Two discourses I. of the punishment of sin in hell, demonstrating the wrath of…

2. It will furthermore agree with the Rules of Justice, yea, it will be a special Trophy unto Justice, to have Sin it self in the Guilt of it, made as far as possibly to be it's own Tormentor, and Instrument of the highest Punishment in and unto the Soul that hath sinned. There is no Sword like unto that, will Justice say, to slay a Sinner withal. It is of all other the most proper and exquisite way of punishing. For the Sinner to eat (for ever) of the Fruit of his own Ways, and ¹to be filled with their own Devices; and their Iniquity to slay them. This is the justest and highest Doom which Wisdom it self can invent, or God's Power execute. The very same doth Jeremiah also speak, Jer. 2. 19. Thine own Wickedness shall correct thee; know therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. Certainly for the Sinner to feel in the most intimate and immediate manner that may be, the bitterness of the Guilt of Sin; and to find that that, above all other Punishments that can be inflicted, is the sharpest and severest: this is a transcendent ⟨p. 90⟩strain of Justice indeed. Now this is most exquisitely accomplished through that proper capacity which Conscience and the intellectual part in Man have as to this very thing: And in their being the Seat of the Guilt of Sin, they are thereby further fitted to become the Vessel or Receptacle of this the highest Punishment. This is in a great measure verified by that in Isa. 59. 11, 12. We roar all like Bears: And what was it that caused this? For our Transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our Sins testify against us: For our Transgressions are with us, (they dwell with and possess us, and we possess them, as Job also speaks): And as for our Iniquities, we know them. It was their very knowing of their Sins, as set on by God, that made them thus roar, which is the loudest and wildest Tone of Grief, and Note of insufferable Torment. And observe, how that that Knowledge had two things in contemplation, which caused the Roaring: 1. Sin, together with the Wrath of God. Our Transgressions are multiplied afore thee. And so they had God in their eye as a Judge; which those words show, We look for Salvation, but it is far from us, v. 11. And, 2. They testify against us. This was the accusation of their own Consciences