an everlasting consolation. To these God shews the immutability of his counsel, confirmed by an oath, Heb. vi. 17. And there is an awful denunciation, confirmed by oath, against the wicked, which divine veracity must make good; for "God is not man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it; hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” “In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house; when I begin I will also make an end; for I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, [y] for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not; and therefore I have sworn [yaw, juravi] unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever." Such desperate and wilful sinners as these find no sacrifice for sin; a great ransom cannot deliver them; they shall not be purged either with sacrifice or offering for ever; and God has sworn to it; therefore "they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

But, if this oath and threatening, and the date thereof, for ever, be objected to, then let Mr. Winchester object to all the following oaths, which are the same, the very same. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever [by]; thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. Į have made a covenant with my chosen, I have

sworn [nya, juravi] unto David my servant; thy seed will I establish for ever, [by-y] and build up thy throne to all generations," Ps. lxxxix. 2-4. And again; "Now, when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness; yea, I sware unto thee, [yaw, juravi] and entered into covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine," Ezek. xvi. 8. Again, "The Lord hath sworn [aw] and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever, [y] after the order of Melchisedec." The eternal throne of Christ, the eternal establishment of his seed, and of the mercy of God to them; together with the eternal priesthood of Christ, and the everlasting covenant with the elect in him; are all established, fixed, and settled, by oath: all which must be removed, and God be proved to be perjured, before Mr. Winchester's gaoldelivery can take place: for the state and doom of the damned are fixed by the same oath; and the duration of their state bears the same date as the other. "I have sworn [yaw, juravi] that I never [n] will forget any of their works,” Amos. viii. 7. "I have sworn [nyawa, juravi] that the house of Eli shall not be purged for ever,"

by, 1 Sam. iii. 14. "Unto whom I sware

in my wrath that they should not enter [נשבעתי]

into my rest," Ps. xcv. 11; Heb. iii. 11. They could not enter in because of unbelief; for he that believes not is condemned already, and the

wrath of God abideth on him. It abideth on him, and shall never be removed from him, for "He that believeth not shall be damned." " They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

9. The ninth obstacle in the way of this universal reprieve is, that there is no forgiveness in the day of judgment, nor in hell, for them that die in their sins. The elect are pardoned in this world, and justified freely from all things; and they shall be pronounced blessed, pardoned, and justified, at the bar of God in the great day: and to this end they shall all appear before the judg ment seat of Christ. But they, that are not blessed nor pardoned in this world, never shall be pronounced blessed or pardoned in the world to come; for not in hell, but in Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call, shall there be deliverance. The fountain is opened for the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; not for the congregation of the dead, nor for them in the depths of hell. "Ye shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whither I go ye cannot come. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." And, if where Christ is they cannot come, then "they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

10. We know that there is a sin unto death, which is the great transgression; and which is unpardonable, and therefore must militate hard

against Mr. Winchester's universal restoration. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." But not only these desperate sinners, but all who die impenitent and unpardoned, shall be excluded from the kingdom of heaven. "As many as have sinned without law shall perish without law; as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;" and they that hear the gospel, and believe not, shall be damned; and, if they are, their sentence shall never be recalled; for "they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

11. They who perish are without a helper. The sinner that falls into this pit will soon find all his hopes of a restoration perish with him. These petty contrivances are trumped up by Satan only to amuse him while he is in the land of the living. But lies are no refuge from the storm, nor is falsehood a covert from the tempest. When the rains descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon such a house, it will fall; and great will be the fall of it, for wo to him that is alone, without Christ, when he falleth, for he hath not another to lift him up. "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the manner of Beersheba liveth, even they shall fall, and never rise up again," Amos viii. 14. "They that go down into the pit cannot hope thy truth."

12. The eternity of God's displeasure forbids

this restoration. "As is his [God's] fear, so is his wrath;" "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever," y, Ps. xix. 9. And of the same duration is his wrath. "They shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against

,עד־עולם ”,whom the Lord hath indignation for ever

Mal. i. 4.* "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, [by] and some to shame and everlasting contempt," by, Dan. xii. 2. The state of the former is fixed by the sentence or blessing of the everlasting gospel, and the state of the latter is fixed by the sentence or curse of an eternal law; and both are sure; "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail." It can never fail of the execution of its righteous sentence upon the wicked, nor of its eternal duration, and the eternal wrath that it reveals. And, on the other hand, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away;" shall not pass away unaccomplished, unfulfilled; consequently the eternal salvation and glorification of the elect are sure to all the seed.

13. The sinner's debt book is another obstacle in the way of this universal enlargement. We know that God is called a creditor; and perfect obedience to the precepts of the law is due to

* The word in Ps. xix. 9, and that in Mal. i. 4, though not the same, imply the same thing, and therefore are frequently put together, as Ps. x. 16.