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pISc. XItt.]
THE
PUNISHMENTS IN
HELL.
sá
punishments,
I
acknowledge
I
cannot
see sufficient
rea-
son for this endless
duration of
them
;
I
cannot
give
any
probable
account
why
creatures
who
are never
to
be
corrected
and reformed, should
be
tormented
for ever
in
secret
;
God perfectly
knows his
holiness
and justice,
without
such
monuments
of it
;
and
since he has
asserted
this
punishment,
I
think there must
be some
creatures to
receive
a
moral influence
from
the
knowledge
of
it.
Ans.
2.
When there
is
a
representation
made
of
the
pu-
nishment
of
the
worshippers
of
the beast
in
Rev.
xiv. 10.
that
" They
shall
drink
of
the
wine
of
the
wrath
of
God,
which is
poured out
without mixture,
and they shall be
tormented
with
fire
and brimstone, and the smoke
of
their torment
ascendeth
for
ever and ever,
it
is
in
the
presence
of
the
holy angels
as
well as in
the presence
of
the lamb."
Angels,
and other
innocent
beings may
im-
prove
such
a sight
to
valuable
purposes.
Objection the
seventh,
when
we
remember
that Jesus
Christ
himself bath assured
us,
that but
few
shall
be
saved,
and
that
the
broad
way
is
full of
sinners
running
down to
destruction
and
death
;
if
we
suppose these
pu-
nishments to
be endless, some will be
ready to
say,
What!
shall
the
greatest
part of
God's
creatures
be
made
miserable
for ever
and
ever
?
,
Is
this
consistent
with the
wisdom and goodness
of
the blessed
God,
to form
such
an
immense multitude
of
souls dwelling
in
bodies, to make
them
for ever miserable
?
What
will
a
God of
goodness
bave to prove
his goodness
to
his
creatures,
if
far
the
greatest
part
of
them
are left
in
everlasting sorrows
?
Answer.
The
far
greatest
part of
the
creation
of
G
od
may
be
holy and happy still
:
For
this
.
world
of
ours,
even all mankind,
is
a
very
small
portion
of
God's
im-
mense dominions; and
when
the
transactions
of
our
earth, and God's present government
of
it
shall be
finished, he
has a
thousand
other
dominions among
the
planets and
stars, which has been
proved
by
the
reason
of
men
to
a
great
degree
of
probability
;
and
these he
governs
by
righteous
laws
:
and though
he has
not re-
vealed much
of
them to
us
in this
life,
yet
he
has
disco-
vered something
of
this kind in
his own word.
He
has
acquainted
us
with his
wise
and
righteous government
Aver
fallen angels,
,arid
what
was
their
sin,
viz.
their
pride
and ambition,
and what
was
their punishment
for