The Whole Duty of Divine Meditation, Part 2 · Meditation 27
MED. XXVII. Upon Hell.
Isa. xxxiii. 14.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burning?
ETERNAL Death is the dreadful State of the Damned; by which they are not only depriv'd of the Presence of the Almighty, but are also tormented with perpetual Suffering both in Soul and Body. Oh, how horrid is it then, to incurr the Displeasure of the Divine Omnipotence! How strangely infatuated are ye, O senseless Sinners! to run on so swiftly in the Ways of Sin! Tell me, Can you freely receive your Wages, which is Death; and take up your Habitation in Everlasting Burnings, there perpetually to abide for ever.
II. COULD we but obtain, by Divine Permission, a Visionary Prospect of that incorrigible Miscreant and Traytor, Iudas; what a Scene of Horror would that be, to behold him, violently dragg'd by Infernal Spirits, and loaded with Chains of Fire; his Diabolical Countenance, pale and Wan; the Voice within him, his Conscience, Worm-eaten; his Pestilential Skin, cover'd with Leprosie, from whence issues out Stinks not to be endured; his Limbs and Body, wounded and tormented; and his Tongue filled with bitter Lamentations and Execrations; What a dreadful Apprehension will the Vision of so deplorable a Spectacle create in thee!
III. SHOULDST thou, in Contemplation, fix that dire Object before thine Eyes; and upon a strict Disquisition, examine him, saying, Tell me, O thou perfidious Iudas! what Griefs, what Pains and Torments are these thou undergoest? What number of Years has thou reign'd in sulphurous Fire? And how many Centuries of Ages must thou yet remain buried in Flames, and roaring among the Infernal Crew? His guilty and amazing Conscience would soon reply, The Pains which which I endure are intollerable; no intermission for Relief is here to be found, but the Torments thus ininflicted are perpetual: The least of our Miseries far exceed all Punishments, which either the Justice of God, or the Cruelties of Men upon Earth, did ever execute: Despair is our continual Associate, and there is no vacant Place for Hopes of ever to be freed for these unexpressible Torments: You upon Earth, take your Ease, you Eat and drink in full Bowls; whil'st we want Water to cool our Tongues, which are tormented in these Flames.
IV. Let the Thoughts of Hell's Terrors ever put me in a Method to escape their Fury. Consider the Damned in their fatal Circumstances; their Life is, to die without expiring; and their Death is, to live in perpetual Punishment: There the Tormentor is never wearied, the Fire never consumes, and the Torments never decrease. And this Decree is according as the irrevocable Sentence requires; the fulfilling of the Justice of the Almighty, and the Reward due to wilful Impenitents, and obdurate Offenders; that they should never want a sufficient measure of Punishment, who were continually glutted, and never ceas'd from Sin.
V. There, the least Sin has its peculiar Punishment, wonderfully extracted out of its own Sordidness: The Salacious shall inhabit in unextinguishable sulphurous Fire, continually flaming from their own inordinate Affections: The Epicure and Ebrious shall sigh in vain for a little Water to cool their Tongues: The Outragious and Passionate shall snarl like mad Dogs; and the Malicious and Uncharitable shall corrode their own Entrails: The Wealth of the Misers shall be as Goads in their Sides; and the Arrogant and Ambitious shall be hurried down from the Precipice of Scorn, to the Bottomless-Pit of Contempt: The Infatuated shall miserably deplore their mispent Time; and pine away with Grief, for their not being diligent.
VI. BUT, O what strange Convulsions shall fasten on their Spirits, and vulnerate and search the utmost of their Souls! When they shall with Amazement behold themselves eternally bereft of the illuminating Vision of the Most Highest! When they shall behold themselves eternally exil'd from the joyful and amiable Presence of Jesus; that Omnipotence who created 'em to inherit His Kingdom; that Saviour who purchas'd 'em to reign with Him in Glory: then shall they execrate the Hour of their Nativity, and those sordid Associates that enticed them to Ruine! They shall exclaim against the Folly of the fraudulent Universe; and belch out, with a raving Distraction, Are these the Products of those infatuated Desires, whose empty Enjoyments we esteem'd our Happiness! Alas! what will our loose Liberties, and those fond Delights we so eagerly chas'd after, now yield us? What Happiness receive we from those fleeting Honours, and transitory Treasures we so highly valued? They are all fled away as a Vapour, and past away as a Morning-Cloud.
VII. BUT the Sting and Torment perpetually endures, and plagues our Vitals with Everlasting Anguish. Thus shall they roar out; but all is deaf to their Complaint: Thus shall they lament; but no Compassion shall relieve them. O dismal Spectacle of a wicked Life! O terrible Sequel of a destructive Death! perpetually to wish for what they never can obtain! perpetually to undergo that which is inevitable! O magnify'd be Thy Divine Omnipotence, that with such an indulgent Affection gives us timely Notice of our Ruine! Save us, O blessed Lord! from all Impieties: Oh, save us, for Thy Own dear sake! Quicken our Minds against the Effects of Sin! and with Thy Fatherly Corrections chastise us often, that at last the Terrors of Hell may force us into Thy Heavenly Kingdom!