A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the…

Fourthly, The Torments of the damned will be dismal, intolerable ¹and amazing, because they shall be cast into a lake of fire, or be tormented with fire. O how amazing is it, to be thrown into a fierce fire! look into a Glass-house, (behold their burning Furnaces) or into a hot Oven; can you bear the thoughts of being thrown into one of them? whether the fire of Hell be material or metaphorical Fire, however the reality and extensiveness of the Torment is signified by it, held forth by it, and as in other tropes in the Scripture, the things signified or held forth by those Metaphors far exceed what they are borrowed from, so no doubt it is here, our ordinary fire is not an adequate Representation of the fire of Gods Wrath, tho' it may seem to set it forth to our Capacities in some measure; what is the fire that man kindles, to the fire that God kindles? nay, to that Divine Wrath doth kindle? The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle ²it. It is mingled with the most tormenting Ingredients, and not ⟨p. 56⟩a little of it, but a River; this serves so Illustriously to set it forth, that as one hints, as some of the Ancient Fathers expressed it, if one of the damned might pass out of Hell flames into the fiercest fires here, it were to exchange a torment for a refreshment.

1. 1The damned cast into a la7c of fire.
2. 2Isa. 30. 33.

Fifthly, It will be intolerable, because the punishment of Hell ¹is to satisfy Divine Justice, to pay the just Debt owing to God for the breach of his holy Law; true, because sin is an infinite wrong, and the Creature is but finite, they can never pay the Debt, nor make a satisfaction for the injury done to God, therefore they must suffer eternally; they are always a paying, but can never fully pay what they owe, Justice requiring the utmost farthing