which nothing parallel hath yet taken place, or will, we have reason to think, before the laft judgment, shall never be realized under the Meffiah's reign.

We

We may reft affured, that the Spirit of God never employs an ill-chofen fimile or metaphor, or one that naturally conveys an idea contrary to the truth meant to be inculcated. That paffage in the 75th Pfalmi 8th verfe, has, therefore, ftruck me, as fubverfive of the endless duration of future mifery. " In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the fame; but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth fhall wring them cut, and drink them." I find the verse thus rendered in Bishop Have's Latin verfion, which does more juftice to the original." In Jehovah's hand there is a cup, and the wine is new, or ftrong; he mixed it full ;" that is, filled it up by infufing intoxicating ingredients, "and poured out of it; and the dregs thereof fhall be preffed out, all the ungodly of the earth fhall drink them." The difficulty to me here is, how the wicked can be faid to drink out the dregs of that cup, and yet continue to drink it to all eternity, without exhaufting it in the leaft, or being able to come at the dregs? Yet this muft be the cafe if the common doctrine be true.

Our verfion makes all the wicked wring out the dregs of the cup of wrath, as well as drink them, but it is more natural, as in the Bishop's verfion, where the first verb is in the paffive voice, wrung or preffed out. The connection directs to God as the agent, and the action of wringing, fqueezing, or preffing out juice that might remain in the dregs, is to be ascribed to the hand that holds the cup. The threatening that all the remains of the bitter intoxicating liquor fhall be preffed out of the thick fediment or dregs, and that all the wicked of the earth fhall be obliged to drink them up, as well as the rest of the contents of the cup, indicates the certainty, and the terrible nature of future punishment. But I appeal to any one, if this does not alfo plainly and neceffarily convey the idea of exhaufted mifery; what can never take place upon the common fyftem; and will any presume to say, that God employs a figure which conveys a truth he did not intend, or contradicts any truth elsewhere revealed? We come beft at the knowledge of the truth, by confidering fpiritual things with fpiritual, fcripture with feripture. The fame expreffive figures are applied to the church, which will be granted to intend paternal correction, though fevere, but not unceafing mifery. "O Jerufalem, which has drunk of the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: thou haft drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out," "Ifa. li. 17. Here is the idea of exhaufted misery, and therefore it is added, "Thus faith the Lord, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury ; thou shalt no more drink it again," ver. 22. Let the word of truth speak for itself, and be its own interpreter, and let men be filent before it,

Which of the two fchemes does most honour to divine truth, and its Author, that which fets the fcripture at variance with itfelf, or that which reconciles and harmonizes the whole, a few miftranflated and equivocal terms and phrases excepted? Is it a crime to attempt to harmonize it, by the aid of the word of truth itfelf, the light of fober reason, and the dictates of common fense? And

can the man who makes the attempt deserve for so doing the execration of mankind, efpecially of profeffors?

So fuperabundant is the evidence upon this important fubject, that I find it difficult to make fuch a felection from the proofs that prefeat themselves to my mind, as not to extend this correfpondence beyond due bounds. I can scarce open my bible but fome ftricking paffage or other in proof of the restoration prefents itself to my view. Reading the 14th of Ifaiah lately, this thought was forcibly fuggefted, by this clause in the 17th verfe, "that opened not the house of his prifoners," or, as the margin more fignificantly reads it, did not let his prifoners loofe homeward. Will God realize, under his own benign administration, the very thing he reprobated in the king of Babylon, as one of the blackest traits in his character, as a type or figure of Satan, the great adversary of the human race, and makes the furrounding heathen nations reprobate as a conduct abhorent to the very light of nature? I felt am impulfe to fay, God forbidthat be far from thee, whofe adminiftration cannot be compared to that of the proud Chaldean monarch! But thofe whom he kept in confinement to the day of their death were not his children, they would be chiefly prifoners of war, or prices like Zedek ih, who violated their oath of allegiance to him; but the popular fyftem makes God treat his own creatures, who are his offspring, in this manner, and far worse, not only confining them as long as he exists, but alfo tormenting them with the moft excruciating tortures in foul and body, and giving them fresh vigour at certain intervals only to make them trong to fuffer. Little is God indebted to the bulk of Chriftians for the character they have given him; and little is Chriftianity obliged to their general fchemes of thealogy, which have fo often fet the world on fire. I must be excused if I fhould not thus join with them in disgracing the throne of my Father's glory, and allowed to give him cordial thanks for having happily delivered me from the wormwood and the gall of fuch a system, and, I truft, raised me for "the de fence of the glorious gospel of the bleffed God," as at first delivered to the faints.

The common doctrine reprefents hufbands and parents rejoicing at the laft day over the damnation of their unconverted wives and children, and fo of every other relation. It alfo makes the whole church of the redeemed fhout with triumph, while they behold the fmoke of the torment of the wicked afcending up for ever and ever, or, as in the original, for the age of ages. It makes the perfection of all their graces to be confiftent with the total extinction of the moft noble feelings of the human heart, and with disobedience to the plainest precepts of the gospel, as if Chrift's commands would be totally fuperceded in heaven. "Thou shalt love thine enemy" is his command, and it fhall never be reversed. We should love like God our Father in heaven, who diftinguiffe, betwixt what his offspring are as the creatures of his power, and what they have made themselves by fin. Love never leads to rejoice in the mifery of its object, but rather to commiferate. Some of the greatest of our divines, as they are called, are very exprefs in maintaining the above view of things, and it is necessary to the confiftency of their fyftem, though diametrically contrary to the nature of God, to the native operation of the graces of his Spirit in the renewed heart, and to the example of all the precepts of Christ.

93

It may therefore be viewed, and the doctrine that makes it neceffary, as a device of Satan, and a part of the smoke of the bottomlefs pit, by which the church has been fo long, and fo extenfively obfcured. I recollect that when a boy, though then taught to receive with reverence whatever the priest and the schoolmen say, that the above view of things would not go down at all, but excited a kind of horror. My heart revolted at the thought, that my own parents might yet perform that cruel office over me, or I over them, while doomed to endless But the doctrine of the reftoration reconciles all this, and makes it perfectly in character in the church of the Redeemed, to rejoice and give praise at the most terrible of God's works, because neceffary, as a mean to bring about the most glorious and memorable of all ends the reftitution of all things, or their delivery from vanity and the bondage of corruption, to the glorious liberty of the fons of God.

Wo.

We are told by John, that the Lord has created all things, and that for his pleasure they are and were created; and this is affigned as the reason why he is warthy to receive glory, and honour, and power, Rev. iv. 11. If all things were created for his pleasure, and if this also be the great end of their continued prefervation, as the apoftle tells us it is, can this end be answered, in the whole, I would ask, should the far greater part of his intelligent creatures eternally lie under the dominion of fin and mifery? It would be little short of blafphemy to infinuate, that he can mifcarry in the end he had in view, in giving and conti nuing existence: but the advocates of the popular doctrine muft grant, either that this end fhall not be fecured in the damned, or that God will take pleasure in their continued exiftence in à ftate of torment. This he difclaims even with "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? faith the Lord God:-As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked," Ezek.

an oath.

xviii. 23,-33.

Would the church pray, as she does in the lxxxiii. pfalm, that the punishment of the wicked perfecutors in the next world might be over-ruted of God as a mean of bringing them to feek his face, and to own that he is the Moft High over all the earth, if their deplorable case admit not of the leaft relief to all eternity? Does the Spirit infpire prayers that contradi& the truth of the word, and fo cannot be answered?Did the kings of the earth pay voluntary homage and tribute to Solomon, and seek to him for his wisdom, as an eminent type of Meffiah, especially in the ftate of the New Jerufalem reft, of which his peaceful reign was a figure, and fhall he receive nothing but forced homage from them, either then, or at any prior period? Will the antitype come far fhort of the type?

Did Jofeph, as a remarkable type of the great Mediator, fave not only his own brethren, who were typical of the church of the first-born, from the effects of the great famine, but also all the Egyptians, and many of the furrounding heathen, both of whom were a figure of the reft of the world; and fhall Jefus never give a crumb of the bread of life to any but his own ligitimated brethren the elect? Thefe in general count all the reft dogs; but what fhall they say, fhould Chrift yet put in their mouths the words of the Syrophenician woman, "Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's ta

ble?" Such dogs have often brought more honour to our Lord than the profeled children of the family *.

Was the head of the Dragon and Leviathan, Pharaoh, so broken in the Red Sea, that he there loft his life, and his dominion over his subjects, never more to recover the latter; and fhall Satan for ever retain his power over all his subjects, who shall be overwhelmed with him in the lake of fire? though it be admitted that the Egyptian tyrant was a ftriking type of the head of the infernal legions, that Leviathan who beholdeth all high things, and is king over all the children of pride, Job xli. 3, 4.

Shall the little leaven of the gospel never leaven the whole lump or mafs of human nature ;-the leaven hid in three measures of meal, never leaven the whole?—I cannot recolle any portion of Scripture where the elect are called the nations, they being represented as chofen from among the nations, and redeemed from the earth. And yet the leaves of the tree of life are said to be for the healing of the na-ions, and its fruit for their food, and that at a period when the elect fhall be completely faved. The wiping away tears from off all faces, and all eyes, &c. by him who fhall fill the throne in the New Jerufalem, is faid to be future to the defcent of that city, as the tabernacle of God that shall dwell with men, and by means of which he fhall dwell among them, Rev. xxi. and xxii. 2. Let the advocates for the unceasing reign of mifery, weeping, crying, and death, tell us, what rations fhall then need healing, who they are that shall be found then shedding tears, forrowing, crying, and in pain; who they are in whom the old things fhall not have paffed away before that period, and what death it is that fhall then exift, but which, along with the other things mentioned, fhall then be deftroyed to exist no more. If you examine the defcription given of the millenial Jerufalem, by the prophet Ezekiel, and compare it with the account given by John of this glorious city, you will fee fufficient reason to convince you, that they mean not one and the fame ftate of the church. That the Aate of glory in the higbeft heavens is not intended, as many have thought, is evident from the defcent of the city from God out of heaven, and from the grand object of that defcent, God's dwelling with men, the healing of the na tions, and the copious effufion of divine influences, compared to a river of the water of life, the rainbow about the throne, the gates open continually, the wiping away teara, &c. all denoting the nature of the faving work to be then performed. That the New Teftament church at large is not intended, as some have thought, who do not know what to make of this concluding vifion, might be argued from a number of things in the description, could I tarry to examine them. Let one fuffice. In the ordinary state of the church, one door only is faid to be

viour of the world."

Some have jufter views of the nature and extent of our Lord's mediation, than others who are reputed much more pious and orthodox, and enjoy greater advantages. The people of Samaria difcovered a much more noble spirit towards our Lord than his own people the Jews. One of them faid, "I know that Meffias cometh, who is called Chrift; when he is come he will tell us all things," John iv. 25. And others, "We know that this is the Chrift, the SaWhen his own people, the feed of Abraham, rejected his instructions, de nied his divine miffion, and would not admit that their Meffiah was to be the faviour of the Gentiles, as Chriftians now will not bear he fhould ever reflors the wretched qutcafts of the land of Nod, who are marked with Cain's doom. In this respect the very beft of the Jews erred, and hence were greater enemies to the truth of the gospel than the poor Samaritans. Similar hings take place ftill.

fet

open

for finners; Behold I have set before thee an open door." But this city is faid to have twelve gates open continually, intimating the vaft refort unto it, as far exceeding any thing that took place before, as twelve glorious gates exceed one door. Thus we are conftrained to feek the period of the New Jerufalem, the reft that remaiaeth for the people of God, in fome glorious state beyond the difmal age of punishment in the lake of fire, to relieve from which feems to be the grand end of its defcent, and continuance fo long with men. This age will exceed all that fhall go before it, in glory and duration, as far as the Jubilee exceeded all the rest of the Mofaic feftivals. This is the for ever and ever, or age of ages, during which the faints are to reign with Chrift as kinga and priests; for they cannot be supposed to reign with him after his own mediatory reign is fwallowed up in the Father's reign of absolute love.

"I thought to have difcuffed what I intended on this fubject with this letter, but find I cannot. Before I conclude it, permit me to fuggeft a thought which lately occurred to my mind, when mufing on a paffage of fcripture, and gave no small pleasure. The thought is connected with the preceding remarks.—For what purpofe is the church of the firft-born reprefented in the very laft vifion in the book of the Revelation as coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, Rev. xxi. 2. At a much earlier period the marriage of the Lamb is faid to have come, and his wife to have made herself ready; and at the 9th verse one of the feven angels, who had the seven vials full of the feven laft plagues, invites John, faying, "Come hither, I will fhew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." I was indebted to the doctrine of the restoration for a folution, when I could find none upon the common fyftem. If the new earth, fo very different from the old, that righteonfuefs fhall dwell in it as its native and perpetual feat, is to be then peopled with the second-born, the prodigals that have fo long been wretched and beside themselves in the far country, and by means of the firft-born, who are now made kings and priefts to God, then the bleffing pronounced by Jehovah upon Adam in his ftate of innocence, who was a type of Meffiah, and upon Eve, who typified the church taken from his fide, to which she is to be yet reftored, will justly apply : "God created man in his own image, male and female created he them. And God bleffed them, and God faid unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenith the earth, and fubdue it and have dominion over the fish of the fea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," Gen. i. 27, 28. According to the doctrine of the reftoration, the church of the Redeemed will then receive a fimilar commiffion and bleffing, with regard to thofe who are to replenish the new earth, in begetting whom to God, as pricfts, by the gospel, and in forming them for his glory, as kings, they are fuppofed to be inftrumen tal. Then, and not till then, will that prophecy of Daniel be fulfilled; "But the faints of the Moft High fhall take the kingdom, and poffefs the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever and the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven Chall be given to the people of the faints of the Mott High, whofe kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and all dominions fhall ferve and obey him," or all rulers, as on the margin, Dan. vii. 18.-27. The phrafes here ufed evidently fhew, that the dominion inteud