IF 
 
 . \ 
 
 V\A 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 BX 9941 .M66 1841 
 Cw Moore, Asher, 1810-1891 
 Shelf U^i^^^salist belief 
 
 I 
 
 - Book 
 
 4 
 
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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2009 witii funding from 
 
 Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library 
 
 littp://www.arcli ive.org/details/universalistbeliOOmoor 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF 
 
 OR THE 
 
 DOCTRINAL VIEWS 
 
 OF 
 
 UNIVERSALISTS 
 
 BY ASHER iMOORE 
 
 ^l)iUtielpMa: 
 GIHON, FAIRCHILD & CO 
 
 ISil. 
 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1811, by Gihon, 
 Fairchild & Co., in the Clerk's Office Of the District Court of the 
 United Stales in and for the Eastorn District of Pennsylvania.] 
 
 Gmoisr, Fairchild & Co., Printkrs, 
 youth East Corner of Seventh and Market Streets. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface, . . - - . 
 
 5 
 
 Introduction, .... 
 
 1 
 
 The Existence of God, 
 
 . 13 
 
 The Providence of God, 
 
 21 
 
 Reasons of Belief, 
 
 - 32 
 
 Inspiration and Truth of the Bible, 
 
 44 
 
 Causes of Skeptical Objections, 
 
 . 52 
 
 The Nature and Attributes of God, 
 
 60 
 
 Design in the Creation of Man, . 
 
 . 73 
 
 Paternity of God, 
 
 85 
 
 The Will of God, . 
 
 - Ill 
 
 Atonement, - . . - 
 
 136 
 
 Repentance, 
 
 . 159 
 
 Forgiveness, .... 
 
 175 
 
 Rewards and Punishments, 
 
 . 182 
 
 The Resurrection, 
 
 200 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It has been said by a wise man, that ♦' of 
 making books there is no end." And the author 
 of the following pages may well say in the 
 clumsy language of Bunyan's Apology, 
 
 " When at the first I took my pen in hand, 
 Tlius for to write, I did not understand 
 That I at all should make a little book 
 In such a mode." 
 
 My first intention was merely to furnish a 
 series of newspaper articles, giving the principal 
 reasons and proofs of the Universalist's faith. 
 But in an early stage of this labor, and at the 
 suo"o-estion of a friend, I determined to extend 
 the original plan, and to bring together a suffi- 
 ciency of matter to compose a small volume. 
 And I cannot but regret that the limits of this 
 book obliged me to be too brief in the considera- 
 tion of several important points of doctrine, and 
 to omit entirely some others that seemed to de- 
 mand attention. It was designed that the sub- 
 ject of the Trinity should be introduced and 
 examined at considerable length ; but it was soon 
 perceived that the entire plan could not be exe- 
 cuted within the limits prescribed ; and it was 
 1* 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 thought that this particular topic could be omit- 
 ted with as much propriety as any other. It is 
 believed that a tolerable connexion is preserved 
 without it ; and perhaps if it had occupied a few 
 chapters, the value of the work would not have 
 been materially enhanced. 
 
 Most of the following chapters have appeared 
 in successive numbers of the " Nazarene," 
 from which they were transferred into the form 
 of a book. And, considering the manner in 
 which they were written and published, it is 
 hoped that the reader will make suitable allow- 
 ances for the length of some of the chapters, 
 and also for whatever want of connexion may 
 be desirable. If the entire work had been pre- 
 pared for the press before any part was lodged 
 with the printer, it is quite possible that it would 
 have appeared with fewer faults than will now 
 be detected. The book, however, will not pre- 
 tend to abide unharmed the searching glance of 
 the critic. It is designed to make known to 
 such as need the information, what Universalists 
 believe, and ivhy they believe. And in the hope 
 that it may tend, in some small degree, to the 
 accomplishment of this necessary object, and 
 Willi fervent prayers that the blessing of God 
 may attend it wherever it shall go, it is humbly 
 submitted bv a servant and lover of man. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The object of this work is to give a brief state- 
 ment of the principal articles of Universalist 
 belief, and of the reasons by which they are sup- 
 ported. I am well aware that this labor has 
 been repeatedly performed, and far more ably 
 than the reader has any good reason to suppose 
 that it will now be executed. But I write chiefly 
 for the benefit of those who are yet unacquainted 
 with the doctrine of Universalism, and its unan- 
 swerable proofs. There are manj^ such scattered 
 throughout the land; and we have reason to 
 hope that the present undertaking may be the 
 means of enlightening some minds, which might 
 otherwise still remain in ignorance of what we 
 really believe. This unpretending little volume 
 may reach some places where but few, perhaps 
 none of our numerous publications have ever 
 been known. And it is possible that it may 
 contain matter entirely new to some who shall 
 read it, and become the instrument in the hands 
 of God of leading them into the enjoyment of 
 that blessed Gospel, which is " glad tidings of 
 great joy, that shall be to all people." 
 
Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It may also be observed that new converts are 
 constantly coming into our churches ; and we 
 may suppose that they are desirous to obtain a 
 clear understanding of the grounds of our faith, 
 and to be more fully instructed in the way of 
 life and salvation. And to such, we trust, our 
 present labor will be acceptable. The power of 
 prejudice is not easily broken ; and after a man 
 has been brought to the knowledge of divine 
 truth, he may be unable to divest himself at 
 once of the influence of prepossession. We are 
 so much the creatures of education and habit 
 that strono^ and vijrorous efforts are needed to 
 free us from the errors of early years. Some of 
 the early disciples of Jesus, having before been 
 Jev/s, " taught the brethren, and jaid. Except 
 ye be circumcised after the mansfer of Moses, 
 ye cannot be saved." There are persons among 
 us who have little knowledge of our doctrine, 
 any farther than to feel convinced of the fact that 
 all mankind will be finally blessed in Jesus 
 Christ. They do not understand the whole 
 foundation of this blessed faith, so as to be able 
 to proceed understandingly from the first prin- 
 ciples of the Gospel of Christ, to the ultimate 
 results of God's economy in the moral govern- 
 ment of his intelligent creation. And they may 
 be profited even by an imperfect statement and 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 feeble defence of our peculiar views on the ge- 
 neral subject of Christian Theology. Nay, such 
 as are well instructed, in these matters, may 
 strengthen their faith and confirm their hopes, 
 and be better prepared to answer the inquiring 
 and confound the perverse, by a renewed exami- 
 nation of the grounds and the reasons of our 
 faith. 
 
 There are many persons in this community 
 who are favorably impressed with Universalism, 
 but who are almost entirely ignorant of every 
 truth peculiar to this system of doctrine. Their 
 habits of thought are all opposed, but the feel- 
 ings and desires of their hearts are in its favor. 
 They are shocked with the merciless horrors of 
 the doctrines which they hear in their own 
 churches, and always pleased and comforted 
 when they hear anything like that Gospel, 
 which is " good tidings of great joy, that shall 
 be to all people." They are feeling after " a 
 more excellent way," and panting for the waters 
 of life. They are worthy of the true bread of 
 God, that cometh down from heaven and giveth 
 life unto the world. And if they could only be 
 brought to see the errors which they have been 
 taught, and to understand that the Gospel re- 
 veals the great and successful plan of universal 
 redemption from sin and death, they would em- 
 brace the whole truth of God with rejoicing 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 spirits. They are, in their hearts, inquirers 
 after Universalism ; though they may not take 
 the proper steps to obtain an acquaintance with 
 this doctrine. They are subject to many re- 
 straints, and do not feel free to attend our 
 churches and hear our preaching. But they will- 
 nevertheless read when they find opportunity. 
 And we can reach at least some of them through 
 the medium of the press, when we could not 
 gain access to them in any other way. The 
 silent messenger will go where the speaking 
 witness cannot be heard. And in the present 
 state of society we are required to avail ourselves 
 of every opportunity to shed abroad the light 
 and the knowledge of God's truth. 
 
 Other reasons might be presented to justify 
 our repeated attempts to explain what we be- 
 lieve. We are falsely accused. Our opposers 
 have long pursued the unfair policy of imputing 
 to us doctrines which we never advocated nor 
 believed. Many honest people believe these 
 slanderous reports; and, without any knowledge 
 of Universalism, they feel that they would be 
 guilty of a high offence against God, if they 
 were to enter our places of public devotion, and 
 obey the injunction of Paul, to "prove all things." 
 They condemn us unheard ; and persecute us — 
 they know not why. What have we ever done 
 that we are thus dreaded and shunned ? Have 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 we ever laid violent hands upon the ark of the 
 Christian covenant ? Have we ever trodden un- 
 der foot the Son of God, and accounted the blood 
 of the everlasting covenant an unclean thing ? 
 Have we sought to remove the foundations of 
 Christian hope, or to take from the afflicted and 
 dying the support and comforts of religion ? 
 Have we endeavored to subvert the peace and 
 good order of society, and to induce sinful man 
 to cast off fear and restrain prayer ? What have 
 we done ? Reader, the whole sum and substance 
 of our offence is, that we have avowed our 
 " trust in the living God, tvho is the Savior of 
 all men, specially of those that believe." 
 
 We are sorry to say that we do not expect 
 any thing like justice at the hands of our deter- 
 mined and violent opposers. They never present 
 our doctrine in its true light before the people. 
 There is nothing in what we really believe to 
 shook the feelings of any man who has ever felt 
 the influence of Christian truth. We should not be 
 despised by any man who is worthy to be called 
 a follower of Christ, if our doctrine were well 
 understood. They who know the least of our 
 faith are the most bitter in their opposition. 
 And the policy of our adversaries has ever been 
 to misrepresent our views, and thus keep the 
 people in ignorance of what we do believe and 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 teach. We are classed with Deists and Infidels, 
 and denied the evangelical name. And in order 
 to sustain these false imputations, we have been 
 accused of being the enemies of vital religion, 
 and our doctrine has been subjected to every 
 species of misrepresentation that the cunning 
 and craft of our foes have been able to invent. 
 
 The task of defence is required at our hands. 
 If the public are ever made acquainted with our 
 faith, it will be through our own means. And 
 though we have not the vanity to expect, nor 
 any reason to hope, that every body will be 
 eager to read what we write, we do believe that 
 every effort that we make to explain our doctrine 
 is attended with desirable results. Some few 
 are thus enlightened by every succeeding effort, 
 while a still greater number are made to think 
 more favorably of that " sect which every where 
 is spoken against." AVe feel obliged to be pa- 
 tient and persevering. But while we " bear all 
 things,"we feel encouraged to "hope all things." 
 Though false charges against us are repeated 
 after they have been triumphantly refuted, we 
 are willing to travel over the same ground again. 
 And, with the blessing of God, we shall continue 
 our exertions until all wrong impressions are 
 corrected, and the truth of the living God is 
 known and enjoyed in its fulness. 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 
 
 The foundation of all religious truth is the ex- 
 istence of God. This fundamental principle of 
 reason and of revelation supports the entire su- 
 perstructure of Universalist belief. And though 
 some of ouv dishonorable opponents have endea- 
 vored to persuade the world that we are thorough 
 skeptics, we have never supposed that they them- 
 selves consider this imputation honest and just. 
 They knoiv^ if indeed they know any thing of 
 our belief, that this charge is both false and ma- 
 licious. And if we were to bring any such "rail- 
 ing accusation" against them, they would be 
 justified in pronouncing us any thing but honest 
 men and lovers of truth ! But for the honor of 
 humanity and religion, we trust that there are but 
 few persons to be found who are base enough to 
 give utterance to such wicked and diabcJical 
 2 
 
14 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 slander ! Certainly no denomination under hea- 
 ven would sanction such an outrage upon all that 
 is worthy and of good report. We speak of the 
 sin of a few individuals of "the baser sort" — of 
 men whose conduct would be a reproach to " the 
 father of lies," and who do despite to human na- 
 ture ! We have no patience with such men ; 
 and if they cannot be brought to some faint sense 
 of common justice and honesty, they ought at 
 least to be held up to the righteous indignation 
 of every virtuous mind. We censure no man 
 for his errors of faith. We ask none to believe 
 our doctrine without sufficient evidence of its 
 truth. But we have a right to demand of all? 
 and especially of such as profess to be religious 
 men, something like honest and fair dealing. 
 
 In view of the innumerable and irrefragable 
 proofs every where discernible of the Creator's 
 works, it would seem impossible that any sane 
 mind should really deny the existence of that Al- 
 mighty Power which is the source of life and 
 the soul of the universe ! In every department 
 of nature we plainly behold the most evident 
 marks of design and contrivance. And the com- 
 mon reason of man declares that wherever these 
 marks are certainly found, there must have been 
 a designer and contriver. No axiom of the 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 15 
 
 most simple and intelligible philosophy is more 
 fully established and more entirely free from eve- 
 ry possible cavil, than that no effect can in any 
 case be produced independently of an adequate 
 cause. We are well aware that this statement 
 is not new ; but though quite familiar to us all, 
 its truth has never been invalidated either by the 
 powers of sound reasoning or the arts of sophis- 
 try. And so clearly self-evident is this proposi- 
 tion, that no man endued with the faculties com- 
 mon to our race, could be persuaded to believe 
 that a nicely-constructed machine, in which the 
 evidences of skill and design are plainly and 
 strongly exhibited, created itself and continues to 
 operate by its own inherent powers. Any man, 
 whatever might be his belief and peculiar habits 
 of thought, upon beholding such a piece of me- 
 chanism, though he might know nothing of the 
 mechanic, would be sure that the hand of awork- 
 man had there been exercised. 
 
 Now we would not harshly condemn the un- 
 fortunate skeptic ; nor deny to him that honesty 
 and sincerity of heart in the advocacy of his 
 opinions, to which he may be justly entitled. 
 Such railing may in some instances proceed from 
 earnestness of spirit in the cause of truth; but it 
 furnishes no argument, and is unworthy of any 
 
16 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 man's notice. But we desire that the skeptic 
 would reason concerning the works of God just 
 as we all do in regard to the works of man ; and 
 wherever there are indisputable proofs of wisdom 
 and power, candidly admit that there must have 
 been a wise and powerful agent employed. 
 
 Is not this course sanctioned by reason ? And 
 who ever doubted that the works of Nature, 
 from the smallest spire of grass that shoots from 
 the earth, up to the vast worlds and systems of 
 worlds that revolve in the immensity of space, 
 exhibit the most striking and forcible proofs of 
 loisdom and design f The simple fact is uni- 
 versally admitted ; and if doubted, could be sub- 
 stantiated by an array of proof sufficient to con- 
 vince every mind, capable of perceiving the 
 force of an argument, and candid enough to ac- 
 knowledge the convictions of the understanding. 
 
 Behold the perfect order and regularity with 
 which the heavenly bodies perform their appoint- 
 ed revolutions ; and see the wisdom displayed in 
 all the arrangements and economy of nature, and 
 in the careful adaptation of means to certain and 
 benevolent ends. And what but Infinite Wisdom 
 could have suspended the sun in the firmament 
 to dispense light and heat to surrounding worlds 
 — fixed the planets in their courses — marked out 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 17 
 
 the track of the comet — and set the whole ma- 
 chinery of the heavens in such perfect motion 
 that one body never disturbs the movements of 
 another, and even the time of a distant eclipse 
 may be foretold by man ? What but a designing 
 hand could have placed every creature in that 
 particular sphere of life for which its own pecu- 
 liar nature is best suited — conferred the neces- 
 sary powers, and furnished all the means and 
 provisions for the support of life and the attain- 
 ment of happiness ? AVho but a skilful work- 
 man could have constructed our bodies in all 
 their fearful and wonderful mechanism, and en- 
 dued us with all the senses and faculties that we 
 possess ? And in view of all these things, may we 
 not well pause, and exclaim with pleasing won- 
 der and joy, in the language of the devout Psalm- 
 ist — " He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? 
 and he that formed the eye, shall He not see ?" 
 
 It may indeed be affirmed that all things were 
 produced and are regulated and controlled by the 
 laius of nature. But this assertion only provokes 
 a question that demands attention. What is 
 here meant by nature ? Does it mean the rw«- 
 ferials of which the planets and the world are 
 composed — the simple elementary principles of 
 all things ? If this be the meaning, the conclu- 
 
18 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 sion unavoidably follows that nature is nothing 
 more nor less than matter. And what are the 
 laws of matter? Every man who has reflected 
 on this subject will answer that one great and 
 pervading law of matter is inertia, or the inca- 
 pability of motion, until some power is applied 
 to give it the force of action. And we think 
 every skeptic will readily admit that life and mo- 
 tion are not original and independent qualities of 
 inanimate matter, but will contend that they are 
 the effect of organization. 
 
 The reader can now see the subject in a tan- 
 gible form, and understand the bearings and force 
 of the whole argument. Matter is inert, and 
 life is the result of some particular combination 
 of matter. The question now to be decided, is, 
 what power brought matter into that state of or- 
 ganization necessary to constitute being, and in- 
 spired it with life and motion? For no such 
 power is found in j/norganized matter ; and sure- 
 ly none will be so perversely unreasonable as to 
 suppose that mere matter could confer that which 
 it never possessed ! And if by some strange 
 and fortunate freak of blind chance, matter 
 should exert a power which it never possessed, 
 and succeed in effecting an organization, it might 
 be questioned whether life would be the necessa- 
 ry result. 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. J 9 
 
 But let us be accommodating, and even sup- 
 pose that matter could confer life. Whence 
 came beings possessing the faculties of thought, 
 reason, will and memory ? Are these the pro- 
 ductions of an unknowiiig, unthinking, unwil- 
 ling cause ? The proposition is too manifestly 
 absurd and opposed to every principle of reason 
 and common sense to require refutation. And 
 if, to avoid the difficulty, it be asserted that mat- 
 ter is intelligent, (which is certainly not true,) 
 we have only to say that intelligence constitutes 
 being; and an intelligent Being is the great 
 First Cause in which we believe. 
 
 It is therefore plainly perceived that however 
 remotely we may trace the causes of existing 
 things, and whatever curious theories we may 
 conceive, we must ultimately arrive at the con- 
 clusion, that there was before all things, an Intel- 
 ligent life-giving Cause. The skill and design 
 manifest in the works of creation, the order and 
 harmony of the Universe, and the wise and per- 
 fect adaptation of one thing to another, and of 
 means to ends, can be rationally and satisfacto- 
 rily accounted for in no other way. This great 
 Cause we call God — leaving others to denomi- 
 nate it what they please. If any choose to call 
 \i nature, or the laws of nature, we shall neithey 
 
20 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 dispute their right nor question their motives. 
 And, indeed, we are inclined to believe that the 
 whole controversy is rather about ivords than 
 ideas : for it seems impossible for the mind to 
 believe, notwithstanding " \hefool hath said in 
 his heart, there is no God," that any sane man 
 is actually an Atheist ! 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 
 
 Both reason and Scripture declare that all 
 creatures owe their existence to the same Su- 
 preme Power. And whatever explanations may- 
 be proposed in regard to the things that exist 
 and happen in the world, the enquiring mind 
 can never rest satisfied until the great truth is 
 well understood that God governs all worlds 
 and controls every event. The superficial 
 thinker, with more reverence than reason, star- 
 tles at the declaration that C4od is the Creator 
 and Director of all things ; and with feelings of 
 profound awe, aims to vindicate the character of 
 the Supreme Being, by utterly denying the uni- 
 versal extent of his Providence. But every 
 such attempt is sure to result in conclusions 
 alike dishonorable to God, and unsatisfactory to 
 the sober mind that thinks deeply, and will re- 
 ceive no substitute for consistent truth. Has 
 God created beings that he cannot, or will not 
 govern according to the determinations of his 
 own will? Can any event happen throughout 
 
22 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF, 
 
 the vast extent of his unbounded empire, with- 
 out his permission, and without his unerring 
 knowledge of what shall be the consequence? 
 Are there any limits to his watchful care and 
 his unclouded vision ? And, in the exercise of 
 his unrivalled power, what can disturb the har- 
 mony of his works, or in the smallest degree 
 baffle " the operation of his hands ?" How pure 
 soever may be the intentions of the man who 
 denies the full and perfect providence of God 
 over every event, such denial, if well consider- 
 ed, will be found to lead to conclusions that be- 
 long to the Atheist's creed ! When once this 
 limitation of God's superintending wisdom and 
 power is sanctioned, no man can tell where it 
 shall end ! 
 
 The ancient Persians believed in the exist- 
 ence of two creative and governing powers ; 
 the one the source of all light and good, and the 
 other the author of all darkness and evil. This 
 doctrine was introduced into the Christian 
 Church and blended with the religion of Christ, 
 by one Cubricus, otherwise called Manes, in the 
 third century — and seems still to be advocated 
 by no inconsiderable portion of the Christian 
 world. It may not be held in these days in the 
 same form in which it used to exist; but the doc- 
 trine itself, though denied in name, still has a be- 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 23 
 
 ing in Christendom. And the belief very ex- 
 tensively prevails that there is in the universe a 
 mighty being who is the author of all evil, 
 ivhose kingdom is erected in opposition to that 
 of the Almighty, and who will finally succeed 
 in securing to himself a large portion of the off- 
 spring of God ! 
 
 This doctrine is believed on the supposed 
 ground that there is in the universe, absolute, 
 ultimate evil, which never could have been crea- 
 ted by a good Being. It is thought to be esta- 
 blished by the very necessity of the case : For 
 nothing could be more inconsistent or paradoxi- 
 cal than the supposition that real and endless 
 evil should proceed from the very fountain of all 
 goodness ! The conclusion is undoubtedly cor- 
 rect; hut the premises from which it is drawn 
 find no support in reason and truth. 
 
 When we direct our attention to the Scrip- 
 tures, we are taught that there is but one Crea- 
 tor ; and that all things have proceeded from a 
 common source. There is one Being in the 
 universe whose existence is from eternity. He 
 was before every other being and all events, and 
 is the original Cause of all thinofs. 
 
 " Ere the infant sun 
 Was rolled together, or had tried his beams 
 Athwart the gloom profouad,' 
 
24 UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 He lived in the perfection of his nature, with no 
 rival power to intercept the exercise of his om- 
 nipotence ! The earth was moulded by his skill, 
 inhabited by his power, and man inspired with 
 life by the breath of his mouth ! No other 
 agent is named in the record of creation. God 
 created, and He alone. He said, *' Let there be 
 light; and there was light." "i^e spake, and 
 it was done ; He commanded, and it stood fast." 
 And as to the existence of that which is sup- 
 posed to have been produced by another and far 
 different power, we find that its creation is as- 
 cribed to God. It is written, Isaiah xlv. 7, "/ 
 form the light, and create darkness: I make 
 peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these 
 things.''^ The same Power that commanded 
 the light to shine out of darkness, covers the 
 earth with the mantle of night. And He that 
 speaks peace to the troubled elements of nature, 
 raises the whirlwind and the storm, and scatters 
 the blight of mildew and death over the face of 
 creation ! He hardened the heart of Pharaoh, 
 and transformed the murderous Saul into a mes- 
 senger of glad tidings and peace. He blinded 
 the eyes of Israel that they should not know the 
 Messiah promised their fathers, and granted the 
 light of the Gospel to the benighted Gentiles, 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF 
 
 25 
 
 He caused the law to enter that transgression 
 might abound, and that grace might much more 
 abound, even unto eternal life through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. And he has concluded all men 
 in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all ! 
 
 Creative power belongs to God alone. And 
 whatever exists or happens is caused either di- 
 rectly or remotely by him ; or at least permitted 
 by his wisdom for some good purpose. That 
 the entire race of mankind have been produced 
 hy his omnific energies, none will attempt to 
 deny. If one man could come into existence 
 without his agency, all things might exist inde- 
 pendently of his power. But all believe, because 
 there is no room for any diversity of sentiment,that 
 the Deity is "the God of the spirits of all flesh," 
 and the Father of all men. We may, however, 
 proceed still farther, and say that all things af- 
 fecting the interests of man, are subject to the 
 perfect and supreme control of God. And this 
 fact, although many pretend to deny it, necessa- 
 rily results from the supposition that evil is 
 caused by beings whom God has created ! 
 
 We would not be understood to affirm that 
 God is the direct or immediate cause of any of 
 the apparent disorders of the world ; but mere- 
 ly that all things, when traced through secohda- 
 3 
 
26 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 ry causes up to their first origin, will be foun(i 
 to proceed from Him. And what say the Scrip- 
 tures ? " Shall there be evil in a city, and the 
 Lord hath not done it?^^ Amos iii. 6. No 
 evil proceeds directly from God, who is the 
 source and perfection of goodness. But he per- 
 mits evils to exist in the world, not that an ulti- 
 mate injury may thereby be inflicted upon a por- 
 tion of his creatures, and the harmony of his 
 works forever destroyed; but for the accom- 
 plishment of such ends as shall be compatible 
 with his own nature, character and government. 
 And we ask, if this view of the subject does not 
 reflect greater honor upon the character of the 
 Divinity, than that which supposes that evil ex- 
 ists in opposition to the divine intentions, and 
 will finally be the means of destroying the har- 
 mony of his works, and of defeating his right- 
 eous and benevolent purposes ? The reader is 
 particularly desired candidly and seriously to 
 ponder this question. 
 
 In whatever difficulties the subject may be in- 
 volved, we cannot believe that creative energy 
 belongs to any other than God; or that the 
 smallest thing can be efl'ectcd without the aid of 
 power at first derived from him. And in the 
 full persuasion that such is the doctrine of the 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 27 
 
 Scriptures, we hold it as a truth, demanding be- 
 lief and worthy of G od ! 
 
 The same Power that created all beings and 
 set in motion the operations of universal nature, 
 governs with the hand of a Sovereign every 
 creature and every event. Nothing can live and 
 move without his aid. He upholds, sustains, 
 and directs all things. And though clouds and 
 darkness are round about him, and his judg- 
 ments are unsearchable and his ways past find- 
 ing out, we are assured in his word that he 
 *' ivorketh all things after the counsel of his 
 own will.'''' His will is done, as well among 
 the inhabitants of the earth, as in the armies of 
 heaven. 
 
 " The general order since the world began, 
 Is kept in nature, and is kept in man.'''' 
 We admit that there are many things in the 
 divine economy above human comprehension. 
 We behold evils and sufferings in the world 
 without being able to perceive that any good can 
 ever result from their existence. And how 
 shall the mind obtain satisfaction in reference to 
 such subjects? Consider first what may be 
 known of God's ways from the visible opera- 
 tions of his hands. In the natural world we see 
 
28 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 the atmosphere purified and rendered sahibri- 
 oiis, by the same thunder and lightning that 
 leave in their train destruction and death. The 
 water that destroys the property and the lives of 
 men, enriches the earth, and causes it to bring 
 forth seed to the sower and bread to the eater. 
 And even in the moral world we have seen evils 
 effect their own cures, and be the means of last- 
 ing good. The calamities of war have height- 
 ened the blessings of peace ; and nations and in- 
 dividuals have been taught the necessity of mo- 
 deration by the evils of excess. 
 
 A slight knowledge of God's works and ways 
 will show that he has constituted all creatures 
 for enjoyment. The impress of benevolence is 
 discernible in every thing that he has made. And 
 when we see the innocent babe, "born only to 
 weep and die," knowing nothing of the world save 
 its sufferings, and closing its eyes in sorrow, and 
 we are unable here to recognise the hand of a 
 kind and benignant Being, we should judge of 
 God's ways from what we know. Our atten- 
 tion should be turned to the Scriptures to ascer- 
 tain upon w\i3.t principles his government is ad- 
 ministered, and what are the purposes of his 
 will in reference to mankind. We find it there 
 declared that God is ^ood to all his creatures ; 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 29 
 
 and that the sufferings of the present time are 
 not worthy to be compared to the glory which 
 shall hereafter be revealed in us. 
 
 " Here tlien we rest ; the universal cause 
 Acts to one end, but acts by various laws.'" 
 
 If we had lived in the days of Jacob, and wit- 
 nessed his afflictions in the loss of Joseph, we 
 should have been unable to reconcile such an 
 event with the universal and changeless benevo- 
 lence of the overruling Power. We should have 
 supposed, either that the hand of God was not 
 in the affair, or else that he was indifferent to 
 the happiness of his creatures. But when we 
 look to the sequel of the history, we find that 
 the very evils which appeared so great, were the 
 means of accomplishing the greatest good. The 
 slavery of Joseph in Egypt, enabled him to pre- 
 serve his father and family alive, and to perpetu- 
 ate the tribe from which came " the Savior 
 of the world." 
 
 If we had witnessed the rejection and death 
 of Jesus, we might have supposed, as did the 
 disciples, that his religion was destroyed, and 
 his kingdom forever abolished. And yet we 
 now learn from the Scriptures, that the death of 
 our Master was the great means of establishing 
 his religion, and of giving permanency to his 
 3* 
 
30 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 kingdom on earth. His enemies, who were 
 blinded, unwittingly fulfilled the Scriptures, and 
 were instruments in the hands of God in pro- 
 ving that Jesus was the Messiah promised their 
 fathers. 
 
 And if we had seen the rejection of Israel and 
 the call of the Gentiles, we might have thought 
 that God had cast away his people. But Paul 
 has assured us, Romans xi, that the casting 
 away of the Jews is th6 enriching of the world, 
 and that the receiving of them shall be life 
 from the dead. He has explained the great 
 mystery, and shown that the blindness of Israel 
 is only partial, and that they shall all be saved, 
 together with the fulness of the Gentiles. Well 
 then might he exclaim with pleasing wonder 
 and joy, "0 the depths of the riches both of the 
 wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearch- 
 able are his judgments, and his ways past find- 
 ing out!" 
 
 Though sin and wickedness abound in the 
 world, and men are punished for their trans- 
 gressions, God is ever carrying forward his 
 wise and benevolent designs. Every thing is 
 subject to his supreme control, and subservient 
 to the accomplishment of his holy will. He can 
 say to the angry passions of the human soul, as 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 31 
 
 to the raging billows of the mighty deep, Hither- 
 to shall ye come, but no farther ! He has " de- 
 clared the end from the beginning, and from an- 
 cient times the things that are not yet done, say- 
 ing, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all 
 my pleasure." And though his judgments are 
 unsearchable and his ways past finding out, in 
 His all- comprehensive view every thing is tend- 
 ing to the final execution of his plans, and the 
 eventual blessedness in Christ Jesus of the 
 whole race of Adam ! 
 
 " All nature is but art, unknown to thee ; 
 All chance, direction, which thou canst not see ; 
 All discord, harmony not understood ; 
 All partial evil, universal good." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 REASONS OF BELIEF. 
 
 The Apostle Paul has said, 2d Cor. iv. 13, 
 *'We having the same spirit of faith, according 
 as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I 
 spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak." 
 The passage of ancient scripture to which 
 Paul here refers, is found in the 116th Psalm. 
 Believing that the Lord was gracious, righteous 
 and merciful, David gave expression to the feel- 
 ings of his heart, and openly declared his hope 
 and confidence in the God of salvation. And 
 having the same spirit of faith, and believing on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ with all the heart, Paul 
 honestly and faithfully declared to the world the 
 grounds and reasons of his belief. 
 
 In the conduct of this eminent servant of God 
 we find an example well worthy of imitation. 
 In whatever fanciful theories we may indulge — 
 whatever may be our mere speculations in regard 
 to things of a sacred nature, nothing deserves to 
 be dignified with the name of belief, unless some 
 foundation can be shown and some reason offer- 
 ed for its support. And, when, from careful 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 66 
 
 study in a right spirit, any faith toward God has 
 been obtained, that faith should be expressed 
 to others. "I believed, and therefore have I 
 spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.'* 
 Belief is not mere conjecture : nor is it posi- 
 tive knowledge. It is the persuasion or convic- 
 tion of the understanding that some unknown 
 thing is true ; and it must result from the force 
 of evidence, either real or imaginary. The 
 greatest falsehood may be firmly believed ; but 
 in such a case there is some supposed reason 
 sufficient to induce belief in the mind. And a 
 good understanding of that reason would remove 
 the delusion, and discover the cheat. But when 
 a conjecture is formed without any exercise 
 of the reasoning powers of the mind ; and is 
 thought to be true, though no ground whatever 
 can be assigned for its support, all this comes 
 short of belief and is sheer imagination. Per- 
 haps many persons deceive themselves by cher- 
 ishing mere speculations as their strongest faith 
 and their dearest hopes. They may fancy that 
 this thing is true, and that the other will here- 
 after be revealed, when at the same time they can 
 assign no reason tvhi/ they thus think. It is a 
 mistake to suppose that any such ideal creations 
 are belief And we fear that such things are too 
 
34 TJNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 common among Christian people of the present 
 day. There is a fearful tendency among reli- 
 gious teachers to demand belief, without produ- 
 cing sufficient evidence to convince the candid 
 thinker that the thing to be believed is true. 
 And when a doctrine is embraced without being 
 understood, through fear of incurring the suppo- 
 sed consequences of not embracing it, belief is 
 excluded, though the imagination is terrified. 
 
 In speaking of Christian belief, Paul said, 
 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped 
 for, the evidence ['ground, or, confidence,' in the 
 marginal reading,] of things not seen." The 
 man in whom the spirit of this faith dwells can 
 inform you what he hopes for; and he can also 
 furnish you with the evidences upon which his 
 belief is founded. He is uninfluenced by any 
 considerations of good policy— he has received 
 the mere opinion of no man as the basis of his 
 faith and hopes — he thinks he believes nothing 
 for which he can offer no reason, in the expecta- 
 tion of thus securing the interests of his soul — but 
 his mind has felt the weight of evidence, and 
 FAITH is the result. He may possess but small 
 gifts, and his tongue be unused to " set speech," 
 but he knows in whom he has trusted, and he 
 can show you the grounds of his confidence. 
 
UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 35' 
 
 And thoiiorh he has not actual knowledcre of all 
 things involving his interests, he " walks by 
 faith, and not by sight," knowing in whom he 
 has trusted, and feeling well assured that his 
 hopes are built upon the precious foundation- 
 stone laid in Zion ! Such is faith, resting upon 
 evidence ; and the believer is required to speak 
 and make known the reasons of his belief. 
 
 The Scriptures require no man to believe any 
 thing, of the truth of which he can find no evi- 
 dence. They demand no implicit faith ; but in- 
 struct us to be always ready to give a reason of 
 the hope that we cherish. The Psalmist did 
 more than to call upon men to see the Divine 
 goodness — he invited them to taste and see that 
 the Lord is good, to learn the fact from a know- 
 ledge of his works and ways. Nay, the Divine 
 word cautions us against believing every spirit, 
 and commands us to try the spirits whether they 
 are of God. And Jehovah himself said to the 
 children of Israel, " Come, now, and let us rea- 
 son together." From all these instructions, our 
 duty in regard to matters of belief is perfectly 
 plain. AVe must think, reason, compare and 
 judge for ourselves, and not for one another, be- 
 ing accountable to God alone. No man or body 
 of men has any right to prescribe to us what \ve 
 
36 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 shall believe, or to call us to account for our 
 faith. Belief is a personal thing ; and even God 
 requires of us no more than to avail ourselves of 
 all the means within our reach, to make the best 
 possible use of our powers, and to believe that 
 which comes from sincere and honest inquiry, 
 and is the result of evidence. And having thus 
 believed, the example of inspired men calls upon 
 us to speak. 
 
 In imitation of this example, we have under- 
 taken to state the grounds and reasons of our 
 faith — to show ivhat we believe, and why 
 we believe. The subject before us presents a 
 wide field of labor, and we have no expectation 
 of fully exploring it in all its parts. Although' 
 the substance of our faith and the foundation that 
 supports it, may be stated in a few words, the 
 theme is vast and boundless, and might be con- 
 templated forever, while new beauties would be 
 constantly unfolded to the mind. The riches of 
 Christ are unsearchable, and the love of God 
 passeth all understanding. And the glories of 
 redemption, into which angels desired to look, 
 could hardly be set forth in all their brightness 
 by the feeble powers of man. But there is much 
 of interest within our reach, and we hope to be 
 able to show by reason and scripture that the 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 37 
 
 doctrine of Universal Salvation, though despised 
 and rejected of men, as was " the Savior of the 
 world," is worthy of all acceptation. 
 
 We solemnly believe that the views which 
 we hold of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, 
 are not only the most honorable to him and the 
 most compatible with his works and word ; but 
 also the best calculated of any that have ever 
 been entertained, to save men both from the 
 evils of fanaticism and from the deleterious in- 
 fluence of Infidelity. We wish not to cast re- 
 proach upon our fellow-christians who believe 
 doctrines that we abhor ; nor do we seek to ex- 
 alt ourselves in knowledge and usefulness above 
 the faithful and devoted teachers whom we be- 
 lieve to be in great error. But we simply state 
 the deliberate conviction of our mind, and thus 
 incidentally present a very important reason for 
 the labor in which we are now enofaored. 
 
 The late Dr. Emmons, who has quite recent- 
 ly been called to sleep with his fathers, says, in 
 his Appendix to Edwards against Chauncey, 
 " There is a larger number than these, [thorough 
 skeptics,] perhaps, who ar.e making swift and 
 bold advances in the cause of Infidelity, and 
 leave no methods unemployed to discredit divine 
 Revelation, and subvert the foundations of Chris- 
 4 
 
^8 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 tianity. They need not tell the world their mo- 
 tives; Were they not convinced that the Bihle 
 contains the doctrine of eternal pwiisiiments, 
 they would not rack their invention to find argu- 
 ments to persuade themselves and others, that the 
 Scriptures are a cunningly devised fable. Let 
 this doctrine be erased from the Bible, and every 
 Deist would become its votary, and exchange 
 his Bolingbroke, Voltaire, or Chesterfield, for 
 that sacred volume. It is this doctrine cdone that 
 compels them to renounce a book, which bears so 
 many signatures of divinity, and Avhich they are 
 constrained to acknowledge contains the most ex- 
 cellent institutions, instructions and commands. 
 But so weak is their infidelity, we presume they 
 would rejoice to find the Bible on their side, to 
 confirm their wavering hopes and feeble pros- 
 pects of future happiness. And this is what the 
 scheme of universal salvation promises. It flat- 
 ters them that the Bible is their friend ^ and an- 
 nounces eternal felicity to them and to all man- 
 kind. Accordingly, it is well known, that num- 
 bers of a deistical turn have become converts to 
 this agreeable doctrine, and many others are im- 
 minently exposed to fall into the fatal snare. 
 But this is flying from the iron weapon, and 
 fushing on the bow of steel. For if any discard 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 39 
 
 the Bible because they know that it does contain 
 the doctrine of future and eternal punishments, 
 or embrace it because they imagine that it does 
 not contain that doctrine, they will infallibly 
 meet with disappointment and ruin in the end." 
 These concessions of an eminent theologian 
 and distinguished opposer of our faith, contain 
 truths that ought to be generally known among 
 Christian people. It is the doctrine of endless 
 misery alone that compels men to renounce a 
 book, which they are constrained to acknowledge 
 contains the most excellent institutions and in- 
 structions, and which they would eagerly embrace 
 and believe, if they could only feel well persua^ 
 ded that it gives no support to that doctrine and 
 its concomitant cruelties and absurdities ! The 
 scheme of universal salvation aims to convince 
 them "that the Bible is their friend" and 
 the friend of all mankind— that it proclaims 
 i^o-ood tidings of great joy that shall be to cdl 
 people" — and that if they were brought to be- 
 lieve its messages of salvation, they would thus 
 "confirm their wavering hopes and feeble pros- 
 pects of future happiness," and be enabled to "re- 
 joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 
 Why should we preach a doctrine that compels 
 pen to reject that which they feel constr.aine^ 
 
40 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 to acknowledge is excellent and good ; and 
 which they would cherish with warm and grate- 
 ful hearts, if this chief and only obstacle were 
 removed from their minds ? And why should 
 we be censured by any lover of Christian truth 
 and righteousness, for laboring to deliver men 
 from the only influence that binds them to Infi- 
 delity, and to bring them into the happy belief 
 that God "will have all men to be saved, and to 
 come unto the knowledge of the truth ?" If we 
 can induce "numbers of a deistical turn" to be- 
 lieve that Jesus Christ is "the Savior of the 
 world," and thus be the means of subduing their 
 opposition and enlisting their souls in the cause 
 of the Gospel, we shall accomplish a good work; 
 and we ought to receive the thanks, and not the 
 reproaches of good men. 
 
 We cannot believe that God has revealed any 
 doctrine, the knowledge of which forms the on- 
 ly barrier to belief in minds that feel constrained 
 to acknowledge that his revelation "contains the 
 most excellent institutions, instructions, and 
 commands." That the doctrine of endless mis- 
 ery produces this unhappy effect, is freely ad- 
 mitted both by the friends and the opposers of 
 that doctrine. It is so utterly repugnant to ev- 
 ery good feeling that God has implanted within 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 41 
 
 US, that few ever embrace it from candid in- 
 vestigation and reasonable conviction. Many- 
 are made to believe it from the mere force of 
 early and deep-rooted prejudices and the conti- 
 nued influence of education ; while others em- 
 brace it under the power of fear, and in the hope 
 of escaping dreadful evils and of securing the 
 greatest blessings. But when reason is freely 
 called into requisition, and the best feelings of 
 humanity are allowed to exert their proper influ- 
 ence over the mind, the supposition that the 
 Scriptures countenance the awful doctrine of un- 
 ending torments, will lead to a rejection of the 
 whole counsel of God ! And "it is this doc- 
 trine alone that compels men to renounce a book, 
 which bears so many signatures of divinity, and 
 which they are constrained to acknowledge con- 
 tains the most excellent institutions, instructions, 
 and commands." 
 
 We desire, with the help of God, to take away 
 this fatal stumbling-block — this dangerous rock 
 of ofl'ence, upon which so many have made 
 shipwreck of their faith in Christ and their best 
 hopes of immortality. Having received the 
 spirit of that faith which is friendly to all men, 
 and embraces the final holiness and happiness of 
 all, we speak in behalf of our sufl*ering race. 
 
42 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 And while we endeavor to guard our fellows 
 against the blinding influence of false preconcep- 
 tions, and all conjectural and groundless alarms ; 
 we would also strive to save them from the mis- 
 erable effects of skepticism, and to remove the 
 very cause of their infidelity. Both the believer 
 in endless misery and the skeptic must experi- 
 ence painful doubts in regard to the future state 
 of existence. The former cannot feel assured 
 beyond every misgiving that he will be in the 
 right frame of mind to ascend to celestial bliss 
 just when "the silver cord" of life is loosed 
 from its hold, and the spirit is called to depart ; 
 and he cannot with confidence promise himself 
 what fate may await him beyond the veil of 
 death. All is uncertainty ; and the mind, if it 
 seriously reflect, is constantly wavering between 
 hope and fear. And of the latter, it has well 
 been said, " In vain does the unbeliever soothe 
 his soul with the prospect of an eternal sleep ; 
 for by what argument can he prove that we will 
 not live by chance in eternity, as certainly as 
 we have lived by chance in time ? And whether 
 our future state will chance to be a heaven or 
 a hell, no atheist is able to inform us. If it be 
 a heaven, no thanks to any intelligent author; 
 and if a hell, no hope from any parental guar- 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 43 
 
 dian or friend, to save us from its horrors. On 
 this drendful uncertainty, what considerate man 
 would not lament that he ever opened his eyes 
 upon the light, or ever breathed the vitality of 
 the atmosphere?"* 
 
 " We have a more sure word of prophecy ; 
 whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto 
 a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day 
 dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 
 We 2an pray "for all men," which "is good 
 and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 
 who will have all men to be saved, and to come 
 unto the knowledge of the truth" — "lifting up 
 holy hands, ivithout ivrath and doubting.^* 
 And if we can be the means of imparting this 
 blessed and glorious faith to any unbelieving 
 mind, or to any fearful soul, we shall add to the 
 sum of human happiness, and in some small de- 
 gree advance the interests of our Savior's king- 
 dom, on earth. 
 
 * Rev. Asa SI. inn. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INSPIRATION AND TRUTH OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Rejecting all the creeds that have ever been 
 established by human authority, we make the Bi- 
 ble itself the basis of our faith and hopes. We 
 believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments contain a revelation from God of 
 the whole duty and final destiny of all mankind. 
 They come to us not as mere histories, inform- 
 ing us of people that lived, and of things that 
 happened in other days ; but as genuine and 
 authentic records, dictated by the spirit of the 
 Living God. The sacred writers were but 
 men of like passions with ourselves ; but 
 they received "the inspiration of the Almighty," 
 and were gifted with extraordinary po\yers. 
 And the communications which they made to 
 the world were never conceived of by the unaid- 
 ed faculties of the human mind. While they 
 performed works far above the abilities of all 
 other men, they looked through the vista of dis- 
 tant ages, and made known future events. And 
 the prophecies which the ancient Seers of God 
 proclaimed to their fellows, were long afterwards 
 verified beyond the cavil even of enemies. 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 45 
 
 Without attempting any thing like a full proof 
 of the divine inspiration of the sacred Scriptures, 
 we think it impossible for any candid and dis- 
 cerning man to read the predictions of the Old 
 Testament in regard to cities, countries and peo- 
 ple, and especially as they relate to the Jews, and 
 then attentively consider their remarkable fulfil- 
 ment, without being thoroughly and perfectly 
 convinced that the spirit of the All-seeing God 
 was the spirit of prophecy in the hearts of "holy 
 men of old." These predictions were not seem- 
 ingly verified in an occasional coincidence ; but 
 fulfilled to the very letter in numberless instances ; 
 and monuments of the fact are yet visible 
 to all. Look at Babylon, Idumea, Jerusalem, 
 the natural descendants of Abraham — any city, 
 country or people, of which the Scriptures pro- 
 phesied, and you will perceive that if the pro- 
 phets spoke at random, their predictions present 
 the greatest mystery that ever puzzled the mind, 
 or gained the belief of a thinking being. If they 
 spoke by chance, well may we say with Pope, 
 "All chance, direction which thou canst not see." 
 The ancient prophecies relating to the Mes- 
 siah are still more remarkable. No such per- 
 sonage had ever appeared in the world — none 
 like him has ever since been known among men. 
 
46 LNIVilRSALIST BKLILF. 
 
 But the time of his coming, his character, oflices, 
 labors and death were all accurately foretold long 
 before the day of his advent. The predictions 
 of the Scriptures had excited general and almost 
 universal expectations of his appearance on 
 earth, at the very time when angels from hea- 
 ven announced his nativity. John the Baptist 
 was at first thought by the Jews to be the Mes- 
 siah that had been promised; and he found it ne- 
 cessary to certify them distinctly that he was 
 "not the Christ." And what gives peculiar force 
 and weight to the authority of divine prophecy 
 in this case, is the fact that the Jews were dis- 
 appointed in the character of our Savior ; and 
 by opposing and putting him to death, they un- 
 wittingly fulfilled all that the prophets had spo- 
 ken. There was no collusion between Jews 
 and Christians to palm a deception upon the 
 world ; but one party strove to uphold the old 
 religion, while the other stood forth in the midst 
 of dangers and death to defend the new and bet- 
 ter covenant of promise. And while the former 
 fiercely opposed all the claims of our Lord to 
 the Messiahship, the latter clearly proved by an- 
 cient writings that were in the hands of the Jews, 
 that Jesus was indeed the Christ ! 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 47 
 
 The inspiration and truth of the Old Testament 
 are established by a long chain of both internal 
 and external proofs, while the claims of the New 
 are now attested by additional evidence. The ef- 
 fects of the Gospel which we see and feel all 
 around us, bear convincing testimony, not only 
 to its truth, but also to its exceeding and un- 
 speakable value. It is the source of our best 
 knowledge, and the fountain of our purest hap- 
 piness. It contains the secret power of every 
 real improvement in society; and every enlight- 
 ened nation now on earth has been instructed 
 and elevated by the moral influence of Christi- 
 anity. This religion has fashioned the laws 
 and moulded the institutions that give us a hio-h 
 and noble rank among the inhabitants of the 
 world. And wherever its power is really felt, 
 man is raised up from his degradation, and re- 
 newed in the spirit of knowledge after the image 
 of him that created him. But to attempt to 
 prove the truth of Christianity in a Christian 
 community would be a needless work. Its works 
 sufficiently bear it witness. And the man who 
 will deny the works would hardly be profited 
 by reason and argument. 
 
 We know that there are men in the world sur- 
 rounded by the blessings of revealed religion, 
 
48 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 who *'rack their invention to find arguments to 
 persuade themselves and others, that the Scrip- 
 tures are a cunningly devised fable." But we 
 are well convinced that their opposition to the 
 teachings of divine wisdom, and their ingratitude 
 to God for his richest favors, are, in most cases 
 at least, the results of very superficial thinking, 
 if not of vain conceit and wilful perversity ! 
 The common objections to the Bible have all 
 been repeatedly and most triumphantly answer- 
 ed ; but as in another case that might be named, 
 they are still reiterated with as much confidence 
 and boldness, as if nothing approaching an an- 
 swer could possibly be furnished. Let any man 
 of good sense read Watson's Reply to Paine 
 with candor ; and he will be astonished to wit- 
 ness the weakness and perversity, the effrontery 
 and daring falsehood, which every where abound 
 in that mischievous w^ork, called by a strange 
 abuse of language, "The Age of Reason." And 
 yet the beggarly and mendacious assumptions 
 of this book are flippantly quoted to disprove 
 the Bible, by persons \vho are almost as igno- 
 rant of what the Scriptures contain as they are of 
 the Persian Zendavesta ! An apparent contra- 
 diction is referred to, and declared suflUcient to 
 condemn the whole Bible, when at the same 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 49 
 
 time a little modest study would show that the 
 whole difficulty has originated in sheer misun- 
 derstanding. Or a command of God is pro- 
 nounced arbitrary and unjust, when its meaning 
 is neither known nor sought. Or a prophetic 
 vision, highly embellished with poetic imagery, 
 is declared to be all nonsense, by some shallow- 
 minded person who has never taken the 
 pains to acquaint himself with what it does ac- 
 tually signify. And so of many other supposed 
 objections to divine truth. 
 
 But all such cavils are very small matters ; and 
 they are hardly worthy to be taken into account 
 in deciding the great question whether we have 
 any ground of confidence in the God who made 
 us, or whether all our hopes are the mere delu- 
 sions of superstitious weakness. What if two 
 sentences snatched from different parts of the 
 Bible, seem not to express the same meaning to 
 the very letter, shall we therefore abandon our 
 trust in Heaven, give our joyous faith to the 
 winds, count the blood of the cross an unclean 
 thing, and do despite to the spirit of divine 
 grace ? Let us but know that ''God, who at 
 sundry times and in divers manners spake in 
 time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath 
 5 
 
50 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 in these last days spoken unto us by his Son," 
 and we care nothing for the poor quibbles and 
 empty cavils of men wise in their own conceit. 
 The strong holds of our defence will be unharm- 
 ed by any assault of the foe ; and the mightiest 
 weapon that can be hurled at our citadel, will 
 either fall harmless at its base, or return with 
 increased force upon the head of the foolish as- 
 sailant ! 
 
 If all the supposed discrepancies found in the 
 Bible were real and unanswerable, that sacred vo- 
 lume would still stand a lasting monument of 
 the wisdom, power, and beneficence of God. 
 The great and fundamental truths which it con- 
 tains would still be abundantly attested ; and it 
 would still reasonably claim the hearty belief, 
 aye, the strongest love and the highest admira- 
 tion of every human soul. But these little things 
 can all be explained consistently with reason 
 and truth, and to the full satisfaction of every 
 mind that is capable and candid enough to per- 
 ceive the force of reason and the evidence of 
 truth. And it should be understood that Infi- 
 dels do not attack the main bulwarks of Chris- 
 tian truth, and enter the castle to take it by 
 storm. They commonly throw small missiles, 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 51 
 
 and seem to take delight in annoying, while they 
 shudder to attempt the work of complete and 
 thorouorh destruction. The standard works in 
 
 o 
 
 defence of the Bible are not manfully attacked, 
 and their arguments one after another fairly ex- 
 amined and exph)ded. But the enemy is wont 
 to hang about the outskirts of the camp, to make 
 a display of his prowess in capturing some un- 
 guarded victim. And perhaps the reason of all 
 this small kind of warfare is found in the fact 
 that none can entirely divest themselves of the 
 impression that God has in some degree reveal- 
 ed himself to man in the holy Scriptures. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 CAUSES OF SKEPTICAL OBJECTIONS. 
 
 The principal objections of skeptics are sel- 
 dom, if ever, directed against doctrines that are 
 really taught in the word of God. They sup- 
 pose the Bible to contain the doctrines of total 
 depravity, the Trinity, a vicarious atonement, 
 an almost omnipotent personal devil, and an 
 endless hell. They cannot believe that man is 
 naturally and thoroughly corrupt in all his feel- 
 ings, alFections and powers. They know from 
 experience and observation, and from every 
 source whence they can obtain knowledge, that 
 this doctrine is as false as it is dishonorable to 
 God and degrading to man. Both reason and 
 feeling are shocked at the thought that God 
 would create, or suffer his works to be disgraced 
 by a mere mass of living pollution ; and they 
 turn with loathing and disgust from a book which 
 they have been taught to believe contains this 
 abominable notion. For the mere act of reject- 
 ing such a doctrine they deserve no censure ; 
 for nothing could more shamefully outrage all 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 53 
 
 religion and humanity, than the notion tliat the 
 noblest work of God on earth, and the only 
 mortal creature that bears his image, is the only 
 utterly vile and worthless thing in his whole 
 creation] But if they would only free their 
 minds from all wrong prejudices, make the pro- 
 per and necessary distinction between human 
 creeds and divine truth, and learn what the Bi- 
 ble says on this subject, one great cause of their 
 infidelity would soon be removed, and they 
 would find themselves prepared to make farther 
 advances in the truth. 
 
 They cannot believe that three distinct per- 
 sons, each perfect and entire in himself consti- 
 tute but one being ; nor can they possibly un- 
 derstand how a son can be of exactly the same 
 age with his father. The supposition, though 
 not like the foregoing, utterly abhorrent to every 
 good feeling, is equally opposed to every dictate 
 of that reason which God has bestowed upon 
 his creature man. Three mean more than one, 
 and one less than three, the world over ; and on 
 any other than a religious subject, every man 
 who has any thing like common understanding 
 will admit that the father must exist before his 
 son. But a correct knowledge of the divine 
 
 5* 
 
54 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 record would lead no man into the belief of any 
 such manifest contradiction and absurdity. It 
 teaches that "there is but one God, the Father, 
 of whom are all things, and we in him ; and 
 one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, 
 and we by him." 1 Cor. viii. 6. And it re- 
 quires us to believe no doctrine that stands op- 
 posed to all that was ever thought to be reason, 
 and which, however sincerely believed, no man 
 can suppose that he ever understood ! 
 
 They cannot see the justice of punishing the 
 innocent for the sins of the guilty — of visiting 
 fierce wrath and vengeance upon one who never 
 sinned, and in whose mouth there was no guile, 
 to satisfy legal demands upon transgressors. 
 Such procedure is altogether incompatible with 
 our natural sense of right and wrong, and would 
 be condemned in man as the very climax of in- 
 justice and wanton cruelty. This notion formed 
 one of the chief objections of Paine to the truth 
 of the Bible and its moral influence in the world. 
 He could see neither justice nor good example 
 in visiting the inflictions of a broken law upon 
 the unofl'ending, instead of the guilty. Yet the 
 Scriptures declare God to he just, and command 
 us to be his imitators. All this seems as con- 
 
I 
 
 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 55 
 
 tradictory as it is unlovely. And with such a 
 confusion of ideas in the mind, it is no marvel 
 that some men should rashly condemn what 
 they conceive to be the source of such a doc- 
 trine. But here, again, the want of discrimina- 
 tion is apparent ; and creeds and the Bible are 
 again found at issue. The scriptures declare that 
 God " will by no means clear the guilty;" and 
 though they speak of Christ's sufferings for us, 
 i. e. in our behalf, they nowhere say that he was 
 e\er punished in onr stead, or that he ever sif- 
 fered in our stead. And a good understanding 
 of just what the Bible does teach on this subject, 
 would overcome and bear away another objec- 
 tion that has long hindered men from believing 
 what God has spoken by the prophets and by 
 his Son. 
 
 Skeptics also rear an objection of no incon- 
 siderable importance upon the mistaken notion 
 that the Bible speaks of a most powerful evil 
 being, who disputes with the Almighty the go- 
 vernment of the world, and who will finally 
 leave the contest with very great spoils, and 
 reign eternally in his kingdom over untold my- 
 riads of subjects. The question will arise in 
 the mind, as it did with Crusoe's man Friday, 
 
58 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 why will the Omnipotent Jehovah endlessly 
 preserve in existence this arch-enemy of all that 
 is good ? ''TVhy not kill him?'' If God really 
 ivills to bless all men in Christ, why not remove 
 this only hindrance to so great and good a 
 work ? But the Bible gives us no information 
 of any Devil, but such as we find in the carnal 
 mind, and in wicked adversaries of truth and 
 righteousness. And if skeptics would rightly 
 inform themselves on this subject, they would 
 very readily perceive that their objection is 
 based in entire mistake, and is consequently of 
 no force. 
 
 All skeptics, so far as we have been able to 
 ascertain their views, suppose the Bible to teach 
 the doctrine of endless misery ; and on this 
 ground they reject it. "It is this doctrine alone 
 (says Dr. Emmons) that compels them to re- 
 nounce a book, which bears so many signatures 
 of divinity, and which they are constrained to 
 acknowledge contains the most excellent insti- 
 tutions, instructions and commands." And who 
 can deny that there is something inexpressibly 
 awful and abhorrent to the purest and best feel- 
 ings of every man, in the thought that the Fa- 
 ther of mercies and the God of all grace will 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 57 
 
 curse a part of his offspring with all imaginable 
 tortures, throughout the ceaseless duration of 
 eternity ? And when such is declared to be the 
 doctrine of that Book which proclaims " good 
 tidings of great joy, that shall be to all people,'' 
 who can blame a man for pausing to inquire be- 
 fore he believes ? Alas ! how many have been 
 driven headlong into the vortex of Infidelity by 
 that which ''compels them to renounce'' the 
 glad tidings of peace and salvation to the world! 
 How many have turned away from the Bible, 
 because they supposed it to contain a doctrine un- 
 surpassed in cruelty by any thing ever conceived 
 by pagan superstition or savage ferocity ! But 
 if they had learned that the Bible is their friend, 
 and announces eternal felicity to them and to all 
 mankind," they would have embraced it with 
 zeal and loved it with ardent devotion. 
 
 Thus we find that the chief objections to the 
 word of God result from the belief that it teaches 
 certain doctrines of human creeds, to which in 
 fact it gives no support whatever. This consi- 
 deration should strengthen our faith in the Scrip- 
 tures ; and also increase our zeal in the work of 
 convincing mankind what God has spoken, and 
 what he requires us to believe. The Bible 
 
58 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 should be diligently studied in perfect freedom 
 from all restraints imposed by human means and 
 authority. And if thus studied, with the aid of 
 every useful help that can be obtained, it will 
 make the mind wise unto salvation, and fill the 
 soul with peace and joy ! 
 
 One more consideration will bring us to the 
 close of the present chapter: We should be- 
 live no doctrine that cannot be expressed in the 
 language of the Bible. It may well be con- 
 cluded that God intended his word to be under- 
 stood according to the language in which that 
 word has been spoken to man. Figures and 
 parables should be interpreted in accordance 
 with the known usage of language, and in the 
 light of clear and unambiguous testimony. But 
 every essential item of Christian faith should be 
 found expressed in words so plain and easily 
 understood, that the wayfaring man, though a 
 fool, need not err therein. And such is indeed 
 the case. Who can fail to comprehend such 
 declarations as the following? — "The Lord is 
 good to all ; and his tender mercies are over all 
 his works." — " There is but one God." — " God 
 is love." — He " will by no means clear the 
 guilty." — He " will have all men to be saved." 
 —He is the " God and Father of all."—" The 
 living God, who is the Savior of all men." 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 59 
 
 Such language expresses truths involving 
 the highest interests of man in time and in 
 eternity ; and it is commended by its very sim- 
 plicity to the comprehension of every man. But 
 the reader will find that the doctrines which 
 compel men to reject the Bible against their own 
 feelings and convictions of its excellency and 
 worth, though very plainly stated in the creeds of 
 human devise, were never expressed in Scripture 
 language. The Trinity, vicarious atonement, to- 
 tal depravity, substituted righteousness and sin, 
 future judgment, and endless misery, are phrases 
 that have never yet been found in Scripture ; 
 nor have we been able to find any thing of a 
 similar meaning. Such things, therefore, should 
 all be laid aside ; while the Divine Record is 
 made the great standard and the only standard of 
 our faith. 
 
 Let all our inquiries be thus governed — let us 
 cultivate a fondness for the study of divine truth 
 — let us habituate the mind to frequent and con- 
 stant communion with God — and while we dili- 
 gently avail ourselves of every means of instruc- 
 tion which the Lord has afforded, let us humbly 
 and devoudy pray that his Holy Spirit will en 
 lighten our minds and guide us into all truth. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE NATURE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 Much as Christians of various denominations 
 disagree in their respective systems of faith, 
 there is a remarkable concurrence of belief among 
 all in regard to the essential attributes of the 
 Godhead. All believe that our Maker is a being 
 of infinite wisdom, almighty power, and perfect 
 and unbounded benevolence. These three at- 
 tributes plainly comprise all that belong to the 
 Divinity. And justice and mercy, holiness and 
 truth are but varied manifestations of the same 
 common nature. No conflicting principles abide 
 in God — no opposing qualities emanate from 
 Him. And if it be proper to distinguish be- 
 tween his several attributes, it may well be said. 
 And now abideth wisdom, power and goodness, 
 these three ; but the greatest of these is good- 
 ness. None deny that God possesses every ex- 
 cellency of character in the greatest possible 
 perfection ; and all admit that if any attribute of 
 
UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 61 
 
 the divine nature may properly be distinguished 
 above all the rest, that attribute is benevolence. 
 Whether we direct our inquiries to the works 
 and ways, or to the word of God, we everywhere 
 behold the most strikinf^ and convincino^ mani- 
 Testations of goodness. Every theological writer, 
 of whatever belief, and upon whatever subject he 
 may bestow his labors, is constrained to acknow- 
 ledge that the earth is full of the goodness of the 
 Lord; and that wherever the wisdom and 
 power of Jehovah are displayed, there are cer- 
 tain proofs of perfect and changeless benevolence. 
 The great fundamental principles of all reli- 
 gious truth are freely recognized by all profess- 
 ing Christians ; and our diversities of belief are 
 found in the different conclusions which we 
 draw from the same general premises. While 
 all believe that God is infinitely wise, powerful 
 and good, and perhaps also agree with respect 
 to the designs and intentions of his will, the 
 slightest progress of mind from first principles is 
 marked by contrariety of faith. And the fact 
 seems strange and almost unaccountable, that in 
 starting from the same point and in reasoning 
 from the same acknowledged principles, we 
 arrive at not only different, but directly opposite 
 
 6 
 
62 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 results. One is led to believe in the final de- 
 struction of all sin and suffering, while another 
 holds that these enemies of God and man will 
 be immortalized and continue to exist so long as 
 eternity shall endure. Surely, one or the other 
 must " greatly err." And it cannot be consider- 
 ed a matter of indifference with any thinking 
 being whether we know on which side 
 the truth is found, or not. The subject relates 
 to the highest interests of the soul. And the 
 individual who realizes no concern of mind in 
 reo-ard to the ultimate destination of the human 
 race is unworthy the name of a man. On this 
 subject every thought and feeling of the mind 
 should be actively and earnestly engaged ; and 
 the inquiry should be steadily and faithfully 
 pursued, until every cloud is dispersed and every 
 doubt removed, and the soul enters fully into 
 rest in believing the whole truth of God. And 
 although we claim no infallibility, we cannot 
 doubt that God has placed within our reach the 
 means of ascertaining to our perfect satisfaction 
 what shall be the final destiny of the human 
 family. The whole plan of the divine economy 
 may not be understood — the unsearchable judg- 
 ments of God may not be fathomed by the feeble 
 powers of man — the times and seasons which 
 
UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 63 
 
 the Father hath put in his own power may not 
 be known to the dwellers on earth — and we may 
 not clearly perceive all the means and instru- 
 mentalities by which the world shall be recon- 
 ciled unto God and blessed in Christ Jesus. 
 But from a good understanding of the nature and 
 attributes of the Lord, and with the powerful 
 aids derived from the clear light of revelation, 
 we may ascertain the purposes of our Maker, 
 and learn the great end for which we were 
 spoken into being. 
 
 Is the subject of religion dark and abstruse 
 above all others, that men think and believe so 
 differently on this subject? We cannot sanc- 
 tion such a notion. And we are well persua- 
 ded that such wide and essential differences of 
 faith would be overcome and removed, if men 
 would only reason as logically from cause to ef- 
 fect and from proposition to conclusion on reli- 
 gious subjects, as in matters of less importance. 
 The true reason of such unreasonable diversities 
 of belief must be sought in the preponderating 
 force of religious feeling, and in the almost in- 
 vincible power of prejudice in sacred things; 
 and not in the nature of the subject itself. Be- 
 cause religion is so pre-eminently important to 
 
64 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 man, and feeling and desire are more strong and 
 active than reason and judgment on this subject, 
 the mind is here less susceptible to the convic- 
 tions of truth, tlian in reference to any other 
 matter that invites investigation and claims be- 
 lief. Liability to mistake is a common weak- 
 ness of our race ; and error here seems to take 
 the strongest hold, and is the least willing to 
 yield to the persuasions of reason and the evi- 
 dence of truth. On this subject, the best gift of 
 God to man, even reason, has been denied its 
 appropriate work, the voice of humanity has 
 been silenced, and every generous emotion of 
 the soul has been stifled by the influence of fear 
 and the arbitrary power of prejudice. And men 
 of deep and vigorous intellect and the most clear 
 and penetrating minds in most respects, have 
 been so completely fettered in erroneous prepos- 
 sessions on this subject, as to sanction and adopt 
 a process of reasoning, that would meet their 
 severest reprehension and even excite their ridi- 
 cule in any matter of philosophical truth. 
 
 It is painful to reflect upon the fact that men 
 of high standing and great influence in society, 
 avowedly support doctrines which they have 
 never examined, and which they could not be- 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. bO 
 
 lieve if they were fully to investigate their claims 
 to belief. They have been drawn into particu- 
 lar churches by various influences — some by 
 education and early associations, but more per- 
 haps through the desire to be considered fashion- 
 able ; and they seem not to care what is preach- 
 ed or what is believed. " A theological system," 
 says Dr. Jortin, " is too often no more than a 
 temple consecrated to implicit faith ; and he who 
 enters in there to worship, instead of leaving 
 his shoes, after the eastern manner, must leave 
 his understanding at the door ; and it will be 
 well if he find it when he comes out again." 
 Who that thinks deeply and reasons well, can 
 actually believe that a God of infinite wisdom, 
 power and benevolence, has ever formed a 
 scheme involving infinitely unhappy consequen- 
 ces, or a benevolent plan that will ultimately 
 fail of success ? And yet men of capacious 
 powers of mind and large benevolence of heart, 
 are found in Churches where it is preached and 
 believed that God, with all his benevolence to 
 prompt, his wisdom to plan, and his power to 
 execute, will at last suff'er a large portion of his 
 oflspring to groan in ceaseless and endless woe! 
 When we meet such persons on their way to 
 
 6* 
 
66 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 places of worship, we cannot suppress the in- 
 quiry, Have they ever fully examined the incon- 
 sistent and merciless doctrines they hear preach- 
 ed, and do they believe what they hear ? The 
 silent answer within, is, they leave something 
 at the door of the temple before they enter, and 
 that something they are careful to carry with 
 them in every other place ! 
 
 The impression widely obtains, not only 
 among the meanly educated and illiterate, but al- 
 so among such as ought to know better and are 
 "without excuse," that the powers of the human 
 mind should not be as freely exercised, and with 
 the same determination to follow the truth wher- 
 ever it may lead, in matters of a religious nature, 
 as on other subjects of inquiry. The sacredness 
 and importance of the subject are made to inspire 
 a kind of superstitious awe ; and the mind fears 
 to investigate. The policy of spiritual leaders 
 in other days has been marked by studied eflbrts 
 to trammel the minds of men, and thus render 
 them subservient to their own selfish schemes 
 and wishes. And we fear that the same policy, 
 though perhaps dictated by better feelings and 
 directed to more worthy ends, still has its prac- 
 tical advocates and supporters. Investigation is 
 crushed by the overpowering desire to sustain a 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 67 
 
 favorite dogma and preserve the public morals 
 from the contaminations of error. There is en- 
 tirely too much constraint in canvassing the evi- 
 dences of religious truth, and too little willing- 
 ness to follow its directions wherever it may- 
 lead, and whatever may be the consequences. 
 Our minds should be utterly divested of every 
 such weak and unmanly feeling ; and every 
 other consideration should be completely absorb- 
 ed in this one all-important inquiry, What is 
 truth ? The truth is always safe ; and we have 
 nothing to fear from a knowledge of any thing 
 that God has ever revealed. 
 
 Among such as diligently seek to understand 
 the truth of God, one great source of error is 
 found in ihe manner in which many commence 
 the labor. Instead of first acquainting them- 
 selves with the great fundamental principles of 
 truth, as set forth in the Scriptures, and freely 
 acknowledged by all reasonable beings, and 
 tracing them out in the light of reason and of re- 
 velation, to their legitimate results, they begin 
 in the middle of the subject, and most zealously 
 labor to build up the superstructure, without 
 stopping to examine the foundation. And some 
 Christian ministers seek to operate upon the 
 
68 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 people, as a teacher would upon his scholars, if 
 lie should attempt to instruct them in the higher 
 branches of education, before he has taught them 
 the alphabet ! They commence their efforts by- 
 urging men to the important duty of repentance; 
 but it seems not to occur to their minds that a 
 man must have some knowledge of the Being 
 against whom he has sinned, before he can un- 
 derstandingly exercise repentance toward God. 
 Even children are taught that they are sinners 
 before God, and in danger of losing their im- 
 mortal souls, before they have ever studied the 
 simplest rudiments of religion — before they 
 know any thing of the nature of the soul or of 
 the Being that created it ! And some persons 
 commence, they know not where, and advance 
 as rapidly as soon to imagine themselves fully 
 acquainted with the great consummation of God's 
 moral government, and the final destiny of the 
 human race ; when at the same time they have 
 scarcely bestowed a single thought upon the ac- 
 knowledged foundation of all religious truth ! 
 Such being the case, and considering the un- 
 yielding tenacity with which most men cling to 
 their opinions and prejudices, we need no longer 
 marvel that the grossest errors in theology are 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 69 
 
 embraced and advocated by those whose heads are 
 clear, and whose minds are discerning and pen- 
 etrating on every other subject. 
 
 But to return. There are, as we have already 
 stated, certain first principles or fundamental 
 truths contained in the Scriptures, that should 
 be well defined and clearly understood, and 
 made the foundation of the entire superstructure 
 of our faith. And having laid a correct and per- 
 manent basis, we may proceed from one degree 
 to another until we arrive at true and satis- 
 factory conclusions. First principles should 
 govern our investigations on every subject ; and 
 whatever stands opposed to acknowledged and 
 known truths, we may safely decide has no rea- 
 sonable claims to our confidence and belief. 
 What do the Scriptures teach us concerning the 
 Supreme Being? "God is love." In view 
 of this simple declaration, which expresses a 
 truth immensely important, we should carefully 
 exclude from our credenda every principle that 
 stands opposed in its nature or tendency to love. 
 God is not divided against himself. His nature 
 is pure and simple, as it is holy. And being love, 
 he must be free from all absolute hatred. Is the 
 Deity a Being of wisdom and knowledge ? The 
 
70 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 same source responds, " His understanding is 
 infinite'^ — " Known unto God are all his works 
 from the beginning of the loorhiy Nothing 
 has ever been concealed from his clear and all- 
 searching vision — every event, however remote, 
 is present to his view. 
 
 '• Eternity, with all its years, 
 Stands present in thy view ; 
 To thee there's nothing old appears, 
 Great God, there's nothing new." 
 
 The destiny of every human being was as fully 
 known to his mind before the earth was moulded 
 into form, as it will be when the trump of the 
 arch-angel shall arouse the sleeping dead, and 
 time shall be no more ! 
 
 And what is the character of God ? A mere 
 manifestation of his nature, which is love. But 
 his word answers, " The Lord is good to all, 
 and his tender mercies are over all his works^^ 
 — he "is kind to the unthankful and evil.''* 
 His benevolence and mercy extend not only to 
 the faithful and just, but even to the evil and 
 wicked of our race. And if his mercy is over 
 all his works, there lives not a soul beyond the 
 extent and influence of that boundless mercy. 
 So long as man has a being, and in whatever 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 71 
 
 world he may exist, he is a work of God, and 
 therefore lives within the sphere of divine good- 
 ness, tender mercies, and loving-kindness. Does 
 God devise any plans in reference to the ends of 
 his works, and will the purposes of his will un- 
 failingly be accomplished ? A direct reply 
 comes from the revelation of his truth. — " i/e 
 doeth according to his icill in the army of hea- 
 ven^ and among the inhabitants of the earth'^ — 
 he " ivorketh all things after the counsel of his 
 own ivilV^ — " declaring the end from the be- 
 ginning^^ — and " ivhat soever God doeth, it 
 shall be forever : nothing can be put to it, nor 
 any thing taken from it.'' 
 
 Here then are plain, but most essential truths, 
 that should be well understood in the outset. 
 These things should be firmly fixed in the mind 
 before any progress is attempted in the work 
 of applying them to the various and discordant 
 doctrmes that prevail in the world. They have 
 the most direct and important bearing upon 
 every item of faith to which we are required to 
 yield the assent of the mind and to embrace 
 with the heart. They form, indeed, the only 
 true foundation of rational Christian belief. 
 Whatever fairly and legitimately results from 
 these acknowledged and undoubted premises, 
 
72 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 must be true; while that which contradicts one 
 of these principles, cannot be otherwise than 
 false. Let the learner, then, begin where he 
 ought, and steadily progress in that light which 
 will beam upon his pathway from first principles 
 and undeniable truths, ever remembering that 
 error alone is inconsistent, while one truth never 
 contradicts another; and carefully avoiding all 
 the jargon and subtleties of narrow-minded and 
 bigoted schoolmen, and he cannot fail to em- 
 brace the great truth of Christian revelation, that 
 God " will have all men to be saved, and to 
 come unto the knowledge of the truth." No 
 other conclusion can be reasonably drawn from 
 the nature, character and purposes of the Living 
 God. Benevolence prompts his power — wisdom 
 forms the plans of his will — and omnipotence 
 will execute his designs, and carry into perfect 
 completion every intention of his mind. He is 
 above all, and through all, and in all ; and no 
 power in the universe can ever stay his sovereign 
 hand, or defeat the accomplishment of all his 
 pleasure ! 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DESIGN IN THE CREATION OF MAN. 
 
 In view of the foregoing, let us now endeavor 
 to consider the design of God in the creation of 
 man. To say that a wise being never acts 
 without design, is but to repeat a truism, that 
 will not be disputed by any man who is capable 
 of thought. And as God is a being of infinite 
 wisdom, what was the great purpose of his will, 
 when he spake the world into existence by the 
 word of his power, and imparted the vital energy 
 to man ? If " known unto God are all his works 
 from the beginning of the world," the ultimate 
 destiny of the human race must have been em- 
 braced in this all-comprehensive knowledge. 
 No possible intentions could render the end 
 more certain. And if there be any difference 
 between knowledge and design with God, the 
 distinction is so nice that we shall not attempt to 
 explain it; nor would the decision of this ques- 
 tion affect the nature of our subject. The Scrip- 
 tures teach us that God both knows and declares 
 7 
 
74 UNIVERSALIST BELIliF. 
 
 the end'from the beorinnino^. And we are now 
 concerned to ascertain for what end the author 
 of wisdom gave existence to man. He needed 
 no experiment to'test his power, to try his skill, 
 or to declare his greatness, v^ He was indepen- 
 dently glorious and perfectly happy; and no 
 possible advantage could accrue to himself from 
 the exercise of his omnific energies. He was 
 certainly a being of immense beneficence and 
 illimitable goodness ;"'and if any principle form- 
 ed the preponderating power in his mind, that 
 principle was love. 
 
 Who doubts that such was God, when the 
 smilinor morn of creation dawned in brightness, 
 and the light of Heaven burst in glory upon the 
 overspreading darkness of chaotic night ? He 
 could have harbored no ill will toward the un- 
 offending creatures whom he intended soon to 
 call forth into life from the unconscious slumbers 
 of nonentity. No feeling opposed to goodness 
 and love found place in his pure and holy mind. 
 There was no counsellor to"^instru3t him — no 
 power without to direct his will. Existing alone 
 in the plenitude of perfect glory and bliss, he 
 conceived the plan and began the work. And 
 the only reasonable conclusion is, that benevo- 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 75 
 
 lence prompted his creative power, while the 
 great purpose of his will was the communication 
 of happiness. In this conclusion, we rejoice to 
 believe, that nearly the whole Christian world 
 now heartily concur. The notion that the great 
 and ^00 d God ever created a beino^ with the in- 
 tention of making it endlessly miserable, is so 
 entirely repugnant to every natural feeling of the 
 human heart, and withal involves such unpro- 
 voked and wanton cruelty, that few are so blind- 
 ed by error and sufficiently hardened against 
 God and their fellows, as to admit such a thought 
 into the articles of their faith. We know that this 
 most unmerciful and horrible dogma is embody- 
 ed in a manual which many still professedly re- 
 ceive as the standard of their faith. But even 
 they will generally deny this doctrine, or seek 
 to modify its meaning by a species of reasoning, 
 which at once evinces their own deep and utter 
 abhorrence of such blasphemous error ! 
 
 The prevailing notion throughout Christen- 
 dom, is that God originally designed that man's 
 existence should be a blessing — that all men 
 should ultimately be raised to immortal life and 
 heavenly joys. This belief, which works like 
 leaven, and will yet purify the Church of men- 
 
76 VNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 strous errors, has even found its way into 
 Churches still denominated Calvinistic. And 
 the followers of the Genevan Reformer find 
 themselves obliged no longer to proclaim in 
 " high places" what their Confession of Faith 
 still declares, that God from all eternity elected 
 some men to everlasting life, and passed by and 
 fore-ordained the remainder to dishonor and 
 misery ! A sentiment more destitute of every 
 characteristic of loveliness, aud more replete 
 with cruelty, never emanated from the blindness 
 of superstition or the corruption of error ; and 
 it is only befitting the fabled abodes of darkness 
 and of demons ! We say nothing of the charac- 
 ter of its believers — they are generally as good 
 as other people, and perhaps far better than our- 
 selves — but we speak of the sentiment itself; 
 and pronounce it a libel upon the character of 
 God, a disgrace to the very name of religion, 
 and a foul reproach to humanity itself! We 
 are not astonished that the advocates and be- 
 lievers of this notion should so rapidly decrease 
 in number ; and we think the spirit of prophecy 
 is not needed to divine that the period will soon 
 come when no man in civilized life will dis- 
 honor his Maker by giving utterance to such a 
 thousfht ! 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 77 
 
 Proof of the position is no longer demanded, 
 that God commenced the work of creation with 
 the design of rendering every man a gainer by 
 existence. Nay, the fact is equally accredited 
 that he intended the vast family of man for a 
 higher and happier — an immortal and heavenly 
 existence beyond all the limits of change and 
 decay. His designs stretched into the spiritual 
 world ; and he constituted man a living soul, 
 and impressed him with his own divine likeness, 
 with a view to his ultimate and unchangeable 
 destiny, *' Knoivn unto God are all his works 
 from the beginning of the world.'" His know- 
 ledge compassed the oid, as well as the begin- 
 ning of man. The present state of being is but 
 the incipient stage of man's existence ; and his 
 high destination as the child of God will be at- 
 tained in that world where men and angels are 
 equal, and share together the unspeakable bliss 
 of heaven. 
 
 It would be an impeachment of the wisdom 
 and benevolence of God to suppose that his 
 actual designs toward man extend no farther 
 than the present life, and that our condition in 
 the future and permanent state of existence will 
 be determined by mere fortuity. Paul, in his 
 
78 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 eloquent address from Mars' hill to the Athenian 
 people, after declaring the existence of that God 
 in whom is the breath of all mankind, proceeded 
 to testify of his designs toward our race, saying, 
 *' And hath made of one blood all nations of men 
 for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath 
 determined the times before appointed, and the 
 bounds of their habitation.^^ This determina- 
 tion of God, made of old, had respect to the 
 places and limits of the habitations of men on 
 the earth. And shall we suppose that God 
 would make such arrangements with reference 
 to the temporal existence of man, and yet have 
 no certain determinations beforehand in his own 
 mind in regard to the final and permanent life cf 
 the heirs of immortality ? The Scriptures forbid 
 the thought that God has any designs of limited 
 extent, or that any thing affecting our ultimate 
 interests was ever with him a matter of ?mrer- 
 tainty. 
 
 We read in the 4Gtii of Isaiah, "I am God, 
 and there is none like me, declaring the end 
 from the beginning, and from ancient times the 
 things that are not yet done, saying. My coun- 
 sel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." 
 We do not affirm that this lano;ua<re was uttered 
 
IINIVERSALIST BELIEF. 70 
 
 with particular reference to the final destiny of 
 any man. But it plainly asserts the fact that 
 the purposes of God extend from the commence- 
 ment of his works to the end which he designs 
 to accomplish. And we think the spirit of the 
 passage fully justifies the conclusion that the 
 same is true in reference to the great end for 
 which man was called into existence. The end 
 of man is not here attained ; and the present life, 
 compared to the future, is scarcely more 
 than the shadow to the substance. We can 
 think of no reason why man should form any 
 exception to the works, of which God declares 
 the end from the beginning. But in view of the 
 instructions of our Savior, that a man is much 
 better than a sheep, and that God will much 
 more certainly feed and clothe his children, than 
 supply the fowls of the air with food, we may 
 reasonably conclude that man stands pre-eminent 
 among the works of God, of which the end was 
 determined from ancient times by an immutable 
 counsel ! 
 
 But we need not dwell upon this point. It is 
 certain, and the fact is not disputed, that God 
 designed the end of man, when his sovereign fiat 
 went forth, and the shapeless void of chaos gave 
 place to the smiling face of creation. And'the 
 
80 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 fact is equally incontrovertible, and almost to the 
 same extent certainly believed, that the end de- 
 signed was compatible with goodness and love, 
 and contemplated the immortal glory and endless 
 felicity of the human race. 
 
 Keeping these things distinctly in view, let us 
 now endeavor to sum up the conclusion of the 
 whole matter. The premises, which are uni- 
 versally acknowledged, may be considered irre- 
 futable. God is a Being of infinite wisdom, 
 power and goodness ; and he designed man for 
 ultimate happiness. These are the premises ; 
 and there must be a fault somewhere if we come 
 to opposing conclusions. And it will be per- 
 ceived that the grand difference between our op- 
 posers and ourselves is found in the different re- 
 sults at which we arrive in reasoning from the 
 same general principles. 
 
 The importance of the subject will justify a 
 slight repetition. God is perfectly wise, pow- 
 erful and good. When he had completed the 
 handywork of creation, and pronounced the 
 whole " very good," he designed all mankind 
 for a happy destiny. This truth is clearly 
 taught and most happily expressed, in the first 
 question and answer of the Westminster Assem- 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 81 
 
 bly's Catechism — " Q. What is the chief and 
 highest end of man? A. Man's chief and high- 
 est end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy 
 HIM forever." Such is the end for which man 
 was designed by his Maker. And the grand 
 question to be settled, is, will God's original in- 
 tentions be accomplished ? or will his designs be 
 defeated, and his purposes annulled ? We 
 maintain that God's counsel will stand, and that 
 he will do all his pleasure ; while others contend 
 that some men will never reach the end for 
 which God designed them ! 
 
 Our view of the subject appears consistent 
 with itself, and with the acknowledged princi- 
 ples from which it is drawn — its opposite is at 
 utter variance with the premises agreed upon, 
 and forms a strange anomaly in reasoning from 
 propositions to conclusions. If the infinitely 
 wise, powerful and benevolent Jehovah at last 
 fails in the execution of his holy designs, to 
 what conceivable cause shall that deplorable fail- 
 ure be attributed? Neither disposition nor abil- 
 ity is lacking on his part. Why then, we ask, 
 will his kind and gracious intentions never be 
 fulfilled? Are we told that man is ^free-agent ? 
 But such an answer, though it has silenced m,any. 
 
82 
 
 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF 
 
 gives no satisfaction to the thinking mind, that 
 will not stop short of the truth. Suppose man 
 to be perfectly free — far more free than the 
 winds of heaven, must the purposes and designs 
 of the all-wise and omnipotent God, on that ac- 
 count, be of doubtful fulfilment, and liable to ul- 
 timate failure ? Has man obtained any new and 
 wonderful powers, of which God knew nothing 
 when he formed the plan of creation, and de- 
 signed our race to glorify their Maker " and 
 fally to enjoy him forever ?^^ 
 
 We cannot possibly perceive that the alleged 
 fact of man's free-agency has any necessary con- 
 nexion with our subject. Whatever agency 
 man may possess, none will doubt that it has 
 been derived from God, and was conferred for 
 wise and benevolent purposes, compatible with 
 the glorious and happy end for which man was 
 designed. But to suppose that our Maker has 
 given his creatures a power, by which his own 
 plans will be thwarted, and his best designs for- 
 ever defeated, is certainly to charge him with 
 great folly and improvidence ! And yet many 
 seem to suppose that a mere assertion, touching 
 the freedom of the human will, is abundantly 
 sufficient to silence all inquiry and settle every 
 dispute ! 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 83 
 
 But must we believe that the fulfilment of 
 God's designs depends upon the voluntary but 
 uncertain choice of man ? Shall our Maker be 
 robbed of his glory, and his feeble creatures 
 clothed with the attributes of divinity ? And 
 shall we abandon all the premises upon which 
 we have agreed, and look to frail worms of the 
 dust for the termination of works, commenced 
 by the Sovereign Lord ? We cannot sanction 
 such reasoning. And we seriously doubt 
 whether it really satisfies any candid, unpreju- 
 diced and reasoning mind ! 
 
 Are we asked, if God really designed all men 
 for happiness, why are not all happy now ? 
 We answer, men have not here attained to their 
 final end — they are still subjects of divine disci- 
 pline — and though they are sinful and suffering, 
 and now come short of the glory of God, the 
 promise has been given and the purpose declared, 
 " that in the dispensation of the fulness of times 
 he mio^ht o;ather tocrether in one all thinors in 
 Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are 
 on earth, even in him." Temporarys in and suf- 
 fering cannot defeat the divine intentions in re- 
 gard to the end of man. But when it is decla- 
 red that m:in^s final condition will be dishonor- 
 
84 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 able and miserable, it is supposed that God will 
 fail ill his undertaking, and eternally behold the 
 monuments of his defeat! 
 
 " Known unto God are all his works from 
 the beginning of the worlds What he knows 
 cannot be uncertain — what he has purposed can 
 never change. And Paul speaks of the immu- 
 tability of his counsel, confirmed by the oath of 
 Him who cannot lie. The only reasonable con- 
 clusion, then, is, that whatever may be the sins 
 and sufferings of man, the pleasure of the Lord 
 will at last be accomplished, and the vast frater- 
 nity of man exalted to that divine and heavenly 
 life for which our Maker at first designed us. 
 This glorious consummation is declared in the 
 record of divine truth : for we are there certified 
 that every knee shall bow, and every tongue 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of 
 God the Father. And we are also assured that 
 when the last enemy of man shall be destroyed, 
 and all men are made alive in Christ, this same 
 God and Father shall be all in all. 
 
CHAPTER Vril. 
 
 PATERxMTY OF GOD. 
 
 We have already considered the design of 
 God in the creation of man. Reasoning from 
 the acknowledged nature and attributes of the 
 Supreme Being, the conclusion seemed una- 
 voidably to follow that he originally intended all 
 men for ultimate happiness, and also that his be- 
 nevolent purposes cannot possibly fail in the 
 end. These conclusions are the legitimate de- 
 ductions of sober reason and plain common 
 sense ; and no man who admits the correctness 
 of the premises, can possibly avoid them, except 
 by a strange and unauthorised course of reason- 
 ing, that would be utterly condemned by all in 
 regard to any other subject. We consider the 
 argument referred to unanswerable, except on 
 the supposition that there is chance in the eco- 
 nomy of God. If nothing is certain in the divine 
 mind— nothing really known unto God from the 
 beginning of the world—and if man's immOrtal 
 8 
 
86 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 destiny depends upon his own voluntary but 
 very uncertain choice — then it must be admitted 
 that no reasonable argument in proof of either 
 universal or partial salvation can be drawn 
 from the nature and attributes of God, or 
 from his kind intentions when he first in- 
 spired man with the breath of life ! If all 
 is uncertainly, the clearest reasoner is as likely 
 to be wrong as right ; and according to this 
 notion, even the Scriptures must be considered 
 a very imperfect rule of faith. Investigation is 
 no longer necessary; and we need only wait 
 patiently to ascertain the final issue of the 
 strange and unaccountable workings of chance ! 
 But we have clearly proved that the Scrip- 
 tures entirely disallow of any thing like uncer- 
 tainty or chance in thn mind of God ; and 
 certify us that all his works are known unto him 
 from the beginning of the world — that he de- 
 clares the end from the beginning — and that 
 while his counsel shall stand, he will do all his 
 pleasure. And our argument, which defies re- 
 futation, derives all its stability and force from 
 these manifest truths of the divine word. In 
 acknowledgment of the premises, no man can 
 avoid the conclusion that we have drawn, except 
 
UiMVERSALIST BELIEF- 87 
 
 by a gross departure from Scripture truth, and from 
 every principle of sound reason. We can never 
 be driven from our position by the senseless cry 
 of*' Fatalism." We believe that God, and not 
 "Fate," is the Governor of all worlds and the 
 sovereign disposer of every event. We believe 
 that no freedom or power in man can thwart any 
 of his purposes or defeat any of his undertakings. 
 And we believe that all his promises will be ful- 
 filled — all his designs executed — and all his be- 
 nevolent intentions accomplished in the eventual 
 glory and happiness of all mankind. And if all 
 this constitutes " Fatalism," we would rather be 
 " Fatalists" than believers in chance ! 
 
 We shall now consider the parental character 
 of the Divine Being, and produce the argument 
 derived from this relation of God to man in proof 
 of universal salvation. We have an interesting 
 subject. And we hope to treat it in such a man- 
 ner as to appeal at once both to reason and affec- 
 tion ; that while the judgment is convinced, the 
 heart may be improved. 
 
 We find a most clear and beautiful synopsis 
 of Christian faith in the 4th chapter of Ephe- 
 sians. The whole substance of the matter is 
 here brought distinctly into view witliin a very 
 
88 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 small compass. And all that we are required 
 to believe is comprised in the several fundamen- 
 tal principles of doctrine here enumerated. 
 ** There is" (says the apostle) " one body, and one 
 spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your 
 calling : one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one 
 God and Father of all, Avho is above all, and 
 through all, and in you all." This " one body" 
 is the human race. Jesus Christ is declared to 
 "be the head of every man." All men, there- 
 fore, are constituent members of a common body. 
 This "one spirit" is the Holy Ghost, or the 
 spirit of divine truth, that sanctifies and regene- 
 rates the heart of man. This " one hope" is of 
 immortality, and is sure and steadfast as an an- 
 chor of the soul upon the sea of mortal life. 
 This " one Lord" is Jesus Christ " the Son of 
 the Living God" and" the Savior of the world." 
 " He is Lord of all," both the living and the 
 dead. And of all that the Father hath given 
 him he will lose nothing, but raise it up again 
 at the last day. This " one faith" is the faith 
 of Abraham, which embraces all the nations, 
 families and kindreds of the earth, and contem- 
 plates the final blessedness of all mankind in the 
 heavenly nature of the second man, even the 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 89 
 
 quickening spirit of immortal life. This "one 
 baptism" is that which was merely prefigured 
 by the immersions in water of the Baptist, and 
 it is the baptism of the soul into the spirit of 
 divine truth, grace and love. And this "one 
 God" is the Father of all spirits ; and he " is 
 above all, and through all, and in you all." In 
 him is the breath of all mankind, and unto him 
 belong the issues from death. All now live in 
 him ; and when the Messiah's mediatorial king- 
 dom shall be delivered up to the Father, this 
 one God shall '■'be all in all J" 
 
 Such is briefly the substance of Christian 
 faith — of the faith that we cherish, and in which 
 we rejoice with inexpressible joy. It embraces 
 all that benevolence can require, and fully satis- 
 fies every pure and good desire of the human 
 soul. Nothing short of this faith can give per- 
 fect rest and peace to the heart. And while we 
 richly enjoy its blessings, we would zealously 
 labor to bring the votaries of error and the vic- 
 tims of tormentinar fear under its beni2:n and 
 happy influence. We know that Christian peo- 
 ple cannot be satisfied with the unmerciful dog- 
 ma of endless woe. They cannot rejoice -with 
 a fulness of joy in the awful prospect of infinite 
 
 8* 
 
90 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 and ceaseless agonies for kindred and friends, or 
 even for any soul of man. Many of them are 
 seeking and feeling after a better — a gospel faith. 
 And we desire to assist them in their efforts, 
 and to do them good. It is a pity that any man 
 who has ever experienced the influence of a 
 Savior's love, should feel obliged to believe in 
 violation of every benevolent affection of his na- 
 ture that God will doom some of his offspring to 
 the suffering of endless and unmerciful torments! 
 And we pray God to assist us in our endeavors 
 to deliver our Christian brethren from the power 
 of a wretched heathen dogma, and enable them 
 to rejoice in that glorious gospel of the blessed 
 God, which is good tidings of great joy that 
 shall be to all people ! 
 
 We are informed in the Scripture record of 
 the creation of the world, that man was created 
 in the image of God. We are not taught that 
 any other creature of earth received the impress 
 of the divine likeness. All came into being 
 through the same omnific energies, and were 
 equally adapted to an earthly existence. As 
 animals all may be considered the mere creatures 
 or earth, and of a day. But in ascending the 
 scale of being from the meanest form of animal 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 91 
 
 existence up to the highest order of creatures 
 that live on the earth, we find that immortal 
 mind holds connexion with flesh and blood, and 
 that there are ties of kindred that bind man to 
 angels and to God ! The divine image is not 
 found in the form and fashion of the earthly- 
 man, nor in any thing that gives us alliance to 
 the brutes that perish. If we were but earthly 
 beings we should be no more than beasts of a high 
 order. It was in reference merely to our animal 
 nature that Solomon said, " a man hath no pre- 
 eminence above a beast." But we are creatures 
 not only of intellect, but also of moral affections 
 and religious sentiments. And the likeness of 
 the invisible God is impressed upon the inner 
 man ; and is " the spirit of the Divinity that stirs 
 within us." "There is a spirit in man ; and the 
 inspiration of the Almighty giveth them under- 
 standing." 
 
 The Psalmist in speaking of the exalted dig- 
 nity of our race among the works of creation, 
 declares . that God has made man a little loiver 
 than the angels^ and crowned him with glory 
 and honor. Ps. viii. 5. And our Lord and 
 Savior has certified us that in the resurrection 
 state we shall be equal unto the angels. Luke 
 
92 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 XX. 35. In view of these declarations of divine 
 truth, we feel authorised to affirm that there is 
 in man a combination of earthly and of angelic 
 existence. We are now lower than the angels, 
 because we live in an incipient state of being, 
 and are subject to the influences of the flesh, to 
 temptations, sufl'erings and death. Even our 
 Savior, in his humiliation, and during the time 
 when he lived and died in the world, " was 
 made a little lower than the angels." Heb. ii. 
 9. He has ascended above all things, and the 
 angels of God worship him. We shall in like 
 manner ascend ; but not to the same height 
 with the exalted Prince of life and the Savior of 
 the world. We shall become " equal unto the 
 angels" — he is greater than all, "and little less 
 than God." 
 
 We view man as the connecting link between 
 irrational existence and angelic nature — between 
 earth and heaven. And though he is subject to 
 feelings and passions that belong to brutes, there 
 are principles in his nature that give him kin- 
 dred to the angels and affinity to God. His re- 
 ligious faculties distinguish him above all other 
 earthly creatures; and his powers of progression 
 bear sufficient testimony to the fact that his na- 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 93 
 
 ture is not only higher, but different from that 
 which is possessed by any other inhabitant of 
 the world. He possesses peculiar feelings and 
 powers, of which there is not the slightest mani- 
 festation in any other creature of earth. No 
 possible limits can be assigned to his capabilities 
 of improvement ; while progression is a thing 
 entirely unknown among all other creatures with 
 which we are acquainted. He naturally seeks 
 after the Being that made him; and " as the hart 
 panteth after the water brooks, so panteth his 
 soul after the Living God." And his intellectual, 
 moral, and religious faculties abundantly attest 
 his filial relation to " the God of the spirits of all 
 flesh." 
 
 As man was created in the image of his Ma- 
 ker, we find that the Scriptures speak of God as 
 the Father of our race. The mere act of com- 
 municating a revelation to the world, was a plain 
 recognition on the part of the Deity of this rela- 
 tion. He addresses men as his children ; and 
 requires of all that obedience and love which the 
 filial obligations impose. To brutes he reveals 
 nothing ; and the mere instincts of their nature 
 are the rules of their lives. They are incapable 
 of any spiritual communion with God ; and 
 
94 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 could be profited by no new manifestation of the 
 Power that gave them existence. But man has 
 been visited with messages of truth and love 
 from Heaven, and addressed as one bearing high 
 and holy kindred to his Maker. That superi- 
 ority by which man is thus distinguished, is the 
 likeness or image of God. It is found in our 
 affections, our powers, and our capacities. This 
 image of the Divinity is the chief glory of our 
 nature, and the only thing that constitutes us the 
 children of God. It is an emanation from hea- 
 ven, though dwelling in the flesh. And when 
 it shall be delivered from the bondage of corrup- 
 tion, and clothed with an immortal body, it will 
 rise to an equality wdth the angels, and be in the 
 highest and most perfect sense, the child of God. 
 The paternity of God was not clearly reveal- 
 ed and fully realized by man under the dispen- 
 sation of the Old Testament. He was received 
 rather as a Sovereign Ruler and Judge, than as 
 a Father ; and to a great extent rather feared 
 than loved. He was clothed with majesty and 
 terror, and his name was an awful sound. His 
 worshippers approached him with feelings of 
 dread, and not with the confidence and trust of 
 children. For many ages so much as the name 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 95 
 
 of Father seems not to have been applied by man 
 to his Maker. Moses, we believe, first used 
 this appellation in reference to the Deity, in his 
 farewell address to the people of Israel. But 
 the name appears to have been mentioned in 
 that case with but little understanding of its ho- 
 ly and endearing charms. It occurs occasion- 
 ally afterwards throughout the ancient scriptures ; 
 and perhaps some of the Seers and Prophets en- 
 joyed a tolerable understanding of the paternity 
 of God to the human family. But we think the 
 mass of the Jewish people knew but very little 
 of this relation of God, and had no thought of 
 worshipping him as a Father. " For the law 
 was given by Moses, but grace and truth came 
 by Jesus Christ." 
 
 When, therefore, we come to the better and 
 more perfect revelation of the Gospel, we find 
 that the object of our devotions is represented in 
 the parental character. Jesus teaches us to 
 worship the Father, and to pray to our Father 
 who is in heaven. This relation of God to man 
 is constantly and prominently set forth through- 
 out the whole of the new covenant of promise ; 
 and every other relation meets in and harmo- 
 nizes with the character of a Father. One of 
 
96 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 the excellencies of the Gospel above the older 
 Scriptures, is foujid in its clearer revelations and 
 plainer instructions with respect to the relation 
 that subsists between God and the human race. 
 The veil that formerly obscured the Deity from 
 the vision of man, has been rent in twain and 
 taken away ; and he now appears m the full 
 light of the Gospel as the father. 
 
 But an inquiry of vast importance is here sug- 
 gested to the mind. How far does the paternal 
 relation of God extend ? How many of our race 
 are his children ? We desire to answer these 
 questions in the spirit of candor, and according 
 to the testimony of the Scriptures. And we 
 need not say that a vitally important point of 
 doctrine is involved in the answer. We are to 
 inquire whether the relation of which we speak 
 is really natural, or merely adventitious — whether 
 it is similar to that which exists between pa- 
 rent and child on earth, or something that grows 
 out of certain conditions of the mind of man, and 
 is uncertain in its continuance. 
 
 A few passages of the New Testament may 
 properly be introduced in this place. We are 
 informed in the 23d chapter of Matthew, that 
 our Savior addressed a multitude of people, 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 97 
 
 among whom were his own disciples, and the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, saying, "But be not ye 
 called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even 
 Christ ; and all ye are brethren. And call no 
 man your father upon the earth :for one is your 
 Father, ivhich is in heaven.'^'' In this place 
 Jesus certainly declared that his friends and ene- 
 mies were brethren, and therefore members of 
 the same family; and that the same God was 
 the Father of them all. And if the Scribes and 
 Pharisees, who were influenced by an evil spirit, 
 and were estranged from truth and righteous- 
 ness, were really the children of God, this re- 
 lation could not have been the mere effect of cir- 
 cumstances. They had performed no work 
 sufficient to secure the paternity of the Lord — 
 there was no conformity of life in them to the 
 requisitions of the Gospel, that could ever have 
 merited or produced this relation. And yet so 
 far as the actual relation was concerned, no dis- 
 tinction was made between them and the obedi- 
 ent disciples of the Master. They sustained 
 different characters, it is true ; and in a certain 
 sense, that all can understand, and which we 
 shall hereafter explain, the enemies of Christ 
 were not the children of God. But if the whole 
 9 
 
98 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 multitude addressed were not in reality the 
 members of one family and the children of a 
 common Father, our Lord employed language 
 that did not express his meaning, and which we 
 are unable to understand. 
 
 Again, we learn from the 17th chap, of Acts, 
 that when Paul preached the Gospel in Athens, 
 he found the men of that city exceedingly igno- 
 rant and superstitious ; so much so indeed that 
 they reared an altar and rendered devotions to a 
 God, of whom they professed to have no know- 
 ledge. The apostle declared to them the true 
 and living God ; and also sanctioned the sublime 
 sentiment of one of their own poets, that man, 
 irrespective of circumstances or character, is the 
 child of God. Paul said, " For in him [God] 
 we live and move, and have our being ; as cer- 
 tain also of your own poets have said, * For loe 
 also are his offspring.^ " The sentiment of the 
 poet was thus confirmed, and sealed with the 
 truth of inspiration. The Athenians had not 
 become the children of God by tlie exercise of 
 repentance, the performance of good works, and 
 the adoption of the spirit of truth. They did 
 not even know God ; but still they were his 
 ofTspring. And surely if the Athenians in that 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 99 
 
 State of mental blindness and ignorance in which 
 Paul found them, were the children of God, our 
 filial relation to the Father of spirits naturally 
 exists, and is not the mere effect of adventitious 
 circumstances. What was it that constituted 
 them the offspring of the Deity ? The posses- 
 sion of that divine image which God impressed 
 upon our race, and thus declared us a branch of 
 that " whole family in heaven and earth," of 
 which he is the Parent ! And as they were 
 God's children, it may in truth be said in refer- 
 ence to all men, " for one is your Father, which 
 is in heaven." 
 
 Again, in the 8th chapter of Romans, Paul 
 says, "The spirit itself beareth witness with our 
 spirits that we are the children of God." The 
 fact here stated is worthy of particular attention. 
 The spirit is declared to be a witness, and the 
 testimony which it bore was that the Christians 
 were the children of God. Truth must exist 
 before the witness testifies; and the office of a 
 witness is not to create truth, but to make 
 known that which is true. If Paul and his 
 Christian brethren had not been the actual chil- 
 dren of God before the witness testified, the wit- 
 ness would have borne false testimony. But 
 
100 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 they were the offspring of the Deity, and the 
 testimony of the Spirit of truth fully acquainted 
 them with this fact, and enabled them to enjoy the 
 relation of children. If a man have not this 
 spirit within him, he is a stranger from God ; 
 and although he is in fact a child of the Father 
 of the spirits of all flesh, he cannot enjoy the 
 blessings of sonship. The witness, therefore, 
 makes no change in the truth itself; but simply 
 acquaints man with that which is true. All the 
 change takes place in man himself; and in 
 coming to the knowledge of the truth, he re- 
 joices to find in God a benevolent Parent. The 
 spirit bears the same testimony to all who re- 
 ceive it ; and in every case it is equally true : 
 for God is the Father of all. 
 
 Once more, Paul is equally explicit in decla- 
 ring the universal extent of the divine paternity, 
 in Ephesians iv. 6, where he testifies that there 
 is "one God and Father of all. ^^ We find no- 
 thing in the connexion of this passage to limit 
 its signification to any portion of the human 
 race ; but the nature of the subject plainly re- 
 quires that it should be understood in the fullest 
 sense. As certainly as "there is one Lord, 
 one faith, one baptism," there is " one God and 
 
UNIVERSALIS! BELIEF. 101 
 
 Father of all^ This declaration is so plain 
 and so manifesdy expresses the universal pater- 
 nity of the Supreme Being, that we can offer no 
 comment, and none is needed to elucidate its 
 meaning. 
 
 We are aware of the common opinion that the 
 divine image has been lost in man by reason of 
 sin. But upon what plausible grounds this 
 opinion is founded we have never been informed. 
 The Scriptures declare that man was created in 
 the image of his Maker ; but we have never 
 been able to find the passage which declares that 
 this image has ever been lost. James declared 
 in his day that men were "made after the simi- 
 litude of God." Jas. iii. 9. If men had not 
 ceased to be created in the image of C4od at that 
 time, we should like to be informed when so 
 great a misfortune befel our race. 
 
 But this talk about man having lost the divine 
 image is unworthy of notice. As well might 
 we say that man has ceased to be a man. If 
 any one of our race is not a child of God, that 
 individual is perfecdy free from all filial obliga- 
 tions to his Maker, and owes no more obedience 
 Ihan a beast. He is lost from our race, and 
 holds no fraternal connexion with the human 
 9* 
 
102 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 family. But the absurdity of such a notion is 
 too glaring to require formal confutation. And 
 it would seem that no man who is at all conver- 
 sant with the Scriptures, and who ever takes the 
 pains to think, could harbor a supposition so 
 meanly preposterous. 
 
 We may, however, be reminded of the fact 
 that the Scriptures speak of some men as being 
 children of the Devil. The fact is not denied ; 
 but we fear that it has been strangely misunder- 
 stood. Are we to suppose that an evil being 
 has created, and preserves in existence, and sup- 
 plies the wants of a part of the human race ? 
 Were the Jews who were called serpents and a 
 generation of vipers, the actual children of a 
 reptile ? And was Judas who was called the 
 son of perdition, really begotton of destruction? 
 In all these things the relation is not real, but 
 figurative. A child of the devil is an evil and 
 wicked person. The character exhibited is 
 taken for the man himself. A generation of vi- 
 pers means men full of cursing and bitterness — 
 with the poison of asps under their tongues, and 
 their hearts filled with murder. And a son of 
 perdition means one doomed to destruction. An 
 actual child of God may in spirit and character 
 be a child of hell. But whatever man may be 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 103 
 
 ill feeling and conduct — in the principles that 
 govern their lives — and in the objects of pursuit 
 that engage their attention, no fact is more posi- 
 tively affirmed in the Scriptures, than that there 
 is " one God and Father of all." 
 
 When we reflect upon the nature of that rela- 
 tion which binds together earthly parents and 
 their children, we are at once convinced that the 
 relation which subsists between the immortal 
 Father of spirits and the human race, is not the 
 result of accident, or of any thing performed by 
 man. Your children are bound to you by the 
 ties of kindred before they know you, and Avhat- 
 ever may be their character. There is a natural 
 relationship subsisting between father and child, 
 which cannot be created by obedience, nor de- 
 stroyed by disobedience. If we are in reality 
 the offspring of God, we are so before we know 
 him ; and whatever maybe our sinful wanderings 
 and unworthiness of character, we still bear the 
 same relation. In feeling, and spirit, and cha- 
 racter we may be the servants of sin and the 
 children of Satan. But the ties of spiritual kin- 
 dred that subsist between the Father of spirits 
 and ourselves can never be dissolved ; and if 
 they were, it is certain that all our filial obliga- 
 tions would at once be destroyed. The relation 
 
104 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 of parent and child is not the result of adventi- 
 tious circumstances. It exists independently of 
 any peculiar character in either party ; and 
 though they be estranged and know not each 
 other, the parental and the filial relation still ex- 
 ist. And, indeed, we find that the Lord called 
 to the Israelites, in their greatest sinfulness, say- 
 ing, " Turn, O backsliding c/iz7f/rm." 
 
 Can we view the Deity as the " God and Fa- 
 ther of all" mankind, and still suppose that' there 
 is a portion of our race to whom he bears no pa- 
 rental affection and love ? Will he ever, under 
 any conceivable circumstances, withdraw his fa- 
 therly goodness, and become hardened against 
 any that were created in his image and bear his 
 divine likeness ? The good father provides for- 
 the wants of his children, and seeks to bless; 
 them ; and though he may be strictly just in his 
 discipline toward them, he still bestows upon 
 them unnumbered favors that have never been 
 merited. He is kind to his offspring before they 
 know him ; and his love follows them through 
 every scene of life even unto death. The way- 
 ward and disobedient are objects of his tender 
 compassion ; and he never ceases his efforts to 
 reclaim them from the ways of folly and trans- 
 s^ression, and to restore them to wisdom and 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 105 
 
 peace. And the man who should become the 
 foe of any of his children, and subject them to 
 fierce curses without intending ever to do them 
 any good, would forfeit the name and character 
 of a parent, and stand before the world a monster 
 in cruelty, and an object of universal execration 
 and disgust ! No matter what might be the in- 
 gratitude and vileness of his offspring ; if he were 
 to treat them with revenge or maliciousness, or 
 abandon them to the worst imaginable fate, he 
 would be not only unworthy the name of a pa- 
 rent, but a disgrace to humanity, and little less 
 than a fiend incarnate ! To impute such con- 
 duct to any man that breathes, would be the 
 greatest indignity, and the worst injury that 
 could be inflicted upon his character. 
 
 Shall we suppose that God's parental love to 
 the children of men, is less constant than that 
 which an earthly parent cherishes for his off- 
 spring ? Is it a thing to be lost or gained at 
 pleasure by the fitful choice and uncertain 
 efforts of man ? Can God be the Father of men 
 to-day, and their foe to-morrow ? Or, continu- 
 ing the Father of all during all times and through- 
 out eternity, will he contend forever and be al- 
 ways wroth against any of his offspring ; and 
 preserve them in existence merely that they 
 
106 TJNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 may endure ceaseless and merciless torments ? 
 
 This is surely a serious charge to bring against 
 that Being who is declared to be Love — who is 
 good unto all — who is the God and Father of 
 all — and who is without variableness or even 
 the shadow of turning. Such an accusation 
 should not be made on slight grounds ; nor 
 without the most weighty and irresistible rea- 
 sons. If such be the character of God, alas ! 
 that the morn of creation ever dawned, or man 
 ever derived the breath of life from the great 
 Fountain of being ! 
 
 But let us briefly notice the comparisons of 
 the Scriptures between an earthly parent and the 
 Father of spirits. We may thus ascertain which 
 bears the strongest relation, and whose love is 
 the most enduring. Our Savior said. Matt, vii., 
 " What man is there of you, whom if his son 
 ask bread, will ye give him a stone ? Or if he 
 ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?" Jesus 
 waited for no answer to these questions ; for he 
 knew full well that but one could be given by 
 any man possessing a single feeling of humani- 
 ty ; but he proceeded at once to draw the compa- 
 rison ; — " If ye then, being evil, know how to 
 give good gifts unto your children, Aoz^j imich 
 more shall your Father which is in lieaven give 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 107 
 
 good things to them that ask him?" The com- 
 parison here introduced is not between asking 
 and not asking ; but between an earthly parent 
 and the Father of all spirits. If the former, with 
 the little and inconstant love that man possesses, 
 will supply the wants and regard the happiness 
 of his needy and dependant offspring ; certainly 
 the latter, who is the fountain of all benevolence, 
 and whose love never changes, and who is the 
 «' God and Father of all," will ever contiuue the 
 friend of the whole human race, and at last 
 crown all with a parent's blessings. Tbe differ- 
 ence presented in the comparison, is ali in favor 
 of the superior, endless and changeless love of 
 the Lord. And in view of this testimony of the 
 great Teacher, who can believe that God will 
 adopt principles in his government of the world, 
 that would be odious and unmerciful in man ; 
 and inflict tortures, or suffer his children to en- 
 dure agonies, that will never cease, and never be 
 designed to result in blessings ? Lord, forgive 
 the ignorance of the man who can thus believe, 
 and grant him repentance unto life. 
 
 The comparison is still stronger in the 49th 
 of Isaiah, where we read, " But Zion said. The 
 Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath for- 
 gotten me. Cau a woman forget her sucking 
 
108 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 child, that she should not have compassion on 
 the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget, 
 yet willl not forget thee^ Here the bare pos- 
 sibility is admitted that the mother may cease to 
 regard with fond affection her tender and help- 
 less child. Such cases have occurred ; but to 
 the honor of woman be it said, they have been 
 rare indeed. But strong and deathless as the 
 love of woman's heart is for her cherished in- 
 fant, it is but as a drop to the ocean, compared 
 to the iaimeasurable and immutable love which 
 the "Gcd and Father of all" bears to his chil- 
 dren ! God never forgets — never becomes har- 
 dened agamst his offspring — and he will there- 
 fore never abandon any soul of man to remedi- 
 less woe, and much less become himself the re- 
 lentless and merciless tormentor ! 
 
 If we consider the comparisons of Scripture 
 in regard to parental discipline, we shall find that 
 the same conclusion follows, and that it is equal- 
 ly honorable to the divine character. Moses 
 was instructed to say unto the children of Israel, 
 " Thou shalt also consider in thy heart, that as^ 
 a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God 
 chasteneth thee." Deut. viii. 5. How does » 
 man chasten his child ? and for what purpose is 
 the rod applied ? Docs he make suffering th^ 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 109 
 
 object, and aim to inflict an ultimate injury upon 
 his oflspring? The man who should be guilty 
 of such conduct, would forfeit all claim to the 
 name of a parent ; and every human being with 
 the slightest sensibility, would be shocked at 
 such vile and worse than barbarous conduct! 
 And ought not men to stop and pause, before they 
 presume to charge any such procedure upon the 
 God and Father of all spirits ? If he chastens 
 as a father and loves more than a mother, he 
 will never inflict an unnecessary stripe, nor 
 grieve his helpless creatures merely to cause 
 them pain. 
 
 The comparison stated by Paul is far strong- 
 er. He says, " Furthermore, we have had fathers 
 of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave 
 them reverence : shall we not much rather be in 
 subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live ? 
 For they verily for a few days chastened us after 
 their own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that 
 we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no 
 chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, 
 but grievous : nevertheless afterward it yieldeth 
 the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them 
 which are exercised thereby." Heb. Xii. 
 9 — 11. From this passage we learn that 
 10 
 
110 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 although earthly parents are subject to passion, 
 and sometimes chastise under wrong influences, 
 God is always actuated by the same pure and 
 benevolent feelings, and always has in view the 
 same righteous and peaceful end. He may 
 cause the foolish votary of vice to suffer griev- 
 ously for a season; but that suffering will be 
 beneficial to the creature, and worthy of the 
 God of Love ! There is an afterward to the 
 sufferings of those who are chastened of the 
 Lord. And when all punishment shall have 
 done its work, the fruits of righteousness and 
 peace shall fill all hearts, the Lord shall rejoice 
 in his works, and all who have borne the image 
 of the earthy man shall also bear the image of 
 the heavenly, and " be equal unto the angels." 
 
 Here then is our conclusion. God is the Fa- 
 ther of all men — his parental love never fails 
 nor changes — he will consider the wants and 
 provide for the happiness of his offspring — his 
 chastenings are designed for benevolent ends, 
 and will ultimately result in happiness to the 
 sufferer — he will be glorified in all his works — 
 and through whatever scenes of trial and disci- 
 pline man may pass, the time will come when 
 every tongue shall swear, " In the Lord have I 
 righteousness and strength." Amen. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WILL OF GOD. 
 
 In view of the arguments already presented in 
 favor of Universalism, we feel justified in assu- 
 ming certain important positions without any- 
 additional proof. We have shown that God 
 originally designed all mankind for ultimate 
 glory and happiness. We have proved that he 
 is the " Father of all ;" and that the filial rela- 
 tion which binds man to him is not the result of 
 any thing adventitious, nor liable ever to be de- 
 stroyed. And we may now view God as the 
 universal and immutable Parent, eternally well 
 disposed toward all his offspring. 
 
 These facts are established by the united tes- 
 timony of reason and Scripture, xind as truth 
 is always consistent with itself, we have a riofht 
 to assume that the divine word teaches nothing 
 of a contrary nature. If God is the unchange- 
 able Father of all spirits, his disposition toward 
 man cannot be otherwise than benevolent. And 
 
112 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 being at first " good unto all," his goodness can 
 never experience mutation, neither become cir- 
 cumscribed in its influence. God is far exalted 
 above the possibility of change ; and passion 
 finds noplace in his infinitely pure and holy mind. 
 Uninfluenced by any thing from without, his dis- 
 position and all his acts, spring from the im- 
 pulses of his own nature. With a perfect know- 
 ledge of all his works from the beginning of the 
 world, and with a certain understanding of all 
 possible events, however remote, no intention 
 of his will can be liable to defeat — no purpose 
 of his mind can ever be frustrated. And if we can 
 clearly ascertain " the determinate counsel" of 
 God with respect to any particular end of his 
 economy, the fact itself, will afford the strong- 
 est reason for believing in the certain accom- 
 plishment of that end. We may not understand 
 all the means necessary for the completion of 
 the work, nor be able to answer every objection 
 and reconcile all seeming difficulties ; but we are 
 still confident in the belief that God can never 
 be disappointed in any undertaking. 
 
 In considering any subject of Bible truth, it is 
 highly important that we keep constantly in 
 view the infinitely benevolent and immutable 
 
rXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 113 
 
 nature of the Supreme Being. There is a prone- 
 ness in man to ascribe his own weaknesses and 
 passions to the object of his devotions, and to 
 view his God as a Being in too many respects 
 like unto himself. The Psalmist speaks of per- 
 sons in his day who thought that God was alto- 
 gether such as themselves. Perhaps few in 
 these days extend the comparison so far; but 
 we fear that many are equally blinded in regard 
 to the true character of the Divinity. All quali- 
 ties in man that are good should J?e attributed to 
 God, and considered in him as infinite and 
 changeless. Thus the Scriptures speak of the 
 Lord as possessing parental affection, inconceiv- 
 ably greater and more enduring than that of any 
 earthly father or mother. But we should be 
 careful that we do not ascribe to the Living God 
 any weakness, passion or change, that belongs 
 only to imperfect beings. And, above all, we 
 should guard against the supposition that there 
 is any thing like uncertainty in the Divine Mind. 
 All is perfection with God. With him all time 
 is present — all things are known — and the end 
 is as clearly seen and as fully understood as the 
 beo-inninof. 
 
 Owing to the state of the Christian world, we 
 have hitherto been obliged to perform a double 
 10* 
 
114 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 labor. We have first labored to disprove the 
 doctrines of others, and afterwards to establish 
 the truth of our own. No good reason can be 
 given why we should always continue this 
 course of labors. We are justified in throw- 
 ing the burden of proof, at least in some mea- 
 sure, upon the opposers of God's universal and 
 efiicient grace, instead of disproving all their as- 
 sumptions. The essential truths of religion, 
 concerning which all Christians are perfectly 
 agreed, are all in favor of the doctrine of universal 
 salvation. And when a man asserts that God will 
 fail in any undertaking, or that some men will final- 
 ly be doomed to an end for which he never design- 
 ed them, we have a right to demand proof of the 
 awful disappointment. It is not for us to show 
 that God never will be thus defeated in his inten- 
 tions ; but it is the business of our opposers to 
 take hold of the affirmative of the question, and 
 prove that God will at last be baflled in his pur- 
 poses. Let fair and honorable rules of argumen- 
 tation govern the disputants on both sides of the 
 question, and we cannot doubt that the conclu- 
 sion in all minds will be, that God ivills the sal- 
 vation of all men, and cannot fail at last to effect 
 this desirable object. 
 
UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 115 
 
 We now propose to consider the ivill of God, 
 in reference to the salvation of man. The main 
 proposition that we shall endeavor to establish 
 and illustrate, is, that God icills the salvcdion of 
 all men. 
 
 In prosecuting this undertaking, it seems ne- 
 cessary that we should first clearly define what 
 we mean by that salvation, of which we hold 
 that all men will finally partake. The Gospel 
 speaks of a salvation which is peculiar to he- 
 lievers, and which is, in fact, the fruit of Chris- 
 tian faith. It would be folly to pretend that all 
 men enjoy this salvation. Faith belongs to the 
 present world, where the believer in Christ 
 walks by faith, and not by sight ; and that sal- 
 vation which comes through belief of the truth 
 can be experienced by no man who does not be- 
 lieve the record which God hath given of his 
 Son. Persons dying in infancy can know no- 
 thing of salvation by faith, because they never 
 exercised faith ; and yet w^e believe that they 
 will be subjects of "the common" or universal 
 salvation. Salvation by faith is the special 
 and present salvation, enjoyed by none but 
 true believers, and only in this world where 
 faith is exercised. But we hold that the gene- 
 
116 UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 ral and final salvation will not be of faith, but 
 will be enjoyed in full sight and perfect know- 
 ledge. Believing that there will be no faith in 
 the spiritual world, we deny that there will be 
 any salvation by faith in that abode of celestial 
 light and glory. Faith will there be lost in sight, 
 and hope absorbed in the fruition of knowledge. 
 
 But we need not expatiate upon the subject of 
 salvation by faith. It must be obvious to all 
 who view the subject with any degree of candor, 
 that though but a part o\ mankind partake of that 
 present salvation which comes through faith, all 
 may nevertheless be " saved and come unto the 
 knowledge of the truth." And when we speak 
 of universal salvation, we always refer to the 
 final end of our race. With salvation by faith 
 comparatively few of our race are blessed — in- 
 fants, idiots, heathens, and all unbelievers being 
 excluded. But the proposition which we have 
 attempted to maintain, contemplates the ultimate 
 blessedness of our race in the immortal state of 
 being, and in the he^ivenly nature of Jesus 
 Christ. This salvation will deliver man from 
 sin and sorrow, and the power of death and 
 corruption, and introduce him into the glorious 
 liberty of tiie resurrection state. And this sal- 
 vation, wc believe, will be conferred upon the 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 117 
 
 entire race of Adam. Paul very distinctly speaks 
 of the two salvations, in 1st Timothy iv. 10, 
 where he says, " For therefore we both labor 
 and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living 
 God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of 
 those that believed We are now concerned 
 only with the universal salvation ; and shall at- 
 tempt to prove that God wills the salvation of 
 all men. 
 
 A passage relating to this subject, that will 
 readily occur to every mind, is found in 1st 
 Timothy, 2d chapter. And that it may be seen 
 in all its force, we will cite the connexion as 
 well as the passage itself. " I exhort, therefore, 
 that, first of all, supplications, prayers, interces- 
 sions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 
 for kings, and for all that are in authority ; that 
 we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all god- 
 liness and honesty. For this is good and ac- 
 ceptable in the sight of God our Savior ; who 
 will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the 
 knowledge of the truth. 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." The fact is 
 here most 'explicitly affirmed that God "?m7/ 
 have all men to be saved.'' And the connexion 
 
118 rNIVERSALIST BKLIEF. 
 
 in which this declaration is found, instead of 
 weakening its force, plainly forbids any limita- 
 tion of meaning. The apostle declares it to be 
 good and acceptable in the sight of God that 
 prayers should be made in behalf of all men ; 
 and the reason assigned, is, that God is good to 
 all men, and wills that all shall be saved, and 
 come unto the knowledge of the truth. It is also 
 added that the Mediator gave himself a ransom 
 for all. Jesus tasted death for every man, Heb. 
 ii. 9, and is the propitiation for the sins of the 
 whole world, 1st John, ii. 2. And, considering 
 all the terms of the context, it would seem pre- 
 posterous to deny that the divine will in reference 
 to the salvation of man embraces our whole 
 race. 
 
 A distinguished commentator* has said in re- 
 lation to the passage now under consideration, 
 "As God is the God and Father of all; for there 
 IS but one God, verse 5, and Jesus Christ the 
 Mediator of all; so he gave himself a ransom 
 for all : i. e. for all that God made ; consequent- 
 ly for every human soul ; unless we suppose 
 thattherearehuman souls of which God is not the 
 Creator; for, the argument of the apostle is 
 plainly this : — 1. There is one God — 2. This 
 » Clarke 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIET 
 
 119 
 
 one God is ihe Creator of all — 3. He has made 
 a revelation of his kindness to all — 4. He will 
 have all men to be saved, and come unto the 
 knowledge of the truth ; and 5. He has provided 
 a Mediator for all, who ^ave himself a ransom 
 for all. As surely as God has created all men, 
 so surely has Jesus Christ died for all men. 
 This is a truth which the nature and revelation 
 of God unequivocally dechre." 
 
 Again, our Savior says, John vi. 38, 39, " For 
 I came down from heaven, not to do mine own 
 will, but the icill of him that sent me. And this 
 is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of 
 all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, 
 but should raise it up again at the last day." 
 The object of Christ's mediation between God 
 and men is here stated, as well as the certain ac- 
 complishment of God's will through his agency. 
 He has been appointed to perform what God 
 has willed ; and this will is that he should lose 
 nothing of all that the Father hath given him, 
 but should raise it up again at the last day. The 
 meaning seems plain that Jesus has been com- 
 missioned to eflfect the final reconciliation to God 
 of all that have been given into his hands, snd 
 over whom he has received power. The object 
 of his mission and labors orijjinated in the Di- 
 
120 UNIVEKSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 vine Mind, and is hence called the will of God, 
 which he has undertaken to accomplish. Jesus 
 has heen highly exalted, and invested with all 
 the adequate means for the completion of this 
 work. And if nothing will be lost of all that the 
 Father hath given him, the time will certainly 
 come when all his ransomed subjects will bow 
 in subjection and obedience before him, and con- 
 fess him Lord to the glory of God the Father ! 
 We have now two important facts before us, 
 and we desire that they may be carefully consi- 
 dered. 1. Jesus, the Savior of sinners, has en- 
 gaged in the enterprise o^ doing the will of God; 
 and 2. That will is, negatively, that he should 
 lose nothing of all that has been given him, and, 
 positively, that he should raise it up again at the 
 last day, and thus restore all to God. The in- 
 quiry that now suggests itself to the mind, is, 
 how many of the human race have been given 
 Christ of the Father? A correct answer to this 
 question will determine the extent of that ivill of 
 God, which our Redeemer has pledged himself 
 to perform. We need not ask what men believe 
 in regard to this subject — the answer must come 
 from hio;her authority, and the spirit of inspira- 
 tion shall declare it. We find, in the 2d Psalm, 
 a prophecy in reference to the Messiah, that 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 121 
 
 will shed light upon this interesting theme. The 
 Lord speaks, saying, *«Yet have I set my king 
 upon my holy hill in Zion. I will declare the 
 decree : the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art 
 my Son ; this day have 1 begotten thee. Ask of 
 me, and I shall give thee the heathen for tliine 
 inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for thy possession." This language is in part 
 applied to our Saviour in the New Testament, 
 Heb. i. 5 ; and we there learn also that he has 
 asked and received the large gift of the heathen 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth. He says 
 himself, John xvii., " Father, the hour is come ; 
 glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify 
 thee: As thou hast given him power over all 
 fleshy that he should give eternal life to as many 
 as thou hast given him." But the Messiah has 
 not only received power over all. He proceeds 
 still farther and declares in language too plain to 
 be misunderstood, *' The Father loveth the Son, 
 and hath given all things into his hand.'' 
 John iii. 35. And this fact receives confirmation 
 from those passages which declare Christ to be 
 *' the head of every man," 1st Cor. xi. 3, the 
 " Lord of all," Acts x. 36, and " the Saviourof 
 the world," 1st John iv. 14. As God intended 
 him to be the universal Saviour, he delivered all 
 things into his hand, gave him power over all 
 11 
 
122 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 flesh, caused him to taste death for every man, 
 and to be the propitiation for the sins of the 
 whole world ! And if all this does not express 
 absolute universality, we are either ignorant of 
 the meaning of language, or else the Bible is to 
 us an uncertain rule of faith. 
 
 In view of the foregoing, it seems plain and 
 eertain, that the to ill of God which Jesus came 
 to perform, is, that all men may at last be saved, 
 and come unto the knowledge of the truth. Such 
 is the extent, and such the object of God's will 
 in relation to the salvation of our race. As it 
 embraces all, it contemplates the same happy 
 and glorious end for universal humanity. And 
 the great question to be settled is, whether this 
 ivill of God will to some extent fail, or at last 
 be fully accomplished. 
 
 Here let us inquire what we are to understand 
 by the will of God. This phrase does not bear 
 one uniform signification in all parts of the 
 Scriptures where it occurs. In some places it 
 refers to the commandments of God, or to the 
 duty which his law requires of man. Thus 
 Jesus says, Mark iii. 35, "For whosoever shall 
 do the will of God, the same is my brother, and 
 my sister, and my mother ;" by which he meant 
 that whoever was obedient to the divine law, 
 stood in a most intimate relation to himself, and 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 123 
 
 was united to him by belter and purer ties than 
 those of natural kindred. He expressed the same 
 general meaning, when he said, John vii. 16, 17, 
 " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 
 If any man will do his will, he shall know of 
 the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I 
 speak of myself." In these passages, and in 
 many others, the will of God is expressive of no 
 determination of his mind in regard to any end 
 of his economy ; but merely signifies that duty 
 which his holy law obligates us to perform. 
 
 But it seems to us that the phrase in question 
 should be understood in a far different sense, 
 when it relates to any work which God himself 
 means to perform. When he said concerning 
 John the Baptist, "• I ivill send my messenger," 
 Luke vii. 27, we undersand that such was his 
 intention; and we know that the Baptist was 
 thus certainly sent. And when he said, Isaiah 
 Ivii. 16, "For I will not contend for ever, nei- 
 ther loill I be always wroth : for the spirit should 
 fail before me, and the souls which I have 
 made ;" he declared his determination not to 
 punish always, but to produce at some time a 
 d-^sirable end, when the contention should cease. 
 When Jesus affirmed that he came to do the will 
 of God, he did not mean that he came to be 
 conformed in obedience to the divine commands ; 
 
124 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 but he undertook to effect a particular purpose 
 which originated in the mind of his Father. God 
 loilled or determined a particular end, and com' 
 missioned his Son to accomplish it. The will 
 of God in this case is obviously expressive of 
 what he meant to effect, and seems equivalent 
 to intention. And God's will that all men shall 
 be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the 
 truth, means that such is his pleasure, and such 
 the end that he designs. 
 
 The first and highest sense of the will of 
 God, is thus given by several eminent theolo- 
 gians, neither of which held the perfect faith 
 which we cherish. Cruden says, " The will of 
 God is taken, for his absolute will which nothing 
 can vk^ithstand.'* Buck says, the '* will of God 
 is taken, for that which he has from all eternity 
 determined, which is unchangeable, and must 
 certainly come to pass." And Calmet says, 
 *'it is taken for the absolute and immutable 
 will of God, which nothing can withstand.'* 
 These authors, it is true, speak of other senses 
 in which the will of God must be understood ; 
 and we have admitted, and attempted to show, 
 that this phrase is not always expressive of the 
 same meaning. But we have stated the first defi- 
 nition which they offer, and which we suppose 
 to be the highest and most obvious sense of the 
 
XJNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 125 
 
 will of God, and perhaps the only sense when 
 used in reference to any object which God means 
 to effect. 
 
 And why should it be thought that the will of 
 God must be understood in some inferior sense 
 when applied to the salvation of mankind ? It is 
 plain that this will as explained by our Savior, 
 is nothing less than^a fixed determination. For 
 he declares that he not only came to do the will 
 of his Father, but that this will is, that of all that 
 the Father hath given him he should lose nothings 
 but should raise it up again at the last day. If there 
 was no intention in the divine mind, Jesus had 
 no certain object in view, and was merely trying 
 an experiment, or endeavoring to ascertain what 
 could be done ! And if there is no purpose 
 with God that all men shall be saved, we have 
 no assurance that he really means to save one 
 individual of our race ! But if God ever had any 
 "determinate counsel," it seems but reasonable 
 to suppose that it would embrace the highest in- 
 teiests of his moral offspring, and therefore in- 
 clude the final destiny of the human family. 
 And in view of all that has been said, we feel 
 justified in concluding that God has tvilled the 
 salvation of all men. 
 
 Havino; shown that God has ivilled the final 
 and glorious destiny of the whole human race, 
 11* 
 
126 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 we wish now to notice the scliemes by which 
 our opposers endeavor to evade the just and rea- 
 sonable conckision resulting from this important 
 fact. If such is the will of God, why should 
 we doubt that all men will finally be saved ? 
 The Arminiau objector (and perhaps we shall 
 have no other) will say that it is God's will of 
 desire and of pleasure that all men should be 
 saved ; or in other words,' that he desires this 
 end, and would be well pleased if all men would 
 become holy and righteous, so that it could be 
 accomplished. This is a very common objection, 
 but we are unable to perceive in it any force 
 whatever. If man were the author of salvation, 
 and our destiny depended upon his efforts, the 
 result might be uncertain, and the author might 
 have desires that would never be satisfied. But 
 when any such lang,uage is applied to the infinite 
 God, his nature and character seem not to be un- 
 derstood ; and if he is not considered altogether 
 such a one as ourselves, he is at least supposed 
 to possess some weakness that belongs to hu- 
 manity. 
 
 What is meant by desire when applied to 
 God ? This word is sometimes at least expres- 
 sive of uncertainty. We may desire many things 
 which we have no expectation of ever receiving. 
 If there is a probability of gaining the object de- 
 
UNI VERBALIST BELIEF. 127 
 
 sired, hope is experienced in the mind. But 
 God never hopes, and strictly speaking, he can 
 have no desires, All things are known unto 
 him, and he sees the end from the beginning. 
 No result of his government or grace can be with 
 him an object of desire, because it must be per- 
 fectly known, and absolutely certain. Desire 
 has reference to someih'mg future, but with God 
 all things are present. Perhaps the same may 
 be said of will. But there is, nevertheless, a 
 distinction between the two, that may easily be 
 understood. Tflll in the divine mind, may be 
 regarded as synonymous whh purpose ; but de- 
 sire seems to imply that the object wished for is 
 uncertain. And such is in fact the ground as- 
 sumed by the Arminian objector. He admits 
 that God desires the salvation of all men, but 
 denies that he will finally save all men. Thus 
 the thing desired is represented as being uncer- 
 tain; or rather it is declared to be certain of ulti- 
 mate failure ! Purpose is perfectly consistent 
 with that which is known and present to the 
 mind of God. But we cannot believe that he 
 ever desires a thing, and much less a thing that 
 will never come to pass. 
 
 Suppose we should admit that it is merely God's 
 will of f/esire that all men should be saved. Who 
 dare say that this desire will never be satisfied ? 
 
128 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 The Scriptures declare, that " the desire of the 
 righteous shall be granted." Prov. x. 24. None 
 need be told that it is God who grants the desire 
 of the righteous. And allowing that he has de- 
 sires himself, it would be strange indeed if he 
 would grant the desire of others, and not satisfy 
 his own ! The objector, therefore, has a greater 
 labor before him, than merely to show that 
 God's will to save all men means desire. He 
 is required to prove that that desire will never 
 be fulfilled; or at least to offer some good reasons 
 for believing that God will fail to effect what he 
 has undertaken to perform. But neither of these 
 points has as yet been established. 
 
 As to the notion that God's will means his 
 pleasure, this is far less exceptionable than the 
 assumption that it signifies desire. This word 
 is used in connexion with the will and purpose 
 of God, as we shall show, and may be regarded 
 as a different term expressing the same idea. It 
 is admitted, then, that the pleasure of God is, 
 that all men may be saved. Well, upon what 
 ground is it doubted that this pleasure will be 
 accomplished ? Flying from one word to another 
 may enable a man to effect his escape out of a 
 difficulty, provided he is not closely pursued. 
 But we mean to follow our opposers in all their 
 windings, and rout them from every refuge, 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 129 
 
 until they are brought to the acknowledgement of 
 the truth. Let it be granted that ivill means 
 pleasure. The Scriptures will then read, " It is 
 the pleasure of God to have all men to be saved, 
 and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 
 
 Do the Scriptures encourage us to hope that 
 God's pleasure will be done ? or do they give us 
 reason to fear that it will never be accomplished ? 
 Two passages relating to this subject may here 
 be introduced. Isaiah, xlvi. 9, 10, "I am God, 
 and there is none like me, declaring the end 
 from the beginning, and from ancient times the 
 things that are not yet done, saying, My coun- 
 sel shall stand, and I ivill do all my pleasure.'" 
 This passage, which we do not say was spoken 
 in reference to the final destiny of any man, 
 shows that God's pleasure is immutable and can 
 never fail. The same truth is again declared in 
 language equally positive and strong, in Isaiah 
 liii. 10. After foretelling the sufferings and death 
 of the Messiah for the redemption of the world, 
 the prophet says of him, "he shall see his seed, 
 he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of 
 the Lord shall prosper in his hand.'' And what 
 is this pleasure of the Lord that shall succeed 
 and be accomplished in the hand of the Mediator? 
 That all men shall be saved; and that of all that 
 hath been given Christ, (and the Father hath 
 
130 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 given all things into his hands) he should lose 
 nothings but should raise it up again at the last 
 day! What, then, does the objector gain by 
 substituting the word pleasure for ivill or pur- 
 pose? Surely, nothing. The whole subject 
 appears still the same: and the word of God still 
 testifies that our Lord spoke the truth when he 
 declared that he would draw all men unto him, 
 self. John xii. 32. 
 
 Again, when we quote the plain passage, God 
 *' will have all men to be saved, and come unto 
 the knowledge of the truth," we are met with 
 such answers as the following : — Rev. Josiah 
 Hopkins says, in his "Christian Instructor," p. 
 217, *' From this passage it is obvious, that 
 God does as certainly will that all men should 
 be brought to the knowledge of the truth, as that 
 all men should be saved. This, however, is not 
 accomplished." And Rev. Stephen Remington 
 says, in his " Anti-Universalisrn," page 125, 
 " Our opponents say that this text is a positive 
 affirmation that God will save all men, and if 
 any are finally lost, then his word must fail. I 
 would ask, does not God assert with equal posi. 
 tiveness that he will have all men come unto the 
 knowledge of the truth ? And do all men come 
 unto the knowledge of the truth ?" Now, we 
 confess that the statements here made are strictly 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 131 
 
 true. And the answers furnished are altoorether 
 in favor of Universalism. It is just as true that 
 God wills all men to "be brought to the know- 
 ledge of the truth, as that all men should be 
 saved." Knowledge of the whole truth of God, 
 and perfect salvation, are inseparably connected 
 together ; and the one is implied in the other. 
 And as to the question, " do all men come unto 
 the knowledge of the truth?" we answer, this 
 end has certainly not yet been accomplished. 
 We claim no honor for giving the answer, for it 
 seems very plain ! And we cannot see the par- 
 ticular object of the question, unless it was 
 merely to say something. As well might we 
 ask a believer in the universal resurrection of 
 mankind, "Do all men live in the immortal 
 world ?" None suppose that all men have come 
 unto the knowledge of the truth. But does it 
 hence follow that they never ivill know the 
 truth and be saved ? AVhen arguments are di- 
 rected against this point, they will deserve more 
 consideration than any senseless questions. 
 
 We never said nor believed that all men are 
 now saved, or now brought to the knowledge of 
 the truth ; but we are happy to believe with 
 Paul, that God " will have all men to be saved, 
 and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 
 And we think the Rev. John Wesley saw some- 
 
133 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 thing of this truth, when he said, " That general 
 and unlimited promise which runs through the 
 whole gospel dispensation, ' I will put my laws 
 into their minds, and write them in their hearts,' 
 turns all the commands of God into promises, 
 and consequently that among the rest. *Let 
 this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 
 Jesus.' The command here is equivalent to a 
 promise, and gives us full reason to expect that 
 he will work in us what he requires of us.'''' 
 Again, he says, in the same connexion, " The 
 command of God given by St. Peter, * Be ye 
 holy as he that hath called you is holy, in all 
 manner of conversation,' implies a promise that 
 we shall he thus holy. As God has called us to 
 holiness, he is undoubtedly willing, as well as 
 able, to work this holiness in us. For he can- 
 not mock his helpless creatures, calling upon 
 them to receive what he never intends to give 
 them.'^ 
 
 We believe that what God ivills he intends to 
 accomplish. And we find that his ivill in re- 
 gard to the salvation and blessedness of all men 
 in Christ, is so connected with his purpose and 
 good pleasure, as to leave no room for doubt 
 that these several terms are employed to express 
 the same gospel truth. Paul says of God, 
 Ephesians i. 9, 10, 11, "Having made known 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 133 
 
 unto us the mystery of his will, according to his 
 good pleasure which he h2i\\\ purposed in him- 
 self: That in the dispensation of the fulness 
 of times he miglit gather together in one all 
 things in Christ, both which are in heaven, 
 and which are on earth ; even in him : In whom 
 also we have obtained an inheritance, being pre- 
 destinated according to the purpose of him who 
 worketh all things after the counsel of his own 
 ivillJ''' We are here instructed, not only that 
 God has purposed the ingathering of all things 
 in Christ, as certainly as he has ivilled this glo- 
 rious consummation ; but also that the execution 
 of the work belongs to him, and that he will 
 complete it according to his own counsel. All 
 uncertainty is excluded ; and though all things 
 have been given into the hands of Jesus, he will 
 *' lose nothing,'''' but draw all men unto himself. 
 Such is the conclusion that we draw from the 
 will of God concerning the salvation of all men. 
 And we find that our opposers, though the truth 
 is divided among them, teach together the same 
 gospel doctrine. The Arminian Dr. Clarke 
 says, " Because God wills the salvation of all 
 men, therefore he wills that all men should be 
 prayed for. In the face of such a declaration, 
 how can any Christian soul suppose that God 
 ever unconditionally and eternally reprobated 
 12 
 
134 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 any man ! Those who can believe so, one 
 would suppose, can have little acquaintance 
 either with the nature of God, or the bowels of 
 Christ.''^ And the Calvinistic Dr. Gill says, 
 " The salvation which God wills that all men 
 should enjoy, is not a mere possibility of salva- 
 tion, or a mere putting them into a salvable 
 state ; or a proposal of sufficient means of it to 
 all in his word ; but a real, certain, and actual 
 salvation, which he has determined they shall 
 have ; and is sure from his own appointment, 
 from the provision of Christ as a Savior for 
 them, from the covenant of grace, in which 
 everything is secured necessary for it, and from 
 the mission of Christ to effect it, and from its 
 being effected by him : wherefore the will of 
 God, that all men should be saved, is not a con- 
 ditional will, or what depends upon the will of 
 man, or on any thing to be performed by him, 
 for then none might be saved ; and if any should, 
 it would be of him that willeth, contrary to the 
 express words of Scripture ; but it is an absolute 
 and unconditional will respecting their salvation, 
 and which infallibly secures it," &c. 
 
 These statements we most heartily believe. 
 They are perfectly accordant with the truth 
 which we have endeavored to defend and illus- 
 trate. And, united together as they ought to be, 
 
UXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 135 
 
 they plainly show that we hold all the truth be- 
 lieved by both classes of our opposers. One 
 says God really wills the salvation of all men ; 
 and the other declares that this will respecting 
 their salvation, ^^ infallibly secures it.^^ The 
 latter finds the will of God that all men should 
 be saved, so determinate and absolute, as to de- 
 clare that all men cannot really mean all men ! 
 But with this assumption we have no concern. 
 We are willing that our opposers should settle 
 the controversy between themselves. In what- 
 ever way it may be decided it will be favorable 
 to truth. And if left undecided, all the truth 
 held by both classes constitutes the whole coun- 
 sel of God, and encourages the hope that he will 
 not be defeated in his purposes, nor disappointed 
 in the accomplishment of his will! 
 
 When this will, purpose, or good pleasure is 
 fulfilled by " him who worketh all things after 
 the counsel of his own will," the world shall be 
 reconciled to God, through Jesus Christ; and 
 the ransomed of the Lord (and he " gave him- 
 self a ransom for all to be testified in due time.") 
 " Yea the ransomed of Jehovah shall return : 
 they shall come to Sion with triumph ; • and 
 perpetual gladness shall crown their heads. Joy 
 and gladness shall they obtain ; and sighing and 
 sorrow shall flee away." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ATONEMENT. 
 
 Solomon says, Proverbs xvii. 15, " He that 
 justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth 
 the just, even they both are abomination to the 
 Lord." The Book in which these words are 
 found is what its name properly imports — a col- 
 lection o^ proverbs. It contains but few pas- 
 sages that may be used with propriety as direct 
 proofs of any theoretical doctrine. But it abounds 
 in maxims, involving the most important prin- 
 ciples, both of moral and of doctrinal truth. 
 And a judicious and careful investigation of its 
 teachings, may be of the highest service in the 
 discussion of subjects of a purely doctrinal cha- 
 racter. While we are opposed to the introduc- 
 tion of far-fetched and overstrained arguments 
 for the support of any cause, we are willing to 
 avail ourselves of every reasonable help to dis- 
 prove error and elicit truth. And we think it 
 will be no difficult task to show that the obvious 
 sense of the passage cited, certainly stands op- 
 posed to, and utter])^ falsifies a venerated dogma 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 137 
 
 of human creeds, that shall hereafter be intro- 
 duced and examined. 
 
 The justification of the wicked, and the con- 
 demnation of the just, are alike wrong in prin- 
 ciple, and equally abominable in the sight of 
 Him who is " a just God." We understand 
 the writer to mean that the wicked are justified, 
 when they are entirely acquitted of all guilt, and 
 condign punishment is all remitted. He would 
 not surely consider it wrong and abominable in 
 the sight of God that the wicked should be re- 
 claimed from the folly and error of their ways, 
 and restored to the wisdom and obedience of the 
 just. But it would be a violation of all righteous 
 and equitable dealing, to overlook the criminal 
 faults and sins of the disobedient, and suffer the 
 wicked to go unpunished. Such procedure, 
 being opposed to every principle of the divine 
 government as declared in the Scriptures, and 
 in contravention to all that deserves to be called 
 equity, is an abomination to the Lord of hosts. 
 Righteousness and judgment are the habitation 
 of his throne ; and while that throne securely 
 stands, he can neither clear the guilty, nor sanc- 
 tion the justification of man in wickedness." 
 
 Condemning the just involves the same odious 
 principle of unrighteousness, and is therefore no 
 less abominable to Him who is "righteous in all 
 12* 
 
138 IJNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 his ways." To visit upon the innocent and un- 
 olTending, punishment which none but the guilty 
 deserve, must surely be a detestable thing in the 
 eyes of a holy, just and benevolent Being. And 
 any system of religion that approves such con- 
 duct and involves such principles, must be both 
 false in fact, and pernicious in all its tendencies 
 and results. It tends to destroy all proper dis- 
 tinction between justice and its opposite; and it 
 could not be practiced among men without pro- 
 ducing the most deleterious effects, both to mo- 
 rals and to happiness. It would remove all 
 protection from the innocent, and offer a bounty 
 upon crime. 
 
 Consider for a moment the individual by 
 whom the abomination of which Solomon speaks 
 is practiced. Select, if you please, the Judge 
 of a Court. Two men are apprehended and ar- 
 raigned before him on the charge of murder. 
 He hears the testimony of witnesses and the 
 pleadings of counsellors; and after becoming 
 acquainted with all the facts in the case, he as- 
 certains that one of the prisoners is guilty of 
 the crime alleged, and the other innocent. But 
 inseat J of pronouncing sentence according to the 
 evidence, and agreeably to equity and truth, he 
 justifies the wicked man, and condemns the 
 just person. The foul murderer is let loose 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 13^ 
 
 again upon society with the stain of innocent 
 blood upon his hands, to commit new depreda- 
 tions upon the property and lives of virtuous 
 citizens ; while the unfortunate man who com- 
 mitted no wrong, is slain as a malefactor ! 
 
 In this case, the penalty of the law was indeed 
 inflicted ; that is, a man was executed because a 
 murder was committed. But supposing the law 
 itself to be strictly just in requiring life for life, 
 were the ends of justice really secured in this 
 case ? Every man who has any sense of right 
 and wrong, will answer that greater injustice 
 was done, than if both the accused had been set 
 at liberty. The execution of the penalty of the 
 law has no possible connexion with justice, and 
 violates every principle of right, unless the pun- 
 ishment fall upon the guilty. If an innocent 
 man should even voluntarily offer himself as a 
 substitute for the atrocious murderer, he could 
 not in justice suffer the penalty which none but 
 the guilty deserved. And if the judge should 
 justify the wicked, and condemn the just, and 
 then plead in justification of himself, that a 
 righteous man had freely consented to bear the 
 punishment which another merited, his plea 
 would be a vile abomination in the view of God, 
 and of all good men ! Such a judge would be 
 considered either insane, or else '' desperately 
 
140 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 wicked ;" and certainly no man with any reason 
 in his head or goodness in his heart, could either 
 approve his decision or exonerate him from the 
 crime of murder ! 
 
 Both guilt and innocency are personal quali- 
 ties, and cannot be transferred from one indivi- 
 dual to another. If I were to commit a capital 
 offence against the laws of my country, the in- 
 fliction of penalties upon ten thousand persons 
 could neither remove my guilt, nor satisfy the 
 demands of law and justice. / should be the 
 criminal, and upon me alone could the punish- 
 ment of the violated law be justly inflicted. The 
 language of Scripture on this subject is, God 
 " will by no means clear the guilty." Exodus 
 xxxiv. 7. " Say ye to the righteous that it shall 
 be well with him : for they shall eat the fruit of 
 their doings. Wo unto the wicked! it shall be 
 ill with him : for the reward of his hands shall 
 be given him." Isaiah iii. 10, 11. " The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not 
 bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the 
 father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteous- 
 ness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the 
 wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.'''' 
 Ezekiel xviii. 20. "But he that doeth wrong 
 shall receive for the wrong which he hath done : 
 and there is no respect of persons." Col. iii. 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 141 
 
 25. The same general truth is plainly recog- 
 nized in the declaration that the justification of 
 the wicked and the condemnation of the just, 
 are both abominable to the Lord. And it is cer- 
 tain that this very abomination would be com- 
 mitted, if a wicked man were acquitted, and a 
 just person punished in his stead. 
 
 Keeping the foregoing considerations and 
 Scripture texts distinctly in view, let us now 
 direct our attention to the doctrine of atonement. 
 Let it be understood that we firmly believe, aye, 
 and greatly rejoice, in this doctrine as we find 
 it set forth in the Scriptures of truth. But we 
 are convinced that monstrous and dangerous 
 errors have long been held by those who style 
 themselves and one another orthodox and evan- 
 gelical Christians. We do not know what it is 
 that exclusively entitles them to these agreeable 
 names ; and we use these words merely to be 
 understood, but as seldom as possible, because 
 they have been so abominably abused. We wish 
 to state the views of those who arrogate these 
 Christian names, and deny them to others who 
 have found '* a more excellent way" and a better 
 faith, in regard to the subject of atonement* 
 Sush statement seems necessary ; and the con- 
 trast that shall be drawn will assist the reader 
 
142 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 to understand our views and the teachings of 
 the divine word on the subject proposed for dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 It is believed, then, that all mankind, on ac- 
 count of the sin of Adam, were made justly 
 liable to the unmerciful wrath of Jehovah, and 
 to the ceaseless torments of hell. This vast 
 amount of suffering and woe would all have been 
 inflicted, but for the most gracious and merciful 
 interposition in our behalf of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Divine justice sternly demanded all its 
 claims, and the Father was inexorable in his 
 determination to inflict the full and tremendous 
 penalty of his dishonored and violated law. 
 Vengeance he would have to the full, wherever 
 it might fall ; and his righteous law must be vin- 
 dicated and satisfied, whoever might sutler its 
 fearful penalty. The Son, viewing the sad 
 spectacle of woe and utter ruin, was moved to 
 deep and tender compassion. He pitied the 
 feeble and guilty sons of men ; and rather than 
 see his Father execute all his fierce and relent- 
 less vengeance, and our whole race sink into 
 unceasing and hopeless wretchedness, he gene- 
 rously and most disinterestedly consented that 
 the uplifted sword of justice and of wrath might 
 be bathed in his own blood ! God graciously 
 accepted the offer ; for there was now an oppor- 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 143 
 
 tunity to execute vengeance and be satisfied 
 without losing the whole world ; and in order to 
 obtain the desired satisfaction for his broken 
 law, he smote in fury his unoffending Son ! Dr. 
 Watts says of this stupendous work : 
 
 "How justice frown'd and vengeance stood. 
 
 To drive me down to endless pain, 
 But the great Son propos'd his blood, 
 
 And heavenly wrath grew mild again. 
 
 Once 't was a seat of dreadful wrath, 
 
 And shot devouring flame, 
 Our God appear'd consuming fire, 
 
 And Vengeance was his name. 
 
 Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood, 
 
 That calm'd his frowning face, 
 That sprinkled o'er the burning throne, 
 
 And turn'd the wrath to grace. 
 
 In this manner, it is supposed, divine justice 
 was satisfied, God became reconciled to the 
 world, his wrath was turned into grace, and he 
 can now, consistently with the honor of his law, 
 and the dignity of his character, extend mercy 
 and pardon to the penitent sinner. A vicarious 
 sacrifice having been made in behalf of .the 
 world, the sovereign judge relaxed his severity, 
 and was so far pacified as to accept the oflfering. 
 And notwithstanding mankind were tvicked, and 
 
144 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 Jesus just, the former were justified, and the 
 latter was condemned to suffer their punish- 
 ment ! 
 
 While some believe that all for whom Jesus 
 poured out his soul unto death, are forever ac- 
 quitted from all guilt (because another has borne 
 all their punishment) and will infallibly attain to 
 the resurrection of the just and the joys of the 
 redeemed in glory; others hold that he gave 
 himself a ransom for all without respect of per- 
 sons, and thus made it possible for every man 
 to be saved, on certain conditions, with which 
 some will certainly never comply. The former 
 of these opinions was hitherto very generally 
 believed ; but the latter is now fast gaining 
 ground and rapidly taking its place. The advo- 
 cates of both these opinions, however, contend 
 that all men were justly exposed to eternal ruin ; 
 and that Christ came and bore the punishment 
 which they deserved, and thus justified the 
 wicked by the terrible condemnation of the just ! 
 And when a question is proposed in relation to 
 the justice of God in this supposed procedure, 
 we are gravely certified that Jesus freely con- 
 sented to bear the punishment of the'guilty, and 
 that tlic claims of justice are fully satisfied, be- 
 cause the penalty of the law has been inflicted ! 
 
I 
 
 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 145 
 
 Reader, Is there any truth in such notions ? 
 Are they any more entitled to belief than heathen 
 fables ? We wish not to cast reproach upon 
 those who believe such things. But why should 
 we connive at a mere medley of injustice, con- 
 tradiction, and absurdity, because it is put forth 
 as the greatest beauties and excellencies of 
 Christian doctrine ? We have no scheme to 
 promote by an affected belief of any thing that 
 outrages reason and shocks humanity. And 
 while we would refrain from any assaults upon 
 the character of our opposers, we have little pa- 
 tience with gross errors that belong to darker 
 times, and we are very much disposed to speak 
 out plainly, and call things by their right names. 
 
 But the reader may desire an expression of 
 the doctrine in question in the language of its 
 believers themselves. The desire is reasonable, 
 and shall be gratified. We feel no disposition 
 to misrepresent this doctrine ; and surely it is 
 quite bad enough when presented in the best 
 light in which it has ever appeared. We prefer 
 to use the language of others in stating what they 
 believe. Would that our opposers were thus 
 governed in their attacks upon the faith wKich 
 we cherish. If we really understood each other, 
 our differences of belief would be materially les- 
 sened. The receivers of our doctrine are genc- 
 13 
 
146 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 rally well acquainted with both sides of the 
 question, having been educated in one faith, and 
 are now believing another ; while such as oppose 
 us, are commonly ignorant of the reasons and 
 proofs of our faith. 
 
 In the latest and amended edition of the 
 Westminster Assembly's Catechism, we find 
 the following article of faith: — "The Lord 
 Jesus, by his perfect obedience and offering of 
 himself, which he through the eternal spirit 
 once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied 
 the justice of his Father ; and purchased not 
 only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheri- 
 tance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those the 
 Father hath given unto him." That is, Christ 
 really suffered the punishment that was due to 
 sinful men, effectually liquidated the claims of 
 divine justice against them, restored them to the 
 forfeited love of God, and thus secured their ul- 
 timate glory and salvation. The same doctrine 
 is also contained in the Articles of Religion of 
 the Episcopal and of the Methodist Churches, 
 in both of which we find it stated that Christ 
 "truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, 
 to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacri- 
 fice, not only for original guilt, but also for ac- 
 tual sins of men." 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 147 
 
 Hence, it appears, according to the doctrine 
 in question, that Christ was punished instead 
 of the sinner ; and that by his sufferings and 
 death, vindictive justice was satisfied, and God 
 was rendered propitious to his creatures ! " God, 
 in his infinite wisdom, (says Watts) did not 
 think fit to pardon sinful man, without some 
 compensation for his broken law ; for, 1 . If the 
 great Ruler of the world had pardoned the sins 
 of men without any satisfaction, then his laws 
 might have seemed not worth the vindicating. 
 
 2. Men would have been tempted to persist in 
 their rebellion, and to repeat their old offences. 
 
 3. His forms of orovernment amon^ his creatures 
 might have appeared as a matter of little impor- 
 tance. 4. God had a mind to make a very il- 
 lustrious display of both his justice and of his 
 grace among mankind ; on these accounts he 
 would not pardon sin without a satisfaction^ 
 
 Such is the doctrine of atonement, as now 
 held by most professing Christians around us. 
 We have stated it in the very language of its 
 believers, and our statements have been drawn 
 from the highest authority within our reach, and 
 we may add, the highest authority that has ever 
 sanctioned this doctrine. Its utter falsity and 
 dangerous tendency may be shown in a few mo- 
 ments. 
 
148 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 A consideration of the character and govern- 
 ment of God, in the light of the Scriptures, will 
 go far toward exploding this unreasonable dog- 
 ma. No truth of the Bible is more clearly ex- 
 pressed, than that God will by no means clear 
 the guilty, but will render unto every man ac- 
 cording to his deeds. We need not specify 
 chapter and verse to prove this fact, for it is ge- 
 nerally admitted, and none doubt that it appears 
 prominently both in the Old and in the New 
 Testaments. 
 
 But we now ask, if the guilty are not cleared, 
 and the wicked justified, when deserved punish- 
 ment is removed from them, and inflicted upon 
 the innocent and just in their stead? And is not 
 the principle here involved pronounced an 
 *' abomination to the Lord?" And shall we 
 charge God with practicing himself that which 
 is unjust and hateful in his creatures ? It will 
 avail nothing to assert that Jesus voluntarily in- 
 curred the penalty which was our due. Allow- 
 ing the statement to be true, the same character 
 is still imputed to God. He is represented as 
 seeking vengeance to compensate his broken 
 law, without caring whether it fell upon the 
 guilty or the innocent. His justice required the 
 infliction of a certain amount of punishment, no 
 matter who misfht be the sufl'erer. And God is 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 149 
 
 declared to have been well satisfied, and recon- 
 ciled to man, not because he rendered unto his 
 creatures according to their works, and thus 
 executed righteousness and justice ; but because 
 he inflicted that punishment which none but the 
 guilty could deserve, upon an innocent person ! 
 And all this, we are told, was done, that God 
 might ^^make a very illustrious display of both 
 his JUSTICE and of his grace /" 
 
 Suppose the Judge of a Court should make 
 such an illustrious display of his justice, and 
 exonerate the foul culprit from all guilt, and in- 
 flict the punishment which he alone deserves, 
 upon a peaceful, virtuous, and innocent citizen. 
 Who would be so vile — so lost to all sense of 
 equity and right, as to pronounce such conduct 
 an illustrious display of justice and of grace ? 
 To attribute such procedure to Him whose 
 throne is built upon righteousness and judgment, 
 and who abominates the justification of the 
 wicked and the condemnation of the just, is 
 alike preposterous and shocking to all the moral 
 sensibilities of our nature ! 
 
 Again, the doctrine under consideration de- 
 tracts from the loveliness of the Divinity, and 
 ascribes to Jesus Christ far greater benevolence 
 than his Father. It maintains that God was in- 
 flexible in his determination to smite the human 
 13* 
 
150 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 race with a deadly curse, and consign them en 
 masse to interminable ruin ; but that Jesus, 
 overpowered with compassion, flew upon the 
 wings of love to interpose between an offended 
 Judge and guilty man, and received the fatal 
 blow upon his own innocent head ! Jesus was 
 all tenderness and mercy ; but God must be 
 reconciled to us^ before he would grant any 
 pardon ; and "it is here alone, (says Watts,) 
 that we can find the solid principle of reconcilia- 
 tion to an offended God.'''' The Father was 
 angry, and disposed to injure; but the Son re- 
 moved his wrath, turned it into grace, and 
 caused him to exercise pity ! 
 
 If, then, God was offended and meant to do 
 us harm, and Jesus came to appease his wrath, 
 and procure for us his pardoning mercy, Jesus 
 was certainly better disposed toward the human 
 race than was his Father. And in view of such 
 a notion, to say that the Father and the Son are, 
 after all, but one Being in reality, though exist- 
 ing in different persons ; and that they equally 
 loved mankind, notwithstanding the former was 
 filled with burning indignation against us, is a 
 jargon of mysticism and absurdity, that we are 
 unable to understand ! Whatever may be said 
 in denial of the fact, the doctrine before us docs 
 represent Jesus as far more lenient and merciful 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 151 
 
 than his Father. And this fact alone is sufficient 
 to show that the doctrine is unscriptural and 
 witlioiit foundation in truth. In all his instruc- 
 tions, Jesus never gave a hint that has come 
 down to us, that he came into the world to save 
 men from the wrath of his Father, by suffering 
 the punishment which was their due, or by any 
 other means. But he invariably taught that God 
 loved the ivorld, and that he came to do the will 
 of God. 
 
 Again, The moral precepts of the gospel re- 
 quire ns to be imitators of God, and be perfect, 
 even as he is perfect. But who does not per- 
 ceive that an imitation of his character according 
 to the doctrine now under consideration, would 
 entirely violate all righteousness and justice, 
 and subject the innocent to the punishment of 
 the guilty? Let the believer in this doctrine 
 exemplify it in his family, and in his intercourse 
 among men. If he has ten children, and nine 
 of them are vile and graceless wretches, and the 
 other a virtuous and obedient child, let him 
 vindicate the honor of the parental law, and 
 make an illustrious display of his justice, by 
 ^iflicting all the punishment due to the rebels, 
 upon his dutiful and unoffending child ! True, 
 he must first obtain the consent of his innocent 
 
153 IJNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 child, and then he will show his faith by his 
 works, and make an illustrious display of justice 
 and grace ! 
 
 Can such a doctrine be practiced among men, 
 and carried out into all the concerns of life, and 
 produce the fruits of righteousness required of 
 the Christian disciple? It surely cannot. And 
 we think it high time that all such notions were 
 set aside, and others introduced that shall be 
 more compatible with the spirit of justice, and 
 better calculated to promote the morality of the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The doctrine of atonement is very plainly 
 taught in the Scriptures ; and it there appears 
 consistent with reason, truth and justice. In 
 directing our minds to that source of knowledge, 
 we find nothing said of Christ's expiring upon 
 the cross to placate the vengeance of his Father, 
 and to reconcile him to man. But we are plainly 
 certified that God commended his love toward 
 us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ 
 died for us. Romans, v. 8. Jesus came not to 
 save man from the just punishment of his sins ; 
 for the New Testament, as well as the Old, de- 
 clares that God will by no means clear the 
 guilty, but render unto every man according to 
 his deeds. But he came to reconcile the world 
 unto God, and to deliver us from the service of 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 153 
 
 sin, that we might no longer suffer its unhappy 
 effects. And although he suffered for us, or in 
 our behalf, we nowhere read that he was ever 
 punished, and mucli less that he devised some 
 means by which to clear the guilty. The inno- 
 cent may suffer in behalf of the guilty, but none 
 except the guilty can be punished. Our fathers 
 suffered for their country, to obtain blessings 
 which we now enjoy ; but they were not pun- 
 ished in our stead. Jesus also suffered for us 
 in the flesh, the just for the unjust ; but he was 
 never the victim of punishment. Though " he 
 was a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
 griefs," he suffered no penalty. And though he 
 " gave himself a ransom for all," it was not to 
 reconcile God to man, but the world to God. 
 
 The word /jafa/Zfto-e, variously rendered recon- 
 ciliation and atonement in the New Testament, 
 means a restoration to peace, union and concord, 
 where enmity had before existed. But it should 
 be understood that this word is translated atone- 
 ment hut once in all the New Testament; and 
 even in that place all will allow that it should 
 be reconciliation. The particular passage to 
 which we refer, is Romans v. ii., "And not only 
 so, but we also joy in God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received 
 the atonemenf^ — the marginal reading is recon^ 
 
154 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 dliatioji. But the received version is quite un- 
 exceptionable, provided the word atonement be 
 understood accordinor to its true meaninor. Cal- 
 met says, " We have evidently lost the true im- 
 port of this word, by our present manner of pro- 
 nouncing it. When it was customary to pro- 
 nounce the word one as 0W7i (as in the time of 
 our translators) the word atonement was resolv- 
 able into its parts, at-one-ment, or the means of 
 being at one, i. e. reconciled, united, combined 
 in fellowship." Such is plainly the meaning of 
 atonement. And thus viewed, it is seen to be 
 entirely synonymous with reconciliation. 
 
 Now the supposition that the work of atone- 
 ment was all completed by the one offering of 
 Jesus Christ upon the cross, and that he died to 
 satisfy divine justice, and reconcile his Father 
 to us, is certainly at variance with Scripture and 
 truth. In the dying cry, "It is finished," he 
 knew that he had drank the bitter cup of death, 
 and that his sufferings were ended. But his 
 death, so far from completing the work of atone- 
 ment, was only one of the means of reconcilia- 
 tion, and no more essential to the accomplish- 
 ment of that work, than was his resurrection 
 from the dead. Hence Paul says of Jesus, Rom. 
 iv. 25, " Who was delivered for our offences, 
 and was raised again for our justification^ 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 155 
 
 Is it not plain from this passage that our justifi- 
 cation unto life depends as much upon the re- 
 surrection as upon the death of Christ? No 
 person will question the fact that justification is 
 included in the work of atonement. And if this 
 work was all completed by the suiTerings of the 
 cross, why should it be affirmed that he " was 
 raised again for our justification?'* 
 
 After speaking at considerable length of the 
 death of Christ, Paul says, 1st Cor. xv. 14, 
 "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preach- 
 ing vain^ Although Jesus had offered himself 
 upon the cross and endured the sufferings of 
 death, all was vain, and the gospel of none ef- 
 fect, if he was not risen from the dead. His 
 death was not sufficient : for we receive the as- 
 surance of final justification unto life through his 
 resurrection. Reconciliation is a progressive 
 work, and all the labors and sufferings of Jesus 
 are but means to its accomplishment. He has 
 undertaken to reconcile, not God unto the world 
 — for God never needed to be reconciled — but 
 the world unto God. And the work will be fully 
 consummated when all things are reconciled to 
 God, and every knee bows, and every tongue 
 confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory 
 of God the Father ! 
 
156 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 The subject of atonement or reconciliation, 'js 
 well as the extent of the work, is most clearly 
 exhibited in the following testimonies of Scrip- 
 ture. "All things are of God, who hath recon- 
 ciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath 
 given to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to 
 wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the 
 world unto himself, not imputing their tres- 
 passes unto them." 2d Cor. v. 18, 19. " For it 
 pleased the Father that in him (Christ) should 
 all fulness dwell ; and having made peace through 
 the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all 
 things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they 
 be things rn earth, or things in heaven." Col. 
 i. 19, 30. It was the purpose of God to recon- 
 cile sinful and suffering man to himself; and he 
 appointed his Son, whom he has exalted to be a 
 Prince and a Savior, to effect this gracious work. 
 Jesus received a name which is above every 
 name, and was invested with all power in hea- 
 ven and earth, that he might be enabled success- 
 fully to pros'ecute and complete this merciful 
 reconciliation. The sins of the world will not 
 be so imputed to man, as to render the work in- 
 effectual. And although it is not yet finished, 
 the promise of Ilim who cannot lie, has been 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 157 
 
 given, that he shall prosper in the iindertaking, 
 and at last see of the travail of his soul, and be 
 satisfied. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that Jesus Christ 
 died io purchase divine mercy for the sinner, or 
 to turn the wrath of God into grace. His death 
 was a manifestation of divine favor and compas- 
 sion in behalf of the world. He died to abolish 
 the whole law of sacrifices, and to open unto 
 man a new and living way of constant access to 
 the Father of mercies. And he arose from the 
 dead to bring life and immortality to light ; to 
 give us the sure pledge of our resurrection ; and 
 to impart to us the full assurance of faith and 
 of hope, that we shall through him, in the better 
 world be reconciled, united, and combined in 
 fellowship to his Father and our Father, his 
 God and our God. 
 
 And it is also an error to suppose that the en- 
 tire work of atonement was finished in the mere 
 death of our Lord and Savior. It is indeed con- 
 summated in the purpose of God, and was be- 
 fore the world began ; but it is not yet actually 
 accomplished. Nay, the work is now prose- 
 cuted no farther than men have really become 
 reconciled to God. It is still in progress : and 
 when it shall be completed, "the whole family 
 in heaven and earth," shall be gathered into one 
 14 
 
158 
 
 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 fold— the subjects of the resurrection shall be 
 equal unto the angels — and God shall be all in 
 all ! Nothing will be left imperfect — nothing 
 will fail of all thai God has promised — but the 
 whole world will be reconciled to the owner of 
 all souls, and " the Savior of all men." 
 
 "Thou hast (says Paul) put all things in sub- 
 jection under his feet. For in that he hath put 
 all things in subjection under him, he left no- 
 thing that is not put under him. But now we 
 see not yet all things put under him. But we 
 f^ee 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." Heb. ii. 8, 
 9. Wc " see not yeV the end, " but believing, 
 we rejoice witli joy unspeakable and full of 
 o^lory." We trust that God will be glorified in 
 all his works; and we hope, without doubting, 
 that every man will finally reach his '* chief and 
 highest end,'" which is to ''glorify God, and 
 fully to c>\joy him forever.'''' 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 We are sometimes accused of not preaching 
 repentance and forgiveness ; and on this ground 
 we have been denied the evangelical name and 
 character. The accuser, however, is mistaken. 
 These thinors run through all our public minis- 
 trations of divine truth ; and we cease not to ex- 
 hort men to exercise repentance toward God and 
 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, with the assu= 
 ranee of remission of sins to all who turn to the 
 Lord with full purpose of heart. But it must be 
 confessed that we do not handle these subjects 
 after the manner adopted by many of our Chris- 
 lian brethren. We have' different views of hu- 
 man nature, and of the proper instrumentalities 
 to reclaim men from vice and destruction. We 
 apply different means, and appeal to other mo- 
 tives of the heart. And in the way which we 
 judge to be right, we constantly teach and enforce 
 the very things, which others suppose that we 
 utterly discard. > But the misunderstanding ori- 
 ginates with themselves. They claim to preach 
 
160 TTNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 the doctrines in question just as they are taught 
 in the Scriptures ; and hence suppose that all 
 who differ from them must consequently be at 
 variance with the instructions of the divine word. 
 But they would soon perceive the injustice of 
 their charge against us, if they would only con- 
 sider that a different manner of preaching the 
 same doctrine, does not necessarily imply that 
 either party denies and rejects such doctrine. 
 We should not feel justified in accusing others 
 of failing to preach salvation, because they view 
 this subject in a somewhat different light from 
 that in which it appears to our own minds. And 
 wo feel unwilling to be accused ourselves on any 
 such grounds. 
 
 All who profess to be Christians, of every 
 name, preach repentance and forgiveness. And 
 it is no mark of a just and charitable spirit for 
 one denomination to charge any other with a 
 denial of, or a failure to proclaim, these impor- 
 tant doctrines of the Gospel. If any suppose 
 that our views on these subjects are erroneous, 
 or that we arc unfaithful in urging them upon 
 the attention of sinful men ; let them candidly 
 state what we believe, and fairly expose our 
 errors ; and let them also reprove our negligence 
 of duty. Wo claim no infallibility of belief, nor 
 blamelcssness of practice. And we hope to for- 
 
UMVERSAI.IST BELIF.F. 101 
 
 sake our errors when they are made known ; 
 iind also to profit by friendly admonitions to 
 more faithfulness in the cause of our Master. 
 But unfounded accusations against us, neither 
 tend to enlio;hten our understandino;s and correct 
 us in righteousness, nor to impress our minds with 
 very favorable opinions of the character of the 
 accuser. 
 
 No subject within the whole range of Chris- 
 tian theology is more frequently made the theme 
 of discourse than rrpenfance ; and perhaps upon 
 no other is so much said with little understand- 
 ing. The word itself seems to be freely used 
 by common consent, without sufficiently consi- 
 dering its true and scriptural import. But there 
 is reason to believe that if it be constantly re- 
 peated with great warmth of feeling and earnest- 
 ness of manner, many will at once conclude that 
 the preaching must be highly evangelical in its 
 character, and of the most desirable tendency. 
 And it is quite possible that some persons rest 
 satisfied with the mere sound of the word, with- 
 out caring to seek for the real sense intended 
 Because v/e do not perpetually reiterate- this 
 word, is one great reason why superficial think- 
 ers, who regard sound more than sense, charge 
 us with not preaching repentance. 
 14^ 
 
162 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 Like many other theological terms, repent- 
 ance is used in a vague and indefinite sense, and 
 in accordance with established opinion and gene- 
 ral prejudice. And the same is true of " born 
 again," "regenerated," "converted," etc. These 
 several expressions are all used now-a-days to 
 express the same general idea ; but the thing 
 signified, though most people suppose they un- 
 derstand it, is not easily explained. There is a 
 darkness and mystery about the common accepta- 
 tion of these terms. And the operation and 
 change supposed to be effected in the mind by 
 repentance^ are so badly defined and imperfectly 
 understood, that common prejudice and the con- 
 firmed habits of thought with the people, arc 
 made to determine the meaning intended, if in- 
 deed real meaning be considered. 
 
 Now we are willing to admit that there are 
 subjects embraced in the Christian revelation, 
 which appear not to be clearly explained in all 
 respects, and concerning which there must con- 
 sequently be some indefiniteness in the mind of 
 the believer. For instance, the precise time 
 when all the dead shall be raised, and the king- 
 dom of Christ shall be delivered up to his Father, 
 is not really stated; and in reflecting upon this 
 particular topic, it is not strange that we should 
 form various opinions that will not admit of 
 «-,\ti«;far-.tr>rv pynhinntinn and nroof. The same 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 163 
 
 may be said of the mode of our existence beyond 
 death, and of the employment of man in the 
 future state of being. But repentance is a thing 
 that immediately affects our interests and happi- 
 ness, and there need be no diversity of opinion 
 concerning what it means. It seems to be em- 
 braced in the very first principles or rudiments 
 of the gospel of Christ. And we regard it as 
 one of the most simple subjects, and the most 
 easily understood, of any presented for our ac- 
 ceptance and belief in the word of God. In our 
 view it signifies no mysterious operation of 
 mind — no supernatural change of human nature 
 — but is all embraced in the simple word, refor- 
 mation. We do not mean that every change in 
 man for the better, should be considered repent- 
 ance in the fullest and highest sense of the word. 
 The gospel of Christ requires something more 
 than the cold morality of heathenism ; and the 
 repentance which he preached was far different 
 from any reformation of life ever proposed by 
 the sages and moralists of the world. But gos- 
 pel repentance is still a very plain subject — the 
 means by which it is produced are easily under- 
 stood — and the happy effects which it yields 
 are felt and enjoyed by every true-hearted 
 Christian. 
 
16 4 UNIVERSALIST BELIF.F. 
 
 It should, liowever, be iinderslood in the out- 
 set, that there are two words of very diflereiU 
 signification, uniformly rendered repent in the 
 common version of the New Testament — meta- 
 noeo and metamelomia. Of these words Dr. 
 Campbell says, 6th Pre. Diss, part 3d, "It has 
 been observed by some, and I think with reason, 
 that the former properly denotes a change for 
 the better; the latter barely a change, wiiether 
 it be to the better or to the worse ; that the for- 
 mer marks a change of mind that is durable and 
 productive of consequences ; the latter expresses 
 only a present uneasy feeling of regret and sor- 
 row for what is done, without regard either to 
 duration or to eflects ; in fine, that the first may 
 properl}^ be translated into English, I re/brm; 
 the second, I repent, in the familiar acceptation 
 of the word." The same author again says, in 
 the same Dissertation, " Every one who reforms, 
 repents ; but every one who repents, does not 
 reform.''^ 
 
 A reference to a few passages will sufficiently 
 explain the real dilTerence of meaning between 
 the two words in question. Paul says, 2 Cor. 
 vii. 10, "For godly sorrow worketli repentance 
 to salvation not to be repented of." Here we 
 find in the common version the word repentance 
 first used to signify a genuine reformation of 
 heart and life ; an;! afterwards the same word is 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 165 
 
 employed to show lliat such reformation need 
 not be repented of, regretted, or changed. The 
 words here used are different in the original 
 text ; and their real dissimilarity of meaning is 
 made obvious from the very construction of the 
 passage. Godly sorrow produces a desirable 
 change, that is well expressed by the word 
 reformation. It would, hovvever, be absurd to 
 say that such a change is not to be reformed ; 
 but all can understand that it need not be re- 
 pented of, or regretted. 
 
 When John the Baptist came preaching in 
 the wilderness of Judea, he called upon men to 
 reform. But when Paul said, Rom. xi. 29, 
 *' For the gifts and callings of God are without 
 repentance,'''' he had not allusion to any refor- 
 mation of life, or to any kind of change in man. 
 He meant merely to assert the fact, that the gifts 
 and callings of God are irrevocable, that is, not 
 to be changed or reversed, and not to be repented 
 of. The same sense of the word repentance 
 also occurs in the passage relating to Esau, 
 Heb. xii. 17, " For he found no place of repent- 
 ance, though he sought it carefully with tears." 
 It was not personal reformation of character that 
 this man sought, but a mere change or revoca- 
 tion of what had taken place. "This change 
 
160 VMVERSALTST BF.LIEF. 
 
 was wlial he tbiiiul no possibility of eflecliiig"* 
 however earnestly or movingly he sought it." 
 
 We now use the word repentance, not accord- 
 ing to the sense which it bears as applied to the 
 change that Esau desired to effect ; but as it was 
 employed by our Savior and his apostles in their 
 constant and earnest calls upon men to forsake 
 their sins and reform their lives. Both the har- 
 binger of Jesus and the Master himself com- 
 menced their public ministry in the world, with 
 the emphatic command for men to repent, be- 
 cause the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and 
 about to be established in the earth. They 
 would have deluded and sinful men turn from 
 their follies and vices, give a listening ear and 
 an understanding heart, and thus be restored to 
 the wisdom of the just and the joys of obedience 
 to God. The repentance which they preached 
 was reformation — a turning from vanity to the 
 counsels of wisdom, and from the service of sin 
 to the love and practice of godliness and virtue. 
 But it implied no mysterious and undefinable 
 emotions of soul — no miraculous transformation 
 of human nature — but the call was obeyed, and 
 the fruits of genuine repentance brought forth 
 and enjoyed, when men were induced by the 
 influence of good principles to break off their 
 
UNIVERPALIST BELIEF. 157 
 
 Sins by righteousness, and their iniquity by 
 turning to the Lord. 
 
 The work of repentance which our Savior 
 and his apostles labored to produce in those to 
 whom they ministered, was of a somewhat 
 different character from that which we now 
 strive to effect. At least it was intended to be 
 more deep, thorough and radical than any change 
 that is really necessary in the sphere of our la- 
 bors. They did not preach a religion in which 
 the people had been educated, and seek to revive 
 in their minds a recollection of the lessons of 
 duty received in childhood. They endeavored 
 to break up the very foundations of existing 
 society ; and to introduce not only a new code 
 of morals, but also to establish a new and better 
 dispensation of religion. They required men 
 to forsake all that they had been taught and pos- 
 sessed — to begin life again as new-born infants — - 
 to be transformed in the spirit of their minds — 
 and to walk in newness of life. 
 
 The world was wedded to false doctrines, and 
 rendered miserable by the practice and influence 
 of corrupt principles. It w^as the business .of 
 the Baptist to call men away from their follies 
 and sins ; and it was the object of the greater 
 teacher and the chosen ambassadors of his truth 
 to give them spiritual birth into the heavenly 
 
168 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 kingdom. .Tohn prepared the way; and Christ 
 led forth the captive from bondage, and con- 
 ducted the wandering into the paths of wisdom 
 and peace. And so great was the change 
 wrought by the ministry of truth, that such as 
 received the gospel and were made subject to 
 its influence, were represented as having died in 
 one state, and been made alive in another. 
 " Wherefore, my brethren, (says Paul to the 
 Romans,) ye also are become dead to the law 
 by the body of Christ; that ye should be married 
 to another, even to him who is raised from the 
 dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." 
 The same change cannot be produced in any 
 man who has been educated a Christian. In 
 such a case it is not necessary that the individual 
 should leave all that he has been taught ; but he 
 should rather be made sensible of his early les- 
 sons, and reminded of the good counsels which 
 he has rejected. 
 
 But though we live in a Christian community, 
 where the gospel is taught even to children, and 
 blended with common education, it is no less 
 important that men should repent and receive 
 the remission of sins noiv, than it was when 
 Jesus lived on earth. The same change in all 
 respects cannot be effected ; but the time has 
 never been known in the world when repentance 
 
UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 189 
 
 was unnecessary to man. The best of men are 
 sinners against God, and subject to faults that 
 need correction. And surely when we cast our 
 eyes over society, and behold the prevalence of 
 sin, and its dreadful consequences, we cannot 
 suppose that repentance has yet done its work. 
 There is among us a fearful disregard of God. 
 His name is blasphemed in the streets, and vice 
 walks abroad at noonday unrebuked. Intempe- 
 rance, avarice, and selfish ambition have almost 
 become the ruling powers of our country. And 
 these dangerous evils, and others less alarming, 
 have spread their poisonous influence throughout 
 all the ramifications of society, so that there are 
 none among us that rightly fear God and faith- 
 fully keep his commandments. Privileges have 
 been abused and mercies despised, until as a 
 people and as individuals we stand condemned 
 in the sight of righteous heaven for our mean 
 progress in religious knowledge and reforma- 
 tion. 
 
 What must be done to promote the necessary 
 work of repentance ? Men must be brought to 
 see the evil of their doings, and to understand 
 the excellency of that Beinor aorainst whom thev 
 ha\'e inconsiderately transgressed. Apprehen- 
 sions of danger from sin, and the sorrow of mind 
 thus produced, can lead to no worthy and solid 
 15 
 
170 LLMVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 reformation of life. Man may mourn over past 
 transgressions, and tremble in view of future 
 consequences, and still experience in his soul 
 no deep and salutary change. His outward con- 
 duct may seem more accordant to the requisitions 
 of the Gospel, but the principles within are still 
 the same; and "the old man, which is corrupt 
 according to the deceitful lusts," still lives and 
 rules. But let the real evil and malignant nature 
 of sin be seen and felt ; let it be known that the 
 law to which God commands obedience "is 
 holy, just and good;" and let the mind be 
 brought to loathe the wrong and to love the 
 right, and man's repentance will be sincere, ef- 
 fectual, and lasting in its happy effects. Such 
 is the repentance which the gospel aims to pro- 
 mote. It presents ^^ the goodness of GocV^ as 
 the foundation of reformation ; and urges an 
 imitation of the divine rectitude and benevolence 
 as the only acceptable course of life. And when 
 men behold the beauty and excellency of good- 
 ness as displayed in the God of Love, they will 
 realize the unspeakable importance of conformity 
 to his character, and delight in his law " after 
 the inner man." 
 
 Mr. Shinn, of the Methodist Church, truly 
 and eloquently says, in his late work " On the 
 Benevolence and Rectitude of the Supreme Be- 
 
I'MVERSALTST BKLIEF. 171 
 
 ing," " The essential character of God is a sub- 
 ject of primary importance to the whole intelli- 
 gent universe. On this depends the reformation 
 of the sinner, the perseverance of the saint, the 
 consolation of the afflicted and dying, and the 
 perpetual tranquillity of all the hosts of heaven. 
 A sinner may be terrified by mere apprehensions 
 of punishment ; but a true and sentimental re- 
 pentance will never take place in his mind, nor 
 a genuine reformation in his life, till he shall 
 liave some tolerably correct views concerning 
 tlie excellency of the Divine nature. The good- 
 ness of C4od must lead him to repentance. For 
 it is opposition to a good Being, and to a good 
 law wliich has rendered his own character a bad 
 one. This evil of his heart and life, the penitent 
 honestly acknowledges; which implies a full 
 admission in his intelligence, that the Being 
 against whoai he has been standing in opposi- 
 tion, is as excellent as he is himself vile. With- 
 out such a conviction, there can be no sentimen- 
 tal repentance ; and if repentance be not senti- 
 mental, how can ii he sincere? pp. 11, 12. 
 
 Never have we heard any tiring m.ore perti- 
 nent and sensible on the subject of repentance. 
 Our own views of the subject are here clearly 
 and fully expressed. And the desire of our heart 
 and the object of our constant labors in the cause 
 
172 UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 of Christ, is, to exliibit that divine goodness, 
 which Paul declares, '^leadeth to repentance,'''' 
 to show the hateful nature and unhappy conse- 
 quences of opposition to this goodness — and thus 
 to lead men away from folly and sin into the 
 wisdom and obedience of the Christian charac- 
 ter. In this way we cease not to preach repen- 
 tance. The whole course of our ministry tends 
 to promote the work of reformation. And in 
 proportion as men are brought to see their own 
 vileness in contrast with the goodness of God, 
 they will abhor themselves, and strive to become 
 god-like in feeling and practice. " Opposition 
 to a ffood Beino^" is thus removed — God's ex- 
 cellency appears glorious and lovely, and man's 
 vileness more and more abominable — the heart 
 and affections are enlisted — and " sentimental 
 repentance" and " genuine reformation" of life 
 follow as the happy and permanent result. 
 
 In this view of the subject it is easily per- 
 ceived that the word repentance may be loudly 
 and frequently reiterated, without the actual 
 preaching of gospel repentance. And it is also 
 plain to be seen that this important doctrine of 
 our holy religion, may be zealously and effec- 
 tively proclaimed, without so much as using the 
 word by which it is commonly expressed. Ter- 
 rifying sinners " by mere appreliensions of 
 
UXIVERSALTST BRLIF.F. 173 
 
 pimishmenl," is not. preaching repentance. And 
 although great apparent eff'ects may be produced 
 by such means, and men may thus be measura- 
 bly restrained from open acts of transgression, 
 no man can be led to repent as God requires, by 
 any such ministrations. John the Baptist and 
 our Savior exhorted men to repent, because the 
 kingdom of heaven, which manifests the favor 
 and love of God, was at hand. Peter urged the 
 Jews to the same duty, by the assurance that 
 the promise of God was to them and to their 
 children, and that they were all embraced in that 
 covenant of redemption, which proposes to turn 
 away every man from his iniquities. See Acts 
 3. And Paul is no less explicit in his instruc- 
 tions on this subject, in thus reproving man's 
 ninful perverseness and blind " opposition to a 
 good Being:" — "Or despisest thou the riches 
 of his goodness, and forbearance and long-suf- 
 fering ; not knowing that the goodness of God 
 leadeth thee to repentance?'' Rom. ii. 4. 
 
 In like manner we judge it right to preach re- 
 pentance. We are not concerned to produce 
 " only a present uneasy feeling of regret or sor- 
 row for what is done," but we would strive to. 
 effect " a change of mind that is durable and 
 productive of consequences." And we humbly 
 trust that our feeble labors in some measure pro- 
 15* 
 
174 UNIVERSALIST BKLTKF. 
 
 duce this desirable result. AVe know that ac- 
 ceptable obedience must spring from love; and 
 we are sure that God must be seen in the loveli- 
 ness of his character, before he can be loved 
 with all the soul. And hence our constant ex- 
 hibitions of the supreme excellency of the Divine 
 goodness. We know that the evil of sin must 
 be seen and felt before it can be abhorred in the 
 mind. And we cease not to declare and to prove 
 that vice is the parent and cause of misery, the 
 destroyer of peace, and the enemy of all happi- 
 ness. We know that the commandments of 
 God "are not grievous," 1st John, v. 3, and 
 that " m keeping of them there is a great re- 
 warcL^^ Ps. xix. 11. And we therefore labor 
 to convince men that God requires of us a " rea 
 sonable service," intended for our own good ; 
 and that peace and pure enjoyment can be found 
 only in the path of obedience. Thus we con- 
 stantly preach repentance. And if the Scripture 
 truths here presented, were but believed with 
 the heart, by all who profess to know and serve 
 the Lord, Zion would appear in all her beautiful 
 garments, and every waste place in the kingdom 
 of Immanuel would become rich in the fruits of 
 holiness and peace. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FORGIVENESS. 
 
 We come to speak of forgiveness. The 
 Prince of life, who Avas exalted with the right 
 hand of God, was to give remission of sins, as 
 well as grant repentance unto life. But we main- 
 tain that God never swerves from strict justice 
 in his dealings with mankind, but certainly ren- 
 ders unto all the full recompense of their doings. 
 Many are ready to conclude that such doctrine 
 precludes the very possibility of ^Jiy forgiveness, 
 because, say they, if all sinners are punished to 
 the full extent of their guilt, there can be no room 
 for the exercise of pardoning mercy. We con- 
 fess that this objection is highly plausible ; and, 
 considering the more common religious instruc- 
 tions of the day, we think it not strange that 
 many should regard it as unanswerable. 
 
 But our appeal is to the word of God. 'We 
 have no concern with the judicial pardons that 
 are extended to the transgressors of human laws. 
 Such is not the subject of inquiry. We desire 
 
176 UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 to show what kind of forgiveness God grants to 
 sinful men, and to ascertain whether he remits 
 i\\e punishment demanded by justice, or merely 
 forgives the sins of his creatures. 
 
 The Scriptures speak a language on this sub- 
 ject that need not be misunderstood. In the 
 same passage we find the declaration of full and 
 adequate puniskriient, and also of abundant jo«r- 
 don — thus showing that the same individual may 
 receive for " every trangression and disobedience 
 a just recompense of reward," and at the same 
 time receive the forgiveness of all his sins. Let 
 a few such passages be introduced, and they 
 will assist us to a righf. understanding of the sub- 
 ject before us. Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7. " The Lord 
 God, merciful and gracious, long-sunering, and 
 abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy 
 for thousands, ybrg/f.u'wo- iniquity, and transgres- 
 sion and sin, arid that will by no means dear 
 the guilfy.''^ Here it is plainly afllrmed that 
 God is forgiving ; and also that he will not, by 
 any possible means, or in any case, sufler the 
 guilty to be cleared. Shall we say that there is 
 here a manifest contradiction? If forgiveness, 
 as applied to God and in the Scripture sense of 
 the word, means a remission of condign punish- 
 ment, there was never a more gross and palpa- 
 ble solecism than we find in this passage. But 
 
UNIVERrfALIST BELIEF. 177 
 
 we deny that such is the meaning of forgiveness. 
 And we shall yet show that the most rigid justice 
 and free pardon harmoniously work together in 
 the economy of God. 
 
 Again, we read, Psalms xcix. 8, " Thou wast 
 a God that forgavest them, thou tookest ven- 
 geance of their inventions." The Psalmist 
 speaks of God's treatment of Israel in the days 
 of Moses and Aaron, and shows that notwith- 
 standing he punished that rebellious people for 
 their \vickedness, he also foi'gave them. But a 
 still stronger passage is found in the 40th chap- 
 ter of Isaiah. " Comfort ye, comfort ye my 
 people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably 
 to Jerusalem, and say unto her that her warfare 
 is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned : 
 for she hath received of the Lord's hand double 
 for all her sm-s." All the sins of Jerusalem are 
 here mentioned. They were all punished to the 
 full; and to give peculiar force to the fact, the Pro- 
 phet introduces a hypei^bole, declaring that she 
 had received double for all her sins ! Surely 
 there was no limitation of the operations of jus- 
 tice in this case — no remission of the punishment 
 deserved by sin. Still the people were pardon- 
 ed — their sins were -dW forgiven. 
 
 " How then," says one, " shall we understand 
 this subject of forgiveness, for everything like 
 
178 TNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 real pardon seems to be excluded." We an. 
 swer, earthly rulers Tennt punishment, because 
 their judicial dicisions are not infallible, and such 
 procedure is in some cases supposed to be pro- 
 per and even necessary. The work of God is 
 perfect, and his judgments never need to be re- 
 versed. And the fact is worthy of particular no- 
 tice, that although we read in the Scriptures of 
 the forgiveness, pardon and remission of sw5, 
 transgression and iniquity, we do not find a 
 passage in the whole Book that speaks of the 
 forgiveness or remission oi" punishment. In two 
 of the passages which we liave cited, it is posi- 
 tively declared that the punishment w2iS infiic- 
 ted, but sin pardoned. After the transgressors 
 had suffered the righteous chastisement of their 
 evil deeds, they were received into the favor of 
 God and gYaciowsly forgiven. 
 
 The word aphiemi, rendered forgive in the 
 New Testament, is defined by Parkhurst, Don- 
 negan, and Greenfield, and we presume by all 
 other lexicographers, to mean, "to send away, 
 dismiss, to emit, send forth." Bemission, whicli 
 signifies sending away, is more expressive of 
 the meaning intended than the word /orgivenes.';. 
 God will by no means clear the guilty. But 
 when man truly repents of his sins, that is, re- 
 forms his life as the Scriptures require, God will 
 
TNIVERSALIST BKLIEF. 179 
 
 pardon or remit all his iniquities, and treat htm 
 as thouorh he had never sinned. In this consists 
 the forgiveness or remission that is promised the 
 penitent. God punished Jerusalem for all her 
 sins; but when the warfare was accomplished, 
 the word of comfort was spoken, and her iniqui- 
 ty was pardoned. It has been said that if man 
 is punished to the full extent of his guilt, he may- 
 come forth and demand the favor of God and 
 even the bliss of heaven as his right. But upon 
 what ground ? " Because," says one, " he has 
 suffered all that he deserved." Very well, this 
 settles the account, but what claim does all this 
 give man to further blessings from God? Surely 
 none at all. He stands as the subject of grace, 
 and whatever good he receives must be the mer- 
 ciful gift of " the Father of lights." 
 
 The justice of God claims the obedience of all 
 the subjects of his m.oral government, and em- 
 ploys such means as tend to secure this end. All 
 punishments inflicted by the hand of the Deity 
 are intended by him to be the means of satisfying 
 the demands of his own justice. And after pun- 
 ishment has done its work, and repentance unto 
 life has ensued, God blots out from the book of 
 his remembrance all the faults of the sinner, 
 sends away his iniquities, and receives him as 
 one who had never known the ways of evil.— 
 
180 UMVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 The prodigal son bitterly suffered the conse- 
 quences of his follies and crimes, and feared to 
 ask the forgiveness which his father delighted 
 to bestow. In this case there would have been 
 no forgiveness, if the father had been unwilling 
 to remit and forget the former transgressions of 
 his child. But he forgave all — v/elcomed the 
 returning prodigal to his home — and rejoiced 
 over him more than over the elder brother who 
 had not gone astray. 
 
 . Al] sinners are prodigals from God. While 
 estranged from him by wicked works, they must 
 ever bear that punishment of which the guilty 
 cannot be cleared. But the disposition of God 
 toward them is subject to no change — he still 
 loves them with a parent's affection — and when 
 by the manifestations of his goodness, they are 
 led to repentance^ sin is not imputed, but abun- 
 dant pardon is granted. " God (says Paul, 2d 
 Cor. V. 19,) was in Christ, reconciling the world 
 unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
 them.'^ Notwithstanding the sinfulness of men, 
 they were still the objects of divine love. And 
 although they must suffer the unavoidable conse- 
 quences of their wickedness, God will not allow 
 either sin or its effects to hinder the great work 
 of universal reconciliation to himself. Because 
 man hay sinned, God will not therefore fasten 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 181 
 
 sm and misery eternally upon him. His pur- 
 poses are all favorable to human happiness, and 
 aim at the ultimate blessedness of all his moral 
 subjects. Nothing can separate man from his 
 love, nor make him the absolute enemy of any 
 of his creatures. The principles of his nature 
 and government will not allow the return of evil 
 for evil. The exercise of his justice (which is that 
 of love) is designed to secure him the obedience of 
 his creatures, and bring man into communion 
 with his Maker. And when the ends of justice 
 are secured, man will no longer be the subject of 
 penal retribution. Whatever he has done amiss 
 will be kindly forgiven ; and in Christ Jesus all 
 that have sinned will at last find the blessings of 
 grace, and the joys of deliverance from every 
 evil ! Then shall ungodliness be turned away 
 from Jacob, and the sins of Israel taken away^ 
 Rom. xi, 26, 27 ; and then shall it be known 
 and acknowledged of all, that Jesus Christ is in- 
 deed " THE LAMB OF GoD WHICH TAKETH AWAY 
 THE SIN OF THE WORLD !" 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 All Christians yield a willing assent to the 
 doctrine of human accountability; notwithstand- 
 ing- many of them hold notions that seem to be 
 quite irreconcilable with this plain doctrine of 
 reason and of revelation. The Calvinist, the 
 Necessarian, nay, even the Fatalist will not de- 
 ny the responsibility of man. Who ever urged 
 man to the performance of his duty toward God 
 with more earnestness and zeal than Dr. Priest- 
 ly ? And yet he believed that every thing in the 
 world is controlled and determined by a philo- 
 sophical and irresistable necessity. The charge 
 of an utter denial of all accountability in man 
 was indeed warmly and repeatedly preferred 
 against him by his adversaries ; but nothing of 
 the kind was ever asserted by himself. We 
 shall attempt no defence of his peculiar notions 
 on this subject ; but we are willing to award him 
 honesty and sincerity of heart in the avowal of 
 his belief. And we think his case fully proves 
 
UN1VERSALI5T BELIEF. 183 
 
 the Utter impossibility of entirely divesting the 
 mind of all feelings of responsibility to God. No 
 theory can effectually destroy this feeling ; for 
 it seems to form a part of our common nature ; 
 though it must be admitted that it may be greatly 
 weakened and sadly perverted by the pernicious 
 influence of false and corrupt doctrines. And we 
 are impressed with the belief that the doctrine of 
 philosophical necessity, as taught by Dr. Priest- 
 ly, is not true, and therefore not well adapted to 
 the promotion of virtue and righteousness. Still 
 it would be an act of gross injustice to charge 
 him with a negation of man's accountability to 
 his Maker. 
 
 But though all christians freely admit the ab- 
 stract doctrine that man is an accountable being, 
 we tind that very dissimilar not'ons are entertain- 
 ed in regard to this subject. We believe that 
 whatever freedom man may possess, and how- 
 ever responsible he may be for his conduct, God 
 is the sovereign ruler and final disposer of all 
 things. We hold that man's ultimate destiny, 
 instead of being a thing o^unncertainty, was de- 
 termined in the counsels of Heaven before the 
 handy work of creation was begun. The Lainb 
 of God which taketh away the sin of the world, 
 being slain from the foundatwn of the ivorld, 
 the work of human redemption and its final and 
 
184 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 glorious consummation, were seen and known to 
 t{ie mind of God, ere the pillars of the earth 
 were reared, and the breath of life breathed into 
 man ! And while we fully believe that man is 
 an accountable creature, and that God " will ren- 
 der unto every man according to his deeds," we 
 hold that the consequences of our actions can in 
 no case extend so far as to defeat the original 
 designs of our Maker, or alter the nature of that 
 ultimate destiny for which he always intended 
 us. 
 
 Others, however, make human responsibility 
 infinite in magnitude, and extend it throughout 
 the ceaseless duration of eternity. And they sup- 
 pose that the actions here done, and the charac- 
 ter here formed, will have the most important 
 bearing upon our state and condition so long as 
 existence in any form is continued, and will in 
 fact determine our ultimate happiness or misery. 
 One great point of difference between us relates, 
 therefore, not to the existence of accountability 
 in man, (for this doctrine is admitted by all,) but 
 to the extent of our responsibility. 
 
 We have been, and still are, charged with an 
 utter denial of all responsibility in man. This 
 charge, however, is unfounded — we will not pro- 
 nounce it slanderous, for we are well persuaded 
 that in most cases at least it originates in an en- 
 
IINIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 185 
 
 lire misunderstanding of our real views on lliis 
 subject. Our accusers would be enabled to speak 
 more understandingly in reference to this matter, 
 if they would only acquaint themselves with the 
 fact, that we believe as firmly as they do, in the 
 fact that man is accountable to his Maker ; and 
 that the point of difference between us relates 
 merely to the magnitude and extent of this ac- 
 countability. The idea appears to us tremendous 
 and appalling, that man's endless happiness or 
 misery sliould in any way depend upon his own 
 fitful doings, or upon the character which he 
 himself voluntarily forms in this transitory state 
 of existence. We believe that man is limited in 
 all his powers and capacities — that the conse- 
 quences of all his actions zvejinite in their nature 
 and duration — and that his final and immortal 
 destiny can be determined by no other than Him 
 *' who only hath immortality.''^ However last- 
 ing, whether happy or miserable, the eflects of 
 our conduct may be, we believe that our ultimate 
 and permanent existence in the resurrection state, 
 will have no connexion with either reward or 
 punishment, but will be the free gift to all our 
 race of the unpurchased grace of God in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord ! 
 
 In view of the foregoing considerations, it 
 seems proper that we should inquire concerning 
 16* 
 
186 UNIVERSALIST BELIFJF. 
 
 what God requires of man. Tlie requisitions of 
 the divine law as declared in the Scriptures, are 
 all comprised in two great commandments, whicli 
 obligate us to love God with all the heart, and 
 our neighbor as ourselves. But in considering 
 this subject we should not rest satisfied with a 
 bare repetition of the word love. The duties 
 required of us are indeed expressed by this word; 
 but the true test and fruits of our love must be 
 exhibited in acts of obedience to its requisitions. 
 To love God with all the soul, implies that M^e 
 are faithful to the full extent of our knowledge 
 and ability, in the performance of such services 
 as he has required at our hands. It implies that 
 we are sincere and honest in our intentions, obe- 
 dient to the best motives that are presented to 
 the mind, and disposed in all things to employ 
 our means and exert our powers according to our 
 best convictions of right and duty. The man 
 who thus acts, whatever may be the measure of 
 his capacity, and his opportunities for the acqui- 
 sition of knowledge, is a true lover of God, and 
 a faithful doer of the law of righteousness. " For 
 (says tlie apostle Paul) if there be first a willing 
 mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, 
 and not according to that he haih not." 2d Cor. 
 viii. 12. 
 
 To love our neighbor as ourselves, implies 
 
UNIVER3ALIST BLIEF. 187 
 
 that we are disposed to respect his rights and to 
 promote his happiness ; or in other words, thai 
 we do unto him as we desire that he should do 
 unto us. We are bound to make the best use of 
 all our means of instruction, and to seek an ac- 
 quaintance with all the obligations which we 
 owe to our kindred race. And in every stage of 
 knowledge, and with every grade of ability, we 
 are obedient to the second command, and stand 
 justified in the view of God, when we render 
 our neighbor the best services in our power. 
 The heathen, as well as the Christian, may- 
 work righteousness. And if he is but faithful to 
 the light within, and obedient to the best instruc- 
 tions that can be obtained, that Being who is *' no 
 respecter of persons," will approve his conduct 
 and bless him in his deeds ! 
 
 " To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk 
 humbly before God," are declared to comprise 
 all the duties that our Maker requires of man 
 These duties are urged in a variety of ways in 
 the Scriptures, and presented in every form of 
 expression ; but they are still the same. Justice 
 to man, and mercy to the erring and suffering, 
 and humble obedience toward God according to 
 our knowledge of what he requires, make up the 
 whole sum of every man's duty. We are all 
 and constantly obligated to render such obedience 
 
18S 
 
 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 to the law of God, whether that law be learned 
 by the testimony of natural conscience, or made 
 known by the spirit of revelation. The Bible is 
 our code of morals, and the highest guide of our 
 lives. And though every part of its instiuctions 
 may not be easily comprehended, no man of 
 ordinary capacity need fail to understand the 
 simple duties which it requires. And our obedi- 
 ence is fully rendered, when we govern our feel- 
 ings and thoughts and actions, according to the 
 standard of rectitude, mercy and humility fur- 
 nished in the word of God. 
 
 Let us furthermore inquire, what recompense 
 is conferred upon man for his obedience to the 
 things which God has commanded ? Does the 
 reward bear any intimate and immediate connex- 
 ion to duty? Or will it be rendered after the 
 last duty of life shall have been performed ? An- 
 swers to these queries may be drawn from two 
 sources — the Scriptures and our own experience. 
 The apostle James says, 1, 25, *' But whoso 
 looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and con- 
 tinueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, 
 but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed 
 in his deedy The Psalmist expressed the same 
 sentiment, when he says, speaking of the divine 
 commandments, *' In keeping of them there is 
 great reward," Vs. xix. 11. And again, he says, 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 189 
 
 *' Great peace have they which love thy law : 
 and nothing shall offend them." Ps. cxix. 65. 
 These are but a small specimen of the passages 
 that might be cited to prove that the recompense 
 of virtue and righteousness, is ever present with, 
 and enjoyed by the man who walks in the ways 
 of divine wisdom, which are pleasantness and 
 peace. 
 
 The Scriptures give us no intimation that the 
 reward of our good deeds here will be conferred 
 upon us in another world. Nor do they instruct 
 us to believe thai our enjoyment of the reward 
 will depend upon our feelings and character just 
 when we breathe the last mortal breath, and close 
 our eyes in death ! But they declare that in the 
 way of duty there are peace and joy, and great 
 recompense of reward. It is not for being obe- 
 dient to the divine law of love that we are to be 
 blessed of God, as though the recompense were to 
 be rendered after all duties have been discharged. 
 But the reward of righteousness, is promised 
 man while he sustains a righteous character ; and 
 he is blessed in his djeeds. 
 
 And does not our own experience corroborate 
 this plain doctrine of the Scriptures ? Who ever 
 withstood the power of temptation, and dealt 
 justly and honorably with his neighbor, without 
 feeling in his soul a sweet consciousness of vir- 
 
190 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 tue and innocence, which is a prize more lo be 
 desired than all the riches and honors of the 
 world ? Who ever had compassion upon the 
 unfortunate, and as a ministering angel of mercy, 
 wiped the tear from sorrow's eye, and poured 
 gladness and joy into the suffering heart, without 
 experiencing in the very act, a recompense, 
 great beyond all expression ? And he that daily 
 walks in humility before God, is enabled when 
 he retires to his nightly repose, to reflect with 
 feelings of unutterable satisfaction and delight 
 upon his faithfulness in duty ; and his happiness 
 is not only immensely greater, but far more dig- 
 nified and refined, than any thing ever known by 
 the lover of worldly pleasures. Virtue's prize 
 is " the soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt 
 joy." All that can minister to the higher powers 
 of our nature — all that can secure happiness that 
 is worthy the dignity of intellectual and moral 
 beings, must flow from the cultivation of those 
 exalted virtues enjoined upon us in the word of 
 God. Aiid we may safely afiirm that no man 
 ever rendered true obedience to the great com- 
 mands of our Maker, witliout having the witness 
 in himself, assuring him tliat the doer of the law 
 is blessed in his deeds. 
 
 It should also be understood that the tendency 
 of righteousness is favorable to all the interests 
 
rXIVERSALIST BELIEF. 191 
 
 of human life. Nations and communities, as 
 well as individuals, are rendered truly prosper- 
 ous and happy only in proportion to their ob- 
 servance of the duties enjoined by the law of 
 God. *' Righteousness exalteth a nation;" and 
 the community over which virtue presides is the 
 dwelling-place of happiness and peace. The 
 practice of justice, mercy and humility is in 
 every respect advantageous to man. He thus 
 secures the good will of all his fellows ; and 
 even his secular affairs are ordinarily rendered 
 prosperous. And in more ways than we can 
 mention, and to a far greater extent than many 
 have ever conceived, does God judge in the 
 earth, and give a reward to the righteous. 
 
 But another inquiry here claims our attention. 
 The Scriptures declare that all men have sinned 
 and come short of the glory of God. And what 
 are we to understand by sin ? The apostle John 
 has furnished the true answer in these words : — 
 "For sin is the transgression of the law." 1st 
 John iii. 4. And it may not be improper to re- 
 mark that we know of no other sin than that 
 which implies action^ and results from a violation 
 of law. We hear much said of original sin, 
 and inborn sin. But it seems to us that if man 
 is born with a bad nature, it is his misfortune, 
 and not his fault. Nor can we exactly under- 
 
192 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 stand how a man can be a sinner before he has 
 sinned. If "sin is the transgression of the 
 law," common understanding would appear to 
 decide thai no man can be a sinner until he has 
 transgressed. Others, however, profess to know 
 all about this subject; and we leave them to ex- 
 plain its difficulties. 
 
 Al! men are in some way the subjects of law, 
 as we have before shown. One has conscience 
 for his guide, as in the case of the Gentiles of 
 whom Paul speaks, while another has received 
 in addition to his natural sense of right and 
 wrong, the instructions of divine revelation. 
 When we go counter to what we know to be 
 right, from whatever source our knowledge may 
 be derived, we transgress the law, and are there- 
 fore sinful. Adam became sinful when he trans- 
 gressed the command of his Maker. Cain fell 
 into a similar condemnation, when, in violation of 
 all fraternal obligation, he rose up and slew his 
 righteous brother. The people of Israel sinned 
 in disregarding the commands of God given them 
 by Moses, and in thus corrupting their way on 
 the earth. And we now commit sin in forsaking 
 the law which God has instituted for our govern- 
 ment, and in doing such things as he has forbid- 
 den. All have in some way smned, and are 
 guilty before God. 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 193 
 
 What, then, is the punishment which God has 
 denounced against the transgressor? And where 
 shall that punishment be endured ? We may 
 here query as we did in regard to the recom- 
 pense of virtue. Has punishment any necessary 
 connexion with sin itself? Or will it be inflict- 
 ed after all the sins of life shall have been com- 
 mitted ? We are thrown back to the same 
 sources whence we have derived answers to 
 other questions. The Scriptures declare that 
 God executes judgment in the earth — that here 
 the righteous are recompensed, and the wicked 
 punished — that the wicked are destitute of peace 
 and rest, and subject to continual troubles — and 
 that the way of transgressors is hard. See Ps. 
 Iviii. 11; Prov. xi. 31; Isa. Ivii. 20, 21; Prov. 
 xiii. 15. 
 
 From these representations it plainly appears 
 that man is punisiied in his sins — -that suffering 
 and crime are indissolubly united together — and 
 that man must unavoidably endure the recom- 
 pense of his transgressions, while, and so long 
 as he continues in rebellion against the com- 
 mands of his Maker. As soon as Adam had 
 transgressed, a change came over his mind; fear- 
 ful dread seized upon his soul, and he instaiuly 
 sought to conceal himself from the view of God. 
 Tiie horrors of guilt and the keen stings of a 
 17 
 
194 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 condemning conscience, were immediately and 
 bitterly felt ; and the painful truth was real- 
 ized that death should come in the very day of 
 transgression. Cain, in view of his enormous 
 offence, and the dreadful retribution to which he 
 was doomed " in the earth, " and with no reve- 
 lations of the future life, was led to exclaim in 
 the bitterness of his grief, " My punishment is 
 greater than I can bear!" The law of Moses 
 denounced punishments for sin only in this 
 world. And in the new and better covenant^ 
 which has brought " life and immortality to 
 light," it is declared that in the resurrection state, 
 all who shall have died in Adam shall be made 
 alive in Christ. 
 
 We therefore conclude that the punishment for 
 sin is in the same state of being where men 
 transgress the law of God. And we cannot doubt 
 that if men commit sin in the future world, they 
 will there be the subjects of punishment. Solo- 
 mon says, *• Though hand join in hand, the 
 wicked shall not be unpunished." Prov. xi. 21. 
 But he also says, " Behold, the righteous shall 
 be recompensed in the earth ; much more the 
 wicked and the sinner." God has so arranged 
 the affairs of the world, that vice must and will 
 bring with itself an equitable punishment. Many 
 of our sins may be unseen by human eye, and un-^ 
 
UNIVERSALTST BELIEF. 195 
 
 punished by human law ; but they are all known 
 to Him who is acquainted with the secret inten- 
 tions of our hearts, and he has declared that he 
 will bring every work into judgment, whether 
 good or bad. If one evil action is suffered to 
 pass unpunished, the principle of justice is at 
 once violated in the divine government; and it is 
 folly to talk any longer about the inflexible jus- 
 tice of Jehovah ! And if injustice takes place 
 in one instance, it may also occur in another ; 
 and justice in God may be a mere inconstant 
 passion ! 
 
 But it becomes us to guard against deception, 
 and not suffer ourselves to be enticed into the 
 foolish and hurtful notion that sin can in any 
 case be committed with impunity. The Scrip- 
 tures are very explicit on this subject. God 
 ^^ivill by no means clear the guilty ^ Exodus 
 xxxvii. 4. " But he that doeth wrong shall 
 receive for the wrong that he hath done : and 
 there is no respect of persons.''^ Col. iii. 25. 
 And the experience of life teaches the same im- 
 portant and salutary lesson. The sure tendency 
 of vice is to misery and destruction. We always 
 injure our own happiness by wilfully doing that 
 which we know to be wrong. And while we 
 see proofs of the fact that '* the way of trans- 
 gressors is hard," in viewing society at large, and 
 
196 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 in studying the whole history of our race, we 
 may come home individually to ourselves, and 
 we shall find overwhelming evidence of the same 
 truth running through our whole experience. 
 
 But there is still another inquiry to which we 
 must devote some attention before we close. We 
 have seen that the present life is a state of disci- 
 pline ; and that here both rewards and punish- 
 ments are administered by the Judge of all the 
 earth. Men may call this life a state of pro- 
 bation ^ but we shall ask in vain for the 
 authority upon which this notion is asserted. 
 Judgment is here executed and the recom- 
 pense of human conduct administered. And 
 if all this means that this life is a state of 
 probation, we have no knowledge of the word, 
 and need say no more on the subject. 
 
 The subject of our present inquiry is in re- 
 gard to the ultimate design of God in his disci- 
 plinary dealings with mankind. What end does 
 he mean to accomplish ? Will a state ofreivard 
 be the final destiny of any man ? Will a state 
 o( punishment be the ultimate doom of any hu« 
 man soul ? Or will discipline at some time cease, 
 and the human familv be blessed with redemp- 
 tion, and brought into fellowship with the angels 
 in heaven ? 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 197 
 
 Some persons suppose that Gocf has in view 
 two directly opposite results in his treatment of 
 mankind. They hold that he administers re- 
 wards for the purpose of securing the final and 
 endless beatitude of a portion of his creatures ; 
 and that their present happiness, though not dis- 
 regarded, is considered an object of small mo- 
 ment, compared to the last and permanent state 
 of felicity into which their rewarder designs to 
 bring them. But they suppose that in punishing 
 the wicked, God intends to produce the very 
 opposite result, and will immortalize sin and 
 misery, and give them an endless existence. 
 
 According to this doctrine, the government of 
 God aims to accomplish two different ends — the 
 one good, and the other evil. And he is repre- 
 sented as pursuing such a plan as will infallibly 
 produce these results. Now equitable and right- 
 eous governments among men aim to accomplish 
 but one end, which is good. They are never 
 administered for the purpose of producing evil 
 as the final result. But every thing human 
 bears the stamp of imperfection ; and the wisdom 
 of man is not adequate to the work of establish- 
 ing a government that shall in all respects and 
 in every instance secure the good designed. 
 We have, however, been accustomed to believe 
 that the work of God is perfect, and that he can 
 17* 
 
198 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 never fail to accomplish the purposes of his will. 
 And if we suppose that his government will pro- 
 duce gqod and evil results as its ultimate objects, 
 the conclusion cannot well be avoided, that it is 
 administered upon the most opposite principles, 
 and is partly good and partly evil. "We read 
 that the tree is known by its fruit. The char- 
 acter of a government is determined by the ob- 
 jects which it aims to accomplish. And if it de- 
 signs to produce happy and miserable results, 
 the inference is plain and inevitable that it em- 
 braces principles of the most discordant nature! 
 We believe that the principles of God's go- 
 vernment are all of the same nature ; and 
 that whatever may be their separate offices, 
 they all aim to accomplish the same benevolent 
 end. We hold that nothing is absolutely eternal 
 save God himself, and that to which he imparts 
 a portion of his own nature. And though he 
 may employ different means for the accomplish- 
 ment of certain ends, we believe that in every 
 act his ultimate designs are the same. Evils 
 may exist as means; but the final end of the di- 
 vine government must be compatible with the 
 nature of God himself. And when, according to 
 the Scriptures, God ^^ shall be allin allf^' s'm 
 and suffering, and every thing opposed to his 
 nature must cease to exist. 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 199 
 
 In this view of the subject we see no clashing 
 of objects in the administration of God's govern- 
 ment. He rewards the virtuous because their 
 conduct is right, and with a view to their happi- 
 ness. And he punishes the wicked because their 
 sins deserve it — that he may thus secure the 
 ends of justice — and that the sufferer himself, 
 though a loser by his misconduct, may be 
 brought into obedience and righteousness. 
 Means are employed as the case requires, but 
 the great end in both is the same. The good 
 parent rewards his dutiful, and punishes his dis- 
 obedient child. And yet he loves them both, 
 and his only object is to do them good. God is 
 a Father. And while he renders unto every man 
 according to his deeds, he means to produce in 
 all " the peaceable fruit of righteousness.'' See 
 Heb. xii. 5-11. 
 
 Thus believing, we are enabled by faith to 
 look beyond all rewards and punishments, and 
 to contemplate with joy that glorious period fore- 
 told by the Prophet, when " every knee shall 
 bow, and every tongue shall swear, surely shall 
 
 say, IN THE LORD HAVE I RIGHTEOUSNESS AND 
 STRENGTH." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 In considering the subject before us, it should 
 be understood that the word resurrection does 
 not mean the same thing in every place where it 
 occurs in the Scriptures. By attaching to this 
 word one uniform signification, the mind will be 
 strangely misled, and the doctrine of life and im- 
 mortality sadly misapprehended. And indeed 
 this wrong use of the word is one of the chief 
 causes of the gross errors that are entertained in^ 
 regard to the condition of our race in the spirit- 
 ual and immortal life. Our Savior spoke of '* the 
 resurrection of damnation ;" and he also declared 
 that the children or subjects of the resurrection 
 shall be ^' equal unto the angels." And if we 
 suppose that in both places he had reference to 
 the same thing, we must conclude either that he 
 has contradicted himself, or else that his lan- 
 guage does not convey to us the real meaning 
 intended. An equality with the angels in hea- 
 ven cannot surely be a state of condemnation to 
 any soul of man. And if *' they which shall be 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 201 
 
 accounted worthy to obtain that world, [the future 
 life,] and the resurrection of the dead,^^ shall be 
 " equal to the angels,^^ how can it be said of any 
 one of the number that he shall come forth to "the 
 resurrection of damnation ?" It is readily per- 
 ceived that these things present an insuperable 
 difficulty, on the supposition that the word re- 
 surrection must be considered as bearing but one 
 meaning. But give to the word its proper signi- 
 fication in each place, and the whole difficulty will 
 at once disappear. 
 
 Speaking of the term rendered resurrection in 
 the New Testament, Dr. Campbell says ; *'The 
 word anastasist or rather the phrase anastasis ton 
 nekron, is indeed the common term by which 
 the resurrection, properly so called, is denomi- 
 nated in the New Testament. Yet this is neither 
 the only, nor the primitive import of the word 
 anastasis: it denotes simply, being raised from 
 inactivity to action, or from obscurity to emi- 
 nence, or a return to such a state after an inter- 
 ruption. The verb anistemi has the like latitude 
 of signification ; and both words are used in this 
 extent by the writers of the New Testament as 
 well as by the Seventy. Agreeably, therefore, to 
 the original import, rising from a seat is properly- 
 termed anastasis; so is awaking out of sleep, or 
 
202 ITNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 promotion from an inferior condition. The 
 word occurs in this last sense, Luke 2 : 34. In 
 this view, when applied to the dead, the word 
 denotes, properly, no more than a renewal of 
 life to them, in whatever manner this happen." 
 Note on Matt. xxii. 23. This author, distinguished 
 alike for his profound learning and Christian 
 candor, maintains that the word resurrection pri- 
 marily means simply rising. The passage in 
 Luke to wliich he refers was spoken by Simeon 
 with reference to the infant Jesus. " Behold, 
 (said the aged man,) this child is set for the fall 
 and rising again of many in Israel ; and for a 
 sign which shall be spoken against." None can 
 suppose that a rising from literal death into an 
 immortal life is taught in this passage. It mere- 
 ly referred to the promotion of the remnant of 
 Israel who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and to the fall of the remainder, who stumbled 
 at the stone laid in Zion. 
 
 In accordance with this " primitive import" of 
 the word resurrection, Paul says to the Ephe« 
 sians, chap. ii. verse 1, '■'.Mnd you hath he quick- 
 ened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." 
 Wakefield renders the place ; "And you hath he 
 brought to life with Christ." Here the persons 
 addressed are represented as having received a 
 new existence, being quickened from death into 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 203 
 
 a state of life. Having died to their old sins, 
 ihey were brought to life with Christ. John 
 says, 1st. Epis. iii. 14, " We know that we have 
 passed from death unto life, [i. e. experienced 
 a resurrection,'] because we love the brethren." 
 And a great number of passages of similar mean- 
 ing will readily occur to every reader of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 Parkhurst says of the word rendered resurrec- 
 tion, " In the Ixx. [or Greek translation of the 
 Old Testament] it is twice used, Lam. iii. 62. 
 Zeph. iii. 8 ; in both which texts it answers to 
 the Heb. — which means to stand up, rise, and 
 in the former is opposed to sitting.'" On refer- 
 ring to the passages here named, we find that the 
 former is a part of the Prophet's complaint, and 
 reads ; *' Thou hast heard their reproach, O 
 Lord, and all their imaginations against me; the 
 lips of those that rose up against me, and their 
 devise against me all the day." The enemies of 
 Jeremiah's people had risen up against them ; 
 and this rising was called a resurrection. The 
 latter passage is applied to God himself. 
 " Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, 
 until the day that 1 rise up to the prey : for my 
 determination is to gather the nations,"&;c. This 
 resurrection *' is opposed to sitting.", ^o^ ^^ 
 represented in human speech and in a familiar 
 
204 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 way, as rising up to execute judgment upon the 
 kingdoms and nations of the earth. All this, 
 which is very clearly understood, would, how- 
 ever, appear very absurd, if we were to suppose 
 that the word resurrection wherever it occurs in 
 the Scriptures, means a rising from literal death 
 into a new state of existence ! 
 
 In view of the foregoing, all can perceive the 
 importance of carefully examining the connexion 
 and subject of discourse in which the word re- 
 surrection is fdund. The meaning intended rests 
 entirely upon the nature of the subject to which 
 it is applied. Like the word raise or raisings 
 in one place it may signify a mere coming forth 
 from obscurity ; and in another, man's entrance 
 into the immortal state of being. It is written, 
 Dan. xii. 2, " And many of them that sleep in 
 the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever- 
 lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
 contempt." On investigating the chapter which 
 contains this text, we find that the Prophet 
 speaks of a particular time ; and it is also 
 a time that has been determined by our Lord, 
 and is now past. This rising was to take place 
 when there should *' be a time of trouble, such 
 as never was since there was a nation, even to 
 that same time" — " and from the time (it was 
 prophesied) that the daily sacrifice shall be taken 
 away, and the abomination that maketh desolate 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 205 
 
 set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred 
 and ninety days." 
 
 Now let the reader direct. h^ attention to the 
 24th chap, of Matt., and it will be seen that our 
 Lord referred to this very prophecy of Daniel, 
 and declared its speedy fulfilment. Speaking of 
 events that were shortly to come to pass, he 
 said ; " When ye therefore shall see the abomi- 
 nation of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the pro- 
 phet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth 
 let him understand :) Then let them which be in 
 Judea flee into the mountains : Let him which is 
 on the house-top not come down to take any 
 thing out of his house : Neither let him which 
 is in the field return back to take his clothes. 
 And wo unto them that are with child, and to 
 them that give suck in those days ! But pray 
 that your flight be not in the winter, neither on 
 the sabbath day : For there shall be great tribu- 
 lation, [mark the language of Daniel,] such as 
 was not since the beginning of the world to this 
 time, no, nor ever shall 6e." And after show- 
 ing the near approach of these things by the pa- 
 rable of the fig tree, and declaring that the time 
 was near, " even at the doors," Jesus said, 
 " Verily I say unto you, this generation shall 
 not pass till all these things be fulfilled.'''' The 
 time of the rising up or resurrection spok' !i of 
 18 
 
206 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 by Daniel the prophet, took place, therefore, 
 when, according to his own prediction, it was 
 *' accomplished to scatter the power of the holy 
 people," when the daily sacrifice was taken 
 away, and when the abomination that made des- 
 olate was set up and stood in the holy place. 
 
 The Son of Man having received authority to 
 execute judgment, there was then a general 
 coming forth to judgment. Men were represented 
 as being dead and even in their graves — as in 
 the days of Ezekiei it was declared that the house 
 of Israel were in their graves, when they were in 
 bondage and degradation ; and when it was pro- 
 mised that they should be brought up out of 
 their graves, and reinstated in their own land. 
 SeeEze. xxxvii. 12-14. The word resurrection 
 is used in the same sense in the 5th chapter of 
 John, where, asserting his " authority to execute 
 judgment, because he is the Son of man," Jesus 
 speaks of a " resurrection of damnation," or a 
 rising up to judgment. He says, " Verily, veri- 
 ly, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now 
 is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son 
 of God : and they that hear shall live. For as 
 the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given 
 to the Son to have life in himself; and hath 
 given him authority to execute judgment also, 
 because ho is the Son of man. Marvel not at 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 207 
 
 this : for the hour is coming, in the which all that 
 are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall 
 come forth ; they that have done good, unto the 
 resurrection of life, and they that have done evil 
 unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of 
 mine own self do nothing : as I hear I judge, &lc. 
 The subject of discourse in this instance is the 
 authority of the Son of man to execute judgment 
 — and not the future state of being. The time 
 of the judgment was declared to be at hand — 
 " the hour is coming, and now is." Man's 
 immortal state of existence is not so much as 
 hinted at in the whole connexion. And without 
 attempting to pursue the subject any farther, we 
 feel justified to conclude that both of the passages 
 last named refer to the same event and time, 
 which were determmed by our Savior, and which 
 occurred, according to his own word, before the 
 close of the very generation in which he himself 
 lived on earth ! 
 
 Having thus cleared the way, and perhaps re- 
 moved the difficulties from some minds, we 
 are prepared to proceed at once to a conside- 
 ration of the resurrection of man unto the future 
 and immortal life, as taught in the gospel of Je- 
 sus Christ. Our Savior himself did not frequent- 
 ly discourse on this subject, nor at great length. 
 The reason is obvious. His disciples at first 
 
208 HMVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 knew but little of the nature of his kingdom, and 
 were but slowly inducted into a knowledge of 
 his doctrine. He declared when on earth that 
 he had many things to say unto them, which 
 they were not then prepared to receive. And 
 he assured them that after his departure he would 
 send the Comforter, even the spirit of truth, 
 which should lead them unto all truth, and bring 
 all things to their remembrance, whatsoever he 
 had said unto them. When he spake of his own 
 death and resurrection, they understood not what 
 he said. And after he was raised from the dead, 
 *' he appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat, 
 and upbraided them with their unbelief ^nd. hard- 
 ness of heart, because they believed not them 
 which had seen him after he was risen." Mark 
 xvi. 14. Seeing the state of the disciples' minds, 
 and knowing that they would in due time receive 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost, and thus be enabled 
 fully to understand "all the counsel of God," 
 Jesus left them in comparative ignorance. But 
 according to the promise which had been given, 
 they afterwards received large portions of the 
 Divine Spirit, and proclaimed upon the house- 
 tops and in the streets the glad tidings of a per- 
 fect Gospel, and the blessings of a free and uni- 
 versal salvation. 
 
UNIVERSALIST RELIEF. 209 
 
 In the course of our Savior's ministry on 
 earth, however, he was particularly questioned 
 in regard to his doctrine of the resurrection. The 
 Sadducees, who utterly denied man's future life, 
 as well as the existence of angels and spirits, 
 thought to puzzle him by referring to the case of 
 a certain woman who had been the wife of seven 
 husbands, and demanding whose wife she should 
 be in the resurrection. Here there can be no 
 mistake as to the subject of discourse. It was 
 the state of man beyond death of which the cap- 
 tious Sadducees inquired. Their question fully 
 admitted the doctrine of life and immortality, and 
 in view of this admission, they insisted upon 
 knowing to which one of her husbands the de- 
 parted woman should be wedded. Notwithstand- 
 ing this query betrayed their entire ignorance of 
 the whole subject — of the Scriptures and of the 
 power of God — it afforded a fit opportunity for 
 our Lord to declare his doctrine touching the im- 
 mortal life. *' And Jesus answering said unto 
 them, (he children of this world marry, and are 
 given in marriage : But they which shall be ac- 
 counted worthy to obtain that world, and the re- 
 surrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are 
 given in marriage : Neither can they die any 
 more : for they are equal unto the angels ; and 
 are the children of God, being the children of 
 18* 
 
210 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, 
 even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth 
 the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of 
 Isaac, and tlie God of Jacob. For he is not a God 
 of the dead, but of the living ; for all live unto 
 him." 
 
 There are several things contained in this an- 
 swer of our Lord that deserve to be particularly 
 noticed. 1. By such as shall obtain that world 
 of which he speaks, he evidently means all who 
 shall be raised from the dead into the immortal 
 state of existence. He speaks of such as sliall 
 obtain that world and the resurrection from the 
 dead. What he says of one subject or child of 
 the resurrection, may therefore be said of all 2. 
 It is not said that any man ever was or ever will 
 be, reall y worthy of the resurrection to heavenly 
 and divine life. But the answer treats of such 
 as shall thus be accounted. 7"'he Pharisees be- 
 lieved that but a part of the human race would be 
 raised from the dead. It was perhaps in view o 
 this notion that our Lord spoke of such as shall be 
 accounted worthy, or ''honored, to share in the 
 resurrection," as Dr. Campbell has translated 
 the passage. 3. But the answer before us shows 
 that all men shall be raised from the dead ; and 
 the fact is abundantly proved in other parts of 
 the New Testament. We have seen that in 
 
UMVER5ALIST BELIEF. 211 
 
 view or the resurrection, Jesus declares of" the 
 Father of spirits," " For he is not a God of the 
 dead, but of the living ; for all live unto him." 
 All, therefore, shall be accounted worthy to ob- 
 tain the resurrection from the dead and the future 
 world. 4. The continuance of man's existence 
 beyond the death of the body was shown b}^ Mo- 
 ses at the bush, when he called the Deity the 
 God of persons who had passed away from this 
 world. The patriarchs of whom he spoke were 
 still in existence ; for the Lord, who was still 
 their God, is not a God of the dead. But this 
 proof of future life was not well understood until 
 explained by our Savior. Hence it is said that 
 ,Tesus Christ '* hath brought life and immortality 
 TO LIGHT through the Gospel.''' And 5. The 
 CONDITION in which man shall be raised from 
 the dead is also most clearly taught in the answei" 
 of our Lord to the Sadducees. He declares that 
 the subjects of the resurrection shall be the child- 
 ren of God, free from the power of death, and 
 equal unto the angels. Such is the condition in 
 which man shall live when raised to immortality. 
 And hence it is truly said, *^ The last enemy 
 shall be destroyed, death." No foe will remain 
 after the final resurrection of the human family. 
 And while Jesus the Savior of the world, "shall 
 see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satis- 
 
212 UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 fied," God Iiimself, rejoicing in his works, shall 
 
 be " ALL IN ALL." 
 
 Concerning the subject of which Paul treats 
 in 1st Cor. xv., there is no difference of belief. 
 All agree that his subject is the resurrection of 
 man into the future and immortal state. His 
 testimony perfecty coincides with that of our 
 Savior on the same subject. And it is a remark- 
 able fact that in his extended discourse on this 
 subject — the longest and fullest contained in the 
 whole Bible — he says nothing about judgment., 
 and speaks of no suffering ! He contemplates 
 the same happy and glorious end for ail men : 
 and declares that our whole race shall be made 
 alive and blessed in the same Redeemer and 
 Lord. After asserting and proving the resur- 
 rection of our Lord by a " great cloud of witness- 
 es," he proceeds to say, " But now is Christ 
 risen from the dead, and become the first fruits 
 of them that slept. For since by man came 
 death, by man came also the resurrection of the 
 dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive. But every man in liis 
 own order : Christ the frst4m\is ; afterward 
 they that are Christ's at his coming. Then 
 comelh the end, when he shall have delivered 
 up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when 
 he shall have put down all rule and all authority 
 
IMVERSALIST BELIEF. 213 
 
 und power. For he must rei^^ii till he iiatli put all 
 enemies under his feet. The last enemy shall 
 be destroyed, death. For he hath put all ene- 
 mies under his feet. But when he saith, all 
 things are put under him, it is manifest that he 
 is excepted which did put all things under him. 
 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, 
 then shall the Son also himself he subject unto him 
 that did put all things under him, that God may 
 be all in all.^^ 
 
 Whatever may be meant by the order of time 
 here mentioned, it is perfectly plain that all men 
 are finally to be made alive in Christ, and to be- 
 come subject to him even as he himself will be 
 subject unto God. And it is furthermore obvi- 
 ous that when this universal subjugation shall 
 have been accomplished through *' the Lamb of 
 God which taketh away the sin of the world," 
 there will be no foe in existence to torment man, 
 and God will be the life of every soul ! 
 
 After showing that the animal body, which is 
 sown in corruption, dishonor and weakness, shall 
 die and return to the dust from which it was 
 taken ; the apostle declares that man shall rise in 
 incorriiption, in glory ^ in power, and in "a 
 spiritual body y And he speaks not only of an 
 immortal life ; but of an existence in the hea- 
 venly NATURE OF Jesus Christ ! Still dis- 
 
214 UNTVERSALIST BELIEF. 
 
 conrsing of all who live and die in the earthy 
 nature of Adam, and with no- intimation that he 
 speaks in a limited sense, he says, " And as we 
 have borne the image of the earthy, we shall al- 
 so bear the image of the heavenlyy He de- 
 clares that " we shall all be changed," raised 
 incorruptible," and " put on immortality." And 
 when all shall thus be delivered from the power 
 of death, and made alive in a spiritual body and 
 a heavenly nature, the last enemy will be de- 
 stroyed, the Messiah's mediatorial labors will be 
 finished, and he will then resign his kingdom to 
 the Father, " that God may be all in all.''^ 
 
 Such, then, will be .the final and glorious con- 
 dition of the human fajnily — of all who belong 
 to the race of Adam — and such will be the ulti. 
 mate and happy result of the work of redemp- 
 tion through him who is the Mediator between 
 God and man, and " the savior of the world." 
 We know not the precise time when man shall 
 be exalted to the bliss of immortality, " to glorify 
 God and fully to enjoy him forever" — we ask. 
 not to know. Whether he is to rise as soon as 
 the spirit departs from the cold tenement of clay, 
 or at some more distant period, is with us a mat- 
 ter of no concern. It is sufficient for us to know 
 that he whom the Father sent to be " the Savior 
 of the world," who has declared that he will draw 
 
UNIVERSALIST BELIEF. 215 
 
 all men unto himself, and assured us that all 
 shall be raised from the dead and become equal 
 unto the angels, will finally destroy the last 
 enemy of man, and bring all into the same sub- 
 jedion in which he himself will bow to that 
 " God who is the Savior of all meny 
 
 In view of this great and glorious consumma- 
 tion of the economy of divine grace through the 
 Redeemer, we rest satisfied, and rejoice with un- 
 speakable joy. And in conclusion we need only 
 say, in the languaj^e of the Methodist Commen- 
 tator, Clarke, " Thus we find, that the salvation 
 from sin here, is as extensive and complete as 
 the guilt and contamination of sin ; death is 
 conquered, hell disappointed, the devil confound- 
 ed, AND SIN TOTALLY DESTROYED. Here is glo- 
 rying, to Him that loved us and washed us 
 from our sins in his own bloody and has made 
 us kings and priests unto his Father, be glory, 
 and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen ! 
 Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reign- 
 eth ! Amen, and Amen." 
 
^7/r 
 
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