Jehovah, the unchangeable God, could atone for sin, justify the sinner, and change his heart: the Father himself witnesses that it is Jehovah whom he hath appointed to this glorious work." "He humbled himself by becoming in our nature the Mediator between God and men." Nothing that I can conceive, but prejudice in favour of the Trinity, can prevent the Editor from perceiving gross inconsistency between his declaring Jesus to be the unchangeable Jehovah, and also to have been appointed by Jehovah, according to whose will the former Jehovah humbled himself in becoming in our nature a Mediator. How could the unchangeable Jehovah be endued with a new honour which he had not prior to his appointment by the latter Jehovah? How could the unchangeable God change his condition by assuming a new nature? If the acceptance of a new state of honour, the assuming of a new nature, or the alteration of properties, such as magnitude and other conditions, be not considered as changes in an object, all phenomena may safely, according to the Editor's maxim, be called unchangeable; and consequently the application of the term " unchangeable" being common to Jehovah, and those who are not Jehovah, can imply no peculiar ground of distinction or reverence for Jehovah. The Editor says, (page 555,) "Nor does it" (the scripture) "give us the least hint that God ever has imparted any one infinite perfection to a finite crea

ture. This, indeed, is impossible in its own nature.” I therefore beg to ask, whether or not, on the same ground, it is not impossible in its own nature that the whole of the omnipresent God should be brought into a circumference of a small space, subjected to all human feelings, and clothed at one time with two opposite natures, human and divine?

The Reverend Editor, in the concluding part of the subject of the atonement, attempts to prove the infinite perfection of Jesus, forgetting, perhaps, the denial made by Jesus himself of omniscience, as well as of omnipotence, as narrated in the evangelical writings. He entirely avoids here noticing what I stated in proof of the finite effects of Christ's appearance in the world, which I now repeat, and beg that the Editor will favour me with a reply thereto. My argument is," that the effects of Christ's appearance on earth, whether with respect to the salvation or condemnation of mankind, were finite, and therefore suitable to the nature of a finite being to accomplish, is evident from the fact, that to the present time millions of human beings are daily passing through the world, whom the doctrines he taught have never reached, and who, of course, must be considered as excluded from the benefit of his having died for the remission of their sins." (Second Appeal, pp. 205, 206.) Besides, it is worth observing, that an avowal of the beginning of creation, and of its end, amounts to a proof of the finite number of creatures, however

numerous they may be; therefore an atonement even for the remission of the sins of all of them must be of a finite nature.

Should it be alleged that the sins committed by a single individual, in the limited period of his life, though they are finite in themselves, yet are committed against the infinite God, and thereby they are infinite, and that an atonement on the part of an infinite being is therefore necessary for their remission; I shall reply-In the first place, the assertion that the guilt committed against an infinite being is infinite in its consequences, is entirely unsupported by reason or proof, and is contrary to scriptural authorities; for we find that the Israelites were, from time to time, afflicted with finite punishment for the sins they committed against the infinite God. I Chron. xxi. 11, [12]: "So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee either three years' famine, or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel," &c. Ver. 15: "And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem, to destroy it; and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand," &c. Judges xiii. 1: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the

Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years."

In the second place, were we to admit the truth of this argument, we must, upon the same ground, as far as reason suggests, esteem a good act, done for the honour of the commandment of the infinite God, or a prayer offered to propitiate the Divine Majesty, to be also worthy of infinite reward as its effect. Under these circumstances we cannot help observing, that among those that believe in any revelation, either true or received as true, there is, probably, no man that has not performed, at least, one single righteous act during the whole period of his life; but as he is a mortal and imperfect being, he cannot be supposed to have escaped every sin in this tempting world: every man, then, must be both guilty of infinite sin and an agent of infinite virtue. If we suppose that this very person is to be punished for eternity, according to the Editor, for the infinite sin he has committed, there will be no opportunity of his enjoying an infinite reward for his good work; but according to the position, he must be either rewarded for his good or punished for his evil actions for eternity, while justice requires that he should experience the consequences of both. Would it be consistent with the perfect nature of the just God, to afflict one with eternal punishment for his guilt, leaving, at the same time, his good deeds unnoticed entirely, though performed with a view to the glory

of God? Is it not, therefore, scriptural as well as reasonable, that all men should be judged, after death, according to their good and evil works; and, then, that through the intercession of one who stands as a mediator between God and man, those who have, through Christ, truly repented, shall be admitted to enjoy infinite beatitude by the free bounty of the Father of the universe, to which they are not entitled by their own merit ?

As to such phrases as everlasting fire, or everlasting punishments, found in the English version, I beg to refer my readers to the original Greek, in which the term alios, being derived from aιwv, denotes, frequently, duration or ages; that is, “ durable fire,” or" durable punishments." Besides, they may find the term "everlasting," when applied to an object not divine, implies long duration. Gen. xvii. 8: "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession," &c. xlix. 26: "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills," &c. Hab. iii. 6: "He stood and measured the earth: He beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow." Vide Note in the Second Appeal, page 277.