ity is a Universal Resurrection; but the awaking of those that slept, was only for 'MANY,' not all of them;' it was only for those who were in the graves,' and not for all that die in Adam, and bear the image of the earthy.---(5) The passages are understood by an examination of the phraseology, both of them being found to comprise proverbial expressions, common and peculiar to the times in which they were employed; such expressions as 'bowed down to the dust,' to 'eat' and to 'lick the dust,' to be as 'dust and ashes,' were well understood to signify a degraded, vile, humiliated condition; and thus the propriety of the usage of such forms of speech as arising, awaking, being lifted up, shaking one's self, 'from the dust,' &c. References might be abundantly multiplied to this point had we space. In illustration of the proverbial usage of the term sleep, as denoting a state of national and spiritual sloth, stupidity, and death,' and for a number of instances where an awaking from such a state is spoken of, see Isa. xxix. 10; li. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 34: Eph. v. 14. The proverbial expression in John v. 28, 29, is being 'in graves,' synonymous with 'the dead,' of verse 25; and it would seem that nothing else whatever is necessary for the perfect elucidation of those words than Ezek. xxxvii. 11--14, and the list of passages we quoted on page 160.--(6) Have not the Jewish people been suffering their 'everlasting shame and contempt' for the last eighteen centuries? Is not the prophecy fulfilled, that they should become a reproach and by-word among all nations, and have no rest for the soles of their feet? When the 'orthodox' commentators come to this passage in Jeremiah, 'I will bring AN EVERLASTING REPROACH upon you, and A PERPETUAL (everlasting) SHAME,' they never pretend to refer that language to eternity. On this subject the Bible is clear; The Reproach of My people shall be taken away,' and 'the Shame of her youth shall be forgotten.'

PROPOSITION THIRTY-THIRD.

The PUNISHMENTS of God are never Retaliative Inflictions, nor Aggravated, Merciless, or Useless, but are the Necessary, Salutary Chastisements of an infinitely Wise and Good PARENT, and therefore do not tend to Perpetuate, but to CORRECT the Wickedness of Man.

PROOFS.

Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.'—Ps. 1. 21. 'Wherefore should a living man complain, a man, for the Punishment of his sins?' For the Lord will not cast off forever; but though he cause grief, yet will He have Compassion, according to the Multitude of His Mercies. For He doth not afflict willingly, [wantonly,] nor grieve the children of men.'-Lam. iii. 39, 31--33. Even the punishments of the Lord are tokens of His unfailing Goodness, because they are so wisely administered as to contribute to our welfare. Wherefore then should we complain of the just chastisement of our sins, seeing that the very sorest of God's Punishments are not without compassion, and shall finally turn to our benefit? But were His Punishment [Revenge] to be endless, having suffering alone for its object and end, should we not then have just cause to complain, of the infinite cruelty and injustice of our Tormenter?

Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto CHILDREN; [yes, they have sadly neglected to think of the Paternal character of God:] My SON, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye suffer chastening, [Punishment,---same word in the Greek,] God dealeth with you as with sons, [not as a severe, unrelenting tyrant;] for where is there a son whom his father chasteneth not? For if ye be without Chastisement, whereof [indeed] All are partakers, then must ye be bastards, and not sons; [they must be the offspring of some other Being, for our God punishes all His children: but this cannot be, for

'there is [only] one God and Father of All.']

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who Corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to THE FATHER OF SPIRITS, [a more tender and eternal relation,] and live? For they, verily, for a few days, Chastened us after their own pleasure; but He, FOR OUR PROFIT, THAT WE MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF HIS HOLINESS.-Now no Chastening, for the present, seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, [aye, there is an Afterward to the Punishments of the Merciful God,]---AFTERWARD, it yieldeth the Peaceable fruits oF RIGHTEOUSNESS, unto them which are exercised thereby.'-Heb. vii.

5--11.

'Behold, happy is the man whom God Correcteth, [Punisheth;] therefore, despise not thou the Chastening of the Almighty. For He maketh sore, and bindeth up, He woundeth, and His hands make whole.'-Job v. 17, 18.

'Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word.'-Ps. cxix. 67. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.'-Job xiii. 15; Ps. cxviii. 18.

be

'My son, despise not the Chastening of the Lord, neither weary of His Correction. For whom the Lord loveth, He Correcteth, even as a father the son, in whom He delighteth.'-Prov. iii. 11, 12.

'I will cause you to pass under the rod, and bring you the bond of the Covenant.'-Ezek. xx. 37.

into

"Thou shalt consider in thine heart that, as a man Chasteneth his son, SO the Lord thy God Chasteneth thee.'Deut. viii. 5.

'I will PUNISH THE WORLD for their evil, and the Wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the pround to cease, and lay low the haughtiness of the Terrible. I will make a man more Precious than fine gold; even a man, than the golden wedge of Ophir.'-Isa. xiii. 11, 12. 'The Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite, AND HEAL And they shall return even unto the Lord, and He shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them.'—Isa. xix.

IT.

22.

'Lord, in trouble they have visited Thee; they poured

out a prayer when Thy Chastening was upon them.'—Isa. xxvi. 16.

'Can thy heart endure, and can thy hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it and will do it. I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the_countries, and will Consume thy filthiness out af thee.'-Ezek. xxii. 14, 15.

He shall separate the nations one from another, as a shep herd divideth his sheep from the goats;-and these shall go away into lasting CHASTISEMENT, but the justified, into life eternal, [i. e. as Jesus himself defined it, (John xvii. 3,) the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent ; the gospel kingdom, commenced at the destruction of the Jewish, in the end of that age.]-Mat. xxv. 39, 46. See several parts of context, and xxi. 43, xvi. 28, and xxiv. 34. "Thou hast Chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned; for Thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that, I was turned, I repented, and after that [here again the blessed 'afterward' of God's punishments is spoken of,] after that I was instructed.'-Jer. xxxi. 18.

Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide. Therefore look unto THE LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a Light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His Righteousness.'—Micah vii. 5--9.

'I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in Faithfulness hast afflicted me.'-Ps. cxix; xciv.

'If his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My statutes, and keep not My Commandments, then will I [rack their helpless spirits with the endless sorrows and tortures of the Eternal Dungeon which is prepared for the banishment of their souls,---Demons of woe and darkness shall be their only friends forev.

er, and horrible! No!] then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Nevertheless, My Loving-Kindness I will not utterly take from them, nor suffer My Faithfulness to fail. My Covenant I will not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.'-Ps. lxxxix. 30--34.

"Though I walk through the valley of the I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me. thy staff shall comfort me.'-Ps. xxiii. 4.

shadow of death,

Thy rod and

'Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne Chastisement, I will not offend any more.'-Job xxxiv. 31.

The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. They cry, and the Lord heareth and Delivereth them out of all their troubles.'-Ps. xxiv. 16, 17,

'Behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning ALL that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort when you you see their and their doings, ways And ye shall know that I have not done WITHOUT CAUSE, all that I have done, saith the Lord.'—Ezek. xiv. 22, 23.

'I will be his father, and he shall be My son; if He commit iniquity, I will Chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. [God's Punishments, like many things else in the economy of His govern ment are wrought by secondary means, and not by direct interposition.] But My Mercy shall not depart away from him.'---2 Sam. vii. 14, 15.

'He that Chastiseth the heathen, shall He not Correct?' -Ps. xciv. 10.

'I have wounded him with the wound of an enemy, with the Chastisement of a Cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. Why criest thou now for thine affliction? is thy sorrow incurable for the multitude of thine miquity? - - I will therefore Restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.'---Jer. xxx. 14--17.

'Deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.'