TREATISE

ON

ATONEMENT.

N this Treatife on Atonement, I shall confine myself to three general inquiries.

Ift. Of Sin. 2d. Of Atonement for Sin. 3d. Of the Confequences of Atonement to Mankind. Thefe particulars may be reprefented by a diforder; the remedy for the diforder, and the health enjoyed in confcquence of a cure.

And ift. Of fin, which, for the fake of ease, I fubdivide as follows. 1. Its nature. 2. Its caufe. And 3. Its effects.

And first, of the nature of fin. Sin is the violation of a law which exists in the mind, which law is the imperfect knowledge men have of moral good. This law is tranfgreffed, whenever, by the influence of temptation, a good understanding yields to a contrary choice. Where a law exifts, it presupposes a legislature, whofe intention, in legislation, must be thwarted, in order for the law to take cognition of fin. This legiflature, in all moral accountable beings, is a capacity to understand, connected with the caufes

and means of knowledge, which, ftanding or exifting on fi nite and limited principles, will justify my fuppofition, that fin, in its nature, ought to be confidered finite and limited, rather than infinite and unlimited, as has, by many, been fuppofed.

By offering my reafons against the infinity of fin, I shall open to an easy method of showing it to be finite. The fuppofition that fin is infinite, is fupported, or rather pretended to be fupported, on the confideration of its being committed against an infinite law, which is produced by an infinite legiflature, who is God himself. I have before obferved, and I think juftly, that the intention of a legiflature, in legislation, must be thwarted, in order for the law to take cognition of fin. Now if God, in a direct fense of speaking, is the legiflator of the law which is thwarted by tranfgreffion, in the fame direct sense of speaking, his intentions in legislation are thwarted. With eyes open, the reader cannot but fee, that if fin is infinite because it is committed against an infinite law, whofe author is God, the defign of Deity must be abortive; to fuppofe which, brings a cloud of darkness over the mind, as intenfe as the fuppofition is erroneous. It cannot with any propriety be fuppofed, that any rational being can have an intention contrary to the knowledge which he poffeffes. Was a refolve brought into the State legislature to be paffed into an act, it would be very unlikely to fucccèd, providing the legiflature knew that the intention of the act would utterly fail. It is poffible, and very frequently the cafe, that imperfect beings defire contrary to their knowledge; but this, in every inftance, is proof and often the cause of their mifery, In fuch cafes, mifery rifes to an exact proportion to the ftrength of defire. Now to reafon juftly, we must conclude, that if God poffefles infinite wifdom, he could never intend any thng to take place, or be, that will not take place, or be; nor

that which is or will be, not to be, at the time when it is. And it must be confidered erroneous to fuppofe that the Allwife ever defired any thing to take place, which, by his wif dom, he knew would not; as fuch a supposition must, in effect, fuppofe a degree of misery in the eternal mind, equal to the ftrength of his fruitless defire! Were this the cafe, all the mifery to which mortals are fubject, bears not the thousandth part of the proportion to the miseries of the Divine Being, as the smallest imaginable atom does to the weight of the ponderous globe; providing, at the fame time, the idea of infinity is attached to Deity! Again, if we admit of a difappointment to the Supreme Being, even in the smallest matter of confideration, it follows, that we have no fatisfactory evidence whereby to prove that any thing, at prefent, in the whole univerfe, is as the Supreme intended. All the harmonies of nature, which, to the eye of wondering man, are fo convincing of the existence of that power, wisdom and goodnefs which he adores, may have continued their laws in active force much longer than God intended; brought into exiftence millions of beings more than were contemplated in creation; and by this time become a perfect nuifance to the general plan of the Almighty. The admiffion of the error refuted, would fink the mind to the nether parts of moral depravity, where darkness reigns in all its horrors.

The above arguments are introduced, to fhow the abfurdity of admitting a violation of the intention of the Supreme Legiflator.

I now turn on the other fide, and admit, as a fact, what I have fufficiently refuted, viz. that the intentions of God as a Supreme Legiflator are violated by the fin of finite beings; but muft beg leave to inform the reader that the propofition will by no means afford the intended confequences; but yields

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me an argument in favor of the finite nature of fin, which I do not want, and of which I fhall make no other ufe than to explode the propofition itself. If any intention of Deity was ever thwarted, it proves, without evafion, that he is not infinite; if fo, his will, or intention, cannot be infinite; and, therefore, the confequences intended by the proposition are forever loft, as they exift only upon the fuppofition of his being infinite. If it be argued, that the intentions of Deity, as a legislator, are violated, not strictly in an infinite fenfe, but in fome fubordinate degree, it is giving up the ground contended for, to all intents; for, if the intention violated, is not infinite, the fin of violating it, cannot be infinite.

Again, if fin is infinite and unlimited, it cannot be fuperfeded by any principle or being in the universe; for goodness cannot be more than infinite, neither is there a degree for Deity to occupy above it. And it may be further argued, that the admiffion of the error refuted, would be a denial of any. preme Being in the universe; for, as Deity does not supersede fin, he cannot be fuperior to that which is equal to himself!

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Again, I further inquire, can that be confidered as an infinite evil, which is limited in its confequences? The answer must be in the negative. If fin is an infinite evil, and infinite in its confequences, as an evil, not only all created beings must suffer endlessly by it, but God himself can never cease to experience the torment-giving power of that which he is unable to avoid! I fay more, if fin is infinite and unlimited, for it must be us limited, if it is infinite, it follows, that there is no fuch principle in the univerfe, as any one property which we are wont to attribute to the Almighty; for, if once we admit a principle of divine juftice to have an exiftence, it is granted that fin is bounded by it, and therefore, cannot be infinite; and it is a fact that fin can no where exift, only where it can be compar