nt maintained. If a man desire the
holiness and happiness of all his fellow creatures, and would bring
them to a glorified state of beatitude in heaven, had he the power,
and still contends that God will not, it is elevating his goodness far
above the goodness of God. And for any man to come forward with this
acknowledgment on his lips, and yet address the benignant Parent of
all, and, in prayer, acknowledge him to be the best of all beings, is
only using words without propriety or meaning. There is no sense, no
reason in such logic. It completely contradicts itself, and what is
contradictory cannot be true.

Would you save all men from sin and its attendant misery if you could?
O yes, is the answer, I would, and carry them all in the arms of
unbounded benevolence to glory. Well, has God the power to do it? Yes,
is the reply. But do you believe that he will exert his power so as to
accomplish it? No says the objector, I believe that he will sentence a
large portion of his erring offspring to endless and inconceivable wo.
Very well; then you are the best being of the two. And it is a
melancholy circumstance to these unfortunate beings, that you are not
on the throne of the universe. If this be so, then our text ought to
be reversed. God ought to copy your tenderness, and forgive men as you
do! We are certainly called upon to conform our conduct to the best
standard, and to imitate the _best_ being. If you are the _best_, then
God and man ought to be called upon, and _entreated_ to imitate you!
No; says the objector, God is superlatively the best being in the
universe. You may talk, and tell me so, till the morning sun sinks
beyond the western hills, and yet your _creed_ will contradict every
word you utter. What you have just acknowledged, unchangeably stares
you in the face. You say, that you would forgive all, save them from
sin, and raise them to a blessed eternity, if you had the power. This
power, you say, God possesses, and yet you _believe_, and that he will
not do it. It is certainly an unfortunate circumstance to the human
family, if their Father in heaven is destitute of that goodness which
you feel! From whom did you receive all those compassionate feelings
of heart? Why says the objector, God gave them to me. But how can God
give you what he has not himself? If you possess more benevolence than
God, you could not have received it from him; because on this
principal he did not have it in possession to give. Su