The above examples must be sufficient to illustrate my ideas of moral declension, or spiritual death, and to satisfy every reflecting man, that a death in sin does not imply a hopeless and never-ending separation between the soul and its Maker. He who is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, has provided the means of recovery from the greatest moral pollution. Whether he will so use these means as to accomplish this purpose, will be seen in the sequel.

3. Death to sin. By this I understand a change of heart from sin to holiness. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."---Rom. 6:

11.

Having, as you perceive, dwelt particularly on moral or spiritual death, my purpose is to show that the text is to be so understood. For this purpose I shall examine its context, and other corresponding passages of the same writer, and others under the old dispensation. The chapter commences by the inquiry, What mean ye that ye use this proverb-The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? After stating on the asseveration of the Almighty, that they shall disuse this proverb, it is added, by way of confirmation, "Behold, all souls are mine e; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son, is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall die." So far from intimating that the consequences of sin are carried into another state of being, the context affirms the contrary fact. The proverb which the Jews were forbidden to use, asserts that "the children's teeth are set on edge ;" that they were, in the present tense, suffering for the sins of their fathers. Opposed to this is the word of the Lord, that each shall suffer for his own sin.

That a recovery from the state of moral death is as clearly the doctrine of the Old as of the New-Testa

ment, you may easily satisfy yourself by examining the whole of this chapter, the sum of which may be gathered from the following citations; "Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die." What is this but an illustration of the Christian doctrine-to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded, is life and peace?

Perhaps you may be ready to question, after all, whether the restoration to spiritual life and happiness, is the ultimate design of God, as regards all his intelligent offspring. Isaiah, prophesying of the gospel dispensation, says, "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away all tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it." In prospect of this glorious event, an apostle quotes the spirit of this prediction as follows; Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O Grave, [hades] where is thy victory? That Paul here alludes to the moral death caused by sin, is evident from the succeeding expressions-" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." In agreement with this is the declaration of the same apostle, Heb. 2: 14, 15.-" Forasmuch then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage." That a deliverance from the fear which is engendered by guilt, is deliverance from the very state in which we are pla

ced by transgression, is evident from the first account we have of its effects. "And he [Adam] said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I WAS AFRAID. Guilt is the parent of fear, and fear hath torment. Perfect love, which is manifested by a spiritual life, casteth out fear; and if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.

I think you must see that as certainly as death has passed on all men, so the deliverance is equally universal; and that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. To say, as some have, that this merely alludes to a resurrection of the body, is a subterfuge which not only exposes the weakness of the system that requires the evasion, but it is done without the least prospect of benefit. For, admitting the validity of the assertion, those who make it have still to show how those who are raised incorruptible, glorious and immortal, even as the angels of heaven, are still to continue the subjects of sin and sorrow, the attendants on a corrupt and natural state. In view of all that has been offered, though but an imperfect sketch of the testimony which the scriptures furnish, permit me to impress on your conscience the importance of weighing duly the evidence already adduced, and of satisfying yourself that every passage quoted by me can be otherwise rationally solved. If you are true to your own soul, I hesitate not to say what will be your choice. But whatever it may be, do not forget--THERE SHAll be no more death.

Yours in friendship,

JULIUS.

LETTER 4.

DEAR SIR, I now proceed to notice the last material passage which you have adduced from the Old Testament. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. 12: 2. On this I remark, briefly,

1. Everlasting life occurs but this once in the Old Testament.

2. The whole book relates to the rise and decline of nations to the return of the Jews, the rebuilding and destruction of Jerusalem, the close of the Mosaic, and the succession of the gospel dispensation, under the Messiah.

3. The prophet does not, in one instance, allude to a future, immortal state of existence.

4. The connexion in which it is found renders it certain that the common understanding of this verse is

erroneous.

5. The phrase eternal life, or everlasting life, is no where used, even in the New Testament, to express an immortal state of being.*

To a person of your understanding I need not urge that a proof of either of the four latter propositions is sufficient to nullify the force of this citation, as applied to the doctrines of men, or in other words, to the tenet of endless misery. As you rightly consider this the strongest text in the Old Testament, in proof of the system which you purpose to vindicate, if my powers should be tasked in its illustration, I ask in return for my labour, your serious, and therefore candid atten

tion.

*If this position be incorrect, the writer is ready to be convinced of the fact, and will return thanks to the person who will set him rights

If the first proposition be correct, which will not be contested, the labour of examining the whole book will satisfy you that the substance of the second proposition is not mere matter of speculation; at least with the exception of the text already quoted. Having carefully perused the book for the purpose of determining this fact, I speak with confidence. The conclusion then, is, that the third proposition is tenable, and therefore, that the point which you would maintain, finds no support from this passage. Perhaps you will term this a gratuitous assumption; be it so; you will not, however, claim that the whole book shall be quoted to prove a negative. An illustration of the disputed text can be furnished in a more summary

way.

I shall now attempt to show by the context, the time in which the circumstances noticed are to transpire. The chapter commences thus ;

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

To what time, let us now inquire, does the prophet here allude? The answer is furnished in the 11th, the subject of which is broken by the arbitrary division of the chapters. Whoever will take the labour of reading to the close of the fourth verse, will be satisfied that the phraseology recognizes this connexion, and that any other understanding of the passage, than that gathered from the close of the previous chapter, does violence to the sense, and isolates a passage for a partial purpose, to the destruction of consistency, and in the face of just and candid criticism. The time, then, is when the "King of the north, v. 40, 45, shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas