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â3
THE ETERNAL DURATION
Or
(nrsc,
XIII.
great
God,
who
is
infinitely
offended,
is
bound to
finish
his
wrath
one.day, and
return
in mercy to the offenders,
whether
they
return
to
him
by
repentance
or
no.
What
!
may
the
criminal rebel
creature
with
impudence and
spite affront the
Creator
infinitely, and must
not
the
Creator
have
a right
to
demand equal vengeance
?
No,
he
must not,
according
tel
these writers.;
For if
the
es,
sential goodnesss
,of
God
do
certainly
forbid
eternal
punishments,
these absurdities,
as gross as they
appear,
will be
the necessary con,sequents,of
it
:
And though
the
creature
be
not restrained
from sinning, yet the
blessed.
God
will
be
utterly restrained
from
punishing
;
And
is
this
a
doctrina
fit
to be believed
by
Christians,
onto
be
taught
by
those
who
have
no commission for
it
from
their
Bible
?
Or, indeed,
will
the light
of
,nature
and reason
ever justify and support
this
sort of
pleading
?
Objection
the sixth
is
drawn
from
the
wisdom
of God
'in
his
government
of
the
world.
Surely,
will
the
sinner
say,
it
was
for
some
valuable end that
God
at
first
pro-,
nounced
punishment
to.attend
the
sins
of
his
creatures,
for he does
not
afflict willingly,
nor
delight to grieve
the
children
of
men,"
Lam.
iii. 33.
His
design
must
be
therefore
pne
of
these
two
things
:.
either
to
correct
and
reform
the
sinner
whom
he punishes,
and reduce
then
to
their
duty, in
order
to
partake
of
his
mercy;
or
else
it
must
be to
maintain
a
public
monument and demonstra-
tion
of
his
justice,
and to
support
the
-
authority of
his
law,
and
honour
of
his
government,
that
he
might
deter
other creatures
from sinning
against
him..
But
when
this world
is
come to its
period,
-and
his
governing
pro-
vidence
over
it
is
finished,
and
all
the
means
of
grace
are
ended,
the first end,
viz.
correction
and
reformation
ceases
:
There
is no
more
hope
of
reforming such sin
-
ners
as these.
And what
further
need-
can there
be
of
the secondary
design
of
punishment,
viz.
the .demon
-,
stratiòn of
his
justice
in so
terrible
a
manner
to restrain,
ethers
from-sinning, when
the
state
of
our trial
is
ended,
.
añd
all
mankind are sent either to
heaven or
hell
?
Answer
1.
I
might here reply,
by
way
of
concession,
that
if
there were
no
other intelligent
-
creatures
to,
be
witnesses
of
these
eternal demonstrations of God's
boIiuess, his
justice,
and
his
hatred
of
sin
;
and,if
God
ibiseif
was
the
only being who
knew
of
these
eternal