us that there is not (even one) truly benevolent character in the universe, we shall not cease to lament the deplorable condition of all intelligent beings.

But if any farther evidence were necessary to establish the benevolent disposition and character of the Deity, who has been, and still is, rep, resented to be a cruel, partial, vindictive, inexorable being, we are furnished with an ample refutation of this groundless calumny in the 16th chapter of Ezekiel, where he promises, in the most explicit terms, that he will yet have mercy upon the inhabitants of Sodom, Samaria, and Jerusalem, to be pacified towards them, and to establish an everlasting covenant with them; but as he perfectly knew the propensity that would prevail in the latter ages to pervert and explain away the true meaning of all the promises of redemption and restoration, which he made to those who had died in an unregenerated state, and as his receiving the Sodomites into his favour appeared to be the most improbable, to prevent misconstruction, or the possibility of mistake, he has given a geographical de scription of both Samaria and Sodom in the 46th verse, that is, that Samaria lies on the left hand, and Sodom on the right hand, and, as if anxious to indentify the very people to whom this prom

ise of restoration is made, he describes a number of the crimes of which they had been guilty. 49. Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister. Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw good.-[Alluding to their being destroyed by fire.] In the 47th and 48th verses, he declares in the most explicit terms, and solemn manner, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were more corrupted in all their ways, than the inhabitants of Sodom had been: yet he graciously promises in the 53d verse, When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom, and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them. And again in the 55th verse, When thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 60. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. 61. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou

shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger, and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

Now it is known, that all the inhabitants of Sodom (except Lot and his family) were consumed by fire from Heaven; yet these are the very people to whom the promise of restoration is made, for the Lord pointedly alludes to them, by hinting at the signal manner in which he took them away, as he saw good.

This is another explicit promise of posthumous restoration made to a people who, it is allowed by all, were cut off in an unregenerated state, which we believe will puzzle the greatest proficient in the art of explaining away the literal and grammatical meaning of any text, or passage of scripture, which does not accord with their established systems, to invalidate. We have heard of one clever, smart fellow, who has undertaken to invalidate this promise, by alledging that this long chapter is only a pleasant piece of raillery....that when the Lord promises in the 53d verse, that when he shall bring again the captivity of Sodom and Samaria, that he would then bring again the captivity of Jerusalem in the midst of them, he was only speaking ironically to tantalize them; but never

intended to restore either of them. When people wish to be deceived, the shadow of an argument is sufficient for the purpose.

But it is not in the Old Testament alone, nor to the posterity of Jacob in particular, nor to those who may be living at Christ's second coming, that these gracious promises are made, but also in the New Testament, to those who had been dead for ages, even the inhabitants of the antideluvian world, who had perished in the universal deluge. We are explicitly told in the 3d and 4th chapters of the first general epistle of Peter, That Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein eight souls were saved by water. "Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead; for, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

* 1 Pet. iv. 5, 6.

Had we not been acquainted with the almost invincible influence of the prejudice of an early education over the faculties of the human mind, we should have thought it almost impossible to mistake the Apostle's meaning. It is evident that he intended to inform those to whom he wrote, that Christ had once suffered for the sins of mankind, the just for the unjust, with the most merciful and benevolent design to reconcile and bring us to God....that he was put to death in the flesh, but reanimated by the spirit.... that he (Christ) when an unembodied spirit, went and preached the gospel to the spirits in prison, that is, to the spirits of the inhabitants of the old world, who, for their disobedience in the days of Noah, had been drowned in the universal deluge. And as these people (in common with the rest of mankind) were all to be accountable to him who was appointed to judge both the quick and the dead, impartial justice required that they should have equal advantages with those who had heard the gospel in the flesh; that is, previous to their death. This is the particular pointed reason which is given in the 6th verse, why the gospel should also be preached to them that are dead, to wit, that as they were accountable to the same Judge, and were to be tried by the same rule or law, they should have equal advantages with those who had