racter. But all punishment, either productive of good, or preventive of evil, must be limited in its nature; for it is succeeded by the good done, or by the absence of the evil prevented, which is equally good; because the prevention of evil is good.

The selling of Joseph, by his wicked brethren, was wisely ordered by HIM who meant it unto good, and therefore necessary to keep much people alive. The keeping much people alive was the good done. And the destruction of that very people, who were thus kept alive, was the evil prevented. So the most afflictive dispensations in divine providence, we are often brought to see, are nothing more than blessings in disguise. Good old Jacob was led to say, "All these things are against me!" Yet how comfortable was the evening or close of his life made by that very son whom he thought had been torn in pieces by wild beasts. And shall we one day hear our spiritual Joseph, even JESUS, say, not only to us, but to all his brethren, as sinners, "I am Jesus, whom ye, by your sins, have often crucified afresh, and put to an open shame; but now be not angry nor grieved with yourselves that ye did it, for ye indeed meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good, even your salvation, for I have died that ye might live?" Yes, methinks, this will be the language of Jesus to every ransomed soul. O, what emotions of mingled joy and sorrow, gratitude and grief, must fill every heart, when they thus behold their Redeemer, and thus shall hear the melting words of eternal truth! Sorrow and grief, to think they have been guilty of sinning against the best of Beings, or that they should ever have performed acts so unworthy of him, or of them, as his children; for sinning against the messenger of God, is sinning against God himself; and at the same time overwhelmed with joy and gratitude, to think that his wisdom, his goodness, and his gracious designs towards them, had been neither altered nor changed by their evil dispositions!

All our confidence in the Deity rests in our firm belief in his immutability. Did we believe him changeable. or even capable of changing, we could not place unlimited

confidence in him. But believing, as we do, in his immutability, that with him there is no variableness, or even shadow of turning," whatever he has promised, we feel sure will be performed. "It is impossible for God to lie." (Heb. vi. 18.) It is on this ground that we place confidence in man: and hence our confidence in our fellow beings is only in proportion to the evidence we have of their firmness and stability; and also of its being in their power to carry their good intentions into effect.

Now, if there be any of the human race, to whom God is not love, for whom he has no thoughts of mercy, and who are not included in the covenant or purposes of his grace, how is it possible, in the very nature of things, that we should place full and unlimited confidence in him, as being love, or possessing any thoughts of mercy towards us? If there be but one individual of the human family, who is in this predicament, I may be, for aught I can know to the contrary, that very individual.

But perhaps it may be said, there is evidence by which the elect may be assured that they belong to this happy number, and are appointed to obtain salvation. But I may be permitted to ask, in my turn, if there be such a contradiction in the character of God, on what evidence can I rely?

I will suppose that you are under the dominion of a king, whose laws, you know that not only you, but that all the rest of his subjects, have transgressed; and you also know, notwithstanding there is much said about his sovereign and all-conquering grace, that he has predetermined to bestow that grace only on a very few, and that all the remainder are consigned over to irremediable wo and misery; would you, in such a case, be satisfied with any evidence, as coming from him, that he meant to do any better by you? I think not.

The objector may still say, as an apology for the character of this king, that he has promised to forgive all who repent and turn to perfect obedience: the subjects, therefore, have only to repent, and return to their allegiance, and he will certainly forgive them; for the king

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is faithful to forgive all who shall faithfully repent. But here, in answer, the same difficulty again occurs; it is the goodness of the king, and nothing short of a manifestation of that goodness to the subject, which can lead him to repentance: short of this, he has no power to repent: and the king, inasmuch as he has predetermined that some should not be forgiven, so he has determined to withhold that goodness from them, which alone can lead them to such a repentance as he will accept. Here, again, we are brought up!

It is perfectly clear to my mind, and, from what has been already stated, I think it must be pretty clear to all within the sound of my voice, or who shall hereafter read these lectures, that every scheme of divinity which limits the plan of divine grace to a part of mankind, or admits into its system the idea that God is not equally good to all his creatures, (taking into consideration their different degrees of capacity,) is founded wholly on a mistaken notion of the nature and character of God: and his purpose, in showing no mercy to those whom they are pleased to call the finally impenitent, (a character, however, of which we have no account in the scriptures,) may be traced to a principle the most base and malevolent of which the human mind can form the least conception. And did the authors of such systems believe that God would in fact deal with all men, as, according to their hypothesis, it must be supposed he will and does deal with some, would they be able to discover one good principle in him? No, I am sure they could not. And notwithstanding their blinded and deluded followers (as I must think them to be) sometimes have the audacity or the vanity to tell God that his throne would have been for ever guiltless, if he had left all mankind to perish! Yea, more, if he had made them all as wretched as they believe he will make some, i. e. endlessly miserable! yet, I must be permitted to think that if they believed this would be the case with themselves, and should realize for one moment its awful truth, they would think God to be verily and infinitely the worst of all beings! None of the gods of the heathens, not even Baal or Moloch,

were ever thought to require such cruelty. The Moloch of the heathens, whose image for a time was set up by the Jews, in Tophet, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they made their innocent infants to pass through the fire, could be fully satisfied, as they supposed, with the momentary sufferings of these innocent victims: but the Moloch of the Christians requires the misery of millions in another world: yea, more, when they have suffered ever so long, for millions and millions of years, his wrath is no nearer appeased! He still requires just as much misery as ever!!!

O, ye blinded Christians! Say not that I have misrepresented the character of the Being ye profess to worship. It is but the echo and counterpart of your own preachers; only put in little different language.

But I will dwell upon this horrible picture no longer, i. e. at present; and if any thing has been said which is thought to savour of a want of friendship towards any class of people, I can assure them that no such thing has been intended. I do really believe that the creeds of men, still followed by a large majority of the Christian world, contain within themselves fundamental errors; and it is only for the sake of undeceiving those who have been deceived by them, that I use this great plainness of speech. I say, followed, rather than believed; for there are many who follow those creeds, and aid in supporting the abettors of them, because they are popular, or from some other cause, best known to themselves, of whose understandings I have too good an opinion to suppose they believe them.

He who is brought to know God as he is, i. e. views his character through a correct medium, always beholds him in the same lovely, amiable, and propitious light. He considers him a fountain, yea, an exhaustless fountain, of immutable and eternal goodness; communicating at all times the greatest possible good to all his creatures. Seeing the end of all things, and at all times, from the beginning; not being subject to any contingency or disappointment. Whatever his goodness dictates, his wisdom deviseth the plan, and his power carrieth the

same into full and complete effect. In him, power never degenerates into weakness, wisdom into craft, justice into unreasonable severity, nor mercy into cruelty. But all his attributes, flowing from his own eternal and immutable nature, LOVE, concentrate in the best good of all his creatures. If his children go astray, he corrects them in loving kindness and faithfulness; and all his chastisements are dealt out according to the multitude of his tender mercies, like as a father correcting a son whom he loveth. Although he sometimes deals out judgment without mercy to those who have shown no mercy; yet, in the end, mercy always rejoiceth against judgment. He doth not always chide; because he delighteth in mercy; nor does he keep anger for ever, lest the spirits should fail before him and the souls which he hath made. He is the same nature to all; as he is the same God to all. stands in the same relation to all beings of the same nature; and a change of the nature of a being would be the change of being. Hence, man would be no longer man, if his nature were changed. And so sure as man is man, God must have had the same gracious design in the creation of all men, that he had in the creation of any; and, being perfect, he can neither revoke nor alter his gracious and glorious purpose. Having all means at his command to effect his infinite designs, he has arranged them all in the best possible manner, and each will be brought into operation in the best possible time. So it is as possible for God to cease to exist, or cease to be what he is-LOVE-as for one of his purposes to fail.

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O how happy! how inexpressibly happy! are all those, who can look up with faith and confidence to such a Being! He is the source to which they flee in every time of distress: not, as to an ideal or imaginary being, who has no power to save, but as to a kind and affectionate Father. Does fortune frown, and pale adversity stare the humble believer in the face, he can look to the Giver of every good to alleviate his wants, to mitigate his sorrows, or otherwise (what may be of equal value) to give him fortitude under sufferings. If abundance flows into the lap of plenty, and nature itself seems to smile upon