are not written in the book of life. The wicked, then, at the last awful day, shall all be utterly and eternally destroyed, both body and soul, together with the cause of sin and evil, and its necessary and unavoidable consequences, death and hell: and from that period, there shall be no more sin or evil, neither shall there be any more pain or death.

And yet, my brethren, this dreadful sentence-this endless destruction from the presence of the Lordthis fearful, awful doom, which never through eternity itself can be again reversed---this is not called eternal punishment: and we would substitute mere earthly agents, because they pain this mortal mould of clay--this wretched, mouldering form; and think that they have power to torture there, the immaterial and immortal soul. Can we conceive an immaterial spirit, fettered in chains of iron, or subjected to the consuming influence of earthly flames? Why, even here, chained as it is, to this poor mortal body, the soul has forced it mid consuming fire, to smile in triumph, and defy its power.

But, my brethren, let me now ask of you---have you ever realized to your minds, the idea of utter and entire destruction? What is the second and eternal death? It is expulsion from the presence of the Almighty, the source of light and life-where God is not! Can the mind frame a hell, more dread and awful? Ask of the pious soul what it can add to this. Yet where God is, the wicked shall not be, for they shall be punished, so his word declares, with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.

If there is one doctrine, with regard to punishment

hereafter, universally admitted and received: if there is one, on which no sects have ever differed: if there is one threat so plainly written in the sacred volume, that none can doubt it; it is surely this, that those who are punished, will be excluded from the presence of the Almighty. They cannot be where the Almighty is: and yet, where God is not, what is there there? What can there be, but everlasting death-eternal punishment? To be where God is not! can the mind realize a thought so contradictory as this? Can the mind imagine continued being--existence, protracted and eternal, without the source and the supporting cause of all existence?--What is the life of all things? It is the presence of the God of nature: his absence is destruction; his eternal absence, everlasting destruction :---Or, to use the emphatic words of His own blessed book, "the blackness of darkness forever."

Is not the Great Creator omnipresent? Will he not ever be so? To be where God is not, then, is to be where the omnipresent Deity is not. Yet, when the final doom of all is fixed, the wicked shall be driven from His presence. If, then, the punishment threatened to the wicked, in the Scriptures, is not (what they declare it is,) everlasting destruction, we are reduced to this dilemma: that the wicked shall be utterly cut off from the only source, and cause, and support of life. They shall be excluded from the presence of the omnipresent Deity; and yet, they shall exist. To reconcile contradictions, such as these, must be the task of those who would endeavor to prove, that the punishment threatened to the wicked, in the Scriptures, is not everlasting destruction, or that they are not consistent.

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I have wandered from the more immediate subject of this morning's discourse, but shall resume it in the afternoon. In the mean time, let not my meaning be misunderstood, or misrepresented. I commenced this course of sermons, in order to prove, that it is expressly declared, in the Scriptures, that the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal. That this everlasting punishment, is there declared to be, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.-That consistently with this sentence, the word Gehenna or Hell, which is used to designate the state of the wicked, signifies a state of everlasting destruction; and that, still being consistent with the same sentence, the word Diabolos, or Devil, which is used to designate the cause of sin and evil, signifies the principle, or cause of everlasting destruction. Is this the doctrine of universal salvation? that the wicked shall be punished, with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord that they shall be turned into hell, which is the state of their punishment, and surely, therefore, the state of everlasting destruction? or that they shall be brought to it by that principle, or cause of evil, which is enmity with God, and which cannot be subject to his law; and which surely, therefore, is the cause of their punishment, and therefore, the cause of everlasting destruction? Is this the doctrine of Universalism? Is this the doctrine of the Scriptures ?--Are the facts stated, false or true?

But, it is said, the punishment here threatened, is not sufficient to deter the wicked from crime and guilt. I know it is not, for it does not deter them. What ever

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did? Yet, let the pious and reflecting mind, but realize, expulsion from the presence of the Lord! Then let imagination frame a doom of darker horror! Oh, if devouring, never dying flames, could but restore to the lost soul of man, the presence of a God of truth and justice; the presence of a God of love and mercy; they would be welcome as the dawn of light which called the world from darkness. But for the wicked, there is no such hope; the blessed presence of the God of life, is lost to them forever. They shall be utterly cast off from the only source, support and cause of all existence; forever driven from the presence of the omnipresent God.

SERMON IV.

MATTHEW, XXV. 46.-" And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eter

nal."

IT is impossible that we can ever attain a correct and clear comprehension and understanding of any subject, unless we will take the trouble, thoroughly and seriously, to study and investigate it; and if there is any one subject which, from its essential importance, pre-eminently demands our most serious attention and examination, it is surely that of the doctrine of future and eternal punishment, as delivered to us in the book of Divine Revelation.

I trust, and I have reason to believe, that the discourses lately delivered to you from this pulpit, on this subject, have had the effect of inducing many to search and investigate it, who had never previously done so. If this is the only effect produced by them, they will have amply answered the intended purpose. But, But, my brethren, there are always some, and those too, always to be found amongst the least informed, who are ever ready to cavil, and that frequently with considerable anger. and asperity, and without the least investigation, at any thing, however true and incontrovertible, which happens to oppose long cherished opinions and deeply rooted prejudices. There are some too, who, from motives of interest and sectarian feelings, would oppose investigation and bar the progress to the shrine of truth. I trust that neither of these descriptions of people are to be found in this assembly. If such there should be, let me most solemnly and seriously warn them, that they have not yet learned Christ.

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"I pray, O Holy Father," saith our blessed Saviour, in his heavenly petition for his disciples, "that thou wouldst lead them into all truth; thy word is truth." If you should ever hear, my brethren, any doctrine delivered as a doctrine of Divine Revelation, which is not to be found in the word of God, depend upon it, whatever may be the authority from whence it comes, that doctrine is not true. But if, on the other hand, you should clearly recognize and understand any statement, as delivered in the holy Scriptures, though the whole world should deny it, and oppose it; depend upon it, that statement is the truth. Learn then, that it is your first duty, as. christians and as rational and in