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shall not have boldness, but shall be ashamed before him " at his coming"-" "in the day of judgment."

Thus far, we see no relief to the picture-no hope for the sinner. We have shown you how, in character and condition, he contrasts with the righteous, in this world-at death-in the resurrection state-and at the day of judgment. When will this contrast cease? Can Mr. Austin tell us? We shall see.

My fourteenth Argument is based on the doctrine of

A FUTURE AND GENERAL JUDGMENT.

On this subject, we call the attention of Mr. Austin to the following statements, and, if he can, let him meet them one by one, and overthrow them.

1. God has a right-it is his prerogative if he chooses, to have a day of general judgment, and of general and final distribution of rewards and punishments. That is, we know of no attribute of God, no principle of the divine government, and no argument from reason, which would contravene the divine right, to assemble his moral subjects, and at once and finally award to every man according to his works. Having authorized thrones of judgment in this world, before which we may appear to implead one another, and obtain justice, and secure the equitable distribution of rewards and punishments, it appears improbable and unreasonable that he should not have reserved to himself the right to erect over all these, his general throne before which both judges and judged may be brought to receive the decisions of the higher--the Supreme Court of the universe.

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2. It seems necessary to suppose some arrangement of this kind, to justify the ways of God to man." God is a universal Governor; and as he is an infinitely good and just Being, he must be a righteous Governor. But if we confine our views of his administration to this life, his government cannot be justified. God being infinitely perfect, his laws must be perfect; his laws being perfect, they must have an equal bearing on his subjects; but if the power of retribution extends not beyond this life, his laws and government bear most unequally, and there is no remedy. In this world, for the most part, the wicked bear rule. They are lofty in their claims, unjust and oppressive in their measures; virtue is oppressed, persecuted, down-trodden, and often receives the punishment due to crime, while vice bears away the reward due to virtue. Where is the remedy, if the empire of retribution extends not beyond this life? If we may not hope for a re-hearing before an unerring judge, when these numerous wrongs shall be made right, we might well adopt the language of a distinguished Poet, with perhaps more of heart-felt anguish than he possessed. "O for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade,"

where we may be free from the oppressor's frown, and the con

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tumely of the proud and haughty; where vice should not encroach on virtue's rights, and where our ears shall not be pained with "every day's report" of wrong and outrage. In short, we must change our views of the goodness of God, and the equity and impartiality of his governmental proceedings, or enlarge the field of his operations, and give his retributive administration a broader sweep, that its perfect results may be unfolded.

3. This reasoning is confirmed by scripture and matter of fact. Consider the language of David. (Ps. lxxiii.)--"I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

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They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppres sion they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, how doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. When

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I thought to know (to understand) 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 to destruction. As a dream when one awaketh; 8) (will their prosperity pass away, when they awake to the realties of eternity, and so,) O Lord, when thou awakest, (in the work of final retribution) thou shalt despise their image." Here is plain proof that the wicked of this world are to meet a just judgment in the world to come. (Job xxi. 7–15.)—“ Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

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They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say to God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." All this would be inexplicable on any equitable principles, without an arrangement like that contemplated in the future and general judg ment. But Job gives us the key which unlocks the mystery, in the 30th verse. The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." How exactly this agrees with 2 Pet. ii 9.-"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and reserve the unjust unt the day of judgment, to be punished." (Eccl. viii. 14, 15.)"There be just men, to whom it happeneth according to the wor of the wicked: Again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous." So, also (chap. ix. 2.) the fact that the righteous are not in this life rewarded, nor the wicked punished to the full measure of their deserts, is set forth in the following language. "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: to him that sacrificeth, and

to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner, and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath." From these passages, it is as clear as sun-light, that this world is not a state of perfect retribution. And, " because sentence against an evil work [sin] is not speedily executed, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."-(Eccl. viii. 11.) They abuse the long suffering of God, which is intended to lead to salvation, and make it the occasion of increased guilt, and the enhancement of their final condemnation. To this effect are the words of Christ respecting Chorazin and Bethsaida." But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you."-(Matt. xi. 24.)

4. Moreover, on the ground assumed by Universalism, this world is not a state of perfect retribution, because the object of punishment, as taught by that theory, is not secured in this life. The leading design of punishment on the principles of the Universalist system, is the reformation of the offender; and punishment must be continued in every case until this object is achieved. But this design is not realized in very many cases. Men often grow harder in heart, and more wicked in life, under the penal visitations of God, and in the end, die in a state of impenitency and blasphemy. The object of punishment not being accomplished in this life, it follows, if it be attained at all, it must be in the future state; otherwise, the Universalist theory of punishment is false. But if retributive punishment be inflicted in the future state, [as we have seen it inust be, if its end be answered,] then must God's work of judg ment be extended to the future world also. On any other supposition, we should have punishment without law, and justice without a judge. That divine retribution is not finished in this world, is still farther evident from the fact, that our relations, and the influence we exert in forming the character of others, do not admit of our being rewarded or punished in the present life, according to our works. Constituted as they are, the actions of men do not terminate in themselves, but the consequences pass over to others, and often are not fully developed until long after they are dead. To punish men before the evils of their conduct had been realized, would be to judge and punish in anticipation-according to what will be, and not according to what has been. This would not be according to their works ;" and such an administration could not be justified in the view of a moral universe, and hence, could exert no salutary practical influence upon intelligent beings.

The good effected by Paul, and Howard, was not confined to the term of their natural lives, but has passed over to other men and other days; hence, during their earthly state, they were not rewarded according to their work and labor of love. So Paul understood it, for he declares, (1. Cor. xv. 19.)-" If in this life only, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable;" and when he was "about to be offered," and "the time of his de

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parture was at hand," inasmuch as he had fight," and "kept the faith," in spite of "perils" and "persecutions"-he exulted in the contemplation of future reward-"henceforth there is laid up for me in heaven, a crown of righteousness." On the other hand, the evil effected by the infidel labors of Voltaire and Bolingbroke, furnish an apt illustration. Their writings still retain their power to blight the opening buds of virtue. The former spent a long life, and devoted his large capacity to the work of blaspheming Christ and his holy religion. The latter matured his plans, and adjusted the weapons of his warfare, du- ring his life time, but left the execution and application to another -his works in advocacy of infidelity, not being published until after his death. It was of him, I think, that Dr. Johnson remarkedwith so much pertinentcy and severity-"he loaded up a blunderbuss against Christianity, but not having sufficient courage to fire it off, left a sum of money in his will to a beggarly Jew, to pay him for pulling the trigger after his death." Now, as men cannot be finally and fully rewarded and punished for their works, until the influence those works have exerted in the formation of character in a state of probation shall be fully realized, hence the propriety and necessity of a judgment after this life, which, in its decisions, shall be based upon an enlightened view of the entire character of human conduct, and its influence upon the happiness of the moral universe.

5. The Jews believed in a future and general judgment. Of this there is abundant proof in the Jewish Talmuds, of which the following is a specimen. "When Rabbi Jochanan ben Zachai was sick, his disciples came to visit him; and when he saw them, he began to weep. They say unto him, Rabbi! the light of Israel, the right hand pillar, the strong hammer, wherefore dost thou weep? He answered them, if they were carrying me before a king of flesh and blood, who is here to-day, and to-morrow in the grave; who, if he was angry with me, his anger would not last forever; if he put me in prison, his prison would not be everlasting; if he condemned me to death, that death would not be eternal; whom I could soothe with words, or bribe with riches; yet, even in these circumstances, I should weep. But now I am going before the King of Kings, the holy and the blessed God, who liveth and endureth forever and forever; who, if he be angry with me, his anger will last forever; if he put me in prison, his bondage will be everlasting; if he condemn me to death, that death will be eternal; whom I cannot soothe with words, nor bribe with riches. When, farther, there are before me two ways, the one to hell and the other to Paradise, and I know not in which they are carrying me, shall I not weep?"-(Talmud Beracoth, fol. 28.) Josephus speaks thus of the judgment, as believed by the Jews. "For all men, the just as well as the unjust, shall be brought before God, the Word; for to him hath the Father committed all

judgment, and he, in order to fulfill the will of his Father, shall shall come as Judge, whom we call Christ. For, Minos and Rhadamanthus are not the Judges, as you Greeks do suppose, but He whom God the Father hath glorified; concerning whom we have elsewhere given a more particular account, for the sake of those who seek after truth. This person, exercising the righteous judg ment of the Father toward all men, hath prepared a just sentence for every one according to his works; at whose judgment seat, when all men and angels and demons shall stand, they will send forth one voice and say, just is the judgment; the rejoinder to which will bring a just sentence upon both parties, by giving justly to those who have done well, an everlasting fruition; but allotting to the lovers of wicked works, eternal punishment.”—(Discourse on Hades.) Our Lord was, as to his humanity, a Jew; and if the Jewish people had been in error in regard to a future judg ment, he most certainly would have corrected them. But so far from having done this, his parables and other discourses do most unequivocally teach the same doctrine. For him to have left them in error on this point, while he corrected their mistakes in less important cases, is not to be thought of. The only consistent conclusion is, that he approved the doctrine, and re affirmed it.

6. The doctrine of a future and general judgment is most emphatically taught in the Holy Scriptures.

1. It is represented as the ju.gment to come. In Eccl. viii. 11. the judgment is said to be postponed to a future time-" sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed." (xi. 9.)—“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth; and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment." (Acts xxiv. 25.)-Paul" reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come. Felix trembled," &c. (Rom. ii. 6-16.)-In these verses, frequently quoted already, the Apostle describes the retributions of God as adapted to the character and works of men, and then specifies the time when they shall be awarded, viz.- "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel." This passage can have no reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, since the Gentile world generally [who have not the law,] are included in the decisions and retributions of the day spoken of, (1 Tim. iv. 8.)- Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day." This cannot refer to the day in which Jerusalem was destroyed, because Paul died before that event took place. (Rom. xiv. 10.) We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." (1 Cor. iv. 5.)" Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come; who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart." (2 Pet. ii. 9.)—“ Reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment, to be punished."

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