to prove that the general Sense of Scripture favours the Opinion of the Final Salvation of all Mankind," by Mr. James Browne, a clergyman of the Church of England; Vidler's "Letters to Fuller on the Universal Restoration;" Dr. Estlin of Bristol's" Discourses on Universal Restitution';" Dr. T. Southwood Smith's "Illustrations of the Divine Government," &c.; Mr. Wright's" Eternity of Hell Torments indefensible;" and in "Universal Restoration exhibited, in a series of Extracts from Winchester, White, Siegvolck, Dr. Chauncy, Bishop Newton, and Petitpierre," some of the most remarkable authors who have written in defence of that interesting subject. 12mo.

"

The writers who have more particularly animadverted upon the doctrine of late are, in America, President Edwards, and his son Dr. Edwards; and in England, Archbishop Dawes, Dr. Horbery, Mr. Daniel Taylor, Mr. Fisher, Mr. C. Jerram, and Mr. Andrew Fuller. In the first four volumes of the Universalist's Miscellany" will be found the controversy on the subject between Mr. Vidler and Mr. Fuller, together with many papers on both sides of the question. See also three able sermons on the " Eternity of Future Punishments," preached before the University of Oxford; two of them by Archdeacon Dodwell (of Berks), in answer to Whiston; and the third, by the learned and very respectable Mr. Crouch, late vice-principal of St. Edmund Hall, now rector of Narborough, near Leicester *.

MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS.

Some will not believe what they cannot comprehend; others, what cannot be demonstrated; many, what opposes their corrupt passions and inclinations; others, what militates against human pride and self-righteousness; and others, what must fill their guilty consciences with the most alarming fears. Hence the denial, as of other fundamental truths of Christianity, so also of the eternal duration of future punishments; and, as has been well observed on this subject by an able divine, few complain" that eternal punishments are too

complaint of the inhabitants, for preacbing against the orthodox doctrine on this head. The same doctrine is also supported by Burnet, in his work "De Statu Mortuorum," &c.

• Many divines of the highest talents, and of the soundest judgment and piety, have argued, that the eternity of hell torments is quite consis tent both with the goodness and the justice of God. See, in particular, Calvini Instit. lib. iii. cap. 25, sect. 12; Fabricius de Verit. Christ. Relig. cap. 47; Vossius Theses Theol. p. 95; Dr. Whitby's Appendix to Second Epistle to the Thessal." and Dr. Hill's "Lectures in Divinity," vol. ii. p. 594, &c.

severe, but those for whom they are not severe enough to keep them from them." This is one thing, it is true, of which we cannot have ocular demonstration; but to believe punishment to be not eternal, is to return to the discarded notion of Purgatory*; or that those who have not duly repented and believed upon earth, may be reformed by sufferings after death.

Many deny that the punishment of eternal death was implied in the sentence denounced against Adam. Among these are, Bishop Burnet, on the Ninth Article; Taylor, on "Original Sin" Mr. Ludlow, in his " Essays;" and Dr. Hey, in his "Norrisian Lectures +." And many churchmen, it is feared, explain away the strong language of Scripture and of the Church of England, respecting the punishment of finally impenitent sinners, and suggest doubts, whether "all men may not be happy_ultimately." Among these may be reckoned the learned Dr. Paley +, and Mr. William Gilpin §.

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"We are not called upon by our Church," says Dr. Hey, "to subscribe to the eternity of hell-torments, nor even to condemn those who affirm that all men shall be finally saved ||:" But the Church uses, and constantly repeats, in regard both to the intensity and duration of this punishment, the very strongest expressions. Such surely are these: to "perish everlastingly,"-to go into everlasting fire,"-" God's wrath and everlasting damnation,"-" hell fire,"-" the bitter pains of eternal death," &c. How is it possible to represent intense and never-ending misery, if this language does not? The doctor, however, adds, that, "though one were inclined to hope, with Dr. Hartley, that all men will be happy ultimately; i. e. when punishment has done its proper work in reforming principles and conduct"-in other words, when our state of purgatory is ended;" yet to affirm it must always be presumption."-The condemnation of those who affirmed this was required in the 42d, or the last, article of Edward VI., and the doctor thinks reasonably.

The

A Roman Catholic divine has not failed to remark this inconsistency. "Apres avoir tant crié contre le purgatoire (says he), un grand nombre de docteurs Protestans niant l'éternité des peines eteignent l'énfer, et ne veulent plus qu' un purgatoire."—Gregoire.

For the kind of death that was threatened to our first parents, see Dr. Edwards "On Original Sin," p. 189.

See the chapter on "the Benevolence of God," in his "Moral and Political Philosophy."

§ Prebendary of Salisbury, and Vicar of Boldre, in his" Sermons and Hints;" and yet on this subject he is highly approved by the editors of a respectable Review.

"Norrisian Lectures," vol. ii. p. 390.

title of the article was, “All men shall not be saved at length."

Every benevolent heart must wish the doctrine to be true; but so must they wish that we were all exempted from temporal suffering, yet this, we know, is not the case. And nothing, surely, but an absolute certainty of its truth can authorize the preaching of it; for, if there is the least shadow of truth on the other side, it must be highly dangerous to lead men to disbelieve it.

By teaching this doctrine of the final restoration of all men, divines greatly undermine and weaken a main bulwark against the general overflowings of immorality and vice; and hence some authors have ventured to style its adherents Latudinarians. With their extenuated views of the effects of the fall, and of the rigour of the law, and of the malignity of sin, they do not readily conceive that the worst of men can deserve to suffer "the bitter pains of eternal death." It is a doctrine not very reconcileable with their notions of the object of God in our creation, and their resolution of all the Divine attributes into those of pure mercy and benevolence [Dr. Paley, as above]; and from the little use they make of it themselves, and the severity with which they treat the ordinary Scripture use of it by others, there certainly remains a doubt whether they really believe the doctrine or not. But, whatever may be said to the contrary, and however ungrateful the subject may be, if the doctrine is really believed, nay, if it is only thought probable, or even possible, so far is its extreme awfulness from furnishing a reason for generally concealing it, that this consideration is the very strongest reason why impenitent sinners should hear it honestly proclaimed; for, as the learned and great Bishop Horsley has remarked, "the only safe principle of human conduct is the belief that unrepented sin will suffer endless punishment hereafter*."

See the learned Dr. Cook's excellent remarks on the subject of this article, in the second volume of his "General and Historical View of Christianity," just published, p. 502-3.

DESTRUCTIONISTS.

NAME.

THOSE who hold a kind of middle scheme between the system of Universal Restoration and that of Endless Misery-or who maintain that the wicked shall neither be for ever miserable nor finally saved, but that, after passing through an awful judgment, and a condemnation in hell proportioned to their crimes, they shall be destroyed or punished with an utter extinction of being-are called Destructionists.

DISTINGUISHING TENET.

They say, "that the Scripture positively asserts this doctrine of destruction;-that the nature of future punishment (which the Scripture terms death) determines the meaning of the words everlasting,'' eternal,' for ever,' &c. as denoting endless duration; because no law ever did or can inflict the punishment of death for a limited period;—that the punishment cannot be corrective, because no man was ever put to death, either to convince his judgment or reform bis conduct; -that if the wicked receive a punishment apportioned to their crimes, their deliverance is neither to be attributed to the mercy of God nor the mediation of Jesus Christ, but is an act of absolute justice ;-and, finally, that the mediatorial kingdom of Christ will never be delivered up, since the Scripture asserts, that of his kingdom there shall be no end.'”

Some of them profess to believe that there are no torments except for notorious sinners; and that such as should just fall short of heaven would sink into their original nothing. Hence those who hold this doctrine of the destruction of the wicked, are accused of espousing the doctrine of annihilation: but this they deny, alleging, that, " philosophically speaking, there can be no annihilation; and that destruction is the express phrase used in the New Testament."

EMINENT MEN AND WRITERS PRO ET CON.

For this doctrine there have been several advocates distinguished for their erudition and piety. The famous John Biddle is said to have adopted and taught these views*; but

* See his Life by Toulmin, p. 83-4.

the doctrine has been more particularly adopted by Dr. John Taylor, of Norwich; the Rev. Mr. J. Bourne, of Birmingham*, from whom they are sometimes called Bourneans; Mr. J. Nicol Scott, and Dr. Price. Mr. J. Marsom also has strenuously contended for it in two small volumes, of which there has been a second edition with additions; and the same scheme has likewise been lately supported in an elaborate manner by Mr. Clark, in a work entitled "A Vindication of the Honour of God, in a Scriptural Refutation of the Doctrine of Eternal Misery and Universal Salvation."

If the doctrine of annihilation be connected with that of destruction, as many seem to think, though they themselves deny it, the great Dr. Watts may be considered, in some measure, as a Destructionist; since it was his opinion that the children of ungodly parents, who die in infancy, are annihilated t. And while Mr. Forsyth, in his "Principles of Moral Science," a work which has been described as "one of the vilest that was ever published in a Christian country," argues against a future state of rewards and punishments, and confers immortality on the elect few who have cultivated their intellectual powers in this life, he "very charitably consigns the multitude to inevitable annihilation."

On the other side, Dr. S. Chandler maintained a short controversy with Mr. Bourne, about the year 1759, wherein he defended the eternity of future punishments; and Dr. Edwards, in his answer to Dr. Chauncy, on the "Salvation of all Men," says, that the destruction scheme was provisionally retained by Dr. Chauncy-i. e. in case the scheme of universal salvation should fail him-and therefore Dr. Edwards, in his "Salvation of all Men strictly examined," appropriates a chapter to the consideration of it. See also an

See the last sermon of the first volume of Mr. Bourne's "Discourses on the Principles and Evidences of Natural Religion and the Christian Revelation," and his "Letter to the Rev. S. Chandler, D.D., concerning the Christian Doctrine of Future Punishment."

+ Even the learned Mr. Dodwell seems to have espoused the doctrine of annihilation. See the 2d vol. of his Life, by Brokelsby, p. 608. But, indeed, these doctrines are of long standing in the world, and have been maintained by both Pagans and Jews, as well as by Christians; for, while some of the sages of antiquity, as Cæsar and M. Porcius Cato, present to us the dismal prospect of annihilation, and others the idea of the soul's short-lived duration; the great Maimonides says that the wicked, when they die," will be utterly destroyed;" David Kimchi, that "their souls will perish with their bodies;" and Manasseh Ben Israel, "that their torments will not be perpetual." Vide Sallust. Bell. Catal. cap. 51. 53. "Diu mansuros aiunt (Stoici) animos, semper negant." See also Allan's "Modern Judaism," p. 131-2.