for the healing or falvation of the nations, and that in a vifion fubfequent to the account of the day of judgment, and the glorification of the righteous. And we are told, that the nations of them which are faved, or restored, as the word also imports, fhall walk in the light of the New Jerufalem, the descent of which is exhibited in a different vifion from that of the final judgment, to which it is fubfequent, and that the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour into it, Rev. xxi. 24. It is foretold, that all nations shall be gathered to the name of the Lord, to Jerufalem, when it fhall be called the throne of the Lord; and that all nations flow unto the mountain of the Lord's house, Jer. iii. 17. Ifa. ii. 2. Our bleffed Lord is alfo called "The Defire of all nations ;" and fhall that expreffive title be never realized? Hag. ii. 7. fhall he never be defired by them?

Are all these glorious things, and many more to the fame purpofe in the facred volume, reconcilable to the common doctrine? Are not many nations now extinct, that never heard of Chrift's name, and confequently could not be bleffed in him? But as God is the common Maker of them all, he has pledged his word that they shall come, and worship before him, and glorify his name, Pfal. Ixxxvi. 9. and he is infinitely worthy of credit. The Jewish church expreffed her faith in prayer, that Meffiah would inherit all nations: "Arife, O God, judge the earth; for thou fhalt inherit all nations," Pfal. lxxxii. 8. Can it be in hell that he will inherit the greater part of them, which must be the case, if he inherit them at all, if all the nations that forget him are to continue there throughout boundless duration? "The wicked fhall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God;" which, as nations, they have in general, or perhaps, without exception, done hitherto, Pfal. ix. 17.-As for the kindreds and families of the earth, instead of having been all bleffed in Meffiah, have not millions of them gone off the ftage of life, that received no faving grace from him, leading to call him bleffed in return? The oath of God cannot however be broken, nor will the unbelief of men make it void. After surveying so many clear teftimonies of scripture, I cannot help thinking it a piece of daring impiety, to prefume to contradict our Maker in them all, and make free to explain them in fuch a way, as to diveft them entirely of their plain and obvious meaning. Even his oath, facred as it ought to be held, does not efcape. Alas, how little honour do his profeffed children in general to his divine character! Can we know what the Lord means, in his promifes and oath, better than himself, that ws fhould dare tell him to his face, that he only intends a very few, by the univerfal term all, perhaps not at the rate of one in fo many thousands, as if he did not know the meaning of the language which he ufes, or meant to couch his real meaning under the fubterfuge, or fecret referve of an heathen oracle? If ever we expect a person to speak plainly, and without a figure, it will furely be when he is on oath; but the oath of Jehovah is not allowed to mean what it plainly expreffes. Let us treat our earthly prince in a fimilar manner, and fee if it will pass with impunity. Is there any thing in our Creator's oath that makes fuch liberty neceffary? Any thing in its full import that he cannot accomplish, or is unworthy of him to perform, that fuch pains fhould be employed to modify, reftrict, and explain away his promifes and cath?

Can it be unworthy of God, the father of all, or unbecoming his paternal character, to relieve his guilty miferable creatures at length, however obftinate and rebellious, from guilt and mifery, and to restore them to holinefs and happinefs? Does this exceed his power, or the extent of his mercy, benevolence, and love, that it should feem to many fo incredible? If there will be a reftitution of all things, in the proper fenfe of that phrafe, then the common doctrine is one of the groffeft flanders on the Divine character that hell could invent and fupport. Through the force of education, fyftem, and prejudice, the mind may remain callous to fuch confiderations; for the united influence of these blinds the eyes even of the wife: But if their weight and evidence is refifted, after the attention is directed to them, it cannot be with innocence. The Lord grant us understanding in all things, and a difpofition to receive truth, from whatever quarter it comes! The farther profecution of these things I must referve to another opportunity. Wishing you much fuccefs in every fcriptural effort to promote the caufe of Chrift, I remain,

Dear Sir,

Yours cordially, &c.

LEETER III.

There was much murmuring among the people concerning him. For fome faid, he is a good man; others faid, nay, but he deceiveth the people, John vii. 4.— Away with fuch a yellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live, Acts xxii. 22.—I will have mercy and not facrifice-ye would not have condemned the guiltless, Math. xii. 7.

DEAR SIR,

TRUTH is a gem that cannot be fought with too much care, nor too highly prized when found. Though every divine truth does not occupy the fame place in the fabric of mercy, yet he that defpifes one, knowing it to be fuch, is guilty of defpifing the whole. We may be ashamed of Chrift in his truth, as well as in his perfon; and if we are, he has warned us of the consequence. To fuppofe that God has revealed fome doctrines that have little or no influence on practical holiness, and may therefore be fuppreffed, without the leaft detriment to the caufe of Christianity, would be to impeach the Divine wisdom. If the doctrine of the Reforation be admitted to be fcriptural, and that which Peter intends by the reltitution of all things, its vaft importance, and broad bafis, in the fcheme of revealed religion, may be inferred from G's having (poken it by the mouth of his holy prophets fince the world began.-In my laft, I have pointed out fome things, which, in my opinion, must be done before the doctrine of the Reftoration can be overturned. To fay the leaft of them, they cer-` tainly deferve a cool examination; and the Chriftian who acts wifely, will not rashly reject or condemn the doctrine which appears to be fo fupported, left he fhould be found to refift or condemn the Holy Spain fpeaking in his word. would beg leave to direct your attention, and that of the reader, to fome other

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things which appear to me confonant to the word of God, yet quite irreconcilable to the common doctrine of the eternal prevalance of fin and mifery over the great bulk of mankind.

We are taught, by repfectable authority, to believe, that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever; and this appears agreeable both to reafon and Scripture. This is generally explained to intend the great and chief end of his creation, prefervation, and redemption. The proof of this is feldom called in queftion. Can the Moft High be disappointed, in whole or in part, in his chief or fole end, in giving existence to his creatures? Whatever obftacles may intervene to the accomplishment of this great end, to fuppofe or affert that it thall never be attained, would be to tax the Divine wisdom as deficient in planing, or the Divine power in executing, or the Divine will as intending, at one time, what was relinquished at apother. Is it confiftent with the notion of an all-perfect being, to fail in all, or in any of these refpects? If he intended his own glory, and their happiness, in giving being to the race of man, will he recede from his purpose, or accomplish it only in part? But fay that this was his end with respect to the elect only, that he never intended any else should® glorify and enjoy him, but the reverse, and that all the revenue which he ever meant to reap from the reft, is the glory of his juftice. If this be, realy the case, the wicked anfwer the end of their creation as effectually, when they go on in fin, tranfgrefs God's laws, and work out their own damnation, as the righteous when they ferve and enjoy him. But to fuppofe this is blafphemous, though a neceffary confequence of the common doctrine. If it was chiefly for the glory of his juftice God ordained the existence of all, except the elect, then he will be eternally disappointed, while injured juftice always feeks fatisfaction, by demanding the eternal mifery of the wicked; for, could they render that fatisfaction, within any given period, they could demand their release on the footing of justice itself. God's end in giving being is uniform and worthy of himself, as the Father of all; and that end fhall be finally answered, let men and devils oppofe it as they will; for his purpose that shall ftand, and he will do all his pleasure. We may, therefore, indulge the pleasing hope, that man shall yet attain his chief end, in glorifying and enjoying that God who has given him ex iftence, and fent his Son from heaven to redeem, feek, and fave him.

Let those who deny the Reftoration prove, that the predictions which refpect the happy reftoration of Sodom, and other cities and nations, which have been deftroyed for their fins, however explicit, fhall never be verified in the fenfe an unprejudiced reader would expect, and the only fenfe in which fome of them can be fulfilled. "When I shall bring again their captivity, "the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midft of them. When thy filters, Sodom and her daughters, fhall return to their former eftate, and Samaria and her daughters fhall return to their former eftate, then thou and thy daughters fhall return to your former eftate,” Ezek. xvi. 53. 55. plainly intimating, that the people who had been deftroyed in Sodom and the neighbour

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34 ing cities, and the idolatrous Jews of the ten tribes, denoted by Samania, would be delivered before the wicked of the tribe of Judah. We fee in the 54th verse the nature of the change to be wrought upon them; "That thou mayet bear thine own fhame, and mayeft be confounded in all that thou haft done." Not one of the people of Sodom and her three daughter cities efcaped in the general overthrow, for Lot was none of them. Their captivity then must respect their ftate in the world of fpirits, particularly after the day of judgment, when it fhall be more tolerable for them than for the wicked Jews. The bringing again the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and their return to their former eftate, which the Lord promifes fhall take place, can be accounted for upon no other fyftem but that of the Restoration. Onr Lord feems to have this prophesy in his eye, Math. xi. 24.-Let them also prove,

That Chrift did not die for the fins of the whole world, and tafte death for every men, but only that comparatively fmall number, the elect. "He is the propitiation for our fins; and not for ours only, but alfo for the fins of the whole world," 1 John ii, 2. "But we fee Jefus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the fufferings of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he, by the grace of God, fhould tafte death for every man," Heb. ii. 9. Peter afferts that Chrift bought fome that denied him, and brought on them. felves swift deftruction; and Paul fuppofes a brother may be deftroyed for whom Chrift died, 2 Pet. ii. 1. Rom. xiv. 15. This is a plain proof that Chrift died for more than his elect, none of whom can be supposed to perish, even for fome who were fubjected to the second death. The laying down his life for them was a voluntary act, and we are told that he wills the falvation of all men; and will his power never be exerted to recover what he has bought, and wills to be recovered? Purchase gives the right of property; but that the Lord should abandon fo much of his property to all eternity, to his greatest enemy, agrees neither with his character nor with his word. Does not the whole world, as dif. tinguished from the elect, include all mankind: John affures us, that, befides the fins of the church of the first born, our Lord is the propitiation for the fins of the whole world, which muft intend intelligent beings, as none elfe can fin. But rather than give up an iota of their fyftem, many will pervert the plaineft texts of Scripture; and if they perfift, in the face of evidence, it will be to their own deftruction.-It must be proved,

That our Lord's birth fhall never prove the futje of good tidings of great joy to all people, whatever the angels might have faid or fung to the contrary; that many a people, and indeed all people, a few felect individuals excepted, fhall know him only by the terrors of his juftice, and the punishment of everJefting deftruction from his prefence, and from the glory of his power. So fays the received creeds; and if true, Meffiah's birth fhall never be the subject of good tidings of great joy to all people. "And the angel faid unto them, fear not; for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which fhall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Chrift the Lord," Luke ii. 10, 11. With the at gel agreed the multitude of the heavenly hofts, who connected with the birth of Chrift peace on earth, and

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good will to men, even to all people, as the angel expreffes it, or to all mankind. Surely that hoft did not exceed their commiffion; and is not their declaration as worthy of credit as that of any modern church-men, or their abettors-Is there any thing in the word, character, or conduct of the Moft High towards his creatures, that can justify our afferting, as a matter of faith not to be called in que tion, that he is the only wife and worthy father in the univerfe, who fhall punish his children with vindictive, and not corrective ftripes, or without the leaft regard to their good; and that his government is probably the only one that ever did, or shall exift, to the honour and ftability of which endless and unremitted punishment is neceffary? Does not the very idea caft a moft unmerited refle&ion on the Divine character, and degrade it below that of fallible man, who can make his administration refpected even by limited punishments, the only punishments indeed in his power? But many argue the neceffity of endlefs mifery, from confiderations drawn from the tranfcendant majefty of God, and the infinite dignity of his government; but if the word of God is allowed to determine the point, they either know not in what these confift, or quite misplace them. All this is pleaded by many zealots for the common doctrine, fome of whom indulge their vein of railery on the doctrine of limited punishment, alleging that there is no need of holiness, if that holds true, that men may at pleasure indulge in every fin. But thofe who can talk at that rate are no Chriftians; nay, they are Athiefts at bottom, let them profefs what they will; for that God whose wrath is not worth dreading, if it be not eternal, is an idol of their own framing, and not the Creator of heaven and earth. A few feconds of his earthquake, as of late, will make thefe men of might to tremble, notwithstanding all their fneers at the terrors of almighty wrath, that may be protra&ed, perhaps, for a thoufand ages. Thefe very men would deprecate the punishment of one hour in the pillory, and yet they can laugh at the mifery God has threatened to inflict, unless he perpetuate it without end. This is reprefenting their Maker as ten thousand times lefs worthy of dread than a fellow mortal; and yet fuch men have the prefumption or the wickedness to think themselves good Chriftians, and that they are doing God excellent fervice by fuch profanity, or daring impiety. If nought but the fear of hell will make fome men dread their Maker, they and their religion are yet of their father the devil; and if that mercy they defpife prevent not, will be doomed, with all their religion, to dwell with him in utter darkness. As foon fhall all the demons of darkness afcend to heaven as fuch characters, with fuch views and fentiments; for the devils believe and trembe. The Lord loves not the fear or fervice of flaves. We read, "and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness that I procure?“ And fhall fear the Lord and his goodnefs in the latter days," Jer. xxxiii. 9. Hof. iii. 5. David fays, "But there is forgivennefs with thee, that thou mayeft be feared," Pfalm cxxx. 4. How very different his fentiments from our modern wife men of Gotham, who preach an oppofite doctrine, that the more forgivennefs and mercy there is with God, the more he is to be defpifed. They that know his name or character, which to know is eternal life, will put their truft in him, and be more concerned to be delivered from all their iniquities than from hell itfelf. But many, by their mode of fpeaking, foam out their own fhame, and