he will in no wise cast out. Thus, as I think it is undeniable that the love of God is the only principle that can sanctify our actions; and as fear of banishment from God necessarily includes love, so the morality of our lives is secured by the one doctrine, but precluded by the other; for no action proceeding from the fear of suffering torment can ever reach to Heaven; and as we must pass into the state of desiring to attain Heaven before we can do any thing towards it, the whole doctrine of Eternal Torments is shewn to be useless, as not contributing to man's salvation; and therefore once again proved to be not from God.

The many wise and good men who have contended for this doctrine, whilst they felt in some degree the difficulties that attend it, have been, I doubt not, principally influenced by two considerations-respect for the apparent meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and an apprehension of the consequence of removing the restraint which so awful a threat might be expected to operate on the sensual and profane; motives by which I should be sorry not to be sincerely influenced, and I should be equally sorry to assume that I entertain them more honestly than many whose opinions on this point I have presumed to question.

If I have been successful in raising a probability that the Spirit of God never pronounced this awful threat, this most strange and unnatural fruit of Almighty Love, the further arguments that militate against it will be more readily admitted, our belief of them derive a safer warrant, and I shall feel little embarrassment as to any apprehended consequences:

c

"The arm of God is not shortened" that it cannot either save or destroy.

In the administration of criminal codes of law, it is so much the result of experience as to be admitted as a principle, that the certainty of punishment following the commission of a crime, is of much more efficacy as a preventive than the atmost severity of enactment; because the more disproportionately severe, the greater the chance of impunity, either from the compassion of the judge or of those on whom its execution depends. This is seen every sessions in London, where jurymen deliberately violate their oath to avoid what seems to them the practical injustice of the law. Now if this be so in cases where no bias exists, will not the acknowledged partiality we all feel in our own cases operate in the same direction? will they not fancy a disproportion between crime and punishment, where no one can shew any proportion? will they not plead for the gratification of those appetites, in the degree desired by each individual, which nature has made necessary, in some degree, for the maintenance of life? will they not remember that the goodness of God endureth yet daily; that He causeth his sun to rise on the evil and on the good; that He giveth corn, and wine, and oil, in their season; that in his wrath He thinketh upon mercy; that "He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax ;" that "He tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb, and gently leadeth those that are with young?" will they not say, "Shall we, being evil, give good gifts unto our children? and how much rather our Father who is in Heaven?" Now

one to whom these considerations are present, must find it difficult to believe the certainty of the execution; and then the more severe the threat the less effect it has, because the sinner's escape from it is the more probable; and indeed the fact corresponds to this probability, since we see that sinners practically disbelieve the doctrine. The doctrine, if believed, should be universally efficacious: but still, as in old time, "The many go in the broad path that leadeth to destruction :" and for this there has been but one remedy found since the world began ; that is, shedding abroad the love of God in the heart, which this doctrine never can do.

"As perfect love casteth out fear," so I am inclined to think perfect fear casteth out love; and to have fear in perfection, no better means can be devised than to tell a consciously guilty sinner that eternal tortures await all those who do not by their practice shew that they desire to be holy as God is holy; but tell the same often-baffled searcher for happiness, who has asked and had not because he asked amiss, that the sentence is gone out against him, as possessing only Adam's mortal nature; that the dart of death is already at his heart; shew him the grave yawning at his feet, from whence is no redemption; then raise his feeble faith to see the Hand from Heaven within his easy reach, and newborn love will warm and cheer his heart, his whole frame will glow with hope, the purple fluid (but now stagnant with fear) will again perform its healthy round, and hours, and days, and years of usefulness brighten the flame, which, meteor like, shall pierce the heavens, and lift him to a throne. "Love," says the beloved Apostle, "is the fulfilling.

of the law; it is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end." But how can it dwell with everlasting burnings? Fear of offending God, fear of being banished His presence, may consist with love of him; but as fear beyond this prevails, love must yield; and all pretended motives to come to God, inconsistent with love, must be erroneous, for He is love, and we must strive to be like Him.

That "God is love" may be proved with perfect demonstration, from reason, as well as from the words of the beloved Apostle. It follows from God's omniscience that, seeing every thing He had made, He could say "And behold it is very good;" because, if in the original intention and execution there had been defect, it must have arisen from an imperfection in the Author. He must be love, then, so far as his creatures act up to the nature he has given them. To the Angels, therefore, who, from the excellency of their nature, are secure from sin, and to the lower creation, who, from their limited powers, are restrained from it, (being under the guidance of instinct,) He must be love, as certainly as He is wisdom and goodness. Now if He necessarily loves the two natures of which our being is compounded, must he not be love to that which himself has formed by their union? But all do not, in this rank, act in conformity to His will. The power to act, however, still is derived from Him, and must be therefore "very good." To us, and to all free agents, then, who possess that power, He must be love, and He is love so long as He continues existence; but it would be inconsistent with His nature to continue existence to those who employed it contrary to His will; and thus He is kind to the

unthankful and to the evil, in causing those who "Sow to the flesh to reap corruption," and in making "The wages of sin death."

In denying that the doctrine of Eternal Torments is a part of God's law, and that because inconsistent with his nature, I do not mean to deny that it may restrain from gross sins where believed, and, by checking irreligious practices, facilitate the approach to religion; but so may a broken limb, or any misfortune in life. In like manner I would not deny that an edict of a powerful sovereign, forbidding any one, on pain of death, to pass through a particular street, might produce that effect; though I should not hesitate to say, if it were not founded on some adequate benefit, that it could not form part of a perfect code of law. But whatever else the belief of this doctrine may do, how much soever it may restrain from crimes, (and prisons and chains have a strong claim to the same merit, though we are far from wishing to apply them universally ;) this I broadly deny, that it has any tendency to excite in us the love of God. And as I hold it to be an universal proposition, that the more we know of God the more we shall love Him, I suppose that that can be no addition to our knowledge of Him which excites no additional love. Now this doctrine, if true, would be the most extensive branch of knowledge, because it would include His relation to the greatest part of mankind for the greatest duration.

To shew that the doctrine is necessary to uphold morality, it must be proved that it is generally believed; and that, where believed, it is effectual to this purpose: because, if not believed, it confirms what I have said, that it is useless. If believed, and