Answ. 1. I have fully answered this already, chap. 15.1 part 1. and therefore I must entreat the Objector to peruse his Answer there: Only I shall now say, that it is not incredible that God is the Governor of the world; nor that he hath given man a Law; nor that his Law hath penalties to the disobedient; nor that he is just; and will judge the world according to that Law, and make good his threatenings: nor is it incredible that those who chose sin, when they were fore-told of the punishment, and refused Godliness, when they were fore-told of the blessed reward and fruits, and this with obstinacy to the last, should have no better than they chose. It is not incredible that unholy enemies of God and Holiness, should not live hereafter in the blessed sight and love, and holy delightful fruition of God, no more than that a Swine is not made a King: nor that an immortal Soul, who is excluded immortal happiness by his wilful refusal, should know his folly, and know what he hath lost by it: nor that such knowledge should be his continual torment: nor is it incredible that God will not continue to him the pleasures of whoredom, and gluttony, and drunkenness, and ⟨p. 386⟩sports, and worldly wealth, or tyrannical domination, to quiet him in his loss of heaven: nor that he will deprive him of the temporal mercies which now content him, or may afford him any delight hereafter: nor is it incredible, if his body rise again, that it shall be partaker with his soul: nor that God, who might deprive him of his being, if he had been innocent, may make him worse, or bring him into a condition to which he would prefer annihilation, when he is an obstinate impenitent sinner. It is not incredible, that a good King or Judge may hang a Felon or Traitor, for a crime against man and humane society. Nor is it any goodness in them to be unjust, or to cherish murderers by impunity: none of all this is at all incredible. But it is indeed incredible, till conscience have humbled him, that the Thief or Murderer should like this penalty, or think well of the Judge: or that a sinner, who judgeth of good and evil in others as Dogs do, by the interest of his throat or flesh, and thinks them good only that love him, and bad that hurt him and are against him, should ever believe that it is the amiable goodness of God, which causeth him in justice to condemn the wicked.
Answ. 1. I have fully answered this already, chap. 15.1 part 1. and therefore I must intreat the Objector to peruse his Answer there: Only I shall now say, that it is not incredible that God is the Governour of the world; nor that he hath given man a Law; nor that his Law hath penalties to the disobedient; nor that he is just; and will judge the world according to that Law, and make good his threatnings: nor is it incredible that those who chose sin, when they were fore-told of the punishment, and refused Godliness, when they were fore-told of the blessed reward and fruits, and this with obstinacy to the last, should have no better than they chose. It is not incredible that unholy enemies of God and Holiness, should not live hereafter in the blessed sight and love, and holy delightful fruition of God, no more than that a Swine is not made a King: nor that an immortal Soul, who is excluded immortal happiness by his wilful refusal, should know his folly, and know what he hath lost by it: nor that such knowledge should be his continual torment: nor is it incredible that God will not continue to him the pleasures of whoredom, and gluttony, and drunkenness, and ⟨p. 386⟩sports, and worldly wealth, or tyrannical domination, to quiet him in his loss of heaven: nor that he will deprive him of the temporal mercies which now content him, or may afford him any delight hereafter: nor is it incredible, if his body rise again, that it shall be partaker with his soul: nor that God, who might deprive him of his being, if he had been innocent, may make him worse, or bring him into a condition to which he would prefer annihilation, when he is an obstinate impenitent sinner. It is not incredible, that a good King or Judge may hang a Felon or Traitor, for a crime against man and humane society. Nor is it any goodness in them to be unjust, or to cherish murderers by impunity: none of all this is at all incredible. But it is indeed incredible, till conscience have humbled him, that the Thief or Murderer should like this penalty, or think well of the Judge: or that a sinner, who judgeth of good and evil in others as Dogs do, by the interest of his throat or flesh, and thinks them good only that love him, and bad that hurt him and are against him, should ever believe that it is the amiable goodness of God, which causeth him in justice to condemn the wicked.
- 1Sosipatra ubi— incidisset in disputationem de anima in genere; quae ejus pars supplicio puniatur, quaeque interitus sit expers, dumb furore quodam divino incitata rapitur, &c. Eunap. in Aedes. p. 594. Et, ut quod gnotum est pateat, haec est hominis vera mors, cum animae nescientes Deum, perlongissimi temporis cruciatu consumuntur ignifero, in quem illas jacium quidam crudeliter saevi, & ante Christum incogniti, & ab solo sciente detecti. This was the conceit of Arnob. adv. Gent. l. 2. p. 14.Sosipatra ubi— incidisset in disputationem de anima in genere; quae ejus pars supplicio puniatur, quaeque interitus sit expers, dum furore quodam divino incitata rapitur, &c. Eunap. in Aedes. p. 594. Et, ut quod gnotum est pateat, haec est hominis vera mors, cum animae nescientes Deum, perlongissimi temporis cruciatu consumuntur ignifero, in quem illas jacium quidam crudeliter saevi, & ante Christum incogniti, & ab solo sciente detecti. This was the conceit of Arnob. adv. Gent. l. 2. p. 14.
