find that considération the strongest obligation on them to love him again, and to obey his will; by the same rule, if all the individuals of the whole human race, were to believe that God loved each one of them, would not the same cause produce the same effect? And if so, can this be charged as a licentious doctrine, which is expressly grounded upon a cause which powerfully operates to produce holiness? Is there any thing like argument in this reasoning: I know that God loves me, and seeks to do me good; therefore, I must hate him. What should we think of a woman who should leave her husband, and do all in her power against him, and should be able to give no better reason for it than the following: My husband loves me, and I know it, and he has always loved me, and always will; and therefore I am determined to hate, ridicule, despise, and contemn him, and have left him for this very cause, and am determined never to love or obey him more; Bad as human nature is, I question whether such instances often occur. We commonly say, that love begets love: "We love bim because he first loved us ;" says the Apostle, John, iv. 19. Therefore, the doctrine of God's universal benevolence, cannot lead to licentiousness, in any light in which it can be viewed; for, if he really loves us, he will do all in his power to bring us to love him again, and to be like him; and I am sure the consideration of his love to us, gocs as far as moral suasion can go, to induce us to love him again, nay, the belief of it is acknowledged to be one of the strongest motives to obedience; and the love of Gon, shed abroad in the heart, produces the best effects, and is the most powerful principle, and spring, of good and virtuous actions, that we are acquainted with. This being a first principle, from which the universal Restoration is concluded, we are happy to find, that "GOD' is love:" and that he "so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life

For, Gop sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world, through him might be saved." See 1 John, iv. 16. St. John, iii, 16, 17. But it is not so much my business now to shew, that the sentiment is scriptural, as to shew that it is not of a dangerous tendency. The following words, however, are so beautiful, that I take the liberty to men, tion them but thou hast mercy upon all; for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men, be: cause they should amend. For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made; for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it. And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will; or been preserved, if not called by thee? But thon sparest all; for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls, For thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things: Therefore chasteneth thou them, by little and little, that offend, and warnest them, by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that leaving their wickedness, they may believe on thee, O LORD. For thy power is the beginning of righteousness; and because thou art the LORD of all, it maketh thee to be gracious unto all. But thou, O God, art gracious and true; long suffering, and in mercy ordering all things, For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy power; but we will not sin, knowing that we are counted thine :” Wisdom of Solomon, xi. 23, 26. xii. 1, 2, 16. xv. 1, 2. "JEHOVAH is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. JEHOVAH is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O JEHOVAH ; and thy saints shall bless thee," Psal. cxlv. 8, 9, 10..

3. Another great principle upon which the Restoration depends, is, that CHRIST died for all; "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he, by the grace of GoD, should taste death for every man." (or ALL.) Heb. ii, 2." If any

man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 Jolin, ii. 1, 2. For there is one GoD, and one Mediator between Gop and men, the Man CHRIST JESUS; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6.

Ineed not multiply passages to prove that Christ died for all; for though the universality of His death is not expressly asserted, in every text where it is mentioned that he died, it must always be understood; because it is never denied in any place, and is plainly, and pointedly declared in those which I have quoted: And, besides, it is evident that in the apostles time, the universality of the death of Christ was a first principle, universally acknowledged, and therefore, St. Paul reasons from it as such; which it would have been highly preposterous for him to do, if that had not been the case: As, for example, "For the love of ·Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all," (which is not disputed by an, & which we know to be a truth) then were all dead: And that he died for all; that they who live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that. died for them, and rose again," 2. Corinthians, v. 14,

15.

1

Friend. But have you never board it argued that Christ did not die for all, because he did not pray for all?

Minister. I remember, when a lad, I was sent to a neighbor's house, and overheard the good man, the master of the family, read in a book, after this manner: "Christ did not die for all, because he did not pray for all, I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou given me, for they are thine. St. John, xvii. 9. And I then thought the argument conclusive! But I am now at a loss whether the author of that bock meant to deceive his readers; or, whether he had never read the chapter through crit

ically: For had he read the 20th verse, he would have found these words, which would have overthrown his hypothesis:"Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also, who shall believe on me though their word." If Christ had prayed for all, in the 9th verse, for whom he died, he could not have enlarged his prayer so much in the 20th verse, as to take in not them only, but all who should believe on him through their word: Neither does he stop here, but goes on to pray for those that believe in these words: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee that they also may be one in us:" And why is all this unity prayed for among unbelievers? Surely, it hath never been accomplished; bnt it shall be, for this great and admirable purpose; viz. "That the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me," v. 21, 22, 23.

Friend. But when shall the world believe, and know that Christ is the Sent of God?

Minister. When all that believe shall be one, as the Father and the Son are one: When the great marriage of the Lamb shall be celebrated, and his Bride shall be one, in the bond of universal love and fellowship, as the Father and Son now are: When the Church shall be perfected in one; shall dwell in love, and dwell in God, as the Father dwells in the Son, and the Son in the Father: When Zion's watchmen shall see eye to eye: When all believers shall speak the same thing; when there shall be no more divisions among them when they shall be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judg

ment.

This was the state that St Paul besought the Corjathians to press after, and wished them to attain ; bizt

the had the mortification to see them fall short of it, as all the Christian churches have, from that day to this. But when Christ shall give that glory and honour to his Bride, which the Father gave to him, and shall thus unite her to himself, in an indissoluble union, and the several members of his body the Church, shall be as much united one to another, as the mem#bers of the natural body are; or, to express it in his own words, "As thou, Father, art in me, & I in thee," When thus the Church shall be one, in spirit, love, design, judgment, &c. as the Father and Son are; then shall the world believe, and believing, have life; then shall the world know him, whom to know is life eter'nal: See verses 2 and 3. But as this great cause has never yet existed, the effect has not yet followed ; but when the first shall be, the last shall take place in consequence.

The petitions in that most excellent prayer, that may, with great propriety, be called the LORD's prayer, may be divided into four classes: 1. For himself, verses 1st and 5th: 2. For his apostles, 9, 19 : 3. For them that should believe, through their word, 20, 21, 22, 23: And 4. For the world, verses 21, 23: as I have just observed, and need not add any more upon so plain a matter.

Friend. Proceed. if you please, to shew, that the docfrine of the universality of the death of Christ does not lead to licentiousness.

Minister. It is evident that it doth not; but on the contrary, it is the strongest motive to all who believe it, to love and live to him who died for them, and rose again: We are not our own, but are bought with a price; therefore, we are exhorted not to be the servants of sin, slaves to our passions, and servants to men; but to glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are his; and the apostle beseeches us, by the mercies of God, to present our bodies a living sacri fize, holy, acceptable unto God; which is our reason. able service. Forasmuch, as we know that we were