DISCOURSE XII. 219 eons avenger of sin, and from his indignation, which is compared to fire. SECT. I. The worm that dieth net. Let us begin with the first of these, viz. the " torments which are derived from the gnawing worm, those agonies and uneasy passions which will arise and work in the souls of these wretched creatures," so far as we can collect them from the word of God, from the reason of things, and the working powers of human nature. When an impenitent sinner is cast into hell, we have abun- dant reason to suppose, that the evil temper of his soul, and the 'vicious principles within him, are not abated, but his natural powers, and the vices which have tainted them and mingle with them, are awakened and enraged into intense activity and exec- cise, under the first sensations of his dreadful punishment. Let us endeavour to conceive then what would be the ferments, the raging passions, and the vexing inward torments of a wicked man, seized by the officers of an almighty Judge, borne away by the executioners of vengeance, and plunged into a pit of tor- ture and smarting misery, while at the same time he had a most fresh and piercing conviction ever present,- that he had brought all this mischief upon himself by his own guilt and folly. 1. The first particular piece of wretchedness therefore, con- tained in this metaphor, is the " remorse and terrible anguish of conscience which shall never be relieved." IIow terrible are the racks of a guilty conscience -here on earth, which arise from a sense of past sins? Iiow does David cry out and roar under the disquietude of his spirit ? Ps. xxxii. 3. While I kept si- lence and confessed not my iniquity, my bones waxed old through my - roaring all the day long ; day and night thy hand was heavy upon nne, and my moisture is turned into the drought of summer: And again ? Ps. xxxviii. 4. My iniquities are gone over my head, as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. God has wisely'so framed the nature -and spirit of man, that a reflection on his past behaviour should raise such keen anguish at his heart ; and thousands have felt it in a dreadful degree, even while they have continued in this world, in the land of life and hope. But when death has divided the soul from this body, and from all the means of grace, and cut off all the hopes of par- doning mercy for ever, what smart beyond all our thoughts and expressions must the sinner feel from such inward wounds of conscience ? And it gives a twinging accent to every sorrow when the sinner is constrained to cry out, as It is I, it is I who have brought all this upon myself. Life and death were set be- fore -me in the world where I once dwelt, but I refused the blessings of eternal life, and the offfirs of saving grace. I turned my back upon the ways of holiness which led to life, aucl re-
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