teeth when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out." Here their weeping and gnashing of teeth is fixed at a time when they shall see the patriarchs and prophets in the kingdom of God. Now, it cannot be consistently said that the Jews saw the patriarchs and prophets in the kingdom of God at the time of their destruction, or at any subsequent period. If then it is in the future world that they are to see the patriarchs and prophets in the kingdom of God, it follows that it is in a future state also, that they will see themselves thrust out, and weep and gnash their teeth-they will wail and gnash their teeth when they see Abraham, &c. in the kingdom of God, and this belongs to the vision of the future world.

This argument cannot be evaded by saying that these texts relate to the rejection of the Jews, and the call of the Gentiles here on earth; for in this sense they are not true.

1. Those, to whom these scriptures relate, are represented as being sensible of their exclusion from the kingdom of God, which is not true of the Jews in this world; for they contend that the Gospel dispensation, or the Christian Church, is not the kingdom of God, and maintain that they are his only true people.

2. They are represented as seeking admittance into the kingdom, saying, "Lord, Lord, open unto us," which is not the case with the Jews here, for they have never sought admission into the christian church.

3. They are represented as being frowned away on making such application. "When once the master of the house bath risen up, and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without, and knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me all ye workers of iniquity." This is not the present condition of the Jews. The door of the church is open to them; the gospel invitation is to all; the heralds of the cross invite them; Jesus bids them come, and God gives every returning Israelite a full welcome to the blessings of the Gospel kingdom. 2 Thess. i. 7—10. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that

know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." Here the wicked are threatened with a punishment awful in its description. Now, we ask when will this threatening be executed? The text itself answers, "when he shall come to be glorified in his saints." The wicked then are to be punished at the same time that Christ shall come to be glorified in his saints, and this, doubtless will be at the last day, when he shall come to judge the world, at the general resurrection. 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the Lord."

We think we have shown, conclusively, in this argument that the promises and threatenings of the gospel are cotemporary in their fulfilment, from which it must follow that the wicked will be punished after death, or else, that the promises of the gospel secure nothing to believers beyond the shades of the tomb; and to embrace the latter alternative universalists will have to abandon their present theory, and appear as infidels, without disguise.

IX. The scriptures teach that the punishment of the wicked is longer than man's entire earthly existence; and if so, it must follow that such punishment is in a future state.

1. When the scriptures speak of the life of man, they represent it to be very short, and employ the most expressive terms and figures to denote its brevity. 1 Peter i. 24. " All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." James iv. 14. "What is your life? it is even a vapour that appeareth for a moment and then vanisheth away. Psalm ciii. 15, 16. "As for man, his days are as grass, for the wind passeth over it and it is gone." Job. vii. 6. "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;" viii. 9. "Our days upon earth are a shadow." xiv. 1. 2. " Man is of few

days; he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow."

2. When the scriptures speak of the punishment of the wicked, they represent it to be very long, and employ the strongest terms to express its duration. Matt. xxv. 41. "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire ;" 46. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment." 2 Thess. i. 9. "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction " Rev. xx. 10. "Shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." Let it be understood that these texts are not introduced in this place to prove endless punishment. This will be attended to in its proper place. The present object is to show that the scriptures represent the punishment of the wicked to be very long, longer than man's entire earthly existence. Men often commit the most atrocious crimes, after which they do not live a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour, and sometimes not a moment. Now do they endure a very long punishment in a very short time? Will "everlasting fire" burn out in a year? Can "everlasting punishment" be all endured in a month ?-Will the sinner recover from everlasting destruction in a week? Is it possible to "be tormented for ever and ever" in a day or an hour? But suppose the sinner to live a life of common length, still it follows that he cannot receive in this life, all the punishment which the Bible threatens ; for the punishment is longer than the whole of his earthly existence. It cannot be consistently denied that the terms everlasting, for ever and ever, &c. express longer duration than the terms and figures which are used to express the brevity of life. "Everlasting punishment" must be longer than a life that "is a vapor that appeareth for a moment and vanisheth away." "Everlasting "destruction" must last longer than the life of a man, whose "days upon earth are a shadow." He who is "tormented forever and ever" must suffer longer than the earthly existence of a man who "is of few days." We say then that the scriptures teach that the punishment of sinners, is longer than the entire earthly existence of man and that punishment which is longer than the life of man must exist in a future state.

X. The scriptures teach that men will possess the same moral character in a future state, with which they leave this,

and if so, those who die sinners will be sinners after death; and if sinners, subjects of punishment. Prov. xiv. 32. "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death." In this text, being driven away in wickedness, stands opposed to hope in death. It follows then that the righteous have hope in their death, and that the wicked are without hope in death. Now, hope always relates to the future; hence, in death, amid the pangs of dissolving nature, as the world recedes from our vision, hope must take hold of the realities of a future state; and as the wicked are driven away in their wickedness, in distinction from the righteous who have hope in their death, their states must be different in the future world. If sin only affects the sinner in this life, he must have as much hope in his death as the expiring saint; and certainly he has more reason to appreciate that hope, if his punishment is all this side of death, and all is happiness beyond. The peculiar phraseology of the text shows that the sinner's guilt will cleave to him in a future state. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, not driven away from it; hence, his wickedness goes with him into the future world. John v. 28, 29. "The hour is coming in the which all that are in their 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." Let it be remarked, that a man's character is not reckoned in view of what he may have been, but in view of what he is; hence a man may have done evil, and yet, if he ceases to do evil, and learns to do well, he is not reckoned an evil doer, but a well doer. (see Ezek. xxxiii. 13-16.) Those therefore who die in a state of well doing, will be among those who have done well, when the dead shall be raised; and those who die in a state of evil doing, will be among those who have done evil: the former will be raised to the resurrection of life, and the latter to the resurrection of damnation; and both will possess the same moral character with which they left this world. Ezek. xviii. 26. "When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them, for his iniquity that he hath done shall be die." text not only teaches that men will possess the same mor

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al character in a future state with which they leave this ; but it proves directly, that moral death will exist after the death of the body. Mark the peculiar language: the apostate is here said, first, to die in his iniquity, and then to die for it. This clearly proves that he who dies a sinner, will be a sinner in the future state, and will there experience that death which is the wages of sin, (see Rom. vi. 23.) That men will possess the same moral character in a future state, with which they leave this, farther appears from the fact that sin attaches itself to the soul. If sin attached itself to the body only, it might be contended that it dies with the body; but having its seat in the soul, it will live with it when the body dies. Death cannot destroy sin, for death itself is an effect of sin, as has been shown in Chap. I. and an effect can never destroy the cause that produced it; hence, if the soul is polluted with sin when it leaves the body, it will be polluted still after it has left the body; and if sin begets misery, those who die in sin will be miserable in a future state; and if sin deserves punishment while it exists, the sinner will deserve punishment in a future state.

XI. The punishment of the wicked is so connected with the existence and punishment of the devils, as to prove it to be in a future state. But universalists, or that class of them who deny future punishment, also deny the existence of a devil or devils: we will therefore attempt to prove that there are real personal devils. The scriptures abundantly speak of a devil, and of devils; and something must be meant, and what is it? Those who reject the common opinion of the church, that there are real demons who are our invisible foes, are not uniform in their faith on the point. Some suppose that by the devil is meant the wicked disposition of men, the carnal mind, or evil propensities of human nature; some suppose that a personified principle of evil is intended by the devil; some say that any enemy is a devil in a scriptural sense, and that men or any opposer may be intended; and others say that by devils, bodily diseases are intended, especially in those cases where devils are said to have been cast out. To show that the scriptures speak of other devils, not included in this list, real personal devils, shall now be the object of a few remarks.