From Burning to Burning! (and others)

From Burning to Burning! (and others)

The Spirit of God, in Scripture, by metaphors of all sorts of things which are dreadful unto sense - sets forth the condition of the damned, and the torments which He has reserved for them in the life to come. Hell's punishments do infinitely exceed all other punishments, that there is no pain so extreme - as that of the damned.

Look! As there are no joys which can compare to the joys of heaven - so there are no pains which can compare to the pains of hell. All the cruelties in the world cannot possibly make up any horror comparable to the horrors of hell. The brick- kilns of Egypt, the fiery furnace of Babylon - are but as a fleeting spark - compared to this tormenting Tophet which has been prepared of old to punish the bodies and souls of sinners with. Hanging, racking, burning, scourging, stoning, sawing asunder, flaying of the skin, etc., are not to be compared with the tortures of hell.

If all the pains, sorrows, miseries, and calamities which have been inflicted upon all men, since Adam fell in Paradise, should meet together and center in one man - they would not so much as amount to one of the least of the pains of hell.

Who can sum up the diversity of torments which are in hell!

In hell there is darkness; hell is a dark region! In hell there are sorrows! In hell there are bonds and chains! In hell there are pains and pangs! In hell there is the worm which never dies! In hell there is the lake of fire! In hell there is the furnace of fire! In hell there are the devil and his demons! And oh, how dreadful must it be to be shut up forever with those roaring lions! In hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth! In hell there is unquenchable fire - everlasting burnings!

"The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless - Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?" (Isaiah 33:14).

O sirs, the torments of hell will be exceeding great and dreadful - such as will make the stoutest sinners to quake and tremble!

Wicked men, who are now such jolly fellows, shall one day go from burning to burning! They shall go from burning in sin - to burning in hell; from burning in flames of lusts - to burning in flames of torment!

O sirs! in this devouring fire, in these everlasting burnings, there will be no music or merry company to pass time away, nor any dice or cards to pass care away; nor any bottles of wine wherein to drown the sinner's grief! As in heaven there shall be all bodily perfection,so there shall be also in hell all bodily miseries. Whatever may make a man perfectly miserable - shall be in hell. Out of this fiery bed there is no deliverance!

Oh, how terrible will the torments of hell be to the damned! The torments of hell will be universal torments. All torments meet together in that place of torment. Hell is the center of all punishments, of all sorrows, of all pains, of all wrath, of all vengeance.

All the pains, torments, curse, and wrath which were due to the elect - fell on Christ, until divine justice was fully satisfied. "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:9). Oh, exalt that Christ! Oh, extol that Saviour, who has saved you from that eternal wrath!

~Thomas Brooks~
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One Puddle, If We Wallow In It

One sin stripped the fallen angels of all their glory. One sin stripped our first parents of all their dignity and excellency. One fly in the box of precious ointment spoils the whole box. One thief may rob a man of all his health. One millstone will sink a man to the bottom of the sea, as well as a hundred.

One puddle, if we wallow in it -will defile us. Just so, one sin allowed and lived in - will make a man miserable forever.

Some will leave all their sins but one. satan can hold a man fast enough by one sin which he allows and lives in - as the fowler can hold the bird fast enough by one wing or by one claw.

satan is content that men should yield to God in many things - provided that they will be but true to satan in some one thing. The devil knows very well, that as one grain of poison may poison a man, and one stab at the heart may kill a man - just so, one sin unrepented of, one sin allowed, retained, cherished, and practiced - will certainly damn a man.

It is horrid hypocrisy, damnable folly, and astonishing impudency - for a man to beg the pardon of those very sins which he is resolved never to forsake.

These things should be frequently and seriously thought of by such poor fools as are entangled by any lust.

~Thomas Brooks~