talk'd unto it on this manner, My little Soul, my dearest Companion, thou art now going to wander in obscure, cold, and strange Places: Thou shalt never jest again according to thy wonted manner; thou shalt never give me any more Sport or Pleasure. You'll fay Adrian was a powerful Monarch, but no great Philofopher; perhaps he knew how to govern, and was well acquainted with the Politicks; but he was ignorant of the Morals, and had no Skill to die well. To answer this Objection, let us give an Example beyond all Exception. Aristotle is generally esteem'd to have been the subtileft, and the most learn'd of the Heathen Antiquity, the Prince of all the Philosophers, the Glory of his Age, and the Founder of his Sect. When his excellent Soul had furvey'd all things, examin'd the Heavens, search'd among the Excellencies of the Earth, pried into all the Wonders of the World, and found out the rareft Secrets of Nature; he could never find any folid Comforts against the Apprehenfions of Death. Notwithstanding all his admirable Subtilties, and his profound Learning, the Fear of this cruel Death 1 terrifies his Confcience in such a manner, that he confessed, That of all terrible Things, Death was the most dreadful. 1 Of divers forts of Death, with which we are to W encounter. Hen David had a Design to fight with Goliah, and could not make use of the Armour of King Saul, he took a smooth Stone out of his Bag, cast it with his Sling, struck the Philistine in the Forehead, and brought down this proud Giant, who had defy'd the Armies of Ifrael. We have already examin'd C4 1 T min'd and try'd all the Armour of human Wisdom: and Learning, laid up in the Store-Houses of the greatest Wits of former Ages, and we have found that they are not able to afford us any Assistance in an Encounter with Death, Let us therefore now fee whether we may overcome this proud Enemy with the Sling of our mystical David, with the Weapons of our divine Shepherd. But before we begin the Resistance, let us look and behold it in the Face, The Enemy that I intend you shall overcome, is a Monster with three Heads, for there are three forts of Death, the Natural, the Spiritual, and the Eternal. The natural Death is a Separation of the Soul from the Body; altho' our Body hath been fashioned with the Finger of God, 'tis but a weak and frail Vessel made of Earth; but our Soul is an heavenly, spiri tual, and immortal Substance. 'Tis a Sparkle and a Ray of the Godhead, and the lively Image of our great Creator. For when God had made our firft Parent, he breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, Gen. ii. 7. that we might thereby understand, that our Souls alone proceeded from his immediate Hand; therefore he is nam'd the Father of Spirits, Heb. xii. and The faithful Creator of Souls, I Pet. iv. This Soul raises us a Degree above all Animals, and above the celestial Bodies, and renders us like the Angels of Heaven. 'Tis the Light that enlightens us, the Salt that preferves us from Corruption. In one Word, by this Soul we live, enjoy our Senses, move and understand. As foon as this Angelical Guest leaves its Manfion, the Body, it loseth all its Beauty, and falls of it self into a State of Ruin. For this Flesh that we are so careful of, and feed with all manner of Dainties, then corrupts and rots, After that it hath been itretch'da while upon Beds of Gold, and richly attir'd in Purple and Scarlet, 'tis cast upon a Bed of Worms, and cover'd with the vilest Insects of the Earth. Notwithstanding all its former Perfumes, it yields then a most horrid Stink. Before it ravish'd the Eyes of the Beholders with its admirable Beauty; but now it becomes so odious and offensive, that the Living care not to fee it; 'tis at last reduc'd to Ashes, according to the Sentence that was pronounc'd in the earthly Paradise, Dust thou art, and to Duft thou shalt return. The spiritual Death is the Separation of the Soul from God our Creator, For he being the Soul of our Souls, and the Light of our Life, we fall into an Abyss of Darkness and Death: For all those that depart from God shall perish, Pfal. lxxiii. As the Members when they are cut off from the Body, commonly rot, as the Twig withers when 'tis separated from the Vine; so in a Separation from God, we can neither live, move, nor have a Being. And as 'tis with the Body separated from the Soul, it nourishes a Nest of Worms that devour it, and sends forth a most insufferable Stench; so 'tis with our Soul at a Distance from God: It yields those evil Affections that torment and confume it, and the ill Scent of its Crimes are offenfive to Heaven and Earth. Of this kind of Death our Saviour speaks to the Jews in this manner; If you do not believe that I am be, you shall die in your Sins, Joh. viii. And to the Angel of the Church at Sardis, Thou hast a Name that thou livest, and art dead, Rev. iii. This fame Death St. Paul mentions in the second Chapter of the Colossians, and the second of the Ephesians. When we are dead in our Trefpaffes and Sins, God hath quickned us together with Chrift. And elsewhere he exhorts a finful Man, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the Dead, and Chrift shall give thee Light, Eph. v. And 'tis of the fame kind of Death that St. Paul speaks concerning the wanton Widow, that she is dead while she-liveth, Tim. v. 2 21 It was this kind of Death that Adam suffer'd as foon as he had tasted of the forbidden Fruit, according to God's threatning; In the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death. For not only his Body became subject to Death, but his Soul also was cast into the Death of Sin, and enslaved to Corruption. It happened to him as to a Lamp newly put out, the Snuff. yields a moist ill-favour'd Scent. 1. : As the Life of Grace is a Preparative to the Life of Glory, and furnisheth us with the fore-taste of the heavenly Joys: So on the contrary the Spiritual Life is, as it were, the Suburbs of Hell, 'tis the first beginning of an eternal Death, and the Entrance into the infernal Pit. The eternal Death is nothing else but an entire and irrecoverable Separation of the Soul and Body from God, accompanied with infinite Torments; Torments indeed, unto which all the Suffer-ings of this mortal Life are light and inconfiderable: Nevertheless, as the Spirit of God represents the heavenly Joys and Felicities by things that are most pleafant and delightful; thus to express to us Hell's Torments, it borrows things that are the most dreadful and painful in this Life. We are told of an Abyss or Furnace full of Flames, a bottomless Pit burning with Fire and Brimstone. The Scripture mentions, Chains of Darkness, an eternal Night, and an Hell Fire, where there are weeping and gnashing of Teeth. It tells us, that Tophet is ordain'd of old, yea, for the King tis prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood, the Breath of the Lord like a Stream of Brimstone doth kindle it, Ifaiah xxx. 33. Fanfie to your selves a Man devour'd with Worms, burning in hot Flames, in continual Torments, in whose Wounds kindled Brimstone is pour'd without Intermiffion, with boyling Lead, and burning Pitch; and if there be any other Pains more sharp and grievous, fanfie it also. All this will give us but a Light and imperfect Image of the State of Hell, for all the Pangs of the Body are nothing in Comparison to the Horrors, Troubles, Troubles and incredible Griefs, that shall for ever rack and torture the damned Souls. As Shame aggravates our Sufferings, and renders them more terrible, the damned shall be loaden with Shame and Infamy for all Eternity; "their Names shall be hateful to God and his holy Angels, and they shall be cursed with an endless Curse. And as 'tis an Ins crease to our Torment to fuffer in the Company of abominable Varlets, and to become a Companion of the most infamous Rascals; they shall fuffer with Hell's Executioner, and shall be fent to the Fire prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels. All their Senfes shall share in these horrid Torments, they shall be crusht in the Wine-press of God's eternal Wrath, and they shall feel for ever and ever, the Stroaks of God's Vengeance, and of his Almighty Hand. They shall then learn by Experience, what a terrible thing 'tis to fall into the Hands of the living God, and how insufferable that Fire is that shall confume his Enemies. Their Eyes shall perceive nothing but the bottomless Pit, the Devil's Image, and the Furies of Hell; their Ears shall hear nothing but the horrible Outcries, and fearful Roarings of tormented Devils, and damned Souls. They shall be choak'd with the noisome Smell and Fumes of the bottomless Pit; they shall then drink the very Dregs and Bottom of God's Anger and Indignation, and they shall fuck the Venom of his Arrows. Fire and Brimstone shall be the Portion of their Cup, Pfal. xi. The Sufferings of this Life are but fhort, and for a Moment, but the Torments of the Damned shall never end; Their Worm dieth not, and their Fire shall never be quenched, Mark ix. Rev. xx. They shall be tormented Day and Night to all Eternity. When they shall have suffer'd as many thousand Ages as there be Drops of Water in the Sea, or Grains of Sand on the Shoar, it shall be but the beginning of their Grief. They shall live for ever to die continually, and they shall die and never be consum'd. In the midst of these hot Flames, they shall beg a Drop of Water to cool their Tongue, Luke xvi. but we |