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THE 
 
 DOCTRINE 
 
 ETERNAL HELL TORMENTS 
 
 OVERTHROWN 
 
 IN THREE PARTS. 
 
 1. OF THE TORMENTS OF HELL, THE FOUNDATION AND 
 
 PILLARS THEREOF, SEARCHED, DISCOVERED, 
 
 SHAKEN AND REMOVED, ETC. 
 
 2. AN ARTICLE FROM THE HARLEIAN MIS- 
 CELLANY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 3. DR. hartley's defence OF 
 UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THE TRUMPET OFFICE* 
 
 1833. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, hj 
 Thomas Whittemore, 
 in the Clerk's OflBce of the District Court of Massachusetts'^ 
 
 BOSTON: 
 JAMEB B. DOW, PRINTEKp 
 122 Washinotok-st. 
 
THE 
 
 TORMENTS OF HELL, 
 
 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. 
 
J^^ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 It cannot be considered improper to introduce the 
 following work, on the Torments of Hell, with a brief 
 account of its Author. The first edition appeared in 
 London, in 1658, and no secresy was maintained in 
 regard to its origin. It was avowedly the produc- 
 tion of one Samuel Richardson, a writer of some 
 note, if we may judge from the size and number of 
 the works he wrote. Very little, however, is known of 
 him. I have searched all the usual sources of biogra- 
 phy for some account of this singular individual, 
 but without success. By a reference to that scarce 
 and valuable book. Watt's Bibliotheca, it appears that 
 he was the author of the following works : ' Consider- 
 ations on Dr. Featley's Dipper Dipt,' quarto, London 
 1645. ' Justification by Christ alone, a Fountain of Life 
 and Comfort,' quarto, London, 1647. ' The Necessity 
 of Toleration in Religion,' quarto, 1647. ' An Answer 
 to the London Minister's Letter to his Excellency and 
 to his Council of War, as also an answer to J. Geree's 
 Book, &c.' quarto, London, 1649. * The Cause of the 
 Poor pleaded,' quarto, London, 1653. ' An Apology 
 for the present Government and Governor,' quarto, 
 
t\ ^$^^ \ ^. . PREFACE. 
 
 London, 1654. * Plain Dealing/ in answer to Mr. 
 Vavasor, Powell and others, quarto, London, 1656. 
 None of these works to our knowledge have descended 
 to the present age. The most of them, we should 
 judge from the titles, referred to the peculiar events of 
 the author's own time ; and they would lead us to 
 think that he was possessed of a bold and enterprising 
 character. 
 
 Of the work that follows, the present, we believe, is 
 the fourth edition. The original edition came out, as 
 we have said, in 1658 ; the second, in 1660. The 
 third was published many years after, with a selection 
 of scarce and valuable pieces that were entirely out of 
 print, with a view to their preservation. This edition 
 is from the third. It is a faithful copy in every res- 
 pect, except that the antique orthography is avoided, 
 the style is in some cases modernized, and a few passa- 
 ges have been elucidated where the sense was obscure. 
 
 It will be universally conceded that this is a rare 
 and curious w^ork. It abounds in a great variety of 
 arguments, some of them strange and whimsical, but 
 others very cogent and convincing. The author was 
 unquestionably a man of originality, of talent, of fear- 
 lessness, of reflection, of study, though he sometimes 
 decided hastily, and involved himself in inconsistency. 
 He has said enough however to accomplish fully the 
 object he proposed, viz. to search, discover, shake and 
 remove the pillars of the erroneous doctrine of endless 
 hell torments. 
 
 It should be remembered that it is one hundred and 
 sseTenty-five years since this work was written. At that 
 time very few doubted the doctrine of endless hell tor- 
 
PREFACE. ' 7 
 
 ments ; very little was understood of biblical criticism; 
 and the most extraordinary licenses were indulged in 
 the interpretation of the sacred writings. The reader 
 will, therefore, wonder, not that the author was some- 
 times wrong, but that he was so often right ; and that 
 he grasped the whole of the subject in his mind, 
 arriving at the same conclusions, in regard to the prin- 
 cipal facts, to which critics of the present age have 
 come, with all their multiplied advantages. It does 
 not appear, however, that he was perfectly clear on all 
 points. There are a few passages in the work which 
 seem to favor the notion of the annihilation of the 
 wicked. They ought not however to be understood as 
 giving the author's opinion decidedly on that point; 
 because in other parts of the work he openly and 
 indisputably teaches the doctrine of universal salva- 
 tion. He must be regarded as an undoubted believer 
 in the final restoration of all mankind. It will further- 
 more appear, that he did not hold the doctrine of 
 punishment in the future state, in any sense. 
 
 The publication of the original edition of this work, 
 called out the friends of the doctrine of endless torment 
 in its defence. Nicholas Chewney, published in London 
 1660, a work entitled 'Hell's Everlasting Torments 
 Asserted.' There came out also in 1675, in London, 
 another work, in octavo, bearing the title, ' Causa Dei, 
 or an apology for God, in the perpetuity of infernal 
 torments,' by Richard Biirthogge. And also in 1679, 
 John Brandon, Rector of Finchamstead, Berks, pub- 
 lished a work in London, in answer to the Torments 
 of Hell, entitled * Everlasting Fire no Fancy.' 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 In regard to the other two tracts which I have con- 
 nected with the above in this work, it is necessary only 
 to remark, that they had never been published in this 
 country before. The article from the Harleian Mis- 
 cellany I have given entire. This was probably 
 written about the same time with the work already 
 noticed, but remained in manuscript in the Earl of 
 Oxford's Library until 1744, when it was first published. 
 This is the second edition. The extract from Dr. 
 Hartley's work on Man consists of two chapters, and 
 embraces all that work contains on the subject of 
 Universalism. Those who are acquainted with Dr. 
 Hartley's book will remember, that it is almost entirely 
 occupied with the subject of man's pAyszca? and moral 
 constitution; and it is not until the close that he dis- 
 cusses man's expectations concerning the future. As 
 it is doubtful whether this work will ever be re-pub- 
 lished in this country, or if it should, whether it will 
 fall generally into the hands of Universalists, we have 
 ventured to publish separately all that part of it which 
 relates to the salvation of all mankind. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 Section I. Of ChtisVs descending into Hell. 
 
 Some of the learned say, Christ descended into 
 hell, and for proof allege Psalm xxi, 10, Acts ii. 27. 
 Dr.Willet says, that those words of Christ {descend- 
 ed into hell) are not found in the most ancient 
 creeds. Dr. William Whitaker says, I could pro- 
 duce 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 three- 
 score creeds of the most ancient Councils and 
 Fathers want this clause, (he descended into hell) 
 among the rest it is not found in the »/Vicene 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 wiU 
 2 
 
10 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 say you deny the faith, and are a heretic and a blas- 
 phemer; 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 Cam- 
 pion, p. 211. For upon the cross he said, It is fin- 
 ished, John xix. 30; therefore his suffering was at 
 an end. Some of the Papists confess Christ suffer- 
 ed not after his death: Luke xxii. 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 
 tliere, 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 Scrip- 
 ture speaks, it speaks distinctly, else it could not 
 have been read distinctly, Nehem. viii. 8. That 
 which is spoken expressly is spoken distinctly: the 
 spirit speaks expressly. 1 Tim. iv. 1, 3. The word 
 of the Lord came expressly, Ezok. i. 3. That 
 which is not spoken distinctly, cannot be understood, 
 as appears. Cor. xiv. 2, 17. 
 
 Dr. Fulke saith plainly, that neither in the He- 
 brew, Greek, nor Latin, is there a word proper for 
 hell, (as we take hell for the place of punishment of 
 the ungodly.) Fulke'» Defence Translation, pp. 13, 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 r* We are not to believe anything in reli- 
 gion, unless it be written. Hoiv readest thou? saith 
 Christ. Revealed things belong to us, Deut. xxix. 29. 
 As it is written, 1 believed. 2 Cor. iv. 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 con- 
 ceits, 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 signifi- 
 cation 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. xxx. 15. We 
 learn the propriety of the Hebrew word from the 
 learned Rabbles, saith Dr. Fulke. Def. Trans. Bib. 
 p. 90. The Hebrew Doctors, and Jewirh Rabbles 
 are for signification of words faithful interpreters; 
 they say, s/i6o/ 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 ii. And David Chimchi, and 
 R. Solomon, read Psalm ix. 16, 17. Let the wicked 
 he turned into sheol: that is, death's estate or deadly 
 bed. Jonah calls the belly of the whale sheol, Jon. 
 ii. 2,3. Rabbi Solomon Jarchi, on Gen. xxxvii. 35, 
 saith, that the true and proper interpretation of 
 
12 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 sheol is heber, which is the grave. The hoar head 
 is said to go down to sheol, Gen. xlii. 3S. In 
 Numb. xvi. 33, it is said, they, their substance, and 
 cattle, went alive to sheolah; that is, the pit, or 
 grave. Our hones are scattered at the verij brink or 
 mouth of sheol, Psal. cxli. 7. Jacob sa.id, I ivill go 
 down to my son Joseph to sheol, Gen. xxxvii. 35. — 
 The Protestant writers say sheol properly signifies 
 the grave ; Dr. Fulke's Answer to the Preface Rhem- 
 ist, 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 dictiona- 
 ries, Jews or Christians, say sheol properly signifies 
 the grave, p_. 89; and that deliverance from the low- 
 est hell, is deliverance from the greatest danger of 
 death; so Fulke's Ansiv. Rhemist, pp. 13, 39, 135; 
 and so the late Annotation of the Bible interprets it. 
 And Augustine on Psalm xxxvi. 13, for lowest hell 
 reads lowest grave; andsoDr.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 xxi. 
 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 doih Dr. 
 Fulke in his Defence, p. 91. And so Mr. Cart- 
 wright on Acts ii. 27. Mr. Cradock saith, hell is 
 not mentioned in the Old Testament, except as it is 
 taken for the grave; in his GoodJVeivs, p. 43. 
 
 Sheol enforces not any place of punishment, be- 
 cause it sigwi/ies not any place of punishment; so 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 13 
 
 says Dr. AVillet, Sijnop. 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 xxx. 9; the 
 second is bhor, the lalie: the third is heher, the 
 grave; both these words used for the same thing, 
 Psalm Ixxxviii. 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 ieheinoth,abyssus terrce: 
 Thou will take me from the depths of the earth, Psalm 
 Ixxi. 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. iii. 19. The gates of sheol is 
 death; sheol and hades are said to have gates, 
 Isaiah xxxviii. 10. Psalm ix. 13. Mat. xvi. 18. 
 
 The Septuagint express a place generally to re- 
 ceive 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 vvhen 
 used by those that believe no hell. The Greeks 
 say plainly, that their souls shall vanish like light 
 smoke, or light air; Fidke's Def p. 92. Also he 
 saith, if the Greek and Latin interpreters had before 
 us translated amiss, which gave occasion to divers 
 errors, must we (knowing the true signification of 
 
 the woFd) follow them.^ 
 
 2* 
 
14 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 The word hell is not in the Greek; the Greek word 
 for which they put the English word hell, is gehenna; 
 ge in Greek is the earth, or ground, and henna is 
 borrowed from the Hebrew, from the valley of Hin- 
 nom. 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; To- 
 phet or gehenna are names of the places of idolatry ; 
 there was the idol Moloch. 
 
 Section II. Of Hell-fire, Mat. v. 22, and the ever- 
 lasting fire, and unquenchable fire, Mat. xxv. 41, 
 46. Fear him that hath power to cast into hell, 
 Luke xii. 5. The damnation of hell, Mat. xxiii. 33. 
 
 Mat. V. 22. The fire of gehenna, and the everlasting 
 fire, &c. How the Jews understood them is evident- 
 ly 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. v. 22. 
 xxv. 41, 46, Luke xii. 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- 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 15 
 
 fered their children to Moloch, Josh. xv. 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 xxiii. 10. Josi- 
 ah commanded all the carrion of the city of Jerusa- 
 lem 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 of- 
 fences 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 anoth- 
 er 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 burn- 
 ed his bowels; Talmud in Sanhedr. Per. 7. Mr. 
 Cartwrigiit 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 con- 
 fessed 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 educa- 
 tion; 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 used the word gehenna, James iii, 6. Christ and his 
 disciples used known terms, that they might the bet- 
 ter 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. v. 22, 
 shows the severity of the Jews and Pharisees in pun- 
 ishing anger without a cause. Rcicha 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 /oo/, he was in danger of hell-Jire, i. e. in the. 
 true sense, to burn in the valley of the son of Hin- 
 nom. 
 
 Section III. Of the ivord 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 un- 
 derstand to mean an «ge; 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. xxi. 6; Levit. xxv. 46; that is, until 
 his own or his master's death; longer he could not 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 17 
 
 serve him. The everlasting priesthood, Exod. xl. 
 15, was only until Christ came ; then it was to cease, 
 as appears, Heb. vii. 12 — 14. It is said, theij shall 
 inherit the land forever, Isa. x. 21 ; that ever was but 
 a little while, as appears, Isa. Ixiii. 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 ihejire goeth out, Prov. 
 xxvi. 20. 
 
 4. If fire were everlasting, it will not follow that 
 what is cast into it is ev-erlasting; the wicked are 
 compared to chaff* and stubble; fire is not long in 
 consuming them. Burn the chaff, Isa. v. 24. If 
 any say chaff" will be ever burning, and never con- 
 sumed, 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 liter- 
 al signification; as John xxi. 25, The things that Je- 
 sus did, if they should be ivritten, I suppose the world 
 itself ivould not contain the things that should be writ- 
 ten. 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 numer- 
 ous, or too great. So sin, and the strength of the 
 Ethiopian army are said to be infinite. Job xxii. 5, 
 Nah. iii. 9; that is, very great; for the world and all 
 it contains is finite, Isa. xl. 17. These considera- 
 tions show how such words are to be understood, 
 and it may satisfy us herein. 
 
13 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 Eng- 
 lish word hell, and then, expound hell as a terrible 
 and dreadful place of torment, never to end? O hor- 
 rible 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 :sP- 19-31. 
 
 This affords no proof of any torments in hell, be- 
 cause 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 ix. 8, is a proof that trees did formerly walk 
 and speak; for it is said, the trees went forth and said, 
 8fc. The story of Dives is not to be understood ac- 
 cording 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 sailh, the great 
 chaos between Abraham and Dives signifies an in- 
 finite 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? 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 or- 
 gans 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. Ixiii. 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 clone, but represented, saith Mr. Cart- 
 wright on Luke xvi. 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 xxx. €3. 
 
 This place is no proof of endless hell-torments, the be- 
 lievers in endless torment themselves being judges. 
 
20 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 They say, hell is deep under ground, and Tophet is 
 a phice 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, hut the valley of slaughter; for in this place 
 will I cause them to fall by the sword before their ene- 
 mies, 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 bm-y in', Jer. xix. 6; vii. 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 ivhom 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 brim- 
 stone doth kindle it, Isa. xxx. 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. xxxiii. 18. Dan. vii. 10. Gen. xix. 
 24. Tophet is another of their chief proofs of the 
 torments of hell, and with that which is said, it is 
 shaken and removed. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 21 
 
 Section VI. Of Isaiah Ixvi. 24. TJiey shall go 
 forth, and look upon the men that have transgressed 
 against me, for their worm shall not die, neither 
 shall their fire he quenched ; and they shall he an 
 abhorring to all flesh. 
 
 This place is not to be understood of any punish- 
 ment after this life, because it saith their carrasses 
 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 Ixvi. 24, say, the carcasses are 
 the forces of Gog and Magog, which shall be slain 
 near Jerusalem, aS Ezek. xxxix. 4, 10, and xxxviii. 
 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. 
 xxxix. 11, 12. Also the judgments inflicted upon 
 them show it to be in this life, diS pestilence, overflow- 
 ing rain, great hail-stones , fire and brimstone, Ezek. 
 xxxviii. 22. And the end for which God punished 
 them, shows it to be in this life; which^vas, 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 nations. The worm hath reference to those that are 
 bred and fed upon dead bodies, as Acts xii. 23, 
 especially such as lie long upon the ground, until 
 they rot and become as carrion. Job xxi. 26. Isaiah 
 xiv. 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. ix. 5. Ezek. xxxix. 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 loath- 
 some 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 M. 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 ix. 44,46. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. 
 Ezek. iii. &c. Ezek. xxxviii. 22, concern the de- 
 struction of Gog and Magog, as hath been showed. 
 
 Section VII. Concerning Mat. v. 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- 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 33 
 
 pose them that fall out between man and man in this 
 life, to prevent suits in law, and imprisonment; so 
 vthe text shows, and Chrysostom exj)ounds it so. — 
 The word in the Greek is an adversary of the law, 
 Prov. vi. 3; Luke xii. 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. xviii. 34. To understand Mat. v. of an end- 
 less hell, doth imply free will, and falling from grace; 
 and that suffering in hell is a satisfaction and pay- 
 ment 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 dark- 
 ness, Job X. 21, 22. The cruelty of the enemy is 
 called thick darhiess, Joel ii. 2. The Greek [loets 
 say it is dark; they compare the darkness thereof to 
 a certain territory that lies between the Baice and 
 Cumcd, where the Cimmeria inhabit, so environed 
 with hills, that the sun never came to it; whereupon 
 the proverb comes, darker than the darkness of Cim- 
 meria ; 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 rea- 
 son of darkness. Job xxxvii. 19. Where no light 
 is, there is utter darkness ; IVhen the eye is evil, the 
 whole body is full of darkness, Mat. vi. 23. The 
 dark places of the earth, full of cruelty, Psalm Ixxiv. 
 20. Ignorant men are in the dark, and full of 
 works of darkness, Rom. xiii. 12, that would have 
 others tormented with cruel tortures and death, be- 
 
24 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 cause not of their opinion on religion. All uncon- 
 verted men are in darkness ; they are of the night, 
 1 Thcs. V. 5. Christ is the light, and saints are the 
 children of the light: What communion hath light 
 with darkness'^ 2 Cor. vi. 14. Darkness covered 
 the earth, till Christ the light came, to give light to 
 them that sat in darkness, [sa. Ix. 2. Luke i. 79. 
 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, 
 Col. i. 13. Who hath called us out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light, 1 Pet. ii. 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. iv. 16. Ye were sometimes darkness, but now 
 are ye light in the Lord, Eph. v. 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 
 tnto a dark and ignorant soul, it causeth weeping and 
 gnashing of teeth, Luke xiii. 28, being sad and com- 
 fortless. 
 
 Section VIII. Of burning the Tares. Mat. xiii. 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. iii. 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 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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. i. 10. 
 Mat. iii. 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; /(w the wrath is (not shall) come 
 upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thes. ii. 16. We are by 
 nature the children of wrath, that is, liable to 
 wrath, inward and outward: Thy wrath lieth hard 
 upon me, Psalm Ixxxviii. 7. The wrath of God is 
 the hiding of his face, Isa. liv. 8. Outward Wrath 
 is temporal destruction; he cast upon them the fierce- 
 ness of his wrath. Psalm Ixxviii. 49. Destroyed 
 them, Deut. vii. 10. Lev. x. 6. Josh. ix. 20; xxii. 22. 
 Ezek. xxv. 7. 2 Chron. xix. 10. Psalm xc. 6, 7. 
 
 Section X. Of the word, Cursed. 
 
 It is to be barren ; so the earth and fig-tree were 
 cursed, Mat. xxt. 20. It is to be a servant of servants, 
 Gen. ix. 25. Josh. ix. 23. It is to want prosperity, 
 Deut. xxxviii. 16 — 19. It also signifieth to die a 
 violent and disgraceful death, 2 Kings ii. 24. Deut. 
 xxi. 23; to be a fugitive, a wanderer, Psalm lix. 
 12 — 15; to eat in sorrow, Gen. iii. 17; and to endure 
 
 pain and hardship. 
 
 3* 
 
26 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 Section XI. Of Eternal Damnation. 
 
 The word damned, Mark xvi. 16, Rom, xiv. 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 judg- 
 ment: a reprobate mind is a mind void of judgment; 
 see Rom. i. 28. 2 Tim. iii. 8. Titus i. 16. See the 
 notes in the margin. 
 
 Section XIII. Of the word. Fire. 
 
 Fire is put for fiery trials, 1 Pet. iv. 12. Inward 
 troubles, — fire in mij bones. Lam. i. 13; ii. 4. The 
 tongue is a fire, James iii. 6. His word is a fire, 
 Jer. xxiii. 29. God's spirit is fire Bajytizedivithfii'ej 
 Mat. iii. 11. God is a consuming fire , Heb. xii. 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. xxx. 33; Ixvi. 24. 
 The fire of hell is true and substantial fire, kept 
 under the earth, to punish withal, saith Tortullian. 
 
 But the fire of hell cannot be corporeal fire, for the 
 following reasons: 
 
 1. Our lire is corporeal; they say our fire is but 
 painted fire, a shadow to that; therefore that is not 
 corporeal fire. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 27 
 
 2. Corporeal elementary fire is light, and enlight- 
 ens the place where it is; in hell they say is utter 
 darkness. If so, tlie 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 tor- 
 mented 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, with- 
 out his word. 
 
28 TORMENTS OF HELL, 
 
 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 
 ceaseih to be true fire. It cannot be spiritual, be- 
 cause 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, con- 
 science 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 meta- 
 phorically: but saith another, that the fire is to be so 
 taken, I utterly deny. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 abase- 
 ment, saith Dr. Fulke on Phil. ii. 7; the lowest de- 
 gree of Christ's humiliation, Eph. iv. 9. One part 
 of the earth is not put in opposition to another part 
 thereof, but to heaven, Psalm ciii. 11. David saith, 
 thou hast fashioned me in the lowest parts oj the earthy 
 Psalm cxxxix. 15. Was David born inhell.^* 
 
 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 beino: 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 hun- 
 dred 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. iii. 7, where 
 
30 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 v. 1, 2, where the 
 swine were choked, Luke viii, 33, whose common 
 depth is not half a mile. Men seek hell in the bot- 
 tom of the sea, because they know not where to find 
 it. Hell cannot be the lake, because hell was cast 
 into the lake, Rev. xx. 14. 
 
 6. Others say, hell is in the air, the Devil is the 
 Prince that ruleth in the air, Eph. ii. 2. The air, 
 then, is the Devil's hell, saith Willet, Syno'p. 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 al- 
 most all men like it well, for they desire to dwell 
 there. 
 
 7. Others say, hell is above, near the third heav- 
 ens, within the yiew of the glorious saints, and al- 
 lege for it Isa. Ixvi. 24, Rev. xiv. 10. If so, it is 
 very far to hell. Astronomers say, that there are 
 three heavens above the firmament: where the fix- 
 ed 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 hun- 
 dred 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. liv. 8. 
 This was Cain's punishment; Fr^om thy face shall I 
 be hid; my punishment is greater than I can bear, 
 Gen. iv. 13, 14. The hiding of God's face causeth 
 sadness, and the breaking of the bones of comfort, 
 Psalm li. 8. Behold his eyelids try the children of 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 31 
 
 men, Psalm xi. 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 sit- 
 teth 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. xviii. 
 14. The sph'its in prison, 1 Pet. iii. 19. This is 
 the wrath of God, that abideth upon him who believ- 
 eth not in the Son, John iii. 36. Heaven is God's 
 face and presence, and our greatest joy in this life, 
 Exod. xxxiii. 15, 16, and so will be in the next, 
 Psalm xvi. 11. Thou wilt Jill me with the joy of thy, 
 
 face: in thy presence is fulness of joy. Acts ii. 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 al^sence of the presence of God. Sijnop. 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 ministeis in France affirm, that 
 Father Cotton, the Jesuit, did inquire of the Devil 
 
32 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 xvi. 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 
 Jlpoc. p. 282, saith, the fire of gehenna is the place 
 of the damned; others of them deny it.* Mr. Leigh 
 saith, the story oil 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 xii. 25; by their reeling, 
 staggering, and stumbling, theyare so drunk, that 
 they can find no ground to stand upon; they under- 
 stand 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 scrihel 
 Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God 
 madejoolish the wisdom of this worldl 1 Cor. i. 20. 
 He frustraleth the tokens of liars, and makelh diviners 
 mad, and turneth wise men backwards, and makelh 
 their knowledge foolishness, Isa. xliv. 25. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 3?) 
 
 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. 
 
 Jinsiver. If they have, that doth not prove it; be- 
 cause the conscience of men are as they are instruct- 
 ed, according to the proverb, such doctor, such schol- 
 ar. Hence it is that the conscience of a Papist tells 
 him it is not lawful to eat flesh in Lent, nor on Fri- 
 day. And whoso killeth you, will think he doth God 
 service, John xxi. 2, that is his conscience. The con- 
 sciences 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 
 4 
 
34 TORMENTS OP HELL. 
 
 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 belore the 
 coming of Christ; in their treble division jf 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 JVoninus, 
 Greek poets. Homer wrote of the destruction of 
 Troy, which was near a thousand years be; re the 
 birth of Christ. Homer is one of the most ancient 
 records extant. It seems in his time there v/as no 
 mention of a hell of torments never to end. Tho afore* 
 said poets call Pluto Siimmanus, as being chief of the 
 manes, or spirits below. To pacify these ill spirits, 
 a feast was kept in February, with wax-<'andles 
 burning to Pluto, called Candlemas day; so JMr. Jess 
 injhis almanac. The Cretians are always liars, Titus 
 i. 12, the greatest liars in the world, that will fancy, 
 feign, and say anything. Is it a thing possiile, that 
 wax- candles above the earth, should give liglit thou- 
 sands of miles into the earth, to pacify those ill spir- 
 its there? It seems they are not in any great tor- 
 ment, 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 inillions of miles above the eai.th. 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 ^o row 
 men to- Pluto. So the phantasy of pui gat ory did 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 common- 
 wealth, and all the orders and degrees of purgatory. 
 These, with their Elysiau fields, and many other of 
 their barbarisms, by long use became venerable. 
 
 Your opinion is fitter for heathens than for Chris- 
 tians; 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 testimO' 
 ny ; if they speak not according to this word, it is be- 
 cause there is no light in them. Xsa. viii. 20. 
 
 3. Mr. Leigh saith, clear reason proves it. God 
 is just; many abominable sinners enjoy more pros- 
 perity in this life, than those that live far more in- 
 nocently; and they must be punished hereafter, ac- 
 cording to the multitude and heinousness of their 
 sins. Psalm Ixxiii. 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 rea- 
 son. 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 rea- 
 son 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 the .will and wisdom of God, who is pleased to save 
 the worst of sinners, as appears, l.uke vii. 47; 
 1 Tim. i. 15; Acts ix. 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. vii. 14, nor to say, 
 O Lord, I beseech thee send me now prosperity, 
 Psalm cxviii. 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. 
 XV. 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 ivas made subject to 
 vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath 
 subjected the same in hope"? Rom. viii. 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 carfnot be out of the sight of 
 God; your justice is not God's: his is a death; 
 your's is not a death, but another thing. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 37 
 
 6. Mr. Leigh saith, God's intentions from ever- 
 lasting were to glorify his justice as well as his 
 mercy, Rom. ix. 21, 23, fitted to destruction. 
 
 Ans. Know you anything of God's intention that 
 is not revfealed in his word? Deut. xxix. 29. Or 
 doth the word say that God doth not glorify his jus- 
 tice, 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 re- 
 vealed 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. iv. 24, 
 the old and the new, Heb. viii. 13, and xii.24. The 
 old is no more everlasting than the priesthood of it; 
 the breach of the covenant of works is death, there- 
 fore 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. X. 11, Rom. XV. 4. Socrates, a heathen 
 
 *4 
 
38 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 philosopher, was more wise and modest in not affirm- 
 ing things which he knew not; being asked what was 
 done in hell, he said he never went thither, nor com- 
 muned 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, 
 1 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 war- 
 rant from the word of God. One saith, their tor- 
 ment 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 con- 
 tradicts another, and all of them the word of God. 
 They will not deny that those in hell are in the great- 
 est trouble; and yet they cannot speak, when in less 
 trouble; I am so troubled I cannot speak. Psalm 
 Ixxvii. 4; therefore they cannot curse and accuse 
 one another, as you affirm. 
 
 8. Mr. Leigh saith, divines unanimously con- 
 cur, &c. 
 
 Ans. If they do, it is not binding to us; for we 
 are satisfied they are not infallible. There must be 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. . 39 
 
 errorSj 1 Cor. xi. 19; they have the greatest share. 
 The priests, Popish and Mahometan priests, Baal's 
 priests, and all other sorts .of priests, concur; conn- 
 mon consent is sooner believed than naked truth; it 
 is high time to cease from man, for ivherein is he 
 to be accounted ofl Isa. ii. 22. Truth, and not any 
 number of men, is to be followed. Every one must 
 give an account of himself to God, Rom. xiv. 3, 11, 12. 
 Luther said, he esteemed not the worth of a rush 
 a thousand Augustines and Cyprians against him- 
 self; 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 preach- 
 ed; see 1 John iv. 1. Acts xvii 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 1"0RMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 Some say, the Jews report that in Tophet, the 
 valley of the son of Hinnom, there was a great ditch, 
 which c6uld never be filled; that they calle4 this the 
 mouth of hell ; and that the Chaldeans, when they 
 slew the Israelites, threwthem 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 t-he 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 liiust needs 
 fall, 2 Tim. iii. 9. You have done all you can, and 
 can come to no surer bottom to rest upon, tliansup- 
 posals 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 an.d 
 brimstone, which thou mightest so often and so 
 
TORMENTS OP HELL. 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 
 ferment .in hell, and that is in this life; I am cast 
 out of thy sight, Psalm xxxix. 22 ; it foiloweth 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, 
 /ear,* despair, the soul cannot melt with greater tor- 
 ment. 
 
 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 tor- 
 ments of hell. Jin evil man out of the evil treasure of 
 his heart, bringeih forth that which is evil, Luke vi. 45, 
 
42 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 igno- 
 rance 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 wi'ote 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 ene- 
 mies; 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 wonder- 
 ful to consider, what adding and altering the Scrip- 
 tures 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 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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, corrup- 
 tion hath happened to all copies this day extant, in 
 his Jlnsiver to Preface, pp. 11, 15, 16. Whole verses 
 are omitted in some copies; 1 John v. 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. xii. 28, are not 
 in the original; he supposes these words to have 
 been inserted by the Prelates in favor of their gov- 
 ernment. The preachers who call themselves 
 divines, have assumed and challenged divine author- 
 ity 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 idola- 
 try, &c. have made a text for it. Job xxxi. 28, to he 
 punished by the judges; but these words are not in 
 
44 TORMENTS OP HELL, 
 
 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 Ge- 
 neva Bible differs from this, and froni the transla- 
 tion printe.d by the Stationers, London. The Eng- 
 lish translation hath a variety of differences, not 
 without evident contradiction among divers places 
 that might be instanced; see Dan. vii. 9, 18; in the 
 Geneva translation, ver. 9, is, / beheld till the thrones 
 were set up: and in the King's translation, printed by 
 the Company of Stationers, London, the same verse 
 is, 1 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 Eng- 
 lishman 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 plain- 
 ly. Faith only justifieth. Dr. Fulke, Defence Eng- 
 lish translation, p. 80, saith, we follow in our trans- 
 lation, 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 abridge- 
 ment of their grievances delivered to King James, 
 pp. 11, 13, 14, say, that the English translation of 
 
TORMENTS OT HELL. 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 advertise- 
 ment 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. Featiy, 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 un- 
 doubted word of God, what is that preaching worth 
 that is proved by it.? The false glosses and interpre- 
 tations which are put upon the scriptures by men 
 learned in the languages, who have made inconside- 
 rate and bold assertions without proof in not keep* 
 ing 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. xiv. 12. They have forsaken the 
 fountain and digged to themselves cisterns, as Jer. 
 ii. 13, and we see the people are willing to give 
 themselves up to a ministry of fables, 2 Pet. i. 16. 
 that makes the scriptures say and unsay, which be- 
 ing interpreted is to make them say just nothing. 
 
46 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 The force of education, and the custom the country- 
 men 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, vs^ho interpret sheol for hell-tor- 
 ments; 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 figura- 
 tively, and say, by tojyhet 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 tor- 
 ment, 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 interpre- 
 tation of them is not to be of man, but of the Holy 
 Spirit. Oracles signify the answer of God, Rom. iii. 
 2. See John xii. And hov) readest thou, Luke x. 26. 
 To interpret words figuratively which are to be un- 
 derstood literally, and words literally which are to 
 be understood figuratively, is licentious, and de- 
 structive to the faith of the Gospel. We are not to 
 interpret any place figuratively, unless that figura- 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 47 
 
 tive sense be expressed in a plainer place of Scrip- 
 ture. 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 chil- 
 dren, 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-tor- 
 ments, is the consent of their preachers; their learn- 
 ed and godly men agree herein ; but their weak, 
 and various, and uncertain grounds declare, that 
 they have not studied the point. But when teach- 
 ers 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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, blow- 
 ing something into their ears, that forever after they 
 are not able to hear and receive the jtruth. But as 
 Mr. Beza did detest the Papists' limbus and purga- 
 tory, 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 Scrip- 
 ture, 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 persua- 
 sion that is in men, that the believing of hell-tor- 
 ments 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. 
 
TORMENTS OF 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, ivithout works, Rom. iv. 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 damn- 
 ed. 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 tee sin, we 
 have an advocate, 1 John ii. 1. Not anything can 
 separate iis from the love of God, Rom. viii. 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 Apos- 
 tle exhorts us not to turn the grace of God into 
 wantonness, Rom. vi. 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 minis- 
 ters 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- 
 
 5# 
 
50 TORMENTS OF HELL. ' 
 
 ers say, that the sin of man was determined of God. 
 Dr. Willet, Sifiop. p. 760. He also saith, the Prot- 
 estants hold that the fall of Adam was both foreseen 
 of God, and decreed to be, not permitted only. 
 They allege Gen. xlv. 5, 8; 2 Sam. xxiv. 1; Acts ii. 
 23 ; iv. 27, 28 : Should ivalk after their ungodly lusts, 
 Jude 18. For the creation was subject to vanity, not 
 willingly, hut by reason of him that hath subjected the 
 same in hope, Rom. viii. 20. Dr. W. Whitaker 
 against Catnpion the Jesuit, saith, 'Now answer me, 
 Campion, do you think that which any one doth, 
 how wicked soever, is done whether God vvill 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. iv. 11.' God must first will 
 his creature to stand or fall, before he can do either, 
 Acts xxi. 14. Phil. ii. 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 
 
"■■ TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 the will of man, which is contrary to Eph. i. 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 pow- 
 er 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. xviii. 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 com- 
 mands 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, JVo man can come 
 to me except the Father drme him, John vi. 37, 44. If 
 they be drawn, they come: draiv us, and we will run 
 after thee, Cant, i. 4. If I put sufficient strength 
 to move the earth, motion must needs follow; when 
 men sin, they are beguiled, enticed, deceived, drawn 
 away; iheij like men have transgressed, Hos, vi. 7. 
 
 We are to distinguisli 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 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 Sorroiv, waa burned by the hangman. The 
 same spirit is alive to burn this also; I expect noth- 
 ing 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 be- 
 long to them, or they hope to repent and lead new 
 lives before they die; though they sin for the pres- 
 ent, 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 liber- 
 ty 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 vjhereof ye are now ashamed ? Rom. 
 vi. 21. If I sin, thou markest me, Job x. 14. Be sure 
 your sin will find you out, Numb, xxxii. 23. In keep- 
 ing thy commands there is great reward, Psalm xix. 
 11; in breaking them a great punishment, loss of 
 inward peace and comfort, a guilty accusing con- 
 science, disgrace, affliction, losses, crosses, and 
 death; Tlie bloody and deceitful man shall not live out 
 half his days. Psalm Iv. 23. I tvill curse your bless- 
 ings, Malachi ii. 1. See Deut. xxviii. — the whole 
 chapter. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 55 
 
 Men sin because they are led captive hy the devil 
 at his will,' 2 Tim. ii. 26; iii. 6. Also men sin be- 
 cause they are under the law; so long as a man is 
 under the law, sin will have dominion over him, Rom. 
 vi. 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 Ixviii. 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 
 viii. 36, but not till then; see Eccl. viii. 11. The 
 punishment of the magistrates keeps men from abus- 
 ing 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 satis- 
 faction; 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 enjoy- 
 ment 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 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 iv. 13, 15. God worketh, 
 governeth, and disposeth all things, after the counsel 
 of his own will, Eph. i. 11. Acts xviii. 21. Rom. ix. 
 18. Who hath resisted his will? God's will is done, 
 Luke xi. 2. Heb. ii. 4. Eph. i. 5. Acts xiii. 22. The 
 measure of men's sins is set; men cannot do more 
 nor less than their measure; they fill up their meas- 
 ure always, 1 Thess. ii. 16. It was determined how 
 many times Peter should deny Christ, Luke xxii. 31, 
 34, compared with ver. 61. God sailh, if you will 
 believe him, the wicked shall do loickedly, Dan. xii. 
 10. They cannot cease from sin, 2 Pet. ii. 14. That 
 which is determined shall be done, Dan. xi. 26. He 
 that restraineth the clouds, that they drop not down 
 rain, he made a decree for the rain, Job xxxiii. 26, 
 and the earth that it bring not forth grass, Deut. 
 xxix. 23. He that stilleth the winds and the tempest. 
 Psalm cvii. 29, 30, that saith to the waves of the 
 sea, hitherto shall thou come, but no further, and here 
 shall thy proud waves be staid. Job xxxviii. 11, he re- 
 straineth men from doing their wills when he pleases; 
 they would go further, but he restraineth them, Job 
 xviii., that they cannot do the things they had ap- 
 pointed to do. Gen. XX. 6; xxxi. 24; xxxv. 5. Rev. 
 XX. 3, 12. O Lord, I know the way of man is not in 
 himself; it is not in man that walkelh to direct his steps, 
 Jer. X. 23. Prov.iv. 12. The preparation of the heart, 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 57 
 
 and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord, Prov. 
 xvi. 1 . A man's heart deviseth his loay, but the Lord 
 directeth his steps, Prov. xv. 9. The heart of the 
 king is in the hand of the Lord : as the rivers oj 
 waters, he turneth it withersoever he will, Prov. xxi. 1. 
 Man's daijs are determined. Job vii. 1; xiv. 5, 14. 
 ^nd the bounds of his habitation. Acts xyii. 24; so are 
 his works and sins. Surely the lorath of man shall 
 praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shall thou 
 restrain. Psalm Ixxvi. 10. 
 
 Setting aside the opinions and conjectures of men's 
 devised fables, 1 am fully satisfied with the testimo- 
 ny of the word of God, (besides their own testimo- 
 ny, which is sufficient against themselves,) with 
 which I see through the thick darkness of the inven- 
 tions and traditions of men. 
 
58 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 imagi- 
 nation of man; for their reasons prove not its ac- 
 tual existence, nor do they agree among them- 
 selves of the proof of it, neither where it is, nor what 
 it is. 
 
 2. Solomon was wiser than all men, 1 Kings iv. 
 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 ora- 
 cles of God, Rom. iii. 2, to give unto us, have deliv- 
 ered 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 
 
TORMENTS OP HELL. 59 
 
 bundle of life, in the world to come; Ainsworth, on 
 Gen. ii. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years, 
 2 Pet. iii. 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 igreat searches 
 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 be- 
 lieve 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 punish- 
 ment due to them for the same, they do not confess 
 to have deserved any such punishment. They con- 
 fess, to us belongs confusion of face, Dan. ix. 8, 11. 
 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, 
 Lam. iii. 22. Thoit hast delivered me from death, 
 Psalm cxvi. 8. 
 
 Nor do we find that they ever gave thanks for any 
 such deliverance. If they had known of any such 
 
60 TORMENTS 6p HELL. 
 
 deliverance, it must have appeared to be the great- 
 est deliverance, which any could enjoy, requiring 
 the greatest acknowledgment and thankfulness. 
 JVor 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 ad- 
 mired the deliverance effected in saving their lives 
 from death, speaking of it as the greatest deliver- 
 ance, Ezek. vi. 3 — 14. The kindness of the Lord 
 not to die, 1 Sam. xx. 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. xxxii. 
 33, and to be separated from Christ, Rom. ix. 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 destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, which was to come, and wept be- 
 cause they were to suffer that, Luke xix. 42, 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. x. 1 — 11. They shall die of griev- 
 ous deaths, Jer. xvi. 4. 2 Chron. xix. 10. Death 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 61 
 
 threatened, Ezek. iii. 18, 19, xxxiii. 3 — 16. Titus iii. 
 10, 11. Confounded be all ihey that serve graven im- 
 ages, Psalm xcvii. 7. A punishment in this life, 
 Jer. ix. 19. Death for idolatry, Jer. xliv. 7. The 
 punishment of idolatry set for an example, 2 Pet. ii. 
 6. Be instructed, lest my soul depart from thee, 
 and I make thee desolate, because oj thy sins, Micah 
 vi. 13. See Jer. ix. 11. Abomination that mahes des- 
 olate, Dan. xi, 31. He turned the cities of Sodom 
 and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned tJiem with an 
 overthroia, making them an examjole, 2 Pet. ii. 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. v. 9. Thy 
 mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth unto 
 the skies. Psalm cviii. 4. By truth in this place un- 
 derstand the punishment of sin, because the word 
 mercy is put in opposition, which lieth in forgiving 
 sin. The heavens are far above the skies; astron- 
 omers 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. 
 XXV. 21. His name is his glory; his glory above the 
 heavens. Psalm viii. 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 TORMENTS OP HELL. 
 
 God doth punish sin in the sinner, and upon his 
 children, to the third and fourth generation, hecause 
 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. xxxv. 5. The King of Terrors, Job xviii. 
 11, 14. Therefore death is the greatest punishment, 
 and most terrible; but if there were to be a punish- 
 ment 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. xxxvi. 18. Hoseaxii. 2; xiii. 11. Jeremiah 
 1. 25; xxvi. 18; ix. 9, 11. Job xx. 28. Every 
 transgression received a just recompense, Heb. ii. 2. 
 Would ye have sin to be fully punished in this life, 
 and afterwards in the world to come, with a punish- 
 ment never to end? That sin is punished in this 
 life, seelsa. Ixv. 3— 16. Deut. x. 17, 18. Micah vi. 
 10. Hag. i. 6. Lam. iv. 6. I will punish the world 
 for their iniquity, they shall fall by the sword, Isa. 
 xiii. 11 — 22. Outward calamity and deatb^, the 
 punishment of sin, Lam. iii. 39. 1 Pet. ii. 14. — 
 Recompense their sin to the full, Jer. xvi. 18. For 
 the violence of the sin of man, when all flesh had 
 corrupted his way, God saith, Iivill destroy them with 
 the earth; a flood of water to destroy all flesh, Gen. 
 vi. 11, 12, 17. To punish sin twice, is as disagree- 
 able to justice, as to receive the payment of one 
 debt twice. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 indig- 
 nation, Psalm Ixxvii. 49, (Death.) So it was poured 
 out, Isa. xxiv. 1 — 12. Ezek xix. 12. Accomplished 
 my fury, Ezek. v. 13. It consumed them, Ezek. xliii. 
 8. For yet a very little while, and mine anger and 
 indignation shall cease in their destruction, Jer. x. 
 25. Wrath passed, Job xiv. 13. Taken away all 
 thy wrath. Psalm Ixxxv. 3. He hath poured out all 
 his anger. Lam. iv. 10, 11. Zeph. iii. 3. The pun- 
 ishment of their iniquitij is accomplished, Lam. iv. 22. 
 Ezek. V. 13; vii. 8; xx. 21. The dregs of the 
 cup of my fury accomplished, Ezek. xiii. 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. vii. 26. 
 But if what they say were true, his death was but 
 the beginning of the Lord's fierce anger. 
 
64 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mamj Infallible Proofs that there is not to be a Punish-' 
 ment 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. xxix. 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. iii. 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: Eernal life by Jesus Christ, Rom. v. 21 ; and, 
 he that eateth of this bread shall live forever, John vi. 
 58. Because I live, ye shall live also, John xiv. 19. 
 God sent his Son, that we might live through him, 
 1 John iv. 9. Only believers have eternal life: he 
 that believeth on the Sonhath eternal life ; he that believ^ 
 eth not the Son shall not see life, John iii. 36. 
 Whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have everlast' 
 ing life, John iii. 14, 15. I give unto them eter7ial life, 
 and they shall ner^er perish, John x. 28. The wicked 
 abide not forever, 1 John ii. 17. Jf ye live after the 
 flesh ye shall die. R«ini. viii. 13. Him will God destroy, 
 
 (in the Greek it is corrupt) 1 Cor. iii. 17. The 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 65 
 
 preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolish^ 
 1 Cor. i. 18. 2 Thes. ii. 10. Utterhj perish, 2 Pet. 
 ii. 12. Luke xiii. 3. To their own destruction, 2 Pet. 
 iii. 16. Abideth in death, Rom. vi. 21,23. 1 John 
 iii. 14. They shall be destroyed forever, Psalm 
 xcii. 7. 
 
 If they perish and not have eternal life, then they 
 cannot live forever. God said, if thou eatest, thou 
 shall surely die, Gen. ii. 17; but the serpent said, 
 1/e shall not die, Gen. iii. 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 
 shalllive 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 dcstroxj, Mat. 
 xxi. 41. 1 Cor. iii. 17; vi. 13. They shall be destroy- 
 ed, 2 Pet. ii. 12. Swift destruction, their end is 
 destruction, 2 Pet. ii. 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. xv. 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. 
 iii. 12; Psalm 1.5; Ixxxix. 5; Ixxviii. 38. Mr. Bol- 
 ton 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 vi. 45, 46, 47. Promised to 
 us ettrnal life, 1 John ii. 17, 25. / give unto them 
 eternal life, to as many as thou hast given me, John 
 xvii. 2, 3. In hope of eternal life, Titus i. 12. *ds 
 many as were ordained to eternal life believed, Acts 
 
66 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 xiii. 48. They that have done good unto the restirree- 
 Hon of life, John v. 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 : — 
 
 1. He had, in his creation, a natural body, 
 1 Cor. XV. 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. 
 
 2. 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 
 Booh of Confessions, saith, because the Lord created 
 man of nothing, therefore he left in man a possibil- 
 ity 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. iii. 12. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 61 
 
 If Adam had not died, (Rom. v. 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? Eter- 
 nal life cannot be by the first man, much less by sin. 
 
 I deny not but the ivages of sin is death, Rom. vi. 
 23. There is a difference to be put between a nat- 
 ural death and a judicial death: the first is from 
 nature, the second is from sin. If the common 
 death that all die, Heb. ix. 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 par- 
 doned, do nevertheless die for sin? He that keepetk 
 my sayings shall not see death, John viii. 51, is not to 
 
68 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 be referred to a natural death, but it speaks of endur- 
 ing a judicial death, John iii. 16. The Scripture de- 
 clares that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, the 
 just and the unjust, Acts xxiv. 15. The unjust would 
 enter into life, but shall not, John v. 29. Unto whom I 
 swear in my wrath, that they should not enter into my 
 rest, Psalm xcv. 11. Heb. iv.. 5 — 7. And you your- 
 selves thrust out, Luke xiii. 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. vi. 21, if there be no 
 end? To be carnally minded is death, Rom. viii. 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. vi. 23. inflicted by God, 
 as Gen. xxxviii. 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 minis- 
 ters, in their late Annotations on the Bible, on Rev. 
 XX. 6, on such the second death hath no power, inter- 
 pret it, not to be destroyed by Antichrist, nor by the 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 cxxxix. 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 de&th 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 vi. 1. The second is like to it, Mat. xxii. 
 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. 
 xlix. 3, 4, XXXV. 22. 1 Chron. v. 1. Let Reuben live 
 and not die, Deut. xxxiii. 6. A judicial or second 
 death. The Jews (Onkelos) read Deut. xxxiii. 6. 
 Let Reuben live and not die the second death, and Jon- 
 athan on Isa. Ixvi. 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 ap- 
 pears the Jews count the second deaih is to be 
 slain; and if so, it is not a life of misery, never to 
 7 
 
70 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 inter- 
 pret heaven, in that Book, to be the church; and 
 the late Annotations on the Bible, and Mr. Bright- 
 man, and others, on Apoc. xx. 10, say, that the 
 devil, in that place, is the great Turk.* 
 
 * As the subject of the second death is one of considerable 
 importance, and as the views expressed above are believed not 
 to be generally correct, we subjoin the following remarks, 
 which were furnished the editor of this edition some time 
 since by a highly respected clergyman in Vermont. 
 
 ' The phrase second death occurs, I believe, in no part of the 
 Scriptures, except in the Apocalypse. It is found, Rev. ii. 
 11, XX. 6, 14. and xxi. 8. By this term is generally under- 
 stood ^nai j9crdifiore> — eternal sejjaration from. God, and exclu- 
 sion from heaven and happiness; or, in other words, that pun- 
 ishment which will be inflicted on sinners in a future and im- 
 mortal state of existence, and from which there will be no de- 
 liverance. Respecting this book, commentators are much di- 
 vided in opinion ; not only as it respects the time when — the 
 person by whom it was written, but ako, as to the time when 
 the events predicted in it were to be fulfilled. It is not my 
 design, at this time, to enter into a discussion of these points. 
 In a series of articles on the 'coming of Christ,' which I am 
 prepaiing for publication, I intend, more fully to investigate 
 these particulars, than my present limits will permit. Suffice 
 it to say, I believe with Grotius, Lightfoot, Sir Isaac Newton, 
 Bishop Newton, Wetstein, and many other learned writers, 
 that this book was written before the destruction of Jerusalem ; 
 and this opinion, I think, is clearly supported by the language 
 of the Revelator, both at the beginning and close of the book. 
 The first and third verses of the first chapter, appear to me 
 most clearly to establish the above opinion. * The Revelation 
 of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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; 
 
 servants things which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent 
 and signified it bv his angel unto his servant John : — Blessed 
 is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophe- 
 cy, and keep those things which are written therein ; for the 
 time is at hand.' The same sentiment is clearly expressed in 
 verses 10, 12, and 20 of the last chapter. ' And he saith unto 
 me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book ; for the 
 time is at hand. — And behold I come quickly, and my reward is 
 with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. — 
 He which testifies these things saith, surely I come quickly.' 
 Keeping in view the above observations relative to the time 
 when the predictions contained in the Apocalypse should be 
 fulfilled, we shall be prepared to enter directly into the discus- 
 sion of the question, What is to be understood by the words 
 second death ? 
 
 ' A second death presupposes ?i first which is to be suffered be- 
 fore the infliction of the. second ; and when we speak of a first 
 and second death, or of a first and second thing of any kind, 
 we naturally suppose that some analogy exists between the 
 two deaths, or things spoken of. Now, on tlie supposition that 
 by the first death we are to understand the death of the body, 
 and by the second the endless punishment of the soul in hell, 
 what analogy can we discover ? Natural death, or the death 
 of the body, is an extinction of life, and of all consciousness; 
 it destroys all sensation, either of pleasure or pain, and places 
 the body beyond the reach of happiness or misery. But is this 
 the effect which the second death is supposed to produce on 
 the soul ? No ; but the very reverse. Instead of terminating 
 the sufferings which had been previously endured, in a degree, 
 it increases them to infinity, and perpetuates them to all eter- 
 nity. 
 
 * But, admitting for a moment, the doctrine of endless pun- 
 ishment to be true, and that this punishment is properly ex- 
 pressed by the term death; can we with propriety call it the 
 
72 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 therefore their opinion is contrary to the word that 
 sailh, it is death. Filled with all unrighteousness , 
 haters of God, despiteful, proud, inventors of evil things; 
 
 second death ? In order to solve this question, it will be ne- 
 cessary to consider the different deaths mentioned in the 
 Scriptures ; and in doin^ this, we will refer to the first ac- 
 count given us of death, in the Bible. God said to Adam, * in 
 the day thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die.' Adam dis- 
 obeved the divine command ; he ate of the forbidden fruit ; and 
 if we consider the denunciation of God true, we must believe 
 that he died the death with which he was threatened, on the 
 day hs transgressed. This is the first death of which the 
 Scriptures give us any account ; and, I ask, what death was 
 this ? Not a natural death, or death of the body ; for, although 
 we are not told how old Adam was at this time, we are inform- 
 ed that after this event happened, he begat sons and daughters ; 
 and finall}', that he died at tJie age of nine hundred and tliirty 
 years. The question returns; what death did Adam die on 
 the day of transgression ? Answer ; the very death with 
 which he was threatened. He died to innocence, purity and 
 holiness. He died to the enjoyment of that peace and happi- 
 ness, which conscious innocence only can bestow on man. 
 This death passes upon all men, not only in the daij, but in 
 the moment of transgression. Hence, the Scriptures teach us, 
 that ' to be carnally minded is death ;' that we are ' dead in 
 trespasses and sins.' If, therefore, what is usually termed 
 moral death, be the first death which mankind suffer, (and thisy 
 I think will not be disputed,) natural death, or the dissolution 
 of the body, is the second ; and this eternal punishment, if it 
 is properly expressed by the word death, must be considered 
 the third death. 
 
 ' Having now, as I conceive, ascertained what is to be un- 
 derstood by iho first death ; let us search for a second death to 
 which' mankind are exposed, and which bears some resem- 
 blance or analogy to the first. And here, I will bring into 
 view those passages where the phrase ' second death' occurs. 
 The first passage is Rev. ii. 11, 'He that overcometh, shall 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 73 
 
 they that commit such things are worthy oj death, Rom. 
 
 i. 29 32. These are great sinners; yet the word 
 
 saith not that they are worthy of more than death; 
 
 not be hurt of the second death.' These words were address- 
 ed to the church in Smyrna ; and by consulting tlie context, 
 we find they were informed of some of the trials and tribula- 
 tions they were to endure from their enemies, and admonish- 
 ed to be ' faithful unlo death.' The members of this church, 
 whether converted Jews or Gentiles, were, previous to their 
 conversion to Christianity, in that state, \vhich, in Scripture, 
 is termed dead in sin;—' alienated from the life of God through 
 the ignorance that was in them.' By their conversion, they 
 hecB^e spiritually alive, for, ' to be spiritually minded is life 
 and peace.' Our Lord had predicted, that during the time of 
 unparalleled tribulation which should come on his followers 
 previous to his coming in judgment upon Jerusalem and the 
 Jewish nation, through the influence of false prophets and 
 persecution, the ' love of many should wax cold ;' and it is a 
 well-known fact, that at thus time, many renounced Christiani- 
 ty, and turned back again to their heathen religion. They 
 became a second time dead ; or, in other words, they were 
 ' hurt of the second death,' and their last state was worse than 
 their first. This view of the subject is supported by the words 
 of the Revelator in the first verse of the next chapter. Ad- 
 dressing the angel of tiie church in Sardis, he says, ' I know 
 thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art 
 dead: This church, although it still lived in name, had be- 
 come cold and dead ; spiritual life had departed from it ; and 
 it had been overcome by the second death. Here, then, we 
 find a death which some had suff'ered, in all respects similar 
 to the first death, though greater, or worse in degree; as it 
 was more difficult to renew one who was under the influence 
 of this death to spiritual life, than to convert him at first. 
 
 ' The next passages where this phrase occurs, are in chap. 
 
 XX. verses 6 and 14. ' Blessed and holy is he that hath part 
 
 in the first resurrection ; on such the second death hath no 
 
 power. And death and hell were cast into th lake of fire. 
 
 7* 
 
74 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 and therefore why should any say, they are worthy 
 of more than death? And if the end of these things is 
 death, Rom. vi. 21, therefore there is not anything 
 
 This is the second death.' In this chapter, the Revelator ob- 
 viously alludes to the resurrection mentioned in Dan. xii. 2, 
 and referred to by our Lord, John v. 25. That the prophet 
 was speaking of a moral, and not a literal resurrection, there 
 can be no doubt from his subsequent language ; for he express- 
 ly declares, that when God ' shall have accomplished to scat- 
 ter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be fin- 
 ished.' Ver. 7. As the time was at hand when the ' power of 
 the holy people ' (i. e. the Jews) was to be scattered j when 
 the kingdom was to be taken from them, and given to a nation 
 bringing forth the fruits thereof; (Mat. xxi. 43,) and when 
 the dead Gentiles were to be raised by the power of the Gos- 
 pel to spiritual life ; the Revelator could with the greatest 
 propriety make use of the same figurative language in de- 
 scril)ing those events which had been previously usfed by the 
 prophet and our Saviour. Christ expressly told his followers, 
 that those who endured unto the end of those trials and afflic- 
 tions which he had piedicted, should be saved ; and it is a his- 
 torical fact, that of all those who continued faithful, not one 
 was known to have perished during the long and calamitous 
 siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish nation. — • 
 Thus, not only were their natural lives preserved by their 
 obedience to the instructions of their Master, but they contin- 
 ued in the enjoyment of spiritual life. Over them, the second 
 death had no power. 
 
 * The only remaining passage is in ch. xxi. 8. ' The fearful and 
 unbelieving, &c. shall have their part in the lake which bunieth 
 v'th fire and brim.stone ; which is the second death.' As the de- 
 struction of the Jewish nation and polity — the abolition of the le- 
 gal dispensation, which was a ministration of death, were repre- 
 sented by the casting of death and hell into the lake of fire ; so 
 the establishment on earth of the Me.ssiah's kingdom; that 
 kingdom which was to come to the children of men, • with pow- 
 er,' is fitly decribed by the descending of the ' holy city. New 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 75 
 
 to come after death, 2 Kings vii. 4. The soul that 
 mnneth shall die, Ezek. xviii. 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 eutest thereof thou shalt surely die, 
 Gen. ii. 17. Dying thou shalt die, that is, natur- 
 ally and judicially. JYot touch it lest ye die, Gon. 
 iii. 3. To bear iniquity, is to die for it, Lev. xxii. 9. 
 Numb, xviii. 22. That one man die for the people, 
 John xviii. 14. The body is dead because of sin, 
 Rom. viii. 10. He that is dead is freed from sin, Rom. 
 vi. 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 pun- 
 ishment of the breach of his law, Gen. iii. 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, 
 
 Jerusalem, from God out of hoaven ;' a representation of which 
 is given in the preceding part of the chapter. And as the char- 
 acters described in this verse did not possess the spirit of this 
 kingdom, they could not enjoy its life ; but, with the unbeliev- 
 ing Jews, were 'cast out into outer darkness,' and fell under 
 the power of the second death.' 
 
76 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 or of being ever consumed in torment eternnWy^ 
 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 brim- 
 stone will make one so full of torment, that he can- 
 not 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. iii. 21; xii. 7. 
 Gen. ii. 7. Heb. xii. 9. Zech, xii. 1 . If the devils are 
 in hell in torment, as they commonly and vainly imag- 
 ine, hell is in the wicked: the devil's evil spirits are 
 there, and rule there in the children of disobedience, 
 Eph. ii. 2. 1 Pet. v. 8. Jude 14. Mat. viii. 28; xxv. 
 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. iv. 2 — 5. Also the Scripture speaketh 
 not of an eternal death, and therefore there is no 
 such thing. 
 
 3. Their opinion of a punishment after this life 
 never to end, makes not sin, but Christ, to be the 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 77 
 
 cause of men's thus suffering. This is evident, be- 
 cause 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 ^nd. If Christ be 
 not risen, they which are fallen asleep are perished, 
 ] Cor. XV. 17, 18. That the resurrection came by 
 Jesus Christ is also evident, because Christ saith, 
 / am the resurrection, John xi. 25. By man, that is 
 Christ, came the resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 21, therefore 
 it is called the resurrection of Christ, 1 Pet. iii. 21. 
 His resurrection, Kom. vi. 5. Phil. iii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 
 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. xxvii. 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 suf- 
 fer, 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 iii. 16, to save, 
 and not to destroy, Luke ix. 56; xix. 10, not to make 
 any miserable; he came to save sinners, 1 Tim, i. 15. 
 Luke iv. 18. He rose again for our justification. 
 
78 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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. 
 
 4. The Scriptures declare what Christ came to do, 
 namely, to deliver us from the hand of our enemies, 
 Luke i. 74, to taste death for every man, Heb. ii. 9. 
 See Luke iv. 18. The l&st enemij is death, 1 Cor. xv. 
 26. He abolished death, 2 Tim. i. 10. He hath 
 promised deliverance from death and the grave; I 
 will redeem them from death, Hos. xiii. 14. He that 
 heepethmy sayings shall not see death, John viii. 51, 
 52. O death, ivhere is thy sting? O grave, where is 
 thy victory? 1 Cor. xv. 55. I will ransom thee from 
 the power of the grave: he saith .not from the tor- 
 ments of hell, nor from the punishment never to end. 
 O death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, 1 ivill be 
 thy destruction! Hosea xiii. 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. v. 
 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 satisfac- 
 tory, 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 men- 
 tioned, 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 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 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 suffer- 
 ing that punishment which we were to suffer. To 
 this the Scriptures agree, Gal. iii. 13. Isa. liii. 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. Thait 
 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 rejec- 
 tion. (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 con- 
 science ; (5.) malediction; (6.) desperation, second 
 death. Christ suffered none of these; therefore he 
 suffered not the torments of hell; they do not be- 
 lieve 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 sufl^ered them 
 without end, he suffered not the punishment of the 
 damned in hell, which they say we were to. suffer. 
 
so TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 Also they say, the damned suffer not those tor- 
 ments 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, with- 
 out all hope or comfort. Who dare say, Christ suf- 
 fered 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 rejec- 
 tion, 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 Sijnop. 
 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 par- 
 take 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 suf- 
 fer it. 
 
 See ye not whither this their doctrine tends ? to 
 overthrow the sufficiency of Christ's suffering, and 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 81 
 
 our comfort, in leaving us to suffer the said torments 
 ourselves; Christ leaving his suffering an example, 
 ffwe suffer with him, &.c. Rom. viii. 17. JNIust 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 suffer- 
 ed the torments of hell, neither I, nor they, can see. 
 They say, Christ, being God, made an infinite satis- 
 faction, 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 Chrjst 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, infi- 
 nite, happy, unchangeable; how is he so, if he were 
 ever unsatisfied? To say God is, or ever was, un- 
 satisfied, 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 perfec- 
 tion. God is one; to us there is but one God; God 
 was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2 Cor, 
 V. 19, that is. Father, Word, and Spirit. God is one, 
 not one divine nature in Christ satisfying, and anoiU^ 
 er divine nature in the Father satisfied; but the Fa- 
 ther in the Son, God in Christ. The essence of God 
 8 
 
82 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 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 
 chancre is in the creature, not in God, Malachi iii. 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 sufl^er, there was not any- 
 thing to suflfer 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 oT 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, ivhat 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 xxxv. 6 — 8. God hath all satisfaction in 
 and from himself, not from anything without, or be- 
 sides 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 C7vss, Phil, 
 ii. 7, 8. A body, Heb. x. 5. Obedience belongs to 
 the human will; the man Christ was made a curse for 
 us; he was bruised for our iniquities , andivith his stripes 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 83 
 
 we are healed, Isa. liii. 5. 10. It was blood that wash- 
 ed away our sins, Rev. i. 5. Therefore it was said, 
 by the obedience of one [man] we are made righteous, 
 Rom. V. 19. The word saitli 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 ChHst Jesus, 1 Tim. ii. 5. 
 
 The worthiness of Christ's person did not abolish 
 the equity of God's law, and exempt him from suffer- 
 ing that which he ought to suffer, Luke xxiv. 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 infi- 
 nite 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. ii. 17. 
 
 5. The word saith, God's fury is like fire; in the 
 fire of his jealousy he shall make a speedy riddance of 
 
84 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 all them in the day of the Lord^s wrath, Zeph. i. 18. 
 But to continue in torment forever is no speedy rid- 
 dance; therefore there is to be no such punishment. 
 The pouring out of the fiery anger of the Lord is 
 a day, Zeph. i. 15, 18. Rom. ii. 5. Ezek. xiii. 14; 
 xxii. 22, Isa. xiii. 9, 13. The day of the Lord is at 
 hand, Isa. xiii. 6. Joel i. 15. A punishment never 
 to end in no manner corresponds with a day; there- 
 fore there shall be no such punishment. 
 
 6. The doctrine of the torments oi hell never 
 to end, hath caused, and doth daily cause, much 
 sin: — 
 
 1. It causeth fear; fear hath torment, 1 John iv. 8. 
 He that feareth is not perfect in love, 1 John iv. 18. A 
 servile and a slavish fear is sin. 
 
 2. It causeth many evil and hard thoughts of 
 God. 
 
 3. Fear troubleth the hearts of many of the Lord's 
 people, and maheth them sad with their lies. God 
 complains of this, Ezek. xiii. 22. Their lies caused 
 them to err, after which their fathers ivalked, Amos ii. 
 4. Christ saith, Let not your hearts he troubled, John 
 xiv. 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. xl. 5, 9; Ixi. 
 1 — 4. Jl word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in 
 pictures of silver, Prov. xxv. 11. 
 
 4. Fear distracts and greatly discourages the 
 soul, hinders faith; that which delivers the soul from 
 fear, fits it to strve God without fear, in holiness and 
 righteousness, all the days of our lives, Luke i, 74^ 
 75. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL, 85 
 
 5. 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. 
 
 6. 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 iight 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. 
 
 7. This doctrine causes an exceeding and unrea- 
 sonable trouble of mind, and melancholy. Such trou- 
 ble is sin, John xiv. 1, A merry heart doeth good, 
 Prov. xvii. 22. The knowledge of the truth in re- 
 gard to this subject gives peace to the fearful mind, 
 and causes, as it were, a heaven upon earth. 
 
 8. This doctrine hath caused many to murder 
 themselves, taking away their own lives by poison, 
 stabbing, drowning, hanging, strangling, and shoot- 
 ing 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 in- 
 crease their sin, and increase their torments in hell.* 
 
 * Here we see the same dreadful effects attended the doc- 
 trine of endless misery nearly two hundred years ago which 
 attend it now. It was then the cause of anxiety, despair, and 
 suicide, as we suppose it always was before, where fully be- 
 lieved, and as we know it has been of late years. Let posteri- 
 ty know, that within the last ten years, there have been a 
 large number of suicides, which must be attributed to the doc- 
 8* 
 
86 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 9. 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. 
 X. 29, in seeking to be justified by the law of works, 
 and not alone by the perfect righteousness of Jesus 
 Christ, Rev. i. 5. Jer. xxiii. 6. Heb. x. 10, 14. 
 
 10. 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 tor- 
 ments of hell causes a feeble mind ; comfort the fee- 
 ble minded, 1 Thes. v. 14. It is a comfort to many, 
 whose children and friends die, and leave no testi- 
 mony of their conversion, to be free from this fear; 
 for the fear that they are to suffer so great and end- 
 less torment, hath saddened and troubled the heart 
 of many a parent and friend. 
 
 11. God hath said, heivill not contend forever, nor 
 be always wroth; for the spirit would fail before him, 
 and the souls he has made, Isa. Ivii. 16. Man is not 
 able to dwell with everlasting burnings, Isa. xxxiii. 14. 
 To be in so great a torment as they speak of, with- 
 out end, ease, and refreshment, the spirit must fail, 
 (a small thing will make the spirit fail;) and if so, 
 
 trine of endless torment. That doctrine makes men melan- 
 choly ; it drives them to despair ; they know not what to do ; 
 and they sever the brittle thread. Fathers and mothers, in re- 
 peated instances in the United States, have murdered their 
 children, lest they should grow up, and commit sin, and be 
 damned. Can a doctrine which produces such dreadful con- 
 sequences be the doctrine of God ? — Ed. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 87 
 
 the reason is the same against the being of a pun- 
 ishment 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 mer- 
 ciful than cruel man (Jer. 1. 24; vi. 23. Hos. iv. 1. 
 Isaiah xlix. 15,) to his offspring? fVe are all his 
 offspring, Acts xvii. 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. vii. 8 — 11. Thou Lord art good, and doest 
 good, Psalm cxix. 68. Mat. v. 45. Though they 
 were evil, and did evil, God did good, and gave rain, 
 Acts xiv. 17. They say the fire, Dan. iii. 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 TORMENTS OP HELL. 
 
 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 fVom 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 xxvi. 14. All nations before him 
 are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than 
 nothing, and vanity, Isa. xl. 12, 15, 17, 22. O how 
 great is he that hangeth the earth upon nothing! Job 
 xxvi. 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 crea- 
 tures, and all good things for all; the profit of the 
 earth is for all, Eccl. v. 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 iii. 11. All this mani- 
 fests 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. v., the 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 89 
 
 whole chapter. The creature itself shall be delivered 
 from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty 
 of the sons of God, Rom. viii. 21. The whole crea- 
 tion, and every creature, angels and men, Jews and 
 Gentiles, ver. 20. Mark xvi. 15, in bondage to cor-' 
 ruption, 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 ivas in 
 Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2 Cor. v. 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 gener- 
 ality of the Fathers held, that all souls shall be purg- 
 ed by the fire of the last judgment, and so pass to 
 salvation, Moulin, p. 135. See Rom. xi. 22, 23, 27. 
 All flesh shall see the salvation of God, Luke iii. 6. 
 See 1 Tim. ii. 3 — 6. Isa. xlv. 17. TJie glory of the 
 Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it, Isa. 
 xl. 5. The times of the restitution of all things, which 
 God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy j^'^'ophets 
 since the world began, Acts iii. 21. They shall in 
 time be delivered from their bondage, for which de- 
 liverance they groan. Are not all, angels and men, 
 obedient or disobedient, the creation of Goi? If 
 so, the worst shall partake of the liberty of the sons 
 of God ? As the whole creation came from 
 
90 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 God, (or rather is in God, for i?i him we live) it 
 shall be taken up into the same glory. A good can- 
 not 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 mercij on all 7 Rom. v. 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 cer- 
 tain also of your own poets have said; for we are all 
 his offspring. Acts xvii. 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, John x. 30. Also, if all men 
 are in God, (in him we live and move, <Src.,) then all 
 men are in Christ ; for God was in Christ reconciling 
 the world unto himself, 2 Cor. v. 19. All confess 
 that all who are in Christ shall be saved: as in Adam 
 all die, even so in Chist shall all be made alive, 1 Cor. 
 XV. 22. I see God is good, and dolh 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. v. puts the second Adam in oppo- 
 sition to the first, his saving to his sinning. If all 
 nations be blessed. Gen. xxii. 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 th© 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 9l 
 
 World to come, far better than this, for only a very 
 few. Shall the fruit of Christ, the sun of righte- 
 ousness, be more narrow and confined than that of 
 the sun in the firmament, whose excellency is," that 
 its bright rays and b^ams 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 
 Christy 1 Cor. ii. 16. He that is turned to the Lordis 
 one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17. God is in them, of a truth, 
 1 Cor. xiv. 25. Christ in us, Col. i. 27. Stephen, 
 when stoned, cried, Lord, lay not this sin to their 
 charge, Acts vii. 60. Saints are ever merciful, Psalm 
 xxxvii. 26. The desire of the righteous is only good, 
 Prov. xi. 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 mani- 
 fests 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 xxiii. 34. When 
 the disciples would have had fire come down from 
 
92 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 heaven to consume his enemies, he rebuked them, 
 Luke ix. 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 tire never to end. 
 Ye may know the mind of God by the mind of Christ, 
 for Christ is God, alike, equal, Acts xx. 28. Heb. i. 3. 
 And as one ; / and mij Father' are one, John x. 30. 
 
 14. Such punishments do not correspond with the 
 fruits of the holy and blessed God. Thefruitofthe 
 Spirit is love, joy, peace, goodness, S^c. Gal. v. 22. 23. 
 The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, Eph. v. 9. 
 The words of the Lord are pure words. Psalm xii. 6. 
 The words of the pure are pleasant words, Prov. xv. 
 26. Good words, comfortable words. The Holy Spi- 
 rit is called a comforter, not a tormentor. The pure 
 spiiii of love sends forth only love and sweetness. 
 
 15. Such torment does not correspond with the 
 nature of God. God is love, 1 John iv. 16. It is his 
 nature; there is no anger or fury in love; fury is not 
 in me, Isa. xxvii. 4. God wills us to love our ene- 
 mies, who abuse, wrong, and hate us; much more 
 will God love his enemies, Luke vi. 35. If God 
 should love only them who love him, do not even the 
 publicans the same"? Mat. v. 46. All that is in God 
 is infinite. God is love; his love therefore is in- 
 finite, 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 al- 
 ways the same; lam the Lord, I change not, Malachi 
 iii. 6. This love delights in mercy and love, and not 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 93 
 
 in the punishing of sin; that is his strange work, Isa. 
 xxviii. 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 xiii. 
 1. God was never destitute of love. Christ saith, 
 Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me, John xvii. 
 23. At what shall God be angry, or dissatisfied? 
 God was never angry vvith 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 in- 
 iquity of us all, Isa. liii 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 punish- 
 ment without end, upon any of them: that would be 
 worse than to forsake the works of his hands, and is 
 contrary to Psalm cxlv. 8, 9. Your heavenly Father 
 is merciful, Luke vi. 36. Richinmercy, Eph. ii. 4. 
 The Lord is gracious, of great mercy ; the Lord is 
 good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. 
 Ml thy works shall praise thee, and thy saints shall 
 bless thee, Psalm cxlv. 8 — 10. He is good to all, 
 he despiseth not any. Job xxxvi. 5, and no respecter of 
 persons. Acts x. rM. 
 
 17. Sin cannot overcome the love of God; ivhere 
 sin hath abounded, grace did much more abound, Rom. 
 v. 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 
 
 9 
 
94 TORMENTS OF HELL. 
 
 endless torment for their sins, how has grace aboun- 
 ded to them much more than their sins? Answer 
 this if you can. With the Lord there is memj, Psalm 
 cxxx. 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 Ixiv. 8. There- 
 fore 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 any- 
 thing which is not just and right. The greatest pun- 
 ishment 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 com- 
 mand, 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. xxi. 24 — 26. How much she hath glorified her- 
 self, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow 
 give her, Rev. xviii. 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. ix. 6. 
 Life for life is equal; but to lose life for life, and 
 also to suffer an endless punishment in addition, is 
 not equal. 
 
TORMENTS OF HELL. 95 
 
 19. It is no profit nor pleasure to God that any 
 should suffer endless torment; lie hath no -pleasure in 
 the death of any, Ezek. xviii. 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, Mic. vi. 6. If so, he desires not that any 
 should be so sacrificed in a torment never to end. 
 God abhors cruelty, Amos i. 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. xxxiv. 6, 7. The greater the mercy and for- 
 giveness, the greater is the grace, and the more it 
 redounds to the glory of God. Love covereih all 
 sins, Prov. x. 12. He that covereth tsansgression 
 seeketh love, Prov. xvii. 9. If man's glornj is to pass 
 over transgression, (Prov. xix. 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 gri9atness and riches of his 
 grace, Eph. ii. 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. v. 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 TORMENTS OP HELL. 
 
 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 to- 
 wards men, Luke ii. 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 bless- 
 ed spirit, the nature of the love, goodness, and mer- 
 cy of God; or in such a sense as shall tend to con- 
 tradict 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. 
 
TOUMENTS OP HELL. 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 agre€ 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 xlix. 13. Who hath 
 believed our report, and to vjhom is the arm of the Lord 
 revealed ? Isa. liii. 1. 
 
 Some believed the things that were spoken, and some 
 believed not, Acts xxviii. 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. xxix. 21. 
 
 O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou 
 hast covered my head in the day of battle^ Psalm cxl. 
 7. So be it. 
 
 j:nb. 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED 
 
 RELIGION 
 
 EXP^LAIJ^ING EACH OTHER: 
 IN .TWO ESSAYS: 
 
 * TOE FIRST SHOWING WH\T RELIGION IS ESSENTIAL 
 TO MAN : THE SECOND, THE STATE OF SOULS 
 AFTER DEATH AS DISCOVERED BY 
 
 REVELATION. 
 
The following Essays are copied from the " Harlei- 
 an Miscellany," published in 1745, a work which was 
 made up of a collection of scarce, curious, and enter- 
 taining pamphlets and tracts, as well in manuscript as 
 in print, found in the Earl of Oxford's Library. It 
 will probably never be known who was the author 
 of the Essays. They were found in the library of the 
 Earl, and had never before been published. See 
 " Modern History of Universalism," pp. 80-83. 
 
 Editor. 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 On the Religion essential to Man. 
 
 In Religion, all true principles must depend upoo 
 one only principle; this only principle is that of a 
 self-sufficient being. 
 
 Every relation between two intelligent beings is 
 necessarily founded in the nature of both. Now re- 
 ligion is essantially no more than a relation between 
 Grod and man. It can therefore be founded only in 
 the nature of these two beings. 
 
 Then every point of doctrine, every opinion, which 
 is evidently opposite as well to the nature of God, as 
 to that of man, ought to be deemed false, or at least 
 foreign to man's essential religion. 
 
 From hence it is plain, that the religion, essential 
 to man, must be simple, evident, free from all con- 
 tradiction; that it must exclude everything false and 
 imaginary; that it cannot require any man to strain 
 his belief to what savors of an impossibility, much 
 less to what savors of a contradiction. 
 
 If God is self-sufficient, he is perfectly disinterest- 
 ed; for what is infinite can lose nothing, as it can 
 
104 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 gain nothing. Therefore he did not make man out of 
 nothing to increase his own happiness; consequently 
 his creating him capable of happiness could be for 
 no other end, but to render him happy. If this be 
 his end, which cannot be doubted, this end subsists 
 invariably. God is therefore concerned for the hap- 
 piness of those beings whom he has created. 
 
 The conclusion from hence is plain, that, since 
 God does nothing for his own advantage, he has 
 nothing in view but the advantage of his creatures; 
 that whatever is called religion, is reduced to this. 
 (If it be objected to this, that the scripture says, 
 God made all things for his own glory: I answer, 
 that it is not from the expressions of scripture we 
 form the idea of God, but on the contrary, by the 
 idea of God we rectify whatever these expressions 
 seem to ascribe to him, that is either imperfect or 
 contradictory;) therefore every other idea of reli- 
 gion is so far from honoring God, that it really dis- 
 honors him, by supposing him to be like unto men, 
 who, in consequence of their insufficiency, cannot 
 be perfectly disinterested. 
 
 The first idea a man has, is, that he exists: 
 He finds he could not be the author of his own ex- 
 istence, so that the source of existence resides else- 
 where: Where must it reside.^ It must be in some 
 being that has not received its existence from any 
 other ; man, therefore, is obliged to own, that there 
 is a first, a self-existent being. The first discovery, 
 (which you see is only an unavoidable consequence 
 of experience) is sufficient to lead him to others, I 
 mean to more particular ideas concerning the aitri- 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 105 
 
 butes of that first being. As whatever we are 
 capable of feeling, tasting, or knowing, must neces- 
 sarily proceed from that first cause; this idea leads 
 us to discover, in the first Being, not only power, 
 but also wisdom and goodness, and this discovery 
 also arises from experience. 
 
 Nothing is more familiar to experience, than the 
 sentiment of joy: this sentiment, which is only 
 momentary in man, gives him some idea of a more 
 real felicity, whereof that which he feels is only a 
 specimen or sample. From this experience he con- 
 cludes, that the Author of his being, having made 
 him capable of so delicious a sentiment, must be the 
 source of all felicity. 
 
 Another thing, which he feels, leads him still far- 
 ther: I mean the invincible inclination he has to 
 happiness; and, as this desire is inseparable to his 
 being, it must likewise be ascribed to the author of 
 his being; from whence he justly concludes, that 
 happiness is the end of his being. This conclusion 
 leads him to another: he finds it is not completely 
 attained in this world, consequently there must be 
 one hereafter, which will accomplish that end. All 
 these sentiments naturally arise from a man's con- 
 sidering himself only: let us now introduce him into 
 society. He observes that the earth produces all 
 the necessary things for man's subsistence, but this, 
 being not equally divided, begets the language of 
 mine, and thine: this language occasions another, 
 namely, that of just and unjust, true and false. 
 
 When we hear men say to one another, this is 
 
 false, that ii; unjust, he inquires into the meaning of 
 10 
 
106 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION, 
 
 these terras. He finds that the word false consists 
 in the denying what we know to be true, or affirming 
 what we know not to be so. 
 
 That what is called unjust consists in taking from 
 another what is allowed to be his, or in not keeping 
 one's promise. 
 
 But, notwithstanding he has clear ideas of what is 
 truth or falsehood, justice or injustice, yet, upon 
 examining things more, he sometimes observes, that 
 falsehood lends such assistance to injustice, that 
 judges are sometimes at a loss to discern who is in 
 the right, and who in the wrong; so that sometimes 
 the innocent suffer, and the guilty escape: he then 
 concludes, that if a Being, equitable in the highest 
 degree, suffers, for a time, that justice should not be 
 rightly administered, it is, because he reserves to 
 himself the care of distributing it hereafter in the 
 most exact proportion, when the unjust and the 
 murtherer will receive the retribution due to their 
 violence, and the poor and innocent persons, who 
 sunk under the weight of injustice, will receive a 
 proportionable recompense. 
 
 Hence we may see that real religion is not so 
 much above the reach of man as some would per- 
 suade us; for it does not consist so much in a 
 knowledge acquired by the instruction we receive 
 from others, as in that we receive or attain from 
 ourselves by sentiment and experience. 
 
 But some perhaps will say, that such a religion as 
 this founded on our natural faculties is not sufficient 
 for salvation: this is only the religion of nature, 
 which is infinitely inferior to revealed religion, which 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 107 
 
 is not founded on sentiment and experience, but on 
 faith, since the Christian is obliged to believe what 
 he does not see. 
 
 Don't let attachment to words mislead us. J^at' 
 ural religion, say these men, is greatly inferior to 
 revealed. This is a lame proposition. Here is one 
 equivalent to it: Nature in children is greatly infe- 
 rior to education. 
 
 The use of education is most certainly not to 
 destroy nature, but to bring it to perfection. Re- 
 vealed religion ought to be with respect to men, 
 what education is with respect to children; it can 
 only build upon the foundation of nature. 
 
 This being supposed, 'tis plain, revealed religion 
 bears a relation to our natural faculties, and ought 
 neither to destroy them or be substituted in their 
 room. This idea of substitution, which we adopt 
 without being aware of it, would appear ridiculous 
 in any other case, as may be proved by an example 
 taken from education: — A school-boy has a good 
 natural genius for arithmetic, and desires to learn 
 the rules of it. A master gives him a book of sums, 
 all done to his hand: the scholar then has no more 
 to do but to believe, without examining, the exact- 
 ness of every one of the rules, being pretty sure 
 the master is not mistaken. I say, this book would 
 in that case be substituted in the room of the natu- 
 ral capacity which the boy has for cyphering. He 
 will not exert it, as finding the work ready done to 
 his hand: but what is the boy the better for this? 
 All that he will know is this, that he must believe, 
 without knowing why, that such and such figures so 
 put together make such a sum. 
 
108 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 Thus you tell me I must believe without examin- 
 ing, because God hath said it; but this examination, 
 which you exclude, necessarily supposes another, or 
 perhaps several, before I can be convinced of this. 
 For, from my knowing there is a God, it does not 
 follow that 't is he that speaks in such a book. That 
 book, say you, carries with it the marks of truth, for 
 which it ought to be received. Very well. You no 
 longer then insist that I should believe without ex- 
 amining, since you yourself invite me to judge of 
 this book by the marks it carries with it. But how 
 shall I judge of them.'' By what rule shall I be ena- 
 bled to discern what you call the marks of truth .^ 
 In order to do this, I must consult the principles of 
 truth, and from them form my notion of these 
 marks. 
 
 People are undoubtedly guided by a false notion, 
 when they consider revealed religion, and the reli- 
 gion of nature, as opposite to one another. To decide 
 the matter, a person need only ask himself, whether 
 the means can be opposite to the end? And whether 
 we can warrantably extol the means above the end, 
 to which they are subservient? 
 
 Well now, allowing that our rational man has 
 examined, and is entirely satisfied by the marks, 
 that such a book contains the revealed will of God; 
 for he cannot think it strange that the Deity should 
 interest himself for men, who are the work of his 
 own hands, and that for the same reason he should 
 employ different means to form and perfect them, 
 like a father who takes pains to form and perfect his 
 children; that, God having placed us amongst such 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 109 
 
 a number of different objects, he should condescend 
 to warn and instruct us as to the use we are to make 
 of them; and that, considering the shortness of life, 
 he should also Tt^arn us of what is to be our future 
 portion, according to the use we shall make of our 
 time here. 
 
 By examining this revelation, he finds it exactly 
 agree with the religion of his understanding. He 
 finds the author of it, Jesus Christ himself, declar- 
 ing that both the laio and the gospel centre in the 
 accomplishment of this immutable laio: Do to others 
 us you would that they should do to you. And this he 
 has made good by most of his precepts. 
 
 But it will be said, if the whole doctrine of Christ 
 centered there, what did he teach men that they did 
 not know before ? I answer, that Jesus Chtist has 
 (properly speaking) required nothing of men, but 
 what they themselves could perceive to be just. He 
 appealed on all occasions to their discernment. He 
 never grounds his precepts upon his own authority, 
 but upon their agreement with common sense, upon 
 the force of truth, which they are capable of feel- 
 ing, when they do not wilfully oppose it. If I do 
 not speak truth, said he, do not believe me. He invites 
 men to examine, and made the most simple amongst 
 them judges of his actions. 
 
 Now, such is the nature of the understanding, that 
 it can believe nothing but what it discovers to be 
 true. If God should require men to believe what 
 they can't discern to be true, he would in that case 
 <iisown the intelligent faculty which he has given 
 them; truth would no longer have any force to con-" 
 9* 
 
no NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 vince and persuade; they must become like those 
 idols of whom 'tis said, that they have eyes, but see 
 not, &c. If men could believe what they please, to 
 what purpose should we appeal to .common sense, 
 and ask those questions in every body's mouth, Is it 
 not truel Is it not just 1 Accordingly we find Jesus 
 Christ speaking to men, always supposing them to 
 have understanding and liberty. He appeals to the 
 understanding of the Jews against their laws and 
 customs, which they reckoned to be most sacred, 
 such as observing the Sabbath, &c. For common 
 sense would have told them, that the Sabbath must 
 have been made for man, and not man for the Sab- 
 bath. If so, the doing or receiving good, on that 
 day, would not have been looked upon, as they pre- 
 tended or imagined, a breach of it. He does not 
 stop at the letter of the law, we see, but enters into 
 the spirit of it: he appeals to themselves, whether 
 any of them would not, or ought not to take care of 
 his ox or his ass on that day. 
 
 But then 'tis urged, that if the nature of the un- 
 derstanding be such, that it can believe nothing but 
 what it discovers to be true, what must we do with 
 the mysteries of revealed religion? The word 
 mystery denotes something hid, the knowledge of 
 which God has reserved to himself: let us therefore 
 confine ourselves to evident and undoubted truth; 
 and if so, what would be the consequence of such a 
 conduct? Would it hinder us from knowing and 
 practising the duties of natural and revealed reli- 
 gion ? 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. Ill 
 
 No, but wc should be ignorant of a great many 
 things. We should indeed be ignorant of that art 
 which passes under the name of controversy : we 
 should have no idea of those distinctions of words, 
 and of those subdivisions ad infinifum, which have 
 enriched dictionaries. We should be ignorant of 
 those names of sects, Arianism, Ptlagianism, Socin- 
 ianism, &c. We should not have known to what a 
 pitch animosity, rancor, bigotry, and ambition can 
 be carried under the name of zeal. If we had been 
 ignorant of these things, would not the world have 
 been a gainer in other respects.'* Wars about reli- 
 gion, which of all wars are the bloodiest, had never 
 been known. Christians would have made (without 
 these controversies) the study of religion to consist 
 in being good men. The gospel would only lead 
 them to that: in every page of it, they will find 
 instructions tendingto make them sincere, equitable, 
 and beneficent. Every man- then who should be 
 wanting in such virtues, or have their opposite vices, 
 would be deemed (as indeed they are) void of reli- 
 gion. For what is called devotion would not supply 
 the place of religion where the fundamentals of it 
 are wanting. Men would not damn one another 
 then: that privilege would be unknown to them, and 
 they would be as little acquainted with that of tyran- 
 nising over the consciences of others. 
 
 But, if you set aside mysteries, religion would be 
 reduced to something so very simple, that the most 
 illiterate men may understand it. What advantage 
 would the learned have over them? And would it be 
 reasonable that they, who consume themselves in 
 
112 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 laborious researches about mysteries, should have 
 made no farther progress than the greatest part 
 amongst the illiterate ! In answer, I say that 1 know 
 the gospel was preached to the illiterate, and 1 know 
 that the religion proper for all mankind ought to be 
 within the reach of the illiterate. I^rom whence I 
 may justly conclude, that Christ did not require of 
 any one to penetrate into things which are obscure; 
 nay, I go farther in my belief, that what is a mystery 
 to the illiterate, will be equally so to those learned 
 men who have exhausted themselves, perhaps, in use- 
 less researches. Is this a conjecture only? JNot in 
 the least. These learned men have multiplied con- 
 tradictions, in proportion as they attempted to explain 
 those mysteries. Therefore let those who are lovers 
 of truth embrace in its full force this maxim : Things 
 which are hid are to God, but things revealed are to us, 
 and to our children, to do them. 
 
 Whenever we put this question to ourselves, What 
 is the end, or design of religion? The most natureil 
 answer that occurs is, that religion is intended to 
 make us good men, that is, upright, equitable, 
 beneficent, sincere, or true in our discourse, as well 
 as in our conduct : this answer all Christians unani- 
 mously approve of. If this be the end, as we are all 
 agreed in it is, must we, before we are capable of 
 attaining it, know thorouohly all the different senses 
 which are put upon the different passages in Scrip- 
 ture? And also which is the true genuine sense? 
 But perhaps my whole life would not be sufficient 
 for such a study. At what time, then, must I begin 
 to be a good man? From Jaence I may safely con- 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 113 
 
 elude, that the essential part of religion is upright- 
 ness and sincerity, and the accessory part is a 
 knowledge of particular things offered to us in Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 When a thing contains two parts, the one essen- 
 tial, the others accessory, in order to know which 
 part is essential, if you cut off one part, and, by so 
 doing, you do not destroy the essence of the tiling, 
 then it is plain, the part cut off is only accessory. 
 
 Now I ask: If you remove from the idea of re- 
 ligion that fund of uprightness above mentioned, 
 and place in its room all the acquired knowledge, 
 which the written revelation offers, what woirld hap- 
 pen? Would a man, in this case, have any religion? 
 On the other hand, if you remove from religion that 
 acquired knowledge, and substitute in its room a 
 fund of uprightness, as before described, I ask, 
 whether such a man would be void of religion ? 
 
 It may, however, and ought to be observed, that 
 what is only accessory, with respect to one man, 
 may be essential in respect to another; for, if sin- 
 cerity requires me to assent to every truth that is 
 either sensible or evident, all the truths, which 
 appear to me as such, become essential with respect 
 to me. 
 
 Let us now proceed to show how this essential 
 religion is to be practised. The comparison, we 
 are apt to make upon all occasions, between the 
 Supreme Being and those men we call sovereigns, 
 is apt to lead us into numberless mistakes. Chris- 
 tians, by it, are accustomed from their infancy to 
 consider religion as something by which God is 
 
114 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 honored: so, early do they fancy to themselves, that, 
 when they pray to him, or praise him, he is much 
 obliged to them for it; and that, by giving alms, 
 and doing what we call good ivorhs, they honestly 
 purchase heaven. 
 
 If afterwards they do not think so grossly, this 
 opinion subsists in the main, though, perhaps, so 
 secretly, that they themselves are not aware of it. 
 We find our common discourse receive some tinc- 
 ture from this opinion : we talk of glorifying God, 
 and paying him the homage that is due, as a thing 
 advantageous to him : we insinuate, that he must 
 be highly offended (not to say affronted) by those 
 who refuse to pay him this homage. 
 
 The usual distinction between what we owe to 
 God, and what we owe to ourselves, gives many peo- 
 ple room to make separate articles of them. They 
 give him his portion, if we may use the word ; they 
 set apart a certain time for worshipping him ; in short, 
 they render unto God what they think is his due ; so 
 that it would be hard to convince many people that 
 this part of religion, which seems only to relate to 
 God, does, like all the rest, tend solely to the advan- 
 tage of man: for, if, according to the foundation- 
 principle here laid down, God is a self-sufficient 
 being, our worshipping him can benefit none but 
 ourselves. 
 
 Yet, what strange metamorphoses some people 
 imagine are produced by devotion! During these 
 happy minutes, an unjust man puts on sentiments of 
 equity, a severe man sentiments of humanity, a 
 proud man sentiments of humility. Now, let us 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 115 
 
 examine, whether there is anything in all this; 
 whether we do not impose upon ourselves. Sentu 
 ments put on! does not this phrase seem to imply a 
 contradiction? Is it in a man's power to assume 
 what sentiments he pleases? No, but he may strong- 
 ly imagine them; and these imagined, not to say 
 imaginary sentiments, is called putting on, because 
 the appearances of them are put on, and afterwards 
 we are apt to take it for reality. 
 
 What proves them to be merely borrowed is, that 
 we are presently stript of them. This is experienced 
 in seasons of high devotion, which, as soon as over, 
 the very next day we find, that we are no longer 
 the same men which we believed ourselves to be 
 the day before; and yet it is in these efforts of devo* 
 tion, that many people make their Christianity to 
 consist. They complain, and blame themselves for 
 their lukewarmness, and that want of fervency, 
 which they ought to have, but not their neglect of 
 practising the duties flowing from beneficence; la- 
 ment, above all, the badness of their memories, in 
 not retaining the good things which they read and 
 hear, but neglect to blame themselves for not per- 
 forming the duties they do remember. These bor- 
 rowed sentiments, on which they set so great a 
 value, is what makes them neglect the study of 
 themselves. They torment themselves about what 
 is not in their power, and oftentimes neglect what 
 deserves their greatest attention. 
 
 No imaginary effort can deserve the name of 
 virtue, for virtue must have truth for its foundation. 
 I ask, can a man, that is six feet high, persuade 
 himself that he is but four ? 
 
116 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 It is plain, our passions cannot be commanded : 
 we cannot love, hate, or fear, purely by being bid 
 to do it. But then, say you, if the passions are not 
 under command, — if love, for instance, is not to be 
 commanded, because the heart is framed in such a 
 manner, as not to love anything but what appears 
 amiable to it, what shall we do with several precepts 
 of the gospel, enjoining us to love our neighbor as 
 ourselves, &c. ? Must we suppose, that the gospel 
 commands us to do a thing impossible? Or must we 
 blindly suppose, that it is possible for us to love, 
 upon command? Surely, neither one, nor the other. 
 The first supposition would be injurious to the 
 Author of the gospel, the second opposite to the 
 laws of nature. What medium must be then taken ? 
 It is plain, nature and the gospel have but one and 
 the same original: when, therefore, I read. Thou 
 shall love thy neighbor as thyself. By this shall all 
 men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one an- 
 other: let us examine into the other parts of the 
 gospel, and the difficulty will soon cease; we there 
 shall find other commands of the same import, where 
 the difficulty above mentioned will quickly vanish. 
 Here is a proposition will doit: All things, which ye 
 would that men should do to you, do ye also to them in 
 like manner; for this is the law and the prophets. 
 Are we not, by this, commanded to be equitable, or to 
 endeavor to be so ? Without dispute, we are. Here 
 then, the voice of the gospel and that of nature are 
 but one and the same voice ; consequently, we cannot 
 refuse our assent to it: there is no room here for the 
 pretence of impossibility. So that you see, in this 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 117 
 
 sense, it is not impossible to obey our Saviour's pre- 
 cept of loving our enemies; and he himself shows 
 you how to do it, by doing good to them that hate 
 you. Now, it is plain, we can easily conceive a dif- 
 ference between loving one, and doing good to him; if 
 the former is not in our power, the latter surely is; 
 for to love any one, we must think him possessed of 
 some amiable qualities; whereas, to do good to him, 
 it is sufficient if we see him in want of it. 
 
 To conclude as I began: I say that in true reli- 
 gion, all that are called the duties of men, whether re- 
 lating to God, to our neighbors, or ourselves, when 
 strictly considered, melt as it were into one another, 
 and all tend to procure him good, and that happiness 
 for which he was made. For, seeing God is a self- 
 sufficient being, he does nothing for his own advan- 
 tage; he can have no other view than the advantage 
 of his creatures; therefore whatever is called reli- 
 gion is reduced to this; any other idea of religion is 
 so far from honoring God, that it really dishonors 
 him; for otherwise, you suppose him to be like unto 
 men, who, in consequence of their known insuffi- 
 ciency, cannot be perfectly disinterested. 
 
 From hence it is evident, even to a demonstration, 
 that the principle of a self-sufficient being is so far 
 from ruining religion, that it is the real basis of it; 
 it is so far from destroying morality, that it compre- 
 hends the strongest motives to it: for the self-suffi- 
 cient being, having no need of his creatures, has, in 
 what we call religion, no other interest in view but 
 theirs; no other aim, but tl^at of making them hap- 
 11 
 
118 NATURAL AND REVEALD RELIGION. 
 
 py; which was the sole design of his creating them, 
 all his laws having the same tendency. 
 
 NOTE TO PAGE 106. 
 
 * IVill receive a proportionable Recompense. ' 
 
 The writer here seems to express the opinion which has been 
 entertained by some, that rewards and punishments are not, 
 in this life, proportioned to men's actions. We beg leave, 
 therefore, to present the following extract from Dr. Benson's 
 Life of Christ. He was an author of high repute, and a full 
 believer in tlie doctrine of a future retribution ; but he held 
 that rewards and punishments are distributed among men in 
 this life, according to the characters they possess. Editor. 
 
 'The doctrine of our text doth most properly and immediately 
 point out the misery of wicked men, or the connexion between 
 vice and misery. And that connexion is indeed very remarka- 
 ble, and affords mankind a most excellent lesson. There have 
 been crimes which have given men more exquisite misery, 
 than being stretched upon the rack, or undergoing the great- 
 est bodily torments. And again. But all vice, in proportion 
 
 o the degree and aggravation of it, is sooner or later so much 
 misery. Envy is the rottenness of the bones. Revenge may 
 gratify a man whilst his passion rages. But as soon as he has 
 satiated his malice, the demon of revenge comes thundering 
 back upon himself, and pours out her torment upon the furi- 
 ous and implacable, giving him more exquisite misery than all 
 that he could inflict upon his adversary. The covetous and 
 ambitious are never satisfied. For irregular desires grow 
 much faster than to be appeased with the greatest success. 
 The tumultuous pleasures of the voluptuous and the debauched 
 end with a short-lived transport, but leave the mind in a 
 disordered state ; create fears and dangers by breaking in upon 
 the honor and peace of families, as well as upon a man's own 
 honor and integrity, which ought to be dearer to him than all 
 the world. Indulging to sense and appetite impairs the 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 119 
 
 health of the body, destroys the vigor of the mind, breaks in 
 upon its peace and harmony, puts the faculties in disorder, 
 creates tumult and confusion, anarchy and uproar, distresB 
 and misgivings of heart ; brings on various diseases, and 
 sometimes sudden and premature death. Is it virtue or vice 
 that commonly ruins men's estates, disturbs the comfort of 
 families, render? men useless and contemptible in themselves, 
 and the scorn and detestation of the sober and thinking part 
 of mankind, whose esteem and approbation every wise man 
 will above all thJDgs court ? Who are the grand disturbers of 
 neighborhoods towns or kingdoms ? the plagues and terrors of 
 human society ? the virtuous or the vicious ? And it ought 
 to be added that wicked men, in common, calamities, are as lia- 
 ble to suffer as the good. In war, famine, pestilence, sickness 
 and death, and the like, and that they want those supports 
 and refreshments, under their calamities, which religion affords 
 the virtuous and good man. But, if they were to escape more 
 frequently than they do, it has been known that worldly suc- 
 cess has been some men's utter ruin, even as to the posses- 
 sions and enjoyments of this present transitory life.' 
 
 ' But, continues the Dr. on the other hand, ' Between virtue 
 and happiness, there is, in tlie wise constitution of God, the 
 most close and strict connexion. The pleasures of a man are 
 of two sorts, sensible and rational. The sensible pleasures of 
 this life may be enjoyed by a good man, provided he indulgeei 
 them no further than reason allows. The checks of conscience 
 which restrain him, and direct him to keep within proper 
 bounds, are so far from being his misery, that they are his honor 
 and singular felicity. They either keep him in the paths of 
 righteousness, or lead him back to virtue's ways, when he has 
 wandered from her amiable paths. But besides sensible enjoy- 
 ments, the good man has the pleasure of acquiring useful 
 knowledge ; and the high delight which flows from virtuous 
 practice : of which last the wicked man is wholly incapable, 
 as long as he continues wicked. The good man therefore, is 
 so far from being of all men th-e most miserable, that he is of all 
 men the most happy. His piety doth not lead him to any 
 monkish austerities, or ridiculous mortification and abstinence, 
 
120 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 but conduces to the health of his body, the peace, order, and 
 harmony of his mind, the good of his estate, and the welfare of 
 his family and friends. He has deservedly more reputa- 
 tion than his wicked neighbor ; is more valued by thinking 
 and good men ; is in reality a better member of civil society, 
 as well as an ornament to the church of God. Whether his 
 life be longer or shorter, it is formed upon the rules of wisdom, 
 that is, of virtue and true religion. He can look all round 
 him, and take satisfaction that all is well on every side. If he 
 considers his relation to God, or man ) if he looks backward 
 or forward, considers his present existence, or that which is 
 to come, all, all yield him satisfaction and delight. He con- 
 siders himself as raised from nothing to the rank and dignity 
 of a rational creature ; that he is acting according to his rank 
 by imitating the most perfect being ; that he stands well with 
 him ; and that as he is like him now, he hopes to be happy 
 with him forever. Blessed is the person that is in such a 
 case ; yea thrice happy that man, whose God is the Lord. 
 
 'One would think that as piety, and virtue conduce to men's 
 present happiness, this argument might have some weight 
 with the voluptuous, ambitious and worldly minded man, and 
 put them upon trying virtue's ways, which are all loays of 
 pleasantness^ and all tcho. e paths are paths of peace. There is 
 not, indeed, perfect felicity in this world ; but the good man 
 comes the nearest to it of any man upon the face of the earth. 
 And virtue and true religion tend to a man's most solid and 
 durable felicity.' 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 121 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 State of Suuls after Death. 
 
 Agreeable to the foregoing abstract or plan of the 
 Christian Religion, let us now consider the state o 
 souls after death, as discovered to us by revelation. 
 Mankind are agreed that the ideas of goodnesi 
 and justice are inseparably connected with the idea 
 of God; but our custom of settling these attributes 
 n opposition to each other, is a proof that we are 
 strangers to their nature. 
 
 We usually say, that justice gives way to goodness, 
 or goodness gives place to justice; and hence im- 
 agine, that they are so far from being one and the 
 same, that there is even a considerable distance 
 between them. If we survey them in another light, 
 and trace them up to their origin, we shall find that 
 goodness is, as it were, the centre of justice, the 
 latter losing itself in the former. 
 
 Let us then represent to ourselves the infinite 
 being in the eternity, prior to the existence of time, 
 before any creatures came out of his hands. Let us 
 represent to ourselves this being self-sufficient de- 
 signing to form intelligent beings; let us suppose 
 ourselves acquainted with this purpose, before it was 
 11* 
 
122 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 put in execution: what can we presume concerning 
 the state of these new beings, that are to come from 
 the hands of a perfectly happy being, but they will 
 be rendered as happy as their finite capacities will 
 admit of ? 
 
 For the perfectly happy being, wanting nothing 
 for himself, cannot create beings with a view of 
 making addition to his own felicity; it must be then 
 to make them happy as he himself is, in proportion 
 to finite and infinite. Hence it follows that the idea 
 of infinite goodness is inseparable from that of an 
 infinitely happy being; the pure and perfect good 
 cannot do, or confer, anything but what is good, and, 
 did it communicate anything else, it would be incon- 
 sistent with itself. 
 
 This idea of goodness in the Deity is a positive 
 one, which j?/.s/ice is not; equity therefore constitut- 
 ing without dispute the essence of justice, I would 
 ask whether infinite goodness and perfect equity^ do 
 not harmoniously agree? and whether they can be 
 set in opposition? 
 
 Hence it follows that the effects of sovereign 
 goodness are never suspended, but that we even 
 share of them when under punishment; some resem- 
 blance we see of it in the chastisements that paren- 
 tal afljection inflicts. Thus the Deity, by the small 
 portion of benevolence we feel in ourselves, invites 
 us to judge how far his own immense goodness may 
 reach. 
 
 Now let us suppose that a man who has this idea 
 of infinite goodness, but has never heard talk of a 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 1*2S 
 
 ttiiserable eternity; how do we imagine such a man 
 would relish the first proposal of it? what horror 
 would not such an image give him? He would con- 
 clude that those who admit of such a state, have a 
 God different from his; that they were never acquain- 
 ted with the immense goodness of the supremely hap- 
 py being. He would even conjecture, that those, who 
 espouse this opinion, fe-el not within themselves 
 those characters of beneficence which are insepara- 
 ble from human nature. 
 
 In reality, this strange opinion degrades the Di- 
 vine Goodness, and places it below human goodness. 
 For it supposes that God could not foresee what 
 would befall the work of his own hands; that he 
 ventured to give being to an infinite number of crea- 
 tures, without any certainty of being able to make 
 them happy. 
 
 It will be granted, that this plan is worthy of God, 
 and its end above all fully satisfactory; but still it 
 may be objected, that, in order to arrive at this hap- 
 py end, there is a terrible interval; the unavoida- 
 ble miseries of the present life are light, and will 
 soon have an end; but the additional prospect of 
 future sufferings, the end of which we know not, 
 is terrible; would it not be more worthy of immense 
 goodness to exempt men from all manner of punish- 
 ment after this life, since they were formed and in- 
 fallibly destined for bliss? Why does not that now 
 happen, which one day will certainly be brought 
 about ? 
 
 This question amounts to the same as that con- 
 cerning the fall of the first man: Why did not God 
 
124 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 prevent his making that use of his liberty ? Or rather, 
 why did he create him a free agent? for a confined 
 liberty is no liberty. Such difficulties as these take 
 their rise from our ignorance, and our short-sighted 
 views of things. A being without liberty would no 
 longer be a man, and then we might ask, Why God 
 thought fit to make men.'* Now let us return to some- 
 thing certain. 
 
 It is certain, that infinite goodness cannot make' a 
 present of anything to man, but what is for his good. 
 Since therefore man is endowed with liberty, and 
 that this might prove prejudicial to him, it necessa- 
 rily follows, that it is in itself so essential to man's 
 nature, that Divine Wisdom could not divest him of 
 it, without divesting him of the quality of man. 
 
 We likewise clearly see, that the good, accruing 
 to him from it, must infinitely surpass the damage 
 he may possibly sustain from it; without which we 
 may presume that Divine Wisdom and Goodness 
 would never have made him a present of so perni- 
 cious a nature. 
 
 Let us now examine whether the scripture contra- 
 dicts this notion. Indeed, there are repeated ex- 
 pressions of eternal fire, and the worm that dieth not, 
 ^c. But are not the terms, eternal, eternity, and 
 never, very equivocal, both in Ch'eeh and Hebrew, 
 most commonly signifying a long period of time, 
 and sometimes an indefinite time? It is said the 
 slave shall continue in his master's house forever; 
 emid Jeremy speaks of the temple and sacrifices, as 
 of things that never were to be abolished. God 
 swore to David, that a successor upon his throne 
 should never fail. 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 125 
 
 Now let US agree upon an incontestable principle 
 for understanding the scriptures. It contains truths 
 which we may call eternal and unchangeable, which 
 are the foundation of all the rest, independent of ex- 
 pressions, figures, parables, Stc: of this sort are the 
 spirituality, eternity, omnipotence of God, and what- 
 ever else we can know of his perfections. Next to 
 these, which serve as a foundation to all the rest, 
 we find in scripture God's design of saving men 
 through his Son. These truths, which are the basis 
 of all religion, and as there are in scripture a prodi- 
 gious number of figurative, allegorical, equivocal, 
 and even contradictory expressions, must we not 
 then judge of their true sense, not by what the words 
 seem to import, but by those unshaken truths that 
 never can vary? 
 
 Thus we see the sjnrituality of God takes away 
 the literal sense of his eyes, hands, nostrils, S^c; in. 
 like manner his sanctity will not allow us to ascribe 
 to him the passions of wrath, jealousy , fury , andpar- 
 tiality. Thus this unerring rule is applicable to 
 a thousand places in scripture, and would clear up 
 abundance of difficulties, if rightly applied. 
 
 Let us try it upon the present subject: what sup- 
 ports the eternity of hell torments? Why only three 
 or four expressions of eternity, the worm that never di- 
 eih, &c. which may betaken in different senses. But 
 what supports the contrary opinion? Why, those 
 very unchangeable truths which are the basis of all 
 religion. 
 
 God is wise, just ^nd good. Justice is not oppo- 
 site to goodness, nor goodness to justice. I go a step. 
 
126 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 further, and say they are so inseparable, that we 
 cannot suppose a man to be just unless he is good, 
 or good unless he is just. In God, goodness and 
 justice are boundless. If God's justice is not attend- 
 ed either with hatred, fury or revenge, but is insep- 
 arable from infinite goodness, can we conceive it 
 will condemn millions of creatures formed after God's 
 own image, to dreadful and never-ending misery, 
 and even doom them to the hatred of God, to rage, 
 to despair and blasphemy to all eternity? May we 
 not rather on the contrary say, that the chief bu- 
 siness of this sovereign justice, is to make just what- 
 ever is unjust, and render the crooked straight ? What 
 is more unjust and contrary to the views of the Cre- 
 ator, than that myriads of his creatures should for- 
 ever hate him? Once more I ask, can sovereign 
 justice will injustice, or permit it to subsist to all 
 eternity? 
 
 Let us now proceed to consider the design of Je- 
 sus Christ's coming into the world: the New Testa- 
 ment tells us in almost every page, that it was to 
 save all men. And is it not surprising mat the ex- 
 pression, all men, so often repeated, should make 
 no impression on the minds of men, while those of 
 eternitij and forever have been received without re- 
 striction. The pariicularist tells us, by all men is 
 meant the elect only. The universalists say 't is an 
 offer of grace to all men. But those universalists 
 that are against the eternity of hell torments, think 
 that God's declaring his desire, that all men should 
 he saved, will accomplish it. in its utmost extent. It 
 expresses, say they, a positive will, which sooner or 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 127 
 
 later will have its effect, and not a bare wish that all 
 men may be saved.. 
 
 No sooner did Adam fall, but the promise of sal- 
 vation was made to him and his posterity. St. Paul 
 is very express on this subject: As in Adam all 
 die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. This proof 
 I think is exceeding strong, by the comparison made 
 between Adam and Christ. Therefore as it is past dis- 
 pute, that in Adam all die, so it is unexceptionably 
 true, that in Christ all shall be made alive. But 
 what the apostle subjoins is a proof, that this will 
 happen at very different periods: But every man, says 
 he, in his own order; Christ the jirsl-fruits , aftericards 
 they which are Christ's at his coming. 'T is plain by 
 this coming, he means the last judgment, and by 
 those that are Christ's, the souls of the just. Nev- 
 ertheless, he afterwards speaks of another future pe- 
 riod, which he calls the end. And then the end shall 
 come, when he shall have delivered up tJie kingdom to 
 Qod, even to the Father. But what is this end? That 
 all things should be subjected to him. But is it a 
 forced or a voluntary subjection? If the former, he 
 would never speak of it as a thing to come, because 
 from the foundation of the world, all things are sub- 
 ject to him. If the latter, there is no more hell, 
 What follows seems to prove this clearly: The last 
 enemy that shall be destroyed, is death. Is the separa- 
 tion of the soul from the body the death here meant?, 
 No, for after the coming of Christ, there is no room 
 for that death. 
 
 Another proof, that the death here mentioned is 
 not temporal death, is, that St. Paul ranks it with 
 the enemies of God, over whom Jesus Christ should 
 
128 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 reign till they were all destroyed; temporal death^ 
 no enemy, but an agent in God's hands to execute 
 his orders; but 't is spiritual death which is called 
 enmity against God, a rebellion of the creature' 
 against the Creator; 'tis'this death to which the 
 title of enemy perfectly agrees. 
 
 Now, when Christ hath delivered up his kingdo^p 
 to his Father, then God is said to be all and in all. 
 Now these words could have no sense if hell tor- 
 ments were eternal. God can never be all 'and in all,'* 
 but by restoring the order of things. Indeed, these^ 
 words are. an irrefragible argument for the abolition 
 of sin and hell, and the restoration of all the crea- 
 tures; which is farther confirmed by St. PquVs 
 exclamation, O (ie«//i, where is thy sting? grave y 
 where is thy victory 1 Now if death and the grave' 
 have no other sting but sin, and this sting must be 
 destroyed, does it not follow that hell must be de- 
 stroyed also? Since 't is certain .that, if sin were 
 killed in -men, there would be no hell. 
 
 This chapter alone affords sufficient arguments for 
 the support of this doctrine; but we will not entirely 
 stop here. In the second of Hebrews, 'tis said that 
 Jesus Christ tasted death for till men. And elsewhere, 
 that he is made the projntiation for the sins of the 
 whole ivorld, and that every hnee shall bow at the name 
 of Jesus, of things in heaven, &*c. I shall only dwell 
 a little on the last verses of the fifth of the Romans, 
 that are very clear in this case, where the Apostle 
 compares Jesus Christ to Adam, and also the fruits 
 we reap from each: As by one man sin entered into 
 the ivorld, and death by sin, so that death is passed upon 
 all men: in like manner, by the righteousness of one, 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 129 
 
 *-4he gift is come upon all men to justification of life. 
 For, adds he, As hy the disobedience of one, many, &c. 
 This word, man?/, here undoubtedly comprehends all 
 mankind. All were made sinners by Adam, there- 
 fore all ought to be made righteous by Christ. And 
 here we may very justly apply that excellent but 
 •abused' text. Where sin did abound, grace did much 
 more abound. That is, the grace of Christ JesJis is 
 so abundant that it shall at last destroy the sins of 
 all mankind, so that, as sin has reigned unto death, 
 
 k in like manner grace should reign by righteousness 
 unto eternal life. As if he had said, the reign of 
 
 * sin and death must come to an end, to make room 
 for that of grace through all eternity. 
 
 Let us now, after having considered the end of 
 Christ's coming, in support of this subject, examine 
 the nature of justice. At the end of the second 
 commandment, we find a positive declaration of the 
 eternal laws of justice and mercy. In the first part 
 God shows himself as a powerful and jealous God, 
 punishing iniquity to the fourth generation; but in 
 the last he is represented as exercising mercy to thou- 
 sands of generations. Doth not this show plainly, 
 that justice in his punishments is restrained within 
 certain bounds, whereas mercy knows no limits.^ To 
 this it may be objected, if bounds be set to the di- 
 vine justice, what becomes of its infinity.^ I answer, 
 that divine justice, considered in itself, is without 
 bounds; but its infinity does not consist in punishing 
 without bounds, but in being infinitely equitable, en- 
 tering into an infinite detail of what can render every 
 creature more or less culpable, and more or less par- 
 donable in weighing with a perfect equal balance, not 
 12 
 
130 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 only actions, but particular intentions, motives, 
 knowledge, circumstances, temptations; in a word, 
 in entering into the infinite proportions of rewards 
 and punishments, so that it incline not to one side 
 more than another. Now was it to punish infinitely 
 there must needs be a heavier weight in the scale of 
 rigor, than in that of clemency, which cannot suit 
 with the idea of justice. 
 
 The first verse of the 1 1 8th Psalm is, as it were, 
 an abridgement of the whole, saying, O, give thanks 
 unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endur- 
 eth forever. What does this declaration tell us? 
 That immense goodness is not confined to the short 
 space of this life; since it endureth forever, it must 
 certainly be employed in the life to come, for the 
 benefit of such subjects as shall be capable of re- 
 ceiving its influence. But who .are those subjecls? 
 The same Psalm is very express on that article. They 
 are such as having been rebels against God, have 
 been humbled, mortified and crushed by his justice, 
 who have felt inexpressible anguish on account of 
 their transgressions. But then here follows one of 
 the strongest expressions against the eternity of their 
 torments: He will not always chide, nor keep his an- 
 ger forever. 
 
 But, granting my arguments for a restoration be 
 true, I have made this objection to myself : To what 
 purpose is it to set in too clear a light truths that 
 may possibly encourage licentiousness and remiss- 
 ness? Would it not be better to have mankind in an 
 error, that may be a means to awaken their attention 
 and lead them to virtue.'' I own that the knowledge 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 131 
 
 of this truth is not absolutely necessary.* We may 
 rest satisfied with the speaking of hell in the terms 
 of scripture, and leave every one to explain them in 
 the sense he likes best. However we don't find, 
 that the opinion about the eternity of hell torments 
 produces any very remarkable effect, or proves a 
 suificient curb to prevent mankind's going on in 
 wicked courses. The fear of a violent distemper, 
 of twenty or thirty years continuance, would make a 
 deeper impression on them. What can be the reason 
 of this amazing indifference about an evil of so des- 
 perate a nature, which they profess to believe, and 
 yet do nothing towards avoiding it? It is true they 
 imagine they believe it, but see how they make 
 themselves easy! Every one is persuaded that he 
 himself is not of the number of the wicked, whose 
 portion shall be in the lake of fire and brimstone; 
 tliey cannot conceive, if they be not notoriously 
 Tvicked, that God will condemn them to frightful and 
 endless torments. . They are sensible, indeed, that 
 they are guilty of several faults; but, where is the 
 man, say they, without sin.^ Besides, for these 
 they ask forgiveness daily; and what are the merits 
 t\f Christ good for, if they do not deliver men from 
 
 * We differ entirely from the writer here. Nothing is more 
 necessary to men than a knowledge of God's goodness and 
 love, and his purpose to save mankind. This writer was not 
 alone, however, in supposing it was not necessary to preach 
 the doctrine of Universalisra, for Dr.Thos. Burnet, who wrote 
 a book in defence of the sentiment, entertained the same 
 opinion. Mod. Hist. Universalism, p. 100. It is said, Dr. 
 Watts found much fault with Burnet in this particular. 
 
132 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 everlasting misery? Nay, even sinners of the first 
 magnitude hope to escape hell, either by repenting, 
 as they propose to do sooner or later, or through the 
 infinite mercy of God ; for it is as easy, say they, . 
 for God to pardon the greatest as the least sinners; 
 bv a single act of his will he can make a creature 
 happy forever, or let him perish eternally; surely 
 then he will not choose the last, because that would 
 suppose cruelty in an infinitely merciful being. — 
 Thus it is plain, that, the more terrible hell becomes, 
 by supposing it eternal, every one more easily per- 
 suades himself that Divine Mercy will exempt him 
 from it. 
 
 Hence it is evident, that the greater number of 
 Christians, who profess the belief of the eternity of 
 hell-torments, are so far from using it as a motive to 
 holiness, that it is only made a handle to sloth and 
 security. This may seem to be a paradox, but it is 
 no hard matter to explain it. 
 
 For, the greater disproportion the punishment 
 men are threatened with seem to have, either with 
 their crimes, or the ideas they form to themselves of 
 the mercy of God, the more confidently they per- 
 suade themselves that eternal firef will not be their 
 lot. But if, instead of determining the duration of 
 the torments which sinners must undergo, we should 
 rest satisfied with telling them what we find in the 
 second chapter to the Romans, That there shall be 
 tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that 
 doth evil; and that in so just a proportion, that every 
 one shall bear the punishment of his iniquity, and shall 
 eat the fruit of his works: It would then be impossi- 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 133 
 
 ble for the conscience of the most profligate not to 
 acquiesce in this judgment, nor could any one flatter 
 himself with impunity under any pretext whatever. 
 This unchangeable truth, That God shall render to 
 every man according to his works, so often repeated 
 in scripture, is written in indellible characters on the 
 consciences of all men. They all know that the 
 idea of proportion is inseparable from that of equity; 
 no proportion can be found betwixt a wicked life, of 
 a few years, and eternal torments; nor is there less 
 disproportion found between such punishment and 
 boundless mercy. 
 
 By this time we see, that the objections against 
 making known this doctrine dwindles almost into 
 nothing; nay, if we compare the efliects aris- 
 ing from the two opinions, which is most likely to be 
 productive of good? Persons in the first case are 
 only actuated by servile fear, which makes them 
 easily satisfied, if they forsake scandalous sins, 
 which put them in fear of hell; therefore, when 
 once they come to lead a good life according to the 
 world, they fancy themselves entirely screened from 
 eternal damnation, so that they need not give them- 
 selves any farther trouble; they are content with 
 the lowest place in paradise; and, provided they do 
 but escape hell, they aspire at nothing more. But 
 those that are actuated by the strong impression of 
 this truth, That God will render to every man accord- 
 ing to his ivorks, are set to work after another 
 manner; They know that God cannot be mocked; 
 but that, whatever a man sows, that shall he reap. 
 12* 
 
134 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION* 
 
 Does not St. John say (which is the summary of all 
 that I have said) ff^e know, when the Son of God shall 
 appear, ive shall be like him, and shall see him as he 
 is; therefore every one that hath this hope, purijieth 
 himself, even as he is pure. We cannot see God as 
 he is, without being like him; it is impossible to be 
 like him, without being puritied not only from acts 
 of injustice, but also from the whole source of wick- 
 edness which is as it were incorporated with us; 
 therefore such as in this life have only touched on, 
 or begun this great work, must certainly continue it 
 in the next till they become like Jesus Christ, other- 
 wise they cannot see him as he is. If it be objected 
 that there is no condemnation for those who are in 
 Christ Jesus: My first gives a solution to this diffi- 
 culty, viz. That God, properly speaking, does not 
 punish men, but leaves them to reap the fruits of 
 what they have sown. 
 
 Upon this principle it must be observed, that the 
 souls which after this life suffer torment, proportion- 
 ed to the evil which is in them, do not pass into that 
 state of suffering by a sentence positively pronoun- 
 ced by God. God has no torment to inflict upon his 
 creatures ; whence then can they proceed ^ I answer, 
 which cannot be too often repeated, from themselves. 
 
 I ask, what is solving to the fiesh ? It is gratify- 
 ing our vicious inclinations, and thereby riveting 
 those habits which at last tyranise over us. What 
 is reaping corruption! It is experiencing the tor- 
 ment resulting from that tyranny, being deprived of 
 the objects which we could not part with, without 
 feeling cutting remorse, for having voluntarily 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 135 
 
 itttached ourselves to them. When therefore we 
 suppose hell torments will one day end, we do not 
 depart from the ideas which both scripture and good 
 sense give us of it; such as an eternal fire, a worm 
 that never dieth; for it is but too probable, that the 
 sufferers of those dreadful torments will reckon 
 every hour an age, and every age an eternity. 
 
 To conclude, then: Let us see whether the doc- 
 trines of purification and restoration in another life 
 will not reconcile the disputes, that have so long 
 subsisted between those two grand parties of divines, 
 called Particularists and Universalists : The former 
 restrain God's will to a small number, called the 
 elect, whereas the latter maintain, that God will save 
 all men. — The former reply, 
 
 • That the will of God is efficacious, and therefore 
 'he cannot fall short of his purpose; that, if he 
 ' willed all men to be saved, he would save them 
 ' effectually; that it is annihilating his omnipotence 
 
 * to say, he desires to save all men, but that he 
 
 * cannot.' 
 
 The Universalists, on the other hand, maintain, 
 
 * That it is injurious to the goodness of God to say, 
 ' that he cannot save all men, and will only save a 
 'part; that it is accusing him of cruelty, who 
 
 * desires that none should perish, but that all may 
 
 * come to repentance; that, if this will has not its 
 
 * effect, the fault is not on God's part, but on man's, 
 ' who resists the gracious will of his Creator.' 
 
 Hence it appears, that the divines of both denom- 
 inations, after they have assented to the thesis in 
 general, deny it, when they come to particulars. 
 
136 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 The former injure the idea we have of the goodness 
 of God; the latter, those we entertain of his omnip- 
 otence. Let us now see, whether we cannot unfold 
 the riddle: and, first, it is granted to the Particu- 
 larists, that the will of God is efficacious; that he 
 cannot be frustrated of his purpose; and that all 
 those, whom he has predestinated to salvation, and 
 for whom Christ died, will he infallibly saved. It is 
 likewise granted the Vniversalists, that God wills 
 all men should be saved; that he destines no one to 
 misery; and that Christ hath tasted death for every 
 man. 
 
 This seems contradictory; but we shall be able 
 to clear up the matter, if we here join together the 
 different theses of each party. 
 
 Pariicularists. The acts of the divine will are 
 efficacious. 
 
 Universalists* God wills all men to be saved. 
 
 Therefore all men will one day be saved. 
 
 Part. All those, whom God has predestined to 
 salvation, will infallibly be saved. 
 
 Univ. God predestinateth none to wrath, but to 
 salvation. 
 
 * Universalists "in this instance mean those that were for- 
 merly called so, viz : not such as held absolutely to the salva- 
 tion of all mankind, (for the name of Universalists was not at 
 first applied to them,) but such as held that all men might be 
 eaved, if they would. See Mod. Hist. Universalism, p. 138, 
 note. Nicholson's Encyclopedia, Art. Universalists ; and 
 Mosheim's Eccle. Hist. Cen, xvii. Part il. ch. ii. sec, 14. 
 
 Editor. 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 137 
 
 Therefore all will be infallibly saved. 
 
 Part. All those, for whom Christ died, will par- 
 take of salvation. 
 
 Univ. Jesus Christ tasted death for all, and was 
 lifted up from earth to draw all men to him. 
 
 Therefore all will partake of salvation^ and at last 
 be drawn after him. 
 
 I foresee the argument will be denied, and retor- 
 ted as follows, viz. 
 
 Salvation is promised only to those who are sanc- 
 tified. 
 
 Infinitely more die, who are not sanctified, than who 
 are. 
 
 Therefore all men will not be saved. 
 
 Now, to show, that the first conclusion is just, and 
 the second false, we need only join to these two 
 propositions a third, drawn from the principles of the 
 Universalists : 
 
 Salvation is promised only to those who are sane-- 
 iified. 
 
 God wills y that all men come to repentance and the 
 knowledge of the truth. 
 
 All of them do not attain to it in this life. 
 
 Therefore this must be done in the other. 
 
 In order to support this conclusion, let us make 
 use of some principles of the same divines: 
 
 God offers all men the means of sanctification, 
 but commits no violence on their liberty; all do not 
 make the advantage of the proffer; all do not make 
 
138 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 use of those means to come to repentance and sane- 
 tification. 
 
 I ask now, shall the purposes of God be frustrated 
 by the resistance of man? Will he not find some 
 method for bringing them to repentance and holiness 
 without forcing their liberty ? If they do not corres- 
 pond with those means in this life, which is but of a 
 minute^s duration, when compared with eternity, 
 will he confine his concern for the restoration of his 
 work to that short span? Shall not he, who is so 
 well acquainted with all its springs, be able to bring 
 it back to himself at last? 
 
 By the knowledge of these truths, we manifestly 
 perceive the unchangeable attributes of the Deity, 
 his goodness, his omnipotence, wisdom, justice, 
 holiness, faithfulness, and mercy. — First, I say, 
 his Goodness, as God wills the happiness of all his 
 creatures, and their return to the primitive perfec- 
 tion they had received at his hands. His Omnipo- 
 tence, as it hence appears, that the will of God is 
 efficacious, that his arm is not shortened, but that he 
 is able, sooner or later, to accom[»lish all his designs. 
 His Faithfulness, as it hereby appears, that his gifts 
 and calling are without repentance ; that, having once 
 destined man to bliss, he doth not desist from his 
 first design. His Mercy, as he furnishes the most 
 rebellious with the means of sanctification; as he 
 extends the eflTects of his mercy, not to some only, 
 but to all without exception, not only in this life, but 
 also in the life to come. His Justice, by leaving 
 every one to reap the fruits of what he has sown; 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 139 
 
 by making tribulation and anguish fall upon every 
 soul that doth evil, and making them eat the fruit of 
 their own doings and devices. His Holiness, in his 
 not being re-united to his creatures before he has 
 sanctified them, till they become children of light. 
 Divine Justice will be the same to them, that fire is 
 to hay and stubble; and this fire will not cease to 
 burn till all unrighteousness is consumed; then only 
 justice will cease to be rigorous, without ceasing to 
 be just. 
 
 And when we take a view at large, and see how 
 disproportioned the means of salvation are offered 
 to mankind in general, or even to Christians in par- 
 ticular, some of whom are, in respect of others, like 
 to many beasts of burthen, bowed down from their 
 youth under the weight of toil and labor, which 
 scarce allow them time to enquire whether they 
 have souls to cultivate, and prepare for a future life; 
 and who, on observing such disproportions between 
 those, who, by nature are of equal dignit)', can dis- 
 cern impartiality in God? Surely nothing can ac- 
 count for this conduct, but the knowledge of a state 
 of purification, where those, who have been unpro- 
 vided with the means of coming to the knowle lo-e of 
 the truth in this life, will find them in another. This 
 also justifies the equity of God, in all the dreadful 
 judgments inflicted on whole nations, a great part 
 whereof knew neither good nor evil. In reality, 
 did we not know that in the other life there will be 
 a perfect compensation, both in regard to the means 
 t)f salvation, and blessings and miseries, should we 
 
140 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 not be tempted to cry out, Is there knoivledge in the 
 Lord, and does he iveigh all men in an equal balance! 
 Now let us sum up all briefly, recounting the 
 practical uses of these opinions. Is any thing more 
 proper for overturning the false maxims so much in 
 vogue, in which numbers securely lull themselves 
 asleep, than the knowledge of an unchangeable 
 justice, that constantly judges of things as they 
 really are? And of a mercy, which is so far from 
 being contrary to justice, that it concurs with it in 
 the grand design of purifying mankind? 
 
 This being laid down, what will become of the 
 hopes of those, who imagine that mercy will prevail 
 against justice and stop its course, so that they shall 
 feel none of its effects? 
 
 If God is capable of anger, provocation and re- 
 venge, as we have proved, he is incapable of being 
 appeased, of being moved with repeated cries, or 
 feeling compassion like ours, which proceeds only 
 from the weakness of our nature. This being sup- 
 posed, what will become of those flattering hopes, 
 that we shall appease the Deity with tears; that, on 
 begging grace and mercy, he will be easily prevailed 
 on to relent? 
 
 If the greatest favor God can do men is to purify 
 them, and if this is the only way by which they 
 arrive at happiness, how can they desire mercy to 
 exempt them from purification? Could they obtain 
 their request, they would obtain eternal torment, 
 since, without holiness, they will never see God. 
 
 Upon the whole, I know not whether any other 
 
NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 141 
 
 system contains motives so efficacious for engaging 
 mankind to walk in the ways of real holiness; any 
 system, which can make religion more venerable, 
 in the eyes even of libertines, or more lovely to the 
 lovers of truth; that places in a clearer light the 
 wonderful harmony of the divine attributes, and the 
 reasons we have to love sovereign perfection. 
 13 
 
 ENO. 
 
HARTLEY 
 
 «N 
 
 UNIVERSALIS M 
 
HARTLEY 
 
 UNIVERSALISM 
 
 OF THE FINAL HAPPINESS OF ALL MANKIND 
 ' IN SOME DISTANT FUTURE STATE, 
 
 I. It is probable from reason that all mankind will ht 
 made happy ultimatehj. For, first, it has been observed 
 all along in the course of this work, that all the evils 
 that befal either body or mind in this state, have a ten- 
 dency to improve one or both. If they fail of pro- 
 ducing a peculiar, appropriated intermediate good 
 effect, they must, however, necessarily contribute 
 to the annihilation of that self, carnal or spiritual, 
 gross or refined, which is an insuperable bar to our 
 happiness in the pure love of God, and of his works. 
 Now, if we reason at all concerning a future state, 
 it must be from analogies taken from this; and that 
 we are allowed to reason, that we are able to do it 
 13* 
 
146 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 with some justness, concerning a future state, will 
 appear from the great coincidence of the foregoing 
 natural arguments for a future state, and for the re- 
 wards and punishments of it, with what the scrip- 
 tures have delivered upon the same heads; also 
 because a similar kind of reasonings in respect of 
 the future states, which succeed in order from infan- 
 cy to old age, is found to be just, and to afford 
 many useful directions and predictions. We ought 
 therefore to judge, that the evils of a future state 
 will have the same tendency, and final cause, as 
 those of this life, viz. to meliorate and perfect our 
 natures, and to prepare them for ultimate unlimited 
 happiness in the love of God, and of his works. 
 
 Secondly, the generation of benevolence, by the 
 natural and necessary tendency of our frames, is a 
 strong argument for the ultimate happiness of all 
 mankind. It is inconsistent to suppose, that God 
 should thus compel us to learn universal unlimited 
 benevolence ; and then not provide food for it. And 
 both this and the foregoing argument seem conclu- 
 sive, though we should not take in the divine benev- 
 olence. They are both supported by the analogy 
 and uniformity apparent in the creation, by the 
 mutual adaptations and correspondencies of things 
 existing at different times, and in different places: 
 but they receive much additional force from the con- 
 sideration of the goodness of God, if that be first 
 proved by other evidences; as they are themselves 
 the strongest evidences for it, when taken in a con- 
 trary order of reasoning. 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 147 
 
 And as the benevolence of one part of the crea- 
 tion is thus an argument for the happiness of the 
 other; so, since benevolence is itself happiness, a 
 tendency to learn it in any being is also an argu- 
 ment for his own happiness. And, upon the whole, 
 since God has commanded his beloved sons, the 
 good, to love and compassionate every being, that 
 comes within their cognizance, by the voice of their 
 natures speaking within them, we. cannot suppose, 
 that these his favorites (to speak according to pres- 
 ent appearances, and our necessary conceptions, 
 which with this caution is justifiable) will fail of 
 their proper reward in the gratification of this their 
 benevolence. 
 
 Thirdly, the infinite goodness of God is an argu- 
 ment for the ultimate happiness of all mankind. 
 This appears without any particular discussion of 
 this attribute. But it may not be amiss for the 
 reader just to review the evidences for it above 
 exhibited, and their tendency to prove the ultimate 
 happiness of all God's creatures. 
 
 Fourthly, The infinite happiness and perfection of 
 God is an argument for, and, as it were, a pledge of, 
 the ultimate happiness and perfection of all his 
 creatures. For these attributes, being infinite, must 
 bear down all opposition from the quarters of misery 
 and imperfection. And this argument will be much 
 stronger, if we suppose (with reverence be it spo- 
 ken!) any intimate union between God and his 
 creatures; and that, as the happiness of the crea- 
 tures arises from their love and worship of God, so 
 the happiness of God consists, shows itself, &c. (for 
 
148 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 one does not know how to express this properly) in 
 love and beneficence to the creatures. As God is 
 present every where, knows and perceives every 
 thing, he may also, in a way infinitely superior to 
 our comprehension, feel every where for all his 
 creatures. JVow, according to this, it would seem 
 to us, that all must be brought to ultimate infinite 
 happiness, which is, in his eye, present infinite hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Fifthly, The impartiality of God, in respect of all 
 his creatures, seems to argue, that, if one be made 
 infinitely happy upon the balance, all will be made 
 so. That benevolence, which is infinite, must be 
 impartial also; must look upon all individuals, and 
 all degrees of happiness, with an equal eye; must 
 stand in a relation of indifference to them all. Now 
 this is really so, if we admit the third of the forego- 
 ing suppositions concerning the divine benevolence. 
 If all individuals be at last infinitely happy upon the 
 balance, they are so at present in the eye of God, 
 i. e. he is perfectly impartial to all his creatures. 
 And thus every intermediate finite degree of misery, 
 how great soever, may be consistent with the impar- 
 tiality of God. But to suppose, before the creatures 
 A and B existed, that A was made by God to be 
 eternally happy, and B made to be eternally 
 miserable, seems as irreconcileable to God's 
 impartiality, as to his benevolence. That both 
 should be made for eternal and infinite happi- 
 ness, one to enjoy it in one way, the other in another; 
 one by passing through much pain, the other by 
 passing through little or perhaps none; one by an 
 acceleration in one period of his existence, the other 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 149 
 
 in another, &c. &c. is perfectly consistent with God's 
 impartiality; for, the happiness of each being infi- 
 nite at present in the eye of God, his eye must 
 regard them equally. And, even in the eye of 
 finite beings, if A's happiness seems less than B's, 
 in one respect, because A passes through more 
 pain, it may seem greater in another, because he 
 arrives at greater degrees of it in less time. But 
 this is all appearance. Different finite beings form 
 different judgments according to their different ex- 
 periences, and ways of reasoning. Who therefore 
 shall be made the standard ? Not the inferior 
 orders, certainly. And, if the superior, we shall not 
 be able to rest, till we conclude, that all that appears 
 to all finite beings, is false and delusive; and that 
 the judgment of the infinite being is the only true 
 real judgment. Now I have endeavored to show, 
 according to the method of ultimate ratios, how, 
 allowing the third supposition concerning the divine 
 goodness, all individuals are equally happy in the 
 eye of God. And thus the impartiality of God 
 is vindicated, according to the truth and reality of 
 things, in the judgment of his own infinite under- 
 standing. 
 
 Sixthly, All the foregoing reasons seem to be 
 somewhat more short and clear upon the hypothesis 
 of mechanism; but it is not invalidated by that of 
 free-will. For free-will must be considered as the 
 production of infinite power, and therefore as being 
 suited to the rest of the divine attributes, his benev- 
 olence, happiness, and impartiality, and to all the 
 methods, by which God conducts men to benevo- 
 
150 HARTLEY ON UNIVERBALISM. 
 
 lence and happiness. Or, if the hypothesis of free- 
 will be a bar to the foregoing reasonings in their 
 full extent, it cannot, however, account for misery 
 upon the whole, much less for eternal misery. To 
 suppose that God wills and desires the happiness of 
 all his creatures, and yet that he has given them a 
 power, by which many of them will, in fact, make 
 themselves eternally miserable, also that he foresees 
 this in general, and in each particular case, is either 
 to suppose God under some fatal necessity of giving 
 such a power; or else to take away his unlimited 
 benevolence in reality, after that it has b^ien allowed 
 in words. If therefore God has given men free-will 
 in such a measure, as that they may bring upoti 
 themselves finite miseries thereby in the present state, 
 or in any future intermediate one, we must, however, 
 suppose it to be so restrained, as that it shall not oc- 
 casion infinite and eternal misery. The cause of the 
 cause is also the cause of the thing caused; which is 
 surely as evident in the application of it to the pres- 
 ent subject, as in any other instance, where it can- 
 not be applied. 
 
 Seventhly, There aro many obvious and undenia- 
 ble arguments, taken from the relative attributes of 
 God, which first exclude the eternal misery of his 
 creatures, and then establish their ultimate happi- 
 ness by necessary, or, at least, by probable conse- 
 quence. Thus the whole tenor of nature represents 
 God -to us as our creator, preserver, governor, 
 friend, and father. All ages and nations have fallen 
 into this language; and it is verified every day by 
 the wonderful beauty, harmony, and beneficence, 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 151 
 
 manifested in the works of the creation, and partic- 
 ularly in the exquisite make of our bodies and 
 minds. Shall then a Creator, who is a friend and 
 father, create for eternal infinite misery ? Can any 
 intermediate suppositions, free-will, perverseness, 
 reprobateness, &c. reconcile and unite extremes so 
 utterly discordant ? Will he preserve an ex:istence, 
 which ceases to afford happiness, and can now only 
 produce misery without end ? Will not the govern- 
 or and judge of all the earth do right? In whatever 
 manner sin be estimated, it must be finite, because 
 it is the work of a finite mind, of finite principles 
 and passions. To suppose therefore a sinner to be 
 absolutely condemned to infinite irreversible misery, 
 on account of the finite sins of this life, seems most 
 highly injurious to the justice of God. And to say, 
 that this infinite irreversible misery is not merely the 
 consequence of the sins of this life, but also of 
 those to be committed in another, is to give a power 
 of repenting, and becoming virtuous, as well as of 
 sinning, in another life; whence the sentence might 
 be reversed, contrary to the supposition. 
 
 The worst man of those who go to heaven, and 
 the best of those who go to hell, seem to us, if we 
 will reason upon these subjects, as we do upon 
 others, to difl^er but by an infinitesimal difl^erence, 
 as one may say; and yet the reward of the first, 
 being eternal, however small in each finite portion of 
 time, must at last become infinite in magnitude; and 
 the punishment of the last in like manner. There 
 would therefore be a double infinite difference in the 
 reward and punishment, where the virtue and vice 
 
152 HARTLEY ON UNIVE11SALI9M. 
 
 causing these respectively, have only an infinite- 
 ly small one. To say, that, in such cases, the 
 rewards and punishments of another life may he so 
 conducted, by a mixture of happiness and misery in 
 each, as that the balance shall not become ultimately 
 infinite in either, is to take away all hopes and fears 
 relating to a future state; i. e. morally and practically 
 to take away the state itself. 
 
 Again, can it be supposed, that an infinitely mer- 
 ciful Father will cast off his son utterly, and doomf 
 him to eternal misery, without farther trials than 
 what this life affords? We see numberless instances 
 of persons at present abandoned to vice, who yet, 
 according to all probable appearances, might be 
 reformed by a proper mixture of correction, instruc- 
 tion, hope, and fear. And what man is neither 
 able nor willing to do, may and must, as should seem, 
 be both possible to God, and actually effected by 
 him. He must have future discipline of a severer 
 kind for those whom the chastisements of this life 
 did not bring to themselves. Yet still they will all 
 be fatherly chastisements, intended to amend and 
 perfect, not to be final and vindictive. 'I hat the 
 bulk of sinners are not utterly incorrigiule, even 
 common observation shows; but the history of asso- 
 ciation makes it still more evident; and it seems 
 very repugnant to analogy to suppose, that any sin- 
 ners, even the very worst that ever lived, siiould be 
 so, should be hardened beyond the reach of all 
 suffering, of all selfishness, hope, fear, good- will, 
 gratitude, &c. For we are all alike in kind, and do 
 not differ greatly in degree here. We have each of 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 153 
 
 US passions of all sorts, and lie open to influences of 
 all sorts; so as that the persons A and jB, in what- 
 ever different proportions their intellectual affections 
 now exist, may, by a suitable set of impressions, 
 become hereafler alike. 
 
 These and many such like reasonings must occur 
 to attentive persons upon this subject, so as to make 
 it highly unsuitable to the benevolence of the Deity, 
 or to the relations which he bears to us. according to 
 the mere light of nature, that infinite irreversible 
 misery, to commence at death, should be the pun- 
 ishment of the sins of this life. And, by pursuing 
 this method of reasoning, we shall be led first to 
 exclude misery upon the balance, and then to hope 
 for the ultimate unlimited happiness of all mankind. 
 
 II, It is probable from tHe scriptures, that all 
 mankind will be made ultimately happy. In consid- 
 ering the doctrine of the scriptures upon this head, 
 it will first be requisite to show, that the texts alleged 
 to prove the absolutely eternal and irreversible mis- 
 ery of the wicked in another life, may justly be 
 interpreted in a different sense. 
 
 Now the Greek words translated eternal, everlast- 
 ing, and /orerer, in the jVew Testament, do not by 
 derivation stand for an absolute eternity, neither are 
 they always used in this sense in the New Testa- 
 ment, the Septuagint, or pagan authors. The same 
 may be said of the corresponding Hebrew words. 
 It is true indeed, that they generally represent a 
 long duration; and this is sometimes limited by the 
 context, or nature of the subject; sometimes not, 
 14 
 
154 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 Now, according to this interpretation, the punish- 
 ments of the wicked will be of great duration, sup- 
 pose of one or more long ages or dispensations. 
 But one might rather conclude, from the words of 
 the original, if their derivation be considered, that 
 they will end at the expiration of some such long 
 period, than that they will be absolutely eternal. 
 
 If it be said, that the eternity of God is expressed 
 by the same words, — I answer, that here the nature 
 of the subject gives a sense to the words, whereof 
 they are otherwise incapable. It may be urged in 
 like manner, that the duration of future rewards is 
 expressed by the same words; but then the absolute 
 eternity of this duration is not perhaps deducible at 
 all from these or any other words. We must in this 
 entirely refer ourselves to the bounty and benevo- 
 lence of our Creator, and depend upon him for all 
 our expectations. Besides, the nature of the subject 
 differs widely here. To suppose the misery of the 
 wicked to be, in every respect, equal and parallel to 
 the happiness of the good, is quite contrary to the 
 general tenor of the scriptures, and looks like set- 
 ting up the Manichean doctrine of two opposite 
 infinite principles, a doctrine every where condemned 
 in effect, though not in express words, both by the 
 Old and New Testament. We may add, that the 
 happiness of the good is also denoted in scripture 
 by incorruption, indissolubility, &c. as well as by 
 the words applied to the punishments of the wicked. 
 
 The words of our Saviour, where their ivorm dieth 
 not, and their fire is not quenched, are thought by 
 some to be a strong argument for the absolute eter- 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 155 
 
 nity of future punishment. But as these words are 
 taken from Isaiah, and allude to the punishment of 
 the malefactors, whose carcasses were suffered to 
 rot upon the ground, or burnt in the valley of 
 Hinnom, they appear to be too popular and figurative 
 to justify such an interpretation. And yet they 
 seem plainly intended to declare the very long dura- 
 tion of future punishment; and that, as the worms, 
 which feed upon a putrefied body, or the fire, which 
 burns it in this world, do themselves come to a cer- 
 tain and known period, the misery of another world, 
 and the fire of hell, will have no definite one, but 
 continue till they have consumed the sin and guilt 
 which feed them. In this way of interpretation, the 
 passage under consideration would agree with that 
 concerning the payment of the last farthing. 
 
 Our Saviour's expression concerning Judas, viz. 
 that it had been good for him, that he had not been 
 born, cannot indeed be alleged for the proof of the 
 eternity of future punishment; but it seems to oppose 
 the supposition of the ultimate happiness of all. 
 However, this expression may be popular and pro- 
 verbial; or it may perhaps denote, that his last 
 agonies, or his sufferings in another world, should 
 outweigh all his preceding happiness, or some way 
 admit of an interpretation consistent with the propo- 
 sition under consideration; for it does not appear 
 to be sufficiently clear and precise for an absolute 
 disproof of it. We may add, that as every man, 
 who at his death falls short of the terms of salva- 
 tion, whatever these be, crucifies the Son of God 
 afresh, according to the language of St, Paul ; so 
 
156 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM, 
 
 he will have reason, according to his then necessary 
 conceptions, to wish with Judas, that he had never 
 been born. that they were wise, that they under- 
 stood this, that they ivould consider their latter end! 
 
 Now, as the words of the New Testament do not 
 necessarily infer the absolute eternity of punish- 
 ment; so the general tenor of reasoning there used, 
 with numberless passages both of the Old and New 
 Testaments, concerning the mercy of God, his 
 readiness to forgive, &c. favor the contrary opinion, 
 and this is a farther reason for interpreting these 
 texts of an indefinitely long duration only ; and that 
 especially if the small number of them, and the 
 infinite importance of the doctrine which they are 
 supposed to contain, be also taken into considera- 
 tion. 
 
 To the same purpose we may observe, that there 
 is nothing in all St. Paul's Epistle, from whence the 
 absolute eternity of future punishment can be at all 
 inferred, except the words, everlasting destruction 
 from the presence of our Lord, 2 Thess. i. 9, though 
 the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews are both 
 of them general summaries of the christian religion, 
 and though he speaks in both of future punishment. 
 In the Epistle to the Romans, he says. Tribulation 
 and anguish (not eternal tribulation) shall be upon 
 every soul of man, that doth etnl; also, that the ivages 
 of sin is death, not eternal death, or eternal punish- 
 ment; whereas the gift of God is eternal life. In the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, he asks, of how much sorer 
 punishment than temporal death, an apostate is to be 
 thought worthy ? Which seems not likely for him 
 
HARTLEY ON UNVERSALISM. 157 
 
 to do, had he believed it eternal. In like manner, 
 there is nothing of this kind in St. Luke's Gospel, 
 or his Acts of the AjwstUs, in St. John's Gospel, or 
 his Epistles, or in the Epistles of St. James, St. 
 Peter, or St. Jude. And yet good men now, who 
 believe the eternity of punishment, scarce ever fail 
 to insist upon it most earnestly in their discourses 
 and exhortations. For, if it be a doctrine «>f the 
 christian religion, it is so essential a one, as that it 
 could not have been omitted by any inspired writer, 
 nor fail to have been declared in the most express 
 terms, which certainly cannot be said of any of the 
 texts alleged to prove the eternity of punishment. 
 The words translated eternal, and forever, must 
 have been ambiguous to the Jews, i. e. to the first 
 Christians; and the figurative expression, their worm 
 dieth not, &c. is far less determinate than many 
 phrases, which our Saviour might have chosen, had 
 it been his intention to denounce absolutely eternal 
 misery. 
 
 To this we may add, that it does not appear from 
 the writings of the most ancient fathers, that they 
 put such a construction upon the words of the New 
 Testament; and the omission of this doctrine in the 
 ancient creed shows, that it was no original doctrine, 
 or not thought essential; which yet could not be, 
 if it was believed; or that many eminent persons for 
 some centuries were of a contrary opinion. And 
 indeed the doctrine of purgatory, as now taught by 
 the papists, seems to be a corruption of a genuine 
 doctrine held by the ancient fathers concerning a 
 purifying fire. 
 
 14* 
 
158 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 It may perhaps be, that the absolute eternity of 
 punishment was not received, till after the introduc- 
 tion of metaphysical subtleties, relating to time, 
 eternity, &c. and the ways of expressing these, i. e. 
 not till after the pagan philosophy, and vain deceit, 
 had mixed itself with and corrupted Christianity. 
 
 Still farther, it does by no means appear to be con- 
 sonant to the nature of the christian religion .to 
 interpret the New Testament in a strictly literal 
 manner, or adhere to phrases in opposition to the 
 general tenor of it. Our Saviour in many places 
 appeals to the natural equitable judgments of his 
 auditors. The evangelists and apostles all enter 
 into the reasons of things; the gospels are short 
 memoirs ; the epistles were written to friends, and 
 new converts; and the nature of such writings must 
 be very different from that of a precise determinate 
 law, such as that of Moses, or the civil law of any 
 country. And indeed herein lies one material dif- 
 ference between the rigid Jewish dispensation, and 
 the Christian, which last is called by St. James the 
 perfect law of liberty. From all which it follows, 
 that we are rather to follow the general tenor, than 
 to adhere to particular expressions. And this will 
 appear still more reasonable, when it is considered, 
 that we are yet but novices in the language of the 
 Old and New Testaments, the relations which they 
 bear to each other, and their declarations concern- 
 ing future events. 
 
 Another argument against interpreting the pas- 
 sages above referred to, in the sense of absolutely 
 eternal misery, is, that there are many other passages 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 159 
 
 whose strict and literal sense is contrary thereto. 
 And in such a case it seems, that the infinite good- 
 ness of God, so many ways declared in the scrip- 
 tures, must soon turn the scale. For the scriptures 
 must be made consistent with themselves; and the 
 veracity and goodness of God seem much rather to 
 oblige him to perform a promise, than to execute a 
 threatening. 1 will mention a few passages, some 
 of which it may be observed even establish the con- 
 trary doctrine of the ultimate happiness of all 
 mankind. 
 
 Thus the most natural, as well as the most strict 
 and literal sense of the words, As in Mam all die, 
 so in Christ shall all he made alive, is the ultimate 
 happiness of all the children of Adam, of all man- 
 kind. God's mercy is declared to endure forever; 
 and he is said not to keep his anger forever: which 
 expressions, in their first and most obvious sense, 
 are quite inconsistent with the absolute eternity of 
 punishment. Our Saviour says, that the person who 
 is not reconciled to his brother shall not be discharged 
 till he has jmid the last farthing; which intimates, 
 that there is a time when he will be discharged. In 
 like manner, the debtor, who owed his lord ten 
 thousand talents, is delivered over to the tormentors 
 till he pay these. To say that he can never pay 
 them, because as we have all our faculties from God, 
 so we can merit nothing from God, is to embrace 
 the mechanical hypothesis, which, in the judtrment 
 of all, must be utterly inconsistent with the eternity 
 of punishment. For, if a man cannot have merit, 
 he cannot have demerit. To suppose a creature any 
 
160 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 way brought into being upon such terms as to be 
 only capable of demerit, seems most highly injuri- 
 ous to the attributes of God, by whatever means this 
 be effected, the fall of our first parents, or any 
 other. 
 
 Again, God in judgment remembers mercy. This 
 is said in general; and therefore it ought not to be 
 confined to the judgments of this world. And to do 
 so, when all the pleasures and pains of this world 
 are everywhere in the New Testament declared 
 unworthy of our regard in comparison of those of 
 another, is highly unsuitable to the goodness of God. 
 But indeed this cannot be done without departing 
 from the most obvious literal sense. The same may 
 be said of the passages, God is not extreme to mark 
 what is done amiss; that he is loving to every man; 
 that his mercy, his tender mercy, is over all his loorhs, 
 &c. Can it be said with any appearance of truth, 
 that God will give an infinite overbalance of misery 
 to those beings whom he loves? 
 
 It may well be supposed, that though the pun- 
 ishments of a future state be finite, yet this should 
 not be declared in so many words in the scriptures. 
 For such a procedure would be analogous to the 
 gradual opening of all God's dispensations of mercy. 
 Mankind in their infant state were not able to 
 receive such kind of nourishment; neither are all 
 perhaps yet able. But, if future punishments be 
 absolutely eternal, it is hard to conceive why this 
 should not have been declared in the most express 
 terms, and in many places of scripture; also how 
 there should be so many passages there, which are 
 apparently inconsistent therewith. 
 
HARTLEY ON UxVIVERSALISM. 161 
 
 There remains one argument more, and of great 
 v/eight in my opinion, against interpreting hny 
 passages of scripture so as to denounce absolutely 
 eternal misery. This is, the declaration of the 
 scriptures concerning the smallness of the number 
 of the elect, and the great difficulty of entering 
 in at the strait gate, already taken notice of To 
 suppose future punishments to be absolutely eter- 
 nal, is to suppose, that the christian dispensation 
 condemns far the greater part of mankind to infinite 
 misery upon the balance, whilst yet it is every where 
 declared to be a dispensation of mercy, to be glory 
 to God, and good will to men; which is a great 
 apparent inconsistency. And indeed, unless the 
 doctrine of absolutely eternal punishment be taken 
 away, it seems impracticable to convince the world 
 of the great purity and perfection required by the 
 gospel in order to our entrance into the kingdom 
 of heaven. If there be no punishment in another 
 state, besides what is absolutely eternal, men of 
 very low degrees of virtue will hope to escape this, 
 and consequently to escape with impunity: whereas, 
 if there be a purging fire, into which all the wicked 
 are to be cast, to remain and suffer there according 
 to their demerits, far beyond what men generally 
 suffer in this life ; and if there be only few, that are 
 admitted to happiness after the expiration of this 
 life, without such farther purification; what vigor 
 and earnestness should we use to escape so great a 
 punishment, and to be of the happy number of those 
 whose names are. written in the book of life ! 
 
162 H ARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 This may suffice to show, that the absolute eterni- 
 nity of future punishment cannot be concluded from 
 the scriptures. We are next to inquire what evi- 
 dences they afford for the ultimate happiness of all 
 mankind. I have already mentioned some pas- 
 sages, which favor this doctrine; but I intend now to 
 propose two arguments of a more general nature. 
 
 First, then, it may be observed, that the scriptures 
 give a sanction to most of the foregoing arguments, 
 taken from the light of nature, for this doctrine, by 
 reasoning in the same manner. Thus the punish- 
 ments of the Jeivs and others are represented as 
 chastisements, i. e. as evils tending to produce a 
 good greater than themselves. Our benevolence to 
 our children is represented by Christ, as an argu- 
 ment of the infinitely greater benevolence of God 
 our heavenly father. God promises to make Mra- 
 ham haj)py by making his posterity happy, and them 
 happy by making them the instruments of happiness 
 to all the nations of the earth (which they are still 
 to be, probably, in a much more ample manner, than 
 they have ever yet been). Now this shows, that 
 the happiness, intended for us all, is the gratification 
 of our benevolence. The goodness of God is every 
 where represented as prevailing over his severity; 
 he remembers good actions to thousands of genera- 
 tions, and punishes evil ones only to the third and 
 fourth. Not a sparrow is forgotten before him; he 
 giveth to all their Ineat in due season; pities us, as 
 a father does his children; and sets our sins as far 
 from us as heaven is from earth, &c. All which 
 kind of language surely implies both infinite mercy 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 163 
 
 in the forgiveness of sin, and infinite love in advanc- 
 ing his purified children. We are all the offspring 
 of God, and, by consequence, agreeably to other 
 phrases, are heirs of all things, heirs of God, and 
 co-heirs with Christ, members of the mystical body of 
 Christ, and of each other, i. e. we are all partakers 
 of the happiness of God, through his bounty and 
 mercy. God is the God of the Gentiles, as well as 
 of the Jews; and has concluded them all in unbelief, 
 only that he might have mercy upon all. And, in gen- 
 eral, all the arguments for the ultimate happiness of 
 all mankind, taken from the relations which we bear 
 to God, as our creator, preserver, governor, father, 
 friend, and God, are abundantly attested by the 
 scriptures. 
 
 Secondly, there are in the scriptures some argu- 
 ments for the ultimate restoration and happiness of 
 all mankind, which now seem sufficiently full and 
 strong, and which yet could not be understood in 
 former ages; at least, we see, that, in fact, they 
 were not. Of this kind is the history of the Jewish 
 state, with the prophecies relating thereto. For we 
 may observe, that, according to the scriptures, the 
 body politic of the Jews must be made flourishing 
 and happy, whether they will or no, by the severities 
 which God inflicts upon them. Now the Jewish 
 state, as has been already remarked, appears to be 
 a type of each individual in particular, on one hand, 
 and of mankind in general on the other. 
 
 Thus, also, it is foretold, that Christ will subdue 
 all things to himself But subjection to Christ, 
 according to the figurative prophetic style of the 
 
164 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 scriptures, is happiness, not merely subjection by 
 compulsion, like to that to an earthly conqueror. 
 Agreeably to this, all things are to be gathered 
 together in one in Christ, both those which are in 
 heaven, and those on earth: and St. John saw every 
 creature in heaven, in earth, under the earth, and in 
 the sea, and all that were in them, praising God. 
 
 The prayer of faith can remove mountains; all 
 things are possible to it ; and, if we could suppose 
 all men defective in this article, in praying with faith 
 for the ultimate happiness of mankind, surely our 
 Saviour must do this; his prayer for his crucifiers 
 cannot surely fail to obtain pardon and happiness for 
 them. 
 
 We are commanded to love God with our whole 
 powers, to be joyful in him, to praise him evermore, 
 not only for his goodness to us, but also for that to 
 all the children of men. But such love and joy, to 
 be unbounded, presuppose unbounded goodness in 
 God, to be manifested to all mankind in due time; 
 else there would be some men, on whose accounts 
 we could not rejoice in God. At the same time, the 
 delay of this manifestation of God's goodness, with 
 the severity exercised towards particulars, in their 
 progress to happiness, beget submission, resignation, 
 fear and trembling, in us, till at last we come to that 
 perfect love that casts out fear. 
 
 It may perhaps be, that the writers of the Old and 
 New Testaments did not see the full meaning of 
 the glorious declarations, which the holy spirit has 
 delivered to us by their means; just as Daniel, and 
 the other prophets, were ignorant of the full and 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 165 
 
 •precise import of their prophecies, relating to Christ. 
 Or perhaps they did; but thought it expedient, or 
 were commanded, not to be more explicit. The 
 christian religion, in converting the various pagan 
 nations of the world, was to be corrupted by them; 
 and the superstitious fear of God, which is one of 
 these corruptions, may have been necessary hitherto 
 on account of the rest. But now the coruption s of 
 the true religion begin to be discovered and removed, 
 by the earnest endeavors of good men of all nations 
 and sects, in these latter times, by their comparing 
 spiritual things with spiritual. 
 
 How far the brute creation is concerned in the 
 redemption by Christ, may be doubted; and it does 
 not seem to be much or immediately our business to 
 inquire, as no relative duty depends thereon. How- 
 ever, their fall with Adam, the covenant made with 
 them after the deluge, their serving as sacrifices for 
 the sins of men, and as types and emblems in the 
 prophecies, their being commanded to praise God 
 (for every thing that hath breath is thus commanded, 
 as well as the Gentiles), seem to intimate, that there 
 is mercy in store for them also, more than we may 
 expect, to be revealed in due time. The Jews con- 
 sidered the Gentiles as dogs in comparison of them- 
 selves. And the brute creatures appear by the 
 foregoing history of association to differ from us in 
 degree, rather than in kind. 
 
 It may be objected here, that, if this opinion of 
 
 the ultimate happiness of all mankind be true, it is 
 
 not, however, proper to publish it. Men are very 
 
 wicked, notwithstanding the fear of eternal pui>ish- 
 
 14 
 
166 HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 ment; and therefore will probably be more so, if 
 that fear be removed, and a hope given to the most 
 wicked of attaining everlasting happiness ultimately. 
 I answer. First, That this opinion is already 
 published so far, that very few irreligious persons 
 can be supposed to believe the contrary much 
 longer : or, if they do believe absolutely eternal 
 punishment to be the doctrine of the scriptures, they 
 will be much induced thereby to reject revealed 
 religion itself. It seems therefore to be now a prop- 
 er time to inquire candidly and impartially into the 
 truth. The world abounds so much with writers, 
 that the mere opinion of a single one cannot be 
 supposed to have any great weight. The arguments 
 produced will themselves be examined, and a person 
 can now do little more than bring things to view for 
 the judgment of others. The number of teachers 
 in all arts and sciences, is so great, that no one 
 amongst them can or ought to have followers, unless 
 as far as he follows truth. 
 
 But, Secondly, It does not seem, that even the 
 motives of fear are lessened to considerate persons, 
 by supposing the fire of hell to be only a purifying 
 one. For it is clear from the scriptures, that the 
 punishment will be very dreadful and durable. We 
 can set no bounds either to the degree or duration 
 of it. They are therefore practically infinite. 
 
 Thirdly, The motives of love are infinitely en- 
 hanced by supposing the ultimate unlimited happiness 
 of all. This takes off* the charge of enthusiasm 
 from that noble expression of some mystical writers, 
 in which they resign themselves entirely to God, 
 
HARTLEY ON UNIVERSALISM. 167 
 
 both for time and eternity. This makes us embrace 
 even the most wicked with the most cordial, tender, 
 humble affection. We pity them" at present, as ves- 
 sels of ivrath; yet live in certain hopes of rejoicing 
 with them at last ; labor to bring this to pass, and 
 to hasten it; and consider, that every thing is good, 
 and pure, and perfect, in the sight of God. 
 
 END. 
 
Princeton Theologrcal Seminary-Spee 
 
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