afraid of liell, saitli another, [Isidore,^] becauee the worm there never dies, and the fire never goes out. For to be tormented without end, this is that which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation. Grievous is the torment of the damned for the bitterness of the punishments, but it is more grievous for the diversity of the punishments, but most grievous for the eternity of the punishments.^
To lie in everlasting torments, to roar for ever for disquietness of heart, to rage for ever for madness of soul, to weep, and grieve, and gnash the teeth for ever, is a misery beyond all expression. Mat. xxv, 46. Bellarmine out of Barocius'^ tells of a learned man who, after his death, appeared to his frieiid complaining that he was adjudged to hell-torments, which, saitli he, were they to last but a thousand thousand years, I should think it tolerable,, but,. alas, they are eternal! And it is called ' eternal fire,' Jude 7. I have read of a prison among the Persians which was deep, an.d wide,, and dark, and out of which the prisoners could never get,, and therefore it was called by them Lethe, Forgetfulness : this prison, was a paradise to hell. Mark, every- thing that is conducible to the torments of the damned is eternal. (1.) God that damns them is eternal, Isa. xxxiii. 14; Kom. xvi. 26. (2.) The fire that torments them, is eternal, Lsa. xxx. 33, and Ixvi. 24; Jude 7.^ (3.) The prison and chains that holds them are eternal, Jude 6, 7, 13 ; 2 Pet. ii. 17. (4.) The worm that gnaws them is eternal, Mark ix. 44. Melanchthon calls it a liellish fuiy. (5.) The sentence that shall be passed upon them shall be eternal. Mat. xxv. 41, 42. The fire of hell is called a burning lake: Rev. xx. 15, 'Who- soever was not found Avritten in the book of life,, was cast into the lake of fire.' You shall ^ know that fire is the most tormenting element. Oh the most dreadful impressions that it makes upon the flesh! The schoolmen distinguish thus of fire — they say there is ignis ardoris, fcetoris, et teri'oi'is, fire of heat, of stench, and of terror : of heat, as in Mount Etna; of stench, as in, Mount Heda;^ of terror and fear, as ig7iis fulguris, the fire of lightning in America : all these fires they say are in hell. But to let the schoolmen pass.. It is disputed among many of the learned whether there be material fire in hell or no. That it is very probable that there is material fii-e in hell, or that which is full as terrible, or more terrible, may, I suppose, be thus evidenced : —
[1.] First, Thejireof hell is frequently mentioned in the blessed Scrip- ture. ' Who shall say to his brother, Thou fool ! shall be in danger of hell-fire.' At the day of judgment the tares are burnt in the fire, Mat. xiii. 40. Into this fire offending members are cast. Mat. xviii. 18, 19. To this everlasting fire the goats are adjudged, Mat. xxv. 41. In this fire those that worship the beast are tormented. Rev. xiv. 10. And the Sodomites at this very day suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 7. Into this fire shall all barren and unfruitful Christians be cast : Mat. iii. 10, ' And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is
^ Cl. Orat. 12. * Dionys. in 18 Apocalyps., fol. 301. ' De arte moriendi.
* 1 Pet. iii. 19. Lucian saith that it was the common opinion among them that the wicked were held in chains by Pluto, (so they call the prince of devils,) in chains, which cannot be loosed. * Query, 'all'? — G. • Query, 'Hecla'?— G.J
200 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
licwn clown, and cast into tlie fire.' Negative goodness will never !>L'Cure a man either from the axe or from tlie fire. Yea, every man and woman umler heaven that keeps off from Christ, and that lives and dies out of Christ, and that are never entered into a marriage union with Christ, they shall all be cast into this fire: John xv. G, ' If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch that is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.' Thus you see how the Scri})ture runs. Now you know that it is safest for us to adhere to the very letter of the Scripture, unless evident and necessary occasion draw us from a literal interpretation of it. But,
[2.] Secondly, To this fire is ascribed sulphur, flames, loood : Isa. XXX. 33, ' For Tophet is ordained of old,' tliat is, liell ; those terrible allusions to Tophet, to the shrieks and yellings of those children that were sacrificed there, are but dark representations of the pain and miseries of the damned: ' yea, for the king it is prepared;' if princes be wicked, it is neither their power nor their policy, their dignity or worldly gloiy, that can secure them from Tophet. ' He hath made it deep and large ; the pile thereof is fire and much wood ; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it;' 2 Kings xxiii. 18. Now he shall be an Apollo to me that can shew me where the Lord in his word gives such properties to immaterial fire that are here given in the text. But yet remember this, that that God that makes the damned live without food, is able to maintain this fire without wood. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Fire is the most furious of all elements, and there/ore the bodies of men cannot be more exquisitely tormented than icithfire.^ The bodies that sinned on earth shall be punished and tormented in hell. Now what can be more grievous and vexatious, more afllicting and tormenting to the bodies of men, than material fire ? Bilney the martyr could not endure to hold his finger in the flame of a candle for a little w^iile, for a quarter of an hour, though he tried to do it before he burnt at the stake. Oh, then, how wall the bodies of men endure to dwell in unquenchable fire, to dwell in everlasting burnings! The brick-kilns of Egy])t, the furnace of Babel, are but as the glow- ing sparkle, or as tiic blaze of a brush-faggot, to this tormenting Tophet, that has been prepared of old to punish the bodies of sinners with. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Several of the fathers and schools generally agree that the fire ^uhich shall torment the ivicked in hell shall be material fire; but yet they say that this material fire shall ivondcrfnlly exceed ours, both in degree of heat and fierceness of burning} Our elemen- tary or culinary fire is no more to be compared with the fire of hell, than fire i)ainted upon the wall is to be com])ared with fire burning in our chinmeys. Si igne damnabit reprobos, quare non in igne cru- ciabit damnatos, sa^'s one of the ancients. If he will judge the repro- bates in fire, why not condemn them to fire ?
Obj. But if it be material fire, then it may be quenched ; besides, we see by common experience that material fire in a short time will
' Water doth only kill, hut fire doth vex, terrify, and torment in killing.— [/?'oxc,] Act. and Mon. ' Zaacli. Austin, Peter Lombard, Tlios. Aciuinas, Ur-gory, &c.