648 THE EtERNAL, DURATION OF FDISG. RT1tc. end? Can ye imagine that such vain tidings, such sooth Mpg flattery, will ever melt them to repentance and love, when all the grace of the gospel, mingled with the - blood and tears of the Son of God will ,not do it? Would not this manner of preaching rather encourage then to run on still in their rebellions, and make them more regard - less of their highest interest? Would it not tempt them to give a loose to their" vilest inclinations, and all the flagrant and abominable enormities of their own hearts, when they shall be told that these punishments, which the Bible calls everlasting, shall one day come to .an end? Besides, I believe it has been observed in every age, that the fears. of this worm which never dies,. and this eternal fire which shall never be quenched, have been made abundantly useful in the providence of God to lay a powerful restraint on the unruly vices of some sinners, who have never been awakened and drawn into saving penitence, or reclaimed to a life of sincere holiness ; and if the restraint of this terror were taken away, how much more would all iniquity abound among those who have no inward principle of goodness? Let us proceed then to preach the same terror which the blessed Jesus thought not unworthy of his ministry; and may the providence, and the grace of God give success to our labours, both for the restraining the extravagant vices of the Wicked, for the saving conversion of many sinners, and for a guard and restraint to- the young and wavering chris- tians. * The late Doctor Thomas Burnet, in his Latin Treatise of the ra State of the Dead, and those who rise again," opposes the doctrine of the eter- nity of future punishments, and shews who of the ancient fathers seems to be of the same opinion with him: but he tells- us, that these ancient fathers, when they treated of this subject, often gave the same advice to others, which he himselfgives in these words. " Whatsoever you deter- mine within yourself and in your own breast, concerning these punish- ments, whether they are eternal or no, yet you ought to use the common- doctrine and the common language when you preach or speak to the people, especially those of the lower rank, who are ready to run head- long into vice, and are to be restrained from evil only by the fear of punishment: and even among good christians there are infants to be nourished with milk; nor is their diet to be rashly changed, lest through intemperance they fall into diseases. . nd he adds in the margin, " Whosoever shall translate these senti- ments into our mother tongue, I shall think it was done with an evil de-
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