Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachi the…Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachy the…

2. At the hour of Separation; When God shall Eternally Separate the Reprobate from the Elect, as a Fan separateth the Chaff from the Wheat, then shall there be a visible discerning between the Righteous and the Wicked, Mat. 25.32. Before him shall be gathered all Nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats. Jesus Christ will take his Saints up with him into Glory, and will cast the Wicked down to Hell: He will make up the Godly as Jewels, and make up the Wicked in Bundles, Mat. 13.30. Bind them in Bundles and burn them^*. Now Sinners shall be convinced with a Vengeance, that the State of the Righteous and Wicked is different: They shall see the Righteous advanced to a Kingdom, and themselves cast into a Fiery Prison. O the dreadfulness of that place of Torment! — Et vox et verba deficiunt— Could men lay their Ears to the Infernal Lake, and but for one hour hear the Groans and Shrieks of the Damned, they would tell us ⟨p. 212⟩that they now see what before they would not believe, the infinite difference between the Righteous and the Wicked^*. In Hell is Torment upon Torment, Blackness of darkness, Jude 13. Bonds and Chains, 2 Pet. 2.4. These Chains are Gods Decree ordaining, and his Power binding men under Wrath; and that which doth accent and put a Sting into the Torments of the wicked is, that they shall be always Scorching in the Torrid Zone of Gods Wrath, Revel. 14.11. The Smoke of their Torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. Christ said of his Suffering on the Cross, It is finished; But Sinners shall never say of their Sufferings in Hell, they are finished: no, imagine so many thousand Years the Damned have lain in Hell as there are drops in the Sea, Eternity is yet to begin.