DPSC.,k12.7 ThE NATURE OF THE PUN2EH1l/ENTS IN HELL. 591 . sacrifice to the idol Moloch ; and from these Hebrew words, hell in the New Testament is called Geenna, because of the burning torture and terrible shrieks of dying children in this valley of Hinnorn. This description of hell by fire is used by our Saviour and his apostles, in their speeches and writings on this subject. Hell-fire is mentioned six times in six verses where my text lies; the last sentence of judgment passed upon sinners, as'it is represented by our Saviour, is ex- pressed in the same language, Mat. xxv. 41. " Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire." The apostle Paul speak- ing of the return of Christ, 2 Thess. i. S. asserts, that " he shall appear in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel :" And in Rev. xiv. 10, 11. as well as in other parts of this . book, the final punishment of sinners is represented by fire and brimstone, as the instruments of their torment It is true, indeed, spirits or beings which have no body cannot feel burning by material fire, unless they are united to some sort of material vehicles ; but that God will use material fire to punish obstinate and rebellious sinners hereafter at the resurrection, is not improbable, though it is very hard to say with full assurance ; Since the bodies of the wicked are to be raised again, it is not at all unlikely that their habitation shall be a place of fire, and their bodies may be made immortal to endure the smart and torture without consuming. Did not this God by his almighty power and mercy preserve the bodies of Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego in the burning fur- nace of Nebuchadnezzar, so that the fire had no power to consume or destroy them ? Dan. iii. 21 -27. And cannot his power do the same thing under the influence of hisjustice as well as of his mercy ; May they not be' main- tained for ever in their existence to endure the appointed and deserved vengeance ? If the blessed God has with much long suffering borne with these vessels of wrath, under their repeated oppositions to his law and gospel, and they still go on in their vice, obstinacy and impeni- tence, and have fitted themselves for destruction, surely he will make his'wrath andpower known in their punish- ment, as St. Paul expresses it; Rom. ix. 22. " and when the power and wrath of a God unite to punish a crea- ture, how miserable must that creature he?
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