64.6 THE ETEANAL DURATION OF [DISC. xtll. manyhave been frighted out of their indolenceat first by the discovery of these everlasting horrors of conscience and agonies of soul ? The dread of the worm that never dies has affrighted their consciences from a course of sin: the fiery indignation which shall never be quenched has flashed in their bosoms from the lips of the preacher, and has set them all over trembling, and filled all their inward powers with .dismay and anguish: their tongue has broke into loud and earnest enquiries, Who shall .deliver me from this eternal death ? Ilow shall I escape this everlasting wrath to come And the Spirit of God by degrees has led them to Jesus, and his atoning blood, Ins gospel, his righteousness, and his converting grace, as the only wayof_deliverance and salvation. How unreasonable a ,thing is it for ministers in their preaching to soften these terrors of the Lord, to cut short these endless horrors and anguish, and. to mitigate the .miseriesof hell and damnation, .since even all that lengtl} and eternity in which Christ and his apostles preached these terrors, have not. been sufficient to reclaim man- kind from their iniquities ; but multitudes of them, in the face of all these threatenings, still persist in the broad way to. destruction and death? Can we possibly do any honour to the ministry of our blessed Lord, or is there any real service done to the .souls of men by our fond and vain reasonings to shorten these sorrows, and put a period to these threatened tor- ments? Will the blessed Jesus, when he sits on the throne of judgment, give us thanks for running counter to the language of his own ministry, and for daring to contradict his denounced vengeance? By the various expressions and representations of this matter in scripture, in such. solemn and dreadful lan- guage, must I not suppose that the blessed God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, designed and intended that man- kind should believe the pains and punishments of hell will be eternal? Can I then be censured for endeavour- ing to establish and promote the awful doctrine which both God the Father and his Son intended should be believed, and by which they designed to guard both the law and the gospel? A doctrine which was left on record to deter sinners from the paths of sin and de- struction, and to awaken the souls and consciences of men tó. repentance ? On the other , hand, can those
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