time and leisure to seek life, they neglected it; nay, it is too common, that when life in Christ is offered unto many in the blessed food of their souls, they slight and contemn it; and therefore it is most just, as the Father observes, that "they whose life in this world was no other than a death in sin, their death hereafter should be a life in punishment for sin everlastinglyd."

But as to the unquenchable fire of hell, remember, O my soul, that there is now a fire within thee, the which if it be not quenched in this life, will bring thee to fire unquenchable in the other world and this is the rank and fulsome fire of concupiscence. Thy carnal lusts and thy worldly lusts being now followed and fulfilled, are the fuel that feeds that dismal fire of the infernal lake and "the worm also that never dieth," is bred of the same corruption, even in the dunghill-lusts of the heart, actuated by the hot suggestions of Satan.

And as the fire of concupiscence doth now more or less rage in thy heart, so as to follow the sway thereof;

a Ut cujus vita mortua fuit in culpa, Ecclus. vii. 17.

so shall the fire of hell be more or less raging hereafter, if these lusts do not die within thee before the death of nature seize thee.

Take then the advice of the wise Syracides; "Humble thy soul greatly, for the vengeance of the ungodly is fire and wormse." And of St. Paul; "Mortify therefore your members that are upon earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry-For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience"

Blessed Jesus, by the merits and mysteries of Thy circumcision, I humbly beg the true circumcision of the spirit: and by the virtue of Thy crucifixion strengthen me to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts, lest any of those exorbitant fires being not opportunely quenched, involve me in those flames of hell which are unquenchable.

MEDITATION IV.

Of the extent of Hell-Pains.

"When I consider righteous Job on the dunghill, the holy Baptist hungering illic mors vivat in pœna.-Greg. f Col. iii. 5.

stinking brimstone: and, in a word, in whatsoever thing a man hath in this life of fended, in the same shall he be tormented, if not by a true and timely repentance prevented. And this the miserable Dives felt, when he wanted a drop of cold water to cool his tongue in hell, who whilst upon earth had fared sumptuously every day.

It is undoubtedly true, that all persons condemned to the flames of the nether hell, are not equally tormented therein: for though the fire of hell be one and the same, yet it torments not all after the same manner, nor in the same degree of torture but every man shall therein more or less feel the smart of its fury, as by the nature, quality and frequency of his sin, he hath less or more deserved the same for "shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"

The more high, peremptory and presumptuous, as also the less obstinate and impenitent sinner, shall both suffer under the torment of the same fire, but not in the same degree of pain and suffering; as under the same heat of the sun upon

h Gen. xviii. 25.

earth all creatures are not alike scorched, but some are more, some less sensible of its darting beams, according to their several constitutions: so in the fire of hell, the degree of its burning shall not be alike in all; because what here the diversity of bodies, there the diversity of sins shall effect: so that though all be tormented with the like flames, yet not every one in the like manner and degree of torment'. But alas! the lowest degree of suffering in that place of horror, is punishment enough, if seriously considered, to affright the sinner from all the errors of his ways.

There be many who now think this or that to be severe commands, "Love your enemies-deny thyself-fast, and watch and pray—take up thy cross"

But surely it will be much more hard and bitter to hear, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"

There was a hermit called Olympius, who had a cell near the river Jordan, where he was constantly plagued both with excessive heat, and the bitings of innumerable flies: who being de

manded why he would continue there to endure such perpetual vexations? answered, I suffer patiently the bitings of these flies that I may escape the dismal bitings of that worm that dieth not; and this great heat I endure, that I may escape the flames of hell, which are intolerable and everlasting, and these heats but for a momentk.

O let not then the severest commands of the gospel, nor the difficulties and labours of repentance startle and affright thee: let not the breach or neglect thereof seem a light and a small thing unto thee; but remember, that to endure the pains of hell but one hour, is more exceeding painful and afflicting, than a thousand years of the most strict and severe austerities in fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Remember the worm that dieth not the fire that is not quenched: the inseparable society of tormenting devils: the horrid howlings of damned souls: the everlasting banishment from the presence of God, and from the regions of light: the insufferable stench, horror, and stifling fumes: the eter

nal hunger and thirst, lamentations and woe. And surely, if these remembrances will not move thee to embrace the strictest commands of thy blessed Redeemer, thy heart is hard indeed, and harder than the nether millstone. It was otherwise with the Psalmist; "My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee, and I am afraid of Thy judgments'."

But I humbly beg I may be here, even here in this life punished for my sins: but spare, O spare me in the life to come; and from those intolerable pains of the nether hell, good Lord deliver me, through Jesus Christ.

MEDITATION V.

Of the Bonds and Chains of Hell.

Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and true are Thy judgments m." It is a justice becoming the just Judge of the world, that the licentious and profane, who in this life would not be bound up nor restrained from following and fulfilling their exorbitant lusts, but have walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and stood in the way of sinners; that they who bound up their hands

m Psalm cxix. 137.

from doing the works of God's commandments, and bound up their feet from walking in the paths of His most holy laws; that they whose sins are bound upon their souls, and not loosed by true repentance, through faith in the Blood of Christ it is just, I say, that such should incur this sad and dismal sentence, "Bind him hand and foot ""

By the feet, in Holy Writ, is frequently meant our affections, whereby our souls do move, as our bodies do by our feet and by our hands our actions are meant: so that by the binding of both in hell, is intimated, that it shall not there be possible either to act, or so much as to affect what is good, and conducible to our redemption thence.

To be bound to one place, though in silken cords, or chains of gold, though it were on a bed of roses, or the sweetest perfumes, to be so tied as not to be able to stir hand or foot, is a very great punishment to the free, active and stirring soul of man: how much more then a sorer punishment is it, to be bound in fiery chains, eating through the

flesh into the very bowels, nay through all the most hidden and deepest recesses of the soul, and be forced to lie down in a bed of flames, and therein not to be able to stir either hand or foot, not to move or change from side to side for the least ease or mitigation of torment!

For the binding of the feet implies there is no escaping, no flying from the place of torment; and the binding of the hands, that there is no fence against the tormenting fiends; that there is no way to be gone, no work to be done to mitigate in the least their insupportable sufferings: it is therefore one great reason of God's forbearance with sinners in this life to bring them to repentance; because there is no possibility by repentance to abate the sorrows of impenitent sinners in the life to come.

He must have a heart of stone, or rather of flint, the hardest of stones, who in remembrance of his sins is not greatly terrified and humbled in the very thought and apprehension of these fiery tormenting chains of hell.

And such a hardness of heart is contracted by a long-continued custom in