Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

muft apply in the inflant of death. We have an example to il. luftrate it, in Numb. xvi. The next day after the awful deftruc tion of Korah and his company, in confequence of the people's beginning again to murmur, wrath went out from the LORD, and the plague began among them. And no fooner could Aaron take a cenfer, put fire therein from off the altar, put on incenfe, and run quickly into the midft of the congregation, than there died of the plague, fourteen thousand and leven hundred. And Aaron ftood between the dead and the living, and the plague was ftay'ed.' Hundreds, if not thousands, were then refcued from death, as fuddenly as one thought follows another. We have other ex. amples of this fort in the bible. But a broken and contrite heart is the facrifice or incenfe, on the part of the finner: That which lays hold of the infinite righteoufnefs of Chrift, and ref. cues the finner from death, in the fame fudden manner. How is it poffible, therefore, for men to die with holinefs of heart, un. der the circumftances above ftated? If God lifts up his hand, if he is, this inftant, about to give the ftroke, fo as to feparate foul and body afunder, and the finner's heart yields to the terms, on which his life is promifed to be prolonged, will not God flay his hand? Has he not promifed to do it, and has he not illuftrated his promife?

Granting therefore, as Dr. H. zealously pleads, all men do become broken hearted before soul and body are difunited, and it is impoffible this conditional threatening of death ever should be executed. Dr. H's fcheme therefore ftands oppofed to the providence of God. Yea, it is a moft daring impeachment of divine providence. For more than four thousand years did God.. threaten individuals, cities, nations, and kingdoms, with an un-, timely judicial death; giving them, at the fame time, a space of repentance; promifing them, if they repented, that inftant he would repent of the evil he thought to do unto them. The will of God, during this long feafon, was publickly made known, throughout all the earth. As God has executed his threatenings of this kind again and again, and from one age to another his cup of indignation gone round among all nations; this fentiment of Dr. H's does verily charge God with a violation of his promife, and that he has continued fo long in the violation of it; cutting off thofe who repent and turn at his reproof; deftroying thofe who become righteous, in the fame manner as though they per fevered in unrighteoufnels.

When men die an untimely death, by the fword, famine, pestilence, or any other way, and they have had no exprefs warning

from

from God that they fhould thus die, except they repented; in all fuch cafes we cannot conclude, from the circumftances of their death, whether they die with regenerated hearts or not. Men may alfo commit high treafon, murder, &c. which crimes always merit death, without any conditions of pardon; but as they may improve their fhort space of repentance, relative to their future life, they may of courfe die heirs of eternal life. But if a murderer, who was under fentence of death by the authority of man, fhould have the offer of pardon on condition of repentance, and we should afterwards hear that this murderer was executed; we fhould nat. urally conclude that he died without repentance, that he went into eternity with murder in his heart. How much higher evidence have we when God threatens, and at the fame time offers pardon: God who is infinitely faithful to his promises, who alone has the fupreme power of life and death, who knows the hearts of men, and in this cafe deals with men, even in this world, according to the feelings of their hearts: how much higher evidence have we to conclude, therefore, that thofe, who thus die by the execution of divine threatenings, have died without repentance? have gone into eternity with all their crimes ftill in their hearts, which God has charged upon them? God has no • pleasure in the death,' the untimely death, of the wicked; but that the wicked would turn from his way and live.'* God in ancient time fuited all his threatenings of this kind, in the beft manner, to excite the wicked to turn to him and live-prolong their temporal lives. When the wicked, who were thus threat ened, had turned to the LORD, although they were then upon the brink of eternity, as near to eternity as one thought is to anoth er; there was the fame reason they fhould be called back from eternity, as in any period of their lives, their days fhould ftill be prolonged. Becaufe, when the wicked had turned to the LORD, his threatenings had then answered their natural import. This fentiment, that all men do die with penitent hearts, muft of course be given up. Which is giving up our author's whole fcheme. But if we do not give it up, we must be found fighting against the cleareft light of divine providence. A work fo daring, as is fcarcely to be expected from the mofi ftupid and ignorant among the heathen.

5. All the awful threatenings, in the word of God, and which the Doctor cails awful threatenings of vengeance, of deftruction, and of death, to the wicked; on his plan, thefe are converted into the most endearing promises of grace and falvation. Thus, when God threatened to deftroy the inhabitants of the old world, by a

• Ezek. 33. 11.

deluge,

deluge, and fixed the time of the expiration of an hundred and twenty years, this was, indeed, a moft gracious promife, that then he would bring them all to repentance and take them to heaven. Allo, in Dr. H's language, when that most furprising meffage of destruction by fire and brimftone, came to Sodom and Gomorrah, it was truly a general proclamation of grace and falvation. And when the angels fet themselves to execute the vengeance of eter nal fire' upon the inhabitants of these cities, their grand object muft have been to deliver them from the damnable power of 'impenitence,' and take them all immediately to heaven; excepting righteous Lot and his two daughters. Divine truth informs us the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was great', or it reached up to heaven. Dr. H. appears and fays, heaven heard their blaf phemous cry, and fent and took them all up to the everlasting kingdom of glory! If the reader will pleafe to turn to Gen. iii. 5. he will find language exactly correfponding with the Doctor's: And the ferpent faid unto the woman, ye fhall not furely die'.

6. In Dr. H's fcheme, the day of death is eminently the day of grace, and the day of the out pouring of God's Spirit. When death comes, and fo affuredly as death comes to every individual mortal, the fan&tifying operations of the Holy Ghoft come with it. This is the doctrine of univerfalism. And when any noted feafon in which death has been fpread through the land, or through the world, there was then a fpecial out-pouring of the divine fpirit into the hearts of men. But we read in Gen. vi. 3. And the LORD faid, my spirit fhall not always ftrive with man, for that 'he alfo is flefh: yet his days fhall be an hundred and twenty years.' According to the tenour of fcripture, God here warns the inhabitants of the old world, if they perfevered in their wickedness, at the expiration of an hundred and twenty years, his fpirit fhould no longer ftrive with them; they fhould be wholly given up to their own vile affections, and deftroyed in their own corruption. Had Dr. H. been there, he would have faid, this was a most gracious promife; and although they perfevered and increafed in wickednefs, to ever fo high a degree, the holy fpirit would 'not be grieved with them, but would, at the end of the above 'period, eminently strive with every creature, even to the fanctification of every heart.' And when it was faid of the Canaanites, as in Jofh. xi. 20. It was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they fhould come againft Ifrael in battle, that he might de ftroy them utterly;' Dr. H. would fay, 'It was of the LORD to fend his holy fpirit into their hearts, to fave them wholly, or to take every one of them to heaven.' And when Jofhua made

H

that..

that general flaughter among the Canaanites, Dr. H. would fay that Jofhua was thereby inftrumental of the univerfal out-pouring of God's fpirit among them; and that God hardened their hearts and brought them against Joshua for this end.

7. Dr. H. cannot be in the least doubt, he must certainly know when to rejoice over repenting finners. When the abandoned failor whofe head is taken off with a cannon ball, with an horrid ' oath in his mouth;' when Dr. H. is certain this abandoned creature is dead, he is then certain that he has become a true penitent, and is prepared to rejoice over him on this account. The Doctor afks the queftion, who dare fay of this character when he is dead, I am certain that man shall burn forever in hell ?'* But he is certain that man' is then become a true penitent, and gone to heaven. He is as certain finners are become true peni. tents as he is certain they are dead. Or he is as certain when finners are dead, they have repented and gone to heaven, as he is of the truth of divine revelation. Therefore, he can have not the leaft hefitation when to rejoice over repenting finners, but he has the fame certainty of the time when as the angels in heaven; and that is when finners go down to the dead. Jeremiah fays, Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a foun⚫tain of tears, that I might weep day and night fo, the flain of the daughter of my people.' But when fuch vaft multitudes, are brought to repentance, Dr. H. on this account, muft have a day of fpecial rejoicing.But it is needlefs to proceed any further, in fhowing the abfurd confquences which naturally follow from this fentiment, that all men die with renewed hearts.

6

I am &c.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

LETTER IV.

Dr. H's definition of the Gofpel compared to what he fays befel Judas.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

THE

HE Doctor calls the gofpel good news. Thus far we are agreed. The wide difference lics here, he ftrips the gospel of all its threatenings. The gofpel,' fays he, on whatever page of facred writ it is found, either in the old teftament or new; whether in types, facrifices, prophecies, epiftles, or any other way; knows nothing at all of mifery, or torment, or the punishment

*P. 187.

ifhment of any creature under heaven. I fhould have faid, any mere creature.' He dwells much on this idea, in many pláces in his book: Abundantly extoling the good things the golpel fpeaks to men, and all the bad things it fpeaks, all the threatened evils, never, in the leaft degree come on one of the human race; but all come on Chrift. On this one head,' (on Chrift he means) the gofpel tells us of juft as much indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguifh, as the whole law of God does from the beginning to the end of the bible. But as to any mere man, the gofpel fays not one uncomfortable word; quite the reverfe.' He allo holds the revelation of the gofpel, as an outward mean, to be very extenfively ufeful to all nations, or to the whole world of mankind. His meaning is, all men are enlightened, reftrained, and fitted for heaven, more or lefs, in proportion as they are favoured with the outward privileges of the gofpel. He employs feveral pages to illuftrate and confirm this, by comparing Chrift, or the gofpel, to the natural fun. From this illustration, the following things are here felected.

[ocr errors]

1. The natural fun revives, quickens, and gives life to all things in the natural world: So doth Chrift with regard to the whole fpiritual world.' The natural fun is certainly and greatly beneficial to the whole world; though not to every part in the fame manner and degree.'It is to be obferved, in gen eral, that there is no feafon of the year, no period of time, no hour in the formy day, or midnight darknefs, in which any part of the world is left wholly without any benefit, or even confiderable benefit from the fun.' He goes on to show how the inhabitants of every climate have communication with each other, &c. &c. fo that all the world always have fome precious things brought forth by the fun. Juft fo with regard to the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world.' 'All the human kind are at all times much the better for Chrift.' In the fame connection he tells us, Chrift, by his merciful energy, began immediately after the fall to with ftand the force of man's depravity, and has done fo ever fince, in a greater or less degree, in all human nature, in every child of Adam.'

6

2. The pagan world is benefited by the gofpel, comparatively, as the frigid or frozen zones are by the fun. The frigid zones," he fays, feem least of all to feel the bleffings of that glorious luminary; though they have their day, and a long one, and ma ⚫ny other benefits derived from the fun.'I'Every part of the pagan world, all nations of the earth unacquainted with divine

' revelation PP. 42. ↑ P. 23. ‡ P. 196, 137. P. 138. P. 141 115 P. 137.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »