The Fading of the Flesh and Flourishing of Faith, Chapter 15
CHAP XV. The difference betwixt the Sinners and Saints portion in the other world.
BUt there is a farther difference betwixt the portion of a ſinner and Saint (and ſtill the farther we goe, the worſe it is for the one, and the better for the other) and that is in the other world.
The ſinners portion here, as poor as it is, is a comparative heaven, but there a reall hell: Their portion is curſed on earth, but what is it then in hell? Job 24.18. Ʋpon the wicked he ſhall rain ſnares; fire and brimſtone, and an horrible tempeſt; this is the portion of their cup, Pſal. 11.6. The words are an alluſion to the Jewiſh cuſtome at meals, wherein every one had his allotted portion of drink, his peculiar cup.Gen 43.34. Sutable to which the godly man can tell you what Nectar and Nepenthe he ſhall meet with, when he ſits down at that Banquet from which he ſhall never riſe up. The Lord is the portion of my cup, thou maintaineſt my lot, Pſal. 16.5.
But look a little into the ſinners cup, and ſee what a bitter potion is prepared for him; I think we ſhall ſcarce find a drop in it, but is infinitely worſe then poyſon: (Reader, take heed thou never come to taſte it:) It is indeed a mixture of ſuch ingredients as may make the ſtouteſt heart alive to tremble, and faint away if it come but within the ſcent or ſight of it. Snares, fire and brimſtone, and an horrible tempeſt. The Lord poured on the Egyptians ſuch a grievous rain, as had not been in Egypt ſince the foundation thereof, Exod, 9.18. but this potion of the ſinner is far more bitter then that plague.Plin Nat. Hiſt. lib 2. cap. 56 Pliny tells us, that amongſt the Romans, when M. Acilius and C. Porcius were Conſuls, it rained blood; but what is that to fire and brimſtone? Obſerve 1. the extremity of pain, which will be cauſed by this portion: Ʋpon the wicked he ſhall rain fire and brimſtone: Fire is dreadful to our fleſh, though it be but applied outwardly. (What miſwerable torment did Charles the ſecond King of Navarre endure,Heyl. Geogr. p. 42. when he was burnt to death in a flaming ſheet ſteeped in Aqua vitae?) but much greater torment will it cauſe when taken inward. Fire in the belly, in the bowels, will pain the creature to purpoſe. The inward parts are more tender, and ſo more liable to torture: But this drink, like poyſon, will diffuſe it ſelf alſo into all the parts, that none ſhall be free from pain. It was an unknown puniſhment which the drunken Turk underwent, when by the command of the Baſhaw he had a cup of boyling lead poured down his throat: who can think what he felt? but ſure I am, as bad as it was, it was but a flea-bite to this cup of fire which the Lord hath prepared for the ſinner fire and brimſtone: Fire is terrible of it ſelf, but brimſtone makes it to burn with much greater violence: beſides, brimſtone added to the cup of fire will make it of a moſt ſtinking ſavour. The ſinner now burneth in luſt, but then in a flaming fire: now he drinketh his pleaſant julips, but then his loathſome potion. Fire is the moſt furious of all Elements; nothing in this life is more dreadful to nature; but our fires are but like painted ones to true, in compariſon of this rain of fire in hell. Nebuchadnezzars furnace,Damnati exqui… t…ſſi…os dolores ſen… …, qu… bu… m…j…r…s nec dari nec cogita…i poſ…unt. Gerh. loc. com. though heated ſeven times more then ordinary, was cool to this fire. O who can fry in ſuch a flame as the breath of an infinite God doth kindle! Fire and brimſtone. Three drops of brimſtone (ſaith one) lighting on any part of our bodies, will make us cry and roar out for pain: what then will befall the ſinner, when he ſhall both ever drink and ever live in this lake of fire and brimſtone, when he ſhall drink this cup of pure wrath, of poyſonous dregs, of fire and brimſtone, though there be eternity to the bottom! Who can dwell in everlaſting burnings? Iſai. 33.14.
Obſerve ſecondly the certainty of the puniſhment.Videtu ſignificare veni…s ur…ntes q ales illi in Africa, q…i arenas ard…ntes calore ſolis excitant & ho…ines involutos ita adurunt, quaſi …d ignem corpora eſſent toſta, …ii vertun ſpiritum procellarum ce… turbinum, quiae procellosis v…ntis excitantur tempeſtates, quas poſtea ſequitur fulminatio, cujus hic eſt deſcriptio. Moller. in loc. vide Calv. in loc. Upon the wicked he ſhall rain an horrible tempeſt. Some read it a whirlwind, a horrible blaſting whirlwind, which carrieth all before it; but its properly, ſaith Ainſworth, a hideous burning tempeſt, named by the Greeks foreign, Acts 27.14. It is an alluſion to the boyſterous wind Turbo, which caſteth down and overthroweth all that is near it; which as it is hot and fiery is named Preſter, and burneth and layeth along whatſoever it toucheth and encountereth. The ſinner thinketh that he is ſure, but this horrible tempeſt will overturn him: His ſqueazie ſtomack (uſed to rich wines) nauſeates this loathſome naſty water. When God puts this cup into his hand, O how his heart will riſe againſt it! but he ſhall be forced to drink off this cup of fire and boyling brimſtone whether he will or no.
Obſerve thirdly the ſuddenneſs of this plague and potion: Upon the wicked he ſhall rain ſnares: when they are aſleep and little dream of it, then this horrible tempeſt ſtealeth them away in the night: What a doleful ſcreech and dreadful cry will this cauſe (as amongſt the Egyptians at midnight, Exod. 12.29.) Job 27.20. Snares take men at unawares: The ſinners woe ſhall come without warning. As the fiſhes that are taken in an evil net, and as birds that are caught in the ſnare, ſo are the ſons of men ſnared in an evil time, when it cometh ſuddenly upon them, Eccleſ. 9.12. The fiſh looks for a good bait when it is caught by the hook; the bird expects meat in the ſnare in which it is taken and murdered. When Abner expected a kiſſe, a kind ſalute, behold then he meets with a ſword which kills him. When Belſhazar was carouſing in his cups, and his head full of wine, then the cup of trembling is given him by the hand-writing on the wall. When the ſinner, like the Dolphin, is leaping merrily, then he is neareſt his endleſs miſery: Ʋpon the wicked he ſhall rain ſnares. When it rains he expects ſilver ſhowres to refreſh him, but loe gins and ſnares to intrap him. The wicked mans cloud drops not fatneſs, but fury and fire.
Now let us caſt up the account, and ſee what the worldlings portion amounts to, and how much he will be worth in the other world: The liquor in his cup is moſt painful and loathſome, fire and brimſtone. (All his eſtate lyeth in the valley of the ſhadow of death:) Scalding lead were a wonderful favour, if he might drink that inſtead of boyling brimſtone. No heart can conceive what a terrible potion that is, which a God boundleſs in wiſdome, power and anger, doth prepare: yet though it be dreadful, if it were doubtful, the ſinners grief would not be ſo great; but as the liquor is moſt loathſome, ſo the cup is moſt certain; God will poure this dreadful drench down his throat. He cannot abide it, neither can he avoid it. Infinite power will hold his perſon, whilſt infinite anger gives him this potion. And it is not the leaſt aggravation of his ſorrows that they ſhall come on a ſudden. This rain of fire and brimſtone, which will cauſe ſuch matchleſs mourning, will come (as on Sodome) when it is leaſt expected, after a ſunſhiny morning.
But there is one thing more in the cup, which, beyond all the former, makes it infinitely bitter, and that is this, It is bottomleſs, Luke 8.31. The ſinners fire is eternal, Trim… mors animam dolentem pellit de corpore, ſecunda mo… animam …olen…m ten… in corp …e Aug de civit. de… lib. 21. cap. 31.and the ſmoak of his brimſtone aſcendeth for ever and ever, Jude 7. Revel. 14.7. If a purging potion, which is ſoon down, and in ſome few houres out of his body, go ſo much againſt the hair with him, what wry mouths and angry faces will he make, when he ſhall come to drink this bottomleſs cup of fire and brimſtone? His cup is like the Ocean, which can never be fathomed; this rain may well be called wrath to come; for it will be ever to come, and never overcome. His darkeſt night here may have a morning; but there his portion will be blackneſs of darkneſs for ever. There will be no end of his miſery, no exit to his tragedy: He will be fetterred in thoſe chains of everlaſting darkneſs, and feel the terrors of an eternal death.
But the portion of a Saint is (like the wine which Chriſt provided for the wedding) beſt at laſt; he ſhall never know its full worth till he appears in the other world, and then he ſhall find, that as money anſwereth all things, ſo his portion will protect him from all miſery, and fill him with all felicities, and anſwer all the deſires and neceſſities of his capacious and immortal ſoul.
The cup which he ſhall drink of, is filled out of the rivers of Gods own pleaſures; and how ſweet that wine is, none can tell but they who have taſted it. The thought of it hath recovered thoſe who have been dying, and recalled them to life; what then will a draught of it do? All the men in the world cannot deſcribe the rich viands and various dainties which God hath for his own provided diet: Nay the moſt skilful Cherubim can never count nor caſt up the total of a Saints perſonal eſtate. Till Angels can acquaint us with the vaſt millions that the boundleſs God is worth, they cannot tell us the utmoſt of a Saints portion.
It is ſaid of Shuſa in Perſia, that it was ſo rich, that (ſaith Caſſiodorus) the ſtones were joyned together with gold, and in it Alexander found ſeventy thouſand talents of gold: This City if you can take (ſaith Ariſtagorus to his ſouldiers) you may vie with Jove himſelf for riches. But what a beggarly place is this to the new Jeruſalem? where pure gold is the pavement, trampled under the Citizens feet, and the walls all of precious pearles; who entereth that City may vie with thouſands of ſuch Monarchs as this world can make, and with all thoſe heatheniſh Gods for Riches. The Infinite God, quantus quantus eſt, as boundleſſe a good as he is (to whom Heaven and earth is leſſe then nothing) is their portion for ever: But of this more in ſome of the following Chapters.