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    Isaiah Ixvi . 15 , 16 and 24 , does it not appear that these two passages relate to events of a very similar nature , if not to the very same ? In the latter , " flames of fire" is manifestly a figure denoting destructive warfare , and in

    the former , the lake of fire is so intimately connected with , or rather so descriptive of , the destruction effected by a most decisive engagement , of the complete conquest of the tyrannizing principles or corrupt governments

    prefigured by animals , that it can scarcely be understood in any sense materially different . Into this same lake of fire , we read , chap . xx . 16 , that the devil himself was afterwards injected , in consequence of another destructive warfare , of which he was the instigartor , that is , he underwent the same

    utter destruction , as the result of the same line of conduct , in " deceiving the nations , " that had been practised by the beast and the false prophet . The lake of fire into which they are

    represented as being actually precipitated m the Apocalypse , can be no other than " the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels /' Matt . xxv . 41 . That this will be an

    everlasting fire with respect to these emblematical personages , ( understanding by the phrase , utter and interminable destruction , as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah , ) is probable from the very strong terms employed in the several passages , and accords with the very nature of moral evil ,

    which is necessarily of temporary duration . They are principles of *• deception / ' but deception can last but for a time y its removal must both enable and dispose its former victims to a change of conduct . Into the same lake of fire , however , " whosoever was not found written in the Lamb ' s book

    of life , was thrown ; " and it must necessarily be the case that the agents and instruments of tyranny and warfare must be sufferers by their misdeeds ; must " have their part" in the

    calamities consequent on the overthrow of those corrupt civil and ecclesiastical establishments to which they gave their support , and on which they reposed their confidence , often in opposition to the claims of Christianity .

    The parable relating immediately to the downfal of corrupt governments and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ on earth , with its conse-

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    quences to individuals * makes no , express mention of a resurrection from the dead ; but as " thq , Father hath given to the Son to have life in himself , " so it is highly probable be will to exercise his

    proceed authority when thus arrived at its plenitude , by realizing this glorious and awful event . In this general view of his judgments , he appears to glance at the whole concluding subject of the Apocalypse , from chap . xix . to the end of chap .

    xxi ., which also coincides remarkably with several particulars in the concluding chapter of Isaiah , the last verse of which contains the very images of the undying' icorm and the un * quenchable fire applied to dead bodies slaughtered in battle , which Jesus

    several times employed in describing the fate of transgressors . The scenes represented Rev . xx . 4—6 , 11—15 , seem to prefigure the resurrection , both to " life" and to " judgment /' Transgressors are not only exempted from the blessings of the first

    resurrection , but are in the closing scene of this representation subjected to a " second death" by being cast into " the lake of fire . " The consequences of their adherence to tyranny and superstition , and their opposition to Christian truth , meekness and

    benignity , will follow them beyond the grave , according to their different degress of guilt , from mere timidity and unbelief , to murder and idolatry ; chap . xx . 8 . Their personal identity being preserved , the consequences of their former habitudes will be felt , if it be but in the

    complete privation of all those sources of vitiated enjoyment which they derived from their attachment to the principles of evil , and their want of those , dispositions which are congenial with the Divine government . Thus the

    lake of fire will , as it were , follow them into their renewed existence ; all remaining evil , both moral and natural , must be totally destroyed before the kingdom of God and his Christ can be fully realized . * This appears in the distinct mention of the destruction of

    all the emblematical personages , representing moral and natural evil in succession . The mutual ejection of death and hades , with those who were not written in the book of life , into the * See Rev . xxi . 2 ! t .

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    344 Passages of Scripture supposed to relate to Future Punishment .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 344, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/20/