620 THE ETERNAL DURAiJON OF t11,15C. Xflf. petuity or eternity of these punishments; are not liable to the same criticism or ambiguity of aword. `° Their fire shall be unquenchable, or is not quenched, their worm dieth not. They have no rest daynor night, they shall be tormented day_and, night for ever and ever;" Rev. aiv. 10, 11, and xx. 10. These expressions seem to carrywith them a more certain significationof the perpe- tual continuance of the punishment. Now can the tempter and the,deceiver of souls have so unhappy an influence over you, as topersuade you to venture onward in the paths of sin, to put off religion and delay your re- pentance, and neglect the means of salvation, in hopes that hereafter this , weak criticism, upon some of the threatenings, may take place before -the Judge of the whole .earth, and thus excuse or save you ? Is not such a sorry refuge and presumption a dangerous and dismal sign upon impenitent sinners, that sin and Satan have darkened your understanding, and confounded your judgment, as well as hardened your hearts, in order to your everlastingdestruction ? Answer II. Suppose the punishments of hell continue only for a long time, and not for an endless immortality, yet this time would certainly be found exceeding long for sinners to bear the torment even according to their own criticisms. Let us consider this matter under some par- ticulars. The Jewish dispensation, which is sometimes called everlasting, stood, near about fifteen hundred years, from Moses to Christ; and are ye content to lan- guish and groan under torments' and miseries, for fifteen hundred years, merely to satisfy your vicious appetites of pleasure for a few days or a few years of this mortal life ? Again, The rebellious sinners, who were destroyed at the flood, and their spirits, which were sent into the prison of hades or hell, were certainly confined there fohr and twenty hundred years: And if they were released then, as some imagine, by the preaching of Christ to them, it is a long and dreadful time to continue under the ven- geance of God ; and is it worth while for any man to continue in sin on earth, and to venture this length of punishment in hell ? What I build this computation upon, are some expressions of St. Peter ; 1 Pet. 19, 20. where Christ is said " to preach unto the spi-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=