643 / 674
...r.---T-
D,I9C.
klIï.
THE PUNISHMENTS
IN
HELL.
6:3
ment
the offender shall
be
exposed
to,
and
shall
be
obliged to
bear
when
it
is
inflicted
;
but
these
expres-
sions
in a law
do
not
oblige the
government to
inflict
that
sentence
with all its
terrors.
It
is
granted,
that
in
the
case
of
promises,
truth and
veracity oblige the promisee
to
fulfil
them
punctually, because
the right
of
the thing
promised
passes
over
to
that
other
person to
whom
the
promise
was
made, and he
bath
such a
right
to'
require
it,
that it
is
injustice
to
withhold
it
from him
;
and
there-
fore everlasting felicity must
be given
to the righteous
But
in
threatenings the
case
is
otherwise
;
for though the
full punishment
is
due to
sinners,
yet
they
will
never
require the execution
;
and
the
goodness
of God
,will
incline
,him
to relieve the
sufferer,
and
to
release
him
from the severity
of
such
punishment,
where
his
veracity
or
truth
does
not
forbid
it.
To
this
I
answer
two
ways
:
Answer
I.
I
will
not
debate
this
point of
law
now,
how far
a.
governor
of
sovereign and
absolute
authority
can dispense with
his own
threatenings, can omit
the
execution
of
them,
relax the degree
of threatened
punishment, or shorten the
duration of it
:
But
let
it
be
considered,
that
here
is
'not
only
the
threaten-
ing
of
a God,
the universal governor,
but
the pre
-
dietion
of
this
eternal
punishment,
by
a
God
who
can-
riot
lie.
God's
own
truth
and veracity are concerned
in
this case, since
his Son
Jesus,
who
is
the
greatest
of
his
messengers,
together
with
the prophets and
apostles,
have
in
the name
of God
often foretold,
that
these pu-
nishments shall
be
eternal
:
And
therefore
whatsoever an
absolute
governor
might
do, as to
shortening
the punish-
,ment .threatened, in a
way
of
mercy and
relaxation
;
yet
I
cannot
see
how
the
truth
and veracity
of
God
himself,
or the
veracity
of
his Son
Jesus
Christ,
who
is
the
great
prophet,
or
the
truth of
the
rest
of
his
prophets
and mes-
sengers
can
be
maintained,
if
this
punishment
bnot
executed according
to the many express
predictions
of
it.
These
all
agree
to tell
us,
.
by
inspiration
from heaven, in
(various forms
of
speech,
that
the
torments
of
hell shall
he
everlasting
;
and
as
.I
hinted, the man
Jesus,
who
pro-
nounced
this
eternal sentence
as
a
Lord and
Judge,
fore-
tels it also
as
a
prophet, that
the
execution
of
it
shall
be
to
all
everlasting.'
Answer
II.
Obstinate and impenitent sinners
have no
reason
to .expect,
that
the.goodness
of.
God
shod
release