======================================================================== PURITAN READINGS by Puritans ======================================================================== Six selections of classical Puritan writings addressing topics like spiritual transformation, the character of hell, judgment, and redemptive themes, offering representative samples of Puritan theological and devotional literature. Chapters: 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0. Puritan Readings 1. From Burning To Burning 2. A House Without Light 3. That Immortal Bird 4. Could Every Damn Sinner Weep A Whole Ocean 5. Judgment 6. The Saints Hell And The Sinners Heaven ======================================================================== CHAPTER 0: PURITAN READINGS ======================================================================== ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: FROM BURNING TO BURNING ======================================================================== A Puritan Devotional, featuring classical writings from the ageless Puritans. And welcome again to a Puritan Devotional. The purpose of these segments are to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God and salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's devotional. From burning to burning. From Brooks, the golden key to open hidden treasures. The Spirit of God in Scripture, by metaphors of all sorts of things which are dreadful and dissents, 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 tofet 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, 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? In hell there is darkness. Hell is a dark region. In hell there are sorrows. In hell there are bonds and chains. In hell there are pains and pangs. In hell there is the worm which never dies. In hell there is the lake of fire. In hell there is the furnace of fire. 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. In hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 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? Isaiah chapter thirty-three, verse fourteen. 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. O, 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. Our prayer is that you have been blessed by this Puritan devotion. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. And while you're there, let us know how this ministry has blessed you. Thank you. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: A HOUSE WITHOUT LIGHT ======================================================================== A Puritan devotional featuring classical writings from the ageless Puritans. And welcome again to a Puritan devotional. The purpose of these segments are to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God and salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's devotional. A HOUSE WITHOUT LIGHT From Thomas Brooks, London's Lamentations, 1670. Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25, verse 30. Our earthly fire, when it burns, it shines, it casts a light. It has light as well as heat in it. But the fire of hell burns, but it does not shine, it gives no light at all. It retains the property of burning, but it has lost the property of shining. Christ calls it outer darkness or utter darkness, that is, darkness beyond a darkness. Light is a blessing that shall never shine into that infernal prison. In Jude, verse 6, you read of chains of darkness. It would be a little ease, a little comfort to the damned in hell, if they might have but light and liberty to walk up and down the infernal coasts. But this is too high a favor for them to enjoy, and therefore they shall be shackled and fettered down in chains of darkness and in blackness of darkness, so that they may fully undergo the scorchings and burnings of divine wrath and fury forever and ever. In Jude, verse 13, you thus read, To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever? The words signify exceeding great darkness. Hell is a very dark and dismal region, and extreme are the miseries, horrors and torments which are there. Sinners, when they are in hell, when they are in chains of darkness, when they are in blackness of darkness, they shall never more see light. Hell is a house without light. Though our earthly fires have light as well as heat, yet the infernal fire has only heat to burn sinners. It has no light to refresh sinners, and this will be no small addition to their torment. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. Colossians 1, verse 13. Our prayer is that you have been blessed by this Puritan devotion. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. And while you're there, let us know how this ministry has blessed you. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: THAT IMMORTAL BIRD ======================================================================== A Puritan Devotional, featuring classical writings from the ageless Puritans. Here I place without reserve my soul and faith and meekness, trusting in Christ's power and love to flourish in my weakness. Cause my days on earth to be, through time and through eternity, a trophy of His victory, a monument to mercy. And welcome again to a Puritan Devotional. The purpose of these segments are to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's devotional. That Immortal Bird, from Thomas Brooks, London's Lamentations, 1670. As the mercy of God is infinite towards the elect, so the justice of God is infinite towards the reprobate in hell. The reprobate shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without support, crying without compassion, mischief without measure, and torment without end. All men in misery comfort themselves with the hope of an ending to their misery. The prisoner comforts himself with hope of a deliverance. The mariner comforts himself with hope of a safe harbor. The soldier comforts himself with hope of victory. The slave comforts himself with hope of liberty. But the impenitent sinner has no hope in hell. He shall have death without death, night without day, mourning without mirth, sorrow without solace, bondage without liberty. The damned shall live as long in hell as God himself shall live in heaven. Suppose, say some, that the whole world were turned to a mountain of sand, and that a little bird should come every thousandth year and carry away one grain of sand from that heap. What an infinite number of years, not to be numbered by all finite beings, would be spent and expired before this supposed mountain would be fetched away. Now if a man should lie in everlasting burnings so long a time as this, and then have an end of his woe, it would administer some ease, refreshment, and comfort to him. But when that immortal bird shall have carried away this supposed mountain a thousand times over and over, alas, alas, man shall be as far from the end of his anguish and torment as ever he was. He shall be no nearer coming out of hell than he was the very first moment that he entered into hell. If the fire of hell were terminable, it might then be tolerable. But being endless, it must needs be easeless and remedious. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by this Puritan devotion. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. And while you're there, let us know how this ministry has blessed you. Sermon Index. www.SermonIndex.com ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: COULD EVERY DAMN SINNER WEEP A WHOLE OCEAN ======================================================================== A Puritan devotional, featuring classical writings from the ageless Puritans. Here I place without reserve my soul and faith and meekness, trusting in Christ's power and love to flourish in my weakness. Cause my days on earth to be, through time and through eternity, the trophy of His victory, a monument to mercy. And welcome again to a Puritan devotional. The purpose of these segments are to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's devotional. Could every damned sinner weep a whole ocean? From Thomas Brooks, London's Lamentations, 1670. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation, chapter 20, verse 10. Our earthly fires may be quenched and extinguished. The hottest flames, the greatest conflagrations, have been quenched and extinguished by water. Fires on our hearths and in our chimneys often die and go out by themselves. Our fire is maintained with wood and put out with water. But the fire of hell never goes out. It can never be quenched. It is an everlasting fire, an eternal fire, an unquenchable fire. In Mark, chapter 9, from verse 43 to verse 49, this fire is five times said to be unquenchable, as if the Lord could never speak enough of it. Beloved, the Holy Spirit is never guilty of idle repetitions. But by these frequent repetitions, the Holy Spirit would awaken men and teach them to look upon hell as a real thing and as a serious thing and not sport with unquenchable flames, nor go to hell in a dream. Certainly, the fire into which the damned shall be cast shall be without all intermission of time or punishment. No tears, nor blood, nor time can extinguish the fire of hell. Could every damned sinner weep a whole ocean? Yet all those oceans of tears together would never extinguish one spark of infernal fire. The damned are in everlasting chains of darkness. They are under the vengeance of eternal fire. They are in blackness of darkness forever. Said a poor, despairing creature on his deathbed, Oh, that word forever breaks my heart. The damned in hell would gladly die, but they cannot. They shall be always a dying, yet never dead. They shall be always a consuming, yet never consumed. The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Our prayer is that you have been blessed by this Puritan devotional. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.sermonindex.com. And while you're there, let us know how this ministry has blessed you. Sermon Index. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: JUDGMENT ======================================================================== A Puritan devotional, featuring classical writings from the ageless Puritans. And welcome again to a Puritan devotional. The purpose of these segments are to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's devotional. Judgment, from William S. Plumer, The Rock of Our Salvation, 1867. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil, Ecclesiastes 12, verse 14. God has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world, respecting this day several things are noticeable. All shall be judged, saints and sinners, great and small, living and dead, the servant and his master, the prisoner at the bar and the judge who sat on his trial, the assassin and the assassinated, the seducer and his victim, the invader and the invaded, the hireling and his oppressor, the king and his subjects, the fool and the wise man, the persecutor and the persecuted, the apostate, the hypocrite, the child of God and the child of the devil shall all be there. No one shall be so mighty and no one shall be so lowly as to elude the eye or the sentence of him who shall sit upon the throne of judgment. What a massive multitude will this be when prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, saints of all ages, when sinners, liars, infidels, blasphemers, moralists and murderers shall all be there, when the sea and the dry land shall give up their dead, when death and hell shall deliver up the dead who are in them, when all who lived before the flood, all who have lived since the flood and all who shall have lived to the end of time shall stand before God. This will be the first and the last assembly in which are found every person whom God ever made. To God, it is a certain and fixed day. He has appointed it. Acts chapter 17 verse 31. Nothing can hasten it. Nothing can retard it. The purpose of God concerning it is fixed, unalterable. To all creatures, it is an unknown day. Of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven. The day of judgment will be the great day. It will be the greatest day in the annals of the universe. It is the day for which all other days were made. This day is so well known to inspired men that they call it the day, that day as preeminent over all others. It will be the last day. After it, time will be no more. Time will cease to exist. Duration will no more be measured by seconds, minutes, days, months, years, centuries, cycles, but all will be boundless, shoreless, fathomless, unmeasured eternity. It will be a day of astounding exposures. Villainy will be covered up no more. Every disguise will be taken away. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hidden that shall not be known. It will be a day of intense excitement. There will be no listless spectators of those scenes. Every faculty of the intellect and of emotion will be aroused to the highest possible exercise. Men may sleep under sermons concerning the judgment, but they will not be dull when they go to judgment. It will also be a day of final separation. The precious and the vile, the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, saints and sinners shall no longer mingle together. The separation of this day will be final. The righteous and the wicked shall part that day to meet no more. It shall be a day of despair to all the unregenerate. Everywhere, sinners will be crying to the rocks and the mountains, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Was ever despair more dreadful than this? This will be a day full of surprise. Not only will it come unexpectedly, but its awards will fill both saints and sinners with astonishment. So Christ teaches at length in Matthew chapter 25. The wicked will be amazed that they are lost. They will be especially surprised that God sets no value on their self-righteousness. The sons of God will receive more honor than they ever ask or thought of. The sons of Belial will receive more wrath than they ever feared. Christians will marvel why they are saved. Sinners will wonder why they are not saved. Many will be lost, contrary to the opinions formed of them by their neighbors. Many will be lost, contrary to the opinions they had formed of themselves. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 14. The judgment is coming. The judge stands at the door. The time is short. Our prayer is that you have been blessed by this Puritan devotion. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. And while you're there, let us know how this ministry has blessed you. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: THE SAINTS HELL AND THE SINNERS HEAVEN ======================================================================== A Puritan devotional, featuring classical writings from the ageless Puritans. And welcome again to a Puritan devotional. The purpose of these segments are to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's devotional. The Saints' Hell and the Sinners' Heaven from Thomas Brooks' A String of Pearls, 1657. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life, Matthew 25, verse 46. Mournings and woes follow. Ah, sinners, sinners, that day is hastening upon you, wherein you shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without support, pain without pleasure, and torments without end. Ah, sinners, sinners, ah, your portion is below, and you are already adjudged to those torments which are endless, easeless, and remedialess, where the worm never dies, and the fire never goes out. The day is coming upon you, sinners, when all your sweet shall be turned into bitter, all your glory into shame, all your plenty into scarcity, all your joys into sorrows, all your recreations into vexations, and all your momentary comforts into everlasting torments. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by this Puritan devotional. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more resources, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. And while you're there, let us know how this ministry has blessed you. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/puritan-readings/ ========================================================================