'4 MISERY OF THOSE WHO [Chap. 5. shut out of the presence of God for ever ; then the.appli- cation of God's anger to themselves will be the easiest matter in the world; they will then roar out these forced confessions, " 0. my misery ! Omy folly ! 0my inconceiva- ble, irrecoverable loss !" 4. Then will their affections likewise be more lively, and no longer stupified. A hard heart now makes heaven and hell seem but trifles. We have showed them everlasting glory and misery, and they are as men asleep; our words are as stones cast against a wall, which fly back in our faces. We talk of terrible things, but it is to dead men ; we search the wounds, but they never feel us; we speak to rocks rather than to men; the earth will as soon tremble as they. But when these dead souls are revived, what pas- sionate sensibility, what working affections, what pangs of horror, what depth of sorrow will there then be ! How violently will they fly in their own faces! How will they rage against their former madness ! The lamentations of the most affectionate wife for the loss of her husband, or of the tenderest mother for the loss of her children, will be nothing to theirs for the loss of heaven. 0 the self- accusing and self -tormenting fury of those forlorn crea- tures ! How will they even tear their own hearts, and be God's executioners upon themselves t As themselves were theonly meritorious cause of their sufferings, so themselves will be the chief executioners. Even Satan, as he was not so great a cause of their sinning as themselves, will not be so great an instrument of their torment. Howhappy would they think themselves then, if they were turned into rocks, . or any thing that had neither passion nor sense ! How happy, if they could then feel as lightly as they were wont to hear ! if they could sleep out the time of execution, as they did the time of the sermons that warned them of it ! But their stupidity is gone it will not be. 5. Their memories will moreover be as large and strong as their understanding and affections. Could they but lose the use of their memory, their loss of heaven,being forgot, would little trouble them. Though they would account annihilation a singular mercy, they cannot lay aside any part of their being. Understanding, conscience, affections, memory, must all live to torment them, which should have helped to their happiness. As by these they should have
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