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them to this dreadful destiny, by an irreversible decree determining them to condemnation.*

The most execrable tyrant that ever desolated the world is benevolence itself, compared with the character which this tremendous doctrine gives to the benevolent Parent of the human race. If it be true, God is not good; for it has already been proved, that in giving existence.to sensitive creatures, a benevolent being must make it upon the whole a blessing. No creature, it is admitted, has a right to existence: it is a boon to which it is impossible that there could have been a previous claim; but, being bestowed, justice as well as benevolence requires that it should be rendered, upon the whole, a good. However low an individual may be placed in the scale of being, or whatever pain may be mingled in his lot, if the balance of happiness be in his favor, he can ask no more; his great inalienable right is respected; it is his duty to submit to the evil with resignation, and to accept the good with

lasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell-fire for ever."-Assembly's Catechism, Quest. xxix.

* " By the decree of God for the manifestation of his glory, some men are fore-ordained to everlasting death."-Confession of Faith, chap. iii.

gratitude: but if the balance of pleasure be against him, he has cause to murmur, and the Being who gave him life upon such terms is not good, nor can any sophistry prove him to be so.

Were it possible for benevolence to reside in the bosom of a being who could decree the intolerable and unending anguish of millions, and millions and millions of his creatures, it might, indeed, be inferred that the God of election is -good to the elect; but to the non-elect he is not :good; he never was, and he never intended to be. He gave them existence with a determination to make it an everlasting curse; he brought

*To say that it is not God's decree, but man's own sin which renders him miserable for ever, is trifling in the extreme; for since God is his creator, he must be the author of that nature which he brings with him into the world; so that if it be utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite unto all that -is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and that continually, it is such only in consequence of his Creator having been pleased to make it so. The circumstances in which mankind are placed are likewise entirely God's appointment. He is then the author of their nature, such as it is, when they commence the career of life, and of the circumstances which call, their propensities into action; both that nature and these circumstances are such, that the ultimate result could not possibly be otherwise than it is. "God's decrees are the wise, free and holy acts of the counsel of his will, whereby from fall eternity he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." ASSEMBLY'S CATECHISM,

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them into being not to enjoy, for against that he passed a decree which no power in earth or heaven can resist, but to suffer through the ages of eternity, unremitted and intolerable anguish. Were there in the nature of the Deity not the least portion of benevolence; instead of being as it is, pure benignity, were it unmixed evil, it could not be worse for the great majority of his creatures than according to this terrible doctrine it actually is. At present, indeed, they enjoy some degree of pleasure, but it is only sufficient, in the awful period of futurity, to carry their misery to the highest pitch, by enabling them to comprehend their eternal loss; and, accordingly, the bitterest anguish of the damned is usually represented as arising from recollections of the present state-recollections of happiness once participated with delight, but now departed for

ever.

Were, then, the Deity, instead of being pure benevolence, malignant as malignity itself, and had he engaged in the work of creation on purpose to gratify his malevolent propensities, he could not, as far as we can see, have contrived a plan better calculated to effect his purpose, than

Quest. xii. He wills the propensity; he wills the means; and he so adapts the means to the propensity, and the propensity to the means, as inevitably to secure the end; and to affirm, therefore, that he does not will the end, is utterly absurd.

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that which this doctrine teaches he actually has adopted, with regard to the great majority of his

creatures.

Can any person look into his own heart, and read the proofs which are registered there of his most excellent and lovely character, without feeling disgust and horror at a doctrine, which thus enshrouds him in the deep and awful gloom of cruelty and malevolence?

It is affirmed that there are passages of Scripture, which in the most express and positive manner assert the truth of this opinion, and others which imply it. This is not true: but there are, it must be admitted, passages, which, to the English reader, may seem to favor it. These deserve serious and impartial examina tion. Let us bring to the investigation of them unprejudiced and candid minds, willing to ascertain the truth.

SECTION. I.

OF THE TERM EVERLASTING.

IN favor of the doctrine of Endless Misery, the following passages are quoted, and are generally deemed decisive. Isaiah xxxiii. 14: "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" Dan. xii. 2: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Matt. xviii. 8: "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot cause thee to offend, cut them off and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." Matt. xxv. 41: "Then shall he say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting-fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Ver. 46: "These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Mark iii. 29: " But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." 2 Thess. i. 7-9: "The Lord

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