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THE ETERNAL DURATION.
OF
[DTSC.
RITT.
sins
are
equal,
and
will
require equal punishment,"
for
there are
no
different degrees
of
infinity,
or
in things
which
are
infinite.
But our
Saviour has
taught us, that
there are certain various
degrees
of
punishment
as
well
as
of
sin
:
He
assures
us,
"
that it
shall
be
more
tolera-
ble for
the inhabitants
of
Sodom
and
Gomorrha,
in
the
day
of judgment, than
it
shall be for
Capernaum
and
Bethsaida," where
he
had preached
and wrought
his
won-
ders;
Luke
x.
1
e
-15.
and the reason
is
plain,
viz.
be-
cause the
sins
of
Sodom were less
than
theirs.
And
it
is
very easy to answer this
pretence or
objection
about
the
equality
of
all sins,
for
sins may have different
degrees
of
guilt and aggravation
as
to the act, where the
object
is
the
same,
whether this object
be finite or infi-
nite
;
as
the
murder
of a
father or
a
king,
is
a
much
greater
crime than
a
reproach or slander east
on
the
same persons.
So
the
wilful
hatred of God and
blas-
phemy against
him,
with
continued
malice and public
violent
opposition
to his name,
or
law,
or
gospel,
are
far
greater
sins
than a
single
neglect of
his daily worship
for
fear of persecution, or
a
distrusting
his
providence,
though
both
have
the same infinite
being,
that
is,
God,
for
their' object; and
in this sense,
there
is
a
sort
of
infi-
nity
in
each
of
the crimes.
And
accordingly punishments
may be
proportioned
to
every
crime,
for
they may differ
greatly in
the degree
of
severity and torture, though
they may be
all
equal or
eternal
in
the duration.
Sodom
and Gomorrha, Caper
-
naum
and
Bethsaida,. may all suffer
infinite or everlasting
sorrow,
and yet
the
degrees
of
their
pain may be
exceed
-
ing different
all
the
while.
They
may have the
same
infinity
of
duration, though
very
different
as
to
the in-
tenseness
or degree
of
the pain.
Argument
III.
If
the iniquities committed
in
this
life
were
not
punished with
torment
which
is
everlasting, yet
the damned
in hell
are
ever sinning
'against
God, and there-
fore
they
provoke the
vengeance
of God
to
continue
his
punishing
handupon
them
for
ever.
The
law
of
God
in all
its demands
of
duty, its
prohibitions
of
sin,
as
well as
in
its sanctions
of
punishment,
continues for ever
in
force in
heaven,
and earth, and
hell,
and
we see
not
how
it
can
be
abrogated where
it
arises from
the
very
nature
of God
and a creature
:
" And cursed
is
he
that
continues not