Behold, O Lord, that fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and the fear of death hath fallen upon me! What fear, what terror, what trembling, what agony, what extremity have I yet to see ;. What confusion will seize me! How terrible is Thy judgment-seat, O GOD! when the thrones are set and the angels in presence, and men brought in and the books opened, and the works investigated, and the thoughts scrutinized, and the hidden things of darkness made known: and the excuseless defence, and the fearful punishment, and the eternal Gehenna, and the pitiless angels, and the open hell-mouth. Behold, LORD, that I sentence myself to punishment everlasting, Yea, and all the miseries of this world. From Thee, O LORD, I have merited death, from Thee, the Just One; but yet to Thee, O LORD, I appeal, to Thee, the Merciful One; from the tribunal of Justice, to the Mercy-seat of Grace. Permit, O LORD, this appeal: Behold me, LORD, self-condemned; And now, LORD, I humble myself under Thy mighty hand. I stretch forth my hands unto Thee; I smite my breast, I smite on my thigh. and all that is within me. CHAPTER IV.-HELL. HELL is eternal. Let none deceive thee, saying, GOD punishes for a time. After this world there is no time. Time is but the measuring out by things finite and perishable of a portion of eternity. It is like a cup-full of water taken out of the ocean. Beyond it there are no limits, no joys or sorrows for a time, because time is " no more. As Time is but that portion of eternity in which mankind is born, and grows for an eternal Heaven or Hell. The time of the earth, and of the whole race of man is short, but our own time is far shorter; just these few years, or days, or moments rather, and no more. in them, by God's grace, we can win Heaven, and Heaven is eternal; so in them we can merit an eternal Hell. If in them we can become "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light;" in them also we can become unfit for God's Presence, and ready for that place" which is prepared for the devil and his angels." Think not then that a short sin must have a short punishment, and that because a crime is instantaneous, it cannot earn eternal judgment. For here thou seest nothing to encourage such a thought. Here one blow makes a murderer, and that one blow brings a punishment which occupies all time; and is as long as this state of things in which we live; as long as man can make it ; for it deprives the murderer of all life.' Adam's sin occupied but a moment, and behold it extended to the end of the world. Consider conscience. Does conscience ever cease to reproach? If a man had slain his father, although none knew it, could he ever be happy here on earth? Would not his punishment be a figure of eternal wrath, extending as far as his being, here on earth, extends ? This is the very misery of Hell, even its hopelessness. Here we can endure poverty, shame, hunger, cold, affliction, the knife of the surgeon, the instruments of the torturer, for we have hope; we know that it is but for a time, and that a short time; the shorter the more we suffer. But who shall endure without hope? Suffering without hope, sanctifies not; nor can anything sanctify in Hell. Suffering without hope enrages, fills with vain anger, and weak malice. Thou knowest how many prisoners of war refuse to give any promise because they cannot bear to be without hope of escape; and those who do pledge themselves look anxiously for peace. But what if there be endless war between Heaven and Hell? and Heaven be the foe? What if thine own country refuse to admit thee again? And this despair and rage will make the lost to be their own Hell. The strife of passions is misery. Sin is misery. The lost are a burning flame within. Not that this is all the horror and all the agony of Hell. Thou shalt arise with thy body, a body of shame, if not a body of glory, a body of corruption; a body of living death. Who shall say what sufferings the lost may not endure? If GOD now purges His elect by agony, how will He not punish the rejected? If Heaven is won by Martyrs, on the cross, and stake, and through the furnace, and beneath the forks and pincers of the tor1 S. Aug. De Civ. lib. xxi. cap. xi. turers: if, even in these times of peace to the Church, GOD's children meekly endure the racking pains of cancer, and other agonising diseases, for their sanctification, what may not the children of wrath expect? Who knoweth what Hell is? Who knoweth what Heaven is? Is it not a peace which passeth all understanding? Is it not rich with good things, “such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive?" None then know Heaven, but they who experience its bliss. None likewise can say what Hell is, but the damned. Yet hear the Scriptures: for in them the veil is lifted, as it were for a moment, that we may see the flames of Hell and be amazed, and with fear fly from the broad road which leads us thither. Alas! alas! O misery! Thou that art lost shalt "dwell with the devouring fire," and "with everlasting burnings" in "shame and everlasting contempt;" "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" where "shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth;" "the outer darkness;" "the place prepared for the devil and his angels," "the bottomless pit" "deep and large: the breath of the LORD like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." "The smoke of their torment" who are cast therein "ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night." It is "a lake of fire burning with brimstone," "the second death," which hath no death: in which devils are companions of antichrists, and “murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars."'7 And all this in exchange for Heaven! Thou mightest have had glory, honour, immortality, eternal life; the blissful face of GOD; the vision of the Ever Blessed TRINITY; thy SAVIOUR's smile; the chorus of 1 Isaiah xxxiii. 14. 2 Dan. xii. 2. xxii. 13; xxv. 41. 3 S. Mark ix. 44. 5 Rev. ix. 2. 7 Rev. xiv. 11; xix. 20; xx. 14; xxi. 8. angels; the company of apostles; the fellowship of the prophets the noble army of martyrs; the society of those thou didst love here, with best and purest love. All these exchanged for a little pleasure which withered in the plucking, and was bitter in the holding! or to escape a little pain, or the laughter of a man "whose breath is in his nostrils!" Was ever anything so much to be feared as hell? and yet hast thou feared anything so little? Bethink thee also, now whilst it is day, of the remembrance of thy loss, when it is too late. Not that thou shalt see GoD, in hell; but thou shalt then know that thou mightest have seen Him. As the rich man beheld Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, so shalt thou know that others are in Heaven, with whom thou once didst live, whom thou didst despise, to whom thou mightest have been like, but wouldest not. Oh the contrast! Oh the loss! Oh the hopeless, helpless, endless pains of Hell! Devotions. LORD, have mercy upon us. Our FATHER, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen. Psalm xi. In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye then to my soul, that she should flee as a bird unto the hill? For lo, the ungodly bend their bow, and make ready. E |