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the Holy Ghost, be all Honour and Glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Fourth Meditation. On HELL.

THE Holy Scriptures assure us, that the Disobedient and Rebellious, the Haters of God and Despisers of Goodness, must be turned into Hell. This, O my Soul, is the doleful Abode of the Fearful and Unbelieving, of the Proud and Angry, Malicious and Revengeful; Qualities, which render these wretched Sinners fit Company for Devils and reprobate Sinners. Here Whoremongers and Adulterers, Drunkards and profane Swearers, are sentenced to weeping, wailing, and gnashing of Teeth. O could-you see them in the Midst of the Flames; could you hear them cry out in the Midst of their Torments; how would you fear to follow. them in their Sins! How would you strive against the Temptations of your ghostly Enemies, and try to flee from the Wrath to come! The Consideration of what the Righteous enjoy, and what themselves might have enjoyed, had it not been their own Fault is a great Addition to their Misery; that there should be a Heaven which they cannot enter into; that there should be a God, whose G. 6 blissful

blissful Sight they must be excluded from; that they should be separated from the Company of their blessed Saviour, from the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets and Apostles, from the noble Army of Saints, Martyrs, and Confessors, and all the blessed Society which help to make up the Happiness of Heaven: what a tormenting Thought is this!. Moreover it is certain, Sinners will suffer in their Souls and Bodies. To shew their Miseries is more than I am able. The Scriptures describe the Torments of the Wicked, by all the Circumstances of Ghastliness and Horror; by every Thing that is frightful to the Senses, and terrible to the Imagination! Stiling them everlasting ·Burnings! the Worm that never dies! A falling into the Hands of the living God! The being cast into outer Darkness, where is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of Teeth! This is some Part of the Account which the Word of God gives of the Sinner's Portion in a future State; and how dreadful, how amazing is it! Both Body and Soul, and all the Faculties of them, shall be tormented. The Body shall suffer because it had a Share in the Sins that 'occasioned these Sorrows. Now, if the burning of a Fever, if the Pains of the

Stone

Stone or Cholic, or any other acute Disease, be so grievous to be borne, as we know they are: how terrible must it be, to be cast into a Lake of Fire which the Breath of the Lord, as a Stream of Brimstone, doth kindle! But the most amazing Circumstance of all is, that the Torments of the Damned will be endless and unchangeable, without the least Respite or Intermission. They, that is, the Damned, have no Rest, says, St. John, Day or Night, but shall be tormented Ever and Ever! For Ever and Ever! it is a most frightful Consideration. O dreadful Word, for Ever! When Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand Ages are past and gone, their Misery will be the same, where their Worm never dieth, and the Fire shall never be quenched. It is Eternity which tinctures the Sinner's Doom with the deepest Blackness:

It is this that consummates the Torments of Hell, and makes Damnation of all Things most to be dreaded. If this State may seem dreadful in the Description, how much more dreadful will it be in Reality! I have not represented these Torments more terrible than what they really are. Well may we then cry out, O cursed Sin, whose short-lived Pleasures, and momen

tary

tary Delights are purchased at the dear Rate of never-ceasing Woes! In. Hell, Darkness fills both the Place and Minds of those that are banished from God's Presence; Blackness of Darkness for ever fills the Place; Blackness of Guilt, Horror, and Despair.

Oh, says the condemned Sinner, that I had not given Way to the Spirit of Lust and Uncleanness, of Luxury and Wantonness, which betrayed me into innumerable Miscarriages in my Life! Oh that I had not followed the Dictates of Malice and Revenge! O, that I had never defiled my Lips with profane Swearing, Cursing, and Blasphemy! Oh, that I had never been unmerciful or uncharitable! that I had never injured or oppressed the Poor, but had relieved their Necessities, and made them Partakers of my Abundance ! Had I done this, and instead of pursuing criminal Pleasures, made the Salvation of my Soul my Care and Study, I might, (instead of being tormented in these Flames) have been in yonder bright and glorious Mansions, singing Praises and Hallelujabs among the blessed Saints, and with them communicating in those unspeakable Pieasures, which are ever to be felt in the Presence and Enjoyment of God and his

Christ:

Christ: But from thence I am eternally banished.

As the Tree falls so shall it lie; and O my Soul, how many Thousands have been surprised in the Midst of their Sins, and hurried away to everlasting Sorrow! And I, alas! how many Times have I sinned against Heaven? and yet my God hath spared me hitherto, according to the Multitude of his Mercies. No other Reason can I give, why I am not eternally miserable, but that thou, Lord, art merciful.

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When therefore I am next tempted to commit any Sin, I will say to my Soul, How can I do this great Wickedness, and sin against God, provoking his infinite Justice and Almighty Power to punish me? O Lord, most holy! who can dwell with everlasting Burnings! O sweet Jesus, thou most worthy Judge eternal, let me never fall into the bitter Pains of eternal Death.

THE PRAYER.

O ETERNAL and most gracious Father, who hast declared in thy holy Word, that thou desirest not the Death of a Sin

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