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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 then the damned must depart as cursed ones into everlasting fire, it is evident 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. KX. 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 Thes. 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 never be under the pangs of death: ever dying, but never dead, or absolutely void of life. How desirable would such a death be to them! but it will flee from them for ever. Could each one kill ano

ther, 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 chused death and refused life; for there death lives, and the end ever begins. 2dly, The curse shall lie upon them eternally as the everlasting chain, to hold them in 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, is too strong to be broken by men, who being solemnly anathematised and devoted to destruction, can never be recovered to any other use.

3dly, Their punishment shall be eternal, Mat. xxv. 46. "They shall go away into everlasting punishment." They will be for ever separated 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 gulf fixed; so that they which would 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 but 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 to them, to have their senses for ever locked up, and 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 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. bow 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 ever

more.

Lastly, I might here shew the reasonableness of the eter nity 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 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, (Tho' 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 (Mat. 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.) whither they are driven away in their wickedness, Prov. xiv. 42. That the wicked be punished for their wickedness, is just; and it is nothing 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 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 an 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 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? Secondly, 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 whichone may understand the lightness of what is falsely thought. weighty; and the weight of some things, by many reckon◄ ed 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

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