SU THE NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENTS IN HLLL. [DISC. XII; presentation of hell, " There shall be weeping and wail» ing, and gnashing of teeth ;" Mat. 'xxii., 13. and yet the heart ever living and ever obstinate, to supply fresh springs of these sorrows, and to feel the anguish of them all. .. VI. There will be also " raging desires of ease and pleasure which shall never be satisfied; together with perpetual disappointment and endless confusion thrown upon all.their schemes and their efforts of hope." It is the nature of man, while it continues in being, that it must desire happiness, and make some efforts towards it: And some divines have supposed, that men of wicked sensuality and luxury ;in this world, have so drenched their souls in fleshly appetite by indulging lusts, and placing their chief satisfaction and happiness therein, that they will carry this very temper of sensuality with them into the world of spirits ; and it is possible their raging appetites to this sensual happiness, may be in- creased while there are no objects to gratify them : if this be the case, it must be intense and constant misery to feel eternal hungerwith no bread to relieve it ; keen 'desires of dainties with no luxurious dishes to please their humorous taste ; eternal thirst without one drop of wine or water to allay or cool it; eternal fatigue and weari- ness without power to sleep, and eternal lust of pleasure without any hope of gratification. But if we should suppose these sensualities shall die together with the body, yet this is certain, the soul will have everlasting appetites of its own, that is, the general desire of ease and happiness, and of some satisfying good : But God, who is the only true source of happi- ness to spirits, the only satisfying portion ofsouls, is for ever departed and gone ; and thus the natural appetite of felicity will be ever wakeful and violent in damned spi- rits, while .every attempt or hope to satisfy it will meet with perpetual disappointment. Milton, our great English poet, has represented this part of the misery of devils in a beautiful manner. IIe supposes that ever since they tempted man to sin by the forbidden tree of knowledge, they are once a year changed into. the 'form of serpents, and brought by mil- lions into a grove of such trees, with the same golden appearance of fruit upon them : And while with eager
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