may as well be affirmed to have an end, as the everlasting pu nishment, because they are both delivered in the same expression.*

Indeed the eternity of that fire prepared for the devil and his angels is a sufficient demonstration of the eternity of such as suffer in it; and the question only can be what that eternity doth signify. For, because some things are called in the Scriptures eternal which have but a limited or determined duration; therefore some may imagine the fire of hell to be in that sense eternal, as lasting to the time appointed by God for the duration of it. But as the fire is termed eternal, so that eternity is described as absolute, excluding all limits, prescinding from all determinations. The end of the burning of fire is by extinguishing, and that which cannot be extinguished can never end: but such is the fire which shall torment the reprobate; for he, "whose fan is in his hand, shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire;” (Matt. iii. 12. Luke iii. 17.) and hath taught us before, that "it is better to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched;" (Matt. xviii. 8. Mark ix. 43. 45.) and hath farther yet explained himself by that unquestionable addition, and undeniable description of the place of torments, "where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark ix. 44. 46.) And that we may yet be farther assured that this fire shall be never extinguished, we read that "the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever," (Rev. xiv. 11.) and that those which are "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever;” (Rev. xx. 10.) which expression of day and night is the Καὶ ἀπελεύσονται οὗτοι εἰς κόλασιν em judicii, proque meritis, aut cruciaαἰώνιον, οἱ δὲ δίκαιοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. tibus destinari, aut refrigerio, utroque Matt. xxv. 46. Antiquus ille per- sempiterno.' Tertull. de Testim. Anisuasor in membris suis, id est, in men- mæ, c. 4. Deus itaque judicabit pletibus iniquorum, futuras poenas quasi nius, quia extremius, per sententiam certo fine determinat, ut eorum cor- æternam tam supplicii quam refrigeruptiones extendat, et eo magis hic rii. Tertull. de Anima, c. 33. ‘Qui peccata non finiant, qui istic affirmant producto ævo isto judicaturus sit suos peccatorum supplicia finienda. Sunt cultores in vitæ æternæ retributioenim nunc etiam, qui idcirco peccatis nem; profanos in ignem æque perpesuis ponere finem negligunt, quia ha- tem et jugem; suscitatis omnibus ab bere quandoque finem futura super se initio defunctis ad utriusque meriti judicia suspicantur. Quibus breviter dispunctionem.' Idem, Apol. c. 18. respondemus, si quandoque finienda sunt supplicia reproborum, quando que finienda sunt et gaudia beatorum: per semetipsam enim veritas dicit, Tbunt hi in supplicium æternum, justi autem in vitam æternam. Si igitur hoc verum non est quod minatus est, neque est illud verum quod promisit.' S. Gregor. Moral. 1. xxxiv. c. 12. "Affirmamus te (anima) manere post vitæ dispunctionem, et exspectare di

Quid illum thesaurum ignis æterni æstimamus, quum fumariola quædam ejus tales flammarum ictus suscitent, ut proximæ urbes aut jam nullæ exstent, aut idem sibi de die sperent? Dissiliunt superbissimi montes ignis intrinsecus foetu; et, quod nobis judicii perpetuitatem probat, cum dissiliant, cum devorentur, nunquam tamen finiuntur.' Tertull. de Pœnitent. c. 12.

same with that which declareth the eternal happiness in the heavens, where " they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy: where they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.” (Rev. iv. 8. vii. 15.) If then the fire, in which the reprobates are to be tormented, be everlasting; if so absolutely everlasting, that it shall never be quenched; if so certainly never to be quenched, that the smoke thereof shall ascend for ever and ever; if those which are cast into it shall be tormented for ever and ever (all which the Scriptures expressly teach); then shall the wicked never be so consumed as to be annihilated, but shall subsist for ever, and be coeternal to the tormenting flames. And so this language of the Scriptures proves not only an effect eternal, as annihilation may be conceived, but an eternal efficient never ceasing to produce the same effect, which cannot be annihilation, but cruciation only. And therefore the fire, which consumed Sodom and Gomorrha, bears no proportion with the flames of hell; because all men know that fire is extinguished, nor doth the smoke thereof ascend for ever and ever.

Neither doth this only prove the eternity of infernal pains, but clearly refute the only material argument brought against it, which is laid upon this ground, that the wicked after the resurrection shall be punished with death, and that a second death; and so they shall be no more, nor can in any sense be said to live or subsist. For, the enduring of this fire is that very death, and they are therefore said to die the second death, because they endure eternal torments. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death." (Rev. ii. 11.) it seems that they which shall die that death shall be hurt by it; whereas if it were annihilation, and so a conclusion of their torments, it would be no way hurtful or injurious, but highly beneficial to them. But the living torments are the second death. For "death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, that is the second death. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire;" (Rev. xx. 14, 15.) this is the second death. The Jews before our Saviour's time believed there was a second death; and though it were not expressed in the oracles themselves which were committed to them, yet in the received exposition of them it was often mentioned,† and that as the punishment of Eiç aiuva de aiúvwv avròv ávaßaí- Targum of Onkelos. The Jerusalem νειν λέγεται, ἵνα μάθωμεν ἀτελεύτητον Targum more expressly, 28 εἶναι τὴν κόλασιν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, ὥσπερ της Π καὶ τὴν τῶν δικαίων τρυφὴν αἰώνιον. Ν Ν Andreas Cæsar. ad locum.

Let Reuben live in this world, The Chaldee paraphrase maketh and let him not die the second death, often mention of it, as Deut. xxxiii. 6. which the wicked die in the world to "Let Reuben live and not die;" he come. So Isa. xxii. 14. "Surely this expounded thus, iniquity shall not be purged from you

אם ישתבק חובה הדין ",till ye die עלמא ומותא תנינא לא ימות: לכון עד די תמותון מותא תנינא:,,Let Reuben live in the life of the world

and not die the second death. So the and lxv. 6. "I will not keep silence,

the wicked in the life to come; and what this punishment shall be, was in these words revealed to St. John: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev. xxi. 8.) Now, if the part in the lake be the second death, if that part be a perpetual permansion in torment, as before it is proved; then to say that the wicked shall die the second death is not a confutation of their eternal being in misery, but an assertion of it, because it is the same thing with everlasting torments, but delivered in other terms.

And, if the pretence of death will not prove an annihilation, or infer a conclusion of torment, much less will the bare phrases of perdition and destruction; for we may as well conclude that whosoever says he is undone, intends thereby that he shall be no more. Beside, the eternity of destruction in the language of the Scripture signifies a perpetual perpession, and duration in misery. For when Christ shall come to take " vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (2 Thess. i. 8, 9.) Wherefore I conclude, that the wicked shall rise to everlasting punishment, continuing both in soul and body under the wrath of God and the torments proceeding from it, never to be quitted of them by annihilation; which is our first assertion, against the covert doctrine of the Socinians.†

but will recompense into their bosom." though he thought he had so deliver

ed it that it should sooner be believed לא אתן להון ארכא בחייא אלהן by his writings than perceived by אשלם להון פורענות חוביהון them, as appeareth out of his sixth ואמסור למותא תנינא ית גויתהון :

I will not give them an end in this life, but will recompense them with vengeance for their sins, and deliver their bodies to the second death. From these and the like places it appeareth, that the Jews believed that the wicked after death should be delivered to a second death; that this death should be in the world to come; that they should by this death be punished for their sins. And St. John revealed that this punishment shall be by everlasting burnings: Kai Jávaroi de woaúτwc dúo ô μèv tñs capκὸς πρόσκαιρος· ὁ δὲ δι ̓ ἁμαρτημάτων ἔκτισιν ἐπαγόμενος ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰώνιος, ὅςπερ ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ πυρὸς γέεννα. Andreas Cæsar. in Apocal. ad loc.

Ολλυμαι, Perii.

Epistle to Volkelius, who was offended at this doctrine, and seems never to have assented to it: 'Quod ais ea, in disputatione mea cum Puccio, tum de Christianorum resurrectione, tum de morte impiorum passim contineri, quæ a multis sine magna offensione, tum nostris tum alienis, legi non possint: scio equidem ista ibi contineri, sed, meo judicio, nec passim nec ita aperte (cavi enim istud quantum potui) ut quisquam vir pius facile offendi possit; adeo ut, quod nominatim attinet ad impiorum mortem, in quo dogmate majus est multo offensionis periculum, ea potius ex iis colligi possit, quæ ibi disputantur, quam expresse literis consignata exstet; adeo ut Lector, qui alioqui sententiam meam adversus Puccium de mortalitate primi hominis, quæ toto libro agitatur, quæque ob non paucos quos habet fau

I call it covert, because it was at first closely delivered by Socinus, and some of his brethren did profess themselves to be scandalized at it,

The second assertion teacheth us, that as the reprobates shall never fail to endure the torments due unto their sins; so the justice of God will never fail to inflict those torments for their sins. They shall never live to pay the uttermost farthing, they shall never come to the days of refreshment who are cast into perpetual burnings. One part of their misery is the horror of despair; and it were not perfect hell if any hope could lodge in it. The favour of God is not to be obtained where there is no means left to obtain it; but in the world to come there is no place for faith, nor virtue in repentance. If there be now such a vast distance between the tormenting flames and Abraham's bosom, that none could pass from one to the other, what impossibility must there be when the final sentence is passed upon all! As certainly as no person once received into the heavenly mansions shall ever be cast into outer darkness; so certainly no one which is once cast into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels shall ever enter into their Master's joy. As the tree falleth, so it lieth: there is no change to be wrought in man within those flames, no purgation of his sins, no sanctification of his nature, no justification of his person, and therefore no salvation of him. Without the mediation of Christ no man shall ever enter into heaven, and when he hath "delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father," (1 Cor. xv. 24.) then shall the office of the Mediator cease.

So groundless was the opinion of Origen, who conceived that after some number of years the damned should be released from their torments, and made partakers of the joys of heaven, or at least try their fortunes in such regions of the World as he conceived should be reserved for their habitation. For he may as well imagine that Christ shall be born and die again (who being risen, dieth not, Rom. vi. 9.) as that any person being condemned to the flames for contemning of his death, should ever come to live again, and by believing in the death of Christ to be after saved. For certainly their condition is unalterable, their condemnation is irreversible, their torments inevitable, their miseries eternal. As they shall not be taken from their punishment by annihilation of themselves, which is our first; so the punishment shall not be taken off them by any compassion upon them, which is our second assertion.

To conclude this branch of the Article, I conceive these certain and infallible doctrines in Christianity: That the wicked after this life shall be punished for their sins, so that in their tores, parum aut nihil offensionis parere potest, probandum censcat, prius censeat doctrinam istam sibi jam persuasam esse quam suaderi animadvertat. Against this, Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, in his defence of Gregory Nyssen, shewed

from the words of Christ, the apostles, prophets, and the fathers, wσñeρ aiwνιον τὴν τῶν δικαίων ἀνεκλάλητον ἀπόλαυσιν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀτελεύτητόν τε καὶ ἀνυπόστατον κόλαow. Photius, in Biblioth. Cod. 233.

punishment there shall be a demonstration of the justice of God revealed against all unrighteousness of men. That to this end they shall be raised again to life, and shall be judged and condemned by Christ, and delivered up under the curse, to be tormented with the devil and his angels. That the punishment which shall be inflicted on them shall be proportionate to their sins, as a recompense of their demerits, so that no man shall suffer more than he hath deserved. That they shall be tormented with a pain of loss, the loss from God, from whose presence they are cast out, the pain from themselves, in a despair of enjoying him, and regret for losing him. That they farther shall be tormented with the pain of sense inflicted on them by the wrath of God which abideth upon them, represented unto us by a lake of fire. That their persons shall continue for ever in this remediless condition, under an everlasting pain of loss, because there is no hope of heaven, under an eternal pain of sense, because there is no means to appease the wrath of God which abideth on them. Thus the Athanasian Creed, "They that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.'

The next relation of this Article to the former, is in reference to the resurrection of the just; and then the life everlasting is not to be taken in a vulgar and ordinary sense,* but raised to the constant language of the Scriptures, in which it signifieth all which God hath promised, which Christ hath purchased, and with which man shall be rewarded in the world to come.

Now this life eternal may be looked upon under three considerations; as initial, as partial, and as perfectional. I call that eternal life initial, which is obtained in this life, and is as it were an earnest of that which is to follow: of which our Saviour spake, "he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John v. 24.) I call that partial, which belongeth, though to the nobler, yet but a part of man, that is, the soul of the just separated from the body. I dispute not whether the joys be partial as to the soul, I am sure they are but partial as to

cundum quosdam etiam philosophos, propter animæ immortalitatem; vel etiam secundum fidem nostram, propter poenas interminabiles impiorum, qui utique in æternum cruciari non poterunt, nisi etiam vixerint in æternum; profecto finis Civitatis hujus, in quo summum habebit bonum, vel pax in vita æterna, vel vita æterna in pace dicendus est, ut facilius ab omnibus possit intelligi.' Idem, 1. xix.

* Eam quippe vitam æternam dicimus, ubi est sine fine felicitas. Nam si anima in poenis vivit æternis, quibus et ipsi spiritus cruciabuntur immundi, mors illa potius æterna dicenda est, quam vita. Nulla quippe major et pejor est mors, quam ubi non moritur mors.' S. August. de Civit. Dei, l. vi. c. 12. Quia vita æterna ab his, qui familiaritatem non habent cum Scripturis sanctis, potest accipi etiam pro malorum vita; vel se- c. 11.