lay afide all Mercy. And, if we are able to corrupt or destroy our own Nature, the divine Nature we are able neither to corrupt nor destroy. Men formerly beat Drums in the Valley of Hinnon, that the Cries of the Children, who were facrific'd to the Fiery Idal, and who shriek'd moft ruefully among the Flames, might not be heard by their Parents or the People. But though you could make all Heaven refound with perpetual Thunderings, yet you can never bring it to pafs, that in this Tophet, concerning which we fpeak, you can hinder the Lamentations, and the piercing Cries of fo many Millions of tormented Wretches, from mounting up to the Ears of Jehova, the Father and the Fountain of all Mercy.

Now behold, if you please, O merciless Doctor, the Spectacle that you fet before us; what Theatre of Providence! Behold by much the greater Part of the Race of Men, weltering amidft the Flames for everlafting Ages! O Scene, deferving to have God and Angels for its Spectators! And then to charm your Ears, while you hear Heaven and Earth refounding with the Screams, the Shrieks, the Groans, the Roars of so many Millions of the tormented Damn'd, have you not a divine Harmony in your Ears, a truly celeftial Confort. Befides, this gives me no small Displeasure, that I fee fo great a Part of reasonable Nature, in this Manner entirely loft and become the Outcast of Things;

like Salt that has loft its Savour, or Wine that has loft its Spirit, thrown contemptibly out of Doors, too vile for any prefent Ufe, or any future Hope.

EVERY Creature, as far as it appears to us, is liable to fall, as well as the Wicked and the Damn'd. But if they who fall after the fame Manner, are altogether irrecoverable, the whole intellectual Creation is then exposed, not only to Vanity, but to eternal Mifery: And to have framed fuch a Nature of Things*, would not have require fo much a divine Goodness, as the Cruelty of fome evil Demon, or the hazardous Work of Chance. God formerly repented, that he had made Man, by reason of his abominable Wickedness: Miferable Man will in his

Turn

you

*That which happens in this World may poffibly happen in others; but here, as 'tis vulgarly believ'd, the greater Part of Humankind will perish eternally. Make but the fame Suppofition of other Worlds, and then what a Havock, what Defolation will there be of the rational Nature, if extend the Account throughout the Universe? This loft ufelefs Part of Nature will far exceed the remaining Part. I call it ufelefs; for it will be, as it were, the Caput Mortuum of the Universe, or the curfed barren Dregs of Earth, from whence nothing good or valuable can be extracted. And not only fo; it is not only an unprofitable Burden upon Nature, but an intolerable Burden to itself; neither can it relinquish, nor bear itself. It curfes the hateful Light, and the Day whereon it firft faw the Sun and the Stars; curfes the over-officious Hour that call'd it forth from its primitive Nothing, where it lay quiet in a happy State of Silence and Obfcurity.

2.

Turn repent that ever God created him; fince it had been much better for him never to have at all existed. *

LET thus much fuffice concerning Hell, and the future Punishment of the Wicked, provided you fubjoin that Admonition, which is always used by the forementioned Fathers, whenever they handle this Subject; that is to fay, whatever your Opinion is within yourself, and in your own Breaft concerning these Punishments, whether they are eternal or not; yet always with the People, and when you preach to the People, ufe the receiv'd Doctrine, and the received Words in the Senfe, in which the People receive them: For they are apt to run headlong into Vice, and are to be terrify'd from offending by the Apprehenfion of Punishment only. Befides, among the Good, there are the Children, and Cor. iii. the Perfons grown up, to be nourish'd with Milk, or more folid Food, according to the Strength

Heb. v.12,

13.

* In fine, they who cannot approve of the Doctrine of abfolute Reprobabation, because it feems repugnant to the divine Nature and Attributes, ought to be as much difpleased with the eternal Punishments of the Wicked, fince they are equally repugnant to the fame Attributes; as, on the other Hand, 'tis the Intereft of those who receive that Doctrine of Reprobation, to reject this of eternal Punishment; because thereby they will much leffen the Force of the greatest Objection, that lies against them; fince it will not be altogether fo fhocking for a Man to be pre-ordain'd and condemn'd to Punishments that will have an End; but to Punishments eternal and intolerable, would be the most poignant and exquifite Severity.

Strength of each of them. No lefs Regard is to be paid to thefe, nor is the Diet of the little Ones, or the weak Ones to be rashly chang'd, least an Intemperature in their Conftitutions fhould arise, and throw them into Diseases. You ought to have always before your Eyes, and always in your Designs, the Progrefs of Providence in gradually promoting* Piety in the World, and in illuminatiug Humankind; and you ought in your Endeavours and your Designs, to proceed with an equal Pace till we arrive to that, that what has been whisper'd to us, we may proclaim upon the House Top. But Minds are gradually to be accuftom'd to bear the more forcible Rays of Truth. Too much Light is hurtful to tender Eyes, or Light too fuddenly pour'd upon them. Few behold Things themselves as they are, but only their Images as they appear when they are feen, as it were, in a Glass. But we shall at length, if it pleases God, fee the Things themselves even Face to Face, as they fay, the Vail being taken from them. This we shall do, partly towards the End of this World, but more fully in the next.

The

* And therefore, as this was written for the Perufal of the Learned only, whoever fhall tranflate it into the vulgar Language, I can think no otherwife, but that he does it with an ill Intention and for wicked Purposes.

The CONCLUSION.

W

HEN the Matter of this Book is of various Kinds, and comprehends divers Heads of the Chriftian Doctrine, and those for the moft Part beyond the Paths and the Light of Nature, it may eafily happen, that in treating of thefe, I may fometimes have err'd from the Mark. I am but a Man, but a little Man, and am far from thinking myself above the Infirmities that are incident to human Nature. But he who with a fincere Mind, and who without any Fear, or Averfion, or Affection whatever, feeks the naked Truth, has God for his Affiftant; God, I fay, will open to him who knocks, will give to him who asks, provided we ask for that pure and pacifick Wisdom which defcends from Hea

ven.

Nor let any one blame me, because that, in treating of this Subject, I have found many Things obfcure in the facred Writings; many Things, if I may use the Expreffion, not adequately, or not abfolutely reveal'd. I defire that this may be understood as fpoke, with regard to my own Understanding and Capacity: And if any other Perfon fhall clear up thofe Paffages better, I fhall be glad to embrace the Discovery, and to congratulate the Author:

But