It is little thought of, but the manner of the coming of God to judge the World, declares what the Souls of impenitent Sinners must look for then. It is common among Men, when we see the Form of a Man's countenance changed, when we see Fire sparkle out of his Eyes, when we read rage and fury in every cast of his Face, even ebefore he says ought, or doth ought either, to conclude that some fearful thing is now to be done. Why, it is said of Christ when he cometh to judgment, that the Heavens and the Earth fly away (as not being able to endure his looks) that his Angels are clad in fflaming fire, and that the Elements melt with fervent heat, and all this is that the Perdition of ungodly Men might be completed, from the presence of the Lord, in the heat of his anger, from the glory of his power. Therefore God will now be revenged, and so ease himself of his Enemies, when he gshall cause Curses like Millstones to fall as thick as Hail on the hairy Scalp of of such a one as goeth on still in his Trespasses. But ⟨p. 60⟩4. As the Loss of the Soul is a Loss peculiar to it self, a Loss double, and a Loss most fearful; so it is a Loss everlasting. The Soul that is lost, is never to be found again, never to be recovered again, never to be redeemed again. It's banishment from God, is everlasting, the fire in which it burns, and by which it must be tormented is a Fire that is ever, everlasting Fire, everlasting burnings, the Adder, the Snake, the Stinging-worm, dyeth not, nor is the Fire quenched; and this is a fearful thing. A man may endure to touch the Fire with a short touch and away, but to dwell with everlasting burnings, that is fearful. Oh, then what is dwelling with them, and in them for ever and ever• We use to say, light burdens far carried are heavy, what then will it be to bear that burden, that guilt, that the Law, and the justice and wrath of God will lay upon the lost Soul for ever? Now tell the Stars, now tell the drops of the Sea, and now tell the blades of Grass that are spread upon the Face of all the Earth if thou canst, and yet sooner mayst thou do this than count the thousands of millions of thousands of years that a damned Soul shall lye in Hell. Suppose every Star that is now in the Firmament was to burn (by himself one by one) a thousand years apiece; would it not be a long while before the last of them was burned out?
It is little thought of, but the manner of the coming of God to judge the World, declares what the Souls of impenitent Sinners must look for then. It is common among Men, when we see the Form of a Man's countenance changed, when we see Fire sparkle out of his Eyes, when we read rage and fury in every cast of his Face, even ebefore he says ought, or doth ought either, to conclude that some fearful thing is now to be done. Why, it is said of Christ when he cometh to judgment, that the Heavens and the Earth fly away (as not being able to endure his looks) that his Angels are clad in fflaming fire, and that the Elements melt with fervent heat, and all this is that the Perdition of ungodly Men might be compleated, from the presence of the Lord, in the heat of his anger, from the glory of his power. Therefore God will now be revenged, and so ease himself of his Enemies, when he gshall cause Curses like Milstones to fall as thick as Hail on the hairy Scalp of of such a one as goeth on still in his Trespasses. But ⟨p. 60⟩4. As the Loss of the Soul is a Loss peculiar to it self, a Loss double, and a Loss most fearful; so it is a Loss everlasting. The Soul that is lost, is never to be found again, never to be recovered again, never to be redeemed again. It's banishment from God, is everlasting, the fire in which it burns, and by which it must be tormented is a Fire that is ever, everlasting Fire, everlasting burnings, the Adder, the Snake, the Stinging-worm, dyeth not, nor is the Fire quenched; and this is a fearful thing. A man may endure to touch the Fire with a short touch and away, but to dwell with everlasting burnings, that is fearful. Oh, then what is dwelling with them, and in them for ever and ever• We use to say, light burdens far carried are heavy, what then will it be to bear that burden, that guilt, that the Law, and the justice and wrath of God will lay upon the lost Soul for ever? Now tell the Stars, now tell the drops of the Sea, and now tell the blades of Grass that are spread upon the Face of all the Earth if thou canst, and yet sooner may'st thou do this than count the thousands of millions of thousands of years that a damned Soul shall lye in Hell. Suppose every Star that is now in the Firmament was to burn (by himself one by one) a thousand years apiece; would it not be a long while before the last of them was burned out?
- eSee Dan. 3. 19, 23.
- fRev. 20. 11, 12. 2 Pet. 3. 7. 2 Thes. 1. 8, 9.
- gPs. 68. 21.
