Slavery and the Constitution. Bowditch William Ingersoll

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      "When all people shall be gathered before him, 'he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.' That, my brethren, will be an awful time, when this separation shall be going on; when the holy angels, at the command of the great Judge, shall be gathering together all the obedient followers of Christ, and be setting them on the right hand side of the judgment-seat, and shall place all the remainder on the left. Remember that each of you must be present; remember that the great Judge can make no mistake; and that you shall be placed on one side or on the other, according as in this world you have believed in and obeyed him or not. How full of joy and thanksgiving will you be, if you shall find yourselves placed on the right hand! but how full of misery and despair, if the left shall be appointed as your portion!"…

      "But what shall he say to the wicked on the left hand? To them he shall say, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' He will tell them to depart: they did not while here seek him by repentance and faith; they did not obey him; and he will drive them from him. He will call them cursed."

      Page 42 (Sermon 7, Rom. vi. 28): "The death, which is the wages of sin, is this everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. It is a fire which shall last for ever; and the devil and his angels, and all people who will not love and serve God, shall there be punished for ever. The Bible says, 'The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever:' the fire is not quenched; it never goes out: 'their worm dieth not:' their punishment is spoken of as a worm, always feeding upon them, but never consuming them: it never can stop."

      Page 83: "Q. Are there two places only spoken of in the Bible to which the souls of men go after death? – A. Only two.

      Q. Which are they? – A. Heaven and hell.

      Pp. 91, 92: Q. After the Judgment is over, into what place do the righteous go? – A. Into heaven.

      Q. What kind of a place is heaven? – A. A most glorious and happy place.

      Q. Shall the righteous in heaven have any more hunger or thirst, or nakedness or heat or cold? Shall they any more have sin or sorrow, or crying or pain or death? – A. No.

      Q. Repeat, 'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.' – A. 'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.'

      Q. Will heaven be their everlasting home? – A. Yes.

      Q. And shall the righteous grow in knowledge and holiness and happiness for ever and ever? – A. Yes.

      Q. To what place should we wish and strive to go, more than to all other places? – A. Heaven.

      Pp. 93, 94: Q. Into what place are the wicked to be cast? – A. Into hell.

      Q. Repeat, 'The wicked shall be turned.' – A. 'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'

      Q. What kind of a place is hell? – A. A place of dreadful torments.

      Q. What does it burn with? – A. Everlasting fire.

      Q. Who are cast into hell besides wicked men? – A. The devil and his angels.

      Q. What will the torments of hell make the wicked do? – A. Weep and wail, and gnash their teeth.

      Q. What did the rich man beg for when he was tormented in the flame? – A. A drop of water to cool his tongue.

      Q. Will the wicked have any good thing in hell? the least comfort? the least relief from torment? – A. No.

      Q. Will they ever come out of hell? – A. No: never.

      Q. Can any go from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven? – A. No.

      Q. What is fixed between heaven and hell? – A. A great gulf.

      Q. What is the punishment of the wicked in hell called? – A. Everlasting punishment.

      Q. Will this punishment make them better? – A. No.

      Q. Repeat, 'It is a fearful thing.' – A. 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'

      Q. What is God said to be to the wicked? – A. A consuming fire.

      Q. What place should we strive to escape from above all others? – A. Hell."

      "Having thus shown you the chief duties you owe to your great Master in heaven, I now come to lay before you the duties you owe to your masters and mistresses here upon earth; and for this you have one general rule that you ought always to carry in your minds, and that is, to do all service for them as if you did it for God himself. Poor creatures! you little consider, when you are idle and neglectful of your masters' business, when you steal and waste and hurt any of their substance, when you are saucy and impudent, when you are telling them lies and deceiving them; or when you prove stubborn and sullen, and will not do the work you are set about without stripes and vexation; you do not consider, I say, that what faults you are guilty of towards your masters and mistresses are faults done against God himself, who hath set your masters and mistresses over you in his own stead, and expects that you will do for them just as you would do for him. And, pray, do not think that I want to deceive you, when I tell you that your masters and mistresses are God's overseers; and that, if you are faulty towards them, God himself will punish you severely for it in the next world, unless you repent of it, and strive to make amends by your faithfulness and diligence for the time to come; for God himself hath declared the same.

      "Now, from this general rule, – namely, that you are to do all service for your masters and mistresses as if you did it for God himself, – there arise several other rules of duty towards your masters and mistresses, which I shall endeavor to lay out in order before you.

      "And, in the first place, you are to be obedient and subject to your masters in all things… And Christian ministers are commanded to 'exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering them again, or gain-saying.' You see how strictly God requires this of you, that whatever your masters and mistresses order you to do, you must set about it immediately, and faithfully perform it, without any disputing or grumbling, and take care to please them well in all things. And for your encouragement he tells you, that he will reward you for it in heaven; because, while you are honestly and faithfully doing your master's business here, you are serving your Lord and Master in heaven. You see also that you are not to take any exceptions to the behavior of your masters and mistresses, and that you are to be subject and obedient, not only to such as are good and gentle and mild towards you, but also to such as may be froward, peevish, and hard. For you are not at liberty to choose your own masters; but into whatever hands God hath been pleased to put you, you must do your duty, and God will reward you for it.

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