bility, he will return to his former course or worse; and often it is, that such are not cured till they make their exit on a gallows. Has Mr. H. or any one else ever witnessed this natural, necessary and certain fruit of punishment in the reformation of any considerable number of individuals that have suffered? If not, why should it be asserted? The contrary is witnessed by every one that observes. And what evidence have we that death will answer the purpose of atonement and reformation? Our author indeed

asserts it, and so probably do others; but mere assertions will hardly amount to evidence. If death will atone for past crimes, it will not for those that are future; nor have we any evidence, that it will change the heart. The subject therefore awaking in eternity with the same sinful temper of mind, will still be criminal, and consequently must still suffer; and so continue to be sinful and to suffer forever. I cannot discern any thing to the contrary of this even in Mr. H's own plan of atonement by suffering.

Let it be proved from the Scriptures, that death will change the heart, or that the sinner will be renewed after death; then we may have some hope for such as die in impenitence. But still we should have this difficulty to contend with; that the Scriptures abundantly testify, that many in the day of judgment shall appear at the left hand of the judge, and shall be condemned to everlasting fire, and shall go away into everlasting punishment. But we shall not encounter the difficulty, till the former is proved.

SECTION VII.

To the question, "What right has a man before his Maker?" Mr. H. answers, "As man is brought into being without his own choice or consent, he has a right to trust in his Maker, that he will support him, and save him eternally; and that he will punish him no more than he deserves; and that when he has received the due reward of his deeds, his Maker will show him pity, and give him eternal life by grace." -p 42.

By this statement it seems, that the sinner has a right to claim salvation notwithstanding his sinfulness, because he was brought into being without his own choice and consent; that he must, however, suffer the due reward of his deeds; and then after all his Maker will show him pity, and save him by grace!

This plan of salvation represents God as exacting more of the sinner, than the cruel system which Mr. H. and others explode with such abhorrence. For notwithstanding God is under obligation to save the transgressor because he made him, yet he punishes him in full for his sins; and after all claims an acknowledgment of grace in his salvation! But where is the grace spoken of in the sinners salvation? He has suffered all he deserved, he has a right to plead for salvation because God had made him, and of consequence in justice he ought to be saved. And what pity does it require in order to save him? Indeed God delights not in the death of the wicked;

but whether he do or not, and whether he pity the sinner or not; according to Mr. H's scheine he is under indispensable obligations to save him, or forfeit his claim to justice. O justice! O grace! O pity! what are you more than mere sounds? Does Universalism rest upon such ground as this? I am rather doubtful, whether the understanding Universalist will acknowledge it. At least I hesitate to charge him with it. And I must honestly own, that I feel some mortification in spending time to confront such glaring absurdity and weakness.

It is plain according to Mr. H. that the sinner "will receive the due reward of his deeds," and that Christ "did not die to save man from being punished as much as he deserves. A principle this which altogether supercedes the idea of forgiveness in salvation. Hence grace, mercy and forgivness, are no more. They are words without meaning. Sounds indeed, but without signification.

Again our Apologist says, p. 44, "Among all the penalties annexed to transgressions in the Jewish law, eternal misery was never once threatened." To which I reply,

1. Those laws were not spiritual, nor strictly religious; and respected time more than eternity.This community partook more of a civil polity, than of an ecclesiastical institution. The members generally were not renewed by grace, the required qualifications were worldly, and their ordinances were chiefly of a worldly nature. They had a worldly sanctuary, and carnal ordinances were imposed upon them, till the time of reformation. The promises and penalties, by which these laws were sanctioned, chiefly respected this world. Therefore, from the

nature of the Jewish laws, we are not to expect to hear much, if any thing, of eternal rewards and punishments.

2. Although the institutions of the law of Moses, related chiefly and primarily to this world; yet many of them were ordinances of divine service, and were typical of spiritual and eternal things. The high priest was a type of Christ, and many or all of the sacrifices were figurative of the sufferings and death of Christ. Hence many of the promises and threatenings directed to spiritual and future happiness or misery. As for instance, certain characters of the house of Israel were to be cut off from their people. Separated from the privileges and enjoyments of the house of God. In many cases they were to be put to death, and so separated forever In like manner, whatever may be our profession or privileges in this world, unless in heart we are believers in Christ and keep his commandments, we must finally be separated from God and all that is good. No doubt Paul alludes to this in these words: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy -1 Cor. III. 17. All the Gentiles were excluded from the blessings of the sanctuary, excepting such as submitted to be circumcised. Circumcision was a type of regeneration, without which none can enter into the kingdom of God.

3. The wretchedness of the wicked is plainly declared in the Old Testament, if not particularly in the law of Moses; and in several instances it is expressly said to be forever. "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever."Psalms XC. 7. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting

life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."Dan. XII. 2.

4. But were the punishment of the wicked never once said to be eternal in the Old Testament, there is enough in the New to prove it to be a truth, consistently with the principles of the Old.

As the heathen had not the opportunity of believing in the true God in Christ in the present world, Mr. H. asserts, "it is therefore certain according to Scripture declaration, that they had an opportunity of believing in the true God in Jesus Christ, after temporal death had passed upon them." p. 41. But how does he prove this to be " according to Scripture declaration ?" The only passage he has produced is, Lam. III. 31, 35. But how this proves the point, or has any bearing upon it, I cannot conceive.

If the reader will turn to the passage, he will perceive, that a promise is implied, that Jehovah, notwithstanding the then present distress of the Jews, would not cast off their nation forever, that he would have compassion on them, and that he did not take pleasure merely in punishing them. And for further encouragement the prophet adds, as in verses 34, 36, "To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not." This imports that as the LORD disapproveth of the oppressive conduct of their enemies towards them, so they might hope in his mercy in times yet future. Now do these encouraging things, which were addressed to the Jews in outward distress, render it" certain," that the Gentiles, who die in their sins, shall have