IV. The greatness of the torments of the damned discovered
may be most pleasing and delightful. Why, this is but to desire their temptations to be increased, and their snare strengthened: their joys will be more carnal; and how great an enemy carnal joy is to spiritual, experienced men can quickly tell you. If we took the flesh so much for our enemy as we do profess, we could not so earnestly desire and contrive to accommodate it, and so congratulate all its contentments as we do.
CHAP. IV The Greatness of the Torments of the Damned Discovered.
SECT. I. Having thus showed you how great their loss is, who are shut out of rest, and how it will be aggravated by those additional losses which will accompany it, I should next here show you the greatness of those positive sufferings which will accompany this loss.
But because I am to treat of rest, rather than of torment, I will not meddle with the explication of the quality of those sufferings, but only show their greatness in some few brief discoveries, lest the careless sinner, while he hears of no other punishment but that of loss before mentioned, should think he can bear that well enough by his own resolvedness, and so flatter himself in hope of a tolerable hell. That there are, besides the loss of happiness, such actual, sensible torments for the damned, is a matter beyond all doubt to him that doth not doubt the truth of the Scriptures; and that they will be exceeding great, may appear by these arguments following.
First: From the principal Author of them, which is God himself: as it was no less than God whom the sinner had offended, so it is no less than God that will punish them for their offences. He hath prepared those torments for his enemies. His continued anger will still be devouring them. His breath of indignation will kindle the flames. His wrath will be an intolerable burden to their souls. Oh, if it were but a
creature that they had to do with, they might bear it, for the penalty would be answerable to the infirmity of him that should inflict it. A child can give but an easy stroke, but the strokes of a giant will be answerable to his strength. Wo to him that falls under the stroke of the Almighty! They shall feel to their sorrow, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It were nothing in comparison to this, if all the world were against them, or if the strength of all creatures were united in one to inflict their penalty. They had now rather venture upon the displeasure of God, than to displease a landlord, a master, a friend, a neighbour, or their own flesh: but then they will wish a thousand times in vain, that they had lost the favour of all the world, and had been hated of all men, so they had not lost the favour of God; for, as there is no life like his favour, so is there no death like his displeasure. Oh, what a consuming fire is his wrath! If it be kindled here, and that but a little, how do we wither before it, as the grass that is cut down before the sun! How soon doth our strength decay, and turn to weakness, and our beauty to deformity!
Churches are rooted up, commonwealths are overthrown, kingdoms depopulated, armies destroyed, and who can stand before his wrath?
Even the heavens and earth will melt at his presence; and when he speaks the word at his great day of account, they will be burnt up before him as a scroll in the fire. The flames do not so easily run through the dry stubble, or consume the houses where its violence hath prevailed, as the wrath of God will feed upon these wretches.
Oh, they that could not bear a prison, or a gibbet, or fire, for Christ, no, nor scarcely a few scorns from the mouths of the ignorant, how will they now bear the devouring fire!
Sect. II. 2. The place or state of torment, is purposely ordained for the glorifying of the attribute of God's justice. As all the works of God are great and wonderful, so those above all, which are specially intended for the eminent advancing of some of his attributes. When he will glorify his power, he makes the worlds by his wisdom. The comely order of all and singular creatures, declares his wisdom. His providence is shown, in sustaining all things, and maintaining order, and attaining his excellent ends, amongst the confused, perverse,
tumultuous agitations of a world of wicked, foolish, self-destroying miscreants. When a spark of his wrath doth kindle upon the earth, the whole world, save only eight persons, are drowned. Sodom,
Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, are burned with fire from heaven, to ashes. The sea shuts her mouth upon some. The earth doth open and swallow others. The pestilence destroyeth them up by thousands. The present deplorable state of the Jews, may fully testify this to the world. And yet the glorifying of the two great attributes of mercy and justice, is intended most eminently for the life to come.
As, therefore, when God will purposely then glorify his merey, he will do it in a way and degree that is now incredible, and beyond the comprehension of the saints that must enjoy it; so that the blood of his Son, and the enjoyment of himself immediately in glory, shall not be thought too high an honour for them. So also, when the time comes that he will purposely manifest his justice, it shall appear to be indeed the justice of God. The everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot for the rebellious; and when they have there burnt through millions of ages, he will not repent him of the evil which is befallen them. Oh! wo to the soul that is thus set up for a butt, for the wrath of the Almighty to shoot at; and for a bush, that must burn in the flames of his jealousy, and never be consumed!
Sect. III. 3. The torments of the damned must needs be extreme, because they are the effect of divine revenge. Wrath is terrible, but revenge is implacable. When the great God shall say, 'I will now be righted for all the wrongs that I have borne from rebellious creatures; I will let out my wrath, and it shall be stayed no more, you shall now pay for all the abuse of my patience! Remember, now, how
I waited your leisure in vain, how I stooped to persuade you; how I, as it were, kneeled to entreat you. Did you think I would always be slighted by such miscreants as you?' Oh, who can look up when God shall thus plead with them in the heat of revenge! Then will he be revenged for every mercy abused, for his creatures consumed in luxury and excess, for every hour's time misspent, for the neglect of his word, for the vilifying of his messengers, for the hating of his people, for the profanation of his ordinances, and neglect of his
worship, for the breaking of his Sabbaths, and the grieving of his Spirit, for the taking of his name in vain, for unmerciful neglect of his servants in distress. Oh! the numberless bill that will be brought in!
And the charge that will overcharge the soul of the sinner! And how hotly revenge will pursue them all to the highest! How God will stand over them with the rod in his hand, (not the rod of fatherly chastisement, but that iron rod wherewith he bruiseth the rebellious,) and lay it on for all their neglects of Christ and grace. Oh, that men would foresee this, and not put themselves under the hammer of revenging fury, when they may have the treasure of happiness at so easy rates, and please God better in preventing their wo!
Sect. IV. 4. Consider, also, how this justice and revenge will be the delight of the Almighty. Though he had rather men would stoop to Christ, and accept of his merey, yet when they persist in rebellion, he will take pleasure in their execution. Though he desire not the death of him that dieth, but rather that he repent and live; yet, when he will not repent and live, God doth desire and delight in the execution of justice conditionally; so that men will repent, he desires not their death, but their life. (Ezek. 33:11.) Yet, if they repent not, in the same place he uttereth his resolution for their death. (Ver. 8, 13.) He tells us, "that fury is not in him;" yet he addeth in the next words, "Who would set the briars and thorns together in battle? I would go through them; I would burn them together." (Isai. 27:4.) What a doleful case is the wretched creature in, when he shall thus set the heart of his Creator against him! "And he that made him, will not save him; and he that formed him, will not have mercy upon him."
(Isai. 27:11.) How heavy a threatening is that, "As the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought." (Deut. 28:63.) Wo to the soul which God rejoiceth to punish. Yea, he tells the simple ones that love simplicity, and the scorners that delight in scorning, and the fools that hate knowledge, "that because he called, and they refused, he stretched out his hand, and no man regarded, but set at nought all his counsel, and would none of his reproof; therefore he will also
laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh: when their fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon them, then shall they call upon him, but he will not answer; they shall seek him early, but shall not find him; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord." (Prov. 1:22–29.) I could entreat thee, who readest them, if thou be one of that sort of men, that thou wilt but view over seriously that part of the chapter (Prov. 1) from the 20th verse to the end, and believe them to be the true words of Christ by his Spirit in Solomon. Is it not a terrible thing to a wretched soul, when it shall lie roaring perpetually in the flames of hell, and the God of mercy himself shall laugh at them; when they shall cry out for mercy, yea, for one drop of water, and God shall mock them instead of relieving them; when none in heaven or earth can help them but God, and he shall rejoice over them in their calamity? Why, you see these are the very words of God himself in Scripture. And most just is it, that they who laughed at the sermon, and mocked at the preacher, and derided the people that obeyed the Gospel, should be laughed at, and derided by God. Ah! poor ignorant fools (for so this text calls them), they will then have mocking enough, till their hearts ache with it. I dare warrant them for ever making a jest at godliness more, or making themselves merry with their own slanderous reports. It is themselves, then, that must be the woful objects of derision, and that of God himself, who would have crowned them with glory. I know when the Scripture speaks of God's laughing and mocking, it is not to be understood literally, but after the manner of men: but this may suffice us, that it will be such an act of God to the tormenting of the sinner, which he cannot more fitly conceive or express under any other notion or name, than these.
Sect. V. 5. Consider who shall be God's executioners of their torment; and that is, First, Satan; Secondly, Themselves. First, He that was here so successful in drawing them from Christ, will then be the instrument of their punishment, for yielding to his temptations. It was a pitiful sight to see the man possessed, that was bound with chains, and lived among the tombs: and that other that would be cast
into the fire and into the water; but, alas! that was nothing to the torment that Satan puts them to in hell: that is the reward he will give them for all their service; for their rejecting the commands of God, and forsaking Christ, and neglecting their souls at his persuasion. Ah, if they had served Christ as faithfully as they did
Satan, and had forsaken all for the love of him, he would have given them a better reward. 2. And it is most just, also, that they should there be their own tormentors, that they may see that their whole destruction is of themselves; and they who were wilfully the meritorious cause, should also be the efficient in their own sufferings: and then who can they complain of but themselves? And they will be no more able to cease their self-tormenting, than men that we see in a deep melancholy, that will by no arguments be taken off from their sorrows.
Sect. VI. 6. Consider, also, how that their torment will be universal, not upon one part alone, while the rest are free; but as all have joined in the sin, so must they all partake of the torment. The soul, as it was the chief in sinning, shall be the chief in suffering; and as it is of a more spiritual and excellent nature than bodies are, so will its torments as far exceed our present bodily sufferings. And as the joys of the soul do far surpass all sensual pleasures, and corporal contentments; so do the pains of the soul surpass those corporal pains; and as the martyrs did triumph in the very flames, because their souls were full of joy, though their bodies were in pain; so, though these damned creatures could enjoy all their bodily pleasures, yet the soul's sufferings would take away the sweetness of them all.
And it is not only a soul, but a sinful soul that must suffer; the guilt which still remains upon it, will make it fit for the wrath of God to work upon; as fire will not burn, except the fuel be combustible: but if the wood be dry, or it light upon straw, how fiercely will it burn then! Why, the guilt of their former sins will be as tinder to gunpowder, to the damned soul, to make the flames of hell to take hold upon them with fury.
And as the soul, so also the body must bear its part. That body that must needs be pleased, whatsoever become of its eternal safety, shall now be paid for all its unlawful pleasures; that body which was so carefully looked to, so tenderly cherished, so curiously dressed; that body which could not endure heat or cold, or an ill smell, or a loathsome sight: oh, what must it now endure! how are its haughty looks now taken down! how little will those flames regard its comeliness and beauty! But as death did not regard it, nor the worms regard it, but as freely feed upon the face of the proud and lustful dames, and the heart of the most ambitious lords or princes, as if they had been but beggars or brutes; so will their tormentors then as little pity their tenderness, or reverence their lordliness, when they shall be raised from their graves to their eternal doom. Those eyes which were wont to be delighted with curious sights, and to feed themselves upon beauteous and comely objects, must then see nothing but what shall amaze and terrify them; an angry, sinrevenging God above them, and those saints whom they scorned, enjoying the glory which they have lost; and about them will be only devils and damned souls; ah, then, how sadly will they look back and say, 'Are all the merry meetings, our feasts, our plays, our wanton toys, our games and revels, come to this?' Then those ears which were wont to be delighted with music, shall hear the shricks and cries of their damned companions; children crying out against their parents, that gave them encouragement and example in evil, but did not teach them the fear of the Lord; husbands crying out upon their wives, and wives upon their husbands; masters and servants cursing each other; ministers and people, magistrates and subjects, charging their misery upon one another, for discouraging in duty, conniving in sin, and being silent or formal, when they should have plainly told one another of their misery, and forewarned them of this danger.
Thus will soul and body be companions in calamity.
Sect. VII. 7. And the greater by far will their torments be, because they shall have no comfort left to help to mitigate them. In this life, when a minister foretold them of hell, or conscience began to trouble their peace, they had comforts enough at hand to relieve them: their
carnal friends were all ready to speak comfort to them, and promise them that all should be well with them; but now they have not a word of comfort either for others or themselves. Formerly they had their business, their company, their mirth, to drive away their fears; they could think away their sorrows, or play them away, or sleep them away, or at least, time did wear them away; but now all these remedies are vanished. They had a hard, a presumptuous and unbelieving heart, which was a wall to defend them against troubles of mind; but now their experience hath banished these, and left them naked to the fury of those flames. Yea, formerly Satan himself was their comforter, and would unsay all that the minister had said against them, as he did to our first mother: 'Hath God said, Ye shall not eat? ye shall not surely die.' So doth he now; 'Doth God tell you, that you shall lie in hell? It is no such matter; God is more merciful; he doth but tell you so, to fright you from sinning: who would lose his present pleasures, for the fear of that which he never saw? Or, if there be a hell, what need you to fear it? Are not you Christians, and shall you not be saved by Christ? Was not his blood shed for you?
Ministers may tell you what they please; they delight to fright men, that they may be masters of their consciences, and therefore would make them believe that they shall all be damned, except they will fit themselves to their precise humour.' Thus, as the Spirit of Christ is the comforter of the saints, so Satan is the comforter of the wicked; for he knows if he should now disquiet them, they would no longer serve him; or if fears or doubts should begin to trouble them, they would bethink themselves of their danger, and so escape it. Never was a thief more careful lest he should awake the people, when he is robbing the house, than Satan is careful not to awaken a sinner. And as a cut-purse will look you in the face, and hold you in a tale, that you may never suspect him, while he is picking your pockets; so will
Satan labour to keep men from all doubts or jealousies, or sorrowful thoughts. But when the sinner is dead, and he hath his prey, and his stratagem hath had success, then he hath done flattering and comforting them. While the sight of sin and misery might have helped to save them, he took all the pains he could to hide it from their eyes; but when it is too late, and there is no hope left, he will
make them see and feel to the utmost. Oh! which way will the forlorn sinner then look for comfort? They that drew him into the snare, and promised him safety, do now forsake him, and are forsaken themselves. His ancient comforts are taken from him, and the righteous God, whose forewarnings he made light of, will now made good his word against him to the least tittle.
Sect. VIII. 8. But the great aggravation of this misery will be its eternity. That when a thousand millions of ages are past, their torments are as fresh to begin as at the first day. If there were any hope of an end, it would case them to foresee it; but when it must be for ever so, that thought is intolerable: much more will the misery itself be. They were never weary of sinning, nor ever would have been, if they had lived eternally upon earth, and now God will not be weary of plaguing them. They never heartily repented of their sin, and God will never repent him of their suffering. They broke the laws of the eternal God, and therefore shall suffer eternal punishment.
They knew it was an everlasting kingdom which they refused when it was offered them, and therefore what wonder if they be everlastingly shut out of it; it was their immortal souls that were guilty of the trespass, and therefore must immortally suffer the pains. Oh, now, what happy men would they think themselves, if they might have lain still in their graves, or continued dust, or suffered no worse than the gnawing of those worms! Oh! that they might but there lie down again; what a mercy now would it be to dic; and how will they call and cry out for it, 'O death, whither art thou now gone? Now come and cut off this doleful life! Oh! that these pains would break my heart, and end my being! Oh! that I might once die at last!e Oh! that I never had a being!' These groans will the thoughts of eternity wring from their hearts. They were wont to think the sermon long, and prayer long; how long then will they think these endless torments?
What difference is there betwixt the length of their pleasures and of their pains? The one continued but a moment, but the other endureth through all eternity. Oh! that sinners would lay this thought to heart! Remember how time is almost gone. Thou art standing all this while at the door of eternity; and death is waiting to
open the door, and put thee in. Go sleep out but a few more nights, and stir up and down on earth a few more days, and then thy nights and days shall end; thy thoughts and cares, and displeasures, and all shall be devoured by eternity; thou must enter upon the state which shall never be changed. As the joys of heaven are beyond our conceiving, so also are the pains of hell. Everlasting torment is inconceivable torment.
Sect. IX. Object. But I know if it be a sensual unbeliever that readeth all this, he will cast it by with disdain, and say, 'I will never believe that God will thus torment his creatures. What, to delight in their torture! And that for everlasting! and all this for the faults of a short time; it is incredible. How can this stand with the infiniteness of his mercy? I would not thus torment the worst enemy that I have in the world, and yet my mercifulness is nothing to God's. These are but threats to awe men; I will not believe them.
Answ. Wilt thou not believe? I do not wonder if thou be loth to believe so terrible tidings to thy soul, as these are; which if they were believed and apprehended, indeed, according to their weight, would set thee a trembling and roaring in the anguish of horror day and night. And I do as little wonder that the devil who ruleth thee, should be loth, if he can hinder it, to suffer thee to believe it. For if thou didst believe it, thou wouldst spare no cost or pains to escape it. But go to: If thou wilt read on, either thou shalt believe it before thou stirrest, or prove thyself an infidel or pagan. Tell me then, dost thou believe Scripture to be the word of God? If thou do not, thou art no more a Christian than thy horse is, or than a Turk is. For what ground have we besides Scripture to believe that Jesus Christ did come into the world, or die for man? If thou believe not these, I have nothing here to do with thee, but refer thee to the second part of this book, where I have proved Scripture to be the word of God. But if thou do believe this to be so, and yet dost not believe that the same
Scripture is true, thou art far worse than either infidel or pagan. For the vilest pagan durst hardly charge their idol-gods to be liars: and darest thou give the lie to the God of heaven; and accuse him of
speaking that which shall not come to pass; and that in such absolute threats, and plain expressions? But if thou darest not stand to this, but dost believe Scripture both to be the word of God, and to be true, then I shall presently convince thee of the truth of these eternal torments; wilt thou believe if a prophet should tell it thee? Why read it then in the greatest prophets, Moses, David, and Isaiah. (Deut.
32:22; Psal. 11:6, and 9:17; Isai. 30:33.) Or wilt thou believe one that was more than a prophet? Why, hear then what John Baptist saith,
(Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:17.) Or wilt thou believe if an apostle should tell thee? Why, hear what one saith, where he calls it the "vengeance of eternal fire; and the blackness of darkness for ever." (Jude 7, 13.) Or what if thou have it from an apostle that had been wrapt up in revelations into the third heaven, and seen things unutterable, wilt thou believe then? Why take it then from Paul, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (2 Thess. 1:7–9.) And "that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2:12.) So Rom. 2:5–7. Or wilt thou believe it from the beloved apostle, who was so taken up in revelations, and saw it, as it were, in his visions? Why see then Rev.
20:10, 15. They are said there to be "cast into the lake of fire, and tormented day and night for ever." So Rev. 21:8; so 2 Pet. 2:17. Or wilt thou believe it from the mouth of Christ himself the Judge? Why read it then: As therefore the tares are gathered, and burnt in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world: the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity: and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,
&c. (Matt. 7:10, and 13:40–42, 49, 50.) So Matt. 18:8, 9: so Mark 9:43, 44, 46, 48: where he repeateth it three times over, "Where their worm never dieth, and their fire is not quenched." And "Then shall he say to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was, &c.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal." (Matt. 25:41, 46.)
What sayest thou now to all this; wilt thou not believe? If thou wilt not believe Christ, I know not whom thou wilt believe: and therefore it is in vain to persuade thee any further: only let me tell thee, the time is at hand when thou wilt easily believe, and that without any preaching or arguing; when thou seest the great and terrible day, and hearest the condemning sentence passed, and art thyself thrust down to hell, (as Luke 10:11,) then thou shalt believe, and never doubt again: and do not say but thou wast told so much. Surely, he that so much dissuades thee from believing, doth yet believe and tremble himself. (Jam. 2:10.) And whereas thou thinkest that God is more merciful, why, surely, he knows best his own mercifulness. His mercy will not cross his truth.
Cannot God be infinite in mercy, except he save the wilful and rebellious? Is a judge unmerciful for condemning malefactors?
Mercy and justice have their several objects. Thousands of humble, believing, obedient souls shall know to their eternal comfort, that God is merciful, though the refusers of his grace shall lie under justice. God will then force thy conscience to confess it in hell, that God who condemned thee was yet merciful to thee. Was it not mercy to be made a reasonable creature; and to have patience to endure thy many years' provocations, and waiting upon thee from sermon to sermon; desiring and entreating thy repentance and return? Was it not mercy to have the Son of God, with all his blood and merits, freely offered thee, if thou wouldst but have accepted him to govern and to save thee? Nay, when thou hadst neglected and refused Christ once, or twice, yea, a hundred times, that God should yet follow thee with invitations from day to day? And shalt thou wilfully refuse mercy to the last hour, and then cry out that God will not be so unmerciful as to condemn thee? Thy conscience will smite thee for thy madness, and tell thee, that God was merciful in all this, though such as thou do perish for thy wilfulness. Yea, the sense of the greatness of his mercy, will then be a great part of thy torment.
And whereas thou thinkest the pain to be greater than the offence, that is because thou art not a competent judge. Thou knowest what pain is, but thou knowest not the thousandth part of the evil of sin.
Shall not the righteous Judge of the world do justly? Nay, it is no more than thou didst choose thyself. Did not God set before thee life and death, and tell thee, if thou wouldst accept of the government of Christ, and renounce thy lusts, that then thou shouldst have eternal life? And if thou wouldst not have Christ, but the world or flesh to rule over thee, thou shouldst then endure eternal torments? Did not he offer thee thy choice, and bid thee take which of these thou wouldst; yea, and entreat thee to choose aright? And dost thou now cry out of severity, when thou hast but the consequence of thy wilful choice? But it is not thy accusing God of cruelty that shall serve thy turn; instead of procuring thy escape, or the mitigation of thy torments, it will but make thy burden the more heavy.
And whereas thou sayst that thou wouldst not so torment thy own enemy; I answer, There is no reason that thou shouldst: for is it all one to offend a crawling worm of the earth, and to offend the eternal glorious God? Thou hast no absolute dominion over thine enemy, and there may be some fault in thyself as well as in him; but with God and us the case is contrary. Yet thou makest nothing of killing a flea if it do but bite thee; yea, an hundred of them, if they did not touch thee, and yet never accusest thyself of cruelty. Yea, thou wilt torment thy ox all his life-time with toilsome labour, and kill him at last, though he never deserved ill of thee, nor disobeyed thee, and though thou hast over him but the borrowed authority of a superior fellow-ceature, and not the sovereign power of the absolute Creator.
Yea, how commonly dost thou take away the lives of birds, and beasts, and fishes! Many times a great many of lives must be taken away to make for thee but one meal. How many deaths, then, have been suffered in obedience to thy will, from thy first age to thy last hour; and all this without any desert of the creature! And must it yet seem cruelty, that the sovereign Creator, who is ten thousand times more above thee than thou art above a flea or a toad, should execute
his justice upon such a contemner of his authority? But I have given you some reasons of this before.
Sect. X. But methinks I perceive the obstinate sinner desperately resolving, If I must be damned, there is no remedy; rather than I will live so precisely as the Scripture requireth, I will put it to the venture; I shall escape as well as the rest of my neighbours, and as the most of the world, and we will even bear it as well as we can.
Answ. Alas, poor creature! I wish thou didst but know what it is that thou dost so boldly venture on; I dare say thou wouldst sleep this night but very unquietly. Wilt thou leave thyself no room for hope?
Art thou such a malicious, implacable enemy to Christ and thy own soul? And dost thou think, indeed, that thou canst bear the wrath of God, and go a way so easily with these eternal torments! Yet let me beg this of thee, that before thou dost so flatly resolve, thou wouldst lend me thine attention to these few questions which I shall put to thee, and weigh them with the reason of a man; and if then thou canst bear these pains, I shall give thee over and say no more.
First: Who art thou that thou shouldst bear the wrath of God? Art thou a God, or art thou a man? What is thy strength to undergo so much? Is it not as the strength of wax or stubble to resist the fire; or as chaff to the wind; or as the dust before the fierce whirlwind? Was he not as stout a man as thyself, who cried to God, "Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro; and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?" (Job
13:25;) and he that confesseth, "I am a worm and no man." (Phil.
2:26.) If thy strength were as iron, and thy bones as brass, thou couldst not bear. If thy foundation were as the earth, and thy power as the heavens, yet shouldst thou perish at the breath of his indignation. How much more when thou art but a little piece of a worm, creeping, breathing clay, kept a few days from stinking, and from being eaten with worms by the mere support and favour of him whom thou thus resistest.
Secondly: If thou art able to wrestle with the imdignation of the Almighty; why then dost thou tremble at the signs of his power, or
wrath? Do not the terrible thunder-claps sometimes affright thee; or the lightning-flashes, or that unseen power which goes with it, in rending in pieces mighty oaks, and tearing down the strongest buildings? If thou hadst been in the church of Withicombe, in Devonshire, when the lightning broke in, and scorched and burnt the people, and left the brains and hair upon the pillars, would it not have made thee afraid? If thou be put in a place where the plague doth rage, so that it comes to so many thousand a week, doth it not astonish thee, to see men that were well within a few days to be thrown into the graves by heaps and multitudes? If thou hadst stood by, when Pharaoh and his people were so strangely plagued, and at last drowned together in the sea; or when the earth swallowed up
Dathan, Abiram, and their companies, and the people fled away at the cry, lest the earth should swallow them up also; or when Elias brought fire from heaven to consume the captains and their companies: would not any of these sights have daunted thy spirit?
Why, how then canst thou bear the hellish plagues?
Thirdly: Tell me also, if thou be so strong, and thy heart so stout, why do those small sufferings so dismay thee which befall thee here? If thou have but a toothache, or a fit of the gout, or stone, what groans dost thou utter; what moans dost thou make! The house is filled with thy constant complaints: thy friends about thee are grieved at thy pains, and stand over thee condoling thy miserable state. If thou shouldst but lose a leg or an arm, thou wouldst make a greater matter of it. If thou lose but a friend; if thou lose thine estate, and fall into poverty, and beggary, and disgrace; how heavily wouldst thou bear any one of these. And yet all these laid together will be one day accounted a happy state, in comparison of that which is suffered in hell. Let me see thee shake off the most painful sickness, and make as light of convulsive, epileptic, arthritic, nephritic pains, or such-like diseases, when they seize upon thee, and then the strength of thy spirit will appear. Alas, how many such boasters as thyself have I seen made stoop and eat their words! And when God hath but let out a little of his wrath, that Pharaoh who before asked, 'Who is the Lord,
that I should let all go for him?' hath turned his tune, and cried, 'I have sinned.'
Fourthly: If thy stout spirit do make so light of hell, why then doth the approach of death so much affright thee? Didst thou never find the sober thoughts of death to raise a kind of dread in thy mind?
Wast thou never in a fever, or consumption, or any disease wherein thou didst receive the sentence of death? If thou wast not, thou wilt be before long; and then when the physician hath plainly told thee that there is no hopes, oh, how cold it strikes to thy heart! Why is death to men the king of terrors else? and the stoutest champions then do abate their courage. Oh! but the grave would be accounted a palace or a paradise, in comparison of that place of torment which thou desperately slightest.
Fifthly: If all this be nothing, go try thy strength by some corporeal torment; as Bilney, before he went to the stake, would first try his finger in the candle; so do thou. Hold thy finger awhile in the fire, and feel there whether thou canst endure the fire of hell. Austin mentioneth a chaste christian woman, who being tempted to uncleanness by a lewd ruffian, she desired him for her sake to hold his finger one hour in the fire; he answereth, 'It is an unreasonable request;' 'How much more unreasonable is it,' said she, 'that I should burn in hell for the satisfying your lust?' So say I to thee: If it be an intolerable thing to suffer the heat of the fire for a year, or a day, or an hour, what will it be to suffer ten thousand times more for ever?
What, if thou wert to suffer Lawrence's death, to be roasted upon a gridiron; or to be scraped or pricked to death as other martyrs were; or if thou wert to feed upon toads for a year together. If thou couldst not endure such things as these, how wilt thou endure the eternal flames?
Sixthly: Tell me yet again, If hell be so small a matter, why canst thou not endure so much as the thoughts, or the mention of it? If thou be alone, thou darest scarcely think of hell, for fear of raising disquietness in thy spirit. If thou be in company, thou canst not
endure to have any serious speech of it, lest it spoil the sport, and mar the mirth, and make thee tremble, as Felix did when Paul was discoursing of the judgment to come. Thou canst not endure to hear a minister preach of hell, but thou gnashest thy teeth, and disdainest him, and reproachest his sermon, as enough to drive men to desperation, or make them mad. And canst thou endure the torments, when thou canst not endure so much as to hear of them?
Alas! man, to hear thy judgment from the mouth of Christ, and to feel the execution, will be another kind of matter, than to hear it from a minister.
Seventhly: Furthermore, What is the matter that the rich man in hell, mentioned in Luke 16, could not make as light of it as thou dost? Was not he as likely a man to bear it as thyself? Why doth he so cry out that he is tormented in the flames; and stoop so low, as to beg a drop of water of a beggar that he had but a little before despised at his gates; and to be beholden to him, that had been beholden to the dogs to lick his sores?
Also, what aileth thy companions, who were as resolute as thyself, that when they lie a dying, their courage is so cooled, and their haughty expressions are so greatly changed? They who had the same spirits and language as thou hast now, and made as light of all the threats of the word; yet when they see they are going into another world, how pale do they look; how faintly do they speak; how dolefully do they complain and groan! They send for the minister then, whom they despised before, and desire to be prayed for, and would be glad to die in the state of those whom they would not be persuaded to imitate in their lives; except it be here and there a desperate wretch, who is given over to a more than hellish hardness of heart. Why cannot these make as light of it as thou?
Eighthly: Yet further, If thou be so fearless of that eternal misery, why is the least foretaste of it so terrible? Didst thou never feel such a thing as a tormenting conscience? If thou hast not, thou shalt do.
Didst thou never see and speak with a man that lived in desperation,
or in some degree of those wounds of spirit that were near despair?
How uncomfortable was their conference! How burdensome their lives! Nothing doth them good which they possess; the sight of friends, or house, or goods, which refresh others, is a trouble to them; they feel no sweetness in meat or drink; they are weary of life, and fearful of death. What is the matter with these men? If the misery of the damned itself can be endured, why cannot they more easily endure these little sparks?
Ninthly: Again, tell me faithfully, what if thou shouldst but see the devil appear to thee in some terrible shape, would it not daunt thee?
What, if thou shouldst meet him in thy way home, or he should show himself to thee at night in thy bed-chamber, would not thy heart fail thee, and thy hair stand on end? I could name thee those that have been as confident as thyself, who, by such a sight, have been so appalled, that they were in danger of being driven out of their wits.
Or, what, if some damned soul, of thy former acquaintance, should appear to thee in some bodily likeness, would not this amaze thee?
What fears do people live in, whose houses or persons have been but haunted with spirits, though they have only heard some noises, and seen some sights, but never felt any hurt upon their bodies? Alas! what is this to the torments of hell? Canst thou not endure a shadow to appear before thee? Oh, how wilt thou endure to live with them for ever, where thou shalt have no other company but devils and the damned; and shalt not only see them, but be tormented with them, and by them! And as incredible a matter as this seems to thee, if thy thorough conversion prevent it not, thou knowest not how very few months thou shalt be out of this estate.
Tenthly and lastly: Let me ask thee one more question, if the wrath of God be to be made so light of as thou dost, why did the Son of God himself make so great a matter of it? when he, who was perfectly innocent himself, had taken upon him the payment of our debt, and stood in our room, and bore that punishment that we had deserved, it makes him sweat forth water and blood; it makes the Lord of life cry, "My soul is heavy, even to the death." It makes him cry out upon
the cross, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" Surely, if any one could have borne these sufferings easily, it would have been
Jesus Christ. He had another measure of strength to bear it than thou hast.
And let me tell thee one thing, which every one understandeth not; thou wilt have sins of a more heinous nature and degree to suffer for, than ever were laid upon Jesus Christ. For Christ suffered only for the breaches of the covenant of works, and not for the violation of the covenant of grace (properly so called, that is, not for the final nonperformance of the conditions of this covenant). There was no man's final prevailing unbelief, impenitency, or rejecting of Christ, that did lie upon Christ. Howsoever the aggravation of all men's sins might aggravate his burden, yet the punishment due to those sins particularly was not like the punishment which is due to thine. For as the first covenant gave not so great a reward, so neither did it threaten so great a penalty as the latter doth. And the penalty which the new covenant threateneth, Christ never underwent. So that the punishment which thou must suffer, is that which the Apostle speaks of, "Of how much sorer punishment," &c. (Heb. 10:29,) and that fearful looking for of judgment and fire, which devoureth the adversaries. (Heb. 6:8.) Wo to poor sinners for their mad security!
Do they think to find it tolerable to them, which was so heavy to Christ? Nay, the Son of God is cast into a bitter agony, and bloody sweat, and dolorous complaints, under the curse of the law alone; and yet the feeble, foolish creature makes nothing to bear also the curse of the Gospel. The good Lord bring these men to their right minds by repentance, lest they buy their wit at too dear a rate.
Sect. XI. And thus I have showed you somewhat of their misery, who miss of this rest prepared for the saints. And now, reader, I demand thy resolution, what use thou wilt make of all this: shall it all be lost to thee; or, wilt thou, as thou art alone, consider of it in good earnest? Thou hast cast by many a warning of God, wilt thou do so by this also? Take heed what thou dost, and how thou so resolvest. God will not always stand warning and threatening. The hand of revenge
is lifted up, the blow is coming, and wo to him, whoever he be, on whom it lighteth. Little thinkest thou how near thou standest to thy eternal state, and how near the pit thou art dancing in thy greatest jollity. If thy eyes were but opened, as they will be shortly, thou wouldst see all this that I have spoken before thine eyes, without stirring from the place, I think, in which thou standest. Dost thou throw by the book, and say, 'It speaks of nothing but hell and damnation?' Thus thou usest also to complain of the minister; but wouldst thou not have us tell thee of these things? Should we be guilty of the blood of thy soul, by keeping silent that which God hath charged us upon pain of death to make known? Wouldst thou perish in ease and silence, and also have us to perish with thee, rather than to awake thee, or displease thee, by speaking the truth? If thou wilt be guilty of such inhuman cruelty, yet God forbid we should be guilty of such most sottish folly! there are few preachers so simple, but they know that this kind of preaching is the ready way to be hated of their hearers. And the desire of applause, and the favour of men, is so natural to all men, that I think there are few that delight in such a displeasing way. Our temptations to flattery and man-pleasing are too strong for that. But I beseech thee, consider, are these things true, or are they not? If they were not true, I would heartily join with thee against any minister that should offer to preach them, and to affright poor people when there is no cause; and, I should think, such preachers did deserve death or banishment. But if every word of these threatenings be the words of God, and if they be as true as thou livest and readest this, what a wretch art thou that wouldst not hear it, or consider it! Why, what is the matter? If thou be sure that thou art one of the people of God, this doctrine will be a comfort to thee, and not a terror: but if thou be yet carnal and unregenerate, methinks thou shouldst be as afraid to hear of heaven as of hell, except the bare name of heaven or salvation be sufficient. Sure, there is no doctrine concerning heaven in all the Scripture that can give thee any comfort, but upon the supposal of thy conversion; what comfort is it to thee, to hear that there is a rest remaining to the people of God, except thou be one of them? Nay, what more terrible, than to read of Christ and salvation for others, when thou must be
shut out? Therefore, except thou wouldst have a minister to preach a lie, it is all one to thee for any comfort thou hast in it, whether he preach of heaven or hell to thee. His preaching heaven and mercy to thee, can be nothing else but to entreat thee to seek them, and not neglect or reject them; but he can make thee no promise of it, but upon the condition of thy obeying the Gospel; and his preaching hell, is but to persuade thee to avoid it. And is not this doctrine fit for thee to hear? Indeed, if thou wert quite past hope of escaping it, then it were in vain to tell thee of hell, but rather let thee take a few merry hours whilst thou mayst; but, as long as thou art alive, there is some hope of thy recovery, and therefore all means must be used to awake thee from thy lethargy. Oh, that some Jonas had this point in hand to cry in your ears, "Yet a few days, and the rebellious shall be destroyed;" till you were brought down on your knees in sackcloth and in ashes! Oh, if some John Baptist might cry it abroad, "Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." Oh, that some son of thunder, who could speak as Paul, till the hearers tremble, were now to preach this doctrine to thee! Alas! as terribly as you think I speak, yet is it not the thousandth part of what must be felt; for what heart can now possibly conceive, or what tongue can express the dolors of those souls that are under the wrath of God? Ah, that ever blind sinners should wilfully bring themselves to such unspeakable misery!
You will then be crying to Jesus Christ, 'Oh, mercy! oh, pity, pity, on a poor soul!' Why, I do now in the name of the Lord Jesus cry to thee,
Oh, have mercy, have pity, man, upon thine own soul! shall God pity thee, who wilt not be entreated to pity thyself? If thy horse see but a pit before him, thou canst scarcely force him in. Balaam's ass would not be driven upon the drawn sword; and wilt thou so obstinately cast thyself into hell, when the danger is foretold thee? "Oh, who can stand before the Lord, and who can abide the fierceness of his anger?" (Nahum 1:6.) Methinks thou shouldst need no more words, but presently cast away thy soul-damning sins, and wholly deliver up thyself to Christ. Resolve on it immediately, man, and let it be done, that I may see thy face in rest among the saints. The Lord persuade thy heart to strike this covenant without any longer delay: but if thou