undertake formally to defend it. It would be strange if wicked Christians should come off better than any other wicked Men, or be less affected by the Sanctions of the Gospel. But then, if we may not limit this System of a Restoration to Men of our own Religion; must it not, however, be limited to Creatures of our own Species? Or must we take in the Devil, and his Angels? I conceive a genuine and consistent Origenist must take in all, if he would not ruin his own Scheme: All Beings, with him, must sooner or later, return to order; and there must be an universal Restoration, or none. For if he grants that one Race of free Creatures may render themselves incurably wicked and miserable, beyond all Help and Remedy; this may open a Gap for such a Train to follow, as will go near to blow up the Ground on which he stands. For if Angels may become eternally miserable, then, as to the Possibility of the thing, why not Men? And if it be consistent with the Perfections of God to permit the former, why not the latter? Besides, the whole Work of God is not restor❜d: The old Leaven of Malice and Wickedness, of natural and moral Evil, is still suppos'd to be eternally fermenting in a considerable Portion of the Creation; when it was, I conceive, the Origenist's Point to prove, that, behold, all things are become new: Or rather, are restored to their original Rectitude and Goodness. They must therefore, to be consistent, hold an

"and profess'd, without scruple or doubt, that there is no God "but Allah, and that Muhammat is the Messenger of Allah : "And those who in this Life hold not that Tenet, nor believe therein, shall remain in Hell for ever, where, in company with the Devils, (accursed may they be) they shall be tortured with many sorts of Torments." Motraye's Travels, 1 Vol. In the Appendix, p. 355.

66

universal Restoration of Men and Devils; and this is, in fact, what they do maintain. Thus much for the Extent and Universality of this Restoration: But,

We have still a Question, or two, to ask, with regard to the Nature of it: Must the Devils be restored to the Angelick Dignity of their first Estate, and repossess the Habitation which they left? And must Men be made Partakers of that Kingdom of Heaven, out of which they were excluded at the Day of Judgment? Or must both be content with such a Share of Happiness, somewhere or other, as will make their Condition more eligible than Non-existence? These are different things; and the Proof of one, does not necessarily prove the other. If the Justice, or Goodness, of God, requires the latter, viz. that their Existence be better than not being; do both, or either of them, require the former too? Surely he is not obliged to give them supreme Felicity, and to make them altogether the same that they would have been, if they had never offended. Yet the Authors just referred to, sometimes seem to talk in this Strain; and their Terms of Restitution, Restoration, Re-establishment, &c. in the Rigour of them, may imply it. However, to prevent unnecessary Dispute, we will content ourselves with saying, in general, that the Beings concern'd, so far from subsisting for ever in a State of Condemnation and Misery in Hell, will be restor❜d to Happiness, (more or less,) and the Favour of God. I still want to be satisfied, whether this Passage from Misery to Happiness is to be immediate. Is their Purification, or

1 See A Letter of Resolution concerning Origen and the chief of his Opinions, 4to. p. 74, and 130-31. And the Letter-Writer, mention'd before, in his 288, &c. Page.

Reformation, (call it what you will,) to be begun in Hell? Or if begun, is it likewise to be compleated there; so that they may go directly into a State of Happiness? Or, after they have suffered so much Punishment as the Justice of God, or the Reason of things, or their own Case required, (for these Men look upon all Punishment as Curative,) are they to go into some other State of Probation, and take their Chance once more, (or more properly have another Option,) for Happiness or Misery? The Author of the Letter concerning Origen lays down his Master's Doctrine, as to this Point, as follows: "I come now, "(says he, p. 71.) to the Father's fifth Opinion, which "is this, That after long Periods of Time the Damned "shall be delivered from their Torments, and try their "Fortunes again in such Regions of the World, as "their Nature and present Disposition fits1 them for."

1 So again, p. 80. "But whether their Release be by any 66 Change wrought in the Disposition of their Spirits, but without Death, or whether by an Escape, as it were, by dying to the Body so tortured, there is no doubt to be made but that both ways they may come into play again, and try their fortunes

once more in such Regions of the World as Providence judges "fit for them." Here, we see, this ingenious Writer does not determine, whether their Release will be by Death, or without it; whether in the Body, or out of the Body; but be it as it may, they are to come into play again, and try their fortunes once more. In the next Page he asks, “What should hinder "but that these punish'd Souls, whom long vexing Pain drove "from all Commerce with Matter, and cast them into a senseless "Sleep, will after their long Inactivity awake again into Life "and Action?" According to which Representation, the Scheme seems to be this; viz. that their Punishment, or Pain, will be so violent, that it will not only separate the Soul from the Body, from all Commerce with Matter, but also cast it into a senseless Sleep, a State of Insensibility; that after a long Inactivity in this State, it will awake again, and being vitally united to Matter come into play again, and try its fortune once more in

This appears to imply, that they by no means as yet obtain their Rest and Reward; but are first to pass through some future Trials, and be again exposed to the Risque of another Damnation. For there can be no such thing in any State of Trial, as an infallible Security against Miscarriage. There must be Free-agency, a Possibility of Sin, and some Temptations to it. And if these prevail again, the Consequence must be another Judgment, and another State of Punishment. And of these Revolutions and Vicissitudes, as well as of such Reveries and wild. Conjectures concerning them, there is no end.

But it will be said, perhaps, that this was a Singularity of Origen's, which the modern Advocates of a Restoration do not think themselves obliged to defend. Then, I conceive, they must defend what I am going to mention, viz. that their Reformation is wrought in Hell itself, so that they immediately pass from the Torments of that Place, into a State of Happiness. This, however, is not easily conceivable. That does not seem a proper Place for such a Work. The Letter-writer has taken notice of this, and put the Objection himself. "It is hard to conceive how "a State of Blasphemy and Despair, such as that of "the Damned is represented, should be proper to "purify and re-establish them in Virtue and Bliss."1 another State of Probation. I would here only ask, whether after this senseless Sleep and long Inactivity, they are to remember any thing that passed before it? We, at present, have forgot every thing, both what we were, and what we did, in our præ-existent State; according to Origen's Hypothesis of Præexistence. If the Case be the same with them, what they suffer'd for their ill Conduct in their former Probation, will have no Influence on their Behaviour in their future.

1 At the end of Letter V. N. B. By the Letter-writer I

And whether he has answered it, in the Dissertation that follows it, I leave others to judge. At present I must pass on: And to be as brief as I can in these Preliminaries, I say, that this Restoration must be effected in some or other of these ways. They

must either be restored all together at the same time, by a sort of general Release, and that too immediately, or to a State of Happiness without any intervening Probation Or, they must all together, and at the same time, be placed in another State of Probation; (where their final Happiness will still be in Suspense :) Or, every Individual must be put into a new State of Trial, or into a State of Happiness, singly and by himself, at his own Time, and as his own Case requires : Or some only must undergo a new Trial, while others go immediately into Happiness; and this again in Companies, or singly; according to what each one's Condition, Character, and Temper fits him for. Then, those that have Bodies, must either leave them behind them, by dying as it were again; or bring them with them into their new Place, or State, of Existence.

In all these Points, tho' it be none of my Business to reconcile them, it were to be wish'd that our Restorers would come to some good Agreement. Each of these Ways, I conceive, has its Difficulties; and if any one was fix'd on, we might then argue the Case on that particular Hypothesis. As they are, however, they may serve to shew, that the Case is not so very clear, as some may think it. It is easy to talk of a Restoration; but when we come to consider more particularly the Ways, and Means, and

always mean, the Author of the Letters translated out of French; not the Author of the Letter of Resolution concerning Origen.