The sovereign and final happiness of man with the effectual means to obtain itThe soveraign and final happiness of man with the effectual means to obtain it

And as from Despair the condemned Creature turns Enemy to himself, so to God. 'Tis said of the Worshippers of the Image of the Beast,¹ that they gnawed their Tongues for Pain, and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains. The Torment and Blasphemies of those impenitent Idolaters, are a representation of the state of the Damned, where ⟨p. 256⟩the just and dreadful Wrath of God upon Men, and the impious Rage of Men against God is in the highest degrees. For when the guilty Sufferers are so weak, that they neither by Patience can sustain their Torments, nor by Strength resist the Power that inflicts them; yet are wicked and stubborn; they are irritated by their Misery, and foam out Blasphemies against the righteous Judg. They hate God with a direct Enmity, and are always under his invincible tormenting Power. Hatred takes pleasure in Revenge, either real or imaginary. The Damned Wretches were they as Omnipotent to Effect, as they are malicious to Desire, would dethrone God, and destroy his Being. But he is infinitely above the transports of their Fury. All their rancorous cursed imprecations, are reflexively pernicious to themselves; like Arrows shot up against the Sun, that fall down upon their Heads that shot them. Now what more enrages a stubborn malicious Spirit, than to be utterly unable to reach and hurt an irreconcilable Enemy, the object of its habitual detestation? Briefly, as the blessed Spirits are in Heaven, and Heaven is in ⟨p. 257⟩them, by those holy and joyful Affections that are always exercised in the Divine Presence, so the Damned are in Hell, and Hell is in them by those fierce and miserable Passions that continually prey upon them.

And as from Dispair the condemned Creature turns Enemy to himself, so to God. 'Tis said of the Worshippers of the Image of the Beast,¹ that they gnawed their Tongues for Pain, and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains. The Torment and Blasphemies of those impenitent Idolaters, are a representation of the state of the Damned, where ⟨p. 256⟩