From the black regions, from the mournful plains,
Where horror in eternal triumph reigns;

From the low caves of hell, the caves of night,
Far from the frontiers of celestial light;
This from the wretched Amoret receive,
And, at my cost, these dreadful truths believe:-
That 'tis no fiction pious men adore,
But there's indeed a just Almighty Power;
That human spirits after death survive,
And to interminable ages live;

That fields of light, and blest ethereal plains,
Are no conceits of visionary brains;

But there are happy bowers, and shades of love,
With pure exhaustless springs of joy above;
Immortal crowns the virtuous to reward,
And glorious triumphs for the just prepar'd.
Nor question the surprising truths I tell,
While I the secrets of the deep reveal;
For hell is no enthusiastic dream,

No statesman's trick, nor poet's fab'lous theme;
No pious fraud, or mercenary lie

Of subtle priests, to gain the conscience by;
'Tis all too sadly true which they maintain,
And far beyond whate'er the poets feign,
Of streams of liquid fire, and burning lakes,
Infernal gibbets, and eternal racks,
Gorgons, chimeras, furies, and their snakes:
No mortal can a just conception frame,
Nor find for half the terrors here a name.

Then shun the flow'ry paths that downward tend;
To hell they lead, and in damnation end.

Mrs. Rowe.

The full representation of hell is beyond all human expression; hay, our most fearful thoughts cannot equal the horror of it. "Who knoweth the power of thine anger?" Ps. xc. 11. What are the plagues prepared, by infinite justice and almighty wrath, for obstinate sinners? It is impossible for the most guilty and trembling conscience to enlarge its sad apprehensious according to the degrees

of that misery. The Lord will show forth his wrath, and make his power known in the vessels fitted for destruction. None can tell what God can do, and what man can suffer, when made capable to endure such torment for ever as would now presently consume him. As the glory of heaven cannot be fully understood till enjoyed, so the torments of hell cannot be comprehended till felt.

It is observable, our Saviour inculcates three times, (Mark ix. 44, &c. that men may take notice of it with terror)" where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." A worm gnawing upon the bowels, that are of the most tender and quick sense; and fire, that causes the most vehement pain, are fearful representations to typify the torments of the damned; and that the worm is undying, and the fire unquenchable, infinitely aggravates the punishment. Hell is described by a lake of fire and brimstone, wherein the wicked are tormented. Whether the fire be material or metaphorical, the reality and intenseness of the torment is signified by it. The fire of hell is prepared by the wrath of God for the devil and his angels. The divine power is illustriously manifested in that terrible preparation; so that, as some of the fathers express it, if one of the damned might pass from those flames into the hottest fires here, it were to change a torment for a refreshment. The scripture speaks of the vehement heat, and fiery thirst, and outer darkness, in which the damned suffer, to satisfy the rights of justice, in the torments of those senses, for the pleasures of which men wilfully broke the laws of God.

The soul being the chief sinner, shall be the chief mourner in those regions of sorrow. The spirit of a man can sustain his ipfirmity; that is, the mind, fortified by principles of moral counsel and constancy, can endure the assaults of external evils; but a wounded spirit who can bear? This is most insupportable, when the sting and remorse of the mind is from the sense of guilt; for then God appears an enemy righteous and severe: and who can encounter offended Omnipotence? The apprehension will be more clear and enlarged than in the present state. The great things of eternity are of little force now to convince the conscience or per

suade the affections; but then the soul shall work with the quickest activity; the mournful thoughts shall be always fixed on what is tormenting; there will be nothing then to divert the lost soul from sad reflections upon its misery. There are no lucid intervals in hell. Shame, sorrow, despair, fury, hatred, and revenge, are some of that brood of vipers, that torment the damned.

Far in the deep, where darkness dwells,
The land of horror and despair,

Justice hath built a dismal hell,

And laid her stores of vengeance there.

Dr. Bates.

WATTS.

There are three things to be considered relating to the punish ment of sinners in another world; namely, the kind thereof, its degree, and eternal duration.

As to the kind of punishment, it may be considered in two respects-the punishment of loss and sense. Concerning the punishment of loss, this contains in it a separation from God, the fountain of blessedness; a being destitute of every thing that might administer comfort to them; and, as the consequence hereof, they are deprived not only of fellowship with Christ, but with the saints. "Ye shall see Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves thrust out." Where the happiness of others is considered as what will raise their envy, and prove a torment to them.

There is the punishment of sense. This is set forth by those unspeakable torments to be endured both in soul and body; and because no pain is so exquisite as that which is occasioned by fire, it is called unquenchable and everlasting fire. There are various ways by which the wrath of God may have access to the soul, to make it miserable. Some have described the punishment of sin in hell as including in it the insupportable weight of the wrath of God lying upon the consciences of men, and sinking them into perdition. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

As to the degree thereof, which is generally described as being

various, in proportion to the aggravation of sin committed. Ac cordingly, they who have sinned under the gospel dispensation are considered as exposed to a greater degree of punishment than others who have not had those advantages. Thus the apostle says, " Of how much sorer punishment shall be be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God!" And our Saviour, speaking concerning the scribes and pharisees, who were notorious hypocrites, whose religion was no more than a pretence, and made subservient to the vilest practices, tells them, that they should receive the greater damnation, that is, a greater degree of punishment, as they had contracted greater guilt, than others. And the apostle speaks of some who had greater advantages, through the riches of. God's goodness and forbearance towards them, but yet were impenitent and hardened in sin. These, says he, "treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath;" that is, add greater de grees to the punishment which they shall endure in the world to

come.

As to its duration: it shall be without intermission and eternal. That there shall be no relaxation of punishment may be proved from what our Saviour says in the parable, in which the rich man who was tormented in flames could not obtain one drop of water to cool his tongue. Thus we read of those who are said to drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, who shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. Dr. Ridgley.

Then, then we may suppose the wretch to cry,
Oh! if this damning God would let me die,

And not torment me to eternity!

Why from the silent womb of stupid earth,
Did Heav'n awake, and push me into birth ?
Curs'd be the day that ever gave me life;
Curs'd be the cruel parents, man and wife,
Means of my being, instruments of woe;
For now I'm damn'd, I'm damn'd, and always so!

Curs'd be the day, that ever made me hear
The gospel call, which brought salvation near.
The endless sound of slighted mercy's bell,
Has, in mine ears, the most tormenting knell:
Of offer'd grace I vainly mourn the loss,
The joyful sound with horror recognosce ;
The hollow vault reverberates the sound;
This killing echo strikes the deepest wound,
And with too late remorse does now confound.
Hopeless, I sink into the dark abyss,
Banish'd for ever from eternal bliss.

In boiling waves of vengeance must I lie?

Oh! could I curse this dreadful God, and die!

ERSKINE

You shall go into fire; and oh! consider into what fire! Is it merely into one fierce blaze, which shall consume you in a moment, though with exquisite pain? That were terrible. But oh, such terrors are not to be named with these. Thine, sinner, is everlasting fire! it is that, which our Lord hath, in such awful terms, described as prevailing there: "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ;" and then says it a second time," where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" and again, in wonderful compassion, a third time," where their worm dieth not, and the fire Doddridge. is not quenched." Mark ix. 44—48.

Fierce and more fierce as it approach'd became
The flaming concave; thus compress'd, the vault
Red as metallic furnace glow'd intense
With heat, that, had the hideous den been less

Than adamant, it had become a flood,

Or Satan other than he was in sin

Or arch-angelic strength pre-eminent,

He neither could have suffer'd or deserv'd.
Panting, he roll'd in streams of boiling sweat,
Parch'd with intolerable thirst, one drop
Of water then to cool his raging tongue
Had been a boon worth all his golden shrines :
Vain wish! for now the pit had clos'd its mouth,