God's W.ratb dreadful to Sinners. 373. Firfl To rhe Godly rhefe Afllicrions are mixed with Love and Mercy. They come ~ot as Plagues but as Medicaments eo do them good. But in Hel:i, all is \Vrath,pureWrath and.Judgmemwichout ~ercy. And certainly if thofe Sufterings which are infliCted in Love,. ·and allay'd \flth.Mercy, are yet fo very dreadful to the People of God; how dreadful \~ill the \Yrarh of God be i.n H,U, where it, fhall be pure and unmixed, and nothmg pu~ Into that Cup whtch the Damn~d are there to drink of, but the ra11keft Venom that can be fqueezed out of all the Cur{es that ever God bath denou,nced ? And then, . ,. Secondlt·, To the wicked all rh~ Sufferings they here endure are nothing.in 2, -comparifon with what they muft eternally iUffer in HeU.. T.hey are no~ only fRrinkled with a few drops of God's Wrath, bur in HtU all his Waves !ball go o~'er rhcm for ever. Here they do but fip a little of that,Cup, and tafte a little. of the Froth of it, and ihould they drink deeper, Earth could nor hold them, but they would grow drunk, and reel and ftagger into Hell; but there they mull for ever drink the very Dregs of that Cup of J'remb)ing and Aftonilbm~nr. And thou who now roareft like a wild Bull in aNet,when God's Hand is only upon l:hee,what wilt thou do when thou fhalr eternally fall unde~ his Mighty Hands ? Thou now cri eft out of the lmolerablenefli of thy prefent Pam; but, alas, l}adft thou hue felt one gripe of the To1·menrs of the Damned in Hell; had God and. the Devil had hut one blow apiece at thee, thou wouldfi chufe to live for ever here o·n Earth in the moft exquifite Torture that could be devifed, the fharpeft Pr.roxyfms of the Stone or Gout, to be ftret~Zht upon the Rack, to lye broke upon the .Wheel, ro have thy Flelb pluckr by fiery Pincers; thou wouldft chufe to fuffer all rhefe to Eterniry; yea,and chufe them as Recreations and Diverdfeme,ms, rathet than return to rhac place of Torment; where nor onlyrhe)iternity,bur the Anguilh of rhem, is infinite and unconceivable. And as one Day in the Joys~{ HMven; is better than a thoufand Years i'n all the impure and low Delights of Earth: So one Day in the TormintJ of Hell, is far worfe than a tho4fand in the 1hal)pefi: Miferies we can indure in this Life. . Here our Pains ufually are but partial, God aims and lhoots with his Arrow but at fomeone part of us: If he wounds our Spirits, yet this inviiible Shaft (like Lightning ) paifech rhorow without making a Bt;each in our Bodies or Eft~ res ; we have llill our Health and Plenty left us. Or if he ftrike the Body, ufually it is bur in one, or at mofi but in fome few Places, and we enjoy eafe in the reft : But in Hell, God doth as it were wrap the whole Man up in Searcloth, and fet it on fire round ab01.a them, fo that they are tormented in every parr, neither So11l nOr Body efcaping, nor any Power or Faculty of the one, nor any Part or Member of the other. When we fall into the Hands ofGod, we are plunged into an Ocean of Wrath, 2nd are covered all over wirh his Indignation; the Underftanding, Will,Confcience,Affed:ions,are all as full of Tormems as they can hold : For what can be greater Anguifh to the Mind than to know our Mifery, and coknowitto beremedilefs? And what can be greater Anguilh to the Will and Affections, than moft ardently and vehemently to defire freedom from rhofe Tormenu,but yet to defpair ofever obtaining it? And whar can fill the Confcience with greacer Anguifh,than to reflect wich infinite Horrour and Regret, that irwas the Sinners own Folly and Madnefs that brought them eo this miferableCondirion? How will they De ready to rend and rearthcmfelvcsiri pieccs,rheir Confciencescurfe their Wills, and their Willscurferheir Affections, and their Affed:ionstheObjedstharemiced them to the commiffion of thofe Sins, the Revenges of which they mufi now eternally fuffer? And as for the Bod;u of rhefe Damned Souls, they /hall after the Re" j~rrtllion and dreadfulDny of Judgment, become all Fire, like a live Coal; Fire :fhallbe imbibed imo the very Subfiance of them, and they not have fomuczh aJ a drop fl{ ?Vnttr afforded them to cool the tip oftheir Tongues. Every LimbJhalldrOR Luk ' whole flakes of Fire nnd Brimf/one, and they fhall be fo fcourged with knotted e. 1 • a_nd twifted Serpents, as to be made all over one great fiery Wound and Ulcer. And this is a rhird Conflderarion of rhe dreadfulnefs of ever!afiing Vengeance· It iJ afalting into God'J HandJ. , Fourth/" Confider, it is a falling in:o the Ha11d1 of the Living God hjmfolf, and - · not of any Creature. Indeed we read, Davidchoferather tiJfallintotheHanJs S + lf the Lord, than into the HandJ of Mm. It is true, when there is Repentance :,..am,,,., * ond
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