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are accommodated with a broad, M'Adamized road? strangely in connection with this circumstance sounds the declaration, "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 pretensions 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 prejudices 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 affirmative of this argument: let us now glance at some additional considerations 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 teaching 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

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my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I 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 general, that it is not a matter of volition, is as susceptible of 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 sinneth 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 I 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 gates 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 benevolent objects of his government the same; or all that we are told of the immutability of his nature must go for nothing. That the

mere depth of human guilt will prove no barrier against the efficacious 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 absurdities.

My opponent, alleges that ours is the doctrine alluded to by Ezekiel, which "strengtheneth 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 conscient 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 I 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 proportion 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 longcontinued, 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 countries in which this belief is universal, (such is the case in Mahomedan 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

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 : when these dark and mystic fables, shall have given place to manlier and more scriptural views of God's character and government, 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 your minds disenthralled from prejudice to have its educational mists dissipated, and to be guarded against the influence of selfish 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 corrupt party, whether in politics or religion, in order to repress exertions 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 advocates of an endless hell, against an advance in divine knowledge 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.

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 Occasion, 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. Perhaps we may be told, that to be possessed of this faith will add to our present happiness; but 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! dreadful! 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 memory 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 exactly with universalists in regard to the deity!

3rd. No doctrine could be hit upon more consoling or convenient to wicked men; for the bible tells them they "shall not live out half their days;" and this system says to them, "Never min it, sinners; you shall go immediately to heaven." There

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