Ambrose - Houston-Packer Collection BX5200 .A49 1674

Lul:; 16. 24. .IDoomes~oap. poffible, to go forwards lntollerablc; whofe help will they crave? God is their Judge, Heaven their foe , the Samts dende them, Angels hate them, all creatures crie tur vengeance on them. Good Lord! what a world ofmifery hath feized on thefe mifcra– ble fouls? Their Executionersare Devils,. the Dungeon Hell, the Earth ltands open, and the cruel Furnace ready botlmg to recervc them: Into what a !haking fit of diftradi– ons will thefe tcrrours dnve them ? every part !hall bear a part in this doleful dittie, t)'CS weep, hand.f wring; breAjls beat~ hearts alz!, voices cry, horrour, dread, ter-rour, conf~<fion arelively eq11ipages ofthis T rttgtek Scene. Now (0man of earth!) what will llll thy wealth avail thee;? vihat can all thy pleafures profit thee? one drop of water to cool tl>y fiery tongue mhell, rs more worth than a world of treafures ; all the gold • and precious ll:ones the world affvrds, will not buy one bottle of water: all thy golden· gods, and filver plates cannot prevail one dram of comfort: but rather as they were thy banc on Earth,fo they will aggravate thy pain in helLWho pities not the vilelt crea– ture, to fee tt fuffer torments, and no way to relcafe it?- \Nho then will not pitty this end of the Wtcked, when they muft fuffer, and fuffcr, yet never feel cafe of paia, nur end of to~ments? A fentence not to be revoked, yet unfufferably to be endured; tor– ment on torment, anguil11 on anguilh, fire upon fire, and though a Rivcr, (nay, a Se,) of tears drop from their eyes, yet cannot one fpark be quenched: The worm mver dus, the fire never ~roes out. Go ye imo everlajling fire, not piled of confuming wood, or the black moulds turning to white a!hes, but kindled by the Judges breath, of pitch and fulphur; Rivers of boiling brimftone run from everlalling fprings: in thefc hot Bathes was that Dives dived, when thofe fiery words came flaming from his mouth as fpitting fire: Let La2:arus dip the tip ofhis finger in waur to cool my tongue; Alas what !houlda drop of water do on a finger, when rivers cannot quench the tip of his tongue? He lies on a bed of never dying flames, where brimftone is the fuel, devils the kindlers, the breath of an offended God the bello\\'S, and hell the furnace, where body and foul mull: ever lie and fry in fcorching torments. 0 let the heat of thefe flames quench !he heat of our fin : if once the fcntence palfe, there is no reprieve to be hoped for; this is the Jail D11y ofDoom, when our fins muft be revealed, our Rmardproportioned, and as we have done,fo we mull: be fcntenced : for Then he]hall] reward·every man according,. his work. Thus you have heard the fentcnce of the jull aod wicked: and now is the Judge al'ifing from his glorious feat; the Saints that were invited guard him along, and the fentenccd prifoners are delivered to the Jaylors to be bound in burning Steel and Iron; the reward of Execution. Thefentence being pall in all prefcribcd order, the f.xewtion ;nuft needs follow: but as there is a doublefemence, fo a double rembulation: Firlr, for the wicked, who im– mediately after the fcntencc !hall be chafed into hell, the E.wcution being fpecdily and fearfully done upon them, with all horrour and halle by the Angels. 0 what a fcriech ofhorrour will be heard? what woes and lamentations will be uttered, when Dc"ils, and Reprobates, and all the damned crew of hell !hall be driven into hell, whereinto they !hall be thruftwith violence, never to return again? How dcfpcratc is their cafe, when none will comfort them? the Saints deride them, Angels mock them, their own friends fcoffe them, devils hate them, the earth groans under them, and hdl will fwal– low them. .Down they go howling, and !hrieking, and gna!hing their teeth, the elfect of a moft impatient fury. The world leaves them, the earth for fakes them, hdl en– tertains them, there muft they live and die, and yet not live nor dye, but dying live, and living dye; death in life, life in death, miferable ever. If the drowning of the old world, [wallowing up ofKorah and his compli.ccs, burning~p ofSodomwith brimltone, were attended with fuch terrours and hrdeous out-Gnes, how mfinttely tranf– cendent to all poffibility of conceit, expreffion, or belief, will the confufions ond tremblings of that red-dread-fiery day be? It is 110t a few, but many; nor many only, but all the wicked of the earth, being many millions of men, !hall be dragged down, with all the Devils of hell to tornrents without end, or cafe, or paft imaginJtion; then to fpeak it again, that I may the deeper imprint it in your minds and nicmories: fure there was horrible lhricking, when thofc five filthy Cwes firfl felt fire and bnmflone drop down upon their Eleads; When thofe Rebels faw the ground cleave afunder, and themfelves and all theirsgo down qnick_into rhc pit; when all the fonnes and daughters of .Ad11mfound the flood riling and ready to over-flow them all at once: But the m~ft ' hornd

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