After Mr. S. had finished his obfervations he proceeded to other paffages of our Saviour's dif courles.

After this

divine, a most plain

He begins his 4th fec. on p. 21, in this manner, "The queftion whether all men fhall be faved, is express ly refolved by Jefus Chrift, in so plain a manner, that it seems strange any who profefs to believe the holy fcriptures fhould doubt the event." what can we reasonably expect, from a gentleman of good abilities, fhort of the and pofitive affertions of our Saviour, either that God is unwilling that all men fhould be faved, or that the future mifery of the wicked will be without end? The paffage of fcripture he recites is the xiii. chap. of St. Luke, 23-30 verfes inclufively. "Then faid one unto him, Lord, are there few that be faved? And he said unto them, ftrive to enter in at the ftrait gate: for many, I say unto you, fhail seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is rifen up, and hath fhut' to the door, and ye begin to ftand without, and to knock at the door, faying, Lord, Lord, open to us: and he fhall answer and fay unto you, I know you not whence you are: Then fhall ye begin to fay, we have eaten and drunk in thy prefence, and thou haft taught in our ftreets. But he fhall fay, I tell you, I know you not whence you are; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. There fhall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye fhall fee Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets

in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thruft

out."

If we should allow this to be a reprefentation of the sentence of the eternal judge, at the conclufion of the general judgment, excluding fome from heav en, and dooming them to a place of mifery; ftill it is no proof that these very perfons, thus excluded from heaven, and doomed to mifery, fhall not be faved; or that their mifery fhall never terminate. So that there is not a fingle word in all this paffage which affords the least objection against the salvation of all men.

If Mr. S. had proved that the prefent life is the only probation time for mankind; then fuch a paffage, as the above, might have been well introduced, as proof that some will never be faved. But till he fhall have done this, fuch fcriptures are not to his purpose. Yea, I will concede more to Mr. S. If he will produce one fingle paffage of fcripture, that renders it as probable that this life terminates man's state of trial, as the paffage in St. John, which we have considered, renders it probable that it will not; I will freely allow him to cite fuch paffages as this of our Saviour in proof of eternal mifery. And I think this a fair conceffion.

St. John hath expressly mentioned a firft refurrection to life; plainly giving us to understand that there will be a second.

Yet, wonderful as it may feem, Mr. S. fays, prefently after citing this fcripture, "Many shall never

be faved," p. 22. This is the very point to be proved; and not a fyllable yet adduced in proof of it. If Univerfalifts fhould frequently affert the thing to be proved, before producing their proof; we know what they would be charged with, by Mr. S., from what we have already feen. Fair dealing is always the beft, in all cafes. If scripture do not fupport us, in any article of our faith, by a natural and easy interpretation, it will be no honor to us to perfift in affirming it, as a scripture truth.

As the chief scripture proof of eternal mifery Mr. S. produces, turns on this fuppofition, that the prefent life is the only disciplinary ftate for man; the only ftate in which he may repent and obtain forgiveness; it may be well for us, before we proceed any further, to collect, in one view, the evidence we have, that this is not the plan of God, with regard to to his government of men.

That we have a right to exercise our reafon and judgment, concerning the juftice and equity of the divine moral government of mankind, is plain from the appeal God exprefsly made to the judgment of the Jewish church, concerning his conduct towards them. Ifa. y. 1, 2, 3, 4. "Now will I fing to my well beloved a fong of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the ftones thereof, and planted it with the choic eft vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and alfo made a wine-prefs therein: and he looked that

it

it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerufalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"

God had highly favored the Jewish church, and given them peculiar advantages for the knowledge and practice of virtue, and to bring forth the fruits of righteousness. So good was their fituation for moral improvement, that it would justify an appeal to any candid impartial judge.

After God had made a statement of the method of: government he had adopted, with regard to the father and the fon, who should be righteous or wicked; and repeated the declaration, that it was an eftablished maxim of his government, that the foul only who fhould fin, fhould die; he adds, Ezek, xviii. 25, 26, 27, "Yet ye lay, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Ifrael; is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them: for the iniquity that he hath done fhall he die. Again, when a wicked man turneth away from his wickednefs that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he fhall fave his foul alive.”

I adduce these scriptures, to fhow that God condefcends to admit man to reafon upon the methods of

his moral government, and to judge whether they are equal or not.

f

Now it is certain that there is an infinite variety in the birth, education, abilities, and advantages of mankind in the prefent life. Men die, as well as live, variously. From mere infancy, to a hundred years of age, millions die every intermediate age, Millions, no doubt, have died, after they had enjoyed but one hour of proper probationary time. For no one will fuppofe that one is in a probationary state, before he is a moral agent, or in a capacity both to know, and do his duty to his God, himself and mankind. The fuppofition just made, that millions of the human race have died, after having enjoyed but one hour of probationary life, is undoubtedly juft. Millions have enjoyed a day, a week, a month, a year, and then died, after these fhort terms of probationary life. tediluvians enjoyed almoft a probationary life. Since the contraction of human life, millions have died in every intermediate minute between ten years of age, and three score years and ten. Shall the youth of ten years of age, who hath enjoyed but one hour of probationary life, lie in the lake of fire, as long as he who hath lived nine hundred years? would this be equal? I invite my kind reader to paufe; and attend clofely to this question.

Some of the anthoufand years of

Abraham was fatisfied, and I doubt not that his fatisfaction was well founded, that the judge of all

the