O, eternity! eternity!
(John Fawcett, 1740-1817)
Who do I see in those dark regions, stung incessantly with the ruthless fangs of the never-dying worm?
A numerous crowd, who once despised the gospel of God and turned a deaf ear to the messages of salvation. In neglect and contempt of Christ, and the things of His kingdom, they went away: one to his farm, another to his business; preferring, either the pleasures of sense, or the paltry concerns of this transitory world-to the treasures of the everlasting gospel, and the momentous affairs of eternity. Woe unto them! it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them!
Who, let me repeat the inquiry-Who do I behold in those infernal flames?
The rich man, Dives! For eighteen hundred years he has been crying out in vain for one drop of water to cool his scorched tongue. But are his miseries any nearer to a close? Ah, no! The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever! Their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched!
Should the ablest arithmetician try to number the ages of eternity, he would be forever baffled. O, eternity! eternity! immense, unfathomable depth! Millions of millions of ages, and ten thousand times ten thousand millions more, would diminish nothing from the account of eternity!
Is it possible for dying mortals to push the thought of eternity from their minds? Is it possible for them to be as thoughtless about it, as if it were no more than an idle dream? What can exceed-what can equal the stupidity, the insensibility, the madness of sinful man!
Lost sinner! where are you? Just on the verge of the burning lake! Should the feeble thread of life be cut, should you die in your present state-then inevitable eternal damnation awaits you!
Ask yourself seriously, "Can you dwell with devouring fire? Can you dwell with everlasting burnings?" If you can, go on and add iniquity to sin; still treasure up more wrath against the day of wrath; and, for the sordid, the short-lived pleasures of sin, reap eternal ages of woe and horror! You are purchasing your carnal delights at a dear rate indeed. Such is the horrid nature of sin, that its proper wages, its just desert is everlasting damnation-an eternal Hell of misery!
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Something to ponder
John Fawcett: When you are tempted to any vanity-set the blessed Redeemer before you, consider His example, and ask yourself, "How would Jesus, my Lord and Master, have acted in such a case? Would He have spent His time upon such trifles? Would He have spoken such and such; or done this or the other thing, which I am solicited to do? And shall I give way to that which would be a manifest deviation from His holy example? God forbid!"