It is of vaft confequence in religion to have proper views of God's character; for to know him aright, in this refpect, is eternal life, John xvii. 3. Any miftake here is of a radical nature; and tho' it should appear of fmall confequence at firft fight; yet, as a little leaven leavens the whole lump, so that fingle mistake may throw a kind of deadly fhade, or fatal obscurity, over our whole religious fyftem. When we are well acquainted with a good man's character and views, we may infer, with some degree of certainty, that he would not do things utterly abhorrent to thefe. But the beft of men do not always fupport their general character, fo that we may draw wrong conclufions from it. God, however, always does, so that we cannot err in making his revealed character the rule by which to judge of his general conduct, that can deviate from it in no inftance. His character folemnly announced to Mofes, was to be his memorial in all gene. rations, Exod. xxxiv. and in that character mercy predominates. He takes to himself the title of a Father, even the Father of all in every age-the Father of mercies in whom compaffions flow; for are we not all his offspring? John twice fays, God is love. Is not God called a Father of the fatherless in his holy habitation? Pfal. Ixviii. 5. Is not this the very cafe of all men in themselves? Why then exclude any from fuch a benefit, without his permiffion, or in oppofition to his word?

Those who make the penal evils that exift under the administration of this Father to be partly corrective and partly vindictive, admit this effential' character only in part, and exclude the far greater part of his miferable intelligent creatures from any benefit whatever from it; and, to them, the most important part of his adminiftration from the leaft concern therein. They fet the Divine character and procedure at irreconcilable and eternal variance. If the mifery of a future ftate be wholly vindictive to any of God's creatures, or, in other words, proceed not from love, and have no 'eye to their ultimate good, then God no longer fuftains to them the character of a Father, and of the God who is effentially love. But his memorial to all ages fhall be, "Jehovah, merciful and gracious," &c. and therefore can never, in any cafe, be wholly laid afide. As soon will God ceafe to exift, as ceafe to be love, and to sustain the character of a Father; and cease to be love he muft, in that part of his adminiftration which is fuppofed to proceed from inexorable, relentless, and vindictive wrath; for light and darkness are not more oppofite, than fuch wrath to God's general and effen" tial character. Every act of God is good, in its nature, tendency and confequences; and the final iffue of his procedure, with man, will manifeft it to be fo. Any doctrine that would diveft God of his general chara&er, with regard to any number of his creatures, or make him act inconfiftent with it, in any part of his moral adminiftration toward them, may, without hefitation, be pronounced falfe and unfcriptural; for God will never deny himfelf, or act in oppofition to his revealed character. The Rock of Ifrael cannot thus lie.-Will not infinite love, under the unerring direction of unbounded wifdom, and actuated by almighty power, bring all things at length to participate in its own divine fulnefs? If the little leaven leavens the whole lump, what may this great leaven ultimately effect? Who can limit its transforming power! The attributes and word of God muft, in all refpects, harmonize; and that doctrine which goes far to

harmonize them, bids fair for being according to godlinefs. May not the Lord complain, that by the common doctrine he is wounded in the house of his friends, and diveffed of the honour of his paternal character, which he has never yet forfeited? What a pleafing reflection, to confider the whole family of air, earth, and fea, as waiting upon the great Father and Lord of all, expecting when he fhall open his liberal hand, and diftribute to each member his portion of meat in due feason, Pfal. civ. 27, 28. & cxlv. 15, 16. Is not the cafe the fame with respect to intellectual and spiritual beings, of which his church and great family in heaven and upon earth are made up? Will not this glory of the mighty Lord endure for ever, whence he fhall rejoice in all his works?

Since I wrote my laft, I had access to hear a very excellent fermon upon the whole, in which the speaker, however, advanced fome frange paradoxes. Among other things, he told his hearers, that the wicked must fuffer in the next world all that an Omnipotent Being can inflict. He is not fingular in that sentiment, for others have advanced the fame; but where find they authority for afferting any such thing! Not furely in the feriptures; for I never could fee any fuch thing there. It is evident to a demonftration, that the being muft himself be almighty, that can bear or fuffer all that an omnipotent being can inflict. This is fo obvious, that to mention it is enough. Is not this deifying the creaturemaking all wicked men and devils in another world fo many gods, and almighty ones too, and that in order to fupport and magnify a favourite tenet? What will not even wife men say, thro' the force of early prejudice, in favour of a received opinion! Did ever a wife and humane father ftir up all his wrath, and exert all his ftrength, to crush under his feet his own offspring, let them be ever so contumacious and rebellious? God's paternal character forbids the thought, his word condemns it, humanity recoils at it, and it is fraught with the groffeft flander and calumny of the goodness of our heavenly Father, whofe tender mer. cies are over all his works, without exception. We are to believe God rather than men, when they utter high fwelling words of vanity, that contradict or darken the counfels of heaven by words without knowledge. Almighty power is not exerted to the utmost in punishing a creature over which, and this punishment, tender mercies ftill prefide.

Another fentiment, not unfrequently advanced by popular preachers, is, That Chrift has fatisfied all the demands of divine justice. If fo, why reprefent it as eternally demanding a fatisfaction it cannot find; and in order to fecure that fatisfaction, inflicting a mifery extreme in its degree, and boundless in its duration, without bringing glory to God, or the least advantage to any part of his creation? But if we fuffer penal evil, both here and hereafter, to rest upon the folid bafis of falutary paternal chaftifement, we will fee a benign uniformity running thro' the whole of his adminiftration, all his perfections glorified to the full in Chrift, and the greatest good educed from the greatest evil, and ifïoing at length in its total deftruction. This is a fcheme every way worthy of God, and calculated to give a full difplay of his nature and glory; whereas the popu. lar fcheme gives but a partial and confined view of either, and is as hoftile to the honour of Deity as to the happinefs of mankind.

In Pfalm lxviii. 18. we are told, that upon Meffiah's afcenfion he received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious alfo, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Here is language that applies to all mankind, and there is nothing in the nature of the cafe, or in the whole Pfalm, to reftrict it; and indeed, is there any thing more, natural than that he fhould receive gifts, not only for the few, his elect, but also for every man, and for the whole world, for whofe fins he died? In the 6th verfe he is faid to bring out thofe who are bound with chains; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Yet even for thefe he ia faid to receive gifts, and fhall he never impart them? Mankind in general have rebelled, but the character of the rebellious more peculiarly belongs to those who continue ob. ftinate to the death. As with fome it is more difficult to believe that there is hope for fuch, it is added, "yea, he hath received gifts for the rebellious also;" and that for the fame reason given at the close of the facred canon, "that God the Lord might dwell among them;" Rev. xxi. 3. But here the popular fyftem comes in with its usual modification, and tells us, That Chrift, when he afcended up on high, received gifts only for some men; and as for thofe to whom the character of rebellious chiefly belongs, that he received gifts, no, not for a fingle individual of them.

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The general declarations we have in the 30th Psalm, 5th verse, must be modified in a fimilar manner, upon the common fyftem, to make them truth. "His anger endureth but a moment; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." The marginal reading is more fimple and expressive ; "There is but a moment in his anger;" or, without the fupplement, "His an ger a moment; weeping may endure in the evening, finging in the morning." In the divine plan, light always fucceeds darkness, which is made more welcome from the preceding gloom; but in the boafted human plan, light is made to fet in a darkness that fhall never give way to an opening dawn. One excellency of the univerfal doctrine is, that it teaches us to believe God as he speaks, without fending him to the schools of the prophets, as is daily done by many mafters in Ifrael, and those who love to have it so, to learn the correct language we have confecrated for his ufe. It allows God to poffefs in perfection, what he himself describes as a part of the character of the citizen of Zion, "He speaketh the truth in his heart," Pfal. xv. 2. whereas his heart and lips, (in his words in general, and even in his very oath,) are fet at eternal variance, and his nature and character also at variance with both. Wrath or anger, and the weeping it produces, if at all limited in point of duration, of however long continuance, are but like for a night, or even a moment, when compared to eternity; for wrath cannot apply to any of God's children in this life, as is ufually done when fuch texts come in course, to evade their general meaning; for to them there is no condemnation or wrath. God is faid to be angry with the wicked every day.

Happening the other day to caft my eye over a fermon of one of the most famous preachers of the laft age, entitled "The Eternity of Hell Tormenta,”. the reafons affigned in fupport of the doctrine, are the texts of fcripture com monly urged on the head, fome of which have been fince relinquished as proof, by feveral of the most eminent advocates for that caufe. It is easy to make

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these appear very formidable to a mere English reader, who has not yet the fcriptures for himself; but like every work of man, which our tranflation in fuch cafes,' or the gloffes put upon it, wholly is, the more they are examined in the light of truth itself, the lefs formidable will they appear. Among other arguments equally unfounded, this is one upon which he lays principal ftrefs, as a bafis for the whole: "There cannot be one circumftance urged why God fhould reward his faints with everlafting happiness, which will not equally prove that he ought to punish finners with eternal mifery." Here I muft beg leave to differ; for many arguments can be urged for the former, that can find no place if applied to the latter. Pray, what motive, worthy of a wife father, could induce God, to cut off the being or happiness of children that perfectly love and ferve him? But is it no motive, worthy of fuch a Father, fo to adjust the feverity of paternal difcipline, as to bring his rebellious fubjects to a due fenfe of their criminal conduct, and to act worthy of the relation which he fuftains to them as a common parent, that he may at length, as fuch, blefs them, according to his original defign in giving them exiftence? In the prefent ftate of things we see him daily doing this; and whatever he has done, he may alfo confiftently do, whenever it pleafeth him. But no inftance of the other has occurred, or ever will occur, under the divine administration.

Let us apply the above reafoning to an earthly parent, and hear how it would found. No argument can be urged why he fhould continue to love and lead thofe of his children that are loving and obedient, fo long as he and they exift together, but will equally prove that he ought to punish the reft with relentless indignation to the very day of their death. Would this be acting in character, efpecially when a different conduct might fubdue their rebellious spi rita into love and obedience? Let us not impute any fuch thing to God, in any part of his administration.

But were not even the faints once rebellious, as well as others, when the great and good Father of all made them to differ? May he not then do the fame to other wicked rebellious children, when it feemeth good in his fight? Let not the eye of any be evil, because he is good; nor let us prefume to limit the thrice Holy One of Ifrael, where he hath not limited himself. What pleafeth him fhould please us alfo. Let not faints forget, as they are too apt to do, that they alfo were once rebels in common with others, even thofe whom they would not number with the dogs of their flock; and that the very mercy which took hold of them in that fituation, may apprehend others in any fuppofeable cafe; for Chrift is able to fave to the uttermoft, even to the very clofe of the laft age of his reign, and his will is equal to his ability; what many admit in theory, but deny in works. If we who are fo evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more fhall our heavenly Father give his holy spirit to them that afk it? He can bring the most obftinate and rebellious of his children to afk his holy fpirit with contrite hearts; and hence his oath declares, that every knee fhall yet bow to him, not only at the laft judgment, thro' constraint, Rom. xiv. 11. but alfo with cordiality at the reftitution of all things, Phil. ii. 10. Rev. v. 13. The prophet tells us, in the paffage from which the apoftles quote, er which they have evidently had in view, all that are incenfed against him

fhall be ashamed," we have good reason to think, with a godly fhame, Iía, xlv. 24. and Paul adds, "All things fhall be fubdued unto him, 1 Cor. xv. 28. The great maxim of his government, from which he never deviates, is, To refift the proud, but give grace to the humble, or humbled."

The greatest difficulty with fome honeft minds, in receiving the universal doc. trine, is, how to reconcile it with fome general declarations of fcripture. The térme everlafling, and the phrafe for ever, and for ever and ever, as applied to future misery, appear to them füfficient to cut off all hope of any fuch confummation of things. Permit me to infert an extract from Mr Cruden's Concordance, who cannot be suspected of favouring the univerfal doctrine. The words eternal, everlafliing, for ever, are fometimes taken for a long time, and are not always to be understood strictly; For example, it is faid, Gen. xvii. 8. "I will give to thee and to thy feed the land of Canaan for an everlafting polfeffion." And in chap. xiii. 15. "I will give it to thee, and to thy feed for ever ;” that is, for a long space of time. And in Gen. xix. 26. we find everlafting bills, fo called, to denote their antiquity, ftability, and duration; this expreffion is used to fhew the long continuance aud durablenefs of Jofeph's bleffing. God promises a throne to David, an eternal kingdom, a pofterity that will never be extinguished; that is, that his and his fon's empire will be of very long duration, 2 Sam. vii. 16. 1 Chron. xvii. 14. Thus, thou shalt be our guide from this time forth even for ever; that is, during our whole life.". Our tranflators have taken a very unwarrantable liberty with the original, when the words that are fuppofed to convey the idea of unlimited duration and mifery occur. On this liberty is chiefly built the tremendous fabric of eternal torments. The term that is thought to denote eternity, occurs in the New Teftament, in its fubftantive form, no fewer than fixty-two times in the plural. Had it no fingular form this might be accounted for; but it is to be met with fixty-fix times in the fingular. Eternity is one, but if the term in the fingular denotes eternity, muft not the plural fignify eternities? Some of these mentioned, both in the Old and New Teftament, are long fince paft, others of them are to come hereafter, yet they are to have an end before Chrift deliver up the kingdom to the Father. Hence, Pfal. cxlv. 13. "Thy kingdom is an everlafting kingdom;" in the original Hebrew, and in the Septuagint verfion, "Thy kingdom is the kingdom of all the ages." On the margin of fome of our Bibles, it is alio fo réndered. But retain the emphafis vulgarly annexed to the term, and it would run thus, "Thy kingdom is the kingdom of all the eternities." This is the term in the Greek, Heb. i. 2. "God hath in thefe days fpoken unto ns by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom alfo he made the "worlds; conftituted, adjusted, or arranged-in order, the ages. How would ig do to render the clause, made the eternities? The fame truth is expreffed, chap. xi. 3. "Thro' faith we understand that the worlds were framed," that the ages ages were regulated or arranged, by the word of God." It would be equally. furd to render ages here eternities; but the fenfe of the original is quite obfcured in both places, by being rendered worlds. If this rendering be juft, then the quality derived from the original. term, or what grammarians call the contrete, will be worldly. Thus the young man's queftion in the gospel, might