90 MISERY OF THOSE WHO [Chap. 6. is almost gone. Thou art standing at the door of eternity; and death is waiting to open the door, and put thee in. Go, sleep out a few more nights, and stir about a few more days on earth, and then thy nights and days shall end : thy thoughts, and cares, and pleasures shall all be devoured by eternity; thou must enter upon the state which shall never be changed. As the joys of heaven are beyondour con- ception, so are the pains of hell. Everlasting torment is inconceivable torment. But methinks I see the obstinate sinner desperately re- solving, "If I must be damned, there is no remedy. Rather than I will live as the Scripture requires, I will putit to the venture; I shall escape as well as the rest of my neighbors, and we will even bear it as well as we can." Alas ! poor creature, let me beg this of thee, before thou dost so flatly resolve, that thou wouldst lend me thy attention to a few questions, and weigh them with the reason of a man. Who art thou, that thou shouldst bear the wrath of God? What is thy strength ? Is it not as the strength of wax or stubble to resist the fire; or as chaff to thewind; or as dust before the fierce whirlwind ? If thy strength were as iron, and thy bones as brass; if thy foundation were as the earth, and thy power as the heavens, yet shouldst thou perish at the breathof his indignation. Howmuch more, when thou art but a piece of breathing clay, kept a few days from being eaten with worms, by the mere support and favor of him whom thou art thus resisting ! Why dost thou tremble at the signs of almighty power and wrath ? at claps of thunder, or flashes of lightning; or that unseen power which rends in pieces the mighty oaks, and tears down the strongest buildings ; or at the plague, when it rageth around thee ? If thou hadst seen the plagues of Egypt, or the earth swallow up Lathan and Abiram, or Elijah bring fire from heaven to destroy the captains and their companies, would not anyof these sights have daunted thy spirit ? How then canst thou bear the plagues of hell? Why art thou dismayed with such small sufferings as befall thee here ? a toothach, a fit of the gout, or stone, the loss of a limb, or falling into beggary and disgrace ? And yet all these laid together will be one day accounted a happy state, in comparison of that which is suffered in hell. Why does the approach of death so much affright thee? 0 how cold it strikes to thy heart!
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