[1] Of men out of hell, none more to be pitied than he who
hangs over its mouth, and yet is without fear. What good
does physic poured down a dead man's throat? If he cannot
be chafed to some sense of his condition, all applications
are hopeless; and if sharp affliction, which is the
strongest physic, leaves the sinner senseless, there is
little prospect that anything else will do him
good.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.
Oh, what a sight it is to see a man go merry and laughing
towards damnation, and make a jest of his own undoing! to
see him at the brink of hell, and will not believe it; like
a madman boasting of his wit, or a drunken man boasting of
his sobriety; or as the swine is delighted when the butcher
is shaving his throat to cut it; or as the fatted lambs are
skipping in the pasture, that to-morrow must be killed and
eaten; or as the bird sits singing when the gun is levelled
to kill him; or as the greedy fish run, striving which
shall catch the bait, that must presently be snatched out
of their element, and lie dying on the bank.--_Baxter,_
1615-1691.