"When I have wept ten thousand years away, When I have roll'd ten thousand years in fire,— But the time for prayer to prevail is past.-Mercy is clean gone for ever. The Lord will be favourable no more. II.-But why, it may be asked, has the God of all grace and mercy denounced punishment so fearful? To scan all the reasons by which unerring wisdom has been directed in this matter, is probably beyond the reach of mortals in our present state. Some of them, however, we can trace, and to these we demand the serious attention, both of believers and unbelievers. 1. A less punishment would not adequately display the divine purity. We judge of purity by its abhorrence of evil. Abhorrence of evil is evidenced by the punishment attached it. If therefore the punishment were less, we would consider the abhorrence of the Lawgiver less, and consequently his purity less. But now that the punishment is unspeakable and eternal, our ideas of the divine holiness are proportionately enlarged. 2. It seems that a less punishment would not be adequate to the evil of sin. Sin has in it many characters of an infinite evil. It is committed against an infinite God, and against infinite obligations to obedience and love. When the Scriptures speak of the punishment of it, they represent it, not as an arbitrary arrangement of providence, but as a thing necessitated from the nature of the offence. Thus it is said, the wages of sin is death.-Rom. vi. 23. Now wages earned by a labourer in the service of his master, are a debt justly due, the withholding of which would be an act of injustice. Under this idea of necessary consequence and deserving, is the punishment of sin represented; and therefore is then the most perfect rectitude in the infliction of it. 3. A less punishment would not adequately warn other worlds of what an evil and a bitter thing it is to sin against God. It is propable, that as the fate of devils is held up as a warning to our world, so will the misery of sinners be held up to other worlds. Now the warning would be so much the less effective, the less the punishment were. But when we see it to be so fearful a thing to fall into the hands of the living God, as everlasting punishment exhibits, then is the loudest warning uttered to all, to abhor that which is evil, and to cleave to that which is good. 4. We may add, that less punishment would not keep our own world in awe. And if there be so much sin and misery with the prospect of eternal misery, what would there be if less were expected? In the announcement of eternal misery to the impenitent, the good of our world is consulted. 5. As punishment will never cure the impenitent, but they shall still continue to entertain and evidence their present enmity to God, it is reasonable and necessary that punishment should be coeval with their crimes; that is, eternal. Is this then the end of sin and ungodliness? Yes; for the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.—Ps. ix. 17. It is the end also of ignorance of God and neglect of the Gospel. For the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, (evidently banishment,) from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power.-II. Thess. i. 7, 8, 9. It is the end of all the unconverted; for except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.→John iii. 3. Arise then, what mean ye, sinners? Will ye not awake till unquenchable fire surround you? Call on God, if so he will hear, that ye perish not. Fly to the Lord Jesus Christ, and escape from the wrath to come. QUESTIONS ON THIS ESSAY. WHAT is the subject of it? What the text? What is the first ingredient in the misery of hell? What the second, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth? What are the reasons of such punishment being attached to sin? First reason, second, third. Who will have this portion? Repeat Ps. ix. 17. I. Thess. i. 7, 8, 9. John iii. 3. A PRAYER ADAPTED TO THIS ESSAY. O LORD, thou art the great and terrible God. Open our eyes to see the evil of sin, and its awful consequences. Alarm our fears. Lead us to Christ as our hope. Save us from the guilt, and pollution, and punishment of our sins. Sanetify us for thy service. Enable us to follow holiness. Deliver us from the wrath to come, and grant us life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord.-Amen. ON THE DIVINITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN. SIR, IT is the misfortune of Christendom, that those controversial disputes by which it has been agitated, have in few cases been carried on in that mild, yet earnest manner, which the religion of Jesus demands, and the propagation of truth requires. The consequence has been, as might be anticipated, that controversy seldom convinces, often blinds, and generally irritates the mind of those who make it the subject of their study. The controversialist should be a man well acquainted with the human heart.-He should be sensible of its weaknesses, its foibles, and its vanities. He ought to be aware, that even truth itself, however lovely and amiable in its form, however much to be desired and wished for, is not that which generally overrules the mind of man, owing in many cases to the garb of party in which it is presented to his contemplation, and the diseased state of his own mind, which views every thing through the medium of sectarian principles. One thing, therefore, I would urge upon all controversialists before they come to the discussion of truth, viz. to sacrifice upon the altar of charity, all those feelings of party, and all such expressions as take their rise therefrom, and to stand forth the unshackled advocates of truth and genuine liberality. Then shall our earnest and affectionate appeals to our erring fellow-men be accompanied with more success, when we show that our aim is not the triumph of a party, but the desire of leading stray sheep to the pastures of life, and to those fonts of truth and holiness, the blessedness of which we ourselves have experienced, and of which on that account we desire, with all the genuine feelings of true christianity, to make others partakers. Under these impressions it is that I would desire to address a body of our community, who deny some of those doctrines, which we believe furnish the strongest motives to a holy life, and the most powerful and sustaining consolations, at that awful moment, when the things of time begin to fade from the sight, and the boundless scenes of eternity rush upon the view. In this respect I look upon the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, as of the utmost importance. That the deity has a power of assuining a human or any other form and dwelling among the sons of men, really and truly man, as he is God-will I think be denied by no Arian upon a minute's reflection. It is not then upon the possibility of the thing, but upon the testimony of Scripture that we differ. Here then let us go at once to the Bible, and let us assume nothing which God's word does not warrant.-I would desire to turn your attention to a few of those many texts, which might be brought forward in proof of this doctrine. First I would premise the great importance of those doctrines which promote godliness. That the doctrine of Christ's divinity does so, the apostle of the Gentiles plainly declares" and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, &c."-1 Tim. iii. 16. Here the apostle meets the dificulty that he foresaw would arise in men's minds, by declaring, that without controversy it was a great mystery, but a mystery of godliness. See also Col. ii. 9, "for in him dwelleth all THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD bodily, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power." These texts speak for themselves, and any illustration would perhaps only weaken them. Look again at Col. i. 16 and 17. "For by him are all things created that are in heaven, and that are in carth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." This is a text which I have regarded as altogether inexplicable, upon Arian principles of interpretation. It is of Christ that the apostle speaks (see the verse before,) and he is declared to have created all things.-If we admit this, the conclusion must follow, that he himself is not a created being; but further, who is he? He is that being by whom thrones, &c. were created,—but "all things were created for him,” then the throne of God was- -the throne of heaven was erected for Christ. The apostle concludes this verse by stating, that he is BEFORE all things, and by him all things consist." If he is BEFORE all things, he must then be the first: but, not to dwell longer on this most important text, turn to 1st Epist. John, v. 20th verse, "and we know, that the Son of God hath come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God, and eternal life"-who then was Christ? Upon the plain principles of grammar, he was the TRUE GOD AND Eternal LIFE. Again, Revelations i. 18, he declares himself to be the first and the last. "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not; I am the first and the last.-I am he that liveth and was dead." To whom I would ask,but unto God, should this title belong? What angel would presume to appropriate it to himself? No, my dear friends, it belongs exclusively to the true God. One other verse I would adduce, Rev. xvii. chap. and 14th verse. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Here he again assumes the titles of the lord of heaven and earth. And that he does so, see Psalm cxxxvi. 3. and 1st Timothy vi. 15. Now my dear brethren, weigh the Scripture which has been brought before you; why will you reject a doctrine which is according to godliness. It is on this ground I press it upon you, and I do so, because I have witnessed its power. I trust that, from what I have already said, you will not deny that God could assume human nature: as to the motive, we find that it was the salvation of a lost world. If we may judge of divine things by the analo.. gies of nature, we have no reason to conclude that we should find them free of mysteries.-When we regard ourselves and consider the intimate union, and yet the distinction between the soul and the body, we discover a mystery which we will never in this world fully understand. Do not forget my friends that this is a doctrine no way contrary to reason; and however great the mystery in the eye of reason, the evidence for it is not above reason. A great writer has justly said, that "God did never command us to believe, or his ministers to preach, any doctrine which is contrary to the reas on he hath pleased to endue us with; but for his own |