48 Tim final kite fu of Sin;- Vol. II. And much more, when Sinners come into the other World, and are entred into the Regions of Dárknefs, and the melancholy Shades, where Evil Spirits are continually wandring up and down; where they can meet with nothing ei- ther of Employment or Pleafure, to give the leaft Diverfion to their pen(ive Minds; where they (hall find nothing to do, but to retie& upon and bemoan themfelves ; where all the wicked A&ions that ever they committed (hall come frefh into their Minds, and (tare their Confciences in the face. It is not to be imagined, what fad Scenes will then be prefent to their Imaginations, and what (harp Refleaions their own guilty Minds will make upon them, and what Swarms of Furies will poffefs them. So foon as ever they areentered upon that State, they will then find themfelves forfaken of all thofe Comforts which they once placed fo much Happinefs in ; and they will have nothing to converfewith, but their own uneafie felves, and thofe that are as miferable as themfelves, and thereforeuncapable ofadminiftring any Comfort to one another. They will then have nothing to think on, but what will trouble them ; and every newThought will be a new increafe of their Trouble. Their Guilt will make them re(((efs, and the more refllefs they are, the more will their Minds be enraged ; and there will be noend of their Vexation, becaufe the Caufe and Ground ofit is perpetual. For there is no poffìble way to get ridof Guilt, but by Repentance ; and there is no Encouragement, no Argu- ment to Repentance, where there is nohope of Pardon. So thatif God fhould hold his Hand, and leave Sinners to themfelves, and to the Lafhes of their own Confcience, a more fevere and terrible Torment can hardly be imagined, than that which a guilty Mind wouldexecute upon it felf. II. Another Ingredient into the Miferies of Sinners in another World, is the lively Apprehenuion of the invaluable Happinefs which they have loft by their own Obftinacy and fooli(h Choice. In the next World wicked Men (hall be for ever feparated from God, who is the Fountain of Happinefs, and from all the Comfortsof his Prefence and Favour. This, our Saviour tells us, is the firft part of that dreadful Sentence that (hall be paffed upon the wicked at thegreat Day ; Depart from me ; which Words, tiro' they do not liignifie any pofitive In- fli&ion and Torment, yet they import the greateft Lofs that can be imagined. And it is not fo eafy to determine which is the greateft of Evils, Lofs or Pain. Indeed to a Creature that is only endowed with Senfe, there can be no Mifery but that ofPain and Suffering: but to thofe who have Reafonand Llnderftanding, and are capable of knowing the value of things, and of refleBeing upon them- felves in the want of them, thegreateft lofs may be as grievous and hard to be born as the greatefl pain. 'Tis true, that (inners are now fo immerfi in the grofs and fenfual delights of of this World, that they have no apprehenfion of the Joys of Heaven, and the Pleafures ofGod's prefence, and of the Happinefs that is to be enjoyed in Com- munion with him, and therefore they are not now capable of eflimating the greatnefs of this lofs. But this infenfiblenefs of wicked men continues no longer than this prefent Pate, which affords them variety ofObjeas of Pleafure and of Bulnefs to divert them and entertain them: but when they come into the other World, they (hall then have nothing elfe to think upon, but the fad Condition into which they have brought themfelves, nothing to do but to pore and medi- tate upon their own Misfortune, when they (hall lift up their Eves, and with the rich Man in the Parable, in the milt of their Torments, look up to thofe who are in Abraham's bofom; and their Mifery will be mightily increafed by the Contemplation of that Happinefs which others enjoy, and themfelves have fo foolifhly forfeited and fallen fhort of ; infomuch that it would be happy for them, if that God, from whofe prefence they are banifht, that Heaven from which they have excluded themfelves, and that everlafting Glory, which they havedefpifed and negle&ed, might be for ever hid front their Eyes, and never come into their Minds. III. This is not all, but betides the fad Apprehenfiorf of theirLofs, they (hall endure the (harpeftPains. Thefe God bath threatred inners withal, and they are to
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