ding with sinners to turn from their wickedness, since he might so
easily turn them, and yet will not do it? Is the great God really sincere
in the offer of salvation to all, and in the grand preparations he hath
made to secure their salvation, since he will not put forth his mighty,
irresistible hand to save them?" Such is the great difficulty which has
arisen from the imagination in question, and confounded theology for ages,
as well as cast a dark shadow upon the Christian world. It is only by
getting rid of this unfounded imagination, this false supposition, that
this stupendous difficulty can be solved, and the glory of the divine
government clearly vindicated.

We have before us Mr. Symington's able and plausible defence of a limited
atonement, in which he says, that "_the event is the best interpreter of
the divine intention_." Hence he infers, that as all are not actually
saved, it was not the design of God that all should be saved, and no
provision is really made for their salvation. This argument is plausible.
It is often employed by the school of theologians to which the author
belongs, and employed with great effect. But is it sound? No doubt it has
often been shown to be unsound _indirectly_; that is, by showing that the
conclusion at which it arrives comes into conflict with the express
declarations of Scripture, as well as with our notions of the perfections
of God. But this is not to analyze the argument itself, and show it to be
a sophism. Nor can this be done, so long as the principle from which the
conclusion necessarily follows be admitted. If we admit, then, that God
could very easily cause virtue or moral goodness to exist everywhere, we
must conclude that "_the event is the best interpreter_ of the divine
intention;" and that the atonement and all other provisions for the
salvation of men are limited in extent by the design of God. That is to
say, if we admit the premiss assumed by Mr. Symington and his school, we
cannot consistently deny their conclusion.

Nor could we resist a great many other conclusions which are frightful in
the extreme. For if God could easily make all men holy, as it is contended
he can, then the event is the best evidence of his real intention and
design. Hence he really did not design the salvation of all men. When he
gave man a holy law, he really did not intend that he should obey and
live, but that he should transgress and die. When he created the world, he
really did