shall the son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.". I apprehend, therefore, that the end of the mediatorial kingdom, here pointed out, is to be understood as the end, or consumination of those Ages of Ages*. For if Christ himself, at powers." "Therefore ye must needs be subject [obedient] not only for wrath, but for conscience sake." And if the great design of our Lord's coming into the world was to destroy the works, and consequentiy the hingdom of the devil-how can this be said to be accomplished while a very great (if not the far greater) number of the human race, are abandoned to sin, and it's dreadful consequences?And while Satan can proudly boast, "Divided empire with Heaven's King I hold !" common Εις τες αιώνας των αιώνων—in secula seculorumto the ages of the ages-rendered in our translation for ever and ever." Mr. Dan Taylor, in his Sermon wrote professedly in defence of the system of never-ending punishment, calls this "" a singular phrase," and says, It is not to be found in any heathen writer whatever." It certainly, then, has a singular meaning, and ought to be literally translated. Yet (notwithstanding so much stress is laid on it) it is not ONCE applied to the punishment of the wicked in general. The only places where it has any reference to punishment, are Rev. xix. 3. xx. 10. and xiv. 11. The first of these is applied to the judgment of the great whore; the second to the punishment of the devil, the beast, and the false prophet: whoever may be meant, it is evident they are the most exalted characters in wickedness In the last quoted, namely,xiv. 11. the expression is more general, and seems to be greatly limited, both, in its subjects and duration; it is simply savas above, without the articles; which, if I may be permitted again. to follow the example of as great a judge of the Greek language as, perhaps, any man now living, (for Ican by no means suppose such a remarkable and singular distinction in phrase has no difference in sense) I should render," to ages of ages." And with regard to the subjects of this most dreadful threatening, they are only those who worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark;" now it never can be said that a ten-thousandth part, even of those who die in their sins, and, consequently, fall under the power of the second death, ever have literally offended in this point; and if it be interpreted spiritually, every man living has sinned, and, consequently, must all suffer: for my own part, I do not believe the time is yet come. How astonishing, therefore, it may appear, that, for so many centuries, a sentiment should be received as an undeniable truth, that has no foundation in Holy Writ; yet this is the plain, undeniable state of the case: and certainly all doctrines, let them be patronized by ever so many great and good men, or received as truths for ever such a length of time, if they are not founded in fact, have no more claim to our credit than if they had not been promulged before the present moment. And with regard to the other word aan, on which almost the whole foundation of the arguments used by the advocates for endless damnation rests-Mr. Taylor himself allows, that where it is used and applied to times and periods preceding the foundation of the world, it has no reference at all to duration, but only to particular periods and states; if this is allowed, all the difficulty vanishes away when it is applied to succeeding states, ages, and dispensations and in this sense I believe it must be understood in many passages, without any reference at all to duration. delivering up the kingdom, when all things are subdued unto him, is then to become subject to him that put all things under him, surely the authority and power delegated to the saints (who, we are expressly told, shall reign with him during that period) must likewise cease and be delivered up, that "God may be all in all." And if we attentively consider what the Apostle affirms in the above passage, "death the last enemy shall be destroyed"-What ground of supposition can we have, that the second death, which, from the dreadful length of it's existence, as well as the severity of it's punishment, exceeds the first in terror beyond all human apprehension, will be suffered to remain ? or what place can be found for it, when" the whole creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God?" Sixthly, the doctrine of limited punishment can alone cut the knot between Calvinism and Arminianism*, and furnish a key to unlock the meaning of many difficult and, if endless punishment is admitted, contradictory passages in the sacred Scriptures. For instance, the Scripture very plainly speaks of an election, a first-born, and first-fruits, who are made kings and priests to God: and these are represented as a very small number in comparison of the whole; for "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."-Yet the same blessed word speaks of a great multidude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and people, and languages, standing before the throne, who came out of the great tribulation*, and had washed their robes, and made them white in the The rock that the advocates for endless misery universally split on, is, they receive as an indisputable truth, that the day of judgment is the closing scene of divine revelation! Surely it is not the conflagration of the world follows that tremendous day. And certainly, as the day of judgment will not end with the sound of the trumpet that AWAKES the dead, neither will the conflagration expire like the crackling and blaze of a few thorns under a pot, yet the renovation of the worldthe creation of the new heavens and new earth-and the descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven-all which glorious events are to take place during the reign of Christ and his saints,-are subsequent both to the day of judgment, and the conflagration of the world. And how Inany alvas [ages] roll between the first of these awful events, and the grand "Year of Jubilee"- -WHO CAN TELL? * I have ever thought that some of the strongest arguments adduced in support of the different systems, if endless punishment is admitted, prove too much take the following lines of the late Mr. Charles Wesley as a specimen "Believe who can that human pain This sentiment, in my opinion, can by no means be reconciled with the doctrine of endless misery and torment. + Της θλίψεως της μεγάλης. If the Greek article in this passage translated literally and emphatically, it very plainly evinces that tribulation to make us "" blood of the lamb." Now if endless condemnation is admitted, how is it possible to reconcile these Scriptures? There is (in my judgment at least) the same irreconcilable contradiction in the vth and xith chapters of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans': for let any one tell me, what advantage those individuals of the Jewish nation, who, so many ages since, perished in their sin and unbelief, can derive from the convertion of their descendants in the latter day-or how it can be said, they shall be grafted in again; and so all Israel shalt be saved, if a never ending punishment is to be the portion of all those who did not in their life time attain that renovation of their nature, which is essentially necessary meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light?" But if on the other hand we believe what St. Peter, in his first Epistle (chap. iii. 19 and 20) expressly tells us, of Christ's preaching to the spirits of the old world, then in prison, and of the gospel being preached to them that are dead*, we can very easily conceive, not only how these, and many other passages of Scripture, (which have furnished such abundant matter for controversy between the advocates for particular and universal redemption) can be reconciled; but how beautifully they harmonize with almighty love, wisdom, mercy, justice, and power; those glorious attributes of that divine Being, who, as he is the cominon Father of all, is also " loving to every man, and his mercy over all his works†.” I cannot dismiss this head, without making an observation which strikes very forcibly upon my mind. Many divines lay down as an undeniable axiom, that God does all things for his own glory: and therefore all the elect (without any regard to the ties of affinity or love) must rejoice to see the wicked turned into hell, without hope or remedy! I never could believe this-my heart revolts at the idea. That we shall know each other, in the state immediately after death, I firmly believe. Our Lord's narrative of Dives and Lazarus puts it beyond all doubt. And therefore I cannot conceive, how the glory of God can in any degree be promoted by an event, which must either introduce grief and sorrow into the mansions of bliss, or banish out of the hearts of those who are supposed to be renewed in the divine image those sentiments of pity and affection, which dwelt in the breast of Dives, from whence this great multitude came out. Besides, if the elect are made kings and priests to God, who are their subjects? and from whence do they derive their congregations? Among the many texts of Scripture which (in my judgment) are absurd and inexplicable, if the doctrine of endless punishment is adhered to, is that of Rev. xxii. 2. where the leaves of the tree of life in the New Jerusalem, are said to be for the healing of the nations; but if all the inhabitants of that city are already healed, and those without be totally and everlastingly excluded, what benefit can accrue from them, either to the one or the other? though (according to the doctrine of the present day) a spirit irrecoverably lost to all goodness and felicity!-A position (in my judgment) absurd and shocking to the last degree-and utterly contrary to that gospel, which is "Glory to God in the highest. and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.” Seventhly, whosoever considers, that the revelation made to our first parents after their fall, was not a revelation of distress and terror, but a display of that method by which the Supreme Father of all, chose to deliver them and their posterity, from the fatal effects of that dreadful curse their diobedience had entailed upon them all—and that display summed up in a promise, as absolute and unconditional, as it was unsought for and unmerited by them-a promise, which God, who cannot lie, has bound himself to fulfil-whoever likewise considers the tenor of that promise, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head; thou shalt bruise his head, and he shall bruise thy heel," will evidently see, that although the consequences of sin to the human race is a bruised heel"-tribulation and anguish-yet it cannot extend to the destruction of the whole body; is not such a punishment as totally destroys the sinner: and therefore (in my opinion): utterly irreconcilable with a doctrine which delivers over the far greater part of the human race to the dreadful and endless dominion of that very serpent, whose power and authority was to be crushed by the seed of the woman! To conclude, as the "redemption which is in Christ Jesus" does not preclude the supreme Governor and Father of the universe from inflicting a sore and lasting punishment on any of his rebellious creatures, if we view this redemption as finally available for their salvation, it reconciles the divine attributes, harmonizes the Scriptures, and opens to our view an ample field of "wonder, love, and praise ;" and is (in my judgment) the most glorious display of almighty love and wisdom it is possible for the heart of man to conceive. For notwithstanding the objection, that the doctrine of limited punishment, has a tendency to take off the restraint which the fear of endless misery lays upon mankind, I am much mistaken if the real belief of the latter doctrine, is not confined to a very scanty number of the human race; and I cannot help thinking, that a very great part of what is called the Christian world, though they do not chuse, to avow their differing in sentiment with the reigning doctrine, do yet secretly retain various and doubtful opinions in their minds concerning it.-This I am not ashamed to acknowledge was my case for years after it pleased God to call me to the knowledge of himself; and as I never could swallow the ipse dixit of any man (however great, learned, or popular) when his divine and adorable providence, threw in my way Mr. Clarke's tract, entitled "The Gospel of the Daily Service of the Temple" it (if I may be allowed the simile) like the influence of the sun on the vegetable creation, opened and expanded many latent ideas in my mind; and his clear manifestation of the beautiful analogy and coincidence of the times and seasons, the types and shadows of the Jewish ceremonial law, with their antitypes and substance, as fulfilling and to be fulfilled in the gospel dispensation, exhibited to me such a noble view of the redemption, so far beyond the narrow and contracted ideas of most writers on this subject; that I cannot help embracing what appears to me, as a completion of the wish of an eminent writer, whose person I loved, and whose name I revere; and shall therefore avail myself of his sentiments, in conclusion to this rude and imperfect sketch*. “I should be glad to see any account of God's dealings with man, which might rectify all our errors with convincing evidence, and scatter our darkness like a rising sun. But in the mean time let us bear with one another, remembering it is the prerogative of the great God only, to pierce through all his own infinite schemes with an unerring eye, to surround them with an all-comprehensive view, to grasp them all in one single survey, and to spread a reconciling light over all their immense varieties. Man must yet grapple with difficulties in this dusky twilight, but God, in his time, will irradiate the earth more plentifully with his light and truth. Then darkness and contentions will fly away for ever. Amen." APPENDIX. WHOSOEVER considers the foregoing observation of Mr. John Wesley (from the conclusion of whose tract entitled "Predestination calmly considered," I have taken the whole sentence) will evidently see, that he was not entirely satisfied; but that there was something in the controversy which he could not thoroughly unravel; and therefore he adds "God in his time will irradiate the earth more plentifully with his light and truth." The Christian church did not emerge all at once out of that deplorable state of darkness in which it lay for near a thousand years; and if we consider that the redemption is called by that highly illuminated servant of God, St. Paul," the mystery hid from ages and generations, and a mystery that the angels themselves desiré to look into-yet shall be fully manifested in the fulness of time-why should we suffer either the prejudice of education, or any other wrong bias, to hinder the reception of divine light when it shines on our minds? The present deranged and disordered state of the creation, both in a natural and moral wiew, as plainly evinces the Necessity, as the word, promise, and attributes of that almighty Being, who originally formed it, does the Certainty, of a renovation-" Behold I make all things new"- "The son of God was manifested to destroy the works of * The bulk of these observations was finished in November, 1784, long before I saw any of Mr. Winchester's writings. Whoever wish to see the remaining objections to this doctrine fully answered, I beg to tefer them to his Dialogues on the subject. |