bour. For by this Method the Satisfaction will bear fome Proportion to the Injustice done. And they will have Reason to hope that Almighty God, who is infinite in Mercy as well as Juftice, feeing their earnest Defire, and hearty Endeavours to make the beft amends they can for what is past, and finding them as zealous now in his Cause, as they were once Enemies to it, will look upon them with Compaffion, cancel the great Debt they had contracted, both by their own and Neighbour's Sins, and reverse the Sentence he had decreed against them.

The XIIIth ENTERTAINMENT. Of HELL.

Of the Pain of Sense in General. Every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit fhall be cut down, and caft into the Fire, Matt. iii. 10.

Having already gone through the most

important Truths relating to Death and Judgment, I fhall now begin to fpeak of the Punishments and Rewards of the Life to come. Concerning which I fhall be careful not to advance any thing but what is either grounded upon the Word of God, or taught by Divines, or drawn from Principles which feem to be beyond Difpute. But I fhall first premise a Reflection, which appears

necef

neceffary in relation to fuch reveal'd Truths as are above our Comprehenfion, and which according to the elegant Figure of St. Paul, we fee but in Part, and in a Glafs darkly, 1. Cor. xiii. 12. amongst which are the tworeveal'd Truths concerning the Punishments and Rewards of the Life to come.

Now in handling Truths of this nature, it is impoffible to carry our Expreffions up to what they really are. The very ableft Pen or Tongue can no more represent them as they are in themselves, than the most fkilful Painter can fet forth the vaft and beautiful Orb of the Sun in its full natural Proportion and Luftre. For our Words can at beft but keep Pace with our Thoughts, but never go beyond them. We cannot exprefs more than we can conceive. And therefore, fince the Nature of those Truths is above the Reach of human Understanding;fince as St. Paul tells us, they can only be conceived in Part, and as in a Glafs darkly, it follows, that even when they are fet forth to their greatest Advantage, they are only exprefs'd in the fame dark and imperfect Manner: and by Confequence, whatever Strength of Words and Ornaments of Eloquence are employed to reprefent fuch Truths, we muft always form this Judgment, that they are infinitely greater in themselves than they are reprefented: because the Ideas we have of them

come

conte undoubtedly very fhort of their real, Objects; and our Expreffions being but the painting of our Ideas, and, as it were, fecond-hand Copies of the Objects themfelves, muft needs represent them at least as imperfectly as they are conceived in our Thoughts.

This Reflection therefore must be carried on through every Part of the Subject 1 am now entering upon. The Word of God itself tells us of the Joys of Heaven, that the Eye has not feen, neither has the Ear beard, nor has it enter'd into the Heart of Man, what God has prepared for those that love bim. And the fame muft be faid of the Pains of Hell prepared for them that live and die in the State of Sin. It is impoffible to conceive, much lefs to exprefs, either the one or the other. Our Faith must supply the Defect of our Underftanding, and convince us, that as no Joy or Pleasure of this World can bear any Proportion to that of the bleffed Souls in Heaven, fo the acutest Pains that ever were or can be endured in this Life, are but imaginary ones, and not worth fpeaking of, if compared with the Torments of the Damn'd in Hell,

I fhall begin with thefe according to the Method of fpiritual Writers, who ufually confider them under two general Heads, call'd by Divines the Pain of Senfe, and the Pain of Lofs. Under the first Head are

con

contain'd all Evils that affect the Senfes ; and under the fecond all interiour Pains of the Soul caused by Grief, Anguish, DeSpair, Shame, Hatred, Envy, and the violent Cravings of Paffions never to be fatisfied. I fhall now fpeak only of the Pain of Senfe in general; and fince a Perfon dying in the State of Sin is from that very Instant condemn'd to Hell-fire, which caufes the most grievous Pain of that Sort, I fhall endeavour to fhew that a damn'd Soul fuffers the Pain of Senfe independently of the Re-union of the Body; and is by Confequence the Fuel of Hell-fire as well before as after the general Resurrection; which fhall be the Subject of this Entertainment.

According to the vulgar Way of thinking, we are apt to fancy that we should ea fily form fome Idea of the Pain of Senfe, if the Soul immediately after Death were again united to the Body. But we have a Difficulty to conceive how this Sort of Pain is confiftent with the State of Separation. For the Pain of Senfe is no other, than that which we fuffer by all or fome one of our five Senfes, and how canthe Soul be capable of Senfation, when she is ftript of all the natural Organs of her Senses? Can fhe fee without Eyes, hear without Ears, feel without Flesh and Blood, and fo forth? But this Difficulty is chiefly

Owing to a Want of true Ideas of the different Natures of the Soul and Body, the two Parts whereof Man is compofed.

Firft then, as to the Body, we must confider, that this Part of Man, even whilst it is inform'd and animated by the Soul, is nothing but meer Matter, as having been originally form'd of Earth; and meer Matter can never be a Principle of Life any more than a Log of Wood, nor by Confequence of Senfation. But the Soul is a fpiritual Substance created immediately by the Hand of God, and is itself the fole Principle both of Senfation and Reafon. Hence both spiritual and fcholaftick Writers conceive two different Parts in the Soul; one of which they call the inferior or fenfitive Part; the other, the fuperior or rational Part; which is a manifeft Proof of their attributing Senfation as well as Reasoning to the Soul alone. However, their Meaning is not that there are two Parts really dif tinct in the Soul, but only two different Denominations attributed to the fame fpiritual Substance, as fhe is the Root or Principle both of fenfitive and intellectual Operations in whatever State fhe be, and whether fhe acts in Conjunction with or feparately from the Body.

'Tis true, Almighty God has order'd human Nature fo, that the Soul, during her

State