yet some of the ages of eternity may be sufficient for the purpose of final reformation, of the most depraved of the human species. When this end shall be obtained, then shall the prince of the power of the air be destroyed, and the evil spirit working in the children of disobedience, be completely subdued: then shall the empire of Jesus be complete in the eyes of the universe: then, according to the strong figurative language of Scripture, shall the devil and his agents be cast into the bottomless pit, never to rise and seduce to all eternity: then, and not till then, shall rejoicing be as extensive and universal as the creatures of God: then may every intelligent creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, say, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the lamb for ever and ever!"

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The expectation of an ultimate recovery of all mankind to virtue and happiness, would, assuredly, be peculiarly grateful to those who are the warmest advocates for the infinitude of Christ's atoning merits, could their conceptions of some particular phrases in Scripture, permit them to indulge the thoughts. They maintain

that it was necessary for the Saviour of mankind to be God, the infinite God, as well as the Son of Man, that he might become a full expiatory sacrifice for sin. Yet, they must allow, that to believe in the eternal misery of a great majority of the human race, is to believe in a doctrine which in no way corresponds with this plenitude of merit. Will they not joyfully embrace such an interpretation of passages, which, according to their mode of explaining them, must. be inimical to their favourite opinion, as shall effectually remove the difficulty, and restore harmony to their sentiments? When they allege that the presence of the eternal God was necessary, to give an infinite efficacy to the sacrifice of Christ, it is much more consistent with their principles to admit, that the effects shall be infinite also. Can they suffer the idea, that the grace of God should be limited to the small number of the elect, when they must acknowledge that his efficacy is in itself infinite and unbounded? Limited salvation, procured by an infinite satisfaction, is a palpable inconsistency. Let them revise the few, very few, metaphorical passages, on which they have built the horrid system of misery; and let their zeal for the Redeemer, united with the feelings of humanity, induce them to give a milder interpreta

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tion, by which all men may be saved, and his triumphs over sin and misery will be rendered complete.

Nor does the unlimited phraseology prevalently used by our Saviour and his Apostle, accord so well with the doctrine of partial, as with that of universal, redemption. It is the World that is to be saved, "God so loved the World" "We know that he is the Christ the Saviour of the World." "I came not to judge, but to save the World." He is the propitiation for the sins of the World," &c.

This kind of language, incessantly repeated, encourages the hope, that the blessing will be as extensive as the phraseology; that there are other sheep which may not belong to the present flock, who shall hereafter be gathered together, forming one fold under the good shepherd: that he who wills that all men should be saved and be brought to the knowledge of the truth, shall ultimately see his will accomplished, through the mediation of him who " gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

Are such strong assurances and encouraging declarations, to be chilled by contracted and evasive explanations? Can we readily admit that the hopes which are beginning to expand in favour of the whole human race, shall be shrivelled

up into the world of the Elect only; into mere specimens of what the grace of God is able to accomplish, if the purposes of grace did not check themselves? Are we to suffer quibbling distinctions, as some divines in a preceding age have done, between the secret and revealed will of God, and make the former contradict the latter, and that in favour, of either eternal misery, or of irremediable death and destruction? In our earthly courts, when the punishment is frequently tremendous, for offences comparatively trivial, humanity does occasionally connive at pitiful evasions, in favour of mercy; but will they be practised in the court of heaven, to support a cause that has the appearance of implacable resentment, as its basis?

The first part of the present disquisition affords the most ample testimonies of the abundant riches of divine grace. We have contemplated the tender affection of a parent for his intelligent offspring, and unremitted solicitude for their welfare. In the second part, we think that we have unanswerably proved, that the state of condemnation from which the universal parent determined to rescue us, by the intermediation of his Son, is the condemnation of Death; by

which we might justly have been excluded from the regions, or the inheritance, of eternal bliss. But can we suppose that the affection of the parent is totally extinguished, by the ingratitude and thoughtlessness of a succeeding race of men? Or are their offences so disproportionate, that while the demerits of the one solely exposed them to the loss of life, the demerits of the other should incur irremediable woe, or protracted torments, before they will receive the last coup de grace, the extinction of their being? Must the neglected covenant of grace be thus avenged for the sins of the impenitent? Or can the universal Parent withdraw the character, and consent to give up any of his children to misery and destruction, because they have not reformed, in their passage through this short state of existence, where they were exposed to many temptations, and subjected to many adventitious circumstances, over which they had no power? Can they have exhausted or annihilated infinite mercy, by these transient offences against it? May they not still be the sheep of another fold who shall hear his voice; "whom he must also bring, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd?"

A belief that it is the plan of God, finally to render all his rational offspring permanently

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