§ 6. (4.) They shall lose all their carnal mirth. They will themselves say of their laughter, it is mad, and of their mirth, what doth it?[254] It was but as the crackling of thorns under a pot.[255] It made a blaze for a while, but it was presently gone, and returned no more. The talk of death and judgment was irksome to them, because it damped their mirth. They could not endure to think of their sin and danger, because these thoughts sunk their spirits. They knew not what it was to weep for sin, or to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. They could laugh away sorrow, and sing away cares, and drive away those melancholy thoughts. To meditate, and pray, they fancied would be enough to make them miserable or run mad. Poor souls! what a misery will that life be, where you shall have nothing but sorrow; intense, heart-piercing, multiplied sorrow; when you shall neither have the joys of saints, nor your own former joys? Do you think there is one merry heart in hell; or one joyful countenance, or jesting tongue? You now cry, a little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow. But, surely, a little godly sorrow, which would have ended in eternal joy had been worth much more than all your foolish mirth; for the end of such mirth is sorrow.
[254] Ecclesiastes ii, 2.
[255] Ecclesiastes vii, 6.
§ 7. (5.) They shall also lose all their sensual delights. That which they esteemed their chief good, their heaven, their God, must they lose, as well as God himself. What a fall will the proud ambitious man have from the top of his honors? As his dust and bones will not be known from the dust and bones of the poorest beggar; so neither will his soul be honored or favored more than theirs. What a number of the great, noble, and learned, will be shut out of the presence of Christ? They shall not find their magnificent buildings, soft beds, and easy couches. They shall not view their curious gardens, their pleasant meadows, and plenteous harvests. Their tables will not be so furnished, nor attended. The rich man is there no more clothed in purple and fine linen, nor fareth sumptuously every day. There is no expecting the admiration of beholders. They shall spend their time in sadness, and not in sports and pastimes. What an alteration will they then find? The heat of their lust will be then abated. How will it even cut them to the heart to look each other in the face! What an interview will there then be, cursing the day that ever they saw one another? O that sinners would now remember and say! "Will these delights accompany us into the other world? Will not the remembrance of them be then our torment? shall we then take this partnership in vice for true friendship? Why should we sell such lasting, incomprehensible joys for a taste of seeming pleasure? Come, as we have sinned together, let us pray together, that God would pardon us; and let us help one another toward heaven, instead of helping to deceive and destroy each other." O that men knew but what they desire, when they would so fain have all things suited to the desires of the flesh! It is but to desire their temptations to be increased, and their snares strengthened.
§ 8. (II.) As the loss of the Saint's Rest will be aggravated by losing the enjoyments of time, it will be much more so by suffering the torments of hell. The exceeding greatness of such torments may appear by considering,—the principal author of them, which is God himself;—the place or state of torment;—that these torments are the fruit of Divine vengeance;—that the Almighty takes pleasure in them;—that Satan and sinners themselves shall be God's executioners;—that these torments shall be universal,—without mitigation,—and without end.
§9. (1.) The principal Author of hell-torments is God himself. As it was no less than God whom the sinner had offended, so it is no less than God who will punish them for their offences. He hath prepared those torments for his enemies. His continued anger will still be devouring them. His breath of indignation will kindle the flames. His wrath will be an intolerable burden to their souls. If it were but a creature they had to do with, they might better bear it. Woe to him that falls under the strokes of the Almighty! it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.[256] It were nothing, in comparison to this, if all the world were against them, or if the strength of all creatures were united in one to inflict their penalty. They had now rather venture to displease God than displease a landlord, a customer, a master, a friend, a neighbor, or their own flesh; but then they will wish a thousand times in vain, that they had been hated of all the world, rather than have lost the favor of God. What a consuming fire is his wrath? If it be kindled here but a little, how do we wither like the grass? How soon doth our strength decay, and turn to weakness, and our beauty to deformity? The flames do not so easily run through the dry stubble, as the wrath of God will consume these wretches. They that could not bear a prison, or a gibbet, or fire, for Christ, nor scarce a few scoffs, how will they now bear the devouring flames of Divine wrath?
[256] Hebrews x, 31.
§ 10. (2.) The place or state of torment is purposely ordained to glorify the justice of God. When God would glorify his power, he made the worlds. The comely order of all his creatures, declareth his wisdom. His providence is shewn, in sustaining all things. When a spark of his wrath kindles upon the earth, the whole world, except only eight persons, are drowned; Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, are burnt with fire from heaven; the sea shuts her mouth upon some, the earth opens and swallows up others; the pestilence destroys by thousands. What a standing witness of the wrath of God, is the present deplorable state of the Jews? Yet the glorifying the mercy and justice of God is intended most eminently for the life to come. As God will then glorify his mercy in a way that is now beyond the comprehension of the saints that must enjoy it; so also will he manifest his justice to be indeed the justice of God. The everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot for the rebellious; and when they have there burned through millions of ages, he will not repent him of the evil which is befallen them. Woe to the soul that is thus set up as a butt, for the wrath of the Almighty to shoot at! and as a bush that must burn in the flames of his jealousy, and never be consumed!
§ 11. (3.) The torments of the damned must be extreme, because they are the effect of Divine vengeance. Wrath is terrible, but revenge is implacable. When the great God shall say, "My rebellious creatures shall now pay for all the abuse of my patience. Remember how I waited your leisure in vain, how I stooped to persuade and entreat you. Did you think I would always be so slighted?" Then will he be revenged for every abused mercy, and for all their neglects of Christ and grace. O that men would foresee this, and please God better in preventing their woe!
§ 12. (4.) Consider also, that though God had rather men would accept of Christ and mercy, yet when they persist in rebellion, he will take pleasure in their execution. He tells us, fury is not in me; yet he adds, who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle: I would go through them, I would burn them together. Wretched creatures! when he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favor.[257] As the Lord rejoiced over them to do them good; so the Lord will rejoice over them to destroy them, and to bring them to nought.[258] Woe to the soul whom God rejoiceth to punish! He will laugh at their calamity, he will mock when their fear cometh; when their fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon them.[259] Terrible thing, when none in heaven or earth can help them but God, and he shall rejoice in their calamity! Though Scripture speaks of God's laughing and mocking, not literally, but after the manner of men; yet it is such an act of God in tormenting the sinner, which cannot otherwise be more fitly expressed.