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Then fhall he answer them, faying, verily I fay unto you, in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And thefe fhall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

How clear, how pofitive, and how important is this fentence, which will at the laft day be pronounced on all who at that time are found enemies of the King of glory!

What is here called everlasting fire, is in Rev. xx. called the lake of fire; this, with the second death, I shall fpeak upon in the following Sermons.

The particulars treated upon in this Sermon, viz. the judgment, raising and judging the dead, call for the fe rious attention of every reader. Afk yourselves the all important question; have I an evidence that it will be well with me in that great day? Give all diligence that you may be found of him. in peace, fo the appearing of the judge of all the earth will increase your joy. Amen.

SERMON XV.

“WE HAVE ALSO A MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY," &c.

I shall now attend to the third particular mentioned in the Sermon before this....viz.... The lake of fire into which the wicked will be caft after they are judged out of the books.

IT is

T is faid, Rev. xx. 14, 15, "And death and hell were caft into the lake of fire; this is the fecond death; and whofoever was not found written in the books of life, was caft into the lake of fire."

The lake of fire, hell, and the earth on fire, all mean one thing. In one place we are told that the wicked "fhall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the fecond death," Rev. xxi, 8, And that they fhall be commanded into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. In another placeit is faid, "The wicked fhall be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God." In another place it is faid, "But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the fame word are kept in ftore, referved unto fire a gainst the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men," 2. Peter iii. 7. If all thefe do not mean one: thing, the fcriptures are a contradiction and cannot be depended on. That this earth at the day of judgment, after the fentence is paffed upon the wicked, will be fet on fire, and they burnt up, is plain from the fcriptures. z Peter iii. 7, 10, 11, 12, "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the fame word are kept in store, zeferved unto fire against the day of judgment and per

dition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens fhall pass away with a great noife, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat, the earth alfo, and the works that are therein, fhall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things fhall be diffolved, what manner of perfonsought ye to be, in all holy converfation and godliness, looking for, and hafting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire fhall be diffolved, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat ?" Here is a plain declaration that this whole globe fhall at the day of judgment become a lake of fire, where the wicked will be destroyed without remedy.

How eafily will the world be fet on fire at the command of the Creator; what are all the burning mountains in different parts of the world, but for magazines referved against that day. How eafiy is it for him who rained fire and brimstone on Sodom, to rain the same on the whole earth, and take away all the wicked, from off. the earth, as he then confumed the inhabitants of Sodom and the cities round about.

As the wicked at the day of judgment are to be caft into hell, or the lake of fire; and as many appear very ignorant of what is called HELL, in the fcriptures, I fhall here defcribe, what is called hell among men, and what the fcriptures call it.

There are four defcriptions of hell, or four hells mentioned by men, and one mentioned in fcripture.

1. The Pagans' bell....2. The Mahometan's hell....3. The Papifts' bell....4. The Proteftants' hell....5. The fcripture bell, or that which is mentioned in the bible.

1. The hell which the Pagans, or idolatrous worship. pers believe in.

It is defcribed as a wide dark cave under ground, The paffage to it, is a steep rocky defcent first, then a gloomy grove, after that a lake called Apernus, from which arifes fuch poifonous vapours, that if birds fly over it they are poifoned and die. At the entrance of

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hell beyond the grove and lake, feveral monsters are placed who bring men to death and deftruction. Thefe are faid to increase the inhabitants of hell. Their names

are Care, Sorrow, Difeafe, Old-age, Frights, Famine, Want, Labour, Sleep, Death, Sting of conscience, Force, Fraud, Strife,

and War.

At the fide of the lake an old man named Charon, which fignifies a ferry-man, ftands in his boat, to carry the fouls across the lake; on the fhore the fouls appear in flocks; those whofe bodies were buried, go over when they die; the others wander about the fhore an hundred years, and then are caried over. Charon is confidered the god of that dreary coaft. They all pay him a half. penny for carrying them across the lake Avernus.

The heathens fay, there are four rivers which run through HELL. The river Acheron; this they fay was the fon of Tera, born in a cave, and because he could not endure the light, he run down into HELL, and was changed into a river of bitter water.. The fecond river is called Styx, which is rather a lake than a river. This is faid once to be the daughter of Oceanus. This is called the Stygian lake, by which the gods fwear, and keep their oath. The third river is called Cocytus, and runs out of the Stygian lake; they fay it groans, laments, imitates the howling of the damned, and increases the exclamations of the damned. There is another river called Plegethon, fo called because it fwells with waves. of fire, and all its streams, are flames. All these rivers they fay the fouls muft pafs over; then they come to the palace of Pluto, the god of HELL. They fay the gate of Pluto is guarded by Cerebus, a dog with three heads, whofe body is covered over with fnakes inftead of hair. He is confidered the porter of HELL.

The heathens fay that Pluto, the king of hell, was the fon of Saturn;-that his father gave him this infernal dominion, because he invented buryings, and funeral mourning, and that he reigns over death as well as hell. They fay he fits on his throne in the dark, holding a key instead of a fceptre, crowned with ebony. They

fay he is called Pluto, which fignifies wealth. The Greeks call him Hades; dark, gloomy, or melancholy; they call him Agefilaus, becaufe he leads people to the infernal reigons. He is called Agelaflus, because he was never known to laugh. He is called Summanus, that is, cheif of all the infernal deities.

It is faid that this king of hell has a queen, named Proferpine, who enjoys the infernal dominion with him. They tell of three old women in hell, called the Fates. They are called Fatum, fate. There are three, becaufe they order the past, prefent, and to come. They fix every thing, fo that nothing can be altered to eternity. Their names are Clotho, Lachefis, Atropos. To them is entrusted by Pluto the management of the fatal thread of life. Clotho gives us life, and brings us into the world; Lachefis, determines what fhall befal us here; and Atropos concludes our lives. In the heathen's hell, they say there are three furies. They are defcribed as three vir gins, who punish the wicked, torment the confciences of fecret offenders. In their hell, they have an inferior god called Nox; this god is represented as a skeleton with black wings. The name of one of the gods of hell is Somnus. This means fleep; he is thought useful to men. They tell of three judges in hell, to judge the fouls which come there. They mention thofe who are condemned in hell. Some are giants, and fome are kings. They are all doomed to eternal exiftence in mifery. Phlegyus a king, burnt the temple of Apollo; he is condemned to remain in hell forever; a great ftone is hung over his head, which he expects every moment to fall on him, and crush him to pieces. So he is to fit eternally fearing that which will never come to pafs. Ixion, for his crime, was ftruck down to hell with thunder, and tied fast to a wheel which is to be eternally turning him round. Sifyphus, a robber, was condemned in hell, to roll a great ftone to the top of a hill which lides down again just before he rolls it to the top. This is to be his eternal employment.

In the pagan hell, they had a place called the Elyfi-
This place was confidered in the infernal domin

um.

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