First, By the loss ; they shall lose all heaven's joys, the favourable presence of God, the sight of Christ, the company of the blessed, and their abode in those happy mansions which are in Christ's Father's house.
1. The favourable presence of God. Hell is a deep dungeon, where the sunshine of God's presence never cometh. God is summuni honum, the chiefest good ; and in the other world, omne honum, all in all. All things are immediate from God, comforts and punishments : Ps. xvi. 11, 'In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.' Paul's departure, how grievous was it, when he said, ' Ye shall see my face no more ' ! Acts xix. 28. Better lose all things than God : Exod. xxxiii. 15, ' If thy presence go not up with us, carry us not hence.' The appearance of the Son of God to the three children cast into Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, how comfortable was it to them !
Object. Ay ! but this is not to be presupposed of the damned. Is it any grief to the wicked to want God, against whom they have such an extreme averseness and hatred ? I answer —
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(1.) They are sensible of tlie loss of happiness ; their judgments are changed, though not renewed. Fogs of error, atheism, and unbelief then vanish, and they are convinced by experience. There are no atheists in hell ; they learn to prize happiness by bitter experience. As rational creatures, they cannot but be sensible of their loss, that know the worth of what is lost ; and so great a blessedness lost cannot but breed sadness and dejection of spirit. They look on Grod not as lovely in himself, but as one that might be profitable to them. Oculos quos occlusit culpa, wperiet poena.
(2.) It would lessen their torments if their understandings might be taken away. By sad experience they know what it is to want God, though still their hatred of God remaineth. Heaven, that I am shut out of, is a blessing which others enjoy ; Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom.
2. The sight of Christ. They had a glimpse before they went into hell of the glory of his presence : 2 Thes. i. 9, ' They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.' That »hort experience of Christ's appearing will remain in their minds ; to all eternity it will stick by them, how they are thrust out. Christ himself, that hath the keys of death and hell, shall bid them go ; as if he had said, I cannot endure your presence any longer.
3. From the company of the blessed : Luke xiii. 28, ' Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves shut out.' Envy is a part of their torment as well as their loss : Luke xvi. 27, ' And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom.' It is a torment to think that others of the same nature and interest do enjoy what they have forfeited.
4. Their abode in those happy mansions which are in Christ's Father's house : Kev. xxii. 14, 15, ' Blessed are they that do his com- mandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city ; for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.'
Secondly, This loss is the more bitter and grievous because it is a loss of their own procuring. Forsaking of God was their sin, and now their misery. They first excommunicated God for a trifle : Job xxii. 7, ' Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of God,' Man is like the devil: 'Art thou come to torment us before our time?' Eom. i. 28, ' They did not like to retain God in their knowledge ; therefore, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.' They abhorred the thoughts of God ; it was their burthen : ' The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Now they are filled with their own thoughts. Man was first a fugitive before he was an exile.
Thirdly, The loss is irreparable. Despair is a constant ingredient to their sorrow. They cannot hope ever to be admitted into God's presence any more. There are many ups and downs in a christian's experience. God hideth his face that he may show it afterwards the more gloriously. This is a curse that shall never be reversed. It was the church's prayer, ' Return again, and cause the light of thy coun- tenance to shine on us. and we shall be saved,' Ps. Ixxx. 19 ; like the
94 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SeR. XXVL
sunsliine after a cloudy night. But here are fogs of darkness for ever- more. The sun is to shine no more on them to all eternity : 2 Peter ii. 17, ' To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.' Hell is a region upon which the sun shall never shine.
Use 1. Lay to heart your distance from God by nature. Let us not draw this great judgment upon ourselves. Our sin will be our tor- ment. We are estranged from the womb, Isa. Iviii. 3. As a stream runneth away from the fountain further and further, so are we absent from God both in heart and affections as well as in state: Eph. ii. 13, 'Ye were afar off;' as the prodigal went into a far country. Thoughts of God are not only strangers, but unwelcome guests. ' The devils believe and tremble ; ' so we. Guilt will not suffer us to look God in the face, Ps. x. 4.