Moreover, as GOD has taught the saint to look for his reward in another world, so also he has taught the sinner, if he would learn, that his reward awaits him hereafter. CHRIST says, "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell yea, I say unto you, fear him." (Luke xii. 5.) "The rich man," who had received his good things in this life, "also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments." (Luke xvi. 22, 26.) Matt. xiii. gives us the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares; in explaining which our LORD says, "In the end of the world, the Son of MAN shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." It is generally represented in the Scriptures, that at the resurrection, at the second coming of CHRIST, at the general judgment, the wicked shall receive their sentence, and consequent punishment. Then shall there be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. Then they that have done evil shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation. Then the dead that shall be raised and stand before God, shall be judged of those things which shall be written in the books, according to their works; and whosoever is not found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. Then shall he cut asunder that wicked servant, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. Then shall the Judge say to them on his left hand, for all their wickedness and neglect of GoD, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels."

Indeed the very idea of a general judgment decides this question without further argument. Of what use are a trial and a judgment, after the whole penalty of the law has been inflicted on the criminal? None. It is the perfection of absurdity to talk of such a judgment. This is so evident, that some attempts have been made, of late, to do away the idea of a general judgment altogether. Attempts that I need not now meet, for they were fairly met and put down by an abler hand,* at the first onset.-And, indeed, this new idea of no judgment is so directly opposed to many of the plainest passages of Scripture, that with an enlightened public, who have their Bibles before them, it hardly needs a refutation. And as the reality of a general judgment, the Scriptures being true, cannot be reasonably doubted, so neither can it be doubted that men receive rewards and punishments in a future world.

3. We come to inquire what those works are, according to which, God will reward or punish every man. This inquiry the Scriptures must answer. And in examining them, we find all mankind represented as "having sinned," all "are concluded in unbelief," all REV. T. MERRITT.

are by nature "children of wrath." Yet God is pleased to make their final condemnation, or acquittal, turn upon their rejecting or receiving CHRIST, upon their believing or not believing the Gospel. "He that believeth shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life; he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of GoD abideth on him. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." From many such scriptures it is plain, that a man will be finally condemned and punished, not [merely] for having been morally diseased, but for having rejected the remedy, for disbelieving the truth of GOD. Thus, by rejecting CHRIST he renders himself responsible for all his sinfulness, and [finally] attaches to himself the guilt of all his transgressions. On the other hand, a man will be finally acquitted and rewarded, not because he has always been justified and holy, but because, by faith in CHRIST, the guilt of all his sins has been washed away, and he now stands justified and approved in the sight of God. Continuing and dying a believer, he will be acquitted at the final tribunal, and be rewarded with a crown of glory. All his sins will, doubtless, be brought into the judgment. But for these he has an off-set, however numerous and aggravated they may have been, in the faith which he has exercised in the merits of JESUS CHRIST. Thus, we see, pardon is consistent with being judged according to the deeds done in the body. For faith, which secures this pardon, is exercised by the soul while in the body; and is one of those works that is brought into judgment. And it is that work which, by the divine appointment, operates, [not, of course, meritoriously, but instrumentally,] through CHRIST, to the cancelling of the whole debt of sin. But this faith is a fruitful principle. It produces love and good works. And according as it abounds in these, it is to be rewarded. These, therefore, at the judgment, will be brought 'forward as the proper criteria of rewardable faith, and of the extent of that reward. Hence the decision will be: "Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom :-for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat, thirsty, and ye gave me drink; naked, and ye clothed me ; sick and in prison, and ye ministered unto me." Unbelief also is a fruitful principle. But its fruits are the opposite of those of faith. It is the root of numerous sins; and according as it abounds in these, it is to be punished. These, therefore, will be brought forward as the proper criteria of a guilty character, and of the extent of that guilt. Hence, the sentence will be: "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire-for I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat," &c. We see, then, that faith and unbelief, with their respective fruits, will be the works according to which God will render to every man.

4. What is the extent to which these works are rewardable or punishable.

VOL. III. Third Series. APRIL, 1824.

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By determining this, we shall know the extent of the rewards and punishments. For these are, as we have seen, according to the works. The measure of one is the measure of both. Whatever light, therefore, the Scriptures afford, either upon the nature of the works, or upon the blessings promised and penalties threatened, will equally serve to determine the extent of the rewards and punishments. And it is more particularly to determine this point, that we now enter into an examination of the subject. And the question with us, at this time, is not so much, what will be the degrees of happiness and misery, as what will be their duration. A being of limited powers, all must acknowledge, is capable of only limited degrees of enjoyment and suffering. Therefore, the happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, must be limited in degree. And as men's capacities and means of improvement differ, so also, we may rationally suppose, they will differ in their degrees of enjoyment and suffering, in another world. And this is agreeable to the word of revelation. For an Apostle has taught us, that " as one star differeth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." And JESUS CHRIST declares, when upbraiding those cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, that "it should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, at the judgment, than for them." In degree, then, the rewards and punishments will be limited, and will vary according to the character and circumstances of the subjects. But will there be this limitation, and this difference, in the duration of these rewards and penalties? Let us examine.

There is not the same cause, certainly, for limiting the duration, that must of necessity operate to limit the degrees, of the enjoyment or suffering. Man will exist for ever. And that endless existence may be either happy or miserable. That it will be a happy one with the believer, all acknowledge. And it is equally certain, that the eternal life which is conferred upon the righteous is the [gracious] reward of faith and its fruits. The Scriptures are too plain upon this subject to admit of doubt. Take a few passages as a specimen for many. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. iv. 17.) Here the suffering of the Christian proves a glory, not only exceeding in ́degree, but eternal in duration.—“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the LORD, and not unto men; knowing that, of the LORD, ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." (Col. iii. 23, 24.) Now we learn elsewhere, that this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. And yet this ever-during and unfading inheritance is declared to be the reward of those who labour faithfully for the LORD. And the passage already quoted from MATTHEW represents the righteous as welcomed into the kingdom :-" For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat," &c. Finally, the Scriptures, in too many places to be at this time recited, represent the felicities of the glorified saints, in all their extent, as given in consequence of believing, loving, and

obeying God. The reward, it is acknowledged, is a glorious one; but heaven in all its weight, and in all its duration, is a reward to faith and its fruits. This is by the divine constitution. And no doubt GOD sees a suitableness and a compatibility between the work and the [gracious] reward. Not that the work and the reward, considered abstractedly from their relations in the divine system, bear any proportion to each other. But, taking in these relations, which none but God can [fully] see and comprehend, there is unquestionably a perfect [gracious] fitness between the works of a believer and his eternal reward.

But how is it with the unbeliever? If the Scriptures were indefinite respecting the extent of the criminality of sin, and of the punishment threatened, we should infer that since the reward of faith, and its holy fruits, is clearly defined to be without end, so the reward of unbelief and its unholy fruits would likewise be endless. As the Scriptures every where represent the two characters as opposed to each other, analogy would lead us to the conclusion, that there would be a like opposition in their final retributions. And this conclusion from analogy is strengthened by another consideration. Not only do the Scriptures, all the way through, contrast the two characters, as being opposed to each other, but they also contrast, with equal clearness, the judgment and retribution that shall be awarded to each. "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him.-Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him." "And many of them shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." "And these (the wicked) shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Indeed passages of Scripture might be multiplied, in which, as in the foregoing, not only their characters, but also the retributions to each, are strongly contrasted. But, as we have seen, the reward of one character is without end. How probable, then, that the punishment of the opposite character will be without end, especially when the same scriptures, which represent these characters in direct opposition to each other, contrast, in terms equally strong and definite, the retributions that await each.

Again: Still reasoning upon the supposition (which is the most that can, with any colour, be pretended) that the Scriptures have not definitely marked the extent of the criminality of sin, as the duration of punishment, we should infer that this punishment would be eternal from another consideration. To indulge in unbelief and sin, is to reject the infinite reward held out to faith. So that the very act itself is a forfeiture of an infinite blessing. And what is the forfeiture of an infinite blessing but an infinite loss? And what is an infinite loss, in consequence of sin, but an infinite punishment for that sin? If the Scriptures represented this forfeiture as only for a limited time, and then it could be proved that the blessing would not be forfeited

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again, the question would, of course, be decided. But so far is this from being their sense, that the language is such as seems to indicate a final forfeiture. While those that were ready went in to the wedding, the door was shut against such as were not ready. Though they asked for admittance, they were rejected; and no intimation given that they should afterwards be received. While the faithful servant is welcomed into the joy of his LORD, the unprofitable servant is doomed to outer darkness; and no encouragement given that he should ever enter into the joy of his LORD.

These considerations, if there were no other, would, at least, make it probable, that the painful reward of the unbeliever would run parallel with the blessed reward of the believer. Demanding for these arguments all the attention and influence they deserve, we proceed to inquire into the nature of sinful works. And this, as far as we can determine it, will teach us the extent of the punishment. For this punishment is "according to the works." Here, as elsewhere, the Scriptures must be the principal foundation of our arguments. And by the light of this sacred guide, as we have seen already, there is nothing in the nature of man, that will prevent his works being followed with infinite consequences. The good works of the righteous have an infinite reward. Why not, then, the sins of the unrighteous?

(1.) To neglect the offers of God, is criminal in proportion to the extent of the blessing proffered by GoD and rejected by the transgressor.

But the blessing proffered by GoD and rejected by the transgressor is infinite. Therefore, to neglect this blessing, is an act stamped with infinite turpitude.

To prove this proportion between the criminality of the act and the blessing slighted by that act, we have the authority of inspiration. An Apostle says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation!" (Heb. ii. 3.) Here the rule we contend for is recognised by the Apostle; who evidently speaks as if the impossibility of escaping was the more certain, because the salvation neglected was so great.

(2.) The extent of the criminality of sin is in proportion to the dignity of the character insulted.

This is a principle that is obvious to the common sense of all mankind, and is acknowledged by all civil governments. We have, however, higher authority for it than the common understanding of men, or the universally received principles of civil jurisprudence. The above-quoted Apostle says, "He that despised MOSES's law, died without mercy, under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the SON OF GOD,-and hath done despite to the SPIRIT of grace?" (Heb. x. 28, 29.) Here, to trample under foot the "SON OF GOD," and do despite to the SPIRIT of grace," as they were acts immediately against higher characters, were considered by the inspired Apostle as meriting sorer punishment. Again, "See that ye refuse