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set thy face towards the south, and drop thy words towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field, and say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of JEHOVAH; Thus saith Adonai JEнoVAH, Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north, shall be burnt therein; and all flesh shall see that I JEHOVAH have kindled it; it shall not be quenched," Ezek. xx. 45, 46, 47, 48.See also Jer. vii. 20.

Now these threatenings were surely executed; for the people did not kearken to God; he did certainly kindle a fire, and it burnt, and was not quenched, but consumed Jerusalem and all her palaces; and the beautiful forests that were so much esteemed, shared the same fate: But what person will argue, that the whole city and country must be now in flames; and must have been consuming, from the days of Jer emiah and Ezekiel, because of these expressions, "The flarning flame shall not be quenched,' &c. since we know that Jerusalem, & the country round about, have been since inhabited, and will be again, in a more glorious manner than ever?

Neither will it help the matter to say, that we must understand the fire figuratively, for the anger of God, &c, for he declares by Zechariah, after the seventy years captivity, that he was "returned to Jerusalem with mercies." See Zech. i. 16. And though the present desolation of that land is compared to the 0verthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, Deut. xxix. 23, 28. And Ezekiel not only speaks of it as desolate and waste, but as having been always so; though we know that it was formerly filled with inhabitants (See Ezek. xxxvi. 34, 35. xxxviii. 8.)Yet all the prophets speak of a time to come, when it shall be much more flourishing than it hath ever been: and Isaiah says, "Whereas thou hast been forsaken & hated, so that no man went through thee; I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah (my delight is in her) and thy land Bulah (married) for JEHOVAH delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married," Isaiah Ix. 15.

lxii. 4.

Thus we may see, by these and many other passages, that predictions apparently directly contrary one to the other, may be all fulfilled upon the same land, people and persons only allowing a proper time to each, without which we can never make sense of many prophecies.

Isaiah, speaking of the land of Bozrah, says, "And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone; and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched, night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it, for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also, and the raven, shall dwell in it;" (birds that cannot live in fire, pitch, and brimstone, any better than men ) "And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and is shall be an habitation for dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desart shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.— There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay and hatch, & gather under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with his mate.Seck ye out of the book of JEHOVAH, and read; no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate; for my mouth it hath commanded, and his Spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line; they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein," Isaiah xxxiv. 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

Now, in this passage, there are such things spoken of as are impossible to be fulfilled at once, without as great a miracle as was wrought for the three children in the furnace; and which there is no reason to expect will be wrought in favor of cormorants, bitterns, owls, ravens, dragens, satyrs, wild beasts, thorns, nettles and brambles. In the 10th verse we read of a period called for ever, wherein this land is to be on fire and is not to be quenched, night nor day; and the smoke of it is to ascend up for ever; but in the 17th verse it is said, that the beforementioned birds and beasts shall possess it for ever, even from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. But one of these periods must end, before the other can begin ; the fire must cease to burn, and the smoke to ascend, before beasts can take up their constant dweiling there, and birds can lay and hatch, and gather their young ones under their shadow, and enjoy the society of their mates. And thus the whole prophecy may be fulfilled; not in the same, but in different periods: And thus also, may all the threatenings, and all the promises, in the sacred book be accomplished; not at once, but each in their season.

It appears evident, that our Lord, by alluding to a fire that shall burn on earth, and to worms that shall devour the flesh of the slain, could not mean to prove the torments of men to be absolutely endless; at least, the expressions of the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched, do not necessarily imply it ; which has been sufficiently proved, by the passages where the same or similar expressions are used, where yet the subject cannot intend endless duration ; and this is all that can be necessary to prove at present.

As to the expression of being salted with fire, as every sacrifice was salted with salt; I am not so clear, what might have been our Saviour's intent in this expression; but I think, in the first place, he intended to teach us, that they should not be annihilated by the fire, but preserved therein, to be tormented day and

night, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, during the ages of ages. I would also propose, whether our Lord did not mean to intimate, that even the fire itself shall be of use under his direction, to humble, subdue and penetrate the stubborn and disobedient rebels, that shall be cast into it. Fire, as well as salt, is a great purifier; and preserves and cleanses those things which are able to endure it; and is the great agent by which all metals are separated from their dross, and prepared for the use for which they were designed. Under the law, all unclean things, that could endure the fire, were ordered to be cast into it, in order to their cleansing.

Friend. What you have said concerning the fires that are represented as unquenchable, in several passages of Scripture, is worthy of attention; but you should consider, that these fires were all on earth, and in time, and therefore must have an end, or cease to burn; but the fire of hell is in eternity, and therefore must last as long as eternity shall endure. Pray, what can you say to this?

Minister. Had those unquenchable fires never gone out while earth endured, or while time lasted, there might have been some force in this argument; but since the continuance of the fire does not depend upon the season in which it is kindled, but upon the combustibles that feed and support it, this can be no objection Therefore, since those unquenchable fires that have been mentioned, were kindled on earth, and yet not burn while earth lasted, but have gone out long ago; there is no necessity of granting (even tho' we should admit your premises of the fire of hell being kindled in eternity) that the unquenchable fire of the burning lake must unavoidably burn to all eternity merely because it is supposed to belong to that state : But if punishments only belong to those ages of ages before Christ shall resign the kingdom to the Father, and the lake of fire shall be this terraqueous globe, dissolved, or melted, with fervent heat; then the

ground is changed, and the whole objection vanishes of course.

Friend. As you have come over this objection better than I expected you could, I shall leave it for the present, and consider more fully, when I am by my self, what you have said upon this subject; and shall now propose the greatest objection that can be brought against the Restoration of all men, from the Scriptures; and which, if you can fairly answer, I shall be almost persuaded to believe with you; but I am persuaded that you will be hard put to it.

Minister. Produce your cause, and bring forth your strong reasons, that we may hear them; and if I am silencend, I will not be ashamed to acknowledge it with all my heart.

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Friend. I shall bring my objection from the Scriptures, and state it with the utmost precision that I am able: It is the sin against the Holy Ghost, of which our Savior speaks in the most awful manner; saying, "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall (or may) be forgiven him ;-but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world (or age) neither in the world (or age) to come. Verily, I say unto you, all sins shall (or may) be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, (or hath not forgiveness to the age) but is in danger of eternal damnation," St. Matth. xii. 31, 32. St. Mark, iii. 28, 29. This is such a matter of importance, that three of the evangelists notice it. St. Luke hath it thus: "And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall (or may) be forgiven him ;→→ but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghostit shall not be forgiven," St. Luke, xii. 10. St. Mat, thew saith, this sin shall not be forgiven in this world,

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