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are dnce caft into the fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels, fhall ever enter into their Masters jay. As the tree falleth, fo it lieth. There is no change to be wrought in man withinthofe flames; no purgation of his fins, no fanctificati on of his Nature, no justification of his perfon, and therefore no falvation for him. Without the mediation of Christ, no man fhall ever enter into Heaven: And when he hath delivered up the Kingdom unto God, even the Father, then fhall the office of the Mediator cease. The condition then of the damned is unalterable; their condemnation irreversible, their torments remedileß, their miferies eternal. The Reasons hereof are conceived by Divines to be these,

See Mr. Manton's excelknt Comment on Jude, P.430.

1. Because of the greatneffe of the Majesty against whom they have finned. We are finite creatures, and fo not fit to judge of the nature of an offence against an infinite God. The Law-giver best knowes the merit of fin, which is the tranfgreffion of his law.

2. With man offences of a quick execution, are judged to deferve a long punishment; and the continuance of the penalty is not measured by the continuance of the Act of finning; therefore no won- . der if it be fo with God.

3. The damned finned here as long as they could, if they had to eternity been allowed to

live, they would have improved it ay is fin. They would have dallied with Godar grieved his Spirit longer, had they lived ing yea difpofitively and in refpect of their incl ons, did fo. In Hell the defire of finnings extinguished, nor mortified. The damned not their hearts there changed.

4. They defpifed an eternal happinese, fore do justly fuffer an eternal torment. 5. Their obligations to God are if, and their punishment arifeth according to

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of their obligations against which they fin's > damned therefore thall not be taken from punishment by annihilation,or destruction perfons; fo their punishment shall not beta from them, by any compaffion fhewed unto the III. We come to confider the dreadf of the infernal torments. Hell is (et fort us in the Scriptures under fandry dreadful c viz. By the worm that never dieth, and that never goeth out, by a lake of fire and brimbs. by outer darkness, and blackneß of darkse ever. That which is most intelligible concern the woful state of the damned, I conceive may reduced to the fe four Heads.

1. They fhall be tormented with the of loffe, in being for ever banished from the pe fence of God and the joyes of Heaven, 2 The 9. Being punished with everlasting destructs from the prefence of the Lord, and from the gir of his power.

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2. With the pain of fenfe, inflicted on them by the wrath of God, which abideth on them, re prefented to us by a lake of fire. In this life, if his anger be but kindled a little, and a spark of it fly into the Confcience, the poor creature is at his wits end. But how dreadful will their portion. be against whom he stirreth up his fierce wrath? Who knowes the power of his anger? P/.90 11. We that cannot endure the gripes of the Cholick, the paines of the ftone, or a violent tooth-ach how can we think of enduring the paines and torments of Hell?

3. They fhall be tormented with the worm of Confcience, that is, with a cutting reflexion upon, and remembrance of their former enjoyments, and by-paft pleafures, Luke 16.25. Son remem ber thou in thy life time hadft thy good things; or when Confcience fhall repeat over the paßages of their lives paft,and fet before them their precious time wafted and mispent, opportunities of Grace fleighted, the folly of their own choice, their turning their backs upon eternal life offered in the Gofpel; their groffe neglect of their fouls, their ea ger purfuit of fenfual fatisfactions, their difregarding admonitions, ftifling convictions, quenching the motions of the Spirit of God, hating to be reformed; Othefe will be fad (woful fad) remembrances. The fcourges of Confcience we meet with here, are too great a price, for the short pleasure of a brutish luft: O then, what ar4

ging pain will fuch reflections as these cam after? What will they do that anima day and night for ever and ever?

4. As they will have a sharp fenfe and of their prefent woful state, and a bitter s and vexation that by their own folly they br it upon themselves; fo they will be tome with defpair of ever coming out of it. They fee they muft continue for ever in this r condition, under an everlasting pais cause there is no hope of Heaven;

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nal pain of fenfe, because there is no meantitie peafe the wrath of God, which abideth on the And this despair of ever coming out is the Hell of Hells. O, wo and alas! 'tis for e ever they must be tormented. Drexellis ed Authour writing upon this Argument, this awakening paffage; If God (faith fhould speak thus to a damned foul, let the be world be filled with fand from the earth to eff pyrean Heaven, and then let an Angis, we every thousand year, and fetch only one from that mighty fandy mountain, and wher immeasurable heap is fofpent, and so many o fand years expired, I will deliver thee out of fre and thofe extream torments: That most mifer forlorn wretch, notwithstanding that he were S through that unconceiveable length of time int intollerable hellish torments, yet upon fuch 45o mife would infinitely rejoyce, and deem hin

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O fad and woful condition! O Eternity, Eternity, Eternity! This word ever breaks the heart. O Lord, to depart from thee for ever, tolofe the fight and fruition of thy pleafed counteance, to be hurled down among devils and dammed fiends into a lake of fire and brimstone, to be alwaies burning, yet never confumed, ever dying yet never diffolv'd, alwaies gnawed upon by the worm of Confcience, yet never devoured, alwaies, gnashing the teeth, weeping, howling, vexing, without any glimpse of hope,or one drop of comfort: Vhat heart can think on these things without splitting in pieces? O Lord, whatever thon denieft me for this life, whatever shall be my lot and portion bere, yet deny me not (l'humbly beseech thee) the ffectual affistance of thy Grace, to enable me to work out my falvation, to enable me unfeignedly to repent of all my fins, and for fake them, and to give p my foul to Chrift Fefus for pardon and life; that by him I may be justified and fanctified, and faved from this dreadful wrath to come. Even fo let it be Heavenly Father, for thy rich

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I fhall conclude this difcourfe of Hell, with a few ferious meditations. Let us confider,

1. How great, how inexcufable is the folly and

Stupidity

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