^ Peccant in aeterno suo, ergo puniuntm- in Eoterno Dei. The siiiner alwaj-s sinned in liis eternity, tliei-efore he shall always be punished in God's eternity. — Aurjusline.
214 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
put out, or burnt out ; tlieir candle being out, they are forced to give over their <Tanio,nn(l go to bed in the dark ; but had the candle lasted all night they would have played all night. This is every sinner's case in re"-ai-(l of sin : did not death put out the candle of life the sinner would sin still. IShoukl the sinner live for ever, he would sin for ever ; and therefore it is a righteous thing with God to punish him for ever in hellish torments. Every impenitent sinner would sin to the days of eternity, if he might but live to the days of eternity : Ps. Ixxiv. 10, ' 0 God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?' For ever and evermore ; or for ever and yet — for so the Hebrew loves to exaggerate : as if the sinner, the blasphemer, would set a term of duration longer than eternity to sin in. The psalmist implicitly saith. Lord, if thou dost but let them alone for ever, they will certainly blaspheme thy name for ever and ever. I have read of the crocodile, that he knows no maximum quod sic, he is always growing bigger and bigger, and never comes to a certain pitch of monstrosity so long as he lives. Quamdiu vivit crescit. Every habituated sinner would, if he were let alone, be such a monster, perpetually growing worser and worser. But,
[3.] Thirdly, I answer. Thai God against lolwm they have sinned is an infinite and eternal good. Now a finite creature cannot bear an infinite punishment intensively, and therefore he must bear it exten- sively. They have sinned impenitently against an infinite majesty, and accordingly their punishment must be infinite. i Now because it can- not be infinite, in regard of the degree, men being but finite creatures, and so not capable of infinite torments at one time ; therefore their punishment must be infinite in the length and continuance of it. What is wanting in torment must be made up in time. Every sin is of an infinite nature, because of the infinite dignity of the person against whom it is committed ; and therefore it deserveth an infinite punish- ment ; which because it cannot be infinite secundum ijitensionem, in the inattention^ and greatness of it, it remaineth that it should be infinite secundum dumtionem, in respect of the duration and continu- ance of the same.^ Mark, all punishments ouglit to be levied according to the dignity of him against whom the offence is committed. Words against common persons bear but common actions ; words against noblemen are scandala magnatum, great scandals ; but words against princes are treason. So the dignity of the person against whom sin is committed, does exceedingly aggravate the sin. To strike an inferior man is matter of arrest, but to strike a king is matter of death. Now what an infinite distance and disproportion is there between the Lord of hosts and such poor crawling worms as we are ! he being holiness, and we sinfulness; he fulness, and we emptiness; he omuipotency, and we impotency ; he majesty, and we vanity; he instar omnium, all in all, and we nothing at all. Now to sin against such an infinite glorious majesty, deserves infinite punishment. But,
[4.] Fourthly, I answer, 'Though the act of sin be transient, yet it leaveth such a stain upon the soul as is lyermanent, and continueth in
' Sin 13 contra Denm infinitinn, ajrainst an infinite majesty.
' Query, 'intension'?— Ed. '* Vide August., lib. xxi. cap. 14, De Civitatc Dei.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 215
it evermore, and evermore it disposeth the sinner unto sin, if it be not 2Kirdoned and pu7'ged oid by mercy and grace, and therefore it is but just that this perpetual puipose of sinning shoidd be punished with perpetuity ofpain.^ The guilt and stain of sin, of its own nature and unpardoned, endures eternally upon the soul ; and therefore what can follow but eternal torments? The lasting continuance of sin is remark-, ably described by the prophet Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 1, ' The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond : it is graven upon the table of their hearts :' not only written, but engraven, that no hand can deface it. Slight not the commission of any sin ; it perishes not witli the acting. The least vanity hath a perpetuity, nay, an eternity of guilt upon it. Sin leaving a blot in the soul brings the matter of hell-fire, is eternally punished, because there is still matter for that everlasting fire to work upon. But,
[5.] Fifthly, I answer, Though death put an end to mens lives, yet not to sins. Hell is as full of sin as it is of punishment or torment. Though the schoolmen determine that after this life men are capable neither of merit nor demerit, and therefore by their sins do not incur a greater measure of punishment, yet they grant that they sin still. Though when the creature is actually under the sentence of condemnation, the law ceases to any further punishment, yet there is an obligation to the precepts of the law still. Though a man be bound only to the curse of the law, as he is a sinner, yet he is bound to the precept of the law, as he is a creature : so that though the demerit of sin ceaseth after death, yet the nature of sin remaineth : though by sinning they do not incur a higher and a greater degree of punishment, yet as they con- tinue sinning, so it is just with God there should be a continuation of the punishment already inflicted. But,