[4.] Fourthly and lastly. As wrath to come is pure wrath, so wrath to come is everlasting wratli : Rev, xiv, 11, ' And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.' ' Would to God,' saith one, [Chrysostom,] ' men would everywhere think and talk more of hell, and of that eternity of extremity, that they shall never else be able to avoid, or to abide.' See the scriptures in the margin.2 ' The damned,' saith Gregory, ' shall suffer an end without end, a death without death, a decay without decay ; for their death ever liveth, their end ever beginneth, their decay never ceaseth, they are ever healed to be new wounded, and always repaired to be new devoured ; they are ever dying and never dead, eternally broiling and never burnt up, ever roaring in the pangs of death, and never rid of those pangs ; for they shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, crying without comfort, mischief without measure, and torment without ease, " where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched.'" The torments of the damned shall continue as many worlds as there be stars in the firmament, as there be grains of sand on the sea-shore, and as there be drops of water found in the sea ; and when these worlds are ended, the pains and torments of hell shall not cease, but begin afresh, and thus this wheel shall turn round without end.
Oh the folly and vanity, the madness and baseness of poor wretched sinners who expose themselves to everlasting torments for a few fleshly momentary pleasures ! 0 sirs ! 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,' Nahum i. 6. Now how should these things work poor sinners to flee from wrath to come by fleeing to Christ, ' who alone is able to save them from wrath to come,' 1 Thes. i. 10. Themistocles, understanding that King Admetus was highly displeased with him, he took up the king's young son in his arms, and so treated with the father, holding his darling in his bosom, and by that means pacified his wrath.^ Ah sinners, sinners, the King of kings is highly ofi"ended with you, and there is no way to appease his wrath, but by taking up Christ in your arms, and so pre- sent your suits to him. But,
3. Thirdly, If there be a hell, tlien don't let fly so fiercely against those faithful ministers who seriously and conscientiously do all they can to prevent your dropping into hell, 2 Cor. v, 20, xii. 15. Don't call them legal preachers who tell you that there is a hell, and that
^ This drinking of the wine of the wrath of God, without mixture, notes summam pcsncE severitatem.
* 2 Thes. i. 8 ; Jude 6, 7 ; Mat. xxv. 46 ; Tsa. xxxiii. 14, &c.
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there is no torments to hellish torments, if either you consider their extremity or eternity. Be not so hot nor so angry with those ambas- sadors of Christ who are willing to spend and be spent that they may keep you from running headlong to hell. ' To think of hell,' saith one,i ' preserves a man from falling into it ; ' and, saith the same author, Utirvam ubique de geJienna dissereretur, I could wish men would discourse much and oft of hell. It was a saying of Gregory Nyssen, who lived about thirteen hundred years ago, ' He that does but hear of hell is, without any further labour or study, taken off from sinful plea- sures.' But what minister can say so now ? Surely men's hearts are grown worse since, for how do most men run headlong to hell, and take a pleasure to dance hoodwinked into everlasting burnings ! 2 Oh, had but the desperate sinners of this day who swear and curse, drink and drab, and drown themselves in fleshly pleasures, but one sight of this hell, how would it charm their mouths, appal their spirits, and strike fear and astonishment into their hearts !
I cannot think that the high transgressors of this day durst be 80 highly wicked as they are, did they but either see or foresee what they shall one day certainly feel, except there be sound and serious repentance on their sides, and pardoning grace on God's. Bellarmine was of opinion that one glimpse of hell were enough to make a man, not only turn Christian and sober, but monk too : to live after the strictest rule that may be. And yet, he tells us of a certain advocate of the court of Eome, who being, at the point of death, stirred up by them that were about him to repent and call upon God for mercy, he, with a constant countenance, and without sign of any fear, turned his speech to God, and said, Lord, I have longed much to speak to thee, not for myself, but for my wife and children ; for I am hasting to hell, I am now a-going to dwell with devils, neither is there anything that I would have thee to do for me ; and this he spoke, saith Bellarmine, who was then present and heard it, Animo tarn tranqtdllo ac si de itinere ad villam loqueretur, with as placate, serene and tranquil a mind, as if he had been speaking of going to the next town or village. Ah, who can read or write such a relation without horror and terror ! 3 But,
4. Fourthly, If there be a hell, then do not /ret, do not envy the prosperity and flourishing estate and condition of wicked and ungodly men; for God has given it under his hand, that they shall be turned into hell : ' The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God,' Ps. xxxvii. 1, 2, Ixxiii. 21; Prov, iii, 31; Ps. ix. 17. It was a wise saying of Marius to those that envy great men their honour, Let them, saith he, envy them their burdens. I have read a story of a Koman, who was by a court-martial condemned to die for break- ing his rank to steal a bunch of grapes ; and as he was going to exe- cution, some of the soldiers envied him, that he had grapes, and they had none. Saith he, Do you envy me my grapes, I must pay dear for
^ ChrysoBtom, hom. xli7. in Mat.
' Look, as he said that nothing but the eloquence of Tully could sufficiently set forth Tully's eloquence, so none can express these ererlasting torments but he that is from everlasting to everlasting. Millions of years multiplied by millions, make not up one minute to this eternity ; but who considers it, who believes it ? &c.
' Bellar. de arte moriendi, lib. ii. cap. 10.
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