WesleyGospel Ministries

Do the work of an evangelist. –2 Timothy 4:5 (KJV)

Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay. Their foot shall slide in due time, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly. Deuteronomy 32:35

In this verse, the vengeance of God is threatened on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God’s visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all of God’s wonderful works towards them—they remained void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of God, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit.

The expression I have chosen for my text, “their foot shall slide in due time,” seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.

I. Four IMPLICATIONS:

1. It implies that they were always exposed to destruction; as one who stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed in Psalm 72:18, “Surely you set them in slippery places; you cast them down into destruction.”

2. Another thing implied is, that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he who walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next. And when he does fall, he falls at once without warning. This is also expressed in Psalm 73:18,19. “Surely You did set them in slippery places; You cast them down into destruction! How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!”

3. Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he who stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.

4. That the reason why they are not fallen already, and do not fall now, is only that God’s appointed time has not yet come. For it is said that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go. And then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he who stands on such slippery sloping ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go, he immediately falls and is lost!

The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this: “There is nothing which keeps wicked men at any one moment out of Hell, but the mere pleasure of God.”

By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.

II. Ten CONSIDERATIONS:

1. There is no lack of power in God, to cast wicked men into Hell at any moment. Men’s hands cannot be strong, when God rises up! The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into Hell, but he can most easily do it.

Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress which is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God’s enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces! They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames!

We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm which we see crawling on the earth; it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by. It is thus easy for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to Hell! What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down!

2. They deserve to be cast into Hell. Divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God’s using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yes, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins! Divine justice says of the tree which brings forth such grapes of Sodom, “Cut it down! Why does it cumber the ground!” Luke 13:7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s mere will, which holds it back.

3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to Hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down there, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness which God has fixed between him and mankind, has gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to Hell. John 3:18, “He who believes not, is condemned already.” So that every unconverted man properly belongs to Hell, that is his place, from thence he is, John 8:23, “You are from beneath!” And there he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God’s Word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law, assign to him.

4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of Hell. And the reason why they do not go down to Hell at each moment is not because God, in whose power they are, is not now as angry with them, as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in Hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yes, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers who are now on earth! Yes, doubtless, God is more angry with many who are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of Hell!

So, it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such a one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them; their damnation does not slumber! The pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot and ready to receive them! The flames do now rage and glow. His glittering sword is sharpened, and held over them, and the pit has opened its mouth under them!

5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at whatever moment God shall permit him! They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his property. The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions which seek their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand by which they are restrained, these devils would in one moment fly upon their poor souls! The old serpent is gaping for them; Hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and forever lost!

6. There are in the souls of wicked men, those hellish principles reigning, which would presently kindle and flame out into Hell fire, if it were not for God’s restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of Hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, which are seeds of Hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, as the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them!

The souls of the wicked are in Scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isaiah 57:20. For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, “Hitherto shall you come, but no further!” But if God should withdraw his restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would be need of nothing else to make the soul totally miserable.

The corruption of the heart of man is boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live, it is like fire pent up by God’s restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature. And as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone!

7. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a unsaved man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into the eternal world! The unseen and unthought of ways and means of people going suddenly out of the world, are innumerable and inconceivable.

Unconverted men walk over the pit of Hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen! The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to Hell, that there is nothing to make it appear that God had need to use a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man at any moment! All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world, are so in God’s hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination, that it depends only on the mere will of God, how and when sinners shall go to Hell!

8. Unsaved men’s prudence and care to preserve their own lives or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a single moment! To this, divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence, that men’s own wisdom is no security to them from death. If it were otherwise, we should see some difference between the wise men of the world, and others, with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death. But how is it, in fact? “Like the fool, the wise man too must die!” Ecclesiastes 2:16

9. All wicked men’s pains and contrivances which they use to escape Hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from Hell one moment! Almost every unsaved man who hears of Hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it. He depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every unsaved man lays out matters in his own mind, as to how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail.

They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men who have died heretofore, have gone to Hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape, than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment! He says within himself, that he intends to take great care, and to so order matters for himself, as not to fail.

But the foolish men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now dead, are undoubtedly gone to Hell! And it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive. It was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape.

If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one, whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about Hell, ever to be the subjects of eternal misery, we doubtless, would hear one and another reply, “No, I never intended to come here! I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind! I thought my scheme for escaping Hell, was good. But death came upon me unexpected! I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a thief! Death outwitted me! God’s wrath was too quick for me! Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do to escape Hell, and when I was saying, ‘Peace and safety’, then sudden destruction came upon me!”

10. God has laid himself under no obligation by any promise, to keep any unsaved man out of Hell for one moment! God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises which are given in Christ. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace, who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no saving interest in Christ, the Mediator of the covenant.

So it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a unsaved man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, that until he believes in Christ, that God is under no manner of obligation to keep him for a moment from eternal destruction.

So unsaved men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of Hell! They have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it! And God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in Hell! And they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger. Neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment!

The devil is waiting for them! Hell is gaping for them! The flames gather and flash about them, and would gladly lay hold on them, and swallow them up! The fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out! They have no saving interest in Christ the Savior; and there are no means within reach which can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of! All which preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and unobliged forbearance of an incensed God!

III. Four APPLICATIONS:

The use of this dreadful subject, may be for awakening unconverted people in this congregation. What you have heard is the case of every one of you who are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you! There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God! There is Hell’s wide gaping mouth open, and you have nothing to stand upon, nor anything to take hold of! There is nothing between you and Hell but the thin air! It is only the power and mere pleasure of God, which holds you up!

You probably are not sensible of this. You know that you are now kept out of Hell, but do not see the hand of God in it. You look at other things, as your good health, or your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things avail nothing! If God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air could hold up a person who is suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards Hell. And if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf! And your good health, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivances, and all your good works, would have no more power to uphold you and keep you out of Hell than a spider’s web would have to stop a falling rock!

Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment! For you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you! The sun does not willingly shine upon you, to give you light to serve sin and Satan! The earth does not willingly yield her fruits to satisfy your lusts. Nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon. The air does not willingly give you breath, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies! All of God’s creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly serve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. This world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of God!

There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and filled with thunder. And were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you! The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present restrains his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be blown to Hell like the chaff of the summer threshing floor!

The wrath of God is like great waters which are dammed up for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, until an outlet is given. And the longer the stream is gathering, the more rapid and mighty is its course when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time, is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath! The waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God which holds the waters back! If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power! And if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is; yes, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in Hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it!

The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation to you at all, which keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood!

Thus all you who have never passed under a great change of heart by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you who were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin—you are in the hands of an angry God! However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may keep up a form of religion—it is nothing but God’s mere pleasure which keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction!

However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, you will shortly be fully convinced of it. Many of those who were in similar circumstances as yourself have had sudden destruction come upon them, when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ Now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows!

The God who holds you over the pit of Hell much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire—abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked! His wrath towards you burns like fire! He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire! He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight! You are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours! You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand which holds you from falling into the eternal fire every moment!

It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to Hell the last night, that you were allowed to awaken again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into Hell since you arose this morning, but that God’s hand has held you up! There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to Hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yes, there is nothing else that is to be given, as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into Hell!

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in! It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath—that you are held over, by the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in Hell! You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no saving interest in Christ the Savior, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing which you ever have done, nothing which you can do—to induce God to spare you one moment!

1. Consider more particularly, WHOSE wrath it is! It is the wrath of the infinite God! If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince—it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Proverbs 20:2, “A king’s wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life.” The subject that very much enrages a powerful prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent or human power can inflict.

But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors—are but feeble despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of Heaven and earth! It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing. Both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more dreadful than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4-5, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into Hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

2. Consider, that is the FIERCENESS of God’s wrath that you are exposed to! We often read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah 59:18, “According to what they have done, so will he repay fury to his enemies and retribution to his foes!” So in Isaiah 66:15, “For behold the Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.” And in many other places.

So, in Revelation 19:15 we read of “the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God!” The words are exceeding dreadful! If it had only been said, “the wrath of God,” the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful, but it is “the fierceness and wrath of God.” The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful that must be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also “the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were, enraged, and exerted as men are accustomed to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath.

Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms who shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery, must the poor creature be sunk, who shall be the subject of this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God!

Consider this, you who are here present, who yet remain in an unregenerate state. That Almighty God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the unspeakable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom—he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand! There shall be no easing or mercy, nor will God at all restrain his wrath! He will have no regard to your welfare. His only concern is that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld because it is so hard for you to bear! Ezekiel 8:18, “Therefore, I will deal with them in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they scream for mercy, I will not listen!”

Now God stands ready to pity you—this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain! You will be wholly lost and thrown away by God, who will have no regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery! You shall be continued in being for no other end, for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction! And there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath! God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him: “I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you, when calamity overcomes you like a storm, when you are engulfed by trouble, and when anguish and distress overwhelm you!” Proverbs 1:25, 26.

How awful are those words, Isaiah 63:3, which are the words of the great God. “In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. It is their blood that has stained my clothes!” It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words which carry in them greater manifestations of these three things; namely contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that, he will only tread you under foot! And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you—yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy! He will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his clothes! He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost contempt! No place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets!

3. Consider, that the misery you are exposed to, is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show what His almighty wrath is. God has had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how dreadful his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute on those who provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with the three Hebrew champions; and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it.

But the great God is also willing to show his wrath and magnify his solemn majesty and mighty power, in the extreme sufferings of his enemies. Romans 9:22, “What if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath, prepared for destruction?” And seeing that this is his design and what he has determined, even to show how dreadful is his unrestrained wrath, and his fury and fierceness—it will be accomplished and brought to pass.

When the great and angry God has risen up and executed his dreadful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation—then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that solemn majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it! Isaiah 33:12-14, “The people will be burned up completely, like thorns cut down and tossed in a fire. Listen to what I have done, you nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might! The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. “Which one of us,” they cry, “can live here in the presence of this all-consuming fire?”

Thus it will be with you who are in an unconverted state, if you continue in it! The infinite might, and majesty, and dreadfulness of the omnipotent God, shall be magnified upon you, in the indescribable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb! And when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of Heaven shall go forth and look on the dreadful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty God is! And when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isaiah 66:24, “They will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against Me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out! All who pass by will view them with utter horror!”

4. Consider, that it is EVERLASTING wrath! It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God for one moment, but you must suffer it to all eternity! There will be no end to this intensified horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all! You will know certainly, that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance! And then, when you have done so, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all that, is but one moment, compared to what remains! So that your punishment will indeed, be infinite!

Oh, who can express what the state of such a soul, in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it! It is inexpressible and inconceivable! For “who knows the power of God’s anger?”

How dreadful is the state of those who are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation, who has not been born again—however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you are young or old!

There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity! We do not know who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have. It may be, they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the lost people, promising themselves that they shall escape.

If we knew that there was one person, and but one in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery—what an awful thing would it be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But, alas! instead of one—how many is it likely will remember this discourse in Hell! And it would be a wonder, if some who are now present should not be in Hell in a very short time, even before this year is out! And it would be no wonder if some people, who now sit here, in some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and security, should be in Hell before tomorrow morning.

Those of you who finally continue in a unsaved condition, who shall keep out of Hell the longest—will be there in a little time! Your damnation does not slumber; it will come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of you! You have reason to wonder that you are not already in Hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known, who never deserved Hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and total despair; but here you are, in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give, for one day’s opportunity such as you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many who were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting—while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart—while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of others who are flocking from day to day to Christ?

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? They have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath for the day of wrath! Oh, sirs, your case in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do you not see how generally people of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God’s mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God!

And you, young men and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy—when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those people who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful state of blindness and hardness.

And you children who are unconverted—do not you know that you are going down to Hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and have become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let everyone who is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of Hell, whether they are old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children—now hearken to the loud calls of God’s Word and providence. This day of such great favor to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men’s hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this—if they neglect their souls. Never was there so great danger of such people being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the greater part of adult people who ever shall be saved, will be brought in shortly; and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit in the apostles’ days, the elect will obtain salvation, and the rest will be blinded.

If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the outpouring of God’s Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to Hell before you had seen it! Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the ax is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which does not bring forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire!

Therefore, let everyone who is outside of Christ, now awake and flee from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom! “Hasten and escape for your lives, look not behind you! Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed!”

Matthew 25:46 – “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

To the INHABITANTS of Savannah in Georgia. My dear Friends,

Though the following sermon has been preached elsewhere, yet as the occasion of my preaching it among you was particular, as you seemed to give an uncommon attention to it in public, and afterwards expressed your satisfaction in it to me, when I came to visit you in your own houses, I thought proper to offer it to you.

And here I cannot but bless God for the general dislike of heretical principles that I have found among you; as also for your zeal and approbation of my conduct, when the glory of God and your welfare, have obliged me to resent and publicly declare against the antichristian tenets of some lately under my charge.

I need only exhort you to beg of God to give you a true faith, and to add to your faith virtue, that you may adorn the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in all things.

Your constant daily attendance upon public worship, the gladness wherewith you have received me into your houses, the mildness wherewith you have submitted to my reproofs, more especially the great (though unmerited) concern you showed at my departure, induce me to hope this will be your endeavor.

How long God of his good providence will keep me from you, I know not. However, you may assure yourselves I will return according to my promise, as soon as I have received imposition of hands, and completed the other business that called me hither.

In the mean while, accept of this, as a pledge of the undissembled love of

Your affectionate though unworthy pastor,

George Whitefield

London, 1738
 

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Matthew 25:46 “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

The excellency of the gospel dispensation, is greatly evidenced by those sanctions of rewards and punishments, which it offers to the choice of all its hearers, in order to engage them to be obedient to its precepts. For it promises no less than eternal happiness to the good, and denounces no slighter a punishment than everlasting misery against the wicked: On the one hand, It is a favor of life unto life,” on the other, “A favor of death unto death.” And though one would imagine, the bare mentioning of the former would be sufficient to draw men to their duty, yet ministers in all ages have found it necessary, frequently to remind their people of the latter, and to set before them the terrors of the Lord, as so many powerful dissuasives from sin.

But whence is it that men are so disingenuous [insincere, deceitful]? The reason seems to be this: The promise of eternal happiness is so agreeable to the inclinations and wishes of mankind, that all who call themselves christians, universally and willingly subscribe to the belief of it: but then there is something so shocking in the consideration of eternal torments, and seemingly such an infinite disproportion between an endless duration of pain, and short life spent in pleasure, that men (some at least of them) can scarcely be brought to confess it as an article of their faith, that an eternity of misery awaits the wicked in a future state.

I shall therefore at this time, beg leave to insist on the proof of this part of one of the Articles of our Creed; and endeavor to make good what our blessed Lord has here threatened in the words of the text, “These (that is, the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

Accordingly, without considering the words as they stand in relation to the context; I shall resolve all I have to say, into this one general proposition, “That the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter, are eternal.”

But before I proceed to make good this, I must inform you that I take it for granted,

All present do steadfastly believe, They have something within them, which we call a soul, and which is capable of surviving the dissolution of the body, and of being miserable or happy to all eternity.

I take it for granted farther, That you believe a divine revelation; that those books, emphatically called the Scriptures, were written by the inspiration of God, and that the things therein contained, are founded upon eternal truth.

I take it for granted, That you believe, that the Son of God came down to die for sinners; and that there is but one Mediator between God and man, even the man Christ Jesus.

These things being granted, (and they were necessary to be premised) proceed we now to make good the one general proposition asserted in the text, That the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.” The

First argument I shall advance to prove that the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter, are eternal, is, That the word of God himself assures us, in line upon line, that it will be so.

To quote all the texts that might be produced in proof of this, would be endless. Let it suffice to instance only in a few. In the Old Testament, in the book of Daniel, chap. 12, ver. 2 we are told, that “some shall wake to everlasting life, and others to everlasting contempt.” In the book of Isaiah, it is said, that “the worm of those that have transgressed God’s law, and die impenitently, shall not die, nor their fire be quenched.” And in another place the holy Prophet , struck, no doubt, with astonishment and horror at the prospect of the continuance of the torments of the damned, breaks out into this moving expostulation, “Who can dwell with everlasting burnings?”

The New Testament is still fuller as to this point, it being a revelation which brought this and such-like particulars to a clear light. The Apostle Jude tells us of the profane despisers of dignities in his days, that “for them was reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” And in the book of the Revelation, it is written, that “the smoke of the torments of the wicked ascendeth for ever and ever.” And if we believe the witness of men inspired, the witness of the Son of God, who had the Spirit given him, as Mediator, without measure, is still far greater: and in St. Mark’s gospel, He repeats this solemn declaration three several times, It is better for thee to enter into life maimed;” that is, it is better to forego the gratification of thy lust, or incur the displeasure of a friend, which may be as dear to thee as a hand, or as useful as a foot, “than having two hands and feet, (that is, for indulging the one, or disobeying God to oblige the other) to be cast into hell, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

And here again, in the words of the text, “These (the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

I know it has been objected by some who have denied the eternity of hell-torments, That the words everlasting and ever and ever, are often used in the Holy Scriptures (especially in the Old Testament) when they signify not an endless duration, but a limited term of time.

And this we readily grant: but then we reply, That when the words are used with this limitation, they either manifestly appear to be used so from the context; or are put in opposition to occasional types which God gave his people on some special occasions, as when it is said, “It shall be a perpetual or everlasting statute,” or, “a statute for ever;” that is, a standing type, and not merely transient or occasional, as was the pillar of cloud, the manna, and such-like. Or, lastly, they have a relation to that covenant, God made with his spiritual Israel; which, if understood in a spiritual sense, will be everlasting, though the ceremonial dispensation be abolished.

Besides, it ought to be observed, that some of the passages just now referred to, have neither of these words so much as mentioned in them, and cannot possibly be interpreted, so as to denote only a limited term of years.

But let that be as it will, it is evident even to a demonstration, that the words of the text will not admit of such a restrained signification, as appears from their being directly opposed to the words immediately following, “That the righteous shall go into life eternal.” From which words, all are ready to grant, that the life promised to the righteous will be eternal. And why the punishment threatened to the wicked should not be understood to be eternal likewise, when the very same word in the original, is used to express the duration of each, no shadow of a reason can be given.

But, Secondly, There cannot be one argument urged, why God should reward his saints with everlasting happiness, which will not equally prove that he ought to punish sinners with eternal misery.

For, since we know nothing (at least for a certainty) how he will deal with either but by a Diving Revelation; and since, as was proved by the foregoing argument, he hath as positively threatened eternally to punish the wicked, as to reward the good; it follows, that his truth will be as much impeached and called in question, did he not inflict his punishments, as it would be, if he did not confer his rewards.

To this also it has been objected, That though God is obliged by promise to give his rewards, yet his veracity could not be called in question, supposing he should not execute his threatenings, as he actually did not in the case of Nineveh; which God expressly declared by his Prophet Jonah, “should be destroyed in forty days:” notwithstanding the sequel of the story informs us, that Nineveh was spared.

But in answer to this objection we affirm, that God’s threatenings, as well as promises, are without repentance; and for this reason, because they are both founded on the eternal laws of right reason. Accordingly we always find, that where the conditions were not performed, on the non-performance of which the threatenings were denounced, God always executed the punishment threatened. The driving Adam out of Eden, the destruction of the old world by a deluge of water, and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, are, and will be always so many standing monuments of God’s executing his threatenings when denounced, though to our weak apprehensions, the punishment may seem far to exceed the crime.

It is true, God did spare Nineveh, and that because the inhabitants did actually repent, and therefore performed the conditions upon which it was supposed, by the Prophet’s being sent to warn them, the threatened punishment should be withheld.

And so in respect to gospel threatenings. If men will so far consult their own welfare, as to comply with the gospel, God certainly will not punish them, but on the contrary, confer upon them his rewards. But to affirm that he will not punish, and that eternally to, impenitent, obstinate sinners, according as he hath threatened; what is it, in effect, but to make God like a man, that he should lie, or the son of man, that he should repent?

But the absurdity of such an opinion will appear still more evident from

The Third argument I shall offer to prove, that the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal, From the nature of the christian covenant.

And here I must again observe, that it was taken for granted at the beginning of this discourse, that you believe the Son of God came down to save sinners; and that there is but one Mediator between God and men, even the Man Christ Jesus.

And here I take it for granted farther, (unless you believe the absurd and unwarrantable doctrine of purgatory) that you are fully persuaded, this life is the only time allotted by Almighty God for working out our salvation, and that after a few years are passed over, there will remain no more sacrifice for sin.

And if this be granted (and who dares deny it?) it follows, that if the wicked man dieth in his wickedness, and under the wrath of God, he must continue in that state to all eternity. For, since there is no possibility of their being delivered out of such a condition, but by and through Christ; and since, at the hour of death, the time of Christ’s mediation and intercession for him is irrecoverably gone; the same reason that may be given, why God should punish a sinner that dieth under the guilt of his sins for a single day, will equally hold good, why he should continue to punish him for a year, an age, nay all eternity.

But I hasten to the Fourth and last argument, to prove, That the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal, Because the devil’s punishment is to be so.

That there is such a being whom we call the devil; that he was once an angel of light, but for his pride and rebellion against God, was cast down from heaven, and is now permitted, with the rest of the spiritual wickednesses, to walk to and fro, seeking whom they may devour; that there is a place of torment reserved for them, or, to use the Apostle’s words, “That they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day;” are truths all here present were supposed to be convinced of, at the beginning of the discourse, you believing the Holy Scriptures to be written by the inspiration of God, wherein these truths are delivered.

But then if we allow all this, and think it no injustice in God to punish those once glorious spirits for their rebellion; how can we think it unjust in him, to punish wicked men for their impenitency to all eternity?

You will say, perhaps, that they have sinned against greater light, and therefore deserve a greater punishment. And so we grant that the punishment of the fallen angels may be greater as to degree, than that of wicked men; but then we affirm, it will be equal as to the eternal duration of it: for in that day, as the lively oracles of God inform us, shall the Son of Man say to them on his left hand, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Where we find that impenitent sinners are to be cast into the same everlasting fire, with the devil and his angels; and that too very justly. For though they may have sinned against greater light, yet christians sin against greater mercy. Since Christ took not hold of, did not die for, the fallen angels, but for men and for our salvation. So that if God spared not those excellent beings, assure thyself, O obstinate sinner, whoever thou art, he will by no means spare thee.

From what then has been said it plainly appears, that verily the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter, war eternal. And if so, brethren, how ought we to fly to Jesus Christ for refuge; how holy ought we to be in all manner of conversation and godliness, that we may be accounted worthy to escape this wrath to come!

But before I proceed to a practical exhortation, permit me to draw an inference or two from what has been said.

And First, If the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal, what shall we say to those, who make an open profession in their creed to believe a life everlasting, a life of misery as well as happiness, and yet dare to live in the actual commission of those sins which will unavoidably, without repentance, bring them into that place of torment? Thou believest that the punishments of the impenitently wicked in another life, are eternal: “Thou dost well, the devils also believe and tremble.” But know O vain man, unless this belief doth influence thy practice, and makes thee bid adieu to thy sins, every time thou repeatest thy creed, thou doest in effect say, I believe I shall be undone for ever.

But, Secondly, If the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal, then let this serve as a caution to such persons, (and it is to be feared there are some such) who go about to dissuade others from the belief of such an important truth: There being no surer way, in all probability, to encourage and promote infidelity and profaneness, than the broaching or maintaining so unwarrantable a doctrine. For if the positive threats of God concerning the eternity of hell-torments, are already found insufficient to deter men from sin, what a higher pitch of wickedness may w imagine they will quickly arrive at, when they are taught to entertain any hopes of a future recovery out of them; or, what is still worse, that their souls are hereafter to be annihilated, and become like the beasts that perish? But woe unto such blind leaders of the blind. No wonder if they both fall into that ditch. And let such corrupters of God’s word know, that I testify unto every man that heareth me this day, “That if any one shall add unto, or take away from the words that are written in the book of God, God shall take his part out of the book of life, an shall add unto him all the plagues that are in that book.”

Thirdly and Lastly, If the torments reserved for the wicked hereafter are eternal, then this may serve as a reproof for those who quarrel with God, and say it is inconsistent with his justice, to punish a person to all eternity, only for enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. But such persons must be told, that it is not their thinking or calling God unjust, will make him so, no more than a condemned prisoner’s saying the law or judge is unjust, will render either duly chargeable with such an imputation. But knowest thou, O worm, what blasphemy thou are guilty of, in charging God with injustice? “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?” Wilt thou presume to arraign the Almighty at the bar of thy shallow reasoning? And call him unjust, for punishing thee eternally, only because thou wishest it may not be so? But hath God said it, and shall he not do it? He hath said it: and let God be true, though every man be a liar. “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” Assuredly he will. And if sinners will not own his justice in his threatenings here, they will be compelled ere long to own and feel them, when tormented by him hereafter.

But to come to a more practical application of what has been delivered.

You have heard, brethren, the eternity of hell-torments plainly proved, from the express declarations of holy scriptures, and consequences naturally drawn from them. And now there seems to need no great art of rhetoric to persuade any understanding person to avoid and abhor those sins, which without repentance will certainly plunge him into this eternal gulf. The disproportion between the pleasure and the pain (if there be any pleasure in sin) is so infinitely great, that supposing it was only possible, though not certain, that the wicked would be everlastingly punished, no one that has the reason of a man, for the enjoying a little momentary pleasure, would, one might imagine, run the hazard of enduring eternal pain. But since the torments of the damned are not only possible, but certain (since God himself, who cannot lie, has told us so) for men, notwithstanding, to persist in their disobedience, and then flatter themselves, that God will not make good his threatenings, is a most egregious [gross, excessive] instance of folly and presumption.

Dives himself supposed, that if one rose from the dead, his brethren would amend their lives, but Christians, it seems, will not repent, though the Son of God died and rose again, and told them what they must expect, if they continue obstinate in evil-doing.

Would we now and then draw off our thoughts from sensible objects, and by faith meditate a while on the miseries of the damned, I doubt not but we should, as it were, hear many an unhappy soul venting his fruitless sorrows, in some such piteous moans as these.

“O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death!” O foolish mortal that I was, thus to bring myself into these never- ceasing tortures, for the transitory enjoyment of a few short-lived pleasures, which scarcely afforded me any satisfaction, even when I most indulged myself in them. Alas! Are these the wages, these the effects of sin? O damned apostate! First to delude me with pretended promises of happiness, and after several years drudgery in his service, thus to involve me in eternal woe. O that I had never hearkened to his beguiling insinuations! O that I had rejected his very first suggestions with the utmost detestation and abhorrence! O that I had taken up my cross and followed Christ! O that I had never ridiculed serious godliness; and out of a false politeness, condemned the truly pious as too severe, enthusiastic, or superstitious! For I then had been happy indeed, happy beyond expression, happy to all eternity, yonder in those blessed regions where they fit, clothed with unspeakable glory, and chanting forth their seraphic hallelujahs to the Lamb that sitteth upon the throne for ever. But, alas! These reflections come now too late; these wishes now are vain and fruitless. I have not suffered, and therefore must not reign with them. I have in effect denied the Lord that bought me, and therefore justly am I now denied by him. But must I live for ever tormented in these flames? Must this body of mine, which not long since lay in state, was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, must it be here eternally confined, and made the mockery of insulting devils? O eternity! That thought fills me with despair: I must be miserable for ever.”

Come then, all ye self-deluding, self-deluded sinners, and imagine yourselves for once in the place of that truly wretched man I have been here describing. Think, I beseech you by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, think with yourselves, how racking, how unsupportable the never- dying worm of a self-condemning conscience will hereafter be to you. Think how impossible it will be for you to dwell with everlasting burnings.

Come, all ye christians of a lukewarm, Laodicean spirit, ye Gallie’s in religion, who care a little, but not enough for the things of God; O think, think with yourselves, how deplorable it will be to lose the enjoyment of heaven, and run into endless torments, merely because you will be content to be almost, and will not strive to be altogether christians. Consider, I beseech you consider, how you will rave and curse that fatal stupidity which made you believe any thing less than true faith in Jesus, productive of a life of strict piety, self-denial, and mortification, can keep you from those torments, the eternity of which I have been endeavoring to prove.

But I can no more. These thoughts are too melancholy for me to dwell on, as well as for you to hear; and God knows, as punishing is his strange work, so denouncing his threatenings is mine. But if the bare mentioning the torments of the damned is so shocking, how terrible must the enduring of them be!

And now, are not some of you ready to cry out, “These are hard sayings, who can bear them?”

But let not sincere Christians be in the least terrified at what has been delivered: No, for you is reserved a crown, a kingdom, an eternal and exceeding weight of glory. Christ never said that the righteous, the believing, the upright, the sincere, but the wicked, merciless, negatively good professors before described, shall go into everlasting punishment. For you, who love him in sincerity, a new and living way is laid open into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus Christ: and an abundant entrance will be administered unto you, at the great day of account, into eternal life. Take heed, therefore, and beware that there be not in any of you a root of bitterness springing up of unbelief: but on the contrary, steadfastly and heartily rely on the many precious promises reached out to you in the gospel, knowing that he who hath promised is faithful, and therefore will perform.

But let no obstinately wicked professors dare to apply any of the divine promises to themselves: “For it is not meet to take the children’s meat and give it unto dogs:” No, to such the terrors of the Lord only belong. And as certainly as Christ will say to his true followers, “Come, ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world;” so he will unalterably pronounce this dreadful sentence against all that die in their sins, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

From which unhappy state, may God of his infinite mercy deliver us all through Jesus Christ; to whom, with thee O Father, and thee O Holy Ghost, three Persons and one eternal God, be ascribed, as is most due, all honor, power, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for ever more.

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:48.

1. Every truth which is revealed in the oracles of God is undoubtedly of great importance. Yet it may be allowed that some of those which are revealed therein are of greater importance than others, as being more immediately conducive to the grand end of all, the eternal salvation of men. And we may judge of their importance even from this circumstance, — that they are not mentioned once only in the sacred writings, but are repeated over and over. A remarkable instance of this we have with regard to the awful truth which is now before us. Our blessed Lord, who uses no superfluous words, who makes no “vain repetitions,” repeats it over and over in the same chapter, and as it were, in the same breath. So, (Mark 9:43, 44,) “If thy hand offend thee,” — if a thing or person, as useful as a hand, be an occasion of sin, and there is no other way to shun that sin, — “cut it off: It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” So again, (Mark 9:45, 46,) “If thy foot offend thee, cut it off: It is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” And yet again, (Mark 9:47, 48,) “If thine eye” — a person or thing as dear as thine eye — “offend thee,” — hinder thy running the race which is set before thee, — “pluck it out : It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

2. And let it not be thought, that the consideration of these terrible truths is proper only for enormous sinners. How is this supposition consistent with what our Lord speaks to those who were then, doubtless, the holiest men upon earth “When innumerable multitudes were gathered together, he said to his disciples” (the Apostles) “first of all, I say unto you, my friends, Fear not them that can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I say unto you, Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” (Luke 12:1-5.) Yea, fear him under this very notion, — of having power to cast into hell: That is, in effect, fear lest he should cast you into the place of torment. And this very fear, even in the children of God, is one excellent means of preserving them from it.

3. It behoves, therefore not only the outcasts of men, but even you, his friends, you that fear and love God, deeply to consider what is revealed in the oracles of God concerning the future state of punishment. How widely distant is this from the most elaborate accounts which are given by the heathen authors! Their accounts are (in many particulars at least) childish, fanciful, and self-inconsistent. So that it is no wonder they did not believe themselves, but only related the tales of the vulgar. So Virgil strongly intimates, when, after the laboured account he had given of the shades beneath, he sends him that had related it out at the ivory gate, through which (as he tells us) only dreams pass; thereby giving us to know that all the preceding account is no more than a dream. This he only insinuates; but his brother poet, Juvenal, speaks out flat and plain, —

Esse aliquos manes, et subterranea regna, Nec pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum aere lavantur:

“Even our children do not believe a word of the tales concerning another world.”

4. Here, on the contrary, all is worthy of God, the Creator, the Governor of mankind. All is awful and solemn; suitable to his wisdom and justice by whom “Tophet was ordained of old;” although originally prepared, not for the children of men, but “for the devil and his angels.”

The punishment of those who, in spite of all the warnings of God, resolve to have their portion with the devil and his angels, will, according to the ancient and not improper division, be either paena damni, — “what they lose;” or paena sensus, — “what they feel.” After considering these separately, I shall touch on a few additional circumstances, and conclude with two or three inferences.

I. 1. And, First, let us consider the paena damni, — “the punishment of loss.” This commences in that very moment wherein the soul is separated from the body; in that instant, the soul loses all those pleasures, the enjoyment of which depends on the outward senses. The smell, the taste, the touch, delight no more: The organs that ministered to them are spoiled, and the objects that used to gratify them are removed far away. In the dreary regions of the dead all these things are forgotten; or, if remembered, are only remembered with pain; seeing they are gone for ever. All the pleasures of the imagination are at an end. There is no grandeur in the infernal regions; there is nothing beautiful in those dark abodes; no light but that of livid flames. And nothing new, but one unvaried scene of horror upon horror! There is no music but that of groans and shrieks; of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; of curses and blasphemies against God, or cutting reproaches of one another. Nor is there anything to gratify the sense of honour: No; they are the heirs of shame and everlasting contempt.

2. Thus are they totally separated from all the things they were fond of in the present world. At the same instant will commence another loss, — that of all the persons whom they loved. They are torn away from their nearest and dearest relations; their wives, husbands, parents, children; and (what to some will be worse than all this) the friend which was as their own soul. All the pleasure they ever enjoyed in these is lost, gone, vanished away: For there is no friendship in hell. Even the poet who affirms, (though I know not on what authority,)

Devil with devil damn’d  Firm concord holds,

does not affirm that there is any concord among the human fiends that inhabit the great abyss.

3. But they will then be sensible of a greater loss than that of all they enjoyed on earth. They have lost their place in Abraham’s bosom, in the paradise of God. Hitherto, indeed, it hath not entered into their hearts to conceive what holy souls enjoy in the garden of God, in the society of angels, and of the wisest and best men that have lived from the beginning of the world; (not to mention the immense increase of knowledge which they will then undoubtedly receive;) but they will then fully understand the value of what they have vilely cast away.

4. But as happy as the souls in paradise are, they are preparing for far greater happiness. For paradise is only the porch of heaven; and it is there the spirits of just men are made perfect. It is in heaven only that there is the fulness of joy; the pleasures that are at God’s right hand for evermore. The loss of this, by those unhappy spirits, will be the completion of their misery. They will then know and feel, that God alone is the centre of all created spirits; and, consequently, that a spirit made for God can have no rest out of him. It seems that the Apostle had this in his view when he spoke of those “who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” Banishment from the presence of the Lord is the very essence of destruction to a spirit that was made for God. And if that banishment lasts for ever, it is “everlasting destruction.”

Such is the loss sustained by those miserable creatures, on whom that awful sentence will be pronounced: “Depart from me, ye cursed!” What an unspeakable curse, if there were no other! But, alas! this is far from being the whole: For, to the punishment of loss, will be added the punishment of sense. What they lose implies unspeakable misery, which yet is inferior to what they feel. This it is which our Lord expresses in those emphatical words: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

II. 1. From the time that sentence was pronounced upon man, “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return,” it was the custom of all nations, so far as we can learn, to commit dust to dust: It seemed natural to restore the bodies of the dead to the general mother, earth. But in process of time another method obtained, chiefly among the rich and great, of burning the bodies of their relations, and frequently in a grand magnificent manner; for which purpose they erected huge funeral piles, with immense labour and expense. By either of these methods the body of man was soon restored to its parent dust. Either the worm or the fire soon consumed the well-wrought frame; after which the worm itself quickly died, and the fire was entirely quenched. But there is, likewise, a worm that belongs to the future state; and that is a worm that never dieth! and there is a fire hotter than that of the funeral pile; and it is a fire that will never be quenched!

2. The First thing intended by the worm that never dieth, seems to be a guilty conscience; including self-condemnation, sorrow, shame, remorse, and a sense of the wrath of God. May not we have some conception of this, by what is sometimes felt even in the present world Is it not of this, chiefly, that Solomon speaks, when he says, “The spirit of a man may bear his infirmities;” his infirmities, or griefs, of any other kind; “but a wounded spirit who can bear” Who can bear the anguish of an awakened conscience, penetrated with a sense of guilt, and the arrows of the Almighty sticking in the soul, and drinking up the spirit How many of the stout-hearted have sunk under it, and chose strangling rather than life! And yet what are these wounds, what is all this anguish of a soul while in this present world, in comparison of those they must suffer when their souls are wholly awakened to feel the wrath of an offended God! Add to these all unholy passions; fear, horror, rage; evil desires; desires that can never be satisfied. Add all unholy tempers; envy, jealousy, malice, and revenge; all of which will incessantly gnaw the soul, as the vulture was supposed to do the liver of Tityus. To these if we add hatred of God, and all his creatures; all these united together may serve to give us some little, imperfect idea of the worm that never dieth.

3. We may observe a remarkable difference in the manner wherein our Lord speaks concerning the two parts of the future punishment. He says, “Where their worm dieth not,” of the one; “where the fire is not quenched,” of the other. This cannot be by chance. What then is the reason for this variation of the expression

Does it not seem to be this The fire will be the same, essentially the same, to all that are tormented therein; only perhaps more intense to some than others, according to their degree of guilt; but their worm will not, cannot be the same. It will be infinitely varied, according to the various kinds, as well as degrees, of wickedness. This variety will arise partly from the just judgment of God, “rewarding every man according to his works:” For we cannot doubt but this rule will take place no less in hell than in heaven. As in heaven “every man will receive his own reward,” incommunicably his, according to his own labours, — that is, the whole tenor of his tempers, thoughts, words, and actions; — so undoubtedly, every man, in fact, will receive his own bad reward, according to his own bad labour. And this, likewise, will be incommunicably his own, even as his labour was. Variety of punishment will likewise arise from the very nature of the thing. As they that bring most holiness to heaven will find most happiness there; so, on the other hand, it is not only true, that the more wickedness a man brings to hell the more misery he will find there; but that this misery will be infinitely varied according to the various kinds of his wickedness. It was therefore proper to say, the fire, in general; but their worm, in particular.

4. But it has been questioned by some, whether there be any fire in hell; that is, any material fire. Nay, if there be any fire, it is unquestionably material. For what is immaterial fire The same as immaterial water or earth! Both the one and the other is absolute nonsense, a contradiction in terms. Either, therefore, we must affirm it to be material, or we deny its existence. But if we granted them, there is no fire at all there, what would they gain thereby seeing this is allowed, on all hands, that it is either fire or something worse. And consider this: Does not our Lord speak as if it were real fire No one can deny or doubt of this. Is it possible then to suppose that the God of truth would speak in this manner if it were not so Does he design to fright his poor creatures What, with scarecrows with vain shadows of things that have no being O let not anyone think so! Impute not such folly to the Most High!

5. But others aver, “It is not possible that fire should burn always. For by the immutable law of nature, it consumes whatever is thrown into it. And by the same law, as soon as it has consumed its fuel, it is itself consumed; it goes out.”

It is most true, that in the present constitution of things, during the present laws of nature, the element of fire does dissolve and consume whatever is thrown into it. But here is the mistake: The present laws of nature are not immutable. When the heavens and the earth shall flee away, the present scene will be totally changed; and, with the present constitution of things, the present laws of nature will cease. After this great change, nothing will be dissolved, nothing will be consumed any more. Therefore, if it were true that fire consumes all things now, it would not follow that it would do the same after the whole frame of nature has undergone that vast, universal change.

6. I say, If it were true that “fire consumes all things now.” But, indeed, it is not true. Has it not pleased God to give us already some proof of what will be hereafter Is not the Linum Asbestum, the incombustible flax, known in most parts of Europe If you take a towel or handkerchief made of this, (one of which may now be seen in the British Museum,) you may throw it into the hottest fire, and when it is taken out again, it will be observed, upon the nicest experiment, not to have lost one grain of its weight. Here, therefore, is a substance before our eyes, which, even in the present constitution of things, (as if it were an emblem of things to come,) may remain in fire without being consumed.

7. Many writers have spoken of other bodily torments, added to the being cast into the lake of fire. One of these, even pious Kempis, supposes that misers, for instance, have melted gold poured down their throats; and he supposes many other particular torments to be suited to men’s particular sins. Nay, our great poet himself supposes the inhabitants of hell to undergo a variety of tortures; not to continue always in the lake of fire, but to be frequently,

By harpy-footed furies, haled

into regions of ice; and then back again through extremes, by change more fierce: But I find no word, no tittle of this, not the least hint of it in all the Bible. And surely this is too awful a subject to admit of such play of imagination. Let us keep to the written word. It is torment enough to dwell with everlasting burnings.

8. This is strongly illustrated by a fabulous story, taken from one of the eastern writers, concerning a Turkish King, who, after he had been guilty of all manner of wickedness, once did a good thing: For seeing a poor man falling into a pit, wherein he must have inevitably perished, and kicking him from it, he saved his life. The story adds, that when, for his enormous wickedness, he was cast into hell, that foot wherewith he had saved the man’s life was permitted to lie out of the flames. But allowing this to be a real case, what a poor comfort would it be! What, if both feet were permitted to lie out of the flames, yea, and both hands, how little would it avail! Nay, if all the body were taken out, and placed where no fire touched it, and only one hand or one foot kept in a burning fiery furnace; would the man, meantime, be much at ease Nay, quite the contrary. Is it not common to say to a child, “Put your finger into that candle: Can you bear it even for one minute How then will you bear hell-fire” Surely it would be torment enough to have the flesh burnt off from only one finger. What then will it be, to have the whole body plunged into a lake of fire burning with brimstone!

III. It remains now only to consider two or three circumstances attending the never-dying worm and the unquenchable fire.

1. And, First, consider the company wherewith everyone is surrounded in that place of torment. It is not uncommon to hear even condemned criminals, in our public prisons, say, “O I wish I was hanged out of the way, rather than to be plagued with these wretches that are round about me!” But what are the most abandoned wretches upon earth, compared to the inhabitants of hell None of these are, as yet, perfectly wicked, emptied of every spark of good; certainly not till this life is at an end; probably not till the day of judgment. Nor can any of these exert, without control, their whole wickedness on their fellow-creatures. Sometimes they are restrained by good men; sometimes even by bad. So even the tortures in the Romish Inquisition are restrained by those that employ them, when they suppose the sufferer cannot endure any more. They then order the executioners to forbear; because it is contrary to the rules of the house that a man should die upon the rack. And very frequently, when there is no human help, they are restrained by God, who hath set them their bounds which they cannot pass, and saith, “Hitherto shall ye come, and no farther.” Yea, so mercifully hath God ordained, that the very extremity of pain causes a suspension of it. The sufferer faints away; and so, for a time at least, sinks into insensibility. But the inhabitants of hell are perfectly wicked, having no spark of goodness remaining. And they are restrained by none from exerting to the uttermost their total wickedness. Not by men; none will be restrained from evil by his companions in damnation: And not by God; for He hath forgotten them, hath delivered them over to the tormentors. And the devils need not fear, like their instruments upon earth, lest they should expire under the torture. They can die no more: They are strong to sustain whatever the united malice, skill, and strength of angels can inflict upon them. And their angelic tormentors have time sufficient to vary their torments a thousand ways. How infinitely may they vary one single torment, — horrible appearances! Whereby, there is no doubt, an evil spirit, if permitted, could terrify the stoutest man upon earth to death.

2. Consider, Secondly, that all these torments of body and soul are without intermission. They have no respite from pain; but “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up day and night.” Day and night! that is, speaking according to the constitution of the present world; wherein God has wisely and graciously ordained that day and night should succeed each other: So that in every four and twenty hours there comes a

Daily sabbath, made to rest  Toiling man and weary beast.

Hence we seldom undergo much labour, or suffer much pain, before

Tired nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep,

steals upon us by insensible degrees, and brings an interval of ease. But although the damned have uninterrupted night, it brings no interruption of their pain. No sleep accompanies that darkness: Whatever either ancient or modern poets, either Homer or Milton, dream, there is no sleep either in hell or heaven. And be their suffering ever so extreme, be their pain ever so intense, there is no possibility of their fainting away; no, not for a moment.

Again: The inhabitants of earth are frequently diverted from attending to what is afflictive, by the cheerful light of the sun, the vicissitudes of the seasons, “the busy hum of men,” and a thousand objects that roll around them with endless variety. But the inhabitants of hell have nothing to divert them from their torments, even for a moment:

Total eclipse: No sun, no moon!

No change of seasons, or of companions. There is no business; but one uninterrupted scene of horror, to which they must be all attention. They have no interval of inattention or stupidity: They are all eye, all ear, all sense. Every instant of their duration, it may be said of their whole frame, that they are

Tremblingly alive all o’er,  And smart and agonize at every pore!

3. And of this duration there is no end! What a thought is this! Nothing but eternity is the term of their torment! And who can count the drops of rain, or the sands of the sea, or the days of eternity Every suffering is softened, if there is any hope, though distant, of deliverance from it. But here, Hope never comes, that comes to all the inhabitants of the upper world! What! sufferings never to end!

NEVER! — Where sinks the soul at that dread sound  Into a gulf how dark, and how profound!

Suppose millions of days, of years, of ages elapsed, still we are only on the threshold of eternity! Neither the pain of body nor of soul is any nearer an end, than it was millions of ages ago. When they are cast into to pur to asbeston, (How emphatical! “The fire, the unquenchable,”) all is concluded: “Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched!”

Such is the account which the Judge of all gives of the punishment which he has ordained for impenitent sinners. And what a counterbalance may the consideration of this be to the violence of any temptation! in particular, to the fear of man; the very use to which it is applied by our Lord himself: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But fear Him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell.” (Luke 12:4, 5)

What a guard may these considerations be against any temptation from pleasure! Will you lose, for any of these poor, earthly pleasures, which perish in the using, (to say nothing of the present substantial pleasures of religion,) the pleasures of Paradise; such as “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into our hearts to conceive” yea, the pleasures of heaven, the society of angels, and of the spirits of just men made perfect; the conversing face to face with God your Father, your Saviour, your Sanctifier; and the drinking of those rivers of pleasure that are at God’s right hand for evermore

Are you tempted by pain, either of body or mind O compare present things with future! What is the pain of body which you do or may endure, to that of lying in a lake of fire burning with brimstone What is any pain of mind; any fear, anguish, sorrow, compared to the “worm that never dieth” That never dieth! This is the sting of all! As for our pains on earth, blessed be God, they are not eternal. There are some intervals to relieve and there is some period to finish them. When we ask a friend that is sick, how he does; “I am in pain now,” says he, “but I hope to be easy soon.” This is a sweet mitigation of the present uneasiness. But how dreadful would his case be if he should answer, “I am all over pain, and I shall never be eased of it. I lie under exquisite torment of body, and horror of soul; and I shall feel it for ever!” Such is the case of the damned sinners in hell. Suffer any pain, then, rather than come into that place of torment!

I conclude with one more reflection, taken from Dr. Watts, — “It demands our highest gratitude, that we who have long ago deserved this misery are not yet plunged into it. While there are thousands who have been adjudged to this place of punishment, before they had continued so long in sin as many of us have done, what an instance is it of divine goodness, that we are not under this fiery vengeance! Have we not seen many sinners, on our right and left, cut off in their sins And what but the tender mercy of God hath spared us week after week, month after month, and given us space for repentance What shall we render unto the Lord for all his patience and longsuffering even to this day How often have we incurred the sentence of condemnation by our repeated rebellion against God! And yet we are still alive in his presence, and are hearing the words of hope and salvation. O let us look back and shudder at the thoughts of that dreadful precipice, on the edge of which we have so long wandered! Let us fly for refuge to the hope that is set before us, and give a thousand thanks to the divine mercy, that we are not plunged into this perdition!”