USE SIXTH, I come, in the next place, to a use of terror, and so I shall conclude. Is it so? Is the soul such an excellent thing, and is the loss thereof so unspeakably great? Then this showed the sad state of those that lose their souls. We used to count those in a deplorable condition, that by one only stroke, are stripped of their whole estate; the fire swept away all that he had; or all that he had was in such a ship, and that ship sunk into the bottom of the sea; this is sad news, this is heavy tidings, this is bewailed of all, especially if such were great in the world, and were brought by their loss from a high to a low, to a very low condition; but alas! what is this to the loss about which we have been speaking all this while?
The loss of an estate may be repaired, or if not, a
man may find friends in his present deplorable condition to his support, though
not recovery; but far will this be from him that shall lose his soul. Ah! he
has lost his soul, and can never be recovered again unless hell fire can
comfort him; unless he can solace himself in the fiery indignation of God;
terrors will be upon him, anguish and sorrow will swallow him up, because of
present misery; slighted and set at naught by God and His angels, he will also
be in this miserable state, and this will add to sorrow, sorrow, and to his
vexation of spirit, howling.
To
present you with emblems of tormented spirits, or to draw before your eyes the
picture of hell, are things too light for so ponderous a subject as this; nor
can any man frame or invent words, be they never so deep and profound,
sufficient to the life to set out the torments of hell.
All
those expressions of fire, brimstone, the lake of fire, a fiery furnace, the
bottomless pit, and a hundred more to boot, are all too short to let forth the
miseries of those that shall be damned souls. 'Who knows the power of God's
anger?' (Psa 90:11). None at all; and unless the power of that can be known, it
must abide as unspeakable as the love of Christ, which passed knowledge.
We hear it thunder, we see it lighten; yea, eclipses, comets, and blazing stars are all subject to smite us with terror; the thought of a ghost, of the appearing of a dead wife, a dead husband, or the like, how terrible are these things! But alas, what are these? mere flea bites, nay, not so bad, when compared with the torments of hell. Guilt and despair, what are they? Who understands them unto perfection? The ireful looks of an infinite Majesty, what mortal in the land of the living can tell us to the full, how dismal and breaking to the soul of a man it is, when it comes as from 'the power of His anger,' and arises from the utmost indignation? Besides, who knows of all the ways by which the Almighty will inflict His just revenge upon the souls of damned sinners? When Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he heard words that were unspeakable; and he that goes down to hell shall hear groans that are unutterable. Hear, did I say?
They shall feel them, they shall feel them burst
from their wounded spirit as thunderclaps do from the clouds. Once I dreamed
that I saw two (whom I knew) in hell, and thought I saw a continual dropping
from heaven, as of great drops of fire lighting upon them, to their sore
distress. Oh! words are wanting, thoughts are wanting, imagination and fancy
are poor things here; hell is another kind of place and state than any alive
can think; and since I am upon this subject, I will here treat a little of hell
as the Scriptures will give me leave, and the rather because I am upon a use of
terror, and because hell is the place of torment (Luke 16).
1.
Hell is said to be beneath, as heaven is said to be above; because as above signified
the utmost joy, triumph, and felicity, so beneath is a term most fit to describe
the place of hell by, because of the utmost opposition that is between these
two; hell being the place of the utmost sorrow, despair, and misery; there are
the underlings ever trampled under the feet of God; they are beneath, below,
under (Prov 15:24)!
