and of God to accept his satisfaction, are the foundation of the procedure. Love and mercy excited, but no force did, or could constrain them. Nor does it appear how any injury could accrue by it to any other being.

2. If a greater good can be obtained by vicarious satisfaction, than could be obtained by exacting the full penalty upon the offenders personally, then the scheme is not unreasonable.

But to give the whole human race a new, and an advantageous opportunity of obtaining eternal happiness, is a greater good than to consign them all without mercy to everlasting misery; and the future happiness of a part of mankind, is a greater good than the certain destruction of the whole.

3. If the authority of the Lawgiver can be as effectually supported, and the benefits of his government as fully secured by vicarious satisfaction, as by inflicting punishment personally on the offenders, then the scheme is not deficient in efficacy to answer the end proposed by it.

Permit me then to state the matter as I understand it, and I shall cheerfully submit the determination of it to reason and common sense.

Adam sinned against his Creator, and involved himself and his posterity in everlasting misery, the necessary consequence of his disobedience. The Son of God became his Substitute; and, taking his nature upon him, made in it full satisfaction to divine justice for his offence, and for all the sins of the whole world: God approved and accepted this atonement. Adam and his posterity were, in consequence of it, put under a new covenant, by observing which they may recover the favour of God, and obtain endless happiness with him in heaven.

Suppose an hundred orders of intelligent creatures to behold and contemplate this scene: How may we conclude they would be affected by it? Should one of them argue in this manner-Adam hath disobeyed God, and instead of having the full penalty of his disobedience inflicted on him as God threatened; the Son of God, by suffering in his stead, hath redeemed him from endless Р

VOL. II.

misery, and put him into a capacity of obtaining the hap piness of heaven. There is, therefore, no great danger in disobeying God, however severely he may threaten. I may safely disobey him also; for, at the worst, the Son of God will suffer for me, as he hath done for Adam and his posterity.

Should another reason in the following manner-How dreadful is God! He hath indeed had mercy on fallen Adam, and his wretched offspring. In a wonderful way he hath reconciled mercy and justice in his forgiveness. That he might pardon him, he hath accepted an atonement. That his government, on which the happiness of all his creatures depends, might be vindicated, he hath required that the atonement be of infinite merit. He hath even permitted innocence to bear the punishment of guilt: His own beloved Son to suffer in Adam's stead. Happy is Adam in finding such mercy-in having such a Redeemer. Let every creature now beware how he disobeys the righteous laws of God-wonderful in mercy-terrible in justice. For will God again accept an atonement? Will the Son of God again consent to be the propitiation for sin? It cannot be. Henceforth all must obey or be miserable-Which of these two would reason most justly?

Whatever may be the judgment of others, the pious Christian will adore with gratitude, the astonishing display of divine justice and mercy, holiness and goodness, righteousness and wisdom, all united and co-operating in the redemption of man by Jesus Christ. And while the heart is raised in grateful devotion; the tongue, with divine rapture, will join the song of holy David, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

THE business of this second part of the Discourse on

the atonement of Christ, is to inquire into the extent of it, and into its influence in procuring eternal life, that is, future happiness for men in heaven.

With regard to the extent of Christ's atonement, the text doth not confine it to any particular number of men, nor to persons of any particular country or nation, nor of any particular station or condition of life; but extendeth its benefits to the whole world. In conformity with what this apostle hath said, St. Paul, speaking of Christ as the Mediator between God and man, saith, "He gave himself a ransom for all"-that he "will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth."* Our Saviour, speaking of the atonement he was to make on the cross, saith he would "give his flesh for the life of the world." This doctrine is fully and strongly expressed by the Church in her prayer of consecration in the office of the holy communion; in which prayer we bless God for our redemption by his Son Jesus Christ, "who, by his one oblation of himself once offered, made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world." I shall only add the authority of the holy Baptist, the harbinger of Christ, who, when he saw "Jesus coming unto him," bare this testimony of him, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."I

The plain consequence of these authorities is, That all the sins of all men, original and personal, from the beginning to the end of the world, are remittable, or capable 1 Tim. ii. 4, &c. † John vi. 51.

*

+ John i. 29.

of being forgiven, through the atonement and satisfaction of Christ.*

But though Christ be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, having made atonement for them by his blood, and thereby rendered it possible for God to for give them; yet the Scriptures will not justify us in saying that all sin is already forgiven, nor that all sin will be forgiven hereafter. All declarations of forgiveness in the Bible are made to the penitent, either expressly, or by fair implication; and we have no right to extend them further than the "Oracles of God" will support us.

There is a manifest difference between being put into a capacity of obtaining forgiveness, and having actually obtained it-between being put into a state of salvation, and having that salvation in actual possession. A man may be put under advantages of acquiring, with the utmost certainty, some great worldly benefit; yet improper conduct may entirely destroy all his expectations. Some of the benefits of Christ's redemption are indeed absolute, and every human creature is born into the actual possession of them. The capacity, or possibility of having our sins forgiven through the atonement of Christ, is one of those benefits. Another is, the presence of the Holy Spirit of God with us, manifesting his divine influence in the sensibility and approbation of virtue and goodness, and in the checks and admonitions of conscience, which in a greater or less degree seem common to all men. By the new covenant in Christ, we are also freed from the law of perfect, unsinning obedience from which Adam fell, and are put under the law of grace; and our unfeigned obedience is accepted instead of that which is perfect. But there are other benefits of Christ's mediation which are ours, at present, only by promise, being not put in actual possession of them, but into a capacity of obtain ing them under certain conditions and limitations. Of these, eternal life in the world to come is one. Let us then see what the influence of Christ's propitiation is, in

One exception ought to be made, because it is made by Christ himself, who hath declared that "whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Matt. xii. 32.

procuring this eternal life or felicity for us in the next world.

"Eternal life" is always declared to be "the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord."* It must consequently be the effect of his mediation. I mean not of his death singly and by itself, but of his whole process as our Redeemer of all that he did, and suffered, and now does, and will do for us. To the attainment of this everlasting life, the remission of sins must be necessary, because, unless sin be forgiven, the sinner must be punished. Not to be punished is one thing; to be put in possession of eternal life is another. Suppose it possible that a sinner may be so far pardoned as not to be punished by the positive. infliction of sufferings, may he not be yet excluded from the happy enjoyment of the presence of God in heaven? If his nature be unholy and impure, he must be incapable of happiness with God; for this plain reason, God is holy, and with him nothing impure can dwell. Such sinners, therefore, as men are, defiled in nature, as well as by habit, in heart as well as in deed, in mind and spirit as well as in life and manners, must have their nature new formed, their heart changed, their mind and spirit renewed, and reclaimed from sin to holiness, or they can have no fellowship with God. I say not this, on the mere principles of reason, though both reason and experience join in testifying, that contrary natures cannot be happy together. The lion and the lamb consort not together, nor the hawk and the dove. Modesty can have no complacency in impudence, nor can malice delight in love. Opposite natures flee each other, and like only courts its like.

The Holy Scriptures attest the truth of what I have said, as well in their general tenor, as in particular passages. Their general drift calls men off from sin to holiness, from the pursuit of vicious pleasures to the denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to the practice of piety, justice, and temperance; from the indulgence of the malignant passions of envy, anger, hatred, and malice, to the cultivation of meekness, and benevolence, and

Rom. vi. 23.