'it on a death bed, I am as unable to say, as I am what I may think of it a year hence, should I live and be in health. But I am satisfied, beyond a doubt, that if I live a year longer, and then find cause to give up my present belief, that I shall not feel a consciousness of having professed what I did not sincerely believe; and was I called to leave the world and my writings in it, and at the last hour of my life should find I had erred, yet I am satisfied, that I should possess the approbation of a good conscience in all I have written. Therefore, though sensible of my imperfections, yet enjoying great consolation in believing the doctrine for which I have argued, in the following work, and in the enjoyment of a good conscience, I submit the following pages to a generous and candid public, praying for the blessing of the GOD whom I serve, on the feeble endeavors of the most unworthy whom he hath called as a servant of all men. THE AUTHOR. In reply to yours of the 23d ult. I will say, that I am glad that another edition of the Treatise on Atonement is to be given to the public, though I regret that I could not have an opportunity to give the work a general revision. I do not wish, by any means, to retract any of the general or leading sentiments, which are maintained in that work, although more than twenty years have clapsed since I wrote it and first sent it abroad in the world. But there are some minor ideas, and some particular applications of certain passages of scripture, which, undoubtedly, would receive some modifications were I to revise the whole. Though I remain entirely satisfied, that, according to the theme of divine revelation, the whole race of man is destined to a state of immortality, which state will partake of perfect holiness and happiness, I am not certain that I have not, in my Treatise, indicated something in relation to man's first creation, previous to his formation, which is not clearly supported by scripture. And yet I am not able fully to account for the following reading unless something like what I have suggested be true. See Gen. ii. 4, 5, 6, 7. "These are the generations of the heavens, and of the earth, when they were created; in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field, before it grew for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went un a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." It seems that every plant and every herb, as well as man, were created before they grew, or appeared in form as now beheld. What I have alluded to in the Treatise is found on the 35th page. On page 123, I say, "It is plain to me, from scripture, that the Mediator is the first human soul which was created, &c." These passages which I understood to favor this opinion, I now believe have reference to the new creation or new order of things brought about by the gospel dispensation. It is, however, to be understood, that I now as fully believe in the entire dependence of Christ on God, as when I wrote the Treatise. When I wrote this work on Atonement I was strongly inclined to believe that the scriptures did not teach that either sin or its punishment would exist in man's future state, but my conviction of that fact was then by no means so strong as it now is. I mention this as a reason why the reader finds, in several passages of this book, expressions which seem to allow that sin and its corresponding miseries may exist out of a state of flesh and blood. I wish furthermore to observe, that I am now apprehensive, that in the use of some passages which speak of fire, I may have applied them to the refining and purifying of men, in cases wherein their proper use applied to the destruction of the Jews, and to the sufferings which the Saviour foretold would come on that people. B 2 |