Again-According to the present economy of grace, preachers of the Gospel are necessary, as instruments, to accomplish the Divine purposes respecting the salvation of men. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth, &c. Mark xvi. 15. 16. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they hear without a preacher? "Rom. x.

13. 14.

Quere:-Will the damned be favoured with the WORD OF GOD for their own perusal or with the MINISTRY Of that WORD? Answer No.

Not for their own perusal:-In the intermediate state, it is probable, they could not read it, if they possessed it; and we know of no spirits that take with them into the other world, a copy of the Sacred Volume. If the Universalists do, they have, we acknowledge, over us a decided advantage. After the Judgment, it is probable, if not certain, that all the Bibles and Testaments will be no more, as doubtless they will have been destroyed by the great and general conflagration, when "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. iii. 10. In the day of dread decision itself, it is also more than probable, that the "wicked" will be too busily employed in "hiding themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and crying to the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb," to secure, were it possible, from the general wreck, the precious Bible, which in this world, they neglected, and perhaps, discredited.

Nor is there any certainty of their being favoured with the MINISTRY of the WORD. All, who in this world, ministered "in the word and doctrine," will at the close of life, "rest from their labours" and receive their eternal

"reward." They shall be "EVER with the Lord”—(not in hell) and "pillars in the temple of their God, and shall go no more out"-and "they shall reign (not preach) for ever and ever." Rev. iii. 12: 22. 5. The point is fully decided by the declaration of our Lord, when, in describing the absolutely hopeless condition of Dives, he says, "and besides all this, between us and you (that is between heaven and hell) there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to YOU CANNOT; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Luke xvi. 26. This passage is sufficient to satisfy the minds of all who believe the Bible. Angels as well as glorified men are hereby prevented from overstepping the impassable gulf on errands of mercy : From hence, means, "heaven"-angels are inhabitants of heavenangels, therefore, cannot pass from heaven to the abodes of eternal misery, to drop the least alleviation from their wings.

We stated, that the sanctified efforts of the pious were another means of present salvation. The righteous are the salt of the earth. Matt. v. 13. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James v. 16. "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." Id. 20. v.

Quere :-Will the miserable outcasts from the mercy of God have the society, the examples, the exhortations, the prayers of the righteous, which they despised in this world? Answer No.

Not one solitary "Child of God" will ever walk that land of darkness, lamentation and woe, with the message of reconciliation, to entreat them to be at peace with God, or to supplicate on their blasted, cursed spirits the refreshing dews of heavenly grace. O HELL! how cheerless are thine abodes! The gulf is still fixed; and none that might desire to go as a messenger of consolation, K

can pass the bounds, which the decree of God has established and declared to be impassable to saint or sinner.

The Meditorial and Intercessory offices of CHRIST were mentioned as another means of salvation; and so necessary are these, that, without them no flesh living can be saved. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God.” 1 Pet. iii. 18. "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Heb. vii. 25. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 12.

Quere :-Will, then, those, who in this life, contemned the Saviour, esteemed and loved him not, but contumeliously and perseveringly rejected his salvation, be blest, in Hell, with an interest in the mediation and intercession of Christ? Answer No.

For such, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. x. 26. 27. The "barren fig tree" was spared year after year at the instance of the intercessor, and was at last respited another year, on the condition, that if the means employed should prove successful all should be well; if not, then afterwards it should be cut down-a statement, which discovers, that, on the failure of the means, the vinedresser, the intercessor himself would acquiesce in the doom of the worthless tree and no more intercede in its behalf. All this has a spiritual meaning, and is in proof that there is a point beyond which the intercession of Christ itself may not go. At all events, it we would be the height of absurdity, to suppose, that, after He had himself, as Judge, condemned, and pronounced the doom of the finally impenitent at the Judgement Day, he would intercede for the mitigation or the suspension of the

punishment he himself had appointed; and yet to this absurdity are they driven, who advocate the interest of the damned in the intercession of the Saviour. "Christ will no longer be their Mediator and Intercessor; for, at the resurrection, CHRIST is the Judge. The Scriptures designate CHRIST as the one appointed to judge the world. And can he be JUDGE and ADVOCATE too? or, after having adjudged them to pain and woe, will he turn their Advocate? and if he does, for what will be intercede? That the extent of his judgment may not be executed upon them? or, will he intercede that they may not suffer any more than he decided they should? The former would be inconsistent; they latter unnecessary. For when Divine Justice is satisfied, it will not need the pleas of an Advocate to induce it to with-hold its hand. But this question seems to be decided by Scripture. At the resurrection, Christ gives up the kingdom to his Father."() "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." 1 Cor. xv. 24. 28. The kingdom here spoken of is the mediatorial kingdom, in which, among other things, existed the intercession of Christ; but the end coming, and there being no longer any necessity for the administration of the kingdom of GRACE, the kingdom itself is yielded up to the Father, and a termination is consequently put to all acts of mercy to sinners, and to all intercessions on their acThe administration of the kingdom of GRACE being finally closed;--there being no longer a state of probation, "and consequently no longer need of a distinction between the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory; then the Son, as being man, shall cease to exercise any (2) Dr. Fisk's Sermon.

count.

distinct dominion; and God be all in all, there remaining no longer any distinction in the persons of the glorious Trinity, as acting any distinct or separate parts in either the kingdom of grace, or the kingdom of glory: and so the one infinite essence shall appear undivided and eternal." (3) On the 28 v. Whitby has the following Comment. "He saith not that the Father, mentioned ver. 24. but that God may be all in all; and so he seems to lead us to that interpretation of the Godhead which comprehends Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and then the import of the phrase that GOD may be all in all, will be this, that the Godhead may govern all things immediately by himself, without the intervention of a MEDIATOR between him and us, to exact our obedience in his name, and convey to us his favours and rewards, we being then to tender all our duty immediately to him, and derive all our happinesimmediately from him. So that as now ¡Christ Theansthropos, God-man, is all in all, Col. iii. 11, because the Father hath put all things, into his hands, does all thing3, and governs all things by him, when this economy ceases, the Godhead alone will be all in all, as governing and influencing all things by himself immediately.”

Nor would it follow, as a natural consequence, that were Christ, after the close of life, to intercede for sinners, his intercession would prove effectual, either to move the Father to save them, or produce reformation in themselves, were this even possible. His intercessions for them whilst in time were far from bringing them to repentance; "because the sentence against their evil works, was, at His instance, not executed speedily, their hearts were only more fully set in them to do evil;" Eccl. viii. 11. and for their long continued perversity, their wilful and obstinate rejection of proffered mercy, their determined yet inexcusable "neglect of the great salvation," purchased at a price so dear and burdened with (3) Dr. A. Clarke, in loc.