remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace." This passage is fearfully pregnant with meaning. It teaches, (1.) That it is possible to sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth. (2.) That this sin may consist in wilfully treading under foot the Son of God; and in countingesteeming―the blood of the covenant wherewith he was SANCTIFIED an unholy thing-a sin very similar in its nature and results to the sin against the Holy Ghost. (3.) That those who commit the above sin are worthy of a much sorer punishment than those who died under Moses' law, and as no punishment in time can be greater or sorer than the death of the body, so the sorer punishment reserved for these apostates from sanctifying grace is the eternal death of the soul.

In closing this Article, it may be proper to state a few reasonable objections against the doctrine of the necessary final perseverance of the saints.

1. We object to it because it is an essential link in the chain of Calvinism; a system which teaches that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass; that God has elected some men to eternal life, and doomed others to eternal death, without any foresight of the faith and good works of the one, or unbelief and evil works of the other; a system which teaches the possibility of the damnation of infants, and enforces the doctrines of the "horrible decrees."

2. We object to it because it effectually destroys man's free moral agency. Once converted, no will or power that man has in himself, can prevent his entrance into heaven. If he is as wicked as the devil, he must go to heaven, and he cannot help it if he would.

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3. We object to this doctrine, because it tends to beget indifference and coldness on the part of Christians, and gives license to crime and immorality on the part of backsliders. The syren song of " once in grace, always in grace," has no doubt lured many to destruction.

4. We object to it again, because it draws an unwarrantable distinction between the sins of the believer, so called, and those of the unbeliever; to the latter it says, "sin, and you shall be lost;" to the former, "sin, and you must be saved," while God says to all-saints or sinners-" The soul that sinneth, it shall die."

5. We object to it, because it stands diametrically opposed to all those warnings, threatenings, expostulations, and declarations, made in the word of God in reference to the unfaithful. What do these warnings mean? does God trifle with the feelings and fears of his children? If not, these children may fall from grace, and be lost forever.

6. We object to the doctrine of necessary perseverance, finally, because it is opposed to all the conditional promises of the gospel. "Be thou faithful unto death," says Christ," and I will give thee a crown of life." This doctrine, in substance, tells Christ not to be alarmed about his children, that they cannot possibly be otherwise than faithful; while to the latter it says, " If you fall into the most beastly, and accursed sins, you will have a little spark of grace' remaining, and the crown of life shall, and must be yours!"

IV.

OF ETERNAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS,

The Methodists believe, as all know, that the rewards of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, in the future state, will be endless in duration. In reference to the eternal

rewards of the righteous, it will not be necessary, in this Article, to make any remarks, as no believer in the Bible disputes this point of Christian theology. In reference to the eternal punishment of the wicked, it may be proper to state our views as briefly as possible, as we have already transcended our prescribed limits in this part of the work.

The doctrine, then, of the Methodist Church, is, that the punishment of the impenitent and incorrigible sinner, extends to a future state, and is endless in duration.

1. That sinners are punished after the death of the body, is evident, because some sins cannot possibly be punished in this life. Witness the suicide, and the inebriate, who dies in a fit of drunkenness; witness the highway robber and murderer, who falls by the hand of his victim. Now, either these receive no punishment at all; or they receive their punishment before the commission of their crimes, or they receive such punishment in a future state. Which is the most reasonable conclusion, we leave our readers to infer.

2. That there is future punishment in reserve for the wicked appears farther evident from the fact that virtue and vice, righteousness and wickedness, must affect men in the coming state of being. What! are all to share alike in the joys of heaven? The idea is absurd. "If there be any virtue," it will have its future reward, and if there be unrepented wickedness, it must have its punishment; Scripture and reason demand it.

3. The Scriptures abundantly teach the doctrine of future punishment. We read of the "lake of fire," of "outer dark ness," of "hell," " torment," &c. &c., all of which are applie to the state or condition of sinners in the spirit world.

4. The fact of there being a day of general judgement, which we have elsewhere shown in our remarks on Article III., is proof of the future punishment of the wicked. If the day of judgment is future, then, of course, the punishment of the wicked is future, for it is after the judgment that the wicked

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are said to "go away into everlasting punishment;" and "as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment," so is it evident that the punishment of the wicked will be after death.

5. The phrases which are used to denote the entire period of man's earthly existence, and those which are employed to denote his punishment as a sinner, are so dissimilar as to render it morally certain that his punishment shall extend to a future state. On the one hand, his stay on earth is likened to a shadow, to vapor, to grass, to a weaver's shuttle; as being short, few, &c.; on the other hand, his punishment is represented as being of unlimited duration, as being forever and

ever.

These considerations abundantly prove that the punishment of the wicked will extend beyond time. Another important question is, Will the punishment of the wicked be eternal? Universalism says no, the Bible and the Methodist Church say yes! which will the reader believe? That the Bible teaches the doctrine of endless punishment, must be evident to the candid and sincere inquirer after truth.

1. The terms employed to denote the duration of future punishment, prove its eternity. Everlasting, eternal, forever, forever and ever, unquenchable, dieth not, are all employed to signify the duration of punishment. These words literally mean endless, and any person who will take the trouble to examine a Greek or Hebrew lexicon, will find that the original, as well as the rendering, mean nothing more, and nothing less, literally, than perpetual, immortal, unintermitted, &c.

2. No stronger terms are used, nor can be used-for the good reason that there are no stronger ones-to denote the duration of the rewards of the righteous, than those employed to signify the duration of the punishment of the wicked. If this then is so, is it not clear that such punishment will be unlimited, or else that the happiness of the righteous will come to an end?

3. The free moral agency of man, and the conditionality of salvation, prove the eternity of punishment. As a moral agent, man is the subject of moral government; as a free moral agent, we contend-Universalism and Calvinism to the contrary notwithstanding that man cannot be saved without the consent of his own will. Now, as salvation depends on his own choice, it must, in the nature of things, be conditional, and if conditional, then salvation may be lost; and if there is one truth more plainly revealed than another, in the word of God, it is the conditionality of salvation. Obey and live; disobey and die, is the substance of Scripture doctrine on this point.

4. Those Scriptures which contain warnings and threatenings of future, eternal wrath, prove the possibility of coming short of eternal salvation. These are so numerous, and so well known, that it seems unnecessary to repeat them. We will quote a few, and leave the entire subject with the reader. "He that believeth not, shall be damned." into everlasting punishment." "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

"These shall go away

worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

"Where their

We have thus endeavored, as comprehensively as possible, to state in our remarks on the Articles of Religion, and in the Appendix thereto, the leading doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our circumscribed limits have not allowed us to enlarge upon these as much as we should have done, had the work been entirely devoted to that subject. As it is, we believe that sufficient has been said to show the scriptural character of our doctrines, and to prove the fact that in deducing articles of religious faith from the Holy Scriptures, the church has not followed "cunningly devised fables," nor adopted the inventions of men as a standard of Christian theology in opposition to the express warrant of Scripture.