cism, but we cannot err in rejecting opinions which give such an exhibition of the character of God. But in this manner, the doctrine of Endless Misery, ropresents our heavenly father as treating the greater number of his children, while that of Universal Restoration teaches that his conduct towards every individual of his large family is infinitely more excellent than that of the most wise and benevolent parent. The latter opinion, therefore, is true; the other is false.

2d. The ultimate Restoration of the whole human race to purity and happiness is favoured by all those passages which represent God as good.-O taste and see that the Lord is good.-The goodness of God endureth continually.-The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.—God Is Love.*

If there be any foundation for the doctrine of Endless Misery, these passages are not true. That doctrine teaches that God created the great majority of mankind to make them miserable; that he called them into being with no other view than to glorify his justice by their eternal condemnation, and that from all eternity he fore-ordained them to this horrid fate. To say of such a being that he is good; that his very nature is love; that his tender mercies are over all his works, and that his goodness endureth continually, is to destroy all distinction between tenderness and cruelty, and to identify malevolence with benignity..

* Psalm xxxiv. 8.-lii. 1.-cxlv. 9. 1 John iv. 8.

If it be said that he treats the elect with benevo lence, and that these expressions relate only to these favoured individuals, it is replied that this is an assumption which is unsupported by the shadow of proof; for these passages do not affirm that he is good to the elect, but that he is good to all, and that his tender mercies are over all his works.

If he elected a few individuals to happiness, and decreed the great majority to Endless Misery, how can there be any truth in the declaration, that he is good to all, and if the greater number are to be doomed to torment day and night without intermission, for ever; if in the anguish of their souls they incessantly cry to him for mercy, beseeching him to lighten or shorten their suffering, and if he behold their misery without pity, and turn a deaf ear to their supplications, how can his tender mercies be over ALL his works, or his goodness endure continually?

But if the Deity design and pursue the ultimate felicity of all his intelligent creation, what a light and glory do these passages shed on his character, and how perfectly do they accord with the noblest ideas we can form of the object of his dispensations!

3d. The final restoration of all mankind to purity and happiness is favoured by those passages which speak of God as merciful.-The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.—The Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn

away his face from you if you return unto him—The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

These repeated declaration of the compassion and clemency of God cannot be true, if through the ages of eternity he refuse to be reconciled to the great ma-' jority of his creatures. It is vain to endeavour to

prove that he is merciful, on the ground that he' is willing to forgive the penitent sinner in the present state; for, not to mention that, if there be any truth in the common doctrine of the divine decrees and of election, the pretension is an idle mockery; were his clemency restricted to this life, he would have infinitely less claim to the character of merciful, than that man would possess, who should inflict the most intolerable suffering on another for the space of eighty years, without showing any disposition to relent except for a single hour. There is indeed an utter disproportion between the two cases, because this life compared to eternity is inconceivably less than an hour compared to eighty years.

They who contend that the mercy of God is restricted to the present life, ought to remember that they have no scriptural authority for this opinion. Such a.notion is never inculcated in the Old or New Tes⚫tament. There is not a single passage from which it can be fairly deduced. The declarations of scripture are not-The Lord is merciful and gracious, but his clemency is limited to the present state: he is slow to Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. 2 Chron. xxx. 9, Psa. ciii. 8.

anger and plenteous in mercy, but he becomes impla-. cable and inexorable the moment this life terminates: Its language is The Lord is merciful and gracious; slow to anger and plenteous in mercy: he hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him; as fur as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pilieth his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him: for he knoweth our frame: he remembereth that we are dust.

If he place his offending offspring under a discipline which corrects their evil dispositions, and forms in their hearts a genuine love of excellence, this beautiful and affecting description of the Deity is just: but if he doom them to intolerable, unremitted and unending anguish, every syllable of it is false !

4th. The ultimate happiness of every individual of the human race is favoured by all those passages which positively deny that God will be angry for ever.His anger endureth but for a moment.-He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever.— Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever, doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And I said, this is my infirmity. I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. I will meditate

on thy work, and talk of thy doings.-I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.*

How different is this description of the disposition and conduct of the Deity from that which is exhibited by the doctrine of Endless Misery. It affirms that his anger will flame with relentless fury through all eternity; the Scriptures declare that his anger endureth but for a moment; It affirms that the punishment which he will inflict will never terminate; the Scriptures declare that he will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever: it affirms that he will hereafter have no mercy on the wicked, but cast them from him for ever: the Scriptures make the most solemn and touching appeal to our own understanding and heart whether this can be true. Will the Lord cast off for ever? will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever, and doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? and I said this is my infirmity!

These words ought to be engraven on the heart. To say that they relate solely to offenders in the present life, is to take for granted the point in dispute, and to affirm what cannot be proved. Is not this language as applicable to future as it is to present punishment? to the chastisement of the wicked, as to the correction of him who has fallen from rectitude? With regard to the former, does it not equally put to us the affecting questions, will he be favourable

• Psal. xxx. 5.—ciii. 9.—lxxvii, 7 to 12. Isa. lxvii. 16.