will not believe the record that God has given of his Son. They choose to remain in this state and encounter all that is fearful and dreadful in the wrath of Almighty God, rather than come to Christ who has died to save sinners, and who will bless and save eternally all who believe in him. Dire infatuation! How does sin blind the minds of them who do not believe! But why this neglect and unwillingness to believe in Christ? It is owing to the want of a right disposition of heart. Many of the truths of the Scriptures are so contrary to the pride and lusts of the natural heart, and demand such a sacrifice of prejudices and passions, that the wicked will not believe them; and to quiet their consciences, they, however discordant their doctrines in other respects, embrace a scheme of religious faith, the tendency of which is to diminish the sinner's tear of the divine displeasure, and remove his expectation of endless punishment. But when the light of this fact darts her rays into the dark mind of the sinner, he is disturbed; hence he assails this doctrine and endeavors to disprove it. And he is very apt to conclude that if he can show that the terms "everlasting," "eternal," "forever," and "forever and ever," are sometimes used to denote a limited duration, they entirely overthrow the doctrine of the endless punishment of the wicked. But this consolation, like their hope, rests upon a foundation of sand. Strong and even decisive as I think the argument is, which is derived from these, I am far from believing that they furnish the only, or even the chief source of evidence in support of the doctrine we are endeavoring to establish. There are other passages which convey the idea of unlimited duration, (if it can be conveyed by human language), and there are many forms of speech in which I conceive the eternity of future punishment is expressed not less decisively than in the terms we noticed in the preceding Lecture. In proof of this, I remark,

II. THAT THE ENDLESS PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED IS TAUGHT IN ALL THOSE PASSAGES WHICH DESCRIBE THE FUTURE STATES OF

MEN IN CONTRAST. "Men of this world who have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: 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.- -I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree: yet he passed away, and lo, he was not; yea I sought him, but he would not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. The desire of the wicked shall perish.- Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with them, for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings.- -Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the`reward of his hands shall be given him.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.Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.- -He will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.- -Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which 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 which 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 into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.- -The field is the world; the tares are the children of the wicked one: the enemy that sowed them is the devil: the harvest is the end of the world: the reapers are the angels,-as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things (or scandals) that offend, and them which do in

iquity, 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.-Again: the kingdom of heaven is like a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but 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.And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

-For the time is come, that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?- -Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thom into the joy of thy Lord. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. -Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 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 in an hour that he is not aware of. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the bypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.-Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 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. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.--Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell and great was the fall of it.—Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you' cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.

-Marvel not at this; the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye that hunger now for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, 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. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and 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 not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor. -Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his 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 that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.- -Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.—He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be my son. 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.

-He that is unjust let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous let him be righteous still; and he that is holy let him be holy still."

These passages which I have now quoted, I consider as designed to express the final destiny of both the righteous and the wicked. That they do express the final conditions of men, their endless happiness or misery, will appear from the following considerations. It is very generally admitted by those who deny the doctrine of endless punishment, that there will be no successive duration to the righteous; that when they leave this world they enter upon a final

* Ps. xvii. 14, 15. Prov. x. 28.-xiv. 32. Ps. xxxvii. 35-38.-cxii. 6-10. Isa. iii. 10, 11. Dan. xii. 2. Mat. iii. 18. Mat. iii. 12. Luke iii. 17. Mat. vii. 13, 14, 21.—viii. 11, 12.-xiii. 38-43. Mat..xiii. 47-50. Mat. xxv. 10 12. Pet. iv. 17, 18. Mat. xxv, 21, 30. Mat. xxiv. 45---51. Mat. xxv. 34, 41---46. Mark xvi. 16. John iii. 36 Mat. vii. 24---27. Luke xvi. 25, 26. John v. 28, 29. Luke vi. 22, 24. Rom. ix, 21---23, 2 Tim, ii, 19---21. Gal. vi, 7, 8. Heb. vi, 8, 9. Rev. xxii, 14, 15,---xxi, 7, 8, Rev. xxii, 11.