supralapfarians charge God fuch a painful' and miferable being. Thisvvas alto the bpi.: nion of Solomon, Eccles q.. 1,z,, ;. So 'returned, faithhe, and comfidered all the oppreffions that are done under thefun; andbehold thetears offuch as were oppreffed, and they halt no comforter, &c. Wherefore" praifed the dead which are already dead, more then the livingwhich are get alive:yea better ishe then both they which loath not yet been , who bath not feen the evil leork that is done undo?' thefunne. The words do clearlyfhevv (S) that Solomon did think it bet- ter to be dead, and to be deprived of being, or to have al- wayes wanted a being, then to be oppreffed by the miz,h- ty, and to bewithout comforters; that is, then to have a miferableand a mournful' beinl;. sr. Francis To this affenteth Sr Francis Bacon in his Colours of good Bacons Co- and evìl : Where againft this mathematicali pefit-e< <t (4s he lours of calleth ir) That there is no proportion between Somcthi g good and e- and Nothing, and that therefore the (T) degree ofprivati-' vil, the 'aft on feemeth greater then the degree ofdiminution; he except- colour. eth, That it is falfe in fundry cafes , and among the ref': in this, namely , when the degreeof diminution is more fenfi- tive then the degree ofprivation. In thiscafe a totall.priva- tion is much better then a diminution. Hence there ufuall formi of fpeech , Better (V) eye out then aiwayer ake; Makeor marre, &c. Some evils and pains (perhaps) either for their lightnefe,becaufe theymay be well endured ,or for their thorcneffe, becaufe they are quickly over, are lef'e then refolution into nothings and a man had better for awhile endure them then lofehis being to be rid of them, becaufe his beingmay afford him prefently or afterward fuch and fo many defirable good things as will more then recompenfe his pains : But yvhenhis pains are fo many and violent that they leave him no other good then a poore being , or fo pinch him that he cannot enjoy or joy in the goods that remain, it were a thoufand times better for him to have no being. And fuch are the pains of hell ; which for their grcatneffe are infinite, producing many miferable weepings and vvaylings and gnat-kings of teeth, all fymptomes of in- tolerablegriefs ; and for their length, eternal' : The worm never dyeth, the fire is never quenched: but the breathof the Lord, as a river of brirnftone, doth kindle it for ever. And , therefore it is incomparably better to ceafe to be ,then to live in chofe torments , which cannot be equalled by any good which a being can make us capable of much leffe by that Poore
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