prove, that there are no more such material flames in the eternal hell, than' there are in the temporal; but I think, those that have been already produced' may be sufficient for this purpose: so that I shall now proceed to show, when those wretched souls that are utterly undone, fall into this bottomless pit of everlasting destruction, after what manner they will be punished there to eternal ages, and how such extreme severity consists with the justice of almighty God.

3.The soul of a sinner undoubtedly enters upon this state of hell, immediately after it has left the body; for my opinion is, that in that very moment the breath goes out of the nostrils, the spirit mounts up directly to God that gave it, and appears in his' presence, to receive its final sentence of acquittal or condemnation, and as soon as it finds itself cast at the private' tribunal of heaven, it knows the fate

that will forever attend it. Iam also of opinion, that every such guilty soul is permitted to take a view of the gates of the New Jerusalem, and to see the glory of the celestial kingdom; by. which means it may the better con ceive what sin has deprived it of, and will be thereupon filled with extreme horror and indignation. My flesh trembles at the idea I have formed to myself of those wretched creatures, who will incessantly lament and be moan their misfortune, to the tedious ages of eternity, after some such manner as this,

"I am now banished the presence of almighty God, the glorious hierar chy of angels, and the noble society of just men made perfect. Oh fatal day to me, that ever I was born, but how much more unlucky was that hour, when I entered into covenant with the devil! I had a fore-taste of this wrath, when I lived on earth, and the same witness, that now accuses me, reprov

ed me at that time; I might have arrived safe at Zion, with less trouble, than where I am at this instant; for what fruits had in those things, whereof I am now ashamed? Oh! miserable. caitiff that I am, how shall I undergo the fury of my great creator, or endure the vials of his wrath poured out upon me! Yet the absence of my offended God is more bitter than death itself, and his displeasure more racking than the torments of hell. I that once had an opportunity of becoming the companion of celestial cherubins, and righteous persons made forever happy, am now forced to keep company with infernal fiends and damned spirits made eternally miserable: I who might have solaced myself under the divine rays of the most glorious son of righteousness, and might have discerned the height, breadth, length, and depth of his transcendent love, must now stumble on the dark mountains of eternity,

"O my soul, what a dismal veil is'e spread on all sides between thee and i the divine glory; a thick darkness that will never be succeeded by the dawnb of another day; a black cloud that will never clear up to brightness; a spaci ous curtain of despair, that will never be drawn up to display the scenes of s joy! Here thou must wander up and down the gloomy regions, from one age to another; here thou shalt seek

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for death with groans, but shall never find it and wish to be reduced to none ; thing, but all to no purpose; here thou must forever range about in this int fectious air, continually lamenting thy irreversible sentence, and crying out! with bitter complaints, in this howling wilderness of desperation. Alas, the longer I wish to be released the more I may; here I shall always weep, but no tears can atone for my past of-s fences! Oh what a dreadful abyss is this, where all my light is changed into darkness, all my joys into sorrow,

all my smiles into frowns, all my mirth into grief, all jollity into madness, all my ease into pain, all my hope into despair, all my love into hatred, all my peace and tranquility into a woful hurricane of confusions, and all my assurance into a certainty of enduring endless torments. What fearful dungeon is this, that sin has cast me into, where no screeches can be heard, no prayers answered, no compassion found, no God to pity, no Chirst to save, no holy spirit to comfort, no hope of relief, and no year of jubilee for the releasing of enslaved captives! Here I must lie without redemption, lamenting my wretched state, till the judgment of the great and terrible day, when my amazed body will arise out of the dry dust of the earth to be reunited to this forlorn soul, and to continue its inseparable companion in the suffering of everlasting pains."