N01064:79
A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the…
A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, June 16. and in Connecticut-Colony [sic], June 22. 1705. : Also, two sermons, showing, that sin is the greatest evil; and, that to redeem time is the greatest wisdom. / By Increase Mather.A discourse concerning earthquakes. Occasioned by the earthquakes which were in New-England, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, June 16. and in Conecticot-Colony [sic], June 22. 1705. : Also, two sermons, shewing, that sin is the greatest evil; and, that to redeem time is the greatest wisdom. / By Increase Mather.
Boston: printed by Timothy Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1706
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. Sin causeth the Soul to be cast into Hell. There are but those two places for the souls of men to be disposed in to all Eternity. Either they must be in Heaven, or in Hell world without ends. Now that's the destruction of the immortal Soul: When it is cast into Hell it is destroyed; Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell. The soul that is Damned is Killed. This does Sin bring an undone soul unto at last. It brings it down to the Chambers of Death. The Dead are there, and her Guests are in the depth of Hell. This is called the Second Death. The first Death is of the Body, the second Death is of the Body and Soul too. The thought of that Death may strike Terror into the Heart of the •toutest Sinner living. There was a very Courageous man, who said to a Minister that put him in mind of the ⟨p. 57⟩Second Death, I (said he) have been among drawn Swords, and in the midst of thundering Canon, and I never knew what Fear meant, but now you tell me of a Second Death, it makes my Heart to quiver within me. The Horrors and Terrors of that Death, no Heart is able to con••ive, nor any Tongue to express. The pangs of it are Eternal, as well as Intolerable. The things which are seen are Temporal, the things which are not seen are Eternal. As the Life, so the Death which is not seen is Eternal. It is therefore called the Wrath to come, I Thes. 1. 10 It shall last as long as an immortal soul shall live. After it has continued for Millions of Ages, there is as much to Come as ever there was. This Second and Eternal Death consists chiefly, in the immediate impressions of the Wrath of God on the soul. If but a spark or one yielding drop of that wrath fall on the soul, it cannot be endured: As we see in such men as Francis Spira; and in those who in horror of Conscience do madly destroy themselves. But what will it be when that Sea of Fire shall be let in upon the soul, or when the soul shall be cast into it, to float forever amidst those ⟨p. 58⟩waves of Death? The Infinite Wrath of God is the Lake of Fire, in which the Devil and his Angels, and the miserable souls which go out of the world Christless, must burn and roar in throughout Eternal Ages. This is the Second Demonstration of the Doctrine before us, That Sin is the Greatest Evil.