If these words do not teach the doctrine of endless torment, it would be a hard matter to express it in the vernacular.
Pictures of Hell.
John Bunyan describes this interesting locality, and its inhabitants thus: “All the devils in hell will be with thee howling and roaring, screeching and yelling in such a manner that, thou wilt be at thy wits end, and be ready to run stark mad from anguish and torment. * * * Here thou must lie and fry, and scorch, and broil, and burn forevermore.”
The father of New England theology, Jonathan Edwards, portrays his own imagination after this fashion:
“The saints in glory will be far more sensible, how dreadful the wrath of God is, and will better understand how terrible the sufferings of the damned are, yet this will be no occasion of grief to them, but rejoicings. They will not be sorry for the damned: it will cause no uneasiness or dissatisfaction to them, but on the contrary when they see this sight, it will occasion rejoicing, and excite them to joyful praises.”
Dr. Emmons reveals his own “true inwardness” by giving it the following description:
“The happiness of the elect in heaven will in part consist of watching the torment of the damned in hell. Among these it may be their own children, parents, husbands, wives and friends on earth. One part of the business of the blest is to celebrate the doctrine of reprobation. While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy who instead of taking the part of those miserable objects will sing, Amen, hallelujah: praise the Lord.”
Again, he says: “When they (the saints) see how great the misery is from which God hath saved them and how great a difference he hath made between their state and the state of others who were by nature, and perhaps by practice no more sinful and ill deserving than they, it will give them more a sense of the wonderfulness of God’s grace to them in making them so to differ. The sight of hell-torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever.”
“Where saints and angels from their blest abode,
Chanting loud hallelujahs to their God.