awakened regrets in the human breast?) And it may be said, "When millenniums shall have passed away, expressed by a line "of figures which would encircle the globe, like the equator, or "which would run coincident with its orbit round the Sun, or "with the orbit of Saturn, or Uranus, or with a circle of which "the radius should be from this earth to Sirius;" this, or an estimation ten thousand times more extensive; a line of figures encompassing the Orbis Magnus itself, would make no alteration in the proportionate qualities of the two minds. The compass of one will eternally surpass that of the other. And are the Spirits of Apostles and Prophets; of Saints and Martyrs; the excellent of the earth; the servants of God; and the followers of the Lamb, not to have an abiding station, an eternal priority, over all the "Sons of Belial?" The God of Truth has both promised and threatened; and resting on that eternal word, we shall be introduced, on our departure from this world, into an ever-enduring economy, where, on the authority of Scripture, the Redeemed "will shine as the stars for ever and ever: nor will their blessedness and elevation, however opposed by proud or speculative mortals, not everlastingly surpass the enemies of God and righteousness. If this fact be allowed, it requires a moment's thought only, to perceive that the acceptance and exaltation of the Righteous necessarily implies, that the class not so exalted shall be depressed, or excluded from the felicities of Heaven; as the declension of one scale is consequent, of necessity, on the elevation of the other.

66

34. But if God, according to his promise, should reward his steadfast servants hereafter, with all the blessings included in the << light of his countenance; if he should crown, in the future world, those who here have confided in the "Blood of the Lamb," with "glory, honour, immortality," and which implies the exclusion of the hardened and rebellious from the participation of such sources of happiness; is the being, crushed before the moth," arrogantly to lift his voice, and denounce his Judge? It is virtually saying to his Maker, Bless, but not eternally. Punish, but not eternally. False views, and an excited imagination, at the image of perpetuity, (with which, on other subjects, men are so familiar,) awaken in their spirits, from an amiable, but unchastised feeling of benevolence, fervent and spontaneous opposition, as though they were more compassionate than their Maker! The ulterior question, after all, is, What say the Scriptures? If the banishment from God be eternal, they conceive it cannot be true; not remembering that

the Bible represents the sufferings of the "Lost" by all the most palpable and indestructible of material symbols.

35. These, terrible as they are, must, it is confessed, on some occasions, be interpreted by more modified and lenient declarations. An Apostle has spoken of some, obnoxious to sorer punishment." He has said, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" Gal. vi. 7. which implies a boundless dissimilitude of circumstance. And cur adorable Lord also has so subdivided future felicities, as not only to comprehend those who make the grandest sacrifices, for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, but he has extended the blessing, through all gradations, down to one who administers, "in the name of a disciple," even a cup of cold water." No question can be entertained, but that the diversities of condition in the future world, both of happiness and punishment, will be as diverse as the infinitessimal human character. This subdivision of rewards and punishments, as consequent on human faith and practice, perfectly accords with the principles of Scripture, as well as with the abstract views of equity, which are inherent to the human heart.

thus:

36. After laying this down as the broad Scriptural basis, how unfair and fallacious are the representations of those who deny the eternal separation hereafter, of the Righteous and the Wicked, by affirming, that their opponents represent the case "exactly "Just two states, wholly antipodes; the extremes in "total opposition; each perfectly and exclusively of one quality; "homogeneous in every particle; perfectly good, and evil; per'fectly, consummately happy, and miserable: the future des"tinies of men divided mechanically, as it were, into just two clear, absolute opposites; as if we should imagine two Cities "or Districts, enclosed and demarcated, in the one of which, every inhabitant is a pure white complexion; in the other, "every inhabitant perfectly black."

66

37. That this ultra statement is neither the doctrine of reason, nor of the Bible, the prec ding arguments will testify. The Fountain of knowledge has declared that some will be found "great" in the Kingdom of Heaven; and others, the "least." Some characters, with their enlarged moral capacities, like the Apostles and Prophets, figuratively speaking, will sit on the loftier thrones, and drink larger libations of joy; whilst every spirit found on the Right hand of the Judge, will be as happy as his nature will allow; appropriately emblemed by vessels of different dimensions, but all full. With respect, also, to the

66

punishment of the wicked, the same graduated scale will be exercised. We read of some, in typical language, for whom the furnace will be heated 66 seven times hotter : of some, for whom it shall be more tolerable: of some, who will receive the "greater condemnation." The diversities involved in these phrases, (as well as in the examples before cited,) convey the most unequivocal intimations, that there will be a rigid discrimination; and that, under the controul alike of infinite goodness, and of a justice tempered with mercy. There is one conclusion, however, at which it might be thought every Christian would arrive; that those found on the Left hand of the Judge, to whom the language will be addressed, "Depart from me, ye workers of Iniquity;" that such, according to the whole tenor of Scripture, will never be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven. "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, (the slaves of Mammon) and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Rev. xxi. 8. If this be the irreversible ordinance of Heaven, how much more consistent, as well as rational, would it be for men, after possessing Scriptural hope of their own safety, instead of indulging hard thoughts of God, to urge all within the sphere of their influence, " to flee from the wrath to come: to strive for "the prize: to lay hold on eternal life:" to confide, as their only hope, on "the Saviour of the world:" and, in every moment of disquietude, to rest satisfied that "the Judge of all the earth will do right.'

دو

66

It is the continuance of punishment from which certain minds shrink; yet analogy may throw light on this subject, and relieve many oppressed speculators of their most painful burdens. The following illustration may at least convey some faint and shadowy approximation to the truth.

38. The power of the Almighty must be illimitable. That power has been manifested, on a comparatively small scale, in this world, by creating different classes of animals, in the same genera, and all of a permanent character. To elucidate divine truth by a familiar representation: If the division of Mammalia be selected; here are beings possessing many common properties, yet separated by impassable barriers, so that the elephant would never become a horse, nor the horse a lion. Since the power of the Almighty is necessarily uncircumscribed, and he can create beings, with an infinite diversity of properties, improving those already possessed, or superadding others; who can say, after such admissions, what changes may hereafter occur in the human mind, in the strictest conformity with Revelation, but with its

own interpretation? If bad men, who have despised the words of Christ, and rejected his Gospel, and lived in rebellion of his laws, should be left merely, in the intermediate state between death and Judgment, under the dominion of their own malignant passions, they would carry in their spirits a hell, aggravated by the anticipation of still sorer visitations, with probably an acuter sense, both of present and prospective evils. But their severest pangs might arise from a full perception of what they have lost, and that without the prospect of recovery; illustrating the image of "the worm that dieth not."

But God, who is steadfast to his word, alike, in what he threatens, or promises, may, and doubtless will, confer on his friends and faithful in Christ Jesus, new sources of enjoyment; perhaps new senses and capacities; such especially as to raise them in the scale of being, and introduce them into felicitous departments of his vast empire, where a field will be presented for the exuberant expansion of the moral and intellectual faculties, with "joys for evermore ;" and where these accessions to their happiness (unattainable to the enemies of God) would form lines of demarcation, unspeakably more distinct and impassable than those_now subsisting in the different orders of the animal creation. But, whatever weight may be due to such passing suggestions, on the word of Inspiration, the fate of him will be found severe, beyond conception, who has his name excluded; his part taken away out of the Book of Life!"

ม

"The highest use of the revival of Philosophy will be, to "discover in the Bible, simple and pure Christianity. I am "firmly resolved to die in the study of the Scriptures: in that is my joy and my peace. The sum of all Christian Philosophy is "reduced to this; to place all our hope in God, who, without our deserts, by grace gives us all things by Jesus Christ; to "know that we are redeemed by the death of his Son; to die to "the lusts of the world; and to walk conformably to his doctrine "and example; not merely without doing wrong to any, but by "doing good to all; to bear with patience our trials, in the hope "of a future recompence; and, finally, to ascribe no honour to "ourselves on the score of our virtues, but to render praise to "God for all our strength and all our works. It is with this "that man must be imbued, until it becomes to him a second "nature."

ERASMUS.

SATAN.

SATAN, the grand adversary of God and man, Socinians affirm to be an imaginary being, "a mere personification of the Principle of Evil." But the Bible declares his personal existence and assigns to him actions, necessarily implying an intelligent agent. Without arguing the question on inferior grounds, a direct appeal will now be made to serious Christians, by an examination into the infallible records of the Word of God. If the reality of this malignant Being be there established, the believer in Revelation will demand no more conclusive evidence. Many features, in so dark a dispensation, he would be glad to have elucidated; but since this, in a great measure, has been denied, he knows the imperfection of his views, and the contracted range of his faculties, and, with becoming humility, submits to wisdom higher than his own.

66

Socinians profess to derive support from the assumed fact, that Satan, or the Devil, is nowhere made apparent, in his "individual capacity," in the whole of the Old Testament. As though the greater did not include the less. Devils are often mentioned, which is full measure of evidence. Moses that says, The Children of Israel shall no more offer their sacrifices unto Devils." Lev. xvii. 7. He adduces it also as a charge against the Israelites, that, in their prosperity, "they waxed fat and kicked." "They sacrificed unto Devils, not to God." Deut. xxxii. 17. Jeroboam also is condemned for having dismissed the priests of the Lord, and for ordaining new priests, "for the high places, and for the Devils." 2 Chron. xi. 15. David also thus accuses the rebellious Children of Israel; "Yea, they sacrificed their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils." Ps. cvi. 37. After these examples, to affirm that there is no instance of "a single Devil," in the Old Testament, is as logical as to say, there was no one man on the scaffold, when Lady Jane Grey was beheaded, because there were many men.