the same with the book of remembrance. 3. The book of the ereatures, or creation, will be opened. 4. The book of providence will be opened. 5. The book of the scriptures will be opened, both of law and gospel. 6. The book of conscience in this are recorded the actions of men; and from thence are they to be brought forth upon occasion. 7. There is another book that will be opened; and that is the book of life, Rev. xxi. 27.

Now the dead will be judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works, Rev. xx. 12. This judgment out of the books, and according to works, is designed to shew with what accuracy and exactness, with what justice and equity, it will be executed, in allusion to statute books in courts of judicature, to be referred unto in any case of difficulty.

V. The circumstances of the judgment, as to time and place. 1. The time of it, will be after the resurrection. It is. often spoken of in scripture as though it would be quickly, particularly in Rev. xxii. 7—20. to alarm men, and keep up a constant expectation of it; He hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, Acts xvii. 31. II. The place. This is also uncertain. Some, because of certain passages in Joel iii. 2. 12. have thought of the valley Jehoshaphat; but no valley can be supposed large enough to hold ali that will be judged at the day of judgment. The two more probable opinions are, that the judgment will be either in the air or in the earth. I rather think it will be on earth.

VI. The properties of this judgment, as may be gathered from what has been said about it, and from express passages of scripture. 1. It is future, judgment to come, Acts xxiv. 25. 2. It is certain, Eccles. xi. 9. 3. It will be universal; none shall escape it. 4. It will be a righteous judgment, Rom. ii. 55. It will be the last judgment, 1 Cor. xv. 52. 6. It is called eternal judgment, Heb. vi. 2.

OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED.

WHEN the judgment is finished, and the sentence pro nounced, the wicked will go into everlasting punishment, Matt. xxv. 46. What that punishment will be, and the du ration of it, are the things to be considered.

I. Prove that there will be a state of punishment of wicked men in the future world. There is a punishment of the wicked in their souls, which takes place at death; as appears from the parable of the rich man, Luke xvi. 23. this will appear,-1. From the light of nature among the heathens; being owned and spoken of, not only by their poets, but by their philosophers, and those the more wise, grave, and serious among them. Tertulian, charges the heathens with borrowing these things from the sacred writings. "When we speak of God as a Judge, and threaten men with hell-fire, we are laughed at: but, says he, the poets and the philosophers erect a tribunal in hell, and speak of a river of fire there from whence says he, I beseech you, have they such like things, but from our mysteries?" 2. A state of punishment hereafter, appears from the impressions of guilt and wrath on the conscience of men now. Cicero says, Every man's sins distress him; their evil thoughts and consciences terrify them; these, to the ungodly, are their daily and domestic furies, which haunt them day and night." Such may be observed in Cain, Pharaoh, Judas, and other wicked persons. 3. This may be argued from the justice of God. Justices does not take place in this world; it seems, therefore, but just and reasonable, that there should be a change of things, 4. This is abundantly evident from divine revelation, Psal. ix. 17. Matt. v. 22-30. 5. This may be farther confirmed, from the examples of persons that already endure the punishment, as the fallen angels, Rev. xx. 10. The men of the old world, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. And the men of Sodom, Jude

verse 7.

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II. The names, words, and phrases, by which the place and state of future punishment are expressed; will still give a

further proof of it. 1. The names of the place; the scriptures make mention of it as a place of torment, Luke xvi. 28. and Judas is said to go to his own place. 1. It is called destruction, Rev. ix. 11. 2. Another name or word by which it is expressed, is Sheol, which is often rendered the grave; as in Gen. xlii. 38. yet in some places it seems as if it could not be understood of that, but of the state or place of punishment of the wicked; as in Psal. ix. 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell: the phrase being turned into it, denotes indignation, contempt, and shame. 3. Another name for hell is, Tophet; which was a place in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where the Israelites burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire, sacrificing them to Molech; and that the cries of the infants might not be heard to affect their parents, drums, or tabrets, were beat upon during the time: and from hence the place the name of Tophet, Toph signifying a drum, or tabret, Jer. vii. 31, 32. Tophet is ordained of old, &c. Isai. xxx. 33. 4. From Gehinnom, the valley of Hinnom, where Tophet was, is the word used in the New Testament, geenna, Matt. v. 22—30. where, as Diodorus Siculus relates, the inhabitants had a statue of Saturn, whose hands were put in such a position, that when children were put into them, they rolled down, and fell into a chasm, full of fire, a fit emblem of the fire of hell. 5. Sometimes this place is called the deep abyss, or bottomless pit, Rev. ix. 1, 11. 6. Another name is Hades, which signifies an invisible state, a state of darkness. The gates of hell, in Matt. xvi. 18 must mean something else, and not the gates of the grave. 7. Another word by which it is expressed, is Tartarus; and this also but in one place, and comprehended in a verb there used, 2 Pet. ii 4. God spared not the angels that sinned; but tartarosis, cast them down to tartarus, or hell. 11. There are words and phrases by which the future punishment of the wicked is expressed; and which may serve to give a further account of the nature of it.-1. It is represented as a prison; the spirits that were disobedient in the days of Noah, are expressly said to be in prison, 2 Pet. i. 4. 2. It is spoken of as a state of darkness, outer darkness, Matt.

viii. 12. 3. It is set forth by fire, Matt, v. 21. a furnace of fire, Matt. xiii. 42, 50. 4. It is expressed by a worm that never dies, Mark ix. 44-48. 5. This is what is called the second death, Rev. xxi. 8. 6. A variety of phrases is used, to signify the terribleness of the future punishment of the wicked; as by tearing them in pieces, as a lion tears his prey; by cutting them asunder, in allusion to punishments of this kind, as Agag was hewed to pieces by Sammuel; or to sacrifices, cut up when offered as victims; and by drowning men in perdition, which denotes the utter destruction of them; and by weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, through grief, malice, and envy. 7. By the wrath of God, which comes upon the children of disobedience.

III. The species and sorts of that punishment; or the parts of which it consists, and wherein it lies: it is usually distinguished into pana damna, punishment of loss; and pana sensus, punishment of sense. 1. There is the punishment of loss, which will consist of a privation of all good things. 1. Of God the chiefest good. 2. Of Christ, the light and life of men, the light of grace, and the light of glory. 3. Of the grace, peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost, of which they are destitute now, and will for ever be deprived of it. 4. Of the company of angels and saints: they will be tormented in the presence of the angels, without receiving any benefit by them, or relief from them, they will not have the least pity shewn them by God, angles or men; God will mock at their destruction; angels will applaud his righteous judgment, and the holy apostles and prophets, and all the saints, will rejoice ●ver them, because of the justice of God being glorified by it. 5. Of the kingdom of heaven, from whence they will be excluded, and of the glories and joys of it, of which they will be for ever deprived. 11. There is the punishment of sense, and which will lie both in body and soul. 1. The body: hence we often read of the whole body, and of the several members, of it with it, being cast into hell, Mark ix. 43-47. 2. The soul will be filled with a sense of wrath, which will be poured forth on the wicked, and burn like fire, Peab lxxix, 5.

IV. The degrees of this punishment; for it seems such there will be, since wicked men will be judged, and so punished, according to their evil works, whether more or fewer, greater or lesser. It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for many, Matt. xi. 20, 21.

What remains to be considered is, the duration of the punishment of the wicked in hell. It will always continue and never have an end, and is therefore called everlasting punishment, and everlasting destruction, Matt. xxv. 46. 2 Thess. i. 9. and this will admit of proof both from reason and revelation, from the light of nature, and from the sure word of prophecy. Lucretius says, that the fears of eternal punishment after death, were the cause of all the troubles and miseries of human life, until Epicurus, a man of Greece rose up, and delivered men from those fears and fancies, so that, according to him, till the times of Epicurus, this sentiment had always obtained among the heathens. From the sacred scriptures the eternity of future punishment is abundantly evident: as, 1. From the punishment of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those cities are now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 7. 2. From the sense and fears of sinners in Zion, expressed in Isai. xxxiii. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid; who among us shall dwell with everlasting burn. ings? 3. From the resurrection of the dead, and the issue of it, as described in Dan. xii. 2. Some of whom awake to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt. 4. From the sentence pronounced on the wicked, Matt. xxv. 41. to depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 5. From the execution of the sentence, Matt. xxv. 46. These shall go away into everlasting punishment; as the happiness of the saints in heaven is everlasting, and there is no reason to believe it ever will have an end; so the punishment of the wicked in hell will be everlasting. The opposition of the two states of the respective persons requires, that it should be understood in the same sense, and as of equal extent. 6.