to death in the most horrid manner. The poor man in great alarm hastens to inform the nobleman that he cannot accept of the property on such fearful terms; but he is told in reply that it is now too late; the compact is settled, and sealed, and cannot be cancelled. "Whether you were acquainted with the conditions or notwhether a party in the bargain or not-it is my will that the matter should be as it is, and you must abide the issue." Reader, is the conduct of that nobleman just?

Justice requires, that when an article of value is entrusted to any one's keeping, he should be clearly apprised of its full worth, and the consequences of its loss, and should be provided with means of security in proportion. Now conceive man charged with the keeping of an immortal spirit, and that his sins during this brief existence, will subject it through unending duration to the dreadful heritance of its almighty maker's frowns. I ask, if man is so clearly apprised of his situation as the magnitude of the matter at stake requires he should be? I ask further, are his means of security in proportion to the inconceivably dreadful issue of the cast? On the contrary, if the system which supposes this state of things be true, myriads of invisible spirits are constantly seeking opportunities to deceive and ruin him, and his own depraved nature-with which he is born without his own consent—is ever ready to second their malignant efforts! In addition, the way of safety is so dim and uncertain, that a thousand different paths are sincerely mistaken for it, and by no possibility can it certainly be determined, that any one is right to the exclusion of all the rest! There are innumerable wants and anxieties to which man is unavoidably subject, and which tend to divert his mind from the business of his soul's salvation! Surely they must deem but meanly of the justice of heaven, who imagine that he thus trifles with the eternal interests of his creatures!

Justice also requires, that there should be an equal proportion between crime and punishment; and who will pretend that such proportion exists betwixt the crimes of even the most abandoned of our race, and the ceaseless sufferings of eternity? sufferings which shall inconceivably long endure, when as many millions of ages shall have passed away, as there are stars in the firmament of night-multiplied by as many more as there are

particles of light in the sun-and these by as many as there are atoms of matter in the universe-and the whole together by as many as the moments of duration which have elapsed, since the almighty put forth the first exertion of his omnipotence!

Must it

not be admitted, that in damning to all eternity one immortal spirit, God would inflict a greater evil, than all the sins of all mankind, from the commencement till the close of time, ever have or ever can accomplish? With what justice then can endless misery be inflicted?

I may be told that "the sin of man is infinite, and, therefore, deserving of infinite punishment." But the notion of the infinity of sin destroys all idea of proportion between one sin and another, and, consequently, the slightest idle word is equal to "the blasphemy against the holy ghost." Besides this notion proves one sin to be infinite, and, therefore, a million of sins is a million of infinities! and if one deserve infinite punishment, how can a million ever be justly punished? There is no end to the absurd consequences deducible from this position.

Sin is a voluntary violation of the divine requirements, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin,” (Jam. iv. 17.) Does God exact infinite performances of finite creatures? If so, he requires of us as much as he can do himself! and if not, sin is a violation of but finite obligations, and is consequently but finite in itself, and in proportion to the amount he commits will be the quantity of the sinner's punishment.

We set up no claim to eternal life on the ground of justice, we would not be understood as demanding this as a matter of right, we hope for it as "the gift of God, through Jesus Christ." But we do claim in justice to be returned to our original unconsciousness, except it shall please God to prolong our existence for objects of benevolence; we do too firmly rely upon his justice to believe, that he would obtrude on us a being by which he knew we should be infinitely the losers! and we conceive, therefore, that we have a large interest in this attribute of his character. God is too just to be unmerciful, as well as too merciful to be unjust; there is the utmost harmony between these perfections of his nature. God is not divided against himself, and as the unending misery of millions of mankind, cannot be agreeable to his mercy, it cannot for the same reason be agreeable to his justice.

Would it be just in God to subject the sinner to the necessity of remaining unjust to all eternity? Does justice, in requital for a temporary violation of its requirements, demand that those requirements should continue eternally to be violated? The doctrine of endless misery certainly involves an affirmative answer to these questions!

8. GOD IS HOLY.—(Lev. xix. 2.)—From the opposition between this principle and sin, we argue that the latter must eventually be brought to a period; which, to be sure, is a very different idea from that which is commonly entertained, viz. that God, who is a being of infinite purity, will cause sin, or at least permit it, to co-endure with his own eternity! If sin shall always exist, it will be owing either to a want of power in God to destroy it, or to a want of disposition. To the former it cannot be, for he is almighty; neither can it be to the latter, for it is a thousand times declared in his word, in one form or other, that sin is utterly odious to him. How then can it be supposed, that he will doom those who die unholy, eternally to remain so? Either, 1st,-Sin, and the divine holiness, shall exist in eternal opposition to each other-or 2ndly, they shall exist in eternal union-or, 3dly, the greater of the two shall eventually overcome, and destroy the other. If the 1st is true, the parties must be equal, and so neither of them can be infinite! If the 2nd is true, all that the scriptures and moral philosophy teach respecting the deity, must be false! We must therefore conclude the 3rd to be true; And now, which shall prevail, infinite purity, or sin? If the former, the whole universe shall be reconciled to God, and be happy. If the latter, the whole universe shall be subjected to the devil, and be miserable. Can common sense be at a loss for a decision in this case? The scriptures, at least, have not left the matter in doubt, "For it pleased the Father, that in him all fulness should dwell, and (having made peace by the blood of the cross) by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." (Col. i. 20.) According to very respectable commentators, "things in earth, and things in heaven," is a common Hebrew phrase for expressing the whole intelligent universe.

An objector may here inquire, " Why, since it is so opposed to his nature, does not God exterminate sin at once? and, since VOL. 1.-F

he does not at once, how do we know that he ever will? To the first question I reply, that sin, though odious in itself, may yet, as overruled by the divine Being, be made to eventuate in a greater good than could be effected without its means. I say not that God appointed it to that end; but that he will so overrule it that such shall be the result. How otherwise, can his permitting its existence be vindicated? for it could surely not have existed without his permission. "The wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain," (Psa. lxxvi. 10.) None will deny that there are numerous instances on sacred record of sin having been made to minister to good results. The betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ are examples to this point. To the 2nd question I answer, that the scriptures afford us the clearest guarantee that all evil shall come to a close; it is supposed to be the work of the devil, i. e. an adversary, and " for this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,” (1 John, iii. 10.) Of course, we are not warranted in supposing that these same works of the devil will continue in being after they are destroyed, as long as he shall who is to destroy them; and if sin shall cease, so also shall suffering.

Much is said by objectors of shallow intellect, on the absurdity of supposing, that sinners can enjoy happiness in the immediate presence of a holy God. "The pure abodes of bliss," they say, “would afford no felicity to sinners." This objection rests on the assumption that universalists hold to all men being saved in their sins, which is not the fact, and the objection is therefore inapplicable; if it have any force at all, it is equally against the objectors, for, are they not sinners? If not, they are not of the class which Christ came to save, for he "came into the world to save sinners," yea the "chief," (1 Tim. i. 15.) Grace shall abound where sin hath abounded, and by as much more as infinite goodness exceeds finite evil; God requires us to be holy, as he is holy, and has declared that without holiness no man can see him; yet has he given us in his word the counter assurance, that his" glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together," (Isaiah, xl. 4.) which implies of course, that all shall have attained to the prerequisite holiness, which is the term of admission to his blissful presence.

9. GOD IS TRUE.-(2. Cor. i. 18.)-And man is to "live by every word that proceedeth out of his mouth." (Mat. iv. 4.) For his words are words of love, (God is love,) and are dispensed to minister moral life to man; hence the gospel is called "the word of his grace," (Acts xx. 32.) and "the word of life." (Acts v. 20.) It is also identified with a message of salvation, (Acts xiii. 26.) and with a message of peace. (Acts x. 36.) The burden of its communication is, that "eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus i. 2.) And being promised before the world began, it was not made dependant on anything in us, or to be performed by us, but on the divine verity. "For he is faithful that promised." (Heb. x. 23.) Our unbelief can never induce Jehovah to violate his word. "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself." (2. Tim. ii. 13.) Man's purposes and promises are necessarily affected by unforeseen contingents, but when Jehovah gives his word no circumstance can prevent its being made good. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." (Isa, lv. 9.) God's truth is even pledged upon oath for man's salvation. (Isa. xlv. 23.) The reason for its being so confirmed, is thus explained by the apostle, "For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife; wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set before us." (Heb. vi. 16.) After all which, Arminianism makes the whole matter to depend on some ifs, buts, excepts, provideds, &c. And these subjunctives can never be made positives by our own agency, but by the direct agency of Jehovah alone-when, and in regard to whom, he shall see fit to exert it! What assurance then can we individually have for ourselves after all?

There are in the scriptures, unquestionably, some conditional