ment is contained in other passages. a It is doubtless true, that every individual will be brought into a voluntary, or involuntary subjection to the government of God. Such as remain the enemies of God will be put under his feet. b This expression is used in allusion to the subjugation of the five kings of Canaan by Joshua; and no one supposes that they become his friends,

That this is the subjugation mentioned in the passages cited above, may be seen by looking at the immediate connexion of that which is taken from Isaiah. "And all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." c The wicked will be constrained so far to acknowledge the justice of God as to do honor to his character and government.

Q. Is it not painful to the heart of a parent to apply a momentary correction to his child, however obstinate he may be? How then can we believe that God, who is every where represented as a tender and benevolent parent, can inflict a punishment upon his subjects, which is eternal?

A. On the subject of punishment, it is irrational as well as dangerous, to compare ourselves with God. "Ye thought that I was altogether such an one as yourselves; but I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order before thee. Therefore consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." d No earthly parents, it can be expected, will possess as adequate views of the importance of the law, and of the importance to the system of divine government that it should be supported, as God. What earthly parents, if it were in their power, would send a deluge upon their rebellious children, and overwhelm them in a wa. tery grave? What parent would rain fire and brimstone upon them, and consume them; or cause the earth to open and

a Rom. xiv. 11, and Phil. ii, 10. b 1 Cor. xv. 25. c Isa. xlv. 24. d Ps. 1 21, 22

receive them? How perfectly flimsy must be every argument, drawn from a comparison of our feelings in view of sin, with those of the great Jehovah! It is in his power, were he only disposed, to put an immediate end to all the sufferings that we witness in our world.

Q. If Christians, with the little love which they possess, would rejoice to have all men saved, may we not conclude that God, since it is said that he is love, and since no one can doubt his power, will convert and save all?

A. There is the same impropriety in this comparison, as in the former. Christians would put an end to all the mise. ries of the present world. They would spread the gospel over the whole earth, and convert every sinner to the faith, were it in their power. And has not God as much tenderness and love to mankind, as Christians? Christians know little or nothing about the important purposes that are to be accomplished, by allowing men to continue in their course, and to exhibit their real characters; neither are they fit judges what punishment the holiness of God's law, and the permanency of his government require. Although the question before us, as it makes an appeal to the feelings of men, is one of the most plausible arguments that are brought to prove the doctrine of universal salvation, it must appear to every serious man from the above remarks, to be idle and nugatory. If it should be said that the Deity suffers men to be miserable in the present life, that their happiness in the life to come may be the greater, we answer that this is admitting that he suffers evil for a greater good; and by what possible process of reasoning can we prove that he will not suffer it upon the same principle, eternally?

We will now present before the reader a brief statement of the arguments with which we have supported the doctrine of the endless punishment of the incorrigible sinner. It has

been shown that such a punishment is just-that it is threatened that the salvation of the righteous cannot be of grace, if this doctrine be not just-that the duration of punishment with the wicked, is often placed against the duration of happiness, with the righteous-that the wicked will be without hope that they are said to perish, to utterly perish, be de stroyed, &c.-that the wicked have their portion in this life-that the door of heaven will be eternally shut against them that some are already suffering a punishment that is eternal and finally, that no other doctrine could have produced the effects, which were produced by the preaching of the Apostles.

Edwards against Chauncey.-Appleton's Lectures.---Birge on the Atonement.-Scott's Bible.

Q.

SECTION XVI.

INSTITUTIONS OF THE GOSPEL.

Christian Sabbath.

What do we understand by the Sabbath?

A. The word originally meant a day of rest; and was given to that day, on which it is said God rested from the work of creation, and which the Jews were commanded to observe, in commemoration of that event. As the same word is now used to mean that day which Christians are required to keep as a day of rest, it is to be hoped that Sunday, (a name which was given to the day by the heathen, because it was the day on which they worshipped the sun) will soon pass into everlasting disuse.

Q.

What was the object for which the Sabbath was appointed?

A. It was appointed, as has been already stated, to com

memorate the work of creation; a but, in order that this answer may be satisfactory, it will be necessary to show what purposes were to be accomplished, by this commemoration. The objects to be accomplished by it were important, and show much of the wisdom and goodness of God.

1. One object for which the Sabbath was appointed, was that we might be favoured with a day of rest. It was not only designed to be a day of holy rest to the soul, but of rest and refreshment to the body. We are commanded to relinquish all manual labour, because on that day the Lord rested from the work of creation. Among other important objects, the Sabbath was designed to be an appointment of great mercy to the brutes. It is an observation that has been often made, and that too, by the most candid and intelligent men that have ever lived on the earth, that the world stands in need of precisely such an institution, aside from all religious considerations whatever. Labouring men and brutes, could they have no time to rest and renew their health and vigour, would soon sink under the burden of their toil and hardship, and be on the whole far less profitable to the world. Further, brutes have feelings as well as men, and so far as the command of God is obeyed, a kind respite is provided for them, of which we have every reason to believe, the covetcousness and cruelty of men, would otherwise have forever deprived them.

2. The Sabbath was appointed as a type of that future and spiritual rest, which is provided for the people of God.

As there are six days of labour and toil that precede the Sabbath of rest, so it is generally believed that there will be six thousand years of conflict and warfare with the Church of God, and then will commence the Sabbath of the world, or the millenium of the Church. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

a Ex. xx, 11

en.

The Sabbath is also a type of the Christian's rest in heav"To morrow (said Moses) is the rest of the holy Sabbath of the Lord." The Apostle, it may well be supposed, had his eye upon this passage, as well as upon the original institution, while he penned the fourth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews. From a course of reasoning on the appointment of the Jewish and Christian Sabbaths, he comes to this conclusion: "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."* "Let us therefore labour to enter into that

rest.'

a

3. But the most important object in the appointment of the Sabbath was, that the knowledge and worship of the true God might be perpetuated, and the introduction of idolatry prevented. He knew how soon a love for this world, and constant attention to its concerns, would blind the minds of men after their fall, and lead them into idolatry. At the first thought, it would seem that men could never have been made to believe any other opinion, than that the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, were the work of an infinitely wise and powerful hand. But how soon after the creation, with all these evidences of wisdom and power before them, did mankind become so grovling, as to be worshipping idols of every description! Had they carefully observed the Sabbath, it would have effectually prevented their falling into this sin. Had they ceased every seventh day from their labours, and kept the day holy, in commemoration of the fact that the world had been created by the great Jehovah, they never could have believed in idols. So long then as this rite was understandingly observed, so long the worship of the true God would be preserved, throughout the inhabitants of the world. In this way the observance of the Sabbath was to be the principal means by which religion was to be supported on

*The word that is here translated rest, is in the original Sabbath.