Eternity of punishment in Hell. [ 397]
SUetonius reports of Tiberius Caesar,* 1.1 that being petitioned unto by a certain Offender to hasten his punishment, and to grant him a speedy dispatch, he made him this answer,* 1.2 Nondum tecum in gratiam redii, Stay Sir, you and I are not friends yet; Thus it is betwixt Christ and the damned soul; Christ is a most just Judge, no Tyrant, no Ti∣berius; and yet if one of the damned after a thousand years burning in hell, should beg and entreat for a speedy death,* 1.3 he would answer after the same manner, Non∣dum tecum in grattam redii,* 1.4 you and I are not yet friends; if after thousands and millions of years the request should be renewed, the answer would continue still the same; Stay, you and I are not yet friends; So just and right a thing it is, that he that would not by Repentance accept of mercy when it was offered, should by punish∣ment be torm••nted, and have justice without mercy for ever.