ment of the damned doth not only amount to, hut heyond expression exceeds them all : as in heaven there is no workll}'^ cheer, yet a feast, — no silks and satins, yet all glorious robes, and, indeed, that which is infinitely of more value, and worth than the most precious things the earth can boast of; so the great miseries of this life are incomparably less than the least torment of hell : never can any creature say he is completely miserable, till the jaws of that infernal pit enclose him ; there is the sinner's easeless, endless state; he shall continue for ever in the height of his paroxysm; no change of weather, or hope of clearing, but a perpetual storm set in to rain fire and brimstone upon him to all eter- nity. Now, in deprecating this, we should endeavour to keep this threefold notion in our thoughts, for which, above all, we are to desire to be delivered from it. First, Conceive of hell as a state of sin as well as of suffering, yea, in its utmost height. Earth is a middle place between heaven and hell : neither sin in the wicked, nor grace in the saint, come here to their full ripeness ; grace being an outlandish slip brought from heaven's paradise, rises not to its just height till it be transplanted to its native clhnate from whence it came. And sin being a child of hell, comes not to its full complexion till it bo sent back to the place it came from. Here poor wretches are enticed to sin by the pleasure it promiseth, but there they sin out of malice, for nothing else can invite them. On earth the sinner conceals the venom which is in his heart ; but in hell he spits it out in blasphemies against Heaven : in a word, here he sins with waver- ing thoughts, and some weak pin-poses of repenting ; but there he is as despe- rate as the devil himself, hardened beyond all relenting. Certainly, the saints, to whom the motions of sin in this life are so grievous, above all the crosses and losses that befall them, and who count a few years' neighbourhood among the wicked so great an affliction that they cry, 'Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the tents of Kedar,' must needs deprecate that dismal state with their utmost vehemency of spirit, wherein they should be everlastingly yoked with sin, and cooped ifp with unclean sinners. It was the speech of a gracious woman, when near her death, ' O Lord, send me not to hell among such filthy company, which thou knowest I have not liked on earth.' But as for those who can agree so well with their lusts and the company of the wicked here, I know not how they can thus deprecate that place where they shall meet with that which pleaseth them so mucli on earth. David first protests his abhorrence of the ways and society of the wicked, — ' I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers: I have hated the congregation of evil-doers, and will not sit with the wicked,' Psa. xxvi. 4, 5; then his zeal for God, and the de- light he had in his house to praise and serve him, ver. 6, 8 ; after which he breaks out into his prayer, ver. 6, ' Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men.' As if he had said, I abhor their society in my life, O let me not be sent amongst them at my death. I have praised thee on earth ; send me not to blaspheme thee in hell. I have loved the habitation of thy house, let me not dwell with unclean spirits hereafter. Secondly, Hell is a state of separa- tion from the blissful presence of God ; pray to be delivered from it under this notion, as it is the everlasting excommunication of the creature from God : ' Go, ye cursed !' that is, never to see my sweet face any more ; called therefore 'outer darkness,' because there is not the least beam of his favour to enlighten the souls of the damned, nor the least crevice left open for hope to expect it. The heat of hell fire is not so dismal as the want of this light; this makes them cursed. * Go, ye cursed!' The curse lies in their departure from God, the fountain of blessing ; all beside this were tolerable : would (Jod cast but one kind look upon those miserable souls, as they swim in this lake, it were able to change the property of the place, and the joy thereof were enough to take away the sense of their torments. The three worthies in Daniel could walk in the fire, having God to bear them com])any, as if they had been only in the sun- shine. That which a saint prizeth most in heaven is the presence of God ; ' So shall we ever be with the Lord,' 1 Thess. iv. 17; and hell is most dreaded by them, because a gvdf is fixed between the souls in it and God, that no com- munion can be had with him to all eternity. O how few pray against hell under this notion ! How few cry out with David, ' Cast me not away from thy presence!' Psa. li. 11. If this were the thing, above all, they feared should befall them in the other world, would they so willingly live without
70g WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION.