Samuel Richardson – The Doctrine of Eternal Hell Torments Overthrown (1833 orig. 1658)
THE
DOCTRINE
OF
ETERNAL HELL TORMENTS
OVERTHROWN.
[by Samuel Richardson]
BOSTON:
Published at the Trumpet Office.
1833.
——-
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by
THOMAS WHITTEMORE,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
——-
BOSTON:
JAMES B. DOW, PRINTER,
122 WASHINGTON-ST.
——-
[Originally Published in 1658.]
THE
TORMENTS OF HELL,
THE
FOUNDATION AND PILLARS THEREOF, SEARCHED, DISCOVERED, SHAKEN AND REMOVED.
TOGETHER WITH
INFALLIBLE PROOFS THAT THERE IS NOT TO BE
A PUNISHMENT AFTER THIS LIFE FOR ANY
TO ENDURE THAT SHALL NEVER END.
TORMENTS OF HELL.
[9] CHAPTER I.
SECTION I. Of Christ’s descending into Hell.
SOME of the learned say, Christ descended into hell, and for proof allege Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:27. Dr. Willet says, that those words of Christ (descended into hell) are not found in the most ancient creeds. Dr. William Whitaker says, I could produce fifty of the most ancient creeds that have not these words, (descended into hell,) in his answer to Campion, p. 215. Mr. William Perkins on the creed saith, It seems likely that these words (he descended into hell) were not placed in the creed at first, and that they crept in by negligence; for above threescore creeds of the most ancient Councils and Fathers want this clause, (he descended into hell) among the rest it is not found in the Nicene creed, nor found in the Romish Church, nor used in the church of the East.
Also some of the learned say, Christ descended not into hell, yet it is an article of their faith: but if you say he did not descend into hell, they will [10] say you deny the faith, and are a heretic and a blasphemer; and you may be glad you can escape so. They themselves interpret hell otherwise than for a place of torments never to end. Mr. Bucer saith, Christ descending into hell, is to be understood of his burial. Mr. Calvin saith, Hell is the sorrow of mind Christ was in before his death. Why hast thou forsaken me? is God’s hiding his face, when Christ was on the cross, saith Dr. Whitaker against Campion, p. 211. For upon the cross he said, It is finished, John 19:30; therefore his suffering was at an end. Some of the Papists confess Christ suffered not after his death: Luke 22:42,44. Ursinus Catechis, p. 350. Mr. Perkins saith, hell is the inward sufferings of Christ on the cross. Bernard makes the grief of Christ’s soul his hell.
Dr. Ames, in his Marrow of Divinity, p. 65, saith, that of the place of hell, and manner of torture there, the scripture hath not pronounced anything distinctly. If so, then the word of God saith not anything at all of them: for that which the Scripture speaks, it speaks distinctly, else it could not have been read distinctly, Nehem. 8:8. That which is spoken expressly is spoken distinctly: the spirit speaks expressly. 1 Tim. 4:1,3. The word of the Lord came expressly, Ezek. 1:3. That which is not spoken distinctly, cannot be understood, as appears, Cor. 14:2,17.
Dr. Fulke saith plainly, that neither in the Hebrew, Greek, nor Latin, is there a word proper for hell, (as we take hell for the place of punishment of the ungodly.) Fulke’s Defence Translation, pp. 13, [11] 87,89. Is not this a full testimony against their opinion of the torments of hell? For if it be not to be read in the word of God, what have we to do with it? We are not to believe anything in religion, unless it be written. How readest thou? saith Christ. Revealed things belong to us, Deut. 29:29. As it is written, I believed, 2 Cor. 4:13. They confess it is not written: then sure I am it is not to be by any affirmed nor believed. Meddle not with things not revealed; they are but groundless conceits, fables, and traditions of men.
The word hell is not in the Hebrew and Greek Bible; for the word in the Hebrew, for which the English word hell is put, is sheol; the proper signification of sheol is the grave, as all that be learned in the Hebrew do know. Sheol hath its signification of shaal, to crave or require: therefore it is one of the four that is never satisfied. Prov. 30:15-16. We learn the propriety of the Hebrew word from the learned Rabbies, saith Dr. Fulke, Def. trans. Bibl. p. 90. The Hebrew Doctors and Jewish Rabbies are for signification of words faithful interpreters; they say, sheol is the grave. Rabbi Levi, according to the opinion of the learned, expounds sheol to be the lowest region of the world, opposite to heaven. If I descend into sheol, thou art present. So R. Abraham on Jonah 2. And David Chimchi, and R. Solomon, read Psalm 9:16-17. Let the wicked be turned into sheol: that is, death’s estate or deadly bed. Jonah calls the belly of the whale sheol, Jon. 2:2-3. Rabbi Solomon Jarchi, on Gen. 37:35, saith, that the true and proper interpretation of [12] sheol is keber, which is the grave. The hoar head is said to go down to sheol, Gen. 42:38. In Numb. 16:33, it is said, they, their substance, and cattle, went alive to sheolah; that is, the pit, or grave. Our bones are scattered at the very brink or mouth of sheol, Psal. 141:7. Jacob saith, I will go down to my son Joseph to sheol, Gen. 37:35. The Protestant writers say sheol properly signifies the grave; Dr. Fulke’s Answer to the Preface Rhemist, p. 22. So also in his Defence, p. 91. Mr. Beza saith, that sheol properly signifies nothing but the grave, or pit. Fulke saith, the best of the Hebrews that either interpreted Scripture, or made dictionaries, Jews or Christians, say sheol properly signifies the grave, p. 89; and that deliverance from the lowest hell, is deliverance from the greatest danger of death; so Fulke’s Answ. Rhemist, pp. 13,39,135; and so the late Annotation of the Bible interprets it. And Augustine on Psalm 86:13, for lowest hell reads lowest grave; and so Dr. Willet, Synop. p. 1049.
The Chaldee Paraphrast retaineth the word sheol, and translates it, the house of the grave, pp. 11,15. They interpret sheol, keburata, the grave: Job 21:13. Beith keburata, the house of the grave, pp. 17,12. Rabbi Abraham Peristsol joins sheol and keber together, both signifying the grave; and so doth Dr. Fulke in his Defence, p. 91. And so Mr. Cartwright on Acts 2:27. Mr. Cradock saith, hell is not mentioned in the Old Testament, except as it is taken for the grave, in his Good News, p. 43.
Sheol enforces not any place of punishment, because it signifies not any place of punishment; so [13] says Dr. Willet, Synop. p. 1055. Also he saith the word sheol cannot be translated, except for the grave. There are four words in the Psalms expressing the same thing in effect that sheol doth, yet none of them applicable to signify any place of torment; the first is shacath, fovea, the pit, Psalm 30:9; the second is bhor, the lake; the third is keber, the grave; both these words used for the same thing, Psalm 88:3. The word is sheol, ver. 45, the other word used as expressing the former: and all these three do contain a description of death and the grave. The fourth is tehemoth, abyssus terrœ: Thou wilt take me from the depths of the earth, Psalm 71:20. In all which there is no mention of a place of torment. Willet Synop. p. 1050.
The Greek translates sheol into haden or hades of Adam, because Adam tasted death, and went to the grave, Gen. 3:19. The gates of sheol is death; sheol and hades are said to have gates, Isaiah 38:10; Psalm 9:13; Mat. 16:18.
The Septuagint express a place generally to receive the dead; the word used in the Greek instead of the Hebrew word sheol, signifies a dark place, such as the grave or pit in which the dead are laid. Dr. Fulke saith, some take the Greek word for hell, but it signifies the grave; hell it cannot signify when used by those that believe no hell. The Greeks say plainly that their souls shall vanish like light smoke, or light air; Fulke’s Def. p. 92. Also he saith, if the Greek and Latin interpreters had before us translated amiss, must we (knowing the true signification of the word) follow them?
[14] The word hell is not in the Greek; the Greek word for which they put the English word hell, is gehenna; ge in the Greek is the earth, or ground, and henna is borrowed from the Hebrew, from the valley of Hinnom. Dr. Lightfoot, in his epistle prefixed to his Harmony, saith, It is well known the judgment of gehenna is taken from the valley of gehenna; Tophet or gehenna are names of the places of idolatry; there was the idol Moloch.
SECTION II. Of Hell-fire, Mat. 5:22, and the everlasting fire, and unquenchable fire, Mat. 25:41,46. Fear him that hath power to cast into hell, Luke 12:5. The damnation of hell, Mat. 23:33.
Mat. v. 22. The fire of gehenna, and the everlasting fire, &c. How the Jews understood them is evidently to be seen in their writings; they understood these expressions to signify the fire of the valley of Hinnom; so saith Dr. Lightfoot to the reader, in his Harmony: because of the law thou art delivered from the judgment of gehenna and Baal-Tur. Gem. i. 1.
The Protestant writers confess that Mat. 5:22, 25:41,46, Luke 12:5, are to be understood of the fire of the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is Tophet; so Mr. Cartwright, Dr. Fulke, Mr. Trap, and the late Annotations on the Bible, and others, for in danger of hell-fire &c. read, in danger of being burned in the valley of Hinnom, or Tophet; – the damnation of hell, gehenna; they interpret these places of the valley of Hinnom, or Tophet, which place was near to Jerusalem, where they of-[15]fered their children to Moloch, Josh. 15:8. King Josiah defiled Tophet, the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Moloch, 2 Kings 23:10. Josiah commanded all the carrion of the city of Jerusalem to be carried into that valley, and burned there, that the carrion might not annoy the city; thither, saith David Chimchi, were carried all the filth and unburied carcasses, to be burned. The Sanhedrim of the Jews, for some offences, sentenced the bodies of the offenders to lie unburied in that valley, to burn with the carrion cast there, which, among the Jews, was considered a great disgrace; and for offences most criminal, they burned the offenders alive in that valley. They placed the malefactor in a dunghill up to the knees, and put a towel about his neck, and one pulled it one way and one another way, till being strangled he was forced to open his mouth; then they poured scalding lead into his mouth, which went down into his body, and so burned his bowels; Talmud in Sanhedr. Per. 7. Mr. Cartwright saith, the Jews sent thither their guilty to be burned in that valley, and those they burned there they dealt with as guilty.
Observe the following reasons: First, it is confessed by all, that Christ speaks and alludes to the Jewish practice in their judicature; therefore the places abovesaid concern them. Secondly, the speech of Christ was to the Jews by birth and education; they wrote the New Testament, and though it be penned in Greek, it speaks the phrase of the Jewish nation. The apostle, preaching to the Jews, [16] used the word gehenna, James 3:6. Christ and his disciples used known terms, that they might the better be understood. Thirdly, because the Jews had not power to send them to the hell they speak of in the future world. Fourthly, because the last, only, of the three sins is said to be judged to the fire of gehenna, which if it were to be understood as some would have it, it will follow that some sins deserve not hell eternal, and shall not be punished there, which is contrary to themselves, who teach that the least sin deserves hell eternal. Fifthly, Mat. 5:22, shows the severity of the Jews and Pharisees in punishing anger without a cause. Racha is a word of disgrace, which signifies a crafty fellow, or wicked wretch. To apply it to any one was as great fault as to say fool, if not greater, yet it was punished less: Thus, he who was guilty of rash anger was in danger of the judgement; he who contemptuously said racha, was in danger of the council; but if he said fool, he was in danger of hell-fire, i.e. in the true sense, to burn in the valley of the son of Hinnom.
SECTION III. Of the word Everlasting.
1. The fire of the valley of Tophet is so called, in that it did burn day and night, and went not out.
2. The words ever and everlasting the Greeks understood to mean an age; ever and everlasting are of similar signification, and are used for a limited time, a time during life: He shall serve his master forever, Exod. 21:6; Levit. 25:46; that is, until his own or his master’s death; longer he could not [17] serve him. The everlasting priesthood, Exod. 40:15, was only until Christ came; then it was to cease, as appears, Heb. 7:12-14. It is said, they shall inherit the land forever, Isa. 60:21; that ever was but a little while, as appears, Isa. 63:18.
3. Inasmuch as fire is durable, and goeth not out until the combustible matter be consumed, it may be called everlasting and unquenchable; for the fire that destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is called eternal fire, because it indeed consumed those cities; but where no wood is the fire goeth out, Prov. 26:20.
4. If fire were everlasting, it will not follow that what is cast into it is everlasting; the wicked are compared to chaff and stubble; fire is not long in consuming them. Burn the chaff, Isa. 5:24. If any say chaff will be ever burning, and never consumed, we know the contrary.
5. Consider that the scripture sometimes uses words that exceed their signification, and they are not strictly to be understood according to their literal signification; as John 21:25, The things that Jesus did, if they should be written, I suppose the world itself would not contain the things that should be written. A large expression! What! will not the whole world contain a record of the actions of one man? The meaning is, they would be exceedingly numerous, or too great. So sin, and the strength of the Ethiopian army are said to be infinite, Job 22:5, Nah. 3:9; that is, very great; for the world and all it contains is finite, Isa. 40:17. These considerations show how such words are to be understood, and it may satisfy us herein.
[18] Is it not a very strange thing that they themselves should confess that the English word hell is in the Hebrew sheol, and in the Greek hades and gehenna, and that they are to be understood as aforesaid, and still should translate these same words by the English word hell, and then, expound hell as a terrible and dreadful place of torment, never to end? O horrible abuse and blasphemy against God and his word! and even all men are deluded and deceived thereby. Verily, verily, they deserve the name they give to others, of denying the word of God.
SECTION IV. The story of Dives. Luke 16:19-31.
This affords no proof of any torments in hell, because it is a parable, not a history; on a parable we are not to ground a doctrine. The story of Dives is no more a proof of a punishment after this life, than Judges 9:8, is a proof that trees did formerly walk and speak; for it is said, the trees went forth and said, &c. The story of Dives is not to be understood according to the letter for the following reasons:
1. It saith, there was a rich man in hell, yet all confess the body is in the grave.
2. How could Dives see so far, as Abraham’s bosom is from hell? Mr. Leigh saith, the great chaos between Abraham and Dives signifies an infinite distance, which overthroweth their seeing, and speaking to each other.
3. It saith, he saw Abraham; yet they say, hell is a place of utter darkness; how can anything be seen in a place of utter darkness?
[19] 4. By what means can Dives know Abraham from another, seeing, as all confess, his body is in the grave until the resurrection?
5. How could Dives speak to Abraham, his body being in the grave? Can any speak without the organs of the body?
6. How shall Dives hear Abraham at so great a gulf and distance, as heaven is from hell?
7. How comes Dives to have such charity in hell to his five brethren, seeing he had none to them when on earth?
8. Dives would have Abraham to send to them, which cannot be, because Abraham knoweth us not, Isa. 63:16.
9. How shall Abraham send, seeing he hath no communion with us, nor passage to us?
10. To what purpose will it be to send? If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead, ver. 31. It is therefore a parable, and the scope of it is, as Dr. Fulke saith, that those that will not hear Moses and the Prophets, are not to expect to be called, neither by vision nor apparition, ver. 26,30. This parable is not done, but represented, saith Mr. Cartwright on Luke 16:30. The story of Dives in hell is one of their main pillars of hell-torments, and by that which is said, it is shaken and removed.
SECTION V. Of Tophet. Isaiah 30:33.
This place is no proof of endless hell-torments, the believers in endless torment themselves being judges. [20] They say, hell is deep under ground, and Tophet is a place above ground, as hath been showed. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for in this place will I cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those that seek their lives, and their carcasses will I give for meat for the fowls of the heaven; and they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place to bury in; Jer. 19:6; 7:32. They confess Tophet is the valley of the son of Hinnom; Tophet, Hebrew, Toph, Timpanum, that is to say, gehenna. The Greek gehenna signifies a tabret or drum-head, or anything that makes a noise. Tophet is ordained of old, (Hebrew, yesterday,) prepared, fitted for the king, and those with him whom the Lord will there slay for their sins, by their enemies; it is deep and large, fit for great armies to meet and fight in; fire and much wood to consume the carcasses slain there; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it, Isa. 30:33 (not a stream of fire and brimstone, but like it;) the destruction being from God was great and terrible, or fire and brimstone shall be sent from heaven to destroy them there, as Ezek. 28:18, Dan. 7:10. Gen. 19:24. Tophet is another of their chief proofs of the torments of hell, and with that which is said, it is shaken and removed.
[21] SECTION VI. Of Isaiah 66:24. They shall go forth, and look upon the men that have transgressed against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.
This place is not to be understood of any punishment after this life, because it saith their carcasses shall lie to be seen, and others shall look upon them. In hell they will confess the carcasses of the wicked are not now, nor hereafter shall be; for a carcass is without life, therefore not capable of suffering. If they say, at the end of the world soul and body shall be united to suffer, how is it then a carcass after the end of the world? How shall they be an abhorring to all flesh? for then there will be no flesh to go forth to look upon them. The late Annotations on the Bible, on Isaiah 66:24, say, the carcasses are the forces of Gog and Magog, which shall be slain near Jerusalem, as Ezek. 39:4,10, and 38:18,23, containeth, and is apparent; for after the slaughter is made of them, they shall lie a long time unburied, and seven months shall the children of Israel be in burying them, that they may cleanse the land, Ezek. 39:11-12. Also the judgments inflicted upon them show it to be in this life, as pestilence, overflowing rain, great hail-stones, fire and brimstone, Ezek. 38:22. And the end for which God punished them, shows it to be in this life; which was, that God might be magnified, and sanctified in the eyes of many nations; after the end of the world he cannot be sanctified in the eyes of any, much less many [22] nations. The worm hath reference to those that are bred and fed upon dead bodies, as Acts 12:23, especially such as lie long upon the ground, until they rot and become as carrion. Job 21:26; Isaiah 14:11. The fire hath reference to the burning of those bodies, not fit to be stirred and removed; but to be consumed by fire in the place where they lay. Isa. 9:5. Ezek. 39:6, that lie rotting upon the face of the earth, until they crawl all over with worms and maggots. The sight of such is a loathsome spectacle; therefore it is said they shall be an abhorring to all flesh. The Greek renders it a sight or spectacle; it hath relation to Tophet, before mentioned. The Hebrew doctors say the same on this place: they shall go forth out of Jerusalem into the valley of Hinnom, and there they shall see the carcasses of those that rebelled against me. So D. Chimchi, and Ab. Ezr. in loc.
The worm that shall not die, and the fire that shall not be quenched, is in this life, and not, as they say, in hell, Mark 9:44,46; Rev. 14:10-11; Ezek. 3, &c. Ezek. 38:22, concern the destruction of Gog and Magog, as hath been showed.
SECTION VII. Concerning Mat. 5:26. They shall not come out thence till they have paid the utmost farthing.
This place Mr. Leigh doth allege to prove hell-torments, and the Papists allege it to prove their purgatory, and to as much purpose; for ver. 25-26, is Christ’s counsel to avoid differences, and to com-[23]pose them that fall out between man and man in this life, to prevent suits in law, and imprisonment; so the text shows, and Chrysostom expounds it so.– The word in the Greek is an adversary of the law, Prov. 6:3, Luke 12:58, mention is made of the magistrate and gaoler, which are terms and offices properly fitting the business of this life; a like place is Mat. 18:34. To understand Mat. 5 of an endless hell, doth imply free will, and falling from grace; and that suffering in hell is a satisfaction and payment of the debt, they will confess. In hell there is no gaol delivery, nor any redemption; therefore it suits not to their purpose. It is conceived, that hell is deep within the earth; reason concludes it must be dark; the grave is called the land of darkness, Job 10:21-22. The cruelty of the enemy is called thick darkness, Joel 2:2. The Greek poets say it is dark; they compare the darkness thereof to a certain territory that lies between the Baiœ and Cumœ, where the Cimmeria inhabit, so environed with hills, that the sun never came to it; whereupon the proverb comes, darker than the darkness of Cimmeria; but the chief cause is, because they are in darkness without the light of the word; for darkness is in this life. We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness, Job 37:19. Where no light is, there is utter darkness; When the eye is evil, the whole body is full of darkness, Mat. 6:23. The dark places of the earth, full of cruelty, Psalm 74:20. Ignorant men are in the dark, and full of works of darkness, Rom. 13:12, that would have others tormented with cruel tortures and death, be-[24]cause not of their opinion on religion. All unconverted men are in darkness; they are of the night, 1 Thess 5:5. Christ is the light, and saints are the children of the light: What communion hath light with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14. Darkness covered the earth, till Christ the light came, to give light to them that sat in darkness, Isa. 60:2, Luke 1:79. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, Col. 1:13. Who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light, 1 Pet. 2:9. The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up, Mat. 4:16. Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, Eph. 5:8. The chains of darkness are not material chains, but so called, because they are fast in darkness, and cannot get out. The law worketh wrath; when that cometh into a dark and ignorant soul, it causeth weeping and gnashing of teeth, Luke 13:28, being sad and comfortless.
SECTION VIII. Of burning the Tares. Mat. 13:30.
This is to be done at the end of the world, ver. 39. The tares are the wicked, the harvest is the end of the world; by which it appears, the wicked with the earth shall be consumed by fire, ver. 40,42, 2 Pet. 3:7. Are any so weak, as to imagine the earth will always burn, and never be consumed? I have seen a man burned to ashes in an hour in our coal fire: they say our fire is but painted fire to that in hell; if so, then it will of necessity follow, that so much as that fire is hotter than our fire, so much [25] the sooner shall the body be burned and consumed in that more fierce and terrible fire.
SECTION IX. The Wrath to come. 1 Thes. 1:10. Mat. 3:7.
The late Annotations on the Bible say, they were to fill up a full measure of their own and their fathers’ sins, because God intended to sweep them away by the hand of the Romans, to cut them off by a temporal death, which was the wrath to come, to fill up their sins; for the wrath is (not shall) come upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thes. 2:16. We are by nature the children of wrath, that is, liable to wrath, inward and outward: Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, Psalm 88:7. The wrath of God is the hiding of his face, Isa. 54:8. Outward wrath is temporal destruction; he cast upon them the fierceness of his wrath, Psalm 78:49. Destroyed them, Deut. 7:10; Lev. 10:6; Josh. 9:20; 22:22; Ezek. 25:7; 2 Chron. 19:10; Psalm 90:6-7.
SECTION X. Of the word, Cursed.
It is to be barren; so the earth and fig-tree were cursed, Mat. 21:20. It is to be a servant of servants, Gen. 9:25, Josh. 9:23. It is to want prosperity, Deut. 28:16-19. It also signifieth to die a violent and disgraceful death, 2 Kings 2:24, Deut. 21:23; to be a fugitive, a wanderer, Psalm 59:12-15; to eat in sorrow, Gen. 3:17; and to endure pain and hardship.
[26] SECTION XI. Of Eternal Damnation.
The word damned, Mark 16:16, Rom, 14:23, in Greek is judged; damnation is judgment; eternal damnation is eternal judgment. A judgment is a sentence; the sentence is to a second death, called eternal, because it is not to be reversed.
SECTION XII. Of the word, Reprobate.
This word in the Greek signifieth one of no judgment: a reprobate mind is a mind void of judgment; see Rom. 1:28, 2 Tim. 3:8. Titus 1:16. See the notes in the margin.
SECTION XIII. Of the word, Fire.
Fire is put for fiery trials, 1 Pet. 4:12. Inward troubles,—fire in my bones, Lam. 1:13; 2:4. The tongue is a fire, James 3:6. His word is a fire, Jer. 23:29. God’s spirit is fire. Baptized with fire, Mat. 3:11. God is a consuming fire, Heb. 12:29.
Bellarmine and Bullinger, and others, say the fire of hell is material fire, kindled with wood, and allege in support of this opinion Isa. 30:33; 66:24. The fire of hell is true and substantial fire, kept under the earth, to punish withal, saith Tertullian.
But the fire of hell cannot be corporeal fire, for the following reasons:
1. Our fire is corporeal; they say our fire is but painted fire, a shadow to that; therefore that is not corporeal fire.
[27] 2. Corporeal elementary fire is light, and enlightens the place where it is; in hell they say is utter darkness. If so, the fire of hell is not corporeal fire.
3. Corporeal fire consumes speedily all combustible matter cast into it: they say the fire of hell ever burneth, and never consumeth that which is cast into it; therefore it is not corporeal fire.
4. They say the fire of hell is invisible; then it is not corporeal; for that which is corporeal may be seen.
5. Corporeal fire may be quenched: the fire of hell, they say, is unquenchable; therefore it is not corporeal fire.
6. Corporeal fire goeth out without wood: theirs doth not; therefore it is not corporeal fire.
7. They say the fire of hell is eternal; if so, it is not corporeal: corporeal fire is seen, and things seen are not eternal.
8. They say the absence of God is the greatest torment in hell: corporeal fire is a greater torment to the body than the absence of God.
Lastly, Corporeal fire cannot work upon a spirit; the devils are spirits, and therefore cannot be tormented with corporeal fire, saith Willet, Synop. p. 1023. To say God is able to make corporeal fire work upon a spirit, and able to make men to live without food or refreshment to eternity, and to make fire burn without wood, is no proof that he will do so; and it is as silly a kind of reasoning, as to say God is able to do all things—with God all things are possible, therefore he will do all things. Men should not build their vain conceits upon God’s power, without his word.
[28] Others say, the fire of hell is not corporeal, but spiritual fire. But this cannot be true; for there is no spiritual fire: if it ceaseth to be natural fire, it ceaseth to be true fire. It cannot be spiritual, because they say it is natural; it cannot be natural, because they say it is spiritual; it cannot be either of them, because they say it is partly corporeal and partly spiritual, the one to burn the body, and the other to burn the soul. Hell-flames are material, yet not all material, saith Willet, Synop. p. 1010. If so, there are two fires in hell. Bernard saith, fire shall burn thy flesh, and a worm thy spirit, conscience accusing. Isidore saith, their minds burn with sorrow, and their bodies with the flames.
Others again say, hell-fire is neither material nor spiritual, nor mixed, but metaphorical, figurative: so Austin, and some of the modern preachers say. Calvin thinks that there is no true fire in hell; for, saith he, the wood and worm are to be taken metaphorically: but saith another, that the fire is to be so taken, I utterly deny.
[29] CHAPTER II.
Ten Opinions of the Learned of the Place of Hell.
1. EDWARD LEIGH, Hugo, and others, say, hell is a bottomless pit; but there is no place without a bottom. [The expression is a figure.]
2. It is generally agreed, that hell is in the lower parts of the earth; but where those lower parts are, Mr. Perkins on the creed saith, no man is able to define. The lower parts of the earth is a great abasement, saith Dr. Fulke on Phil. 2:7; the lowest degree of Christ’s humiliation, Eph. 4:9. One part of the earth is not put in opposition to another part thereof, but to heaven, Psalm 103:11. David saith, thou hast fashioned me in the lowest parts of the earth, Psalm 139:15. Was David born in hell?
3. Bishop Bilson, Mr. Wheatly, and others, say, hell is below; but how many miles it is to hell they do not say, nor can they tell.
4. Bellarmine, Lyra, and others, say, hell is in the earth, near the centre thereof; if so, ye may know how far it is to hell, the earth being round, the circumference thereof being twenty one thousand and six hundred miles; the whole consisting of 360 degrees at 60 miles a degree: the diameter of the terrestrial globe is six thousand seven hundred and eighty-two miles and one eleventh; so that to the centre or middle point is three thousand three hundred and ninety-one miles and a fraction; being the distance of the centre of hell from the surface of the earth. But in the day of judgment, when the earth shall be consumed with fire, as 2 Pet. 3:7, where [30] shall hell be? It surely cannot be in the centre of the earth, when there is no earth.
5. Mr. Leigh and others say, hell is a lake; the lake is a sea, as appears Luke 5:1-2, where the swine were choked, Luke 8:33, whose common depth is not half a mile. Men seek hell in the bottom of the sea, because they know not where to find it. Hell cannot be the lake, because hell was cast into the lake, Rev. 20:14.
6. Others say, hell is in the air, the Devil is the Prince that ruleth in the air, Eph. 2:2. The air, then, is the Devil’s hell, saith Willet, Synop. p. 1018. If so, then all we that are alive are in hell; we do not find it a place of so great torment, for almost all men like it well, for they desire to dwell there.
7. Others say, hell is above, near the third heavens, within the view of the glorious saints, and allege for it Isa. 66:24, Rev. 14:10. If so, it is very far to hell. Astronomers say, that there are three heavens above the firmament: where the fixed stars are is 116,000,000 of miles above the earth; which is so high, that if a stone or weight should fall from thence, and continue falling an hundred and fifty miles an hour, it would be eighty-eight years, two weeks, four days, five hours, and twenty minutes in falling down to the earth.
8. Some say, the absence of God’s face is hell; but that is not called hell, but wrath, Isa. 54:8. This was Cain’s punishment; From thy face shall I be hid; my punishment is greater than I can bear, Gen. 4:13-14. The hiding of God’s face causeth sadness, and the breaking of the bones of comfort, Psalm 51:8. Behold his eyelids try the children of [31] men, Psalm 11:4. If shut, they are troubled; if open, they are comforted.
9. Some say, hell is in this life, and is a guilty accusing conscience. Dr. Willet saith, a guilty troubled conscience is a hell and prison of the soul. What may rather be called hell, than anguish of the soul? The judge’s tribunal is in the soul; God sitteth there as Judge; the conscience is the accuser, fear is the tormentor. Guilt in the soul wounds the spirit; a wounded spirit who can bear? Prov. 18:14. The spirits in prison, 1 Pet. 3:19. This is the wrath of God, that abideth upon him who believeth not in the Son, John 3:36. Heaven is God’s face and presence, and our greatest joy in this life, Exod. 33:15-16, and so will be in the next, Psalm 16:11. Thou wilt fill me with the joy of thy face: in thy presence is fulness of joy. Acts 2:28. Pleasures or pleasantness, that is, pleasant joys at thy right hand; in the full enjoyment of thee are sweet delights eternal. Some say hell is a local place; Augustine saith, it is not a place. Dr. Willet saith, the place of hell maketh not the torments. It is a question, saith he, whether the place make hell, or the absence of the presence of God. Synop. p. 1056.
10. Another saith, hell is on the other side of the blue cloud that appeareth to us in the air. Others say, where the place of hell is they cannot tell, whether it be in the earth, or in the water, or in the air. It is not revealed, saith Greenwood; they that have taken pains to find it out, are as far from it as ever. Some of the ministers in France affirm, that Father Cotton, the Jesuit, did inquire of the Devil [32] for a plain place of Scripture to prove purgatory; so they are at as great a loss to prove hell by a plain place of Scripture truly translated, their hell of torments never to end. Also the learned do not agree upon what Scripture to ground their doctrine of hell torments; for that place which one of them alleges to prove it, another of themselves deny it. That it is so to be understood, Mr. Ainsworth on Psalm 16:10, saith, that place through custom is taken for the place of the damned, but is not so to be understood, the word being sheol. Marlorate on Apoc. p. 282, saith, the fire of gehenna is the place of the damned; others of them deny it. Mr. Leigh saith, the story of Dives proves it; Dr. Fulke and others deny it.
See ye not the great doubting and uncertainty they are at among themselves? They grope in the dark, without light, Job 12:25; by their reeling, staggering, and stumbling, they are so drunk, that they can find no ground to stand upon; they understand not whereof they affirm, yet each is tenacious of his own opinion. It is very strange, that in a thing so signal, of which they say they see it in the word of God, they can in no way agree concerning it. O, ye learned in the seven liberal sciences, tell us how to reconcile these things in point of truth, or tell us, inasmuch as ye speak contrarieties, as yea and nay, which of you we are to believe. Have we not all cause to say herein, Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 1 Cor. 1:20. He frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh diviners mad, and turneth wise men backwards, and maketh their knowledge foolishness, Isa. 44:25.
[33] CHAPTER III.
Mr. Leigh’s proofs of Endless Hell-torments examined.
EDWARD LEIGH, Esq., master of Magdalen Hall, in Oxford, presents his reasons to prove hell-torments, or punishment after this life, for some to endure, never to end; let them be considered.
1. Mr. Leigh saith, the conscience that men have a fear of some punishment after this life, proves it.
Answer. If they have, that doth not prove it; because the conscience of men are as they are instructed, according to the proverb, such doctor, such scholar. Hence it is that the conscience of a Papist tells him it is not lawful to eat flesh in Lent, nor on Friday. And whoso killeth you, will think he doth God service, John 16:2, that is his conscience. The consciences of some men are almost, if not altogether, for some evil; therefore the doctrine cannot be thus proved.
2. Mr. Leigh saith, the heathen held there was a hell, a being and place for wicked men after this life.
Ans. Why did ye not say and prove that they held such persons shall be in torments, never to end? The heathen do not believe that there is to be such a punishment after this life; for they deny the resurrection of the body, therefore they burn the body, and save the ashes in an urn for a memorial. They believe, as Pythagoras the philosopher taught, that the soul goeth from one body into another man or beast; so that some of the philosophers grew so [34] tender, that they would not kill any beast or fowl; for they said, it may be my brother or my sister. These heathen Greek poets were long before the coming of Christ; in their treble division of the world, they feign three gods, Jupiter, the god of heaven, Neptune, the god of the sea, and Pluto, the god of the earth, in which they say he keeps his court and palace; (no word of torment—that would make it a poor court and palace;) so Homer and Noninus, Greek poets. Homer wrote of the destruction of Troy, which was near a thousand years before the birth of Christ. Homer is one of the most ancient records extant. It seems in his time there was no mention of a hell of torments never to end. The aforesaid poets call Pluto Summanus, as being chief of the manes, or spirits below. To pacify these ill spirits, a feast was kept in February, with wax-candles burning to Pluto, called Candlemas day; so Mr. Jess in his almanac. The Cretians are always liars, Titus 1:12, the greatest liars in the world, that will fancy, feign, and say anything. Is it a thing possible, that wax- candles above the earth, should give light thousands of miles into the earth, to pacify those ill spirits there? It seems they are not in any great torment, if a little light will pacify them.
The poets say, hell is twice as deep as heaven is high. Astronomers say, Jupiter, the second planet, is seventy-two millions of miles above the earth. If hell be twice as deep, it is a hundred and forty-four millions of miles to hell, which is fabulous. So are Cerberus’ three heads, and Charon’s boat to row men to Pluto. So the phantasy of purgatory did [35] first spring from the heathen poets long before the coming of Christ, as appears by Plato and Virgil, who have described at large the whole commonwealth, and all the orders and degrees of purgatory. These, with their Elysian fields, and many other of their barbarisms, by long use became venerable.
Your opinion is fitter for heathens than for Christians; if the heathen do hold as you do, are we to believe in religion as the heathen? I care not what they or any others say, unless they can read it me in the word of God. We cry, to the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isa. 8:20.
3. Mr. Leigh saith, clear reason proves it. God is just; many abominable sinners enjoy more prosperity in this life, than those that live far more innocently; and they must be punished hereafter, according to the multitude and heinousness of their sins, Psalm 73:17.
Ans. I see you are more bold to affirm, than able to prove.
Doth reason deny the punishment to be just, except it never end? The Scriptures which you allege, say that punishment shall have an end; and you say it shall never have an end; and that is your clear reason. To say some are worse than others, therefore they are to suffer a punishment never to end, so you exclude Mary Magdalen and the poor Prodigal; but it is your bare affirmation without proof. Your reason is, that God should show mercy to little sinners, but none to the great sinners; they must not be saved; but this your clear reason is clear against [36] the will and wisdom of God, who is pleased to save the worst of sinners, as appears, Luke 7:47; 1 Tim. 1:15; Acts 9:13-15. If some enjoy more prosperity than others, must they therefore suffer a punishment never to end? Outward prosperity is a great blessing; but you make it a great curse. If what you say were true, there is no cause in the day of prosperity to rejoice, Eccl. 7:14, nor to say, O Lord, I beseech thee send me now prosperity, Psalm 118:25. In saying greater sinners, you judge according to outward appearances both for sin and punishment, and may be mistaken in both, what they are in the inner man, for sin and punishment; you know not the heart of unbelief and rebellion of spirit in others, nor how God punisheth them in their spirits. Sin is punished in this life.
4. Mr. Leigh saith, it is just that those should suffer forever, who if they had lived would have sinned forever. Cast them out of my sight, Jer. 15:1.
Ans. If it be just that we should suffer forever, it is just that our surety should suffer forever. Do you consider that the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope? Rom. 8:20.
Cast them out of my sight, is no proof that they shall suffer forever, but rather that they shall be utterly destroyed; for if they have any being, where-ever they be, they cannot be out of the sight of God; your justice is not God’s: his is a death; yours is not a death, but another thing.
[37] 5. Mr. Leigh saith, God’s intentions from everlasting were to glorify his justice as well as his mercy, Rom. 9:21-23, fitted to destruction.
Ans. Know you anything of God’s intention that is not revealed in his word? Deut. 29:29. Or doth the word say that God doth not glorify his justice, unless he inflict so great a punishment without end? You give neither scripture nor reason to prove what you say is just. The justice of God was revealed and made known, in causing the earth to swallow up Korah and his company; they were vessels of wrath prepared, fitted to destruction; your opinion denies the word of God, that saith they are fitted to destruction; for you say they are never to be destroyed, die, nor end.
6. Mr. Leigh saith, the covenant under which unregenerate men stand, and by which they are bound over to this wrath, is everlasting.
Ans. There are but two covenants, Gal. 4:24, the old and the new, Heb. 8:13, and 12:24. The old is no more everlasting than the priesthood of it; the breach of the covenant of works is death, therefore not eternal life in misery.
7. Mr. Leigh saith, in that torment they curse and accuse one another.
Ans. When you write again, I pray tell us how you know that in hell they do so; for the word of God saith not so; nor have you been there to hear it, nor have they that told you so. To affirm things in religion, not revealed in the word of God, is to presume above that which is written, and contrary to 1 Cor. 10:11, Rom. 15:4. Socrates, a heathen [38] philosopher, was more wise and modest in not affirming things which he knew not; being asked what was done in hell, he said he never went thither, nor communed with any that came from thence; yet you and others affirm with great boldness and confidence things which you know not. Some say, in hell the eye is afflicted with darkness, whereas darkness is no affliction to the eye; also they say, their ears are afflicted with horrible and hideous outcries, their noses with poisonous and stinking smells, (of what, I pray?) their tongues with bitterness as of gall, the whole body with intolerable fire. The damned shall prize a drop of water worth ten thousand worlds; cursing shall be their tunes, blasphemies their ditties, lamentations their songs, and shrieking their strains; they shall lie shrieking and screaming continually. Ye see how men sat their brains at work to invent lies; for all they say is without warrant from the word of God. One saith, their torment in hell is so great, that they cannot forbear roaring; and you say they curse and accuse one another: so that one of their vain imaginations contradicts another, and all of them the word of God. They will not deny that those in hell are in the greatest trouble; and yet they cannot speak, when in less trouble; I am so troubled I cannot speak, Psalm 77:4; therefore they cannot curse and accuse one another, as you affirm.
8. Mr. Leigh saith, divines unanimously concur, &c.
Ans. If they do, it is not binding to us; for we are satisfied they are not infallible. There must be [39] errors, 1 Cor. 11:19; they have the greatest share. The priests, Popish and Mahometan priests, Baal’s priests, and all other sorts of priests, concur; common consent is sooner believed than naked truth; it is high time to cease from man, for wherein is he to be accounted of? Isa. 2:22. Truth, and not any number of men, is to be followed. Every one must give an account of himself to God, Rom. 14:3,11,12. Luther said, he esteemed not the worth of a rush a thousand Augustines and Cyprians against himself; all churches err. Panormitan said, more credit is to be given to one speaking the truth, than to all men in all ages speaking the contrary.
They are likely to concur and agree, if they take the counsel they give, as not to question principles. It seems we must take all upon trust and hearsay, without trial; they all say it, therefore it is true. But the Bereans would and did search the Scriptures to see if the things were so, as the Apostles preached; see 1 John 4:1; Acts 17:11.
Let it be certainly made to appear that God hath said anything contrary to anything that I have said, I desire with all my heart to submit to it; without that, I cannot yield the sovereignty of my judgment and conscience to the concurring consent of blind guides, ignorant and erroneous men, though in sheep’s clothing, and covered all over with the titles of godly, learned and holy saints, or presbyters, or ministers of Christ. The Papists call their church, holy church, and their priests, holy priests, and their orders, holy orders, and all holy, if you will believe them.
[40] Some say, the Jews report that in Tophet, the valley of the son of Hinnom, there was a great ditch, which could never be filled; that they called this the mouth of hell; and that the Chaldeans, when they slew the Israelites, threw them in there. If this report be true, which hath been brought to prove hell, then it will follow that the mouth of hell is near Jerusalem, and that God doth give to the wicked power to cast his people into hell.
How much weight there is in your reasons to prove a punishment after this life never to end, let who will judge; for my part, I profess I do not see how they serve to your purpose; your nakedness appears, and your opinion hath neither Scripture nor reason to support it, and therefore it must needs fall, 2 Tim. 3:9. You have done all you can, and can come to no surer bottom to rest upon, than supposals and imaginations, wresting Scriptures, and consent of others; your glory is, that all are of your mind, though without good ground or reason, as is showed. Also in that you allege reasons to prove hell-torments, it giveth me occasion to believe that in your own judgment the scriptures you allege prove it not; for if you believe the Scriptures prove it, to what purpose serve your reasons? Or do you think that those who doubt the sufficiency of your proof of it by scripture, will be satisfied with your reasons as a full proof of it? If there be any such, they may be to them of some use.
The learned contradict themselves. Mr. Bolton saith, Thou must live in endless woe in fire and brimstone, which thou mightest so often and so [41] easily escape, which overthrows the doctrine of election. Also they say, the sense of loss in hell is greater than the sense of pain; so they make the sensible want of the presence of God the greatest torment in hell, and that is in this life; I am cast out of thy sight, Psalm 31:22; it followeth by their doctrine, that the greatest torment of hell is in this life.
9. Mr. Leigh saith, in his Body of Divinity, the sense of God’s wrath, rage of conscience, guilt, fear, despair, the soul cannot melt with greater torment.
Ans. If this be true, then there is not a worse torment in hell than in this life.
Water is so scarce in hell, that Greenwood saith, the damned prize a drop of water above ten thousand worlds; and yet they affirm those in hell shall continually weep, &c. Therefore their own sayings agree not.
The first author of the opinion of the torments of hell, never to end, was Marcion, the heretic, who held, that Christ was not a man only in semblance, and that there were two beginnings, two Gods, one good, one bad. That there were torments for some in hell, was first invented by him; he determined the reward of the creature, either in torment or refreshment, to be laid up for them in hell. He was the first author thereof, by Tertullian’s confession, as saith Dr. Fulke in his Defence, pp. 83,84. See and behold the original of your opinion of the torments of hell. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil, Luke 6:45.
[42] CHAPTER IV.
The Seven Pillars of Hell shaken and removed.
1. The Greek Fathers were the first pillar of hell-torments. This came to pass by reason of the ignorance of the Fathers in the Hebrew tongue; their not understanding the word sheol deceived them; so saith Dr. Fulke in his Defence, p. 77.
2. The second pillar of hell-torments were the writers of the Hebrew and Greek copies of the Bible; their defect hath put us to a great loss. The original copy which the Apostles wrote is not only unknown to us, but to the learned. We do not hear of any alive in England who can produce the New Testament which the Apostles wrote. It is not enough that they say we have books in Hebrew and Greek, unless we could certainly know that these copies, as they call them, agree word for word with those which were written by the Prophets and Apostles. Many boast of God’s preserving the Hebrew and Greek Bible amidst so many enemies; as God hath been pleased to deliver up Christ his people, so also the Scriptures into the hands of sinners, to be used at their pleasure. It is wonderful to consider, what adding and altering the Scriptures have been subject to; one Pope publishes what he pleases for Scripture, as Pope Urban V.; and within two years Pope Clement, who succeeded him, calls them in and burns them, and puts out what he pleases, and calls it the Holy Scriptures. If you [43] will believe the testimony of the learned and godly Protestant writers, who have not been esteemed blasphemous nor heretics, as Dr. Fulke, Mr. Beza, Mr. William Perkins, Dr. Ames, and others; Dr. Fulke saith, that some Greek copies are altered, it is not unlike, in his Answer to the Rhemist to the reader, p. 43. And what is more, he saith, corruption hath happened to all copies this day extant, in his Answer to Preface, pp. 11,15,16. Whole verses are omitted in some copies; 1 John 5:7, is not in some copies, (the Syriac, which is as ancient as the Apostles, reading not this verse at all,) but is extant in others. There are at least sixteen various Greek copies of the New Testament, Jus. Divinum, p. 66. Dr. Lightfoot saith, Mr. Beza was a man that always questioned the text; to see so many differing copies would put any one to a stand which to believe. Mr. Perkins saith, it must not seem strange that words in the margin have crept into the text. Dr. Ames saith, helps to government, in 1 Cor. 12:28, are not in the original; he supposes these words to have been inserted by the Prelates in favor of their government. The preachers who call themselves divines, have assumed and challenged divine authority to frame all copies and translations, and to expound all texts according to their own minds, to maintain their own doctrine and practices, to uphold their own power and standing. Hence it is that the translations of different parties agree not; that party that would have the magistrate punish idolatry, &c. have made a text for it, Job 31:28, to be punished by the judges; but these words are not in [44] the Hebrew, but are an addition of their own, as appears by the Bible printed in London by the assigns of John Bill, in the year 1640, and the Geneva Bible differs from this, and from the translation printed by the Stationers, London. The English translation hath a variety of differences, not without evident contradiction among divers places that might be instanced; see Dan. 7:9,18; in the Geneva translation, ver. 9, is, I beheld till the thrones were set up: and in the King’s translation, printed by the Company of Stationers, London, the same verse is, I beheld till the thrones were cast down. And ver. 18, it is, But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom; and in the Geneva translation the same verse is, And they shall take the kingdom of the saints; both cannot be true, and which of them is an Englishman to believe? Some say, Luther added the word only to the text; being asked why he did it, he said, he did it to make the Apostles say more plainly, Faith only justifieth. Dr. Fulke, Defence English translation, p. 80, saith, we follow in our translation, as near as we can, the Holy Scripture in such sense, if anything be doubtful, as the proper circumstance of the place will lead us unto, that we may attain to the meaning of the Holy Ghost. So then, it seems, if the translator think the Holy Ghost meaneth this or that, he may translate it so. Is not this a large liberty? The Jews take no such liberty.
The ministers of Lincoln diocese in the abridgement of their grievances delivered to King James, pp. 11,13,14, say, that the English translation of [45] the Bible is a translation that takes away from the text, and adds to the text, and that sometimes to the changing and obscuring of the Holy Ghost. And Mr. Broughton, the great linguist, in his advertisement of corruption, tells the Bishops, that the public translation of the scriptures in the English is such, as that it perverts the text of the Old Testament in eight hundred forty and eight places, and that it causes millions to reject the Old Testament. And Dr. Featly, Doctor of Divinity, in his Dipper Dipt, p. 1, saith, no translation is simply authentical, or the undoubted word of God. In the undoubted word of God there can be no error, but in the translation there are and may be errors. The Bible translated therefore is not the undoubted word of God, but so far only as it agrees with the original, the writings of the Prophets and Apostles. And forasmuch, as our English translation, as he saith, is not the undoubted word of God, what is that preaching worth that is proved by it? The false glosses and interpretations which are put upon the scriptures by men learned in the languages, who have made inconsiderate and bold assertions without proof in not keeping to the true and proper signification of the words thereof, have caused many errors, and great trouble and confusion. They put the word Lucifer for the Day Star, Isa. 14:12. They have forsaken the fountain and digged to themselves cisterns, as Jer. 2:13, and we see the people are willing to give themselves up to a ministry of fables, 2 Pet. 1:16, that makes the scriptures say and unsay, which being interpreted is to make them say just nothing. [46] The force of education, and the custom the countrymen live in, is such, as ordinarily engageth them to a prejudice and evil opinion against all principles contrary thereunto, though of divine inspiration. Hence the Papists, Turks, and several sorts of Protestants, cry down and censure each others’ judgment and opinion as abominable error, heresy, and blasphemy.
3. The third pillar that upholds hell-torments are fond Expositors, who interpret sheol for hell-torments; so Dr. Fulke calls them, in his Defence, p. 90. I would know why interpreters understand and translate a hell of torments from the Hebrew and Greek, which is not in them, as themselves confess, as hath been showed. They will take sheol figuratively, and say, by tophet hell is figured, which is a fancy, a fable, and delusion, that is strong in many, who expound scripture without sense or reason; it is as improper to interpret sheol for a place of torment, as to interpret the word house to signify a horse. The scripture is not of private interpretation; a sense arising out of the brain of an interpreter is a private interpretation; and as the scriptures are not of man, but of the Holy Spirit, so the interpretation of them is not to be of man, but of the Holy Spirit. Oracles signify the answer of God, Rom. 3:2. See John 12. And how readest thou, Luke 10:26. To interpret words figuratively which are to be understood literally, and words literally which are to be understood figuratively, is licentious, and destructive to the faith of the Gospel. We are not to interpret any place figuratively, unless that figura-[47]tive sense be expressed in a plainer place of Scripture. If a man will have an erroneous persuasion, and whatsoever the scripture saith to the contrary he will have it to be a figurative sense, he will be left in the clouds of his own persuasion; so instead of proving their hell of torments never to end by the Scriptures, Ruffinus and others say, they who will not believe it, shall feel it; which is no proof, but a mere shift, a very lie such as nurses use to still children, by telling them of a great bulbeggar, and that a man will come down the chimney and carry them away; but none except children and fools will be scared with such bulbeggars.
4. The fourth pillar which upholds their hell-torments, is the consent of their preachers; their learned and godly men agree herein; but their weak, and various, and uncertain grounds declare, that they have not studied the point. But when teachers and hearers are ignorant, anything will serve and pass for truth; the simple believe every word. All sorts of priests agree and abuse the people. The Mahometan priests blow a powder into the eyes of them that come to see Mahomet hang, which maketh them so blind, that forever after they are led; and the priests say, that the glory of the sight of Mahomet is so great, that it takes away their sight forever after. About Easter time, for ten days there is great joy about a great fire for their priest Mahomet, and those who cast themselves into the fire, and are burned to death, are counted martyrs. Once a year the tomb of Mahomet is carried abroad upon a cart, and his priests say, that those who put [48] themselves under the wheel of that cart, and are crushed to death, do die martyrs; and some are so simple as to do so, that thus they may die martyrs. So the Antichristian priests, and all sorts of priests, have greatly deluded and deceived the people, blowing something into their ears, that forever after they are not able to hear and receive the truth. But as Mr. Beza did detest the Papists’ limbus and purgatory, so do I their dreams of hell; it being a device of man without scripture, with all their uncertain brain-sick fancies; for the imaginations of men have no end.
5. The fifth pillar of hell is their wresting the Scriptures to uphold their hell of torments. This cozens and deceives many, under color of Divine authority, when it is only human, though they are not pleased publicly to say so, because it seems not to their purpose; the Scriptures they allege to prove it have been considered. If any say I wrest Scripture, I appeal to the learned in the languages, for to them concerneth the decision of the signification of words, who (as I have showed) testify with me.
6. The sixth pillar of hell is their arguments and reasons which they bring to prove hell-torments, which have been considered.
7. The seventh pillar of hell is a strong persuasion that is in men, that the believing of hell-torments is a great means to leave sin, and live a holy life; and the not believing of hell-torments is a means to commit all sin with greediness, and to live as they list; for they say, men live as though there were no hell.
[49] Carnal hearts of men take offence at everything, as the law of works, and doing to be saved. The doctrine of election, God’s free grace and salvation only and alone by Christ, without works, Rom. 4:6, is charged to be one of the greatest doctrines of liberty to sin that ever was, and is by the ignorant made a stumbling-block and rock of offence, and a cause of carelessness in many. Ludowick said, if I be saved, I be saved; if I be damned, I be damned. The Papists say, if good works save us not, to what purpose shall we do them? then we may live as we list; if we be appointed to life, we shall be saved, though we sin never so much; if we sin, we have an advocate, 1 John 2:1. Not anything can separate us from the love of God, Rom. 8:38-39. If we be not appointed to life, we cannot be saved, though we should do never so much good. Ye see how this truth is turned into wantonness; the Apostle exhorts us not to turn the grace of God into wantonness, Rom. 6:1,15. The corrupt heart of man is ready to do it. There are many things in Paul’s epistles, which the ignorant and unlearned (who know not God in Christ) wrest to their own destruction; will any therefore say, that the doctrine of election and salvation by Christ alone is not a doctrine fit to be taught, nor come abroad? If so, the Scriptures must not come abroad.
Moreover, the doctrine of the Protestant ministers is charged, not only to be a doctrine of liberty to sin, but a blasphemous doctrine; to teach that the fall and sin of man was decreed, they say is to make God the author of evil. The Protestant writ-[50]ers say, that the sin of man was determined of God. Dr. Willet, Synop. p. 760. He also saith, the Protestants hold that the fall of Adam was both foreseen of God, and decreed to be, not permitted only. They allege Gen. 45:5,8; 2 Sam. 24:1; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28: Should walk after their ungodly lusts, Jude 18. For the creation was subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope, Rom. 8:20. Dr. W. Whitaker against Campion the Jesuit, saith, ‘Now answer me, Campion, do you think that which any one doth, how wicked soever, is done whether God will or not? If you hold that any thing is done against God’s will, what Providence or omnipotency do you leave him? For he that permitteth that to be done, which he would by no means have to be done, it is certain, that he is not endued with so great power as that he can forbid that which he would not have done; wherefore, you must needs confess, that all things which are done, are done by the will of God,’ and p. 196, ‘all confess, God could have hindered sin to be, if he had so pleased; but he would not hinder it, therefore it was his will it should be. The will of God, and not sin, is the cause of God’s decree, and the being of all things; the will and pleasure of God is the womb from whence springeth every work of the creature, Rom. 4:11.’ God must first will his creature to stand or fall, before he can do either, Acts 21:14; Phil. 2:13. The evil actions of men are not only foreseen of God, but decreed, saith Mr. Par, in his Grounds of Divinity. We are not saved from sin, except we have committed sin, therefore [51] salvation from sin is not without committing sin, saith Fulke, p. 121. God willed and decreed his glory and man’s happiness, therefore he willed and decreed the means to it. The end and moving cause of his willing sin to be, is for his glory, for which cause it was necessary for sin to be. If sin had not been, how should the goodness of God, in giving man eternal life in glory, have appeared, his love in sending Christ to die? If there had not been sin, there had been no need of Christ’s coming, nor of his death and righteousness. Most of the great works of God in this world, and that to come, have dependence or reference to sin. How should we have lived by faith, exercised the fruits of the spirit, or have any happiness or glory in the world to come if there had been no sin? He who willeth the end, willeth those things which are necessarily referred to that end; taking away sin was decreed before the world, therefore the being of sin was decreed.—Christ’s death was determined before the world, for the end of Christ was to restore Adam’s fall: if Adam had not fallen, there had been no need of a Christ to restore him. The saints were chosen to life before the world; choice hath reference to the fall, therefore the fall was decreed.
If the will of man had been the first and chief cause of the being of sin, then the will of man should be the cause of God’s will, and so man shall be the original cause of the salvation of himself, and so much the cause of it, that without his will it could not have been; and so the determination of God what to do, shall not be from himself, but from [52] the will of man, which is contrary to Eph. 1:11. If man should will sin before God willed it, then shall the will of God depend and wait upon the will of man:—as if God should say, if man will sin, then will I will his salvation: and if God should first will to send Christ to save man, and leave it to man’s will and power whether he shall fall or not, then it was possible for man to stand, and so to frustrate the decree of God; for if man had not sinned, God’s decree of sending Christ had been void and of none effect. Mr. Perkins saith, God decreed the fall of Adam: if the fall was decreed, and if man had power to stand, then he had power to frustrate God’s decree, which no wise man will affirm. And then that saying, that Adam had power to keep the law is without truth; if he had, consider Ezek. 18:2-4. God willeth all things well, he sinneth not, nor can he sin, because he is under no law. God commands men to keep the law, which no man can do; he commands men to think no vain thoughts, and not to sin. We cannot avoid some vain thoughts, and in many things we sin all. Christ saith, No man can come to me except the Father draw him, John 6:37,44. If they be drawn, they come: draw us, and we will run after thee, Cant. 1:4. If I put sufficient strength to move the earth, motion must needs follow; when men sin, they are beguiled, enticed, deceived, drawn away; they like men have transgressed, Hos. 6:7.
We are to distinguish between that which follows a doctrine in its own nature, and that which follows by accident, or rather, that a corrupt heart draws from it, and is not from the nature and working of [53] the doctrine itself. It is strange to consider, men are so set upon the Popish principle to be saved for their works, that they count all profaneness which crosses their way. Some have burned the Bible, and Dr. Crispe’s book of Salvation by Christ alone; the treatise of Mr. Archer, late of All-hallowes, London, entitled Comfort to Believers against their Sins and Sorrow, was burned by the hangman. The same spirit is alive to burn this also; I expect nothing better from such as are not taught of God; they condemn those things which they know not, and think they do God service when they persecute the truth and the professors of it.
That the fear of the torments of hell is no such preserver against sin, is evident; for those who sin with the greatest greediness, the greatest sinners, they do believe there are hell-torments; for though they be never so wicked, they hope it doth not belong to them, or they hope to repent and lead new lives before they die; though they sin for the present, they hope to make God amends for all: as an Arminian, being drunk, said, that he was now in a state of damnation; but, he said, he would be in a state of grace to-morrow; so he comforted himself. The lives of many heathens, who have denied the resurrection of the body, and therefore did not hold a hell of torments after, have been better than many who seek to escape hell, and gain heaven by their own works. If fear of hell were a preserver against sin, then those who are delivered from the fear of hell, who believe they shall be saved, would sin more than others; but we find the contrary, that none are more free from sin than these.
[54] Experience teaches, that although the fear of hell at first startles and frights men, yet it is soon over, and is no preserver against sin. I knew one set before him the torments of hell, to keep him from sin; and finding that would not do, he added vows and curses to keep him from sin. I knew another, who wished the devil to take him, soul and body, if he did not do the thing he spake of; and yet I knew he did it not. Another wished he might sink into hell immediately, if he did the thing he spake of; yet he did do it before he went from the place. The reason is, because the lusts of men are stronger than the fear of hell, resolutions, and curses.
Because men are not given up to the lusts of their own hearts, it may be that they find that liberty to sin is the greatest misery and bondage in the world: it hath all misery in it, whether they sin with more or less fear; and could they enjoy all the pleasures of sin for a season, they will find they have made a bad bargain of it. What fruit had ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed? Rom. 6:21. If I sin, thou markest me, Job 10:14. Be sure your sin will find you out, Numb, 32:23. In keeping thy commands there is great reward, Psalm 19:11; in breaking them a great punishment, loss of inward peace and comfort, a guilty accusing conscience, disgrace, affliction, losses, crosses, and death; The bloody and deceitful man shall not live out half his days, Psalm 55:23. I will curse your blessings, Malachi 2:1-2. See Deut. 28 — the whole chapter.
[55] Men sin because they are led captive by the devil at his will, 2 Tim. 2:26; 3:6. Also men sin because they are under the law; so long as a man is under the law, sin will have dominion over him, Rom. 6:14. Sin shall not have dominion over them that are under grace.
Men sin because they have not received power from on high against sin; until they receive that power, they cannot but sin; thou hast led captivity captive, and given gifts for men, Psalm 68:18. Until Christ, by his spirit, sets the soul at liberty, it is in bondage, and enthralled to base lusts; but if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed, John 8:36, but not till then; see Eccl. 8:11. The punishment of the magistrates keeps men from abusing others, more than the fear of hell; men would be exceedingly dissolute if under no discipline of superiors.
Men go to sin for comfort, sweetness, and satisfaction; but when satisfied, they go not to sin. To act for life is no love to God, nor self-denial, nor any spiritualness, nor will it do them good; it is not accepted of God, nor will it continue; those who are thus restrained do oftentimes exceed all others in sin. The spiritual soul, which lives in the enjoyment of the love of God, needs no such weights to procure its motion; he acts from a new life and principle to the glory of God, and the good of others. And in this work and labor of love is more sweetness than is in all the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season.
[56] It is a great ignorance for any to think, that it is in the power of any man to sin as much as he will. If this be proved, all objections are answered; and this the scripture proves, that without the will of God men cannot do anything, not so much as go to a city, unless God will, James 4:13,15. God worketh, governeth, and disposeth all things, after the counsel of his own will, Eph. 1:11; Acts 18:21; Rom. 9:18. Who hath resisted his will? God’s will is done, Luke 11:2; Heb. 2:4; Eph. 1:5; Acts 13:22. The measure of men’s sins is set; men cannot do more nor less than their measure; they fill up their measure always, 1 Thess. 2:16. It was determined how many times Peter should deny Christ, Luke 22:31,34, compared with ver. 61. God saith, if you will believe him, the wicked shall do wickedly, Dan. 12:10. They cannot cease from sin, 2 Pet. 2:14. That which is determined shall be done, Dan. 11:36. He that restraineth the clouds, that they drop not down rain, he made a decree for the rain, Job 28:26, and the earth that it bring not forth grass, Deut. 29:23. He that stilleth the winds and the tempest, Psalm 107:29-30, that saith to the waves of the sea, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be staid, Job 38:11, he restraineth men from doing their wills when he pleases; they would go further, but he restraineth them, Job 18, that they cannot do the things they had appointed to do, Gen. 20:6; 31:24; 35:5; Rev. 20:3,12. O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, Jer. 10:23; Prov. 4:12. The preparation of the heart, [57] and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord, Prov. 16:1. A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps, Prov. 16:9. The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: as the rivers of waters, he turneth it withersoever he will, Prov. 21:1. Man’s days are determined, Job 7:1; 14:5,14. And the bounds of his habitation, Acts 17:26; so are his works and sins. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain, Psalm 76:10.
Setting aside the opinions and conjectures of men’s devised fables, I am fully satisfied with the testimony of the word of God, (besides their own testimony, which is sufficient against themselves,) with which I see through the thick darkness of the inventions and traditions of men.
[58] CHAPTER V.
Several Considerations, showing that there is not to be
a Punishment after this life, that shall never end.
1. WE do not find the place of hell mentioned in any of the six days work of God; if it be a place, it is created a place, and so a part of the creation of God.
The whale is mentioned in scripture; if there be a place of hell, it is a greater thing, and inasmuch as it is not found in the creation of God, it may well be considered as the creation of man, a vain imagination of man; for their reasons prove not its actual existence, nor do they agree among themselves of the proof of it, neither where it is, nor what it is.
2. Solomon was wiser than all men, 1 Kings 4:31, yet he spake not any thing of the torments of hell, nor of any punishment never to end. He spake from the cedar to the hyssop; he spake also of beasts and fowls, of creeping things, and of fishes, ver. 33. If he had known of any hell and torments there, he would have spoken of that also.
3. The Jews, unto whom were committed the oracles of God, Rom. 3:2, to give unto us, have delivered no such thing to us, nor do they believe any such thing: for the Hebrew doctors understand the seventh day of seven thousand years, which is in the world to come; he blessed, because in the seven thousand years all souls shall be bound up in the [59] bundle of life, in the world to come; Ainsworth, on Gen. 2. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, 2 Pet. 3:8. The Jews say, as the world was made in six days, so it should continue six thousand years, and no more; and that the seventh day is the seven thousand years in the world to come, in which all souls shall be blessed. Also they say, a good man and a bad man died; afterwards, one in a vision saw the good man walking in gardens, among pleasant fountains of water; but the bad man near a river, and his tongue reaching after water, but could not reach it; Talmud Jerus. in Chag. fol. 77, col. 4. Inasmuch as these things are received among them for truth, though they be but Jewish fables, yet by them we see evidently that they do not believe the opinion of a torment after this life never to end. The Jews and Hebrew doctors were great searchers of every tittle of scriptures; and if this doctrine had been there to be seen, they or their Prophets should have seen it.
4. The saints recorded in scripture did not believe that there was to be a punishment for any to endure, never to end. This is evident, because when they made a confession of sin, and the punishment due to them for the same, they do not confess to have deserved any such punishment. They confess, to us belongs confusion of face, Dan. 9:8,11. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, Lam. 3:22. Thou hast delivered me from death, Psalm 116:8.
Nor do we find that they ever gave thanks for any such deliverance. If they had known of any such [60] deliverance, it must have appeared to be the greatest deliverance, which any could enjoy, requiring the greatest acknowledgment and thankfulness. Nor doth it appear that they did ever pray for, or express any desire of such deliverance. As they express neither, it is a ground to judge that they knew of no such punishment. If there had been any such deliverance, they should have known it, it should not have been hidden from them; they admired the deliverance effected in saving their lives from death, speaking of it as the greatest deliverance, Ezek. 6:3-14. The kindness of the Lord not to die, 1 Sam. 20:14.
Do you suppose, if Moses and Paul had believed there was so great and exceeding torment without end, that they would have desired that their names might be blotted out of the book of life, Exod. 32:33, and to be separated from Christ, Rom. 9:3, to endure such torment without end? I do not believe that they were willing so to suffer.
5. Christ, when on earth, spake of the destruction of Jerusalem, which was to come, and wept because they were to suffer that, Luke 19:41-44. He would much more have spoken of a punishment never to end, and wept for them that should suffer that, if there had been such punishment for any to endure.
6. When God doth warn any from sin, from the consideration of punishment, there is no mention of any punishments except those to be endured in this life. See 1 Cor. 10:1-11. They shall die of grievous deaths, Jer. 16:4; 2 Chron. 19:10. Death [61] threatened, Ezek. 3:18-19, 33:3-16; Titus 3:10-11. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, Psalm 97:7. A punishment in this life, Jer. 9:19. Death for idolatry, Jer. 44:7. The punishment of idolatry set for an example, 2 Pet. 2:6. Be instructed, lest my soul depart from thee, and I make thee desolate, because of thy sins, Micah 6:13. See Jer. 9:11. Abomination that makes desolate, Dan. 11:31. He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example, 2 Pet. 2:5-7. He that threatened death, would have threatened a punishment never to end, if there had been such a punishment to be inflicted upon any.
7. God’s punishment of sin is not of so large an extent as his mercy; for his punishing of sin is but to the third and fourth generation, Deut. 5:9. Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth unto the skies, Psalm 108:4. By truth in this place understand the punishment of sin, because the word mercy is put in opposition, which lieth in forgiving sin. The heavens are far above the skies; astronomers say the clouds and skies are not more than fifty miles above the earth, but the heavens are more than a hundred and sixteen millions of miles above the skies; but the mercy-seat above, Exod. 25:21. His name is his glory; his glory above the heavens, Psalm 8:1. Why is it said he punisheth the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation, and not to the tenth and twentieth, but to declare that his justice is satisfied therewith, and requireth not a further punishment? [62] God doth punish sin in the sinner, and upon his children, to the third and fourth generation, because there is not to be a punishment after this life, never to end.
8. Death and the fear of it is called the terror of God, Gen. 35:5. The King of Terrors, Job 18:11,14. Therefore death is the greatest punishment, and most terrible; but if there were to be a punishment never to end, not death, but that punishment would be the king of terrors; for death is not terrible at all in comparison of that.
9. Sin is punished in this life to the full;—if you will believe God, he saith, according to their works and doings I punished them, Ezek. 36:18; Hosea 12:2; 13:11; Jeremiah 50:25; 26:18; 9:9,11; Job 20:28. Every transgression received a just recompense, Heb. 2:2. Would ye have sin to be fully punished in this life, and afterwards in the world to come, with a punishment never to end? That sin is punished in this life, see Isa. 65:3-16; Deut. 10:17-18; Micah 6:10; Hag. 1:6; Lam. 4:6. I will punish the world for their iniquity, they shall fall by the sword, Isa. 13:11-22. Outward calamity and death, the punishment of sin, Lam. 3:39, 1 Pet. 2:14.—Recompense their sin to the full, Jer. 16:18. For the violence of the sin of man, when all flesh had corrupted his way, God saith, I will destroy them with the earth; a flood of water to destroy all flesh, Gen. 6:11-12,17. To punish sin twice, is as disagreeable to justice, as to receive the payment of one debt twice.
[63] 10. There is not a worse thing than the dregs of God’s fury, anger, and wrath; and these are poured out in this life. God doth not only begin to punish sin in this life, but he also finishes it in this life; for it is said, he poured out all his fierce anger, he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath and indignation, Psalm 78:49, (Death.) So it was poured out, Isa. 24:1-12; Ezek. 19:12. Accomplished my fury, Ezek. 5:13. It consumed them, Ezek. 43:8. For yet a very little while, and mine anger and indignation shall cease in their destruction, Isa. 10:25. Wrath passed, Job 14:13. Taken away all thy wrath, Psalm 85:3. He hath poured out all his anger, Lam. 4:10-11; Zeph. 3:3. The punishment of their iniquity is accomplished, Lam. 4:22; Ezek. 5:13; 7:8; 20:21. The dregs of the cup of my fury accomplished, Ezek. 13:14-15. Therefore there is no continuance of it after this life; for when Achan was dead, it is said, the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger, Josh. 7:26. But if what they say were true, his death was but the beginning of the Lord’s fierce anger.
[64] CHAPTER VI.
Many Infallible Proofs that there is not to be a Punishment after this Life, never to end.
1. The Scriptures hold forth no such thing, as hath been showed; we ought not to presume above that which is written; revealed things belong to us, Deut. 29:29.
2. The doctrine of a punishment never to end is contrary to the word of God, because it maintains that the wicked shall have eternal life. If man was to live forever, why was the flaming sword set to keep the way of the tree of life? Gen. 3:24. Lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of life, and live forever. No eternal life came by the first Adam: eternal life came by Jesus Christ, who is the tree of life, eternal life promised and given by Jesus Christ: Eternal life by Jesus Christ, Rom. 5:21; and, he that eateth of this bread shall live forever, John 6:58. Because I live, ye shall live also, John 14:19. God sent his Son, that we might live through him, 1 John 4:9. Only believers have eternal life: he that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, John 3:36. Whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have everlasting life, John 3:14-15. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, John 10:28. The wicked abide not forever, 1 John 2:17. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die, Rom. 8:13. Him will God destroy, (in the Greek it is corrupt) 1 Cor. 3:17. The [65] preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolish, 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Thes. 2:10. Utterly perish, 2 Pet. 2:12; Luke 13:3. To their own destruction, 2 Pet. 3:16. Abideth in death, Rom. 6:21,23; 1 John 3:14. They shall be destroyed forever, Psalm 92:7.
If they perish and not have eternal life, then they cannot live forever. God said, if thou eatest, thou shalt surely die, Gen. 2:17; but the serpent said, ye shall not die, Gen. 3:4. So the serpent, which is the devil, hath taught men to say as the serpent said, Now they have eaten they shall not die, but shall live forever, and never die; which is to say, God is the liar, and that which the devil said is truth. The word saith, him will God destroy, Mat. 21:41; 1 Cor. 3:17; 6:13. They shall be destroyed, 2 Pet. 2:12. Swift destruction, their end is destruction, 2 Pet. 2:1. Their opinion saith, they shall never be destroyed, die, nor end, which is no destruction. The word saith, The last enemy is death, 1 Cor. 15:26. Their opinion saith, that is not the last; there is one after it, which is much worse, and will never end. It saith, God’s anger is forever, he will never turn from it: contrary to Jer. 3:12; Psalm 50:5; 89:5; 78:38. Mr. Bolton saith, they shall suffer so long as God is God; if so, then they have eternal life, (though in misery,) whereas the Scripture doth not declare eternal life to be for all men, John 6:45-47. Promised to us eternal life, 1 John 2:17,25. I give unto them eternal life, to as many as thou hast given me, John 17:2-3. In hope of eternal life, Titus 1:2. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed, Acts [66] 13:48. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, John 5:29. If it be granted that the wicked have not eternal life, as hath been proved, it will follow that they cannot suffer forever, so long as God is God; and therefore all their building of a punishment never to end falls: grant the first, and the latter must needs follow.
If Adam had not sinned, he should have died; as appears from the following considerations:—
I. He had, in his creation, a natural body, 1 Cor. 15:44: that which is natural is not eternal, ver. 46, he was of the earth, earthly, ver. 47-48, therefore mortal and corruptible, ver. 53-54.
II. Man in his first being was corporal and visible to be seen; things seen are not eternal. Mr. Bolton saith, if Adam had stood, he could not have conveyed to us a body immortal, or not dying, in his Treatise of Heaven, p. 131. Basil saith, if God had given Adam an immortal and unchangeable nature, he had created a god, and not a man. Augustine, in his Book of Confessions, saith, because the Lord created man of nothing, therefore he left in man a possibility to return to nothing, if he obeyed not the will of his maker.
3. Man in innocency needed food, &c. That which depends on mutable and earthly things, is earthly and mutable: we see it in all other creatures that live upon perishing things; they all perish; and herein man, by the first Adam, hath no pre-eminence above a beast. Heaven and earth were created, therefore had a beginning; and although they have a much longer life than man, are to have an end; heaven and earth shall be dissolved, 2 Pet. 3:12.
[67] If Adam had not died, (Rom. 5:12.) he should have continued in this world, and should not have gone to the world to come; therefore by his fall he lost no happiness nor eternal life in that world; for he could not by that fall lose more than he had, and was to have. Death is according to nature; but to attain immortality is above nature. Adam, being earth, and from the earth, his enjoyment, life, and loss, and punishment, must of necessity be earthly. How cometh he then by his fall to be capable of a punishment never to end, unless by his fall he could purchase eternal life, which none will affirm? Eternal life cannot be by the first man, much less by sin.
I deny not but the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23. There is a difference to be put between a natural death and a judicial death: the first is from nature, the second is from sin. If the common death that all die, Heb. 9:27, were the punishment of sin, as most men think, then Christ by freeing his people from the punishment of sin, by bearing death for them, of necessity must free them from dying a natural death: but Christ freeth none from a natural death, yet freeth them from the punishment of sin. Therefore, to die the common death is no part of the punishment of sin; for where sin is satisfied, or pardoned, or forgiven, the punishment is not inflicted; if it be, how is it forgiven? Even men, when they pardon, inflict not the punishment. All confess the sins of some men are pardoned; how then comes it to pass that those whose sins are pardoned, do nevertheless die for sin? He that keepeth my sayings shall not see death, John 8:51, is not to [68] be referred to a natural death, but it speaks of enduring a judicial death, John 3:16. The Scripture declares that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, the just and the unjust, Acts 24:15. The unjust would enter into life, but shall not, John 5:29. Unto whom I swear in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest, Psalm 95:11; Heb.4:5-7. And you yourselves thrust out, Luke 13:28. When they rise to judgment at the last day, they shall be consumed with the earth by fire, that is their end; so that not to enter, to be thrust out, the second death, and to perish, is one thing. If they live forever, and have eternal life, how do they perish? and how is the end of those things death? Rom. 6:21, if there be no end? To be carnally minded is death, Rom. 8:6; how is this true, if they live forever, and never die?
Sin, being a transgression of the law, is a legal sin, and so it is to have a legal punishment; this, for some sins, is death, Rom. 6:23, inflicted by God, as Gen. 38:7,10, and by man. A legal death is not from nature, but from sin, and is a second death. If a man for murder be put to death, in dying, he dieth the first and second death; for in dying, he dieth a natural death, and a judicial death; this latter is a second death, inasmuch as it is not from nature, but from sin.
Men put the stress of the punishment of sin upon the second death; but what that second death is, they cannot agree among themselves. The ministers, in their late Annotations on the Bible, on Rev. 20:6, on such the second death hath no power, interpret it, not to be destroyed by Antichrist, nor by the [69] Turk, so then, according to their interpretation, it is not a punishment never to end. Mr. Perkins saith, the second death is a total separation from God; if so, it is not a punishment without end; for God is every where, Psalm 139:7-8; and if they be any where, how are they absent from God?
If the second death be a death, it is not a life of misery, never to end; that is not a death, unless eternal life be death. They confess eternal life in misery is worse than death; if so, it is not a death, but another thing.
The first death is the destruction of the body, a separation of soul and body; the second death must be like it; the second death is an image of the first, else how is it a death, and a second death? The second Adam being man, was an image of the first; the Scripture saith, the second death is like the first, Luke 6:1. The second is like to it, Mat. 22:39, therefore, as the first death, so the second, is a separation of soul and body, else how is it a death, or a second death?
Reuben, by going into his father’s bed, deserved a judicial legal death, but did not die for it, Gen. 49:3-4, 35:22; 1 Chron. 5:1. Let Reuben live and not die, Deut. 33:6. A judicial or second death. The Jews (Onkelos) read Deut. 33:6. Let Reuben live and not die the second death, and Jonathan on Isa. 66:6. I will deliver their carcasses to the second death; and ver. 17. The Lord will slay them with the second death. By which it appears the Jews count the second death is to be slain; and if so, it is not a life of misery, never to [70] end, as some say. The book of the Revelation speaks of the second death: Dr. Featly, and Dr. Lightfoot, and others say, that Book treats of the church, and things done in this world; and if so, then the second death is a punishment of this life. They also interpret heaven, in that Book, to be the church; and the late Annotations on the Bible, and Mr. Brightman, and others, on Apoc. 20:10, say, that the devil, in that place, is the great Turk.
[71] It is their opinion, which implies that the wages of sin is not death; they say it is a life of misery never to end, which is worse and more than death; [72] therefore their opinion is contrary to the word that saith, it is death. Filled with all unrighteousness, haters of God, despiteful, proud, inventors of evil things; [73] they that commit such things are worthy of death, Rom. 1:29-32. These are great sinners; yet the word saith not that they are worthy of more than death; [74] and therefore why should any say, they are worthy of more than death? And if the end of these things is death, Rom. 6:21, therefore there is not anything [75] to come after death, 2 Kings 7:4. The soul that sinneth shall die, Ezek. 18:20; that is, all that sin doth bring forth. God, in giving his law, did express the punishment of the breach of it, saying, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, Gen. 2:17. Dying thou shalt die, that is, naturally and judicially. Not touch it lest ye die, Gen. 3:3. To bear iniquity, is to die for it, Lev. 22:9; Numb. 18:22. That one man die for the people, John 18:14. The body is dead because of sin, Rom. 8:10. He that is dead is freed from sin, Rom. 6:7. Neither sin nor punishment hath anything to do with a dead man. This iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die; then it is purged from them; if this iniquity be purged from you till ye die, we learn that death acquitteth, Talm. Jerus. Sanched. fol. 27. col. 3.
After man had sinned, God expounded the punishment of the breach of his law, Gen. 3:14-20. It is evident that the punishment of the old serpent the devil, and of the woman, and of the man, for their sin, are only punishments of this life; there is not the least word of any punishment after this life, much less of a punishment never to end. So that by that which is said, we may judge of what Mr. Bolton and others say, of being everlastingly in a red hot scorching fire, deprived of all possibility of dying, [76] or of being ever consumed in torment eternally. They say, the fire of hell burneth far hotter than ten thousand rivers of brimstone; how do they know this, seeing they never felt it, nor any others who can have told them of it? Three drops of brimstone will make one so full of torment, that he cannot forbear roaring out for pain; yet it must be borne so long as God is God. O eternity, eternity, eternity! If so, they shall have eternal life, which is contrary to the Scriptures, as hath been proved, and is therefore to be rejected. Also they say, that the souls of the wicked go immediately, at death, to hell, to the devils, contrary to Eccl. 3:21; 12:7; Gen. 2:7; Heb. 12:9; Zech. 12:1. If the devils are in hell in torment, as they commonly and vainly imagine, hell is in the wicked: the devil’s evil spirits are there, and rule there in the children of disobedience, Eph. 2:2; 1 Pet. 5:8; Jude 14; Mat. 8:28; 25:39-41.
Adam in innocency being a natural man, he had the law of nature written in his heart; the breach of that natural law caused a temporal curse and punishment, and not any eternal. They that think eternal life is to be had for our works, our well-doing, are prone to think eternal life may be lost for our not well doing: but the way of the gospel places not eternal life and eternal death in misery upon our doing, Rom. 4:2-5. Also the Scripture speaketh not of an eternal death, and therefore there is no such thing.
4. Their opinion of a punishment after this life never to end, makes not sin, but Christ, to be the [77] cause of men’s thus suffering. This is evident, because if Christ had not come, there had been no resurrection: and if no resurrection, there could be no suffering of any torment after this life; for if there were no resurrection, men would perish in their graves: that would be their end. If Christ be not risen, they which are fallen asleep are perished, 1 Cor. 15:17-18. That the resurrection came by Jesus Christ is also evident, because Christ saith, I am the resurrection, John 11:25. By man, that is Christ, came the resurrection, 1 Cor. 15:21, therefore it is called the resurrection of Christ, 1 Pet. 3:21. His resurrection, Rom. 6:5; Phil. 3:10; 1 Pet. 1:21. Christ is called the first fruits, because he first rose from the dead; after him others. If Christ had not risen, no man should ever have risen from the dead; therefore it is said, they came out of their graves after his resurrection, Mat. 27:53. And since Christ is the resurrection, and the cause of it, inasmuch as it came by him, sure none will deny, that if there had been no resurrection of the dead, there could be no suffering after death, so long as God is God; therefore it follows, if any shall so suffer, Christ is the cause of it, for without him they could not have lived forever, and therefore could not suffer forever. And is it not very hard and unreasonable, and contrary to the word, to charge Christ to be the cause of their so suffering? Seeing Christ came in love to the world, John 3:16, to save, and not to destroy, Luke 9:56; 19:10, not to make any miserable; he came to save sinners, 1 Tim. 1:15; Luke 4:18. He rose again for our justification. [78] Therefore, if none can so suffer, unless Christ be the cause of it, there is no such punishment for any to endure, never to end.
5. The Scriptures declare what Christ came to do, namely, to deliver us from the hand of our enemies, Luke 1:74, to taste death for every man, Heb. 2:9. See Luke 4:18. The last enemy is death, 1 Cor. 15:26. He abolished death, 2 Tim. 1:10. He hath promised deliverance from death and the grave; I will redeem them from death, Hos. 13:14. He that keepeth my sayings shall not see death, John 8:51-52. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Cor. 15:55. I will ransom thee from the power of the grave: he saith not from the torments of hell, nor from the punishment never to end. O death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, I will be thy destruction! Hosea 13:14. So that if there be a punishment after death and the grave, there is no mention of Christ’s delivering us from it. The Scripture saith, he is able to save from death, Heb. 5:7: this is as much as to say that salvation from death is sufficient, and that there is no further thing to be delivered from beyond death and the grave: if there were, deliverance from these would not be satisfactory, because not sufficient: for if there is to be a punishment after death, who shall deliver us from that? Christ delivereth from death and the grave; and as no further deliverance from anything is mentioned, therefore no such deliverance was necessary, nor is there anything of the kind to be delivered from. So ye may see that their opinion makes void Christ’s suffering, and the saints’ comfort; for if a [79] punishment never to end be due to man for sin, Christ must forever suffer that punishment to free us from it, or we must suffer it. Protestant writers confess, that the way and means by which Christ frees us from the punishment of sin, is by his suffering that punishment which we were to suffer. To this the Scriptures agree, Gal. 3:13; Isa. 53:4-7. So that if Christ our surety hath not suffered the said torments forever, then hath not Christ suffered enough: namely, that which we were to suffer; and so hath not delivered us from that punishment. That Jesus Christ hath not so suffered, is evident and confessed by the Protestant writers. Some of the Protestants say, (1.) the reprobates in hell suffer the want of vision or sight of God forever, final rejection. (2.) They shall be perplexed with the horror of a guilty conscience. (3.) Deprived of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (4.) Instead of virtues, they are defiled with wickedness, indignation, desperation. Christ suffered none of these, saith Willet, Synop. p. 1010. Far be it from us so to conceive, p. 1014. Also they say, (1.) in hell is inward and outward darkness; (2.) a lake of fire and brimstone; (3.) fire unquenchable; (4.) worm and prick of conscience; (5.) malediction; (6.) desperation, second death. Christ suffered none of these; therefore he suffered not the torments of hell; they do not believe he suffered them forever, for they will not say he is now in that place. If Christ had suffered the pains of the damned, yet unless he suffered them without end, he suffered not the punishment of the damned in hell, which they say we were to suffer.
[80] Also they say, the damned suffer not those torments without sin and desperation; will any say that Christ so suffered also? They say, in hell they shall see the story of their sins before their eyes, the wrath of God lying upon them for their sins, cruel indignation, horrible outcries, blasphemies, fretting for horrible torments, endless pains, without all hope or comfort. Who dare say, Christ suffered any of these? Some, that are for the torments of hell, confess that it stands not with the dignity and worthiness of Christ’s person, nor with the holiness of his nature, nor the dignity of his office, to suffer in that local place eternally. Final rejection, with desperation, with the worm of conscience, agreeth not to the holiness of his person; final rejection Christ suffered not, nor eternal flames, nor the second death; for Christ to suffer these, were to destroy the work of our redemption. Christ could not be subject to destruction, Willet’s Synop. p. 1009. Christ suffered none of these punishments, therefore he suffered not the torments of hell.—Christ was heard, in that he feared. Christ did not fear the torments of hell, therefore he did not partake with us, nor deliver us from them. He did not deliver us from anything which he did not suffer: eternal fire in hell he did not suffer, nor are the pains of this life the pains of hell, as they understand it; therefore if there be any such hell or punishment, Christ suffered it not, and therefore we must suffer it.
See ye not whither this their doctrine tends? To overthrow the sufficiency of Christ’s suffering, and [81] our comfort, in leaving us to suffer the said torments ourselves; Christ leaving his suffering an example, if we suffer with him, &c., Rom. 8:17. Must we suffer the torments of hell? I believe Christ hath borne the whole punishment of sin; in this I am satisfied, and desire no more; but how Christ suffered the torments of hell, neither I, nor they, can see. They say, Christ, being God, made an infinite satisfaction, paying at once upon the cross that which we should have been forever in paying. I grant Christ is God; but the Godhead did not, and could not suffer. If the Godhead of Christ was to make satisfaction to God, then it seems God satisfieth God; and if Christ as God was to make satisfaction, to what purpose did he become man and die? If ye say he was to make satisfaction both in his Godhead and manhood, doth the Godhead need the help of the manhood to make satisfaction?
It is not proper to say, God was to be satisfied; for he never was unsatisfied. God is perfect, infinite, happy, unchangeable; how is he so, if he were ever unsatisfied? To say God is, or ever was, unsatisfied, is in effect to deny the being of God, to say he is not happy; for satisfaction and content belong to happiness; where there is no satisfaction, there is no content or happiness, because no perfection. God is one; to us there is but one God; God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2 Cor. 5:19, that is, Father, Word, and Spirit. God is one, not one divine nature in Christ satisfying, and another divine nature in the Father satisfied; but the Father in the Son, God in Christ. The essence of God [82] is one and the same, reconciling the world to himself. God was never unreconciled to the world; it is only man that is at enmity and unreconciled; therefore it is said, he reconciled them to himself. The change is in the creature, not in God, Malachi 3:6. If the manhood of Christ was to make satisfaction to God, how can man, who is finite, satisfy that which is infinite? Unless you will affirm that the Godhead of Christ did suffer, there was not anything to suffer except the manhood of Christ; can the suffering of man satisfy God? Man is finite; so is all he performs or suffers. Sin is a transgression of the law; sin is a disorder of the creature’s first and chief being, which stands in righteousness, and it is an eclipse of the glory of man. Sin is a defect, and a discovery of the weakness and mutability of the reasonable creature. Sin cannot impeach God; if thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? Or if thy righteousness be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou unto him, or what receiveth he at thy hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy righteousness profit the Son of man, Job 35:6-8. God hath all satisfaction in and from himself, not from anything without, or besides himself.
God gave not a law to himself to satisfy, but to man; the law belongs only to the human nature, therefore Christ was a man; he took on him the form of a servant, and became obedient to death, the death of the cross, Phil. 2:7-8. A body, Heb. 10:5. Obedience belongs to the human will; the man Christ was made a curse for us; he was bruised for our iniquities, and with his stripes [83] we are healed, Isa. 53:5,10. It was blood that washed away our sins, Rev. 1:5. Therefore it was said, by the obedience of one [man] we are made righteous, Rom. 5:19. The word saith not, by the obedience of God, nor of God-man, God is satisfied, but by the obedience of one man we are made righteous, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. 2:5.
The worthiness of Christ’s person did not abolish the equity of God’s law, and exempt him from suffering that which he ought to suffer, Luke 24:26. Some say, the suffering of Christ was infinite; but the word saith not so; the punishment of sin is death; he tasted death, he died for us; but it is no infinite thing to die. They reply, the sin of man is infinite, because committed against an infinite God. To say sin is infinite, in a strict sense, is to attribute too much to sin, and too little to God; to give that to sin which is proper to God. To make sin equal to God, is in effect to deny the being of God, because there can be but one infinite. Also, to say sin is infinite, is to make all sins equal in enormity and magnitude; for there are no degrees in that which is infinite. Sin not being infinite needs not an infinite satisfaction. They say, infinite majesty being offended, infinite punishment was imposed; but this is only their say-so, because it is without the word of God. The punishment of sin is not to be taken from the infiniteness of God, but from the penalty expressed in his law, for the breach of it, which is death, Gen. 2:17.
6. The word saith, God’s fury is like fire; in the fire of his jealousy he shall make a speedy riddance of [84] all them in the day of the Lord’s wrath, Zeph. 1:18. But to continue in torment forever is no speedy riddance; therefore there is to be no such punishment. The pouring out of the fiery anger of the Lord is a day, Zeph. 1:15,18; Rom. 2:5; Ezek. 13:14; 22:22; Isa. 13:9,13. The day of the Lord is at hand, Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15. A punishment never to end in no manner corresponds with a day; therefore there shall be no such punishment.
7. The doctrine of the torments of hell never to end, hath caused, and doth daily cause, much sin:—
I. It causeth fear; fear hath torment, 1 John 4:8. He that feareth is not perfect in love, 1 John 4:18. A servile and a slavish fear is sin.
II. It causeth many evil and hard thoughts of God.
III. Fear troubleth the hearts of many of the Lord’s people, and maketh them sad with their lies. God complains of this, Ezek. 13:22. Their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers walked, Amos 2:4. Christ saith, Let not your hearts be troubled, John 14:1. The fear of hell doth greatly trouble the hearts of many. It is God’s will to comfort the sad, to release them that are bound, Isa. 40:5,9; 51:1-4. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver, Prov. 25:11.
IV. Fear distracts and greatly discourages the soul, hinders faith; that which delivers the soul from fear, fits it to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our lives, Luke 1:74-75.
[85] V. Fear unfits and disables the soul in regard to every good work towards God or man; it unfits for any outward occasion; it is a weight that depresses the soul, and makes it weak; it straiteneth the heart; but hope comforteth and enlargeth it.
VI. The doctrine of hell-torments provokes the soul to envy and unbelief, and hinders subjection to God. If the soul apprehends itself liable to so great and everlasting punishment, it cannot submit to God, nor be quiet. This caused Francis Spira to wish he were above God. The light of truth causes the soul to sin less, and to be less troubled, to have fewer hard thoughts of God, and less to fret against the Lord.
VII. This doctrine causes an exceeding and unreasonable trouble of mind, and melancholy. Such trouble is sin, John 14:1. A merry heart doeth good, Prov. 17:22. The knowledge of the truth in regard to this subject gives peace to the fearful mind, and causes, as it were, a heaven upon earth.
VIII. This doctrine hath caused many to murder themselves, taking away their own lives by poison, stabbing, drowning, hanging, strangling, and shooting themselves, casting themselves out of windows, and from high places, to break their necks, and by other kinds of death, that they might not live to increase their sin, and increase their torments in hell.
[86] IX. This doctrine provoketh to the greatest sins, as despair; also to the wickedness which the world lieth in, namely, working for life, to perform duties to escape hell and obtain heaven, which is to tread underfoot the blood of Christ as an unholy thing, Heb. 10:29, in seeking to be justified by the law of works, and not alone by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, Rev. 1:5; Jer. 23:6; Heb. 10:10,14.
X. Freedom from fear causes love; love causes service; the love of Christ constraineth; it tends to the comfort of many, who through weakness of faith give way to Satan’s temptations. To fear the torments of hell causes a feeble mind; comfort the feeble minded, 1 Thes. 5:14. It is a comfort to many, whose children and friends die, and leave no testimony of their conversion, to be free from this fear; for the fear that they are to suffer so great and endless torment, hath saddened and troubled the heart of many a parent and friend.
XI. God hath said, he will not contend forever, nor be always wroth; for the spirit would fail before him, and the souls he has made, Isa. 57:16. Man is not able to dwell with everlasting burnings, Isa. 33:14. To be in so great a torment as they speak of, without end, ease, and refreshment, the spirit must fail, (a small thing will make the spirit fail;) and if so, [87] the reason is the same against the being of a punishment never to end.
8. It is not agreeable to the God of nature to go contrary to the law of nature, which he hath written in the hearts of mankind. There is implanted in man a universal love to man, especially to their own offspring, whether obedient or disobedient. How strong is the love of parents to their offspring when in misery, and to others also in misery and want! Surely no man doth desire that any man or creature should endure the torments they speak of, one year, much less their own children; how then may I, or can I, think God to be less compassionate, less merciful than cruel man (Jer. 50:24; 6:23; Hos. 4:1; Isaiah 49:15,) to his offspring? We are all his offspring, Acts 17:28. Surely God exceeds man in goodness; if ye being evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him, Mat. 7:8-11. Thou Lord art good, and doest good, Psalm 119:68; Mat. 5:45. Though they were evil, and did evil, God did good, and gave rain, Acts 14:17. They say the fire, Dan. 3:21, is nothing to hell, and that the greatest torment man can devise is scarcely a shadow to that in hell; by which they declare God to be more cruel than man.
9. If man had deserved so great punishment, why may not God show so much mercy as not to inflict it, as well as to let his sun shine, and his rain fall, on them that do not deserve it, seeing he could (if he so pleased) hinder it? We see men show more kindness to a rebellious and disobedient child than [88] he deserveth; may not God do the same? So much as God is greater than man, so much greater is his mercy, love, and goodness, than that which exists in man; yea than that which is, or ever was, in all men. All their love, and mercy, and goodness, came from him; and it is all but as the least drop, compared with that great sea and ocean of mercy and love, which is in him. How little a portion is heard of him? Job 26:14. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity, Isa. 40:12,15,17,22. O how great is he that hangeth the earth upon nothing! Job 26:7. He can and will do for the worst creature far above that which it is able to ask or think.
10. God’s general goodness in the creation of the world extends to all his creatures; and also in his ordinary dispensations, it extends towards the whole universe of mankind, and is for their benefit. He hath provided room enough for all men and creatures, and all good things for all; the profit of the earth is for all, Eccl. 5:9. God hath commanded us to do good unto all; he that hath two coats is to impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat must do so likewise, Luke 3:11. All this manifests God’s good will, and the care he exercises over mankind; he that would not have them suffer the torment of misery and want, that taketh care to prevent that little and short misery, will not impose a far greater torment, never to end.
11. The doctrine of hell-torments lesseneth the goodness of God, and limits it to a few, whereas the Scripture declares it extends to all, Rom. 5, the [89] whole chapter. The creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, Rom. 8:21. The whole creation, and every creature, angels and men, Jews and Gentiles, ver. 20, Mark 16:15, in bondage to corruption, subject to vanity, idolatry, and delusion of the devil, who know not, nor partake of the glorious liberty of the sons of God, shall be delivered from this bondage into the said liberty; for God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2 Cor. 5:19. This is spoken to persuade them to be reconciled to God, ver. 20, which shows it to concern mankind. The Protestants in Poland understand by every creature, angels and men: they say there will come a time, when the angels and wickedest men shall be freed. Origen, one of the Fathers, held, that all should at last be saved, men and devils. The generality of the Fathers held, that all souls shall be purged by the fire of the last judgment, and so pass to salvation, Moulin, p. 135. See Rom. 11:22,23,27. All flesh shall see the salvation of God, Luke 3:6. See 1 Tim. 2:3-6; Isa. 45:17. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it, Isa. 40:5. The times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began, Acts 3:21. They shall in time be delivered from their bondage, for which deliverance they groan. Are not all, angels and men, obedient or disobedient, the creation of God? If so, the worst shall partake of the liberty of the sons of God? As the whole creation came from [90] God, (or rather is in God, for in him we live) it shall be taken up into the same glory. A good cannot extend too widely; the farther it extends, the better. If it be good to show mercy to some, is it not more good to have mercy on all? Rom. 5:18. Plato could say, God being a supreme good, there was no envy in him towards any of his creatures, but rather a desire that all might be made like him. This is a great and glorious discovery of God. In him we live and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said; for we are all his offspring, Acts 17:28. I have wondered how the heathen poets came to know this truth; surely God did manifest it unto them. If all men are in God, all men are in Christ; for Christ saith, I and my Father are one, John10:30. Also, if all men are in God, (in him we live and move, &c.,) then all men are in Christ; for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, 2 Cor. 5:19. All confess that all who are in Christ shall be saved: as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, 1 Cor. 15:22. I see God is good, and doth good, and it is suitable to the being of God to do good to all, and no such torment, of such continuance, is agreeable to the mind and will of God.
Rom. chap. 5 puts the second Adam in opposition to the first, his saving to his sinning. If all nations be blessed, Gen. 22:18, every particular is comprehended in the general word All. It is a great lessening of the greatness and glory, of the fullness and riches, of God’s grace, to say that God hath made this world for all, who are many, and the [91] world to come, far better than this, for only a very few. Shall the fruit of Christ, the sun of righteousness, be more narrow and confined than that of the sun in the firmament, whose excellency is, that its bright rays and beams are dispersed into every corner of the universe?
12. The doctrine of hell-torments is not agreeable to the spirit of a saint. We may know the mind of God by the mind of a saint; we have the mind of Christ, 1 Cor. 2:16. He that is turned to the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor. 6:17. God is in them, of a truth, 1 Cor. 14:25. Christ in us, Col. 1:27. Stephen, when stoned, cried, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, Acts 7:60. Saints are ever merciful, Psalm 37:26. The desire of the righteous is only good, Prov. 11:23. Such torment, of such continuance, is by no means agreeable to the gracious mind, and merciful heart of a saint; he desires not any man or creature to be in such torment an hour; therefore such torments cannot be agreeable to the mind of God. We find that the more fully the Lord manifests himself in any of his people, the more their minds are humbled, the more loving and merciful they are, even to their enemies, and can do them good for evil.
13. Such torments do not in the least correspond with the mind and will of Christ. He is full of love and mercy to the worst men: it was truly said of him, he was a friend to publicans and sinners; he was their best friend. When they crucified him, he said, Father, forgive them, Luke 23:34. When the disciples would have had fire come down from [92] heaven to consume his enemies, he rebuked them, Luke 9:54-55. He that will by no means allow his enemies to suffer a short death by fire, will not inflict upon them a more terrible fire never to end. Ye may know the mind of God by the mind of Christ, for Christ is God, alike, equal, Acts 20:28; Heb. 1:3. And as one; I and my Father are one, John 10:30.
14. Such punishments do not correspond with the fruits of the holy and blessed God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, goodness, &c. Gal. 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, Eph. 5:9. The words of the Lord are pure words, Psalm 12:6. The words of the pure are pleasant words, Prov. 25:26. Good words, comfortable words. The Holy Spirit is called a comforter, not a tormentor. The pure spirit of love sends forth only love and sweetness.
15. Such torment does not correspond with the nature of God. God is love, 1 John 4:16. It is his nature; there is no anger or fury in love; fury is not in me, Isa. 27: 4. God wills us to love our enemies, who abuse, wrong, and hate us; much more will God love his enemies, Luke 6:35. If God should love only them who love him, do not even the publicans the same? Mat. 5:46. All that is in God is infinite. God is love; his love therefore is infinite, without bounds or limits, though we, in our shallowness and narrowness, have often set bounds and limits to that which is infinite. There never was any beginning in God, therefore no beginning of his love. The infinite blessed God is one and always the same; I am the Lord, I change not, Malachi 3:6. This love delights in mercy and love, and not [93] in the punishing of sin; that is his strange work, Isa. 28:21. Christ died to answer the law which we transgressed.
Christ did not purchase the love of God; he loved us before the world began, and ever will, John 13:1. God was never destitute of love. Christ saith, Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me, John 17:23. At what shall God be angry, or dissatisfied? God was never angry with Christ nor his people, nor at the being of sin, nor at Christ’s taking our sins upon him; for he laid them on him, even the iniquity of us all, Isa. 53:6.
16. It is not suitable to the mercifulness of a father towards his child, of a creator to his creature, the work of his hands, to impose so great a punishment without end, upon any of them: that would be worse than to forsake the works of his hands, and is contrary to Psalm 145:8-9. Your heavenly Father is merciful, Luke 6:36. Rich in mercy, Eph. 2:4. The Lord is gracious, of great mercy; the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, and thy saints shall bless thee, Psalm 145:8-10. He is good to all, he despiseth not any, Job 36:5, and no respecter of persons, Acts x. 34.
17. Sin cannot overcome the love of God; where sin hath abounded, grace did much more abound, Rom. 5:20. This declares the mercy of God to be greater than sin; if so, the grace of God is to all, to the worst, for sin abounds in them most: and where sin abounds, grace abounds much more; if so, then all their sins shall be forgiven. If any are to suffer [94] endless torment for their sins, how has grace abounded to them much more than their sins? Answer this if you can. With the Lord there is mercy, Psalm 130:7. The Lord is good to all; therefore to the worst of men; His tender mercies are over all his works; therefore over the worst of men, for they are the works of his hands, Isaiah 64:8. Therefore there is no punishment for any to endure, never to end. He that bids us not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good, will not himself be overcome by evil, but will overcome all evil with his infinite goodness. That which is finite cannot possibly overcome that which is infinite.
18. God is just; therefore he will not do anything which is not just and right. The greatest punishment of the breach of his law is death. He will not inflict another, much less, a worse punishment than he hath expressed in his law. Justice is in number, weight, and measure; God requires things equal. Ye may see the mind of God in his command, forbidding anything to be done, but that which is equal and suitable to the fact; as eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot, stripe for stripe, Exod. 21:24-26. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her, Rev. 18:7. What measure you mete to others, shall be measured to you again. Murder, a horrible and grievous sin, is punished with an equal punishment in this life,—life for life; he that sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, Gen. 9:6. Life for life is equal; but to lose life for life, and also to suffer an endless punishment in addition, is not equal.
[95] 19. It is no profit nor pleasure to God that any should suffer endless torment; he hath no pleasure in the death of any, Ezek. 18:31-32. Much less can it be any pleasure to him that any should suffer a torment never to end. He desires mercy, and not sacrifice, Hos. 6:6. If so, he desires not that any should be so sacrificed in a torment never to end. God abhors cruelty, Amos 1:3,6,13, and casting off pity.
20. It is not for the glory of God to impose endless torments on any. Glory consisteth not in imposing great and terrible punishments; that belongeth to cruelty, and is abhorred by the light of nature. Glory consisteth in great mercy and forgiveness, Exod. 34:6-7. The greater the mercy and forgiveness, the greater is the grace, and the more it redounds to the glory of God. Love covereth all sins, Prov. 10:12. He that covereth transgression seeketh love, Prov. 17:9. If man’s glory is to pass over transgression, (Prov. 19:11,) much more is it for the glory of God to do so. God made all things, and doeth all things for his glory; he seeketh his glory in the exceeding greatness and riches of his grace, Eph. 2:7. It is more for his glory to save all, than to save a few. By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life, Rom. 5:18. Sin could not hinder Manasses, Mary Magdalen, persecutors, and wicked prodigals, from finding mercy. It cannot be that cruelty dwells in God, who is love, and whose goodness is unsearchable, past finding out, far above all we can ask or think. There is such a confused noise among [96] men, of the grace and love of God, so many voices that we are in confusion, and know not what to make of it. Look above, and hearken to the sweet voice in the region of love. What are the voices in heaven? they agree in one: no voice comes from heaven, but love, peace, and good will to man. Let men say what they will, I rest satisfied in the voice above, which is a voice of love and good will. This is enough to satisfy any one who has doubted: and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men, Luke 2:13-14, not only to some men, but to all people, ver. 10. This is glad tidings indeed, good news from heaven, the best news that ever was, that God hath good will to men; there is no ill will, all is good will to men; this causeth peace and praise. Glory be to the Highest for his sweet peace and good will to men, to all people.
To conclude:—In reading the Scriptures, we are not to understand any text in such a sense as is not plain in Scripture, or is contrary to Scripture, or contrary to the law of nature, or contrary to the general goodness of God to mankind, or contrary to the gracious spirit and mercifulness of a saint, or contrary to the mind of Christ, which he declared when on earth, or contrary to the fruits of the blessed spirit, the nature of the love, goodness, and mercy of God; or in such a sense as shall tend to contradict or lessen the glory of God, or lessen the greatness and riches of his grace; for it is not to be imagined that God, who is only wise, should do and teach contrary things.
[97] Sure I am, from hence arises no inconveniency to the gospel, nor is it any dishonor to God, nor any grief, nor any obstacle to the faith and love of any good man, nor any discouragement to any man in serving God, that there is not to be a punishment for any to endure, that shall never end. Nothing can be more plain than that which hath been said, to any one who will agree to the truth. Some will not agree to anything though ever so plain and certain, if it be contrary to the tradition of their fathers: this their way is their folly; and their posterity approve their sayings, Psalm 49:13. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Isa. 53:1.
Some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed not, Acts 28:24. They make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn away the just for a thing of naught, Isa. 29:21.
O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle, Psalm 140:7. So be it.
END.
THE REFORMED UNIVERSALIST 