State of the Damned. the damned muft depart, as curfed one~, into everlall:~ ing fire, it is evident that, · 1 fi, The damned themfelvesf11all be eternal; they will have a being for ever, and wi11not be fubftantially de– firoyed, or annihilated. To what end is the fire et-er– nal, if thefe who are caft into it, be not eternally in it! It is plain the everla!ling continuance of the fire, is an aggravation' ofthe mifery ofthe damned: but furely, if they be annihilated, or fubftantially deltroyed, it is all a cale. to t!lem, whether the fire be everlalling, or not. N ay, but' they depart into r:verlaJli71g fire, to be everlall– inglypunifhed·in it; Matth.xxv.46 . Theftjhaltgo an.vay i nto everlafling punijb?nent. Thus the execution of he fe ntence, is a certain di!coveryofthemeaning ofit. The w orm !hat dietli 1101, muft have a fubjeCl: to Jive in: they who ihall have no refl, day.nor night, (Rev. xiv. 1L ) but ihall be tormentedday and night Jor ever ttnd ever, (c{i;:tp . xx. Jo.) wiH certainly have a being · for ever and, ever, and not be brought into a fl:ate of eternal -refi in annihi– lation. Deflroyed indeed they fuall be: but their de– firuCI:ion will be an everlaJling d tjlruflion, ( 2 Thdf: i. 9·) a defiruction of their well- being, but not of their beingo 'Vh~ is deilroyed, is· not therefore annihilated~ Art thou come to deflroy tu? faid the devil unto Je fus Chrift, Lu.fe iv. 34 · Howbeit the devits are afraid of torment, not of armitt!lation, Jlllatth. viii. 2 9· Art thou come hither to tormen~ ,;sr br:(ore the time? The llate of the damned ·is indeed a fiate of death: but fuch a death it is, as is oppofite only to a happy life; as is clear from other noti– ons of their !late, which neceffari1y include an eternal exiftence, of vv-hich before. As they, wh0 are dead in fzn, are dead to God and holinefs, yet live to fin: fo dy– ing in hell, they live, but feparated froni God, and his (av.our, in which life lies, Pja!. xxx. 5. They fuall ever· be·ander the pangs ofdeath; ever dying, but never d~ad or abfolutely voiq of life. How defirable would (uch a death b~ to them! but it will fly from them for ever.. Could each one kill another there, or could they, with their own hands~ rent them~elves into lifelefs pieces, their– lnifery would quickly be at an end : but there they rnuft. livelh
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