Divine Retribution, a sermon by Jonathan Edwards.
Matthew chapter 25 verse 46.
These shall go away into everlasting punishment.
In this chapter we have the most particular
description of the Day of Judgment of any
kind that we have in the whole Bible.
Christ here declares that when he shall hereafter
sit on the throne of his glory, the
righteous and the wicked shall be set before
him, separated one from the other, as a
shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
Then we have an account of how both
will be judged according to their works, how
the good works of the one and the
evil works of the other will be rehearsed,
and how the sentence shall be pronounced accordingly.
We are told what the sentence will be
on each, and then, in the verse of
the text, we have an account of the
execution of the sentence on both the righteous
and the wicked.
In the words of the text is the
account of the execution of the sentence on
the wicked or the ungodly, concerning which it
is my purpose to observe two things.
The duration of the punishment on which they
are here said to enter, it is called
everlasting punishment.
The time of their entrance on this everlasting
punishment, that is, after the Day of Judgment,
at the end of the world, when all
these things that are of a temporary continuance
shall have come to an end, and even
those of them that are most lasting, the
frame of the world itself, the earth which
is said to abide forever, the ancient mountains
and everlasting hills, the sun, moon, and stars,
when the heavens shall have waxed old like
a garment, and as a vesture shall be
changed, then shall be the time when the
wicked shall enter on their punishment.
The doctrine is this, the misery of the
wicked in hell will be absolutely eternal.
There are two diverse opinions that I mean
to oppose in this doctrine.
One is that the eternal death that wicked
men are threatened with, in the scripture, signifies
no more than eternal annihilation, that men will
be the subjects of eternal death, as they
will be slain and their life finally and
forever extinguished by God's anger, that God will
punish their wickedness by eternally abolishing their being,
and so that they shall suffer eternal death,
in the sense that they shall be eternally
dead and never more come to life.
The other opinion which I mean to oppose
is that though the punishment of the wicked
shall consist in a sensible misery, yet it
shall not be absolutely eternal, but only of
a very long continuance.
Therefore, to establish the doctrine, in opposition to
these different opinions, I shall undertake to show,
first, that it is not contrary to the
divine perfections to inflict on wicked men a
punishment that is absolutely eternal.
Second, that the eternal death which God threatens
is not annihilation, but an abiding sensible punishment
or misery.
Third, that the misery will not only continue
for a very long time, but will be
absolutely without end.
And fourth, that various good ends will be
obtained by the eternal punishment of the wicked.
One, I am to show that it is
not contrary to the divine perfections to inflict
on wicked men a punishment that is absolutely
eternal.
This is the sum of the objections usually
made against this doctrine, that it is inconsistent
with the justice and especially with the mercy
of God.
And some say, if it be strictly just,
how can we suppose that a merciful God
can bear to eternally torment his creatures?
I shall briefly show that it is not
inconsistent with the justice of God to inflict
an eternal punishment.
To invent this, I shall use only one
argument, that it is that sin is heinous
enough to deserve such a punishment, and such
a punishment is no more than proportional to
the evil or demerit of sin.
If the evil of sin be infinite, as
the punishment is, then it is manifest that
the punishment is no more than proportional to
the sin punished, and is no more than
sin deserves.
And if the obligation to love, honor, and
obey God be infinite, then sin, which is
the violation of this obligation, is a violation
of infinite obligation, and so is infinite evil.
Again, if God be infinitely worthy of love,
honor, and obedience, then our obligation to love,
honor, and obey Him is infinitely great.
So then, God being infinitely glorious, or infinitely
worthy of our love, honor, and obedience, our
obligation to love, honor, and obey Him, and
so avoid all sin, is infinitely great.
Sin is the violation of infinite obligation, and
so is an infinite evil.
Once more, sin, being an infinite evil, deserves
an infinite punishment, and infinite punishment is no
more than it deserves.
Therefore, such punishment is just, which was the
thing to be proved.
There is no evading the force of this
reasoning, but by denying that God, the Sovereign
of the universe, is infinitely glorious, which I
presume none of my hearers will venture to
do.
Two, I am to show that it is
not inconsistent with the mercy of God to
inflict an eternal punishment on wicked men.
It is an unreasonable and unscriptural notion of
the mercy of God that He is merciful
in such a sense that He cannot bear
that penal justice should be executed.
This is to conceive of the mercy of
God as a passion to which His nature
is so subject that God is liable to
be moved, affected, and overcome by seeing a
creature in misery, so that He cannot bear
to see justice executed.
This is a most unworthy and absurd notion
of the mercy of God, and would, if
true, argue great weakness.
It would be a great defect, and not
a perfection in the Sovereign and Supreme Judge
of the world, to be merciful in such
a sense that He could not bear to
have penal justice executed.
It is a very unscriptural notion of the
mercy of God.
The scriptures everywhere represent the mercy of God
as free and sovereign, not that the exercises
of it are necessary so that God cannot
bear that justice should take place.
The scriptures abundantly speak of it as a
glory of the divine attribute of mercy, that
it is free and sovereign in its exercises,
not that God cannot help but deliver sinners
from misery.
This is a mean and most unworthy idea
of the divine mercy.
It is also as absurd as it is
contrary to plain fact, for if there be
any meaning in the objection, this is supposed
in it, that all misery of the creature,
whether just or unjust, is in itself contrary
to the nature of God.
For if His mercy be of such a
nature that a very great degree of misery,
though just, is contrary to His nature, then
it is only to add to the mercy,
and then a less degree of misery is
contrary to His nature, again to add further
to it, and a still less degree of
misery is contrary to His nature.
And so, the mercy of God being infinite,
all misery must be contrary to His nature,
which we see to be contrary to fact,
for we know that God in His providence
doth indeed inflict very great calamities on mankind,
even in this life.
However strong such kinds of objections against the
eternal misery of the wicked may seem to
the carnal, senseless hearts of men, as though
it were against God's justice and mercy, yet
their seeming strength and the seeming incredibility that
God should give over any of His creatures
to such a dreadful calamity as eternal, helpless
misery and torment, altogether arises from a want
of a sense of the infinite evil, odiousness,
and provocation that there is in sin.
Hence, it seems to us not suitable that
any poor creature should be the subject of
such misery, because we have no sense of
anything abominable and provoking in any creature answerable
to it.
If we had, then this infinite calamity would
not seem unsuitable, for one thing would but
appear answerable and proportionable to another, and so
the mind would rest in it as fit
and suitable, and no more than what is
proper to be ordered by the just, holy,
and good governor of the world.
That this is so, we may be convinced
by this consideration, that is, when we hear
or read, as sometimes we do, of very
horrid things committed by some men, as for
instance some horrid instance of cruelty to a
poor innocent child, or some holy martyr, or
when we read or hear how such and
such persons delighted themselves in torturing them with
lingering torments, and what terrible distress the poor
innocent creatures were in under their hands for
many days together, and their cruel persecutors, having
no regard to their shrieks and cries, only
sported themselves with their misery, and would not
vouchsafe even to put an end to their
lives.
I say when we hear or read of
such things, we have a sense of the
evil of them, and they make a deep
impression on our minds.
Hence, it seems just, and not only so,
but in every way fit and suitable that
God should inflict a very terrible punishment on
persons who have perpetrated such wickedness.
It seems in no way disagreeable to any
perfection of the judge of the world.
We can think of it without being at
all shocked.
The reason is that we have a sense
of the evil of their conduct, and a
sense of the proportion there is between the
evil or demerit of their conduct and the
punishment.
Just so, if we saw a proportion between
the evil of sin and eternal punishment, if
we saw something in wicked men that should
appear as hateful to us as eternal misery
appears dreadful, something that should as much stir
up indignation and detestations as eternal misery does
terror, all objections against this doctrine would vanish
at once.
Though now it seems incredible, though when we
hear of it, and are often told of
it, we do not know how to realize
it, though when we hear of such a
degree and duration of torments as are held
forth in this doctrine and think what eternity
is, it almost seems impossible that such torments
should be inflicted on poor feeble creatures by
a creator of infinite mercy, yet these thoughts
arise principally from these two causes.
A.
It is so contrary to the depraved inclinations
of mankind.
They are so averse to the truth of
the doctrine that they hate to believe it
and cannot bear that it should be true.
B.
They do not see the suitableness of eternal
punishment to the evil of sin.
They do not see that eternal punishment is
proportional and no more than proportionable to the
demerit of sin.
Having thus shown that the eternal punishment of
the wicked is not inconsistent with the divine
perfections, I shall now proceed further and show
that it is so far from being inconsistent
with the divine perfections that those perfections evidently
require it.
That is, they require that sin should have
so great a punishment, either in the person
who has committed it or in a surety.
Therefore, with respect to those who do not
believe in the surety and have no interest
in him, the divine perfections require that this
punishment should be inflicted on them.
It is not only unsuitable that sin should
not be eternally punished, but it is positively
suitable, decent, and proper.
If it is clear that it is positively
suitable that sin should be thus punished, then
it will follow that the perfections of God
require it, for certainly the perfections of God
require that that should be done which is
proper to be done.
The perfections and excellencies of the nature of
God require that that should take place which
is perfect, excellent, and proper in its own
nature.
But that sin should be punished eternally is
such a thing which appears by the following
considerations.
A.
It is suitable that God should infinitely hate
sin and be an infinite enemy to it.
Sin, as I have before shown, is an
infinite evil and therefore is infinitely odious and
detestable.
It is proper that God should hate every
evil and hate it according to its odious
and detestable nature.
Sin being infinitely evil and odious, it is
proper that God should hate it infinitely.
B.
If infinite hatred of sin is suitable to
the divine character, then the expressions of such
hatred are also suitable to his character.
If it is suitable that God should hate
sin, then it is suitable that he should
express that hatred, because that which is suitable
to be is suitable to be expressed.
That which is lovely in itself is lovely
when it appears.
If it is suitable that God should be
an infinite enemy to sin or that he
should hate it infinitely, then it is suitable
that he should act as such an enemy.
No possible reason can be given why it
is not suitable for God to act as
such a one as it is suitable for
him to be.
If it is suitable that he should hate
and have enmity against sin, then it is
suitable for him to express that hatred and
enmity in that to which hatred and enmity
by its own nature tends.
But certainly hatred in its own nature tends
to opposition and to set itself against that
which is hated, and to procure its evil
and not its good, and that in proportion
to the hatred.
Great hatred naturally tends to the great evil
and infinite hatred to the infinite evil of
its object.
Whence it follows that if it be suitable
that there should be infinite hatred of sin
in God, as I have shown it is,
it is suitable that he should execute an
infinite punishment on it.
Thus the perfections of God require that he
should punish sin with an infinite or eternal
punishment.
Thus we see not only the great objection
against this doctrine answered, but the truth of
the doctrine established by reason.
I now proceed further to establish it by
considering the remaining particulars under this doctrine.
Two, that eternal death or punishment which God
threatens to the wicked is not annihilation, but
an abiding sensible punishment or misery.
The truth of this proposition will appear by
the following particulars.
One, the scripture everywhere represents the punishment of
the wicked as implying very extreme pains and
sufferings.
But a state of annihilation is no state
of suffering at all.
Persons annihilated have no sense or feeling of
pain or pleasure, and much less do they
feel that punishment which carries in it extreme
pain or suffering.
They no more suffer to eternity than they
did suffer from eternity.
Two, it is agreeable both to scripture and
reason to suppose that the wicked will be
punished in such a manner that they shall
be sensible of the punishment they are under.
That they should be sensible that now God
has executed and fulfilled what he threatened, and
which they disregarded and would not believe.
That they should know themselves that justice takes
place upon them, and that they should see
and rind that God vindicates that majesty which
they despised.
That they should see that God is not
so despicable a being as they thought him
to be.
That they should be sensible for what they
are punished while they are under the threatened
punishment.
That they should be sensible of their own
guilt, and should remember their former opportunities and
obligations, and should see their own folly in
God's justice.
If the eternal punishment be eternal annihilation, when
it is inflicted, they will never know that
it is inflicted.
They will never know that God is just
in their punishment, or that they have their
desserts.
And how is this agreeable to the scripture
in which God threatens that he will repay
the wicked to his face?
Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 10.
And to that in Job chapter 21 verses
19 and 20, speaking there of God's punishing
wicked men, it is said, He rewardeth him,
and he shall know it.
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he
shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
And to that in Ezekiel chapter 22 verses
21 and 22, Yea, I will gather you,
and blow upon you in the fire of
my wrath, and ye shall be melted in
the midst thereof.
As silver is melted in the midst of
the furnace, so shall ye be melted in
the midst thereof.
And ye shall know that I the Lord
have poured out my fury upon you.
And how is it agreeable to that expression
so often annexed to the threatenings of God's
wrath against wicked men?
And ye shall know that I am the
Lord.
3.
The scripture teaches that the wicked will suffer
different degrees of torment according to the different
aggravations of their sins.
Whosoever is angry with his brother without a
cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rekha,
shall be in danger of the counsel.
But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, thou shall
be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew chapter 5 verse 22.
Here Christ teaches us that the torments of
wicked men will be different in different persons
according to the different degrees of their guilt.
It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and
Gomorrah, for Tyre and Sidon, than for the
cities where most of Christ's mighty works were
wrought.
Matthew chapter 11 verses 20 through 24.
Again our Lord assures us that he that
knows his Lord's will and neither prepares himself
nor does according to his will shall be
beaten with many stripes.
But he that does not know and commits
things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with
few stripes.
Luke chapter 12 verses 47 and 48.
These several passages of Scripture prove that there
will be different degrees of punishment in hell
which is utterly inconsistent with the supposition that
punishment consists in annihilation in which there can
be no degrees but is the same thing
to everyone who is the subject of it.
Four, the Scriptures are very express and abundant
in teaching that the eternal punishment of the
wicked shall consist of sensible misery and torment
not annihilation.
What is said of Judas is worthy to
be observed here.
It had been good for that man if
he had not been born.
Matthew chapter 26 verse 24.
This seems plainly to teach us that the
punishment of the wicked is such that their
existence upon the whole is worse than non
-existence.
But if their punishment consists merely in annihilation
this is not true.
The wicked in their punishment are said to
weep and wail and gnash their teeth.
Matthew chapter 13 verse 42 which implies not
only real existence but life, knowledge and activity
and that they are in a very sensible
and exquisite manner affected with their punishment.
In Isaiah chapter 33 verse 14 sinners in
the state of their punishment are represented as
dwelling with everlasting burnings.
But if they are only turned into nothing
where is the foundation for this representation?
It is absurd to say that sinners will
dwell with annihilation for there is no dwelling
in that case.
It is also absurd to call annihilation a
burning which implies a state of existence, sensibility
and extreme pain.
Whereas in annihilation there is neither one nor
another of these.
The state of the future punishment of the
wicked is evidently represented to be a state
of existence and sensibility when it is said
that they shall be cast into a lake
of fire and brimstone.
Revelation chapter 19 verse 20.
How can this expression with any propriety be
understood to mean a state of annihilation?
Yes they are expressly said to have no
rest day or night but to be tormented
with fire and brimstone forever and ever.
Revelation chapter 20 verse 10.
But annihilation is a state of rest, a
state in which not the least torment can
possibly be suffered.
The rich man in Hades lifted up his
eyes being in torments and saw Abraham afar
off and Lazarus in his bosom and entered
into a particular conversation with Abraham all of
which proves that he was not annihilated.
Luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31.
The spirits of ungodly men before the resurrection
are not in a state of annihilation but
in a state of misery.
They are spirits in prison as the gospel
says of them that were drowned in the
flood.
First Peter chapter 3 verse 19.
And this appears very plainly from the instance
of the rich man before mentioned if we
consider him as representing the wicked in their
separate state between death and the resurrection.
But if the wicked even then are in
a state of torment much more will they
be when they shall come to suffer that
which is the proper punishment of their sins.
Annihilation is not so great a calamity but
that some men would have undoubtedly chosen it
rather than such a state of suffering as
they have been in even in this life.
This was the case of Job a good
man but if a good man in this
world may suffer that which is worse than
annihilation doubtless the proper punishment of the wicked
in which God means to manifest his peculiar
abhorrence of their wickedness will be a calamity
vastly greater still and therefore cannot be annihilation.
That must be a very mean and contemptible
testimony of God's wrath towards those who have
rebelled against his crown and dignity have broken
his laws and have despised both his vengeance
and his grace which is not so great
a calamity as some of his true children
have suffered in this life.
The eternal punishment of the wicked is said
to be the second death once and again
as Revelation chapter 20 verse 14 and 21
verse 8.
It is doubtless called the second death in
reference to the death of the body as
the death of the body is ordinarily attended
with great pain and distress so the like
or something vastly greater is implied in calling
the eternal punishment of the wicked the second
death.
There would be no propriety in calling it
so if it consisted merely in annihilation.
This second death wicked men will suffer for
it cannot be called the second death with
respect to any other than men.
It cannot be called so with respect to
devils as they die no temporal death which
is the first death.
In Revelation chapter 2 verse 11 it is
said he that overcometh shall not be hurt
of the second death implying that all who
do not overcome their lusts but live in
sin shall suffer the second death.
Again wicked men will suffer the same kind
of death with the devils as in the
41st verse of Matthew 25 depart ye cursed
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels.
Now the punishment of the devil is not
annihilation but torment he therefore trembles for fear
of it not for fear of being annihilated
he would be glad of that but what
he is afraid of is torment as appears
in Luke chapter 8 verse 28 where he
cries out and beseeches Christ that he would
not torment him before the time it is
said the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone where
the beast and the false prophet are and
shall be tormented day and night forever and
ever.
Revelation chapter 20 verse 10 it is strange
how men will go directly against so plain
and full revelations of scripture as to suppose
notwithstanding all these things that the eternal punishment
against the wicked signifies no more than annihilation.
Three, as the future punishment of the wicked
consists in sensible misery so it shall not
only continue for a very long time but
shall be absolutely without end.
Of those who have held that the torments
of hell are not absolutely eternal there have
been two sorts.
A, some suppose that in the threatenings of
everlasting punishment the terms used do not necessarily
import a proper eternity but only a very
long duration.
B, others suppose that if they do import
a proper eternity yet we cannot necessarily conclude
that God will fulfill his threatenings therefore I
shall show that the threatenings of eternal punishment
do very plainly and fully import a proper
absolute eternity and not merely a long duration.
This appears, A, because when the scripture speaks
of the wicked being sentenced to their punishment
at the time when all temporal things are
come to an end it speaks of it
as everlasting as in the text and elsewhere.
It is true that the term forever is
not always used in scripture to signify eternity.
Sometimes it means as long as a man
lives.
In this sense it is said that the
Hebrew servant who chose to abide with his
master should have his ear bored and should
serve his master forever.
Exodus chapter 21 verse 6.
Sometimes it means during the continuance of the
state and church of the Jews.
In this sense several laws which were peculiar
to that church and were to continue in
force no longer than that church should last
are called statutes forever.
Exodus chapter 27 verse 21 and Exodus chapter
28 verse 43.
Sometimes it means as long as the world
stands.
So in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 4.
One generation passeth away and another generation cometh,
but the earth abideth forever.
This last is the longest temporal duration that
such a term is used to signify.
There is no instance of using such a
term for a long duration when it signifies
a temporal duration.
For the duration of the world is doubtless
the longest of any of those things that
are temporal as its beginning was the earliest
of any of those things that are temporal.
Therefore when the scripture speaks of things as
being before the foundation of the world it
means that they existed from eternity and before
the beginning of time.
So those things which continue after the end
of the world are eternal things and are
after the end of time.
Doubtless when the temporal world is at an
end there will be an end to temporal
things.
When the time comes that heaven and earth
are shaken and removed those things that remain
will be things that cannot be shaken but
will remain forever.
Hebrews chapter 12 verses 26 and 27.
This visible world contains all things that are
seen and are temporal.
Therefore when that is at an end there
will be an end of all things that
are temporal and the things that remain after
that will be eternal.
The punishment of the wicked will not only
remain after the end of the world but
it is called everlasting.
As in the text these shall go away
into everlasting punishment.
So in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 9
and 10 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.
Now what can be meant by a thing
being everlasting after all temporal things are come
to an end but that it is absolutely
without end.
B.
Such expressions are used to set forth the
duration of the punishment of the wicked as
are never used in the scriptures of the
New Testament to signify anything but a proper
eternity.
It is said not only that the punishment
shall be forever but forever and ever.
The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever
and ever.
Revelation chapter 14 verse 11.
And they shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever.
Revelation chapter 20 verse 10.
Doubtless the New Testament has some expression to
signify a proper eternity of which it has
so often occasion to speak but it is
ignorant of any higher expression than this.
If this does not signify an absolute eternity
there is no expression that does.
C.
The scripture uses the same way of speaking
to set forth the eternity of the punishment
of the wicked that it uses to set
forth the eternity of the happiness of the
righteous or the eternity of God himself.
These shall go away into everlasting punishment but
the righteous into life eternal.
Matthew chapter 25 verse 46.
The words everlasting and eternal in the original
are the same.
And they, the saints, shall reign forever and
ever.
Revelation chapter 22 verse 5.
The scripture has no higher expression to signify
the eternity of God himself than that of
his being forever and ever as Revelation chapter
4 verse 9.
To him that sat on the throne who
liveth forever and ever.
And in the 10th verse and in chapter
5 verse 14 and chapter 10 verse 6
and chapter 15 verse 7.
Again the scripture expresses God's eternity by this.
That it shall be forever after the world
has come to an end.
They shall perish but thou shalt endure.
Yea all of them shall wax old like
a garment.
As a vesture shalt thou change them and
they shall be changed.
But thou art the same and thy years
shall have no end.
Psalm 102 verses 26 and 27.
D.
The scriptures say that wicked men shall not
be delivered until they have paid the uttermost
farthing of their debt.
Matthew chapter 5 verse 26.
And until they have paid the last might.
Luke chapter 12 verse 59.
That is the utmost that is deserved and
all mercy is excluded by this expression.
But we have shown that they deserve an
infinite endless punishment.
E.
The scripture says absolutely that their punishment shall
not have an end.
Where their worm dieth not and the fire
is not quenched.
Mark chapter 9 verse 44.
It will not do to say that the
meaning is their worm shall live a great
while or that it shall be a great
while before their fire is quenched.
If ever the time comes that their worm
shall die.
If ever there shall be a quenching of
the fire at all.
Then it is not true that their worm
dieth not and that the fire is not
quenched.
For if there be a dying of the
worm and a quenching of the fire, let
it be at what time it will, nearer
or farther off, it is equally contrary to
such a negation.
It dieth not.
It is not quenched.
2.
There are others who allow that the expressions
of the threatenings to denote a proper eternity.
But then, they say, it doth not certainly
follow that the punishment will really be eternal
because, they say, God may threaten and yet
not fulfill his threatenings.
Though they allow that the threatenings are positive
and preemptory, without any reserve, yet, they say,
God is not obligated to fulfill absolute positive
threatenings as he is absolute promises.
Because in promises a right is conveyed that
the creature to whom the promises are made
will claim.
But there is no danger of the creatures
claiming any right by a threatening.
Therefore, I am not to show that what
God has positively declared in this manner does
indeed make it certain that it shall be
as he has declared.
To this end I shall mention two things.
a.
It is contrary to divine truth positively to
declare anything to be real, whether past, present,
or to come, which God at the same
time knows is not so.
Absolutely threatening that anything shall be is the
same as absolutely declaring that it is to
be.
For any to suppose that God absolutely declares
that anything will be which he at the
same time knows will not be is blasphemy,
if there be any such thing as blasphemy.
Indeed, it is very true that there is
no obligation on God arising from the claim
of the creature as there is in promises.
They seem to reckon the wrong way, who
suppose the necessity of the execution of the
threatenings to arise from a proper obligation on
God to the creature to execute according to
his threatenings.
For indeed the certainty of the execution arises
the other way, that is, on the obligation
there was on the omniscient God in threatening
to conform his threatenings to what he knew
would be future in execution.
Though strictly speaking God is not properly obliged
to the creature to execute because he has
threatened, yet he was obliged not absolutely to
threaten if at the same time he knew
that he should not or would not fulfill,
because this would not have been consistent with
his truth.
So that from the truth of God there
is an inviolable connection between positive threatenings and
execution.
They that suppose that God absolutely threatened or
positively declared that he would do contrary to
what he knew would come to pass, do
therein suppose that he absolutely threatened contrary to
what he knew to be the truth.
And how can anyone speak contrary to what
he knows to be true in declaring promising
or threatening or any other way consistently with
inviolable truth is inconceivable.
Threatenings are significations of something and if they
are made consistently with truth they are true
significations, significations of truth or significations of that
which shall be.
If absolute threatenings are significations of anything they
are significations of the futurity of the things
threatened.
But if the futurity of the things threatened
be not true and real then how can
the threatenings be a true signification.
And if God in them speaks contrary to
what he knows and contrary to what he
intends, how he can speak truth is inconceivable.
Absolute threatenings are a kind of predictions and
though God is not properly obliged by any
claim of ours to fulfill predictions unless they
are of the nature of promises, yet it
certainly would be contrary to truth to predict
and say such a thing would come to
pass which he knew at the same time
would not come to pass.
Threatenings are declarations of something future and they
must be declarations of future truth if they
are true declarations.
Its being future does not alter the case
any more than if it were present.
It is equally contrary to truth to declare
contrary to what at the same time is
known to be truth whether it be of
things past present or to come for all
are alike to God.
Besides we often have declarations in scripture of
the future eternal punishment of the wicked in
the proper form of the predictions and not
in the form of threatenings.
So in the text these shall go away
into everlasting punishment.
So in these frequent assertions of eternal punishment
in the revelation some of which I have
already quoted.
The revelation is a prophecy and is so
called in the book itself.
So are those declarations of eternal punishment.
The like declarations we have also in many
other parts of scripture.
The doctrine of those who teach that it
is not certain that God will fulfill these
absolute threatenings is blasphemous in another way.
That is that God according to their supposition
was obliged to make use of a fallacy
to govern the world.
They own that it is needful that men
should apprehend themselves liable to an eternal punishment
that they might thereby be restrained from sin
and that God has threatened such a punishment
for the very end that they might believe
themselves exposed to it.
But what an unworthy opinion does this convey
of God and his government of his infinite
majesty wisdom and all sufficiency.
Besides they suppose that though God has made
use of such a fallacy yet it is
not such a one but that they have
detected him in it.
Though God intended men should believe it to
be certain that sinners are liable to an
eternal punishment yet they suppose that they have
been so cunning as to find out that
it is not certain.
God has not laid his design so deep
but that such cunning men as they can
discern the cheat and defeat the design because
they have found out that there is no
necessary connection between the threatenings of eternal punishment
and the execution of the threatenings.
Considering these things is it not greatly to
be wondered at that the great Archbishop Tillotson
who has made so great a figure among
the new-fashioned divines should advance such an
opinion as this.
Before I conclude this head it may be
proper for me to answer an objection or
two that may arise in the minds of
some.
Objection number one.
It may be here said we have instances
wherein God has not fulfilled his threatenings as
his threatenings to Adam and in him to
mankind that they should surely die if they
should eat the forbidden fruit.
I answer it is not true that God
fulfilled that threatening.
He fulfilled it and will fulfill it in
every jot and tittle.
When God said thou shalt surely die if
we respect spiritual death it was fulfilled in
Adam's person in the day that he ate.
God immediately took away his image his Holy
Spirit and original righteousness which was the highest
and best life of our first parents and
they were immediately in a doleful state of
spiritual death.
If we respect temporal death that was also
fulfilled Adam brought death upon himself and all
his posterity and he virtually suffered that death
on that very day in which he ate.
His body was brought into a corruptible mortal
and dying condition and so it continued until
it was dissolved.
If we look at eternal death and indeed
all that death which was comprehended in the
threatening it was properly fulfilled in Christ.
When God said to Adam if thou eatest
thou shalt die he spoke not only to
him and of him personally but the words
respected mankind Adam and his race and doubtless
were so understood by him.
His offspring were to be looked upon as
sinning in him and so should die with
him.
The words do as justly allow an imputation
of death as of sin.
They are as well consistent with dying in
a surety as with sinning in one.
Therefore the threatening is fulfilled in the death
of Christ the surety.
Objection number two.
Another objection may arise from God's threatenings to
Nineveh.
He threatened that in 40 days Nineveh should
be destroyed which yet he did not fulfill.
I answer that threatening could justly be looked
upon in no otherwise than as conditional.
It was of the nature of a warning
and not of an absolute denunciation.
Why was Jonah sent to the Ninevites but
to give them warning that they might have
opportunity to repent reform and avert the approaching
destruction?
God had no other design or end in
sending the prophet to them but that they
might be warned and tried by him as
God warned the Israelites and warned Judah and
Jerusalem before their destruction.
Therefore the prophets together with their prophecies of
approaching destruction joined earnest exhortations to repent and
reform that it might be averted.
No more could justly be understood to be
certainly threatened than that Nineveh should be destroyed
in 40 days continuing as it was.
For it was for their wickedness that the
destruction was threatened and so the Ninevites took
it.
Therefore when the cause was removed the effect
ceased.
It is contrary to God's known manner to
threaten punishment and destruction for sin here in
this world absolutely so that it should come
upon the persons threatened unavoidably though they repent
and reform and do what they would.
Jeremiah 18 verse 7 and 8 is agreeable
to this.
At what instance I shall speak concerning a
nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up
and pull down and to destroy it.
If that nation against whom I have pronounced
turn from their evil I will repent of
the evil that I thought to do unto
them.
All threatenings of this nature had a condition
implied in them according to the known and
declared manner of God's dealing.
The Ninevites did not take it as an
absolute sentence or denunciation.
If they had they would have despaired of
any benefit by fasting and reformation.
The threatenings of eternal wrath are positive and
absolute.
There is nothing in the Word of God
from which we can gather any condition.
The only opportunity of escaping is in this
world.
This is the only state of trial wherein
we have any offers of mercy or there
is any place of repentance.
For I shall mention several good and important
ends which will be obtained by the eternal
punishment of the wicked.
1.
Hereby God vindicates his injured majesty whereas sinners
cast contempt upon it and trample it in
the dust.
God vindicates and honors it and makes it
appear as it is indeed infinite by showing
that it is infinitely dreadful to contemn or
offend it.
2.
God hereby glorifies his justice.
The glory of God is the greatest good.
It is that which is the chief end
of creation.
It is a thing of greater importance than
anything else.
One way in which God will glorify himself
will be in the eternal destruction of ungodly
men wherein he will glorify his justice.
Therein he will appear as a just governor
of the world.
The vindicative justice of God will appear strict,
exact, awful, and terrible and therefore glorious.
3.
God hereby indirectly glorifies his grace on the
vessels of mercy.
The saints in heaven will behold the torments
of the damned.
The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever
and ever.
Revelation chapter 14 verse 11.
And they shall go forth and look upon
the carcasses of the men that have transgressed
against me, for their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched, and they
shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Isaiah chapter 66 verse 24.
And in Revelation chapter 14 verse 10 it
is said that they shall be tormented in
the presence of the holy angels and in
the presence of the Lamb.
So they will be tormented also in the
presence of the glorified saints.
Hereby the saints will be made the more
sensible how great their salvation is.
When they shall see how great the misery
is from which God has saved them and
how great a difference he has made between
their state and the state of others who
were by nature and perhaps by practice no
more sinful and ill-deserving than they, it
will give them more of a sense of
the wonderfulness of God's grace to them.
Every time they look upon the damned, it
will excite in them a lively and admiring
sense of the grace of God in making
them so to differ.
This, the apostle informs us, is one end
of the damnation of ungodly men.
What if God, willing to show his wrath
and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering 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 aforeprepared unto glory?
Romans chapter 9 verses 22 and 23.
This view of the misery of the damned
will double the ardor of the love and
gratitude of the saints in heaven.
For the sight of hell torments will exalt
the happiness of the saints forever.
It will not only make them more sensible
of the greatness and freeness of the grace
of God in their happiness, but it will
make their happiness the greater, as it will
make them more sensible of their own happiness.
It will give them a more lively relish
of it.
It will make them prize it more when
they see others who were of the same
nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged
in such misery, and they so distinguished.
Oh, it will make them sensible of how
happy they are.
A sense of the opposite misery in all
cases greatly increases the relish of any joy
or pleasure.
The sight of the wonderful power, the great
and dreadful majesty, the awful justice and holiness
of God manifested in the eternal punishment of
ungodly men will make them prize His favor
and love vastly the more, and they will
be so much the happier in the enjoyment
of it.
Application 1.
From what has been said, we may learn
the folly and madness of the greater part
of mankind in that, for the sake of
present momentary gratification, they run the venture of
enduring all these eternal torments.
They prefer a small pleasure, or a little
wealth, or a little earthly honor and greatness,
which can last but a moment, to an
escape from this punishment.
If it can be true that the torments
of hell are eternal, what will it profit
a man if he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul, or what shall
a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mark 8, verse 36 and 37.
What is there in this world which is
not a trifle and lighter than vanity in
comparison with these eternal things?
How mad are men who so often hear
of these things and pretend to believe them,
who can live but a little while, a
few years, who do not even expect to
live here longer than others of their species
ordinarily do, and yet are careless about what
becomes of them in another world where there
is no change and no end?
How mad are they when they hear that
if they go on in sin they shall
be eternally miserable, that they are not moved
by it, but hear it with as much
carelessness and coldness as if they were no
way concerned in the matter, when they know
not but what they may be suffering these
torments before a week is at an end,
and that if it should be so it
would be no strange thing, no other than
a common thing.
How can men be so careless of such
a matter as their own eternal and desperate
destruction and torment?
What a strange stupor and senselessness possesses the
hearts of men!
How common a thing it is to see
men who are told from Sabbath to Sabbath
of eternal misery, and who are as mortal
as other men, so careless about it that
they seem not to be at all restrained
by it from whatever their souls lust after.
It is not half so much their care
to escape eternal misery as it is to
get money and land, and to be considered
in the world, and to gratify their senses.
Their thoughts are much more exercised about these
things, and much more of their care and
concern is about them.
Eternal misery, though they lie every day exposed
to it, is a thing neglected.
It is but now and then thought of,
and then with a great deal of stupidity,
and not with concern enough to stir them
up to do anything considerable in order to
escape it.
They are not sensible that it is worth
their while to take any considerable pains in
order to avoid it, and if they do
take pains for a little while, they soon
leave off, and something else takes up their
thoughts and concern.
Thus you will see it to be among
young and old.
Multitudes of those who are in youth lead
a careless life, taking little care about their
salvation.
So you may see it to be among
persons of middle age, so it is still
with many when advanced in years, and when
they certainly draw near to the grave.
Yet these same persons will seem to acknowledge
that the greater part of men go to
hell and suffer eternal misery, and this through
carelessness about it.
However, they will do the same.
How strange it is that men can enjoy
themselves and be at rest when they are
thus hanging over eternal burnings, at the same
time having no lease on their lives, and
not knowing how soon the thread by which
they hang will break, nor do they pretend
to know.
And if it breaks, they are gone, they
are lost forever, and there is no remedy.
Yet they do not trouble themselves much about
it, nor will they hearken to those who
cry to them and entreat them to take
care for themselves and labor to get them
out of their dangerous condition.
They are not willing to take so much
pains.
They choose not to be diverted from amusing
themselves with those toys and vanities which they
have in hand.
Thus well might the wise men say, as
in Ecclesiastes, The heart of the sons of
men is full of evil, and madness is
in their heart while they live, and after
that they go to the dead.
Chapter 9 verse 3.
How much wiser are those few who make
it their main business to lay a foundation
for eternity to secure their salvation.
Application 2.
I shall improve this subject with an exhortation
to sinners to take care to escape these
eternal torments.
If they be eternal, one would think that
would be enough to awaken your concern and
excite your diligence.
If the punishment be eternal, it is infinite,
as we said before.
Therefore no other evil, no death, no temporary
torment that you have ever heard of, or
that you can imagine, is anything in comparison
with it, but is as much less considerable
not only as a grain of sand is
less than the whole universe, but as it
is less than the boundless space which encompasses
the universe.
Therefore, a.
Here be entreated to consider attentively how great
and awful a thing eternity is.
Although you cannot comprehend it the more by
considering, yet you may be more sensible that
it is not a thing to be disregarded.
Do but consider what it is to suffer
extreme torment forever and ever, to suffer it
day and night, from one day to another,
from one year to another, from one age
to another, and so adding age to age,
and thousands to thousands in pain, in wailing
and lamenting, groaning and shrieking and gnashing your
teeth, with your souls full of dreadful grief
and amazements, with your bodies and every member
full of racking torture, without any possibility of
getting ease, without any possibility of moving God
to pity your cries, without any possibility of
obtaining any manner of mitigation or help or
change for the better anyway, without any possibility
of hiding yourselves from God.
b.
Do but consider how dreadful despair will be
in such torment, how dismal it will be
when you are under these racking torments, to
know assuredly that you never, never shall be
delivered from them, to have no hope when
you shall wish that you might be turned
into nothing, but shall have no hope of
it, when you shall wish that you might
be turned into a toad or a serpent,
but shall have no hope of it, when
you would rejoice, if you might but have
any relief, after you shall have endured these
torments for millions of ages, but shall have
no hope of it, when, after you shall
have worn out the age of the sun,
moon and stars in your dolorous groans and
lamentations, without any rest, day or night, or
one minute's ease, yet you shall have no
hope of ever being delivered, when after you
shall have worn out a thousand more ages,
yet you shall have no hope, but shall
know that you are not one whit nearer
to the end of your torments, but that
still there are the same groans, the same
shrieks, the same doleful cries, incessantly to be
made by you, and that the smoke of
your torments shall still ascend up for ever
and ever, and that your souls, which shall
have been agitated with the wrath of God
all this while, yet will still exist to
bear more wrath, your bodies, which shall have
been burning and roasting all this while in
these glowing flames, yet shall not have been
consumed, but will remain to roast through an
eternity, yet which shall not have been at
all shortened by what shall have been past.
You may, by considering, make yourself more sensible
than you ordinarily are, but little can you
conceive of what is to have no hope
in such torments.
How sinking would it be to you to
endure such pain as you have felt in
this world, without any hopes, and to know
that you never should be delivered from it,
nor have one minute's rest.
You can now scarcely conceive how doleful that
would be, how much more to endure the
vast weight of the wrath of God without
hope.
The more the damned in hell think of
the eternity of their torments, the more amazing
it will appear to them.
Alas, they are not able to avoid thinking
of it, they will not be able to
keep it out of their minds, their tortures
will not divert them from it, but will
fix their attention to it.
Oh, how dreadful will eternity appear to them
after they have been thinking on it for
ages together, and shall have had so long
an experience of their torments.
The damned in hell will have two infinitives
perpetually to amaze them and swallow them up.
One is an infinite God whose wrath they
will bear, and whom they will behold as
their perfect and irreconcilable enemy.
The other is the infinite duration of their
torment.
If it were possible for the damned in
hell to have a comprehensible knowledge of eternity,
their sorrow and grief would be infinite in
degree.
The comprehensive view of so much sorrow which
they must endure would cause infinite grief for
the present.
Though they will not have a comprehensive knowledge
of it, yet they will doubtless have a
vastly more lively and strong apprehension of it
than we can have in this world.
Their torments will give them an impression of
it.
A man in his present state, without any
enlargement of his capacity, would have a vastly
more lively impression of eternity than he has
if he were only under some pretty sharp
pain in some member of his body, and
were at the same time assured that he
must endure that pain forever.
His pain would give him a greater sense
of eternity than other men have.
How much more will those excruciating torments which
the damned will suffer have this effect?
Besides, their capacity will probably be enlarged.
Their understandings will be quicker and stronger in
a future state, and God can give them
as great a sense and as strong an
impression of eternity as He pleases to increase
and torment.
O be entreated, you that are in a
Christless state and are going on in a
way to hell, that are daily exposed to
damnation, to consider these things.
If you do not, it will surely be
but a little while before you will experience
them, and then you will know how dreadful
it is to despair in hell.
It may be before this year, or this
month, or this week is at an end,
before another Sabbath, or before you shall have
opportunity to hear another sermon.
See that you may effectually escape these dreadful
and eternal torments, be entreated to flee and
embrace Him who came into the world for
the very end of saving sinners from these
torments, who has paid the whole debt due
to the divine law and has exhausted the
eternal torments in His temporal sufferings.
What great encouragement it is to those of
you who are sensible that you are exposed
to eternal punishment, that there is a Savior
provided who is able and who freely offers
to save you from the punishment, and that
in a way which is perfectly consistent with
the glory of God, yea, which is more
to the glory of God than it would
be if you should suffer the eternal punishment
of hell.
For if you should suffer that punishment, you
would never pay the whole of the debt.
Those who are sent to hell never will
have paid the whole of the debt which
they owe to God, nor indeed a part
which bears any proportion to the whole.
They never will have paid a part which
bears so great a proportion to the whole
as one might to ten thousand talents.
Justice therefore never can be actually satisfied in
your damnation, but it is actually satisfied in
Christ.
He is accepted of the Father, and all
who believe are accepted and justified in Him.
Therefore, believe in Him, come to Him, commit
your souls to Him, to be saved by
Him.
In Him you shall be safe from the
eternal torments of hell.
Nor is that all.
Through Him you shall inherit inconceivable blessedness and
glory which will be of equal duration with
the torments of hell.
For as at the last day the wicked
go away into everlasting punishment, so shall the
righteous, or those who trust in Christ, go
into life eternal.
Amen.