their own destruction."--Jude, ver. 6, 7, "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their first habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (v. 13.) "Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."Rev. xiv. 10, 11, "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured forth without mixture into the cup of his indignation: and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." xix. 3, "And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. (v. 20, 21.) These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." xx. 10, 14, 15, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, for ever and ever.-And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death: and whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." xxi. 8, "The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death." xxii. 11, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still."-Added to these, hell, or a part of hell,

is expressed by the similitude of a bottomless pit. Rev. ix. 1, 2, 11. xi. 7. xvii. 8. xx. 1, 3. From the foregoing selection of scripture it seems fully evident :

First, That the future punishment of human persons consists with the rational exercise of the mind, and involves painful consciousness, and cutting reflections on self-degradation, by their unwise choice, without hope of deliverance. The heathen notion of occasional relief by tasting the water of forgetfulness seems to receive no countenance from the sacred writings. Perhaps,—

"The keen vibration of bright truth-is hell.”

Secondly, That future punishment is social. Hell is composed merely of the wicked, exclusive of the pious and benevolent. Nothing but a congregation of the wicked. And because of their possessing no qualities which God approves; and carrying on by new choices their several intrigues and indulgences of pride, ambition, covetousness, and present gratification, for ever; their vices and accidents perpetually defeating their own ends, indescribable misery must be the consequence.

Thirdly, We infer that the sufferings of some persons in a future state will be very pungent and extreme. The greatest sufferings of the present state, whether natural or artificial, that is, whether unavoidables of the present state, or tortures invented and inflicted by wicked men ; as having actually existed, have existed in consonance with the perfections of God, and the relation of man; consequently equivalent sufferings in a future state may also consonantly exist now these extreme sufferings of the present state, are used by the Spirit of God as images adapted to express future punishment, in the Holy Scriptures. The degree seems most strongly expressed by immersion in a lake of fire and brim

:

stone. It may be proper also to remark on the other hand, that, as the language, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, or heart conceived;" and similar expressions applied to the future felicitous reward of the righteous, are in no part of Scripture applied to the punishment of the wicked, we have no warrant to judge that the future torment of any person will exceed these expressions. Probably the perfection of the punishments of the future state lieth in their degree being limited only by inconsistency and contradiction ;-inconsistency and contradiction, in re spect of the essence of punishment, in respect of the perfections of God, and in respect of the dependence of man.

Fourthly, We rightly infer different degrees of sufferings proportionate to the nature, degree, and aggravations of guilt. The penal sufferings of some shall be more tolerable than the sufferings of some others: consequently there is a state tolerable in hell, and the inference cannot be invalidated. On the other extreme, the case of Judas seems a peculiar condemnation adjusted to a peculiar case of sinning. Our Lord affirmed, "Good were it for that man if he had never been born." Which words either express, that it would have been good for him if he had never existed, which exposition is discordant with, or at least, the punishment an exception to the deductions of reason before premised; or, rather affirm, that it had been better for him if he had died in the womb-that an untimely birth were bet ter than his life, although a disciple of Jesus and preacher of the gospel.-If future punishment consists in natural and the over-ruling natural evil, variety of negative causes which are the origin of natural evil, warrant us to affirm, that future, punishment to the several individuals shall differ in degree. I am relieved when I perceive that the Holy Scriptures fully inculcate the same sentiment. Punishment corresponds with the final judgment of the

the

wicked, and that judgment accords with their former works.

Some, without finding a single text to support the assumption, have affirmed, that the damned in hell sin imputably, and hence have inferred that their sufferings or misery is increasing world without end! The Scriptures afford no evidence that any human sufferer will sin imputably in a future state, and thus make addition to its guilt: neither do we derive any evidence that damned souls wax worse; on the contrary, our Lord's representation of brotherly love, philanthropy, and good wishes, in the character he draws of the rich man in torment, affords presumptive evidence that their depravity does not increase. Say not, "This representation does not prove the possibility of fraternal love, philanthropy, and good wishes, existing in hell, but was introduced as supposition merely to fill up the allegory:" for would not this be to make our Lord the forger of romance? Again, perhaps we see the extreme state of hell apositely exhibited in a prison of irreclaimable incorrigible miscreants, who are whistling and singing. Though there be no happiness in hell, perhaps there may be satisfaction, and satisfaction, so far as it exists, is relief to the miserable. I am inclined to think there may be such a thing as satisfaction in hell: nothing in Scripture seems to exclude a sort of satisfaction with self, although dissatisfaction with God and his ruling.

Fifthly, It is manifest that the punishment of sinners of the human kind will be eternal, or of infinite duration. Hell as the state of future punishment is expressed by the similitude of a bottomless pit. What similitude can so fully represent eternity, calamitous eternity? Conceive a human being precipitated into such a pit, and falling ten fathom-a hundred fathom-a thousand fathom:--falling, falling, falling, for ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years, yet he would not be nearer a termination of

descent, for it is bottomless.-Again, the words in the original Hebrew and Greek rendered in our translation, ever, everlasting, and eternal, are judged by very eminent lexicographers to natively mean, unlimited as well as indefinite time; and if so, certainly they ought to be so accepted, wherever the nature of the subject, or predicate, expressed or implied, does not, as often is the case in scripture, limit the extent of duration, Ever, in English, expresses unlimited duration, yet, its use respecting limited duration, occurs every day. A nobleman says to his tenant, you shall dwell for ever in the house of mine you now occupy. Ever is restrained by the duration of the house-by the life of the man-perhaps by the life of the nobleman-and perhaps also by the tenant's actually continuing to pay him his rent. The whole declaration may mean no more in fact, than, Be not afraid I shall eject you from my farm, for I give you my promise I will not do it, whilst you on your part do fulfil the original agreement See Philemon, ver. 15. Jude, ver. 7. All this does not invalidate the true meaning of the word ever、 I think we rightly conclude that until endless punishment can be. shown to be inconsistent with the perfection of God, the nature of man, or the essence of punishment, which I think human beings are inadequate to manifest, the words should be admitted to express the unlimited duration of future punishment. Again, it is a fact that the same adjective in the original-the same expression of duration, is applied by our Lord to future punishment, as to future reward, in contrast, Matt. xxv. 45. (eternal life--everlasting punishment.) Now it must be evident to every reader, that if the same duration is not intended, he, our Lord, must speak equivocally, or the antithesis exhibited be destroyed neither of which I admit; but judge, that as the future reward of the righteous is agreed by all Christians to be of unlimited duration, whether ages of ages will express it or not, the punishment of the