not, however, offer any proof of this ftrange pofition. Inftead of loving Chrift, he is faid to have loved curfing, Pla. cix. 17. "I can "That he is gone to hell," fays Mr. V, "not learn from the Scriptures.” * If you cannot learn this from Acts i. 20, you may from John xiii, 11.-xvii. 11, 12. A man that is not clean, and that is loft from Christ, cannot furely be in heaven. Mr. V. thinks that his repentance was evangelical. But David prophefied of him, that his prayer would become fin, and that when judged, he fhould be condemned, Pfa. cix. 7. This account is perfectly irre. concilable with evangelical repentance. But if Judas was as good a man as Mr. V. would have us to believe he was,-if the only defect in his character was a deeper taint of ambition than was common to the apofiles, and if he obtained, in this world, forgivenefs of this fin-it is demanded in the name of reafon, In what fenfe can it be true, that it would have been good for him if he had not been born? Shall we fay, On account of his "fearful "end?" But what was there in his end fo fearful? Death, occafioned by the depth of evangelical repentance, is to be coveted rather than dreaded; for it fecures a glorious immortality. Shall we fay, On account of his painful end? The pain of luffocation could not be equal to the pin of crucifixion, which fome of the Apoftles fuffered; would it not threfore have been fill more appropriate, if our Lord had addreffed the words in queftion to thofe of the Apoftles whom He forefaw would be perfecuted to death? Shall we fay, On account of his disgraceful end? But is evangelical repentance difgraceful? is it not, rather, honourable? How curious it is to hear this rational divine talk about evangelical repentance occafioning death! Jefus * Dialogues, p. 83, Note. faid faid He came not into the world to destroy men's lives, and yet Mr. V. believes He preached an evange lical repentance which fometimes, at least, caufes death. But did not our Lord underftand the effects which His doctrines were likely to produce? A diftinction is made between godly forrow, and the forrow of the world, in 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10; the former does no damage, it worketh repentance unto falvation; it is the latter which worketh death. Mr. Winchefter fpends nearly four pages about Job and Jeremiah curfing the day of their birth, but he frankly acknowledges, p. 85, that they "uttered fuch rash words as, in their cooler moments, they "repented of; and therefore what they spake of "themselves cannot wholly" (no nor in part) "fet afide the objection." On Matt. xxiv. 19, Mark, xiii. 17, Luke, xxi.. 23.-xxiii. 27-31, Mr. W. obferves, p. 86, "Who would not, a thousand times, choose rather never "to have been born, than even to fee, far lefs ex-"perience, the miferies which came upon Jerufalem "and its inhabitants?" No man, in his fober fenfes, if the doctrine of Univerfal Reftoration be true. But it is neither faid of the women, nor yet of the people of those times, "It had been good for them "if they had not been boru.” P. 86, "Solomon not only represents a ftate of great mifery and affliction in this life, as worse than "not to have been born, but also a state of the "greateft profperity, if it end in difgrace, Eccles. ❝ vi. 3-6." But do the words untimely birth fignify the fame as not being born? We might as well fay that premature light means darkness. < is cer Mr. W. grants that Mark ix. 43-49, "tainly a moft terrible paffage." He proceeds, p. 46,-"There is no doubt but Jefus Chrift had his 66 eye upon Ifa. Ixvi. 24. This prophecy fhall be Q 3 fulfilled 66 66 fulfilled when the children of Ifrael fhall return "and be fettled in their own land. See Ezek. xxxix. 4-12, Zech. xiv. 16, Ifa. lxvi. 21, Rev. xvii. 14,-xix. 19." The worm is not once mentioned in any of thefe paffages, and the fire only once: "They "fet on fire and burn the weapons." But Isaiah, chap lxvi. 24, is not fpeaking about weapons, but men: "They fhall look upon the carcafes of the 46 men that have tranfgreffed against me: for their 66 worm shall not die, neither fhall their fire be "quenched." The prophet cannot allude to any earthly judgment, in thefe latter words, for no worm can live in a material fire. To prove that the phrafe, the fire that never shall be quenched, does not mean that the fire fhall be ftrictly burning for ever, Mr. W. refers to the following paffages, where fimilar phrafes occur which muft be understood with fome limitation, Levit. vi. 13, Jer. xvii. 27, Ezek. xx. 45-48, Ifa. xxxiv. 9, 10. Mr. W. was aware, however, that it would be objected,- "Thefe fires were all on earth, and in time, and therefore must have an end, or ceafe to burn; but the fire of hell is in eternity, and therefore muft laft as long as eternity fhall endure." To this he replies," Had thofe unquenchable fires 46 gone out while earth endured, or while time lafted, "there might have been fome force in this argument; 66 never but fince the continuance of the fire does not de "pend upon the feafon in which it is kindled, but upon the combuftibles that feed and fupport it, "this can be no objection."* It But I think it is an objection unanswerable. will be granted, I believe, that the fires, in the inftances above alluded to, were not quenched, but went out when the combuftible matter which fed them was fpent; they therefore ferve to prove, that the fire fire of hell will not be quenched, nor even go out, except the matter which feeds it fhould all be confumed. But that cannot be. The wrath of God which fupports this dreadful fire will never be exhaufted. Rev. xv. 7, "And one of the four beafts gave unto the "feven angels feven golden vials full of the wrath of "God, who liveth for ever and ever." Lampe obferves upon this text,-"Why with the mentioning "of divine wrath, fhould the defcription of the Supreme Being, as the God who liveth for ever and 66 ever be immediately fubjoined? Where would be "the ftrength of this repetition, unless to specify an "illuftrious example, in order to exhibit, in the "moft expreffive light, the tremendous wrath of "God? And if it refpect him, is it not manifeft, that God will continue to prove his exiftence as "living for ever and ever, even by the displaying of ❝ his wrath? But how could that be demonftrated "by the pouring out of the vials of his wrath, unlefs that very threatening of wrath fhould be protracted for ever and ever?" The perfons upon whom the fire acts will never be confumed. This Mr. W. grants, p. 55. "As to the expreffion," fays he, "of being falted with fire, I think our Saviour in"tended to teach us that they should not be annihi"lated by the fire, but preferved therein.” It remains, that the fire of hell will burn for ever. It is true Mr. W. obferves further, "I would also 66 propofe, whether our Lord did not mean to inti"mate, that even the fire itself fhall be of ufe, un"der his direction, to humble, fubdue and penetrate "the ftubborn and difobedient rebels that shall be caft into it. Fire, as well as falt, is a great puri"fier; and preferves and cleanfes thofe things which 66 are able to endure it; and is the great agent by "which all metals are feparated from their drofs, "and prepared for the use for which they were de figned, * Differtation on Endlefs Punishment, p. 10, 11. "figned, p. 55." According to this account, when the fire has penetrated, humbled, and fubdued finners, it will die out; and they, like metals purified from drofs, will be taken out of the furnace. But hellfire is uniformly represented as a punishment, without the leaft intimation of its being a purgatory. Hell is twice called a furnace of fire; (Matt. xiii. 42, 50.) and the reason why it is fo called is alfo mentioned. If therefore it were a purifying furnace, this was the proper time to explain it. But does our Lord fay, "There fhall finners be purified?" No fuch thing: His words convey the idea of punishment: "There "fhall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." The Scriptures reprefent fome finners as incapable of being purified. It is impoffible to renew them to repentance they are rejected-they are good for nothing-they are caft away; Heb. vi. 4-8, Matt. v. 13,-xiii. 48. Mr. W. feems to have carefully avoided faying any thing about the worm; and no doubt for a wife reafon it would have rendered ufelefs all his labour about the fire. For if the fire being termed unquenchable, do not hinder but that punishment may naturally come to an end, yet this conclufion is inadmiffable when we confider, that their worm dieth not. Take either of the phrafes feparately, and there is fome room for cavil. The fire never shall be quenched: No, fays the objector, no being fhall put it out, but it may die out of itself. Their worm dieth not: No, fays the objector again, the worm will not naturally die of itself, but it may be killed. unite the two ideas, and the controverfy is ended: for that punishment which no being shall put an end to, and which will not naturally of itself come to an end, muft neceffarily be eternal. But Conference Office, North-Green, Worship-Street, |