It is impossible. Can doctrines which, if they are seriously thought of, must poison the sweetest sources of human felicity, convert heaven itself into a place of torment, and force every feeling mind to contemplate the Deity with horror, be founded in truth, or form a part of the revelation of the God of truth? It cannot be. Every serious and pious mind must rejoice to find that those expressions which occasionally occur in scripture, and which may at first sight seem to favour these frightful opinions, admit of a rational and consistent interpretation, without supposing their truth; while it abounds with many expressions which can have no meaning, and entire series of reasoning which can have no object unless they are false. CHAPTER III. OF THE DOCTRINE OF LIMITED PUNISHMENT, MANY Christians of the highest reputation for wisdom and piety, in all ages of the church, have maintained that the wicked will neither be punished with endless misery, nor permitted to be happy at any period of their future being, but that they will be raised from the dead, afflicted with severe and lasting suffering, and then undergo death a second time, from which they will never be restored to conscious existence. This hypothesis, as it supposes the infliction of a degree of pain which is exactly proportioned in every case to the degree of guilt, and which is followed by the total and endless extinction of intelligence and nounced with an audible voice, by the man Christ. And all the saints shall say, "Hallelujah, true and righteous are his judgments." None were so compassionate as the saints, when on earth, during the time of God's patience. But, now that time is at an end, their compassion on the ungodly is swallowed up in joy, in the Mediator's glory, and his executing of just judgment, by which his enemies are made his footstool. Though sometimes the righteous man did weep in secret places for their pride, and because they would not hear, yet then he "shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." Psalm, lviii. 10.-No pity shall then be shown to them from their nearest relations. The godly wife shall applaud the justice of the Judge, In the condemnation of her ungodly husband. The godly husband shall say Amen to the damnation of her who lay in his bosom. The godly parents shall say Hallelujah, at the passing of the sentence against their ungodly child, and the godly child shall from his heart approve the damnation of his wicked parents, the father who begat him, and the mother who bore him.'-Boston's Fourfold State, state iv. head iv. sect. 9. life, is called the doctrine of Limited Punish ment, terminated by destruction. Many passages of scripture are conceived not only strongly to favour, but expressly to assert this opinion. It is true, that it is countenanced by the sound of several expressions which occur in the New Testament; but a careful examination of these terms will perhaps show that their genuine meaning is widely different from that which a less thorough investigation might seem to indicate, and that there is no foundation in scripture for this hypothesis. 1st, The advocates of this opinion, like the defenders of the doctrine of Endless Misery, endeavour to establish it on the term aionios, which they contend signifies endless duration; and some go so far as to maintain that it is invariably used in this sense, and that it never denotes a limited period. But, in opposition to those who plead for unending torment, they argue that punishment, not misery, is the substantive to which the adjective is applied→→→ that there may be everlasting punishment without everlasting misery, and that the former, not the latter, is invariably threatened in the sacred writings. They maintain, however, that the word which is translated everlasting does signify duration without end. It is not necessary to repeat here the observations which have been made upon this term. The evidence which has been adduced of its frequent acceptation in a limited sense appears to be irresistible: and though it must be admitted that it does sometimes denote endless duration, yet it has been clearly shown, that this is the case only when the nature of the subject to which it is applied necessarily implies unending existence, and that then it derives the meaning of endless from the subject. The word being in itself equivocal, and capable both of a limited and of an unlimited signification, the only question which can be agitated is whether, when applied to future punishment, it does or does not denote duraration without end. If the affirmative be maintained, it must be shown that there is something in this subject which necessarily imparts to it the sense of endless. Every argument founded upon it, unless this be premised, must be futile, and the advocate for the doctrine of destruction, in venturing to employ it, without first establishing this point, rests his hypothe sis upon a term which makes as much against it as for it. But if, instead of being able to perform this task, his opponent can show that the reverse is true, and prove (as has been proved, pp. 154-160,) that the nature of punAfter this, can we wonder that system should the term, the controversy as far as this word ishment will not admit of this acceptation of have so perverted the understanding, as to lead it to approve of the infliction of pain, imprisonment, is concerned, must be considered as decided, and death, for an adherence to what was conscien- in the opinion of every one who understands tiously believed to be the truth, and so corrupted the principles of fair and legitimate reasoning. the heart, as to make it triumph in the subdual of its best feelings, which rose against the dreadful injustice and cruelty, as the noblest effort of heroic piety? After this, will any one venture to maintain, that mere speculative opinions, as many persons term them, are of little importance? 2d, The advocates of the doctrine of destruction contend that those passages which affirm that the wicked shall perish or be destroyed, and that they shall suffer death or destruction, decidedly prove that they will be punished with the utter extinction of being. This argument is founded on the presumption, that these expressions denote the endless loss of conscious existence. Few persons, perhaps, will rise from an investigation of this point without a conviction, that there is no foundation whatever for this assumption. Apollumi, the word commonly rendered to perish or destroy, occurs about ninety times in the New Testament. It is used in several different senses, as, to lose, to lose life, or to lose any thing to kill or destroy temporally, and this is its most frequent signification; but it often means, also, to render miserable, and is used to denote the infliction of pain or punishment. Schleusner renders it miserum reddo, penis afficio, molestiam ac indignationem creo alicui. Romans, ii. 12-xiv. 15. 1 Corinthians, xv. 18. Apolia, generally translated death or destruction, occurs about twenty times in the New Testament. It sometimes signifies death, or temporal destruction-at others, injury, hurt, or calamity of any kind. Schleusner renders it unhappiness, any calamity or misery, and observes that it is especially used to denote the divine punishment of offences, both in this and in a future life. His words are, infelicitas, omnis calamitas, misera, et especiatim, de panis divinis peccatorum et in hac et in futura vila usurpatur. Matthew, vii. 13. Romans, ix. 12. Philippians, i. 28. New Testament in several different senses, It must be evident, then, that these words, applied to future punishment, do not denote literal and absolute destruction, or the extinction of conscious existence, but the pain and suffering which will be inflicted upon the guilty, in consequence of their offences. By attaching this meaning to these terms, we render every passage in which they occur consistent with the general tenor of the language of the New Testament, with the benevolent spirit of the gospel, and with the perfections of the Divine Being; but the argument attempted to be deduced from them, in favour of tlie doctrine of destruction, is founded merely on their sound, without regarding their real and scriptural meaning. 3d, The word olethros, commonly rendered destruction, signifies, also, pain, misery, pun ishment. Schleusner renders it pana dolor, vexatio cruciatus. 1 Corinthians, v. 5, 'De- But, even were the fundamental principle liver such a one to Satan for the destruction upon which it is attempted to establish this hyof the flesh; eis olethron tes sarkos, ut corpus pothesis-namely, that death signifies the crucietur et doloribus afficiatur. 'Some bodily eternal extinction of consciousness and lifepain was inflicted, in order to produce repent- admitted, (though it has been proved to be ance and reformation.'-Simpson.-The ap- false,) instead of supporting the doctrine of plication of aionios to this word, in 2 Thessa- limited punishment, terminated by destrucÍonians, i. 9, ('who shall be punished with tion, it would be fatal to it; for, if death de everlasting destruction,') cannot prove that note, together with the disorganization of the this expression denotes the endless extinction corporeal frame, the utter extinction of the inof consciousness and life, because it has been tellectual faculty, the wicked cannot be punshown that olethros, when affixed to the pun-ished in a future state with great and protractishment of the guilty, means pain and suffering, and that aionios signifies, not proper eternity, but lasting duration. 4th, On the word thanatos, death, and the phrase, deuteros thanatos, the second death, the advocates of the doctrine of destruction lay the greatest stress. They contend that the strict and invariable meaning of death is the total extinction of consciousness and life that the doctrine of the resurrection affords us the only satisfactory evidence we enjoy, that this extinction of being will not be endless, and that, since the wicked are threatened with a second death, from which there is no promise of deliverance, we must conclude that their punishment will consist in absolute and irrecoverable destruction. A little attention to the subject will probably show that the fundamental principle upon which this argument is founded is fallacious. Thanatos does not denote the endless extinction of conscious existence. It occurs in the ed suffering, as this hypothesis teaches, because the moment which terminates their mortal existence must, according to this meaning of the term, put an eternal period to their being. Should it be urged, that the scriptures affirm that the wicked shall awake from the sleep of death, and suffer the punishment due to their sins, it is obvious that this very argument proves, in the most decisive manner, that the meaning attempted to be affixed to the terms we are considering is not just, and establishes the important conclusion, that death is not the endless deprivation of life, nor destruction the everlasting extinction of the intellectual principle. If it be contended, that we are assured that the wicked will undergo death again after their resurrection, and that we have no authority for supposing that they will be restored a second time to life, then the ground of argument is changed; it is made to depend entire by upon those expressions which either affirm or imply that the wicked will be punished with the second death; the controversy is thus brought into a very narrow compass. With respect to the phrase, dueteros thanatos, the second death, it is obvious, that, were death really the endless extinction of organized and intelligent existence, the expression, second death, would be absurd; for there could be no second death, were the first absolute and eternal. This hypothesis involves the absurdity which has been often pointed out in the preceding pages. It supposes that the Deity restores millions of creatures to life for no other purpose than that of rendering them miserable, which is an act of cruelty of which we can form no adequate conception. A resurrection to a state of pure, unmixed suffering, (which is the common notion of a state of punishment,) which lasts for a very protracted period, and terminates in destruc If it be just to give a literal interpretation to tion, must render the existence of these unthis phrase, it seems to warrant the conclusion, happy persons, upon the whole, a curse. If that the wicked will die a second time; yet it the Creator saw that any combination of cir is not affirmed that they will never rise again. cumstances would be attended with this conOf the first resurrection we are certain, and sequence, he would either have prevented the we have no assurance that there will not be a occurrence of such a train of events, or have second. There is no passage of scripture hos- withheld the fiat which was about to call the tile to the conclusion that there will. Should sufferers into life. It has been proved, that it be inferred, that a second resurrection will every benevolent being would certainly do the not take place, because there is no express one or the other. Either, therefore, there must promise to authorize the expectation, it may be, even in the state of punishment, a greater with equal justice be concluded that there prevalence of happiness than misery, which will, because it is not positively affirmed that is contrary to the general idea of that state, there will not. Of these opposite inferences, or, if this be not the case, since it must render the latter is at least as well founded as the the existence of millions of creatures infiniteformer; nay, it is much more so, because the ly worse, upon the whole, than non-existence, first is incompatible with some passages of it is irreconcilable with the divine benignity. scripture, but the second is contradicted by If, however, any advocate of the doctrine none, and is directly supported by several, of destruction should affirm that he does not particularly by those which speak of a first re-adopt this opinion of the state of punishment, surrection; for a first resurrection implies a second. but believes that, at the winding up of the great drama of life, every intelligent being will have reason to bless his Creator for his existence, it is cheerfully admitted, that this argument does not apply against his hypothe sis; but surely, while his heart glows with pleasure at the generous conclusion he adopts, he cannot but wish that his satisfaction could be perfected by the sight of pure, happy, and It is affirmed, 1 Corinthians, xv. 26, that the last enemy which shall be destroyed is death-that death is swallowed up in victory -that Jesus Christ has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel, 2 Timothy, i. 10. But if the second death be absolutely endless, or reduce the subjects of it to a state of total and eternal un-ever-improving intelligences, in the room of consciousness, death is not abolished; its duration is commensurate with eternity; it is not vanquished-it is the victor; it is not destroyed-it triumphs. To the doctrine of destruction, as well as to that of Endless Misery, the great truth, that there will be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust, is decidedly hostile. Who can believe that the benevolent Father of the human race will call the greater part of his creatures from the sleep of death, and re-organize the curious and beautiful structure in which intelligence and consciousness reside, on purpose to inflict upon them everlasting misery, or very protracted suffering, which will terminate in destruction? What a work does this doctrine assign to the beneficent Creator! How inconsistent with every perfection of his nature! How different this his second from his first creation! From every thing which we see and feel, it is evident that he intended to communicate happiness by bestowing the gift of life. Is it then possible to imagine that he will raise his creatures from the dead with no other view than to counteract his own design-that he will exert his omnipotence on purpose to frustrate the counsels of his benevolence? that awful and eternal blank which must press upon his view, and close the scene!* It affords me great satisfaction to perceive that this argument in favour of the doctrine of Universal Restoration, founded on the resurreetion of the wicked, which I think extremely important, and even decisive of the controversy, impressed with equal force the mind of my much respected friend, the late Dr. Estlin, of Bristol. I cannot reflect without pleasure on the conversations I enjoyed with him on this subject, at an early period of my life, and to which I owe, probably, much of that interest and zeal with which I have since pursued the inquiry. Intelligent, worthy and the wise, pitying, with Charity's own amiable, benevolent-admiring and loving the tenderness, the vicious, cheerful and diffusing cheerfulness, he lived-he died-THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. Part of the passage in his Discourses on Universal Restitution, which has led me to the mention of his name, (and who that knew him can refer to his name without paying pleasure of quoting. it a tribute of respect ?) I must allow myself the It is proper to mention two doctrines, which, if they had been sufficiently adverted to, one would suppose the idea (of the final destruction of the wicked) could never have entered the human without doubt, constitutes by far the greater part mind.' The first is, that the wicked, of the human race. This truth, which, although it is reconcilable to infinite benevolence, yet, to a Such are the arguments, in favour of the, by destruction, and such are the difficulties doctrine of Limited Punishment, terminated with which the hypothesis is encumbered. heart which is susceptibleof the finest human af Every objection which is commonly urged, fections, is, after all, a most painful consideration, by intelligent persons, against the opinion, cannot be evaded. The voice of Infallibility hath that it is the great design of the divine governspoken it; the elevated standard of Christian mo- ment to bring all mankind to a state of perfect rality, compared with the general moral state of purity and happiness, whether derived from the mankind, confirms it; every analogy of nature doctrine of Endless Misery, or from that of total points out to it. "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that lead and eternal destruction, has now been fully eth to destruction, and many there be that go in considered. With regard to the doctrine of thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is Endless Misery, it has been shown that the the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be terms everlasting, eternal, for ever, for ever that find it." and ever, &c., on which it is chiefly founded, do not denote duration without end, but only a lasting period—that, even if it could be proved that these expressions, when applied to the subject of future punishment, must necessarily be taken in the sense of endless, it would by no means warrant the conclusion, that the wicked will be kept alive in misery through the ages of eternity; because it is everlasting punishment, not everlasting torment, with which the wicked are threatened "The next doctrine, which must not be forgot ten, (I confess I found myself inclined to give it up, when I saw clearly that the doctrine of Annihilation could not be maintained in consistency with it,) is the resurrection of the wicked. If the scriptures had positively asserted that the wicked would not rise, and that their death would be the final extinction of their being, the mind must have acquiesced in what-reasoning from the infinite benevolence of God, the best foundation of reasoning-it would still have acknowledged a difficulty. If the scriptures had said nothing on the subject, their resurrection and restoration to virtue and happiness might, I think, have been inferred from the same sure and certain principles. They do not, however, leave any room for doubt on the subject. It is expressly said, "All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation." Every account which is given in scripture of the day of judgment confirms this. guage is used respecting fires which have been extinguished for ages, and respecting places which have since flourished and which are still in existence-that the sin against the Holy Ghost, which has been deemed so decisive a proof of this doctrine, directly confutes it, since it affords the most satisfactory evidence, that expressions of this kind do not and cannot denote duration without end, and since the punishment annexed to this crime may be inflicted to the very letter without its being endless-that those minor arguments, which are deduced from some expressions and parables of scripture, are insufficient to esta blish the doctrine, while some of them afford powerful arguments against it, and that the same is true of the reasonings by which many persons have endeavoured to support it. that the application of the same term to the duration of the punishment of the wicked, and the happiness of the righteous, by no means proves that both are of equal continuance; because this word denotes different degrees of duration, when applied to different subjectsbecause the nature of these two subjects is not only not the same, but directly opposite, and because many considerations prove that one The doctrine of Annihilation, then, supposes of these states will be truly everlasting, but that by far the greater part of mankind were that the other cannot be so that the argucreated by a benevolent and holy Being, whose ment derived from the metaphor of fire, and prescience foresaw how they would act, to be vi- particularly from the expression, unquenchacious and die, to be raised from the dead, re-or-ble fire, is totally fallacious, because this langanized or recreated, to be miserable, and then to undergo a public execution, by which they would be for ever blotted out of this creation. Some of the wisest and best men that the world ever produced have adopted this scheme of the origin, progress, and end of the divine dispensations. I know we are apt to overlook the fate of this immense multitude; and a most baneful effect upon the human mind, upon all the institutions of society, and particularly upon penal jurisprudence, has this overlooking of what others, even the majority, suffer. My brethren, if the fact be so, fix your minds upon it. You have often regarded with admiration that curious effect of the divine power, the human body-the delicate structure of the eye and the ear, the nerves and brain, the veins and arteries, and the various organs of sensation, respiration, and motion; you have contemplated with devout wonder the faculties of the human mind; you have acknowledged with grateful satisfaction, that God is love-that every organ, that every power, both of body and mind, is an inlet to enjoyment, and that man was formed in the image of God, that he might be the object of his favour for ever. Contemplate the scene which is now to take place. What a process is going on through nature! Myriads of those beings are to be raised from the dead, that is, re-organized, reformed, or re-created, (a work to which Omnipotence alone is equal, for the laws of nature are nothing but the mode of operation of the God of nature,) to be miserable in a greater or less degree according to their degrees of guilt, and at length to be finally destroyed by fire! The mind cannot dwell on this idea!' Discourses on Universal Restitution, delivered to the Society of Protestant Dissenters in Lewin's Mead, Bristol. By JOHN PRIOR ESTLIN, LL. D., pp. 82-87. With regard to the doctrine of Limited Punishment, terminated by destruction, it has been shown that it is founded solely on terms to which an unscriptural meaning is affixedthat, while it professes to be established on the plain and positive declarations of scripture, it is countenanced chiefly by a phrase which occurs only in the most highly figu rative book of the New Testament, and amidst expressions entirely metaphorical that this very phrase affords it no other supPort than what can be derived from an inference which is so extremely equivocal, that the opposite conclusion may be deduced with equal plausibility, and that, while there is not a single passage in which the doctrine is expressed in clear and precise terms, there are many with which it is utterly incompatible. doctrine, that the whole human race will be ultimately restored to purity and happiness, having been thus fully considered, the mind may now be prepared to enter on an examination of the scriptural evidence which appears All the objections which are commonly urged against the cheering and benevolent to favour it. PART FOURTH. . OF THE SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE FINAL RESTORATION OF ALL MANKIND TO PURITY AND HAPPINESS. Such is the glorious consummation of the divine dispensations which the scriptures teach us, to expect! Such are the sublime and cheering truths, the evidence of which is now to be detailed! It is admitted, that the term Universal Re-events, it is termed a kingdom, of which he storation no where occurs in the Old or New is said to be the Head-that he will conduct Testament. It has been adopted in this work the government of this kingdom with perfect merely for the sake of brevity and precision. wisdom, until it shall have accomplished all The doctrine of the scriptures is, that God is the purposes for which it is appointed-until the Ruler of the world-that every event is it shall have extirpated sin, destroyed the under his direction, and promotes in its ap- consequence of it-death-restored universal pointed measure the purposes of his wise and purity, and produced universal happinessbenevolent administration-that the natural that then, being no longer necessary, he will and moral evil which prevail are the instru- resign his office, restore to him from whom ments which his wisdom has chosen, no less he received it the power with which he was than the most obvious blessings of existence, invested, in order that the great Sovereign of to promote the highest advantage of his intel- earth and heaven, the Fountain of all being ligent creatures that, by his almighty and and happiness, may himself be all in all.' all-perfect superintendence of events, he will secure this result-that he has placed mankind in a state of discipline, in order to form and to try their characters-that those who improve their present advantages, will be rewarded after death with endless felicity-that The principle on which the following inthose who neglect and abuse them, and inca-vestigation of scripture is conducted, and on pacitate themselves for pure enjoyment, will which it is concluded that the passages which be placed under a painful and lasting disci- will be cited express or imply these truths, is pline, which will correct their evil dispositions that which is adopted in the most exact inquiand vicious habits, and form in their minds aries to which the human understanding is digenuine love of excellence-that, in order to rected. In every philosophical inquiry, it is accomplish these benevolent purposes, he has admitted that that hypothesis ought to be raised up Jesus Christ, whom he has special- adopted, which accounts for all the phenomely and miraculously qualified to execute the na with the greatest clearness, and which is most important of them, having with this attended with the fewest difficulties. Whatview revealed to him the glorious gospel, and ever theory best explains acknowledged facts commissioned him to declare it to the world- is universally considered most entitled to rethat, in regard of the firmness and fidelity gard; and, if it solve the several phenomena with which he executed this momentous trust, easily and simply, while every other hypothenotwithstanding the danger and suffering to sis is attended with contradictions and absur which it exposed him, God has highly exalted dities, no doubt is entertained of its truth. him, and made him the medium through Now the doctrine, that all mankind will be which he communicates the greatest blessings ultimately restored to purity and happiness, to mankind—that, as Jesus revealed the gos- is this perfect theory, with regard to the dipel, so he will fulfil its promises and execute vine dispensations, and the scriptural terms its threatenings-that, as he was the Instruc- by which their nature is expressed. It actor of mankind, so he will be their Judge-cords with every expression that is used in that to him is committed the direction of the scripture concerning the state of mankind in state of discipline to which the wicked will be consigned that, as the execution of the purposes which are comprehended in this vast and benevolent plan supposes the government of innumerable intelligent beings, and the superintendence of many great and important 30 12 the world to come, and is confirmed by all our best sentiments of the attributes, the providence, and the government, of the Supreme Being. But the notions of Endless Misery, and of the total and eternal extinction of life, neither accord with all the expressions of H 2 237 |