Chap.S ·Sea 6. .®enttatton~. motes in the ayre ; orftars in the firmament, or creawres bo.th in I:Jeavcn tZ?Zd earth; I jl1G1:ld conifort my [<If incredibly JVith this thought, my mifery Will"' I".J! have an end !_But oh_, thY word eternity even rends my,~heart m puces wuh mttch rage er_ hz~eo11~ roanng; thu word eternitygives fti/1 nClv life to tho[< unjitjferable farrows, whteh mfinuely exceedall exprejfion, or imagination. 0 my foul dolt thou not now begm to reltfh the bmernelfe. bf fin, and bitternefs of hell ? Confider it throughly : thofe damned fouls that are in hell muft not be there oncly for a day, month, a yeare, an age, no, no; when a thoufand millions of a6eS are gone and paft, their torments are as frefh to begin as at the fin1: day: Theybwcre never weary of finning, nor ever would have been, tf they had lived eternally upon earth, and now God wtll never be weary ofplagumg _; t)ley ~ever hear– tily repented of their fin, and God Wtll never repent hun of thetr fulfenng: they broke the law of the eternal God, and therefore they mull: fulfer eternal punifhment : they knew it was an everlafting kingdome which they refufed when it was offered them and therefore what wonder if they be cverlaltingly fhut out of the fame; their fouls ;re immortal, & therefore hell is immortal. 0 eternity of hell ! how fhould hpprehend thee? 0 my ~oul? where,art thou? where is.thy .itanding? which way dolt thou caft thmc eye>? tf on the eartn, thou feefl: (efpcctallym fummer-nme) many graffe piles grow thereon ; fuppofe at the end of every thoufand years a .damned foul might have the liberty to pluck up one gralfe, a?d then to hell and to fulfenrrgs againe ; and at the end of another thoufand years he mtght pluck up another gralfe, anq fo on , till every gralfe pile on the earth were gone,how many thou fands,thoufands of thoti[ands ofyears would be before this work were dene? Or,if thou art on the fea,and travele!l: on the ocean; thou feeft many drops of water therein, fuppofc at the end of every thou-. fand years a damned fo'til might have the liberty to put his little finger into the fea, and to let one drop fall off into hell, where that fire might dry it up ; how many thoufands, thoufands of thoufands ofyears would-be before all the Ocean were removed and took away by oue drop onely in one thoufand years i Here I know thou art at a !l:and, if thou wcrt the befl: Arithmetician in the world, thou wouldft never reckon up the numberlelre number of thofe multiplied thoufands; and yet , wo and alas ! when the damned have been fo many years in that fiery lake,as all thofe thoufands would amount unto, they are no ne1uer coming out, than the very firfl: hour they entred in. 0 my foul, thou art afraid of death, and of thy departure from the body, but now think with thy fe!f, wh~t a mercy would it be for the damned fouls if they. might dye? how do they call and cry out for it ; 0 deathwhither art thougone? 0 come, come, come, and cut off this dolefult life ofmine ! 0 that the[< paineJ JVould quite break_ my heart and end my being ! 0 that I might dye at !aft! thefe groanes will the thoughts of Eternity wring fron1 their hearts; They were wont to think Sermons long, and prayers long, but how long now will they think thofe endlelfe torments? 0 the bitterneffe ofthis eternity: me thinks I fee into h-ell;· there's a man in the fire, and a worme at his heart ; the fire burns him, and the worme bites him, yet neither of thefc make an end of him ; there he roars , and yells, and howls, and cryes, 0 woe is mefor ever! A mall faid I ! Alas ! broad is the way, a)ld many there are that walk hell-ward: It were enough indeed to make all tremble,though there were but one amongit all the fans of Adam to fulfer eternally, but that hell jho~tld enlarge her[<If, and open hCI mouth without meafure, and theirglory, andtheir m~tltit<tde, and their ppmpe jhould defcend into it! that there fhould be millions of men of the fame flefh and blood that I am, chained together in hell, where o.ne roars, and •?other anfwers, an~ all bear the burthen, wo and alaJf or t:'>Hr. In one nook of hell there s a lamentable fhrtek 1 ~o for ever, in another corner far remote, there's another fearful ihriek; wo for ever; in all the corners ofthofc fmoaky vaults there's a cry, or an echo of th!s cry, f or ever, for ever, for ever,for ever, 0 my foul how is it thou canfl: !Jeep mthe ntght: or be merry in the day , whilefl: thou thinkefl:attentively , or con– fide.re!l: .throughly of this meditation? lcffe matters have fomctimes beftraught men of the~!' wtts, . ~n~ bereaved them of theirlives. But 0 what IY.Itred and detelbtion of fin. what gn~f ~or fi~ ? what godly fh.ame? what unfeigned repentance? :what holy anger an4 tndtgnatton.againft thy felffor thy mifcar.riages? what zeal,and jealoufie over thy .he~rt? what pity in thee towards thofe who are ignorantly' walking on to– wards tht.s cter~''l': fhould this >neditatioli work ? And withal!, 0 what pangs of love fh?uld tht~ work m!hec to thy Saviour? c_onfider 0 t;ny fol:ll, hell was thy native right, tkts damnable et:rmty thy dcferved portion; thofe fhould have been .(iffret; grace had not been) thy h1deous cryes, thy"doleful groanes; thy'eafele!S"{iain·es; thy'endldfe t.or~ . meats; 197
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