cipline and improvement of
mankind. On the one or the other of these grounds, it is believed that
every instance in which suffering falls upon the innocent, or falls not as
a punishment of sin, may be vindicated and reconciled with the goodness of
God.

Section III.

The sufferings of Christ consistent with the divine goodness.

The usual defences of the atonement are good, so far as they go, but not
complete. The vicarious sufferings of Christ are well vindicated on the
ground, that they are necessary to cause the majesty and honour of the
divine law to be respected; but this defence, though sound, has been left
on an insecure foundation; for it has been admitted that God, by the word
of his power, might easily have caused his laws to be universally
respected and obeyed. Hence, according to this admission, the sufferings
of Christ might have been easily dispensed with, and were not necessary in
order to maintain the honour and glory of the divine government. According
to this admission, they were not necessary, and consequently not
consistent with the goodness of God.

Again: by distinguishing between the _administrative_ and the
_retributive_ justice of God, and showing that the vicarious sufferings of
Christ were a satisfaction to the first, and not to the last, we
annihilate the objections of the Socinian. By means of this view of the
satisfaction rendered to the divine justice, we think we have placed the
great doctrine of the atonement in a clearer and more satisfactory light
than usual. We have shown that the vicarious sufferings of the INNOCENT
are so far from being inconsistent with the divine justice, that they are,
in fact, free from the least shadow or appearance of hardship either to
him or to the world. Nay, that they are a bright manifestation of the
divine goodness both to himself and to those for whom he suffered; the
brightest manifestation thereof, indeed, which the universe has ever
beheld.

Section IV.

The eternity of future punishment consistent with the goodness of God.

The genuine Calvinist, if he reason consecutively from some of the
principles of his system, can never escape the conclusion that all men
will be saved: for so long as he denies the ability of men to obey without
the efficacious grace of God, and affirms that this grace is not given to
such as shall finally perish, it must follow that their punis