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endless happiness." What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"k "Search the Scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal "life, and they are they which testify of me." "Ye put it "from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting "life." "No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life.' "And every 46 one that hath forsaken houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my 66 sake, shall receive one hundred fold, and shall inherit ever"lasting life." "Whosoever believeth in him, should not "perish, but have eternal life:" or "everlasting life." "He "that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." "The wa"ter that I shall give him, shall be in him, a well of water "springing up into everlasting life." "He that reapeth, re"ceiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.” “He "that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, "hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, "but is passed from death unto life." "Labour not for the "meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto "everlasting life." "This is the will of him that sent me, "that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, "may have everlasting life." "He that believeth on me, hath "everlasting life." "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh "my blood, hath eternal life." "Thou hast the words of “eternal life.” “And I give unto them eternal life, and they "shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out "of my hand." "He that loveth his life, shall lose it, and he "that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eter"nal." “And I know that his commandment is life ever"lasting." "Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that "he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given "him. And this is life eternal; that they might know thee, "the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' "And as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed."

"'m

J During the debate, I gave a concise gloss upon these texts as they were read, to prove that they really meant eternal life. These and much other matter which was spoken, and much which was prepared, and not spoken, I omit, for precision's sake, in the written argument. Neither are all of the texts repeated in whole or in part; because many of them are almost in the same words: but all are referred to in the notes.

k Matt. xix. 16. x. 17. Luke x. 25, xviii, 18.

1 John v. 39. Acts xiii. 46. 1 John iii. 15. Jude 21. Matt. xix. 29. Mk. x. 30. Luke xviii, SO.

m John iii. 15,16, 36. iv. 14, 36. v. 24. vi. 27, 40, 47, 54, 68. x. 28. xii. 25, 50. xvii. 2, 3.

To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek "for glory and honour, and immortality, eternal life." "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace

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reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus "Christ our Lord." "Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and "the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but "the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." "He that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." "Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy; that in me first, Jesus Christ might shew forth all "long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereaf"ter, believe on him, to life everlasting." "Fight the good "fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life."n" In hope of eter"nal life." "According to the hope of eternal life." "And "this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal "life." "And this is the record, that God hath given to us "eternal life, and this life is in his Son." "These things "have I written unto you that believe on the name of the "Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.”。

If that is absolutely eternal life, which is the result of God's unparallelled love, which is Christ's greatest gift, and the subject of the greatest promise;—if that be really eternal life, which Jews and murderers rejected and forfeited, and which apostles, saints and martyrs gained, through grace, in exchange for temporal life;-if that be truly eternal life, which we are required to seek, as an imperishable good, and an everlasting consolation, connected with a good hope;then, aionios means absolutely eternal. Socinians themselves acknowledge that immortality, or incorruption means an absolute eternity: yet in the above passages, God has promised eternal life to those who seek immortality or incorruption. All but Atheists acknowledge that God exists, in the exercise of his infinite perfections, to an absolute eternity: yet in the above authorities, we find that while God and Christ thus exist, the eternal life of the saints shall endure. So far is it from having bounds set to it, in the passages quoted, eternal glory is expressly contrasted with temporal suffering, and the eternal house and habitation of believers is contrasted with their earthly and failing abode.

Out of the seventy-one places in which this word occurs, we have now recounted sixty-five; in all of which, the un

n Acts xiii. 48. Rom. ii. 7. v. 21. vi. 22, 23. Gal. vi, 8. 1 Tim, i. 16. vi. 12, 19: o Tit. i. 2. iii. 7. 1 John ii. 25, v, 11, 13.

p Rom. ii. 7. John x. 28, 29.

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learned, as well as the learned, can perceive that aionios means absolutely eternal. This might never have been disputed, but for the sake of the remaining six, which read as follows. "He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, "hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damna“tion.""Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about "them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." "Who shall "be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence "of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.' ""It is bet❝ter for thee to enter into life halt or maimed; rather than "having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire." "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." "And these shall go away into "everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."

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The note which my opponent has, without giving credit, copied from the Improved Version, on the first of these texts, was worth so little, that he appears to have stolen it merely to keep his hand in. Concerning the eternal fire, mentioned in the second text, he speaks as follows, viz. "It is said to "be set forth as an example to others, that they may avoid a "similar fate. Now, I ask you, my hearers, admitting the meaning my opponent attaches to it were true, can that "which takes place in an invisible world, be an example to "those who exist here, and who have never seen any thing "of it, nor any who came from thence ?-It is said to be set "forth of course it must be something that is brought into "view, and not that which is hidden. The apostle says, (2 “Pet. ii. 6,) ‘And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor"❝rah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, mak❝ing them an ensample unto those that after should live 'ungodly.' Now, I ask, what fire was set forth as an ex"ample to other nations, who should afterwards live un"godly? Could it be the fire of my opponent's Hell in an"other world, which was set forth as an example to those "who should live here as the inhabitants of Sodom and Go"morrah? No, my hearers, it was the fire which destroyed "those cities, and continued to the days of the apostle, which "is here meant." At the same time, he quotes from Scarlett,

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q Mk. iii. 29. Jude 7. 2 Thess. i. 9. Matt. xviii. 8. xxv. 41, 46.

r He has made an unimportant alteration of a few words, to make it his own; as some men take possession of their neighbour's cattle, after altering their marks.

who professed to quote from Whitby, that "This fire lasted "from Abraham's time, till after the apostolic age; and was "burning in the time of Philo Judæus, the beginning of the "second century." In his Lectures, he tells us, from Scarlett, that this fire "lasted upwards of two thousand years,” "but is now extinct."s

The substance of the above argument is this;-Nothing can be set forth as an example, but that which is submitted to occular inspection ;-But Sodom and Gomorrha "are set "forth an example, suffering the vengeance of aionian fire,”— Therefore, this aionian fire must mean that visible fire which lasted upwards of two thousand years, but is now extinct; Wherefore, it cannot be an absolutely eternal fire. My opponent says, "It is set forth of course, it must be something "that is brought into view; and not that which is hidden." "Can that which takes place in an invisible world be an ex"ample to those who exist here, and who have never seen any thing of it, nor any who came from thence ?"

But, in reply to these sage remarks, I would observe, that he would not believe it, if one were to come from thence. For God has said, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, "neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the "dead." But is it true, that nothing can be set forth as an example, but that which is seen? James says, "Take, my "brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of "the Lord, for an example of suffering affiction, and of pa"tience." Had James or those to whom he wrote, ever seen these prophets? Concerning the destruction of the Israelites in the wilderness, Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Now "these things were our examples, to the intent we should "not lust after evil things, as they also lusted." "Now all "these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they "are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of "the world are come." Had Paul or the Corinthians ever seen the carnage in the wilderness? Moreover; in the text quoted above by my opponent, Peter says that God has made the case of Sodom and Gomorrha 66 an ensample unto those "that after should live ungodly." Is it an example to no ungodly person that has not seen the fire?

The manner in which Universalists contradict themselves and one another on this text in Jude, looks unfavourably.