spirit;) so that a Man hath no
praeeminence above a Beast, for all is vanity." By the literall sense,
here is no Naturall Immortality of the Soule; nor yet any repugnancy
with the Life Eternall, which the Elect shall enjoy by Grace. And (chap.
4. ver.3.) "Better is he that hath not yet been, than both they;" that
is, than they that live, or have lived; which, if the Soule of all them
that have lived, were Immortall, were a hard saying; for then to have
an Immortall Soule, were worse than to have no Soule at all. And
againe,(Chapt. 9.5.) "The living know they shall die, but the dead know
not any thing;" that is, Naturally, and before the resurrection of the
body.

Another place which seems to make for a Naturall Immortality of the
Soule, is that, where our Saviour saith, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
are living: but this is spoken of the promise of God, and of their
certitude to rise again, not of a Life then actuall; and in the same
sense that God said to Adam, that on the day hee should eate of the
forbidden fruit, he should certainly die; from that time forward he was
a dead man by sentence; but not by execution, till almost a thousand
years after. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive by promise, then,
when Christ spake; but are not actually till the Resurrection. And the
History of Dives and Lazarus, make nothing against this, if wee take it
(as it is) for a Parable.

But there be other places of the New Testament, where an Immortality
seemeth to be directly attributed to the wicked. For it is evident, that
they shall all rise to Judgement. And it is said besides in many places,
that they shall goe into "Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments,
Everlasting punishments; and that the worm of conscience never dyeth;"
and all this is comprehended in the word Everlasting Death, which is
ordinarily interpreted Everlasting Life In Torments: And yet I can find
no where that any man shall live in torments Everlastingly. Also, it
seemeth hard, to say, that God who is the Father of Mercies, that doth
in Heaven and Earth all that hee will; that hath the hearts of all men
in his disposing; that worketh in men both to doe, and to will; and
without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to good, nor
repentance of evill, should punish mens transgressions without any end
of time, and with all the extremity of torture, that men can imagine,
and more. We are therefore to consider, what the meaning is, of
Everlasting Fire,