he will be cast out into a place of endless woe. Is it asked how it can be just in God to condemn men forever for not believing the gospel? We answer: God has a right to appoint his own terms of mercy. Man is a sinner, and has no claim on God for salvation. He knowingly, and willingly, rejects that method of salvation which God has appointed. He despises and contemns the gospel. And

it is owing to his love to sin, and hatred to God, that he does this. Now as he has no confidence in God, does not believe that he is worthy of supreme love, and does not seek his favor, he must be wretched. As he rejects God he must go into eternity without a Father and a God. As he has no source of comfort in himself, and as he is now deprived of those earthly objects from which he derived all his happiness in this life, he must die forever. There is no being in eternity but God that can make man happy, and without his favor the sinner must be miserable. "Consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver" you out of his avenging hand.

The remaining Scripture proofs which I shall bring on this subject will be considered in the following Lecture. In the mean time . I hope you will consider seriously the preceding testimony. Be not so unwise as to yield to the dictates of mere feeling on this subject. It is a matter to be decided not by the wishes of men, but by the testimony of God. To this then, as the only source of evidence, be your appeal. If the doctrine is taught here, that the punishment of the wicked will be eternal, remember that heaven and earth shall sooner pass away, than one jot or tittle of what Jehovah has threatened shall fail of being accomplished. And if this doctrine be true it will seriously affect your eternal destiny. O then come to the sacred Records divested of all prejudice, and every prepossession, that you may obtain full information on this point. You are immortal beings, and can you feel otherwise than anxious to acquire the most correct information that can be obtained, respecting that world which is to be your everlasting abode ? The prudent man looketh well to his going. Permit me as one who

loves your souls, to intreat you to ponder the paths of your feet Self-deception can profit you nothing.

The Scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation. Go to the Bible with humble prayer, and in the spirit of sincere inquiry, and it will point you to the heavenly city. It will open to you the bottomless pit, and show you the quenchless flame and the undying worm. It will point to the blood which can cleanse from all sin. Seek then sincerely to know the truth; and remember that God has said of those who love not the truth, they shall be given up to strong delusion to believe a lie that they might be damned, because they believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

LECTURE III.

SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

Gal. vi: 7, 8.-Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

THE solemn warning here given is of the highest practical importance. Perhaps there is nothing to which depraved creatures are more addicted, though nothing be more dangerous, than to form an erroneous judgment or receive a false impression of our state, character, and conduct. It is from this predilection in favor of something that shall prophesy good concerning them, that the truth is rejected and those doctrines and systems of religion embraced, which flatter their pride, and strengthen their hands, that they should not turn from their wicked way. The human heart loves to be soothed. The pleasing sound of peace, peace, though there be no peace, will be gratefully received. Such characters are they "which say to the seers, See not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things-speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." But let us not deceive ourselves, God will not be mocked. For as in the natural, so in the moral world, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." According as we behave ourselves now, so will our account be that is done in this life is preparatory to another. The present is

in the great day. All

our seed-time; in the other world will be the great harvest. And as the husbandman reaps in the harvest according to the nature and measure of seed that he sows, so our joys and sorrows in a future world will bear a relation to that which is wrought in this. "If we sow to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption." Those who live a carnal, sensual life, who, instead of devoting themselves and their all to the glory of God, and the good of others, spend their time in the works of the flesh, must expect no other fruit from such a course than destruction. Between unrepentant guilt here, and misery hereafter, there is an unalterable connection. The fruit which arises from sowing to the flesh is termed corruption. This word does not signify the destruction of being, but of well-being; and the enduring of tribulation, and anguish, and everlasting despair. This destruction must be the opposite of everlasting life, for it is contrasted with it; and what can this be short of eternal death? I trust, my hearers, that I shall not weary your patience by dwelling upon this subject, for if the doctrine which we are discussing be true, it is a truth of the greatest moment. Permit me then to remark,

V. THAT THE ENDLESS PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED IS TAUGHT IN THOSE TEXTS WHICH EXPRESSLY ASSERT THAT SOME WILL BE

FOREVER EXCLUDED FROM HEAVEN. "Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."* In this place, as in Matt. xii. 31, 32, Jesus proceeds to state the awful nature and tremendous consequences of the sin against the Holy Ghost. This sin consists in an obstinate and wilful ascription of the miraculous powers of Jesus Christ to demoniacal agency. Those who, when they saw the miracles of Jesus, and his apostles, and could not resist the conviction that they were real, refused to yield to his authority, and ascribed his works to the agency of the Prince of the devils, rejected the strongest possible evidence of the truth of the Christian religion, and insult* Mark iii, 28, 29.

ed and abused the Holy Ghost, that very spirit by which Jesus wrought his miracles. That this was what was intended by this sin is clear from Mark iii. 30. "Because they said he hath an unclean spirit." This sin was manifestly against the Holy One; it was reproaching the divine character, charging it to be in league with Satan, and blaspheming the power of God displayed in the miracles he wrought. This sin could never be forgiven. St. Matthew tells us that, "it shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come." It is well known "the world to come," according to the notion of the Jews, was a world without end, extending from the commencement of the reign of the Messiah on through eternity. That this is the meaning of the phrase, and that it implies the impossibility of forgiveness to the sinner to all eternity, is confirmed by the testimony of Mark, who says that "he hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." It means then, not the future age or dispensation known among the Jews as the world to come, but it means that the guilt will be unpardoned forever; that such is the purpose of God that he will not forgive a sin so direct, awful and presumptuous—a sin committed under such aggravated circumstances. Those, who committed this sin, refusing to profit by the best means which infinite wisdom and boundless compassion had devised to make them wise and happy; blaspheming the miraculous powers of Christ; persecuting and otherwise injuriously treating his Church; apostatizing from the truth, and turning to sensual gratifications after having enjoyed great religious advantages, obtained much light, felt strong convictions and made some progress in reforming their conduct; and adding to all their other crimes that o final impenitence, must leave this world wholly unprepared for the next, and suffer the full penalty of unrepentant guilt.

Let there be whatever uncertainty there may as to the precise meaning of the word eternal, in this instance, still the true meaning of the passage is settled by the other branch of the sentence; "hath never forgiveness." It is equivalent to John x. 28: “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish." Were there any uncertainty as to the precise meaning of the word eternal here,