¶1355. EXTRACTS FROM RAMSAY'S PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION.
(At end of No. 1355)
¶GLORY OF GOD THE END OF HIS WORKS.
¶Endeavour to shew how that altho God in the<o>se communications of his be[a]uty & happiness may be said to act for the creature & so that it is grace & goodness in God, yet he may be said to act for hims. and to make himself his end & that the creature in what he does shoud [sic] act for God & make God his end. ---- To shew how in both the acts of God & the right acts of the creature Gods glory & the creatures true & infinite good are one supream end.
¶DEFINITION Explain what is meant by an ultimate end & how this differs from a chief end & that supposing a thing to [be (om. E.)] ones chief end in what he does don't necessarily suppose it to be his ultimate end.
¶DEFINITION. An ultimate end is an end which alone is sought for its own sake an end that is wholly a subordinate end & not at all an ultimate end is not at all sought for its own sake or not in any wise beheld by the agent as desirable absolutely & in it self considered, but only for the sake of the ulteriour end to which it is subordinated [finis]
¶[This item is xo by a vertical line a little to the left of the center of each column. It is in the material not yet numbered by JE himself and was not given a number by the one who added the numerals after 1346, because it was marked through. N/B. The rest of p. 964 is blank, as is 965-6 (and also 969); pp. 967-8 are missing but probably also blank. The item is indexed by JE as "P. 964 &c--," which probably means that he originally meant to devote several pages to the topic.]
¶1356 [ join this with p. 820.]<E's> that God will proceed with them, in this great affair, in a method agreable to the intelligent volitive & active nature he has given <them [c]> & deal with them as moral ages<nts, [c]> and <as [c]> creatures <whom [c]> he has made to love him. be in subjection to him & serve him; and so that there must be made to them a new revelation of the designs of his wisdom, holiness & grace, with respect to their deliverance & being received to favour & the eternal happy fruits of it, concerning the way in which it is to be done, the qualifications or acts of theirs previously requisite; and so there must be some new treaty set a foot, either while they are under their punishmt or afterwards, in some intermediate space between that & their being exalted to glory. doubtless they themselves must have some active concern in the affair, in a way of repenting, seeking, obeying or yielding subjection to God<, & in [c]> some acknowledgmt of him, some yielding themselves to him. <F [c]>for God immediately to advance em from a state of great wickedness and mis[ery (mg.)] in hell, to a state of perfection & confirmd eternal happiness, is neither agreeable to reason and the nature of things; nor to Gods known method of dealing with int [? (om.Rem.)] intelligent creatures. It would be much further from it, than it would have been for God immediately to have instated all angels and men in their confirmd state of life & [c?] eternal glory & blessed<ness, [c]> in the instant of their creation, without any terms, any previous concern or act of theirs in order to it.
¶But that a new dispensation of grace should thus be introduced, because that which was brought in by X & his apostles proves weak & unprofitable thro' mens corruptions, & there appears to be need of one that shall be more effectual, is not agreeable to the SS. For this dispensation is spoken of as the last & most perfect, wherein perfection was reached, Heb. 7. 19. "For the law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did". & chap. 11. 40. "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect". The antient dispensation is spoken of as that which God found fault with, it proving ineffectual through the corruption of men; & so <he [c]> introduc<ed [c]> ing [xoc] a new administration, that should not be liable to exception, & therefore should not wax old, or be ever liable to vanish away & give place to another . Heb. 8. 6. to the end. So he speaks of the things of that antient dispensation, as things [which (om.E)] were liable /p. 971/ to be shaken & me and removed; but <of [c]> the things of the new dispensation, that were then introduced, as those that could not be shaken, but should remain forever Heb. 12. 25--------25 to the end. & 2. Cor. 3:11 the dispensation of the N. T. is often spoken of in the prophecies of the O. T. as an everlasting dispensa. Jer. 31. 21,23. chap. 32. 40. Isai 61. 8. Ezek. 37. 26.
¶ARG [xoc] <15 [c]> To suppose, that after all the means of grace, that are used in the T, Moses & the prophets, X and the gospel, the warnings of Gods word & the exhibitions of glorious gospel grace, that [xoc] after these means [xoc?] have been despised & obstinately withstood, so as to make the case desperate as their success; God has other means in reserve to be used afterwards, to make men holy, that shall be effectual [xoE] <will be [c or E?]> be [xoE?] more powerful & shall be effectual, is not agreeable to SS. particularly Luke 16 27 to the end That these are the best & last means that <God [c]> will use with men seems to be a thing that it was Xs design to teach us, in the parable of the rich man & Lazarus, Luke 16. 27 to the end. "Then he said I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my fathers house: for I have five brethren, that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses & the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay, F. Abr., but if one went unto them from the d., they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses & the proph. neither will they be perwaded, tho' one rose from the dead.
¶But this is especially manifest from Rev. 22. 10,11,12. And he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust let him be unjust still, & he ----------------------- And behold I come quickly & my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
¶I think the mean<ing [c]> must either be this, the time is quickly coming, when every mans state will be fix'd & he [&c. xoE] <fix'd, [c]> in as much as I am quickly coming to judgment, to fix every mans state unalterably, according as his work shall be; & then [xoc; shd have been by E] after then there will be no alteration, nor any means or endeavours in order to it; but he that is unjust, let him be unjust still; & he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and if this be the meaning, it makes it evident, that X will not immediately proceed to /mg/ to the use of the more [sic; Rem: most] powerful & effectual means of all, to /p. 972/ to change the state of the unjust & filthy, to purify any & make em holy, & fit them for eternal glory, with infallible success . Or 2dly, the meaning must be this, which seems to be much the most probable; X having given this last revelation to his church, to be added to the books of Scripture, <with [c]> which the canon was to be shut up & seal'd, by the instrumentality of the apostle John, who lived the longest of the apostles, & wrote this book after all the rest were dead; Christ therefore orders John v. 10. to publish this book, wherein such a great future judgments are reveald as coming on the wicked, & such an affecting declaration of the future glory of the saints, to enforce the rest of Gods word & means of grace, & then intimates that no more revelations are to be expected, no more instructions & warnings to be added to the word of God, as the standing [? Rem: steady] means of grace, any further to confirm & enforce the rest; that the next revelation that is to be expected <& that [c]> X will make of hims. to the world, is to be his immediate appearance to judgment, to fix unalterably every man's state according to his works, according to the improvemt he shall have made of those past revelations, instructions & warnings; and therefore those that will not be purified by tho<e>se means, are to expected [xoc] no better or other means will ever <to [c]> be used with them; but he that is unjust must remain so still, & he that is filthy must be filthy still, & he that is righteous shall be righteous still & he that is holy shall be holy still. thus X takes leave of his chh, as it were [xoc] till his last coming, warning em to improve the means of grace they have & informing them <that [c]> they never are to have any other. <Q. D. [c]> They have Moses & the prophets, & <in the writings of the N. T. they have [c]> the more glorious, powerful & efficacious revelations of me who speak from heaven & am greater than Moses in the writings of the New T. [xoc] In [xoE?] which [xoc] <Those writings [c]> I now finish & seal. Let 'em hear these & make a good improvemt of em: for these are the last means I shall ever use to change mens [? Rem: mans] state.
¶This is [? Rem] no less inconsistent with his reservest [xoc] <ing [c]> his greatest & most powerful means, with a determined, certain success, to be used after the day of judgmt.
¶ARG [xoc] 16. They that suppose that [? Rem: the] damned are made to suffer the torments of hell for their purification, suppose that God herein is prosecuting his grand design of benevolence to his creatures: Yea and benevolence to the sufferers; & that he dont use these severe means but from necessity for their good, because all gentler remedies prove ineffectual.
¶Now tis unreasonable to suppose, that God is under any necessity of inflicting such extreme [sic] torments upon them, & holding them under them for so long a time, in order to their being brought to repentance; & that
¶1. If we consider the nature of things . for [xoE?] Torments inflicted have no tendency to bring a wicked man to repentance directly & properly, <I [c]>if by repentance we mean an alteration of the disposition and appetites & taste of the mind. we know this [xoc] by experience, the <at [c or E?]> pains inflicted for gratifying an appetite, may make men afraid to gratify the appetite; but they dont change the inclination or destroy the appetite. They may make men willing to comply with those exercises &c-- of which they have a distaste, & aversi [xoE] & to which their hear ['s?] in its relish & inclinations was [xoc] <is [c]> averse; but [xoc] <yet [c]> not from love to the things complied <with, [c]> but from another cause & for another end, from hatred of pain and love of ease. so that the man complies in some sense; but his heart dont comply. He is only driven & as it were forced: and an increase of pain alters not the nature of things. it may make a man more earnestly to desire freedom from pain; but still there is no more to <be [c]> expected from it than is in the tendency of pain, which is not to give a new nature, a new heart or new natural relish & disposition <N. B. It alters not the argument, whether [?] long continued pains & practice wont [?] gradually raise a habitual love to ve<i>rtue.>
¶The pains of the damned being great & long continued, may more & more convince them of the folly of their negligence & fearlessness in sin, & may make em willing to take pains in religion; but not shew em the beauty of holiness or the odiousness of sin, so as to cause them to hate sin on its own account. They have no tendency to beget love to God & vertue
¶But to make 'em willing to take pains in religion & comply with the requisite outward selfdenial, 'tis unreasonable to suppose, but that far less torment would be sufficient . Can any one that considers human nature, especially of those that deny an innate desperate wickedness of heart (as the men that we have this controversy /p. 974/ with generally do) doubt in the least, whether if a man should be in a furnace of fire for one day only, alive & full of quick sense, & should retain a full & lively remembrance of his misery, that [xoc] it would not be sufficient to make him willing to comply with all the pains and outward self-denial requisite in order to an universal obedience to the precepts of the word of God, rather than have those torments renewed and continued for ages; & indeed rather than endure one more such day. what pains would not such a man held to the<o>se terms be willing to comply with <Large brackets by JE> <suffer? [c]> what labours could be too much? what would he <not [c]> be willing to part with of [xoE?] worldly woa [xoE] <in [c]> foregoing of [xoc] Tly wealth or pleasure? . would not the most covetous [? touched up by c] man that had felt such a rod [? Rem] as this be willing to part with all his treasures of silver & gold? & the most ambitious man <be willing [c]> to live in a cottage or wilderness? the most voluptuous man to part with his pleasures? would he need first to endure many ages of such torment, before he would be willing to comply? --- Tis against all principles of human nature. <I [c]>if he retains the remembrance of torment, in a lively idea of it, it must unspeakably outweigh [? latter part wr. over by c] the most lively & affecting & attractive ideas of the <good [c]> things of the T. The supposition therefore of his not being brought to a compliance with less torment, is as unreasonable as to suppose, that a mote [?] or [sic; Rem: of] dust would sink the scale, being put in a balance with a talent of lead, or ten thousand talents.
see p 980 col. 1. d.
<p 980 . b.> ¶ 2. 'Tis apparent from what has often come to pass, that God is <in [c]> no necessity of making use of such dreadful & long-continued torments, in order to bring such sinners (equally wicked & obstinate) as die impenitent, to repentance. Tis most unreasonable to suppose that no sinners, that ever were converted in this T, were before their conversion as wicked and as hard-hearted, as some of them that have died impenitent; as Saul the persecutor, afterwards the apostle Paul, & some of the converts in the 2d chap of the Acts, who had a hand in Xs crucifixion, in whom Xs prayer was answered, "F. forgive them, for they know no what they do"; & innumerable instances of persecutors & others who have been brought to repentance since those days. such were converted by gentler means than those pains of hell, in what /p. 975/ the SS. calls everlasting burnings; & that without any infringement of any liberty of the persons necessary to their being moral agents. It would be unreasonable to suppose that all those eighteen, on whom the tower of Siloam fell, were good men. But X would not have his hearers imagine they were worse <than [c]> themselves; & yet intimates that there is [xoc] <was [c]> a possibility of their escaping future misery by repentance.
¶3. So far as pain and affliction is [xoc] <are [c]> concerned or made use of to bring men to repentance, Tis apparent God can make infinitely less severe chastisement effectual, together with such influences and assistances of his Spirit, as were not inconsistent with the persons moral agency in their repentance, or in their forsaking sin & turning to God. And if it should be said that it may be they were none of them so great sinners, and had not the habits of sin so confirmed, as all such as die in sin; I would answer, (1.) [parentheses by c] that this is very unreasonably supposed, & (2.) [parentheses by c] if it should be allowed, yet it cant be pretended, that the difference of guilt & hard-hartedness [sic] is proportionable at all to the severity of the chastisement used for purgation. And unless this be supposed, the force of the argument is not hurt. If no more than 10 degrees of pain, or an [xoc] one years chastisement be requisite for the overcoming <of [c]> five degrees of strength of the habit of sin; one would thing [sic] <k> that less than 100,000 degrees, or 10000 years chastisement, should be sufficient to overcome 10 degrees of strength of the same habit.
¶ARG [xoc] <17. [c]> If the torments of hell are purifying pains, means used by a God of universal benevolence towards his creatures, as necessary means for the purgation of the wicked from sin, and their being fitted for & finally brought to eternal happiness in the enjoymt of the love of God; then it will follow, that the damned in hell are still the objects of God's mercy & kindness, & that in the torments they suffer, they are the subjects of a dispensation of grace and benevolence. all is for their good; all is the best kindness that can be done 'em, the most benevolent treatmt they are capable of, in their state of /p. 976/ mind; and that in all God is but chastising them as a wise & loving Father, with a grieved, compassionate heart, gives necessary chastisement to a son whom he loves & whose good he seeks to his utmost : that in all that he does he is only prosecuting a design of infinite kindness & favour . And indeed some of the chief of those who are in the scheme of hell torments being purifying pains, do expressly maintain that they <wxo> instead of being the fruits of vindictive justice, they [xoc] are really the effects of God's benevolence, not only to the system of intelligent creatures in general, but to the sufferers thems.
¶Now how far are these things from being agreeable to the representations [xoc; c's?] which is made of things in the holy SS.? which represent the damned as thrown away of God; as things that are good for nothing; and which God makes no account of; Matth. 13. 48 as dross & not gold and silver or any valuable metal. Ps. 119. 119. "Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross." So Ezek. 22. 18. Jer. 6. 28--30. "as salt that has lost its savour; as good for nothing but to be cast out & trodden under foot of men; next col.
next col. c as that which shall not only be thrown away as wholly worthless; but what shall be thrown into the fire, to be burnt up as a meer nuisance; as chaff, & as stubble, & tares, all which are thrown away as not worthy any care to save; yea as thrown into the fire, as fit for nothing but to be destroyed, & therefore cast into the fire to be destroyed and done with; Matt. 3.12. & 13. 30. Job 21. 18
las col. e.] as stubble that is left, & as the chaff thrown out to be scatterd by the wind & go whither that shall happen to carry it, instead of being gathered & laid up as that which is of any value. Ps. 1. 4. Job 21. 18& 35. 5. last col. e.
as barren trees [sic Rem: retains] that are good for nothing, & not only so, but cumberers of the ground, and as such shall be cut down & cast into the fire. Matt. 3. 10. & 7. 19. Luke 13. 7. As barren branches in a vine that are cut off & cast away; as good for nothing and gathered & burned; Joh. 15. 6. yea [xoE?] thrown out & purged away as the filth of the T. Thus it is said Job. 20. 7. "that the wicked shall perish forever, as his own dung". <They [c]> are spoken of as those that shall be spued [sic] out of Gods mouth; as thrown into the lake of fire, as the great sink of all the filth of the creation; Rev. 21. "But the fearful, /p. 977/ & the unbelieving, & the abominable, and murderers, & whoremongers, and idolators, & all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire & brimstone; as briars & thorns that are not only wholly worthless in a field, but hurtful & pernicious, & as such are nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burn'd; Heb. 6. [space] Their end is to be burnt; i.e the husband <man [c]> throws 'em into the fire, & so has done with them forever. He dont still take care of em in order to make em fruitful & flourishing plants in his garden of delights. The wicked it is said shall be driven from light into darkness, & chased out of the T; Job. 18. 18. Instead of being treated by God with benevolence, chastening them with the compassion and kindness of a father, for their great & everlasting good; that [xoc] <they [c]> at that day when God <shall [c]> gathers ['s?] his children together, to make em experience the blessed fruits of the love of an heavenly [father (om.E.)] these /mg/ be shut out as dogs. Rev. 21. 7, 8. with chap. 22. 14,15. <They are represented as vessels to dishonour, vessels of wrath, fitted for nothing else & designed for nothing but to contain wrath & misery. next p. c. <should be "col">
< next col. d.> When God of old by his prophets denounced Gods terrible judgments against Jerusalem & the people of Israel, against Moab, Typre, Egypt, Assyria &c-- which judgmts, tho long continued, were not designd to be perpetual; there were mix'd with those awful denunciations, or added to em promises or intimations of future mercy. But when the SS. speaks of Gods dealings with ungodly men in another T, there are nothing but declarations and denunciations of wrath & misery, & no intimations of mercy, no gentle terms used, no significations of divine pity, no exhortations to humiliation under Gods awful hand, or calls to seek his face & turn & repent.
< last col. d>¶They are spoken as those that perish & lose their souls; that are lost; (2 Cor 4. 3.) those that lose thems. and are cast away; those that are destroyed, consumed &c which representations dont agree with such as are under a dispensation of kindness, and the means of a physician, in order to their eternal life, health & happiness tho the means are sever.
last col. e.
¶ The account the SS. gives of the treatment that wicked men shall meet with after this life, is very inconsistent with the notion of their being from necessity subjected to harsh means of cure & severe chastisements, with a benevolent, gracious design of their everlasting food; particularly the manner in which Christ will treat them at the day of judgment. He will bid the /p. 978/ wicked depart from him as cursed. We have no account of any invitations to accept of mercy; no [xoc] <a y [c]> counsels to repent that they may speedily be delivered from this [so Rem; their? attr. to "misery"?] . But then [xoc] tis represented that <then [c]> they shall be made his footstool. He shall triumph over them. He will trample upon em as men are wont to tread grapes in a winepress, when they trampled [xoc] with all their might, to that very end that they effectually crush them in pieces. He will tread em in his anger & trample 'em in his fury &, as he says, their blood shall be sprinkled on his garments & he will stain all his raiment, Isai. 63. at the beginning. Rev. 14. 19,20. & chap. 19. 15. in which last place it is said He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness & wrath of almighty God. These things dont saviour [? xoc] of chastizing with compassion and benevolence & as still prosecuting a design of love towards them, that he may in the end actually be their Saviour & <the []c> means of their eternal glory.
¶There is nothing in the accounts of the day of judgment, that looks as tho the saints had any love or pity for the wicked, on account of the terrible long-continued torments which they must suffer. nor indeed will the accounts that are given admit of supposing any such thing. We have an account of their judging them & being with X in condemning them, concurring in the sentence, wherein he bids em be gone from him as cursed with devils into eternal fire; but no account of their praying for them, nor of their exhorting them to consider & repent. [¶?] They shall not be grieved, but rather rejoyce at the glorious manifestations of Gods justice, holiness & majesty in their dreadful perdition, & shall triumph with X; Rev. 18. 20. & 19 at the beginning. They shall be made X<s> footstool, & so they shall be their's. They shall dip their feet in their blood, at least the blood of some of them, the blood of their persecuters Ps. 68. 23. <(quote) [c]>
¶If the damned were the objects of divine benevolence, and designed by God for the enjoyment of his eternal love, doubtless it would be required of all God's children to love em, & to pity em, & pray for em, & seek their good; as here in this T tis required of em to /p. 979/ love their enemies, to be kind to the evil & unjust, & pity & pray for the wickedest & vilest of men, tho their own persecuters; because they are the subjects of Gods mercy in many respects, and are capable subjects of infinite divine mercy & love . If X the Head of all the chh pities the damned & seeks their good, doubtless his members ought to do so too. If the saints in heaven ought to pity the damned as well as the saints on earth the wicked that dwell here doubtless their pity ought to be in some proportion to the greatness of the calamity of the objects of it & the greatness of the number of those they see in misery But if they had pity & sympathizing grief in such measure as this for so many ages what an alloy [ck:ms] would it be to their happiness
¶God is representd as whetting his glittering sword and bending his bow & making ready his arrows [s?] on the string against wicked men & lifting his hand to heaven & swearing that hell <render vengeance to his enemies & reward them that> hate him, & make his arrows drunk with their blood & that his sword shall devour their flesh. Deut 32. 40,41,42. & Ps. 7. 11,12,13. Certainly this is the language & conduct of an enemy & not of a friend & of a compassionate chastening Father.
¶The degree of misery & torment that shall be inflicted, is an evidence that God is not acting the part of benevolence and compassion, & only chastening from a kind & gracious principle & design. Tis evident that tis Gods manner when he thus afflicts men for their good & chastens them with compassion, he is wont to stay his rought wind in the day of his east-wind to correct in measure not to stir up all his wrath to consider the frame of those that are correct[ed] to remember their weakness & consider how little they can bear. He turns away his anger & dont stir up all his wrath Ps. 78. 37,38,39. Isai. 27. 8. Jer. 30. 11 & 46. 28. And tis his manner in the midst even of the severest afflictions [-s or comma?] to order some to order some mitigating circumstances & to mix some mercy. But the misery of the damned is represented as unmixed The wine of the wrath of God is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation that they may be tormented with fire & brimstone in the pres. of the h. angels & in the pres. of the Lamb & the smoke of their torment shall ascent up forever & ever and they have no rest day nor night. Rev. 14. 10,11. They are tormented in a flame that burns within them as well as round about them & they shall be denied so much /p. 980/ as a drop of water to cool their tongues And Gods wrath shall be inflicted in such a manner as <to [c; mg.]> shew his wrath & make his strength known as on vessels of wrath fitted for no other use but to be destroyed & shall be punished with ever[la (om.E;mg)]sting destruction answerable to that glory of Xs power which he shall appear in at the day of judgment when he shall come in the glory of his Father with power & great glory in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God an obey not the gospel. Can any imagine that in all this God is only correcting for love & that the subjects of the<o>se inflictions are some of those happy ones whom God corrects in order to teach 'em out of his law whom he makes sore & bindeth up. Job 5. 17,18. Ps. 94. 12. next col.
p. 974. . b. If the compassionate these poor wretches, & has nothing but a kind & gracious /mg/ a design of infinite mercy & bounty <toward them, [c]> should [xoc] <why does [c]> he take such dreadful measures with them? will no other do? cant infinite wisdom find out some gentler method to bring to pass the same design?
¶If it be said that no other can accomplish the effect consistent<ly [c]> with the freedom of will; I ans. what means can be devised having a greater tendency to drive men & compell them to comply with the thing required (if there be any such thing) without acting freely & as persons left to their own free choice, than such a rod not only held over, but used upon them in such an amazing manner by an omnipotent hand? see back, P. 974. . b.
last col. There is nothing in SS. that looks as if the damned were under the use of means to bring 'em to repentance Tis apparent Gods manner is when he afflicts men to bring to repentance with affliction, to join instructions admonitions and arguments to perswade But if we judge by SS. representation of the sate of the damned they are left destitute of all these things There are no prophets or ministers or good men to admonish them reason & expostulate with them or set em good examples There is a perfect separation made between all the righteous & the wicked with a great gulf so that there can be no passing from one to the other They are left wholly to the company of devils & others like 'em when the right man in hell cries to his father Abraham begging a drop of water he denies his request, and adds no exhortation to repentance /p. 981/ Wisdom is abundantly represented in the Book of Proverbs as counselling warning calling inviting & expostulating with such as are under means for the obtaining wisdom & that is [sic] waiting upon /mg./ in the use of means that they may turn at his [sic] reproof. But as to such as are obstinate under these means of grace & calls of wisd. till the time of their punishmt comes tis represented their fear shall come as desolation & destruction as an whirlwind that distress & anguish shall come upon them & that then it will be in vain for em to seek wisdom that if they seek her early they shall not find her & if they call upon her she will not hear but instead of this will laugh at their calamity & mock when their fear cometh. which certainly dont consist with wisdom or the God of wisdom still striving with them & using means in a benevolent & compassionate manner to bring em to seek & embrace wisdom still offering wisdom with all her unspeakable infinite benefits if they will hearken to her voice and comply with her & not only so but actually using the most powerful & effectual means to bring them to this happiness even such as shall surely be successful tho they have obstinately refused all others & when wisdom calld they heretofore refused & when she stretched forth her hand they did not regard. And so still most effectually doing the part of a friend to deliver em from their distress & anguish instead of laughing at their calamity. This Prov. 1 latter end This declaration of wisdom if ever it be fulfill'd at all will /mg/ will surely be fulfilled most compleatly & perfectly at the time appointed for obstinate sinners to receive their most perfect & compleat punishment
¶If all mankind even such as live and die in their wickedness are and even will be the objects of Xs good will & mercy & those whose eternal happiness he desires & seeks then surely he would pray for all but X declares that there are some that he prays not for Joh. 17. 9. I pray for them I pray not for the T but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine compared with v. 15. The T hath hated them because they are not of the T even as I am not of the T . v. 25. The T hath not known thee but I have known thee & these have known that thou hast sent me & v. 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me thro' their word . By all which it appears that X prayed for all that should ever be true believers But he prayed <not [c?] for those who should not be brought by the word of the apostles & such means of grace as are used in this T to believe in him /p. 982/ and should continue notwithstanding not to know God & in enmity against true holiness or [Rem; and?] Xtianity were such as X prayed not for.
¶ARG. <18. [c]> If sin and misery & the second death are to continue and prevail for so long a time after they day of judgmt with respect to great multitudes that X finally will save & deliver from the<o>se things having perfectly conquered and abolished them Then how can the SS. truly represent that all enemies shall be put under his feet at the end of the T & that the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death & that then having perfectly subdued all his enemies he shall resign up the king. to the Father & he hims. be subject to the Father as in Cor. 15. 20.---28 The time of X victory over death will be then at the general resurrection, & D. of J. as is evident by v. 54,55 with the foregoing context The chief enemies that X came to destroy with regard to such as should be saved & be of his chh were sin & misery or death consisting in sin & death consisting in suffering the second death unspeakably the greatest enemy that came by sin infinitely more terrible than temporal death But if the notion I am opposing be true these greatest & worst enemies instead of be [sic] subdued shall have their principal reign afterwards for many ages at least the latter & the former viz sin in the sad effects & consequences of it viz mens misery & God shall having [sic] his greatest & strongest conflict with these enemies afterward that is shall strive against them in the use of the most powerful means
¶ARG [xoc]<19. [c]> There is great evidence that the devil is not the subject of any dispensation of divine mercy and kindness and that God is prosecuting no design of infinite goodness towards him & that his pains are not purifying pains. It is manifest that instead of any influence of his torments to bring him nearer to repentance that he has been from the beginning of [xo?] his damnation constantly with all his might exerting himself in prosecute [sic; mg] his wickedness his violent most haughty & malignant opposition to God & man fighting especially with peculiar virulence against X and his chh. opposing with all his might every thing that is good seeking the destruction & misery of all mankind . with boundless & insatiable cruelty on which account he is called Satan the Adversary & Abaddon & Apollyon the Destroyer /p. 983/ is represented as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour a viper the old serpent the great red dragon red on account of his bloody cruel nature he is said to be a murderer from the beginning he has murdered all mankind his murdered their souls as well as their bodies he was the murderer of Jesus X by his instigating Judas & his crucifiers He has most cruelly shed the blood of an innumerable nultitude of the children of God . He is called emphatically the evil one the [ck:ms] wicked one that wicked one &c. He is a lyar and the father of lies, and the father of all the sin & wickedness that is or ever has been in the T He is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience 2. Cor. 4. 3,4. Tis said that he that committeth sin is of the devil, of the devil sinneth from the beginning and all wicked men are spoken of as his children . He has set up himself as God of this T in opposition to the true God and has erected a vast kingdom over the nations and is constantly carrying on a war with the utmost earnestness subtilty malice & venom against Jesus Christ & all his holy & gracious designs maintain /mg/ a kingdom of darkness wickedness & misery in opposition to Xs kingdom of light holiness & peace and thus will continue to do to the end of the T as appears by SS. prophecies
¶And Gods dealings with him are infinitely far from being those of a friend kindly seeking his infinite good and designing nothing else but in the end too make him eternally happy in love and favour & a blessed union with him. God is represented every where as acting the part of an enemy to him that seeks & designs nothing in the final event but his destruction The grand work of Gods providence which God is prosecuting from the beginning to the end of the T vi the work of redemption it is against him to bruise or break in pieces his head to cast him [like (om.E)] lightning from heaven from that height of power & dominion to which he had exalted him to tread him under foot and to cause his people to trample and bruise or crush him under foot & gloriously to triumph over him . Christ when he conquered him & tri made a shew of him openly triumphing over him
¶Now concerning this two things may be observed 1 That seeing the devils are not to have an end put to their misery and their pains are not purifying pains in order to their being brought to eternal happiness at last it appears that tis not Gods /p. 984/ design finally to make all his creatures happy and that the torments of hell are not purifying pains inflicted with a merciful design with respect to all damned spirits . & 2. 'Tis evident that as it will be with the devil in this respect so it will be with wicked [sic] This is reasonable to suppose from what the SS. represents of the relation wicked men stand in to the devil as his children servants subjects instruments his property & possession <are all ranked together as one kingdom in one interest and one company.> and many of them the great ministers of his kingdom that he has set up and committed authority to such as the beast & false prophet that we read of in the Revelation . Now how reasonable & natural is it to suppose that those that have their lot & portion together , as Xs disciples subjects followers soldiers, children instruments & ministers of his kingdom should have their part with him & be dealt with as he is & not that such an infinite difference should be made between them that the punishmt of the one should be eternal & of the other but temporal & therefore infinitely less infinitely disproportionate [sic] so the proportion between the punishmt of the latter to that of the former is as nothing infinitely less of an unit to a million million. This is unreasonable to suppose in it self as the difference of guilt & wickedness cannot be so great but must be infinitely far from it. especially considering the aggravations of the wickedness of a great part of damned men as against X & gospel grace & love which exceeding great aggravation the sin of the devils never had.
¶As the devils ministers servants & instruments of the angelick nature those that are called the devils angels shall have their part with him for the like reason we may /p. 985/ well suppose his servants & instruments of the human nature will share with him
¶And not only is this reasonable in it self but the SS. plainly teaches us that it shall be so. In Rev. 19. 20. it is said The beast & the false prophet were both cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone So it is said chap. 20. 16. The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of ire and brimstone where the beast & the false prophet are & shall be tormented day & night forever & ever . So expressing both the kind of misery & the duration just in the same manner it is said concerning the followers of the beast it is said chap. 14. 9,10,11. saying with a loud voice if any man worship the beast &c. The same shall--------be tormented with fire & brimstone & the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever & ever And they have no rest day nor night---- & chap. 21. 8. of wicked men in general tis said They shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire & brimstone
¶So we find in Xs description of the day of judgment The wicked are sentence [sic] to everlasting fire prepared for the devil & his angels By which it appears most plainly that they share with the devils in suffering misery of the same kind & also share with him in suffering misery of the same everlasting continuance [ck:ms]
¶And indeed not only would the punishmt infinitely differ as to quantity & duration if the punishmt of the devils was to be eternal & of wicked men only temporal but if this were known it would as it were infinitely differ in kind The one suffering Gods hatred & <meer vengeance> inflictions that have no pity or kindness in them the other the fruit of his mercy & love & infinitely kind intention the one attended with absolute despair and a black & dismal sinking prospect of misery absolutely endless the other with the light of hope & supporting prospect not only of an end to their misery but of an eternal unspeakable happiness to follow.
¶ARG [xoc]<20. [c]> This notion we are opposing is repugnant to the representations which the Scripture makes as tho at the d. of judgmt would be the consummation of all /p. 986/ the finishing of Gods design an end to the revolutions & changes of a state of trial preparation & proficience & the bringing all the great mutations of the T to their fix'd period & the settling of all things in their final state Thus the apostle says 1 Cor. 15. 24. THEN COMETH THE END. and the things there spoken that shall then be done shew that then will be the finishing of things and settling them in their final state . such as the end of Xs kingdom given him for the subduing of all enemies & his resigning him sommission [sic] for the conquering all enemies & subduing all evil & the restitution of all things &as having compleated his design) that God henceforth may be all in all according to the most natural state of things And therefore when the general resurrection & day of J. had been represented to the apostle John God then proclaims Rev. 21. 6. And he said unto me it is done I am Aplpha & Omega the Beginning & the End. By which it is very manifest that G. will have so far finished his design as to have brought the whole course of thing[s] in all their mutations to their proper & intended period final issue & fixed state whereby it shall appear at last how that as God was the Beginning the first cause of all things from whom the whole system & series of things originated at their beginning so he now app [they (om.E)] are brought to their final issue appears to be also their last end so that as things took their first rise from him so they shall have their last end in him he shall appear to be the last end of all things when their last end is reached in the issue of all their changes revolutions & labours . agreeable to this the day of judgmt is from time to time calld the last day Joh. 6. 40,44,54. & the great day Jude 6.
¶By these things it is most manifest that at that day the moral T shall be settled in its final state & that the judgmt of that day will be the last judgmt But if the multitude of the damned are yet to be kept in a state of preparation & under the use of means in order to their repentance and so vast a change as that from infernal misery to heavenly & eternal /p. 987/ glory how far are things from being all brought to their consummation <& settled in> last issue & settled in their final state . And if so then the judgmt of that day cant be the last judgmt. For the design of the last judgmt whenever that is must be to settle things in the moral T or among such creatures in their last state as are the proper subjects of moral government & of a judicial proceeding. But the last judgment for this end can't be till the day of preparation & proficience & use of means in order to repentance the day of Gods striving and opportunity for the obtaining the favour & rewards of the great Judge is over According to the notion which I am opposing the judgment that shall be at the end of the T will be so far from the last judgmt or any proper judgmt to settle all things in their final state that it will respect tot he wicked be no more than the judgment of a physician whether more sharp & powerful remedies must not be applied in order tot he relief of sinners and the cure of their disease which if not cured will make em eternally miserable.
¶ARG [xoc] <20. [c]> Tis evident that the future misery of the wicked in hell is not to come to an end and to be succeeded by eternal happiness & that their misery is not subservient to their happiness because the SS. plainly signifies concerning those that die in their sins that they have all the good & comfort in this life that ever is designed for em Luke 6. 24. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation Luke 16. 25. Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things Ps. 17. 13,14. Deliver my soul from the wicked---from the men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure
¶ARG [xoc] <21. [c]> According to the opinion I am now opposing God will surely at the last deliver all the damned from their misery & make them happy so that God will see to it that the purifying torments shall certainly at last have their effect to turn them from sin.
¶Now how can this consist with Gods treating them as moral agents and their acting from the freedom of their own wills in the affair of their turning from sin & becoming morally pure & vertuous According t the notions of freedom and moral agency which now prevail and are strenuously maintained by some of the chief assertors of this opinion concerning hell torments which notion of freedom implies contingence and is wholly inconsistent with the necessity of the event . If after all the torments of hell the damned used to bring sinners to repentance /p. 988/ the consequence aimed [at (om.E)] viz the sinners turning from sin to vertue be not necessary but it still remains a contingent even a thing contingent whether there ever will be any such consequence of those severe long contingent even a thing contingent whether there ever will be any such consequence of those severe long continued chastisements or no then how can it be determined that this will surely be the consequence how can it be a thing infallible that such a consequence of the [on line; xo by mistake?] means used will follow when at the same time it is not a necessary consequence not way necessarily connected with the means used & it is a thing contingent whether it will ever follow or no If God has determined absolutely to make em all pure & happy & yet their purity & happiness depends on the freedom of their will then here is an absolute divine decree consistent with the freedom of mens wills which is a doctrine utterly rejected by the generality of that sort of men who deny the eternity of hell torments.
¶If it be said that God has not absolutely determined the duration or measure of their torments, but to continue em 'till they do repent or to try lesser torments first & if they dont do to increase 'em till they are effectual, determining that he will raise or continue them till the effect finally shall infallibly follow that is the same thing as to necessitate the effect. And here is necessity in such a case as much as when a founder puts a piece of metal in a furnace with a resolution to melt it & if continuing it there a little while wont dissolve it that he will keep it there 'till it does dissolve and if by reason of its peculiar hardness an ordinary degree of heat of the furnace wont be effectual that he will increase the vehemence of the heat till the effect shall certainly follow.
< add this at p. 803. . e. <c?>]> If any shall say, that tho [xoc] <tho [c]> we should maintain that the pains of hell are purifying pains, to bring sinners to repentance, in order to their deliverance & eternal happiness; yet there will be no necessity of supposing either that they may sin with impunity, & so without restraint; or that they are properly in a state of probation; . For they have no probation, whether they shall finally have eternally [sic] happiness, because /p. 989/ that [xoc] <it [c]> is absolutely determined by the benevolent Creatour, concerning all his intelligent creatures, that they shall finally be brought to a state of happiness; but the case with them may be yet their circumstances may be such as may tend greatly to restrain their wickedness; because the case with them may be thus, that the time of their torment shall be longer or shorter, according as they behave themselves under their chastisements more or less perversely; or that their torment shall be raised to a greater height, & additions be made in proportion to the wickedness they commit in their purgatory flames <; to this I [c]>
¶ANS<wer> [line and "wer" by c] Even on this supposition they are in a state of probation, for a more speedy possession of et. life & happiness, & deliverance from further misery & punishment; which makes their state as much as [sic] a state of probation, as their state in the present life . For here 'tis supposed by these men, that sinners are not in a state of trial, whether ever they shall obtain et. happiness or no: because that is absolutely determind & the determination known or knowable concerning all without any trial. but only it <is [c]> a state of trial, whether they shall obtain et. life so soon as at the end of their lives, or at the day of j. <n>Neither have they any trial during this life, whether they shall escape any affliction and chastisement for sin or no<t; [c]> but whether they shall be delivered from a state of suffering so soon & shall escape those severer & longer chastisements, that with respect to many are to come afterwards. And on the supposition of the objection there must be the proper circumstances of a state of probation in hell, as well as on earth. <T>there [changed from "they" by c or E?] they must in like manner be continued in that state of free agency, that renders em properly the subjects of judgmt & retribution. for on the supposition of the objection they shall be punish'd for their wickedness n hell, by an addition to their misery proportion'd to their sin; & they shall be the subjects of Gods merciful strivings, & <xoc?] endeavours & means to bring <them [c]. to repentance as well as here . And there must be a divine judgmt after the trial, to determine their retribution, as much as after this life. And the same or like things must be determined by the supreme Judge, as will be determined [xoc?] as will be determined at the day of J. As [at ?xoc?] at that great day on the supposition of such as I oppose, what will be determined concerning the impenitent? not what their et. state shall be; /p. 990/ but only, whether they must have et. happiness immediately; whether they have repented and are qualified for immediate admission to to [?xo? om.Rem] heavenly glory; or whether the bestowmt of it shall be delayed, and further chastisemts be made use of, & so it must be again after their castigatory purifying pains. at the end of all there must be a judgment, whether now they truly repent, and so have performed the condition of deliverance & immediate admission to the state of the blessed, or whether there shall be a further season of misery; which brings it to be in all respects a proper judgment, as much as that at the general resurrection; and the preceding time of the use of means & Gods striving with them to bring em to repentance, as much a proper time of trial in order to judgmt, as the time of this life.
II. See P. 803. . e.
¶AXIOM <1 [c; over E's?]>. If the torments of hell are purifying pains, that purge the damned from their sins; it must be by bringing them to repentance, convincing them of the evil of sin & inducing them to forsake it & with a sincere heart to turn from sin to God & heartily to chuse & walk in the ways of vertue & holiness. There is no other way of sinners being purged as moral agents but this: and if hell fire is the means of any other purification it can't be a moral purification. These flames dont purge from /mg/ & bring to vertue of heart & life, meerly as a hot fire purges metals from dross & senseless dead lumps of matter from material filth. But the defilement which they purge from is defilement of xx [? xoE?] <heart or [c]> will; & the purity which they bring to, must be purity of will, intention, choice & the active faculties & principles.
¶AXIOM <2. [c]> If the wicked in hell are the subjects of torments there in order to their purification, & so being fitted for and finally brought to eternal happiness; then they are the subjects of a dispensation that is truly a dispensation of love & <of [c]> divine & infinite goodness & benevolence towards them.
¶AXIOM <3. [c]> If the design of the pains of hell be that of kind and benevolent chastisements, to bring sinners to repentance and a yielding to Gods authority & compliance with the divine will; then we can't suppose, that they will be continued after the sin<ner [c]> has repented and is actually brought to yield & comply. For that would be to continue em for nothing, to go on using means & endeavours to obtain the end, when the end is accomplished, and the thing aimed at is fully obtained already.
¶METHOD. [xoc] N. B. Some of the<o>se things observed in opposition to the notion of hell tormts being only purifying pains , may be used as arguments to prove the eternity of future misery in general, as what is said concerning
¶The Consummation of all Things p. 985 &c. ---- Concerning the rich mans having received his good things p 987. ----The punishmt of Blasphemy against the H. Gh. p. 816. ---- concerning the Last Dispensation, p. 820. ---- Rev. 22. 10,11,12, p. 971. ---- Sinners being thrown away lost [cast?] &c. p. 975. &c. ---- The last Enemy Subdued p 982. ---- Concerning the Devil. p. 982. [many of the main words in the ¶ in large letters]
¶IF any should maintain this scheme of temporary future punishments . viz That the torments in hell are not purifying pains and that the damned are not in any state of trial with regard to any expected admission to eternal happiness and that therefore they are not properly the objects of the divine benevolence that the dispensation which they are under is not truly a dispensation of mercy but that their torments are properly penal pains wherein God displays his vindictive justice & that they shall suffer misery to such a degree and for so long a time as their obstinate wickedness in this world deserves and that indeed they shall be miserable a very long time so long that it is often figuratively spoken of in Scripture as being everlasting, and then be annihilated :
¶ANS. On this I would observe that there is nothing got by any such scheme no relief from the arguments taken from SS. for the proper eternity of future punishment . For if it be own'd that Scripture expressions denote a punishment that is properly eternal but said that they are /p. 992/ properly eternal in no other sense than as their annihilation or their state of non-existence that they shall return to will be eternal.
< next col. b.> If this be all that these expressions denote then they dont at all signify the length of their torments or long continuance of their misery. So that the supposition of the length of their torments is brought in without any necessity the SS. saying nothing of it having no respect to it when it speaks of their punishments being everlasting and it answers the SS. expressions [s xoc?] well to suppose they shall be annihilated immediately without any long pains provided the annihilation be everlasting.
¶<a>And this eternal annihilation is that death which is so often threatend for sin and that perishing forever that everlasting destruction [E's lines] being lost perishing /mg/ utterly consumed &c. so often denounced to wicked men and the fire of hell be [sic] called eternal fire as some suppose the external [sic] fire that consumed the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah is called eternal fire Jude 7. because it utterly consumed those cities that they might never be built more & the fire is called that which shall not be quenched as it cannot be quenched till it has destroyed them that are cast into it. < last col. a>
¶IF any should suppose that the torments of the damned in hell are properly penal and in execution of /mg/ of penal justice but yet that they are neither eternal nor shall end in annihilation but they shall be continued till justice is satisfied and they have truly suffered as much as they deserve whereby their punishment shall be so long as to be called everlasting but that then they shall be delivered & finally shall be the subjects of everlasting happiness. and that therefore in the mean time they shall not be in a state of trial nor will they be waited upon in order to repentance nor will their torments be used as means to bring em to it for /mg/ <[Rem."that the".]> term & measure of their punishment shall be fix'd from which /p. 993/ they shall not be delivered on repentance or any terms or conditions whatsoever 'till justice is satisfied
¶Ans. One thing that I would observe in answ to this is that if it be the damned while under their sufferings are answerable for the wickedness that is acted by em while in their suffering state and may properly be the subjects of a judicial proceeding for it or not
¶If the former be supposed viz. that they are answerable and accountable for all the wickedness that is acted by them during their long state of suffering for the sins of this life and must also suffer for must be punished for all that wickedness as much as it deserves and so as fully to satisfy justice (as is supposed with respect to the sins of this life) Then it will follow that they must have another state of suffering and punishmt after the ages of their suffering for the sins of this life are ended. and it cant be supposed that this second period of suffering will be shorter than the first for the first is only for the sins committed during a short life often represented in SS. as a dr for its shortness to [sic] a dream a tale that is told a blast of wind a vapour a span a moment a flower &c But the time of punishmt is alwaies represented as exceeding long called everlasting represented as enduring forever & ever as having no end &c. [¶?] If the sins of a moment must be followed with such a long time of suff as it were endless ages of punishmt then doubtless the sins of those endless ages must be followed with another second period of suffering much longer . for it must be supposed that the damned continue sinning all the time of their punishmt for none can rationally imagine that God would hold em under such [catch word?] /p. 994/ or [&? xoc?] extreme torments & terrible manifestations & executions of his wrath after they have thoroughly repented & turnd from sin & are become pure & holy & conformed to God & so have left off sinning. And if they continue in sin during this state of punishment with assurance that God still has a great benevolence for them even so as to intend finally to make em everlastingly happy in the enjoymt of his love their sin must be attended with great aggravations . as they will have the evil and ill desert of sin set before em in the most affecting manner in their dreadful sufferings for it attended still with evidence of this [that?] that God is infinitely benevolent towards em & intends to bestow infinite blessings upon them.
¶But if it be so that this first long period of punishment must be followed with a second as long or longer for the same reason the second must be followed with a third as long or longer than that & so the third must be followed with a fourth & so in infinitum & at this rate there can never be an end of their misery so this scheme overthrows it self
¶If the second thing mentioned be affirmed vi. that the damned are not answerable for the wickedness they commit during their state of punishment . Then we must suppose that during the whole of their long and as it were eternal state of punishment they are given up of God to the most unrestrained wickedness having this to consider that how far soever they go in the allowed exercises & manifestations of their malice & rage against God & X saints & angels & their fellow damned they have nothing to fear from it it will be never the worse /mg/ and surely continuing in such unrestrained wickedness for /p. 995/ such exceeding and as it were endless length of duration must most desperately confirm the habit of sin must increase the root & fountain of it in the heart as it were infinitely
¶Now how unreasonable is this to suppose that God would thus deal with such as were objects of his infinite kindness & the appointed subjects of the unspeakable & endless fruits of his love in a state of perfect holiness & purity & conformity to & union with himself thus to give 'em up beforehand to a kind of eternity of unrestrained malignity against himself & every kind of hellish wickedness as it were infinitely to increase the fountain of sin in the heart & the strength of the principle & habit. P. 997. . a.
<p. 997. . d.> ¶If God intends [s by E?] not only punishmt but purification by their torments on this supposition instead of their being purified they must be set at an infinitely greater distance from purification. And if God intends [s by E?] them for a second time of probation in order to their being brought to repentance & the love of God after their punishment is finished Then how can it be certain before hand that they shall finally be happy as is supposed . How can it be certain they will not fail in their second trial or in their third if there be a third . Yea how much more likely that they will fail of truly turning in heart form sin to the love of God in this <Rem: their> second trial if there be any proper trial in the case after their hearts have been so much more brought under the power of a strong habit of sin & enmity to God . If the habit proved so strong in this life that the most powerful means /p. 996/ & mighty inducements of the gospel would not prevail so that God was as it were under a necessity of cutting down & dealing in this severity with them How much less likely will it be that they will be prevailed upon to love God and the ways of vertue after their hearts are set at a so much greater distance from these things. Yea unless we suppose a diving interposition of almighty <efficacious> power to change the heart in the time of this second trial we may be sure that under these circumstances the heart will not turn to love God But such an interposition of efficacious power is not agreeable to the notions of freedom & moral agency which this <Sm. Rem> /mg/ that sort of people maintain who deny the et. of hell torments
¶So it would be yet more plainly contrary to their notions of freedom and moral agency to suppose that after their state of suffering is over they would be immediately made perfectly holy from such a degree of confirmed wickedness without any time of trial at al . such perfect holiness so immediately wrought from the greatest depths of wickedness & the most extremely confirmed malignity & depravity of heart could not be the effect of free will in their notion of it & therefore would be no vertue no rewardable or praise-worthy holiness
¶Besides the supposition of Gods thus setting his creatures at once in a state of confirmed eternal holiness & happiness is not agreeable to Gods way of dealing with his creatures How much better & more fitly might the creature be thus confirmed the first instant of its creation than to be thus confirmed in perfection of favour & glory after so many ages of actual enmity & most extreme wickedness without any previous trial or space of repentance.
¶And besides if it be so that they are laid under such a necessity of hating & blaspheming God for so many ages < next col. e.>
p. 995. . d.] If they are thus given up to unrestrained wickedness during the period of their punishment & there be evidence of this then this certain continuance in unbounded wickedness for so long a time must be part of the punishment they are sentenced to & that is bound upon them by an irreversible doom which certainly supposes such a necessity that they are laid under that is not consistent with freedom as this sort of people must suppose . Now how incongruous is this to suppose with regard to those that God has great benevolence to & designs eternal favour for that he would go to lay em under a necessity of extreme unbounded hatred of him & blasphemy & rage against him for so many ages such necessity as should exclude all liberty of their own in the case. < p. 995.> . e.
last col. e.] in the manner that has been spoken a necessity utterly inconsistent with human liberty then they will have no reason to condemn themselves at all for all this enmity & blasphemy of theirs for so long a time after they are made perfectly holy & happy & see that they had no reason at all for such malice & rage but that all was infinitely against reason & that at the same time there was infinite reason that they should love & honour God . But how extreme [sic] incongruous is such an imagination that G. would lay those he intended for the eternal beauty & blessedness of dear children under such circumstances that they must necessarily hate him & with devilish fury curse & blaspheme him for innumerable ages in the most unreasonable manner & yet never have cause even when even when [sic?] they are deliverd & made happy in Gods love to condemn themselves for it tho they see the infinite hatefulness & unreasonabless of it because G. laid em under such a necessity of it that they could use no liberty of their own in the case I leave it to all to judge whether Gods thus ordering things with regard to such as he from great benevolence intended for et. happiness in a most blessed union with him be credible /p. 998/ [c 1/4 col. blank, top next page]
¶METHOD. In a treatise of future punishment to shew when will be the season of it & here prove particularly that it will begin at death . & consider the state of the wicked in their separation from their bodies & then shew how the day of judgment is the proper season of punishmt &c--
¶ARGUMENT [xoc] That which lasts as long as the T stands is sometimes said to be forever . yet the space of mans life in comparison of the state that succeeds is often represented as a moment . the shortest space yea as nothing. And so the space of time to the end of the world is represented as very short see Heb. 10. 37 Here in a particular manner manner [sic] these words of X . Rev. 22. 10 11,12. after X had shewn John the end of the T the day of judgment & consummation of all things he says The time is at hand. He that is unjust let him be unjust still &c-- Behold I come QUICKLY. and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be Here Christ represents to his beloved disciple, the space from that time to the end of the world to be very short after he had from time to time represented to him (in the course of those visions of which this is the conclusion) the state of the punishment of the wicked to be everlasting & forever & ever. as chap. 14. 10,11. & 19. 3. & 20. 10. Even as in this 22 chap. v. 5. when X says behold I come quickly & so represents the time to the end of the world to be but short we are naturally & justly lead [sic] to compare this representation with the representations made of the /p. 999/ duration of the future state both of good & bad after the judgment and to draw inferences accordingly concerning the duration of that [?Rem] following state upon many accounts <as [c?]> 1. The same Jesus in the same course or series of visions which John is directed in the same book /mg/ makes both representations and the future state of the righteous & wicked especially of the latter is set forth in a representation that is insisted on and repeated from time to time as being forever & ever . 2. He at this very time & in the same vision (as may be seen v. 5 of this same 22d chap.) says of the blessedness of the righteousness [sic] that it shall be forever & ever the very same phrase that is used before from time to time to set forth the duration of the misery of the wicked.
¶3. After he had spoken of the glory of the righteous as being forever & ever he in the midst of the<o>se words wherein he represents the time to the end of the world as very short joins both righteous & wicked together representing their state as fix'd unalterable and everlasting in the same expressions The time is at hand. He that is unjust let him be unjust still & he that is filthy let him be filthy still & he that is righteous let him be righteous still & he that is holy let him be holy still Behold I come quickly. The < [?] shortness of the time to the end of the T is expressed in y<e> last words immediately preceding those that express the endlessness of the state of both righteous & wicked & then again the words immediately following express the same thing over again Behold I come quickly. &
¶4. The words immediately following tho<e>se naturally lead us to the same comparison even to compare the duration of the time before the coming of the Judge and the /p. 1000/ duration of those rewards & punishments which he will render to men according as their works shall be. Behold I come quickly & my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. next col.
< next col. but one.a. [?]> And in other places of SS. the time preceding the punishment of the wicked in particular is represented as very short . Thus tis threatened that God would bring on them swift destruction & tis said the things that shall come upon them make haste and that vengeance shall come speedily on the enemies of the elect & the like and the punishment of the wicked it self is alwaies represented as everlasting & endless Whence we may most reasonable [sic] suppose that these phrases when applied to the future punishmt are used in their most proper sense and not at all in the same manner as when applied to the space preceding which is spoken /mg/ as comparatively very short
last col. b.] The shortness of the time before his come [sic] to judge & recompense men is declared for the comfort of the righteous & terrour of the wicked And the thing that justly renders the consideration of the measure of duration before Xs coming comfortable to the saints tho' it seems so long on some accounts is that it is very short in comparison of the duration of the reward that shall follow & so the thing that should justly make the measure of time before the judgment terrible to the wicked is that tho' they may be ready to please themselves that time [sic]<Rem:+the> is /p. 1001/ so long, yet tis very short in comparison of the punishment that shall follow. last col. but one b.
¶Hutcheson on the Passions p. 77 3<d> Edit. says "no misery is further the occasion of joy to a sedate temper than as it is necessary to some prepollent happiness in the whole" Particularly to examine this matter & enquire whether there be not something in the natural sense of desert which God has implanted in creatures that are moral agents which tends to acquiescence in the pain or suffering of the ill-deserving not meerly [sic?] from a natural desire of God to our selves or others or good to the universal system but as what a sense of desert naturally tends to as a gratification of that sense.
¶When the fire of hell is represented as that which NEVER SHALL BE QUENCHED, thereby is not meant that it shall not be quenched till it has consumed its fewel & goes out it self for by being quenched [E's line] as the word is used in SS. is meant not only a being extinguished or put out but going out or ceasing or ending in any respect so the word is to be understood . Isai 43. 17. They are extinct they are quenched as tow. i.e their power & rage shall be like the fire of two that lasts but a very little while & then goes out.
¶VESSELS OF MERCY & VESSELS OF WRATH are expressly distinguished And the apostle James speaks of some that shall have judgment without mercy Jam 2. 13 which proves that the punishmt of hell is not the effect of mercy & that mercy or pity never shall be exercised towards the damned. [end of JE's own text; pp. 1001, col 2.b to 1004, col. 1. b. contain what is probably a continuous quotation (Latin)--but unidentified. Stapfer? Check.]