it; but if it be (and thus it may be, before Chrift comes to judge the World), you must all confefs, That to have the Devil for our Tormentor, is the very next degree to being tormented with the Devil and his Angels.

But yet this is not a Final Judgment, the Laft Sentence is not pronounced against them; and though I doubt not but moft Bad Men as, certainly know what their Doom will be, as the Devils themfelves do; yet there is reafon to think, that fome Bad Men (as Bad Men, we fee, are very apt to flatter themselves with vain Hopes in this World, and may do fo in the next, for ought we know) are ftill in hopes of finding Mercy at the Day of Judgment, when Chrift, comes to judge the World: For if they knew themfelves under a Final and Irreverfible Sentence, there can be no account given, why at the Laft Day they fhould put in any Plea for themselves, or fue for Mercy; and yet thus our, Saviour reprefents it: In that Day many will fay.. unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophefied in thy Name? and in thy Name caft out Devils? and in thy Name done many wonderful Works? and then will I profefs unto them, I never knew you: Depart from me ye that work iniquity, 7. Matth. 22, 23.

"

And thus in the Defcription of the Laft Judgment, when he fhall fay to them on the Left Hand, Depart from me, ye cur-1: fed, into Everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and bis Angels. For I was an hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and je gave.

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me no Drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye cloathed me not; fick, and in prifon, and ye vifited me not. Then fhall they answer bim, Lord, when faw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or fick, or in prifon, and did not minister unto thee? 25. Matth. 41, 42, 43, 44. Now it is not imaginable that thefe Men at the Laft Day of Judgment fhould make any of thefe Pleas, had they been judged, and condemned, and the Final Sentence paffed on them before.

The Sum is this; That Mankind fhall not be finally judged till Chrift comes to judge the World; but yet Good Men are in a State of Happiness, and Bad Men in a State of Punifhment and Mifery: That very Good Men, as they are happy at prefent, fo they have the joyful expectations of the Day of Judgment, when they fhall be finally rewarded, and received into the immediate Prefence of God in Heaven; and that very Bad Men, besides the Miseries which they at prefent fuffer, have the terrible Profpect of a Future Judgment, when they know they fhall be condemned to endlefs Miseries.

3. There is this farther to be added, That according to that Account the Scripture gives us of this matter, tho Bad Men fhall be miserable, and Good Men happy, as foon as they go out of these Bodies, yet Bad Men fhall not be condemned to Hell, nor Good Men received into Heaven, till the Day of Judgment. There is no great difficulty in proving this, fince the Rewards of

Good

Good Men, and the Punishments of the Wicked, that is, their Final Rewards and Punishments, or Heaven and Hell, are throughout the New Teftament referred to the Day of Judgment: This our Saviour exprefly tells us, 13. Matth. 41,42, 43. The Son of man shall fend forth his angels, (that is, at the End of the World, Ver. 39.) and they shall gather out of, his kingdom all things that offend, and them which work Iniquity; and shall caft them into a Furnace of Fire there fhall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth. Then fhall the righteous fhine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. But there is no need of any other Proof of this, but that at the Day of Judgment Good Men fhall be received into Heaven, and Bad Men condemned to Hell, 25. Matth. And if Good Men were in Heaven before, it is very ftrange that they fhould be brought out of Heaven to be judged, and to be received into Heaven again with greater Authority and Solemnity; and if Bad Men were in Hell before, it feems as ftrange that they fhould be fetched 'out of Hell, to be more folemnly condemned thither again: This would be thought a very odd kind of Proceeding among men; and we have no reason to fufpect this of GOD's Judg

ment.

As for Bad men, they are to be caft into the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels; and therefore it is not likely they fhould be cast into this Fire before the Devilhimfelf is; and yet the Scrip vare affures us, That at prefent he is the Frince of MA

the

the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of difobedience, 2. Ephef. 2. And St. Peter tells us, That God Spared not these angels that finned, but caft them down into Hell, and delivered them into the chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, 2 Pet. 2.4. Which is very ill tranflated; for if they were caft down into Hell, how are they referved for the Day of Judgment? For what worfe Judgment can they undergo, than to be caft into Hell? But the Words are thegi's Logs Taglagoas, cafting them down inσειραις ζόφο ταργαρώσας to Chains of Darkness, for fo ragrager fignifies only to caft down; that is, thofe Angels who formerly inhabited the Ethereal Regions, where there was perpetual Light, were for their Sin caft down into this darkfome Region of Air, where the cleareft Light is Smoke and Darkness, in comparifon with thofe brighter Regions from whence they fell (for the Devil is the Prince of the Power of the Air); and they are called Chains of Darkness, becaufe by the Decree of God they can go no farther, cannot afcend higher to thofe Regions of Light again; and here they are referved till the Judgment of the Laft Day.

While our Saviour was on Earth, it is plain that thefe Evil Spirits were not confined to Hell, for they poffeffed the Bodies of men, and very much complained that Chrift came to torment them before their time, 8. Matth. 29. They knew, it fees, there was a time of Torment appointed for them, but it was not yet: And yet there was then fome place of Confinement for them,

them, which is the ßua, or Deep, whatever that fignifies, whither they were unwilling to go; And therefore when Chrift caft them out of the Man whom they had long and furiously possesfed, they beg of him that he would not command them to go into the deep, 8. Luke 31.

I fhall only obferve farther, That the Devils are faid to Believe and Tremble: Now what is it they believe, and what is it they tremble at, but the Laft Judgment, and that terrible Condemnation which they then expect? And therefore they are not under it yet; For Faith refpects what is absent and future, and Fear does not respect what we fuffer at prefent, but what we expect.

But these are great Myfteries, which we cannot now understand; but thus much we do underftand, That if thefe Fallen and Apoftate Angels have not yet received their Final Punishment, but are only referved in Chains of Darkness till the Judgment of the Great Day, there is lefs reason to think that wicked men, who are to be punished with the Devil and his Angels, fhould immediately go to Hell as foon as they go out of thefe Bodies: And therefore whatever is meant by those Flames wherein Dives was tormented, it is not the laft Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels.

As for Good Men, thofe Expreffions of Scripture, of their going to Paradife, efpecially of their going to Chrift, or being prefent with the Lord, feem to bid very

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fair