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present life is the allotted scene of human probation; and that the judgment of the great day will determine the moral characters of men, and fix unalterably their condition in a future, world. In the parables of our Lord, the statement is, that at the judgment, the tares and the chaff are to be separated, never more to be mixed. The wicked are to be rejected; they are to perish. Our text declares that they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. The descriptions of the New Testament respecting future punishment are figurative; but they are of a nature the most opposed to the supposition that the wicked will be recovered to virtue and happiness. The tares and the chaff are to be cast into fire that will not be quenched. The wicked will die the second death-they will be consumed-they will perish. Will those figures, will this language accord with the doctrine of universal restoration? Besides, there are particular texts which directly militate with the doctrine. Our Saviour himself expressly declares, that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. He denounces a wo on Judas, and declares that it would have been good for him never to have been born. St. Paul informs us, "if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary." St. John says there is a sin unto death, for which men are not to pray. With what pertinence, or what meaning, do the sacred writers affirm, that the wicked will

perish, that they will be rejected, destroyed and lost; if they all are finally to be saved? Be the wish ever so strong that the doctrine of universal salvation may be true, for myself I cannot embrace it, because I cannot find scriptural authority for its support. If God has intentions of mercy for the wicked in a future world; he has not, to my under. standing, revealed them in the gospel.

SERMON XXVIII.

ON THE ANNIHILATION OF THE INCORRIGIBLY WICKED.

MATTHEW x. 28.

Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

IN discoursing on the subject of future punishment, I have discussed the doctrine of endless misery, and of universal restoration. We are now to review that of absolute extinction, viz.

3. Future punishments will be of limited duration, and will terminate in the annihilation of the wicked.

This branch of our subject has been canvassed with great ability by several English divines. I shall attempt little more than to compress their arguments and observations within limits suited to a publick discourse. Judging of their remarks by

the test of scripture, my candid hearers, you will form your own opinions on the authority of revela

tion.

The declaration of the Old Testament is, "The soul that sinneth shall die." Jesus Christ, the me diator of the new covenant, in our text cautions us, "Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." St. Paul, in the letter and spirit of both Old and New Testa ment, informs us that, "the wages of sin is death;" that "if we live after the flesh, we shall die," &c. Let us then in the first place inquire into the meaning of the word death: and examine whether we are to understand the word, when connected with future punishments, in a literal or a figurative sense.

Death, when applied to our present existence, signifies the privation of life. When this term is applied to the soul, or to a future mode of existence, if understood in a strict or literal sense, it must mean the loss of that existence, that is, annihilation. A being cannot in strictness be said to die, unless he be deprived of a life which he before possessed. When therefore this word is used by the sacred writers to express the future punishment of wicked men, if understood literally, it cannot mean merely that they shall be excluded from the happiness of heaven-this they never enjoyed; nor can it mean, that they shall be kept forever in existence, that they may forever feel the severity of divine vengeance. To form an opinion of the meaning of any writer, we ought not to depart from the strict and proper sense of words, unless obvious reasons ren

der it necessary. Whoever then considers the word death, when applied to sinners in a future world, to signify an eternal life of misery, must assign some substantial reason why a sense so opposite to its strict meaning should be adopted.

Let us next inquire, whether a figurative sense of the term death, when applied to the future punishment of wicked men, is necessary to render the lan guage of scripture on this subject consistent with its general principles. Do the scriptures any where teach us, in plain and simple language, that wicked men shall for an endless duration be kept alive in a state of misery? If they do, we must understand death, when applied to this subject, in a limited and figurative sense. But what passage of the New Testament states expressly that the wicked shall be preserved in a state of endless misery? If there be no such passage found, then surely we ought not to advance the doctrine on the authority of revelation. the sacred writers, say the advocates for the doctrine of annihilation, have made use of various terms on the subject under consideration. They describe the punishment of the wicked by calling it a deatha destruction-a corruption-a fire that consumes and burns up the substances that are thrown into it— a worm which never dies-and a fire that is not quenched. Add to these, an everlasting destruction-an everlasting fire-an everlasting judgment— an everlasting punishment-a blackness of darkness forever; and, if those passages in the 14th and 20th chapters in Revelation relate to the final judgment, a torment forever and ever. But when the strict

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