Luke iii. 17.

8.

II.

vii. 15.

is by extinguishing, and that which cannot be extinguished can never end: but fuch is the fire which fhall torment the reprobate; for he, whofe fan is in Mat.iii. 12. his hand, shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire; and hath taught us before, that it is better to enter Mat. xviii. into life balt or maimed, rather than having two hands or Mark ix. two feet to be caft into everlasting fire, to go into hell, into 43, 44, 45, the fire that never fhall be quenched; and hath farther 46. yet explained himself by that unquestionable addition, and undeniable description of the place of torments, Where the worm dieth not, (b) and the fire is not quenched. And that we may yet be further affured that this fire shall be never extinguished, we read that the fmoak of their torment afcendeth up for ever and Rev. xiv. ever, (c) and that those which are caft into the lake of Rev. xx. fire and brimstone, shall be tormented day and night, for 10. ever and ever, which expreffion of day and night is the fame with that which declared the eternal happiness in the Heavens, where they reft not day and Rev.iv. 8. night, faying, Holy, holy, holy: where they are before the throne of God, and ferve him day and night in his temple. If then the fire, in which the reprobates are to be tormented, be everlafting, if fo abfolutely everlasting that it shall never be quenched, if fo certainly never to be quenched that the fmoak thereof fhall afcend for ever and ever, if those which are caft into it fhall be tormented for ever and ever (all which the Scriptures expressly teach), then shall the wicked never be fo confumed as to be annihilated, but shall subsist for ever, and be co-eternal to the tormenting flames. And fo this language of the Scriptures proves not only an effect eternal, as annihilation may be conceived, but an eternal efficient never ceafing to produce the fame effect, which cannot be annihilation, but cruciation only. And therefore the fire which confumed Sodom and Gomorrha, bears no proportion with the flames of Hell: because all men know that fire is extinguished, nor doth the fmoak thereof afcend for ever and ever. Q q Neither

VOL. I.

Rev. xx.

14, 15.

II.

Neither doth this only prove the eternity of infernal pains, but clearly refute the only material argument brought against it, which is laid upon this ground, that the wicked after the refurrection shall be punished with death, and that a fecond death; and fo they fhall be no more, nor can in any sense be faid to live or fubfift. For, the enduring of this fire is that very death, and they are therefore faid to die the second death, because they endure eternal torRev. ii. ments. He that overcometh, fhall not be hurt of the fecond death; it feems that they which shall die that death fhall be hurt by it; whereas if it were annihilation, and so a conclufion of their torments, it would be no way hurtful or injurious, but highly beneficial to them. But the living torments are the fecond death. For Death and Hell were caft into the lake of fire, that is the fecond death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was caft into the lake of fire, this is the fecond death. The Jews before our Saviour's time believed there was a fecond death, and though it were not expreffed in the oracles themfelves which were committed to them, yet in the received (d) expofition of them it was often mentioned, and that as the punishment of the wicked in the life to come; and what this punishment shall be, was in thefe words revealed to St. John; Rev. xxi. 8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and forcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, fhall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimftone, which is the fecond death. Now if the part in the lake be the fecond death, if that part be a perpetual permanfion in torment, as before it is proved, then to fay that the wicked fhall die the fecond death is not a confutation of their eternal being in mifery, but an affertion of it, because it is the fame thing with everlasting torments, but delivered in other terms.

And if the pretence of death will not prove an annihilation, or infer a conclufion of torment, much

lefs

Perii.

8, 9.

lefs will the bare phrases of perdition and deftruction; for we may as well conclude that whofoever fays he is undone, intends thereby that he fhall be no more. " Beside, the eternity of deftruction in the language of Scripture fignifies a perpetual perpeffion, and duration in mifery. For when Chrift fhall come to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the 2 Theff. i, gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift, they shall be punished with everlasting deftruction from the prefence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Wherefore I conclude, that the wicked fhall rife to everlasting punishment, continuing both in the foul and body under the wrath of God and the torments proceeding from it, never to be quitted of them by annihilation; which is our firft affertion, against the covert (e) doctrine of the Socinians.

The fecond affertion teacheth us, that as the reprobates fhall never fail to endure the torments due unto their fins, fo the juftice of God will never fail to inflict those torments for their fins. They fhall never live to pay the uttermoft farthing, they fhall never come to the days of refreshment who are caft into perpetual burnings. One part of their mifery is the horror of defpair; and it were not perfect Hell, if any hope could lodge in it. The favour of God is not to be obtained where there is no means left to obtain it; but in the world to come there is no place for faith, nor virtue in repentance. If there be now fuch a vast distance between the tormenting flames and Abraham's bofom, that none could pafs from one to the other, what impoffibility muft there be when the final fentence is past upon all? As certainly as no perfon once received into the heavenly manfions shall ever be caft into outer darknefs, fo certainly none which is once caft into the fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels fhall ever enter into their Master's joy. As the tree falleth, fo it lieth: there is no change to be wrought in man within thofe flames, no purgation of his fin, no fanctification of his nature,

no juftification of his perfon, and therefore no falvation of him. Without the mediation of Christ no man shall ever enter into Heaven, and when he hath 1 Cor. xv. delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, then fhall the office of the Mediator cease.

24.

So groundless was the opinion of Origen, who conceived that after fome number of years the damned should be released from their torments, and made partakers of the joys of heaven, or at least try their fortunes in fuch regions of the world as he conceived should be reserved for their habitation. For he may as well imagine that Chrift fhall be born and die Rom. vi. 9. again, (who being rifen, dieth no more) as that any perfon being condemned to the flames for contemning of his death, should ever come to live again, and by believing in the death of Chrift to be after faved. For certainly their condition is unalterable, their condemnation is irreverfible, their torments inevitable, their miseries eternal. As they shall not be taken from their punishment by annihilation of themselves, which is our firft, fo the punishment shall not be taken off them by any compaffion upon them, which is our fecond affertion,

To conclude this branch of the Article, I conceive these certain and infallible doctrines in Chriftianity: That the wicked after this life fhall be punished for their fins, fo that in their punishment there fhall be a demonstration of the juftice of God revealed against all unrighteoufnefs of men. That to this end they fhall be raised again to life, and fhall be judged and condemned by Chrift, and delivered up under the curse, to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels. That the punishment which fhall be inflicted on them fhall be proportionate to their fins, as a recompence of their demerits, fo that no man fhall fuffer more than he hath deferved. That they fhall be tormented with a pain of lofs, the lofs from God, from whose presence they are caft out, the pain from themselves, in a defpair of enjoying him, and regret

for

for lofing him. That they farther fhall be tormented with the pain of fenfe inflicted on them by the wrath of God which abideth upon them, reprefented unto us by a lake of fire. That their perfons fhall continue for ever in this remedilefs condition, under an everlasting pain of lofs, because there is no hope of Heaven, under an eternal pain of sense, because there is no means to appeafe the wrath of God which abideth on them. Thus the Athanafian Creed, They that have done good fhall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlafling fire.

The next relation of this Article to the former is in reference to the refurrection of the just; and then the life everlasting is not to be taken (f) in a vulgar and ordinary fenfe, but raised to the conftant language of the Scriptures, in which it fignifieth all which God hath promifed, which Chrift hath purchased, and with which man shall be rewarded in the world to come.

Now this life eternal may be looked upon under three confiderations; as initial, as partial, and as perfectional. I call that eternal Life initial, which is obtained in this life, and is as it were an earnest of that which is to follow of which our Saviour spake, He John v. 24. that heareth my word, and believeth on him that fent me, bath everlasting life, and fhall not come into condemnation ; but is paffed from death unto life. I call that partial, which belongeth, though to the nobler, yet but a part of man, that is, the foul of the juft feparated from the body. I difpute not whether the joys be partial as to the foul, I am fure they are but partial as to the man. For that life confifteth in the happiness which is conferred on the foul departed in the fear, and admitted to the prefence of God. St. Paul had a defire to depart and to be with Chrift; he was willing Phil. i. 23. rather to travel and be abfent from the body, and to be prefent and at home with the Lord. And certainly 2 Cor. v. 8. where St. Paul defired to be when he departed, there

he then was, and there now is, and that not alone,

Q93

but