respect to creatures, are not necessarily eternal, any more than sin and misery; and, in this view, it would be as improper to ascribe eternity to the purity and blessedness of the saved, as to the sin and misery of the lost, seeing, that the endless duration of both depends upon the will of God. You speak of the "life and blessedness of holy beings, as having their root and foundation in God; and that, being thus grounded in him, they will be, like him, eternal in duration." But this position is contrary to fact; for was not "God the source and proper spring, both of the life and blessedness" of the unsinning angels? Yet they kept not their first estate, but lost their blessedness, and are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day. The life and blessedness of man in a state of innocence, had their origin in God, as well as those of saints and angels; yet they were not, on this account, like their Author, "eternal in duration." To make such an assertion is, "to say the least of it, an unguarded mode of expression:" but, more than this, it is contrary to fact, and tends to lessen the dependence of creatures upon God as the constant author of all their happiness. The argument to prove that sin and misery cannot be eternal, is the counterpart of the above position; and, of course, it is equally fallacious.

"Sin and misery being contrary to the holiness and benevolence of God, they must (it seems) come to an end." Such an assertion is soon made: but where is the proof? A little more assurance might lead another to say, that sin and misery, being contrary to the holiness and benevolence of God, cannot exist in a future state: and, were it not for the awful evidence of facts, another might assert, that sin and misery do not now exist; for, in theory, it would be as easy to prove, that the present existence of sin and misery is as contrary to the holiness and benevolence of God, as their existence in future; and that their existence, in future, for ages of ages, is as contrary to the holiness and benevolence of God, as their existence to an endless duration. By such kind of reasoning, some men have become Atheists, because they cannot reconcile the present state of things with their ideas of a superintending power, possessed of infinite holiness and benevolence; and I cannot but tremble for the man who begins to travel in this

unwary path, by measuring the divine administration by his own. unhallowed notions of moral fitness.

If your attempts to prove that all judgment is a work of mercy, and yet that there may be judgment without mercy, should prove fruitless, it is no more than may be expected; for the thing itself is a contradiction. "The scriptures afford instances of punishment and pardon to the same persons, and for the same sins :"* but was this punishment without mercy? Judgment and mercy were united in God's dealings with Jerusalem." Granted; but, for this very reason, it could not be judgment without mercy. You might as well allege the union of wisdom and righteousness in all the works of God as a proof that there are some works in which wisdom will be exercised without righteousness!

In another Letter, Sir, I hope to conclude these remarks. Meanwhile I am

Yours, &c.

A. F.

* Universalist's Miscellany, p.

33.

+ Ibid. p. 338

LETTER VIII.

A FARTHER EXAMINATION OF MR. VIDLER'S SCHEME, WITH REPLIES

TO HIS ANIMADVERSIONS.

Sir,

I do not know whether I fully understand your remarks on proper eternity. (p. 364.) It is, certainly, one of those ideas in which the human mind is easily lost; as it infinitely surpasses our comprehension: but, whether "the scriptures have revealed any thing past or to come, besides what is connected with successive duration;" and, whether we be "left to infer a proper eternity only from the nature of Deity;" are other questions. You will allow that the scriptures attribute a proper eternity to the Divine Being, and to his all-comprehending purposes; which, I should think, is not leaving us to infer it from his nature. They speak also of a period when God shall be all in all; when the end cometh; and of the end of all things being at hand. They Likewise promise an inheritance that shall be without end. I should think, therefore, that this inheritance, of which the New Testament speaks very fully, cannot be said to be connected with successive duration; not so connected, however, as to be commensurate with it.

By successive duration being ended, I meant no more than what I apprehended you must mean by the cessation of day and night, (No. I. p. 8.) and the state of things when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father. Strictly speaking, it may be true, that the idea of successive duration necessarily attaches, and ever will attach, to the existence of creatures; and that none but God can be said to exist without it: but there is a period, by your own acknowledgment, when the states of creatures will be for ever fixed; and if, at this period, sinners be doomed to everlasting punishment, the term "everlasting" must be understood to mean endless duration This period I conceive to be at the last judgment : you extend it to ages beyond it. Here, therefore is our differI did not allege Rev. x. 6. in favour of there being an end

ence.

of time. I did not apprehend it needed proof. Your formal answer to it, therefore, is only removing an objection of your own creating; and, if designed to prove that time will have no end, it is as contrary to your own avowed principles, as to mine.

You contend, that "the day of judgment is not the finishing period of Christ's kingdom;" for which you offer a number of reasons. To the greater part of them I have already replied. The rest I shall briefly consider :

This earth (which is to be the hell of wicked men, 2 Pet. iii. 7 -13.) is to be renewed, whereby hell itself will be no more. If the gloss will bear the test, you have certainly, for once, hit upon a clear proof of your point; for none can imagine the conflagration to be eternal. But, First: the scriptures speak of a hell already existing, wherein the angels who kept not their first estate are reserved in everlasting chains, unto darkness, unto the judgment of the great day; and in which the departed spirits of wicked men lift up their eyes, being in torment; and intimate, that this, whatsoever and wherever it be, will be the hell of ungodly men for they are doomed to depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. But this cannot be upon earth; as its present condition does not admit of it.

:

Secondly If the earth, as being dissolved by fire, is to be the hell of ungodly men, their punishment must precede the day of judgment, instead of following it for the conflagration is uniformly represented as prior to that event. It is described, not as your scheme supposes, as taking place a thousand years after Christ's second coming; but as attending it. The day of the Lord's coming is the same as the day of God, which Christians look for, and hasten to; WHEREIN the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved.

-Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him ; and all this, previous to his giving orders for his saints to be gathered unto him. And thus we are taught, by the apostle Paul, that the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven IN FLAMING FIRE.† Thirdly I appeal to the judgment of the impartial reader, whether, by the perdition of ungodly men, be not meant the des* Universalist's Miscellany, No. XXXVI. p. 365.

:

2 Pet. ii. 7, 12, 13. Psa. 1, 2 Thes. i. 7, 8.