I shall only say, by the way, that if Mr B. may be expounded by his masters,^ he will scarce be found to give so clear an assent to the resurrection of the dead as is here pretended ; that is, to a raising again of the same individual body for the substance and all substan- tial parts. This his masters think not possible, and therefore reject it, though it be never so expressly affirmed in the Scripture. But Mr B. is silent of this discovery made by his masters, and so shall I be also.
That wherewith I am to deal he enters upon in this question : —
Ques. Shall not the ivicked and unbelievers live for ever, though in torments, as well as the godly and faithful? or is eternal life peculiar to the faithful?
A71S. John iii. 36.
The assertion herein couched is, that the wicked shall not live for ever in torments;^ and the proof of it is, because eternal life is pro- mised only to the faithful; yea, " he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 36. As to the assertion itself, we shall attend farther unto it instantly.
When Socinus first broached this abomination, he did it with the greatest cunning and sleight that possibly he could use, labouring to insinuate it insensibly into the minds of men, knowing full well how full of scandal the very naming of it w^ould prove; but the man's success was in most things beyond his own imagination.^
* " Deinde ncgant resurrectionem carnis ; hoc est, hujus ipsius corporis, quod came ac sanguine prEcditum est, etsi fateantur corpora esse resurrectura, h. e. ipsos homines fideles ; qui tunc novis corporibus coelestibus induendi sunt." — Compend. Doct. Eccles. in Polon.
- " Itaque negant cruciatus impiorum et diabolorutn duraturos esse in seternura, vcrum onincs siniul penitus esse abolendos ; adeo ut inors et in/emus ipse dicantur con- jiciendi in stagnum illud ardens, Apoc. xx. 14. Piationem addunt, quod absurdum sit, Deuui irasci in asternum ; et peccata creaturarum tinita, pcenis infinitis mulctai-e : proe- sertim cum hinc nulla ipsius gloria illustretur." — Compend. Doct. Eccles. in Polon.
3 " Kam quod ais, ea ibi, turn de Christianorum resurrectione, tum de morte impi- orum passim contineri, qufc a multis sine magna ofiFensioue, tum nostris tum aliis, legi
OF THE EESURRECTION. 583
For the proof insinuated; "life" and "eternal life," in the gospel, as they are mentioned as the end and reward of our obedience, are not taken merely physically, nor do express only the abode, duration, and continuance of our being, but our continuance in a state and condition of blessedness and glory. This is so evident, that there is no one place where life to come and eternal life are spoken of simply, in the whole New Testament, but as they are a reward and a blessed condition to be obtained by Jesus Christ. In this sense we confess the wicked and impenitent " shall never see life," or obtain eternal life, — that is, they shall never come to a fruition of God to eternity ; but that therefore they shall not have a life or being, though in tor- ments, is a wild inference. I desire to know of Mr B. whether the evil angels shall be consumed or no, and have an utter end ? If he say they shall, he gives lis one new notion more; if not, I ask him whether they shall have eternal life or no? If he say they shall not enjoy eternal life in the sense mentioned in the Scripture, I shall desire him to consider that men also may have their being preserved and yet not be partakers of eternal life in that sense wherein it is promised.
The proof insisted on by Mr B. says that the wrath of God abides upon unbelievers, even then when they do not see life. Now, if they abide not, how can the wrath of God abide on them? doth God execute his wrath upon that which is not? If they abide under wrath, they do abide. "Under wrath" doth not diminish from their abiding, but describes its condition.
Death and life in Scripture, ever since the giving of the first law, and the mention made of them therein, as they express the condi- tion of man in way of reward or punishment, are not opposed natu- rally, but morally, not in respect of their being (if I may so say) and relation, as one is the privation of the other in tlie way of nature, but in respect of the state and condition which is expressed by the one and the other, — namely, of blessedness or misery. So that as there is an eternal life, which is as it were a second life, a life of glory following a life of grace, so there is an eternal death, which is the second death, a death of misery following a death of sin.
The death that is threatened, and which is opposed to life, and eternal life, doth not anywhere denote annihilation, but only a de- privation and coming short of that blessedness which is promised
non possint ; scio equidem ea ibi contineri, sed meo judicio nee passim, nee ita aperte (cavi enim istud quantum potui) ut quisquam vir pius facile offendi possit, adeo ut quod nominatim attinet ad impiorum mortem, in quo dogmate majus est multo offen- sionis periculum, ea potius ex lis colligi possit, quaj ibi disputantur, quam expresse Uteris consignata extct ; adeo ut lector, qui alioqui sententiam meam adversus Puccium de mortalitatc primi hominis, qu£B toto libro agitatur, qusrque ob non paucos quos habet fautores parum aut nihil oflFensionis parcrc potest, probandam censeat, prius sentiat doctrinam istam sibi jam persuasam esse, quam suadcri auimadvertat." — Faust. Socin. Ep. ad Johan. Yolkel. (3, p. 4'Jl.