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 t THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | 
 
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 APPEAL* 
 
TO THE 
 
 '^MMKJST'STREET PRESBFTEHMJV* CHURCH 
 AJ^D COjyGREGATIOJy:"' 
 
 IN A SERIES OF 
 
 SEVEM SEKMONS, 
 
 PREDICATED ON SKETCHES OF THE DISPENSA- 
 TIONS OF GOD TOWARD HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 f'ln an Appendix to Sermon V.J , 
 STRICTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 <(TnE FIEJ^B OF THE REFORJ^MTIOA^ 
 DETECTED:''— By James Gray, D. D, 
 
 BY JAMES M'CHORD, A. M, 
 LEXINGTON, KY. 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY T, T, SKILLMAJT. 
 
 1818* 
 
CliuTcli and CongYegation 
 T\ie lolloping ^ages 
 Ai-e affectionately in3CTil3ed^ 
 
 and Teiry xes^ectf-ully tend^Teft, 
 
 aa 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON L Page 
 
 JTie General Judgment^ - - 9 
 
 SERMOIS II. 
 
 Heiif - - - - ay 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 Heaven f - - - - 6y 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 Eternity f - - . ^ gi 
 
 SERi\iON V. 
 
 Messiah^s Message, - - - i^£ 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 The JSTecessity of a Christian Profession, i57 
 
 SERMON VTL 
 
 The Blessedness of a Christian Profession, 185 
 
Vlll 
 
 li Contents s 
 
 
 APPENDtS: 
 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 
 State of the Question, 
 
 ^S6 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 
 The Covenant of Works, 
 
 - 2BS 
 
 SECTION in. 
 
 
 The Covenant of Grace, 
 
 - 24^ 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 
 Gray^s Theory, 
 
 ^59 
 
 SECTION V* 
 
 
 TheContrastf * - i • 
 
 , ^ ^7^ 
 

 \. 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 %theoloqioal/ 
 the general judgment. 
 
 4 
 
 ^^JTe hath ajpj^ointed a day in the which he will 
 judge the world in righteousuegs hy that man 
 whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given as- 
 surance unto all men, in that he hath raised him 
 from the deadJ^ Acts. xvii. 31. 
 
 It can rarely have escaped the notice of the intel- 
 ligent and attentive, that the noblest spirits are gen- 
 erally the most condescending, gentle and affection- 
 ate. Never, under heaven, were sympathies so 
 tender, never were there demonstrations of kind- 
 ness so simple-hearted, as those which were exhi- 
 bited in ten thousand forms by God's own Messiah; 
 when he dwelt among us, animated by the feelings 
 and sustaining the pressures common to our kind. 
 Of all beings merely human, the Apostle Paul will 
 probably always rank highest in the estimation of 
 those who can best appreciate his character. And 
 no where do we find such strokes of powerful na- 
 ture, no where do we note such instances of meek 
 compliance, as his letters and the record of his trav- 
 els furuish. Ardent as a seraph, bold in his con^ 
 ceptions, daring in his plans, unswayed, unintimi- 
 dated by the array of pov» er; we find this maQ«-^ 
 
iO The General Judgment. 
 
 wlio at CsBsav's judgment-seat stood firm and 
 dauntless as if himself had been a Csesar, this man 
 who hurled reproaches merciless and boundless on 
 liypocrital Jews and Judaising Gentiles^^we find 
 this man stooping to the ignorant with such gentleness 
 and patience as though they had been his children, 
 weeping with the sorrowful as though himself were 
 stricken, and caressing and regarding with all the 
 fervor of simple-hearted infancy whatever had a 
 claim on the Ireart of purity. 
 
 You may have remarked hoAv fearlessly he often 
 .stood on his arraignment, when one word from an 
 unprincipled and arbitrary judge was sufficient to 
 have sealed his destiny. You have seen how his 
 fervid and angry spirit flashed, when Jewish priests 
 and rulers, with deep hypocrisy and still deeper 
 hatred, opposed the promulgation of the Saviour's 
 message, and plead, good souls! their consciences^ 
 to screen their selfishness and malice. 
 
 Mark how differently he carries himself in a city 
 of pagans, where every object that presented itself 
 served only to excite commiseration or disgust. 
 Athens, the tamous seat of science, stood a mon- 
 ument of the vanity of all humai) science where the 
 word of God comes not to marshal and direct the 
 energies of its votaries: Atliens was sunk in pitia 
 Lie ignorance of all the more interesting and impoi'- 
 ^Vant troths which man should v/ish to know: Athens 
 was more degraded with multiplied idolatries than 
 almost any other city: and after wearying and impov- 
 eiishiniq herself bv the erection of altars to n- 
 
The General Judgment, 11 
 
 tliousaiid Gods, she summed up her folly— (shall I 
 call it? or devotion?) in erecting one more altar ^'to 
 THE GOD UNKNOWN.'' — Witliout sliockiug tlicir feel- 
 ings by a direct attack on their debased and degra- 
 ding superstitions, the Apostle, with the utmost gen- 
 tleness, attempts to undermine them. He takes that 
 altar for his text, and begins with complimenting 
 them on the spirit which had erected it; not by ab- 
 surdly telling them, as our version has it, that they 
 were too superstitious. From that text he unfolds to 
 them the God whom they did not know; he unfolds 
 the doctrines of the resurrection and of the eternal 
 judgment: he does it fully, and he does it fearless- 
 
 To-day, my hretiu^en, we would imitate his ex- 
 ample. We have come down, like our Apostle, 
 not to shock your feelings, but to do you service. 
 Like him we would do it with every regard to what 
 we owe you; but, at the same time, with equal re- 
 gard to all that is due to truth. The Apostle's 
 theme is ours: ^^God has appointed a day in the 
 which he will judge the world in righteousness by 
 that man whom he hath ordained.'' In attending to 
 it we will shew, 
 
 I. Tiiat there siiall be such a judgment. 
 
 II. The time about which it will probably take 
 place. 
 
 III. The circumstances attending it. 
 
 I. It is a fact that God has appointed a day in which 
 ke will ju(l.s;e the world by that mail whom he has or 
 
IS 2%e Generai Judgme%t 
 
 ftrdained^ eveti by him wko died to save the wovld. 
 Kew as was this idea to the good people of Athens, 
 there has never appeared any tiling new about it 
 to the apprehension of the people of God. Job, 
 who lived about the times of the patriarch tsaac> 
 mentions it familiarly, and mentions it as a ground 
 Oi'consolation in his troubles. In the fiftieth psalm, 
 ^aid to have been penned by David, and of course 
 nearly one thousand years before the advent of 
 Messiah, we find a long, and, if it were not so 
 terrific, we would add magnijicent, description of 
 the solemnities of that day. On these references 
 it is needless to detain you. But as we mean to 
 anake some little use of the description furnislied 
 by the prophet Daniel, we will take the liberty of 
 reading it. It occurs in that famous prophecy which 
 embraces the destinies of the world and of the Church 
 from the sera of the vision down to the great and 
 dreadful day of judgment. After describing the four 
 great empires that controled in succession the ener- 
 gies of the East, and after tracing the last, or Roman 
 government, thro' all the horrors of the great aposta- 
 ey, he goes on to say: «1 beheld till the thrones were 
 cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose 
 garment was white as snow, and the hair of his 
 head like the pure wool: his throne was like the 
 fiei'y flame, and his w heels as burning fire. A fiery 
 stream issued and came forth from before him: thou- 
 sand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thou-, 
 sand times tea tliousaud stood before him^: the 
 
The General JiidgmenL iS 
 
 judgment was set, and the books were opened.*'^ 
 — — In fact, so common were tke doctrines of a 
 itisurrection and general judgment, that they laid 
 the chief foundation of the wide distinctions between 
 the two great rival sects of Judea, the Pharisees 
 and Sadducees. The latter denied the doctrines of 
 a resurrection and of a separate state of spirits; and 
 on that account rejected the whole of the old-testa- 
 ment scriptures, excepting the five books of Moses, 
 supposing no such doctrine to be contained in them. 
 And thence it was that our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 when he silenced the Sadducees on the question of 
 the resurrection, drew his argument from the book 
 of Exodus,t a portion of scripture which they ad- 
 mitted to be inspired. 
 
 AVe need not say to you that the New Testament 
 scriptures are particularly full and clear upon this 
 point. So full and so clear, that no one needs quo^ 
 tations to assure him of its being the doctrine of tlie 
 apostolic churches. We will just attend one mo- 
 Bient to the proof of the doctrine adduced by the 
 Apostle. Of the fact, that there shall be a general 
 resurrection, he declares, God has given assurance 
 to all men, in that he raised Messiah from the deado 
 This, to a people like the Athenians, was an im 
 portant and perhaps indispensable illustration of 
 the question. The deities whom they worshipped, 
 were shadowed forth as in all things resembling 
 
 ^nan, vii, 9. 10. A-MarJc xii. iS-^-^T' 
 
ih Th^ General Judgment, 
 
 tliemsetves. Beings but of yesterday; limited iii 
 tlieir knowledge, in tlieir powers^ in their aims; a- 
 gitated by the passions, and degraded with the vi- 
 ces that embitter human life. The contemplation, 
 and especially the adoration of such imaginary de- 
 ities^ had a direct and necessary tendency to debase 
 the conceptions and enfeeble the moral feeling of the 
 pagan world. The ideas of a self-existent, eter- 
 nal, omnipresent, omnipotent Being, were quite new 
 to them. For the sublime delineations, as they are 
 often called, which we meet with in the writings of 
 some few philosophers, delineations that betray the 
 faint and reflected glimmerings of revelation, were 
 known only to Uie few wlio frequented the aca* 
 demic shade. The great mass of the Athenians were 
 tmacqnainted with these speculations; nor did they 
 impart one single feature of intelligence to the devo-» 
 tions even of the philosophic world: its devotion 
 was still paid at the shrines of popular idols, a ^zd^i;^ 
 "-ti-as paid no where else. The fact is, that though 
 they had sometimes takeri views approaching to cor-' 
 rectness, of the character and attributes of ^^the on- 
 ly true God,'' yet habit would insensibly lead them 
 to dilute and debase doctrines of such unusual sub- 
 limity, every time they attemptetl to employ them 
 for any practical purpose. Labouring under such 
 partial apprehensions of the truth, it wa§ quite natu- 
 ral to inquire: 'how c^m God raise the dead?' ^how 
 should he discriminate between the mingled dust of 
 liiaiiy generations?' We, who are familiarized 
 
The General Juds^ment, 15 
 
 "^y 
 
 with the idea of all-sui!iciency, never think of start-, 
 iui^ such objections. But to minds only conversant 
 with mythological attributes^ they were of serious 
 weight. A fact then, which would preclude the 
 possibility of doubt, was a matter of great import- 
 ance. Let that fact be well attested: let the mis- 
 sionary of the cross be able to say, ^see^ God has 
 already raised the dead!' ^see, Messiah has burst 
 the cerements of the tomb!' and the question of pos» 
 sibility is at once and forever settled. He w ho has 
 done it once, may do the thing again. He who hag 
 spoken of a general resurrection, gives assp-ance of 
 his all -sufficiency in raising up his Son. 
 
 But again. While the fact of the resurrection ati- 
 tests the all-sufficiency of Grod, it bears witness to 
 the propriety^ and indeed to the necessity of a gen= 
 eral resurrection, on the score of righteousness. It 
 is the glory of the Divinity that all his w ays are 
 perfect, are exact. Now in order to the perfect 
 distribution of the recompense, it is manifestly ne- 
 cessary that rewards and punishments should be 
 meted out, as nearly as possible, in the very form^ 
 and thro' the very channels in which they may have 
 been earned. We account that a just and beautiful 
 arrangement, in pursuance of which the reward o'c 
 punishment is made to grow directly out of the deed 
 itself. We admire and applaud that dispensation 
 of the Almighty, which takes the crafty in their owu 
 devices, and enthrals the feet of sinners in the 
 snares that they had spread. Carry out thU lim^ 
 
16 The General Judgment. 
 
 and yon will perceive something more tlmn a fitness 
 in the general resurrection; you will perceive a ne- 
 cessity for the resurrection of the body: that the ve- 
 ry members which have toiled in the service of their 
 Maker, may reap the fruits of his munificence; and 
 that the very senses which have been perverted and 
 debased by iniquity, may become the avenues of ap- 
 propriate sorrow. 
 
 The resurrection of the Saviour gives to the world 
 assurance of this righteous distribution. It was not 
 merely his spirit that had toiled in the service of his 
 Father; in body as well as spirit he had been devo- 
 ted to that service: and it afforded fit demonstra- 
 tion of the righteousness of God, that the head 
 which had once been crowned with thorns, should 
 be crowned in heaven with immortal amaranth; that 
 the eyes often moistened and almost blinded with 
 his tears, should sparkle in all the brilliancy of joy| 
 that the heart which had often well-nigh burst with 
 agony, shcmld dilate with emotions of delight and 
 love. — Now, that which is true of Jesus Christ, is 
 true of every human being. That which has o^end- 
 ed, that Avhich has obeyed, should be punished or 
 rewarded; and the risen Saviour is an example of 
 such justice. But should you deny the probability 
 of the resurrection of the body, you at once do away 
 the possibility of such recompense as sliall meet ex- 
 actly the demands of righteousness. The being who 
 consists of soul and body has n:)t only many m ?J.ss 
 of obeying and offending, but many v/ays of mE^x- 
 
The General Judgment, iy 
 
 jtig and enjoying, pecnliar to itself. And if death 
 be indeed an everlasting sleep, then rigorous jus- 
 tice is defeated of its ends. 
 
 Finally. The resurrection of the Saviour gives 
 assurance to the world of a general resurrection and 
 of the eternal judgment, because he obeyed, suifer- 
 ed, and triumphed as a federative head. That 
 which is his standing, must therefore be the stand- 
 ing of liis people; and whatever be the destiny 
 righteousness allots to him, that very same destiny 
 it allots to all who are represented by him. If he 
 be accounted righteous, then so are they: if the re- 
 surrection be in part the recompense of righteous- 
 ness to him, then to all who are his the same re^ 
 compense belongs. 
 
 We have not time to dilate on any of these i- 
 deas. Any one of them would require our hour 
 to do it justice. You will permit me to dismiss this 
 part of m^ subject with one general observation. It 
 is the doctrine of the scriptures, and the dictate of 
 sound sense, that God, and God alone, is the con- 
 servator of exact and absolute righteousness. TliQ 
 governments of men have nothing to do with the 
 merit or demerit of any one's conduct, except as it 
 interferes with the interests of society. Their re- 
 wards are measured out, not that righteousness may 
 be fulfilled, but that society may be benefited: an^ 
 their punishments are iniiicted, not that justice may 
 be satisfied, but that society may be protected. The 
 penalty may be remitted, and often is remitted^ with^ 
 
 C 
 
iS The General Judsiment 
 
 d' 
 
 out the imputation of unrighteousness^ where it can 
 be done without hazard of the puhlic safety; because 
 safety, not righteousness, is the object of the penal- 
 ty. And oftences may be committed without any 
 risk of penalty, when they do not militate against 
 the welfare of society. These remarks hold good 
 even in relation to all tliose institutions which have 
 the cultivation of the fear of almigiity God for their im- 
 mediate object. For our I'elations to the Deity are as 
 essential and immutable as our relations to one ano- 
 ther, and they are vastly more important. Society is 
 therefore interested to a considerable e?;tent in the 
 manner in which we observe them; society is con- 
 cerned that every man's conscience should be chain- 
 ed to the throne of God; it therefore becomes, to a 
 certain extent, the right of society to prevent, for 
 its own protection, whatever strongly militates a-- 
 gainst the healthy condition of the public conscience. 
 It is in this light, and not because they are author- 
 ized to assume the prerogative of eternal righteous- 
 ness in meteing out due punishment to man's oifen- 
 ces, that all wise legislators provide against infrac- 
 tions of the moral law. 
 
 Such, in general, are the objects aimed at, and 
 such is the law that regulates the procedure in all 
 human governments. But in a government literal- 
 ly and rigorously moral, the case is very different. 
 There the object is the preservation of righteousr 
 ness: the rule must be exact, universal and immu- 
 table: and that' rule must regard tjie merit or de- 
 
^e General Jud^inent 19 
 
 iii'erit of the deed itself, considered in relation to the 
 feelings and circumstances of the agent; and must, 
 award to it precisely the thingthat justice dictates. 
 Need we tell you that unless God judge and a- 
 ward according to this rule^ there neither is nor can 
 be any thing that deserves the name of a perfect ad- 
 ministration in all the universe? Need we say to 
 you that he does appropriate to himself the glory of 
 this pure and perfect administration? that heassert;^ 
 as his peculiar prerogative this measurement of re- 
 compense according to the deed? that he has written it 
 in his book, ^^^engeance is mine; I will repay saitli 
 the Lord?'' ^* Must we prove to you that the dictates of 
 such a righteousness enforce, eternally, immutably, 
 the strictest adheience to law? Or need we infer for 
 you that^ on these grounds, the events of the resur- 
 rection and of the general judgment are not only 
 possible and probable, but absolutely necessary io> 
 the execution of strict and perfect justice? 
 
 There shall, then, be a judgment, pure and per- 
 fect as the omniscient God is perfect. A judg- 
 ment that shall extend to every word and deed, to 
 every thought and motive, to every public and to 
 every secret thing, whether it be bad, or whether 
 it be good. Rigliteousness demands it. The Grod 
 of truth has said it. And though the end mi9;h^ 
 doubtless be answered without this awful and uni- 
 Tersal arraignment on one great and general day^, 
 
 ^Rom. xii. 19. 
 
^0 ^£he General Judgment, 
 
 yet wlio does not see that the solemnities of such a 
 day may serve many important purposes in relation 
 to the feelings of the intelligent creation! 
 
 II. It would be folly in us to aim at a discovery 
 of the precise time at which this event shall take 
 place. The Saviour himself has testified tliat nei- 
 ther man nor angel knows any thing of the matter. 
 It is hidden in the councils of the Eternal mind; and 
 it were presumption as well as folly, to attempt a 
 discovery, after Grod has announced that conceal- 
 ment is his purpose. But that same great teacher 
 has seen proper to afford the means of a very sat- 
 isfactory approximation toward the truth on this 
 interesting point. He has marked the period with- 
 in which we may gather with certainty that the mil- 
 lennium shall take place: he has said that this peri- 
 Oi J of universal blessing shall continue for one thou^ 
 sand years; during which, we are told, satan shall 
 be bound **that he may deceive the nations no more, 
 till the thousand years shall be fulfilled.'** ^^^Af- 
 ter that,'' it is said, '*he must be loosed a little sea- 
 son."! This ^*little season" is obviously contrast- 
 ed with the preceding thousand years, and there- 
 fore cannot, at most, extend to more than three or 
 four centuries. 
 
 NoWj though it is iioteasy to determine the pre^ 
 ' cise point of time at which the commencement of 
 
The General Judgment, Si 
 
 liie milleiiiuum should be fixed, yet we v^*y well 
 know that tlie range within which all calculations on 
 this subject must be confined is quite inconsidera- 
 ble. Twenty-three hundred years are alloted in 
 the book of Daniel ^'•to give both the sanctuary and 
 the host to be trodden under foot.''* This period 
 embraces the destinies of at least the lasttliree of the 
 four great empires known in scriptural prophecy; 
 and the latter part of it synchronizes \tith the twelve 
 hundred and sixty years so familiar to the readers^ 
 of the book of revelations. It is a matter of no im- 
 portance^ in our present inquiry, whether the grand 
 prophetic period be dated from tiie sera of the vis- 
 sion, in the last year of the xissyrian monarchy; or 
 from that period in the history of the Persian em- 
 pire in which t!ie prophecy began to be accomplish- 
 ed. For though we should fix the commencement 
 of the period in question at tlie latest possible date, 
 yet still we are to look for the speedy commence- 
 ment of those thousand years of blessing, after the 
 conclusion of which ^^a little season'^ shall termi* 
 nate the history of our woe- worn world. We have 
 seen the Persian, the Grecian, the Roman domina* 
 tion, all of them included in the period in question, 
 successively give way: we have seen the anti-chris* 
 tian tyranny of Rome, to which prophecy allots 
 twelve hundred and sixty years, prevailing through 
 many centuries. We may therefore know that the 
 
 ^•Van. viii. 13^ 14. 
 
p^ tTie General Judgment, 
 
 plans of heaven are hoW near their consumiiiatioiL 
 And that which we are taught by the prophetic 
 scriptures to expect^, tiie signs of the times as plains 
 Ij indicate to be very near at hand. Over all the 
 the earth we mark a general movement: we sfee th6 
 standard of the cross planted and protected aihong 
 the remotest nations: we see the scriptures render^ 
 cd into many tongues: we see the hope of life eter- 
 nal gilding the last hours of maliy southern island- 
 ers: we see the fanes of idolatry deserted and des- 
 pised: we see the empire of Mohammed nodding to 
 its fall: we see every thing beginning to bend be* 
 fore the sceptre of that Saviour, who is to subdue 
 all people ^^to the obedience of the faith.'' We 
 know thcrefote, that the time is now very near at 
 hand when that Universal and heart-felt acclama- 
 tion, "salvation, and glory, and honour^ and pow- 
 er,'' shall ascend in all quartets from men of eveiy 
 name. Yet a little while then, and these thousand 
 years begin. Let them roll round — and then — no 
 man, no angel, can tell the eventful day— but then, 
 in the glory of his Father, and with all his holy 
 angels, Messiah shall appear. 
 
 It is not, perhaps, unimportant to remark, that 
 there is one mode of construing the prophecies that 
 define the duration of the millennium, w hich would 
 place the coming of that great and dreadful day at 
 a distance most discouragingly remote. Some in* 
 terpreters have been so unreasonable as to suppose, 
 that the thousand millennian years are to be wha(^^ 
 
T^e General Judgment. '^^ 
 
 "tJicy are pleased to call prophetic years; so that ey* 
 cry year should be construed to embrace three hun* 
 dred and sixty ordinary yeais, ai^d the millennium 
 itself be of course extended through the incompre- 
 hensible period of three hundred and sixty thousand 
 years. But such a construction violates all the es- 
 tablished rules of prophetic language. The book 
 of revelation (and the same remark may be extend. 
 Bd to all similar compositions) is a system of sym^ 
 bols^ in which one thing is placed as the represent- 
 ative of another somewhat analagous to it. It de- 
 serves also to be remembered that these symbols 
 are arranged on the principle of paintings or draw- 
 ings, in which a very small object is the represent- 
 ative of a large one. Alimost the whole book of rev- 
 elations is a description of the things seen bjr the 
 prophet in the unrolling of the small book which 
 tad been sealed with seven seab. Now it is an 
 easy matter to discover wherefore a day should be 
 in prophetic language the symbol of a year— the les- 
 ser revolution the symbol of the larger; but to make 
 a year the symbol of other years, would be to vio- 
 late all propriety aud fitness. It is true that in on^ 
 instance we find a departure froiri this established 
 form; the lesser prophetic period of twelve hundred 
 and sixty years is once indicated in Daniel by ^^a 
 time, times, and the dividing of time;'^ that is^ by 
 three and an half years. But even in this case, we 
 find tliat the language is still symbolical, and of 
 course are constrained to interpret it symbolicallj. 
 
'Sl^ Tlie General Judgment, 
 
 Very different is tlie fact in this xx. of Revelation, 
 The language is plain, the whole context is plain, 
 every thing else appears intended for literal inter- 
 pretation; and to make that a symbol which is no 
 where else so used, and in a passage too where no- 
 thing else is supposed to be symbolical, is indeed to 
 proceed most strangely in construing the word of 
 God. 
 
 Add to this that the whole current of scriptural 
 phraseology contradicts the idea of so long a mil- 
 lennium. Why those appeals to the Gentile chureh- 
 es, so often predicated on the shortness of the peri- 
 od that must intervene before the Judgment? 
 Why are the times in which the Apostles lived so 
 familiarly denominated '^the last times/' ^Hhe ends 
 of the worW? Every thing — every thing compels 
 us to adopt the cheering, the welcome, the most con- 
 solatory conclusion that the millennium shall endure 
 but for that thousand years; that the resurrection is at 
 hand; that the books shall soon be opened; that 
 within a veryfew centuries from the termination of that 
 millennium to which we can now look with eager- 
 ness as being ^^even at the door,-' we shall all be e^ 
 iectritied with that welcome invitation, ^^come, ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepa- 
 red for you fi^om the foundation of the world.'' 
 
 HI. Attend now to the circumstances connected 
 with his appearing. Did we need further confirm- 
 ation of the hope just r,ow established, we might 
 
Hie General Judgment. SS 
 
 '<3 
 
 find it in the assurance so often given that the th-one 
 ©f the last judgment will be established unexpect- 
 edly; sooner — much sooner, than the \Vorld will be 
 aware. The Saviour has said that all things will 
 be moving on regularly and securely, as on the day 
 when Noah entered into the ark. There will be 
 buying and selling, planting and building, feasting 
 and mourning, man-iages and burials — all things 
 will be going on in that populous age just as they 
 are at present. — Lo! darkness covers one half of 
 the globe, and its inhabitants ai^e engaged in was- 
 sail mirth, or locked in the arms of slumber. Here 
 and there you note an individual far otherwise em- 
 ployed. In one spot sits a mourner weeping the 
 sad providence that had quenched the light of her 
 joy, alight far dearer to her than the departed lamp 
 of day. In another kneels a suppliant, seeking liis 
 portion in a better world, feelingly confessing the 
 offences of the day, and summing up his wishes in 
 that ^^blessed hope and glorious appearing of the 
 great God our Saviour,'^ which shall free him 
 from the plague of an hard and deceitful heart. 
 Far to the East you see the traveller just risen 
 with the morning light, and setting forward briskly 
 and eagerly for the stage that is to terminate the 
 journeying of the day:— thus far, he says to himself, 
 shall I make progress to-day; yonder will I sleep 
 to-night; he spurs his tired jade, he stretches for- 
 ward toward his point; but eternity will bear re- 
 cord that he never reached it. Bevond him see 
 
:S6 The General Judgment, 
 
 the .assassin stealing toward his home, his hands 
 polluted with the blood of the unwary, and his 
 countenance ever varying between contending ex- 
 pressions of remorse and fear. Look now far to 
 the west, where the shades of night begin to settle 
 down. Mark the multitudes of some populous city, 
 how they throng into the house of God. It is an 
 evening long consecrated to prayer and thanksgiv- 
 ing, and now they are meeting to unite once again 
 in those exercises that have so often stayed the 
 wanderings of their hearts and lifted high their 
 hopes above the vicissitudes of the world. Theiv 
 song of praise is finished: they stand up to bless 
 and to worship and to supplicate the Lord their 
 God: they cry upon the Saviour to be present in 
 their assembly, according to the promise which be 
 in kindness gave. But scarcely has the name of the 
 Saviour passed their lips, scarcely has that cry re- 
 verberated from the cieling, •*come,Lord Jesus, come 
 ijuickly,'^ when behold! in a sense which they little 
 thought, Messiah is at hand! Yon lonely mourner 
 kas not yet dried her eyes, yon eager traveller has 
 made but little progress, yon ruthless murderer has 
 not yet reached his door— not yet washed his hands, 
 when, behold! the clouds begin furiously to raT?:e! 
 then suddenly parting, with a noise surpassing ten 
 thousand rolling thunders, they heap on either sidel 
 The astonished world looks upward, and lo! that 
 great white throne is already set for judgment; the 
 judge is already seated^ the books are already o^ 
 
ne General Judgment S7 
 
 Jiened; and ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
 thousands of thousands are the angels that climb 
 and throng the clouds of heaven, to view the sur« 
 prizing scene! 
 
 My dear friends, this is no picture of the fancy* 
 The prophet Daniel saw that judgment seat: he 
 saw those ministering spirits, thousands upon thou* 
 sands, myriads upon myriads, thronging round 
 the throne: and both David and Daniel tell us of a 
 flame that shot forth fierce and dreadful from be- 
 neath the judgment seat, and sent its volumes, cur- 
 ling as they darted, with brilliant sparks and loud 
 and bickering sound. 
 
 Yonder stands that throne, glittering like the 
 stars, white as the snow from heaven! Yonder, be- 
 fore it, plays devouring fire! Yonder, around it, 
 stand the hosts of seraphim! and all above is mute 
 and dreadful observation, while all the world sends 
 forth one cry of terror! 
 
 But not foi* these— ^not for these alone who startle 
 With amazement— is this array provided. Messiah 
 has come down to execute his judgments; and the 
 slumbering dust of many generations must abide the 
 great decision. Hear one bliast of that arch-angePg 
 trumpet, louder and longer than when he shook the 
 plain of Sinai, while thunders roared and lightnings 
 glanced around the smouldering peak! Hear but once 
 exerted that all-potent voice that pierced of old the 
 leaden ear of Lazarus! ^Arise ye dead and come tt^ 
 Judgment!' Earth and Ocean make one ssudd^ 
 
^ jTAe General Judgments 
 
 movetnent^ ^nd lol their surface teems! myHad^^ 
 niyi'iads, the dust of generations, again organ- 
 ized and animated, looks up toward that throne! 
 The small and the great are there: the infant of a 
 span, and the mail of vast dimensions were seeii 
 by the prophet arraigned before the judge.* 
 
 Nor are these all the dead. The Apostle Paul 
 has told us that ^^the dead in Christ rise first:'^f and 
 all these ttuiUitudes, these innumerable multitudes, 
 lift up their heads with joy. These, w'e are told, the 
 angels shall collect, and, bearing them aloft above^ 
 that fiery flame, set them in order on the right hand 
 of the judge. But their judgment is not yet. That 
 judgment is <^the revelation of the righteousness of 
 Godj*' and all the world must witness it. Again 
 the great arch-aiigel puts the trumpet to his lips; 
 and he blows it loud and long. Again is heard the 
 mandate of the Almiglity Judge: and, lo! the sur-- 
 face of the earth again in motion! the sea casts forth 
 another host of bodies! and death and hell pour 
 forth their agonized multitudes! Behold, the small 
 and the great are also there: the noble and the 
 mean throng and press and tread on one another. 
 
 Friends, if you can conceive it, conceive it for 
 yourselves! We will not attempt to paint the con- 
 sternation of that hour. The scriptures have said 
 it, «^all kindreds of the earth shall wail:*'{ the 
 scriptures have particularized, among this throng 
 ^f many generations, the very men \Vho flouted and 
 
 •*i2ei\ XX. 12. fi- Tliess. iv. 16* JJSer. i. 7*. 
 
^he General Judgment, ^ 
 
 who pierced the Saviour in the day of his greatest 
 sorrow: and they have left you to imagine, they have 
 not taught me to depict the scene, when the sight of 
 that Messiah shall blast the vision of his murder- 
 ers. Nor have they any hope of safety. Conceal- 
 ment is attempted; but the eye of the Judge is fixed 
 steadily upon them: its fires are like the basilisk^s, 
 and it chains them to the spot. Rocks and moun- 
 tains are called upon to cover tliem from the face of 
 him who sits upon the throiie. But rocks would 
 skip like lambs, and mountains like the unicorn, 
 at the bidding of that voice. Man alone proved 
 regardless of his maker's mandate; and he must a- 
 bide the consequence. 
 
 See now that throng, the tamult just subsiding 
 after the first surprise. Mark the weeping and 
 wailing, the mute despondence and the maniac 
 I'ase. Eternity has commenced, and yonder is 
 the Judge who is to assign their portion in it! — Say, 
 ^hope of Israel!' say, Lamb of God! shall th^ ap- 
 peal be made to thee? Behold ^'I called, and ye 
 refused; 1 stretched out my hand, and no man re- 
 garded. But ye set at nought all my counsel, 
 and would none of my reproof.**" Prepare ye for 
 the judgment. Ye nations of the saved, shall an ap- 
 peal be loxlged with you? Ah! many of that crowd, 
 flow frantic with despair or nerveless through dis* 
 may, had once fondly hoped to have risen with 
 fheir friends; to have started from the dust^ at the 
 
fi^st sumittons of the tmmpety with some of yon(!6!? 
 frleJids now sfeatfed on that cloud. But the trumpet 
 that awoke yon happy multitudes pierced not these 
 slumberer's ears: while the angels of God wete col- 
 lecting them from the foui* winds of heaven, these 
 fetill were in the dust. And, behold! when that 
 second blast aroused them, they could no more than 
 barely see those friends— see them at a distance, a^ 
 bove the region of that fire. Gaze upon them they 
 might, gaze upon them they still may; but they 
 can get no nearer* That curling flame opposes 
 their approach: no strong angel will divide it; no 
 minister of grace will lift them up towards those 
 heights! --^Take then thy look-— a last, he^tt-rend- 
 iftg look! See them again thou shalt not; nor never, 
 never, touch them; nor speak with them any more. 
 Haste! one look of anguish! one last, one rapid 
 glance! for, lo^ the books are opened; a world k 
 now arraigned; and in the awful expectancy of the 
 last just judgment every other thought is for the mo* 
 mfent swallowed up* 
 
 Brethren, shall we I'ead to you the Records of 
 those volumes? shall your consciences this day 
 read to you the record of your lives? Of one thing 
 be ye sure as that this is the oracle cf the living 
 God^ every thing that each one of you this day re- 
 tn^^mbers, and much more that ybit have forgotten— 
 tvery secret thought and every idle word, every 
 deed of great or small impoi'tance, every act of 
 goodness even to the giving a cup of cold water to 
 n disciple of the Saviour for his master's sake— 
 
The General Judgment. -M 
 
 ftll— all shall at tbat hour rise up in remembrancfi 
 before Jesus Christ. And your own hearts, your 
 memories, are also in his hand; that band will re- 
 vive your faded recollections; and all that you have 
 been will rise up in train before you. It will be 
 done that conscience may set her seal to his decis^ 
 sions, and heaven and eartli and hell concede th,e 
 glory of his righteousness. 
 
 We must not detain you with the details of that 
 hour. Friends, you will be there! You will no 
 doubt see them all. ¥et fifteen hundred years^ 
 jet fourteen hundred years, and you must take 
 your station on the right hand of that Judge; or 
 stand below upon the left, among those who shall 
 be quickened last| where is anguish, and horror, 
 ^nd helj. 
 
 Kead for yourselves the decisions of that dajp 
 Hear the Saviour say to the hosts of his redeemed^ 
 to those who had confided in him because they felt 
 that they could not save themselves; and had lov« 
 ed him and honoured him, because they hoped for 
 his salvation; hear the Saviour say to them, ^Come^ 
 Hear him pronounce the forgiveness of their sins^ 
 through the merits of his death; the acceptance of 
 their persons, through his own complete obedience; 
 the recompense of their good deeds, recognized and 
 rewarded by condescension and munificence:*— 
 Hear them judged upon that ground on which alone 
 God can be just, and the justifier of the ungodly 
 believing in his Son: — then mark the final seateuce^ 
 ^^come; ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kiiif ^ 
 
g^ Tlie General Judgment. 
 
 dom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 World.'^* 
 
 Now mark the sentence that sheds darkness on 
 the left. The innumerable multitudes that throng 
 together there are without any Saviour. Many of 
 them were entreated, but they refused to apply to 
 him: they were warned, but they would not hear- 
 ken: they were assailed with argument; they even 
 professed conviction of the necessity of making ap- 
 plication to the Saviour; but they still defered it, 
 they waited for a happier mood or a more conveni- 
 ent season; and they died as they had lived. They 
 HAVE NO Saviour: they stand upon the footing of 
 their individual deeds: justice, of course^ condemns 
 them^ and the sentence is "de/party 
 
 Ages have testified that the voice of Jesus Christ 
 is the voice of the omnipotent. No sooner does he 
 speak than he executes the sentence. Forthwith 
 that flame that burst from beneath the throne, and 
 had rolled in volumes harmless though terrific — 
 forthwith that flame darts forward on the crowd; 
 flash upon flashy flash upon flish brings its ap- 
 proaches nearer. There is no longer space to throw 
 themselves prostrate and supplicate the Judge: 
 there is no longer leisure to wring their hands in ag- 
 ony. Volume rolls over volume, flash darts onward 
 after flash; and at each successive impulse the ghast- 
 ^ly throng gives back— till, lo! the mouth of unfath- 
 omable helll and they are gone forever!! 
 
 ^Matt. XXV. S% 
 
Tlie General Judgment. 33 
 
 & God! the God of all salvation! deliver us— = 
 deliver all this people, from the honors of that day! 
 Brethren, those horrors are only just commencing. 
 On next Lord's day we expect to lead you down to 
 survey that region of unutterable woe. AVe w ill do 
 it with the hope of bringing you up again, and of 
 planting you on that cloud whence it still must be 
 your lot to survey this scene of horror; but not to 
 survey it as those who have no hope. Were it not 
 for this, it would be to us a painful task to unveil 
 the solemnities of the eternal world; for the des- 
 cription of this scene could have no other effect than 
 io torment you before the time. 
 
 And now remember, we pray you^ that terrific as 
 has been our painting, it has been taken in every 
 instance from the word of truth. So far have we 
 been from giving the reins to fancy, so far from de- 
 picting even all that the scriptures tell us about tliat 
 momentous hour, that our description has fallen 
 short of the half of what they tell us. 
 
 Will you then call it wisdom to shun all care^ 
 by closing your bibles and absenting yourselves in- 
 tirely from the public assemblies of the church of 
 God! Will you foolishly conclude that to forget 
 these things is to put off the evil day, or to render 
 the danger less! Nay, if you will have it so, I will 
 shut this Bible. And now — where is your hope? 
 Htill it is true, though you had never heard it, tJiat 
 he day is appointed, and that these terrors come, 
 itiilit is true; though you wish to forget it. that your 
 
 E ' ' ' 
 
34 The General Judgment, 
 
 every word and deed, and every secret tlionght^ 
 s all be sifted in tliat jadgraent. All sinful men 
 s ill see it, though now they do not fear it. All 
 heathen men shall witness it, though now they do 
 not know it. The thing is a truth, independently 
 of scriptural attestation to it. The scriptures only 
 tell you, that you may prepare for it in time. They 
 also tell vou that the Beios: who then shall sit a 
 rigorous Judge^ stands now a most compassionate 
 and all-sufficient Saviour. They invite you to come 
 to him like the leprous and the blind, the palsied 
 and the lame, in the days when he was like your- 
 selves a son of temptation and ol sorrow: and that 
 same truth that shall seal the decision of the 
 general judgment^ now seals the cheering as- 
 sui-ance to all nations, that whosoever will come 
 to Jesus Christ shall in no wise perish, but shall 
 have eternal life. But then you must come to him 
 as to a Saviour from your sinfulness, as well as 
 fri-m the terrors of a general judgment. You must 
 obey his commandment, "^-take my yoke upon you 
 and learn of mi\'^ You must not be ashamed of 
 Mm — short-sighted, foolish creatures! ashamed of 
 him whose gh.)? y we just now saw! at whose terrors 
 we were afrairil— You must not be ashamed of him: 
 you must put in your lot with Jesus Christ: you 
 must avow your election before earth and heaven: 
 or you must abide the alternative — Jesus Christ 
 lias sworn it — ^» whosoever sJiall be asliamed of nif 
 and of my words/ of hiui shall the Son of man bf' 
 
Tlie General Judgment, 35 
 
 ashamed^ when lie shall come in his own glory, and 
 in his Father's and of the holy angels. ''* 
 
 Make now your election. Friends of my heart 
 — you for whose happiness I would gladly spend 
 my life — yet a little while, and the liberty of choice 
 will be taken away from you forever. Yet twenty 
 years, yet forty years, and most of you will slumber^ 
 only to be awakened by the arch-angePs trumpet. 
 Yet fifteen hundred, yet fourteen hundred years, 
 ^nd ye awake to sleep no more! 
 
 Son of God, thy message is delivered! Saviour 
 of the world, let it not return unto thee void! May 
 all this people consider their latter end! vl ay these 
 bones so dead and dry become the quickened of 
 thy Spirit! And may I w ho sow, and these who 
 reap, arise and rejoice together, in that glad hour 
 when thy glory shall be consummated, and thy joy 
 shall be full! — -^Imen. 
 
 Luke IX. S6. 
 
©lEiBmcM aa 
 
 HELL. 
 
 ^^Toi^het is ordained of old; yen for the Jcivg H li 
 jjvepared; he hath made it deej) and large; the 
 'pile thereof is fire and much icood: the breath 
 of Jehovah J like a stream of brimstone, doth kin^ 
 die it,^^ Isaiah, xxx. 38. 
 
 ^^Gursed be my father who kekl back my feet 
 from entering on tlie way of life.'' \^ hen one of 
 Biinyan's female Pilgrims heard this harrowing 
 sentence, as it rose np to the regions of mortal 
 health and hope, through that famous '^bye-way'^ 
 to the land of darkness, we are t(dd she trembled 
 and turned away with horror; and looking fearful- 
 ly upon her guides, with half-formed words and 
 pale and quivering lip, she beckoned them to lead 
 lieivoff. 
 
 "W hat, to-day, my brethren, are to be youi' emotions* 
 whether paleness shall chase away the glow upon 
 your cheeks; whether horror shall unstring or ren- 
 
 der rigid every nerve; the progress of our hour can 
 alone disclose. But we meet you this morning? a^s 
 
m Metl 
 
 those slieplierds met the pilajrims, to shew you 
 fearful slights. You shall more than hear that voice 
 of lameutation that made the pilgrims startle. You 
 ^hall note scenes more horrifying than that hopeless 
 Wailing that unstrung the nerves of Mercy. — You 
 pondered last Lord's day the revelation of God's 
 eternal righteousness, in the decisitms o^* the gene- 
 ral judgment. You stood at the opening of that 
 ^<bye-way" to the abodes of wretchedness through 
 which nothing could be perceived but smoke and 
 pitchy darkness, and by which nothing ascended 
 but the sound of distant wailing. You saw how 
 Topliet opened w ide her infernal jaws to receive at 
 once a w orld of sinfnl men; you saw how they were 
 urged to the very brink, then precipitated down the 
 unfathomable steep, by that fierce and bickering 
 flame, that rolled its volumes from beneath the judg- 
 ment-Seat. 
 
 To-day we Would lead your contemplations down 
 through these yet unbarred gates of everlasting 
 death. We follow^ no other guide thari the scriptures 
 of truth. We portray no scenes but those which 
 the Spirit of truth has said shall come to pass. And 
 we attempt indeed most cheerfully this perilous 
 descent; for it is in the hope that you — even you— 
 may be stirred up to consider your latter end, and 
 tread only this once this vale of many horrors, that 
 ybu may take leave of it forever. 
 
 We cannot delay to unfold the occasi^m on which 
 tliese words were spoken. It is sufficient for yon 
 
Hell. m 
 
 to know that they relate to that proud Assyria:^ 
 conqueror who having laid waste the nations, and 
 trodden down the land of Palestine, besieged Jeru- 
 salem, threatened loudly her holy and magnificent 
 temple, and even went so far as to express his defi- 
 ance o* the Ood of Israel. In the compass of one 
 night the pestilence wasted 185,000 of his men. 
 In the city of Nineveh, in the temple of his idol^ 
 his sons conspired and slew him; and lo, says oujf 
 prophet, behold the end of this vain boaster! AH 
 hell was moved to meet him: malignant spirits cri- 
 ed, ^'art thou too come down? art thou become as 
 one of us?'' This is tophet; this is the spirit that 
 reigns among its myriads. "Ji was ordained qI 
 old; for the king it was prepared,'' &c. 
 
 We stop not at its entrance; we will walk through 
 this land of horrors, in the length of it, and in tli^ 
 breadth of it. We will see how all life there with- 
 ers beneath the curse. No fiowers deck it; no bree- 
 zes fan it; no sun of heaven cheers it; no busy 
 schemes, no cheerful hope, no playful fancy, no no- 
 ble daring, variegate it. It is that place prepared 
 to teach the universe how slender their resources^ 
 where almighty power does not decorate the dweU 
 ling: it is that place prepared to attest the resour- 
 ces of almighty God, how like himself, how far a^ 
 bove our thoughts, how high above our ways, whsr 
 ther lie deals out the blessing or the curse. 
 
 You will noty we hope, desire to be delayed by 
 fruitless and unwarranted dis(|uisitions on the ([uei<» 
 
4d Hell. 
 
 tions so often urged in relation to the locality of the 
 place of punishment, and the nature of its fires. At 
 a time when less important matters pressed us, we 
 would willingly give our own ideas on these ques- 
 tions, in so far as any thing can be clearly inferred 
 from scripture. But as the answers must invcdve 
 metaphysical discussions both tedious and difficult, 
 we cannot now desert the plain and open road to 
 enter on these crooked and tangled paths. It may 
 be within or without the limits of this great and vis- 
 ible creation. It may be separated from the fair 
 and happy universe eitlier by distances immeasura- 
 ble, or by the different organization of those who 
 inhabit it — an organization which fits them to per- 
 ceive no objects but those of a particular class, to 
 which the channels of perception are adapted. We 
 know not. All that we at present state as certain 
 on the subject is, that it is <^. r^hiined of old;" r.Kd 
 that <<the breath of the Lord tike a stream of brim- 
 stone doth kindle it.'' The jtlace. (if indeed it have 
 any relation to place,) the nature of it, will be 
 known in that dread hour, when death and hell 
 shall vomit forth their millions, and sist them before 
 the unreproveable tiibunal of Messiah. 
 
 We will sum up all that we have time to say up- 
 on this subject, in these two plain and scriptural i- 
 ileas: the horror^ of the place, and state, consist 
 
 I, In eternal banishment from God's fair aa^ 
 good creation; mv\ 
 
 XI. In the suffentig ox eteruai pain. 
 
Hell . 41 
 
 I. The complete separation of the region of 
 curse from all that is orderly and happy in creation 
 is often and most clearly taught in scripture. It is 
 a place of ^^outer darkness;^' it is a prison where 
 captives are ^^reserved in chains of darkness;'' it is 
 ^^a lake that hums with fire and hrimstone;" it is 
 divided from the whole creation by a gulf that, af- 
 ter the judgment, will be impassible. These and a 
 variety of similar assurances you will readily re- 
 collect. Nor is this a mere arbitrary or indifferent 
 arrangement. It wears the stamp cf the strictest 
 propriety, and even of the strongest necessity. 
 
 1 . Why should the presence of beings polluted 
 beyond measure, and hourly growing worse, of be- 
 ings without hope; and therefore reckless of eve- 
 ry consequence and fearless of all law, — why should 
 their presence be suffered to harrow up the feelings 
 of the good and happy, or to degrade and pollute 
 the beautiful scenery of God's perfect universe? 
 Fearless of God, and hopeless of amendment, it ig 
 right and necessary that they be adjudged to a state 
 of eternal separation. 
 
 3. But they might do more than pollute; they 
 might corrupt, they might destroy. Eternity will 
 not alter, however it may augment, the powers and 
 faculties, physical and intellectual, of tlic happy or 
 the miserable. They must still be the same beings^, 
 regulated in their feelings and sensations, in their 
 motives and conduct, by the very laws that regu- 
 late them now. We shall hereafter see this to he 
 
 F ■ 
 
4^ Hell. 
 
 a source of grievous puuislmient. But were sucl^ 
 fienuisli spirits let loose in the full exercise of their 
 appropriate powers, who can tell the havoc that 
 malice might prompt and cunning spread among 
 the works of God! Upon themselves and among 
 themselves let all their powers be spent. Protect 
 the happy universe! keep them by themselves! 
 
 3. Nor might violence alone prevail. The holy 
 and the happy might be corrupted by them. We 
 are social beings by the very constitution of our na- 
 ture; capable of influencing and of being influenced 
 by one another. The secret of all happiness, the 
 spur to all exertion, the very love of glory, spring 
 from social feeling — from that y^v^ feeling which 
 must cease to be, before we can f)e immovable by 
 the iniiuence of those around us. Neither the bliss 
 of heaven nor the anguish of hell can prevail to 
 change our nature: we must be social beings still; 
 anci the laws of our feeling, must be the laws of 
 social life. The stability of the innocent therefore 
 absolutely demands the banishment of the impure; 
 lest in some sad hour, some slight suggestion, some 
 well laid train, some specious lure, should rob them 
 of tiseir innocence and spread infection roijnd. We 
 are not to forget that one single taint, one momen- 
 tary feeling, the very slight^est digression from the 
 law of upiightness, brings guilt upon the con- 
 science; therefore sluices most certainly the foun- 
 tains of IHe, and hoists the iloodgates of pollution 
 and of horror. We know that when in heaven one 
 
iiau^^lity spirit fell, the impulse flew like pestilence 
 kmoiig the ranks of seraphim. The integrity that 
 chained them to the eternal throne gave way; and 
 that bond once severed, they swung suddenlv from 
 their moorings, and sunk— all hell will tell you 
 how rapid and how low. 
 
 Just in proportion to the susceptibility of the 
 heart, just hi proportion as our feelings are string 
 land tender, we are liable to be wrought upon by 
 those with whom we come in contact, provided we 
 regard them as affectionate and guileless. But the 
 iieart of the innocent is naturally susceptible; the 
 affections of the innocent are strong aud tender. 
 God made them so; and he made them so in kind- 
 tiess, that they might be capable of high as well as 
 hallowed happiness. Hence results the danger 
 of exposing the innocent to any unhallowed im- 
 pulse. Pollution may taint them, cunning may 
 mislead them, before they are awire. And es- 
 tranged though never so little from the way of up- 
 rightness, tainted however slightly b^ the breath of 
 the polluted, they are innocent ho more.— Then it 
 is in mercy to the happy of this universe that ^^To- 
 phetis ordained of old." Far and forever be remov- 
 ed from them the corrupter^s blandisliments: let not 
 the guileless be cheated of their hope: let not the 
 unthinking be surprised into transgression by the 
 devices of that forsaken, but sti'onga'rl active, por- 
 tion of creation. Keep them by themselves. 
 
4^ Well. 
 
 II. It is bternal separation. Now attend ye (b 
 the punishment. That ])anishment itself forms no 
 small item in the list of endless horrors. But to- 
 day we meet the objection so often urged against 
 the scriptures iri relation to this subject. It is be- 
 neath the dignity of Almighty God, we hear, to 
 let himself dt)wn as the tormentor of his creatures. 
 The objection, like most others supposed to be 
 levelled against the doctrine of the scriptures, proves 
 nothing but the ignorance or the misapprehension 
 of those who urge il. They mistake the grossly 
 vulgar and superstitious notions of the crowd fot 
 the lessons taught us in the page of inspiration. It 
 is like those portraits and descriptions of the fallen 
 spirits which present them under strange and even 
 ludicrous appearances, with cloven feet, and crook- 
 ed horns, and an hundred other ridiculous appen- 
 dages. Look at the scriptural account, of Lucifer 
 for instance, and you find quite a different beitig. 
 You see only the ruins of stupendous greatness — • 
 feeling and intellect powerful though blighted, ac- 
 tive though perverted:— You s«e him an archangel, 
 though archangel fallen; a being great but dreadful; 
 changed like the moon when, despoiled of all her 
 brightnes, she lowers in dim eclipse. This the 
 scriptures tell you is a fallen spirit. Now tln-ow 
 away your conceptions, idle and unfounded, in re- 
 lation to the nature of eternal punishment, and hear 
 1 scriptural account of these abodes of horror. 
 i. We said it is banishment from God's fair and 
 
innocent creation, and yoxx approve that sentence 
 well. You must approve the sentence, for mark 
 how it is merited! There is nothing now of beau- 
 ty or of blessedness within the compass of this wid» 
 creation, which eternal power did not produce and 
 unfathomable skill arrange. He made you. H© 
 fitted you up with noble faculties, and with avenues 
 of sensation and perception which prove the inlets 
 of ten thousand strong and pleasurable feelings de- 
 rived from things around you. He then permit* 
 you to enjoy his bounty; he prescribes the bounds, 
 he notes the order in which you may enjoy it; and 
 he bids you remember, love him and be happy.— 
 And you do— -what? You convert every bounty of 
 munificent providence into an occasion of forgetting 
 him, a reason for disobeying him, an incitement to 
 those excesses which dishonour and offend him. 
 You make the very liberality with which he has 
 crowned creation, and the exquisite skill with which 
 he has adapted you to reap enjoyment from it, a 
 reason for loving the creature more than him who 
 made it, and who made it for your happiness. Your 
 tenderest affections spurn the proffers of eternal love, 
 and fasten with all their force on every trifle that 
 surrounds you. You pervert your noble intellect 
 and all your exalted faculties from their just and 
 fittest exercise, and degrade them like slaves to 
 ^•ater for your appetites. All that is binding in th« 
 commands of God, all that is sacred in his institu- 
 tions^ all that is alluring in his love^ is neglected^ 
 
4(5 B'lL 
 
 despised^ tMrnnled down. Your tiealtti ann Toiii* 
 liiiie^ your affections and your faculties, the li^litof 
 heaven, th6 whole riches of creation, are prostituted 
 in the pufsuit of selfish short-lived purposes. And 
 yoU^ ati inteliectukt, moral and immortal being, ac- 
 'lually live ahd think and feel as if there were no 
 fiod^ atid as if you dared not hope a destiny high- 
 er than the creatures Grod made for your conven- 
 ience. Now be yourself the judge. Is it unwor- 
 thy of God, is a not fair, is it not equal, that they 
 who refuse the Almighty as the source of happi- 
 liess, who even pursue their happiness in defiance 
 of his law^ and abuse for that end the riches of his 
 it)wn creatidri-^is it any thing more than just that 
 Ihey be banished from these fair scenes, and left to 
 ttraw for happiness on their own resources? De- 
 pitrt from God; you did not, would not, love him or 
 obey hini. Depart from his fair and obedient cre- 
 ation; while it was your home you but abused it, 
 and made it a reason for dishonoring him. Go — 
 take up your abode in some far distant quarter 
 where the breath of the Almighty fans not the air 
 Ground you. but all is stagnant as the loathsoma 
 fen and hateful as the house''of death. Go to that 
 dfear region where the light of heaven sends no 
 Wandering rays, where genial sunbeams never clotheb 
 the scene with verdure nor sprinkle it withbeaven- 
 stained ifowers. Go pitch your abode on that dask 
 t)Uniing marl; ajid let other thnn the almighty i)ead- 
 Vrfy your dwellings let other than his exuberance 
 
Hell ^ 
 
 ^pply yonr many wants.— Wants? Yos, if yoq[ 
 are a created being, if you have appetites, fee)iiigs, 
 faculties, these will be revived with your reviving 
 dust — every law, ^very active principle of your be^ 
 ing, will return to you in all their vigor. Happj^ 
 ness will still be the great desire of your heart; but 
 behold you are cut off from all in which you ha<l 
 sought it; every resource is withdrawn from which 
 you could posssibly derive it. Let memory revert 
 to ancient scenes and occupations, let appetite crave^ 
 let passion rage, let every feeling, every active prin^ 
 eiple of your being, cry o!it for happiness and for ap. 
 propriate employment, A just God bids you be hap- 
 py if you can. Your passion injures no one, youH 
 appetites wrong no one. If without the living firod, 
 and the resources of his all-sufficiency, a creatuirjB 
 can be happy, happy let it be. It is thus that jus-~ 
 *ice exacts the penal t;^ of crime. Men foster thelF 
 appetites; those appetites return upon them ajid burg 
 and flame forever. They sicken, they faint vvitl| 
 desire, but creation's riches are utterly wiihdrajF% 
 and they have no supply. Those appetites x)ppr&s^ 
 them, those passions scourge them, those habits 
 return upon them in all their wonte.d vigor^ but they 
 find no object from without on whicfi to fasten, aiid 
 they turn and prey upon the soul that uourij^hed 
 them. worm that never dies! O fire that iievjer^^^ 
 never shall be quenched! Thou appetites art th^^ 
 worm, thou passion art that fire^ and ye sli^ll jiy^ 
 forever! 
 
m MelL 
 
 These are but the scenes aroimd the gates of To^^ 
 phet, and they are only the beginnings of many sor- 
 I'ows. No, God does not degrade himself as the 
 tormentor of his creatures. Let liim only withdraw 
 the bounty they abused, and they are already miser- 
 able. Let him only revive them with appetites and 
 passions they once cherished, then let them alone — 
 they are their own tormentors. — Say you who are 
 created a social being, a being with affections natu- 
 rally strong and tender, all whose pursuits, and e- 
 yen all whose offences are predicated entirely on 
 the laws of social being — you who are charmed, 
 are fired, are deluded, are ruined by ambition; what 
 would you do were your abode now confined to that 
 unholy and unsocial place, where there is none in 
 all the universe to admire or applaud you? You who 
 feel the sacredness of friendship, who realize that 
 the first principle of happiness is love, that every 
 thing like happiness in heaven or on earth, is in the 
 interchange of love — what would you think of be- 
 ing adjudged to that place where your social prin- 
 ciple, where the law of love continues strong as ev- 
 er, but where every object you hear and see is dis- 
 gusting from pollution, cr hateful from passion, and 
 where you can never come in contact with aiighl; that 
 you can love? What would yon think of being your- 
 self given up to be hateful and hated, without one 
 being to pity you, and without one thing that loves 
 you in the universe of Grod? Immortal spirits, that 
 is very Tophef f and thi^ shall be their misery ^Ylm 
 
Hell 4iU 
 
 <ake up a lodging there. Every heart is wrapt 
 in selfishness; every brow scowls hatred on its fellow; 
 and love and tenderness, delightful love and over« 
 flowing tenderness, have taken leave forever. O 
 feeling bleak and dreary! feeling dark and dread- 
 ful! The bleakest spot on earth were a paradise of 
 sweets contrasted with the appearances creatioa 
 must assume in the apprehension of the spirit that i 
 loves nothing in the universe, and has none to love j 
 itself. 
 
 No, God is not the tormentor of his creaturcsi 
 leave them to themselves, they will execute his sen^ 
 tence. — Order is Heaven^s first law. Social be- 
 ings only then act with energy and effect, when they 
 unite their efforts, when they submit to some di- 
 recting and controling principle, when they put 
 forth their powers in obedience to some law, God 
 reigns over the universe; and all is union, harmony, 
 and success, where his wise ordination is regard- 
 ed. Even in the place of punishment this princi- 
 ple still prevails. The powers of Hell have their 
 objects in view, the dishonour of God, the ruin of 
 mankind; and they now act in concert, they obey a 
 leader, they unite to fulfil his plans, that their ends 
 may be obtained. We therefore read of the chief 
 apostate as being ^^the prince of the powers of the 
 air.'^ But at the general judgment, even that slight 
 bond of union will be broken; the measure of their 
 guilt and punishment will then be full: and having 
 no more inducement to obey a leader, every bon4 
 
m Metl 
 
 being broken, all subjection spurned, all order dis-. 
 rega. ded, what tongue can tell, what heart conceive^ 
 the wild confusion of the place of woe! It is each 
 one for himself, defying and defu dl each spirit op- 
 posing every other spirit! And Tophet shall teach 
 the universe the benefit of order, Tophet shall 
 «peak the blessedness of subjection to some law, 
 while every heart is tortured by conflicting feelings, 
 and every ear distracted with the eternal din. Lei 
 r.TEHNiTY ROLL on! There no sleep shall quell 
 the rampancy of passion: eternity shall speak, 
 through all her rolling years, the curse of social be- 
 ing, when freed from social law. 
 
 But why should we attempt to trace the yet uu- 
 aiumbered forms in which the laws of their being 
 bind misery on those who are ejected from the care 
 and from the government of God? In body they 
 must suffer as well as in the immaterial part. Those 
 nerves, those fibres, every thing that had been abu- 
 sed in being made an incentive to iniquity, all that 
 had been prostituted to uiilawful purposes, all that 
 had been degraded as the instrument of sin--what- 
 ever had been in any way perverted, when a wise 
 and bountiful God had made it a mean of innocent 
 delight— all these shall be only known, thencefor- 
 ward and forever, as the avenues of pain. Do not 
 ask me how the body shall be made to suffer— eter- 
 . ' nally to sHffer--without being wasted or weakened. 
 I cannot fathom the resources of the Omnipot nt. 
 I cannot tell in 'what way he may so (String tha 
 
mi u 
 
 j&erves, that every movement shall extort tliie shriek 
 of agony, and every pulsation prove a tiirob of 
 j)ain. But I know who has announced his resolu- 
 tion so to do. I know who has compared the keen- 
 itiess of that anguish to the most exquisite misery 
 Hvhich human nature endjires. And how shall I 
 respond, when God repeats his challenge, ^*who 
 can dwell with devouring fire? who can dwell \\ih 
 everlasting burnings?" 1, whose very heart woi d. 
 die within me to think only of heing parched With 
 an eternal fever, or of grappling with the cravings 
 of ever-gnawiiig hunger, or even pining under the 
 anguish of eternal head-ache— how should 1 des- 
 cribe, were it even possible to conceive, the ways of 
 the Almighty, when he strings every nerve to vib- 
 rate only agotiy, and opens every sense as a rivulet 
 of woe! 
 
 We liave not time to dwell on these feeble deline- 
 ations. We cannoi stop to note tlie burdens impo- 
 sed by the self- accusing spirit. When it summons its 
 Recollections to all that it has done, all that it has 
 neglected, all that it has abused, all that it has lost. 
 My text names one item in the list of future ills; it 
 is the chief of all horrors; and with it we will con- 
 clude this fearful and too painful survey. While 
 ^•tlie pile" of Tophet ^^is fire and much wood," ^'the 
 breath (the Spirit) of the Lord, like a stream of brim- 
 stone, doth kindle it." We said God does not de- 
 ;grade himself to become a tormentor of his creatures: 
 -and we spoke it trdy. But we will tell you whal 
 
i^^ Hell 
 
 he does do. He leaves them to themselves^ atid 
 that desertion is perdition. The Holy Spirit — ^the 
 fountain of all life, the author of every delightful 
 sensation and perception — that Holy Spirit utterly 
 deserts them. We cannot exactly define to yoU 
 what is to be understood by this desertion of the 
 Holy Spirit. Neither you nor 1 have ever expe* 
 tienced it: and 1 hope in God that none of us ever 
 may. But this much we do know: the Spirit of 
 God is the immediate author and maintainer of all 
 that we call life> light, and appropriate activity of 
 any description whatsoever. He breathes in the flow- 
 ers, he shines in the light, he animates every ob* 
 ,}ect, he lives in every living scene. It is his pre- 
 sence that cheers us and sustains our feelings; it is 
 liis intelligence that irradiates our understandings, 
 and imparts energy to our faculties; and his activi- 
 ty is in some sort identified with our every exer- 
 tion^ and sensation, and perception. It is emphat- 
 ically true, with respect to all the activities of our 
 ^ being, that <^in him we live and move."* Life is 
 f ^peculiarly his department; life in all its exercise, 
 as well as in its origin. We never lived without 
 him; and we, therefore, cannot discriminate between 
 the activities of our being as they subsist by his 
 support, and as they may be said to be more pro- 
 perly our own. But they are not inseparable. In* 
 ^ stances there have been^ many instances, in which 
 
 ^cts, xvii. is. 
 
Wilful men have been deserted by the Spirit, and 
 sealed up in this life to eternal reprobation And 
 it well deserves our notice that no such instance has 
 at any time occurred in which the unhappy suffer* 
 ers did not distinctly note the very moment when 
 the Holy Spirit left them. We appeal to every 
 case of absolute despair that is any where to b© 
 found on record. — The fact is remarkable; but it ig 
 precisely such as the holy scriptures might lead us 
 to anticipate. We, however, who have been sus- 
 tained and animated and cheered, from our very 
 infancy, by that good Spirit of God, We can form 
 no conception — no clear conception — of the feeling 
 that must ensue, when the Holy Spirit deserts a 
 mortal or immortal being, and leaves them, so to 
 speak, to sustain the weight of their own existence. 
 They who experience it can tell the very moment; 
 they have a sort of consciousness — a manner of ex- 
 istence — which they never had before. Jt is ours 
 only to discover that every thing like exhilaration, 
 every thing like elasticity and buoyancj of spirit, 
 ceases utterly: the heart is rendered a perfect des- 
 olatiou, incapable of one kindly feeling: and con- 
 sciousness, thus left unsupported by attachments; 
 sits heavy — heavy — on the soul. 
 
 Let the sufferings of the Saviour display the op- 
 eration of this ingredient in the cup of man\s perdi- 
 tion. He drained to the uttermost the cup of penaU 
 iy} and this dereliction of the Holy Spirit was to 
 him the most horrifying of all his suiTerings, He 
 
S4 jfpit 
 
 liad endured without a murmur all that th6 cruel* 
 ty of man and craft of devils were able to inflicts 
 Even ^mid the horrors of Gethsemane's garden. 
 When he endured the direct pressure of the Al- 
 mighty's Wraths and suffered agony s^o extreme that 
 the tender ramifications of the blood vessels burst, 
 and his whole frame became coveted with drops of 
 ibloody sweat, even then, it is recorded, he only 
 Wept and prayed. But when upon the cross he 
 sustained tliis last and most agonizing portion of 
 the penalty of sin, when the Holy Spirit— who had 
 Iheretofore played like a lambent fiame around his 
 iieart-— when that Holy Spirit left him, he cried out 
 for very agony, ^'My Crodj my (^od, why hast thou 
 forsaken me.*' Then was his night of hoil^ors. And 
 had he been less than divine, had less than his own 
 ^11 sufficiency sustained him, that desertion of God's 
 Spirit had been to hiiti) as to every creature, the 
 inlet of despair; and Jesus of Nazareth would have 
 ilied upon that cross with curses on his lips.-f^ 
 Spirit of the Eternal! thou oUly canst t^ll the hor- 
 i*ors of that heart which thy ])resence does not en- 
 liven. ThoU only canst delineate th« agonies of 
 that Tophet, that dark and deep and stagnant pool, 
 in which no living joy can spring, no cheering breath 
 he known. Without thy animating, all-enlivening 
 influence, the arch-angel Gabriel were a fiend ae- 
 t:ursed. 
 
 ^ 0, God (loss not degrade himself to become the 
 tormentor of his creatures. And yet when they 
 
4kll into the fires of that Tophet it may very co»^ 
 gistently appear that the '^Spirit of the Lord as a 
 stream of brimstone doth kindle tliem/' There, 
 as in every ©ther place, the God of immensity is 
 present. ^^If I make my hed in hell/' says the 
 Psalmist, "thou art there:'' and it is there that \\%, 
 will verify that assertion of the scriptures, ^^pur 
 €rod is a consuming fire/' Do you ask me how? 
 Remember, we pray you, the declaration of the 
 scriptures, that flesh aiul blood, in its present weak 
 condition, cannot possibly enter the^ kingdom of 
 heaven, cannot endure its light. Remember the 
 answer God gave to his servant Moses, when he 
 desired to see his face: "Tlu,u canst not seemyfa^e 
 and live." But in heaven, we are told, all see hlui 
 face to face; they know him intimately as they are 
 known; they have access direct, as friend to friencj 
 on earth. But their faculties are strengthened to 
 grasp the amazing object; their powers are sus^ 
 tained by the hand of the Almighty; his radiane^e 
 also beams in mild effulgence just as they can bear 
 it: otherwise even in heaven the faculties would be 
 overpowered, the feelings would be crushed. As 
 object so stupendous would bewilder and con^ 
 found; a brilliancy so glorious, such insuffisFablfi 
 brightness, would distract, would torture, the weak 
 being who beheld it. Know then that in Tophet, 
 as in the seats of Paradise, the living God t§ 
 known. There his stupendous greatness is reaL 
 l^ed; he is seeu fage to faqe^ the^ kiiovv \nm fts th^jf 
 
m Hell. 
 
 are known; but it is by faculties merely upheld ki 
 being, not strengthened for the vision. Compare 
 for one moment the greater with the less. You 
 know the lustre of the sun in heaven; you know 
 that the atmosphere which God has thrown around 
 ^he earth, and the vapours floating in it, reflect his 
 beams in ten thousand different ways, and shed a 
 mild and variant lustre on the whole face of heav- 
 en; which could never be but for this terrestrial at- 
 jnosj)here. Were there no such reflection, were 
 there no such mild relief, the sun would flame in 
 heaven with insufferable brightness, and every oth- 
 er point in the firmament above you would be black 
 as pitchy darkness. Dreadful then would be the 
 appearance of creation, now so mild and lovely. 
 But if that sun were increased a thousand fold in 
 brightness, if he were placed before your eyes 
 wherever your eyes could turn them, if your eyes 
 were so diseased that tiie feeblest ray tormented 
 them, what pang, what horror would such a state 
 
 involve! — Now remember that in that Tophet 
 
 the beautiful creation is excluded from every view: 
 his works do not reflect the mild effulgence of Divin- 
 ity: the dwellers there see only God himself: they 
 see liim darting a radiance insufferably bright, as 
 that sun would shine in heaven, did no atmosphere 
 allay his intolerable ray nor shed the glory in 
 reflected lustre round. Whatever way they turn 
 themselves, God is still before them; and they see 
 him with faculties not fitted for the sight, That 
 
Hell ' Sf 
 
 briglitness wliicli blesses tlia sound eyes of heaven^ 
 that stupendous greatness which elicits joy and 
 wonder, distract and overwhelm the weaklings of 
 the pit. You know something of the eflfects which 
 are wrought on our weak structure when stupendous 
 grandeur bursts upon the view. You look with de- 
 light on the beautiful cascade that falls in moderate 
 volume from a moderate height. You survey witli 
 feelings still supportable, though much more highly 
 wrought, the cataract that roars at the foot of some 
 huge precipice, provided it be formed only on a 
 scale of magnificence. But these feelings are 
 wrought up to a pitch of agony, you are unnerved^ 
 you are overwhelmed, when you approach the edge 
 of that tremendous steep down which the Niagara 
 pours his dark and rapid flood. Say then what fi- 
 bres could sustain the shock, what eye could gaze 
 upon the the maddening sight, were the St. Law- 
 rence and the Mississippi, the Amazon and La 
 Plata, united in one flood, and were that flood seen 
 to pitch in one tremendous sheet, ten thousand fath« 
 oms wide, ten thousand fatlioms deep!! We speak 
 perfectly within bounds when we dare and do as- 
 sert that such a sight would fell you as certainly 
 and suddenly as if smitten with heaven^s own thun- 
 der. There is a boundary, and it lies far within 
 the limits of created vastness, beyond which our fee- 
 ble faculties may not venture. Different degrees 
 of vastness delight, agitate, unnerve, destroy. 
 Now, let it not be thought that bein2;s who cannot 
 
 H 
 
08 Hell 
 
 sustain the perception of created vastness without 
 a feeling of indescribable anguish, may neverthe« 
 less bear up under the ^nanifestations of that stu- 
 pendous greatness which we attribute to him who 
 fills his own immensity. It matters not what is the 
 nature or character of the object that obtrudes itself 
 upon »)uf feeble sense. In order to overwhelm, it 
 is only necessary that it be vast and that it be clear- 
 ly seen. Eternity alone can clearly reveal how 
 stupendous is that Being whom Heaven and Hell 
 behold. But we ran infer something of his great* 
 m^ss from his stupendous works: and we— we who 
 are lost when we would scan those works, we w ho 
 are bewildered in the labyrinths of creation, we 
 who grow giddy when imagination sweeps through 
 the immeasurable lields of space, and searches for 
 worlds untold and forms of being unknown — what 
 would become of us, how should we feel, if we saw 
 that very being whose are all these wonders! if we 
 saw him as he is! saw him clearly as we disctrn 
 his nearest works! saw him in his immensity as the 
 PRESENT God! Why creation in all its vastness is 
 as nothing to his immensity. The glory of crea- 
 ation fades before bis brightness. We should not sec 
 it; HIM ONLY we should see. He formed it by a 
 word; at a word he could destroy it; with a wold 
 he could replace it. Yes, the glory of creation 
 fades, creation becomes a shade, before that im- 
 rneufip realKv! and at the view of his stupendous 
 greatness — see him; only see him as ho isl — im- 
 
Bell m 
 
 fiieasured space in an instant seems to dwindle into 
 the compass of a nutshell; and all its hosts of worlds 
 appear perfectly within reach, as little things which 
 infancy might grasp and toss about, like marbles, 
 with the hand! 
 
 What mortal ttian can isustain a sight like this! 
 What faculties, unsublimed, unsupported by the 
 omnipotent, could endure the maddening sease! But 
 in Tophet they must see him with faculties unsub- 
 limed: they must endure the manifestation with 
 unsupported powers. In hell, as in heaven, Grod 
 is all in all. There he shines, the unsetting sun of 
 Tophet, with brightness unreflected, with fervor 
 unrelieved. Him only they discern; all else is 
 horrid darkness: him they ever see; and that sight 
 is deep perdition. All else that we have heard or 
 can imagiue of perdition, — the reproaches of con- 
 science; the bitterness of repentance, the anguish of 
 regret, the horrors of remorse, tlie overwhelming 
 anticipations of hopeless eternity- — all other ingre- 
 dients in tlie cup of woe, are never to be named in 
 comparison with this. To ^^see Grod!*' to ^^see him 
 as he is!'^ to ^^see him face to face!'^ to ^*know him 
 even as we are known!'' and yet to be merely up- 
 held in being, neither we ourselves strengthened to 
 look upon that sight, nor the display attempered in 
 consideration ef our weakness! Man, thou shalt 
 see the magnificence of God. All people shall bear 
 witness to the supremacy of his glory. In \v in- 
 "fetance will he permit himself to sink in the estima- 
 
60 mi. 
 
 iion of his creatures. No intelligent being, nothing 
 that can perceive him, shall exist in ignorance of 
 God. You, my dear brethren, must shortly see 
 his face: yoti must every one dvrell before the bright- 
 ness of his countenance: but may you never — never 
 —never see hira thus! 
 
 And now hasten back, fellow mortals, fellow 
 sinners, back — back forever from this den of many 
 horrors. You have heard of that Saviour who left 
 the fallen angels to bear the consequences of their 
 apostacy, and fixed his love and pity on the delud- 
 ed sons of men. Say, now you are retiring from 
 these last abodes of sorrow, say whether it was un- 
 natural for angels to rejoice at the undertaking of 
 Messiah, when he came to snatch you from going 
 down to this dark dwelling place. Say if it seems 
 strange that they should have raised high, at his 
 birth, the voice of joy and thanksgiving to the Fath- 
 er of all mercies^ and of warmest gratulation to the 
 helpless sons of men. Who will not join in concert 
 with that band of seraphim! Whose heart will not 
 respond to the heaven-taught salutation! ^'^Glory 
 to Grod in the highest, on earth peace, and good 
 will towards men.'' 
 
 Say whether it seems wonderful, now you hav6 
 shuddered at these sights, that the cherubim of 
 Crod, intelligent and benevolent, should be wrought 
 up even to ecstacy at the conversion of a sinner, 
 more readily and more higlily than by all tlieir in- 
 terchange of thought and kindly feeling Avitk ninety 
 
tieU. U 
 
 and nine of their Jiiiidred spirits, spirits pure and 
 happy like themselves, and who therefore have no 
 need to exercise repentance, and no occasion for an 
 angel's sympathies* 
 
 Well may they rejoice! happy spirits of heaven! 
 for they know full well the value of the Eternal's 
 favor; and they have seen the anguish that is mated 
 with his curse. With deep solicitude the hosts of 
 lieavcn how, while I, your fellow mortal, unfold in 
 your hearing your danger and your duty: with 
 trembling anxiety they watch the expression of your 
 countenances; they pry into your thoughts, they 
 wait to bear the tidings joyfully to heaven, when 
 any of you shall consent to lay hold on God's sal- 
 vation. Yet between them and you no intercourse 
 subsists; no personal friendships link you; no mutu- 
 al interests, mutual dangers, mutual benefits endear 
 you to each other. And may not I, w ho interchange 
 with you many an act o** kindness^, I, who have 
 received from you so many proofs of confidence, I, 
 w4io am bound to you by so many obligations, may 
 not I — should not I — be more tremblingly alive to 
 the concerns of your salvation? How can I think 
 with calmness on that awful desertion of God's Ho- 
 ly Spirit which must blast your noble faculties^ and 
 sluice your hearts forever of each kind and gener 
 ous feeling which is your glory and your joy! How 
 can I be content that you continue to put from yoti 
 God's great salvation; that you still trample on his 
 law; tliat you neglect to supplicate the aid of Jesuit 
 
e^ Hell 
 
 Christ; that you perversely reject the water of liif 
 baptism^ — that symbol of his spirit, — and his sacra- 
 Baental cup — that symbol of his blood-^till he is- 
 sue the dread sentence, «Let their passions be their 
 tyrants;^ ^they are joined to their idols, Holy Spirit! 
 let them alone.' Ah, how would such a sentence rive 
 many of those hearts now so nobJe aiid so tender^ 
 and blight that beauty which his bounteous hand 
 ]has given you! How would it darken many of 
 those eyes that now bend on me their rays in mild 
 find cheering lustre^ and blanch those cheeks, now 
 tinged with heaven's own roseate^ with the ashy' 
 paleness of despair and horror! 
 
 Friends, may you now lay hold on God's salva- 
 tion! Give cause for heaven to echo to the lutes of 
 gladdened seraphim! Give joy to me who love you 
 and would serve you with my life. Say now to 
 Jesus Christ, ^^we accept thy great salvation;' ^we 
 accept the symbols of thy spirit and of thy bloodl^ 
 So shall you never go down to the gates of death. 
 So shall you grapple fearlessly with the ^^King of 
 Terrors." — Why, you men of business, do you de- 
 lay this deed of safety? it interferes not with your 
 employments, with your checks and balances; un- 
 less it be your purpose to trample on God's laws 
 that you may tread in a dishonest and dishonorable 
 'Course. Why place far ahead of you some day of 
 ^ glad amendment? "To-day, if you will hear my 
 voice, harden not your heart," is the warning of 
 that MessiaJi who gave his life to save you. "Seek 
 
Hell SB 
 
 first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,'' Is 
 the adviee of that Messiah who never gave to fallen, 
 angels the choice of obeying or of disobeying him* 
 Settle, then, to-day the question of chief interest. 
 Cease from the delusion of postponing to futurity 
 the acceptance of an offer mercy tenders to you now- 
 Cease from the folly of stretching forward your au-^ 
 ticipation to the coming of Messiah in his millennia 
 an glory. Better attempt your safety now^, lest the 
 brightness of that hour shine only on your grave| 
 lest before he begin to gather the great harvest of 
 the nations, you be beyond the hope of safety^ 
 Better poize yourselves now for a noble act of vir- 
 tue, and give proof of the soundness of your prin° 
 ciples and motives by bearing up against the tide* 
 Thousands are called, daily, to give in their last 
 account^ while jet the chariot of Messiah lingers: 
 Thousands are led, daily, to embrace the hope of 
 life eternal, and thus hasten, in their measure, the 
 coming of Messiah. To-day we lift high the ban= 
 ner of the cross. To-day we assure you that God 
 has said, and sworn, "I have no pleasure in the 
 death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from 
 his way and live.''^ Who among you will res- 
 pond to this oath of the Eternal, ^^Behold, we come 
 unto thee; for thou art the Lord our Godl^^f Who 
 will tell Messiah how much they value his salva- 
 tion; and make proof of their sincerity by assuming 
 his easy yokel 
 
 ■^Kzek, xxxiii. 11. fJer. iii. %% 
 
64 MeU. 
 
 Y6u recently noted the strict scrutiny of tliejiulg- 
 ment: to-day you have been down to the abodes of 
 guilt and sorrow: on next Lord's day wt hope to 
 lead you through ^^the blissful seats of heaven:'^ 
 on the succeeding we must view eternity unfolding^ 
 as it rolls^ the destinies of this great universe. We 
 do not announce these things merely with a view to 
 excite your expectation. Much less do we attempt 
 them for the purposes of display. We do it in 
 the hope that these eternal truths^ like the spear of 
 Ithuriel^ may pierce that rind in which most of you 
 are enveloped — that covering of fashion and of 
 worldly cares more compact and impenetrable than 
 the rind of Leviathan.* 
 
 *"The man who succeeds in buildinpj up a church in this 
 place, will have to pierce the rind o( Leviathan: and he needs 
 Ithuriel's spear." Such was the remark of a highly valued 
 friend, as well as fellow-labourer in the kingdom and patience 
 of the Saviour, when standing, one evening, near the founda- 
 tion of Market-street church, about the tune of its commence- 
 ment. The expression was not intended to convey a harsh 
 reflection or the good people of Lexington; but merely to 
 indicate the speaker's apprehension of the difficulty of lead- 
 jng human beings to reflect seriously and steadily on the 
 things of first importance, while so generally and intently 
 occupied with business or amusements. On completing the 
 course of lectures, which laid the foundation of this ''last ap- 
 jycal," and when announcing to the congregation his inten- 
 'tion to deliver this course of sermons, the author was some- 
 how lead to relate to them this anecdote. The repeated al- 
 lusions to it in this volume will, no doubt, be thought to jus- 
 tify the insertion of it here. 
 
Helh 6d 
 
 Son of God! let thme own truth be that spear! 
 Spirit of the Eternal! may thy vigor push it home! 
 May the touch of that spear transform for thine 
 jibotje these noble hearts^ and enlist in thy good 
 work these minds of mighty mould! May the touch 
 of that spear seal the expression of seraphic beau* 
 ty on faces that often speak the cherub^s tender* 
 ness! And thine shall be the glory of this new crem- 
 ation, while thatikfalDess ^nd blessedness ^re ours> 
 Anjen, 
 
MiEm(DSi aiiii. 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 ^^T7ie Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne^ 
 shall feed them^ and shall lead them unto liv- 
 ing fountains of waters; and God shall wipe 
 away all tears from their eyesJ^ 
 
 Rev. vii. 17- 
 
 '^Tf in this life only we had hope, w€ were of all 
 ihen most miserable.'^ Never was sentiment ut- 
 tered with more heart-felt pathos. Never did senti- 
 ment flow from the lips of mortal man, under a more 
 venerable and commanding sanction. Paul was 
 distinguished from th6 rest of primitive Christians 
 more by his labours than his sufferings: and, prob- 
 ably, more by his success than his labours. His 
 ^yes were often blessed with no ordinary sight. 
 In his rapid progress from continent to continent, 
 the idols of the heathen sunk before the standard 
 which he bore; and often his feet had scarcely 
 touched the wastes of Paganism, ere the desert be- 
 gan to rejoice and blossom as the rose. — Yet intlhie 
 
midst of all this success; cheered as he was, wliel- 
 ^ver he turned his steps, with the smile of conti- 
 jdeiice and love; exhilarated as his spirits must of ne- 
 cessity have been, wliBii the light of his eloquence^ 
 borne home and blessed by the Spirit of his God> 
 gave joy to the angels as they beheld its mighty 
 consequences, — yet — yet, even Paul could testify — 
 the venerated, the successful, the triumphant Paul 
 could testify—that his life would have been most 
 miserable, but for the hope beyond the grave. 
 
 Not that there is any thing in Christianity itself 
 tb render men unhappy. It is the stubbornness of 
 her integrity, it is her rigid, unvarying, universal 
 r^egard to righteousness, to the law of God and to 
 the will of God. These accord not with the tem- 
 porising policy or subtile courtesy of the world. 
 And the result must be one almost ceaseless con- 
 flict: that very result so distinctly announced by the 
 Saviour; ^^I came not to send peace on the earthy 
 hat a sword,''* The results will of course be pain- 
 ful, in proportion as the unti -christian spirit pre- 
 vails. Imprisonments, tortures and death formed 
 a portion of those results in Apostolic times, and 
 in many an <after age. Ask then a prisoner, se- 
 cluded from his family, shut in from the light of 
 heaven, and uiivisited by the refreshing breeze, 
 ask him, when pained by the strictness of his fet- 
 ters and bowed down by their weight, ask him for 
 
his estimate of present happiness; bid him say \vha^ 
 would be his feelings if he had no other, no eternal 
 hope: and that answer would pronounce him of all 
 men the most miserable. See him led forth and 
 bound upon the rack, see him chained to the stakft 
 or broken on the wheel; and while thus yielding 
 wp his life for the testimony of Jesus Christ, while 
 all is insult, while all is pang, put the question to 
 him again: and the answer still returns upon you^ 
 '*of all men the most miserable*'' If in this life 
 only we had hope, who then would be a Christian? 
 If conscious innocence, without a reference to that 
 immaculate tribunal, were tlie alone support, who 
 then would be a Christian? 
 
 But we may suppose a case — that very case we 
 were just now reviewing — in which even the pris- 
 on, the shackles and the stake mark an enviable 
 epoch in the Christian's life. Long before the 
 days in which our aged Apostle saw this revelation 
 in the tsle of Patmos, the sword and the fire, the 
 wild beasts and the cross, had done their appropri* 
 ate work. Paul, the greatest and the best of men, 
 bad ceased from the sorrows he so feelingly re- 
 cords, lie w^as beheaded by the command of Nc* 
 IX). Most of the other Apostles, not protected like 
 him by the privileges of iioman citizen-ship, had en- 
 durcd far bitterer death. Thousands of their follow- 
 ers have shared the same fate. And now, in the 
 days in whicli my text w as penned, you might al- 
 r-^ndy read the record of the Church's sorrow's 
 
fd Meavetc. 
 
 WHtten in the blood of her bravest aiid holiest meiii- 
 fcers. You might pass by many a solitary spot^ 
 within the Roman Empire, in which the tall grass 
 tvavM ovfer the remains of those of whom the world 
 Was not worthy. And as you stodped and linger- 
 ed over the solitary spot, your voice might again 
 swingle with the sighing of the breeze— '^ah! wh6 
 Ivould be a Christian?'^ 
 
 Ask that bright circle wlidiii our Apostle saw in 
 Visioii^ at the end of the first century, when cruelty 
 and murder h^d hurried many Christians home. 
 Ask what inducement ^diild tempt them to bear a 
 Christianas sorrows? Hear the lofty anthem they are 
 sweeping from their harps bedecked with immor-^ 
 tal amaranth; hear their notes of gladness, soft a^ 
 if they proceeded from the lutes of seraphim; and 
 bid those harpers tell you what consideration would 
 Snduce them to exchange those sounds for the hoarse 
 "Curses of a jailor, or the melancholy clanking of a 
 Christian's chains. Bid them say if they could 
 sto«p to such a state as that! Ask them, and they 
 ivill tell you, or our angel interpreter will tell you 
 in their stead, that they are by iio means strangers 
 to the bitterness you mention; they themselves once 
 endured it; they embraced it voluntarily. For these 
 ^— even all these shining and triumphant ones-— 
 *^have Come out of great tribulation; and have washed 
 their robes and made them white in the blood of the 
 Inmb: therefore are they before the throne of God> 
 tad serve him day andnightinhis temple: andhethat 
 
Heaven. ?l 
 
 ^ilteth on the throne shall dwell among them? 
 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more^ 
 neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat? 
 For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne 
 shall feed them and lead them unto living fountain^ 
 of waters; and Gqd shall yv^ipe away all tp^rs froisi 
 their eyes," 
 
 Brethren, need we tell you that this, though re- 
 ferable in the first instance to the millennium, is in- 
 deed a picture of the heavenly state? We have 
 come down to-day to depict to you the blessings of 
 that state, as far the scriptures unfold it to our hopes^ 
 and as well as we can mount to the height of such 
 an argument. But yet we know well tJiat were oup 
 powers far greater than they really are, and werg 
 our spirits electrified beyond their actual measure^ 
 yet all would be beggared by such a mighty theme^ 
 We know that in th^at world eternal and invisibl§ 
 there is much, very much, that eye has not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the he^it 
 of man to conceive. W^e tnt partially describe li 
 ivhen we tell you, with our text, 
 
 I. That it is a state of perfect and eternal dsr 
 liverance from every kind of sorrow: ^^God^ iU^ 
 m,-rciful, the gracious God, shall wip^ away ^li 
 tears from every eye.'^ And 
 
 II. That it is a state of highest honour and f^ 
 iicity: Jesus Christ, so mighty, so liberal, so kiofjy 
 Jesus Christ shall feed them; ajBcI shall lead tjiui^: 
 byfuuntaias of living water. 
 
J^ Heaven. 
 
 I. Heaven is a state of complete and everlasting 
 freedom from all pain and sorrow. It would be a 
 useless as well as vain attempt to particularize the 
 miseries from which the expanded gates of heaven 
 proffer a safe and everlasting refuge. Every nerve 
 that God had strung to thrill with pleasure^ every 
 sense that he had fited up as an avenue of delight^ 
 now makes far different report of terrestrial things 
 around us; tells us of wants and of woes even more 
 than of the blessings of God's creation. Every rela- 
 tion in which we stand as social beings, and which 
 by multiplying the number of objects to whom our 
 strongest and tenderest feelings might be attached, 
 seems to multiply occasions for joy and thanksgiving, 
 ^very such relation is now a poisoned fountain that 
 sends forth a stream to blight and not to bless the 
 verdure on its banks. We are pained for the mis- 
 eries and disappointments of those we love; or we 
 are wounded by the instability, selfishness, and 
 even enmity of those whose various relations ought 
 to have rendered our interests and views and happi- 
 ness the same. And, independently of every ex- 
 ternal circumstance, we carry about within us a bo- 
 dy of sin and death that works a world of woe. 
 The Psalmist of Israel and the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, two of the greatest and best men who 
 ever lived, in detailing their own feelings speak 
 volumes on this subject. Hear the harp of Israel 
 t^ned to melanoholy lays: hear it accompanying 
 fte voice of one of the best of me% while he be- 
 
Heaven. Jf^ 
 
 iBoans his follies and bis griefs: hear how it swells 
 in melancholy dirge when he speaks of guilt pres- 
 sing heavy on the conscience, and of an heart so 
 often sluiced of heaven^s peaceful consolations. 
 Then compare these mournful tones with the appal- 
 ing descriptions of the Apostle Paul, when he gives 
 you his catalogue of woes. Hear him sum up all 
 in tbese few heart-sinking words, *^wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death!"* and when you, shall have done, you 
 will hardly require a comment on our i^xX*^ for no 
 expositor need speak the occasions of those tears 
 which the God of salvation will wipe from every 
 eye. 
 
 Bis sufficient to say that all occasions of sorrow 
 will be done away forever, or banished to that 
 place where sin yet lives. 
 
 1. There shall be no more sickness, neither pain, 
 nor death. Deliverance from all these is guaraur 
 teed in the nature aad properties of the humau 
 body after it shall have been remoulded at the gen* 
 eral resurrection. It would be in vain for us to 
 speculate on a subject of this kind. Our knowl- 
 edge of matter is limited, of course, to our observa- 
 tion of its properties: and we have seen it under no 
 other than its more gross and palpable forms, as 
 constituting a portion of this great frame of thingsj 
 and as it is debased and disordered by the cureeo 
 
 r 
 
 ^Jlom. vii. ^4?. 
 
 K 
 
'^^ Heaven, 
 
 But we liiiow wel] that the resources of the Almigh-^ 
 ty are illiaiitable: we know that he has spoken of 
 ^^a spiritual body;''* of this very clay, which we 
 now bear about with us, being sublimed and spirit- 
 ualized, till it shall lose many of the properties 
 which adapt it to the present state of things, and as- 
 sume the very appearance of the Saviours risen 
 body. We refer you, then, for light upon this sub- 
 ject to the only two facts that ever have occurred 
 illustrative of this idea. We refer you to the ap- 
 pearance of the translated Elijah and transfigured 
 Saviour, w hen they confered together on one of the 
 mountains of Palestine in presence of the three most 
 favored and beloved rUs:iples. You see that Eli- 
 jrh. still severe in youthful beauty; and you note 
 the mild radiance of the Haviour's countenancej 
 when, clrithed in heaven's own glories, his very 
 raiment became '-white and glistering," and his 
 countenance effulgent as the unclouded sun. — You 
 ^gain behold the Saviour when he visited his 
 Ap '^tle in the Isle of Patmos. You see a bright- 
 ness too resplendent for mortal vision to sustain; 
 a majesty that awes, that unnerves, that deprives 
 of animation, the good old man to whom the reve- 
 lation is made. 
 
 We prf^tend to no other description of the eter- 
 
 * nal stat'" or of the perfection and blessedness of 
 
 those mortal frames which the resurrection shalj 
 
 ^kVorinth, xv. 44. 
 
ffeaDpno Y^ 
 
 fit for it, tiiaii that which the scriptures give. Such, 
 they tell you, is now the appearance of the Sav- 
 iour; and such glories shall invest the meanest of 
 his people, when obeying the mandate that calls 
 them from the grave. '^It doth not yet appear/' 
 says an Apostle, "what we shall be: but we know 
 that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; 
 for we shall see hinl as he is."^ And that very 
 sight will be as the exertion of creative energy; it 
 \vill produce in those who see him an assimilation 
 wiih himself. 
 
 Tell me, then, you who know God's all-suffi- 
 ciency, you who can scan magnificence in the order 
 of this i^reat universe, you who see the traces of 
 exquisite taste and of unrivalled skill in every va- 
 riant stripe that streaks the many coloured tulip, and 
 in all that distinguishes those ten thousand other 
 flowers whi( h the pencil of the illmighty has made 
 beauty to the eye/ — Tell me, if you can, where will 
 be that limit of beauty or of dignity which God 
 all-sufficient will assign to forms that he takes up 
 to dvvell witli him in his immediate presence, and 
 on which he will display unreservedly and fully, 
 not partially and occasion^iily as in our sin-scathed 
 Avorld, the riches of his goodness and the wonders 
 of his skill. There every countenance shall still 
 retain its own appropriate expression: for variety 
 marks the earth, variety strikes you every where 
 
 '*i John iii. 2. 
 
y% iteaven. 
 
 in the mighty combinations of the stars of heayeii) 
 variety is beauty, variety is blessedness, and all 
 that is now various in the appearances of men gives 
 assurance of the blessings ol variety forever. 
 
 See then that amazing company, as they stand 
 before the throne! all perfect and glorious as Jesus 
 Christ is perfect! See the small and the great, as 
 our Apostle saw them at the awful judgment! See 
 the peculiar beauties of infantile charms giving va- 
 riety to heaven, as they expand forever in an infan- 
 tile state! See the mild graces of the softer forms, 
 as they blush in all the charms of their character- 
 istic softness! See the simple dignity of more ma- 
 jestic beings! See all the varied beauties of this 
 world of variety, sublimed but not altered, increas- 
 ed not destroyed! — Then remember the condition 
 of this glorious company. Sickness shall no more 
 blast the roses of their cheeks; tears shall no 
 more quench the lustre of their eyes; no aching 
 head, no brow of care, no heart corroded withanxi- 
 ties and griefs, shall ever— ever damp, no, not for a 
 single moment, the joy of that assembly. Passions 
 they shall still have; but they are passions regula- 
 ted by eternal law; they are the springs of activity, 
 the sources of felicity: not those maddening and 
 bewildering impulses that infract the order of the 
 fair creation, and make havoc of our peace. Appe- 
 tites they shall still have; but they are appetites ^ited 
 to that eternal state: and what Almighty power has 
 formed their hearts to crave; infinite goodness will 
 
tieaven. ^f 
 
 abundantly supply. No want shall pincli, no thirst 
 shall parch, no evil of any kind shall any more af- 
 flict them; for there shall be no more pain. 
 
 2. And if each one shall be bappy considered 
 by themselves, they shall be equally freed from all 
 the ills tbat arise from social feelings and relations. 
 The friendships of Eternity shall be only with tbe 
 righteous; with righteousness alone shall they ever 
 come in contact; for righteousness only will the 
 Wart feel any interest. Tbere, then, friendship 
 does not bend, solicitous and self- wounded, over 
 the pangs of others whom its efforts cannot save. 
 There no heart trembles with anxiety for the guile- 
 less, while in danger of becoming a prey to the 
 arts of the designing. For all whom we love arc 
 assembled before that throne. All friendships arc 
 centered in one blessed company. All are freed 
 alike from all those calamities that wound the heart 
 of friendship througb the persons whose happiness 
 is dear to us as our own. The social tye augments 
 the felicities of heaven; for holiness is doubly bles- 
 sed: blessed in the portion allotted to itself, and 
 blessed a thousand fold in all the thousand por- 
 tions of all who are united by the common tyc* 
 And while the heart remains forever a stranger to 
 those pangs which friendship shares in common 
 witli the sufferer; the prostration of our rights, the 
 abuse of our confidence, the innumerable miseries 
 of violated order, shall disturb the breast no more* 
 •No longer shall the weak mourn the oppressions 
 
f^ tteaveil. 
 
 of the mighty, nor the guileless spirit the triumphs^ 
 of the cunning: no more shall honest indignation 
 flash at baseness, nor the plea of innocence be lost 
 amid the clamour of the violent. For there, amid 
 all that blessed company, there stands not one be- 
 ing in whose heart is written other law than the 
 law of guileless love. Nor is there an aim in all 
 that mighty host that would not be lifted, swift as 
 heaven's own lightning, to assert the cause of the 
 Oppressed. Nor is there a countenance irradiated 
 with heaven's own playful light and love that 
 would not dart a withering look upon the base de- 
 ceiver. 
 
 3. Finally: All that is within, as well as every 
 thing around, shall be so regulated as to banish th6 
 approach of sorrow. To-day the Jewish Psalmist 
 tunes his harp to other lay than that which once 
 recorded ^*the sorrows of the mind." Amid that 
 bright assemblage his tongue no more frames sounds 
 for the expression of his woe: an heart once deceit- 
 ful and desperately wicked is now true to the ser- 
 ticp of Almiglit^' God: amid the beauties of his par- 
 adise no wandering passion rises: before the splen- 
 dors of his throne no worshiper complains o:^ 
 thoughts still roving after every vanity. And no 
 temptation assails them from without. You who now 
 must stand within the gap, and resist the passions 
 and the selfish ends of men; you who must put up 
 with ten thousand imputations, because your meas- 
 tires change not with the wishes or tlie interests of 
 
Ifeaven, ^9 
 
 the changelings all around you; yon whose heart 
 piust be excruciated with ten thousand pangs by the 
 unfounded aspersions or illiberal surmises of those 
 whom you cannot please; you who are tempted to 
 forsake your duty, to part with your integrity^ rath- 
 er than adhere to the thankless office of doing your 
 duty where pride and passion will not appreciate 
 your motives or your measures; yet still persevere, 
 
 ^^Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified.'' 
 For no sooner shall that sentence issue from you 
 throne, ^^servant of God well done/' th^n you will 
 be united with a company whose feelings and prin- 
 ciples are truly and fully of that exalted kind to 
 which the circles of the present world advance such 
 shallow, and often, very often, such glaringly falise 
 and ridiculous pretensions. In heaven true iui^t^g- 
 rity is sterling honour. There every spirit is th© 
 spirit of an Abdiel; and no untoward circumstances^ 
 no pitiful interests, form an inducement to desert 
 your duty; nor does the social feeliag prove the so- 
 cial curse. 
 
 It is that state ordained of God, all -wise and 
 mighty, to display before creation the riches of his 
 goodness; to shew in his own heavens how he cau 
 dignify and bless; as he manifests in Topbet th© 
 perdition of his curse. There then is safety, ther# 
 is true felicity, when the G. d of grandeur rises to 
 become himself the consoler of his servants; wlmu 
 he employs his own hand, with all a father% ten- 
 derness; to wipe away their tearsf and when not qn$ 
 
$W Heaven. 
 
 wave of sorrow shall roll across the breast, thencti^ 
 forward and forever. 
 
 II. But the absence of grief is at most a partial 
 Bappiness. We are endowed with many principles 
 of the most active kind; and in the employment of 
 the active powers bestowed upon us the greater 
 portion of positive happiness consists. The glory 
 ©four nature is the enlightened understanding and 
 the feeling heart. 
 
 We need hardly say that both these sources of 
 honour and felicity will be occupied to the best ad- 
 Tantage. 
 
 1. All the disadvantages of ignorance shall at 
 once be done away. It is well worthy our remem* 
 brance that when our first father was created he 
 possesed a knowledge of this creation more inti« 
 mate and extended than any of his descendents 
 have probably ever attained to. It is a notorious 
 fact that the nations of the East possess portions of 
 science which are indubitably but the wreck of far 
 more perfect systems that must have been common 
 before the dcl^jge; and the bible student, remem- 
 bering what is written of our iirst father's knowl- 
 edge, will hardly hesitate in referring the beginnings 
 of science, even in its perfect form, to the beginning 
 cf the world. It is a fact, also, well worthy ofre- 
 mcirk, that when Moses and Klijah appeared with 
 the Baviour on tife mount of (ransiigurHtion. the 
 disciples who were present knew them at once. 
 
Heaven. §1 
 
 For any of these facts we do not pretend to account. 
 But it would appear from them to be contrary to 
 all good reasoning to ascribe to beings of the oth- 
 er world the same slow process in acquiring knowl- 
 edge which appears to be laid upon the human 
 race as in part the penalty of sin. Learning is 
 with us both labour and sorrow. But in heaveu 
 there shall be neither. And who can tell the ex-^ 
 pansion of human intellect when the Grod of im- 
 mensity lays open all his riches, that they may ad- 
 mire and wonder and adore! These worlds above 
 us and these worlds around us, all that displays 
 the magnificence of God, will furnish sources of 
 ever new delight. And who can tell the yet un- 
 thought of forms of being, who can tell the varieties 
 of creation, that shall be bursting through eternity 
 on the admiring eye! And when all that we have 
 known, and all that we can think of, is perfectly 
 exhausted; who can find thoughts to mount tp 
 those new objects ^^which eye hath not seen, nor 
 ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
 man to conceive; bat which God has nevertheless 
 prepared for those that love him!'' And Jesus 
 Christ himself shall be the ready interpreter of all 
 heaven's bursting wonders; Jesus Christ shall feed 
 them; Jesus Christ shall lead them by fountains of 
 living waters; human intellect shall mount up to- 
 w^ard the understanding that is infinite under the 
 forming hand of that great and good instructor; and 
 all eyes shall be intent; and all minds upon the 
 
 li 
 
B^ Heaven. 
 
 stretch, to catch the lessons of wisdom as they fall 
 from such lips of kiiul and condescending love. 
 
 2. But, after all, the heart is the great source of 
 feli(ity; and in vain should we exercise an arch- 
 angel's intellect, in vain should we scan with eyes 
 like the omniscient the great creation through; un- 
 less the heart were interested, it would be a cold 
 and barren scene. Eut the God of this creation is 
 the (rod of love; and the law that rules in the 
 lie>rts of that bright company is the law of tender 
 and eternal love. 
 
 But we attempt not to portray an exercise of 
 tenderness so far above our powers. You have 
 seon the variety that shall beautify and bless the 
 he? enly world. You have often seen the infant 
 pf few and tender years, perhaps of months or 
 weeks, returned to its parent earth. And often has 
 the world wondered what can be the designs of all- 
 wise providence in bringing into life so many 
 young immortals only just to look around them and 
 then close their eyes in death. Let our i\postle 
 tell you. On the day of the great judgment he saw 
 them every one; and he saw tjiem infants still. In 
 heaven these little cherubs shall bud and blossom 
 forever: an*? they who have a fondness for infantile 
 beauty and infantile excellence can best appreciate 
 tlu^ variety of tender feeling to which such an ar- 
 rangement will give birth in that glad scene. 
 
 Y )u have hearrj of the many wortliies that hav© 
 ,^one before ^ouj people of one heart; though of eve- 
 
Heaven. B.S 
 
 ry age and nation. Know, then, that no small por- 
 tion of the felicity of heaven will be found in jour 
 intercourse with these "excellent of the ea^th.'' 
 Even here a large propoition of our happiness 
 consists in the kindred movements of kindred 
 hearts, when purity and intelligence and love unite 
 to dignify and bless the social circle. But ''in that 
 bright world above" you find larger scope for eve- 
 ry high wrought feeling. There intellect shines 
 with unclouded brightn: ss; purity is unsullied; ev- 
 ery heart is tender as an infants; every fee ng ar- 
 dent as a seraphs: and where all dwell together in 
 their common Father's presence, free from danger 
 and far removed from want, there is nothing to al- 
 lay, nothing to suspend the blessings of high heav- 
 en's friendships, as we feel and mourn on earth. 
 The height to v/hich attachments may be there ex- 
 alted, the ever spiagingjoys of ever growing friend- 
 ships, God, the omniscient, only can define. 
 
 Come assemble before you in groups the wor- 
 thies of all ages. In heaven there is room for many 
 bands to wander; you may attach yourself to them, 
 one by one, without danger of interruption, before 
 they have severally unfolded all their history. 
 Eternity is long enough to admit of many a moment 
 vspent in tracing the varied annals of every dweller 
 there. Walk hand in hand with patriarchs and 
 |>rophets: hear how Eternal wisdom shaped th^ir 
 course, and how patience and goodness sus^ii? ed 
 (heir feeble steps, and conducted them at length in 
 
84 Ueaven^ 
 
 safety and peace to the happy scene amid whicU 
 tiiey unfold their story. Come walk with Saul of 
 Tarsus in some retired spot. Hear him relate the 
 vision of Damascus^ and tell of all the workings of 
 a sinful heart, of all the variant feelings of an 
 lieart renewed, while he sat solitary and confound- 
 ed, a poor blind man, weeping and praying in the 
 house of Judas. Bid ^^brother SauP^ unfold to 
 you the workings of his mind in many of those 
 scenes in which liistory has portrayed him the great, 
 the good, the gallant-spirited Apostle. Recount 
 to him the emotions that often thrilled your breast, 
 when bending over the pages of his eventful story„ 
 And mark the radian! joy that sparkles in his eye, 
 when stretching out his hand toward many wan- 
 dering companies, he tells you of the time, the 
 place, the circumstances, where ^^this man and that 
 man'' heard for life eternal the message that he 
 brought them, and in the full flow of feeling hailed 
 bim and loved him "as an angel of God.''* 
 
 Sit down in some lone corner with that once hap- 
 less malefactor who lifted his dying eyes to his 
 fellow-sufferer on the cross, and sought and obtain- 
 ed, at that late hour, an entrance into the joy and 
 glory of that world. Hear the story of his lifet 
 jhear from his own lips the first thought that smote 
 Ins conscience, when the dying miscreant was rail- 
 ing at that meek sufijerer who hung expiring by his 
 ,^ide^ 
 
 •tear 
 
 Gdat, ivo ii. 
 
Heaven SB 
 
 in this way you may gather from ten tliousand 
 sources, througb ten thousand rolling ages, new 
 cause to admire the wisdom of eternal providence^ 
 uew ground to admire the riches of eternal mercy, 
 new inducements to raise high the voice of joy and 
 thanksgiving to him who saved you all in his eter- 
 nal righteousness. 
 
 But why should we restrict you to the bible his- 
 tory! Let your thoughts encircle the vast host of 
 the redeemed. Let aged Polycarp, now no mor» 
 a cripple, the loved disciple of the loved Apostle- 
 let Polycarp, let Cyprian, let Augustine, letChry- 
 sostem, let ten thousand kindred spirits more than 
 we can name, bless you and honour you with theic 
 friendship and fellowship. Extend your acquain- 
 tance among all ranks of men. Bend with the once 
 purpled CsBsars when they bend — with Theodo- 
 sians and Gratians, when they bend before that 
 throne: and multiply your blessings by forming 
 strict alliance with all the great and good, with all 
 the pure and simple-hearted, the saved of ages that 
 time yet holds in reserve. 
 
 But we said we would not paint, — and we dare 
 not attempt to paint — the variety of blessedness 
 that must flow from such high intercourse. Were 
 we even to confine our delineatiim to this small au- 
 dience, were we to portray how you who are friends 
 and associates here must act and feel, when you 
 move on together in that eternal round of wonders 
 nu(\ of joys^, we feel that we should fall unspeaka^ 
 
$6 Mea^eiu 
 
 My short of our own conceptions: and liow pool* 
 liiust be the conceptions of a man of earth, hoW 
 ai€agre, dim and partial, compared with the reality! 
 But though now tenants of this earth, you have 
 capacities fitted for other intercourse than that which 
 you may be supposed to maintain with kindred 
 hcings. The intelligences of heaven, elevated 
 though they be, wise, mighty, glorious, though they 
 he, are social spirits too. Of their intelligence, 
 tenderness, and fellow-feeling, we have broad and 
 clear assurance. They too— your elder brethren, 
 whose large experience and extended spheres of 
 service have made them well acquainted with the 
 Almighty^s works and ways — they too will contri- 
 bute mightily to exalt the happiness of heaven; for 
 mingling with every circle they will have much to 
 tell that no pen has ever recorded, and much toun- 
 foi 1 that no heart has ever imagined. And many 
 m.iy be the hour in which mighty cherubim, releas- 
 Gfl from higher calls, will single out some spirit, 
 the saved of Messiah's grace, and hold with it such 
 communion about God and all his ways, about kin- 
 dred angels and all their history, or about the 
 mighty sum of the creator's works, as shall bring 
 large tribute of light to the mind and of pleasure to 
 the heart of tire attentive and apt learner. 
 ^ ' But why should we spend time with these feeble 
 recollections of the feebler abettors of God's 
 g:(: It ih^sign! Though all that we have said, 
 and ten Uuies more, be true, yet all creature at- 
 
Heaven. B^ 
 
 ^.acliments, all human friendships, all angelic ^el« 
 iovvship, seems a little thing when contrasted 
 with the higher, more steady and most appro- 
 priate source of happiness. That bright and bliss- 
 ful company are not restricted in their intercom-se 
 even to the noblest order of created intelligences; 
 ^•for the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, 
 himself shall feed them and shall lead them unto 
 living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe 
 away all tears from their eyes.'' The Saviour 
 shall conduct toward them as a familiar friend; th^ 
 God of grandeur shall treat them as his children., 
 How^ should we paint such intercourse! 
 
 You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: 
 how kind and affectionate among his own disciples; 
 how tender and compassionate to all who sought 
 Ids favor. Such as he was on earth, is iho, Saviour 
 now in heaven. Exalted, though he be above all 
 principality and power, he is not exalted above the 
 freest converse with the least of those w ho love him. 
 Though his rightful place be on the father's throne^ 
 jGi does he descend to w alk and to talk with the peo- 
 ple of his care through that paradise of God; and t© 
 lead them, sa^s my text, by the fountains of liv* 
 ing waters. If there be dignity in friendship, theu 
 who so exalted as the familiar friends of that Al- 
 mighty Saviour! If there be blessedness in love^ 
 tliPti who so happy as they who shall be sharers ill 
 Jus sin changeable regard! 
 
 And God himself is the light and the glory of hi^ 
 
S8 Heaven I 
 
 Heavens. Grod so stupendous, so exalted, so glo.^. 
 rious, shall be no more concealed from yiew. 
 Bright as is his image, the forms of the resurrection 
 in ay behold it without fainting; stupendous as is his 
 being, their faculties may grasp it, nor feel diiRcul- 
 ty or pain. But we may not, we cannot attempt a 
 view (»f God from which the pen of inspiration has 
 shrunk back. We know that in the light of his 
 eternal glory the whole creation withers; and we 
 only further know this, for the word of God has 
 said it, that the dwellers in his heavens shall 
 see him as he is. But what they shall see — what 
 Bew grandeur ever bursting, what new beauty still 
 unfolding — what they shall see in him who is vast 
 as eternity, his own eternity must tell. 
 
 Brethren it is our theme for the ensuing Lord^s 
 day. We hope, by God's good help, to unfold 
 to your view the wondrous destinies of the eter- 
 nal world, of this great universe tlu^ough eternal 
 ages, to better purpose and in more just propor- 
 tions than we have been able to present the subject 
 of to-day. We beseech you to impute the faint 
 and feeble sketch we have given of God's own 
 heavens, to the weak and somewhat disordered 
 feelings of the speaker, and not to the poorness of 
 that great scene itself. We appeal to all creatiorr 
 so magnificent and beautiful, to all that is tender in 
 Hhc mercies of God, and rich in the grace of our 
 liord Jesus Christ', in proof that there is much to 
 elicit all your hope iu the world we have eo feebly 
 
HeaveTi. 8p 
 
 and partially poitmyed. We appeal to that ^*eiK 
 ceeding and eternal weight of glory/^ to the glory, 
 honour and immortal life, so often named in scrip- 
 ture; and we would make them your defence against 
 any wrong impression caused by our feeble effort* 
 
 And now we have only once more to beseech 
 you, profit while you may, by ^^the hope set before 
 you.^^ A few more years, and the lamp of life cx-« 
 pires; and that eternity, with all its vastness, lies at 
 once before you. A few more years, and your own 
 eyes shall behold that blissful company, and your 
 own voice of thanksgiving shall mingle Avith their 
 praise: unless indeed^ which may God of his infi- 
 nite mercy prevent, you choose still to neglect the 
 only way of life, and be undone forever. 
 
 Again we would urg« upon you the invitation of 
 Jesus Christ; ^^how long, ye simple ones, will ye 
 love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their 
 scorning, and fools jiate knowledge. Tuni ye at 
 my reproof: behold I will pour out my Spirit unto 
 you, I will make known my words unto yo?i.'' A» 
 gain we would remind you, earnestly, affectionate- 
 ly, that nothing but the grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ can fit you for the happiness of the eternal 
 state, and nothing but forgiveness by the blood of 
 his cross can secure you a welcome tliere, We 
 tender you day by day the water of his baptism; it 
 is the symbol of his good Spidt, the sanctifier of 
 sinful men. Within a few weeks more we 
 will tender you again the cup of the New 
 
 M 
 
-9^ ' Heamn, 
 
 Testament in his blood; it is the symlrol of 
 that forgiveness without which there is no sal- 
 vation. A little while, yet a very little while, and 
 -we must both give in our account before the throne 
 of God. I must tell him that I announced to you 
 Ms great salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ: I 
 must tell him that I adjured you by all the horrors 
 of unfathomable Tophet, and by all the glories of 
 his own resplendent heavens, to flee from the wrath 
 to come: I must tell him that I tendered you th& 
 water of his baptism, which seals the promise of 
 liis holy vSpirit; and invited you to take that cup of 
 the New Testament, which his goodness has ap- 
 pointed as the symbol of his blood: and you are 
 
 THIS DAY WITNESSES THAT ALL I MUST TELL IS 
 TRUTH. 
 
 And YOU TOO must there give in your last 
 accojint. And you must tell him — what? God of 
 sal ation shall this misery be theirs! You must 
 tell him that you rejected the water of his baptism, 
 and put aside that cup of the New Testament ia 
 
 his blood to a more convenient season — and 
 
 that season never came!! Oh that you were 
 
 wise! that you understood this! that you would con- 
 sider your latter end! — Amj^^. 
 
i5iiam®s? Tfo 
 
 ETERNITY. 
 
 ^^Then Cometh the end, when he shall have der'. 
 tivered up the Jcingdom to God, even the Fa- 
 tlier, when he shall have put down all rule^ 
 and all authority and power. For he must 
 reign till he hath put all enemies under hisi 
 feet, Th^ last enemy that shall be destroyed 
 is death. For he hath put all things under 
 his feet. But when he saith, All things are 
 put under him, it is manifest that he is ex- 
 cepted which did put all things undvr him^ 
 And when all things shall he subdued unto 
 him, then shall the Son also himself he subject 
 unto him that put all things under him, that 
 God may he all in all.^^—i Cor. xv, 24i — S8. 
 
 IT is not, my dear brethren, among the least 
 ^iiiiperative grounds of our thankfulness that God 
 has made us better than the beasts of the field, and 
 >vJser than the fowls of heaven. Our rank as m^ 
 
m Eternity. 
 
 telligent and immortal beings opens to us innumeK 
 ablc sources of delight of which the inferior crea- 
 tion can form no conception. They only know va- 
 riety of blessedness as it presses through the sense^ 
 and tlrey know it no further than it is brought di- 
 rectly home. We can scan creation from afar; we 
 €an take pleasure in surveying, compai*ing, con- 
 trasting, muilitudes of objects, facts> and even ab- 
 stract truths, which are never to have any immedi- 
 ate bearing oil ourselves; aiid we feel that in ex- 
 tending our acquaintance with creation^ we are pro- 
 viding for ourselves no short-lived happiness: for 
 we are beginning to see objects that we shall eter- 
 nally survey, we are forming habits and attach- 
 ments that shall never terminate, and we take an 
 interest in every thing connected with tliis great 
 universe, becatise in this universe we are to have 
 an everlasting home. 
 
 The Bible meets completely these strong princi- 
 ples of our nature, and gives us the means of turn- 
 ing them to the very best account. The Father of 
 Eternity does not sit upon his thmne, dark, sullen, 
 and.retired. He does not use the right which sov- 
 reignty might claim, of managing creation and 
 moulding all its destinies, without giving account to 
 any one of any of his matters. He does not leave be- 
 ;irigs so much interested in futurity, to await the slow 
 jyrocess of revolving providence in order to relieve 
 themselves from the pressure of that suspense, 
 which as intelligent and immortal beings they must 
 
oiliervvise endure. With a ready, a tender and a 
 delicate attention to those feelings which he himself 
 has rendered so snsceptihle, he meets onr strong 
 and natural wishes on this, as on every other point. 
 He talks to us as to his children, of his plans for 
 future times; he persuades, he animates us by submit., 
 ting the strongest motives to love and trust and serve 
 him; and when our little hearts begin to labor and 
 heave under the calamities that press us, he points 
 t)ut to us with tenderness the reasons of our sorrow^, 
 and cheers us with the promise of better times t9 
 come. 
 
 Children of Providence, we hail you this morn- 
 ing as the partakers of such care. We congratulate 
 7/Gu as persons whom the great God himself is dis- 
 posed to treat as beings both rational and im mor- 
 tal. And we would call upon our own heart, and 
 all that is within us to bless and honour him, who 
 lias not only assigned us a rank of so much conse- 
 quence among the varieties of universal being, but 
 has provided such a feast both for the intellect and 
 hearty in unfolding to us tlie destinies of our ever- 
 lasting home. 
 
 Your attention has already accompanied me dow^ft 
 id the abodes of everlasting death; and you have 
 listened willingly to the sounds of joy and gladness 
 which proceed from tha.t blessed company thatsur- 
 I'ounds the throne of God. Th^rc you sat upon the 
 threshold of eternity, and heard and saw what you. 
 mM shortly be. But tliiuk not, my brethren; ilmi 
 
B4 ^Bfertiitp 
 
 ttie very imperfect sketches heretofore furnished yoii 
 contained all that the scriptures tell us of the e- 
 fernal state. Yoii sat btit on the threshold of that 
 magnificent structure, which God is erecting to de- 
 c^lare his glory. Eternity, say the scriptures, is, 
 the dwelling place of God; and, well as we are able^ 
 we would lead you through that temple. We 
 would trace the workings of the Eternal mind, we 
 would sketch the evolution of the Eternal's plans, 
 after he shall have barred the infernal doors of To- 
 phet, and received through Heaven's own gates 
 ^^on golden hinges turni ig" the immortal hosts that 
 are to dwell forever there. 
 
 It is to the transactions of that eternal state oili* 
 apostle adverts in the passage before us. The Son 
 of God having assumed tlie mediatorial character 
 for the purpose ^f restoring this world to God's do-. 
 Minion, and having to that end accepted, as media- 
 tor, the Immediate dominion over all the earth, and 
 all the angelic world, and over every thing that 
 could in any way promote the great design, shall 
 fully accomplish the object he undertook: he shall 
 ^^subdue all things to himself." And that object 
 once accomplished, he lays aside his office; he is 
 no more a mediator, no more "the king of saints.'^ 
 The government again reverts to its old and natu- 
 ral channel. Jehovah reigns on earth, Jehovah 
 reigns in heaven, a$ if man had never sinned; and 
 Jesus our Saviour shares in common with his breth- 
 ren in all the bliss of that established order. This 
 
Eferniip '^^^- 
 
 ■is the amount of our Apostle's suggestion. Two 
 subjects, therefore, demand consideration in con- 
 nexion with this idea, 
 
 I. The completion of the Savioui^s 3indevtaking» 
 He shall '^subdue all things to himself.'' 
 
 II. The destinies of man and of all with whomi 
 he stands connected, after his salvation shall have 
 been perfectly achieved. The Saviour will then 
 deliver up the kingdom to his Father; and ^^God 
 will be all in all/' 
 
 I. The Saviour will not fail to complete his great 
 object: ^'he must reign till he hath put all ene- 
 mies under his feet.'' The idea that the Saviour 
 now holds a dominion which is not originally and 
 essentially his right; and that he will hereafter b© 
 divested of that dominion, and become subject like 
 ourselves to the government of God, is probably 
 new to many of you. And yet it is impossible to 
 get along with almost any large portion of the Holy 
 Scriptures without taking this idea into the account. 
 In OJd Testament prophecy, you often meet with in- 
 tiiuations of the power and authority God would 
 thereafter impart to the Saviour, In the New 
 Testament scriptures you must have often remark- 
 ed the Saviour's own acknowledgments of the 
 source whence he received his authority. And very 
 often you meet with assurances by the Apostles, in 
 their letters to the churches, that tliis dominion i^ 
 asslpi^d him, both s^s tha reward ojt' ids fidejity mi 
 
96 ilternity. 
 
 as the mean of accomplisliing his great underta- 
 king. These intimations would at first sight appear 
 to run counter to tlie doctrines of the Saviour's pro- 
 per deity, and of his rightful and universal govern- 
 ment, considered as Creator and Lord of all. A.ud 
 indeed, it is on such intimations as these that A.ri- 
 rians and Socinians ground all their plausible ar- 
 guments against the diVinity of the Saviour, 
 
 But this difficulty vanishes at once, when it is 
 considered that the whole arrangement under con- 
 sideration is quite a limited and incidental thing. 
 The assumption of our nature by the Son of God 
 was a matter of choice, not of necessity; and the 
 work he accomplishes, and the office he sustains, as 
 the wearer of our nature, are clearly distinct from 
 every thing that belongs to him in his essential cha- 
 racter. It is to be recollected that as i\\^ wearer of 
 our nature, he sustains the character and relations 
 of '^i\\Q second Adam;'' that is, of a second federa- 
 tive head to this fallen world of ours. Now, most 
 unquestionably, the being who occupies the place 
 which Adam once tilled, the being who is recogni- 
 zed in the same official character, must, in so far as 
 his office is concerned, sustain the same relations of 
 subjection and dependance that Adam himself sus- 
 tained. It is a matter of no SQrt of consequence 
 'what may be the dilTerence in their personal charac- 
 ter and attributes: their official standing is the 
 same; their relatirms to the Creator whose vrorhl 
 Ihev head, are therefore the very same; and \\ hat- 
 
Eternity. gg^^ 
 
 ever inferiority, in an official point of view, might 
 be asciibfid to Adam, the very same must be ascrir 
 bed to any other being who takes the place of A- 
 dam. 
 
 Now who does not know that the relative standing 
 of any being, considered as a member, or if you 
 please as the head, of any association or combina- 
 tion of beings, has nothing at all to do with the in- 
 dividual standing and character of that being con- 
 sidered simply in himself; except only in so far as 
 the qualifications he possesses in the latter point of 
 view may render him capable of sustaining the re- 
 lations common to the members of any such associ- 
 ation or federative system of human beings. Thus^ 
 among ourselves, it is indispensable to all the mem- 
 bers of any civil or social institution, that they be 
 human beings possessing "vi true body and a rea- 
 sonable soul/^ But tbe possession of these does 
 not constitute a member, much less does it consti- 
 tute an officer, of any society whatever. It adarts 
 them to sustain the relations in question; but these 
 relations are not created by it. Thus too the grade 
 of personal qualifications has nothing to do with 
 the questions of inferiority or superiority in the of- 
 ficial relations of any such association. The infe- 
 rior man may be much the higher officer; and he 
 whose authority, as the governor of the state, gives 
 birth to any society among his subjects, may him- 
 self take a station in the society he had ordained a- 
 mong the lowliest of the lowly^ and bend a^ a mem; 
 
 N 
 
§B Eternity. 
 
 ber to the exercise of that power^ wliicli in anotliei* 
 character he had himself imparted. 
 
 It forms no objection, then, to the divinity of the 
 Saviour, that as the head of this world he is subject 
 to his Father, accountable to his Father, and re- 
 ceives from his Father all authority and power. 
 His divinity is essential to a successful execution 
 of the mediatorial office. But if that office must be 
 sustained by a ^^second Adam,'' by a person sus- 
 taining the character of God's creature, as the first 
 Adam sustained it, his divinity, his qualifications 
 of any kind, impart no rights, create no distinctions^ 
 an an official point of view, between him and any o- 
 ther who as a federative head might stand in the 
 «ame relation which Messiah now sustains to Grod 
 and to mankind. 
 
 Let it also be considered that the very person of 
 the Saviour, considered as the God-man, is a new 
 thing in the universe. His assumption of humani- 
 ty 'vas no less essential than his possession of 
 divinity, to the accomplishment of his under- 
 taking. Eut his humanity did not entitle him^ 
 any more than our humanity entitles us, to 
 this wide dominion. But in connexion with 
 his divinity it fitted him to sustain the re- 
 lations an '5 exercise the powers of a federative 
 head. And thus fitted for his new office, it involve* 
 no disparagi men4; of his essential character to say 
 Ihat he received a delegated power. It argues no-r 
 thing against the divinity of the Son of God, that 
 this world was partitioned ojff to him; considered 
 
Etermttf. 9^ 
 
 -as the God-man, and erected into a government 
 perfectly distinct from the general government of 
 God, like a little province or some small society 
 within the bosom of some mighty empire. And it 
 concludes nothing against his claims as universal 
 Lord, that sustaining through eternity the relation 
 of second Adam, retaining his headship over th& 
 hosts of the redeemed, he should nevertheless re- 
 sign the limited dominion he had held for special 
 purposes over this part of the creation, and owa 
 subjection, in common with all his brethren, to the 
 government of God. 
 
 Yet it is by merging these distinctions which 
 have a broad foundation in the nature of things, 
 and by resorting to the most wretched and palpa- 
 ble quibbles, that unhappy mortals attempt to make, 
 good their ground, when they would assail the alt^ 
 sufficiency of God our Saviour, cut off at one blow 
 all hope of pardon from his vicarious sufferings^ 
 and leave us to struggle, unaided and uncomforted^ 
 against all the might of our polluted passions. 
 
 But it ^^as to break the shackles of our guilt, i^ 
 was to provide for us a regenerating influence, that 
 the Saviour undertook his mediatorial work. How 
 he has accomplished it in the salvation of the myriads 
 who on the day of last accounts shall be enthroned 
 on his right hand: how, "having spoiled principal- 
 ities and powers, he made a shew of them openly^ 
 triumphing over them in his cross/'- ^ you have of- 
 
 ^' Colos. ii. Id. 
 
iOO JEternity, 
 
 ten heard, and we need not now repeat. But it ir 
 proper you should know that the eternal salvation 
 of so many once unhappy, constitutes but a part of 
 the Saviour's undertaking. Still you see him 
 reigning after the general judgment; and our Apos- 
 tle says he must reign till every enemy shall have 
 been utterly subdued:* our Apostle says he must 
 co'^tinue still to reign, till death itself, that last en- 
 emy, is conquered.! 
 
 You saw the fire that issued from beneath the 
 throne of judgment, and flashed horribly in the fa- 
 ces of the unhappy millions whose doom had been 
 pronounced. You saw that fire press forward on 
 their ranks till it hurried them down the steep of 
 unfathomable hell. And there, for the time, your 
 observation of it terminated. But so did not ter- 
 minate the progress of that flame. It kindled on 
 the world; it wrapt its whole circumference in one 
 desolating sheet of fire; the mountains melted; the 
 surrounding elements glowed with fervent heat| 
 the fire darted rapidly toward the centre of the 
 mass; all that was combustible v/as suddenly light- 
 ed up; magazines of destruction burst in every 
 quarter; and this great earth, thus torn in her bow- 
 els, and tossing and bellowing amid that sheet of 
 flame, at lai<t sunk down slu heap of glowing ashes. 
 And who would take this bare mis-shapen mass 
 For tine variegated populous world we once inhabit- 
 ed! There sunk at once your monuments of greatness! 
 
 ^*1 Corinth, xv. 25, t ibid^ 26. 
 
EtPTnity, 101 
 
 The palace of the mighty and the hovels of the 
 mean, all vour mounds and monuments disappear- 
 ed like shreds of tow! One spire of flame stooped 
 only for a moment to lick up like dust the riches of 
 the Indies! one cloud of smoke just passed as a me. 
 men to of the treasured spices of • Arahy the bless'd;' 
 then none so knowing as to tell the spot wher» 
 Arabia once had been! 
 
 It is not without good reason that the world we 
 inhabit must be rendered such a waste. When 
 the head of our system swerved from his allegiance, 
 it was as the severance of the chain that bound our 
 globe to the Almighty^s throne. The abode of man 
 was in a measure cast out of the ^reator^l care; Sa- 
 tan was permitted to usurp dominion over it; and 
 long has he been known as -^the God of this world*' 
 and '*the prince of the powers of the air." Hence 
 the wild havoc the elements produce; hence so ma- 
 ny vestiges of the Almighty^s vengeance — i\\^ 
 wrecks of the great deluge, the bleak memorials of 
 Sodom's overthrow, the wasted beauties of the pl-dii 
 af Babylon; hence all those springs and monu- 
 ments of woe with which the world is filled. They 
 belong to the empire of havoc and anathema; tliey 
 are signs of a world cast out from God^s good em 
 pire! But they must not remain forever thus. Ma- 
 lice may dictate, but cunning shall not conipass nor 
 force secure the total subversion of a single pro- 
 vince in God's great creation. Messiah was ap- 
 pointed to raise the world from the region of curso 
 
id^ !Eternity. 
 
 and misery, and to restore it again, purified from a'ff 
 pollution and recovered from all wreck, to the rightful 
 government of G-od its maker. He attempted it, as 
 lias been said, by becoming himself a second federa- 
 tive head, and raising it by his merit as it had ar 
 foretime fallen through the demerit of another. 
 And now he has redeemed it, he will melt it down* 
 It shall not be degraded as it moves among tho 
 stars by one vestige of its former state; all monu- 
 jBients of the curse shall perish in that fire. And 
 as of old the earth heaved up her green fields to 
 the sun, when emerging from destruction by a 
 world of waters; so, say the scriptures, she shall 
 again present herself among the worlds of Gred, 
 when Messiah shall remould her from the ashes of 
 the conflagration. Again he will rechain her, re- 
 deemed and renovated, to the eternal throne; her 
 elements shall no more run into disorder; no more 
 ^hall her verdure be blighted by the curse. Nor 
 shall it be a world without inhabitant: for ^^we,'' 
 'Say the scriptures, ^'^look for new heavens and a new 
 earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."* Right- 
 eousness, strictly taken, implies a species of being 
 both intelligent and accountable. And indeed it 
 would be strange, if a world so vast and so triumph- 
 antly redeemed should be left to roll on in her 
 course forever without inhabitant, a vast and gloomy 
 solitude. Who shall iuhabit it we pretend not to 
 
 ^a I'et in, id. 
 
JStemittfi 403 
 
 •tletermine. It may possibly be peopled witb a new 
 race of being; or it may remain forever a place of 
 frequent visitation by the hosts of God's redeemed. 
 Those cherubs whom an Apostle saw before the 
 judgment seat may be the little children who, as 
 prophecy foretells, shall lay their hands on the dens 
 of harmless basilisks: those righteous who begirt 
 the throne of the Eternal, may prove the holy vi- 
 sitants come down to view the scenes of their sin 
 and their salvation. Be this as it may, this globe 
 ;ihall be forever rescued from pollution. No si% 
 no death shall it witness any more. ^^The last en- 
 emy that shall be destroyed is death.'' The my- 
 riads who must perish, and the devil that deceived 
 them shall be cast into the lake of fire.* Death al- 
 so, says the scripture, shall be cast into the lake of 
 fire,t and to that dread pi^ovince it shall be confi- 
 ned forever. There is living death: the death of 
 all that is pleasing in sensation; the death of all that 
 is cheering in reflection; the death of all that is con- 
 soling in remembrance; the death of all that is ten- 
 der in affection; the death of all that is delightful 
 in anticipation; the eternal death of all happiness 
 and hope. 
 
 For no sooner shall Messiah have completed his 
 great object, than he lavs aside the character he had 
 sustained for its accomplishment. These hosts so re- 
 deemed he presents fortUwitli before his father's 
 
104 S^ernifij. 
 
 throne: ^^beliol(l. here am I and the children whom 
 thou hast given me/' This workL so remoulded, 
 he restores to God's great empire? And order 
 once restored to God's disordered universe, and 
 presentation made of God's once banished chil- 
 dren, the sceptre of Iramanuel is laid aside at once: 
 
 AND NOW LET ETERNITY ROLL ON!! Hell SeCS the 
 
 movement when Messiah bends the knee; and all 
 lier legions make one sudden moan. That bended 
 knee! that sceptre given up! Then God's creation 
 has lost its <^prince of peace:" no Saviour now ex- 
 ists, no advocate for sinners: the kingdom reverts 
 to God the just and mighty, and hope is gone for* 
 ever!! **Consider this, ye that forget God; lest he 
 tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver!" 
 
 II. Let Eternity roll on. How shall I tell 
 you, bretiiren, the measure of its years! How shall 
 I unfold the destinies of this great universe, now 
 freed from sorrow, guaranteed from danger, when 
 death is cast into the lake of fire? 
 
 We cannot tell you the measure of its years; for 
 it is duration without end. We cannot even sketch 
 to you the destinies of this creation; for God who 
 will mete them out is of unfathomable wisdom aiid 
 infinite resource; and creation shall never say, he 
 has done all that he can do for it. But tliis much 
 we may attempt with safety and with certainty- 
 Come, take post with me on this renovated eavth; 
 and while she wheels her course among the star§ 
 
mernitij. dOi 
 
 of God, we can at least get a glimpse of those un- 
 known fields of being through which intellect may 
 expatiate forever; and we can obtain one measure 
 of dimension so stupendous as serves well to take^ 
 note of eternity as it rolls. 
 
 Our earth, we said, will urge her course among 
 the stars of God. This is no fiction, no heighten- 
 ing of the fancy. Your sun is not stationary: not 
 lane star that twinkles in the firmament is fixed in 
 absolute space. Were it so, nothing short of the 
 f xerHon of continued miracle would keep it to its 
 place; for the laws of gravitation, like the divisii)il- 
 ity of matter, know no terminating point. That 
 star would rush, infallibly, toward the nearest kin- 
 dred body; all portions of this universe woul^i tend 
 to one-another, sphere driving against sphere, globe 
 crashing after globe; till all nature became heaped 
 in one pile of desolation. The T w that regu- 
 lates the movements of this earth regulates th^. 
 movements of universal nature. Ail stars, like 
 all planets, wheel in settled course around their 
 several and far distant centres. And at this mo- 
 ment your sun is driving on, with all his planets^ 
 satellites and comets, to some far distant region, we 
 cannot tell you where; around some distant centre^ 
 we cannot tell you what. But you may know the 
 portion of the universe toward which we are driv- 
 ing. Now, early in the morning, Vvhen the sun's 
 first beams begin to dim the form of "Ophiucus 
 huge,'^ those stars^ which are just rising in thj^ 
 
 U 
 
i(K) Eternitij. 
 
 north-eastern sky*- are the ones with which our lu- 
 minary hastes to make acquaintance. But they too 
 are in motion; the whole heavens are in motion; 
 you may trace the hosts of heaven in all their whirl- 
 ing movements, direct and retrograde; but you can 
 only note their progress by tenths of seconds in the 
 year. 
 
 Who can tell the extent of such mighty revolu- 
 tions! Whose mind can grasp the immeasurable 
 ilistances of the centres that control them! I — who 
 am bewildered with tlie amazing flights of the plan- 
 ets and comets that belong to this system, my im- 
 mediate home; I, who look with wonder on the 
 Georgian planet as he wends his wintry way, and 
 measures his long seasons b^ the eagle's term of 
 life; I, who note the comet familiar to my home 
 sailing past as the fresh acorn begins to shoot its 
 sprout, then departing on its circuit only then to re- 
 appear when my acorn crowns the forest, the oak of 
 a thousand years, and stretches forth his withered 
 and thunder- riven arms to hail, as it passes, the 
 acq^iairjtatsce of his infancy — how shall I pretend 
 to si;rasp the stupendous lapse of ages ere your sun 
 shall have succeeded in displaying his yellow glo- 
 ries in those regions of immensity that lie near his 
 circuit, and make good his return, for the very first 
 ti,me. to that point of his vast orbit where the voice 
 x)f the ■' lurii;:;iity bade him urge his course? Grod 
 
 ^In the month ofJanuai^ij* 
 
Eternity. 107 
 
 of magnificence, what a creation is this of thine! 
 God and Father of our liOrd Jesus Clirist, how 
 should our hearts thank thee that thou hast made it 
 for thy creatures; and that thou hast saved us earth- 
 ly creatures from the depths of unfathomable hell^ 
 and reserved us to admire such sights of glory! 
 
 Yes, he has reserved all the nations of the saved 
 to wonder at these sights of glory. Through eter- 
 nity the heavens shall declare his glory, the firma- 
 ment still shew forth his handy work. And far 
 be it from us to think that a creation constructed on 
 a scale of such magnificence, that it may wear the 
 stamp of the creator's all-sufficiency^ — far be it from 
 us to think that this august spectacle shall be con- 
 coaled from the scrutiny of so many happy beings so 
 admirably calculated to understand and enjoy it. 
 
 Come, then, mount upon some pinnacle of the re- 
 novated earth; let the world be your chariot and all 
 green hills its trappings, while you enter on this 
 circuit to survey the works of God. Jesus Christy, 
 the great interpreter, goes with you; and whereso- 
 ever he is there is happiness and heaven. H e shall 
 tell the names and unfold the several natures of the 
 systems that you pass. Jesus Christ — so kind, so 
 social, when he sat in some retired spot or on some 
 mountain top in the midst of his poor disciples— 
 Jesus Christ, now happy in the eternal salvation 
 of so many glorious creatures — Jesus Christ shall 
 take delight in developing their faculties, enriching 
 their minds and ennobling every feeling of their 
 
i6s Eterniiy. 
 
 simple hearts, by telling tales of wonder about eacii , 
 system as they pass, and answering all their inqui- 
 ries with a brother^ s love and tenderness. O who 
 €tUi tell the glories that will burst upon their view; 
 as our sun shapes his course toward the regions of 
 the north! Who can imagine the mighty combina- 
 tions, now dimly and partially scanned through *^op- 
 tic glass/' that will present themselves tc^ the mor© 
 immediate gaze of the beings who have gone forth 
 to survey the wonders of their brother's work, in 
 the day when "all things were made by him!"^ — 
 1 rge on ihy course, thou sun of heaven, and all at- 
 tendant worlds! drive deep— deep— into the bosom 
 of immensity! These happy creatures, the saved, 
 of God's grace, the friends and followers of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, shall wonderfully extend their 
 knowledge of creation, shall fathom rapidly the 
 conceptions of the one eternal mind, shall bow in 
 lowlier and still lowlier adoration, as they better 
 comprehend the goodness and grandeur of Almigh- 
 ty God; till the least feeling heart become soft 
 as any cherub's, the narrowest understanding com- 
 prehensive as Gabriel's, the least dignified pres- 
 ence commanding as archangel's. — Urge on thy 
 course, then, rapid sun of heaven, and ye, attend- 
 ant worlds! Ere you shall have measured the onfe 
 half of your round, an?! began to circle back toward 
 ih o er end of heaven, these happy creatures,; 
 
 '^John i. Sc 
 
Miernitf 109 
 
 iliese moimments of goodness such as God displays, 
 will have so far climbed the iuteiiiiiuable scale of 
 excellence that were a man ot' earth, as earth's sons 
 now are seen, to meet with such a comj)any, he 
 would hardly recognize them as fellow creatures. — ' 
 Complete thy circuit, glorious sun of heaven! let 
 our travellers now mingle with some blissful com- 
 pany that they may have left behind. Vast has 
 been their circuit, Ions; has been their absence, but 
 it was a single revolution of a mighty sum: it was 
 but one such little year as eternity must always 
 tell: indeed it noted but one hour of that eternal 
 day. 
 
 Take, my dear brethren, some snch measure of 
 eternity. Let immensity be the dia:l plate, and 
 each star in its course some circling hand to poini 
 out the hours of eternity as it rolls. Then tell me 
 if the Salvation of your immortal spirits is a thing 
 of small account. Tell me if it was beneath the 
 dignity of the Saviour to stoop lowly as he did, for 
 liis three and thirty years, to save so many wretch- 
 es from the perdition of the curse, and lift them to 
 such a height of dignity and blis^;. 
 
 What dignity? What bliss? We attempted 
 last Lord's day to portray the dignity allotted t(? 
 the beings who rank in heaven's eternal calendar^, 
 as ^-the sons and the daughters of the Lord Almigh- 
 ty."' We would gladly have depicted the bliss 
 awaitins^ those whom the Lamb himself shall feed 
 md lead by the fountains of living waters^ and 
 
110 Eternity. 
 
 "whose fellowship extends not only to millions of 
 wise and happy creatures, but to "the, Father of 
 Spirits/^ and to his Son Jesus Christ. In that at- 
 tempt we fell far short of our own conceptions, far 
 as these conceptions must have fallen short of the 
 reality. How then shall we aspire to success to- 
 day? If it were a theme too mighty when we por- 
 trayed the heavenly state, what shall be said of 
 the tusk we undertake wheii proffering to depict to 
 you the rising grandeur of that state of being, as 
 its blessings are still enlarging through the endless 
 succession of eternity's vast years! We have heard 
 of a suggestion that mortal men might speak with 
 '''the tongues of angels*'' in unfolding the wonder- 
 ful ways of Grod; we have some where read of pen- 
 cils "dipped in dyes of heaven^' to picture scenes 
 in their appropriate lustre. But neither tongue of 
 angel, neither dyes of heaven, would prove suffi- 
 cient to portray the scenes that eternity may pre-^ 
 sent after many such revolutions as that which we 
 have traced. An angel's language could at best be 
 framed to utter the conceptions to which the creator's 
 ways give birth, as already unfolded in the sight 
 of his creation. Even dyes of heaven could serve 
 no other purpose than to represent the lustre which 
 the universe now wears under the forming hand of 
 its creator. But men and angels, and the universe 
 at large, are framed with capacities for making 
 
 ^X Coi\ xiii. 1. 
 
Eterniip 111 
 
 eternal progress. Progressive evolution is the uni- 
 versal plan. And if every thing we meet with in 
 the world around us, if matter and mind, if every 
 individual and all congregated masses, begin tlieir 
 course as germs, and unfold in slow progression; 
 who can define the aspect of this young universe, 
 now shooting as a germ in the midst of God's im- 
 mensity, after it shall have been long fostered by 
 his care, and become so matured as to express the 
 full conceptions of its august controller? 
 
 What then are dyes of heaven, as dyes of lieav- 
 en now are? What, but the first and slightest tinge 
 ©f the protruded germ, that will be increasing day 
 fey day in depth and vividness till circling eternity 
 shall present it in maturity. No angeFs tongue^ 
 no dyes of heaven, could furnish us the measure of 
 heaven's future bliss and glory, were these helps 
 at oi^r command. Not so aided, not so furnished, 
 we can do nothing more than point you to the facts 
 we have already named. The faculties of all the 
 intelligent creation, all that you call mind and all 
 that you call heart, are framed for an interminable 
 series of evolutions. Look then at Eternity's 
 clock! Think of the interminable series of rounds 
 almost interminal)le that every star must finish!- 
 Make the completion of every such round an epochj 
 and tell me how far creation will have unfolded its 
 yet unseen resources, belore that first grand period 
 shall have terminated. With the succeeding epoch 
 hegia another computation; aijid tell me of tliQ marcfe 
 
Ai^ Eternitif, 
 
 of many niiglity minds, tell me wliat new ties will 
 bind many tender hearts, in the progress of this 
 second and almost endless period. 
 
 But we trifle, but we babble. This universe is 
 in the hand of God omniscient and almighty. It is 
 ?iow, in all its parts, but a young imperfect thing. 
 You and I must wait the progress of eternity, to 
 dive into the conceptions of the eternal mindo 
 Each new combination, each succeeding aspect of 
 heaven's great society, must only be the platform^ 
 of some succeeding plan. Thus shall the building 
 rise, eternity's own building, like Babel's miglity 
 tower, story upon story— story above story. Nor 
 shall its glories or its grandeur receive their finish^ 
 till unfathomable wisdom has exhausted its re- 
 sources, or the arm of the Almighty failed to match 
 the conceptions of his mind. 
 
 And now, who that recollects he has himself a deep 
 interest in all these future changes, will think light-^ 
 ly of the station whence only he can survey them 
 in security and peace? Who will not learn to priz© 
 the gift of an existence that is to run parallel with 
 the evolution of heaven's stupendous plans, and to 
 be henceforward the cotemporary of every glorious 
 creature to which the Almiglity may give birth? It 
 is not simply the state of blessedness and glory 
 that gives value to existence; it is chiefly tlie con- 
 sideration that it is an interminable state. It i^ 
 not mainly the mou'ld of this miglity frame of thhigs 
 that establishes its importance: it is the fa^t that all 
 
Eternity. II5 
 
 creation is in an incipient state, and will be still 
 unfolding — repeatedly unfolding -eternally unfold- 
 ing — new beauties and resources of which no crea- 
 ture had a thought; and presenting itself under suc- 
 cessive and amazing combinations of which no crea- 
 ture in the universe had imagined it susceptible. 
 And we who are immortal as God's almost bound- 
 less universe, we who are to witness all its chang- 
 es, as existence still runs on parallel with his eter- 
 nity, we derive no small assistance from these rev- 
 olutions of the spheres: for on them the mind can 
 perch, as on little specks of land amid a mighty 
 ocean, and there rest its wearied wing before it 
 again stretch forward to other points more distant. 
 O, could we frame our speech to delineate the 
 changes that await the sum of things, the incalcula- 
 ble blessings that await the hosts of the redeemed^ 
 during one such revolution, we should deem our 
 undertaking full ably accomplished: we should ex- 
 pect to hear you saying ^God is great, and great 
 are the destinies of his eternal kingdom:' and w& 
 should hope that each of you, taking measure of 
 eternity by one of its vast years, would hasten even 
 iiow to make your calling and election sure. But 
 we cannot frame our speech to tell of things unut- 
 terable; and we know not how to leave you, though 
 in attempting it we chatter, till we have lifted your 
 conceptions to these unutterable things. — Drive en 
 thou sun of heaven! thy progress mustunfold to them 
 the untold glories of the eternal world, Lige thy 
 
114 Eternity, 
 
 course tliou rapid sun of heaven! Many shall be 
 thy visits to the recesses of the north, ere happy 
 spirits, the saved of God's grace, shall have learn- 
 ed to guess the value of the existence they inherit^ 
 by comparing themselves and the universe around 
 them with what it was and what themselves could 
 boast, when first, in heaven, they began their long 
 career. 
 
 But though with all the assistance we are able to 
 derive from these measures of eternity we can do 
 but little in unfolding the wondrous destinies of the 
 holy and the happy, we do not labour under the 
 same disadvantages in attempting to develope the 
 full proportions of the curse. There all is dark- 
 ness, call eternal sameness. No wonders burst on 
 the astitnished sight, no varied riches gratify the 
 mind, no mighty combinations change the face of 
 thingpi, in that abode of death. Variety is bles- 
 sing; even change of any sort were blessing: but in 
 the lake where death the silent monarch reigns, no 
 variety shall have place to bless the dwellers there. 
 
 Come then and take a measure for eternal nighty 
 and you may sum up the hours that are allied with 
 that perdition frnn which Messiah proffers to de- 
 liver you. We will give you a larger measure for 
 the heavy hours of Tophet than was just now fur- 
 nislsed for whole years of bliss. The sun itself^, 
 and }.]! the stars that spangle heaven's great vault^ 
 are but portions of a system incomparably more vast. 
 They are our neighbour- stars; mere stragglerF 
 
Eternityi 115 
 
 connected with that mighty host that forms the 
 milky way. That milky way is but a host of stars! 
 too numerous too count, to distant to descry, their 
 mingled light just shews a milky whiteness. And 
 all these millions, these eighty millions of stars, form 
 but one vast system; and all their movements refer 
 to one great centre, a common centre of the assem- 
 liled host. It is but a single host — a host assem- 
 bled and stored in one small point. For far with- 
 out the boundary of this mass of lights lie other 
 milky ways, of which five and twenty hundred are 
 now distinctly counted, as vast and perhaps more 
 vast than that in which we move. And who can 
 tell the sum of (rod's systems of creation! — Yet 
 these mighty congregations do not lie beyond the 
 circle of each other's influence. Every such as- 
 semblage must tend to every other, as planet tends 
 to planet, and single star to star. Every such as- 
 semblage must be balanced by its movement around 
 its proper centre, as planet or comet around its own 
 particular sun. And thus one simple law pervades 
 the immensity of space, and the whole creation 
 sings as it whirls around together. 
 
 But you, who were just now lost in the attempt 
 to follow the path of our own sun, as he urges his 
 course toward the regions of the north — you who 
 cannot measure th^ circumference of his orbit, nor 
 find figures to tell the years in which he accom- 
 plishes one round — what will you do when you re- 
 collect that this vast round is still confined withiR 
 
il6 Eternity > 
 
 the limits of this single cluster which we call the 
 milky way; and that this cluster has a motion, in 
 common with other clnsters, compared with whose 
 vast sweep the orbit of your sun is reduced to a 
 little point. What numbers will you marshal to 
 calculate the period in which one such cluster, 
 sweeping through immensity, sliall return to the 
 station whence it first departed? As the planets 
 in their courses travel many a round before the sun 
 which is their principal can make a single circuit, 
 so each star — each sun — in its course shall travel 
 many a round, shall often have visited the opposite 
 extremes of the mighty congregation, before that 
 congregation, obedient to the law that controls the 
 smaller systems, shall have traversed one degree 
 of its amazing orbit. — Now, nott^ you have a meas- 
 ure for eternity! now let misery count the hours ot 
 her duration! Let every revolution of these clus- 
 ters round that point which regulates the move- 
 ments of the marshalled universe tell an hour from 
 eternity's own stores. Once more let immensity 
 be the dial plate you note: let the sun in its course 
 tell the minutes of eternity; let the revolution of 
 the whole creation point you to the lapse of its 
 hours. 
 
 And, noWp who can calculate the mighty mass 
 of woe, when all that we saw of Tophet presses on 
 Ihe spirit through an endless series of such amaz- 
 ing revolutions! No dweller tliere can note the 
 moveBient of your sun. The provinces of ere- 
 
Eternity, Hy 
 
 ation may finish many a round; but in Tophet all is 
 darkness as well as sorrow and pain. Oh, let 
 some mighty spirit, now only mighty to endure, cry 
 out for the completion of one such revolution — hope 
 the only sad change that eternity affords him, or ev- 
 er shall afford, the termination of one period of in- 
 terminable suffering. Long must he wait ere this 
 Jubilee shall come. Many will be the movements 
 the universe must make, and many the joyoug 
 changes among happy spirits of heaven^ stars shall 
 go their circuit a thousand times repeated, ere these 
 mighty congregations shall have finished their first 
 round; ere an answer can be returned to the ques- 
 tion often urged from the realms where no one 
 sees, "vvatchman whatofthe night? '^— ^"watchman, 
 what of the niglit?'^ — ^Cease, troubled spirit/ at 
 last some hollow voice responds — ^cease troubled 
 spirit: the first grand revolution of God's universe 
 is finished, the first grand period of thy suffering 
 is completed, the clock of eternity strikes' 
 ONE.' 
 
 Oh many are the changes the universe shall wit- 
 ness, and wonderful the progress all happy souls 
 shall make, before a second answer is returned to 
 such a question, *cease, troubled spirit: the clock of 
 eternity strikes two.' 
 
 And will you, my Dear Friends, still trifle with 
 eternity, and build all your calculations on your 
 three score years and ten? Will you still look on 
 me as some meanly selfish being, when I ^'pniy you 
 
118 '^Urnify. 
 
 in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God/' and 
 press to your very lips the cup of his salvation? You 
 hear him ever saying, "Believe and be baptized:" 
 you hear him still repeating, «^Take my yoke upon 
 you.'' And you, foolish creatui-e! unhappy^ erring 
 creature! you tell the master of this magnificent cre- 
 ation, you say to the controller of these amazing 
 destinies, that you hope to be saved without the 
 water of his baptism; and that you are ashamed or 
 afraid of the cup of his new testament. 
 
 Clock of eternity, strike one! Oh before its 
 wheels shall have made the progress of one minute, 
 before our own little sun shall have run half its lit- 
 tle circuit, ihe question of your destinies will have 
 he.en forever settled, and such memento of eternity 
 cannot move you from your place. ^^To-day, if ye 
 will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." To- 
 day resolve to fulfil the wliole commandment of the 
 Saviour. Lift up your cry to him: seek forgive- 
 ness in his blood; seek the baptism of his spirit; 
 seek the fellowship of saints; seek all that his wis- 
 dom has appointed in his church: and no longer 
 have the madness to risk your eternal all on that 
 partly christian, partly heathen course which so 
 many of you pursue. Little children! we invite 
 you to a Father — he is the Father of Eternity — 
 who will make you far more happy than you have 
 ever hoped to be. Children of the Gentiles! we 
 invite you to a Father who will receive the veriest 
 stranger as the dearest child of Abrahani. Noth- 
 
Eterni^: Aid 
 
 hig is more practicable than your salvation now. 
 Your only work is to believe on Jesus Christ;** 
 your only preparation a desire for his salvation.! 
 Nothing can be more hopeless than the salvation of 
 immortals, when once the conquering Saviour shall 
 have delivered up the kingdom. He then lays 
 aside his office: he is no more a Saviour: he bids 
 eternity roll on. 
 
 And now, my dear friends, once more — one ef- 
 fort more to pierce that ••rind of Leviathan'' and set 
 your spirits free — and then, if all the solemnities 
 e^ the judgment cannot move you, if all that is per» 
 dition in Tophet cannot move you, if all that is joy- 
 ous in heaven cannot move you, if all that is stu= 
 pendous in eternity cannot move you, — why then — 
 LET ETERNITY ROLL on! But we cannot leave 
 you thus. Long have we hoped, and often have we 
 prayed, to build here a glorious church; a church 
 composed of spirits ardent as the seraph, pure as 
 heaven's own cherubim, and lofty as arch-angels 
 that bow before God's throne. * Fervently have we 
 wished that we, even all of us, whose hearts are 
 now so iirmly bound together — that you, who are 
 plainly becoming attached to one-another because 
 you meet together in this peaceful house of prayer, 
 and that I, whom when ^^sick and a stranger" ye 
 took in — fervently have we wished that hearts so 
 bound on earth may grow in their attachments 
 through eternity's vast years: and that long and 
 
 ""■John vi. 29> \Bev» xxii, 17' 
 
i^ Eternitij. 
 
 much as we mingle with the nations, the saved of 
 God^s grace, and frequently as we consort with 
 mighty cherubim and beings of other worlds, yet 
 have we wished that wc, even all of us, '^built up 
 together in our most holy faith,'^ may together re- 
 visit earth and together move through heaven, a lit- 
 tle band of most peculiar friends. 
 
 Once more then we will unfurl the banner of the 
 cross. That one- starred banner, the glorious ^^star 
 of Bethlehem,^^ (God himself so helping us) shall 
 glitter to the sun. And if — when we bring Mes- 
 siah's salvation near, if — when we have shewn you 
 how readily, how speedily, how certainly you may 
 attain to a happy destiny for that eternal world — if 
 still you will not hear us, — why then — O m^ 
 brethren, may God Almighty bless you!— thejt-, 
 CLOCK OF EiERNiTYl STUIKJB ON!! Mien. 
 
©IlIEm(DSI w. 
 
 MESSlAH^S MESSAGE. 
 
 ^'It behoved Christ to suffer^ and to rise from th$ 
 dead the third day: and that repentance and 
 remission of sins should he 'preached in his 
 name among all nations^ beginning at Jerusa- 
 lem.^^ Luke xxiv. 46, 47- 
 
 IN our meetings with you^ from week to weefc^ 
 my dear brethren, we have often called to mind 
 that prayer of David, that he might see the beauty 
 and the glory of Jehovah in his sanctuary, as it had 
 been seen of his people in ages that were past. 
 We know not what are the feelings with which 
 most of you have taken your seats this afternoon: 
 but nothing is more certain than that we seldom re- 
 alize the important question awaiting our decision 
 every time we enter the sanctuary of the Most High, 
 That minister must be shamefully* ignorant of his 
 dutv; or unfaithful to his trusty whose every dis- 
 
f^"^ MessiaVs Message-, 
 
 course may not be more or less resolved into the 
 proclamation of ^^repentance and remission of sins^^ 
 in the name of Je«us Christ: and that people must 
 be exceedingly inattentive to their interest,who have 
 yet to learn that every time they hear this message 
 of their peace^ and refuse to profit by it, they, with 
 their own hand, set to the seal to their own perdi- 
 tion. 
 
 You have not, my dear friends! I know well that 
 most of you have not been in the habit of viewing 
 matters in this serious light. You regard the ef- 
 forts of the Christian ministry rather as exhibitions 
 of human taste and genius, than as authoritative 
 proclamations of God's great salvation. You limit 
 your expectations to instruction and delight, with- 
 out laying to heart that the offices of the sanctuary 
 are ordained of God as the great mean of salvation; 
 and that U is probably from the pulpit his mighty 
 arm will reach you, if ever you are made to inherit 
 that salvation. 
 
 We have lately unfolded to you the eternal des- 
 tinies in which you are speedily and certainly to 
 share. You have seen the horrors of ever- burning 
 Tophet. You have wondered at the magnificence 
 of God's great salvation. Did you know that with- 
 in this hour your own allotment was certainly to be 
 fettled for that eternal state — that you could not 
 this aiternoon depart these walls witliout wearing 
 on your forehead the seal of God's salvation, or the 
 f??,tal mark of final reprobation— what soleamitj 
 
Messiah?& Message. 1S3 
 
 would at this moment sit on every countenancel 
 with what eagerness would you catch the message 
 I am about to announce to you! Every ear would 
 be open, every eye intent, every heart alive; and 
 an awful grandeur would seem to shroud this stand. 
 And have you, then, never thought of it, that on 
 the morning or afternoon of some Lord's day this 
 question will probably be settled in this very way? 
 Have you not reflected, that if, when we urge you 
 to lay hold on God's salvation, you still neglect to 
 do so, that very negligence is as the choice of rep- 
 robation? Have you not yet laid to heart that a 
 compliance with the requisition to ^'•believe with the 
 heart'' on the Lord Jesus Ch.rist, and to confess 
 him with your lips, must be your own formal and 
 immediate act; must infallibly take place, here or 
 elsewhere, sooner or later, by night or by day; op 
 you never can be saved? And are you yet to learn 
 that God's Holy Spirit will not always strive with 
 men; but that if you still resist the feeling which 
 sometimes inclines you to do the thing at once which 
 duty and safety dictate, if you thus ^^grieve," "re- 
 sist," '^quench," insult the Holy Spirit, he will 
 infallibly desert you and leave you to your fate. 
 And then the heart must inevitably settle down, 
 cold, careless and callous, till that dread moment 
 when the string of the fell archer shall twang in 
 fearful sort, and the poison of his arrows rankle in 
 
 vour breast. 
 
 t/ 
 
 Yes, friends, there must be some occurrence, 
 
i24i Messia li ^s Message ^ 
 
 some word that you will hear in the house of God, 
 or some movement of the feelings in some other 
 way occasioned, that will impel you to the Sav- 
 iour, directly, eagerly. Or the alternative must 
 take place: you still neglect or refuse to make ap- 
 plication to him, till he swear in his wrath that you 
 shall not enter into his rest. And then, though 
 you lingered out the age of a Methuselah^ you ar© 
 certainly gone forever. 
 
 We attempt, this afternoon, the conclusion of 
 that appeal to all that is tender and intelligent in 
 your nature, which we had for some time past been 
 projecting as a last effort to accomplish among you 
 the great object of our ministry. And it is not at 
 all impossible that the decision you may enter up 
 before you leave these walls, will settle the ques- 
 tion of eternal life or death for several who now 
 hear me. Hear then as for Eternity. And may 
 the God of grace so order it that it shall be for 
 
 3LIFE ETERNAL. 
 
 We select for your meditations the final instruc* 
 tions of our f^ord to his Apostles. They were giv- 
 en with much solemnity, and in a moment of deep 
 interest. For no sooner had he commissioned 
 them to proclaim salvation, in his name, than he 
 led them forth from Jerusalem as far as Bethany; 
 aivd there lifting up his hand he gave them his last 
 blessing; and while blessing them he was caught 
 up into the presence of his Father. There is there- 
 fore meaning; there h feelings in the charge ^pro- 
 
MpS8ia¥s Message, 4^5 
 
 daim in my name salvation to all nations/ It is not 
 merely a charge to declare among all nations how 
 Grod can he just and the justifier of the ungodly 
 believing on his Son. It is a commandment to prof- 
 fer directly and authoritatively the great deliver- 
 ance that has been achieved: it is as ^^ambassadors 
 for Christ" and as acting '^in Christ's stead"* to 
 say to all men ^Oje ye reconciled to God;" and to 
 tender to them freely, on the behalf of Jesus Christ, 
 ^^in the name^' of Jesus Christ, the pardon and the 
 righteousness on which alone the reconciliation 
 can be grounded. The gospel of salvation is there- 
 fore a message, an authoritative message, it is 
 Messiah's Message to the perishing of all na- 
 tions. And WG w ho are entrusted with it woefully 
 miscarry in the fulfilment of our trust, if we do not 
 so frame it "as thougli God, tJie Saviour, did be- 
 seech you by us" to come at once and be reconciled 
 through him. 
 
 It does not comport with the main object of this 
 exercise to notice at any great length the principles 
 involved in the former part of these instructions. 
 They have been submitted to you frequently, and, 
 in many a forrn. We will sketcli very briefly 
 
 I. The reasons wherefore "it behoved Christ 
 to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.'* 
 And 
 
 ir. The principle on which "repentance and 
 
 ^2 Corinth, v. 20. 
 
ISS MesBia¥s Message^ 
 
 remission of sins should be preached in his name/' 
 And then 
 
 III. We will notice the encouragement held 
 out "to all nations'^ to apply confidently to Messi- 
 ah for salvation. 
 
 I. "It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise fronv 
 the dead.^^ We know not how to give the reasons 
 wherefore the sufferings and resurrection of the 
 Saviour were indispensable to our salvation^ with- 
 in the narrow limits to which we are necessarily 
 restricted. There is, however, one consideration 
 connected with this subject that speaks volumes in 
 behalf of the declaration here made. The scrip- 
 tures always speak of it as an act of sovereignty — 
 and it was an act that demanded and still demands 
 the tribute of unceasing and unutterable gratitude — ■■ 
 ihatthe Saviour did not take upon him ^^the nature 
 of angels/' but united his destiny with "the seed of 
 Abraham. '' Unless it be a few visionaries who 
 fritter away the scriptures at will, and, virtually 
 at least, deny the necessity and even efficacy of 
 Messiah's interposition in behalf of the human race, 
 there is no one who thinks or speaks of the salva- 
 tion of fallen angels as an event even to be hoped. 
 We know that they are "reserved in everlasting 
 chdns, under darkness, to the judgment of the great 
 duy."* And further than this we know nothing 
 of their destiny, except only that we are informed, 
 
Messiah^s Message, ISJ* 
 
 in the only authentic exposition of the divine coun- 
 sels, that ^*the smoke of their torment ascencleth up 
 forever and ever/^* If it should be inquired why 
 these fallen spirits are thus cut off from all hope; 
 the more immediate and natural answer will ba 
 that no Saviour has been provided for them. If 
 this answer does not satisfy, if the inquiry be urg- 
 ed why they do not rise from their hapless condi- 
 tion by their own native energies; the fact that they 
 have not and that they never will do so should go 
 far towards satisfying us that it is a task above 
 their powers. Here then is our whole answer: no 
 Saviour has been provided for them, and they can- 
 not save themselves. They have no hope; and the 
 #nly prayer a devil was ever known to utter was 
 that he might not be tormented before the time^f 
 The fact, as has been said, speaks volumes on 
 the importance of the Saviour's mission to our un- 
 happy world. If beings of such intelligence an^ 
 experience, possessed of such stupendous powers^ 
 and aided in every sense by the recollections fur- 
 nished from their former state, still lack the knowl- 
 edge, or the will or power, to attempt the recovery of 
 the glory they once inherited; if they know no meth- 
 od of escape from torment except only to pray that it 
 may not come too soon; if hopeless perdition be the 
 lot of spirits of heaven when once fallen from theiF 
 high estate: then what is man, poor feeble man^ 
 
 ^^gt%xiv.il ^x^AQ. t*^tff.Yiii,^9. i^Marky.7^ 
 
1S8 Messiahs Message 
 
 '&' 
 
 this inexperienced spirit and lump of brittle clay^ 
 that he might achieve what no angel ever hopes^ 
 although the Son of God had never been known 
 among us as '*the seed of Abraham" too! 
 
 So far is it from being practicable for humau 
 beings to restore themselves to innocence and a 
 state of favor with the God of purity, that^ as we are 
 told in language sufficiently intelligible, there was 
 in fact no possible way in which God himself could 
 save us but through the assumption of the nature 
 and responsibilities of man by the Son of God. 
 ^'If."' says the Apostle Paul, when attempting ta 
 dissuade the Galatian church from seeking salva- 
 tion without reference to tlie sacrifice and obedi- 
 ence of the Saviour, ^'if there had been a law giv- 
 en which could have given life, verily righteous- 
 ness should have been by the law/** You will 
 mark the general assumption on which the Apostle 
 predicates this conclusion: all the judgments of God, 
 all his allotments to any of his creatures, must be 
 dictated by righteousness. We will weigh this as- 
 suoiption hereafter. But what is the conclusion 
 founded on it by our Apostle? It is that the Son 
 of God has not made a needless sacrifice: it is that 
 his God and Father inflicts no needless pain. He 
 says thai if man's salvation could have been possi- 
 bly made to comport with tbe law of eternal right- 
 oii!*^ness on any other principle, on that other prin^ 
 
 '^Galat, iii. gl, * 
 
MessiaVs Message. i2Q 
 
 ciple the plan of our salvation would most infalli- 
 bly have been framed. The wise and good God 
 would never have weakened the sanctions of his 
 own law, would never have taught the universe to 
 Jook on pang and degradation as things of so little 
 consequence that his own Son could needlessly vol- 
 unteer to brave them; as must really be the case if 
 the degradations of his life and the agonies of his 
 cross were needlessly interwoven in the plan of our 
 salvation. No^ it is not the fact. We do not limit 
 the resources of the all-sufficient; the scriptures be- 
 ing judge, the constitutions of the Most High, the 
 nature of the law to which he at first subjected hu» 
 man nature, created this restriction. They imposed 
 a necessity for the substitution of Messiah in the 
 room of sinners, if ever they were to be saved in 
 consistency with rigliteousness. Who could have 
 restored innocence to millions of beings, polluted 
 and guilty as are the sons of men, if Messiah had 
 not done it? Who could have sustained the wrath 
 of the Almighty, overwhelming as we have witnes- 
 sed it in the garden of Gethsemane, if Messiah 
 had not done it? Who could have stood guiltless 
 under the fearful desertion of God's Holy Spirit^ 
 as was exemplified when Messiah hung upon the 
 cross, unless himself had done it? 
 
 And yet all these things were indispensable to 
 the salvation of every human being. What says 
 the law? ^^The wages of sin is death:'^ ^^the soul 
 that sinueth it shall die.^- Such are the declara- 
 
 R 
 
180 Messiah^ s Message, 
 
 tions of the scriptures. It is surely, then, no ex 
 travagant assumption to take it for granted in tho 
 face of a Christian congregation that this is the law 
 of God. We receive the bible as the annuncia- 
 tion of his will; and thus the bible has it. Admit 
 then for a moment the correctness of those who in 
 raising high their paeans to the divine supremacy, 
 think they do Grod service while asserting his com- 
 petency to relax or remit the penalty of his laws at 
 pleasure; and mark what follows. 
 
 1 . You suppose that goodness may often dictate 
 the remission of the penalty which righteousness 
 and sovereignty had attached to every crime. Then 
 does it follow that the exercise of God's goodness 
 being in every such case incompatible with the dic- 
 tates of the law he had promulged, the law must be 
 abrogated that goodness may have its sweep. God 
 has in wisdom, God has in righteousness, promulg- 
 ed a law, ordained a penalty, against which his 
 goodness lifts up its protestations. And the law 
 must be for the moment virtually rescinded, the 
 penalty of righteousness must not be exacted, that 
 goodness may triumph in the deliverance of the vic^ 
 tim. Now to what conclusions would this assump- 
 tion lead, with reference to the character of the De- 
 ity himself? Evidently to these, among a variety 
 of others: that the divine administration is far from 
 lieing perfect; that the divine wisdom is by nd 
 means unimpeachable; that the divine righteous- 
 ness is not maintained inviolate. Would you call 
 
Messiahs Message. 131 
 
 iliat administration perfect, which must be inces- 
 santly merging or violating in point of fact some 
 one of the principles on which it is avowedly car- 
 ried on? Would you call those constitutions wise, 
 which it is held wise and good for their very au- 
 thor to trample under foot? Would you call that 
 decision righteous, which violates every provision 
 of a professedly righteous law? 
 
 S. If God may release or remit at pleasure the 
 penalty of his law — if he may do so, if h® does do 
 so — then it also follows that for the better govern- 
 ment of his creatures he has established an order 
 that reflects very little credit on his sincerity. ^^He 
 is of one mind, and who can turn him?'^ Conse- 
 quently he is held guilty of publishing threatenings 
 which he never intended to execute in any of those 
 cases in which the penalty is remitted. He has 
 therefore chosen to resort to a system of empty 
 threatenings, and of inefficient ordinances for the 
 liETTER GOVEiiNMENT of liis wide creatiou. No; 
 not for the government of the whole creation: be- 
 cause all that is inanimate, all that is least impor- 
 tant, in itself considered, is governed by immutable 
 law. It is in the case of the moral and intelligent 
 creation that he adopts this less dignified and less 
 perfect form of rule. And does it involve no im- 
 peachment of the divine perfections to brand with 
 insincerity the character of the Most High? Is it 
 in nothing derogatory to the glory of his character 
 to impute to him these devices for the government 
 
iB& Messiah^s Message. 
 
 of his creatures which always reflect dishonor eveti 
 on human beings? if in them it testifies imbecility, 
 as well as insincerity^ what does it testify when 
 found in the Supreme? 
 
 S. Finally, what is to be said for the honour of 
 God's truth, if the penalty is in any case remitted in 
 the way supposed. Nothing can be said for it. 
 He ceases to govern the universe in truth, if he says 
 that he will inflict the penalty of sin, and yet does 
 not inflict it. 
 
 No. '*Let God be true, and every man a liar.'^ 
 If death bfe once announced as the penalty of sin, 
 sooner shall the glory of creation wither, sooner 
 shall Tophet become so *^deep and large'' as to 
 embosom this whole universe, than the Creator will 
 forfeit the honours of his truth or tarnish the lustre^ 
 of eternal righteousness. Shall he who made cre- 
 ation with a word, he who produced it to display 
 his glory — shall he be so unwise, so unskilful, so 
 misguided, as to let creation work the disappoint- 
 ment of his plan! the perdition of his glory! Athe- 
 ism, blank atheism were wisdom and piety, compar- 
 ed with such a thought. It might not, could not 
 be. "It BEHOVED Christ to suffer:" to endure that 
 very death which is the penalty of sin; the sorrows 
 that shook him as he passed the brook of Kedron, 
 the agonies that bowed him when he fell prostrate 
 in> the garden, the horrors that overwhelmed him 
 when he cried out ^opoii the cross^ or '^Ihe wages 
 
Messiah^s Message. 133 
 
 of sin'^ had nev er been exacted: the hope of salva- 
 tion had been a stranger to our race. 
 
 It were easy to arrive at a similar conchisioii in 
 relation to that positive righteousness as well as 
 perfect innocence, to which alone the recompense of 
 life belongs, and which never has been exhihited 
 on earth, but in the life of him who ^Mid no sin,'^ 
 and who accounted it even more than his meat and 
 drink to do his Father's will. And it were easj 
 to demonstrate that we arrive at no more solid foun- 
 dation for our hope, by rejecting that sacred page 
 which reveals alike the law that condemns and the 
 deliverer who redeems us ^^from the curse of the 
 law.'' View the matter as you will, one truth re- 
 mains undeniable: it is necessary to a government 
 absolutely perfect, that it be administered in all 
 cases without respect of persons; and that the award 
 be in every case precisely the thing that righteous- 
 tiess itself would dictate. But the blessings of the 
 innocent can never be assigned even to the penitent 
 transgressor, without involving some respect of per- 
 sons! nor can the meed of guilt be ever withheld in 
 mercy, without the glaring violation of the dictates 
 of righteousness. 
 
 But our object this afternoon is not so much to 
 make out the impossibility of salvation in any other 
 way than by the faith of Jesus Christ, as to shew 
 you how readily you may yourselves obtain ^^re*- 
 pe-Uance and remission of sins" by that new and 
 living way. Of the sufficiency of the Saviour his 
 
iM Messiah^ s Message, 
 
 resurrection is the pledge. For if it were indis* 
 pensable that he should bow his head in death, ill 
 as much as death is the penalty of human trans- 
 gression; ^^it behoved him" also ^^to rise from th6 
 dead/'^ when the penalty was exhausted, in order 
 that all men might have assurance of the fact of the 
 exhaustion, and see that ^«death hath no more do- 
 minion over him." He remained sealed up in the 
 house appointed for the children of mortality so 
 long as was necessary to give assurance of his ac- 
 tual decease: and that end answered, he must no 
 longer slumber; he must ^"'rise from the dead.^^ 
 
 IT. It is well, my dear friends, that we need 
 not, at this time, devote many moments of our at- 
 tention to the second part of this discourse. You 
 have often heard from this place that ^^Grod is in 
 Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not im- 
 puting unto men their trespasses:" and it is this 
 circumstance that lays the whole of the foundation 
 for that ^ ^repentance toward Grod and faith toward 
 our Lord Jesus Christ" which we have it in com- 
 mandment from the Saviour to enjoin. What 
 would it avail that you have pondered so intently 
 that great and di^adful day iti which ^^the dead, 
 small and great," shall stand before Jesus Christ: 
 what would avail the fearful sights you witnessed 
 m that dark region where hope is a stranger, and 
 happiness a shadow, only to be remembered as a 
 shndow that once had been: what would it avail 
 tliat you wandered for an hour among those seats of 
 
Messiah's Message. 135 
 
 bliss^ where ^^glory, liouoiir and immortality" are 
 found, free as the air and diffused like the light of 
 heaven: what would it avail that you weighed these 
 opposite destinies in the balance of eternity, and 
 stood aghast while your eye took measure of the 
 beam — that beam so great and dreadful— that, 
 mighty as it is, seemed to bend beneath the weight 
 of these amazing destinies: — what advantage could 
 possibly result from your attention or from m}^ 
 painful labours, if the story of Messiah's life and 
 sufferings has no more bearing on your life and des- 
 tinies than any other ^^tale of the olden time ''? Biit 
 the gospel of salvation is not merely a tale of won- 
 der. It is designed, it is calculated, to bear most 
 powerfully on the lives of human beings; and wher- 
 ever it is proclaimed it will infallibly alter, eithei5 
 for the better or for the worse, the everlasting con- 
 dition of every one who hears it. 
 
 The first thing we are commissioned to proclaim 
 to the nations in the name of him who was crucified 
 at Jerusalem, is ^^repentance toward God/' By 
 repentance you are not to understand merely thai 
 sorrow and regret for past offences to which in 
 common colloquy we restrict the application of ilm 
 word; but rather that complete and universal 
 change in the objects of our pursuit, in the tempers 
 of our mind, and in the tone of our feelings, which 
 of right ought to spring from clear apprehension*- 
 of eternal things when presented as objects certain 
 ly and readily attainable through the faith of Jesus 
 
186 Messiahs Message. 
 
 Christ. If our lot had been cast in any land of 
 paganism where the honour due to God is lavished 
 on every idol, and w^here ^^an horror of thick dark- 
 ness" settles on the grave and on all beyond the 
 grave; then it would be in some sort reasonable to 
 limit all our wishes to the present life, and to square 
 our conduct by maxims altogether worldly. And 
 favored as we are with the light of revelation, if it 
 taught us nothing more than to recognize the being 
 and to acknowledge the authority of ^'the only true 
 God/^ or if it brought to our knowledge the salva- 
 tion of Messiah as a blessing with which many of 
 our friends and neighbours were to be crowned, but 
 in which we ourselves had no prospect of a share; 
 then, the Apostle Paul being judge, it would still 
 be good philosophy, *4et us eat and drink^ for to- 
 morrow we die.'^ But, surely, if we announce to you 
 a common salvation; if we are the heralds of a Re- 
 deemer who <^^is able to save them to the uttermost 
 that come unto God by him;" if ^^tliere is none oth- 
 er name under heaven given among nien whereby 
 we must be saved," so that your only hope of 
 safety lies in attacking yourselves to him; and if 
 BO degree of ignorance or guilty no circumstances of 
 age, or youth, or infancy, no one thing— no many 
 things that ingenuity itself could conjure up, de- 
 bar you from applying; then it is folly to hesitate, 
 it is madness to delay. You should "refenii^^ 
 change all your views and feelings and plans in re- 
 lation to the great question of yoyr happiness: and^ 
 
Mpssiali^s Message. i3J 
 
 ^^'seeking first the kingdom of God and his right-^ 
 cousncss,'^ cast yourselves at once, like the blind 
 and the lepers and the lame in Israel, at the feet of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 But far be it from us to exclude from the idea of 
 that repentance which is thus to be proclaimed, iii 
 the Saviour s name, among all nations, any of those 
 feelings of regret or compunction that spring up 
 naturally in a heart once more made **right with 
 God.^^ All such feelings, however, are of sponta- 
 neous growth. We cannot feel because we deem 
 it to be our duty to feel: we cannot compel the cur- 
 rent of the affections. The attempts so often made 
 to create these feelings of compu ction and regret, 
 us a mere matter of propriety and duty, are worse 
 than idle; they are absolutely hurtful. That kind- 
 ly flowing of the heart, that just and keen self- 
 reproach which it is proper we should feel because 
 ^e are offenders, is only to be expected as the re- 
 sult of confidence restored between us and our Cre* 
 ator. So long as we fear him with a slavish fear^ 
 so long as we do not love him with child-like ten- 
 derness, the ingenuous sorrow of a repentant child 
 is not to be expected from us. It is not in nature 
 that we should regret the offence in any other point 
 of light than as it exposes us to danger. It is not 
 in nature that we should even hate — indeed tliat 
 we should not father love — the offence that may 
 have exposed us, if we have found happiness in it, 
 and have known nothing of happiness in the way 
 
 S 
 
iSS Messiah's Message, 
 
 of righteousness and in the fellowship of God. To 
 attempt therefore in the first instance to cultivate 
 such feelings as a matter of duty, and with a view 
 to render our application acceptable to the Saviour^ 
 is to begin at the wrong end. It is our sinfulness, 
 not our penitence, that renders us fit objects of his 
 notice; he is himself '^exalted to give repentance 
 as well as forgiveness of sins^'^* and it is the bur- 
 den of this message which we are to deliver in his 
 name that you come to him for every proper feeling, 
 come to him for repentance, as well as for pardon 
 and eternal life. Let the conscience once be 
 sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ; hear him 
 once say to you, ^son, daughter, be of good comfort, 
 thy sins be forgiven thee;^ learn to know the good- 
 ness and tenderness against which you have tres- 
 passed; learn to scan your follies in the light which 
 is shed by the hope of life eternal; let love — the 
 love of God, sit in judgment on your trespasses; 
 and then you will be sorry for them, and abhor 
 yourself, and repent in dust and ashes. But to 
 attempt the cultivation of such ingenuous feelings 
 as ? preparative to your application to the Saviour, 
 is to attempt a thing impossible. These are feel- 
 ing that never consort with apprehension or dis~ 
 may. It is kindness that generates them, not 
 eteiiui) judgment: it is high and hallowed hope and 
 lieaven-descended peace that foster them, and not 
 g():uling anguish or haggard desperation. 
 
 '^^cts v. 31. 
 
Messiah^ 3 Message.. iSg 
 
 }^or are the inducements to repentance, in the 
 former acceptation of that word, less strong; nor 
 does it flow less naturally from an hearty compli- 
 ance with the Redeemers message. If lie has 
 given commandment to the nations to change their 
 views, their feelings, their pursuits; he has accom- 
 panied the mandate with reasons that commend 
 themselves to every understanding, and with in- 
 ducements which if rightly weighed must deter- 
 mine the choice of every heart. It is not our pres- 
 ent business to detail to you these reasons and in- 
 ducements. They are to be found in all you have 
 iieard of judgment, of future misery and happiness, 
 and of eternity with all its revolutions. They are 
 to be found in that other portion of Messiah's mes- 
 sage in which he tenders to the nations the remis- 
 sion of their sins. 
 
 This proclamation of pardon to the nations, in- 
 dividually, universally, is grounded on the all-suf- 
 fif^iency of the Redeemer's obedience and sacrifice. 
 The principle on which the paidon is communica- 
 ted, and the way in which aloae we can success- 
 fully apply for it, are of course to be learned no 
 where but in the volume Which contains the mes- 
 sage; inasmuch as the persons who were first charg- 
 ed with the delivery of it have long since disap- 
 peared from the walks of men. The principle on 
 which forgiveness is offered '^'in the name'' of Jesus^ 
 ^^to every creature" is often stated, especially in 
 »he writings of the Apostle Paul: and (he ^Tianncr 
 
140 Messiahs Messa^e^ 
 
 of its application more ti>an once illustrated by aft 
 example of which all nations daily feel the reality 
 and power: *'as by one man's disobedience many 
 were made sinners; so by tlie obedience of one si:all 
 many be made righteous*''* Our iirst Father stood 
 the federative head of this great system; and the 
 whole waj"ld takes the character of its destinies 
 from him. The first offence, small as it may ap- 
 pear^ considered in itself, and limited as were its 
 more immediate ejfects, yet, like some mortal poi- 
 son introduced into the veins, corrupted the whole 
 ijiass. Extend or modify the system as you will, 
 let its mass be augmented a thousand or ten 
 thousand fold, you only extend the limits through 
 which the poison may takes its range; you augment 
 its quantit;y; you increase its virulence. The mul- 
 tiplication of men, we know, does not lessen tlieir 
 depravity, nor diminish their responsibility on the 
 score of -^the sin original." The full effect of the 
 first offence comes down on every person; and eve- 
 ry one sustains the total of the guilt. And it is in 
 the commencement of their being, and in conse- 
 quence of their connexion with the father of our 
 race, that they become sharers in the taint of the all- 
 pervading poison; and in the guilt which gave ii. 
 range. 
 
 E?:act!y so, says our Apostle, does Messiah's 
 solvation operate. He tuo is constituted a federa- 
 
 fjtiom, Y, 19. 
 
• Messiah- 8 Message, 4.4)1 
 
 tive head: he is the second Adam. He lias obey- 
 ed tiie law; he bus endured (Ik* penalty: and now he 
 invites into union with himself all who are wearei** 
 of the common nature. His own holiness shall be 
 as efficient to purify and save, as was the pollntioa 
 of (iiir lirst father to corrupt and destroy. * nd the 
 merit of his obedience and the efficacy of his blood- 
 shall come down undivided on every soul tiiat 
 cleaves tc» liim, on every member of his body, as 
 -guilt lirst de>cended on every soul of man who tca- 
 -ces his existence up to tlie first transgressor. 
 
 But in order that the forgiveness and sanctitj 
 may reach you, you must become a member of 
 Messiah's body, a portion of the system wMch lie 
 heads. It is to this end we are jcommissioiied lo 
 proifer pardon **in his name," and to proffer it ^^io 
 all nations.'^ We ai*e not authorized to say, arid 
 we i!o not undertake to say, to an 3^ creature u^der 
 heaven, that this forgiveness is already theirs^ or 
 that the Saviour died for them. But we are abun- 
 dantly authorized to say that lie died for that greai; 
 assemblage of which he is called the head; that hi^' 
 merits come down upon them as his own children^ 
 precisely as Adam's guilt and misery come dowji 
 upon hU children; and that if we will unite ourselves' 
 in the way of his appointment wltlt the assemblage 
 which he heads, his merits shall cover ii% jshall 
 cover every creature, as corruption covers and deatJi 
 pervades the still increasing mass connected with 
 .the first Adam; or as the merits of the SayiDur cor- 
 
ki^ Mes8ia¥d Mes^agPi 
 
 er those who are now his people. We are authot* 
 ized to say ^^to every creature" that the merits of 
 fhe Saviour are sufficient for them all; that he is 
 4abundantly able to extend salvation to them all; and 
 that all are equally strangers to him and his salva- 
 tion, till they become united to him by the Spirit of 
 his grace. We are authorized to say to every 
 creature that no one is admitted to share this great 
 salvation on the ground of their names having al- 
 ways had a place in the covenant of God's peacc;^ 
 an^l that no one is prevented from sharing in this 
 blessing on the ground that no covenant provision 
 is made in their behalf: but that all who inherit, 
 do so on the ground of their union with him with 
 whom the covenant stands fast, and are then and 
 not till then known as parties in that covenant 
 when one with him who was originally a paHy; 
 and that all who are now ^^strangers from the cove- 
 nants of promise"' may be made parties to it too by 
 a similar union with the living head. 
 
 It is idle, then, and a great deal worse than idle* 
 to be eternally holding back from the fountain of 
 Israel, and perplexing yourselves with those crude 
 
 ^/and erroneous metaphysical discussions which so 
 laboriously confound the declared plans and secret 
 purposes of God; the constitutions he ordains for 
 the^ government of his creatures, and the results he 
 intends producing by the operation of those consti- 
 tutions. He has sketched the plan on which alone 
 
 '" lie will compass the salvation of any sinful niaU;;^ 
 
Messiah- s Message, i^^ 
 
 he authorizes salvation to be proffered to all, to ht 
 proffered in the name of Jesus; and he makes it 
 plain in many ways that his plan is fully adequate 
 to compass the salvation of all to whom he offers it- 
 What more would you have? Assurance that your 
 name is already enrolled on the list of those whf 
 are in covenant with God? He has not said so» 
 He has no where said that any name is appended 
 to that instrument, that any mortal is a party to that 
 covenant, who is not at the same time one with Je- 
 sus Christ. He invites you to become one with 
 Christ, that the fact of your union may interest you 
 in the covenant which was made with Jesus Christ, 
 If you are in him, you are in tiie covenant of his 
 peace. If you are out of him, rest assured the coy- 
 enanl knows you not. 
 
 My dear friends, we are trifling with the Sav- 
 iour vyho has sent us the message of his peace, and 
 we are trifling with all that is precious in our 
 hopes, while we go on in this way. Why do you 
 stand crying 'Hhe time is not yet com e*— the time is 
 not yet come?'^ Why do we so often hear you 
 saying that nothing can be done till a change h 
 wrought from heaven; and that nothing remains foi' 
 you but to stand as you are, and go on a.s you am 
 going, till that happy change take piac^, if, indeed,, 
 it ever shall take place. If it do not take place 
 you are lost, as certainly as God lives.-— But tell 
 nit^! Would not those lepers in Israel have been 
 fools, if; when they heard report of Messiah's worka 
 
i4if Messiah^ s MessUge. 
 
 -of iiiiglit and mercy, they had hesitated to apply fe 
 him, on a similar principle? Would not the para- 
 lytic and the lame have played the fool, if, when 
 Messiah said to them '^stretch forth thine hand,'^ 
 or ^^rise and make thy hed/' they had argued, as 
 you do, from their own weakness, and refused to 
 make the trial? Never then had leper heen cleans- 
 ed in IsraePs coasts; and never had the helpless 
 been restored to wonted strength. Is it from the 
 word of God yon learn that "the time is not yet 
 come^^? The Saviour says *'To-day." He nev- 
 er tells you of to-morrow. The Saviour pledges^ 
 liis own might: he lays no stress upon your w eak- 
 ness. He bids you come at once: not stay till yoa 
 liave acquired repentance, or earned some claim to 
 the remission of your sins. He is exalted, say the 
 scriptures, "a prince and a Saviour; to give repen- 
 tance to Israel and forgiveness of sins:''^ and you 
 are to come to him for these as for every other 
 thing. He has promised the gift of his Holy Spirit 
 to those who ask him: and you are to solicit that 
 gift as well as every other thing. He bids you 
 come to him to-day, he is calling you every day, 
 3ie is stretching forth iiis hand all the day and cal- 
 ling you: and it is madness in yon to say that ^^the 
 time is not j^V^ 
 
 It is thus we proclaim ^^repentance anw remissioe 
 fif sins, in Messiah's name, among all nations.'' 
 And if anyone be found of us vj\\o thinks his t'me 
 is not yet conic. If any c^ne be fcznd %vhf? tUiaks Im. 
 
Messiahs Message. i4j§t 
 
 tian never obtain an interest in the Saviour, vi^e ar- 
 rest the erring footsteps of the first; we gather the 
 outcasts from "the highways and the hedgesj'^ and 
 we 'kjompel them to come in/^ For 
 
 in. This '^gospel of the kingdom" is to be pro- 
 daimed '^among all nations.'^ Or, as we have it 
 still more emphatically stated in the conclusion of 
 the gospel by Mark, salvation by Jesus ( brist is to 
 be offered to "every creature." Of all things con- 
 nected with the gospel of salvation, tiiis is the arti«^ 
 cle we are most backward to believe. It is n(> dif-* 
 ficult matter to become convinced of the necessity 
 for Messiah's interposition. It is still more easy 
 to believe that he is fully able to accomplish in eve*. 
 ry case every thing that he proffers to do for the 
 perisjbing nations. And it is with readiness we con- 
 cede that his arm has been frequently and success^ 
 fully stretched forth for the deliverance of many of 
 our fellow-men — even of multitudes whom we per- 
 sonally know. But to admit his readiness to save 
 ourselves, even when we concede his ability to do 
 it; to believe that even now he is stretching fortU 
 his hands and declaring that he is ready to grant 
 us his salvation; to believe that we may come to 
 him exactly as we are, unsanctified, unjustified, 
 *^with all our imperfections oii our heads," and re- 
 ceive without any previous amendment or desert of 
 our own, all that is comprised in his eternal salva- 
 tion; these things we are not disjpoged to credit^j 
 
 T 
 
146 Messiah^s Message, 
 
 And thus we stay away from the fountain he has 
 opened^ and so are never washed; and thus refuse 
 the prescription of the great physician, and so are 
 never healed. 
 
 Did they who crucified him, and shook their 
 heads in scorn, do so? Did the myriads of the Gen- 
 tiles, who embraced at the first word the gospel of 
 salvation, calculate in this style? Are you then wi- 
 ser than they were? Or rather do you think the 
 prospect of salvation less certain and encouraging 
 than was presented by the Saviour to those who 
 first embraced it? — To whom? Say, to whom? — 
 Hear the message of Jesus Christ. He has sent it 
 to all nations. A.nd that all nations might have as- 
 surance of his readiness to save them, he fixed up- 
 on Jemsalem as the spot where the communication 
 of these glad tidings should commence. "Preach/^ 
 said he, ^^repentance and remission of sin in my 
 NAME among all nations, BEGINNING AT JE- 
 RUSiLEM.'' 
 
 And who that reads the Bible cannot tell how 
 very unworthy was the city of Jerusalem of such 
 distinguished mercy 1 Jerusalem had been cho- 
 sen at an early period as the site of God's own tem- 
 ple, the place to which all the tribes of Israel must 
 come up to worship him. Jerusalem had been 
 favored with means df instruction more extensive, 
 varied, and steadily prolonged, than any other spot 
 in Palestine, or in the world. Jerusalem had been 
 distinguished by many great deliverances, when 
 a,U the plains were desolated, and the villages and 
 
MessiaWs Message. 147 
 
 oilier cities had been left to smoke in ruin. Jerit- 
 SALEM was the point to which Priests and I ro- 
 phets gathered, and to which the mighty Saviour 
 directed his chief efforts. 
 
 Yet Jerusalem, thus pre-eminent in distinctions 
 and privileges, stqod still more pre-eminent in the 
 impieties which defiled her. Rarely had it hap- 
 pened, in the history of the church, that the idols of 
 the heathen usurped the honors of AlmightyGod, but 
 W\2iim Jerusalem i\\^ idolatry began. Rarely did it 
 happen Uiat self-styled prophets misled the self- 
 willed people, but tliat Jerusalem stood foremost 
 tb support them in the wrongs and in the citij 
 of Jerusalem they Ibund a welcome home. Never 
 did it happen that malice sought and cruelty was 
 glutted with the blood of a true prophet^ but the 
 city of Jerusalem was made the scene of slaugh- 
 ter.^ And if ever truth has fallen in the streets, if 
 ever the barred gates hindered equity from entering; 
 Jerusalem was the city in whose streets the truth 
 has fallen, the gates of Jerusalem were barred a- 
 gainst all equity, her priesthood and her magistracy 
 trampled on all law. When ^^the hope of Israel'^ 
 came to sliew salvation to the nation, the villrTos 
 were glad, the towns received him rheerfully, the 
 ^^fields and every tree rejoiced'' at t e :u'esence of 
 Messiah: but when he expounded his g.)spel in flia 
 city of Jerusalem the scribes and the p^iicsthood 
 
 Liike xiil. 33. 
 
i4}8 Messiahs Message, 
 
 withstood him to the face: when he vaised up the; 
 dead in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, they re- 
 garded it as good reason for compassing hi- des- 
 truction:* and at length, wJien he entered that v ty 
 for the last time, it was the simple multitude that 
 lifted high their pgeans, it was while yet in the^ 
 country that they strewed the way with branches 
 of the palm, and cried "hosanna to the son of Da- 
 vid,'' and it was the city of Jerusalem that so speed-^ 
 ily changed their tone* It was Jerusalem that in- 
 stigated the giddy mob to cry, 'crucify him, crucify 
 him.' It was the people of Jerusalem that wag* 
 ged their heads in s orn, 'ah, thou that savedst oth- 
 ers, thou canst not save thyself.' And wlien at 
 last Messiah bowed his head in death, the inhabit- 
 a'lts of the Villages raised their useless plaint; even 
 pagan soldiers dare assert his innocence; the hosts 
 of heaven stood mute in fearful expectation; the 
 sun withdrew his light; earth trembled to her cen^ 
 iter, all nature ''gave signal of the general woe:''— 
 but Hell and Jerusalem rejoiced* 
 
 And who then will suppose that Jerusalem had 
 any title to share in these glad tidings? Jerusalt m 
 where alone the prophets of the Lord had ever 
 perished by the hand of violence! Jerusalem that 
 first abused then crucified the Saviour! Yet he does 
 not overlook the people of that city because they 
 bad so outraged h m. Ue not only transmits to them 
 
 fJohn xL %^ — ^^3. 
 
Messiahs Message. 149 
 
 tliis message of his peace; but he sends it to them 
 first, and by the earliest opportunity. But it was 
 not merely for their own sakes that he did it. He 
 tliereby gives assurance to all people under heaven 
 Jiow free and how mighty is the salvation he pro- 
 claims; when thus, in the very outset, he makes 
 proof of its ei5icacy on the people oi Jerusalem, The 
 salvation to be announced and to be accepted through 
 all ages, is in every case presented as a ^'common 
 salvation.^' Its efficacy is of course limited to those 
 •who embrace it. But that efficacy is not doubtful, 
 the operation is sure, upon all who do embrace it. 
 And the warrant to lay hold upon this common 
 hope is co-extensive with the race of man. There 
 is no particular warrant for those who acce[!>t the 
 offer; no particular exclusion of those who do not 
 accept: on one and the same ground, with equal 
 sincerity and with equal truth, it is tendered to '-all 
 nations. '^ and all Jire authorised ( — and all who do 
 embrace it are influenced — ) to embrace it upon that 
 general warranty. There was nothing then par- 
 ticular in the privileges of the Jews: it was Mes- 
 mah^s Message that the Apostles must deliver, that 
 very message which we to-day announce to yoiK 
 and the inducements to regard it were not to be 
 gathered, and in no instance can be gathered, from 
 the superior dignity of the Apostolic college, but 
 solely from the truth and power of him who ordain- 
 ed it as a message common to all nations. Yoia 
 fcave then the saiue warrant — the very same — with 
 
i 50 Messm¥s Message^ 
 
 the people of Jerusalem. And you have this ad- 
 ditional encouragemefit to believe the gospel and to 
 lift up your appeal to the Almighty Saviour, that he 
 first shewed the nations how free is his salvation, by 
 making the first tender to a people so unworthy; 
 and made proof to all people of the sincerity of his 
 heart and the power of his arm, bj saving among the 
 first his own murderers when they cried to him. 
 Oo preach, said he, this gospel;go offer to allnations 
 an inheritance among the sanctified: and that all na- 
 tions may have proof that it is no idle proclama- 
 tion, that all nations may appreciate "the exceed- 
 ing riches of the Father's grace/' that no depth of 
 depravity, that no enormity of guilt, may make any 
 doubt their warrant to lay hold on this salvation, 
 go preach this gospel "BEGINNING AT JERU- 
 S A LEM."— "Beginning at Jerusalem,'' go tell 
 that foolish people, who so fearfully corrupted the 
 economy of Moses, that I tender them the honor 
 of becoming the first sharers in the new and glori- 
 ous privileges *>f the kingdom of Messiah: — "Be- 
 ginning AT Jerusalem," tell that misguided pea- 
 pie, who rejected their Messiah when he came so 
 meek and lowly, that I offer now to rank them with 
 heaven's high principalities, as "the sons and„ 
 daughters of the T.ord Almiglity:" — "Beginning 
 at Jerusalem," tell that ungrateful people, who 
 poured contempt on my instructions and villified 
 my aim, that 1 offer them as a teacher the omuisr 
 <neut Spirit of God:" — "Beginning at JERusi- 
 
Messiah^ s M?ssage. 151 
 
 LEM,'^ tell that despiteful people, who styled me 
 hell's own instrument when I bade foul spirits de- 
 part from the bodies of their brethren, that I tender 
 to them all complete deliverance from the dominion 
 of the devil; — ^^Beginning at Jerusalem,'' tell 
 that unrighteous people, who sought the life of him 
 that gave them back their dead, and bribed his owa 
 disciple to accomplish his undoing, I unseal to them 
 ^^without money" the fountain of life eternal, and 
 will conduct them ^'without price" to God's full 
 flood as it gushes from his throne: — ^'Beginning 
 AT Jerusalem," go tell those men of violence, who 
 drove me from their temple and dragged me from 
 their city, that 1 tender them a seat in the temple 
 of the skies, and fling wide to them the gates of the 
 city of my God: — ''Beginning at Jerusalem/^ go 
 tell those cruel men, who mocked my thirst with 
 vinegar and my infamy with thorns, that for vine" 
 gar I bequeath to them ^^the cup of the New Test- 
 ament/' and crowns and chaplets for my tiara of 
 thorns, that they may be rendered < 'kings and 
 priests unto God" and to the Lamb, 
 
 Such was the message wiiich your own Messiah 
 sent to the city of Jerusalem. How did she rejoicd 
 when the head of God our Saviour was laid low in 
 death! let all her myriads — let all her miscreants — > 
 again rejoice!! Her myriads did rejoice at the pro- 
 clamation of this pardon. By thousands upon thou« 
 sands they eagerly accepted the water of his bap- 
 tism ^ad tUe cup of his JS^ew Testaiaent. Nor did 
 
i51S Messiahs Message. 
 
 they ever think of temporizing with their scruples 
 and their fears: nor did they bid Messiah wait^, 
 Whence could they hope for purity and strength to 
 maintain a consistent walk, if not from that good 
 Spirit whom the Saviour proffers with the water of 
 his baptism? What recommendation could they 
 liope for to insure a good reception from the God of 
 grace, if it were not the expression of their wish 
 for his salvation, in their ready acceptance of his 
 bread and wine, the symbols of the grace and for- 
 giveness which they needed? What better proof of 
 the sincerity of their hearts, than their taking him 
 at his wt»rd^ doing so without delay, and seeking 
 Jiis salvation in the way of his own appointment? 
 What surer pledge of fidelity and attachment, thau 
 to obey without hesitation the commandment of the 
 Saviour? 
 
 And you, my dear friends^ — you see now the ex- 
 tent of Grod's great salvation. Jerusalem has shown 
 you how it serves to cover the most aggravated of- 
 fences. Jerusalem has verified the ^^truth" as well 
 as ^^grace'^ of the charter thus left open for the name 
 of ^'every creature/^ Let Jerusalem also teach you 
 that you trifle with your peace, when you put off 
 from day to day, under pretence of your unfit- 
 ness, what Messiah's own murderers undertook at 
 once when they received the same assurance which 
 we now convey to you. Let no one then pretend, 
 henceforth and forever, that they neglect the way 
 of life because they know no warrant for making 
 
Mesmah^s Message, iS^ 
 
 appUcation to the Saviour, and must, at best, vt- 
 main uncertain whether he is willing to receive> 
 them. Messiah'sraessage thus transmitted through 
 all ages, and heralded among all nations, is the on- 
 ly warrant the men of Jewry had, and the only 
 one they sought for. Messiah's message thus her- 
 alded to all nations affords an ample and no doubt- 
 ful ground of hope — of more than hope, of sure and 
 cei^tain expectation — to every creature that abides 
 by his directions. Messiah's message is as really 
 directed to every one of you, as to the Jews or the 
 Gentiles whom his own Apostles personally ad- 
 dressed. Why then do you stand at a distance ais 
 if you were uncertain of your right to claim salva* 
 tion from the Saviour? Why settle it in your 
 hearts that none but a Christian has an interest ia 
 the Saviour? Was it to Christians alone that tlie 
 8aviour gave commandment this message should 
 be delivered? Have you never heard it, have you 
 aever read it in the pages of God's own word, that 
 to doubt whether this message is directed to your- 
 self, to doubt Messiah's willingness or to call in 
 question his ability to save you — even you — is to 
 make God a liar?* What is meant by the unbe- 
 lief which brings down additional guilt and se?ils 
 perdition on the soul, if it be not a calling in que-:ti ju 
 the truth of this very message? Let no one suppose 
 tbat to admit, and even from the heart believe^ th^ 
 
 *1 John V. 10* 
 
iS"^ Messiali's Message, 
 
 inspiration of the scriptures; and that their testimo- 
 ny is true in the sense in which half the world ad- 
 mits their truth; is to avoid the imputation of this 
 high offence. They testify something more, and 
 far more interesting, than the general truth that 
 there is salvation in Messiah. They tell ^<every 
 creature" that Messiah is their own Saviour; that 
 he is waiting to be gracious to themselves who 
 hear the message; and that it is their privilege and 
 duty at once to bow to him and accept his great 
 salvation. They do not say to any that they are 
 already interested in the blood of the atonement as 
 parties whose sins have been already washed away^ 
 while yet they remain at a distance from the Sav- 
 iour; but they give assurances to all that such an 
 interest may yet be created, that the sins of each 
 one may yet be washed away in that common 
 ^'fountain'' which has been opened for all fleshy 
 and to which all flesh are invited. 
 
 Unbelief then may admit the general truth of 
 scriptnre: it only calls in question the truth of 
 Messiah's message as delivered to the party him- 
 self. Unbelief may admit the Saviour's power to 
 save; it only calls in question the truth of those as- 
 surances which respect his willingness to save the 
 party addressed. Unbelief may admit the interest 
 ^vhich all others have in this great plan: it only 
 ^ cuts off the party himself from realizing any per- 
 sonal interest in it. And thus it is that unbelief 
 makes God a liar. He proclaims his love to this 
 
Messiah^ s Message, 153 
 
 great world of ours; and points all people to the 
 gift of his own Son, in proof of his love to them.* 
 They admit the general truth that God loves the 
 "world at large, but still venture to question whether 
 that love extends to them. 
 
 But we cannot, and we surely need not;, take up. 
 any more of your time in enforcing this great truth 
 that the ^message of Messiah is directed to your- 
 selves; and that the burden of that message is 
 salvation for yourselves. You have seen the 
 ground on which Messiah tenders it; and you 
 have seen that Jews and Gentiles in the davs of 
 his Apostles embraced the proffer and inherited the 
 blessrag without any assurance having been fur- 
 nished them more decided or more distinct than is 
 now submitted to yourselves. What assurance, in 
 fact, could he more decided than this unconditional 
 proffer? What could render the assurance more 
 distinct than its being directed without distinction 
 to ^^evcry creature"'? It is high time for you to 
 act. You believe that you stand chargeable before 
 God with many oiiences. You believe that **it be- 
 hoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead,'^ 
 in order that salvation miglit be extended to every 
 creature. For yourself, therefore, you believe that 
 there is no hope of safety, unless it come to you by 
 this "^new and living way.'^ Is it not then mad- 
 ness in you to trifle witli the great interests of etej^- 
 
 ^Jolin iii. iO. 
 
iS6 MessiaVs Meg^ag^s 
 
 Uity, wliich are so soon to become the only interettis 
 of your being; and from the peaceful seats of ZiOU;, 
 from the very portals of higli heaven, to sink down 
 through mere negligence into everlasting death? 
 Let it be remembered, the Son of God will not 
 iorce his deliverance on any one. He bids you 
 ask; and he pledges the glory of his truth that you 
 shall receive. He bids you flee to him from the 
 temptations of the worlds and from the plagues of 
 your own heart; and he tenders you the pledge, in 
 ihe seals of his new covenant, of grace and strength 
 in proportion to your need. Why should you ex^ 
 pect these things, if you disobey his word? if you 
 distrust his assurances? if you disapprove the way 
 which his wisdom has pointed out? or If you doubt 
 the circumspection that would conduct you in that 
 way? 
 
 It is the Grod of eternity speaks. ^^Hear ye! 
 Hear ye!''-'^Behold, I stand at the door and knock: 
 if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I 
 will tome in to him, and will sup with him, and he 
 With me^" Who among you will regard Messiah's 
 application? Who among you ^'glis for Messiah's 
 great salvation? ^et them remember that his ad- 
 dress is made to every creature: and let every crea- 
 ture lift up the heart to him, and say, ^^ComeiHj 
 ifinou blessed of tiie Lord; eome in.'^ Smen, 
 
^HE NECESSITY OF A CHRISTIATS3' 
 PROFESSION. 
 
 ^^Tahe my yoke upon you mid learn of me; for I 
 am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest 
 unto your souls J^ Matth. xi. 39. 
 
 ^^MY father, if the prophet had bid thee do some 
 great things wouldest thou not have done it? how 
 much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash^ 
 and be clean?^' Such was the modest and sensible 
 appeal urged by one of the servants of the Syrian 
 chief, who having travelled into Palestine with the 
 hope of getting cured of a loathsome and painful 
 malady, was going a^vay displeased at the simpli- 
 city of the means he was directed to attempt. ^Thc; 
 rivers of Damascus,' said the disappointed leper, 
 *are better than this Jordan; why should I bathe in 
 it?' And but for the faithful and affectionate re- 
 joapnetrances of his attendaats, Naaman had depart^^ 
 
15^ The JVecessity of 
 
 Od without making trial of the remedy: Syria had 
 marked the melancholy cavalcade, as it returned 
 unblessed: and on the banks of the Pharpar that 
 great Syrian captain had pined away and died. 
 
 Often, my dear friwids, when we have looked a- 
 Found on you, we have thought of this moving and 
 instructive story. When I see some of you dis- 
 tracted with a great variety of pursuits and cares; 
 when 1 see others manifesting even more anxiety 
 to preserve life than to enjoy it; when some of those 
 who love you make report of the inquiries you so 
 ©ften frame, ^Why attach so much importance to 
 the faith of Christ?' 'Why deem a profession of the 
 Christian Religion a thing so indispensable?' — it 
 is mine to adopt the language of that captive maid 
 who set on foot this mission. I say '^would God my 
 friend were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for 
 he would recover him of his leprosy:'' — I say, 
 ^would Grod he would listen to that still greater pro- 
 phet who has displayed his healing powers on a far 
 movQ extensive scale! he would speedily induce Iiim 
 to <'seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
 ness:" and he would convince him that it is wisdom^ 
 the only wisdom, to seek them in God's own way. 
 
 It was with a view to aid you in drawing these 
 conclusions that we summoned your attention to 
 thc>ie stupendous themes which have for some time 
 past engaged it. And the aim of those dis- 
 cussions has failed most unhappily, if they have not 
 produced a conviction deep and permanent^ that an 
 
A Christian Profession. 15^ 
 
 happy destiny for the eternal world is the object of 
 prime importance; and that existence boasts no 
 blessings, the universe no charms, so long as th© 
 question of our eternal destination is left undeter> 
 mined. We hope, my dear friends, that the eifort 
 was not fruitless. We trust that several of you 
 look with increasing interest to the objects that 
 must salute you when once you shall have shuffled 
 off this mortal coil. And we believe there are msi- 
 ny of you, who would not for millions part with thfj^ 
 hope that springs from that single intimation of the 
 scriptures, that ^^repentance and remission of sin« 
 should be preached in the name of Jesus among all 
 nations/' 
 
 And here ivas to have terminated that earnest and 
 ^^last appeal/^ which we had for some time past 
 been predicating on the dispensations of God to- 
 ward the earlier patriarchs; and to the result of 
 which we have constantly looked forward with no 
 little anxiety. But we cannot feel it right, under 
 existing circumstances, to divert your refiections 
 and solicitudes into a new channel. We hear ma- 
 ny of you saying, ^(xod is great, and great arether 
 destinies of his everlasting kingdom.' We note 
 your concessions of the value of christian hope, and 
 the importance of christian feeling. But we 
 see you still standing back from the fountain of 
 Israel: we hear you still inquiring, ^Where- 
 fore the necessity of avowing our allegknce 
 to Oocl and his Mp«;^i?)h?' '^'bit are the itd- 
 vantages of tJbiQ fellowship of saints?' <Why not 
 
10 Tlie JSTecessky of 
 
 learn as rapidly, why not love as fervently, wli^" 
 not obey as perfectly, why not be saved as certain- 
 ly^ without as within the limits of the church?' 
 
 Would God, my friends, you would ponder the 
 lesson taught you by that prophet of Samaria! 
 Would Grod you would hear our wiser, better pro- 
 phet — Elisha's own instructor — Elisha's lord and 
 master! Soon would he shew you the unreasona- 
 bleness of all such questions, the fallacy of all such 
 hopes. Would God that risen Saviour would per- 
 form for me to-day the promise which he ut- 
 tered just before he left the earth! then depicting 
 in your hearing, luminously as we perceive it, and 
 strongly as we feel it, the duty and necessity of u- 
 nion with the church, we should hope not to plead 
 in vain when we approached you as those servants 
 approached the Syrian leper, ^My father!' — my 
 brother! — my friend! if the Saviour had bid thee 
 do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? 
 how much rather then when he saith to thee^ ^^take 
 my yoke upon you, and learn of me'? 
 
 It is the prescription of a greater than the pro 
 phet Elisha: and it is for recovery from a death far* 
 more painful and loathsome than that from whicU 
 the Syrian sought deliverance. — You have lieard^ 
 ^and you have rejoiced at it, that repentance and re- 
 mission of sins is to be preached among all nations. 
 You know that they are to be proclaimed in the^ 
 name of him whose is the language of my text. We. 
 pray you also to remark it, that hft names no other 
 
Jl Christian Tvnfogsion, ifiki, 
 
 mode ofconfering this salvation than that with which, 
 it is our purpose to urge your speedy compliance* 
 You must take his yoke upon you. You must be- 
 come submissive to the will and devoted to the ser- 
 vice of the Haviour, as the ox becomes subject 
 when taught to bear the yoke. 
 
 We will not detain you with a labored proof of 
 a position we deem self-evident. Whatever else 
 may be involved in the strongly figurative express- 
 ion, ^'take my yoke upon you/' an open avowal of 
 our faith in Jesus Christ, and professed subjectioa 
 to the regulations of that church in which he is ac- 
 knowledged lord and master, must, without contro- 
 versy, be included under it. He who bears tha 
 yoke, and much more he who bears it to good pur^- 
 pose, must be really and openly subject to hiipi 
 whose yolte it is. 
 
 It is to this idea, and to this alone, we wish at 
 present to direct your attention. The character of 
 the **meek and lowly'' Saviour we are not now ai- 
 led upon to delineate, and much less to vindicate. 
 The nature and the value of the **rest" he bestows 
 have been, in many a form, submitted to your con- 
 sideration. It will be sufficient if you seriously 
 ponder the requisition to take his yoke upon youj 
 to submit yourselves to his government as the ruler, 
 and to his instructions as the great prophet of the 
 church; in order that you may become sharers in the 
 ^est he tenders you. 
 
 When we have reflected that the world, to whicjfe 
 V 
 
jf6S The J^ecessity of 
 
 this commandment is directed^ is every wliere iii 
 scripture represented as in a helpless and perish- 
 ing condition: that there never was and never can 
 be a prospect of deliverance for any creature under 
 heaven, but that which flows from the interposition 
 of Messiah: and that the only way in which he has 
 ever proffered or promised to interpose for the eter- 
 nal salvation of any individual^ is precisely the one 
 referred to in the text:— then surely it does not 
 seem unreasonable to Infer that they who are al- 
 ready perishing, and refuse to seek salvation in 
 the way appointed by the only Haviour, must of 
 necessity lose the benefit of his interposition; and 
 must therefore perish as though there had never 
 been a Saviour. That is, in other words, if the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ deserves consideration, 
 there is no ordinary possibility of salvation with- 
 out the limits of the church of God. 
 
 I know that the statement of such a sentiment is 
 far from flattering to those who wish to be saved, 
 but in a way and upon principles very different 
 from those to which the page of inspiration points 
 us. And I expect to be assailed at once with ques- 
 tions from all quarters — ^what then will the hea- 
 then do?' <what must become of many amiable and 
 deserving people, who act in a way decidedly su- 
 perior to many christian professors, although they 
 ^are not of the church?' 'Why do you attach sa 
 much importance to mere externals, when every 
 body knows that the essence of true religion con« 
 
A Christian Profession. 4:6B 
 
 sists in the dispositions of the heart?' We have 
 not leisure to answer all tiiese questions; nor do we 
 deem an answer necessary. Leave the heathen iu 
 the hands of Jesus Christ. He who has stooped 
 so low for the salvation of our race, ought, one 
 w^ould think, to stand secure from the imputation of 
 tmjust judgment in relation to any creature. Leave 
 the heathen to Jesus Clicist; or it* your charity must 
 embrace them, let it be an active and laborious 
 charity, the charity that unfolds to them the ora- 
 cles of truth, and makes their deserts bloom. — 
 Leave the heathen to Jesus Christ; our business is 
 with you — with you who know that Saviour in 
 whom alone any creature under heaven can attain 
 salvation; and our proposition is, that for you who 
 know the gospel, there is no reasonable prospect 
 of salvation but in connexion with the church of 
 Christ. 
 
 Let not this, my dear brethren, be accounted an 
 harsh or illiberal declaration. Not harsh: for if it 
 be indeed the very truth, you ought not to call it 
 harshness to state a truth so intiaiately connected 
 with your eternal welfare. Not illiberal: for if it 
 be indeed the plan of Grod our Saviour to minister 
 salvation within the precincts of his church, then 
 surely it is not illiberal to tell you of his plan, and 
 to urge you to seek God's great salvation in the 
 way in which he tenders it. It ought by you to bfe 
 deemed sufficient that vou are not left of him with- 
 out hope of safety: it ought to excite your warmest 
 
i64i The J\recessity of 
 
 gi'atitude, tliat when the God of grandeur passed hf 
 angels, and left them, though once pure and hap|iy 
 tSpirits of heaven, — left them to unavoidable and 
 unutterable perdition, he fixed his love and pity up- 
 on man, and provided for his salvation at such tre- 
 mendous cost as the degradation and anguish of his 
 Son bespeak. And now, let me tell you, it ill be- 
 comes you to dictate the manner in which that sal^ 
 vation shall be confered. It is much more becom- 
 ing a guilty and ruined creature to accept it gladly 
 and to seek it eagerly, in whatever way the Sa- 
 viour is pleased to tender it. 4nd you have no 
 right to complain, should you fail of God's salva- 
 tion, bt cause you would not seek for it hi the way 
 of his appointment. 
 
 My dear friends, it is folly to trifle or demur a- 
 boutthis matter. You must yourselves see clearly 
 that if infinite wisdom has, fin^ good and numerous 
 reasons, establi- bed any law for the regulation, or 
 any order for the salvation of his creatures; it would 
 be the prostration of his dignity did he suffer that 
 law to be violated with impunity; and it would look 
 like any thing but wisdom to dispense salvation 
 without reference to that order. If you will not 
 bow to him, tell me, is it fit that he should bow to 
 you? If you reject the counsels of infinite wisdom, 
 if you spurn the dictates of his salutary law, when 
 expressly and exclusively diiecte ] to your salva- 
 tion^ does it look as if you Vr ere fitted for an ea-' 
 
*5 Christian Frofessiou. 4.6d 
 
 Usance on that state to which none but beings perfect- 
 ly and unreservedly obedient can ever be adinitted? 
 
 ^^My father!— my brother! if God had l)id tlice- 
 do some great tJiing, woaldest thou not have doie 
 it? how much rather then when he says, -^take my 
 yoke upon you and learn of me"'? You are now 
 yourselves the judges in the case. You will admit 
 — you cannot but admit — that it is presumptuous, 
 it is irrational, to hope for God's salvation, while 
 we neglect the way in which he proffers to dispense- 
 it. You will not then bring charges of harshness 
 an 1 illiberality, when we advance the same senti^ 
 ment. You will not, therefore, deem it an unrea^ 
 sonable statement, that tliere is no ordinary possi- 
 bility of salvation without the precincts of the chris- 
 tian church; b once we can clearly make it out to 
 you that the church is the great mean of effecting 
 man's salvation. 
 
 This is not one of those questions that are only 
 to be settled by long and difficult argument. It is 
 a question of fact, and you will find the decisioa 
 written as with a sun beam in every page of scrip- 
 ture. When the Saviour gave commandment to 
 his .\postles to proclaim his great salvation to all 
 people under heaven, what was the declaration that 
 accompanied this commandment? "Me that believ- 
 eth and is baptized shall be saved." When those 
 Apostles made the first proof of their ministry, in 
 the city of Jerusalem, on the memorable day of 
 Pentecost; what was their answer to the agonized 
 
16^ f%e JSTecBSsitif of 
 
 multitudes who felt convicted of the sin of crucify^ 
 ing Grod's own Messiah, and cried out in hor- 
 ror, 'men and brethren what shall we do?^ ''Re- 
 pent and be baptized every one of you, in the name 
 of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye 
 shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.^' This 
 was their answer to the eager inquiry. When the 
 Apostles went abroad among the Gentile nations, 
 what other prescription did they ever give for at- 
 taining to God's salvation? 'Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ:' 'believe and be baptized:' 'the word 
 is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart-— 
 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
 Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 
 hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
 For with the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
 ness; and with the mouth confession is made unto 
 salvation."* 
 
 Such we dare assert to be the uniform language 
 of the scriptures upon this subject. Kxamine thera 
 diligently, scrupulously, for yourselves* Look at 
 every passage wliich has respect to the commission 
 to proclaim among the nations the hope of life eter- 
 nal. Ponder every instance which serves to shed 
 any light on the manner in which the Apostles ex- 
 ecuted this commission. Compare the results of 
 this investigation with all that you can gather from 
 their letters to the churches. And your GonclusioU 
 
^ Christian Profession. iSf 
 
 cannot differ from that which we have stated. You 
 will not be able to find one promise of salvation to 
 those who refuse connexion with the church of Je- 
 sus Christ: you will perceive that the scriptures do 
 not contemplate salvation (under ordinary circum- 
 stances) except in connexion with the church of 
 Christ: and you will read that they uniformly di- 
 rect you to seek salvation by connecting yourself iu 
 baptism with the church of Christ. 
 
 And if you advert to the language of the old 
 Testament scriptures, you will find that their whole 
 current urges you to the same conclusion. Still sal- 
 vation is of the church of God: And wherever you 
 read of mercy either sought or shewn, you no lon- 
 ger see an alien from the commonwealth of IsraeL 
 
 This is our first proof of the position: While 
 the scriptures of truth herald salvation to every 
 creature under heaven, they direct all to seek it iu 
 the church of Jesus Christ. They name no other 
 way, 
 
 2, Attend now to the general scope of Messiah's 
 administration in this world of ours, this theatre of 
 his mercy; and see if the nature of that adminis- 
 tration, or the terms in which he speaks of it, will 
 comport with the reasonable hope of salvation, 
 while we remain aliens from the church of God. 
 
 The Church of God — what is it? You have 
 heard of that kingdom over which Messiah reigns; 
 and you recognise in that ]nnH;doni the church of 
 God, Yqu bavQ read of that body which Messiak 
 
iBB The JSTecessity of 
 
 is said to head; that body of which all christians 
 are severally members; that body which derives its 
 influences and its destinies from the head; and m 
 that body you are taught to recognise the church of 
 Ood. You know that family of which the scrip- 
 tures often speak; that sainted family to which God 
 himself is father, of which Jesus Christ is called 
 the elder brother, and to which all others are at- 
 tached as little children, the brethren and the sis- 
 ters of our risen Lord; and in that family you re- 
 cognise the church of God. You know that vine 
 of which the Saviour is the stem; the vine of which 
 all people^ the saved of his grace, are the branches, 
 twigs and tendrils; the vine that derives its vitality 
 thro' the stem, and shoots its living juices through 
 every slender twig; and in that vine you are taught 
 to recognise the church of God. Thus assemble 
 before you all the imagery of scripture; note the 
 way in which Messiah dispenses life eternal among 
 the perishing of all nations; and you will find that 
 all salvation is of the church of God. 
 
 Turn now to the plans of this Almighty Saviour 
 as developed for futurity. FJear the prophetic Spi- 
 rit portray the joyous event when all nations shall 
 hear the sound of this salvation; when all people 
 shall be blessed in him, and all shall call him blessed. 
 Tell me, what says the Spirit of inspiration! How 
 readest thou the predictions of universal blessing? 
 Is it not in connexion with a universal church? ts 
 it not whtu ail kiixdreds and kingdoms of the na- 
 
A Christian Profession, 16^ 
 
 tions shall be embraced in this one Idngdom of 
 Go(Fs own Messiah? Is it not when all people 
 shall Hock to the gates of Zion? — the glory of the 
 Gentiles to the city of our God? — Is it not when the 
 alien and the outcast from the commonwealth of 
 Israel and the stranger from the covenants of prom- 
 ise, shall be brought nigh by the blood of the ev- 
 erlasting covenant, and become cliildren of Abra- 
 ham by faith? — Was it not in this way the predic- 
 tion at first began to be fulfilled, when the Gentiles 
 by myriads were united to the church of God? K 
 salvation were commonly ministered in any other 
 way, would it not falsify the predictions of the 
 scripture? w ould it not render nugatory the declar- 
 ed plans of God? — If salvation is to be found as 
 well without as within the limits of the Churchy 
 it is m^turn to ask oiyou^ why then is a profession 
 of the faith of Christ represented as so indispensa- 
 ble in the holy scriptures? Why are we required 
 to adhere openly and unwaveringly to the church 
 of Jesus Christ, in tlefiance of difficulty, persecu- 
 tion and death? Why so many martyrs seal their 
 testimony with their blood, if they might have re- 
 tained their piety without making any show of it? 
 if they might have been crowned w ith salvation 
 ■without the hazard of their lives. 
 
 My dear friends, it is a very plain case. We 
 tieed not prolong this incjuiry another minute. It 
 is clear that all scriptural prophecy and precept 
 speak but one language on this subject. It is clear 
 
 W 
 
lyo The J^Tecessity of 
 
 that God's salvation is to be lieraldeci to all na- 
 tions; and in order that tliey may reach it^ they are 
 pointed to the Church of God. It is clear that the 
 extension of Messiah's kingdom is the same with 
 the extension of the Church of God, And it is 
 clear that if consistent, he never will, he never can^ 
 acknowledge any as subjects of his kingdom while 
 they refuse to own the authority which uniformly 
 binds them to -^confess with their mouth the Lord 
 Jesus Christ'' as well as to ^^believe on him with 
 the heart." 
 
 Does this view appear illiberal? Then is tlio 
 plan of God's salvation illiberal. Do these dec- 
 larations sound harshly in your ears? Then re- 
 member it is harshness for Messiah to command 
 you to own that Saviour from whom you hope sal- 
 vation: remember it is harshness for this merciful 
 physician to proffer you the aid of his skill and 
 kindness, in the way that he deems right: remem- 
 ber it is harshness to require this proof of penitence 
 and sincerity in his returning creatures, that you 
 will do at last, do for your own salvation, the 
 
 thing he bids you do. And this is liarshnessl 
 
 The God of immensity tenders you salvation, and 
 you say yoi* would gladly have it. But he tenders 
 it in connexion with that great Society of which 
 hig own Messiah is the head and king; and you 
 s*ay you do not wish to be connected with his 
 church. He tend^^rs you hifi Spirit with the water 
 of his baptism^ and you say you had rather be sav- 
 
A Christian Profission, I7I 
 
 *&i without that baptism. Srie tenders you salva- 
 tion if you will submit to all his government, if 
 you will wear his yoke, if you will learn of him; 
 and you refuse to leari of him, you refuse to wear 
 his yoke. You must be saved in your own way, 
 not in God's way. You must be saved when it 
 suits you to submit to his appointments and not 
 just when he invites you. And it is cruel in God's 
 Messiah to withhold his £:reat salvation from the 
 little, pitiful, short-sighted but self-sufficient being 
 who refuses to seek for it in the way he has direct- 
 ed! And it is harsh in me to tell you that in act- 
 ing thus perversely you tdilc with yoiu- peace! 
 Friends and fellow sinners^ we feel at ease upon 
 this subject; for the fact once established, none bui 
 a miscreant would say so. Why quarrel with Je- 
 sus Olirist? Why quarrel with me? He has pro- 
 vided for your salvation: he enjoins it upon me to 
 offer }ou salvation: and he has laid down most 
 clearly the way in which lie dispenses it. iiE 
 
 DEVLS SALVAriON TO THE ClIURGU OF GoD: HE 
 INVITES YOU TO THE FELLOV/SHIP OF THE ChURCH 
 
 OF God: and he pledges his own glory that if you 
 come to him sincerely — come in the way he bids 
 you, come wear his yoke, come learn of him, come 
 begin that course of discipline that will fit you for 
 iiis heavens — he will embrace you in the destinies 
 of the church of his first born; and with the church 
 of God, to his heavens he will raise you. If you do 
 not like the terms, why complain of hlni? He nev 
 Or pledged himself to give salvation to any vvli 
 
i7^ The JS^ecessity of 
 
 esteem it so very lightly as to reject tlie only way iii 
 "wbicii he probers to comoiuriicaie it. — If you do 
 riot Like the terms, why complain f me? I did not 
 write the scriptures. I was not of heaven's coun- 
 cil when that plan was laid which restricts the 
 Saviour's blessings to those who wear his yoke. 
 Jut I do feel it due to the supremacy of Grod; 1 feel 
 it due to his wisdom and goodness to declare, that 
 the being who rejects the mild and simple regimen 
 Messiah tenders for the recovery of the nations, 
 does not deserve to share in his salvation. He 
 has laid his plan. He has come down and wept 
 and groaned and died. He has stooped low as 
 hell for your recovery. And novv he offers to re- 
 cover you, and tells you the way in which he is ready 
 to accomplish it: -wear my yoke,' 'learn of me.^ 
 And you — you — refuse to do it! O God! can such 
 a creature have claims on thy compassiini? Is it 
 lit that heaven's majesty should bend to man's per- 
 verseness? that God should change his plans to 
 meet a worm's remissness? No, as the l^ord Al- 
 mighty liveth! Your sin at iirst consisted in re- 
 jecting the creator's yoke and taking your own 
 w\ay. Your rebellion still consists in refusing obe- 
 dience to your creator's word. How then can sal- 
 vation ])ossibly comport with the additional rt^jec- 
 tion of Messiah's yoke, with settled disobedience 
 to Messiah's councils, while their declared object 
 is your recovery from ruin? No, as the Lord Al- 
 mighty liveth! If perdition was the cost of rebel- 
 
d thrisiian Frof ess-ion. ITS 
 
 lion against God^ salvation can never liglit on the 
 still rebellious spirit that multiplies its outrages by 
 di^iobeying bis vles.^ah. No. as the Lord Al- 
 mij^lity livetb! If you dispute the appropriateness 
 of Messiah's plans, if you dislike his regimen, if 
 you refuse his yoke, why seek some other Saviour: 
 try your own experiments: walk on in your own 
 ways. The wisdom of the eternal majesty shall 
 then stand fully vindicated, when folly has brought 
 ruin 00 the wretched creature that opposed itf 
 glow-worm light to heaven's eternal sun. 
 
 1 know it may be said that persons have beea 
 saved who never claim'^d connexion with the 
 church of Jesus Christ. I know that at the hour 
 in which Messiah breathed his last, a penitent 
 malefactor, suspended by his side, sought and ob- 
 tained forgiveness. And 1 know that it is my 
 privilege to announce the same salvation to every 
 dying creature to wiiose bed I may be summoned. 
 But did that distinguished tropliyofthe Saviour's 
 grace, that dying malefactor, sue for God's salva- 
 tion in the spirit of those who refuse the Saviour's 
 yoke? Would that man of broken spirit^ liad lie 
 been taken from the tree,- — woulrl that man of bro- 
 ken spirit have si ill disavowed connexion with the 
 Saviour and spurned the fellowship of the church 
 of God? O no! So certainly as that had been his 
 disposition, so certainly as he had been of a temper 
 to refuse the Saviour's yoke, he had been ui^iit for 
 an entry into the paradise of God. 
 
i7^ The Mcessity of 
 
 Salvation is to be sought for in connexion with 
 the church, not because the water of baptism or the 
 cup of the new testament (^^erate like a charm^ 
 and of themselves work wonders* Many are the 
 adherents to Messiah's church, who are mere for- 
 malists in conduct and hypocrites in heart. Many 
 are the sharers in the cup of his new testament, 
 whose ears are never inclined with reverence to 
 Ms word, and whose necks are never subject to his 
 reasonable government* But because such multi- 
 tudes thus triHe with their creator and make ship- 
 wreck of their hope, by submitting iu externals to 
 the law he has imposed, while they trample on the 
 law that regulates the heart; shall others profess 
 their hope in his salvation — profess that in heart 
 they are subject to his law — while they refuse to 
 own him as his law requires? Does it follow that 
 because some are lost who habitually refuse obedi- 
 ence iu one way, others may be saved who disobey 
 as habitually in some other way? Does it follow 
 that because multitudes bring destruction on them-* 
 selves by profaning the symbols of Grod's great sal- 
 vation, others may be saved who for fear of like of- 
 fences, or for some other reason, violate the precept 
 and reject the way of life, by refusing entirely the 
 symbols of salvation?— O yes, that penitent was 
 sayed upon his cross. But that penitent iirst bow- 
 ed in subjection to the Saviour. His heart was 
 right with (Tod. No death h^sieges you: no cross 
 Suspends you between earth aud heaven^ that you 
 
Jl Christian Profession. iy§: 
 
 may not reach the fount of holy baptism: no irons 
 pin your hands to that accursed beam, that you 
 may not stretch them forth for the cup of his new 
 testament. Shew then that your heart is right 
 with God the Haviour. Prove tlie sincerity with 
 which you long for his salvation, by taking the^ 
 course he bids you. Take his yoke upon you. 
 Take your lesson from the meek and the lowly 
 minded Saviour. Believe and be bapti:sed. Be- 
 lieve him and obey liim. 
 
 Salvation has been ordained in connexion with 
 the church for good and various reasons. A vol- 
 ume would not unfold them; what then can we at- 
 tempt in the conclusion of this discourse! The 
 ordinance is predicated on the social principles of 
 the nature you inherit. You are led, you are 
 moulded, you are injured, you are benefitted, by 
 the various operations of the social law. Long 
 since has it been written that *'as iron sharpeneth 
 iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his 
 friend." Long since has it been felt that man 
 must meet with man, if ever we are to enjoy ^Hbe 
 feast of reason and the flow of soul.'' You see 
 that nothing could exist which we ordinarily ranl^ 
 among the means of onr salvation, if it Wf^w not 
 engrafted on the church of God. No order could 
 be established for the promotion of salvation, un- 
 less it subsisted in some such association as that 
 which we denominate the church of (rod. No vv ly 
 <jould b© devised for exteading among the nations 
 
176 The J^ecessity of 
 
 the knowledge of salvation with such admirable 
 facility as through the church of God. In no situ- 
 ation can we acquire the knowledge or cultivate 
 the tempers that prepare for Grod's salvation, with 
 such readiness and certainty as by submitting to 
 the regimen of the church of God. No regulation 
 affords such various means for man to influence 
 man and to promote the great salvation, as the 
 binding them together in one great association, u- 
 niting their efforts in one common cause, cementing 
 their affections by one common hope, and identify- 
 ing their destinies in every important point of vie W' 
 with that w hich is allotted to the church of God. 
 And never could you note, distinctly and generally, 
 the individuals who relinquish the standard of re- 
 bellion and humbly bow them to high heaven's rule 
 — never could you discriminate the hosts of God^s 
 redeemed from the millions that still refuse to own 
 liis government, — unless they were embodied, 
 marshaled and drawn forth in "the armour and 
 attitude'' of the Church of God. 
 
 Salvation, then, is predicated on the social law. 
 And in organizing a plan for the recovery of his 
 creatures, to that law of their being C^od paid a 
 strict regard. Is it likely, therefore, that he will 
 suffer you to disregard it? Let all creation testify 
 Jiow stable are his laws. So fixed, so inviolable, 
 that a single inversion of a natural law is held to be 
 a miracle, and bc'comes the wonder of all nations. 
 So fixed; so inviolable, that you scarcely hold it 
 
*5 Christian Profession. iffi 
 
 credible that the sun should have once stood still 
 on Gibeah, though to effect deliverance for all the 
 church of God. Ho fixed, so inviolable, that you 
 scarcely believe the record of Messiah's works of 
 wonder, though done to attest his mission as Sa- 
 viour of the world. And yet you, wh > think it 
 strange that one law should be suspended, though 
 to minister good to myriads who place their reli- 
 ance on the Redeemers name — you — you will be 
 so inconsistent as to plead for the inversion, the 
 suspension, the destruction, of a written law of 
 heaven, announced with such solemnity by the God 
 of truth: and that, not for the advantage of those 
 who honour and obey him; but to do good to those 
 who need the inversion of the law precisely because 
 they will not obey him, and thus accept salvation 
 in the way of his appointment. This were indeed 
 a miracle! Sooner would I believe it that day by 
 day the sun would stay his course upon the height 
 of Gibeah, that every slothful hind might com- 
 plete his neglected task. Neglected, insulted ma- 
 jesty of heaven! shall man — shall angel — thii« tam- 
 per with thy dignity! thus trifle with thy patience! 
 ^^Let God be true, and every man a liar!*^ He 
 points you for salvation to the church of Jesus 
 Christ. He marshals all his people who lay hold 
 on his salvation under the banner of Jesus Christ. 
 He has committed every ordinance that can pro- 
 mote the souFs salvation, to the churc'i of Tesus 
 Christ. And all history will testify; that in ail pla« 
 
 X 
 
178 The JSTecessity of 
 
 ces of the earth piety and purity have sprung up 
 and decayed with the church of Jesus Christ. 
 Whatever be her temper, this is her profession: she 
 is the kingdom of the Saviour against the kingdom 
 of the Devil. And whatever be the spirit that an- 
 imates her sons, they profpss their allegiance to 
 the Majesty of Heaven; and, in pursuance of his 
 order they profess it openly. This kingdom of 
 Messiah is set up in the world for the declared pur- 
 pose of alluring sinful men from the standard of re- 
 bellion, and marshaling them under the govern- 
 ment of the Grod of Hosts. It is constituted on a 
 principle that aifords every inducement and every 
 facility for deserting forever the standard of rebel- 
 lion. It guarantees forgiveness of all that is past, 
 salvation and glory for eternity to come. Thus or- 
 ganized on earth, the Saviour of the nations makes 
 proclamation of his mercy. He bids you quit for* 
 ever the ranks of the rebellious; he bids you come 
 and range yourselves under the government of God; 
 lie bids you do it openly. Fall into the ranks, 
 into Messiah's ranks, and let it not be doubtful 
 with whom you should be numbered. Fall int© 
 THE RANKS, iuto Messiali's ranks, and aid him in 
 the battle of the Lord against the mighty. Victo- 
 ry sits perched on the standard of Messiah: the 
 fri^its of that victory shall be yours. Unfading lau- 
 rels shall crown the conquerors brow: and with 
 you, my fellow- sinner, the captain-general of the 
 Hosts of Godj proposes to share his laurels. Fall 
 
Jl Christian Professimi. lyO:. 
 
 INTO THE RANKS, into Messiah's ranks, and be- 
 come the soldier of that cross, because in it is all 
 your safety. Come, take his yoke upon you. Conie^ 
 learn of God's Messiah. 
 
 And now, my dear friends, you must be your- 
 selves the judges, whether the mandate of the Sa- 
 viour is any thing more than reasonable. We know 
 that you have your difficulties and your fears on 
 this subject. We know tliat there are several of 
 you who would rally most cheerfully round the 
 standard of the cross, or who think that you would 
 do so, provided these difficulties and fears were done 
 away. We hope that on next Lord's day they 
 will be done away; in so far, at least, as they do 
 not arise out of considerations connected rather 
 with the tempers of your minds, than with the na- 
 ture of the service imposed by God the Saviour^ 
 We hope to prove to you that a profession of the 
 christian faith is not that hazardous and appaling 
 thing which most of you suppose. We hope tri- 
 umphantly to vindicate the Saviour's own assu- 
 rance that if his yoke must be worn, if his burden 
 must be carried, he has both v» ill and power to ren- 
 der the yoke very easy, the burden very light. 
 
 But it need not be concealed, — the Saviour liim- 
 self never attempted to conceal it, — that no apolo- 
 gy can be admitted for withholding compliance with 
 this positive requisition, whatever be the difficulties 
 or hazards that might ensue. There have been 
 many ages in which, throii^jh many lands^ all who 
 
iSO The JSTecessiiy of 
 
 who dared to own allegiance to the Saviour have 
 encountered from the first incalculable ills. But 
 these ills did not arise from the nature of their ser- 
 vice; they arose from the predooiinant tempers oi 
 those who refused subjection to the Saviour's yoke. 
 And wheresoever, and whensoever, the weight of 
 Influence is in the hands of those wlio are opposed 
 t prosperity of the Saviour's kingdom; where- 
 
 soever integrity, however unassuming, thwarts ihe 
 purposes and plans of supple courtesy and selfish- 
 ness; wheresoever innocence casts, by its very pre- 
 sence, a stigma upon vice; there you may expect 
 that the Saviour's cause will suffer — will suffer in 
 the persons of those who thus gallantly uphold it 
 — if the arm of power, or the persevering spirit of 
 malignity and cunning can possibly affect them. 
 
 In all such cases, and indeed in every case, the 
 r le is one; and it is a very plain one. We 
 live n* t to ourselves; we wear the master's yoke: 
 and that yoke must not be relinquished under any 
 circumstances. It is a question of no importance 
 what bearing it may have upon our standing in so- 
 ciety. It is the advancement of the Saviour's cause 
 v/e are bound to consult. The way of righteous- 
 ness, of sincerity and of truth, is the only one that 
 can ever be acceptable to the God of truth, or that 
 will be blessed of him to the furlherance of his 
 cause. Ascertain that way. And, when once you 
 shall have discovered it, press forward. Leave re- 
 sults to Jesus Christ. The cause is his; not yoursj 
 
^ CJiristiun Profissio7i, 481 
 
 and you are not only bound to promote it, but to 
 promote it in liis way. 
 
 And what then if tiiere should be hazards in at- 
 tem^jting, as the servants of the mighty Saviour, to 
 promote and extend the influence of his cause! 
 Does he require any thing (jf you to v/liich he did 
 not himself submit? Come! make he most of the 
 evils that even fertile fancy could possibly conjure 
 up! What are they when compared with tho-^e to 
 which Jesus Christ submitted without a moment's 
 hesitation? And hp wore the yoke, he bore the bur» 
 den. for the advancement of otlsers. He made com- 
 mon cause with you, when it cost him all those ag- 
 onies, that he might compass your salvation. Dare 
 you then refuse to make common cause with him? 
 Dare you hesitate to promote the interests of *»th6 
 common salvation'? 
 
 Thus we might address you, were your lot cast 
 in an age and country in which you would have, 
 for this world, nothing to hope and every tljing to 
 fear. But recollect that others, now with the Sa- 
 viour in his heavens, ^'have borne the heat and bur- 
 den of the day.'' You have no hazards to run, no 
 sacrifices to make, no indignity to anticipate, but 
 that which would await you with e([ual certainty, 
 provided you determined to act as becomes an ho- 
 nest and independent man, although the burden of 
 the Saviour and the hope of life by him bad no ex- 
 istence among men. But these things it will be our 
 business on next fiord's day more fully to make 
 out. 
 
iSS The JSTecesBiiy of 
 
 Meanwhile will you ponder how lights how tfail* 
 >«ient must be the pressure of that burden, when 
 contrasted with the ^'exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory*' that is to recompense your toil? Will you 
 Weigh for yourselves the alternative awaiting you, 
 provided you reject the Saviour's reasonable requi- 
 sition? Will you examine at your leisure, as scru- 
 pulously as you please, the bearings of those scrip- 
 tures on which our main position rests? I trust in - 
 ideed that with most of you, I stand high above the 
 imputation of a mere proselyting spirit, in thus urg- 
 ing, however earnestly, a truth of so much import- 
 ance. For me it is enough, whatever n^sults of o- 
 ther kinds may follow, if yo*i will hear the coun- 
 sels of Eternal wisdom for your eternal peace. It 
 is the sum of my ambition to see you all enlisted 
 nnder the banners of the Saviour: to see you all at- 
 tentive, like little humble children, to the instruc- 
 tions of Messiah: to see you safely lodged within 
 the bosom of that ark which has already rode out 
 file tempests of many generations, and will move a- 
 long most gallantly through the fires of the last 
 judgment, till it land its precious freight at the por- 
 tals of liigh heaven. Let me but see this, — let me 
 |}ut know this, — -and it is a thing of minor conse- 
 quence what other results may follow upon this 
 my last appeal. Let me but hear that salvation has 
 blessed the people of ray charge — that eternal sal- 
 vation crowns the friends of my heart: — then, though 
 I were summoned first to that eternal world, what 
 
nB. Christian Profession. 188 
 
 were it but to meet you as you entered one by one 
 the expanded gates of heaven! and to welcome ijoii 
 my father! and you my little sister! to the peace 
 and joy of the eternal state. But who shall go the 
 first, or who shall live the longest; who may have 
 sown, or who shall reap this harvest; are questions 
 of small moment. Allegiance to the Saviour is the 
 point of great concern. And it is well for you ii^ 
 know what that allegiance calls for: to know that 
 it is fealty to wear the Saviour's yoke; to know that 
 it is wisdom to hear the Saviour's words; to know 
 
 that ALL SALVATION IS OF TIIE CHURCH OF GrOD,^^ 
 
 fimen. 
 
 *The following extract from "a dissertation on th© 
 Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse," <^'c. by William 
 Cunninghame, Esq. is fo perfectly in unison with the sen^ 
 timent submitted in the foregoing discourse, that the au^ 
 thor cannot but avail himself of an authority so deci^ 
 ded,and at the same time so very respectable, on this ve- 
 ry tender point. The passage has a reference to the mea* 
 surement of the Temple, (Rev. xi 1, 2.) and constitutes 
 of itself a striking, and, as we think, unanswerable argu- 
 ment in support of the position maintained in the above 
 discourse- If any thing would insure additional weight 
 to a statement of itself sufficiently imposing^ the reflec- 
 tions that it is the production of a layman, and that it was 
 written in a country where scarcely any one professing 
 belief in the scriptures ever thought of controverting Uw 
 position, ought to give it thnt weight* 
 
 In order to set before the reader the force of this anal- 
 ysis w ith the greatest possible distinctness, we will throw 
 each parallelism drawn by Mv, Cunniughame, into a $ep^ 
 arate section. Thf'se ar*^ his words: 
 
 ^'The second division of the temple of (iod was the sanctii* 
 
iS4i The JSTecessity of, §Y'. 
 
 ary, or boly place, which was next tg the holy of holies, and. 
 separated theref om hy the v?il. In the !>oly place were 
 piaced the golden candlestick with scVen branches, the gol- 
 clep altar of incense, and the table of shew-bread. It is easy 
 to perceive that t e !^oly place w-)s a symbol of ihe true spi- 
 ritual Church of God upon earth. 
 
 1. '*The holy place h.d no liiijhi from without: it was en- 
 lightened only by the lamps of the golden candlestick with se- 
 ven branches. Tins candl«stick was a symbol of die Holy 
 Spirit; called, in the figurative languay^e of tbis book, from 
 the fulness and completeness of his gfts and opprations,'the 
 Seven Spirits,' i e. the All-perfect and Infinite Spirit oi God. 
 In the same m;?i ner, the true spiritual church ot Christ has 
 no iif^ht from without, but is internally illuminated by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 2 'Incense, as we have already seen, is a symbol of the 
 prayers of the saints. It is only in the true spiritual church 
 that such prayers are offered; and they are symbolized by 
 the incense burnt upon the golden altar in tbe holy place. 
 
 3. |C?*''There was no way into the holy of hoJi'.s but 
 through the holy place; and so there is no M'ay into heaven, 
 the true holy of hrJies, but by entering into, oi- becoming 
 members of^ the true spiritual church of Christ." 
 
 The foregoing extract ri-quii^ s no comment. We have 
 only to express our deep afliliction that tl'creshoulc^be anjf 
 age, or any country, in which it may be heh! useful to 
 back by such authority, or indeed b any authority, a 
 truth so clearly taught in almost e^ry uai^e of scripture, 
 and so intimately connected with ths b(^t. interests of 
 mankind. <*0 that men were wise," ^ 
 
 t 
 
®iBm®Fi wm^ 
 
 THE BLESSEDNESS OF A CHRISTIAN 
 PROFESSION. 
 
 ^•My yoke is easy, and my burden is hght,^^ 
 
 Matth. xi. 30. 
 
 After the return of tlie last of the disciples, "the 
 lovM Apostle John/^ from his banishment in Pat- 
 mos, he was frequently engaged in travelling about 
 among the Asiijitic churches, partly for the pnrp«,se 
 of ordaining pastors^ and partly to regulate their 
 affairsjjl Independently of the influence which 
 would naturally attach to a venerable Christian, 
 now bending unolr the weight of abont one hun- 
 ^dred years, the circumstance of his being a last and 
 lonely relict of the Saviour's much loved family 
 would impart a \mght to all his meastir^s wliich 
 no other man could hope. We are tohS tniit in one 
 of these excursions life imbibed a str<aig predilec- 
 tion for a youth who v.as gifted with remarkable 
 beauty; and earnestly recommended hiiu to the caro^ 
 
 \ 
 
186 The Blessedness of 
 
 and attention of a particular pastor. The young 
 man professed the faith of Jesus Christ; was bap- 
 tized; and lived, for some time, as a ChristiaUo 
 But at length, having been perverted by evil coun- 
 sels and seduced by bad examples, he dropped all 
 intercourse with the church of God, and went on 
 from bad to worse till he became the leader of a 
 band of robbers. The aged Apostle did not again 
 pass that way without inquiring after his youthful 
 favorite. The Christian pastor told him what had 
 happened, and pointed to a mountain not far dis- 
 tant, where the robber was said to harbour. Thith- 
 er the afflicted old man immediately hurried. Hav- 
 ing been seized by some of the band, he requested 
 to be led directly to their captain. No sooner did 
 the young man see him than he was smitten with 
 shame, and attempted to make off. The Apostle 
 called after him, entreated him to stay, and assured 
 him there still was hope of his salvation. The 
 young man stood still, trembled, and wept bitterly. 
 The result of their conference was the best that 
 could be desired. The active charity of the aged 
 saint prevailed. He led back his lost sheep to 
 the bosom of the church: he conversed with him, 
 prayed with him, probably wept with him: nor did 
 he leave him till he saw him peacefully established 
 in the faith and consolations of the Saviour whom 
 be had deserted. 
 
 Most gladly, my dear brethren, would we do for 
 you this afternoon^ what a disciple of the Saviour 
 
«^ Christian Profession. 187 
 
 performed for that young stranger. Some of you I 
 recoguise as the children of bapdsm: but though 
 early connected with the church of Jesus Clirist, 
 though early pledged to be for Grod and his Messinh, 
 I see you now wandering on dark and dangerous 
 mountains far from Zijn tlilL Others of yoii I 
 recognise as in profession friendly to the cause of 
 man's salvation; but negligent of the means propo- 
 sed for your own salvation, and, as it would ap-. 
 pear, contented with the allotment under which you 
 have always lived as alieus and outcasts from the 
 commonwealth of Israel. Did I possess the facil- 
 ities enjoyed by that great and good Apostle, could 
 I hope to be heard with but half the interest with 
 which all ears and hearts inclined to him, with a 
 charity no less active, with solicitations no less fer- 
 vent, I would aim this afternoon to win you from 
 your mountains to the church of Jesus Christ; and 
 I would attempt it with a hope of equal success. 
 And even as it is, thou shalt not be left, child of 
 holy baptism, — thou shalt not be left, though hoary 
 hairs now cover thee, — thou shalt not be left to die 
 among these mountains, without one effort more to 
 restore the wanderer to the fold of Israel. And 
 you, who have not ^^Abraham to your father'^' you 
 have heard that in Messiah there is salvation for 
 all nations. We bring you down to-day to the sa- 
 cred fount of haptism; we offer to unite you with 
 the commonwealth of Israel; we are ready to con- 
 verse with you, to weep >yith you^ to pray with you; 
 
iSB Hie Blessedupss of 
 
 and we would gladly build you up for the life ever- 
 lasting, after you shall have taken your station in 
 the temple of the Lord. Only consent, my wander- 
 ing fellow creatures! youths of various promise and 
 of various mould! only consent to wear the Sav- 
 iour's yoke, to hear tlie Saviour's word. Gentle 
 and tender is the rule of that Messiah who ^-giveth 
 to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.'' Wise 
 and salutary the regulations and instructions of 
 the God of love, whose Apostle dealt so mildly 
 with a wandering fellow creature. I know you 
 need assurances, stronsi; assurances, on this inter- 
 esting point. You have been in the habit of think- 
 ing that in the faith of Jesus Christ there is some- 
 thing dark and gloomy. And you are ready to tell 
 me that in the church of Jesus Christ you fancy 
 you see much that is fearfully forbidding. You 
 suppose there must be services painful and labori- 
 ous; you imagine there are trials tedious and vexa-^ 
 tious; you calculate on sacrifices extensive and un- 
 profitable. 
 
 And can it then be that when the God of all 
 me -cy lai his plan for your deliverance, he acted 
 a part so unwise and so unfeeling! Can he have 
 fr m'^ i for you a yoke ro painfully oppressive that 
 it seems adviseable to decline it, though at the haz- 
 ard =F your salvation! CW he have devised for 
 you 'a burden so he vy and so cumbersome that you 
 refuse to take it up^ though disobedience be perdi- 
 tion! 
 
A Christian Profission, 489 
 
 Hear Jesus Christ. He wore a grievous yoke; 
 he hoie a tremendous burden: he did so cheerfully^ 
 that he might ^irovide for your salvation. A.sk Je- 
 sus Christ. He cailia the friend of sinners: he can- 
 not be suspected of unfeeling counsels. Yet he 
 prepares the yoke; he allots the burden. H hat 
 says that ton£;jie which announces eternal salva- 
 tion to the n itious^ what say those lips of grace? 
 — Is it a galling yoke? is it a grievous burden? 
 O no! Messiah says it (for he knows your fears); 
 your vSaviour declares it (for he feels for your 
 apprehensions): '<my yoke is easy and my bur- 
 den is light.'' 
 
 We have but one object in view, to-day, my 
 dear brethren. It is just to vindicate this declara- 
 tion of the Redeemer, in order that you may be in- 
 duced without further dela.y to make tiial of his 
 own way for" securing your salvation. 
 
 And we know of nothing that ought to impress 
 you more strongly on this subject tiiau the fact that 
 lie deems it worth his while to seal to you the im- 
 portant and consoling truth we are about to vindi- 
 cate with his own assurance; uttered too with so 
 much tenderness and fellow feeling. Consider to 
 whom it is that the Saviour addresses these words. 
 Is it to his friends? Is it to those who have been 
 long professors of the faith of Jesus Christ; aod 
 whose fidelity and activity have endeared them to 
 their master? No! It is directed to the alien; to 
 the stranger; to those who have never yet assumed 
 
ISO The Blessedness of 
 
 the yoke x)f the Redeemer, nor ever made trial of 
 the burden he imposes. He sees you standing at 
 a distance, longing, wishing to share his great sal= 
 Vation; and he bids you come to him,— come, and 
 he will save you: He bids you connect yourselves 
 witli that great association which he heads and 
 governs; and which he is training to habits of de- 
 votedness, purity and piety, that it may be fiii^^ 
 for an entrance into the eternal world. But you 
 shrink back at the idea of the sacrifices that will be 
 required of you. You are terrified at the thought 
 of the duties to be imposed upon you. He notices 
 your difficulties: he stoops with tenderness to re- 
 move your solicitudes: he enters with fellow-feel- 
 ing into all your fears: and with a condescension 
 and an eagerness that ought to call forth gratitude 
 as well as confidence, he says to you, — to you 
 strangers who have never yet trusted him, never 
 yet obeyed him, ^^my yoke is easy and my burden 
 is light." How then can you believe that toward 
 persons without his church the ascended Saviour 
 cherishes no good will? How can you anticipate 
 subjection to a harsh and painful discipline, if you 
 become the sworn disciples of the glorious Being 
 who stoops with so much readiness to assure you of 
 your error, while yet aliens from his kingdom and 
 disobedient to his word? 
 
 And are there, then, no duties to perform? and 
 are there no sacrifices to be made, in consequence 
 «f your acceptance of the Saviour's invitation? 
 
tl Christian Profession. d:9i 
 
 Doubtless there are duties, many duties, all those, 
 now binding on all nations, and the neglect of 
 which has brought down the guilt from which the 
 Saviour camt to free you. Doubtless there must 
 be sacrifices, many sacrifices, the sacrifice of every 
 thing that promotes rebellion against God and ali- 
 enates your affections from the salvation of his 
 Son. But you surely do not expect salvation i» 
 the neglect of these duties, or without being oblig- 
 ed to make those sacrifices, provided only you live 
 and die without being connected with the Saviour's 
 Church. Is it then a fair, is it a wise objection 
 against taking the course you are directed to pursue, 
 that these duties must be performed and these sacrifi- 
 ces made? If they are equally indispensable to the 
 hope of eternal life, whatever may be your decisioa 
 as to this particular question, then a refusal to make 
 tliem amounts, under every supposition, to a forfei- 
 ture of all hope of life. Who would account it 
 w isdom to incur that forfeit! 
 
 But though a profession of the faith of Christ 
 does not curtail the round of duties incumbent on 
 you as rational and immortal creatures, { — if it did 
 do so, it were totally unworthy confidence or re- 
 gard — ) though it imposes duties peculiarly its own^ 
 yet it^does not therefore present a discouraging as- 
 pect. It possesses vvithin itself abundant facilities 
 for rendering the yoke of the Saviour easy and his 
 burden vei v light. 
 
 1. There is^ iu all cases^ a peace and a confi- 
 
iQ2 The Blessedness of 
 
 dence arising from a consciousness of having done 
 our duty, which tend in the very nature of things to 
 render the most arduous lahour tolerable, and the 
 greatest sacrifices easy. We know that Christian^ 
 ity requires nothing more of us than it requires of 
 the sj3irits who are already freed from sin, and 
 safe and happy before the eternal throne; or than 
 the immutable laws of righteousness require from 
 beings who have never sinned. Though still it 
 must be acknowledged that there are many things 
 connected with the present state which render our 
 duty much more arduous. But what, we pray you, 
 is the grand secret of fidelity and happiness in 
 heaven? Is it not that confidence which arises 
 from conscious innocence, and from a sense of per- 
 fect security under the government of God? There 
 every cherub and every seraph stand, happy in the 
 assurance of their maker's tenderness, fully con- 
 tented with the honour a xl felicity which wisdom 
 and goodness allot them at their post, and ready 
 to employ their powers and iniiuence, as the ser- 
 vants of the Almiglity, in aid of his wise and mu- 
 nificent and general purposes, without ever think- 
 ing of driving separate purposes and interests of 
 their own. 
 
 But were rebellion against God once to despoil 
 theip of their innocence, all confidence, all love, all 
 alacrity in the service of Almighty God would per- 
 ish. It is confidence, it is love, that nerves them 
 for exertion^ and renders them; while occupied in 
 
A Christian Professim, 193 
 
 promoting their maker's glory, unmindful of themr 
 selves. 
 
 Now, although you cannot boast the innocence of 
 angels, yet the plan of God's salvation aifords } ou all 
 the advantages that innocence yields them. You too 
 have sufficient reasons to love and trust and serve 
 him; sufficient inducements, therefore, to merge^ 
 your wishes in the wise purposes of heaven, and to 
 expend all your efforts in the service of the Saviour. 
 l^his— this is the grand secret of rendering that 
 yoke which the Saviour imposes easy,and of lighten- 
 ing the burdens w^hich he bids you bear. You know 
 that where love burns fervently, and confidence 
 stands firm, we can make many a sacrifice without 
 deeming it painful, and render many a laborious 
 service without feeling it oppressive; though these 
 things would appear most grievous were not the 
 heart enlisted. 
 
 But, tell me, you who refuse to assume the res- 
 ponsibilities of a christian, can you have the same 
 degree of hope in God, or of love to Jesus Christy, 
 as if you felt yourselves in the line of your du- 
 ty? You ask him for his salvation: but your con- 
 science forthwith smites you: it tells you of your 
 refusal to become a subject of that kingdom in 
 which salvation is professedly administered. You 
 ask the Saviour for protection and for blessing: 
 but you are an alien from his kingdom while you 
 solicit his protection; you refuse to yield him ser- 
 vice while you supplicate his blessing. Can you 
 
194i The Blessedness of 
 
 then approach with the same degree of confidence? 
 Can you rise up and depart with the same cheerful- 
 ness and tenderness playing round your heart, as 
 if you felt that all was right; that you were taking 
 the way he bids you to promote your own salva- 
 tion; and that you w ere affording this evidence of 
 your preparation for his king«(om, tliat you had de- 
 serted forever the ranks of the rebellious, and ran- 
 ged yourselves with those who are trained to do 
 his will? 
 
 My dear friends, we know the thing to be utterly 
 impossible. You are yourselves the witnesses of this 
 impossibility. For your very apprehensions of labor 
 and sacrifice, the bare fact that you need the assurance 
 of my text, shews that your calculations are found- 
 ed on a feeling which springs from any thing rather 
 than that singleness of heart and fervor of devotion 
 which can comp<)rt with nothing but the hope of 
 the obedient. — Would you prove the truth of Mes- 
 siah's declaration? Then take the course he bids 
 you. In pursuit of your salvation assume his gen- 
 tle yoke; as a returning penitent take up his bur- 
 den; seize, upon christian principles^ en the chris- 
 tian hope; then see — see if his assurance will not 
 be amply justified! see if you cannot serve him 
 with alacrity, when conscience no longer tells you 
 tjiat you are di^^cbeying and dishcnoring him! see 
 nf the lav/ of love, Unit renders labour light and 
 sacrifices easy, wjll not render the service of your 
 Saviour most delightful! 
 
A Christian Profession. iQ3 
 
 "2, Call to your aid those powerful associations 
 which operate so beneficially in many other cases. 
 You are now a stranger to tlie covenant of promise, 
 for the covenant of promise is given to the church. 
 You are yet an alien from the commonwealth of Is- 
 rael, and yours are the feelings of the alien's heart. 
 What stranger, what aliea, ever felt the same inter- 
 est in the population, the improvements, or the his- 
 tory of a country, that kindles in the breast of eve- 
 ery high-minded citizen! What stranger has not 
 felt how cold and uninteresting every thing appears 
 to liim when he stands by himself, unknown, unno* 
 ticed, without one tie to bind him to the objects, 
 and without a feeling of common interest to unite 
 liim with the people, by whom he is surrounded. 1 
 speak on this subject the language of nature, a lan- 
 guage understood and assented to by all the world. 
 Not only do the members of the great national as- 
 sociation, but the members of every tribe and fam- 
 ily, of every society of men united by any bonds 
 for any purpose whatsoever, feel for one another and 
 for the common cause, as they never can feel while 
 standing by themselves, unconnected with the mem- 
 bers, and uninterested in the destiny of the associa- 
 tions which they contemplate. 
 
 Now wherefore should not these remarks be ve- 
 rified in an alien from the churcli of God, as well 
 as in the stranger to any other association? Why 
 should it not be that I, who stand as a member of 
 that church which is headed by the Saviour, and 
 
196 The Blessedness of 
 
 endures through all ages, should feel an interest in 
 her history, an interest in her destiny, an interest 
 in every thing that bears on her concerns, as lively 
 and commanding as human beings experience in 
 relation to any otiier association with which they 
 stand connected? Is the church of Grod less real 
 than any of those grand associations whicli you dig- 
 nify with the name of the nations of the earth? Are 
 the ties that bind me to the church of God less ten- 
 der or less strong than those which connect you 
 with less durable institutions? Are the purposes to 
 be ejffected by the church of God less important 
 than those which men contemplate under relations 
 of a different kind? 
 
 You are fully aware that none of these things are 
 so. Unite yourself then with this great association, 
 and try the effect of it in lightening the duties of 
 the christian life. Trace back her history to the 
 days of Abraham: ponder the eventful periods of 
 lier story: look up to heaven and see, Messiah 
 lieads her! note the unnumbered millions still mem- 
 bers of that church, who after having borne the 
 yoke on earth are now raised to nobler service: 
 think what multitudes of the inhabitants of the 
 earth, people of all ranks, and conditions, and lan- 
 guages, she embraces in her wide extent: see all 
 these multitudes united in one destiny, animated by 
 one spirit, cheered by one hope, regulated by one 
 law, aspiring to one recompense: see them moving 
 ^On under the auspices of God's Messiah: jnark the 
 
tS. Christian Profession, 197 
 
 gearings of the dities you are called to recognise, 
 and of the sacrifices you are required to make, on 
 the character and destinies of millions: see all these 
 ^jiyriads, the earthly armies of the captain of sal- 
 vatiouj perform the same service, make the same 
 sacrifices: See! all yon shining multitudes, the 
 bosts of the redeemed, once made the same election; 
 having counted tlie cost, they took up the Saviour's 
 yoke: look forward to the day in which Jesus 
 Christ shall subject all people to himself: they will 
 all wear liis yoke, they will all bear his burden: — 
 then place yourself for a moment in the midst of 
 these vast multitudes; suppose yourself a member 
 of this mighty congregation; view yourself as the 
 successor of Apostles and martyrs, a sharer in com- 
 mon with the redeemed of all nations, in the privi- 
 leges and toil of the church of God our Saviour: 
 let these thoughts be familiar to you: feel the inter- 
 est of a member in the common cause; share the 
 prospects of a member in the common salvation; 
 cherish the devotion of a member to the common ad- 
 vantage; cultivate the attachment of a member to the 
 common Lord: — then say, if it is possible that his 
 yoke should not be easy, and his burden light! Say, 
 when you look upward to that bright company now 
 rejoicing in the light of eternal glory — say, if the 
 devotedness or devotion of Apostles and Evangel- 
 ists, of your Polycarps and Cyprians, your Angus- 
 tines and Chrysostoms — their little services and 
 s.acrifices of three score years an/.l ten — are to Ue 
 
108 na Blessedness of 
 
 regretted, are to be once named, during all these 
 ages of their eternal triumph! Say, whether in 
 looking over this vast throng of worthies, you can 
 find notiiiog to console and nothing to sustain yoa 
 amid duties and difficulties, in the thought that they 
 are your fellow-christians, members of the same 
 vast family, and only your superiors by an earlier 
 translation into that eternal world! 
 
 3. From our union with the church of Christ we 
 derive important aid in all the ways of rightepus* 
 ness. You are well aware that the world has made 
 a difference between the liberties and indulgences 
 in which mankind in general may allow them- 
 selves, and those which it deems appropriate to 
 4he christian character* We do not think it neces- 
 sary to prove that this distinction is perfectly fal- 
 lacious. It is, indeed, the dictate of conscience, 
 though not always well informed, which leads the 
 public mind to establish this standard of peculiar 
 purity for judging the actions of the christian 
 world* In the main this standard may be correct; 
 and, at all events, the adoption of it serves to indi- 
 cate the strong and natural revoltings of human 
 feeling against associating pretensions to purity and 
 the fear of God, with courses which are discerned 
 to be incompatible with either. But the error con- 
 sists in thinking that aliens from the church of Je- 
 sus Christ may pursue these courses without injury 
 and without offence. Because; if the courses in ques- 
 
ei Christian Profession. 199 
 
 tion be not wrong, then christian principle does not, 
 and cannot, prohibit them. And if they be wrong, 
 the very law tiiat binds the christian binds all oth- 
 ers to abstain from them. On every head they 
 will bring down the guilt, and into every heart tb^ 
 evils, which they are supposed to entail on the 
 person of a christian. 
 
 It is, however, a fact that the world makes this 
 distinction. Now mark the consequence. Whilti 
 you remain aliens from the church of God you are 
 expected to do many thhigs which your conscien- 
 ces condemn; and which you never can attempt with- 
 out inflicting pain, instead of deriving the pleasure 
 that is sought for. You are besieged by hundreds 
 eager to hale you away with tiiem to scenes of dis- 
 sipation; you are called upon to aid in the promo- 
 tion of many objects which you feel to be most op- 
 posite to the interests of true goodness; and you ar© 
 incessantly dragged into such society as you know 
 to be most unfriendly to your eternal weal. How 
 can you avoid these things? Public opinion will 
 inevitably have its weight with you; and we know 
 well the standard it adopts for persons without the 
 limits of the church of God. The several circles 
 of your careless friends will incessantly besiegii 
 you; and you must be formed of materials pecul- 
 iarly unmanageable if they do not succeed in bend- 
 ing you to their wishes. 
 
 But suppose you have taken post within the 
 cliurch of Uod, TUett that very world, thosD very 
 
§00 The Blessedness of 
 
 circles of acquaintances and friends^ who would 
 have ten thousand times seduced you to violate the 
 dictates of an enlightened conscience, immediately 
 bring forth another rule ol judgment which they inr- 
 sist on applying most scrupulously to your conduct. 
 Be it so. Let them establish themselves at their 
 posts of observation. Let them apply most rigor- 
 ously the new rule they have adopted. Of one 
 thing you are certain: they themselves being judg- 
 es, you ought to be free from those eager solicita- 
 tions with which they formerly besieged you; you 
 ought to be exempted from the charges of bigotry 
 and narrowness of mind, when you abstain from 
 courses for which they would themselves be the ve- 
 ry first to censure you; you ought to feel no diffi- 
 culty in setting about those duties, to which the 
 opinions of the Christian and unchristian world 
 conspire to point your way. 
 
 And while a profession of the Christian faith re- 
 lieves you at once from a thousand embarrassmente 
 unfavorable to the cultivation of piety, you derive 
 incalculable encouragement and support from your 
 intercourse and connexion with other members of 
 the church. Built up together on one common 
 foundation, animated by one common hope, you can 
 move on together, heart linked with heart, and 
 hand joined in hand, in a style and with a firm- 
 iiess which it would be idle even to hope for, so 
 long as you stand alone. If one portion of the 
 community terms your uprightaess preciseness, and 
 
tH Christian Profession. gOi 
 
 your piety superstiiion, there is still another and a 
 far dearer portion whose judgment coincides with 
 the dictates of your conscience, and whose appro- 
 bation and fellow-feeling will console you for the 
 pang of unmerited reproach. If the one portion 
 still besieges you and attempts to drag you away 
 from your duty and your hope, there is still another 
 portion whose influence and example minister new 
 strength to your wavering resolution. 
 
 Be persuaded then, my dear friends, to take up 
 the Saviour's yoke. It seems terrible to you, prin- 
 cipally because you judge from present feelingSo 
 You stand like a stranger in a land of strangers; 
 you shrink instinctively from the inquisitive gaze of 
 every passenger; you are appaled at the idea of the 
 singularity which must attach to you provided you 
 yield your homage and services to the Almighty. 
 Flee then from that world in whose ranks you arp 
 still numbered. Fall into the church of God. Thea 
 you will no longer stand alone and a stranger; i\\^n 
 you will breathe freely as in your native air; then 
 you will tread firmly as on the land of your fathers: 
 and the imputation of singularity will only then at- 
 tach to you, when you neglect those courses, so rea- 
 sonable and advantageous, which now you are de- 
 sirous but fearful to attempt. Fall into the chuj ch 
 of God, and your station will be the antidote to 
 many strong temptations; your station will afford 
 good reason for taking a hi2;h and independent 
 stand; your station will guaranty to yuu the aid 
 
 A a 
 
202 The Biessedness of 
 
 and the sympathies of that mighty congregation j the 
 church of the living God. To say ''I am a chris- 
 tian/ will be deemed sufficient reason for the stand 
 you then shall take. To say *I am a christian,^ 
 will be to silence with a word ten thousand obser- 
 vations painful to your feelings, and to repel with- 
 out farther trouble many an attempt to seduce and 
 to destroy you. 
 
 4. But the principal advantages resulting fmm 
 a profession of the christian faith, are to be sought 
 for in the blessing with w hich Messiah crowns the 
 institutions of his wisdom. You do not, my dear 
 friends, you surely cannot suppose that the several 
 ordinances of the christian church, to which none 
 but ioUowers of the Saviour in profession can have 
 any s^iccess, are to be ranked among unmeaning and 
 unproiitMble ceremonies. You would not so ar- 
 raign the wisdom of God as to impute to him this 
 childish and foolish procedure! You surely would 
 not call in question the Saviour's faithfulness to ac- 
 complish the promises which he seals with the 
 symbols of his great salvation! Then admit — ^^ou 
 must admit— that in abstaining from the fellowship 
 of the christian church, you cut yourselves off from 
 the benefit of some of the most important institu- 
 fions by which the Saviour guarantees to man the 
 performance of his promises, and binds their affec- 
 tion^ to his eternal throne. Do not ask me to make 
 out to you the advantages flowing from ^'the fellow- 
 
Jt 'Christian Profession* j^OS 
 
 IsMp of saints" with one another and with the comf 
 inon i^ord, in those great ordinances so peculi uly 
 christian. If the Saviour makes the tender of liis 
 sanctifying Spirit, and offers you as tht pledge of 
 it the water of his baptism; then, if there be mean- 
 ing in the ordinance^ and fidelity in the author of it, 
 I cannot hesitate for one moment to believe that in 
 rejecting the symbol of so great salvation, you los& 
 the reasonable prospect of much that would aid you 
 in the course at which you aim. 1 am sure that 
 the glory of unquestioned faithfulness is concerned 
 in making it out to all who see and hear, that his 
 pn>mise of that Spirit of the resurrection and the 
 life is more than mere words of course; and that 
 the guarantee he furnishes you in the water of his 
 baptism is not to be forgotten like some mere idle 
 ceremony. You are emboldened to seek salvation, 
 by the promise he has given you; and you would 
 devoutly and earnestly seek it,and accept of it, in the 
 way of his appointment. Can it then be in vain 
 that you attempt it in that way! Is there no longer 
 faithfulness in heaven? has eternal wisdom laid a- 
 side its plans? O no. So certainly as you have the 
 promise of that Holy Spirit, — -just so certainly as 
 you receive devoutly lieaven*s pledge of that good 
 Spirit, — so certainly shall he himself come down. 
 
 iVnd you have the seal, too, of forgiveness, and 
 of grace and strength to aid you in yonr way, iu 
 the symbols of Messiah crucified and slain. Do not 
 ff^elievc for a single moiiieiit that services introdu* 
 
!2M 'Fhe Blessedness of 
 
 ced with so much solemnity, and enjoined with so 
 much tenderness, on the last night of the 8a\i( ui's 
 life, are of no advantage to those who attend upon 
 them with the simplicity and sincerity of christian 
 feeling. It is enough that the Son of Grod has insti- 
 tuted them for our beneiit. If you wish for proof 
 of the fact that they are beneficial, if you would 
 know the various ways in which they are rendered 
 serviceable, you must dive into the recesses of ma- 
 ny anxious bosoms, you must fathom the varied ex- 
 perience of all ages. 
 
 One thing we do know, and we may fairly state 
 it in connexion with this discussion, as a general 
 truth. *'The Lord loveth the gates of Zion, more 
 than all the dwellings of Jacob. '^^ By a christian 
 profession you honor him publicly. By a christian 
 profession you throw all your influence into the 
 right scale; and thus contribute to form the minds 
 and to decide the judgments of all with whom your 
 ex mple would have any weight. By a christian 
 p 'ession you help to fortify the mind, and to 
 strengthen the purposes of multitudes who might 
 b*^ despoiled of integrity and hope, did they stand 
 9 gle-handed in their resistance to temptation. 
 And is it not right then that God should distin- 
 guish with large and peculiar blessings, those who 
 ai:e most efficient in the promotion of his cause? Is 
 it not right that he should shed peculiar influence 
 
 ^Psalm Ixxxvii. S. 
 
d Vhristian Profession* jeOS 
 
 on the multitudes that throng the gates of Zion; so 
 thit others, despairing of sharing similar blessings 
 while far from Zion's gates, may be induced to take 
 their stations where they can be most serviceable? 
 
 My dear friends, be yourselves the judges oii 
 this subject. We are compelled, indeed, to acknow- 
 ledge that within the ample circuit of Messiah^$ 
 church there are multitudes who evidently have no 
 business there; multitudes who wear the name with- 
 out manifesting the spirit of disciples of the Sa- 
 viour. These the church in her charity admits ii |,^oa 
 their first profession of the faith of Christ, because 
 she ^*hopeth all things," even where there appears 
 much reason to be doubtful. These the church in 
 her charity still retains, because she is desirous 
 <Hhat all men should be saved; ' and she does not 
 proceed hastily to cast them out, because she •^•en- 
 dureth all things and is kind,'' in the hope that 
 there may still be in them some principle of good- 
 ness which will yet display them under different 
 guise. Still, however, you must and will concede 
 for the experience of all ages sufficiently attest: the 
 fact, that we are to seek for the brightest exam- 
 ples of christian intelligence and piety, only with- 
 in the circuit of the christian church. And you 
 know well that if your own influence is to be ex- 
 erted with effect, and on an extensive scale, your 
 proper station is in the bosom of the church. 
 
 Look back to other ages, look abroad upon all 
 places wliere a banner for the truth has ever beeii 
 
Wi The Blessedness of 
 
 tinfurled. By whom was it planted, and by whom 
 was it sustained? Was it not by such as had obeyed 
 the great commandment, ^come bear my burden, 
 come wear my gentle yoke'? Could you suppose 
 it possible that all people had once reasoned as 
 ^ome of you are at present disposed to reason,-— 
 liad said that they could do their duty and secure 
 their salvation just as well without complying with 
 the injunction of the Saviour,- — where to day had 
 Jbeen the church of God? Where had been the min- 
 istry of the church of God? Where had been the 
 jsymbols of God's great salvation? — View the mat- 
 ter on a more contracted scale. What if the chui<ch 
 «f Jesus Christ had never taken root in this newly 
 ^settled region! Where to-day had been your fear 
 of the living God? Wliere had been your hope of 
 salvation by his Son? Tell me! would not those 
 feelings have been strangers to your hearts, which 
 we know now often play there as the harbingers of 
 a high and hallowed hope? Would you ever have 
 Iftsed exertions to found this sanctuary for the Lord 
 of Hosts? Would you ever have raised your wish- 
 es above this unhappy and unholy world? No! 
 Grey hairs would have been first sprinkled, then 
 thickly sown upon your temples; languor and fee- 
 bleness, the harbingers of death, would have been 
 making their advances slowly but surely; and you 
 —without a Saviour, without the cheering hope of 
 life eternal, without the glorious prospect of the re- 
 sfurrectiou from the grave — you would have been 
 
S Christian Profession* 20^ 
 
 at this hour clinging^to your little span of life; yom 
 hearts would have been now cleaving with a deaths 
 grip to the world: for it is all that would have been 
 known to you, worth your hopes or cares. The 
 grave to which you are hastening would have ap- 
 peared to you like the mouth of a cavern dark and 
 bottomless, a cavern of many horrors, the empire of 
 interminable gloom. 
 
 To whom do you owe it that these are not your 
 feelings? Is it not to them who have borne the Sa- 
 viour's burden, and worn in your very town tlie 
 yoke which he imposes? Many of them have long 
 since ceaed from all their labours: but the fruit oif 
 their toil remains. The standard which they 
 planted still floats before your eyes. And you hear 
 Messiah's voice. And you place your dearest 
 hopes in Vlessiah's great salvation.— It is thus that 
 obedience to the Saviour is twice blessed. It is 
 blessed in ministering to the eternal salvation of 
 the parties themselves who '-hear his word, and dd 
 it;" and it is blessed in spreading wide the know- 
 ledge of salvation, and in handing down to suC"» 
 ceeding generations the legacy he has left for all 
 the nations. And is it nothing to you that while 
 you cheerfully take the road his sovereignty and 
 wisdom have clearly pointed ou for securing your 
 ^ own best interests, you may at the same time be fa^ 
 vored with the additional triumph of seeing youc 
 derision m-ncing a deep and salutary impression 
 ou ^ultitudG3 of others; and iiiclitting and determi- 
 
-20B The Blessedness of 
 
 iiing them to clioose the way of peace? Were not 
 this a mighty recompense, although it were the 
 whole? Would it not be much to you that "the cap- 
 tain of salvation'^ thus afforded you the privilege of 
 sharing with himself the labour of ministering bles- 
 sings — innumerable blessings — everlasting bles- 
 sings, — ^to a world of woe? But this is not the 
 whole of "the recompense reserved.^' It is written 
 that while "they that be wise shall shine as the 
 brightness of the firmament/^ "they that turn ma- 
 ny to righteousness'' shall inherit greater glory; 
 they shall decorate that firmament; they shall be 
 rendered conspicuous far beyond the common mass; 
 they shall shine "as the stars forever and ever/'* 
 There is no principle more clearly settled in scrips 
 ture than this, that the degrees both of misery and 
 felicity, of glory and degradation, in the world to 
 come, shall be apportioned with the most minute 
 and scrupulous exactness to our deservings whiW 
 dwellers here. The propriety of this arrangement 
 in the world of woe, will not, of course, be ques- 
 tioned. But it is not less true of the world of light 
 and love. Salvation by Messiah has not in any 
 measure affected this equitable standard, nor pre- 
 cluded its application to the deeds of those who are 
 saved by his grace. This we have made out to you 
 on more than one occasion; and we need not now 
 stop to prove or explain it. But if it be a fact that 
 
 ^^J)av, xii. a 
 
^ 0hristian Profession^ S'Q'g 
 
 every deed of goodness shall be remembered and 
 rewarded at the resurrection of the just, then how 
 jnuch more that systematic course which is fraught 
 with blessings to multitudes now unhappy! 
 
 5, Finally: while piety is cultivated most suc- 
 cessfully and certainly within the limits of thei 
 church of Christ; all the advantages which accrue^ 
 to piety accrue so much the more abundantly and 
 certainly to the sincere professors of the faith of 
 Christ. Ypu must have observed, my brethren^ 
 that in the course of this discussion we have not 
 touched on any of the blessings connected with pi- 
 ety, considered in itself. We do not mean to touchi 
 upon them. It is the business of years, it is the- 
 aim of every effort we make from week to week, it 
 is the business of our lives, to shew you in detaiX 
 that the ways of wisdom are the only ways of plea- 
 santness, and that the paths of wisdom are truly 
 paths of peace. Our business to-day is not, there- 
 fore, with the privileges or blessings of christian!* 
 ty considered simply as the religion of a sinner^ 
 or as a matter which exists between God and our 
 own hearts; but with Christianity as it is mai'shaled^ 
 openly and professedly, in the service of Jesu» 
 Christ. We have only therefore to entreat you to 
 review in their order all the blessings that flow 
 from christian piety, not only for this world, but for 
 that which is to come; and thence, for yourselves^ 
 to infer the importance and the blessedness .f thjit 
 
 3> 
 
M^ The Blessedness of 
 
 open avowal of ^ouv allegiance to the Savrour 
 which in promoting so mightily piety itself must 
 promote no less mightily the peace and glory which 
 true piety secures. 
 
 Meanwhile take one thing for granted. It is not 
 an hard master you are called to serve. The very 
 assurance which constitutes my text hears testimo- 
 ny to the sym.pathy which animates his hosom^ 
 And if he sympathizes with you — with you who 
 are not his people, — with you who never served 
 hi ^i, — with you who still refuse to honor him, — if 
 he sto«|>s tVom the throne of his triumphs to assure 
 you that you mistake entirely the nature of the ser- 
 vice in which he would employ you, now can you 
 deem it likely that he will sympathize less tender- 
 ly with the people of his care? Do you believe that 
 Jesus Christ will he less tender of the feelings of 
 those who love and honour him, of those who trust 
 and serve him, than of those who love him not? — 
 Is this the liberality of God our Saviour, to take 
 the smallest interest in his most faithful servants? 
 Qr rather, is this the liberality which you bring in» 
 to play, when you construe his character? We know 
 very well the answer that common sense would 
 dictate. Then let the procedure, the uniform pro- 
 cetlure of Almighty providence be the comment on 
 thf4>t answer. Remember that all power in heaven 
 ftnd on earth is lodged with Jesus Christy* the 
 
 ^Mattlu xxviii. 18. 
 
Ji Christian Profession, ^1.1 
 
 hfearts of all flesh are in the hands of Jesus Clinst^ 
 jesus Christ still cherishes the recollection of hifi 
 6wu sorrows that he may cherisli the warmer fel- 
 low feeling for our sufferings:* and it can therefore 
 never be that he who on the last night of his afflicted 
 life almost merged his sorrows in his sympathy for 
 the griefs of his desponding friends, and devoted 
 whole hours, his own last sad hours, to enlighten 
 and console them— no, it can never be that he has^ 
 now lost in tenderness what he has acquired in glo- 
 ry. \ All ages will testify how he contrives to ho- 
 nour them who honour himf : and many a grateful 
 heart will attest his skill and kindness in attemp- 
 ering the wind to the shorn lamb. The difficulties 
 that present themselves in the service of the Sa- 
 viour, only look terrible when you view them at a 
 distance. Them only you first see. But if they do 
 not frighten you from the the strait-forward path, if 
 you can attack them faithfully, though it may be not 
 toldly, you will find that their aspect was as decep- 
 tive as forbidding; you will discover, on the ap- 
 proach, that providence has marshaled other force 
 to aid you; you will find it a very easy thing to do 
 a Christianas duty, if your heart be right with God. 
 Jesus Christ still makes common cause with all hi^ 
 people. He carefully accommodates their duties 
 to their circumstances, their trials to their strength; 
 and if sometimes his providence seems to falsify 
 
 ^Heh, ii. 18. ^ iv. If fSam. ii. 30. 
 
Sljg 5rfee jBlesseiness of 
 
 tis word, if sometimes the burden appears very fai' 
 from light, let it only be remembered that it is his 
 promise to ^^increase strength to them that have no 
 might,*'' and then all Will again seem straight. 
 
 Come, then, be persuaded to wear the Saviour^s 
 ^oke! Cotne, make trial of the burden of Jesus 
 Christ! It is not into the society of these few Chris- 
 tians alone that we invite you: it is into a society 
 .composed of ^^an innumerable company of angels^ 
 of the general assembly and church of the first born 
 which are written in heaven, of the spirits of just 
 men made perfect, and of Jesus Christ the me- 
 diator OF THE NEW covenant/'I All the^c 
 liave borne the burden, and to some of them it Was 
 heavy; but "the mediator of the new covenant'' was 
 tiot slack to increase their might. All these have 
 worn the yoke, and to some of them it was griev- 
 ous, to Jesus Christ himself it was a most grievous 
 oii6, but he himself ^^endured it, despising the 
 tehame, for the glory &et before him," and to his Ut- 
 ile brothers and to the sisters of his affection he has 
 never yet been backward to render it full easy. 
 Believe Jesus Christ: he tells you it is easy. 
 I know how you will answer me: ^We do not doubt 
 but that it is our duty to comply with the injunc- 
 tion;' ^we do not doubt but that the Saviour's words 
 are true, — his yoke is easy, his burden is light.' 
 ■^i^i we doubt our present fitness to profess the 
 
 ^- ^HsaiQJi xl. S9. t^eJ. xii. g^— §4. 
 
K^ Cthristian Profes^toit, ^0 
 
 Saviour^s name; and we are fearfully apprehen- 
 sive lest in some sad hour we should wound ther 
 Saviour^s cause.^ — Yes, no doubt but that you arc 
 Unfit; if it be unfitting that a sinner should apply 
 to him who came ^^not to call the righteous, but 
 suinersy to repentance.'^* Yes, your apprehen- 
 sions are abundantly well founded; if indeed there 
 are courses which you are determined to pursue^ 
 knowing them to be contrary to the laws of Jesu«^ 
 Christ. Yes, if it be your purpose to promote the 
 service of the Saviour only at such times and in, 
 such measure as may suit you,— if it be your pur- 
 pose to select from his institutions such parts as yoa 
 approve or do not violently dislike, — then the ob- 
 jection is a good one. It is true that the course is 
 neither safe nor honest which is predicated on an 
 attempt to associate together worldly tempers and 
 the tempers of the Christian, worldly maxims and 
 the maxims of Jesus Christ. You Avill recollect 
 that both our guilt and misery consist in swerving 
 from our allegiance to the Eternal Majesty, and in 
 regulating our movements by our passions or sup- 
 posed interests. And if you do not mean to adopt 
 as your own that principle of devotedness and sin- 
 gleness of heart which wields the armies of the. 
 living God, it is vain and worse than vain to give 
 in your names as soldiers of the cross. It is vain 
 to think of pursuing m ithout hazard, under tho- 
 
Sanction of a christian profession, courses whicH 
 bring destruction on ^^the World which lietli in w ick^ 
 edness.'' We are indeed most unfit to profess the 
 faith of Christ, while all our purposes and wished 
 aim at another object. It is well to be careful o^ 
 wounding by our follies the cause of Jesus Christ, 
 while we expect that to these follies we will reso- 
 lutely cleave. Better say at once ^adieu to the 
 ehurch of Grod:^ ^a long adieu to Messiali^s easy 
 yoke:' ^adieu forever to God's great salvation.^ 
 Yes! adieu to God's salvation! For salvation 
 brings us back to "the obedience of tht faith:" 
 salvation was only needed because we had wander- 
 ed from our duty to the Creator: and if we are still 
 resolved to wander, then it is most true that We are 
 Unfit to profess the name of Jesus Christ; and it is 
 of all things most likely that we should only wound 
 his cause. My fellow mortals, are you prepared 
 for this? 
 
 But perhaps your minds are labouring with a 
 different sentiment. Perhaps you would most wil- 
 lingly return to your allegiance, and, like simple- 
 hearted seraphs, make the Father of your spirits 
 the centre of all your movements: but fear lest in 
 attempting it you should err for lack of knowledge, 
 and so miss the desired acceptance; or that after 
 having professed your faith in the Redeemer, you 
 should fall through strong temptation. Then^- 
 THEN — we have afar different answer for you. To 
 whom are you to go for wisdom to direct you^ if 
 
S: Christian Profession* ^igf 
 
 not to "the teacher come from God''? On what 
 are you to rely for strength against temptation, If 
 not on the grace of Jesus Christ? Where are yon 
 so likely to be placed beyond the reach of the temp- 
 tations you most fear, as in the bosom of the church 
 of God? And, after all, suppose you should fall in- 
 to many-fold temptation^, suppose you should sink 
 under them, and thus wound the cause of Christy 
 whence are you so likely to derive strength for 
 your recovery as from the master whom you serve? 
 And who wdll be so likely to sympathize with yon 
 in your sorrows, and to encourage and aid you i^ 
 your recovery, as your fellow servants in Christ 
 Jesus, who feel themselves "compassed with th© 
 same infirmities"? 
 
 But indeed it is needless to reason about tliisr 
 matter. You cannot find any where in scripture 
 Hn assurance th^t you may ever attain to a condir 
 tion in which this plea would not be equally valid> 
 You will no where find, in all the scripture, the 
 record of one follower of God our Saviour w ho de- 
 mured upon this plea: — not among the thousands 
 by whom "with wicked hands he was crucified and 
 slain:" not among the myriads of the pagan world, 
 who under the ministry of the Apostles laid hoM 
 on this salvation. They acted at once, and with- 
 out any hesitation. Be these the exemplars you 
 will copy, if in earnest. Put your trust in Linn 
 who was never yet known to break the brni ed 
 r^ed; or queiich the spark that tips t|ie sjnoking 
 
gi6 2%e Blessedness of 
 
 wick. Trust liini, O reed! however sorely brokeni;: 
 and see if he will not make thy feebleness his care! 
 Trust him, spark! now fainting to the death; 
 And see if his breath will not rouse thee into flamef 
 Bow then to the Saviour, and leave results with him. 
 The best pledge we can give of the sincerity of our 
 professions, is that we do his will. The best as- 
 surance that we will walk faithfully hereafter, is 
 that we are faithful now. 
 
 I see some of you who' are already growing 
 white for the scythe of that fell labourer who mows 
 the nations down. And you have not yet resolved 
 to fall into your proper place! With you, surely 
 WITH YOUjif with any beings upon earth, this ought 
 to be a mandate pleasing to your ears and sacred in 
 your eyes. You still have it in your power to do 
 iinspeakable good. Only resolve to be for God 
 and his Messiah; lay hold for yourselves on the 
 great salvation tendered to the nations; then conse- 
 crate your hearts and your efforts to his service from 
 whom you now especially, in the wane of your last 
 hours, must hope for almost every thing that youi 
 can hope at all. O you have done wrong to with- 
 hold from God's Messiah the pith and vigour of 
 your days, and leave him only the poor remnant 
 that you can bestow no other way! Nevertheless 
 COME IN. Self-accusing wanderer! worn-out, de- 
 <:repit labourer, whom no master will employ! ^'at 
 the eleventh hour" come in. Come into the vine^ 
 i?ard of the X4ord of Hosts. What au irapulsQ 
 
«5 Christian Profpsswn. %i^ 
 
 would it give to the feelings of our youth, what a 
 glory would it shed through the borders of youp 
 town, were you at last to take your station where 
 you should have long since been! — You venerable 
 men, whose green old age, whose heads just silver- 
 ing, announce the sober stillness of a declining sun, 
 you now take little interest in scenes you soon 
 must quit. It is too late to plunge into the vortex 
 of ambition; and your relish for the gayeties of life 
 has fled. Down sinks your sun, as you labouj:' 
 down the hill of life; and you have prepared no 
 lamp to light you up the hill of heaven. Come, take, 
 another course! Come, choose another master! 
 Come, lend your influence, — you have yet a mighty 
 influence — to the best of causes! Come in, fellow- 
 labourers! it is now your eleventh hour. What aa 
 impulse would YOU give to the feelings of our 
 youth! what a glory might YOU shed through the 
 borders of this town! Come and occupy your minds 
 — come kindle a new interest for this world in 
 which you dwell — by becoming the noble organs 
 of immortal charity! Come! and let your actions 
 declare to tliese young men, and to these maidens 
 full of hopes which they will never — never realize, 
 that you know of nothing worthy the serious efforts 
 of an immortal creature b it the inheritance that 
 will remain to it when reverend age and sprightly 
 youth are alike torgotten in the tomb. At the 
 EI F* EXTH HOUR come bear the Saviour's burden; 
 
 and though death's marble-making bawl shall aji'- 
 
 Cc 
 
^£8 The Blessedness of 
 
 rest your eager steps and deposit for you the bur- 
 den far short of its destined pl?xe, yet you shall 
 again revive to bless your maker's liberality when 
 with unsparing hand he rewards your hour of toil. 
 Come! we have employments to cheer your waneing 
 days: employments of such a character that high 
 and hallowed hope may renew a strong pulsation 
 in frames grown languid with the toil of years^ 
 and hearts once more be made to thrill with ecsta- 
 sy, that once you thought would never thrill again. 
 O wanderer without employment, and without an 
 eternal home, at the eleventh hour come in! 
 So your evening sun shall set in radiant glory. 
 While still a labourer here, many young cherubs 
 - — these young c]ieruhs!-s\\fx)l cleave to you, shal 
 listen to you, shall love you: these cherubs shal 
 bear you company to the borders of the grave: and 
 there you will exchange them for hosts of mightier 
 cherubim! The cherubim of Grod, in all their glitter* 
 Ing panoply, will encircle your glad spirit and hear 
 you company on high. Venerable friends, in the 
 name of the Lord come in! 
 
 Young Men! will you not profit by the Sa- 
 viour's invitation? He frankly tenders you an honor- 
 able service. He puts it in your power to do in- 
 calculable good. Some of you have already toiJed 
 in a most thankless office. You have done it cheer- 
 ^fully. You have even solicited the distinction with 
 no common ep:^emess. And others of you are as 
 eager to enter on the same course. — i.<et tn^enty 
 
A Christian Profession. 219 
 
 ^ears roll round, and all your service is forgotten: 
 and of all your labours not one trace is left. And 
 it is well — it icill be very, very well — if this be all 
 the evil you will be compelled to mourn. But you have 
 yourselves seen many instances in which distinctions 
 earned with toil could not be preserved in any mea- 
 sure of security, unless their liapless possessor, in 
 order to retain them, made the sacriilce of principle, 
 of conscience, of self-respect. You know well that 
 in toiling for the distinctions of this world, you 
 must bid adieu to tranquility, if not to independ- 
 ence. You know that the most faithful and able 
 services are speedily forgotten, if you do not hold 
 yourselves in readiness to fall in w:tii eveiy impulse 
 which the deceitful or the daring may give to tlie 
 public niind.---And what is your assurance that 
 you will reach the giddy heights toward which so 
 many clamber, while so few can possibly be seated 
 on them? Why hazard the competition, when that 
 competition is frauglit with tem])taiion3, beleaguered 
 With dangers, and coupled with the utmost uncer- 
 tainty of success? If your love of glory docs not 
 burn too ardently, if it act not en your better feel- 
 ings as a devouring flame, we h.ave nothing to op- 
 pose to your acceptance of public honours. You 
 may not only retain them in consistency with your 
 allegiance to a higher power, but you may employ 
 them as instruments of the greatest good. But let 
 them— let tiiem "'Come unsought for, if they come 
 aT. ail.'' For after all. the account ya^t submitted t& 
 
^^0 The Blessedness of 
 
 you of the tenure by which you hold them is un- 
 doubtedly correct. And even though in your case 
 it should not happen as it does in most^ though you 
 were borne along triumphantly on the breath of 
 public fame; though your measures were all wise, 
 and successful, and applauded; though your admin- 
 istration should continue the model for other ages, 
 and your works remain as monuments for future 
 men to gaze at: yet know that all this glory must be 
 obscured in dim forge tfulness, while you yourself 
 still live, live on forever, without the wages of your 
 toil. 
 
 "O it is strange, 
 'Tis passing strange, to mark man's fallacies. 
 Behold him pr uudly view some pompous pile, 
 Whose high dome swells to emulate the skies, 
 And smile and say, my name shall live with this 
 Till time shall be no more: while at his feet. 
 Yea AT HIS VKRY FEET, the crumbling dust 
 Of the fall'n fabric of the other day 
 Preaches the solemn lesson.— He should linow 
 That time must conquer. That the loudest blast 
 That ever fillM Renown's obstreperous trump 
 Fades in the lapse of ages, and expires.' 
 
 ?? 
 
 Come then, enter a service in which every effort 
 makes a durable impression; in which uprightness, 
 not suppleness, is the grand secret of succeeding; 
 in which every labour of love is f rang]) I; with two- 
 fold blessingj — with everlasting blessing on the 
 head of him who serves, and with the blessedness 
 of contemplating th)p happy bearing of his services 
 ®n ihe character and destinies of other itiimortal be- 
 
«^ Christian Profession, SSI 
 
 xngs, who, but for the example, might have wander- 
 ed on till they perished in their hlood. — Take hut 
 your station in the church of Jesus Christ: conduct 
 as becomes a follower and a lover of the Lamb* 
 and trust him for the remembrance and remunera- 
 tion of your toils, in the day when the bistre cf all 
 worldly greatness sliall be quenched in endless 
 night. 
 
 And you, who to day are to consecrate your- 
 selves to the service of that Saviour! — and you, the 
 other members of a little band whoui my heart must 
 ever bold in most endeared remembrance! — may you 
 well and truly test the truth of this assurance, that 
 your Saviours yoke is easy, and his burden very 
 light. Once bound to one another by a diiferent 
 bond, the feelings you then cultivated have never 
 lost their force. Long have you waited in this sanc- 
 tuary of the Most High. Amidst every revoiutioa 
 of prospects and of sentiment you have still been 
 here. In the midst (jf every discouragement, diffi- 
 culty and trial, a sister's sympathy has glowed la 
 every breast, a sister's solicitude has beamed from 
 every eye.- When this house has been thinned, 
 when you sat almost alone, still have I seen you, 
 dear and little band! firmer than veterans at the 
 post which you had chosen. Why should I not 
 to-day raise a monument to your affection, and re- 
 cord on it the emotions of one who loves you ten- 
 derly? Why should I not rejoice in the feeling that 
 you have cultivated; when I see that it has been 
 
222 The Blessedness of 
 
 wielded by the God of all salvation to tlie best of 
 all results? Why may I not lift high ^^the voice of 
 joy and thanksgiving/' when I see a portion of that 
 band — my own cherubic band— coming forward a- 
 mong the first to own the faith of the Redeemer^ and 
 embark for life eternal in the church of the liv- 
 ing God? O may it be indeed for that eternal 
 life! And may all of you come in! May the ro* 
 ses of your youth then acquire their loveliest tinge^ 
 when your hearts beat high in a cause so high and 
 holy! \ nd may those roses be resuscitated to bloom 
 in yet lovelier and immortal dies, in the day wheii 
 Messiah shall summon you to rise and take your 
 station in his eternal kingdom! Little band, may 
 none of you be lacking! But when I, as God's min» 
 ister, must give in my last account; When I usher 
 this one and that one before the eternal throne: 
 when m.ost happy in presenting many of these my 
 brethren, these people of my charge, then fully 
 prepared for the light oT God's salvation: then may 
 it be mine to take you each one by the hand— vou, 
 whose solicitudes have oftentimes cheered a sorrow- 
 ful and desponding spirit — you, Who are coming 
 with the very first to submit yourselves to the gov- 
 ernment of God's own Messiah — may it be mine to 
 talte you each one by the hand, and lead you for- 
 ward to your Father's and your Brother's throne! 
 Come forwardj then, and assume your Saviour's 
 yoke! Come and declare to all this people tliat 
 you M'ill bear his burden! The courage of that 8n.- 
 
*5 Christian Profession. 223 
 
 viour did not forsake liim for a moment, when he 
 went forth before the people wearing a crown of 
 thorns for you. The compassion of that Saviour 
 did not die within him, when he struggled up 
 Mount Calvary bearing his cross for you. — And 
 your courage, your gratitude, will not fail you at 
 this hour, when you rise to take your station in his 
 glorious kingdom, and pledge your fealty to the 
 felon of God. Come then, my dear young friends, 
 come assume your Saviour's yoke! May the God 
 of all salvation enable you to wear it worthily! And 
 may your gallant bearing prove how light it is! 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE view so rapidJy sketched in the fifth of the fore° 
 going series of discourses, has been deemed of suffici^^nt 
 importance to call down upon its author ttie castigati 'is 
 of many wise and mighty. Anoiig those who have th >ugit 
 it right to express th* ir opinion in very strong and dr i- 
 ded language, the Rev. Dr. Gray, late oi Philadelphia^ 
 holds the most prominent place. That gentleman was 
 not a member of any of the couts which sat in judg a* nt 
 on the case; but he thought it needful to follow up the de- 
 cision of the General Synod of the Associat -Reformed 
 Church, with a work of about one hundred and fifty pa- 
 ges, in which he \evy plainly intiinates that he has admin- 
 istered an effectual quietus to the novel heresy. 
 
 ^•The fiend'^ of Dr. Gray displays ;nuc!i more candor 
 And good temper than we are in the habit of ascribing^ 
 generally, to beings of that class: and when it was under- 
 stood that such a being was about to stalk f>rth among tie 
 churches, large calculations vere made in relation to ti»e 
 feats it would perform; not only by those of whose ca isg 
 it was deemed the champion, but by all who took dny 
 interest in the controversy, and were aware of the d '- 
 scrvedly high reputation of Dr. G ay. And it mus^ bo 
 confessed that this production has effected one thing f es- 
 sential service. It has disencumbered the present cont^ • > 
 versy of that vast and heterogeneous m i^s of errors and 
 absurdities with which the first movers had contrived t© 
 
'^"^Q State of the Qiiestion> 
 
 "burden it; ai^d assistc d to place the only question tliat 
 ought ever to have been agitated, distinctly and singly be- 
 fore the public mind. Tliis obliga ion to tiie candor and 
 good sense of Dr. Gray the writer is happy to acknowl- 
 edge. And had the same spirit of discrimination attend- 
 ed the autlior of **ihe fii nd" in his progress through his 
 numerous pages, he would liave confertd upon his res- 
 pondent the additional obligation of being saved from the 
 necessity of further interference in a very unpleasant and^ 
 perliaps, useless co^itroversy. 
 
 But while Dr. Gray has fairly and judiciously separa- 
 ted th^ question on v/hich we difik r from the many extra- 
 3i(ous matters with which it had been combined, he has 
 in Sume way managed to give to that question itself the 
 send)lance of unusual complicateness; whereas it is in re- 
 ality single and very sim])le. He has also avoided a dis- 
 cussion of the grounds on which the position of the writer 
 was ^st. blished, excepting only in one or two instances; 
 slim', in these instances he has been so unfortunate as en- 
 tire ly to mis-state the views and argument of his oppo- 
 nent. 
 
 For these reasons, and because Dr. Gray has himself 
 deserted, in comm(»n with the writet% the sentiments com- 
 monly called orthodox, in relation to the matter in eon- 
 tr<>vers>; and has substituted a new^ view of his own in the 
 p];v:e of the several t: eoties he had undertaken to exam- 
 ine; he seems fairly entitled to the very particular notice 
 of the author of these Sermons. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 State of the Question. 
 
 IT will be highly proper, before entering upon the 
 dis*in« t ccnsideration of Dr. Gray's performance, to fur- 
 nisli a brief statement of the question on which we are at 
 issue, and of the arguments by which it has been hereto- 
 fore altcn^pted to decide it. A sketch of this description 
 will not only save the labour and inconvenience of repeal- 
 led refcirnces and explanations; but, if executed with 
 faitijfulness and sufficient ability, will afford th< reader Ihc 
 advii'trj^e (if havin*g the whole case at all timts distinc tly 
 before his mind, so that he may^^ at the first glance per- 
 
state of the Question, ^y 
 
 ceive the bearin,i^ and value of every general principle 
 that may have been wielded, or that may yei be wielded, 
 in this controversy. 
 
 The speculations of multitudes have been for many a* 
 ges directed to the solution of the question, on what prin- 
 ciple* it is that eternal salvation is offere in the scriptures 
 to every creature; wliile it remains a conceded truth that 
 it is not the purpose of God to savr ever^ creature. This 
 question is supposed to be encumbered with difficulty, on 
 tlie grounds that all salvation flows from the obedience 
 and atonement of Jesus Christ; and that the merits of his 
 obedience and passion can avail the persons whom he 
 saves, for no other reas :»ii but because he is considered as 
 their representative, and executes in their name and be- 
 half whai. justice would otherwise exact from themselves. 
 As these are points conceded on all hands, with the excep- 
 tion of those who hold tlie doctrine of wiivcjsal salvation, 
 the difficulty of reconciling a universal offer with a limit* 
 ed atonement, or rather with a limited saltation, has 
 been at all times felt. For on the one hand, if all sal- 
 vation must depend upon the fact of the party saved being 
 represented by the Saviour; then it would seem to folh^w 
 that as he declares his ability to save ail men, he must 
 have represented all, must have atoned for all. And if 
 all be thus placed under the Saviour's representation, it 
 would necessarily follow that all men must be saved; oth- 
 erwise the penalty of sin is twice exacted, first from the 
 surety, and then from the party for whom the surety has 
 already satisfied. And hence we have the doctrine of u- 
 niversal salvation. 
 
 Again. It is clear from tlic scriptures tliat all men will 
 not be saved. - Tiience, reasoning as above, it inevitably 
 follows, that all men are not placed under the representa- 
 tion of the Saviour; he did not o')ey in tiieir several names; 
 he did not endure the penalty in their room; inasmucii as 
 if he had done so, justice must have infallibly s<^Gured their 
 salvation. And here again recurs the difficulty. Salva- 
 tion is only imparted in virtue of the Saviour's represen- 
 tation of the person saved. Why then is it offered to those 
 wiiom he did not represent? How can ho wash away the 
 guilt of those for whom he never died? IIow confer eter- 
 nal life on those for whom he never purcliased it? And if he 
 cannot do these tniiigs, how c^an we reconcile it with his 
 
^m ^tate of the Question. 
 
 sinrority, that hesiiouid .flfer to accoiuplisb them; or with 
 his truth, tliat he should claim the li^hi? 
 
 To th( sf qu< slions a great variety of iinswers ha^ehf'en 
 givv n. We shall meet with such of them as are most im- 
 posnjg, and most gpiierally adopted, in the course of th.'se 
 strictJires. It is sufficient to say, at present, that th< Cal- 
 viuists attempt one solution; the Arramians another; iind 
 the Hopkinsians a third: and that the writer, feeling e- 
 qually dissatisfied with all their sohitions, ventured to 
 pr<,pose a distinct one of his own. Wit!) this solution, 
 and with all th< foregoing, the Rev. Dr. Gray professes 
 himself ('issatisfied; and. in the shape of an answer to tlus 
 respondent, and of a defence* of the General Synod of the 
 Associate- Heformed Church, he comes out with a new so- 
 lution of his own. There are, of course, no less than five 
 distinct arravs ssembled on the field, each as a band of 
 Ishma^'lites; and though last, yet not the least, this *'spec- 
 tre fell of fien(!ish might'* — this two-fold fiend, (for such 
 in the issue it turns out to bv*) — this »*fiend of the Refor- 
 mation" brandishes U rrihly its spear, or rather bayonet, 
 as we are taught to call itf 
 
 In order to reconcile these apparently adverse claims 
 of various established doctrines, the writer some years 
 since ventured to propose the idea that the plan of salva- 
 tion is predicfited on the precise principle which is known 
 to regulate all systems of being that are gradual in their 
 development. It is an acknowledged principle tliat 
 wheresoever a multitude of individual existences are 
 brought together into a common system, their individual- 
 ity becomes in a certain sense merged in the associated 
 mass of which tliey form a part; and they become sharers 
 in the character and destinv of the mass, in virtue of their 
 connexion with it. Thus, for exaniple, the particles of 
 matter which at any given moment constitute a vegetahle, 
 derive tluir character and attributes from the f^ct of their 
 assemblage and organization under that particalar form; 
 a^ s' rb particl" s 'as either escape from this combination 
 or are nl} therv iter to become united vvitli it, in the mean 
 
 * Ta virtue^ %ve j^^e^imCf of the us^ial ligfiise^ time out of, 
 mind conceded. /f" Z^-. ^ ,. ^,.. £. f^rfi *cy^y, ^ r A ^- - 
 \Fiend, p. iS, ' 
 
state of the qiiestion. ^Sl), 
 
 time stand in no sprcial rdi.tion v\iuit('vcr to the vr2;f ta- 
 bl in qinsti'n. Thus too, t\try nation ami evrry asso- ( 
 ci.iUon of .iicn ron.sists exdusively f those win) arc mem- ■ 
 brrs tor tlio time being; an«l it is in virtue of this nrtual 
 relationship to the society that individuals heeom^ fijrmal- 
 ly and personally interested in its dvstiny, and sharers in 
 all its attributes. 
 
 It is plain tlmt if the grand association, which we call 
 the Church of God, or king<!om of the Saviijur, is con- 
 stricted and rignlated on this plan, there will be noplace 
 for the discrepancy which has bcv'n s'.ipposi'd to exist be- 
 tween the doctrine of a possibh^ saiv;;tion for all men, and 
 the doctrine that no one can be saved but in virtue of iiis 
 representation by the Mediator, tak:"n in connexion with 
 the acknowledged facts that he does not represent, and 
 will not save all men. Because tiie assumption being tfsat 
 the Church of God is regulated like every other federa- 
 tive system of gradual develop mnt, it will follow in this 
 case, as in every othei .that it - ;is ?!ot at all needfid that tije 
 Saviour should actually stand in the relation of a repre- 
 sentative or covenant head, at the moment when he achie- 
 ved this great deliverance, to every individual who was 
 afterwards to share the blessing. It is ampl} sufficient 
 that he represented the system of being and every individ- 
 ual of which it was constituted at th.e time w'lcn he fulfil- 
 led his trust. Other beings might aftcrvi^ards be admit- 
 ted with facility into the s)Stem, and in virtue of that ad- 
 mission into and identification with it, they might fall un- 
 der tlie representation of the head, and C(;iiscq uenlly 
 share in all tliat he had achieved. Hence then the possi- 
 bility of deliverance for all men: hence the proffer of t lis 
 deliverance^ io all men. Salvation is predicated on tiie 
 fact of representation; and this representation may com- 
 mence at any time, and be extended over any numaer. 
 
 In order completely to establish the reasonableness of 
 this view, it was necessary to prove two things. 1st. That 
 such a systt m of being may be constituted and placed im- 
 der a course of development, when it subsists ex lusive- 
 ly in the person ;>f the single individual who is regarded 
 as the federative head; or rather, under that point of view, 
 as the germ to ■$;" unfohhd. And. '2nd]y. Thatthewhole 
 merit or demerit of this federative head comes down uiidi- 
 
S30 State of the Questmu 
 
 Tided upon every individual who may at the moment, or 
 in process of time, be connected with him. Provided 
 these things be so, it is obviously a matter of no conse- 
 quence at what period the individual falls und;?^ the rep- 
 resentation of the head, or how many individuals may 
 successively fall under it. That which covers any one, 
 covers each onv- as completely as if he alone were the 
 party represented; and it may be extended to him as fair- 
 ly if his representation commences 1000 or 10000 
 years after the event took place by which the destiny of 
 the system vi^as decided, as if he had been a party at the 
 moment when the d^ed was done. 
 
 This view of the subject was stated with sufficient 
 clearness in each of the three publications which Dr. 
 Gray h id before him when he composed his v^rork. All 
 that is said in relation to the question in <*the body of 
 Christ" is contained in the demonstration of the three 
 following prop?)sitions, and in the deductions drawn from 
 them; viz. 
 
 1. "It is not true, neither can it be true of any system 
 whose development is progressive, that all who shall 
 ^e parts of it are formally and in law recognised as parts, 
 whether they exist or whether they do not." 
 
 2. **Neith<Y' is it true that the contemplated results 
 which are to arise out of such a constitution, or, what in 
 tlje present case amounts to the sa^e thing, the contem- 
 ^ated numbers to the reception of which it shall be limi* 
 ted. diminishes in the least the capacity of the system to 
 receive indefinitely above those limits, and that without 
 any kind of violence to the constitution under which 
 they might be received." 
 
 3. "Fin;dly. it is not necessary in order to the recog- 
 nition of a body or association, as well defined and as 
 clearly specified as the head which represents it can in 
 any given case be supposed to be, that all the parts or 
 members which may eventually enter into the constitu- 
 tion of that body, should either exist in fact or be known 
 in law previously to the moment when they are made to 
 assume their station in the body." 
 
 <*Body of Christ:" p. 172. 
 After having proved from the nature of the thing, that 
 federative systems, gradual in their development, maj 
 
State of the Question, g^l 
 
 he constructed on this principle; the work goes on to 
 shew by several examples that on this principle they ac- 
 tually are constructed: and then proceeds to make out 
 from scrii tural testimony that the plan of salvation does 
 not differ in this respect from that which is adopted iu 
 the structure and manae:ement of other federative sys- 
 tems, but is framed on the very same principles. 
 
 These propositions again appear in substance, thougli 
 tinder another form, in the circular ac^dresscd to the cler- 
 gy of the Presbyterian Church. The annunciation is as 
 follows: 
 
 «Iu every federal system, progressive in its develop- 
 ment, the head and the members are identified in law. 
 They are not known, (in law) as so many distinct and 
 is(dated subsistances^ merely occupying certain relations 
 to one-another; but are known and treated as one great 
 moral individual, or whole, of which each and every part 
 is identified with the head, and the head with each and 
 every part. This system, thus constituted, is known iia 
 law and maintains its identity in fact, as one and the 
 same moral person or individual, through every stage of 
 its development; avij in every stage of that develop- 
 ment is recognised and dealt with in law and cove- 
 nant, precisely as it then is, without any kind of refer- 
 ence to accessions afteiwards to be made. And, with 
 respect to these accessions, I further say that it is the 
 fact of their being (i. e. becoming) accessions that inter- 
 ests them in common with the body. While not so in 
 fact, they cannot be so known in law; because law Ijas 
 respect only to matter of fad. — And further, that these 
 accessions do not destroy the identity of the body, nor in 
 any wise affect its relations to the head; but do them- 
 selves ther; first and fully assume all the relations cran- 
 mon to the syj-tenj. — And finally, that any coven; iii 
 made with a system tlius constituted, is made with it as a 
 systemf as one; and has its as!)ert and bearing toward and 
 upon that system as such, and up^u th(^ individuals a^ 
 constituting it; but cannot have any respect wliatsoever 
 to any thing whicii is not the sysieui, nor of the system, 
 becaufie it knows noUiing — rem. uises notlimg but that 
 ^vith which it is really and rcrm; lly nsade." 
 
 Circular: page 2; column 1. 
 
fiM> State of the question . 
 
 The foregoing statement is then illustrated by the ex- 
 ample of a Jiation, r)f which individuals become parts ei- 
 ther by birtli or naturalization; and begin to inherit all 
 the destinies of the nation, and to share in the consequen- 
 ces of all its former fortunes, as well as of its present 
 measures, from the moment that they are individually 
 connected with it. 
 
 And in order, if possible, to preclude the possibility of 
 further misconception or misrepresentation, the view was 
 a third tiine staled in tlie following words, in the plead- 
 ings before the General Synod of the Associate-Reformed 
 Church: 
 
 *-It asserts" (viz. the essay on which the prosecution 
 was founded) "the individual — person d representation of 
 all who are born either into Adam or into Christ, from 
 the moment of their creation or regeneration. But it 
 denies that they are represented, denies that the cove- 
 nants knew them in any respect, until they are thus en- 
 grafted. — It maintains that eitlier covenant was made 
 Vi^^ith the system as a body; but not with individuals who 
 were afterwards to be engrossed as constituents of that bo- 
 dy. — It maintains that the head is, in every given peri- 
 od, the representative of the body; but of none who are 
 !]ot constituents of tiie body. — It asserts the capabilities 
 v'jf the head to represtnt. and of the body to receive, in- 
 definitely beyond the numbers it contains. — Finally, it 
 assumes that the merits or demerits of the respective 
 heads are not partitioned out among the members of the 
 body; but that the whole of the merit aud the whole of 
 the demerit are severally imputed, not only to the mass, 
 hut to every individual that goes to constitute the mass."* 
 
 Plea: pages 35, 36. 
 
 It will bo obvious from an inspectuin <)f any of the fore= 
 going statements that the discriminating prir.cipie nf the 
 system which they contemplate is this, and only this: that 
 the representation of an itidividual by a federative luad 
 does not depend at all on ius having been contemplated 
 fts a part of the system when it was first organiz<*d; but 
 solely upon the fact of his union with tise head of the sys- 
 tem, (or, in other words, of his identification with the 
 system^ and therefore tuat it is i\ matter of no conse« 
 
State of the Question. g32 
 
 quence at what period of time he may fall under the rcD- 
 resmtation of the head. 
 
 The assumption common to all parties, Calvinists, 
 Arminians and Universaliats, is directly the reverse q£ 
 the foregoing. They agree in declaring that the Sav- 
 iour must have stood as tlie actual representative of all 
 who shall be saved, at the times respectively when he en- 
 tered into, and fulfilled, his engagement. Aud they de 
 not seem to think it possible that a person who was not 
 then formally considered as a party to the covenant, and 
 as included under the representation of the Saviour, ever 
 can become a party, and so be afterwards included under 
 that representation. And hence it is that the Universal- 
 ists conclude that Jesus Christ will Srtve all men, inasmucli 
 as he offers to do so; which could not be the cuse unless he 
 had represented all.— And hence it is that so many Cal- 
 vinists deny the possible salvation of any others than the 
 elect; because as none others will be actually saved, none 
 others can have been included in the covenant and under 
 the representation of the Saviour; and without such an in- 
 terest in thes<^ things, it is on Al hands agiesd that salva- 
 tion is impossible. 
 
 IMie Arminians aim to drive a middle course, which it 
 is not very easy to characterize in a few sentences. We 
 can only remark at present, that (Dr. Grny's opinion to 
 the contrary notwithstanding) it is far less consistent 
 than either of the above. 
 
 The Hopkinsians attempt to rid themselves of the diffi- 
 culty, by a process which annihilates entirely the princi- 
 ple of federal representation. They adopt the idea that 
 the atonement made by Jesus Christ had no particidar res- 
 pect to any man or bndy of men, but was mer< ly the en- 
 durance of that punishment which the law fleaounces a- 
 gainst sin: and of course they overlook entirely that rela- 
 tion which must subsist, both in law and fact, between two 
 or more persons, in order that their standing and desti- 
 nies may be regulated ty tlie conduct of cither. The idea 
 o( penalty can in this case have no place; in smuch as the 
 infliction of death can have no res^pect to the offences of the 
 party thereby rendered subject to the penalty. 
 
 The dilemmas into which all tlies-' parties and s-^cta- 
 ries have been respectively forced^ certainly go to indi- 
 
 K k 
 
^3^ , State of the Q^ue'^tian. 
 
 cate that the actual structure of the plan of salvation i^ 
 still a subject of legitimate inquiry. IS or ought an attempt 
 to detect the proton pseudos (the first and principal erro- 
 neous assumption) in which all parties iiave heretofore so 
 strangely concurred, while they differed in almost every 
 thing else, to have been regarded as an offence deserving 
 such ha^ty and outrageous correction. 
 
 "Wt will no^^ furnish anoutlineof the arguments on which 
 it was attempted to establish the position ihat the body of 
 Christ, or assemblage of the saved, is constructed and un- 
 folded on the principle comirjon to federative bodie^s; that 
 is to say, is evolved progressively; so that individuals be- 
 gin to be represented by the Saviour, and first obtain an 
 interest in his merits and atonement, at the moment of 
 their actual union witli him. 
 
 1. This idea was supported by the structure of the first 
 covenant, in which i<; was assumed that the children of A- 
 dam have a concern in virtue of their descent from him; 
 so that t^ieir representation by Adam commences with 
 their filial relation to him.* 
 
 3. By the acknowledged principle that persons cannot 
 be at the same time under the representation of two feder- 
 ative h^^ad« who stand opposed to one another, noi at 
 once involved in the several destinies of their opposite 
 systems. t 
 
 3. By direct and positive scriptural declarations that 
 all -\ho are out of Christ are strangers from the covenant, 
 and that those who are brought into Christ are then first 
 brought under the covenant.:j: 
 
 4. By all the figures which the scriptures themselves 
 ensploy to illustrate both the manner and the principle of 
 an union with the Saviour.§ 
 
 5. By analogies drawn from other federative constitu- 
 tions umleniably constructed on this principle.ff 
 
 ^JBody ftf Christ. 174, 184, 196. Plea. 38—47. Circu- 
 lar, p, 3. cdiimn ^. 
 * ]Boihf of Christ, 178, 179. Plea, 51, Ch\ p. 3, col, 2. 
 
 {Body of Christ, ISO, 191. Plea. 58,60—62, 6i!,Cir,p. 
 3 col, 2. * 
 
 §Body of Christ. '179. Plea, 63. Cir. p. 2. col, %. 
 
 ^Body of Christ, 173, 182» Plm, 6.9, 70. 
 
Of the Covenant of Works. g35 
 
 6, Finally, by tlie consideration that this view of the 
 subject solves (or rather precludes) all the difficulties 
 Wliich have been snppv)sed to be attached to it, and that 
 too in a way which has the advantage of being counte- 
 nanced by many and strong analogies; while all the sys- 
 tems that have been hereti>fore adopted are burdened 
 with insuperable objections, and in fact prove unsatisfac- 
 tory in the estimation of their very abettors.* We are 
 now to notice, briefly, the manner in which Dr. Gray op- 
 poses himself to this array, 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Of the Covenant of JForks, 
 
 IT had been assumed in all the disquisitions of the 
 writer, and, so far as lie knows and believes, it has been 
 the uniform opinion of all Calvinists, and in fact of most 
 christian churches since the days of the reformation,! 
 that the covenants of works and grace were modelled upon 
 the same plan; and that the systems to which they seve- 
 rally have respect are constructed and managed on the v&* 
 ry same principle. This was not an unwarranted assump- 
 tion. The Apostle Paul positively asserts this unity of 
 pi .n, denominating Adam "the figure" of Jesus Christ;^ 
 and he reasons familiarly and frequently from the struc- 
 ture and operation of the fust great vsy stem, to the struc- 
 ture and operation of the second. § If tlierefore it can be 
 made out that our connexion with Adam and representa- 
 tion under him, commence only with the beginning of ouc 
 existence, and spring from our filial relation to him; thea 
 it will clearly follow that our representation by the Sa- 
 viour also commences with ^ur actual union with him, and 
 that as under the first covenant no one can be a party be-, 
 fore he has a being, nor be in any sense contemplated Uy 
 the covenant, so no one is placed under the covenant fif^ 
 grace, or in any sense contemplated by it, till the moment 
 of regeneration. In other words, botli of them are s)^'i 
 tems of progressive evolution. I 
 
 ^ Body of Christ, 205—213. Pica. SS— 56. 6^--^69. 
 ^**I pledge the man who says, from the days of the Jipos^^ 
 tles.^' +Rom, v. .4. 
 
 Ubidem. 15—^. 1 Car. xv. 31, 22, 45—50. 
 
mQ Of the Covenant of Worlc's. 
 
 It therefore became indispeiisiible to ti>e success of Dl'v 
 Gray, either to overthrow the assumption that the for- 
 mer system was *»the fi.mire" of the la ter; or to disprove 
 the position tliat it vas, and 15, a system of gradual devel- 
 opment. — The first he only attempts by taking refuge in 
 a certain technicality of the law, without ever meeting the 
 scriptural references made in support of the assumption. 
 On that technicality, which he w^ouldhave us adopt with- 
 out authority or illustration, he builds his own new sys- 
 tem. We shall meet with it in due time. To the latter 
 object he pays very considerable attention. He attempts 
 to make it out that our representation by Adam does noi 
 flow from, or depend upon, our descent from him; and by 
 consequence that we not only might be, but actually 
 WERE (because we might have been) all included togetlier 
 and from the first under that first covenant, and so under 
 the representation of the firs<^ fe-ieral head. 
 
 The confirmation of this point is somewhat curious* 
 ^«\Yas Eve represented by Adam in the covenant of 
 M orks?'*'* This the Doctor states as being «<the jet of the 
 question": and he employs several arguments to prove 
 that sh<^ was so represented. The consequence is plain:^ 
 she did not descend from Adam by natural generation, 
 and so natural generation is not the bond of the covenant; 
 and therefore^ all men may have been included under it 
 from the first. 
 
 On the questirm whether Eve was represented by Adam 
 in the covenant transaction we liave not any thing to say, 
 except barely to propose a problem to the consideration 
 of Dr. Gray. If Adam stood as the federal head of Eve* 
 then her standing and destiny were identified with those 
 qf her covenant head. What was the precise state and 
 coisdirion of Eve after having eaten of the forbidden fruit, 
 wJiile Adam remained innocent? The Apostle Paul de-. 
 clares she was "first in the transgrc'sion;*' and we learn 
 tiie same thing from the history of that transaction. If 
 sbe was a transgressor, while her federative head was iii- 
 iiocent, what was the precise bearing of her relation to 
 him? 
 
 Wc do not state this objection with a view to get clear 
 
 ^Fiend. 14. 
 
'QJ the Covenant of Woi^k$, 2WT 
 
 of Br. Gray's argument, but hk rely in order to ]»int to 
 th.i g«-ntl;^man on wluit a sandy foundati )n he sometimes^ 
 erects his batteries. -But we vUl admit (and we do it 
 lieartily) thit E e was placed under the representation of 
 Adam. What follows? Not one of the ronclusions so tri-^ 
 umphantly asserted by "the fiend.' 
 
 When it is stated that ordinary |]jeneration is the bond 
 of connexion with the first Adam, reference of cours* is 
 had to the great mass of human beings who have actually- 
 descended from him. By tlie very law of descent the^* 
 are one with him in point of fact; that ia to say, they are 
 but the evolution of the first man, as an oak is the evolu- 
 tion of a germ. Now it is the fact of their springing from 
 the loins of Adam, the fact of their deriving the germs aC 
 their being in succession from him, that is assumed to cre- 
 ate their legal relation to him; and as there is but the one 
 lawof successive germination — the one mode of institu- 
 ting this connexion, it may be said with tiuth that natu- 
 ral generation (that one mode) is the onlv bo!id ot u- 
 nion: for it is the only mode by which the evolution of the 
 first man is accomplished. It is very true that Eve forms 
 an exception as to the moue in which her being was evolv- 
 ed; but the exception I'eaches nothing hut the mode. She 
 was still formed of the substance of Adam: the germ of 
 her being was a rib: she was therefore as really a develop- 
 ment of the first man, though by a different process, as 
 are any of her children. So Adam himself judged. He 
 at once hailed her as bone of his own bone and flesh of 
 his own flesh, as being really a part of himself. And so 
 God himself declares lier to have been. Here then we see 
 good reason why she too should fall under the represent- 
 ation of Adam: she was a part of him. But we cannot 
 even conjecture a tolerable reason wherefore she should 
 havt been formed out of a rib, and not out of materials ta- 
 ken immediately from the ground, unless it were done 
 with the precise view of rendering her a part of the one 
 great system. 
 
 The case of Eve, then, does not disprove the assump- 
 tion that natural generation is the bond of union. It is 
 the mode by which mankind derive their substance from 
 liim. It therefore constitutes them parts of him. And it 
 jj^ the fact of their being parts of him, and so one with 
 
»a8 0/ tie Covmanf of Works. 
 
 hii I de facto, that renders them one with him de le.^e,. 
 Eve was also one with him in fact, and therefore also one 
 with him in law. She forms no exception to the law of 
 r<^ presentation; she was only brought under it by a differ- 
 ent process. And the very fact of her being creat* d a de- 
 rivative from Adam, affords a striking confirmation of 
 the general principle that identification in law is founded 
 upon, and subsetjuent to, identification in point of fact. 
 
 We would therefore date Eve's federal connexion 
 with our first father from the moment in which she 
 derived her being from him: and we would date the fed- 
 eral connexion of every child of Adam from the moment 
 in which they respectively derive their beings from him: 
 anl we would still say that this connexion is constituted 
 hy natural generation^ because that is the mode of ^eriva- 
 |ion. 
 
 But we have another example furnished by the Doctor, 
 which he supposes to be equally in point. Eve and Je- 
 sus Christ <4)oth derived human nature from Adam."* 
 The inference is, that the mere derivation of human nature 
 from Adam does not place us under his representation. 
 The conclusion mny be. correct; but the premises are more 
 than questionable. 
 
 The apology so sportively offered to the physiologists 
 for trespassing on their grounds, ought to have been soon- 
 er introduced. The physiology of the scriptures will no 
 doubt be admitted by Dr. Gray to be correct: aid if any 
 thing be clearly taught us in the scriptures, this point i;? 
 clearly taught, that the germ of every living thing, be it 
 animal or vegetable, is to be considered as the beint; 
 whose identity is preserved through every stage of access- 
 ion or development. It is not the accession that gives 
 character to the germ, but the germ that gives character 
 to the accession. Now every human body is but a germ 
 developed; and though it be the fashion ot'modern physi- 
 ol gists, as it is the fashion of all philosophers, to theo- 
 rize in opposition to tlie scriptures as frequently and as 
 far as they can, yet Dr. Gray will recollect and will be- 
 lieve the physiologist who teaches that such a germ does 
 exist in the commencement of every animal existence, aiid 
 
 ^ Fiend. 18. 
 
i)f the Covenant of Works. ^2Q 
 
 tliat it is derived from the father's loins It matters not 
 in what way, from wliat substauces, or in what manner 
 this germ is afterwards increased: the derivation of its 
 bein.i^ is not refered to any of the sources from which it 
 derives its bulli, but exclusively to that whence it first 
 proceeded as a germ. No one thinks of tracing up hifl 
 existence to the various aiticles from which he derived 
 sustenance, and which were partly converted into his own 
 substance. The being that was sustained and augmented 
 by them, is that to which he confines his notice: and that 
 heing he may still trace (and the scriptures do trace) 
 backwards, till it be resolved into the germ derived from 
 the parent's loins. 
 
 'Sow, whence was that germ w^hich we are constantly 
 t'o identify with the body of our Saviour? It was an im- 
 mediate creation; it was not derived in any measure, or in 
 any sense, from Adam; it was produced when the Holy 
 Ghost overshadowed the favored virgin: consequently it 
 at that time stood in no relation to x\dam. If, then, w^ 
 \vere correct in saying that the accumulation of particles, 
 from whatever source derived, does not effect the ideetiry 
 of the being which is thus augmented; the Saviour, thougU 
 rendered a partaker of flesh and blood in consequence 
 of the nourishment derived in the ordinary way, was not 
 thereby brought a whit tJie nearer in his relationship to the 
 first Adam. And so it is not true that he derived bis be- 
 ing from him. Eve was formed from Adam's own fleshj 
 she was in her original a constituent part of liim. Jesus 
 Ciirist w as created immediately by the Holy Ghost; he was 
 not in any degree a constituent part ot Adam, or of any of 
 Adam's seed. 
 
 The scriptures, wliich teach s')und theology as well a^i 
 correct physiology, always keep up the distinction. They 
 never talk of the Saviour as being the seed of Adanu 
 They alwa\s distinguish him as -'the seed of the woman." 
 This same word they frequently apply in the case of oth- 
 ers who are nevertheless truly the seed of man: so that Ih© 
 very use of the expression "seed of the woman" sufii» 
 ciently indicates the restrictions under which it should be 
 understood. 
 
 It is not true, then, that tlie case of Eve forms an ex- 
 Cfption to the generaj assumption that all human bein|;«! 
 
(S4^0 Of the Covenant df WorlcB, 
 
 are interested in the destiny of the first Adam, in coiiso:- 
 quence of their descent from him. She was as really an 
 evolution from the first man as are any of his children. 
 She niay therefore have heen fairly identified with him in 
 covenant, inasmuch as she was a part of him in fact. The 
 Doctor's argument is therefore a palpable sophism. And 
 his 2nd argument is not only equally sophistical, but it is 
 further burdened with two very serious evils: it is founded 
 on false premises, for Jesus Christ did not derive human 
 nature from Adam; and it is completely a non sequitur in 
 its conclusion, that "human nature' in humvin personality'' 
 was the tiling represented by Adam. It is very true that 
 the Saviour is not human nature in human personality; 
 hut how does it thence follow taat this must be the reason 
 wherefore he was not included under the first representa- 
 tion? We say. and we say correctly, that the destinies of 
 this whole world, of every hill and mountain, of every 
 bird and beast, were summed up in his who was the head 
 of the creation. But did all the??e possess <*human nature 
 in liMman personality"? — At all events, is it not a fact 
 that the Saviour, from the Yevy constitution of his being, 
 could not so possess human nature? and if this must have 
 teen the fart, though there were twenty or an hundred 
 good reasons why he did not and could not fall under the 
 law of representation; and if the fact must be the same 
 though this were not at all tlie reason; is it not completely 
 a pctitio principii to infer that it must Fiave been the rea- 
 son, because the fact exists? And yet the existence of the 
 fact is the only argument wliich "tiie fiend" produces in 
 proof of the assumption!! But there is anothi^r tact which 
 sufficiently explains the reason. The author of "fhe 
 fiend" had no other proof to bring. We level no imputa- 
 tion at the resources of his mind. The fault is in the po- 
 siti')n he had undertaken to defend. It is incapable of 
 proof. 
 
 We might rest contented with tins disposition of Dr. 
 Gray's two sophisiris.* And we rvilL feel content to take 
 
 ^ ^i<'Two sopMsms^\'! How true is the old proverb, *'like 
 pro'iices like*''/ Br. Grau^s fiend in represented as itself 
 consisting of''Hxvo sophisms;'^ 'ind it hardly gets to hnsiness 
 before it produces **two sophisms*^ ra<?re. Is not this ano- 
 ther 'fiend''2 
 
Of the Covenant of WorJcs, g4|^ 
 
 110 furtlier notice of them, after having proposed another 
 problem for the consideration of tliat gentleman. *If the 
 Saviour could not fall under the representation of Adam, 
 on the ground that he was not human nature in huaian 
 personality; how can the children of \dam fall under hi.s 
 representation, when the same discrepancy exists as in 
 the. other case? — when he is not) and they are, human na- 
 ture in human personality? 
 
 Dr. Gray, then, has not succeeded in disproving the as- 
 sumption that we fall under Adam's rpj)resentation in vir- 
 tue of being his descendants, that is because we are in 
 point of fact but evolutions of the one system at first sum- 
 med up in him. And therefore we have as yet no reason 
 for deserting the position that this repr sentation and 
 personal recognition commence with the beginnings 
 of the being thus evolved. This is in fact {Uq 
 main question; because on the position that Adam's 
 posterity fall under his representation only at the mo- 
 ment when they become parts of the system which he 
 beads, we found our argument for the similar evolution 
 of the system headed by the •*second man." The bear- 
 ings of this question will at once be seen. If Adam en- 
 tered into covenant as the germ of a great system, to be 
 afterwards developed, all the parts of which were to be 
 considered as parties to the transaction, and s involved 
 in the destiny of the germ or head; and if, at the same 
 time, the covenant specified nothing but tiit' party then 
 existing and contracting: it will follow that all others 
 roust become parties, in virtue of their actual rrlation to/ 
 him; and consequently must become paities at the time, 
 and not before, when they become so related. And it w ill 
 furthei* follow tliat the covenant itself imposes no limits 
 on the number-to be afterwards brought under it, norre- 
 gards them in any sense until they are actually so brought 
 under — But, on the other hand, if the contracting par- 
 ties definitely and specifically contracted for, and in rela- 
 tion to certain individuals; then this very specification ne- 
 cessarily limits t!je operation to those individuals; and, 
 however many others might descend from Adam, they 
 could not be atfected by his full, inasmuch as he did not 
 stand in the relation of a covenant head to them,— The 
 
 Ji I 
 
M'^ Of the Covenant of Works* 
 
 former of these assumptions is adopted by the writer. The 
 latter by Dr. Gray. 
 
 The appeal then, as to the actual structure of the cove 
 nant, must be made to the "living oracles." Dr. Gray 
 appeals to them: hear what he says. 
 
 "Before dropping the subject of the covenant of works, 
 I bpg leave to make myself distinctly understood, that I 
 allude entirely to the transaction recorded in the 17th 
 verse of the 2d chapter of Genesis. — To a covenant ex- 
 pressed by Jehovah in so many words, and of conse- 
 quence assented to by Adam. Other covenant of works 
 I know none. The Holy Scriptures are entirely igno- 
 rant of any divine system of religion, save the law of 
 works and the law of grace; at the head of the former 
 stood Adam — at the head of the latter stands Jesus Christ. 
 And both these covenants were distinctly expressed 
 IN WORDS among the contracting parties," Fiend, p. -ZS. 
 
 We have the «»words" in which the covenant of works 
 was expressed. In what form of "words" the eternal 
 covenant of grace was expressed; or how it could be eter- 
 nal and yet arij^e fro^n a distinct expression in words, the 
 learned Doctor would very probably be at a loss to tell. We 
 are not denying, be it remembered, the eternity of the lat- 
 ter 'ovenant; but merely remarking on the strange cha- 
 racter of this orthodox expression. 
 
 *We have no covenant of works, but that which is ex- 
 pressed in Genesis, as above.' In this we agree. And 
 when Dr. Gray will pnint out any specification of per- 
 sot5s and any limitation of numbers in that covenant, we 
 will no doubt again agree. But so long as we believe with 
 Dr. Gray that this sentence is the very covenant of works 
 "distinctly expressed in words," and that the scriptures 
 acknowledge no other covenant of works; we must only 
 insist that Dr. Gray stands convicted by his own authf)r- 
 ity; for here is neither specification nor limitation. 
 
 But perhaps the parties had the specification placed 
 mentally before t]»em; so that when the contract was made 
 there was a distinct understanding on whom it was to be 
 binding. O no. Hear Dr. Gray. 
 
 "From the scriptural account of this whole transac- 
 tion, I presume e'very candid inquirer after truth will see 
 cause to believe that when the covenant was made with 
 
Of the Covenant of WorTcs. 24S 
 
 Adam, lie had not so much as an idea of any human he- 
 ini^ bur himself. How should he?" Fiend, p. 15. 
 Hear liim again. 
 "It IS not supposablc that Xdam knew all his posteri- 
 ty by name, or could contemplate them individually by 
 name in the covenant transaction. I have already said 
 that, at the «naking of the covenant, it does not appear 
 that he had any idea of any humcin bring hut himself.'^ 
 Fiend, p. -20. it. 
 
 That was sp«)ken as becomes an honest man! But do 
 not these appear to be very unpromising materials for the 
 construction of a system, such as Dr. Gray would erect? 
 If the covenant contains no specific rJion; and if one of the 
 parties knew nothiuc;; about a spcifiration; by wliaf kind 
 of management is it contrived to introduce one into the 
 covenant itself? It is done on the hare assumption of the 
 Divine Oinniscience, or rather decree. God, who made 
 the covenant with Adam, knew upon whom it was to ope- 
 rate; intended that it should operate within a certain range 
 and no fariher. Now all this is very good Divinity. And 
 it is a master stroke in controversy to hint that it mav i)e 
 proved "that Gud knew and determined all his works 
 from all eternity.*'* But is it not miserable logic to in- 
 fer that therefore the covenant itself determined any 
 thing about the matter? Is it not a shame to confound so 
 pertinaciously the constitutions under which God con- 
 d »cts his plans and purp )ses, wi h the purp'ses them- 
 selves which it is intended to accomplish in virtue of 
 those constitutions? Dr. Gray miglit well spare himself 
 the trouble of the demonstration of which he speaks. He 
 had before him very sufficient evidence that it would be 
 needless labour.f If he could have persuaded himself to 
 **demonstrate by the soundest pliilosophical reasoning," 
 that such a specification and limitation can be predicated 
 of a contract or covenant, the formation of which is neces- 
 sarily the joint act of two or more parties, and yet the co- 
 venant not contain them, and one of the parties whose joint 
 act it is, not know any thing of them; we will make bold 
 to say that lie would have performed a feat worth looking 
 at, and one that might have done good service in the con- 
 
 '^Fiend, 22, \Body of Chrisf, jmmm. 
 
'^44 Of the Covenant of Works. 
 
 trovfTsy. But instead of doing this, he makes the follow- 
 ing just concessions: 
 
 <*There is no qoestion that the covenant, from its own 
 nature, left tne number of its subjects to be determined by 
 the sovereign wisdom of God. The law was the law of 
 liunjan nature, existing in human personality. Had Adam 
 fulfilled the righteousness of that law, it would, according 
 to the nature of the covenant, have b«"en transmissible or 
 imputable to every human person, be the number more or 
 less, on tl'.e final catastrophe of the human drama. And 
 now that he has sinned, his sin is imputed to every human 
 person, and would, froin the nature of the covenant, be 
 jp • ted To each one, were the number a million times 
 more than the} are, or ever will be," Fiend, p. 20. 
 
 Jin the foregoing extracts Dr. Gray has frankly conce- 
 ded every general principh for which the writer ever con- 
 tended on this subject. The conclusions drawn from these 
 premises we apprehended and still a]»prchend t(» be irre- 
 sistible. For if this be the nature of the covenant, and if 
 it contain within itself no clause whatsoever, either of spe^ 
 cifiration or restriction, and if neither of these things 
 were contemplated in any shape by one of the parties con- 
 tracting; then the particular results intended by the otiier 
 party to be brought about under the operation of the cov- 
 enant, manifestly have no bearing tliat can affect in any 
 •way ihe principle of the covenant, or the reason of its ope- 
 ration. It would be v( ry hard so to construe Adam's ac- 
 quiescence in the divine sovereignty on this point as to give 
 it the virtue, ^nd subject it to the law, of a covenant spe- 
 cification. 
 
 One word more, and we will have done with this part 
 of our subject. It appears that Dr. Gray has entirely 
 mistaken the nature of the error which he sets himself to 
 combat. «*This view does not satisfy Mr. M*C. He in- 
 sists, that Adam represented (what he calls) his own bo- 
 d}, but not the individuals in their distinct personality." 
 Fiend, p. 23. 
 
 Now in what page does "he insist" on this? Certainly 
 not in any of the pages which contain expressions like 
 the f.ll'>wing: -^the uni'm and representation in ques- 
 tion are personal things, — the interests in voUed, person- 
 al interests — and the responsibilities undertaken^ person- 
 
'Of the Covenant of Woi^s, S45 
 
 ill responsibilities. The question ought not to have bten, 
 whcTher the covenarjteng ».2:emt;!t and representation res* 
 pect persons; tor there we really do not differ; hut upon 
 what princip'e, and a^ what Hme^ this representation takes 
 plare."^ ♦vAdam, I must repeat it, stood, like Abraliani 
 or David, as a covenant head. The party he contracted 
 for was his proi^eny his see<?; but not to the exclusion of 
 his individual ptrson. Nov\ that proj>;eny, I presume, 
 would be always human persons; and as the aj^i^regiation 
 of ui its cannot approximate infiuit; , ifthe covenant is to 
 be construed as termiuatiui^ on his seed, it must have al- 
 ways terminated on a definite nu<ub< r. The real diff. r- 
 enve between us relates to the question whether the iiuh*- 
 viduals thus re[)resented, were specifically named and c-^n- 
 tracted for in tlie formation of the covenant itself."f 
 
 Now, had no such passa.i^es as these bem found in the 
 works which Dr. Gray was examinine;, lie might have 
 been held excusable for making such a statement; inas- 
 much as an imputation of a similar kind holds a distin- 
 guishe(' place in the libel. But as it was abundantly pro- 
 ved in the pages from hich the above extracts are taken, 
 that no such sentiment was uttered in the originaf publi- 
 cation; and as it is explicitly disc laimed in both tlse passa- 
 ges just quoted, and in the pleadings of which they form 
 a part; Dr. Gray can have no excuse for such persever- 
 ance in the imputation: unless he find it in the "stubborn- 
 ness" of tliat faith which he informs us all good Calvin^ 
 ists are prone to cherish The governor, who in his pub- 
 lic transactions represents a nation, will probably be ad- 
 mitted to represent all the individuals of that nation; and 
 in tlieir "distinct human personality" too. But does ii 
 thence follow that he represonis at the same time the men 
 of future generations, or those who though aliens at the 
 time afterwards become citizens? Or does it follow that 
 those who are afterwards rendered citizens have no con- 
 cern in the foregoing transactions, and sustain no part oF 
 the national responsibility, when they actually become cit- 
 izens, &eca7<se they were not represented, or in any shapa 
 recognised, at the period of these transacticms? Or does 
 it follow that when they actually do form a portion of 
 the great community, and sustain a p rtion of its 
 
 ^Circular, p. 2. col. 1. ^Plea, p. 2^, 
 
S46 Of the Covenant of Works. 
 
 old responsibilities, they do not do so in their ^distinct hu« 
 man personality"? 
 
 The sum of the matter then lies here. The objections 
 nra^ed by "the fiend" prove a great deal too much. They 
 lie equally a.^ainst all systems or associations of units 
 that are gradual in their evolution; and so conclude a- 
 gainst the reasonableness of many structures which do 
 exist in fact, and by divine appointment too. His assump- 
 tion that human nature «in human personality*' was the 
 object for which Adam stood as a public head, though tru^ 
 in fact, as far as it goes, has no bearing un the question; 
 because it suggests no principle ol legal connexion be- 
 tween the parties: and the bare fact that they possessed a 
 common nature could do no more than adapt them for 
 membership in such a system, it could not possibly make 
 them members of it. God might indeed unite them into 
 one system by any bond he pleased; but still there must be 
 something to unite them, some provision in pursuance 
 of which the federal identity might liave place. Now the 
 covenant itself alludes to no such provision. And the 
 reason is, that there were to be no human beings tyed to- 
 gether merely in consequence of their possessing a com- 
 mon nature. All who were t«i exist were to be evolved 
 from Adam; and from Eve downward they are often spo- 
 ken of as evolutions from him; they are rallet' Adam; and 
 the administrator of all earthly things treats them as the 
 *<first man." 
 
 We have seen that the two sophisms of Dr. Gray do 
 not in the least affect this statement. They are hid soph- 
 isms. And while we have the bible, and the confession of 
 faith, and all antiquity, and all modern evangelical 
 churches on our side, we must still consider it a very or- 
 tLodox belief, that natural generation is the bond of un- 
 ion (the case of Eve being an exception only in the Jbr??i, 
 not in relation to the principle^ of union; for she too was 
 bone of Adam's bone and flesh of his flesh). And though 
 it be rather an heterodox inference, yet it is very plainly 
 a logical one, that if natural generation, or the fact of our 
 being but evolutions of the first man, brings us under the 
 covenant of works; then no one is under it until he is ac- 
 tually in being. And as the ci»venant says nothing about 
 ^ny one in particular, but is addressed formally to A- 
 
Of the Covenant of Gvaai. ^^J 
 
 dam, it does not of course reco^«;nize others in any sense,, 
 till they become one with Adam. 
 
 It is a little strange, and not a little provokin.s;, that sm 
 inference so distinctly urged by the standards of the 
 church,* and so frequently acknowledged by her stand- 
 ard writers,! should now be hooted at, and its abett r pro- 
 secuted to the uttermost, merely because it is proved to 
 lead to certain conclusions which certain ''stubborn" Cal- 
 vinists do not like. And yet they— they oifi,y— -are Cal- 
 vinists!! 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Of the Covenant of Grace. 
 
 IT was deemed a point of much importance to ascer» 
 tain disiincily the form of the covenant of works, and 
 the structure of the system to wliich it has respect: be- 
 cause we are taught in scripture to regard tliem as the 
 patterns of the second covenant, and of the structure tu 
 which it has respect. As this matter was agitated at ve- 
 ry considerable length in the publications noticed by Dr. 
 Gray, it created no little surprise to meet with the follow- 
 ing sentence in that gentleman's performance. 
 
 ««I confess I have been astonished not to find in any of 
 Mr. M*(7s publications, a single glance at the eternal 
 covenant between the Father and the Son." Fiend, p. 43* 
 
 Now, if Dr. Gray will turn to tlie first publirati>n (Bo- 
 dy of Christ), he will find this covenant mentioned, and 
 made the subject of special discussion at pages 183, 187^ 
 iDt, 196, 203, 209, 220. 221. We cannol take up roomi 
 with quotations from these pages; because as the whole, 
 burden of the essay from page 183 to page 221 is de~ 
 voted to the consideration and illu'^tration of that very 
 covenant of grace, either in its form or in its operations^ 
 it would be difficult to rendt r the meaning of a brief ex* 
 tract obvious But that very covenant happ 'ns to be no* 
 med in all the pagf^s refered to. In severaJ of the jjnssa* 
 ges it is indeed called a '^compact,'* but Mr. Gray is too 
 good a scholar to hesitsto about the particular word by 
 which the contract is expn^ssed. 
 
 ^Lar'j;eT Catechism, Q. 26. 
 
 ^Ssc quotations in Vita* p. p. 38—45. 
 
S48 Of the Covenant of Grace, 
 
 It is also worthy notice that about one- third of the cir- 
 cv\\ V placed in the hands of Dr. Gray is filled with re- 
 marks upon that same transaction. We quote one sen- 
 tence froiu the former part of them. <*Mv position is, 
 that the covenant of grace was made with the Son, in the 
 character of Messiah, and not with a view to his assump- 
 tion of that character." And this position is demonstra- 
 ted at considerable lengtii. 
 
 The covenant of grace is also made the main subject of 
 consideration in the Plea, from page 47 to the end; i. e. 
 through thirty-three large octavo pages; and it is snen- 
 tioned not less than twenty, and probably fifty, times in the 
 course of the discussion. 
 
 The covenant which is in all those passages demon- 
 strated to be constructed and carried into effect upon the 
 principles and in the manner previously ascertained in 
 relation to the covenant of works, is indeed that very "e- 
 ternal covenant between the Father and the Son," a sin- 
 gle glance at which the reviewer could not discover. If 
 Dr. Gray had not looked at this argument with a very 
 jaundiced eye he must have been spared the trouble of 
 writing down such a question as this, "why did he not pro- 
 fessedly examine whether tl^^ scriptures reveal an eter- 
 nal covenant between ihe Father and the Son?*'^ , 
 
 The fiict is, that the existence of a covenant — that 
 COVENANT OF GRACE — is assumed as common ground, 
 through all the publications of tlie writer; and if it so hap- 
 pened that he did not ^^professedly examine" whethvnnhat 
 covenant is or is not eternaL it was because the question 
 had nothing to do with the professed objects of discussion. 
 These had respect to the principle and to the opera- 
 tion of the covenant, not to the date of it. If it uiU 
 give Dr. Gray any pleasure we will admit, and we do ad- 
 mit, the eternity of tins covenant. 
 
 But says the Doctor, «*the wliole amoj?nt of his reason- 
 ing i^oestothe denial of such a transaction."! Now is it not 
 very strange that this should be so, when the direct and 
 specific object of the wh de inquiry is to ascertain the si^ 
 anilitude between that transaction and tlie structure which 
 it respects, and the covenant of works together with the 
 structure to w ich it. refers! 
 
Of the Covenant of Grace. S49 
 
 There is another point of view, however, in wliich the 
 discussion of the eternity of the covenant would seem to 
 Lave a bearing on the general question The fiend de- 
 clares that if the body of Chris^ is Constructed and managed 
 upon the principle of gradual evolution "there could be 
 no such thing is an eternal covenant, because there was 
 nothing to represent/'* We have only to reply, be it 
 so The great inquiry is, whether the sciiptures do not 
 teach that the evolution of the church or body of the sa- 
 ved is progressive; and wh tlier all such as are aliens from 
 the body are not also strangers from the covenants. Both 
 these points we belii;ve to liave been unanswerably estab- 
 lished from the scriptures. And if Dr. Gray can fairly infer 
 ire m them the non-eternity of th^ covenant of grace, we 
 will be willing to admit his inference, liut we must nev- 
 ertlieless protest against the premises on which he at- 
 tempts to build it. The objection that there would be no- 
 thing to represent has been already met In the circular 
 Setter we have these words; 
 
 <*1 know that if may be objected to me, that upon this 
 la*t assumption." (viz. that the representation of a non- 
 entity is impossible) "neither Adam nor Christ could have 
 entered into covenant as representatives of any thing 
 but themselves, inasnuch as < one of their respective seed 
 existed. The objection is specious; it is not solid. Let 
 us adver*^ to the principle already first established. The 
 covenant knows us, the law knows us, not as individuals, 
 but as systems identified with two several heads. We are 
 but known in Adam, we are bur known in Christ: vvc are 
 but Adam developed, we are but Christ developed. N nv 
 the objection supposes one individual, so vieued in the 
 transaction, bargaining in behalf of other individuals, 
 who become relat* d to him in pursuance of such bargain. 
 But our fact evinces a morid system, in which the head is 
 the germ, and all subsequent parts that germ unfolded; so 
 that the moral bring making the covenant, thougli nu- 
 merically one, and the moral being reaping the fruits of 
 its consummation, thous;h developed in millions of distinct 
 SJibsistences, are fjtill in the eye of the law iilcntically the 
 same, and under the operation of the covenant still nw* 
 
 FiemU ^6. 
 
 M m 
 
'^50 Of the Covenant of &rac^, 
 
 merically one. The objection therefore does not lie.^ 
 Circular, p. 3. col. 1. 
 
 Dr. Gray may not see the reason, but he knows the 
 fact that the largest tree is the very same being with the 
 germ of the fruit from which it sprang; that a full grown 
 man is identically the same person with the child, and e- 
 ven embryo, to whicli he traces back his existence; and 
 that a nation, with all its millions and with all its improve- 
 ments, is the very same body with the small and savage 
 horde to which we refer its origin. Now what is the 
 gpeat difficulty of admitting this principle in relation to 
 llie Church of God? Why might not a covenant, made 
 sin/^ly with the Mediator, afterwards embrace millions of 
 indixnduals, precisely in the order of their union with 
 him? But in the works reviewed by Dr. Gray, we did 
 more than make out that rhe thing might be so. It was 
 made out that it actually was so. What says the circu- 
 lar? 
 
 After quoting Galatians iii. 15, 16, 17, "Brethren, I 
 speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's 
 covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or 
 addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the 
 p] oii.ises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of ma- 
 ny; but to thy SEED, which is Christ. And this I say, 
 thjtt the covenant which was confirmed before of God in 
 Christ, the law cannot disdnnul:" The circular goes on 
 t > say, **It is manifest that the promises mentioned in the 
 16ih verse, are the same with the covenant of the 17th. 
 Ti'is appears from the Apostle's allusion in the 15th verse, 
 by which he professes to confirm and illustrate the alle- 
 g ti ns of the succeeding two. And the whole of the jM'e- 
 ceriiiig context will shew that the covenant of the 17th 
 Yersp, is none other than the covenant of grace — the cov- 
 enant of grace announced and confirmed to Abraham as 
 the father of the faithful and type of Messiah. Now the A- 
 postle is explicit in his statement that this covenant was 
 not made, these promises were not given, with a respect to 
 «*>ma»iy."but to ««one"; and that on©, the *<seeid" — the 
 ^Messiah as identified with his people.'' Page 2. col. 2. 
 
 If then the covenant of grace was made with ««one '* 
 and tUhers are made*parties to it in pursuance of their iden- 
 tification with that one «<seed"f by what kind of process 
 
Of the Covenant of Grace^ 351 
 
 can the inference be made out, that unless the elect had 
 been parties, formally so considered, to the covenant at 
 first, it never could have been framed at all; and so can- 
 not be an eternal covenant? 
 
 But the truth is that Dr. Gray loses sight altogether of 
 that transaction which the scriptures authorise us to call 
 the covenant of grace; and bends all his force to prove the 
 existence of another covenant, as he calls it, which is nei». 
 ther more nor less than a kind of contract between the 
 first and second persons of the blessed Trinity, each one 
 acting in his proper and essential ch racter; the object of 
 which is to secure the salvation of the elect, and one of the 
 provisions of which is, that the Son of God should there- 
 after, and to that end, assume the character and responsi- 
 bilities of the second Adam. Whether Dr. Gray has made 
 out his point will be a subject of future inquiry. We have 
 at present another question to settle: Provided the Doc- 
 tor had made out his point, fully and unanswerably, what 
 would be gained by him in the present controversy? Any 
 sucli an agreement betv/een the persons of the Trinity 
 would have no immediate relation to <'the covenant of 
 grace." Much less could it be considered as that very 
 covenant. Because such a transaction, provided it did 
 take place, must differ from the last named covenant both 
 in circumstance and form. 
 
 The covenant of grace was made with the second A- 
 dam, and stands good with all who are identified with 
 him, under the formal consideration of their being par* 
 TIES 10 the same; precisely as the covenant of works was 
 made with the first Adam, under the formal cliaracter of 
 a federative head, or of a being afterwards to be develop- 
 ed into many distinct subsistences, who as they came into 
 being were to stand as parties too. Or, if it be possible 
 to speak plainer, it was with Adam as a federative head 
 that the first covenant was made; and it was with Christ 
 as a federative head — as the seed of Abraham — that the 
 second covenant was made: and neither of these cove- 
 nants contemplate the human race as persons bargained 
 for; but as parties, properly so called, who are bound by 
 the covenants, under tiie formal consideration of their be- 
 ing parties to tliem. It is thus that the scriptures speak of 
 these two covenants. It is thus also that the Wostmin- 
 
^52 Of the Covmanf of Graces 
 
 ster confpssion of faith always represents the mattei'v 
 And if it involve a false assumption, that assumption ron- 
 sists merely in dating too soon the cominencemeni e«f the 
 covenant relation. It rightly make^ t'lem parties, not 
 subjects ronti'acted /jr: hut then, hy rendering thvir stand- 
 ing, as parties, co-e\al with Messiah's assumption of liis 
 office, it in some sort arrays th« m in one of the incommu- 
 nicable attributes of God-head; it represents them as sus- 
 taining eternal r. lations, and of course as having some 
 sort of eternity of being, suffici? nth real to fall under the 
 Cognizance of Jaw, Now how we are to a^ray a creature 
 in any of the attributes of infinity, how an eternal rela- 
 tion ca be other than a necessary relation, it will lie up- 
 on Dr. Gray to shew. We know that this argument 
 would reach somewhat further. He who will may follow it. 
 
 But what is to be the mean of cscap<' from this dilem- 
 ma.^ This, gentle reader, this will doubtless be the mean. 
 The plain scriptural doctrine that the covenant of grace 
 was made with the second Adam; and the doctrine 
 of the confession that all believers are consider- 
 ed as parties to that covenant, (all the elect indeed the 
 confes4on will have it): — b^ith these ancient and cor- 
 rect positions are to be scouted as a part of the philosophy , 
 Uot of the doctrines,^ ^>f the ancient churches; and we are 
 to be told that the Calvinist never meant any thing else 
 than that the elect were parties contracted for and are al« 
 ways considered as rhe subjects of the contract, not as be- 
 ings who stand in the relation of actual contractors. 
 
 I say, w^e may expect this kind of language in the next 
 exposition; for it is obvious that any other view of the sub- 
 ject cannot possibly relieve Dr. Gray and those who think 
 with him, from manifold dilemmas. Indeed, what is the 
 amount of all the Doctor's texts and criticisms, and new 
 trnnslations, and unathorised supplements, but to make 
 out this very point. But from all such criticisms that 
 gentleman can certainly gain notiiing, so long as he con- 
 fesses that the transactions there refered to relate to the 
 agreements and arrangements in pursuance of which the 
 ^Son of God assumed the office of Mediator; and not to the 
 
 ^Jln admirably iil^enious and safe distinction! Fiend* 
 page dU 
 
Of the Covenant of ihmee, S53 
 
 covenant, or wbati ver yow please to call it, by vvliich lie 
 stoofi bound as tbe seed of Abrabam. 
 
 And it is not only in relation to tlie circumstances under 
 wbich, ;ind tbe parties bet Aeen wboin,tbe covenant of graco 
 was fiaiiied, tliat Dr. Gray apj ears to err. He is no 1; ss 
 wideof bis markwi brespe« t to tbe real usesofsucb a tr;r^s- 
 action. He supposes it necessary tbat the covenant sbould 
 exist in <irder to enlist tbe faitbfuln*^ ss of tbe Fatber and 
 of tbe Son t ) guaranty tbe performanc e of tbcir respect- 
 ive p'-^rts, and to insure tbeir aid respectively f r tbe ac- 
 complisbment of tlie salvation of all wbom it was intend- 
 ed to deliver. Accordingly all tbe passages wbich Dr. 
 Gray quotes have a reference to ibis question of faitbi 
 fulness on eitber part. And these scriptui'-es, we are to 
 jM'esume, are tbe very words in wbicb tbe covenant of 
 grace was originally coucbed.* But in tbe covenant of 
 ivorks far otber end was cont^ujplated than binding ei- 
 tber party to faithfulness. In trutb it did not bind A- 
 da:i; to faithfulness. He fell. But this it did do: 
 it identified completely, and eternally, tbe standini; • nd 
 destinies of each of his descendants, with bis own stand- 
 ini"; and destiny. And this was tbe object to be accom- 
 plished by eitber covenant. *'Do, and thou shalt livcj'* 
 said God to the first Adam: <Do, and thou shalt live," he 
 said also to tbe second \dam. And in virtue of tins com- 
 pact, all v^ho inherit as parties identified with eitber fed- 
 erative head, take tbeir station and tbe destinies connected 
 with it* as the strict and rigorous award of law. Thus, had 
 Adam stood, felicity would have fallen to each of bis des- 
 cendants, not merely as a boon which the God of goodness 
 might imparl t will, without infr inging on any claim of 
 righteousness; but as a meed wbicli strict righteousness 
 awarded: so that tbe Creators attributes would have 
 shone together, and in all their lustre; he would have bten 
 strictly righteous while supremely good. This we ap- 
 prehend to be the bearing of a covenant made with a f<'d- 
 crative bead: it formally and necessarily involves all v.h# 
 fall nnder his representation in his fate; and declares m st 
 explicitly the righteousness of God. in every deed of gojd- 
 n- ss as well as of severity. Obviously, then, if a siuular 
 object were intended in the second covenaht, it must niive 
 
 ^FkmU 23 
 
S54 Of the Codenanf of Grac6^ 
 
 been in form and in circumstance a copy of the first. Tire 
 language of it must have been <*(lo and live;" and it must 
 have been made with the second Adam, that all the second 
 Adam's sons might be enabled to plead the covenant, might 
 raise their voices as parties to the covenant, might say, 
 *we have done; we therefore claim to live-' 
 
 This idea is not onlv involved in all the scriptural al- 
 lusions to the covenant of grace, but it is explicitiy stated 
 bj' the Apostle Paul in bis epistle to the Galatians.=^ Je- 
 sus Christ ^«was made under the law;" and law and cove- 
 nant, as Dr. liray well knows, are convertible terms in 
 all the doctrinal writings of this Apostle. The Apostle's 
 idea is this, as the whole drift and declared intention of 
 the passage sufficiently evince: Jesus Christ was substi- 
 tuted in the room of Adam^ as a second covenant head? 
 to redeem by his obedience those who were perishing by 
 the first Adam's disobedience, and in virtue of the provis- 
 ion of that same covenant. 
 
 But we are restricted to a very limited number of pa- 
 ges, and can do no more than suggest a course of argu- 
 ment on this subject to those who have leiiure and feel a 
 disposition to pursue it. We will therefore simply re- 
 mark in conclusion, that Dr. Gray would have done well 
 to have expended some of those pages which he has wast- 
 ed in useless criticism, and still more useless inuendo, in 
 solving the problem proposed for the exercise of his own 
 and his friends' ingenuity at pages 61 and 62 of tlte 
 *<Plea." Why did Dr. Gray attempt to escape, amid the 
 noise of his own quotations and the smoke of his critical 
 battery, without once attempting to shew how the elect 
 might be considered both as contracting parties in the 
 covenant, and inactive subjects merely contracted for by 
 the Son of God in his original character? Why did he not 
 tell us which of these two forms he supposes to be the cov- 
 enant of grace? Or why did he not reconcile his own and 
 his friend's apparent inconsistency in sometimes speaking 
 of the one, sometimes of the other, and sometimes of both 
 together, as if they were or could be one and the same 
 thing? Finally, why did he throw out so many inuen- 
 does for the purpose of fixing upon the writer the stigma of 
 holding that Hiere is no covenant of grace at all? 
 
 But We liave one word to say in relation to the array 
 ^Gal, iv. 4. 
 
Of the Covenant of Grace, g55 
 
 which the fiend has presented in aid«of Dr. Gray's notion 
 of the covenant of grace. In Proverbs viii. 22, &c. we 
 have Messiah's assertion of his character and pirpo.- 
 ses. Dr. Gray imagines that we have a great deal more. 
 But there are two or three things whicli he has yet to make 
 out, before that passage will subserve the purpose foi* 
 which it was introduced. 
 
 1. Admitting that the Son of God was "anointed a co- 
 venant head" from all eternity, as the Doctor translates it 
 by a \ery bold periphrasis, yet it by no means follows 
 that therefore he was also from all eternity the represent- 
 ative of his people. It will be recollected that Dr. Gray 
 relinquishes that idea many a time and oft, and speaks of 
 Messiah as acting in his essential character, when he^ 
 made the covenant, and as agreeiiigto become a Media- 
 tor on certain specifications, of which the Doctor assures 
 lis he knows the very words. But here we have him back 
 a.^ain to another form of the covenant, according to whirh 
 the Saviour sits "anointed a covenant head." We would 
 gladly avoid every appearance of a levity which we most 
 certainly do not feel, when attempting the discussion of 
 this awful theme: but still we cannot avoid saying that it 
 is very much to be wished that the author of the fiend, and 
 divers others, would say distinctly which of these forms 
 they attribute to the covenant of grace: and then stick to 
 that one, without this incessant shifting of meaning and 
 expression, while professedly talking about one and th« 
 same thing. The anointing in question does not even 
 glance at the solution of the problem whether the Son of 
 God. considered as the anointed Saviour, stood as the 
 germ of a system, like Adam afterwards stood the germ 
 of his system; or whether all who were to be saved were 
 distinctly recognized as parties to the transaction wiien 
 the anointing took place, ^ow that is the very question, 
 and it is the only question, on which the w riter is, or ev- 
 er was, at issue with Dr. Gray. 
 
 That gentleman indeed remarks that if Messiah was a 
 covenant head, he must have been a representative; and 
 of course a representative of some other than himself; and 
 be afterwards adds, with an -ir of triumph rather than of 
 discretion, "most undoubtedly hg did nj#t come into thia 
 
^56 Of the Covenant of Graces 
 
 world to seek and to save the Son of God.'*-^ But the 
 Doctor errs in supposing that because he was a cove- 
 head, he was therefore necessarily a representa** 
 tive too. Adam was a covenant head, but he was 
 no representative till there existed bein.i^s to whom he 
 might sustain the relation. He was the germ of a system 
 to be devt'loped; and vvhen that covenant was made to 
 whicli jjis posterity are now parties, the whole of its re- 
 ferences centered i ■ himself. So the Son of God was an- 
 ointed a covenant head, as the second Adam, and when 
 the covenant was made, all its references centered in liiip: 
 to him that rescript was directed, <*do and live," He did 
 d -: he does live. And because the members which were 
 in process of time united with him were guilty and pollu- 
 ted, he was liiaiself *Miiade sin," and he therefore died the 
 death. 
 
 But there is included under the expression of Dr. Gray 
 just quoted, an oblique insinuation that the Saviour had 
 no personal interest in the fruits of his obedience; but 
 that the benefit flows exclusively to his people, l^iis, 
 however, is not the doctrine of the scriptures. Whatever 
 might be said of the Son of Gr)d in his essential character, 
 it is certain that the Sju of God in the character of Medi- 
 ator w^as "m^sde under the Iavv."f By consequence that 
 Jaw was to aifect him personally, and was to be the ground 
 of all that was to be awarded to him as second Adamy 
 just as really and as fully as it was made the ground of re- 
 compense to the fiest Adam. And it is really in virtue of 
 the sentence of that law that the Saviour inljerits life, con* 
 sidered as the God-man. How else would it be true that 
 he and his people are <<heirs together" — ♦-joint heirs," as 
 they are often called, of every thing which they ever 
 shidl inherit. The idea, therefore, that the righteousness 
 of which others are made partakers is one of which tlie 
 Saviour has himself \m need, is contrary to the uniform 
 tenor of scripture. It' he was made under the law, he 
 was also subject to the law from the moment that he was 
 'so made; and he is himself an heir of the promises, because 
 lie has fulfiijed the whole of the conditions. 
 
 There is therefore no raore difliculty in supposing that 
 
 '^ Fiend, 46. / jGaL n\ ^. 
 
Of the Covenant of Grace, %&y 
 
 the covenant of grace might have its aspect directed sole* 
 \y to Messiah in the first instance, than that the covenant 
 of works referred at first dirtctly and exclusively to the 
 first Adam. Both of them were germs to be afterwards 
 unfolded; each of them was '^dam; and the children of ei- 
 ther inherit upon precisely one and tiie same principle* 
 THEREroRE, to prove that Messiah was anointed a cov- 
 enant head, is proving nothing to the purpose. We ad- 
 mit it. And we admit, moreover, that the ohjects con- 
 templated were precisely those, which shall he in due time 
 effected; and tliat the parties contemplated were those 
 which shall he saved. But these are objects which it is 
 designed to accomplish in virtue of the covenanv, and by 
 the operation of the system: they are to be distinguished 
 from the matter in contr >versy;for they never liave been 
 called in question in the course of this controversy, though 
 they have been very frequently and very gravely prov< d. 
 
 2. We have nothing to object to the Doctor's n«^'W 
 translation of the word rendered »'I was brought forth." 
 The Saviour is asserting his own proper deity, a point 
 on which it is very likely some Jews, as w( 11 as S(jme d n- 
 tiles, needed a little instruction. But when Dr. Gray 
 himself admits that it expresses the essetnial and eternal 
 relation between the Fatiier and the Son, he surely can-* 
 not intend that the unlearned should regard his criticism 
 as ajjother proof of his position! Me surely does not in- 
 troduce the word as a proof that the second Adam *« vas 
 brought forth when there were no di ptis*'! Ber ause 
 if he does, he confounds the office and the attributes 
 and all the relations of the Saviour, considered as such, 
 with the essential character, attributes and relations of 
 the second person of the trinity, ess^^ntially considered. 
 And yet, if he does not intend tisis, v» iia-T does he in- 
 TENfi, by introducing such a criticism? 
 
 We have not room to say a single word on the other 
 passages introduced by the Doctor. Only let it be ob- 
 served that he interprets pr j)hecies of tilings t!iat were 
 to be, as if they wei'c dortrinal declarations of tilings that 
 had always* been, and still goes on confounding the piir- 
 
 *AiTion£^ other thincs, we are -eferred to Psalm ii. 5. in 
 evidence that the covena ^ ' »Tace is eternal, and of cour§© 
 
 N n 
 
'^8 Of the Covenant of Grace. 
 
 poses of God, because they are declared, with the deline- 
 ations of the principle on wJiich they are to be brought 
 about. We have no dispute with Dr. Gray, or with any 
 other mortal, about tliese purposes: and again reminding 
 him of this, we will only beg leave further to remind lum 
 of the principle laid down by that same John Calvin 
 whom he makes free to contradict just about as often as 
 he praises him. The position of Calvin is, that the de- 
 cree of God affects nothing in point jf law: and it is a 
 common sense position. It would shed a flood of light 
 upon many of those passages which the Doctor introdu* 
 ces to prop his particular views. 
 
 On the whole then, Dr. Gray has furnished no refuta- 
 tion of the ideas that the covenant of grace is the same in 
 subsitance and similar in form with the covenant of works; 
 and that each of these covenants have their bearing upon 
 the system, in every stage of it, precisely as it then is. 
 
 In dismissing this subject, it may be proper to remark 
 that the position that no person can be at the same time 
 a member of both systeuis, and under both covenants, has 
 not attracted the notice of the fiend. This appears rath- 
 er strange! because having proved it to be a scriptural po« 
 sition, and having brought a host of quotations to shew 
 that the standard Calvinistic writers admit and teach the 
 same, it seemed to us, and such is still our impression^ 
 that all the logicians in the world could not aid the Doc- 
 tor in getting clear of the main conclusion so long as this 
 position remains unassailed. 
 
 (though it does not follow of course,) that all the elect were 
 eiernally and specifically coiitemplated in it. Now the 
 Aposdes repeatedly quote this psalm, and always as a proph- 
 ecy of Messiah's future triumphs. Thus they do in Acts 
 iv. 25, 26. ard xiii. 33. It looks therefore something like a 
 perversion of scripture to convert a prophecj of things that 
 shall be into a declaration of what has always been. This is 
 the r ore unseennly in the pi esent instance; because anointing 
 with oil is the scriptural enblem of the gift of the Holy Spir- 
 it; and it is intended to teach all rulers and officers their de- 
 pendence on him for sanctity and wisdon) and strength. We 
 apprehend, therefore, that it was at the baptism in Jordan 
 this prophecy began* to be fulfilled. 
 
■Brai/s Theory, 259 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Grayed Theory, 
 
 As the offensive conclusions in the writer's publications 
 had all been predicated on these two principles, 1st, that 
 federal unity, in point of fact, is the ground of federal im- 
 putation in point of law; and 2d, that the covenant of 
 works is the model of tlie covenant of grace; Dr. Gray 
 has found it necessary to assail both of these positions* 
 And in fact his new theory, as he would have us call it, 
 {in so far as it is realhj new,) consists in the mere nega.- 
 tion of these assumptions. 
 
 In taking this ground, he himself acknowledges that he 
 runs foul of all the con^f^ssions of the churches, and of all 
 the standard writers of the Christian cliurrh who have 
 lived since the era of the refot'mation. In order to de- 
 fend this step, and to make out that the impiitalion of the 
 Saviour's righteousness does not depend at all on his rep- 
 resentative character, or rather on that federative oneness 
 which is itself the ground of representation; he attempts 
 to shew that the opposite assumption not only always 
 haSt but, necessarily, always must corrupt the gospel. 
 With this intention he shews the manner in which the 
 princiide has been involved in various schemes of doc- 
 trine. 
 
 With the several scheines of Universalists, Arminians, 
 Hopkinsians, &c. &;c, we have of course nothing to do; 
 nor had Dr. Gray any great occasion to lug them into 
 this controversy. But as we have themj, and as the Doc- 
 tor seems to think that the «<roads" he has "blazed," as 
 we woodsmen call it, lead necessarily to the conclusion 
 that imputation and representation are not necessarily 
 connected; a few words may not be amiss, merely and 
 purely for the defence of those older Calvinists whom 
 <*the fiend" so often praises and contradicts. We take 
 the first <<road." 
 
 "1. Eternal salvation, or in other words, the right* 
 eousness of Jesus Christ, the procuring cause of that sal- 
 vation, is offered to ^11 mankind by God himself in tlio 
 SOS Del. 
 
§60 Graifs Theory. 
 
 2* Therefore the righteousness of Jesus Christ is mer^ 
 itorioUs of iho salvation of all mankind, and is capable of 
 being imputed to every one of them. 
 
 3. But the rig/iteoiisness of Jesus is meritorious^ and im- 
 putable to meuf bi cause he is their representative. 
 
 4. i herefore Jesus (>hrist represcrter' all mankind^ 
 and every one of them, in the covenant of grace. 
 
 5. Consequently all tria?ikihd, anti every man* will 
 eventually be saved." Fiend, page 54. 
 
 These consequences are strictly logical, provided the 
 third step he admitted to be correct. And Dr. Gray, 
 therefore, unquestiotiably does well to njark that step as 
 being suspicious. But then, how in the name of common 
 sensn docs it follow, that if the third proposition be re- 
 je. ted, ihe assumption that representation is the ground 
 of imputation must fall to the ground. That is the Doc- 
 tor's fallacy. And indeed his statement of thv third 
 proposition is a fallacy from beginning to end. For, 
 whatever Universalists pretend, all who hold the doctrine 
 that representation is the ground of imputation do not 
 therefore hold that all men must have been at first placed 
 under the Saviour's representation in order that the right- 
 eousness of Christ miglit be imputable to them. On the 
 contrary, the main drift of the essays whicii Dr Gray is 
 combating, g^es to prove that representation itself may 
 commence at any time; and that as representation flows 
 from federal union or identification with the s}stem. it 
 neither docs nor can commence till the party represented 
 forms a constituent porti< n of the s\ stem* In other words, 
 it is in consequence of his becoming one with the head, 
 that he is represented by the head. Christ therefore is 
 capaUe of becoming the representative of those whom he 
 does not at the moment represent, just as he is capable of 
 imputing righteousness to those to whom he does not im- 
 pute it. 
 
 Let us then "blaze" a new road in the same direction 
 with the Doctor's first one, and sec if it will not lead to a 
 very different issue, when we have freed his third step 
 i'rpm the sophism he has planted in it. 
 
 **!. Eternal salvation, or. in other words, the right- 
 eousness of J^sus Christy the procuring cause of that sal- 
 
Grai/s Tlipory. ^(51 
 
 vation, is ofF^ red to all mankind by God himself in the 
 gosp<'l. 
 
 2. I'hcrcfore the righteousness of Jesus Christ is mer- 
 itorious of the salvation of all mankind, and is capable of 
 being impntrd to everv one of them." 
 
 3. But the righteousness of Jesus Christ is capnhlc of be- 
 ing imputed to men, because <IE IS CaPABLE OF 
 
 BECOMING THEIR PEPRESENTATIVE. 
 
 4. Therefore Jesus Ci ri«t is capable of becoming^ 
 the represent ative of all mankind, and every one Oi tin m, 
 in the covenant of grace. 
 
 5. Consequently -^-what now? — Why certainly 
 
 3N'0T any of the things which Dr. Gray wo»dd fondl; de- 
 duce as consequences; hut — conseqiiently, the thirjg my 
 turn out to be pretty mud) as we represent d it in former 
 publications: the scriptural id<"a tiiat righteousness is im- 
 puted in virtue of our being <*one" with Christ; the ref- 
 oimation doctrine that im]»utation is grounded on n pre- 
 sentation; and the theological pillar on which it is irscri- 
 Ijed, that the very same | rinciple pervades the two «i:.eat 
 covenants; may all stand firm, without any such s n) t- 
 structure as must be built upon the ideas that Christ j.ctu- 
 alh represents all men in the coxenant, and that he neces- 
 sarily must hav» done so in order that he might he ren- 
 dered capable of saving all. 
 
 Dr. Gray must have rea ' tlie pages which he under* 
 lakes to answer with very little attention indeed* or he 
 would never have ventured on a paragraph like this: 
 *«Clearly then Mr. M'Chord does assusne, as a principle, 
 that the imputability of Christ's righteousness depends on 
 his representative character — and that if mankind were 
 not represented by JesMS Christ, this rigliteousness would 
 not be capable of being imputed to them.*'* 
 
 Now it so happens that <»Mr. M'Chord'' holds jnst the 
 opposite of the lattei position; and if Dr. Gray will have 
 the goodness to turn to that part of the body of Christ on 
 wiiich the process against him was originally founded,! 
 lie will discover, very much t^ his astonishment n;) doubt, 
 that tlie chief aim is to prove that Christ is not tho repre- 
 sentative of any body till they become actually united te 
 
 ^Fiend, p. 62. jBody of Christ, 169—198.. 
 
S6g Grafs Them^y. 
 
 liim; and that his ahility to save all, depends not at all oil 
 the fact of his representing all (which he actually does 
 not do; no not even the ♦*elect,'' till they are united with 
 him), but solely on the fact of his being capable of receiv- 
 ing them under his representation. 
 
 This distinction Dr. Gray understood very well when 
 writing his 46th page; and it very aptly recurs to him in 
 Subsequent parts of the volume. How much it is to be 
 regretted that it did not also recur, when he was tracing 
 these several roads! Had it done so, he might have 
 stooped to trace the road about which he was mainly wri- 
 ting, as well as so many others which are not at all in 
 controversy; and he would have, at least, been spared the 
 regret which every ingenuous mind must feel in review- 
 ing such mistakes. 
 
 Let us now see how the correct principle will straight- 
 (Bn and shorten the Arminian <*road." It is the second 
 bn which the fiend undertakes to light the way. 
 
 "I. Eternal life is offered to all men by God, and they 
 are commanded by God to accept it. 
 
 <*2. It is therefore equally capable of becoming tlies 
 property of all. 
 
 Bui the reason Jesus can impart life to all is because he 
 is ABLE to impute to all the merits of his life and death, or 
 is ABIE to unite them with himself and so bring them un- 
 der his representaiion in the covenant of grace* 
 
 3. "Therefore" — thtiefore— therefore — Dr. Gray 
 can now easily supply my lack of service. 
 
 And will that gentleman still undertake to say that the 
 idea of imputation being founded on representation ne- 
 cessarily leads to error. Dr. Gray is generally called the 
 most learned man in the United States. O what is to be- 
 come of the reputation of our country, when her most 
 boasted characters are such poor logicians! such wretch- 
 ed theologians! 
 
 Jtis, to say the least of it, a little astonishing that among 
 the various roads which that gentleman has chalked out, 
 there is not one word about the various ways in which 
 various Calvinists attempt to get over the difficulty. For 
 all of them hold—at least all of them did hold, till the 
 Doctor's book turned their systems upside down — tha* 
 l*cpresentat!0!i is the ground of imputation* J^cw wiiile 
 
Gray's Theory. 263 
 
 Dr. Gray admits that this is the'' view of all Calvinists, and 
 of ail their confessions of faitli, he would at least have 
 been dealing ingenuously it he had paraded their 
 strings of propositions on this subject along side of thos.* 
 which he has placed in such deep array. But the Doc- 
 tor had determined to assert, and he accordingly did af- 
 terwards assert, that all Calvinistic doctrines are sound. ^ 
 And as this same common principle ranks in the 
 items of every other creed as a doctrine — absolutely a 
 DOCTRINE, it required some skill to transmute it into 
 a mere <*scrap of phih)Sophy" when tucked into the 
 creed of a brother Calvinist. While therefore he admits 
 it to be an assumption common to Calvinists and all oth- 
 ers, while he even treats it as the error that spread havoc 
 among all the churches of the Reformation — he sees meet 
 to let us guess how the Calvinists work it up. But w^e 
 ^ill in due time supply his lack of service. We will 
 shew how they attempt to work ir. 
 
 And now Dr. Gray, and all the world, may discern at 
 a glance the exact amount of discovery to which «th© 
 fiend" is entitled to lay claim. His idea that the Saviour's 
 ability and right to impute righteousness to men does not 
 depend on the fact of his having actually represented them? 
 professedly constitutes the merit of his work. Now it 
 so happens that this idea is not originally his own. It 
 lies at the basis of the theory suggested by that same 
 ^<young preacher" whom tlieDoctor undertakes to instruct 
 and castigate, and whom he hastes to hinder from corrup- 
 ting all the churches; and to prove \t is in fact the burden 
 of the works which *«the fiend" attempts to answer. Tho 
 <«young preacher's" position is, that while Christ is capa- 
 ble of saving all men, he does not actually represent any 
 of them, except such as are united or identified with \\\m 
 by the bond of the Spirit: and that therefore the ground 
 of his ability to save, is the fact of his being able also to 
 include under his representation all those who are at the 
 moment aliens from the body which he heads, and so not 
 nnf^er his representation. 
 
 In what then does the Doctor diflf^'r from the author of 
 the publications ho condemns? He diifcrs in this — precise- 
 
 ^Fknd 91. 
 
S6^ Graifs Theonj, 
 
 ly in this; he assumes that because Cliris^^ is able to save 
 those whom he does not represent, that therefore salva- 
 tion cannot depend on representation. Now we iiavc 
 seen that this is a sheer fallacy. The Redeemer may be 
 able to save, precisely on the ground that he is also able 
 to brins^ men under his representation. And ail old prea- 
 chers do know, or at leasr ought to know, that when he 
 tenders salvation to all men in the gospel, he tenders it as 
 the fruit of union with himself or repr< sentation by Idm- 
 seif. He never speaks of saving tvithout making *^one 
 ruvithhim,''^ Consequently we should suppose that in of- 
 fering salvation to all nn^n, he offers to make them one 
 with him, i.e. offers to place them under his representation. 
 
 We are glad to htar t!)e Doctor say, in the conclusion 
 of his account of our joint discovery, "The provis- 
 sions of the covenant of grace have nothing to do with this 
 subject. To whom God will eventually bestow this right- 
 eousness — how many he will give to his Son, as the 
 travail of liis sou), are questions for them to settle among 
 themselves."-^ Now these are precisely our own ideas 
 up n the subject. They are the very truths for utter- 
 ing which we have been prosecuted. And it really seems 
 strange that when Dr. Gray can admit, and even assert, 
 them so very plainly, he should have been at the pains to 
 \vrite a whole book to prove exactly the contrary. O it 
 %vas a glorious maxim with which the mother of Cce- 
 iebs furnished him before he went forth on the perilous 
 adventure of lumting himself a wife: *Do not expect per- 
 fection; but do not put up with any thing short uf consis- 
 tency.' 
 
 We have seen how far the Doctor's theory is neiv. Let 
 us now see how far it is valuable. It asserts that there is 
 a possibility of mens' being saved without at the same 
 time being represented by the Saviour. In that it is not 
 valuable. For wheresoever the scriptures predicate sal- 
 vation, the)? predicate representation too. 
 
 It asserts that while men become sinners because they 
 are included under the representation of t!)e first Adam, 
 thev do 7zo^ become rigiiteous 6eca?tse they are included 
 ynder the representation of the second Adam, In this it 
 
 ^ Fiend, (^^. 
 
Gray^s Theory, 265 
 
 1s:not valuable. For the scriptures themselves, as well 
 as all the confessions and Calvinistic fathers, teach that 
 the two covenants proceed on one and th*) same princi. 
 pie. 
 
 It asserts that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is meri- 
 ^)rious of salvation, hetause <*it is the glorious nature of 
 Mghteousness to he meritorious, according to the natnr© 
 of the law." In this also it is not valuable. Because it is 
 as much the »<glorious nature" of sin to he meritorious 
 of death, as of righteousness to bo meritorious of life; 
 whereas neither the one or the other can be meritorious, 
 of any thing, to any person, unless in virtue of some re- 
 lation in which the latter stands to the person of whom the 
 righteousness or sinfulness is predicated. The nature of 
 righteousness may tlierefore adapt it to become the subject 
 of imputation; but it can never become itself the f(»r:)<al 
 ground of imputation. Now while Dr. Gray admits a 
 fbrmal ground of imputation in tlif first covenant, ond 
 denies the same ground in relation to the sec<jnd covf rirint; 
 and asserts tliat there actually is no ground but the ua- 
 ture of the thing; he certainly cannot be abetting a wvy 
 valuable theory. The nature in question h- longs as real- 
 ly to sin as to righteousness; and y^t affords no ground 
 for the imputation of sin: that is imputed because of rep- 
 resentation. But righteousness, it seems, is imputed 
 without any cause. This is one difficulty in tlie way of 
 the Doctor's discovery. And here is another! If it be tho 
 nature of righteousness to be imputed^ merely because it 
 fs rigliteousness; what points the imputation to one mart 
 rather than to another? How happens it that this right- 
 eousness is not every man's; if it be its nature to become 
 theirs without their being placed under the representation 
 of the Saviour? 
 
 It might not be amiss for the Doctor to review this mat- 
 ter. He will sec that iiis main idea, hjs reall)' valuable 
 idea, is not new. He will sec that the whole argument of 
 the works he has professed to review goes to prove that 
 the ability to save does not depend on tlie fact of having 
 represented. And he ma\ also furtlier see, and all the 
 "World may see, tbat this idea nevrr could have been «the 
 result of his own researches, bemuse lie does not know 
 what to do with it. >yhen p • together with other mate- 
 
 O o 
 
M^ Grafs TkeofY 
 
 rials"— with tliosc materials into which Dr. G. has Work- . 
 C(l it— <<the whole resembles nothing so much as a mod- 
 ern Mahomedan structure in Greece, where a fine piece of 
 antique sculpture is found in the wall turned upside down^ 
 and a Corinthian pillar is found supporting a wretched 
 hovel."* 
 
 •Fiend p. 92. This is a sample of Dr. Gray's decorous 
 manner of throwing out personalities on every suitable oc- 
 casion. The writer does not recollect that his own talents 
 or attainments were made the subject of so much as a single 
 section in any of the productions which "the fiend" under- 
 takes to scrutinize. Wherefore Dr. G. thought himself call 
 ed upon to touch that question so often he best can tell. "I 
 guess/' however, as the Yankees say, that some of the Dr's. 
 friends must have felt a litil- sore on that point; and that he, 
 like a good Samaritan, volunteered to bind up their wounds, 
 and to pour in oil and wine. But the Dr is nevertheless suf- 
 ficiently liberal in his allowances. He admits "very willing- 
 ly," that the writer has "talents which, if rightly used, are 
 well calculated t'> render him a very useful man |C/^ ii^ the 
 
 lATITUDE AND LONGITUDE, IN THE SOIL AND CLIMATE'* of 
 
 Lexington. *'Only ti;njk of that, Master Brooksl" The 
 writer could tell Dr. Gray that there are more than himself 
 from "our good City of Philadelphia," and the parts adja- 
 cent, who appear pei tectly to understand that a very small 
 matter may be made to ''go a great way*' "in the latitude and 
 longitud " of this same Lexington; and who therefore do 
 contrive to make a very little go a very great way. It was 
 but d little while ago that a liule man from his quarter came 
 here highly reconmiended by people who must have knowa 
 a great Setil, (or they could not have said so much,) and prof- 
 fered to teach us all to sputter Hebrew in the siiort space of 
 thirty days; and that too by the help of one lesson per day; 
 and diat i-'sson too of no more than one hour's continuance. 
 A whole language t^iught in thirty lessons! "Think of thatl" 
 Thirty lessons of an hour each! Thirty lessons in thirty hours! 
 Thirty hours, 'by the stop watch!" "Only think of that!" 
 And we, good easy souls! were perfectly a tipioe in admira- 
 tion of thf. mai! And we believed that people trom Dr. Gray's 
 <'longiaide and latitude" can do any thing, if they say they 
 ^an. \u we gave him our money. And he cartied it and 
 all t Hebrew baclj again, quite a\?ay from our "soil and 
 climate!" 
 
Graifs Theorij. g6? 
 
 Dr. Gray again takes up the subject of the Saviour's 
 rigliteoiisness in his 12th section, =* wliere he professes to 
 give «'the reason why eternal life is offered to all men in 
 the g(fspel." His account of the matter is this: "God re- 
 quires tiie righteousness of the law; hut the gospel re- 
 Te-dls the righteousness of Christ as the righteousness 
 of the law; of consequence God requires men to pre- 
 sent to him the righteousness of Christ Christ's 
 righteousness is the righteou ness of the law: But » iod 
 fequires the righteousness of the law; therefore God 
 requires the righteousness of Christ of every man 
 wh * hears the gospel sound. Can any thing be pluin- 
 er?"f Indeed it is hard to say. The inventor of this 
 "plain" demonstration, calls tlie system which he op- 
 poses **A METAPHOR, METAMORPHOSED INTO A META- 
 
 PHysic.'*:(: That, it is presumable, he must have fi st 
 made out very plainly. But here we have a mere **meta- 
 PHYSIC," without even tlie substratum of a "metaplior" 
 to sustain and strengthen it. <*Gan anything be plainer?" 
 
 This is certainly a subject that does not very well com- 
 port with even the semblance of levity. But it is really 
 an amusing as well as "a tearful jest," as the Doctor ex- 
 presses it once and again, to witness such a perversion of 
 logic and metaphysics, by a man of Dr. Gray's character 
 and standing; on a subject of such vast importance; 
 and in the very attempt to correct the reasonings of other 
 people. 
 
 It is building up a system without the aid of the princi- 
 ple of representation with a witness. Let us see how it 
 will work in some other cases.-<-The angids of God were 
 at their creation subjected to an appropriate law. Some 
 of them stood firtii; others of them ^*kept not their first 
 estate." Now the righteousness of those who stood was 
 <«the righteousness of the law" — of that very law to wiiich 
 angels were subjected. What was demanded then of tliosc 
 who fell? Why "righteousness;" «*tlic righteousness of 
 the law." But the obedience of t!n)se who stood was the 
 righteousness of the law; and **it is tlie glorious nature 
 of righteousness to be meritorious according to tiie nature 
 of the law."§ Now where would this land Dr. Gray? 
 Evidently in the conclusion that the angels who fell might 
 
^68 ^rafs Ttieo1% 
 
 have bc'^f! justified b\ th rij^liteousness of tliose \vh9 
 st'wu iir ; . •<Can any thing be plainer?" Yti that Gen- 
 tleman will iigrec witli his hiuii()le opponent in nyecting 
 this conclusion, though clearly deducibU from his «.\vn 
 principle, according to his manner of chopping logic. 
 But why now couiti not the riichteousnesa of one ingel he 
 imputed to anotlier; as well as Adam's rigliteousness to his 
 posterity? It isrhai- iud ed that an atonement was requi- 
 site, such as no a .e:el could make. But that is not half 
 th truth. It is also clear that there was no federative 
 connexion between those who stood and those wh«i fell. 
 There was no substitution of the one in the room of the 
 other. 
 
 But indeed Dr. Gray's "plain" account of this matter, 
 is very much like Dr. Marsh's clear case in relation to 
 the Bible Society; it is so plain that it is very difficult to 
 write anything about it. It is plain that of two men 
 who are condemned for the same murder, the death of the 
 one, thougli in paying the penalty he thereby fulfills *»the 
 righteousness of the law," does not furnish any righteous- 
 ness which the other culprit may plead in answer to the 
 demand upon his own life. It is not at all "the glorious 
 nature of such righteousness to be meritorious." 
 
 It is also plain that if Dr. Gray will plead "the nature 
 of the law" to which man was subject under the first cov- 
 enant; and tell us that this law involves in it the princi- 
 ple of representation: then he must desert his favorite 
 position that the imputability of righteousness does?io^ de- 
 pend in any degree on the fact of r?presentation. Be- 
 cause the principle of representation is of the very es- 
 sence of that law. 
 
 Finally, it is plain that if Adam's sin "brought death in- 
 to the world," because he \^as the representative of men, 
 and 7ioi because it is the nature of sin to be meritorious 
 of punishment; and if Jesus Christ brought life into the 
 world, because it is the nature of righteousness to be mer- 
 itr^rious. and not hrcMuse he is the representative of those 
 whom he saves: then is "the nature of the law" entirely 
 changed, and Jesus Christ is very improperly called "the 
 ^Sccwnd man/' 
 
 But indeed the «*plainness" of Dr. Gray's statement 
 ^m§ to be pretty much iu the predicament ojT "Mr 
 
'Gray's Them% igO^ 
 
 M<C's. axiom," that federal union and federal representa- 
 tion are correlates, and nccessurily in^eperable: <»it -^eeins 
 to be a ••plainness'* intended lor ihc sole i:3c of the inven- 
 
 tOJ'."'* 
 
 To us nothing; appears more absurd, nothing more hor- 
 rifying tlian the idea that the imputation of the Savi ^:r's 
 rigiiteousness does not depend on iiis substitution in riie 
 room of his people. For we see vei-y '^jdainly'' that a sub- 
 stitute and a representative are so far the same thing, that 
 lie who is a representative is slso a substitute; and that 
 lie who saves or cun save without represv^ntation, alsr> 
 saves or can save without substitution. Ibis idea of Dr. 
 Gray's, then, orthodox as it may be, is not a very inviting 
 sample of the<*cool and rautious manner in which Divine 
 truth ought to be investigated."! Wc believe "i .-i- 
 rection" is much more plainly "towards Sucinianisnt^" 
 than any thing lie has pointed out, or will ever be able to 
 point out, in the system which he condemns. 
 
 It is in vain ^o reply to all these reasonings, tl^at the 
 Saviour was a being of an extraordinary description: 
 that he owed no obedience to the law on his own own ac- 
 count: and other things of the same kind. 
 
 It is a matter of fact tiiat he was "made under the lav. ,*' 
 and so did owe it obedience. The inducement to subject 
 himself to this debt is qui'.e another matter. It is also a 
 matter of fact that he inherits life in pursuance of the a- 
 wardof that law, in common with his people; they are aH 
 joint heirs together. And it is also plain that the pecu^ 
 liar constitution of his person could not effect any change 
 in relation to the applicability of his righteousness. A- 
 dam's righteousness, had he stood, would have been 
 just as applicable as the Saviour's. His divinity enabled 
 Jiim to sustain the penalty and to work out the rigliteous- 
 ness, under circumstances in which he alone could doit. 
 But as to the righteousness itself, it was precisely of the 
 kind demanded by the law of human nature; otherwise it 
 could not have been imputable to human persons. It must 
 therefore possess the very attributes which the rigliteous- 
 Jiess of a human being ought to possess; and the princijdc 
 of its application must consequently be the same. 
 
 JBut what does Dr. Gray mean by riglit'ousncss? And 
 
§70 Qray^s Theory, 
 
 what do theologians mean when they talk of a righteoutf- 
 ness of the Redeemer's which he does not hims-^lf need? 
 If this matter be sifted, it will be found to be indeed «a 
 metaphysic." Men who talk in this style seem to conceive 
 of righteousness as a kind of positive l>eing; a something 
 that is laid down for them to take up, and is transferable 
 from hand to hand, like a bundle or bale of goods. If 
 righteousness be the standing of an accountable being in 
 the eye of the law, it is nonsense to talk of its transfer; op 
 of its being here, or there, for any person to take up. It 
 is the character of the party, the standing of the party, 
 whose righteousness it originally wa^; and there is man* 
 ifestly, therefore, no way in which another being can be 
 vested wiih it, or profited by it, but by becoming so iden- 
 tifit'd with the former as to be regarded as one with him^ 
 Now that is exactly the meaning of representation. The 
 law imputes to one being the righteousness of another, 
 not by abstracting any thing from the latter and putting 
 it on the former; but by attributiug to both of them the 
 same thing, in consequence of identifying them together. 
 Now what is the ground of this identification? what is it 
 that makes the righteousness of Christ the righteousness 
 of another, if it be not the fact of his standing in the room 
 of that other? But is not that to represent him? And 
 what is it that is to make that righteousness the proper- 
 ty of all men, or of any man, which the Dr. sa>-s is there 
 for them — is demanded of them — if it be not their falling 
 r/nder the Saviour's representation? And in what sense is 
 it possible that it could become their righteousness, 
 more truly than it now is theirs, if the imputation of it has 
 nothing to do with representation? Finally, how does it 
 comet«? pass, and in what sense is it, that this righteous- 
 ness is imputed to some, and not to all, if the imputation 
 is n'>t grounded on representation? 
 
 "Christ's righteousness is the righteousness of the law: 
 but God requires the righteousness of the law; therefore 
 God requires the righteousness of Christ of every man 
 who hears the gospel sound." And therefore it is impu- 
 ^table to th» m. i. e. may he imputed to them, without any 
 reference to a bond or principle of any kind whatever 
 in virtue of vvliich they are rendered one with the Saviour! 
 It may be imputed because <«ri§hteousness is righteous- 
 
Gray's Theory, ^1 
 
 ness,'* without any sort of ground for tlie imputaiioil.- 
 And this is Dr. Gray's '^unassailable demonstration"! 
 
 Reader! "I cannot tell what you or other men" think 
 of this "demonstration." «But for my single self," I 
 have no hesitation in saying that a more <»lank,'' corrupt, 
 and absolutely stupid sophism, is no where to be found: 
 no not even among the revei ies of Shakerism. Yet I maij 
 be mistaken. Dr. Gray insists upon it that it is excellent 
 logic: "can any thing be. plainer?" (Q* "and Brutus is 
 an honourable man." 
 
 Wlio could have expected to meet, at the conclusion of' 
 such a "demonstration," with such a sentiment as tliis; 
 *^of consequence the imputability of Christ's righteous- 
 ness springs entirely fiom the nature of the covenant of 
 works."* Now it was "the nature of the covenant of 
 works" to impute either sin or righteousness, on the- 
 ground that the party to whom it was to be imputed was 
 represented by the other party whose sin or righteous- 
 ness it originally was. And surely if the imputability of 
 Christ's righteousness springs fi'om the nature of that 
 first covenant, it must be imputed on the same ground. 
 That is to say, tbis "remedial law" does not differ in its 
 nature from the "original institute." It merely provides 
 for the substitution oi Christ's righteousness in the place 
 of Adam's righteousness Tliere is then no change at all 
 of the constitution under which it is imputed. Adam's 
 righteousness was to have been imputed on the ground of 
 liis being the representative or federative head of all them 
 to whom it was to be so imputed. Christ's righteousness 
 is just substituted in the room of Adam's: tliat is to say, 
 lie is himself substituted as a new man, another federative 
 liead: and so the imputation must take place on the very 
 same principle, i. e. according to "the nature of the cove- 
 nant of works." Which ndture provided for imputation 
 sol« ly on the ground of !*epr( seiitation. And so Dr. Gray 
 completely cuts up his o vs! p; inciple in the very atten.pt 
 to demonstrate it. "I call this demonstration unassaila- 
 ble!" 
 
:^>g The Contra&t 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 The Contrast, 
 
 It would have been very well if "the fiend of the refor- 
 mation" had indulged in this vacciilating course only in 
 the statement of its own positions. But it is a subject of 
 legilimate complaint, that Dr. Gray should have so fre- 
 quently substituted some foolish and stupid idea in the 
 room of the principles actually maintained by the writer; 
 iind then, after creating aifd setting up such spectres foul, 
 should triumphantly pit his own "spectre feiP' against 
 them. Hear that genth^man! Only hear him! 
 
 "It was with some difficulty I could comprehend what 
 Mr.M*C. could mean by saying individuals were not inclu- 
 ded in either of the covenants — that men were not individ- 
 ually included; and by calling such a conception the indi- 
 vidualizing scheme.^* "But on comparing several passa- 
 ges together" Dr. Gray found, or supposes he found, 
 ^mple ground to push home the following triumphant 
 challenge; "Let Mr. M'C. name the man «vho admited 
 the imputation of Adam's guilt, and who charged mankind 
 with less than the whole of that guilt! What preacher 
 ever told his hearers, that when the guilt of Adam's sin 
 is divided by the whole numb( r of his descendants, the 
 quotient resulting is the guilt which each man must an- 
 swer for! What preacher ever offered the righteousness 
 of Jesus to a sinner, as the ground of his hop'^, and did 
 not offer the entire righteousness" &c. &c.^ "So entirely 
 is this system of individualization a creature of Mr^ 
 M'C's. own brain, that I do not recollect ever to have 
 heard of it, or to have read of any thing like it."f And 
 then the Doctor goes onto state a profession of his faith: 
 a very good profession: and very ne?i.ily put together. 
 Though the last article, by the way, professes that there 
 is no connexion between Adam and his seed, excepting 
 such as is formed by the divine decree determining tiiat 
 sucli a connexion sho^dd afterwards take place. And if 
 old John Caivin's maxlin^, that the decrees of God effect 
 
Tlie 6ontra&t. ^y^ 
 
 notliing in point of logal standini^, be admitted to be Cal*- 
 vinistic, it would seem thence to follow that no one 
 is connected with Aduiri, i. f . stands in any relation to liim, 
 i. e. is represented by him, till such time as he is actually 
 brought into existence. How this p'ofession of the 
 Doctor's faith is to be reconciled wit!) his attempt to 
 prove the very reverse in other parts of his txjok, vvc prc^. 
 sume not to inquire. But all ;his by the way* 
 
 After making the aforesaid profession, <*the fiend" in- 
 quires "what is there in all tliis about dividing Adam's 
 guilt into shreds according to the number of his posteri- 
 ty?'* And then, after sundry observations on the *<scnse 
 or argument" contained in this idea, he goes on to state 
 the question in mathematical form. 
 
 Adams sin Death 
 
 V»As Adams sin: Death:.* : " 
 
 1,000,000. 1,000,000, 
 
 The wit which our castigator flings over scver.tl pa- 
 ges employed in this exposure of the writer's follies, and 
 the various inuendoes with wfiich he so liberally besprin- 
 kles them, had better have been reserved f)r a more fit 
 occasion. For there is not one word true of all 
 that Dr. Gray has said about the writer's imputing to him 
 and hispartizans the idea of •^dividing Adam's g(iilt into 
 shreds according to the number of his posti'rity." Ho 
 never said — he never thought — that they hel/1 any such 
 absurdity. On the contrary he kn. vv and asserted that 
 they had correct views on that subject; and from tliose 
 correct views in relation to the imputation of sin under 
 the first covenant, he drew his argument in belialf of tho 
 same mode of imputation under the othei Covtnant. To 
 the proof! 
 
 *<You admit thai Adam's guilt is not parcelled out among 
 Ills descendants: but that to every individual his whole 
 crime is imputed, and upon every soul of man the curse 
 descends, undivided and unimpaired, as really and as ful- 
 ly as if he alone existed as an heir of Adam. You will 
 agree also, that had our first fatjjer stood, the merits of 
 Lis obedience could not have been divided. Perfect rigiit- 
 cousness, that is, perfect obedience, must liav<^ b^en impu- 
 ted to every one; and his obedience, at best, rouU\ be no 
 more than perfect,. Conscq- r:tly, the whole of the mcr- 
 
§J7^ Tlie Contrast. 
 
 it, and the whole of the demerit, as the case may be, de-. 
 scends undivided to every soul of man^and the very same 
 deed that involves the fate of one, involves the fate of eve- 
 ry other one. Mark now, I pray you, the fruit of 
 THESE CONCESSIONS," &c. And then the writer goes on 
 to argwe from these principles which they concede — from 
 these principles wliich are their own as well as his — to a 
 similar interpretation of the covenant of grace. Plea, p. 
 p. 45, 46 
 
 Now when "Mr. M'C." thus tells his opponents that 
 they do not **divide Adam's guilt into shreds;" and 
 thereffjre ought not to divide the Saviour's righteousness 
 into shreds: with what face could Dr. Gray venture on 
 "writing these same pa.a:es of matchless wit and inuendo, 
 founded upon the assumption that the writer had stated 
 exactly the reverse of what he did state? With what face 
 could Or. Gray venture to assert that Mr. M<C. «so 
 frequently looked his brethren in the face, and called this 
 YOUR individualizing scheme?" Dr. Gray was no doubt 
 honest in penning his statement; as he was witty and pun- 
 gent in putting down his opponent's. But he was cer- 
 tainly not very fortunate <«in comparing several passages 
 together."* For it would seem that it was by <<cat-lug- 
 ^ging" sundry passages, that be arrived at length, as he 
 says, witii an infinity of trouble, at the discovery of the 
 writer's drift. Now this research and comparison must 
 have bewildered him terribly; for the conclusion which 
 he drew at t e end of the comparison was exactxy 'Op- 
 posite the truth. Had the single passage above quoted 
 been •*cat-lugged," it would have been the means of pre- 
 venting all tills confusion and misrepresentation. 
 
 Now as to the other part of the writer's statement in re- 
 lation to the views of those <*brethren" whom he "looked 
 in tlie fare," he is able to shew that he was perfectly cor- 
 rect. The members of Synod did profess to hold that 
 very course which Dr. Gray calls "a lank sophism" in 
 page 53. Not only they, but multitudes — multitudes of 
 others "in the Associate- Rt- formed Church, and in the 
 ynited States, and in the world," did hold and do I old 
 ^(savinir that the Doctor's book may have instructed some 
 (Jf them) "that when Christ's righteousness" (in so far 
 
 ^Fiend 82; 
 
Tlie Contrast. S75- 
 
 at least as the atonement, a very important part of that 
 righteousness, is concerned,) *'is divided bj the number 
 of the elect, the quotient res^ulting is the righteousness to 
 whic'ii the believer must trust his soul."* 
 
 LiH Dr. Gray peruse in their connexion the following 
 extracts from <*the Christian's Magazine," a work, as he 
 well knows, edited by the Kev. Drs. J. M. Mason and J. 
 B. Romeyn of New- York. 
 
 «'rhe atonement is of the same extent with the nature^ 
 number an.'' MAGNiTniDE of the sins of all thos'- persons 
 who are elected to everlasting life." Vol. lii. 37*. 
 
 "The covenant of grace provides atonement for tho 
 sins of tiie elect, and conjlnes it to them." Ibid 377. 
 
 «'Tlie nature of the atonement renders it necessary to 
 consider it as of equal extent with t!ie election of grace.'** 
 Ibid 376. 
 
 "Independently of the eternal covenant th.e sufferings 
 of Jesus Christ could not have been; and if they had been, 
 they could prove of no benefit to man; they could make 
 no atonement for any sin whatever." /(/. 378. ^ow 
 though this latter sentiment be correct, yet when you con- 
 nect it with the foregoing assertions of a limited atone- 
 ment, and witli this account of the covenant of grace: "fnit 
 the Father promises to his Son the salvation of the elect, 
 wpon condition that he, as their public head, shall bear 
 theii* iniquities and make his soul an oftering for sin.'* 
 Id, 377: it would seom that an atonement which is grad- 
 uated in its "extent^' by *'tho magnitude of the sins" of 
 the elect, must be <»cut u\' into shreds;" a part of it being 
 imputed to one person and a part to another; a larger 
 portion being set off against a sin of greater "magni- 
 tude," and more items of suffering against a greater 
 <*nnmber" of-sins. 
 
 Dr. Gray may also meet in Vol iv. p. 397, with an at- 
 tempt to explain away Calvin's assertion of the univer- 
 sal sufficiency of tiie atonement. 
 
 We have only room for a short extract from another 
 oxc»'Hent work, which is unhappily disfigured by the 
 adoption of the same erroneous assumj)tion. The work 
 is entitled "Gethsemane," and has, very recently, been 
 publicly and warmly recommended by the Rev. Dis, 
 Broadhcad and Ely, of Philadelpliia. 
 
 ^Fiend Si, 
 
2^Q TJie Contrast. 
 
 **l am convinced that the sufferings of Christ Were ii?* 
 exact proportion to the i: iilt of th(^ many sinness Ii** had 
 und rtaken to redeem; and tliat had the unworthy objects 
 of 'ii^ merciful regard b« en m!»re numeroUvS, tliosc suffer- 
 ings would have heen likewise augmented." P» 28. 
 
 *• i o say that had our blessed Lord redeemed every in- 
 dividual of the human race, he would not have suffered 
 more than he actually did suffer; is in effect saying thnt 
 there is as much moral evil in a few transgressions as in 
 many." Id. 
 
 These are not incidental or casual remarks of the wri- 
 ter, which may be supposed to have been carelessly thrown 
 out, and perhaps stand corrected in other portions of the 
 volume. The volume was principally written to make 
 good this very sentiment; and the auiior quotes sr.ulti- 
 tudes of tlie most famous early Calvinists to prove that 
 it always has been accounted the orthodox belief. 
 
 It is now too late to ask whether anv man '*in the As- 
 sociate-Reformed Church, or in the United States, or in 
 the world,*' holds such '^individualizing" notions; and it is 
 needless to inquire whether Mr. M. might not v*^ ry prop- 
 erly "look his brethren in the face" and prove to them^ 
 as being a point on which they needed demonstration, 
 that the righteousness of Christ is not cut up into shreds; 
 but that the whole of it comes down on every saved soul. 
 
 These quotations might be multiplied an hundred fold. 
 But we are already on our last sheet, and have hardly 
 room even to ask Dr. Gray how he can "l':ok'^ any body 
 *«in tlie face" and represent himself as speaking the com- 
 mon language of Calvinists when he asserts the univer- 
 sal sufficiency and applicability of the atonement? and 
 how he could muster hardihood to accuse the writer of 
 misrepresenting those who hold the individualizing 
 scheme?* 
 
 *[t is not to be hoped that the Doctor will deign to ai% 
 svve^ either of these questions. 
 
 "Since these doctrines must be mine, I i^ive the world fair 
 Notice that whatever strictures may be made upon them, by 
 either tongue or pen, I shall preserve not a sullen cynical 
 silence, but a meek and resigned Christian silence." Fitnd 
 iS3. 
 
 » If reasons were as plenty as blackberrieSj 1 would give no 
 iipn a reason upon compulsion.*' 
 
The Contrast^ ^^ 
 
 And here we terminate tl»e first part of our "contrast.'^ 
 I)r. James Gray, frequently and grossly misr' i>resont9 
 the writer: and also arcuses him of misrepresenting oth- 
 ers: James M*Choiid iuis-statcs nothing, and misrepre- 
 sents nobooy He can prove, and has proved all that he 
 Lad citlier asserted or assumed.-* 
 
 But there is anotlier point of view in which *<the vani* 
 ty of youth''! prompts us to draw a contrast. Dr. Gray 
 is not only v»'ry solicitous to he considered as the cham- 
 pion of Calvinists; but he bepraises them at a wonderful 
 rate. Among other things we are taught that <«a Calvin- 
 ist will believe God*s word, but he will believe nothing 
 else in matters of religion;" and also that his head "is 
 bullet proof against any cannon of any calibre, unless 
 the bullet be a text f scripture."^ We are assured that 
 Calvinists have never erred in doctnne, but only in philos* 
 ophy.§ And the honest indignation of their cliampion 
 prompts him to ask, **am I to be told that they <«c//a/<cr- 
 ed*' the gospel call in terms that made Jesus Christ a 
 cheat and a liar?"^ 
 
 Now from all these, and many similar observations, 
 
 *And yet Dr. Gray speaks well upon the subject of giv- 
 ing distorted views. C3uly hear him! *'It is indeed one of 
 the grand secrets of controversy to prove what your adversa- 
 ry admits; and it is siill better to prove what nobody ever de- 
 nied — To heap argument on argument and demonstration on 
 demonstration — To challenge your opponent and the whole 
 human race to contradict you — And then yon may fling out a 
 dozen or two hard terms about intellectual force and intel- 
 Jectual debility, about prejudice and fools and ideots. Nine 
 tenths of your readers will all this time imagine that your 
 opponent is the driveller at whose solid head the thunderbolts 
 are launched; and that you are the intellectual giant whose 
 single arm is law.*' Fiend 48. 
 
 It may very properly be asked, whether the course Dr. 
 Gray has pursued "a dozen or two" times within tlu com- 
 pass of his little volume is not intended as an illustration of 
 these rules. Nothing teaches so aptly as example. Nothing 
 can impart such strong assurance of a man's accuracy in des- 
 cribiiig any course, as the finding that he has actually travel- 
 led it r:j.';ht frequently. 
 
 ■\Fienil 112. il(t. 97. §/(/. 91. 3f/(f.. 90;., 
 
S78 The Contrast. 
 
 <<nine tenths" of readers would be led to imagine that 
 C^alvinists are the only bi^inj^s on earth who have any 
 reverence for the word of God: that the <<young preach- 
 er" must have evinced great hostility to Calvinists: and 
 that D). Gray is <«the intellectual giant" who stands up 
 in their defence, and ''whose single arm is law." 
 
 We will not quarrel <ith Dr. Gray for the title «Cal- 
 vinist." When it is assumed as the mere badge of a par- 
 ty, when it is wielded for the purpose of exciting preju- 
 dice among those who are i^overned by the magir of a 
 name, we cannot think of stooping like unprincipled 
 tmd unblushing demagogues to wrestle for the advantage 
 of possessing such a weapon. Dr. Gray may wear it. 
 Eut we will examine how it suits him, merely for our own 
 amusement. au 
 
 1. What is the professed object of his book? Is it not 
 to detect *'two sophisms'* which <«are to be found in the 
 w^ritings of tlie most distinguished chiefs of tiie Talvin- 
 islic churches; and are heard in the sermons of most Cal- 
 vinistic preacher-^''.^^ And does not the fiend over and 
 over tell us that **Mr. M " adopts these sophisms in 
 com.mai with the Cahinists? Thus far, at least, then, he 
 is the Calvinist, and Dr. Gray the Anti Calvinist. 
 2. Does not the writer build his main conclusion on a great 
 variety of principles and assumptions which all Calvinists 
 have heretofore admitted? And does not Dr. Gray reject 
 these very principles and assumptions one by one, that 
 he may ^t\ clear of an otherwise irresistable conclusion? 
 Who then is best entitled to the name of Calvinist? 
 
 3. While Dr. Gray assures us that all Calvinists vene- 
 rate the scriptures and build doctrines upon nothing else; 
 he founds his own great principle, that noble discovery 
 w hicii is to lay the fiend, crush the writer, and regenerate 
 the churches — not upon one solitary text of scripture — 
 
 hut — UPO]^ THE COMMENTARIES OF SiR WlLtlAM 
 
 Blackstone!! Does that look like Calvinism? especially 
 whcT' avowedly attempted for the purpose of overturning 
 old Calvinistic notions! 
 
 ^ A Calvinist builds only on scriptural grounds. We 
 sjupp-rted our view of the gradual development of the 
 
 ^Fknd 110. 
 
Tlie Contrast, ^79 
 
 body of Clirist by numerous text > of scripture. We pro- 
 ved from Romans vii, that no person can be at the same 
 time under bolh covenants. Tuis position was fortified 
 by all the scriptural imagery employed to illustrate our 
 transfer out of the first into the second Adam; hy the al- 
 lusion3 to ''an alien," tot! c branches of»<the wild olive,'' 
 to the <*stranger from the covenants of promise," and 
 to the doctrine of inheritance. Now all these images are 
 declaredly used to illustrate the very point in controver- 
 sy: and they decide most clearly in favor of the writer. 
 But Dr. Gray will not admit tlieir force: he calls them 
 "shadowy metaphor^/' *<abstractions," **phrases wliicU 
 melt into mist wlien tho ray of truth touches them." 
 And he says there is but orse scriptural image tiiat illus- 
 trates the matter at all. But all these others are never- 
 theless employed hy the p;*n of inspiration to illustrate it. 
 What foil 'ws? These are <*texts of scripture;" and "the 
 head of a Calvinist is bullet proof aguinst any cannon of 
 any calibre, unless the bullet be a text of scripture." All 
 these, we repeat it, are '-texts o( scriptur?^;" and the head 
 of Dr. Gray is "bullet proof* against them. What fol- 
 lows? Why either that Dr. Gray is not a Calvinist at 
 all; or else that he is endowed with a Calvinistic skull of 
 very peculiar thickness. 
 
 4. Even in relation to the single point on which this 
 controversy turns, and the several views of which consti- 
 tute the distinguishing features .>f the respective theories! 
 of Dr. Gray ai^d the writer, Dr. Gray recedes mucli the 
 farthest from t!ie Calvinistic Churches. The wiiter 
 agrees with the Calvinists in regarding represen.aion as 
 the ground of imputation; h?it he maintains, against them, 
 that representation flows from union with the Saviour, 
 and commences at tiie moment of tiiat union. Dr. Gray 
 cuts the knot by denying that salvation is precii. ated at 
 all on representation. His Is in fact a Hopkirsian senti- 
 ment; ajid, to use his own candid expression, "its tenden- 
 cy is toward Socinianism."* Mark him! ^Righteous- 
 
 *lt is strange what a ^'terdency" some people exhibit to. 
 argue like Socinians. Some y<.ars ago a pamphiei was pui)- 
 lis!.(d in hie; country with a view to disprove the dociiii.e of 
 V'rariQUSsacriffCft. Amot.2^ etlier arguments tg establish the 
 
^^0 The Conimsh 
 
 uess is imputable because ii is righteousness, and not he-' 
 cause of the representation or federative relation of the 
 party to whom it is imputed/ But the atonement is ati 
 important part of this righteousness: therefore the atone- 
 ment is not imputed on the ground of representation. 
 Consequently the atonement is imputable because it is an 
 atonement; and it does not become an atonement in vir- 
 tue of its having been made in the character of a repre- 
 sentative. Now what is this but another form of utter- 
 ance of the Hopkinsian notion of an atonement for sin in 
 the abstract? '^l call this demonstration unassailable." 
 
 We should have been glad to have parted with Dr. 
 Gray on other terms. His highly cultivated intellect, 
 Ijis independence of character, liis loftiness of mind, did 
 create and justify the expectation that in a cause in which 
 he liad volunteered his services, without any very loud 
 or urgent call, he would at least have conducted the quar- 
 rel with fairness of argument, and without inuendo and 
 -outrageous prrsonality We have been disappointed.- 
 Dr. Gray has been detected in the use of unlawfi>l arms; 
 and pleased as we should have been to Isave treated hiiiar 
 'with knightly courtesy, '^##*#^#*#**##^)^- 
 FINIS. 
 
 absurdity of the idea that the death of Christ was ''the price" 
 of l^ardon, the writer very triumphantly ask.*, "who got the 
 price.f^" And as it is plain that ^'God gave his Son to suf- 
 fer;" he as triumphantly concludes that the price of parcioa 
 must have been paid to the Devil. 
 
 In pretty much the same style, Dr. Gray asks, if the gov- 
 ernment of the United States "lias a right to send out agents 
 into other lands to preach rebellion against other govern- 
 ments.^'* and then «»if Jesus Christ be only the head ot actual 
 ■believers, what is there in sue!' a system to authorize him to 
 command all sinners, under pain of eternal death, to accept 
 his salvation?" Fiend 80. That is, gentle reader, what 
 right has Jesus Christ to promote rebellion against the Dev- 
 il! All men, then, are the Devil's lawful subjects, according- 
 to Dr. Gray; and the Sociniun was right who said he must 
 have got "the price." In manner and nmtier these tv/c gen,- 
 t'lemen h?.rmorJ'/.e v v: \ '.• ' j. t . 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OF GOD. 
 
 ^A 
 
|53*The publisher deems it necessary to apologize for 
 the Hppei*.rance of the following discourses at the end of 
 this volume. He had in the first instance printed five 
 hundred copies of them for a part of the edition, and in- 
 serted them at the close of the principal series. It was 
 at that time supposed that five hundred copies would more 
 than supply subscribers to the work. And it was not 
 deemed advisable to hazard the expense of swelling the 
 othtr five hundred copies by the insertion of any thing 
 not originally proposed. It now appears that an addi- 
 tional number will be requisite to meet the demands of 
 subscription; and although it is not in his power to pre- 
 sent the volume to all exactly in the same form, he is anx- 
 ious to furnish precisely the same quantity of pages to 
 every subscriber; and therefore now reprints tlie follow- 
 ing discourses and inserts them after the appendix. 
 
 It is only necessary to add that these discourses were 
 selected from the "sketches'' referred to in the title page 
 of this volume. 
 
 Lexington, August, 1818. 
 
THE 
 
 ,^^T¥t 
 
 OF 
 
 ABEL. 
 
 ^'^Jtnd Adam knew Eve his icife: and she concern- 
 ed and hm^e Cain^ and said, 1 have gotten a 
 man from the Lord. And she again bare hi$ 
 drother Mel. And Abel was a Iceejper of 
 sheep, but Cain teas a tiller of the ground. 
 And in process of time it came to pass 9 that 
 Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an of- 
 fering unto the Lord, And Abel, he also 
 brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of 
 the fat thereof And the Lord had respect un- 
 to Abel, and to his offering: but unto Cain and 
 to his offering, he had not respect. And Cain 
 ivas very wroth, and his countenance felL 
 And the Lord said unto Cain, Whij art thou 
 wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If 
 thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted?^ 
 and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. 
 And iinto thee shall be hfs desire ^ and thon 
 
^84 TJie Death of Mel 
 
 ^Jialt rule over Mm, And Cain talked with 
 Mel his brother: and it came to pass, when 
 ihey were in the field, that Cain rose up 
 against Abel his brother, and slew him,^' 
 
 Gen. iv. l--*8. 
 
 There is probably nothing that so much tends to 
 perplex the judgement of the wise and good, and to 
 fortify the unbeliever in his rejection of Messiah, 
 as the anomalous government under which our 
 World has been placed by two concurrent causes, 
 the introduction of sin, and of the plan of redemp- 
 tion. The influence of each of these causes extends 
 to every thing: and gives such a variegated and 
 ever-changing character, not only to the actions of 
 men, but to the dispensations of the Deity, that no 
 understanding short of the Divine can unravel the 
 complicated web. 
 
 It is easy to conceive the general aspect 
 of things, in a world where sin has never en- 
 tered, and where infinite goodness measures out 
 to the good a law that encounters nothing but 
 order and felicity. Nor is it very hard to conjec- 
 ture the condition of a world where rebellion has 
 taken hold on the heart of every creature; and 
 where the Judge, not revolving any purposes of 
 inercy, issues the simple mandate, ^4et justice 
 take its course." There we should expect to 
 contemplate society without order: to see misery 
 without mixture: to find horror without hope. But 
 nothing short of actual observation c^ld suggest 
 
Tlie D-eath ofMeL g85 
 
 any thing like an idea of (lie chequered scene m-e- 
 sented in a world of wickedness under a dispensa- 
 tion of mercy. All that mixture of evil amoiii; the 
 upright^ all those traits of amiablencss and excel- 
 lence which adorn millions of the impenitent^ all 
 those bounties which bless the offending nations, all 
 thos^e judgments which sweep without discrimina- 
 tion the righteous and the wiclwcd — all tiicse things 
 tend to perplex and confound the most intelligent 
 observer. No man is free from sin, and none is 
 perfectly and fully given up to the dominion of in- 
 iquity. Of course we are perplexed in the estimate 
 we strive to form of human character; we are per- 
 plexed in our opinion of the divine dispensations; 
 we are perplexed about the tendency and about 
 the character of things. It is just such a state of 
 things as must necessarily ensue, when a plan is 
 in progress for tKe recovery of a v»^orld. The curse 
 does not utterly desolate; for tliere is mercy in re- 
 serve: mercy and goodness do not flow unrestrain- 
 ed; for wickedness is rampant, and judgments arc 
 abroad. God only can estimate the conduct and 
 motives of every son of Adam; God only fore- 
 sees the precise effect which his dispensations are 
 to produce; God only knows Iiovv to suit tiiem ex- 
 actly to the characters and tlie end: ar.d he is a 
 "wise man who, concluding with the scripture that 
 ^^no man knowetli good or evil by all that is done 
 under the sun,'^ consents to let God rule his own 
 world in his own way, and sits down patiently and 
 
m^ The Death of Mel 
 
 submissively to the task assigned him, the goverh' 
 meiit of his own heart and ways. 
 
 It was at a very early period that our fallen pro- 
 genitors began to learn this lesson. Mercy had 
 restored them to the hope of life, Messiah had in- 
 terposed to stay the tide of desolation, and with his 
 own lips had pronounced the tidings of peace and 
 pardon through his own oblation to be afterwards 
 accomplished. It might have seemed natural to 
 infer that then all the consequences of their trans- 
 gression would be prevented; that the sentence of 
 death was to be entirely abrogated; that their bow- 
 er should still flourish over them in Eden; and that 
 they might anticipate a progeny favored and forgiv- 
 en and happy as themselves. But such things 
 might not be. The sentence was irrevocable, ^thoa 
 shalt have sorrow and labour;' "dust thou art, and 
 unto dust thou shalt return.'^ Grod may forgive, 
 but he will not approve transgression: he will not 
 remit the mark of his displeasure against it. 
 
 This they were soon to learn. Adam must 
 leave the spot where he had held converse with his 
 maker: and those happy bowers, those blissful 
 liaiuits^ must be no more visited by Eve. Banish^ 
 ed from Paradise, they sought another home. 
 ^'Eastward from Eden," and in some spot between 
 the mouth of the Euphrates and the channel of the 
 Indus, they sought a less favored and a less happy 
 Jionie. In due time, however, the loneliness and 
 sorrows of their banished state were in some sort 
 
The Death of Mel, SSy 
 
 relieved by the birth of a sen. New and tender so- 
 licitudes would naturally divert their minds from 
 dwelling on their regrets. 1 his first born son, the 
 beginning of their strength, a pledge that God re- 
 membered them, gave happy omen of the promised 
 period when their burdens should be lightened and 
 their solitude done away, by a numerous tribe of 
 sons and daughters, able and ready to minis^ter to 
 their wants and to anticipate even their wishes. 
 
 But to the mother of our race it was an event pe- 
 culiarly interesting. A mother's feelings are most 
 quick and tender; a mother's hopes are highest. 
 She, too, had proved the unhappy leader in trans- 
 gression, the seducer of her husband, the betrayer 
 of the world o To her more directly the promise had 
 been given that her seed should be the bruiser of 
 the serpent's head. Is it any wonder that a heart 
 yearning over her child, and valuing so highly a 
 promise which her follies had rendered necessary — 
 is it any wonder that her heart so tender and her 
 hope so eager should have augured most auspici- 
 ously of this first born son; and that, ignorant as she 
 was of God's real purposes and plans, she sliould 
 have read in that child the accomplislimeht of the 
 prediction, and anticipated the promised victory 
 through him? It appears that she did so; and 
 accordingly gav« him a name expressive of her ex- 
 pectation. She called liim Gain, the obtained or 
 gotten; ^*for I have gotten," said she, ^^the man, 
 the iiord.'^ iS© .fovi will find it rendered in the 
 
2SS Tfie Death of Mel 
 
 Biargin of your Bibles. The tmnslation of the ex- 
 pression is literally correct, and obviously points 
 at the idea just suggested. A fallen woman mourn- 
 ed her rash adventure; a fond and anxious mother 
 gazed with tenderness and delight upon the little 
 stranger; slie expected from him every thing, sho^ 
 attributed to him every thing, she hailed him as 
 the deliverer who w as to repair her wrong. Ah! 
 destined to sustain a very different character, and 
 to shock a mother s feelings by very different work! 
 
 But it would appear that something of that petu- 
 lance and stubbornness of infancy, which so often 
 mark tlie character of the future man, soon cor- 
 rected these delusive hopes. For we find that at 
 the birth of a second son the current of her feelings 
 had completely changed: and the name she bestow- 
 ed on him indicates a sense of no moderate disap- 
 pointment. She called him Mel^ i. e. Vanity, 
 Her hope was disappointed, and she would calcu- 
 late no more. 
 
 How many sons and daughters succeeded to 
 these two, we are no where told in scripture; but 
 it would appear from a remark incidentally drop- 
 ped by Cain, about the time of the sad transaction 
 in which he was chief actor, that they must have 
 been somewhat numerous. Their history howev- 
 er had little or no bearing on the destinies of future 
 times, and they are accordingly left unnoticed. 
 
 The page of inspiration attaches itself to these 
 tw9; in whose eventful story Adam was taught 
 
The Death of Mel '^gg 
 
 much of the consequences of his sin, and the world 
 may learn much of the misery it inherits. 
 
 The children grew up to man's estate; and, in- 
 heriting the judgment pronounced upon our race, 
 betook themselves to various kih\i»;. of labour. *^A- 
 bel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of 
 the ground.'^ The judgment inflicted in conse- 
 quence of the first transgression, aflTected not only 
 the ground, but all the cattle of the field. The dis- 
 ordered elements bore hard on the various tribes of 
 domestic animals, and cut oif their facilities for liv- 
 ing. Human industry must provide them shelter 
 from the elements, human foresiglit must interpose 
 to procure them food, human judgment must select 
 the spots to which they might be led to pasture: 
 ^^Abel was a keeper of sheep. *^ The earth also 
 had in a great measure ceased to yield spontanc-i 
 ously food that was good for man. It must be la- 
 boriously prepared, ere the seed was sown; it must 
 be diligently cultivated^ or the weeds would spring 
 up and choke the tender blade. This was Cain's 
 occupation: he w^as ^^a tiller of the ground." To 
 these different occupations they may have several- 
 ly betaken them, as choice or circumstances dicta- 
 ted. We cannot agre^ with those who are led to 
 imagine from the story of this unhappy pair of bro- 
 thers, that either the choice or the pursuit of their 
 several occupations indicated or promoted the differ* 
 ent dispositions and principles by w hich they were 
 actuated through life.The professi<% ofCain was that 
 
 » V 
 
mJ) The Death of Mel 
 
 which God himself had assigned to our first father, 
 while in the state of innocence; and though it be 
 an undoubted truth that it required more exertion 
 q.iid attention than we are in the habit of attribu- 
 ting to the shep.j^.d's life, yet it proved so much 
 the better shield from the temptations couj^ied with 
 idleness. But both employments were innocent: 
 they were equally proper. Nor is it saying little 
 for that early age, that tbcy so speedily learned 
 to appreciate the advantages arising from the divi- 
 sion of labour. 
 
 These young men, hov/ever, appear to have been 
 tiqually and carefully instructed by their parents ia 
 the duties connected with the present state. Both 
 were made acquainted with tlie prospect of salvation 
 through ttife promised seed. And both had no 
 doubt witnessed from their childhood those fre- 
 quent sacrifices instituted by God before our pro- 
 genitors left the garden; and which were designed 
 to shew forth Messiah to be slain. Accordingly 
 both of them were professed worshippers of the God 
 of the whole earth: ^^And it came to pass in pro- 
 ces of time that Cain brought of the fruit of the 
 ground an offering to the Lord. And Abel, he al- 
 so brought of the firstlings of his flock.'' Both of 
 these offerings were in their nature good, and 
 would, under certain circumstances, have been high- 
 ly proper. The sacrifice of animal life was ordain- 
 ed, we have said, as the type of Messiah to be- 
 .«'lain for sin/ as the emblem of his life given for our 
 
The Death of Mp.I Sgi 
 
 lives, that the world might be saved by him. Every 
 stoch sacrifice, therefore, was a direct acknowledg- 
 ment that the offerer was a sinner; it was also the 
 expression of contrition for his sin, and of his faith 
 in the salvation of Messiah. This kind of offering, 
 then, was not only proper, it was indispensable to 
 all men. It was ordained of God for men as sin- 
 neis. But all those other so very frequent offer- 
 ings, though highly proi>er in tliemseives, spoke a 
 very different language. They were the indica- 
 tions of thankfulness for benefits received; they 
 were proper expressions of man's sense of depend- 
 ence. But they were nothing more. They spoke^ 
 of kinduess, but not of pardon; of thankfulness, but 
 not of contrition; of the God of glory, but not of the 
 God of grace. In the hand of every sinner they 
 would of coarse be proper, for all stand debtors by 
 iiiany obligations: but they would have been equal- 
 ly appropriate in hands not stained with crime. 
 
 This distinction was well known tcr Abel. His 
 felt his own unworthiness, and he stood ready to 
 acknowledge it; he kn^w his need of forgiveness, 
 and he was ready to sue for it; he recollected the 
 first great promise of a Saviour, and he was glad 
 to confide in it. The Apostle Paul has attested that 
 these things were so. In his epistle to the He- 
 brews, Abel ranks high in his catalogue of ww^- 
 tbies; and the reason assigned is, that bis offerings 
 •were tendered in the faith of God's Messiah. 
 He came a simier; he came a suppliant;; and hi^ 
 
29B The Death of Abel 
 
 offering was accepted: "God had respect to Abel^ 
 and to his offering.'^ In what way this expression 
 of the Divine acceptance was vouchsafed, the his- 
 tory does not tell us. It may have been that fire 
 fell from heaven, and kindled on, and consumed the 
 sacrifice; for this we know was not unusual: or the 
 acceptance may have been indicated by a voice 
 from Heaven. All that we know with certainty, is 
 the fact that the indication was of a nature to be cer- 
 tainly known, not only to Abel, but to all who wit- 
 nessed the transaction. Cain also saw it: Cain 
 knew that the offering of his brother was accepted. 
 Hoping well from such an omen, he forthwith pre- 
 sents his own. It was an expression of depend- 
 ance on him who rules the seasons; it was an ac- 
 knowledgment of his goodness in sending rain from 
 heaven, and in bringing forward and ripening the 
 fruits of the earth. It was of the first ripe fruits 
 that this offering consisted. It was of the fruit of 
 his own industry laid upon God's altar, in thankful 
 acknowledgment that to God he owed his all. But 
 then it spoke not one word of sin, or of penitence 
 for sin. It said nothing of that Messiah through 
 whose merits alone all offerings of sinful beings are 
 accepted. It glanced not at the promise on which 
 Abel fixed his hope, when the blood of his victim 
 flowed. Busy, bustling, Cain had been thinking 
 about too many things to think much about his sin- 
 ^ fulness; and had too many interests perpetually at 
 take to take any lively interest in the promise of a 
 
The Death of Mel 293 
 
 Saviour. He sva^, however, no Atlieist5 he knew the 
 God of providence, and he was ready to acknowledge 
 hhn; he felt his own dependence, and he was thank- 
 ful for the bounty that provided for Jiim and pro- 
 tected him. Thus he made his offerings encouraged 
 no doubt by the favorable reception with which his 
 brother had met. But no fire from heaven was 
 seen to kindle on that altar; no voice from the 
 throne spoke of kindness to the worshipper: ^'To 
 Cain and to his offering the liOrd had not respect.'^ 
 It is not, my brethren, an unusual thing for the 
 divine displeasure against transgressors to be indi- 
 cated in this way. Men may contract, they often do 
 contract some fearful stain of sin, and conscience 
 alarmed and wounded anticipates a speedy and fear- 
 ful visitation. But day rolls on after day, heaven's 
 rain descends, heaven's sun shines full upon them^ 
 and all things move on as though God regarded not. 
 Often they sink back into a stupor of forgctfulness, 
 imagining that God's judgments are not quite so 
 sure, and that sin is a matter not quite so dan- 
 gerous as they had been led to think. On other 
 occasions, the premonitions of a guilty conscience 
 keep up perpetual fears, and urge tliem to make 
 their peace. Like Cain they bring their offering; 
 perhaps do more than he did, perhaps make confes- 
 sion of their sin. But still, all things move ou 
 as usual: heaven is mute as death; no word of re- 
 proach, no voice of approbation, is whispered to the 
 consilience: God, as if afar off, speaks not in an- 
 
i^ i'he PeatJi of Met 
 
 ger, nor communicates ought of peace. Wha,t 
 means that silence, fixed and dreadful, so like the 
 sullen and portentous calm before the earthquake 
 shakes the solid earth! It is the silence which indi- 
 cates a purpose in high heaven, fixed as it is mute: 
 it is the seal of reprobation, "let him alone,'^ when 
 men stand guilty, and neglect the only way in 
 which guilt can be removed. It is the direful in- 
 dication of an heart too much hardened to be bet- 
 tered by chastisement; of a being only let alone,^ 
 because he has not yet filled up the measure of his 
 sins. 
 
 The last of these conditions was the lot of Cain- 
 tie came as a worshipper, and God did not regard 
 him. But this silence produced far diflferent feel- 
 ings from those which we should deem natural as 
 well as proper. He did not inquire the cause of 
 this rejection: the memory of his offences did not 
 rise up before him: he thought not of soliciting for- 
 giveness of ought that he had done: he was not 
 even terrified at this mark of the Divine displeasure. 
 
 He rather chose to act as if his maker were the 
 offender, and himself the party "more sinnM a- 
 gainst than sinning.'' His mind recurred to the ac- 
 cepted offering of his brother, and to that altar fia- 
 ming toward the gate of heaven; and he dared to 
 impeach the justice of the Eternal, he dared to ar- 
 raign that very goodness in acknowledgment of 
 which he had just now brought his offering; because 
 his offering was rejected while his brother's had 
 
Tlie Beatli of Mel S65 
 
 been accepted. He was not liumbled; Tieitber was 
 lie terrified; but he "was very wroth, and his coun- 
 tenance MV^ What an horrible disposition? What 
 atrocious envy! O we have heard, and we have 
 sometimes seen it too, how envy writhes when it 
 sees the meed of merit; and how, "like a scorpion 
 girt with fire," it will drive its maddening sting in- 
 to its own distracted brain, if it may not vent its 
 fury on the object of its hate. And we have some- 
 times thought that frightful as it is, — although its 
 spirit be restless and relentless, and foul and lean 
 and sharp its harpy talons, — ^yet we have thoiight it 
 might sometimes tax compassion as well as indig- 
 nation, because it still speaks the ruins of a glori- 
 ous nature, an heart not so debased as to be dead 
 to the blessings of an honorable fame. I look upon 
 ambition, or even upon envy, and I am disposed to 
 say: 'Still it is the struggle of an aspiring spirit for 
 that proud eminence whose steep and narrow peak 
 is too small to seat the millions who would fondly 
 reach it; it is a noble though much perverted feel- 
 ing.^ Or 1 say that 'self-love, blinding a mortal to 
 his own defects, and greatly magnifying his little 
 sum of excellence, may lead him to imagine that 
 the han Is wiiich clapped the laurels on another 
 brow must have been unfairly g iided; for though 
 another wore it, yet the meed was of right his own/ 
 Thus envy might be traced to a misguided feeling, 
 resisting and avenging an imagined wrong. But 
 when I look upon this CaiN; when Imark the fiv^t 
 
^m 'llie Death of Mel 
 
 ravings of that ^^green-eycd monster/' as it wrought 
 tip to madness the first born among men, I learn 
 enough to annihilate the charitable but still wretch- 
 ed lame apology. Cain was the ruin of a noble 
 nature. Let him teach you what man is, and of 
 what thoughts of horror he is capable. Cain could 
 not suppose a mistake in the Omniscient: he could 
 attribute nothing to a partial feeling: he must have 
 felt satisfied that the preference w\as just: yet he 
 
 ENVIED HIS OWN BROTHER THE FAVOR OF HIS GoD, 
 
 Do not then imagine that envy only rises from mis- 
 taken apprehensions: or that it is the erratic work- 
 ing of a towering spirit which cannot brook obscu- 
 rity: nO; nor yet that it is the grasping of an inor- 
 dinate love of glory in a world too poor to allow 
 every one the meed. Only look upon this Cain!! 
 Men now are accustomed to envy worldly splendor, 
 or to tug for the chaplets wove from earth-born 
 flowers. An ordinary miscreant will yield heav- 
 en's favor to be tlie rightful portion of the humble 
 or unhappy: and give him but possession, be it by 
 force or fraud, of the wealth and honours of the pre- 
 sent w orld! the favor and acceptance of Almiglity 
 God may pass^, the unvalued and unenvied portion 
 of him whose w ishes aspire in that direction. But 
 this, even this, natural as it may seem, is not a feel- 
 ing necessarily belonging to an alien to grace and. 
 to the love of heaven. Look upon this Cain!! At 
 the time in which he lived the world was a small 
 theatre. liUile glory could be reaped from the s'lf- 
 
The Death of Abet 'mj 
 
 frage of his fellows. There was little to court the 
 grasp of insatiate ambition. So small vvasthecir* 
 cle of intelligent existences with whom man had 
 any intercourse, and so few were the objects which 
 might elicit strong desire, that the one great Intel* 
 ligeuce was regarded as a vast addition to their 
 circle amid this dull and lonely waste; and his fa- 
 vour was an honour that no man could despise. 
 And therefore foul ambition — ^so devilish is its na- 
 ture! — could pounce with its sharp talons upoa 
 that stupendous object! And envy, though a deal- 
 er in matters most unholy, could not brook anoth- 
 er's interest in the holy Grod! — man! man! man! 
 how little do you know of your own accursed na- 
 ture, when you scan it only as seen in common cir- 
 cumstances, or attempt to measure it by the fashions 
 o/an age! 
 
 Is it any wonder that God, who knew his heart, 
 should have rejected this man's offering! Who 
 could have been surprised, had heaven let loose its 
 thunders and struck the miscreant down. But be- 
 hold the long suffering and gentleness of God! He 
 now breaks silence. He even condescends to rea- 
 son with his creature. ^Why is Cain angry? If 
 thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted?' But 
 Cain had not been doing well. This very appeal of 
 the Omniscient is proof that he had not. And the. 
 proud and haughty carriage with which he conduct- 
 ed toward his maker abundantly proves it too. 
 That man must have been doing very far from well, 
 
 S s 
 
49S Tha Death of Abel 
 
 Tvhose conscience is. so stupified as to be insensible 
 to guilt; and ^tbose spirit even rises to blaspheme 
 his maker, because he withholds from the oirender'» 
 brow the honours of the innocent. No; Cain bad 
 not been doing well. Why should he expect, then, 
 to tnd favour with his maker? And why take ref- 
 nge in such sullen anger when that favour was with- 
 heid? 
 
 You will perhaps say that his conduct was but 
 the fruit of desperation: that he felt as if he feared 
 nothing, because he had nothing more to hope: and 
 that the relief of complaining may well be concedei^ 
 as a poor and lonely privilege, to him whose all is 
 lost— No; Cain had not even this meagre palliatioB^ 
 to be plead in his behalf. God, who inight have 
 smitten him, not only reasoned with him; not only 
 told him that he had only himself to blame for the r(^- 
 jection he complained of, that he had many a crime 
 yet unconfessed to heaven; but he pointed out the 
 way in wliich he might yet find favor. ^^If thou 
 doest not well, sin lieth at the door.'^ Our com- 
 inoa version has missed entirely the sense and spir- 
 it of this expression. The word translated sin, 
 is often used in that sense. But then it also sig- 
 nifies a sin offering, a propitiatory sacrifice, such as 
 Abel offered. And that this is the meaning in this 
 place, necessarily follows from the turn of the ex- 
 pression; from the manner in which thfe thing is 
 ei id to lie at tbe door. The Hebrews, meagre as 
 ' was their language, had many words of much more 
 
Tlie JDeath of Abet £9B 
 
 determinate import than those which we employ 
 to express the same ideas. One of that description 
 is used in this case. The woinl indicates that 
 manner of lying which we remark in four-footed 
 beasts, when resting on the ground with their feet 
 doubled under them. When the Hebrews spoke 
 of lying in a more general sense, they always em- 
 ployed a very different word. It was a beast prop- 
 er for a sin-offering that was lying at the door. 
 
 Take then the appeal with this illustration: 
 ^Why is Cain angry? If he has been rejected, it is 
 for his evil deeds. "If thou doest well, shalt thou 
 not be accepted?'^ But if thou art a transgressorj^ 
 there is still a way of safety. Messiah has beeiK 
 promised; sacrifices have ht^tn appointed to shew 
 forth his death; thou hast cattle for the sacrifice ly- 
 ing at the door. Come then and make confessioti 
 of thy sin: come and lay hold upon the hope of 
 God^s Messiah: come tender thy sin-offering to 
 thine offended maker: and then thou too shalt be 
 accepted.^ 
 
 <And then, as to the honours claimed by the first 
 horn,' for that too it appears became a subject of 
 uneasiness, <Cain shall never lose them. It is to 
 the honours of piety, not of primogeniture, that 
 Abel has been promoted. But let Cain never sup- 
 pose that the meed of piety can be bestowed in vir- 
 tue of a civil right. It can be given only on \i^ 
 own appropriate ground On that ground let inm 
 seek it, and ho inhertts double honour. Abel shall 
 
30'Q The Death of Abel 
 
 not then be preferred in any sense. Abel shall take 
 his station below the first born son: ^^unto thee 
 shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.'^ 
 Cain was silenced, but he was not satisfied. He 
 still was not humbled for the oifences charged upon 
 him. He thought not of a sin-offering as his more 
 righteous brother had done. He would submit to no 
 dictation, even from the God who had displeased 
 him. The sin-offering was not tendered; and the 
 fruits were not accepted. Thus was this man and 
 his maker fairly at issue. <^Let the potsherds strive 
 with the potsherds of the earth,'^ but "woe unto 
 him that striveth with his maker. '^ Cain might 
 be wroth, and his countenance might fall. Still 
 he was too weak to contend with the Almighty. 
 Heaven is high, and his malice could not reach it. 
 He goes forth from the Divine presence, bearing 
 that malice in his heart, and meditating plans of 
 treachery and murder. And such a murder! It 
 was a brother's murder — his earliest play-mate'a 
 murder — the murder of an unsuspecting, unoffend- 
 ing brother, whose only crime was his piety ap- 
 proved of God. It w^as thus he contended with 
 eternal righteousness. If he could not reach God, 
 he would at least deprive him of a worshipper: he 
 
 would PUT HIS MINION DOWk! 
 
 But guilt is a coward, though it wear a tyger'g 
 
 aspect. High-minded innocence is always unsus- 
 
 ^ picious: or it will learn to be fearless, even where 
 
 it must suspect. From the letter and circumstan- 
 
 qes of the historj it would appear that this rancoij- 
 
The Death of Mel 301 
 
 Q^s murderer took all possible advantages. This 
 is indicated very clearly by the word employed in 
 the original scriptures. ^'Cain talked with Abel 
 liis brother. ^^ He then decoyed him to some soli- 
 tary spot. And having thus secured him, under 
 the mask of brotherly confidence and kindness, he 
 rose up against him and slew him. What craftf 
 what malevolence! what violence! what atrocity! 
 
 Here read the malignant nature of that first 
 offence, which ^^brought death into the world, and 
 all our woe.'^ See how it curdled the milk of hu- 
 man kindness! See how it corroded the sweetest 
 bonds of charity! See how it gave birth to those 
 infernal tempers that vent themselves in murmur- 
 ings and malicious actings against the God of heav- 
 en! Now might Adam well have recollected the 
 fearful prediction on the day of his offence. God 
 had spoken of sorrows: and was ever parent ladeQ 
 with such dread sorrows as those which now accu- 
 mulated on that old man's head! Here for the first 
 time he saw the curse fulfilled. Death broke in 
 upon his domestic circle, and felled at his very feet 
 an amiable and pious son. And no common death 
 was this. But one short hour before, this child of 
 his affections, this being of exalted and almost spot- 
 less piety, this stay and consolation of his life, had 
 appeared before him in all the gaiety of youth and 
 innocence, and in all the lustre of a cherub's piety, 
 O who that can dive into a father's feelings, wlio 
 that can scrutinize a mother's tenderer and mora 
 
SO^ The Death of M^t 
 
 confiding heart, will be at a loss to paint the fond 
 expectancy of these pious parents, when they con- 
 templated the recompense of their early labours in 
 4h8 dignified piety of this "righteous'' son! If 
 there be an emotion known on «arth that may cope 
 with those which thrill a seraph's bosom, it is the 
 gladness which expands the hearts of pious parents 
 when they see their sons, "the beginning of their 
 strength,'' in strict alliance with the God of grace. 
 It is an expectancy of all others the most pure, the 
 most tender, the most highly prized, when a moth- 
 er can look forward to the ten thousand displays 
 of tenderness and reverence of which she reads the 
 pledge in the sanctity that refines and fixes forever 
 the charities of nature. 
 
 Such would naturally be the anticipations of our 
 first parents, when they thought of the piety of 
 their second son. So they no doubt calculated 
 when on the morning of that day the flame from 
 Abel's altar aspired to scale the heavens. But 
 within a very little while "an horror of thick dark- 
 iiess" settles down on all their prospects; forABEL^ 
 whose presence was to animate the scene, Abel, 
 whose piety was the sunbeam that illumined it, 
 Abel is now laid low, — laid low by a stroke of 
 violence,— his long hair clotted and his mouth de« 
 filed with blood. Yet all this was a light matter. 
 Many have been the men who fell in sudden death 
 and left many parents childless. But Adam was 
 not childless. Jt would have been blessedness to 
 
The Death of Abet. 303 
 
 have beeu so. Cain was his first born; and Caia 
 was not dead: he was worse than dead, he wap 
 his brother's murderer. And he was gone; he 
 had fled; and the vengeance of God was pursu- 
 ing him. X)n next Lord's day we will tell you 
 whither he fled, and how vengeance overtook 
 him. But to Adam it mattered not whither 
 Cain hi^d fled. In this pious son his consolation 
 had been locked up. — No matter where the miscre- 
 ant Cain had gone. There lay Abel, a pious, du- 
 tiful, and most affectionate son: he stirred not, he 
 answered not: his pale and ghastly features were 
 already set in death: and Adam and his consort 
 were left to rue the day that doomed their loveliest 
 offspring to become the food of worms. 
 
 But they only were to be pitied who were left 
 behind. The unsuspecting Abel had fallen by the 
 stroke of treachery and violence; but he fell not one 
 hour too soon. Unlike the improvident and mis- 
 calculating sons of Adam, who leave it to futurity 
 to make their peace with God, and consecrate their 
 noontide to business or amusement, Abel early 
 sought and found the tavour of his maker. Under 
 shelter of that favour he went through his daily 
 task. With the lisht of the Saviour's countenance 
 beaming full upon his head, with the consolations 
 of the Most High dilating his glad heart, he was 
 prepared for either issue, be it death or life. Nor 
 w as he at all the loser when summoned the first 
 of hiunan kind to take his station before the eternal 
 
a04 The Death of Mel 
 
 throne. For thence his pure spirit could speed its 
 joyous way, to meet and to salute, at the portals 
 Oi iiigh heaven, the spirits of his father and of his 
 jtoother, when they came. 
 
 My brethren, if it be joyous for friends to meet 
 on earth, be ye judges of the blessedness when 
 friends shall meet in heaven! Judge of their feli- 
 city when walking hand in hand they talk of the 
 dangers they escaped on earth; of the goodness and 
 watchfulness that brought them safe to heaven; and 
 of the surprising destinies that eternity has in 
 reserve, that eternity will unfold to the holy and 
 the happy. May it be yours, my dear young 
 friends, to profit by this example of ripe though 
 early piety I May my spirit meet your spirits at 
 the portal of high heaven, when like this first mar- 
 tyr you shall have cultivated a piety approved of 
 God! And may ovirs be the emotions of long sun- 
 dered friends, as our memories revert to the happy 
 —happy day when we talked togetlier of the death, 
 of ^'righteous Abel.'^ dmen. 
 
THE 
 OF 
 
 CAIN". 
 
 ^'Xnd the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Mel 
 thy brother? d.nd he said I know not, Am I 
 my brother^s keeper? And he said, What hast 
 thou done? Tfie voice of thy brother^s blood 
 crieth unto me from the ground, And now 
 art thou cursed from the v /th which hath o- 
 pened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood 
 from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, 
 it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her 
 strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shall 
 thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the 
 Lord, My punishment is greater than I can 
 bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this 
 day from the J ace of the earth; and from thy 
 face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive 
 Tt 
 
B06 H^he Judgment of Cain. 
 
 and a vagabond in the earth: and it shall come 
 io pass, that every one that findeth me shall 
 slay me, And the Lord said unto him, There- 
 fore* whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall 
 be taken on him seven fold, tind the Lord 
 set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him 
 should kill him.^^ Oen. iv. 9 — 1^. 
 
 ^^ Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither 
 shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend np into 
 heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, 
 behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the 
 morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
 sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy 
 right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the 
 darkness shall cover me; even the night shall 
 be light about me. — The darkness and the light are 
 both alike to thee.'' 
 
 If there be an instinctive principle in our nature, 
 strong and unerring above every other, it is that 
 which chimes harmony with this noble apostrophe 
 of the Jewish prince and prophet. Of all those 
 truths which enter into the circle of religion and 
 morals, this is the last to perish from the memory 
 of man, and the one most easily recalled. Even a° 
 mong those nations who have for ages "changed 
 the glory of the incorruptible God into an image 
 made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and 
 four-footed beasts, and creeping things" — eveti 
 
 there; though iutellect is wrapped iu fcnrful dark- 
 
The Judgment of Cain. 30^ 
 
 ness, and t:onscience, sheltered by the sahle wing 
 of night, might promise a deep and everlasting; 
 slumber — yet there, remorse and terror, and sacri- 
 fices and ablutions, bear witness, in a language 
 which none can mis -interpret, how deep-rooted is 
 the conviction that there is one wlio sees and judg- 
 es. We cannot tell you how it is, and we need 
 not tell you why it is, but the veriest idolater who 
 yields his homage to the rudest sculpture, and 
 trembles before tlie idols of his wood and clay, of- 
 ten hears a voice which liis idols cannot utter, a 
 voice that speaks of certain and of fearful retribu- 
 tion. 
 
 We, my frieuds, are favored with the light of re - 
 relation. We do not yield our homage to an idol 
 God. We direct our ejes to heaven; we look a- 
 broad upon the earth; we lay our hands upon our 
 heart: yonder! there! here is God! the living God; 
 the true God; ^-the King eternal, immortal, and in- 
 visible;'^ ^^the only wise God:"— and we feel that 
 there is no absurdity in uttering that apostrophe, 
 ^Hhe darkness and the light are both alike to thee!!'^ 
 Well, then, may we be afraid. There is good rea- 
 son for our fear. We have the same law written 
 on our hearts which dictates remorse and horror to 
 rude and barbarous men; and we can at the same 
 time distinclly recognise the band that wrote the 
 law: we can discern that it is a hand full able to 
 inflict the penalty. 
 
 It is not hard to conf oivc what would be the con- 
 
308 2%e Judgment of Cam^ 
 
 diiion of human society, if this recognition of all^-. 
 discerning providence were to fail from the minds 
 of men. Human institutions can go hut a little 
 way to restrain or punish the atrocities of human 
 conduct. Darkness may shroud crime from the 
 most jealous wakefulness. Deeds of violence may 
 be compassed where no ear hears, where no eye 
 discerns, where no scrutiny can detect them: in the 
 recesses of the mountain, in the entangled brake, 
 in the cavern whose blackness rivals the pretensions 
 of primeval night. Invaluable, then, is the idea of 
 one who sees and judges; whose presence fills all 
 places; no secrecy can elude him: whose eye knows 
 not an obstacle; ^'the darkness and the light are 
 bothalike to him.^' 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that a w atchful pro 
 vidence should have often interposed to keep up a 
 recognition so important to the safety of the world. 
 If all crimes fall under his cognizance, as the uni- 
 versal governor; much more must those which are 
 perpetrated under cover of darkness or of se- 
 crecy. There God is the only witness: he only 
 ciind avenge. Accordingly, no nation, no age, is 
 w ithout examples of such fearful visitations. And 
 ten thousand times ten thousand are the cases that 
 have occurred, in which men who never knew, who 
 never thought of the transgression, have deliber- 
 ately — have almost instinctivly — infered its exist- 
 ence, from the punishment awarded in the face of 
 day. It was not superstition, it was a feeling of 
 
The Judgment of ^ain. 309 
 
 our nature strong and not uncoraiieton, which dictated 
 that judgment to the inhabitants of Malta, when a 
 viper fastened on the shipwrecked Apostle's hand: 
 ^^No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though 
 he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suJBTereth not 
 to live.''* How but in this way can providence at- 
 test its observance of things most secret? How but 
 in this way shall conscience stand in awe of him 
 who sees in secret? 
 
 In the commencement of human society, tlie 
 world had every thing to learn in relation to the 
 Creator's superintendence of his rebellious crea- 
 tures. It was therefore right and necessary that 
 the intervention should be prompt, the interference 
 open, the punishment most signal. 
 
 We are not at all astonishetl^ tlien, that ven- 
 geance on his deed was announced to this murder- 
 er by a voice from heaven; or that providence was 
 honoured by a speedy vindication. It was the Urst 
 murder: and it was a most fearful murder. It was 
 planned with deliberation; it was conducted with 
 deceit; it was perpetrated in secret. It was done 
 when men were few on earth, and should have been 
 the more endeared. It was a good man's murder 
 — a brother's murder — an early play-mate's mur- 
 der. It vv^as grounded on his piety; it was prompt 
 ed by malice, — -by malice against God. Siionlii 
 this murderer rest, because men were few on earth. 
 
 ^\lcfs xx.viii. 4. 
 
810 The Judgment of Caino 
 
 and there were none to smite bim but bis nearest 
 relatives? Should that cunning which bad aided 
 to compass his fell intent, prevail to shield hiia 
 fijpm the infamy of crime? Should the secrecy of the 
 transaction prevent suspicion?--TThus it might have 
 been, thus no doubt it would have been, had not 
 Eternal Providence governed what he made. But 
 bis eye discerned the monster when he first ap- 
 proached his brother with well dissembled kind-* 
 ness, and enticed him to the field: that eye was up- 
 on their footsteps, when the victim went along with 
 liim to the selected spot where no human eye could 
 see them, no human hand interjyose: that eye mark- 
 ed the stroke which felled Abel to the ground: and 
 when Cain stood for the moment flushed with the 
 success of his scheme, the eye of God was on 
 bim. 
 
 Ah! let all men remember that to calculate on 
 safety because they sin in secret, is doubly to ex» 
 pose themselves to the vengeance of the Most 
 High. All hope of safety is as a challenge of that 
 high prerogative which controls the affairs of men. 
 All boldness derived from the secrecy of crime, is 
 as the gauntlet thrown down to the living God! 
 For over secret things he alone presides: of hidden 
 crime he only is the avenger. It is to say to him, 
 that apart from the sanction of human laws, apart 
 from the potency of human arms, yon do not fear 
 the consequences. And if God be challenged, he 
 will take up the^uage; ht will prove his might up- 
 
The Judgment of Cain* Sll 
 
 on liim who sins in secret; and he will prove it 
 
 OPENLY. 
 
 So this murderer found. He retired from the 
 scene of his coward triumph, and left his brother 
 lying in his blood. But short-lived was the tri- 
 umph, short-lived the security, derived from the 
 success and secrecy of such a crime. A voice from 
 heaven a second time assailecl him, '^where is Abel 
 thy brother?^^ What a question! Urged home, too, 
 upon a man retiring from that spot under a persua- 
 sion of the most complete security! Urged by tlic 
 being who had but lately accepted the sacrifice of 
 Abel; and had demanded a sin offering at the hand 
 of Cain! It was as the first stroke of that bell which 
 tolls in the ear of the condemned culprit, in signal 
 that his hour is come! Ah me! If that bosom was 
 not quite infernal, if Cain yet retained one feeling 
 of humanity, what would he not now have given to 
 have had Abel back again, to life, to health, to the 
 bosom of his family! How mast the thought have 
 smitten him, that instead of tire sin-offering which 
 his Creator had demanded; instead of the blood 
 that might have flowed in token of forgiveness, and 
 as the harbinger of peace and of fellowship resto- 
 red between him and his Creator; he had widened 
 that breach, he had augmented his guilt, in an im- 
 measurable degree. A sacrifice had indeed been 
 offered up; but it was to passions the most infernal: 
 a victim's blood had flowed; but that victim was 
 his brother. And now, his malice glutted, but dis - 
 
31^ The Judgment of Cain. 
 
 appointed of concealment, and destitute of hope, 
 hi:, steps had not wandered perhaps half way to 
 his home, when a voice from heaven smote him: 
 ^^where is thy brother Abel?" The question was 
 not urged in a tone of accusation. God never tri- 
 umphs over a fallen foe. But it was put in such a 
 way as to rouse every recollection of regret and ten- 
 derness, to kindle every emotion of penitence and 
 anguish, if any thing of humanity yet occupied a 
 place in the bosom of this murderer. — Cain, how- 
 ever, was hardened, pre-eminently hardened; and he 
 jSrst attempted to shield himself under the most a- 
 bandoned falsehood. ^^1 know not,'' said he; and 
 he said it to his Maker! He had just left his bro- 
 therj stricken by his hand, weltering in his own 
 blood: and the image was still fresh of that expi- 
 ring saint turning up toward his murderer his dy- 
 ing eyes, and fixing on his countenance a steady 
 gaze, till that glaziness which settles on the eye of 
 death confounded every object in one deepening 
 shade. He had just seen ail thisj and yet when he 
 heard a question that might have made a fiend re- 
 coil, he had the audacity to reply, "1 know not 
 where he is.'' But not trusting to this refuge in a 
 case so very plain, agonized with fear while he at- 
 tempted the firmness and self-possession of the in- 
 nocent, he betook himself at ouce to that obvious 
 and common refuge of the unprincipled; he assu- 
 med the air of the party suffering wrong, and called 
 hi the aid of insolence to sustain him in his false « 
 
The Judgment of Cain. 313l 
 
 hood. '^I know not where he is. Am I my hrq- 
 ther's keeper.?'' 
 
 Was this that Cain? that child of promise? that 
 ^^gotten'' from the (iord? So ignorant as to use 
 falsehood where omniscience interposed! So stu- 
 pid as to employ insolence where the hosts of hea- 
 ven bow! Yes, this was that very Cain: And these 
 were the consequences — the native consequences — 
 of an ignorance fortified by a life by far too busy, 
 and of pass^ions nurtured without regard to law. 
 Let not this denial, or this challenge, seem incredi- 
 ble. Cain had not the benefit of those myriads of 
 restraints which help to awe the conscience in 
 more modern times. There was then no world 
 whose universal voice could have fostered Kigh i- 
 deas of an all-disposing providence. Conviction 
 was not deepened by those many interpositions 
 •which have since fixed the feelings and principles 
 of men. Nor was the mind awed by those public 
 institutions, which impress upon the heart a deep 
 and lasting reverence. Cain had evidently thought 
 little about these things; and the world afforded no- 
 thing to supply his lack of thoughtfulness. 
 
 But these are not the only principles on which 
 we would account for conduct at once so stupid and 
 so mad. Detection was to him the harbinger of 
 despair: and earth and hell will tell you how little 
 beings fear who have nothing more to hope. How 
 often do the desperate arraign high heaven's de- 
 crees, while they feel that they are just? How of- 
 
 U u 
 
314 ^Vhe Jiids;ment of Cain, 
 
 len do they vent their blasphemies against God, 
 though they know, and though they are aware that 
 all creation kno\v&^ that nothing can tarnish the 
 splendor of his name? How often have they wished 
 -—most impotently wished — that they could wreak 
 their malice upon God impassible? And how often 
 lias the hair stiffened and stood erect on the heads 
 of many thousands, while witnessing those effusions 
 of madness and of malice, that it were pollution 
 but to name! *<I know not,'^ said this desperate 
 ruffian, ''I know not where he is; am I my broth- 
 er's keeper."^ 
 
 But <<the Creator ol the ends of the earth faints 
 not, neither is he weary." If he once arise to make 
 inquisition after blood, woe to the man who calcu- 
 lates on impunity! God is not a man, that he should 
 stop short in the accomplishment of any of his pur- 
 poses, or that he should be diverted from any of 
 liis pursuits. When the inquiry was first made, 
 Cr*in was left to become his own accuser. It was 
 rxot done that comlemnation might be built on his 
 own confession. It was that such inquiry might 
 set before him his guilt in all its aggravations: that 
 a deep sense of sin might humble him in the pre- 
 sence of the Almighty: and that contrition might e- 
 vince itself by such a ready and a frank confessioix 
 as becomes the broken-hearted when they seek for- 
 giveness. But Cain was not this humble penitent. 
 H e let slip this fair occasion to make confession of 
 his crime. He Mould not ask forgiveness. He 
 
Hie Jud£!;ment of Cain. SVS 
 
 fought by false liootl to conceal the deed; and pois- 
 ed the stammering tongue of guilt by language tlie. 
 most insolent. 
 
 And now who will plead for Cain? for himselt* 
 Ire will not plead. Who will pity Cain? on him** 
 self he has no pity. Not only righteousness, but 
 mercy stands acquitted: and now Grod shuts up the 
 measure of his mercies, and lets his judgments slip. 
 And he said, ^Hvhat hast thou done? the voice of 
 thy brother's blood cnes unto me from the ground.'^ 
 What a challenge! what a disclosure! Of what advan- 
 tage now was all that cunning, all that secrecy, with 
 which the deed was done! What profit flowed to 
 Cain from all the falsehood, all the insolence with 
 which he dared to practice against the dignitj'' of 
 heaven! '^The voice of thy brother*^s blood crieth 
 unto me from the ground.'' Thus spake this voice, 
 at first so gentle in its inquiries; and away at once 
 went all his refuges of lies!! Every successive step 
 which had promised him security, only added to the 
 sum and weight of his enormities. He stood not on- 
 ly a detected murderer, but a convicted liar, an in- 
 solent blasphemer. Thus crime upon crime brou£;ht 
 horror upon horror; and it was Cain's to learn that 
 earth as well as heaven was armed against his 
 wickedness. The earth drank in the blood of mur- 
 dered Abel: but she first held it up to the sight of 
 righteous heaven; and to heaven that blood addres- 
 sed an appeal more powerful than any that could 
 be urged by living suppliant's voice. 11 was a cry 
 
M6 The Jukgment of Cain, 
 
 to the justice of him who sees in secret; a demand 
 that he would vindicate the honors of his govern- 
 ment, where no eye had seen, and no other hand 
 could interpose to execute just judgment on trans- 
 gressions so enormous. And many has heen the 
 time, since the days of righteous Abel, in which 
 justice has been executed on deeds of covert wick- 
 edness. Many have been the culprits who have 
 learned in many ways that secrecy is not safety un- 
 der the government of heaven. Many have been 
 the instances in which surprising providence has 
 brought to light, and marked for condign punish- 
 ment, offenders who had lain hid for many a passing 
 year, till their deeds had well nigh faded from the 
 memory of man. Who has not heard it said, and 
 who has not noted circumstances which bear wit- 
 ness to the truth, that 
 
 u Murder, thoiigli it hath no tongue, will speak 
 
 "With most miraculous organ." 
 
 And who that has known of them will not lay to 
 l^eart, that neither darkness, nor secrecy, nor pla- 
 ces most remote from "the cheerful haunts of men,^^ 
 bespeak a case in which crime may hope impuni*^ 
 ty. Although 
 
 •The midnight hell 
 
 <«Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth 
 "Sound ONE into the drowsy ear of night,'^ 
 
The Judgment of Cain. 317 
 
 yet ke who sits in heaven ^^slnmbers not nor 
 sleeps:'^ he who fills immensity is present in the 
 wilderness: the understanding that is infinite can 
 readily find means both to detect and punish. So 
 this murderer found. He practised cunningly and 
 secretly against a good man's life; and, lo! his of- 
 fences met a swift requital. And his shame is this 
 day noted in this house of prayer; and it has been 
 trumpeted for ages through all countries under 
 heaven, — So perish the expectation of all malicious 
 men! Be this the swift recompense of murderers 
 and slanderers! xVnd let all men recollect the fast 
 approaching day, when God will bring, before iht 
 assembled universe, every word and every secret 
 thought into the open judgment. 
 
 We can but barely note the punishment more im- 
 mediately inflicted on Cain. The earth, we said, 
 as well as heaven, was armed against the murder- 
 er. She lifts her anathema against this son of earth 
 who had stained her bosom with a brother's blood: 
 ^'Thou art cursed from the earth which hath open- 
 ed her mouth to receive thy brother's blood." Ai> 
 appropriate consequence was, that she should no 
 more yield her fruits to Cain, the cultivator of her 
 soil: "when thou tillest the ground it sliall not 
 henceforth yield unto thee her strength.'^ This 
 was a double curse: A calamity superadded to the 
 common lot of transgressors. Against Adnm aud 
 his progeny it had been denounced, tJiatthcrus and 
 thistles should thenceforth be the spoiitriCeous 
 
318 the Judgment of Cain. 
 
 productions of the field. They^ if they would live^ 
 must prepare the ground with labour: they must 
 tend its fruits with care: in the sweat of their faces 
 they were condemned to eat their bread. But Cain 
 must endure a far more fearful sentence. It should 
 be of no avail, though he did prepare the soil for 
 the reception of the seed: it should not profit, 
 though he did cultivate his fields with labour. La- 
 bour and care should be all in vain to him. In 
 hope he might not sow; with joy he might not reap; 
 to no purpose should the big drops trickle from his 
 forehead: ^^the ground shall not henceforth yield 
 to thee her strength." 
 
 What profited then those toilsome eiforts whicli 
 had prompted Cain to neglect the ways of God? 
 Of what avail were all those instruments of bus- 
 bandry prepared with so much care? Where were 
 now those honors of a first-born son. a jealousy o- 
 ver which had promoted this foul murder? Shun- 
 ned as a destroyer, despised, and feared, and ha 
 ted, the hoiwrs of primogeniture had faded in his 
 grasp. Cut off from his employment, his fields 
 were of no value, his implements were lumber. 
 Why should he continue in the abodes of men? 
 Why stand as a target at which all might aim their 
 shafts? Why frequent those places where ail who 
 saw him shunned him, and where every thing he 
 saw recalled at once the memory of youthful happi- 
 ness, and the images of guilt? ^No; let him fiy 
 
 from all his heq-rt held dear: let him cease from aa 
 
The Judgment of Cain. 319 
 
 criiployment that Iieav en refused to prosper: let him 
 shun the scorn of them who could no longer yield 
 their homage to the first-born among men. Let 
 liira retire to some lone spot wliich as yet had nev- 
 er borne the print of human footstep: let him pitch 
 by some lone stream which had never yet reflected 
 <»the human face divine:" and there let him feed 
 on roots and barks and berries. Or let him pain- 
 fully court the ground for a scanty return of small 
 and blighted ears, till some son of his should rise, 
 on w hom the penalty did not press, and w ho in duty 
 and in pity^ might supply a father's wants. All 
 (his was denounced against this cruel fratricide: "A 
 fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be iu the earth/' 
 — a man without employment, without a country, 
 despoiled of honour, and without a hope. God of 
 justice! how fearful are thy movements, when thou 
 arisest in thy strength to bestow the meed of guilt!! 
 So Cain most deeply felt. And now we pray 
 you look upon this man, once too haughty to confess 
 himself a sinner, too self-w illed to bring the sacri- 
 liee demanded, and arrogant and insolent, even to- 
 ward his Maker, almost beyond belief. How stoops* 
 tlie towering spirit! how t^^ Itches the tough sinew! 
 how bows the neck of brass! This man of mock he- 
 roics is now abject, mean, and vile. Terrified be- 
 yond measure, he cries out for very agony. But it 
 was not <he anguish of an ingenuous i^pirit, mouin- 
 ing his mad offence; it was the slavish terror of a 
 j?elils;h. coward spirit, bewailing the punish-meut. 
 
320 The Judgment of Cain. 
 
 and nothing but the punishment. '^My jpunish- 
 ment^^^ he cried^ '•^is greater than I can bear. Be- 
 hold thou has driven me out this day from the face 
 of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid.'' In 
 his terror he apprehends even greater evils than 
 those which had been denounced: "And it shall 
 come to pass that every one that findeth me shall 
 slay me." How true in all ages is nature to her- 
 self! How strongly, how consistently, do all the 
 virtues blend! How common to meet in one man the 
 extremes of vice!! Shew me a cruel, a designing 
 nian^ a man haughty in prosperity, loud and for- 
 ward in his pretensions and his claims: and I will 
 shew you a coward, who will shrink from real dan- 
 ger; who in the day of his adversity will be fawn- 
 ing as he was arrogant; who will meanly kiss the 
 hand that loads him with indignity; and who will 
 shew himself in all things the opposite of man- 
 hood. 
 
 But Cain was quieted as to this his greatest fear. 
 The judgments of the Most High are dictated by 
 righteousness, not by the spirit of vengeance. He, 
 the august, the elevated spirit, the great pattern of all 
 that is truly excellent, he would not permit that even 
 a murderer, a deceitful, an arrogant, and now a most 
 debased spirit, should be crushed below the point 
 which justice rendered requisite. Nor would God 
 so wound the tender sympathies of kindred as to 
 constitute any one of the small sor'ety of men, all 
 of whom were the near relatives of the culprit^ the 
 
The Judgment of Cain. 3gl 
 
 exactor of his justice. He declared that no man 
 should kill Cain. And to give him assurance of 
 his life, to aftord him, if it might be, full leisure fot 
 repentance, he denounced a yet severer penalty on 
 the murderer of Cain, and then "set a mark'^ upon 
 the fugitive, that all men might know him, and re- 
 member the prohibition. What sort of sign was 
 given him, or what kind of "mark" was set upon 
 him, the history does not say; and we will not at- 
 tempt to amuse you by detailing any of the wild 
 and baseless conjectures in which so many have in- 
 dulged upon a question of no importance, and 
 about which nothing can be known. 
 
 It was enough that God knew how to mark him; 
 then sent him forth a wanderer and a vagabond, 
 secure of life, but a child of shame and misery. Of 
 his subsequent history very little is known. He 
 wandered with his family to the Eastward of Eden; 
 and there his posterity were planted and increased^ 
 We have some account of his descendants to the 
 fifth generation, and of their early practice of many 
 of those arts which other histories restrict to far 
 later times. We merely mention it as a proof, 
 which must be added to those we have already en- 
 countered, that the common sense position of the 
 bible is correct. God did not people the world 
 with a race of savages, destitute of language, of 
 arts, and of comforts; but adoraed and furnished 
 
3^S y/ie Judgment of Cain. 
 
 the human race at first as became the inheritors of 
 his new and noble creation, that they might occupy 
 their station with dignity and comfort. 
 
 Cain lived without felicity, and died without 
 honour. No record tells the time when he ceased 
 from earthly sorrows. No notices remain of the 
 place that holds his ashes. "The righteous are 
 held in everlasting remembrance, but the memory 
 of the wicked shall rot.'^ — His posterity continued 
 uniiistructed and unblessed, till the deluge came 
 and swept them all away. But our history sooji 
 leaves them to pursue another object. We are led 
 to contemplate the birth of Seth, a character very 
 different from him who "slew his brother.^' We 
 se»^ him chosen of God to succeed to the piety of 
 the murdered Abel, and ordained the progenitor of 
 that long line of patriarchs whose history we trace 
 jn slow succession from Seth to Enoch, from Enoch 
 to > oah, and from Noah through Abraham and 
 David and many others, till the grand succession 
 terminates in Joseph and Mary, of which last HE 
 was born whom we this day worship, "the seed of 
 the woman'^ and "the Saviour of the world.'^ 
 
 Our subject to-day has been gloomy and appal- 
 ling. On next Lord^s day we hope to strike 
 another note. Enoch, son of Adam, shines as a 
 being of far different order from him whose dark 
 and sullen aspect fixed the attention of the passing 
 
Tlie Judgment of Ccun, 3^3 
 
 faour. Enoch, as a prophet, — Enoch, as a man of 
 the tnost exalted piety, — Enoch, translated with- 
 out once tasting death to the realms where Abel 
 dwelt, where Jesus Christ now dwells, — Enoch 
 may afford us a glimpse of the glories of that par- 
 adise, as its immortal gates expand to let the pa- 
 triarch in. 
 
 The lessons derivable from the facts jusif^how 
 reviewed are of a character not to be easily mis- 
 construed nor readily overlooked. 
 
 The progress of the human mind from remiss- 
 ness to irreligion, from irreligion to irreverence, 
 from irreverence to impiety unrestrained and un- 
 disguised, may be traced with some distinctness. 
 Nor is it difficult to perceive how regular and how 
 marked is the dereliction of all those duties which 
 bind man to man, when once impiety has gained 
 a firm footing in any human breast. God's tnya 
 dispensations, wise and just and good, often prove 
 the immediate cause of discontented feelings. Dis- 
 content produces envy; and envy malice; and mal- 
 ice gluts itself with blood. And yet blood does 
 not always prove the favorite food of malice. Ma- 
 ny are the men who would turn pale at the thought 
 of murder, but who nevertheless can find full scope 
 for malice in inflicting death upon a neighbor's or 
 a brother's name. Many are the characters, both. 
 male and femalp^ who bless their own souls; and 
 
d24i "JPhe Judgment of €atn. 
 
 perbaps their maker too, that they never were even 
 tempted to do a deed of violence; but who neverthe- 
 less remorselessly, habitually, almost daily, act a 
 part uot less atrocious than that of the murderer 
 Caio. Earth drank up Abel's blood, when it flow- 
 ed by the murderer's hand; but tliey, when their 
 hands have opened the fatal sluice, themselves 
 drink up the spirit. The club of Cain was wielded 
 in the frenzy of his malice, and despatched his vie- 
 tim at a blow; but they can scatter "firebrands, ar- 
 rows and death," through protracted periods, at in- 
 numerable times. The martyred Abel speedily 
 fell asleep, and was beyond the reach of suffering; 
 but their victims may drag out a miserable exist- 
 ence, distressed in their families, embarrassed in 
 their affairs, distracted in their feelings, with the 
 current of the life's blood rushing madly through 
 their veins, but sluiced of the spirit that had regu- 
 lated all. O, let these assassins and murdressess 
 understand that the judge of miscreant Cain has not 
 yet left the earth! that the failing spirit, like the 
 blood of Abel, cries to the God of vengeance! And 
 that he who in his scriptures has classed whisper- 
 ers and backbiters with persons alienate from God, 
 has already named their punishment: *^sharp ar- 
 rows of the mighty, with coals of juniper." 
 
 Again: Let all sinners against God consider 
 how their enmity against himself is nourished and 
 
yie Judgment of Cain. 3g5 
 
 augmented by preservance in works of wickedness* 
 It must have been long ere this man became so 
 darkened in his understanding, and benumbed in 
 conscience, as to be rendered totally insensible of 
 his need of the Divine forgiveness. And even on 
 that morning when he had stupidly and thought^ 
 lessly brought his thank-offering to the altar with- 
 out any accompanying acknowledgement of sin, lit- 
 tie did he imagine that his heart was capaole of 
 harboring contempt of God or hatred toward hig 
 brother. But the disappointment he experienced 
 wounded his pride; and then, though convinceti^ 
 he would not confess his sin. This refusal to 
 humble himself prepared him to reject the proffer- 
 ed pardon through the oblation of the Saviour. 
 And as the wilful and pertinacious rejection of sal- 
 vation cut him off from hope; it was natural tliat 
 the heart should imbibe hatred against him from 
 whom he looked for judgment without mercy. 
 And then, when once the conscience becomes com- 
 pletely severed from the throne of God, man is ren- 
 dered but another name for fiend; his spirit is but a 
 devil encased in mortal flesh. Let not mortals then 
 imagine that like Cain they may neglect tiic ^^ono 
 mediator," and yet retain their sentiments of rcs^ 
 pect for God. If that blood of the covenant does 
 not give them peace, it will infalliby prove f)^th 
 the occasion and the mean of determined hostility 
 to every thing that is most sacred. 
 
^S Vie Judgment of Cain. 
 
 Finally: Let the alienate from grace, wbo sufiPere 
 like flaurderous Cain, discern the God of vengeance. 
 When he tilled the ground, she did not yield to 
 him her strength: he was a ^^fugitive and a vaga- 
 bond," unprospered and unblessed.— *How often 
 since the day in which Cain groaned under this 
 penalty, have other sons of Adam waged the same 
 mad warfare, till borne down and crushed by the 
 €ame ponderous arm! Let no man dare to repeat 
 the mad experiment. All hearts, all elements, all 
 events of every kind, are in the hand of God, 
 And iihis sentence once press thee as it pressed the 
 stubborn Cain — if he Curse thy basket, or withhold 
 a blessing from thy store — all wisdom is vain, and 
 vain will be every effort. Genius, industry, repu- 
 tation, every thing that guaranteed your success in 
 life, wither beneath the curse; or if they continue 
 in their vigor, still they produce no fruit. In vain 
 do you place your reliance on a thousand promis- 
 ing influences; in vain does a proud heart fret. 
 "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera:'^ 
 the stars in their courses fight also against thee. 
 
 Down, then, with thine arms, rebellious creature, 
 and God will give thee life. If thou doest well, 
 thou shalt yet be accepted; and a sin-offering is 
 provided for all that thou hast done. Down witli 
 thine arms, thou haughty son of Cain, and be a 
 rasrabond no more. We announce to thee a sacri- 
 
The Judgment of Cain, 327 
 
 fice in which Abel placed his confidence; and he 
 was accepted, and is blessed. Proud spirited Cain 
 refused to trust the offering; and he wandered far 
 from home, and he perished without hope. Down 
 with thine arms, and be happy in this world: take 
 up the cross of Cluist; and be blessed in that to 
 come. Amen. 
 
(Q^TIie errat(a in this volume are so few and of so 
 little impcjrtance that a hsi of them is deemed needless. 
 There has been but one ot any consequence noticed, (n 
 page 38, line 8th from the top, after the words «<you stood*' 
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