partakers of Christ's holiness. I could wish the reader not to forget, that it has already been proved, that all punishment for sin is future to the time, when it is practised, or in other words, punishment must follow after; and also to remember, that it hath been proven, that the wicked shall not be unpunished, and that their punishment will be according to their previous works. Then let us seriously reflect a moment. If these things are so what shall we say of those who die enemies to christianity, and to mankind ? shall they receive no future punisment for their sins committed in the hour of death? If they do not, why then, they are not punished at all, contrary to the whole tenor of the holy scriptures. Which say "The wicked shall not go unpunished." God reserves the unjust to be punished." And again " Who will reward every man according to his works." Eccl. 12. 14. "For God shall bring every work into jugment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Those passages are so plain and direct to the purpose that we may honestly conclude that all who die in impenitency, will receive chastise ments acorcding to their last sins that had not been punished in this world; that they will be corrected according to strict justice. The holy justice of God demands holy obedience of every soul of man, and consequently demands that all the means should be used to effect that end which justice demands, that is, that all should be made partakers of Christ's holiness, as has been proved.

Convicting grace is essential to man's salvation; under the influence of God's convicting grace, the wicked receive all their future punishment. Therefore the bible doctrine of a future punishment belongs to the gospel plan of grace, and should be an article of christian faith. Especially as chastisement for sin is a means of grace used by infinite wisdom, to save the guilty from continuing to commit sin: in a word, that sinners who are unholy, should be made partakers of divine holiness, and come through correcting grace to Christ. However, it is not the pain of the convicted mind, in itself considered, that satisfies the demand of divine justice,

but the holy fruits of righteousness produced thereby in the soul. Many in this life have received this same kind of punishment, and afterwards have realized the peaceable fruits of their being chastised. The royal prince of Israel says "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, for before that I was afflicted my feet went astray,but now have learned to keep thy law, O, God," Take notice, It was before the king received his punishment, that his feet went astray from God. Therefore the punisment he had got to receive for his wickedness was future to him, until he had received it; so that in this David received what I mean by future punishment for sin. Thus with God, punishment follows crime. And since God is a spirit, unchangeable in his nature, we have no good reason for believing that he will so far alter his present mode of government, as to bring souls to Christ in the spiritual world without any chastisement. For if cor rection to or on the unreconciled soul in the body, is essential, in order to bring us to Christ, why should not the same means be needful in the world of spirits, to bring those to Christ, who left the body unreconciled? That Christ is judge, that he is Lord both of the dead and living, has been substantiated in the former chapter. This would naturally suppose, that God deals alike with his spiritual offspring out of the body, as he does with them in this world, i. e. as it relates to his spiritual operations on the mind. And as God is a spirit, and the soul is a spirit also, there must be a spiritual relation between God and his offspring, as between a spiritual father and his children. Now can we suppose that because he has placed some in the spirtiual world, and others are still in the flesh, that this makes a difference of relationship between us who are in the body, and those in the spiritual world? Is not God the same in his relation to the one as to the other? And if he is, can there be any great difference in his mode of spiritual dealing towards those two classes? And if not, can last evening's death of a a sinning individual, screen his soul from any after chastisement for sin, which punishment would have been his due, and been received, if he had staid in the body

as long as his companions whom he left in equal guilt P I think not, the wicked shall not go unpunished. Christ comes to call sinners to repentance. And to do this, through such means as will make them sick of all wick ed conduct, that all who have sinned, may feel a hearty sorrow that they ever have sinned, and this the painful experience of the consequences of sin, is calculated to produce, therefore it is the work of divine goodness, to lead souls to repentance through the medium of future punishment, both in this world and in that to come. Hence some men's sins are manifest before hand, going before to judgment, and some follow after. Surely, every man must be convicted of sin, and must come to judgment, either in this world or the world to come. At which time, each individual must realize a punishment, in being convicted according to his sinful works. "For, for this cause was the gospel also preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." That is, that the spirits in prison should be chastised as though they had been sinners in the flesh, but thereby become partakers of holiness with Christ, and live to God in the spirit of reconciliation. Hence we may see that the same spiritual cause in one state of being, produces the same effect, as in the other. And the same God and father, without variation, to one as to the other. The same mediator, judge, Lord and final saviour. And that all who shall be saved from sin, must be saved through the means of future convicting grace which destroys in man the laye of sin.

CHAPTER 9.
TIME.

St. John 7. 6. "Then Jesus said unto them, my time is not yet come; but your time is always ready." Rev. 10.6, 7. "That there should be time no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God ahould (or shall) be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." Acts S. 20, 21. "The times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." 1st Cor. 15. 52. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Eph. 1. 8, 9, 10. "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will--That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ."

"All things to their centre tend,

"Things with beginning must have end."

Time in the measure of duration, when unconnected with any other word as a qualifier, signifies a duration relative to mode of being, which has both a beginning and also an end. Time always ends with a change of the condition of all things belonging to its duration. Time referred to in the above passages appears entirely to relate to the gospel dispensation, which is called the dispensation of the fullness of times, i. e. the dispensation for the perfect fulfilment of all that had been prefigured and foretold in former times, under the prece ding dispensation. For in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, which must imply the days of the gospel voice; in these days the mystery of God is to be finished, as he has formerly declared to his servants the prophets, and when this is all fulfilled, then and not till

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then, Time shall be no longer. And then as St. Paul says, "Behold, I show you a mystery" "we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." &c. Which signifies the last sound of the gospel the end of time, as to the gospel dispensation, will come, by a sudden and universal change in the moral mode of all subordinate being. Then time will be no longer, i. e. there can never be any more a state of changeable existence allotted to moral beings. But first, under that time, called the dispensation of the fulness of times, Jesus Christ is sent to reign as mediator between God and man; he is sent with a design to restore all unreconciled things to a state of reconciliation. Therefore, when speaking of the times and seasons included under the gospel dispensation, an apostle says, "And he shall send Jesus Christ who before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Here let it be observed, no doubt seems to be conveyed in the text by the apostle of there being a restitution of all things, as foretold by holy prophets; nor does he appear at all to doubt the certainty of the times being appointed under the gospel reign of Christ for such purpose. The conversion of every individual sinner, is a change, and presupposes one of those times included in the gospel dispensation; and should there be as many times included as there are individuals to be restored, still the duration of Christ's mediatorial reign is but one time of his reigning. He told his followers while he was in the flesh, "My time is not yet come." No, his time to restore all things had not yet come, but now it has come, and still continues to last, and will continue to be until there is no more sin, no more pain nor death. And then, and not till then, shall Christ's time to save, end, and then shall that time which had a glorious beginning, have a glorious end; God will then be all in all. However, during Christ's time, men experience various times and changes suited to their subordinate conditions; but still