N03999:214
Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety
Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety: or, The misery of graceless sinners, and their recovery by Christ their Saviour. By T. Doolittel [sic]. ; [Three lines from Isaiah]
Boston: printed by Rogers & Fowle for J. Edwards, 1742
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.
7. A worse and more dreadful Prison is prepared for the Devil's Captives, than any slaves on earth can be cast into. Hell is the Prison appointed and prepared for all Captives that are not made free by Christ, 1 Pet. 3.19. Several things makes this Prison worse than any other.
1. The Prison prepared for these Captives is a close Prison. Now you are like to Prisoners that sometimes might walk abroad with their Keeper with them. Now thou art a Prisoner at large, that walkest up and down, thou in thy chains of sin and guilt, and the Devil thy Keeper doth attend and watch thee whithersoever thou goest; if thou comest to a Sermon, thy Keeper cometh with thee, to prevent thy breaking loose, and when thou goest from the Sermon, to tempt thee to return to thy course of sin again. But hereafter thou shalt be a close Prisoner, not suffered to step out for ever; and so close shalt thou be kept that none ⟨p. 166⟩shall come at thee, to visit or to comfort thee. It is an alleviation of a Prisoner's grief, though he hath not liberty to go out and see his friends, yet his friends might come and see and visit him; but neither shall be allowed unto you, when once you are close prisoners in hell. Thy friends on earth will not be desirous of thy company, or thy visits after death, if thou hadst the liberty to come forth; such visits of damned Souls would be a burden, and disquietment, and a terror to the living; that would then rather wish that thou wast confined to thy prison, than to be permitted to come forth to disturb them by thy visits: Neither shall any be suffered to come and comfort thee, if they would; and indeed, none would be desirous, nor venture so far as to come to hell to comfort thee, if they might. Though the rich man desired that Lazarus might come and comfort him with one drop of water, it would not be granted to him, for he was a close Prisoner, Luk. 16.24, 25. Besides, there is a great gulf fixed between them and the Saints above, that there is no passing from the one place to the other, ver. 26.