[Through sin the soul sets itself against God.]
(3.) Add to these, the durable condition that the body in this state is now in with the soul. Time was when the soul died, and the body lived, and the soul was tormented while the body slept and rested in the dust, but now these things are past; for at the day of judgment, as I said, these two shall be re-united, and that which once did separate them, be destroyed; then of necessity they must abide together, and, as together, abide the punishment prepared for them; and this will greaten the torment of the body.
Death was once the wages of sin, and a grievous curse; but might the damned meet with it in hell, they would count it mercy, because it would separate soul and body, and not only so, but take away all sense from the body, and make it incapable of suffering torment; yea, I will add, and by that means give the soul some ease; for without doubt, as the torments of the soul extend themselves to the body, so the torments of the body extend themselves to the soul; nor can it be otherwise, because of union and sympathy. But death, natural death, shall be destroyed, and there shall be no more natural death, not in hell (1 Cor 15:26). And now it shall happen to men, as it has done in lesser and inferior judgments. They shall seek death and desire to die, and death shall not be found by them (Job 3:21; Rev 9:6). Thus, therefore, they must abide together; a death that used to separate them asunder is now slain—1. Because it was an enemy in keeping Christ's body in the grave; and, 2. because it was a friend to carnal men in that, though it was a punishment in itself, while it lasted and had dominion over the body of the wicked, it hindered them of that great and just judgment which for sin was due unto them; and this is the third discovery of the manner and way of punishing the body. But,
(4.) There will then be such things to be seen and heard, which the eye and the ear—to say no more than has been said of the sense of feeling—will see and hear, that will greatly aggravate the punishment of the body in hell; for though the eye is the window, and the ear a door for the soul to look out at, and also to receive in by, yet whatever goeth in at the ear or the eye leaves influence upon the body, whether it be that which the soul delighteth in, or that which the soul abhorreth; for as the eye affecteth the heart, or soul (Lam 3:51), so the eye and ear, by hearing and beholding, doth ofttimes afflict the body. 'When I heard, my belly trembled—rottenness entered into my bones.' (Hab 3:16).
Now, I say, as the body after its resurrection, to damnation, to everlasting shame and contempt (Dan 12:2; John 5:29) will receive all its senses again, so it will have a matter to exercise them upon, not only to the letting into the soul those aggravations which they by hearing, feeling, and seeing are capable of letting in thither but, I say, they will have matter and things to exercise themselves upon for the helping forward of the torment of the body. Under temporal judgments of old, the body as well as the soul had no ease, day or night, and that not only by reason of what was felt but by reason of what was heard and seen. 'In the morning, thou shalt say, Would God it were even! And at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!' (Deu 28:67). 1. 'For the fear of thine heart, wherewith thou shalt fear;' 2. 'And for the sight of thine eyes, which thou shalt see.' Nay, He tells them a little before, that they should be mad for the sight of their eyes, which they should see (verse 34).
See! Why, what shall they see? They will find themselves in hell, with others like them; and this will be a torment to their bodies. There is bodily torment, as I said, ministered to the body by the senses. What do you think? If a man saw himself in prison, in irons, upon the ladder, with the rope around his neck, would not this be distressing to the body, as well as to the mind? To the body, doubtless. Witness the heavy looks, the shaking legs, trembling knees, pale face, and beating and aching heart; how much more, then, when men shall see themselves in the most dreadful place; it is a fearful place, doubtless, to all to behold themselves in that shall come thither (Luke 16:28).
Again; they shall see others there, and by them, they shall see themselves. There is an art by which a man may make his neighbor look so ghastly, that he shall frighten himself by looking on him, especially when he thinks of himself, that he is of the same show also. It is said concerning men at the downfall of Babylon, that they shall be amazed one at another, for 'their faces shall be as flames' (Isa 13:8). And what if one should say, that even as it is with a house set on fire within, where the flame ascends out at the chimneys, out at the windows, and out at every chink and crevice that it can find, so it will be with the damned in hell? That soul will breathe hellfire and smoke, and coals will seem to hang upon its burning lips; yea, the face, eyes, and ears will seem all to be chimneys and vents for the flame and smoke of the burning which God by His breath has kindled therein, and upon them, which will be beheld one in another, to the great torment and distress of each other.
What shall I say? Here will be seen devils, and there will be heard howlings and mournings; here will the soul see itself at an infinite distance from God; yea, the body will see it too. In a word, who knows the power of God's wrath, the weight of sin, the torments of hell, and the length of eternity? If none, then none can tell, when they have said what they can, the intolerableness of the torments that will swallow up the soul, the lost soul, when it is cast away by God, and from Him, into outer darkness for sin. But this much is for the cause of the loss of the soul.
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