October 13, 2007

Nathaniel Vincent (c.1639–1697) on Revelation 18:7 and Degrees of Punishment

I am reading a sermon by Nathaniel Vincent and he just used this verse to suggest varying degrees of punishment in hell:

NAS Revelation 18:7 To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.’

There are a number of verses that suggest it, but this is the first time this one has been brought to my attention.

Soon after referencing this verse, Vincent said:
It will be no comfort there to have companions in your misery, but rather among the damned there will be a torturing grief and indignation at the sight of one another to consider what incarnate devils they were to one another's souls, and helped forward one another's condemnation. Upon this score, it might be that the rich man of Luke 16 was so unwilling that his brethren should come to the place of torment, because if he were damned for those sins which he in his lifetime had been accessory to, their company with him in hell would have but added to his woe. We used to say here, "The more, the merrier," but there it will be, "The more, the sadder." When God has all of His enemies in one place together and none of His people mingled with them, then all His wrath will be stirred up and all the vials of His fury poured down upon them.
Nathaniel Vincent, “The Conversion of a Sinner,” in The Puritans on Conversion, ed. Don Kistler (Ligonier: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1990), 88–89.

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