ATONEMENT; IN WHICH THE FINITE NATURE OF SIN IS ARGUED, ATONEMENT; AND ITS GLORIOUS CONSEQUENCES, IN THE FINAL RECONCILIATION OF ALL MEN TO HOLINESS AND HAPPINESS. BY HOSEA BALLOU, OF BARNARD; Ordained Pastor of the UNITED SOCIETIES of Barnard, Woodstock, Hartland, Bethel and Bridgewater. AUTHOR OF A PAMPHLET, ENTITLED "Notes on the Parables of the New Testament." "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." St. Paul. "And there shall be no more death, St. John. BENNINGTON, VERMONT,' PRINTED FOR EBENEZER WALBRIDGE, BY WILLIAM HASWELL. 1811. で A A LETTER TO THE READER. CHRISTIAN READER, I KNOW it is frequently the case, when a person takes a new work in hand, he first casts his eye over the title page, and it he finds no word in it that indicates perverse sentiments; and the name, or denomination, of the author is agreeable, he may think of having patience to read it; but, being something in a hurry, passes slightly over the preface, supposing it to be of little consequence. But what sensations may have struck your mind, in reading the title of this Book, and finding it to be the intention of the author to prove the doctrine of universal holiness and happinest, through the mediation and power of atoning grace, I cannot say; however, I would invite you to read, with candor and attention, not only this letter, but the whole of the work, and make up your judgment afterwards. Many circumstance might be mentioned, which, in their association, have induced me to write and publish the following treat ; but I can say, with propriety, that the central object was that, in which I always find the most happiness, viz. to do what I find most necessary, in order to render myself most useful to mankind. I have, from my early youth, been much in the habit of inquiring into the things of religion, and religious sentiments; and have, for a number of years, seen, or thought I saw, great inconsistencies, in what has, for a long time, passed for orthodoxy in divinity. The ideas, that sin is infinite, and that it deserves an infinite punishment; that the law transgressed is infibite, and inflicts an infinite penalty; and that the great |