Such a dismal meeting as this will one day, cause the devils themselves to quake and tremble, as being sensible, that their tortures will be aug mented to the highest degree of misery: Oh what a horrid out-cry will there be, when the distracted spirits of the damned come in crowds to salute their old associates in debauchery. But the lamentations and howlings will be more hideous, when all the numerous millions of souls and bodies standing at the left hand of Christ, the supreme judge, shall be condemned to the lake of fire and brimstone, where the scorching flames of a wounded conscience, will roar like the thunder of the almighty, and the smoke of their torments ascend up for ever; not such a smoke as arises from a material fire, but that of God's fiery indignation, which will always burn to torture the infernal fiends; and never be quenched for were God to turn away his fury from those wretched miscreants, their pains would immediately cease; since that, and that only, is the proper fuel which feed those intolerable flames;, or were God to lift up the light of his countenance, or to show his presence to those perplexed spirits, the borders of hell would shine as bright as the gates of heaven; but it is inconsistent with his divine justice, that any such glimpse of his favour should be darted into that bottomless pit of utter despair, Therefore it may be avouched for certain, that there is no other fire in hell for the punishment of the damned, but what proceeds from the displeasure of and absense of the most glorious supreme being, with the guilt of their own wilful trimes and notorious trangressions. Alas! The affliction is sufficiently great to be banished from the enjoyment of the chiefest good to eternal ages; as it will farther appear by reflecting a little on this familiar instance: what a dreadful dark ness would overspread the surface of the earth, if the sun, moon and stars should withdraw their light, and all the other comforts of this life should be removed from us, so as never to re turn again! What confusion should we all be in, how should we wander about those dark regions, in hopes of finding some relief amongst our neigh'bours and friends, or others at a more remote distance! But when we come to understand that the same had befallen all the rest of mankind, how dis◄ consolate would our condition appear, how should we despair of succour, and look upon ourselves as utterly undone! Now if such a temporary withdrawing of God's mercies in this lower world, would occasion so great a terror, what must the astonishment then be, to have a sense of being banished from his glorious presence to all eternity in the other life? In that miserable state, the damned will incessantly weep, roar, and gnash with their teeth, in the extreme horror and anguish of their souls, to see themselves deprived of all hope of mercy; and their passions will be 1aised to the highest pitch of fury: there those distracted spirits will entertain a mutual enmity and strive to inhance their own misery, branding one another in the fiery transports of rage, with their former crimes and enormi-' ties: there lewd subjects will inveigh with bitter execrations against their vicious prince, for giving them so bad an example; there a careless auditor that was not willing to receive the word of God, with sincerity of heart, will loud-ly exclaim against those scandalous teachers that preached one doctrine in their pulpits, and acted another in their lives and conversations: there Lundutiful children will fly in the faces of their cruel parents, who suffered them to run headlong in their folly, without giving them due correction; there unfaithful servants, will wring -H their hands and shake their heads at their ungracious masters and governors, who never took care to perform their duty to God, or to those that were committed to their charge. There profane gazers at all sorts of stage-plays, as tragedies, farces, comedies, drolls, mountebanks, shows, &c. will all spit their fiery venom, at those blasphemous actors and buffoons, that played the devil's part on the lascivi ous theatres; there impure minds that took great delight in reading licentious discourses, will vilify those audacious wretches, who mis-spent so much of their precious time in writing such vain romances, that served for no other purpose, but to corrupt the age, and bring so numerous a crowd of poor deluded people to that dreadful place of confusion; there the genteel compliant lady of pleasure will storm and outrageously assault those that used all their wits to debauch her mind with unchaste desires, which proved so fa |