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red fhall be, though we cannot.account for it, as that he hath effected those things that have been, which likewise are to us Unaccountable. We have not more reafon to believe that the three Children furvived the flames of the fiery Furnace, without being in the least Injured or Affected by them, than that the Wicked fhall endure the most exquifite torments of Unquenchable fire in the world to come. But there is

3ly, Another objection which strikes at this very Revelation of God's Will, upon which, in conjunction with the confideration of his Power, we thus build our Belief of the Article. 'Tis urged, that fome things are in Scripture reprefented as Eternal or Everlasting, which yet are of a finite Duration; as I. lx. 15. Whereas thou hast been forfaken and hated, Jo that no man went through thee; I will make thee an Eternal excellency; and Gen. xvii. 8. I will give unto thee, and to thy Seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a Stranger, all the land of Canaan for an Everlasting poffeffion. But the anfwer is eafy and fatisfactory, That 'tis

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plain from the nature and circumstances of the things, which the terms Everlafting and Eternal are in these and the like texts applied to, that they are There ufed with Limitation and Restriction; whereas it cannot be denied, that they do in their most Proper and Strict Senfe denote an Endlefs duration: And that they are always used in this most Proper and Strict Sense, when applied to Future punishment, is certain from those other expreffions, whereby the fame Future punishment is represented and described, as in the text above cited, where 'tis called the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, and where 'tis pofitively declared, that the Wicked + shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever, and that the Smoke of their torment afcendeth up for ever and ever; Expreffions thefe fo clear and full, that fcarce any words can more certainly and plainly fignify an Endless duration both of the torment and the Perfons that are to endure it. For, as the Learned and Judicious Mark ix. 43, 44. ↑ Rey. xx. 10.

*

Rev. xiv. 11.

Bishop

Bishop Pearson excellently argues, "If "the Fire, in which the Reprobates are "to be tormented, be Everlasting; if fo abfolutely Everlasting that it never shall be quenched; if fo certainly never

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to be quenched, that the Smoke there❝of fhall afcend for ever and ever; if "thofe which are caft into it fhall be " tormented for ever and ever, (all "which the Scriptures exprefly teach;) "then fhall the Wicked be Coeternal to "the tormenting Flames." The torment shall be Everlastingly endured by the Wicked. And this fuggefts a

4th Objection, in confirmation of the laft mention'd, from the Teftimony of Scripture, That Wicked men fhall be Annihilated.

Difconfolate and miserable indeed muft mens condition be, when Destruction becomes matter of hope, when they would be glad to take Sanctuary even in Annihilation; and much more Miferable ftill, when disappointed of this Frightful refuge it self, which is no otherwise to be hoped for from the Holy Scriptures,

than

than by the plain Mifinterpretation of

them.

The first text alledged in favour of this Dismal expectation is that of our Saviour,* Fear him which is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell; from which they would have it believed, that Wicked men fhall vanish into Air or into nothing, that they fhall be, by the wrath of the Almighty, utterly confumed and cease to have a Being. But that there is no fuch thing implied in the Word άлоλéσα, which we here render to Deftroy, may appear, as from a great many other texts, fo particularly from the 39th verse of the fame Chapter, where our Saviour declares, that whofoever lofeth his life for His fake fhall find it, in these words, ὁ ἀπολέσας τὴν ψυχὴν αυτ8, &c. where there can be no fuch thing as Annihilation understood, unless thofe, who fuffer Martyrdom for Chriftianity, are to be Annihilated, which will scarce be affirmed; or, if it fhould, then how can he, who fo lofeth his Life, be faid to find it?

Mat. x. 28.

And

I

And as this word does not imply Annihilation, properly fo called, fo neither does it always denote Diffolution, but is used to fignify Mifery alone, as may appear from 1 Cor. v. 5. Tagadiváι παραδέναι τὸν τοι τιν τῷ Σατανᾷ εις ὄλεθρον, &c. to deliver fuch an one unto Satan for the Deftruction of the Flesh; that the Spirit may be faved in the day of the Lord Jefus. That by the Destruction of the Flesh we are here to understand Misery suffered in this Life seems very plain from the end of it here affigned, namely, the Salvation of the Offender: For if the means of Salvation be peculiar to this State, and if the Destruction here mention'd were means of Salvation, which the Apostle exprefly affirms, it must of neceffity denote punishment fuffer'd in this State.

And though it should be granted, that this Temporal punishment did not only continue till the Offender's Death, but was also the Occafion of it; yet that would not at all interfere with this interpretation of the text. For, that being granted, Death was only Accidental and Extrinfecal with refpect to deftruc

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