He pretends to rely on the words perish and consume. But these no more convey an idea of futurity than fever and consumption. Perish is frequently used in Scripture to denote the punishment of the wicked in this life. "When it goeth well with the righteous the city rejoiceth, and when the wicked perish there is shouting." Prov. xi. 10. This word is applied to the prodigal son in Luke xv. 17.

The word consume has the same meaning. See Jer. xiv. 12, "I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence."

But the Psalmist has plainly limited the text to events of this earth. For he adds "Such as be blessed of God shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. I have been young, and now I am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked is cut off (i. e. from the inheritance of the land) then shalt thou see it." verse 22, 25, 34. Surely a reasonable man cannot fail to perceive that the Psalmist is speaking of things of this life. The only reward he promises is that they shall inherit the land, and their seed shall not be found begging bread; while the wicked should be cut off from that inheritance-should consume away into smoke; a striking figure to represent the wasting away of their substance. Thompson has given a very literal translation of the passage, "Therefore when the enemies of the Lord were exalted and glorified they were flitting away like smoke, and vanishing."

Clark says that several versions in his possession render it thus, "But the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they are exalted to honor, shall vanish; like smoke they vanish."

The gentleman also quoted the 37 and 38 verses of the same Psalm from which the above text was selected; but the remarks we have made on the general scope and design of the chapter are sufficient to set one right in the interpretation of these verses.

Ezekiel iii. 18. "When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity: but his blood will I require at thine hand.', "Some of the wicked it appears from this shall die in their sins."

The original is better rendered "shall die by his iniquity." It has the same meaning as the passage which declares the wicked shall not live outhalf their days. If he will take the pains to read the 6th, 7th, 11th, and 17, verses of the chapter, he will learn that the text refers to the temporal punishment of the" house of Israel." What kind of a death is spoken of appears plain from the beginning of the next chapter. "Thou also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city of Jerusalem; and lay siege against it; set the camp also against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mountain against it, and set battering-rams against it round about. And it shall be beiseged. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel."-To be besieged was the death spoken of in this text. And this is the kind of proof which our opposers are compel

led to rely upon if they pretend to prove the doctrine of infernal torments by the word of God. They must cut out a passage here and there, and take it wholly away from its connexion before they can drag a single text into the service of their horrible creed.

Job xx. 7. "Yet he (the wicked) shall perish forever like his own filth: they that have seen him shall say where is he?" "According to Universalism not a word of truth in all this."

I confess that I cannot give the gentleman credit for much wisdom in selecting this passage to prove his doctrine. It does not say that the wicked shall perish in endless woe; but only that " he shall perish like his own filth." To make out his point, he must show that his own filth is a certain subject of endless damnation. It is a filthy creed, indeed, which drives a decent man into such vulgar absurdities in defending it. And if he had read the whole chapter, he would never have applied the 7th verse to any events of eternity. The reader is requested to read the chapter from the 7th verse to the end; which will convince him that the only threatening upon the wicked in this place is that "His bones shall be full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust." Verse 2. But if it will not mortify the gentleman too much, we will inform him that the author of this text was on the whole, a rather bad character. It was Zophar the Naamathite. He was a sour and miserable man, of whom Dr. Clark says, "He was too crooked to write much in measured verse." He was just the right character to preach the gentleman's doctrine, if such a wicked sentiment had been taught in his day.

Job. viii. 13, 14. So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrites hope shall perish: whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be as a spider's web."

"What sense can ther be in this language, if all are to be saved? suppose a hypocrite to believe in Universal salvation, does his hope perish?"

Surely Universalists all rejoice, with joy unspeakable, in the truth of the above text. We not only believe that the hypocrites hope will perish, but that every other evil thought will come to nought, and everlasting purity and bliss encompass the redeemed family of man. If the gentleman had read the next verse following his text he would have learned what the hope of the hypocrite was which should perish. "He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure." This will convince him that the hope which was to perish was a worldly and selfish hope; it has not the least allusion to any spiritual affairs. And it may just as well be quoted to prove the doctrine of transmigration after death, as to prove that of infernal torments.

His supposition that a hypocrite should believe in Universalism is hardly a supposable case. There is no inducement for a hypocrite to come among honest people, whose very sincerity exposes them to the shafts of all the hypocrites and bigots in Christendom; and whose faith is not admired by the corrupt world. Plainly this is no platform for hypocrites. And even were a hypocrite to believe in Universal grace, it would not even in him become, properly, a hypocrite's hope. An apostle testifies that the creation "was made subject

to vanity, by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God." Rom. viii. 20. So this hope of the final deliverance or salvation of the creation from the bondage of corruption, is a hope worthy of heaven; and it cannot become, properly a hypocrite's hope, though a bad man should happen to believe it. It would be the truth of God still, though held in unrigh

teousness.

"The word, ktisis, rendered creature in this passage means the whole intelligent creation. In the 22nd verse it is, with the adjective, translated "the whole creation," (passa he ktisis, all the creation). On the passage first quoted, Dr. Macknight says, "The crea ture here, as in verse 18, signifies all mankind." Thompson translates the text creation, and adds in a note, "I take it to mean mankind in general." In the received version the same phrase is translated "every creature," (pase te ktisci) in Mark xvi. 15. It is also rendered "every creature" in Col. i. 15. The same word is also rendered creation in Mar. x. 16, and xiii. 19.

"Job xi. 20. "But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost."

"Such cannot be the the case if Universalism be true."

So here we find him quoting again from that crooked and fault-finding rebel of a Zophar. However, though this man's sayings are no authority, we have