not with Him as merciful, or as one that may be intreated; yet with Him
all just, and as devouring fire (Heb 7:29). Yea, they shall see that
face, and hear that voice, from whom and from which the heavens and the
earth will fly away, and find no place of stay. And by this appearance,
and by such words of His mouth as He then will speak to them, they
shall begin to tremble, and call for the rocks to fall upon them and
cover them; for if these things will happen at the execution of
inferior judgments, what will be done, what effects will the last, most
dreadful, and eternal judgment, have upon men’s souls?
Hence you find, that at the very first appearance of Jesus Christ, the
whole world begins to mourn and lament—‘Every eye shall see Him, and
they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of Him’ (Rev 1:7). And, therefore, you also find them to stand
at the door and knock, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open unto us’ (Luke 14:25;
Matt 25:11). Moreover, you find them also desiring, yea, also so humble
in their desires as to be content with the least degree of mercy—one
drop, one drop upon the tip of one’s finger. What stooping, what
condescension, what humility is here! All, and every one of those
passages declare, that the hand of God is upon them, and that the
Almighty has got the mastery of them, has conquered them, broke the
pride of their power, and laid them low, and made them cringe and
crouch unto him, bending the knee, and craving of kindness. Thus, then,
will God bow, and bend, and break them; yea, make them bow, and bend,
and break before Him. And hence also it is they will weep, and mourn,
and gnash their teeth, and cry, and repent that ever they have been so
foolish, so wicked, so traitorous to their souls, such enemies of their
own eternal happiness, as to stand out in the day of their visitation
in a way of rebellion against the Lord.
But here is their hard hap, their dismal lot and portion, that all
these things must be when it is too late. It is, and will be, the lot
and hap of these to bow, bend, and break too late (Matt 25). You read
they come weeping and mourning, and with tears; they knock and they cry
for mercy; but what did tears avail? Why, nothing; for the door was
shut. He answered and said, ‘I know not whence you are.’ But they
repeat and renew their suit, saying, ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy
presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets.’ What now? Why, He
returns upon them His first answer the second time, saying, ‘I know not
whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquityl’ then He
concludes, ‘There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall
see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom
of God, and you yourselves thrust out’ (Luke 13:26,28). They come
weeping, and go weeping away. They come to Him weeping, for they saw
that He had conquered them; but they departed weeping, for they saw
that He would damn them; yet, as we read in another place, they were
very loath to go from Him, by their reasoning and expostulating with
Him—‘Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or
naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?’ But all
would not do; here is no place for change of mind—‘These shall go away
into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal’ (Matt
25:44-46). And now what would a man give in exchange for his soul? So
that, as I said before, all is too late; they mourn too late, they
repent too late, they pray too late, and seek to make an exchange for
their soul too late. ‘Or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul?’
Two or three things there may yet be gathered from these words; I mean,
as to the desires of them that have lost their souls, to make for them
an exchange; ‘What shall a man give in exchange?’—what shall, what
would, yea, what would not a man, if he had it, give in exchange for
his soul?
First, What would not a man—I mean, a man that is in the condition that
is by the text supposed some men are and will be in—give in exchange to
have another man’s virtue instead of their own vices? ‘Let me die the
death of the righteousl’ let my soul be in the state of the soul of the
righteous—that is, in reference to his virtues, when I die, ‘and let my
last end be like his’ (Num 23:10). It is a sport now to some to taunt,
and squib, and deride at other men’s virtues; but the day is coming
when their minds will be changed, and when they shall be made to count
those that have done those righteous actions and duties which they have
scoffed at, the only blessed men; yea, they shall wish their soul in
the blessed possession of those graces and virtues, that those whom
they hated were accompanied with, and would, if they had it, give a
whole world for this change; but it will not now do, it is now too
late. What then shall a man give in exchange for his soul? And this is
more than intimated in that 25th of Matthew, named before: for you find
by that text how loath they were, or will be, to be counted for
unrighteous people—‘Lord,’ say they, ‘when did we see thee an hungred,
or athirst, naked, or sick, and did not minister unto thee?’ Now they
are not willing to be of the number of the wicked, though hereto-fore
the ways of the righteous were an abomination to them. But, alas! they
are before a just God, a just Judge, a Judge that will give every one
according to their ways; therefore, ‘Woe unto (the soul of) the wicked
now, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be
given him’ (Isa 3:11). Thus, therefore, he is locked up as to this; he
cannot now change his vice for virtues, nor put himself nor his soul in
the stead of the soul of the saved; so that it still, and will, for
ever abide a question unresolved,’ Or, what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?’ I do not doubt but that a man’s state may be
such in this world, that if he had it he would give thousands of gold
to be as innocent and guiltless in the judgment of the law of the land
as is the state of such or such, heartily wishing that himself was not
that he, that he is; how much more then will men wish thus when they
stand ready to receive the last, their eternal judgment. ‘But what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’
Second, As they would, for the salvation of their souls, be glad to
change away their vices for the virtues, their sins for the good deeds
of others; so what would they not give to change places now, or to
remove from where now they are, into paradise, into Abraham’s bosom!
But neither shall this be admitted; the righteous must have their
inheritance to themselves—‘Neither,’ said Abraham, ‘can they pass to
us, that would come from thence,’ (Luke 16:26); neither can they dwell
in heaven that would come from hell.
They then that have lost, or shall lose their souls are bound to their
place, as well as to their sins. When Judas went to hell, he went to
his home, ‘to his own place’ (Acts 1:25). And when the righteous go
hence, they also go home to their house, to their own place; for the
kingdom of heaven is prepared for them (Matt 25:34). Between heaven and
hell ‘there is a great gulf fixed’ (Luke 26:26). That is a strange
passage: ‘There is a great gulf fixed.’ What this gulf is, and how
impassable, they that shall lose their souls will know to their woe;
because it is fixed there where it is, on purpose to keep them in their
tormenting place, so that they that would pass from hell to heaven
cannot. But, I say, ‘Would they not change places? would they not have
a more comfortable house and home for their souls?’ Yes, verily, the
text supposes it, and the 16th of Luke affirms it; yea, and could they
purchase for their souls a habitation among the righteous, would they
not? Yes, they would give all the world to such a change. What shall,
what shall not, a man, if he had it, if it would answer his design,
give in exchange for his soul?
Third, As the damned would change their own vices for virtues, and the
place where they are for that into which they shall not come, so what
would they give for a change of condition? Yea, if an absolute change
may not be obtained, yet what would they give for the least degree of
mitigation of that torment, which now they know will without any
intermission be, and that for ever and ever. ‘Tribulation and anguish,
indignation and wrath’ (Rom 2:8,9), the gnawing worm, and everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His
power, cannot be borne but with great horror and grief (2 Thess
1:7-10). No marvel, then, if these poor creatures would, for ease for
their souls, be glad to change their conditions. Change!—with whom?
with an angel, with a saint; ay, with a dog or a toad; 29 for they
mourn not, they weep not, nor do they bear indignation of wrath; they
are as if they had not been; only the sinful soul abides in its sins,
in the place designed for lost souls, and in the condition that wrath
and indignation for sin and transgression hath decreed them to abide
for ever. And this brings me to the conclusion, which is, ‘that seeing
the ungodly do seek good things too late,’ therefore, notwithstanding
their seeking, they must still abide in their place, their sins, and
their torment—‘For what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’
Therefore, God saith, that they there must still abide and dwell, no
exchange can be made. ‘This shall ye have of Mine hand, ye shall lie
down in sorrowl’ they shall lie down in it, they shall make their bed
there, there they shall lie (Isa 50:11; Eze 32:25-27). And this is the
bitter pill that they must swallow down at the last; for, after all
their tears, their sorrows, their mournings, their repentings, their
wishings and woundings, and all their inventings, and desires to change
their state for a better, they must ‘lie down in sorrow.’ The poor
condemned man that is upon the ladder or scaffold has, if one knew
them, many a long wish and long desire that he might come down again
alive, or that his condition was as one of the spectators that are not
condemned and brought thither to be executed as he. How carefully also
doth he look with his failing eyes, to see if some comes not from the
king with a pardon for him, all the while endeavouring to fumble away
as well as he can, and to prolong the minute of his execution! But at
last, when he has looked, when he has wished, when he has desired, and
done whatever he can, the blow with the axe, or turn with the ladder,
is his lot, so he goes off the scaffold, so he goes from among men; and
thus it will be with those that we have under consideration; when all
comes to all, and they have said, and wished, and done what they can,
the judgment must not be reversed—they must ‘lie down in sorrow.’
They must, or shall lie down! Of old, when a man was to be chastised
for his fault, he was to lie down to receive his stripes; so here,
saith the Lord, they shall lie down—‘And it shall be, if the wicked man
be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and
to be beaten before his face’ (Deu 25:2). And this lying down was to be
his lot after he had pleaded for himself what be could—and the judge
shall cause him to be beaten before his face, while he is present to
behold the execution of judgment; and thus it shall be at the end of
the world; the wicked shall lie down, and shall be beaten with many
stripes in the presence of Christ, ‘and in the presence of the holy
angels’ (2 Thess 1; Rev 14:10). For there will be His presence, not
only at the trial as Judge, but to see execution done, nay, to do it
Himself by the pouring out, like a river, His wrath as burning
brimstone upon the soul of the lost and cast away sinner.
He shall lie down! These words imply that, at last, the damned soul
shall submit; for to lie down is an act that signifies submission,
especially to lie down to be beaten. ‘The wicked shall be silent in
darkness’ (1 Sam 2:9). When the malefactor has said and wished all that
be can, yet at last he submits, is silent, and, as it were, helps to
put his head into the halter, or doth lay down his neck upon the block;
so here it is said of the damned—They shall lie down in sorrow. There
is also a place that saith, ‘These shall go away into everlasting
punishment’ (Matt 25:46). To go, to go to punishment, is also an act of
submission. Now, submission to punishment doth, or should, flow from
full conviction of the merit of punishment; and I think it is so to be
understood here—For ‘every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world
(of soul losers) become guilty before God’ (Rom 3:4,19; Luke 13:25-28;
Matt 25:46). Every mouth shall be stopped, not at the beginning of the
judgment, for then they plead, and pray, and also object against the
Judge; but at the end, after that by a judicial proceeding He shall
have justified against them His sayings, and have overcome these His
judges, then they shall submit, and also lie down in s orrow; yea, they
shall go away to their punishment as those who know they deserve it;
yea, they shall go away with silence.
How they shall behave themselves in hell, I will not here dispute;
whether in a way of rage and blasphemy, and in rending and tearing of
the name and just actions of God towards them, or whether by way of
submission there; I say, though this is none of this task, yet a word
or two, if you please.
Doubtless they will not be mute there; they will cry and wail, and
gnash their teeth, and, perhaps, too, sometimes at God; but I do not
think but that the justice that they have deserved, and the equal
administration of it upon them, will, for the most part, prevail with
them to rend and tear themselves, to acquit and justify God, and to add
fuel to their fire, by concluding themselves in all the fault, and that
they have sufficiently merited this just damnation; for it would seem
strange to me that just judgment among men shall terminate in this
issue, if God should not justify himself in the conscience of all the
damned. But as here on earth, so He will let them know that go to hell
that He hath not done without a cause, a sufficient cause, all that He
hath done in damning of them (Eze 14:23).
[USE AND APPLICATION.]
I come now to make some use and application of the whole. And,
USE FIRST—If the soul be so excellent a thing as we have made it appear
to be, and if the loss thereof be so great a loss, then here you may
see who they are that are those extravagant ones; I mean, those that
are such in the highest degree. Solomon tells us of ‘a great waster,’
and saith also, that he that is slothful in his business is brother to
such an one (Prov 18:9). Who Solomon had his eye upon, or who it was
that he counted so great a waster, I cannot tell; but I will challenge
all the world to show me one, that for wasting and destroying, may be
compared to him that for the lusts and pleasures of this life will
hazard the loss of his soul. Many men will be so profuse, and will
spend at that prodigal rate, that they will bring a thousand pound a
year to five hundred, and five hundred to fifty, and some also will
bring that fifty to less than ninepence; 30 but what is this to him
that shall never leave losing until he has lost his soul? I have heard
of some who would throw away a farm, a good estate, upon the trundling
of one single bowl;31 but what is this to the casting away of the soul?
Nothing can for badness be compared to sin; it is the vile thing, it
cannot have a worse name than its own; it is worse than the vilest men,
than the vilest of beasts; yea, sin is worse than the devil himself,
for it is sin, and sin only, that hath made the devils devils; and yet
for this, for this vile, this abominable thing, some men, yea, most
men, will venture the loss of their soul; yea, they will mortgage,
pawn, and set their souls to sale for it (Jer 44:4). Is not this a
great waster? doth not this man deserve to be ranked among the
extravagant ones? What think you of him who, when he tempted the wench
to uncleanness, said to her, If thou wilt venture thy body, I’ll
venture my soul? Was not here like to be a fine bargain, think you? or
was not this man like to be a gainer by so doing? This is he that
prizes sin at a higher rate than he doth his immortal soul; yea, this
is he that esteems a quarter of an hour’s pleasure more than he fears
everlasting damnation. What shall I say? This man is minded to give
more to be damned, than God requires he should give to be saved; is not
this an extravagant one? ‘Be astonished, O ye heavens! at this, and be
horribly afraid!’ (Jer 2:9-12). Yea, let all the angels stand amazed at
the unaccountable prodigality of such an one.
Objection 1. But some may say, I cannot believe that God will be so
severe as to cast away into hell fire an immortal soul for a little
sin.
Answer. I know thou canst not believe it, for if thou couldst, thou
wouldst sooner eat fire than run this hazard; and hence all they that
go down to the lake of fire are called the unbelievers; and the Lord
shall cut thee, that makest this objection, asunder, and shall appoint
thee thy portion with such, except thou believe the gospel, and repent
(Luke 12:46).
Objection 2. But surely, though God should be so angry at the
beginning, it cannot in time but grieve Him to see and hear souls
roaring in hell, and that for a little sin.
Answer. Whatsoever God doeth, it abideth for ever (Eccl 3:14). He doth
nothing in a passion, or in an angry fit; He proceedeth with sinners by
the most perfect rules of justice; wherefore it would be injustice, to
deliver them whom the law condemneth, yea, He would falsify His word,
if after a time He should deliver them from hell, concerning whom He
hath solemnly testified, that they shall be there for ever.
Objection 3. O but, as He is just, so He is merciful; and mercy is
pitiful, and very compassionate to the afflicted.
Answer. O, but mercy abused becomes most fearful in tormenting. Did you
never read that the Lamb turned lion, and that the world will tremble
at the wrath of the Lamb, and be afflicted more at the thoughts of
that, than at the thoughts of anything that shall happen to them in the
day when God shall call them to an account for their sins? (Rev
6:16,17). The time of mercy will be then past, for now is that
acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation; the gate of mercy
will then be shut, and must not be opened again; for now is that gate
open, now it is open for a door of hope (2 Cor 6:2; Matt 25:10; Luke
13:25).
The time of showing pity and compassion will then be at an end; for
that as to acting towards sinners will last but till the glass of the
world is run, and when that day is past, mark what God saith shall
follow, ‘I will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction
cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you’ (Prov
1:26,27). Mark you how many pinching expressions the Lord Jesus Christ
doth threaten the refusing sinner with; the sinner with, that refuseth
Him now—I will laugh at him, I will mock at him. But when, Lord, wilt
thou laugh at, and mock at, the impenitent? The answer is, ‘I will
laugh at their calamities, and mock when their fear cometh; when their
fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction like a whirlwind; when
distress and anguish cometh upon them.’
Objection 4. But if God Almighty be at this point, and there be no
moving of Him to mercy at that day, yet we can but lie in hell till we
are burnt out, as the log doth at the back of the fire.
Answer. Poor besotted sinner, is this thy last shift? wilt thou comfort
thyself with this? Are thy sins so dear, so sweet, so desireable, so
profitable to thee, that thou wilt venture a burning in hell fire for
them till thou art burnt out? Is there nothing else to be done but to
make a covenant with death, and to maintain thy agreement with hell?
(Isa 28:15). Is it not better to say now unto God, Do not condemn me?
and to say now, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner? Would not tears, and
prayers, and cries, in this acceptable time, to God for mercy, yield
thee more benefit in the next world than to lie and burn out in hell
will do?
But to come more close to thee. Have not I told thee already that there
is no such thing as a ceasing to be? that the damned shall never be
burned out in hell? there shall be no more such death, or cause of
dissolution for ever. This one thing, well considered, breaks not only
the neck of that wild conceit on which thy foolish objection is built,
but will break thy stubborn heart in pieces. For then it follows, that
unless thou canst conquer God, or with ease endure to conflict with His
sin-revenging wrath, thou wilt be made to mourn while under His
everlasting wrath and indignation; and to know that there is not such a
thing as a burning out in hell fire.
Objection 5. But, if this must be my case, I shall have more fellows; I
shall not go to hell, nor yet burn there, alone.
Answer. What, again; is there no breaking of the league that is betwixt
sin and thy soul? What, resolved to be a self-murderer, a soul
murderer? what, resolved to murder thine own soul? But is there any
comfort in being hanged with company? in sinking into the bottom of the
sea with company? or in going to hell, in burning in hell, and in
enduring the everlasting pains of hell, with company? O besotted
wretch! But I tell thee, the more company, the more sorrow; the more
fuel, the more fire. Hence the damned man that we read of in Luke
desired that his brethren might be so warned and prevailed with as to
be kept out of that place of torment (Luke 16:27,28). But to hasten; I
come now to the second use.
USE SECOND.—Is it so? Is the soul such an excellent thing, and the loss
thereof so unspeakably great? Then here you may see who are the
greatest fools in the world—to wit, those who, to get the world and its
preferments, will neglect God till they lose their souls. The rich man
in the gospel was one of these great fools, for that he was more
concerned about what he should do with his goods, than how his soul
should be saved (Luke 7:16-21). Some are for venturing their souls for
pleasures, and some are for venturing their souls for profits; they
that venture their souls for pleasures have but little excuse for their
doings; but they that venture their soul for profit seem to have much.
‘And they all with one consent began to make excusel’—excuse for what?
why, for the neglect of the salvation of their souls. But what was the
cause of their making this excuse? Why, their profits came tumbling in.
‘I have bought a piece of groundl’ ‘I have bought five yoke of oxenl’
and ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come’ (Luke
14:15-20).
Thus also it was with the fool first mentioned; his ground did bring
forth plentifully, wherefore he must of necessity forget his soul, and,
as he thought, all the reason of the world he should. Wherefore, he
falls to crying out, What shall I do? Now, had one said, Mind the good
of thy soul, man; the answer would have been ready, But where shall I
bestow my goods. If it had been replied, Stay till harvest; he returns
again, But I have no room where to bestow my goods. Now, tell him of
praying, and he answers, he must go to building. Tell him, he should
frequent sermons, and he replies, he must mind his workmen. ‘He cannot
deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?’ (Isa
44:20).
And see if, in the end, he did not become a fool; for though he
accomplished the building of his barns, and put in there all his fruits
and his goods, yet even till now his soul was empty, and void of all
that was good; nor did he, in singing of that requiem which he sung to
his soul at last, saying, ‘Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be
merry,’ show himself ever the wiser; for, in all his labours he had
rejected to get that food that indeed is meat and drink for the soul.
Nay, in singing this song he did but provoke God to hasten to send to
fetch his soul to hell; for so begins the conclusion of the
parable—‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then
whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?’ So that, I say,
it is the greatest folly in the world for a man, upon any pretence what
ever, to neglect to make good the salvation of his soul.