stead, be ye reconciled to God." Supported and directed by such examples as these, there needs no apology for addressing those who are particularly concerned in this serious subject, and warning them against the fatal dangers to which they are eminently exposed.

There are many at this day, who are laboring to reason themselves out of the belief of all truth, both human and divine; and boast of arriving to a certainty that all things are uncertain. But it may be questioned whether the human mind, which is formed to see and feel the force of truth, will permit any man to approach nearer to perfect skepticism, than perfect knowledge. By a habit of resisting truth, however, some may have unsettled their minds respecting divine things, at least, and become exposed to embrace error, if any thing, instead of truth in matters of religion. And for this reason they are very liable to fall in with the delusive scheme of universal salvation, which hath a tendency to diffuse some glimmering rays of light in their dark and despairing minds. But let such be entreated to awake from their reveries, and attend to the great realities with which they are surrounded and connected. Eternal rewards and punishments are substantial realities, whether they believe them to be so or not. By shutting their eyes against them, their danger is not in the least diminished, but greatly enhanced. The period is hastening when they must be thoroughly awakened from their delusive dreams. The solemn scenes of the last day will draw the curtain aside, and open upon their astonished minds the great realities which we have described. And these objects, which, at a distance, made Felix and Belshazzar tremble, will equally shock their guilty souls, whenever their presence can no longer be resisted. A realizing sense of guilt, and folly, and the divine wrath, will make any human heart stoop, and fill it with unutterable anguish, horror and despair. Ö, that they would therefore turn from such gloomy prospects, and attend to those luminous truths, which will pour a flood of light into their ravished minds, and give them that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory!

There is a larger number than these, perhaps, who are making swift and bold advances in the cause of infidelity, and leave no methods unemployed to discredit divine revelation, and subvert the foundations of Christianity. They need not tell the world their motives. Were they not convinced that the Bible contains the doctrine of eternal punishments, they would not rack their inventions to find arguments to persuade themselves and others that the scriptures are a cunningly devised fable. Let this doctrine be erased from the Bible, and every

Deist would become its votary, and exchange his Bolingbroke, Voltaire or Chesterfield for that sacred volume. It is this doctrine alone that compels them to renounce a book which bears so many signatures of divinity, and which, they are compelled to acknowledge, contains the most excellent instructions, institutions and commands. But so weak is their infidelity, we presume they would rejoice to find the Bible on their side, to confirm their wavering hopes and feeble prospects of future happiness. And this is what the scheme of universal salvation proposes. It flatters them that the Bible is their friend, and announces eternal felicity to them and to all mankind. Accord

ly, numbers of a deistical turn have become converts to this agreeable doctrine, and many others are imminently exposed to fall into the fatal snare. But this is flying from the iron weapon and rushing on the bow of steel. For if any discard the Bible because they imagine it does contain the doctrine of eternal punishments, or embrace it because they think it does not, they will infallibly meet with disappointment and ruin in the end. There is one way, and but one, in which they may escape the wrath which is to come, and that is, by repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only foundation of hope that God hath provided and revealed; nor can any other foundation be laid, which will not give way when the winds blow and the storms of divine wrath beat upon the guilty soul.

The sons of pleasure, who indulge in every sinful gratification, find it exceedingly difficult, in their serious intervals, to stifle their natural apprehensions of guilt and punishment, and therefore readily catch hold of any thing which promises them impunity in the paths of vice. The doctrine of salvation for all men, without exception, or distinction of characters, perfectly gratifies their hearts, and coincides with their reigning views and pursuits. Accordingly, when this is proposed to their belief, they will, if possible, yield their assent, and shake off those painful fears of the wrath to come, through which they have all their life time been subject to bondage. But let them beware of this slender shelter. It will infallibly deceive and disappoint them. The agreeableness of the doctrine is a strong indication of its repugnancy to the gospel of Christ, which was never relished by persons of an immoral, profligate character. When John preached, Herod was offended. When Christ preached, the whole congregation was filled with wrath. And when Paul preached upon righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, the loose and abandoned Felix trembled. And it is the genuine tendency of the doctrines of the gospel to convince profligate sinners that they are in the gall of bitter

ness and bonds of iniquity. They may therefore be assured that the soothing doctrine of universal salvation is diametrically opposite to the truth as it is in Jesus. Then let them not listen to the pleasing delusion, and bless themselves, saying, We shall have peace, though we walk in the imagination of our hearts, to add drunkenness to thirst. For the Lord will not spare them, but his anger and his jealousy shall smoke against them, and all the curses that are written in the book of God shall lie upon them for ever. "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 thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judg ment." "Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

There is another class of men whose case borders upon despair, and calls aloud for the prayers and compassion of every pious heart; I mean those who have renounced their former faith, and built all their hopes for eternity upon the slender foundation, that no man can possibly be lost. My friends, are you certain that without love, without faith, without holiness, you can see the Lord? Are you certain, notwithstanding all the divine threatenings, there is no wrath to come? Are you certain that men cannot be under strong delusions to believe a lie, that they may be damned? Are you certain that you can appear before the judgment seat of Christ with safety? Are you certain that there is no meaning in this saying of our compassionate Redeemer: "What is a man profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" In a word, are you certain that it is absolutely impossible your precious and immortal souls should be lost for ever? If not, what an amazing risk do you run, to suspend all your eternal interests upon a single point of mere speculation, which stands condemned by the concurrent voice of reason, of conscience, of scripture, and of the Christian world! But (to use nearly the words of an eminently great and pious divine) if you are determined to inquire no farther into the matter now, give me leave, from a sincere concern that you may not heap upon your heads more aggravated ruin, at least to entreat you, that you would be cautious how you expose yourselves to yet greater danger, by what you must yourselves own to be unnecessary- I mean, attempts to pervert others from believing the truths of the gospel. Leave them, for God's sake and for your own, in possession of those pleasures, and those hopes, which nothing but the truth as it is

in Jesus can give them; and act not as if you were solicitous to add to the guilt of an infidel, the ten fold damnation which they who have been the perverters and destroyers of the souls of others must expect to meet, if those divine threatenings which they have so adventurously opposed, should prove, as they certainly will, the most serious, and to them the most dreadful truths. If I cannot prevail here; but the pride of displaying a superiority of understanding should bear on such readers, even in opposition to their own favorite maxims of the innocence of error, and the equality of all religions consistent with social virtue, to do their utmost to trample down the truths of the gospel with contempt; I would however dismiss them with one proposal, which I think the importance of the affair may fully justify. If you have done with your examination into the promises and threatenings of the gospel, and if each of you determine to live and conduct himself as if they were assuredly false, sit down then, and make a memorandum of that determination. "On such a day of such a year, I deliberately resolved, that I would live and die rejecting all experimental religion. This day I determined, not only to renounce all vital piety, but also to make it a serious part of the business of my life, to destroy, as far as I possibly can, all regard to it in the minds of others; in calm, steady defiance of that day when, the followers of Christ say, he shall appear in so much majesty and terror to execute the vengeance threatened to his enemies." Dare you write this, and sign it? I firmly believe that many a man, who would be thought a Universalist, and endeavors to increase the number, would not do it. And if you in particular dare not do it, whence does that small remainder of caution arise? The cause is plain. There is in your conscience some secret apprehension that these opposed, these rejected, these derided truths of the gospel, may after all prove true. And if there be such an apprehension, then let conscience do its office, and convince you of the impious madness of acting as if they were most certainly and demonstrably false. Let it tell you at large, how possible it is that haply you may be found fighting against God; that, bold as you are in defying the terrors of the Lord, you may possibly fall into his hands; may chance to hear that despised sentence, which when you hear it from the mouth of the eternal Judge, you will not be able to despise. I will repeat it again; in spite of all your scorn, you may hear the King say to you, Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

If any thing farther needs to be added, it is by way of direction, how to shun the baneful influence of these dangerous opinions, which it is the business of some, at this day, to propagate with great apparent zeal.

And here the first thing that occurs is, to search the scriptures, which are the infallible standard of truth and error. We should carry every doctrine which offers itself to our belief, "to the law and to the testimony," and abide that divine decision. The rule is perfect. The only danger lies in the misapplication, which indeed is too often the case. No corrupt principle of a religious nature, hath ever failed to press the Bible into its service, and claim the sanction of divine authority. But though some disjointed sentences in the word of God may seem to countenance the most absurd and licentious opinions, and their votaries may fly to this divine sanctuary for protection, yet the sacred oracles taken in their general connection, fully reprobate every false scheme of religion that ever has been, or ever can be devised. They draw such a character of the Supreme Being, of Jesus Christ, of the Divine Spirit, of the human heart, and of the genuine nature and effects of pure and undefiled religion, that the doctrines according to godliness may be clearly distinguished from all their counterfeits. The scriptures in general have a plain, determinate, consistent meaning, which may be clearly understood. Therefore no two opposite doctrines of religion can both be agreeable to the word of God; but one or the other must necessarily stand condemned by it. Hence, for instance, if the doctrine of eternal punishments be really agreeable to the Bible, as we have endeavored to show, then the doctrine of universal salvation is entirely contrary to it, and not one text that can be found, does, in its true sense, give the least degree of evidence in its favor. This being the case, there is all encouragement to search the scriptures, to see which of these two diametrically opposite doctrines is true. It would be strange indeed if this could not be determined by every honest inquirer. If any are in doubt therefore, we would entreat them to take heed to this sure word of prophecy, which is able to make them wise unto salvation.

In the next place, there is a caution to be used against the seduction of those who propagate corrupt and dangerous sentiments. Be not deceived by their pretensions to superior penetration and knowledge. Men of the strongest minds and most extensive literature have often committed the grossest blunders in their religious speculations, and then employed all their learning and abilities to maintain and propagate them. Some of the enemies of divine revelation, and of the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, have displayed shining talents and a profusion of learning in pleading the cause of error, and attempting to shake the pillars of our holy religion. And many of their admirers appear to have been dazzled and allured into their snares by an implicit faith in their great abilities. But this betrays weakness. Great men are not always wise; they are liable to err; and