permitted them, by an union of their frauds and villainy, to mount up in a body to the zenith of power. He fmote them with an infatiable thirst for individual dominion; not over France alone, but over the whole world. He confounded their councils, broke their Jacobinical union into factions, and made them the inftruments of his divine wrath, in precipitating one another, in the midst of their delirium, their fins, and their mifchief not repented of, into the awful and dreadful prefence of that Judge, whofe name they had blafphemed, and whofe power and exiftence they had impiously denied. So many of thefe miferable wretches perithed under the guillotine, by the decrees of their atheistical brethren; fome by affaffination; fome by poifon; fome, in defpair, became their own executioners; that there is fcarcely any of them left to contaminate the earth. How juft is the judgment ! How righteous the will of Jehovah!

In the laft part of this verfe, the apoftle affigns the reason for this fingular and remarkable judgment, poured down in a fhort time on men, in the very act of confpiring against the God of the Univerfe the reafon affigned is, "Because they re

ceived not the love of the truth, that they might "be faved." Neither the final falvation of mankind, nor their peace and happiness in this life, depend merely on the truth, for that has exifted from all eternity, and shall exift for ever and ever; and yet a man may be miferable here and hereafter, but it depends on the love of that truth; upon fuch perfect and exalted love as fhall lead a man to practife and obey its dictates, in all his words and actions. The truth here meant is, that there is a God, the creator and fovereign ruler of the univerfe. But thefe fons of Satan were fo far from receiving the love of it, that they ridiculed and laughed at the ex

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alted and bleffed truth itself. They had denied God's exiftence, and bid defiance to his omnipotence, and therefore they moft juftly deferved the judgment. It is, by this argument, that the apostle perfectly vindicates and juftifies the righteous will of God, in pouring out his wrathful indignation on thofe "fons of perdition," the authors of the revoJution: a juftification which all men will approve of, except the infidel and atheift.

The apoftle proceeds, in the next verfe, to inform us, that for this caufe (or because they "would not "love the truth") God fhall fend them "a ftrong delufion, that they fhall believe a lie." To whom is this ftrong delufion to be fent? Not to thofe "who had received the love of the truth," but to thofe who had contumaciously rejected it (although their eternal falvation was the precious reward for receiving it); to thofe who had come with all deceivablenefs of unrighteoufnefs," and deluded the people to believe there was no God. To these men, the apoftle affirms, God fhall "fend a "delufion" fo firong, that even the very perfons fhall at length believe the lie, which they themselves had fabricated, and wickedly impofed on others, Nor is it uncommon for a liar to repeat and impofe his lies on others fo often, as to become a believer in them himself. Nor, while we believe in the juftice and righteoufnefs of God, can we be furprised, if he fhould withdraw his divine love and protection from wretches that hate him and his eternal truth, and leave them to the delufion" of the evil

imaginations of their own hearts:" for having, by the eternal decree of his wifdom, created man, made him as he made the angels, a probationary creature, and vefted him with a free will, to love the truth, to return him love for love, or gratitude for his protection and mercies, or to dif

obey

obey and hate him, he is perfectly juftified in withdrawing his. divine love and protection from those who reject his truth, though offered to them, all nature proclaiming it. Were he to continue his benefits and favours to fuch men: were he to fave -wretches fo contumaciously wicked, he would want objects on which to exercise his juftice and mercy. Such an act of his power would be a virtual repeal of his eternal decree, by which he conferred on mankind a freedom of will. In this light, the text can alone be confidered: for God cannot be the author of evil. "He is a rock, his work is perfect; for "all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, "without iniquity, juft and upright is he*." And then the true expofition of the text will be this, that God, in his infinite wifdom, having created man a free agent, to choose either good or evil, and having vefted him with the light of reafon; and of confcience, to affift him in making a right choice; having demonftrated his infinite wifdom, power, and beneficence, by all the works of creation, by the revelation of his divine will in the holy Scriptures; and proved his omniscience and omnipotence by bringing to pafs the numerous prophecies foretold; and by his infinite goodness and mercy, and immaculate doctrines of his bleffed Son; and by the wonderful miracles performed by that Son, and his apoftles, through the all-powerful effects of his Holy Spirit, would no longer ftrive to fave men, who fhould rebel against him, with the avowed defign of withdrawing his creatures from their "love of his

truth," and their allegiance to his divine government. This love and allegiance are not only indifpenfably neceffary to their everlafting peace and happinefs, but to the order and harmony of the univerfe; and therefore, for their deferting it, he would

* Deut. xxxii. 4.

t

give them up to uncleanness, through the lufts of their own hearts; to their vile affections; to the

ftrong delufion of believing the lie, which they "had wickedly impofed on others. A lie, which "all they who believed not the truth, but had plea"fure in unrighteousness," fhould be given up to believe, "that they all might be damned;" that they all, not only those who invented, and wickedly impofed the lie on others, but all who fhould be deceived by and believe it, might be condemned and punished according to their deferts, and God's righteous pleasure. Now what " lie" can this be, which fhall be fo pregnant with illufion, error, and mischief, as to render its devotees, as well as themselves, proper objects of the juft indignation, and ultimate punishment of the wrath of God? Is it not that, from which "all deceivableness of unrighteousness arifes? Is it not the lie mentioned in the text, which inincludes all deceivablenefs of unrighteoufnefs?" Is it not "the mystery of iniquity," the mystery of atheism, or the myftical tenet that there is no God? For can there be a myftery more above the comprehenfion of man, than the pofition, that the univerfe, and all things in it, have been created without a God? Or can there be a myftery more completely iniquitous, more mischievous, and more deftructive of that peace and order of the world, which has ever, and muft for ever depend on a belief of God, and Providence? Yes, it is a myftical lie, contradicted by the voice of all nature, by every object that presents itself to the reafon and intelligence of man; a lie, which faps the foundation of all virtue and religion, and opens wide the floodgates of the blackest impiety and anarchy; a lie, which deftroys all fenfe of a future ftate, all hope of reward for the most virtuous thoughts and actions, all fear of punishment for the most enormous crimes; and leads mankind blindfold into an unlimited gratification

tification of every luftful paffion, and the fearless perpetration of every fin; a lie, the belief in which tends to degrade the human race from that elevated rank of beings in which God has beneficiently placed them, to a state which confounds the harmony and fitnefs of things, and tends to deftroy the order and beauty of the univerfe. A lie, by the belief of which man becomes unworthy of, and forfeits all title to the protection and love of his creator, renders him not only unfit for, but dangerous to the fociety of his fellow creatures, and a proper object of the righteous condemnation of infinite juftice, according to the Divine pleasure, whatever that may be.

very

Now is not this the identical, the great, the effential lie, by which the revolution of France has been nourished, from its embryo state to its maturity? Did it not come in all the terrors and horrors with this lie in its mouth? Has it not, in its fundamental records, published this lie to the world, in order to delude it into its vortex? Has not this lie formed its whole ftrength, and crowned its iniquitous defign with extenfive and dreadful fuccefs? And does it not, at this moment, place all its hope and confidence in fraternizing the world into atheism, anarchy, and uproar, by a general belief of this very lie?

There is one more mark of the "Man of "Sin," given to the world by the apoftle, which is too fignificantly pointed at the French revolution, to be omitted. It is not faid in the ufual language of the prophecies, that it " fhall come," or "rife," or "appear;" but that it fhall be "revealed." This mode of its coming is repeated in three different verses; and therefore feems intended as an important mark of the Power foretold. The word reveal," means to make fomething manifeft,