things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined: and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth-for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' Can the human mind be furnished with a better reason for the indulgence of hope? God assures us that he will destroy the face of the covering that is cast over all people. What is this covering but the veil of ignorance? which veil prevents them from seeing their lost state by nature, and their recovery by Christ Jesus. But our God further proclaimeth, Death shall be swallowed up of victory.' How then can death have power over any individual of the race of Adam: and it is added, 'The Lord God will wipe away all tears from all faces.' Can I then believe any part of mankind will be eternally miserable? In the 28th chapter of this evangelical prophet, it is written, Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place; and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand.' Is not God in this passage speaking to those who make lies their refuge? and does he not consequently say, Behold I, who? the Lord God, lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, &c.? yet were thosc deluded wanderers never to be rescued from perdition; their covenant with death would be confirmed by God himself, and God himself would permit their agreement with hell to stand. Again, saith Isaiah xl. 1.2. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' Isaiah proceeds, 'The voice of him that

crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' What is this but a declaration that God's people are sinners, but that the word of God is given to console them? by what means, by bidding them expect misery at his hands, if they be not righteous? Indeed this would be no consolation at all, nor would it console them to tell them, that they should suffer hereafter for their sins, or that they should be excused if they would not again transgress; all these things would give them no comfort. But when God assures the children of men that their warfare is accomplished, that their iniquity is pardoned, for they have received of the Lord's hand double for all their sins, it is in truth divinely consolatory, and it is manifest to my understanding that the passages I have collected point to Jesus Christ: and when God declares every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, I rejoice in the conviction that Jesus will set every thing in order, that the oppressed will be raised up, that every proud and lofty imagination will be humbled, the crooked and perverse spirit be made straight, every rough adverse disposition smoothed; in that day, when not a cloud shall obscure the mental faculties, when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. When such are the words proclaimed by the mouth of the Lord, is there who can regard them as questionable? In the close of Isiah's prophecy the sovereign of the universe declareth. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon unto another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. Is not this seed and this name the human nature. God alone implanted our nature, and took to himself our name, therefore he is called the man, and the son of man; that name then, and that seed shall never be banished from God, but shall remain before him and this must intend all flesh, or the human nature complete; for the Lord saith all flesh shall come and worship before him. Blessed be God for this shall, for they would not if they were left to themselves.

"Jeremiah in his 31st chapter, verses 33, 34, informs us, that this shall be the covenant which God will make with the house of Israel, After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people:' blessed be God for this I will, and you shall. But the Lord goes on to say, 'They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.' Thus as it is written in the prophets that they shall all be taught of God, I do in this public manner accept their report, and acknowledge a firm belief that the covenant of grace embraceth the Gentile as well as the Jew, for the middle wall of partition is broken down; that it embraceth the ignorant, the sinful man; for I receive the declaration of my God who saith, I will write my law in their hearts, they shall all know me, and I will remember their sins no more. In the 32d chapter and 40th verse of this prophecy, our God repeats, 'And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' Thus runs God's everlasting covenant. Not if they will not depart from him, he will not turn away from them. But he will not turn away from them, and they shall not turn away from him. Thus the time shall come, when the sheep shall no more wander; when God shall hide his blessed countenance no more. Again, in the 33d chapter and 6th verse of this prophecy, God says, 'Behold, I will bring it health and cure,and I will cure them,and will reveal unto them the abundance

of peace and truth.' Can those who are healed by the physician of valuc, be any more spiritually sick, or pained? especially when God will reveal unto them abundance of peace and truth. Yet if multitudes of disordered souls are left in an incurable state, in ignorance of God the Saviour, who is peace and truth, through the wasteless ages of eternity will the words of Jehovah be established?

"In the prophet Daniel vii. 13, 14, it is recorded, 'I saw in the night visions, and, behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.' Are we not by this sacred testimony instructed that the kingdom of

the Son is all people, nations, and languages? not some of all people, nations, and languages, and are we not informed that this kingdom shall never be destroyed?

«Hosea i. 10. is full to our purpose. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God.' What is this, but in other words saying, while we were sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, and enmity against God, while we were in the place where our first parents left us by the fall, we were not God's people; but when reconciled to God, while we were yet sinners, and brought nigh by the blood of Jesus, having obtained the adoption of sons by him; is it not in the same place now said unto us, Ye are the children of the living God.' The first verse of the third chapter of this prophecy furnishes a striking confirmation of this fundamental truth, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adultress, according to the love of the Lord to the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.' Thus, it was in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, that it is now said unto them, ye are the children of the living God. I will now solicit your attention to the prophecy of interrupted, expressing an opinion that it would should submit some of his texts to consideraTo which Mr. S replied, he was willing

Mr. L

be better Mr. S

tion as he went on. to close immediately, if it were wished; it was not his design to monopolize the opportunity, but to select a few of the many passages which had originated in his bosom a hope full of immortality, and he continued, "as I have no other principles but those which I have derived from the word of God, I conceived it right to produce such scriptures as expressly pointed out the doctrine on account of which I am this day questioned. I will however pass over the prophets, and summoning a few evidences from the New Testament, hasten to a close. In Luke ii. 10, 11. a descending angel preacheth the everlasting gospel. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.' Verses 13, 14. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory be to God in the highest, and on

earth peace, good will toward men.' Doth not the angel say these good tidings to the shepherds should be great joy unto all people? did not attending angels celebrate this soul-satisfying truth, when they sang glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men? Simeon also coming into the temple, joined issue with the angelic choir: when taking the child Jesus in his arms he blessed God and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation; which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.' Thus am I bound to believe Jesus was appointed to be the light of Israel, the light of the Jews, and the glory of the Gentiles, nor do I know any other description of human beings.

"In the first chapter of John, the spirit, speaking of Jesus as the word by whom all things were made, saith in the 4th verse, In him was life and the life was the light of men.' And in the 7th verse John is said to come for a witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. Again, in the 9th verse, John speaking of the same light, proclaimeth it, the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.'

"When I read these scriptures, and look at the world laying in the wicked one, and when I hear our Saviour say, 'Holy Father, the world know thee not, but I know thee.' John xvii. 25. I am necessitated to believe, that Jesus, as thus manifested, was the life and the light of men. It is in him, therefore, every man who cometh into the world is lighted, and I doubt not but the promise made to Abraham, saying, in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, is thus wonderfully and gloriously fulfilled.

"In the 12th chapter, verses 31, 32, 33, of this book, our Saviour 'answered and said, Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.' Is not this a declaration from the lip of truth, that the world was then judged, that the prince of this world was then cast out, and that when Jesus was lifted up from the earth all men were drawn unto him. He was indeed the second Adam, the people constituted the fulness of his character, the world were judged in him, were condemned in him, and in him punished, and by him, as the seed of the woman, the Prince of this world is cast