For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, not that he might nullify the just demands of the law, but that he might destroy the works of the devil, sin and its evils. He hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, not pacifying his own wrath, and reconciling himself to men, but reconciling the world unto himself. (2 Cor. v. 19.) And of this character is the Scripture representation of the Saviour's mission, from beginning to end. Our friend finds one passage which speaks of being saved from wrath through Christ. This relates to individual experience, through the efficacy of a living faith in the blood of Christ, or in his love which is attested by his blood. The whole passage reads thus, (Rom. v. 8, 9,) "But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Much more now being justified by his blood, (that is by his love,) we shall be saved from wrath through him." We have shown before, that the word wrath applied to the Deity does not signify madness, but sometimes denotes a visible afflictive.providence, and sometimes the condemnatory operation of the divine law against transgressors. In the former sense the apostle, speaking of a calamity which had even then been suffered by a certain persecuting community of Jews says, (1 Thess. ii. 16,) "For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." In the latter sense of wrath, the same apostle speaks of himself and the brethren whom he addressed, (Eph. ii. 3,) as having been "children of wrath, even as others." Salvation from

this wrath, this condemnatory operation of the law, the apostle would have understood to be a concomitant of justification by that faith which works by love. Hence he says in another place in the same epistle, which we have repeatedly quoted, "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." Of the same salvation of Christian faith our apostle writes to his Corinthian brethren, (1 Cor. xv. 1, 2.) "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." This is an example witnessing to the verity of Christ's words to the disciples just before his ascension, (Mark xvi. 16,) "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." Dr. A. quotes this passage in proof of final perdition. But the reader perceives it to refer solely to the fruits or effects of belief and unbelief. The disciples had been with Jesus three years, and he had instructed them into the principles of his gospel. But he had bidden them not to go, with the ministry of that gospel, in the way of the Gentiles, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matt. x. 16.) But now he had been put to death, and was raised from the dead, and had broken down the middle wall between Jews and Gentiles; and he enlarged the field of ministerial labor for his disciples, saying, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to

every creature." Then he proceeded to describe, not what the gospel was, for that he had committed to them through three years schooling, but what the effects should be of the different treatments which their message should receive. He that should believe the gospel should be saved by that faith; just as St. Paul testified to his brethren, "I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, . . . and which ye have received;-by which also ye are saved, unless ye have believed in vain." And so of the jailor's family; when the gospel was received by them, salvation had come into that house. But he that should reject the gospel, should be damned, or condemned; (for Dr. A. knows that both these words are from the same original,) that is, he would remain under the darkness and condemnation of the heathen state. Jesus uttered the same sentiment when he said, (John iii. 18, 19,) "He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, (or, to follow the other translation, this is the damnation,) that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

And so we may go through the whole Bible, and we shall find, everywhere, that the life, the blessedness, the salvation, which is the fruit or reward of faith and virtue, is possessed when and where faith and virtue are exercised. And the death, condemnation, or wrath, which is the fruit or reward of unbe

lief and sin, is suffered when and where unbelief and sin prevail. Just as it is said in another passage which our opponent adduces; "He that believeth on the Son HATH aionion life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Of course as all this light and life is in Christ, or in his gospel, while any remain in unbelief they cannot see it. And at the same time the wrath of God abideth on them, even as it did on Paul and his brethren, when, in their unbelief, they were "children of wrath, even as others."

But unbelief is not eternal, for that is falsehood. Falsehood is not eternal, even as clouds are not eternal. Truth is eternal; and in the consummation of the truth of the gospel, all unbelief will be destroyed by the fruition of the fact.

The Infinite Mistake.

Having shown that there is no Scripture warrant for the assumption that redemption by Christ has for its object salvation from final perdition, in the sense of our opponent's proposition, we will proceed to expose the utter and radical mistake which he has committed in his estimate of the spirit and purpose of the Messiah's mission compared with that of Moses, or of the gospel compared with the law. In this second proposition, Dr. Adams labors at considerable length to exhibit the Messiah, in his work as a whole, as more terribly severe than the God of the Old Testament; more unrelenting,-nay, even mercilessly deaf to the pleadings of weakness, suffering and want. He makes the gospel an infinitely more

fearful ministration of wrath than the law. The following are striking specimens of his sentiment on the subject:

"If upon the failure of all which is done in redemption to save men, they are to be subjected to another probation after death, there are powerful reasons to think that the surest way to effect their recovery, is, to let them know beforehand that God will give them a second trial.

....

"For this is manifestly the way in which God proceeded with the Hebrew people whose reformation in this world, and whose allegiance he was seeking to secure. In foresight of their apostacy and punishment, they were told beforehand that they should have a second probation. . . . . It might have been argued with much plausibleness, that such an announcement would be inexpedient; that it would have a direct effect to make men careless and presumptuous. But infinite wisdom judged otherwise, and proceeded at different times to say; 'If his children forsake my law, then will I visit their transgression with the rod; nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take utterly from him.'. . . . . What principle in moral natures is there which makes this announcement, to sinners, of future clemency and restoration, wise and expedient? The obvious answer is, Hope. Whether or not there can ever be repentance without hope, it is certain that hope is a powerful means of repentance. We therefore say, that if no such foretokens of far distant mercy and forgiveness are now made to those who reject Christ, it cannot properly be argued that it would be unsuitable, and that wisdom and prudence forbid. On the contrary, such promises would be in accordance with those former dealings of God with men in which he has manifested the most peculiar love for transgressors.

"We can imagine how Christ would have drawn the picture of retribution had he followed the Old Testament, in doing so, in its hopeful and prophetic intermingling of light with the darkness. Making the prospect terrific, at first, beyond all human power of description, to enforce the duty of immediate repentance, and to