PfHELL. Chap. I. it were to exchange a Torment for a Refrefhment. The Scripture fpeaks of the vehe. ment. Heat and fkry Thirll, apd outer Darknefs in which the Damn·etl fufli:r, to fatisfy the nghts of JullJCc m the Torment of thofe Senfcs, for the Pleafure of which Men wil. fully broke the Laws of God. But the Soul being the chief Sinner, Jhall be thechief Mo~rner in thofe Regions of Sorrow. An Image of thts we have m the Agomes of Spmt, wh1ch fometimes the Saints themfelves are in here, and which the mollllubborn Sinners can neither refill nor endure. 'Job was afflicted in that manner that he complains, The .Arrows of the A/might] are with me, the Poifon whereof drmks up mJ Sptrit, the Terrors of God fet themfelves in Ar. raJ ag<injf me. If a Spark of his Difpleafure falls on the guilty Confcience, it tears and blows up all, as a Fire-ball call into a Magazine. Solomon, who underllood the Frame of human .Nat.ure, tells us, The Spirit of aMan can bear his Inf!rmity; that is, the Mind for~ified by principjes of moral Counfel and Confrancy, can endure rhe a!fault of external Evils: but a · w~unded Spirit who can be.r ? This is moll infupportable when the !ling and remorfe of the Mind is from the fenfe of Guilt : for then God appears an Er.emy, Righteous and Severe; and who can encounter with ofli:ndedOmnipotence? Such is thelharpnefs of his Sword, and the weight of his Hand, that every ftroke is deadly inward. Satan the cruel Enemy of Souls, exafperates theWounds. He difcoversand charges Sin upon the Confcience with all its killing Aggravations, and conceals the Divine Mercy, the ~~~fesL~fi~~r:~~:~ms:.,on~e o'f ~~~r~"$ ~~~ri~ref~t~~t ~r;~~sd~~~a;~rM~n~atb~~~ Prince of Darknefs? And, which heightens the Mifery, Man is a worfe Enemy to him. felf than Satan : he falls upon his own Sword, and dellroys himfelf. The guilty Confci· ence turns the Sun into Darknefi, and the Moon into Blood: -the precious Promifesof the Gofpel, that a!fure Favour and Pardon to roturning and relenting Sinners; are turn'd into Arguments of Defpair, by reRecting upon the abufe and provocation of Mercy, that the Advocate in God's bofom,is become the Accufer. Whatever the Soul-wounded Sinner fees or hears, affiills him; whatever he thinks, torments him: All theDiverfions in theWorld, Bufinefs, Pleafures, merry Converfation, Comedies, are as inefli:Hual to give freedom from thofe Stings and Furies in the Breall, as the fprinkling of Holy Water is to expel a raging Devil from a po!fell Perfon. Thofe who in their Pride and Jollity, have defpifed f;r~~'d~~~~~~ at~~~rtj,~as~cl~ !;~~f!'ill~t;~~~~!,[yt~bo~tdi~~~~.~~ :h1~~~~Ye~:~~~~~ God has fct their Sins with all their killing circumllances in order before their Eyes, how ~~~~~~~o~~f ~h~fd':~~h~te !:~inJ: :~:~Pk~~::;,~~~h~e~i~sft ~'/~st~u~;,"~~~ Herd of Concubines, by a few Words written on the Wall, containing his Procers and Judgment, was fo terrified by his Guilty Jealous Confcience, that his Joints were loafed, Nature funk under the Apprehenfion. Now all there troubles of Mind are but the be· ginnings of Sorrows, but the Smoak of the infernal Furnace, but Earnells of that ~rri· · ble Sum which divine Jullice will feverely exact of the Wicked in Hell. Indeed there Examples are rare, and not regarded by the moll:, and by fome look'd on as the effects of Dillraaion : But to convince the bold and carelefs Sinners, who never felt the flings of an awakened Confcience, whatextream Terrors feize upon the Wicked in the other World, confider, 1. The Apprehenfion fhall be more clear and e_nlarged than in the prefent State. Now !l:fn~~~/s ~f~~~~Y~,i!ho} ~::1~1~o~te ;~~~~vi~~ .. ~h~C;;~c7:~~:~~~:.C~~~!~~ th~~tf;ai~ ons. But then the Soul fhall work with the quickelt aaivity. The Mind fhall by an ir· ~1£~~~r;~~:t':~~~na/.~~~~1ef..Y~h'~!r~~~j~a?~je~h~t ;~~:~~ :~fd~;~l~e~h~~~~~~ ~~~;:~ ~::i~:~li:tn"[a~; ~~~i~rb~ i;~~'er~~~h~r"~~~~i~~~~~~ity of le!fening it by falfe Con· 2. The mournful Thoughts fhall be always fixt upon what is tormenting.. The Soul in conJunction with theBody, cannot:always apply 1t felf to one fort of Objects. For the Minill ry of the feofible Faculties is rcquifite to its Operations. And the Body mull ~~f.'d~;,01;~~ ~I.-i~;i~r ~~~~~~~~~~:~!t~~er~~~~ti~~:r~;~~t!~~~:r;:l:~u!~; is afflicting. But the feparate Soul is in no dependance on the Body, and ~fter the1r reunion, there fhall be no necellity of Food or Sleep, or any other ammal act1o~s to fupp<>rt it, but it fhall berellored to a new capacity for new Torments, and preferved m that m•rerable State by the power of God. There will be nothmgtheo. tod1vert the Jolt Soul from fad RelleUions upon itsMifery. There are no lucid intervals mHell. J· All
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