§ 17. But methinks I see the obstinate sinner desperately resolving, "If I must be damned, there is no remedy; rather than I will live as the Scripture requires, I will put it to the venture; I shall escape as well as the rest of my neighbors, and we will even bear it as well as we can." Alas! poor creature, let me beg this of thee, before thou dost so flatly resolve, that thou wouldst lend me thy attention to a few questions, and weigh them with the reason of a man. Who art thou, that thou shouldst bear the wrath of God? Art thou a god, or a man? What is thy strength? Is it not as the strength of wax or stubble to resist the fire; or as chaff to the wind; or as dust before the fierce whirlwind? If thy strength were as iron, and thy bones as brass; if thy foundation were as the earth, and thy power as the heaven; yet shouldst thou perish at the breath of his indignation: How much more when thou art but a piece of breathing clay, kept a few days from being eaten with worms, by the mere support and favor of Him whom thou art thus resisting?—Why dost thou tremble at the signs of almighty power and wrath? At claps of thunder, or flashes of lightning; or that unseen power which rends in pieces the mighty oaks, and tears down the strongest buildings; or at the plague, when it rageth around thee? If thou hadst seen the plagues of Egypt, or the earth swallow up Dathan and Abiram; or Elijah bring fire from heaven to destroy the captains and their companies, would not any of these sights have daunted thy spirits? How then canst thou bear the plagues of hell?—Why art thou dismayed with such small sufferings as befal thee here? A toothach; a fit of the gout, or stone, the loss of a limb, or falling into beggary and disgrace? And yet all these laid together, will be one day accounted a happy state, in comparison of that which is suffered in hell. Why does the approach of death so much affright thee? O how cold it strikes to thy heart! And would not the grave be accounted a paradise, compared with that place of torment which thou slightest?—Is it an intolerable thing to burn part of thy body, by holding it in the fire? What then will it be to suffer ten thousand times more for ever in hell?—Why does the thought or mention of hell occasion any disquiet in thy spirit?—And canst thou endure the torments themselves?—Why doth the rich man complain to Abraham _of his torment in hell_? Or thy dying companions lose their courage, and change their haughty language? Why cannot these make as light of hell as thyself?—Didst thou never see or speak with a man under despair? How uncomfortable was his talk? How burdensome his life? Nothing he possessed did him good: he had no sweetness in meat or drink; the sight of friends troubled him: he was weary of life, and fearful of death. If the misery of the damned can be endured, why cannot a man more easily endure these foretastes of hell?—What if thou shouldst see the Devil appear to thee in some terrible shape? Would not thy heart fail thee, and thy hair stand on end? And how wilt thou endure to live for ever, where thou shalt have no other company but Devils, and the damned, and shalt not only see them, but be tormented with them and by them?—Let me once more ask, if the wrath of God be so light, why did the Son of God himself make so great a matter of it? It made him _sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground_. The Lord of life cried, _My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death_. And on the cross, _My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?_ Surely if any one could have born these sufferings easily, it would have been Jesus Christ. He had another measure of strength to bear it than thou hast. Woe to thee, sinner, for thy mad security! Dost thou think to find it tolerable to thee, which was so heavy to Christ? Nay, the Son of God is cast into a bitter agony, and bloody sweat, only under the _curse of the law_; and yet thou, feeble, foolish creature, makest nothing to bear also the curse of the gospel, which requires a _much sorer punishment_.[260] The good Lord bring thee to thy right mind by repentance, lest thou buy thy wit at too dear a rate!
[Footnote 260] Hebrews x, 29.