attentive to their lawful callings, one may gain heaven, and the other not.

xxiv. 48. " But and if that evil servant shall say. in his heart, my lord delayeth his coming; 49. And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of; 51. And shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Shall cut him asunder, and appoint him a portion, &c.-this ill provides for eternal existence; but to separate body and spirit, cuts asunder the condition of existence.

xxv. 31. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; 32. And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth His sheep from the goats; 33. and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world; 35. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36. Naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee? or thirsty and gave thee drink? &c.: and the King shall answer, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one

of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41. Then shall He say unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42. For I was an hungered, &c. 45. Then shall He answer them, saying, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

It is impossible to read this account of the procedure at the great audit, and not perceive that it is for acting according to their natural abilities, or for wasting those abilities on that which profiteth not, that men will be blessed or condemned. That those who have mis-used a temporal existence, shall then be made eternal, who can believe? That their mortal shall then put on immortality? That their corruption shall put on incorruption? Let us learn then of St. Paul what is meant by eternal punishment. 2. Thess. i. 7.

St. Mark i. 24. And the unclean spirit cried out, "Saying, let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?" In St. Matt. viii. 29, it is, "Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"

iii. 29. "But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."

He must be for ever condemned, who not only rejects the condition of pardon, but hates the instru

ment.

iv. 25.

"For he that hath, to him shall be given; and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."

This is according to the parable of the talents: existence is an abused blessing, and as such withdrawn.

iv. 38. "Master, carest thou not that we perish?” To perish here means to die-to perish everlastingly cannot mean to live in misery.

vi. 11. "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them: verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of judgment, than for that city."

When shall it be more tolerable? in the day of judgment, when the suffering will be in proportion to the abused endowments men will have to give account of.

viii. 38. "Of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh, &c."

How feeble a threat to those who have, in fact, incurred Eternal Misery. How fearful a one to those who shall come to see that His favour alone can rescue from destruction.

Observe the character of our Saviour's denunciations against the men of this world, in opposition to His own kingdom.

St. Luke vi. 24. "Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. 25. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. 26. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."

The woes here denounced must refer to the time of the general judgment, or a time subsequent to it.

Let any one ask himself, do they in the slightest degree hint at, or imply, Eternal Misery? Do they not threaten the privation of some abused or fancied good? Let the following help to determine which is most congenial to our Saviour's nature.

35.

"But love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 38. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again."

x. 25.

"And behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted Him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Now here we have a person who was not a disciple of our Saviour's: and Christ himself in answer, "this do, and thou shalt live," speaking the same language, which would ill express the enquirer's meaning, if eternal existence might be an eternity of misery; yet our Saviour confirms the propriety of his, by using the same expression. Now, it cannot be said Christ uses life as expressive of happiness; and in contradiction, from existence in misery, unless the lawyer did so, for which there is not the smallest warrant. Our Saviour confirms the propriety of the expression, then, in the sense the lawyer used it.

66

x. 41. Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; 42. but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Here is clearly implied that every thing else, but

-the one thing needful, shall be taken away; and existence, therefore, must pass from those who have not chosen the good part.

St. John i. 4. "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men (1) 5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

Can Eternal Torments be the tender mercy which is over all God's works, because the light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not?

12. "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God; (2) 13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

From which of these sources does man derive his immortality? is it from blood, or the will of the flesh, or of the will of man? it is not from God, for that is confined to those who believe on Christ's name.

iii. 3. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 5. Except a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit."

It is here three times declared we must be born of the spirit; then, naturally we have not spiritual

*(1, 2, 3, 4, &c.) By observing these figures, it will be seen how often our Saviour, in this gospel, repeats that life is derived from Him.