617 / 674
DISC.
mt.)
THE NATURE
OP
THE
PUNISHMENTS IN
HELL. 597
the
good
"that
thou
seemedst to have shall
be
taken from
thee
;"
Mat.
xxv.
29.
or
rather
thy
heart itself
will
grow
more hard, thy
will
more obstinate against
God, and
every
evil
passion
will
rise
and
prevail,
and
make
thee
perhaps
as very
a
devil
as
thy companions
in
guilt
and
misery.
It
is
for those
who
would
not
part
with
their
beloved
sins,
which were as
dear
as
right
-
hands,
or
as
right
-eyes,
that
the never-dying worm and the
unquench-
able
fire
are prepared,
as the
context itself informs
us
in
this
place.
.
And as the
worm
of
conscience, even for lesser sins,
will
gnaw thy
heart
with intense anguish,
so
the
ven-
geance
of
divine
fire
will
torment
thee with exquisite pain,
though
thy
pain and
thy
anguish shall
not
be
equal to
what
greater
criminals endure. But
it
is
wise
and kind
in,the
blessed
God
to
denounce
the
terrors
and
sanctions
of
his
law
in
their utmost
severity,,
to
guard
his law
the
better
against
every
transgression,
and
to
frighten and se-
cure
his
creatures
from sin
and
punishment.
.
Trifle
not
therefore, O sinner,
with
the means
of
mercy,
and venture not upon little
sins,
in
hope
of little
misery,
nor dare
to
continue
in an
impenitent state
with
-
oút God, without Christ
and
his
salvation, upon a
fool-
ish
presumption
that
thy
sins
are but
small, and
thy pu
nishment
shall
be less
than
others: For
the
least of
those
sorrows
will be
found greater than any mortal
creature
can bear,
and
therefore thou shalt.be
made
immortal to
stiffer
them."
It
is
granted,
there are
many mansions
in hell, as
well
as
in heaven,
but
as
the lowest mansion
in
heaven
is
hap-
piness, so
the easiest place
in hell
is
misery.
There
is
another
Objection
arises here,
which
it
is
necessary to
give some
answer
to
;
viz.
If
the
punishments
of hell'are
so
intense and
terrible,
between the
worm
of
consci-
ence,
the
fire
of God's
anger, and the malice
of
evil spi
rits, surely
it
will
work
up human
nature
into
ecstasy
and
madness
;
It
will
take
away all
the regular
exercise
of
our natural
powers
;
it
will
render
us
perhaps
mere.pas-
sive
miserable
beings,
of
keen
sensations
without
reason-,
ing.
This
is
certain,
that
such
and
so
various
tortures
would have
that
influence
upon our natures
at
present,
and
why
should it
not hereafter
?
And
will
the
blessed
2et
3