real sufferings of the damned be? For the Spirit of God does not use to describe things by such metaphors as are greater than the things themselves.

And this may be said further, 'That if those should not be the very torments of Hell, yet to be sure they shall be every whit as dreadful, and as great as the terrors of God's wrath (which ill men have laid up in store for themselves) can afford: and it is very probable they are of that nature, and so great, as not to be capable of being described by any thing that we are now acquainted withal in this world. For who knows the power of God's anger? Who can imagine the worst that almighty justice can do to sinners? As the glory of heaven and the joys of GOD's presence are now inexplicable to us; so likewise are the torments of hell, and the miseries of the damned.'

Two Sorts of Punishments in Hell.

BUT this being only in general, it may not be amiss to consider a little more particularly, the two sorts of punishments, which sinners will certainly undergo in the other world. The one is called the punishment of loss, and the other the punishment they will verily and indeed feel; both extremely afflicting and tormenting to every lost soul; beyond what we are now able (while we live in this world) fully to conceive or comprehend.

The former I call the punishment of loss: for such certainly it will be, when those miserable and undone wretches shall come fully to perceive that they have lost, eternally lost, heaven and happiness, and all the unspeakable and endless joys and glories of them, without a possibility of being ever admitted to them.

Of the Punishment of Loss in Hell.

It is a thing common to all mankind, unless they be such as are most stupidly dull, and have no manner of concern for their own good and happiness, to be greatly afflicted and grieved when they have lost any great benefit and advantage which they had reason to expect, and would in all probability have fallen to their share: or at least such as they might have been partakers of with some other of their friends. And still further, if the advantage was very considerable, and such as would have greatly contributed to the comfort and happiness of their being all their whole lives afterwards; and such as all wise men would highly value: and especially if they had brought this loss upon themselves, by their own negligence and carelessness, or by their own imprudence and folly; and if moreover it were a loss which they could never have an opportunity of retrieving again, by all that they could do afterwards; I say in such a case as this, how would they blame themselves for it, as long as they live, and think themselves worthy to be justly condemned for it by all sober and prudent persons, who should ever come to the knowledge of it?

And yet even all this, and ten thousand times more, is infinitely short of what wicked men lose, when they forfeit their title to the eternal happiness of heaven, by their ungodly lives, and plunge themselves by them into eternal misery. The anguish and vexation of their souls, upon the account of such a loss, when they come to understand the full extent, and all the dismal consequences of it, will afflict and wound them as much, or more, than all the other torments together, which they shall endure in Hell, can do. For so many wise and holy men have been of opinion, that the punishment of loss in this case, will be greater than the punishment of sense; that is, that it will really be the occasion of a far greater

grief, and more tormenting vexation, to them that suffer by it.

Wicked men, perhaps, who have entirely given themselves up to a sensual course of life here, do by degrees become so besotted by their lusts, that they will not think nor believe any other pleasures and delights equal to the gratification of them; these then may think the loss of heaven to be no such great punishment: but they will certainly hereafter have other thoughts of this loss than they now have, when they come in good earnest to be sensible of it, that is, when they shall feel it to be a most heavy and insupportable punishment; and would give all the world, if they had it, (and it were in their power to retrieve it) to deliver themselves from the evils that do attend it.

If such men would give themselves leave to reflect awhile upon what our Saviour said to the unbelieving and impenitent Jews, that "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when they shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of heaven, and themselves thrust out," Luke xiii. 28, they would then be convinced that the loss of heaven is not so inconsiderable a thing, as they now may vainly imagine, but a matter fit to excite the bitterest lamentations, in all those who shall better understand and consider what they have lost.

Miserable and forlorn creatures indeed shall they fully perceive themselves to be, and shall be cut even to the very heart, with the thoughts of it; when they shall hereafter have their eyes opened to see the great and transcendent excellency and desirableness of those glorious and eternal things, which they despised and rejected, when it was in their power to have obtained them, which now it is not. All the whole world cannot now purchase the recovery of them; for being once lost, they are lost for

ever.

When they shall come to consider that they, who were intended by GOD to have been made the companions of angels and saints, in all the joys and felicities of heaven, if they would but have been persuaded to fear GOD, and keep his commandments; are now, for their impure, wicked, and unholy lives, banished for ever from all those regions of bliss and happiness above, to dwell for ever with the devil and his angels, and with the spirits of men more wicked, if possible, than they

are.

When they shall come to consider further (as consider to be sure they will and must, when they have nothing else to divert them from it, but have their thoughts continually fixed upon this very thing) the happiness of heaven which they have lost; with what bitter indignation and rage will they then reflect upon themselves, for not having had a greater regard to the ministers of God's word, who were sent to acquaint them with the incomparable excellency of those things; and to tell them, that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," 1 Cor. ii. 9. When, I say, they come to think with themselves how foolish they were to choose the enjoyment of their base filthy lusts, and the mean pleasures of sin for a season (and that but a very short one too) above the eternal enjoyment of GOD and CHRIST, and of the blessed company of angels and saints, and of all the unutterable and inconceivable felicities of the other world.

And moreover, still further, shall consider, that they should fall short of heaven, after they had perhaps made some inconsiderable progress towards it, and upon many convictions of their former follies, wrought upon their minds by the secret but kindly workings of Providence, had made many good purposes and resolutions of reforming their lives by a true repentance, and done many things towards the

fulfilling of them; that they should after all this, be so wanting to their own good, as to fall back again, and undo all that they had done well, by returning to their former vicious and ungodly courses again; and so should at last, for want of an honest and due Christian perseverance in the ways of holiness, be shut out of heaven, and debarred for ever from the unspeakable joys of it; and must now have their portion with hypocrites and unbelievers in Hell, when they were once not far from the kingdom of GOD.

And once more, that they should lose heaven irrecoverably; so as not to be put again into a possibility of salvation, nor obtain one hour to be allotted to them, in order to their endeavouring to make their peace with God.

When the thoughts of these things, I say, shall have taken such full possession of their minds, that they cannot possibly forget them, if they would never so fain, but they will with great quickness and vigour abide upon their minds continually: how deeply will these reflections pierce, and gall, and wound their very souls, and make them ready to tear themselves in pieces for anguish, if they could; but they cannot destroy themselves, nor put an end to their miserable beings, but must go on for ever to deplore their misery, to curse their folly, and lament their loss!

For no consideration will, I imagine, sting the wicked more, nor add more to the rage of their torments, than this, that they did wickedly, when they understood how to have done better, or might have been taught to do so; but they wilfully chose rather to continue in ignorance, and would heedlessly run the hazard of being miserable for ever, rather than be at any pains to gain instruction how they might be happy for ever.

In short, nothing can nor will more torment them, than to remember what an inestimable blessing they have lost, in losing the favour and enjoyment of that GOD, who is the chiefest good, and of that happiness