will towards man," yet makes itself heard above the uproar of the violent, and the cries of the oppressed. Christ "died for all' "the grace of God, which bringeth salvation" has covered the lands as with a flood of blessedness. Must not all then be saved? Must not all come to the inheritance which is their own by right of the purchase money laid down by him who suffered in their stead? God forbid! When

the book of judgment is closed, and every living soul passes to its eternal abode, shall the thief, the extortioner, the unchaste, the drunkard, the murderer, press forward to seat themselves with martyrs, with the sanctified, on the right hand of God's throne? Who then shall be cast into the lake of fire? where is judgment? Surely if any thing can deepen the guilt of these and similar iniquities, it is the fact that they have been committed under a knowledge, or the means of knowing, the Gospel of Jesus Christ; for "that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." These

a Luke, xii. 47.

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wretched sinners, therefore, are abandoned, by the consenting voices of scripture and of nature, to his eternal home whom they chose to serve; nor can they themselves utter one word against the verdict. Happily, it will be said, the number of such enormous offenders in a Christian country is small, compared with the thousands who abstain from gross sins and live for the most part in a harmless and reputable manner. Would it were much smaller! But when, on the one hand, we see the lives of these more approved and more hopeful Christians, (approved of by the world at large, and by no means either desponding or boldly regardless of their future condition;) and on the other, consider the expressions invariably made use of by our Lord and his apostles, when speaking of those who should be heirs of eternal life; I see no remedy, but that we must either throw aside reason, judgment, and common sense, altogether, or come straight to the conclusion that, however much a life of tolerable morality and propriety may be commended when compared with theirs who set religion, decency, and law, at defiance; still it is not

to reward some and to punish others, without any regard to their respective merits, is injustice; but the scriptures take pains (if we may so express it) to set forth the justice of God; all which pains are utterly useless, and the expressions made use of utterly unintelligible, if justice in God is a thing altogether different from justice in man. If, at the end of all things, it is seen that some were predestined to happiness, and some to misery, I doubt not but that the reasons for such a mode of proceeding will be perfectly agreeable to our present notions of equity. Yes! all, whom God hath made, all with whom he deals, he regards as one man; nor can any reason be assigned for his giving a preference to one of his creatures above another, except the difference in their disposition and conduct towards himself. As the Bible therefore distinctly states that he loves all alike, we should not presume to suppose that any are by the divine will excluded from heaven until they have by their own fault forfeited their part in the redemption by Christ Jesus. Here, then, we find the

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ing with fire and brimstone-" many shall seek to enter in," shall cry "Lord open

unto us," but hear only the stern unyielding answer, " begone from me, I know you not."-This being taken for an undoubted truth, it remains for us to enquire why it will be thus: if "Christ died for all," why should any perish? any perish? It cannot be because

the Lord acts towards his creatures with partiality; regarding one with love and another with ill will, without taking into consideration the works of either: at least it cannot be so, if we are to take in their only usual acceptation those expressions of holy writ which describe God's dealings with his creatures.-They declare that his ways to man are, after the manner of human judgments, not unequal-they challenge men to prove them otherwise than equal by their own way of thinking and acting. They assert repeatedly and clearly that the Lord "willeth not the death of a sinner" that there is with him no respect of persons, but that all are desired to come to repentance: add to which well-known passages this simple argument—with men,

to reward some and to punish others, without any regard to their respective merits, is injustice; but the scriptures take pains (if we may so express it) to set forth the justice of God; all which pains are utterly useless, and the expressions made use of utterly unintelligible, if justice in God is a thing altogether different from justice in man. If, at the end of all things, it is seen that some were predestined to happiness, and some to misery, I doubt not but that the reasons for such a mode of proceeding will be perfectly agreeable to our present notions of equity. Yes! all, whom God hath made, all with whom he deals, he regards as one man; nor can any reason be assigned for his giving a preference to one of his creatures above another, except the difference in their disposition and conduct towards himself. As the Bible therefore distinctly states that he loves all alike, we should not presume to suppose that any are by the divine will excluded from heaven until they have by their own fault forfeited their part in the redemption by Christ Jesus. Here, then, we find the

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