XIV. SERM exclamation, Oh that my words were now written, that they were printed in a Book! that they were graven with an iron pen, and lead, in the Rock for ever! fo This Pfalm, which contains in it fo important a Prophecy of Chrift, is diftinguished by a *Michtam * Title prefixed at the Head of it, which in the Original fignifies a Memorial engraved on Stone or Marble for perpetuity of Ages. BUT to proceed. CONCERNING that particularly remarkable Phrafe, Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell; 'tis to be observed, that though in our present language, the word Hell, in common Speech, does Now always fignify The State of the Damned; yet in This Text, 'tis evident, it cannot be understood in That fignification. For, that David was not condemned to That Place of Torment, is agreed on All hands: And that Chrift, of whom David was a Type and Prophet, did not, by defcending into Hell, enter into the Place appointed for the Final Punishment of the wicked, iş very evident both from Scripture and Reafon. IN IN the Scriptures of the Old Teftament, SE R M. the word which we render Hell, fre- XIV. quently fignifies only The State of the Dead in general. Thus Pf. lxxxix. 47. according to the Tranflation in our Common Prayer; What man is he that liveth, and Shall not fee Death; and shall be deliver his Soul from the hand of Hell? is, in our Translation in the Bible, fhall be deliver his Soul from the hand of the Grave? And what Solomon affirms, Prov. xxvii. 20. that Hell and Deftruction are never full, is plainly the very fame in fenfe, with what in ch. xxx. 15. is Thus expreffed; There are three things that are never fatisfied, yea four things fay not, it is enough: The Grave, and fo on. In the New Testament; the word, Hell, fometimes fignifies the Place appointed for the Final Punishment of the Wicked, and at other times it denotes only The State of the Dead in general. But This ambiguity, is in our own language only, and not in the Original: For whenever the Place of Torment is spoken of, the word Hell, in the Original, is always Gehennah: But when 33. XIV. SER M. when only the State of the Dead in general is intended, 'tis always expreffed by a quite different Name, which though We render by the fame word Hell, yet its fignification is at large The Invifible State. Thus when St James fays, that the Jam. iii. 6. Tongue, meaning a wicked and profane Tongue, is a world of iniquity, and fetteth on Fire the course of Nature, and is fet on Fire of Hell: And when our SaMat. xxiii. viour fays to the Pharifees, Ye ferpents, ye generation of Vipers, how can ye escape the Damnation of Hell? and tells them, that when they have gained a Profelyte, they ver. 15. make him twofold more the child of Hell, then themselves: And when he admonishes ch. x. 28. his Difciples to fear Him, who, after he has killed, is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell; and warns them, that whofoever shall fay unto his Brother, Thou Fool, Matt v. fhall be in danger of Hell-Fire; and advifes them, If thy right Eye offend thee, (that is, if the Defire of any thing as dear to thee as thy Eyes, be in danger to draw thee into Sin,) pluck it out and caft it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that 22. and ver. 29. XIV. one of thy Members should perish, and not S ER M. that thy whole Body should be caft into Hell: In all These Paffages, I fay, the word Hell is, in the Original, Gehennah; which always fignifies The State of the Damned. But in Other Places, where we, in our Rendring, still make ufe of the fame word, Hell; the Original has a very different "Ad word, which fignifies only The Invisible State, or the State of the Dead in general. Thus Matt. xi. 23. Thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto Heaven, fhalt be brought down to Hell: The Meaning is ; That Great and Proud City should be levelled with the Duft, and disappear utterly as Those who have been long buried in the Grave. Again: When the Rich man in Hell, lift up his eyes, being in Torments, Luke xvi. 23; the word in the Original denotes at large That Invifible State of the Dead in general, wherein were both Abraham and Lazarus in his Bosom, (and the Paradife wherein the Penitent Thief was to be with our Saviour,) as well as the Souls of the Wicked in their Torments. Again: When our Lord promifes, Matt. xvi. SER M. XVI, 18; that the Gates of Hell Should XIV. not prevail against his Church; the ~* πύλαι words, (Gates of Hell,) properly and strictly rendred, fignifie The Paffage to ady. the Invisible State, that is, Death: And the Senfe of his Promife is, that even Death itself, (which is the utmost Extent of all Perfecution from those who kill the Body, and, after That, have no more that they can do,) fhould never be able to fupprefs his Doctrine, and extinguish his Religion in the World. Lastly; When 'tis declared in the Prophecy concerning the end of the World, Rev. xx. 13 and 14, that Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in Them; and that, after the Judgment, Death and Hell were caft into the Lake of Fire; 'tis very evident, that Hell in Thefe Paffages cannot poffibly fignify The State of the Damned; but That State of departed Souls in general, from whence All shall be fummoned at the Great Day of Accounts; and which State of Death, or Death itSelf, after the final Judgment, shall be no more. And thus therefore likewife in the words |