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THE ETERNAL DURATION
OR
IDISC.
For
as
the
potter,
if
he make a
vessel,
and
it
be dis-
torted
in
his hands,
or broken, again
forms
it a
-new;
but
if
he
bath gone
so
far as
to throw
it
into the fur-
nace of
fire,
he
can
no
more bring any remedy
to
it
:
So
we,
whilst
we
are
in this world,
should
repent
with
our
whole
heart
for whatsoever
evil
we
have
done
in
the
flesh,
while we have
yet the time
of
repentance,
that
we
may
be saved
by
the
Lord.
For
after
we
shall
have departed
out of
this world,
we
shall
no longer
be able
either to
confess
our
sins,
or
repent
in
the other."
The
English
reader
may find
this in
Archbishop Wake's Translation
of
the
most Primitive
Fathers.
.
Justin
Martyr,
who
is
also one
of
the
most
early
wri-
ters,
in the
eighth section
of
his
"
First
Apology," tells
us,
"
that Plato
teaches
that
Rhadamanthus and Minos
punished
the
unrighteous
who
came
before
them
;
and
that
we
Christians
say
the
same
thing
will
be
done,
but
it
is
by Christ
;
when their
bodies
are
joined
with
their
souls,
and
they shall
be
punished with
eternal punish-
went,
and
not
for the period
of
a thousand
years only,
as
Plato
said."
This same writer,
also,
in
very many
places
of
his
works,
talks
of eternal
punishment,
and
of
punishment
for
an
endless
age,
and
eternal
fire,
with
eternal
sensation or pain.
Irenuus,
also,
after
him, as well as
Ignatius and
Poiycarp
before
him,
speak
of this'fire
which
is
not
to
be quenched,
and
of
death and punishment, not tempo-
ral,
but
eternal.
So
that it
is
really an
imposition
upon
unlearned readers
to
pretend,
that
the
doctrine
which
denies
the
eternity of
the punishments
of
hell,
was
the
common sense
of
the primitive fathers, though
it
is
granted
that
Origen, and
some others,
might
be
of
this
opinion.
To conclude
Since
the
word has expressly assured
us,
that
these
punishments
of
sinful men shall be
eter-
nal,
it
is
not
for
us
to
hearken
to
any
other
doctrines,
and neglect what
God
has
said
;
nor
is
it
fit
for
us
to
dispute
the
wisdom
and
justice of
divine
conduct,
nor
to impeach
his
goodness.
" Let
God
be true,
though
every man be
a liar,"
Rom,
iii.
4.; let God
be
wise,
though every
man be a
fool;
let God
be
just
and
right-
eous
in
all his
ways,
though
man vainly
murmur
against
him,
and
.raise
these noisy
and
feeble
remonstrances