For we know that the whole creation groaneth together, and travelleth together until now; and not only they, but even we ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body.

A late good author, whom we will call B. remarks with a generous frankness upon this passage as follows: verse 19. The earnest expectation. The "words denote a lively hope of something drawing near, and a vehement longing after it. Of the creation....of all visible creatures (believers excepted, who are spoken of apart) each kind according as it is capable. All these have been sufferers through sin, and to all these shall refreshment redound from the glory of the children of God. Upright heathens are by no means excluded: no, nor the vainest of men, who (although in the hurry of life they mistake vanity for liberty, and partly stifle, partly dissemble their groans, yet) in their sober, quiet, sleepless, afflicted hours, pour forth many sighs in the ear of God. Verse 21. Shall be delivered. Destruction is not deliverance."

Mr. B. here, by the whole creation mentioned of the Apostle in this passage as subject to vanity, and groaning together for deliverance, understands" all visible creatures who are unbelievers;" for, says he, "the believers are ex

cepted, and spoken of apart :" and whereas the whole creation so groaning, according to the Apostle's words, verse 21. shall be delivered.

Mr. B. must mean that all the visible creatures who are now unbelievers shall be delivered, even the vainest of men. We make no doubt that Mr. B. will acknowledge, that all unbelievers shall die, perish, be destroyed; because we can no otherwise believe the scriptures. But he says farther, that "destruction is not deliverance;" therefore, according to him, the whole creation of unbelievers must be both destroyed and delivered. And because Mr. B. cannot suppose that the whole creation of unbelievers shall first be delivered, and afterwards destroyed, he must mean that the whole creation of unbelievers shall first be destroyed, and after that delivered; as has been already observed on a passage of Sophocles, see page 46, the wicked soul (sothesetai) shall be recovered, after that (apoleto) it has been destroyed. According to Mr. B. therefore, destruction and delivery infallibly awaiting all the unbelieving, visible creation, the one, namely, destruction, shall be the doom, the other, namely, deliverance, the recovery of all visible creatures who are unbelievers. Now a type of this our destruction and deliverance, we have daily before

our eyes in the bodies of our fellow-creatures, who all die and corrupt, in order to revive again into an higher kind of life.

Let us, then, satisfy ourselves, that as Christ is the restorer of the world, the world must finally be restored...that as he has solemnly promised to draw all men unto him, all men must finally come unto him...that as he enlightens every man that cometh into the world, every man that cometh into the world must finally be a child of light; (for this light so given must have an end worthy the kind giver;) and that as he died for the sins of the whole world, and in so dying tasted death for every man, the sins of the whole world are atoned for, and the benefit of his tasted death must finally reach every man.

I presume it must be granted, that Christ would never have undertaken the painful task of restoring the human race to the favour of God and permanent happiness, if he had not ardently wished, and positively designed to persevere in the use of adequate means to accomplish his gracious purpose. And as he assures us that he was invested with all the power in Heaven and upon earth, Mat. xxviii. 18. we may rest assured that he is both able and willing to draw all men unto him, John xii. 32. The im

portant business which Christ was afterwards sent to accomplish, was foretold by the prophet Daniel near 538 years before he appeared on earth, which was, to finish transgression....to make an end of sins....to make reconciliation for iniquity....and bring in everlasting righteousness. Daniel ix. 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy City, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophesy, and to anoint the most holy. Upon this text Mr. Poole makes the following comment, viz.

First, Note....the angel discovers first the dis ease, in three words, Peshang, Gnavon, Chata oth, which contains all sorts of sin which the Messiah should free us from by his full redemption. See Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7. Mat. i. 21. viz. original, actual, of ignorance, presumption, &c.

Secondly, The angel shews us also the cure of this disease, in three words, le callee, le cha. tam, le capper. 1. To finish transgression. 2. To make an end of sin. 3. To make reconciliation. All which words are very significant in the original, and signify to pardon, to blot out, mortify, expiate; that is, to bring in justifica

tion by the free grace of God in Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness, Isa. liii. 6. Jer. 23. 6. and xxxiii. 16. 1 Cor. i. 30. Called everlasting because Christ is eternal, and he and his righteousness is everlasting. If all this be true, how egregiously are the Partialists mistaken, who obstinately persist in affirming, that Christ will never either finish transgression, or make an end of sin! For if sinners are to be confined in hell eternally, cursing and blaspheming the name of him who created them for this very purpose, he having, as they suppose, sentenced them to perdition by an eternal decree of reprobation, prior to their existence. How, then, is it possible that Christ should fulfil the prophet Daniel's prediction, i. e. that he should finish transgression, and make an end of sins! Nay, to put the matter past all dispute, many of them have laboured to prove sin to be infinite, and it is evident that whatever is infinite, can never be brought to an end or terminated, as the natural and grammatical meaning of the word infinite signifies endless duration.

If the doctrines of the Partialists are true, then the Prophets and Apostles, and even Christ himself, were greatly to blame for promising that he should perform impossibilities, and do many things which they affirm he neither ever wished