631 THE'ETETt3ZAL DUR:ATTON O rDiSC. XITr.. their first rebellion, Jude, verse 6. ; and this is done by the wisdom and mercyof God to affright men from sin- ning, while we behold how those fallen 'spirits are ex- posed, and set forth as terrible examples for our warn- ing. And why may not the everlasting punishment of sinners among the children of men be made a standing monument of God's justice, to deter many other worlds from offendinghim ? Other worlds, I say; of unknown `creatures, which perhaps may inhabit the planetary globes rolling round the same sun as our earth does, and their state of trial perhaps is not yet begun, or it may behalf run out, and yet shall not be finished.for some thousands of years ? Or, perhaps, there are other worlds of spirits, and invisible incorporeal, intelligent creatures in a 'state of trial, may persevere in glorious innocence and complete happiness, to the eternal praise of their Maker's good- ness, and mayyet be kept in their constant duty and obe- dience, by having always in their view the eternal punish- ment of wicked men. See this subject treated of at large in a book called, " The Strength and Weakness of Human Reason? The counsels of God are far above our reach, and his dominions and governments are unknown to us. What if the great God will have creatures in some of his ter- ritories, who in themselves are weak and ready to fall, and may be deterred from sin and apostacy by such stand- ing manifestations of his hatred of it,, and his righteous vengeance against it ?. And since others have been monu- ments of warning to us, what if he please to -make this World of ours, when he has taken the few righteous out of it to heaven ; I say, what if he please to make the rest an everlasting spectacle of his justice and holiness toa hun- dred or a thousand other worlds; which may be utterly unknown to us ? And he may, for this end, reveal his transactions with mankind to those worlds, though he has not revealed much of their affairs to us. . T If I were to mention any other objection worthy of notice, I know of none but this, viz. " some learned men suppose it to have been the opinion of the primi- tive fathers," that souls departing from this world were sent into Hades, or the state of the dead, where the righteous rested,in a state of peace and hope till the re-. 4 e
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=