by no means hinder the exertion of his LOVE, his POWER, or his WISDOM; which certainly will be all united in fulfilling that original, great, and glorious promise," the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.".

Fourthly. That this is the case, (to me at least) plainly appears froin considering the many strong and positive injunctions to the children of men, which are all summed up in "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful." For, notwithstanding all the metaphysical and abstract reasonings of the Calvinists, to reconcile a PARTIAL redemption with that universal love to mankind. which the Scriptures affirm to dwell in the Father of the spirits of all flesh; or the more nervous arguments of the Arminians in favour of universal redemption, I cannot help thinking, if that redemption does not finally extend to all the human race, but that all those precepts, and consequently any arguments that can be drawn from them to enforce the general practice of mercy and benevolence, lose all their force and efficacy: for although, as Dr. Young observes," a God all mercy is a God un'ust," yet, stretching the justice of God to such an extreme as to exclude the possibility of mercy in any stage of our existence, annihilates, as I before observed, some of his most glorious attributes, and substitutes vindictive wrath in the place of punitive justice; a supposition, (in my apprehension, at least) absurd and inconsistent in the greatest degree, and totally irreconcilable with a thousand passages of Holy Writ; as it implies those passions of the human soul to dwell and inhabit in the Supreme God, which are therein represented as totally contrary to the mind which was in Christ, and that renovation of our nature which is the very essence of our redemption into the "the liberty of the glory of the sons of God."

Let no one say, that the punishment of the next world will NOT soften the most obdurate or hardened sinner-that the horrid sentiment which Milton puts into the mouth of Satan, will be the sentiment of the lost spirits of the human race for ever! Oh, no! many a proud, imperious, haughty spirit do we see (in this present scene of things) humbled by poverty and afflictions of various kinds; and if the short, transitory punishment of this fleeting world, has compelled so many proud and stubborn hearts to bow down before poor worms, like themselves, how much more will the misery of that state humble them, where "the Smoke of their torment ascendeth for ages ages *?" When, therefore, I consider the literal meaning of this text, and what " fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God"—the shortness

of

a

Rex. xiv. 11. in our translat on rendered "for ever and ever," yet I appeal to all who understand the Greek language, whether the above is not the literal construction of that important text: ivaç alavay in secula seculorum, as it is literally rendered in the Greek and Latin interlineary version of Montanus, published at Antwerp in 1583; and in the margin of Mr. Worsley's translation, whenever the phrase is used.

of human life—the severity of the punishment after death-the unavoidable innate depravity and corruption of human nature—the present blind and helpless state of a great majority of mankind-the vast disproportion that a never-ending punishment, in my apprehension at least, bears to the transgressions of a short and finite state-and above all, the many declarations in Scripture (for the Scripture cannot be broken) of the universal love of God to the children of men-and that love manifested by giving his son Jesus Christ to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world-I cannot help thinking but that Almighty Wisdom knows how to make a punishment, however severe or lasting, yet limited in its duration, subservient to bringing about the grand object of his love in the redemption of mankind, and delivering “the creation * itself from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God."

"But doth not Christ himself, in Mark, ix. 43, 45. expressly speak of the fire that never shall be quenched?" I answer, expressly and positively, No! Notwithstanding the great stress usually laid on this passage of St. Mark, I flatly aver there is no such text in the chapter abovementioned, nor in all the New Testament. This very objection struck me at first very forcibly; but great was my astonishment on finding the words in the original, rendered in our translation "the fire that never shall be quenched," to be is To Tup To außer v, in ignem inextinguibilem-into the fire inextinguishable or unquenchable †.And surely so it is, to any power less than the Almighty; but who will either deny that to HIM it is possible; or affirm, that because his almighty power only can accomplish this, it therefore never will be extinguished?

"But our Lord himself, in the last verse of the xxvth chapter of St. Matthew, makes use of the same word (a) in describing the happiness of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked." I grant it-but before we proceed to consider this, which is perhaps one of the strongest objections, that is or can be urged against limited punishment, by the advocates for never ending-misery and torment, I beg it may be well observed, that throughout the whole of these considerations, I speak only of that punishment which includes misery and torment—yet actual punishment (however the ideas may have hitherto been inseparably connected) does not necessarily include, but may subsist without either misery or torment: and therefore, in a sound and solid sense, we may take this word ay in its utmost latitude of extent, and allows that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment. I have before observed, that" the Scripture cannot be broken;" we are expresiy

Kridis. See Rom. viii. 19-22, and let common sense judge of the impropriety of rendering this word, in the same passage, creatul e and creation!

Mr. Wesley translates it in his Arminian Magazine for December, 1782, p. 632, "the fire-the unquenchable.”

told therein, that the elect are made kings and priests to God: certainly then, those who die in their sins, will never inherit any part of this double portion; but by falling under the power of the second death, must suffer the eternal punishment of disgrace and loss: for if he who laid up his one talent in a napkin, was cast into outer darkness for his negligence, how much lower will those be degraded, who, so far from improving many talents, grievously mispent them! and notwithstanding, in the fulness of time, "God will wipe away all tears from their eyes," yet, as thefe is a very great and manifest difference in the degrees of wickedness. in this present world, it is clearly evident (to me at least) that a very great distinction' will remain among the children of men, after they are delivered from the actual pain and misery of the second death*: and I think it no absurdity to suppose, that although their condition, after that deliverance, when contrasted with that dreadful state from which they are delivered, will be inexpressibly happy and comfortable; yet the scars and marks (if we may so speak) of that infernal fire, will remain upon them after their deadly wounds are healed. This disgrace and loss, therefore, will operate on them as a punishment to the endless ages of eternity. So shall that Scripture be fulfilled, * the first shall be last, and the last first."

To return; that the word a signifies an absolute eternity, in either of the cases, mentioned in Mat. xxv. I much doubt. The prospect opened into the invisible world by our Saviour himself, in the account of Dives and Lazarus, compared with other passages of Holy Writ, indisputably proves, that there is an intermediate state, both of happiness and misery, preceding the final consummation (1 say restitution) of all things. Now it is clear to me, that this text refers to that state, and to that alone; and therefore, as it is impossible to suppose that our Lord ever meant to contradict either himself or his messengers, the signification of a*, which from a defect in our language of a proper word to express its

*That, in the fulness of time, they will be thus delivered, is clear to me from those astonishing declarations of our Lord and his apostle"Behold I make all things new," and, "The creation fitself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God." What room for either sin, misery, or torment, after this renovation and deliverance !

The Rev. Mr. Richard Clarke, whom I account an exceeding good judge, both of the language as well as of the essence and meaning of the Sacred Scriptures, translates this word eonial, and says, "The adjective as cannot bear any other sense than the substantive diwy, from which it is derived; and this last, it is confessed, signifies sæculum. an age, or along duration of time. Ages, under the gospel, have respect to the types and shadows of ihe seven days and new moons, and sabbatical years; and in regard to Christ, they point out that time when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God even the Father. I Cor. xv. 24, 27, 28, 29." See his Gospel of the Daily Service of the Temple, p. 20.

Notwithstanding the whole weight of argument for the absolute eternity of hell torments rests almost entirely on the signification of the above word and its derivative, the foregoing observation of Mr.

precise meaning, we render eternal, and everlasting (and which are often used in Scripture to express a long and indefinite duration) must be fixed by those plain and positive declarations of the almighty love, power, and justice of our Lord, recorded in John, xii. 32. “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." And Luke xii. 48. “He that knew his master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many [not endless] stripes; while he that knew not his Lord's will,” (which is undoubtedly a vast majority of the human race)“ shall be beaten with few." "These stripes, therefore, (as Mr. Clarke well observes) must regard duration, whatever that be, and which is represented by ages of ages, in the book of the beloved Apostle."

Clarke is abundanly confirmed even by our present translation. No English reader, considering the great importance of the doctrine built on the construction of this word, would ever suppose it occurred in the New Testament, in any other place, or in any other sense, than where it is translated for ever, &c. But the fact is far otherwise; for this word occurs in the following and many other passages, which, to shew the glaring absurdity of resting such a weight of argument on it, I shall take the liberty of rendering for ever.

Mat. xii. 39. The harvest is the consummation [or end] of the for ever. And again, in verses 40 and 49. So shall it be in the end of this for ever.

Mat. xii. 32. Whosoever shall speak against the holy ghost, it shall not be forgiven neither in this for ever, neither in the future.

Mat. xxviii. last verse. Behold, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the for ever.

1 Cor. ii. 6-8. But we speak not the wisdom of this for ever, nor of the princes of this for ever; but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God foreordained before the for evers, which none of the princes of this for ever knew, &c.

Heb. ix. 26. But now once in the consummation of the for evers. hath he appeared, &c. See also Eph. iii. 9, and last verses.

Every unprejudiced person must therefore acknowledge, that there is clearly an end pointed out to some of the for evers mentioned in Sacred Writ. How much better then would it have been, to have literally and uniformly rendered it age or ages. And where repeated age, or ages of ages, as expressed either in the singular, or plural. Anđ if we cannot perfectly understand the language of the Almighty, let us rather acknowledge our ignorance, than contend for an interpretation, which, by misrepresenting the Supreme Father of all, in the exercise of his divine attributes, has only served to confirm infidels in their prejudices against the whole Christian revelation; and to shock the feelings of mankind without convincing their understandings.

Mr. Worsley in the margin of his translation, renders Mat. xvi. 26. "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and be amerced in his life?" And the same interpretation (at animam suam mulctetur) is confirmed in the Antwerp interlineary version of 1583. As, therefore, a fine, or mulct, is the loss of a part only, not the whole of a man's substance, is certainly (in my opinion however) a strong collateral proof the truth of the foregoing interpretations.

TO BE CONTINUED.

WESLEYS THOUGHTS ON THE NEW CREATION.

SIR,

BY inserting in your Miscellany the following lines, being part of a Sermon published by the Rev. John Wesley, M. A. you will much oblige

A CONSTANT READER.

"Behold I make all things new." Rev. xxi. 5.

1. WHAT a strange scene is here opened to our views! How remote from all our natural apprehensions! Not a glimpse of what is here revealed, was ever seen in the heathen world. Not only the modern, barbarous, uncivilized heathens have not the least conception of it, but it was equally unknown to the refined polished heathens of ancient Greece and Rome. And it is almost as little thought of or understood, by the generality of Christians: I mean, not barely those that are nominally such, that have the form of godliness without the power; byt even those that in a measure fear God and study to work righteousness.

2. It must be allowed, that after all the researches we can make, still our knowledge of the great truth, which is delivered to us in these words, is exceedingly short and imperfect. As this is a point of mere revelation, beyond the reach of all our natural faculties, we cannot penetrate far into it, nor form any adequate conception of it. But it may be an encouragement to those who have in any degree tasted of the powers of the world to come, to go as far as they can go, interpreting Scripture by Scripture, according to the analogy of faith.

3. The Apostle, caught up in the visions of God, tells us in the first verse of the chapter, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth." And adds, ver. 5. "He that sat upon the throne said, (I believe the only words which he is said to utter throughout the whole book,) Behold, I make all things new."

4. Very many commentators entertain a strange opinion, that this relates only to the present state of things, and gravely tell us that the words are to be referred to the flourishing state of the church, which commenced after the heathen persecutions. Nay, some of them have discovered, that all which the apostle speaks concerning the "new heavens and the new earth," was fulfilled when Constantine the Great poured in riches and honours upon the Christians. What a miserable way is this of making void the whole counsel of God, with regard to all that grand chain of events, in reference to his church, yea, and to all mankind, from the time that John was in Patmos, unto the end of the world! Nay the line of this prophecy reaches further still. It does not end with the present world, but shows us the things that will come to pass when this world is no more. For,

5. Thus saith the Creator and Governor of the universe, "Behold I make all things new: all which are included in that expression of the Apostle, "A new heaven and a new earth." "A new heaven."