From this discourse, it seems, that Job thought it would have been better for him never to have been born than to have fallen into such sore troubles in this present life, without taking the other into his account; but if he had known that he had been doomed to suffer the amazing torments of the second death, in the lake of fire and brimstone, what would he have said; Even upon the supposition that it was only to last for ages, he would have thought that his being born into this world to be fitted for such a punishment, would have been the greatest curse that could have befallen him.

If Job, who could say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And, though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

He

knoweth the way that I take; and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined; neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; but I will maintain mine own ways before 'him. He also shall be my salvation.

My

righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." (See Job, xix. 25, 26, 27. xxiii. 10, 11, 12. xiii. 15, 16. xxvii. 6.) And who could make such a solemn protestation of his innocence and uprightness, before God and man, as we find

in the xxix. xxx. xxxi. chapters of that book. If such a man had reason to say, "Wherefore then, hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh! that I had given up the ghost and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave." (See Job, x. 18, 19) with what amazing propriety might Christ say of Judas, the traitor, who sinned in such a dreadful manner, and had such horrible guilt on his conscience; who died in black despair, perished in such an awful situation, in his sins, and, probably, by his own hands; who suffered the most violent agitations of mind, died under the power of the horrid suggestions of the great enemy of men, without one smile, or look of forgiveness, from Jesus, or even daring to seek it; whose sorrow in this life far exceeded Job's, (for Job had no sense of guilt, treason, and ingratitude; nor was he filled with rage, blasphemy, and despair)—and who must probably have his portion in the second death;-"Good were it for that man, if he had never been born! even upon the supposition that his torments are not designed to continue while God exists.

Jeremiah.is another instance much to my purpose; who wished he had never been born, even at the very time when he knew that the Lord was his helper; only because he had been put in the stocks by Pashur, and had suffered a little pain and shame in a good cause. He was not afraid of endless damnation, nor yet of any future punishment; for he thus expressed himself, in all the language of full assurance: "But JEHOVAH is with me, as a mighty terrible one;

therefore, my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not prosper; their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. But, O JEHOVAH of Hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them (or, thou wilt let me see, &c.) for unto thee have I opened my cause. Sing unto JEHOVAH, praise ye JEHOVAH, for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evil doers. How strong his faith! how full his assurance! Yet it is evident, that he thought it would have been much better for him personally, never to have been born; for he immediately adds, "cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bare me, be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, a man-child is born unto thee, making him very glad. And let that man be as the cities which JEHOVAH overthrew, and repented not. And let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave; and her womb to be always great with me. Wherefore came I out of the womb, to see labor and sorthat my days should be consumed with shame?" See Jer. xx. 11-18.

row,

Here is not a word about a state of future punishment, much less endless damnation, and yet the good prophet Jeremiah thought, that if he had never been born, it would have been far better for him.

Friend. I must confess, I never before considered it possible to answer this objection; you

have done much towards solving it; but you must consider, that both Job and Jeremiah passionately exclaimed, and, through sorrow, uttered such words, as, in their cooler moments they repented of; and therefore, what they spake of themselves cannot wholly set aside the objection. Had they delivered those expressions as general truths, and declared, that man had much better never have been born, than to have suffered such degrees of worldly sorrow, it would have more than answered the objection; but, when men under grief exclaim in such a manner,we cannot ground a matter of such importance upon what they say respecting themselves; as their minds, being overwhelmned with trouble, and the immediate sensations of pain, are biased, and cannot utter the calm dictates of sober reason. But Christ, though under great sorrows himself, saw the case of Judas so deplorable, that he expressed himself thus respecting him; which was the sober truth, whithout exaggeration; and could this be said of him, or if any other of the human race, upon the supposition that misery is not absolutely endless?

Minister. We do not find that Job or Jeremiah ever recanted, in their cooler moments, what they uttered in their sorrows; and our Lord, speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem says, And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days," See St. Matth. xxiv. 19, St. Mark, xiii. 17. Not be

cause of their future, endless damnation, in distinction from others; but on account of their present trouble and sorrow; as is explained, Luke xxi, 23. "But woe to them that are with

child, and to them that give suck, in those days; for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people." And when the Saviour was led to death, we read, "And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, who also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves, and for your children. For behold the days are coming, in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they say to the mountains, fall on us; and to the hills, cover us.-For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" St. Luke, xxii. 27, 31.

And who would not, a thousand times, choose rather never to have been born than even to see, far less experience, the miseries which came upon Jerusalem and its inhabitants? Would it not have been better for mothers never to have been born, than to have killed and eaten their own children in the siege?-and would it not have been better for the children never to have been born, than to have been food for their mothers?

But Solomon not only represents a state of great misery and affliction in this life, as worse than not to have been born, but also, a state of the greatest prosperity, if it ends in disgrace; for he says, "If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good; and also that he have no burial; I say that an untimely birth is better than he.