pint. X14!1 THE PUNISHMENTS Ih*-HELL. Rom. viii. 32. will never spare thee who art the personal and criminal transgressor. Eternal recompenses are due to the demands of justice, and he will punish till full payment is made, equal. to the evil of sin, that is, to all everlasting. ? IL. " What infinite and eternal concerns hang upon the short and tender thread of human life ?" An eter- nal heaven or an eternal hell depend upon our good or ill behaviour in this short and mortal state. While life remains, the sinner's hope remains; he abides on the stage of action; and this is the state of trial foreternity: But as soon as the thread of life is broken, immediately ensues endless joy or endless sorrow. What a poor fleeting vapour, what a thin and frail bubble is this fee- ble and uncertain thing which we call life ? And yet, what matters of immense importance depend upon it? This present life is a price put into our hands, for it is the only time given us to obtain deliverance and escape, from eternal death : Life in this view, as mere a bubble and vapour as it_ is, carries in it something of infinite' and everlastingmoment : But, alas, howwretchedly does feolish and sinful mankind trifle and squander it away amidst a thousand vanities and impertinences, or saunter it out, in sloth and laziness, with an utter disregard of the important eternity that depends upon it? What mul- titudes are there that waste the golden hours of grate, and the seasons of hope, in procuring to themselves, by their own wilful iniquities, a length of damnation and everlasting despair ? While we dwell here, in the midst of mercy and salva- tion, there is hope that our sinful souls may be healed of that disease which is breeding the ever-gnawing worm within us. We may prevent the fuel of divine wrath fcotn kindling into a flame which cannot be quenched : But when once the clock of life has gone through its ap- pointed spaces, and the last hour strikes, whether it be . three or five, whether at twelve at noon or at midnight, all hope is for ever gone ; we are plunged into the regions of death, despondency, and darkness, and nothing remains, hut the actual torture of the worm of conscience to seize on us, and the fire of divine anger actually breaks' out, which shall burn to the lowest hell, O could we but behold ourselves in the glass of wisdom, while we
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