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Pfalm xxxvii. 20, "But the wicked fhall perish, and the enemies of the Lord fhall be as the fat of lambs; they fhall CONSUME; into fmoke fhall they cONSUME away."

It is faid in thefe places that God is a confuming fire, that a fire not blown fhall CONSUME the wicked, and that into smoke they fhall CONSUME away like the fat of lambs. I do not fee how any perfon of common fenfe can fuppofe that the wicked can experience all this, and yet exift eternally in mifery, or be afterwards restored to the favour of God.

II. DEVOUR is another word to express the same thing

as CONSUME.

This is applied to the wicked. Heb. x. 26, 27, "For if we fin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more facrifice for fins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation which fhall DEVOUR the adverfaries." When any thing is devoured by fire every perfon knows this makes an end of it.

12. END is a word to defcribe the last thing the wicked fhall receive. This word fometimes means purpose or intent: "To this end was I born," to this purpose or cause. But in general it fignifies to finish a thing, fo that there is no more of it. Peter fays, 1 Eph. iv. 7, "But the END of all things is at hand." He means the time when all earthly things will ceafe to be forever. END of this world means the time when these things which we fee fhall be done away and be no more. World without END, means a world which will continue forever. The END of the wicked in this world, means the time when their bodies die: but their END at the last day, means an END of their fouls as well as their bodies.

The

The end of the wicked is mentioned in the New-Teftament. Philip. iii. 19, "Whofe END is deftruction." This is the fame as what Chrift faid of the foul and body being destroyed in hell. 1 Pet. iv. 19, "What shall be the END of them that obey not the gofpel?" Paul tells us what their end fhall be. "Whofe END is destruction." Peter fays of the wicked, "The latter END is work

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than the beginning." Thefe are confidered as thorns and briars. Heb. vi. 8, " But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto curfing, whose end is to be burned." The end of the wicked for their fin is death. Rom. vi. 21, "What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now afhamed? For the END of those things is death.” In thefe fcriptures, the END of the wicked is faid to be DESTRUCTION, and to be burned as briars and thorns. There cannot be plainer words to

defcribe the complete overthrow of the wicked.

The

END of the righteous is life, the END of the wicked is

death, which cannot mean existence in any sense what

ever.

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SERMON XVIII.

“WE HAVE ALSO A MORE SURE WORD OF

PROPHECY," &c.

HAVING noticed twelve words which are

ufed to defcribe the end or death of the wicked, I shall now mention fome of the different expreffions used in fcripture, to describe the state of the wicked, after the day of judgment; that each one may fee, that the Author of that bleffed book, meant we fhould understand, that the wicked will cease to have a being, after the judgment of the great day.

I. "BURNT UP," is one expreffion ufed. When a thing is burnt up, is there any thing of it left except the afhes? No. Samfon's foxes with the fire brands "burnt up" the Philistines' wheat; the fire burnt up the captains with their fifties. The fire of God burnt up Job's sheep. The wicked burnt up all the fynagogues of God in the land. This certainly made an end of them. David fpeaks of the Ifraelites. Pfal. cvi. 18. "The flame burnt up the wicked." John speaking of the wicked, fays, Matt. iii. 12. "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor,and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." By the chaff, is meant the wicked. Job xxi. 18.

They are as ftubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away." Pfal. i. 4. "The ungodly are not fo; but are like the chaff, which the wind driveth away." Ifaiah v. 25, "Therefore as the fire devoureth the ftubble, and the flame confumeth the chaff, fo their

root fhall be as rottennefs, and their bloffom fhall go up as duft.". If the God of heaven had meant to inform us of an ever-during ftate of mifery, which the wicked fhall have, after the day of judgment, would he have used fuch a fimilitude as chaff burnt up with unquenchable fire, which means a fire which shall not be put out? He certainly would not. Had it meant a fire which would not confume, or devour, there would have been fuch expreffions as thefe, Exod. iii. 2., "And he looked, and, ̧ behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not confumed. And Mofes faid, I will now turn afide, and fee this great fight, why the bush is not burned." How dif ferent this reads from burning up chaff with unquenchable fire!

The parable of the tares and the wheat caries the fame ideas as that of the chaff. Matt. xiii. 30. “Let both grow together until the harveft; and in the time of harvest, I will fay to the reapers, Gather ye together firft the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." This is explained in ver. 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, "The field is the world; the good feed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that fowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, fo fhall it be in the end of this world; the Son of Man fhall fend forth his angels, and they fhall gaher out of his kingdom, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and fhall caft them into a furnace of fire." What can be more expreffive of the end of them that do iniquity, than this parable? The fire certainly burns all the life of the tares, and all that can poffibly be left is the afhes. The wicked fhall be as afhes under the foles of your feet. If the wicked are to exift eternally in fire, they cannot be more than finged; for the most substantial part must be left. Here it is faid, as the tares are burned, fo fhall it be in the end of this world with the wicked.

It is faid in Malachi iv. 1, "It fhall leave them neither root nor branch." What can there be, when

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neither root nor branch are left? or nothing left? Jesus fays, Matt. vii. 19, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and caft into the fire." In the first text, the wicked were compared to chaff, burnt up in the fire;-then to the tares burnt up;-here they are compared to a bad tree, which is hewn down, and cast into the fire. In another place, they are called dead trees, plucked up by the roots. In Matthew, the fire into which the wicked are to be caft at the last day, is called " a furnace." Chap. xiii. 42, "And fhall caft them into a furnace of fire; there fhall be wailing and gnafhing of teeth. How foon would chaff, tares, or even dry wood be confumed in a furnace! The fire into which the wicked will be caft at the day of judgment, never fhall be quenched. "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.". The meaning of this is, that the fire will not be stopped; but will continue to burn until the wicked are wholly confumed. If the wicked are to exift forever, the fire must be quenched; for whatever burns any, would burn wholly, if the fire is not quenched, or the perfon or thing taken out of it. We all know that whatever begins to burn muft and will burn up, unless the fire is put out. If an houfe is on fire, if it is not quenched, the house must certainly be devoured by the fire. This text is fo far from being an argument in favour of the eternal duration of the wicked, that it is wholly in favour of their being burnt up like chaff.

The fire which will burn up the wicked is called eternal fire and everlafling fire becaufe it will make a final end of them without any recovery. This does not mean that the fire will burn them eternally; but that they will by it be eternally beyond recovery. If this is the meaning of eternal fire, to burn the wicked eternally, then the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, are burning yet; for the fame eternal fire which burnt up the inhabitants, burnt up the cities. See Gen. xix. 25, "And he overthrew thofe cities, and all the plains, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." Here we are told, that

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