whatever Knowledge the greatest Men among the Heathen had of the Rewards of a future State, it was the Refult only of their own Reasonings and Argument, and proved at best no more than probable Conjecture, and furmises of their own Mind; but now we have the plain, and Express, and repeated Promife and Word of God for them.

2. As to the Punishments, thefe likewife are by the Gospel all adapted chiefly to Inward Defilement and Tranfgreffion, and transferred from this, to another World; infomuch that all the Breaches of the Divine Laws are not cognizable till after our Departure out of this Life, and no Sentence of Condemnation for them is to be pronounced before the Day of Judgment; and in the ordinary Difpenfation of the Gospel, there is not the leaft pofitive Temporal Punishment for the greatest Sin. Because, of the Tranfgreffions of this Law none can be judge but he who is the Searcher of Hearts; who difcerns from what inward Principle all outward Commiffions of Sin do flow, and from whence they receive a greater or lefs Degree of Guilt: So that even Murders, Adulteries, Fornications, and all other outward Tranfgreffions defile the Man as they come From within, and are punishable in Proportion to the Corruption of the Heart out of which they proceed. Of these Punishments we learn from Revelation only.

I. THAT

1. THAT they are both for Soul and Body, which are diftinguished in Scripture by the Worm that dieth not, and the Fire which shall never be quenched; and accordingly we are bid to fear him who is able To deftroy both Body and Soul in Hell. Upon which I fhall only make this Remark, that whereas we find by Experience in this Life, that Body and Mind are not capable of fuffering the Extremity of Pain and Anguish at the fame time; infomuch that the greatest Anxiety and moft fierce diftracting Anguifh in the Mind, is loft and diverted by acute and pungent Pain in the Body: Yet we now learn that in Hell the Wicked will be fubject to extreme and exquifite Torments of both together.

2. THAT they will confift in Everlasting Deftruction from the Prefence of the Lord, and from the Glory of his Power. That the chief Cause of all Mifery in another Life, will be an eternal Exclufion from the beatific Vision of God, was never thought of by the Wisest of the Heathen Philofophers; who placed all Happiness within Themfelves, and generaly held Virtue to be its Own Reward. This exclufion seems to be the only Punishment to which we can now conceive a Pure Spirit liable; and accordingly, as all intelligent Beings are at a Lefs, or Greater Distance from this Fountain of a' Happiness, so they must neceffarily be r or lefs Miferable or Happy.

3. T

3. THAT one Part of thofe Punishments will be by Fire, than which we have not any Revelation more exprefs and pofitive. They are described by the being Caft alive into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone, by the Fire that is not quenched; by a Furnace of Fire, where there is Wailing and gnashing of Teeth; by Everlafting Burnings; and Everlafting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels. If Burning be a Word merely Metaphorical, as it seems to be in respect of Pure Spirits, then it is a Word and Idea substituted instead of a Punishment fo great that it cannot be otherwife defcribed to us; because we are no otherwise able to conceive it, than under a Semblance of the moft exquifite Torture we are subject to in this Life. But if the Word is to be taken in its ftrictly Proper and Literal Sence, as it seems to be with respect to the Body; for tho' it is an inftance of great Goodness in God that the Joys of Heaven are reprefented to us under the figurative Images of Light, and Glory, and a Kingdom, and that the Substance and Reality fhall exceed the utmoft of all our Conceptions; yet it seems to be an Argument of the Strictnefs of his Justice, that the Punishments in another Life fhould be more Literaly the fame they are threatned and foretold. If it be thus I fay, then that is a very needless Question, How material Fire can affect an human Soul? Since we are told there is a Worm which never

dies, as well as a Fire which is not quenched; and when we find by Experience how much the Mind regrets and bemoans every Pain in the Body here; and how infupportably miferable the whole Man is render'd by the Share it bears in the exquifite Torture of any one of our bodily Members.

4. THE Eternity of these Punishments is revealed as plainly as Words can express it; and the Difficulty in that Question, What Proportion endless Torments can bear to momentary Sins? is quite removed, by confidering that the Punishments denounced and threatned are not in themselves Sanctions intirely Arbitrary, as it is in Punishments annex'd to Human Laws: But they are withal fo many previous Warnings or Declarations of the Inevitable Confequence and Natural Tendency of Sin in itself to render us miferable in another World. So that a hardned and unrepenting Sinner cannot be otherwise than miferable in another Life by a Neceffity of Nature; and therefore not capable of Mercy; fince there never can be any Alteration of his State and Condition, without fuch a Change of the whole Man, as would put the natural and settled Order of the Creation out of courfe.

5. To all this we may add, that in respect to thofe Rewards and Punishments we have these farther Revelations. That the very particular

I

ticular Day is appointed by God in which He will judge the World in Righteoufness, by that Man whom he hath ordained; that he hath Committed all Judgment to the Son; and that all Mankind must come upon their Tryal at Once. The glorious Pomp and Majefty of his Appearance, the awful Solemnity of the whole Procedure; nay the very Words of the Sentence are described; and it is foretold that in this Day of God, the Heavens being on Fire fhall be diffolved, and the Elements fhall melt with fervent Heat. These are The Terrors of the Lord which are fufficient to overwhelm the Mind; and fuch Motives to all holy Conversation as nothing but Infidelity or want of Confideration can render ineffectual. Concerning which I fhall farther obferve, that all the Doubtful Opinions, and uncertain Reasonings; all the Imaginations and boding Surmises of Men before, are now by the Gofpel cleared up into a Full, Diftinct Knowledge and Certainty: And how far foever the Understandings of Men proceeded in the Nature of these Punishments before, yet they are all now become Express Pofitive Sanctions of the Laws of the Gospel; as it regulates not only our outward Deportment, but also the inward Frame and Disposition of our Souls.

CHAP.