effect, and they know they CANNOT -There is everything to the contrary. We may here, in contrast to the above, profitably notice the titles given to the wicked, and the terms used to designate their sufferings in the future world. Among these titles we find the following: “Ye are of your father the Devil" -John viii. 44. “rebellious children" Is. xxx. 1. "lying children"-Ib. 9. v. "children of transgression, seed of falsehood”—Ib. lvii. 4. "children of the wicked one"-Matt. xiii. 38. "children of disobedience" Eph. ii. 2. "children of wrath" Ib. ii. 3. "cursed children”—2 Pet. ii. 14. "children of the Devil"— 1 John iii. 10. It is to be observed, that, altho' these titles naturally belong to those who subsequently become "the children of God," yet of those who remain in their natural condition, they are the permanent designations-characteristic of them in this world and in the world to come. As it regards the terms employed to point out the future sufferings of the wicked, it is certain, the Scriptures speak of them, not as corrcciive, but as punitive, as the demerit of crimes, under the idea, also, of ever-continuance, and in such terms, which, as we have already shown, necessarily exclude all idea of their being a merciful visitation, and bar out all hope of the final restoration or salvation of the suffering party. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance" (mark this--"taking vengeance") on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished" (not corrected) with everlasting (not limited) destruction (a strange term, surely, for fatherly chastisements!) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power;" 2 Thess. i. 7-9. never to be restored to that "presence" or that "glory." "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and loose himself, or be cast away." Luke ix. 25. "And shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Pet. ii. 12. "We are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul." Heb. x. 39. "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. iii. 7. "To whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever." Ib. ii. 17. "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. x. 28. "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy." James ii. 13. Now read these expressions again, "destruction, everlasting destruction, lost, castaway, perdition, utterly perish, judgment without mercy," &c. and we ask, with what propriety can they be applied to the future punishment of the wicked, if, that punishment be corrective and only designed for their good? In fact, if the views of the Universalists, on this subject, be correct, "the damned in hell are no more cast away, lost, destroyed,-they no more perish, or suffer perdition,-than any of God's elect (obedient believers) are "cast away" &c. while they are in this world. Hell is no more a place of destruction than this world. The wicked in hell are no more vessels of wrath filled (by themselves) to destruction, than the saints are in this world. The damned are under discipline; so are even the most virtuous and holy, while in this life; yet they (the virtuous) are not lost, cast away, rejected as reprobate silver, or destroyed by God; but are, kept as the apple of his eye. And as the (supposed) means of grace, under which the damned are placed, are (thought by the Universalists to be) far more adapted certainly to secure and promote their greatest good, than any means which we enjoy in this state;-(for the Universalists imagine the future means are absolutely infalliable;) to consider and to speak of them (the damnned) as lost, castaway, destroyed, &c. because they are under those means, is to the highest degree absurd. They are just as much further removed from a state, which can justly be called destruction, perdition, &c. than they were, while in this world, as the means of grace which they (are supposed to) enjoy in hell are, (according to the Universalist belief,) more powerful and effectual to prepare them for happiness, than those means which they enjoyed in this world. "Suppose a man seized with some dangerous disease, and a variety of means is used for his recovery, but in vain. Suppose it appears, that if no more effectual means be employed, he never will be recovered. Suppose fur ther, that at length, an entirely different course is taken with him, a course which is not only far more likely than the former to be successful; but concerning which there is absolute certainty, that it will be successful: I ask, can the man now under the operation of these most excellent and infallible means, with any truth be said to be lost, to be cast away, to be destroyed, &c? Or if those terms must be applied to one or the other of those situations, in which we have supposed him to be at different times; to which of them (the former or the latter) are they applied with the least truth and reason?” (“) The latter certainly.-Now apply this to Universalism. Its abettors affirm that the future means will be infallibly efficacious; then the terms lost, destroyed, cast away, will not apply to the latter case at all; but if they must apply to either, they will apply with more propriety to the present condition than to the future state of the disobedient. Yet we know them who have said of certain wicked characters, "the latter end is worse than the beginning," 2 Pet. ii. 20. "And the last state of that man is worse then the first." Luke xi. 26. We must, therefore, either give up Universalism, or its views of the corrective nature of future punishment, or expunge from our Bibles the phrases (6) President Edward's Treatise. soul lost, perished, destroyed, &c. for they are in direct contradiction one to the other. So evident is this, that the "Destructionists," who reject the doctrine of eternal misery, and in opposition to sacred testimony, plead for a literal destruction, or annihilation, taking the term in its popular sense, of the wicked, have been compelled to reject the notion of the corrective nature of future punishment, assigning the following, among other reasons for their rejection;-" the nature of future punishment, which the scripture terms death, determines the meaning of the words everlasting, eternal, and for ever, &c. as denoting endless duration, because no law ever did or can inflict the punishment of death for a limited period; that the punishment cannot be corrective, because no man was ever put to death either to convince his judgment or to reform his conduct."(7) Again:-Punitive dispensations of Providence do not necessarily imply fatherly chastisements, as the Universalists contend they do. Punishments have been inflicted in this world that were not designed for the spiritual good of the parties concerned. Instance, the destruction of the old world by the flood. Was that a fatherly chastisement? Our Saviour declares they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, living in the greatest unconcern, "and knew not until the flood came and took them all away?" Matt. xxiv. 39. Now suppose that some cried unto the Lord and were saved, yet, it is certain, all were not saved; for "the spirits" of some of them were in "prison" two thousand years afterwards, (8) 1 Pet. iii. 19, and to them, surely "the besom of destruction," was not a fatherly visitation. The entire history of this awful transaction is point black against the contrary belief. "God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth. It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart. (7) Vide Evan's Sketch. (8) See Chapter IX. The Lord said I will destroy man from the face of the earth. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things, not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world." Gen. vi. 5-8. Heb. xi. 7. Instance, also, the cities of the plain. Their inhabitants were not visited in mercy :— "God turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly" 2 Pet. ii. 6. "Sodom and Gomorrha-are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" Judge 7 v.; referring to the awful condition of their inhabitants in eternity as well as in time. Instance again the case of Ananias and Saphira. The former was thus charged, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? thou has not lied unto men but unto God" on "hearing these words" he "fell down and gave up the ghost and great fear came on all that heard these things." The moment the lie was out of Saphira's mouth, she was dead. Acts v. 1-11. The same was the case with "Lot's wife;" no sooner had she disobeyed, than her punishment overtook her, and, as a monument of Divine displeasure, she became a pillar of salt. Gen. xix 26. In this view was it regarded by Our Lord; for, as a warning, as an instance, not of fatherly correction, but of exemplary punishment, he exhibited her history to his own disciples, with the solemn admonition, "Remember Lot's wife." Luke xvii 32. Instance, once more, the destruction of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their punishment was not designed for their spiritual good. "For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." 16. 22. : 1 Thess. ii. Luke xxi. "For these be the days of vengeance.” "And when he was come near, he beheld the City, and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy |