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Creature that stands out against him, or is not in › union with him. So the Grace and Sweetness of Chrift in his divine Excellency, which shall then fhine forth in its ftrength, and fhall pierce even to Hell itself, will be the Torment of the Damned in Hell, while they abide there, and when the Lord hath finished that Work, then will he turn the other fide of this Glory upon them. For as the Pillar of Cloud and Fire, it hath a light and a dark fide, and that shall revive and comfort those whom the other fide did cruciate and afflict; and fo fhall there, the higheft Proof be given of the Truth of that Word, Deut. xxxii. 29, I, even I am be, and there is no God like me. I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal, &c. The fame God, even the Lord Jefus Christ, God Man, by the fame Life and Glory of his fecond appearance and laft coming, fhall both wound and heal, firft kill and then make alive.

The Punishment of the Damned is diftinguifhed into Pana Damni & Pana Senfus; and this Punifhment of Lofs, the Senfe of it (for that they fhall have) is as great as the Senfe of Pain; therefore our Saviour tells the Jews, as an aggravation, that many fhall come from the East and Weft, and fit down with Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven, and the Children of the Kingdom fhall be caft out, Matth. viii. 12. And O! What weeping and gnashing of Teeth will this occafion! Thus Dives lifted up his Eyes in Hell, and faw Lazarus in Abraham's Bofom. Now, to make this Punishment of Lofs exquifite, they must have a Knowledge and Senfe of the Glory and Felicity of the faved ones, fuch as they had not while in the Body here. Therefore they fhall be enlightened by this Glory, in which Chrift fhall appear to a Senfe of what they have loft, and therefore this Glory fhall appear otherwife to them than while on Earth; then they defpifed it, chufing their own Will and Pleafure before it, nay looking on God and Chrift as the darkeft and most melancholy. Objects

Objects in the World, and as feeking themselves, and tying up Poor Man from the beft Enjoyment of himself, as the Tyrants of this World; but when God fhall appear in this Glorious Revelation of himself in Chrift, in this time, all Love all Light without Darknefs! O how unfpeakable will the Torment be, to be shut out of this Bofom, these Embraces! to want an Interest in this Life, in this Pleasure in this Joy! O how will this fet them a Weeping and Wailing! As on the other hand it is faid, the Saints and the faved ones, to commend their own Mercy, fhall go forth and look on the Carcafes of the Men that have tranfgreffed, whose Worm fhall not die, neither fhall their Fire be quenched. And this is one Reafon of the Punishment both of Devils and wicked Men, being deferred to this time, becaufe this Prefence and Appearance of Chrift with the Church on Earth, is a main Ingredient and Aggravation of their Torment, therefore they are faid to be punished with everlasting DeAruction from the Prefence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power, 2 Thef. i. 9. (as the times of refreshing alfo are said to be from the Prefence of the Lord, As iii.) the Prefence and Glory of Chrift being the inflicting Caufe of their Punishment; therefore they cry to the Rocks and Mountains to hide them from the Face of him that fitteth upon the Throne, Rev. vi. 16. which if fo terrible in that Change he made in the Roman Empire at the cafting down the Heathen Dragon in Conftantine's Time, what will it be in that time, when he fhall put down all Rule, Authority and Power, and take all into his own Hand, and appear on his Throne in the Glory of his Father.

All this will down; but the Revolution, the turning the other fide of this Glory, and revealing to them and giving them an Intereft in it is incredible. Yet it having a Power to heal and reftore, as well as to Torment, yea, healing being the proper Work and Efficiency of it, and the other but occa

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fionally

fionally or accidentally, who fhall for ever Seal up this Power and Virtue of it, when the Nature of God, who is Love, doth not do it? We fay, that Power is in vain that is never reduced into Act, and therefore when the great Gulf or Space of Time which God hath fet for the Declaration of his Juftice in the Punishment of the Damned is filled up, and that the piercing Beams of this Glory that hath fhined into Hell itfelf, thro' their Non-intereft therein, hath fulfilled the afflicting and punishing part; then how eafy, how agreeable is it to the Lord to take off thofe Chains of Darkness that hold them from any part in it, and to take off that Veil, and to let them into the Apprehenfion of this Great and Glorious Counsel of imparting it to them alfo, and letting them forth into the Participation of it? I will not fay I have an exprefs Text for it; but there is a Text which favours fuch an Appre henfion, If. xxiv. 21, to the end. And it fhall come to pass in that Day, that the Lord of Hofts fhall punish the Hoft of the high ones that are on high, and the Kings of the Earth upon the Earth, and they shall be gathered together as Primers are gathered in the Pit, and hall be fhut up in the Prifon, and after many Days they fhall be visited. What Day is this? It is the Day of the Lord's Reign on the Earth, that is manifefted from the next verfe; Then the Moon fhall be confounded, and the Sun afhamed, when the Lord of Hofts fhall Reign in Mount Sion and in Jerufalem, and before his Antients Gloriously. Well then, what is the Pit or Prifon, but Tophet or Hell, chap. iii. 33. (which is called a Prifon, a Place of Cuftody, 1 Pet. iii. 19.) Tophet is ordained of old, yea, for the King it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the Pile thereof is Fire and much Wood, the Breath of the Lord, (this Life, this Spirit, this Glory of the Man Chrift Jefus) like a Stream of Brimftone, doth kindle it. But that which I bring the Place for is, that after many Days thefe Prifoners fhall be vifited or found wanting, which Sounds to our purpofe, that thro' a

Vifitation

Vifitation of Grace, they fhall be delivered, when their Punishment is fulfilled.

To fum up all; this Three-fold quality of Glory, as a Heavenly Man, as a Quickning Spirit, and as the Moft High God, all fpeak out Love and Grace; for what is the Glory of Heaven but its Amplitude, its Clarity, its Beneficence and its powerful Influence, which are all the fignal Names, Virtues, and Properties of Love, which as the Heavens are large, enfolding, encompaffing all Things, and taking this Globe into its cherifhing Bofom and Embraces, quickning, chearing and nourishing every Plant, every Creature, with its comfortable Warming, fertilizing Beams and Influences, yea the binding Influence of Orion, is for the Advantage of the Earth and Plants, and of the Bodies of Creaturés, digefting the cold raw Humours, and by an Antiper iftafis making the innate Heat more intenfe, and killing Worms and Weeds that would destroy the Seed; and the clarity, the lightfomnefs of the Heavens, is a Figure of this Light and Serenity of Love, and the Power and Rule of the Heavens which these fublunary things can by no Endeavours turn from or refift, is the all-charming, all-conquering, refiftless Power of Love, which can prevail when Law and Threatnings can do nothing. So likewife, he is that Spirit, that quickning Spirit. Spirits in bodily things are the apex, the Unity of Power, the Quinteffence of Extraction, the Combination of all the fhattered Forces and Virtues thro' the whole extenfion of a Vegetable; fo in Animals, the Spirits are the fineft, the pureft, the fweeteft, and brightest Blood: and fo in God himfelf, his Love is the Spirit of his God-head; there are Spirits many, the Spirit of Bondage and Fear, but the Spirit eminently is Love, therefore the New Teftament which fows this Love, is called the Miniftration of the Spirit. This was a Seal of Love I received from a dying Saint, who, for Weakness, could not speak much, but left this with me, that

the

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the Spirit is Love, which I understood not at that time, fo well as I blefs God I have done fince. And then,

Laftly, God hath recognized himself exprefsy by the Name of Love. God is he from whom all things flow as their original Fountain, and as they come from him they are all lovely; in him we all live, and move, and have our Being, and all our pleafant and delightfome Motions. And the very Diforder and Evil that is broke in, he turns it to Good; fo that Chrift coming in the Glory of the Father, comes in the Glory of Love, which tenders all his Births as a Father does his Children, and having a Power, cures their Difeafes, and cafts none away, for if the Man Chrift Jefus be Heavenly, large, pure, beneficent, if his Spirit be the Flower of Love, what is God his Father, who is the Heaven of Heavens?

CHA P. XIV.

A further evidence to this Hypothefis, arifing from the Relation and Proportion, the Redemption of the Firft-fruits bears to the deliverance of the reft.

HIS Argument we have, Rom. viii. 19. to ver.

TH 23, with which, other places alfo join in Teftimony, as Rom. xi. 16, and 31 ver.

The Words in the former Place are thefe, For the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifeftation of the Sons of God, for the Creature was made fubject to Vanity, not willingly (or not by choice), but by reafon of him who fubjected the fame, in hope; because the Creature shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption, into the Glorious Liberty of the

Children