tije clothes, i. e. reach the outward i.ian : Ikit hi hell, the spirit of mail is the white at which God himself shoots. All his envenomed arrows strike the soul, which is, after death, laid bare and naked to be wounded by his hand. At death, the soul of every wicked man immediately falls into the hands of the living God ; and " it " is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," as the apostle speaks, Heb. x. 31. Their punishment is ""from " the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,'' 2 Thes. i. 9. They are not put over to their fellow-creatures to be punished, but God will do it himself, and glorify his power, as well as his justice in their punishment. The wrath of God lies imme- diately upon their spirits, and this is the " fiery indignation which " devoureth their adversaries," Heb. x. 27. A fire that licks up the very spirit of man. Who knoweth the power of his anger ! Psal. xc. 11. How insupportable it is, you may a little guess by that expression of the prophet Nahum, chap. i. 5, 6. " The " mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is " burnt at his presence ; yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. " Who can stand before his indignation.^ And who can abide in the " fierceness of his anger ? His fury is poured out like fire, and the '' rocks are thrown down by him."
And, as if anger and wrath were not words of a sufficient edge and sharpness, it is called fiery indignation and vengeance, words denoting the most intense degree of divine wrath. For indeed his power is to be glorified in the destruction of his enemies, and there- fore now he will do it to purpose. He takes them now into his own hands. No creature can come at the soul immediately, that is God's prerogative, and now he hath to do with it himself in fury, and revenge is poured out. " Can thy hands be strong, or " thy heart endure when I shall deal with thee .^" Ezek. xxii. 14. Alas ! the spirit quails and dies under it. This is the hell of hells.
What doleful cries and lamentings have we heard from God's dearest children, when but some few drops of his anger have been, sprinkled upon their souls, here in this world ! But alas ! there is no comparison betwixt the anger or fatherly discipline of God over the spirits of his children, and the indignation poured out from the beginning of revenges upon his enemies.
l*rop. 5. The separate rip'irit of' a damned 7nan becomes a tormentor to itself by the various and efficacious actings of' its own conscience, zchich are a special part of' its torment in the other zvorJd.
Conscience, which should have been the sinner's curb on earth, becomes the whip that must lash his soul in hell. Neither is there any faculty or power belonging to the soul of man, so fit and able to do it as his own conscience. That which was the seat and centre
138 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF l^fAN.
of ail guilt, now becomes the seat and centre of all tcnnents. The suspension of its tormenting power in this world is a mystery and wonder to all that duly consider it. For certainly should the Lord let a sinner's conscience fly upon him with rage, in the midst of his sins and pleasures, it would put him into a hell upon earth, as we see in the doleful instances of Judas, Spira, &c. But he keeps a hand of restraint upon them, generally, in this life, and suffers them to sleep quietly by a grumbling or seared conscience, which couches by them as a sleepy lion, and lets them alone.
' But no sooner is the Christless soul turned out of the body, and cast for eternity at the bar of God, but conscience is rouzed, and put into a rao-e never to be appeased any more. It now racks and tortures the miserable soul with its utmost efficacy and activity. The mere presages and forebodings of wrath by the consciences of sinners in this world have made them lie with a ghastly paleness in their faces, universal trembling in all their members, a cold sweating horror upon their panting bosoms like men already in hell : But this, all this, is but as the sweating of the stones before the great rain falls. The activities of conscience (especially in hell) are various, vigorous, and dreadful to consider, such are its recognitions, accusations, con- ^ demnaiions, npbraidings, shamings, Siwdjearful eocpectations.
1. The consciences of the damned will recognize, and bring back the sins committed in this world fresh to their mind : For what is conscience, but a register, or book of records, wherein every sin is ranked in its proper place and order ! This act of conscience is fundamental to all its other acts : for it cannot accuse, condemn, upbraid, or shame us for that it hath lost out of its memory, and hath no sense of. Son, remember^ said Abraham to Dives, in the midst of his torments. This remembrance of sins past, mercies past, opportunities past, but especially of hope past and gone with them, never to be recovered any more, is like that fire not blown, (of which Zophar speaks) which consumes him, or the glittering sword coming out of his gall, Job xx. 24, &c.
2. It chargeth and accuseth the damned soul; and its charges are home, positive, and self-evident charges : A thousand legal and unexceptionable witnesses cannot confirm any point more than one witness in a man's bosom can do, Rom_. ii. 15. It convicts, and stops their mouths, leaving them without any excuse or apology. Just and righteous are the judgments of God upon thee, saith con- science: In all this ocean of misery, there is not one drop of injury or wrong. The judgment of God is according to truth.
3. It condemns as well as chargeth and witnesseth, and that with a dreadful sentence; backing and approving the sentence and judg- ment of God, 1 John iii. 21. every self-destroyer will be a self- condemner : This is a prime part of their misery.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAV. 139
•Prima est haec ultio, quod se
Judice, nemo nocefis absolvitury improba quamvis Gratio Jhllacis prcetoris vicerit urnam,
4. The upbraidings of conscience in hell are terrible and insuffer- able things : To be continually hit in the teeth and twitted with our madness, wilfulness, and obstinacy, as the cause of all that eter- nal misery which we have pulled down upon our own heads, what is it but the rubbing of the wound with salt and vinegar ? Of this torment holy Job was afraid, and therefore resolved what in him lay to prevent it, when he saith, Job xxvii. 6. " My heart (i. e. " conscience) shall not reproach me so long as I live." O the twits and taunts of conscience are cruel cuts and lashes to the soul !