A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 68 (Question 19 cont.)
SERMON LXVIII.
2. THE … that are to be …ergone is that …. Theſe are call… the … of Hell. The Engliſh word, … come from the Latin, …, wh… … puniſhment: and though in our vulgar account it is reſtrained to the puniſhment of ſenſe, yet here we are to extend it to that of i… too. Under which two heads may be comprized all that the Scripture gives … lager in about this ſubject.
THE ſinner conſiſts of a Soul and a Body; Death makes a ſeparation between theſe, and now the body is left without any more apprehenſion of miſery, being reſolved into it principles, but yet it ſhall be raiſed again, a…d re…aited to the ſoul, and be judged and puniſhed together with it, at the laſt day. Here then the Doctrines of the Reſurrection, and laſt Judgment might come in to be handled; but becauſe they are ſuitably taken notice of in another place in the Care…ſ…, I ſhall refer it thither: only remembring th… there will ſuch a time come; and in the mean while, no ſooner doth the … breath leave his body, but his Soul e… immediately into theſe miſeries. As ſ… as we read of the rich man's death, the next nows is of his Souls being in hell is … ments, Luk. 16.22, 23. The rich man a… deed, and was baried. And is hell be … eyes. And I ſhall here only take notice of the miſeries themſelves which are to be ſuffered in that unhappy place, whether by ſoul or body, whether before or after the day of Judgment. And theſe are,
1. PRIVATIVE; referring to the puniſhment of leſs. And this conſiſts in a …re… privation of all the happineſs he was … capable of. The word of God expreſſeth it by a ſeparation from the preſence of God Hence ſuch phraſes, Math. 7.22, 25, 11. 2 Treſ. 1.9. This cannot be meant of his eſſential preſence, which is every where, and hell it ſelf ſhall be full of it. Pſal. 1391 but of his favourable preſence; and conſequently of all thoſe effects flowing from it, which derived any comfort to him in this life. He lay under the forfeiture of this when he was here, and felt many awful effects of it in this life, as hath been obſerved; but now all theſe ſhall be compleated; I therefore call it a total loſs: ſo that by it this miſery ſhall be conſummated, it ſhall be an utterly undoing loſs. And there are thoſe miſeries comprehended in it.
1. HE ſhall l…ſe all the mercy of God. Then is, beſides the ſpecial favour of God, which hath pity upon his own people, and relieves them with everlaſting mercies: a common be…g…y which he hath for others in this …: which m…ies him to pity them, and be patient with them, and holds lock his hood it revenged from f…lling in its full weight upon them, a…d …pens in hand of bou…ty to them: and this mercy makes their preſent miſery to be m…derate in compariſon. But then it will be wholly at an end. God will then ſhut up all his bowels of pity from the creature. That is therefore threatned. Iſai. … 1….11. Therefore be … made them wi…l not have mercy …n them, and be that formed them …li ſhea then no ſour…r. (Jam. 2.13.) And when all God's mercy is gone, there is nothing but wrath left. As for thoſe who think it is mercy not to be armihilated, and ſo the preſervation of the creatures being in hell, and ſupplying it with ſtrength not to ceaſe, notwithſtanding its miſeries, is mercy; ſure they are miſtaken, for all this is not is love but anger, and the deſign is not favour to them, but to make them veſſels … to hold …, deſtination, Rom 9.22.
2. HENCE, they ſ…ell l…ſe all the mercies and …ſ…rt of them, that they hat here in this life. Sinners, in the day of God's patience had their delights here, which though corporeal and beneath the ſatisfaction of a rational S…l yet theirs, that were drowned in ſenſu…y, took pleaſure in them, as Luk. 12.19. And I will ſay to my ſoul, Soul, thou haſt much …k laid up for many years, take thine caſe, … bri…k, and be merry. Theſe fools here did hugh and were jocund; and their outv… man was ſupported and cheered with theſe things. They had their good things, Luk. 16.25. they lived delicately, fared ſumptuouſly, had the world at will, had their houſes and hands, and fur…iture, and health, and know, and pleaſure, and they thought all was well: but now all theſe things are done wicked, be loſeth the things themſelves, and all the light and comfort of them. Pſal. 49.12, 13, 17. He muſt have no more feaſts, no … merry bours, at ſi…ging and dancing, and c…g; all that he valued himſelf upon in this life will forſake him at once and for ever.
3. AND they ſhall loſe heaven too. It is …, the children of God muſt leave all they had upon earth, as well as the ungodly, though it be not loſt, becauſe they improved it for the glory of God, and they ſhall then …ve ſhe comfort of it; but beſides there are … things more, that make it not a real miſery to them to loſe all, viz. both becauſe they did not place their happineſs on theſe things, as the other did; their hearts were S…ew here elſe, they were but pilgrims, and had ſufficient for their pilgrimage: and alſo becauſe when they leave a ſorry and ſorrowful world, they have an heaven to give them entertainment, which is their own home. 2 Cor. 5.1. For we know, that if our earthly houſe of this tabernacle were diſſolved, we have a heading of God, an i…uſe not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Whereas wicked men when they dye, and may be here no more; have no lot in that place, nor ſhall they be ever entertained in it; it will give them no admiſſion: the holineſs of the place is ſuch, that it cannot receive them. Rev. 21.27. And there ſhall … wiſe enter into it any thing that de…, neither whatſoever w…rketh thomination, … maketh a lie: but they th… are written in the Lambs book of life. It might have been theirs, but they would not comply with the terms, and ſo they loſe it, and together with it, all the joys and delights which that place is furniſhed withal; they muſt be for ever ſtrangers unto them, for hell is their place: and who can tell what a loſs this is, unleſs he had been with Paul, rapt into the third Heaven, and ſeen the unutterable glories thereof?
4. THEY ſhall loſe all the Prayers of God's children. God hath made it the duty of his people, not only to pray one for another, but for ſinners too, that they may be converted and ſaved; and there is a great bleſſing in having the benefit of ſuch prayers; however they may ſcorn and mock at them: now they are favoured with them, but then they ſhall have no more of them. God hath indeed ſometimes forbidden his ſervants to pray for obſtinate ſinners here; but that is not uſual, but there is no liberty for their praying for ſinners in hell: praying for the dead is antiſcriptural; and if any good men have in their ignorant zeal, built ſuch ſtubbie on the foundation, yet hath it nothing availed, the gulf being then fixed, and hell being place which never releaſeth any of its priſoners: and what can prayers obtain, where God hath reſolved unchangeably that he will have no mercy?
5. THEY ſhall loſe all their moral goodneſs. Though ſin hath depraved man's whole nature, ſo that there remains no theological goodneſs in him naturally; yet there are few ſinners, if any in this world, that are ſo utterly debauched, but that they have ſome principles of morality abiding and active in them; which are a civil ornament to them, and ſo far commend them to the liking of men: yea our Saviour Chriſt looked upon the moral young man, who came to him, and loved him. Mar. 10.21. and this is a common gift of God, for the preſent benefit of mankind, and upholding of the world; but there will be none of this in hell, there being no uſe for it, where there is to be nothing but miſery and confuſion: Children will there have no reſpect for their Parents; nor Parents any love or pity for their Children; not one neighbour ſhew any civility to another: and though poſſibly theſe principles will not be rooted out of their conſciences, being left there, for their greater torment, yet the practice of them will utterly ceaſe. As the perfection of holineſs is not arrived at by the children of God in this life, but is at once perfected when they dye; ſo though ſinners grow worſe and worſe here, yet they are not at the top, all morality is not gone till they dye, and then it leaves them for ever; and this is intimated by that of Chriſt, Mat. 25.29. For unto every one that …ate ſhall be given: and be ſhall have abundance: but from him that hath not ſhall be taken away, even that whi…h be hath.
6. THEY ſhall there l…ſe all their Hope. I confeſs, the hope which ungodly men in this life do build upon, is a poor, ſorry, cheating thing, it is no better than a ſpiders web: however it gives them a great deal of preſent eaſe, and ſeeming refreſhment, they lean upon it, and ſeem to be gainers by it; and when they loſe it they will then know themſelves to be miſerable to purpoſe: but beſides this, there is a real hope that is ſet before them, and offers of it are made to them, which if they did accept of would certainly make them happy. Sinners here, have not only a day of patience, but a day of grace, in which they are called to repentance, and there is a door of ſalvation ſtands open, and they pleaſe themſelves with it, though they put off and neglect the improvement of it: but when once the ſinner comes to hell, all this hope is loſt, and ſwallowed up at once: their falſe hopes are all gone, and found to be a very cheat; the broken reed they leaned upon, runs into them, and wounds them, and breaks under them, and lets them fall: and the good hope that was offered to them is taken away, and all the grounds of it totally removed. Job 27.9. Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? For there ſhall never be an offer of grace made them any more.
2. POSITIVE: reſerring to the puniſhment of ſenſe. And this conſiſts in their ſuffering the perfection of all theſe actual miſeries, to which they were ſubjected by the curſe. This is called a being turned into hell, Pſal. 9.16. becauſe that is the place in which all theſe ſufferings are to be undergone. But what theſe ſufferings are, is beyond our preſent diſcovery: the joys of heaven, and the torments of hell, will never be throughly underſtood, till experienced: only the Scripture ſets them forth ſo as is beſt ſuited to our preſent capacity, for the ſtirring of our affections, to engage us to be earneſt in ſeeking to obtain the one, and eſcape the other. Theſe puniſhments are therefore called everlaſting fire, Mat. 25.41. Than which ſort of torture, there is nothing more formidable to mankind. Hence the place is called a lake, &c. Rev. 21.8. and we have ſuch an expreſſion, Iſai. 33.14. The ſinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulneſs hath ſurprized the hypocrites: who among us ſhall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us ſhall dwell with everlaſting burnings? which, whether it be interpreted of God, as an attribute referring to his revenging juſtice, or to the miſeries themſelves, to ſet forth the nature of them, fig …, the dreadfulneſs of theſe miſeries. In ſa…,
1. THEY go to h…ll, … to be tormented. That is the very doſign of the place, and the one ſuppoſeth the other. See Luk. 16.23. And in hell he liſt up his eyes being in torments. And the lamentable cry of the forlorn wretch, ver. 24. For I am tormented in this flame. The word torments is a metaphor from a rack on which perſons were put to force a confeſs out of them, and is uſed in the New Teſtament for the moſt exquiſitely painful diſeaſes, and the travailing pains of women: and the other word, tormented, is of the ſame import. Here it is that the execution of the ſentence of Gods wrath upon ſinners is made: here they are to feel the effects of the doom which was paſt upon them in the law, and by the great Judge. And torments muſt needs be very great miſeries: eſpecially it we conſider, what they are, and after what ma… they be inflicted. Hence,
2. THESE torments ſhall be univerſal. It may be miſery enough to be pained in one limb, though it is but a fi…ger, what is it then to have it diffuſed through the whole body, not barely by ſympathy, but real immediate torture? But add to this all ſpiritual plagues and torments of ſoul, and the… is a miſery inexpreſſible; and thus it is here. Mat. 10.28. But rather fear him which is able to deſtroy both ſoul and body in hell. It is not ſafe here to be over particular; there are two things in general which Chriſt hath … us of, in which theſe torments do conſiſt; viz. the worm, and the fire; the former whereof refers to the ſoul, the latter to the body. If theſe we read, Mat. 9.44, 46, 48. Where …ve worm dieth not, and the fire is not que…. And theſe refer to the ſtate of the da… in hell, where they are to be undergone.
(1.) THE Soul ſhall be tormented with a …ew dying worm. And this contains in it all the ſpiritual plagues which ſhall then ſeize upon it; and is mainly contained in thoſe terrible agonies, and horrors of conſcience which will then ſill the ſoul. Some ſinners, and at ſome times, have terrible gripings of this in this world: though for the moſt part ſinners … rock their conſciences aſleep, or get them …enummed or ſeared: and yet this wo…, i… all the while inſenſibly, though continually growing out of the filth and corruption which they lie wallowing in: but then it ſhall be quick and active, and fearfully torment the…, when it ſhall look back, and put them in a membrance of all the ſins that ever they committed, with all the awful aggravation of them: ſhall remind them of all the me…y and goodneſs of God which they abuſed; … a day of grace they once enjoyed; of all …he calls, and counſels, and warnings that God had been giving them; of all the patient of God, and ſh…vings of his Holy Spirit and fair probabilities they were in of Salvation; of all the offers of grace which they deſpiſed, and inward motions which they q…enched; and ſo of the righteouſneſs of their condemnation: and then lock forward, and ſee nothing before it, but thoſe fearful miſeries which it ſuffers, and from whence it moſt never expect a releaſe: what horrors, what deſpair, muſt needs be hereby produced? The girds, and ſtings, and reverberations of ſuch a conſcience muſt needs be a tormeat inexpreſſible.
(2.) THE Body ſhall be pl…g…ed with an unquenchable fire. This contains under it all the corporal miſeries that ſhall there be ſuffered: of which it is not for us to give a d…ffi…ct account; only let us obſerve, that all the miſeries that men have ſaftained in their bodies in this life, are but the beginning of ſorrows; thoſe that follow are far more dreadful. That tender and delicate body, that can now ſcarcely endure the prick of a pin, which is prinked up in pride, and looked after with delicacy, ſhall become a prey to thoſe devouring flames, which will have no regard to its comelineſs, nor pity it i… the leaſt; when the miſery of one member ſtill be intollerable, and that miſery ſpead it ſelf through the whole man: when eyes, cars, hands, feer, heart, and all ſhall be tormented in that flame.
3. THESE torments ſhall be exquiſite. Sufferings of the ſame kind may be greatly varied by the degree of them, as they are … ſemiſs, or more intenſe: now in hell, the …ſeries of the damned are arrived at their perfection; needs therefore muſt they be i…ollerable. Thoſe pains of travailing …, of men under the torture of the …, or the greateſt cruelries which humane withath invented, are but flea-birings in compariſon with theſe. The exquiſiteneſs of them is to be gathered from the very deſign of the place, i. e. to be a place of torment; where the wrath of God is to be made known: The princip…l efficient of it, God himſelf, who is a …ſ…ming fire, Heb. 12.28. The main inſtruments of it, the devils, who are therefore …led the tormenters, Mat. 18.34. and by the …ting of ſtuners to be veſſels to hold it, Rom. 9.22. They are to be puniſhed to the … of their capacity to hear, and God will make them capable of hearing, that ſo they may be the amazing monuments of his righteous ſeverity.
4. THESE torments ſhall be without inter…ſſ… There ſhall not be the leaſt moments … or breathing while, wherein they may … any mitigation of their miſeries. It is ſome comfort in this life, that there are lucid intervals, between exquiſite pains; they abate, all there is ſome eaſe, and liberty to take … between one and another: but there … be no ſuch thing in hell; the fire is con…lly blown up, and kept in its heat by the breath of an angry God. Iſai. 30. ult. The b…h of the Lord, like a ſtream of brimſtone d… kindle it. There is no abatement, no …deration, no diverſion, no relief at all; … ſo much as one member refreſhed, not the leaſt drop of water afforded to crol the tip of the tongue: all is there continued unchangeably. Hence thoſe expreſſion. Rev. 14.11. And the ſ…be of their torment eſc… … … ever and ever; And they have … r…ſt …ght nor day. Chap. 20.10. And they ſhall be torment day and night, for ever and ever. And what a torment moſt that be, to endure that to perpetuity, and without any relaxation, which to hear for a moment, is intollerable: where neither are the flames malled, not the miſerable creature conſumed by them.
5. THESE torments ſhall ſill them with … terest …lings and …me…ti…ns. The ex…emity of them ſhall produce continual endleſs roarings and ſcreamings of the tortured creature. Oh the fearful noiſe that heli will be ſilled withal by the piercing greens of creatures lying upon a terrible rack, and ſcorched with the flames of a ſeven times heated furnace! This our Saviour acquaints us will be the employment of the place, Luk. 12.28. There ſhall be …rping and g…ſhing of tre…. When Heaven ſhall for ever ring with the joyful acclamations of the glorified Saints and Angels, then ſhall hell found and eccho with the doleful ejulations, and howlings, with the terrible ſhrieks and roarings, with the horrid outeries, and blaſphemings of the damned, whoſe horrible torments will be conſtantly drawing of them from them; which is at leaſt allegorically aimed at in Rev. 16.9. And men were ſ…rched with great beer, out blaſphemed the name of God, which hath power over theſe plagnes: and they repented not to give him glory. And all this ſhall not draw the leaſt pity or remorſe from God for them, but he will laugh at their calamity; but alas! all that om be here ſaid is not the leaſt part, of what theſe forlorn creatures muſt there feel.
USE. LET this be for a loud and awakening call to all that are in their ſins. Sinners, theſe are heavy tidings which I have been reporting in your ears, and yet they are the true ſayings of God; and do they not make thine ears tingle, thy lips quiver, thy joynts ſhake, yea fearfulneſs ane horror to ſurprize thee? Can you hear all this, and yet live one hour longer in your ſins? Is there none that upon this report, cries out trembling, what ſhall I do to be ſaved from this terrible doom? There is a way to eſcape, but if you will not att… it, it will not profit you. If you love your Souls then, be entreated to fly to the rock, to the mountains, before this fire from heaven falls upon you. Uſe no delays leſt it be too late. There is hope for the oldeſt ſinner, if yet he will hear the voice of Chriſt; and there is danger of the youngeſt ſinner, who will put off, and not preſently come in. The arms of a Saviour are now open to receive you if you will come to him; but if you are reſolved in your way, let me entreat you to take this along with you,—know and be aſſured that you are … a place p…pa… … God … juſtice to triumph … you … there fall into … good, who will not meet you … you are going to dwell with doth and damned ſpirits, and to be ter…ted … the flames of the bottomleſs pit, where you ſhall be …ed brim t…ll in ſoul …nd … with the …rath of God, where you ſhall be in the bands of your creel tormenters, be fille… with the ſtings of an immortal w…m, and ſuffer the moſt acute, and uninterrupted tortures in the whole man, and be for ever unpitied by God. Angels, Men, and Devils. And Oh! thick of it; the time haſtens, the day draws near; ſin away a few more days, and tri…le away a few more nights, and you are gone beyond recovery: nay it may be, the doom is, that this night your ſoul ſhall be required, and where are you the…? Oh be wiſe then in time! Wonder that it is ſaid to day to the youngeſt of you; and let me charge you in the name of God, now to go home, and get alone, and med…tate ſolemnly on theſe things; and if you dare, lie down to ſleep on your beds before you have made your peace with God, unleſs you expect to awake before morning the flames of hell fire. If you will take this awful warning, it may be well with you; but if you deſpiſe it and throw it behind your backs, it will add to your guilt, and riſe up as a witneſs againſt you in the great day; and you ſhall mourn at laſt, when it is too late.
[DECEMBER 26. 1693.]