.
The first fort are among the worst of sinners, Prov. i. 10. the latter are among the best of faints; fee Gal. ii. 14.whose conversation is fo much in heaven, that nothing falls out in the course thereof, which may not farther some or other in theirwaytohell?
Amongwickedmen, there are five forts eminently accessory to the guilt and ruin of other men's fouls. (1.) Looseprofeffors, whose lives give their lips the lie; whose conversations make their profeffionsblush. (2.)Scandalous apostates, whose fall is more prejudicial than their profession was ever beneficial to others. (3.) Cruel perfecutors, who make the lives, liber-
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(4.) Ignorant and unfaithful ministers, who strengthen the hands of the wicked, that they should not return from their wickedness.. (5.) Wicked relations, who quench and damp every hopeful beginning of conviction and affection in their friends.
Of all, which I shall distinctly speak in the next discourse, to which, therefore, I remit it at present.
Andmanythere are who suffer fin to lie upon others, without a wife and seasonable reproof to recover them.
Oh what cruelty to fouls is here ! The day is coming when they will curse the time that ever they knew you :
' Tis possible you may repent, but then, it may be, those, whose souls you have helped to ruin, are gone, and quite out of your reach.
The Lord make you sensible what you have done in season, left your repentance come too late for yourselves, and them also.
Infer. 9. How poor a comfort is it to him that carries all his fins out of this world with him, to leave much earthly treasure
(especially if gotten by fin) behind him ?
It is a poor consolation to be praised where thou art not, and tormented where thou art ; to purchase a life of pleasure to others on earth, at the price of thy own everlasting misery in hell.
All the consolation, sensual, voluptuous, and oppressing worldlings have, is but this, that they were coached to hell in pomp and state, and have left the same chariot to bring their graceless children after them, in the fame equipage, to the place of torments.
There be five considerations provoking pity to them that are thus past into a miserable eternity, and caution
•to all that are following after, in the fame path.
First, That fatal mistake in the practical understanding and judgment of men deserves a compassionate lamentation, as the cause and reason of their eternal miscarriage and ruin.
They looked upon trifles as things of greatest necessity, and the most •necessary things as mere trifles; putting the greatest weight and value upon that which little concerned them, and none at all upon their greatest concernment in the whole world, Luke xii . 21.
Secondly, The perpetual diversions that the trifles of this world gave them from the main use and end of their time. O what a hurry and thick succession of earthly business andencumbrances filled up their days ! So that they could find no
+Quidprodeft effe, quod esse non prodeft : Tertull.
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time togo alone, and think of the awful and weighty concernments of the world to come, James v. 5 .
Thirdly, The total waste and expence of the only season of salvation, about these vanishing, impertinent trifles, which is never more to be recovered, Ecclef. ix. 10.
Fourthly, That these deluding shadows, the pleasures of a moment, is all they had in exchange for their souls, a goodly price it was valued at, Mat. xvi . 26. i Fifthly, That by such a life they have not only ruined their own souls, but put their posterity, by their education of them
: in the fame course of life, into the same path of destruction, in which they went to hell before them.
Psal. xlix. 13. " Their posterity approve their saying."
Infer. 10. How rationalandcommendable is the courage and resolution of those Christians, who chuse to bear all thefufferings in this world from the hands of men, rather than to defile and wound their consciences withfin, and thereby expose theirfouls to the wrath of God for ever!
That which men now call pride, humour, fancy, and stubbornness, will, one day, appear to be their great wisdom, and the excellency of their spirits.
It is the tenderness of their consciences, not the pride and stoutness of their stomachs, which makes them inflexible to fin; they know the terrors of a wounded conscience, and had rather endure any other trouble from the hands of men, than fall by known fin, into the hands of an : angry God.
Try them in other matters, wherein the glory of God, and the peace or purity of their consciences are not concerned, and fee if you can charge them with stubbornness and singularity. It was the excellency of the spirits of the primitive
Christians, that they durst tell the emperor, to his face, when he threatned them with torments ; " Pardon us, O emperor,
" thou threat nest us with a prison, but God with hell *." Do we call that ingenuity and good nature, which makes the mind softandtractable to temptations, and will rather venture upon guilt than be esteemed singular ?
+ Salvian tells us of some in his time, who were compel- " led to be evil, left they should be accounted vile." And was that their excellency ? May I not fitly apply the words of Salvian here : O in what honour and repute is Christ among Christians, when religion shall make them base and ignoble ! He
Eee 2 * Ignosce imperator, tu carcerem minaris, Deus gehennam.
†Mali effe coguntur, ne viles habeantur.
A Treatise of the Soul of Man. that understands what the punishment of fin will be in hell, should endure all things rather than yield to fin on earth.
Indeed, if you that threaten, and tempt others to violate their consciences, could bear the wrath of God for them in hell, it were somewhat; but we know there is no fufferingby aproxy there, they tremble at the word of God, and have felt the burden of guilt, and dare not yield to fin, tho' they yield their estates and bodies to prevent it.
Infer. 11. Howpatientlyshouldwe bear the afflictions of this life, bywhichfin is prevented and purged?
The discipline of our spirits belongs to God the Father of Spirits; he corrects us here,that we may not be punished hereafter,
1 Cor. xi. 32. " We are chastened of the Lord, that we ४८may not becondemnedwiththe world."
It is better for us to groan under afflictions on earth, than to rear under revengingwrath in hell.
Parents who are wife, as well as tender, had rather hear their children fob and cry under the rod, than stand with halters about their necks on the ladder, bewailing thedeAructive indulgence of their parents.
Your chastisements, when sanctified, are preventive of all the misery opened before.
It is therefore as unreasonable to murmur against God, because you smart under his rod, as it would be to accuse your dearest friendofcruelty, because he strained your arm to snatch you from the fall ofa house, or wall, which he saw ready to crush and overwhelm you in its ruins.
If we had less affliction, we should have more guilt. We fee howapt we are to break over the hedge, andgo astray from God, with all the clogs of afflictions designed for our restraint; what should we do ifwehadno clogat all; It is better for you to be whipped to heaven with all the rods of affliction, than coached to hell with all the pleasures of the world.
Christian, thy God sees, if thou do not, that all these trou. bles are few enough to save thee from finand hell.
Thy corruptions require all these, and all little enough. " If need be, " ye are in heaviness," 1 Pet. i. 6.
If there be need for it, thy dearest comforts on earth shall die, that thy soul may live; but if thy mortification to them render thy removal needless, thou and they shall live together. 'Tis better to be preserved inbrine, than rot in honey.
Sanctified afflictions, workingunderthe efficacy of the blood of Christ, are the safest way to our souls.
Infer. 12. Howdoleful a change doth the death of wicked men make upon them! from palaces on earth, to the prison of hell.
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No fooneris the soul ofawickedman stepped out of his own door at death, but the serjeants of hell are immediately upon it, serving the dreadful summons on the law-condemned wretch.
This arrest terrifies it more than the hand-writing upon the plaister of the wall did him, Dan. v. 5. How are all am an's apprehenfions changed in a moment ! Out of what a deep sleep are most, and out of what a pleasant dream of heaven are some awakedand startledatdeath,by the dreadful arrest and summons of God to condemnation.
Howquicklywould all as inner's mirth bedamped, and turned intohowhngs in this world, ifconfcience were but throughly awakened ! It is but for God to change our apprehenfions now, and it wouldbedone ina moment: but the eyes of most mens foulsare not opened till death hath shut theirbodilyeyes ; and then how sudden, and how sad a change is made in one day!Othink what it is to pass from all the pleasures and delights of this world into the torments and miseries of that world; from a pleasant habitation, into an infernal prison; from the depth of security, to the extremity of desperation ; from the arms and bosoms of dearest friends and relations, to the society of damned spirits ! Lord, what a change is here; had a gracious change been made upontheirheartsby grace, no suchdoleful change could have been made upon their state by death : little do their surviving friends think what they feel, or what is their estate in the other world, whilst theyarehonouringtheir bodies with splendid and pompous funerals. None on earth have fo much reason to fear death, to make much of life, and use all means to continue it, as those who will, and must, be so great losers by the exchange.
Infer. 13. See here the certainty, and inevitableness of the Judgment of thegreatday.
This priton, which is continually filling with the spirits of wickedmen, is an undeniable evidence of it: for why is hell called a prison, and why are the spirits of men confined and chained there, but with respect to thejudgmentofthegreatday?
As there is a necessary connection betwixt fin aud punishment, so betwixt punishing and trying the offender; there are millions offouls in custody, a world of spirits in prison ; these must bebroughtforth to their trial, for God will lay upon noman more than is right; the legality of their mittimus to hell, will be evidenced in their folemaday of trial. God hath therefore
" appointedaday in which he will judge the world in righteous- !"pels,by that manwhomhehath ordained," Acts xvii . 31 .
A Treatise of the Soul of Man.
Here sinners run in arrears, and contract vast debts; in hell they are seized and committed, at judgment tried and catt for the fame.
This will be a dreadful day, those that have spent fo prodigally upon the patience of God, must now come to a severe account for all; they have past their particular judgment immediately after death, Eccl. xii. 7. Heb. ix. 27. By this they know how they shall speed in the general judgment, and how it shall be with them for ever, but tho' this private judgment secures their damnation sufficiently, yet it clears not the justice of God before angels and men sufficiently, and therefore they must appear once more before his bar, 2 Cor. v. 10. In the fearful expectation of this day, those trembling spirits now lie in prison, and that fearful expectation is a principal part of their present misery and torment. You that refuse to come to the throne of grace, fee if you can refuse to make your appearance at the bar of justice ; you that braved and brow-beat your ministers that warned you of it, fee if you can out-brave your judge too as you did them.
Nothing more sure or awful than such a day as this.
Infer.
14. How much are ministers, parents, and all to whom the charge of fouls is committed, bound to do all that in them lies, to prevent their everlasting misery in the world to come!
The great apostle of the Gentiles found the consideration of the terror of the Lord, as a spur urging, and enforcing him to a ministerial faithfulness and diligence ; 2 Cor. v. II . "Know- "
ingtherefore the terrors of the Lord,weperfuade men." And the fame he presseth upon Timothy, 2 Tim. iv. 1 , 2. " I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who " shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom; preach the word ; be instant in season and out of " season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and " doctrine." Oh that those to whom so great a trust as the souls of mentis committed, would labour to acquit themselves with all faithfulness therein, as Paul did, warning every one night and day with tears, that if we cannot prevent their ruin, which is most desirable; yet at least we may be able to take
God to witness, as he did, that we are pure from the blood of allmen.
Oh ! confider, my brethren, if your faithful plainness, and unwearied diligence to fave men's fouls produce no other fruit but the hatred of you now; yet it is much easier for you to bear that, than that theyandyou too should bear the wrath of
God for ever.