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THE NATURE
OF
THE PUNIsfM-ENTS' fN 'RELL.
[DISC. XII.
the saine
madness and fury against
God and their
fellow.
creatures, nor
the same ahguish
of
conscience
as
those
Who
have
been more
grossly and
obstinately
wicked
and
vicious,
and have
wilfully
refused
and renounced
the
well
-known
offers
of
grace
and
salvation
:
There are
innumerable
degrees
of
inward punishment and
pain,
according
to the degrees
of
sin.
Answer
II..
It
should
be
added
too,
that that
world
of
punishment
is
also a world
of
increasing
wickedness,
and
those
that
have
had
some
natural
virtues and
some
appear
-
ances
of
goodness here, may and
will
renounce
it
all in
the
world
to come,
where they
find
themselves
punished
for
their
impenitence and irreligion, and their
criminal
n
;lect
of God
and godliness
:
And the
least and
lightest
of
the punishments
of
damned souls
will be
terrible
enough,
and yet not surpass
the
desert of their
offences.
They
have been
all in
greater or
less
degrees
treasuring
up
food
for
this
fire,
which
is
unquenchable.
Besides,
it
may
be
added
here,
that
in
threatenings the
holy
scripture
generally expresses
them in
their highest
degrees and most formidable appearances
ó
,
on
purpose
t
secure
men
from coming
near
the peril and
border
of
them.
This
shall
suffice
to explain the first
part
of
the metap-
hor
in
my
text,
that
is,
"
The
worm
that dicta
not."
SECTION
II.
"
The
fire
which shall
not
be
quenched."
I
proceed
now
to consider,
The
second
part of
the de-
.description of
hell
in
the
nature of
it,
as
it
is
represented
by
our
Saviour,
and
that
is,
that "
the fire
is
never quenched."
`Fire
signifies
the medium or
instrument of torture
from
without,
which
God
has
threatened
to employ
in
the
pu-
nishment
of
guilty creatures,
even
as
the."
gnawing worm"
signifies
their
inward
torment.
Fire
applied
to the sen-
sible
and tender parts
of
the
flesh,
gives
the sharpest pain
of
any
thing
that
comes
within our
common notice,
and it
is used in
scripture
to
signify
the punishments
of
damned
sinners,
and
the
wrath
of God
in
the world
to
corne
:
And perhaps
that
text
is
the
föandation of
it,
Iscr.
xxx.
SS.
"
Tophet
is
ordained
of
old, he has
Made
it
deep and
.large,
the
pile
thereof
is
fire
and
much
wood
;
and
the
breath of
the Lord,
,like
a
stream
of
brimstone,
Both kindle it." This
Tophet
was
a
place in the
valley
of
Hinman,
where
children
were
wont to
be
burned
in