N34404:902
Human nature in its fourfold state ... In several practical discourses. / By Mr. Thomas Boston, late Minister of the Gospel at Etterick.
United States : s.n. Printed for the booksellers., M,DCC,LXXXVII. 1787
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Observe the continual succession of hours▪ days, months, and years, how one still follow upon one another; and think of eternity, wherein there is a continual succession without end When you go out in the night, and behold the stars of heaven, how they cannot be numbered for multitude, think of the ages of eternity; considering withal, there is a certain definite number of the stars, but no number of the ages of eternity. When you see a water running, think how vain a thing it would be, to sit down by it and wait till it should run out, that you may pass over▪ look how n•w water still succeeds to that which passeth by you: and therein you will have an image of eternity, which is a river that never dries up. They who wear rings, have an image of eternity on their fingers; and they who handle the wheel have an emblem of eternity before them▪ for to which part soever of the ring or wheel one looks, one will still see another part beyond it; and on whatsoever moment of eternity you condescend, there is still another beyond it. When you are abroad in the fields, and behold the piles of the grass on the earth, which no man can reckon; think with yourselves, that, were as many thousand of years to come, as there are piles of grass on the ground, even those would have an end at length, but eternity will have none. When you look to a mountain, imagine in your hearts, how long would it be, ere that mountain should be removed, by a little bird coming but once every thousand years, and c•rrying away but one grain of the dust thereof at once; the mountain would at length be removed that way, and brought to an end; but eternity will never end. Suppose this with respect to all the mountains of the earth: nay, with respect to the whole globe of the earth; the grains of dust, whereof the whole earth is made up, are not infinite, and therefore the last grain would, at long run, come to be carried away, in the way supposed: but when that slowest work would be brought to an end, eternity would be, in effect but beginning.
Observe the continual succession of hours▪ days, months, and years, how one still follow upon one another; and think of eternity, wherein there is a continual succession without end When you go out in the night, and behold the stars of heaven, how they cannot be numbred for multitude, think of the ages of eternity; considering withal, there is a certain definite number of the stars, but no number of the ages of eternity. When you see a water running, think how vain a thing it would be, to sit down by it and wait till it should run out, that you may pass over▪ look how n•w water still succeeds to that which passeth by you: and therein you will have an image of eternity, which is a river that never dries up. They who wear rings, have an image of eternity on their fingers; and they who handle the wheel have an emblem of eternity before them▪ for to which part soever of the ring or wheel one looks, one will still see another part beyond it; and on whatsoever moment of eternity you condescend, there is still another beyond it. When you are abroad in the fields, and behold the piles of the grass on the earth, which no man can reckon; think with yourselves, that, were as many thousand of years to come, as there are piles of grass on the ground, even those would have an end at length, but eternity will have none. When you look to a mountain, imagine in your hearts, how long would it be, ere that mountain should be removed, by a little bird coming but once every thousand years, and c•rrying away but one grain of the dust thereof at once; the mountain would at length be removed that way, and brought to an end; but eternity will never end. Suppose this with respect to all the mountains of the earth: nay, with respect to the whole globe of the earth; the grains of dust, whereof the whole earth is made up, are not infinite, and therefore the last grain would, at long run, come to be carried away, in the way supposed: but when that slowest work would be brought to an end, eternity would be, in effect but beginning.
These are some rude draughts of eternity; and now add misery and woe to this eternity, what tongue can express it? What heart can conceive it? In what balance can that misery and that woe be weighed?
Secondly, Let us t•ke a view of what is eternal in the state of the damned in hell. Whatsoever is included in the fearful sentence, determining them eternal state, is everlasting: therefore all the doleful ingredients of their miserable state will be everlasting; they will never end. The text expressly declares the fire, into which they must depart, to be everlasting fire And our Lord elsewhere tells us, that in hell the fire shall never be quenched. (Mark ix. 43.) with an eye to the valley of Hinnom, in which, besides the already mentioned fire, for burning of the children to Molech, there was also another fire burning continually, to consume the dead carcasses, and filth of Jerusalem; so the scripture representing hell fire by the fire of that valley, speaks it not only to be most exquisite, but also everlasting. Seeing ⟨p. 339⟩then the damned must depart, as cursed ones, into everlasting fire, it is evidence that,
Secondly, Let us t•ke a view of what is eternal in the state of the damned in hell. Whatsoever is included in the fearful sentence, determining them eternal state, is everlasting: therefore all the dolefull ingredients of their mi•erable state will be everlasting; they will never end. The text expressly declares the fire, into which they must depart, to be everlasting fire And our Lord elsewhere tells us, that in hell the fire shall never be qu•nched. (Mark ix. 43.) with an eye to the valley of Hinnom, in which, besides the already mentioned fire, for burning of the children to Molech, there was also another fire burning continually, to consume the dead carcases, and filth of Jerusalem; so the scripture representing hell fire by the fire of that valley, speaks it not only to be most exquisite, but also everlasting. Seeing ⟨p. 339⟩then the damned must depart, as cursed ones, into everlasting fire, it is evidence that,
1st, The damned themselves shall be eternal: they will have a being for ever, and will never be substantially destroyed, or annihilated. To what end is the fire eternal; if these who are cast into it, be not eternally in it! It is plain, the everlasting continuance of the fire, is an aggravation of the misery of the damned: but surely, if they be annihilated, or substantially destroyed, it is all a case to them, whether the fire be everlasting, or not. Nay, but they depart into everlasting fire, to be everlastingly punished in it; Matth xxv. 46. They shall go away into everlasting punishment. Thus the execution of the sentence, is a certain discovery of the meaning of it. The worm, that dieth not, must have a subject to live in: they, who shall have no rest, day nor night, (Rev. xiv. 11.) but shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever, (chap. xx. 10) will certainly have a being for ever and ever, and not be brought into a state of eternal rest in annihilation Destroyed indeed they shall be: but their destruction will be an everlasting destruction, (2 Thess. i 9.) a destruction of their well-being, but not of their being. What is destroyed, is not therefore annihilated; Art thou come to destroy us? said the devil unto Jesus Christ, Luke iv. 34. Howbeit the devils are afraid of torment, not of annihilation, Matth. viii. 29. Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? The state of the damned is indeed a state of death: but such a death it is, as is opposite only to a happy life; as is clear from other notions of their state, which necessarily include an eternal existence, of which before. As they, who are dead in sin, are dead to God and holiness, yet live to sin: so dying in hell, they live, but separated from God, and his favour, in which life lies, Psal. xxx 5. They shall ever be under the pang of death; ever dying, but never dead, or absolutely void of life. How desirable would such a death be to them! but it will fly from them for ever. Could each one kill another there or could they, with their own hands, rent themselves into lifeless pieces their misery would quickly be at an end: but there they must live, who chose death and refused life; for there death lives, and the end ever begins.
2dly, The curse shall fly upon them eternally, as the everlasting chain, to hold them in the everlasting fire; a chain that shall never be loosed, being fixed for ever about them, by the dreadful sentence of the eternal judgment. This chain, which spurns the united force of devils held fast by it •s too strong to be broken by men, who being solemnly anathematized, and devoted to destruction, can never be recovered to any other use.
3dly, Their punishment shall be eternal; Matth. xxv. 46. They shall go away into everlasting punishment. They will be, for ever, separate from God and Christ, and from the society of the holy angels and saints; between whom and them an impassible gulf will be fixed, Luke xvi. 26. Between us and you, (says Abraham, in the parable, to the rich man in hell) there is a great g••f fixed, so that they which would ⟨p. 340⟩pass from hence to you, cannot: neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. They shall for ever, have the horrible society of the devil and his angels. There will be no change of company for evermore, in that region of darkness Their torment in the fire will be everlasting: they must live for ever in it. Several authors both ancient and modern, tell us of earthen flax, or Salamander's hair; that cloth made of it, being cast into the fire, is so far from being burnt or consumed, that it is only made clean thereby, as other things are by washing But, however that is, it is certain, the damned shall be tormented for ever and ever in hell fire, and not substantially destroyed, Rev xx. 10. And indeed nothing is annihilated by fire, but only dissolved. Of what nature soever hell-fire is, no question, the same God who kept the bodies of the three children from burning in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, can also keep the bodies of the damned from any such dissolution by hell-fire, as may infer privation of life.
Lastly, Their knowledge and sense of their misery shall be eternal, and they shall assuredly know that it will be eternal. How desirable would it be in them, to have their senses for ever locked up, and to lose the consciousness of their own misery; as one may rationally suppose it to fare at length with some, in the punishment of death inflicted on them on earth, and as it is with some mad people in their miserable case! but that agrees not with the notion of torment for ever and ever, nor the worm that dieth not. Nay, they will ever have a lively feeling of their misery, and strongest impressions of the wrath of God against them. And that dreadful intimation of the eternity of their punishment, made to them, by the Judge, in their sentence, will fix such impressions of the eternity of their miserable state upon their minds, as they will never be able to lay aside, but will continue with them evermore, to complete their misery. This will fill them with everlasting despair, a most tormenting passion, which will continually rent their hearts, as it were in a thousand pieces. To see floods of wrath ever coming, and never to cease; to be ever in torment, and withal to know there shall never, never, be a release, will be the cape-stone put on the misery of the damned, If hope deferred, maketh the heart sick, (Prov xiii. 12.) how killing will be, hope rooted up, slain outright, and buried for ever out of the creature's sight! this will fill them with hatred and rage against God, their known irreconcilable enemy; and under it, they will roar for ever like wild bulls in a net, and fill the pit with blasphemies evermore.
Lastly, Their knowledge and sense of their misery shall be eternal, and they shall assuredly know that it will be eternal. How desirable would it be in them, to have their senses for ever locked up, and to lose the consciousness of their own misery; as one may rationally suppose it to fare at length with some, in the punishment of death inflicted on them on earth, and as it is with some mad people in their miserable case! but that agrees not with the notion of torment for ever and ever, nor the worm that dieth not. Nay, they will ever have a lively feeling of their misery, and strongest impressions of the wrath of God against them. And that dreadful intimation of the eternity of their punishment, made to them, by the Judge, in their sentence, will fix such impressions of the eternity of their miserable state upon their minds, as they will never be able to lay aside, but will continue with them evermore, to complete their misery. This will fill them with everlasting despair, a most tormenting passion, which will continually rent their hearts, as it were in a thousand pieces. To see floods of wrath ever coming, and never to cease; to be ever in torment, and withal to know there shall never, never, be a release, will be the cape-stone put on the misery of the damned, If hope deferred, maketh the heart sick, (Prov xiii. 12.) how killing will be, hope rooted up, slain outright, and buried for ever out of the creature's sight! this will fill them with hatred and rage against God, their known irreconcileable enemy; and under it, they will roar for ever like wild bulls in a net, and fill the pit with blasphemies evermore.
Lastly, I might here show the reasonableness of the eternity of the punishment of the damned; but having already spoke of it in vindicating the justice of God, in his subjecting men in their natural state to eternal wrath, I only remind you of three things, (1.) The infinite dignity of the party offended by sin, requires an infinite punishment to be inflicted for the vindication of his honour: since the demerit of sin riseth according to the dignity and excellency of the person against whom it is committed. The party offended is the great God, the chief ⟨p. 341⟩good: the offender, a vile worm; in respect of perfection infinitely distant from God, to whom he is indebted for all that ever he had, implying any good, or perfection whatsoever. This then requires an infinite punishment to be inflicted on the sinner, the which, since it cannot▪ in him, be infinite in value, must needs be infinite in duration, that is to say, eternal. Sin is a kind of infinite evil, as it wrongs an infinite God; and the guilt and defilement thereof is never taken away, but endures for ever, unless the Lord himself in mercy do remove it God, who is offended, is eternal, his being never comes to an end, the sinful soul is immortal, and the man shall live for ever: the sinner being without strength, (Rom. v 6.) to expiate his guilt, can never put away the offence; therefore it ever remains, unless the Lord do put it away himself, as in the elect, by his Son's blood. Wherefore the party offended, the offender, and the offence, ever remaining, the punishment cannot but be eternal (2.) The sinner would have continued the course of his provocations against God, for ever without end, if God had not put a check to it by death As long as they were capable to act against him, in this world, they did it; and therefore justly he will act against them, while he is; that is, for ever. God who judgeth of the will, intents, and inclinations of the heart may justly do against sinners, in punishing, as they would have done against him, in sinning. Lastly, (though I put not the stress of the matter here, yet) it is just and reasonable the damned suffer eternally, since they will sin eternally in hell, gnashing their teeth (Matth viii. 12.) under their pain, in rage, envy, and grudge, (compare Acts vii. 54. Psal. cxii. 10.
whither they are driven away in their wickedness, Prov. xiv. 42. That the wicked be punished for their wickedness, is just: and it is noways inconsistent with justice, that the being of the creature be continued for ever: wherefore, it is just, that the damned, continuing wicked eternally, do suffer eternally for their wickedness. The misery, under which they sin, can neither free them from the debt of obedience, nor excuse their sinning, and make it blameless. The creature, as a creature, is bound unto obedience to his Creator, and no punishment, inflicted on him▪ can free him from it, more than the malefactor's prisons, irons, whipping, and the like, do set him at liberty, to commit anew the crimes for which he is imprisoned, or whipped. Neither can the torments of the damned excuse or make blameless their horrible sinning under them, more than exquisite pains, inflicted upon men on earth, can excuse their murmuring, fretting, and blaspheming against God under them: for it is not the wrath of God, but their own wicked nature, that is the true cause of their sinning under it: and so the holy Jesus bore the wrath of God, without so much as one unbecoming thought of God, and far less any one unbecoming word.
whither they are driven away in their wickedness, Prov. xiv. 42. That the wicked be punished for their wickedness, is just: and it is noways inconsistent with justice, that the being of the creature be continued for ever: wherefore, it is just, that the damned, continuing wicked eternally, do suffer eternally for their wickedness. The misery, under which they sin, can neither free them from the debt of obedience, nor excuse their sinning, and make it blameless. The creature, as a creature, is bound unto obedience to his Creator, and no punishment, inflicted on him▪ can free him from it, more than the malefactor's prisons, irons, whipping, and the like, do set him at liberty, to commit anew the crimes for which he is imprisoned, or whipt. Neither can the torments of the damned excuse or make blameless their horrible sinning under them, more than exquisite pains, inflicted upon men on earth, can excuse their murmuring, fretting, and blaspheming against God under them: for it is not the wrath of God, but their own wicked nature, that is the true cause of their sinning under it: and so the holy Jesus bore the wrath of God, without so much as one unbecoming thought of God, and far less any one unbecoming word.
USE I. Here is a measuring reed: O! that men would apply it. First, Apply it to your time in this world, and you will find your time to be very short. A prospect of much time to come, proves the ruin of ⟨p. 342⟩many souls. Men will be reckoning their time by years, (like that rich man, Luke xii. 19, 20) when it may be, there are not many hours of it to run But reckon as you will, laying your time to the measuring reed of eternity, you will see your age is as nothing. What a small and inconsiderable point is sixty, eighty, or a hundred years, in respect of eternity? Compared with eternity, there is a greater disproportion, than between a hair's breadth and the circumference of the whole earth. Why do we sleep then in such a short day, while we are in hazard of losing rest through the long night of eternity? 2dly, Apply it to your endeavours for salvation, and they will be found very scanty. When men are pressed to diligence in their salvation-work, they are ready to say, "To what purpose is this waste?" Alas! if it were to be judged by our diligence, what is it that we have in view, as to the most part of us, no man could thereby conjecture, that we have eternity in view. If we duly considered eternity, we could not but conclude, that, to leave no means appointed of God unessayed, till we get our salvation secured; to refuse rest or comfort in any thing, till we are sheltered under the wings of the Mediator; to pursue our great interest with the utmost vigour, to cut off lusts dear as right hands and right eyes, to set our faces resolutely against all difficulties, and fight our way through all the opposition made by the devil, the world, and the flesh; are, all of them together, little enough for eternity.
USE II. Here is a balance of the sanctuary, by which one may understand the lightness of what is falsely thought weighty; and the weight of some things, by many reckoned to be very light.
USE II. Here is a balance of the sanctuary, by which one may understand the lightness of what is falsly thought weighty; and the weight of some things, by many reckoned to be very light.
FIRST, Some things seem very weighty, which weighed in this balance, will be found very light. (1.) Weigh the world, and all that is in it▪ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and the whole will be found light in the balance of eternity. Weigh herein all worldly profits, gains and advantages; and you will quickly see, that a thousand worlds will not quit the cost of the eternity of woe. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Matth. xvi. 26. Weigh the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season, with the fire that is everlasting, and you must account yourselves fools and madmen, to run the hazard of the one for the other. (2.) Weigh your afflictions in this balance, and you will find the heaviest of them very right, in respect of the weight of eternal anguish. Impatience under affliction, especially when worldly troubles do so •itter mens spirits, that they cannot relish the glad tidings of the gospel, speaks great regardlessness of eternity. As a small and inconsiderable loss will be very little at heart with him, who sees himself in hazard of losing his whole estate so troubles in the world will appear but light to him, who has a lively view of eternity. Such a one will stoop, and take up his cross, whatever it be, thinking it enough to e••ape eternal death. (3) Weigh the most difficult and uneasy duties of religion here, and you will no more reckon the yoke of Christ unsupportable. Repentance and bitter mourning for sin on earth, are very light in comparison of eternal weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth in hell. To wrestle with God in prayer, weeping and making supplication for the blessing in time is far easier than to lie under the curse through all eternity. Mortification of the most beloved lust is a light thing in comparison with the second death in hell LASTLY, Weigh your convictions in this balance O! how heavy do these […] upon many, till they get them shaken off! They are not disposed to f•ll in […] them, bu• strive to get clear of them, a• […] mig••y burden. But the w•rm of an ill conscience, will neither die nor sleep in hel•, though […] it asleep […]
And certainly it is easier to entertain the sharpest convictions in this life, so as they may lead one to Christ, than to have them fixed for ever in the conscience, while in hell one is totally and finally separated from him.
SECONDLY, But on the other hand, (1.) Weigh sin in this balance; and, though now it seems but a light thing to you, ye will find it a weight sufficient to turn up an eternal weight of wrath upon you. Even idle words, vain thoughts, and unprofitable actions, weighed in this balance, and considered as following the sinner into eternity, will each of them be heavier than the sand of the sea: time idly spent will make a weary eternity. Now is your seed-time; thoughts, words and actions are the seed sown; eternity is the harvest: though the seed now lies under the clod, unregarded by most men, even the least grain shall spring up at length; and the fruit will be according to the seed, Gal. vi. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption (i. e. destruction;) but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (2.) Weigh in this balance your time, and opportunities of grace and salvation, and you will find them very weighty. Precious time and seasons of grace, sabbaths, communions, prayers, sermons, and the like, are by many now a-days made light of: but the day is coming, when one of these will be reckoned more valuable than a thousand worlds, by those who now have the least value for them. When they are gone for ever, and the loss cannot be retrieved; these will see the worth of them, who will not now see it.
SECONDLY, But on the other hand, (1.) Weigh sin in this balance; and, though now it seems but a light thing to you, ye will find it a weight sufficient to turn up an eternal weight of wrath upon you. Even idle words, vain thoughts, and unprofitable actions, weighed in this ballance, and considered as following the sinner into eternity, will each of them be heavier than the sand of the sea: time idly spent will make a weary eternity. Now is your seed-time; thoughts, words and actions are the seed sown; eternity is the harvest: though the seed now lies under the clod, unregarded by most men, even the least grain shall spring up at length; and the fruit will be according to the seed, Gal. vi. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption (i. e. destruction;) but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (2.) Weigh in this balance your time, and opportunities of grace and salvation, and you will find them very weighty. Precious time and seasons of grace, sabbaths, communions, prayers, sermons, and the like, are by many now a-days made light of: but the day is coming, when one of these will be reckoned more valuable than a thousand worlds, by those who now have the least value for them. When they are gone for ever, and the loss cannot be retrieved; these will see the worth of them, who will not now see it.
USE III. and LAST, Be warned and stirred up to flee from the wrath to come. Mind eternity, and closely ply the work of your salvation. What are you doing▪ while you are not so doing? Is heaven a fable, or hell a mere scarecrow? Must we live eternally, and will we be at no more pains to escape everlasting misery? Will faint wishes take the kingdom of heaven by force? And will such drowsy endeavours, as most men satisfy themselves with, be accounted flying from the wrath to come? Ye who have already fled to Christ, up, and be doing: ye have begun the work; go on, loiter not, but work out your salvation with fear and trembling, Philip. ii 12. Fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, Matth. x. 28. Remember, ye are not yet ascended into heaven: ye are but in your middle state: The everlasting arms have drawn you out of the gulf of wrath ye were plunged into, in your natural state; they are still underneath you, that ye can never fall down into it again: nevertheless, ye have not yet got up to the top of the rock; the deep below you is frightful; look at it, and hasten your ascent. Ye who are yet in your natural state, lift up your eyes, and take a view of the eternal state. Arise, ye profane persons, ye ignorant ones, ye formal hypocrites, strangers to the power of godliness, flee from the wrath to come. Let not the young adventure to delay a moment longer, nor the old put off this work any more. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; lest he swear in his wrath, that ye shall never enter into his rest. It is no time to linger in a state of sin, as in Sodom, when fire and brimstone are coming down on it from the Lord. Take warning in time: they who are in hell, are not troubled with such warnings; but are enraged against themselves for that they slighted the warning, when they had it.
USE III. and LAST, Be warned and stirred up to flee from the wrath to come. Mind eternity, and closely ply the work of your salvation. What are you doing▪ while you are not so doing? Is heaven a fable, or hell a mere scarecrow? Must we live eternally, and will we be at no more pains to escape everlasting misery? Will faint wishes take the kingdom of heaven by force? And will such drowsy endeavours, as most men satisfy themselves with, be accounted flying from the wrath to come? Ye who have already fled to Christ, up, and be doing: ye have begun the work; go on, loiter not, but work out your salvation with fear and trembling, Philip. ii 12. Fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell,
Consider, I pray you, (1.) How uneasy it is to lie one whole night or a soft bed, in perfect health, when one very fain would have sleep, but cannot get it; sleep being departed from him How often will one in that case wish for rest! How full of tossings to and fro! But ah! how dreadful must it then be to lie in sorrow, wrapped up in scorching flames through long eternity, in ⟨p. 344⟩that place where they have no rest day nor night! (2.) How terrib•• would it be to live under violent pains of the colic or gravel, for forty or sixty years together, without any intermission! Yet that is but a very small thing in comparison of eternal separation from God, the worm that never d•e•, and the fire that is never quenched. (3.) Eternity is an awful thought; O long, long, endless eternity! But will not every moment, in eternity of woe, seem a month, and every hour a year, in that most wretched and desperate condition? Hence ever and ever, as it were a double eternity. The sick man in the night, tossing to and fro on his bed, says, it will never be day, complains that his pain ever continues, never, never abates. Are these petty time-eternities, which men form to themselves, in their own imaginations, so very grievous? Alas! then how grievous, how utterly unsupportable must real eternity of woe, and all manner of miseries be! LASTLY, There will be space enough there, to reflect on all the ills of one's heart and life, which one cannot get time to think of now; and to see that all that was said of the impenitent sinner's hazard, was true, and that the half was not told. There will be space enough in eternity to think on delayed repentance, to rue one's follies, when it is too late; and in a state past remedy, to speak forth their fruitless wishes: O that I had never been born! That the womb had been my grave, and I had never seen the sun! O that I had taken warning in time, and fled from his wrath, while the door of mercy was standing open to me! O that I had never heard the gospel, that I had lived in some corner of the world, where a Saviour and the great salvation were not once named! But all in vain. What is done cannot be undone; the opportunity is lost, and can never be retrieved; time is gone, and cannot be recalled. Wherefore improve time, while you have it, and do not wilfully ruin yourselves, by stopping your ear to the gospel-call.
Consider, I pray you, (1.) How uneasy it is to ly one whole night or a soft bed, in perfect health, when one very fain would have sleep, but cannot get it; sleep being departed from him How often will one in that case wish for rest! How full of tossings to and fro! But ah! how dreadful must it then be to ly in sorrow, wrapt up in scorching flames through long eternity, in
1st, The damned themselves shall be eternal: they will have a being for ever, and will never be substantially destroyed, or annihilated. To what end is the fire eternal; if these who are cast into it, be not eternally in it! It is plain, the everlasting continuance of the fire, is an aggravation of the misery of the damned: but surely, if they be annihilated, or substantially destroyed, it is all a case to them, whether the fire be everlasting, or not. Nay, but they depart into everlasting fire, to be everlastingly punished in it; Matth xxv. 46. They shall go away into everlasting punishment. Thus the execution of the sentence, is a certain discovery of the meaning of it. The worm, that dieth not, must have a subject to live in: they, who shall have no rest, day nor night, (Rev. xiv. 11.) but shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever, (chap. xx. 10) will certainly have a being for ever and ever, and not be brought into a state of eternal rest in annihilation Destroyed indeed they shall be: but their destruction will be an everlasting destruction, (2 Thess. i 9.) a destruction of their well-being, but not of their being. What is destroyed, is not therefore annihilated; Art thou come to destroy us? said the devil unto Jesus Christ, Luke iv. 34. Howbeit the devils are afraid of torment, not of annihilation, Matth. viii. 29. Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? The state of the damned is indeed a state of death: but such a death it is, as is opposite only to a happy life; as is clear from other notions of their state, which necessarily include an eternal existence, of which before. As they, who are dead in sin, are dead to God and holiness, yet live to sin: so dying in hell, they live, but separated from God, and his favour, in which life lies, Psal. xxx 5. They shall ever be under the pang of death; ever dying, but never dead, or absolutely void of life. How desirable would such a death be to them! but it will fly from them for ever. Could each one kill another there or could they, with their own hands, rent themselves into lifeless pieces their misery would quickly be at an end: but there they must live, who chosed death and refused life; for there death lives, and the end ever begins.
Lastly, I might here shew the reasonableness of the eternity of the punishment of the damned; but having already spoke of it in vindicating the justice of God, in his subjecting men in their natural state to eternal wrath, I only remind you of three things, (1.) The infinite dignity of the party offended by sin, requires an infinite punishment to be inflicted for the vindication of his honour: since the demerit of sin riseth according to the dignity and excellency of the person against whom it is committed. The party offended is the great God, the chief ⟨p. 341⟩good: the offender, a vile worm; in respect of perfection infinitely distant from God, to whom he is indebted for all that ever he had, implying any good, or perfection whatsoever. This then requires an infinite punishment to be inflicted on the sinner, the which, since it cannot▪ in him, be infinite in value, must needs be infinite in duration, that is to say, eternal. Sin is a kind of infinite evil, as it wrongs an infinite God; and the gult and defilement thereof is never taken away, but endures for ever, unless the Lord himself in mercy do remove it God, who is offended, is eternal, his being never comes to an end, the sinful soul is immortal, and the man shall live for ever: the sinner being without strength, (Rom. v 6.) to expiate his gult, can never put away the offence; therefore it ever remains, unless the Lord do put it away himself, as in the elect, by his Son's blood. Wherefore the party offended, the offender, and the offence, ever remaining, the punishment cannot but be eternal (2.) The sinner would have continued the course of his provocations against God, for ever without end, if God had not put a check to it by death As long as they were capable to act against him, in this world, they did it; and therefore justly he will act against them, while he is; that is, for ever. God who judgeth of the will, intents, and inclinations of the heart may justly do against sinners, in punishing, as they would have done against him, in sinning. Lastly, (though I put not the stress of the matter here, yet) it is just and reasonable the damned suffer eternally, since they will sin eternally in hell, gnashing their teeth (Matth viii. 12.) under their pain, in rage, envy, and grudge, (compare Acts vii. 54. Psal. cxii. 10. Luke xiii. 28.) and blaspheming God there, (Rev. xvi. 21.)
FIRST, Some things seem very weighty, which weighed in this balance, will be found very light. (1.) Weigh the world, and all that is in it▪ the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and the whole will be found light in the balance of eternity. Weigh herein all worldly profits, gains and advantages; and you will quickly see, that a thousand worlds will not quit the cost of the eternity of woe. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Matth. xvi. 26. Weigh the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season, with the fire that is everlasting, and you must account yourselves fools and madmen, to run the hazard of the one for the other. (2.) Weigh your afflictions in this balance, and you will find the heaviest of them very right, in respect of the weight of eternal anguish. Impatience under affliction, especially when worldly troubles do so •itter mens spirits, that they cannot relish the glad tidings of the gospel, speaks great regardlessness of eternity. As a small and inconsiderable loss will be very little at heart with him, who sees himself in hazard of losing his whole estate so troubles in the world will appear but light to him, who has a lively view of eternity. Such a one will stoop, and take up his cross, whatever it be, thinking it enough to e••ape eternal d•ath. (3) Weigh the most difficult and uneasy duties of religion here, and you will no more reckon the yoke of Christ unsupportable. Repentance and bitter mourning for sin on earth, are very light in comparison of eternal weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth in hell. To wrestle with God in prayer, weeping and making supplication for the blessing in time is far easier than to ly under the curse through all eternity. Mor••fication of the most beloved lust is a light thing in comparison with the second death in hell LASTLY, Weigh your convictions in this balance O! how heavy do these 〈…〉 upon many, till they get them shaken off! They are not disposed to f•ll in 〈…〉 them, bu• strive to get clear of them, a• 〈…〉 mig••y burden. But the w•rm of an ill conscience, will neither die nor sl•ep in hel•, though 〈…〉 it asleep 〈…〉 ⟨p. 343⟩a time.
