erted upon them in vain! And let it not be said that I herein misrepresent that doctrine: for the word of God informs us that the incorrigible sinner is doomed to such a state, and to suffer such things; while the Universalists tell us that all punishment is designed to promote reformation.

4. We must distinguish between sins that are pardoned, and sins that are not pardoned. It is the latter only that shall be punished as they deserve. The children of God, though pardoned, are the subjects of disciplinary punishment still in this world. It is necessary for them, and therefore provided for in the covenant of promise. But this is not punishing them according to their sins. Sins not pardoned shall be punished according to their desert; but this is never done in the present life.

5. We must distinguish between human law and Divine law. Human law is always imperfect and weak; and while it takes no cognizance of the greater number of sins, it never looks to the whole desert of those of which it takes cognizance. Human law takes no cognizance of motives and designs farther than they are developed in the actions of man; and even here it has not the power to inflict the whole deserved punishment. He that kills a man must die for it. And though he kill a thousand men he can die but once. Here is then, in this case, no proportion between his guilt and his punishment. This shows that the Divine law takes cognizance of the same ac

tions which have been punished by human law, and carries the degree of punishment to the degree of guilt. And no doubt this is the fact in all cases. Human law never awards the whole punishment due to sin. It cannot. But the Divine law will do this. The Divine law is a discerner of the thoughts, intents, and dispositions of the heart, which involve the principles of action, and is the rule by which the secrets of men shall be judged in that day. And who can determine the degree of turpitude and criminality here? None but the Divine Lawgiver and Judge. Man's thoughts and secret designs will be found unspeakably more criminal when judged by the Divine law, than his worst actions are when judged by the most rigid human law. Human law extends not to our piety or impiety; but the Divine law requires the entire devotion of our hearts, and that we "love the Lord our God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength." And to see the importance of love to God, and the criminality of withholding it, we may observe that it is this which gives character and acceptability to all our moral and social virtues. Without this they are all chaff. Who then can determine the criminality of those dispositions expressed by the terms unbelief, and hardness of heart! I confess that I am lost in the contemplation of this subject, and am no more able to comprehend it than I am able to comprehend the immensity of the Divine being. And shall man, weak, guilty man, whose depravity is evinced by a criminal

partiality to himself; whose carnal mind is enmity against God; whose understanding is darkened, and who errs continually in the most common concerns of life-shall this man invade the judgment seat of Christ, and decide on the degree of his own criminality, and the extent of his own deserved punishment? What would you say of a traitor to his country who should attempt to do this? Would you say that he is a suitable person to decide on the degree of his own criminality, and the extent of his own punishment?-Yet the absurdity in this case bears no proportion to the absurdity and danger of attempting it in the other.

I now come to the objection, and will endeavour to show, by Scriptural and rational arguments that sin is not punished in this life to the extent of its desert. If I prove this, Universalism falls to the ground. And here it may be observed that if sin is punished to the extent of its desert in this life, it must be either in the outward trials and afflictions of the sinner, in pain and distress of body, or in anguish and remorse of conscience, or in all these. I begin with the first of these and ask,

1. Does the punishment of the wicked in this life consist of the outward trials and afflictions they suffer?

That the wicked have a portion of the trials and afflictions of this life will not be denied ; but if the whole punishment of sin consist in these, we may expect to see an exact proportion, as far as we can judge, between the degree of

criminality, and the trials and afflictions suffered: that is, the more guilty will have more trials and afflictions; the less guilty will have fewer, and the holy will have scarcely any at all. But is this the fact? Will either the word of God or our own observation allow us to say this? So far from it, that many of the wicked have fewer trials and afflictions than many of the righteous. Job says, "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them," Job xxi, 7, 8, 9. Our objectors have placed themselves in the situation of Job's friends, who thought that God deals with men in this life according to their moral characters, and therefore inferred that Job was a wicked man because he suffered so much; but Job had other views of this subject, as we have seen above; and tells them that the "rod of God is not on the wicked," while it rests heavily upon the righteous. Jeremiah says, "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" Jer. xii, 1.

Solomon's observation is, that God deals in the same manner with the righteous and the wicked in this life. "There be just men," says he, "to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked: again, there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous," Eccles. viii, 14.

"All

things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean," &c, Eccles. ix, 2. This cannot mean that God rewards the righteous and the wicked in this life according to their works.

The psalmist is very explicit on this subject, and says, "I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men (the righteous;) neither are they plagued like other men, &c. Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning, &c. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God: then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction as in a moment," &c, Psa. lxxiii.

On these words of the psalmist we may observe, 1. That there was a time when he was not clear in the doctrine of Divine providence, and favoured too much the views of our opponents; for when he saw the "prosperity of the wicked," in which he was not deceived, he was ready to say, "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain," as it respects any advantage to be enjoyed above them in this life. At that time