there be fuch an end to which fome men come? Matt. xxiii. 13-15. Woe unto you scribes, phari. fees, bypocrites; for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither Juffer ye them that are entering, to go in. For ye devour widows' bouses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive greater damnation; for Je compass fea and land to make one profelyte, and when he is made, ye make him two fold more a child of bell than yourfelves. Verfe 33. Ye ferpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye efcape the damnation of bell? Mark viii. 38. Whosoever therefore shall be afbamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and finful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of bis Father, with the holy angels.--Mark ix. 43-48. If thy band offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into bell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Could Chrift have fald in more plain words that there is a future punishment prepared for them, who will not part with their favorite fins and lufts? Mark xvi. 15, 18. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gofpel to every creature; be that believeth and is baptized fhall be faved; but be that believeth not shall be damned Luke vi. 24. Wo unto you that are rich; for ye have received your confolation. With what propriety could a woe be pronounced on those who abound in the bleffings of this world, or could it be

faid that they have received their confolation, if there be not a state of future mifery, where those who have used their riches in a wrong manner, fhall be punished ?-Luke xiii. 3. Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my difciple. Can those who are not Chrift's difciples be faved? John v. 28, 29. For the bour is coming in which all that are in the graves fhall bear his voice, and come forth; they that have done good to the refurrection of life; and they that have done evil to the refurrection of damnation. John xv. 6. If a man abide not in me, be is caft forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and caft them into the fire, and they are burned."

The reader hath now before him one whole fec. of Mr. S.'s book. And there is no paffage of fcripture in it, that has the least reference to the perpetuity of future mifery, except Mark ix. 43-48. "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never fhall be quenched where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Whatever be intended by the fire and the worm, they are truly faid the one never to be quenched, and the other never to die; if the fire continue burning, and the worm live, till they fhall have perfectly anfwered their defign, and the will of God be done by them. St. Jude fays of Sodom, and Gomorrah, and other cities, that, " giving themselves over to fornication,

and

and going after frange flesh, they are fet for an example, fuffering the vengeance of eternal fire.** That fire, which was rained down from heaven upon them, burnt till it had confumed them, and therefore St. Jude calls it eternal fire; because it continued burning till the divine purpose was answered. by it; even the destruction of those cities. So here, our Saviour says, the fire is not quenched, and the worm dieth not: they both continue, as the eternal fire of Sodom did, till they effect their defign. And we could not reasonably expect that a fire and a worm, which God had prepared for the punishment of wicked men, fhould be extinguifhed and die, before they had accomplished their defign. The eternal fire of Sodom will be no more heard of in the uni verfe, after she and her daughters fhall be restored to the divine favor, and have returned to their first eftate, as we are divinely affured they will.

At the clofe of what Mr. S. hath produced from cur Saviour's difcourfes, he hath the following remarkable affertion, p. 37. "The whole fcheme of doctrine taught by Chrift, and eternal mifery." looking through the four Evangelifts, with profeffed defign to find pofitive proof of eternal, never ending mifery, he fhould be reduced to the neceffity at laft, to own there was no fuch proof to be found, and humbly to confefs that this idea of eternal mifery was only implied in our Saviour's fcheme of doc. trine! Had there been pofitive proof of never end

ftrongly implies future Strange indeed! that after ·

1

ing misery in our Saviour's scheme of doctrine, and Mr. S. had been fo fortunate as to have found it, who will believe that he would have closed with fo humble a confeffion? Further, does the reader think that, if our bleffed Saviour had confidered the doctrine of endless mifery to be true, he would have left it to be inferred from what he taught, and not have expreffed it in the most indubitable language? I am perfuaded he does not. That glorious perfonage knew that it was the will of his Father that all men should repent, know the truth, and be faved. He knew that he came to die for the world; that the world through him might be faved; that he came to tafte death for every man, and that he himself was willing that all men should be faved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. It is not at all strange that he hath, no where, exprefsly declared the pofitive eternity of future mifery. It would have been acting entirely out of character, and contradicting the great defign of his coming into the world.

Leaving the teftimony of Chrift, Mr. S. proceeds to that of John the Baptift, recorded in Matt. iii. and Luke iii. "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ?-And now alfo the ax is laid at the root of the tree ;therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and caft into the fire.Whofe fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

In answer to this laft paffage, I will refer Mr. S. to one of St. Paul, who, I have no doubt, was as great an adept in the gofpel fcheme of falvation as John the Baptift, and in perfect harmony with him. 1 Cor. iii. 11-15. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jafus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, filver, precious ftones, wood, hay, ftubble; every man's work fhall be made manifeft: for the day fhall declare it, because it fhall be revealed by fire: for the fire fhall try every man's work of what fort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon he fhall receive a reward. If any man's work fhall be burnt, he fhall fuffer lofs; but he himfelf fhall be faved: yet fo as by fire." Here are fame who fhall fuffer lofs: whofe works fhall be who shall have no reward; who

L.

1 burnt

up,

felves fhall be faved by fire.

who yet

them

What is faid in p. 209, 210, of unquenchable fire, is fufficient for what is quoted from John Baptift concerning unquenchable fire.

Mr. S. next proceeds to the teftimony of Peter. 1 Peter. iii. 19, 20. "By which he went alfo and preached to the fpirits in prifon, which fome time were disobedient, when once the long fuffering of God waited in the days of Noah." Mr. S. then quotes a few verses from St. Peter's 2d epiftle, 2d chapter, which, he says, explain what is meant by the Ipirits in prifon. The quotation follows; "Who privily bring in damnable herefies, even denying

the