SERMON XXVI.*

THE SECOND DEATH ILLUSTRATED.

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."-REVELATION XX. 11 – 15.

OUR text involves a subject of no ordinary moment, and with feelings of more than ordinary interest do I approach the extended field of investigation now opening before me. I feel no disposition to trifle with the doctrines of my fellowmen, nor with sacred things. I stand not here to wrest the Scriptures from their obvious import by any ingenuity of speech, but to make a righteous developement of truth, and thus humbly endeavour to present to my audience the sacred oracles in their naked grandeur.

This text you have with the best of intentions

*Delivered before the First Universalist Society in Taunton, Mass., on Sunday, February 12th, 1832.

presented me for my consideration, and most cheerfully do I bring it forward for the edification of all sincere inquirers after truth. In doing this I have no wish to disturb others in their honest opinions, nor give them one feeling of distress, while I candidly and solemnly examine those errors in their doctrines, which have become so venerable on account of their age, and so sanctified on account of so many good, great, and learned men believing them, that to many it may seem. bordering on blasphemy to call those errors in question. But duties, momentous as our existence, and sacred and dear as the strongest ties of social, or even parental affection, are laid upon us, and these duties we may not forego.

Did I believe the doctrine of endless misery true, I could have no inducement to hide its awfulness from my fellow-creatures, or to trifle with my own, or their final destiny. Were that sentiment true, and did I believe it, I would stand before you with other emotions than those that now pervade my bosom. And painful as might be the task, yet, with all these dear friends and unsuspecting children around me, I would, with a trembling hand, draw aside the curtains of the tomb, point you to the future world, and lay open and naked to your mental view, the dark regions of despair, and let you listen to the final groan of hapless millions, and to the roar of that tremendous ocean,

whose surges are liquid fire, and whose surrounding atmosphere is living flame. Were I satisfied of the truth of this sentiment, then no feelings of friendship, or of fond attachment, no riches, · honors, or popularity should keep me one moment where I am. I would sacrifice the whole on the altar of truth, to the omnipotence of which all must sooner or later bow.

We are now about to examine a passage of Scripture, classed among those which by many are supposed to teach the doctrine of endless misery. There is probably no phrase in the Book of God, that has been more frequently pronounced by our religious opposers, than the "second death," or the "lake of fire and brimstone," when engaged in argument against universal holiness. They consider our text more forcibly to express the awfulness of that doom, which they honestly believe awaits the "finally impenitent,” in the future world, than any other in the sacred oracles. So much force have preachers in different ages given to the scripture metaphor," the lake of fire and brimstone,' that the impression became general of its being a burning world, and the imaginations of thousands have been distracted in contemplating the indescribable horrors of the scene. For many years it would have been considered impiety to have believed it to be any thing less than an ocean

of literal fire and brimstone; and it is of but recent date, that the better informed have substituted the milder phrase, a hell of conscience.

But taking our whole text in connexion, it is even in the present day brought forward with a confidence bordering on certainty, that it is unanswerable by Universalists, being, as they suppose, completely at variance with the ultimate salvation of all men. Here they contend it is plainly stated, that Christ shall sit upon a great white throne, of indescribable splendor; that at the grandeur of the scene the earth and the heavens shall recoil, be suddenly wrapped in flames, pass away with a great noise, and be blotted out forever from the catalogue of existence; that at the same instant the sepulchres of slumbering generations shall give up their dead, and that the undivided attention and the strongest sensibilities of the universe shall be awakened to the interest of that day for which all other days were made; that the whole human family shall then be judged ; and that all those whose names are not written in the book of life, shall be sentenced to endless misery in the future world, which is expressed in the text by a second death; a lake of fire.

Previous to our noticing the second death, we will attempt to show that we have no revelation of such a judgment day, and that the language generally quoted to prove it, has no possible

reference to the subject. And here we would remark, that the Egyptians worshipped the sun, moon, and other hosts of heaven as the gods that governed the world, and produced all the changes, prosperous or adverse, that took place among men. The man whose life was marked by misfortune, was supposed to have been born under an unlucky planet, which was the god that directed his fate. If a nation suffered conquest, being torn to pieces and captivated, it was represented by all the planets being darkened over the land, or falling from their places, and thus withdrawing their shining.

The Hebrews while in servitude among the Egyptians learned their notions of worship; and even after they were liberated by Moses, they did homage to the hosts of heaven. It is therefore reasonable to conclude, that when these Hebrews were visited by national judgments, that the prophets would use the popular language of the day in describing them. The prophets preserved this eastern mode of figurative expression in all their writings, and so did the Grecians and Romans, and Jesus Christ and his apostles. When judgments were brought upon nations, all the sacred writers represent it under the figure of the sun and moon being darkened and stars falling, and the earth passing away and dissolving. In proof of this, see Isaiah chap. xii. where the