195 



spoke of future rewards, was only from faint con- 

 jecture : whereas now we have the plain, and express 

 and repeated promise of God for them. 



As to future punishments, we learn from Revela- 

 tion alone, 



1. That they are both for soul aud body, which 

 are distinguished by the worm that dieth not, and 

 the fi re that is not quenched. And accordingly we 

 are bid to fear Him, who is able to destroy loth body 

 and soul in hell. 



2. That the soul will be punished with everlasting 

 ^destruction, from the presence of the Lord. That the 



chief of all misery, in another life, would be, exclu- 

 sion from the sight of God, was never thought of by 

 the wisest heathens, who placed all happiness in 

 themselves. 



3. That the body will be punished by fire, than 

 which we have not any Revelation more express and 

 positive. And as it is an instance of the great good- 

 jiess of God, that the joys of Heaven are represented, 



figuratively, as exceeding the utmost of our concep- 

 tions ; so it is an argument of his strict justice, that 

 the pains of hell are. more literally foretold. 



4. The eternity of these punishments is revealed, 

 as plainly as words can express it. Not that the 

 punishments denounced are mere arbitrary sanctions 

 like those annexed to human laws. But those de- 

 nunciations are withal so many previous warnings of 

 the inevitable consequence, the natural tendency of 

 sin to misery. So that an unrepenting sinner cannot 



