but eternal life is the gift of ye cursed, into everlasting fire, God through Jesus Christ our Lord. See also Rom. viii. 6. To imagine that by the term death is meant an eternal life, though in a condition of extreme misery, seems, according to him, to be confounding all propriety and meaning of words. Death, when applied to the end of wicked men in a future state, he says, properly denotes a total extinction of life and being. It may contribute, he adds, to fix this meaning, if we observe that the state to which temporal death reduces men, is usually termed by our Saviour and his apostles sleep, because from this death the soul shall be raised to life again; but from the other, which is fully and properly death, and of which the former is but an image or shadow, there is no recovery: it is an eternal death, an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power. He next proceeds to the figures by which the eternal punishment of wicked men is described, and finds them perfectly agreeing to establish the same doctrine. One figure, or comparison, often used, is that of combustible materials thrown into a fire, which will consequently be entirely consumed, if the fire be not quenched. Depart from me, prepared for the devil and his angels. The meaning is, a total irrevocable destruction. For as the tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, and is destroyed; as the useless chaff, when separated from the good grain, is set on fire, and if the fire be not quenched, is consumed; so, he thinks, it plainly appears that the image of unquenchable, or everlasting fire, is not intended to signify the degree or duration of torment, but the absolute certainty of destruction beyond all possibility of a recovery. So the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are said to have suffered the vengeance of an eternal fire; that is, they were so effectually consumed or destroyed, that they could never be rebuilt: the phrase eternal fire signifying the irrevocable destruction of those cities, not the degree or duration of the misery of the inhabitants who perished. The images of the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched, used in Mark ix. 43, are set in opposition to entering into life, and intended to denote a period of life and existence. Our Saviour expressly assigns different degrees of future misery, in proportion to men's respective degrees of guilt. (Luke xii. 47, 48.) But if all wicked men shall suffer torments without end, how can any of them be said to suffer but a few stripes? All degrees and distinctions of punishment seem swallowed up in the notion of never-ending, or infinite misery. Finally: Death and eternal destruction, or annihilation, is properly styled in the new testament, an everlasting pu nishment, as it is irrevocable, and unalterable for ever; and it is most strictly and literally styled an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." * Dr. Edwards,in his answer to Dr. Chauncey, on the salvation of all men, says that this scheme was provisionally retained by Dr. C., i. e. in case the scheme of universal salvation should fail him; and therefore Dr. E. in his examination of that work appropriates a chapter to the consideration of it. Amongst other reasonings against it, are the following: 1. The different degrees of punishment which the wicked will suffer according to their works, proves that it does not consist in annihilation, which admits of no degrees. 2. If it be said that the punishment of the wicked, though it will end in annihilation, yet shall be preceded by torment, and that this will be of different degrees according to the degrees of sin; it may be replied, this is making it to be compound, partly of torment, and partly of annihilation. The latter also ap→ pears to be but a small part of future punishment, for that alone will be inflicted on the least sinner, and on account of the least sin; and all that punishment which will be inflicted on any person above that which is due to the least sin, is to consist in torment.. Nay, if we can form any idea in the present state of what would be dreadful or desirable in another, instead of its being any punishment to be annihilated after a long series of torment, it must be a deliverance to which the sinner would look forward with anxious desire. And is it credi-. ble that it was this termination of torment that our Lord held up to his disciples as an object of dread? Can this be the destruction of body and soul in hell? Is it credible that everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, should constitute only a part, and a small part of future punishment; and such Bourn's Sermons, vol. i. p. 379-395. Also a Letter of his inserted in vol, iv. of The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken." too as, after a series of tor- degree will be their punishment, must, next to being ment hereafter. They are made happy, be the most cast down to hell they acceptable thing that could" believe and tremble:" they are "reserved in chains under darkness, to the judgment of the great day they cried, saying, What have we to do with thee? Art thou come to torment us before our time?” Could the devils but persuade themselves that they should be annihilated, they would believe and be at ease, rather than tremble. befal them? Can this be the object threatened by such language as recompensing tribulation, and taking vengeance in flaming fire? (2 Thess. i.) Is it possible that God should threaten them with putting an end to their miseries? Moreover, this destruction is not described as the conclusion of a succession of torments, but as taking place immediately after the last judgment. WHEN Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints, THEN shall the wicked be destroyed. 3. Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, cannot mean annihilation; for that would be no exertion of divine power, but merely the suspension of it. Let but the upholding power of God be withheld for one moment, and the whole creation would sink into nothing. 5. The scriptures explain their own meaning in the use of such terms as death, destruction, &c. The second death is expressly said to consist in being cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and as having a part in that lake; (Rev. xx. 14. xxi. 8.) which does not describe annihilation, nor can it be made to consist with it. The phrase cut him asunder, (Matt. xxiv. 51.) is as strong as those of death or destruction; yet that is made to consist of having their portion with hypocrites, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 4. The punishment of wicked men will be the same as that of wicked angels. (Matt. xxv.41.) Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. But the punishment of wicked angels consists not in annihilation, but torment. Such is their present punishment in a degree, and such in a greater * Dr. Edwards on The salvation of all men strictly examined, &c. chap. v. 6. The happiness of the righteous does not consist in eternal being, but eternal wellbeing; and as the punishment of the wicked stands every where opposed to it, it must consist not in the loss of being, but of well-being, and in suffering the contrary.* DIGGERS, a denomination which sprung up in Germany in the fifteenth century; so called because they dug their assemblies under ground in caves and forests. They derided the church, its ministers, and sacraments.† DIMOERITES. See Appollinarians. DOCETE, a denomination in the first and second centuries; so called from the greek of ano rov doxe, to appear, because they held that Jesus Christ was born, lived in the world, died, and rose again, not in reality, but in appearance only. It was the common opinion of the Gnostics. See Gnostics. DONATISTS, a denomination which arose in the fourth century. They derived their name from Donatus, bishop of Numidia. They maintained that their community was alone to be considered as the true church, and avoided all communication with other churches, from an apprehension of contracting their impurity and corruption. Hence they pronounced the sacred rites and institutions void of all virtue and efficacy among those christians who were not precisely of their sentiments; and not only re-baptized those who came over to their party from other churches, but, with respect to those who had been ordained ministers of the gospel, they either deprived them of their office, or obliged them to be ordained a second time.§ DULCINISTS, the followers of Dulcinus, a layman, of Novara, in Lombardy, about the beginning of the fourteenth century. He taught that the law of the Father, which had continued till Moses, was a law of grace and wisdom; but that the law of the holy Ghost, which began with himself in the year 1307, was a law entirely of love, which would last to the end of the world. DUNKERS, a denomination which took its rise in the year 1724. It was founded by a German, who, weary of the world, retired to an agreeable solitude within fifty miles of Philadelphia, for the more free exercise of religious contemplation. Curiosity attracted followers, and his simple and engaging manners made them proselytes. They soon settled a little colony called Euphrata, in allusion to the hebrews, who used to sing psalms on the border of the river Euphrates. This denomination seem to have obtain ↑ Broughton, vol. i. p. 328. ‡ Ibid, p. 339. § Mosheim, vol.i, p. 333 Broughton's Historical Library, vol. i. p. 344 ed their name from their baptizing their new converts by plunging. They are also called Tumblers, from the manner in which they performed baptism, which is by putting the person while kneeling head first under water, so as to resemble the motion of the body in the action of tumbling. They use the triune immersion, with laying on the hands, and prayer, even when the person baptized is in the water. Their habit seems to be peculiar to themselves, consisting of a long tunic, or coat, reaching down to their heels, with a sash, or girdle, round the waist, and a cap, or hood, hanging from the shoulders, like the dress of the Dominican friars. The men do not shave the head or beard. The men and women have separate habitations and distinct governments. For these purposes they have erected two large wooden buildings, one of which is occupied by the brethren, the other by the sisters of the society; and in each of them there is a banqueting room, and an apartment for public worship: for the brethren and sisters do not meet together even at their devotions. They live chiefly upon roots and other vegetables; the rules of their society not allowing them flesh, except on particular occasions, when they hold what they call a love-feast; at which time the brethren and sisters dine together in a large apartment, and eat mutton, but no other meat. In each of their little cells they have a bench fixed, to serve the purpose of a bed, and a small block of wood for a pillow.-The Dunkers allow of no intercourse between the brethren and sisters, not even by marriage. The principal tenet of the Dunkers appears to be this: That future happiness is only to be attained by penance and outward mortifications in this life; and that as Jesus Christ by his meritorious sufferings became the Redeemer of mankind in general, so each individual of the human race, by a life of abstinence and restraint, may work out his own salvation. Nay, they go so far as to admit of works of supererogation, and declare that a man may do much more than he is in justice or equity obliged to do; and that his superabundant works may therefore be applied to the salvation of others. This denomination deny the eternity of future punishments, and believe that the dead have the gospel preached to them by our Saviour; and that the souls of the just are employed to preach the gospel to those |