ers in behalf of any one who had not been guilty of sin which the law punished with death; but by no means to exert their miraculous gifts to deliver those incorrigible offenders, who were guilty of capital offences.

Hebrews vi. 4, 5, 6. "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."

"If those who fall away cannot be again renewed to repentance, they cannot of course get to heaven."

But the text says nothing about getting to heaven, or being banished from heaven. It does not allude to the resurrection, or to man's immortality. It is a plain description of the hopelessness of renewing those in the faith of Christ, who, after they had once been followers of Christ, and witnessed the miracles of his disciples, went back again to Judaism, or to Heathenism.

Clark and Macknight complain of our translators for rendering the original of this text "if they shall fall away;" they acknowledge that the apostle was not speaking of future apostacy, particularly, but of those who had already renounced Christianity, and gone back to Judaism; and affirm that the passage shonld be rendered," and yet have fallen away,"-the verb being in the past tense. Macknight was a Calvinist, and Clark a Methodist, and it will be interesting to know with what severity they have both treated king Jame's translators in this instance. Macknight says, "Never" theless our translators, following Beza, who without

any authority hath inserted the word si, if, have rendered this clause. "If they shall fall away," that this text might not appear to contradict the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. But no translator should take it upon himself to add to, or alter the Scripture, for the sake of a favorite doctrine." Dr. Macknight is constrained to acknowledge the mortifying fact that his Calvinistic brethren, who translated the received version of the Bible, not only mistranslated, but even added a word to this text, lest it should contradict a favorite doctrine. He also says, "The apostle does not mean that it is impossible for God to renew a second time an apostate, but that it is impossible for the ministers of Christ to convert, a second time, to the faith of the Gospel, one who, after being made acquainted with all the proofs by which God hath thought fit to establish Christ's missions, shall allow himself to think Him an imposter, and renounce His Gospel."

Dr. Clark is quite as severe upon our creed-consulting translators. He says "Dr. Macknight was a Calvinist, and he was a thorough scholar and an honest man; but, professing to give a translation of the epistles, he consulted not his creed, but his candor. Had our translators leaned less to their own peculiar creed, in the present authorized version, the church of Christ in this country would not have been so agitated and torn as it has been with polemical divinity.”

2

CHAPTER X.

Destruction without remedy.-Judgment without mercy.Everlasting life.-Hell-fire.-Everlasting punishment. -Eternal punishment, &c.

Proverbs xxix. 1. "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." "Destruction without remedy must be eternal.”

But destruction without remedy one would suppose must mean any thing but endless misery. Destruction without remedy strictly means a destruction that cannot be avoided. The idea of duration, whether long or short, is not implied in the phrase at all; but only that of the impossibility of escaping the approaching destruction. He that will not hear reproof, but hardeneth his neck, goes on headlong in his own reckless way, will be suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy. The text says there will be no remedy for his sudden destruction. It has no allusion whatever to man's future existence, but simply describes the fate which the wise man knew lay in the path of a stiff-necked and wayward man. If Solomon had meant that a man who hardened his neck in this world, will be endlessly damned hereafter, I conclude he would have said so: he was probably nearly as capable of making himself under stood, as the gentleman who succeeds so admiraby in defining what he thinks of this matter.

The wise man employed the same phraseology in chapter xv, speaking of the punishment of the adulterer, which was to be stoned till his bones were broken; he says, "Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken without remedy." That is, there shall be no escape from being broken. But according to onr erudite theologian's interpretation of without remedy, Solomon meant that he would be broken or stoned to all eternity.

James ii. 13. "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." "There are those whom God judgeth without mercy. And if without mercy, their torments must be without end."

This text by no means declares that God will judge, or punish some men unmercifully; he is a blasphemer who says that. The Bible declares that God's "tender mercies are over all the works of his hand," and that "his mercy endureth forever." And Christ has taught us, that we must become the children of our heavenly Father, by imitating Him, Matt. v. 45; which would be, according to this man, to show no mercy to those who offend us. He begins by making a criminal of God, and would end by making criminals of all who follow the example of such a horrible fiend.

In this text, James has only repeated what our Lord said in Matt. vii. 2: "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again." He who shows no mercy to others, will find none at the hands of others. James had accused some of the twelve tribes of partiality, and a want of mercy in their administration of

justice; and he simply reminds them of the rule laid down by Christ, that the same measure which they dealt to others, should be measured to them again. "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." That is, says Clark, "He who is severe on others, will naturally excite their severity against himself." This is what the apostle meant, when he said, "He shall have judgment without mercy, that showed no mercy."

John iii. 36. "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him,"

"The life the unbeliever shall not see, is the life of the righteous. The second death must de their portion forever."

Everlasting life, and eternal life are used in the New Testament, to signify a knowledge of God, and of the believer on earth, without any reference to a future existence. An example may be quoted from John xvii, 3: "And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The text declares that those who believe not the Son, have not this everlasting life; that is, they know not God, nor his Son. It does not say that he who believeth on the Son shall, hereafter, have everlasting life, but that he hath now everlasting life. The verb is in the present tense, which makes it certain that the earthly life of the believer is referred to, and not his immortal state. While the unbeliever shall not see this life of faith, which the believer here enjoys, so long as he continues in his unbelief. He cannot know God, until he believes on his Son. This subject is made perfectly