I L I B R J^ R Y OF JIIE Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. BX 9931 .W5A4 18A0 Ofs Williamson, Isaac Dowd, IbU 1876 She Boo An exposition and defence oi Universal ism ,1 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2009 witii funding from Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library littp://www.arcliive.org/details/expositiondefencOOwill EXPOSITION AND DEFENCE OF UNIVERSALISM, IN A SERIES OF SERMONS DELIVERED IN THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, BALTIMORE, MD. BY REV I. D. WILLIAMSON. NEW YORK. P. PRICE, 130 FULTON-STREET. Between Nassau-street and Broadway: 184 0. Entered according to Act of Congress; in the year 1840, by P. PRICE. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. The circumstances which drew out the following dis- courses, are rather local, than general. The author is the only public advocate of a world's salvation, in a city of one hundred thousand souls. His sentiments are fre- quently attacked, and as often misrepresented, both in the pulpit and from the press. For this cause he felt himself called upon to lay before his congregation, and the public, so far as they were Avilling to hear, a plain and explicit statement of his faith, and the reasons on which that faith was founded. He had no intention of giving these labors to the public through the press, but prepared them for the pulpit alone. He commenced their delivery; and it was soon discovered, that they at- tracted more attention than his most sanguine anticipa- tions had led him to expect. The large house in which they were delivered became crowded to overflowing, and a general desire was expressed that they might be issued from the press. In accordance with this desire and the advice of friends, the author has consented to present them to the public in their present form, with scarcely a revision from the original copy. He is aware that there are already many able works upon the same subject before the public, in comparison IV PREFACE. with which, any effort of his pen must be feeble. But il is hoped, that the attention which has been given these lectures, in that portion of the Master's vineyard where the author resides, will secure for them there, a more general circulation than could be obtained for any other work upon the same subject. It is hoped, also, that they may be the means of adding something to the general good, by strengthening the faith of the believers who are scattered abroad, and presenting to the minds of those " who are of the contrary part," a feeble effort to explain and establish the doctrines of those who re- joice in the great salvation. For the style and manner of his sermons, he makes no apology, his aim has been to be understood, and to convince, rather than please the ear with well sounded periods or flights of fancy ; and as for his errors, if he has advanced any, let the reader and the public give them no quarters. "If this work be of man, it will come to naught, but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." "Whosoever readeth let him understand," and if the doctrines here taught shall be proved false, none will be more ready to abandon them than the public's humble servant The Author. CONTENTS. Pago. Preface, . . . . . • .3 SERMON I. Introductory. ••••••* SERMON II. Unity of God. • • . , , 22 SERMON III. Atonement. , • • % • .36 SERMON IV. Death of Christ W SERMON V. Punishment. .... 65 SERMON VI. Forgiveness of Sins. » , , 80 SERMON VII. Duration of Punishment. . • . • 96 SERMON VIII. Judgement. . , . • • .111 VI CONTENTS. SERMON IX. The Resurrection. . . • • . 125 SERMON X. Destruction of Death. ...» 140 SERMON XL Nature of Salvation. . • , . , 155 SERMON XII. Repentance. . • • • . 170 SERMON XIII. Faith. . 184 SERMON XIV. Influence of Universalism. . . . .199 SERMON XV. Decision of character, a Religious duty. . • 214 AN EXPOSITION AND DEFENCE OF > TTM UNIVERSALISM. SERMON I. INTRODUCTORY. " May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? For thou briiigest certain strange things to our ears ; we wouIJ know therefore, what these things mean." Acts xvii. 19, 20. The hearer will undoubtedly recognise this, as the language of certain philosophers of Athens, addressed to the Apostle Paul. At Thessalonica, the Jews raised a tumult and drove him out of the city. Departing thence, he went to Berea, and there preached the good word of the kingdom, with great success. Thither, however, the Jews followed him, and, " stirred up the people against him," until he was no longer safe in that city. Accordingly, he departed, and went to Athens, and there waited for his companions, Silas and Timo- theus to join him. He was now in the midst of the most opulent and powerful city of Greece — a city, dis- tinguished alike for the military talents, learning and eloquence of its mhabitants. There, th^ schools, pro- fessors and philosophers of Greece, were congregated, 8 INTRODUCTORY. and there, temples and altars were reared to every false God of whose name the people had heard. The historian informs us, that "Paul's spirit was stirred within him, when he saw the whole city given to idolatry, there- fore, disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with devout persons, and in the market, daily, with such as met him." In these disputations, he encountered cer- tain of the Epicureans and Stoics, and they brought him to Areopagus, the place Avhere they held their courts of justice, and there, they addressed him in the language of the text. " May we know what this new doctrine w^hereof thou speakest is? for thou bringest certain strange things to our ears ; we would know therefore what these things mean ; for they spent their time in nothing else, but to tell, or to hear some new thing." I cannot forbear the remark here, that although these inquirers were actuated by nothing better than an idle curiosity, in making this request, yet their conduct was far more commendable, than that of those who condemn a man and his religion, without first giving him a hearing in his own behalf Paul gladly embraced the opportunity thus afforded him of enteriiig upon a defence of the gos- pel. -He preached to them, " God that made the world, and all that dwell therein," pointed out to them the folly of their idolatrous practices, and appealed to them in be- half of Jesus and the resurrection, with such energy and power, that " some believed," and others said, " we will hear thee again of this matter." I presume the hearer has already anticipated the use the speaker intends to make of this text. He stands before you, the advocate and the onli/ public advocate in this large city, and even in this State, of the doctrine of impartial and efficient grace — a doctrine, which to some of" his hearers, may be both new and strange. He rXTRODUCTOrvT. 9 doubts not, that some of his auditors have turned in hither, and he trusts with good motives, for the purpose of learning what this new doctrine is ; and they would gladly know what these things mean. • The speaker has no sentiments to conceal, and if his hearers will mani- fest a good share of that patience which characterized the man of Uz, he will proceed in all frankness and simplicity to lay before them his views of the economy of his father's grace. He asks, and he feels confident that he will receive from this enlightened and respectable au- dience, a candid and patient hearing, and if in the end, he fails of producing conviction that his sentiments are true, the hearer shall, at least, have it in his power to give a more enlightened judgement against them. He speaks for himself only, and is alone responsible for what he utters ; at the same time, the hearer is at liberty to conclude that in these views, he mainly agrees with the great body of the denomination to which he is at- tached. These preliminaries being settled, we come now to lay before you the most prominent features of our faith. These are I. The existence of one only living and true God. This supreme object of our devotions, we believe, to be possessed of every possibly great and glorious attribute and perfection, thai can command our love or invite our praise. In him is Power, which knows no control — Wisdom, which never errs, but sees with infallible ex- actness, " the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the thing that is not yet done " — Mercy, which melts in pity o'er the woes of man — Truth, which can- not lie — Holiness, without spot or blemish — Goodness, unchanging as God and impartial as the light of heaven, and Justice, which rewards the virtuous and punishes the vicious, according to those eternal principles of rec- 10 INTRODUCTORY. titude and equity, which are the same yesterday, to-day and for ever. This is, with us, the foundation of all religious truth, the sure and steadfast corner-stone, on which the whole superstructure of the christian temple rests. The evidences of the existence of such a G-od, meet us on every page of nature's ample volume, ever open before us. We read his name, stamped with the broad and legible impress of his own hand, on all the surrounding glories of creation. We discover the won- ders of his Power, in this " ponderous globe of earth, self balanced on her centre hung," and in the distant stars, that wheel their endless circles in awful majesty through the infinity of space above and around us. We trace the footsteps of his Wisdom, in the wonderful order and harmony that pervade all the operations of nature's vast, and complicated machinery. We see his Goodness, in every " changing season, as it rolls ;" and the teeming earth and bending heavens around us bear their testimony to his love. We mark the rules of his Justice, in the infallible certainty with which punish- ment, sooner or later, overtakes the guilty, and in the rich and sweet reward, that comes down upon the virtu- ous and the obedient. Thus we learn that there is a God, and we count it no credulity, to say, and to believe, in all its length and breadth, that the stupendous fabric of the universe was reared by the hand of a wise and powerful God ; and we discover, neither reason, philoso- phy nor truth, in the mind of that misguided man, who hath " said in his heart, that there is no God." We are content to say, in the language of the sacred penman, "Lo! God hath made us, and not we ourselves:" and we rejoice to know, that in him power never degenerates into tyranny, wisdom into cunning, mercy into Aveak- ness, nor justice into cruelty, but all blend, centre and INTKOUUCTOKY. 11 harmonize in changeless and immortal goodness. We believe that this God has established a moral govern- ment in the world — that he takes cognizance of human conduct, rewards the virtuous and punishes the vicious — that he has made a revelation of himself and his government to man — and that he has so arranged the order of his providence, that all " Conspires to his supreme control To universal good," I must not here omit to remark, that the Lord our God, is one. Sole and supreme author, and governor of all things, he has no equal to dispute his sway, no rivals to claim a portion of the homage due to him alone. We can acknowledge no other being as God, but him alone. Hence with the sentiments of the Polytheist who be- lieves in many gods, the Pantheist who believes that all is god, and the Trinitarian, who believes in three Gods in one, and one in three — we have no fellowship or communion. To us there is ONE GOD, the Father of all, and besides him there is none else. Thus the Scrip- lures teach and thus does reason decide. The heathen indeed, had a multitude of gods, but the Apostles and Prophets abjured the whole long catalogue of Pagan divinities, and worshipped w^ith singleness of heart, the one and indivisible I AM ; and it would in our judgement be as easy to prove, that these Patriarchs worship- ped thirty thousand gods with the Romans, as that they acknowledged three beings of equal power and glory. The doctrine of the simple and undivided unity of God, IS no neiv or strange thing under the sun. It is as old as that Gospel whose author bowed at the throne of his Father in prayer, thereby acknowledging him as 12 INTRODUCTORV. supreme, and whose tongue confessed, sayiug, " My Father is greater than all." It is as old as the law, which was given in the midst of the thunders of mount Sinai ; for there, God proclaimed his name as the one only liv- ing and true God. It is as old as Abraham, for to him, God said, "I am God and there is none else." It is as old as Adam, for to him God manifested himself as the one supreme. It is as old, yea older, than creation, for ere the morning stars sang together, or even the spirit of the Almighty walked forth upon the dark waters to rouse this universe into being, even then, God undivided and alone, dwelt in the changeless eternity of his own presence, and angels and archangels bowed in ceaseless wonder before him, and worshipped him, as the sole and only object of adoration and praise. It ought not there- fore, to be considered as something new or strange, that we should worship one God, and one alone. But I pass this, for my object, in this discourse, is not so much to prove the truth of our faith, as to tell you what that faith is. The proof is reserved for our future labors. 11. Our faith recognises, Jesus Christ as the son of God, and the Saviour of the world. You will, of course, have concluded from the remarks already made, that however highly we may esteem the character of Jesus, we cannot recognise him as the self existent and supreme God. He himself claimed no such exaltation, but uniformly acknowledged the su- premacy of God, not only in words, but in the fact that he worshipped him, and prayed to him, as a superior being. He confessed, that he was sent of God, and he claimed no power that he did not receive from God. " I can of my own self do nothing," was his constant assertion. INTRODUCTORY. 13 He claimed no higher title than the humble one, " the son of man," and if he claimed no more for himself, it is a misguided disciple that claims it for him. Instead therefore, of "giving the glory of God to another," we maintain, that Jesus of Nazareth was a created, and a dependent being, deriving all his wonderful powers from God. We are content to view him as did Peter, when he said, " he was a man approved of God, by signs and miracles, and wonders which God did by him, in the midst of the people;" or Paul, when he said, " Th-ere is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." And if you ask me if he was no more than a man? My answer is, in the lan- guage of scripture, " He was made in all things, like unto the brethren," but was " anointed with the oil of glad- ness above his fellows," and endued with power greater than any other man. " We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Upon the nature of Christ's mission and work on earth, it is proper, that I should speak at some length, under this head. Jesus came not to placate the wrath of in- censed and outraged Omnipotence. The heathens wor- shipped gods whose favor must be propitiated and whose wrath must be appeased by sacrifices and blood. But the radiant bow of heaven's immortal Lord and King, was never yet shrouded in a cloud so dark, that his own mercy and love, could not shine with brightness upon the world. The mission of Christ, is not presented in the scriptures, as having originated in, or as having been rendered necessary on account of the Wx-ath of God. On the contrary, it is uniformly set forth as originating 2 14 INTRODUCTORY. in God, and as being the highest testimony of his love. "God 50 loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son." " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to die for us." These are the teachings of the scriptures, and they certainly forbid the idea that it was any part of the object of a Saviour's mission, to save men from the unmerciful wrath of God. Neither did Jesus come to save from the just punish- meni of sin, by satisfying the divine justice, and sutfering the penalty due the sinner in his room and stead. This is evident from the fact, that God himself has declared the principle of condemning the just, and justifying the wicked, to be an abomination in his sight ; and of course, he could not do the abominable thing. It is evident also, from the consideration, that justice cannot be satisfied with the sufferings of the imiocent. When a law is transgressed, it is out upon the transgressor, and ten thousand rivers of innocent blood, can never satisfy the claims of that law. It asks the blood of the guilty, and of the guilUj alone, and it is foul disgrace to the law of God, to represent it, as a blind Juggernaut, thirsting for blood, and equally well pleased whether that blood flows from the veins of the guilty, or gushes from the heart of the innocent, so that the required quantum of blood is shed. One of the clearest principles of justice, is that which forbids the infliction of the punishment of the guilty upon the head of the innocent, and there is no justice in Heaven, or earth, that can be satisfied by the suff'ermgs of the innocent for the guilty. The position assumed, is further evinced in the fact, that God has said, " Every man shall suff'er for his own sins,'''' and has and does still practice, upon the principle of punishing the guilty, which he would have no right to do, if justice had lost its claims, in consequence of INTKODUCTORy. 15 having been fully satisfied by the death and sufferings of Christ. I may at some future time take this matter up, at large. At present I merely hint at it, in order to lead your minds to a just view of another prominent and pe- cuUar principle of our faith which teaches, that " God will by no means clear the guilty," but will inflict upon. every soul of man, the just punishment of his sins, and there is no escape. Thus saith the scriptures, "He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he hath done, and there is no respect of persons." " Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpun- ished." Now, it is a remarkable fact, that while the ceaseless cry is raised against us, that we deny all punishment for sin, we are the only denomination who believe that all sin will be punished. I know others believe, that some sinners will be fully punished, but they also believe, that many will escape the penalty of the law. They do indeed tell us, that all men deserve an endless hell, and would receive it, if justice were done; but they have all some spiritual insolvent act in the shape of an atonement, or forgiveness, or repentance, by which the vilest sinner may escape, and cheat justice of its dues. Set it down, as one of the peculiar doctrines of Univer- salism, that no man can, by any possibility, escape a just punishment for his sins. AVe believe in the for- giveness or removal of sin, not in the remission of pun- ishment, and neither forgiveness, nor atonement, nor re- pentance, nor any thing else, can step in between the sinner and the penalty of the violated law. The dogma of endless wo, we reject as unmerciful, unjust and cruel, a penalty which a just God never did and never can annex to his law. It was not therefore 16 INTRODUCTORY. necessary for Christ to come into the world to save men from a future endless hell, as a penalty of the divine law, for the good and suflicient reason, that no such penalty was ever annexed to that law. I am not speaking at random, but I know whereof I affirm, when I say that no living man can take up the Bible, and find a place where God gave man a law and annexed to it the penalty of endless misery. Hence, I say, that man needed not to be saved from such an evil, for the best of all possible reasons, that in the economy of God, he never was exposed to any such calamity. I have now told you, what Christ did not come for; will you hear from the blessed Saviour himself, Avhat was the object of his mission on earth ? He says, " To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the earth, that I might bear witness to the truth." Now the v/it- ness does not go into court to make truth. He goes there, to testify to what is already true. So Jesus in our view, came not to make any thing true, that was not so before ; but he was the faithful and true witness, who came to make known the truth, " as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." He came to reveal the character and the purpose of God, and hence, near the close of his ministry he said, " I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, I have declared thy name unto them which thou gavest me out of the world." The fact was, that man was ignorant without hope and without God in the world. He was ignorant of himself, of his own nature and destiny, ignorant of God, and his purposes of grace, and devoid of confidence in the care and protection of his heavenly father. He bowed before stocks and stones, and said " these be my gods." He tore his flesh — he tortured his body — he INTRODUCTORY. 17 cast himself in the flood — he devoted himself to a liv- ing martyrdom, and burned the bodies of his children in the flame, to appease the wrath and secure the favor of his gods, and was well pleased, if by these rites he secured a trembling hope of safety for a day or an hour. The grave yawned at his feet and there was no light to shine upon its darkness. Man shuddered as he thought that he must go down to feed the worm, and sleep in eternal silence in the tomb — or if perchance, the spirit survived the shock of death, there was danger that he would be the companion of demons and the sport of fiends through a long eternity. Jesus came a light into the world. He tore away the vail which had so long obscured the face of the excellent glory, and revealed to a wondering world the character of God, in all its matchless beauty, as the friend and father, who fed the fowls of the air — decked the lillies of the field, and watched the falling sparrow, and who would more abundantly take care of man, the last and noblest work of his hand. He also brought life and immortality to light, and bore his testimony to the resurrection of the dead ; and to prove that his witness was true, descended into the grave — rose from its power, and ascended on high, to receive gifts for men, " yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among us." Thus, he bore witness to the truth, and labored to save man from ignorance, from sin, from doubt and fear, and from death itself by the power of the resurrection. To this end was he bom, and for this cause came he into the world, " that he might bear witness to the truth ;" and because this truth is destined to prevail over all oppo- sition, and save man universally, in prospect and fruition, therefore, is he, what we believe him to be, " the Saviour of the world." This brings me to say that we believe, 2* 18 INTRODUCTORY. III. In the resurrection of all men from the dead, and in the ultimate holiness and happiness of the whole human family. This is, with us, the crowning excellency of the Gos- pel — a theme on which we ever dwell, with most lively satisfaction and joy. To this grand consummation of the divine government, all the attributes and perfections of God, and all the principles of the divine government are tending ; and the sentiment thus shadoived forth in these, is repeated in clearer and more emphatic tones in the revelation which God has made. The difference between us and other denominations, in regard to the resurrection of the dead is simply this. Others believe that men will be raised from the dead morally in the same state, or condition, in Avhich they left this world. Thus, if a man dies a sinner, they be- lieve that he will be raised up from the dead a sinner, with all his evil propensities and passions about him, and he will then receive the reward of his doings. To him the resurrection will be an endless and bitter curse, inasmuch as it will introduce him to a state of untold and immortal suffering. Our views of the resurrection of the dead differ from this. We think that God has a higher, holier and better object in view, in the resur- rection, than that of conferring an immortality upon sin and suffering. We believe that the lusts of the flesh, and all the evil passions that distract and torment man on earth, will be left in the earth where they originated, that God will not transplant them to another world to nourish them there. We believe that man shall be raised from the dead, as the apostle said he should be, " im- mortal," "incorruptible," "glorious," and "heavenly," and in the " image " of the risen Redeemer — that he shall be, as the Saviour said he should be, in the resurreo INTEODUCTORT. 19 tion, " equal unto the angels," neither shall he die any more, but be a child of God, as he is a child of the resurrection, and that the future life, shall be to all, a ceaseless blessing, coming from the fullness of a father's grace. There, sin shall be finished and transgression shall end — there, no storms of passion shall rise, no wave of sorrow disturb the waters of that peaceful river, which flows pure as amber, and clear as crystal, from the throne of God on high. The hand of a father's love shall wipe the last tear from the eye of weeping humanity, and his soothing voice hush to silence the last sigh that shall escape from the pained heart of a creature of God. There, all shall be holy, and happy because they are holy ; and there shall be no note of discord to mar the harmony of creation's jubilee. Such is the consummation of the government of God as we behold it. I ask you to compare these views of God and his government, with a system which conducts us on to the future world, and thus leaves us with a frag- ment saved while countless millions mourn — a system which makes the universe itself a huge reservoir of tears, a theatre of endless rebellion, cursing and blasphemy — and when you have made the comparison, tell me in the name of reason, which is most worthy of a God of in- finite goodness. I have now given you an outline of a doctrine, which to some of you may be new ; but new or old, so we be- lieve, and so we preach. I have only to add, that this doctrine is in reality nothing new under the sun. God himself proclaimed it unto Abraham saying, " In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." Paul says expressly, that himself, and his faithful coadjutors in the ministry, labored and sufifered reproach, because they trusted in the living God who was " the Saviour of all men, especi- so INTRODUCTORY. ally of them that heheved," and Peter affirms, that the " restitution of all things " had been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, since the world began. Not one had failed of bearing testimony to this truth. Among the apostolic fathers, John the bishop of Jerusalem, Gregory Naziazen, Clement of Alexandria, and the far famed Origen, were the open and avowed advocates of this doctrine. In fact, it was proclaimed with all boldness in the christian church, during the first three hundred years of its existence, and it was never found out to be a heresy, until about the year 550, when it was gravely, and for the first time condemned by a council of bishops and cardinals, who to say the least, had as much of the wisdom of the world, as they had of the spirit of Jesus. But in every age, from that day to this, there have been those who have seen and testified, that " the father sent the son to be the saviour of the world." Among the reformers, Zuinglius believed it, and it is thought that the illustrious Melancthon. himself was not far from the kingdom. In latter days, and in the popular church many have believed. Arch- bishop Tillotson, Burnet, Law, the author of that inesti- mable work '• A Serious Call," Dr. Samuel Clarke, the Chevalier Ramsey, Dr. Phillip Doddridge, Bishop Thomas Norton, John Prior Estlin, Thomas Belsham, Dr. Priestley, Ann Letitia Barbauld, the inimitable poet, and a host of others, whose names are illustrious in the church, have been believers in this doctrine. In our own country, it has had its advocates. The celebrated Dr. Rush believed it, and the sage Franklin was not far from it. The beloved father of his country, was the friend of Murray, and Greene who gallantly fought by his side, hung with rapture upon the preach- INTRODUCTORY. 21 ing of the only herald of a world's salvation, then in America. I name not these things because they prove aught, one way or the other : but I do it, simply to show you, that it is not, as some suppose, a new doctrine, invented within the last half century, and believed only by the rash and inconsiderate. But whether it be new or old I have given you a hasty sketch of its most prominent features ; and in my subse- quent lectures, I intend to give you the proof of its truth. Appealing to your candor and reason, and to the sacred word of eternal truth, I will lay the matter before you, and I only ask you to approve or reject, as your own judgement, enlightened by revelation and unwarped by prejudice or superstition, shall decide, and of the result I have no fears. 22 UNITY OF GOD. SERMON II. THE UNITY OF GOD, *' For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. I Timothy, ii. 5, 6. In a previous lecture, I gave you a statement of the doc- trine of Universal Salvation, and promised that I would lay before you, in some subsequent discourses, the evi- dence on which we rest the defence of our faith. In prosecuting this work, it is proper for me to remark, in the outset, that there are several things, which we hold in com.mon with all other denominations, and upon these it is not necessary that I should dwell. So far as the object of this discussion is concerned, these things may as well be taken for granted, as I intend to insist mainly on those points, which are peculiar to us, or in which we differ from others. I gave you the existence of a God of infinite wisdom, power, goodness, mercy, justice and truth, as the first article in our faith, and the foundation of all religious truth. I need not say, that this is a doctrine, which is advocated by all professors of Christianity, of every name, and it surely is not necessary for me to argue that matter, before an assembly of Christians. I take it for granted then, in this discussion, that there is a God, and on that point I shall have no dispute with any Christian. But when I come to say, that God is one and undivided : and that Jesus of Nazareth, was a tmiTY OF GOD. 23 created being, dependent upon God for all his powers, I shall be met by those who contend, that God is triune^ in nature, and that Jesus was the very God. The ob- ject of this discourse is to examine this question, and give you the reasons, which induce us to believe that there is one God, in one person, and that Jesus the medi- ator, was what the apostle calls him in the text, the man Christ Jesus. In regard to the simple unity of God, the teaNow, the object of punishment is to compel him to do 104 DUUATION OF PUNISHMENT. justice, to serve God as he ought. Hence It is evident that justice must for ever forbid the infliction of any punishment which would defeat this object, as it for- bade the injustice of the transgression in the outset. Look at it in another light. The doctrine is, that in hell men will transgress the laws of God through all eternity, and then the matter will stand thus : — When man sins he does an act of injustice to God — he com- mits robbery upon high heaven. For this cause, God places him in hell, where he is compelled to sin eter- nally ; and so by an eternal series of sins, he seeks to satisfy the demands of that same justice which Avas outraged by the same acts in the first instance ! ! Singular justice this ! About such justice as would be exercised in punishing a man who had committed one act of robbery, by compelling him to rob every man he meets. As if it was not enough that man had trampled upon God's justice in this world, by his crimes, but in the next he must needs be apprenticed to the devil, and taught to bid stout defiance to the claims of justice through a long eternity. And this is justice ! And this the course pursued by an infinitely wise God, to enforce the demands of that justice which saith, " Thou shalt 'worship and serve the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve ! ! I " The thought is too absurd to need any other refutation than the mere statement of it in its true colors. Talk of justice with an endless hell before you, where countless millions mourn, and curse and blaspheme and trample under foot every principle of justice, for ever and ever ! You might as well talk of justice in Saul of Tarsus, when he "breathed out threatening and slaugh- ter, and compelled men to blaspheme," or ye might as well look for it in the dungeons of the Inquisition, where DURATION OF TUNISHMENT. 105 torturing racks and engines of torment were plied to compel men to violate their consciences and sin against God. Justice is no child of hell, whose residence is in the dark dominions of sin and Satan. Her origin is in heaven, she is the first-born of the eternal, and her res- idence is in those bright and peaceful realms where God is obeyed, and all hearts render unto him that which is most justly his, all honor and blessing, thanksgiving and glory for ever and ever I I repeat again, justice requires the obedience of all men ; all her acts are subservient to this, and justice will never be done till a world of intelligences is brought to love, serve and obey that God whose they are, and on whom they all depend. The doctrine of the endless duration of punishment, denies that man will ever render to God the homage and service which is his due. It compels men to blaspheme, and crimsons the altar of justice with the blood of cruelty and revenge. It is, therefore unjust and consequently cannot be true. There is another view of the subject, in which the injustice of the doctrine is apparent. One of the plain- est principles of justice is that which requires that there should be some proportion between crime and its pun- ishment. Hence a sentiment which annexes an infinite punishment to the crimes of a finite being, violates one of the first and clearest principles of justice, human and divine. Much more I might say upon this point — less I could not say. I have merely thrown out these hints upon which you will do well to reflect at your leisure. To me it is a matter of unspeakable joy, that God is just, for I hail that fact as the certain pledge, that all crime, rebellion and injustice must one day cease. I object to the doctrine of the endless duration of punishment. lOG DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. III. Because it is unscriptural. This is with me an insuperable barrier to a belief of that sentiment. I could receive a doctrine against which there were some apparent objections, if I found in its favor a " Thus saith the Lord." But when I find a doc- trine in itself unreasonable, unjust, cruel and useless, and have added to this, the clear testimony of scripture against it, I cannot receive it. Why the very language of ray text, if there was not another passage in the Bible of the like import, would render it a hopeless task to make the endless duration of punishment harmonize with scripture. "I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me and the souls that I have made." How can the doc- trine of interminable and unquenchable wrath be made to harmonize, for a moment, with such a passage as this. Does not the doctrine assert, that the wrath of God will abide upon the damned in hell as long as God himself exists, and that he Avill never cease to contend against them ? And does not the text, as if on purpose to con- tradict such a sentiment, expressly and most emphati- cally declare, that " he will not be always wroth, neither will he contend for ever ! " I need not pause here to give you a long explanation of the term wrath as applied to God. " Anger resteth in the bosom of fools," and as God is wise, we cannot suppose for a moment, that he harbors such a feeling as we call anger in man. He scourges men for their sins, and speaking according to man's views of things, he is said to be angry ; but it is a remarkable circumstance that wherever the anger of God is mentioned in the Bible, it is represented as being but momentary, whereas his mercy is as uniformly said " to endure through all generations." " In a little wrath, I hid my face from DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 107 thee for a small moment, but with everlasting kindness will I revisit thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." "Sing unto the Lord, oh ! ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, for his anger endureth but a moment, in his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." " The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plen- teous in mercy, he will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever." "lam merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep my anger for ever." These are the uniform teachings of the scriptures m regard to the duration of what they call the " anger of the Lord." But how differently do they speak of his mercy ! " The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his right- eousness unto children's children." " Thy mercy, oh I Lord endureth for ever ; let the redeemed of the Lord say so, for his mercy endureth for ever." In these pas- sages you will discover the truth of our position, that the anger of the Lord is set forth as being but momen- tary, while his mercy is enduring as his own throne. I say, therefore, that a doctrine which reverses this prin- ciple, which limits the mercy of God to a fragment of time, and makes his anger endure through all eternity, is most clearly and incontrovertibly unscriptural. The Bible says, " G-od's mercy endureth for ever ;" but this doctrine asserts that the time will soon come when the mercy of God shall be clear gone for ever. The Bible asserts that " the anger of the Lord endureth but a moment," and that "he will not cast off for ever;" but this doctrine affirms that he will cast off for ever, and that his merciless anger shall abide world without end. The hearer may tell me that we read much in the Bible about an everlasting punishment, and h must be lOS DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. endless, else such a term would not be applied to it. I grant that you may have read of an everlasting punish- ment in the Bible, but I apprehend you have not read as much about it as you imagine. There is but one soli- tary instance in the Bible where the term " everlasting" is applied to punishment, and that is in Mathew, xxv. 46. " These shall go away into everlasting punishment." That is the only passage in the sacred book where the phrase " everlasting punishment " occurs. But even if the phrase occurred a thousand times, it would avail nothing in the case, for no honest and just mode of in- terpretation would allow such a construction of that phrase, as to make it contradict those other and numer- ous declarations of the limited duration of all that bears the name of anger in God. Besides the term " ever- lasting " is not used in scripture to denote a strictly end- less duration. The priesthood of Aaron was called an " everlasting priesthood." The possession of Canaan, by the Israel- ites, was called an " everlasting possession," and many other things are called " everlasting," which we know have long since come to an end. Such being the use of the word in the Old Testament, it is but reasonable to suppose that it is used in the same sense in the New, and no good or plausible reason can be given, why our Saviour should mean more by the term than Moses and the Prophets meant by it. Besides if you are not ac- quainted with the original language of the scriptures, go and consult those who are, and I care not what their creeds may be, if they are honest men, they will tell you that the word which is translated " everlasting " in that passage is exceedingly ambiguous ; that it means a long and indefinite period of time, and that the precise length of time intended by it can never be ascertained by the DURATION OF PTTNISHMENT. 109 word itself, but must in all cases be determined by the nature of the subject to which it is applied. With this principle in view, which was never disputed to my knowledge, it appears to me that a candid and ingen- uous mind more intent on learning truth than supporting a favorite creed, would reason thus : — I find here a word applied to punishment which is ambiguous; it may mean an endless duration, or it may not ; and this must be determined by the naiure of the subject. Now in this case, the subject is punishment, a thing which from its very nature must be limited in duration, and which, in the Old Testament, we are often told, can en- dure comparatively for a moment only. Hence I con- clude, that the word, in this instance, must be used in the same limited sense, in which it is used in the Old Testament. Thus candor would reason ; but bigotry has for years been clinging with the grasp of death to the cruel dog- ma of endless punishment, and alleging this word as its proof; reluctantly confessing, at the same time, that it does not imply necessarily, an endless duration. It is in vain, she is told, that the word is often used in a lim- ited sense ; that punishment becomes revenge, and not punishment, as soon as it is made endless. In vain, is she told, that utility, mercy, justice, and reason ; nay, even God himself, in his holy word, forbids the inflic- tion of endless wo ; she has no head to reason, no heart to feel, and she perseveres in her reckless determination to immolate the multitude of the human race upon her altar of cruelty, blasphemously dedicated to a God of justice. From all that I have said, the conclusion is inevita- ble, that the duration of punishment must be limited. It is not an end in the divine government, but is em- 10 110 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. ployed as the means of securing a glorious and blessed result. The precise time of its continuance, no mortal man can tell, for that matter God has not revealed. Of this one thing, however, we may be certain — it will continue no longer than a wise and merciful God shall see that it is necessary for the good of its creatures. Its end shall at last be accomplished, all things shall be subdued unto God, and he shall be " all in all." JUDGEIvrENT. HI SERMON VIII. JUDGEMENT. " For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his an- gels ; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Matthew xvi. 27,28. There is not, perhaps, in the whole range of Chris- tian theology, a subject more worthy of our attention than the doctrine of judgement. That man is an ac- countable being, and that God will reward us for our virtues and punish us for our vices, are truths that can- not be disputed by any man who believes the Bible. But when is the world to be judged, and what are the rewards and punishments which God awards to the vir- tuous and vicious, are questions upon which there is a wide difference of opinion. On one hand it is believed that the throne of judgement is erected in the earM, and that men stand before the bar of the judge of all here, in time. On the other hand it is thought, that men are probationers for eternity, that justice and judgement are not executed on earth, but are reserved to a great and fearful day beyond death, and the resurrection, when slumbering justice shall arise and slay her thousands, and mete out endless rewards and punishments to those who stand at her bar. While I avow myself as an ad- vocate of the former of these opinions, I shall endeavor fairly to state, and candidly illustrate the latter. By some unaccountable means the opinion has obtain- 112 JUDGEJIENT. ed, that we, as a denomination, deny the accountability of man altogether, and discard entirely the idea that man is to be judged for his works. It therefore becomes a duty, which I owe to myself, and the cause of truth, to state, in the outset, that this is a gross mistake. None believe, more fully than we do, in the accountability of man, and none maintain with more constancy the great truth, that " the Lord is our Judge," and that he will reward every man according to his works. Let it therefore be distinctly understood, that the question at issue, is, not whether men are accountable beings; but whether their accounts are to remain unsettled till an- other world. It is not, whether men are to be judged at all ; but whether their judgement shall linger to an- other world ? The doctrine of a day of future judgement, prevails so generally, and is deemed so important, that I shall feel myself warranted, in giving it a somewhat thorough and searching examination. The judgement-scene has been a favorite theme with those who appear more intent on exciting the passions and alarming the fears, than enlightening the under- standing. We have often heard the most vivid and glowing descriptions of the horrors of that dreadful day when a universe shall stand at the bar of God, and re- ceive that dread sentence from which there is no ap- peal ; and we have been exhorted to speak every word, think every thought, and perform every act, in reference to that tremendous day, for which all other days were made. There, it is supposed, every thought, word and act, will be brought into the account; and for this rea- son, it is thought to be the best safeguard of virtue's most holy cause, and to interpose the most salutary re- straint upon the workings of the spirit of disobedience. JTTDGEIklENT. 113 I doubt not that there are many sincere and honest minds who really believe, that the rejection of this doc- trine would greatlv endanger the public morals, and it is but just, that I should view it for a moment in that light. If we were to appeal to facts, they would give no very favorable comment upon the moralizing influence of the doctrine in question. Every persecutor that has ever lived, has acted, as he said, in full view of his re- sponsibility, and with a full determination to stand ac- quitted in the great day of judgement. Instead of staying the murderous hand, it has armed it with da-ggers and strengthened it in the work of death. In Spaui it rear- ed an Inquisition, and murdered more than half a mil- lion human beings. In our own countiy it whipped the Baptists, and hung the witches and the Quakers; for be it remembered, that all these enormities were commit- ted by those who believed in the doctrine m question, and they, every one of them, plead as their excuse, H\e fact of their accountability to God, and their ardent de- sire to stand acquitted in the great day of judgement. These are facts, written for our instruction and admoni- tion on the pages of history, and they certainly give us no very strong evidence of the power of this doctrine to cultivate and cherish the mild, tender, and peaceable spirit of the Gospel. Besides all this, if you will look around you, you will see daily in this city, and all others, men who believe in this doctrine, rushing into the depths of sin notwith- standing their faith. The reason is obvious. Men al- ways act under the influence of present motives-, or those that are near at hand. Parents could never main- tain family government by teaching their children, that they would reckon with them at the age of forty, and IC* 114 JUDGEBIENT. reward or punish them at a subsequent period. No civil government could exist and maintain its laws for a single year, by acting upon the principle that it would only, for the present, look on and mark down crimes to be punished twenty years from date. And if a law, whose penalty was deferred for the short space of twenty years, would be but a dead letter; need we wonder that men should transgress the laws of God, when they are taught that its penalty is removed far beyond the line that divides time from eternity? The fact is, when a man is about to commit an act, he does not pause to consider what will be the remote and possible consequences, some hundreds or thousand years hence ; but he looks to the effects which, to him, are present, certain and tangible. "When the thief is tempted to steal, I care not how strongly he may be- lieve in a day of future judgement, I will venture to say, that he thinks more of the present benefits of the prop- erty, than of a future heaven, and is far more solicit- ous to conceal his crime and escape the State's prison, than to avoid the judgement. No man commits a crime, under a full conviction that he will be speedily and certainly punished. It is putting far away the evil day, and a hope of escape, that encourages men on in sin. Most unhappily, the doctrine under consideration is ex- actly calculated to foster these delusive hopes. The sinner is assured, in the outset, that he can contract debts to any amount at the bar of justice ; and get cred- ited to the future world ; and worse than this, that he can at any time previous to death, take the benefit of an insolvent act, under the name of repentance, and cheat justice out of the whole debt. Such views can never reform the vicious, nor restrain the spirit of sin. Men must know, that the eye of the Lord is continually JUDGEMENT. 115 upon them, and that their judgement of a long time lin- gereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not, but in the day they partake of the forbidden fruit, even in that •very day, they shall die, and that inevitably. But I leave this view of the doctrine, and pass to of- fer you some reasons which, in my mind, forbid the idea of the truth of this doctrine. I. It is like the doctrine of endless misery, a useless doctrine. The belief of it, as I have already shown, does no good, but much positive injury, and the thing itself is as utterly useless, as faith in its existence. What saith the Scriptures upon the subject of judgement ? " Verily, he is a God that judgeth in the earth." "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner." Now, if it be a fact, that God judges in the earth, and recompenses both the righteous and the wicked, you can but perceive that a day of future judgement, to judge and recompense them again, is utterly useless. But the doctrine is not only useless in fact ; it is equally so when viewed in reference to the opinions of its advocates. So far as I understand the opinions of those who maintain this sentiment, they uniformly agree that man has an immortal soul, which survives the shock of death, and liv^es for ever. With the exception of the Catholics, they also believe, that at the article of death, this soul sinks to hell or rises to heaven, and its fate is fixed for eternity, and it cannot be altered. Now, if this be true, pray where is the utility of this day of judgement ? If a sinner died in the days of Adam, according to the popular doctrine he went immediately to hell, and his case was fixed for eternity. Now, suppose one thousand years from this time the judgement-day should arrive, 116 JUDGElVrENT. and that man should be brought up to be judged. You will at once perceive that he will have been in hell near seven thousand years, before judgement is pronounced upon him. But what good will a trial do him at that late hour ? Will it alter his condition ? By no means, for we are before informed that his state is fixed for eter- nity. If so, then this form of a trial and judgement is a perfect mockery, as much so as it would be to disinter a man who had been executed for murder without judge or jury twenty years since, and give him a trial, and pass sentence upon him. In no way can I discover any utility in the thing, un- less you turn Catholic, and believe that souls are detain- ed in purgatory until the judgement ; and even then it would not seem perfectly just to detain a man, in some cases thousands of years, without a trial. I have no fel- lowship or communion at all with a principle which would first hang a man, and then judge him ; and I hold the common doctrine of a day of future judgement, when viewed in the connexion I have named, as a perfect practice upon that principle, and of course not only use- less, but unjust and abominable. I linow it is said, that this judgement is necessary, to vindicate the ways of God to man, and affords an oppor- tunity for God to show to an assembled universe, that he is a God of justice. But to me this looks like the veriest subterfuge to cover a retreat from an absurd and indefensible position. In this case, it is no longer man that is judged, but it is an occasion where short-sighted man sits as the judge upon the doings of God ! Are we willing to admit, for a moment, that the ways of God are of so exceedingly doubtful a character that he must needs aseemble the universe in order to vindicate him- self from the suspicion of having done injustice to his ' JUDGEMENT. Uy creatures? The very thought is akin to the worst of blasphemy, and the man who entertains a notion that he IS one among the number of those to whom God will submit the decision of the question of the equity of his ways, has need of the caution, that he beware and not " raise himself above all that is called God on earth." n. The second and greatest objection I have to the doctrine, is, that it is unscriptural. I am free to admit, that the Scriptures speak not only of a day of judgement, but of many and different days of judgement; and that the writers of the New Testament speak of one of these days by way of eminence, as " the day of judgement." But if you examine the subject, you will find that all these days are in this world, and that It IS men in the flesh, and not immortal spirits in the resurrection, ihat are to be judged. We hear much said about an awful day of judgement, connected with the resurrection, and coming after death, and I doubt not many suppose the Scriptures abound in such lan- guage. But if you will take the trouble to examine the Bible for that purpose, if you have never observed it be- fore, you will be surprised to find how different is the language of Scripture from the usual mode of speakino- upon that subject. ° The fact that the world is to be judged in the right- eousness of heaven's justice, is uniformly set forth by°the inspired writers, as a matter of most lively joy. Thus the Psalmist says, " Oh ! let the earth rejoice, and let the earth be glad, and shout for joy, for the Lord is Judge. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world,* and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands ; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for he Cometh, he cometn to judge the earth with right- eousness, and the people WJth equity." Verv different, 118 JUDGEMENT. indeed, is this from the terrors that are usually thrown around the judgement of God, in these latter days ; and I can account for it in no other way, than upon the sup- position, that the divine writers had very different views of the divine judgements from those that are now en- tertained. Equally explicit are the Scriptures in relation to the time and place of judgement. " Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth;" and "his judgements are abroad in the earth;'''' is the uniform word of the testimony, and you will for ever search the Bible in vain, for proof that he judges man any where else but in the earth, or at any period subsequent to his existence here. In no sin- gle instance in the Bible, is a judgement spoken of as connected with the resurrection from the dead, nor is it mentioned at all, as a thing which is to follow the death of the body. I have, indeed, heard men quote Scripture after this sort. "As the tree falls, so it lies; and as death leaves us, so judgement will find us." " For it is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death, to come to judgement." These passages are doubtless very pertinent to the point, and but for one slight cir- cumstance, would unquestionably prove that there is a judgement after the death of the body. There is one circumstance, however, which, though it may be trifling to some, is to me very important, and leads me to doubt the clearness and authority of the proof I allude to the fact, that neither of these passages, so often and so con- fidently quoted, is in the Bible; but both of them are manufactured by men, to support their creeds. The first is probably intended as a quotation from the 11th chapter of Ecclesiastes, where the preacher, in speaking of deeds of charitj", says, "cast thy bread upon the waters, and after many days ye shall find it. Give JUDGE JIENT. 119 a portion to seven, and also to eight, for ye know not what evil there may be in the world : for if the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and if the tree fall toward the north, or toward the south, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." The other passage is an altered and garbled quo- tation of a part of Heb. ix. 27, where the Apostle says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgement, so Christ was once offered, to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation." If you will compare the passage, as written by the Apos- tle, with the common quotation, you will find it mate- rially different, and even our common translation fails of giving the true meaning of the original. For some reason unknown to me, our translators have left out one word, from the original, and have not translated it at all. I allude to the article before the word men, and 1 have no fear of contradiction, from any man who knows even the alphabet of the language, and has read the Greek Testament, when I say, that a faithful translation would be, " And as it is appointed unto the men (or these men) once to die, and after this the judgement," &c. Appointed unto these men once to die. What men ? Look at the preceding context, and you will find the an- swer. The Apostle was treating of the sacrificial death of the High Priests under the law, as a type of the death of Christ, and of the judgement of the children of Israel, Immediately following this typical death of the High Priest, and in this passage, he draws out the parallel between the two cases : — As it was appointed (in the Jewish law) unto these men once to die, (figuratively, for the sins of the people,) so Christ was once ofiered, to bear the sins of many ; and as the High Priest came 130 JUDGEMENT. forth from the holiest of holies, after his typical death, to judge the people and pronounce them clean, even so, should Christ come, not to condemn, but without sin, unto salvation. All this falls far short of asserting that there is to be a great day of general judgement subse- quent to the death of the body ; and I appeal to you, if the fact, that men are under the necessity of altering the passage, in order to make it answer their purpose, is not good proof, that it does not answer that purpose, as it stands even in our translation. When men can find a clear and explicit " Thus saith the Lord " for their sentiments, they will never make scripture to prove them. Inasmuch, therefore, as the scriptures nowhere mention a day of judgement, as connected with the res- urrection of the dead, or as an event subsequent to death ; but uniformly represent judgement as a matter executed in the earth, I maintain that the sentiment which removes it to another world, is most clearly un- scriptural. There is one additional circumstance to be named, and I shall proceed to give you what I suppose to be the true doctrine of judgement. In all countries it is deem- ed but just, that men should be tried by the laws they transgress, and in the same realm, where the offence is committed. Now the law of God, was given to man, for the regulation of his conduct, here on earth, and I aver most explicitly, and challenge contradiction, that there is no law in the Bible, which assures man, that the transgressor of its requirements shall be taken to another world to be judged for his transgression. On the contrary, all subsequent enactments, and practice, are in the spirit of the first prohibition, " in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam was judged in the cool of the evening of the very day he sinned, JUDGEMENT. 121 and Cain was called to the bar of judgement while yet the blood of his brother was red, and warm upon his hands. So the law required, and hence I contend that to judge men in another world, for the sins of this, is unjust, because man was never made answerable to any such law. If I remember aright, one of the grievances set forth in the declaration of American Independence, was, that citizens of the colonies were taken across the waters to a distant land to be tried for offences committed here. Now every American citizen is ready to condemn such a procedure, and will denounce the British government as unjust, oppressive, and tyrannical in so doing ; and yet the great mass of them worship a God who trans- ports men to another world, to be tried and judged for crimes committed in this, and in him they call it justice. I indulge a hope, that the time is not far distant, when men will discover that injustice and tyranny though in a God, would be injustice and tyranny still. But I pass on; and come now to speak of the true scripture doctrine of judgement. It is worthy of remark, that the doctrine of judge- ment as set forth in the Old Testament, and as found in the Gospel, are widely different ; not indeed in princi- ple, but in the mode of administration. In the Old Testament "God is the judge, lawgiver and king;" and in that dispensation he was the being who sat in the judgement seat. But in the New Testament, we learn that " the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement to the Son." Henceforth then we are to look upon Jesus Christ as the divinely appointed judge of all, and the question before us relates to the time and the manner of his judgement. The prophecies of the Old Testament would lead us 11 122 JUDGEMENT. to expect, that although the work of judgement has been given to the hands of the Son of God, yet it was to be executed, as it ever had been, in the earth. Thus Isaiah says, " Behold the days come saith the Lord, that I will raise a righteous branch unto David, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgement and justice, in the earth, and his name shall be called " the Lord our righteousness." In conformity with this, when he came, he announced himself as the judge of men, and there are two senses in which he may be said to be the judge. In the first place, he came to execute upon the Jew- ish nation, those severe and extraordinary judgements, which had long since been threatened against them, a,nd which were at that time near at hand. The proph- ets had warned the people, that the day was coming when Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gen- tiles, and they should be scattered a proverb and a by- word among all people, and the Saviour himself, had informed them, that upon them, should come all the righteous blood, that had been shed upon the earth, "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zecharias, son of Barachias, whom they slew between the temple and the altar." He told them, when looking at the glory of the temple, that the day was coming when there should not be left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down, and that there should be a time of trouble, such as had not been from the beginning of the world to that same time, no, nor ever should be, and that this day of sorrow should come upon them, as a thief ui the night. " Then should all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they should see the Son of Man com- ing in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glo- ry, and he should send his angels to gather together his judge:\ient. 123 elect from the four winds of heaven," and they should dwell safely. He informed them moreover that though he knew not the day nor the hour.'m which that judge- ment should come, yet he could inform them, that that " generation should not pass away till all these things should be fulfilled." Now Jesus was the executor of these judgements, and in this sense he was the judge of Israel. And as the day of this desolation was the day of the most severe judgement that ever befel Israel, or any other nation, therefore, it is called by way of em- inence, above all other days of tribulation, " The Day of Judgement^ To this day, most of those passages allude, which speak of the day of judgement. To this he alludes in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, where the nations are represented as being gathered before him, and separated from one another, as a shep- herd divideth his sheep from the goats, the Gentiles en- tering into that knowledge of God which is declared to be " life eternal," and the Jews going away into a state of perpetual chastisement, until the fulness of the Gentiles should be come in, and then all Israel should be saved. But there is another, and a wider sense, in which he was judge. He came to establish a system of religion for the world, a kingdom which though purely spiritual in its nature, should embrace as its legitimate subjects, all the ends of the earth. In that kingdom, his laws were to be the rule of action, and his precepts the cri- terion by which the actions of men were to be judged. This kingdom was to endure through all subsequent time, and by its laws all men were to be tried and con- demned and justified. In this sense he is the judge of all, and the day of the duration of that kingdom, is the day of judgement. In this sense, we all stand before the judgement-seat of Christ, and give an account to him of every thought, word, and deed. 124 JUDGEMENT. Do you ask for proof of this ? I point you to the words of my text: — " For the son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Veri- ly I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of Man com- ing in his kingdom." The hearer will perceive, that the coming of the Son of Man "in his kingdom," in the last part of the text, is used as synonymous with his coming " in the glory of his Father to reward every man according to his works," in the first, and they most indubitably refer to one and the same time. If we inquire when that time should be, the text is clear and explicit upon that point : — " Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." There are numerous other passages, which might be quoted to the same effect, but for this, I have no time at present, and I deem this one fully sufficient to establish the point in hand. Men may talk as they will, about a future coming of Christ to judge the world and reward men according to their works. If there is any confi- dence to be placed in his own words, then it is settled that his coming to judgement, and to reward every man according to his works, was the very time when he came to establish his kingdom, and we have his explicit and positive assurance, that there were men living eighteen hundred years ago, who should not taste death till that event should occur. I shall leave those who put far away this evil day, to settle that controversy as best they can, with the words of him who spake as never man spake, and said, " Be- hold now is the judgment of this world ; now is the prince of this world cast out. TIIE RESITRRECTroN. 125 SERMON IX. THE RESURRECTION, *' For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." I Corinthians xv. 22. The resurrection of the dead is the crowning excel- lency of the Gospel of Christ, so far as its doctrinal teachings are concerned. The views it gives of the character and government of God, are valuable, and worthy of being cherished in every heart ; but most precious of all its holy and peace-giving truths, is that which points to another and a better world beyond the dark valley of the shadow of death, and assures us that there we shall live in the freshness of immortal youth while eternity endures. So far as this doctrine in itself is concerned, I shall of course have no controversy in these lectures. In a work* already before the public, I have argued that point at length against the skeptic, and given my reasons for be- lieving that man shall rise from the dead. Those rea- sons it is not now necessary to repeat, as I am not now arguing with the infidel. The resurrection from the dead is a doctrine in the belief of which nearly all christians agree, and I therefore take it for granted in this discussion, without pausing upon its evidences. But the object of the resurrection and the state and condi- tion of those who shall be raised are subjects upon •'•An Argumeat for the Truth of Christianity." 11* 126 TlIE RESURRECTION. which there is a wide diflference of opinion between us and the great mass of the christian world. Upon these points I must therefore, dwell at length. I suppose no man would feel disposed to contend, that God will raise man from the dead without any design in so doing. It is contrary" to all our ideas of God, as an intelligent being, to suppose that he would raise man up from the dead for no purpose. I suppose it will be admitted further, that the state or condition of man in the resurrection must be dependent entirely upon the will of God. Man was born to die, and I will, for the sake of illustration, suppose that all the inhabitants of the earth are dead. Of all that now live and breathe, there is not a living soul left. They have all bowed before the destroyer, and their bodies have returned to the dust as they were. Go now and gaze upon that great valley of dry bones, and ask yourself, if man can do any thing toward mak- ing them live ? You see at once, that he has no power to make one hair black or white. Neither is God under any obligations to breatiie into them the breath of life. All ranks and conditions of men are there, and the king and the beggar are alike in this respect. They have all been unprofitable servants, and not one among them has done aught that can give him a claim upon a resurrec- tion. God might let them all sleep on, and sleep on for ever, and his throne would be free from the charge of having done injustice to a single soul. It is clear, therefore, that the resurrection from the dead must de- pend upon the free grace or favour of God ; and if any man is ever raised from the dead it will be because God in his goodness, saw fit to raise him. If, therefore, we are dependent upon God's free grace for the resurrection from the dead, then of course, we THE RESURRECTION. 127 are dependent upon him for the state and condition in which we are to be raised. If we have done nothing to merit a resurrection at all, much less can we claim any thing at the hands of God, in regard to the circum- stances of that resurrection which he gives us. This then is the sum of the matter :— When a man dies, no matter who he may be, it is for God to say, whether he shall live again ; and having decided, that he will raise him from the dead, it is for God, and God alone, to say what shall be his condition ; and man has in justice, no right to a voice in that matter at all. It is reasonable, however, as before hinted, to suppose that God would have some object in view, in raising man from the dead ; and that object, whether good or bad, must depend entirely upon the nature of God. If he is a cruel being, delighting in misery, why then it is reasonable to suppose that he would raise man from the dead on purpose to torment him. But if he is, what scripture and nature declare him to be, good, supremely and invariably good, then of course he can have no had object in the resurrection. Such a being looking upon man sleeping quietly in the grave, would not be likely to disturb that sleep, unless some good was to be effected by it, for if he could not do man any further good he would be sure and not do him any harm. I come now to the direct inquiry into the state of man in the resurrection, as dependent entirely upon the will of God. There is one, and but one out of three possible answers to this query, that can be true. First, God intends to raise all men from the dead, and make them miserable, or Secondly, He intends to make a part miserable, and a part happy, or Thirdly, He intends to make them all happy. 128 THE RESURRECTION. Now one of these three propositions must be true, for besides these there is no other possible answer; and it is equally certain, that but one of them can be true, for if either one is true, the others are false ; and if two are proved false, the other must be true. Let us, there- fore, with all candor and soberness examine and see which of these is true. I. God intends to raise all men from the dead, and his object in so doing, is to render them all hopelessly and intolerably miserable. Is there any need of my saying one word more than barely to state the proposition, in order to bring out from this congregation an unanimous expression of dissent from its truth ? I am persuaded, that it is not, for there is no man among you, who would not agree with me in saying, that the admission of such a doctrine would rob God of every attribute that makes his character lovely, and transform him into a cruel and malicious fiend. What ! God put forth the energies of his power, breathe upon the dry bones, and raise a world from the sleep of death, and confer upon them immortality for no other reason, than that he may torment them and make them all as miserable as their natures can endure! Away with the impious thought ! It is a graceless libel upon the character of the God of all. To say nothing of scripture, all nature around us rises up and contradicts a sentiment so utterly at war with every just idea of a benevolent and good creator and governor. There is much on earth calculated to render the so- journ of man here, not only comfortable, but positively happy. Much as is said about the miseries of the world, yet, if any man will examine his own system, and its nice adaptation to the circumstances that surround it, he will find evidence abundant and clear, that he was fashioned THE RESURRECTION. 129 by the hand of a good being, who took great care so to make him that he might be happy. The light of the sun, the air that we breathe, the fruits of the earth, the changes of the seasons, the silence of the night, the dews of heaven, and the waters that gush from the fountain are all precisely such as are calculated to minister to our com- fort, and I might safely defy any man to lay his finger upon one of these arrangements of nature, which his wisdom could so alter as on the whole, to be a benefit to himself Now if God had made the earth in such a manner, as to render man necessarily and unavoidably miserable; if he had placed us on a barren rock, thirsting for water and given us none ; or hungering for food, which the earth would not yield ; if he had made our senses con- ducive to pain alone, our necessary food bitter, and water loathsome, and kept us all our life long in utter misery ; why then we might have concluded that he was a ma- lignant being, and having brought us into this world only to torment us, it was probable that he would raise us from the dead for a similar purpose. But when we look around us and behold how completely the reverse of this is the fact ; when we see all nature pouring her treasures at our feet and inviting us to partake and be happy ; then we feel that God is good, and the truth is forced irresistibly upon our minds, that the same God who has given us one life for a good object, will never give us another for a bad purpose. But I need not dwell here, for I presume there is no man in his senses who will contend that God intends to raise all men from the dead for the purpose of rendering them the subjects ot perpetual and hopeless misery. I therefore pass on. II. God intends to raise all men from the dead, for the purpose of rendering a part miserable and a part happy. 130 THE RESURRECTION. This position does not bear upon its face the glaring and palpable absurdity of the other, and yet, I appre- hend that an examination of the matter will show you, that it is scarcely less opposed to reason and Scripture. There is something a little remarkable in the manner in which men look upon this subject. When I say that God will raise all men up and make them miserable, you start at it as a monstrous thing. You say it is an insult to the majesty of heaven, and that it charges God with the worst of cruelty. But when I say that he will raise them from the dead for the purpose of making a part miserable and a part happy, you call it a good doc- trine, just as if the number of the miserable could affect the principle on which they are made so. The truth is, cruelty is cruelty, find it where you will, and whether it is exercised upon one or ten thousand, is of no manner of consequence, so far as the thing itself is concerned. If a man has seven children, and burns them all alive m a furnace, you would call him a cruel wretch. But suppose he burned only four out of the seven, what would you call him then ? You ought to call him a very good man, if you abide by the principle you adopt in religious matters. But no; you say, in this case, though he de- stroyed but four instead of seven children, he is not the less detestable on that account. So here, if it were cruel in God to raise all men up from the dead on purpose to torment them, then is it equally cruel to do so in the case of one single individual. I must be allowed to illustrate this matter a little fur- ther, for it is a subject upon which men are slow of hear- ing. There are on earth, I suppose, about eight hun- dred millions of human beings. Of these only about two hundred millions are nominally Christians. That is, they live in Christian countries, and profess to believe THE RESUKRECTION. 131 in the Christian religion. One half of these, at least, are destitute of what men call a saving faith. They be- long to the class called " world's people." Now, adopt- ing the popular doctrine, that without faith and repent- ance no man can be saved, it will follow, that there are only about one hundred millions of the present gen- eration to be saved, while at least seven hundred mil- lions must sink in an endless hell ! Now, you come to me and ask me what I think God intends to do with the present generation of the world, consisting, as it does, of about eight hundred millions of human beings? I an- swer, I believe he intends to raise them all up from the dead. So you also believe. But you ask again, what do you think he intends to raise them up from the dead for ? What will he do with them after the resurrection? I answer, I suppose he intends to give them all over to the devil, and let him torment them in fire and brim- stone, through eternity. Oh ! you say, that cannot be so. But why can it not be so ? Because God is good, and he would rather let them all sleep for ever in the grave, than raise them up for such a purpose. It makes God the most cruel of all beings, and it cannot be true. Well, I reply, I am not sure that he intends to torment them all. I suppose he will make a part happy, and torment the remainder. With this you are satisfied, and can see fto impeachment of the divine goodness in such a sentiment. But how so ? Why, just because you have found out, that instead of tormenting eight hundred million souls, he only intends to burn seven hundred millions ; the former would be very cruel, but the latter is a very small affair, of no consequence one way or the other. God may be very good for all that. Why, my. dear sir, what is the diff*erence whether there are seven or eight hundred millions to be tormented ? It 132 THE RESURREGTION. is the principle of the thing, that I am talking about, and it was this that you contended for but a moment since ; and how is it that you have made the wonderful discovery, that a course of action you yourself condemn as cruel, when applied to all, is merciful when applied to a part. I call on you to look at the myriads who you believe are to be damned, and tell me, if you are able, what good object there could be in raising them from the dead ? I ask you to go down by the gulf of endless ruin in which you believe, and as you gaze upon the writhings and contortions of the countless millions whose fate is there fixed for eternity, tell me if it would not have been better to let them sleep in the grave, than to raise them up for such a purpose ? This striving to evade the difficulty, by reducing the number of the suf- ferers, is of no avail. If it is cruel to raise one thousand souls up for the purpose of tormenting them, every prin- ciple of reason declares, that it is equally cruel to do the same to a single individual. I tell you, what you al- ready know, that if a good being can do a man no good, he will at least do him no harm ; and when God sees a world sleeping quietly in the arms of death, if a resur- rection can do them no good, he would let them sleep on, in preference to raising them up for ceaseless wo. To raise man from the dead, for no other purpose but to torment him, would be an act of wanton cruelty ; and whether the whole world or a part are to be thus rais- ed, is of no consequence ; for in either case, it is an act of unpitying malice, worthy only of a fiend of darkness, and as such, you may for ever rest assured that it cannot be done by a God of infinite goodness. But let me ask, what is there in all the works of cre- ation, or the providence of God, which could lead us to suppose that he intends to raise some men up for end- THE RESURRECTION. 133 less bliss, aad others for immortal pain ? If I should see the sun shining upon some men, and refusing his rays to others ; or the showers of rain coming down upon some and passing by others; or if I should find the earth yielding the fruits and flowers to some and refusing her increase to others; why, then I might conclude that God had some favourites to bless, and that being partial in this world, he might be so in the next. But so long as I can look out upon the works of God, where his footsteps are clearly impressed, and see the sun rising upon the evil and the good, and the rain falling upon the just and the unjust, and the earth yielding her fruits with unsparing impartiality, to reward the labours of all, I must remain of my present opinion, that God is good unto all, and his tender mercies are over all his works, and that being impartial here, he will be equally so in another world. But we may go even further than this. It is a fact, which can neither be disguised nor disputed, that the circumstances which surround man in the present ex- istence, are such that the amount of happiness he en- joys is far greater than the misery he suffers. I know that much complaint is made of the miseries of the world, and we hear much of the sufferings of man. But I am satisfied that our joys are underrated in the esti- mate of those who complain, and the evils of life magni- fied far beyond what they are in reality. Urm umbered sources of enjoyment are opened, and innumerable mer- cies throng around us, in every avenue of life. The causes that conspire to make us happy, are more nu- merous than the hairs of our heads, and rivers of plea- sure flow down the earth, while our miseries are " few and far between." In all the diversified forms of human life, the great Creator has so ordered, that the joy shall 12 134 THE RESURRECTION. triumph over the pain. You may go the wide earth over, and you will find happiness in every nation, tribe, tongue, grade and condition of humanity. You may walk the streets of the thronged city, where man dwells in the blessedness of civilization ; or you may roam the desolate wilds of the wilderness, where the swarthy savage seeks his food with his quiver and his bow; you may wander over the bleak mountains of Lapland, whose pale children shiver in the midst of storms, and frosts, and snows, or traverse the sands of Ethiopia, where the sable African melts beneath the rays of a vertical sun, and you will find happiness among them all. I pledge you my truth, that for every tear of anguish that meets your eye, you shall see a thou- sand smiles of joy, and for every sigh of sorrow that greets your ear, you shall hear ten thousand joyoiis notes of happiness. Talk as you will of the sorrows of this miserable world; sorrows there may be, but it is a good world and a happy one after all, and all our observation and expe- rience bears testimony, that though weeping may en- dure for a night, joy cometh in the mornmg. Now, I ask, what meaneth this ? What meaneth this rolling river of peace, which pours its wondrous flood over all that live, and move, and breathe the vital air ? What mean these untold and unsearchable treasures of love and mercy ? I answer. They mean that God is good, and declare in a voice that cannot be misunderstood, that when God calls beings into existence, it is that he may bless them and make them happy. They lay open a rule of the divine government, as immutable as God himself, by which he has hitherto walked with undeviating steps in all time that has past. The rule is, that whenever God puts forth the energies of his THE RESURRECTION. 135 power, and gives life to any being, he confers a blessing and not a curse. Six thousand years has the earth rolled upon its axis, and generation has trod close upon the heel of genera- tion, and more beings have been brought into existence, than there are stars in the firmament or sands upon the shore of the sea. Go, doubting mortal, and bring them all up before you ; assemble in one vast congrega- tion, the myriads of those that have lived ; and I chal- lenge you to show me one to whom life has not, on the whole, been a blessing. God has been good to them all, and of every one, it may be said, when his head was laid in the grave, greater was the amount of his enjoyments than his sufferings. By what rule, then, I demand, do you arrive at the conclusion, that the same God, who has never yet called a being into existence, but to bless him, will, in the future, bestow another ex- istence upon millions, only that he may curse them ? Where, in the history of six thousand years, do you find your precedent ? Where the fact that will warrant such a conclusion ? You may search the record of ages, and it is dumb ; you may call upon the dead, and if they could answer, there would come up a voice from the sepulchres of the past, saying, that their tenants had all been bles- sed of God, and warning you against that black ingrat- itude, and high absurdity, which would subvert the principles which have marked the government of God, from creation's morning, and make him do that, which he has never done, and which he never can do, without belieing himself. You may call upon the living, and they will rise up against you, and tell you, that God has blessed them ; and their very love of life will tell you, that they deem 136 THE RESURRECTION. it a blessing, and reproach you with Iiard and ungra- cious views of God, when you believe that he is but fattening them as beasts for the slaughter, and intends to give you another life that shall prove an endless, bit- ter curse. Thus reason teaches upon the point in hand, and her voice is echoed by the scriptures of divine truth. It is a remarkable fact, that whenever any of the di- vine writers speak of the resurrection from the dead, they mention it as a matter of most lively joy to all ; nor do any of them intimate, that in the resurrection men are to be divided, and some raised up for one pur- pose, and some for another. Paul says : " I have hope toward God which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and the unjust." Now please to observe, that the resur- rection even of the unjust, was, with the apostle, an ob- ject of hope. If he had believed that the unjust were to be raised up to be tormented, he would not have said that he hoped for it. He might indeed have said, as men now often say, he was afraid that it would be so; but, as a feeling man, he could not have hoped for it. So with all the divine writers ; they set forth the resurrection as a matter of lively hope, and whenever they mention it they break out in expressions of extatic joy. This single circumstance is sufficient of itself to prove that they regarded the resurrection state as a bles- sing; for had they looked upon it as the means of intro- ducing a greater part of the human family into a life, worse by far than non-existence, they would have mourned over it, as a calamity, rather than rejoiced at it as the richest and most valuable of blessings. But I have not time to dwell longer on this point. III. Our third proposition is, that God intends to raise THE RESURRECTION. 137 all men up from the dead for the purpose of making them holy and happy. If I have shown that the other propositions are un- true, then it follows that this, the only one that remains, must be true. That it harmonizes with the voice of nature, the character of God, and the experience of a world, no man can doubt after a moment's reflection upon the subject. Nature teaches the impartial good- ness of God, reason ascribes to him every possibly great and glorious attribute and perfection, that can command our love or invite our praise, and there is no man living who has not experienced enough to satisfy a reasonable being that God is his friend ; and from all these sources the presumption, a priori, is strong, yea, incontestible, that if God raises all men from the dead at all, it will be for the purpose of doing them good — not evil. But the scriptures are most clear and explicit upon this point. It is true, that there is not much said in the Bible about the precise state or condition of man, in the resurrection, for the controversy between Christians and their opposers, in those days, was rather upon the truth or falsity of the resurrection itself, than upon any cir- cumstances that might attend it. With them, death was the last enemy, and if they proved that God would destroy death, it does not seem to have entered their minds that they would also be required to prove that there would not remain other and far more dreadful en- emies. Hence they argued that man should rise from the dead, and preached Jesus and the resurrection, and having established that truth, they seem to have taken it for granted that the future life, conferred as it was by a merciful God, would be one of blessedness and joy. Nor does it seem that they thought it necessary to go into an argument to prove that God intended the future 12*^ 138 THE RESURRECTION. State as a most valuable blessing to those who should receive it. Take an illustration. In the 15th chapter of his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle gives a more particular account of the state of man in the resurrec- tion, than can be found in any other part of the Bible ; and yet this is introduced as an incidental circumstance, rather than a legitimate part of his argument. He ar- gues the doctrine of the resurrection with great power against those who denied it, and proves, from principles admitted by his opponents, the truth of the doctrine, which he sums up in the words of our text : — " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.'* He continues by informing his hearers that Christ, hav- ing subdued all things unto himself, and destroyed death, the last enemy, should deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, and God should be " all in all." But he adds, some man will say, " How are the dead raised up, and with what bodies do they come forth ?" Mark his answer. " Thou fool." As much as to say, that every man ought to understand that matter, and none but an ignorant man would ask such a question. He goes on, however, to answer it. He says there are celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, natural bodies and spiritual bodies, differing in glory, and intimates that they ought to know that man, when raised from the dead, would be spiritual. " As is the earthy so are they that are earthy, and as is the heavenly so are they that are heavenly." And thus he con- cludes : — " It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incor- ruption ; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power ; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Similar remarks will apply to the conversation of our THE RESrRRECTION. 139 Saviour with the Sadducees. They had imagined a resurrection state altogether analogous to this world, and came to him with an objection founded upon the case of the woman who had seven husbands, desiring to know whose wife she should be of the seven in the resurrec- tion. He at once charged them with ignorance in pro- posing such a question. " Ye do err not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage ; but are as the angels of G-od which are in heaven." Here I rest upon this point; if there is truth in the testimony of Paul, or in the words of the Saviour, then is it settled, that the state of man, in the resurrection, is one of immortality, incorruption, glory, and power, such as is enjoyed by the angels of God which are in heaven ; nor is there the least possible authority for say- ing, that man shall be raised in two classes, one like the angels of God in heaven, and the other like the devils that are in hell ' 140 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. SERMON X. DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. " And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any 'more pain, for the former things are passed away." Revelation xxi. 4. In my last lecture I spoke of the resurrection of the dead, as the crowning excellency of the Gospel. I at- tempted to show from reason, experience and all that we know of the character and government of God, that it was even more than probable, if he raised man from the dead at all, it would be for the benevolent purpose of making him holy and happy. I also showed you, very briefly, that the scriptures in this respect harmo- nize with reason and experience. In the present discourse I intend to give you another view of the same subject, and I shall attempt to show you that the resurrection state, as presented in the Gos- pel, is one of immortal blessedness and felicity. In this world, pain, sickness, sorrow and death are ills neces- sarily incident to humanity ; but in that better and hap- pier land, these things shall be no more. Pain, sorrow and crying, and all that bears the name of death, shall be done away, and shall be found no more for ever. Such is the clear and explicit doctrine of my text, and it is difficult for me to conceive how ingenuity or sophis- try can torture any thing else out of it. I will not there- fore, consume time in discussing the question, whether the text does or does not teach that doctrine; for its DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 141 language is too plain and positive to admit of a doubt in the candid and honest mind, which is not warped by- prejudice, or darkened by superstition. I will rather give you some additional reasons for be- lieving that a result so grand and glorious, is ordained in the firm counsels of God, and must certainly be realised. I. The scriptures elsewhere affirm the same heart- cheering and soul-reviving sentiment. For myself it would not require a miracle, nor the oft repeated testimony of the divine word, to produce in my mind the conviction, that a doctrine so perfectly con- sonant to all that I know of God is true. I see the evidences of divine love so legibly written out upon the face of nature and providence, and I have experienced so much of the goodness of God, that I am prepared to believe any thing good of him. The prophet asks, " Is any thing too hard for the Almighty ?" The answer is, no. I ask, is any thing too good for God to do ? And my joyful spirit answers, nay. There is no good, how- ever great, no blessing, however valuable, that we may not anticipate from his hand. If therefore, the final and immortal blessedness of the world were only whispered from on high, in a solitary instance, I would seize upon that whisper and hold it as a precious and sure foundation of hope. But it unfortu- nately happens, that an ungrateful world of mortals are far more ready to believe evil than good of God. You may depict before them a burning hell, filled with the great multitude of the human race, writhing in the flames of everlasting torments, and God sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, mocking their dismal groans,- and laughing at the contortions of deathless pain. All this you may say of your Father, and the public ear will 142 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. be open to receive the perjured lie, and the hearts of the people will willingly believe even this blackest, foulest slander of heaven's gracious Lord and King ! From Adam to the present day, men have shown by their conduct and their faith, that they are far more ready to believe evil than good of God. They will sooner believe that God will do them harm than bless them. For this cause, it is that the Bible abounds in " exceedingly great and precious promises," and gives " line upon line and precept upon precept," for it know- eth that men are slow of heart to believe, and prone to stagger at the promises of God through unbelief. Could I call back from the abodes of the blessed on high the great Apostle of the Gentiles, the master-spirit of that band of worthies who took their lives in their hands, and went forth to proclaim the great salvation, he would point to Jesus, and say, as he said in the days of his flesh, " he must reign." Aye, " he must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy death shall be destroyed." He would tell you that " for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy death, and him that had the power of death, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage;" that ''this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and then shall be brought to pass the saying, that is written, "death is swallowed up in victory ; " and he would close with the triumphant doxology, " Oh grave where is thy victory ! oh death where is thy sting ? " " Thirty long years did I preach this doctrine, and labor and toil and suffer in its defence. For it I was persecuted ; I breathed the noisome vapor of the dungeon ; I bore upon my limbs the galling chains; I submitted my back to the scourge till it ran down DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 143 with gore ; I bore the bruises of stones that were hurled by my enemies ; and all that I might preach the un- searchable riches of Christ. Therefore did I both labour and suffer reproach, because I trusted in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe. Could I call upon the spirit that touched Isaiah's hal- lowed lips with a coal from the altar of truth in heaven, I should hear repeated again, what is already written for your instruction, " He will swallow up death in vic- tory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and he will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it." " The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, they shall find joy and gladness, and sighing and sorrowing shall flee away." Indeed all the prophets have spoken of these things, for an Apostle says, " God has spoken of the times of the restitution of all things by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began." Not one of them has failed, but they have all spoke of these times, and borne their testimony that there shall come a time when sin and sorrow, pain, crying and death, shall be known no more. I may as well pause here as any where, for there is no end to testimony of this kind, and if the clear and explicit word already quoted does not produce conviction, no amount of evidence would be sufficient; for if men will not believe Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded though one should rise from the dead. I lay it down therefore, as a doctrine established by the ooncurrent testimony of all God's holy prophets since 144 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. the world began, that all sorrow and crying shall cease, and pain and death shall be no more. I know the objection that will rise in the minds of my hearers here. I shall be told that I quote only the promises of the Gospel, but I pass by the threatenings of the law. Though there are many great and precious promises, there are also severe threatenings. But what then ? Is the law against the promises ? I answer, as the Apostle answered, " By no means," and I say as he said, "The covenant which was before confirmed of God in Christ, the law which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, cannot disannul, that it should make the promises of God of none effect." I know, as well as you can know, that there are many threatenings in the law, but I tell you that these are not against the promises, and when you explain them in such a manner as to make them conflict with the promises, you pervert them. I care not how ingenious your reasoning, or how plausible your conclusion, here is the rule laid down by the Apostle, " The law is not against the promises," and if you make it so by your explanation, your explanation is wrong. This is a rule that you are bound to follow ; for I maintain you have no right to give such inter- pretations of the law as will set it against the promises. We are frequently accused of explaining away and perverting the threatenings, and I must illustrate this matter, for by it we are frequently thrown into a false position. Here is the covenant, it promises with the most solemn certainty, that there shall come a time when there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. The ob- jector brings up one of the threatenings, as for instance, " These shall go away into everlasting punishment ;" and he asks me, how I will explain it consistently with DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 145 my views ? Now suppose I could not do so, and suppose also, there were a hundred other passages of the same kind, which I could not explain in accordance with my text ; why, the mass of community would cry out, that the Universalist was confounded, and his doctrine false. But stop a moment. This should be my answer:— I tell you sir, frankly, that I do not know what that passage or these passages mean. They are to me dark. But I can tell you what they do not mean. They do not mean any thing contrary to the covenant of eternal mer- cy and truth ; for the law is not against the Gospel ; and I think it more likely that you, sir, are mistaken than that God should contradict, in one part of his word, what he has said in another. God has said there shall be no more pain, sorrow, nor crying, and though I know not the meaning of that passage, I do know that he does not there contradict himself, and teach endless pain and sorrow. Do you tell me that such is the obvious import of the passage ? My answer is, then the two passages contra- dict themselves, and it is not my business, but yours^ to explain the matter. I am not willing to undertake, gra- tuitously, the labour of extricating you from your own contradictions ; and if I do so, I protest most seriously that you shall not stand by and tauntingly accuse me of explaining away the meaning of the Scriptures. I tell you, yet once more, that the law is not against the promises, and if you, by your explanations, set them at variance, it is your business to get out of the difficulty ; and if you will not allow me so to explain the law that it shall agree with the promises, I shall turn you over to the infidel, whose mouth you fill with arguments, say- ing, your Bible is a bundle of contradictions, promising in one place what it denies in another. 13 146 DESTRUCTION OF DEATrf. I have made these remarks upon the supposition that no man can so explain the threatenings, that they shall clearly be seen to harmonize with the promises. But this I am not willing to grant for truth. I will not say what I can do, but I do say, that there is no threatening: of the law which is not susceptible of a reasonable and consistent explanation, in perfect accordance with the spirit of the promises. It surely cannot be expected of me, that I shall take up all the threatenings of the law, and explain them in this discourse. I will take a single one, and that shall be the one already quoted, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." If by the word everlasting, here, you understand a strictly endless duration, it will at once be seen that the passage contradicts that sacred promise of the Gospel, which guarantees that the time shall come when tears shall be wiped from all faces, and there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow nor crying. But is the law against the promises? The Apostle says, No. Well, then, your exposition of the text is wrong. What shall be done ? Why, just turn to the Old Testa- ment, and see how the writers used the word ever- lasting. There you read of an "everlasting priesthood," of an " everlasting possession " of the land of Canaan by the children of Israel ; and many other things are called everlasting, which we know either have or must come to an end. Why, then, may we not suppose that Jesus used the word in the same sense that it was used in the Old Testament, and thus avoid the absurdity of making the Scriptures contradict themselves ? In this sense of the word, there is perfect harmony between the threat- enings and the promises ; and though the penalty of the law is executed, it will not prevent the fulfilment of the promises. DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. ]47 But I observe again, The very fact that God threatens in the Bible to punish sin, is a proof that such a time as is named in my text will come. Suppose, for instance, our rulers should make laws, and annex to them no pen- alties, and that the executors of the laws should take no notice of transgression. Would not the inference be un- avoidable, that our legislators cared not for obedience to the laws? But let them make laws, and guard them by proper penalties, and then let us see the officers of justice vigilant in seeking out and visiting the penalty of the laws upon the guilty. Then may we conclude that our rulers are opposed to crime, and determined to suppress it. So in this case, if God did not threaten to punish sin, we might conclude that obedience and dis- obedience were alike to him. But when we see his law guarded by a penalty, and read that " the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness," we hail it as a proof that God is the friend of virtue, which is peace, and that he is opposed to all sin, and determined to suppress it; aye, to uproot it from the universe. Bring out, now, your threatenings of the law ; array them all before me, and shout in anticipation of victory. Your triumph is short. You are proving the very thing you would disprove. I allow there are many threaten- ings in the Bible. But what then ? Are these threaten- ings against the promises ? Once more, I tell you nay. They are the proof that God is the friend of order, law, virtue, and happiness ; that he is the enemy of sin and misery, and that he will destroy them for ever, and ful- fil his gracious promises in the establishment of univer- sal holiness and felicity. Thus much I have felt myself in duty bound to say, of the threatenings of the law. and I have done so, because 148 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. it was impossible for me to take up, one by one, these threatenings, and explain them; and because these principles of interpretation will put it in your power to explain them for yourselves, so far as their bearing upon the question before us is concerned. Take this rule along with you, and you need not err. " The law is not against the promises," and when you find any explana- tion of a threatening of the law, which makes it contra- dict the promises of God, be assured that explanation is wrong. But I pass on and remark, II. The very constitution of man is proof of the truth of our main position. In all the ever-varied and changing circumstances of human life, there may be found in man a firmly-seated principle, which leads him onward, and bears him up- ward, to immortality ; a principle that yearns for future life, and pants for deliverance from the grave. Now, there is no other way in which I can account for this fact, but upon the supposition that the same God who has planted this seed in an earthly soil, has determined that it shall spring up, and grow, and ripen, in a better world. Otherwise, man would have been made like the beasts, with no hope or wish extending into the future. But there is another view to be taken of this matter. The text points not only to the triumph over death, but to the end of pain, sorrow, and crying. It is worthy of some consideration, that none of these are elements of the mind. We shrink from pain with instinctive dread, and we would avoid all sorrow. Had it been the inten- tion of the wise Creator that man should be eternally the subject of pain and sorrow, he would have so made him, that these should have been the elements of the mind, and necessary to his comfortable existence. This he has not done, and hence we infer, that they are not DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 149 ends in the divine government, but simply the means employed to promote other ends. In this imperfect state, they may be necessary as a medicine, but they are not food ; and in that blessed land whose inhabitants shall never say " I am sick," they will not be needful. I might push the argument further, and show you, from the very first principles of philosophy, that the endless continuance of pain and sorrow is impossible. The tendency of all pain is to corrode and destroy, and if it preys continually upon the mind or body, it will de- stroy it. If, therefore, man, in the other world, shall be the subject of perpetual pain, he must also be the sub- ject of death ; and even then it could not be of endless duration ; because it would cease, for the same reason that 6re will go out when it has consumed the fuel upon which it feeds. These are mere hints, thrown out with a hope that my hearers will reflect upon them at their leisure. in. The character of God affords strong ground for hope that this text will be fulfilled. That God is possessed of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, no man who believes the Bible can question-. Now, it will not be disputed, that a God of infinite wis- dom could, if he were so disposed, devise a plan, which if carried into eflfect, would result in the final and com- plete happiness of all the creatures of his creation. There is just as little doubt that infinite goodness would seek this, the best of all possible objects. Neither can it be doubted that almighty power could execute the plan suggested by goodness and contrived by wisdom. It is therefore evident, that the result of the combined action of these admitted attributes of the Deity, is the very thing for which we are contending, and this conclusion cannot be avoided without denying the perfection of one, 13* 150 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. or all these attributes of God. If we say he could not do it, we limit his wisdom or power, and if we say he would not, we deny his goodness ; and in either case we deny that God which the Bible sets forth, and all na- ture teaches us to adore. Still again, there is no conceivable good that could result from the endless continuance of death, pain, and sorrow. Though we shudder at the thought of death, yet sober reason will tell us, that in this world it is needful that we should die. Viewed in the light of the blessed Gospel, death is " The door to everlasting bliss," and it comes to man as a friend, and is " But the voice that Jesus sends, To call us to his arms." In this light we can see how a wise and kind Father could introduce death into the world. The mind thus enlightened can sentimentally adopt the language of the poet, and say, " I would not live alway away from my God, Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, Where the rivers of pleasure roll o'er the bright plains, And the noontide of glory eternally reigns." The same is true of all the pains, sorrows, and afflic- tions of this life. Viewing them as means, and not ends, of the divine government, we can say that they are the well-intended chastisements of a faithful friend, designed to train us for the skies, and wean our affec- tions from that world which we must shortly leave. In this view, we can see the goodness of God shining out from the darkness of the grave, and from every cloud DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 151 of sorrow, like a beautiful bow of promise, from the lowering storm, which God has made the token of his steadfast covenant. But once admit that death, and pain, and sorrow, are to remain for ever, and the aspect of things is fearfully changed. In vain may you then ask for any good result from these existences, for neither God, nor man, nor angels, nor demons, could reap either pleasure, ease, profit, or advantage, from them. On the contrary, the effect would be evil, and only evil, and that continually. Hence I say, that the character of God, as a good being, forbids their endless existence, and speaks eloquently in favor of the doctrine of my text. IV. The fourth, and last reason I offer in support of the position assumed, is found in the text itself " For the former things are passed away." I understand the reve- lator here to teach, that all the causes of death, pain, sorrow, and crying, shall pass away, and this is a good reason why the effect shall cease also. For if the foun- tain is dried up, the streams must of course cease to flow. What is the cause of death ? If you allude to natural death, it is the necessary effect of nature's laws operat- ing on a mortal body ; and if you allude to moral death, it is the effect of sin. But these pass away. The word of the testimony is, that " as we have borne the image of the earthly, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly, and as we were sown a mortal body, we shall be raised a spiritual body." Here, then, you may see thfit man shall leave mortality in the grave, and rise in the strength of a new and immortal constitution, and thus, the causes of death having passed away, " there shall be no more death." Look at it in another light. The cause of moral death is sia. But the carnal mind must pass away, and with 152 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. it all those lusts and passions which lead men into sin. There, in that better world, man shall be spiritual, im- mortal, and incorruptible, and he shall sin no more for ever. All sorrow, crying, and pain, shall pass away, for the same reason — the causes that produce them shall be found no more to exist. What are the causes of pain and sorrow ? I answer, they are many. First upon the catalogue is sin, the " prolific mother of all our woes." But this shall pass away, for Jesus must reign until he hath subdued all things unto himself, and God shall be all in all. Then shall the deepest, darkest, bitterest fountain of human wo be dried up, and man shall no more feel the pangs of guilt, nor writhe under the scourgings of remorse and fear, for holiness, and peace, shall reign in all the souls that God has made. But ignorance and error are causes of much sorrow and crying. Man is ignorant, and he knows not the God that made him, nor his own destiny. He pictures to himself a God of wrath and fury, and trembles like a slave before him. On the wings of imagination he goes forward to the future world, and superstition rears her fabled hell, and peoples it with thronging millions of the human race, and bids man behold there his possible, nay, even probable home. Fathers mourn for their sons, and mothers for iheir children ; not as Rachael, because they are not; but because they fear that they are either suffering, or in danger of suffering the torments of the eternal pit. ! who can tell how deep the tide, and how awful the amount of sorrow that every day wit- nesses, as the effect of this God-dishonoring and joy- killing superstition of the world. But these shall pass away. The light of eternity shall unveil the king in his beauty, and pour a flood of glory upon the vision of a DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 153 risen, purified, and exalted world. Then shall the things which prophets and patriarchs saw, through a glass darkly, be seen face to face ; and the fulfilment of all that has been spoken, shall reveal to man the fact, that God's grace has made him the heir of an inheri- tance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Then truth shall be victorious, and all error be lost in eternal day, " and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." Such is the final result of the divine government, and truly it is worthy of a God ! I look around me on earth, and I see death riding forth conquering and to conquer. He whets his glitter- ing sword, and the young, and the strong, fall before him. He bends his bow, and the arrow speeds for the life of his fated victim. I look again, and my fellows are falling, as leaves before the chilling blast, into the grave. I look to the future, and I know that when a few more years, at most, are passed, our heads will be low, and the sad funeral knell shall be sounded over the last of all that now live and breathe the vital air. I see the tears falling fast and freely, from the eyes of the afflicted, and the cast down, and I hear the sigh of the widow, and the moan of the orphan, borne upon every passing gale that blows. But I remember that these things are but for a season. Soon, very soon, all the myriads of the human family shall be delivered, and shall feel sorrow and pain no more for ever. But I cannot pause here. I look to the heavens, and they are garnished with stars, and I remember that these stars, though but specks to us, are worlds so large, that our earth is but an atom in the comparison. The presumption is that God has peopled their solitudes, 154 DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. and caused them to swarm with life and intelligence. "Whether the fair face of the moon, and the stars, is ever wet with the tears of anguish, or whether death there reigns, we have not been certified. But this one thing we may conclude. If sympathizing natures now weep in other worlds, or death now sways his sceptre over other intelligences, or sin has reared his head in the distant stars, it shall not be so always, for these things shall pass away, and in all the universe of God, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. While far, far beyond this earthly sphere, system rolls on system, and world on world, and distant planets wheel their endless circles round their centres, and these again round one common centre, God — so shall it be in the moral universe. Dis- cord and strife shall cease. God's hand shall move on his own undisturbed affairs in perfect harmony and peace. The last tear shall fall from the eye of sorrow, and the last sigh of anguish shall be hushed in the silence of perpetual joy, nor shall weeping be heard again while God's throne shall stand. " No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear, From every face, he wipes off every tear, In adamantine chains shall death be bound, And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound." Such is the plan of God, and such the grand consum- mation to which the text points the eye of faith ! Praise the Lord ! all the ends of the earth ! Praise him ! sun, moon, and stars ! Praise him ! ye heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens I Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord ! Oh ! speak good of his name, for he is good, and his mercy endureth for ever. t NATURE OF SALVATION. 155 SERMON XI. NATURE OF SALVATION. " For therefore we both labor and suflfer reproach , because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially those that believe." 1 Tim. iv. 10. It is a lamentable truth, that in all ages and coun- tries, those who have embraced opinions differing from the popular doctrines of the day, have suffered reproach in consequence of their faith. Man has forgotten the great truth that his fellow-man has the same right to think as himself, and that every one is accountable for himself, and to God alone. For this reason he has persecuted his fellow for his opinions' sake, and pointed to the man whose faith did not exactly square with the popular standard, as a proper object of reproach, and a mark at which bigotry might hurl her arrows of wrath with impunity. Look for a moment at the life and ministry of Christ, for an illustration of this remark. He taught a system of faith and practice somewhat different from the pre- vailing notions of the day. For this reason he suffered reproach from the people to whom he came with his message of grace and truth. They even followed him with the bloody sword of the persecutor, and paused not until they heard his dying groan from an ignominious • cross. So it was with his disciples. They had learned their 156 NATURE OF SALVATION. doctrines from Christ, and were preachers of that Gos- pel, which carried the joys of salvation, not merely to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. The consequence was, that the wrath of the people waxed exceedingly hot against them, and the storm which had gathered around their Master, broke with violence uprai their heads. Hence their lives were made, from the begin- ning to the end, one continued scene of reproach and suffering. The text informs us, in a very explicit manner, what was the obnoxious feature in their faith, which caused all their sufferings. What think you, my hearers, it was that excited the opposition and persecution of the world ? Was it their faith in an angrv and cruel God a merciless devil, or an endless hell?' Did they curse the people with endless wo, and while they saved a few damn the great mass of community? Nav, nothin- like it. But they " trusted in the living God who was the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believ- ed," and for this cause they were met with all the powers of reproach and persecution. To the narrow minds and selfish feelings of the people of that age, no senti- ment was more obnoxious than this. The Jews, as a people, had long considered them- selves as the peculiar people of God, and the only ob- jects of heaven's favorable regard. They were the children of Abraham, and Abraham was the father of the faithful, and they expected, in consequence of that relationship, to be the favorites of heaven ; nor did thev imagme that the Gentiles could at all be included in the covenant of eternal mercy. So thought the most liberal among them; but the greater part of them could not extend the mercies of God so far as to reach the case of all the Jews. The Pharisee and the Sadducee, could NATURE OF SALVATION. 157 each claim for himself and his sect, a monopoly of the divine mercy, and deny it to the other. With such views and feelings, it is no matter of sur- prise, that they should rise up in opposition to a system which laid the axe at the root of all their selfish hopes, and taught them to trust in God alone, whose goodness was as rich and free for the Gentile as the Jew, and to whom the distinctions of nations, tribes, and sects, were all alike. It was not to be expected that those who had considered themselves better than others, and who had trusted themselves that they were righteous, should come down upon a level with others, and willingly trust in a God who would save their enemies as well as themselves. If Paul and his coadjutors had flattered the vanity of the Jews, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and told them that they should all be saved, and all the rest of the world should be damned, they would have been well pleased with such a sentiment, and we should never have heard of the labors and sufferings of the apostles in the pro- mulgation of such a faith. But when they told the people that God was the Father of all, and informed the proud and self-righteous Pharisees, that so far from their being favorites of God, and exclusive heirs of the kingdom, " even publicans and harlots should enter into the kingdom of heaven before them," then it was that their pride was hurt, and they rose up to reproach and condemn. I cannot omit the remark here, that the same spirit which reproached the apostles, still lives, and lifts the few above the many, and hurls the thunders of deepest damnation at those who venture to extend salvation be- yond the landmark set up by the popular faith of the day. The great mass of professors of Christianity, 158 NATURE OF SALVATION. however, have avoided the reproach of trusting in tho living God who is the Saviour of all men, by ceasing to trust in such a God. Where, among all the numerous sects of Christians, will you find the one that trusts in God, who is the Saviour of all men ? Is it the Calvin- ist ? Who ever heard of a man being reproached for believing in the salvation of all, who adhered to the creed which saith : " God out of his own mere good pleasure, elected some to be redeemed and everlastingly saved, and the remainder he was pleased to pass by, and ordain to dishonor and wrath, to the praise of his vindictive justice ?" Does the Methodist labor and suf- fer reproach for this cause ? I have indeed heard the en- emies of that sect, charge them with holding to senti- ments which would lead to the salvation of all ; but I have just as often heard the charge repelled as a gross slander, accompanied with a prompt denial that they believe any such thing. Again then, I ask, who are they who now both labor and suffer reproach, because they trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men ? I leave you to answer the question, and I know that you can, if you will, answer it correctly. I may remark, in passing, that God is the Saviour of no more than he saves or will save. If ten men are in danger of upsetting in a boat, and I go out to save them, you could not call me the saviour of ten, unless t saved them. If you saw me launch out for their relief, and knew perfectly well that I would save them, you could with propriety call me the saviour of the ten, even before the work was actually done; but if it should turn out, in the end, that I should save but five, then it would prove, that you was mistaken in saying that I was the saviour of the ten. So here, God is not the Saviour of a soul more than he actually saves. True, that work is NATURE OF SALVATION. 159 not yet accomplished. But the apostle knew that he had engaged in the work, and that he could not fail of success, and therefore he called him the Saviour of all men. But should it turn out, in the end, that God should save hut a part, then would it be proved that the apostle was wrong, when he called him the " Saviour of all men." I know it is said, that God offers salvation to all ; but it should be remembered that an offer of salvation is one thing, and salvation itself is another. If I offer to save a man who is drowning, that does not save him, neither does it make me his saviour from death. God may offer salvation to man, but that does not save him, neither does it make God his Saviour. He is the Saviour only of as many as he saves. Should any man dispute this, I ask him to go forward to the future world, and as he looks down into that dismal hell, in which he be- lieves, and beholds the multitude of its hopeless inhabi- tants, let him tell me, if he will, in what sense God is their Saviour ? It matters not what may have been offered them, what have they received ? is the question on which your answer must depend. I care not what means may have been put in operation for their salva- tion. If these means were not eff'ectual, and they are not saved, then God is not their Saviour, diud the apostle labored and suffered reproach for a trust, that was vain and futile in the extreme. It is not my purpose, however, in this discourse, to argue at great length the question of the extent of salva- tion, but rather I propose to explain its nature. The term salvation is used generally in a very vague and indefinite sense, and much of the controversy about the extent and conditions of salvation, arises from a want of precision in the idea attached to this word. The 160 NATUEE OF SALVATION. scriptures use it in various senses, according to the cir- cumstances and situation of the person, or persons, who are said to be saved. When Peter, sinking in the deep, cried, " Lord save me," we understand that he wished to be saved from drowning. When Paul said, " Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved^"* we suppose he alluded to their salvation from death, which then stared them in the face. Many other instances might be noted of a similar character, but these are sufficient to show, that there is need of much caution in regard to the use of this word, and that we shall greatly err if we apply this word always to a future and eternal sal- vation. There has been a great question in the world, whether gospel salvation is conditional or unconditional, limited or universal ; and it will appear in the course of this discussion, that all this controversy originates in a want of attention to the meaning of this word, and that, in a sense^ both parties have been right, and both wrong. There are tioo kinds of salvation mentioned in the text, and it will appear on examination, that one is limited and conditional, and the other universal and uncon- ditional. So that what may be affirmed of the one, calinot be affirmed of the other. To illustrate these two kinds of salvation is the work now before us. I notice I. The special salvation of the believer. God is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe. It is often remarked by those who oppose the doc- trine of universal salvation, that if G-od is the Saviour of all men, then there is no difference between the saint and the sinner, the believer and unbeliever. Those who make this remark, seem to forget, that while God is de- clared to be the Saviour of all men, he is also said to be especially the Saviour of the believer. Though it is NATURE OF SALVATION. 161 true, that God is the Saviour of all, yet a little more attention would teach you, that all along, in Scripture, there is a salvation held forth as the special property of the believer, in which the unbeliever can have no part or lot ; and though all shall be saved with an everlasting salvation, yet the believer alone can enjoy this special salvation. 1. The believer is saved from sin, " the direst foe of man." The prophet spoke truly when he said, " Know there- fore and understand that it is an evil and bitter thing, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God." No man is more to be pitied than the bold transgressor of the laws of God. " There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." The path in which he walks is beset with ills on every side, and if perchance he finds a flowery spot, it is but the green sod beneath which slumbers the earthquake and the storm; and if there are roses around him, he may pluck them, indeed, but his limbs will be torn and bleeding, with the thorns that hedge them round. Such is sin, and to be saved Irom its power, is a boon more desirable than all the riches of earth, or the honors of a fading world. This salvation is wrought upon the be- liever by faith. His name was " called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins." The doctrines taught, and the examples presented in the gospel, are such, that faith works by love, and purifies the heart, and makes man holy as God is holy. " I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you," is the constant teaching of the doc- trine, the precept, and the example of Christ. Hence it is evident, that the man who receives into his heart this faith, copies the examples, practices the precepts, and 14* 162 NATURE OF SALVATION. cherishes the spirit of Jesus, is saved from sin and all its woes. This is the special salvation of the believer. And to this salvation, all that numerous class of pas- sages refer, which speak of being washed and purified by the faith of Christ. By this salvation, Christ came " to purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." Salvation from sin, is the first item in the special salvation of the believer, and this is a conditional salvation, depending upon the condition of faith and re- pentance ; and so far as this world is concerned, it is not universal, but limited in extent. 2. The believer is saved from ignorance of God and his character. Men by nature know not God, and though to the mind that has been enlightened with the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, " the invisible things of him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under- stood by the things that are made," yet it was never in the power of the unaided wisdom of this world, to ob- tain that true knowledge of God which is life eternal. Man, without a revelation, could see in the works of na- ture around him evidences of a power more energetic than the arm of mortals ; but whether that power ex- isted m the person of a faithful friend, or an implacable enemy, was a question that he could not solve. True, the sun shone, as now, upon the evil and the good, and the rain descended upon the just and the unjust, as evi- dence of the divine benignity ; and when man looked at these tokens of goodness, he hoped that God was good. But when the thunder uttered its voice in the mountains, or the earthquake rocked the plains, and the tempest howled in fury around, and seemed ready to mingle, " heaven, earth, and sea," then fear took the place of hope, and dread forebodings came over the soul, and NATURE OF SALVATION. 1G3 destroyed its peace. Then it was, that "fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods," and the elements be- came invested with a-U the terrors that imagination could invent. Then, false gods were created in every grove, and mountain ; and altars were reared in every hill and dale, and beside every stream that flowed. Then, the fires of Tophet were kindled, and the altars of Baal ran down with the gore of babes and sucklings, which were slain to placate the wrath, or secure the favor of some idol divinity, whose supposed existence was a bitter curse, diffusing misery, deep and dreadful misery through all the life of the worshipper. Such was, and such is the effect of ignorance of God, and from all this the believer in Christ is saved. It was Jesus of Nazareth, who tore away the veil which had so long obscured the face of the " excellent glory," and re- vealed the " king in his beauty," as the kind friend, and the everlasting Father of the human race. By faith, the believer looks upward to God as the holiest and best of all; and though storms and tempests may be around about him, he knoweth that there is one, that rideth upon the siorm, and orders all things well. In him, he sees his Father, and he believes that he will never leave nor forsake him ; but that his strong arm, which is never shortened that it cannot save, will be made bare in his defence, to deliver, to bless, and to save. Believ- ing thus, the soul enters into rest, and the mind is filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is that special salvation, in another of its items, which it is the privilege of the believer in Christ alone to enjoy. 3. The believer is saved from the bondage of the fear of death. Without the gospel man knows nothing of the future. Before the advent of Christ, darkness shrouded in im- 1G4 NATTTRE OF SALVATION. penetrable gloom all beyond the grave. Death was abroad in the earth, in " gorgon terrors clad," and before him all that was fair, and beautiful, and strong, in hu- manity, withered and died as the flower that is cut down and fadeth before the heat of the sun, and hchind him were the bones of nations that had died, and " be- hold the sinews were wasted, and the bones were ex- ceedingly dry." "If a man die shall he live again?" was a question which no man could answer. Or if it was answered at all by man, the very answer became a more fruitful source of misery, than even the doubt and uncer- tainty of the question itself Some of the heathen philosophers invented and endeavored to support the doctrine of the soul's immortality, but they soon coupled it with doctrines of future wo, which made it worse by far than the gloom of annihilation. They indeed taught an immortal existence, but to the greater part of the human family it was an existence of torment unutterable, to be dreaded as a curse, rather than sought as a rich and valuable blessing. Christ came to open up a pathway through the dark valley of the shadow of death, and to point the eye of faith to that better and happier land, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." He brought life and immortality to light, and demonstrated by his own resurrection from the dead, that man shall rise triumphant from the spoiler's power, and bloom with unfading youth in the paradise of his God. Here the poor Pagan learns to cast his idols and his temples to the moles and the bats, and to rejoice in that truth which giveth life to the world. By faith in this, the poor mortal that trembles in view of the dark gulf, where the ashes of a universe are scattered by the winds of lime, and who weeps over the valley of dry bones ; NATURE OF SALVATION. 165 is saved from all his fears, for he sees the spirit of the Lord moving upon the valley, and believes that even the dry bones shall live. By faith in this, the trembling mortal who faintly hopes for a heaven of joy, but more dreadfully fears a burning hell of endless wo, for him- self or his children, is saved from his doubts and fears, and taught to look forward to the time when death and hell shall be destroyed, and all created humanity shall be redeemed from sorrow, and ransomed from the grave, and shall dwell in the fulness of eternal and unsullied joy. This is the special salvation of the believer in another of its items. And here I leave this part of my subject, with the simple remark, that the salvation of which I have been speaking, is spoken of in the scripture all along as con- ditional. This is the salvation which is spoken of as dependent upon faith and repentance. This is the sal- vation which man is exhorted to " work out," with which he that believeth shall be saved, and which he that believeth not cannot enjoy. It is confined alone to the believer, and is set forth as a thing for which man should labour perseveringly, as for a treasure more val- uable than aught that the world can afford. The great cause of error in the world is, that professors of Chris- tianity do not bear in mind this special salvation ; but they apply the term salvation almost exclusively to a future world, and therefore contend that that is con- ditional which depends alone upon the will, purpose and power of God. Whereas the only salvation that de- pends at all upon human agency, is, that special salva- tion which is wrought in the believer here on earth. 11. I come to speak of that salvation which is for all men. And here I beg to remind you, that it is no more cer- 166 NATTJRE OF SALVATION. tain that God is especially the Saviour of the believer, than that he is positively the Saviour of all men. Paul trusted in the living God, who was the Saviour of all men, and the fact that he is especially the Saviour of the believer, does not abate one fraction from the truth, that he is the Saviour of all. I notice this particularly because the enemies of Universalism are frequently heard insisting upon the last clause of the text, as if it had some magic power to limit or contradict the first clause. When we say that God is the Saviour of all men, the reply almost uniformly is, yes, but you should remember that the text says, that he is especially the Saviour of those that believe. Very well, and what then ? Because the last part of the text says, he is es- pecially the Saviour of the believer, are we to conclude that \\\^ first 'part is false, and that he is not the Saviour of all men, but only of believers ? This word especially is so much pressed into the service of a partial faith, that I must give it a passing notice, and if I borrow an illustration it will not be the less useful. The idea is, that this word limits the salvation of God to believers alone. Now Paul wrote to Timothy saying, " The cloak that I left with thee at Troas, bring with thee when thou comest, and the books, but especially the parch- ment." There is precisely as much reason in saying, that Paul did not want the cloak and the books, because he said, '■'■especially the parchment," as there is in say- ing, that God is not the Saviour of any but believers, because the text says especially of them that believe ; and if I tell you, that Paul wanted both the cloak and the books, you ought to object at once, and remind me that he said he especially wanted the parchment. I know he said so, but what then ? Does that prove that he wanted nothing else ? By no means. So in the text. NATURE OF SALVATION. J 67 The fact that God is said lo be the Saviour, " especially of those that believe," has no effect at all upon the pre- vious and positive assertion that he is the Saviour of all men. But the question comes up, in what sense is God the Saviour of all men ? Or what are the evils from which he saves them ? I answer, from the power of death and tne darkness of the grave, through the resurrection from the dead. This salvation is for a//, the saint and the sinner, the believer and the unbeliever. So the Saviour said, " Of all the Father hath given me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up again at the last day." So also the Apostle said, " As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." This salvation is unconditional, and is uniformly so represented in the scriptures. Human agency cannot effect it, nor does it, or can it depend upon any thing that man can do, or believe, or upon the strength of man in any sense of the word. Go to the tombs, and ask the sleeping dead if they can raise themselves from their slumbers ? and there will come up a silent voice, saying that there man's boasted strength is turned to weakness and he can do no more. Go to the living, and ask them if they have power to give life to the dead ? and they shall tell you that they have no such power. Well, then, if man's resurrection from the dead depends upon God alone, and no human power can effect it ; so must the state and condition of man depend equally upon God, and be equally beyond the reach of human agency. Suppose for instance, a man should set himself to work and attempt to get himself raised up from the dead with four arms instead of two. We should smile at the folly of the man, and call him a visionary enthusiast, as a man destitute of common sense. But really, is 16S NATURE OF SALVATION. there any thing absolutely more absurd in the supposi- tion, that we can by our works procure a couple of bodily organs in the resurrection ; than that these same works can procure us those mental qualifications there, on which our eternal happiness shall depend ? Is there in reality any thing more preposterous in the supposition that God has made our corporeal organization in the re- surrection, dependent upon our works, than in the idea, that he has suspended our mental or moral organization upon these works ? I judge not, and the only reason why one appears more absurd than the other, may be found in the fact, that one is the countenance of an old acquaintance, while the other is that of a stranger. The truth is, that man can by his faith and works do something toward ameliorating his condition here ; but lie cannot procure his resurrection from the dead ; and if he cannot procure the thing itself, much less can he procure any modifications of it. All that man is, and all that he can be in the resurrection, he must owe to God alone; his feeble works cannot reach one line be- yond the grave, nor can they make one hair black or white in the resurrection from the dead. That resur- rection itself is the free gift of God, upon which man lias no claim whatever, and all its blessings or joys, are also as perfectly free on the part of God, and equally unmerited on the part of man. " The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." " So when this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incor- ruption, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is Avritten, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh ! death where is thy sting ? Oh ! grave where is thy victory ! The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be (not to us, or our faith or works) butiuito NATURE OF SALVATION. ItiD God, who givelh us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ/' This IS the salvation which God has prepared for a world, and in this sense God is the Saviour of all men. Death the last enemy shall be destroyed, and man shall be saved from his power. And it is a remarkable fact, that this salvation is never spoken of as depending upon the agency of man, or any thing else but the power of God. "He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body," and this shall be done by " the working of that mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself" Brethren, " be ye strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might," and " think it not strange concern- ing the fiery trials that are to try you ;" for if Paul and the early disciples " labored and suffered reproach be- cause they trusted in the living God, who was the Sa- viour of all men, especially of them that believed," think not that ye shall escape the reproach of the world, if ye trust in the same God. But in the midst of all re- proaches, hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering, and the Lord make you perfect in every good word and work. 15 170 REPENTANCE. SERMON XII. REPENTANCE. " And they went out, and preached that men should repent." Mark vi. 12. There is, perhaps, no subject which is more agitated in the religious world than that of repentance. It is not always the case, however, that the subject upon which most is said, is best understood. " Conversion," " regeneration," being " born again," " getting religion," "obtaining a hope," "experiencing a change," are phrases in common use, and they are, I believe, em- ployed as about synonymous with repentance ; and yet, if you were to ask what precise^ and definite idea is at- tached to any of them, I imagine it would be somewhat difficult to obtain a very satisfactory answer. They are phrases, used in a vague and indefinite sense, to denote something that can be felt, but cannot be explained. Certain awful fears of the wrath and curse of God ; some horrible feelings of despair, succeeded by a sud- den and mysterious burst of light and joy, would em- brace the amount of the meaning of these terms as they are generally employed. That the doctrine of repentance is taught in the Bible, no man can doubt for a moment ; and that the early disciples made it a somewhat prominent theme of their ministry, is evident from the text ; for when they were sent out on their mission of love and mercy, the histori- an says, " they went out, and preached that men should REPENTANCE. 171 repent." Such being the importance of the subject, Tind such the general confusion of ideas in relation to it, I shall make it the business of this discourse to explain the nature and utility of repentance. In relation to the first of these, particulars, the nature of repentance, it may be observed that it is not, as some suppose, a mere sorrow for sin. The thief who is de- tected, and is on his way to the penitentiary, may be, and doubtless often is, very sorry that he committed the crime; but that is not repentance. The murderer, on the scaffold, is doubtless very sorry that he murdered ; but that feeling of sorrow is very far from true repent- ance. So a man may become alarmed at his condition as a sinner. He may be told, and may believe, that he is exposed to the curse of God, and that he is every mo- ment in danger of the deep damnation of hell ; and from these considerations he may be very sorry that he has sinned; but such sorrow as this has little to do with true evangelical repentance. There is another, and a different kind of sorrow, which is far more useful. In these cases the sorrow is selfish, and proceeds from a view of the real or supposed personal evils consequent upon crime, rather than from a conviction of the ingrat- itude and wrong of the criine itself. In such a case, the thief or the murderer is more sorry that he has been detected, than that he has stolen or murdered, and the sinner regrets more that he must go to hell than that he has sinned against heaven. But there is a sorrow which is concerned in repent- ance, which ought to be exercised by us all. It pro- ceeds from a sense of guilt itself, rather than from any view of punishment. It results from a discovery of the great and abundant goodness of God, the excellency of his law, and the strong and immutable obligations we 172 REPENTANCE. are under to love, serve and obey God. The man who exercises this sorrow, mourns for his sin, on account of its own guilty and the wickedness of the thing itself. He sees that it is wrong, and though God has not threatened to punish him at all for it, he would not grieve the less on that account. This is called in the scriptures " Godly sorrow." But even this is not re- pentance. The apostle says, " Godly sorrow workeih repentance," and of course even Godly sorrow cannot be, of itself, that repentance which it worketh. It is but one of the means which are useful in bringing about repentance; but it is not repentance itself. Repentance, as taught in the Bible, is no more nor less than an actual turning from the love and practice of sin to the love and practice of virtue. I have no faith at all in a repentance which leaves a man as bad as it found him, or which affects him only on the sabbath or in the church. If a man has been unjust, and he learns to hate injustice, and turns from its practice to follow justice, in his intercourse with his fellov/-men ; that man has repented. If a man has been a drunkard, and turns from his drunkenness to the love and practice of tem- perance, that man has repented. And so of any and all the vices that degrade humanity. To repent is to turn from them, and commence and continue the prac- tice of righteousness. It is to " break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by turning to the Lord." This is the Bible doctrine of repentance, and nothing short of this is worthy the name. I regret to say that repentance, in the eyes of the world, at this day, has little or no connexion with the practice of man, in the every day business of life. It is a matter for the sabballi and for the church, rather than for the store, the workshop, the counting-house, or the REPENTANCE. 173 market-place. I shall be best understood by taking a single case, as an illustration. Here is a man who is a merchant, and though he is not an outrageous sinner, yet he loves money like most men, and is not over and above scrupulous about the means of obtaining it. He will recommend an article, which he wishes to sell, considerably above what truth Avill justify, and if he can make a good bargain by using a little deception, he does not hesitate to do so. He will overreach an igno- rant customer, and take from him more than justice would give. He sometimes grinds the face of ihe poor, with whom he deals, and is not particular in regard to the wants or rights of others. I have known this man for some time, and finally in a time of excitement a mu- tual friend comes to me with much apparent satisfac- tion, and informs me that this man has repented. My reply is, I am glad of it, for he certainly needed repent- ance, as much as some others of my acquaintance. But really, sir, I have not seen the evidence of his re- pentance. I have been in his store frequently and have been acquainted with his practice, and truly I do not see but he continues to do about the same that he has done heretofore. He appears as anxious to make a good bargain as ever, and all his operations are carried on upon the same principles as formerly. True, I have noticed that his countenance has appeared a little elon- gated of late, and I thought perhaps he might have met with some loss that troubled him a little. I have also noticed, that he passed by me rather coolly ; and in one or two instances, when a very large story was to be told, T have known him step aside and let a clerk tell it for him. But except a little more gloom of counte- nance, and some reserve of manner, I have seen no par- ticular change in the man. Is it not possible that you 15^ 174 REPENTANCE. arc mistaken about the fact of his having repented ? Oh, no. He certainly has repented, for I was present when he " got religion^ He went to our church, and during a powerful sermon he was struck " under convic- tion," came forward for the prayers of God's people, and in due time was converted, and he is now a member of the church. Very well, I grant all that, the man might have been alarmed, and no doubt he felt much better when the alarm had subsided ; but the church is the last place in the world any man should go, to ascer- tain who has, and Avho has not repented. I should be pleased to know what improvement you have seen in the man's subsequent conduct which leads you to the belief that he has repented ? Why, he has been a regular attendant upon the Gospel ordinances every sab- bath. He has prayed in his family every day, and is active in seeking the salvation of the souls of sinners around him. All this he has done, and there can be no doubt that he has repented. All this may be very conclusive to some minds, but I must have another and a different kind of evidence be- fore I can say that all my doubts are removed. The man may be very punctual at church, and very devout, so far as appearances are concerned, while there ; and at the same time, be a very bad man when out of church. He may pray to be seen of men, and his very prayers be designed as a cloak for iniquity. He may manifest a great anxiety to save the souls of sinners ; but I want to see him treat their bodies a little better before I can allow that the genuineness of his repent- ance is placed beyond all question. Has he ever said, as one of old, " Lo ! the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken any thing unlawfully from any man, I restore him fourfold." Where is the evidence REPENTANCE. 175 that he cither loves justice better, or practises it more than formerly ? Where is the evidence that he is a bet- ter husband and father; a more kind friend or a better citizen, or even a more honest man ? Where is the man who will say of him " behold this man has returned to me the gold which he unjustly took from my purse ?" Where are the poor, the widows and the fatherless, that have been benefited by his repentance, and can say now what they never said of him before, " behold our friend and benefactor, who fed us when we were hungry, and clothed us when we were naked ?" Nay, where are the men of business who will point to his store, and say, " there lives the man who in former times would cheat us in a trade, but he has repented and is now an honest man. Let us turn in hither and buy, for he will not deceive us; his words are faithful and true, and no guile is found upon his tongue." These are the evidences of repentance, and any thing short of this is but a spurious cheat, as far from the true evangelical repentance of the Bible as the east is from the west. I want a repentance which makes a man honest in his dealings, faithful and true to his word, kind and charitable to the poor, forgiving toward his enemies, and benevolent in his feelings and acts to all. Any thing that falls short of these effects I must reject as unworthy the name of repentance. I may remark further, that repentance to be genuine and lasting must proceed from proper motives. Of these motives however, man cannot judge infallibly, for we can see only the outward act, but cannot penetrate the heart. A man may refrain from stealing because he is afraid of the penitentiary, and still be a thief at heart, and scarcely less guilty than if he had actually laid his hand unlawfully upon his neighbour's goods. So a man 176 REPENTANCF-. may correct some of the irregularities of his hfe because lie is afraid of hell or the Devil, and still remam as much in love with sin as ever, but this is not genuine repent- ance. The Apostle preached " repentance tow^ard God," not towards hell, or the prince of Darkness; and I confess I have little confidence in a repentance which proceeds from fear of punishment of any kind. The repentance of the Gospel has God for its object, and the true peni- tent thinks little or nothing of the punishment that is due him for his sins. His eye is fixed on God and he sees in him so much of purity and goodness that he ab- hors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. He feels that he has sinned against a Father's love, which has followed him all his life long, and he loathes sin for its own sake, and turns from it with disgust to run with cheerful alacrity in the path of duty. These are in brief, my views of repentance. Rela- tive to the long agitated question, whether repentance is the work of God's irresistible power, or of the agency of man, or of both conjoined, I have but little to say. It may suffice to remark, that repentance is as much the work of the creature, as any other act of a man's life. Man repents as he does every other act, under the influ- ence of motives. Take away all motives from man and he will neither repent nor do any thing else. Suppose, for the sake of an illustration, a man sees a quantity of gold in such a situation that he can steal it and appropriate it to his own use. He is the creature of infirmity, the temptation is strong, and he finally lakes that which is not his own. Now in that act there is evidently no need of a special and immediate inter- position of the irresistible power of God. On the con- trary the motives presented are fully sufficient to account TvEPENTANCE. 177 for the act. After he has obtained the gold he begins to reflect seriously upon his ways. He sees that he has violated one of those sacred principles on which the happinc:s and even the existence of civil society depend. He feels that he has perhaps beggared a friend, disgraced himself and family, and above all that he has sinned against God, and laid the foundation for years of remorse and misery. All these things operate as motives and press it heavily upon him, to return his ill gotten gain, and forsake his sin. He finally resolves to return the gold to its owner, and carries that resolution into effect, and henceforward he walks in the way of honesty and justice. That was repentance, and it was as much the act of that man's agency as any other act of his life. There was no more need of the special and irresistible power of God to induce that man to return the money, than there was to make him steal it in the first instance. In both cases he acted as man always acts under the in- fluence of motives, and these motives are in my judge- ment fully suflftcient to account for the whole matter, without the necessity of bringing in a special interposi- tion of the power of God. I do not deny the agency of God in the work of re- pentance nor in any thing else, for it is " in him we live and move and have our being." I joyfully recognise the evidence of his presence and power in every breath that moves our heaving lungs ; and I know that without him we can do nothing. But the idea I wish to impress upon your minds is, that God in the economy of his grace, as in every thing else, works by means. His gospel is the instrument of working repentance, and when its vast power is applied, it is able to do the work, and hence there is no more need of a special interposition of his power to produce repentance, than in bringing about any 178 REPENTANCE. Other of the plans of his gracious providence, the means of which he has already appointed. These being my views of that matter, I lay them be- fore you in all frankness, because I would, if I could, per- suade men to repent, and strip them of that excuse which is so often heard, that they cannot repent, for repentance must be wrought by the power of God, and they must wait for him to work. I tell you that you have the same ability to repent that you have to do any thing else, and it is high time that every one of us should set about that work in sober earnest, with a full determination that depending upon God, as we should in all cases, we will subdue every unhallowed passion, forsake every known sin, and practice every known virtue. I have already said that repentance consists not in feelings alone, but in an actual turning from the practice of sin to the practice of virtue. It may be proper to show that this is a scriptural view of the subject. You will doubtless recollect that our blessed Saviour intro- duced the case of two servants as illustrations of the duty of repentance. They were both coiimianded to do a certain service. One said, I go, and went not. But the other said, I go not, and afterward he repented and went. He did not repent of what he had said and still refused to obey, but he repented and went and performed the AVork,and he was justified, while the other was con- demned. Now this approval is good evidence that Jesus considered that repentance, and that only as genuine, which consisted in doing the works that God commanded. But-I need not dwell at greater length on this part of the subject, for I presume I am already under- stood. I say yet, once more, good works, of an un- doubted and undying character; works of justice, kind- ness, benevolence, charity, and truth, are the only REPENTANCE. 17f) evidence of genuine repentance ; and to tliese must the appeal be made, if we would determine with any toler- able degree of certainty, whether a man has, or has not repented. It may be said, as it has often been said, that men may be good moral men, from interested motives ; from a love of popularity, or a good name. My answer is, that the thing is possible, but that is not my business. 1 cannot judge men's motives in all cases. The Saviour says, "ye shall know them by their fruits." "Grapes do not grow on thorns, nor figs on thistles." Hence, when I find the good fruit, I am bound to admit that the tree is good also. I come now to speak of the utility of repentance. What benefits will result to us from an exercise of true repentance ? Will repentance save us from endless wo in another world ? I answer, no — for the best of all possible reasons; that in the economy of God's govern- ment and grace, man never stood exposed to any such calamity ; and it is idle to say that repentance, or any thing else, can save us from something of which we were never in danger. When it shall have been proved that God has placed man in danger of such a fate, it will be time enough to talk of being saved from it by repentance. As that has not yet been proved, we will not enter further upon a discussion of that matter. Will repentance secure for us the joys of a blessed im- mortality in heaven ? I answer, no — for that was secured by the immutable promise of him that cannot lie, from the foundation of the world, and is the free gift of God, bestowed upon man, not as the reward of works, but as the free bounty of a benevolent and good Creator. Does any man hope for a stale of endless bliss on account of his repentance or works ? If so, he may for ever rest ISO REPENTANCE. assured that his is any thing else but the hope of a Christian. God has laid in Zion a corner stone, tried and precious, and upon that our hopes must be reared, or they will fail in the day of trial. That stone is Christ, who rose triumphant over the power of death, and brought life and immortality to light; thus giving us hope that as he lives, so shall we live also. " Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid," and he that rejects this foundation to build upon his own works, will find to his cost, that he is building a totter- ing Babel that cannot abide the wind or the storm. But the objector is ever ready to ask, if your doctrine is true, and we are all to be saved at last, what is the use of repentance ? I answer plainly to the point. Re- pentance will give to man, in all cases, " The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy." It will make a man calm, contented, and happy in life, resigned and joyful in sickness, and triumphant in death. It will save a man here^ from those dreadful miseries that are always mingled in the cup of wickedness. " There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, but they are as the troubled ocean, whose waters cast up mire and dirt continually." He that repents of all sin, and walks with obedient footsteps in the way of righte- ousness, is saved from these sorrows, and receives as the rich reward of his labor that perfect peace which is the inheritance of those, and those only, who keep the law of God. Say what you will of the pleasures of the wicked, with the Bible and the experience of the world before me, I boldly declare, that there is no happy man on earth, but the good man. He lives at peace with himself, and the world. He enjoys communion with God, and the spirits of the just. His ways are ways of REPENTANCE. ISl pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. He fears not the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and wasteth at noonday, for God is with him. He is humble in pros- perity, peaceful and calm in adversity. The blessing of him that was ready to perish comes upon him while living, and at last, in a good old age, like a shock of corn fully ripe, he is gathered to his fathers; and as he stands upon the brink of the grave, he looks back upon a life well spent, without a sigh, or a tear, and peacefully goes down to the tomb, with the blessings and the benedictions of children and the community upon his memory. Is there no good in all this ? Is there nothing in virtue itself that is desirable, that man should love it for its own sake ? Or is man so far gone, that he must be considered incapable of appreciating that which is lovely and good, and to be brought to virtue by the mercenary hope of an extra reward in another world; or driven to its practice by the slavish fear of hell and the devil ? Must the fear of that "hangman's whip," be constantly before our eyes, to keep us in awe, that we curse not God to his face ? Lay another world altogether out of the question, and see if you canot discover any motive to repentance. Go to the drunkard, and mark the wreck of happiness over which he mourns. Behold him reeling from his mid- night carousals to his wretched abode. Mark him when the effervescence of the glass is gone, and in moments of calm reflection, he sits him down to contemplate his ways. He sees the tears of a family falling around him, and feels that he is the guilty cause of their woes; and as for himself, he is comfortless and poor, and must soon go down to that grave, at which the hand of affec- tion will rear no stone to tell of its inmate. He knows 16 182 RKPENTANCE. that he is whirling with fearful haste, down to the abodes of death, and that for his wife and children naught but poverty remains. Is there no motive for him to repent? Would it do no good for him to dash the cup from his lips, and live " soberly, righteously, and godly in this world?" Ah! yes. It would change that abode of wretchedness to a blooming paradise of joy. It would dry up those falling tears, and give to the penitent him- self, firmness of body, and peace of mind, that he can never enjoy while engaged in the practice of sin. The same, or similar remarks will apply to every species and form of sin ; for though the effects of this are more outward and visible than in some other cases, they are not more bitter, certain, or sure. Disguise it as you will, all sin is misery. There is sorrow Jn every cup that vice presents to her votaries. She may mingle it as she will, to make it sweet to the taste ; death and misery are there, and when drank, it will be worm- wood, gall and bitterness in the system. God has bound sin and misery together by a tie that no man can put asunder, and he that practises the one must feel the other. There is still another idea, that should not be passed over. The joys of hope in the Gospel are sweet, and these can only be truly enjoyed by the man who repents of sin with full purpose of heart. Men may speculate and theorize as they will; but the truth is, there is such a damning power in sin, that it will always prevent the enjoyment of faith, however correctly it may be held in theory. Suspicion and doubt are always the companions of guilt. " The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." Fearful forebodings of the future, and dark and dreadful recollections of the past, will crowd upon the mind of the guilty, and though REPENTANCE. 1S3 he may lock his crimes in the secrecy of his own heart, yet in the darkness of the silent night, they Avill haunt him as ghosts of despair, and plant thorns in the pillow upon which he vainly strives to rest his weary head. The light of truth may shine around him, but it has no charms for him. He cannot live at ease — he cannot die in peace, for there is a canker-worm gnawing at the very root of the tree of happiness. "Repent, then, and be converted every one of you, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord," and through all coming life, " Know then this truth, enough for man to know, That virtue alone is happiness below." 1S4 FAITH. SERMON XIII. FAITH. " For what if some diJ not believe ? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect ?" Romans iil. 3. The scriptures of the New Testament everywhere insist upon the necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So frequently is faith urged upon the reader, that even the tyro in Christian knowledge would readi- ly inform you that it is absolutely necessary to believe. But the precise nature and utility of faith, and the con- sequences of unbelief, are subjects not so generally nor so well understood. To explain and illustrate these points shall be the business of this discourse, and with- out further introductory remarks, I come to that work. I. What is the nature of Christian faith ? My reply is, that faith is the assent which the mind gives to the truth of a proposition, from the force of real or supposed evidence, presented to the understanding, and it will always be weak or strong, in proportion as the evidence appears to be conclusive or otherwise. Christian faith is a belief in the mission and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so far as the nature of the thing itself is concerned, it differs not from faith in any thing else. If I should inform you that I had recently seen a friend of yours, you would be likely to believe me. That belief is faith, and it will be weak or strong m proportion to your confidence in my veracity. The FATTH. 185 same in its nature is faith in Christ. The same, in fact, is all faith, and the only imaginable difference in different cases, is not in the thing itself, but in the sub- jects upon which it is employed. Christ claims to be the Messiah, the Son of God, the divinely appointed messenger of his Father's grace and truth, and the Sa- viour of the world. He gives you, as proof that he is what he professes to be, the fulfilment of the ancient promises in him, and appealing to his works — to the signs and miracles and wonders that God wrought by him, in the midst of the people, and to his triumphant resurrection from the dead — he shows that his mission is divine, and that with him is the mighty power of God. By this evidence the judgement is convinced, and from its throne gives out the decision : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This is faith, and it is produced by the same means, and is in its nature the same as faith exercised upon any other subject. The evidence of these miracles is conclusive ; the rec- ord is given us by men who Avere eye-witnesses, and whose characters slander itself dare not assail. With such evidence as this, men may believe with an un- doubted faith, and there is no more need of a miracle or of any supernatural agency to produce faith in Christ, than to secure faith in any thing else, which you re- ceive on the strength of evidence. If your friend informs you that he saw a man perform a certain act, you can believe him without any special interposition of divine power. So, if you are informed on good authority, that about eighteen hundred years ago, there appeared in Judea a man called Jesus, who claim- ed to be sent of God, and sustained his claims by signs and miracles, and by his own resurrection from the dead; if the historians inform you that they were with 16* 186 FAITH. him, and saw the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead come forth from the grave at his word ; that they knew him well, and saw him expire upon the cross, and were the eye-witnesses of his resur- rection; you can believe that also; and there is no more need of a special interposition of God's spirit to produce faith in one case than the other. The one is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other is faith in your friend, and both are produced by the force of evi- dence. I make these remarks, because it has long been fash- ionable to mystify the subject of faith by involving it m the mists of metaphysical subtleties, and logical nice- ties. Hence we hear of " divine faith," and " human faith," " historical faith," and " temporal faith," and I know not what else; and men have labored much in drawing out nice hair-splitting distinctions between these various kinds of faith. It is all " vanity and vex- ation of spirit," a mere play upon words without profit. All faith is one and indivisible in nature, differing only in degree, and in the objects upon which it is employed. The opinion that Christian faith is entirely different from any other kind of faith, and beyond the reach of human agency, is pernicious in the extreme. It induces men to stand complaining of their want of faith, and praying for more, and waiting for some strange and di- vine afflatus to come like the shock of a galvanic bat- tery, and give them all faith in a moment. This keeps men weak and sickly in the Christian life. If a man wants more faith, let him icork as well as pray. Let him candidly and perseveringly gird himself to the work of a patient examination of the evidences, on which the Gospel rests its claims for our credence. He will thus find that the Gospel has laid its foundation on the FAITH. 187 immovable rocks of eternal truth, he will know what he believes, and u-hy he believes, and with an enlighten- ed mind he will drink in the waters of living faith, fresh from the everlasting spring, and rejoice that the found- ation of God standeth sure and steadfast. Does any man lack faith, I say again, let him work as well as pray ; for I am certain that calm and patient investiga- tion of the evidences of revealed religion, is the best an- tidote to skepticism. The spectres of infidelity will flee before it as chaflf before the wind. Let it be borne in mind then, that Christian faith takes cognizance of the mission, death, resurrection, and teach- ings of Jesus Christ, and is, in its nature, simply the as- sent Avhich the mind gives to the truth of these things, from the force of evidence, and will, in each case, be weak or strong, in proportion as the evidence is under- stood and appreciated. I pass to inquire, II. What is the utility of Christian faith ? In answering this question, there are two extremes into which men have run. On the one hand it is thought that no man can be saved without faith, and that the eternal destmies of the world are suspended upon the conditions of faith or unbelief This is one extreme. On the other hand, it is thought by some, that Christian faith is entirely useless, and men are as well off without as with it. This is another extreme, and it will appear in the sequel, that the truth lies be- tween the two. The fallacy of the first of these positions is evident from the single consideration that truth is immutable and exists independent of the faith or unbelief of man. If faith is what I have said it is, the assent of the mind to the truth of the Gospel, then evidently the Gospel must exist beforehand, and its truth or falsity can in no 1S8 FAITH. way be affected by faith, which is always ex-post facto. For instance : — It is either true that Christ came and suffered, and labored, and died, and rose from the dead, or it is not. If it is not true, then my faith cannot make it so. But, if it be true that he thus came, then it would be equally true even though the whole world should refuse to believe it. Again. I suppose it is this day true, that you and I will either be saved or lost. If it be true that we are to be lost, then, surely, no faith can save us ; and if it be true that we are to be saved, then it is equally certain, that no want of faith in us can make it untrue. Hence then, I conclude, that the sentiment which teaches that man can make or unmake God's truth at pleasure, and that men are to be saved in another world because they are fortunate enough to believe it is so, or lost because they believe it is not so, is grossly absurd and utterly unphi- losophical. Look at the subject in another light. Millions on millions of the human family have never heard even the name of Christ. They bow down before dumb idols and worship the works of their own hands. They pay their devotions in temples whose inmates never yet dreamed that such a being as Jesus of Nazareth, ever had an existence. Besides all this, even in Christian countries there are many, very many, who go down to the grave in infancy, or in the early morning of their ex- istence, ere yet their minds are capable of exercising faith in Christ, or of understanding his doctrines. All these must be lost, if it be true that none but believers can be saved ; for they all die without faith. I ask you — Is there consistency or reason, or even hu- manity, in a doctrine which teaches that God will curse FAITH. 189 with endless wo, "the distant islands of the sea," merely because they did not believe on him, of v/hose name they have never heard, and of whose religion, the very circmnstances in which God has placed them, com- pel them to be as profoundly ignorant as they are of the inhabitants of the distant stars? Is it reasonable to suppose, that a God of all perfection and goodness, will curse all who die in infancy, merely because he saw proper to take them out of the world before they were capable of exercising faith in the Gospel ? These are necessary and unavoidable conclusions from the position, that God has made faith a condition of future salvation, and I warn you not to embrace that position, unless you are prepared to go the whole length, and damn all who do not come up to the condition. But let us turn our attention to the Scriptures, and see what light we can gather from them, upon the subject in question. " What if some did not believe ? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect ? God forbid ! Yea, let God be true and ever}- man a liar." I may remark, here, that the word rendered faith in the last clause of the text, is the same that is often translat- ed faithfulness, and that it should have been so trans- lated in this instance, is evident from the consideration that God cannot be said to have faith in the common acceptation of the term. To him all things are distinctly and infallibly known, and hence nothing can be a matter of faith with him. In the new and improved version of the testament, the passage reads thus : " What if some had not faith ? Shall their want of faith make the faith- fulness of God of no effect ? By no means, rather let God be true, though every man be a liar." The doctrine of the text is, therefore, evidently this; — " That faith in man can have no effect upon the faith- 190 FAITH. fulness of God. Though some do not believe, yet God is faithful and true." The controversy ought then, in reality, to be with the Apostle, and not with me, for when I assert that a want of faith cannot cause God's faithfulness to fail, I am but repeating the clear and un- questionable doctrine of my text. But there are on record some facts, that can be heard upon this subject, and to them I will appeal for a further illustration of the truth of my position. When God speaks either a threatening or a promise, he is faithful to his word, and I propose to look back for a moment and inquire what effect faith or unbelief has had upon the faithfulness of God, as mar^ifested in the fulfilment of hi-s threatening^ of punishment upon the guilty. Look at the years beyond the flood, and learn wisdom from the fate of the Antediluvians. They had become grossly corrupt and hopelessly wicked, and God threat- ened to destroy them with a flood. He commissioned Noah to make known this, his determination, and ac- cordingly while the ark was in preparation he preached righteousness to the people, and warned them, that God had threatened to sweep them from the face of the earth, by a flood. But they heeded him not. His admonitions passed as the idle wind, and his words were to them as one that mocked. They believed not, but God was faithful. The rushing torrents of water, the open win- dows of heaven, the broken fountains of the great deep, and the desolated earth bore witness, that when God speaks, he is faithful to the performance of his word, though man believes not. Take another illustration. The children of Jacob lived in peace, for aught that would appear to the con- trary, until there came an intimation that God would raise Joseph above his brethren. The brethren would FAITH. 191 not believe that such a thing would be brought to pass, and in order to make sure work of it, they sold him a slave into Egypt. But mark the wonders of the divine power. God's purpose was fulfilled, and even the very means that they employed in their blindness to justify their unbelief, were made the instruments of manifest- ing the divine faithfulness, and proving that God is not less true when men reject his truth than when they receive it by faith. The case of the Jews in the days of the Saviour, will afford you another illustration of the point in hand. God by the mouth of his prophets had threatened against them, the most severe and extraordinary judgements. He had forewarned them, that their city and their temple should be destroyed, and the whole nation should be scattered, a proverb and a by-word among all people. Jesus came and sounded the alarm, informing them that the day of their downfall was drawing nigh ; that even upon that generation, there should come a time of trouble, such as had not been from the beginning of the world to that same time, and upon their heads should fall all the righteous blood that had been shed upon the face of the earth. But they did not believe, and though he wrought many mighty works in confirmation of his mission, yet they rejected him and finally put him to death. Yet God was faithful to his word. Jerusalem was surrounded with armies, the glory of her temple was laid low, and the nation itself rent in fragments and scattered to the four winds of heaven. Now in reference to all these instances, we may with propriety ask, " What if some did not believe ? Did their unbelief make the faithfulness of God of no effect?" And the obvious answer is "By no means." Nor is there any conceivable influence, that their unbelief ex- 192 FAITH. erted upon the firm and immutable counsels of God. God spoke, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast, and though man refused to believe, yet was God found to be faithful to his word. But I need not dwell here, for the great mass of pro- fessors are perfectly willing to grant, and do in fact be- lieve, that the faith or the unbelief of man, can have no influence upon the faithfulness of God so far as the threatenings of his law are concerned. Though the whole world should refuse to believe, yet would God execute them every one. And yet, strange as it may appear, when we come to the " sure mercies of David ^''^ and the blessings promised in the covenant of eternal mercy and truth, we shall be told, that God will not be- stow the blessings, because man, in his blindness, does not believe that he intends to do so ! Will it please some man well skilled in the mysteries of the day, to inform us what good reason there is for supposing, that God will be less faithful in the performance of his promises of grace than in the execution of the threatenings of his law ? The light of heaven never shone upon a darker m- consistency than this. When God threatened to destroy the old world, he was faithful and true, notwithstanding their unbelief. But when he promises to pour down the waters of salvation like an overflowing stream from on high, until they shall cover the earth as the Avaters cover the face of the sea— Ah ! then we begin to hear of faith, and of the power of unbelief to prevent the fulfilment of the gracious word ! When God threatened to scatter the Jews among all people, he was faithful, and the work was done, though they believed not ; but wlien he promises to gather them all together again and with them the fulness of the Gentiles; yea, when he lifts his immortal hand and swears by himself, because there is FAITH. 193 none greater, that in Christ, he will bless " all nations and kindreds, and families of the earth ;" then we hear, that it is all suspended upon the contingency of faith, and that God cannot fulfil the promise, because man will not believe. I pray you think of these things, and if in all the threatenings of his word, God is faithful and true though men do not believe, what wonderful sagacity is this by which you have discovered, or by what rule of logic have you come to the conclusion, that God is not equally faithful in his promises of salvation even though men do not believe ? Shall I be told, that these promises are conditional and the condition is faith ? I appeal to the promises them- selves, and they shall refute the assertion. The promise to Abraham is called by the Apostle, the Gospel which was preached to that Patriarch, and thus it reads: "By myself have I sworn, for because thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, surely in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will mul- tiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and he shall pos- sess the gates of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed." There is no intimation that this promise depends for its fulfilment upon the faith of man. The apostle speaks of its stability thus: "When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by none greater, he swore by himself, that by two immuta- ble things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us ; which hope we have as an anchor to the soul sure and steadfast.'' Again, hear the word of the Lord. " I have sworn by myself, the word hath gone out of my mouth in righte- ousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear, surely shall 17 194 FAITH. say, ia the Lord have I righteousness and s'.rength." Is there aught in such language as this, to countenance the idea, that the promised blessing was made dependent upon man's faith, or that it would be withheld if men did not believe ? You know the answer that truth must givej and I leave it with you, satisfied that you will answer it correctly. I have now told you what faith cannot do. It cannot make God more faithful, nor a want of it cause his faith- fulness to' fail; and I presume there are some of my hearers who will be ready to slide into the opposite ex- treme, and say, that if I am right, then faith is of no use at all. There are many who cannot see what on earth should induce Universalists to preach, or exert themr selves at all to make men believe. If, say they, your doctrine be true, and God will bless and save all men in another world, whether they believe or not, pray what is the use of faith, or what difference does it make Vv'hether a man believes or not ? This is a question often asked, and it shall now be my business fairly and fully to answer it. I. Faith saves man from the darkness and gloom of atheism. I can hardly imagine a more miserable condition for man than to be without hope and without God in the world. The child whose parent has gone down to the grave, and who is left an orphan, claims our pity. He looks around him, and there is none to whom he can go for protection and help. He looks to the future, and knows that the path before him is beset with thorns on every side, and *' dangers stand thick through all the way." He feels that he must tread that path alone, and single-handed meet the ills of life, while doubi and gloom brood over the result. As feels that orphan, so FAITH. 195 feels the man who looks up to heaven, and knows no Father there. He sees chaos and confusion around him, and he knows that soon " life's busy day will be o'er," and believes that the hour that lays his Jieadinthe dust, will witness the eternal end of all his hopes and joys — nay, of his existence itself. Now, Christian faith saves men from this darksome ploom. It fills the throne of the universe Avi:h a God of infinite wisdom and goodness, and sheds a halo of glory over all the things of earth, for it presents them all as under the direction and control of a being too wise to err, and too good to do an injury to any of his creatures. It plants in the heart a child-like confidence in God, and makes man feel like the child that is encircled in the arms of a merciful father. II. It saves from the wretchedness, degradation and misery of superstition and idolatry. There are few men on earth, who have so far divested themselves of those feelings of dependance, inherent in human nature, as to deny the existence of a God. But it unfortunately happens that m.any believe in, and wor- ship gods worse than none, whose existence is to them the most bitter curse they have to deplore. The gods of the heathen are, for the most part, tyrants of the worst stamp. Wrath that burns exceedingly hot, and cruelty that sheds not a tear, and heaves not a sigh, over the woes of humanity, are the most prominent features of their character. Before them the slave cringes with fear and trembling, and the crouching menial howls in deep despair. On their altars victims bleed and die, and humanity shudders around to witoess deeds of blood and cruelty. We, to be sure, are far removed from such scenes, and think little of them ; but yet it is a melancholy truth, that there is not a wind that blows, 196 FAITH. which does not waft the deep wailings of suffering igno- rance ; nor does the thunder utter its voice but it is taken as the signal for keener pains, and greater and more heart-rending sacrifices upon the altars of superstition. Faith in the Gospel saves from this ignorance, and all its attendant train of cruelties, miseries, and immorali- ties. It makes the temple of worship the hallowed sanctuary of joy, and diffuses all abroad in society an influence, that softens and refines, and brings man up to the true dignity of his nature. I ask the hearer to com- pare the condition of the Christian worshipper, with that of the deluded mortal who bows down at the shrine of idolatry, and behold the work of faith. I ask you to compare our own country, with those barbarous nations where the light of Christianity never shone, and ask what makes the difference ? It is faith, and nothing else, that has wro/Ught that difference. Christian faith has gone forth in its power, and changed the " tiger to the lamb, and the vulture to the dove." All that we are, above the pagan, who casts himself down to be crushed beneath the wheels of an idol's car, we owe to the Gospel of Christ. Faith has done it all, and but for that faith, you and I would this day have bowed down 10 gods of wood and stone. III. Faith saves from doubt and fear of the future. The future is dark and gloomy to the mind ihat is not enlightened by the knowledge of Christ. The grave yawns in darkness at our feet, and What awaits us beyond that narrow house, no mortal man can tell. But faith speaks, and life dawns upon the death of the grave, and the vision of a world redeemed from sin and death, and made holy and happy in the heavenly king- dom, bursts upon our view. Sin is destroyed, death conquered, and all created humanity delivered from FAITH. 197 bondage, and translated into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Do yoa ask me then what faith can do ? My answer is, it can save man from error, superstition, sin, misery, and fear. It can give us good hope and everlastins; con- solation, keep us humble in prosperity, sustain us in ad- versity, direct us in all difficulties, support us in sickness, and put a song of victory upon our tongues in the hour of death. It can make the dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are, and Avhen heart and flesh has failed, and the dim eye has closed upon all the beauties of earth, and the frail body lies silent in the grave, it can linger around the house of mourning, and pour its heavenly consola- tions into the bleeding bosoms of the affiicted — wipe the falling tear from the eye of the widow, and hush the moan of her fatherless children, with its inspiring hopes. Oh ! ye atiiicted and poor, ye sick and ye sorrowful, ye mourning sons and daughters of sorrow, hold fast the priceless treasures of faith. It is " A sovereign balm for every ^\*ound, A cordial for your fears." Hold it fast, and by no means let it go. And ye, who are without hope and Vvithout God in the world ;ye who are thoughtless and giddy and who care for none of these things, seek ye a living faith as the greatest of all earthly blessings. The day is coming when you will need it. Misfortunes will befall you, your earthly hopes will be blasted, and then you will need the sustaining power of faith. But if you could escape these, still there is a solemn day coming when you will I'eel ) our need of a faith so much divine. Sickness and pain will overtake you. Those rosy cheeks will be pale — those sparkling eyes will be sunken afd dim — that blooming countenance will 17* 19S FAITH. be haggard and ghastly, and that form, so erect and beau- tiful, will be emaciated and poor upon a dying bed. Some friendly voice will whisper in thy ear the solemn truth, that the day of thy death draweth nigh, and the hour of thy departure is at hand. Then, if not before, will you feel your need of faith in a better and happier land. Oh ! for God's sake, and for your own sake, lay up treas- ures agamst a day like this, and let your prayer be, " Oh ! for a strong, a lasting faith, To credit what Jehovah saith, To hear the niessage of his Son, And call the joys of heaven our own." INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. 199 SERMON XIV. INFLUENCE OF UN I VER S ALI SM. " Come thou with us and we will do thee good ; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Isniel." Numbers x. 29. In my previous lectures, I have endeavored to prove the truth of the great and leading doctrines of that system of faith, which is known under the name of liniversalism. In the present discourse I intend to lay before you, an exposition of the influence which I sup- pose these doctrines are calculated to exercise, upon the hearts and' the lives of those who believe. There is perhaps no one question more frequently put by the opposers of the doctrine of Universal Salvation, than this, what good will it do to preach or believe it, even if it be true ? The question is an important one, and it shall be treated with all that candor which its importance so obviously demands. I profess to you that I would not advocate a system which I did not most religiously believe calculated to promote the interests of man. But believing as I do, most heartily, that every man, woman and child, would be benefited by faith in the doctrine of impartial grace, I am constrained to proclaim it in the midst of obloquy and reproach, and to cry unto you wiih aflfectioriate earnestness, " Come thou with us and we will do thee good." If you ask me what good it would do you to believe in this doctrine ? My answer is, 200 INFLUENCE OF UNIYERSALTSIM. I. It would increase your happiness. I make this remark, with the intention of applying it in its broadest and most literal sense. I make no ex- ceptions, but I say there is no human being: who Avould not be made more happy by a living faith in the im- mortal purity and everlasting felicity of the whole hu- man family. I care not what your present faith may be ; I care not whether you agree, at present, with the atheist, deist, skeptic, or with any one of the numerous denom- inations of professing christians; one thing I know, you have not a faith which presents more glorious hopes, or more heart-cheering anticipations than Universalism, and it is impossible for you to invent o?ie that shall do so. Immortality and perfect unalloyed felicity for all created intelligences, is the " summum honum^ " the " ne plus ultra " of all good, beyond which imagination itself cannot proceed. I say, therefore, there is no man among you, who would not be made happier by a fTrm faith in a system which promises all that the benevolent heart can wish, and even more than the most lively imagina- tion can conceive. Let us see if I am not right here. Suppose you are an atheist; you believe that this beautiful world came into existence by chance, or sprang from the operation of the laws of matter; and that all its vast concerns are going on at hap-hazard, or are sub- ject only to the laws of nature. And as for yourself, you are but the being of a day, the offspring of chance, ushered into life, like the insect whose wing glitters in the sunbeam, to sport your little hour, and die to live no more. You look upward to heaven, and there is no Father there. You look around you, and all is confu- sion. You look forward, and all is darkness and gloom. You look downward, and the grave yawns at your feet, and the highest hope you have, is that there you will INFLUENCE OF UNIVERPALISM. 201 soon feed the greedy worm, and moulder back to your native dust ! Need I compare such a faith with that of the chris- tian, in order to show that so far as its influence upon human happiness is concerned, the latter is as much above the former, as the heavens are above the earth. I trust such a work is unnecessary, for I have seen the atheist, or at least the man who professed to have no faith in a God, and from his own lips have I had the confession of the happifying influence of the christian faith. Never did I see the man of this sort who would not say to me, " Sir, I wish I could believe as you do, for could I look up to heaven, and feel that I had a friend and a father there, who would take care of me all my life long, and crown me with immortality at last, I know I should be a happier, if not a better man." I say then that Universalism heartily believed, would make the atheist more happy than he can be without it. But suppose you are a deist ; you believe in the God of nature, and in his general providence, but you have no idea that he stoops to converse with man, or to reveal to him his character or purposes. You know that you must die, and have no hope that you shall live again. The day of your death is the boundary of all your ex- pectations, and you have no idea that you shall live at all beyond the grave. To you heaven is a dream, and immortality a fable. Your children and friends are dying around you, and when you part with them you part to meet no more, and you expect soon to close your own eyes upon all the endearments of earth, and bid a sad and eternal farewell to friends and friendship, to hope and happiness, nay, even to existence itself. I am willing to grant that this faith is better than atheism, for there is some little comfort to be derived 202 INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. from the thought that the affairs of this world are measxiraUy under the government and control of a wise and good creator and governor. But I utter a philo- sophical, as well as a scriptural truth, when I say that this cannot satisfy the desires of the mind, or still those yearnings after immortality which are inwoven with the very constitution of the human soul. Man is so made, that he must necessarily and unavoidably look for- ward to the future, and hope or fear. '' The soul uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in tlie world to come." I have said that this is with man unavoidable^ for I believe that he can no more avoid looking into the future, than he can avoid looking backward and remembering the past. But whether it be absolutely unavoidable or not, is of little consequence to our present argument. There is no doubt of the fact, that all men everywhere do draw upon the future for, sources of enjoyment; and there is just as little doubt that a large share of human happiness is derived from anticipation. Some have gone so far as to maintain, that the pleasure derived from anticipated good, is greater than that produced by the actual possession of the good itself. However this may be, it is nevertheless, positively certain, that hope opens rich fountains of happiness to man ; and hence it fol- lows, that any sj^stem which limits the sphere of hope to a few years, and cuts it short at death, must deprive man of one of the richest sources of happiness. But I need not argue this question, for I know not that it is often disputed, that a firm hope in future and immortal blessedness, is a blessing well calculated to promote the happiness of man. I may add, that this is a fountain v.'hich remains full and overflowing, at the very time INFLUENCE Ul UXIVERSALIS3I. 203 when it is needed most, wlien all other sources of felici- ty have failed. To the deist, then, we say, " Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." We will give thee a hope that shall make thee happy. We will inspire thee with confi- dence in God, as a friend, in whom we may at all times trust without fear of danger or disappointment. We will give thee a hope that shall cheer thee in life, grow brighter and brighter, as the lamp of life bums dim and feeble; sustain thee in affliction, and give thee a triumphant song of victory, when death shall claim his tribute. Suppose, again, you are a Christian ; but have unfor- tunately embraced those narrow views of the economy of your Father's grace, that so extensively and unhap- pily prevail in the church, at the present day. You be- lieve that " God from all eternity, has elected some men to be redeemed and everlastingly saved by Christ Jesus, and the remainder he was pleased to pass by, and or- dain to dishonor and wrath, to the praise of his vindic- tive justice." Can such a faith make you calmly and peacefully happy in life, and resigned and joyous in the hour of death ? I doubt it much, because, in the first place, you cannot knoic for a positive certainty that you are one of the very and precious elect of God ; and so long as there is a lingering doubt upon that question, you must be measurably unhappy. But, in the second place, even if it were possible to remove all doubt upon that question, even that would not be fully satisfactory. There are ties that bind you to your fellow-creatures, and give you a deep and abiding interest in their wel- fare. I will therefore view your case in the most fa- vorable light. I will suppose that your election is sure, and you are persuaded, beyond the possibility of a doubt, 204 INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. that your name is enrolled among the number of the precious elect of God. I ask, can even this satisfy you ? Is there no soul out of the ark of safety in whose welfare you feel an interest ? Are there not those around you that you love ? And have you no heart to feel for them ? I ask, how is it, when you look upon a cherish- ed child of your love, and behold the indelible ma,rk of reprobation stamped upon its countenance ? Ah, I know how it is. Your feelings are like those of the good old patriarch, when the bloody coat was brought home, and he knew it belonged to his darling Joseph; and he refused to be comforted, saying, " I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning." No man can be fully satisfied with a faith which presents him with a reasonable probability, nay, an absolute certainty, that myriads of his fellow-creatures, and perhaps among them his own children, will fall victims to a hopeless decree of utter and eternal reprobation. I grant that, with such views, you may at times en- joy a kind of satisfaction in the hope that dear and be- loved self is safe ; but that any man who has a. head to reason, and a heart to feel, can possibly be as happy with such a faith, as he would be with one that embraced the whole world in the sure and steadfast cov- enant of redeeming grace, is altogether out of the question. But I will make another supposition. You have re- jected the notion of election and reprobation. You now believe that God offers salvation freely to all his crea- tures ; and that they may all be saved, if they will com- ply with the conditions of grace. Those who comply with these conditions will be saved, and those who do not comply will be lost. The question is, whether this faith is best calculated to promote human happiness ? I INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. 205 judge not, for no man can be -positively certain that he has, and that he will, to the end of his life, continue to do all those things on which his eternal all depends. So long as there is doubt upon that head, it will be a constant source of misery. In fact, the foundation of hope in this system, is far more unsubstantial than in the other. The man who believes in sovereign election, if he can satisfy himself that he is elected, can rest se- cure in the steadfast hope that he will be saved, and that no poAver in heaven or earth can prevent it. But it is a large discount from this, to embrace a faith which puts us in jeopardy every hour, lest some false step of ours should plunge us in ceaseless perdition. But I will do here as in the other case. I will place the matter in its most favorable aspect before you. You are now satisfied of your own safety, and there remains no lingering doubt that when you depart from this world, your soul will wing its way to the realms of eter- nal blessedness and joy. Is that all you want ? And are you now satisfied, and perfectly happy ? Dear man ! Have you no wife ? No children ? No friends ? No human being that you love ? If you have, where are your bowels of mercy and your feelings of compassion, that you can be happy while the storm of endless wrath is gathering, fearful and dark, and their unshelter- ed heads are exposed, naked, to its fury ? I know not but you may be comfortable with such a faith, but I do know, from bitter experience, that I could not. And that any man, who loves his neighbour as himself, can be as happy with such a faith, as he would be with one that promises life and immortality to a world, is absolutely impossible. The man who cherishes such a faith, may have sea- sons of joy. He may have occasional gleamings of sua- 13 206 INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. shine, but the broad daylight of felicity, pure and perpet- ual, he may not expect. He may reflect upon heaven and its glories, its songs of joy and anthems of cease- less praise, and the prospect of obtaining a habitation there, may cause him to rejoice. But he must also look at the other side of the picture ; and when he thinks of hell^ with all its horrors, its dire music of misery, and its groans of everlasting despair, and remembers that him- self, or his children, may one day be there, his soul dies within him, and his joy is turned to mourning. He finds in the thought, as did the eloquent Saurin, " A mortal poison, diffusing itself through every period of life, ren- dering society tiresome, pleasure insipid, and life itself a cruel bitter." " Come thou with us, and we will do ihee good." Believe in the full, free, perfect, and sure salvation of a world, and thou shalt be saved — saved from those doubts and fears, that now " waste your faith and nourish your despair." Ye have need to learn that God is unchangably " good unto all, and his tender mercies are over all the works of his hands" — that he has linked the eternal glory of his creatures fast to his own throne, by the strong and indissoluble chain of his love, and that no power in heaven or on earth, in time, or eternity, can pluck us out of his hands. Learn this, I pray you, and your joys shall be abundant, and ye will tell me, as every man who believes will tell me, that faith has made you happier. It has dispelled the clouds of darkness that brooded over the future, and raised you up to better prospects and more glorious hopes. But I observe that faith in the doctrine of universal salvation will not only make you happier, but, II. It will make you better. I am not among the number of those who contend that it is no matter what a man believes ; for I am sure INFLUENCE OF UNHTIRSALISM. 207 that faith exercises a most powerful influence upon the character and the conduct of man. The great part of that which we are in the habit of considering as our stock of knowledge, is no more nor less than faith ; and there are comparatively but few of the acts of our lives, that proceed from what we positively knoic. " We walk by faith, and not by sight," is no less a truth of expe- rience than of scripture. Let a man look upon the Mo- hammedan, ready at all times to raise a sword in an in- discriminate slaughter of all that do not bow down at the altar of the Arabian prophet, and let him tell me, if he can, what but faith is it that makes the difference between that man and the Christian ? And I greatly err, if a view of the matter in this light does not oblige him to confess, that there is some little consequence at- tached to the great question, what a man shall, and what he shall not believe. Among the diflferent sects of Christians, separated as they are by minor points, the difference may not be so great, as between the Christian and the Mohammedan faith. But that there is a differ- ence in the moral influence of different systems among Christians, there can be no doubt. You have, many of you, been in the habit of sup- posing that Universalism had no requirements to ask of its believers, and that its moral influence must be deci- dedly bad, and you maybe surprised to hear me advocate its claims as an instrument of moral reform. But so it must be. I distinctly claim for the doctrine of univer- sal grace, not only an equal share of moral power with other systems ; but I claim for it a purer, higher and ho- lier moral influence, than can be exerted by any other system ; and I give it you, as the deliberate conviction of my judgement, that there is no man among you who would not be made better by faith in that doctrine, and 20S INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. a life corresponding with its requirements. And now for the reasons which induce me to hold this opinion. I might indeed insist upon this, as a legitimate con- clusion from my previous position, that it will make men happier, for I hold it as an incontrovertible truth, that you cannot make a man happier without at the same time making him better. Happiness is our being's end and aim, and it is in pursuit of this, that we perform every act of our lives. It is a want of this that leads men into sin. It is a restless, uneasy and unsatisfied spirit, that goads men on and urges them to the commis- sion of all those foul deeds that disgrace humanity, and I risk nothing in saying, that no man ever yet committed a crime when he was calm, contented, satisfied and happy. In proportion, therefore, as any doctrine is cal- culated to satisfy our desires for happiness, will it exert a salutary moral influence. If therefore, the doctrine of Universal Grace, is, as I have shown, better calculated to make men calmly and peacefiilly happy, than any other system, it follows as a legitimate conclusion, that it will exert the most power- ful and salutary moral influence. But I will not insist on this argument for there are an abundance of evidences in favor of our position without it, I. It presents the only salutary doctrine of punishment. There is no greater error than the supposition, that man's respect and reverence for law, is increased by ad- ding to the amount of the penalty. In fact the very reverse of this proposition comes much nearer the truth than the proposition itself The whole history of the world will bear witness, that in all ages, and in all countries, those laws have been most respected and best obeyed, whose penalties have been most mild and mer- ciful. But when tyrants have ruled with a rod of iron, INFLtJENCE OF UNf^'ERSALISM. 209 and sought to enforce obedience to their laws, by means of most severe and unmerciful punishments, then the weak and timid have despaired, and the stout-hearted have despised them, and transgression has abounded. Now the common doctrine of punishment annexes to the law of God a most unmerciful penalty ; it makes God punish men eternally, and of course without any design to do them the least possible good. With such views the feeble in mind despair, and contract a mor- bid insensibility to danger, and the strong in spirit brave it out, despising not only the law, but also the lawgiver. They look upon God as a hard master, who rules with a despotic sway — upon his law as a grevious burden — upon themselves as slaves, who have no further interest in obedience, than an escape from the merciless wrath of a despotic lawgiver. On the other hand, Universalisra makes punishment mild and merciful — the law itself holy and good — man a child, and the penalty of the law, the wise and salu- tary chastisement of a kind friend, who seeks by it to turn our wandering feet from the way of destruction and misery, to the path of virtue, where alone we can be happy. Now I say that in order for punishment to be effectual, its justice must be seen, and its goodness appreciated. Any other view of punishment though it may make slaves and hypocrites, can never produce that cheerful and spontaneous obedience which flows from a willing heart. I say, therefore, that Universalism is calculated to exert a higher and purer moral influence than any other system, because it appeals to the hearts, rather than the fears of men. But again. Punishment in order to be eflfectual, must be speedy and certain. In both these respects, our views of punishment have a decided advantage over all other 18* 210 INFLUENCE OF UNn'EESALISM. systems. The common doctrines of the day, do indeed threaten a most tremendously severe punishment, but they nullify its influence by placing it far in the future, for their language is like that of the false prophets of Israel, " He prophesies of the things that are afar off, and the vision that he seeth is for many days to come." But to cap the climax, and as if on purpose to palliate all fear, and destroy entirely the influence of punishment, they offer to the vilest sinner, an easy method of escap- ing from that punishment, which is, in the first place, removed to the dim distance of future years, far beyond the reach of mortal vision. Should our legislature pass a law, that the man who was guilty of theft should be punished with death at the stake, thirty years from the time of transgression, you would at once say, that although the punishment was severe, yet it could have no eff'ect, for the reason that it was too far off. But should they add a clause, providing that at any time during the thirty years, the thief shall have the privilege of repenting, and if he does so, the punishment shall not be inflicted at all, you would laugh them to scorn. And yet this is a faithful and true, though faint representation of the common notion of the law of God and its penalty. He has given to man a law, and annexed to that law a penalty, incon- ceivably lasting and severe. But when we ask is it to be inflicted ? The answer is, not while man shall live in this world. It is reserved to another state of exis- tence, and is placed behind that curtain which separates lime from eternity. And will it certainly be inflicted upon every man that violates the law? Oh ! no, for the most hardened offender can at any time, during this life repent, and in one brief hour he shall be placed out of all danger from the penalty of the law. Thus do these IKFLUENCE OF UXI\TRSALISM. 211 doctrines perpetually cry, in the language of the serpent, " Ye shall ?iot surely die.'''' Ye may sin, and ye shall have your whole lives given you to perform a work which can be done in an hour, and when done, shall give you a clear escape froni the penalty of the law. On the other hand, Universalism teaches that the pen- alty of the law, though mild and merciful, is speedy and sure. Her language is, " In the day that thou eatest of the fruit of sin, thou shalt surely die," and there is no escape, for "he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he hath done, and there is no respect of per- sons." Ye may flatter yourselves that punishment is far away, and with a hope of an easy escape, but it is an idle dream. It is nigh thee, even at thy doors, and will most surely come upon thee. These are the doctrines of Universalism upon the subject of punishment, and it is evident, at a glance, that they are capable of exercising a far more powerfully restraining influence than any other system can boast. II. Universalism presents the character of God in such a light that it will draw out the afl'ections of the believ- er's heart in love to him, and good will to his children. Love to God, and good will to man, lie at the founda- tion of all true moralit}-. On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets. That system, there- fore, is best calculated to exercise a salutary, moral in- fluence, which can best secure obedience to these two requirements. Now, I say, that the best possible way to make a man love God, is, to stamp on his mind the conviction, that God is his friend and his father. You may draw a picture of the great divinity, clothed in ven- geance as with a garment, and roll over the head of the sinner the tremendous thunders of eternal wrath, to the end of his days, and though you may thus make him 212 INFLUENCE OF UNH'ERSALISM. tremble like a slave, you cannot make him love like a child. But tell a man that God is good ; stamp on his mind the full conviction, that in heaven there is one who is bet- ter than all, whose kindness knows no bounds, and whose faithfulness will never leave nor forsake the souls that he has made ; and then you touch the heart and draw out the soul in love to him, as a being infinitely worthy of the warmest devotions of the mind. This is what Universalism teaches, and hence I say, that before all systems, and above all systems, it is most powerful in its influence to secure love to God. Love to our neighbor is the next in the catalogue of moral virtues. How shall that be secured? Not by convincing a man that his neighbor is a mass of total depravity, hated of God, and destined to be fuel for hell fire, and fit only for a companion of devils. Such views as these can never go one step toward making a man love his neighbor. But convince a man that his neigh- bor is his brother, a child of the same God, and an heir of the same immortal and incorruptible inheritance, and when that truth is fixed in the mind, he will love him, as one to whom he is bound by a common interest, com- mon origin, and common destiny. This is what Uni- versalism teaches. It tells a man to recognise in all around him, the children of the same God, and the heirs of the same inheritance as himself, and calls on him to love them with the whole heart. Its moral in- fluence then must be good, for it will produce love to God and good will to man ; and as for all other moral du- ties, they are but the streams that flow from this foun- tain. Keep the fountain full, and the streams will not fail to flow continually. I am frequently questioned upon the subject of the re- quirements of Universalism. If that be true, what has INFLUENCT? OF UNIVERSALISM. 213 man to do ? is the question. I answer, " Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." That is all. If you love God, you will serve him, and if you love your neighbour, you will do him good and not evil. There are many other views that I might take of the subject, all tending to establish the truth of the position I have assumed. But I am admonished that it is time to bring this discourse to a close. I can prove, with the clearness of light, in theory^ that, upon all the known prmciples and laws of the human mind, Universalism is superior to any other system in its moral tendency. But after all, it is better to do so practically. Let us live the doctrine we profess, and we shall demonstrate the fact, beyond all controversy. Bigotry may resist the force of evidence, and sophistry may evade the most cogent rea- soning ; but there is a silent power in virtue, that noth- ing can withstand. Again, then, I say, let those who profess to believe, live as their faith dictates; and though a silent, yet will it be a more powerful argument, in favor of the moral power of the doctrine, than I could put together, even though I could come to you with the zeal of a Paul, and the eloquence of an Apollos I 214 DECISION OF CHARACTER, SERMON XV. DECISION OF CHARACTER A RELIGIOUS DUTY. "How long halt ye, between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow liim. i Kings xviii. 21. The Scriptures enjoin upon men the utmost frankness, honesty and decision of character. Hypocrisy, whether it proceed from irresolution, motives of policy, or dis- honesty of mind, finds no excuse in the teachings of the sacred volume. It is taken for granted, that the subject of religion is of sufficient importance, to give it a claim upon the attention of every man. And for this reason the Bible appeals to all men, everywhere, to make up their minds upon the subject, and to act according to the teachings of the judgement, and the admonitions of con- science, in all honesty and sincerity before God and man. We are not however required to rush blindly into this matter, as the horse rusheth into the battle, but we are first to prove all things, and having proved them, to hold fast that which is good. So thought Elijah in the text, and the circumstances with which it stands connected. The people worshipped an idol called Baal, and when they had gathered together, he proposed to give them a test of the respective merits of Baal and the God of Israel. And when he should have placed before them the means of forming a correct opinion, he exhorts them to make no delav, but to choose for themselves, once and A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 215 for ever, whom lliey would follow. I have no lime to spend upon these circumstances, and that work may be unnecessary, as I presume you have already anticipated the use I intend to make of the exhortation of the text. This is the last of the series of lectures in which I have been for some time past engaged. I have endeav- ored to set before you the difference between our faith, and the popular creeds of the day, as well as the rea- sons we render for our opinions. I have labored, to the best of my feeble abilities, to put you in possession of the means of judging between ours, and the prevailing views of the character of God, and the economy of his grace. In the present discourse I would persuade you, if I could, to come to a definite conclusion in the case, and having decided, to act as honesty and duty shall dictate, without fear or favor. I have no disposition to conceal the fact, that there is a wide and irreconcilable difference between us and our opposers, nor can it be denied that if we are right, they are wrong, not merely in some small points, but radi- cally and I had almost said totally wrong. This is a truth with which we are well acquainted, and that man pursues a mistaken policy, nay, even a wicked course of hypocrisy, who attempts to conceal this fact. There is no manner of use in endeavouring to make it appear, that there is but a shade of difference between us and other denominations, for there is a difference, high as heaven, wide as the earth ; a difference as hopelessly and utterly irreconcilable as light and darkness, and there is no disguising the obvious truth, that if one system is true the other is false, desperately and hopelessly false, I had almost said, in its whole length and breadth. I make these remarks because, in my judgement, they have an important bearing upon our duty in the case. 216 DECISION OF CHARACTER, If there was but a slight shade of difference between us, then it would be of little consequence which we should choose, or indeed whether we made any choice at all. Had Baal and the God of Israel been so very near alike, that one could scarcely tell the difference between the two, we should never have heard Elijah calling upon the people, with such earnestness as he evidently manifests in the text, to choose whom they would serve. But the prophet felt that there was a wide, and an irreconcila- ble difference between the two. He knew if the Lord was God, Baal was a dumb idol, and his worship the grossest idolatry, and that it was impossible for the peo- ple innocently to worship both God and Baal, and for this reason he called on them to make their election, and having made it, to act as honesty and sincerity should dictate. So in this case, there is a difference be- tween Universalism and Partialism, so wide that they cannot both be true. A man can no more be a Univer- salist and a Partialist, than he could serve both God and Baal. Every man must be either a Partialist or a Uni- versalist, for he cannot be both, at one and the same time. I go even farther, and say that no man can inno- cently believe the one, and yet support the other. For this reason then, if for no other, it becomes your duty, first to examine, and then to choose between them, and act accordingly. I do not mean that a man is bound to become a flaming bigot, to " damn all parties but his own," and to deny all the common courtesies and civili- ties of life, to those who do not see with his eyes. But I would be understood to say distinctly, that every man is bound to act, in these matters with a strict and con- scientious regard to principle. If he believes the Lord to be God, he ought to worship and serve him, and he cannot innocently build the temples of Baal, or bow at A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 217 his altars. To speak without a figure, if a man is fully convinced in his own judgement that Universalism is true, he is bound in all honesty to say so, and .to pursue a corresponding course of conduct, and he cannot advo- cate or support any of the partial systems of the day, without incurring the just charge of hypocrisy, because the doctrines are so different that they cannot be mis- taken, the one for the other. These are positions that few would attempt to con- trovert in theory, and yet there are multitudes, who practically deny them every day of their lives. There are men who live to old age caring for none of these things, never having made them a subject of reflection or examination. There are others so bigoted in favor of Baal, that they will not examine to see whether God has any claims upon them or not. Still again there are others, (and their name is legion, for they are many) who, though convinced that Universalism is true, as far as they are convinced of any thing, yet through fear of reproach, love of gain, popularity, or som.e other unholy motive, turn their backs upon what they believe, and support that which their own judgements condemn as utterly false. To all these classes I appeal in this dis- course, and I urge it upon them, that they be either one thing or the other. Either condemn Universalism en- tirely, or act as if you believed it. "If the Lord be God follow him ; if Baal then follow him." I will now proceed to lay before you some considera- tions that urge to the performance of this duty. I. The importance of the questions at issue, demand it at our hands. Were it a mere matter of idle curiosity, thai could have no influence upon our conduct or happiness, or upon the interests of our fellow men, then might we be ex- 19 218 DECISION OF CHARACTER, cused from engaging in it at all. But such is not the fact. The subjects involved in the controversy between Universalists and others, are of vast and incalculable im- portance ; they enter into men's business and bosoms, and exercise a commanding and controlling interest, upon human happiness and public morals. So long as man is a frail and dependent bei-ng, living upon the bounty of God, and depending upon him at all times for life and happiness, it can never be a matter of small moment, whether God is a tyrant, who creates but to curse, or a friend whose immutable purpose it is to deliver, protect and bless. Nor is the fate of man in the future world of small consequence. As an individual, I have a deep and abiding interest in the question, whether I am to live beyond the grave ? And if so, whether I am to rise to a purer and happier state, or sink down to the realms of inconceivable and endless torment. And when I look around me upon my children, and feel that my own weal or wo, is indissolubly connected with theirs, I cannot deem it a matter of no importance, whether these dear objects of my affections, are destined in the counsels of God to unite their voices in the deathless song of joy on high, or to lift up their cries, in the wailings and contortions of never ending despair. In like manner, when I look around me upon my friends and neighbours, and feel that I am bound to love them, even as myself, I cannot persuade myself, that I ought to be indifferent to a ques- tion that involves their immortal happiness or misery. And when I send abroad my imagination to the ends of the earth, with all its thronging myriads of human be- ings, and remember that they are all bound to me by a common origin and a common brotherhood, I feel that I am interested in knowing their destiny, and I ought not to pass by with indifference the question, whether A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 219 they are to be saved or damned. Just in proportion to the importance of these subjects, therefore, is my obli- gation to examine them with care ; and having ex- amined, to choose between them, and having chosen, to act accordingly. It is a question of endless joy, or cease- less wo ; and that, too, for unnumbered and unborn mil- lions of my kindred, my dearest friends, my own chil- dren, my companion and myself; and I ought not to halt between two opinions, or rest satisfied without having come to a firm and an unshaken conclusion. II. The interests of community at large require us to perform the duty enjoined in the text. This is true both in regard to the morals and the hap- piness of community. This world is at best but a state of alternate sunshine and storm, and we may not expect to pass through life without suffering some of its ills. To sustain us under these trials, we need the hopes and the consolations of the Gospel. But such is the general and dreadful apostacy from the faith of the great Redeemer, that the very Gospel which was given us as a source of richest enjoyment, is changed to a fountain of bitterness, and is made one of the most fruitful sources of misery. The sectarian dogmas of the day go into all the ramifications of society, and wherever they go, they cause many a sigh, and many a tear. The father looks upon his sons, and the mother upon her blooming daugh- ters, and their bosoms heave with anguish, as they reflect that these objects of their affections are out of the ark of safety, and may become the sport of fiends, and the companions of devils, in the regions of perpetual tor- ment. Friend looks upon friend, and weeps at the thought that they must part, and that while one shall rejoice in heaven, the other must weep in hell. Parents mourn over their children that are torn from their era- 220 DECISION OF CHARACTER, brace by death, not so much because they are dead, as because they fear, awfully fear, that they are in hell. Widows and orphans, go to the grave of a husband and a father, and they mourn that their friend and protector is dead. But more terrible than death itself, is the dreadful thought that he to whom they were bound by ten thousand ties of love, may now be lifting up his eyes in the hopeless agonies of the infernal pit. They wept before ; but this fills the cup of sorrow with its bitterest dregs, and calls out the deepest moan of affliction. Thus it is, all abroad, around you, through all the length and breadth of the land ; in every city, in every street, in every village, in every hamlet, in every dwelling, there are minds disturbed, hearts lacerated and bleeding, souls haunted with spectres of endless wo, which come in the daylight, and in the darkness of night, and poison every cup of enjoyment. This is no idle fiction, no empty declamation, but it has its foundation in sober fact, and that you may better appreciate its truth, I will make the application to your own city. The past has been a cold and dreary winter of suffering. Shivering limbs, and hungry children have been around us, and called for charity. It has also been a season of most extraordinary religious excitement. Churches have been thronged from the dawn of morn- ing to the dark hour of midnight, and all that mighty minds and commanding eloquence could do has been done to excite the public mind, and alarm the fears of the people. The public mind kas been excited, and the most dreadful fears have been aroused. And now, which think you, has produced most unhappiness in this city, during the last four months, poverty and want — or re- ligious excitement? Could you but lift the veil from the public mind, and follow the multitude from the A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 221 scene of excitement to their homes; could you know their musings upon the way, their dread forebodings in the family circle, their painful meditations upon the bed in the silence of night, the wretched anxieties of parents for their children, of children for their parents, of all for themselves ; the sombre musings of those who by a law of the human mind, are precipitated from the pinnacle of hope to the valley of despair : from the fire of over- heated excitement, to the frost and cold of utter indiffer- ence ; could you see all this, as it exists in reality around you, I doubt not you would agree with me in the opinion, that the actual misery caused by poverty and bodily dis- tress, severe as it has been, has nevertheless been light and small, when compared with that which has proceed- ed from mental anxieties, caused by a false and spurious theology. This has opened the deepest fountains of hu- man wo, and called out more sighs and tears than all the frosts and snows of a cold and blustering winter, and all the pains of stern necessity and want. I say then, that the happiness of community at large, calls upon every man who desires the felicity of his fellow- creatures around him, not to halt between two opinions, but to choose whom he will serve ; and having made his choice, to lend his aid and influence in staying the deso- lating march of error, and in rolling back that deep tide of misery, that now flows over the land, and darkens all the face of human society. I tell you that the doctrines of the Gospel of impartial grace, afibrd the only anti- dote to these evils. The power of infidelity has been tried, and has failed. Indiff'erence and skepticism are but a poor shield against these enemies of our peace. It is a fixed and settled faith in the God and Saviour of all, and that alone, that can check the rising fear, dispel the gloomy doubt, hush the anxious thought, and yield con- 19* 222 DECISION OF CHARACTER, tinual peace. In the midst of all this wild uproar and confusion — this commotion of the elements, and this un- settling of the usual foundations of confidence in God and his gracious care — this triumph of fear when the public mind, unmoored from its fastenings, has been driven at the mercy of the furious winds of fanaticism, how has it fared with the steadfast believer in God's boundless grace, and in the ultimate felicity of a world ? Why, he has stood firmly upon a rock that could not be moved. Calm and tranquil as the bosom of the placid waters, sleeping in sunlight, and undisturbed by the winds, has been his mind. No anxious fears, no doubts of gloomy aspect, no dread forebodings of hopeless wo, have disturbed his noonday walks, or his midnight slumbers. When all around him has been a scene of mental anxiety, and despair has stalked abroad with a wild and haggard look, he has been at peace. He has looked up to God. There all his hopes have centered ; and though storms and tempests have been around him, he has feared no evil; for he knoweth that the rod and the staff of the Almighty, shall support and guide him, and with him, all his fearful, doubting fellows, safely to the haven of rest. I call on you, then, as the friends of human happiness, to choose this day whom ye will serve. " If the Lord be God follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him." But the public morals are concerned in this matter. I have more than once said, that love to God, and good will to man, lie at the foundation of all true morality, and I have shown that faith in God, as an impartial friend and Saviour, and a belief that man, universally, is our brother, is far better calculated to make men love God and one another, than any other faith. With these views, it will appear that the whole system of A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 223 effort for moral reform, is wrong and powerless. It all rests upon the position, that man is to be govenfied by his fears, and driven to duty, as the trembling slave with the lash. For ages men have sought to drive their fellows to virtue with the war-club of dam- nation, rather than to entice them with the olive-branch of peace. But after all, sin abounds more and more. The principle has been long and faithfully tried, and its inefficiency is written upon the face of society, and upon the history of the world. I appeal to you, if it is not time that something else were adopted, even if it be for nothing else than an ex- periment. Long has man been driven with the lash of i'ear ; it is high time to try the constraining influence of love and mercy. Long has man been treated as a slave ; it is time to begin to treat him as a child, and win him to virtue by the tenderness of a father's kindness. Long, too long, have the teachers in Israel sought to drive human nature out of man, by some sudden and myste- rious change, and too plainly is the fact written out upon the face of society, that the attempt has failed, utterly failed, and that maugre all the " new hearts " that men get, human nature will be human nature after all, and the new heart is not unfrequently as bad, or perhaps worse, than the old one. It is time for the moralist to cease his war upon human nature, and instead of labour- ing to pluck up the tree let him seek to prune it, and train and cultivate its branches, that it may grow up in fair proportions, and flourish in its beauty, and bring forth abundantly the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Bigotry and all uncharitableness, abound in the land. Strife and contention are rife around us, and so it will be as long as that worst of all aristocracies, a religious aris- tocracy, exists, and lifts the few above the many, by 224 DECISION OF CHARACTER. allowing them to claim a monopoly of the blessings of God, and of heaven itself. The moral wants of man call for a system that shall level all the proud distinc- tions of earth, and break down the separating walls of partition, that have so long and so injuriously separated man from his fellow man. Such a system is Universal- ism. It seeks to lead men rather than drive them with the lash. It wars not with nature, but seeks to improve and direct its course, and rear it up to its perfection. It teaches that God is our Father, and man everywhere our broiher — places all on one common level — promises all one common inheritance, and asks us to love God and serve him, by being kind to his creatures, and our brethren. Thus it curbs the head long passions, breaks down the pride of the haughty, and infuses into the heart that love which shows itself in works of kindness, justice, mercy, charity and benevolence. But there is another view to be taken of this subject. The present is emphatically an age of excitement. The heaving elements of mind are in commotion around us. There is excitement in the political waters. There is excitement in the monetary system. There is excite- ment in the literary world ; and look where you will, excitement is there. I need not speculate upon the cause. It may be but the natural effect of the recent liberation of the human mind from the chains and fet- ters which had bound it for ages. As the eagle, long imprisoned, when let loose from his cage, will soar aloft to wet his wings in the clouds of heaven, and gaze upon the full orbed glories of the sun — now scaling the lofty mountain's top, and now darting with incredible velocity down its rugged sides. So the human mind, long cramp- ed and fettered, is liberated, and it is stretched to its ut- most tension, and riots in all the luxury of its newly A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 225 discovered liberty. Whether this be the cause or not, the fact is certain, and blind must be the mind that can look abroad, and not discover a morbid spirit of excita- bility which pushes to every extreme, and threatens to end in anarchy and confusion. I appeal to you, if there is not need of some voice, that shall speak to the ele- ments, as the Saviour once spoke to the boisterous waves, saying, " Peace ! be still ! " that a holy and heavenly calm may ensue. And if so, I ask, where can that voice be found ? Is it in the popular systems of the day 1 Alas ! they also live in the atmosphere of excitement, and flour- ish only there. Their advocates have seized upon this very feature of the age, to urge on their sectarian schemes. Religion, too, has become a matter of excitement. In- stead of restraining the passions, and the workings of this spirit of excitabilityjit is made to live in excitement, and to feed that very morbid appetite, that it ought to deny. Universalism seeks to check the workings of this spirit of evil. It appeals not to the passions, but to the understanding. It asks men to examine with calmness, to decide with candor and deliberation, and to act with prudence, firnmess, and circumspection. It seeks to make men calm, consistent, and reasonable. And I ask, is there not need of some influence to counteract that wild spirit of excitement, which marks the character of the age, and runs riot in every department of society ? If so, then "how long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow him, but if Baal, then follow him." But, alas ! men who profess to believe in God, and to reject the claims«of Baal, have a thousand excuses and apologies, for neglecting to manifest their faith by their works. 226 DECISION OF CHARACTER, This man is a merchant, and he knows, that a profes- sion of the popular dogmas of the day, will secm-e him custom, so he bows down at the shrine of Baal, though he believes him to be no more than an idol. That man is a Physician, and he knows that a profession of faith will get him patients, so he professes with his mouth, what he does not believe in his heart. Another man is a politician, and he wants votes. He thinks, if he speaks what he thinks, it may injure him, and so he becomes all things to all men, and will bow at the altars of God or Baal, as happens to be most convenient. Another man, still, says he has a great show of charity. He be- lieves indeed in Universalism, but he is no bigot, and in the excess of his charity, he forgets to be honest. He gives his means and his influence, to support doctrines which he says he knows to be false. He says he be- lieves in Universalism, and yet from week to week, and from sabbath to sabbath, he sits under the preaching of the man who denounces Universalism, as the vilest of heresies, and gives all his influence against it, because he is no bigot, and he wishes to be charitable ! ! He may be no bigot, but he certainly is not far from a hypocrite. In the political world, if a man should profess to agree with one party, and yet do all he could to advance the interests of the other, he would be scouted from both. And yet in religion, men will fawn around the painted hypocrite of this sort, and urge him to go to this church or that, well knowing that the man is belying his con- science, and therefore sinning against God. But I can- not dwell longer. I take this occasion to express my satisfaction to this large assembly, for that patient attention with which they have listened to this protracted discussion. And I call on you as honest men and women, as fathers and A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 227 mothers, as citizens and friends, " Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve. If the Lord be God, then follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him." Amen and Amen. THE END. UNIVERSALIST BOOK ESTABLISHMENT, NO. 130 FULTON STREET, BETWEEN NASSAU AND BROADWAY, NEW YORK, ^^^^^^^VB^cTrrT' ""°^^^^^- ^^^ ^"Arr, the various PUBLICATIONS IN EXPLANATION AND DEFENCE 0*F UNIVERSALISM. chE'p^XMPHLVTS^fh^'""'^ publishing, a great variety of Tke following works are published at the Unitersaust Book Establishment, 130 Fulton-street, New- York: — The Layman's Legacy, in two vols, comprising near a thousand large 12mo. pages, embracing fifty Sermons on important doctrinal subjects, by Henry Fitz, (layman,) formerly editor of the Gospel Herald, published in New York, 1S20 to 18.27. Two volumes $2 25 Theological Discussion, (an able and interesting work,) between Ezra Stiles Ely, B.D., (Presbyterian,) and Abel C. Thomas, (Universalist.) Question — "Do the Scriptures teach Endless Misery, or Universalism ?" One volume " 63 An Argument for Christianity, by I. D. Williamson, a valuable book 50 The Universalist Manual, or Book of Prayers, with Hymns, by Menzies Rayner, formerh^ of the Episcopal Church, a useful work for the domestic circle, or as an aid in conducting public services m places destitute of the stated ministrations of the word. One volume. . 50 An Exposition and Defence of Universalism, embrac- ing views of the Unity of God, Atonement, Death of Clirist, Punishment and its Duration, Forgiveness of Sin, the Resurrection, Destruction of Death, Nature of Salva- tion, Necessity of Repentance, Utility of Faith, Moral power and influence of Universalism, etc., by I. D. Wil- liamson. One volume 50 Letters to Rev. Stephen Remington, in Review of his Lectures against Universalism, embracing the whole ground of Methodist objections to Universalism, by T. J. Sau'yer. One volume 50 The Preacher, a collection of Sermons, doctrinal and practical, by various authors. One volume 50 Letters to Rev. E. F. Hatfield, Presbyterian, in Re- view of his Lectures on Universalism, founded on Matt. XXV. 46, by B. B. Hallock. One volume. In different bindings, The Sunday School Hymn Book, by C. F. LeFevre, in pamphlet binding for schools, and neat muslin binding for presents, ALSO PUBLISHED AT THE SAME PLACE, The Universalist Union, a weekly periodical in defence of Universalism, each number containing 16 large octavo pages, (832 in a year) at $2 .50 per annum in advance. Also, The New York Christian Messenger, a weekly Jour- nal of Religion, Literature and IntelUgence, in folio form, em- bracing the'Religious and Literary matter of the Union with the addition of a NEWS RECORD. Terms $2, in advance. Ad- dress, '^ Union and Messenger, 130 Fulton-street^ iVcw YorkJ*