Christ's certain and sudden appearance to judgment by Thomas Vincent ...

CHAP. IX.

2. THe second thing is to speak of the executi∣on of the Sentence pronounced upon both in Judgment, which you have spoken of together, Matth. 25. 46. And these shall go away into ever∣lasting punishment, but the righteous into life eter∣nall.

1. Concerning the execution of the Sentence on the wicked. These shall go away into everlasting punishment. Here I shall speak,

• 1. Of the wickeds going away.
• 2. Of their going into punishment.

The former doth imply the punishment of loss, the latter their punishment of sense.

1. The wicked, when the Sentence is pronoun∣ed, shall go away; and here I shall show,

• 1. From whom they shall go away.
• 2. From what they shall go away.
• 3. The aggravations, or vexing considerations, which Gospel-sinners will have in their going away.

1. From whom the wicked shall go away.

1. They shall go away from Iesus Christ; the righteous are at his side, and shall remain with him; but the wicked shall go away from him; the righteous shall go with him, and abide with him, where he is, there they shall be also; they shall be for ever with the Lord; but the wicked, must go away, and be eternally separated from his presence. The righteous shall behold his glory, and share in it; they shall see the smiles of his face, and be entertained by him with un∣expressible love; but the wicked shall be thrust

out of his presence with frowns and indignation; it will be one great part of the misery of the wick∣ed, that they shall go away from so glorious a per∣son as the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. They shall go away from the Saints; now some of them are mingled with Gods people, the Tares and the Wheat grow up together; the sheep and the goats feed in the same pasture; and though it was bitter to the wicked to dwell with the righteous, because of the contradiction, which was in their lives, to their lusts; yet then it will be more bitter to them to be excluded their society, because then they will perceive their excellency with admiration: when they see them shine with such beauty, and rejoyce with Songs of triumph, and they must be gone away from them; this will fill their hearts with racking envy, and torment them unspeakably.

2. From what the wicked shall go away; they shall go away from happiness, from the happi∣ness of heaven; the doors of heaven shall be shut upon them; they shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Iacob, and many come from the East, and the West, and the North, and the South, even an innumerable multitude of all kindreds, and Nations, and Tongues, and enter in and sit down in the Kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out, and thrust down to Hell.

3. Concerning the aggravations, or vexing con∣siderations, which Gospel sinners will have in their going away; as the sin of those is more hainous, who sin against the light of the Gospel, than of those who sin only against the light of nature: so their punishment will be more severe; all shall be beaten, but these persons with many stripes; as

there will be degrees in glory; though all will be filled with glory, yet some will have a larger ca∣pacity: so there will be degrees of torment and misery, all shall be filled with torment, but some will have a larger capacity, especially Gospel sinners will have stings beyond what hea∣thens will be capable of in their punishment of loss; when

1. They shall have a clear discovery of the glory and happiness which they have missed; now they hear of heaven and the happiness which the Saint•• shall have in the vision and fruition of God; but there is a vail of unbelief upon their minds, that they do not apprehend such a happiness as is spoken of; they have mean thoughts of God, and of Heaven: they think there is no heaven like the earth; and no happiness like the fruition of the creatures; no glory like the glory of the world, no treasures like earthly treasures; and no delights like those which they finde in the objects of their sense: but when their portio•• in this life shall be spent; and the good things which they enjoyed shall be taken away from them; when their honours shall vanish like smoke, or a thin vapour; their riches shall flie away like an Eagle, or sail like a ship out of their ••ight; when their sensual delights and plea∣sures shall fail them, and die like sweet flowers in their hands; when the bright cloud of earthly things, which shadowed the glory of heavenly things from their view, shall be blown away, and the vail shall be torn in pieces which was before them, and hindred them from looking into the Holy of Holies; and the scales shall fall off from their eyes: In a word, when the heavens shal••

pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth, with the works thereof shall be burnt up; and they shall be awakened out of their long sleep in their graves, and shall be summoned before the tri∣bunal seat of Christ, and stand there stripped and quite naked of all their enjoyments in the world, which they had set their hearts upon; and they shall be examined and condemned for their sins; then, then their eyes will be opened, and they will clearly see their mistake of happi∣ness; then they will perceive and be fully per∣swaded of the fulness of joy and unspeakable pleasures at the right hand of God, the least taste of which would ravish their hearts ten thousand times more than all the full draughts, which they have taken in the sweetest of all their sinful de∣lights: I say, they shall see this happiness, and that which will vex them to the heart will be, that they shall only see it, not injoy the least share in it. O what high apprehensions will they then have of the glory of Heaven; they will see the Crown which will be put upon the head of the righteous, which will have more worth then in their esteem, than all the Crowns and Scepters of the greatest Kings upon the earth; then they will be clearly convinced that the choicest trea∣sures were in Heaven, and the sweetest delights were to come, and the thoughts of missing this Crown and glory, such treasures and sweetness, will tear their very hearts: they must go away from heaven and happiness.

2. In going away they shall remember the capacity which they had once of obtaining this happiness; if they had been bruits indeed, and had capacity

for a sensitive life only; and grace and glory had been removed so far beyond their reach, that it had been impossible for them to attain it; it would not much trouble them to lose it, what∣ever other miseries they should endure; but they were capable of the beginnings of Heaven in the life of grace, and the compleating of their happiness in glory; they will remember that they had souls endued with reason, and hereby advanced to a higher capacity than beasts; that they had minds capable of divine contemplation, and hearts capable of divine affection; that they had wils which might have chosen God for their portion, and Heaven for their heritance; that they had desires, and loves, and hopes, and joyes, which if they had wrought-god-ward, and Christ-ward, as they did toward the creature, if they had wrought upward, and heaven-ward, as they did downward and towards the earth, and earthly things, they might have been happy for ever; they will see that others, who had the same natures, as they had, and were guilty at first of as great sins, as they had committed, yet repented and turned, believed and reformed, were changed and saved; and with unexpressible vexation they will think that thus it might have been with them, if they had not been fools, if they had seriously endevoured to fill up the capa∣city, which God hath given them.

3. In g••ing away they will remember the proffers which they had of this happiness; that they lived in places where the light did shine, and the Gospel did sound, and Christ was preached and tende∣red with all the benefits of his purchase; they will remember how often they were called to re∣pent,

how earnestly they were entreated to be reconciled; they will remember the discoveries, which were made to them of future glory, and the invitations which they had to come unto Christ that they might have pardon and life, and partake of the inheritance of the Saints in light; all which was little regarded by them; they will remember how long, and how loud Christ knock∣ed at the door of their hearts for entertainment; that he knocked by such a Sermon, such a mo∣tion of the Spirit, by such a judgment, such an affliction, such a deliverance; and yet that they barred the door, deafned the ear, and if they did not fully resolve to keep him out, yet they put him off with such redious delayes, untill on a sudden death knocked at their door and broke it open, and drag'd them away to Hell before they had given entertainment unto Jesus Christ, and had provided an eternal habitation for their souls: they will then remember the opportuni∣ties and seasons of grace, which once they en∣joyed; that once they had a Day, a Day of grace, and that with some of them it was a long Summers day; and that they had calls at the first hour, and the third hour, and the ninth hour, and at the eleventh hour, and that all the day long God stretched forth his hand unto them; but they did not know the day of their visitation; they were more foolish than the Crane and the Stork, and the Swallow, they did not under∣stand their appointed time; they did not mind the things which belonged to their peace, untill they were hid from their eyes; they slept in the harvest, they loitered away, and sinned away their time, and wasted their day, in which they

should have made provision for their souls: O how will they be then ready to tear themselves in pieces, that they should neglect so great salva∣tion, in the day when salvation was attainable? yea, that they should refuse the proffers of grace, and pardon and peace, and life and happiness, which in that day were so frequently and ear∣nestly made unto them: then they will wish that they had opened their ear and heart, that they had regarded and accepted such gracious proffers, whatever they had neglected or parted withall: then they will wish they had imbraced and improved the opportunities which once they had for prayer, and hearing, and attendance up∣on Gods Ordinances; that they had been in the Church, when they were in the Ale-house; that they had associated themselves with Gods peo∣ple, when they frequented the company of the leud, and ungodly; that they had been upon their knees with grief confessing sin; when they took so much delight in the commission of it; that they had taken time from their sports to make their peace with God; that they had worshipped God in their Closets, and worshipped God in their Families, and laid up for themselves treasures in Heaven; and horrible will their vexation be that they did not so.

4. In going away, they will remember for what it was that they refused this happiness; that it was only for the satisfaction of some foolish and unprofitable lust: If two Kingdomes of equal worth and glo∣ry were proposed to a Mans choice, it would not trouble him that he had refused the one, to obtain the other; but if a Man were to chuse whether he would be a King or a slave; if he should refuse

the former, and chuse the later, when he came to feel the misery of his bondage, this would trouble him, more than the bondage, that he might have avoided it, that he hath chose this thraldome, and parted with a Kingdome for it: they will then perceive that they have chosen to be slavesunto sin, and Sathan, rather than to be Heires unto the Kingdome of Glory; I know that though now they are slaves, and serve divers lusts, and though their bondage is a thousand fold worse, than if they were Vassals to the cruellest Tirant upon Earth; yet they are not sensible, neither are they weary of their bondage; because their wills are in thraldome, and their affections are captivated; and though heirdome to the glory of Heaven, be the choicest priviledge upon Earth, and most desi∣rable; yet they do not desire it, but prefer their slavery before it; because they are blinde, unbe∣lieving, besorted sinners, and judge of things ac∣cording to sense; yet on the day of Christs ap∣pearance, all things will appear with a new face, and they will look upon things with a new eye; they will then perceive that they were slaves all their dayes; and that there was no such drudgery as that which they were employed in; and that there was no such glory and happiness, as that which they refused, and foolishly cast away; then it will sting them indeed to remember that they have chosen rather to do the work of the Devil, and yield obedience to the basest lusts, for which they must now be repayed with the wages of death and eternal misery, than to do the work of the Lord, who would have rewarded them with eter∣nal life, and a Crown of glory and immortality. Then they will say, What profit have we got by

those things, whereof we are now ashamed! What fruit doth all our labour and toile in the World now yield unto us? What are we the better for our riches and great estate on Earth, for our honour, and high esteem amongst men, for our luscious pleasures and de∣lights, (now vanished and gone) which we bought at so dear a rate, as the loss of our precious and immortal souls, and the forfeiture of an Inheritance in the king∣dome of Heaven? Then they will cry out, O be∣witching World! O deluding Devil! O deceitfull hearts and lusts! O what fools and mad-men have we been, that we should trample Iewels under our feet like Swine, and in stead of them, put dross and dung into our Cabinet! that we should so greedily drink the sweet poison of sin to the bane and ruine of our souls; and refuse to taste of the Cup of salvation, which all our dayes was held forth unto us! Then they will cry out of their voluptuousness, their covetousness, their pride and haughtiness, and the like lusts, which have kept Christ out of their hearts, and kept them out of the Kingdome of Heaven.

5. In going away, some of them shall remember how neerly they missed of this happiness; that they were almost perswaded to be Christians, in deed as well as in name, and to accept of Christ upon his own termes; that they were not far from the Kingdome of Heaven; that they were come even within fight of the Heavenly Canaan, and yet died in the Wilderness; that they were come even to the Gate of the new Ierusalem, but finding it too strait for them, and the luggish of their sins toge∣ther, there they stuck and could not enter in; that they climbed up a great way of the Hill to Zion, but did not reach the top, and tumbling down, their fall was the greater; they will remember the

means of grace which they enjoyed; the Ordi∣nances which they sate under; and the treaties which the Lord did make with them by his word and spirit, about their life and salvation; and the carriage of their hearts towards the Lord in those treaties; some of them will remember what con∣victions the Lord wrought in them of sin, and what tremblings of conscience, for fear of Hell and wrath to come; and if they had followed that preparative work, they might have quickly been acquainted with Christ, and escaped the mi∣sery which they feared; but they ••tifled convi∣ctions, and shook off their troubles, they shut their eies against the light, and stilled the noise of their consciences, and calmed their spirits with the de∣lights and pleasures of the World; and so grew more hardned in sin than before, and gave such re∣pulses to the spirit, that the spirit quite departed from them: Others will remember that they were perswaded to ascend some steps higher, under the Ministry of the Word: when they were reproved for such and such gross sins, which they lived in the practise of, that they could have no ease in their consciences, until they had broken off that wick∣ed course; that they left off their drunkenness and their swearing, their uncleanness, and unrighteous dealing; and were in a great measure reformed in their lives; but there were some lusts in their hearts which they hugged secretly, and delighted in, and could not be perswaded to leave, which were their undoing: pride, revenge, uncharitable∣ness, covetousness, or the like remained in their reigning power, which were inconsistent with the power of godliness: others will remember what profession they made, and that they went with

some kinde of gladness in the company of Gods people, unto his House and Ordinances, and heard the Word, and received some impressions thereof; yea obtained some kinde of graces under its influ∣ence; that they had a kinde of righteousness, repentance, faith, desires, love, joy, hope, that they had some tastes of the heavenly gift, and the powers of the World to come, and thought them∣selves as fair for Heaven as the best, and who ever missed, that they should not miss of glory: but O the confusion and vexation, which will be upon the spirits of these Persons when the Lord Jesus shall disown them, and shut them out of his Kingdom••; O what tearings of heart will they have, when they perceive that they were mistaken, and finde themselves disappointed of the happi∣ness which they had such hopes of, and confident expectations to obtain: when they finde that their silver was but dross, and their graces were coun∣terfeit, and not of the right stamp, that they had not the Image and superscription of Christ upon them; when they remember that they had a righ∣teousness, but it was like the morning Cloud, which the wind of affliction or temptation had driven away; that they had some repentance, but it was leg••l, not Evangelical; that the teares they had sometimes shed for sin, were like the early dew, which the bright Sun of prosperity did quickly dry up; that they had a faith, but it was a temporary faith, which wanted deep rooting in the heart and what ever flourishing fruit it quickly sent forth▪ yet the hot Sun of persecution did wither it, that i•• came to nothing when they were put upon the Trial; that they had desires after Christ, and the favour of God and spiritual things; but they we••••

but faint velleities, they were like the untimely birth of a Woman, which never came to any per∣fection; that they had love to God in show, or it may be at some time a passionate glow of heart under an Ordinance, which was not enkindled by a spark falling down from Heaven upon them, blown up by the spirit of God; but a false or more inferiour Fire, which arose from a sympathy with Ministers or other Christians in the more inferiour workings and expressions of their love, which in the sincere arose from the right principle; that they had some kinde of hope, but it was like a spiders web, broken quickly to pieces, or swept down by the beesome of destruction with them into Hell; that they had some joyes; but they were flashy and un∣grounded; some tastes arising from misapprehen∣sions of Gospel-priviledges, and misapplication of Gospel-promises, all which did quickly vanish and come to nothing: They will finde, if not before, be sure at that day that they were mistaken, and have lost all their pains and labour, for want of a thorow work of grace; for want of soundness at the root; for want of hearty sorrow, deep humi∣liation; good-grounded, and deep••rooted faith: supream love; well-bottom'd hope; universall reformation and mortification of the deeds of the body; that none of their actions were accept∣ed by the heart-searching God for want of a right principle and end; now when these Persons are sentenced to Hell, and are going away from Christ and the glory which once they had hopes of, and were so near unto, and had they gone but a step or two further, they might have attained, O with what unconceivable grief and curtings of heart will it be? they will remember then that

they did seek to enter in at the strait Gate, and they will wish with all their hearts that they had striven, that they had taken more pains, that they might not have missed and fallen short of salvation: possibly then with unutterable anguish they may say, There is a glorious Inheritance in Heaven, which we are now, departing from, we often prayed for it when we were upon the Earth; and if we had been sincere and fervent, if we had resolved to take the place by storme and would not have been denyed, we might have got it; we have read of it in the Word, and heard of it in Sermons, and it hath been proffered to us freely; and if we had renounced the World, and forsaken sin, and chosen it for our portion, we might have had it; we parted with some sins, if we had left all, it should have been ours; once we had some hopes of it, when we had some taste of it, and had done some things to obtain it; and if we had gone a little further, we might have indeed obtained it; if we had taken pains with our hearts before God to get them raised to things above; if we had denyed our selves, and mortified our mem∣bers upon the Earth; if we had cast away all our trans∣gressions, and c••st away our own righteousness, and rowled our selves wholly upon Iesus Christ, and acted faith upon him and the promises of this Kingdome, and walked in the narrow way which we seemed to walk in, we might now have been made passessours hereof, and shined amongst yonder glorious Saints, some of whom were our companions, and hoped for our company, and wonder to see us separated from them; But alas we were sloathfull and careless; we were unwatchfull and idle; our pains was more to appear religious, than be religious; we had some lusts which lay nearer our heart than Iesus Christ; we did some things with seeming vigour, but carnal motives were the chief in∣centives

to our duties; and how ever lifeless, faithless, and empty of true grace they were, yet we trusted in them, and made them our Saviour, and never were brought clear off from our own bottome, unto a closure with Iesus Christ, and we have fool'd away our sal∣vation, and made our selves unworthy of eternal life. Deservedly, deservedly do we lose this crown; for our folly! O that we had been sincere, and thorough Chri∣stians!

6. In going away it will sting the wicked to think that now this happiness of Heaven is irrecoverable, once they might have obtained it, and that upon easie tearmes; yea after some refusals of it they had fresh proffers and invitations; the door of mercy, and gate of salvation and glory stood open a long time; but now the door is lookt upon them, and will never be opened more; they must go a∣way without any hopes of ever entering into the new Ierusalem, or obtaining the least degree of the happiness of the Saints; they must bid adieu unto joy and comfort for ever. These considera∣tions will sting Gospel-sinners in their going away.

Thus concerning the first particular in the exe∣cution of the sentence on the wicked, they shall go away.

2. They shall go into punishment, and here I shall speak,

• 1. Of the punishment which they shall go into.
• 2. Of their entring into this punishment.

1. Concerning the punishment which the wicked shall go into. Take two or three places of Scripture which set forth this punishment, Matth. 25. 41. D••p••rt yee cursed into everlasting Fire, Mark 9.

43, 44. Then to go into Hell, where their worm dy∣eth not, and the Fire is not quenched. Rev. 14. 10, 11. They shall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God, which shall be poured out, without mixture, into the Cup of his indignation, and be tormented with Fire and Brim∣stone, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. The punishment then will be Gods wrath, which the damned shall drink of, so as to feel the immediate impressions thereof upon their souls; and Fire and brimstone kindled by the breath of God, the impression whereof they shall feel upon their bodies; but what tongue can ex∣press the punishment of the wicked in Hell? if some expressions in Scripture concerning it be me∣taphorical, surely they fall short of what the real punishment will be; the drops and sprinklings of Gods wrath here are but small in comparison with the Ocean, which the wicked shall be cast into: the top of the Cup hath nothing of the bitterness which they will finde in the dregges: never was there such a Fire on Earth, as the Fire of Hell; never was there such a pain endured by those which have undergone the more exquisite tor∣ments; as the pains and torments which shall be inflicted hereafter upon the damned. Yet, though we are not able here to conceive how dreadful this punishment will be, we may conceive it to be unexpressibly more dreadful than any punishment on Earth; if we consider,

• 1. The Inflicter of it.
• 2. The subject of it.
• 3. The properties of it.

1. Concerning the Inflicter of the punishment which the wicked shall go into, and that will be the most

holy, just, powerful, and sin-revenging God; the wicked will then fall into his hands immediate∣ly, and O how fearful a thing will it be to fall into the hand of the living God? Heb. 10. 31. Wicked men now have no fear of God before their eyes; though their sins and affronts to God be great; and his anger and displeasure against them be great; yet because his goodness and patience towards them is also great; because he keeps si∣lence, and doth not speedily execute his ven∣geance upon them; therefore they are secure, and insensible of his displeasure; and have slighter thoughts, and lesser fear of him, than of weake dying worms like themselves: but when their eyes shall be opened, at the last day, and a disco∣very of God shall be made unto them in his in∣finire Majesty, and greatness, and power, and holiness, and fiery indignation against them: O how fearful then will it be to fall into his hands? It will be very sweet to fall into the arms of his Love; but very dreadful to fall into the hands of his displeasure; when God doth execute his ven∣geance himself, he will do it very terribly, especi∣ally if we consider,

1. That he will glorifie his infinite wisdom in the punishment of the damned, which will con∣trive such tortures for them, that if all the men in the world should joyn their wits together, and take to their help all the Devils in hell, they could not invent the like; dreadful ingredients will his wisdom finde out to put into the cup, which he will put into the hand of the wicked to drink.

2. That he will glorifie his infinite power, he will make bare his arm, and smite with an in∣finite

force; the blow of a childe will take little impression, but if a Goliah smite with a Goliah's sword, he will smite to the ground; the weigh∣tier the hand, the heavier the stroke; there is more difference between the power of God and the strongest creatures, than between the stron∣gest creature and the weakest childe; It would be dreadful to be delivered up to the power of some strong fierce and cruel creatures: what will it be to be delivered up to the power of the omnipotent and most furious God. God will glorifie the power of his anger in the destruction of the wicked, Rom. 9. 31. What, if God willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, &c. God will show what his power can do in the pu∣nishing of the wicked; his last work of power in punishing, will be as glorious as his first work of power in creating; and he will glorifie the power of his anger in hell, as he will glorifie his good∣ness and love in heaven; in heaven he will open the treasures of his love, and in hell he will open the treasures of his wrath. God will inflict the punishment.

2. Concerning the subject of the punishment which the wicked shall go into, and that will be both soul and body.

1. The souls of the wicked will be punished; not only with the loss of the glorious and com∣fortable presence of God, and the happiness of heaven; but also I conceive that they will be fil∣le•• with anguish through the impressions of Gods wrath upon them; they will be filled up to the brim with the fierce wrath of God; the Arrows of

the Almighty will be shot up to the head in them, and pierce them thorow and thorow; we read Rom. 2. 8, 9. Of indignation and wrath, tribulation, and anguish, which at the day of wrath shall be upon every soul that doth evil. The impressions of Gods indignation and wrath on the soul will effect tri∣bulation and anguish: such wounds they will have in their spirits, as will be unsupportable, such tribulation as will be horrible, such anguish as is inconceivable, when the hand of the Lord is upon them, when they see the frowns of his brow; when he strikes them with the blow of his anger. Christ tasted the bitterness of Gods wrath in his soul, for the sins of others, which caused his bloody sweat in the garden, and such roarings upon the cross: O how bitter will the wrath of God be to the wicked, when their souls taste of it for their own sins; It will be Gods wrathful presence, which the souls of the damned will feel the impressions of, which will make Hell to be Hell, as it will be the glorious and comfortable presence of God, which the souls of the righteous will feel the impressions of, which will make Hea∣ven to be Heaven.

2. The bodies of the wicked shall be punished, they have been sharers in sin, and they must share in torment; they must lie in the Lake of fire and brimstone, Rev. 21. 8. the torment of the bodies of the wicked will be dreadful; besides the impres∣sion which the anguish of soul will make upon them, they will have their own proper torment, through the sense of the fire which will be kindled about them, and burn more horribly than Londons fire did, when it had got into the heart of the City; their torment will be greater than if scalding

lead were poured into their bowels; than if they were torn in pieces with wild horses; than if their breasts were ript up, and their heart were pluckt out with burning pincers; it will be worse than if they were cast into a caldron of boiling pitch or lead; or put into Phalaris Bull, or Nebuchad∣nezzars fiery Furnace: the torture of the damned's bodies will be far beyond the sharpest pain now incident to humane nature by racking diseases, or have been inflicted upon any of the children of men by the most cruel tyrant; for the bodies of the wicked when raised again, will be strength∣ned unto a greater capacity for punishment, when they will be made incorruptible and immortal, and punishment will be the end of their resur∣rection; but more of this punishment under the properties.

3. Concerning the properties of the punishment which the wicked shall go into.

1. It will be universal, it will not onely be in soul and body, but also in every part of both: in every faculty of the soul, in every member of the body: O the black thoughts! the dismal ap∣prehensions! the grisly fancies! the heavy griefs! the sinking fears! the dreadful terrors! the hel∣lish gripes! the utter despair! the horrible an∣guish, and confusion! which the soul will have, when the wrath of God shall be poured in upon it like water; the wicked will not only be in hell, but they will have a hell in themselves; in their consciences, they will have a never dying worm, which will gnaw and tear them; they will have a storm in their spirits raised by the winde of Gods

wrath, which will blow most fiercely upon them; every faculty of the soul will be afflicted according to its capacity: and every member of the bodies of the wicked will be tormented. O how will their eyes glare! their tongues roar! their hands and feet fry! their flesh rost! no part will be free from the devouring flames of this horrible burning Fire, There are many diseases which the body is exposed unto in this world, but very sel∣dome do they meet together in the same subject; if the head ake, the members may be free; if the foot be pained, the hand may be at ease, and ready to contribute some relief unto the pained part; and if the body be sick, the soul may give some consolatory arguments to alleviate the irk∣someness of the disease; but in hell the punish∣ment of the wicked will be universal, it will be in every member of the body, and every faculty of the soul.

2. The punishment of hell will be extream; the souls of the wicked will be filled with anguish, as full as they can hold; their capacity will be larger, and they will be filled up to the height of their capacity; and their bodies also will have the most exquisite pain, as it is possible for them to endure; their sense of pain will be quicker, and their strength to endure pain greater; and their pain will be in the uttermost extremity: some pains of the body here are not very acnte; and some troubles of mind may well enough be born; but any disease in extremity is very irk∣some; the pain of the head, or the tooth in ex∣tremity, the gout, stone, chollick in extremity; especially the troubles of the mind in extremity, will make a man weary of his life; but to have

every part afflicted in extremity, and the utter∣most extremity, and that beyond our now ca∣pacity or conception, this will be very dread∣full.

3. The punishment of the wicked will be con∣tinual, without any intermission or alleviation; the wicked will have no rest day nor night, Rev. 14. 11. there will be nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, Matth. 22. 13. The most painful diseases here have their fits, which do not con∣tinue long; the diseased finde after their fits some ease and asswagement; they have intermis∣sions sometimes; some lucida intervalla, lightsome intervals; but the wicked in hell will have no ease or asswagement; no lightsome intervals of their grief and pains; there will be no mixture of comfortable ingredients in the cup of God's wrath, which the damned must drink of; there will be but one fit in their disease, and this fit will alwaies be at the height; they will not have the least drop of water to cool so much as the tip of the tongue, which shall be tormented in flames; their grief will not have any allay, they will not have one comfortable thought, no eye to pitty them, none to bring any relief unto them: O how bitter will their sins be to them; here they are but bitter sweets, then they will be no∣thing but bitterness, and gall, and worm-wood, unto them; Their punishment will be conti∣nuall.

4. The punishment of the wicked will be re∣mediless; there will be no escaping or flying from the wrath of God; now sinners may flee from the wrath which is to come; but when it is once come, and hath got hold on them; it will hold

them down, so that they shall never get loose from it: now they may agree with their adversary upon the way; they may make their peace with God in this world; there is no sin for which they may not obtain a pardon, but the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, which carries men a∣way from God; but hereafter in hell there will be no more sacrifice for sin; the Saviour of man∣kind will be their judge, and pass an irreversi∣ble sentence of condemnation upon them; it is possible now for the wicked to be delivered from this punishment, but it will be impossible then to be delivered out of it; their punishment will be remediless.

5. The punishment of the wicked will be e∣ternal, hell fire will be unquenchable, Mark 9. 43. everlasting, Matth. 25. 41. the smoak of the tor∣ment will ascend up for ever and ever. Rev. 14. 11. This eternity of punishment will be a fearful ag∣gravation of it; If you saw a malefactour torn to pieces with wilde horses, or thrown into a fiery furnace, and there burned to ashes; you would say that either of these were dreadful punish∣ments, though the pain possibly might not endure a quarter of an hour, for death concludes all bo∣dily pains here: what then will it be to endure the torments of hell for ever? a small pain, if it should last long, would be very irksome; much more some racking pains by the stone, strangury, gour, cholick, and the like, if they should continue for a year, or a moneth together, how miserable would they make the life to be? yea, if a man should hold but one of his fingers in the fire but for a day, it would afflict him more, than all outward comforts could delight him; the tor∣ments

of Hell will not be in one part only, but in every part; not in a weaker degree, but in the greatest extremity; not for a day, or a month, or a year, but for ever; the wicked will be alwaies dying, never dead; the pangs of death will be ever upon them; and yet they shall ne∣ver give up the ghost; if they could die they would think themselves happy; they wil alwaies be roaring, and never breathe out their last; al∣waies sinking, and never come to the bottome; alwaies burning in those flames, and never con∣sumed; the eternity of Hel, wil be the Hel of Hel. When our Saviour endured equivalent pu∣nishment to this of Hel, for his people, it had not this circumstance of eternity in it; there not being that need, because of the excellency of his person; so that though the pains of Hel gat hold on him, yet they could not keep him in hold, but he brake thorow them, and triumphed over them, and could say in the conclusion, It is finished: but the damned wil not be able to break thorow their punishment; they wil be compassed about with them, and hedged in, and shut down, and never be able to lift up the head; never shall they say of this punishment, It is finished, for their pains wil alwaies be as it were beginning; when they have spent the time of as many years in Hel as there are Stars in the Firmament, Sands on the Sea shore, and Moats in the Sun, their torment wil be as it were be∣ginning, and no nearer a conclusion; than the first day they were cast into that place. Who can express this eternity? when we lanch forth our thoughts in the consideration thereof, we lose them quickly; it being such a deep which

cannot be fathomed, such a vast Ocean which can∣not be measured; yet a little to extend your thoughts in the consideration of the Eternity of the wickeds punishment. I shall by one or two suppositions illustrate something of the vastness hereof.

Suppose that this globe of Earth on which we tread were hollow, and that it were filled with great folio Books, as full as it could hold; and moreover there were Books heaped up upon it to fill the whole circumference of the aire round a∣bout it; yea that the whole space of place to the uttermost verge of the Empyrean Heavens were filled with Books; and all this vast number of Books were filled with figures in the highest degree of multiplication; O what a number of Books would there be in the whole space of place? what a number of figures in these Books? and what a vast number would there be deciphered by these figures? A bit of paper half as broad as an half penny will hold the figure of the number of as many years as have been since the creation of the World; what then would a whole leaf of a great folio hold? what would a whole folio hold: what then would a room full of folios hold? but what would the whole World full of folios hold? now if at the end of time, when the wicked go to Hell, God should fill the whole space of the World with folios full of figures of numbers; and tell the wicked that every thousand year one of these numbers should be substracted, and promise them when all the numbers were substracted our of all these Books, they should have a release out of their torments; they would have a small spark of hope, that after the substraction of so many mil∣lions,

millions, millions of innumerable numbers, in the revolution of so many millions, millions, millions of innumerable years, yet at last there would be an end; there would be time then set and a wearing towards an end; yet if we could cast our thoughts so far in a supposition, that all this number of years, wherein all this number of figures were substracted by one in a thousand years were past and gone; yea wherin they were all sub∣stracted, as many thousand times as the number of the figures in all those Books would amount unto; yet even then the punishment of the damned would be as far from ending, as at the very first beginning of them.

Yea suppose further, that there were as many Worlds as the number in the Books before suppo∣sed would arise unto; and these Worlds should continue as many years as by this account there would be Worlds; and all these Worlds were filled with Angels and Men; and all these Angels and Men should be employed in nothing else from the beginning of these Worlds unto the end of them, but in conceiving numbers of years unto the uttermost conception which they could have of numbers; what a-to-us-inconceivable number of years would there be conceived by so many Angels and Men, in so many years, in so many Worlds? yet if all that vast number of years were joyned to the end of the time wherein all the numbers in the figures of so many before-menti∣oned Books, were substracted by one in a thousand years; and these multiplied as many thousand times as numbers were conceived; such a vast number of years would reach a great way, but they would not be so much as a haires breadth in

the measure of eternity; and if we should sup∣pose the space of all these years too, to be spent by the damned in torments, even then their tor∣ments would be as far from a conclusion, as they were upon their first entrance into Hell. O Eter∣nity! Eternity! Eternity! how vast is Eternity! how infinite and immeasurable! how horrible will the thoughts of Eternity be unto the damned! to be punished so extreamly, and that without any intermission, or hopes of a conclusion! to fall into such a horrible Pit, and fiery Lake, and there burn for ever without any possibility of ever get∣ting forth! O dreadful! O blinde World! O sottish sinners! that take no more care now to a∣void, and get deliverance from such a punishment as this, which they are exposed unto, and will be the certain consequent of sin without repen∣tance.

Thus concerning the punishment which the wicked shall go into.

2. Concerning their entrance into this punishment; when the whole crew of wicked and ungodly per∣sons, together with the whole Flock of Devils are departed from the presence of Christ, and the glorious Saints; and Heaven is now upon their backs, and Hell before their face; and they are now come to the very mouth of the bottom∣less Pit, unto the Doors and great Gates of Hell; and now they are opened before them, and unto them, and for them; and they see the black smoke ascending up from thence, and smell a horrible stink from the sulphurions Fire, which they must be thrown into; and when they behold the hor∣rible

slakes of Fire flashing forth from the Fur∣nace of Hell, ten thousand times more dreadfully than those which were seen to arise from London on the Munday night; and now begin to feel the heat; and see others tumbling in before them, and they following of them; and when they be∣gin first to put their hands and their feet into the Fire; and now they are in and covered with flames, and begin to boile and fry, and when they perceive the Gates of Hell to be shut upon them, and great Stones rowled before them which can never be removed, and great Bars put upon them which can never be broken, and they are out of all hopes of ever breaking Prison, and getting forth; O how will they shreek, and roar, and cry out in the anguish of their souls, and torture of their bo∣dies, Woe, woe le unto its miserable sinners! and is this the Hell which Ministers warned us to flie from? and yet trould we needs run our selves into such flames? Is this the wages of our sin? hath our drunknness, and swearing, and whoring, and lying, and unrighteous dealing, such a dreadfull consequent as this? Is this the company we must take up our eternal abode withall? and this the place of our eternal habitation? must we then dwell in this devouring Fire? and inhabit these everlasting burnings? O miserable! miserable! for∣lorn wretches we! would God we had never been born! O that we had been Dogs or Swine! O that we had been Serpents or Toads! O that we had been the mean∣est Worms, or Stones, or anything without Souls who are now annihilated! O that we had been nothing, or might be turned to nothing! O that we could recall our time! how would we improve it. O that it were with us, as once it was, when our being and abode was upon the Earth, when the day of grace did shine upon us,

and the meanes of grace were afforded to us! how would we pray, and hear, and watch, and strive, and live! how would we forsake sin, accept of Christ, and deliver up our selves unto universal obedience! But alas time is fled! the day is spent! the door is shut! we are bound up in Chains; which cannot be loosened! we are now in torments, which cannot be remedied; and are extream, and will never be ended! O the pains of my eyes! would I had none! O the pains of my tongue! would it were out, and I were dumb! O the torture of my hands and feet! would they were off, and my whole body were consumed! O I am sick! I am sick! and here is no Physician! I am sad! I am sore troubled! and here is none to pitty me! my head doth burn! my heart doth ake! O the terrours which I feel! O the gripes and tearings of the never dying worm within me!

But who can conceive what the thoughts and complaints of the damned will be at their first en∣trance into the punishment of Hell? Thus con∣cerning the execution of the sentence pronounced by Christ upon the wicked.