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punished with never-ceafing torment? It is admitted, that this torment is inflicted in a way, however, that will not glorify juftice, the attribute chiefly concerned, because it can never fully fatisfy its demands; and alfo in a way that entirely excludes all the claims of mercy, which is faid to endure and to be built up for ever, and to rejoice avainft, or be exalted over judgment. God's infinite hatred of fin may, with equal propriety, in my opinion, be urged against the pardon of fin in any cafe, and for punishing it always on the perfon of the tranfgreffor himself.

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Some tell us, that one drop of Chrift's blood was fufficient to redeem ten thoufand worlds, and yet they will not allow the whole to have redeemed one world. Upon this fuppofition, much of it must have been fhed in vain, and the justice of God must have exacted unspeakably more than was neceffary; and yet God neither does nor requires any thing in vain. Thus human wisdom attempts fometimes to magnify the merits of our Lord's death, at the expence of divine juftice, and would, at other times, magnify t at juice, to the entire fuppreffion of mercy. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder; and he hath forbidden us to separate mercy from any of his works, by declaring that his tender mercies are over all his works, Pfal. cxlv. 9. Our Lord, who certainly best knows the object of his appearing among men, tells us, "I came not to judge the world, but to fave the world, Jhn xii. 47. Here he makes no diftinction between the world he came to judge, and that which he came to fave ; and we have no right to make any, unless the Spirit of God has made it fom-where elfe to our hand. Chrift well knew the extent of his commiffion, and blamed none for enlarged views of it, which he would not fail to do, had these been unfounded. "We know that this ined d is the Chrift, the S viour of the world," faid the people of Samaria, a title by which Meffiah was then known among them, John iv. 42. To be the Saviour of the world, or of the Jews and Gentiles, is the fame as to be the Saviour of all mankind; whence an angel declared, that the account of his birth was to be good tidings of great joy to all people. The great Father of all well knows how to fhow his hatred of fin, and love to the fouls which he has made; two things never inconfiftent with each other in the wife plan of his procedure, though often fet at variance by men, through the partial view they take of his administration. "Thou hast in love to my foul delivered it, or me, from the pit of corruption; for thou haft caft all my fis behind thy back," was the faying of good Hezekiah, when God reverfed the fentence of death which had gone forth against him, Ifa. xxxviii. 17. It is love in God that delivers from any pit of corruption, and leads him to caft the fins of his people behind his back. In hell, however, fins are before his face, as they are faid to be till remitted, where, we may fuppofe, he does not love always to keep them, but rather to caft them where they fhall never more rife to view. "Thou haft fet our iniquities before thee, our fecret fins in the light of thy countenance," Pfal. xc. 8.

God's infinite hatred of fin, no lefs than his love to his people, will induce him, we may belive, not to retain their iniquities always before him, nor their fecret fins in the light of his countenance.

A proper knowledge of the doctrine which the author combata in his difcourfe, as ftated by its moft judicious defenders, would entirely fupercede the Atring of questions, which he feems to think fo formidable, if not unanswerable, and may probably be thought fo by others. It would, however, be doing more effential fervice to Chriftianity to attempt to reconcile the feemingly discordant voice of truth, than to ftart puzzling queftions, which might exceed Solomon's wifdom to folve. But on the extracts I proceed no farther.

Having paid confiderable attention to the important fubject of future punish. ment, whether corrective or purely vindictive; a question in which every perfon, in one form or other, is much concerned. And having alfo cooly weighed the argument on either fide, in the scales of divine truth, I hesitate not to own, that to reconcile the Scriptures to the common doctrine of the eternal exiftence and triumph of fin and mifery, under the divine adminiftration, exceeds my comprehenfion. The time was indeed, when the common folution of the diffi. culties which occur on that subject fatisfied, at least no other were fought. But viewing thefe in the light of the facred records themfelves, and comparing one portion of Scripture with its parallel, a number of the plaineft texts appear quite fubverfive of the common opinion. The ufual mode of reconciling them to it feems to me to affect Chriftianity itself, by deftroying, or greatly impairing an effential branch of the evidence on which the credibility of the sacred records refts, and the certainty of their report. An undue deference to human fyftems, which cannot be depended on, unless their authors had a full view of the whole extent of the divine plan, prevents the candid search and interpretation of the holy Scriptures. We can never underftand them to purpose, while we view them through a diminishing glafs, and confider the language of men as too full and expreffive to convey the great things of God, whofe judgments are a great depth.

Viewing things in the ftrong light expreffed above, I may be allowed, without breach of charity, candidly to propofe a few of my difficulties, which admit of many questions, much more interefting, in my humble opinion, than those of the venerable Doctor referred to above. We are all concerned to find a fatisfactory folution, that we make not the facred volume the fubject of ridicule to those who reje& its authority, a book of strange paradoxes, and our comments on it a ftumbling block to the blind. When God is the fpeaker, the most folemn deference is due to his language. We must be very careful that we ascribe not to him what would be deemed weaknefs, duplicity, or cruelty, even in any human character. If profeffors will not candidly examine the ground of their belief, and let Scripture speak for itself, others will do it for them with little delicacy, and impute to the whole scheme of revealed religion what attaches only to partial and defective views of it, or to the corruptions grafted upon it in theory and practice. To thefe may be aferibed much of the infidelity that unhappily prevails in the world, to the ruin of many.

The reverence fome profefs for the Scriptures, whence they cannot bear re ceived doctrines fhould be brought to their teft, or, more properly speaking, the reverence they have for thefe doctrines, which man has canonized, by the au

thority of that facred ftandard, does neither themselves, nor the cause of truth, any honour, and plainly indicates their fears that it cannot bear the trial of free and impartial inquiry. Chriftianity never was, and never will be, much indebted to fuch defenders, who have done it more injury than all its avowed enemies.' How fhall we try all, and hold fast that which is good, if we yield to the fears of such men, or allow ourselves to be detered from the search of truth, by their noify clamours and unfcriptural cenfures, these carnal weapons, in handling which many are so dexterous. The Lord requires no fuch facrifice at our hands; for he invites us to come and reason the matter even with himself; in which too few of his profeffed people are disposed to copy his example. Too truly does the prophet describe the conduct of many of them, and with too much justice does he exhort us to beware of their fnares. "They hunt every man his brother with a net.-The best of them is as a brier; the moft upright is fharper than a thorn hedge. Trust ye not in a friend; a man's enemies are the men of his own honfe;" or who profefs to be of the fame houfhold of faith, Mic. vii. So the Lord of glory himself found, and fo will all experience who live godly in a prefent evil world. And such enemies have it in their power to inflict much deeper wounds than perfons who make no profeffion of religion.

Being once artfully intangled in their net, when they have fifhed out of him the grounds of his fcruples and difficulties, without examining their weight, or regarding their reasonableness, against which they fhut their eyes, they go away, and expose him to every one they meet as an heretic. Thus they cover him, as Nero of old did the Chriftians, with the skin of a wild beast, and hunt dogs upon him, that he may be intimidated, and his voice drowned by their cries, or be borne down by their violence, never more to rife. In fuch a manner was David treated, and alfo David's Lord, who is called, in the title of the 22d Pfalm, "The hind of the morning;" and fuch reproches broke the heart of both. The former they betrayed under his own roof; "Mine enemies fpeak evil of me. And if he come to fee me, he speaketh vanity; his heart gathereth iniquity to itfelf; when he goeth abroad he telleth it," Pfal. xli. 5. 6. And often did the greateft zealota in his day attempt to enfnare the other in his words; but his infinite wifdom was more than a match for their crafti nefs. By fuch a generation of vipers was he often attacked in his life, and they at last succeeded in ftinging him to death. With virulence did they attempt to blaft his character, and counteract the benign defigns of his miffion and gospel. Such was the aim and effort, not fo much of the openly wicked and profane, as of thofe that were reputed the brightest ornaments of the Jewish church for piety and learning, and shared her emoluments, and the confidence and admiration of the people. The fear of lofing thefe made them cry, with regard to the Meffiah when he came, Lo, this is the heir, come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours."As in other things, fo doubtlefs in judging and cenfuring our brethren, we ought to let our moderation be known to all men, because the Lord, the proper judge, is at hand, who will re judge every cause,⋅ and weigh its merits in an equal balance. Then all iniquity, as afhamed, fhall fhut her mouth.

Many are very ready to attach the epithet herefy to a doctrine they either underfland not, or will not candidly examine. Paul himfelf did not efcape this cenfure, the habile weapon of bigots in every age. "This I confefs, that af ter the way which they call herefy, fo worship I the God of my fathers, be, lieving all things which are written in the law and in the prophets," Acts xxiv. 14. The fame thing is charged, at this day, as a herefy on those who plead for a reftitution of all things. Believing, Sir, that you are a friend to truth in general, and cordially with its fpread and triumph in the earth, I hope you will give place in your Mifcellany to this communication, which appears to your correfpondent in the moft ferious light, and will, he is perfuaded, to all that beftow due attention on the subject. Apprehending this communication might not find place in the Magazine for which it was originally intended, owing to its unexpected length, and also to the nature of the fubject, it is thought proper thus to publish it. The addrefs is however retained. The reader is intreated to take the trouble of confulting the paffages quoted or referred to in their connection in his Bible; looking up to the Father of lights for the teaching of his fpirit, to lead into all truth. As your Magazine is read by many who love truth, he hopes, for its own fake, they will not deem it improper to direct their attention to the grand fource of all divine truth, the Holy Scriptures. Should the refult be a firmer conviction of the truth of their former views, they will thus have an opportunity to defend them, and to reftore, in the spirit of meeknefs, any of their brethern that may be in danger of fwerving from the right path. The caufe of truth may reap fome advantage from fuch communications, without any detriment to the exercife of brotherly love. The word of God must be confitent throughout, no paffage contradi&ting another, could we be fo happy as to difcover that cor fiftency. He who endeavours to trace it, in the spirit of truth, though men fhould oppose and revile him for the attempt, will yet receive the approbation of his Mafter, and of thofe who are like-minded. But fo long as men receive honour one of another, and feek not the honour that cometh from God;-fo long as they love the praise of men more than the praife of God; and fo long as all feek their own, not the things which are Jefus Chrift's ;-look every man on his own things, and not alfo on the things of others, how can they believe what the Lord reveals in his word, or main tain a conversation becoming the golpel?

If this is admitted, you may expe&t fome farther communication on the fubje. Praying the Father of lights may direct and blefs all our researches after truth. I remain,

Dear Sir, &c.

LETTER II.

The pro

I have feen folly in the prophets, they caufed my people Ifrael to err. phets of Jerufalem walk in lies, they firengthen the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness. Jer. xxiii.

Walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. Ifa. 1. 11. DEAR SIR,

I Think we may fafely admit it as a certain rule, in all our enquiries after di vine truth, That no pafsage of fcripture can refemble the heathen oracles, which were couched in fuch equivocal expreffions, as to be capable of a double, if not of two quite oppofite meanings. This ambiguity was very favourable to the caufe of the father of lies, and ferved to fecure the credit of his refponfes among his votaries. The fame artful management may be feen in his temptation of our Lord in the wilderness of Judea; and by fimilar addrefs the cause of error is maintained in every age. But truth needs no fubterfuge, and dreads no fcrutiny; for, like tried gold, it gains by the clofeft infpection. Satan's aim is to darken, deceive, and deftroy; but God's great object, on the contrary, is to enlighten, reclaim, and fave. He speaks to us as to children, not only with affection, but in all the fimplicity of language. Whatever difficulties of another nature may occur in the facred volume, we may affure ourfelves that every doctrine is fo clearly exprefsed, as hot to exceed the capacity of any humblè difciple when taught from above. But the plaineft truths, or the cleareft counfels of heaven, may be darkened by words without knowledge. Hence babes in Chrift fometimes difcover and receive what efcapes the wife and prudent, or ex cites their jealoufy and refentment. I think we may reft afsured, our beneficent Creator would not reveal any do&rine in his word, in terms that need the aid of any thing like quirk or quibble, in order to its being understood in the fenfe which he intended. Our fellow-men would be justly offended at us, if we took the liberty to explain away their plaineft words and expreffions, even in matters of importance; and have we a right to take fuch liberty with God's word, though guarded on every hand againft it by the most awful fanctions? May the Lord enable us to keep this in our eye, in writing and peruling the letters meant to be thus communicated!

After much enquiry, and cool examination of the fubject, looking up daily to the Father of lights for direction, the following things appear to me neceffary to be done, before the doctrine of the reftitution of all things can be fatisfactorily overturned, and the common doctrine, that flauds in oppofition to it, eftablished on a feripture bafis; and if it really reft on that bafis, will it be hard for those who know their Bible to make this appear? They are invited to evince what they deem truth from the word of truth. It must be proved from fcripture,

That there are countless millions, even of the nobleft of God's creatures, that he did not create for his own pleafure; or if he did, that he will lofe his cud in

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