creating them; or that he will take pleasure in the death of those of them that perish, which he utterly difclaims. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou haft created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created," Rev. iv. 11. "My counfel fhall ftand, and I will do all my pleafare.-According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," Ifa. xlvi. 10. Eph. i. 11. "As I live, faith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked," Ezek. xxxii. 11. It must be proved,

That God never loved the whole of his intelligent offspring; no not even those of them who were created holy and happy; or that the immutable God, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, James i. 17. has changed his mind, with regard to the far greater number of his intelligent creatures. God loves finners with a love of pity and compaffion, which brings them in time to be objects of his complacential love. "God fo loved the world," &c. John iii. 16. "And God faw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good,” Gen, i. 31. "When the morning ftars fang together, and all the fons of God fhouted for joy," Job xxxviii. 7. "I am the Lord, I change not," Mal. iii. 6. It is morally impoffible that God fhould hate any creature, viewed as his own workmanship; though he cannot but hate the works of the devil, these plants which he has not planted, and which he has determined to root up and deftroy. It must be proved,

That God's conduct towards thofe who die in unbelief fhall then ceafe to be paternal, and that all punishment beyond death is wholly vindictive, without the leaft mixture of corrective love. Does not God plainly affert the contrary, when he tells us, That he is good to all, and that his tender mercies are over all his works? Pfal. cxlv. 9. Are not finners as much his works, or his creatures on the other fide of death as on this? and is not the mifery they endure his work of punishment, though indeed what he calls his ftrange work? Who then has given us a right, in plain contradiction to his word, to affert that mer cy shall never have the least concern with either? It is generally granted, that all punishment on this fide the grave is corrective, and calls upon finners to break off their fins by repentance; but maintained, by the patrons of the common doctrine, that all punishment in the ftate to come is entirely vindictive, without the least regard to the finner's good. Thus God is reprefented as changing in the principle and end of his adminiftration, every twinkling of an eye, or as often as an impenitent finner departs this life; a notion that does him little honour, befides flatly contradicting his own declaration, "I change not." He is of one mind, and who or what can turn him? Let common fenfe fay, if fuch fudden tranfitions be confiftent with the nature of a perfect being, to whom nothing is unforeseen. It must be proved,

.

That the deftruction of fin, Satan, death, and the grave or hell, as the most glorious difplay of Meffiah's power, is confiftent with their eternal existence, and defpotic reign over unknown millions of beings; and that the second death, and its grave are entirely out of the question, that remaining unimpaired in its power, fling, and dominion for ever. The texts are plain and exprefa which al

fert that deftruction. Chrift bruifed, or crushed Satan's head under his own heel, and as the God of peace bruises him under the feet of all his people, But that he should for ever furvive fo many bruises, and retain his fting and power to the inexpreffible torment of the far greater part of God's intelligent creation, even without end, is no fmall mystery. We are told that Chrift took part of flesh and blood, "that through death he might deftroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil," Heb. ii. 14. Can we prove that the apostle had not all mankind in his eye, in the first clause of the verse, when he faith, "Foraf much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewife took part of the fame?" "He will swallow up death in victory," Ifa. xxv. 8. The old verfion renders it," He will swallow up death for evermore." The words of the Lord, by the prophet, are remarkable, "I will ranfom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy deftruction; repentance fhall be hid from mine eyes," Hof. xiii. 14. As the term death includes future mifery, so the original word rendered grave, fignifies alfo hell, and is often fo tranflated on the margin. If the Lord himself has not excluded the fecond death and its grave, what right have we to exclude them? Our Saviour Jefus Chrift is faid to have abolished death, which muft include, if not intend, the fecond death, because contrafted with that life and immortality which are brought to light through the gofpel, 2 Tim. i, 10. Sin is the work of the devil, and death its offspring, and the Son of God was manifefted for the exprefs purpose of deftroying the works of the devil, and will not ceafe to work till he has accomplished that purpofe, John iii. 8. Our Lord is introduced by John, as declaring from his throne in the New Jerufalem, after the church of the firft-born is glorified as a bride adorned for her husband, "There fhall be no more e death," Rev. xxi. 4What death is it that shall then exift, and to which confequently he muft refer? Paul folves this question, by telling us, that he is the laft enemy that shall exift in the universe. Reading 1 Cor. xv. 26. without the fupplement, which quite changes its meaning, or as the Spirit of God gave it, it runs, "The last enemy fhall be deftroyed, death," or, more emphatically, that death. Our Lord fhall put down all rule, and all authority, and power; " for he muft reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet," where they cannot reign, and whence they shall not be permitted to reign, ver. 24, 25. Can all these enemies then, and all their rule, power, and authority, be put down, and yet reign; be destroyed, and yet live? With as much confiftency may we affert, that Pharaoh reigned in his capital in Egypt, after he was drowned in the Red Sea; or that the late king of France ftill holds the reins of government in that nation. Chrift is a rock, whose work is perfect; for he is the Lord at the Father's right hand, who fhall ftrike through thefe kings alfo in the day of his wrath, Pfal. cx. 5.Those who defend the common doctrine, must also prove,

That the plaineft of God's promises are not to be taken in their obvious meaning, no not his very oath, fo that when he uses the most general and unlimited terms, in order to understand them aright, we muft diveft them of their

univerfality, and reduce them to the ftandard of fome human fyftem. Is this treating our Maker with due reverence? Where is the man that would chufe fuch liberty to be taken with his own expreffions? Does not the Lord exprefs the truth as he thinketh in his heart? an effential trait in the character of a citizen of Zion. They muft likewife prove, would they establish the common doctrine,

That the first fruits, as applied to men, whatever they might intend of old, have no connection with the whole harveft; and fo far from fecuring the final poffeflion of it to the great Hufbandman, only infures the uninterrupted and eternal poffeffion of it to the devil. The ordinance of the firft-fruits we have in the xxiii of Leviticus. Thefe once prefented to God, as there directed, fecured and fet apart the proprietor the whole harveft. So fays Cruden, in his concordance, on the article Firft-fruits. Defcribing the manner of their oblation, he adds, After this, every one might begin their harveft. This was offered in the name of the whole nation, and by this the whole harvest was fanctified unto them. The firft-fruits were a type or figure of the elect, or the church of the first born, as we are taught by the apoftles. "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firft-fruits of his creatures," James i. 18. Some would reftrict this to the apoftles, as if they were to be viewed as a kind of firft-fruits to the rest of the elect, intended here by his creatures. This glofs is forced and quite unfounded. It is ufual with the apostles to speak of the whole church of the faithful in every age as one aggregate body, which they fometimes exprefs by the pronoun we, including themselves. "Behold, I fhew you a myftery; we fhall not all sleep, but we fhall all be changed," I Cor. xv. 51. Paul and his co-temporaries died, but he refers to the faints, who fhall be found alive at Chrift's fecond coming, whom he includes, or rather intends, in the pronoun we, viewing all believers in every age as one great family. This fhews that the firft-fruits, of which James fpeaks, intends the whole church of the firfl-born, and apply equally to them all; whence the other creatures of God, of whom they are the firfl-fruits, muft refer to fome other part of the creation. This is farther evident from Rev. xiv. 4. where the phrafe is applied to the 144,000 fealed ones, who have the Father's name written on their foreheads, and who appear to denote the elect, or true church in every age. Thefe were redeemed from among men, being the firft-fruits unto God, and to the Lamb.” Befides thefe diftinguished fealed ones, we have an account in the vii chapter, of a great multitude, which no man could number, confifting of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. Thefe are reprefented as brought out of great tribulation, and as having washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Thefe may probably intend the fecond-fruits, or the full harvelt, of which the firft-fruits are the pledge and earnest; for it is evident that firstfruits have a reference to after-fruits, which muft mean others and not the ele&t, they all being intended by the first-fruits.

The above explains and aftertains what we are to understand by the firft-fruit of the Spirit, ia that remarkable paffage, Rom. viii. 23. "And not only they, Lut ourfelves alfo, which have the firf-fruits of the Spirit," &c. Here we have

the privilege of the whole church of the firft-born, they e joy the firft-fruits of the Spirit. That there are fecond-fruits of the Spirit, is plainly implied; for the firft, as poffeffed by the faints, are the earneft of them; but who shall enjoy thefe fecond-fruits, it belongs to the word of God to determine.

Our Lord is also spoken of as first-fruits, with reference to those in every age that die in him: "But now is Chrift rifen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that flept," I Cr. xv. 20.-Does the refurrection of our Lord, as the first-fruits to a ftate of glory and immortality, fecure the future refurrection of his people to a fimilar state? Then, we are taught to believe, that what is and shall be done in and for the elect, as a kind of firit-fruits of God's creatures, is a pledge and earneft of what shall be done for these in due time. What right has man, we may afk, to feparate the connection which God has eftablifhed? We may as well deny that there is any connection between Chrift, as the firft-fruits, and his people, as the firft-harveft, or a kind of firft-fruits of the reft of God's creatures. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Our Saviour is not the Lord of the firft-fruits only, but also of the whole harvest: "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harveft, that he would fend forth labourers into his harveft," Mat. ix. 38. Paul defines the extent of this lordfhip: "For to this end Chrift both died, and rofe, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living," or of all men, Rom. xiv. 9. And Peter tells us, that he is Lord of all; "preaching peace by Jefus Chrift, he is Lord of all," Acts x. 36. He himself also tells us, that the field on which the Son of Man foweth the good feed, is extenfive as the world, Mat. xiii. 37, 38. If the harvest then belong to Chrift, as well as the firft fruits; why should we prefume to make fo free with his property, as to make an irrecoverable prefent of it to the devil? for he is able to recover his own, and his Father has appoin:ed him to inherit all things. Will he violate the appointment, or ftop short in his work? The reftitution of all things refts on as firm a bafis as the falvation of the elect, from which it is quite diftinct. Enough has been said on this point to fatisfy the candid; but an angel from heaven cannot convince gainfayers. Those who deny the restoration muft alfo prove,

That only a few of the captives of the mighty fhall be taken away; and that the terrible one fhall retain in his poffeffion the far greater part of his prey through all eternity, notwithstanding the exprefs prediction or promife, That the captives of the mighty, the prey of the terrible fhall be taken away, and be delivered, and that Jehovah fhall contend with him for that purpose, and fave Meffiah's children, Isa. xlix. 25. Are none'captives of the mighty, and a prey to the terrible, but the elect? If there are, why fhould we exclude them, without di vine permiffion? Our Lord defcribes the children as partakers of flesh and blood, which applies to all mankind, whom he regards as the offspring of deity, and as brethren in the great family of creation, Heb. ii. 14. The illegitimate children can claim brotherhood to the lawfully begotten, though they cannot inherit with them, unlefs legitimated.

To establish the common doctrine, it must likewife be proved, That Chrift is not a Saviour to all men, (though that general expreffion includes the ele&) in

Let. II. no other fenfe than as merely a temporal preferver; and that the efpecial manner in which he faves those who believe cuts off all the reft from any hope for ever. "We both labour, and fuffer reproach, becaufe we truft in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of thofe that believe. These things command and teach." 1ft Tim. iii. 10. II. The choice of fome, and grant of special favours to them, does by no means amount, as is generally but unjuftly thought, to a proof, that all others are entirely overlooked, and left to perifh without the moft diftant hope.

It remains with opponents to prove, That the promise made to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, and fo often repeated, and fometimes confirmed even by an oath, fhall never be fulfilled in the fenfe that will naturally occur to every unprejudiced reader. "All the nations of the earth fhall be bleffed iu him ;-by myself have I fworn, that in thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed-in thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed," Gen. xviii. 17. 18.-xxii. 17. 18.-xxvi. 4. "In thee and in thy feed fhall all the families of the earth be bleffed," Gen. xxviii. 14-xii. 2. "Saying unto Abraham, and in thy feed fhall all the kindreds of the earth be bleffed," A&s, iii. 25. "Preached before the gofpel unto Abraham, faying, In thee fhall all nations be bleffed," Gal. viii. "All the kindreds of the nations fhall worship before thee," Pfalm, xxii. 27. "All nations fhall ferve him-all nations fhall call him blessed,” Pfalm, lxxii. 11. 17. "He will deftroy the face of the covering caft over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces," Ifa. xxv. 7. 8. It is promised. ver. 6. that the Lord of hofts fhall make unto all people a feaft of fat things, of wines on the lees, well refined, of fat things full of marrow, and that this fhall be in or by the mountain of his church; and shall all people tafte of that feaft, or only a few among them? To evade the native force of these and the like plain declarations, we are told that they shall be all accomplished in the millennium, when it is thought all nations, kindreds, and families then existing shall be bleffed in Chrift; which cannot be proved from fcriptures. But the Lord himself fettles this point, and cuts off this evafion for ever. "All nations whom thou haft made fhall come, and worship before thee, O Lord; and fhall glorify thy name," Pfalm, lxxxvi. y. Are there any na. tions whom God has not made? if there are not, none can be excepted. John faw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, even all that God has made, or fhall yet call into being, Rev. xiv. 6. And the great multitude, which no man can number, is faid to confift of all nations, kindreds, people, and tongues, ch. vii. v. 9. The elect are faid to be redeemed from the earth, and from among men, but are never, that I can recollect, termed nations. "Thou art worthy, &c. for thou haft redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation; and haft made us unto our God' kings and priests; and we fhall reign on the earth," Rev. v. 9. 10. These are the faints; but, in the 13th verfe, the whole creation join in one fong of praife. The leaves of the tree of life are faid to be