SERMON XL.

HELL.

REVELATION xiv. 11.

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.

:

VIOLENT diseases require violent re- angels, that assist in our assemblies, for medies. This is an incontestable maxim in awhile leave us to attend to the miseries of the science of the human body, and it is the damned! I speak literally; I wish these equally true in religion, the science that re- miserable beings could show you for a mogards the soul. If a wound be deep, it is in ment the weight of their chains, the voracity vain to heal the surface, the malady would of their flames, the stench of their smoke. become the more dangerous, because it would| Happy! if struck with these frightful objects, spread inwardly, gain the nobler parts, con- we imbibe a holy horror, and henceforth opsume the vitals, and so become incurable. pose against all our temptations the words of Such a wound must be cleansed, probed, cut, our text, 'the smoke of their torment, ascendand cauterized and softening the most ter-eth up for ever and ever!' rible pains by exciting in the patient a hope of being healed, he must be persuaded to endure a momentary pain in order to obtain a future firm established health. Thus in religion; when vice has gained the heart, and subdued all the faculties of the soul, in vain do we place before the sinner a few ideas of equity; in vain do we display the magnificence of the heavens, the beauties of the church, and the charms of virtue; the arrows of the Almighty' must be fastened in him, Job vi. 4, terrors, as in a solemn day, must be called round about' him, Lam. ii. 22, and 'knowing the terrors of the Lord,' we must persuade the man, as the holy Scriptures express it.

My brethren, let us not waste our time in declaiming against the manners of the times. Let us not exaggerate the depravity of Christian societies, and pass encomiums on former ages by too censoriously condemning our own. Mankind have always been bad enough, and good people have always been too scarce. There are, however, we must allow, some times, and some places, in which Satan has employed more means, and has striven with more success to execute his fatal design of destroying mankind than in others. Observe this reflection. A violent malady must have a violent remedy; and this, which we bring you to-day, certainly excels in its kind. The Holy Spirit conducts us to-day in a road different from that in which he formerly led the Hebrews; and, to address you properly, we must change the order of St. Paul's words, and say, Ye are not come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem: but ye are come unto a burning fire, unto blackness, and darkness, and tempests, chap. xii. 22. We are going to place before your eyes eternity with its abysses, the fiery lake with its flames, devils with their rage, and hell with its horrors.

Great God! suspend for a few moments the 'small still voice of thy gospel!' 1 Kings xix. 12. For a few moments let not this auditory hear the church shouting, Grace, grace unto it! Zech. iv. 7. Let the blessed

I have borrowed these words of St. John. In the preceding verses he had been speaking of apostates and idolaters, and them he had particularly in view in this; 'If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment,' adds the apostle, in the text, "ascendeth up for ever and ever.'

But do not think this sentence must be restrained to these sort of sinners. It is denoun ced against other kinds of sinners in other passages of Scripture. His fan is in his hand,' said the forerunner of Jesus Christ, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner: but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,' Matt. iii. 12.

It shall not be, then, to apostates and idolaters only that we will preach to-day; although, alas! was it ever more necessary to speak to them than now? Did any age of Christianity ever see so many apostetes as this, for which providence has reserved us? O! could I transport myself to the ruins of our churches! I would thunder in the ears of our brethren, who have denied their faith and religion, the words of our apostle; If any shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, man worship the beast, and his image, he and the smoke of his torment shall ascend up for ever and ever!'

We will consider our text in a more general view, and we divide our discourse into three parts.

I. We will prove that the doctrine of eter nal punishment is clearly revealed.

II. We will examine the objections, which reason opposes against it; and we will show, that there is nothing in it incompatible with the perfections of God, or the nature of man.

III. We will address tho subject to such as admit the truth of the doctrine of eternal

punishments: but live in indolence, and unaffected with it. This is the whole plan of

this discourse.

conflagration, which they say, is the gehenna, or hell-fire, of which Scripture speaks, Matt. v. 22, will be annihilated with the devils and the fires of hell; so, that, according to them, nothing will remain in nature but the abode of happy spirits.

Such are the suppositions of those, who ope pose the doctrine we are going to establish. Let us endeavour to refute them.

1. Scripture gives no countenance to this absurd opinion, that the wicked shall have no part in the resurrection and judgment. What could St. Paul mean by these words,

I. We affirm, there is a hell, punishments finite in degree: but infinite in duration. We do not intend to establish here in a vague manner, that there is a state of future rewards and punishments, by laying before you the many weighty arguments taken from the sentiments of conscience, the declarations of Scripture, the confusions of society, the unanimous consent of mankind, and the attributes of God himself; arguments which placing in the clearest light the truth of a judg-Despisest thou the riches of the goodness ment to come, and a future state, ought for ever to confound those unbelievers and libertines, who glory in doubting both. We are going to address ourselves more immediately to another sort of people, who do not deny the truth of future punishments: but who diminish the duration of them; who either in regard to the attributes of God, or in favour of their own indolence, endeavour to persuade themselves, that if there be any punishments after death, they will neither be so general, nor so long, nor so terrible, as people imagine. Of this sort was that father in the primitive church, who was so famous for the extent of his genius, and at the same time for the extravagance of it; admired on the one hand for attacking and refuting the errors of the enemies of religion, and blamed on the other for injuring the very religion that he defended, by mixing with it errors monstrous in their kind, and almost infinite in their number. He affirmed, that eternal punishments were incompatible both with the perfections of God, and that instability, which is the essential character of creatures; and mixing some chimeras with his errors, he added, that spirits, after they had been purified by the fire of hell, would return to the bosom of God; that at length they would detach themselves from him, and that God to punish their inconstancy would lodge them again in new bodies, and that thus eternity would be nothing but periodical revolutions of time. Such also were some Jewish Rabbies, who acknowledge, in general, that there is a hell: but add, there is no place in it for Israelites, not even for the most criminal of them, excepting only those who abjure Judaism; and even these, they think, after they have suffered for one year, will be absolutely annihilated.

of God? after thy hardness, and impenitent heart, dost thou treasure up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelalation of the righteous judgment of God?' Rom. ii. 4, 5. What does he mean by these words, 'We must all appear before the judg ment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad? 2 Cor. v. 10. What does St. John intend by these words, 'I saw the dead small and great, stand before God, the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and they were judged (every man) according to their works; and whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire!' Rev. xx. 12, 13. 15. What meant Jesus Christ, when he said, 'The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation?' John v. 28, 29. Any thing may be glossed over, and varnished: but was ever gloss more absurd than that of soine, who pretend, that the resurrection spoken of in the last quoted words is not-to be understood of a literal proper resurrection: but of sanctification, which is often called a resurrection in Scripture? Does sanctification then raise some unto a resurrection of life, and others unto a resurrection of damnation?

2. Scripture clearly affirms, that the pun ishment of the damned shall not consist of annihilation, but of real and sensible pain. This appears by divers passages. Our Saviour speaking of Judas, said, 'It would have been good for that man, if he had not been born,' Matt. xxvi. 24. Hence we infer, a state Such was, almost in our own days, the worse than annihilation was reserved for this head of a famous seet, and such were many miserable traitor; for had the punishment of of his disciples. They thought, that the his crime consisted in annihilation only, Judas, souls of all men, good and bad, passed into a having already enjoyed many pleasures in this state of insensibility at death, with this dif-life, would have been happier to have been ference only, that the wicked cease to be, and are absolutely annihilated, whereas the righteous will rise again into a sensibility in a future period, and will be united to a glorious body; that those wicked persons, who shall be alive, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, will be the only persons, who will appear in judgment to receive their condemnation there; and that these, after they shall have been absorbed in the general

than not to have been. Again, Jesus Christ says, 'It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of Judgment than for thee,' Matt. xi. 24. Hence we infer again, there are some punishments worse than an nihilation; for if Sodom and Capernaum were both annihilated, it would not be true, that the one would be in a more tolerable' state than the other.

Scripture images of hell, which are many, will not allow us to confine future punishment Origen, who was misguided by the ythagorean to annihilation. It is a worm, a fire, a darkPhilosophy, or the doctrine of Metempsychosis, whichness; they are chains, weeping, wailing, and Our Saviour has condemned, John 2.3. J. S.

gnashing of teeth; expressions which we will explain by and by. Accordingly, the disciples of the head of the sect just now mentioned, and whose system we oppose, have renounced these two parts of their Master's doctrine, and, neither denying the generality of these punishments, nor the reality of them, are content to oppose their eternity.

3. But, it appears by Scripture, that future punishment will be eternal. The holy Scripture represents another life as a state, in which there will be no room for repentance and mercy, and where the wicked shall know nothing but torment and despair. It compares the duration of the misery of the damned with the duration of the felicity of the blessed. Future punishment is always said to be eternal, and there is not the least hint given of its coming to an end. 'Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,' Matt. xxv. 41. Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,' Mark ix. 44. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than, having two hands, to be cast into everlasting fire, Matt. xviii. 8. The devil, that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast, and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever,' Rev. xx. 10. Again in our text, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.' These declarations are formal and express

But, as the word eternal does not always signify proper and literal eternity, it is presumed, the Spirit of God did not intend, by attributing eternity to future punishment, strictly and literally to affirm, that future punishment should never end: but only that it should endure many ages.

2. A metaphorical sense must be given to the term, when the sacred history assures us, that what it calls eternal has actually come to an end. Thus, it is plain, the fire of Sodom was not eternal; for sacred history informs us, it was extinguished after it had consumed that wicked city, and it is called eternal, only because it burned till Sodom was all reduced to ashes, Jude. 7. But what history can engage us to understand in this sense the eternity attributed to the torments of the wicked?

3. The term must be taken metaphorically when the subject spoken of is not capable of a proper eternal duration, as in the case just now mentioned, that a mortal servant should eternally serve a mortal master. But, we presume, the eternity of future punishment in a strict literal sense implies no contradiction, and perfectly agrees with the objects of our contemplation. This leads us to our second part, in which we are to examine those objections, which reason opposes against the doctrine of eternal punishment.

II. If the doctrine of eternal punishment imply a contradiction, it must either regard man, the sufferer of the pain, or God, who threatens to inflict it.

1. The nature of man has nothing incongruous with that degree and duration of punishment, of which we speak. Turn your attention to the following reflections.

Nothing but an express act of the will of God can annihilate a soul. No person in the world can assure himself, without a divine revelation, that God will do this act. Whatever we see, and know of our soul, its hopes and fears, its hatred and love, all afford a presumption, that it is made for an eternity of happiness or misery.

We grant, my brethren the word eternal The will of God is the only cause of the does not always signify properly and literally sensations of our souls that alone establishes eternity. It has several meanings; but there a commerce between motion and sensation, are three principal. Sometimes eternity is sensation and motion. His will alone is the attributed to those beings which are as old as cause, that from a separation of the com the world. Thus we read of 'everlasting ponent parts of the hand by the action of fire hills,' or 'mountains of eternity,' Gen. xlix. there results a sensation of pain in the soul; Sometimes it is put for a duration as long as so that, should it please him to unite a conthe nature of the thing in question can permit. demned soul to particles of inextinguishable Thus it is said, a servant, who would not fire, and should there result from the activity accept his liberty in the seventh year of his of this fire violent anguish in the soul, there servitude, should serve his Master for ever, would be nothing in all this contrary to daily Exod. xxi. 6, that is, until the time of the natural experiment. Jubilee, for then the Jewish republic was new modelled, and all slaves were set free. Sometimes it expresses any thing perfect in its kind and which has no succession. Thus the sacrifice of Melchisedec, and that of Jesus Christ, of which the first was a shadow, abide continually, or for ever, Heb. vii. 3. This term then, must be taken in a metaphorical sense in the three following cases.

1. When that, which is called eternal in one place, is said in another to come to an end. Thus, it was said, the ceremonial law was to endure for ever. This expression must not be taken literally; for all the prophets informed their countrymen, that the ceremonial economy was to end, and to give up to a better. Now the holy Scriptures do not restrain in any one passage what it establishes in others concerning the eternity of future punishments.

Farther, Weigh particularly the following reflection. Choose, of all the systems of philosophers, that which appears most reasonable; believe the soul is spiritual, believe it is matter; think, it must naturally dissolve with the body, believe it must subsist after the ruin of the body; take which side you will, you can never deny this principle, nor do I know, that any philosopher has ever denied it: that is, that God is able to preserve soul and body for ever, were they perishable by nature; and this act of his will would be equal to a continual creation. Now, this principle being granted, all arguments drawn from the nature of man to prove its incongruity with the Scripture idea of eternal punishment vanish of themselves.

But Origen did not enter into these reflections. With all that fertility of genius, which enabled him to compose (if we believe St.

Epiphanius,*), six thousand books, and in spite of all his Greek and Hebrew, he was a sorry philosopher, and a very bad divine. The church has condemned his doctrine in the gross. All his philosophy was taken from the ideas of Plato: but. thanks be to God! my brethren, we live in ages more enlightened, and were educated by masters wiser than Aristotle and Plato. So much shall suffice for objections taken from the nature of man.

2. Let us attend now to others taken from the nature of God. A man who opposes our doctrine, reasons in this manner. Which way soever I consider a being supremely perfect, I cannot persuade myself, that he will expose his creatures to eternal torments. All his perfections secure me from such terrors as this doctrine seems to inspire. If I consider the Deity as a being perfectly free, it should seem, although he has denounced sentences of condemnation, yet he retains a right of revoking, or of executing them to the utmost rigour; whence I infer, that no man can determine what use he will make of his liberty. When I consider God as a good being, I cannot make eternal punishment agree with infinite mercy: 'bowels of compassion' seem incongruous with devouring flames; the titles merciful and gracious' seem incompatible with the execution of this sentence,' depart ye cursed into everlasting fire,' Matt. xxv. 41 In short, when I consider God under the idea of an equitable legislator, I cannot comprehend how sins committed in a finite period can deserve an infinite punishment Let us suppose a life the most long and criminal that ever was; let the vices of all mankind be assembled, if possible, in one man; let the duration of his depravity be extended from the beginning of the world to the dissolution of it: even in this case sin would be finite, and infinite, everlasting punishment would far exceed the demerit of finite transgression, and consequently, the doctrine of everlasting punishment is inconsistent with divine jus

tice.

There are libertines, who invent these difficulties, and take pains to confirm themselves in the belief of them, in order to diminish those just fears, which an idea of hell would excite in their souls, and to enable them to sin boldly. Let us not enter into a detail of answers and replies with people of this kind. Were we to grant all they seem to require, it would be easy to prove, to a demonstration, that there is a world of extravagance in deriving the least liberty to sin from these objections. If, instead of a punishment enduring for ever, hell were only the sufferings of a thousand years' torments, were the sufferer during these thousand years only placed in the condition of a man excruciated with the gout or the stone; must not a man give up all claim to common sense, before he could, even on these suppositions, abandon himself to sin? Are not all the charms employed by the devil to allure us to sin absorbed in the idea of a thousand years' pain, to which, for argument's sake, we have supposed eternal punishment reduced? How pitiable is a man in dying agonies, who has nothing to oppose against the

* Advers. flæres. lib. 2.

terrors of death but this opinion. Perhaps hell may be less in degree, and shorter in duration than the scriptures represent!

Some Christian divines, in zeal for the glory of God, have yielded to these objections; and under pretence of having met with timorous people, whom the doctrine of eternal punishment had terrified into doubts concerning the divine perfections, they thought it their duty to remove this stumbling-block. They have ventured to presume, that the idea which God has given of eternal punishment, was only intended to alarm the impenitent, and that it was very probable God would at But if it last relax the rigorous sentence. were allowed that God had no other design in denouncing eternal punishments than that of alarming sinners, would it become us to oppose his wise purpose,and with our unhallowed hands to throw down the batteries, which he had erected against sin? Shall we pretend to dive into his mysterious views? or, having, as it were, extorted his confidence, should we be so indiscreet as to publish it, like the bold adventurer in the fable, who, not content with having stolen fire from heaven for himself, endeavoured to encourage other men to do so? Let us think soberly,' and 'not more highly then we ought to think; let us not think above that which is written,' Rom. xii. 3; 1 Cor. iv. 6. Let us preach the gospel as God has revealed it. God did not think the doctrine of everlasting punishment injurious to the holiness of his attributes. Let us not pretend to think it will injure them.

None of these reflections remove the difficulty. We proceed then to open four sources of solutions.

1. Observe this general truth. It is not probable, God would threaten mankind with a punishment, the infliction of which would be incompatible with his perfections. If the reality of such a hell as the Scriptures describe be inconsistent with the perfections of the Creator, such a hell ought not to have been affirmed, yea, it could not have been revealed. The eminence of the holiness of God will not allow him to terrify his creatures with the idea of a punishment, which he cannot inflict without injustice; and considering the weakness of our reason, and the narrow limits of our knowledge, we ought not to say, such a thing is unjust, therefore it is not revealed: but, on the contrary, we should ra ther say, such a thing is revealed, therefore it is just.

2. Take each part of the objection drawn from the attributes of God, and said to destroy our doctrine, and consider it separately. The argument taken from the liberty of God would carry us from error to error, and from one absurdity to another. For, if God be free to relax any part of the punishment denounced, he is equally free to relax the whole. If we may infer, that he will certainly release the sufferer from a part, because he is at liberty to do so,we have an equal right to presume he will release from the whole, an there would be no absurdity in affirming the one, after we had allowed the other. If there be no absurdity in presuming that God will release the whole punishinent denounced against the impenitent, behold! Il systems of