By no means. It was He who created them immortal, and made them to be the Images of his own Eternity.1 And they are but Images of it still. His is supreme and underived, extending both ways (à parte ante, as well as à parte post,) from Everlasting to Everlasting. Their's is only commensurate with all Duration to come, depending all the while upon God, and subordinate to Him, who only, in the supreme sense, hath Immortality. What then is there amazing in such a Co-eternity, which reserves to God his divine Prerogative, and makes no Incroachment upon any Perfection of the infinite and everlasting Creator ?2 There is no Envy in God, that he should be jealous of his Creatures approaching too near him. And they will ever, in their highest Exaltation, be infinitely below him. And as there is no want of Goodness in the Deity, so neither is there of Power, to preserve them in Being, and in the Enjoyment of their virtuous Happiness, to everlasting Ages. There is no Contradiction in the Nature of the thing; it is a real Object of Power, is what may be done: And, taking all the divine Perfections into Consideration, it is reasonable

1 Wisd. ii. 23.

2 To what Purpose, or with what Consistency, does Mr. Whiston heap up Texts and Testimonies of Scripture, for ten or a dozen Pages together, to magnify the Goodness, Compassion, and tender Mercies of God towards his Creatures? This gloomy Hypothesis of final universal Destruction defaces all. What can be said worse of the Wisdom and Goodness of the Deity, what can represent his Character in a more unamiable Light, than saying that He will at last destroy the noblest Works of his own hands, the general Assembly and Church of the First-born, the Spirits of just Men made perfect, and the innumerable Company of Angels, that stand round about his Throne; (not to go any higher ;) because, otherwise they would be co-eternal with Himself; and that is too vast and immense a thing for them to expect?

to think it certainly will. No, says Mr. W. it is too vast and immense a thing to be expected, not only by us poor, sinful Mortals, but by any Creatures whatsoever. Here he seems to rest the Point upon the Incapacity of the Creature. But why reasonable Creatures, especially the most valuable, excellent and noble of all God's Creatures, may not expect the Privilege of Immortality, when they consider the Nature of God, the Declarations of his Will, the Constitution of their own Nature, and the moral Fitness and Reason of Things, I cannot imagine. If they will not expect, what God has, in all these ways, given them reason to expect; this is not an Argument of their Humility, but of their Baseness: They reject the Counsel of God against themselves, and judge themselves unworthy, and incapable, of everlasting Life. As for our being poor, imperfect, and sinful Mortals; it should have been remember'd, that whatever we are at present, it does not yet appear what we shall be ;1 only we know that the time will come, when this corruptible shall put on Incorruption, and this mortal shall put on Immortality. And every Man that hath this Hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he (God) is pure. It is much to be lamented that Mr. Whiston should weaken this Motive; and in his Zeal to reform the present Systems of Faith, should make such cruel Inroads not only into the Doctrine of the Gospel, but into natural Religion itself, as to deny the Immortality of the Soul, and an everlasting State of Retribution.

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Since then Men were throughly apprized of the fatal Consequences of a wicked Life, and not only had it in their power, but were encouraged and invited, by John iii. 2, 3. 2 1 Cor. xv. 53.

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the Promises of an exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory, to avoid them; it follows, that if they do incur these Punishments, they incur them voluntarily, and as the Effect of their own Choice and Option. The Meaning of this is not that Men chuse Misery, or Evil, especially eternal Misery, as such: For so consider'd, it can be the Object of no Choice. Were eternal Happiness and Misery proposed to Men's Option abstractedly in themselves, not clogged with any Terms or Conditions whatsoever, they must certainly, in a popular manner of speaking, chuse the former. But truly and properly there would be no Choice at all, as that implies anything of Difficulty, or Trial, or moral Merit in chusing the good Part. This therefore, in the very Nature and Reason of Things, cannot be the Case in a State of Probation; in which God tries, or proves, his Creatures, that He may know, (that is, that it may be known, that it may plainly appear), what is in their Hearts, and how they will act.

And if this cannot be the Case, what Constitution of Things would you expect, or require, to answer this purpose, but such an one as we actually find in fact? In which, Things are so contrived, Good and Evil, natural and moral, are so mixed and adjusted, that Men are by no means necessitated to chuse either the one, or the other; but are left to such a free Exercise of their Liberty, in the Determination of their Elections, as renders them strictly of moral Consideration. A State of Happiness, or Misery, immutable and final, is fairly proposed to them; that is, they really have their Choice of them; not immediately and absolutely, without any Conditions, but as depending on the Choice how they will lead their Lives. It is too little to say, that in forming this most important Election they are intirely free; they are,

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moreover, excited to form it right, by all the Motives and Arguments which can influence the Hearts of reasonable Creatures. No Expedient, one may say, has been left unattempted, but all Engines have been set to work, to induce them to chuse that good Part, which shall not be taken away from them.1 It is on this footing that the Scriptures always represent Men's Destruction, as proceeding from themselves. They sow to themselves in Wickedness, and they reap the Fruit of their own Elections. How can this be prevented? They must not be deprived of this elective Power, and render'd incapable of either Virtue or Vice. And the Nature of things cannot be so destroy'd, or confounded, as to hinder the Consequences from taking place, or to make them reap what they did not sow. I add farther, that

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The Misery which they thus bring upon themselves, so far from supposing God to delight in Cruelty and Barbarity, (the most savage Cruelty and Barbarity possible), is inflicted by Him, or rather is executed in the natural Consequences of things, without any Emotions of Anger, Rage, or Fury; but as the Effect of Justice, and Wisdom, and Goodness itself; and therefore fixes no Imputation of Cruelty, Injustice, or Tyranny upon God. The Punishments are, in no sense or degree, the Effects of Malice, Revenge, or a tyrannical Humour, or of any Passions whatsoever; (none of which are in God;) so that there is no reason to suspect that they will be excessive or unjust, or beyond what Reason and Truth require. The LetterWriter, whom I mentioned before, insists upon this Principle, and thinks it of advantage to his Cause. 1 Luke x. 42. 2 Mr. W. p. 137.

"If Divine Justice, he says,1 is not really attended, "either with Hatred, Fury, or Revenge, but is inseparable from infinite Goodness; can we conceive "it will condemn Millions of Creatures, form'd after "God's Image, to dreadful and never-ending Misery; "and even doom them to the Hatred of God, to Rage, "to Despair, and Blasphemy for all Eternity?" This Writer should have consider'd, that Divine Justice, which is inseparable from infinite Goodness, and which he compares to a perfectly equal Balance, which inclines to one side only by the Force of the Weight put into one Scale, being, on the Supposition, entirely free from all Passion, could condemn them, at first,2 to nothing but what was just and right: And as there was nothing done in the first Allotment of their State but what was just and right, Justice can see no reason to alter it, any more than the Balance can alter its Determination, while the Weight continues as it did before.

1 Letter I. What he here says about Millions of Creatures, is agreeable to his constant manner of representing the Case. The Miserable are always with him Myriads, and the like; in comparison of whom the Blessed in Heaven are but a Handful of Men, a small Number of the Elect: In which Representation there is no sense.

2 The Judge of the World will say to the Wicked at the last Day, Depart from me, ye Cursed, into everlasting Fire, &c. And they shall go away into everlasting Punishment. We agree that neither this Sentence, nor the Execution of it, is the Effect of Passion. Can this be of any advantage to his Cause? Can there be any reason to reverse a Sentence, pronounced so righteously? Or to put a stop to the Execution of what is awarded by pure Justice, and Truth itself, without the Mixture of any Passion, or wrong Biass whatsoever? The only way by which any Release, or Relief, can come, must be by their Amendment; which I have said something to already, and must consider more minutely in the next Chapter, when I come to examine this Author's System of the Restoration.

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