the believer; but if so, how does the unbeliever by refusing credence to it make God a liar? for he only treats as false that which (according to the objection) actually is so as it respects himself! It is then a clear case that our belief or unbelief cannot affect the truth of the record; it was a verity from everlasting, and to everlasting it must remain a verity; and we are required to believe it, not to make it true, but because it is so; so soon as this record is believed, its reality is verified, hence the believer is said to have "passed from death unto life," (John. v. 24.) he “hath everlasting life,” (ibid. iii. 36.) it was his before he realized it; the gift of God made it his, and the truth of God declared it his, and faith in the record at length brought him into possession of it.

But some will here inquire, Suppose the unbeliever should to all eternity treat the record as false, will he not in that case fail ever to experience its verity? The supposition implies a contradiction, for if by any means an individual shall fail to enjoy the blessing communicated in the gospel, it will prove as it respects that individual a falsehood, and if a falsehood, his unbelief in it can be no crime, but rather a virtue.

Some of the subjects of a certain wise and benevolent king, having been informed that he is a tyrant, rebel against his government, but being weak, and unable to resist his power, they are soon brought to experience that they lie entirely at his mercy; they are now filled with the most dreadful apprehensions; they imagine that he will execute his vengeance upon them in every horrid form; some he will burn alive, others he will break upor the wheel, &c. Poor creatures! they have greatly mistaken the character of their king, for he has no such cruel intentions. On the contrary he resolves to subdue them by the force of love; to overcome their evil with his goodness; he accordingly writes an act of pardon in their behalf, and sets the royal signature to it, at the same time commissioning an ambassador to carry them the joyous intelligence. But suppose that some of them will refuse to credit the message, what then? Will he falsify his word will he prove himself vindictive because they in their blindness suppose him so? That would be a strange method, surely, of vindicating his character and the truths of his message! Yet, thus acting, he would but imitate the

conduct which the doctrine of endless misery ascribes to the sovereign of the universe.

Or, to change the figure, a certain wealthy man, hearing that a poor debtor of his is in great distress, from an apprehension that his little all is about to be seized to satisfy the claim against him, sends a written assurance to his poor friend that he has forgiven him the whole debt, and professing in strong terms his kind dispositions towards him: the debtor, however, refuses to credit these benevolent assurances, as they disagree with the ideas he has received of his creditor's character: whereupon the other gets angry, prosecutes the debt, and in default of payment casts the poor man into prison. Does not the conduct of the creditor in this case justify the poor man's unbelief in his kind professions? It undeniably does; it proves that the other would have been unsafe in relying upon any promises of his.

To apply these cases. Will God act cruelly because we think him cruel? Will his truth become a falsehood because we treat it as such ? Will he belie his own record, by eternally damning those to whom he hath given eternal life? And will he do this because we foolishly refuse credence to that record? A most sagacious method of vindicating its verity, unquestionably.

Thus we have seen that every attribute of Jehovah yields conclusions, the most clear and undoubted, in favour of the eventual salvation of all mankind. How could a suspicion to the contrary be entertained for a single moment? seeing that God is one and undivided, and all the perfections of his nature are in harmony with each other. His justice is as much opposed to the endless reign of injustice as is his holiness to the ceaseless duration of sin, or his love to the eternal continuance of hatred, or his mercy to that of cruelty; his goodness to that of evil, and his truth to that of error. It is in the nature of things for these infinite attributes to overcome their opposites; the latter being finite, and not allowed even a present existence for their own sake; but with reference to some ultimate good to be brought about by their means. How ought we to rejoice and take courage from the fact, that our heavenly father's character is pledged for our final good! And how valuable ought we to esteem that revelation of himself to the world through Jesus Christ, by means of which we arrive at this glorious assurance! What a soothing and

peaceful influence does this assurance breathe through the soul F Amid the darkness and dreariness of life, its language is,

"yet bear up awhile,

And what thy bounded view (which only saw

A little part) deem'd evil, is no more,
The storms of wintry time will quickly pass,
And one unbounded spring encircle all."

THOUGHTS ON THE LAW OF GOD.

This subject is so apt to be introduced in controversies of this nature, that I have thought proper to consider it at some length, and to assign it a distinct place in this investigation: especially as the opponents of universalism, when compelled by arguments from the attributes of God to abandon the hope of finding countenance to their theory in that quarter, are prone to have recourse to his law, and to make it responsible for the severity of the sinner's doom, as if the law could exist independently of the legislator! "God, to be sure," say they, "is infinitely good, and no wise disposed in and of himself to inflict upon his creatures so horrible a punishment, but his law imperiously requires such a satisfaction upon its violators, and except its demands are met to the full, the order and harmony of the divine government cannot be maintained." Never did a bad cause resort to a weaker fallacy. "Is there a fate above the Gods ?" Or, to christianize the question, is there a law in the government of Jehovah which he himself cannot control? and in contrariety to his purpose and pleasure will the destinies of millions of millions be fixed by this uncontrollable power in irreversible perdition? Then indeed is the creator to be pitied: since none more than he will deplore-and unavailingly deplore the ruin brought upon his creatures by this relentless law! Yet, even in this view of the case, he is not wholly exonerated from blame for having created beings in view of this result; and him, therefore, after all, and not his law, must they hold as primarily responsible for their miseries.

Theological system-builders tell us that the law of God is infinite. Why? Because it is God's law. All things are God's. Are all things therefore infinite? If so, they are equal to one

another and to him that made them! Its requirements too, they tell us, are infinite in regard to all intelligences. It follows then, that as much is required of persons of small, as of large abilities-as much of the ignorant as of the learned-of a child as of a man-of a man as of an angel! If these wise men had been at the pains of consulting the bible it would have informed them, that "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required," (Mat. xii. 48.) and that in regard to every service, as well as that of which the apostle here particularly speaks, “if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not," (2. Cor. viii. 12.) which, all the universe over, must be admitted as a fair and equal principle of legislation and government.

Proceeding on, for one step in error usually prepares the way for another, they assume that an infraction of this infinite law is an infinite offence; which being the case, all offences must be infinite, for all are violations of the same law, and, therefore, all offences, whether committed by a wise man or a fool—a lord or his slave— by one possessing great, or another possessing small advantages -whether committed in the blaze of gospel day, or in the gloom of pagan night-under strong, or under weak temptations-attended with aggravating, or with mitigating circumstances-all are equal! Nor is this the worst consequence, for if one sin is infinite, then it is equal to all the sins together that have ever been committed, for all together can make no more than an infinity. The school-boy who defrauds his fellow in a game of push-pins, in violating an infinite law, and thereby contracting guilt corresponding in turpitude to the dignity of the law sinned against, draws down upon his soul as much condemnation as though he had denied, betrayed, and crucified the son of God! or as though he had in his own person committed every crime that has ever been perpetrated since time, began! Upon my word, persons who can believe all this must have an easy credulity!

But further; the offence being infinite, the punishment, we are told, must also be infinite. This is the philosophical groundwork—the rationale of the doctrine of endless misery. It hence follows that he who knew his Lord's will and failed to do it, will be beaten with no more stripes than he will who knew it not! See a beautiful confirmation of this rare divinity in Luke xii. 47.

66

A punishment that is infinite in all cases, can be no greater in one. case than in another: how greatly then was Paul deceived in supposing that crimes committed under the gospel, demanded greater punishment than did those committed under the law! He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the son of God, and hath accounted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?"* (Heb. x. 28, 29.) Moreover, Christ informed the scribes and Pharisees that they should receive the greater damnation, (Mat. xxiii. 14.) and a greater, if any dependence may be placed on logic, implies a less. That there are degrees in punishment, then, is a doctrine of undoubted scriptural sanction, and it hence follows that it is not infinite, for infinity admits of no degrees. The law of God, speaking of it not in a particular, but in a general sense, is a copy of his eternal perfections-is a necessary emanation from his pure and holy nature: to understand its character, therefore, we have but to know that of its author. Is he good? so is it. (Rom. vii. 12. 16.) Is he holy? It also is holy. (ibid.) Is he pure? It also is pure. (Psl. xix. 8.) Is he love? His law is love likewise. (Mat. xix. 40.) Is he just? It too is just. (Rom. vii. 12.) Is he perfect? His law is perfect also. (Psl. xix. 7.) On his law, therefore, the divine Being has stamped the impress of himself. No thinking man will hesitate a moment to admit this fact.

All wise and just law is instituted for the benefit of the governed; human laws, as they emanate from imperfect beings, often lose sight of this end; and by as much as they do, they are unwise and unjust-sometimes the offspring of tyranny-sometimes of caprice, interest, conceited ignorance, or misdirected benevolence-but always marked with the imperfection of their authors. God's law, on the contrary, is absolutely perfect, and

* The intention of the apostle's argument here is, that as there was no escape for those who committed the highest class of offences under the law, so apostates from Christ, being still more deserving of punishment, as they sinned against greater obligations, should more certainly and more terribly perish, in the judgements theu impending over the obstinate enemies of Christ's cause. It is as though a judge should say in passing sentence on a criminal, “You must not hope that executive clemency will be exercised in your case; for if such an one escaped not, who committed a similar act with less atrocity in the manner, and under less aggravated circumstances, of how much sorer punishment must you be thought worthy, who haya slaughtered a fellow being in a inost cruel manner, and in cool blood "