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Fellow-Labourers, who say, (and they say truly,) that in Gehenna, or Hell, there is no Repentance.

Thus far, in conclusion, I am willing to own to them; that whenever the wicked repent truly, so as to change their Dispositions and Temper, it will, in the nature of things, be the better for them. For a virtuous Temper is not only a Foundation for Happiness, but is itself a considerable Part of it. But then, at the same time, even upon this, (which is their own) Supposition of Reformation, it will not follow, that they will be made Partakers of that Happiness, and that heavenly Kingdom, which they were shut out of at the Day of Judgment. No, some Privileges, some Opportunities once lost, may be lost for ever. So that still much depends upon this Life, short as it is: So that I cannot forbear thinking that this Disproportion, so much talk'd of, is a very fallacious Rule to judge by, in this momentous Affair.

I shall not here more minutely pursue any other particular Objections. They are all obviated, I conceive, by what has been said; or may be answer'd by a right Application of the Principles discuss'd above. They are in a great measure answer'd only by a fair Representation of our Doctrine, as they mostly proceed from Mistakes concerning it. When understood rightly, and consider'd without Prejudice or Passion, Men have less to say against it than they imagin'd. It is implied in the very Notion of Religion, that a Distinction will some time be made between the Righteous and the Wicked. This Distinction will be made solemnly and perfectly at the Day of Judgment; when the Righteous shall enter into that Kingdom of Glory and Happiness, which was

prepared for them from the Beginning of the World; and the Wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment, or into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil, and his Angels. So far as relates to the mere Exclusion of the Wicked out of the Kingdom of the Just, there surely can be no reasonable Ground of Complaint. It can be no State of a perfect and righteous Retribution without it. Then as to the Degrees of positive Punishment which they will suffer, they will be various, and exactly proportioned to their Deserts. For tho' they are bid to depart into the everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels; yet the Meaning of that is not, (as perhaps it may sound to some,) that they all suffer alike, as it were in one common Furnace of Fire, in the same invariable and extreme degree; but, as is plain from many other Passages of Scripture, as well as from Reason itself, every one bears his own Burden, suffers for his own Sin, and in proportion to it; has the Measure of Punishment which he meted out to himself, and reaps only what he sow'd; so that it will be much more tolerable for some than for others. The Scripture never represents this State of Misery, as a State of Purgation, or Purification, or any thing like, or analogous, to a State of Trial, where they may fit and qualify themselves for some better State of Existence: But always as a State of Retribution, and Punishment, and righteous Vengeance; in which the Justice of God, (a Perfection of which some Men seem to make no account,) vindicates the Honour of his Majesty, his Government and Laws, by punishing those who have despised and trampled upon them all. Here Scripture closes the Scene, and shuts out all Hope, or Prospect of Redemption, or Deliverance. But vain Men, affecting to appear wiser, or better than God, have taken upon them to teach,

without any warrant from his Word, that to the Damned also shall sometime be given the Knowledge of Salvation, by the Remission of their Sins.1 What they have to offer for this Scheme, and how well they defend it, I am to consider more distinctly in the next Chapter.

1 Luke i. 77.

CHAPTER IV.

CONCERNING THE SYSTEM OF THE RESTORATION, OR RE-ESTABLISHMENT.

HAVE hitherto been employ'd in maintaining our own Tenets; I must now advance as it were into the Enemy's Country, and examine how they defend their's. If the Punishment of the Wicked in the other World, is ever to have an end, it must be because they are either deliver'd from it, and restored to a State of Happiness; or else because they are reduced to nothing. As there are two ways then by which this Change may be effected, I desire the Patrons of a Restoration to consider, in the first place, that tho' they could disprove our Doctrine, yet that does by no means directly prove their own. Supposing, for once, that eternal Punishment is unjust and impossible; it does not thereby follow, that the Punishment in Hell will be exchanged for a State of Happiness; for it may end in a State of neither Happiness nor Misery, viz. total Extinction of Being. We expect therefore direct and positive Proofs, from Scripture or Reason, of their System of the Reestablishment; over and above what they offer against the Doctrine of eternal Torments. They raise a great clamour against this Doctrine, how unjust and cruel it is, and how inconsistent with the Perfections of God! Be it so; it is still incumbent upon them

to prove, beyond this, that the Perfections of God require of Him, not only that he put an end to their Misery, but that he restore them to Happiness, and his Favour: Or, at least, that this is agreeable to his Perfections, and what may reasonably be expected from them; or what he has declar'd in his Word. If this had always been consider'd by some particular Writers, some very pathetical Declamations perhaps might have been spar'd, as being rather beside the purpose, and not at all coming up to the point. However, to give them their due, some of them do offer at something like proper Proof, and such as we want: which shall be consider'd presently.

In the mean time, before we hear their Evidence, it may be proper we should know, as precisely as we can, what it is they would prove: For they do not all adopt the same System; I mean in the same extensive Sense. I mention'd St. Jerom, in a Note before,1 as making an exception in favour of Christians, at the same time that he professes to believe that the Torments of the Devil, and of such wicked Men as say in their Hearts there is no God, will be eternal. But as this seems to be the Effect only of a fond Partiality, natural enough to Men for those of their own Sect, I am not aware that any one now will

1 See No. XXVI.

2 Thus the Jews had a saying, Omnis Israel particeps erit futuri seculi: And for the Meaning of this Seculum futurum, see Menasseh Ben-Israel de Resurrect. Mort. Lib. iii. C. 1. So the Followers of Mohammed say- "Those who have lived in "this holy Faith, and die in the Belief thereof, shall undergo "the Purgation, and, when it shall be God's Pleasure, shall be released by the Intercession of his Prophet, or through his "Benignity and Clemency; nor shall it come to pass that any "of those shall remain to Eternity in Hell, who have believ'd

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