being kept and obeyed by him who was the truth of that ark where they were kept from being broken; Deut. x. 5.---The cherubim of glory, fo called from that vifible glory or irradi ation of light, which flowed from them upon the high-prieft, when he appeared before them, upon the great day of atonement, with the blood of sprinkling; thereby manifefting the divine approbation, in a prophetic way, upon him who should, in the fulness of time, enter into heaven itself with his own blood.

From all these confiderations nothing can be more evident, than that he is the end (r, fcope, or defign) of the whole law, and the fum and fubftance of the teftimony of all the prophets, fo the author, as well as the finifher of faith; Heb. xii.

2.

But for a further inveftigation of the expiatory facrifice of the death of Christ, so as not to diminish the fulness and freeness of divine pardon, and the Scripture account of pardon, fo as not to take away or injure the intention, efficacy, and value of that facrifice made by Christ in his death, we muft particularly attend to the information given by our school-master, to whose inftructions I have formerly recommended your worthy correfpondent, that the finner was to lay his hand upon the head of the offering or fubftitute, and, by fo doing, the fin was tranf ferred (typically) or removed from the finner, with all its confequences, upon the head of the fin-offering: hence in Leviticus, &c. after this ceremony was performed, it is written,

Thou fhalt kill on the fin;" which the apoftle alludes. to 2 Cor. v. 21. "He hath made him to be fin for us, who knew no fin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." If it be asked why the hand fhould be laid upon the heaa of the fubftitute? The answer is obvious---Without this ceremony the antitype Chrift could not have been clearly pointed out as the head of the church, as the head of every. man, as the head of all principalities, &c.; fo that when iniquity was laid upon him, it was the iniquity of every lapsed intelligence; by which means, Col. i. 20. he is fet forth as making peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, fays the apostle, whether things in earth, or things in heaven; thus fhewing his ultimate defign, viz. not only of creating, but that of having made all things for himself, by reconciling them by the blood of his cross, yea even the wicked after the day of evil." Prov. xvi. 4.

For a confirmation of this rendering, fee Mifcellany, vol. ii. p. 299, &c.

From

From this union betwixt the head and members, we may obferve the equity of the head being ftricken for the iniquity of the heels; hence, Pfalm xlix. 5. Chrift, applying the words to himself, Mat. xiii, 35. fays, "Wherefore fhould I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels fhall compass me about?" Therefore, as Jehovah has caufed or made the iniquities of us all to meet on him, according to Ifaiah's prophecy, chap. liii. 6. even fo, by the declaration of the apostle Paul, who afferts, Eph. i. 9, 10. "Having made known unto us the myftery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he hath purpofed in himself, that, in the difpenfation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Chrift, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him," &c. Sin has fevered and scattered a great part of the creation from the fon of God; but by virtue of his primary and original headship, he came to feek and to fave (reftore) that part which was loft. Hence the apoftle uses the Greek word pan, anfwering to the Hebrew w to fhew that Chrift is the Beginning, the Head of all the works and ways of God; (Gen i. I. Prov. viii. 22. &c.) for all things could not be reheaded in Chrift, unless he had been the original head of them prior to their defection by fin. Eph. iv. 15, 16.

From these confiderations it is plain and manifeft, that the whole of the gospel confifts in the good pleasure of God, refting upon his beloved fon. Hence, John, viii. 29. "He that fent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him." Ifaiah, xlii. 21. "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness fake." Mat. iii. 17. "This is my beloved fon in whom I am well pleased." Ifaiah, xlii. 1. "Behold my fervant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my foul delighteth; I will put my spirit upon him; he fhall bring forth judgment upon the gentiles." Comp. with Mat. xii. 18. fee alfo chap. xvii. 5. Mark, i. 11. Luke, iii. 21. 2 Pet. i. 17. Now, in order that we may have an adequate idea of what the prophet means (Ifaiah, xlii. 21. of the Lord's being well pleafed for his righteousness fake, he will magnify the law, and make it honourable) it will be neneceflary to attend to the facred Oracles respecting the word p which is generally rendered juftice and righteoufnels, as fignifying what has no defect, is full weight or measure, what will ftand the teft, having no deficiency, weakness, or infirmity, what fails in no refpect you can try it in. Lev xix. 36. p juft balances (equal fcales), PTY juft weights; a juft, Deut. xxv. 15. ephah, and a juft hin, thall ye have." G

VOL. III.

A

perfect

perfect and juft weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have;" full weight or measure, not less than the standard.--Juftice is drawn with a pair of equal scales, to ascertain the exact weight, value, or worth of what fhe weighs. Job ufeth this metaphor, chap. xxxi. 6. "Let me be weighed in an even balance;" Heb. PTY N in balances of juftice. Hence, then, the declaration of God's being well pleafed with his beloved fon for his righteousness fake, means, on account of his being righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, the divine approbation or judgment upon him, for a light of the (Heb. plur.) peoples. In this view John's gofpel fets him forth as the light of the world, chap. ix. 5. Chap. i. 4. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Hence the lawyer, (Mat. xxii. 35.) in order to expofe our Lord's ignorance of the divine law, (trying or proving him) faid, “Maf-' ter, (or teacher) which is the great commandment in the law?" The defign and import of the question, by our Lord's answer, appears to amount to this, What is the greatest weight in the balances of juftice, which must be preponderated by fuch duties as will pafs the criterion of the divine approbation?-Chrift's reply, therefore, in fubftance, is to this effect---Thefe fcales have two weights which must be fufpended, i. e. levelled, by fuch principles, and fuch works, as God would declare him→ felf well pleafed with. Chap. xxii. 37. Jefus faith unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. Ver. 38. This is the first and great commandment, i. e. the firft and great weight. Ver. 39. And the fecond is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyfelf. Ver. 40. On these two commandments (or weights) hang, or are fufpended all the law and the prophets. Now the Revelations informs us, (chap. xix. 10) that the teftimony of Jefus is the Spirit of prophecy, i. e. the prophets teftify who is the only character which preponderates in the balances of divine juftice. Peter fays likewife, that the spirit of Chrift in them teftified before hand the fufferings of Christ, and the glory that fhould follow. 1 Pet. i. 11. and in Acts, x. 43. he says, To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him, fhall receive remiffion of fins. Our Lord therefore exposes the lawyer's ignorance of the divine law, in his not being acquainted with the two diftinct parts thereof, called in the Scriptures, (Exod. xxxii. 15.) The two tables of the teftimony. Chap. xxxi. 18 &c. They are called the tables of the teftimony, because they teftify of Chrift. In this point of view they are ordained to life. Rom. vii. 10. But Paul, before

before he understood this grand design of God in giving a law which was holy, juft, and good, in the use he made of it, found it to be unto death. But when he was taught by that fpirit which took of the things of Chrift, and fhewed them unto him, then he was enabled to cry out with rapture, Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. He that spared not his own fon, but freely gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things. To have the fpirit of Christ, and to be in him, to walk as he walked, to be born from above, to be born again, not of corruptible feed, (as Nicodemus once dreamed) but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever; which is, in other words, to have fellowfhip with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with the Father when our confciences are brought to reft where his good pleasure refts; and we have fellowship with the fon when we partake of that joy which he is anointed with above his fellows. Well might the apoftle, under the full enjoyment of this truth, cry out, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jefus Chrift cleanfeth us from all fin. Here we can easily account for that wonderful harmony which reigned for fome time among the primitive Chriftians, when they walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Spirit, and were edified and multiplied; when they were of one heart and of one foul; when they were what all the elect will be when Chrift's prayer will be perfectly answered in the whole of them being one as the Father and fon are one: then there will be an end altogether put to that fenfeless jargon which has been time out of mind carried on upon the word atone, which every one muft understand who knows what the meaning of the prepofition at and the adjective one, when compounded, convey; and let those who do not, only confider the following paffages, and they will be no longer ignorant of this moft important fubject---1 Tim. ii. 5. "One God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jefus, who gave himself a ransom for all," &c.--John, xvii. 21. Chrift prays, that the fame one-nefs which fubfifts betwixt the Father and himself might effectually take place among his apoftles, (by the inftrumentality of his word, which he calls being fanctified by the truth) and from his apoftles to the whole of the elect, and from the elect, or church of the first-born, to the world at large. When this perfect onenefs takes place, then, and not till then, will the doctrine of the atonement be univerfally understood. Eph. i. 10. Gather G 2

together

together in one all things in Chrift. Chap. ii. 14. Made nigh by the blood of Chrift, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, (i. e. Jews and gentiles) and that he might reconcile both unto God, in one body, by the cross. Thus mankind, confidered as feparate from Chrift, are under the curfe of the divine law, the wrath of God abiding on them: its language respecting them is, "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie, to be laid in the balance; they are altogether lighter than vanity." Pfalm lxii. 9. "Surely every man walketh in a vain fhew," &c. Pfalm xxxix. 6.

"Now we

know, that what things foever the law faith, it faith to them. who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there fhall no flesh be justified in his fight, for by the law is the knowledge of fin." Rom. iii. 19. v. 20. vii. 13. &c. In this point of view the letter killeth-- it is the miniftration of death; and any attempt to obey its requirements, separate from union with Chrift, is going about to eftablifh our own righteousness, or juftification, not fubmitting ourselves to the righteoufnefs or juftification of God, not con-fidering that Chrift is the end, fcope, meaning, and fulfilment of the law, to every one that believeth. See Rom. x. Confidered in him, all the threatenings, as well as all the rewards or promises, are yea and in him amen. 2 Cor. i. 20. As the bitter cup could not pafs from him without his drinking it, fo the cup of falvation, or free pardon, is given unto us by that fpirit who taketh of the things of Chrift and fheweth them unto us. May I have the happiness of seeing this fubject better attended to by fuch as have been more deeply inftructed by the schoolmafter which I first recommended your correfpondent to, and then I fhall have my reward.

FRAGMENT OF A LETTER FROM A MINISTER TO HIS SON,

AGAINST THE UNIVERSAL DOCTRINE.

WILL now confider Mr. Winchefter's fentiments concerning the Reftitution of all Things, which includes the falvation of devils and damned fpirits. This is not a new fentiment: Stackhouse, in his Body of Divinity, published almoft a century ago, fays, "I fuppofe that the torments of hell will be fo exceedingly fevere, that the devils themfelves will be

forced