R>tte. XITI.}" THE PUNISHMENTS IN HELL; 615 they not in the fittest company to teach them pride, and rage, resentment and malice, and the most unfit to teach themhumility, repentance, and obedience to God ? And when they have perversely sinned away all the means of grace in this life, is it reasonable to imagine; that God will powerfully:soften their hearts by his sovereign grace, since he has .never given the least hint or instance of it in all the discoveries made in the bible ? And has it not been oftenone wayof God's punishing sinners here in this world, by letting them g their o on in iniquity andmad- ness to. the end ? And! why may not the wisdom and justice of God see it fit to treat sinners, who have been incorrigible in this life, by the same method in the world- to come ? Argument IV. The natural effects and consequences of sin living in the soul, aremisery and torment so.long'as the soul lives, that is, for ever. Sin, though it be a moral evil, . as it is committed against God, yet it:is such an enemy to the nature of man, that where it has established its ha- bit and temper in the soul, it naturally prepares constant anguish of conscience and certain misery.: A wicked spirit all over averse to God and goodness, gone from this world and all the soothing or busy amusements of it, intense in its desires of happiness, and yet a stranger to, all that can make it truly happy, and at the same time shut outby God's righteous judgment, from all the means and hopes of grace, must needs be miserable, and has prepared a state of endless misery for itself, becauseits nature and duration are immortal.' An unholy creature who loves not God, and cannot delight in things holy and heavenly, but derives its chief joy from sinful plea- sures, can never taste of felicity, can never relish the satisfactions that come-,from the knowledge and love, and the enjoyment of God ; and when it is torn away, and banished from all the sensible amusements of this life, it must and will be a wretched creature in the world of spirits, and that by the very course of nature : And God cannot be obliged to change the established course of nature to relieve this miserywhich the sinner had wil- fully brought on himself ; nor can God makehim happy without giving him a new temper Of holiness, which he is not obliged to do by any perfection of his nature or any promise of grace. R
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