Two Discourses, Section 1 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
The Subject of this Diſcourſe, ſet out and reduced to two Heads: The firſt, That God's Wrath is the immediate Cauſe of the Puniſhment of Sin in Hell.
I Shall confine my ſelf to theſe two Heads. And in handling thereof, what the one of theſe Scriptures is wanting in, the other will ſupply; in what the one is dark, the other explains.
The Heads themſelves, I ſhall take as I find them in the firſt of theſe Scriptures, Heb. 10. 31. Firſt, that God himſelf, by his own Hands, that is, the power of his Wrath, is the immediate Inflicter of that Puniſhment or Deſtruction of Men's Souls in Hell: [It is a falling into the Hands of God.] Secondly, the dreadfulneſs of that Puniſhment, inferred and argued there-from; It is a [fearful thing] to fall into the Hands of the Living God.
Which two are the Doctrinal parts of this Diſcourſe.
For the firſt, That God himſelf is the immediate Inflicter, &c.
For Explication. We muſt diſtinguiſh; how that God performs two parts herein. 1. Of a Judg, to give forth the Sentence by his Authority. 2. Of an Avenger, a party injur'd and provoked, and, as ſuch, the Inflicter. My ſcope in this diſtinction, is, that we may in reading the Scriptures that ſpeak of this Puniſhment, know how to put a difference, and not transfer the whole of God's Agency in this matter, unto that of ſentencing it as a Judg only. And beſides that many Scriptures do apart ſhew this diſtinction, there are ſome that ſtill carry along with them both theſe Agencies, or Hand of God, in it together, and yet as diſtinct; the one under the term of Wrath and Vengeance, the other under the Notion of its being a Judgment, [the Judgment of God, and the Judgment of Hell-Fire] *Quid à juſto Dei infligitur. Gerard de inferno. Sect. 30.as Mat. 23. 33. Thus firſt the Text, Heb. 10. terms it ſome while [Vengeance and fiery Indignation, ver. 30. 27.] then again—Judgment, as ver. 27. a [fearful looking for of Judgment, and ver. 30. The Lord will judge, &c.] The like, Rom. 2. 5, 8, 9. where all is reduced in like manner to theſe two, God's righteous Judgment, and his Wrath and Indignation treaſured up. Alſo, 2 Theſſ. 1. [The righteous Judgment of God] ver. 5, 6. there is the Sentence, and [deſtroyed from the glory of his Power] as the inflicting cauſe, ver. 9. likewiſe Rom. 9. as Soveraign Lord he ſhews, foreign Authority in this Puniſhment, ver. 21. and then as the immediate Inflicter, Wrath and foreign, the Power of his Wrath. And ver. 22. that ſpeech of our Saviour, about this matter. One Evangeliſt, Luke 12. 5. records it, Who is able to caſt into Hell: *foreign.namely, as a Judg who caſts a Malefactor into Priſon. The other, Mat. 10. 28. Who is †foreign.able to kill the Soul, and to deſtroy Body and Soul in Hell. Noting thereby that he uſeth his Intrinſick Power and Force as the Inflicter.
I ſhall be large in handling and proving this latter, as a great Truth, concerning which I further premiſe, That, I would not be underſtood to exclude other Miſeries as inflicted by Creatures, uſed as God's Inſtruments accompanying this, but that which I contend for, is, that principally and eminently above all ſuch, it is the Wrath and Indignation of God himſelf, working immediately in and upon Mens Souls and Conſciences, that is intended in theſe and other Scriptures. This is the Subject of the firſt Section of this Diſcourſe.
And let it be noticed now at the entrance, that the ſame Scriptures and Reaſons that ſhall be brought to prove this in this firſt Section, will be found again to ſerve as new Arguments by way of inference to ſet out and infer the latter alſo; that is, the dreadfulneſs of it, as will appear in the ſecond Section.