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TH6

PRO AND CON

UNIVERSALISM

IIOTH AS TO ITS

DOCTRINES AND MORAL BEARINGS.

By GEORGE ROGERS.

CINCINNATI:
WILLIAMSON & CANTWELL.
OFFICE OF THE " STAR IN THE WEST "
1 8 fi 7

Rntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1837.
By GEORGE ROGERS,
Tn the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Note to the Reader,  ;  4
Alice Sherwood, or, the Pennsylvania Valley — a tale,  5
Preliminary Considerations  40
Universal Salvation proven from the Attributes of God,  49
Thoughts on the Law of God,  68
Universal Salvation proven from the Relations of God to Man,. ... 76
Hymn of Consolation,  99
Universal Salvation further proved from the Scriptures,  100
Hymn — Abrahamic Covenant  130
Popular Debate, No. 1. — Is the Future Salvation conditional ?. . . . 131
 No. 2. — Universalism reduced to absurdity,  145
 No. 3. — Relative to the last paragraph of Matt. xxv. 157
 — — — No. 4. — Whence did the opposition to Christ and
his Apostles proceed ?.....  188
 -^^— No. 5. — Do the Scriptures teach that there will he
a General Judgment after Death ?  193
MisceUaneous Objections considered  22 1
A Metaphysical Argument from Dr. Beecher examined  235
Millennium Hymn,  238
The nature and ends of Divine Punishment  239
The doctrine of Hell Punishment examined  263
Does Foreknowledge necessarily imply Foreordination ?  280
Election and Reprobation Scripturally illustrated,  302
Review of the Argument on the words Everlasting, Forever, &c.,. . 313
Lake of Fire and Second Death,  321
An Important Question considered  325
Diversity of Views among Universalists,  329
The Intermediate State considered,  337
Hymn— The Better World,  347
Hymn — The Gospel Consummation,  348
Index to Comparisons and Illustrations employed in this work  349
Index to Texts commented on. usually urged against Universalism, 353
3

NOTE TO THE READER.

Mohe than a year elapsed from the time this work was commenced
until it was completed; during which the author performed some seven
or eight thousand miles of travel, by steamboat, and stages, and on horse
back, besides delivering some two or three hundred discourses. It was "
amidst these employments — in addition to those arising from the charge
of a family — that these pages were composed, and that (the reader is
assured) without the slightest aid from any kindred pubheat'on. With
the candid, these tacts will form a reasonable apology for some of its
defects, of style, or argument, or consistency, from which it will by no
means be pretended that it is free.
In saying that he derived no aid from kindred publications, the author
would not be understood as setting up a claim to entire originality for his
production ; on the contrary, he is full well aware, that on so beaten a
theme it is impossible to write so lengthily, without occasionally repeating
what others have previously advanced. His purpose, however, was to
avoid this as far as practicable, and to add something to tho common
stock of Unlversalist literature; something, too, which by Jte mildness
and candor should be adapted to commend our doctrines to che popular
notice and approval. How far he has succeeded in this, i* J*& to *&«
reader's decision.
Cincinnati, Nov. 8th, 1838.

ALICE SHERWOOD, OR
THE PENNSYLVANIA VALLEY:
A TALE,
Shotting the influence qf certain religious doctrines on individual and social life.

CHAPTER I.
Conceive, reader, if you please, a deep and quiet valley, of about
five miles in length from the points whence it takes its particulai
designation, and a mile and a half in medial breadth ; the hills, by
which on both sides it is hemmed in, may be some two or three hun
dred feet in altitude, and are very precipitous, varying indeed but
a little from perpendicularity ; from their bases to their summits
they are covered with a thick natural growth of hemlock-fir-trees,
intermingled with stunted hazels and sumachs, save that here and
there may be seen a soft spot which has been cleared by the axe of
the settler : and how picturesque is the effect of those spots !
they occur mostly in the occasional curvatures and indentations by
which Nature, with her usual taste, has varied the monotony of these
mountainous ridges ; or in the defiles which the rivulets from the
interior have scooped out in their journeyings towards the ocean.
Iuill suppose you standing on oneof these acclivities, especially
the one on the eastern side, for there the advantage of survey is
greatest, and the eye from thence can take in an extent of prospect
only bounded by its reach of vision. What a scene of loveliness
you now have before you ! it isj)ut little rivalled, if at all, by the
far-famed and classic Wyoming. A wide reach of fertile bottom
land under excellent cultivation stretches for more than a mile in
your front, and for miles on either hand ; it varies in its shades of
green according to the diversified products with which it is teem
ing ; the rich and extensive pasture grounds are mottled with cattle^
and sheep, and lambs, which are feeding very contentedly, appa
rently conscious that their "lines are fallen to them in pleasant
places." The trees which hav« been spared by the inhabitants foi

6 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
purposes of shade and ornament, throw out their branches with *
uxuriancy which betokens a generous soil, and certainly contributt
heir full quota toward the aggregate beauty of the picture.
A road, you perceive, runs lengthwise through the vale, along
which many neat habitations are sprinkled; and about midway
there arises the steeple of a modest and tasteful house of worship
on its vane at this moment the sun's setting beams are reposing
a more fitting emblem of the mild and cheering character of the
doctrines dispensed within that temple, could not well be ima
gined — doctrines adapted to shed on the spirit's parting hour the
light of an immoveable trust in heaven.
But the brightest feature in this lovely landscape is yet unmarked:
cast your eye, reader, toward the foot of yonder western barrier;
there rolls a river, so exquisitely pure and placid, that it resembles
a burnished mirror; it is, however, partially hidden from our view
by the elms and sycamores which fringe ils margin, and immedi
ately opposite to us its channel is divided by an island. How soft
and verdant ! The muses, and the graces, yea, and goddesses
too, might be well content with grottoes on that green and quiet
spot. I fancy that, of a calm evening, we might hear at this dis
tance — perhaps we might — the murmuring of the stream where it
is broken by the upper point of the island ; and then, in addition
to this exhibition of Nature's taste in penciling, we should have a
pretty specimen of her skill in music.
That river, reader, is the Susquehannah, and I doubt me much if
in all this wide world the lord of day looks down upon a stream
which reflects back his glory more clearly than does this beautiful
.daughter of the Otsego lake. I have threaded its shores in aii
Iheir windings, from where it issues from the aforesaid lake among
the hills, to where it blends its translucent waters with the briny
billows of the Chesapeake bay ; and nowhere, methinks, within
equal limits, has beauty, in its softer forms, consecrated to itself a
greater number of dwelling places: its bordering hills present
every conceivable variety of aspect ; now they incline in grassy or
arable slopes ; anon they tower in perpendicular or beetling ledges ;
here they sweep away in graceful curves a mile or more from its
verge, leaving space for broad tracts of level and rich alluvion ; and
there they run for miles along the river's brink, and mirror their
huge forms upon its waters, as though Nature were as proud

ALICE SHERWOOD. 7
as other beauties are, of contemplating the reflection of her charms
I have told you, reader, this river's name, but Viie valley itself yo>
must be content with knowing under the fictitious cognomen of
Universalia. Now let me point your attention to that schoo?
house : there are two in the valley, but this to which I allude is
toward its southern extremity ; it is a wooden structure, surround
ed, you perceive, by a grassy plat, and shaded, almost embowered,
with beautiful forest trees : it wants but to be white-washed to
gender it a perfect picture of the rural kind. I must give the set
tlers a hint of this when I next visit Universalia ; for pity it were
that a scene so nearly perfect, should lack those little attentions
which would constitute it completely so. I may add also, by the
way, that in my opinion, school premises every where should be
rendered as agreeable as possible ; for there the members of human
society gather most of their earliest associations, and these exert
no small influence upon their subsequent lives. Virtue and hap'
piness not only .accompany, but they also promote each other. By
as much, then, as it is an object worthy of all attention to form a
tappy and virtuous society, by so much is it important to com
mence at the fountain head, and to blend with the business of
juvenile instruction as much of purity and pleasantness as possi
ble. With this digression I will close my first chapter.

CHAPTER II.
She who teaches the school at present, in the building above de
scribed, is a youg lady from Connecticut: her stature is about the
middling height, her form slender, the color of her hair and eyes
a light hazel ; the latter are large and prominent, and, by their
expression, say much for the sweetness and innocence of the in
dwelling soul. I could tell you the true name of this young lady
if I chose, but I do not choose ; and, therefore, since she must bear
some name in our story, we will call her Alice Sherwood. She
is not, as I have said, a native of this valley, but is an exotic, of
recent transplantation from the " land of steady habits ;" and sooth
to say, there blooms not in all the vale a lovelier flower than Alice,
which is saying much for her, for many a lovely flower blooms there
Ir. religion, Alice is a Calvinist of the modern stamp : of course
her faith is but an educational one, in which her understanding has

8 PRO AXP con of universalism.
extremely little concern ; for what concern can the understanding
of a young lady of eighteen have with the mysteries of the trinity,
which represents Jehovah as being both the father and the son of
himself! — native depravity — the demands of the divine law against
us to an infinite amount, on the ground of a debt alleged to have
been contracted by our progenitors, some thousands of years before
we were born ! — the satisfaction of this claim by the murder of an
innocent victim — the transfer of our guilt, both original and actual,
upon the head of the unoffending SonofGod — and the imputation of his
righteousness to creatures who have no righteousness of their own ?
These are subtleties for the brain of the metaphysical divine,
but are not at all suited to the unsophisticated mind, and guile"
less heart, of a young lady of eighteen.
It will be understood, then, that in describing our heroine as a
Calvinist of the modern school, I mean, simply, that she adheres
to that party from educational and family prepossessions. The
dogmas of this, as distinguished from those of the old school, are,
that God has provided in the gospel ample means to save those
whom from all eternity he unchangeably determined to damn! — that
Christ shed his blood for the same class, with the certainty before
him, that they could never be availed by it! — that all may be saved
if they will, notwithstanding that none can will to be saved but such
as God has foreordained to that end, and they can do no otherwise
than will it ! — and that the chief aggravation of the miseries of
the damned, will arise from their-having rejected a gospel that was
never meant for them, and which it was utterly out of their power
to accept ! with other matters' equally sane and salutary.
Alice, nevertheless, is a good and pious girl — for there aregooa
and pious persons of every religious persuasion — either because
their natural dispositions are so good as to defy the corrupting
influence of a bad faith, or because they do not entertain that faith
with so firm a persuasion of mind as to allow it its full weight of
evil influence. However, so stands the fact, be the philosophy of
it what it may ; and it is certainly better of the two to be theoreti
cally wrong, and practically right, than the contrary: for if the
heart be wrong, the head will easily be induced to stray with it;
whereas, if the former be right, the latter may easily be redeemed
from its errors. And yet it must be confessed that many a younc
and innocent heart receives its earliest taint from the princi-

ALICE SHERWOOD. 9
pies which a false education imposes upon the understanding.
Alice had been taken seriously to task by her sincere but mis
taken old father, shortly previous to her leaving home, because she
had commended the goodness of a certain lady of her acquaintance
" You must always bear it in mind, my dear," said old Mr. Sher
wood, " that persons who are out of the church are in a state of
nature — which is a state of unmixed depravity — however good
therefore, they may seem to be, they are in fact vile and abomina
ble : they cannot think a good thought, nor do a good act — anu
their deeds which seem to be good are but ' deceitful workings,'
and are more detestable in the divine sight, as being the offspring
of hypocrisy, than are even those that we would pronounce evil.
Beware, then, of looking to the unregenerate for any thing truly
virtuous : you will be deceived with specious appearances, but will
never find what you seek; 'for who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean 1 Not one ;' — the virtues of the unconverted will be
but as millstones around their necks to sink them the deeper under
the waves of divine wrath." " But my dear father," enquired
Alice, "is it not possible for a person to be pure and upright, and
as such, acceptable to our Creator, even though without reli
gion in our sense of the term V " In our sense of the term .'" some
what impatiently retorted Mr. Sherwood ; " I tell you, Alice, that
there is no other true sense of the term, but that which you are
pleased to characterize as ours ; and if a person be without religion
in this sense, then is he without it in any sense — his heart is rank
in rebellion against Jehovah, and he would, were it possible, tear
him from his throne. Talk not to me, then, of the goodness of
unregenerated man; 'there is no soundness in him,' but 'from
• he crown of the head to the Sole of the foot, he is nothing but
wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.' "
Such are the dark principles of theology in which our heroine
was educated — principles which, had they taken root in her mind,
would have driven thence all its native benevolence, and with their
sombre shadows must have darkened her vision to all that is fair
and beautiful in life : happily for her they found not a congenial
soil in her nature; and, consequently, although they perplexed
her understanding, they failed of corrupting, in any great degree,
that pure fountain whence principally the streams which sadden
or gladden existence have their source — the heart.

10 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.

CHAPTER III.

One of the most beautiful features of Christianity — not, alas ! aa
it commonly exists in the practice of its professed disciples, but
as taught by its author — is the spirit of kindness and forbearance
it enjoins toward those who differ from us in faith and principles.
" If ye salute your brethren only," saith Christ, " what do ye more
than others 1 for even the publicans do the same." And the moral
of that affecting story of the man who fell among thieves, manifestly
is, that all are to be considered as our neighbors who stand in need
of our services, that good Samaritan-like we must not stop to en
quire whether the claimants upon our sympathies be Jew or Gentile,
but must do good to all, without distinction of nation or sect.
Alice Sherwood had not been accustomed to exhibitions of this
spirit, although her whole life had been spent in the bosom of reli
gious society ; for even the christian charities of the present age
are but too much confined within party limits, and are exceedingly
selfish and calculating. She had been wont to hear denounced aa
heretics, all who withheld assent to the dogmas of her faith, how
ever distinguished they might be for uprightness and amiability
of character. One of her first impressions, therefore, relative to
the people amongst whom she is now sojourning, was, that as they
were perfectly tolerant toward persons of all religious opinions, it
was not possible that they possessed any religious opinions of
their own. But see — she is at this moment engaged in writing
to her parents — we can take the liberty of peeping over her shoul
ders, and of thus satisfying to the full our curiosity as to all these
matters. With motives so laudable, it will be no trespass against
politeness, I trust.
* * * * " Having described to you the situation
of my school, I proceed, my dear parents, to acquaint you with
other circumstances connected with my condition here. And first,
I am almost wholly deprived of access to the outward means of
grace. There is no church of our persuasion short of a distance
of four miles from my residence, and even it is on the other shore
of the river, in a delightful village called the point. The expense
of ferriage thither and back is incurred each time I attend it, and
there is about a mile of the way called the narrows, which ia

ALICE SHERWOOD. 11
Often nnsafe: it Hes between abrupt ledges of rock and the water's
edge, and the road is scarcely of sufficient width to admit the pas
sage of a vehicle. I seldom think of surmounting these difficulties
to attend worship there. As to the people here, they are nearly
all of one religion, and that a new kind to me. In moral and social
respects, however, they are all that I could wish them to be. I
have found very intimate companions in two young ladies — they
are both very thorough subjects of this new faith, and very zeal
ous in its propagation. I must do them the justice to say, that in
my opinion, no good cause could fail of gaining by their advocacy.
The one is about my own height and age, and is a very imperso
nation of mildness and sweetness of disposition. An angel sent
from heaven to soothe a wounded spirit, might borrow her voice
and accents with advantage. The other is somewhat her superior
in years, and likewise in those accomplishments which are the
result of cultivation. She seems also to surpass her companion in
religious zeal, from the fact that her natural temperament is more
ardent : her peculiar views in theology are with her a favorite topic
of conversation, and her language is often marked with much
felicity of expression.
" I supposed, till I had been several weeks with this people, that
they had discarded religion in every form ; for I had witnessed
amongst them no acts of devotion, nor did their external appear
ance or bearing indicate piety, according to my ideas of it.
" On one fine evening, after school, I was enjoying a ramble on
the mountain which forms the eastern boundary of this beautiful
vale — I had reached a point in the obscure path I was pursuing
where it emerges from a thicket of sumachs, when I was startled
at finding myself very close to an aged man, who was seated on
the ground, apparently so occupied with his own thoughts as to
be unconscious of my approach : I soon, however, regained self-
possession, when I had scanned his venerable appearance, and
catching his eye at length, had read its intellectual and benign ex
pression; besides, I had seen him before, and knew him to be a
highly respectable old gentleman, and looked up to by the settlers
as a kind of patriarchal head. He greeted me with much courtesy,
and motioned me to take a seat on a moss-covered fragment of
rock opposite to him, which, as I was short of breath from toiling
ip the rugged acclivity, I was sufficiently inclined to do.

(2 FRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
"'I have been indulging, for perhaps the last time on earth.' said
the old Squire, (for by such familiar cognomen is he known in these
Darts,) ' in an evening survey of the wonderfully varied works of
our Creator: the scriptures are certainly correct in affirming, 'he
hath made every thing beautiful in his time,' nor beautiful only
for they speak forth to the distrusting heart of man the most intel
ligible assurances of his Maker's infinite loving-kindness. With
all their grandeur and glory, they nevertheless but faintly shadow
forth his wisdom and benevolence. The poet's deduction is just :
' Thus wondrous fair, thyself how wondrous then 1
Unspeakable, who dwellest in highest heaven.
To us invisible, or dimly seen
In these thy lower works.'
" ' When I was a child,' says Paul, ' I thought as a child.' 1
emember that when a lad I used to think the whole world was
jomprised between these parallel ridges. How great was my
surprise when I first ascended to where we now are sitting, and
beheld -ange behind range in apparently interminable continuity.
[ used to set bounds to the goodness of God from the same prin
ciple. My religious education hadprescribed for me but a narrow
range of intellectual vision. I supposed that the sun of his mercy
arose and set within that contracted horizon — but, ' when I be
came a man I put away childish things,' and for many years have
calmly rested in the persuasion, that the divine benevolence is as
immeasurable as space, and as all-embracing ; which blessed trust
has been the light of my spirit in my darker hours, and continues
to be so still as the day-siar of my life is setting.'
" I expressed my surprise at his utterance of these pic i senti
ments, ' in as much,' said I, ' as I have concluded with confidence
that there is no religion amongst you — you certainly never pray,
and  ' 'Pardon me,' interrupted he, ' how came you by the
certain knowledge that we never pray?' 'I infer it,' was my
answer, 'from the fact that I never either saw or heard you so
engaged.' 'Not the most logical inference in the world, my fair
friend,' he rejoined, 'since many things are constantly transpiring
around you which you neither see nor hear. Moreover, the reli
gion of Christ courts not the eye nor the ear of man — it is modest,
and is content with being visible in its effects. To see or hear us
pray, therefore, would be to detect us in » flarrrant violation of the

ALICE SHERWOOD. 13
gospel command : ' When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and
when thou hast shut the door, then pray to thy Father which is in
secret,' etc. Have you, young lady, been so accustomed to an
infraction of this express precept, that its very observance on oui
part is deemed evidence that we are irreligious V
" My dear parents, what could I reply to this % I felt it, indeed,
to be a thrust that there was no possibility of parrying. So,
abandoning this ground, I attempted to sustain my impeachment
upon another. ' How is it, sir,' I inquired, ' that I observe
among you none of those anxieties that are usual to pious persons 1
Your people exhibit no solemn feelings with regard to death and
eternity — they have no concern about the preparation requisite to
stand in the awful presence of their Maker. Does not this evince
their destitution of piety V
" I wish you could have witnessed the surprise which these
inquiries elicited. He surveyed me in silence for a time, but with
a most placid expression of countenance. ' Can it then be possi
ble !' he at length exclaimed, ' that a freedom from distrusts in
the goodness of heaven exposes to the charge of being without
religion 1 — for rest assured, young lady, that the anxieties and
awful feelings, of which you speak, can be no otherwise rationally
interpreted, than as evincing a want of confidence in God. Let
me put the case to your own private experience. You are at
present far from the home of your parents — suppose that the time
for your return were at hand, would your mind be affected with
anxieties, lest, for want of certain preparations, they might spurn
you from their presence 1 or would you indulge in anticipations
of delight, that the moment was near that would find you enfolded
in their arms, and your heart cheered with their benedictions V 'I
should, certainly,' said I, ' be affected in the latter way, but  '
' Pardon me once more,' he replied, ' that but comprises the
whole difficulty. Your trust in your Father in heaven is not
equal to that in your parents on earth. That is the sum of
the matter — your religious education is to blame for this ; you
have been accustomed to a class of religionists whose confidence
in heaven's love is as weak as your own. You now, however,
have found a different people ; we trust that the Being who made
u», is able, and as willing as able, to take care of us ; he clothes
the lilv — he feeds the sparrow — and why should we not be equally
B

14 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the subjects of his providence 1 But see, my young friend, it is
lime we were on our way down the mountain, for one half of the
sun's disk is already below the western horizon.'
"The anove conversation, my dear parents, is but an outline ol
that which took place betwixt the old Squire and myself; he is
very prolix in discourse, but his ideas are strikingly just, and his
arguments forcible. Whether it be from the influence of religion,
or philosophy, or both combined, I know not, but so it is that he
maintains with admirable composure his position on that awful
line, where the -territory of time unites with that of eternity.
" I will close this letter with some remarks as to our co-reli
gionists in this region. Either they are much below the same class
in Connecticut, in sincerity, moderation, and courtesy, or the veil
uf partiality, through which I may have been accustomed to see
them, has been removed ; for detain it is, that in respect to these
indispensable christian graces, they compare very disadvanlage-
ously with the people of this valley, which is a pity, too, for the
latter are despised by them, and denounced as heretics. But why
heresy should be invested with such fascinations of candor, chris
tian charity, and purity of life, while what is termed truth, is often
found associated with moroseness and intolerance, is, dear parents,
a sad puzzle to Your affectionate daughter, Alice."
I must, inform you, reader, that the latter member of the above
alternative expresses the truth. Alice's co-religionists on the
point are, I suspect, as good as the same class in Connecticut, or
any w *iere else ; but the mind of our heroine had undergone a
gradual change — her partialities were in some degree removed, and
her perceptions were in consequence less clouded. She now saw
many things in the conduct of those denominated saints, which
shocked her ideas of propriety, and led her to inquire within her
self, " Is it possible that Connecticut christians would act thus '.'"
Simple hearted girl ! she will find before she dies that evil princi
ples of religion, in all climes alike, exert an evil moral influence

CHAPTER IV.
Well, a month has elapsed since the epistle was written which
occupies so much of the foregoing chapter : as the humble

ALICE SHERWOOD. 10
chronicler of events in which our heroine is concerned, I must
record what has transpired within the time; especially as the
material required for the completion of our history is to be drawn
principally from the incidents of that month.
Be it known, then, that in the early part of it, the good folk on
the point held a religious meeting of twelve days' continuance :
Alice attended it throughout, suspending her school for the pur
pose, a usual thing on such occasions — not with regard to schools
merely, but also to most of the ordinary operations of life — and
whilst the class of religionists who have recourse to this measure
(evidently for sectarian ends,) affect to be horror-stricken at the
idea of being employed in secular pursuits on the sabbath, they at
the same time regard the command, " six days shalt thou labor,"
with about as much respect as though it had emanated from the
Spartan law-giver. So much for puritanic consistency.
Alice had fresh occasions, during this meeting, for observing
how much a comparison between the people of her own church,
and those of Universalia, resulted in favor of the latter. Old Mrs.
Matthews, a resident on the point, with whom she tarried during
the twelve days, was of the latter class ; she rendered our heroine
every friendly attention, and afforded her every facility in her
power for attending upon all the services. She even accompanied
her, when she could do so consistently with her domestic duties,
although, in carrying her civility so far, she subjected herself to
the necessity of frequently hearing the doctrines she cherished,
together with the believers in them, made the subjects of violent
invective and misrepresentation. "Never mind it, my dear Mrs.
Matthews," Alice would say on the way from church, " I cannot
"**) ink our preachers in Connecticut jrould thus decry their chris-
- "an neighbors without the slightest reason or provocation." "Nor
would they here," the old lady would calmly reply, "if they
dpemed that their own faith, or morals, would endure a candid
comparison with those of the people they denounce."
Mrs. Matthews had a hired girl, who was a member of the
rdiurch on the point, and quite a zealot too in that way : had she
possessed as much brain as piety it would have been well enough
with her; but, as it was, her zeal was'Vonstantly running away
with the little sense she had ; although a very poor girl, and her
mother a widow in extremely indigent circumstances, she could

16 pro and con of universalism.
not forego, on the present occasion, the attending upon every ser
vice of the meeting ; she entered into a compact with the old lady,
by which her wages were to be suspended for the twelve days
during which she was to have the privilege of attending at three
preachings and two prayer meetings each day, and to receive hei
board for such little service about house as she could render in the
intervals. " If you were in unison with me in religious opinions,
Bridget," said old Mrs. Matthews, very mildly, " I should feel it
my duty to control you in this mattei, for your own and pool
mother's interests ; as it is, however, it would not fail, were I to
interfere, to be ascribed to unworthy motives."
That the heart of Bridget Bounce (for so was she named) was
profited by these religious exercises, is possible; whether her
understanding was improved, or her scanty stock of information
enlarged, is a matter of much doubt. At the conclusion of the last
day's services, Bridget returned home excessively elated in mind.
" Oh, Mrs. Matthews !" she exclaimed, " I do wish you had heard
Mr. F  , to-day ! If he ain't a dear man there never was one !"
" Why, what did he preach about?" inquired the old lady. " Oh,
I don't know exactly," answered Bridget, " but it was something
about getting religion, I believe." " Can you tell me where he
found his text?" inquired the old lady again. " La, suz 1" ex
claimed the somewhat puzzled Miss Bounce, " I don't mind now
whether it was in the fore eend of the bible, or the hind eend, but
1 expect it was somewhere in the book of Paul." " You have
the advantage of better eyes than mine, Bridget," Mrs. Matthews
drily retorted, " if you can find the book of Paul in the bible, either
in the beginning, ending, or middle.
We must not be in haste to censure or to laugh at poor Bridget
Bounce ; in returning from the preaching without any ideas at all
she did quite as well as many others of the congregation, whose
pretensions were much higher, and better than though she had care
fully hoarded, without understanding, all the humdrum spirituali
ties that were sawed out on the occasion ; for the sermons usually
delivered at such times, be it known, are among the silliest of all
the silly offspring of the human brain, (provided, always, that
brain be necessary to their production,) and are as innocent of any
tMn;r rpspmbling sense, as the preaching of the Savior was wont
10 be of ary thing resembling them. I will sustain the truth of

ALICE SHERWOOD. 17
these remarks, by presenting outlines of some that were deemed
lhe best which were delivered during this meeting.
Mr. M  took for his text, " Take ye away the stone." It is
found in the account of the raising of Lazarus. The preachei
alluded but Httle to the history ; but proceeded to assume as the
spiritual teaching of the text, (1) That the unconverted are mo
rally dead and buried, and as incapable of any thing good as is a
literally deceased person of exerting hisphysical powers. (2) That
there are certain obstacles in God's way, which prevent his calling
these dead sinners to life : these are the stone upon the mouth of
the sepulchre, which christians are called upon to remove. (3) It
was sagaciously hinted, that if the friends of Lazarus had refused
to take away the stone, in the case under notice, that Christ could
not have called him to life; and, from analogy, it was supposed,
that if when God proposes to work by his spirit for the renovation
of dead sinners, the saints refuse to co-operate, and prepare his
way, the work of Jehovah cannot go on. Such was the sum of Mr.
M  's discourse, and the burthen of the several prayers put up
at the close, was, " Oh Lord ! poor sinners are dead and in their
graves around us — thou awaitest to awake them to spiritual life —
but requirest in this solemn business the co-operation of thy peo
ple. Oh, help us then to take away the stone, that they may not
remain dead to all eternity through our neglect."
Mr. B  preached from the words, " Their feet shall slide in
due time,'" from which he assumed, (1) That God has a set time
from eternity for all the work he performs, (inclusive of the saving
or damning of sinners,) and, therefore, (2) It must not be pre
sumed from the fact that sinners, long in rebellion, are yet out of
hell, that God's mercy will always endure toward them, for " their
feet shall slide in due time." (3) " It might be," the preacher
remarked, " that God had appointed the close of that very meeting
as the time when the feet of many of the congregation, still re
maining hardened, should slide into unending burnings. They were
therefore solemnly admonished to submit without delay, and
avert this dreadful doom." Avert a doom appointed from eternity !
Mr. A  chose the following words : " For ye know that af
terward, when he would have received the blessing, he ivas rejected,
and found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears.'''' There is allusion here to the history of Jacob and
b2

18 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
tisau. The latter, when it was too late, indulged in unavailing
regrets at having sold his birth-right, and implored his father, in
the most moving manner, to bless him in such terms of benediction
as he could, consistently with what he had already invoked upon
the head of his brother Jacob ; the poor old father was much
moved for his unfortunate son, and most fervently complied with
his desire. The preacher, however, disregarded all the analogies
in the case, and assumed from his text, (1) That each sinner has
a certain term of time allotted him, within which he may secure
the salvation of his soul. (2) If he fail to improve this space, no
future opportunities for this great business will be afforded him ;
"the divine wrath will kindle, and blaze against him to all eter
nity — he will cry out from the depths of his wretchedness in hell,
in order to move God to compassion, but all in vain — he will find
no place for repentance in the divine mind — (there was in Isaac's,
however !) — no pity — no relentance there : the forked lightnings
of Almighty anger shall scath and blast the sinner with every
stroke." Had it been the preacher's object to depict his Maker's
character in the most repulsive colors, he could not have suc
ceeded in that business better than he did. The mind instinct
ively Tecoiled with loathing from the contemplation of a being,
clothed with almighty power, and exerting it for the infliction of
the most horrid torments upon impotent worms.
Mr. S  , who preached the next sermon in course, evidently
thought that the chords of horror had been so often and so vio
lently struck during the meeting, that they had nearly lost their
power to vibrate ; he therefore touched an opposite note. He read
for his text, " Is there no balm in Gilead ?" His prayer also, and
the hymns he selected, were in the same strain. He began with
" Sinners, will you scorn the message,
Sent in mercy from above ?
Every sentence, oh, how tender !
Every line is full of love.
Listen to it —
Every line is full of love."
" Is it so ?" mentally inquired our heroine, whose orthodoxy
by this time, (truth must be told,) had begun to stagger under the
load of nauseous and contradictory stuff to which, for several days
in succession, she had been listening. " Is it then the fact, that

ALICE SHERWOOD. 19
tvery line in the message from heaven to man, is full of love ?
Then, indeed, have I not heard one fine of this message since this
meeting began, until this moment ! for all here has been wrath —
vengeance — damnation — horror — malediction ! What am I to think
of all this?"
Last of all, arose Mr. F.  , the great, the notorious Mr. F  ,
who was kept to the last as a sort of force in reserve, that when
the congregation had become fatigued in body and mind — their
spirits jaded — their nervous systems morbidly excitable — he might
then strike a decisive blow, and secure an easy victory. Mr.
F  rolled his large eyes over the audience for some time in
silence, affecting to peruse every countenance, in order, it would
seem, that he might estimate the degree of resistance that still
remained to be overcome. At length, assuming a stern aspect,
arid modulating his voice to a tone of hoarse and triumphant bit
terness, he announced his text from Proverbs — " The scorner shall
scorn alone." My pen, thou art a feeble thing ; I will not trust
thee in the attempt to describe the harangue that followed — the
task surpasses thy powers. I can only say, that from beginning
to ending, it was as disgusting and horrid a melange as the alpha
bet of the English, or any other tongue, was ever combined to
form. His soul revelled in the infernal pictures which his fancy
drew : he completely personated the deity of his own descrip
tions ; his countenance, voice, attitudes, all evinced, that, for the
time, he imagined himself the almighty avenger of human crime :
and with what eagerness did his ears drink in the groans and
shrieks of suffering spirits, from his ideal abyss of wrath ! " Ye
shall scorn alone!" he tauntingly responded again and again, as he
imitated these cries with his own hoarse tones, and fancied them
realities. " Water ! water ! for my burning tongue ! !" " Ah ' ye
wretched sinners ! where now are your insulting scoffs at God's
people? You are each too much occupied with your individual
agonies, I trow, to unite longer in this business ; and now to all
eternity you must ' scorn alone!'' "
Such was the closing exercise of this twelve-days' meeting —
such the sermon that had wrought so powerfully upon poor Brid
get Bounce, which was "something about getting religion," she
believed, and the text for which was found, she expected, " some
where in the book of Paul !"

20 pro axd con of universalism.

CHAPTER V.

How much of happiness, hope, intellect, has been wrecked
Deyond repair, and how much of family and social discord has
been engendered, by extravagant and fanatical proceedings, bear-
i ig the name of religious worship, the omniscient God alone is
capable of determining : a few local details only fall within the
range of mortal ken. I have not taken it upon me to ascertain the
result of the operations on the point — I know, however, that a lad
)f very bright promise, in his 16th year, a clerk and chief agent
in the employ of an eminent member of the bench in that county,
was converted by their means into a maniac for life. I also know
that the meeting utterly failed of effecting the object for which it
was gotten up ; that on the contrary, it even had a reaction against
it, as might have been foreseen by the agents in the business,
had not the adage, " whom the gods purpose to destroy, they first
make mad," had some kind of verification in their case.
The public there had been advertised that a traveling advocate
of the universal love of heaven would preach in their academy on
the evening of the day which was to close the long meeting. The
famous Mr. F  adverted to this fact in his sermon in the morn
ing, witn ineffable contempt ; he cautioned his people at the peril
of their souls against hearing the stranger, and ended his notice
of him by very charitably assigning him a final doom amongst
those who " shall scorn alone." This very allusion to the stranger,
induced one of his hearers, a transient sojourner on the point, to
resolve, for the first time in his life, on hearing this new doctrine
/or himself ; not, however, with the remotest intention of believing
a word of it — but in this he was greatly and agreeably disap
pointed, for at the close of the sermon, which was nowise remarka
ble for talent, either in the composition or delivery, but was
somewhat so for an unaffected simplicity of arrangement and
diction, he arose before all present and avowed himself a convert
to its doctrine, declaring that he had never before heard preaching
which so came home to his understanding, and carried conviction
to his judgment, as did that.
Poor Waters ! he soon experienced that ho had pushed out his

ALICE SHERWOOD. 21
skiff on a troubled sea. Supposing that all might be convinced
by the evidence which had satisfied his own mind, he began zeal
ously to advocate his new faith. Ha, ha! he found very few
disposed to even hear him ! not even to hear him quote from the
bible ! and of those too whom he had often heard confess them
selves as " poor, erring mortals," and with much affected humilia
tion, pray that God would "lead the blind by a way that they knew
not," and " set their feet in the paths of truth." His own brother,
a deacon of the church, to visit whom he had traveled some hun
dreds of miles, actually denied him the hospitalities of his house,
for the sin of having therein given utterance to his newly acquired
views, and he was therefore fain to take up his lodgings at one of
the public inns of the place ! Even such is but too frequently the
triumph, which the dark spirit of human creeds achieves in the
nearts of men, over the heaven-born spirit of charity.
We mortals, and those of us too who term ourselves christians,
are very modest and unpretending beings, very ,¦ we bow our
selves humbly down before the throne of heaven, owning that
we are blind and impotent, and most devoutly imploring superior
guidance; when, should the Being we supplicate vouchsafe an
answer to our petitions, we would spurn his instructions with
scorn if they accorded not with our preconceived opinions.
A few days after our heroine had resumed her school in Univer
salia, a note was brought her, by a little girl, a daughter of one of
the few families in the place who held a different religious faith
from that which generally prevailed there. The note set forth,
that, as the universalists were to hold an association in the church,
on the Wednesday and Thursday evening, and as it was under
stood that Miss Alice purposed attending the religious services
on the occasion, this was to apprise her that the writer, as one of
her employers, would not consent that the school should be sus
pended for those two days. * * " For the yuniversalers," (so
ran the scrawl,) " havn't no religion in no shape nor fashon no
how, and shudent ought to be kowntenansed by the peepal of
God, i was willin yu shud tend the meetin on the pint, all tho im
no more a kalwinite than nothin at all, but the kalwins beleev in
bein born agin, which i doo too, and i kan kownte Nanse them,
bekase they may be will see like us sum day. So no more at
present. dolly Trowler."

22 PBO AND CON OF "vtvfiRSALISM
" A pretty specimen, this,' thought Alice, "of the ignorance
and intolerance in religion, with which churches that take a high
stand for sanctity of character, quite sufficiently abound ! And I
more than suspect that the root of all this uncharitableness lies in
the doctrinal principles on which these churches are based." —
Alice was right — but coming from her, reared as she had been, in
fanaticism, it was a large and serious concession. Facts, how
ever, abundantly justified it. She could not but observe, that
under much exterior devoutness, and connected with much scru
pulosity in the observance of times-and ordinances, there was in
the people of her faith a too general absence of the more substan
tial and fundamental virtues of religion. She could no longer
think that these evil fruits of a bad faith were local, with regard to
the persons exhibiting them, for a very recent letter from Connecti
cut, written at the request of her parents by their minister, con
vinced her that there also a gloomy theology generated in its pos
sessors a spirit like itself. The letter referred to, appeared to have
been despatched in great haste, and expressed very great solicitude,
which had, it seems, been awakened on her behalf by the perusal
of the one she had written. " I was immediately aware," so it ran,
" though your parents were not, that your immortal soul was in
the utmost danger, from the fact that you had most unfortunately
fallen in with a community of universalists, a people more to be
avoided than deists or atheists, because they affect to found their
faith on the scriptures, and possess a fatal talent for giving a plau*
sible face to their impious and blasphemous tenets ; I, therefore,
in the name of your parents, and in consideration of your own
precious eternal interests, solemnly charge you to shun them, as
you would the pit of perdition ! You talk of their social and mora.
virtues ; by as much as they seem to possess these, are they the
more to be dreaded, for even the arch fiend can, when it suits his
purpose, ' transform himself into an angel of light.' You must
therefore not take them for what they seem to be, but for what in
fact they are, enemies to God, and to the souls of men. Their
doctrine is the siren's song: it lulls the soul, by its bewitching
melody, into a slumber from which many thousands of its votaries,
it is to be feared, have been awaked at last by the fires that never
shall be quenched. It may do to live by, but to persons of that
class, the language of the poet will apply with peculiar truth.

ALICE SHERWOOD. 23
' Fools men may live, but fools they seldom die.'
" It is rarely known that men die universalisls. I hope you will
pardon the freedom of this advice, and believe me to be your sincere
well wisher for time and eternity. Zaccheus Fearon."
To this letter several postscripts were appended by different
members of the family, with whom it had been left unsealed for
that purpose. I will here insert but one of these, from our hero
ine's youngest sister, an arch and playful girl ; it is as follows :
"P. S. Who the mischief are these universalists of whorr
parson Fearon speaks? do they look like folk, Alice? We havi
prayers put up in our church for all sorts of heathen ; Mahomet
ans, Hottentots, and the like ; but I never heard universalists
prayed for yet, therefore I think their^chance for heaven is very
slim, don't you, Alice? If you should ever leave our church, do
turn Pagan, for every spare rag and rye-straw about here is being
turned into money, to pay the way for their salvation. So no more
at present, from one who never saw your soul, but loves youi
body dreadful well. Charity Sherwood."
In all respects Alice admired the inhabitants of Universalia, with
the exception that they were less serious and devout in their gene
ral demeanor than comported with her ideas of piety ; she remarked
upon this defect to a very intimate companion of hers (the taller
of the two young ladies described in chapter 3.) and inquired how
she would account for it. " Simply, my dear Alice," was the
answer, " by considering the true nature and ends of the religion
of Christ. Does it not communicate glad tidings? and is it not
in the nature of things for these to infuse joy into the heart? and
when the spirit is joyful, will not the countenance be bathed in its
light ? Why, I have seen persons in the act of uniting themselves
to churches termed christian, and the forms of induction were of
so sombre a character, that by the time they were gone through
with, the subjects, in look and bearing, resembled culprits who
had been consigned over to the executioner. Surejy, they or I
greatly mistake the character of this religion : I identify it with
all that is beautiful and happifying in moials — all that is mag
nanimous in action. I connect with it no hollow and driveling
affectation of self-abasement, for the office of Christianity is to

2! PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM-
elevate man — not to trample down his spirit, his dignity, and his
hopes, and"  " You are preaching again, my dear J  ,"
interrupted Alice, "so I must call you down to the level of ordi
nary conversation. Of one thing I am satisfied in regard to youi
religion, Mr. Fearon's declaration lo the contrary notwithstanding
it tvill do to die by — for to that fact I have witnessed several
examples since I have sojourned with you here." " I will furnish
you with the account of another, and very striking one," said Miss
J  " It is contained in a letter from a young minister in oui
connection to my uncle."
She took the letter from her scrip, and read the account as
follows: "Iwas last week riding in fulfilment of a round of
appointments, when I met a young man and woman in a dearborn,
jvith a coffin between them, which, on our stopping to converse
tb.ay informed me contained the corpse of a sister of theirs, in hei
19th year, who had deceased at the house of another sister in Mt.
Pleasant, and they were taking the corpse to inter it in the family
burial place. 'Could you not officiate on the occasion?' they
inquired. I informed them it was not possible, and inquired
how it happened that /was applied to? when I had always un
derstood the young woman to be of a very different faith. 'So
she was till within a month or two of her death,' was the reply,
and it grieved her sister, in whose house she died, very much,
that she should adopt your faith at so critical a time.' But so il
was — one minister was sent for after another by her friends, to
effect a change in her views, but in vain. Reasoning and threat
ening were equally ineffectual. ' I have been living,' she would
say ' as you all know, in daily expectation of death for the
last five months — I have in that time reflected much on religion.
Without other aid than that of my bible, I have settled into
my present persuasion — and can you now think to frighten mo
out of opinions which have been adopted under such circum
stances? It cannot be; I am immoveably made up to die in
them!' I knew there was a little society of universalists in
the place where she died, composed of some most estimable
persons, and I inquired whether her sister was so hard-hearted
as not to send for one of them. They informed me, that, on
the contrary, the poor young woman was kept as ignorant as
possible of the very existence of such a socielv. Oh! what

ALICE SHERWOOD. 20
would 1 not have given to have been but one hour by her dying
pillow ! that I might have dilated upon that impartial and un
bounded love, to whose hands in that trying juncture she was
so calmly entrusting her all of hope and happiness for ever. But
she died alone, poor girl ! StiU it was a consolation to me to
know, that her faith proved equal to the severe trial to which it
was subjected." — " Let me interrupt your reading here," said
Alice ; " supposing they could have extorted from the fears of tho
dying girl a retraction of her principles, what object would they
have gained ? would such retraction, wrung from her weakness,
have atoned for errors deliberately adopted in the strength of her
faculties ?" " If, by any means," answered Miss F — ., " they
could have succeeded in wringing from her a denial of her faith,
they would thereby have accomplished an important party pur
pose ; the circumstance would have been loudly trumpeted forth
as an evidence that ' the XJniversalist belief will not do to die by.'
I have known the death-beds of the young and inexperienced to
be haunted for this special end ! Still, we may adopt a more
charitable view of their conduct: their efforts may have been
stimulated by the weak supposition that the Creator will damn
mortals for their errors of opinion ! a supposition which does great
injustice to his character, unquestionably. But we will proceed
with the letter" * * * " At a conference prayer-
meeting in the town, on the sabbath evening following this
"melancholy incident, a self-conceiled sprig of divinity arose, and
after the usual groans and distortions of countenance, delivered
himself to the following effect. ' My friends, the young woman
who was interred in our grave-yard a few days since, and who
died in rebellion against God, and rejection of his truth, was offer
ed a conveyance to a protracted meeting some lime before her
decease, but she refused to avail of it, and now — Oh ! — Oh ! —
Oh ! — she's gone where protracted-meeting opportunities will no
more be afforded her !'
"And who, think you, was this young saint? what were his
pretensions ? I will state a fact from which you may judge. Ho
had had the charge of the school in that district, but was de
prived of the same about a month before the delivery of the
above recorded speech, for having repeatedly taken indelicate
C

26 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
liberties with the youug females entrusted to his care ! This is
an unexaggerated truth." ##*#**
" I have known," said our heroine, "just such lumpish boobies
in Connecticut; and they could deliver themselves quite as edi-
fyingly in conference prayer-meetings. That is a species of
meeting to which I was accustomed at home from my infancy ;
and for as long back as I can remember, Deacon Snaffle invariably
took the lead in it. I doubt if he once failed in all that time, to
thank the Lord, that ' while others who are as good by nature as
we are, and much better by practice, are trying the a-w-e-ful re
alities of eternity, we continue to be the spa-red monuments of thy
dis-tin-guish-ing grace and mercy.' The good man's voice was
so cracked, that its sounds wonderfully resembled the monotonous
jingle of a cow-bell. I have often checked my sister Charity,
for nicknaming him ' Old Brindle,' which was the name of a fa
vourite bell-cow of ours. ' Old Brindle,' she would say, ' wants
to make out that hell contains better folk than we are ! I'm sure
then it can't want for good society. But what are we to think of
our Creator's justice, if he does indeed damn many, who are much
better than others whom he saves ?' "We could none of us answer
the questions of the playful girl ; so we all united in chiding her
for what we termed her wickedness in asking them." " There is
an admirable stoicism," said Miss J — . " in our manner of talk
ing about hell, and its inhabitants. Our bigotry damns men
very liberally, and saves them very sparingly. Woe to us all if
our Creator were as indifferent to our eternal interests as we seem
to be to those of one another ! My grandfather, the old squire,
wno, like most old people, is very garrulous, often entertains me
with the Scotchman's prayer :
' Lord bless me and my wife,
My son John and his wife ;
Us four,
No more, my Lord, I care fn- no more.' "

CHAPTER VI.

Were you ever present, reader, at an universalist association !
ft you were, you need not that I describe one to you ; if not, my
advice to you is that you witness one for yourself as soon as pos.

ALICE SHERWOOD. 27
sible ; you will thereby obtain a better idea of such a meeting than
any verbal description of mine can give yon : and, moreover, there
are shades of difference in the same thing at different times, and
in different places. You must therefore be content for the present
with a sketch of that which took place in Universalia, and was
the one referred to in the chaste and classical note of Dolly
Trowler. My soul ! it is a goodly sight to see some fifteen or twenty
hundred persons together, with eager attention, and joy-beaming
eyes, listening to the embassage of pardon and love from heaven !
No sighs of anguish are heard there, I trow ; no screams of ter
ror ; far other music greets the ear than that arising from crushed
hopes and broken hearts ; for there are unfolded the riches of di
vine grace, as revealed in the covenant of promise.
" And there, in strains as sweet as angels use,
The gospel whispers peace."
Among the hearers on that occasion, was one who had been
confined to her bed for many years from a paralytic stroke ; yet
even she had been brought a distance of forty miles to enjoy the
happy influences of this glad meeting. The wagon containing
the couch on which she lay was drawn close against the church
window, which was left open in order that the accents of mercy
from the preacher's lips might reach her ears. It is scarcely pos
sible, methinks, to be present on such an occasion without appre
ciating the apostolic exclamation, " How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings ; that
publisheth peace ; that saith to Zion, thy God liveth ; thatpreach-
eth good tidings of good !"
The intervals between the times of worship being too short to
admit of the congregation repairing to their respective homes for
refreshment, provisions, in basket loads, were taken to the place
occupied for the transaction of business, (which was the
school house afore-described,) and were spread out on a common
table, to which, without respect to rank, or condition, or opinions,
all that would come might come, and partake freely, "without
money and without price." Had you been there, reader, you
could not, for the life of you, have distinguished between the
clergy and the laics. All were on a parity; all distinctions of
cast were lost sight of ; all individualities were merged in tns

28 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM
mass: and as one fami'y all rejoiced together in a common and
glorious hope.
Oh, but I would like passing well to be able to give you the
outline of the sermons delivered at this meeting! but space will
not permit. The general themes were : — The immeasurable love
of God as manifested to man through Christ Jesus ; the per
fect wisdom and benevolence of all the divine dispensations,
throughout all space and all duration ; the happiness inevitably
attendant upon virtue, and misery upon vice ; man's obligations
to man, and to God ; and how the due discharge of these is pro
motive of public and private good ; the resurrection of all man
kind to an incorruptible, immortal, and glorious state ; the final
extinction of death, suffering, sin; and the reconciliation of all
intelligences to their all-perfect and benevolent Creator ; that he
may be all in all. These are but the general and more prominent
topics ; but within this grand outline many beautiful particulars
were comprised. I am tempted to give you a sketch of the closing
discourse, by Mr. S — ; from it you may, with some approach to
accuracy, infer the general character of the whole.
His text was from Matthew 6,34: " Take therefore no thought
for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things
of itself — Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." " It seems
the scope and purpose of the popular theology," said the preacher,
" to shed a frightful gloom upon man's vision of the future ; to
people that future with horrid phantoms, and thereby lo encum
ber him with perplexities and harassing forecasts of evil; as if
the brief path from the. cradle lo death were not already sufficient
ly thorny and tearful. The advice contained in the text, must
have been designed by the benevolent Savior, as a preventive of
this superstitious folly on the part of weak and blind humanity.
'¦ If man is indeed," continued Mr. S — . " ushered into the
ivorld an infant demon, full of malignant hatred toward his
Creator, (of whom he is utterly ignorant, as of all things else,)
and a subject of that Creator's wrath, and that wrath has kindled
for his spirit, in a world beyond the grave, a furnace of intense
and unquenchable fires ; and man has but the short and precari
ous term of his mortal life allowed him, within which to appease
that wrath and avoid those fires ; if all this be the case, then in
deed is his utmost solicitude about the future fully justified ; anrj

ALICE SHERWOOD. 29
with all his agonising sensibility on that head, he falls unspeaka*
bly short of being so to a sufficient degree. But then, what are
we to think of the Savior's precept ? Does he not positively in
terdict this solicitude, on the ground, that each day has its own
sufficient evil ?
" Oh !" exclaimed Mr. S — . " perish for ever that dark and
blighting theology, whose business it seems to spread additional
thorns in the pathway of life, and engender distrusts of that al
mighty love, by which in all our sufferings and dangers we are
constantly over-watched !" And he proceeded to point out the
giounds for a confidence in heaven ; for a cheerful acquiescence
in all ihe divine allotments during the present, and a suppression
of all anxieties about the future, save such as are indispensable
to a proper regard for our well-being, and for that of the creatures
dependant on our care and providence. " Man's interests beyond
the grave," said he, " are in infinitely better hands than his own ;
in his whose love for him exceeds that of a mother's for her
offspring by as much as an atom is exceeded by infinity ; in those
hands they are safe ; and it was a consideration of this fact
without doubt that dictated the text before us, interdicting all
distressing solicitude about the future.
" This life," said the preacher, " hath its own sufficient and
substantial miseries, and it is quite unnecessary to pry into an
unseen world — a terra incognita, and to tantalise ourselves with
those unreal, those shadowy horrors, by which a false religion
;ver seeks to bolster up its pretensions.
"Nevertheless," continued the preacher, "though I admit
hat this world is sufficiently sorrowful, and, to a certain extent,
rroperly termed a ' vale of tears,' yet do I not fully sympathise in
,hose sickly repinings at its miseries and vanities, which are too
:ommonly drawled out from the pulpit, for the world is the work
manship of God; and it is correspondently beautiful — beautiful
surpassing description. Its mountains and valleys, hills and
plains, rivulets, rivers, lakes, oceans ; its infinitely diversified
forms and colours ; — for it embraces all the hues of the rainbow
variously blended and combined : all are beautiful. Then the sue
pours down upon it a flood of glory by day, and the moon mantles
it with a silver radiancy by night; and oh! is not the canopy
beautiful when it is scintillating with its millions of stars ! And
c2

30 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
there is much of moral beauty too in this much-abused world of
ours, maugre all that the bigot, and the cynical philosopher may
say to the contrary. See, for instance, maternal love, ' strong
as death,' bending over the cradle of infancy, and the couch of
affliction; see hearts united by mutual affection reciprocally sus
taining each other through long, long years of trial and suffering :
see  in short, amidst the darker aspects of human life, on which
gloomy theologians are wont to dwell, there are transpiring
a thousand scenes to engage the approving notice of all-seeing
Heaven. Yes, this is a beautiful world.
" Yet ought we to remember," said Mr. S — ., " that it is not
our abiding home, nor does it afford to man's unbounded spirit
sufficient scope for the expansion of its powers : we may there
fore look forward to a world beyond the precincts of time and
death; not with gloomy forecasts of evil, but in the cheering
hope of ere long dwelling in its realms of sinless purity, and of
basking forever in its cloudless light. It is with this kind pur
pose that the hand of religion draws aside the screen which con
ceals future things ; that from the prospects of a better world we
may gather encouragements to sustain us under the trials and sor
rows of this : she whispers to man's doubting heart the cordial
assurance, that the wings of divine protection are ever over himj
amidst the vicissitudes of life she points his hopes to a more en
during and changeless existence ; and she dries up his tears, by
referring him to a time when all tears shall be wiped, and cease
to flow for ever and forevermore."
The preacher closed his discourse with some excellent obser
vations, tending to reconcile man to his condition on earth while
he stays here, and to leave it with cheerfulness when called hence
to a better inheritance ; to beget in his bosom sentiments of kind
ness and good-will toward his fellow man ; to incite him to a
willing discharge of all his obligations, and to swell his heart
with love and gratitude to God, for the revelations of his love
through Jesus Christ. In reference to the forbearance necessary
to be exercised toward those who differ from us in religious faith,
he used, I thought, a very pretty comparison.
" You and I, my brother," said he, " take our stand on a high
eminence, whence we can command a wide prospect of hills, and
plains, and forests, and streams, stretching away in the distance

ALICE SHERWOOD. 31
as far as the eye can reach ; the sun is setting, and to me it seems
to be dipping down into the very bosom of a lake in the distance.
' In the lake ! !' you exclaim, with great surprise ; ' why I can
see hills far, far beyond ; and the sun seems to be immediately
over them !' Now the difference here, my hrother, must be owing
to the superior strength of your visual organs over mine, enabling
you to see much farther than I; and I should be almost beside
myself to quarrel with you for such a cause. Well, then, you
ought to bear with another, if to his mental vision, the divine
and infinite love — the sun of the moral universe — seems to shed
its beams upon all intelligences, insomuch that not one can ever
get beyond its vital and cheering influences ; whilst to your more
restricted perception there seem to be millions whom the light of
that sun will never touch, and millions upon millions in regard to
whom, after life's brief day, it will set to rise no more, leaving
them in rayless darkness and despair for ever and ever."
I can assure you, reader, that whoever was an uninterested
auditor during the services of jthis association, our heroine was
not; her ear seemed eagerly to drink in every word ; she had
never in all her life witnessed religion under aspects so attractive ;
it seemed to her that the prevalent and ardent anticipations of
heavenly bliss had brought down its realities to earth. " The
poet may here be quoted with truth and emphasis," thought she,
" Every sentence, oh how tender !
Every line is full of love."
As the meeting was about to close, the preachers, who were now
together in the desk, or within the area around it, united their
voices with the choir in the opposite gallery, in sl..0'ing that
beautiful hymn, " Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings,
Thy better portion take ;"
and every heart seemed to heave with a pang of regret, when the
parting benediction was invoked.
" Well Alice," archly remarked Miss J — ., as they walked
arm in arm to her father's house, "you see that we publicans and
sinners engage, occasionally, in the worship of God after our
heathenish fashion ; we omit, it is true, what many seem to con
sider as the chief essential in the business, viz : the imagery of
a dark infernum, with its myriads of lost spirits, groaning to the

32 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
gory of God from beds of burning coals. But, on the whole,
and bating this beautiful item, tell me, Alice, how did you like
the meeting?"
Alice made no response save by pressing the arm of her com
panion with her own, with an emphasis which indicated that she
was in no mood for discourse, but rather for silent communion
with her own thoughts; and they, accordingly, prosecuted the
residue of the short walk to Miss J — 's paternal residence in
silence. I may here inform the reader that Miss J — lives in the first
house above the humble edifice in which Alice holds her school •
it is in nearly the most pleasant part of the valley ; to the west
ward may be seen, at some distance across the beautiful plain,
some glimpses of the Susquehanna, meandering like a broad
riband of silver through the lovely landscape, and laughing in
the sunbeams, as if conscious it were imparting to that land
scape its principal charm. On the east, the part of the hill
just opposite, is somewhat depressed, and marked with one or
two slight openings or defiles, formed probably by the occasional
rivulets which congregate after heavy rains ; it is also somewhat
rounded from the same cause, and presents several convex
slopes, with narrow passages between, which are smooth, or ap
pear so in the distance, and covered with grass; these give to
this point of the valley a very picturesque effect. It was by
one of these passages that Alice gained the position on the hill
side, where she found the " Old Squire," (as described in chaptei
3) and she was now irresistibly led to seek the same spot, that
she might be peifectly alone, and once more feast her eyes with
the prospect to be obtained from that eminence. I have said once
more, for her parents had by letter expressly enjoined her instant
return to Connecticut.

CHAPTER VII.
" Oh ! for an angel's harp ! and an angel's skill to touch its
chords and awaken ils harmonies! for human language falls
immeasurably short of ihemes so grand and extatic. Henceforth
and forever I abjure all impious distrusts of my almighty Father's

ALICE SHERWOOD. SS
love ! I shall as soon believe that infinite duration can be exhaust
ed by its successive flow of moments or of ages, as that the in
finite ocean of divine love can be drained by its ceaselebo e.tpa-
tiation upon the innumerable myriads of creatures to which it has
given existence. Henceforth as I walk abroad, I shall perceive
in everything and everywhere its all-pervading presence, its all-
beautifying and vitalizing influences. 'Twill sparkle in every
star of night ; 'twill scintillate in every solar ray ; in all the
voices of nature I shall hear its music ; it will touch with balm
the wounds of my heart in sorrow and bereavement; it will shed
'ts mild light on the darkness of adversity : and in the strife of
the passions, and amid the storms and alarms of life, borrowing
the voice of its once embodied and crucified representative on
earth; it will say "peace," and an immediate "calm" shall
succeed. I am — I am constrained to be— a universalist, and, what
ever obloquy may attach to that name, such for the future will I
avow myself, for life and death, time, and eternity, all things,
present in the Hght of this faith a new and beauteous aspect."
Call this rhapsody, reader, if it so please you, it is the lan
guage in which the full soul of our heroine vented itself, when
she had been for some minutes seated in the shade of the clump
of sumachs afore-noticed, where she had had her interview with
the " Old Squire." The afternoon was most lovely — the atmos
phere pure and serene — and the wide-spread panorama before
her seemed even more beauteous than before. The main road
through the bottom, and the several paths diverging from it in
various directions, seemed teeming with life — persons on foot, on
horseback, in carriages, were repairing from the meeting to
their several homes ; here and there stood groups of friends re
ciprocating adieus, and invitations for future visits : it was in a
double sense a moving scene. " Oh!" continued Alice, as she
gazed upon it, "most truly said Mr. S — , 'this is a beautiful
world;' it is indeed so; and more especially now to me, since
my perceptions, I trust, are much improved; for yonder Nar
rows, as they are termed, both in name and nature might well
represent my former state of mind ; but I now see the heavens,
the earth, all things, to be mantled with the smiles of almighty
love, and every living creature to be a subject of his benign re
gards. Yes, I am quite brought into a new faith, new hope, new

34 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
feelings ; and I shrink not from henceforth oearing the despised
name corresponding to these new views."
*** # * *#*
I need only add, that the above resolution has been faithfully
adhered to : Alice has been for some time at her native home, in
Connecticut, where, although opposed on every hand, and by
those too whom she respects and loves, she unshrinkingly avows
herself a believer in the plainly scriptural doctrine, that ' The Lord
is good unto all, and his tender mercy is over all his works ;' and
this glorious faith is a principal theme in the epistolary corres
pondence which she maintains with Miss J — , her intimate and
amiable companion while a sojourner in the Pennsylvania Valley.
We will close our story with an extract from a Tecent letter of
hers to this young lady, from which the reader will perceive, that,
at whatever sacrifice to her private interests, Alice is bent on
maintaining her despised faith in the midst of its most violent,
but perhaps, conscientious opponents.
* * * * " I did not inform you that in returning
to my native home, I chose the longer route up the Susquehanna
to the very pleasant village of Unadilla, on the western margin,
and just above the mouth of a lovely river of the same name:
Ihence across to the Katskil turnpike, from which I diverged to
Delhi, a beautiful town on the Delaware, and but little more than
a score of miles from its sources : thence over the most barren
and dreary mountain ranges conceivable to Kingston or Sopus ;
and to Roundout, on the North river, where the Delaware and
Hudson canal terminates : thence across to Hyde Park, distin
guished for its elegant country seats ; and so on to Poughkeepsie,
Dover Plains, &c. I might have gone by the shorter way of the
Great Bend, Coshecton, and Newburgh, but I had no particular
motives, for haste, and merely consulted pleasantness.
" In the sitting-room at Roundout, an animated conversation
ensued on the subject of religion. A young universalist minister
being there on a professional visit, his doctrine became the topic
of discussion. Of course I was an interested auditor. My atten
tion had been attracted toward an intelligent German in the com
pany, by the peculiar benevolence of his sentiments. Governor
Shullz, of Pennsylvania, had pardoned a criminal under sentence
of death, as his last official act. All the company (being believers

ALICE SHERWOOD. 33
in endless woe) reprobated the ex-Governor on this ground, with
the exception of the German, who bestowed unqualified praise
upon his clemency ; remarking, that ' if forgiveness be a crime,
then God has committed more of it than any other being.' Indeed
all he said was so much in the spirit of him who told the sinful
woman, ' neither do I condemn thee — go and sin no more,' that I
concluded within myself, ' Surely this person does not believe in
a Deity who will damn his creatures to an eternity of misery for
their sins of a few years ; or if he does, his dispositions are not
conformed to those of that Deity.'
"I was correct in regard to my German fellow-traveller; he
had, to be sure, never before heard of the Universalis! sect, but
when informed of what the term implied his eyes sparkled with
delight, and especially on being told that this denomination is nu
merous and rapidly increasing : he assured us that all benevolent
literary men, whether catholic or protestant, were secretly of this
persuasion ; and although the most of them did not choose to incur
ecclesiastical censure by openly avowing it, yet that it is suffi
ciently intelligible in their writings, and he entertained us with
very numerous quotations which fully sustained the remark.
" If the fact is as stated, I conceive it to form a strong consider
ation in favor of the truth of our sentiments; but then I reflected
that Cowper, that most benevolent of all poets, was a rigid Cal
vinist, and, therefore, an undoubted exception to the truth of the
observation ; and yet, upon further thought, I find that it does hold
good even in regard to him, for there are passages in his Task
which show that from his better nature a benign light occasional
ly flashed upon the darkness of his educational creed ; or, in other
words, that his kind heart often dragged per force his head (viti
ated by false religious culture) into a purer and manlier train of
thinking than that which his gloomy creed inspired. Take the
following sample.
' Thus heavenward all (hings tend, for all was once
Perfect, and all at length must be restored.
So God hath wisely purposed, who would else
In his dishonor'd works, himself endure
Dishonor, and be wrong'd without redress."
"The mind that dictated these lines could not possibly, at the
time, have believed that Jehovah will be eternally dishonored by

36 PRO AND CON OF FVIVERSALISJT.
the total and irreparable ruin of the fairest portion of his work
manship. " I find, indeed, my dear J — , that all that is beautiful in senti
ment is in reality connected with this doctrine ; and that the most
sublime and admired minds have indeed in every nation and age,
so far as my reading extends, been more or less illumined by it.
Who that has read with attention the works of Pope, Addison,
Goldsmith, Akenside, Thompson, Gray, Fenelon, Schiller, Goethe,
and others, can seriously doubt the fact? Would that the minds
of my aged parents could be open to perceive its truth ! How
serene would the evening of their existence be, if the divine light
of this faith were blended with the beams of their setting sun !
" I am more than ever convinced, my friend, that the doctrine
of unending misery, in the proportion in which it is sincerely be
lieved, blunts the natural sensibilities. How else could its advo
cates remain so manifestly indifferent with the dreadful prospect
before them, that countless multitudes of human beings are con
stantly drifting on the tide of time to never-ceasing burnings ?
My parents, for instance, (and they are to the full as kind as
parents commonly are,) seem to have quite given me over to
eternal reprobation : yet they appear but little affected by this
circumstance ! I ventured to ask them as we sat around the fire z
few evenings since, whether, if I were bound to a stake to be
burned alive in their presence, they would not be unspeakably
afflicted by the event. ' We would, undoubtedly,' replied my
father, ' but spiritual things are not to be compared with natural
our carnal attachments will have ceased when we reach the eter
nal world ; and we shall not retain a single feeling in oppositior
to the will of God ; whether that will be to damn or to save.' ]
was strongly tempted to respond, that except the divine Being
shall undergo as great a change as we, his will must be, as it
now is, to ' have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of
the truth.' But I knew that to reason with him on this subject-
would rather tend to irritate than to convince him : and I therefore
preferred to be silent, as it better comported with the respect due
to the parent from the child.
" My new faith subjects me to numerous petty annoyances. If
I attend upon preaching in any of the churches, I am sure to find
a part of the sermon pointed against myself ; and the heads o*

ALICE SHERWOOD. 37
my acquaintances will be turned around in order to see how I an:
affected by it. I cannot be present even at a prayer meeting but
the several supplicants will for prayer substitute declamation and
argument against my doctrine, as though Jehovah himself needed
to be convinced of its falsity ! Some attempt to gain me over'to
their views by flattery ; they wonder at a person of my sense and
accomplishments being a universalist. Others address themselves
to my interests ; they pretend that a conformity to their opinions
is indispensable, in order to one's admittance into the higher cir
cle' of society ; and yet these same persons term themselves ' the
despised and persecuted followers of Jesus' !
" Parson Fearon seriously advised me the other day, in pre
sence of my mother and sister Charity, as I respected myself,
my parents, and connexions, and as I prized my soul, and chris
tian fellowship on earth, &c. to disavow my false and dangerous
upinions. ' Would you have me be a hypocrite, Mr. Fearon,'
said I, ' for such I should certainly be, if, for any motive, I should
disavow opinions which I seriously and heartily believe : my
opinions may give way before sufficient evidence of their falsity,
but mere persuasions addressed to my pride or self-love, however
they may bias my will, can surely not remove the convictions of
my judgment. But,' continued I, after a little pause, and (I will
confess it) with the view of bringing him out plainly, for I sus
pected that to gain numbers to his church was more a real object
with him (as with too many others) than to win souls for heaven,
— ' what would you think if I were to unite myself to the
methodists?' — 'I should think you had gone from bad to worse,'
said he; 'you had better remain as you are, Alice, for the metho
dists believe in being a saint to-day and a devil to-morrow, which
is flatly contradictory to the bible doctrine of final perseverance.'
In this sentiment my father (who came in during the conversation)
fully united.
A few days subsequent I had an interview with the methodist
minister, Mr. Steiningstinger, (rather a long name,) whose opinion
was, that to go over from the universalist to the calvinist belief,
was 'like jumping out of der fire into dpr frying-pan; for, mine
Got in beaven« ! I would a goot teal rader pe a universalist as
pe a calvinist.' The singularity is, that each of these sectarists
affects to believe the faith of the othfT at least safe for salvation,
D

Hfl PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
while they both agree in thinking the universalist faith unsafe ,
and yet each, rather than be saved in the faith of the other, would
prefer to be damned in that of universal salvation ! Such at least
is the result to which their professions are reducible.
" I assure you, my dear J — , that my faith gathers confirmation
from nearly every day's observation and experience. I cannot
tell you how much I rejoice and thank God that ever I was a
sojourner in your beautiful valley, for my new faith is a talisman
which blends a hitherto unknown delight with every scene and
incident of existence. 1 had the unspeakable pleasure, but two
days ago, of so establishing its truth and exhibiting its excellency
to a neighboring woman, whose spirit for some time past has
been fluttering at the gates of death, that she has become a con
firmed and rejoicing subject of its influence. ' Oh !' she exclaims,
' I can now die satisfied ; I can now part with my husband and
children, and my kind neighbors too, in the confidence of meeting
them again in a brighter world ; there the sun never sets, for God
is that sun, and all intelligences shall bask in its beams. I for
merly,' said she, ' often surveyed my little ones with an anxious
heart, reflecting that they were about to be left in a world of sin and
temptation, where the probability was strong that they would not
all escape that dark and dreadful pit of irreparable perdition
which I conceived to be yawning beneath their feet ; and I "sed
to ask myself, which of these — Oh ! my God ! the thought was
full of agony — which of these that have been nourished in my
bosom, and have engaged my anxieties by night and by day ; over
whose cradles I have watched in their sickness until the stars
grew dim in the morning light, and bright and dim again — which
of these, and how many, shall I have brought up for endless burn
ings ? But now — God be praised for ever more ! — these anxieties
are all dispelled, and I can leave them with Him who has pledged
his truth that he will take care of them; under the wings of his
protection they are more secure than they could be in my care." —
Not small is the astonishment of the good people about here that
my faith should thus have gained a trophy within the very shadows
of the grave, for the woman described is very near her end, being
in the last stage of a pulmonary consumption.
" My playful sister Charity, who is at my elbow, says, 'tell
Miss J — that I mean to come in a year or two and see what they

ALICE SHERWOOD. 39
ean do with me in her pretty valley; for being a raiile-brain, I
have been given over as a child of the devil fiom my infancy, in
somuch that I feel something like a filial attachment for the old
gentleman, and hope there will be a favorable turn in his hard for
tune some day or other. However, I am willing lo be quits with
him after all, if there's a better chance for me ; for, to say truth, I
am tired of having certain pert and ignorant misses a',„.A here,
roll their eyes and pucker up their faces as they meet me on the
road to church, regarding me as infinitely their inferior, because
they are pleased to term themselves God's children: but if God
esteems them above me it is more than their neighbors do. Tell
her, too,' she continues, ' that I am much obliged to her for making
Alice a universalist; for she too is now a child of the devil, and
is therefore nearer akin to me than formerly, since we can now
both claim the same spiritual as well as natural father.'
" Adieu, my dear friend. May the light of this glorious faith
extend to the farthest bounds of intellectual being — that wherever
Jehovah is known at all, he may be known and felt as a God of
love. So sincerely prays Alice sherwood."

The author feels it incumbent on him to assure the reader, fhat all
the principal incidents in the above story are true. The valley itself has
a real existence, and is faithfully described from his memory of the scene.
Alice Sherwood and her two companions, the old Squire, Mrs. Mathews,
Bridget Bounce, Mr. Waters, and the other dramatis persons of the
tale are true characters. He states this fact, in order that the story may
not lose its proper effect, from the supposition that it is a mere figment
of the imagination.

PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.
We are about, reader, in a serious and candid spirit I hope, to
examine together the claims and pretensions of universalism, pro
and con : we wish to be honest in this business, do we not? I
do, and am disposed to believe that you do also ; well then, let us
make a right beginning, since much depends on starting aright,
and except we conduct our investigation according to some kind
of system we can accomplish but little to advantage ; under this
persuasion I proceed to suggest some considerations, which in
the task before us ought to be kept steadily in view.
1. You will admit that the scriptures cannot support two oppo
site doctrines as true, without destroying their own credibility ;
you will also admit that the contrary to what they dp teach as
true must be false ; consequently, if in a single instance they
sanction the notion that sin and misery will be of endless dura
tion, it must follow that Universalism is untrue — for universalism
asserts the contrary. Now if this doctrine stands contradicted by
one text in the bible, we must not think of looking up other texts
for the purpose of sustaining it — that one must be admitted as
proving h false. See, reader, how I shorten business to your hand ;
you have now, in order to refute the doctrine of universal salva
tion, no need to furnish a multitude of texts, one will do — only
bring one that is plainly to the purpose, and the work is accom
plished. Do you fancy that the passage concerning the rich man
and Lazarus is to your purpose ? or that concerning the u nparnonable
sin ? or those that relate to Christ's second coming ? very well, we
shall see in the course of this investigation, and if they are, or either
of them, your doctrine is then established. You, of course, are
willing to abide by this rule? So am I, and, remember, it works
both ways equally ; if I can find but one passage which "learly 40

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 41
proves that all misery and sin shall ultimately cease, it must
follow that they cannot endure to all eternity — and then, reader,
you are bound to become a universalist.
•?. When a book is somewhat obscure in its style, a knowledge
of the author's character will help to a proper understanding of it,
and it is unfair so to interpret the matter written as that it will
disagree with- the known mind and dispositions of the writer.
For example: Suppose, reader, that you should happen on a po
litical work claiming to have been written by the venerated Wash
ington, and several passages in it would bear the construction,
that the author approved an absolute monarchy as the best form of
government; would you not, from what you knew of the writer,
at once reject such construction as unworthy of him, and as un
likely to be the correct one? Certainly you would; you would
try if said passages would not fairly support a different sense — a
sense corresponding with the principles which the Father of hi3
Country espoused at the risk of his fortune and life ; and finding
that they would, you would most readily adopt it as their true and
proper meaning. Well then, treat the bible in the 'same manner ;
read it as a revelation of the divine dispositions toward man ,
and, recollect, that if it be so, it will not contradict what naturo
and providence conspire to leach of his perfections ; thus reading
it, you will not, methinks, arise from its perusal in the belief that
it sanctions the dogma of endless Suffering.
3. The figurative part of the scriptures should not be made to
support a sense plainly at variance with that of the literal part.
If it is unequivocally taught in the bible, that all men shall be
finally redeemed from unrighteousness and reconciled to their
Creator, it is manifestly absurd to interpret certain parables and
allegories as teaching the contrary. By a mistaken acceptation
of the figurative language of scripture : Jehovah is supposed tc
be at times angry, sorry, and grieved at heart ! he is thought to
hale sinners ; to take vengeance on them, to laugh al their calami
ties, &c ! This is believed of the unchangeable J am ! notwith
standing that these same scriptures distinctly inform us that
God is love, Good to all; that he changeth not, will not cast off
forever, is kind lo the unthankful and the evil, hving to every man,
and will have all men to be saved ! By a particular observance of
the foregoing rule, and by making the plain and obvious texts *¦
d2

42 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
key to those which are obscure, these apparent contradictions
would be avoided.
4. Some religious theories are so absurd in themselves — so at
war with all our established notions'of the fitness of things-^-that
to suppose them supported by the bible, is to believe the bible
tself unworthy of credit, as a book of mysteries, or rather ab
surdities, with which human reason can have no concern ; and the
theory of endless misery I conceive to be one of that very char
acter. Many sensible minds have rejected the bible, because
they had been taught by their religious tutors, that this dogma was
therein inculcated. For, occording to this theory, God either
designed the most disastrous results from the work of creation,
and is therefore a Being wholly devoid of benevolence ; or these
results will take place in opposition to his design, which must
imply that he lacked the wisdom to foresee, or the power to
prevent them, and is therefore short-sighted or impotent ! " Shall
I believe this, or discard the bible ?" is the inquiry of many a
mind ; to which I answer, there is another, and better alternative
Cast off the influences of a false education ; and bow to the sim
ple teachings of inspiration, which are a fountain of divine truth
wherein are mirrored the ineffable perfections of Jehovah ; you
will then find, methinks, that, they are not chargeable with the
lending their countenance to a doctrine, which involves a seri
ous arraignment of all the divine attributes.
5. The scriptures must not be understood as authorizing a
tenet, which by its very concequences is proved to be false; try
that of endless misery by this rule, and it will be found, either
that said dogma is unscriptural, or that the bible is in the highest
degree self-contradictory; for allowing that it is taught in the
inspired volume, we must then allow that it teaches the follow
ing incongruities — The anger of God which is but for a moment,
will endure as long as his mercy, which endureth forever ! — The
works of the devil will ex-ist after being destroyed, as long as
Christ shall, who is to destroy them — " God will wipe awav ALL
tears from off ALL faces," yet shall unnumbered intelligences
weep to all eternity !— " The pleasure of the Lord will prosper in
Christ's hands," nevertheless, the pleasure of the devil will so
far prosper against it, that where uni'ts will be saved, scores,
possibly hundreds, will be irretrievably ruined ! " Christ shall

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 43
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied," although his
blood will have been shed in vain — his mission undertaken in
vain — his benevolent desires exercised in vain, in regard to innu
merable myriads whose redemption and recovery he undertook.
The duration of the devil shall be co-eternal with that of him,
who took flesh and blood, " that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil !" A large
portion of that same world to which the bread of God from
heaven " giveth life," shall, nevertheless, to all eternity continue
under the empire of death ! And although the Lamb of God
" taketh away" its sin ; it shall forever-more remain sinful ! God
" will not contend forever, neither" saith he, " will I be always
wroth ; for the spirits should fail before me, and the souls that I
have made." " But he will contend, and be wrothful forever,"
saith the doctrine of endless misery, " without at all regarding
the consequences to the souls that he has made." God's pleasure is
" that all return unto him and live," and his truth is pledged that
he will do ALL his pleasure, still, it will to ceaseless ages
remain unaccomplished ! His will is to ," have all men to be
eaved, and come to the knowledge of the truth ;" but an im
mense majority /bf these all men will be endlessly damned and
remain in ignorance ! In the resurrection God is to abolish the
last enemy — to subdue, or reconcile, all things unto himself; and
to be all in all; but he will have many foes after the last ia
destroyed— millions shall continue in rebellion after all shall be
reconciled ; and they shall be estranged and alienated from him
forever, notwithstanding he shall have become all in all. To
sum up, this dogma represents that Jehovah will be disappointed ;
his purposes baffled ; his pleasure unaccomplished ; that Christ
will have died in vain in regard to millions ; and, therefore,
that he was not equal to the undertaking upon which he entered ;
and in which an infinitely wise God saw fit to employ him ; that
the devil will prove too strong for his destroyer and conqueror ;
that Christ's victory over Death, will leave to the vanquished
many more trophies than to the vanquisher; that the works of
satan, who is finite, will co-endure with the works of God, who
is infinite ; sin shall exist as long as holiness} misery as long as
happiness ; death as long as life ; error as long as truth ; and
hell, for the final overthrow and destruction of which the word of

44 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
Jehovah is pledged ; will be equal in its duration to heaven itself,
which is the throne of God. And all this in despite of scriptural
assurances to the contrary ; and despite also of the means which
God has employed for the fulfilment of his purposes, in the gift
of his Son, spirit, ministry, word, judgements &c ! ! ! Who can
Delieve all — and more than all this? Can you, reader ? If not,
then impute not to the bible the teaching of so absurd a system
as that of which these are the consequences. If you can believe
all this ; why, then, God help you, reader ! your credulity must
be quite sufficient for the belief of any absurdities which it may
suit your convenience to adopt, or the interests of priestly craft to
inculcate. 6. It is admitted that if a doctrine be of bad practical tendency,
however plausible :d itself, the divine sanction must not be
claimed for it. This is a sound rule, reader, and I am willing
to abide by it, are you ? That the doctrine of endless suffering
does not, on the whole, exert a beneficial influence upon man
kind, is evident from reasoning a priori, and from facts. First
from reason. This doctrine familiarizes the mind to scenes of hor
ror and wretchedness more dreadful than words can portray, and
must therefore harden the heart in the proportion in which it is
believed ; for it is an established fact that the constant or fre
quent contemplation of sUfering tends to blunt the sensibilities,
and to generate cruelty. Hence where public executions are
common, they are witnessed with indifference. Hence too, the
butcher laughs while in the act of slaughtering a lamb — a sight
at which those who are unaccustomed to it will weep ; and hence,
I may further add, the most frightful denunciations of almighty
Wrath, are listened to with perfect unconcern, even by those who
believe, that millions of the human family, including neighbors,
friends, possibly immediate kindred, will to all eternity experi
ence its dreadful weight. It is also true, that cruel laws serve
to degrade and brutalize those who are subject to them ; hence in
proportion to the sanguinary character ot a government, are the
barbarousness and viciousness of the governed ; and, on the othei
hand, a mild and free government will give birth to a virtuous
and generous people. Now the doctrine of endless suffering
represents the sovereign of the universe as a tyrant, who seeks
to rule his subjects through their fears. " Serve me or I will

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 45
burn you," is the language it puts into his mouth, " for your finite
offences I will be infinitely angry, and for your disobedience of a
moment, I will punish you with the pains of an eternity." Is it
to be wondered at, that such a system has generated so much
drivelling superstition ? — so much morose and gloomy fanati
cism ? so many whining, cringing, abject, self-degrading syco
phants ; who lie at the feet of an almighty power, professing to
adore its every act, however unintelligible the object — for the
contemptible purpose of screening themselves from the weight of
its apprehended wrath ? Such, it must be conceded, have in
all ages been the influences of this God-dishonoring tenet, and
such, a priori, we should judge they would be. At the same time
it is cheerfully admitted, that very many, by reason of their
native excellency of disposition, have proved superior to these
evil influences. These exceptions, however, do not affect the
general truth of the rule.
Second, from facts. The world has experimented with the
dogma of ceaseless woe for fifteen centuries. What has been
the result? The founders and agents of the Inquisition in Spain,
Portugal, and Portuguese-India believed in it; so did the relent
less persecutors of the Waldenses and Albigenses ; and the per
petrators of the St. Bartholomew massacre ; wherein 40,000
were murdered in one day. And those also who lighted the fires
of Smithfield. It was believed in, too, by Mahomet, who laid
the foundation of his system in blood : and by his followers it
was implicitly adopted, together with the principle that it is
lawful to propagate religion by the sword. The worshipers of
Juggernaut believe in it, and it lies at the bottom of all their
degradations. And it is sacredly cherished by the Bedouins of
the desert; with whom the power to plunder, constitutes the
right to do so. What beneficial influence has the doctrine of
endless misery exerted upon these ? Scarcely a murderer expi
ates his crimes upon the gallows but he avows a belief in .that
dogma.* And it has been ascertained that the inmates of our
* See for proof ninety and nine out of a hundred of the printed confessions of ex
ecuted criminals. Such was the belief of Washburn, Hoover and Davis, recently
executed in Cincinnati ; and of Cowan, who butchered his wife and two' children.
An attempt was made in some religious party prints to deceive the public as to the
opinions of the last named person ; but unluckily for the publishers it was made too
soon, i. e. befpre he was executed ; and, therefore, there was opportunity for getting at
the truth of the matter from his own lips. Bein? waited upon by several respectable
citizens, and questioned as to his belief on this head, he stated that he had never en.

46 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
penitentiaries are nearly all of them the subjects of that faith.*
Surely if this dogma possessed the practical virtues which its
advocates claim for it, we should not find a people vicious in
proportion to the prevalency of its belief amongst them ; but it
is incontrovertible, that We do so find them, and therefore it has
no such virtues.
7. " But in a matter of this sort,", does the reader say ? " it is
a maxim of prudence to choose Ihe safe side. Supposing it is ;
is it safer to doubt the divine goodness than to trust in it? Will
God be angry with those who ascribe to him more benevolence
than (according to your system) he actually possesses ? And wilj
he punish them for such an ascription ? This hacknied maxim of
prudence, has, after "all, no prudence about it; we have no right
nor poioer of choice in the matter of our belief — we are bound by
conscience, and compelled oy necessity to believe according to
the decisions of evidence, and, so far as it respects our eternal
state, one belief must be just as safe as another. The catholic is
deterred from embracing protestant principles by the considera
tion, that though the latter may be better — i. e. more reasonable
and scriptural — his own are more safe. " You cannot be saved
out of my church if my faith is true," saith he, " whereas, by
your own confession, I can be saved out of yours ; prudence then
cautions me to choose the safe side." The Jew, and the Mahome-
dan, use precisely the same argument, each considering salvation
sure in his own church, and uncertain out of it; and its foundation
in air cases is the weak supposition that a dependence on the
divine mercy alone is insecure. " God may be as good as you
say; out then he may not; and it is the more prudent course to
irepaie for the worst, that in any event we may be safe." Shame
in sucn distrusts of the divine goodness ! and on the systems of
heology which tend to beget them !
8. We must be careful how we adopt mere arbitrary interpre
tations of scriptural terms and phrases, or we shall easily be
tertained d iibts as to the truth of the notion of endless suffering; he had for fourteen
years belonged to a church, which makes this an essentia] article of faith.
* A few years since the newspaper vituperations against universalism, on the
ground of its supposed vitiating tendencies, provoked "an examination among the
state cmvicts of Auburn and Sing Sing penitentiaries, in order to ascertain whethei
this system of religion had influenced them in their choice of a criminal course of
life. The result of the investigation was, that not a singie universalist was found in
either of these establishments. The author of this work visited the prison at Auburn
two years ago : this is in the heart of a country^ aljounding with universalist^, and
yet among its 800 convicts not one believer in this doctrine was included ' I

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 4"
deceived as to the doctrines of the bible. For example; Walker
defines the word redemption, " The purchase of God's favoui
by the death of Christ." Could anything be more absurd than
the idea, that the infinite Being sells his favors? and sells them
for the blood of suffering innocence ? ! The scriptures everywhere
represent the grace of God as being free, or gratuitous ; but pur
chased grace can scarcely be* termed free. Webster gives us as
the meaning of damnation, " A sentence to eternal torment;" and
he even refers us for his authority to Mark xvi. 16. Now it hap
pens that said passage is entirely silent about " eternal torment ;"
and that there is nothing in the connection which necessarily im
plies anything of the kind ; consequently, both his definition and
his reference are a sheer assumption. Three words in the original
tongues, which are wide of each other in their signification, (I
mean sheol, tartarus, and gehenna,) are represented in our com
mon version by the one English word hell; and, until lately, it
was not known that evea this term has now a different significa
tion from what it had formerly ; insomuch, that Christ could be
said to have " descended into hell." (See what is miscalled
" the apostles creed,") without its being thereby meant that he
went down to a region of torment, which is the idea now convey
ed by the phrase. The English words eternal, everlasting, for
ever, etc. most commonly signify endless duration. The reader
must bear it in mind that the scriptures were not originally written
in English; the original terms which in our version these are
made to represent, often to misrepresent, are not equivalent in
their meaning, but require to be understood in each case according
to the connection in which they stand ; hence these terms cannot
be relied on as sufficient, of themselves, to settle such question!)
concerning duration as may arise in the course of this investiga
tion. But of these things in their proper place. For the preseni
the reader is only requested to bear in mind, that his religious ed
ucatioo has led him to associate with every biblical term a partic
:-ar <">a5 and that this association is often incorrect, having
grown *.ut of interpretations entirely arbitrary ; and, therefore,
that it is in such cases likely to lead him lo wrong results in his
inquiries into the meaning of the scriptures. He is requested as
far as possible to guard against the influence of this circumstance ;
and, instead of leaning too much upon any authority aside from

48 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the scriptures, to prefer making them in all possible cases the
interpreters of themselves.
Lastly. Although it is freely confessed that mere human au
thority is insufficient for the settling of a question like the one be
fore us, yet should it be found, that a doctrine now received as true,
was not known by christians in the early ages of the chuich,the fact
would warrant the conclusion, that«aid doctrine is not taught in
the scriptures. What should we think of a politician who should
set up certain principles as belonging to the Jeffersoman school in
politics, and on enquiry it should be found, that none of the im
mediate successors of that statesman had ever held them ? We
should conclude with certainty that said politician was mistaken.
In like manner, when a theologian starts a theory in religion, and
we find it to have been unknown by those who immediately suc
ceeded Christ and his apostles in the gospel ministry, we are
compelled to conclude against the truth of said theory.
It must not, however, be inferred from the above, that the mere
age of an opinion entitles it ,to respectful consideration; for the
early converts to Christianity from the Jewish and heathen church
es, brought many strange whims with them, which they were fond
of incorporating with their new faith : and the notion of a dark
infernum, populated with doomed spirits, which is the basis of our
present theory of hell, was, without doubt, one of said whims.
Wi/ilst, then, the entire novelty of a doctrine is proof presumptive
of its untruth, the mere antiquity of a doctrine affords no presump
tion .in its favor. That the belief of universal salvation is not a
new thing in Christendom is evident from ecclesiastical history.
Origen, in the third century, a distinguished father in tne church,
maintained this opinion distinctly ; arid although several of his
tenets were subsequently condemned as heretical, this was not in
cluded among them, which goes to show that even at that ear1"
time, this doctrine was not regarded as a novelty. The fact of u>
not being then considered a heresy is of great weight in its favor.
for, unlike the doctrine of endless misery, it cannot be shewn to
have been derived from any system of heathen mythology : but,
on the contrary, must be regarded as a tenet peculiar to Christianity.
Whereas the opposite doctrine, whilst it forms a part and parcel
of most of the pagan codes of faith, was entirely unrecognized by
the Jewish religion, which claims its origin from God himself.

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 49
Many other important considerations, reader, might be suggest
ed here on the threshold of this investigation, serving to show-
how very small is the probability, that the dogma of ceaseless
suffering can in the issue be regarded as of scriptural authority:
but the above, it is believed, are quite sufficient for this purpose.
Of this, however, you must be judge for yourself. " Prove all
things ; hold fast that which is good."

UNIVERSAL SALVATION
DIRECTLY AND POSITIVELY PROVEN FROM THE AT
TRIBUTES OF GOD.
1. GOD IS LOVE — (1 John, iv. 8.)— This proposition hat
been much declaimed upon, by those too, who, while they admitted
its truth in terms, denied it in fact. It is now introduced as a
subject for careful argumentation. In this business we shall not
need those rhetorical embellishments which, at the same time that
they amuse the fancy, often make it an instrument in deceiving
the judgment: the less our argument is encumbered with these
the better it will be, because the more intelligible.
As has been well remarked (by Adam Clarke) " God is never
said, in the scriptures, to be Justice, or Patience, or Holiness,
but he is frequently in one form or another said to be love."
Hence it is inferred that love is his moral nature, and the basis
of all his other attributes — love is God : to say that God is just,
or holy, or unchanging, is the same as to say that infinite love is
characterised by these qualities ; to say that all creatures through
out all space are in God's hands, and subject to his control, is in
effect to say they are in love's hands, and subject to its control : in
short, God and love are so essentially identical, that the name of
each may be, and often is, employed for designating the other;
any predicate of the one will answer equally we'll as a predicate
of the other ; hence we may affirm of infinite love that it rules
he universe, is eternal, impartial, holy, just, good, &c, for God
... ill these, and God is love. In these three words is he defined
E

50 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
by John, a fisherman of Galilee, and they express more than all
the collected wisdom of previous and subsequent ages ever has
or can express.
The doctrine of endless misery is utterly irreconcilable with
this essential attribute of the deity, for love invariably seeks, and
to the utmost of its power promotes the ultimate good of its ob
jects ; by this circumstance alone is it distinguishable from its
opposite principle ; to affirm that love will consent that any of its
objects shall be miserable, without reference to any eventual good
from that misery, is to affirm that it approves of misery for its
own sake, and this is to confound it with hatred. The doctrine
of endless woe does in effect affirm this, and thereby it absurdly
confounds Jehovah, who is infinite love, with infinite hatred. To
make this more plain, we will suppose God to be the opposite of
what he is — What should we expect as the result? Anything
worse than what is contemplated in the belief of unceasing tor
ment? If not, in affirming this doctrine, are we not manifestly
confounding love with hatred, since we ascribe to the one such
actions as can only result from the other ?
Wherever infinite love is, there can no suffering be, except per
mitted from motives of ultimate benefit to the sufferer, and conse
quently, in no conceivable case can the theory of endless misery
be .verified, except by some means the subject thereof could get
oeyond the presence of love, or, which is the same thing, beyond
the presence of God. But,
2. GOD IS OMNIPRESENT— (Psl. cxxxix. 7.)— And, of
course, love is omnipresent ; it surrounds, pervades, and sustains
all things, (Ephe. iv. 6,) to get beyond its reach, therefore, is
impossible, for whither shall we go from its presence? Shall we
ascend to the heaven of heavens ? it is there. Shall we descend
to depths unfathomable by the plummet-line of thought? it will
still be far, far beneath us: and should we speed with the wings
of light to the farthest bounds of being, still, still should we find
its presence to extend immeasurably beyond us. The sinner is in
its hands when he goes hence equally as wliile he is here, and
although he may find it " a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
God," yet the result will prove that they are the hands of love,
and, therefore, not the hands of an enemy. Such was Davir1'
view of the matter, when reduced to the necessity of seleCU..*

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 61
one out of three modes of punishment. " Let me fall now," said
he, " into the hands of the Lord, for very great are his merci's i
but let me not fall into the hands of man." (1 Chro. xii. 1*!.)
But why prefer falling into God's hands, rather than those of
man, if, as the dogma of eternal torment affirms, God's inflictions
will infinitely exceed in duration and severity any which the most
cruel of mankind would be willing to sanction?
The power of Jehovah cannot extend where his love does not,
for that would prove the latter finite, and if his power cannot ex
tend beyond his love, it can act on creatures only as directed by
love ; it can inflict only such suffering as love approves as con
ducive to its own ends : hence it may with confidence be affirmed
that even present suffering would not»be permitted except with
reference to some future benefit to the sufferer, and, consequently,
that no useless suffering exists, for if divine love will overrule it
all for ultimate good it is not useless. The scriptures abundantly
sustain this view of the matter. " For the Lord," say they,
" will not cast off for ever, for though he cause grief, yet will he
have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies, for
he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."
(Lam. iii. 37. See also, Heb. xii. 10.) Of course endless
misery is entirety excluded by this reasoning, for misery without
end can produce no beneficial results to the sufferer, and if no
beneficial results to the sufferer, then infinite love can have no
agency in its infliction ; and if infinite love would refuse to sanc
tion it, then it must take place, if at all, where love is not, but it
cannot take place where love is not, for love is everywhere.
If unending misery be inflicted, will it not, as it regards the
subjects, consist of an exercise of power to the exclusion of love?
and will there not in that case be creatures whom God will not
love ? and since he will not love them, can he be a God to them,
inasmuch as there can be no' God where there is no love, for God is
love? It is impossible for answers consisting with the faith of
endless misery to be rendered to these questions. If in the vast,
vast solitudes of space, there existed a point beyond which the
divine presence did not extend, and beings were capable of hurl
ing themselves into Ihis desolate void, (for desolate it must needs
be without a God) they doubtless could thus be rendered misera
ble without end, and thus only, as has already been said, there is

52 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
no other way conceivable ; but the supposition implies an im
possibility, Jehovah being omnipresent.
3. GOD IS OMNISCIENT.— (Acts xv. 18.)— He knew
from eternity all we should ever be ; he foresaw every mutation
through which we should ever pass ; every sinful act we should
commit. If there could ever arise any circumstance to affect his
regards for us, he as certainly knew it before he created us as
now ; the fact must have been as much a cause for wrath or
hatred toward us then as after it transpired ; nevertheless, in full
view of all which it was foreseen we should be he loved us, and
that too " with a great love :" (Ephe. ii. 4.) Now if God were
defective in this attribute of his character, the notion of endless
misery would find some sort of shelter in the plea, that as
Jehovah failed- to foresee that so disastrous a case would arise,
he did not provide against it, and, therefore, that the evil is now
past remedy, and God would fain prevent it if he could. But no
such plea can be set up, for not alone in sound philosophy, but in
the scriptures, he is represented as " seeing the end from the be
ginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done."
(Isaiah xlvi. 10.) Futurity, which to all other eyes, lies iu im
penetrable shadow, is perfectly open and clear to his; he krow-
eth all its, as yet, undeveloped and unrecorded events. And how
could it be otherwise? for
" Did he o'erlook the least of his concerns,
(Since from the least the greatest oft originate,)
Then unforeseen contingence might alarm him,
And disturb the smooth and equal course of his
Affairs."
It is worse than idle, then, to resort to the ridiculous subterfugf
of saying, that God does not foreknow all things! but could know
them were he so minded ! — which fantasm has been sanctioned by
no less a personage than Dr. Adam Clarke ! A blunder, this, (by
the way,) which may be pardoned in a son of Erin, but in no
other, for it implies that God must know all things, in order to
determine how many and which among them he may choose to
know, arid how many and which of them he may choose to be
ignorant of! I have shown, I think, that God's foreknowledge
comprised all events, and that in view of all which it was foreseen
we should be he loved us. If, then, his love shall always con.

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF UOi/. 53
'.lane, it will surely not consent to our being plunged into suffer
ings which can yield us no benefit; and if his love shall not
always continue, he must necessarily undergo a change. — But
4. GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE.— (James iii. 2.)— And
even were he otherwise, it would be impossible to find a cause
which could justify a change in him toward us, because nothing
in relation to us has transpired of which he was not fully aware
long before we had a being. Arminians are apt to tell us in this
argument, that although the love wherewith God once loved the
dinner shall eventually change to hatred, yet God changeth not!
The change, say they, is altogether in the sinner ! which, to my
hinking, is very singular logic. God hates to-day the very beings
whom he loved yesterday, and yet remains unchanged ! ! Then
¦surely love and hatred are one and the same thing ! " But," say
ihey again, "he loved us as pure beings, and on our becoming
sinners he ceased to love us." Well, supposing this the case,
does he undergo no change in ceasing to love us ? How absurd
the negative to this question But it is contrary to fact that God
loved us as pure beings — he never knew us as such ; it is flatly
contrary to scripture likewise, for " God commended his love to
ward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.'
(Rom. v. 16.) " When we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of his son." (Ibid. ver. 10.) And hence another
nspired writer observes, " Herein was love, not that we loved
God, but that God loved us." (1 John iv. 10.) Now do we not
seriously detract from the divine character, when we represent
that his love toward us will abate, merely because we prove to be
just such beings as he clearly foresaw we would be when that
love was first conceived, supposing it to have had a beginning?
For nothing surely but a change from love to hatred can induce hi3
consent, that an existence which he conferred as a blessing, shall
by any possibility be converted to a curse.
The Arminian will here shift his ground, and argue as follows
" God eternally hates sin ; when we become sinners, we assoel
ate ourselves with what he eternally hates, and therefore his
hatred of us implies no change on his part but on ours." Now
know you not, sir, that this is a mere sophism ? For in associa
ting ourselves with sin we do not become sin, an<^ therefore do not
become the thing which God eternally hates. If you could show

84 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
that God eternally hates sinners, it would be much more to your
purpose. And think you, sir, that Jehovah will subject to an in
discriminate destruction both that which he loves and that which
he hates ? that he will never dissociate them ? It were equally
wise in the farmer to destroy both his wheat and its adherent
chaff, merely because he found them together in his field ! Oi
for the lapidary to destroy his precious stones, because of the
worthless earths in which he may have found them embedded !
Either God once loved the sinner, or he did not. If he did not,
then he created him in hatred, and it is vain to look to the life or
character of the sinner for the ground of that hatred, as it took
place millions of ages before he was in being ! If God did once
love the sinner, he loves him yet — he ever will — or he is a finite
Being, and affected by finite objects ; but, the scriptures being
true, this cannot be, " for he is of one mind and none can turn
him." (Job xxiii. 13.) God must, therefore, to all eternity love
all intelligences ; this love will not prevent their being subjected
to just punishment, for punishment aims at a good result ; but it
will certainly prevent their being ruined; for the ruin of its object
is only consistent with hatred.
It is the very perfection of absurdity to suppose that the dispo
sitions of an infinite Being are in anywise affected by the muta
tions of his frail and short-sighted creatures ; this our opponents
must and do admit, and yet they are continually giving to some
obscure scripture texts such an interpretation as makes them teach
directly the contrary. For instance, the passage in the first
chapter of Proverbs, where Wisdom, personified in the feminine
gender, is represented as saying, " Because I have called and ye
refused, I have stretched out my hands and NO man regarded ; I
also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear com
eth," &c. Which text is usually subjected to the horrid comment,
that the Almighty God will laugh, and sport himself with the
miseries of his infinitely ruined offspring ! But in their blind zeal
to make out a case our opponents seem to overlook the fact, that,
thus interpreted, the passage goes quite beyond their purpose — it
proves tqo much, as it includes themselves, with all mankind be
sides, in a doom of final reprobation — " NO man regarded ;" and
therefore ALL men must be endlessly damned ! A sweeping
conclusion, truly.

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 55
The mutability of God is manifestly implied in the common
supposition, that although he will bear with the provocations of
sinners during the term of their stay on earth, yet so soon as they
are removed hence, he will utterly alter his course, and let loose
his vengeance upon them without mercy. Some have even sup
posed that there is a period in the lifetime of each individual, be
yond which the divine forbearance will no longer be exercised
toward him; if he remains impenitent up to that juncture, he is
said to have " sinned away his day of grace ;" his fate is then
sealed. To such an one will apply the language of Abdiel, ad
dressed to the chief fallen spirit, in " Paradise Lost."
 " those indulgent laws will not be now vouchsafed,
Other decrees against thee are gone forth without recall.
That golden scepter which thou didst reject, is now
An iron rod to bruise and break thy disobedience."
How hapless the lot of such ! For they have learned by bitter ex
perience that the divine mercy is as variable as their own purposes !
The number, however, is comparatively small, who think that life's
flickering taper will in some cases outburn the sun of divine mercy •
much the most of christians are of the opinion of the poet, that,
" Whilst the lamp holds out to burn
The vilest sinner may return."
But the philosophy is weak, and the theology false in either case ;
for how .in the name of both can God's dispositions toward his
creatures be affected by their removal from one department of his
works to another? Can such removal change the relations be
tween the parties? Is God net the same Being in all places?
Take, for example, the case of Paul. Suppose that on his way to
Damascus, when the vision came upon him, he had broken his
neck in falling to the ground ; he would then have died an un
converted persecutor of the christian religion. What then ? Why
then, according to popular theology, he would have been an ob
ject of divine wrath to all eternity ! But, luckily for him, his
neck escaped, and a few minutes witnessed his moral transforma
tion into a chosen vessel of mercy ! What a hair-breadth partition
betwixt bliss and woe eternal ! How unstable the divine regards
toward his creatures ! and how feeble the chances on which they
turn! "I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed." (Mai. iii. 6.) For the same reason, I desire
bo better; the dogma of interminable misery must be false.

S6 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM
5. GOD IS OMNIPOTENT.— (Rev. xix. 5.)— Whatsoever,
therefore, his wisdom prompts him to purpose, his power ena
bles him to execute. By Calvinists this truth is fully admitted,
but they contend, that God only j.'urposed the salvation of a part
of mankind, and that that part must eventually be gathered in,
" for," say they, " God has all power, and will not fail to do his
pleasure." They seem anxious to vindicate the divine wisdom
and poicer, but it is at the expense of his goodness and equity.
Arminians, on the other hand, seem shocked at this limitation of
the divine benevolence, and contend that God is impartial, and
earnestly desires to have all men saved, but from some cause
or other will be disappointed ! They seem anxious to vindicate
the divine goodness and equity, but it is at the expense of his
wisdom and power ! The Calvinistic deity is an all-wise, and
all-powerful Being ; but partial, and inexorable, who works
for his own mere pleasure, uncaring how much misery that
pleasure may cost his creatures ! His own glory is his continual
aim — for this he raises up or casts down — gives life or death — he
saves or damns. His glory must reign, though the throne of its
sovereignty be erected on pyramids of damned spirits ! The
Arminian God, on the contrary, is a kind-hearted, well-meaning
Being, but deplorably deficient in prudence and foresight, he is
rather to be pitied than blamed when the creatures he formed for
himself are wrested from him by the devil, and lured into
irrecoverable ruin, for he certainly made them for a different end
He is rather to be pitied than blamed I say, yet, in truth, he is
scarcely excusable in having created beings, of whom he knew
himself unable to take the necessary care ! and that by far the
larger part of them should — despite his utmost efforts to the
contrary — become a prey to his malignant enemy the devil.
Reader, can you in conscience say that I am unfair in these rep
resentations? Universalists worship a deity " who will have all
men to be saved," (1. Tim. ii. G.) and who " workelh all things
after the council of his own will," (Eph. i. 2.) whose pleasure
it is that all should " turn from their evil way and live," (Eze.
xxxii. 11.) and who " will do all his pleasure," (Isa. xlvi. 10.)
God has certainly not given to his creatures an ability to counteract
his infinite purposes ! On the contrary, " He doeth his will, in the
armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, and

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 57
none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?"
(Dan. iv. 35.)
It is pretended, that " none are doomed to final ruin, till God has
previously done every thing for their salvation, which, consistently
with his attributes, he can do ; and that, therefore, the endless mis
ery of the damned involves no reflection on the divine goodness."
Supposing this true, does it involve no reflection on his goodness
to have called them into being, under circumstances which
rendered their endless misery certain? But it is not true; the
weight of Christ's authority stands against it ; he testifies that
God did much more for Chorazin, and Bethsaida, than he had
done for Tyre, and Sidon ; and that had he done as much for the
latter places, " they would long ago have repented, sitting in
sackcloth and ashes," (Mat. xi. 20.) And addressing Caperna
um, he says, " If the mighty works which are done in thee, had
been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day,"
(ibid.) Now it certainly must be considered a singular fact, that
God desires the salvation of all, and yet permits thousands to
sink to endless woe, who could have been saved by his doing
merely as much for them, as he saw fit to do for others ! How is
this? Universalists maintain, that God's love is as strong be
yond, as on this side the grave ; and that what it fails of accom
plishing here, it will infallibly accomplish hereafter; at least, vhe
ultimate salvation of all men cannot fail from a lack of divine
power ; if at all it must be from a lack of his goodness. But
6. GOD IS GOOD. — (Psa, Ixxxvi. 5.)— Goodness is oppr.sed
to evil, it seeks to overcome it, hence the injunction, " Be no*
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good," (Rom. xii. S,7.)
This, undoubtedly, is according to the divine conduct, for God
would certainly not enjoin on his creatures a virtue which he
will not practice himself; and if the divine goodness shall event
ually overcome our evil, then the existence of evil must forever
cease ; and, by consequence, the existence of misery also. " The
Lord is good to all, and his tender mercy is over all his works,"
(Psl. cxlv. 9.) Bui how God can be good to all, and yet torment
countless millions without any regard to their good, is more than
can be comprehended ! How his tender mercy can be over all
his works, and yet a large portion of those works be abandoned
to infinite ruin, is also more than can be comprehended ! Indeed,

68 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
there are many things in the scriptures which we must not
pretend to understand in accordance with the notion of endless
misery, inasmuch as they are utterly repugnant to that doctrine.
If the mercy of God docs extend to the damned, without allevia
ting their miseries, or eventually bringing them to a salutary
termination, then there is no difference between mercy and
cruelly — it is as well to be the object of the one as of the other —
since they both produce the same effects. For how can cruelty
be better defined than by saying, it is the infliction of torment on
an object, without designing any good lo that object from that tor-
ment? and if infinite mercy will do this, then it is not distin
guishable from infinite cruelty. If, on the other hand, the mercy
of God does not extend to the damned, then it is not " over all his
works," neither is it infinite, which signifies without bounds or
limits. To me it seems that the question of endless misery can be
settled in few words, as follows — The unhappy subjects of
endless damnation, is their existence, so far as respects them
selves, a good ? or an evil? You will not hesitate to answer,
an evil. I again ask, Can an absolute evil emanate from a Be
ing who is infinitely good ? NO, is the only answer of which
this question will fairly admit, and it answers equally well the
question, whether the dogma of unceasing suffering can possibly,
in this view of the case, be true ?
7. GOD IS JUST  (Deut. xxxii. 4.)— We are brought into
existence by the mere will of our creator ; we are compelled to
accept of that existence on his own terms, our will is not consulted
in the matter; if the terms on which we receive our being are as
dreadful as represented by the doctrine of endless misery, it
seems but just that we should be voluntary parties in the com
pact ; but such we are not, and, therefore, cannot justly be held
to the terms.
A powerful nobleman settles by deed of conveyance a small
farm upon one of his tenants ; while the latter is rejoicing in his
newly acquired property, he is informed, that the conditions of
the gift are, that not a single weed must be allowed to grow upou
the premises ; that if, at any moment when it may suit the donor
to call him to account, there shall be found any such within the
limits of the farm, he shall answer for it with his life, and be put

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 59
to death in the most horrid manner. The poor man in great alarm
hastens to inform the nobleman that he cannot accept of the proper
ty on such fearful terms ; but he is told in reply that it is now too
late; the compact is settled, and sealed, and cannot be cancelled.
" Whether you were acquainted with the conditions or not —
whether a party in the bargain or not — it is my will that the mat
ter should be as it is, and you must abide the issue." Reader, is
the conduct of that nobleman just?
Justice requires, that when an article of value is entrusted to
any one's keeping, he should be clearly apprised of its full worth,
and the consequences of its loss, and should be provided with
means of security in proportion. Now conceive man charged
with the keeping of an immortal spirit, and that his sins during
this brief existence, will subject it through unending duration
to the dreadful heritance of its almighty maker's frowns. I
ask, if man is so clearly apprised of his situation as the magni
tude of the matter at slake requires he should be ? I ask further,
are his means of security in proportion to tho inconceivably dread
ful issue of the cast? On the contrary if the system which
supposes this state of things be true, myriads of invisible spirits
are constantly seeking opportunities to deceive and ruin him,
and his own depraved nature — with w'.ich he is born without his
own consent — is ever ready to second cheir malignant efforts ! In
addition, the way of safety is so dim and uncertain, that a thou
sand different paths are sincerely mistaken for it, and by no
possibility can it certainly be determined, that any one is right to
the exclusion of all the rest ! Vhere are innumerable wants and
anxieties to which man is unavoidably subject, and which tend to
divert his mind from the business of his soul's salvation ! Sure
ly they must deem but meanly of the justice of heaven, who
imagine that he thus trifles with the eternal interests of his
creatures !
Justice also requires, that there chould be an equal pro
portion between crime and punishment; and who will pretend
that such proportion er.ists betwixt the crimes of even the most
abandoned of our race, and the ceaseless sufferings of eternity.?
sufferings which shall inconceivably long endure, when as many
millions of ages shall have passed away, as there are stars in
the firmament of night — multiplied by as many more as there are

60 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
particles of light in the sun — and these by as many as there are
atoms of matter in the universe — and the whole together by as
many as the moments of duration which have elapsed, since the
almighty put forth the first exertion of his omnipotence ! Must it
not be admitted, that in damning to all eternity one immortal
spirit, God would inflict a greater evil, than all the sins of all
mankind, from the commencement till the close of lime, ever
have or ever can accomplish ? With what justice then can end
less misery be inflicted ?
I may be told that "the sin of man is infinite, and, therefore,
deserving of infinite punishment." But the notion of the infinity
of sin destroys all idea of proportion between one sin and anoth
er, and, consequently, the slightest idle word is equal to "the
nlasphemy against the holy ghost." Besides this notion proves
one sin to be infinite, and, therefore, a million of sins is a million
tf infinities ! and if one deserve infinite punishment, how can a
million ever be justly punished ? There is no end to the absurd
r-onsequences deducible from this position.
Sin is a voluntary violation of the divine requirements, "To
him that knowelh to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin,"
(Jam. iv. 17.) Does God exact infinite performances of finite
creatures? If so, he requires of us as much as he can do him
self! and if not, sin is a violation of but finite obligations, and is
consequently but finite in itself, and in proportion lo the amount
he commits will be the quantity of the sinner's punishment.
We set up no claim to eternal life on the ground of justice, we
would not be understood as demanding this as a matter of right,
we hope for it as " the gift of God, through Jesus Christ."
But we do claim injustice to be returned to our original uncon
sciousness, except it shall please God to prolong our existence for
objects of benevolence; we do too firmly rely upon his justice to
believe, that he would obtrude on us a being by which he knew
we should be infinitely the losers ! and we conceive, therefore,
that we have a large interest in this attribute of his character.
God is too just to be unmerciful, as well as too merciful to be
unjust; there is the utmost harmony between these perfections of
his nature. God is not divided against himself, and as the unend
ing misery of millions of mankind, cannot be agreeable to his
mercy, it cannot for the sanie reason be agreeable to his justice.

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 61
Would it be just in God to subject the sinner to the necessity of
remaining unjust to all eternity? Does justice, in requital for a
temporary violation of its requirements, demand that those re
quirements should continue eternally to be violated ? The doc
trine of esdless misery certainly involves an affirmative answer
to these questions !
8. GOD IS HOLY.— (Lev. xix. 2.)— From the opposition
between this principle and sin, we argue that the latter must
eventually be brought to a period ; which, to be sure, is a
very different idea from that which is commonly entertained,
viz. that God, who is a being of infinite purity, will cause sin,
or at least permit it, to co-endure with his own eternity ! If sin
shall always exist, it will be owing either to a want of power
in God to destroy it, or to a want of disposition. To the former it
cannot be, for he is almighty ; neither can it be to the latter, for it
is a thousand times declared in his word, in one form or other,
that sin is utterly odious to him. How then can it be supposed
that he will doom those who die unholy, eternally to remain so?
Either, 1st, — Sin, and the divine holiness, shall exist in eternal
opposition to each other — or 2ndly, they shall exist in eternal
union — or, 3dly, the greater of the two shall eventually overcome,
and destroy the other. If the 1st is true, the parties must be
equal, and so neither of them can be infinite ! If the 2nd is true,
all that the scriptures and moral philosophy teach respecting the
deity, must be false ! We must therefore conclude the 3rd to be
true ; And now, which shall prevail, infinite purity, or sin ? If
the former, the whole universe shall be reconciled to God, and
be happy. If the latter, the whole universe shall be subjected to
the devil, and be miserable. Can common sense be at a loss for
a decision in this case ? The scriptures, at least, have not left
the matter in doubt, "For it pleased the Father, that in him all
fulness should dwell, and (having made peace by the blood of
the cross) by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I
say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."
(Col. i. 20.) According to very respectable commentators.
" things in earth, and things in heaven," is a common Hebrew
phrase for expressing the whole intelligent universe.
An objector may here inquire, " Why, since it is so opposed
to his nature, does not God exterminate sin at once ? and, since
F

62 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
he does not at once, how do we know that he ever will ? To the
first question I reply, that sin, though odious in itself, may yet,
as overruled by the divine Being, be made to eventuate in a
greater good than could be effected without its means. I say not
that God appointed it to that end ; but that he will so overrule it
that such shall be the result. How otherwise, can his permit
ting its existence be vindicated? for it could surely not have
existed without his permission. " The wrath of man shall
praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain," (Psa.
Ixxvi. 10.) None will deny that there are numerous instances on
sacred record of ' sin having been made to minister to good
results. The betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus Christ are exam
ples to this point. To the 2nd question I answer, that the
scriptures afford us the clearest guarantee that all evil shall
come to a close ; it is supposed to be the work of the d.evil
i. e. an adversary, and " for this purpose the son of God was man
ifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil," (1 John,
iii. 10.) Of course, we are not warranted in supposing that these
6ame works of the devil will continue in being after they are
destroyed, as long as he shall who is to destroy them ; and if
sin shall cease, so also shall suffering.
Much is said by objectors of shallow intellect, on the absurdity
of supposing, that sinners can enjoy happiness in the immediate
presence of a holy God. "The pure abodes of bliss," they
say, " would afford no felicity to sinners." This objection rests
on the assumption that universalists hold to all men being saved
in their sins, which is not the fact, and the objection is therefore
inapplicable; if it have any force at all, it is equally against the
objectors, for, are they not sinners? If not, they are not of the
class which Christ came lo save, for he "came into the world
to save sinners," yea the " chief," (1 Tim. i. 15.) Grace shall
abound where sin hath abounded, and by as much more as infinite
goodness exceeds finite evil ; God requires us to be holy, as he
is holy, and has declared that without holiness no man can see
him ; yet has he given us in his word the counter assurance, that
Ii is " glory shall be revealed, and allftesh shall see it together,"
(Isaiah, xl. 4.) which implies of course, that all shall have
attained to the prerequisite holiness, which is the term of admis
sion to his blissful presence.

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. ,63
9. GOD IS TRUE — (2. Cor. i. 18.)— And man is to "live
Dy every word that proceedeth out of his mouth." (Mat. iv. 4.)
For his words are words of love, (God is love,) and are dispensed
to minister moral life to man; hence the gospel is called "the
word of his grace," (Acts xx. 32.) and " the word of life.'.'
(Acts v. 20.) It is also identified with a message of salvation,
(Acts xiii. 26.) and with a message of peace. (Acts x. 36.)
The burden of its communication is, that " eternal life, which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus
i. 2.) And being promised before the world began, it was not
made dependant on anything in us, or to be performed by us, but
on the divine verity. " For he is faithful that promised." (Heb.
x. 23.) Our -unbelief can never induce Jehovah to violate his
word. "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot
deny himself." (2. Tim. ii. 13.) Man's purposes and promises
are necessarily affected by unforeseen contingents, but when
Jehovah gives his word no circumstance can prevent its being
made good. "For as the rain cometh down and the snow from
heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower,
and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall ac
complish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereunto I sent it." (Isa. Iv. 9.) God's truth is even pledged
upon oath for man's salvation. (Isa. xiv. 23.) The reason for its
being so confirmed, is thus explained by the apostle, " For men
verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to
them an end of all strife; wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his coun
sel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in
which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set
before us." (Heb. vi. 16.) After all which, Arminianism makes
the whole matter to depend on some ifs, buts. excepts, provideds,
&c. And these subjunctives can never be made positives by our
own agency, but by the direct agency of Jehovah alone — when, and
in regard to whom, he shall see fit to exert it! What assurance
then can we individually have for ourselves after all ?
There are in the scriptures, unquestionably, some conditional

G4 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
promises ; these all, however, respect our situation in lime, and
in no case extend their reference to eternity. Salvation, through
faith, takes place during the present existence of the believer.
" He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life." (John iii. 36.)
And damnation, through unbelief, takes place during the present
existence of the unbeliever. " He that believeth not IS con
demned already." (John iii. 18.) The promises which respect
man's condition beyond death are absolute — as already said, they
rest on no contingents; they are called "exceeding great and
precious." (2 Pet. i. 4.) And the covenant containing them,
as compared with the Jewish covenant of works, is calleti " a
better covenant, founded upon better promises." (Heb. viii. 6.)
These are not conditional, for the promises of God through Christ
are not "yea and nay ;" they are not may be and may not Ut; but
" in him all the promises of God are yea, and in him amen, to the
glory of God by us." (2 Cor. i. 21.) "Behold the days come,
.saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house o! Judah ; not according to the cov
enant that I made with their fathers when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they con
tinued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the
Lord." [The fault found with the old covenant, it seems from
this text, was its condilionality, which rendered ils blessings very
insecure, having only the frail dependance of human faithfulness.]
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, I will put my laws into their minds, and
write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to me a people." [If it be considered a term in this
promise, that the subjects are to have God's laws in their minds,
is not God pledged to put them there? If they are required to
be God's people, is he not bound by covenant to make them
such? As, then, the conditions depend on God for fulfilment,
they cannot ultimately fail in regard to any of the subjects, as is
manifest from what follows :] " And they shall not teach every
man his neighbour, and every man his brother, know the Lord,
for ALL shall know me from the least unto the greatest, for I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness; and their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more." (Heb. viii. 8 — 12.)
A promise could not be more absolute in its character, and of this

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. G5
our opponents seem well aware; hence they seem anxious to
'imit its application to believers. "The house of Israel," say
'.hey, " spiritually means the church." And does " the house of
Judah" also mean the church? and was it the "fathers" of the
church which "continued not in" God's covenant, and were
therefore not " regarded ?" What trifling with Ihe sacred oracles
is this ! And now, I beg to know, if God will unconditionally
save the Jewish nation, will he not save all the nations on the
same grounds? or is he a respecter of nations?
The very key-stone of the gospel arch seems to be the promise
made by God to Abraham, that in his seed all mankind shall be
blessed ; this is frequently adverted to in the new testament, in
such terms as sufficiently show the great importance the inspired
writers attached to it; Paul emphatically calls it the gospel,
(Gal. iii. 8.) and Peter, with equal emphasis, calls it the promise,
(Acts. ii. 39.) and the covenant made with the fathers, (ibid. iii. 25.)
It is indeed a promise of promises : its manifest import is, that
all nations, families, kindreds, to whom have extended the curse
of sin and its concomitant moral death, shall experience a
redemption therefrom, and be blessed with Christ Jesus their
head. The revelation of this great truth is " glad tidings of
Ijreat joy which shall be unto all people," (Luke ii. 10.) It was
the prime theme of preaching in the infancy of Christianity, and
it caused the hearts of those that heard it to bound with glad
ness. To doubt the eventual fulfilment of this promise is to mane
God a liar, (1 John v. 10.) it is to refuse credence to the record
which he giveth of his son, " and this is the record, that God
hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his son," (ibid.)
hence he is said in the scripture to have given his son " to be the
life of the world," (viii. 24.) and Jesus calls himself "the bread
of God which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to
the world." (John vi. 33.) The primitive believers rested in
hope of that eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began, (Titus ii. 2.) and this promise was not
hypothetical, or conditional, but absolute, "not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which were
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." (2 Tim. i. 9.)
Could unconditionality be more strongly expressed ?
It may be objected, that this Tecord is true only with regard to
r2

66 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the believer; but if so, how does the unbeliever by refusi_g
credence to it make God a liar? for he only treats as false that
which (according to he objection) actually is so as it respects
himself! It is then a clear case that our belief or unbelief can
not affect the truth of the record ; it was a verity from everlast
ing, and to everlasting it must remain a verity ; and we are
required to believe it, not to make it true, but because it is so ;
so soon as this record is believed, its reality is verified, hence
the believer is said to have "passed from death unto life,"
(John. v. 24.) he " hath everlasting life," (ibid. iii. 36.) it was his
before he realized it ; the gift of God made it his, and the truth
of God declared it his, and faith in the record at length broug'.it
him into possession of it.
But some will here inquire, Suppose the unbeliever should to
all eternity treat the record as false, will he not in that, case fail
ever to experience its verity ? The supposition implies a contra
diction, for if by any means an individual shall fail to enjoy
the blessing communicated in the gospel, it will prove as it
respects that individual a falsehood, and if a falsehood, his unbe
lief in it can be no crime, but rather a virtue.
Some of the subjects of a certain wise and benevolent king,
having been informed that he is a tyrant, rebel against his gov
ernment, but being weak, and unable to resist his power, they
are soon brought to experience that they lie entirely at his mercy ;
they are now filled with the most dreadful apprehensions; they
imagine that he will execute his vengeance upon them in every
horrid form ; some he will burn alive, others he will break upor
the wheel, &c. P,/or creatures ! they have greatly mistaken the
character of their king, for he has no such cruel intentions. On
the contrary he resolves lo subdue them by. the force of love;
to overcome their evil with his goodness ; he accordingly writes
an act of pardon in their behalf, and sets the royal signature
to it, at the same time commissioning an ambas^dor to carry
thei. the joyous intelligence. But suppose the', some of them
will refuse to credit the message, what then " Will he falsify
his word? will he prove himself vindict'-j because they in
their blindness suppose him so? Thai would be a strange.
method, surely, of vindicating his character and the truths
of his message ! Yet, thus acting, he would but imitate the

ARGUMENT FROM THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 07
conduct which the doctrine of endless misery ascribes to the
sovereign of the universe.
Or, to change the figure, a certain wealthy man, hearing that a
poor debtor of his is in great distress, from an apprehension that
« little all is about to be seized to satisfy the claim against
mm, sends a written assurance to his poor friend that he has
forgiven him the whole debt, and professing in strong tenr.s his
kind dispositions towards him : the debtor, however, refuses to
credit these benevolent assurances, as they disagree with the
ideas he has received of his creditor's character : whereupon the
other gets angry, prosecutes the debt, and in default of payment
casts the poor man into prison. Does not the conduct of tl e
creditor in this case justify the poor man's unbelief in his kind
professions ? It undeniably does ; it proves that the other would
have been unsafe in relying upon any promises of his.
To apply these cases. Will God act cruelly because we think
him cruel ? Will his truth become a falsehood because we treat
it as such ? Will he belie his own record, by eternally damning
those to whom he hath given eternal life ? And will he do this
because we foolishly refuse credence to that record ? A most
sagacious method of vindicating its verity, unquestionably.
Thus we have seen that every attribute of Jehovah yields
conclusions, the most clear and undoubted, in favour of the
eventual salvation of all mankind. How could a suspicion to the
contrary be entertained for a single moment? seeing that God is
one and undivided, and all the perfections of his nature are in
harmony with each other. His justice is as much opposed to the
endless reign of injustice as is his holiness to the ceaseless dura
tion of sin, or his love to the eternal continuance of hatred, or
his mercy to that of cruelty ; his goodness to that of evil, and
his truth to that of error. It is in the nature of things for these
infinite attributes to overcome their opposites; the latter being
finite, and not allowed even a present existence for their own sake ;
but with reference to some ultimate good to be brought about by
their means. How ought we to rejoice and take courage from the
fact, that our heavenly father's character is pledged for our final
good! And how valuable ought we to esteem that revelation of
himself to the world through Jesus Christ, by means of which
we arrive at this glorious assurance ! What a soothing and

68 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
peaceful influence does this assurance breathe through the soul t
Amid the darkness and dreariness of life, its language is,
 " yet bear up awhile,
And what thy bounded view (which only saw
A liltle part) deem'd evil, is no more,
The storms of wintry time will quickly pass.
And one unbounded spring encircle all."

THOUGHTS ON THE LAW OF GOD.
This subject is bo apt to be introduced in controversies of this
nature, thnll have thought proper to consider it at some length, and
to assign it a distinct place in this investigation : especially as the
opponents of universalism, when compelled by arguments from the
attributes of God to abandon the hope of finding countenance to
their theory in that quarter, are prone to have recourse to his law,
and to make it responsible for the severity of the sinner's doom, as
if the law could exist independently of the legislator ! " God, to
be sure," say they, " is infinitely good, and no wise disposed in
and of himself to inflict upon his creatures so horrible a punish
ment, but his law imperiously requires such a satisfaction upon
its violators, and except its demands are met to the full, the
order and harmony of the divine government cannot be maintain
ed." Never did a bad cause resort to a weaker fallacy. " Is
there a fate above the Gods ?" Or, to christianize the question,
is there a law in the government of Jehovah which he himself
cannot control ? and in contrariety to his purpose and pleasure
will the destinies of millions of millions be fixed by tnis uncon
trollable power in irreversible perdition ? Then indeed is the
creator to be pitied : since none more than he will deplore — and
unavailingly deplore — the ruin brought upon his creatures by
this relentless law ! Yet, even in this view of the case, he is
not wholly exonerated from blame for having created beings in
view of this result; and him, therefore, after all, and not his law,
must they hold as primarily responsible for their miseries.
Theological system-builders tell us that the law of God is
infinite. Why ? Because it is God's law. All things are God's.
Are all things therefore infinite 1 If so, they are equal to one

THOUGHTS ON THE LAW OF GOD. 69
another and to him that made them ! Its requirements too, they
tell us, are infinite in regard to all intelligences. It follows then,
mat as much is required of persons of small, as of large abili
ties — as much of the ignorant as of the learned — of a child as
of a man — of a man as of an augel ! If these wise men had
been at the pains of consulting the bible it would have informed
them, that " Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much
be required," (Mat. xii. 48.) and that in regard to every service,
as well as that of which the apostle here particularly speaks, " if
there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a
man hath, and not according to that he hath not," (2. Cor. viii.
12.) which, all the universe over, must be admitted as a fair and
equal principle of legislation and government.
Proceeding on, for one step in error usually prepares the way
for another, they assume that an infraction of this infinite law is an
infinite offence ; which being the case, all offences must be infinite,
for all are violations of the same law, and, therefore, all offences,
whether committed by a wise man or a fool — a lord or his slave —
by one possessing great, or another possessing small advantages
— whether committed in the blaze of gospel day, or in the gloom
of pagan night — under strong, or under weak temptations — attend
ed with aggravaling, or with mitigating circumstances — all are
equal ! Nor is this the worst consequence, for if one sin is infi
nite, then it is equal to all the sins together that have ever been,
committed, for all together can make no more than an infinity.
The school-boy who defrauds his fellow in a game of push-pins,
in violating an infinite law, and thereby contracting guilt corres
ponding in turpitude to the dignity of the law sinned against,
draws down upon his soul as much condemnation as though he
had denied, betrayed, and crucified the son of God ! or as though
he had in his own person committed every crime that has ever
been perpetrated since time began! Upon my word, persons
who can believe all this must have an easy credulity !
But further; the offence being infinite, the punishment, we are
told, must also be infinite. This is the philosophical ground
work — the rationale of the doctrine of endless misery. It hence
follows that he who knew his Lord's will and failed to do it, will
be beaten with no more stripes than he will who knew it not!
See a beautiful confirmation of this rare divinity in Luke xii. 47.

70 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
A punishment that is infinite in all cases, can be no greater in one
case than in another : how greatly then was Paul deceived in
supposing that crimes committed under the gospel, demanded
r/reater punishment than did those committed under the law !
•' He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or
three witnesses : of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye,
shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the son
ot God, and hath accounted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
spirit of grace?"* (Heb. x. 28, 29.) Moreover, Christ informed
the scribes'and Pharisees that they should receive the greater dam
nation, (Mat. xxiii. 14.) and a greater, if any dependence may be
placed on logic, implies a less. That there are degrees in punish
ment, then, is a doctrine of undoubted scriptural sanction, and il
hence follows that it is not infinite, for infinity admits of no degrees.
The law of God, speaking of it not in a particular, but in a
general sense, is a copy, of his eternal perfections — is a necessary
emanation from his pure and holy nature: to understand its char
acter, therefore, we have but to know that of its author. Is he
good ? so is it. (Rom. vii. 12. 16.) Is he holy ? It also is holy.
(ibid.) Is he pure? It also is pure. (Psl. xix. 8.) Is he lovel
His law is love likewise. (Mat. xix. 40.) Is he just? It too is
just. (Rom. vii. 12.) Is he perfect? His law is perfect also.
(Psl. xix. 7.) On his law, therefore, the divine Being has
stamped the impress of himself. No thinking man will hesitate
a moment to admit this fact.
All wise and just law is instituted for the benefit of the govern
ed ; human laws, as they emanate from imperfect beings, often
lose sight of this end ; and by as much as they do, they are
unwise and unjust — sometimes the offspring of tyranny — some
times of caprice, interest, conceited ignorance, or misdirected
benevolence — but always marked with the imperfection of their
authors. God's law, on the contrary, is absolutely perfect, and
* Thf intention of the apostle's argument here is, that as there was no escape fur
those who committed the highest class of offences unclpr the law, so apostates from
Christ, being still more deserving of punishment, as they sinned against greatei
obligations, should more certainly and more terribly perish, in the judgements then
impending over the obstinate enemies of Christ's causo. It is as though a judge
should say in passing sentence on a criminal, "You must not hope that executive
clemency will be exercised in your case ; for if such an one escaped not, who com
mitted a similar act with Ipss atrocity in the manner, and under less asgravated cir
cumstances, of how much sorer punishment must you be thought worthy, wh». h«---»
slaughtered a fellow being in a most cruel manner, and in cool blood "

THOUGHTS ON THE LAW OF GOD. 71
jrjust succeed in effecting the final good of all for whose behoof
it was instituted.* Deny this, and you deny the plainest dictates
of common sense. The penalties of this law — how severe
soever — must be compatible with this design ; for a greater
absurdity could not exist in terms than the declaration, that the
penalties of an infinitely perfect law are such as will defeat its
own ends. The doctrine of endless misery, therefore, is an ab
surdity in terms.
The quibbler may essay to evade the above conclusion by
affirming that if the gen*.ral good be secured, (even at the ex
pense of a certain amount of private good,) the original object
of the law will be answered, in like manner as human govern
ments frequently find it necessary to sacrifice guilty individuals
in order to secure the public weal. But this plea is not valid :
human governments are extremely defective — yet even they, in
proportion as they are wise and just, aim at the universal good ;
if they fail of effecting this end, it is from want of power;
when they sacrifice individuals they plead necessity for the act;
but as men advance in enlightenment, they discover this plea to
have no foundation in fact, and, consequently, amongst the most
refined nations capital punishments are grown into disrepate.
Whether in human governments this necessity does, or does not
exist, it certainly does not in the government of God. Does he
love every indivibual ? Then his law respects the final good of
every individual. Is that law perfect? Then all its proposed
ends must infallibly be effected. Universal salvation results of
course. But let us go to the scriptures once more. " Think
not," saith Christ, " that I am come to destroy the l?w and the
prophets ; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil, for verily I say
unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, shall in
no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." (Mat. v. 17. 18.)
That this has not reference to the Jewish ceremonial law is obvi-
>r:s. for it Christ did come lo abolish, as saith Paul, " The law
rrnscur school-master to bring us unto Christ, but after that faith
is come we are. no longer under a school-master." (Gal. iii. 24.)
fiwas the moral law which Christ came to fulfil, and how is it to

* It is not. strictly proper lo speak of the divine law as having been instituted, for
.ike himself it must nave been from eternity; being, as already remarked, a ncces*
lary emanation from his all perfect nature.

72 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
be fulfilled ? By every individual being brought to comply with
ils requirements ; and what are these ? " Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind ; this is the first and great command, and the second
is like unto it; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; on
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
(Mat. xxii. 37. 40.) To the same purpose speaketh James, " If
ye fulfil the royal law ; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy
self, ye shall do well," (Jam. ii. 8.) and Paul likewise, " Love
worketh no ill to its neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of
the law." (Rom. xiii. 9.) On every being in the universe must
this law be equally binding — all, however, are not equally capa
ble of understanding its claims, and, consequently, the obliga
tions of all in regard to it are not equal, nor for the same reason
is a noncompliance with it equally culpable in all — for culpability
is in proportion to the obligations, violated — and the obligations of
each are in proportion to the capacity and opportunities of each.
However, if not one jot or tittle is to pass from the law till all
be fulfilled, it follows that all are to be brought eventually to
comply with its requirements, in loving God supremely, and
each other as themselves. Hence we again arrive at the result
that all mankind shall be saved.
Those who, in the effort to screen God from blame in the busi
ness of endless punishment, are in the habit of referring it to the
inexorable character of his law, usually attempt to illustrate the
matter by the example of Zeleucus the lawgiver. To one of his
statutes was appended the penalty of the loss of both eyes on the
part of its transgressor; it turned out that his own son was the
first among his subjects to incur this heavy doom ; the. king, as
may be believed, was much afflicted at the circumstance, that his
ojily heir and presumptive successor in the government, should be
subjected to a punishment which would forever blast his expecta
tions in life ; yet the penalty must be inflicted, or his laws would
sink into contempt. He therefore determined at length to yield
to the violated statute the two eyes which it demanded ; but
mstead of having both taken from his son he shared the punish
ment with him, and yielded one of his own ! By this means, we
are told, he secured the most unbounded respect of his subjects
toward himself and government.

THOUGHTS ON THE LAW OF GOD. 73
The conduct imputed to Zeleueus may have been well enough
on his part, but would it be suitable to the wisdom — the justice —
the benevolence, of the legislator of heaven and earth ? In the
statute-book of his dominion, there surely exists no law, the ope
ration of which he will have cause to deplore. One necessary-
cause of the impotence of human law is, that its penalties arc
arbitrary — by which I mean that they do not grow out of the of
fence — their only connexion with it bein^ the result of positive
enactment. They, therefore, seldom tend to amend the subject,
or even to prevent others from committing, or the subject from
repeating the same crime. They, moreover, fail of making any
amends to the statute violated, or the party or parties injured there
by. The law of Zeleueus was characterized by all these defects,
and according to the theory of endless suffering, such are also the
characteristics of the law of Heaven. For, is it pretended that
between the sinful acts of men,- and their suffering in ceaseless
fire, there is any necessary connexion? If not, then the penalty
is arbitrary. Is it pretended that it will yield reparation to the
violated law ? or to the party or parties sinned against? or will
it tend to the emendation of the sufferer ? or to deter others from
imitating his example ? If neither of these, then is it not most
undeniably a gratuitous cruelty.
But it will be said, perhaps, that I lose sight in this argument
of the main object of punishment, viz., that of rendering satis
faction to the law. But I deny that the law is satisfied with the
punishment of its violator, for punishment is not an end in legis
lation, it is but a means to an end — the end itself is obedience. It
is the essence of silliness to suppose that the law will rest satis
fied with the means, while the end is unaccomplished. But the
theory of ceaseless suffering supposes this. Theref. -e, said
theory is the essence of silliness. Is the physician satisfied
with the ministry of medicine to a patient, without reference to
his cure ? Or the farmer with the putting in of his seed without
reference to a harvest ?
If God's law lias not respect to the ultimate good of the pun
ished, then, as it regards him, it is not benevolent — and if noi
benevolent, it is also not just. If it has respect to his final good
this will be the issue of its operations with regard to him
Either this conclusion is just, or the law is imperfect; but thr<
c;

74 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
law is not imperfect ; therefore the conclusion is just. Logic,
then, brings us to the very truth attested by the saviour, and
before quoted, viz., that the law of God, in every jot and tittle,
which is love to God and to our neighbors, shall infallibly be
fulfilled, in the universal obedience of all the intelligences for
whose behoof it exists.
I ask now, are the penalties annexed to this law, such as will
defeat its intentions, and render impossible its fulfilment? They
certainly are, if the theory of unceasing punishment be true, for
in that case, myriads of myriads of beings will eternally remain
in a state of rebellion against God, and of enmity toward each
other To render the absurdity of this still more glaring, we
will again have recourse to comparison.
A preceptor, having under his care numerous pupils of highly
respectable parentage, is anxious to advance them to the highest
possible state of intelligence, in order that they may prove orna
ments to society, and creditable to himself as their instructor ; he
accordingly frames a strict code of disciplinary rules for their
guidance, and enacts among other things, that any pupil who
shall for a certain term of time neglect his studies, shall forever
thereafter be debarred from all means of mental improvement,
and be doomed to perpetual ignorance. Reader, can you see any
fitness between such a law, and the preceptor's original design ?
On the contrary, could he have adopted a surer measure for its
*rustration ? And think you that in the government of the uni
verse, God thus weakly legislates against his own purposes?
You must deem but meanly of his wisdom if you do.
The only plea now remaining for endless misery connected
with this subject is, that by its penal operations upon the offend
er, the law will secure the respect to which it is entitled. This
plea is good as it regards limited and cmendatory punishment ;
but as it regards that which is endless, it is utterly void of
*  *'— • law which acts against its own ends — which respects
not me ultimate good of those upon whom its penalties fall — and
which is therefore blind— -weak — vindictive — and inconsistent—
is in fact entitled to no respect, and can never secure it from ra
tional beings ; a servile compliance with its mandates, from
natives of fear, it may indeed exact, but in that case it can with
oo propriety be called " the perfect law of Liberty." God's way

THOUGHTS ON THE LAW OF GOD. 75
of securing respect for his law, consists in his having made it so
reasonable in itself — so just — so pure — so benevolent — so every
thing that it should be — that the mind truly enlightened in regard
to its nature and claims, cannot but choose to obey its dictates 
most cheerfully and heartily to obey them : if all minds do not
now so choose, it is because all minds are not now so enlightened ;
but the covenant of God's love, which promises to bless all man
kind in Christ Jesus, implies his purpose thus ultimately to
enlighten all, and to bring all to obey this law, as the means of
that blessedness. " I will put my law in their minds," saith
God, as before quoted, "and will write it in their hearts." And
then will have come lo pass the prediction of the prophet,
" And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great
shall be the peace of thy children." (Isaiah liv. 13.) "It is
written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God."
(John, vi. 45.) Thus what the prophet foretold, Christ has
sanctioned. How beautiful, then, is the light which the scriptures have
thrown upon this interesting subject! and how opposed, at every
step, are its conclusions, to the drear and spirit-blighting theory
of endless suffering ! According to their teaching, as before
shown, God's law, like himself, is love ; its perfection consists
in its adaptedness to convert the soul. (Psl. xix. 7.) God's vera
city is pledged that he will write on all hearts, (Heb. viii. 11, 12.)
and when this is done, all will obey it. " The law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus," will set them free " from the law of
sin and death," (Rom. viii. 2.) herein consists the blessedness of
the upright, that " his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
his law doth he meditate day and night." (Psl. ii. 2.) Reader,
get possession of this law of love, and it will lead you to visit
the fatherless and the widow — to do justly, love mercy, and
walk humbly with God — to love your enemies — to overcome evil
with good — and thus to assimilate to the character of your father
in heaven. " Great peace have they that love the law of God, and
nothing shall offend them," (Psl cxix. 165.)

76 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM

UNIVERSAL SALVATION
DIRECTLY AND POSITIVELY PROVEN FROM THE RELA
TIONS OF GOD TO MAN.
1. AS OUR CREATOR. — He must be, in a remote sense at
least, responsible for the issue of our being, and according as it
shall prove a blessing or a curse, he may be regarded as a bene
factor or an enemy, and we shall have endless reasons for grati
tude toward him, or for resentment. It is vain to attempt an
evasion of this consequence, for if it be said that our misery
would not have been, but for our sin, it must also be admitted that
our sin would not have been, but for our existence, nor our exis
tence, but for out creator: to this conclusion, then, it must come
at last, and here it must rest. What man, though ever so much
depraved, would consent to be a parent, with the certain knowl
edge before him, that his offspring would be a subject of misery
and degradation in this life, and of ceaseless and hopeless suffer
ing in another? And provided he did so consent, might not his
offspring justly account him his foe, and hold him accountable
for all the evils of his wretched being? It would certainly not
avail the parent to plead that he was actuated by benevolent mo
tives in conferring that existence, and that he designed it should
prove a blessing to the recipient; for how could he have designed
that for good which he knew would prove an evil ? Man, how
ever, though possessing the foresight supposed, might plead the
strength of his sensual inclinations, and the insufficiency of his
moral principles of resistance, not in excuse, but in extenuation
of his pernicious act; but could the divine character, in a similar
case, find shelter under such a plea? No, for "God cannot be
tempted with evil," (James i, 13.) nor has he sensual inclinations
to gratify.
" But," inquires an objector, " may not the creator have made
man subject to the liabilities supposed in the doctrine of endless
miser}', with the view of testing his obedience ? — for if man were
no., left to his own election between good and evil, how could his
virtue as a moral agent be put to the proof?" A sheerer fallacy
never perplexed the poor human brain ! What ! the almighty

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 77
maker of man must have recourse to tests to know the qualities
of what he creates ! It is to be hoped then, that he is made
wiser by his experiments ! But supposing such a test necessary,
still it might have been made without involving endless, and, there
fore, irremediable consequences. That man is left to his choice
between good and bad is not denied ; but it is denied that infinite
benevolence has suspended his weal or woe, for eternity, on so
frail and fickle a thing as the human will — more especially as he
could not but foresee the result of such suspension.
A father having mixed a quantity of arsenic with some white
sugar, puts the compound into the hands of his children, acquaint
ing them at the same lime with its poisonous qualities, and cau
tioning them against eating of it ; they, however, seduced by its
appearance, and detecting nothing but agreeableness in the taste,
disbelieve, or disregard the parental admonition, allow their
appetites the dangerous indulgence, and experience death as the
consequence. The neighbours of the father, hearing that the
children came into possession of the poison by his agency, inquire
his motives in arming his poor offspring with the means of self-
destruction. " Merely by way of experiment," he replies, " upon
their faith in my word, and obedience to my commands." The
neighbours inquire again if he did not foresee the probable issue
of the experiment. " Yes," he answers, " not only ihe probable,
but the certain issue, was as clear to me before the trial as it is
since — still, I meant no harm to my children by the affair ;" can
you not, reader, anticipate the judgement of the neighbours upon
this cruel transaction ? " Wretch !" methinks I hear them ex
claim, "You are guilty of the murder of your children ! you
supplied them with the instrument of death, full well knowing
how fatally to themselves they would employ it ; and now you
seek to deafen your conscience to the voice of their blood by the
weak plea, that you designed a result, different from what you
were assured would take place ! you are convicted, sir, out of your
own mouth." Yet is this contemptible apology the best that
can be found, by the advocates of unending woe, for the defence
of the divine character. God designed well in creating those to
whom he knew their existence would prove an endless curse.
Let us conceive Jehovah as existing <ilone — in the solitude of
unpeopled space. Stood he then in need of creatures like us, to
g3

78 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
augment his happiness? — lo increase his power? — to perfect
his perfections ? No ; for infinity is insusceptible of increase.
What, then, prompted him to create ? Was it the desire to test
his creative skill ? No ; for omniscience does not gather knowl
edge from experiments. The only conceivable motive in this
case is that of benevolence, in order that it might have objects on
which to expand itself; being infinitely happy in himself, the crea
tor was prompted to produce sentient creatures by a propensity to
communicate that happiness. And in proportion as beings are
multiplied, in that proportion are the participants of that ex-
haustless felicity also multiplied. Here is an end worthy of a
God ! an end, reasonable, benevolent, glorious ! philosophy ap
proves it as probable, religion as just and true; this is a corner
stone in the universalist faith, and for want of such a foundation,
the thousand and one theories in religion are as unstable as the
ocean's waves, and as unsubstantial as their foam ; happily we
are saved the labour of proving this important point, by the fact
that it is self-evident, and, therefore, by no party in theology
denied : yet, although none deny it in terms, many do in effect —
for is not the doctrine of endless misery, to all intents and pur
poses, a total denial of it ?
In the deity's discourse with Jonah, how affectingly is his rela
tion to man, as creator, urged as a reason for the display of his
mercy. " Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou
hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a
night, and perished in a night ; And should not I spare Nineveh,
that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand souls
that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand,
and also much cattle." (Jonah iv. 10, 11.) The prophet, it
seems, had been more painfully affected about the perishing of a
gourd, because he had found a shelter in its shade from the torrid
sun, than about the prospective destruction of a large city with
its entire population ! and inasmuch as he had predicted this
destruction, he would have preferred it should ensue, rather than
that his preaching should fall into disrepute ! God, therefore,
condescended to show the callous prophet the ground of his own
benevolent interest in this vast multitude — he had (so to speak)
laboured for them, and made them to grow — they were the work
of his hands — his benevolence had prompted him to create, and

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 79
it n vw prompted him to Gave them. Ye prophets of ceaseless
woe, we may in charity hope you will be less pained in the end,
that your preaching is falsified in the happy event of a whole
world's salvation, than if it should be verified in the utter ruin of
even a solitary individual.*
Moses has recorded that God saw all things, when he had made
them, to i" very good, (Gen. i. 38.) implying, of course, that they
were answerable to the benevolent purposes for which he had
created them. The author of any mechanical, or other contri
vance, accounts it to be good or bad, according as he sees it is
or is not adapted to meet his original intentions. God saw to
what result his works would come — he saw whether the utter and
irretrievable damnation of myriads of beings would be among
those results ; and if he did indeed foresee this consequence, and
yet in view of it, pronounced his works " very good," it must
follow that he designed it, and then of what value are all the scrip
tural assurances of his goodness? — and what creditis due to them?
Moses has also recorded that God blessed the first human pair,
and bade them " multiply and replenish the earth." (Gen. i. 23.)
For what? that hell might be populated ? for such, according to
the dogma under consideration, he foresaw would be the case.
In the name of God — and religion — and consistency — oh ye abet
tors of this dark creed ! I call upon you to ponder well this im
portant matter. Would infinite love thus encourage our unsus
pecting parents to multiply their kind, even to millions of
millions, to the end that the dark realms of unending woe should
be peopled ? Would not an imputation of so odious a character,
add blackness to our blackest conceptions of cruelty ? Surely
this encouragement to propagate the species, implies that the
divine benevolence had charged itself with their safe keeping, and
through whatsoever vicissitudes of sin and suffering the offspring
* It would, however, seem not, from the feeling they often manifest on this subject.
Whilst yet a minor, in Philadelphia, I once went to hear a celebrated orator declaim
(declamation it proved mfact, argument in profession) against the growing and
dangerous heresy of universalism. I shall never f.irget the following passage in the
discourse— in my boyish simplicity, I thought it grand at the time. "What! ad
mit the sinner into heaven! If Jehovah could commit such folly (I speak it with
reverence) the meanest saint in that bright realm, would rise indignant from his
golden throne, and spurn the wrplch to hell !" Think of that now ! How beautiful I
How sublime ! How modest withal ! The preacher himself was not a sinner— not
he; and so beins not a sinner, he and his class will doubtless have heaven entirely
to themselves ; for Christ Jesus came into ihe world to save saints, it seems, not
sinners

80 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
of that sinning pair might intermediately pass, yet was it tho
purpose of that undying love, most faithfully to redeem the im
plied pledge.
It is affirmed of God in the scriptures that he " will have a regard
to the work of his hands," (Job xiv. 15.) hence all his works are
frequently called upon — together with "every thing that hath
breath, to praise the name of the Lord." (Psl. cl. 6.) I know
not with what reason or justice every creature can be required tc
praise God, except they are to be the gainers by the existence
which they have received at his hands : on this ground it is most
just; and most heartily, methinks, will that praise be accorded
when in the morning of that immortal day, which is to be signal
ised by the triumph of infinite love over death, and darkness, and
sin, they shall see the mysteries of divine providence during the
night of time unfolded, and to have issued by means to them the
most unpromising in the most happifying and perfect consumma
tion ; then we shall truly find all beings uniting in the ascription,
"Thou art worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and
power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they
are, and were created." (Rev. iv. 11.)
Men have been much puzzled, in different ages, to account for
the existence of evil — they have been at a loss how to reconcile
the fact with, the established doctrine of the infinite goodness of
the creator ; the Magian, or Zoroastic religion, (which prevailed
throughout ancient Ohaldea,) attempted to solve this mystery, by
the supposition that there are two creators, of equal, or nearly equal
power ; the one the source of all good, the other the source of ah
evil : which doctrine is still substantially (though not avowedly)
maintained by a majority of christians ; who trace all that is
good to God, and all that is bad to the devil ! so that the preva
lent christian creed, so far as respects this particular, is but the
Magian creed revived in a new form. But with this advantago
in favour of the latter, that Zoroaster taught that the author of
all good would eventually overcome and extirpate the author of
all evil, and goodness should then be sole, supreme, and univer
sal. Whereas the class of christians referred to, think that evil
will be co-eternal wilh good that there will never, in the bound
less future, be found a remer'v by infinite goodness, for the evils
which shall overspread h><" 'l.intini^ns !

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 81
The scriptures are most satisfactory, most philosophical, upon
this puzzling pert •, they teach that "of God are all things,"
(Rom. xi. 36. 1 Cor. viii. 6. 2 Cor. v. 18. Rev. iv. 11.) they
represent Jehovah himself as saying, " I form the light and
create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all
these things." (Isaiah xiv. 7.) " Can there," they ask, " be
evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it!" (Amos iii. 6.) and
again, " Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall
we not receive evil also ?" (Job ii. 10.) " Affliction cometh not
forth of the dust!" they affirm, " neither doth trouble spring cut
of the ground." (Job v. G.) All these things are, in the scrip*
lures, most consistently resolved into the power and appointment
of Heaven, for wise and benevolent ends. Hence, they are evils
only in a relative, not in an absolute sense — evils as they are con
nected with our, but not as they are connected with God's agency,
for what we mean unto an evil result, God means unto good.
fGen. i. 20.) " Happy the man who sees a God employ'd
In all the good and ills that chequer life.
Resolving all events, with their effects
And manifold results, into the will
And arbitration wise of the Supreme." — Co-wper.
This is the language of a philosophical christian, and it speaks
the religion and philosophy of the bible. We were not designed,
in this mode of being, for either moral or physical perfection — the
same creator who gave ferocity and an appetite for blood to the
beast, of prey, gave to man also the passions and appetites which
prompt him to crime, and prove to him frequently the sources of
that moral and physical misery inseparable from human life.
Man, however, is gifted with reason, to enable him to restrain
the animal impulses, and to allow them such exercise only as
is consistent with his duty and true happiness. God holds him
responsible for ihe use he makes of all his functions: as his
moral principles, or his animal nature predominates, he assimi
lates to God, or to the brute, and is accordingly happy or mis
erable. " Two principles in human nature reign,
Self-love to urge, and reason to restrain,
Nor this or good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end to rule or govern all." — Pope.

82 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
Paul, in plain prose, speaks the same truth, " But I see an
other law in my members, warring against the law in my mind,
and bringing me into caytivity to the law of sin which is in my
members." (Rom. vii. 23.) In all which there is this utility, that
our moral virtue is thus put to trial — Good and evil — life and
death — are set before us — on our choice depends our condition —
not hereafter, but here — and we hence learn from experience
the happiness which flows from virtue, and the misery from vice;
which experience is not to be lost to us when we shall have de
parted this stage of action, but, on the contrary, is to have a
beneficial bearing upon our whole future being.
From this view of things we gather a lesson of most cheering
and practical influence : we learn to adore the perfections of our
creator; because if nothing exists independently of him, then all
things are subject to his control ; and in what difficulties or evils
soever we may become involved, his power and grace are equal
to our extrication ; whatever is, is for a wise and good end ; and
for the same end, man is what he is, " For the creature was made
subject to vanity, not willingly," [that is, not by the creature's
will, for the creature could have no will in the matter of its crea
tion,] " but by reason of him who subjected the same in hope.
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bon
dage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of
God." (Rom. viii. 20, 21.) Some have supposed, (the celebra
ted John Wesley among them,) on the authority of this, and a
few other passages, that even the brute creation are destined to a
future, and happier state of existence, and I know no good Teason
why they should not be, for their present state is one of much
suffering; and with the highly gifted Bulwer, (in a work of hii
entitled " The Student,") I deem it probable that the all-benefi
cent creator, has in reserve for them an ample compensation fo*
their present sufferings. However this may be, il is a matter of
inspired record that such is the case with regard to man. " Oui
light afflictions which are but for a moment, worketh for us a fai
more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory."
From the whole, then, it results, that we are God's property —
he made us for nimself — not for the devil — that we might par
take, and reflect, his goodness and glory — not that in our ruin we
might reflect his cruelty and bis disgrace — all the attributes of

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 83
his nature are so many sufficient pledges, that we shall infallibly
answer the beneficent end to which he designed us — while at the
same time they all combine to assure us what that end is — and
hence, as before remarked, we are under the strongest of obliga
tions to lift our hearts toward him in confidence and love — and to
devote to his most reasonable service those powers of body and
mind, which we have received from his forming hand.
2. AS OUR FATHER. Our opponents seem aware of the
consequence against their dogma to be drawn from this relation,
and they, therefore, deny its universality ,¦ " it only exists," say
they, " in regard to the truly pious;" and they find a number of
texts of scripture which they think sanction this restriction.
For example: "As many as are led by the spirit of God, they
are the sons of God," (Rom. viii. 14.) whence it seems logic
ally to follow, that as many as are not so led, are not God's sons ;
and it is granted that they certainly are not, in the sense intended.
They also find, that while some in the scriptures are addressed
as, in a particular sense, the children of God ; others are spoken
of as " the children of the wicked one," or " the devil." Hence
they actually maintain that mankind consists of two classes — the
one the offspring of God — the other of satan ! Than which a
sentiment more odions, or more pernicious in its consequences,
was surely never adopted ; a little attention to scriptural phrase
ology will set this point in a plain and satisfactory light.
It is known to every attentive biblical student, that in figura
tive language, a person was said to be the child even of any
circumstance or abstract quality, by which he was distinguished ;
hence we read of children of light — of the day — of darkness—
of Belial — of God — of this world — of ihe resurrection — of the
bridegroom — of the kingdom — of perdition — of affliction — of con
solation — of thunder — of peace — of strife — of cunning — of guile—
&c. &c. If we are to understand any of these expressions in a
strict sense, why not all ? Is it not obvious, that neither of thesu
were designed for a literal interpretation?
A person was also said to be the child of another, whose dis
positions or example he copied ; hence, Jabal is called " the
father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle;" Jubal is called
" tne father of such as play upon the harp and organ ;" and Tubal-
Cam, " the father of all such as work in brass and iron." (Gen

84 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
iv. 20, 21.) To the proud and persecuting Jews, Christ said,
" Ye are of your father the devil, and his works ye do," (John
viii. 44.) "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the
works of Abraham." (ibid. 31.) Now in point of fact, they were
Abraham's children ; but they were not so by resemblance of charac
ter, or in a practical sense : so Christ, when he enjoins certain
virtues, urges as a motive to their performance, " that ye may be
the children of your Father which is in heaven." (Mat. v. 45.)
By losing sight of the figurative usage here, one would think that
the party addressed, were not the children of God — else, why are
they directed what to do in order to become such ? But the
attentive reader will discover that Christ distinctly recognises the
divine relation to them; for he calls God their "Father in
heaven," which implies of course that they were in reality his
offspring, and by practicing the virtues enjoined, they would
become such characteristically or practically. To the same amount
Peter, after commending the virtues of Sarah, Abraham's wife,
adds by way of encouragement to the women of the churches to
which he wrote, " whose daughters ye are, so long as ye do well."
(1 Pet. iii. 6.) They would thus become her imitators, and,
according to the usage of speech in those times, her daughters.
We are not by any means free from the same usage now ; it is
still a common practice to call the disciples, or imitators of anoth
er, his children. Some we call the children of Calvin — some of
Wesley — the physician we term a son of Esculapius, or of Hippo
crates — the lover of music is a son of Apollo — the lover of wine
and frolic is a son cf Bacchus — the shoe-maker is a son of Crispin
— the sailor a son of Neptune — the soldier a son of Mars — the
strong man a son of Hercules, &c. Among the wild mountain
clans of Scotland, this usage was still more prevalent ; each
individual, besides being the child of his chief, was also the
child of whatever particular profession he followed, or circum
stance which distinguished him.
It might with the same propriety be maintained, that because
some are termed sons of thunder, they were therefore generated
by an electrica-l explosion of the clouds — or because some are
termed children of light, that they were therefore born in the sun,
as to suppose that all are not the children of God, because of
Bome being metaphorically termed '' 'he children of the wicked

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 85
one." Truth is, that God is equally the father of every individ
ual, but while the christian has within himself the evidence of
this fact, and it is a source of peace and rejoicing to him ; the
wicked man is ignorant of it — is " without God, and without
hope in the world." Plain as this point is, however, in itself
I am not disposed to beg its admission by the reader without
proof, and therefore present the following circumstances in evi
dence. 1. We are equally the descendants of Adam, and he in the
scriptures is termed "the son of God." (Luke iii. 28.) Surely
if the original stream is related to the fountain whence it flowed,
all the branches into which it has ramified, are equally related to
it. 2. It is the duty and privilege of all to pray, and Christ
directs, " when ye pray, say our Father who art in heaven."
(Mat. vi. 9.) Christ would certainly no: authorize our calling
God what he is not! 3. Our spirits have a common source;
hence, God is called the>" father of our spirits," (Heb. xii. 9.)
and " the God of the spirits of all flesh." (Num. xvi. 22.)
4. They have also a common destination ; for " when the body
returns to the dust whence it came, the spirit shall return to the
God that gave it." (Eccle. xii. 7.) 5. We are all corporeally com
pounded of the same materials ; " for God hath made of one blood
all nations of men, to dwell upon all the face of the earth," (Acts
xvii. 25.) and " in him we live, and move, and have our being,"
(ibid.) 6. The fact is expressly declared, " For there is one God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
all." (Ephe. iv. 6.) 7. It is also interrogatively affirmed, (which
is the strongest form of affirmation, being a question which in
volves its own answer,) " Have we not all one Father?" (Mai.
ii. 6.)* 8. And Paul admitted the same to be true, even of
the idolatrous Athenians, " Forasmuch, then, as ye are the off
spring of God." (Acts xvii. 22.) Jehovah himself repeatedly
does the same in Tegard to the rebellious Jews, " If I am a father,
where is mine honor?" (Mai. i. 10.) Finally, we are positive
ly declared to be related to God through Christ, who is " the
* Oh, the straits to which the advocates of a partial theology are reduced ! " This
affirmation," say they, " only has respect to the Jewish priests, whom the prophet
was then addressing himself to." Indeed 1 Then when he adds, " Hath not one God
created us all V I suppose we are to understand him as meaning; that God is the
creator of none but those priests I
H

86 FRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
head of every man," and "the head of Christ is God." (1 Cor.
xi. 3.) Much more might be adduced to the same effect.
Sin may, indeed, and does, efface the divine image in us ; it
may, and does, render us unlike our Heavenly Father ; it sepa
rates, too, between us and God ; but it cannot dissolve the
relation, nor the obligations, between the parties; for that rela
tion, and those obligations, are not founded on any qualities we
possess ; hut on the act of God in our creation, and nothing
short of his uncreating us, can obliterate them. When the
prodigal wandered from home — wasted his substance, and degra
ded himself, did he cease to be a son ? And when at length,
he reflected that he had a father, was he mistaken ? Oh, no ! the
sequel proves him to have been correct, and it equally proves to
us. that the paternal goodness of God, (for that is the point it
was introduced to illustrate,) will long — long outlive our filial
obedience and gratitude ; God will not cease to be a father
even though we may cease to act as his children.
I have said above, that the theory which supposes mankind to
be composed of two opposite parties, is exceedingly pernicious in
its influences ; argument can scarcely be required in support of this.
If I belong to the devil — if he is my father — then to him is my
filial obedience due — and God can have no counter claims upon it
—every child is bound to love and obey his own parent. This
Is one evil consequence. Another is, that the parties standing
toward each other in such opposite relations, will naturally cher
ish toward each other a militant disposition — the child of God
will despise the child of the devil, and the latter will hate the
former in return. How much of the seas of blood that has cried
to the throne of heaven against the persecutor, has flowed from
this source, the all-seeing God alone can tell. What if the
husband should be a child of God, and the wife a child of
the devil — will God, or the devil, claim the offspring? or will
they divide the property in dispute agreeably to Solomon's de
cision ?
The bible does, indeed, recognise two opposite characters — but
not classes of men. So far is it from imputing all righteo-.sness
to one set of persons, and all wickedness to another, that it dis
tinctly asserts, " the whole world lieth in wickedness," (John v.
20.) and " there is none righteous, no, not one." (Rom. iii. 10.)

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 87
The terms righteous and wicked, therefore, as they respect man-
kind, have but a relative signification ; for tl.«. most upright of
men have some defects of character, and the most wicked some
redeeming qualities ; if a division of mankind were altempt-ed, it
is certain that a vast majority would be neither on the one side
nor the other, but on the dividing line ; it would be exceedingly
difficult for the conflicting claims on the part of God, and the
devil, to be adjusted in regard to this large majority, otherwise
than by the judgement of Solomon before alluded to — by each of
the subjects being equally divided between the parties. Thus
much for the difficulties attendant on a gross interpretation of the
figurative language of scripture. But if men, as the scriptures
assert, belong to one heavenly parent, and one redeeming head,
and are members one of another, then are they bound Xo each
other in fraternal, and to their common parent in filial ties ;
from these ties arise strong obligations, and from a discharge
of these, ensues true happiness — happiness to each, happiness
to all.
If an earthly father's love to his child will endure unimpaired
through a long — long course of disobedience and provocation on
the part of that child — if it will follow him in all his wanderings
and rebellions — inviting his return — eagerly watching for occa
sions to restore him to virtue and to happiness: and even though
that child's waywardness may have exhausted the parent's prop
erty — ruined his domestic peace, and almost broken his heart — if
it will still cling to the ungrateful wretch — even down to death —
water his ignominious grave with tears of anguish — and in bitter
ness of soul exclaim — " Oh ! my son, my son ! would God I
had died for thee !" (2 Sam. xviii. 13.) Or, in case the child
become penitent, if it will still meet him more than half way —
embrace him in its arms — bestow kisses of pardon on his cheek —
and bedew his neck with tears of joy : (Luke xv. 30.) if, I say,
earthly parental love will do this, what may not be argued from
the love of heaven ?
"Ah !" exclaims an objector, "but God's love is not the same
as that of an earthly parent." No, not exactly the same, I grant,
it differs from it, however, only in degree — not in nature. An
earthly father's love may fail — Its ardour may abate — for it is
finite — it is even among possibilities for a mother's love to

88 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
cease toward her suckling child — but the parental .ove of God is
higher than the utmost reach of human affection, by as much as
heaven is higher than the earth. (Isa. Iv. 9.) It is unfailing.
(1 Cor. xiii. 8.) It is " an everlasting love." (Isa. xxxi. 3.)
" Many waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown it."
(Cant. viii. 7.) It existed toward us even when we were aliens,
and enemies by wicked works," (Col. i. 21.) and although for
a time our sins may so far " separate between us and God," as to
hinder our enjoyment of his goodness, yet a total and final for
feiture of his love can by no circumstances be effected. (Rom.
viii. 38.) As an earthly father would, were it in his power, make
all his offspring — even the least deserving — unceasingly happy —
how much more will our father in heaven — all-powerful as he is,
as well as good — do the same for his children ? Jesus Christ
has expressly, and by his own repeated example, sanctioned
comparisons of this nature — he enjoins, " Be ye therefore merci
ful, even as your Father in heaven is merciful." (Luke vi. 37.)
We should certainly hesitate to pronounce a parent merciful,
who should inflict protracted and aggravated miseries upon his
children, without reference lo any merciful end!
We argue not from this divine relation, that God will not punish
us according lo the demerit of our crimes — on the contrary, we
insist that he will — but be it remembered, that to punish a child
is one thing — to ruin him is another.
The stern old Roman, (Brutus) who sacrificed his offspring
for an act of treachery to his country's freedom, is said to have
betrayed no emotion during the terrible execution of the sentence.
His patriotism and impartiality, have been the subject of lavish
praise, but mankind have scarcely accepted these considerations,
in atonement for his outrage upon the ties of nature.
In the history of our country, there is an incident of much
moral beauty ; it relates to the time of our war with the French
and Indians, while we were yet the subjects of the British crown.
A man by the name of Dunning, being at work in his field, saw a
party of Indians approach his dwelling, where lay his sick wife
and infant child, to whom it was out of his power to extend
protection ; but his older children were at play together close at
hand, and, conceiving it possible to save at least one of them,
he seized a horse, and rode up to the group with the purpose of

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 89
electing the child most dear to him, and effecting his escape
with that one ; when, however, he came to the business of selec
tion, he found it impossible to fix his preference in favour of one
to the exclusion of the rest ; and he therefore resolved on making
a desperate effort for the rescue of the whole. Accordingly, he
drove them on before him, interposing his own person betwixt
thern and the fire of the savages, and thus, at his own imminent
risk, he succeeded in his noble undertaking of saving all his
children. What a beautiful instance of paternal love ! A father
throws his own life between his children and ruin — mere temporal
ruin — and that father but a man — a child of dust ! But the
infinite Being, we are told, will abandon millions — ay — millions
of millions — of his offspring — the work of his hands — to a
doom of infinite woe !
.Reader, are you a father? Have you a child after your own
likeness, or the likeness of her whom you love as yourself ? If so,
look now upon that child, and tell me, if you have the heart of a
man, whether any — the worst conceivable provocation on his part,
can so utterly alienate your affections from him, and blunt your
sensibilities in regard to him, that you could abandon him to utter
and hopeless ruin — to a state in which he would be lost — in the
most absolute sense of the word — lost to virtue, to happiness, to
you, to his God, even to hope itself, (the last to desert the miser
able,) and to all the purposes of his existence ? Can you, sir,
render affirmative answers to these questions ? The Lord pity
you for a wretch, if you can ! and if you cannot, then, I pray you,
avoid the blasphemy of imputing to the " Father of mercies,"
acts of cruelty, at which even your better nature revolts !
Oh ! how many an earnest prayer has gone up to the throne of
Ueaven, from the hearts of parents, who mistakenly conceived
their children to be liable to a doom of ceaseless fire ! And to
that all-seeing eye, which can analyse all human thoughts,
what intense — what poignant solicitude is often discernible in
these supplications! " Oh ! my God," (we may conceive to be
the substance of these parental breathings,) " compassionate the
sorrow-stricken heart of a father! and arrest the steps of my
thoun-htless and wayward child, that they take him not down to
depths of ruin, beyond the reach of thy grace. Oh ! let not my
soul in his loss deplore the eternal blight of its hopes, and all tho
h2

90 PRO AND CON 01 UNIVERSALISM.
fond expectations of my trusting heart — that as thou hadst given
him to me in love, that same almighty love would charge itself
with his safekeeping, until he reached the bliss at thy right hand
— oh ! let not these expectations issue in a harvest of despair !
And, oh Lord ! pity. also the mother on whose bosom he hung, and
who watched over his infancy with the vigilance of a love, which
among finite beings, none but a mother can know. Oh ! how caa
she endure, that a plant she so cherished, should grow up but to
be blasted by thy wrath ! Pity us ! pity us, Lord ! and if the bolt
of thy displeasure must have an object, let it fall on me, but let
the mother and her offspring live ! Oh, let not our sun go down
in so dark a cloud, as that which bodes his ruin !" Alas ! alas,
old man ! know you not, that the love of heaven for the subject
of your solicitude, even infinitely exceeds your own ? Think you
that your son has a stronger hold in your regards — al! frail and
limited as you are — than in those of the God that made him ?
Does the affectionate mother need to be implored to be kind to the
infant at her breast ? much less does the love of our Father in
heaven, need to be moved toward his offspring, by their feeble
EapDlications — can a little drop agitate an ocean ? or an atom
discompose the order and harmony of the universe ? Then will
infinite love require to be moved by that which is finite. He.ice
with the poet we may say —
" And will Jehovah condescend
To be my father and my friend ?
Then let my songs with angels join,
Heaven's secure if God is mine."
And here I may as well stop, for there is no end to the argu
ment for the ultimate salvation of mankind from the paternal
relations of God.
3. AS OUR MORAL GOVERNOR  We usually account
a ruler to be wise and good, in proportion as the subjects of bi3
government are prosperous and happy. The best of earthly sove
reigns, however, cannot entirely prevent crime, and its attend
ant miseries from infesting their dominions, but in proportion as
they can and do secure this result, are their administrations ad
mired, and they themselves accounted the benefactors of their
people. Suppose that we were informed by an intelligent travel
ler, that in journeying through a certain country, he found the

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 91
people in the most degraded situation conceivable — that in what
ever direction he went amongst them, he could hear little else
than descriptions of the terrible vengeance of their kinc  his
horrid prisons — solitary cells — racks, pullies, and other torturing
instruments — and the groans and screams of the hapless in
mates of these drear abodes. And suppose this traveller should
further inform us that the officers of this king, and those
who assumed to know his character and interpret his designs,
were in the constant habit of enforcing his mandates upon the
people by appeals — to their fears in reference to these horrors.
Should we not from this description, conclude that said king wa?
a monstrous tyrant ?
If it be asked whether an earthly ruler would be justified in
allowing crime and suffering to enter his dominion — supposing
he had the power to keep them out? it must be answered,
No — except he could secure some ultimate good to his subjects
by their admission — and that ultimate good must be so great, as
fully to compensate for the temporary evils and misery which
they occasioned, insomuch that in the issue, his subjects would
be gainers by their admission. In that case he would be fully
justified. On this ground alone, as I conceive, can the almighty
ruler of the universe be acquitted of folly or cruelty, in having
permitted sin and suffering to enter the world — for none are so
weak as to suppose that he could not have had it otherwise. And
do we not grossly slander his character when we affirm, that ho
permitted this state of things with the certain foresight that it
would never be remedied, but would to all eternity be growing
worse, and would involve in irreparable ruin many millions of his
unfortunate subjects? They who can vindicate so cruel, and
unwise an administration of affairs, must be entitled to some credit
for their ingenuity !
A certain sovereign, whose empire was large and populous, and
whose defences were so strong that no foe could invade his do
minions, without his permission, who knew, moreover, that
nothino- would more gratify his malignant enemies than to be able
to r/ain an entrance among his people, and by enticing them from
their allegiance, to involve them in wretchedness and ruin. Yet
this king gave orders that all the entrances and defences of his
empire should be left unguarded, and every obstruction to tha

91 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
ingress of the foe removed : which being done, they rushed
eagerly in, and all the disastrous consequences which it was fore
seen would follow, were soon apparent. Whereupon, he was
wroth — very wroth — and ordained that the evils thus introduced
among his subjects should never be wholly extirpated, and that all
of his people who should omit to r&turn to their allegiance with
in a certain brief space of time, shuuld be abandoned irredeem
ably to the consequences of their rebellion, in addition to the most
horrid tortures which it was in his power to inflict! Can you tell
me, reader, who that sovereign was ?
Is the above, then, a true representation of the ruler of the
universe? It undeniably is if the theory of ceaseless punish
ment be true, but it by no means corresponds with God as he is
revealed in the bible, however it may as he is revealed by Milton,
for does the former leach that the universe will always be a scene
of rebellion and suffering? Shall hatred eternally divide God's
empire with love ? — Sin with holiness ? Hell with heaver I
Shall the tide of ruin — deep, widespread, everlasting, be allowed
to roll over his fair works by his own consent or connivance?
No — no — no ! this cannot be. On the contrary, if any dependence
is to be put on inspired testimony, Jehovah shall reign throughout
the universe in the supremacy of almighty, all-subduing lovo —
to him shall every knee bow, and every tongue swear, that in
him they have righteousness and strength, (Isa. xiv. 23.) every
power inimical to the order and harmony of his government,
shall be destroyed, (I Cor. xv. 24, 25, 26.) corruption, dishonor,
mortality, death, hades ; shall be swallowed up in a victory of
incorruption, glory, immortality, life and heaven, and God shall
be all in all. (ibid.) Such will be Ihe triumphant issue of the
divine government; and with great propriety therefore, does
the Psalmist exclaim, "The Lord reigneth, let the earth re
joice !" (Psl. xcvii. 1.) Oh ! this cheering truth ! what a guar
antee does it afford, that all events — however complicated 
however dtirk and unpromising to our imperfect perceptions 
shall nevertheless issue in a final consummation, most cheerinc
and salutary to every intelligent being ! It is enough to know that
love reigns — infinite love — to be assured that the affairs of the
universe are wisely and benevolently administered, and that though
" sorrow endureth for a night," yet the shades of that night

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 93
shall ere long pass away, and "joy cometh in the mornino-."
(Psl. 1.30.)
It is an inquiry of grave moment, whether in the government
of Jehovah a suitable distinction is maintained between the good
and the bad in his present dispensations, or whether he defers the
making of such distinction until the parties arrive in eternity.
That the former is the case is evident from several considerations,
but these it is not my purpose to introduce until I come to treat
upon a future judgment ,- suffice it for the present to observe, that
if the good were not now rewarded, and the wicked now punish
ed, the former would become discouraged, and the latter em
boldened, and thus great injustice would be done to both.
Moreover we should not know virtue to be a good, nor vice to be
an evil, but for their respective effects-^-noi is it enough that we
merely observe these effects, we must experience them — Should
we ever be likely to abandon a fountain whose waters were
uniformly sweet to our taste ? Or a tree, whose fruit was deli
cious ? And can it comport with the justice (not to say goodness)
of our divine ruler, to have so framed the moral system, that the
very actions which tend to our final undoing, should be agreeable
in their present influences, and that those actions which are promo
tive of our eventual good, should yield no present enjoyment to the
actors? As well would it comport with the regards of a father
to the welfare of his child to strew with flowers, and with
tempting fruits, a path in which lies hidden a frightful preci
pice ; for in such case he might assure himself of his child's
destruction. The laws of nature, it is true, have an equal operation upon all
classes of men. God " maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust," (Mat. v.
45.) all classes are alike liable to sickness, poverty, pain, death,
&c. Is there therefore no present and sufficient distinction among
them? There undoubtedly is. " Great peace have they that love
God's law, and nothing shall offend them," (Psl.cxix. 165.) but
" there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." (Isaiah lvii.
21.) The ways of wisdom (meaning virtue) are said to be
" ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." (Prov. iii.
17.) On the contrary, " the way of transgressors is hard."
, Ibid. xiii. 15.) We must therefore not commit the mistake of

94 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
supposing, that because these distinctions are not always plain to
our perception, that therefore they do not exist : neither must we
suppose that because the good are not always rich and healthy,
nor the wicked always in indigent or afflictive circumstances,
that therefore the former are not sufficiently rewarded, nor the
latter sufficiently punished.
" For what if virtue starves, while vice is fed,
What then 1 Is the reward of virtue bread J" — Pope.
Solomon saith, " He that spareth the rod hateth his son," [and
bo be does virtually — for he pursues toward him a course ad
apted for his ruin, and hatred could do no worse] " but he that
loveth him, chasteneth him betimes." (Prov. xiii. 24.) It is
unaccountable that a different conduct should be thought of for a
moment, as ascribable to the deity ! " Shall not the judge of all
Mie earth do right 1" (Gen. xviii. 25.)
Conversing once with a preceptor of youth, who was of the
opposite opinion — I advised him, with affected gravity, to adopt
for his school a similar plan of government. " Instead," said I,
" of rewarding your meritorious, or punishing your culpable
scholars, day by day, as they may deserve — enter against their
names in a book every good or bad action which they may com
mit — and at the end of the year call them to an account for all
their past conduct, and then reward or punish them respectively
in gross : this will at once save you much trouble, and afford you
an opportunity of vindicating the rectitude of your government
to the collected mass." My friend stared upon me in surprise-
for I had taken care not to connect this advice with any allusion
to his religious opinions — "Oh sir!" he exclaimed, " this plan
would prove most weak and ruinous ! The meritorious scholars
finding ihemselves so long neglected, would become dishearten-
ed ; the vicious ones would grow reckless and hardened from
long impunity, and the school in that case would dissolve before
the term expired ; but even if this consequence did not ensue, to
inflict upon the culprits altogether the punishment t-hey had
demerited by their several misdemeanours thoughout the term,
would be to destroy them utterly — No, no, sir, it would not
answer ! I should be foolish and weak indeed to govern my
school by such a plan !" — " And yet, my friend," I rejoined

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 95
*- /our creed ascribes precisely such a system of government to
toe sovereign of the universe !"
In nothing, perhaps, is the weakness of man more conspic
uously displayed, than in his lowering the divine character
even far beneath his own, and then affecting to reverence it
as the very infinitude of perfection! Let an earthly ruler but
act as we represent Jehovah as acting, and he would earn for
himself the unenviable reputation of a miscreant and monster —
we would assign him a niche in the temple of infamy with
Caligula. — with Domitian— with Marhis — with Henry the elev
enth of France — and eighth of England — and others of like
hard heart and dark spirit, who stand prominent amongst the
loathed and hated of mankind,
" By merit raised to that bad eminence."
And yet we affect to regard with lavish praise those self-same
odious attributes, when connected with an idol of our imagina
tion to which we impiously apply the name GOD ! ! ! It can
surely then not be much wondered at, that so much depravity of
character has been found among the worshipers of such a deity ;
and that in the train of this radical and leading error so much
that is absurd in theory, and nauseating and blighting in influ
ence, should be found. The purest of hearts will in time be
vitiated by constant communion with a, bad being, and what
worse being can be found in the universe (if we may except the
devil) than he whom millions of blinded devotees adore as
God ? .Unsinning infants themselves, have been supposed the
objects of his wrath ! The successive generations who have
been born and perished in heathen lands, and without their own
fault have never heard of him, it has been believed, will have to
do penance for their ignorance in never-ceasing groans ! Many
to conciliate him have traversed burning and sandy wastes ; many
have clad themselves in sackcloth and denied themselves all the
comforts of existence ; many have crouched down and been
crushed under heavy cars ; walked barefooted over burning coals ;
&c. &c, and even in our own time and country, how much
anxiety of soul is experienced — how many hearts are crushed —
and over bow many a tender and amiable spirit is thrown the
blasting and blighting influence of fear ? Does infinite hatred

96 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
occupy the throne of the universe ? Is the king of heaven an
almighty tyrant ? Why — oh ye. children of men, are ye not
assured by the instructions of the bible? It calls upon you to
rejoice, because God reigneth — it represents his goodness as unto
all, and his tender mercy as over all his works — it tells you that
the unthankful and the evil are also the subjects of his kindness —
it points to God as the pattern and the perfection of those virtues
which ye yourselves should practice — it sets forth the Lord Jesus
to you as the embodied representative of those perfections — and
was he a Being to break a bruised reed, or quench the smoking
flax l were his ministrations such as were adapted to break the
heart — or to paralyse it with despair?
I have before alluded to the conclusion we should form concern-
,ng a sovereign ; from the reports of a traveler respecting the
condition of his subjects — that if he found a great deal of suffer
ing and oppression which were never to be brought to a benefi
cial termination, we should thence infer that said sovereign was
a tyrant. Let us now imagine a celestial tourist to have just
returned to the abodes of bliss from a wide flight for observation
among the works of God — the hosts of heaven gather around
him — each harp suspends its melodies, and each angelic minstrel
bends forward with eager attention, not doubting that the disclo
sures about to be made will develope new mysteries of love and
goodness on the part of their king, which shall awaken their
harps to still loftier notes of praise. — But who can conceive their
astonishment and dismay when they are told of a vast, vast
world of liquid fire — and of myriads upon myriads of ill-fated
spirits who are the sport of its angry billows — tempest-tost by
the breath of omnipotent wrath — and live but for suffering — for
ruin — for despair? And what has been their crime? Perhaps
for long, long ages, they outraged their sovereign's laws — distur
bed the harmony of his dominions — repaid his kindness with
repeated rebellions and ingratitude — and multiplied their provo
cations in proportion as his blessings were multiplied upon
them — until at length even infinite goodness was wearied out
with their obstinate resistance to its influences, and abandoned
them to their inevitable fate. But no ; such is not the ground on
which their ruin stands justified ; on the contrary, their trespasses
were of but momentary duration — committed in much ignorance,

ARGUMENT FROM THE RELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN. 97
and under strong temptations — from motives of self-gratification
merely — and not of injury or arrogance to their Lord, who,
indeed, is by his own nature, infinitely above the reach of evil.
"And oh, my con.peers!" continues the celestial narrator,
" Could you see that dreadful abode of woe — and hear those
frightful shrieks — those imploring groans — to which is rendered
no other response than the echoes of their own despair ! You
would then see that our creator's character has dark and odious
aspects, such as are not dreampt of in this world of light! would
that I could report, that from these miseries is to arise some
ultimate object of benevolence to the sufferers ! Alas ! no such
object is proposed ; on every bolt which secures the portals
of that horrid place I saw deeply engraven the dreadful word —
ETERNITY— and the key, (I was informed,*) when the la=t
spirit doomed to pass through these portals shall have entered —
is to be hurled by the hand of omnipotence to immeasurable
depths in the abyss of space — and decreed ihere to rust for ever
lasting ages !" '
Reader, can the truth of the above picture be admitted, and at
the same time the infinite goodness of Jehovah be believed,
without a solecism as gross as language was ever framed to
express ? Human ingenuity could scarcely be more poorly em
ployed than when engaged to reconcile such flagrant contradic
tions ; and there is no calculating the injury to the christian
?ause, which has ensued from this very source.
Who that has been, in imagination, with the indefatigable
Latude, in his long and painful incarceration in the Bastile — with
the no less dauntless and indomitable Tbenck, in the horrid hells
of Prussia — or with the amiable Silvio Pellico, in his ten years'
* We must s ippose the poet, Young, the informant in this case, aa we know or
ao other \o whom the secret touching the key of hell has ever been enlrus:ed.
" What ensues 7
The deed predominant ! the deed of deeds !
Which makes a hell of hell, a heaven of heaven-
The goddess, with determined aspect, turns
Her adamantine key's enormous size
Through destiny's inextricable wards,
Depp driving every bolt, on both their fates :
Then, from the crystal battlements of heaven,
D.iwn, down she hurls it through the dark profound,
Ten thousand thousand fathom ; there to rust,
And ne'er unlock her resolution more.
The deep resounds ; and hell, through all heT glooms,
¦* Returns in groans the melancholy roar."

98 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
confinements in the dungeons of Spielburgh, — who that has in
these cases been made acquainted with the dark and systemati'-
expedients of oppression by which the unfortunate victims were
kept for long and lingering years (to them ages) on the rack of
mental and bodily suffering, and has not, in his very heart of
hearts, cursed the odious tyrants by whom this suffering was
inflicted ? And yet these monsters in human form were angek
of mercy in comparison with the almighty tyrant of the universe.
if the doctrine of endless misery be true! They could not be
present with their victims — they could not hear their affecting
groans, nor know all their secret pangs — they could not sympa
thize in their feverish longings after liberty, the enjoyment of the
sweet air of heaven, a sight of ever-varying and ever-beauteous
nature, of kindred and friends — nor could they appreciate the
depth of anguish which the wretch must feel who views himself
as a link stricken out of the chain of human existence, and de
nied the privilege of acting his allotted part on the theatre of life.
No, earthly kings cannot fathom the depth of woe their hapless
victims experience; besides that their personal attention is not
directed to them, but is engaged with their own pleasures and the
affairs of state. But not such is the case with the Omniscient
Being, and therefore the greater, and more inexorable tyrant he,
if the acts imputed to him by human systems of faith be accord
ing to fact.
I have now gone through with the argument from the relations
of God ; as our Creator, Father, and Moral Governor : they lead
us to the same conclusion as that to which we arrived from the
consideration of his attributes ; immense stores of argument to
the same effect are still before us ; have I, as yet, committed the
smallest departure from candor? Has my reasoning in any
instance been overstrained, or far-fetched ? Have the premises
been begged ? or the deductions been illogical? If on any of
these grounds I have offended, I am content, reader, to forfeit my
credit with you to that amount. But if otherwise, I pray you to
let your mind be open to the influence of truth, and to remember,
that a true knowledge of our Creator's character, and of his rela
tions to us, forms the basis of all vilal and practical religion ;
and the basis too, of all true and lasting enjoyment.

HYMN OF CONSOLATION. >3<)
Time's swift advance is hastening near
The moment of my spirit's flight,
Soon, soon 'twill leave this darksome sphere,
And spring to distant worlds of light:
There bliss is known without alloy,
And beauty blooms without decay ;
All-thought of grief in cloudless joy
Shall melt like morning mist away
Adieu lo sin, where boundless love
Hath to himself all things subdued ;
Adieu to tears — that world above
Shall sorrow's faintest sigh exclude,
And thou, pale tyrant of the tomb !
I soar beyond thy blighting breath :
I go where fadeless glories bloom, —
Adieu to sorrow, sin, and death !
'Twill there be my sublime employ
My Maker's power and love to trace
Through worlds on worlds of light and joy,
Which people the unbounded space :
And though I speed on wings of light
For ever and for evermore,
I cannot reach his glory's height,
I cannot all his love explore.
Oh, bliss on bliss ! to dwell with God !
And his unveil'd perfections see ;
For wasteless ages my abode,
Shall in his blissful presence be :
And all that thought had e'er conceived
Of beauty, glory, joy, and love,
Or tongue express'd, or faith believed,
I'll find surpass'd in worlds above.
There I shall on his bosom rest,
Who gave his life to ransom me,
And all mankind, in Jesus blest,
Shall form one great society.
And hark ! from the enraptur'd throng
Redeem'd from sin, from Hades freed,
Salvation ! bursts in ceaseless song ; —
Oh ! there is bliss ! 'tis bliss indeed !
E'en on this dim and distant sphere,
We join our feeble notes of praise ;
Some gleams of glory reach us here,
And our glad hearts with rapture raise
All praise to thee, thou Gon or love !
Whose smiles are all the heaven we know I
Our deathless powers in worlds above
Their ceaseless gratitude sbill show.

100 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
UNIVERSAL SALVATION.
FURTHER PROVED FROM THE SCRIPTURES.
First. The doctrine of the ultimate salvation of all men is
according to the WILL OF GOD ; (1 Tim. ii. 4.) and this fact
surely is of great weight in its favour; for although Arminians
pretend that the human, and not the divine will, is supreme in
this case, the scriptures are far from countenancing such an idea,
but, on the contrary, teach that God " worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will." (Ephe. i. 11.) And even in the
business of regeneration they make his will to be the sovereign
cause. " Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth ;"
(Jam. i. 18.) "which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i. 3.)
And yet we are charitably informed, that if we fail of being the
subjects of this divine work, we shall be doomed to ceaseless
perdition! Very rational ! The will of God in the matter of
man's salvation is negatively as well as affirmatively expressed ;
and if any are finally lost, it is clear that the will of Jehovah will
be frustrated.
But is this probable? Is it possible? When the will of God
is formed in regard to any object, he appoints the means, and, of
course, the adequate means, for bringing it about. Christ was
appointed to this very end. "For I came down from heaven,"
saith he, " not to do mine own will, but the will 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." (John vi. 38, 39.) If none that
were given to Christ shall be so lost as not to be recovered at
length, it behooves us to inquire, How many were included in
that gift? Answer. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath
given all things into his hands." (John iii. 35.) " Whom he
hath appointed heir of all things." (Heb. i. 2.) "All things
that the Father hath are mine." (John xvi. 15.) Here, then,
we have the business of Christ clearly revealed. Was Christ
sufficiently empowered to fulfil this object? The following facts
'eave us no grounds for doubt on this point. First, The Father

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 101
delegated to him all power in heaven and in earth. (Mat. xxviii
18.) Second, The keys of hell and of death were committed to
his hands. (Rev. i. 10.) Third, He commands us io pray for
this object. (Mat. vi. 10.) And we must have a better opinion
of his wisdom than to suppose, that he would sanction our pray
ing for an event which he knew would never come to pass, " for
whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Rom. xiv. 23.) Fourth, It
seems scarcely probable that Jesus would commence an under
taking without a pre-assurance of his ability to complete it, and
thus offend against the moral of his own parable, concerning a
man who began to build without being able to finish ; (Luke xiv.
29, 30.) for that he undertook the redemption of the world is cer
tain. Will he fail from a neglect to count the cost? Fifth, We
have positive assurance that " the pleasure of the Lord shal.
prosper in his hand," that " he shall see of the travail of his soul
and shall be satisfied;" (Isa. liii. 10, 11.) which can be con
ceived to mean nothing less than that he will fully accomplish
the object of his mission and death. If Christ " tasted death for
every man," (Heb. ii. 9.) and yet millions shall be finally lost,
will he be satisfied? Finally, Paul assures us, that Christ " must
reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet ;" (1 Cor. xv. 25.)
and by all enemies is clearly meant, all those things that are
inimical to man's purity and allegiance to God ; sin, death, the
devil, hell, &c. that God may be all in all.
It may be said — " But sinners are so perverse, their wills so
stubborn, so much opposed to God, that their redemption is utterly
hopeless, and even impossible." Reader, perhaps your own case
may constitute » refutation of this objection. Was not your
heart once thus perverse? obstinate? opposed to God? And if so,
cannot the same grace that overcame its enmity equally over
come that of others ? To remove these barriers to our union to
God was the very end of Christ's mission and death. We can
scarcely suppose him to have been so short-sighted as not to
foresee the obstacles to be overcome. This, indeed, would be
neglecting to count the cost ! My dear sir, look what your objec
tion amounts to. Our hearts are hardened in sin ; Christ came to
soften them, but he fails — why? Because they are so hard ! Our
wills are opposed to God ; Christ came to subdue them, but he
fails — why ? Because they are so opposed ! Methinks be should
i 2

102 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
have seen the whole difficulty of the case before he undertook it ;
and either not have undertaken at all, or else have prepared him
self in proportion to the resistance which he knew he should meet
with. Reader, this will really not do ; the grace of God, you
believe, was sufficient for Manasseh, for the dying thief, for Saul
of Tarsus, for the Philippian jailor, and think you there is any
case beyond its reach ? What said Christ himself concerning
Mary Magdalene ? That they love most to whom most is for
given. (Luke vii. 47.) Still, however, as Paul clearly shows,
(Rom. vi.) we must not " sin, that grace may abound." The
great error which perplexeth you, reader, is, that you limit the
grace of God by the span of human life, and suppose this little
world to be the sole theatre of its operations ; whereas it is in
fact commensurate with the breadth of his dominions, and as sin
aboundeth, that infinite grace aboundeth much more. (Rom. v.
20.) When, therefore, we shall have measured the height, and
depth, and length, and breadth, of Being, then shall we know the
measure of almighty grace.
Second. The doctrine of Universal Salvation is according to
the PURPOSE AND PLEASURE OF GOD: (Ephe. i. 9,
10.) Few are disposed to deny that the divine pleasure favours
this great object, but very many doubt its ultimate accomplish
ment nevertheless ; but how speakelh the scripture upon this
point ? "I am the Lord, 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 counsel shall stand, and I will do
ALL my pleasure." (Isaiah xlvi. 10.) Now the gathering " toge
ther in one," (or re-heading, as it may be rendered,) " all things
in Christ," whether they be " things on earth or things in hea
ven," is said in the text to be " according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself." Professor Stewart, of An-
dover, who is high authority in matters of biblical criticism,
affirms, that " things in earth and things in heaven," is a Hebrew
periphrasis for "the whole intelligent universe;" now if this
be so, the pleasure and purpose of God respects the eventual
uniting together of a universe of intelligences, through his Son
Jesus Christ, and 1 think it extremely probable that Paul alludes
to the same important event, when he represents »' the whole
creation" as groaning and travailing in pain, together with those

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 103
who were already in Christ, " waiting for the adoption, to wit,
the redemption of our body." Observe ; not our bodies, but our
body, i. e. the whole mass, or aggregated family. The idea is
certainly a beautiful one, that the redemption of a part cannot be
considered as complete until the redemption of the whole is so;
for are we not members one of another ? And if one member
suffer, doth not the whole body suffer with it? Why else do
angels themselves sympathise with the dwellers upon earth, and
rejoice as each sinner is added to the company of the redeemed ?
I pity the man whose heart is so narrow, and whose christian
philosophy is so circumscribed, that he can anticipate a futurity
of perfect bliss for himself, at the same time that he thinks that
millions, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone, will scream in
ceaseless fire !
To deny that from the beginning God had a purpose regarding
man's ultimate destiny, is to charge him with folly, for none but
an idiot will work without a definite purpose. To say that his
purpose respected the final happiness of but apart, is to charge
him with cruelty. To say it respected the ultimate happiness of
all, and yet that all will not be ultimately happy, is to represent
him as impotent. Now the scriptures represent his purposes as
eternal; (Ephe. iii. 11.) and they teach us that our salvation in a
future state is to be, not in accordance with our works or merits,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which were given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began." (2 Tim. i. 9.)
It will here be objected, that "inasmuch as God has no plea
sure in sin, and yet, contrary to his approval, it exists, and has
existed for centuries, what assurance have we that his pleasure
will be fulfilled in a future any more than in the present state?"
I admit this to be the most formidable objection which can arise
in this inquiry, and although I have more than once anticipated it
in my former pages, yet, as this seems its proper place, I now
again bring it in directly — the reader will at least not suspect me
of wishing to keep it out of view. That God has no pleasure in
sin for its own sake, is clear, for it is opposed to his nature. That
he does not approve of it as an ultimate object, is also clear, for it
entails misery, and infinite benevolence did not create for such an
end ; but that God does will its existence, for the present, and
with reference to some future purpose of goodness, it were the

104 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
essence of folly to deny, for otherwise it would not be. When
a father corrects a child, has he pleasure in the pain he inflicts ?
No. Why then does he inflict it? Because he approves the end
it is designed to bring about. Did God approve of the betrayal,
denial, and murder of his son, on their own account? No. Never
theless, it is clear from the scripture, that he appointed these
svents ; and to what end ? A world's redemption. Now would
not the philosophy have been weak and hobbling in the extreme,
which in Christ's day would have argued, " that inasmuch as
God's pleasure had been violated in the matter of his son's death,
that therefore it might to all eternity be so violated, and all his
purposes respecting his rising again, and ascending to glory, be
forever baffled ?" You must see the weakness of such reasoning
in that case; why not then in regard to the case before us? The
fact that God's will, pleasure, and purpose, arc in favour of the
ultimate extinction of sin and redemption of mankind, warrants
the conclusion that these objects will in due time be effected ; for
the apostle does not affirm that God wills such a consummation at
the present, but "in the dispensation of the fulness of times."
Third. This doctrine is in agreement with THE PROMISE
OF GOD. (Gen. iii. 15. Acts iii. 25. Ibid. 21. Gal. iii. 8.
Titus 1, 2, etc.) We are often told, I know, that the promises
of God respecting future blessings are exclusively applicable to
the righteous; to those who have been born again, &c. but such
is not the fact ; for when Peter was preaching to the murderers
of Jesus, and shortly subsequent to the wicked transaction, he
told them, " Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the cove
nant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Anraham, In
thee shall all nations be blessed." (Acts iii. PR,) If the mur
derers of the saviour were the legitimate heir' of this promise,
can any good reason be assigned why any are not so ? When
God is represented as saying, in regard to the Jewish people,
"For this is my covenant with them when I shall take away
their sirs," (Rom. xi. '27. ) are we to understand the promise as
applicable to those only whosp sins were already removed ? "All
the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord ;
and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee."
(Psl. xxii. 27.) This, surely, is not subject to the limitation above
noticed ! Not only all the nations are here embraced, but all the

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 105
kindreds of the nations. " All nations whom thou hast made shall
come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy
name. (Psl. Ixxxvi. 9.) If there are any nations whom God
hath not made, they, to be sure, are not included in this promise.
" Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough places plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it." (Isaiah xl. 5, 6.) This passage cannot (as some
pretend), refer to the millennium, for the state of things signified
by that word, it is supposed, will be gradually and progressively
effected ; but here we ha,ve the assurance of a simultaneous dis
covery of the divine glory on the part of all mankind, "all flesh
shall see it together." .Asrain, the same prophet saith, "And in
this mountain will the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of
marrow, of wines on the- lees well refined ; and he will destroy in
(his mountain the face of the covering cast upon all people, and
the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up
death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from
affall faces, and the rebuke of his people will he take away from
affall the earth, for 'he Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah xxv. 6,
t, 8.) To whatever event the prophet may have looked, it is
certain that Paul understood the language as appropriate to the
era of the resurrection, for while writing upon that theme, he
says, " And then «hall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, Death ii swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor. xv. 24.)
And, indeed, to what other time or circumstance will the language
intelligibly app'y ? The apostle conceived that the morning of
the resurrectiop would be one of unclouded glory, the opening
of a day which should never give place to night, an era of uni
versal rejoicing and triumph. Who, in his description, can find
one word to countenance the horrible idea, that the bursts of rap-
lure, the eytatic swells of praise, shall be blended with the
despairing rroans of full three-fourths of a world?
From th>5 following passage, I have often thought the revelator
must have had in his eye the promise of God to Abraham ; and
if so, ho certainly understood it in the widest sense of which the
¦?ip uage is susceptible. "After this I beheld, and lo, a great

106 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kin
dreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and be
fore the lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands;
and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who
sittelh upon the throne, and to the lamb." (Rev. vii. 9, 10.)
Suppose we limit this great, this innumerable multitude, to apart
only of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues ; even
then it would form a circumstance against the doctrine of endless
suffering ; for it is certain that, if that theory be true, there must
be many nations and kindreds out of which no part could be saved.
For example, all that were involved in the deluge; and since, the
people of Sodom, Gomorrha, Tyre, Sirjon, Chorazin, Bethsaida,
Capernaum, &c. beside the numerous tribes that have perished
from the earth in a condition of mora] darkness and idolatry;
whereas the multitude John saw was composed of ALL nations,
kindreds, peoples and tongues. Stronger phraseology could
Bcarcely be framed for expressing the entire human family. If,
however, stronger language for the purpose can be found, we
have it from the same writer, and upon the same subject, " And
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,*
heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power,
be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and to the lamb for evei
<ind ever." (Ibid. v. 13.) Here then we have the Psalmist's
exhortation reduced to practice, " Let every thing which hath
breath praise the Lord." (Psl. cl. G.) What scene could be
more fitting for the winding up of earth's affairs? What com
mentary upon the text " God saw all things that he had made,
and behold they were very good," could be more beautiful?
Does not such an issue justify the angelic rejoicings at the birth
day of time? When the morning stars sung together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy." (Job xxx. 7.) A foresight of
such a consummation might well cause all the arches of eternity to
echo and re-echo with rejoicing. And when infinite love creates,
what rational being can doubt, that such will be the result?
+ Ah ! but'it does not include those that are in hell." Perhaps not. Let me see"
Are yo j quite sure that hell is not "under the earth?" I pretend to no accurate
knowledge with regard to its locale, but if the christian hell be the lia-des of Ihe
heathen poets, which I shrewdly suspect, then must it come within the range of th?
above passage.

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 10?
Fourth. The theory of universal salvation is in accordance
with the OATH OF GOD. " Look unto me and be ye saved,
all ye ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else. I
have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in
righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee
shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Surely shall say [I
omit the words added by the translators] in the Lord have 1
righteousness and strength. Even to him shall come; and they
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Isaiah xiv.
22 — 25.) This is very absolute and very unequivocal ; it ex
presses not merely the fact of the ultimate salvation of all, but
also the nature of that salvation ; which will consist in their be
ing clothed with divine strength and righteousness; and this in
deed constitutes the essence of gospel salvation : for the removal
of moral beings from one to another of the different worlds in
the universe (however agreeable the exchange in a physical point
of view) can make but little difference in the enjoyment of those
beings, except their moral condition be suited to it. Salvation
from sin, therefore, not in it, is that for which we contend ; when
every individual shall be able to say, " In the Lord have I right
eousness and strength ;" there will be no sinners in existence,
and if no sinners, no moral suffering.
The great apostle has given us the above prediction in a version
somewhat different, but which diminishes nought of its univer
sality. " Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name : that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Phil. Ii. 9, 10, 11.) I know of but one scriptural way of access
to God, and Christ is that way. " No man," saith he, " cometh
to the Father but by me." (John xiv. 6.) Our opponents tell
us there is no change after death; and it is certain that infants,
and the hundreds of thousands who yearly pass from lime ignorant
of the gospel, do not in this life come to God by that only way.
What ground of assurance have we, then — what scriptural ground,
that these shall be saved ? None whatever, if the doctrine of
endless misery be true ! Paul, however, removes the difficulty.

108 PRO AND CON OF UNIVEKSAI ISM.
satisfactorily ; he shows us that the time will come when every
knee shall bow in allegiance to God, and every tongue so confess
Christ as that God shall be glorified. It would not be to God's
glory, surely, to extort (as our opponents affirm he will) ail in
voluntary confession from finite creatures. Omnipotence glorified
by forcing an acknowledgement from worms! Yet such is the
meager and grovelling view which some seem to entertain on
this head.
Fifth. God is expressly called "THE SAVIOUR OF ALL
MEN." (1 Tim. iv. 10.) In what sense can he be consistently
so called, except in a final sense? All surely are not saved now ;
they are not saved from sin, suffering, death — nor, if the doctrine
of ceaseless suffering be true, from hell, for thousands are hourly
descending thither. I am aware that it is assumed by some that
he is the saviour of all men merely by having placed them in a
solvable state ; but then I also know that this is sheer nonsense ;
for if they -had ever been out of a salvable condition, they could
never have been put into it. Would a sensible physician talk ol
putting an incurable patient into a curable state ? Men were
either always salvable, or they were not ; if they were not, they
could not be made so; if they were, they did not require to be
made so.
But what is meant by God being the saviour " especially of
them that believe ?" Whatever it may mean, it certainly does not
that he is their saviour only, for he is also "the saviour of all
men." If I save ten, out of a score of persons, from a burning
house, or any other danger, am I warranted in calling myself the
saviour of the score? I can surely not be considered the saviour
of the portion that perished ! And although 1 had made great ex
ertions for the rescue of the whole, still I was in fact but the de
liverer of those who by my means were aclually delivered." The
true meaning, however, of God being called " the saviour of all
men, especially of them that believe," is, that the latter class are
saved in the present life, while the former are not — the latter are
entered into rest, (Heb. iv. 3:) but unbelievers are yet in the wil
derness of sin and consequent, trouble — the latter class are justified
by faith, ant] have peace with God, (Rom. v. 1.) but unbelievers
are " without God, and without hope in the world" — the hitter
class are quickened from a death in trespasses and sin (Eph. ii. J.)

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES 109
but unbelievers are still in death and condemnation. Here then
is the special salvation, in contradistinction from that which is
common to all, or to which mankind are destined in common.
It will not do for the Calvinist to seek a subterfuge here in the
assumption, that all does not mean all; for, however such plea
may avail him in some instances, it cannot in this ; nor, indeed,
in scarcely anywhere salvation is concerned, which shall be made
sufficiently evident. " And he is the propitiation for our sins, and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
(1 John ii. 2.) Here a part is spoken of in distinction from the
whole, and both the whole and the part are embraced in the pro
pitiation treated of. How, then, can any be endlessly damned
for those sins for which Christ has propitiated ? It will perhaps
be assumed that " these are our original sins only." It is easy
making assumptions, but those who* thus assume must be greatly
indebted to our good grace if we allow it; for there is not in the
scripture one particle of warrant for it, either direct or implied.
" Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that
he put all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that is
not put under him." (Heb. ii. 8.) Here all things are contrasted
with no thing. What language could be more clearly universal
in its signification? And their being put in subjection under
Christ cannot mean merely that his power over them is established,
for that is the case at present; (all power is given unto him in
heaven and in earth. Matt, xxviii. 18.) ; it implies a subjection
of a different kind — a moral subjection — reconciliation — allegiance
" But," says an objector, " there must be some mistake here,
for in looking over the world we find very many who both
live and die without manifesting any subjection to Christ — how
then can it be that all are put under him, in the sense for which
you contend ?" Now it so happens, that the apostle has antici
pated this very objection. " But now," saith he, " we see not yet
all things put under him — But we see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man." (ibid.) The fact, then, it seems, of
Christ having died for all, was considered by tho writer a suffi
cient guarantee, that the universal subjection which it was de
signed to effect, shall infallibly be brought about.
K

110 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
In the following text, the absolute sense which the apostle
means to convey by the word all, is, if possible, still more expli
citly established. " For the l-ove of Christ constraineth us because
we thus judge, that if one died fur all, then all were dead — and
that he died for all." (2 Cor. v. 14.) According to the argument
here, if one did not die for all, then all were not dead — if he died
for a part only, then that part only were dead ; but " he died for
all." The same writer, in his letter to Timothy, exhorts that besides
praying to God for kings, and others in authority, " that supplica
tions, prayers, and giving of thanks, be made unto God for all
then." Will any think of limiting the word all in this instance ?
The object of so praying for all is stated to be, " that we may
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For
this is good and acceptable in' the sight of God our saviour, who
will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the
truth. For there is one God, and one mediator betuixt God and
man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all,
to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. ii. 1 — 8.) The same all for
whom it is our duty to pray, are also subjects for whom Christ
died, and mediates; and whom God will have to be saved.
Mark,-the truth is here represented as agreeing with the salvation
of all — and, of course, as disagreeing with the ultimate damnation
of any — for if any portioh of the human race is to be finally lost,
a knowledge of the truth would not consist with the salvation of
hat portion — as that truth could only teach them that they were
to be damned. The object of God's will in that case would be
an impossibility, (and it does not consist with infinite wisdom to
will impossibilities,) for only that part of mankind could be
saved by coming to a knowledge of the truth, with whose salva
tion that truth agreed.
It may here be said that the command to pray for all, may not
have been meant in an universal sense, for Christ expressly says,
on one occasion, " I pray not for the world." True, Christ was
then praying particularly for his apostles, that they might be kept
together, and guarded against the allurements of a wicked world.
But read on, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word." Here you per
ceive the petition takes a wider compass. Proceed farther, " that

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 1 1 1
the world may believe that thou hast sent me," and again, " that
the world may know that thou hast sent me." (John xvii. 9 — 23.)
W e find, then, that the saviour does include all men in his prayer ;
and, what think you, reader, will the object of that prayer evei
be fulfilled?
Let us go next to those passages in which the number to be
saved, is made to correspond to the number that have sinned.
" All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Well,
what further concerning those all ? '-' Being justified freely by
his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Rom.
iii. 23, 21.) "For as by the offence of one judgment came upon
all men to condemnation, even so, by the righteousness of one the
free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." (ibid. v. 18.)
It is immediately added, " For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous." (ibid. 19.) The same many that were
made sinners shall — riot may be — perhaps, or perchance — but shall
be made righteous. Say if you please this many means but a
part. Well, then a part became sinners, and that part shall be
made righteous, and the part which did not become sinners of
course does not need to be made righteous, so that we are brought
to the same result at last — all shall be made righteous — God's oath
as before shown, is pledged for it — and the prayers of Christ, and
of every benevolent heart, are centered on it. But a remark
touching that word many ; it does not properly represent the Greek
term, which should have been rendered the mass, or the multitude,
as is evident both from what goes before and follows-; for Paul
is laboring to show that the provision of divine grace is com
mensurate with the demand for it, and even more than commen
surate, for the divine determination was, that man might be
fully aware of his dependence and sinfulness, and to this end the
law was given to gauge the depth of his guilt, and throw him
upon the mercy of God for deliverance; hence saith the apostle,
" Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound, but
where sin abounded grace did much more abound, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteous
ness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." (ibid CO, 21.)
" God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have
mercy upon all." (ibid. xi. 32.) "For as in Adam all die, even

112 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
bo in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. xv. 22.) The word
Adam here doubtless means, the fleshly nature we possess from
him, in which nature we all die. Christ stands for the heavenly
nature, and in it we shall all be made alive. " And as we have
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly." (Ibid. 49.) From all these instances it must be
manifest, that the word all, when applied to man's salvation, re
quires to be understood in its strict and absolute sense, and hence,
as God is called "the saviour of all men," the entire race must
ultimately be saved.
Sixth. Christ is called " the saviour of the world." (John iv,
42.) The only saviour of men, in a supreme sense, is Jehovah
himself; Christ is such only in an instrumental sense. "Him
hath God exalted to be a prince and a saviour." (Acts v. 31.)
" We believe, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be
the saviour of the world." (1 John iv. 14.) And if the world
at the last is not saved, it is clear that Christ will have failed of
carrying into effect the object of his mission ; his own testimony
informs us, that this was his main business. "For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved." (John iii. 17.) And again, he
saith, " For I came down from heaven, not lo do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me, And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all that he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (Ibid.
vi. 38, 39.) In another place, he speaks of having lost one, " the
son of perdition," from among the number of the apostles; but he
here declares, that nothing is to be so lost as not to be at length
recovered. It behooves us then to inquire, what is the extent of the gift from
the Father to the Son ? Let the scriptures answer. " The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands." (John
iii. 25.) " Whom he hath made heir of all things." (Heb.i.S.)
"All that the Father halh are mine." (John xvi. 15.) And he
Is not lo lose any so given him, but that he shall raise then up
again at Ihe last day. God would hardly, melhinks, have "<im-
mitled all things to the hands of Christ with a foresight th tney
would be unsafe in his custody! And, more especially, as he
committed them to him with the express design that he should

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 113
save them! Now, if the theory of endless suffering be true, at
ihe time God gave all things to Christ he knew that a large por
tion of them would become the property of the devil, and that
the devil could never be made to relinquish his possession of
them., A singular gift, truly !
"Ah! but the world is so sinful; how can Christ save it?"
Answer. He " taketh away the sin of the world." (John i. 29.)
"B>;t suppose they will not come to him — how then? Christ
shall answer, " And I, when I shall be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me." (John xii. 32.) "What! whether
they repent, or are reconciled to God, or not ?" No. " Il pleased
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, and (having
made peace by the blood of the cross) by him to reconcile all
things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in
earth or things in heaven." (Col. i. 19, 20.) And, moreover,
Christ is exalted to give repentance and remission of sin." (Acts
v. 31.) Peter told not the Jews that Christ would bless them in
their iniquities, but " by turning away every one of youfromyoar
iniquities." (Acts iii. 26.)
Some of the allegories of the saviour are rich in instruction
upon this head ; for example, A man lost one sheep out of a flock
of a hundred; not willing to lose even that one-, "he left ihe
ninety and nine in the wilderness," and started in pursuit of the
straggler; " he sought it ;" how long? "until he had found it."
Well,-having found it, how did he proceed ? Did he say, " Well,
I have done my part; I have been at the pains to seek you, and
now, you are a free agent, I will not compel you to return, but
you may come if you choose, or otherwise you may stay where
you are and perish ?" No, the shepherd acted in no such wise
as that; the lost one, by long rambling, had doubtless become
weak and diseased, and quite unable to return of itself, (as, by
our opponents' confession, is also the case with man,) so the kind-
hearled shepherd took it upon his shoulders and carried it home,
"rejoicing at his recovery of his lost property. And the moral of
this beautiful parable is, that among the angels of bliss there is
more joy in the contemplation of one sinner saved, than in that
of ninety and nine unfallen beings who had never by wandering
excited their sympathies. All which is as natural as beautiful.
If angels aro thus affected by what transpires on earth, think
k2

114 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
you that they have no sympathies for those who groan in
hell ? And if the heart of the saviour was so affected at the grave
of a friend that he wept, and at the prospect of temporal over
throw to a city, that he broke into passionate lamentation, will he
be altogether unaffected by the utter and hopeless ruin of three-
fourths of a world, for whose redemption he gave his life? We,
at least, have inspired assurance, that he is " the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever." (Heb. xiii. 8.)
Seventh. The consideration of particular cases, as they are
disposed of in the scriptures, makes decidedly in favour of the
Universalist faith. The case of the Sodomites, for example, dark
as it looks under some of its aspects, is nevertheless put before
us in the scriptures in a light which warrants the belief of its
ultimately salutary termination. The same is true with regard to
the Jews ; but let us look at them separately.
The Sodomites, with the people of Gomorrha, were destroyed
with fire from heaven; and are said in Jude, verse 7th, to be "set
forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire ;"
from which many are led to the supposition that their suffering
must be unceasing; but this is a mistake, or the bible is contra
dictory, for 1st, Jeremiah the prophet avers that the temporal
calamities of the Jews, in his day, constituted a heavier retribu
tion than what had befallen the Sodomites, which surely could
not be if that of the latter were unending in hell. I will give you
his language. " For the punishment of the iniquity of ihe daughter
of my people, is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom,
that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hand stayed on her."
(Lam. iv. 6.) Do you believe this? If so, you cannot at the
same time believe that the punishment of the latter is unceasing.
2nd. See what God says by another prophet. He declares Jeru
salem's sins to be greater than those of Sodom ; (Eze. xvi. 4S,
49.) and if so, was it not just that her punishment should be
greater? He compares Jerusalem to a woman, whose elder
sister is Samaria and the towns adjacent; and whose younger
sister is Sodom and her neighbouring towns. (Ibid. 45, 46.)
He then says, "When I shall bring again their captivity, the
'captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Sama
ria and her daughters, then will I bring again thy captivity in the
idst of them." (verse 53.) " When thy sisters, Sodom and hel

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 115
daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and
her daughters shall return to their former state, then thou and thy
daughters shall return to your former estate." (57.) " Neverthe
less," he concludes, " I will remember thy covenant with thee in
the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlast
ing covenant ; then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed,
when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger,
and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy
covenant; and I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord." (60, 61, 62.) Thus much for
the case of Sodom ; and to me, it is strange beyond expression,
that persons professing a belief in the bible, should in the face of
such testimony maintain that the inhabitants of that and its neigh
boring cities, (containing, without doubt, human beings of every
age, from hoary hairs to lisping infancy,) were doomed to inter
minable perdition!
Now for the Jews. Was Paul a believer in their ultimate sal
vation? What, then, means the anxiety expressed in the follow
ing language? "Brethren, my heart's desire, and prayer to God
for Israel, is that they might be saved." (Rom. x. 1.) And the
following is even more expressive of anxiety : " I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the
Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in
my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ
for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." (Ibid. ix.
1, 2, 3.) This language, dear reader, is easily accounted" for
without resolving it into the fears he entertained for their fate
beyond the grave ; for, on that head, as shall be shown, he had
no fears whatever. But they were in darkness; in spiritual as
well as civil bondage; they had filled up their measure of wick
edness, heavy temporal judgments hung over them, the loss of
their political and ecclesiastical existence, war, famine, pestilence,
captivity, dispersion amongst all nations, &c. Is it to be won
dered at that, in view of these calamities, the apostle's heart
should have been affected in the manner described ? I trow not.
But as to their final destiny beyond death, it is clearly settled
by the pen of inspiration. Isaiah says, "In the Lord shall all the
seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Isa. xiv. 25.) The
same prophet has recorded God's promise to that people, and Paul

116 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
has quoted it entire: "For this is the covenant that I will mane
with the house of Israel after those days', sailh the Lord, I will
put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and
I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, and
they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the
least unto the greatest; for I will be merciful to their unrighteous
ness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
(Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12.) See also what is said in Romans, chap
ter 11th : The blindness of Israel is to continue until the fullness
of the Gentiles be come in, " And so all Israel shall be saved, as
it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, who shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto
them when I shall take away their sins ; as concerning the gospel
they are enemies for your sake, but as concerning election they
are beloved for the fathers' sake. For as ye in times past have
not believed God, but have now obtained mercy through their un
belief, even so have these also now not believed, that through
your mercy they also might obtain mercy ; for God hath concluded
them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." (Rom.
xi. 26—32.)
From the above testimony it must be exceedingly evident that
Paul has no anxieties about the ultimate destiny of his nation ;
but he was, nevertheless, most earnestly solicitous for their present
salvation ; and surely there is nothing strange nor singular in the
fact of his solicitude. As a universalist minister, I certainly
have no fears about the ultimate destiny of the world : neverthe
less, I am willing to go as far, forego as much, and endure as
much, to effect the present deliverance of the human race from
ignorance, superstition, and the bondage of guilt, and to bring
them to the enjoyment of gospel blessedness, as is any one who
conceives their transmundane state to depend on such deliverance.
"But all are not Israel thai are of Israel," the quibbler will
here say, " and therefore, we need not understand these promises
as referring to ihe whole Jewish nalion." True ; both Isaac, and
Ishmael, were of Israel, that is, they were both children of Abra
ham ; but God's decree was, " In Isaac shall thy seed be called,"
and Ishmael, therefore, instead of being numbered with Isreal,
became the head of another, and distinct people. Can any body

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 1 17
tell me what in the world this circumstance has to do with the
case before us ? That Paul was not speaking of Israel in any
such restricted sense is exceedingly obvious. " All Israel shall
ie saved," the same Israel that were yet in their sins, that " were
ulinded," that were " enemies to the gospel," that were all " con
cluded in unbelief." And this is to be effected when " the full
ness of the gentiles be come in." The whole race of man, in
those days, were included in those two classes ; and consequently
the whole Jewish people, with the fullness of the gentiles, con
stituted the sum of the entire human family.
Mercy, then, mercy to every individual, forms the ground of
all the divine dispensations in regard to man, whether he lifteth up,
or casteth down ; blinds, or enlightens ; elects or reprobates : the
ultimate end is mercy, mercy to each, mercy to all. " O the
depth of the riches, both of the knowledge and wisdom of God,
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding
out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath
been his counsellor ? or whoa hath first given unto him and it
shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of him, and through
him, and to him, are all things. To whom be glory for ever,
amen." As God is the first beginning, so shall he also be the last end,
of all things ; all have come from him, so all shall eventually revert
to him. You have seen, reader, a tiny rivulet in the far-off wi]
derness, so small as scarcely to make a murmur as it rippled ovei
the pebbles in its channel, and clear, oh, how clear ! how limpid !
Whither doth it journey? Would you guess to the ocean, some
hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles distant ? You know that
such is its destination, and why ? because the ocean is its native
home, its birth place, it first emigrated from thence to the clouds,
in the form of mist, from thence it was precipitated to terra-firma,
in the form of rain ; and it hid itself awhile, seeking a retreat
from the stormy world, in subterranean cavities ; but they proved
cold and comfortless hiding places, and it soon again sought the
lio-ht in the shape of springs, and is hastening home as fast as it
can. The story of this rivulet bears some resemblance to our
own ; we emanated from God, the infinite ocean of existence, he
is the " Father of our spirits," and how widely soever we may
since have roamed, and whatever the mutations through which

118 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
we may have passed, still kindred substances have a mutual
attraction for each other ; the liberated spark will seek the sun,
and waters unconfined will seek the ocean : in like manner, when
the body returns to ihe dust whence it came, " the spirit shall
return to the God that gave it." " For of him, and through him,
and to him, are all things. To whom be glory for ever, amen."
Eighth. Universal salvation is also evident from the fact,
that sin, death, hell, the devil, works cf the devil, error, &c, are to
be destroyed ; for how can misery be, after all its elements are
extinct ? With respect to sin, as has been shown already, it
cannot forever exist in opposition to divine holiness; David prays,
" O, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end," (Psl.
vii. 9.) and such must surely be the desire of every righteous
person, and the more so in proportion as he is righteous ; we,
however, are desirous that it should cease at once, and immedi
ately, because we cannot see how God can overrule it for good
results ; bul this, God in his own time will show. The prophet
Daniel, associates with the anointing of Messiah, the designs of
God " to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sin, and
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in an everlasting
ighteousness ;" (Dan. ix. 24.) and, indeed, this is the uniform
¦estimony with respect to the object of God in the gift of his son ;
'« God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." (2 Cor.
1. 19.) But in order to a reconciliation, sin must be removed.
That death is to be abolished, several scriptures and considera-
ions go to prove. It is customary for the inspired penmen to
consider, as already done, whatsoever Christ came to do ; because
they regarded his power as adequate to the full accomplishment
of the work assigned him : hence, Paul speaks of him as having
" abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the
gospel." (2 Tim. 1. 10.) The same writer affirms, that " the
last enemy shall be destroyed, DEATH." (1 Cor. xv. 26.) I
leave out of this text the two spurious words, as they are not
necessary to, But rather tend to weaken its sense. " Then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed
up in victory." (ibid.) After the last enemy is destroyed, there
will of course be none remaining, and the declaration that this
shall take place is absolute. It is easy seeing then, that the
assumption that " eternal life implies eternal death," is falta

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 119
oious ; for, to leave out of view the scripture testimony to the
controversy, it is refutable on logical ground alone. If eternal
life imply eternal death in a prospective sense, it also must in a
retrospective; if, because life always shall be, death must always
be also ; then it follows that as life always has been, death also
must always have been; but when life resided in God alone, in-
whom did death reside ? Answer that, ye who contend for death's
eternity, on the ground that life is eternal. Life has its well-
spring in the nature of Jehovah ; let the source be dried up, and
the empire of death will be universal. Death results from mor
tal constitutions ; wheq these have ceased, death must cease of
course, and be " swallowed up in victory."
Hell is fated to the same end. God says by the prophet, " I will
ransom them from the power of Sheol, (grave or hell) I will
redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues. O
Sheol, I will be thy destruction." (Hosea xiii. 14.) John's de
scription, (highly figurative, unquestionably,) must refer to the
same event. " And death and Hades were cast into the lake of
fire, this is the second death." (Rev. xx. 16.) Here the destruc
tion of death itself, is termed the second death. As saith the
Poet, " And pains, and groans, and griefs, and fears,
Xnd death itself shall die."
Paul broadly intimates the destruction of Hades, in the triumph
ant challenge, " O Hades, where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. xxvi.)
It were victory enough to retain within its dark domain, unnumber
ed myriads of God's family; and if such is indeed to prove the
case, the challenge of the apostle could, on the part of Hades, be
triumphantly responded to. But this shall not prove the case,
for God's word has gone out for its destruction, and the decree is
past revocation, for saith God, "Repentance shall be hid from
mine eyes." Happy, glorious event ! " 0, thou enemy, de
structions shall come to a perpetual end." Here, indeed, will be
a triumph worthy of almighty grace, a triumph of triumphs !
"Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive,
tnou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that
the Lord God might dwell among them." (Psl. lxviii. 18.) O,
Hades! thy grim and direful reign must close, when almighty
¦ove comes to resume the sceptre of universal empire, and little

120 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
as the prospect of thy final discomfiture may be relished by those
who fancy that to them are entrusted the keys of thy dreary
portals, yet come it must at last, and thy grim associate, death.
shall share in thine overthrow, as he shared in thy triumphs.
" Break down, ye separating lulls,
Let sin and death remove ;
Tis love that drives my chariot wheels,
And death must yield to love."
Alike doom awaits the devil, (which means an adversary, any
adversary,) " Forasmuch, then, as the children were partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the
same, that through death, he might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through the
fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage." (Heb
ii. 14 — 15) The devil, poor fellow ! has had a hard fortune from
the beginning; but here is a long good night to his troubles.
The works of the devil are also among the subjects doomed to
eventual extinction. "For this purpose the son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."
(1 John iii. 8.) That sin is a work of the devil, introduced by
his instrumentality, will not be disputed; neither will it be doubt
ed that misery of all kinds flows from sin. (I mean that by our
opponents this will not be doubled — we believe that there is much
misery which is not consequent of sin.) If, then, the works of
the devil shall experience the fate decreed for them, it follows
that all the misery consequent of sin shall cease. Error also is
ascribed to the devil, (for he is called the father of Hes, (John
viii. 44.) and false doctrines, under the figure of tares, are called
" the children of the wicked one," " the enemy that sowed them is
the devil," (Mat. xiii. 39.) both the devil and his works are not
infrequently personified in the scriptures,) error, therefore, must
also in due time cease : the same thing is plainly intimated in the
several predictions afore-quoted, that God will remove the face
of the covering cast upon all people, and the veil spread over all
nations, that all shall be brought to know the Lord, and to confess
Christ to the glory of God the Father ; then shall tears be wiped
from all faces, and the divine glory be displayed lo an universe
of intelligences.
Nikth. The ultimate salvation of all men is obviously infer

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 121
able from numerous other scripture texts and circumstances. For
example : the anger of God is alluded to as existing but for ii
moment; (Psl. xxx. 5. Isaiah liv. 8.) but, in full fifty instances,
his mercy is said to endure forever, (1 Chro. xvi. 34. 2 Chro. v.
13. xvii. 3, 6. xx. 29. Psl. cvi. 1. cvii. 1. cxviii. 1, 2, 3. cxxxvi.l,
2, 3, etc.) but according to the opponent system this antithesis i3
false! for in that case his anger endureth as long as his mercy :
yea, more, for as regards the subjects of endless misery, the
reverse of the antithesis is the fact ; God's mercy toward them
endureth only during their momentary stay on earth, and then
commenceth the reign of his wrath, and it continueth forever!
Strictly speaking there is, there can be, no anger in the deity :
"he is of one mind, and who can turn him ?" But in accommo
dation to our limited conceptions, the retributive dispensations of
his providence are termed his anger, because they display the
repugnance of his infinitely pure nature to all unholiness ; these,
however, are ever directed to the sinner's reformation as an ul
timate object ; they are therefore necessarily temporary, and, as
compared with eternity, but for a moment ; but the mercy which
directs them, endureth, according to the most absolute sense of
the word, forever, while God himself endureth.
It is positively declared, " For the Lord WILL NOT cast off
forever, but though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion
according to the multitude of his mercies, for he doth not afflict
willingly, nor grieve the children of men." (Lam. iii. 31, 32.)
The same prophet also asks the important and self-answering
question, "Will he reserve his anger forever? Will he keep
it unto the end ?" (Jer. iii. 5.) And the negative is boldly and
explicitly settled by two other prophets. " For I WILL NOT
contend forever, NEITHER WILL I be always wroth, for the
spirits should fail before me, and the souls that I have made."
(Isaiah lvii. 16.) "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and plenteous in mercy; he WILL NOT always chide,
NEITHER WILL HE retain his anger forever." (Psl. ciii.
8, 9.) And still another inquires, "Who is a God like unto
thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions
of the remnant of his heritage? he RETAINETH NOT his
anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy ; he will turn again,
he will have compassion upon us ; he will subdue our iniquities;
L

122 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea." (Mic.
vii. 18, 19.) In regard to David God saith, and it is to be pre
sumed that he deals with all men upon the same principle, " If
his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if
they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; then
will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquity with
stripes; But my loving-kindness WILL I NOT utterly take
from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." (Psl. lxxxix. 30,
21, 32.) If the doctrine of endless misery were hut half as
explicitly affirmed in the scriptures as it is repeatedly here de
nied, it could with more show of truth claim our credence under
the divine sanction ; and it would then seem the height of pre
sumption, to attempt the advocation of the opposite doctrine of
the final salvation of a world. But what can be brought forward
in its behalf, which will set aside this repeated and positive evi
dence of its falsity ? And especially when to this are added all
the evidences from God's attributes, relations, will, pleasure,
promises, purpose, oath, his end in creation, redemption, provi
dence, &c, one would think that to countervail all this, there
should be direct testimony, so explicit, and so oft repeated,
in various, yet always unequivocal forms, that common sense
could not well mistake their purport. And even in that case the
bible, by its contradictory testimonies relative to the same point,
would nullify its own claims upon our respect and confidence.
But how stands the fact? You will see, reader, ere we are done,
that this dogma depends for support on some isolated allegories
or other disjointed and hyperbolical portions of the scripture!
A foundation so flimsy would stand small chance of availing it
long, I ween, were it not. for the too general ignorance, duplicity,
and mystery-loving character of mankind.
Tenth. The same is also inferable from the nature of prater,
faith, and charitv. It has before been shown that we are direct
ed to pray for all men, (1 Tim. ii. 1.) and also to pray in faith,
Decause " whatsoever is not of faith is sin ;" (Rom. xi,v. 23.) to
pray in faith for all men would not be proper, nor would it have
been enjoined, if it were the fact that in regard to millions it
would prove unavailing: the very injunction implies that the
object of these petitions shall be finally fulfilled ; more especially
as they are in accordance with tho divine mind, " who will have

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 123
all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."
(1 Tim. ii. 4.) Christ has directed us to pray that the will of
God should be done, (Mat. vi. 10.) and he himself has set the
example of praying for the whole world. (John xvii. 21.) It
is to be presumed that he knew whether his prayer would or
would not avail : David often broke out into supplication for the
whole human family, " Let all the people praise thee, O God, let
all the people praise thee !" ( Psl. lxvi. 3.) " 0 let them give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for
ever," (ibid, xxvii. 5.) and he also prays, " O let the wickedness
of the wicked come to an end!" (ibid. vii. 9.) "The Lord
heareth the prayers of the righteous," it is said, (Prov. xv. 29.)
and it is but reasonable to believe he does, and that he will
answer them too, when they accord with his own will, and the
example of his son.
All good men pray for the final salvation of the world ; oh how
fervently do they desire this great object ! And yet, strange lo
say, how averse are many of them to believe that it will ever be
brought to pass ! They will argue against it, preach against it,
write against it, and yet most fervently pray for it ! And the
doctrine which sets forth that their benevolent supplications an
heard, and will in due time be fully answered, they denounce as
a most gross and dangerous heresy !
Faith. The scriptures intimately connect faith with salvation ;
but what must faith be in its nature, in order to be saving in its
influence ? This is a question of greater moment than is gener
ally imagined, for except it give assurance to the subject of his
own eventual happiness; yea, and of the eventual happiness of
all in whom his affections are interested — it surely cannot saving
ly affect him : can any system of belief light up my mind with
joy and confidence relative to the future world, which fails to
assure me of my own future blessedness ? And allowing it gives
me this, which fails to assure me also of the future blessedness of
my parents, my wife and children, my friends, and all in whose
welfare my heart concerns itself? Now it is undeniable that
neither of the several systems of unending punishment can do
this. Supposing, for example, the doctrine of election true, can I
certainly know that myself, and all these other objects of my love,
are among the happy number elected to ceaseless bliss ! None,

124 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
surely, will think of rendering an affirmative answer here. Much
less can I be certified on this head, if the notion of free agency
be true ; for on that ground there is no certainty to any body — not
only no certainty of ever getting to heaven, but also no certainty
of remaining there in case it is ever reached ! Because if some
once there were exiled, and driven to hell, (the fallen angels,)
and we are to continue free agents, the same may happen again !
If faith give not present certitude of future bliss to its pos
sessor, I can only say that the scriptures have greatly exaggerated
its virtues : " There remaineth therefore a rest," say they, "TO
the people of God ;" (Heb. iii. 9.) and " we which have believed,
DO enter into rest;" (ibid. 3.) they speak of a " peace and joy
IN believing;" (Rom. xv. 13.) and they connect with faith a "joy
that is unspeakable and full of glory." (1 Pet. i. 8.) Paul calls
faith " The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen ;" (Heb. xi. 7.) precisely the reverse of this definition
will express the nature of the belief of endless misery ; it is
the substance of things not only not hoped for, but by every be
nevolent mind most fervently deprecated; thus near, exactly, and
no nearer, does this dreary faith approximate to an identity with
the faith of the gospel !
"Faith works by love, and purifies the heart." (Gal. v. 6.)
Does the faith of unending punishment do this ? On the contrary,
I will prove it ±o be inconsistent with a due degree of love to
mankind. Take a mother who believes this doctrine ; she has
lost a son who had attained his majority, and who died without a
preparation for heaven. Does she suppose that he has been
doomed to an eternity of flames? Not she; she will tell you of
the mercy of God, and of his plenitude of grace for the salvation
of the vilest of offenders; and although she is not warranted by
her creed in cherishing the smallest hope for her son on these
grounds; still she will persist in discrediting the idea of his
final ruin ! Why is this? It is because of the love she bears to
her offspring. Suppose now that she loved all mankind as well ;
what then ? Why then she would be equally loth to believe that
any would be finally lost. Does not this make it manifest that
a faith in this dogma is incompatible with true philanthropy ?
You will rarely find a person of sane mind, who thinks, however
profligate he may be, that he will be doomed to verify tbe truth of

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 125
this dogma : although his prejudices would be shocked at the idea
that no part of mankind are to be endlessly damned ; he is quite
sure there will be a great many : but he is not to be included in
the number — oh no, not his precious self. He might go so far as
to acknowledge, " if I should die in my present state I would
without doubt sink to hell ; but then," quoth he, " 1 dont expect
so to die ; I hope divine grace will some day interpose for my
salvation." If this man loved all as he loves himself, he would
find it exceedingly easy to believe that all mankind will be saved ;
but the faith of endless-hell torments, we see, does not work by love.
Charity, which is but another name for love, and which the
apostle Paul tells us " never faileth," (1 Cor. xiii. 8.) though
prophecies may fail, and tongues may cease, and knowledge may
vanish away, and the earth in the lapse of ages may be resolved
into its primary elements, and the stars may grow dim with age1,
and worlds, and systems of worlds, may be dissolved, and become
commingled in primeval confusion ; all this may be, but love never
faileth ; for love is God, and was the first of all things, and must
survive the wreck of all things, in case such wreck transpire.
As God willeth not the final ruin of any, but, on the contrary,
will have all to be saved ; so as we assimilate to the divine
nature are we similarly disposed toward the whole of mankind :
And here, christian reader, I will appeal to your experience ; let
me take your memory back to the period when you were first
sensibie of the divine influences upon your heart; you were
overwhelmed, you were dissolved in tenderness, you looked
around you with new eyes upon all things, and they seemed
invested with a charm which they had never previously worn ;
love was apparent to your perceptions every where, and seemed
to have transmuted all things into its own image and essence ; there
was nothing, however mean or contemptible, upon which your
heart did not yearn to expatiate itself in kindness ; you could fully
sympathise with the desire of the poet,
" O that the world might taste and see
The riches of his grace ;
The arms of love which compass me,
Would all mankind embrace."
Far were you then from a disposition to limit divine grace to a
moiety of the human family ; on the contrary, you felt that that
l2

126 PRO AND CON OF UN1VEKSALISM.
grace which had reached a case so desperate as yours, was quite
able to plunge, in its saving influences, down to the lowest depths
of human guilt; for your heart fully endorsed the sentiment
breathed forth by the christian poet before-quoted, relative to the
divine goodness. " Throughout the world its breadth is known,
Vast as infinity ;
So vast it never passed by one,
Or it had passed by me."
Is it probable, reader, that your conceptions of almighty love
were at that time exaggerated? — that they soared beyond its
height — went down below its depths — or extended beyond its
circumference ? No, no, this is not probable, the greater proba
bility is, that your conceptions since have, by the influence of a
partial creed, been narrowed into limits quite out of accordance
with your christian profession and your former experience.
" Charity," saith the great apostle, "rejoicelh not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth ;" (1 Cor. xiii. 7.) from which we
gather, that whatever love cannot approve, and rejoice in, cannot
be true. Love can approve of all things as they are, because it
looks forward to what they are to be; it can approve of present
evil, with a view to future and greater good ; it can smile upon
a short night of tears, which is to issue in an ever-enduring day of
joy, the brighter for those tears. But can charity rejoice in the
endless ruin of intelligent Beings ? No ; and we therefore infer
that the doctrine concerning such an event is false.
Eleventh. We may infer the ultimate salvation of all men
from the fact, thai we are taught by Jesus Christ himself to make
the conduct of God toward his enemies, the model of our conduct
toward ours. " But I say unto you, love your enemies, hless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you and persecute. That ye may be
the children of your father which is in heaven," &c. (Mat. v. 44.)
What can be conceived more flagrantly opposed to this character of
the deity, than that which is ascribed to him by the theory of eter
nal torments ? To imitate God as that doctrine portrays him, we
must cherish toward our foes an implacable revenge, a revenge
which nothing short of their utter ruin will suffice to extinguish !

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 127
Such is the revenge, such the deity of that dark creed ! It is
equally easy to love him, as to love the grim vision of Milton's
' Molech, horrid king :

Besmear'd with blood of human sacrifice,
And parents' tears" 
Does he indeed love his enemies ? How, I pray, is that love
evinced? By continuing them in life? Yes, that they may
thereby sink the deeper in guilt, (for such lie certainly knows
will be the result,) and draw down upon themselves accumulated
ruin ! Such is the love of God ! Such his lenity toward the
objects of his wrath ! He has prepared for them a sea of sul
phurous fire, and although no good to any creature can arise from
it, it shall bo their hapless doom.
" There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,
Ages of hopeless end."
I put it to the consciences and good sense of my readers,
whether a doctrine which thus represents the deity can be true;
and whether the saviour's selection of the divine conduct as an
example for ours, was not, in this view of the case, a most inap
propriate, and unfortunate selection.
Twelfth. We may also infer our doctrine from the precepts
and the acts of the saviour whilst he sojourned with men : he was
the representative of God, and the reflection of his perfections,
(Col. 1.) " when ye have seen me," said he, "ye have seen the
father," (John xiv. 9.) and what was his treatment of sinners ?
Such, exactly, as entitled him to be called their "friend," (Mat.
xi. 10. Luke vii. 34.) he had " compassion on the ignorant, and
them that were out of the way ;" (Heb. v. 2.) even in death he
practiced upon the precept he gave to man, by praying for his en
emies; (Luke xxiii. 34.) and he commissioned his disciples
after his resurrection, to commence their labors of gospel lcve
amongst his murderers. (Luke xiii. 47. Acts iii. 26.) When
Peter inquired cf him, "How oft shall my brother sin against me,
and I forgive him — until seven times ?" his answer was, " I say not
unlo thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven." (Mat.
xxiii. 22.) That is, forgive as God forgives, without limitation.
To the woman taken in adultery he said, " neither do 1 con-
deirn thee ; go, and sin no more :" (John vii. 3.) from which we

128 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
are not to infer, however, that he did not regard the act with a
due degree of abhorrence ; for he cautioned her against a repeti
tion of it — " sin no more :" all that we can infer, is, that knowing
the frailty of our nature, and the temptations with which it is
beset, he judged less harshly of, and made more allowance for
human conduct, than cynical self-righteous bigots are wont to do.
" This man," thought Simon the pharisee, when he saw that
Jesus admitted a sinful, conscience-smitten woman, to disburthen
her heart in tears shed upon his feet; " is not so good and great
a person as he is accounted, or he would not permit a sinner to
touch him." Simon had not the least idea that he himself was a
sinner : oh, no! he would not submit to the pollution of contact
with any one bearing that character. Christ well divined what
was passing in his mind, and he read him a lesson of benev
olence so simple, and so touching withal ; that it must command
for its author the love and admiration of mankind through all
future time. (Luke vii. 3G.) When the multitudes followed him,
eager to hear his mild and soothing eloquence, into desert places,
and through long fasting became weak with hunger; Christ com
passionated them because they were far from their villages, and
they might faint on their way thiiher to get food : and he worked
a miracle for their supply on the spot. (Mat. xvi. 9. Mark viii. 9.)
Ah ! he saw very, very many amongst them, if the theory of an
endless hell be true, who after a few brief years should implore
his pity from the fiery deeps of ruin, and implore it in vain ! How
tender, and how delicate, was the manner he adopted toward the
transgressing Peter ; in order that that rash, but warm-hearted
disciple, might be reassured of his favour! (John xxi. 15.) And
how condescending was his conduct toward the skeptical Thom
as ! (ibid. xx. 27.) How enlarged is the benevolence he incul
cates in his sermon on the mount! and in the parable of the
good Samaritan ! (Luke x. 30.) The worst of mankind, he
informs us, will salute their brethren — will love their friends ;
(the members of a fraternity of thieves will do this as it regards
each other;) but if we would be God-like we must love our
enemies, and be kind to those that hale us : we must not suffer our
fellow feeling to be narrowed by party or by geographical limits;
but must aim to emulate him who is "good to all," and whose
" tender mercy is over all his works."

ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 129
Such was Jesus Christ: and those who saw him saw the
Father, (John xiv. 9.) for he was the incarnated "image of tho
invisible God;" (Col. i. 15.) the visible, and tangible mirror
of the divine perfections. How can we better acquaint ourselves
with the Father's character, and how a priori, better form a con
clusion as to what he will do in regard to our sinful raee, than by
attentively considering the precepts and the acts of his son, who
was his representative amongst men? "And we beheld his
glory," says one, " the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,/*;// of grace and truth." (John i. 14.) Now is not com
mon sense outraged when attempts are made to harmonise with
this developement of his character, the doctrine, that God will
to all eternity damn seven eighths of his frail and ignorant hu
man offspring ? When darkness can be proven a better medium
of vision than light ; when it can be shown that cold is attributa
ble to the presence of caloric; when the great toe, in the human
system, is shown to be the nucleus of the arlerial and venous
circulation, instead of the heart ; when the principle of gravita
tion is proven to incline heavy bodies to the clouds : when these
things can be made to appear, it will then be equally apparent that
from the perfections of character exemplified in the teaching and
acts of the Saviour, will result a final catastrophe answering to
that set forth in the dogma of endless misery.
I will add no more considerations at present, although much
more will be 'adduced in the progress of this work. I flatter my
self however, that more is not necessary for the conviction of the
candid inquirer: let him but suppose these facts reversed, and
then, must He not acknowledge their weight in the scale of the
opposite doctrine to be immense? If, for example, it could be
urged in behalf of endless misery, that God wills it; that it
accords with his purpose, pleasure, promise, and oath ; with the
mission, miracles, and death of Christ ; that it is a legitimate ob
ject of pray er, faith, and charity ; that all the good, in heaven
and on earth, desire it ; that in order to be like God we must in
our practice conform to the spirit of it : and that Christ's example
when on earth was in strict accordance with its principles.
And if it could be further urged in its favour, that revelation une
quivocally teaches that God's mercy is momentary, and his anger
eternal ,- that he will contend forever ; that in numerous instances

130 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
he will utterly takeaway his loving-kindness, and cease to be
gracious: also that death will always endure; and sin, and the
devil, and his works, and error, and misery and hell: and, further
more, that God created numerous intelligences to the very end that
they should be ceaselessly miserable ; and that any result short of
this would be a disappointment of his eternal plans. If, I say, all
this could be urged in proof of the truth of that doctrine, would
you not, reader, deem it the very extremity of folly and pre
sumption in me, or any one else, who should undertake to
prove that doctrine false ? You most undoubtedly would. Well
tbsn, all that I have repeated, and much more, can be adduced in
faiour of the universalist faith : and does it not therefore follow,
that to undertake a refutation of that faith is the very extremity
of folly and presumption?

HYMN— ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.
The Abrahamic covenant all people embraced,
By it all who fell in Adam are in Jesus replaced ;
1* or Jehovah hath sworn, and he will not recall his vow, '
That in the name of Jesus every creature shall bow.
From his kingdom shall Christ remove all things that offend,
He will finish transgression and bring sin to an end;
No place for the devil nor his works will be found ;
Where sin once abounded grace much more shall abound.
Oh then shall the glorious restitution take place,
The reconciliation of all Adam's lost race,
Which Jehovah hath promised and announced unto man,
By the mouth of all his prophets since creation began.
To Zion the ransom'd of the Lord shall repair,
The Jew and the Gentile, bond and free shall be there ;
All people encircled in the Saviour's embrace,
And sighing and sorrow to their songs shall give place.
On the mountain of Zion God a feast shall afford,
And all nations shall flock unto this feast of the Lord :
The songs of salvation shall employ every voice,
Christ shall see of the travail of his soul and rejoice.
Every creature in heaven, on the earth, and beneath,
Shall celebrate the triumph over Ha-des and death :
All rule, and authority, and power overthrown,
And, God all in all, the whole creation shall own.

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. I. 131
POPULAR DEBATE.— No. I.

IS THE FUTURE SALVATION CONDITIONAL?

ARGUMENT IN THE AFFIRMATIVE.
1st. Man is a free moral agent; as such he is a subject of law,
ofexhortation appealing to his interests and his fears, and of rewards
and punishments. If his future safety is independent of his pres
ent conduct I can conceive of no use that religion can be to him ;
why Christ should have died for his redemption; or why he
should be so earnestly, and repeatedly urged to attend to the im
portant business of his salvation ! Surely if he is not to be regard
ed as a probationer for eternity there was no need for all this;
religion is a mockery : and the means of grace utterly useless, if
his future felicity is secure without them.
2nd. We are solemnly assured in the Bible, that " the soul that
sinneth it shall die," — that " he that believeth not shall be dam
ned," — that " he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap cor
ruption," — that " we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that every one may receive for the things done in his body,
whether they be good, or whether they be evil." &c. Universal-
ists tell us that these threatenings, with the accompanying prom
ises relate wholly to the present state, but for this we have bul
their assertion, and the strength of language which marks many
of these texts, proves that assertion groundless. Is it in the pres
ent world that " they who sow to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap
life everlasting" ? Do universalists enjoy their everlasting life
in this world? Christ is said to have become " the author of eter
nal salvation to all them that obey him." Does this also happen
in the present state ? Is the eternal salvation to be realised here ?
Moreover, an apostle exhorts to " give all diligence to make your
calling and election sure" — " for so an entrance shall be minis
tered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of oui
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Now that in this passage the
reference is not to Christ's kingdom here, is certain, for Christ's
kingdom here is not everlasting. Here, then, is an insurmounta
ble proof, that our condition beyond death is dependant on our

132 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
conduct in life ; but this is so important a point that it shall be
proven farther.
The momentous question was put to Christ — " Are there few
that be saved ?" And what was his answer? was it such as favor
ed the universalian theory ? No indeed. " Strive to enter in at
the strait gate, for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and
shall not be able — for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat; be
cause strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it." Here we have a direct issue
between the Saviour and the universalian theory, the former af
firming that but few will arrive at eternal bliss, and that few con
ditionally, and the latter affirming that all will arrive there, and
that unconditionally.
But a still plainer case occurs ; when the lawyer and the rich
young man, inquired each of Christ what good thing he should do
to inherit eternal life : instead of receiving an answer such as
universalism would render, viz : Do nothing — you will be saved
at all events ; they were both informed that to mere legal obe
dience they must add the charity of the gospel ; to thcrich young
man was said, " sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Here observe by the way,
that heaven is put by the Saviour in apposition with eternal life ;
which implies that they are synonimous. Treasure in heaven,
then, it seems, may be secured by acts of charity upon earth '
I defy all the sophistry of universalism to fairly meet the argu
ment in this case, against their unconditional salvation ! It can
not be done.
Finally, Let me caution you, my friends, against the vitiating
and soul-destroying dogma of universal salvation ; vitiating and
soul-destroying it must necessarily be, since it takes away from
virtue all its encouragements, and from vice all its restraints;
which encouragements and restraints are eminently yielded by
the hope of future reward, and the fear of future punishment. This
is the very theory referred to by the prophet, which " makes the
hearts of the rirjhteous sad," and " strengthens the hands of Ihe
wicked by promising litem life." For must it not dishearten the
righteous to be told, that in the future world God will make no
distinction between them and the vilest of sinners ? Again then

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. I. 133
I ey'«ort you, my friends, to shun this doctrine, and pray God te>
guard you against a belief in it.
ARGUMENT IN THE NEGATIVE.
lat. Whether man is a free agent, and if so, to what extent, are
questions which I will not here attempt to resolve ; these subtle
ties have in all ages engaged the highest orders of intellect, and,
if Milton's authority in these matters be considered as valid, they
have engaged even the reasoning powers of fallen angels in their
dreary pandemonium. " Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate ;
Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute ;
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost."
The mist of uncertainty, nevertheless, still clings around these
questions as much as ever. I choose to assume that man is, in
some degree, master of his volitions, and the actions thence ensu
ing ; that in many cases he could both will, and do, otherwise than
as he does ; but that he is not free, to the extent supposed by my
opponent, is susceptible of both philosophical and scnptura" proof ;
he surely is not at liberty to ruin himself past the remedial reach
of his creator's grace : to suppose the contrary, is an almost blas
phemous arraignment of that creator's wisdom and benevolence!
But if we even concede to man all the freedom contended for, it
will not thence follow that he is a probationer (i. e. on trial) for
eternity ; that he is not, is evident from several circumstances.
First, we cannot control the events even of the future hour; I
may propose in an hour hence, to start on a journey ; but when the
moment arrives, I may be prevented by illness, or the weather,
or the state of the roads or streams, or a failure of the means of
conveyance. In short, a score of things may interpose betwixt
my purpose and its execution; and if such is the case with regard
to the future hour, is it likely that God has entrusted to me a
control over my eternal destinies ? Secondly, Why is the term of
human life of so unequal duration with regard to different individ
uals, if this life is a state of trial ? Some pass the ordeal in one
short hour, and attain the goal without the risks and hardships
of the race; whilst to others are allotted the toils and trials of
M

134 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
three fourths of a century ! Some, moreover, if this tneoiy be
true, pass to heaven by a path of flowers ; their education,
habits, temperaments, worldly interest, family and social consid
erations ; all incline them to the choice of a religious life : whilst
with others, the very reverse is the case ; they are religious, if at
all, at a sacrifice of nearly every earthly interest! If eternal
bliss is to be attained at the price of a religious life, why is not
that price equally within the reach of all ? And Thirdly, human
life at the longest is too short, its lights are too dim ; its wants,
trials, temptations, cares, too numerous; and its momentous
ends too obscurely revealed, if these ends are, the avoidance of
an eternity of woe, and the ensurance of an eternily of bliss.
No, no, it cannot be that we here are to form characters which
shall last forever : for those who die in infancy form no characters
at all ! And shall they so remain forever ? " But they are inno
cent," it will be said. True, but innocence is not virtue, when
we have it not in our power to be otherwise. If innocence is a pass
port to eternal joys, we are all born into the world with the pass
port in our hands, and millions attain the prize by the mere
accident of dying before an opportunity is offered of forfeiting the
title !
But my opponent opines, that if man is not a probationer for
eternity, there was no need of the saviour's advent and death,
and that preaching, and the whole business of religion is useless !
Really, I can see no force in this argument ; man is a rational
Being; he owes duties to bis God, ind to his fellows; it is the
office of religion to acquaint him with these, and to prompt him
to a discharge of them — he is subject to numerous trials and afflic
tions; under which it is the business of religion to sustain him —
he is destined to a higher station in Being than that which he at
present occupies : to this religion with friendly finger points his
hopes. Jesus Christ came to expound to man the nature and
elaims of this religion : and by his ministry, miracles, life, death,
and ascension, to exemplify and establish it. No necessity foi
religion, indeed ! It might as well he said that we shall not want
religion in a future life, except it be to prepare us for another stilt
beyond it! Truth is, if even there were no future life, religion
wo'dd stiU be needful to guide us peacefully and happily through
i> oresent, and wherever there is rational existence, religion is

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. I. 135
indispensable to its happiness. I must decidedly protest against
that narrow theory, which supposes religion only necessary as a
sort of certificate of admission to the world of bliss ! It is clear
that such is the view of it which has practically obtained amongst
the major part of Christendom.*
2nd. Let us now glance at the texts, which my friend thinks
sustain his views of a future conditional salvation ; he says truly
that universalists are in the habit of referring them exclusively to
the present slate. "The soul that sinneth it shall die." All ac
quainted with the language of the bible know, that soul is but
another word for person or individual ; " Eight souls were saved
from drowning," that is eight individuals were so saved. Now
how many souls have sinned ? "All have sinned ;" (Rom. iii.
23.) therefore, in the sense intended, all have died. To say that
this is an endless death, is not only to assume beyond what is
revealed, but also to incur the absurd consequence that all man
kind shall endlessly die !
" He that believeth not shall be damned." The Greek word.
here rendered damned is in other passages rendered condemned,
and judged; and might with equal propriety have been so trans
lated in this place. We have no warrant for saying that the
damnation is to ensue beyond the grave. " He that believeth not
IS condemned already." (John iii. 18.) My opponent, if he is not
now, has been an unbeliever : while such he was damned, or he was
not ; if not, the text in his case proved false ; if he was damned,
it must have been in this state of being, and thus his view of the
text is proven incorrect.
" He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corrup
tion." Where ? Not surely in a future world, for there, neither
flesh nor corruption exists : we have Paul for witness, that in the
resurrection "this corruption shall put on incorruption :" and
again, " for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible." (1 Cor. xv.) But my friend thinks the language
* The quaint, anil calvinistically orthodox John Bunyan, shall bear me witnes? to
the inu'n of this remark. " When he was come up to the cate he looked up to the
writing that wits above, and then hppan to knock, supposing that entrance should
have neen quickly administered lo him ; but he was asked by the men, that looked
over the lop of the gate, ' Whence cone you J and what would you have y }if, an
swered, ' I ha\c ?*i and drank in the riresence of the king.' Then they asked him
for hi( certificate '.hit the y might go iii and show il lo the king. So he fumbled in
his bosom lor one and found none, &c." 1 need hardly add, that he was denied admls*
•ion.— See Pilgrim's Progress, part first.

138 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
of the latter clause of this text too strong, to apply to tilings of
time : " he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life
everlasting." ' Do Universalists,' he somewhat wittily asks,
' enjoy their everlasting life in this World !' I will treat him to a
bible answer, " He that believeth on the son HATH everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but IS PASSED
from death unto life." (John iii. 36.) You see then, (if the
scriptures are to be the umpire between us,) that Universalists,
as well as other honest folk who believe in Christ, may enjoy
' everlasting life in this world.' It seems but reasonable, moreover,
that the harvest should be reaped where the seed is sown ; he
would be a sagacious fellow who should think of going to the
moon to gather a crop of turnips which he had planted on this
earth ! Equally sagacious is he who talks of going to a world
of spirits to reap corruption of the flesh.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that every one may receive according to the deeds done in his
body, whether they be good, or whether they be bad." Begging
my opponent's pardon I must tell him, that, in the sense of this
text for which he contends, he does not believe it himself! Does
he, for instance, believe that he will suffer in a future world foi
all his transgressions in this ? Not he ; notwithstanding that he
will acknowledge to have sinned often, and greatly, yet he thinks
that his post mortem state will be one of unmingled happiness '
He does not believe that Moses, in the future state, will be pun
ished for his murder of the Egyptian, whoso body he buried in
the sand : nor that Samson will be held to a reckoning for his
scandalous connexion with Delilah ; nor Peter, for the denial
of his Lord ; nor Thomas, for his obstinate refusal to credit
Christ's resurrection without sensible demonstration. And yet
he puts upon the text before us such a construction as requires
him to believe all this! Let us now look for the true sense of
this passage: leaving out the words added by the translators it
reads as follows, " For we must all appear before the judgment-
seat of Christ, that every one may RECEIVE THE THINGS
IN BODY, according lo that he hath done, whether good or
bad." Where is the judgment seat of Christ? Are we any
where told it is in eternity? No; on the contrary, Christ him-
self says, " For judgment I am come into thin world ;" ( lohn ix

POPULAR DEBATE, NO, I. 131
39.) and as to the time of this judgment he says, "Now is the
judgment of this world ;" (John xii. 31.) and, indeed, it was long
before predicted of him that he should " execute judgment and
justice in the earth ,-" (Jer. xxiii. 5.) and another prophet saith,
" he shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment
in the earth.- and the isles shall wait for his law." (Isaiah xiii. 4.)
"The judgment seat of Christ" is a figure, implying thaL by the
principles of his gospel human actions are tested in this latter-
day dispensation ; Jesus himself explicitly sanctions this defini
tion. " He that rejecteth me, and receivelh not my words, hath
one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall
judge him in the last day." (John xii. 48.) Let these remarks
suffice for the present, they sufficiently show that an application
of the text in dispute lo a future state, is unauthorized and
gratuitous. Pass we now to what my opponent deemed his most invinci
ble proofs, perhaps we shall find them not absolutely insuperable
after all. A young lawyer, it seems, and a certain rich young
man, inquired of Christ what they should do to inherit eternal
life; and because they were directed to superadd christian chari
ty to legal obedience in order to the attainment of this object, my
friend thinks it quite clear that future endless bliss is condition
ally bestowed. Were 1 a logician 1 would whisper in his ear,
"my friend, first prove, what you here assume, viz. that the scrip
ture sense of ' eternal life' is synonymous with ' future endles3
bliss.' " But this he thinks he has already done, by showing an
instance in which this phrase is put in apposition with the word
heaven. It behooves him, however, to show also that this last
term always, or even generally, is used to signify the world of
bliss. That it is not, I can establish past dispute ; yea more,
I can establish that it does not in this very instance. For
it is immediately afterward confounded with the " kingdom of
heaven ;" " Verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly
enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now I know of no one
instance in which this phrase signifies the future world of bliss ;
its invariable reference is to the church, or the gospel dispensation :
the same that is likened to " a grain of mustard seed ;" to " leaven
which a woman hid in two measures of meal ;" to " ten virgins;"
and numerous other things. This kingdom is a purely spiritual
m2

136 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
institution ; it " cometh not," saith the saviour, " with observa
tion, the kingdom of heaven is within you :" and Paul says it
consists of " righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy
epirit." (Rom. xiv. 15.) It was truly difficult in Christ's day for
a rich man to become a subject of this kingdom ; opposed as
were its unpretending and self-denying principles, to the pomp,
and glitter, and ostentation of the world ; and embracing only, as
was then the case, a few unlearned, untitled, and obscure fisher
men, as its denizens. Even many years subsequent to Christ's
time, an apostle had occasion to say : "Not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called." (1 Cor.
i. 26.)* How hardly, then, would a rich man resist the blan
dishments of the proud world, and become a follower of the
humble Nazarene ! " It is easier," said Christ, " for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God." (Mat. xix. 24.) This led the disciples in
apparent surprise to inquire, " Who then can be saved ?" The
answer given is strangely at variance with the doctrine of salva
tion by human agency : "With men this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible." What is this but virtually saying
that our salvation is not by any means of ourselves ? that il is
something over which we have no control ? — and which, therefore,
cannot, in the nature of things, be conditional ; but must come
solely from God, who alone can secure it to us ? And the same
thing is elsewhere repeatedly affirmed. " By grace are ye saved
through faith ; and that not ff yourselves.- il is the gift of God :
not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephe. ii. 8.) Which
indeed is avowedly the doctrine of all protestant Christendom,
and has been maintained also by some eminent lights in the Ro
mish church, more especially by St. Augustine : and yet, with
singular inconsistency, they mostly deny in fact, what they sa
clearly avow in terms !
The disciples next inquire (for I wish here to meet all the ap
parent difficulties of this passage) what they should receive
who had forsaken all and followed him : he answers them, " When
the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also

» The Countess of Huntingdon (a rigid calvinist) used to say, that he? hope of sal-
ralion would be cut off by this text but for ihe presence of one letter \ But for thai
bUssad letter m it would read, Not any noble are called.

POPULAr. DEBATE, NO. I. 139
shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my name
sake, shall receive a hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting
life." I know well the strength of educational prejudices; and I
also know that these prejudices incline us to apply this language
to a world beyond the grave ; but let us scrutinize it carefully :
Are the apostles to sit on thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of
Israel, in a future world ? Is il in a future world that the Son of
man shall sit on the throne of his glory ? On the contrary, we
have his own repeated assurance that this took place at the con
clusion of the Jewish, and opening of the gospel aion or age :
expressly, and repeatedly, is it said by the saviour, when speak
ing of this very event, " Verily, I say unto you, there be some
standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the son
of man coming in his kingdom." (Mat. xxi. 28. Mark viii. 38. xiii.
26. Luke. ix. 27.) What was the precise idea meant to be conveyed
by the expression, " ye shall sit on thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel," I pretend not to decide; certainly, however, it
is not to be understood literally ; and that the disciples themselves
understood it to relate to things of time is manifest : on the very
night before his crucifixion they were contending as to which of
them should occupy the chief places in his kingdom ; and when
at length the reign of Christ commenced, we find them constantly,
in their preaching and writing, alluding lo this divine dispensation
under the title of " the kingdom," (Acts viii. 12. xx. 25. xxviii.
39.) and as having a present existence, "who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and HATH TRANSLATED US
into the kingdom of his dear son." (Col. i. 13. 1 Thes. ii. 12.)
This is " the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus
Christ," en which my opponent dwelt so emphatically, and which
he sagely supposes cannot exist in time because of its being
termed everlasting ! Pity for him that he should have read his
bible (o so little purpose ! For as the kingdom of Christ, if Paul
may be credited, it cannot exist in eternity : he informs us that at
the close of terrestrial things, or at the era of the general resurrec
tion, Christ " shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even
the Father : when he shall have put down all rule, and all author
ity, and power: for he must reign till he hath put all enemies un-

140 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
der his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall THE
SON HIMSELF ALSO be subject unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all." (1 Cor. xv. 24—28.) My
opponent's supposition then, you perceive, that the everlasting
kingdom of Christ is in eternity, is quite wide of the fact.
I have already shown that everlasting life is enjoyed in this state
of existence ; let me put this interesting point beyond all cavil :
Christ himself says, " He that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE ;" (John
v. 24.) he repeats the same, (John vi. 47.) he also defines this
life ; " This IS life eternal, that men may know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John xvii. 2.)
So soon then as this knowledge is possessed is the eternal life con
sequent thereof enjoyed. The apostle Paul, writing to the Romans,
says, "Being made free from sin, and become servants of God,
Ye have your fruits unto holiness, and the end"(or consequence)
everlasting life." (Rom. vi. 22.) By supplying in the closing
clause of this text what grammarians call the ellipsis, or the
omitted words, it would read " and ye have the end (or conse
quence) which is everlasting life." John says, " No murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him." (1 John iii. 15.) These instan
ces will suffice to settle the fact beyond controversy, that tho
phrases, " eternal life," and " everlasting life," are often used in
reference to present gospel enjoyment. I,. however, do not thence
infer that they never point to the immortal existence of the future
state : still I cannot positively say that they ever have such
reference ; but from the nature of this life, we cannot doubt that
it is the same that is enjoyed by all pure intelligences in every
department of Being.
But few words are necessary, methinks, in disposing of my
friend's now only remaining scriptural argument; I allude to the
passage concerning the narrow, and the broad roads: the one
leading to life, the other to destruction ; the one but sparsely, tho
uther very populously occupied. And does my friend seriously
deem that these represent the highways to bliss and woe unend
ing! Is it the fact that the path to final happiness is so narrow,
nd difficult of access, that but few are so fortunate as to find it;
while on the other hand, the numerous travellers to endless ruin

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. I. 141
are accommodated with a broad, M'Adamized road ? How
strangely in connection with this circumstance sounds the decla
ration, " The Lord hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but rather that all should turn unto him and live!" If I could
adopt my opponent's view of this subject, I would abandon all pre
tensions to a belief in the infinite goodness of God, or in his alleged
disposition to save the human family ; and I should be at an utter
loss how to discriminate between an all-benevolent deity, and
an all-malignant devil ! The meaning of the passage is briefly
as follows : Christ confined his personal ministry to the Jews,
but such was the bigotry, and so many and unyielding the preju
dices of that people, that but few, and they with great difficulty,
could be persuaded to become the subjects of his kingdom;
much the major part persisted in rejecting him ; they would not
come unto him that they might have life : and, as a consequence,
they were involved in the destruction which ensued when their
city and temple were desolated by the Roman army : the few
among the Jews who did by faith in the saviour enter into life
are designated by Paul, "a remnant according to the election of
grace." (Rom. xi. 8.) Christ saith in the text, " many, I say
unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able :" and in
agreement with this, the afore-mentioned apostle says, " What
then ? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh after ; but the
election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." (ibid. 7.)
Thus endeth the examination of the texts relied on in the affirma
tive of this argument : let us now glance at some additional con
siderations on the negative side.
1st. — Supposing a future salvation conditional, what are the
conditions? Is faith one? If so, forty-nine fiftieths of the past
generations of man are already damned to all eternity, for they did
not, in this life, and could not, believe in the saviour ! Moreover,
it is certain that the disciples of Christ had no will in the matter
of their belief; it was forced upon them by sensible evidence :
for years they remained ignorant of the true character of their
master, notwithstanding that they had the advantage of his teach
ing and miracles, and when at length they became convinced on
this head, that conviction was forced upon them by evidence
which they could not resist. Thomas, in particular, declared,
" Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put

142 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his
side, 1 will not believe." (John xx. 26.) There can surely be no
merit in an act in which we are passive ; equally so as in the act
of respiration : and that such is the case in the business of belief
in genera], that it is not a matter of volition, is as susceptible oe
demonstration as is any moral axiom whatever.
2nd. — Let us suppose perfect holiness one of the conditions;
' without which no man can see the Lord :" (Heb. xii. 14.)
where now shall we find one who comes up to this mark ? Paul
acknowledges that he had not, (Phil. iii. 15.) and Solomon says
" There is not a just man on the earth that doeth good and sinnelh
not." (Eccle. vii. 20.) How small then is the chance of salvation
beyond death to any, if it depend on the attainment of true holi
ness here ! My opponent himself will confess, first, that with the
taint of sin upon his soul he cannot enjoy the felicity of heaven,
and second, that he will never in this world be free from that
taint. What remains then ? Ergo. Except changed after
death he must be endlessly damned ! I would not willingly give
head-room to a doctrine which closed all chance of future bliss
even against myself.
3rd. — If neither faith nor holiness, separately, is sufficient as a
term of admission to heaven, but the union of both is required, it
then follows, that with the highest degree of perfection attainable
by man, an individual may yet be endlessly lost, if he have the
misfortune to be ignorant of gospel truth ! And then too, what
becomes of another item in the same creed, viz. that, in a future
world, every man will be rewarded according to his works ?
Thus on every hand we meet insuperable difficulties in the
way of a future conditional salvation, whilst on the other side 1
know of none that may not be easily obviated : many are startled,
it is true, at the idea, that even the deepest guilt into which a man
may plunge himself, will not utterly sink him beneath the reach
of divine grace, and shut the gales of future bliss against his soul :
but let such reflect that even according to their own belief, the
worst of sinners experience a free pardon upon repentance in this
life, and that here or hereafter God's mercy is the same — his love
to his creatures the same — the power of his grace, and the benev
olent objects of his government the same ; or all that we are told
of the immutability of his nature must go for nothing. That the

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. I. 143
mere depth of human guilt will prove no barrier against the effi
cacious operations of divine grace, is obvious from his promises,
" though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ;
and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
(Isaiah i. 18.) It is a most pitiful puerility to object that promises
of this nature only indicate the divine dispositions toward man in
time, for that implies that in eternity these dispositions will have
changed ; and that the reformation of sinful intelligences will have
ceased to be an object with God ! which are most gross ab
surdities. My opponent alleges that ours is the doctrine alluded to by
Ezekiel, which " slrengthenelh the hands of the wicked by
promising him life ;" and thereby " makes the hearts of the
righteous sad." If the righteous are made sad by being told that
all sin, and misery, and death, and disorder, shall eventually come
to a period — that the infinite purity and felicity will be transfused
into all conscienl existence — that God's promises will be verified,
his will accomplished — the ends of Christ's death consummated,
and their own prayers answered ; if this, I say, is saddening to
righteous hearts, I can only say it is pity for them, and that 1
most fervently pray to be delivered from a heart of the kind !
But is it true that we strengthen the hands of the wicked ? Do
we promise him life in his wickedness? Nothing can be farther
from truth than an affirmative answer to these questions. We
insist that death — certain — present death — death constituted of
remorse, misery, degradation, and every kind of mental (and
.often bodily) suffering, shall be the harvest of the sinner in pro
portion to what he sows. It were an easy thing to retort the
charge upon the doctrine of my opponent, and to show that it
promises absolute impunity to crime; however deep, and long
continued, provided that it be but repented of this side the grave !
But as I have been already diffuse in my reply, I will not dwell
upon this manifest advantage in favour of my theory.
I could say much relative to the restraining effects of his doctrine
of post-mortem rewards and punishments : I might point to coun
tries in which this belief is universal, (such is the case in Ma-
homedan and Pagan lands,) and consider the moral and religious
condition of those countries : I might point to ages past when no
voice was lifted, nor allowed to be lifted, against this tenet, and

144 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
expose the degradation and infamy of those ages; but let this
pass, it will suffice to remark that in our own age and country, at
least nineteen twentieths of the criminal offences committed, are
by persons who believe and have been educated in that doctrine :
<vhen these dark and mystic fables, shall have given place to
manlier and more scriptural views of God's character and govern
ment, there is every reason to think that the tone of moral feeling
will be more pure and elevated.
In the conclusion, then, let me earnestly entreat you, my
friends, to lay every selfish and party consideration aside, and
search diligently for truth; let no croaking menaces, dictated by
craft, and in all times resorted to for their effect upon weak minds,
discourage you from the pursuit, or repress your efforts for mental
emancipation. Heed not my opponent's counsel by praying
to be guarded against this or that belief: you cannot certainly
know which, or whether either, is correct; it would therefore be a
mockery of God to offer up a prayer of the kind ; it would be
virtually asking him to keep you in your present faith right or
wrong ! This is the essence of bigotry. Rather pray to have
yjur minds disenthralled from prejudice — to have its educational
mists dissipated, and to be guarded against the influence of self
ish or party considerations in the search for truth. You may be
told that this or that doctrine is not safe ,- treat such suggestions
with the contempt they merit; they have been used by every cor
rupt party, whether in politics or religion, in order to repress exer
tions toward reform : Not safe, is the monarchist's watchword of
alarm against a change in government ; the same is echoed by the
Papist against reform in religion ; and it is reiterated by the ad
vocates of an endless hell, against an advance in divine knowl
edge : this watchword has, to some extent, accomplished its
intended ends, but it is becoming trite, and is losing its power.
Truth is safe, whatever that truth is ; and its pursuit is safe, for
should we even fail of the end we cannot but get the nearer to it
for our exertions, and fail, if fail we must, with thousands of the
noblest and purest of mankind who have failed before us

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. II. 14fi
POPULAR DEBATE.— No. II.

UNIVERSALISM REDUCED TO AN ABSURDITY.
In a popular attempt to refute this daring heresy, I deem it not
only perfectly allowable, but also the most proper and successful
mode, to point out its absurd nature and consequences ; or in other
words, to use the method of argumentation termed by logicians
the reductio ad absurdum. I shall adopt this course on the present
¦ iccasion, and, therefore, I ask in advance that my auditors will
pardon, for the motive's sake, such of my remarks as may seem
to border on levity. I hold it to be self-evident, that a doctrine
which is fairly reducible to absurdity, must be false.
1st. — What can we possibly gain by adopting the universalist
faith ? It is not pretended that we shall thereby render our future
salvation more secure : admitting its truth, we shall all share its
Benefits in another life, whether we have believed in it or not. Per
haps we maybe told, that to be possessed of this faith will add to
our present happiness ; hut this cannot be granted. I am as happy
in my belief at the present as though I were a universalist, and
I know not but happier. There is then nothing to be gained by
the adoption of this faith, if even true; and if it be false ! dread
ful ! dreadful will be the issue to those who are deluded by it !
2nd. — Universalists manifest a marvelous faculty in believing
the promises of God ; but tell them of his threatenings, and you
will find them nowise disposed to credit them. Oh no, " God is
too good to punish men ; it cannot be that he means what he says
in this matter." All which, to be sure, is in strict accordance with
the carnal heart. If a father promise his son an apple, or any
other present, the little urchin will take good care to jog his mem
ory about it ; but if a beating be promised he will soon contrive
to forget that, and flatter himself his father will forget it too. So
it is oxactly with universalists in rpgard to the deity !
3rd. — No doctrine could be hit upon more consoling or con
venient to wicked men ; for the bible tells them they " shall not
live out half their days;" jjnd thie system says to them, " Never
min.l it, sinners; you shall go immediately to heaven." Theje
N

148 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALIS!! .
is a decided advantage accruing from sin according to this teach
ing ; for if sin shortens men's days, it only takes them the sooner
to heaven ! The antediluvians, for instance, were, on account of
their sbominable crimes, swept away to glory by the waters of
the flood ! whilst poor old Noah, for his piety, was doomed lo
linger for years in this vale of sorrow ! The same was the case
with the Sodomites, Egyptians, Assyrians, etc. who provoked
the wrath of God to kill them, and take them home to a world of
bliss ! A fine doctrine, this.
4lh. — How would you like, my brethren, to sit down in the
kingdom of God with murderers, adulterers, thieves, and every
description of wicked persons ; the rag, lag and bob-tail of man-
kind ? This will surely be the case, if universalism be true 1
All the moral classifications of human society will be merged
in one motley and conglomerated mass ! If heaven is to be graced
with this kind of neighborhood, I can only say, " O my soul,
come not thou into their secret : and to their assembly, mine
honor, be not thou united !" Those who wish for such a heaven
may have it to themselves for me.
5th. — This doctrine furnishes not an apology merely, but even a
motive for suicide. Who would bear the ills of life, its disap
pointments, sorrows, pains, bereavements, &c. if at any moment
he pleased, he could leave it for a better ? Surely universalists
are fools to buffet with the storms of time, when if they chose it
they might at once push home their bark into a peaceful eternity !
If I were of this belief, I would look about me for the easiest
mode of translation to glory, and would put an instant period to
this troublesome existence by drowning, or hanging, or shooting,
or poisoning; for according lo universalism, these are all but
convenient instruments of removal from earth to heaven !
Cth. — It furnishes a motive to murder also. I should certainly
think it right, if I were of this faith, when I saw my friends in
affliction or embarrassment, to despatch them in the easiest man
ner I could, and thus put an end to their misery. Who conld
blame me, when my motive was so good ?
7th. — Universalists tell us that all Ihe punishment due to sin is
inflicted in this life. Let me suppose a case. An individual
soends his whole life in the most atrocious crimes; from bad to
~u.se ne goes, ana goes with accumulated speed, down the sleep

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. II. 147
declivity of guilt, until his very existence becomes an intolerable
burthen to him, and he terminates it at length by suicide. Where
does he receive his punishment for the act of self-destructio;: ?
can any one inform me ?
8th. — But if sinners are punished in this world, the Psalmist was
mistaken ; for the prosperous stale of wicked men, excited his en
vy ; he saw that " they are not in trouble as other men, neither are
they plagued like other men ;" that " their eyes stand out with
fatness, they have more than heart can wish :" and '• they even
have no bands in their death." " Behold !" he exclaims, " these
are the ungodly who prosper in the world : they increase in rich
es." Now all this is quite another tune from that which univer
salism plays us ! which of the twain shall we accredit? Both we
cannot. Suppose, my auditors, that we take a peep into an universalian
futurity : Strange scenes present themselves to our view ! I see
there together, in happy and peaceful fellowship, the slanderer
and the slandered — the assassin and his victims — the tyrant, and
those who on earth groaned beneath his yoke — the seducer of
innocence, and she whom, with a broken heart and a ruined rep
utation, he sent to a premature grave — the murdered son of God,
and those who mocked him in his dying agony ; all, in promis
cuous, and indiscriminate companionship, together ! I wonder
how long it will be ere those glorified villains will fall back into
their old habits ! And, by the way, I am here reminded of a
question put to a universalist by his own child, which had the
effect of opening his eyes to the ridiculous and delusive character
of this heresy. The little boy had been reading the story of " The
Babes in the Wood ;" with the inqnisitiveness natural to youth he
inquired, " Father, where did those babes go to after they were
murdered ?" "To heaven, of course," replied the parent. "And
where did the wicked men go to who murdered them ?" " Why,
I suppose," the father stammeringly replied, " that they went to
heaven too." " But wont they murder the poor children again ?"
the boy once more inquired : and lo this question the father could
render no reply; it proved a means, with God's blessing, of
awakening him to the awfully insecure nature of the universalian
system.

148 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
REPLY TO THE ABOVE.
The opponents of our faith are welcome to select against it
whatever weapon they may deem most effectual : if they are
able, without a distortion of its features, to exhibit it in a ridicu
lous light, we will not complain ; for we think (as my opponent
has said) that a doctrine must be false which can fairly be redu
ced to an absurdity. It may, however, turn out, ere we are done,
that my opponent will attain an experimental persuasion' of the
truth of the proverb, that " people who live in glass houses
should not throw stones."
First, we are asked, what is to be gained by the adoption of ihe
universalist belief? It might as well be asked what is to be gain
ed by believing in the Copernican, rather than in the Ptolemaic
system of astronomy ? or in the true view of any science rather
than in the false? What is to be gained! so much that hours
would scarcely suffice for telling; yet it may be comprehended in
the declaration, that all is to be gained that is implied in being
translated out of superstitious darkness into divine light. That
it will make our after-death felicity no more certain, is granted ;
and my opponent must also grant that the same is the case witli
literary, scientific, or any oilier kind of knowledge: but will hf.
therefore say that they are useless? Such, al least, is the logica.
deduction from his argument ! But he informs us that he is an
happy, during the present, in his belief, as he could be in mine.
Perhaps so. What is his belief? It is no less than this : that
untold millions of human beings, among whom may be his
own father and mother, wife and children, and possibly himself,
shall groan forever beneath the wrath of God ! Is he as happy
in this persuasion, as if he confidently trusted that all our race
will at last be the subject of unending holiness and felicity in
heaven ? I hope, for the honor of his heart, thai he did not feel
as he spoke when he gave utterance to so monstrous a sentiment!
2nd. — He charges us with being more ready to accredit the
promises than the threalenings of God. It is sufficient that I deny
this charge, and affirm, that we have too good an opinion of the
veracity of the divine Being, to suppose, that he has threatened
tmnishments which he will never inflict; and of his benevolence, la
suppose that his inflictions will not consist with the ultimate well

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. II. 149
being of the offender. And if such are the nature and end of the
divine retributions, why should we be loth to believe the threaten-
ings respecting them ? I truly can see no reason. His simile of
the lad and his father does not fairly illustrate the case : nor is it
natural, for a child is as much inclined to believe his parent when
he threatens as when he promises, provided the threatening be
just and reasonable in itself; but if a father should menace his
son with the cutting his throat, or dashing out his brains, the son
might "well not think him serious, except he have previously known
him for a brutal tyrant. So it is with universalists in regard lo
our Father in heaven ; we believe what he has threatened ; not
what my opponent's creed says he has threatened ; we cannot so
far outrage his justice and benevolence.
3rd. — Our doctrine, it seems, " is very consoling to wicked
men :" well, this circumstance surely does not disprove its iden
tity with the gospel, for that is termed " glad tidings of great joy
which shall be unto all people." But my opponent represents it
as holding out encouragement to sin, by telling men that the
shorter they render their stay on earth by their crimes, the sooner
they will get to heaven. Now this objection to universalism
rests on the false assumption, that men pass, according to this
theory, immediately from earth to heaven. This is a mistake ;
we pretend not to know what is the condition of men intermedi
ately to death and the resurrection; we have the assurance of
Christ that the subjects of the resurrection will be " as the angels
of God in heaven," " neither do they die any more, but are the
children of God, being the children of the resurrection :" (Luke
kx. 36.) and Paul also fully satisfies us that the resurrection stale
nf mankind will be one of incorruption, immortality, and glory.
i 1 Cor. xv.) We then are content with believing within scrip-
lure warrant, and affect not to be wise above what is written rela
tive to the future state.* Our opponents, on the contrary, assume,
that so soon as men die they'have an endless abode assigned them
either in heaven or hell, according as they have been righteous or
wicked on earth. We shall see now that my friend's objection
rebounds against his own dogma. He will admit that Moses and
Aaron, because of their disobedience to the divine command ia
* The reader will find inquiries upon this subject at some length in a future Na
N2

150 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
certain cases, were cut off from the earth, and denied the privi
lege of accompanying the host of Israel into the promised land,
(Deut. xxxii. 49, 50.) But Moses and Aaron, according to my
friend's creed, went immediately to heaven, and it thence follows
that their disobedience was advantageous to them ; il took them
the sooner to heaven ! Moreover, my friend may according to the
course of nature have full fifty years yet lo live, which is a long
time to be kept out of the world of bliss: but suppose he should
murder his neighbour to-morrow, and improve (as nearly all mur
derers do) the space between ihe sentence of death and its execu
tion, by repentance ; his peace with God may soon be effected,
and his arrival in the realms of glory will be the earlier for his
crime by half a century ! Here is encouragement to crime with
a witness ! Universalism tells men that sin will not in any case,
can not, go unpunished. Does this encourage them to sin ? No,
surely, except they covet punishment : on the other hand, my op
ponent's doctrine tells them " you will not be punished in this
life, nor (provided you repent) in another." Of course every
villain promises himself that he will repent, and thus secure an
immunity from punishment in both worlds. Which now is the
theory which holds out inducement to crime?
4th. — My friend is most morbidly apprehensive, that if our
heresy be true he shall not meet in heaven with society as pure and
holy as himself! I will essay to quiet his nerves upon ihis head.
True, it is not in my power to tell him (even on his own ground)
that he will meet no murderers there, for he expects to meet
Moses, David, Paul, and others, against, whom the crime of mur
der stands recorded in the inspired record, (see Exod. ii. 12. 2 Sam.
xi. 15. Acts viii. 1. ix. 1.) Neither can I promise him that heaven
will contain no incestuous persons, or drunkards, for he expects to
join Noah and Lot there ; the former of whom was guilty of one of
these crimes, and the latter of both, (see Gen. ix. 21. ibid. xix. 30
— 36.) I can tell him too of fornicators, adulterers, thieves, swear
ers, &c, whom he thinks he shall see in heaven, and with whom
he thinks he can enjoy good fellowship without moral contamina
tion, (see Hosea i. 2, 3. 2 Sam. xi. 4. Luke xiii. 43. Mat. xvii. 74.
&c.) Why then does my opponent urge against our faith an objec
tion which makes equally against his own ? If he cannot consent
to enjoy the felicity of that bright world in company with his fcL

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. II. 151
jow sinners, I know of no help for him; for I scarcely think that
another heaven will be prepared for the exclusive use of some few
Simon pures of his own stamp !
He will tell us, perhaps, that the persons who committed the
crimes above mentioned, are saved, according to his doctrine,
upon the condition of repentance .- well, we also admit that no
man can enjoy God except he is first morally qualified for that en
joyment ; he supposes that only a few will attain this qualifica
tion ; we think (and upon sufficient bible warrant too) that all will
attain it. The difference between ns, therefore, has less resjtect
to the nature of the principle, than to the extent of ils applica
tion. According to his creed nearly all murderers are saved; it
rarely happens that one is led to the gallows, who does not
express a confidence of his acceptance with God ; and they are
usually accompanied by ministers of the gospel, who expressly
sanction this proceeding. Indeed, the situation of the murderer
after his sentence, is decidedly more favourable to the great busi
ness of preparation for heaven, than is that of Ihejionest member
of society who dies upon his bed ; the former has his faculties in
full play, his days are numbered, he almost knows his hour; in
the solitude of his cell he is subject to few interruplions ; holy
men, and books adapted to aid his devotions, are at his com
mand ; hence it rarely happens that this awful interval is not
improved in the manner aforemenlioned : and it may be asserted
with undoubted truth that, according to the creed of endless mis
ery, there are infinitely more murderers saved lhan of honest men,
in proportion to the number of each class ! How does my friend
like that result ?
5th. — Let us now look at the declaration that universalism
•nrnishes a motive to suicide. I have already shown that we do
not believe in an immediate translation from earth to heaven :
wherein (hen consistelh the inducement to self-destruction! Of
all people on earth we have the hast reason for being dissat
isfied with the present life; for according lo our view, all its
sorrows, temptations, trials, disappointments, &c, are appointed
by infinite love, to exercise us here for our hereafter advamao-e.
If we imagined that an endless hell awaited us when we leave
this brief life of tears, and that each crime we committed might
sink us the deeper in its fiery surges, it is probable that we

153 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
should become desperate from despair, and rush headlong (like
the charmed bird that flies within the serpent's reach) into the
very ruin we were most concerned to shun. Alas ! how many a
tender and amiable being has fallen a victim lo this dreadful
persuasion ! The benevolent Cowper had nearly been included
in the number. But surely the universalist, whose faith dispeb
these murky clouds from his moral sky, and conducts him in an
ticipation lo an universally bright and glorious conclusion of a\\
things, may well be content with, and cheerful under, the dis
pensations of life, however dark al the present those dispensa
tions be.
6th. — And a motive to murder also ! " Now mark" (as Sir
William Draper saith in his letters to Junius,) "how plain a tale
shall put him down, and transfuse the blush into his own cheek."
On the ground of pity, he alleges, he could, consistently with
our faith, murder a person laboring under distress and embar
rassment ; and despatch him to a better world. But I will
show you, my auditors, that agreeably to his own creed, the motive
to murder upon this ground, is infinitely greater. He is a father:
if he looks with an impartial eye around him he will see, that
not more lhan one in twenty of the. human race (even within the
limits of Christendom) die in possession of the fitness for heaven
which he thinks is alone attainable in this brief existence; con
sequently the chances of endless damnation against those of salva
tion, in regard to every person who grows to a responsible age, is,
at the leasl, as nineteen to one! At the same time he believes
that all who die in infancy go to heaven. What a motive ia here,
then, to infanticide ! What parent can think of aiding the pro
gress of his offspring toward maturity in view of this fact!
Nineteen chances in the scale against his soul, to one in his favor!
On the ground of revenge also, the motive to murder is great ac
cording to my opponent's creed. An individual entertained against
another a most deadly hostility ; he brooded for some time over
several plans of mischief toward him, but none seemed sufficient
ly deep to satisfy him. " If even I take his life," thought he
" he is so good a christian that I shall but be doing him the favor
of hastening his exit to eternal happiness." At length he be
thought him of a scheme ; he waylaid his object, got his person
fully within his power : " Rennunre your God," said he, "or I

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. II. 153
plunge this dagger to your heart." The poor wretch, listening
wholly to his fears, did as he was bidden; he renounced God:
whereupon his enemy immediately despatched him, exclaiming
" Now I have ruined you body and soul, and am fully avenged."
7th. — Universalists, it seems, are quite wide of the truth in
affirming that sinners are here punished for their sins ! My oppo
nent has found scriptural proof to the contrary ! Well, if this be
so we have scripture proof against scripture proof; for the bible
saith " the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more
the wicked and the sinner." (Prov. xi. 31.) But it is not so ;
the very authority he quoted is direct against him. (see Psl. Ixxiii.)
David, in this Psalm, sets out with the declaration that, " truly God
is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart ;" he goes
on to say that he had formerly doubted this fact, and had supposed
that the wicked were more favored than the righteous ; a merely
superficial view of human life had led him to false conclusions in
this matter; and he gave way to discontent, supposing that it was
in vain that he had cleansed his hands, and preferred the service
of God. But when he went into the sanctuary he was undeceived,
he there learned that Ihe prosperity of the wicked is but in ap
pearance ; that it is unstable, liable to sudden reverses : and,
moreover, that they " are utterly consumed with terrors," and
subject to be visited with swift desolation. He thence confesses
that his former complaints were foolish and brutal, and ends with
declaring " It is good for me to draw near to God," &c. Now it
must be apparent to all who look candidly into this case, that the
very sentiment which David confesses to have adopted hastily and
in ignorance of the fact, is now put gravely forth by my opponent
as an established revealed truth ! I request him to lay his hand up
on his heaTt and ask himself, " Do I regret that I have chosen the
rervice of God (even if there be no hereafter consequence from it)
in preference to the pursuits of sin ?" Let him, I say, put this ques
tion directly to his conscience; if it render an affirmative answer,
its moral state must be such as no true christian can envy : on
the other Jiand, if its response be negative, his doctrine, that sin ie
not here punished, nor virtue rewarded, is refuted by his own
experience. 8th. — We are asked a question in relation to the suicide, which
I confess to be as difficult an one as can be propounded ao-ainst

154 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
our system. Allowing that in a long career of crime he received
a due amount of punishment for every offence, where does he re
ceive the penalty for the last act, that of self-destruction ? I will
endeavor to answer this question : difficult, I acknowledge it,
but not insuperable. First, then, I observe that life is a blessing,
and when an individual deprives himself of a blessing, he sustains
a loss of course, and that loss is a suitable and adequate punish
ment. That life is a blessing, is clearly assumed in the scriptures :
length of days is often promised to the righteous, while sinners
are menaced with the reverse. If either of you, my auditors, should
rashly throw away all your earthly fortune, would not the loss of
that fortune be an adequate penally for your rashness? And
Secondly, I observe, that ere a person can consent to part with life
by his own act, he must have previously undergone the very extrem
ity of mental suffering ; for so deeply seated a sentiment is the love
of life in the human bosom, that it is rarely eradicated whilst
reason retains its empire. Dreary indeed must be the state of
that heart, to which the cold grave becomes a welcome refuge
from existence ! Self-murder is, indeed, often in ilself the penalty
of a life of crime : the wretch who becomes his own executioner
is frequently driven Ihereto by the numerous and complex evils
which his guilt has brought down upon his head. But more
often, it is to be feared, does suicide result from mental misfor
tunes for which the subject is nowise responsible.
Lastly, we come to the peep into our universalian futurity, with
which it pleased my opponent to indulge us. " There," quoth
he, " are the murderer and his victims — the seduced and the se
ducer — the tyrant, and his slaves — the crucified son of God, and
those who mocked him in his dying agonies." Well ; better
thus, I trow, than to have this state of things reversed; Jesus
prayed for his murderers : will it shock his benevolent soul to
find his dying prayer answered in their forgiveness? The mar
tyred Stephen supplicated that the bloody deed of those who
stoned him should not be laid to their charge. Will it o-rieve him
to meet them in a world of universal peace and reconciliation ?
Paul was one of them, and him, at least, even by my opponent's
admission, Stephen will sit down in fellowship with.
Pardon me, rny friends, if I so far trifle with this subject, as
to notice the smart little master's question ralative to the " Babe*

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. II. 155
in the Wood;" by which, it seems, his naughty universalist papa
was converted to the comforting belief of an endltss hell ! I
shrewdly suspect, however, that this is but a pious hoax, of the tract
family: we will look at it nevertheless. Saul, (afterward called
Paul), persecuted the saints. My friend will admit that theso
saints went to heaven, and that Paul went there too : will he not
persecute them again ? Where did Uriah go to after his murder?
My friend will probably say " to heaven." And when David
died, where went he ? " He went to heaven also." But will he
not murder Uriah again ? And will not Lot get drunk, and com
mit incest again in that world ? And Peter repeat the denial of
his Lord? &c. &c. A puerile argument this, you perceive; but
my opponent deemed it worthy of serious consideration in favor
of his dogma of endless suffering, and it is full worthy of that
cause. We may now, I presume, without sacrilege, peep into the futu
rity of my opponent. Alackaday ! we shall see a spectacle of
spectacles ( Parents, children, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters,
neighbors, friends, severed for eternity; some singing in heaven,
some screaming in hell ! There are in the realms of bliss many
.liiscreants, as red with blood as murder could make them ; who
cancelled their crimes by a brief term of repentance before death;
and they now see far down in the deeps of eternal suffering beneath
them, many of the unhappy victims whom they were the instru
ments in sending thither with their sins upon their heads !
There, among the blest, is Zedekiah, who caused the streets of
Jerusalem to flow with blood — there Charles V. of Spain, who
drenched nearly the whole eastern continent in gore — Lewis XI.
who boasted that he had slaughtered more than 200.000 heretics —
St. Dominic, who founded the Inquisition — Peter the hermit, who
instigated the crusades — the bloody Mary of England, and nu
merous other sainted miscreants, whose names come down to us
loaded with the execrations of mankind: but who, nevertheless,
are supposed to have died " in the odour of sanctity :" how many
of the victims of their cruelty are groaning amongst ihe damned it
is not in human power to estimate !* My friend supposes it a hor-
* 1 look up a paper a few weeks since, containing the sentence and accompanying
address of a judge to a criminal, doomed to execution for the murder of his brother's
wife. " You '' <uid the judge, (in substance, J pretend not to gi va his words,) " will

156 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
rid result of our faith, that the seducer of innocence should ho
found at last in heaven, in company with her whom he had sent
with a broken heart and ruined reputation to an untimely grave.
Alas ! if this consequence shocks him, what must he think of his
own" dogma ? according to which the ruined and broken hearted
girl may have been driven, not to a premature and ignominious
grave merely, but lo an unending abode in hell ! And the
wretch who brought down upon her this temporal and eternal
blight, may by limely penitence, have secured for himself an abode
among the blest! What, too, musl he think of a doctrine which
peoples heaven with parents bereaved for ever of their children,
and children of their patents, which sunders for eternity those-
sacred ties by which the God of natuie has bound human beings
together ; and which have for their prototype the relation which he
himself bears to every sentient creature of his power? Which,
I would ask him, is the more cheering and consistent view to in
dulge relative to futurity; that which implies a frustration of
God's designs in creation, ana that men will possess in eternity
the dispositions and qualities which characterise them here; o.
that all the plans and purposes of Jehovah respecting our rac€
shall be fully consummated ; and all mankind, saved from sin-
reconciled to God and each other — assimilated to the divine
nature, shall attain to that glory and felicity which is the end of
jieir creation ? Let conscience and common sense candidly an
swer this question, ere an attempt is made to ridicule an univer
salian futurity. Thus endelh my reply.

ave opportunity for making your pc-ice with God, and will receive every aid in this
business which it is in the power of the reverend clergymen to give you. Not such
was the case with the unhappy woman whom you murdered ; she was hurried to the
ear nf heaven with all her sins upon her soul." Here then is a casein point: the un
fortunate sister-in-law is to wail with the lost, and to behold her murderer rejoicing with
the saved ! Wnl. Gibbs, the pirate who was hung some yoars since at New-York, con-
frssed that he had been accessory to the murder of 400 persons: these wpre murdered
on the high seas, or upon our coasts: all acquainted with this class of persons know
that they are usually not over-burlhened with a concern about the future : it would
therefore be speaking within bounds to say, that 350 nut of the 400, wpre sent to eterni
ty in impenitence, and doomed loan endless hell of course. The pirate, on the contra
ry, had space allowed him for repentance; was attended upon by his priests. &c. (he
wns a catholic) and when led, out lo execution he expressed himself as if assured
ol forgiveness and a happy futurity. Fancy him now in heaven, looking down
upon 350 of his victims in hell !

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 157

POPULAR DEBATE.— No. III.

RELATIVE TO THE CLOSING PARAGRAPH OF MATTHEW XXV.
UNIVERSALIAN VIEWS OF SAID PASSAGE.
I feel, my auditors, the magnitude of the task I have undertaken
telitive to the subject before us : it is two-fold in its nature ; first,
'.o uproot from your minds prepossessions of long standing, and
associated with your earliest remembrances : and secondly, to in
troduce and impress in their stead ideas entirely novel to you, and
in contrariety to those entertained by full fifteen sixteenths of al)
Christendom. Nevertheless, as I have in my own mind the ut
most assurance of the truth of my views, and as I know the docu
ments by which I am to sustain them to be clear and unequivo
cal, I enter upon the undertaking without the smallest solicitude as
to the result; requesting only that you will listen to, and weigh
with impartial attention, all that shall be adduced on both sides.
As my friend of the opposite faith is to follow in a review of my
arguments, I shall not anticipate many of his objections ; but
will attend to them, as they come from himself, in my rejoinder
" When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory :
And before him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall sepa
rate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats : And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the
goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world : For I was a
hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave mo
drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye
clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and
ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him. saying,
Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and
gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee
in? or naked, and clothed tliee? Or when saw we ihee sick, or
in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and
O

15S PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me. Then shall he say also unto them on his Left hand, Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels : For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no nieat: I
was thirsty and ye gave me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye
took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto
thee ? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto
you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did
it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punish
ment : but the righteous into life eternal." (Mat. xxv. 31 — 46.)
1st. — I observe that there is no mention in the text of a refer-
once to the future world ; no intimation that the events it describes
are to transpire subsequent to the resurrection ; all this rests on
the mere assumption of our opponents. On the contrary, the
passage bears evidence on its face lhat its true and intended ap
plication is to things of time: this is what I propose to make
apparent, in opposition to the generally received opinion that it
describes a judgment in eternity. Mark well the reading of the
passage : " And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he
shall separate them one from another." Separate whom ? Every
grammarian knows that nations is the antecedent to the pronoup
them in this place ; nations, then, are what are to be judged,
and separated, at the time to which the text looks forward : this
is a different thing entirely from the sort of judgment to which it
is commonly applied; for that supposes that all the human family
will be parcelled out, according to moral classification, and
severed individually from one another: husband from wife, pa
rent from child, &c. but nothing of ihe kind is intimated here.
Are our opponents willing to abide a literal application of the text
to a judgment in eternity? If so, we shall have the different
nations of mankind severed from each other; and whilst some, en
musbe, aro taken to heaven, others will be driver to hell ! Surely
they will not admit tbis as true ; and yet on tneir own plan of
exposition it most assuredly is, according to the grammatical im
port of the language.

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 159
Snd. — If this text describes an after-death judgment, it is plain
that salvation will be awarded strictly on ihe ground of works'.
and this is contrary to the plain teaching of the bible, and to the
avowed doctrine of every protestant church! "For I was an
hungered, and ye gave me meat:'' &c. No mention made of
faith, repentance, regeneration, or any other generally admitted
prerequisite to salvation.
3d. — These features (not to mention others) of the text, de
mand for it an exposition different from that which is usually
given ; this I shall in all simplicity attempt. Observe then, that
the subject matter of it is, the coming of Christ in glory — accom
panied by angels — the gathering of all nations — and the rewarding
them according to their works. Suppose now that it can be shown,
that these events were to transpire within a third of a century
from the time of Christ's ascension : will not the popular views
concerning it be at once refuted ? Well, this is precisely what 1
propose to do.
4th  See first, verses 30, 31, of the preceding chapter :
" And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of tho earth mourn, and they shall
nee the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory. And he shall send his angels wilh a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Can
it be denied that this is the identical coming noticed in my text?
Mark well, then, the verses immediately succeeding, "Now
learn a parable of the fig-tree, When his branch is yet tender, and
putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh : So likewise
ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at
the doors. Verily I say unto yon, This generation shall not pass,
till all these things be fulfilled." Here you have the time fixed
by the solemn asseveration of Christ himself. And that you may
be assured that this parallelism is not solitary, nor accidental,
I will introduce Mark and Luke to the same point; in Mark
xiii. 26 — 30, it reads as follows: "And then they shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds, wilh great power and
glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather to
gether his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the
earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Now, learn a parable of

160 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
tho fig-tree ; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye, in" like manner,
when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh,
even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, That this generation
shall not pass, till all these things be done." In Luke, chaptei
x.».i. 28 — 32, the same is expressed in nearly tho same terms:
" And when these things begin to come to pass, then look
up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh. And he spake to them a parable ; Behold the fig-tree, and
all the trees ; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of
yourselves that summer is nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when
ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of
God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall
not pass away till all be fulfilled." Here are three distinct tes
timonies to the fact that the coining of Christ to judge the nations,
was to take place within the then existing generation. Christ
even proceeds to caution his disciples how to regulate their con
duct with reference to that event; that it might not come upon
'hemby surprise ; which clearly implies that they should live to
witness if. " And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares
of this life, and so that day come on you unawares. For as &
snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the
whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may
be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke xxi. 34 — 6.)
It would at once astonish and amuse you, my auditors, to kuow
how erudite commentators have strained their learning and inge
nuity in order to reconcile these passages with their pre-conceived
opinion, that the coming of Christ is to ensue at the end of tirr°.
Dr. Clarke even carries his efforts at evasion so far as to affirm,
that by " this generation," Christ may have meant that race cf
people, viz., the Jews : that they should not become extinct as a
nation before he should come to judge the world ! Hut this is
pitiful, yea contemptible : for —
5th. — The same evangelists have recorded another declaration
of Christ to the same effect, and in phraseology which will not
bear such an interpretation ; and, besides, the contexts of the dif
ferent passages already quoted make it clearly manifest, that the

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 161
word generation was used by the Saviour to denote, the people of
that age. "For these," said he, "be the days of vengeance, that
all things that are written may be fulfilled :" (Luke xxi. 23.).
again, at the close of his description of Jerusalem's overthrow,
he proceeds lo tell that his coming shall be " immediately after
the tribulation of those days;" (Mat. xxv. 29.) and in Mark xiii,
tho same is repeated in another form, " But in those days, after
thtil tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall
nol give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the pow
ers that are in heaven shall be shaken : and then they shall see the
sun of man coming in the clouds of heaven :" &c. (24 — 26.)
and his caution to his disciples immediately follows, implving, as
before remarked, that his coming was to take place in their day,
for they are told to look for their Lord ; " lest coming suddenly ho
find you sleeping." (36.) And yet grave and erudite biblica
critics inform us, that (although eighteen centuries are since
elapsed) this event is yet to transpire ! But we will look at
other scriptural testimonies.
See, first, Mat. xvi. " For the Son of man shall come in the
glory of his Father, wilh his angels ; and then he shall reward
every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There
be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till Ihey see
the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (27, 28.) What think
you now ? Did Christ's appearance in his glory, to reward and
punish, occur in that age ; or are some that were then among his
auditors still living on the earth ? To the same purpose speaks
Mark, " Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my
words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall
the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his
Father, with the holy angels." (viii. 38.) "And he said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that
stand here, which shall not tasle of death, till they have seen the
kingdom of God come with power." (ix. 1.) And Luke, " For
whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him
shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his
own glnry, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But 1
tell you of a truih, There be some standing here, which shall not
taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God." (ix. 26, 27.)
Surely testimonies so emphatic, and repeated, should be admitted
o2

162 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
bv all as sufficient to settle the question as to the lime of ChristV
coming : but there are yet others to be adduced.
There has ever been a difference of opinion amongst biblical
commentators, as to ihe dale at which the hook of Kevelaiion was
written ; some placing it previous, and others subsequent, to the
great calamities which befel the Jewish people. To my thinking,
the book contains clear internal evidence that the former is ihe
correct position : for the city, and temple are several times allu
ded to as still standing, which would not have been the case had
it been written subsequent to their destruction. Indeed the main
subject matters of the book seem most evidently to be, the ruin
impending over the Jewish people; the destruction of their civil
and ecclesiastical polity, and the trials and eventual establishment
of the christian church. In the introduction, we are told that the
object of these revelations from God was, " to show unto his ser
vants things which must shortly come to pass." (i. 1.) The coming
of Christ in the clouds is also mentioned, (i. 7.) And, moreover,
the writer is commanded, " Seal not the sayings of the prophecy
ef this book, for THE TIME IS AT HAND ;" (xxii. 10.) to
which is added, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and he
that is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still : &c. And, behold, I COME QUICKLY ;
and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his
work shall be." (11, 12.) And it is further added, " He which
teslifieth these things r.ailh, SURELY I COME QUICKLY."
(20.) Here then is additional evidence as to the time of our
Lord's second coming. Is still more required ? More shall bo
furnished. This same event is predicted by the prophet Malachi, under the
description of "the day that shall burn as an oven," (iv. 1.) and
"the great, and dreadful day of the Lord ;" (5.) and it is declared
that Elias the prophet was to be sent before its arrival, who
should " turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers. " (6.) The Jews under
stood this as pointing to the time when Mesiah should set up his
kingdom, and therefore settled it in their minds that this event
should be preceded by the coming of Elias the prophet. See to
this point Mark, ix. " And they asked him, saying, Why say the
icribes that Elias must first come ? And he answered and to'd

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 163
tbem, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things ; and how
it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things,
and be set at nought. But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed
come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it
is written of him." (11, 12, 13.) When John the Baptist's birth
was predicted, it was said, " He shall go forth in the power and
spirit of Elias, to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers;"
&c. (Luke i. 17.) and in reference to the self-same personage
Christ says, " If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to
come." (Mat. xi. 14.) These co-relative texts afford us a clear
indication of the time when " the great and terrible day of the
Lord" should transpire: and in Acts, ii. we get some further light
upon it, for Peter quotes from the prophet Joel the signs which
should precede " the great and notable day of the Lord ;" and he
declares that these were actually then taking place. (16 — 20.) It
were superfluous to add to this mass of evidence : it would not
be saying too much to affirm, that no one scriptural fact is more
lucidly set forth than this, viz., that Christ's coming to judge the
nations, in the sense intended in the text, was an event close at
hand when the language of the text was spoken.
6th. — We come now to the question, (a complex question)
What are we to understand by the coming of Christ; — what were
its objects — and what were the literal circumstances ensuent
upon it ? I answer directly : first, that Christ's coming is not to
be understood as actual, or real; but as allegorical. Secondly,
Its objects were to punish the Jewish people for their wickedness
and obstinacy; to abolish their ecclesiastical establishment; and
to establish a pure and spiritual church in its stead. Thirdly, the
events ensuent upon that coming, were a train of signal and ter
rible judgments upon the Jewish nation, including the entire
destruction of their temple ; their complete subjugation and dis
persion by the Roman power ; and their ejectment from the
church (frequently called kingdom) of God ; and the induction
of the Gentiles into that church, or kingdom in their room.
These great, and momentous facts, constitute the sum of what ig
figuratively set forth in the text. In scripture times men (Jews
especially') were wont to be very lavish in their use of hyperbole ,-
hence we find them frequently describing events, of comparatively
small consequence, in such terms as would lead a person uuao*

164 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
quainted with their style, to imagine that something was intended
very far beyond even the most stupendous occurrences of life
Christ, in the text, has conformed to this usage of his countrymen,
which circumstance has led thousands (including many of piety
and learning) to suppose that it looks forward to events beyond
the precincts of time.
Now for the proof of my positions, I will first quote from Luke,
xxi. as these matters are more distinctly set forth by him than by
the other evangelists. " And when ye shall see Jerusalem coin
passed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh
Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains ; and let
them which are in the midst of it depart out ; and let not them
that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days
of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
But wo unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck,
in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and
wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the
sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations : and Jeru
salem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled.- And there shall be signs in the sun, and in
the moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; Men's hearts
failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which
are coming on the earth : for the powers of heaven shall be sha
ken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud,
with power and great glory. And when these things begin to
come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for your re
demption draweth nigh. And he spake unto them a parable;
Behold the fig-tree, and all the trees ; When they now shoot forth,
ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at
hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass,
know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say
unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled."
(20 — 32.) I only ask of you, my friends, that you will closely
scrutinise this language; many an erudite scholiast, wilh mind
preoccupied with the fantasms of his creed, has been sadly
puzzled" here: puzzled, because he was predetermined to find that
the language respects a coming of Christ to judge men at the
close of time ; and as nothing of the kind is even intimated, he has

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 165
thrown himself back in his easy-chair, stroked his gray wig,
and consoled himself with the conclusion " Ha, ha ! I see now,
the passage has a two-fold meaning ; the one expressed, the other
understood ; the destruction of the Jewish city and temple is the
former, the great judgment at the conclusion of time is the latter.
Yes, yes ; the one is made the antetype of the other. I see it
now; well, I will so put it down." And accordingly, we have
been over and over again favored with this assumption, in behalf
of which we cannot be pointed to one particle of evidence !
Daniel the prophet had predicted the very events to which our
text refers, (ix. 26, 27.) " And after threescore and two weeks
shall Mesiah be cut off, but no', for himself: and the people of the
prince that shall come shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary ;
and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the
war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the cove
nant wilh many for one week : and in the midst of the week Ire
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even
until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate." And again in chapter xii. he represents Mesiah
under the name of Michael, " And at that time shall Michael
stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy
people ; and there shall be a»time of trouble, such as never was
since there was a nation even to that same lime : and at thai time
thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found
written in the book :" (1.) and the prophet designates (in enig
matical terms) the precise time of these momentous transactions,
' And from the time that Ihe daily sacrifice shall be be taken away,
and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a
thousand two hundred and ninety days." (11.) Christ, in his
description of these coming calamities, alluded to, and confirms
what Daniel had said about 500 years before. See Mat. xxiv.
" When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, 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!

106 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on tho
sabbath-day : For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall
be." (15 — 21.) And as if still more clearly to point out Ihe identity
of the time of his coming, with that of Jerusalem's overthrow by
the Roman armies, he immediately blends with his account of the
former, an allusion to the national ensign of the latter, i. e. the
figure of an eagle upon their standards. " For as the lightning
cometh out of the east and shir.eth even unto the west ; so
shall also the coining of the Son of man be. For wheresoever
the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." (27, 28.)
And he then emphatically adds, " Immediately after the tribula
tion of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken : And then shall appeaT
the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with powc and great glory."
(29, 30.) IMMEDIATELY, &c.
It must be borne in mind, that the Jews were in those days
regarded as God's peculiar people; they had, for nearly twenty
centuries, maintained a peculiar politico-ecclesiastical establish
ment, which claimed Jehovah himself as ils instilutor. This, in
the new testament, is sometimes alluded to under the appellation
of the "kingdom of God," and the Jews are termed the "chil
dren of the kingdom," being by their peculiar religion isolated
from the other nations of the earth, they held them in contempt,
fermed ihem " Gentiles," and deemed themselves defiled in case
of personal communion with them. (John xviii. 28. Actsxi. 3.)
To this favored people, Christ for a time confined his ministrv ;
he even enjoined his disciples, " Go not into the way of the
Geniiles, and into any of the cities of the Samaritans enter ye not,
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Mat. x.
5, 6.) The Jews were considered as exclusively entitled to the
divine favor, the extending any share thereof to the Gentiles was
regarded as the taking the children's bread and casting it to the
dogs. (Mark vii. 27.) Such was the order of things in Christ's
day, but the time was nearly arrived which was to witness its
reversal, the Jews were on the eve of being ejected from the

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 167
kingdom, and the Gentiles of being inducted into it in their stead.
"I will call them my people which were not my people, and her
beloved which was not beloved ; and it shall come to pass, that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God." (Rom.
ix. 25, 2G.) This very prophecy was on the verge of fulfilment ;
hence, when a Roman centurion, (captain of a hundred men,) ap
plied to Christ, and expressed strong confidence in his ability to
heal his servant, the saviour seemed surprised at the degree of
failh manifested by a mere heathen, and he took occasion to inti
mate the fact, that the Gentiles should soon be seen coming from
the north and the south, the east and the west, and sitting down in
the kingdom, or church of God, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
whilst they themselves, " the children of the kingdom," (as h«
elsewhere says,) should be thrust out. (Mat. viii. 11, 12. Luke
Xiii. 2S, 29.) The patriarchs and prophets, it seems, were con
sidered as having exercised an evangelical faith in Christ's me-
siahship, and were therefore accounted members of his church or
kingdom, and all who in a true sense become his disciples are
regarded as coheritors with them of the same gospel blessing:
as saith Paul, " So then, they that be of failh ARE blessed with
faithful Abraham." (Gal. iii. 9.)
This is the Abraham's bosom, to which the poor man in the par
able (hy whom are personated the gentile nations) " was carried
by angels." The Greek word angelos signifies messengers, or
agents, and as often human messengers as spiritual ;* to be " car-
* The angels of the seven churches in Asia Minor, referred to inthe 2nd and 3rd
chapters of Revelations, were the mijtisters of those churches The three angels
who appeared to Abraham (Gen. xvii.) are called men, and such they undoubtedly
were, for they ate and drank wilh ihe patriarch, and washed iheir feel, agreeably to
the custom of the times. The"angel of the Lord" that appeared lo Conielius,-is
also called " a man." (Acts x.) We must not take for granted, therefore, when Ihe
word angels occurs in the scriptures, that spiritual beings are always meant, although
they doubtless often are. " The angels which kept not their first estate," (Jude
ver. 6.) are usually (though without scriptural warrant) understood as being celestial
beings who fell from Ihe realms of blessedness, all which is sheer fiction. We are
not justified in assuming that any such evenl ever took place; the bible nowhere
declares it. The account in Revelations (xii.) of a " war in heaven," must not be
understood of Ihe world of bliss ; heaven, there, means the church, (as it often else
where does.) In ihe same chapter we are tuld of a dragon in heaven, and of a
pregnant woman, and of her night into the wilderness, and of a serpent spouting
out a flood of water after her, and of the earth taking pari with her against the serpent,
&c. Surely they must have a marvelous love for the ridiculous, who fancy these
fads to have transpired alxive ! and yet this is prominent amongst the lexis adduced
to support the doctrine concerning (alien angels ; because il happens to be said that
Ute tail of the dragon drew down a third part of the stars of heaven to the earth,
(hut not to hell, observe.) Truth is, as before shown, all Ihese things pertain to tha
conflicts which the church had to sustain with its enemies in the early days of ijj

168

PRO AND CON OK UNIVERSALISM.

ried by angels to Abraham's bosom," may therefore mean, to be
conducted by the ministry of Christ's apostles or ministers into
the true faith of Christ. The gentiles might well be likened to a
poor man, covered with sores, for spiritually considered, their
condition was deplorable enough. By the " rich man" is meant
the Jewish nation, which for centuries had abounded in all spir
ltual privileges, in this sense "they fared sumptuously every
day," and, in the persons of their priesthood, were literally clad
" in purple and fine linen." But this people were doomed soon
to die to all these distinctive privileges, and to lift up their eyes
in hades, (which literally means the grave, or the unseen slate,
but figuratively, moral or civil degradation,) in this degraded and
condemned state they were to see the gentiles elevated to the
high distinction and privileges from which they themselves had
fallen, and from this happy and privileged state they were to find
themselves separated by an impassable gulf. What constituted
this great gulf we are. more than once informed : viz., the blind
ness of mind, and the obstinate unbelief, to which that people
were judicially given over. " Therefore they could not believe,
because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and
hardened their heart; that they should not see wilh their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them." (John xii. 39, 40.) Paul also testifies to the same
fact. " What then ? Israel hath not obtained that which he
seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were
blinded : (According as it is written, God hath given them the
spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that
they should not hear) unto this day." (Rom. xi. 7, 8.) Christ
represents Abraham as saying in regard lo them, " If they hear
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though
one rose from the dead," which was literally true, for Christ
had actually raised one Lazarus to life, and they yet remained
as unbelieving as before, and they so continued even after Christ
himself had risen. Eighteen centuries have since elapsed, and
the gulf seems as impassable as ever : the gospel is progressively
subd-uing to itself the subjects of all other religions, the gentiles
from the ends of the earth are flocking into Christ's kingdom,
establishment : and also to the overthrow of the Jewish ecclesiastical polity about the
same time. Tho popular misconception of those texts may be mainly ascribed to Uw
epic of Milton, who was a great admirer of mythological loreu

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. Ill 169
r
but the Jews remain still in outer darkness: deg.-aded, and op-
pressed, they lift up their eyes in hades, being in torment, and they
see the formerly despised gentiles in Abraham's bosom, to whom
they in their spiritual lifetime denied the crumbs which fell from
their table.
Pjiss we next to the parable of the supper, which a certain
Mng made on the occasion of his son's wedding; this is clearly
applicable to the same events : the Jews are the party first invited,
wiir* on various grounds excused themselves from complying ;
the servants were then commanded to go into the highways and
hedges, and to compel all they should find, both bad and good,
into the wedding : these represent the gentiles, who, morally
consiiered, were poor, and maimed, and halt, and blind. The
party first invited are represented as having made light of the
invitation, and committed personal outrage upon the servants
sent to call them ; which refers to the persecutions of the prophets
and apostles by the Jewish people ; whereupon the king sends
" his armies," to " destroy those murderers and burn up their city :"
which clearly implies that God was soon about to fulfil the same
retribution upon the Jews by the Roman army. (Mat. xxii. 2.)
The parable of the virgins likewise represents the gospel in
stitution under the figure of a wedding ; the coming of Christ to
establish his kingdom in the world, and to minister judgments to
its enemies, is set forth in the coming of the bridegroom : this
should ensue at midnight, whilst " they all slumbered and slept,"
which corresponds with the account Christ uniformly gave of his
toming, that it should " be in an hour when they looked not tor
him." Paul notifies his brethren of the same fact. "For your
selves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief
in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman
with child ; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are
not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."
(1 Thes. v. 2 — 4.) The wise virgins represent those who
looked for this coming, and, whilst the term of grace lasted,
prepared themselves to enter with Christ into the gospel gates;
the foolish virgins denote those who by reason of a neglect of this
preparation were shut out, and were doomed to share in the ca.
lainities of the time : the " wailing and gnashing of teeth," the
P

170 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
" outer darkness," the famine, pestilence, sword, captivity, and
other evils, by which that dreadful era was distinguished. From
these evils the believing part of that people were saved. Christ
repeatedly declared that those who should become his disciples
should escape these troubles, and we have historic testimony thai
they actually did escape them : the saviour, however, said "that
except those days should be shortened there could no flesh be
saved ;" but he adds, " hut for the elect's sake those days shall be
shortened." (Mat. xxiv. 22.) Peter, in reference to the same pe
riod, says, " For the time is come that judgment must begin at
the house of God : and if it first begin at us, what shall the
end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ? And if the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sin
ner appear?" (1 Pet. iv. 17, 18.) Dr. Adam Clarke, and other
eminent commentators, admit that this language has especial
reference to the above mentioned events, and, indeed, there is
evidence of the fact on the face of the passage. " The time is
come,"&c, not is coming, some thousands of years hence, as the
popular theology supposes.
To the same effect are the parables of Ihe tares and the wheat,
and the net cast into the sea; "at the end of the world (ton
aionion, end of the age or mosaic dispensation), the tares were to
be gathered from amongst the wheat, and cast into a furnace of
fire; but the wheat itself, was to be gathered into the master's
barn ; at the same time, the bad fishes in the net, were to be taken
from the good, and thrown away, whilst the good were to he put
into vessels for preservation. (Mat. xiii.) It is a common prac
tice to refer this passage to the literal termination of this world,
m-T. sucn is ooviously not the scriptural meaning of the phrase,
"end of the world," it never requires such an interpretation, but,
on the contrary, invariably means the consummation of the Jewish
economy. Paul calls the period at which Christ died, "the end
of the world ;" (Heb. ix. 26.) and he also applies the same phrase
to the days in which he and his fellow apostles lived. (1 Cor.
x. 11.) The Jews, Dr. Clarke and others inform us, were in
the habit of dividing time into two grand epochs, viz. the mosaic
age, and the age of the messiah. Keeping this fact in mind, we
shall easily understand Christ's meaning with regard to the blas
phemy against the Holy Ghost, which " shall not be forgiven i»

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 171
Ihis world (or age), neither in the world (or age/ to come ;"
"but is in danger of eternal damnation." Literally, the damna
tion, or condemnation, of the age; referring, without doubt, to the
fearful judgments then near impending over those blasphemers,
who imputed the miracles which Christ wrought, by the spirit
of God, to the influence, or agency, of Beelzebub. The " furnace
of fire," mentioned in the parable of the tares, we arevnot to as
sume means the fancied infernal regions; the scriptures, (which
are ever the best expounders of themselves) say of God, " his
fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem :" (Isaiah xxxi. 9.)
and Malachi, as before quoted, designates the period of these
very judgments as, " the day that shall burn as an oven." The
temple, so great and splendid, and the larger part of the city,
were converted into a mass of flame, and might very properly
therefore, in figurative language, be represented under the figure
of " a furnace of fire." Thousands of the Jews perished in the
flames, and, according to Josephus, more than a million perished
from different causes during the siege. " Then," said the saviour,
" shall be great tribulation, such as never was since the begin
ning of the creation which God created, until that self-same
time, no, nor never shall be." (Mat. xxiv. 21, Mark xiii. 19.)
The saviour contrived on one occasion, to draw a just sentence
if condemnation against this people, out of their own mouths :
ne told them of a certain man who planted a vineyard, and let it
out to husbandmen that they might dress it; he sent his servants
in due season to demand his portion of the vintage: but they
evilly entreated the servants, beating some and stoning others.
(wilh which collate " O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killesl
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee ;") last of
all he sent his son, and they consummated their wickedness by
plotting against his life also. " When the Lord of that vineyard
cometh," inquired the saviour, " what will he do unto those hus
bandmen ?"' His auditors, probably not dreaming of an applica
tion of the case to themselves, replied " He will miserably destroy
those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other hus
bandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Je
sus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The
stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head
of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in

172 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
our eyes ? Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God
shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof." (Mat. xxi. 41 — 43.) It is added, " And when the
chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived
that he spake of them." (lb. 45.)
We find, indeed, that Jesus seized upon every fitting occasion
for communicating these stupendous matters to his countrymen,
not, to be sure, in plain language, for they would not have borne it,
he would thus have enraged them against him, and the catastro
phe of his death would have been hastened before the other great
objects of his mission were fulfilled : he therefore chose a mode
of communication always popular with the Jews, and, indeed,
with all oriental nations, which consisted in relating fictitious
incidents, in which was couched some important moral or fact, to
i- guessed out as best it might, by the party to whom it applied.
But another reason must be here acknowledged why Christ re
sorted so much to allegory in his discourses to the Jews. It was
God's design that his son should be rejected by that nation gen
erally, and that their rejection of the gospel should be made the
occasion for offering it to the gentiles. Let any one who doubts
this take Christ's own account of the matter: "And the disciples
came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in para
bles? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it
is not given." (Mat. xiii. 10, 11.) The end of God in this mysteri
ous business was, nevertheless, merciful — merciful both to the
receiving and to the rejecting party, as Paul very satisfactorily
shows. "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall !
God forbid : but rather through their fall salvation is come unto
the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of
them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the
riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness ?" (Rom.
xi. 11, 12.) And again, " For if the casting away of them be the
reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but
life from the dead ?" (ib. 15.) Once more, " For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye
should be wise in your own conceits,) that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."
(ih. 25 \ " And so all Israel shall be saved."

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. Ill 173
The fact of the opening of the gospel gates to the gentiles was
first made known to Peter, in a vision well adapted in its charac
ter to symbolize the event : he saw a sheet let down from heaven,
knit at the four corners, and containing all manners of living
things, and among them many which were accounted unclean by
the Mosaic code : a voice came to him, " Rise; Peter, kill and
eat," but he replied, " Not so, Lord, for I havo never eaten any
thing common or unclean." So inveterate indeed were his
Jewish prejudices that the vision had to be three times repeateo',
and he three times told not to call any thing common which
God had cleansed, before he could be convinced. It is remarka
ble in this transaction, that. all those creatures, both clean and
unclean, are represented as being let down from heaven, and
lifted up into heaven again : which would seem to imply the fact
(in several forms intimated in the inspired record) that as all
originally came from God, so all must eventually return to him.
" God hath shown me," said Peter, " that I must call no man
common or unclean;" and, accordingly, he began straightway to
proclaim the way of life to the gentiles. His christian brethren
(being all Jews by nation) were shocked at his liberality ; being
as yet, ignorant of the affair which brought it about : he therefore
rehearsed the whole matter to them from the beginning, telling
them how signally the word had been blest to Cornelius' house
hold, and they, convinced that the hand of God was in the busi
ness, rejoiced, and glorified God, saying, " then hath God also
unto the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." (Acts x.) From
that time forward the gentiles' cities became the principal theatres
of gospel operation, and oh ! how the tidings of great joy to all
people ran and triumphed ! The Jews became more rancorous
than ever in their opposition : not content with rejecting it "them
selves, they sought to obstruct its progress among the gentiles;
they followed them with persecutions from city to city, " contra
dicting and blaspheming." " Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles : For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set
thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salva
tion unto the ends of the earth And when the Gentiles heard
p2

174 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord : and as
many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. And the word
of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the
Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief
men of the city, and noised persecution against Paul and Barna
bas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off
the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And
the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.'
(Acts viii. 46 — 52.) See also lo the same effect, Acts xxviii. The
scene there described, took place at Rome, and the members
of a Jewish synagogue in that city were the party addressed.
" Go unto this people, and say, Hearing, ye shall hear, and
shall not understand ; and seeing, ye shall see, and not perceive :
For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are
dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed ; lest they should
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, <\nd understand with
their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Be it known therefore unto you, lhat the salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he"had
said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning
among themselves." (26 — 29.)
I flatter myself that the parables of Chist, in the light of this
application of them, are changed from obscure and unintelligible
enigmas, into beautiful and pertinent representations of fact. I
am persuaded that no one of them was ever intended to represent
the eternal affairs of mankind, and the popular attempt to apply
them in that manner, has but served to strip them of their point
and beauty.
Before I close I will briefly answer the argument founded on
the antithesis in the last verse of the passage under consideration.
" These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the right
eous into life eternal." I grant that the same Greek adjective
which qualifies the life of the righteous, also qualifies the punish
ment of the wicked — what then ? must the things thus contrasted
necessarily be of the same duration ? I could certainly produce
many scriptural antitheses in which the contrasted terms are not
equivalent lo each other : neither will it be safe to assume that
the same adjective when applied to different things in the same
connexion, must always be allowed the same strength of meaning;

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 176
for by this rule I could prove the hills and mountains equal in
duration to the ways of God: "The everlasting mountains were
scattered, the perpetual hills did bow, his ways are everlasting."
(Hab. iii. C.) Here is the same word occurring three times in a
verse, and requiring an infini'e signification in one instance,
a-nd a limited meaning in the other two. If it even be allowed,
however, that the antithetical terms in Matthew are of equal sig
nification, it will not thence follow that the punishment was to be
endless, except it can be proven that the life was to be so : but
this will not be undertaken by any one who has observed the
new testament usage of the phrase eternal life: this expression
does not refer to the immortal existence of the future stale, but
the divir.e renovation of mind enjoyed by believers in the gos
pel. " This is life eternal, that men may know thee, the only,
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent;" (John xvii. 2.,)
and he that hath this knowledge, " HATH everlasting life — IS
PASSED from death unto life." (John iii. 36.) It was pre
cisely to the state of blindness, ignorance, and condemnation, con
trasted with this state of gospel life, that the Jewish rejectors
of Christ were adjudged. Now if the everlasting life possessed
by the believer be no more than an endless, or an immortal exis
tence, wherein is he distinguished from the unbeliever, for the lat-
ler will also exist immortally ? It must be obvious, that the term
eternal, when connected with life in the scriptures, has reference
lo the divine nature or quality of that life, and not to its duration.

STRICTURES ON THE FOREGOING.
My dear travellers to eternity, this is an inquiry of awful mag
nitude — one which ought to engage our most serious consideration.
i have always regarded this portion of scripture as a description
of the last judgment, in which the fates of men will be settled
("or eternity : but tr 3 gentleman who preceded me has employed
much ingenuif ..nd a most fatal ability for wresting the scrip
tures, for the purpose of showing that the passage before us has
no such meaning : to unravel and expose all his ingenious soph
istry surpasses my powers, for he has in his argument so dexter
ously blended what is false with what is true, that it would

176 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
task the keenest discrimination to analyse and exhibit them sepa
rately. Without attempting, therefore, a labored review of his
entire argument, I shall confine myself to the office of pointing
out its principal defects.
1st. — He argued that the separation spoken of in the text, is a
separation of nations, not of individuals according to moral classifi
cation ; I admit that a strict grammatical analysis of the lan
guage would favor this view ; but it cannot be that Christ intended
any such meaning, for we do not find whole nations to be right
eous, nor whole nations to be wicked, and therefore nations, as
such, are not liable to reward, or punishment; but the good and
bad individuals in each will, in the great day, be dealt with accor
ding to their respective doings in life.
2nd. — Before he can prove that the " fire prepared for the devil
and his angels," is a circumstance of time, he must prove that
the devil and his angels are inhabitants of this world ; but thto
he cannot do. He tells us, to be sure, that the devil meana
simply an adversary, and that the term angels, means messenger}
or agents, and that both these terms are applied frequently to
human beings. All this I grant; but still I find devils spoken of
in the scriptures in reference to fallen spiritual beings, onco
angels of light, but now degraded from their beatified state —
their leader is by the prophet Isaiah called " Lucifer, son of tho
morning." Christ tells us concerning him, that " he was a mur
derer from the beginning, and abode not in truth." These
devils used to possess men in the days of the saviour, and we
have accounts of their speaking, tearing people, throwing them
into the fire, and water : they also entered into a her<d of swine,
and caused them to drown themselves in the sea. In Revelation
we are told about a war in heaven between the angelic and infer
nal hosts; and of the latter being overcome, and chained down
in the pit of perdition. Yet universalists tell us that the terms
devil, Salan, Beelzebub, and the like, are but figures of speech —
mere personifications — evil principles — diseases — afflictions, &c,
invested wilh ideal personality! I, on the contrary, with all
orthodox christians, maintain that these terms belong to a class of
evil beings; once angels of light, but now arrayed in deadly
hostility against God and the souls of men. Let my opponent
disprove this view if he can

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 177
3d. — I affirm, that no such coming, as is described in tho text,
has ever yet come to pass. Did the saviour descend in clouds
during the lifetime of those who heard him speak? Hid he ac
tually gather before him all nations ? Did the stars fall from
heaven? Does history furnish a record of any such events?
Surely not; the heavens and the earth still endure as formerly ;
we have ocular evidence that no such events as were to accom
pany the coming of Christ, have ever yet occurred. What follows
then ? It follows that said coming is not already past, but is yet
to take place. Our friend must not hope to argue us out of our
eyes and ears.
4th. — I admit the destruction of Jerusalem to be the main theme
of Mat. xxiv, yet I insist that it has also a reference to a general
judgment at the close of time ; this will appear evident if we
attend to the inquiries of the disciples at the beginning of the
chapter: "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple:
and his disciples came to him, for to show him the buildings of
the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all theso
things ? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one
stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he
sat upon the mount of Olives, his disciples came unto him pri
vately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end cf the world ?"
(1 — 3.) Here we find questions relative to three great events.
1st. — The destruction of the temple. 2nd. — The sign of his
coming to judge the world : and 3rd, the end of time, when said
coming shall actually take place. To each of these inquiries
the chapter contains a distinct answer. True, we cannot point to
the precise line, or verse, where the answer to one of these ques
tions closes, and that to the next in order begins ; the transitions
from one to the other are so sudden, and the language applied to
all so bold and so similar, that many have been led into the mistake
of supposing, that these events were to happen simultaneously, or
at least in rapid succession. Into this very blunder the universal
ists have fallen : hence they tell us that Christ's second comino-
has already transpired, and that we of this day, have no further
concern with it than as a matter of sacred hislory !
5th. — I scarcely know how to approach the novel, (and, I will
own, ingenious,) application of- the parables, with which we

178 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
have been entertained : I acknowledge it was smoothly and
plausibly spun out ; I shall not attempt a formal refutation of it ;
it ought to suffice as proof of its incorrectness that it is opposed to
seven eighths of all Christendom, in past and present ages. How
ever, as his cause obtains much apparent scriptural countenance
from this mode of applying these beautiful allegories, I will
endeavour to maintain the old ground, by pointing out those parts
of his attempt which were particularly lame and objectionable.
And first comes up the subject of the rich man and Lazarus — the
last passage in the bible which I should have dreamed of hearing
applied to favor universalism! but what will not human ingenuity
attempt ? Now I will quash at once my opponent's plausible
use of this text, by showing that it is not a parable at all, but a
literal narration of fact. It is not introduced as parables usually
are — it is not prefaced with ihe remark, " and he spake a parable
unto them ;" or " the kingdom of heaven is likened unto," &c
On the contrary, Christ directly says, " There was a certain rich
man." On which, with Mr. Wesley, and others, I argue, " there
was such a person, or there was not: if there was, then is the pas
sage a plain recital of fact ; if there was not, it follows that Christ
asserted a falsehood." I defy my opponent to extricate himself from
this dilemma ! Another thing deserving notice in this connexion
ia, that Josephus, in his dissertation concerning Hades, (the hell to
which the rich man went) describes it in a manner extremely
corroborative of the orthodox views concerning this terrible text :
he must be regarded as the highest authority for Jewish opinions
in the days of the saviour: and according to him, Hades contained
the souls of all the dead, both good and bad, and is to continue
as a receptacle of them until the last judgment; when the good
will be admitted to Paradise, and the bad doomed to flames for
eternity : meanwhile these are now kept separate by an impassa
ble gulf. How exactly accordant with the saviour's account of
the post-mortem condition of the rich man and Lazarus ! And
oh! my friends, that gulf ! that dreadful gulf! which cuts off to
the damned all hope of escape forever ! Universalism can con
struct no bridge across it which will not crumble under a lost
spirit's tread. Let me entreat you not to rest your hopes on any
such air-built superstructure !
I uolice next the ten virgins — which I admit is a parable, and

POPULAR CliBATE, NO. III. 179
also that one of its meanings belongs to the present time ; it relates
to Christ's church or kingdom in this world : but besides this,
there is a higher and more awful view to be taken of it — it looks
forward to the' coming of Christ in the last and final judgment.
The same may be said of the parable of the marriage supper .
my opponent has noticed but one of its applications ; he, more
over, has failed to note a circumstance connected with it, of very
great consequence ; I allude to the case of the man " who had
not on a wedding garment." Why was this overlooked ? Did my
opponent find it too hard for his ingenuity ? " And when the king
came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a
wedding-garment : And he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest
thou in hither, not having on a wedding-garment ? And he was
speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand
and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness ;
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Mat. xxii. 11 —
13.) From this we learn the important truth, that except we in
this life attain a preparation for heaven, we shall have no admis
sion to that blissful abode hereafter.
My opponent has very plausibly disposed of the argument raised
on the fact, that the same Greek term is employed to qualify both
the life of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked ; but
unfortunately for his cause, whilst his sophistry was employed in
disproving the endless duration of the latter, it at the same time
disproved that of the former. Eternal life must end if eternal
punishment shall ! This one consequence of his reasoning is
sufficient for its refutation : he professes to believe in endless hap
piness beyond the grave ; I defy him to bring forward any warrant
for it from the scriptures, in stronger or more unequivocal terms
than are therein applied to future punishment.

REJOINDER.

I sincerely thank my friend for the conciseness and explicitness
of his objections, it shall not be the fault of my will if my rep-lies
are not equally concise and explicit. 1st. — He grants the gram
matical correctness of the criticism on the text, which makes
nations (not individuals) the parties arraignod apd separated in the

180 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
judgment that it foretells ; yet he thinks Christ could not have de
signed what his language fairly means ! This, in effect, is to
accuse him of not having known how to express his meaning!
Nations, too, he tells us, are not punished, as- such, for their
wickedness. He certainly has not learned this from the bible, for
it teaches not only that " the wicked shall be turned into hell,"
but also, "and all the nations that forget God." Not the bible
alone, but all history informs us that there is such a thing as na
tional guilt, and that this is sure to draw down national punishment.
2nd. — I must prove, he thinks, in order to made good my appli
cation of this passage, that "the devil And his angels" of which
it speaks, are not fallen spiritual beings; and that the "ever
lasting fire prepared" for them, is not ihe fire of a hell beyond the
bounds of earth. Nay, I think it does not fairly fall to my part
to prove this ; it is all assumed as fact by popular theologians, it
is their business to make it good by substantial evidence. As to
the idea of lapsed spirits from heaven, called devils, it is too
ridiculous for sober consideration : my opponent must admit
that the different terms so rendered often refer to beings and things
of this earth : I contend that they always do, (if we may except
the terms relating to demons — a popular heathen superstition
which supposed that the souls of deceased persons wandered
about the earth, and entered into men and women, causing dis
ease, madness, &c. ; the Jews in our saviour's time had adopted
this chimera,) hence we read of deaf devils, dumb devils, luna
tic devils, leprous devils, etc. Seven devils were cast out of
Mary Magdalene. One poor fellow who applied to Christ for
relief supposed himself possessed of a legion of them, (a whole
battalion,) and when these were exorcised and permitted to enter
into a herd of pigs, they affected the pigs with a species of mad
ness (not hydrophobia, certainly) which caused them to run down
a declivity into the sea. Most usually, however, these terms are
used with reference to human adversaries. Christ once called
Jurlas a devil, and Peter he termed Satan: it is therefore not
unreasonable to understand "the devil and his angels" to mean
tne chief enemy of Christ's gospel, and his agents or instruments:
and ihe •' fire prepared" for them to mean, ihe terrible retributions
nvith whiih they were soon to he visited. We are told in Reve-
ations of a war in heaven, " Michael and his angels fought

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. 111. 181
against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels."
Blind indeed must be the mind, to which it is not evident from
the whole connexion, that " heaven " here means the church, arid
"the dragon and 'his angels" the enemies of the gospel, acting
under some great leader ! for the same account speaks of a womat..
in heaven, who brought forth a man child, and who fled into the
wi'derness from the persecutions of the dragon (all this in heaven,
tu) d you !) which vomited forth water after her, " and the earth
helped the woman," etc. On which highly figurative account
(so manifestly relating to the church, ils conflicts and final tri
umph) is erected the edifice of monstrous absurdity about a
pitched fight, which took place between contending armies of
angels before time began ! That these crude notions are even
yet common amongst Christians is evidence that the sacred
volume has been studied to but little purpose.*
3rd. — " I affirm," quoth my opponent, " that no such coming
?s is predicted in the text has ever yet transpired." Then, my
friend, you affirm that Christ has proven a false prophet ! for have
I not furnished proof upon proof, that he positively declared it
should take place within that generation, and within the lifetime
of some of his auditors ? Our friend's mistake, however arises
from the want of an acquaintance with the style of speaking then
in general use : he understands every thing in a gross or literal
sense ; and so, as history relates nothing of the sun having been
quenched — the stars having fallen — all nations having been actual-
* I will giveanothertextoftenreferred to, that my readers may see on what ques
tionable ground the popular doctrine of a devil is made to stand. " And it shall
oome to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from
thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, That thou
6halt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How halh the op
pressor ceased! the golden city ceased ! The Lord halh broken the staffof ihe wicked,
aitd the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people jn wrath with a continual
stroke, he that ruled Ihe nalions in anger is persecuted, and none hindereth. The
whole earth is at rest, and is quiet : they break forth into sintring. Yea, the fir-reea
rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no
feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at
Ihy coining : it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the eaflh ; it
litilh raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak
and siy unto thee, Art Ihou also become weak as we ? art thou become like unto us i
Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols : the worm id
spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
woakeu the nations!" iTsaiah xiv. 3— 1'2.) Here you have it, reader; heve is that
fallen angel that has so long been a bug-bear in Christendom : but here we have'hitn
dead and buried, and therefore shorn of his power, as one would naturally suppose :
he is said, however, to be capable of such a variety of metamorphoses, that it were
v\ell to keep a sharp look out for him nevertheless.

182 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
iy congregated together before some real and visible judgment.
seat, it is clear, he thinks, that all this is yet to take place.
Nor is he without company in this error ; many erudite theolo
gians of high title, and most reverend wig, have erred from the
same cause. The sacred writers were much accustomed to the
use of the figure called hyperbole ; which consists in describing
a subject in an exaggerated manner, employing very bold im
agery. See, for example, Isaiah's account of the destruction of
Babylon by the Medes. " Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate ;
and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars
of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon
shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world
for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity ; and I will cause
the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haugh
tiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine
gold ; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I
will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place,
in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce
anger. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no
mar. taketh up ; they shall every man turn to his own peopie,
and flee every one into his own land." (Isaiah xiii. 9 — 14.) This
is the prediction of a mere temporal overthrow, but how glow
ingly described ! The earth was to run away like a timid deer
before the hunter ! Now, to employ my friend's mode of rea
soning here, I might argue that the destruction of Babylon is an
event yet to take place ; for the earth has not yet so run like a
frightened sheep from its orbit, nor have the luminaries of heaven
been extinguished. Truth is, that if we adopt this sort of logic
we shall arrive at most marvelous and contradictory conclusions
from different parts of the scriptures : and we should also be
forcing upon them a meaning which they were never meant to
bear. Our friend, by consulting the several commentators upon
Mat. xxiv, and its parables, will find that even the most orthodox
of them have been forced into concessions which favor my appli
cation. For example: Dr. Clarke, remarks that the coming of
Christ " in his glory," may mean his spiritual presence in the
breaching, and miracles, by which the gospel dispensation was

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 183
ushered in : his " gathering before him all nations," may mean
the assembling of the Jewish tribes on some festival occasion, (as
was the case on the day of pentecost ; and as was also the case
(according to Josephus and others,) when Jerusalem was besieged
by Titus Vespasian :) his " holy angels," may mean his apostles
and other inspired evangelists ; " the great sound of a trumpet,"
may refer to the preaching of the gospel, by which means the
" elect were gathered together," or, in other words, believers
were brought into his church or kingdom, etc. Such is a specimen
of concessions made by commentators opposed to myself on the
general question between us, and they are the more to be relied
on for that very reason.
4th. — Let us now look at the three questions put lo Christ by
his disciples, as he sat upon the mount of Olives. First. "When
shall these things be?" What things? Evidently, those of
which he had been speaking, and these, by a reference to the con
text, you will perceive were the destruction of the city and the
temple. On this point we are agreed. Proceed we then to the
second. " And what shall be the sign of thy coming." What
coming? Without doubt, his coming to execute these judgments
upon that obstinate people. Third : " and of the end of the world ?"
This, however, is not properly a third question, but merely a
member of the second : " the sign of thy coming and of the end
of the world ?" (tsu mmos) end of the age, or Mosaic economy :
for the disciples understood that the destruction of the city and
temple would close the Jewish dispensation, and usher in that of
the Mesiah : hence they associate his coming to execute this
destruction with the end of the Jewish age or state. St. Mark's
account of the same matter clearly corroborates this view. " And
as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him.
Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here !
And Jesus answering, said unto him, Seest thou these great
buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of
Olives, over against ihe temple, Peter, and James, and John, and
Andrew, asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things
be ? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be
fulfilled ?" (Mark xiii. 1—4.) So also does St. Luke's. " And
as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodlv

184 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold,
the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone
upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And they asked
him, saying, Master, but when shall these things he? and what
sign will there be when these things shall come to pass ?" (Luke
xxi. 5 — 7.) You perceive that both these latter evangelists make
but two questions of it; and must not every reflecting reader be
satisfied from the nature of the case, that these inquiries had no
sort of reference to the close of time? What could put such an
idea into their heads ? they had not been taught by Moses, nor
by any of their prophets, that this mundane system should come
to an end : and all the Jews believed that when the then existing
ecclesiastical dynasty should terminate, it should be succeeded
by a most resplendent stale of things under their Mesiah, which
(from all that I can learn) was never expected to come to a pe
riod. The assumption then that the disciples questioned Chris*
respecting the end of time, is wholly without rational warrant.
5th. — We will next glance at my friend's objections to my
novel mode of applying the parables, he thinks my error here is
sufficiently clear from the fact, that seven eighths of all Christendom
are against me. Martin Luther did not yield to this argument —
or, possibly, protestantism had been unheard of to this day —
nor did John V/esley, or methodism would not have been : all
reformers, both in church and slate — in law, medicine, the arts;
are met at the outset by this argument: my friend was therefore
right in not resting his cause here.
He proceeds to convince us that the passage concerning ihe
rich man and Lazarus is a literal narrative ! bless me ! then the
dead carry with them to eternity their bodily organs ! arid, al
though existing in an immaterial state, they are still subject to
material influences! The rich man "lifted up his eyes," he sa«v
Lazarus in " Abraham's bosom," he requested to have him sent io
dip h\a finger in water, and therewith to cool his tongue, for the
supplicant was tormented in the flames. All fact — literal fact!
disembodied spirits have eyes, and tongues, and bosoms, and fin
gers; and the material element of fire can burn them, and of
water can cool them ! literal fact al' ' The regions of the saved,
too, and of the damned, are so adjacent to each other that the
inhabitants of each can maintain a familiar cnloquy with those

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 183
of the othei ! How manifestly allegorical .s this whole account !
Its scene is laid on the earth ; and the dramatis personam (allhough
they are said to have died, and one of them to have been buried,)
are represented as being still in the body. My friend thinks the
orthodox views of this text are confirmed by whal is termed Jose-
phus' dissertation concerning Hades .- said dissertation, however,
is a most palpable forgery, and gotten up, without doubt, as a
counterpart to this parable ; the phraseology is any thing but
Jewish, and it is asking too much of our credulity to require us
to believe that Josephus had any hand in it. But even allowing
it genuine, what then ? Why then, hell is in the interior of our
earth, and both the good and bad of all the dead are there — and
Lazarus, when carried to Abraham's bosom, was in fact carried
to hell ! According to this, we may expect ere long, (should
Simms'-theory be true, which holds the interior of our globe to
be accessible at the poles,) that the improvements in navigation
will bring us lo be well acquainted with hell and ils inhabitants.
I shall not waste time inproving this passage to be an allegory ;
for, that were as superfluous as to prove that a square is not a
•ircle. Mr. Wesley's logic, by which he would show it to be a
larrative of fact, would equally convert full twenty other bible
varables into literal histories: for argument's sake, I am willing
o concede this point to my opponent ; merely that he may be
convinced, that his dogma of endless woe cannot be maintained
from this passage even with this concession. I know that the
main feature of it on which the argument for this doctrine is
made to rest, is the account of the gulf — the impassable gulf.
Let us then admit Hades to be a local hell, either under, or beyond
the earth, as you please; and let us admit the gulf to be literally
such, i. e., a deep, and rugged chasm. You have now gained a
hell, and one from which there is no chance of egress : but foi
how long? Ay! indeed; this is likely to prove a troublesome
question for the theory of an endless infernum ! for hades itself is
doomed lo certain destruction. " I will ransom them from the
power of hades, [so reads the septuagint, the version from which
Christ and his apostles were wont to quote,] I will redeem them
from death. O death, I will be thy plagues! O hades, I will
be thy destruction." (Hosea xiii. 14.) When hell is destroyed,
and its subjects ransomed from its power, what purpose can the
0.2

186 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
gulf answer ? I will ask another question ; what is gained in
favor of endless misery from the admission that the parable
before us is literal history? Both these questions are fairly
answered by the one word — NOTHING.
The man without a wedding garment : — who was he ? somebody
that had stolen into heaven unperceived through the carelessness
of the porter? It would seem so, by my opponent's understand
ing of it ! I should say rather a Jewish intruder, (one of the
class in regard to whom the king had said, " they shall not taste
of my supper,") who sought to shelter himself from the retribu
tions which were about to befall his nation, by assuming the profes
sion of — without the qualifications indispensable to — a subject of
Christ's kingdom, or church. One of the same class that Jesus said
should say unto him in that day ; " Lord, thou hast eaten and
drunk in our presence; and we have prophesied in thy name, and
in thy name done many wonderful works," &c. -. but he shall
say unto them, " Depart from me, I never knew you." It must not
be lost sight of that all these things are spoken of in referenee to
the church or kingdom of Christ on earth — their application to
the future state is not only gratuitous, but in its logical conse
quences supremely ridiculous.
The closing question of my opponent is important. Does the
nope of an endless hereafter life rest on no clearer scriptural war
rant than is urged in proof of the eternity of punishment? This
comprises the sum of his last argument. Oh ! most blighting to
human hope were the negative to this question ! for I do with my
whole soul believe, that the eternity of punishment has no scrip
tural warrant at all : aion, and its derivatives, are so equivocal in
their signification, that if no better ground of hope were afforded
in regard to the duration of the future life, than what they furnish,
such hope would be the next thing to despair : happily, however,
the case is far otherwise ! — for, 1st, the subjects of the future
life are to be like unto the angels of God, " neither do they die
any more." (Luke xx. 36.) 2nd. They are raised immortal,
(incapable of dying) incorruptible, (above the power of decay)
and glorious. They are also made alive in Christ, (who is said
to have been made " after the power of an endless life ;" Heb. vii.
16,) and to "bear the image of the heavenly;" (1 Cor. xv.)
their vile body is to be changed, and fashioned like unto Christ's

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. III. 187
" most glorious body." (Phil. iii. 21.) 3rd. They enter into a
g.ory in exchange for their psesent light affliction, which far ex
ceeds eternal, (for so is the literal reading) exceeds it to excess.
(2 Cor. iv. 17.) 4th. Death is to be abolished, in regard t«
them, " swallowed up in victory ;" which seems the strongest
form of assurance that their existence can never cease. In addi
tion to these reasons, it must be considered that we were made u
the end that we should live eternally, and enjoy our creator. In
this, then, is the object of our being fulfilled ; whereas by a
contrary issue it would be frustrated : and, moreover, life must
be absolutely eternal, having its well-spring in the eternal God.
On the contrary, suffering is a mere result of the present im
perfection of our nature. In short, the reasons are almost
endless which justify the belief of a future endless existence lo
man, and they will all apply, with others in addition, against his
being subjected to an eternity of suffering.
We have now gone through my friend's objections, and what
is their amount ? Their aggregated weight is but that of a
feather against the mass of testimony to which they stand opposed.
So shielded at all points is my argument upon the application of
this important subject, that I might safely dispense with all that
I have said in its support, and then decide the issue by one single
text. If my opponent is right, there is coming a judgment, the
calamities of which will a million-fold exceed all together that
the sun has ever looked down upon since it was first struck into
existence : whereas, Christ says of the time of Jerusalem's de
struction " Then shall be a lime of trouble such as never was since
the beg inning of the creation until that time; NO, NOR EVEh
SHALL BE !"

188 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
POPULAR DEBATE.— No. IV.

ARE WE TO INFER, FROM THE OPPOSITION ENDURED BY
CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES, THAT THEY TAUGHT THE
DOCTRINE OF ENDLESS MISERY 1
AFFIRMATIVE.
One thing, at least, is certain, and that is, that the saviour
taught doctrines to which wicked men were extremely averse.
On this point we cannot but be agreed. Was Ihe doctrine of
endless punishment one of these ? It either was", or he taught the
opposite ; for something relative to the future states of men he
unquestionably did teach : but that the subject-matter of his
preaching was not universalism is evident, from the virulent per
secutions which met him at every step : for men would hardly,
methinks, have persecuted him, in return for the good news he
brought them, that they were all to go to heaven when they died !
Oh, but this would have suited them exactly ! they would have
hailed it with acclamations; and instead of regarding the saviour
as their enemy, they would have greeted him as their benefactor.
That Christ was not so received ; but, on the contrary, was oppo
sed, vilified, hated, scoffed at. and finally murdered, is an evidence
irresistible that he did not inculcate universal salvation.
There is no doctrine to which the heart of man is more opposed,
than that which tells him he must answer in a future life for the
actions committed in the present; especially when it is added,
that the hell to which his sins will sink him will retain him
forever; its fires prove as quenchless as his immortal spirit, and
escape from the aroused wrath of omnipotence as impossible as
to get beyond the circumference of his power. Ah ! this is not
a doctrine to please the carnal heart ; it is not adapted to quiet
the troubled ocean of man's fears and anxieties about eternity:
it administers no opiate to the guilty conscience: and hence, as
the pious minister of Jesus knows full well, the world is arrayed
in deadly hostility against i*. I am persuaded that nothing but
this coii.d have aroused against the saviour the rancour which
followed him all his life, and at length nailed him to the oross.

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. IV. 189
Christ foresaw this consequence from the preaching of his
gospel ; and he forewarned his disciples against it. " If the
world hate you," said he, "ye know that it hated me before it
hated you." " In the world ye shall have tribulation," &c. And
the apostles, accordingly, were soon called upon to verify the fact
that " they that will live godly in Christ Jesus, mut suffer per
secution :" but that it is " through much tribulal'.t a we must
enter the kingdom of God." These facts and general principles
can by no means be reconciled with the idea that Christ and his
apostles inculcated universal salvation.
Now it is well known that this doctrine does not nneet with
opposition from the irreligious and the licentious : these yield it
their hearty good wishes and open countenance. No ; it is the
humble follower of Jesus who most abhors this fatal error — the
man of prayer — he who has exercised an evangelical repentance
and obtained the pardon of his sins ; he views universalism as a
dangerous and soul-damning delusion, and he sincerely deprecates
its prevalence. Whilst on the other hand the doctrine of an
endless hell for the finally impenitent, finds as little favor with
sinners now as formerly. From all which I deduce the conse
quence, that this was the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, and
that to this source principally, we must trace the opposition and
persecutions which they sustained. NEGATIVE.
The first point to be settled in this inquiry is, whether Christ
and his apostles were opposed by that portion of human society
termed the wicked, or by that called the pious: the determining
of this question must necessarily affect the conclusion of the
argument. It can scarcely be requisite to prove to you, my
hearers, those of you acquainted with the gospel history at least,
that all the persecutions of the saviour came from men who took
high grouud for sanctity of character ; ihe priests of the Jewish
church — the scribes, whose office it was to expound the law of
God ; and the pharisees, " who trusted in themselves ihat they
were righteous, and despised others :" these were they from
whom came all the opposition to the gospel in the infancy of its
promulgation : and from men of like pretensions, and of a like
spirit, I may add, have emanateu all the religious persecutions

199 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
which have occurred since time began. Christ himself has, I
think, expressed the very same sentiment in different language;
(see Mat. xxiii.) he charges the scribes and pharisecs wilh being
guilty of " all the righteous blood that had been shed upon the
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacha-
rias, son of Baracbias, whom they slew between the temple and
the altar." (ib. 35.) By which we undoubtedly are to understand,
that all this martyr-blood had been spilt by the dark and fanatical
spirit which these classes so eminently displayed.
As to the common people, those usually denominated the wicked,
the world, &c, they were ever the friends of the saviour; they
attended upon his preaching in throngs — they followed him into
the wilderness far from their villages : Christ on several occa
sions fed thousands of them together, which gives us an idea of
the numbers by which he was usually attended ; and, we are
d-irectly informed that " the common people heard him gladly :"
(Mark xii. 37.) but for them he. would have fallen a victim to the
malice of his foes before he did, " but they feared the people, lesl
they should have been stoned." The following passage gives us
a clear intimation as to the state of things in this respect. "Then
drew near unto him all the publicans and sinner-i for to hear him
And the Pharisees and scribes mumwred, saying, This man
receiveth sinners, and eatelh with them." (Luao xv. 1, 2.)
This drew out of the saviour the beautiful parables of the lost
sheep, lost piece of money, and prodigal son ; in which he vin
dicates his attentions to those whom his pharisaic opposers so
self-complac?ntly denominated sinners.
Having settled the fact that the opposition to the saviour pro
ceeded mainly from the classes denominated thepious, and chiefly
from ihe straitest of them called the pharisees with their priests at
their head ; we may now I think account for that opposition on
different grounds from those assumed by my opponent. These
classes themselves believed in endless misery ; they had bor
rowed this dogma from heathen nations, for assuredly and by
consent of even the highest orthodox authorities, they bad nc
warrant for it in their own canonized scriptures : it cannot bt
rationally supposed, then, that Christ excited their rancor, bj
teaching endless misery. No, no ! that it proceeded frcm an oppo
si;? cause is rfcr more probable : Christ taught that God is ar

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. IV. 191
universal Father, and benefactor to mankind : whereas they sup-
Dcsed him a partial Being, and (as a matter of course) that they
were the subjects of his partiality — Christ's teaching went to
prove that even enemies, despised publicans, and harlots, are com
prised within the range of heavenly beneficence ; whereas they
would fain Lf.ve had it thought that God's goodness was restricted
to an inconsiderable moiety of our race. The extremes of north
and south are not wider apart than were the sentiments inculcated
by the saviour, and those entertained by these narrow and bigoted
sectarists In view of these facts we may easily understand
what kind of a world it was against which Christ cautioned his
disciples — it was the same that had hated him — from which had
proceeded allliis own bitter and unrelenting persecutions — it was,
in short, the (so called) religious world : from the same source
have issued all the murders, tortures, confiscations, proscriptions,
exactions, &c, which, sanctified by godly pretexts, have, in all
ages, and in all climes, drenched in blood cur groaning earth :
the common people have never (save in the capacity of tools)
been engaged in this horrid business : all history agrees in tracing
it to a fanatical spirit in religion.
Neither is it true, my friends, that the doctrine of universal
salvation is generally pleasing to men : it is indeed true that it ought
to be so ; and it is also true that if men's hearts were less selfish ana
less sophisticated with corrupting creeds, it would be so ; but it is
undeniable that the dogma of endless suffering is much better
adapted to flatter the vanity and self-love of man than the contrary,
and hence, probably, we may account for its more general preva
lence in the world. This doctrine tells us there will be an eternal
distinction between us and others ; this pleases us, for we are sure
to think the distinction will be in our favor; it tells that God loves
some and hates others ; this please3 us also, for we are sure to
Ihink ourselves the party loved : it tells us that some are lo go to
heaven at death and some to hell ; and with this likewise we are
suited, fr-r we think there ought to be a hell for somebody, and
th.;re are always certain somebodies whom we dislike heartily
enough to wish there ; but as to ourselves — oh ! no danger in the
world to ourselves — hell could not have been made for such
promising folk !
Doctrines of cruelty havo ever met with a belter reception

192 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
among men than have those of benevolence ; for the reason that
the mass of mankind are in gross ignorance, and their conceptions
of the. deity are low and grovelling : when intelligence and re
finement become more general in the world, doctrines of benevo
lence will be better received. Paul labored and suffered reproach
for exhibiting God as an universal saviour: (1/rim. iv. 10.) and
ihe same teaching would have ensured him a like experience in
every subsequent age to the present time. My opponent tells us
how opposed to the doctrine of an endless hell the pious minister
of Jesus finds the world ; but the truth is utterly to the contrary.
I put it to your own observation, whethei the opposite to this is
not the fact ! Knew you ever of a case of persecution against
an individual, for his preaching an endless hell? Never, surely !
As already said, this doctrine is by far too convenient, and too
well suited to the vanity and selfishness of men, to be a subject
of opposition : it is a point which the interests of all false and
corrupt religions will unite to guard, as the main secret, and all-
potent engine of their dominion over mankind.
Nor can I allow to my friend's objection to universalism the
Iveight he claims for it, that it is generally disapproved, and its
propagation deprecated, by men of prayer. Possibly it is; pos
sibly too the preaching of it by the apostle was opposed by this
diss of persons : we know wilh certainty that it was principally
su<;h that composed the number of haters and crucifiers of the
saviour ! I should be sorry to endorse a millionth part of the
doctrines and doings of praying men ; for many and many a dark
deed of crime, God knows, has sought to sanctify itself by prayer.
The simple fact, therefore, of a doctrine being loved or hated by
praying men proves nothing either as lo its truth or falsity.
On the whole, then, I ask, how can we rationally infer from
the opposition encountered by Christ and his apostles, that they
taught the doctrine of endless misery ? On the contrary, when
it is considered that his opponents themselves believed this doc
trine, is not an opposite inference .the more rational ? You, my
hearers, may decide these questions for yourselves. I pretend not
to say that they were persecuted for the one of these causes
or the other, but only that if for either, the latter is the morn
probable.

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. \9H
POPULAR DEBATE.— No. V.

13 THE NOTION OF A GENERAL JUDC-MENT AFTER DEATH
AGREEABLE TO THE SCRIPTURFS AND REASON 7
ARGUMENT IN THE AFFIkMATIVE.
Of all the heresies that have infested the Christian church,
universalism is at once the most audacious and the most alarming ;
it lays its destructive axe at the root of ooinions which have ever,
by general suffrage, been regarded as vital, and fundamental, in
christian faith : amongst these it is doubtful if any one is more
venerated, for its antiquity, and general prevalence in the world,
than that which is involved in the question before us. Will there be
a judgment after death ? Say no— decide this momentous inquiry
in the negative, and you will be secure of a hearty vote of thanks
from the irreligious and the abandoned of all nations, by whom,
we may be sure, this doctrine is but little relished. Say no, and
the bible may very well be dispensed wth : for its main business.
as it seems to me, is to prepare men against that dreadful assize
at which all our actions in life must undergo the severest scrutiny.
Ah ! in reference to this, how many a dving wretch has disclosed
the secrets of a life of crime, which had otherwise gone down
with him into the oblivion of the grave . And how many an one
at the same awful juncture, has relinquished his grasp upon
hoards, which had been accumulated by fraud and oppressive
exactions ! Well doth the poet call this the—
" Great day, for which all other days were made,
• « * •
Great day of dread, decision, ap.d despair.
At thought of thee, each sublunary wish
Lets go its eager grasp, and drops tho world.
And catches at a single reed of hope
In heaven."  —
Reason clearly suggests the necessity for a judgment of men aftei
this life: when we observe the preseilt dispensations of provi
dence, we perceive that they take place indifferently in regard to
the riuhtesus and the wicked ; a siitable distinc ion i» not now
R

ii)4 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
naintained between these opposite classes : hence a future dis
pensation is obviously necessary in order to remedy the irregulari
ties of the present. God must vindicate the justice of his gov
ernment — he must display his infinite aversion to sin, and his
approval of virtue — and this he must do before assembled worlds.
By confining our attention to the events of time, we should often
be templed to call the justice of God into question : the cruel,
and the rapacious, are allowed to trample under foot and despoil
the meek and the upright: Ihe poor man finds in the law but a
weak defence against the rich oppressor ; the innocent are often
subject to the full rigors of legal vengeance, whilst the guilty are
suffered to escape with impunity. Who can estimate the sum of
suffering caused by such men as Charles XII. of Sweden,
Cromwell, and Napoleon? How could Pizarro, and Cortes, be
adequately punished in life, for the prodigies of cruelty which
they perpetrated in Mexico, and Peru ? When Jehovah looked
down from his throne in heaven upon the unhappy Montezuma,
expiring on heated plates of iron : marked he not for deep dam
nation the miscreant who had caused this suffering? A single
mandate, from a single tyrant, has often whelmed millions of
hearts in anguish ; think of the horrors inflicted within the limit?
of British-East-India (if Burke, and Sheridan, may be trusted,.
by the tyranny of Warren Haslmgs - " I'll swear," (said aa
unhappy princess, whose husband had been perfidiously mur
dered by that tyrant,) " if Hastings is not damned, his God
is a black accomplice in his crimes !" It would indeed seem
so, if the unjust oppressions of time are not to be avenged in
eternity. When we look through the scriptures we find them to contain,
1st : numerous allusions to a certain set time, denominated " the
day of judgment ;" these allusions are an indirect proof of the
doctrine under examination. 2ndly, we find direct proofs to the
same effect in particular descriptions of that day.
" And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of
your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom and Gomo"-;ah in the Jay of judgment, than
that city." (Mat. x. 14, 15.) " Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 195
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Beth-
saida ! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes-. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolera
ble for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And
thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought
down to hell : for if the mighty works, which have been done in
thee, had been done in Sodom, il would have remained until this
day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." (Mat. xi.
20 — 24.) " The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment
to be punished." (2 Pet. ii. 9.) " And the angels which kept
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath re
served in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judg
ment of the great day." (Jude 6.) These are the principal
among the indirect proofs of a day of general judgment: you will
observe that it is alluded to as a fixed and definite period — not as
a day ; but as ihe day. — Sometimes it is denominated " that day,"
" the great day," &c.
Again, there are passages in which mention is made of " the
judgment seat of Christ," and of our having to stand before, and
to give an account thereat. (Rom. xiv. 10. — 2 Cor. v. 10.)
The accounts of our Lord's second coming I shall not adduce
in this argument, although they have been thought to belong to
the same subject, but they have been already subjected to the
alembic of my opponent's sophistry, and they turned out to mean
no such thing. I pass them, then, and go to the direct evidences.
" And the times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now
commandeth all men every where to repent ; Because he hath
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in right
eousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the
dead." (Acts xvii. 30, 31.) Here is the doctrine fully asserted :
Christ, the judge — ihe world, the party — and an appointed day , the
time : all clearly and distinctly revealed.
Next see, 2 Peter iii. . " Whereby the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished : Bnt the heavens and the
earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved

196 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
some men count slackness ; but is long suffering to us-ward, nol
willin<r that any should perish, but that all should come to re
pentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the eartn also,
and the works that are therein, shall be burned up. Seeing then
tha, all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness: Looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat ? Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein d welleth righteous
ness." (6 — 13.) Here is a circumstantial account of an awful
event, or rather train of events. I hope my opponent will not
attempt to spiritualise it, and reduce it to a nonentity.
Pass we now to 2 Thes. i : " Seeing it is a righteous thing
with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
from ihe glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because
our testimony among you was believed) in that day." (6 — 10.)
Could a general judgment, and one too, which shall decide the
fates of the parties for eternity, be more decisively revealed than it
here is ? Christ descends — he descends from heaven — he descends
in flames — he descends to avenge himself upon the enemies of his
gospel — and that vengeance, what is it? Destruction, total, per
petual, irremediable.
I will adduce two other testimonies, which I confess to be highly
figurative, but which, nevertheless, without doubt, refer to the
same stupendous transactions: the first is in Daniel vii. "1
behek' till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 197
sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head
like the pure wool : his throne was like the fiery flame, and his
wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth
from before him : thousand thousands ministered unto him, and
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : the judgment
was set, and the bocks were opened." (9, 10.) The other is in
Rev. xx. ' And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on
it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and
there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God : and the books were opened ; and
another book was opened, which is ihe book of life : and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them : and they were judged every man according to their
works. And death and hell was cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (11 — 15.) These
passages are marked with much sublimity of thought, and grandeur
of imagery ; but as they are dark and enigmatical, I do not lean
upon them with a strong reliance.
That Paul taught the doctrine of a judgment after death is man
ifest : we find it distinctly asserted in his letter to the Hebrews.
" It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment."
(Heb. ix. 27.) And we are informed in the book of Acts, tha
" as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to
come, Felix trembled." (Acts xxiv. 25.)
I am curious to know how my opponent will attempt to fritter
away all this testimony : not only how he will meet the argu
ment from the scripture, but also from the reason and necessity
of things. There must be a judgment after death — all nations
have believed in it, and, as already remarked, it is imperatively
called for by the inequalities in the present dispensations of provi
dence: evil men look forward to it with fear and trembling; but
the righteous most earnestly desire its coming: it will be to them
a day of deliverance, of vindication, and of recompense for all
their sufferings and trials in time. They shall also see their de
sire upon their persecutors, and shall have no longer occasion to
exclaim with the souls of the martyrs, as described in Revelation,
r2

198 PRO AND GON OF UNIVERSALISM.
" How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
ntir blood on them that dwell on the earth '" (Rev. vi. 10.)
In conclusion I remark, that if there be no judgment after death,
then 'the saviour's momentous question, relative to the worth of the
soul, is a grave burlesque : nothing more. " What shall it profit
a man," he asks, " if he gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul, or what shall he give in exchange for his soul ?" And what
renders this question more awfully momentous is, that it is pro
pounded in immediate connexion with the declaration, " For the
Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels, and then shall he reward every man according to his
works." (Mat. xvi. 27.)
ARGUMENT IN THE NEGATIVE.
It may seem an act of great temerity on my part, my auditors,
to attempt maintaining the negative of this question against such
an array of argument, and evidence, as has been adduced on the
other side : more especially as your education, and long habits
of thinking, upon this subject, must necessarily bias your minds
against the object of that attempt; nevertheless, a firm convic
tion that the doctrine of a general judgment after death is a mere
bug-bear, without any real countenance from reason or the bible;
and injurious in its influences upon mankind, imposes upon me
the duty of undertaking its refutation : give me but your candid
attention and I can promise myself success.
1st. — You were told that the wicked do not relish this doctrine.
Perhaps not; but I know of no particular reasons why they
should object to it. On the contrary, I should think that they find
it -sufficiently convenient; it puts off the day of reckoning to a
eonveniently distant time, and represents its decisions as sufficiently
uncertain; and this tends to set their consciences well at ease until
the moment of danger is conceived to have nearly arrived ; then
comes in the expedient of repentance, just in season to ward the
long-suspended stroke of justice ! The anecdote of the Irishman
who stole a pig, (whether truth or fiction) well illustrates this
point : when told he would have to answer for it at the day of
juJgment, he replied, " Och ! but had I known you would wait
so long, I would have taken two of them !"
It is true, as my opponent remarked, that by the terrors of that

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 199
expected day, the dying»sinner has often been induced to«" make a
clean breast," by confession ; and that ill-gotten hoards have been
wrenched from the hands of avarice and extortion — but what then ?
Have the robbed and the oppressed been benefited by these fits
of remorse ? No such thing; they have served for the founding
of churches, or of convents, or for the enriching of ecclesiastics,
but rarely indeed have they brought reparation to the injured. On
the other hand, what a fearful engine of mischief has this doctrine
proved in the hands of wily priests ! with what terrific phantoms
has it peopled the dreaded future ! And how dense a darkness
has it shed upon man's dying hour ! Often, and often, by its
means, has the ghostly counsellor at the bed of death, wrung
from the fears of the dying man the savings of a life of industry,
which ought to have gone to his widow and her orphan children.
Indeed, with such frequency has this ease transpired, that it has
been found necessary by enlightened legislators, to make, by
statute, bequests of this nature invalid. Wicked men averse to
the doctrine of a judgment after death! Not they indeed ; they
are prone enough to "put the evil day afar off:" the cheek of the
hardy mariner is blanched with dismay, and the prayer of agony
quavers on his lips, when his storm tossed vessel seems on the
point of being ingulfed in the troubled element beneath him : but
the danger passed, he laughs at his fears, and blasphemes the
name of God without compunction.
2nd. — If there is to be no judgment after death, my friend
thinks, the bible may be dispensed with ! its main business being,
as he thinks, to prepare men against that event ! There is a mar
velous issue between us, then, upon this point. I hold the main
business of the bible to be the preparing us for this life — its duties,
and sufferings — and to reconcile us to its sorrows by. revealing tho
joys that await us in another — it tells of God, and of ourselves —
of our relations to him and to each other — and it shows us that a
conformity to the obligations which these relations impose, presents
the surest prospect of happiness. How many of mankind, I pray,
are prepared by the bible against a future day of judgment ?
3rd. — He quotes us the. poet, who in a strain of extravagance
which prose would never countenance, calls the fancied era of tho
judgment, the —
" Great day, for which all other days were made."

200 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM
I must think that the Creator was poorly employed if he made
all other days for the sake of such a season of ruin, confusion,
madness and misery, as we are apt to imagine that day of judg
ment will prove ! It is little short of blasphemy lo charge him
with so flagrant an outrage upon justice and benevolence. Truth
is, that however this doctrine may serve lo furnish images of ter
ror and grandeur to the bard, it will illy endure the investigation
of sober inquiry.
4th. — The main argument from reason for a future judgment, is,
that providence is not just in its present dispensations ! Such is
really the substance of the argument! It is pretended that a
suitable distinction is not maintained betwixt the righteous and
the wicked. This is a grave charge against the Governor of the
universe; and, if true, I should doubt his disposition to admin
ister its affairs at any future time more justly than he does at pre
sent. Convince me that my maker can do what is wrong, or omit
to do what is right, at one time, and I shall at once despair of his
doing otherwise at any time ! Now the nature of the case would
be materially altered, if it could be made to appear, that from
these present irregularities some great and glorious result
should ensue — a result consistent with the eventual good of the
entire mass of his creatures ; but a mal-administration of affairs
which shall issue so disastrously to millions of millions,
cannot by any sophistry be vindicated; nor can we ever ration
ally expect the interests of the governed to be safer in the same
hands. But tell me now, ye who can look over the world with an eyo
of candid observation, are not the distinctions of condition betwixt
the good and the bad, as broad as are the distinctions of character ?
You must, at least, acknowledge that the latter are riot as wide
as the difference between unending bliss and unending woe —
you must even allow, that if it were attempted to sever these
classes from each other, it would be difficult to determine in
regard to an immense majority of mankind, whether to rank Ihem
amongst the righteous or the wicked, so nearly balanced are their
good and evil traits of character! Now, in regard to these, what
shall be done ? Shall we, whilst we allow them no reward for
their good qualities, eternally damn them for 1heir evil ones?
This would seem a very unjust measure; and yet it is the very

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 201
measure which the common doctrine of a judgment after death
contemplates !
We see not, as sees the all-seeing God : he saw Montezuma,
for example, suffering under the cruelties of Cortez : perhaps
also he had oft seen others suffering under the cruelties of Mon
tezuma, and in that case the sufferings of the latter were but a
just measure of retribution. " But Adoni-bezek fled : and they
pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and
his great toes. And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings,
having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their
meat under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited
me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died."
(Judges i. 6, 7.) Yet we are told that men are not judged and
punished here ; for if here, why again hereafter ?
And may not Charles XII. Cromwell, and Napoleon, have been
mere scourges in the hands of providence ? Many wise and good
men have so regarded them, and with the evil they each did, much
good was accomplished also. Governor Hastings may have been
a tyrant or not : he has been differently, oppositely, represented.
Supposing he was, and that God shall eternally damn him, agreea
bly to the Indian princess' requirement ; will his damnation
repair the wrongs he did in life ? or will its only purpose be
revenge ? But ihen, another difficulty occurs : agreeably to the
doctrine under review, the victims of the tyrant are as liable to
unending woe as is the tyrant himself! Still another, after des
patching his victims to hell the latter may have himself repented
and gone to heaven ! I see not, then, if even there shall be a
judgment after death, how it is to repair the evils of life, or make
amends for the mal-administrations of providence during time !
5th. — It is commonly supposed that we go at death immediately
to heaven or to hell : this being the case, where is the necessity
for a general judgement ! Is it to enable the Omniscient Being
to review his former decisions ? May he have committed mis
takes which this rejadication will enable him to correct ? Or
is this first commitment to the prison of the universe upon a
suspicion of guilt merely, and ihe business of the judgment to
refute or confirm that suspicion ? A more solemn mockery than
this same fancied judgment was never conceived. A pageant,
suitable enough as a subject of poetry, or of popular declamation,

202 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
but how absurd ; yea ridiculous, (sublimely so, however,) when
the infinite Jehovah is represented as collecting around him the
people of a hundred centuries, that, either he may correct his
mistakes, or convince them that he has made none ! Really, for
plain and honest prose this is most insufferable stuff!
6th. — But let us to the scriptures and carefully attend to their
testimony upon this head. It is not to be doubted that they speak
of several days of judgment, and hours of judgment also. It was
the. day of judgment to the old world when its destruction came
upon it. It was Sodom's day of judgment when it was destroyed
by fire from heaven. Peter evidently speaks of the time of the
latter visitation under this appellation, for he adduces the facts
of Lot's deliverance, and the overthrow of the Sodomites, as
an evidence, " that the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judg
ment to be punished." (2 Pet. ii. 9.) And the same writer
speaks of a day of judgment which was at hand when he sent his
epistles to the churches : " for," he saith, " the time is come that
judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at
us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of
God." (1 P8t. iv. 17.) Even Dr. Clarke admits this as referring
lo the retributions then impending over the Jewish people.
And now, my hearers, notice well the following passage, which
identifies the time of the judgment with that of the introduction
of Christianity. " And I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
to him, for the hour of his judgment is come : and worship him
who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
waters." (Rev. xiv. 6, 7.)
My friend's indirect proofs of a general judgment require, I
think, but a glance, in order to their turning out no proofs at all.
The first of them is a threat against such cities as should refuse
lo receive the apostles of Christ." " It shall be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment than for thai
city." Is it not too manifest for argument, that nothing more 19
here meant than that in the time of visitation, it should go harder
with that city than it had with Sodom and Gomorrah ? The

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. v. 203
latter were destroyed at once; whereas the destruction of the
foriner should be protracted and complicated : it should be be
sieged, its supplies of food and water cut off; famine and pesti
lence should stalk within its walls, and an unsparing foe should
direct against it the missiles of destruction from wilhout. The
next passage contains a denunciation against Chorazin, Bethsaida,
and Capernaum ; which places had been eminently the theatres of
his teaching and miracles. They are threatened with a severer
fate than had overtaken Tyre and Sidon : the period at which this
fate should come upon them is termed " Ihe day of judgment."
It must be evident that this judgment was temporal, from the fact
of its being compared with that which had befallen other cities ;
but the punishment of the places which had received, without
accepting, the offers of the gospel, was to be greater than that of
the others, because of their having sinned against greater light :
but still we are not to suppose that Christ brought into comparison
things between which there could be no proportion, and, therefore,
as the lesser judgment was temporal, so also should the greater
be. The only indirect proof yet remaining is Jude, 6. 1 confess I
am not clear as to its meaning, but still I am even vfith my oppo
nent in this respect, for he can know no more about it than I do.
Il is usually assumed that the angels here mentioned are spiritual
beings — that the habitations they left were seats, or mansions, in
heaven; and that " the judgment of the great day" means the
event contended for in the affirmative of this argument. These
airy assumptions have, in human creeds, assumed the form and
substantiality of fa'cts ! Such occasional obscurities are fortu
nate God-sends for the popular theology, they serve it as retreat
ing places from the rapidly spreading light of true biblical phi
losophy. Before passing on to my opponent's direct proof s, I will briefly
notice the argument founded on the definite prefix, the, (instead
of the indefinite, a,) as connected with this subject. Unfortu
nately for this argument, it has no foundation in the original
Greek: hemera kriseos, — without the article, and consequently,
" a day of judgment," this is almost uniformly the form
of the phrase, and this materially alters the face of the ar
gument. And even were the form of the phrase as my oppp-

204 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
nent represents it, should we then be justified in assuming, that
the scriptures recognise but one day of judgment? we might,
indeed, if there were not numerous testimonies to the contrary;
but to do so in the face of these would seem to imply a strange
indifference to bible authority. Every day is, in some sense, a
day of judgment, for all God's ways are said to be judgment.
(Dan. iv. 37.) He "is known by the judgment he executeth."
(Psl. viii. 16.) " Every morning doth he bring his judgment to
light." (Zeph. iii. 5.) But times of signal retribution upon a
particular place or people, are more especially designated as days
of judgment, of vengeance, or of recompense : and these are
often alluded to in such strong phraseology, that the inattentive
reader might easily be led to think that they belonged to the
concerns of eternity. See the following, with regard to the de
struction of'Idumea. " And all the host of heaven shall be dis
solved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll :
and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf faileth off from
the vine, and as a falling Jig from the fig-tree. For my sword
shall be bathed in heaven ; behold, it shall come down upon
I'lumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment." (Isaiah
sxxiv. 4, 5.) " For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and
the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the
streams thereof shall be lurned into burning pitch, and Ihe dust
thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning
pitch : It shall not be quenched night nor day ; the smoke
thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it
shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for everand ever."
(ib. 8—10.)
Let us now attend to the texts which are considered as direct
proofs of a future general judgment : the first is Acts xvii. 30,31.
If I have any knowledge of language this passage affords a
refutation of the doctrine it is brought forward _to support. It
informs us that God connived at the idolatry of former times.
because of the ignorance of the people; "but now," says the
apostle, " he calls on all men every where to repent." Why I
" Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the
world," &c. Now here a .question arises, Are all men, of all
ages, to be judged at that appointed day ? If so, I again ask
why were not rnen callec| on in former times to repent as well

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 205
£8 now ? And, moreover, how can it be said that God winked
at former wickedness, if it be true that he purposes bringing it to
the scrutiny of his bar ? It is most manifest that ihe apostle spake
of a judgment in which the people of former times had no con
cern ; and, therefore, not a future general judgment, for in that it
is supposed, all will be concerned alike ! To me the apostle's
meaning is clearly as follows : " In past times, when Jehovah
made no express manifestations of himself to the heathen nations,
their idolatry was excused, or overlooked, but now, a dispensation
of superior glory being opened — its light and privileges being
extended to all — all are now called upon to reform their conduct :
for God hath appointed in this latter day to judge the world, by
the strict and righteous principles of the gospel of his son ; and
he hath given assurance of this fact — he has set the seal of his
direct sanction to his son's doctrines, by raising him from the
dead." Such, upon the face of the passage, seems its true mean
ing, and the following considerations go irrefutably to confirm it.
1st. As has been shown before, the gospel dispensation is em
phatically termed, " ihe time cf God's judgment." 2nd. Christ
expressly declares that he will not personally judge men, but " the
words that I have spoken," saith he, "the same shall judge him
in the last day :" (John xii. 48.) i. e., the gospel day, or era.
3rd. We have testimony direct both as to the time and the ptace
of this judgment, both of which are in accordance with the above
view. " Now is the judgment of this world." (John ix. 30.)
" He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment
in the earth : and the isles shall wait for his law." (Isaiah xiii. 4.)
" But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kind
ness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth : for in these things
I delight, saith the Lord." (Jer. ix. 24.) " Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth." (Jer. xxiii. 5.) Thus much for
my opponent's first direct proof of a general judgment after death:
it is precisely the text that I should select for a contrary purpose.
His next is in 2 Pet. iii. : this seems, prima facie, to lend more
countenance to his position, and without doubt this seeming
is ereatlv strengthened by our edncitional bias: but never mind,
S

206 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
with candid scrutiny for. our guide we shall get at the writer'g
meaning I trust. Did the writer mean that the natural elements
— (ire, air, water &c, should " melt with fervent heat " ? ! What
meant he by telling those to whom he wrote that they looked for
these things ? and also, by exhorting them to maintain a strict
watch in reference to them? Do not these circumstances seem to
imply that they were near at hand ? Now that the 13th verse figu
ratively represents the gospel state, no attentive student of tho
bible will question. " Nevertheless we, according to his prom
ise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." (2 Pet. ii. 13.) With this compare the following
in Isaiah : " For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth :
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create : for.
behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And
I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people : and the voice
of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
There shall be no more thence an infant of lays, nor an old man
that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred
years old ; but the sinner, being a hundred years old, shall be
accursed- And they shall build houses, and inhabit them ,- and
they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." &c. (Isaiah
Ixv. 17 — 20.) This cannot belong to eternity, for it is presumed
people will not there build houses, nor plant vineyards, nor die
even in their hundredth year. John, in Revelation, describes the
same state of things. " And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth ; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ;
and there was no more sja. And I John saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of
heaven, saying Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and
he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God
himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain : for the former things are passed away. And he that sat
upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he
said unto me, Write : for these words are true and faithful."
(Rev. xxi. 1 — 5.) Observe. This New Jerusalem is not with

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 207
God in heayen, but it cometh down from God, out of heaven.
The destruction of the Jewish state is several times alluded to in
the scriptures under the figure of a dissolution of the physical
universe. See a prediction to this effect in Haggai. " For" thus
saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, il is a little while, and I will
shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.-
And I wili shake ill nations, and the Desire of all nations shall
come : and I wili fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of
hosts." (Hag. ii. 6, 7.) By universal consent of commentators,
this alludes to a dissolution of the Mosaic institution, and the
bringing in that of the gospel. Paul evidently so understood it.
" Whose voice then shook the earth : but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those
things that are shaken, as of tilings that are made, that those
things which cannot be shaken may remain. W"herefore, we
receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,
whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear." (Heb. xii. 26 — 28.) From the whole, then, it must be
apparent to all my attentive hearers, that Peter is speaking of no
other judgment than that which was to accompany the dissolution
of the old covenant, and the ushering in of the new . his lan
guage and imagery are exceedingly bold, it is true, and so, indeed,
they well might be, for the events themselves were to be stupen
dous beyond what had ever before been witnessed.
Should il be objected, that, inasmuch as there is an allusion in
the connexion to the destruction of the old world by water, and it
look place literaiiy, therefore we ought also to understand the pre
dicted destruction by fire in a similar sense. I answer, that in
point of fact the old world was not, itself, destroyed by the
deluge: the inhabitants only were destroyed — and not all of
them, for Noah and his family were saved, and the writer himself
saith " the same world is kept in store, reserved unto fire," &c. :
that a literal destruction of the " ungodly men," referred to in the
text, took placo when the old system was abolished, is not denied.
The next proof of a judgment after death, is in 2 Thessaloni-
ans, i. Here we have the coming of Christ — with his mighty
angels — taking vengeance on the rejectors of the gospel, &c. :
were not these matters, in the foregoing debate, clearly proven to

208 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
have taken place when the dissolution of the Jewish state, above
alluded to, transpired ? Was there to be more than one such
coming of Christ ? If so, as they are all similarly described, how
shall we distinguish between them ?
A careful analysis of this text, with the context, presents the
following as its chief subject-matters, viz. : The apostle writes
to comfort the Thessalonian christians under their persecutions —
he asserts the righteousness of God in recompensing tribulation
upon those that troubled them — he promises them rest from these
afflictions when the Lord Jesus should be revealed, to take ven
geance on the persecutors and rejectors of his gospel — this ven
geance is termed " everlasting destruction from the presence of
Ihe Lord, and from the glory of his power." In the next chapter
the apostle terms the time of these transactions " that day ;" and
he cautions them against being deceived by reports that it had
already arrived, for it should not occur until " a falling away"
had taken place; (alluding, no doubt, to some signal apostacy,)
and the " man of sin" had been revealed, whom the Lord should
" consume with the brightness of his coming." This very cau
tion implies that the coming of Christ alluded to was not distant,
although less near than some would have had them think ; they
would not, methinks, have been likely to be deceived with expecta
tions of an immediate coming of Christ to judgment, if they had
not been taught that it should happen at no great distance of time.
" But then," it may be objected, " this epistle was written lo a
gentile -church, and said church was situated in a gentile city ;
how then could the overthrow of the Jewish state concern them ?"
Thessalonica, it is true, was a gentile city ; bu* the number of
Jews which were there seems to have been considerable, and quite
influential also, (see Acts xvii.) and extremely active in their
opposition to the gospel. " Now, when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was
a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them, and three sabbath-days reasoned with them out of
the scriptures ; opening and alleging that Christ must needs have
suffered, and risen again from the dead ; and that this Jesus,
whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed,
and consorted with Paul and Silas ; and of the devout Greeks a
great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But Ihe

POPULAR DEBATE, «C V. 209
Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them cer
tain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and
set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,
and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they
found them not, they drew Jason and certain of the brethren unto
the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world
upside down are come hither also." (Acts xvii. 1 — 6.) I cannot
doubt that it is to these the apostle refers in his letter to the .
cnristian church in this place, when he says, " it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you :" for such was the rancorous enmity of these Thessalonian
Jews to the cause of Christ, (and indeed of the Jews in general,)
that they followed the apostles with persecutions even to other
and distant places : see what is said of their conduct at Berea.
" But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the
word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither
also, and stirred up the people." (ib. 13.) Similar notices of the
opposition of this bigoted people to the apostles appear in several
places in the book of Acts : see the following, for example,
which relates to Antioch. " And the next sabbath-day came
almost all the whole eitv together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy,
and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, con
tradicting and blaspheming." (Acts xiii. 44, 45.) "And the word
of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the
Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief
men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barna
bas, and expelled them out of their coasts." (ib. 49, 50.)
"But what,'' it mav again be asked, "are we to understand
by a ' destruction from tne presence of the Lord ?' " &c. Liter
ally, the presence of God is every where : " Whilher shall I
go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my
bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold
me. If I say, Surelv the darkness shall cover me ; even the
night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee ; but the nignt shineth as the day : the darkness and
s2

810 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the light are both alike to thee." (Psl. cxxxix. 7 — 12.) There
can be no getting out of God's presence, then, literally : this
must necessarily be understood in some qualified sense, and that
sense may well be supposed, a banishment from such place or
places as Jehovah was supposed specially to manifest himself in.
I need not inform my hearers that the land of Judea was thought
by the Jews to be such a place ; more especially Jerusalem, and
more especially still the temple there: To it, in their banishments,
they turned their faces when they prayed. — There shone the
shekinah, the representative of the divine presence — there was
the holy of holies, where Jehovah was supposed to dwell between
the cherubim. Jonah expressly identifies the temple as the
place of God's presence: "Then I said, I am cast out of thy
sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple." (Jonah
ii. 4.) So says David, repeatedly, (Psl. xcv. 2: v.. 2.) The
fact of Jerusalem being regarded in that light is still more plainly
evinced in the following passage, which commemorates the for
bearance of God toward the Jews, in not exiling them from their
eountry : " And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had com
passion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his
covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy
them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet." (2 Kings
xiii. 23.) The following is also to the same effect : " For through
the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah,
until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah re
belled against the king of Babylon." (ibid. xxiv. 20.) Now if
even the Jews were sojourning in foreign lands, yet, as they
were in the habit of going to Jerusalem at the times of their
great feasts and religious festivals, they might with equal pro
priety all be said to have been driven from God's presence, when
their beloved city and temple were consumed with flames — their
civil and ecclesiastical privileges taken from them, and they,
scattered as a conquered and captive people amongst the different
nations of the Roman empire.
" But the punishment is termed everlasting, and this," it may
be said, "signifies duration without end." On this feature of the
case I shall not at present devote much time, as I design by and by
to consider the scriptural uses of these words at large. One only
view of the subject will I here take, which, however, I think

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 211
ought of itself be sufficient. If the word everlasting, as used in
the scriptures, strictly, and generally, mean endless duration, we
then have two communications, resting equally on divine authori
ty, which are in direct, and irreeoncilable contradiction to each
other. The one of these is an absolute promise that the Israelites
should hold the land of Canaan by an everlasting possession.
(Gen. xlviii. 4.) The other is that they should be exiled from
their country, and scattered amongst all the nations of the earth.
I need not quote authority for the latter, as it occurs in several
places, and long since is so strikingly confirmed by fact. If the
everlasting banishment of the Jews from their country were now
brought to a close, it would even then have proved of as long
duration as did the everlasting possession; but the former may
still continue as long in the future, for aught that appears to the
contrary, as it already has in the past.
Let us now to the passage in Heb. ix, in which it is thought
the doctrine of a judgmen' after death is directly asserted.
Surely no text has been more trifled with, or more wrested from
its purpose, than this : in order to make it speak a sense which
it was never meant to speak, it is a usual practice of our opponets
to mutulate it at both ends ; from the beginning are clipped the
words, " And as," which agreeably to the laws of grammar,
connect it inseparably with what goes before : and at the end is
unceremoniously lopped off all that follows the word "judgment ;"
whereas the adverbial conjunction, " so," by the same laws, in-
dissolubly joins it to what comes after! By thus mincing the
passage, our opponents have brought it into tolerable subserviency
to the notion of a post mortem judgment. Correctly quoted it reads
as follows: " And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but
after this the judgment; So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many : and unto them that look for him shall he appear
tue second time, without sin unto salvation." (Heb. ix. 27, 28.)
Who, that reads the whole connexion, can suppose the writer
had any allusion to the death and judgment of men in common ?
Understood in such light it is as whimsical and vagrant an episode
to the subject in hand, as was ever perpetrated by a writer in
sober prose ! It is a link of sand in a chain of gold !
Truth is, that Paul (or whoever is the author of this epistle) is
speaking of a particular class of men, and not of men in general ;

812 PRO AND CON OF NIVERSALISM.
this is confirmed by the Greek reading of the text. " And as it is
appointed unto the men (rut a.v&puorm) once to die," &c. Those,
namely, with whom he is conlrasting Jesus Christ in his priestly
capacity — the Jewish high-priests. It is quite impossible for any
one who candidly attends to the connexion to deny this. But I may
be asked, " In what peculiar sense did these men die? and what
are we to understand of the judgment which followed ?" Fair
questions these, and they shall be fairly answered.
Paul, as I have said, is running a parallel between the Levitical
priesthood and that of Jesus Christ; the former did not continue
long in one person " by reason of death," but Christ continueth
forever, and therefore " hath an unchangeable priesthood :" the
saviour " needeth not daily as thoFe high-priests to offer up sacri
fices," for this, ("when he offers I up himself,") he did once,
forever: the Levitical priests went "into the holy places made
with hands," but Christ " into heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God for us:" the former entered " with the blood
of others, but Christ with his own blood ;" the annual death of
the former was but typical, not actual ; the one sacrificial death
of Christ was real, and personal. When the Jewish high-priest
came, out from the holy of holies, (having died, in the manner
stated, "for his own sins, and for the sins of the people,") he
pronounced a judgment upon the congregation who waited with
ou.t the tabernacle for his re-appearance ; this was a sentence of
acquittal of their errors of the past year ; it was in the following
words : " The Lord bless thee, and keep thee The Lord make
his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee ; The Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." (Num.
vi. 24 — 27.) The author of the epistle to the Hebrews has most
ingeniously accommodated this circumstance in the usages of
Jewish worship to illustrate certain facts under the gospel : as,
for example, the Levitical high-priest was seen after his ceremo
nial death by the congregation; looking for him, to their joy, and
justification from the sins of the past year. So Christ, though
dead, shall appear in ihe hearts of all believers unto their salva
tion — salvation, not from the condemnation for sin merely, but
from sin itself.
So much for this passage, so strongly relied upon by many in
proof of post-mortem judgment. I put it to your candor and good

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 213
sense, my hearers, if it can be properly considered as being at all
to that purpose ? That cause must be sadly put to it for authori
ties which resorts to one so really foreign to its object, as is the
text before us to the object of the doctrine of a general judgment
after death. It is any thing but probable that a short isolated
declaration, about men in general being judged after they died,
should have been thrown into the midst of a chain of argumenta
tion, which had for its object the exemplifying the superiority of
the christian over the Jewish priesthood ! And besides, if we
even lose sight of this absurdity, and admit the clause to refer to
a general judgment after death, then tell me pray, what analogy
can be found betwixt that circumstance, and the sacrificial offer
ing and subsequent appearance of Christ to believers ? Can you
discover any, whatever ? If none, then that circumstance cannot
be the one intended by the writer in the text, but some other with
which Christ's death and subsequeut appearance will compare ;
and 1 have already shown what that is.
Well, my opponent has given us two other texts — one in Daniel
vii, the other in Revelation xx : he confesses them somewhat
obscure and enigmatical, and he therefore leans not on them with
much reliance ; we will glance at them nevertheless, for if they
will not serve to prove the position of our friend, they may to
refute it.
As to the one in Daniel, it wholly relates to what should take
place in the days of the fourth kingdom — which, as all good
critics unite in saying, is the Roman empire. These kingdoms
were first shadowed forth to the mind of Nebuchadnezzar in a
dream, under the representation of a large image of a human
figure; the head thereof, being of gold, symbolized the Assyrian
empire ; the breast and arms of silver, symbolized the Medo-
Persian (which subverted the Assyrian ;) the belly and thighs
of brass, represented the Macedonian (which subverted the Medo-
Persian ;) the legs and feet of iron and clay, shadowed forth the
Roman power (which subverted the Macedonian ;) the ten toes
of the image represented the ten kingdoms of which the Roman
power was composed. " And in the days of these kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be de
stroyed : and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but
it shall break in pieces and consume all th'jse kingdoms, and it

214 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone
was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in
in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold ;
the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to
pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure." This last represents the kingdom of Christ,
which, it. is well known, arose in the midst of, and completely
superceded the Roman power. Bishop Newton (with whom in
the main agrees Sir Isaac Newton) speaketh as follows in his
dissertations on the prophecies : " All these kingdoms will be
succeeded by the kingdom of the Messiah. ' I beheld,' saith
Daniel, ver. 9, 10. ' till the thrones were cast down,' or rather ' till
thrones were set, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment
was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool :
his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels/as burning fire.
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him : thousand
thousands ministered unto him : and ten thousand times ten
thousand stood before him: the judgment was set,' or the judges
did sit, 'and the books were opened.' These metaphors and
figures are borrowed from the solemnities of earthly judicatories,
and particularly of the great Sanhedrim of the Jews, where the
father of the consistory sat, with his assessors • seated on each
side of him, in the form of a semicircle, and the people standing
before him : and from this description again was borrowed the
description of the day of judgment in the New Testament."
Daniel afterward had the same great events presented to his
mind in a vision of a different kind : instead of an image of a
human figure he saw four beasts ; the 1st like a lion, representing
the Babylonian power : the 2nd like a bear, standing for the Me-
do-Persian: the 3rd like a leopard, by which is symbolized the
Macedonian ; and 4thly comes the Roman empire, represented by
a beast of great power and ferocity, which has no prototype in
nature : it had ten horns, representing the ten integral parts of
this great kingdom. The prophet then in a very sublime manner
alludes to the institution of the empire of Christ, (in the very
midst of the Roman power, and at the time of the zenith of its
glory.) "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the
Ancient of days did sit,' &c. He then speaks of a little horn
springing up in the midst of the ten, which, from the description,

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 215
is undoubtedly some grand apostate from, and persecutor of the
cnurch ; without doubt it is the same as is alluded to by Paul,
under the appellative of the " man of sin," whom the Lord should
consume with the brightness of his coming. " I beheld, and the
same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against thern ;
until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the
saints of the Most High ; and the time came that the saints pos
sessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the
lourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all king
doms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down,
and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom
are ten kings that shall arise : and another shall rise after them ;
and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three
kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to
change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand,
until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judg
ment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume
and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion,
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall
be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve
aud obey him." (Dan. vii. 21—27.)
On the passage in Rev. xx. it cannot be necessary to say much,
it is evidently parallel with the above fn Daniel, whence also ils
representations are borrowed : it shadows forth the universal
reign and judicial authority of Christ Messiah : in those days the
regal and judicial functions of government were invariably united ;
hence in scripture phraseology, to judge, always imports the same
as to govern .- when it is said that such and such persons judged
Israel at particular times, we are to understand that these per
sons exercised the supreme rule ; when it is said also that " the
Lord shall judge his people," we may understand it precisely as
f it read, the Lord shall govern his people. In accordance wilh
ihis usage the moral government of Messiah during the gospel era
is set forth under the representation of a judgment, or trial in
judicial form. Christ told his disciples they should sit with him
on thrones, "judging the twelve tribes of Israel :" in other words,
that as his instruments they should assist in the moral govern

216 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
mem of his church or kingdom : " to stand at the judgment-
seat of Christ," then, is to be amenable lo him as , ur moral
governor etc., etc. Il is most marvplous that erudite expositors
of the bible, seeing that these matters were not unknown to them,
should have suffered themselves to be so warped by preju
dice as lo charge it with teaching the heathenish dogma, that
Jehovah has need lo arraign the spirits of dead men at his tri
bunal, in order that he may form a decision upon their actions
while in the body ! That the heathen nations should have gener
ally adopted this persuasion is less wonderful, seeing thai all
their notions of their divinities were gross, and grew out of
usages amongst themselves. The Jews deemed betler of theii
God — more philosophically — an all-seeing — all-pervading spirit —
all just, and pure, and good — whose tribunal is in the bosom of
every thinking Being: what needs he of an external bar? — Of
books, and witnesses, and other of the forms and ceremonials of
trial ? The Jewish scriptures sanction no such puerile represen
tations of the infinite Jehovah. Shame to christians, that they
have copied the crude conceptions of heathenism !
The book of Revelation abounds with prosopopoeia, or personi
fication. Sin, death, hell, the devil, antichrist, heresies of differ
ent kinds, are all personified : and to such length is the figure
carried that they are even in some cases represented as suffering :
hence we find mention of a lake of fire and brimstone, " where
the beast and the false prophet are :" (these represent a spirit
of apostacy and a spirit of persecution.) And hence also we find
mention of the casting of death and hell into the lake of fire; also
the cases of those who had suffered martyrdom in the cause of
Christ, are represented under the figure of the souls of these per
sons, which are set forth as crying out for vengeance upon their
persecutors. This latter circumstance was seized upon by my op
ponent, who, understanding it in the literal sense, supposes that
saints in heaven are actually impatient for the day of judgment,
that they may be avenged in the endless damnation of their
oppressors! Merciful God, what saints are these! if such is
the character of the inhabitants of heaven, demons of darkness
were preferable society to them. This portion of Scripture, as
has been before shown, revealed things which were shortly to
come to pass — the trials and sufferings of the infant Christian

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 217
church — the judgments which should be executed upon its oppo-
sers and corruptors — particularly those impending over the Jewish
church and nation, are the prominent subjects of the book. These
judgments are sometimes expressed under the phrase "second
death ;" a death which some have persisted in representing as in
terminable, in the face of the declarations that death is to be de
stroyed — be no more — be swallowed up in victory — and that in
its extinction the last enemy shall be extinguished ! Undoubt
edly the several passages in this book which speak of these
events, are to be understood as implying that under the be
nign government of Messiah, all evils, both physical and
moral, shall come to an ultimate end ; no more tears — no more
night — no more death — no more sin — no more sickness, nor sor
row, " for the former things shall be done away" — no farther
need of sun, nor moon, for the quenchless and unsetting glory of
lehovah shall be the future light of all intelligences forever
"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels roundabout
the throne, and the beasts, and the elders : and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands ; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which
is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing,
and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (Rev. v. 11 — 13.)
What now remains in proof of a judgment after death ? I truly
know of nothing, either on scriptural or philosophical ground ;
my opponent, it is true, supposes that Christ's question relative to
the advantage to be derived from gaining all the world, and losing
one's soul, has a bearing in favor of that doctrine, "especially,"
quoth he, " as this question was propounded in immediate con
nexion with the account of his coming to reward men according
to their works." It was so, I grant; but then what is said in the
same instance as to the time of said coming ? It was to take
place in the life-time of some that heard him speak; and conse
quently, instead of favoring my friend's position, it makes against
it — for if God rewards men according to their works in this world,
he certainly does not defer that business until the end of -time.
T

218 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
A judgment eighteen hundred years ago, is rather too-far back,
I fancy, for the purpose of my opponent. Moreover, ihe word
soul, in the passage under consideration, should have been life —
even the orthodox Dr. Clarke admits this, and expresses his
astonishment at the translator's having rendered it as it now stands.
To the mere English scholar it is manifest, from the grammatical
connexion of the passage, that it was the life of which Christ was
speaking, not the soul; and it is indeed quite surprising that the
«ame Greek term should have been twice rendered life in one
terse, and twice soul in the verse next following, and yet an un
broken connexion (both in language and subject) uniting the two
verses! "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow me. For whosoever will save his psuche shall lose it; and
whosoever will lose his psuche for my sake, shall find it. For what
s a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his
own psuche? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his
psuche?" (Matt. xvi. 24 — 26.) When the rules of interpretation
are thus grossly violated, one cannot help suspecting lhat truth
has been purposely sacrificed to the interests of a creed. To per
versions of this kind the popular dogmas in theology are mostly
indebted for the scriptural countenance they claim. The dangers
of losing the soul ! How many a thrilling and terrifying peal has
been rung upon this theme ! And men in their ignorance have
not doubted that their aroused alarm on this head had good bible
warrant.* I cannot be persuaded, my hearers, that the doctrine of a judg
ment after death has been productive of any benefit to mankind ;
whatever tends to encourage the impression that the retributions of
guilt are distant — and uncertain as distant — must necessarily be
pernicious in its influences ; and without doubt, the common no
tion of a general judgment has this tendency. We have inspired
testimony to this effect. " Because sentence against an evil work
is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men
? "What shall sing Ihe dirge of a soul that is lost?" exclaimed the late eloquent
and amiable Summerfield. " What celebrate lite obsequies of an entombed spirit!
If Uie sun should hide his face behind a darkening gust— if ihe stars should fall from
leaven— if the heavens were veiled in sack-clolh— if earth were convulsed through
out her whole circumference, and from mountain-ltip to mountain-top burst forth ihe
(fell of horror and desolation ; all would not be adequate to express the event of a
oflt aild damved soul 1" Very eloquenl this, it is true ; but eloquence often lendl
1m gorgeoua coloring to paint Ihe face of error.

POPULAR DEBATE, NO. V. 219
ts fully set in them to do evil." (Eccles. viii. 11.) Still the
writer of this text did not suppose that punishment was deferred
until after death ; on the contrary, he positively asserts that tho
days of the wicked shall not be prolonged ; but the mere circum
stance of a delay in the execution of punishment he saw to be of
injurious consequence on the hearts of men. How much more so,
to tell them that they may possibly escape with entire impunity,
how guilty soever they might be? And what must men think of
the wisdom and goodness of Jehovah, as our moral governor, if
he does indeed deal with us upon principles which himself has
declared pernicious ? It is nowise probable that in the above
passage there is allusion to a tardiness in the retributions of hea
ven ; I think that the reference is to human punishments, which
are often delayed, (and even omitted altogether,) and men are apt
to be emboldened to repeat their transgressions by this delay and
uncertainty. In Solomon's time, nothing was known of a judg
ment after death ; it was a settled point with the people of
that day, that sooner or later the judgments of heaven overtook
the guilty in life; although then, as now, they were apt to be de
ceived into false conclusions, from the external appearances of
prosperity on the part of wicked men, and from the fact that
" there be just men unto whom it happeneth, according to the
work of the wicked ;" as if the operations of nature, and the con
tingent events of life must each moment be interfered with, and
shaped to suit the ever-changing moral conditions of mankind !
Christ himself has told us, that " God causeth his sun to rise on
the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain upon the just and
the unjust." But these cinumstances do not conflict with the
express testimony of the scri| tures on the other hand. " Behold,
the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth ; much more the
wicked and the sinner." (Prov . xi. 31.)
The sum of my argument, then, is as follows : 1st. That there is
no express nor fairly implied scripture warrant for a general judg
ment after death. 2d. That on the contrary, all the texts which
speak of a judgment, or of judgments in particular, are clearly,
(so far as they can be understood,) applicable to time, not lo
eternity. 3d. Both God the Father, and Christ the Messiah, are
expressly and repeatedl / represented as exercising the judi
cial branch of their moi-d government in the earth 4th. The

820 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
bible (as well as civil history, ^ounds with instances of divine
judgment upon the guilty, both ,. ':,"idua]s and communities.
5th. Hence I infer that, except the rights ludge of all the earth
tries and punishes the same parties twice for me one cause, that a
judgment after death is unnecessary. 6th. It were a mockery also,
for the cases to be tried are clearly known to the infinite and om
niscient arbiter, in their origin, and consequences, direct and re
mote ; in his mind, therefore, they are prejudged. How vain, then,
arid absurd, were the forms of trial under such circumstances!
Finally, if a general judgment, in any form, shall take place after
Jiis life, it does not follow that punishment (much less endless
punishment) must necessarily be any part of its consequences.
It were far more probable — far more in agreement with what is
disclosed to us in nature and revelation of the boundlessness of
the divine mercy — that the object of such judgment will be to
bring the purity and grace of God into greater contrast to our per
ceptions, with our wickedness and ingratitude ; and thus, whilst at
the same time that we shall obtain the deeper conviction of our un-
worthiness, we shall also be the more constrained to adore that
almighty love wWjIi shall consent to " cast our sins into the
depths of the sea." (Mic. vii. 19.) We are not without ample
bible warrant for this idea of a general judgment and its objects.
See amongst other instances to this point the following: "And
not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences
unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by
one ; much more they which recei e abundance of grace, and of
the gift of righteousness, shall reifii in life by one, Jesus Christ :
Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one ihe free gift
came upon all men unto justifica ion of life. For as by one man's
disobr-dience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered,
,nat the offence might abound : but where sin abounded, grace did
m--h more abound ; that as sin had re>gned unto death, even so
might grace reign through righteousne-ss unto eternal life, by Je
sus Christ our Lord. (Rom. v. 16 — ' I.)
I have before observed, that the ve b to judge, is most usually
employed ir. the scriptures to expret the same thing as the verb

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 221
to govern. Christ is considered as the King of the New Testa
ment state, or gospel kingdom; and as such he is represented as
exercising the judicial functions of government. His judgment
shall last while his reign lasts, and he shall only " reign until he
hath put all enemies under his feet;" "then shall the Son also
himself be subject unto him that halh put all things under him,
that God may be all in all." Now it is most strange, on the part
of our opponents, that they make the exercise of his judicial au
thority to begin just where the scriptures make his regal authority
to end ! And notwithstanding the plain and repeated declarations
of the bible, that he "shall execute judgment, and justice in the
earth," they will have it that he judges men for their good and evil
actions, not in time, but in eternity.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED

OBJECTION I
There are two texts of scripture which speak expressly of
punishment after death — yea, more, after the resurrection ! How
will universalism stand before these? The one is Daniel xii. 2.
" And many of them that sleep irt the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con
tempt." The other is St. John v. 28, 29. " Marvel not at 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 re
surrection of damnation." These passages are parallel in their
reference and signification. Universalists, I know, attempt to
give them a figurative application. But we ought ever to reject
figurative expositions of scripture, except expressly warranted by
the context, or except a passage be such in its nature as to ex
pressly require a departure from the rules of literal interpretation.
ANSWER.
II is granted that the above texts are parallel, but this very ad
mission is fatal to the objection ; for Christ has fixed the time of
t2

222

PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.

the event to which they refer, at the period of the overthrow of
the Jewish state, and so indeed has the prophet likewise; the en
tire 12th chapter of Daniel is occupied with predictions relative to
this subject. I allege this upon the highest pessible authority, viz.
that of Jesus Christ. See for proof, Matt. xxiv. 15 — 21. The
resurrection spoken of by Daniel 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," when God shonld "have
accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people" — when
" the daily sacrifice should be taken away, and the abomination
that maketh desolate set up." But when were these events to
happen? They were to happen when the Jewish dispensation
was to be brought to a close, and the gospel institution to be
set up on its ruins. The Savior's exposition of the prophet, in
Matt. xxiv. leaves us no ground for doubt on this head. Thus
inuch as regards the time of this resurrection, which, instead of
being at the end of the world, as our opponents think, is past, by
nearly eighteen centuries.
Now as to its nature, it were the height of absurdity to suppose
it literal, for several reasons. 1-st. We have no account in histo
ry, sacred or civil, of a literal rising of all men from their graves,
at the time of Jerusalem's overthrow, or at any other period.
2d. To understand it literally would involve consequences absurd
and contradictory. It would lead to the result that all mankind
will at the same time rise to life and to damnation! "They that
have done good to the resurrection of life." Is there a single hu
man being who has not done good ? " And they that have done
evil to the resurrection of damnation." Is there a human being
who has not done evil ? Take this passage in a strict sense, then,
and you have the monstrous conclusion that all shall arise to life —
and all shall arise to damnation! 3d. A literal rendering of these
texts would establish a doctrine at variance with that exhibited
by Paul in a set treatise on the resurrection. If men are to arise
from their graves in a morally corrupt and dishonored condition,
what meant he by saying of our body, "it is sown in corruption,
it is raised in incorruption — it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in
glory — it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power?" Say you
that he spake this of a part of mankind only ? No such thing,
sir ; on the contrary, he says, " IN CHRIST shall ALL be made

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 223
alive." (I Cor. xv.) If Paul believed that mankind would con
sist, in the resurrection, of two classes, moral opposites to each
other, here is the place where he would have said so ; but he es
tablishes the contrary, for it is utterly impossible to reconcile the
popular doctrine concerning the resurrection with the glorious
portraiture of that great event which the apostle has here given —
the last enemy vanquished — hades overthrown — all things sub
dued unto the Father — and God all in all.
But another reason, and sufficient of itself for understanding the
texts under consideration in a spiritual sense, is, that the immedi
ate connexion of the one in St. John imperiously calls for such
an acceptation. Christ, in a verse or two preceding, describes the
resurrection referred to as then beginning to take place. " Verily,
verily, 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." And through the chapter he speaks of life and con
demnation, as a then present consequence of embracing, and of re
jecting the gospel. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hear-
eth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed from
death unto life." See also the following verse to the same effect :
" For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them,
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." It is any thing but
reasonable to suppose that he should so rapidly pass from the
figurative to the literal on the same subject, without apprising his
hearers of his change of style. I may remark further, that lan
guage quite as strong as either of our texts can be produced, the
figurative meaning of which, nevertheless, is too obvious to be
denied ; see the following : " Then he said unto me, Son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our
bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts.
Therefore, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to
come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Isreal.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your
graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live; and I shall
place you in your own land : then shall ye know that I the Lord
have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." (Ezekiel

224 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
xxxvii. 11 — 14.) In this place, the civil and moral degradation
of the Jews are set forth under the figure of their death, and the
perishing of the flesh from off their bones. Their moral and
civil restoration are exhibited under the figure of opening theii
graves and raising them to life. On the whole, then, it must, 1
think, be manifest to the enlightened reader, that the import of
the passages before us is, that Christ, by the word of his gospel,
and the ministry of his apostles, was about to call men forth from
the graves of superstition and ignorance, in which they had long
been buried — that as they came forth to the light of the truth, they
should experience justification, or condemnation, according as
their past actions had or had not been in accordance with its dic
tates, or according as their disposition was to receive or reject this
gospel. This important work had already begun in Christ's day,
but it was destined soon to take effect upon a much wider scale,
and, eventually, it shall be universal in its extent. This gospel
would affect the vicious subject of its awakening power, in like
manner as Paul had been affected by the law. It brought home
his sins to his conscience, and thereby slew him, or overthrew his
fancied security. (Rom. vii.) But the gosjel condemns the sin that
it may save the sinner.
Observe, now, what phraseology the apostles were accustomed
to employ: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dust,
and Christ shall give thee light." (Ephes. v. 14.) " You halh he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin." (Ephes. ii. 1.)
" If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are
above." (Col. iii. 1.) Indeed, the world was considered as dead,
and buried in sin and superstitious ignorance. Hence, the neces
sity of being regenerated, or made alive again, in order to admis
sion into the kingdom, or church of Christ. The word was cen-
sidered as having a regenerating, a revitalising influence; hence,
Paul tells tho Corinthians, " For in Christ Jesus I have begotten
you through the gospel." (I Cor. iv. 15.) It were needless, I
tbink, to attempt making the subject plainer; it were quite suffi
cient to insist, that Christ could not have meant to teach the doc
trine of a final doom upon ihe spirits of men after the resurrec
tion, for the reason that a calamity so terrible would infinitely
exceed in magnitude all the calamities together which have trans
pired since time began ; whereas, as I have elsewhere shown, the

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 225
Savior has himself declared, that as great a tribulation as that
attending Jerusalem's destruction had never before transpired
since the beginning of the creation, " NO, NOR EVER SHALL
BE." 
OBJECTION II.
" Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall
seek me,and shall die in your sins : whither I go, ye cannot come."
(St. John viii. 21.) It is to be considered in this objection, 1st.
That the party addressed should seek Christ, but nevertheless die
in their sins; which implies that they should not find the Savior.
2nd. They were to fail of ever getting to heaven, for thither
Christ went, and " whither I go," said he, " ye cannot come."
Each of these considerations, separately considered, seems suffi
cient to exclude them from hope ; but together they present a bar
rier to their salvation which appears insuperable.

It is admitted that thousands, yea, millions, fail of finding the
Savior in this life ; but this is conceived to be no reason why
they should to all eternity fail of salvation. The scriptures ac
quaint us with but one way of access to the Father, and that is
by Jesus Christ. The Savior positively declares there is no other.
We have every Teason for believing that ninety-nine hundredths
of mankind, including infants and the heathen, die without a
saving acquaintance with Christ; if on this ground, therefore, we
exclude any from hope forever, all must be so excluded for the
same reason ; consequently, this part of the objection, if it prove
any thing, proves too much. It does so for another reason. I
have shown, in a previous part of this work, that every intelligent
being is ultimately to. be made acquainted with Christ, and lo
acknowledge him also, " lo the glory of God the Father;" (Phil.
ii. 9 — 11.) which sufficiently proves that the opportunity for
becoming acquainted with the gospel is not limited to the term of
this life; and also, that if it were so limited, a very, very small
moiety of our race would be saved ; and the realms of hell would
be peopled by ninety-nine hundredths of mankind ! The main
strength of the objection, therefore, must depend on the clause
" whither I go ye cannot come." But before this can be admitted

226 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
as an argument in proof of the endless ruin of those to whom it
was addressed, a question or two must be settled. 1st. Did the
Savior refer to the realms of bliss when he said, whither I go
He may simply have alluded to his death, which would put him
beyond the reach of their power. 2nd. Granting that he alluded
to the realms of bliss, does it follow that because they could not
then follow him, they never should do so ? But what is most fatal
to the objection is, that Christ addressed the very same language
to his own apostles ! Are they, therefore, to fail forever of getting
lo heaven. " Little children, yet a little while I am with you.
Ye shall seek me : and as I said uuto the Jews, Whither I go, ye
cannot come; so now I say to you." (St. John xiii. 33.) You
perceive that he not merely addressed to his disciples the same
ianguage as is urged in the objection, but in the same sense ;
" and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come, so now
I say to you." Except, then, this language be considered as war
ranting the belief, that our Lord's own apostles shall be endlessly
damned, the objection before us has no weight.
Great use has been made of it, nevertheless ; and in order to
increase its terrifying power, it is very generally altered from its
true reading; the version of i't in most common use is as follows :
" If ye die in your sins, where God and Christ is ye never can
come." I doubt not that in tracts and religious almanacs it is
often to be found in this very form, but these with me have not
authority quite equivalent to the bible

OBJECTION III.
" Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy
Bhall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh
a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him : but
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be for
given him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
(Matt. xii. 31, 32.) Mark's version of this matter is still more
decisive against the Universalist faith ; it is even pretended that
Matthew's rather favors it than otherwise ; " for (say the advocates
of a future limited punishment) the very declaration that this par
ticular offence shall not be forgiven in the world to come, seems

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 227
naturally to imply that all other sins may ; and as for this,
although not pardoned in the present nor in the next world, (or
age, which is the more proper reading) it yet may be in a world
or age still subsequent, for the scriptures speak of a plurality of
scions (worlds or ages) to come." Now the text as it stands in
Mark cannot be evaded in this way — it there reads that the blas
phemer against the Holy Spirit "hath never forgiveness." Nor
is this all ; for if it were, it might still be pretended that nothing
was meant more than that the blasphemer shall be certainly pun
ished to the full amount, and after that he might be exempt as a
matter of right, not of pardon; in like manner as a criminal may
come out of prison on the expiration of his term, and the law can
have no further demands against him for that offence. But the
text in Mark bars this evasion also: it declares that the blasphe
mer against the Holy Spirit " is in danger of eternal damnation."
How now will this objection be met?
ANSWER.
Not very easily, reader, I grant, for you have presented it in
the most formidable shape possible ; it can be met, nevertheless,
and satisfactorily too, I trust. 1st. Drs. Campbell, Clarke, Mc-
Knight, and Lightfoot, though believers in endless misery, have
decided that the phrase, " neither in this world, neither in the
world to come," is not to be understood as referring to the present
and the future states of man ; but to the then present dispensa
tion, (the Mosaic) and that which was about to succeed it. (the
Christian.) The Methodist commentator is decidedly of opinion
that the punishment for this offence was to be of a temporal char
acter; and that in the declaration that it should not be forgiven,
Christ intended nothing more than to rank it with the highest
class of offences under the law, which were punished with death,
and for which nothing but death would atone. But there is no
evidence in either case, he thinks, that the punishment was to
extend to the soul of the offender in another life. None,, indeed,
(as he remarks) cculd commit this particular sin, save those who,
witnessing with their senses the performance of his miracles,
imputed them to demoniacal influence, 9.nd. As lo the phrase
" eternal damnation," it must be confessed a very strong — a too
strong rendering of the Greek text i it may bear it, indeed, but it

228 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
is not in keeping with the context. It is well known that the
word damnation comes from a term which is susceptible of vari
ous interpretations, and which actually is in other places rendered
sometimes judgment, sometimes condemnation ; these, it is true,
are strictly as strong in meaning as is the term damnation, but
they are not so considered in ordinary usage ; to the word damna
tion a terrible significance has been attached, which neither its
etymology nor scripture authority will justify. The term eternal,
too, comes from a Greek word of very equivocal signification ; it
sometimes means a limited, sometimes unlimited duration ; some
times a definite period, as the duration of human life; sometimes
an indefinite period, as during the continuance of an existing
state or order of things; in this last sense it is employed in the
passage before us — " neither in this seion, neither in the seion lo
come;" that is, neither in the Mosaic age, neither in the age of
the Messiah. It cannot here mean eternity, for it were nonsense
lo talk of a plurality of eternities ; hence, I have said that the ren
dering of the original here by the phrase eternal damnation, is too
strong, and not in keeping with the context; it might with more
propriety have been rendered, ihe condemnation of Ike age, a phrase
sufficiently awful in its meaning, when we come to know the
dreadful and complicated calamities which impended over the
heads of that wicked generation, and in these, those blaspheming
Jews, who imputed to demoniacal agency the works which Christ
performed by the Spirit of God, were doomed to experience their
full share.
Thus is this objection disposed of, without the least violence,
as I think, to either of the texts containing it. Many weak per
sons (as Dr. Clarke observes) are apt to be thrown into terror,
oftentimes despair, by the persuasion that they have committed
this unpardonable sin; and that, therefore, the irrevocable sen
tence of eternal damnation has gone forth against thern. How
much superfluous misery has been entailed upon mankind by false
views of God, and by false interpretations of scripture! And is
it not unaccountable, reader, that we should rest so contentedly in
views so contradictory, that whilst we admit the divine mercy to
be infinite, we nevertheless suppose there are cases of sin entirely
beyond its reach ' ! '

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 229
OBJECTION IV.
"The Son of man goeth as it is written of him : but woe unto
that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had been good
for that man if he had not been born." (Matt. xxvi. 24.) This
.« said respecting Judas, and it amounts to a strong argument
against Universalism, because, whatever might be the poignancy
of Judas' sufferings for this offence, or whatever its duration,
even though it extended to a thousand millions of ages, yet if it
eventually come to an end, and be succeeded by an eternity of
oliss, he will still be the gainer by his existence ; and the declara-
.ion, that it were good for him to have not been born, will not in
that case hold true. The probability against the ultimate salva
tion of Judas, is confirmed by the fact that Christ calls him "a
devil," (John vi. 70.) also by the fact that he came to his end by
self-destruction. "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the
temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." (Matt.
xxvii. 5.) Moreover, the rest of the apostles, in solemn supplica
tion, intimated his final fate in very significant language. " That
ne may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which
Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place."
,Acts i. 25.) And in addition to all this, Christ declares him to
oe lost, and he calls him "the son of perdition." " While I was
with them in the world, I kept them in thy name : those that thou
gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition ; that the scripture might be fulfilled." (John xvii. 12.)
All these circumstances together, it must be admitted, make out
a very strong probability against the ultimate salvation of Judas.
ANSWER.
They seem to do so, indeed, my friendly objector, as you have
.narshalled them. I think, nevertheless, that he may be extricated
from that disagreeable predicament without any unfair means.
1st. Be it known, that the declaration about it being good for him
not to have been born, was but a common proverbial expression
amongst the Jews upon all calamitous occasions. " And Job spake
and ^aid, Let the day perish wherein I was bom, and the night in
which it was said, There is a man child conceived." (Job iii. 2, 3.)
¦' Cursed be the day wherein I was born : let not the day wherein
mv mother bare me be blessed." (Jer. xx. 14.) "If a man bep-et
U

230 PRO ANU CON OF UN1EVRSAL1SM.
a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his
years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that
he have no burial ; I say, that an untimely birth is better than
he." (Eccles. vi. 3.) Dr. Clarke produces several instances from
Schoetgen to the same effect. I will give a few of these only.
'• Whoever considers these four things, it would have been bettei
for him had he never come into the world ; that which is above,
that which is below, that which is before, that which is behind ;
and whosoever does not attend to the honor of his creator, it were
better for him had he never been born." chagigah. " Whosoever
knows the law, and does not do it, it had been better for him had
he never come into the world." shemath rabea. " If any man be
parsimonious toward the poor, it had been belter for him had hr
never come into the world." " If any performs the law for tn..
sake of the law, it were good for that man had he never been cre
ated." sahar genes. The words in small capitals are the titles
of several Jewish writings. "These examples sufficiently prove
(I am quoting Dr. Clarke) that this was a common proverb, and
was used with a great variety and latitude of meaning." Christ,
however, does not say it were good for Judas NEVER to have
been born, but simply, if he had not been born; that is, we may
reasonably suppose, if he had not been born that particular per
son, or at that particular time, or to that particular end of betray
ing his master. If it were better for him NEVE U nave been
born, the goodness of his creator is seriously impeached in having
conferred an existence which he foresaw would prove an infinite
curse to ils possessor ! That Gcd, who " is good unto all," was
also good unto Judas, those tender mercies which " are over all
his works," must also have been over him; but this could by no
means have been the case if he was brought into being with the
foresight that he should eternally be the loser thereby.
But Christ calls Judas a devil, and this, you think, strengthens
the probability against his salvation. Your brain is probably myp-
tified in regard to this particular, by the supposition that by the
word devil, is meant an abandoned, fallen spirit of the infernal
pit; but, as I have elsewhere shown, this is an unauthorized defi
nition of the term. You believe in Peter's salvation, and him
the Savior calls Satan. (Matt. xvi. 23.) I see not why one devil
may not be saved as well as another.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 231
Again, Judas is called the son of perdition, and is said to be
lost. True, his treachery proved the cause of his temporal de
struction, or perdition, (for the terms are synonymous) and
the circumstances of his death appear to have been very io-no-
rninious and painful ; this fact would, according to the usages
of speech in those days, fully justify the Savior's calling him
the son of perdition. As to his being lost, there is no proof that
any thing more is meant, than that he was lost to Christ as an
apostle; the context clearly favors this inference; the Savior had
kept together all whom the Father had given him for disciples,
save that one. In this particular sense Judas was lost; to consider
him as lost in a mora! sense, however, would but be to include
him amongst those whom Christ came to seek and to save. And
it must be further remembered that nothing is to be so lost, as not
tu be recovered again "at the last day." (John vi. 39.)
" That he might go to his own place," and that place, oh, sapient
reader, you are pleased to think, was the infernal regions ! Ex
tremely modest it was, I must needs say, for the eleven apostles to
tell the almighty Jehovah, that the deep abodes of hell was the ap
propriate place for one of his intelligent offspring, and a former
companion of theirs ! If they had been certified that God had
created that place for Judas, and him for it, they might have
called it his "own place" with some propriety; but in the ab
sence of such assurance, it were a stretch of presumption amount
ing to blasphemy. It must be evident to the candid reader, that
the passage in our version needs a transposition, which will transfer
the applicability of the words in question from Judas to Mathias,
who succeeded him in the apostleship, " that he might go to his
own place, from which Judas by transgression fell."
It may well be doubted if Judas died by his own act ; the ori
ginal represents him as having strangled himself. There are other
modes of strangling besides hanging; and a man may strangle
himself otherwise than by a voluntary act; Judas may have suf-
focatpd with excessive grief, for his grief was excessive. The
account of his hanging does not consist with that which Peter
gives of his death — "and falling headlong he bust asunder in the
midst, and all his bowels gushed out." (Acts i. 18.) The law of
gravitation behooves to be subverted, before a person suspended
by the neck can fall headlong ! Dr. Lightfoot, however, jump*

232 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
over the philosophical difficulty in the case, by supposing that
the devil may have snatched Judas from the gallows and dashed
him to the ground. Ah, it is easy accounting for the greatest mar
vels where the devil is concerned. On the whole, there is really
nothing in the case of Judas which, on close examination, amounts
to an argument against universal salvation; nor is there any thing
which is not susceptible of an easy explication in agreement with
the fact of his eventual redemption.

OBJECTION V.
" Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John iii. 3.) " Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ?
Be not deceived : neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind ; nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortion
ers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. yi. 9, 10.) It
would really seem, in this last passage, that the great apostle had
the universalist heresy in his eye, and that he penned this lan
guage with the express intention of guarding the church to whom
he wrote against it. " Be not deceived ;" let none persuade you
that the good and the bad, with faith and without it, the man of
prayer and the blasphemer, are all to attain at last to celestial
blessedness ; no, no, I tell you that the righteous only shall in
herit the kingdom of God. ANSWER.
I have had several previous occasions to observe, in this work,
that the phrases, "kingdom of God," and "kingdom of heaven,"
are not to be confounded with the world of celestial bliss ; they are
never so used in the scriptures. I have given some proofs of this;
take a few more. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them, and
said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither
shall they say, Lo here ! or, lo there ! for, behold, the kingdom
of God is wilhin you." (Luke xvii. 20, 21.) " For the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness and peace, and
ioy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. xiv. 17.) " But "woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kiiiffdom of

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 233
heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ve them that are entering to go in." (Matt, xxiii. 13.) These
are but a specimen of very many proofs, that by the kingdom of
God, and of heaven, is meant, the gospel institution in the world ;
when it was about to be ushered in, men were told that the king
dom of heaven was at hand, &c. Now, it has long been the pre-
talent error with christians, in regard to this subject, that they
have confounded this kingdom with that of celestial glory beyond
the grave. Nicodemus was a Jew ; his habits, and modes of
hinking, his prejudices, were al] Jewish ; he was told that in order
to become a subject of the gospel institution, he " must be born
again," must undergo a moral renovation, must cease to act, and
think, and worship as a Jew, and begin anew to graduate in the
science of religion at the feet of Christ. An individual who has
had his birth and education, and spent a considerable part of his
life in a despotic country, must needs be born again ere he can
appreciate the blessings of a free government. A person in a
savage state is not prepared to be ushered at once into civilized
life; he must first be prepared for the transition by an education of
his mind, sentiments, and habits. So it is in regard to religion,
ere we can appreciate the blessings of the gospel kingdom, we
must obtain a mastery over our evil passions and appetites ; we
must cultivate and cherish those dispositions and tempers which
will assimilate us to Jesus Christ; we must cease to do evil and
learn to do well. Paul saith truly, that no murdeTer, fornicator,
ir the like, can inherit the kingdom of God ; this truth was new to
such as had been converted to the belief in Christ, from the various
heathen superstitions ; they had been accustomed to regard many
vices as not only consistent with religion, but as actual virtues.
I need not inform my intelligent readers that the very worship of
most of the pagan deities was often associated with acts of a most
vicious and repulsive nature. In reading the apostolic epistles,
we find they had much trouble to indoctrinate the early converts
into the knowledge of that pure and elevated system of faith and
morals, which constituted the religion of Christ, the kingdom of
God, or of heaven, into which nothing that is unclean, or unholy,
can enter; which is as chaste "as a bride adorned for her hus
band." We may easily comprehend, then, (wilhout supposing a
caution against universalism to De intended,) why Paul warned
u2

234 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the Corinthians against the delusive supposition, that the unright
eous could inherit the kingdom of God ; as though he had said,
" Be not deceived on this head, my brethren ; Christianity is quite
a different institution from those of which you were formerly the
subjects ; they allowed in you many things which are wicked ant!
abominable, but it requires in its subjects the utmost attainable
purity of thought, of conversation, of life ; and it utterly refuses lo
lend its countenance to any thing of a contrary nature."
But here arises a question. " Since such are the requirements
of Christ's kingdom on earth, can we reasonably expect that the
unrighteous will be admitted into that more glorious kingdom in
heaven ?" No. Neither can we reasonably expect that the utmost
holiness to which we can attain while we inherit flesh and blood,
will qualify us for admission there ; if divine grace must needa
effect a preparation in the worst of sinners for that blest abode, so
must it also in the best; let the christian who has the immodesty
to question this, learn to know himself better. Is he never sensible
to the presence of anger in his bosom ? of envy, jealousy, discon
tent, revenge, malice ? Does he think to carry these dispositions
to heaven with him? How much difference in these respects,
on a candid comparison of himself with others, {some there unde
niably is, but how much?) does he find in his own favor? It is
quite a plain case that the christian needs a preparation for heaven
as well as the sinner ; the difference is, that in the former it is
begun on earth, in the latter it is not; but to infinite grace the
counteraction of the greatest guilt is equally possible as that of the
least. To speak of salvation to an individual in a state of guilt, is to
speak nonsense; it is an absurdity in terms, for what is salvation
but a deliverance from guilt; saved from it, we are saved from
misery, (moral misery I mean,) for where guilt is, and there only,
is misery — in the heaven of heavens as in the heart of hell. Let
none charge us, then, with the teaching that all mankind are to
be made happy in heaven without a previous preparation for it
We differ from others in believing that all will eventually be so
prepared ; some of those to whom Paul wrote, had been such char
acters as he specifies as not admissible to the church or kingdoir
of Christ ; but they had ceased from their former evil practices,
and had become the denizens of that kingdom. (1 Cor. vi. Il.j

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 235
A METAPHYSICAL ARGUMENT FOR ENDLESS MISERY
CONSIDERED.
Sometime since I attended divine service at the Second Presby
terian church, Cincinnati, and heard a discourse from the pastor,
Dr. Beecher. Its subject was the reasonableness of endless misery
and its consistency with the divine goodness. Dr. B. is president of
the Lane Seminary, and an ecclesiastic of very high reputation
for learning and talents. Let us see what a gentleman of his
calibre can do in a case of such difficulty. The following are the
strong points in the discourse referred to.
" 1st. God had a right to create minds, and it was benevolent
in him to do so." Granted. " 2nd. God had a right to institute
laws for the government of minds so created." This too is
granted. " 3d. He had a right to guard his law by retributive
sanctions." Very good. "4th. The system of government so
instituted must last forever, for the same reasons will operate to
keep it up which led at the first to its institution ; and as its
rewards and punishments are an essential part of the system, they
must endure to eternity. Endless misery results of course." And
if it does, endless reward results of course also, and what then be
comes of the scriptural doctrine of salvation by grace ? It goes by
the root before this metaphysical axe of the Doctor's ; eternal life,
instead of being the gift of God, will be but a legal consequence
of obedience to the divine government ! But endless misery does
not result ; the Doctor's logic is purblind here. Suppose the
criminal code of a land to last for a thousand years ; does it fol
low that each transgressor under it must endure its penal inflic
tions for so long? That judge would be thought a whimsical
expounder of the law, I fancy, who, finding the legal punishment
for theft to be imprisonment, should, upon that ground, take it
into his head that the culprit must be confined for so long as that
statute should remain unaltered, if even to a hundred centuries ;
Moreover, if we allow the Doctor's consequence, on what basis
will rest his own hopes of eternal blessedness? He has violated
the law — its penalties are irrevocable, and therefore, (as he thinks,)
eternal ! We call a man a good logician who can prove all he
wishes to prove ; what may we call him who can prove a great
deal more ?

236 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
To reconcile endless misery with the divine benevolence, the
Doctor had recourse to two illustrations ; the first was to the fol
lowing effect. A legislative body compose a code of laws for a
particular realm ; all their enactments are made with express
reference to the public welfare; but in order to effect a result
which shall be best on the whole, and for the generality, they find
it absolutely necessary toappend the penalties of perpetual im
prisonment, and even a forfeiture of life in certain cases; where
upon an individual among them remonstrates — "Take care what
you.do, (he exclaims,) these penalties may come to bear upon some
of yourselves, your children, oryour children's children ; therefore,
be cautious how you proceed, for by this act you may possibly be
sealing your own doom, or theirs." " What shall be done now ?"
(enquired the Doctor.) " Either (he good of the whole public
must be left unguarded through an overweening tenderness to
ward a comparatively few abandoned individuals, or they must be
sacrificed to the general intere.st ; which shall we prefer ?"
This comparison betwixt a legislature and the deity is far more
plausible than just; for no difficulties of the kind here supposed
arise in God's way ; he is never reduced to a choice between two
or more evils ; it is as perfectly in his power to secure the ultimate
good of the whole as of a part; if I doubted this in regard to
every individual part composing that, whole, I should equally
doubt it in regard to any. I wish our opponents would tell us at
once whether they do or do not deny the divine omnipotence ; for
if they do not, why are they perpetually nibbling al it with this
species of sophistry ? But why do I speak of his power? His
wisdom and benevolence are equally crippled by this sort of com
parisons. He cannot frame a system of government, it would
seem, which will not subject him to the hard necessity of forego
ing the r-laims of benevolence with regard to some of his crea
tures, out of respect to the well-being of the greater number !
The Doctor's other illustration was less hacknied ; I know not
but it originated with himself. It was, in substance, as follows:
" Suppose that before the work of creation was begun, the Almighty
had anticipated it, by at once calling into momentary existence, all
the intelligences whom he contemplated ever to create, in order to
obtain their vote upon the question whether they would prefer to
be, (subject to all the liabilities of being, which are contemplated

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 237
by the doctrine of endless misery,) or to return to non-existence,
and to remain non-existent forever." "I foresee (the Creator tells
them,) that some of you will violate my laws, and subject your
selves to my eternal displeasure ; but this will result from no
decree or purpose of mine, but from the incurable perverseness of
such individuals themselves, in despite of all the efforts of my
goodness to prevent it. Will you, then, that I prosecute my pur
pose of creating you, to live forever, and subject to the risk (which
shall only be realized in regard to a comparative few) that your
being shall be rendered eternally miserable by disobedience ; or
shall I abandon my purpose, forgo my benevolent plan, with all
the incalculable amount of enjoyment to millions of millions
which shall result therefrom, merely out of regard to the relatively
small quantity of misery which is unavoidably incident to it ?"
The universal vote in such a case would have been, (as the Doc
tor thinks,) " Create us ; we will prefer to exist and take the risk,
rather than to continue in eternal nothingness ; and if any of us
shall be so ungrateful as to violate our obligations to thy good
ness, and so perverse as to rush through every obstacle of thy
grace down to final ruin, we shall deserve the result, and we con
sent to abide it — let us live !"
My dear reader, I trust you are not such a dolt as to be
unable to perceive the fallacy in the above case ; it consists, you
must see, in supposing Jehovah reduced to the alternative of
either creating some beings for final misery, or not creating them
at all ! If this is not absurdity, essential, quintessential absurdity,
then is there no such thing in the universe. Moreover, it is very
doubtful if that assemblage of intelligences would, in the case
supposed, have rendered any such vote, even allowing the propo
sition to have been presented in the soft and guarded terms which
the Doctor has employed. But how, according to his doctrine,
stands the reality? Certainly far less favorably than here repre
sented. From the state of human society since the lapse of oui
first parents down to present times, (6000 years) I am warranted
in saying, that if the notion of endless misery be true, ninety-nine
hundredth's of mankind will be eternally lost! Would a multi
tude of beings deserve to be called intelligent, who should con
sent to accept of existence in view of any result approximating
this? Would the Doctor himself consent to be the parent of any

238 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
given number of children, out of which a proportion, answering to
that of the human family which shall sink to eternal woe, should
certainly be lost, ruined, abandoned to suffering and to infamy, for
ever and ever ? Let him deliberately and conscientiously respond
to this question, ere he again depicts his Creator's character in
tne hues of his dark and repulsive theology.

MILLENNIAL HYMN.
Oh Zion, arise ! in ihy glory appear,
Thy garments of beauty put on,
For the time of the singing of birds now is near,
And the voice of the turtle already we hear —
Thy winter is over and gone.
Too long have the harps of thine exiles been mute,
And sad on the willows have hung ;
For they said, "in the land of the stranger-pollute —
Where we sow'd in despair — reap'd in anguish thefroit-
How can anthems of Zion be sung V
But the time long foretold by thy prophets is near,
Rise ! rise ! for its dawning we see,
When thine exiles, redeem'd, shall in Zion appear,
And the hand of Jehovah shall wipe every tear,
And sighing and sorrow shall flee.
No more, then, forever thy sun shall go down,
Thy moon hide its brightness no more ;
For God with the bliss of his presence shall crown,
That world on which darkness and sin never frown
No night ever visits that shore.
Already the Gentiles are flocking to thee,
To share thy salvation they come,
From the ends of the earth, from the isles of the sea
All kindreds and nations thy converts shall be,
And no more in transgression shall roam.
Oh hail, thou blest season ! thou era of gold !
Thy beauties our bosoms inspire ;
Thy glory shall soon in its fulness unfold ;
All flesh the salvation of God shall behold,
And sin, death, and sorrow, expire.

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 239

DIVINE PUNISHMENT,
UTS NATURE, ENDS, AND CERTAINTY, HARMONIZED WITH THE
SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF FORGIVENESS.
" One of the most absurd features of the Universalian system,"
(once remarked a respectable minister to me, in a conversation on
these subjects,) " is the notion, that in the divine economy, sin is
never forgiven, in the sense implying an exemption from deserved
punishment ! You nevertheless (continued he) affect to believe in
the scripture doctrine of pardon upon the term of repentance ; but
how sin can be pardoned, and at the same time punished, I con
fess, surpasses my comprehension !" And yet, reader, there is
no real solecism in this case. We are constantly witnessing facts
which confirm the theory, that to pardon an offence, and yet to
punish it, are acts not incompatible with each other. The case
of Mr. B. is in point : gambling was his besetting vice ; he lost
at the gaming table the whole of his once large estate ; but he has
become a christian, and of course abjured his former evil prac
tices ; he has experienced forgiveness. But has the property he
lost been restored to him ? By no means : this penalty of his for
mer sinfulness he must continue still to endure — hence it is plain
that, though pardoned, he has not escaped punishment. Mr. S. is
another instance to the same effect : he used to indulge a violent
propensity for strife ; the lightest occasion would excite his com-
bativeness, and a fight was his first impulse. He lost an eye in
one of his quarrels, which led him to reflect on the madness of his
conduct. He is now, after many struggles, entirely cured of his
pugnacious propensities — he is a reformed man, and enjoys the
consciousness that his sins are remitted. Still, he has not re
gained his lost eye ; he must continue to abide the deprivation as
a penalty of his past folly. A hundred cases of the kind might
be inslanced, if necessary, to show that forgiveness, or a liberation
fro" "«, does not imply an exemption from the penalty due lo it.
THo w-.,fmed debauchee, for example, who by years of indulgence
hao was-ed his bodily and mental energies, and contracted diseases
which either must shorten his days, or render them days of suffer
ing to him ; when he became a christian, did he find repentance

240

PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.

to expel from his system these deleterious effects of a mispent
life ? No : but it proved a means of preventing ai. increase
of those effects ; for when the cause ceased, it ceased to produce
results. Exactly accordant with fact, as above illustrated, is the teach
ing of inspiration upon this head. Speaking of the divine dealings
with the rebellious Israelites during their sojourn in the wilder
ness, David says, " Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though
thou tookest vengeance of their inventions." (Ps. xc. 8.) In the
psalmist's estimation, therefore, the forgiving of sin was not held
to be incompatible with ihe taking vengeance of it. "I will cer
tainly chastise you for that act, my son," (said father C.) " it must
not be allowed to pass with impunity." And father C. did chas
tise his son accordingly. The boy was subdued ; he saw the evil
of his conduct — sought his father's forgiveness, and obtained it.
The old man kissed the tears from the cheek of his child, and
pressed him to his bosom. See you now how the punishment of
sin is reconeileable with its pardon ? If you do, you understand
the philosophy of forgiveness as it is exhibited in the scriptures.
"Wherein, then, (you will ask) consisteth the advantages of par
don upon this scheme?" They are great, my dear reader, and
manifold ; the pardoned are freed from their former vices, and, of
course, from the effects that would follow from a continuance in
them. They are recovered to virtue. Mr. B. no longer feels thai
fever of the soul arising from solicitude about the chances of the
game. He is not startled from his nightly dreams by the phan
toms of wretches whom his arts have reduced to penury, and their
families to want of bread By honest industry he is now repaii
ing his own wrecked fortunes, and he therefore looks upon his
wife and children with the satisfactioln of knowing that he is nr
longer sporting with their interests and happiness for life. Such
is the improvement in the condition of Mr. B. As to Mr. S., he
is subject no more to bodily wounds and bruises ; nor to agita
tions of spirit such as he experienced while a slave to angry pa
sions. He is not now perpetually making to himself enemies „.
his neighbors, nor exposing himself to expensive and mortifying
litigations — he lives in peace within himself, and with all around
him. Would to God that the whole of the two classes of sinners
whom these gentlemen are designed to represent, would, by a like

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 24l
amendment, secure to themselves a similar change of condition !
I have said nothing of their spiritual enjoyments, arising from a
religious life : these are incalculable. Oh ! the exquisite happi
ness of krowing that eonscience, and God, and all the good of
mankind, approve them ! Both these gentlemen, you perceive,
reader, have experienced forgiveness ; but who can say that they
have not §lso been punished?
Errors in relation to punishment have naturally led to errors in
relation to forgiveness. Those who have supposed the former to
be arbitrary in their nature, have also well supposed that when
God pleases, they can be dispensed with without injury to any
body, or the contravention of any eternal principle; and that for
giveness actually implies the setting aside these punishments.
By the same class of theologians it is even gravely affirmed, that
divine punishments are not designed for good to those upon whom
they operate ! proceeding as they do from infinite goodness, and
operating as they do upon creatures who are the subjects of that
goodness, (for " the Lord is good unto all,") yet they are not de
signed for good to them ! I am at a loss whether to term this
false philosophy, or no philosophy at all.
" But if for good" (do you say, reader ?) " then it were better
to commit the more sin, in order to experience the more punish
ment; the more of a good thing the better." Why, my most
shrewd reader, it would be a good act in one to help you out of a
quagmire ; but you would not therefore jump into a quagmire for
the sake of being helped out ! Should we not deem a man an idiot
if he broke a limb, for the mere sake of having it set by a benevo
lent surgeon ? Now this will well illustrate the case ; for the set
ting of a fractured limb, although a beneficial operation, is yet a
painful one: and the same is true of the divine corrections. It is
better, therefore, to avoid them by well-doing ; yet, when they are
demerited, it is better that they be experienced, how painful so
ever, since, coming as they do from a Being who is infinitely
wise, just, and merciful, they cannot but be productive of merci
ful results. " And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speak
eth unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chas
tening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him : For
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every sou
whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
V

J42 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chastenetfc
not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are parta
kers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them re
verence : shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Fa
ther 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
secmelh to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby." (Heb. xii. 5 — 11.) Thus we find the bible
to speak very intelligibly as to the ends of divine punishment.
"cut is this theory — plausible in itself, and accordant with scrip
ture teaching — is it sustained by matter of fact ? Have punish
ments a reforming tendency ?" If they have not, then must it be
admitted that they are useless: for they cannot repair the injury
done by the offender ; they do not prevent others from committing
the same offence : and lo say that they vindicate the honor of the
law, is to put words together which have no intelligible meaning.
They, then, are but retaliatory ; their object is revenge — sheer re
venge !
" But why does not the punishment of an offence more generally
operate to prevent others from committing it?" An examination
into the nature of punishment will explain this. Punishment is of
two kinds, as to its nature — several, as to its objects. One kind may
be termed arbitrary — the other necessary. Arbitrary punishment is
such as results from the mere will of the punisher ; it has no na
tural connexion with the offence. Necessary punishment is such
as necessarily proceeds from the sin itself; it is an unavoidable
consequence of it. In the one, an outward executioner is required ;
in the other, sin is its own executioner. The stroke of the one
may therefore be dodged ; the stroke of the other is as inevitable
as fate. To illustrate. Tell a man that murder will bring him to
the gallows, and his mind will respond — " Yes, provided, 1st, that
f am detected: 2nd, that I am convicted: 3rd, that I am notpardon-
•d: 4th, that I do not break jail and escape .- 5th, or die a natural
death before the day of execution : 6th, or do not despatch myself
in some other way : 7th, or am not forcibly rescued." Now it is
certain that either of these accidents may prevent the catastrophe.

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 243
Heace it will be seen, that between murder and hanging there is
no natural connexion. The connexion is arbitrary, hence its un-
ce-rtianty. Here then is the reason why, in all countries, sangui
nary laws have failed to diminish the number of crimes. Now let
us see whether divine punishments can be thus evaded. What is
the natural penalty of murder ? It is remorse — fierce, unremitting,
dreadful remorse. Is there any escape from these effects? None.
The wretch may traverse oceans ; may fly to remotest lands ; may
seek to hide himself in trackless deserts, or the inaccessible wilds
of nature — vain, all his efforts ! the voice of his brother's blood
crieth out against him from the ground. No outward judicatory
is needed here : no judge, nor jurors, nor witnesses. He has all
within himself. He dares not to enter a plea of not guilty ; con
science, if he did, would overwhelm him with its thunders. No
mockery of the kind is admissible in the court with which he
has to do. How many a wretch thus hunted down, allhough no
clue existed by which man could trace the crime of blood-guilti
ness to his skirts, has voluntarily surrendered himself to the ac
tion of the law, preferring to die an ignominious death rather than^
to suffer longer from the goadings of remorse? You may tell me,
that in some countries murder, in some cases, is not held to be a
crime, and is therefore not productive of the consequences de
scribed. Very well — where it is not known to be a crime, no
guilt can be incurred in the commission of it ; yet, even then, as
a wrong, its evil effects are not the less certain. The savage who
deems revenge a duty, and buries his hatchet in the skull of an
enemy, is in constant fear of a reaction of the same law of revenge
upon himself. Even pirates, and bandits, who, by custom, have
learned to set small value on the life of a fallow-being, have the
gTeater reason, from that very cause, to dread falling victims to the
avarice, or the bloodthirstiness of each other. In ihe government
of God, there is, there can be, no escape from deserved punishment.
" Not even by repentance?" No, not even by repentance. Je
hovah has himself declared, that he " will by no means clear the
guilty." (Ex. xxxiv. 7.) " Whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap." (Gal. vi. 7.) "^Though hand join in hand, the wick
ed shall not be unpunished." (Prov. xi. 1.) If God will clear the
guilty by the means of repentance, will he not be clearing them
by some means ? According to Paul, he " will render unto every

244 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
man according to his deeds." (Rom. ii.6.) But how so, if, in re
gard to many, no retribution for evil deeds will ever be rendered
at all ?
Arbitrary punishments are the only ones within human power
to inflict — we cannot make wickedness punish itself; hence, we
append to transgression certain penal pains, which, being by na
ture wholly unconnected with it, may or may not take effect, as
mere accident, shall determine. The popular theology represents
the divine penalties of sin as being equally arbitrary, and, there
fore, equally uncertain ! That I may be perfectly comprehended
in this branch of my subject, I will once more illustrate the dif
ference betwixt positive and moral (in other words arbitrary and
necessary) punishments, by the sin of our first parents and its
penalty. The divine threatening in regard to the tree was, " In the day
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." We understand this
death to have been moral in its nature — consisting of condem
nation, debasement, &c; such as we are given to know they really
did experience on the day of transgression, and such as naturally
resulted, and must ever result, from the doing an unlawful deed.
We suppose that the punishment could not possibly have been
dispensed with ; and that whether it had been threatened or not,
it would have resulted from the act just as it did ; because it was
a natural and necessary consequence from it. It is even doubtful
if Jehovah originated the connexion between sin and suffering, or
whether he could dissolve it. But, supposing it possible to have
set aside the penalty in the case, it certainly would have opera-
led to the injury of the culprit, who would have been encouraged
to argue thus within himself: — "I once transgressed the law of
God, and no evil result ensued; hence, I find that misery is not
an inevitable consequence of sin, it only takes place as Jehovah
pienses ; it then is not an evil in itself, for if it were, it would of
itself produce evil effects ; and since it pleased God that it should
not in this instance, the same may happen in all future instances."
Emboldened by this persuasion, he sins, and sins again, and when
at length vengeance does ensue, he thinks that inasmuch as it was
not necessary, it might as well have been dispensed with, and it
was therefore unkind in God to inflict it.
Now, the popular theology supposes that the death in the threat

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 245
ening above noticed, implied the being doomed to eternal flames !
Can any body see any necessary, any reasonable connexion between
the eating of an interdicted apple, and the suffering in ceaseless
fire? It is not even pretended by those who take this view of the
subject, that the penalty threatened was otherwise than arbitrary ;
and, accordingly (as they think) a pretext was easily found for set
ting it aside! They did not die! God relented ! (The snake had
predicted this conclusion of the affair, and our friends confirm the
truth of the prediction.) The culprits were dismissed with a half-
angry and half-approvingireprimand !
I do not affirm that in the administration of the divine govern
ment, arbitrary punishments have never occurred ; in scripture
times, it would seem, the divine dealings with men were more
direct and visible than they have since been. In those days, out
ward and sensible expressions of his displeasure against sin some
times occurred ; as in the deluge, the destruction of Sodom, Bahy
ion, Tyre, Sidon, and Jerusalem. It is not pretended, that in this
class of punishments, the reformation of the punished is the
immediate object ; they are meant as examples to others, and there
fore they are benevolent, although not directly so to the subjects
themselves ; yet they must even to them prove ultimately so, it
being no part of Jehovah's policy to sacrifice the eternal interests
of a part, to secure those of the residue, for several reasons.
1st. He is under no such necessity. 2nd. He can as easily make
all eventually happy as to make a part so. 3d. He loves one
portion of his creatures as well as another. And, 4th, must there
fore prefer the final good of all before the final good of some.
These outward punishments are exceptions to the general scheme
of divine retribution ; they have but seldom occurred, and are called
his " strange work." (Isa. xxviii. 21.)
I have said, it is even doubtful if Jehovah originated the connex
ion belwixl sin and misery. I must take this back. I prefer to
resolve all causes, with their effects, into the all-wise appoint
ment of the infinite God ; more especially as the scriptures afford
me examples to this effect; and, besides, there is so evident a
mercy in the law of which I speak, that it seems a dictate of rea
son as well as piety, to "account for its existence on the ground of
divine institution. It can scarcely be necessary for me to prove
this the bible view of the case. Nevertheless, I will adduce a
v2

246 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM
few instances. The following is the language of Elihu, the only
one of Job's friends whose discourse God did not disapprove.
" That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride
from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life
from perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain
upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain :
so that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat. His
flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen ; and his bones
that were not seen, stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man
his uprightness ; then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver
him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom. His
flesh shall be fresher than a child's : he shall return to the days
of his youth. He shall pray unO God, and he will be favourable
unto him ; and he shall see his fae« with joy : for he will rendei
unto man his righteousness. He lookelh upon men; and if any
say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it pro
fited me not ; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and
his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God often
times with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, lo be en
lightened with the light of the living." (Job xxxiii. 17 — 30.) The
same Elihu also exclaims, " Surely it is meet to be said unto God,
I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more." (Job xxxiv.
31.) Jeremiah takes a similar view in regard to the sufferings
brought on themselves by the Israelites, whom he personates under
the name of Ephraim. "I hive surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bul
lock unaccustomed to the yoke : turn thou me and I shall be turned ;
for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I
repented ; and after that 1 was instructed, I smote upon my thigh •
1 was ashamed, vea, even confounded, because I did bear the
reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son ? is he a pleasant
child ? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember
him still ; therefore my bowels are troubled for him : I will surely
have mercy upon him saith the Lord." (Jer. xxxi. 18 — 20.) And
the sufferings entailed upon the same people by an invasion o*
their country, is by the same prophet accounted for in the same
way throughout his'book of Lamentaticns ; and they are also rep-

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 247
resented as issuing in the same gracious ends. " For the Lord
will not cast off for ever. But though he cause grief, yet will he
have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For
he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. To
crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth. To turn aside
the right of a man before the face of the Most High. To subvert
a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. Who is he that
saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good ?
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punish
ment of his sins ? Let us search and try our ways and turn
again to the Lord." (Lam. iii. 31 — 40.) David, enumerating the
blessings of providence upon himself and his household, repre
sents the following as the divine promise in regard to his children.
" If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments :
if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then
will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with
stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take
from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." (Ps. lxxxix. 30 —
33.) Now it is absolutely pitiful, yea, contemptible, to give to
passages of this nature a partial application, as if Jehovah does
not in his dealings with each and all of the transgressors of his
law, observe the same eternal principles of mercy and justice!
Let us attend now to the modus operandi of divine punishments.
1 have before considered the case of the gambler, but we may take
a more difficult view of it. We will suppose, then, that he con
stantly rises from the game a winner ,- how, in that event, does he
get his punishment ? Is he not rather rewarded for his wicked
ness, and encouraged to proceed in it? He would be encouraged,
indeed, if he fared as well as you, reader, seem to suppose ; and
in that case, why shall we not all turn gamblers, since we are
lured to it by the flowers which providence strews in that path !
Reader, dismiss this delusion ; for such, and a very destructive
one, it really is. I will tell you how the successful gambler gets
his punishment. It does not follow from the fact that he always
has won, that he therefore always shall ; one more expert than
himself may at any moment strip him of all his past gains ; his
very successes serve to lessen his caution, and embolden him to
venture larger stakes ; hence, it often happens thit his entire for'

248 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERB ILISM.
tune is vibrating upon the chances of the moment; he may arise
with double his present wealth, or without a penny. What must
be his mental perturbation when so much is depending on such
shifting hazards ? Anxiety of this nature, so feverish, so intense,
is rapid in its progress of eating out the soul. But aside from
this, has he no reasons for disquietude in regard to his victims,
some of whom he may have rendered desperate by despair al
their losses, and may visit their ruin upon his head ? Let him who
wishes (o portray the career of a gambler as pleasant, go to a
Parisian or a London hell, (rightly named,) to borrow his lights
and shades for the picture. Would you, reader, exchange your
life of quiet and of honest self-approval, for his, of turbulence and
apprehension ?
Consider, next, the case of the dishonest man. Suppose him so
adroit in his arts that he is never detected ; is he Iherefore never
punished ? Why then starts he at every leaf that rustles near
him ? Why those uneasy glances when he hears approaching
footsteps ? Why cannot he look his honesl neighbors in the face,
but his eye must be constantly cowering beneath their glance ?
And consider, moreover, in addition lo the suffering which these
circumstanr-es indicate, how many painful risks of detection he
runs, how much time he spends in plotting and executing his
felonies ; which, employed in honest industry, would bring him
equal gains, with more certainty and less suffering; and when he
prowls fortn in the darkness to effect his disgraceful purposes,
what dangers of various nature he must necessarily encounter.
Pah ! his bread is bitter and hard-earned !*
I might detail the penalties attendant on the different crimes in
practice amongst mankind — lying, adultery, fornication, drunken
ness, &c. ; each has its own appropriate pains and dangers ; each
* Tho case of Jolms-in, of Cincinnati, is an instance to the point, that great dancer
[s incurred even by the most expert marauders. This man had for a number of years,
as it afterwards appeared, been in the habit of committing burglaries, and wilh such
secrecy and success, that he had amassed a large quantity of stolen goods together, to
the value of several thousand dollars; nor does it appear that in all thai lime his
character anil conduct were .suspected. One morning, tlie keepers of a wholesale
ftoro in the cilv found their door to have been opened in the night, and on entering
a spectacle of a horrid description presented itself— it was the dead body of the bunrlar
mangled in such a manner as battled all attempts to identify him, until by accidenl
(or led by a suspicion of liip fact) his own (laughter approached, examined him, and
by a particular mark on his person discovered the dreadful truth, that the mangled
wretch before her wa? her father ! He had in the darkness fallen from the third loft
through the scuttle. What a death to die ! and in what a cause '

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 240
brings with it an entailment of shame, and loss, and remorse. Need
I enlarge, reader ? I trow not, because your own bosom is at this
moment throbbing responses in harmony with these statements— it
knows that you never sinned but the regularity of its throb was
interrupted, and the quiet of its empire invaded.
" But conscience becomes callous after a while," say you, " and
the sinner of eveTy kind learns to perpetrate his deeds without
compunction ; hence, instead of increasing with the ratio of guilt,
(as justice would seem to require,) punishment actually diminishes
as crime increases." A specious objection, I grant you, reader,
very specious; but you overlook the fact that this moral insen
sibility is itself a punishment — the greatest of punishments.
When thus given over to hardness of heart and a seared, a cic
atrised conscience, the individual has in a manner lost his moral
nature ; it is absorbed in the animal, the brute ; all the nicer chords
of his being, whence formerly sprung the more refined enjoyments
of his life, have lost their harmonies ; these delicate barriers be;
twixt his soul and infamy being broken down, he is lost hence
forth to conscience, and modesty, and self-respect, and a respect
for public opinion ; he is become an absolute wretch, a beacon set
up by providence amidst the rocks of crime, as a caution to others
to avoid a similar degradation. And reckon you this among
your instances of exemption from present suffering? I pray hea
ven that of all its numerous and dreadful retributive dispensations,
I may especially be preserved from this !
Thus it is seen, that such is the order of things in the economy of
providence, that each sin necessarily entails its own penal conse
quences ; that escape from these, otherwise than by an avoidance
of the causes which produce them, is absolutely impossible. It
is by this class of penalties that the most of men are restrained
from crime ; even where there is no written or positive law, these
exert their influence; and their efficacy would be incalculably
greater than it commonly is, if preachers and moralists were not
perpetually diverting men's attention from them, and direciing it
to punishments of a factitious and uncertain character, which ter
rify only, when they can be made to appear as unavoidable and
near at hand ; and they then serve but as instruments for wakino-
up vague and superstitious apprehensions; not for establishing
rational and permanent checks upon our vicious inclinations : it

250 PRO AND CON OF UN1VERSALI8M.
is not in the nature of things that the latter object should be thus
accomplished.* No person, of sane mind, will voluntarily thrust his hand intc
the fire. Why 7 Because he knows that pain would be the cer
tain consequence. He does not love pain, and he therefore avoids
an act which he knows would incur it. Suppose he were equally
sure that sin will produce suffering, would he not have equal rea
son for avoiding it also? He would, undoubtedly : and hence is
proven "the importance of convincing men that misery is an abso
lutely certain result of wickedness ; and in order to their being so
convinced, they must be shewn that the two things are naturally
and necessarily connected together.
** But the comparison is not good," (you may say,) "for we
have no inducement to thrust a hand into the fire, even if no pain
ful effect followed — whereas we have an inducement to sin, in
the immediate pleasure which sin affords.-" Very well — we must
then have recourse to another illustration. Many people are pre
vented from eating honey, although it is extremely agreeable to
their palate, by the acute cholic-pains which they have experi
enced from the using it. Perhaps their fondness for it induced
them to hope, at first, that these pains were merely accidental;
* The following facts prove the correctness of the above statement ; they are con
lained in an expose of the conduct of the Professors and Students of the Oeeblin In
stitute, Ohio, by Delason Smith, A Student. These men are new-light Presbyte
rians, and, of course, christians, par excellence; firm believers in eternal tprments,
and, without doubt, very sincere by fits and starts, or,wheii the danger of these tor
ments affecting themselves, is felt to be imminent. This end is frequently accom
plished for a time by what are termed revivals of religion; it was during such a
season, that the following facts, relative to the character of the Professors and Stu
Jems, were disclosed by themselves. President Mahan doubtea, he said, if he had
ever been a christian, or had ever understood the christian religion. Professor Mor
gan confessed the same, and in addition, that he had committed very great and griev
ous sins, in 7naking an idol of his young wife. Professor Cowles said he was in a
like predicament with the others of the faculty. IT. T. Chamberlain said, that on
leaving Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, he siole, and brought off a quantity of Joiners'
toots — also, that his pride had kept him from praying for three weeks together, be
cause some of Jiis brethren could p>-ny be/f.[r than he could ! — moreover, he had been
in the habit oi robbing htn-roosts , lying, aim other gross sins. Oliver D. Hibbard
fnow Principal of the Foreign Missionary Social) at Oberlin) confessed to a disbelief
m the Holy Ghost; to lying, and divers other hypocrisies. G. L. Hovey had been
iiishonest in his dealings ; had stolen, and committed almost every abomination;
;ind, among others, had lied, when standing in the sacred desk! J. Warren had
brio n guilty of almost every abomination — among others, fornication and adultery.
Henry Fairchild had been so proud of his power of converting sinners, that he had
*zed. anil misrepresented, in order to increase the fame of his success. Rev. Georee
Whipple had been very licentious, and depraved in his habits, particularly in a cer
tain act, too indelicate to be hero mentioned. These confessions, it must be remem
bered, relate to their conduct while they Btood before the world as christians ; yea,
as teachers of religion ! What reliance, I ask now, can be placed in the efficacy of
ihroatened punishments, even of the most terrible kind, which may, by repentance,
brother means, be wholly evaded i

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 381
but on their experiencing the same result whenever they ate of it,
they were convinced of its being an inseparable consequence ;
and they were therefore induced to abandon the indulgence in it
altogether. I ask, now, if these cholic-pains do not impose a
more effectual check upon their appetite for the honey,- than would
an interdict on pain of imprisonment, or even of damnation ! It as
suredly does, and for this good reason : these cholic affections,
they know, cannot be eluded ; they may be accounted for on phy
siological principles ; their connexion with the cause that pro
duces them is necessary, and therefore, unavoidable : whereas,
betwixt the eating of honey and the being imprisoned, or damned,
there is no necessary connection whatever. How immeasurably
important, then, is it to the interests of virtue, that men be faith
fully instructed as to the certainly of the penal consequences of
transgression ! For what care they how hot is the hell with which
they are menaced, or how durable are its agonies, so long as they
are persuaded that, how many, or enormous soever their crimes,
;hey shall escape the punishment altogether? Hence, a trans-
mundane hell is an impotent bug-bear.
You may tell a person who has an appetite (or a passion, I
know not which to term it,) for intoxicating drinks, that if he dies
a drunkard he will be eternally damned. What cares he for such
a threat? All depends on an if — if he dies a drunkard ; but he
does not calculate on dying such — not he : his purpose is to stop
in good time, and, by repentance, get lo heaven at last. No, do ;
the steps to drunkenness are not to be thus arrested — not thus can
you resist the momentum of that reckless propensity, by which
so many a fellow-being is impelled on to certain and protracted
ruin. Still, the case is not utterly hopeless, if, before he has be
come a slave to the maddening bow!, you can but gain his attention
to the voice of reason and fact, and can portray to him in the
dreadful colors of truth, the deep, deep infamy, to which a begun
indulgence will almost inevitably lead — the bloated countenance ;
the blood-shot eye ; the fevered pulse ; the heart on fire, and re
quiring continual draughts to cool it; the intellects bewildered ;
faculties destroyed ; prospects blasted ; person rendered loath.
some by filth and rags; and then the nausea that succeeds de
bauch; the shame; the scoffs, jeers, and dram-shop blasphemies
and jh ! worst of all, a* broken-hearted wife; squalid and starv

852 PKO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
ing children; a desolate household; a dealh-bed in a ditch al
last — a drunkard's ignominious grave, and execrated memory!
Such is the hell to which many a wretch (alas ! how many,) is
drifted on the fiery tide of rum.
And since sin ioipairs our moral nature, there is evident mer
cy in thus connecting misery wilh it so inseparably ; and the
scriptures, accordingly, represent the divine retribulions as be
ing prompted by mercy. "Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth
mercy : for thou renderest to every man according to his work."
(Ps. Ixii. 12.) And yet popular theologians are wont to consi
der the business of divine punishment as so exclusively just in
its nature, that were God all mercy, he would dispense with il
entirely ! This grows out of the mistake of supposing, that justice
and mercy are opposed to each other : in which case, mercy is
usually confounded with excessive lenity — justice, with stem
revenge. He who has enjoined the " not rendering evil for evil,
or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing," (1. Pel. iii. 9.)
will eternally outrage the principle in his own conduct toward
sinners !
Some, however, may seek to improve my argument as to the
nature of punishment, to the purpose of shewing that it may be
endless, independent of ihe divine agency ; and consequently, with
out furnishing ground of complaint against God. " For if, as you
affirm," (they may say) " the penalty of sin grows out of its na
ture, necessarily, and unavoidably — if it is not an arbitrary inflic
tion — why may it not, of itself, continue forever, and the divine
character be wholly unconcerned in the business ?" It is no un
common thing for the advocates of ceaseless woe to place theii
defence of that doctrine on this very ground. " We don't believe"
(say they) " in a local hell — a hell of material fire. The sinner's
misery will be constituted of remorse — keen and poignant re
morse ; which, like an undying worm, shall gnaw within them to
all eternity." Nay, good friends, this refinement upon the old
fashioned notion of hell, will not do ; it implies an impossibility,
The soul (by which, I mean our moral nature,) is so constituted,
that none of the affections thereof can be exercised forever, wilh
out a perpetual action of the exciting cause. They may be com
pared to fires, which will burn out in time, except new fuel be
added or to springs, whose waters will exhaust, except kept up

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 253
by constant new supplies. Take, for instance, the affection of
joy ; you know, that to however rapturous a degree it may be ex
cited, it will subside at length, unless it be renewed by fresh ob
jects. The same is true of sorrow ; you are bereaved by death
of a beloved object, and your heart is thrown into deep anguish,
so deep, that you suppose it will never be in your power to smile
again : however, the very intenseness of your grief causes it to
exhaust the sooner. Such is also the case with remorse. God
must re-constitute the soul before any of ils affections can last
forever, without a constant renewal of the exciting cause. A hell
of remorse, therefore, cannot be unceasing, except sin (the source
of remorse) shall also be so. This philosophy is in accordance
with indisputable fact, and it utterly puts to flight the idea of an
endless moral hell.
Neither can punishment of a physical kind be endless, without a
perpetual miracle ; pain cannot be endured without wear and detri
ment to the nature which sustains it. Pain, in any part of the sys
tem, necessarily implies a process by which, if it continue long
enough, the part must be destroyed. But endless misery implies
that the subject thereof shall endure to all eternity ; and there
fore, he will forever be wasting, decaying, wearing out, without
ever being wholly wasted, or consumed — which is a paradox ;
a contradiction ; an impossibility. I appeal to you, reader, if
living proofs of this position are not constantly presenting them
selves to your observation? How pain attenuates the system ! how
destructive is its influence upon both body and mind! In order, then,
to the sinner's being susceptible of misery without end, God, by
a perpetual miracle, must counteract the impairing effects of mise
ry upon the sinner's constitution ; and in how much worse a light
the Almighty Jehovah can be represented than as thus employed,
I leave you, dear reader, to judge.
It is most wisely and benevolently contrived, in the existing or
der of things, that the very effects of an evil tend to its cure.
What caused the prodigal lo resolve on a return to his father ? It
was the desperate extremity to which he had become reduced by
sin. It is not probable that the thoughts of home would have se
riously affected his purposes, if his affairs abroad had been in a
more favorable posture ; and I appeal to every gospel minister,
whether his preaching does not much oflener (alee effeet on ex-
W

264 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
treme and flagrant offenders, than on those who sin withir. mors
moderate limits? Little thought the prodigal's elder brother that
he himself stood in need of mercy, when he so grudged its lavish
exercise toward the ragged penitent just returned ; and it is usu
ally difficult indeed, to convict such persons of guilt, or of the ne
cessity of reformation : for, as their departures from rectitude
have been comparatively moderate, their compunctions are like
wise so. Mary weeps at Jesus' feet, regardless of the conven
tional form3 and ceremonies of propriety ; she is wholly bent on
easing her oppressed heart of its weight of remorseful anguish,
while Simon, the Pharisee, sits by, a cold and captious critic up
on her conduct. Poor Mary had sinned much, and therefore felt
much ; but Simon had only trespassed within the bounds of de
cency, (as ihe world phrases it,) and he, therefore, was troubled
with fewer and less poignant compunctions. Thus it is seen, that
the very excesses of an evil tend to bring about its removal ; and
most strikingly is the goodness of Jehovah manifested in this ar
rangement. We find it to obtain in all the departments of provi
dence. When our atmosphere becomes surcharged with impuri
ties, insomuch that it is unfitted for respiration, the effect is, that
those agitations are generated which we term storms, thunder-
gusls, etc, and these consequences of the evil effect its cure.
When the human body becomes diseased, from accident or care
less exposure to the elements, the disease affects the system in
various ways ; it may produce discharges of the superfluous
and feculent, humors through the stomach or the bowels, or by
means of cutaneous eruptions, morbid issues, etc., which effects
it is the office of the physician not to check, (save in cases of ex
cess,) but to promote ; and, in proportion as the effects are facili
tated, is the cause removed. The same law, as before remarked,
operates with full force in the moral system. Sin is a moral dis
ease — it induces moral nausea; the soul hath its aches, and its
rheums, and ils feverish heats and thirsts, its restlessness and its
torpor, as well as the body. Let the moral medicinernot attempt
to sooth these, whilst the cause (which is sin) continues in full
operation; let him not administer anodynes to the guilty spirit:
on the contrary, let him arouse its faculties ; set ils crimes in
startling array before it; deepen, if possible, the poignancy of its
remorse, until the cause of the disease is subdued ; let him theu

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 255
be careful toimpressupon the patient this truth — this momentoui
truth, that a soul diseased by sin, must ever, by an unalterable
law of heaven, be a subjectof like sufferings. This trath impress
ed, it will be then lime enough to dismiss his convalescent pa
tient with the voice of soothing — " Go, and sin no more, lest a
worse thing come upon thee."
Yes, I repeat it — fearless of successful contradiction — endless
misery, whether physical in its nature, or moral, or both com
bined, is, except sin be also endless, an absolute impossibility. I
say not that Omnipotence could not inflict it; by a perpetual mi
racle he could, undoubtedly ; but then, it would be a miracle ol
wrath, of cruelty, of revenge! Such an anomaly as that of Al
mighty love, directing its energies to ends of hatred, would fill
the boundless universe with astonishment and dismay !
" But why" (you may ask) " may not sin be continued to all
eternity ? For, if it can, then by your own admission, misery can
also." Yes, I admit that if the one is to be endless in duration,
the other shall be so likewise. Let us inquire, however, whence
sin proceeds: we shall find it proceeds wholly, and altogether,
from our animal nature ; hence the scriptures commonly speak of
it as an offspring of the flesh; and although I would by no means
exonerate our moral powers from a participation in the guilt
thereof, yet it seems highly probable, that apart from our fleshly
constitution sin cannot exist " Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these ; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, las-
civiousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings, and such like." (Gal. v. 19 — 21.) In the spiritual
wor-ld, it is presumed there will be no gold to tempt, out avarice ;
no strong drinks to gratify a propensity for drunkenness; no op
portunities of conquest to excite ambition; no conflicts of interest
to engender malice, envy, or strife ; no sexual provocatives to lust ,-
nor temptations to fraud, falsehood, or deceit. Jf sin is to exist
in eternity, I should like to know what are to be its objects ! and
what the nature of the propensities which shall produce it ! Can
we sin when envy, lust, ambition, malice, and the like passions,
with all our animal appetites, shall have ceased to be? Setting
aside'^those scripture testimonies, then, which respect the eventu
al extinction of evil, and the reconcilalion of all intelligences to

256 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
God, we have common-sense reasons for believing, that sin will
not continue beyond the limits of our present being : there seems a
strong probability, at least, that its existence is incompatible wilh
the spiritual nature of man in the resurrection state*
The only view of endless suffering which, nowadays, is even
attempted to be reconciled with the divine mercy, is that which
supposes it is to operate as an example to others. I have already
noticed, and I think, refuted this notion. I have shown that there
can be no necessity, on the part of Omnipotence, to awe the uni
verse by eternal exhibitions of his wrath, in order that he may
secure its obedience. Ah ! human ingenuity may do much ; it
may sound the depths of oceans; it may tell the number -md the
magnitude of the stars; it may measure the altitnde of mountains
whose snowy summits are miles above the clouds ; it may navi
gate the air, and find its way to distant lands across trackless
seas ; it may estimate the speed of light ; it may arrest the elec
tric bolts of heaven, and soar to  ; in short, it may do any
thing which is possible in itself. But to reconcile with infinite
love the infliction of endless pains upon short-sighted creatures,
is not possible in itself, and therefore human ingenuity must fail
in that attempt.
What should we think of the wretch, who in cool blood should
load one of his children with irons, confine him in a dark and so
litary cell, limit his diet to a scanty morsel of bread and water
per diem, until worn out by days and nights of suffering, attenu
ated to the pale and meager image of despair, he could exhibit
him to his other children as a sample of his power of torturing, in
order to secure their obedience through the medium of their fears?
We should justly esteem such a wretch a very prodigy of cruel
ty. Nevertheless, I put it to your conscience, reader, whether the
Being who can chain down myriads of his own offspring, for simi
lar purposes, in a boiling ocean of flame, is not immeasurably
worse than even he? Almighty God! man, in portraying thy
character, lias dipt his pencil into the darkest tints of his own heart !
* I may be here told, that the devil and his angels could sin without an animal
nature ; and that, therefore, the same may be equally practicable to us when we de
part this life. Be it remembered, however, that I deny the premises ; anil common
6ense utterly repudiates the idea, that any high order of intelligences should prove
themselves such idiots as to engage in an open war with Omnipotence ! 1 assign lo the
popular notion, therefore, concerning personal devils, an eminent and undoubted
place amonqst old wives' fables.

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 257
No, no — endless exemplary punishment will not do ; nor will
any form or purpose of endless punishment. Nothing will do,
which makes punishment an ultimate object, rather than a means ;
for it ceases to be punishment in that view of it — it is revenge, or
cruelty, or something of that nature, but not punishment, surely ;
that were a sad misnomer !
I am contending that punishment, (as well as reward,) under
the government of an infinitely just and merciful Being, must be
present and certain. I own I am extremely anxious to succeed in
making this point clear; and I may therefore introduce the same
idea again and again, in different forms, in order that I may not
fail of making myself perfectly intelligible. We will now take
another view of it.
We distinguish between what is good and what is bad, by their
respective effects ; if the fruit of a tree be uniformly agreeable to
our tastes, and healthful to our systems, nothing is more probable,
than that we will often have recourse to it ; if it even at times be
not immediately pleasing to our palates, so that it prove invaria
bly beneficial to our healths, we will still be likely to resort to it
for the latter reason. By this tree I would represent virtue ; its
fruit is generally pleasing, and always wholesome. On the other
hand, if we find another tree, of sometimes inviting appearance
whose fruit (although luscious to the taste, at times,) never
fails to produce, in those who eat of it, the most painful and
deleterious consequences, will we not naturally incline to shun it?
Will fence be needed to guard this tree? or sentinel dog? or any
devices of the kind? No, indeed; its own bad qualities are its
best protection. By this tree I would represent vice ; sweet in the
mouth its fruit may sometimes be, but invariably bitter in the
stomach. I cannot quite subscribe to the popular distich, thai
" Vice is a. monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated, needs but to be seen."
In regard to some vices, this is undoubtedly true ; but not in re
gard to all. Some assume so fair and specious an appearance,
that the whole strength of virtuous principle is requisite for resist
ing their blandishments : like sirens, they enchant the senses of
the unwary voyager on life's treacherous sea, and beguile him
among the rocks, where he makes fearful shipwreck of his peace.
Were it otherwise, we should have no inducements to sin : vir-
w2

B58 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSAIISM.
tue would have no trials, and would deserve.no recompense. How
ever, whether sin is or is not uniformly odious in appearance, one
thing is certain, viz : that its influences are always bitter upon
those who practice it. To sin, of every kind, may properly be ap
plied what Solomon has said of one species of it. " For the lips
of a strange woman drop as a honey-comb, and her moulh is
smoother than oil : but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as
a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take-
hold on hell. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh
the door of her house ; lest thou give thine honor unto others, and
thy years unto the cruel ; lest strangers be filled wilh ihy wealth,
and .thy labors be in the house of a stranger : and thou mourn at
the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, how
have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof." (Prov.
v. 3 — 5, 8 — 12.) If the order of things were otherwise than as
nere set forth — if vice did not injuriously affect those who prac
tice it until they died, and the evil were then past remedy forever,
how incalculably disastrous would be the consequences! and what
a reflection against the divine wisdom and equity would this ar
rangement involve ! Consider it seriously, reader, I pray you. We
are notion) to learn the evil nature of sin from its present effects,
when we might profit by the lesson — no, no ; this is to be
proven to our experience when the discovery will be too late to
avail us ; when the overwhelming realities of it will be final, hope
less, irremediable ! And such is the wisdom and the benevolence
of a God, in his treatment of his creatures! He strews the path
of sin with roses ; man is wooed to tread in it by the mystic and
winning voices of the passions and appetites; he is lulled into
fancied security by the deceitful influences of a false peace;
meanwhile, in the far-off horizon before him, a tempest of wrath
is gathering against his spirit, and at a moment when he looks
not fer it, it will burst forth with a fearful ruin upon his head:
he will be startled from his delusive dream at length, and find
himself undone past recovery ! And thus God deals with man !
Oh, false and treacherous theology! yet, how cherished ! how
venerated, as the very trulh of heaven ! One's acquaintance with
the bible must be imperfect, indeed, to be unable from its pages
to refute so gross an error.
Is virtue not now -ewarded? Lei the following scripture testi-

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED. 259
monies answer. " The angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them that fear him, and delivereth them. 0 taste and see that the
Lord is good : blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear
the Lord, ye his saints : for there is no want to them that fear
him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger : but they that
seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come, ye chil
dren, hearken tmto me ; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he
may see good ! Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from
speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good ; seek peace, and
pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his
ears are open unto their cry. The righteous cry, and the Lord
heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord
is nigh unto tjiem that are of a broken heart ; and saveth such as
be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous :
but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his
bones : not one of th<jm is broken. The Lord redeemeth the soul
of his servants ; and none of them that trust in him shall be deso
late." (Ps. xxxiv. 7—15, 17—20, 22.) " Trust in the Lord, and
do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be
fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give tbee the
desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also
in him, and he shall bring it to pass : and he shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.
But the meek shall inherit the earth ; and shall delight themselves
in the abundance of peace. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord ; and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down ; for the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand." (Ps. xxxvii. 3 — 6, 11, 23, 24." He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow
of t'ne Almighty. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of
the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee
with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust : his
truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid
for the terror by night; nor for Ihe arrow that flieth by day; noi
for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruc
tion that wasteth at noon-day. There shall no evil befal thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."

260 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
(Ps. xci. 1, 3 — 6, 10, 11.) " The righteous shall flourish like the
palm-tree : he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be
planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our
God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be
fat and flourishing." (Ps. xcii. 12 — 14.) " Happy is the man
that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding: for
the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and
the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies :
and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto
her. Length of days is in her right hand ; and in her left hand
riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all
her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold
upon her : and happy is every one that retaineth her." (Prov. iii.
13—18.) Are the wicked now punished ? Here are scripture answers.
" The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth. Evil shall slay the wicked;
and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate." (Ps. xxxiv.
16, 21.) "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou
envious against lite workers of iniquity ; for they shall 'soon be
cut dpwn like the grass, and wither as the green herb. The
wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast
down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright con
versation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their
bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man hath is bet
ter than the riches of many wicked. I have seen the wicked in
freat power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree : yet
he passed away, and, lo, he was not ; yea, I sought him, but he
could not be found." (Ps. xxxvii. 1, 2, 14 — 16, 35, 36.) " Envy
thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the
froward is abomination to the Lord : but his secret is with the
righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked :
but he blesseth the habitation of the just." (Prov. iii. 31 — 33.)
" He lovetn transgression that loveth strife ; and he that exaltelh
his gate seeketh destruction. He that hath a froward heart
findeth no good ; and he ihat hath a perverse tongue faileth into
mischief." (Prov. xvii. 19, 20.) " Who halh woe? who hath
Borrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath
wounds without cause ? who hath redness of eyes? They that

DIVINE PUNISHMENTS CONSIDERED 261
tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look
not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in
the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a
serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold
strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things : Yea,
thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as
he that lieth upon the top of a mast." (Prov. xxiii. 29 — 34.) "I
went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding : and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns,
and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof
was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well ; I looked
upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slum
ber, a little folding ot the hands to sleep : so shall thy poverty come
as one that travelleth ; and thy want as an armed man." (Prov.
xxiv. 30 — 34.) Let these testimonies suffice out of many, very
many ; they are enough to establish the bible decision of the point,
that " the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more
the wicked and the sinner." (Prov. xi. 31.)
In, order, then that punishment should be effective of the ends
intendeo* by it — in order to its fulfilling its purposed objects in the
scheme of divine government, it is seen that it must be certain;
it must also be a natural consequence cf sin— as necessarily con
nected with it as other effects are with their causes ; and it must
also be proportionate to the offence. Hence, the scriptures con
stantly speak of the divine retributions as being according to our
deeds. But does the doctrine of endless misery so represent it?
Nay, verily, but quite the contrary.
Charles and Henry were brothers — twin brothers; they grew
together until they had attained their 20th year, when Charles
died ; and as he made no profession of religion, he was sentenced
to endless paiiis. Had Henry died at the same time, he would
have shared a similar doom, for he was as destitute of religion
as his brother ; luckily fot him, however, he lived until his 70th
year, during the whole of which time he was in an unconverted
state, excepting the last six months : for the last six months
he had lived a pious life, and, consequently, was admitted after
nis death to heaven. " The punishment of sin," saith the theory
of endless misery, "does not lake place here, but is deferred until
the parties arrive in the spiritual world." Consequently, Henry

262 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
received no punishment in this world for his long career of sin
fulness ; and it will not be pretended that he received it after
he arrived in heaven — he was therefore not punished at all ! But
.how fares it with his brother Charles ? He, poor fellow, must
welter in unceasing flames for the crimes of his brief existence on
earth ! Has God rendered to these twins according to their works ?
The above, I think, is not a strained view of the subject; on the
contrary, it corresponds to facts which, if the notion of endless
misery be true, are constantly transpiring. Not only is it com
monly supposed that a man may secure an exemption from just
punishment by repentance, and after serving sin for the main part
of his life, be prepared in a few days, or hours, or even moments,
for heavenly bliss — but it is also supposed by Arminians, that if a
christian be overtaken with sin at the last, and die unpardoned,
although the whole of his former days may have been devoted to
virtue, yet he shall sink to hell, and be lost past redemption ! It
is indeed impossible to avoid innumerable and most gross anoma
lies in connexion with that doctrine, and for the reason that it is
essentially absurd in itself. In the theory of forgiveness and of
punishment, as herein advocated, and which has been sliown to
be in striking agreement with scripture and fact, no such anoma
lies are involved : it seems to meet all the requirements of reason
and justice — it reflects a glory and a praise upon the all-perfect
Creator and Ruler of the universe — and it affords a guarantee that
the great and benevolent ends of his government, (which can be
nothing less than the promotion of the greatest possible amount of
eventual good to the greatest possible number of his subjects,)
shall be infallibly and triumphantly achieved.
" That be far from thee," said Abraham, when God had re
vealed to him his purpose of destroying the Sodomites, and the
patriarch was remonstrating against the involving the good and
the bad in a common destruction — " That be far from thee to do
after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked ; and that
the righteous be as the wicked, that be far from thee : Shall not
the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. xviii. 25.) Here was a
filling occasiou for Jehovah to hav^ informed the patriarch, (am
through him the world,) that in his present dispensations he does
not discriminate between persons of different characters, but treats
all alike, deferring unto a future period the making of those dislino

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 263
tions which justice seems to require. But no such information did
Abraham obtain ; on the contrary, the justness of his remonstrance
was practically acknowledged. God did not slay the righteous
with the wicked, but saved Lot and his family, whilst he over
threw with a judgment of fire the wicked inhabitants of the cities
of the plain. Nevertheless, we are informed by modern theolo-
gists, in the face of this, and of a hundred kindred scriptural facts,
and the experience of all ages and of every day, that a suitable
distinction is not here made betwixt the righteous and the wick
ed ; and therefore, that to satisfy the requirements of infinite jus
tice, there must be a future dispensation for this special end. Such
is the conclusion — you have seen, reader, that the premises are
false, and, consequently, the conclusion is false also.

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED.
Dr. Adam Clark, speaking of the English word hell, says,
" It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon helan, which signifies, to
cover, conceal, or hide, and hence the tiling, or covering of a house,
and the covering of books are to this day called heling ; and the
phrase to hell is still used as synonymous with to cover, or hide,
in several of the western counties of England. Thus the true
and primitive meaning of the word hell, was perfectly accordant
with the idea suggested by the Hebrew sheol, and the Greek
hades, for, as nouns, all three of these words imply something
unseen, concealed, or invisible, and have, therefore, with propriety
been employed to convey the notion of an unseen world, the grave,
or the slate of the dead in general." Thus far the great Arminian
commentator. The learned Archbishop Usher, has expressed the same opinion,
as follows: " We have no word in the French or English lan
guage to express the idea conveyed by the Hebrew sheol, or the
Greek hades. Our English word hell had anciently this mean
ing, being derived from the German hell, to hide. Hence, the
ancient Irish used to say ' hell the head,' meaning to cover the
head. So that our hell then answered to the Greek hades, which

264 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
signifies ' an unseen place.' " To this agree, also, Dr. Campbell,
of Aberdeen, and many others.
Not only in regard to the literal sense of the Old Testament
word rendered hell, are learned commentators agreed, but also
in regard to Ihe fact, that the idea of punishment beyond death was
not entertained by the. Jewish people, nor inculcated in their sacred
oracles : this must surely be admitted a highly important conces
sion. Look at. it, reader. The Jewish economy continued down
to the four thousandth year of the world, and after. For all this
period, then, no revelation had been made to man concerning
a hell beyond the grave. And although Jehovah had established
a church on earth, and revealed to that church his character and
his laws ; although he addressed the human will by every motive
likely lo influence it; yet, for four thousand years and more, no
disclosure was made relative to a fact the most awful that finite
mind can contemplate; a fact (if true) which ought lo have been
traced in words of flame on every object in nature ! ! !
There was not in the Hebrew language a word denoting such
a state or place as an ultra-mundane hell ; for allhough in our
version of the Old Testament, we occasionally meet the word hell,
yet it is derived from a term (sheol) which literally signifies the
separate state. The Jews evidently supposed that all the dead go
to the same place. Their usual phraseology in regard lo a de
ceased person was, (whatever might have been his character,)
"he was gathered to his fathers." Nor did this relate merely to
the body of such individual, for we find it used in reference to
those who were interred in foreign lands, as well as to such as
were buried in the family cemetery with their progenitors.
That the term sheol suggested no idea to the mind of a Jew
answering to the modern signification of the word hell, must be
extremely apparent to every candid student of the Old Testament ;
see for proof the following, among numerous similar instances of
the application of this term.
When the patriarch Jacob supposed his son Jacob to be torn in
pieces by a wild beast, he exclaimed, "I will go down unto
[sheol] the grave unto my son, mourning." (Gen. xxxv. 37.)
Job, in the midst of his troubles, supplicated his Maker as fol
lows : " Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in [sheol~\ the grave, thai
thou wouldst keep me secret till thy wrath he past." (Job, xiii.

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 265
14.) David exclaims, on one occasion, " Oh Lord, thou hast
brought up my soul from [sheol] the grave." (Ps. xxx. 3.) In
another place the psalmist saith, "For thou wilt not leave my
soul in [sheol] hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption." (Ps. xvi. 10.) Peter represents him as having used
this language in reference to Christ. (Acts xiii. 15.) " The Lord
killeth, and maketh alive ; he bringeth down to [sheol] the grave,
and bringelh up," (1 Sam. ii. 6.)
"The grave [sheol] is my house." (Job.) This was no doubt
said in allusion to the " long-home" of man — " the house ap
pointed for all the living." Jonah cried unto the Lord " out of
the belly of [sheol] hell." This was while he was in the belly
of the fish ; he viewed himself as already cut off from the living,
and included among the inhabitants of the separate state, and
therefore he says " the earth with her bars closed against me for
ever." Yet he lived after this to preach to the Ninevites.
" Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in sheol,
whither thou goest." (Eccl. ix. 10.) People cannot well be
tormented in flames, without knowing something about it, but
Solomon says, " there is no knowledge in sheol!" consequently,
sheol cannot be a place of torment.
The king-of Babylon was threatened with being " brought down
to [sheol] hell, to the sides of the pit," and that while there, the
kings of the earth should see him, and taunt him with his former
boasted greatness, saying, " Is this the man that made the earth to
iremble? (Isa. xiv. 15, 16.) Hell [sheol] is confounded with " the
nether parts of the earth." (Ezek. xxi. 22.) In Amos ix. the
Lord threatens to bring the sword upon the Jewish nation, and he
says, " Though they dig into [sheol] hell, thence shall my hand
take them."
These must fully suffice to show that sheol, in Old Testament
limes, was not supposed a receptacle of damned spirits. Jacob
surely did not imagine that his beloved Joseph had gone to
a world of misery — nor did he expect that his own gray hairs
would sink in sorrow to such a place — neither did David allud
to a realm of fire when he said his soul should not be left in he
— nor did Jonah mistake the whale's belly for such a realm — n-
did Peter think that Christ's sou] went, at death, to a hell »
X

Sfifl PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
modern description. No, no ; no such spectre-peopled liirbo as
starts up in modern imaginations at the mention of that word, was
ever associated with it m the minds of the inspired writers.
The same is on all hands, acknowledged true in regard to the
Greek term hades ; which, by the most eminent critics, is defined
as signifying an unseen slate ; and is literally used to denote the
state of the dead in general. This (even if we set aside the
etymological evidence in the case,) is most satisfactorily proven
by the fact, that the seventy Jews who translated the Hebrew
scriptures into Greek, under Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 270
years before Christ, have employed hades as a corresponding
word for sheol, and it so stands in their version, called the Septu-
agent, from which Christ and his apostles were in the habit of
quoting. It is true, that of the eleven times it occurs in the New
Testament, King James' translators have but once rendered it by
the word grave; but it is exceedingly manifest that, in all its
literal applications, grave or the separate slate, would have better
conveyed the sense of the original, than does the term hell.
Both sheol and hades are occasionally used in the sc/iptureti
in a figurative, or accommodated signification ; betwet-n which
and the primary idea, there is undoubtedly a close analogy.
Previous to the introduction of Christianity, the ideaj of men
respecting the future stale were vague, dark, and uncertain ; we
must all remember that such were our own feelings, in our child
hood, in relation to death and its consequences ; an uneasiness —
a terror of an indefinable nature, is the natural state of the mind
in relation to that undisclosed realm beyond the grave, until the
light and hopes of the gospel have calmed the fears of the
spirit, and composed its flutlerings. It is then not to be won
dered at, that the Jews, to whom the state of the dead was
equally undefined, should occasionally accommodate the terms
sheol, and hades, to express a condition of mental suffering and dis
quietude, proceeding from whatever cause, more especially from
remorse of conscience. Such is unquestionably the meaning of
these words in their figurative application.
David says, " The sorrows of death compassed me, and the
pains of [sheol] hell got hold of me. I found trouble and sor
row." (Ps. cxvi. 3.) Now all this occuired to him in this life ;
and intense as these hell-sufferings were, yet he survived them,

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 267
for he continues, " In my distress I cried unto God, he stt/oped
from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters." Let
it be remembered, that although the general tenor of David's life
was upright, yet there were instances in which he very greatly
sinned. It was, therefore, meet that he should greatly suffer,
which he did, as appears from the text just quoted, and the fol
lowing truth was no doubt recorded from his own bitter experi
ence. " The wicked shall be turned into [sheal] hell, with all the
nations that forget God." (Ps. ix. 17.) That is to say, moral
darkness, degradation and misery shall be their infallible portion.
There is such a thing as national, as well as personal damnation.
" Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people." (Prov. xiv. 34.) The nations of the plain1 were turned
into sheol literally, i. e. into the invisible state. The Jewii.li
nation was often turned into sheol morally, i. e. into the blind, ab
ject, enslaved, unhappy state, to which forgetfulness of God in
variably sinks an individual or nation. " Because of the trans
gression of a land, many are the princess thereof." (Prov. xxviii.
2.) How true is this? Wickedness disposes a people to be
slaves, and they multiply their princes or oppressors accordingly.
But free, and "happy is that people whose God is the Lord."
(Ps. cxliv. 15.)
David had not only been in sheol, but the lowest sheol. Never
theless, he survived to thank God for his deliverance. " Great is
thy mercy towards me, for thou hast delivered my soul from the
lowest [sheol] hell." (Ps. lxxxvi. 13.) His soul, prostrated
under an overwhelming sense of guilt (probably on account of
his cruel conduct in the case of Uriah) experienced a depth of
moral wretchedness not to be described, save by the expr"^>ive
phrase "lowest sheol." Now there cannot be a lower than the
lowest, and the wise man, as well as the psalmist, testifies, that
the state implied in this expression is experienced in this life.
Speaking of the wicked woman, Solomon says, " her guests are
in the depths of [sheol] hell." (Prov. ix. 18.) Yes ! the deluded
debauchee greatly mistakes his road to happiness, while he is
rioting in brutal gratification ; midnight gloom settles upon his
soul, and, in regard to moral enjoyment, it resembles a waste and
parched desert, without one verdant spot on which his hopes can

268 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
light for sustenance. There is still another instance of the use of
this phrase. The reader may examine it, and determine whether
it can be referred to a future life.
" For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto ihe
lowest [sheol] hell, and shall consume the earth with her in
crease, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will
heap mischiefs upon them ; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with ihe poison
of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and the terror within,
shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling
also, with the man of gray hairs." (Deut. xxxii. 22 — 25.) I have
quoted thus much, that the reader may the more readily perceive
its inapplicability to the spiritual state. And yet it is not very
uncommon for learned ministers to quote certain detached parts of
it with such a reference ! This text expresses what should be
the fate of the Jewish nation when it should " forget God ;" and
such shall be the fate of all nations similarly guilty.
And now, reader, need more be added for your conviction con
cerning the meaning of the term sheol? If it properly refers to
a plate of ceaseless suffering, is it not surprising that it is not
once csed in the bible in express reference to such a place ? Yet
such iu the fact — as must be acknowledged by every candid biblical
studenv Observe, this is the only hell of which the world knew
any thi.;g authentically for 4000 years ! If there be any truth in
the mod 'rn dogma concerning an infernal prison in a future world,
is it not very remarkable that Jehovah did not disclose the mo
mentous fact to his covenant people, amidst the many threatnings
which h ; denounced against them in case they should relapse
into idol ttry ? It really seems to me incredible, that a circum
stance >f such immense consequence should have been kept
secret- -seeing a truth of this nature is of such vast concern to
mankind, and their utter ignorance respecting it for so many ages,
is certainly no inconsiderable evidence that no such place exists.
The same remarks are applicable to hades; the most striking
instance of its figurative application is in the parable of the rich
man and Lazarus. I have already noticed this at some length,
and shown thai it cannot be understood as belonging to a future
world without gross impropriety ; because the party represented
therein as having gone to hades, (or rather as having been buried

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 269
tn hades, as Dr. Clarke maintains is the literal rendering,) is spoken
of, nevertheless, as still possessing all his bodily organs, and as
subject to material influences; which proves that the parable does
not relate to the world of spirits, but to the present life ; and sucb
also is most manifestly the case with all the Savior's parables.
The stale literally referred lo in these terms is doomed to final
destruction. " I will ransom them from the power of [sheol] the
grave ; I will redeem them from death : O death, I will be thy
plagues ; 0 [sheol] grave, I will be thy destruction !" (Hos. xiii.
14.) Paul plainly intimates the destruction of hades in his trea
tise on the resurrection ; for this is then to be included in the
universal overthrow of all the enemies to human purity and hap
piness : hence he exclaims, " O hades, where is thy victory !"
(1 Cor. xv. 55.) It is also intimated in the 20th chapter of Reve
lation, under the figure of being " cast into the lake of fire." It
were absurd to attach the idea of torment to the phrase hke of fire
here, for death and hades cannot suffer torment; and since the tenor
of inspiration is clear as to their final extinction, it is but rational
to understand the passage under notice as containing an allegori
cal representation of that event.
Thus much for sheol and hades. Is it not surprising that these
evident, these indisputable bible facts, require, at this late date, to
be disclosed to the English reader ? For what have men been
studying divinity for eighteen centuries ? For what have splendid
colleges and churches been erected, and millions on millions of
money been expended for the business of religious instruction ?
if, after all, mankind are kept in utter ignorance regarding bible
truths of the most important character, aud very nearly affecting
their happiness and moral interests ! " The wicked shall be turned
into hell." From these words how oft has been inculcated the
horrid dogma, that there is a vast furnace of fire beyond the con
fines of time, in which the deathless spirit shall be tormented for
its present crimes after it leaves the body, for inconsumable ages !
And shall such also be the fate of entire nations? for the above
text includes in the same doom, " all the nations that forget God."
Ah ! the preacher finds it impolitic to shock the credulity of men,
by portraying damnation on a scale of such magnitude as this;
and he very prudently, therefore, leaves the latter clause of ths
tt^t without an application. He is careful, also, not to inform his
i2

270 PRO AND CONOF UNIVERSALISM.
hearers that David had himself been in this hell, as well as Jonah ;
and that neither of these were under the necessity of dying in
order to arrive thereat. We will now pass to the consideration of
a different word.
Gehenna. This term refers literally to a valley near Jerusalem,
where, formerly, Moloch or Baal was worshipped ; it was also
called Tophet, and the valley of Hinnom. It used to be the scene
of a most cruel species of idolatry, where children were made to
pass alive through the fire to a grim deity. This odious worship
was abolished (at least in this place) by Josiah, king of Judah.
" And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of
Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass
through the fire to Moloch." (2 Kings xxiii. 10.) In order to
pollute the place more effectually, it was fixed on for the public
execution of criminals, whose bodies were permitted to lie there
unburied. Thither also was conveyed all manner of filth from the
city, so that it became the most loathsome place conceivable. In
later times it became necessary, in order to prevent a pestilence, to
keep up a continual fire, for the purpose of consuming the putrid
matter thus collected. To this fire, and to the worms which con
tinually bred in this place, reference is had in the expression,
" where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
That the term Gehenna primarily refers lo this valley, is uni
versally admitted by the learned ; they pretend, to be sure, that
it came to be used in later times with reference to the infernal
regions ; which, indeed, is true enough ; for it is so understood,
at present, by most Jews, and a majority of Christians. But,
how late were the times when it came to be so used ? This ques
tion is one of some importance in this discussion ; was it so used
in the days of Christ? Oh, what strenuous efforts have been
made to establish the affirmative of this question ! The proof
chiefly relied on to this end, is that of certain Jewish talmudic
writings ; but when the antiquity of these is inquired into impar
tially, it is found that they do not go back to the times of the
Savior by several centuries, (that is, those targums which speak
of Gehenna at all.) But suppose it were otherwise ; suppose that
these rabbinical scholiae could be traced back to the earliest date
claimed for them, it would then seem singular enough that a hell
should have been in existence for forty centuries without a name ;

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 271
and that no suitable designation was found for it until one was
borrowed from a notoriously loathsome valley, adjoining the city
of Jerusalem! Does this seem probable? Ninety-nine hundredths
of mankind, for more than a hundred generations, had passed
through a brief life of earthly misery, lo a world of unceasing
burnings ; and yet that world was without a name !
I confess there are a few texts, which to the common reader,
with prejudices in its favor, appear, at first sight, to sanction this
use of the word Gehenna. I therefore propose subjecting all the
passages of this character to a candid investigation, begging the
reader to bear in mind that this is a question in which the divine
wisdom and goodness are deeply concerned, and that in conse
quence we ought to form our conclusions with the utmost caution,
since in them is involved no less a decision than, whether it shall
be ihe fate of unconceived myriads of our race to endure the wrath
of God through future endless ages.
" But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and who
soever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of
the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
danger of hell-fire." (Matt. v. 22.) I cannot do better than to
quote a commentary on this text from Alexander Campbell, who
surely will not be suspected of wishing to refute the dogma which
I am opposing, for he is at this time engaged in a strenuous effort
to maintain it.
" Thompson translates Matt. v. 22, thus : ' Whosoever is angry
with his brother without cause, shall be liable to the sentence of
the judges ; and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, (a con
temptuous word,) shall be liable to the sentence of the Sanhe
drim ; and whoever shall say, March, (a reproachful word,) shall
be liable (to be sentenced) to the vale of fire,' or, to the Gehenna
of fire.
" In the common translation of this verse, there is a confound
ing of things present and future, of things human and divine,
that badly comports with the wisdom and dignity of the speaker.
What affinity exists between judges, a council, and hell-fire •
Why should one expression of anger only subject a person to
human judges, and another subject him to hell-fire, in the usual
sense of these words? Now, if the terms in this verse conveyed

272 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the same meaning to us which they conveyed to the audience which
the Savior at that time addressed, we would discover a propriety
and beauty in them which is not manifest in the common transla
tions of them. The fact is, that the allusions in this verse are all lo
human institutions, or customs among the Jews; and the judges,
the Sanhedrim, and the hell-fire here introduced, are all human
punishments. Parkhurst observes, on the phrase Gehenna tou
puros, (a Gehenna of fire,) that, in its outward and primary sense,
it relates to that dreadful doom of being burnt alive in the valley
of Hinnom.
" The sentence of the city councils, which extended in certain
instances, to strangling a person, is one of the allusions. These
councils were composed of twenty-three judges, and were an infe
rior court amongst the Jews. The Sanhedrim, or council of seventy-
two senators, whose sentence authorized stoning to death, and
which was the superior court of that people, constitutes the second
allusio-i. The burning a person alive in the vale of Hinnom, is
the third. By these allusions he teaches his audience that anger
in the heart, anger expressed in the way of contempt, and anger
expressed with manifest malice, would, under his reign, subject
them to such diversities of punishment, as they were wont to ap
portion to atrocious actions, according to their views of criminality
" The following translation of this verse is expressive of the full
sense of the original. 'Whosoever is vainly incensed against
his brother, shall be obnoxious to the sentence of the judges, (the
court of twenty-three;) whoever shall say tohisbrother,(inthe way
of contempt,) Shallow-brains, shall he obnoxious to the Sanhedrim :
and whosoever shall say, Apostate wretch, (the highest expression
of malice,) shall be obnoxious to the Gehenna of fire,' or to being
burned alive in the vale of Hinnom. This translation is in sub
stance approved by Adam Clarke, and other critics of respecta
bility." " And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to
enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell,
into the fire that never shall be quenched ; where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut
ittoff: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two
feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched
where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 273
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter
into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be
cast into hell-fire; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched." (Mjrk ix. 43 — 48.) Life, in this passage, signifies
gospel faith and enjoyment; "he that hath the Son hath life;"
4i cannot mean a future life of bliss, for persons do not pass to a
state of heavenly felicity, with their bodies maimed and mutilated.
Nothing can be more ridiculous than the referring such texts to
a future world ! Do the wicked go to hell whole and sound in
health and limb, whilst the righteous go to heaven in a crippled
state ? I suppose that Gehenna, in this passage, is accommodated
to express whatever of evil and misery were incurred by a rejec
tion of the Savior. In my remarks on the 25th chapter of
Matthew, I alluded to the nature of these sufferings.
Be it borne in mind, that this was a place of most disgustful
nptoriety throughout Judea, and had been for many centuries.
The Jews were as familiar with its name as we are with the
term penitentiary ; and the word Gehenna was as certainly asso
ciated in their minds with the idea of the loathsome valley of
Hinnom, as the term penitentiary is in ours with that of a place
of penal confinement. Now this being the case, as the learned
will admit, do you think it probable, reader, that Christ would use
this word with reference to the invisible stale, without apprising
his hearers, in express terms, that he did so use it, and not ac
cording to its common signification ? Suppose a preacher, in our
day, were to threaten his hearers with a severe punishment in the
penitentiary in case of impenitence, would they be likely to un
derstand him as referring to an endless hell ? Yet there is actually
as much of a relation to eternity in this threatening as in that of
being punished in Gehenna.
Perhaps we shall better. understand the meaning of Christ's
allusion to Gehenna, when addressing the rejecters of his gospei,
if we attentively consider the following passage. " And they have
built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son
of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire;
which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. There
fore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more
be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The
valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be

274 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
no place. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the
fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth ; and none
shall fray them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities
of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth,
and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridgroom, and the
voice of the bride ; for the land shall be desolate." (Jer. vii. 31 —
34.) This prediction had not yet received its accomplishment,
but its fulfilment was nigh at hand; it was fearfully impending.
Christ told the Pharisees, " These be the days of vengeance,
in which all things written in the prophets shall be fulfilled ;" and
that the blood of the marlyrs shed in past ages, should be visited
on that generation ; hence he asks them, " How can ye escape the
damnation of Gehenna ?" (Matt, xxiii. 33.) It is manifest, from
the nature of this prediction, that it looked forward to the great
national judgment on the Jewish people, when they were driven
from their country, and cut off from all their former distinguished
privileges. Josephus informs us that nearly half a million of
them were slaughtered in Jerusalem alone, and that their carcasses
were cast out into Gahenna, or the valley of Hinnom.
But some people think that the phrase " shall not be quenched,"
must refer to something absolutely eternal, " for, if not quenched
(say they) it must burn unceasingly." This does not necessarily
follow, however ; a fire cannot be said to be quenched which ex
pires of itself, for want of combustible matter to support it; and
we have reason to believe that this was the case with the fire of
Gehenna, for Isaiah has explicitly recorded that such was Jeho
vah's determination. " And it shall come to pass, that from one
new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all
flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shal!
go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have trans
gressed against me : for their worm shall not die, neither shall
their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring unto all
flesh." (Isa. lxvi. 23, 24.) Sabbaths, new moons, flesh, and car
casses, have no relation to eternity. This text must therefore refer
to a circumstance of time. The same, no doubt, to which Christ
alludes, viz: The unquenched fire and ever-breeding worms of the
valley of Hinnom. The phrase "shall not be quenched," occurs
in several other places in the scripture, in such connexion as leaves
no room for doubt as to the limited duration of the judgment it ex-

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 275
presses. " Then will I kindle a fire in the gales thereof, and it
shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be
quenched." (Jer. xvii. 27.) " Behold, mine anger and my fury
shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and
upon the trees of the field, and upon ihe fruit of the ground, and it
shall burn, and shall not be quenched." (Jer. vii. 20.) It is hoped
that those who contend for ceaseless suffering on the strength
of this expression, will not include among the subjects of that suf
fering, gales, palaces, beasts, trees, and fruits cf the ground! They
should at least limit their tender mercies to the subjects of sensa
tion ! See to the same effect, Ezek. xx. 47, 48. " And say to
ihe forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord : Thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall
devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree : the flaming
flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the
north shall be burned therein. And all flesh shall see that I the
Lord have kindled it : it shall not be quenched." In the following
passage concerning the destruction of Idumea, this phrase occurs
in a form much stronger than in Mark. " And the streams thereof
shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone,
and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not bt
quenched night nor day ; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever:
from generation to generation it shall lie waste ; none shall pass
through it for ever and ever." (Isa. xxxiv. 9, 10.) Il will be ap
parent to the candid reader, from these passages, that the phrase
shall not be quenched, in ils scriptural applications, is. not to be
understood as implying that the fire is to burn to eternity, nor
even that it is expressive of suffering beyond the present life.
The Jews were so accustomed to these expressions in their sacred
writings, where they invariably refer to circumstances of time,
that they were in no danger of being misled with regard to their
meaning as employed by the Savior.
When Christ sent his disciples out lo preach, he gave them the
following caution : " And fear not them which kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. x. 28.) "And I say
unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
after that, have no more that they can do : but I will forewarn
you whom ye shall fear; fear him, which after he hath killed,

276 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
hath power to cast into hell ; yea, 1 say unto you, fear him."
(Luke xii. 4, 5.)
It is usually supposed that Gehenna must here imply a hell
beyond the grave, because the destruction of the soul, as well as
the body, is threatened. But there are two facts in the way of
this position ; the first is, that the word (psuche) rendered soul
in this place, more properly signifies the animal life, and is so
rendered in numerous instances. This criticism, the correctness
of which will not be disputed, removes the ground of the sup
position at once. The second fact is, that the body, which those
whom they were told not to fear had the power to kill, is not
liable to destruction in a hell beyond the grave, but returns to the
dust of the earth from whence it originated. How then can
Gehenna, in this instance, imply a place of torment in a future
state? It cannot. We must, therefore, seek a more consistent
explanation of this passage than that which is usually given.
Some think that the allusion here is to the Roman authority,
personified, which had power, after killing the body, to deny it
burial, and cast it into Gehenna; or to destroy the life and the
body together in Gehenna, by burning alive, which was a nwie
of punishment practiced in that day on the highest class of offen
ders. If such was indeed the Savior's allusion, the following par
aphrase may well convey the sense of the passage. "I say unto
you, my disciples, (for they are the party addressed,) that so long
as you are faithful to the objects of the mission on which I now
send you, you have nothing to fear from your persecutors, for not
a hair of your heads shall perish unpermitted of your Father in
heaven. Entertain no fears, therefore, in regard to them : at the
inost, they Gan but kill the body. You will in that case die a
martyred and honored death ; but even this shall not befall you,
except by your heavenly Father's permission for your good. Be
ware, however, that you run not into unlawful excesses; presume
not on the divine protection, if you should wantonly transgress the
laws of the land, but apprehend the fearful award of the civil ma
gistrale, who, after killing the body, has power to cast it inlo Ge
henna, or (by dooming you to be b-urnl alive) to destroy the life
and body together, in that loathsome place." Peter uses a cau
tion of similar import, to those whom he addresses in his epis
tles. " Beloyed, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial

HLLL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 277
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto
fen : but rejoice, inasmuch as y are partakers of Christ's suffer-
ngs ; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also
with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ,
tappy are ye ; for the spirit of glory and of God resleth upon you :
on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an
evu-doer, or as a busy-body in other men's matters. Yet if any
man suffer as a christian, let him not be ashamed ; but let him
glorify God on this behalf." (1. Peter iv. 12 — 16.) Others again
think that Jehovah is alluded to as the object to be feared, not
on the ground of his ability lo destroy in a hell beyond the grave,
(for Gehenna, in that day, was not received in any such sense,) but
in reference to his power to involve them in a common destruc
tion with that portion of their countrymen who should obstinately
reject the gospel. To me this seems the most probable construc
tion of the text ; for Gehenna was associated in the minds of Jews
with every thing horrid, loathsome, and abominable. Christ tells
the Pharisees that they made their converts " two-fold more the
children of Gehenna than themselves ;" and James, speaking of the
tongue, says, " it is set on fire of Gehenna." Should we be at a
loss to understand a person who should say, that the converts made
to such and su:h principles were made the children of Ike penitent
tiary ? The meaning, I think, would be sufficiently obvious to us ;
we should understand it to imply, that they had become fitted, by
the evil principles they had imbibed, for such practices as might
subject them to the penitentiary. Well, then, as before observed,
Gehenna was a place of as great and of as odious notoriety, in that
day, as is the prison, or penitentiary in ours; for the former was
not only a receptacle for the unburied carcasses of criminals, and
the filth and offals from the vast and over-populated city of Jerusa
lem, but it was also a place of criminal execution. The Jews, it is
well known, held themselves polluted if they came in contact with
a dead body, and it may well be conceived, therefore, what a hor
ror they entertained in regard to so nauseous and loathsome a
place as by all accounts the valley of Hinnom was.
It is worthy of remark, that neither Christ nor his apostles
ever used the word Gehenna except when addressing Jews : to
Gentiles the reference would have been unintelligible. Paul,
Y

278 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
who calls himself " the apostle to the Gentiles," never once used
it, nor any other term answering to the modern idea of hell. It
is somewhat singular — nay, it is very remarkable, that while all
other nations had their respective hells, the Jews, who were es
pecially instructed in religion by Jehovah, for the space of 2000
years, were without any ideas on the subject ! Should not this
fact alone suffice lo prove, that the doctrine of a region of suffer
ing beyond death is fabulous? — that it is of heathen origin ? and
that it has no true and proper connexion with a religion revealed
from heaven ?
It is probable that the idea of a hell was first taken from those
gloomy dungeons, which earthly tyrants have, in all ages and
countries, employed as the instruments of their ambition or re
venge ; hence, with the idea of hell are usually associated the
dismal and heart-sickening imagery belonging to such places as
the Bastile of France, the Black-hole of Calcutta, and the Inqui
sition of Spain or Goa; dungeons, chains, racks, torturing imple
ments, darkness, feverish thirst, groans, shrieks, blasphemies,
burning, suffocation, desperation, despair, all these start up in con
nection wilh that direful word, which has given to priests their
magic power over Ibe souls of men, and which has caused man to
start back with horror from the contemplation of that futurity which
has been opened to him in the gospel as an object of joyful hope.
In this branch of our general subject it is a high satisfaction to
us, that we have the judgments of all, of all sects, both Jew and
christian, in perfect coincidence relative to the radical and primary
meaning of Gehenna ; all agree that it comes from the two He
brew words Gia and Hinnom, literally signifying the valley of
Hinnom. On this point there is no dispute. It is assumed,
indeed, that it came by accommodation to be applied to a hell
beyond this life ; but it surely ought not to be expected that an
assumpli-on of such magnitude will be admitted without the most
substantial evidence ; and none such, so far as I can learn, has
ever been produced, nor do I believe it can be.
Critics are also agreed, as before observed, relative to sheol and
hades, and even our English hell. These things must be kept in
mind by the reader, for they are of great moment in their bearing
upon the settlement of the great question before us, relative to
the truth or falsity of universalism.

HELL PUNISHMENT EXAMINED. 279
The celebrated Dr. John Mason Good, in his lecture on the
nature and duration of the soul, affirms, respecting the popular
tradition, as early as the time of Isaiah, (and Homer, with whom
he believes him to have been contemporary,) that " it taught that
the disembodied spirit becomes a ghost as soon as it is separated
from the material frame : a thin, misty, aerial form, somewhat
larger than life ; with a feeble voice, shadowy limbs, knowledge
superior to what was possessed while in the flesh; capable, undet
particular circumstances, of rendering itself visible, and retaining so
much of its former features, as to be recognised in its apparition ;
in a few instances wandering about for a time after death, but for
the most part conveyed to a common receptacle situated in the
centre of the earth, denominated sheol, hades, hell, or the world
of spirits.
" Such was the general belief of the multitude, in almost all
countries, from c very early period of time, with the difference,
that the hades of various nations was supposed to exist in some
remote place on the surface of the earth, and that of others in the
clouds." It is more than probable that this dim and misty outline of the
realm of ghosts was from age to age amplified upon, until it be
came the abode of the damned, modified amongst different nations
according to the diversified policy of their priests, or fancy of
their poels : by some it has been located in the interior of the
tarth ; by some on its surface in some remote district ; by some
in- the clouds, in the moon, in a comet, or one of the planets.
With some it has been held a hell of fire; with others a hell of
ice ; with others, of alternate burning and freezing ; with others, of
darkness and dreary wandering amid every frightful circumstance,
of hunger and thirst, etc. The latest refinement upon it amongst
christians is, that it has no outward or material existence, but is
merely a slate of moral suffering, remorse, unavailing anguish,
and despair.
If hell be a located place, God made it. He made it with a per
fect knowledge of the end lo which it should answer, and he of
course adapted it to that end. He also created those whose doom
it shall be to groan in its depths forever; and he of course knew
lhat such should be the issue of their being.. And he is infinitely
benevolent, nevertheless ! He " is good to all, and his tender

280 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
mercies are over all his works ! !" Let those believe these absur
dities who can. I can not, if the penalty be a hundred fold dam
nation ! ! !
Thanks be to God ! I lie under no such obligation ! The light
nf his word shines sufficiently bright on the pathway of my inqui
ries on these subjects, to satisfy my understanding and my hopes.
It informs me, that "in the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth," but no mention is made of his havingcreated a HELL !!
So, also, at the conclusion, it speaks of " a new heaven, and a
new earth," but nothing whatever of a NEW HELL ! ! Thus,
neither firstly, nor lastly, nor intermediately, do the scriptures re
cognise such a hell, as at this day is proving, to a frightful extent.
a source of terror, and madness, and suicide.
It is sincerely hoped that the reader will "search the scrip
tures," in order to satisfy himself on this point. He will receive
but little edification from the perusal of polemical squabbles con
cerning it. He must " to the law, and to the testimony ;" and
oh ! let him take heed, that nothing short of these high authori
ties determine him in a belief, so dreadful in its bearings on his
own happiness, and so pernicious in its influence on his views of
the Divine character.

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION.
DOES ABSOLUTE FOREKNOWLEDGE NECESSARILY IMPLY ABSO
LUTE FOREORDINATION ?
So momentous are the consequences involved in this question,
that very many have been deterred from adventuring fairly and
boldly into a discussion of it; for if, on the one hand, it be settled
in the affirmative, it seems clearly to follow that God is the author
of sin — that man is without moral freedom — that he therefore is
not responsible for his actions — and, in that case, promises, threai-
enings, rewards, punishments, appeals to his interests, his fears,
his sense of propriety, &c, are unmeaning mockeries. It seems

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 281
to follow, moreover, that God has incorporated a lie in man's
moral constitution ; for man has an ineradicable persuasion that he
is free — that not his actions only, but his volitions also, are en
tirely subject to his own control ; which, however, is not the case,
if all events are the result of divine foreordination. Such are the
difficulties on the one side. Milton has alluded to them with
much beauty and force in his Paradise Lost, as follows :
" Ingrate, he had of me
All he could have ; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. .
Such I created all th' ethereal powers
And spirits, both them who stood and them who fail'd ;
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,
Where only what they needs must do appeared,
Not what they would 1 what praise could they reoeive?
What pleasure I from such obedience paid,
When will and reason (reason also is choice)
Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,
Made passive both, had served necessity,
Not me?"
On the other hand, if the question at the head of this article be
settled in the negative, it would seem to follow that, in a great
measure, things are left to the determination of chance — that
Jehovah himself may be disappointed in the final issue of affairs-
thai he is indifferent to the eternal interests of his creatures, or he
would not have suspended them upon uncertain contingencies—
that in innumerable instances the will of man will prevail against
the divine will — that, in fact, God can have had no definite pur
pose in creating, save such as he adopted on the foresight of what
man would do; and thus, the doings of the Infinite are shaped
and controlled by the ever-changing vagaries of finite beings; and,
moreover, the deity is, in truth, as directly accountable for all the
events which take place upon the ground of absolute foreknow
ledge, as upon that of absolute foredetermination.
These difficulties on both sides have induced some to seek a
middle position ; none, however, have yet succeeded in the
search — there is no sailing betwixt Scylla and Charybdis here.
Dr. Clarke (as stated in another part of this work) assumes, that
God can be ignorant, if he tries, of such events as he chooses not
to know. A most gross solecism, this ; it implies that the Infinite
v2

282 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
Being, if he please, can dispense with his attribute of omniscience !
And if with one attribute, why not with all, and so cease to be
God ? John Wesley, and others after him, have sought to evade
tho question by perplexing it. " With the Omniscient Being,"
say they, " there is no before, no after — all is present — the past
and the future are one eternal now." This is a mere sophism,
however; for, after all, the knowledge which precedes the events
t<o which it relates is /ore-knowledge; that which is subsequent to
them is o/Xer-knowledge ; all the divine knowledge of events is
necessarily antecedent to them, and we therefore say, that he
/ore-knows all things ; in so saying we conform to the established
usages of human speech, and say what none directly question.
Why, then, do they seek to mystify the subject, save that it be
for the sake of a subterfuge from the force of truth ?
Were I an Arminian, I would not hesitate to take the ground,
that God does not, and can not, foresee future events;- for if they
are contingent, if they are shaped by the accidental determinations
sf the human will, then are there no links connecting them with
the past — no clue reaching back to the origin of things, by which
their succession can be traced ; and even to Omniscience itself,
(it seems to me,) it were impossible to foresee the future, except
by a concatenated series of causes and effects it were connected
wi>h the past. There are things which, in their owit nature, are
impossible; error, for instance, cannot be made superior to truth,
nor vice to virtue; nor can a part be made to equal the whole,
nor the whole to exceed the sum of all its parts ; and, to my think
ing, it is equally impossible to see an end from a beginning with
which it has no necessary connexion.
Maugre, then, all the subtle sophistry to the contrary, we can-
net avoid the conclusion, that absolute foreknowledge does imply
absolute foreordination ; just as certainly as there is a connexion
between causes and their immediate effects, so are these effects
connected with consequences more remote ; and, like the paths in
a labyrinth, which, however mazy and numerous, are found, when
retraced, to issue in the single path with which they begun : so
the millions of events which form the intricate web of human
life, are seen by the eye of Omniscience to be but natural ramifi
cations from causes which originated in his own appointment.
Take different ground, if you will, reader, but where will you

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 283
find it to end ? In a metaphysical morass, where not an inch of
firm footing will be found.
For example, an individual commits a wicked act; this had a
cause; whether a reasonable cause or not, or whether he could
have acted otherwise or not, is not now the question ; it had a
cause. What was it ? Say, if you please, " his depraved nature."
Very well, and had not his depraved nature also a causel " Yes,"
say you, "it was transmitted to him from our first parents, and
was an effect of their first offence." Well, and had not the first
offence a cause too ? " Oh yes," you reply, " they listened, and
yielded to the wiles of the serpent." And pray what was the
cause of their so listening and yielding? Here you are, reader, in
the swamp of which I forewarned you, from which, however lus
tily you may flounder, you cannot extricate yourself. Neverthe
less, (as you are a free agent) you may try. Say, then, that " our
first parents could have resisted the temptation if they had
chosen." But from what cause came it that they did not choose ?
" Well," say you, " I can only answer, that their appetite for the
forbidden fruit was so strong, as to overcome their resisting
powers." One question more, then, if you please. Who created
their appetite, and made it so strong as to overcome their resisting
powers ? This will admit of bnt one answer ; and since, on the
boundless map of the future, the Omniscient eye could clearly
trace from these primary causes, all the multiform results which
Bhould ramify to eternity, is it unreasonable or impious to say,
that he ordained those results.
" All very good !" exclaims the reader ; " and so, as sin is of
God's appointment, I shall go on and commit as much of it as
possible — I shall thereby be merely fulfilling the divine purposes."
Reader! reflect a moment !  Now tell me if there is not more of
rashness than of reason in what you say. You " will be merely
fulfilling the divine purposes !" How know you what the divine
purposes respecting you are? If he has ordained that some shall
come lo their death by poisoning, will you thence conclude that
such is to be your case, and so swallow a fatal drug ? or because
-some are to die by burning, will you conceive it your duty to
throw yourself into the fire ? No, no, you will act more prudently
in this case — you will hope that an easier fate awaits you, and you
will patiently abide it. Very well ; hope also that to you is al

284 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
lotted a life of virtue and happiness : it is at least both your duty
and interest to act on this persuasion, and nothing can be lost by
endeavors toward such a life.
In sooth, this is one of that knotty class of questions, on which
it is much easier to raise difficulties than to obviate them. I greatly
mistake the entire scope of the epistle to the Romans, if Paul
himself had not some experience to this effect ; he seems to have
clearly taken the ground, that God not only foresees, but also fore-
appoints all events : he then saw it to follow, that sin itself must
be included amongst the all things so appointed ; and, therefore,
that sin must, in some sense, be according to the divine will — if not
as an ultimate end, (as it certainly is not,) yet as an intermediate
means; and he anticipates an objection arising on this very ground.
" Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault ? for who
hath resisted his will ?" (Rom. ix. 19.) To meet such cavils was
no difficult matter with one of the apostle's dexterity as a rea-
soner; he could show how Jehovah can effect good results by
means which we should think the least likely to yield them. It
is true, that of even this disposition of the subject, advantage
would be taken by the captious disputant, " Why," he would
ask, "since God effects, by the agency of actions which we term
sinful, such signally glorious results, may not man plead the like
excuse for his wicked actions, pretending that he meant them as
means to a good end ?" Indeed, Paul and his fellow apostles,
were actually charged with teaching the very principle involved
in this question — " Let us do evil that good may come." (Rom.
iii. 8.) And the same has been reiterated against the same doc
trine by superficial thinkers in every age, for little do such super
ficial objectors consider, that it is not their province to foretell how
each particalar action snail come out ; their experience ought to
instruct them that they are often disappointed in the result of
events of the least complex character ; those from which they
predict the best issues very commonly yield (so far as they are
conrenied) the worst, and vice versa. Nevertheless, unintimi-
dated by the cavils and perversions to which this truth was lia
ble from men of superficial or perverse minds, the apostle pushes
on his argument wilh great vigor, showing that the divine Being,
in carrying forward his stupendous schemes, exercises not only
a general, but a particalar direction : every thing is taken up into

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 285
nis plan, and made a means of pushing it forward toward the ap
pointed consummatioa : some he raises up to eminence in the
world, some he casts down ; some he enlightens, some he aban
dons to blindness ; some he calls to the enjoyment of high reli
gious privileges, and some he gives over to hardness of heart and
reprobacy of mind. " Hath not the potter power over the clay,
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
unto dishonour." (Rom. ix. 21.) And most gloriously does this
whole argument end. Love is shown to be the foundation of the
whole scheme of divine government; in all of its infinitely
diversified manifestations, grace is interwoven throughout the
texture : grace indeed is the warp and the woof; of God are all
things ; through God are all things ; to God are all things. Such
(in Rom. xi.) is the apostle's final and satisfactory disposition of
this perplexing and much mooted question.
" Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days,
It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise."
Betwixt Calvinism and Arminianism (so far as respects their
connection with this question) there is not a hair's breadth of ra
tional difference ; the former indeed seems to be the more harsh of
the two, but the more consistent in itself, in reality, however, they
are the same ; Calvinism is Arminianism, asserted in honest di
rectness of terms ; Arminianism is Calvinism, expressed by cir
cumlocution. In verbal modification, however, these isms differ.
Calvinists acknowledge the conclusion, that God has fore-ap
pointed all things, to be inevitable from the fact that he foreknew
all things; Arminians affect to think differently, and affirm, that
Jehovah may design an event to be, when he knows it never will
be ; and not to be, at the same time that he knows it certainly
will ! hence, although he created us with the certain knowledge,
that with regard to a large majority, the act would prove infinitely
disastrous, yet he is not answerable for the result, because he
meant it should happen otherwise ! Most sage and consistent
Arminianism !
Doctor Drugg had been heard to say, that of the two medicines
he had left in his patient's room — the one sanative, and the other
fatal in its qualities — he knew that the sick man would choose th*

286 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
latter, and that his death would be the consequence. When put
upon his trial for murder, on this ground, the Doctor plead as fol
lows : " May it please the honorable court, there is as wide a dif
ference between the foreknowing, and the foredetermining of a
thing, as between the occipital and metatarsal extremities of the
human subject, and therefore, though I knew my poor patient would
come to his death by means of the nostrums left in his chamber,
yet I beg your honors to believe that such was not my intention —
I positively designed his cure." Unfortunately for Doctor Drugg,
the court determined the case on common-sense principles) rather
than on those of Arminianism ; they could not comprehend how
he could possibly purpose to cure his patient by means which he
positively knew would kill him ! Stupid fellows ! had they but
been Arminians, they could have found a parallel for the case in
the conduct which their creed ascribes lo the deity, and thus the
poor Doctor would have been longer spared to the cause of science.
"So! then," exclaims the Arminian objector, " the author re
ally seems bent on proving, that as Jehovah foreknew of the ex
istence of sin, he must also have designed it !" Yes, such is really
my purpose, and this I mean to do upon your own admitted prin
ciples ; you have been accustomed to casting the supposed
odium of this conclusion upon Calvinism, and I am now showing
that it equally pertains to your own system. Calvinism, it is
true, comes to it by a direct path, whilst you, more cautious, ap
proach it by a circuit. For example, you hold that God made
certain angels, with the ability to become devils if they chose ;
he knew they would so choose; he knew that he should banish
them to hell ; he knew that if he should allow them they would
escape from hell to this earth, and tempt from their allegiance to
himself the race of beings called man : he did so allow them ;
he knew that for as long as time should last, age after age should
roll its successive millions of this race into the infernal abyss ; he
knew when he created hell that such should be its uses ; and when
he created these ill-fated beings, he knew that they v/ere to peo
ple its fiery caverns — all these things were as plain before his
eyes as though they were then present facts ; he could have pre
vented them if he pleased, but did not please ! It unanswerably
follows, then, that he designed them. Calvinism admits this at
once. Where is the difference, then ? Just here; your system

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 287
alters neither the length nor the direction of the chain of fate ; it
but makes it to consist of a greater number of links.
Having, then, as I think, established the conclusion, that absolute
foreknowledge implies absolute foreordi nation, I proceed to notice
the objections which seem to lie against it. I have already consi
dered the most formidable of these, viz., that it makes God the
author of sin ; and I now ask how, on any ground, is this to be
avoided? I asserVmoreover, that it is plainly scriptural. Shall we
affect to be more scrupulous in this respect than were the inspired
penmen ? We are told in sacred story, that God put certain dreams
into the mind of Joseph, the interpretation of which was, that he
should come to be- a man of so great dignity that his father and
brethren should be brought to reverence him. What means did
Jehovah employ to bring this end about,? Can it be denied, that
among those means were several guilty transactions ? Such, for
instance, were the envy of the brethren, their selling him for
a slave, and the incontinence of Potiphar's wife. Will any pre
tend that God did not appoint these events ? If he did not, then
he provided other means for accomplishing the end, or no means at
all ; if other means, they were not brought into use ! and God
knew they would not when he appointed them ! If he provided
no means at all, what must we think of his wisdom, in appointing
ends, without the requisite means for bringing them about ? Of
but one method of evasion know I from the force of this case.
The Arminian may say, that in the dreams of Joseph, God only
intimated what he foresaw would come — not what he designed
should come ; and that God merely overruled these sinful transac
tions for good, but did not appoint them as a means to that good.
Ah! this plea will not do. Let us see of what the good consisted :
1st, the deliverance of the chosen people from the famine : 2nd,
nor from the famine of Canaan merely, but also from its idola
tries, to which, as they increased, they wonld have been much
exposed : 3rd, their establishment by themselves in Goshen, (a
rich pasturage country,) where they multiplied to a numerous na
tion : 4th, the raising from them a line of prophets, reaching down
in unbroken succession to the rise of the prophet of prophets,
Christ Messiah, through whom a more glorious kingdom should
be established, as wide in its sway as the extension of being, and
as lasting as the age of the Most High. And will you say, my

288 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
dear reader, that these stupendous occurrences were not previ
ously marked out by Jehovah, and every link in the well-arranged
series of means by which they were brought about, appointed and
adjusted by him ? Was the effecting of these great ends left to
the agency of accident? So at least, thought not Joseph; for when,
after his father's death, his brethren came to him to implore his
forgiveness for their evil conduct toward him, he said unto them,
" Fear not; for am I in the place of God ? But as for you, ye
thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring
to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (Gen.
1. 19, 20.) Thus is God directly recognised by Joseph as the
prime agent in this business; but his was a different motive
from their's, who were the subordinate agents or instruments.
Take another example. Jehovah appointed his Son to die for
the world's redemption ; he meant, of course, that this important
event should he effected in a certain definite way. What was that
way 1 The Savior was to be denied by one of his disciples ; be
trayed by another; forsaken by all; rejected by his own nation;
scourged, and in death confounded with malefactors. All these
things are said by Jesus himself to have been previously marked
out by the purposes of heaven ; and the inspired recorders of these
transactions make no scruple of referring them to the same source.
(Matt, xxvii. 35. John xii. 38; xv. 25 ; xvii. 12 ; xviii. 32 ; xix.
24, 36.) After Christ's death, the apostles set forth the same fact
in their preaching. " Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain." (Acts ii. 23.) The following is to
the same effect. " And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance
ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God be
fore had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled." (Acts iii. 17, 18.) Even in solemn
prayer together they recognise these events as the result of the di
vine purpose. "For of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done." (Acts iv. 27, 28.) I cannot conceive how any rational
man can dream, that God, having for ends of unspeakable glory
and benevolence appointed his Son's death, took no express mea-

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 289
sures for the accomplishment of that event, but left it to be brought
about by mere chance ! Yet have I heard even preachers prate to
that effect frcin the pulpit ! 1 have even heard them affirm that the
-death of Christ was no necessary part of the divine plan ! Let
such wise heads turn to Heb. ix. 8. Col. i. 19, 20, and compare
notes with the great apostle upon this point.
Equally unphilosophical as unscriptural is the denial, that all
things, in the broadest acceptation of the phrase, have their origin
in the unchangeable designs of heaven ; it is, in effect, to dethrone
the deity, and to put the sceptre of the universe into the hands of
finite creatures, whose wills may shape its occurrences to suit
themselves. The pious worthies in bible times were better philo
sophers. Job ascribed his calamities directly to Jehovah. " The
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." (Job i. 21.) " Shall
we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive
evil?" (Job ii. 10.) Yet in bringing these evils to pass, God
employed the agency of Sabine and Chaldean freebooters, as well
as winds, and fire, and disease. (These agencies are, in the bible,
personified under the name of Satan ;) the scheme, you perceive,
involved the sins of robbery and murder! Jeremiah accounts God
the author of the public calamities which he bewails in his La
mentations. " The Lord hath cast off his altar ; he hath abhorred
his sanctuary : he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the
walls of her palaces ; they have made a noise in the house of the
Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. The Lord hath purposed
to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion : he halh stretched
out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying :
therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament ; they lan
guished together. Her gates are sunk into the ground ; he hath
destroyed and broken her bars : her king and her princes are
among the Gentiles : the law is no more ; her prophets also find no
vision from the Lord." (Lam. ii. 7 — 9.) The same prophet asks,
" Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord
commandeth it not ?" (Ibid. iii. 37.) Now in this visitation upon
Jerusalem, Jehovah employed the ambition, the lust of fame and
spoil, of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon ; the earthly mon
arch's purposes were those which his own lusts suggested — God's
were those of retribution upon a sinful people. Let me here ask 
do we not account Napoleon to have been a scourge of Providence
Z

200 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
to the despotic and corrupt nations of Europe ? And if God meant
that our nation should become free when it did, was not his
hand concerned in the oppressions, exactions, evil counsels in the
British cabinet, etc., which directly tended to bring on the great
event ? If any suppose these questions to be impious, I beg they
will peruse 2 Chron. xviii. 18 — 22, and Exod. x. 1, 2. 1 can
not think that signal occurrences, of the nature here alluded to,
take place accidentally ,- and if we allow that they take place pro
videntially, then consistency demands the admission that, in ap
pointing the ends, providence also appoints the means by which
those ends are effected.
" But this reasoning proves," you will say, " that we are desti
tute of moral freedom; whereas this is contradicted by our ex
perience, for we can all do what we please, within the compass
of our ability." Granted; but can you please as you please? You
are pleased with beauty — can you, if you try, be equally pleased
with deformity ? You are pleased with musical harmonies — can
you, by trying, be equally pleased with discords ? You are pleased
with savoury viands — can you, by any effort, become equally so
with such as are nauseous ? If not, then where, I pray you, is your
boasted freedom of choice ? Your will is influenced by motives,
and, for the life of you, you cannot yield to a weaker motive in one
direction, when a stronger one is acting upon you in another; you
cannot prefer pain before pleasure, nor sickness before health. By
an error in judgment you may indeed mistake the weaker for the
stronger motive — every sinner does so when he prefers a present
and momentary gratification, such as vice may yield, before a vir
tuous self-denial, which would secure to him a purer and more
permanent enjoyment. You must see, reader, that the notion of
free-will is a chimera. Is it because you choose, that you love
your friends better than your enemies ? or your own children bet
ter than those of a stranger ? Suppose, then, that you try to cboosa
otherwise — ha? can you make it out1 Whv, thou art a most
puissant free agent, indeed !
There is infinite skill displayed in the divine plan of dealing
with man ; while man is icting to please himself, and is under the
impression that he directs his own volitions as well as actions.
God is, in fact, by his weak and purblind intrumentality, working
tut his own vast purposes — making even his impotent wrath to

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 291
praise htm ; controlling, over-ruling to finally glorious ends, all
his infinitely diversified schemes and doings. To Nebuchadnez
zar, the proud monarch of Babylor, was afforded an experimental
proof of this. " The king spake and said, Is not this great Baby
lon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might
of my power, and for the honour of my majesty ? While the word
was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying
0 king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken ; the kingdom is de
parted from thee : and they shall drive thee from men, and thy
dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field : they shall make
thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee,
until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will. — And at the end of the days
I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine un
derstanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, at.d
I praised and honoured him that livelh forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to
generation : and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as
nothing : and he doeth according to his will in the army of hea-
v«n, and among the inhabitants of the earth : and none can stay
his hand, or say unto him, what dost thou ?" (Dan. iv. 30 — 32, 34,
35.) When Senecharib, king of Assyria, marched back his army
without fulfilling his contemplated invasion of Jerusalem, he sup
posed he was merely fulfilling his own sovereign pleasure ; but
see how God speaketh in regard to him. " Therefore will I put
my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lip's, and I will turn
thee back by the way by which thou earnest." (Isa. xxxvii. 29.)
Indeed, whoever wishes to maintain a firm faith in the doctrine of
free agency, would do well to avoid a study of the scriptures, for
they afford it small countenance indeed. " The preparations of the
heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord."
(Prov. xvi. 1.) "There are many devices jn a man's heart;
nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." (lb. xix.
21.) " Man's goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then un
derstand his own way ?" (Ib. xx. 24.) "The king's heart is in
the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water : he turneth it whither
soever he will." (Ib xxi. 1.) "The lot is cast into the lap;
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.." (Ib. xvi. 33.)

292 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
Has the language of these texts any meaning ? And is it of any
authority in this question ?
I will now show you, sir Arminian, that in your notion of free
agency you are inconsistent with yourself; your practice is in
contradiction with your theory. Why, if our hereafter condition
depend on our volitions, do you supplicate the deity to interfere
therewith? Why ask him to convert this individual, or that, if,
after all, the individual must convert himself? Why should we
look to God for salvation, when the matter depends on ourselves ?
A-*d what meant Paul when he said, himself might plant and
Apollos water, but God must give the increase ? You try to make
out, I know, that our salvation is a sort of partnership concern be
tween God and ourselves — we must do a part, and God will do
the rest. But then, (as you confess,) we cannot do our part until
God does his ; and there are millions in regard to whom his
p«rt is not done at all, (or if at all, ineffectually, which is the same
thing.) You therefore are inconsistent when you connect our sal
vation with our supposed free agency, because by your own ad
mission we have so such agency ! You do not admit this unequi
vocally, I grant, but you certainly do in such terms as clearly
imply it. See the following quotation from the Methodist disci
pline, (which is but a transcript from the Episcopalian book of
Common Prayer, and expresses the doctrine of both those denomi
nations on this head.)
" Art. viii. — Of Free Will. — The condition of man after the fall
of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his
own natural strength and works to faith, and calling upon God ;
Wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and ac
ceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing
us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when
we have lhatgood will."
I do not quote your written creed for the sake of refuting it, for
f belipve it in accordance with the bible and with fact: I quote it
to show your inconsistency with it; for most gross incons.slency
it is to say, that if a man be not converted, it is his own fault;
and yet he can do nothing toward this conversion until God has
begun il, nor then, unless God continue it also when il is begun !
If the language of your creed does not express this, it expresses
nothing intelligible; and certes, the bible expresses it, whethei

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 293
your creed does or not. " Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ." (Philip, i. 6.) See also the following, and
observe attentively, that although every man is represented as be
ing in some degree a subject of divine operations, yet are these
more or less effectual in each individual according as God wills,
not as we will : " And there are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is
given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word of
knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same
Spirit ; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit ; to
another the working of miracles ; to another prophecy ; to another
discerning of spirits ; to another divers kinds of tongues ; to ano
ther the interpretation of tongues : but all these worketh that one
and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he
will." (1 Cor. xii. 6 — 11.) It will be seen that even faith is
among these divine gifts ; and it is certain that we cannot exer
cise a power which we do not possess, and we cannot possess it
except God give it; and he gives it as he wills, not as we will.
Shall we then be damned because he has not in our case willed to
bestow it ? Extremely reasonable, this ! " But he will give it if
we ask for it," say you. Indeed ! But suppose we do not ask in
failh, shall we get it for the asking in that case? Most clearly
not, if the bible is any authority. (James i. 6, 7.) So then, my
friend Arminian, your position amounts to this : " we cannot
have faith without asking for it ; and we cannot ask for it without
first possessing it ; and except we do possess it, we shall be
damned." This is taking us to hell in a circle !
" But why," you will ask, " our salvation not resulting from a
free exercise of our own wills, are we called on in the scriptures,
and from the pulpit, to be active in the business, when, according
to your reasoning, we are but passive after all ? I admit that there
is seeming weight in this objection ; it is easily answered, how
ever. The government which God exercises over us is not direct
and compulsory, but moral ,- it consists in his employing induce
ments, as exhortations, promises, rewards, etc., for the purpose ef
influencing our wills ; and so entirely is our free consent engaged
in the performance of the parts assigned us, that we are little

294 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
aware of the absolute dominion which God is exercising over us
we are aware, indeed, that motives govern us, but we seldom in
quire, who governs motives ? Consistently with the notion of
man's free agency, it is difficult, indeed impossible, to understand
ihe thousand promises with which the scriptures abound, of what
God will do in, and for, the parties to whom those promises re
late ; for there is necessarily implied therein an interference with
the freedom of the will. See the following as a sample: "For
in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith
the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in
the land, serve me : there will I accept them, and there will I re
quire your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all
your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour,
when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the
countries wherein ye have been scattered : and I will be sanctified
in you before the heathen. And there shall ye remember your
ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled ; and ye
shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that
ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am the Lord,
when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not accord
ing to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings
0 ye house of Israel, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xx. 40,41, 43
44.) David says, in relation to the ultimate moral redemption
of the Jewish nation by Jehovah, "thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." (Ps. ex. 3.) And how was this willing
ness to be effected in them ? Paul shall answer : " Work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which work
eth in you, BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO of his good plea
sure." (Phil. ii. 13.)
Old Mr. Benevolus promised his son, that he might have the
morrow to himself, to do on it whatsoever he pleased ; whereupon
John planned that he would begin the day wilh fishing— he would
repair to a neighboring forest and hunt until noon, and the residue
of the day he would devote to a sailing excursion with some com
panions. " You have given him a dangerous license, my dear,"
observed old Mrs. Benevolus, when John was out of hearing; "I
am afraid that harm will come of it.;' "None whatever," replied
the father, " for without violating my word to him in the least, I
promise you he *hal' *¦» ust what we choose." So the old folk

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 295
arranged it between them that a party of young persons should be
invited to spend the morrow at their house ; all kinds of attrac
tive amusement were included in the plan, and among the party
was to be a winning nymph, a cousin of John's, whose brighteyes
were known to exert a fascination over his young heart ; and
there was to be music, and dancing, and every variety of fruits
and confections Jack jumped, and tossed his hat into the air for
joy — away went his projected schemes of fishing, and hunting
and sailing ; for he would'nt be absent from the party, he said, for
the price of his new fowling-piece. You can hardly say, reader,
that John was a free agent, for the old folks controlled his will ;
and yet you perceive he did just as he pleased.
You may not like this view of things, reader, and I will tell you
why ; it is not flattering to your self-love ; you better like the no
tion that your superiority over others is the result of your own in
dependent exertions. " Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,"
is a text which soundeth not well in the ear of your pride ; and
you doubtless thank not Paul for asking the troublesome questions
in the following passage. " For who maketh thee to differ from
another ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive ? now,
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not
received it ?" (1. Cor. iv. 7.) And since this brings us to a consi
deration of the religious differences between some and others, we
may as well get to close quarters on this branch of the argument.
A. is a christian, B. is not; why? " Because A. chooses so to
oe, and B. does not." But why do A. and B. choose so differ
ently ? " Because the one is naturally less perverse and obstinate
than the other." And pray who made the one to be thus natu
rally less vicious than the other ? You are here brought up short,
my friend reader. If B. had possessed the same natural disposi
tions and advantages as A., is it not plain that B. would be a
christian too ? And can he help, (and must he be endlessly damned
for) not having had the same advantages? So your creed im
pliedly asserts, and so Calvinism directly decides; between the
two isms, therefore, (as I have said,) there is not a hair's breadth
of rational difference. It is no detriment to Armiuianism, how
ever, that it is essentially identical with Calvinism ; on the con
trary, it is on that account the more accordant with the scriptures.
("For the children being not yet born, neither having done arair ecoi

298 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of him that calleth,) it was said unto her, The
elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have 1 hated. What shall we say then ? Is there
unrighteousness with God ? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that show-
elh mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this
same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power
in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy,
and whom he will he hardeneth?' (Rom. ix. 11 — 18.)
It is impossible to read the writings of Paul wilh unbiased mind,
without seeing on the face thereof that in his judgment certain
persons are elected from eternity to be the subjects of gospel faith
and obpdience, whilst others are doomed to remain in darkness
and unbelief. Speaking of the comparative fewness of God's
worshippers in the days of Elijah, he represents Jehovah as say
ing to that prophet, " I have reserved to myself seven thousand
souls who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." (Rom.
xi. 4.) On which the apostle remarks, " Even so then at this
present time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if il be of works, then is it no more
grace ; otherwise work is no more work." (Rom. xi. 5, 6.) The
same doctrine is carried out in other parts of the scripture; Christ
tells his disciples, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you." (John xv. 16.) And whilst (as before shown in this work)
the greater number of the Jewish people were debarred from be
lief in him by the purposes of God, a knowledge of his Messiah-
ship was forced upon others, who are termed " the elect," and in
regard to whom it is said, " and as many as were ordained to eter
nal life, believed." (Acts xiii. 48.) It has been seen that Thomas
did not believe in Christ from choice, but from necessity ; and as
suredly Paul himself had -no will in being thrown from his horse
and convinced by ocular evidence that he was persecuting the
Lord Messiah ! Nothing is clearer from the scriptures than that
believers in those times regarded themselves as particularly elect-

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 297
ed and foreordained to that privilege. " According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame before him in love : having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." (Ephe. i. 4,
5.) Peter plainly sets forth the same fact in his epistles : he tells
the Gentile converts to whom he writes, that while the Jews
were afore-appointed unto a disobedience and rejection of the gos
pel, that themselves were an elect people, " a chosen generation ;"
having now obtained mercy, " that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his mar
vellous light." (1 Peter ii. 7, 8, 9.)
To the more superficial part of my readers, an explanation may
be necessary, why we should suffer for sin, if it is committed
agreeably to the fore-appointment of God. Should we suffer for
what we cannot help ? Let such remember that they are as much
concerned to answer this question as I am ; for, whatever their doc
trine may be, they must see it to be the fact, that we do suffer for
what we cannot help. We suffer so soon as we are born. Can we
help being born ? We suffer greatly from teething. Can we help
this natural operation ? Many of us suffer from hereditary dis
eases. Can we help those diseases ? And lastly, if our lives are
prolonged, we suffer from the decay of age, and surely we cannot
prevent that decay. " But why should we be censured and
punished for sin, if its commission be but the result of foreordi-
uation ?" You are answered, reader, so soon as you answer
yourself, why you crush with detestation the odious reptile under
your foot, when you know it cannot help being the reptile that
it is ! And why you love any beautiful being, and hate a loath
some one, when the one nor the other can account for being what
it is ! Truth is, our Creator has designed that this existence should
be one of partial suffering — moral as well as physical suffering;
and in appointing the end, he has also appointed the means. Sin
is the main means by which the former is brought on ; he who
sins most, has most moral suffering : God has joined these two
things together, and no man can put them asunder. The reader
will therefore learn not to plead this doctrine as an excuse for
sinning the more, for, so sure as he does so, he must suffer the
more. All this, I know, would reflect no glory upon the Cresu

298 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
tor's character, but for the fact — the glorious, heart-cheering fact,
that out of all this shall issue an universally benevolent result;
" our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, worketh for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
And now, my smart Free-thinker, do you object to the bible
because it inculcates this doctrine ? I will then show you that if
is as accordant with fact as with scripture. Is it because men
please that one is born of rich, and another of poor parents ; one
of vicious, and another of virtuous parents; one grows up in de
cent, and another in profligate society ? Had I been born in the
Chinese empire, I should, in a civil respect, have been a slave,
and in a religious, a worshipper of the Mogul, or the Lama. Had
1 been born of Russian peasants, I should have been a serf; but
having been born in America, I am a freeman. Did I choose
where, or of what parentage I should be born ? No— this in the
order of providence was determined for me by my Creator. Even
in Christendom I might have been born of infidel parents, and edu
cated in infidel principles, in which case, in perfect honesty of
heart, I should have probably adopted an infidel creed. Or I might
have been born a subject of certain moral imbecilities, which
would have determined my religious character for life, 6uch as a
flexibility of purpose and of principle; my intellect might have
been feeble, lacking in forethought and judgment, whilst my ani
mal propensities might have been violent. Who will say, that
thus constituted, I should not have found it more difficult to
be a virtuous man, than do others of different natural powers and
temperament ? Say now, if you can, that our moral characters
are determined for us by our own free choice. No sir, if you be
lieve in a God, you must refer all the events of life to his pre-ap-
pointment. But you are an Atheist, perhaps ? Well then, your
goddess, Chance, with her bandaged eyes and dizzy brain, has
fixed these affairs of human life thus irreversibly, by the force of
her blind decrees. And are we profited by the exchange of an
Almighty deity, whose benevolent energies are unerringly,
u From seeming evil still educing good,
And better thence again, aud better still.
In infinite progression,"
for an unseeing, unthinking, unfeeling fatuity, whose hap-hazard
determinations can never be brought to any beneficent conclusion '

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 299
The Arminian's favorite and stereotyped maxim is, that what
ever may be the civil or the constitutional differences among
men, the spirit of God operates sufficiently- upon all, to make
each man's advantages for salvation the same, and to leave all
inexcusable who are not saved at last. This I deny : — the scrip
tures, facts, and virtually their own creeds and prayers, deny it ;
they are in the constant habit of thanking God for advantages
which they themselves possess over others Who, that has
read the lives of Bunyan, Tennant, John Newton, Col. Gardner,
Brainard, Bramwell, the Wesleys, Adam Clarke, and others of
that class, can help admitting that a well arranged train of provi
dences determined them to be what they were ? I have before
shown that on Christ's own authority, God did less for Sodom
than he afterward did for Chorazin and Bethsaida, and that the
former could have been saved, had as much been done for it as
had been done for the latter! And God himself told Jerusalem,
which he spared, thatiier sins greatly exceeded those of Sodom,
which he had cut off! (Ezek. xvi.) Has the sinner who is cut
off in the bloom of youth, and just as he is ripened for hell,
equal advantage with him who lives in sin until his hairs are
hoary, and who then from sheer satiety turns from sin with loath
ing, and prepares for heaven ? If the natural advantages of all
men were equal, and an equal measure of divine assistance were
afforded to all, it is certain" that the effect upon all would be the
same, and if any would be christians all would be. If even the
natural advantages of all men were not equal, yet if the measure
of divine assistance were proportioned to the requirements of
each, the same result would follow; for similar causes will inva
riably, under like circumstances, produce similar results. But all
men are not in a like degree affected by divine grace ; therefore,
all men have not the same opportunities afforded them in this world,
for securing their salvation in the next. Thus Arminianism is
logically refuted. For example, if my organ of veneration (phre-
nologically speaking) is smaller than another's, it will require
more external means to excite religious affections in me than in
him ; if more is not granted me, and he have but barely enough
for his salvation, it will follow llmtl shall be damned for tbe lack
of the aid which my Maker saw to be indispensable to my salva
tion. Could I prevent that lack ? Or, if my organ of marvel-

300 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
lousness is small, I shall require more evidence to satisfy me of
the truth of Christianity than will another of greater credulity;
if that additional evidence is withheld, should I (as I could not
help it) be eternally damned therefor? God created some to the
clearly foreseen end that they should suffer an eternity of pains:
did he love these as well as those whom he created to a different
end ? Say nay, and you pronounce him partial ; say yea, and it
follows, as he is unchangeable, that the wicked inhabitants of
hell shall to eternity be as much the subjects of his love as the
pure inhabitants of heaven ! Once more  But what boots it to
chase Arminianism through its various corkscrew windings ! I
have already shown it to be one with Calvinism in fact, and only
differing from it in verbal modification ; its abettors are constantly
letting out this truth in their prayers, and sermons, and related
experiences. John Wesley, in his tract on the efficacy of prayer,
for example, relates that a certain woman implored the Lord to
dedicate to himself her infant from its birth, and to make it the
subject of his special protection ; consequently, saith the good
but credulous divine, the earliest lispings of that child were pray
ers and expressions of piety ; and when he grew up, he became
an eminent christian. Now, to say nothing of the weakness of
supposing, that the unchangeable Jehovah could be induced by
the mother's prayers to love the poor child better than he other
wise would have done, and to take the case as it stands, what does
it prove? It proves that because the mother implored him to be
so, he was partial to that child ; he did more for it than for others :
independently of its own agency he stamped upon it a religious
character, by virtue of which, it is to be presumed, it got to heaven
at last; it might otherwise have got to an endless hell !
" Great God ! on what a slender thread
Hang everlasting things !"
So exclaims an Arminian poet, and well may he so exclaim.
Believe me, reader, it is not possible to avoid the conclusion,
that all evenls take place agreeably to the unalterable decrees of
Jehovah ; whether we look at facts, as recorded in history or in
our own experience, or as they transpire around us, or whether
we examine the subject in the light of the scriptures or of corn*
raon sense, we are irresistibly brought to this conclusion : most
gladly would I haye avoided it \t it had been possible, for mj

FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION. 301
prepossessions were strong, and of long standing against it ; and
even though at length convinced of its truth, yet had I a struggle
with the remnant of prejudice within me ere I could consent to
discuss it in this work. I feared two things ; 1st, that the doc
trine of necessity (as it is called) might prove practically injun
ous ; and, God knows, I would not consent to acquire wealth or
fame (allowing my poor production could procure me either) by
means which might prove injurious to mankind. After duly
weighing this consideration, I came to the following conclusion :
Truth is from God, it therefore cannot be injurious, but the con
trary ; moreover, the brightest lights of the christian church, of
all past ages, have believed in, and maintained this truth; many
even who have suffered martyrdom for the cause of Christ — a
great majority of the Scotch nation (not notorious for impiety,
certainly) have always maintained it since they became protestant :
our pilgrim fathers, too, were unanimous in its belief. Indeed, if
we but reflect seriously upon it we must see, that this truth not
only exalts the divine character, but it furnishes inducements to
man to trust in God, and cheerfully to acquiesce in the allotments
of his providence, inasmuch as all are to be brought to a good
issue at the last ; whereas the persuasion that all things, even
interests of endless and inconceivable magnitude, are left contin
gent on the vagaries of human will, must necessarily tend to
affect the mind with despair — to induce distrusts of God's wis
dom and goodness — to beget suspicions that in omitting to provide
against our final undoing, he betrayed a recklessness in regard
to us, quite incompatible with his professions of love, and of
desire for our salvation. Thus my first objection to a discussion
of this point was removed. My 2nd was, that it would render my
book more vulnerable to to what? Not lo valid objections,
reader, but to misrepresentation ; to the vapid common-place of
party decrial, &c. for religious controversy is conducted frequent
ly with g'eat dishonesty ; however, this weighs little tvith me,
for I must not suppress truth from a fear of what the consequences
of its pub3ication may be lo myself. I have published it, there
fore, and if any should undertake its refutation, I beg them to be
assured, that their success will not be hailed wilh greater pleasure
jj y their own party, than by the author.
2A

JI02 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
ELECTION AND REPROBATION
SCRIPTURALLY ILLUSTRATED.
This article, reader, is designed as a sequel to the one forego
ing, and in this many important points will be cleared up, which
in that were left out of view, for I wish to avoid fatiguing your
mind by over-long articles ; and I hope, moreover, to gain your
attention the better by varying the style of the whole as much as
possible : for this purpose we shall prosecute the residue of this
branch of our discussion in a conversational form ; the parties in
the conversation are supposed to be a Calvinist, an Arminian, and
the author.
Caivinist. I most fully concur in your conclusion, that absolute
foreknowledge necessarily implies absolute foreordination ; and
therefore that all things exist agreeably to the divine will and ap
pointment: I often tell my Arminian brethren that their notion of
a God who leaves the most momentous affairs to be determined by
contingencies, is but little, if any, better than atheism ; because,
tike it, it makes it a matter of mere chance whether existing things
shall issue in a desirable order and harmony, or whether they shall
progress from bad to worse to eternity : even in heaven we may
not be secure against the bad effects of free agency ; another
rebellion may take place there, another battle, and another expul
sion of a part of its blissful inhabitants to the dwelling place of
the damned.
Arminian. But you forget, sir, that we have the positive word
of Jehovah, that the state of the redeemed in heaven shall be one
of changeless felicity.
Calvinist. Yes, he has so promised, I grant, and he may mean
that such shall be the case ; but it is none the more certain for that,
if your doctrine be true, for he is constantly breaking through his
purposes, and doing acts which he meant not to do! He meant
lhat sin should never enter the world, yet it entered; he meant
that man should live eternally in Eden, yet he drove him out ; he
meant that man should be immoTtal, yet he dies ; he meant too
that his Son should save the world, yet by much the larger part
->f it is to be damned ! In like manner, he may very sincerely

ELECTION AND REPROBATION. 303
mean tnat our future bliss shall be changeless, yet it may prove
quite otherwise ; and the time in future ages may come, when all
the purity and the bliss in existence may be confined to his own
essence, and all the universe besides may be a chaos of sin and
desolation. Author. And besides that, my friend Arminian, God, you say,
does not interfere with the freedom of the will, and therefore, he
cannot keep you in heaven if he would, provided you should
make up your mind not to stay there. If you can point out a way
in which, consistently with free agency, he can prevent you from
sinning in heaven, you will show a way by which he could have
prevented our sinning on earth, and drawing down infinite ruin
upon our heads : if you say that he did not choose to employ that
way, you in effect assert that he did not choose to save us, by the
only mode practicable, from sin and eternal woe ! And what is
this but taking Calvinistic ground outright?
Calvinist. Well, to continue the subject with which I begun, I
am heartily glad to find that we can travel the same road with re
gard to the divine decrees, and the utter exclusion of human works
and human will from the business of salvation ; but our road
forks al length, I perceive ; you assume that God has decreed to
save all men, and that in due time he will effectually call and
6ring them in, if not in time, at some period beyond ; here, then,
we must part, for our road branches into two, between which
there is a wide separation. You admit the doctrine of election
to be scriptural ; why not then the doctrine of reprobation also,
for the one presupposes the other?
Author. Not always. Do our elections at the polls presuppose
the reprobation of the public ? On the contrary, the good of the
mass, who arc not elected, is consulted, and designed to be sub
served by the instrumentality of those who are. When an indi-
'dual is proposed for an office among us, we inquire whether he
will be likely to prove a faithful public servant-— whether he will
be true to the interests of his constituents — and d. ng satisfied on
this head, ve give him our suffrages; thus it is seen, *hat in elect
ing some to distinguished places, instead of repr sating the
residue, we propose the genera! good. God elects on A e same
principle. Why were the Jews elected to be God's po Miliar
people " Evidently that the true worship of God might He pre-

804 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
.served in the world, until the time should be ripe for ita more
general diffusion. In electing Pharaoh (in the order of his provi
dence) to be king of Egypt, Jehovah had views to the good of
the world at large ; not only that he might show his power in
him, but also that his name might be declared throughout all the
earth. (Rom. ix. 17.) The Savior himself was elected to ends
of universal benevolence. " Behold my servant, whom I uphold ;
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth : I have put my Spirit
upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. A
bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not
quench : he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not
fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth :
and the isles shall wait for his law. I the Lord have called thee
in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and
give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles ;
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. (Isaiah xiii.
1, 3. 4, 6, 7.) Christ elected his apostles also, not for their own
exclusive good, but as his instruments in diffusing the blessings
of the gospel to mankind at large. And those who through faith
in the gospel are brought to a present knowledge and enjoyment
of God, are far from being to be considered the whole harvest of
grace in the world ; they are but " a kind of first-fruits of his
creatures." (James i. 18.) Now to all acquainted with Jewish
usages, it is known that the first-fruits, when presented as an offer
ing to the Lord, were (if accepted) considered as an earnest of thf
successful ingathering of the entire harvest ; to this fact Paul
alludes, when he says, " for if the first-fruits be holy, the lump
is also holy." (Rom. xi. 16.) And this remark from him is par
ticularly worthy of notice, when we consider ils application ; for
reprobated as were at that time the bulk of the Jewish people,
yet they are all to be brought in at last (as the apostle argues) for
the first-fruits of the nation (the patriarchal fathers) were holy :
" Atid as is the root, so are the branches." The apostle introduces
the same figure also when maintaining that the whole creation
shall be redeemed, and that the bliss of any portion thereof must
necessarily be incomplete until that important event is consum
mated ; there is (he represents) an earnest looking and longing
for it on the part of all creatures. " And not only they, but our-

ELECTION AND REPROB \TION. 305
selves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit ; even we our
selves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body." (Rom. viii. 23.) He again employs
the figure of the first-fruits when treating on the resurrection of
the dead ; he considers the presentation and acceptance of Christ
our spiritual head as the first-fruits from the grave, to be a sure
pledge of the ultimate gathering in of the whole harvest of man
kind. " 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
his own order: Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming. Then cometh 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 and power.
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put
all things 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 be subject unto him that
put all things under him, that God may be all in all." (1 Cor.
xv. 20 — 28.) In this view of election there is nothing repulsive
to common sense, to justice, to goodness, as there undeniably is
in the Calvinistic view of the subject. On the contrary, all is
here consistent, beautiful, benevolent ; the elect of God are but
the first fruits of his grace ; the present earnest of that victory
over sin, and assimilation to infinite purity, which it will eventu
ally achieve in the whole human race.
Calvinist. Very pretty, I grant ; very plausible too, to mere
human reason, but we are not to estimate things by the standard
of our frail judgments; we are to remember that we are infinite
offenders against God, and as such, deserving of his holy disptaa
sure to all eternity. Consequently, we 
Arminian. Stay ! I wish to know how we can deserve God's
displeasure to all eternity, if, (as you and the author both main
tain,) we are not free agents ; we do only such things as he fore
ordained we should do ; we canm t be righteous except he see
5t to make us so, and yet for not being what we could not be,
2a2

B06 TRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
wo are deserving of the great Jehovah's infinite displeasure '
Why, my dear sir, one must have a credulity equal- to an earth
quake to swallow all this !
Author. You swallow il, nevertheless, my friend, as well as he,
for I have proven sin to have been foreordained on your principles
as well as on his ; your notion of man's free agency I have showr
to be a fantasm, and consequently, if it is unjust and cruel in Go^
to inflict endless suffering on his ground, it is equally so on
your's. The doctrine of endless misery is equally indefensible on
either ; it reflects equal discredit upon the divine character on both
Calvinist and Arminian. Yes, if mere human reason is to be
the judge.
Author. As a human being, I can have no other than human
reason ; I must either exercise that, or none ; if none, why are the
claims of God -ipon my love, my homage, my confidence, pressed
upon my consideration ? If my understanding cannot comprehend
the 'acts of my Creator, I cannot then know whether they are wise
or foolish, good or evil, and therefore I cannot tell whether he is
entitled to my love or my hatred, my admiration or my con
tempt. The very fact of our being called on to adore and serve
him, presupposes our capacity to understand the nature and the
grounds of our obligations to him. Away ! then, with your
senseless decrials of human reason, for Jehovah himself has hon
ored it by frequent appeals to it in his word.
Calvinist. Well, waiving that matter for the present, let us
attend further to the original point between us : you have shown
that election does not necessarily imply reprobation. I grant it
does not, but I still contend that there are some cases of special
reprobation brought to view in the scriptures. Take the follow
ing as instances : " But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost : in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
(2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.) " And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ; that they all
might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness." (2 Thes. ii. 11, 12.)
Author. I have not meant to deny the scripture doctrine of
reprobation ; on the contrary, I have shown that whilst some are

ELECTION AND REPROBATION. 307
called to eminent gospel privileges, others, (at least in this life,)
are excluded from all participation therein. Yet, thanks to God !
we are not left in hopeless darkness as to the final fate of even
these reprobates ; the great apostle has most satisfactorily cleared
up this point : he has shown that there is to be an eventual and
universal ingathering of reprobated Israel, when the fulness of
the (once rejected, but subsequently elected) Gentiles be come
in ; in the very casting off of the Jewish people, mercy was de
signed to the rest of the world. " I say then, Have they stum
bled that they should fall ? God forbid : but rather through their
fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to
'ealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world,
and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles ; how
much more their fulness ? For if the casting away of them be the
reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but
life from the dead ?" (Rom. xi. 11, 12, 15.) This will show the
purpose of God in sending them " strong delusions ;" and it also
shows us the end of the damnation consequent thereof: the same
is also expressed in the following. " For as ye in times past have
not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their
unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that through
your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded
them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." (Ibid.
30 — 32.) We see then that the " lost," to whom, in the days of
the apostles, the gospel was "hid," were not by Paul considered
as irrecoverably so; it was " the lost" whom Christ came " to
seek and to save." Neither does it follow, that because some
seem at the present in a far-gone condition of darkness and sin,
they are eternally to remain in it.
Calvinist. What meant the Savior, then, when he represented
such only lobe his sheep as hear his voice and follow him ? And
does not his promise that he gives unto them eternal life, and that
they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his
hand, imply on the face of it that he will not do the same for al;
the human race?
Author. Il certainly implies that he does not do the same for
all, but not that he never will. It is granted that some are his
people in a peculiar sense, and that others are not so at the present
time; but if we affirm that the same shall to all eternity be the

308 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
case, we must set a large part of the bible at nought. Jesus him
self says, " And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold ;
rnem also I must bring, and they shall hear ray voice ; and there
shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John x. 16.) Even in our
strayed condition we are spoken of as sheep of his flock, and he
as the shepherd, pursues in order to bring us back to the fold
"All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all." (Isa. liii. 6.) Who that has read, and attentively
considered, the beautiful parable of the lost sheep, can doubt the
benevolent perseverance of the shepherd in pursuing sinful and
wandering man, until he has fully succeeded in the object of tho
pursuit ? Truth is, that elect and reprobate are distinctions belong
ing lo time only, and not even to all of time; for, as before shown,
the Jews, once highly favored, are now reprobate ; the Gentiles,
once reprobate, are now highly favored. Anon the Jews shall be
gathered in with the fulness of the Gentiles, and all distinctions
shall be lost forever; there shall then be neither Jew nor Greek,
barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but all shall be one in Christ
Jesus. In the speech which James delivered in the apostolic
council at Jerusalem, the doctrine of election and reprobation is
presented in perfect harmony with these views. "Simeon hath
declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of
them a people for his name. [These were the elect ; some taken
out from the mass as subjects for gospel grace.] And to this
agree the words of the prophets ; as it is written, After this I
will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David which is
fallen down ; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I
will set it up ; that the residue of men [those left, after some had
been taken out] might seek after the Lord, and al! ihe Gentiles,
upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, whodoethall these
tilings." (Acts xv. 14 — 17.) We here have the rejected, the
passed by, the reprobates, plainly brought in at last ; and were it
otherwise, the declarations that God is impartial, and that his
ways are equal, would be without any meaning intelligible to
mankind. Calvinist. Il is not partiality in the great Jehovah to damn one
sinner according to, and save another contrary to, his deservings •
in the one case he glorifies his justice, in the other his grace

ELECTION AND REPROBATION. 309
A-» deserve to bo damned, and would be damned but for his elect
ing mercy, which snatches some from their merited doom, " as
Drands from the burning." The non-elect have no ground fol
complaint, for their condition is rendered no worse by the sal
vation of others than it otherwise would be ; hence with the
pious Baxter we may exclaim, " Let deserved be written upon the
gates of hell, but on the gates of heaven be inscribed the free
gift." Author. Did not your creed blind your eyes to the light of reason.
my friend, you would be far from satisfied with this disposition of
the case ; for, first, as our friend Arminian has shown, endless
ruin is not, cannot be, deserved, by acting in accordance with the
divine pre-appointment. And, in the second place, if it even
were deserved, both justice, and the principle of impartiality, re
quire that either all should be punished alike, or pardoned alike,
since all are alike involved in a common guilt. What would be
thought of a chief magistrate, (in whom our constitution has
vested the pardoning power, for discretionary exercise,) if he,
acting on the principle you ascribe to the deity, should pardon
one part of a piratical crew, and hang the other, when both were
equally guilty? Would the public mind approve so arbitrary and
capricious a use of his prerogative ? On the contrary, would il
not arouse against him the honest indignation of every thinking
man ? If some of the pirates were less deserving of death than
others, that would alter the case ; but this is not the posture i»
which your creed places it : according to it, all are alike guilty
and alike deserving of punishment ; and yet that same God
whose " ways are equal," and " who will render unto every man
according to his works," damns some according to, and saves
others contrary to, their deservings ! Truly, my friend, to believe
this does require a most marvellous credulity !
Arminian. Mr. Author, I like your views of election and rep
robation right well, they effectually vindicate the goodness and
equity of our Creator : but I cannot be reconciled to your views
of foreordination ; nor can I see any use, if they be correct, id
your preaching, writing, or using other means for the reformation
of mankind. Why, I ask, do you use means in order to an ena
which is unchangeably foreordained ?
Author. Because they also are foreordained. Isaiah announceo

810 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
to Hezekiah, king of Judah, that God had appointed him to live
yet fifteen years ; nevertheless, this did not prevent, on the part
of the sick monarch, a recourse to medical means for his recovery
(Isaiah xxxviii. 21 .) " Except these abide in the ship," said Paul,
" ye cannot be saved," notwithstanding that God had told him that
they should all escape, and become converts to the gospel by his
means. " For there stood by me this night the angel of God,
whose I am, and whom serve, saj.. g, Fear not, Paul- thou
must be brought before Cesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all
them that sail with thee. Wherefore, Sirs, be of good cheer : for
I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." (Acts
xxvii. 23 — 25.) It is presumed that Paul did not preach to these
the less on account of the assurance that they were to be given to
him for converts ; it is scarcely probable that he excused himself
with the plea, that as God had purposed their conversion, it
would be effected with or without means.
Calvinist. I fully approve your answer ; the purpose respect
ing the salvation of the elect is indeed unalterable, and the number
of the same " is so fixed and definite, that it can neither be added
to, nor diminished." Still, as you have said, he who has ap
pointed the end, has also with it appointed the means whereby i'
is to be effected : and the same is true with regard to the reprobate ;
they are to be damned by the agency of appointed means — the
gospel was appointed " a savour of life unto life, and of death
unto death." »
Arminian. The poor reprobate then would have been better off
without it, if it is only to prove to him an instrument of final ruir.
This is truly horrible ! It ollows srnclusively from your view
that the gospel is an occasion of greater evil than good, by jb
much as the number of the damned will exceed that of the saved !
And is this " the gospel of the grace of God ?" Oh ! assuredly
not. I see now a great utility in preaching on universalist prin
ciples, inasmuch as it is to be an effectual means in God's owi
time and way of bringing into the fold of life the whole of humac
kind ; an end, this, worthy of such means ! and a means, this, (I
may add) worthy of such an end ! But to preach the glorious
gospel to intelligent creatures for the mere purpose of furnishing
an excuse for damning them eternally ! God of heavsn ! how
diseased by corrupting creeds must be the mind of the man, who

ELECTION AND REPROBATION. 311
can tolerate such an absurdity ! You affirm that the gospel is
appointed as a sure means of bringing about a total ruin to
millions — the universalist has it a sure means of accomplishing
a final salvation for all.
Calvinist. And according to Arminianism it will prove a sure
means of accomplishing nothing! It may, or it may not, just as it
shall happen! All may be saved, or none! God may prevail, or
the devil ! hell may be useless, because tenantless, or all the uni
verse besides may be depopulated to people it! all is uncertainty,
nothing is sure ! Now, agreeably to my system, something, at
least, is certain ; the purposes of Jehovah, seconded by his power
to fulfil them, are a guarantee that he has not created in vafn ;
nor has Jesus died, nor the scriptures been given, nor the gospel
been preached, nor the spirit operated, but that all whom from
eternity he designed for salvation, shall be saved.
Arminian. All whom he designed for salvation ! I wonder then
you don't turn universalist at once ; for I am sure it is susceptible
of easy and clear proof, that all were designed for salvation ; and
if all so designed shall be saved, why then, all shall be saved !
This is giving in to universalism with a witness.
Author. Well, well, gentlemen, we may as well bring oui
conversation to a close, for you cannot sufficiently agree togethei
lo unite in opposing me : on the contrary, you make out a clear
proof of my doctrine by the arguments which you urge against
each other. One of you affirms, that there is, on God's part, a
plenitude of power for the salvation of all : the other, that there is
a plenitude of disposition. What, then, is left to me to prove?
for a full disposition to do a thing, and a power adequate to its
performance, implies with certainty that the thing shall be done.
It must be evident to your candor, gentlemen, that each of your
systems, taken separately, " limits the Holy One of Israel ;" out
of both, united, a theory may be framed which will well harmo
nize with the divine perfections. Universalism, in my judgment,
is that theory.
Arminian. Nevertheless, I must still object against both
yours and the Calvinian system, that, by assuming that all things
are the result of divine appointment, they make God the author of
all the sin in the universe !
Author. We make him the author of all things, indeed; so do

312 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
the scriptures ; so does common sense ; and so, I may add, does
your own doctrine also, as has been shown before. It can make
no actual difference between us in this respect that you say, God
permits, while we say, he appoints, for the result is the same in
both cases. I have a tiger chained to a stake ; without my per
mission it can do no harm ; there is a group of lovely children
playing near by ; the monster is glaring at them, his eyes flash
fire, he claws the ground, and gnashes his teeth with rage. Shall
I permit him to get loose among them? It is done ; he has broke
his chain ; he has bounded into their midst : merciful heaven,
what a scene of carnage ensues ! their screams pierce my rou\ !
My conscience accuses me of the deed, but I am guiltless ! I am
guiltless ! I only permitted it.
An act is sinful only as it is committed with a sinful drsign ;
God's designs, like himself, are infinitely and unchangeably good,
consequently, he cannot sin in any act or appointment if his,
(however much suffering may be involved in its present opera
tions,) because not only is such act, or appointment, designed for
ultimate benefit to all who are affected by it, but the Beiny who
so designed has power sufficient to bring such benefit topas«.
The tiger is loose, (by which I would personate sin and ¦¦mse-
ry,) whether by appointment, or permission, you must see that the
divine character is equally concerned in the event. Shall it roam
and make havoc amongst God's offspring forever ? or shall it bo
destroyed — the wounds it has inflicted be healed, and the subjects
of its violence he brought to see and experience, that, all things
considered, it was better for them to have suffered from its fury
for a time, that thereby their happiness might be enhanced for
eternity ? Your creed renders an affirmative answer to the former
question — mine to the latter. And now tell me, candidly, which
answer is the more consonant with the glory, the wisdom, the
benevolence of the infinite Creator ? Put your hand on your heart
and answer.
To the question, " Why do you write, and preach, since, as all
things take place by necessity, you cannot alter them?" my an
swer is, I can alter such things as were appointed to be altered by
my means. As before observed, when ends are ordained, the
means for effecting them are ordained also; there is then all the
use for means upon this scheme, as upon any other.

EVERLASTING, FOREVER. ETC. 313
" But how would you reply to a criminal," (I nay be asked,)
4 who should plead, that as it was foreappointed to him to com
mit the deed, he ought not to be punished for it ?" I would answei
hiin, that it was also foreordained that he should suffer for the act.
It was certainly foreordained that Judas should betray the Savior,
and also that he should experience the woe pronounced upon him
therefor. If you don't like this view of things, good friend, whoever you
be, the author will be most happy to have you refute it : show
that it is contrary to scripture ; contrary to experience, to fact ;
and bring forward, in lieu thereof, a scheme which shall unite the
suffrages of all these in its favor ; which shall better consist with
the Omnipotence and sovereignty of the great Jehovah; and not
only will the author become your most willing convert, but he
will make you, into the bargain, his most sincere and humble
bow of thanks.

EVERLASTING, FOREVER, &c
A BRIEF VIEW OF THE ARGUMENT FROM THESE TERMS.
We are apt to forget, in this branch of the discussion, that the
question is not about the meaning of English words ; for as the
bible was not written in English, the meaning of terms in that
language can have nothing whatever to do with the settling of the
inquiry as to its doctrines. The proper question before us is,
What is the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words, which are
rendered everlasting, eternal, etc., in our version of the scriptures ?
In Ihe attempt to maintain the doctrine of endless suffering, it has
been most strenuously contended, that the radical and most usual
sense of these words is unceasing duration. If, however, we
attend to their applications, we shall have reason for considering
this definition extremely questionable : they are applied to hills,
and mountains ; to the term of human life ; to the Aaronic priest
hood ; to the Jewish ordinances ; to their possession of the holy
land, and to many other things of temporary duration. In one
2 B

314 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
instance,/ore»er is applied to a period of three days. (Jonah ii. 6.)
If such uses of terms were only occasional, if they occurred but
now and then, and after long intervals, we might suppose them
employed out of their strict and ordinary signification ; but
such is far from the fact ; on the contrary, their application lo
limited periods is so frequent, that the best critics in the lan
guages have defined them as "expressing duration, but with great
variety." That they are frequently used to express eternity is granted,
chiefly as applied to God and his attributes ; but then, it must be
observed, their being so applied is no evidence, that this is their
radical meaning, for we also find days, years, and ages, similarly
applied. (Ps. Ixxxix. 29 ; Mic. v. 2 ; Ps. cii. 24, 27 ; Isa. xxvi.
4; Ephe. iii. 21.) Yet surely none will hence infer that these
words, apart from their connexion, imply eternity, although as
thus applied they undeniably do. The same is true of everlasting,
forever, etc. : when the subject to which they are applied is in its
own nature eternal, they are to be understood as expressing that
sense ; but when the duration of the subject is limited, they must
be understood as implying but a limited duration.
Seemeth it at all probable, reader, that if the radical sense of
these words were as affirmed by the doctors of endless misery,
Jehovah would have employed them as he has in his commands to
the Jews ? He surely did not purpose that their peculiar religion
should be of perpetual obligation ; yet he directed that the priest
hood should be everlasting. (Ex. xl. 15.) He set apart the house
of Aaron to this office forever. (Deut. xviii. 5.) He gave the Jews
the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. (Gen. xvii. 8 ;
xlviii. 4.) He instituted the sabbath as a sign betwixt him and
them forever. (Numb. x. 8.) The atonement was to be an ever
lasting statute. (Lev. xvi. 34.) Their ordinances of the pass-
over, (Ex. xii. 15.) tabernable, (Ibid. xxxi. 17.) and circum
cision, (Deut. xxviii. 46.) were to last forever. And the same
term, in its duplicated form, is applied to their possession of the
promised ]and, forever andever. (Jer. vii. 7; xxv. 5.) Many simi
lar texts might be quoted, in which these terms are used in a way
greatly to have deceived the Jews, if their generally received
sense had beer unending duration; for they would in that c?3d
naturallv have inferred thai their institutions were to continue

EVERLASTING, FOREVER, ETC. 310
without end, whereas it is well known that God meant it but as a
preparatory dispensation, to be succeeded by another of superior,
excellence and glory.
In Hawes' Reasons against Universalism, (published by the
American Tract Society,) it is affirmed of these terms that they
" invariably imply the longest duration of which the subject to
which they are applied is capable." About as true, this, as many
other statements in the same work. Was not the Jewish sab
bath capable of being continued longer than it was ? Was Canaan
incapable of being possessed by them to the end of time? Was
not their priesthood capable of being continued indefinitely ?
Could not Jehovah have secured the sacerdotal office to the family
of Phineas (in which it was to continue/om'«-$ for more than 400
years ? Was the fish incapable of containing Jonah for more than
three days ? Truth is, that the declaration falls about as far withia
the range of truth, as does Nova Zembla within the torrid circle:
if I had faith in its verity I should turn Jew at once.
Let us suppose a person, believing in endless misery, to be
sent on a mission to a colony of Jews, for the purpose of convert
ing them to christianit)7 ; he begins by acknowledging their reli
gion to have been instituted by Jehovah, and to have continued
in force for nearly fifteen centuries, but it at length (he tells them''
gave place to the religion of Messiah, " who hath changed the
customs which Moses delivered," and that all men are now called
upon, under a penalty of eternal damnation, to abjure their former
faiths, and modes of worship, and become the subjects of the
gospel kingdom. They ask him what he understands to be the
radical meaning of the terms everlasting, and forever. How, now,
shall he answer them ? If he say, that they only require to be
understood in the sense of endless, when the subject is such in its
nature, he will be conceding to universalism all it asks ; he will
be compromiting the main reliance of the dogma of endless suf
fering. This will not do. If, on the other hand, he tell them,
with Mr. Hawes, that they invariably imply the longest duration
nf which the subject to which they are applied is capable, he will
subject himself to their scorn. " What !" they will exclaim,
"call you upon us to abjure the religion of our fathers, in favor
of an upstart system which originated fifteen hundred centuries
later, when by your own acknowledgement we are commanded to

316 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
retain the former for as long as it is capable of being observed ;
for our statutes, and ordinances, and priesthood, were all to be
everlasting, forever, etc., and these imply the longest duration cf
which the subject is capable! Why, sir, since you acknowledge
the divinity of our scriptures, it becometh you rather to turn Jew,
than to call upon us to become Christians!" Our missionary
would find himself iu a sad quandary here.
It may be said, however, that as the immortal state is more
distinctly revealed in the New Testament than in the Old, the
terms rendered forever, etc., may be used in the former in a more
definite and uniform sense. We will see how this is. The pri
mary word in the Hebrew is oulem, in the Greek it is aion; the
au thors of the Septuagint have uniformly employed the latter, in
i\?ndering the former, which shows that in their judgment these
terms are of similar signification ; and who so capable of judging
as they, who were conversant wilh both languages as spoken?
Truth is, that aion, by the consent of the most eminent linguists,
is of as uncertain signification as oulem. Alexander Campbell
says, "its radical idea is indefinite, duration." We need only to
remark its various applications in, the New Testament, to be
convinced of this.
It is true that Dr. Clarke says in one place, that it is the
strongest word that could have been employed for expressing the
eternity of punishment ; and his judgment would have been enti
tled to respect, high respect, were it not nullified by what him
self has said, of the same term in other places, as well as by the
fact of its frequent application to periods of time. Eternity never
had a beginning, but the beginning of aion is alluded to in five
different passages. (Luke i. 70 ; John ix. 32 ; Acts iii. 21 ; xv. 18 ;
Ephe. iii. 9.) Eternity can have no end, whereas the end of aion
is spoken of in several places. (1 Cor. x. 11 ; Heb. ix. 26 ; and
five timss in Matthew.) There can be but one eternity, but the
scriptures mention a plurality of aions. (Tim. i. 17 ; Ephe. iii.
17 ; Col. i. 25.) It is absurd to speak of this eternity, in dis
tinction from a future eternity ; but the scriptures speak of this
aion, and the aion to come, iu several instances. (Matt. xii. 32 ;
Mark x. 30 ; Luke xviii. 30 ; Gal. i. 4 ; 2 Tim. iv. 10. etc. ; to
come, Matt. xiii. 32 ; Heb. vi. 5.) And yet aion is the strongest
term that could have been used to express endless misery ! The

EVERLASTING. FOREVER, ETC. 31
doctor's creed was sadly in the way of his candor when ha
penned this affirmation.
That the scriptures do employ stronger terms for expressing the
duration of the future life, of the glory of heaven, and the risen
nature of man, is past denial ; they inform us that our being in
the resurrection shall be one of incorruption, of immortality, of
glory: we shall die no more; Christ was made, (they say,)
" after the power of an endless life." And Christ has said, " Be
cause I live, ye shall live also ;" as therefore his life is endless,
the reason for our life will be endless also. Could the scriptures
not have guarantied the eternity of torments by some such
expressions? That they could must be admitted, and that they
have not is evidence that this doctrine was not designed to be
taught therein.
From the writings and preaching of some, one would think that
the passages which connect the words everlasting and forever
with punishment, constituted a principal part of the sacred wri
tings, whereas the case is so much otherwise, that there are but
two passages in the whole of the Old Testament where these
terms occur in such connexion ; not at all in the gospels of Luke,
and John ; but once in Mark ; not at all in the Acts of the apos
tles, although several extracts from their preaching are therein
contained ; but once in all Paul's epistles, which form so consi
derable part of the New Testament ; not, at all in the epistles of
Peter, James, and John ; so that all the instances together woulA
not make so many as may often be found in a six-penny printed
sermon, or even a farthing tract. Nevertheless, if found but once
in the bible, in a sense corresponding to our English word endless,
it would be sufficient to authorize the classing of that sentiment
among the doctrines of inspiration.
Still it must be confessed, in that case, that the bible would
stand most grossly self-contradicted ; for who could then affirm
that the wrath of Jehovah is not as enduring as his mercy ? whereas
the bible, over and over again, represents the former as but mo
mentary, and the latter as enduring forever ! Who could affirm,
too, that the Lord will not always chide, be always wroth, nor
contend, nor cast off, forever ? But the bible does so affirm ! Who
could say that God loves his enemies, overcomes evil with good,
and is without variableness or shadow of turning? And who

318 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
could say that he is good to all, and that his tender mercy is ovei
all his works? Yet the scriptures do thus represent him ! Such
are the contradictions in which the bible must be involved if we
allow to the words everlasting, forever, etc., an unlimited signifi
cation, as they are applied to punishment.
" But why," I may be asked, " do you take these terms in the
sense of endless, when they are connected with promises of this
kind, and reject such sense when they are connected with threat-
enings ?" I only so accept these words, reader, when the nature
of the subject evidently so requires. How, for example, can we'
possibly limit their signification in the above quoted promises ?
" The Lord will not cast off forever" — " will not always chide" —
" he retaineth not his anger forever" — " I will not contend for
ever, neither will I be always wroth," etc. ; suppose we make
forever, and always, in these texts, to mean a limited period, they
will then read, that the Lord will not cast off, nor contend, for a
limited period ! But this is contrary to fact. There is, then, an
evident necessity for understanding everlasting, and forever, in
promises of this nature, in an unlimited sense; whereas, if we so
understand them as connected with threatenings, we shall have
the scriptures involved (as before shown) in most manifest self-
contradiction. Let us take a particular case, in which a contradiction seems to
be clearly involved. David, toward the close of his life, admon
ished Solomon in the following words : "And thou, Solomon my
son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a
perfect heart, and with a willing mind ; for the Lord searcheth all
hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts :
if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake
him, he will cast thee off forever." (1 Chron. xxviii. 9.) How shall
this closing declaration be reconciled with the declaration in
Lamentations ? " For the Lord WILL NOT cast off forever ;" for
the latter is not special in its application, it belongs to no particu
lar time, nor people, but is general and absolute. How then shall
we reconcile these texts? It can only be done by maintaining that
David could not, by forever, have intended to all eternity ; and that
he did not is clear from the fact, that he himself has furnished us
with the declaration of Jehovah, that he would not, in any case,
utterly abandon any of his children. "If his children forsake mv

EVERLASTING, FOREVER, ETC. 31«
raw, and walk not in my judgments ; if they break my statutes
and keep not my commandments ; then will I visit their transgres
eion wilh the rod, and their iniquity wilh striptu Nevertheless
my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail." (Ps. lxxxix. 30 — 33.) We must not, then,
if we would avoid arraying scripture against scripture, understand
David as threatening Solomon with an event, which God had
solemnly swore to him should in no case come to pass.
If the inspired writers designed to teach the notion of ceaseless
suffering, it is strange, as there unquestionably are words in both
the Greek and Hebrew tongues, which could be combined to ex
press that idea in an unequivocal manner; it is strange, I say, that
they have in no instance employed such words for the purpose !
Mahomet has found words for very clearly teaching this doctrine,
in his Alcoran ; and it is also very unequivocally expressed in the
Book of Mormon .- some of the old christian writers have also
clearly enough expressed it. None will deny that it is lucidly set
forth in modern creeds ; and in fulminations from the popular
pulpit, God knows it is dealt out with sufficient intelligibility.
The inspired writers alone, it would seem, knew not how to ex
press it in a way to be understood ! or they did not try — which
is the more likely ?
Unending misery ! Who ever conceived the import of that ex
pression? Eternal suffering ! Suppose the sun (a million times
as large as our earth) to be a globe of fire — suppose a spark to be
stricken therefrom and extinguished every millionth year, the
period would arrive at length, when all those millions of years
would have elapsed, and the last spark of the sun would be
quenched ; but eternity would be as little exhausted, as when the
process of extinction commenced ! Take a parchment, as broad as
the space conceived to be occupied by creation, on alL its surface
write millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions, etc., making every
succeeding number to exceed the one before it; then add all these
together, multiply the aggregated sum by another of equal amount,
and let each unit in this vast sum represent a myriad of ages —
what would all these be to eternity ? As the minutest atom to the
whole universe !
And in all this time will not the anger of Jehovah abate ? Will
these ages upon ages of suffering not suffice to appease his wrath.

82" PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
orto mollify his resentment ? No, no, no ; suns, part. .e<.tietpai-
ticle, millions of years intervening, may be put out forever; ages
on ages, beyond the power of numbers to compute, may roll away
into the unbeginning past; each planetary member of our solar
system, of all the systems composing the universe, may mouldej
with the slow decay of an atom to every myriad of centuries, but
ihe ire of Omnipotence shall never, never, never, never know
ought of diminution ! He whose command to us is, " Let no!
the sun go down upon your Wrath," will, nevertheless, cherish
toward us a wrath as unextinguishable as his own essence ! And
what are we, upon whom his almighty energies will be thus
avengingly poured down? ,What? The minutest animalcule
which the microscope brings within the reach of vision, tears the
same proportion to immensity that we bear to him !
And will no considerations avail, such as his relations to us
¦is Creator, and Father — his having brought us into existence
without our consent — the exceeding shortness of our earthly
probation — the feebleness of our faculties of understanding and
judgment — the dimness and uncertainty amidst which the paths
of truth lie hidden from our perceptions — the many passions, ap
petites, anxieties, interests, and duties, aside from the business of
our soul's salvation, which pressed upon our attention, and left
as but small time for concern about our eternal affairs — will not
these considerations, I say, when pleaded from the depths of our
misery in hell, avail us by softening him into compassion ? No,
no, " God is love ;" no, no, " he is kind to the unthankful and lo
the evil ,-" no, no, he " is good unto all, and his tender mercy is
over all his works ;" no, no, he loves his enemies ; no, no, he
" will not cast off forever ;" no, no, he " is merciful and gracious"—
"full cf compassion" — " abundant in goodness and truth," etc.,
therefore his anger shall endure to eternity, and the misery of his
guilty offspring shall have no end ! ! !

LAKE OF FIRE, AND SECOND DEATH. 321

LAKE OF FIRE, AND SECOND DEATH.
These expressions occur in the book of Revelation only. I
introduce them here, not because I have the vanity to suppose
that 1 can furnish the true key to their meaning, for I pretend
not to be able to do this with certainty, but because they are
usually urged against the universalist faith with the more vehe
mence, and positiveness, as, of all the other parts of scripture,
they are least understood. I can speak to the negative point of
what they do not mean, with more confidence than to the positive
of what they do.
That the lake of fire cannot refer to a place or mode of suffering
in another life, is evident from the nature of some of the things
subjected to its operation ; these are death, hades, the beast, and
the false prophet. The first three of these, it can scarcely be
supposed, are suitable subjects for endless suffering ! Death is a
mere negation — the absence of life; hades is the separate state;
the beast personates the corruptors and opposers of Christianity, or
a corrupt hierarchy, some say Jewish, some Pagan, some Romish
christian, and some (the Romanists) the pseudo reformed chris
tian ; it may mean either of these, or the Lord knows what.
Whatever it means, however, it is represented, together with the
false prophet, as having been "cast alive into a lake of fire, burn
ing wilh brimstone," from which, if the lake of fire mean hell,
we must infer that they were consigned bodily, in flesh and blood,
to its sulphurous flames !
It is equally evident that the second death cannot signify aa
endless death, (as some assume,) because the inspired testimony
is full and clear to the point, that death is to be destroyed, swal
lowed up in victory, be no more, etc., which may imply any thing
rather than that it shall endure, and triumph over millions of Jeho
vah's offspring, to all eternity !
Touching the meaning of Revelation there is a great diversity
of judgment among critics. They are also much divided as to the
period at which it was written — some placing it before, some
after, the destruction of Jerusalem : to my mind the probabilities
seem decidedly to favor the former position; and I also think

^22 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
that the book, chiefly relates to that catastrophe, and to the various
sircumstances attendant on the introduction of the christian insti
tution. I have, as I think, very substantial reasons in the book
itself for this opinion. In the introduction thereto it professes to
disclose things that were " shortly to come to pass," and for which
it even says, " the time is at hand." (i. 1, 2.) And that the judg
ments threatened through the book were to have an immediate
(and not a remote) fulfilment, seems evidently to be implied in
the closing declarations : — " Surely I come quickly ;" (Xxii. 20.)
" Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with me, to give
every man according as his work shall he." (xxii. 12.) It seems
too that the city and temple of Jerusalem must have been yet
standing, not only from their being referred to in several indirect
forms, but from the additional fact, that John is directed by the
angel to measure the temple. " And there was given me a reed
like unto a rod : and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure
the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure
it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall
they tread under foot forty and two months." (xi. 1,2.) Moreover,
I have (in the article on a general judgment) shown reasons for
identifying the judgment so sublimely described in chapter xx.,
with that of which Daniel spake in a strain of equal grandeur,
(Dan. vii. 9.) which is regarded by both Bishop, and Sir Isaac
Newton, and other eminent expositors, as portending the momen
tous events which should attend the destruction of the Mosaic
economy, and the setting up of Messiah's kingdom.
By keeping these things in mind, we need be at no very great
loss for the understanding of the phrases at the head of this arti
cle ; we can at least attain a high degree of probability in regard
to it. As to the lake of fire, we often find that very figure em
ployed in the descriptions of the judgment at the end of that
world (aion, or age); Malachi calls the period thereof " the day that
shall burn as an oven." (iv. 1.) Christ said, that at the end of
that world, (or age,) the tares should be cast into the furnace of
fire. (Matt. xiii. 40.) God expressly says he will gather the
Jews into the midst of Jerusalem, and melt them as silver is
melted in a furnace. (Ezek. xxii. 18, 22.) And it is said that
the Lord's " fire is in Zion, and bis furnace in Jerusalem." (Isa.

LAKE OF FIRE, AND SECOND DEATH. 323
xxxi. 9.) This, indeed, was a figure to which those whom Christ
and his apostles addressed were well accustomed. In Revelation,
the lake of fire is represented as an agent in destroying, as well as
punishing. Death, hades, the beast, etc., are not subjects of pun
ishment; the destruction of the two former, at tho time of th«
introduction of the gospel institution, must imply, I think, that
the fundamental and most glorious feature in that gospel, viz.,
the doctrine of immortality, would effectually and forever dispel,
in the minds of believers, all fears and anxieties on the subject of
death, and the state beyond it ; and that it would also carry their
minds forward in anticipation to the final extinction of these and
all other foes to human happiness.
The second deathis also used in reference both to the punishment
of sentient beings, and the destruction of insentient things. After
the stating, that all liars, adulterers, the unbelieving and abomi
nable, etc., were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, it is added,
" this is the second death :" here the phrase must imply a process
of punishment. Again, after telling that death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire, the revelator adds, "this is the second
death :" it here, unquestionably, implies an utter destruction,
for, as stated before, death and hades cannot be subjects of suffer
ing; and, therefore, in this instance the lake of fire cannot signify
a place of punishment, or of misery : it were the height of ab
surdity to speak of casting insentient things into misery ; their
being cast into a lake of fire can only intimate their deslruction.
" But why may it not mean an utter destruction in both cases ?"
I may be asked. Because, I reply, its application in other
places is such as clearly to discountenance such construction.
" He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." (ii.
11.) From this it is plain that the punishment denominated the
second death, was one involving pain, and not deslruction. More
over, it is said of those who had part in the first resurrection, " on
Buch the second death hath no power." (xx. 6.) These are the
cvercomers who should not be hurt of it: whereas, the fearful,
the unbelieving, etc., should be subjected to its full power; the
smoke of their torment should ascend " day and night, forever and
ever." Hence, the phrase implies suffering, not extinction of
being; it implies, I may add, temporal, or timely suffering, where
ibrti- is an a,4ernalion of day and night.

324 PRO AND CON 01 LN1VERSALISM.
In the close of the book, the gospel institution is spoken of
under the figure of a city — a holy city coming down from Godoui
of heaven; into this pure and happy place none are admitted but
such as are pure in character : " there shall in nowise enter into
it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of
life :" the gates thereof are never to be closed, inasmuch as atal'
limes it is to be' accessible to all, upon their faith and reforma
tion. In it is no darkness, nor sin, nor death, nor sorrow; olc
things are there done away, and all things are new. This highly
colored description of the gospel state on earth has been often
supposed to refer to a time called Millennium, when Christ shall
literally descend, and live with his saints on this terrestrial globe
for a thousand years : but there is no necessity for so extravagant
a supposition ; any one who has familiarized himself with the
poetic style of the sacred penmen, will easily believe that nothing
more is intended in this beautiful vision, than the setting up of
the kingdom or church of Messiah in the world ; the joy, and
hope, and purity, and peace, which are the lot of its subjects, and
the prospects it would afford to all believers, of a final and glo
rious issue from the sorrows, and death, and guilt, of this earthly
state, in the unending felicity and immortality of heaven.
The Savior never intimated, at any time, in any of his several
discourses with his apostles, that he was to come in latter times,
and establish a civil dynasty in this world ; he would certainly
not have left a matter of this consequence unrevealed : we never
find it referred to in any of the apostolic epistles, which it unques
tionably would have been if it were to take place. It seems to
me a weakness, a puerility, to base a doctrine of such magnitude
upon a passage or two in a book, which is avowedly the least
understood of all the sacred writings ! It is admitted that Christ
has now a spiritual kingdom on earth — it is admitted that he is
-present, in doctrine and spirit, in this kingdom — il is admitted
lhat this divine dynasty is extending ils conquests over the glohe,
dispelling sin, and darkness, and despair, and imparling holiness,
and light, and hope — it is admitted, moreover, that in ihe light of
this kingdom, death and hades lose their blighting influence over
the mind of man, and a clear end, and glorious issue, are seen to
all the evils which now infest the world, What more is needed.

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION CONSIDERED. 325
then, to meet the just and sober expectations which (making due
allowance for the poetic coloring employed in this enigmatical
part of the sacred oracles) arise out of what is said by the revela-
tor, about the thousand years' reign of Messiah on the earth ?
Candor replies — nothing.
Reader, I am greatly averse to dogmatizing, and will not
pretend, therefore, that 1 have infallibly unfolded the true signifi-
;ance of the parts of this mystical book which I have touched
ipon ; but this I will affirm, that I have given you my own views
wilh all candor, and that I have formed those views with the
utmost care, and without implicitly following Ihe steps of any of
the numerous expositors thereof, and consequently I shall not ask
rou implicitly to follow mine.

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION CONSIDERED.
1 have several times anticipated the question, whether the Cre
ator could not have accomplished all his proposed ends of benevo
lence, without subjecting us to those preliminary sufferings which
form so considerable a part of our present allotment? " Was it
not," we are frequently asked, " equally possible for him to have
made us perfectly happy at once ? and if so, must he not be want
ing in goodness not to have done so?" It is not for us to say
what the Almighty could or could not have done, in this case ;
it seems probable, however, that with every degree of imperfec
tion in being, there must necessarily be a corresponding degree of
imperfection in happiness : himself alone is infinitely perfect in
nature, and, consequently, himself alone is infinitely perfect in
felicity. If he could have made us as perfect, he could also have
made us as happy, as himself: but then we could have known no
progression in happiness ; we could not have passed from this
¦state to a better, from that to a better still, and so on, ad infini
tum, as seems to be our destination under the present order of
things. This is one view of the case which tolerably well solves
the enigma of the existence of suffering, under the government of
infinite love: but there is another.
2C

326 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
We frequently hear the remark, thai all our happiness is com
parative, or that it arises from contrast — that we could not enjoy
food if we never experienced hunger — nor drink, if we never knew
thirst — nor rest, if we were strangers to fatigue, etc. This is a
mistake, however ; allonr pleasure is not relative, although much
unquestionably is ; but our senses are so contrived as to be media
of positive enjoyment to us. It is not essential to our appreciating
ihe fragrance of the rose or violet, that we previously respire the
sulphuretted hydrogen arising from foeted house-drains : Ihe infant,
.t may be presumed, without previous experience, enjoys the food
with which nature has so kindly furnished the mother for its sus
tenance. No, all our happiness does not result from contrast ; yet
who can doubt that it is incalculably increased thereby ? A man
who is born to affluence — whose whole existence has been spent in
ail the enjoyments which wealth could supply — who has never
Known the fatigues of labor, nor the gnawings of want — has but
small zest for the pleasures which offer themselves ready culled
.0 his hand ; but he becomes sick of satiety, and a prey to that
stagnation of soul proceeding from the want of an object to engage
its energies. But conceive a poor man, accustomed from his
oirtli to severe drudgery, and the coarsest fare: or conceive the
pampered son of wealth first supposed — let him be cast by accident
upon an inhospitable coast — he must needs traverse a savage de
sert ere he can reach the abodes of civilized life — days and nights
of want and suffering elapse during his toilsome journey — hunger,
and thirst, and weariness, and burning heat, and dangers innume
rable ; — he reaches the goal at length, is kindly received, furnished
with all the luxuries of tropical existence — delightful groves over-
snadow him — breezes laden with aromatic incense fan his frame —
the melody cf birds regale his ear — and all that appetite — all that
fancy can crave, is subject to his wish. Is argument needed,
rpader, to convince you that our traveler enjoys these luxuries
with a more intense delight than, before he tasted of adversity, he
ever experienced ?
That our enjoyment is incalculably enhanced by contrast, then,
(s past denial, and we hence obtain an idea of the probable use
of our present suffering ; the bliss of eternity may be the more
exquisite for the tears of time, and the happiness of each succeed
ing stage of our existence may be heightened by the deficiencies

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION CONSIDERED. 327
of the stage preceding it; for I am far from thinking that we
shall arrive at once, on our reaching-heaven, at the acme of feli
city, but we shall be progressing toward it, to eternity. From
this reasoning, it seems probable that the bliss of an infant spirit
(which has had little or no experience of suffering) is not so
great on its first arrival in the abodes of bliss, as is that of the
idult who has reached the haven after long struggling against the
^,-vinds and tides of time.
By those who suppose our first parents to have been placed in
a condition of perfect happiness before their fall, their case may
seem a refutation of this theory concerning the utility of suffering;
but 1 da not admit the premises. If the first pair had been com
pletely happy ere they sinned, they could not have been tempted
as they were ; the very manner of the temptation proves their
felicity to have been incomplete ; their appetite coveted the inter
dicted fruit ; this implied want, which they were forbidden to
gratify, and urTgratified want (however unreasonable that want in
itself) is one of the ordinary elements of misery. They desired,
too, to be as Gods, knowing good and evil, which clearly implied a
discontent w:th the lot assigned them ; they aspired to a higher
sphere, and this is the essence of ambition. They experienced
aleo a hunger of intellect, a desire to know good and evil, and this
knowledge they supposed the tree would impart. It is therefore
exceedingly clear that they were not absolutely happy, although
more happy, undoubtedly, than subsequent to their fall.
'• What can we reason, but from what we know ?" the poet
a.--ks ; and from all that we can know at present the probabilities
seem decidedly against the supposition, that it is possible for Je
hovah to create sentient creatures, who, from the commencement
fof their existence, shall be in possession of absolute and unmixed
felicity ; it seems a fair presumption, that, were it possible, his
('nfinite goodness would have so created and circumstanced them,
that to all eternity, all creatures should be utter strangers lo want,
or pain, or to any thing which would render their happiness incom
plete ; for bpnevolence cannot approve of misery for its own sake,
although for the end's sake it may ; and if misery be not absolutely
indispensable to the end, it cannot approve it at all, for the plain
reason that it must always prefer to effect the best ends by the best
means.

828 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
Behold, then, fellow mortals, the use of the sufferings of which
you at present complain ! Let your souls be bowed in adoration
and love before the throne of your Almighty Father, who permit-
lelh no evil to come upon you but such as he sees will turn out
for your greatest good in ihe end.
" God nothing does, nor suffers to be done,
But what ourselves would do, if we could see
The end of all events as well -as he."
Give not place to impatience, then, nor to profitless repining under
affliction. Call not his wisdom, nor his justice, nor his love, into
question, as though the sorrows or disappointments you experj
ence were supernumerary ; not one of them is such — each hath its
own assigned weight and bearing on the great and glorious issue.
" His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour ;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower."
And you, afflicted fellow pilgrim through a world of sin, who have
been oft and deeply stricken with the shafts of sorrow, most wel
come are you to a share in the comfort with which this doctrine
is fraught ; and if you find the remedy herein for which your heart
is seeking, I give you joy of your discovery, and shall feel most
thankful if my instrumentality have led to it.
" Peace to thee, mourner, coming years
Will give thee joy instead of tears."
For myself, if the reader will pardon the egotism, I will say, that
the light of this theory is the most placid and cheering which
can be brought- to shine upon the pathway of my life; in it my
heart can most cheerfully bask when the darkness of disappoint
ment is settling upon all its earthly hopes. Courage ! courage,
my soul ! Thou art clad with a panoply which makes thee invul
nerable to the shafts of despair — thou mayst sow in tears awhile,
but anon thou shalt reap a plentiful harvest of joy.
Past my fleeting term of sorrow,
Then shall my life's sun decline,
But 'twill rise in joy to-morrow,
And in cloudless regions shine.

DIFFERENT VIEWS AMONG UNIVERSALISTS. 329

DIFFERENT VIEWS AMONG UNIVERSALISTS.
Our opponents are apt to reproach us on account of the diversity
of forms in which our doctrine has been held by different classes
of universalists ; but if this circumstance makes against its truth,
what shall we say of Christianity itself, which has existed under a
thousand variant modifications ? True it is, that in nearly all ages
of the church, men of eminent learning and piety have discovered,
that the bible most clearly teaches the final salvation of all man
kind, and having found this, they have employed their ingenuity
in devisiDg modes, by which they cou'd harmonize it with their
peculiar notions of the atonement. It is thus that hypothetical
theories have been formed, in order to account for obvious bible
facts. Origen, so distinguished a luminary of the church in the third
century, and many after him, whose minds were bewildered with
the Platonic mysticism of a triplicated deity, and who supposed
that as sin is directed against an infinite Being, it is therefore in
finite, and being infinite, it must demerit an infinitude of punish
ment — these, I say, sought out a method by which the damned
may be restored, eonsonently with these (as they supposed them)
fundamental principles ; but this is not to take place until long
ages of suffering have been endured, and that of the most terrible
kind. This scheme, in our country, is usually termed Winches-
terian, from an eminently amiable and gifted divine, (formerly of
the Calvinistic baptist communion,) who was indefatigable in its
promulgation, both in England and America.
The learned and venerable Tillotson, a prelate of the English
church, took a different view from the preceding ; he supposed
endless suffering to be actually threatened in the bible, but as uni
versal salvation is also most clearly taught therein, he accounted
for the paradox by supposing, that th» former is not designed to be
inflicted, but only to act as a means of terrifying and reforming
wicked men : he cites the case of Jonah's denunciation against
Nineveh as an illustration of his hypothesis. '' Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown." (iii. 4.) But the menaced
calamity was averted by the repentance of the inhabitants, and as

330 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
this result could not but have been foreseen, the learned prelate
supposes that Jehovah merely employed the threatening for that
especial end.
Mr. Huntington, a very celebrated congregational clergyman, of
Connecticut, advocated universal salvation on Calvinistic princi
ples : he supposed that Christ, as the federal head of all man
kind, offered himself, and was accepted by divine justice, as their
substitute ; and, therefore, that all the denunciations of the divine
law against sin were executed upon Christ in the sinner's stead.
Divine justice being thus fully satisfied, has no further claim upon
men, and grace can accomplish its benevolent purpose in rescuing
them from the dominion of sin and death, aud exalting them to a
glory and felicity far surpassing that from which they fell. In
this way as sin hath abounded, grace shall much more abound.
Mr. Huntington's views, which were drawn up and vindicated
by himself with much copiousness and ability, were published
after his death (agreeably to an injunction in his will) under the
title of " Calvinism Improved." In the preface to the work, he
Btates, that he had entertained these sentiments for fourteen years ;
but as a congregational minister, (although he had advanced no
thing expressly contrary thereto in all that time) he had deemed
it prudent to abstain from an open avowal of them. Such were
the bigotry and intolerance of the times !
Somewhat similar to this scheme is that of Mr. Relly, of Lon
don : he supposed an indissoluble union to subsist between Christ
and the human family, in consequence of which, they are esteemed
righteous for his sake, and he guilty for tbeir's ; they are adorned
and beautified with his grace and purity, and he is abased and
degraded for their sins, until infinite justice is satisfied, and both
shall then be perfected and blessed forever more. Mr. Relly's
doctrine was the form of universalism advocated by John Mur
ray, the earliest universalist preacher in America — a man of un
doubted genius and lively turn of mind, whose biography is singu
larly eventful and instructive
With the peculiar views of the universalists of Germany, I am
not acquainted; they exist in such number that an American
orthodox divine (President Dwight of Yale College) who visited
the country, reports that lie fell in with but one learned man who
professed a belief in the eternity of hell torments, and even he was

DIFFERENT VIEWS AMONG UNIVERSALISTS. 331
not quite clear that the bible taught the doctrine ! But as to the
particular form (or, for aught I know,/orms,) in which the ulti
mate restitution of all men is held in Germany, I cannot assert
with any confidence ; the divine before referred to affirms, that
they maintain it on philosophical rather than scriptural grounds.
Nevertheless, his testimony concerning the general rectitude of
their character, and the extent and depth of their erudition, is in
a very high degree honorable to them. He concedes also, that
their attainments in biblical literature very considerably exceed
those of the theologians in all other parts of Christendom ; and
the same, I believe, is conceded by every body entitled to a judg
ment about it.
I know of but two classes of believers in universal salvation at
the present day — one of which, for distinction sake, are termed
restorationists ; their belief is, that impenitent persons shall be
punished in the future state, and that their punishment shall be
proportioned, in duration and intensity, to the degrees of turpitude
in the parties. They mostly agree that this suffering will be
moral in its nature, not physical — and they consequently reject
the notion of a local hell. They hold punishment to be corrective
and disciplinary, and that it will infallibly eventuate in the good
of the subjects ; yet, they do not maintain (as their opposers are
apt to report) that the damned are to be saved by virtue of these
penal inflictions, but, on the contrary, they hold salvation to be of
grace, a free gift, and therefore, exclusive of both works and suf
ferings. The other class (usually termed modern, and by some, reproach
fully, ultra universalists,) maintain that all the punishment for
sin is experienced in this life; for an infinitely benevolent Being
(U37 affirm) can have no motive for punishing, aside from amend
ing the subject, or deterring others from sjnning, and for neither
of these objects can it be necessary to prolong the punishment
beyond the term of our present existence: for the history of some
of the deepest offenders proves (as they think) that long periods
of penal suffering cannot be required for subduing the sinn?r, (as
their brethren of the Winchesterian or restorationist order seem to
suppose.) Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven, evil spirits were
cast, and whose sins are emphatically said to have be«n many
was nevertheless subdued within the term of her mortal life, ana

B33 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
brought to wash the Savior's feet with her penitential tearrs. But
a look from Jesus was sufficient to cause Peter, whilst in the
act of denying him with cursing, to go out and weep bitterly. —
There is ground for believing that even the traitor Judas broke his
neart with poignant sorrow for the betrayal of his master. " I am
Jesus whom thou perseculest," was all that the persecuting zea
lot, Saul, needed to soften him down into a disposition to inquire,
" Lord, what would'st thou have me to do ?" Ages of suffering
were not required for the subdual of the expiring thief, etc. These,
and numerous, kindred cases, sufficiently establish the fact, that
the manifeslations of divine goodness to the minds of sinners are
all-powerful in conquering their enmity, and engaging their affec
tions ; and that for this object but a little time is necessary.
Amongst modern universalists there are those, who think that
although there will be no positive suffering for sin endured in
eternity, yet that the sinner will, on account of his wickedness
in lime, sustain an eternal loss ; for we are progressive beings,
(say they,) and it is not reasonable that those who, in this life,
have neglected the improvement of their moral nature, should, in
eternity, be admitted to equal happiness, or advanced to equal ex-
' cellence with those who have : to expect this (they affirm) is to
expect in contrariety to present experience, for all moral attain
ment among men is the result of effort — of guarding and striving
against our evil propensities, and sedulously cultivating those
habits and principles which form the basis of virtuous character.
In the spiritual state, therefore, (they contend) although we are
fully warranted in the belief that all will be brought to a know
ledge and enjoyment of God, yet this no more implies that all shall
be exalted and felicitated in an equal degree, than the fact that
some are here brought to know and enjoy God proves that they
are equal in purity and felicity to the angels of heaven. The fol
lowing comparison will afford some illustration of their view8 on
this head.
James and William were brothers ; their father, being on the
eve of a long absence from home, divided his estate equally between
them, telling them that on their faithful improvement of their
respective shares during his absence, their well-being should
entirely depend ; but that on his return he would bestow upon
each a sum of money that should be an ample competency foj

DIFFERENT VIEWS AMONG UNIVERSALISTS. 333
them during the residue of their lives: this was to be a free do
nation, and irrespective of their merits or demerits. Well, James
went to work upon his portion of the estate, determined to advance
¦t to the highest degree of improvement. William, on the con
trary, was indolent, neglectful of his affairs, and his portion ot
the property got into disorder and dilapidation. On the father's
return, at the end of ten years, he found James to be already in
wealthy circumstances in consequence of his industry and sobri
ety ; whilst William, poor fellow ! was in rags, and in debt, pre
senting a picture of squalid poverty. This posture of things, how
ever, did not prevent the fulfilling of his original intentions, and
he accordingly presented each of his sons the sum of twenty thou
sand dollars. James remonstrated, urging that as he was the
more deserving by his good conduct, he was entitled to a larger
sum than William, who, indeed, was not deserving of any, having
been so improvident for himself, and so prodigal of what he had
already received. " But remember, my son," replied the father,
" that the money I am now bestowing is not given on the ground
of reward, but of grace exclusively. Shall I prove evil to Wil
liam, poor fellow ! because he has been evil to himself? Have
not his indolence and prodigality already sufficiently punished him
during the past ten years ? He has suffered from want — from the
embarrassments of debt — from innumerable mortifications and
humiliations — whilst, on the other hand, have you not enjoyed
plenty, and ease, and honor, and self-approval ? And even now,
although I give to him an equal sum as to yourself, yet see you not
that you are fully as much in advance of him in your circum
stances as before ? for you have your portion of the estate I gave
you on leaving, highly improved, and capable of itself of yielding
you a handsome maintenance; whereas, William's portion is not
in a condition to yield him anything!"
In this comparison, the sou], or moral nature of man, is consider
ed as an estate left to his cultivation and care by his heavenly
Father, who is supposed to be absent. On man's management of
this estate entirely depends his present moral enjoyment; if neg
lected, it will soon be overrun wilh the weeds of error and sin,
and instead of bearing the fruits of peace, joy, hope, love, etc., it
will produce the thorns and briars of remorse, misery, and despair.
But in his infinite goodness, God has promised immortal life, and

334 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
a subduing and reconciling view of his glory, to the whole human
race, so that all shall bow to him — be blessed in Christ — and be
come the willing subjects of his government. These blessings are
not promised as an equivalent for works performed on our part, nor
for qualities attained, but as a free gift. Still, this does not im
ply that all are to be blessed in an equal degree, or (to carry out
the figure) that their several estates are to be brought to a like de
gree of advancement; but on the contrary, it is supposed, that
those in which the christian graces have been longeT and more
assiduously cultivated, will be in a condition to yield them in
greater abundance and perfection.
Those who take this view, hold it not as a mere speculation,
but (as they suppose) on scriptural warrant; for Paul (say they)
clearly recognises a diversity of orders among the subjects of the
resurrection. I believe that this view obtains very generally
amongst the unitarians of this country, and the author will con
fess, it is that to which his own judgment the most strongly
inclines. The only objection (so far as I know) to which it is
liable, is, that it represents Jehovah as partial in making some of
his creatures to be eternally superior to others. But, then, it is
admitted that some are actually made superior to others in time —
superior in person, intellect, fortune, and moral qualities. It is
also admitted that there are angelic beings who were made supe
rior to man. Why do not these facts as well form a ground of
Impeachment against the impartiality of God, as the other ? Truth
is, that grades in the order of being is one of tho most beautiful
arrangements in the economy of creation, and especially when we
consider that these several orders are not doomed to remain eter
nally stationary, but are destined to progress toward the infinite
centre of perfection forever.
This view, it seems to me, if it is not directly asserted, is at
least countenanced by the sacred writers : what else means Paul
when he speaks of some who were tortured for the truth's
sake, " not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better
resurrection?" (Heb. xi. 35.) And what means he also in tho
following passage? " There are also celestial bodies, and bodies
terrestrial : but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of
the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and ano
ther glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for on«

DIFFERENT VIEW8 AMONG UNIVERSALISTS. 335
star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrec
tion of the dead." (1 Cor. xv. 40, 41.) The christian course,
moreover, is compared to a race, a wrestle, and other exercises
usual in the Olympic games, in which a prize was held out to
stimulate exertion. And Paul speaks of himself as pressing
toward the mark of his high calling in Christ Jesus. At the close
of his treatise on the resurrection, moreover, he exhorts his Corin
thian brethren, in view of that event, to be " steadfast, unmoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord;" and this, too, from
a knowledge on their part (grounded on the consoling facts he
had adduced in his letter) that their labor was " not in vain in the
Lord." The above are all the modifications of the universalist faith with
which I am acquainted ; they display a diversity as to the mode
merely, not as to the main principle of that doctrine : there are few
universalists who care greatly as to the particular form in which
others hold their doctrine — their chief concern is about the essen
tial fact, the ultimate bringing in of all the human race, and this
in God's own way, they care not how — and in God's own time,
they care not when ; their entire confidence in the unbounded
wisdom and goodness of the Creator, inspires them with a disposi
tion most cheerfully to acquiesce beforehand in his disposition of
the matter, without doubting that he will do all things for the best
end, and in the best manner.
But supposing the diversity of forms in which the universalist
faith is held, to be much greater than it is — what then ? Is the
fundamental fact the less to be believed, because there are differ
ences of opinion as to the mode of it? And would the advocates
of endless misery have us believe .that there is less diversity con
cerning that tenet ? It would seem so, certainly, from the way in
which they are wont to taunt us on this ground. But let us see
how the fact stands. Some believe in endless damnation on the
ground of the divine decrees — SGme on the ground of an abuse of
our free powers — some say that our sins here are of infinite turpi
tude, and justify God in damning us to eternity — some say that
we are not to be eternally damned for the sins of this life, but that
sin has a self-perpetuating power, and our punishment will be
endless because our sin will be so. Some say that our damnation
will consist of a literal burning in hell — some, that it will be cop

330 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
stituted of remorse, and an absence of the divine goodness — some
affirm that we shall be damned if found out of the failh and com
munion of the true church — some, that in whatever faith or church
we are found, or whether in none at all, if we improve aright such
opportunities as have been afforded us, it will go well with us,
but if otherwise we shall be damned for the nonimprovement —
some maintain that the neglecting to secure the new birth will be
the ground of our damnation ; and some, that we must be baptized
or be damned, whatever else we may do or leave undone, etc., etc
Universalists, however, do not contend against each other on
account of their diversity of views ¦ and this is much more than
can be said of the believers in endless torments : Ihe former, in
deed, have no motives for contention — the latter have very weighty
ones ; for if the interests of the immortal state are in any degree
dependant upon a correct failh in this world, we should doubtless
strive with all our might to save men from their heresies, at what
ever expense to their earthiy peace or interests ; hence this doc
trine fully justifies persecution for opinion's sake, but universalism
does not ; for it does not represent God in the character of a holy
inquisitor, tormenting his short-sighted creatures in everlasting
flames, because of their misfortune in failing to find and believe
the truth. True it is, that universalists deem the acquisition of
truth to be of great importance to men for their present benefit, and
nence they endeavor to gain tbem over to embrace and enjoy it;
but as this motive for zeal in the propagation of their faith is
based upon a desire to extend the bounds of human happiness, it
would ill comport with that motive to quarrel wit'» men because
they were not of their opinion in religion.

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED. 337

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED.
To human wisdom, relative to the state immediately subsequent
to death, very narrow limits are assigned ; and the paucity of
information upon this point in the sacreot writings, sufficiently
proves that they were not given for our enlightenment in regard to-
it. From many portions of the Old Testament it might be infer
red, that a future sentient existence was not at all believed in by
the writers. Solomon saith, " For the living know that they shall
die : but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more
a reward ; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love,
and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished ; neither have they
any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun."
(Eccles. ix. 5, 6.) And again he says, in the tenth verse of the same
chapter, that there is no knowledge in sheol (the separate state) .
whither we are going. Hezekiah says, " Death cannot celebrate
thee ; they that go down into sheol cannot hope for thy truth."
(Isa. xxxviii. 18.) In the following language from Job, there is
an evident vacillation of mind betwixt hope and doubt relative to
a future being. " For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down,
that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will
not cease Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the
stock thereof die in the ground ; yet through the scent of water it
will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth,
and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is '
he ? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and
drieth up ; so man lieth down, and riseth not : till the heavens be
no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. If
a man die, shall he live again ? All the days of my appointed
time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I
will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy
hands." (Job xiv. 7 — 12, 14, 15.) Nothing was ever better con
veyed than is the alternation of hope and doubt in the mind of the
speaker, relative to the important topic of which he speaks.
From the reluctance, too, with which death was contemplated
in Old Testament times, it seems fairly inferrible, that a state of
felicity immediately subsequent thereto was not expected. When
2D

338 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
it was announced to the good Hezekiah that he was to die, he
received the announcement with extreme sorrow, and humbled
himself before God in prayer for a continuance of his life. In
numerous instances, too, we find, that length of days is promised
as a reward of a virtuous course of conduct. Both Moses and
Aaron had their mortal lives abridged, as a punishment for certain
specified acts of disobedience. These facts seem to imply very
clearly, that it was not in those days believed, that death occa
sioned an immediate transit from earth to heaven.
Nor does the New Testament, as I think, afford much clearer
ground of faith upon this point. I know that certain texts can be
adduced, which, considered by themselves, would favor the notion
that men pass at death from earth to immediate felicity ; but then
I also know, that the weight of these is countervailed by other
texts, and a legitimate deduction from certain scriptural facts. —
As, then, we can have no possible interest in being deceived on
this head, let us briefly, yet candidly, take a view of what may be
said on both sides.
Christ's words to the dying thief afford, perhaps, the strongest
argument in favor of the notion of immediate post-mortem happi
ness. " To-day, shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke
xxiii. 43.) But it is usual to take quite too much for granted in
the popular application of this case, viz., that the thief had a true
faith in Christ's messiahship — that he was convicted, and repented
of, his sins — that, when he begged to be remembered of Chris'
when he came into his kingdom, he had reference to Christ's
' coming in the final judgement — and that Christ's answer implied,
that he should be with him that day in heaven. Now lo my mind
there is very great improbability in each of these items ; and since
they are taken on sheer assumption, I will offset against them the
following, which, al least, may be supported by a better show of
rpason, viz : That the confession of guilt which the thief made,
had only respect to the crime for which he suffered, not his sin
against God— that his notions of the Messiah being Jewish, he ex
pected him to come and establish a temporal dynasty, and to this he
had reference in his petition — that Christ's answer was designed
to call off his attention from such expectations, and direct it to the
fact, that he should that day be with himself in the separate state.
Snch is my judgement of this case, and here are the reasons for it

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED. 339
Christ's own apostles had not correct ideas, at that time, of the
nature of the kingdom he came to establish; for, only" the night
previous, they had contended among themselves as to which
should be the greatest under his reign ; which proves that their
notions on this subject were Jewish, and it is irrational to suppose
that the thief had more correct notions about it than they who had
listened to Christ's instruction for years! But again. When
was Messiah to come in his kingdom ? Not surely at the close
of time; for then it is that he is to " deliver up the kingdom to
God, even the Father." Christ came in his kingdom spiritually
(and in no other sense was he to come) when, at the close of the
Jewish dispensation, he established his church in the world. It
will hence be seen, that the thief could not have had the evangeli
cal faith in Christ which the popular application of the subject
supposes. Moreover, the Savior went at death to the separate slate,
or hades, and not to heaven. See how Peter speaks to this point.
" Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with
us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that
God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne ; he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corrup
tion." (Acts ii. 29—31.)
Another passage which seems to favor the idea of immediate
happiness after death, is that which describes Christ's transfigu
ration. "And, behold, there talked with him two men, which
were Moses and Elias ; who appeared in glory, and spake cf
his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." (Luke
ix. 30, 31.) If Moses and Elias were translated to immediate
felicity, it may be argued that such may be the case with all
righteous persons at their decease. There is a real difficulty in
this case, which I by no means feel disposed to overleap, (as
ethers have done,) by assuming, that the whole affair was a mere
vision. I would rather suppose that, as the transfiguration of
Christ was but of temporary duration, and evidently miraculous
in its nature, so the appearance and felicitous existence of
Moses and Elias may also have been out of the ordinary course.
of things, and for only the time being. Who, for instance, would

340 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
argue from the following fact, which took place at the Savior's
last groan, that the same kind of a resurrection is constantly going
on? "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his
resurcection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unlc
many." (Matt, xxvii. 52, 53.) Here wasa rising/rom the graves
but whether Ihe risen remained alive, or returned almost imme
diately to their quiescent slale, we are not informed ; but I suppose
the latter, as nothing is subsequently said of them.
Again, Paul intimates that to be absent from the body, is to be
" present wilh the Lord ;" it is, (he says,) to "be with Christ,
which is far better :'' and hence he conceived, that " to die, is
gain." Stephen, also, commended his parting spirit to the Lord
Jesus — as Jesus himself did his into the hands of his Father. —
These, on the face of them, seem decidedly to favor the notion of
felicity immediately subsequent to death. I have no wish to
force noon them a different signification ; nor to do anything with
them which would abstract from their natural weight in this dis
cussion. Let them stand, then, as we find them.
The following passage is also supposed lo convey an argument
favoring the same side of the qupstion. " Now, that the dead are
raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth theLorrl
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live
unto him." (Luke xx. 37, 38.) The argument couched in this
passage is, that as " God is nol the God of the dead," and y?t
terms himself" the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacoh,''
who at the time had no existence on the earth, it therefore fol
lows that they must have had a sentient existence somewhere ;
and if they, then the rest of the dead also, " for all live unto God."
The usual reply to this is, (at least I suppose it is, fori have seen
but little on the subject,) that since all are destined to be raised
in God's own time, and all duration, with all its events and
existences, is present to his mind, persons may be said to live
unto him, who either have not yet come on to the stage of actual be
ing, or have passed off of it : for Jehovah " speaks of things that
be not, as though they were."
I, however, take a different view from the preceding; I believo
that man is in possession of nn undying essence, usually called

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED. 341
his soul, or his spirit, (I am not over particular as to its name,)
which came from God, and is destined to return to him. —
"There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty
giveth them understanding." (Job xxxii. 8.) God is called the
" Father of spirits." (Heb. xii. 9.) And Paul speaks of "the
spirits of just men, made perfect." (Ibid. 23.) Angels are said
to be " ministering spirits." (Ibid. i. 14.) And Christ says of
little children, " their angels do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven." (Malt, xviii. 10.) From which I
can make out nothing intelligible, except it be, that we have i
heavenly essence within us which is not confinable within thi
narrow limits prescribed to mortal nature, but is privileged to
hold communion with God and heavenly things. And who is there
that has not felt, with a force which no language can convey, that
this is the case ? When Christ arose, and appeared to his dis
ciples, they supposed the appearance before them to be a spirit;
and Christ informed them concerning a spirit, negatively. " A
spiril hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." (Luke xxiv.
37 — 39.) And it is worthy of remark, that, even after the apostles
had been more fully instructed in gospel truth, when Peter (after
being miraculously delivered out of prison) appeared at the house
of Mary, where many were convened in prayer, they could not at
first credit the damsel's report, that Peter was at the door ; but,
thinking him to have been put to death, they supposed that it was
his angel that the woman had seen. (Acts xii. 15.) In short, I
have no fellowship in the doctrine that man is a mere animal —
merely distinguished from other animals by a superior organiza
tion, and whose entire existence after death depends on a renovation
of his physical nature, or, in other words, on. a resurrection of his
body. Neither, at the same time, do I believe that disembodied
spirits enter at once into a condition of positive enjoyment — and
the following are among my reasons for not so believing.
The widow of Nain's son, Jarus's daughter, and Lazarus, (the
rother of Mary and Martha,) were raised to life by the Savior pre
vious to his own death and resurrection. These (on the hypothe
sis I am opposing) had gone to heaven or to hell, (supposing the
existence of a post-mortem hell.) If to the latter, there is then a
redemption from hell. If to the former, was there mercy in call
ing them from a state of positive bliss, to one of perpetual liability
2d2

342 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
to suffering ? Besides, Christ is called " the first fruits of them
that slept" — " the first born from the dead" — and " our forerun
ner" into the holy place. How could he be with propriety s<~
termed, if others had passed through death to the happiness ol
heaven before him ? Moreover, Peter, when preaching to the
Jews on the day of Pentecost, positively asserts, " for David is
not ascended into the heavens." (Acts ii. 34.) And if David had
not, it is presumable that others had not also.
It must be remarked, that the declaration concerning David was
made subsequent to Christ's resurrection. I notice this, because
there are those who think, that although previous to that event
the dead were kept in a negative state as to enjoyment, yet, when
" Christ our forerunner" had " entered into the holy place," the
whole congregation of the dead were admitted also. In further
opposition to this notion, it must be remarked, that dead persons
were also recalled to life by the apostles after Christ's ascension,
and therefore, (as remarked concerning those raised by the Savior) .
they were recalled from a world of bliss to a world of tears — an
act, methinks, which neither Christ nor his apostles would have
consented to perform. I am at a loss, too, on this hypothesis, to
account for the following language : " For we know that ihe
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now :
and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits
of the spirit; even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Rom. viii.
22, 23.) The sense on the face of this text seems most clearly
to be, that the final redemption of the entire body of humanity,
must first take place, before any of the members thereof could
enjoy the happiness in reversion for them — a sentiment (as I have
elsewhere observed) fraught with beauty and benevolence. And in,
the following passage, which refers to the ancient worthies who
had suffered persecution and death for the cause of truth, the
same idea seems to be conveyed. " And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise : God having
provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not
be made perfect." (Heb. xi. 39, 40.)
It may farther be urged against the doctrine of immediate hap
piness after death, that if it be true, the necessity of a resurrec
tion is entirely superseded, except (as many think, the society of

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED. 343
Friends included) that the resurrection succeeds instantly to the
dissolution of the body ; and in that case death (as the Sweden-
borgians say) is nothing more than a change in the mode of being ;
if which be true, the sacred writers have employed language on
the subject most strangely at variance wilh the idea they meant to
convey. Paul assuredly speaks of a rising again of the same body
which is laid in the grave. " So also is the resurrection of the
dead : it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption : it is
sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory : it is sown in weakness,
it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spir
itual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual
body." (1 Cor. xv. 42 — 44.) He also speaks of the resurrection
of the body under the figure of grain springing up from seed sown
into the ground ; in which case it is not wholly the identical seed
that springs up, but the germ of it merely, between which and
a certain portion of the earth and other elements, there are chymi-
cal affinities, from which result those new combinations, which in
form and substance resemble the original seed.
To me, then, three things seem to be clearly taught in the
scriptures : first, that the spirit of man has some sort of an exist
ence separate from the body: second, that it is not one of positive
bliss: and third, that there is to be a resurrection, in which all
shall be morally subjected to God, and consequently happy.
To assume, as many do, that, because now we are mainly (if
not altogether, which is doubtful,) dependant on our bodily organs
for our mental operations, we therefore must necessarily lose all
consciousness when we are separated from the body, is, in my
judgement, to assume very far beyond the warrant of reason. " God
is a spirit." Is he also dependant on bodily functions for his
consciousness ? If not, the assumption is as well against fact as
reason, (allowing the divine existence to be a matter of fact.) It
is against reason, because, from what is possible to us in our
prpsent mode of being, it is unreasonable and presumptuous to
infer with confidence, as to what is or is not possible to every
conceivable mode of being. It were full as sensible, and as
modest, to assume, that because the mathematical problems in
Euclid are utterly beyond the comprehension of the child, they
will therefore be equally unintelligible lo the man. I am sick of
(hat hypercritical scepticism which is ever directing its vultnro

844 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
glance to the spying out of difficulties in every thing proposed to
its faith, and rejecting with self-complacent decisiveness all that
eomes not within the narrow compass of its apprehension.
After what I have said of the indeterminate posture in which
the subject before us is left by the sacred writers, it must not be
expected of me to be wiser than they in regard to it, for I frankly
confess it to be a topic on which I can affirm nothing, except
conjecturally. " The vast, the unbounded prospect lies before me,
But shadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon it,"
until I extend my inquiries to the era of the resurrection ; then all
is clearness and sunshine ; for of it the scriptures most clearly
speak as an era of triumph — of complete and glorious triumph —
over every foe, and for eternity.
In our bodily state, we are the subjects of two classes of sensa
tions : the one class we term moral, the other animal; the former
come from the exercise of our souls, or moral powers — from re
flection, or the contemplation of abstract things. Our animal
sensations come to us directly by the media of the senses, and
are strictly confined to material or sensible objects ; these it can
not rationally be expected, will continue to be experienced when
the spirit is dislodged from its earthly tabernacle. But why may
not the spirit continue a subject of moral sensation ? Why may
it not experience regret at what it may have lost by past non-
improvement? and remorse for the guilt it may have contracted by
past crimes 1 I know of no reason in the world why it may not :
and therefore, allhough I find no express warrant in the scriptures
for affirming positively that punishment does extend beyond the
dissolution of the body, yel, as I also find no express warrant
for positively affirming the contrary, I may at least assert, that
the former is neither absolutely impossible nor unreasonable.
I think it would be no detriment to us universalists to be
more modest in taking ground- relative to the separate state ; or
if -ve must assume positively in regard to it, let it at least be on
ome express authority, either scriptural or philosophical. It can-
,iOt be doubted that some texts look somewhat strongly toward
the idea, that our doings in time have some sort of bearing upon
our condition beyond it. Do not suspect me, reader, of being
about to involve the bible in self-contradiction, by assuming that

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED 345
it teaches salvation by works, or by faith, or any thing else, inde
pendently of the grace of God. I purpose no such thing : but, as I
have said, some texts do look toward the idea, that our doings here
will somehow affect our condition hereafter. Christ himself
endured the cross and despised the shame,/or the joy that was selbc-
fore him. (Heb. xii. 2.) Paul conceived a crown to be laid up for
him as a consequence of his having fought the good fight and
kept the faith. (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) And Paul and his brethren
labored, that whether present with the Lord out of the body, or
absent from him in it, they might be accepted of him. (2 Cor.
v. 9.) In the Revelation we are told, those who die in the Lord
are blessed — " for they rest from their labors, and their works do
follow them." (xiv 13.) 1 affirm not positively that these, and
like texts, are unequivocally relevant to the point in hand ; but
they so lock toward it, that except a different meaning can be
found for them, which shall be as obviously in agreement with
their phraseology, we should at least be less positive in assuming
that there is no punishment for sin of any kind after death.
In the resurrection we are to have spiritual bodies, by which is
no doubt to be understood that the physical nature with which
our spirits will be clothed in that state, will be refined and subli
mated beyond any thing within the range of our present concep
tions, and will be a medium to us of a very high degree of enjoy
ment, of a physical or sensible kind. "There are bodies celes
tial," says Paul, " and bodies terrestrial ;" the former undoubtedly
transcending the latter in glory, by as much as the heavens trans
cend the earth. At this era, it would seem, we are again to be
come the subjects of the two classes of sensations (moral and sen
sible) afore-mentioned ; and in this probably consists a main dif
ference betwixt the intermediate and the resurrection state; the
former being a condition of the spirit in which it is unembodied,
and therefore, unfurnished with sensorial media — consequently its
enjoyment or suffering must be strictly abstract or moral in its
nature. As to our condition in the risen state, we have reason to believe
that it will be one of unspeakable glory ; " we shall bear the image
of the heavenly" — " we shall be like him, for we shall see him
as he is." It may be, as the ingenious Paley suggests, that the
nodies we shall then possess shall be furnished with new and

346 PRO AND CON OF UNIVERSALISM.
additional senses, of which we cannot new conceive the use, but
which shall prove the media of new and hitherto unconceived sen
sations of delight; and to all the enjoyment derivable from this
source will be added all that shall arise from a renovation of our
moral faculties — resplendent in the light of the divine approval —
clothed with the reflected glory of his perfections — and rejoicing
in an entire and for ever emancipation from sin and sorrow, and a
prospeclive perpetuity of bliss upon bliss to eternity.
Nevertheless, as " one star differeth from another star in glory,
so also is the resurrection of the dead." It seems anything but
reasonable to suppose that there will be no difference at that era
betwixt Paul (for example) and the individual who passed from
time without having taken the first step in moral advancement.
I mean not by this, that the former merits a higher order of bliss —
for the bliss of heaven is not to be conferred on such ground — but
I mean that it would be an utter departure from the uniform course
of things under God's moral government. We here experience that
effort is the price of all attainment, both moral and intellectual —
that all advancement, as well as retrogression, is progressive —
and that our souls (like gardens in nature) cannot be got into a
condition of yielding the fruits of the spirit in any great degree of
excellency or abundance, without sedulous and persevering culti
vation. These things we know to be the case at present, and we
have no reason for supposing they will be different with us when
we enter upon a new stage of existence.
The above, reader, is all that I can propose for your faith on
this dim subject ; if you wish for more particular and authorita
tive information about it, why, doubtless, it is to be had very
cheaply of certain persons, who dogmatize with most positiveness
in matters of which they are least informed. The wise man is
content with saying, that when the body shall return to the dust
as it was, the spirit shall return to the God who gave it — further
concerning it he pretendeth to know nothing: but a modern poet
(more enlightened) informs us, that
" To heaven it flies, not there to dwell,
But hear its doom, and sink to hell."
A piece of poetry, this, which I have oft heard sung m the
churches, but have never been able to find in the writings of
Peter or Paul.

HYMN  THE BETTER WORLD. 347
It quite sufficeth me to be wise concerning these matters within
scripture warrant ; and especially as I have no particular anxie
ties about it, from a consideration that " whether we live, there
fore, or die, we are the Lord's;" and being his, his wisdom and
goodness will see to our being properly taken care of. I there
fore close this essay as I begun it, by remarking, that to human
wisdom, relative to the state immediately subsequent to death,
^ery narrow limits are assigned.

THE BETTER WORLD.
There's a region above
Free from sin and temptation,
And a mansion of love
For each child of creation.
Then dismiss all thy fears,
Weary pilgrim of sorrow —
Though thy sun set in tears,
'Twill rise brighter to-morrow.
There our toils shall be done,
And free grace be our story ;
God himself is its sun
And its unsetting glory.
In that world of delight,
Spring shall never be ended ;
Nor shall shadows nor night
With its brightness be blended.
There shall friends no more par^
Nor shall farewells be spoken ;
There'll be balm for the heart
That with anguish was broken.
From affliction set free,
And from God ne'er to sever ;
We his glory shall see,
And enjoy him forever.

THE GOSPEL CONSUMMATION.
It comes ! it comes ! we now behold
The dawn of times by seers foretold,
The glorious gospel day ;
Soon, soon its noon-tide blaze we'll see,
When death, and sin, and tears shall flee,
And darkness melt away.
Then God the cov'ring shall remove,
The veil that now conceals his love,
And all tihall see his face ;
All kindreds, tribes, and tongues shall own
Salvation is from God alone,
The gift of sov'reign grace.
Apostles, prophets, there we'll see,
A. glorious white-robed company,
Their toils and sufl'rings o'er ;
They try to tell the depth and height
And length of goodness infinite,
And all its breadth explore.
jfark ! hark ! we hear the rapt'rous song
Of the redeem'd — a countless throng;
" Worthy the Lamb !" they sing,
" Who died our ruined race to save ;
Where is thy boasted vict'ry, grave ?
O death ! where is thy sting ?"
The Lord will then his table spread,
And all mankind, with Christ their head,
Shall to that feast sit down ;
The ocean of his pard'ning grace
Shall all their sins and griefs efface,
And their remembrance drown.
Oh ! blissful time ! oh ! glorious day '
When alt beneath love's boundless swav
O'erwhelm''! with bliss shall fall ,
Shall with united souls accord,
That Christ in God is sov'reign Lord,
And God is all in all.

348

INDEX
¦"> tXJWPARISONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS WORK.

fage.
The folly of intolerance in regard to differences in religious opin
ions  30, 31
The way to reconcile apparent discrepances in a work of which
the author is known,  41
The injustice of holding a person to the consequences of a com
pact, m watch he was not a voluntary party,  58
The faithfulness of God, in his promises, is not dependant on the
faith of man,  66
Another illustration of the same point,  .-  87
The law of God cannot be satisfied with what it does not require, 72
The divine law does not comprise penalties which are adapted to
defeat its own ends,  74
The Creator would not have brought man into being, with the
foresight that he should be endlessly miserable,  76
And provided he had so created him, he would have been justly
chargeable with the consequences,  77
God's relation to men, as Creator, a ground for his pity toward
them,  78
Our unfilial conduct toward God does not change his relation to
us, as our Father,  86
The endurance of God's paternal love,  87
He will not abandon his offspring to infinite ruin,  88, 89
The character of a ruler inferrible from the condition of his sub
jects,  90,91
A ruler is answerable for the avoidable evils which he wilfully
admits into his dominions  91,92
The folly of deferring the business of retribution,  94
How a report concerning hell, by an eye witness, would affect the
reputation of the sovereign of the universe,. . . .'  96, 37
God is less excusable than earthly rulers, (on the supposition that
he inflicts endless suffering) for the miseries endured by the vic
tims of his vengeance,  97, 98
The perseverance of the good shepherd in saving lost man,  113
All sentient existence must centre toward God, as its source,. ... 117
A firm belief in endless misery is incompatible with a sincere love
to mankind,  134
And with the early experience of every christian,  123
'->ur eternal interests out of the range of our control,  133
2 a 2 349

550 INDEX TO COMPARISONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Page
The use of religion if our future' salvation is unconditional,  1S4
Our opponents do not themselves believe, that all men will be re
warded in eternity according to their works in time  136
Why universalists do not believe, that God has threatened end
less misery  148, 149
Sin, according to endless misery, only takes us the sooner to hea
ven,  150
Bad society in heaven,  ib.
According to endless misery there are many more rogues saved
than honest men  151
The same doctrine furnishes motives to murder,  152
A peep into a universalian, and an endless hell futurity,  154, 155
Is the doctrine of universal salvation generally pleasing to wicked
men?  191
And displeasing to men of prayer 1  192
The supposed remoteness of a day of reckoning for deeds perform
ed in the flesh, must tend to embolden men to sin  198
It gives the priesthood an influence at the bed of death, which has
often been abused,  199
The best, as the worst of men, must needs be changed after death
in order to their admission to the realms of bliss,  234
The immutability of a law is no proof that its penalties are eter
nal  235
The divine Being is not subject to the difficulties which beset hu-
rr.f.n legislators,  236
God was not reduced to the alternative of creating some for mis
ery, or not at all,  237
Forgiveness of sin does not (in the divine economy) imply ex
emption from deserved punishment  239
Another illustration of the same point,  240
The advantages of forgiveness on this scheme  ib
If punishment is for our benefit, should we sin the more, in order
to incur the more?  241
The penalty of death for murder does not operate to prevent it —
Why 1  242
Difference between positive and moral punishments,  244, 245
The modes of punishment,  247, 248
But when conscience becomes seared, how then 1  249
A consideration of that punishment which is natural to sin, (and
therefore unavoidable) can alone permanently restrain from
crime,  250, 251
Except sin continue eternally, punishment, of a moral kind, can
not  252, 253'
Neither can that which is physical,  253
The very consequences of an evil tend to effect its removal,  254
But why may not sin continue to eternity ?  255
Exemplary punishment cannot be needed in the future state,. . . 256
The goodness of God is itself a ground for supposing that the
punishment of sin is present,  257, 258

INDEX TO COMPARISONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 351
According to endless misery punishment is both disproportionate
and uncertain  261 262
The probable origin of hell,  278 279
The foreknowledge of event's, prove also their foreappointment, . 282, 283
If sin is of God's appointment, I will commit as much of it as I
please,  283
No rational ground betwixt foreknowledge and foreordination,..285, 286
The foreappointment of ends implies also a foreappointment, of
means,  287, 288
I am a free agent, f°r I can do as I please  290
God controls us by the agency of our will, not against it,  294
Why is one a christian, and another not?  295
Why suffer we for sin if it is unavoidable ?  297
Facts prove that our advantages over others are not of our own
making  298
Election does not necessarily imply reprobation,  303, 304
It were partiality in God to pardon some who are as guilty as
others whom he executes  309
Why are means necessary for bringing about a result which is
unchangeably foreordained ?  310
God is as accountable for what he permits, as for what he ordains, 312
If we say that the scriptural terms rendered forever, everlasting,
etc, radically signify eternity, how will we get along with the
Jew?  315
We cannot form an adequate conception of eternity,  319
Our happiness is increased by contrast,  326
I&even there be no punishment in eternity, men may be advan
taged according to their advancement in moral improvement in
life  332

INDEX

TO THE SCRIPTURE TEXTS COMMENTED ON IN THIS WORK, WHICH ARK
ITSOAILY URGED AGAINST THE UNIVERSALIAN FAITH.

Page.
Prov. i. 26. I also will laugh at your calamity, etc  54
John xvii. 9. I pray not for the world,  ."  110, 111
Jude, verse 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about
them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication,
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suf
fering the -vengeance of eternal fire  114, 115
Rom. ix. 1 — 3. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish
that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh,  115, 116
Rom. x. 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is, that they might be saved,  116
Ezek. xviii. 4. The soul that sinneth, it shall die,  135
Mark xvi. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned,  ib.
Gal. vi. 8. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting,  ib.
2 Cor. v. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat
of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his
body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad,  136
Matt. xix. 16. What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit
eternal life,  137—187
Matt. vii. 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate,
and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat,  140, 141
Heb. xii. 14. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord,. ... 142
Matt. xxv. 31, 46, When the Son of man shall come in his
glory, etc.. and all others pertaining to Christ's coming to judge
and reward men according to their works,  157 — 18*
Mai. iv. I — 6. Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven,
etc.,  .'  1 62, 16.3
Matt, viii, 11, 12. Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and ye yourselves shall
be thrust out,  165
Luke xvi. 19—3). The rich man and Lazarus  167, 168, 184, 187
353

654 INDEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS COMMENTED UPON. Page.
Matt. xxv. 1 — 12. The ten virgins,  169
Matt. xxii. 11. And when the king came in to see the guests, he
saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment,  186
Matt. xiii. 24 — 30. The tares and wheat  170,171
Matt. xiii. 47, 48. The net cast into the sea  ib.
Matt xxv. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punish
ment : but the righteous into life eternal  174,175,186, 187
Matt. xxv. 45. The devil and his angels,  180, 181
Matt. xi. 21, 22. Woe unto thee, Chorazin, etc. It shall be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than
for thee  202, 203
Acts xvii. 30, 31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness, etc.,  204, 205
2 Pet. iii. 7 — 13. But the heavens and the earth which are now,
are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, etc.,. . . .205 — 207
2 Thess. i. 6 — 10. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to re
compense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you
who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
from the glory of his power ; when he shall come to. be glori
fied in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe
(because our testimony among you was believed) in that
day,  ..207—21
fleb. ix. 27. It is appointed unto men on«e to die, but after this
the judgment  211 — 21a
ftev. xx. 11 — 15. And I saw a great white throne, and him that
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ;
and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God : and the books were opened ;
and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the
dead which were in them : and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the
Jake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life was cast into th** lake of
fire. (And its parallel text in Daniel,)  213—21;
;»Iatt. xvi. 26. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul ?  218
Eccles. viii. 1 1. Because sentence against an evil work is not
executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully
set in them to do evil  219
Dan. xii. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and
everlasting contempt,   221, 222

INDEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS COMMENTED UPON. 3f 5
John v. 28, 29. Marvel not at this : for ,Jhe 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 resurrec
tion of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrec
tion of damnation,  223 224
John viii. 21. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way,
and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins : whither I go,
ye cannot come,  225, 226
Malt. xii. 31, 32. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nei
ther in the world to come,  227, 228
Matt. xxvi. 24. But woe unto that man by whom the Son of
man is betrayed ! it had been good for that man if he had not
been born. (And all the texts pertaining to Judas,)  229 — 231
John iii. 3. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king
dom of God  232
1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not in
herit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived : neither fornica
tors, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunk
ards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God,  232—234
Gen. ii. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die,  244
Eccles. ix. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest,  :  » 265
Ps. ix. 1 7. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the na
tions that forget God,  ".  266
Deut. xxxii. 22. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall
burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her
' increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains,. . . . 268
Mark ix. 43 — 48. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is bet
ter for thee to enter into life maimed, than having too hands to
go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched ; where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if
thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt
into life, lhan having too feet to be cast into hell, into the fire
that never shall be quenched ; where their worm dieth not,
and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out : it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of
God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into bell-
fire ; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quench
ed  27 1—273
Matt, xxiii. 33. How can ye escape the damnation of hell ?. . . . 274
Mark ix. 43 — 48. And the fire is not quenched — never shall be
quenched, etc.,  274, 275
Luke xii. 4, 5. Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after
that, have no more that they can do : but fear him, which after
he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell,. ,  276, 277

356 INDEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS COMMENTED UPON.
' . Pag*
2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost : in whom the god of this world hath blinded the tninds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them,.. 306, 307
2, Thess. ii. 11, 12. God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie ; that they all might be damned who
ocheved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousnee,6  u.
1 Chron. xxviii. 9. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee ,
but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever  318, 319
Rev. xx. 14. The lake of fire and second death,  321 — 323
Rev xxi. The Millennium, or Christ's latter reign on the earth, .324 "25

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