A discourse concerning the Redeemer's dominion over the invisible world, and the entrance thereinto

This being the State of the Case, How suitable had it been to the design of this Second Trial to be made with Men, to withdraw the veil, and let every ones own Eyes be their informers of all the Glories of the Heavenly State! and hereupon proclaim and preach the Gospel to them, that they should all partake herein, that would entirely deny themselves, come off from their own bottom, give themselves up absolutely to the Interest, Love, Service and Communion of their Redeemer, and of God in him? To fortify them against the assaults and dangers of their Earthly Pilgrimage by reversing that Rule, The Just shall live by Faith; even that Faith which is the Substance of the things hoped for, ¹and ⟨p. 70⟩the Evidence of things not seen; or by inverting the method, that in reference to such things, We are to walk by Faith, ²not by Sight, and letting it be. We are to walk by Sight, not by Faith! And that lest any should refuse such Compliance with their Great Lord, Whole Hades, should be no longer so, but made naked before them, and the covering of Hell and Destruction be taken off, and their own Eyes behold the infernal horrors, & their own Ears hear the shrieks and howlings of accursed Creatures, that having rejected their Redeemer, are rejected by him. We are not here to consider, what course would most certainly effect their Salvation, but what most became the Wise Holy God, to preserve the Dignity of his own Government, and save them too, otherwise Almighty ⟨p. 71⟩Power could save all at once. As therefore we have cause to acknowledge the kindness and compassion of our Blessed Lord, who hath these Keys, in giving us for the kind, such notices as he hath, of the state of the things in Hades. So we have equal cause to admire his Wisdom, that he gi•es us not those of another kind, that should more powerfully strike sense and amaze us more, but instruct us less That continues it to be Hades still, a state of things to us unseen as yet. As the case would have been on the other supposition, the most generous noble part of our Religion had been sullied or lost;

This being the State of the Case, How suitable had it been to the design of this Second Trial to be made with Men, to withdraw the vail, and let every ones own Eyes be their informers of all the Glories of the Heavenly State! and hereupon proclaim and preach the Gospel to them, that they should all partake herein, that would entirely deny themselves, come off from their own bottom, give themselves up absolutely to the Interest, Love, Service and Communion of their Redeemer, and of God in him? To fortifie them against the assaults and dangers of their Earthly Pilgrimage by reversing that Rule, The Just shall live by Faith; even that Faith which is the Substance of the things hoped for,