صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

As

his punishment are unknown, and that every wicked action will increase the weight of his sufferings, he cannot want an inducement which is sufficient in itself, to prevail with him to forsake his evil courses. Mr. Fuller denies this, he denies, to use his own words, "what is self evident, and there can be no farther reasoning with him."

Before I conclude, shall just observe, that the spirit of Mr. Fuller's letter is the same spirit that breathes through his book against the Unitarians, for which he has been so extravagantly applauded by his own party. As to the argument of that performance, it has been justly said to be, We Calvinists are better Christians than you Unitarians, therefore our system is true." The same modest temper appears in his last letter to you. "We who believe in Eternal Damnation are, by our superior love of holiness, better than you Universalists, therefore our system is true." Of such an amiable spirit, and of such overpowering argument, it would perhaps, Mr. Editor, be best to leave the selfcomplacent Mr. Fuller in quiet and undisturbed possession. triumphs of such controversialists neither excite my envy, nor command my admiration.:

HOXTON,

MARCH 6, 1800.

The

I am,

Sir,

A STUDENT

SELECT SENTENCES.

:

I.

THE malice of ill tongues cast upon

[blocks in formation]

of smoke blown upon a diamond, which though it clouds its beauty for the present, yet is easily rubbed off, and the gem restored, with little trouble, to its genuine lustre.

II.

No man's glory or dignity is violated by the bad word of a profligate or abandoned man.

[ocr errors]

"

:

A person may be indifferent to an enemy, but should never hate him; the former may be an act of prudence, but the latter is a symptom of mental weakness and depravity.

LETTER IV.

TO MR. VIDLER,

CONTAINING

EVIDENCES OF ENDLESS PUNISHMENT.

SIR,

YOU seem to wish to persuade your readers that the grounds on which

rest my belief of the doctrine of endless punishment are very slender. The truth is, I have not at present attempted to state those grounds Considering myself as not engaged in a formal controversy, I only introduced a few passages; and to several of them you have hitherto made no reply. The principal grounds on which I rest my belief of the doétrine you oppose are as follow:

I. All those passages of Scripture which describe the future states of men in contrast.

" Men of the world, who have their portion in this life: I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.The wicked shall be driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous shall hope in his death. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. He will gather his wheat into the garner, and will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. Gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles, to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth: then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that gathered fish of every kind, which when it was full they drew to the shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, and cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. - Blessed is that servant, whom when his Lord cometh, he shall find so doing: but and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. But cast ye out the unprofitable servant, into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he say also unto them on the left-hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life. --He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. -Blessed are ye when men shall hate you for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for behold your reward is great in heaven. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. He that heareth my sayings, and doeth them, is like a man who built his house upon a rock; and when the flood arose, the storm beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like unto a man who built his house upon the earth, against which the storm did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. - All that are in their graves shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. - Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?The Lord knoweth them that are his :-But in a great house there are vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. That which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things which accompany salvation*."

* Psal. xvii. 14, 15. Prov. x. 28. xiv. 32. Dan. xii. 2. Mat. iii. 12. vii. 13, 14, 21. viii. 11, 12. xiii. 30, 40-43, 47-50. xxiv. 46-51.. XXV. 23, 30, 34, 41, 46. Mark, xvi. 16. Luke, vi. 23, 24, 47, 49. John, iii. 16. v. 29. Rom. ix. 21-23. 2 Tim. ii. 19, 20. Gal. vi. 7, 8. Heb. vi. 8. 9.

I consider these passages as designed to express THE FINAL STATES OF MEN, which if they be, it is the same thing in effect as their being designed to express the doctrine of endless punishment; for if the descriptions here given of the portion of the wicked denote their final state, there is no possibility of another state succeeding it.

That the above passages do express the final states of inen may appear from the following considerations :

1. The state of the righteous, which is all along opposed to that of the wicked, is allowed to be final: and if the other were not the same, it would not have been in such a variety of forms contrasted with it; for it would not be a contrast.

2. All these passages are totally silent as to any other state following that of destruction, damnation, &c. If the punishment threatened to ungoldly men had been only a purgation, or temporal correction, we might have expected that something like this would have been intimated. It is supposed that some who are upon the right foundation may yet build upon it wood, and hay, and stubble, and that the party shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, though it be as by fire. Now if the doctrine of universal salvation were true, we might expect some such account of all lapsed intelligences, when their future state is described : but nothing like it occurs in any of the foregoing passages, nor in any other.

3. The phraseology of the greater part of them is inconsistent with any other state following that which they describe. On the supposition of salvation being appointed as the ultimate portion of those who die in their sins, they have not their portion in this life; but will equally wh those who die in the Lord, behold his righteousness, and be satisfied in his likeness Their expectation shall not perish; but shall issue, as well as that of the righteous, in gladness: and though driven away in their wickedness, yet they have hope in their death, and that hope shall be realized. The broad way doth not lead to destruction, but merely to a temporary correction, the end of which is everlasting life, The chaff will not be burned, but turned into wheat, and gathered into the garner; the tares will be the same, and gathered into the barn; and the bad fish into good, and gathered into vessels. The cursed as well as the blessed shall inherit the kingdom of God, which also was prepared for them from the foundation of the world. There may be a woe against the wicked that they shall be kept from their consolation for a long time, but not that they have receivedit. Those who in the present life believe not in Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This life also is improperly represented as a seed-time, and the life to come as the harvest, inasmuch as the seeds of heavenly bliss may be sown in hell: and though the sinner ınay reap corruption as the fruit of all his present doings, yet that corruption will not be the opposite of everlasting life, seeing it will issue in it. Finally, though they bear briars and thorns, yet their END is not to be burned, but to obtain salvation. To the foregoing Scripture testimonies may be added,

II. All those passages which speak of the duration of future punishment by the terms " everlasting, eternal, for ever, and for ever and ever." "Some shall awake to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. It is better for thee to enter into life halt, or maimed, than having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire. And these shall go into everlasting punishment. They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. He that shall blaspheme against the holy ghost is in danger of (or subject to) eternal damnation. --The inhabitants of Sodomand Gomorrha are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. If any man worship the beast, or 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 ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night. --And they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And 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 and ever*.".

I have not mentioned Isai, xxxiii. 14. because I wish to introduce no passage but what shall be allowed to refer to a future life. The Hebrew word עם in Dan. xii. 2. answers to the Greek αιων; and whatever may be said of the ambiguity of the term, the antithesis in this passage, as in Mat. xxv. 46, determines it to mean the same when applied to, "shame and contempt," as when applied to. " life."

As to the term αιωνιος, rendered everlasting or eternal, which you consider as proving nothing on account of its ambiguity, there is a rule of interpretation which I have long understood to be used on other subjects by all good critics, and which I consider as preferable to yours. In my next letter I may examine their comparative merits. This rule is, that every term be taken in its PROPER sense, except there be something in the subject or connexion which requires it to be taken otherwise. Now, so far as my acquaintance with this subject extends, it appears to be generally allowed by lexicographers that κιν is a compound of ass and

:

, and that its literal meaning is always being †; also that the meaning

* Dan. xii. 2. Mat. xviii. 8. XXV. 41, 46. 2 Thes. i. 9. Mark iii. 29. Jude 7. 2 Pet. ii. 17. Jude 13. Rev. xiv. 11. xix. 3. xx. 10.

† Aristotle the philosopher, who lived upwards of three hundred years before the New Testament was writen, plainly tells us the meaning which the Greek writers of his time, and those who in his time were accounted ancients, affixed to this term. Speaking of the gods, whom he considered as immortal, and as having their residence above the heavens, he says, "The beings which exist there neither exist in place,

« السابقةمتابعة »