iorse. xIi i THE NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENTS 1N HELL. 589 eye of the world could hardly distinguish from good men, and who were very far from the character of wicked ? I answer, . Answer I. That however there may seem to be three sorts of persons in our esteem, viz, thegood, the bad, and the indifferent,. yet the wordof God seems to acknowledge but two sorts, viz. " Those who fear God and serve him, and those who fear him not ;" Mal. iii. 18.. Those who have acted from principles of inward religion, or the love of God, and those whohad no such principle within them : And therefore the scripture reveals and declares but two sorts .ofstates in the future world, viz. that of re- wards and punishments, or that of happiness and misery : And as God, the. righteous Judge, is intimately acquainted with all the secret principles and workings ofevery heart, he alone knows, who have practised virtue sincerely from pious principles, and who, have had no such principles within them. He well distinguishes who they are that have complied with the rules of the dispensation _under which theyhave lived, or who have not complied with it: And such as may have the good esteem of men may be highly offensive to God, who knows all things, and may be worthy of his final punishment; " the judge of the whole earth will do right` ; Gen. xviii. 25. And since he has declared it to be his rule ofjudg- ment, that " he will reward every one according to their works ;" Mat. xvi. 27. and it shall be much more tole- rable for some of these creatures than it shall be for others, by reason of their lesser crimes, or their nearer approaches to virtue and piety; so it is certain he will act in perfect justice and equity towards every criminal, and none shall be punished above their demerits, though no impenitent sinner shall go unpunished. ' We do not therefore imagine that every condemned cri- minal shall have the same degreeofinward ragingpassions, * It has been the opinion of some writers in elder and in later . times, that the vast numbers of indifferent persons, wile. have neither been eri-, dently holy or evidently wicked, shall be sent to a new state of trial in the other world ; but I can find nothing of this doctrine in the bible, nor any hint of it, unless, in that obscure textof St. Peter, I Pet. iii. 19. where Christ is said " to go and preach to the spirits" ofthose sinners who were drowned in the flood of Noah, which may be construed to another Sena, with truth and justice. 5
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