and the reftitution of peace and order, that province, instead of being any longer feparate from the reft of the 'empire, would become a component part of it, and the king's will would be done in it as it had been done without interruption in the loyal part of his territories; fuch is the reprefentation given. with refpect to our world, and the holy parts of God's dominions. A period will arrive when the will of God fhall be done on earth as it is now done in heaven. This, however, will never be the cafe while any veftige of moral evil remains. It must be after the general conflagration; which, though it will deftroy every kind of evil, root and branch, that now prevails upon the face of the earth, and will terminate the generations of Adam, who have poffeffed it; yet will not fo deftroy the earth itself but that it fhall furvive its fiery trial, and, as I apprehend, become the everlasting abode of righteoufnefs; a part of the holy empire of God. Nor is it perhaps improbable that it may ever continue the refort, if not the frequent abode of thofe who are redeemed from it. An attachment to place we know is at prefent deeply implanted in our nature. The inhabitants of the most inhofpitable regions generally love their native country, and would not change it for any other. Certain particular places where fome of the most interesting events have been tranfacted, when vifited at fome distance of time become a confiderable fource of delight. Such was Bethel to Jacob, and Tabor, no doubt, to the three difciples. And why may not a view of Bethlehem, of Gethsemane, of Calvary, and of a thousand other places where God has appeared for us, afford a fource of everlasting enjoyment? However this may be, the fcriptures give us to * understand, that though the elements fhall melt with fervent heat, and the earth, and the works that are therein, fhall be burnt up, yet, according to promife, we are to look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. By the new heavens here is plainly to be understood fo much of the elements as fhall have been affected by the general conflagration; and by the new earth, the earth after it is purified by it. Much to the fame purpofe is the account given towards the close of the Revelation of John. After a description of the general judgment, it follows, And I far a new heaven, and a new earth: for the firft heaven and the firft earth were paffed away.And I John faw the Holy City, New Jerufalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. When the earth fhall have become a part of God's holy empire, heaven itself may then be faid to be come down upon it; feeing all that is now ascribed to the one will be true of the other. Behold, the tabernacle of God fhall be with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God himself fhall be with them, and shall be their God. And God fball wipe away all tears from their eyes and there fhall be no more death, neither forrow, nor crying, neither hall there be any more pain; for the former things fhall be passed away. And he that fat upon the Throne, faid, Behold I make all things new. And he faid unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.+ : If the great end of Redemption be the re-union of this world to the holy empire of God; and if fuch re-union be accompanied with a mutual augmentation of bleffednefs, then the importance of the one must bear fome proportion to the magnitude of the other. Upon any system of philosophy, Redemption is great; but upon that which so amazingly magnifies intelligent creation, it must be great beyond expreffion. VI. The fcriptures represent the punishment of the finally impenitent as appointed for an example to the reft of the creation. Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in giving themfelves over to fornication, and going after frange flesh, are fet forth FOR AN EXAMPLE, fuffering the vengeance of eternal fire. And her smoke (the fioke of Babylon) rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that fat on the Throne, faying, Amen; Alleluia.† The miseries of the damned are never reprefented as inflicted upon them from fuch a kind of wrath or vengeance as bears no relation to the general good. God is love; and in none of his proceedings does he violate this principle, or lose fight of the well-being of creation in general. The manifeftation of his glory is not only infeparably connected with this object, but confifts in accomplishing it. It is neceffary for the general good that God's abhorrence of moral evil fhould be marked by fome strong and durable expreffion of it; fo that no one fubject of his empire can overlook it. Such an expreffion was the death of Chrift, his onlybegotten Son; and this availeth on behalf of all † Jude vii. Rev. xix. 3, 4. who acquiefce in his falvation: but all who do not, or whe profess not fuch a temper of heart as would acquiefce in it if it were prefented to them, muft themselves be made facrifices to his juftice; and fo, like enemies and traitors to a human government, must be made to answer fuch an end by their death as fhall counteract the ill example afforded by their life. What is faid of the barren vine is applicable to the finally impenitent: It is not fit for any work-it is good for nothing but to be burned!* The only way in which they promote the general good is by their overthrow: Like the cenfers of Korah ahd his company which were made into broad plates for a covering to the altar : that they might be a fign to the children of Ifrael in future generations ;† or like Lot's wife, who was converted into a pillar of falt, or a lafting monument of divine difpleasure ! If the grand end of future punishment be example, this must fuppofe the existence of an intelligent creation, who fhall profit by it; and it should seem of a creation of magnitude; as it accords with the conduct of neither God nor man to punish a great number for an example to a few. This truth affords a fatisfactory idea of the divine government, whether there be a multiplicity of inhabited worlds or not but if there be, it is still more fatisfactory; as on this fuppofition the number of those who fhall be finally loft may bear far lefs proportion to the whole of the intelligent creation, than a fingle execution to the inhabitants of a great empire. It is true, the lofs to thofe who are loft will be nothing abated by this confidera tion; perhaps, on the contrary, it may be augmented; and to them the divine government will ever appear gloomy: but to those who judge of things impartially, and upon an extenfive fcale, it will appear to contain no more of a disparagement to the government of the universe, than the execution of a murderer, once in a hundred years, would be to the government of a nation. And now I appeal to the intelligent, the ferious, and the candid reader, whether there be any truth in what Mr. Paine afferts, that to admit "that "God created a plurality of worlds, at least as 66 numerous as what we call ftars, renders the "Christian system of faith at once little and ridi"culous, and fcatters it in the mind like feathers "in the air." On the contrary, it might be proved that every fyftem of philofophy is little in comparison of Christianity. Philofophy may expand our ideas of creation; but it neither inspires a love to the moral character of the Creator, nor a wellgrounded hope of eternal life. Philosophy at most can only place us upon the top of Pifgah: there, like Mofes, we muft die. It gives us no poffeffion of the good land: it is the province of Christianity to add, ALL IS YOURS! When you have afcend ed to the height of human difcovery, there are things, and things of infinite moment too, that are utterly beyond its reach. Revelation is the medium, and the only medium, by which, ftanding, as it were, " on nature's Alps," we difcover things which eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, and of which it hath never entered into the heart of man to conceive. |