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CHAPTER III.

IN WHICH THE DOCTRINE COLLECTED FROM THE TEXTS ABOVE CITED, IS FARTHER ASSERTED, AND RECONCILED WITH THE MORAL PERFECTIONS OF GOD.

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T is abundantly clear from the two preceding Chapters, that at the Day of Judgment a Separation will be made between the righteous and the wicked. This indeed, excepting the Circumstance of the Time, is not so properly a Point of Revelation, as the fundamental Principle of all Religion, as well Natural as revealed: For he that cometh to God, in any Act of Religion, or religious Worship, must believe that he is, and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him; Heb. xi. 6. Without this Retribution, which implies Punishment as well as Reward (tho' it was to the Apostle's purpose here to mention only the latter), Religion signifies nothing; the same End, and the same Event would come alike to all Men; and as no Distinction would be made either here or hereafter, between the good and the bad, God Almighty could not be said to be the moral Governour and Judge of the World. It is therefore a certain, clear, and fundamental Principle of all Religion, that there will be a Retribution both to good and bad. The Scriptures, especially of the New Testament, teach us, that this Retribution will be made at the Day of Judgment; then shall the

righteous and the wicked be separated from one another, and these shall go away into everlasting Punishment; but the righteous into Life eternal. No. XXII.

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The Question we are immediately concern'd in is, Whether this Punishment of the wicked, subsequent to the Day of Judgment, will be strictly everlasting, or eternal? It will appear plainly to any one who reads the Testimonies produced above, which way the Language of the New Testament leans in this point. This certainly leads us to the affirmative Side of the Question. Archbishop Tillotson, in his famous Sermon on the Subject, makes it one Head of his Discourse. to shew, That the eternal Punishment of wicked Men in another World is plainly threatened in Scripture. This is plain, if Words can threaten anything plainly; or if it be plainly promised that the Life of the Righteous in another World will be eternal. And this, I suspect, is the real Reason at bottom, tho' some other Pretences are suggested, (of which more in its proper place,) why Mr. Whiston denies both. This Gentleman takes the liberty to assert, that eternal Punishments are intirely unjust in their own nature; extremely cruel and barbarous, both in the Threatening, and in the Execution.1 Here, we see, lies the Root of the Matter. Texts and Testimonies of Scripture, and Fathers, may be quoted, in a manner, such a manner as it is; but what is all this to the purpose? The Case is prejudged, and in effect determined before-hand. And what Sentence can one expect from a Judge, who at the same time that he calls in Witnesses, and pretends to examine them, makes a Declaration that, however, let them 1 Page 136.

say what they will, the Cause is so absurd, or so unjust in its own nature, that no Evidence will be sufficient to prove it? Dr. Burnet, tho' a great Opposer of the Eternity of future Punishment, yet is forced to own that the Scripture seems to be on the other side. Natura humana abhorret ab ipso nomine pœnarum æternarum, &c. At Scriptura sacra à partibus contrariis stare videtur.1 But then Reason, he says, the Nature of God, and the Nature of Things, reclaim loudly. We see where the thing rests. It would readily be acknowledged that the Scripture teaches eternal punishments, if the Doctrine could

1 De Statu Mort. et Resurg. p. 288. Edit. 2da. After the Words above quoted, he goes on thus:- -Humani Generis amantissimus Jesus Christus, aperte et explicite has pœnas Dæmonum et Damnatorum æternas appellat: cum Bonorum et Malorum explicans fata, Sententiam in improbos hac formula pronunciat; Execrati abite à me in Ignem æternum, qui paratus est Diabolo et Angelis ejus, Matt. xxv. 41. Eodem sensu, Tritico in Horreum collecto, Paleam exurendam dicit Igne inextincto, Matt. iii. 12. Et in Gehenna non mori Vermem nec extingui Ignem, Mar. ix. 44. Hæc testari videntur, idque ex ore Christi, Improborum pœnas fore æternas et interminatas. Neque aliter loquuntur Prophetæ et Apostoli, Dan. xii. 2. 2 Thes. I. 9. -What can give a Man, who owns all this, the Hardiness to contradict it? And who admits too at the same time that Rule of Interpretation, d Litera non recedendum esse sine necessitate. Why truly, there are Reasons, manifest Reasons and invincible Arguments, against this Doctrine: that is, against the plain and explicit Declarations of Jesus Christ himself, the Prophets and Apostles. On the contrary, I am satisfied, first, that there are no such Reasons: and, 2dly, that if there were, it is not likely that Men should be able to discover them. It cannot be consistent with the Wisdom of God to threaten, what is inconsistent with any known Perfection of his Nature to execute. Such Conduct is below the Wisdom of an earthly Lawgiver; and such empty Threats, as soon as they were discover'd to be so, would only expose Him, and his Laws, to Contempt.

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be reconcil'd with Reason, and our natural Notions of God's Perfections. This therefore is what I am now to attempt: And in order to it, I observe,

First, That the Doctrine of eternal Punishments all along proceeds upon the Supposition, that the Persons condemned to them, are incurably wicked, and fix'd in a State and Temper of Mind everlastingly and unalterably evil. This, I conceive, if He will be consistent with himself, Mr. Whiston cannot well deny; since he declares it is perfectly agreeable to the Testimonies sacred and primitive, and what they all agree in, that what Repentance or Pardon soever there may be in Hades, the State of Preparation, there is no hopes of either in Gehenna, or Hell itself, P. 73. See No. XV. above. In other places, He speaks of such as are incorrigibly wicked;-of abandoned Wretches, whom no Methods of Mercy, or Correction, or Preaching of Christ, or his Apostles, either on Earth, or in Hades, could bring to Repentance and Salvation, p. 117. Now, supposing such Beings as these, Men or Devils, what can even Goodness itself do with them? It is not possible in the Nature of Things, that such Creatures should be made happy; it is no way desirable, Mr. W. allows, that they should ever be made happy, either in this, or another World, p. 131. There is no Expedient then to relieve them, but Annihilation; a Point which I must discuss by itself, and which therefore I take the liberty at present to suppose out of the question. This therefore being set aside for the present; I ask again, what the great Governour and Judge of the World can do with such Creatures ?1 It is incon

1 Mr. Swinden in his Enquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell, p. 284. had asserted, "that the Mercy of God, tho' infinite as himself, is yet not capable of being extended to those

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sistent with every moral Perfection of his Nature to reward them; it is inconsistent with Justice, and Reason, and Truth; it is inconsistent with Goodness itself, if Goodness be consistent with Rectitude, with doing always what is right and best. It is inconsistent with their Depravity, and their utter moral Incapacity of becoming better, wilfully and obstinately contracted by themselves, ever to be made happy. There will be no Amendment in their Temper, no Change, or Reformation of their evil Habits; that is, no Alteration, for the better, in their moral State: And why then should there, or how indeed can there, be any in their natural? If it was right and reasonable, and

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"obstinate and wilful Offenders, (viz. the Devil and his Angels, "whom he had just mentioned,) to them that despise, revile, "and trample it under foot, to them that contemn, and under"mine, and oppose the gracious Designs of it." Somebody who writ a Supplement, as he calls it, (tho' he did not so much as know what the word Supplement means,) takes Mr. Swinden to task for this Assertion, p. 364. "It must appear, he says, 'greatly surprizing, that after Mr. Swinden has declared his 'Approbation of the Freedom of Thought, which ought to be "allowed to every Writer, that he should pronounce such an "ipse dixit, as to assert- -that, 'the Mercy of God, which, "though infinite as Himself, is yet not capable of being extended “to Sinners.' The Grammar and Sense of this Period are of a piece. The Devil and His Angels, and such obstinate and incorrigible Offenders, are turn'd into Sinners in general, penitent or impenitent; and Mr. Swinden is made to say, that the infinite Mercy of God cannot be extended to Sinners. When a Man thus misrepresents his Adversary's Argument, take it for a Concession that he cannot answer it. What Mr. Swinden says, wants no Proof, and is capable of no Confutation. It is evident from the clearest Ideas in the human Mind, that the only possible Object of Mercy is Penitence; unless you mean by Mercy an Imperfection, an irrational Weakness, by no means compatible to the great God, the supreme Governour and Judge of the World.

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