obedience a condition, on which falvation is granted, as there would be for a physician to propose, to a patient, in a fit of the asthma, that he would afford relief, on condition the patient should first breathe eafy! However, if it be granted, that it is God's will that all men fhould, finally, be holy and happy, I will more directly answer the fuppofition, that this will may fail, by the words of St. Paul; fee Eph. i. 11, "In whom we also have obtained an inheritance, being predeftinated, according to the purpofe of him, who worketh all things after the council of his own will." If God will have all men to be faved, and worketh all things after the council of his own will, it proves that for which I contend, as fully as any thing can be proved from feripture. My opponent, perhaps, will fay, (as many have faid to me in conversation) after meeting with much difficulty, in arguing, any thing may be proved, by fcripture. To which, I reply, there is one thing, that the fcriptures do not prove, neither can all the ingenuity of man make them fubftantiate it, and that is the endless mifery of a moral being.

If any of my opposers can prove, by fcripture, the endless duration of fin and mifery, as plainly as the two paffages above recited prove univerfal holiness and happinefs, I will never contend any more, on the fubject.

I will take further notice of Paul's communication to Timothy. He He goes on, in the 5th and 6th verfes, to give Timothy a reafon for what he had afferted; "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Chrift Jefus, who gave himself a ranfom for all, to be teftified in due time." The apoftle's reasoning is evidently good and plain; for God would not have given his Son a ransom for all, if it were not his will that all fhould be faved; and

if it is God's will, it ought to be ours; therefore, it is right to pray for all. If the ranfom was paid for all, it argues, that it was the intention of the Ranfomer, that all should be benefitted.

What would have been the aftonishment of the world, after the immortal Washington had caufed to be paid a ranform for all the American prifoners who were in Algerine flavery, if he had told the Dey that he did not want more than one quarter of thofe captives fent home to the land of liberty and to the enjoyment of their families, for which they had fo long fighed in bondage; and that he might wear out the reft with fatigue and whips? But the good man's foul was never fatisfied until they all came home, and with songs of joyous liberty hailed the land of their nativity! And bleffed be the Captain of our falvation; be, alfo, fhall fee of the travail of his foul and be fatisfied, when all the "ranfomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, with fongs and everlasting joys upon their heads, when they fhall obtain joy and gladness, and forrow and fighing fhall flee away."

The reader's attention is now invited to thofe fcriptures which, in expreffion, are more particularly applicable to the deliverance of mankind from this bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The whole of the 15th chapter of the 1ft Epistle to the Corinthians, was intended to refute those who denied the refurrection ; but as that doctrine is not denied by my opponent, I fhall take notice only of thofe parts which affect the argument between us; fee verfe 20, "But now is Chrift rifen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that Dept." Chrift, as the first fruits of them who flept, is re

prefented by the heave-offering under the law. See xiii. 19, 20,"Then shall it be, that when ye eat the bread of the land, ye fhall offer up an heave-offering unto the Lord; ye fhall offer up a cake of the firft of your dough for an heaveoffering, as ye do the heave-offering of the threshing floor, fo fhall ye heave it." Exodus xxii. 29, "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors; the first born of thy fons fhalt thou give unto me;" fee, alfo, Num. xviii. 15. By the offering of the first ripe fruits, the whole of the fucceeding harveft was fanctified; and in the first born which were redeemed, the fucceeding fruits of the womb were confidered holy; fee Acts xxvi. 23. "That Chrift fhould fuffer, and that he fhould be the first that fhould rife from the dead." Chrift being the first who rose from the dead, and rifing as the first fruits, fanctifies all the reft, as did the first fruits under the law. St. Paul's comment on first fruits, is very illuftrative of the fcriptural meaning thereof, fee Rom. xi. 16, " For if the firft fruits be holy, the lump is alfo holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches."

In the heave-offering under the law, there is a beautiful reprefentation of our Savior. The fheaf taken from the field, being feparated from all the reft of the fame growth, reprefents the feparation of Jefus Chrift from mankind to be holy unto the Lord; and the fanctification of the whole harveft being by the first ripe fruits, is to fhew us, that our fanctification is in Jefus, the first fruits of them that flept. The fame may be clearly feen, in the inftance of the dough; a certain part of it was to be feparated from the reft, for an offering unto the Lord, in which the remaining part of the lump (as the apoftle calls it) was confidered holy.

Thefe obfervations are made here, in order to draw the reader's attention more clofely to the labors of the apostle, which we have under confideration; for he goes on immedi-" ately to fhow what he means, by the lump fpoken of in Romans; fee verse 21, "For fince by man came death, by man came alfo the refurrection of the dead."

Let me here obferve, that death came by the earthly man, and the refurrection came by the heavenly man, which is in point to prove, that the plan of the gofpel is to deliver mankind from the earthly Adam, to the immortality of the heavenly.

Perhaps none would difpute what I here contend for, provided I did not extend the cure as extenfive as the malady; but I fhall also contend for this, and will clearly prove it by the apostle's teftimony; fee verfe 22, "For as in Adam all die, even fo in Chrift, fhall all be made alive." It is not poffible for me to state the doctrine more concife and positive than the apostle has done, in the paffage quoted. But I am willing to attend to my opponent's objections as I proceed. He will fay, he does not difpute that the apoftle here meant all mankind, but that he only intended they would all be raised from the dead, not that all would be delivered from condemnation and fin. But I will reft my argument on the words themselves; I fay, if all men are made alive in Christ, they cannot be faid to be out of Chrift dead, or alive, finful, or holy.

The prefent ftate of our being is derived from Adam, the earthly nature; and, in a natural fenfe, we are all in him. Our future ftate of existence, we derive entirely from the heavenly nature; and, therefore, it is faid, all fhall be

made alive in Chrift. The apoftle goes on ftill further, to fhow the order of the before mentioned work, arguing, from the firft fruits, the whole family of mankind. See 1 Cor. xv. 23, 24, 25, "But every man in his own order: Chrift the first fruits; afterward they that are Chrift's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he fhall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father: when he fhall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he muft reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." Chrift is here again fpoken of as the firft fruits, in the order of the refurrection, which confifts of three parts.

Firft. Of Chrift himself, who was the first that rose from the dead.

Secondly. Those who are Chrift's at his coming, which coming, I will not endeavor to point out, as it makes nothing, in respect to the particular argument in which I am at prefent engaged.

Thirdly. The coming of the end, which cannot be, until he hath put down all rule, authority and power, and every enemy has fubmitted; at which time, the Mediator delivers up the kingdom to God, the Father.

Then fhall the great work of reconciliation be finished, and the labors of the Redeemer completed, with immortal honor. Then fhall all the millions of the human race be reconciled to God, through Christ, and shall fing; fee Rev. v. 11, 12, 13, 14, " And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; finging with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was flain, to receive power,

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