ment of a hyperbolical expression, denoting great desolation; importing that the trade of Egypt, which was carried on then, as at present, by caravans, by the foot of man and beast, should be annihilated."

a hole of the rock, and breaks a potter's vessel in the
sight of the people; when Ezekiel weighs the hair of
his head and beard in balances, with many other in-
stances familiar to those who read the Scriptures. But
this ridicule can only proceed from ignorance. In the
early ages of the world, the deficiency of language was
often supplied by signs; and when language was im-
proved, "the practice remained," says Bishop War-
burton, "after the necessity was over; especially
among the Easterns, whose natural temperament in-
clined them to this mode of conversation. The charges
then of absurdity and fanaticism, brought against the
prophets, vanish of themselves. The absurdity of an
action consists in its being extravagant and insignative;
but use and a fixed application made the actions in
question both sober and pertinent. The fanaticism of
an action consists in fondness for such actions as are
unusual, and for foreign modes of speech; but those of
the prophets were idiomatic and familiar."
We may
add, that several of these actions were performed in
vision; and that, considering the genius of the people
who were addressed, they were calculated strongly to
excite their attention,-the end for which they were
adopted.

Such are the principal objections which have been made to Scripture prophecy, as the proof of Scripture truth. That they are so few and so feeble, when enemies so prying and capable have employed themselves with so much misplaced zeal to discover any vulnerable part, is the triumph of truth. Their futility has been pointed out; and the whole weight of the preceding evidence in favour of the truth of the Old and New Testaments remains unmoved. We have, indeed, but the future, for the sake, not of exhibiting the evidence of prophecy, which would require a distinct volume, but of explaining its nature and pointing out its force. To the prophecies of the Old Testament, the attentive inquirer will add those of our Lord and his Apostles, which will appear not less extraordinary in themselves, nor less illustrious in their fulfilment, so far as they have received their accomplishment. Many prophecies both of the Old and New Testaments evidently point to future times, and this kind of evidence will consequently accumulate with the lapse of ages, and may be among the means by which Jews, Mahometans, and Pagans shall be turned to the Christian faith. At all events, prophecy even unfulfilled now answers an important end. It opens our prospect into the future; and if the detail is obscure, yet, notwithstanding the mighty contest which is still going on between opposing powers and principles, we see how the struggle will terminate, and know, to use a prophetic phrase, that "at eventime it shall be light."

To this we may add, that the passage respecting the depopulation of Egypt stands in the midst of an extended prophecy, which has received the most marked fulfilment, and illustrates, perhaps as strikingly as any thing which can be adduced, the cavilling spirit of infidelity, and proves that truth could never be the object of discussions thus conducted. Here is a passage which has some obscurity hanging over it. No one, however, can prove that it was not accomplished, even so fully that the expressions might be used without violent hyperbole; for the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar was one of the same sweeping and devastating character as his invasion and conquest of Judea and we know, that the greater part of the inhabitants of that country were destroyed, or led captive, and that the land generally remained untilled for seventy years, though not absolutely left without inhabitant. In the common language of men, Judea might be said not to be inhabited, so prodigious was the excision of its people; and in such circumstances, from the total cessation of all former intercourse, commercial and otherwise, between the different parts of the kingdom, it might also, without exaggeration, be said, that the foot of man and beast did not "pass THROUGH it," their going from one part to another on business, or for worship at Jerusalem, being wholly suspended. Now, as we have no reason to suppose the Babylonian monarch to have been more merciful to Egypt than to Judea, the same expressions in a popular sense might be used in respect of that country. Here however in-glanced at a few of these extraordinary revelations of fidelity thought a cavil might be raised, and totallymay we not say wilfully?--overlooked a prediction immediately following, which no human sagacity could conjecture, and against which it is in vain to urge that it was written after the event: for the accomplishment of the prophecy runs on to the present day, and is as palpable and obvious as the past history and the present political state of that country-" Egypt shall be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations-there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt."(4) It is more than two thousand years since the prophecy was delivered, and Egypt has never recovered its liberties, but is to this day under the yoke of foreigners. It was conquered by the Babylonians; then by the Persians: and in succession passed under the dominion of the Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. No native prince of Egypt has ever restored his country to independence, and ascended the throne of his ancestors; and the descendants of the ancient Egyptians are to this hour in the basest and most oppressed condition. Yet in Egypt the human mind had made some of its earliest and most auspicious efforts. The stupendous monuments of art and power, the ruins of which lie piled upon the banks of the Nile, or still defy the wastes of time, attest the vastness of the designs and the extent of the power of its princes. Egypt, too, was possessed of great natural advantages. Its situation was singularly calcul ted to protect it against foreign invasion; while its great fertility promised to secure the country it enriched from poverty, baseness, and subjection. Yet after a long course of grandeur, and in contradiction to its natural advantages, Ezekiel pronounced that the kingdom should be "the basest of all kingdoms," and that there should be "no more a prince of the land of Egypt." So the event has been, and so it remains; and that this wonderful prophecy should be passed over by infidels in silence, while they select from it a passage which promised to give some colour to objection, is deeply characteristic of the state of their minds. It is not from deficiency of evidence that the word of God is rejected by them. The evil is not the want of light, but the love of darkness.

Much ridicule has been cast upon the prophets for those significant actions by which they illustrated their predictions; as when Jeremiah hides his linen girdle in called Egypt, which is hieroglyphically represented by the figure of a heart; no unapt similitude."-"The principal places mentioned in our sacred writings, Zoan, Zoph, and Tophanes, are all referrible to the Delta. Probably little of them remains."

(4) Vide Ezek. xxix. and xxx.

CHAPTER XIX.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE of the Truth of Scripture-
COLLATERAL EVIDENCE.

THE Internal Evidence of a revelation from God has been stated to be that which arises from the apparent excellence and beneficial tendency of the doctrine.(5) This at least is its chief characteristic, though other particulars may also be included in this species of proof, and shall be adduced.

The reader will recollect the distinction made in the chapter just referred to, between rational and authenticating evidence. It has been observed, that there are some truths made known to us through the medium of a revelation from God, which, though in their nature undiscoverable by the unassisted faculties of man, yet, when once revealed, carry to our reason, so far as they are of a nature to be comprehended by it, the demonstration which accompanies truth of any other kind.(6) But it is only within the limit just mentioned that this position holds good; for such truths only must be understood as are accompanied with reasons or rational proofs in the revelation itself, or which, when once suggested to the mind, directs its thoughts and observation to surrounding facts and circumstances, or to established truths to which they are capable of being compared, and by which they are confirmed. The Internal Evidence of the Holy Scriptures, therefore, as (6) Ibid.

(5) Vide Chap. ix.

storation of man to the Divine favour, through the me. rits of THE VICARIOUS AND SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF CHRIST, the incarnate Son of God. To this many ob

struction introduced? But the fact itself may be denied, as the worst education inculcates a virtue above the general practice, and no course of education was ever adopted purposely to encourage immorality. Injections have been offered; but, on the other hand, the Scriptures alone we find a cause assigned which accounts for the phenomenon, and we are bound therefore by the rules of philosophy itself to admit it. It is this, that man is by NATURE prone to evil; and as it would be highly unreasonable to suppose, that this disposition was implanted in him by his benevolent and holy Maker, we are equally bound in reason to admit the Scripture solution of the FALL of the human race from a higher and better state.

many important reasons for such a procedure have been overlooked. The rational evidence of this doctrine, we grant, is partial and limited; but it will be recollected, that it has been already proved, that the authority and truth of a doctrine are not thereby affected. It is indeed not unreasonable to suppose, that the evidence of the fitness and necessity of such a doctrine should be to us obscure. "The reason of the thing," says Bishop Butler," and the whole analogy of nature should teach us, not to expect to have the like information concerning the Divine conduct, as concerning our own duty." On whatever terms God had been pleased to offer forgiveness to his creatures, if any other had been morally possible, it is not to be supposed that all the reasons of his conduct, which must of course respect the very principles of his government in general, extending not only to man, but to other beings, could have been explained; and certain it is, that those to whom the benefit was offered would have had no right to require it.

A third view of the condition of man contained in the Scriptures is, that he is not only under the Divine authority, but that the government of heaven as to him is of a mixed character; that he is treated with severity and with kindness also; that, considered both as corrupt in his nature and tendencies, and as in innumerable instances actually offending, he is placed under a rigidly restraining discipline, to meet his case in the first respect, and under correction and penal dispensation with relation to the latter. On the other hand, as he is an object beloved by the God he has offended; a being for whose pardon and recovery Divine Mercy has made provision; moral ends are connected with these severities, and Nature and Providence as well as Revelation are crowned with instances of Divine benevolence to the sinning race. The proof of these different relations of man to God surrounds us in that admixture of good and evil, of indulgence and restraint, of felicity and misery, to which he is so manifestly subject. Life is felt in all ordinary circumstances to be a blessing; but it is short and uncertain, subject to diseases and accidents. Many enjoyments fall to the lot of men; yet with the majority they are attained by means of great and exhausting labours of the body or of the mind, through which the risks to health and life are greatly multiplied; or they are accompanied with so many disappointments, fears, and cares, that their number and their quality are greatly lessened. The globe itself, the residence of man, and upon whose fertility, seasons, exterior surface, and interior stratification so much of the external felicity of man depends, bears marks of a mingled kind of just and merciful government, suited to such a being as man in the state de-vidual acts by their general tendency, and to proportion scribed in the Scriptures, and to none else. It cannot be supposed, that if inhabited by a race of beings perfectly holy and in the full enjoyment of the Divine favour, this earth would be subject to destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, and inundations; to blights and dearths, the harbingers of famine; to those changes in the atmosphere which induce wide-wasting epidemic disorders; to that general sterility of soil which renders labour necessary to such a degree, as fully to occupy the time of the majority of mankind, prevent them from engaging in pursuits worthy an intellectual nature, and wear down their spirits; nor that the metals so necessary for man in civilized life, and, in many countries, the material of the fire by which cold must be repelled, food prepared, and the most important arts executed, should be hidden deep in the bowels of the earth, so that a great body of men must be doomed to the dangerous and humbling labour of raising them! These and many other instances(8) show a course of discipline very incongruous with the most enlightened views of the Divine character, if man be considered as an innocent being. On the contrary, that he is under an unmixed penal administration, is contradicted by the facts, that the earth yet yields her increase ordinarily to industry; that the destructive convulsions of nature are but occasional; and that, generally, the health of the human race predominates over sickness, and their animal enjoyments over positive misery. To those diverse relations of man to God, as stated in the Bible, the contrarieties of nature and providence bear an exact adaptation. Assume man to be any thing else than what is represented in Scripture, they would be discordant and inexplicable; in this view they harmonize.-Man is neither innocent nor finally condemned he is fallen and guilty, but not excluded from the compassion and care and benignity of his God.

The next leading doctrine of Christianity is the re

(8) See the argument largely and ingeniously exhibited in GISBORNE's Testimony of Natural Theology, &c.

The Christian doctrine of atonement as a necessary merciful interposition, is grounded upon the liability of man to punishment in another life, for sins committed against the law of God in this; and against this view of the future prospects of mankind there can lie no objection of weight. Men are capable of committing sin, and sin is productive of misery and disorder. These positions cannot be denied. That to violate the laws of God and to despise his authority are not light crimes, is clear from considering them in their general effect upon society, and upon the world. Remove from the human race all the effects produced by vice, direct and indirect; all the inward and outward miseries and calamities which are entirely evitable by mankind, and which they wilfully bring upon themselves and others, and scarcely a sigh would be heaved, or a groan heard, except those extorted by natural evils (small comparatively in number), throughout the whole earth. The great sum of human misery is the effect of actual of fence; and as it is a principle in the wisest and most perfect human legislation to estimate the guilt of indithe punishment of them under that consideration, the same reason of the case is in favour of this principle, as found in Scripture; and, thus considered, the demerit of the sins of an individual against God becomes incalculable. Nor is there any foundation to suppose, that the punishment assigned to sin by the judicial ap pointment of the Supreme Governor, is confined to the present life; for before we can determine that, we must be able to estimate the demerit of an act of wilful transgression in its principle, habits, and influence, which, as parties implicated, we are not in a state of feeling or judgment to attempt, were the subject more within our grasp. But the obvious reason of the case is in favour of the doctrine of future punishment; for not only is there an unequal administration of punishments in the present life, so that many eminent offenders pass through the present state without any visible manifestation of the Divine displeasure against their conduct, but there are strong and convincing proofs that we are placed in a state of trial, which continues throughout life, and the result of which can only be known, and consequently we ourselves can only be come subjects of final reward or punishment, after existence in this world terminates. From the circumstances we have just enumerated to indicate the kind of government which is exercised over the human race, we must conclude, that, allowing the Supreme Governor to be wise and just, benevolent and holy, men are neither treated as innocent nor as incorrigibly corrupt. Now, what reason can possibly be given for this mixed kind of administration, but that the moral improvement of man is the object intended by it? The severity discountenances and restrains vice; the annexation of inward felicity, in all cases (and outward in all those instances in which the result depends upon the conduct of the individual), to holy habits and acts, recommends and sanctions them, and allures to the use of those means which God has provided for enabling us to form and practise them. No other final causes, it would appear, can be assigned for the peculiar manner in which we are governed in the present life; and

if the deterring and correcting severity on the one hand, and the alluring and instructive kindness on the other, which mark the Divine administration, continue throughout life; if, in every period of his life here, man is capable, by the use of the prescribed means, of forming new habits and renouncing old ones, and thus of accomplishing the purposes of the moral discipline under which he is placed, then is he in a state of trial throughout life, and if so, he is accountable for the whole course of his life; and his ultimate reward or punishment must be in a state subsequent to the present. It is also the doctrine of Scripture, that this future punishment of the incorrigible shall be final and unmited; another consideration of great importance in considering the doctrine of atonement. This is a monitory doctrine which a revelation only could unfold; but being made, it has no inconsiderable degree of rational evidence. It supposes, it is true, that no future trial shall be allowed to man, the present having been neglected and abused; and to this there is much analogy in the constant procedures of the Divine government in the present life. When many checks and admonitions from the instructions of the wise and the examples of the froward have been disregarded, poverty and sickness, infamy and death ensue, in a thousand cases which the observation of every man will furnish; the trial of an individual, which is to issue in his present happiness or misery, is terminated; and so far from its being renewed frequently, in the hope of his finally profiting by a bitter experience, advantages and opportunities, once thrown away, can never be recalled. There is nothing therefore contrary to the obvious principles of the Divine government as manifested in this life, in the doctrine which confines the space of man's highest and most solemn probation within certain limits, and beyond them cutting off all his hope. But let this subject be considered by the light thrown upon it, by the circumstance that the nature of man is immortal. With those who deny this to be the prerogative of the thinking principle in man, it would be trifling to hold this argument; but with those who do not, the consideration of the subject under this view is important.

life, men have obstinately resisted all admonitions from heaven; obdurated themselves against all the affecting displays of the Divine kindness, and the deterring manifestations of the Divine majesty, it is most reasonable to conclude, that a part of them at least would abuse successive trials, and frustrate their intention, by attachment to present and sensual gratification. What then is to become of them? If we admit a moral government of rational creatures at all, their probation cannot be eternal, for that leads to no result; if probation be appointed, it implies accountability, a judicial decision, and that judicial decision, in the case of the incorrigible, punishment. Whenever then the trial, or the series of trials, terminates as to these immortal beings, the subsequent punishment, of what kind soever it may be, must be eternal. This doctrine of Scripture rests therefore upon others, of which the rational evidence is abundant and convincing;-That Almighty God exercises a moral government over his creatures; that the present life is a state of moral discipline and trial, and that man is immortal. If these are allowed, the eternal duration of future punishments as to the obstinately wicked, must follow; and its accordance with the principles just mentioned is its rational evidence.

That atonement for the sins of men which was made by the death of Christ, is represented in the Christian system as the means by which mankind may be delivered from this awful catastrophe-from judicial inflictions of the displeasure of a Governor, whose authority has been contemned, and whose will has been resisted, which shall know no mitigation in their degree, nor bound to their duration; and if an end, supremely great and benevolent, can commend any procedure to us, the Scriptural doctrine of atonement commends this kind of appeal to our attention. This end it professes to accomplish by means which, with respect to the Supreme Governor himself, preserve his character from mistake, and maintain the authority of his government; and with respect to man, give him the strongest possible reason for hope, and render more favourable the circumstances of his earthly probation. These are considerations which so manifestly show, from its own internal constitution, the superlative importance and excellence of Christianity, that it would be exceedingly criminal to overlook them.

The existence of man is never to cease. It follows then from this, that either the future trials to be allowed to those who in the present life have been incorrigible, are to be limited in number, or should they successively fail, are to be repeated for ever. If the How sin may be forgiven without leading to such latter, there can be no ultimate judgment, no punish- misconceptions of the Divine character as would enment or reward; and consequently the Divine govern- courage disobedience, and thereby weaken the inment as implying these (and this we know it does, fluence of the Divine government, must be considered from what takes place in the present life), must be an- as a problem of very difficult solution. A government nihilated. If this cannot be maintained, is there suffi- which admitted no forgiveness, would sink the guilty cient reason to conclude, that all to whom trial after to despair; a government which never punishes offence, trial is supposed to be afforded in new and varied cir- is a contradiction-it cannot exist. Not to punish, is to cumstances, in order to multiply the probabilities, so to dissolve authority; to punish without mercy, is to despeak, of their final recovery from rebellion, will be at stroy, and, where all are guilty, to make the destruction length reclaimed? Before this can be answered, it universal. That we cannot sin with impunity, is a must be recollected, that a state of suffering which matter determined. The Ruler of the world is not would compel obedience, if we should suppose mere careless of the conduct of his creatures; for that penal suffering capable of producing this effect, or an exer- consequences are attached to offence, is not a subject of tion of influence upon the understanding and will which argument, but is made evident from daily observation shall necessitate a definite choice, is neither of them to of the events and circumstances of the present life. It be assumed as entering into the circumstances of any is a principle therefore already laid down, that the aunew state of trial. Every such future trial to be pro-thority of God must be preserved; and it ought to be bationary at all, that is, in order to bring out the existence of a new moral principle, and by voluntary acts to prove it, must substantially be like the present, though its circumstances may vary. Vice must have its allurements; virtue must rise from self-denial, and be led into the arena to struggle with difficulty; many present interests and pleasures must be seen in connexion with vice; the rewards of obedience must, as now, be not only more refined than mere sense can be gratified with, but also distant: the mind must be capable of error in its moral estimate of things, through the influence of the senses and passions; and so circumstanced, that those erroneous views shall only be prevented or corrected by watchfulness, and a diligent application to meditation, prayer, and the use of those means of information on moral subjects which Almighty God may have put within their reach. We have no right in this argument to imagine to ourselves a future condition where the influence of every circumstance will be directed to render vice most difficult to commit, and virtue most difficult to avoid; for this would not be a state of trial; and if in this present F

observed, that in that kind of administration which restrains evil by penalty, and encourages obedience by favour and hope, we and all moral creatures are the interested parties, and not the Divine Governor himself, whom, because of his independent and efficient nature, our transgressions cannot injure. The reasons, therefore, which compel him to maintain his authority, do not terminate in himself. If he becomes a party against offenders, it is for our sake, and for the sake of the moral order of the universe, to which sin, if encouraged by a negligent administration, and by entire or frequent impunity, would be the source of endless disorder and misery: and if the granting of pardon to offence be strongly and even severely guarded, we are to refer it to the moral necessity of the case as arising out of the general welfare of accountable creatures, liable to the deep evil of sin, and not to any reluctance on the part of our Maker to forgive, much less to any thing vindictive in his nature,--charges which have been most inconsiderately and unfairly brought against the Christian doctrine of Christ's vicarious sufferings. If it then be true, that the relief of offending man from futuro

punishment, and his restoration to the Divine favour, ought, for the interests of mankind themselves, and for the instruction and caution of other beings, to be so bestowed, that no license shall be given to offence; that God himself, while he manifests his compassion, should not appear less just, less holy, than the maintenance of an efficient and even awful authority demands; that his commands shall be felt to be as compelling, and that disobedience shall as truly, though not so unconditionally, subject us to the deserved penalty, as though no hope of forgiveness had been exhibited, we ask, on what scheme, save that which is developed in the New Testament, these necessary conditions are provided for? Necessary they are, unless we contend for a license and an impunity which shall annul the efficient control of the universe, a point which no reasonable man will contend for; and if not, then he must allow an internal evidence of the truth of the doctrine of Scripture, which makes the offer of pardon consequent only upon the securities we have before mentioned. If it be said, that sin may be pardoned in the exercise of the Divine prerogative, the reply is, that if this prerogative were exercised towards a part of mankind only, the passing by of the others would be with difficulty reconciled to the Divine character; and if the benefit were extended to all, government would be at an end. This scheme of bringing men within the exercise of mercy does not therefore meet the obvious difficulty of the case; nor is it improved by confining the act of grace only to repentant criminals. For in the immediate view of danger, what offender, surrounded with the wreck of former enjoyments, feeling the vanity of guilty pleasures, now past for ever, and beholding the approach of the delayed but threatened penal visitation, but would repent? Were this principle to regulate human governments, every criminal would escape, and judicial forms would become a subject for ridicule. Nor is it the principle which the Divine Being in his conduct to men in the present state acts upon, though in this world punishments are not final and absolute. Repentance does not restore health injured by intemperance, property wasted by profusion, or character once stained by dishonourable practices. If repentance alone can secure pardon, then all must be pardoned, and government dissolved, as in the case of forgiveness by the exercise of mere prerogative; if a selection be made, then different and discordant principles of government are introduced into the Divine administration, which is a derogatory supposition.

industry and economy of the formerly negligent and wasteful repair not the losses of extravagance. Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the consideration which this theory involves as to all the principles of govern ment established among men, which in flagrant cases never suspend punishinent in anticipation of a change of conduct; but which in the infliction of penalty look steadily to the crime actually committed, and to the necessity of vindicating the violated majesty of the laws. The argument might indeed be left here; but we go farther and show, that the reformation anticipated is ideal, because it is impracticable.

To make this clear, it must be recollected, that they who oppose this theory of human reconciliation to God, to that of the Scriptures, leave out of it, not only the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, but other important doctrines; and especially that agency of the Holy Spirit which awakens the thoughtless to consideration, and prompts and assists their efforts to attain a higher character, and to commence a new course of conduct. Man is therefore left, unassisted and uninfluenced, to his own endeavours, and in the peculiar unalleviated circumstances of his actual moral state. What that state is, we have already seen. It has been argued, that nothing can account for the practical corruption of mankind, but a moral taint in our hearts, a propensity of nature to evil and not to good; and that every other mode of accounting for the moral phenomena which the history of man and daily experience present, is inconclusive and contradictory. How, then, is this supposed reformation to commence? We do not say, the exchange of one vice for another, that specious kind of reformation by which many are deceived, for the objector ought to have the credit of intending a reformation which implies love to the purity of the Divine commands; cordial respect for the authority of our Maker; and not partial, but universal, obedience. But if the natural unchecked disposition of the mind is to evil, and supernatural assistance be disallowed, "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" To natural propension we are also to add, in this case, as reformation, is the matter in question, the power of habit, pro verbially difficult to break, though man is not in fact in the unassisted condition which the error now opposed supposes. The whole of this theory assumes human nature to be what it is not; and a delusive conclusion must, therefore, necessarily result. If man be totally corrupt, the only principles from which reformation can proceed do not exist in his nature; and if we allow no more than that the propensity to evil in him is stronger than the propensity to good, it is absurd to suppose, that in opposing propensities the weakest should resist the most powerful,-that the stream of the rivulet should force its way against the tides of the ocean. The reformation, therefore, which is to atone for his vices, is impracticable.

To avoid the force of these obvious difficulties, some have added reformation to repentance, and would restrain forgiveness to those only who to their penitence add a course of future obedience to the Divine law. In this opinion, a concession of importance is made in favour of the doctrine of Atonement as stated in the Scriptures. For we ask, why an act of grace should The question proposed abstractedly, How may mercy be thus restricted? Is not the only reason this, that be extended to offending creatures, the subjects of the every one sees, that to pardon offence either on mere Divine government, without encouraging vice, by prerogative, or on the condition of repentance, would lowering the righteous and holy character of God, and annul every penalty, and consequently encourage vice? the authority of his government, in the maintenance of The principle assumed then is, that vice ought not to be which the whole universe of beings are interested? is encouraged by an unguarded exercise of the Divine therefore at once one of the most important and one of Mercy; that the authority of government ought to be the most difficult which can employ the human mind. upheld; that Almighty God ought not to appear indif- None of the theories which have been opposed to Chrisferent to human actions, nor otherwise than as a God tianity, afford a satisfactory solution of the problem. "hating iniquity" and "loving righteousness." Now, They assume principles either destructive to moral goprecisely on these principles does the Christian doctrine vernment, or which cannot, in the circumstances of of Atonement rest. It carries them higher; it teaches man, be acted upon. The only answer is found in the that other means have been adopted to secure the object; Holy Scriptures. They alone show, and indeed they but the ends proposed are the same; and thus to the alone profess to show, how God may be just, and yet principle on which that great doctrine rests, the objector the justifier of the ungodly. Other schemes show how can take no exception--that point he has surrendered, he may be merciful; but the difficulty does not lie there. and must confine himself to a comparison of the effi- This meets it, by declaring" the righteousness of God," ciency of the respective modes, by which the purposes at the same time that it proclaims his mercy. The of moral government may be answered in the exercise voluntary sufferings of an incarnate Divine person, of mercy to the guilty, in his own system, and in "for us," in our room and stead, magnify the justice that of Christianity. We shall not, in order to prove of God; display his hatred to sin; proclaim "the ex"the wisdom" as well as the grace of the doctrine ceeding sinfulness" of transgression, by the deep and of the Bible on this subject press our opponent with painful sufferings of the substitute; warn the persethe fact, important as it is, that in the light vouch-vering offender of the terribleness as well as the cersafed unto us into the rules of the government of God tainty of his punishment; and open the gates of salvaover men with reference to the present state merely, we tion to every penitent. It is a part of the same Divine see no reason to conclude any thing with certainty as plan to engage the influence of the Holy Spirit, to to the efficacy of reformation. A change of conduct awaken that penitence, and to lead the wandering soul does not, any more than repentance, repair the mis- back to himself; to renew the fallen nature of man in chiefs of former misconduct. Even the sobriety of the righteousness, at the moment he is justified, through reformed man does not always restore health; and the faith, and to place him in circumstances in which he may