the outward agony which we should experience in being burnt alive : and therefore God is pleased to represent his judgments by these images. And, oh! what a terrible idea is that of a cup filled with the wrath and indignation of an incensed God ; and that of a lake of fire and brimstone, '' kindled to the highest degree of fury by the breath of the Al- mighty •=!" But not to dwell on these metaphors, let us descend to those plainer matters which charac- terize the misery of the damned. It will be, 1. Unalleviated — [Here, in our deepest troubles, we find something to miti- gate our grief, some mixture of sweet in our cup of bitterness. There is some occupation to amuse us, some thought to soothe us, some friend to console us. But in that M'orkl of misery, our cup is " without the smallest mixture" of any thine- to assuage our anguish ; no engagement to draw away our atten- tion ; nothing in the retrospect or prospect to afford us the smallest consolation. Here we have " mercy and judgment ;" there we shall have "judgment without mercy." Small as a drop of water would be to one burning in a lake of fire, it cannot there be granted to us"*.]
2. Incessant —
[Whatever our afflictions be, whether of mind, or body, or of both together, the very weakness of our frame procures us some respite ; and the overwhelming nature of our troubles leads to an occasional suspension of them. But in the fiiture state of our existence, our bodies and souls will be strength- ened on purpose that they may be capable of suffering inces- sant torture. The unhappy sufferers never close their eyes to sleep; they "rest not day nor night;" they are always " weep- ing, always wailing, always gnashing their teeth" with inex- pressible anguish.]
3. Unpitied — •
[The sons and daughters of affliction find in this world some benevolent person ready to compassionate their state at least, if they be not able to relieve their misery. But those who are suft'ering the wrath of God, though tormented in the " presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb," find no pity whatsoever. Those benevolent spirits, who once would gladly have ministered to them with the tenderest soli- citude, now hear their ci'ies, and behold their writhings, with- out ' Isai. XXX. 33. " Luke xvi. 24.
VOL, XI. c c
386 KEVELATiox, XIV. g— 11. [1213.
out any other emotion than that of acquiescence and perfect approbation. Yea, they themselves are ■wilHng instruments of their torture ; " gathering them together as tares, and binding them up in bundles, and casting them into the fire*." The Lord Jesus too, who once left the bosom of his Father for them, and assumed their nature, and groaned, and wept, and bled for them, and would have accounted all the travail of his sold richly recompensed, if they had but availed themselves of his proffered mercy, even He now beholds them, and, so ftir from pitying their misery, " laughs at their calamity and mocks now that his judgments are come upon them^:" he even finds " rest and comfort to his own soul from the vengeance that he inflicts upon them ^. And there is reason to believe that every created being, not excepting the dearest relatives of those who perish, will be like-minded with Christ and the holy angels, and will applaud, and even rejoice in, the sentence that shall be executed, whether it be on the ungodly at large, or on their own relations in particular ss.]
4. Everlasting —
[Whilst here, the troubled look forward to death as the termination of their woes : and men often find satisfaction in the decease of their dearest relatives, from the consideration that they now " rest from their labours." But in that })lace of torment, they " cry to the rocks and hills to fall upon them, and to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb ;" but they cannot obtain this desired end : they wish for death, but it flees from them. Could they but hope that their misery would end at the expiration of millions of years, they would instantly congratulate themselves on their prospects : but the thought of eternity, oh ! this fearful thought adds such a poignancy to their anguish, as no finite imagination can at all conceive. Could the fire ever be burnt out, or their powers be consumed by it, they would rejoice: but their punislnnent is everlasting''; *' their worm dieth not, and their fire cannot be quenched';" on the contrary, " the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever."]