sin.

Should it be said, that this does not appear, since sinners are still to be found; I answer, there is no human being who liveth in this our world without sin. We do not as yet see the works of the devil destroyed; but we live by faith, and not by sight; he is faithful who hath promised that all shall know God, that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, that the people shall be all taught of God, that they shall be all righteous, that death shall be swallowed up of victory, that there shall be no more pain, that death and hell shall deliver up their dead, and that death and hell shall both be destroyed. "All is not taken for every individual, but in few places." Amazing! perfectly amazing! But, Sir, if all were not taken for every individual, but in a single place, and that single place dictated by the spirit of God, ought I not to believe that single place spoke the language of truth? Sir, I believe every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God; and I add, that although all should not in any one place mean all, yet we must believe that every one means all. Now it is expressly declared, that Jesus by the grace of God tasted death for every man; but why? Because every man had sinned; and divine truth declared, the soul that sinneth shall die. Then Christ died for every sinning soul; and as when one died for all, all were considered as dead according to law, mercy, and truth, which in the death of Christ met together. Mercy, in Christ's dying as the head of every man, for every man's sin. Truth, as Jew and Gentile were reconciled in one body on the cross, and that when he was lifted up from the earth, he had said he would draw all men unto him, thus signifying what death he should die; that his death should be the death of all men, when righteousness and peace embraced each other. Here Jesus is the Saviour of all men, in strict conformity to the utmost rigour of the law; and in no other view, agreeably to this most holy law, does it appear that he is the Saviour of any individual.

But I have said enough, and perhaps more than enough, upon this subject. Those who cannot believe, are generally more disturbed to hear an individual expatiate upon the boundless grace of God, than upon any other subject.

I am persuaded you rejoiced with me, on hearing that the troubles in our church had subsided. You say, you are a great enemy to the Socinian error; but what is the Socinian error, but a denial of the divinity of our Saviour? and how few there are, who

believe there is no God beside the Saviour. But you think I should not be so much displeased with the Socinian, since the Socinian is generally a Universalist. Say, my brother, is not this rather mischievously urged? You are, however, mistaken; for, although the Socinians be Universalists, I am not pleased with this feature in their religious character: although you are not a Universalist, I am more pleased with you, than with them; for you render due homage to the Redeemer of the world, when you declare that all those who are rescued from death, are rescued by the meritorious birth, life, sufferings, and death of the Redeemer; in other words, by that mysterious union, subsisting between Christ and the church. Thus, although you deny that the Lord purchased the whole hu man family, you do not deny that he purchased a few.

But the description of Universalists to which you advert, are more reprehensible than the Jews. The Jews believed the expected Messiah would be more than man; but these speak of the God-man, of Emmanuel, God with us, as the real son of Joseph and Mary!!! And they impiously declare, that no man is saved by Christ; that neither his life, nor his death, ever saved any body or soul. Sir, I am not pleased with any man merely because he is a Universalist; if he be not a Universalist upon Christian prin ciples, he is not of my faith; nor, although I may meet him as a friend, and live in the interchange of good offices, can I hold with him Christian communion. Universalism I believe to be very prevalent in the world; but there are very few Christian Universalists. There are in this country many sects of Universalists; some who believe, some who receive the doctrine negatively, and some positively. Some deny that there will be any future sufferings, because there will be no future state. These are modern Sadducees. Some assert there will be no future state of suffering, because the Deity was never displeased. God has no account: against mankind, therefore they have nothing to pay!

A third sort of Universalists believe that the benevolence of the Deity will prevent his punishing mankind forever; therefore all must be saved. A fourth description of Universalists believe that there is a great and heavy debt due which must be paid, even to the uttermost farthing, paid by the suffering offenders themselves; and that then, and not till then, they will be released from the dungeon of death and hell, and finally saved.

A fifth kind of Universalists believe that the wages of sin being death, Jesus Christ hath taken the human nature into union with the divine nature, and in that nature done and suffered all which the law had exacted or threatened; and that in the character of the second Adam, as the head of every man, he has answered every demand, fully accomplished every purpose, and expiated every offence. That he has completely defeated the adversary, turned the tables on the foe, and saved the lost nature in himself, with an everlasting salvation. These Universalists believe there is no God but the Saviour, and they think it impossible that he who hath died to redeem, and who is all powerful should live to condemn. These are Universalists, even as Moses and all God's holy prophets, from the beginning of the world, were Universalists; and their faith is of that description, which glowed in the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Those who believe Jesus Christ is not God, cannot consider him as a Saviour, nor do they profess to believe in him as such. But 1 as I believe Jesus Christ to be the only wise God, our Saviour, I know no other God in whom to trust, or of whom to be afraid. I am a Unitarian. I believe in one God over all blessed forever, and I am persuaded that it is this one God, who is the Saviour of all men. The fulness of the Deity, I conceive, dwelt bodily in the humanity, and I believe that he himself spake by the prophet, when he said, I am God, the Saviour, and beside me there is no other, and this faith is the joy of my heart, and my consolation forever.

No, my friend, I am not pleased with any salvation beside the salvation of God, nor with any plan, but the plan of my God. I am persuaded that the word and works of my God will endure forever. I am beyond a doubt with respect to this salvation; all the scriptures are yea and amen, in the character of the Redeemer of men, to the glory of the Father.

I have no prejudice in favour of a man, because he holds a particular sentiment, except he has embraced it agreeably to the law, and to the testimony. You mention Dr. Priestly; I do not consider him in the Christian character, I view him and his adherents as enemies to the cross of Christ. I think more favourably of professed Deists, inasmuch as open enemies do less injury to any cause, than deceitful, prevaricating friends-yet they sometimes speak truth, so did the grand adversary. Of Dr. Priestly, however, I am not greatly afraid, because I believe the Saviour of whom he VOL. II.

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speaks so irreverently, is both Lord and God, that he has all power in heaven and on earth, and that he will do all his pleasure, in spite of men or devils, and I have the pleasure to believe that even Dr. Priestly will ultimately be ashamed and confounded, for all that he has said against his Lawgiver, his Judge, and his Saviour; and until this blessed period-no more of this same Dr. Priestly.

I turn from this subject, to one abundantly pleasing. I consider your kind replies to the several queries I ventured to propose as truly obliging. I am delighted with your heavenly view of the celestial world. You are perfectly right in considering the state of the mind, creating for us a heaven in our own bosoms; when the mind is filled with God, heaven is there. I felicitate you on that foretaste with which our all gracious Father has indulged you, and that on so seasonable an occasion. The time is fast approaching, when we shall no more see through a glass darkly, when we shall know as we are known. Then, indeed, the harmony of the divine perfections will appear in full lustre. We shall not then see mercy and justice in opposition, nor any one attribute of the Deity wounding the other, we shall then behold every divine perfection in perfect unison; they will consist and unite in the Saviour, in the fulness of both natures, human and divine. Your idea of God is that he is a spirit. But as we can have no idea of spirit alone, he has been pleased to manifest himself in the flesh, in the seed of Abraham; and to men and angels out of this seed, God must forever be unknown; but it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell-Here is the temple of his rest, where he will forever abide. Thus God, manifested in the flesh, is the only wise God our Saviour. Jesus Christ was once asked by one of his little children, to show him the Father, and it would suffice him. Why Philip, said the Redeemer, have I been so long with you, and hast thou not known me? The Father and I are one. Were I sitting by my friend, and should say to him, friend, show me your soul, and it will suffice me; you would naturally reply, Have I been so long acquainted with you, my friend, and do you not know me? Did you think my soul one person, and my body another? My soul has looked at you through my eyes; my soul and body make but one complete whole. Thus is Emmanuel God with us; the Lord, saith the Apostle, is that spirit, and this Lord, this spirit, knows all things and calls all things his own. This God is love, not simply loving; but he is love, love in the abstract. As the sun is light, not en

lightened by borrowed light, like those opaque planets which bask in its beams. God is love, and this love is perfect; it thinketh no evil; a sense of perfect love casteth out fear. The Lord is good, yea, the Lord is goodness, without the smallest shade of evil, light without darkness, love without hatred, sweet water without bitter. Yea, our God is one; this is the joy of my heart, and my consolation forever; yes, my friend, it is true, all the perfections of Deity are modifications of love, for God is love.

Having closed my first sheet, with remarks on your ideas of our God, I begin a second by attending to your observations upon his offspring; for he is indeed the Father of the spirits of all flesh. God made man for himself. "What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever." Thus are we taught by our teachers. God made man in his own image. Emmanuel is the God in whose image man was made; for all things were made by him as well as for him; and this image was made to represent or give an idea of the Maker, as far as the creature is capable of understanding it. In this image we see the THREE in the One, the body, the soul, and the spirit. The body is of the earth, earthy; and is in this character much inferior to the spirit and soul. The soul is the thinking, contriving, hoping, fearing, joying, sorrowing, inexplicable being that dwelleth in the body, and is as much superior to the body, as heaven is to earth. The spirit is that inexplicable part of a man which unites both body and soul together; and when the dust returns to dust, this spirit adheres to the soul, and of course ascendeth instead of descending; and as these constitute but one man, so Father, word, and spirit, constitute but one God, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; and as I never could know any thing of the soul, without the instrumentality of the body, so I never could have been able to form any idea of the Divinity, had it never dwelt in the humanity. This is the trinity in unity. God did not make three persons as the image of himself, but he made a trinity in one person, as the image of himself. Hence, saith the Prophet, to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the mighty God, the Prince of peace.

But again, the image of God thus made, had in himself the woman that was to be called his wife, and it was while she lay hid in him, the husband, that God spake to both in one; he blessed both in one; he gave the law to both in one; and when the woman