BOE ZL. 
and Gomorrah are faid to be fet forth for an example, fuffer- 
ding the vengeance of eternal fire 3 3 that is, of a fire that was 
pot extinguifhed t till thofe cities were utterly confumed. 
So one generation is faid to come, &c. but the earth endur- 
eth for ever. 
n effect, M. Le Clerc notes, that there is no Hebre 
word which properly abi eternity: HS 3M, Jolam, only 
imports a time whofe beginning or end is not known ; and is 
accordingly ufed in a more or  tefs extentive fenfe according 
to the a | treated of, 
. The Greek and Hebrew 
and for ever, though they do not denote an abfolute eternity, 
nor are ufed in this fenfe inthe N. T. the LXX, o r Pagan au- 
' {i . 
+ of pers al, everlay 
Ex 
tow] 
. 
ia?) 
=y 
Al) 
a) 
qQ 
“4 
oe 
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Z) 
d Bot that al! fin is te in re 
of the objeét gain whom it is committed, viz. God; and 
therefore deferves infinite punifhment: but, that crime 
thould be heightened by the quality of the object to een a 
degree, is abfurd ; fince the evil and demerit of all fin m 
equal, inafmuch as none can be more ~ infinite ; - con- 
ucntly there can be no foundation for degrees of dle 
enext hfe. Add, that. for rd fame reafon as the 
leait fin agtek God is infinite, in refpect of its object, the 
ment inflicted ae God may be faid to be infinite, 
us all punifhments from, as 
well 9 emaguint tet —— be equal. Whereas both 
fcripture reafon Prove; that there are different de- 
Brees of guilt, proportionable to different circum- 
ances attending them. ‘T'o this confideration it has been 
replied, that where the duration of 3 Saree: is equal, 
‘there may be fuch a difference in be 
} all- 
fi the do@trine of different — of a Pari rion 
tan be vindicated as ee with itfelf. 
Others have urged, that if the wicked were to live for 
urge, t ga men the choice of 
>pinefs and mifery $ and that the reward - 
moqcrl ne yonions sree ° 
i To which 
be-not. gery Lose to exceed in 
eae being thi 
mere favour, it ey be oie odin ns Se 
f pie P48 Be: 
It may be added, that a man in th 
oe of, fince he has only his ele@tion. But ahh this’ 
y fu Gite to filence the finner, and make him acknowled 
his "seftruétion to be of himfelf, it does not fatisfy the ob- 
jection from the difproportion between the crime and the 
punifhment. All the confiderations, there ‘fore, hitherto al- 
leged, proving ineffectual, our great author is left ro folve 
the difficulty himfelf. 
In order to this he obferyes, that the meafure of penal- 
ties, with re pect to crimes, is not only, nor alwa ays, taken 
rom degree of the offence, auch lefs 
from the duration and continuance - of it 3 but from the 
reafons of sabe sapiens besa properly eur’ fuch penalties 
as may fecure the obfervation of the law 
the breach of it. 
fot t the objeétion of temporary 
crimes aie inte with “fugh o Nii oa is of n 
force. 
the reafons and ends bg oi gree 
tion of Nineveh, and his -pee pro dd the 
threatening to be abfolute, and was angry for being em- 
ployed in a spot that was not made good ; but God un- 
ftanding the 
ing Jonah was fo touched in 
ther have perifhed than Ninewh b thould have efcaped. Tillot. 
fon’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 411. ed. fol. 1710. 
To thi that where God has 
ns of his nature. 
seo c PM cind real 
