2. The Scripture fays, that the fallen Angels are fast bound in Chains unto the Judgment of the Great Day. We may enquire, We may enquire, whether thefe Chains are vifible or invifible? Doth the Scripture any where fay they are invifible? It doth not determine. We conclude therefore that they are visible as Chains are fuppofed to be. Confequently our Earthly Bodies are Chains, and by them we are faft bound.

3. As to the Notion of fome who fay, that the prefent Place of the Abode of these Angels

H 2

is

Ver. 46. "Thefe fhall go away "into Everlasting Punish"ment, but the Righte<ous into Life Eternal."

Mark xix. 45. "The Fire that never "fhall be quenched, where "the Worm dieth not, and the Fire fhall not «be quenched."

Paraphrafe.

This is my unalterable Decree, That as ye Apoftates Angels have born an earthly Body, and instead of making the Use of it I intended, ftill perfift in your Wickedness; now there remains no Hopes of future Attainments in Bodies, they being all deftroyed, or reduced to their Mother Earth, according to ancient Decree; ye fhall be fhut out of Heaven for an Age, for this your continued Apoftacy, and fhall fuffer eternal immaterial Punishment, in the inferior Region : But ye happy Beings, who have liftened to the Overtures of Salvation, and owned my Godhead and Supremacy over ye, enter into the eternal Joys of the heavenly Manfions.

This immaterial Fire, this Senfibility of the unhappy State you then will fuftain, cannot, by all the Arts of Palliation, be extinguished, it is as imopffible to be done, as it is for ye to deftro Y your very Effence.

Rev

is in the Air, of others, the Water and under the Earth. Their Notion doth not destroy my Hypothefis, but thus far ftrengthens it, fince they affert they are within this World, they fo fo far agree with me.

4. This Hypothefis fhews, that we are Enemies to God, agreeable to thefe Words: He bath afcended up on high, he hath led Captivity captive, and given Gifts to Men, yea, even to his Enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Is it not hence plain, that we are Enemies to God, and

Rev. xiv. 10, Ir.

The fame fhall drink <of the Wine of the " Wrath of God, which is

poured out without Mix<ture, into the Cup of

his Indignation; and he fhall be tormented with "Fire and Brimftone, in "the Prefence of the ho*ly Angels, and in the << Prefence of the Lamb. "And the Smoke of "their Torment afcendeth

up for ever and ever. "And they have no Reft, "Day nor Night, who "who worship the Beaft

and his Image; and "whofoever receiveth the "Mark of his Name."

Dr. Lupton fays, p. 19, 20. that our Sins render us liable to Eternal Punishments: He means to Punishments that shall laft without any Ceffation or End. I wifh the Doctor had fet down thofe Sins, which in their Nature are liable to this Penalty. But why are our Sins or Irregularities liable hereto? Because, fays our Author, "the Majefty of God against whom "they are committed, is infinite: So that the Infinity of the Majefty of God is here made a Reafon for an Infinity of Pu

ishment

and as for my Part, I cannot fee in what Senfe any one could be ftiled an Enemy to God, if he was not in the Rebellion before the Creation of the World, for if he had not had Being as a Spirit, before the Time of his Birth, which is not many Years fince, I cannot fee why he fhould be termed an Enemy to God. Which in this Place fignifies a Fighter againft, and not a Perfon who difobeys Him."

5. It farther accounts for the Reason of the Joy of the Angels in Heaven at the Return or Converfion

nishment of Sins. It is certain, that Sinners when they commit their Enormities do not intend fuch their Acts as an Oppofition to the Majefty or Greatness of God; nay, they do not hereby rob Him of his Majefty, nor can they eclipfe his Glory. It is out of their Power. Let us fuppofe, that a Man should kill himself. This is a great Crime, and of which there can be no Repentance. What Offence is done thereby against the Majefty and Dignity of God? Is his Honour blafphemed? Is his Glory obfcured? Is there any Hurt that can accrue to God by fuch an Act? Who is the Damage done to? Not to God, but to the Man, who herein has only acted contrary to the Law of Nature, which has taught every Man, Thou shalt not kill. It has often happened that Men of tolerable good Lives have killed themselves through certain Diftempers which feize the Brain, obftruct the Powers of the Soul, and render the Man mad. Shall it be faid, that the Punishment of this Crime fhall be infinite in Duration, p. 27. It would not only be unreasonable, but also unjuft, because the Injury done is to the Man's felf alone, not either to his Neighbour or his Creator. Again, Let it be fuppofed, that a Man has lived a fottifh drinking Life, and it cannot be faid of him, that he hath injured any Man, or committed any other Evil befides, fhall fuch an one be punished infinitely: To fuppofe it, is abfurd and ridiculous. But this Author fays, that "all Men dying impe"nitent Sinners will be unchangeably and eternally fubject to "the Dominion of Sin; and by neceffary Confequence, eter"nally the Enemies of God and Goodness ;----that God Al"mighty must be wanting to his Juftice, if their Fanifhment "fhould ever have an End." The Doctor when he wrote this had juft read the Story of Mofes and Pharaoh; where Males Lays, that God hardened the Heart of the King. And from

that

Converfion of a Sinner, fpoken of by our Saviour, because as we are the fallen Angels, and fo the Brethren and ancient Companions of those happy Beings, who kept their Principality, it is natural for them to rejoyce when one of their Number is returning.

6. This Hypothefis accounts rationally for the Origin of Sin; it fhows us from whence it fprang, and it accounts for the Pride of the apoftate Angels, and fhews us in what Manner their Sin was punished. It obviates at once the

Objection,

that Story, with the Help of fome falfe Glo Tes on fome other Expreffions in Scripture, he improves the Doctrine, and fays, that God will harden the Hearts of Sinners against him after Death, and fo predeftinate. them to be eternally his Enemies, and to be unchangeably and eternally fubject to the Dominion of Sin. But this is wide of Truth. Now the Hypothesis I have advanced lays before the Reader Doctrines of quite another Nature: As, 1. That our Souls are thofe very Beings who rebelled against God the Word in Heaven under Lucifer, and that we were caft down into this World, when it was Chaos, and that we were in that State a long Time. 2. That we were in this State capable of reflecting on our Crime and then most unhappy Condition, and wished for Redemption and Reftoration to Heaven; that God liftned to the Defire of us, cording to that of the Pfalmift, "O let the forrowful Sighing

ac

of the Prifoners come before Thee:" formed the World out of Chaos, created Man, and thereby eftablished a Way for our Reconciliation. 3. That we the fallen Angels have had the Privilege to actuate Bodies over fince the Formation of the World. 4. That when this Period of our Incorporality is past, those who remain impenitent, will be confined to this Globe for an Age, when it fhall be again a Chaos. 5. That after the Expiration of an Age, fome other Overture of Salvation and Reconciliation will be offered to them, and they not confined here to endless Ages in God's Comprehenfion. ThisWay of Action is very agreeable to and confiftent with the Goodness, Mercy and Juftice of God. The Angels finned, it is just they fhould be punished for a Time, on the one hand; and it is equally juft and merciful that they should be afforded a Means of returning to the State they loft, on the other. But if an Eternity of Punishment should then have been inflicted by God

Objection, that God punifheth all for the Transgreffion of one, by demonftrating that all finned, and therefore all are subject to Punishment. We all fuffer because we all broke the Commandment of God. We are all curfed because every one of us hath eaten of the forbidden Fruit. Death is entailed on all of us, becaufe we all were guilty of the fame Crime. Indeed, we fhould think it very unreafonable, if a Judge fhould fentence, the Son for the Theft of the Father, or punish the Daughter for the Adultery of

on these apoftate Angels, where would be that boasted Mercy and Juftice of His? Juftice and Mercy could have been no Attributes of the Divine Being. Nay, if the apoftate Angels are now doomed to eternal infinite Punishments, and have been denied the Means of Salvation from the Time of their Expulfion to this Day, and will remain in that State to infinite Ages in God's Comprehenfion, and God has created Man on Purpose to fill their Stations in Heaven. If this Doctrine, I fay, can be proved valid, then one might think that God is not the Being our Reasons and the Scripture represent him. But as these Ideas of Him, have been the Invention of Preachers, and fupported by their Craft, and are not of God, nor of the Sacred Writings, how great is their Unhappiness, who for thus blafpheming their Creator, will undoubtedly receive the Sentence, Depart from me, ye Curfed, into Everlafting Fire, prepared for the Devil and Angels."

This Preacher farther to fhew, the Juftice of infinite Punifhment, fays, p. 28. that "no Man dies in a State of Im"penitence, till he hath fo far provoked Almighty God by <his Sins, that the Means of Grace are juftly and finally with<< drawn from him." Our Author here plainly fuppofes, that God predeftinates Men to eternal Punishments, that is, when he is weary of their Wickedness. But he forgets that all the Sins and Blafphemies both of Priefts and others cannot, in a literal Senfe be faid to provoke the Divine Being. I the Lord change not', is a great Truth, and cannot be invalidated. Be fides, feveral there are, of whom it may be faid, that they die, tho' Sinners, yet not impenitent, that is, in cafe of fudden Death, which death flows from natural Caufes, and is not inficted by God, fuch are Apoplexies, &c. flain in the Field of Battle, or drowned in the Sea, or by any other Accident. And

confidering