and a shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

O what a deformed picture does the review of my past life present; how sinful, how unprofitable! What years of happiness have I lost by so long rejecting the dear Immanuel. What advances might I have made in the divine life, had I but early enlisted under the banner of Christ. What services might I have rendered to my perishing fel low-mortals, instead of helping them on in their way to perdition. O let none ever think themselves too young to forsake the service of Satan for the delightful employment of serving God. Let them consider that every moment they delay repentance, they are preparing for themselves sharp pointed arrows, which will sooner or later stick fast in their anguished hearts, and perhaps pierce them through with eternal sorrows. What consummate folly is it to reject the highest good for the momentary pleasures of sin, when reason and Scripture unitedly assure us, that their fruits are disappointment, pain, and shame. For a captive in Algiers, groaning under galling chains and cruel servitude, to reject the offer of freedom, would be wisdom, compared with the conduct of those who reject the mild voice of mercy, and despise the offered Saviour with his ten thousand excellencies, choosing the "way of transgressors," which is "hard," and "the wages of sin," which is "death."

NOTE. Mrs. Emerson lived, after making a public profession of religion, nearly six years, exemplifying the christian character, and giving abundant evidence that her conversion was the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. At length she fell into a decline, the symptoms of which had been long apparent, and died in the triumphs of faith at L, on the 7th day of November, 1808. Her last words. were, "My Redeemer liveth. Jesus Christ is inine, and I am his for ever."

END.

REASONS FROM THE BIBLE,

FOR BELIEVING THAT THE

FUTURE PUNISHMENT

OF THE WICKED WILL BE ENDLESS.

BY REV. ANDREW FULLER.

MR. FULLER was requested by a Universalist to give him the reasons why he believed that the future punishment of the wicked will be endless: and he gave him the four following, viz.

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 is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath 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 from the 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 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.-Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. But cast ye 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 bless-* ed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he also say. 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 life eternal. 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 wo unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.-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 show 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 pre pared 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."*

'Psalm xvii. 14, 15. Prov. x. 28. xiv. 32. Dan. xii. 2. Matt. iii. 12 vii. 13, 14, 21. viii. 11, 12. xiii. 30, 40-43, xxv. 23, 30, 34, 41, 46. Mark, xvi. 16. Luke, vi. 23, 24. John, iii. 10, v 29. Rom. xi. 21-23

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 men, 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 ungodly men had been only at purgation, or temporary correction, we might have expected that something like this would have been intimated when their future state is described; but nothing like it occurs any of the foregoing passages, nor in any other.

in

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 with those who die in the Lord, behold his face in righteousness, and be satisfied with 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 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 wo against the wicked, that they shall be kept from their consolation for a long time, but not that they have received it. Those who in the present life believe not in Christ shall not perish,

2 Tim. ii. 19, 20. Gal. vi. 7. 8. Heb. vi. 8, 9. See also Matt. xiii. 47-50. xxiv. 46–51. Luke, vi. 47, 49.

but have everlasting life. This life also is improperly represented as the 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 may 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 away 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 Sodom and Gomorrah 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 false prophet are; and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

As to the meaning of the terms everlasting, eternal, for

*Dan. xii. 2. Matt. xviii. 8. xxv. 41-46. 2 Thess. i. 9. Mark, iii. 29 Jude, 7. 2 Pet. ii. 17. Jude, 13. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. xix. 2. xx. 10