Why must there be a hell?
(Thomas Watson, "The Ten Commandments")
"The wicked shall be turned into hell." Psalm 9:17
"How can you escape the damnation of hell?" Matthew 23:33
God has built hell built on purpose, for the damned to lie in.
See the dreadfulness of that place! Hell is the epitome of
misery! Besides "the punishment of loss," which is the exclusion
of the soul from the gloried sight of God, which some think is
the worst part of hell—there will be "the punishment of sense."
In hell there will be a plurality of torments:
There will be the "chains of darkness." 2 Peter 2:4.
There will be the "never-dying worm." Mark 9:48.
This is the worm of conscience.
There will be the "lake of fire." Revelation 20:15.
Other fire is but 'painted fire'—compared to this.
This house of hell is haunted with devils! Matt 25:41.
Anselm says, "I had rather endure all torments, than
see the devil with bodily eyes." Such as go to hell, must
not only be forced to behold the devil—but must be shut
up with this lion in his den! They must keep the devil
company! This red dragon is full of spite—and will spit
fire in men's faces!
The torments of hell abide forever! "The smoke of their
torment ascends up forever and ever." Rev. 14:2. Time
cannot finish hell. Tears cannot quench hell. Mark 9:44.
The wicked will always live in the fire of hell—but never
be consumed. After they have lain millions of years in hell,
their punishment is as far from ending, as it was at the
beginning! If all the earth and sea were sand, and every
thousandth year a bird should come, and take away one
grain—it would be a long time before that vast heap would
be removed! Yet, if after all that time the damned might
come out of hell—there would be some hope; but this
word FOREVER breaks the heart!
If anyone should ask, where is hell? I wish he may never
know experimentally. "Let us not so much," says Chrysostom,
"labor to know where hell is—as how to escape it."
(Thomas Watson, "The Ten Commandments")
"The wicked shall be turned into hell." Psalm 9:17
"How can you escape the damnation of hell?" Matthew 23:33
God has built hell built on purpose, for the damned to lie in.
See the dreadfulness of that place! Hell is the epitome of
misery! Besides "the punishment of loss," which is the exclusion
of the soul from the gloried sight of God, which some think is
the worst part of hell—there will be "the punishment of sense."
In hell there will be a plurality of torments:
There will be the "chains of darkness." 2 Peter 2:4.
There will be the "never-dying worm." Mark 9:48.
This is the worm of conscience.
There will be the "lake of fire." Revelation 20:15.
Other fire is but 'painted fire'—compared to this.
This house of hell is haunted with devils! Matt 25:41.
Anselm says, "I had rather endure all torments, than
see the devil with bodily eyes." Such as go to hell, must
not only be forced to behold the devil—but must be shut
up with this lion in his den! They must keep the devil
company! This red dragon is full of spite—and will spit
fire in men's faces!
The torments of hell abide forever! "The smoke of their
torment ascends up forever and ever." Rev. 14:2. Time
cannot finish hell. Tears cannot quench hell. Mark 9:44.
The wicked will always live in the fire of hell—but never
be consumed. After they have lain millions of years in hell,
their punishment is as far from ending, as it was at the
beginning! If all the earth and sea were sand, and every
thousandth year a bird should come, and take away one
grain—it would be a long time before that vast heap would
be removed! Yet, if after all that time the damned might
come out of hell—there would be some hope; but this
word FOREVER breaks the heart!
If anyone should ask, where is hell? I wish he may never
know experimentally. "Let us not so much," says Chrysostom,
"labor to know where hell is—as how to escape it."
