That his Condition is to be a State of Punishment, and that by Torment, the Devil himself has own’d, and his calling out to our blessed Lord when he cast him out of the furious Man among the Tombs, is a Proof of it, What have we to do with thee, and art thou come to torment us before the Time? Luke viii. 28. where the Devil acknowledges four Things, and three of them are directly to my present Purpose, and if you won’t believe the Word of God, I hope you will believe the Devil, especially when ’tis an open Confession against himself.
1. He confess Christ to be the Son of God (that by the Way) and no Thanks to him, for that does not want the Devil’s Evidence.
2. He acknowledges he may be tormented.
3. He acknowledges Christ was able to torment him.
4. He acknowledges that there is a Time appointed when he shall be tormented.
As to how, in what Manner, and by what Means, this tormenting the Devil is to be performed or executed, that I take to be as needless to us as ’tis impossible to know, and being not at present inclined to fill your Heads and Thoughts with weak and imperfect Guesses, I leave it where I find it.
It is enough to us that this Torment of the Devil is represented to us by Fire, it being impossible for our confin’d Thoughts to conceive of Torment by any Thing in the World more exquisite; whence I conclude, that Devils shall at last receive a Punishment suitable to their Spirituous Nature, and as exquisitely Tormenting as a burning Fire would be to our Bodies.
Having thus settl’d my own Belief of this Matter, and stated it so, as I think will let you see ’tis rightly sounded, the Matter stands thus.
Satan having been let loose to play his Game in this World, has improv’d his Time to the utmost; he has not fail’d on all Occasions to exert his Hatred, Rage, and Malice at his Conqueror and Enemy, namely, his Maker; he has nor fail’d, from Principles of meer Envy and Pride, to pursue Mankind with all possible Rancour, in order to deprive him of the Honour and Felicity which he was created for, namely, to succeed the Devil and his Angels in the State of Glory from which they fell.
This Hatred of God and Envy at Man, having broken out in so many several Ways in the whole Series of Time from the Creation, must necessarily have greatly encreased his Guilt; and as Heaven is righteous to judge him, must terminate in an encrease of Punishment, adequate to his Crime, and sufficient to his Nature.