felf, and worthy of the declarations of his love and good-will to them. These things fhew, that the doctrine of eternal bleffedness may be inferred from the above-cited paffages concerning God's great favour and lovingkindness to his people, even though it were not fo oft and fo exprefsly affirmed, that that loving-kindnefs is everlasting *; as alfo from the words of God himself concerning the incomparable worth of the bleffings of his covenant; and particularly from that excellency of them which is fo oft mentioned, as diftinguishing them from temporal enjoyments, which fatisfy not †, namely, that they abundantly fatisfy and fill the foul; as alfo from the exprefs decla ration, If. lxiv. 4. that the things prepared for them who wait for God are incomprehenfible, and furpass all that eye has feen, ear heard, or heart conceived; especially when to all this we join the frequent divine calls to God's people to rejoice with an unfpeakable joy, to which mere temporal grounds of joy bear no proportion . The doctrine in view has alfo a neceffary connection with, or is neceffarily included in, the very nature of fome particular benefits of the Meffiah, and particularly the great benefit of remiffion of fin; because the Old Teftament, as well as the New, teaches, that death is the fruit of fin; and confequently remiffion of fin muft include deliverance in due time from death. The force of this argument will be more evident, if we confider the doctrine of the prophets, not only concerning the Meffiah's humiliation and fufferings as the caufe of remiffion, but also concerning the completeness and perfection of that remiffion, which is declared in as ftrong general expreffions in the Old Teftament as in the See the above paffages about adoption. ‡ Pfal. xxxvi. lxiii.; Ïf. Iv. 2. 3.; Pial. cv. L 2 + If. Iv. 2. If. xl. lv. New ; New; as when it is declared, that the Lord will be merciful to his people's iniquities, and remember their fins no more, Jer. xxxi. 34; that he will feparate their fins from them as far as eaft is from weft, Pfal. ciii. 12.; that he will blot out their fins as clouds, If. xliv. 22.; that he will caft their fins into the depths of the fea, Micah vii. 19.; that though they be as crimson and fcarlet, he will make them white as the fnow, If. i. 18.; yea whiter than the fnow, Pfal. li. 7. As the prophets fpeak of divine forgiveness, as complete and perfect, as of ineftimable value, and as the end and effect of the facrifice of the Meffiah, whom they defcribe as a divine perfon incarnate; fo they teach, that it is a benefit that is peculiar to the penitent, and has a connection with true bleffednefs. Seeing all pardon granted by a fovereign is an act of grace, preventing a punishment which is due by a ftanding law for tranfgreffion, and which, without fuch pardon, would be the actual confequence of tranfgreffion, divine forgivenefs muft prevent a punishment, which otherwife would be the effect of fin, either now or hereafter, or both. It cannot relate merely or chiefly to prefervation from temporal afflictions, because this is not only manifeftly contrary to experience, but also to many clear inftructions in the Old Teftament concerning temporal afflictions; fhewing, that oft-times penitent and pardoned finners have a larger fhare of them than others; that they are confiftent with pardon *; that they are even privileges belonging to adoption †, and confequently, in fome refpects, fruits of remiffion, and of the fatherly mercy of God, chaftifing his children for their good. * 2 Sam. xii. 10. 13. compared with Pf. li. 1. 2. 7. &c. Divine forgiveness must therefore relate chiefly to the preventing of punishment in a future ftate. And if it be objected, That this may be done by annihilation, it is obvious, that this fort of pardon, if all men be fuppofed to be annihilated, must be a pardon common to all, whether they repent of fin, and have an interest in the Meffiah's facrifice, and the mercy of God, or not. And if it be objected, That fuppofing impenitent finners to exift in a future state of punishment, it is a valuable privilege to escape fuch punishment by annihilation; in answer to this, it is evident, That deprivation of all good, and of being itself, though not the greateft punishment poffible, is yet a very great punishment, inconfiftent with the above-cited declarations of the perfection of pardon, and the many magnificent commendations of the great bleffedness of those who partake of that benefit; the fcripture expreffions, about the connection between pardon and bleffedness, Pf. xxxii. 1. not admitting fo. low a meaning as mere freedom from mifery; which negative blessedness, if it could be called bleffednefs, is no more than what ftocks and ftones are capable of. The doctrine of adoption, even as it is explained by the prophets, neceffarily implies, that God's children are intitled to a better inheritance than a life of fome temporary comforts here, mixed with fo much vanity and vexation of fpirit, and ending in annihilation. In Malachi iii. where it is faid, that God will fpare those that fear him, as a man fpares his fon that ferves him, it is declared, that "they will be his in the day when he makes up his "jewels;" plainly pointing at a remarkable future period of time, when it would appear, more than ever, how much God's children are the objects of his complacency and good-will, and how much he has their happiness at heart. And as even the prophetic doctrine of fanctification implies, that the divine Spirit, in implanting divine love, kindles strong defires after God," as the foul's portion for "ever;" fuch defires being both commanded, produced, and promoted, by him who is able to fulfil them, cannot be eternally frustrated *. When it is declared, that God who dwells in heaven, dwells alfo with them who are of a broken heart, If. lvii. 15. his dwelling with them here is a fure pledge of their dwelling with him for ever hereafter; the confolations which, according to the Old Teftament, as well as the New, are included in mens enjoying God's fpecial gracious prefence, being of a heavenly nature, and earnefts of heavenly bleffedness. All which is much confirmed by the strong declarations God makes, that he will never forfake his people †, it being the very least thing that can be implied in fuch promises, that he will not destroy them, by depriving them of being itfelf. The doctrine of future bleffednefs is neceffarily implied in many paffages, where everlafting continuance is affirmed of the feveral parts and caufes of falvation. For though it may be objected, That fuch expreffions relate only to the perpetual continuance of the church, and of the fpiritual privileges of the church, confidered as a collective body, without inferring the perpetual happiness of individual members; it is evident, in anfwer to this, not only that the happiness of the whole church, or of any fociety, confifts in the happiness of the feveral parts or members of which it is made up, but alfo that everlasting continuance is affirmed of the bleffings of God's covenant, in paffages where thofe bleffings are commended, offered, and promised, not merely to Zion as a collective body, but to particular See Pf. xxii. 26. They fhall praife the Lord that feek him i your heart fhall live for ever. † See Ifaiah lxii. 12. perfons, ! perfons, If. lv. 2. 3. Pf. xxii. 26.; or where they are claimed by particular perfons as their portion, Pf. lxxiii. 26. And in Pf. ciii. 17. the excellency of God's mercy to them that fear him, as being everlasting, is mentioned in oppofition to the thort continuance of human life here: what the Pfalmist adds, about the extending of that mercy to the feed of fuch perfons, being a confirmation of the continuance of it to thofe perfons themselves. To which we may add, that the perpetual continuance of Zion, and of her privileges, confidered as a collective body, proves a future ftate; because the perpetual continuance of the present ftate of things is inconfiftent with many inftructions contained in the Old Testament, as particularly the expreffions concerning the latter day, Job xix. 25. the last days, lii. 2. and the time when the heavens fhall wax old as a garment, and be changed as a vefture, Pf. cii. 26. On all which accounts, we have abundant evidence, that expreffions of everlafting continuance are to be understood in the highest and most natural meaning, when fuch continuance is affirmed, either of God's loving kindnefs to his people, If. liv. 10. or of the righteoufnefs brought in by the Meffiah, Dan. ix. or of God's covenant itself, If. liv. 10. or of the light, If. Ix. 19. 20. peace, If. ix. 6. life, If. xxxii. or joy, If. xxxv. 10. li. 11. promifed in that covenant. And whereas the word everlafting is fometimes taken in a limited and lower fenfe, to denote only very long continuance, as when it is applied to mountains or hills, the Prophet Ifaiah in effect gives an exprefs caution againft that low meaning of the word, when it is applied to God's loving kindnefs and covenant, If. liv. 10. "For the mountains fhall depart, and the "hills be removed; but my kindnefs fhall not depart from thee, neither fhall the covenant of my peace be removed, faith the Lord." All these arguments receive additional strength from |