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to hell? They may say "I will not go to hell," as "I will not go to heaven." Ah! I answer to all this-There are many devices in man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord, that will stand. That is scripture, too! I maintain that God's government and laws will remain in full force forever; not one jot or tittle of his laws shall fail, till the whole be fulfilled; and his law is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Punishment, and with it all the influences of Christ, and justice, and mercy, are only means towards the end. All the influences of the gospel, and God's moral government, are merely means towards the end; and, therefore, we exalt God's attributes when we say, as I have said, that his pleasure shall be accomplished and his purpose maintained! Look, for one moment, at the opposite view. God, in his law, demands our obedience. Obedience would make us happy; but, we break the law. Now what will God do? Strike us away from the world, and consign us to hell forever? What will we do there? Will we preserve the law there? Is obedience to the law secured there? God does not propose that man shall be made obedient by the pains he suffers. He places him in a hell where he can neither love nor serve God. He is placed there for what end? That he may suffer torments throughout eternity, his whole business being to blaspheme God's holy name! Let us look at that a moment. If a man should steal, and then the state should cut him off from all honest resources, so that he should go on stealing during all his lifetime, that would be called a punishment! Suppose a man is intemperate, and the authorities shut him up in a groggery for all his lifetime—that is a punishment! Would it not be a better course to shut him up somewhere that not a drop of intoxicating spirits could enter, where he might be

come temperate, learn his duty and perform it? This idea of endless punishment, which violates all our notions of justice and divine government, defeats the very end for which it was introduced; for, according to this very theory itself, it violates that end perpetually, and keeps it in eternal abey

ance.

REV. MR. WESCOTT :-My brother told us, in his first speech, which I have not time to answer this evening, that when a serpent received a bruise upon his head, that was the end of him. I have seen a great many serpents with sore heads, who, nevertheless, lived a long time afterwards. Satan was, most probably, bruised on his head at the crucifixion; still, for two thousand years he has infused his poison into the hearts of the children of men, and his operations are conducted with full vigor yet. This figure does not carry truth and weight. We never apprehended that Satan could inflict so much injury on Christ, the glorious Son of God, as Christ could inflict on Satan. We agree, then, as to all that my brother has said of the creation and fall of man. What Christ came to do, he tells us, will surely be accomplished. One thing is certain, it has not yet been so—but this we will notice as we move on. He said that God promised to make of Abraham's seed a new race. ar people, but not a new race. "In thee and thy seed all the nations and families shall be blessed." Now, I do not object to "nations ;" but, Jehovah means though I have called you and made your people a peculiar people, and will raise up among you a series of prophets, yet, I wish you to understand that when Christ comes, he will come as much to bless the Gentiles as to bless you. If my brother means by "family" that every particular private family or domestic circle is to be blessed, there are thousands and thousands who have not received the

They were made a peculiGod also promised, he says,

blessing. John says "I saw out of every nation under heaven, a great multitude which no man can number." Out of every nation! Are all included in these words? The seed meant is Christ; on that point we all agree. But my brother at last finds the covenant; the covenant of which, so late as last night, he had never heard! He finds it in the epistle of Paul to the Galatians. I am very glad of this, as it shows there is some hopes of him yet. Having discovered its excellencies, he perhaps may embrace its conditions. He also tells us that the way the gospel is to work is by turning men away from their sins; and this he shows by observing that, when Peter explained the purpose of the gospel to the Jews, he would have told them it was sent to save them from perdition, if it really were so, while Peter only speaks of turning them from their iniquities !

I have been preaching for twenty-five years, and I have ever preached to men to turn from their sins-but I warn them of the wrath of God if they neglect turning from sin. But, on this same point, my brother adds another piece of news which is very strange to me; he says Peter knew nothing about perdition. Let us see! Let us turn to the Second Epistle General of Peter, 3rd chapter and 7th verse, and what do we find there? "But the heavens and the earth, which are new, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and PERDITION of ungodly men." Peter knew nothing about perdition! Did he not? Why, it would seem Peter must have belonged to the sect to which I have belonged for 25 years. He advised men to turn from sin-and so do I. He knew there was perdition for ungodly men--and so do I. He knew it, for there stand his words—“ and PERDITION Of ungodly men!"

Our brother asks where did the Jews get their views of future endless punishment. Well; that is nothing to the

argument at all. My argument was simply this: Christ finds the Jews, with the exception of the Sadducees, believers in future endless punishment; he teaches the same doctrine and confirms them therein, which our Divine Master would not have done if it were an error; and, therefore, it was not an error, but was, and is, the truth. That is my argument, and I should like to see my opponent Ievade its force. But he says such a doctrine could never be taken from the Scriptures. Is he right in saying so? He says many distinguished and learned divines hold so. Well, probably, it is hard to say what learned divines sometimes will not do; at any rate, they differ in opinion; seeing which were it not well that we should pass them by and try what testimony God's word gives us? For me, I do not bind myself to prefer, to the statements of the Bible, the opinions of any divine or number of divines. Let us consult the only infallible guide, and what do we learn from it? "The wicked shall be turned into hell with all the nations that forget God." "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." That is the Old Testament; and though a thousand divines should give their opinion to the contrary, what weight would their opinion have after that? I call no man father. I bow but to one theological book; the only theological work of authority that I acknowledge is the Holy Scriptures; I am bound by the shackles of no man; I am held in the bondage of no criticism of man; what God has said, that will I believe, and that will I teach.

I do not at this moment recollect how it was introduced; but it was in the matter of the poet again that it came up. My brother quotes the poetry of Thomson, and then another beautiful scrap of poetry; but let me continue the quotation; "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall

I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

then he would

What, then,

"Who hath And another,

He was a little startled at one line in this poetry—“ If I make my bed in hell, thou art there;" but have you believe God was there in love. meant the harbinger of Jesus when he said warned you to flee from the wrath to come? when he said "And the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men,-the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man and every freeman hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?" If there be no wrath, what meant John by that? If there be no wrath, what meant another inspired writer, when he spoke of treasuring up "wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?" Ah! In that dark abode God's hand is felt, but the balmy wing of love flutters not over that abode. They ho occupy it have resisted love, they have trampled on love, they have turned their backs on love, they have trodden under foot the cross that was raised for them on Calvary-till mercy is wearied, and yields to vengeance there.

My brother asks you, what is the chief end of man? I answer emphatically,-To glorify and enjoy God. God has made man capable of doing this; but does man do it? No! He is capable, therefore answerable; he refuses to use his capacity aright, therefore guilty. In his own person, and to his own condemnation, he, not God, rejects the pur pose which God spread before him,