a Ver. i o Fifth Chirp. 2d Ep. to the C O R I N T H i O nets to injoy fenival pleafure without remorfe, degrade themfelves froth that dignity of nature wherein God path placed them,and make themfelves bui awifer fort of beafls,as they are able only to purvey for the flefh more than the bruits can. Wheéei then will you place Life ? Surely in reafon, mans Life is a kind of light given us, 1,hn 1. 4. Ik him was Life, and the Life was the light of men : Reafon and undcrilanding was mans perfeetion. Well then, this is the Lite; which we mutt enquire after. Now when is this Life oflight in its, full perfeEtion ? While the Sotil dwelleth in flelh, and looketh out by the fenfes to things near at hand; the proper contentments ofthe body are the poor; paltry vanities of this deceitful World. Now this is not the life, which we were made tor, but when it feeth God, and injoyeth God in the higheft mariner, that we are capable of; our true life lyeth in the yifiónot God, 1 Cor. 13. 1i. And Matti. S. 8.1 or he is only that univerfal and infinite objeEt,which can fatiate the heart of man,and our proper,and pe- culiar Bleffednefs;Whom have I in Heaven but thee! Pfa. 73. 25. This is our full and con- tinued Happinefs. Alas ! the prefent life hath more gall than Honey ;its injoyments and low and bafe, and fhort,and fading,and its troubles and miferies are many .Gen. 49.9.Felú and evil are the days anclyyears of my pilgrimage. But in the other World; there is no- thing but Glory and Bleilèdnefs. A glorified Soul, in a glorified Body Both for ever be- hold God, and delight its felf in God 2. The other notion is punifhment, the Word fignifieth not only punifhment, but tor- ment. So we render it, 1 john 4. 18. Becaufefear bath torment. Annihilation were a favour to the wicked; they have a being, but 'us a being under punifhment and tor- ment. Divines dually diftinguilh of prena damai and ptwna Jenfus; the lofs and the pain, both are included, Matth. 2.5. 45. in Chrifts fentence, Depart and go into everlafting fire; God doth not take away the being of a finger, but he taketh away the comfort of his being, he is banilhed out of his fight for evermore, and deprived of his favour, and all the joys and bleffednefs which are bellowed on the Godly, and that is enough to make him miferable. 'Tistrue a wicked man now careth not for the light of Gods countenance,; becaufc looking to vifible things he hath no found Faith of thole things which are iavi fible, but now he cometh to underftand the reality of what he bath loft, and betides hath no natural comforts to divert his mind, no Plays, dr Balls, or Pleafures, or Meat, and Drink, and company which now do draw off his heart from better things, and folacé him in the want of them. Secondly the pain of fenfe that's double, the worm that never dyes, and the fire that(hall never he quenched, Mark. The worm is the worm of Confcience, refleCting upon his evil choice, and pafl folly, which hash brought him to this fad and doleful eftate. When he confidereth for what bate things he fold his birth- right, Heb. 12.. 1 q. He parted with felicity, and the Life tp come; this will be a continual torment and vexation to them.And being under defpair of ever coming out of this Condi- tion, his torment is the more increafed.lfthere were no more than this,Confcience refleQ- ing upon the fenfe of his lofs, with the caufe and confequents of it; furely this will fill. him with anguilb,and the Body united tofuch a miferable,felf-vexing,and felf- tormenting Soul can have no reft. Secondly befides this, there is the fire that Jhall never be quenched, Which is the wrath, which bringeth on unfpeakable torments on the Body. For, Wo, Wrath, Tribulation and AnguiJh is the Portion ofevery Soul that doth evil, Rom.1.9, ro. What kind of puniflìments they are we know not, but fuch as are grievous, and come not only from the refle&tionof their own Confciences, but the Power of God, Rom. 9:15. God will themhis Wrath, and make his Power known. 4. Eternity is affixed to both, Everlafting Punifbment, and Eternal Life. 1. The joys of the Bided are Everlajli#Ig.T here fluai! never be change of,and ititermiflîoi in their Happinefs, but after Millions, and Millions of Imaginary years, they are tá continue in this Life, as if it were the &It moment. Paúl telleth you, i Thef. 4. 17. That rveJhallfar ever be with theLotd. And what can we delire more, in this Life, if we had', the confluence of all manner of comforts,.yet the fear oflofing them, is fome infringement of our Happinefs. But there, whatever Glory we partake of; we Nil never lofe ir, it will be thy Crown for evet, thy Kingdom for ever, thy Glory for etrer,thy God and thy Chrift for ever.Ohwhy dó we ro more think of this? This Life, that fcarce deferveth the name ofa Life, yet we would fain continue it, though in pain and mifery, Skin for skin, tg all that a man hath,iáouldbegivefor his Life. Oh then how welcome lhould Eternal Life be, which compared with this Life, is like the Ocean to a drop? When we lay both of thefd lives together, thisfading Moment, and that enduring Eternity, how much more valua big doth- the one appear, than the other? Our furrows will Coon end, butchefe joys when they on'cebegini wilt never end; a (ór.4 57.lThis liàlit áffli7ió ,which, isbut for a moment. kerb
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=