fhall be, in the General Judgment, condemned to a State of punishment for their fins, fhould ever be numbred amongst the Righteous and partake with them in the Joys of Heaven: And the Reason is fuch as can never be anfwer'd, that 'tis Impoffible for those to Repent and be Converted, who are finally deprived of the means of Grace, and already configned to the place of Torment; and there is no Poffibility of obtaining the happinefs of Heaven by any other means, or upon any other terms than Repentance and Converfion. And this leads me to the confideration of a

2d Objection, that though wicked men fhould be for ever excluded the Kingdom of Heaven, yet they are not Capable of fubfifting for ever under that other punishment, the punishment of Senfe, which is denounced and defcribed in Holy Scripture; that they must of neceffity be at laft quite confumed by that fire which fhall never be quenched, and so their Misery must end in their utter Extinction. Upon this, fome Writers have taken a great deal of pains in

ranfacking

ranfacking the Hiftories of Nature, to find out fuch creatures as are able to bear the extreme heat of fire so as neither to perish, nor be in any measure wafted by it. How fuccessful they have been in thefe enquiries I fhall not examine; nor do I lay any stress upon fuch discoveries and the Arguments drawn from them. For there is another confideration, from which any one, who believes a God and the Holy Scriptures, may furnish himself with a full anfwer to this difficulty, the confideration of God's Power.

Indeed we cannot conclude the Exiftence of any thing from God's Power to effect it, if his Power be confider'd feparately from the Revelation of his Will. But when he hath plainly and Pofitively revealed any thing, the Nature of which we cannot clearly comprehend, we may and ought ftedfaftly to believe it upon this Principle, that though it may be Impoffible with Man, it is Poffible with God. We have the very fame reason to reft in a Belief, that God's Pow

er will effect whatfoever he hath decla

red

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

UNIVERSIT

KNIHOVNA

PRAZE

plain

plain from the nature and circumftances 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 Endless duration: And that they are always used in this moft 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 af cendeth up for ever and ever; Expreffions thefe fo clear and full, that scarce 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. † Rev. xx. 10.

+ Rev. xiv. 11.

Bishop

Bishop Pearfon 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 "to be quenched, that the Smoke there" of fhall afcend for ever and ever; if. "of "those which are caft into it fhall be " tormented for ever and ever, (all "which the Scriptures exprefly teach;) "then shall 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 miferable indeed must 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 felf, which is no otherwise to be hoped for from the Holy Scriptures,

than

.