Christ's certain and sudden appearance to judgment

4. The punishment of the wicked will be remediless; there will be no escaping or flying from the wrath of God; now sinners may flee from the wrath which is to come; but when it is once come, and hath got hold on them; it will hold ⟨p. 139⟩them down, so that they shall never get loose from it: now they may agree with their adversary upon the way; they may make their peace with God in this world; there is no sin for which they may not obtain a pardon, but the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, which carries men away from God; but hereafter in hell there will be no more sacrifice for sin; the Saviour of mankind will be their judge, and pass an irreversible sentence of condemnation upon them; it is possible now for the wicked to be delivered from this punishment, but it will be impossible then to be delivered out of it; their punishment will be remediless.

5. The punishment of the wicked will be eternal, hell fire will be unquenchable, Mark 9. 43. everlasting, Matth. 25. 41. the smoke of the torment will ascend up for ever and ever. Rev. 14. 11. This eternity of punishment will be a fearful aggravation of it; If you saw a malefactor torn to pieces with wild horses, or thrown into a fiery furnace, and there burned to ashes; you would say that either of these were dreadful punishments, though the pain possibly might not endure a quarter of an hour, for death concludes all bodily pains here: what then will it be to endure the torments of hell for ever? a small pain, if it should last long, would be very irksome; much more some racking pains by the stone, strangury, gout, colic, and the like, if they should continue for a year, or a month together, how miserable would they make the life to be? yea, if a man should hold but one of his fingers in the fire but for a day, it would afflict him more, than all outward comforts could delight him; the torments ⟨p. 140⟩