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gree, is to lofe all Pleasure, all Comfort, all Peace, all Hopes of thefe Things for ever; to be expofed to the gnawing of a Worm that never dies; to be let loofe to the Whips and the Stings, the Rage and the Fury of a deeply fenfible, and too much enlighten'd Confcience. But this is not all, tho' it be fad enough: To their Affliction for what they have loft, what they are deprived of, fhall be fuperadded an exquifite Pain to their very Senses; that their Torments may be every way compleat, Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlafting Fire. What more terrible to Flesh and Blood than Fire? But to be tormented in everlasting Fire, in Fire unquenchable, who can bear the Thoughts of it? For thofe tender Limbs of theirs, which they now use with so much Delicacy, to be henceforward ftretched out upon a Bed of Flame: For thofe Palates of theirs, which they are now so careful and curious to gratify, to want hereafter a Drop of Water to cool the infupportable Heat of them: For them, who in this World minded nothing fo much as the living at their Eafe, and enjoying their Pleafures, from henceforth to dwell with everlafting Burnings; to be tumbled down into a Lake that burns with Fire and Brimftone for ever: Oh, how amazing, how intolerable is the very Confideration! Especially when we confider what Companions, what Comforters they

are

are likely to have in this their Mifery, even no better than the damned Fiends. Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Thefe indeed are their proper Territories; this Lake of Fire was principally defigned for them, for their first foul Rebellion against God. But God Almighty intended Mankind for better Fortunes. But fince they (those I mean of whom I am now fpeaking) wilfully forfook their heavenly Father, and made themselves the Servants of the Devil, his Slaves they shall be to all Eternity; and he will pay them their Wages for all the Drudgery they have fo faithfully done him. But, alas! no otherwise, than by adding Vinegar to their Wounds, by reproaching their Folly, and increafing their Torments, and making Hell, if it be poffible, more infupportable

than it is.

Oh now, who can conceive the fad Condition of those poor forlorn Creatures! Who can number the Groans and the Plaints, the Roarings and the Howlings, the Curfes and Imprecations, which, out of the Anguish of their Souls, they do continually belch out against God, against themfelves, and againft all the World! Oh, how they do curfe their own Folly and Madness! How bitterly do they reflect upon their past Lives! How do they wish that they had thought on thefe Things in

time!

time! What would they not give for one Day, one Hour, of all that precious Time that they have lavished away fo foolishly, that, if it were poffible, they might make their Peace with God, and even grow to the Ground in humble Supplications for his Mercy and Forgiveness! But, alas! it is too late; the irrevocable Sentence is paft; their eternal State is concluded; never, never muft they hope to change their Condition; and this they know. And this is that which every Moment adds new Torments to their Torments. Oh, that we, who now hear thefe Things, would ferioufly confider them! Now, while God affords us our Lives, and the Means of Salvation, and the Hopes of his Favour. And Oh, that we would confider them fo long, till we be effectually wrought upon to change our Courfe of Living (if we do not already live as we fhould do) and apply ourfelves to a ferious and diligent Pursuit of Holiness and Virtue, that we may never come into this Place of Torment! But when our Lord fhall come to judge the World, we may be found in the Number of the Sheep on his right Hand, upon whom he will pronounce that happy Sentence of Abfolution, Come, ye bleffed of my Father, inberit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World.

Oh

Oh bleffed, beyond all Imagination bleffed, are those happy Souls to whom thefe Words fhall be pronounced! How abundantly will they think themselves rewarded for all the Troubles they here endured; for all the Pains they took in the Ways of Virtue and Piety; for all the Scoffs they met with from profane, irreligious, atheiftical Men, who laughed at their Precifenefs (as they called it) and their Zeal for God and Religion !

23.

21

Their Time of Trial is now paft, and now they come to be crowned. Now do they mount up with Jefus their beloved Mafter, and with an innumerable Company Heb. 12: of Angels, and with all the Spirits of just 22, 23. Men made perfect, into the New Jerufalem: Into blissful Regions, into a Country of perpetual Light and Peace, where there is no Darkness, no Mifts or Storms to which this under World is always obnoxious; No need of the Sun or Moon to fhine in it, Rev. 2 for the Glory of the Lord doth lighten it. Here is the City of the great King: The Seat of the Majefty of Heaven. Here fhall they live in his Prefence, and be in the Number of his Favourites, and behold the Wisdom of his Government, and the admirable Contrivance of all his Works. Here fhall they be ravifhed with the Beauty of his Holiness, and the Brightness of his Understanding, and the Largenefs of his Love; his uncorrupted Juftice, and his infinite VOL. VI.

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unexhausted Goodness. Here fhall they love him and their Saviour as much as they are able, and they fhall ftill be able to know him, and to love him more and more. For all their Faculties will be enlarged, and grow fo capacious, that they will bear fome Proportion to that infinite Good which is to fill them. In a Word; Here fhall they spend a whole Eternity in an Exftacy of Joy, in an uninterrupted Succeffion of Pleasures, in the beft natured and moft agreeable Company in the World; Angels, and Arch-Angels, and Prophets, and Apoftles, and Martyrs, all their dear Friends and Acquaintance, who die in the Faith of Chrift, and in the Fear of God; and all those brave Souls likewise whom they have heard or read of, whofe Virtue and rare Actions have made them famous over the World. And the Employment of the whole glorious Society shall ever be to love, and to ferve one another as much as ever they can, and all to join together in finging Rev. 7.10. endless Praifes and Hallelujahs to him that fitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb for

evermore.

go

I can fay no more. We are loft if we further. O Thou Bleffed God, who hast prepared for them that love thee, fuch things as pafs Man's Understanding, pour into our Hearts fuch Love towards thee, that we, truly repenting of our Sins, and quitting all the Paths of Folly and Wickednefs, whereby

we

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