Get out of My sight!
(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)
(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)
Many now-a-days say there is no hell. Multitudes think that all that is spoken of hell in Scripture—is false and mythical. They will not believe that there is a hell—until they come to feel themselves in hell—until they find everlasting flames about their ears—until they are sentenced to the fire—until they are doomed to everlasting fire!
The last words that Christ will ever speak to the ungodly, will be the most tormenting, and horrifying, the most killing and damning, the most stinging and wounding! "Then He will also say to those on the left—Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41. This terrible sentence breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, terror and horror, dread and woe!
"Depart from Me!" Here is utter rejection—"Pack! Begone! Get out of My sight! Let Me never see your face again!"
"You who are cursed!" Here is malediction. You shall be cursed in your bodies and cursed in your souls! You shall be cursed of God, and cursed of angels, and cursed of saints, and cursed of devils, and cursed of your companions! Yes, you shall curse your very selves, your very souls. All your former curses, all your maledictions—shall at last recoil upon your own souls! Now you curse every man and thing which stands in the way of your lusts, and which cross your designs! But at last all the curses of heaven and hell shall meet in their full power and force upon you!
"But, Lord, if we must depart, and depart cursed, oh let us go into some good place!" "No! Depart into the eternal fire!" There is the vengeance and everlasting continuance of it. You shall go into fire, into everlasting fire, which will neither consume itself, nor consume you! Eternity of extreme punishment is the hell of hell. If all the fires which ever were in the world were contracted into one fire, how terrible would it be! Yet such a fire would be but as a'painted fire'—compared to the fire of hell. The greatest and the hottest fires that ever were on earth—are but ice in comparison to the fire of hell. Ah! how sad, how dreadful would it be to experience what it is to lie in unquenchable fire—not for a day, a month, or a year, or a hundred, or a thousand years—but forever and ever!
"If it were," says one, "but for a thousand years, I could bear it—but seeing it is for eternity—this astonishes and affrights me!" "I am afraid of hell," says another, "because the worm there never dies, and the fire never goes out!"
It is called "unquenchable fire," and "eternal fire." The torments of the damned are very grievous for the bitternessof them—and more grievous for the diversity of them—but most of all grievous for the eternity of them!
The last words that Christ will ever speak to the ungodly, will be the most tormenting, and horrifying, the most killing and damning, the most stinging and wounding! "Then He will also say to those on the left—Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41. This terrible sentence breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, terror and horror, dread and woe!
"Depart from Me!" Here is utter rejection—"Pack! Begone! Get out of My sight! Let Me never see your face again!"
"You who are cursed!" Here is malediction. You shall be cursed in your bodies and cursed in your souls! You shall be cursed of God, and cursed of angels, and cursed of saints, and cursed of devils, and cursed of your companions! Yes, you shall curse your very selves, your very souls. All your former curses, all your maledictions—shall at last recoil upon your own souls! Now you curse every man and thing which stands in the way of your lusts, and which cross your designs! But at last all the curses of heaven and hell shall meet in their full power and force upon you!
"But, Lord, if we must depart, and depart cursed, oh let us go into some good place!" "No! Depart into the eternal fire!" There is the vengeance and everlasting continuance of it. You shall go into fire, into everlasting fire, which will neither consume itself, nor consume you! Eternity of extreme punishment is the hell of hell. If all the fires which ever were in the world were contracted into one fire, how terrible would it be! Yet such a fire would be but as a'painted fire'—compared to the fire of hell. The greatest and the hottest fires that ever were on earth—are but ice in comparison to the fire of hell. Ah! how sad, how dreadful would it be to experience what it is to lie in unquenchable fire—not for a day, a month, or a year, or a hundred, or a thousand years—but forever and ever!
"If it were," says one, "but for a thousand years, I could bear it—but seeing it is for eternity—this astonishes and affrights me!" "I am afraid of hell," says another, "because the worm there never dies, and the fire never goes out!"
It is called "unquenchable fire," and "eternal fire." The torments of the damned are very grievous for the bitternessof them—and more grievous for the diversity of them—but most of all grievous for the eternity of them!
Wronged justice can never be satisfied, and therefore the sinner must be forever tormented. The sinner in hell will sin forever, and therefore he must be punished forever. It will not stand with the unspotted justice and righteousness of God to cease punishing—while the sinner ceases not sinning.
"But, Lord, if I must go into fire, into everlasting fire, oh let me have some good company in my misery!" "No! The devil and his demons shall be your companions!" Ah! who can conceive or express the misery of living with devils and damned spirits and hellish fiends and furies forever!
"But, Lord, if I must go into fire, into everlasting fire, oh let me have some good company in my misery!" "No! The devil and his demons shall be your companions!" Ah! who can conceive or express the misery of living with devils and damned spirits and hellish fiends and furies forever!
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