634 / 674
814
1
}
E
ETERNAL DURATION
OF
[D1WC. X111.
possible
expectation
can there
be for
such criminals,
but
an
everlasting
continuance of
the
fiery
indignation
?
Here
it
will be
replied,
but
why
should
we
suppose,
and
much
more,
why should
we affirm,
the damned
will
never repent?
Are they
not
free
in
the
other
world
from
this
flesh
and blood, wherein
there are
so
many
unruly
passions and appetites
?
Are
they
not
far remote
from all
the temptations of
flesh
and
sense,
of intemperance,
am-
bition, and covetousness?
Have
they
not
understanding
to
see divine
truths
more clearly
than
in this world
?
Have
they not reason to
distinguish good and
evil,
and
free-
will to chuse
that
which
is
good
?
Will they
not
hate
all
sin, since they have been
so
long
taught
the mischief
of
sin
by their
sufferings
?
And
is
there
any
thing fitter than
their
agonies and
torture
by
fire,
to make
men know
avid
feel
the dreadful
evil
of
sinning against
God,
and awaken
them
to
repentance
?
To
this
I
answer,
let
us
judge
a
little concerning the
sinners
in
hell, by
the
practice
of
sinners on
earth. How
many
wretched
creatures
are there
who
have been long
imprisoned,
and perhaps
punished
for crimes
against the
state, and yet persist
in
their
rebellious temper, and are
never
convinced they were
in
the
wrong, so
far
as
to
Change
their treason into
sincere
submission,
repentance
and
obedience? Was
not
Pharaoh,
king
of
Egypt,
an
instance of
the stubbornness
and impenitence of
human
nature,
when in opposition to ten
dreadful
plagues be
would
still
pursue
the
flying
Israelites, and
destory
a
people
beloved
of God? Is not
hardness
and
enmity
against the governor often increased
by
the
severe
pu-
nishments that criminals
lie
under?
Have these punish-
ments any
sufficient
power to soften their hearts
into
true repentance?
What
though
they do
not
live
in
the midst
of
sensual
temptations, yet
who knows
how
far their
spirits,
having
been
immersed
in
flesh
and blood,
may
carry with
them
inward
raging
appetites
to those sinful sensualities and
defiling pleasures,
of
which they
are
for
ever
deprived
?
Let
me
ask again, have the devils ever
repented
in
al-
most
six
thousand years?
Are they not the
same enemies
to
God, and
his
glory,
and
his
image through
all
ages
?
And though the damned spirits
of
men
are absent
from
this
world,
and
their
evil
companions
on earth, yet are