6 ⚫ into his bones. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherlefs, and his wife a widow. Let this be the reward of mine adverfaries from the LORD, and ⚫ of them that speak evil against my foul:'* The reward of Chrift himself, in Dr. H's language. So what was foretold of the idolatrous Ifraelites They fhall pafs through it, hardly beftead and ⚫ hungry and it fhall come to país, that, when they shall be hungry, they fhall fret themselves, and curse their King and their God, and look upward. And they fhall look unto the earth; and, behold, trouble and dai knefs, dimnefs of anguish; and they fhall be driven to darknefs.'t Again, that irrevocable threat, ening to the blafphemer against the Holy Ghoft: 'It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Dr. H. mult apply to Chrift himself!-We shall fee more on this fubject, in our next Letter. LETTER vi iam, &c. Dr. H's opinion of law and gofpel, continued. MY DEAR FRIEND, E fhall again obferve, WE III. More particularly on what has been often brought into view. And, in contradiction to all Dr. H. has faid, as to the curfe of the law being done away, feveral of his leading doctrines argue it to be ftill in full force.- Judas indeed met with an awful and aggravated damnation, in the highest, sense of the term, in the true fcripture meaning of it, as it relates to any ⚫ mere man perfonaily. What this damnation or perdition was, I have before fhown.' The Doctor had before shown, as we have feen, this damnation to have been endured in this world; and this is the only exception he has made, when applying the word, damnation, to the fufferings of Judas. Confining of it to this life only, and we muft, of courfe, in every other view underftand it according to its conftant meaning; which, in every paft age, has fignified complete mifery, and that according to the full defert of the perfon thus fuffering damnation. Should it here be objected, that it was impoffible for Judas to have fuffered, although his fufferings were complete, the full defert of his fins, in fuch a fhort fpace of time, or in any limited term; then * Pfal. 109. 8, 9. &c. † Ifai. 8. 21, 22. Matt. 12. 32. § P. 262. the the question is, why has Dr. H. ufed the word, damnation, in this inftance ?He must be anfwerable for his own mifufe of words. This word, damnation, he has ufed; which has ever been received to import a complete execution of the curfe of the law, answerable to the ill defert of the person thus curfed. And he has given us no notice that he defigned any thing by the word, lefs or more, than its eftablished fignification; that is, in his application of it to Judas, excepting his reftriction of it to this life. And we here fee the accurate relation he has given us of the son of 'perdition;' not only that he met with an awful and aggravated damnation, in the highest sense of the term, but in the true fcrip⚫ture meaning of it, as it relates to any mere man personally.' Now the moral law,' Dr. H. fays, every where speaks to man in his own perfonal character; the gofpel in that of the Meffi'ah.' What is juft and right for God to do with us, confidered in our perfonal character, and defert. This I fhall call the 'pure voice of juftice to man, without regard to an atonement or a mediator.'t Therefore, granting the gofpel ever to speak in the character of the Meffiah, and to fpeak nothing but good to man, as Dr. H. fays; then it must have been the law, in its full ftrength, which took hold of Judas, and inflicted this curfe upon him he being confidered in his own perfonal character and defert; and without regard to an atonement, or a mediator. Unless the law had thus taken hold of him, how could he have fuffered as he did? It was not by virtue of the gofpel, for this Dr. H. fays contains no evil thing to man. It must of course have been the law, the pure voice of juftice, executing its curfe on Judas, equal to his defert. And the Doctor employs the most pertinent words, and almoft every word, generally ufed to fignify the curfe of the law; inflicted on the finner proportionate to his defert. Judas,' he fays, was a notable fon of perdition, fignally fo; a moft miferable, loft, condemned finner; in awful anguifh, and utter defpair;' and many other fimilar words. And Judas's damnation, which has ever been underftood to be the curfe of the law, he has fummed up in the fuperlative degree. Thus, the Doctor's arguing goes to prove that Judas fuffered, in person, and according to his perfonal defert, the full weight of the curfe o the law. This is to prove the curfe of the law to be ftill in fuf force against impenitent finners. Or that it was in full force 11 gainst one impenitent finner, and has been executed upon himaTo the fame import the Doctor has thefe expreffions. Am. ' is always miferable in proportion to the degree of wickedn an that governs him.'t-Hence we fee how fit it is, that all efs 'fhould fin 6 N - P. 39. † P. 26. + P. 234. . 'fhould be attended, or rebuked with pain and forrow, which 'never fails to be the cafe.'*- Men ought indeed, to be deter'red from fin by fear of hell: For hell in an awful degree, and the pains of it, attend all fin.'t As if a man had need be deterred from the fword, or warned to escape it, while it is now piercing him through! For he here makes fin, and the pains of hell, keep pace together; and the finner to have no greater mifery to fear than what he now feels. He makes a great and folemn outcry, concerning the fword of divine vengeance, that it is just ready to overtake finners; then tells them it is nothing but what they now feel. But, by thefe expreffions, he determines the curfe of the law to be ftill in force againft impenitent finners. For this awful degree of the pains of hell, which he fays attends all fin, has been always understood to mean the curfe of the law. So, if a man is always miferable in proportion to the degree of wickedness that governs him,' then is he always punished in proportion to his defert; than which the curfe of the law can extend no further. The Doctor fays again, The hell that the devils are in, and ' that all mankind deferve, and are condemned to, by the law of God, is nothing but perfection of fin, with its infeperable con⚫nections and confequences.' This, with other things, he says, makes out three arguments, either of which proves the curfe of the law to be in force against the difobedient, and that it is always executed upon them. As, 1. By thefe infeperable conne&tions and confequences,' the Doctor perhaps means a guilty confcience, with fome other attendant evils. But whatever thefe evils be, they must be inftantaneous evils. For, if the finner have not received the full reward of his iniquity, as faft as he goes along, and this reward, or thefe evils which attend his iniquity be infeperable connections and confequences of it; and remaining yet to be inflicted upon him in fome future time, then how is it poffible for him to ef cape, immediately, the defert of his iniquity, or the evils attend. ing it, by becoming holy ? If the evils connected with fin remain for the leaft fpace of time, after they become due, to be inflicted on the finner, it is certain he cannot escape them immediately, by becoming holy. But, whether the finner receives the evils connected with his fin as faft as he paffes along, or whether he receives them in fome future time, yet, in either cafe, he is. certain to receive them; provided they be infeperable connections and confequences, as Dr. H. afferts them to be. As he often fays, however, that finners immediately escape all the evils + P. 238. + P. 197. • P. 294 of of fin, by turning from it, it follows, allowing thefe infeparable connections and confequences, that they receive the utmost of their defert of fin as faft as they go along; fo as nothing after. ward remains to be inflicted upon them, further than as they again commit fin. Therefore, Dr. H. has not only given us his opinion of the hell that all mankind deferve, and are condemned to, by the law of God,' but he has very strongly argued that all mankind do indeed fuffer the pains of this hell, proportionate to their defert, and the degrees of wickednefs that govern them; and that they fuffer these pains of hell as faft as they have merited them; fo that no part remains afterwards due to them, not even for the fhorteft fpace of time. This as clearly decides the curfe of the divine law to be in full force, as though the Doctor had expreffed it in direct terms. 2. This hell, he fays, which is nothing but the perfection of fin, is the hell that the devils are in.' By which he argues, as far as men have arrived to the perfection of fin, fo far they endure the fame fufferings, and are in the fame hell as the devils are. And fallen men,' he fays, became as bad as fallen angels, at their firft apoftacy, according to their capacity,'* He has alfo made his opponents as bad in a moral view as devils: they join, he fays, with fatan in all he does. So he fixes all wicked men, efpecially his opponents, with devils, in one and the fame hell: they having come to the fame perfection of fin with devils. And he fays he has the felf fame idea of the nature of the mifery of 'hell, as Calvin had.'+ Calvin held, it is well known, that hell, the hell prepared for devils, was a place of the utmost torment, where the curfe of the law is completely executed. 3. Dr. H. fays, We know of no faviour provided for them (the devils), or that ever will be.-There is not the least intimation of grace in hell.' In the fame connection he describes devils as fuffering long continued anguifh and pain, and the utmoft torment;' and that the perfonal fuffering of devils befpeaks the pure voice of juftice.' This, as plainly as words can, argues that the devils fuffer the utmost of the curfe of God's law, or exactly according to their defert. As Dr. H. fixes wicked men in the fame hell with devils, fo he makes them fuffer the fame curfe, and the utmost of the curfe. And whether devils receive their full wages of fin as faft as they go along, or not, yet the Doctor has decidedly thown that fallen men receive the full defert of their fin, all its infeperable connections and confequences, in fuch manner as not one mite remains due to them, not even for a moment of time. Is it pof. fible fible for the craft and cunning of fatan to devife a hell better fuited to gratify carnal hearts than this? Hell nothing but perfection of fin, with its infeperable connections and confequences! and finners told to believe they have already fuffered the utmoft, yea all their fins deferve; the Doctor, however, cannot claim the honour of being the author of it; the fame kind of doc. trine was delivered by the ferpent, in the garden of Eden, almoft fix thousand years ago. The Doctor's fyftem of real grace, iffuing in the falvation ' of all men,'* is now at an end. If his own arguments be ad mitted, not one of the human kind can ever be faved by grace. They cannot be faved from the curfe of the law by grace, for every one fuffers the curfe as faft as he merits it. How is it poffible for men to be faved from the curfe, when they have already endured it, proportionate to their defert? How is it poffible for men to be faved from hell, when they have already endured all the hell their fin deferves ?-when hell and fin are "infeperable? And on this ground men cannot be forgiven, for they have nothing to be forgiven of; they have already fuffered all the demand juftice had against them, fo that nothing remains to be forgiven. The man that conftantly pays for all he receives, wherever he has commerce, can have no debt lying against him; but is upon even fcores with all men, or no juft charge ever could have been made against him. Therefore, none of his fellow men could, by an act of grace, relinquifh a debt to him; for no one has any againft him. On Dr. H's plan, finners keep even with divine juftice; they fuffer momentarily, not the leaft particle of time behind, fo as to fatisfy all the demand juftice has upon them: hence the impoffibility of their being forgiven. How is it poffible for them to be forgiven, when there is nothing due from them, and nothing to be forgiven? How is it poffible for grace to interpofe, and relinquifh a demand juftice has against them, when juftice has no demand against them? But what could more exactly agree with the corrupt defires of wicked men, than for them to be told they are even with divine juftice? That the hell they fuffer, in this world, is coequal with every demand against them! This fentiment, however, lies at the bottom of univerfalifm. And fhows this fcheme to be agreeable to the perverfe feelings of all natural men. On this ground alfo, finners cannot, with propriety, be called on to repent, and confefs their fins before God. They have fuffered all they deferve, they have no debt lying against them, therefore have nothing to confefs. Neither is there need of their * Title page. repenting, |