ticing the difference between the words hell and the lake of fire and brimstone: the Greek term [HADES] and the Hebrew word [SHAOL] are of precisely the same import; they signify sometimes the grave, sometimes the receptacle of the dead, both of the righteous and wicked; but more definitely, the place where the spirits of the wicked go after death, where they are reserved like prisoners in custody, until the judgment of the great day, when death yields his dominion over the body, and hell gives up the soul; they are then united, and are formally judged; then all that are not found written in the book of life, shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. The above definitions and distinctions are not fanciful, but are supported by the most irrefragable evidence for all those Christians who believe in a general resurrection, must admit that the souls neither of the righteous nor the wicked, are rewarded or punished, until the end of the world. (See Josephus's Epistle to the Greeks, and Lord

King's Annotations on the Apostle's Creed.) For were they judged immediately after death, it would supercede the necessity of a general judgment. That there will be a general judgment, is proved by many plain and positive texts of Scripture; as also by the concurrent testimony of wise and good men in all ages of the world. "I saw (says Daniel) many that slept in the dust arose, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt." Again, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him, then shall he gather before him all nations-He shall gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he shall burn with unquenchable fireThen shall all nations be gathered before him, and he shall separate the righteous from the wicked, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats, &c.-He shall say to them on his left hand, Depart, ye cursed, into eternal (AIONIAN) fire." "I saw (says John) a great white throne, and him that sat sat upon it, from before whose face the heavens (the solar system)

and the earth fled away, &c. and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, &c. and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works, &c. and all that were not found written in the book of life, were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where is the beast and false prophet." When will they get out? Let the Universalian answer. These are events which will take place at the end of the world; in the general judgment, when death and hell are destroyed, and the eternal destiny of men is irreversibly fixed. The beast and false prophet are in the lake of fire, which is called the second death. By the first death the soul and body are separated; in the second death, soul and body are eternally separated from God, and consigned to the lake of fire and brimstone; which place is essentially different from hell; the spirit alone goes to hell; soul and body will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and that too after the general judg

ment.

Now let the Universalians prove that there is any redemption from this lake of fire after the judgment-day. Will they

say, that no one goes to this place after that day? If so, they must deny the Scriptures, which are explicit on this subject. Neither are the righteous formally rewarded, nor the wicked formally punished, until the resurrection and general judgment; for it would be absurd to suppose, that the Lord would reward the one or punish the other, before they are formally judged. But at the end of the world, Christ will deliver up the mediatorial kingdom, and assume the character of Judge of the world. Then shall he come in his Father's glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall render to every man according to his works. There will be no medium of reconciliation with God when Christ shall have resigned his mediatorial office; there will be no priest to make intercession for sinners; none to make atonement for sin. We have no assurance that a day of

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grace will ever be afforded them after the judgment-day. Neither has God any where told us that any means, opportunity, or possibility of effecting a change in our moral character, will take place after this life.

If, therefore, the sinner is saved after the general judgment, it must be effected (for any thing we know to the contrary) without a Saviour, without an atoning priest, or mediator, and without the possibility of his practising any active virtue, either moral or civil; he is as passive as a stone; and as much glory would redound to God, (for any thing we can perceive) to save a cart, or any machine, as to save a sinner.

But where is it explicitly written, that the damned will ever be redeemed out of hell, either before or after the judgment? This doctrine involves consequences too serious and important to us, to be rested on abstract deductions and nice disquisitions, spun out of our prejudices or prepossessions. Let us have something plain and pointed, such as "Thus saith the