doomed to go away into everlasting punishment, it will separate them for ever from those who enter into life eternal. Even a cup of cold water given as to Christ, in the name of a disciple, shall in no wise lose its reward from him who will be the judge of quick and dead; and who will pay great attention, not to the action only, but to the motive.

That the wicked, the profligate, shall be condemned at that day, cannot be doubted; they themselves, if they think at all, do not expect to be approved. There are some too, represented as expecting admittance, who will confidently say, after long profession, "Lord, Lord, open to us;" yet shall find no acceptance with him. Their reproof shall be, "I know you not." And, with a voice which shall reach conscience, he will call them workers of iniquity. Nay, the character is more strikingly drawn in that dreadful sentence, "Ho! ye despisers, wonder and perish." Christ will be "glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe." But can those rank in this number, whose system concerning Christ does not reach to believing in him; but is throughout a tissue of not believing, let one mention any thing except his actual humanity?

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Something of the worship of heaven has been revealed; but it is very different from Socinian worship on earth, and quite dissonant from their principles. There Christ is eminently exalted, having "a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; of things in heaven, and things on the earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 9, 10. There they cast their crowns at his feet, with all the humility and energy of worship. There is not one doubter, or reluctant mind, among them.

And the principle on which this worship takes place is clearly and carefully expressed. Jesus, though glorified, appears among them, at least at times, as "the Lamb that was slain," Rev. v. 6. It is his dying to save which is celebrated as the grand means of their recovery. This is expressly acknowledged, verse 9, where they say, "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." The important principle of the atonement gives the shape of their joys, as it was the source of their safety. It is no wonder that profligates, who always neglected the Saviour, and to whom the atonement

was preached in vain, should be excluded from a scene in which they cannot take a part. Extending the principle, will it appear wonderful, or harsh, if those who not only neglected this great atonement, but considerately opposed it, and endeavoured to prevent its acceptance among men, should, as unbelievers, be shut out from scenes of joy to which they have no title, the conditions of which they had never fulfilled, and for enjoying which they have no appropriate feelings?

Should Socinians find a heaven, it must be one quite different from that which is revealed in the word of God; for in that Jesus reigns. They must inquire for the Elysium of the ancient heathens; for that they are qualified. Unless, indeed, their actual opposition to the revealed Saviour should sink them lower than those, who, not having known their Lord's will in this particular, have merely not done it.

To what parties out of this present scene of disputation, to what parties, whose opinions are settled, can we apply with any hope to find an approbation of Socinian doubts and doctrines. Does not revelation, and analogy of every kind, exclaim against them? We see that such sentiments shut them out of divine truth, and of

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course out of divine mercy, more than profligacy does; this may apply for mercy, that will not. Is it not fair to suppose, that in the result, at the great day, he who condemns according to abused talent will adjudge them to depart, with the same firmness, and even more indignation than common sinners ?

CHAPTER VI.

LET US SEE IF COMPARING IS A FAIR WAY.

IN making the foregoing comparisons, we have assumed the case of the Socinian as being free from immoralities, in order that we might give the best appearance possible to that side of the question. But the truth, and of course the propriety, of such an assumption in their favour, may be doubted.

We may yet suppose freedom from the grosser vices. This will flow partly from a superior rank in life, which in general, among decent people, scouts such indulgences from society. We may add too, that where Socinianism is resorted to as a system of religion, there the necessity of morality appears the more decided, in the total absence of spiritual feeling. If they have not morality, they have nothing. They must in that case even mingle with the