sion very strongly; and was, in a considerable degree captivated by the seeming benignity, mercifulness, and sublimity of the doctrine of universal restoration. Its aspect was fascinating; but close inspection, and reference to the sovereign authority of the divine word, dispelled the illusion.

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By some of those who maintain this doctrine, it is held that a part, at least, of those who die impenitent will finally arrive at happiness, not by any exercise of grace and forgiveness on the part of God, but by their passing through the whole course of divine vengeance, and enduring the full execution of the penalties threatened in the laws of heaven. But the opinion more usually held by them is thus stated by one of the ablest of its advocates; Unitarianism teaches us, indeed, that our heavenly Father will, for the good of his large family, support his authority, and will punish the impenitent offender; it teaches us, that in the future state, he will exercise a righteous retribution, and that guilt and misery will never be separated; but it also teaches, that in judgment he remembers mercy; that when he sees his paternal chastisements have done their work, and perceives the tokens of genuine and full repentance, he wants no satisfaction, no punishment, but receives his wandering child to duty and to himself; and, if still he leave him, to feel the present consequences of his folly and disobedience, he cheers him with that hope, which is an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast.'

The most serious and impartial attention of the reader is intreated, while the writer endeavours, in a candid spirit, to examine these statements by the light of the only safe and unerring guide,

Dr. Carpenter's Reply to Magee and others, p. 370.

the Holy Scriptures: and, O may the blessed Spirit of wisdom and understanding banish all prejudice from the hearts and the judgments of both, direct aright all their conclusions, and lead them into THE TRUTH!

Before, however, the direct examination is commenced, it is necessary to lay down three positions, the truth of which will, it is conceived, be acknowledged by every man who sincerely admits the authority of revelation, and the previous statement and subsequent recollection of which is necessary to the conduct of this inquiry in a just and satisfactory manner.

1. That sin deserves SOME punishment, or suffering of some kind or other, and in some degree or other, as the just and necessary consequence of the transgression.

The eminent Unitarian writer already quoted, though he denies. all punishment, except what may be conducive to the reformation of the offender, yet, in the same paragraph, overthrows his own denial by admitting that, in the future state, God will "exercise a righteous retribution." But retribution is a thing very different from correction; the latter term regards merely the feelings and dispositions of an offender; but the former has respect to a law or rule which measures out a proper moral desert. Chastisement is the infliction of pain with no other end than to benefit a transgressor by reclaiming him: punishment is also an infliction of pain, but its design is to manifest the displeasure of a Being duly authorized, at that which is morally wrong, for the public benefit, and for the honour of righteousness. The two ideas may be connected, and often are so yet the connexion is by no means essential. The change of mind and character in an offender, which is sought in all exercises of correction or chastisement, is certainly an object most impor

tant and desirable; but, apart from this, there is a desert of pain or suffering, in some way, and to some extent, which the universal sense and feelings of mankind associate with every instance of wrong conduct. So far is this idea of ill deserving, or demerit, from coinciding with that of chastisement, that it rests on a different principle, and proceeds by a different rule of proportion. Were this not the case, were the two ideas coincident, as some represent, it would follow, that in a case in which the application of suffering failed to answer the purpose of correction, all further infiction would be useless and unwise. Thus, in proportion as an offender was desperately wicked, hardened, and incorrigible, in that proportion it would become improper that he should endure any punishment. But all sense of natural justice impels to the very contrary conclusion, and represents the ill-deserving of the offender and the propriety of punishment, as increased by the circumstance of his averseness from being corrected. Indeed, in domestic government, the strength of parental affection, and the usually trivial consequences of the offences of children, render correction the only object of a pareat, in ordinary cases. But the instance is of possible occurrence, and it may be feared (such is the sad depravity of men) that it has actually occurred, in which a wise and good father would feel it necessary to expel from his family an irreclaimable child, in order to save the rest from ruin. The duty of a magistrate approaches more nearly to an illustration of the present case; though the weaknesses, the errors, and the sins of men, in addition to the imperfection essential to all creatures, render all analogical representations inadequate to shadow forth the infinite wisdom, justice, and goodN. S. No. 25.

ness of the divine government. But an upright ruler among men, who will not permit private feelings to warp his administration of public justice, never confounds chastisement and punishment. The interests of society, the influence of example, and the honours due to the violated law, put it out of his power to make the correction of the offender his only object; or even upon the clearest evidence of repentance, which in such circumstances could be shown, to release a convicted criminal from the penalties of an equitable system of government.

Indeed, so deeply and indelibly is the sentiment of ill-deserving, as resulting from moral wrong, engraven upon the natural feelings of men, that they manifest it upon all occasions in which it is not perverted by selfishness, or restrained by interest or corrupt custom. Let some

person in

Alict an injury upon you; let him assault and wound you, without provocation; let him deceive and defraud you; let him calumniate and insult you; and you cannot avoid feeling the injustice; you cannot prevent a strong sense of his desert of punishment rising in your mind. Yes, mankind are ready enough to receive and indulge this sentiment, in their own favour, when any petty unkindness, or more aggravated ingratitude, rouses their resentment; but how slightly and tamely do they feel the numerous injuries which men are offering every moment to the Author of their being, their Supporter and Benefactor, the Source and Infinite Example of all that is amiable and deserving, grand, good, and glorious! They let our indignation boil against the Neros and Caligulas, the tyrants and murderers of mankind, traitors to the liberty and happiness of nations, perjured betrayers of confiding innocence, perfidious guardians, robbers of the orphan C

and the widow, monsters of ingratitude and cruelty, perpetrators of the most execrable of deeds; but, ah! do they not spare themselves? Let them be honest to their consciences and their God. Dreadful as are the crimes which the basest of base men have committed against their fellow-creatures, they furnish but too true a representation of the real evil and aggravations of sin, as committed against God. Indeed, the blessed and adorable Jehovah is not susceptible of physical injury; but he can receive moral injury from his ungrateful and rebellious subjects. The withholding of affection and obedience; the contempt of his presence, his perfections, and his word; the profaning of his holy name; the contemptuous and persevering vio lation of his laws;-these, and such as these, in the thoughts and feelings, words and actions, of mankind, are foul and daring injuries to the blessed God; assaults in their principle and tendency upon his dignity, authority, and supremacy; and attempts to lower and degrade him in the eyes of his creatures. This is SIN: and, Q how numerous are its forms, how deep and extensive its ramifications, how manifold and awful its aggravations! What then does sin DESERVE, in the estimation of strict and impartial justice? In reply to this solemn and most reasonable question, many weighty and awakening considerations must be brought into the account. To discuss it fully, would require a large survey of the dependence of man on his Creator, all the bonds of that necessary connexion, all the obligations of obedience, all the causes and occasions of happiness and of misery, and all the ends and purposes (within the reach of our knowledge or discovery) of God's righteous government over his intelligent creatures. And when we had done all this, we should

perceive that an infinity was yet before us; and we should have to confess that we were incompetent to embrace all that was necessary for the determination of the inquiry.

It was with the most just reason that the aged and broken-hearted high-priest said to his wicked children, If one man sin against another, the Judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against THE LORD, who shall intreat for him?"

But read the unerring testimony of the divine word, and that is most decisive of the question, that sin deserves punishment. "Thus saith the Lord, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Thy first father hath sinned, and be-hold ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel; ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies; and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you. Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. The wicked shall be turned into hell, nd all the nations that forget God.

The

wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Thinkest thou, O man, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering; and after thy hardness, and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds!"

These are the declarations of the eternal God; and is it possible that any can read them, and doubt whether sin does not deserve punishment, on account of its own intrinsic evil?

The second position necessary to be previously considered, and which will require little more than to be barely stated, is, that God alone is able to decide, with perfect and infallible equity, what is the desert of sin generally, and what punishment is necessary, for the great purposes of his just and holy government, in every particular case of sin.

This position flows so obviously and undeniably from any degree of right conceptions concerning the essential perfection of God, and particularly his knowledge, wisdom, righteousness, and goodness, that every reflecting person must at once see its truth.

The third position, then, is, That the declarations made by God to man, through the medium of his inspired word, are his only, sure, and certain grounds of knowledge, on this most important subject.

The express design of the holy Scriptures is to make wise unto salvation; to communicate truth on the most momentous of subjects, especially those which relate to the eternal state of man, and the means of rendering that

state happy. On these subjects their testimony is very copious; and every believer in revelation, who has the least care of his sincerity and consistency, must regard that testimony as decisive. All the principles of truth and piety call upon us to search out with diligence, and receive with devout submission, every one of these "true sayings of God."

On the basis of these three axioms, or positions of evident and undeniable truth, the present case may be now examined.

I. The supposition that the wicked, or any part of them, shall, in the world of punishment, endure all the penalty due to their sin, so as finally to exhaust it; and then come out free from all obligation to further punishment. Upon this hypothesis we submit the following observations.

1. Such an opinion carries upon the face of it so much of what is improbable, that nothing could entitle it to credit but the most strong and positive evidence. Considering the nature of the subject, no conjectures or reasonings of man would be equal to prove the point. It is a question of fact; whose solution is clearly beyond the reach of human faculties, in the present state, however they may be exerted; and which the Omniscient Being alone is competent to resolve. Is it, then, the fact, that there is any declaration, or prediction, or promise in his word, that a time will come when the wicked shall have completely gone through all the penal sufferings due to their sins, and shall be liberated upon the ground that divine justice has no further claims upon them? No; this is not even pretended. This astonishing expectation is not even supposed to rest upon any authority from the word of inspiration; all that have pleaded for it, have only brought forward their own fond conjectures

and opinions. And, oh, is not this a poor and wretched foundation on which to rear so towering a fabric? Was there ever a human system of legislation, even the most rude and imperfect, the most wild and extravagant, which held that criminals were proper and competent persons to determine what should be the punishment due to their own crimes? Yet this would be a wise and rational proceeding, in comparison with the act of a polluted, partial, prejudiced, and guilty mortal, setting up himself as a judge of the punishment due to his own delinquencies against the infinitely wise and righteous God. But, not merely is there no shadow of Scripture authority for this supposition; this is but a small part of the case; the word of truth is clearly and positively against it. It describes sinners as being utterly unable to sustain the punishment due to their sins. O how will their courage wither, and their strength expire, when they dare to enter into the contest with omnipotent justice. "The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Who can stand before his indignation? Can thine heart endure, or can thine hand be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee? saith the Lord of hosts.""The great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?"

2. This opinion goes upon an assumption of a very ignorant and erroneous kind. It supposes that the sufferings of the wicked, in the state of damnation, are an arbitrary, external, and positive infliction of misery; and that, when the mechanical cause shall cease, the sufferings will cease of course. But this is a very crude and irrational view of the case. The Scriptures do, indeed, say much of the exercise of God's righteous

vengeance upon the wicked; and they call forth the most awful powers of language to express its intense and overwhelming terrors. But that vengeance will be manifested in a manner worthy of the dignity and majesty of God, and not in any way resembling the acts of a tyrant or a torturer; and those manifestations from without, will not (so far as it is possible to form a sentiment on this deep and dreadful subject) constitute the primary source of the sufferings of the damned in hell. The burning torrents of agony will burst forth, first and principally, from their own minds. The bitter recollections of life, and mercies thrown away, the vivid images of past scenes, awakening the most convulsive feelings of remorse and self-execration, the never-ceasing preyings and gnawings of a guilty mind upon itself, the dreadful consciousness of God's all-penetrating presence, the feeling of utterable loss, the sense of a merited exclusion from the fountain of life and happiness, the agonizing prospects of futurity; the absence of all rest, or ease, or mitigation; the raging storms of wicked passions, provoking and provoked, wrought up to the highest pitch of violence and fury; the terrible agitations of envy, anger, malice, revenge, and all the black and hateful feelings of consummate depravity, and the constant growth of all this depravity; these will be the mighty engines of a self-inflicted misery, which language could never describe, and which our powers of thought labour in vain to reach. Their dreadfulness defies conception. O that the reader may never know them by the sad experience! THESE are causes of suffering, which in their own nature must be never ceasing, never relaxing, but always increasing in their intenseness, and their power of producing misery;