REVIEW.

LET us once more state the result which we have obtained, with a brief recapitulation of the reasons upon which it is founded.

We have seen, that the two Spiritual Beings of good and evil are existing in mutual opposition, from everlasting to everlasting, and that neither of them is of that corporeal or temporary nature which we have been accustomed, perhaps, to imagine. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the attributes possessed by the Author and Essence of Good, for they are indelibly impressed upon the heart of every Christian; it may, however, be proper to call to mind that the Principle of Evil is likewise eternal, spiritual, and infinite, -infinite not in power but in diffusion: "the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.' We have seen, that to each of these two antagonistic Spiritual Beings obedience is given by

" a

an untold number of ministering spirits, like unto themselves, angels of light and angels of darkness, each individually perfectly distinct one from the other, and each possessing a true and independent existence.

"It was the opinion both of Jews and heathens that the air was full of spirits called demons, and that there was a prince over them, called the governor of the world, that is, of the darkness of it. This evil spirit is here said (Eph. ii. 2.) inwardly to work in the children of disobedience,' and elsewhere 'to take them captive at his will' (2 Tim. ii. 26.), and their conversion is styled a recovery of them from the power of Satan' (Acts, xxvi. 18.)." a

"All the angels, even those of the highest order, are employed by their Creator to serve those who believe in Christ Jesus. What these services are, and how performed, it would be impossible to state. They are, no doubt, constantly employed in averting evil and procuring good. If God help man by man, we need not wonder that He helps men by angels. We know that He needs none of those helps, for He can do all things himself; yet it seems agreeable to his a Dr. Whitby.

infinite wisdom and goodness to use them. This is a part of the economy of God in the government of the world and of the church; and a part, no doubt, essential to the harmony and perfection of the whole. (See the Rev. John Wesley's Works, vol. ix. p. 337. ed. 1811.)"*

We have seen that a Being of infinite goodthe author and essence of every good, ness, very regards with mercy and compassion all that He has created; and we have been taught to believe that He is able and willing to save even the opposing spirits of evil, that He delights to bring good out of evil, and thus to add to the glory of the kingdom of heaven; but we have seen, that by an evil Being, while possessing within itself the attributes solely of the immaterial, the infinite, and the eternal, conversion to good, as it is not wished for, so neither can it be received.

Again we have seen that the soul of Adam is not an infallible being, but one liable to temporal and eternal misery. We know that each one of his descendants is born to certain pain here, and many of them (as we are taught) to probable torment hereafter; and thus we learn,

a Dr. A. Clarke's Biblical Notes.

that as the appearance of the first man upon earth must undoubtedly have been a punishment, so also, but in a much greater degree, must have been the bodily imprisonment of every soul in all succeeding generations. But as we know that a soul which had not existed could not have deserved punishment, and as we unhesitatingly acknowledge that unmerited punishment cannot be inflicted by infinite justice, we are therefore assured that each individual spirit which we call the soul of man is evil in its nature, and must have known another sphere of existence, in which sin is committed and punishment deserved.

Reason, therefore, and Scripture, unite to teach us that the eternal principles of contradiction, the everlasting spirits of evil, are deserving of punishment; but we know that the punishment of Heaven is not as that of human invention. It is not the act of aroused vengeance nor of offended pride. It is demanded by justice, —it is tempered with mercy,—it is inflicted in hope. It is the merciful means of conversion,it is a just cause for thanksgiving,—and it is satisfaction that rests trustfully in the future. By its means is evil turned to good; the kingdom of evil and its power are diminished; the

dominion of supreme good is enlarged; and its glory established for ever.

But such a dispensation of punishment and pardon is exactly that under which each sinful soul of man is placed; and it is moreover preeminently, and far above all human power of conception, fitted for enabling the rebelling spirits of evil to tread with humble footsteps that path which alone can lead to holiness. For those evil spirits, deserving to be eternally excluded from association with angels of light, and to be left unpitied in a state of never-ending contradiction, are yet made the recipients of a merciful compassion; a compassion, too, which, in their state of spiritual opposition, knowledge, and power, they were unwilling and unable to receive, because consciousness of sin was not only dwelling within them, was not merely a part of themselves, but was actually their real existence itself, for they were themselves the spirits of contradiction. But the gift of oblivion is mercifully ordained, and they remember not the innate evil of their nature: by their embodied appearance upon earth, their self-condemning knowledge is lost in temporary ignorance; and upon beings who, in their very nature, are