measure of the obligation which men are under to obey the Divine law; it would follow, that all men are at all times, under equal obligation to obedience, and that every sin, which they commit, is an iufinite crime, deserving infinite punishment. Upon this supposition, one sinner must be just as guilty as another, and deserving of precisely the same punishment; for the greatness and excellence of the Governour of the world, is always the same. Since, then, no one sin is an infinite crime, deserving infinite punishment; it is evident, that all the sins committed by men do not amount to an infinite sum of moral evil, and do not deserve an infinite sum of natural evil, or punishment: for, it is impossible, by the addition of things finite, ever to produce an infinite amount. Neither the greatness, nor the number of the sins of men, therefore, render them deserving of endless punishment. they have not done, and which it is only foreseen that they will do; but they are to be judged for the deeds which they have already done, while in this state of probation. The finally impenitent, on whom the sentence of everlasting punishment is to be passed, at the day of judgment, will be considered as then fully deserving of it, for the deeds, which they have done here in the body. There would be no propriety, or justice, in passing such a sentence upon them, if they will not then be deserving of it, for their past offences. Indeed, if the finally impenitent are not deserving of endless punishment, when they leave this world, they never will be deserving of it; for the period will never come, when their sins will be infinite, either in number,, or magnitude. It does not appear, therefore, that any sinners deserve an endless punishment, from the fact, that they will continue to sin forever. But, 3. That the finally impenitent deserve endless punishment, does appear, from the permanent and indelible nature of guilt. Transgressors of the Divine law, are guilty, and deserving of punishment.Guilt and desert of punishment, if not one and the same thing, are inseparably connected. As long, therefore, as finally impenitent sinners remain guilty; so long they will deserve punishment. But their guilt will remain, as long as it shall remain true, that they have sinned. Nothing will, or can, ev 2. That the finally impenitent deserve endless punishment, does not appear from the fact, that they will forever continue to sin. No doubt, those of mankind, who die in their sins, will continue to sin forever; and so will forever suffer all that remorse, shame and anguish of mind, which are the companions and natural fruits of sinful feelings and affections: but the scriptures plainly teach us, that the positive punishment, which will be inflicted upon finally impenitent sinners at the day of judg-er remove their guilt. For, ment, will be inflicted for the sins committed in this life, and for no others. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." II. Corin. v. 10. Mankind are to be judged at the last day, not for the deeds which First. Their guilt is not removed, by the atonement of Christ.— The atonement was not designed to free men from guilt, but to declare God's righteousness, so that he may be just to himself and to his moral kingdom, while he dons those penitent sinners who deserve, and ever will deserve, to be punished. If the atonement par took away guilt; then all, for whom | their design; which is, either to reform the criminals, or to secure the peace and safety of civil society. But, many of the punishments, it was made, would be innocent, and might claim eternal life, as a matter of justice, and could, with no propriety, be said to be justi-inflicted by human tribunals, are fied by grace. And since the perpetual; such as branding, conatonement was made for all man- fiscation, imprisonment for life, kind, it would follow, that all men &c. and no one thinks them the will be saved; or, more properly less just, on that account. Punspeaking it would follow; that ishment has no tendency to renone of mankind need, or can re- move guilt, whether inflicted by a ceive salvation; for men cannot be human, or Divine tribunal. If it saved from a punishment, which had such a tendency, then sinners they no longer deserve. If those, after this life, might be punished, for whom Christ died, still need till they become as innocent, as salvation, if they are suitable sub- Adam in Eden, or Angels in Heavjects of pardon, if there is the en: and so Christ is dead in vain; least degree of grace in their for- or, at the most, his death was ongiveness; then the atonement has ly necessary to liberate them from not taken away their guilt. a temporary, and, comparatively, Secondly. The guilt of the final-trifling punishment. ly impenitent will never be removed by their punishment. There is no tendency in punishment, to remove, or diminish, guilt. Who | ever looks upon the thief or robber, as innocent, after he has undergone the penalty of the law?The punishments, inflicted by human tribunals, are generally limited in duration, not because they remove the guilt of criminals, but because, in most cases, they may, without being perpetual, answer FOR THE HOPKINSIAN MAGAZINE. ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF INQUISITOR, In the Magazine for August, p. 189. If "prayer moves the hand, that moves the world," Inquisitor asks, Will it not, follow, that prayer prevails with God to change his purposes: and, if so, is he not a changeable being?" I answer, Since, then, neither the atonement, nor their punishment, can remove the guilt of the finally impenitent; it must remain forever. If they should ever repent and be pardoned (which is contrary to the supposition) this would not remove their guilt. Guilt is indelible. Those, who have once transgressed the Divine law, will forever remain deserving of its curse. TORAH. he is "in one mind"-always does what he determined from eternity, or, in the words of the apostle, 'worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.' There may be a succession in God's volitions, as there is in his existence, and he may change his conduct towards his accountable creatures, as their characters change, consistently with his immutability; but, if he 1. Upon supposition prayer pre- should change his eternal purposvails with God to change his pur-es, and omit what he designed to poses; it will, doubtless, follow, do, or perform what he designed that he is a changeable being. The not to do it would argue a change, immutability of God, implies, that either in the views of his under standing, or in the affections of his heart; either of which would be inconsistent with his immutable perfection. But, 2. The prevalence of prayer, does not imply, that God changes his purposes, or does differently from what he always designed to do; though it may imply, that he 'does what he would not have done,' if prayer had not been offered. In forming his eternal purposes, or the counsel of his own will,' God had a clear and full view of all the prayers, which his people would ever offer up, and knew, precisely, how they would affect him, and what reasons they would present, why he should grant the favours asked for; and formed his purposes accordingly. Though the purposes of God, therefore, are from eternity; yet the prayers of saints have just as much influence, as they could have, if the Divine purposes were formed, at the moment their prayers are made. Indeed, as the preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord,' and it is he, who gives his people a spirit of grace and of supplication; their prayers are all included in the eternal counsel of his will. God determined to give his people a heart to pray, whenever they do pray; and determined, in answer to their prayers, to bestow blessings upon them and others. Prayer is the appointed mean of obtaining blessings from God; and its prevalence is just as consistent with the purposes and immutability of the Supreme Being, as the use and FOR THE HOPKINSIAN MAGAZINE. EXPOSITION DESIRED. MR. EDITOR-Amongst the many excellent directions, which the apostle Peter gives to those, who sustain the near and important * The following extract from a Sermon by Rev. Dr. EMMONS (vol. I. Ser. xx.) will illustrate the above observations of Repondens. EDITOR. "Suppose two men are condemned to die. Suppose a certain day is set for each of them to plead for pardon before the king. Suppose each criminal has a friend, who, unknown to him, goes to the king, before the day appointed and states his case exactly as it is, and offers all the reasons for his being pardoned, that can be offered. And suppose the king, upon hearing the pleas made in favour of each criminal, absolutely determines to pardon one, and to execute the other. Let me now ask, Can these fixed determinations of the king be any disadvantage to the criminals, when they actually make their own pleas before him, on the day appointed? Thus God foresaw, from eternity, all his suppliants, and all their supplications, and gave them all the weight that an infinitely wise and benevolent Being ought to give them. Their prayers, therefore, avail as much, as it is possible they should avail, were God to form his determinations, at the time they stand praying before him." relation of husband and wife, we find this, in his 1st Epistle, iii. 7, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel." Supposing the words honour and weaker to tion of the passages which shall show, what it is to give honour to the wife, and how her weakness be here used in their common acceptation, I have thought the apostle assigned a singular reason for his precept. Weakness is consid-imposes an obligation upon the ered a degrading quality and how, then, can the weakness of a vessel, be a good reason, why we should give it honour? An exposi husband to give it, would oblige one, who is sometimes willing to know, if not always to do his duty. MARITUS. Religious Antelligence. NAVY CHAPLAINS. The venerable preacher at the Mariner's church in Philadelphia, stated on the last sabbath in July, that several seamen belonging to the North-Carolina, 74, now under sailing orders, had expressed an earnest desire to have a pious devoted chaplain to accompany them. The terms "pious," and "devoted," as applied to Chaplains, may to some of our readers, appear superfluous, but they will be better. informed when they are told, to the shame of our nation, that our navy has long employed and does now employ chaplains who are not men of God. It is a fact that remonstrances have been made on the subject, by seamen who complain that in the course of long voyages on board our national ships, they have never heard from the lips of these faithless stewards of God's mysteries, a single word of religious instruction. Ought this to be? Shall the poor mariner who stands in need continually of precept and example from his officers, to encourage him in duty to his Maker, be deprived of both? How is religion scandalized by such conduct? What a fearful reckoning awaits the Christless, careless chaplain, who sees the sailor shipwrecked on the rock of unbelief, when a word in season from his lips might have been blessed to his deliverance. The British are engaged in this subject, and are supplying their public vessels with pious chaplains, who care for the souls of their fellow men, and the consequences of this course will be seen, we trust, in a greatly increased number of Godly minded sailors. Christian Gazette. GREAT INCREASE OF ROMAN CATHOLICS. According to returns laid before Parliament, about thirty-five years ago, the then number of Roman Catholics was 69,376; but, according to the statements of certain Roman Catholic writers, the number of souls belonging to their communion amounted, about six or seven years ago, to 500,000, In the year 1781, there were only three Roman Catholic schools of any note in England; but at present upwards of fifty; most of the Roman Catholic chapels, the number of which is actually no less than nine hundred, were built within the last thirty-five years; in the collegiate establishment at Stonyhurst there are accommodations for 500 pupils, besides professors, managers, and domestics; before the arrival of the Jesuits, there were not more than ten or a dozen Roman Catholics in the immediate neighbourhood of Stonyhurst, but now several thousands; within a few years, there have been erect ed near that place two spacious | terms expire, and substitute Ro man Catholics in their places; they find means to restrain many Protestant booksellers from selling any books against Popery, while there is a Popish bookseller in a large town whose shop is abundantly supplied with publications chapels, each capable of containing 2000, and yet insufficient for the accommodation of new converts to Popery; 3000 Roman Catholic children were confirmed in the year 1813, in Liverpool, Manchester, and Preston; the Roman Catholic chapels in Lanca-hostile to the cause of Protestantshire and parts of the adjacent counties are nearly as numerous as the Protestant churches. Jesuits officiate in all of them; the Jesuits of Stonyhurst are lords of that manor, of which they reserve, for the use of their establishment, 1000 acres ; they invariably dispossess their unconvertible Protestant tenants, as soon as their ism; their ablest orators regularly preach against the doctrines of the Reformation and the Established Church; they frequently despatch agents to Ireland, and appear to be deeply interested in the religious and political concerns of that distracted country. Col. Magazine. ORDINATIONS. 1824. September 30th. Ordained at Boxford, Mass. as Evangelists. Rev. Messrs. STEPHEN FOSTER, EDWARDPALMER, JOSEPH I. FOOT, HEMAN M. BLODGET, JAMES NOYES, ROYAL WASHBURN, and ZABDIEL ROGERS; all, it is understood, from the Theological Seminary at An dover. Sermon by Rev. Gardner B. Perry, of Rowley, from I. Cor. xii. 4. Ordained at Berkshire, Vt. Rev. PHINEAS BAILEY, as Pastor of the Congregational Church in that place. 1824 September 28. Ordained at Windsor, Con. Rev. ERASTUS MALTBY, as a Missionary of the Connecticut Missionary Society. Also, Rev. LEONARD BACON, as an Evangelist. 1824. September 3d. Ordained, at Andover, Me. Rev. THOMAS T. STONE, as Pastor of the Congregational Church in that town. Sermon by Rev. Benjamin Tappan, of Augusta, from Acts v. 20. 1824. September 15th. Ordained, at Hallowell, Me. Rev. STEPHEn Everett, as Pastor of the 1st Unitarian Church in that place. Sermon by Rev. Mr. Walker, of Charlestown, Mass. 1824. September 15th. Ordained, at Bristol, Me. Rev. NATHANIEL CHAPMAN, as Pastor of the Congregational Church in that place. Sermon by Rev. Professor Smith, of Bangor, from II. Cor. iii. 6. 1824. September 15th. Ordained, in Darien, Con. Rev. EBENEZER PLATT, as Pastor of the Congregational Church in Middlesex Parish. Sermon by Rev. Mr. Andrews, of Danbury. Errata.-In our last, p. 202, 2d column, line 5th from bottom, for several, read sacred.-Page 212, 2d column, line 5th from top, between agent and he must, insert, To constitute one a moral agent. "CONSISTENCY" is received, and might be admitted, if we did not apprehend that there is an inconsistency in his communication. We will endeavour to point it out to him, if he will give us an opportunity. |