Angels we also shall behold,
When we on high ascend,
Each shining like to men of gold,
And on the Lord attend.
These goodly creatures, full of grace,
Shall stand about the throne,
Each one with lightning in his face,
And shall to us be known.
There cherubim, with one accord,
Continually do cry,
"Ah, holy, holy, holy Lord,
And heavenly majesty!"
These will us in their arms embrace,
And welcome us to rest,
And joy to see us clad with grace
And of the heavens possest.
XXVIII. HELL.
HELL is a place and state utterly unknown to any in this visible
world, excepting the souls of men; nor shall any for ever be capable
of understanding the miseries thereof, save souls and fallen angels.
Now I think as the joys of heaven stand not only in speculation or
in beholding of glory, but in a sensible enjoyment and unspeakable
pleasure which these glories will yield to the soul; so the torments
of hell will not stand in the present lashes and strokes which by
the flames of eternal fire God will scourge the ungodly with; but
the torments of hell stand much, if not in the greatest part of
them, in those deep thoughts and apprehensions which souls in the
next world will have of the nature and occasion of sin, of God, and
of separation from him--of the eternity of those miseries, and of
the utter impossibility of their help, ease, or deliverance for
ever.
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