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lefs, but endure for ages, with some even for the age of ages, or the for ever and ever.

Though I have already exceeded in the length of this letter, yet I can not conclude it without giving place to fome reflections fuggefted by the review of the portions of fcripture referred to above, and many others of the fame nature, the particular enumeration of which would be tedious, and protract this epiftolary correfpondence to an undue length. When we advert to the various renderings given, in our verfion of the Old and New Teftament, of the fame plain original terms, the meaning of which is fufficiently fixed in fcripture, we cannot help wondering. Would any human author exprefs himself in fuch equivocal terms, did the language in which he wrote admit of it, in a matter the mifunderstanding of which would be productive of danger and lofs, as our tranflatien of the fcriptures puts in the mouth of the Holy Spirit? Neither our own language, nor any other, fo far as I know, affords an inftance of any word capable of fuch divers and oppofite meanings. The Chinese language is faid to abound fo much in vocables, that they have no fewer than 500 words to denote the lion; but then these are always appropriate to one object in nature. But the fame original terms and phrafes are made to affume, Proteous like, a great variety of different shapes in our language, that entirely divert the reader's mind from their plain, primary, and fixed meaning, and suggest ideas quite different, and even oppofite thereto.

But can we fuppofe the Holy Spirit, who seeks the edification of men, and leads the blind in a plain path, would use terms capable of fuch various and very different renderings, tho' human language could admit of it, and, confequently, fo exceedingly vague and indifcriminate in their import, as to bear almoft any meaning, however oppofite, or indeed no meaning at all, whence they are fometimes paffed over in our tranflation in filence, as deftitute of any figni fication, or wrapt up in a circumlocution? To fuppofe fuch a thing, would be to refle& highly on the inspiration of the fcriptures, and to diveft them of all authority, as an unerring rule of faith and conduct; thus making them, even by the authority of the Spirit, a kind of nofe of wax, which every one, by the aid of fuch vague terms and phrafes, may form and fashion at pleasure. If men would confider this, they would not be fo ready to condemn the guiltless, for endeavouring to remove tumbling blocks, upon which many have fallen. It was deemed a crime of old to lay a ftumbling block before the blind. Can it be do ing God fervice, to contend earnestly for the words of men, and the meaning they have thought proper to annex to them, and to cenfure with feverity, and condemn every attempt to bring the words of the Holy Spirit from the obfcurity with which they are veiled by mere human gloffes. If in this attempt I, and others, to whom I am unworthy to be compared, have done evil, let them bear witness against the evil; but if well, why fhould they reproach us with the fcourge of an unbridled tongue ?

The words which God uses are, as we might expect, fixed and uniform in their meaning, and admirably ferve to express his own wisdom, and correfpond to the meafures of his adminiftration; whereas thofe which men have fubftituted in their place, unhappily ferve to obfcure both the one and the other. He that

is of God, heareth God's words; and do not my words do good, faith he, to him that walketh uprightly? John viii. 47. Mic. ii. 7. But tho' the canonized words of men tend often to mislead, and to give wrong views of the divine administration; yet, favouring of the wifdom of the world, and befriending the ruling paffions of the human heart, these gloffes of fcripture to which they give rife, and by which the word of God is made of none effect, and in too many inftances, of bad effect, find their zealous advocates in every age, to too many of whom, profeffors not excepted, the wisdom of God appears foolishnefs. It is wife and juft in him to hide the wildom of his word from these wife and prudent judges, and to reveal them to babes, Mat. xi. 25. David says, "Concerning the works of men, by the words of thy lips, I have kept me from the paths of the deftroyer," Píal. xvij. 4. and the prophet, "Cease ye from man," lfa. ii. 22. The pure words of God, which have not been perverted, by paffing through a human furnace, are the fharp two-edged fword of the Spirit, which he has appointed for the use of his fervants who muft not keep it back in the day of battle; for there is no fword like it, whether for attack or defence, and that all fuch fhall know, one time or other, who prefume to repel it, or turn away its edge.

On fuch a subject,

Did men duly weigh the above plain remarks, they would foon filence their clamours, and unchristian cenfures, and lead them to acknowledge, that the darkness is in themselves, and in the words without knowledge, that are too often employed to exprefs the counfels of heaven, but by which they are not fel dom darkened; and not in the chafte language of the Holy Spirit,. by which these counfels are clearly expreffed in the word of truth. The work and reward of correcting fuch mistakes and errors are with God, and the judgment to be paffed on fuch work and its authors, is furely with the Lord, Ifa. xlix. 4. and therefore let the word of the kingdom, to which every appeal, in fuch cafes, fhould be made, and not the opinions and gloffes of men, now determine every religious controversy; for every servant of Chrift is fet for the defence, not of thefe, but of his holy fcriptures.

That attempts to benefit mankind fhould be requited with odious epithets and dread anathemas, tho' strange, is no new thing; for" if they have called the Mafter of the house," who spake and acted as never man did, "Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household," Mat. x. 26. The Jews fo far from recognizing Jefus as the God of Ifrael, and the Saviour of the world, they called him, in derifion, the god of flies, which is the literal meaning of the term Beelzebub. Such was the treatment he received from the greatest profeffors, in the then exifting church, whether of the priesthood or people.Let none,then be surprised, as if any ftrange thing befel them, fhould their at tempts to serve their Lord and Mafter procure them the odious title of the fervants of the god of flies, or the fervants of the devil, and that from the greatest profeffors, who are ever but too ready to judge their brethren and their works before the time, and that by another rule than the word of life; for fo períe. cuted their fathers the prophets, Chrift himself, and his apoftles, and yet thought they did God an excellent fervice. They that would ferve God with their fpirit, in the gofpel of his Son, and please their fellow men only for their

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profit, that they may become partakers of truth and holiness, muft lay their account to bear, in the fift inftance, the misconftruction of their words and actions, and the condemnation of their views and conduct. This has been the manner from the beginning, and let none ftumble at the word on its accountMay the Lord haften the happy time when there shall be nothing to hurt ftroy in all his holy mountain, and when the light of the moon fhall be as the light of the fun, and the light of the fun as the concentrated light of seven days! Mean time, let our moderation be known to all men ; for the Lord is at hand

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Yours cordially, &c.

LETTER XI.

Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? He that is of God, beareth God's words. Whofoever therefore fhall be afhamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and finful generation, of him also fhall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father. Thus faith the Lord, concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him; therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have

vifion, and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine, and the fun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.-Mic. ii. 7. John viii. 47. Mark viii. 38. Mic. iii. 5, 6.

DEAR SIR,

SOLOMON connects an over-rating opinion of our own wifdom with an indo lent difpofition."The fluggard is w fer in his own conceit, than feven men that can render a reafon," Prov. xxvi. 16. Those who pay undue deference to human authority in matters of religion, whofe ftock of religious knowledge is acquired, without the trouble examining for themselves, and who are content with taking a fuperficial view of the one fide of a question, in order to make up their mind upon it, fall under the character of Solomon's fluggard; for these are ever pofitive in their own opinion, and treat that of others with fupercilious contempt. The fame wife man faith, "He that aufwereth a matter before he heareth i', it is folly and fhame unto him," Prov.-xviii. 13. Foolish and fhameful as this conduct is, it is too prevalent in the world.

That doctrine, be what it will, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets fince the world began, muft occupy a principal part of the facred volume. It is natural to expect to find it there, and a duty to fearch for it. Peter tells us, that this doctrine is the reflitution, or final reftoration of all things, Acts iii. 21. He directs our attention to the great agent in this glori. cus work, the Lord Jefus, and to times or periods after his appearance in hig glorified humanity, as the era fixed in the divine purpofe for ita accomplishment The use of the word in feripture, from which the term rendered reftitution, is

derived, may give us fome idea of its meaning. The evangelists use it when relating the cure wrought on the poor man in the fynagogue, by which his withered hand is faid to be reflored whole as the other; alfo for the perfect recovery of fight, Mat. xii. 13. Mark iii. 5.-viii. 25. Luke vi. 10. This intimates such a change as fhall recover the subjects of it to a capacity of answering the ends of their existence, as in their former or original ftate: "His hand was restored whole as the other." He put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was reftored, and faw every man clearly. The farther ufe of it in the New Teftament, teaches us that this change is to be of a moral ature, and to be effected by means fitted to operate on moral agents. It is applied to the grand object of John's miniftry, and the reformation produced by his preaching, Mat. xvii. 11. Mark ix. 12. The nature of this reformation is defcribed, Luke i. 16, 17. ;-by turning many of the children of Ifrael to the Lord their God;-by turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the juft: To make ready a people prepared for the Lord. In the paffage from which this is quoted, the Seventy makes ufe of the verb rendered to reftore, from which the term in queftion is derived. This fhews that the restoration of all things is to relate to moral agents, and to be accomplished by the miniftry of the gofpel, accompanied by the powerful agency of the Holy Spirit. And from the use of the term, A&ts i. 6. it seems also to import the recovery of loft dominion or authority; "Lord, wilt thou at this time refore again the kingdom to Ifrael?" Elias or John the Baptift may be said to have reftored all things, because he had the honour to introduce that difpenfation, which shall terminate in, and with the final reftitution or restoration of all things, Mark x. 2. This will reftore light to the understanding, and life, love, and purity to the heart, whence fhall flow perfect re&itude of conduct, and the trueft happiness.

From the benefit of fuch a change, why fhould we exclude any beings that truly need it, and are capable of it, if the word of God do not urge to that exclufion? There we are told, that "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand, John iii. 35. The fame truth is elsewhere expreffed, and the word of God is not filent as to the purpose for which all things were given into Chrift's hand. We are told that he gave his life a ransom for all Tim. ii. 6. that he will have all men to be faved and come to the knowledge of the truth; and that he is the one Mediator between God and men, even al for whom he gave his life a ranfom, and will have to be faved." It pleafed the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven," Col. i. 19, 20. In the difpenfation of the fulness of times, which is diftinct from the prefent difpenfation, the Father is to gather together in one all things in Chrift, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, or to rally and reduce them under him as their common head, Eph. i. 10. He is the Saviour of all men, 1 Tim. iv. 10. ; is appointed heir of all things, Heb. i. 2 who, as the fecond Adam, was made a quickening spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45%; the Son quickeneth whom he will, John v. 21.; even as the Father who quick eneth all things, 1 Tim. vi. 13. or gives them life. He will fubdue all things to himfelf-inherit all nations-deliver the whole creation from the bondage of

corruption to the glorious liberty of God's children-reftore all things; and make all things new. Let us hear his own words; "all that the Father giveth me fhall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wife caft out," John vi. 37. Compare this with chapter iii. 35. Here we have the firm bafis of the final reftoration of all things; the Father has given them to the Son, the Son promises that they hall come to him, and that he will in no wise cast any of them out. How plain and conclufive the argument! Would it not be furprising, that the Spirit of God fhould ufe the general phraf all things, in these and many other inftances, if he meant only a very few things?*«The Lord," fays Peter, "is not willing that any should perifh,

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* The whole art of maintaining the common doctrine depends on the address discovered in explaining away the univerfal term all, and phrase all things. fo as to make them intend only a very few things. Without this addrefs, that doctrine muft fall to the ground. A fecond extract, from a fermon already referred to in thefe letters, places this matter, in the writer's opinion, in a very clear light.- -We must not difpute the truth of this declaration, "Chrift Jefus gave himfelf a ransom for all, to be teftified in due time, because he had before faid, Chrift loved the church, and gave himself for it.” Some will perhaps fay, that if they fhould find in the apoftle's writings, that Chrift died for all, and tafted death for every man; that even in that case they would not believe that he died for any more than his elect; because the word all is frequently limited. But why muft it be fo here? Only because it is contrary to your fyftem and way of thinking. By the fame rule that you will contend, that the word all is limited in these texts; others will limit it in other paffages, and fome will limit it here, and others there, till C every truth of the Bible is evaded. The word all, is never used in a limited fenfe in the fcriptures, where there is any danger of being led aftray by the use of it: there is alway fomething in the context, or in the nature of the thing, or in fome other paffage, by which we may certainly tell in what fenfe the word is used.

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But in this cafe, what is there in the nature of things, that forbids the idea of Chrift's dying * for all, if he pleased, and he could die for all, as easily as for one, or a few. This reafonable argument is fufficient to convince any perfon, that he died for all, unless the scriptures declare the contrary; and if they do, let the paffage be pointed out, and I have done. But after many public and private challenges to produce one, that declares, he did not die for all, none has been found. If the word all was ambiguous in itself, Paul, by defining the extent of it, and letting us know in what fenfe he used it, has reduced it to a certainty. Thou hast put all things in fubjection under his feet: For in that he put all in fubjection 'under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we fee not yet all things put ' under him, Heb. ii. 8. Here he lays down the rule by which we must understand him in his writings, when speaking of these great matters. It is evident that he uses the word all mathematically; as the whole, confifting of, and being equal to all the parts. Now, fhould Paul ufe

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the expreffion all things in a limited fenfe, after telling us that nothing could be left out where all things were include, without letting us know in the context that he used the word all in an improper or limited fenfe, what must we think of his character, either as a divine or a logician?

He mentions the fame uriverfal subjection in 1 Cor. xv. 27.; but there he exprefsly makes one exception to the rule, and by making that one, which must be felf-evident, he hath for ever put it out of our power to make another. "For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he faith, all things are put under him, it manifeft that be is excepted who did put all things under him." That is, God the Father is excepted, and he alone; nothing else in heaven above, nor on the earth beneath, nor throughout the vaft dominion of Jehovah..

The Apoftle, with this rule immediately in his view, directly afferts, that tho' we do not yet fee all things put under bim, that is, brought into a willing fubjection to him; (for in every other fenfe they are now put under him): “But we fee Jefus, who was made a little lower than the ange.s, for the fuffering of death crowned with glory and honour; that he, by the grace of God, fhould tafte death for every man ;" or, as fome render it, for all.

In an ancient manufcript, mentioned by Ambrofe, Grotius, Beza, and Cornelius a Lapide, thefe refpectable authorities, the words were, not xapiri eu, by the grace of God; but Xopis tv, for all excepting God; and feveral ancient copies, as well as the Syriac Teftament, bring in their verdict here, and fay this is the true reading; and fhali we fay, this reading is contrary to the analogy of faith, and receive no additional strength and countenance from it? Upon this fingle paffage we might venture the whole caufe, nor fear deception, fince the Spirit has never in any place denied, but has here plainly affirmed, that Chrift bath tafled death

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