USE SIXTH-USE AND APPLICATION.
Sinners,
would I could persuade you to hear me out! A man cannot commit a sin, but, by
the commission of it, he doth, by some circumstance or other, sharpen the sting
of hell, and that to pierce himself through and through, and through, with many
sorrows (1 Tim 6:10) Also, the sting of hell to some will be, that the
damnation of others stands upon their score, for that by imitating of them, by
being deluded by them, persuaded by them, drawn in by them, they perish in hell
for ever; and hence it is that these principal sinners must die all these
deaths in themselves, that those damned ones that they have drawn into hell are
also to bear in their own souls forever. And this God threatened to the prince
of Tyrus, that capital sinner because by his pride, power, practice, and
policy, he cast down others into the pit; therefore saith God to him, 'They
shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that
are slain in the midst of the seas.' And again; 'Thou shalt die the deaths of
the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers; for I have spoken it, saith the
Lord God' (Eze 28:8,10). Ah! this will be the sting of them, of those that are the principal, chief, and, as I may call them, the captain and ringleading sinners.
Vipers will come out of other men's fire and flames, and settle upon, seize
upon, and forever abide upon their consciences; and this will be the sting of
hell, the great sting of hell to them.
I
will yet add to all this; how will the fairness of some for heaven, even the
thoughts of that, sting them when they come to hell! It will not be so much
their fall into the pit, as from whence they fell into it, that will be to them
the buzzing noise and sharpened sting of the great and terrible hornet. 'How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!' there is the sting (Isa 14:12). Thou
that art exalted up to heaven shalt be thrust down to hell, though thou hast
made 'thy nest among the stars,' from thence I will fetch thee down; there is a
sting (Matt 11:23; Oba 4). To be pulled, for and through love to some vain
lust, from the everlasting gates of glory, and caused to be swallowed up for it
in the belly of hell, and made to lodge forever in the darksome chambers of
death, there is the piercing sting!
But
again, as there is the sting of hell, so there is the strength of that sting;
for a sting though never so sharp, or venom, yet if it wanted strength to force
it to the designed execution, it doth but little hurt. But this sting has the strength to cause it to pierce into the soul; 'the sting of death is sin: and
the strength of sin is the law' (1 Cor 15:56). Here then is the strength of the
stings of hell; it is the law in the perfect penalty of it; 'for without the
law, sin is dead' (Rom 7:8). Yea, again he saith, 'where no law is, there is no
transgression' (Rom 4:15). The law then followed, in the executive part of it,
the soul into hell, and there strengthened sin, that sting of hell, to pierce
by its unutterable charging of it on the conscience, the soul forever and
ever; nor can the soul justly murmur or repine at God or at His law, for that
then the sharply apprehensive soul will well discern the justness,
righteousness, reasonableness, and goodness of the law, and that nothing is
done by the law unto it, but that which is just and equal.
This,
therefore, will put great strength and force into sin to sting the soul, and to
strike it with the lashes of a scorpion. Add yet to these the abiding life of
God, the Judge and God of this law will never die. When princes die, the law
may be altered by the which at present transgressors are bound in chains; but
oh! here is also that which will make this sting so sharp and keen, the God
that executes it will never die. 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God' (Heb 10:30, 31).
