From burning to burning!
(Thomas Brooks, "The Golden
Key to Open Hidden Treasures")
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!
1. In Hell there is darkness; Hell is a dark region!
2. In Hell there are sorrows!
3. In Hell there are bonds and chains!
4. In Hell there are pains and pangs!
5. In Hell there is the worm which never dies!
6. In Hell there is the lake of fire!
7. In Hell there is the furnace of fire!
8. 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!
9. In Hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth!
10. 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?" Is. 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, etc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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 Thes. 5:9. Oh, exalt that Christ! Oh, extol
that Savior, who has saved you from that eternal wrath!