Chap. 3. 14n>Expofttáon upon the Book of J O B. 5!erGIj. £O9 I anfwer, there_ is a twofold miferable$being, one temporal, the other Eternal .. An-_Eternai ' nife:able. being is eternally work thena not;being..'But a,tcmpOralx in.i trable being, at .the worts, is better then a.not,being.' And the - reatflnuis, becaufe'our being, is far more excellent then the outward :Comforts of our being thefe beingonly accidental to bur being ; and therefore it neceffarily follows, that .it is better to be without outward Comforts then to be without a Being. Again, Life is better then all oütwara tlïïïgs,(Satsi 1paket truely in the formerChap- ter, All that a span bath will be give for hit life.) That which a manparts with rather thenhis life, is below his life. If then ha: be better then riches, or health,or pleafures, then much naòre is our being better then all there. As aman mayhold his Life when all hiseftate and comforts is gòné, o'he dotta hold his being when his life is gone ; Tifeis brittle' ware at the' bell, but mans being is ofan everlatting make. I know there are tome who difpute and conclude that a being, even an eternally miferablebeing,, is better then no being And I grant it is fo in a Metaphylical ora Philofophical Notion, but in a Theological Notion it is not. A philofopher (keeping within the fphear of Nature) can ke no mifery,fo niiferable, or evil fo bad , as not to be. But a-Divine can, he fees two things worte. Firft, Andeverlaiting Rain and Siflans non guilt of fin lying upon the Soul. Secondly, the everlatting wrath fiiifj"et ills ho- and dilpleafure of God poured out upon the whole man. Hence mo,i.e f r,un ceï Chria-Faith of codas whobetrayed him, lilút z6. ád..It "had been fqeruaotn npro"ecs ad goodför`that man if he had not been born'; hecinfe that ateur- e,/fe. Meliur fed ad jóyned withhis impenitence and unbelief, fúbjeCted him quiPPefuLer to everlatting mifery, to wrath for evermore ; It had keen goodbe qu nand `offs had never been börn, rather then to fall into filch a [in , and flrgiriaperpe. from that to fall into Heli.Not to be boin,is` in this place,as Much teare,groria as not to be And it had been good for him not'to have beenborn, P61; gloria is as much as to fay, it had been better for him' not to have been 'næFernumpri- born. It had been better for him not to have been, then to have ti'.rti,fedZi ep- petibtlius eJ committed fuch à fin, to 13rë under" loch wrath , and tolofe loch homini abfalure happinefs for ever. Though a 'late of damnation (tonfidered ab- on eOEs, quarn ftradly) be better than no frate at all; that is," than a not be- e/f damnanun, propter æier- ing, yet in the concrete, it is iiot bettèr fo be damned thn'flot ,ram Pa,a t3_ to be : In it fell, eternal mifcry'is better than a non- entity, but mamquemie. a man eternally miferablè, is worfe then á' non-ens.And without riam.Dionyf. doubt it will be the eternal defire of the damned (and that delire Carthuf.,1 Ggt, is mat. 26. a4 a
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