LIBRAEY » 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. X 
 
 
 Case- 
 Shelf 
 
 Booh 
 
 BX 9941 .D4 1832 
 Dean, Paul, 1789-1860. 
 A course of lectures in 
 defence of the final 
 
 '— 
 
 i|k. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/courseoflecturesOOdean 
 
COURSE OF LECTURES 
 
 IN DEFENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE BULFINCH STREET CHURCH, 
 
 BOSTON, IN THE WINTER OF EIGHTEEN 
 
 HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO. 
 
 BY PAUL DEAN 
 
 I am set for the defence of the Gospel. — Paul. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PUBLISHED BY EDWIN M . STONE. 
 
 1 832. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1832, 
 
 By Edwin M. Stone, 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 PRESS OF THE INDEPENDENT MESSENGER. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The subject presented to the mind in these lectures, 
 is one of the deepest interest to the reader. Whether we 
 shall be personally happy, is a question of the highest 
 concern to every rational being ; and whether the world 
 will be made virtuous and happy is one of the highest 
 general interest to all mankind. In the same ratio as we 
 feel concerned in the event, shall we feel interested in 
 the means by which that event is to be effected ', and 
 therefore the revelation of the gospel, being the only 
 method by which either the knowledge or happiness of 
 heaven can be acquired, will ever command our most 
 devout consideration. 
 
 Even that view of religion which promises the salva- 
 tion of a part of the world only, is infinitely to be prefer- 
 red to infidelity, which sweeps the whole world to one 
 common grave of oblivion. But that view of the gospel 
 plan advocated in this course, embracing, as it does, the 
 universal restoration, and that, without setting aside the 
 necessity of experimental and practical godliness, or weak- 
 ening the motives to a good life, must always commend 
 itself to the approbation and the best wishes of every 
 truly benevolent and phinlhropic heart. And if, as we 
 sincerely believe, it has the united support of revelation, 
 who would not wish to understand and believe, as well 
 as to support it ? 
 
 Although we thus speak, and speak it to the honor of 
 human nature, yet we apprehend and fear that the self- 
 
IV. PREFACE. 
 
 ish and narrow minded will feel but little interest in it ; 
 that the worldly minded will despise its good tiding?, and 
 neglect its reasonable injunctions ; and that the wicked 
 and abandoned will prefer something else, and that for 
 the same reason that such persons in the days of our Sa- 
 viour chose darkness rather than light, " because their 
 deeds were evil." 
 
 No hope of gain, or desire of polemic fame, has in- 
 duced the publication of these lectures. The principal 
 object of their being given to the public, especially with- 
 out that thorough revision, which a firmer state of health 
 and more leisure on the part of the author, would have 
 afforded, is the gratification of many friends who heard 
 them, and desired the opportunity of reading them. Also 
 a wish to afford the community, and particularly the re- 
 ligious public, a more general and condensed account of 
 the sentiments of the Restorationists, and of their rea- 
 sons for the adoption and support of them. 
 
 Leaving to others, better qualified for it, the task of 
 gratifying the literary taste of an enlightened public, it has 
 been my aim to offer the sincere and plain inquirer after 
 religious truth, a sure and safe guide to its attainment. 
 And to place religion in such a light as that while it has 
 the full support of the Bible, and the perfect approba- 
 tion of its Divine Author ; it may also command the re- 
 spect and veneration of all good men, and receive the 
 hearty assent of every reasonable and unbiased mind. 
 If in ever so small a degree these objects shall be real- 
 ised — if the skeptical shall be established in the love of 
 truth, and made more friendly to religion, then will my 
 humble effort be rewarded. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Of the correctness of the sentiments advanced, and of 
 the validity and conclusiveness of the reasoning adduced 
 in their support, the reader will judge for himself, after 
 a candid, faithful and impartial examination. The wri- 
 ter can only say, they are such as he most sacredly be- 
 lieves to be according to scripture, justice and sound rea- 
 son. And such as he is fully persuaded, will, when re- 
 ceived and reduced to practice, promote the peace and 
 happiness of society, by affording the best grounds of 
 faith in the gospel, the best motives to the practice of 
 virtue, and the strongest incentives to universal good will 
 among men. 
 
 It has been the aim to treat all denominations and par- 
 ties with respect and kindness ; while at the same time 
 great plainness has been observed in regard to their sen- 
 timents, so far as they have been alluded to. The mo- 
 dern scheme, which limits rewards and punishments with 
 all motives of virtue and religion to the present life, has 
 been alluded to incidentally, and opinions of its charac- 
 ter and tendency expressed with honest frankness, and 
 from a conscientious sense of duly ; but without attempt- 
 ing its general investigation ; such investigation not com- 
 ing within the scope of our prescribed limits and design. 
 The same remark is true of several other topics and 
 opinions, which have received more or less notice. 
 
 In a similar way, the subject of temporal death has 
 been treated as wholly a physical matter, not affecting in 
 the least the moral relation between the soul and its Mak- 
 er — not changing the nature of his moral government 
 over it, or its own moral power to comply with his re- 
 quirements ; and not therefore placing it beyond the means 
 of grace, such as are suited to its condition, it being still 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 under the gracious government of Christ. This is 
 thought to he the most scriptural, rational, and consola- 
 tory view of death. Y e t there is as wide a difference be- 
 tween the future emendatory punishment of the wicked 
 as we view it, and the Papal doctrine of purgatory, as 
 there is between the punishments of this life and purgatory. 
 
 An intermediate state of moral conscious existence 
 for the soul between death and the resurrection, has 
 also been considered, as sustained by the word of God, 
 and by the economy every where observable in the works 
 of Jehovah, which would ill justify the useless sleep of 
 Abraham and others, from their early death to the res- 
 urrection. This state is also required by the divine im- 
 partiality in the bestowment of the means of grace, which 
 are certainly not equally bestowed on men in the present 
 life ; instance the heathen, idiots, infants, to say nothing 
 of others; and hence if the means of grace are ever 
 equalized, they must be equalized in an intermediate 
 state. Further, there are many promises of God which 
 are not accomplished in this life, and if there be no con- 
 scious state between death and heaven, they never can 
 be. 
 
 These subjects are here alluded to merely to throw 
 light on some passages in the lectures ; but as this view 
 of death and the conscious state of the dead are calculat- 
 ed to obviate many difficulties in theology, they will, no 
 doubt, soon receive an ample discussion, and be shown 
 to be scriptural, honorable to God, and beneficial to men. 
 
 With these few remarks, the following course of lec- 
 tures is, with humble diffidence, submitted to a liberal 
 public ; and that they who read may be blessed of hea- 
 ven, is the fervent prayer of 
 
 The Author. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 QUESTION STATED, AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 
 
 Page 9—26. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 OBJECTION I. 
 
 Page 27—42. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 OBJECTION II. 
 
 Page 42—56. 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT CONSIDERED. 
 
 Page 57—85. 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 ANOTHER OBJECTION CONSIDERED. 
 
 Page 86—105. 
 
. V A 
 V 1 1 1 . '-. \ CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 PttOOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 
 
 DRAWN FROM THE DIVINE ATTRJEUTES. 
 
 Page ICG — 121. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 
 
 DRAWN FROM THE MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 Page 122—137. 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 
 
 DRAWN FROM THE PROMISES OF GOD. 
 
 Page 138—154. 
 
 LFXTURE IX. 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 
 
 DRAWN FROM THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF CHRISTIAN 
 MORAMTV. 
 
 Page 155—172. 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION, 
 
 DRAWN FROM THE NATURE OF MAN AND THE SCRIPTURAL 
 CHARACTER OF FUTURE HAPPINESS. 
 
 Page 173—192. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 QUESTION STATED, AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 
 
 ACTS III. 20, 21. 
 
 AND HE SHALL SEND JESUS CHRIST, WHICH BEFORE WAS 
 PREACHED UNTO YOU : WHOM THE HEAVEN MU8T RE- 
 CEIVE, UNTIL THE TIMES OF THE RESTITUTION OF ALL 
 THINGS, WHICH GOD HATH 8POKEN BY THE MOUTH OF 
 ALL HIS HOLY PROPHETS SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. 
 
 This evening we commence a course of lec- 
 tures in defence of the Universal Restoration 
 and Eternal Happiness of all Mankind, and of 
 its salutary influence on the hearts and lives of 
 the followers of Christ, as a doctrine of revela- 
 tion. 
 
 In pursuing this subject we shall observe the 
 following plain method: — 1. State the ques- 
 tion, and its importance; 2. answer some of 
 
 2 
 
10 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 the most weighty objections frequently urged 
 against its truth and moral tendency ; and 3. 
 exhibit the proofs of its being a christian senti- 
 ment, and worthy of all acceptation. 
 
 Though in departing from the usual and 
 practical method of preaching observed in this 
 desk, we shall for a few evenings seem to buckle 
 on the armour of the controversialist, it is not 
 because we delight in controversy, feel happy 
 in its troubled atmosphere, or are animated by 
 the hope of gathering laurels of victory on its 
 disputed heights 5 but because a sense of duty 
 has compelled us to publish and attempt to 
 vindicate our views of this most interesting 
 subject, and thus cast our mite into the treasu- 
 ry of divine truth for the satisfaction of friends, 
 the honour of Christ, and the advancement of 
 his kingdom in the world. And should it please 
 God, in any degree, to make this humble effort 
 the instrument of accomplishing these objects, 
 to his name be the glory. 
 
 Nor do we come to this work with the least 
 hostility of feeling towards any denomination 
 of christians, or any bitterness of spirit to those 
 who differ from us ever so widely in their reli- 
 gious opinions 5 and, therefore, we cheerfully 
 pledge ourselves to observe the most scrupulous 
 candour in relation both to the persons and 
 sentiments of all whose opinions we may have 
 occasion to mention. Just cause of the slightest 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 11 
 
 offence shall not be intentionally given to any 
 person of christian feelings, or of any senti- 
 ments whatever, who may use the freedom to 
 attend this discussion ; so that no one may have 
 occasion to fear that misrepresentation of his 
 sentiments, or that gross personality and abuse 
 which have too often degraded Christianity in 
 the eyes of its enemies, and rendered contro- 
 versy disgusting; when otherwise it might have 
 been a powerful and successful auxiliary to the 
 triumph and spread of sacred truth. Desiring 
 the hearer to dismiss from his mind all preju- 
 dice for, as well as against, the doctrine we are 
 about to advocate in these lectures, till after a 
 patient and attentive hearing, (for he that hears 
 with too strong a prepossession for, or against, 
 hears to little advantage, and can never be an 
 impartial judge,) we assure him that we shall 
 not content ourselves by being merely candid, 
 but shall speak under a deep sense of responsi- 
 bility to the God of truth, for the correctness 
 of the opinions we shall offer : and let him that 
 heareth remember also his own high obligations, 
 so to hear as to understand and judge according 
 to truth. 
 
 We shall regard the scriptures as the only 
 standard of revealed truth, and studiously seek 
 their direction in all we utter ; and while we 
 speak according to the words of holy men that 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 let all the people say amen. 
 
12 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 The passage of inspiration which we have 
 placed at the head of this discourse, asserts 
 that the restitution of all intelligent and fallen 
 creatures to virtue, order, and eternal happi- 
 ness, is a divine truth, purposed by Jehovah 
 from eternity, and published more or less clear- 
 ly by the mouth of all the holy prophets since 
 the world began ; and that times or dispensa- 
 tions for the beginning and completion of this 
 most glorious work, have been set in the coun- 
 sels of heaven ; and also that the ever blessed 
 Saviour, who had, according to the testimony 
 of prophets and the preaching of apostles, began 
 it by his ministry, death, resurrection, and 
 ascension to heaven, would, at the completion 
 of those times, be again sent from thence to 
 finish this most transcendent enterprise, which 
 will forever remain the theme of admiration to 
 saints and angels, and of glory to God and the 
 Lamb. 
 
 But before we proceed to reduce these sen- 
 timents to a single question, we ask leave here 
 to make a more general statement of what we 
 conceive to be some of the first or fundamental 
 principles of revelation ; that the bearing of the 
 question on those principles, may be the more 
 easily seen and felt. They are these: 
 
 1. The moral government of God is a most 
 perfect plan, called in scripture his counsel, 
 will, purpose, pleasure ; according to which he 
 works all things in the dispensations of revela- 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. U 
 
 tion, for the accomplishment of the noblest of 
 objects, i. e. the greatest good of the universe 5 
 in relation to which, he is said to see the end 
 from the beginning. 
 
 2. All moral and accountable beings were 
 created and destined to serve and enjoy God 
 forever, as their chief good; for God is love, 
 and the Lord is good to all. 
 
 3. Though all men were created holy, and 
 for perfect happiness, yet they all having sinned 
 and come short of glory no one can now be saved 
 but by being restored to virtue 5 for without 
 holiness no man can enjoy God or heaven. 
 
 4. Therefore God being no respecter of per- 
 sons, sent his Son to be the Saviour of the 
 world. 
 
 5. Death having reigned from Adam to the 
 coming of Christ, therefore, that he (Christ) 
 might be the Saviour of all, dominion was given 
 him over the dead in their separate state, as 
 well as over the living in this and the resurrec- 
 tion state 5 for he is declared to be Lord, and 
 Judge, and Saviour, of the dead and living ; so 
 that all will be judged, and all will be saved 
 during the reign of the Messiah. 
 
 6. The gospel is the only method of salva- 
 tion for sinners ; for by grace are ye saved, 
 through Jesus Christ, the only name given 
 whereby we must be saved. 
 
 7. Death, therefore, being physical and per- 
 
14 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 taining to the body, can make no moral change 
 in man 5 for whether we live or die, we are the 
 Lord's, to be rewarded if faithful, to be pun- 
 ished if impenitent, being under the same Lord, 
 and subject to the same moral laws after as 
 before death. 
 
 8. So long as men continue in sin, or impen- 
 itency, so long they will continue to be punish- 
 ed according to their characters, as attested by 
 their works ; but when they exercise repen- 
 tance toward God, he will, through the blood 
 of Christ, grant them the remission of the sins 
 that are past, and justify and save them by 
 faith in Jesus. 
 
 9. The means employed by Christ for the 
 salvation of the world, i. e. faith and repen- 
 tance, must finally and universally succeed, for 
 the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his 
 hand 5 and he must reign till he hath put all 
 enemies under his feet. 
 
 10. The subjection of all things to Christ 
 will be the same, in character and spirit, as 
 will be the subjection of Christ to the Father 
 in conjunction with his kingdom ; therefore, 
 when he resigns his kingdom, it will be per- 
 fect in its extent, and in the character of its 
 subjects : and thus God will be all in all. 
 
 Now by adopting these principles in connex- 
 ion with the text, which appears to be support- 
 ed most clearly by the general voice of scrip- 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 15 
 
 ture, we inevitably come to the conclusion of 
 the universal restoration of all mankind to vir- 
 tue and purity ; and believing in the universal 
 restoration, we necessarily arrive at the result 
 of universal and eternal happiness, which is 
 universal salvation. — None will be saved who 
 are not first restored ; and none that are or 
 shall be restored will fail of salvation. 
 
 The text speaks of this great work as having 
 times, i. e. periods or dispensations, set for 
 its progress and completion; and elsewhere, 
 the scriptures speak of its being finished in the 
 fulness of times : so that we have no scrip- 
 tural authority for supposing it will be perform- 
 ed for all men, individually or collectively, at 
 death, or any specified time, short of the ful- 
 ness of times. 
 
 The question, therefore, which we are now to 
 discuss, is not whether any or all will be saved 
 without genuine faith in Jesus Christ — wheth- 
 er any or all will be made happy without first 
 being brought to feel a sincere and godly sor- 
 row for sin, and an ardent thirst for holiness ? 
 This we have no reason to believe or expect. 
 
 Nor are we here to discuss the question 
 whether all men, christian or pagan, saint or 
 sinner, penitent or impenitent, will escape all 
 guilt, remorse, and mental suffering for sin, in 
 or at the article of temporal death, and be for- 
 ever after equally and eternally happy ? Neith- 
 
H> QUESTION STATED, 
 
 er reason nor scripture, justice nor equal mer- 
 cy, offer us the least grounds for believing they 
 will. 
 
 But this is the all important question, we 
 ask you to consider and be able to answer, 
 viz: — Whether all men will or will not, by the 
 means of grace and the power of God, be 
 brought to be true christians ? Or in other 
 words, Will all men, according to the scriptures, 
 and consistently with the attributes, will, and 
 government of God, be finally made pure and 
 happy through Jesus Christ, or not ? 
 
 Some we know think, or say they think, this 
 to be a question of mere idle curiosity, while 
 others esteem it an impious question which 
 ought never to be started, especially in public ; 
 but from both these classes of Christians, we 
 are, after serious deliberation, compelled re- 
 spectfully, but widely, to differ. 
 
 Such, my brethren, is the importance of this 
 subject, and such the deep and everlasting in- 
 terest which we and the world have in its de- 
 cision, that it becomes us reverently to pause — 
 and seriously to consider, that if we may truly 
 answer it in the affirmative, relative ourselves, 
 it will present to our encouragement in duty, 
 our comfort in affliction, and our hope in death, 
 heaven — all that can constitute us happy. — 
 But if we are compelled to answer it in the 
 negative — O then ! how will the scene be 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 17 
 
 changed ! to paralize the last resolve to virtue, 
 to cast off the last hope of affliction, and to add 
 eternal despair to the pains and anguish of 
 death, there will be presented to the soul the 
 horrors of the worm that never dies ! and 
 the storm of vengeance that never ceases to 
 rage ! — On one side of this question is all that 
 hope, and heaven, and eternity, can offer to our 
 enjoyment 5 and on the other, all that fear, de- 
 spair, and ever- enduring and ever-increasing 
 wo can inflict. Equally so is it with every 
 friend of ours, and with every individual of the 
 human race ; if therefore any one of the vast 
 family of man be eternally lost, it must not on- 
 ly be the friend, parent, child, endeared to 
 others by the ties of nature and mutual feelings, 
 but it must be some one himself, to whom hap- 
 piness is as dear as to ourselves — and whose 
 aversion to sufferings is equal to our own. 
 This thought should certainly cause us to take 
 and feel a high interest in the true answer to the 
 question, whether all will be finally virtuous 
 and happy, or not, as well as whether we our- 
 selves shall be saved or not. Yet in the exam- 
 ination of this question, let us endeavour to lay 
 apart all selfish interest which we have in its 
 answer, while we further examine, not only its 
 general importance, its importance in connexion 
 with the character of God, of Christ, of the 
 Scriptures, and of the morality, comforts, 
 
18 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 hopes, and devotion of mankind 5 but also the 
 evidences and arguments for and against it : that 
 if possible we may decide it impartially, accord- 
 ing to the force of truth and evidence. The 
 affirmative of this subject, sheds a peculiar lus- 
 tre on the character of Deity. — It represents 
 him as having wonderfully and fearfully created 
 and made of one blood, all the nations of the 
 earth, for the noblest object, as having extended 
 over them a father's tender and watchful care, 
 and when they erred as children and became the 
 miserable slaves of sin and death, he mercifully 
 projected the scheme of redemption, which his 
 grace and power shall, in due time, carry into 
 the most complete execution. What can so 
 much endear his government to his rational 
 creatures, as for them to feel it is founded in in- 
 finite goodness, and administered for the eternal 
 and equal happiness of all its subjects ? What 
 could so much endear him to them, as for them 
 to know that he is love, and that all his ad- 
 ministrations are equal and perfect goodness, 
 resulting finally in their equal and everlasting 
 welfare ? Every man should be taught that 
 God is the all-gracious author of his being, the 
 wise disposer of his fortune, and the unchanging 
 friend of his happiness 5 and of the peace and 
 happiness of all others, no less than of their 
 own ; then will they seek his protection, and 
 delight in his service 5 then will they be desirous 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 19 
 
 of imitating him, whom they are constrained 
 equally to love and reverence for his goodness 
 and greatness. 
 
 Nor is this sentiment less important to the 
 character of Christ ; it teaches that he came 
 from heaven to be the compassionate friend and 
 the all-sufficient Saviour of sinners, yea of a 
 whole sinful and lost world — it teaches that he 
 was impartial in his kindness, in his sympathy, 
 and in his sufferings, having tasted death equally 
 for every creature. So benignant was his 
 whole ministry on earth, that no sinner 
 could ever say he has neglected to warn me of 
 the evil of sin on every proper occasion 5 that he 
 ever neglected to sympathize in my sufferings, 
 not only, but to relieve them by deeds of mercy 
 and power such as man never did : or that he 
 ever ceased by his words to pour the light of 
 heaven on my benighted mind, or by the ener- 
 gies of his spirit, to wake up in my soul the emo- 
 tions of peaceful gratitude, and to enliven and 
 strengthen the latent and trembling hopes of 
 heaven in my heart, whenever I sought him. 
 So just, and good, and gracious was Jesus to 
 all, that there is no one who has not occasion to 
 say of him, he is the chiefest among ten thou- 
 sand, and altogether lovely. How different- 
 ly would the character of our Lord have appear- 
 ed had he come to call the righteous, but leave 
 the sinner to perish — had he come to bless the 
 
20 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 rich, but leave the poor to their destruction, or 
 had he come to save the poor, but leave the rich 
 to pass on the high way to eternal ruin ! Cer- 
 tainly it must be for the honour of Christ that 
 those whose duty and office it is to invite and 
 persuade all men to come unto him and be saved, 
 should feel authorized to say, unhesitatingly to 
 say, to every and each of them, Jesus is really, 
 and will prove himself to be your Saviour and 
 Judge. 
 
 If it be found that the holy scriptures con- 
 tain a clear expression of the restitution of all 
 things, attested by the united witness of all the 
 holy prophets, and confirmed by the authority 
 of Jehovah, it must greatly enhance the value 
 of that sacred book in the estimation of every 
 truly benevolent soul, and offer an increased 
 motive to every man to become thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the rich treasures it contains. 
 It does, or does not contain a revelation of sal- 
 vation for the whole world, and equally true is it 
 that it does, or does not contain salvation for me 
 or you, and of the way by which we are to attain 
 its possession ; for if it may not contain salvation 
 for all, then it may not contain it forme or you. 
 Then suppose we turn over its inspired pages, 
 believing that they contain the awful record of 
 eternal death for some the human race, and of 
 course feeling that we are liable to meet there- 
 in our own doom to never ending perdition, 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 21 
 
 what, ask yourselves, what would be the anxie- 
 ty and fearful suspense with which we should 
 read ? Could we read it with the same ear- 
 nestness and hope, the same interest and love 
 that we should do if we felt assured that as soon 
 as we become truly acquainted with it, and 
 felt the power and virtue of its heavenly truths, 
 we should be blessed and made wise unto salva- 
 tion ? Would any one dig in a field for a trea- 
 sure with as much faithfulness and perseverance 
 upon uncertainty, as he would with the assur- 
 ance, that by so doing, he should gain an inval- 
 uable treasure of wealth and happiness ? Most 
 certainly he could not. The bible will never 
 be perused by all men, old and young, rich and 
 poor, as it should be, and with the interest and 
 feelings it ought, till they are invited thereto 
 with affectionate concern by the ministers of the 
 cross, and urged by the plenary assurance that 
 they will find there that heavenly wisdom to 
 guide them in duty, that rich solace in afflic- 
 tion and that blessed hope of immortality, 
 which can no where else be found — those re- 
 wards for virtue, and those faithful warnings of 
 evil 5 that blessed panoply of light, and holy 
 armour of God ; and those testimonies of Jesus, 
 and life giving words of Jehovah, which open 
 to the soul beyond the dispensations of time ; 
 the finished work of grace, the glories and 
 joys of a paradise above, for themselves and 
 
22 
 
 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 the world, no where else to be obtained but in 
 this holy treasury of the Lord. When these 
 views of the scriptures prevail, then will the 
 books of infidelity be given up, the bible be 
 read with the the purest delight, and the words 
 of the Lord be sweet as in the days when 
 Jesus spake, and they that heard were healed. 
 But after all the sentiment under considera- 
 tion is more immediately interesting to man as 
 a moral, social, and devotional being. We 
 cannot resist the persuasion that a morality 
 founded on the principles above laid down, 
 would be most pure and exalted ; and there- 
 fore, most condusive to human happiness. The 
 basis of morality, such as Jesus taught, is 
 supreme love to God, and true benevolence to 
 man 5 and the fruits thereof in the conduct of 
 life, is the morality itself. Now as like produ- 
 ces like, will it not induce us to love God to 
 know that he is good to us ; and strengthen that 
 love, to know that he is equally good to all as 
 to us ? And will it not also naturally produce 
 in us a regard to the welfare of mankind to 
 feel that they are all our brethren ; responsible 
 to the same moral government ; bound to per- 
 form to us the same duties that we are to them ; 
 and with us destined to dwell forever in the 
 blessed associations of celestial virtue and hap- 
 piness ? The very fact that God will ultimate- 
 ly deliver all from sin and suffering, proves that 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 23 
 
 he will not allow us, with impunity, to inflict 
 on any creature of his, through revenge or 
 malevolence, the least degree of unjust or un- 
 merciful sufferings ; and is thus happily adapt- 
 ed to restrain the vicious propensities of the 
 sinful heart. 
 
 What then tends so naturally to awaken the 
 best feelings of our nature, both towards God 
 and man, and to restrain the bad propensities of 
 the soul, must as it prevails, exert a commanding 
 and heavenly influence on the moral intercourse 
 of the world, till society on earth shall resem- 
 ble the blessed society of heaven. But we 
 know, and are sorry for it, that it is by many, 
 whom we respect for their piety and virtue, 
 strenuously objected to this sentiment, that 
 were it to prevail it would have an intirely dif- 
 ferent effect on the moral feelings and conduct 
 of men ; which will be considered, and an an- 
 swer attempted, in its proper place. And in 
 the interim, should any of you, my hearers, 
 wish to try the case for your own personal satis- 
 faction, you may for the sake of such trial, 
 suppose society to be divided into two great 
 classes, one of whom you know will be con- 
 verted to Christ and reign with him forever ; 
 the other will forever revile him and sink to 
 endless perdition } then ask yourselves if you 
 could as sincerely sympathize in the present 
 sufferings of one as of the other of those clas- 
 
24 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 ses, extend the hand of relief as warmly to the 
 one as the other, and feel as sacred obligations 
 to seek the perpetual good of the one as of the 
 other ? And thus we are assured you will be 
 able to decide for yourselves the relative influ- 
 ence of the two schemes, viz. partial and uni- 
 versal restoration 5 and give the decided prefer- 
 ence to the one under consideration. 
 
 That this doctrine possesses a peculiar pow- 
 er when cordially embraced by a strong faith, 
 to " smooth the rugged path to life along a vale 
 of tears," solace the mourner's heart when riven 
 by the loss of its dearest earthly joys, and to 
 cheer and strengthen the departing trembling 
 soul, with the all-sustaining hopes of heaven, 
 will not, cannot be doubted. O my God ! let 
 us have its aid in misfortune's gloomy hour ; 
 when bending over the sick, or waiting at the 
 dying couch of kindred or of friends ; then 
 may its balmy spirit gently bedew us ; but 
 most of all when wearied and exhausted by 
 sickness, we are called to tread the dark and 
 gloomy valley, O then may its heavenly light 
 shine about us, and drive from before us the 
 soul-chilling gloom of death ! 
 
 And lastly, strange as it may appear to some, 
 we are constrained to view it of the highest 
 importance to the exercise of true and elevat- 
 ed devotion. This is by far the most difficult 
 of all christian duties to perform 5 so imperfect 
 
AND ITS IMPORTANCE. 25 
 
 are our views of our heavenly Father, so mis- 
 taken our apprehensions of happiness, and so 
 selfish and alienated are our feelings to our fel- 
 low creatures by reason of sin, that we need 
 much grace to aid us in giving ourselves whol- 
 ly to the service of God, in the obedience of 
 his word, and the cheerful and hearty perform- 
 ance of all that various good we are capable of 
 doing to our fellow men, not only to the good 
 but the evil, and all for the Lord's sake. — Fear 
 and dread of misery, here or hereafter, unas- 
 sisted, can never produce it ; with these, if they 
 exist, must be united the truth that enlightens 
 and the grace that saves the soul from sin. 
 What therefore can so effectually assist us in 
 this pure and heavenly exercise as a belief that 
 God in his infinite mercy is in Christ, and will 
 fully reconcile all things to himself in perfect 
 bliss ? We solemnly appeal to the believer in 
 endless punishment, whether it be possible for 
 him to feel as much devotion of heart when he 
 prays for a sinner, feeling at the same time that 
 that sinner will certainly go to perdition, as he 
 does when he prays for one that he feels and 
 hopes will be converted and made happy ! Let 
 us now conclude this lecture by placing before 
 us for our imitation in spirit at least, the bright- 
 est example of devotion ever witnessed by or 
 given to men — that exhibited by our Saviour 
 at his death. A life of perfect virtue finished, 
 
 4 
 
26 QUESTION STATED, 
 
 he presents himself an offering to God — in view 
 of the awful sufferings of the cross — says, not 
 my will but thine be done — and as the crimson, 
 cleansing, pardoning tide flowed from his 
 hands, his feet^ his temples, his side, his heart, 
 in a love to his bitterest enemies stronger than 
 death, he said with his expiring breath, father 
 forgive, my death will conquer, and the vilest 
 shall yet love thee. 
 
 Before we advance the proofs of this doctrine 
 to which we do sincerely attach such high im- 
 portance, we shall out of respect to its opposers, 
 notice and answer a few important objections. 
 First, Some object to the truth of this senti- 
 ment, because they think God has limited sal- 
 vation by his decree — which presupposes eter- 
 nal personal election and reprobation. — On this 
 subject we shall treat the next evening. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 OBJECTION I 
 
 ROMANS XI. 5. 
 
 EVEN SO THEN, AT THIS PRESENT TIME ALSO, THERE 19 A 
 REMNANT ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION OF GRACE. 
 
 According to the proposal made the last 
 evening, we are now assembled to consider the 
 doctrine of election as the first, and by many 
 supposed to be the most valid objection against 
 the scheme of final and universal salvation. 
 All must admit that if salvation be limited in 
 its design, it must be so by the decree of God ; 
 and that decree is by the objector called elec- 
 tion. The bible, we cheerfully admit, contains 
 the doctrine of election ; but not that view of 
 it entertained by those who make it an objec- 
 
28 OBJECTION 1. 
 
 tion to our sentiments. We shall, therefore, for 
 the sake of method, state the view and grounds 
 of the objection, with our reasons for not ad- 
 mitting them scriptural 5 and then give what 
 we understand to be the bible view of election, 
 by which it will appear that it favours rather 
 than opposes the affirmative of the great ques- 
 tion at issue. 
 
 Preparatory to that statement, let it be ob- 
 served, that election in whatever view we con- 
 sider it, must be the unconstrained and free act 
 of that great and good Being, whose perfections 
 are infinite, and whose attributes extend equal- 
 ly to all creatures of the universe 5 and who 
 being the perfect Father of the spirits of all 
 flesh, and by the current voice of revelation 
 and Providence, declared to be good and merci- 
 ful to all his works, can be no respector of per- 
 sons, nor have the least arbitrary and original 
 preference for the happiness of one, or one part 
 of his creatures over the others. 
 
 Further be it remembered, that when God 
 created man, he created him upright and holy, 
 and pronounced him good 5 at which time he 
 must have loved him, and designed his happi- 
 ness. Though the crown has fallen from the 
 head of him that was thus created in honour, 
 the gold become dim, and the most fine gold 
 changed, and man without exception become 
 
OBJECTION I. 
 
 M 
 
 subject to vanity, sin, and death, yet God has 
 not changed. 
 
 And it is certain that if any are made truly 
 happy, they must first, and that by their Maker, 
 be restored to the spiritual, practical, and habit- 
 ual purity in which they were at first created. 
 
 Now under these circumstances, God being 
 unchangeably good, and mankind equally sin- 
 ners and equally unable to reinstate themselves, 
 under these circumstances we ask, would it be 
 reasonable for us to suppose that the Deity in the 
 exercise of his favour for the recovery of lost men, 
 would select some, and pass by and leave others 
 to perish forever ? We appeal to you that are 
 parents, could you so do among your own 
 children in a similar case ? Nay, more, we ap- 
 peal to you, if any such there are here, and we 
 doubt there are many, who have felt the pow- 
 er of divine grace kindling up in your souls 
 the feelings of benevolence and concern for the 
 eternal welfare of all mankind, such in some 
 degree as the blessed Saviour felt when he 
 left the bosom of the Father, and that which 
 animated the holy apostles when they left 
 wives and children, through persecution and 
 death to preach the gospel to the world — would 
 it be possible for you under the influence of 
 the same spirit, to place before you the world 
 of sinners, and then deliberately select those 
 
30 OBJECTION I. 
 
 you would have redeemed to the exclusion of 
 the rest ? 
 
 Having brought the mind of the attentive 
 hearer to feel the decision to which reason and 
 christian feelings would lead iis were we allow- 
 ed to follow them, we shall now seek the ad- 
 vice of the standard of truth, to which after all, 
 we must all appeal, to the scriptures. 
 
 In doing which, we shall, as already proposed, 
 state the objection in its clearest light, that we 
 may the better judge its true character. 
 
 The doctrine of election, as understood by 
 those who urge it as an objection to universal 
 salvation, is this, viz: — The decree of God by 
 which from all eternity he determined of his 
 own good pleasure to select some of all nations 
 for eternal glory, and appointed and made irre- 
 sistably efficacious all the means of grace to 
 effect that end, without the least reference to 
 works done, or to be done, which necessarily 
 implies the endless perdition of all the rest, and 
 the certain inefficiency of all means apparently 
 used for their salvation — in a word that God 
 created some to be unconditionally, certainly, 
 and endlessly happy, and the residue of man- 
 kind to be unconditionally, certainly, and end- 
 lessly miserable ? This doctrine has been sup- 
 ported by St. Augustine and some others 
 among the fathers, and strongly advocated by 
 Calvin in that article of his institutes, Henry, 
 
OBJECTION I. 31 
 
 Doddridge, the assembly of Divines at West- 
 minster, and most of their followers in all ages 
 down to the Orthodox of the present day. 
 Some difference in modes of expressing it, and 
 some variation in the manner of defending it 
 have obtained, but the spirit, substance, and 
 effect to be ultimately produced by it has been 
 and is the same — nor do we see that it is at all 
 possible substantially to alter it, without di- 
 rectly or indirectly rejecting its truth. 
 
 The leading points in this view are these : 
 1. The object of election is eternal and always 
 the same, though expressed by different terms 
 in scripture, such as elect, choose, appoint, or- 
 dain, will, &/C. i. e. those who are elected or 
 chosen are not elected to any office, tempo- 
 rary good, or national distinction, but to eter- 
 nal glory. 2. To this act of favour God was 
 wholly self-moved, having no reference to the 
 natural or moral qualities of the persons elect- 
 ed. 3. The result of this election is in all ca- 
 ses certain, unconditional, and in no possible 
 way, liable to be contingent in regard to any 
 one individual of all the elect. 4. It necessa- 
 rily includes by implication the everlasting and 
 certain doom of all the non-elect to unceasing 
 and inconceivable sufferings in eternity. The 
 last of these points, however, more particularly 
 distinguishes the adherents of this doctrine from 
 all other religionists. 
 
32 OBJECTION I. 
 
 Much as we are opposed in sentiment to this 
 doctrine, we deem it hut fair to acknowledge the 
 slanderous saying, which has been often repeat- 
 ed, viz: — that it admits men to heaven without 
 reference to personal holiness, is a mistake; 
 for though God elected them without regard to 
 their personal holiness or sinfulness, yet he 
 does not, and will not admit them to heaven 
 without their being first made perfectly and per- 
 sonally holy ; and that by the means of grace 
 provided in the gospel, and provided for all 
 equally : yet it is equally just to remark that 
 though the means of grace are general, they are 
 not designed, and therefore, cannot in a single 
 instance, prove effectual to salvation, save in the 
 cases of the elect where they are certain to be 
 so. 
 
 In support of this doctrine there has been 
 much subtile and metaphysical reasoning of 
 talented school men employed ; but we shall 
 here only notice a few of the prominent passa- 
 ges of scripture, which have been mostly relied 
 on for its authority. 
 
 Our text declares " there is a remnant ac- 
 cording to the election of grace" — and verse 
 7th, "the election hath obtained it." Rom. 
 9. 11, 12, 13.— St. Paul says, "the children 
 not being yet born, neither having done any 
 good or evil, that the purpose of God, accord- 
 ing to election, might stand, not of works but 
 
OBJECTION I. 53 
 
 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 I hated." 
 Also, the same author writing to the Ephesians 
 says, i. 4, 5. — " According as he hath chosen 
 us in him, before the foundation of the world, 
 that we should be holy, and without blame be- 
 fore him in love : having predestinated us unto 
 the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him- 
 self, according to the good pleasure of his 
 will." And again, 2d Thes. ii. 13.—" But we 
 are bound to give thanks always to God for you, 
 brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God 
 hath from the beginning chosen you to salva- 
 tion, through sanctification of the spirit, and be- 
 lief of the truth." 
 
 From these portions of the oracles of God, 
 the advocates of eternal, personal election, and 
 reprobation, appear to think the following con- 
 clusions irresistable : 1. Those who are to be ad- 
 mitted to heaven are a remnant. 2. They were 
 from eternity selected and chosen from the rest 
 of mankind. 3. That God loved the elect, and 
 hated the non-elect from the beginning, as it 
 appears plainly in the case of Jacob and Esau. 
 4. Therefore he chose the elect because he free- 
 ly and eternally loved them, and left or reprobat- 
 ed the rest of the human race because he freely 
 and eternally hated them, or disapproved of 
 their salvation, and not at all on account of 
 
34 vfijU'CTio:* i. 
 
 any works, good or evil 5 for neither party had 
 done good or evil at the time of their ejection. 
 And 5. That the way by which he determined 
 to save those he predestinated to glory, was by 
 sanctification of the spirit, and the belief of the 
 truth : all which was designed and will termi- 
 nate for the glory of his infinite and free grace 
 in Jesus Christ ; and therefore, the only hope of 
 salvation is founded on election. 
 
 Having stated the argument in favour of this 
 view of election in its clearest and strongest 
 light, we ask what objection is there to this in- 
 terpretation ? To which we answer, it does 
 not give the true and most obvious sense of the 
 passages it professes to interpret. I . The rem- 
 nant preserved from idolatry in the days of Eli- 
 jah, were not appointed exclusively of all others 
 at that time, to have their names written in 
 heaven ; but they were reserved in mercy to 
 that rebellious people, as seed in the midst of 
 them, though hid even from the eyes of the 
 prophet, which should germinate and produce 
 among them a harvest of true worshippers, to 
 the living God. 
 
 Also, the remnant left to that same people in 
 the apostle's day, which Jesus says prevented 
 their being entirely cut offlike Sodom and Go- 
 morrah, were so far from being appointed to 
 the exclusive blessings of Christianity, that they 
 were, in God's endless kindness to the world, 
 
OBJECTION I. 35 
 
 reserved a faithful seed of Christ, from whom 
 the word of the Lord should sound out, and by 
 whom the true religion should be spread 
 through the earth, till the fulness of the Gentiles 
 should come to its obedience, and all Israel be 
 6aved. This is St. Paul's conclusion on this 
 very subject of the remnant in his 11th Chap, to 
 the Romans. 2. Being chosen in Christ, and 
 made heirs of glory, carries not the idea of the 
 eternal exclusion of all but themselves from sal- 
 vation, but from the nature of the case implies 
 the extension of the same choice to all others, 
 which would appear on their conversion, as it 
 had already appeared in the conversion of the 
 christians at Ephesus and Thessalonia. 3. 
 The love and hatred mentioned in the case of 
 Jacob and Esau, to say nothing of the harsh- 
 ness of the rendering, are not to be understood as 
 positive but comparitive love and hatred, i. e. 
 love to both, but a greater degree of it to one 
 than the other, or a preference among friends, 
 for instance, for a certain office. Our Saviour 
 uses the language of love and hate in this sense. 
 St. Luke, xiv. 25. — "If any man come to me, 
 and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, 
 and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, 
 and his own life also, he can not be my disci- 
 ple." And John, xii. 25.— "He that loveth 
 his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life 
 in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 1 ? 
 
36 OBJECTION I. 
 
 Now seeing that the scriptures undeniably 
 teach us to love our kindred, and even our ene- 
 mies, and by all allowable means to preserve 
 our lives and theirs; it cannot have been the 
 design of Jesus to teach an opposite doctrine, 
 but only that while we sincerely and affection- 
 ately love our relatives, we should, as disciples, 
 love him with a still stronger and more devoted 
 affection ; and that we should strongly prefer 
 eternal life to our temporal life in this world. 
 
 Again, the election mentioned in the case of 
 Jacob and Esau, has no relation to their eternal 
 state ; nor does it seem to relate to them per- 
 sonally, but as the agents or fathers of two dis- 
 tinct people or nations. The matter of this 
 election was the choice of Jehovah that Christ 
 should be given to the Israelites and not the 
 Edonites ; and as from necessity he must select 
 and prefer one nation to all others for this pur- 
 pose, so he chose that Jesus should be brought 
 into the world by the posterity of Jacob, and 
 not the posterity of Esau. In all this we see 
 nothing like positive hatred or eternal reproba- 
 tion of any person or people 5 for God so loved 
 the world that he gave his only begotten Son 
 to be the light and Saviour of all the nations of 
 the earth. 
 
 We are also constrained to regard the above 
 interpretation, or any other which can be given 
 of those or other passages of God's word in 
 
OBJECTION I. 37 
 
 favour of this view of election and repro- 
 bation, as being opposed to those great and 
 good rules of expounding scripture, which re- 
 quire that we should so interpret every part, 
 passage, doctrine, and duty of the bible, as 1, 
 That the whole shall agree and be consistent 
 with itself. 2. That it shall be consistent with 
 the attributes and perfections of its Divine 
 Author. 3. That nothing therein shall be re- 
 pugnant to natural reason and equity. There- 
 fore we cannot but object to the eternal reproba- 
 tion of any of the human race as being entirely 
 opposed to the declaration, and numerous other 
 proofs God has given that he is not willing that 
 any should finally perish — to the numerous calls 
 and invitations to virtue and to glory which God 
 has graciously given to all mankind — and to 
 the spirit of the apostolic mission to preach the 
 gospel of salvation to every creature. 
 
 Lastly, we object to this as a scripture doc- 
 trine, because we think it calculated most un- 
 reasonably to discourage and drive, even into 
 despair, beyond the reach of hope, the erring, 
 weak minded, and scrupulous, who most of all 
 need to be soothed in affliction, and encouraged 
 to reform, and then to grow in grace daily. — 
 Nor is this all ; — on the other hand it has a ten- 
 dency to countenance the arrogant, and lift up 
 with pride the presuming, and embolden the 
 hardened hypocrite. 
 
38 OBJECTION 1. 
 
 Having stated and considered the view of 
 election which is and has ever been adopted by 
 genuine Calvinists, and noted the reasons why 
 we think it not to be a scriptural doctrine, we 
 shall now further only ask your attention to 
 what we conceive to be the genuine doctrine of 
 election, as taught in the bible. We first meet 
 with this doctrine in the sacred pages, in the 
 case of Abraham, who was separated from his 
 people and his father's, house and chosen from all 
 the families of the earth, to be the servant and 
 the friend of God 5 who called, appointed, and 
 predestinated him to rear up and establish a 
 house, kingdom, and priesthood, agreeably to 
 the purpose and will of God, which should be 
 distinguished from all other kingdoms and peo- 
 ple, by the enjoyment of peculiar honours, titles, 
 blessings, privileges, and the covenant of Jeho- 
 vah. Here is both personal and national elec- 
 tion — personal to Abraham, national to the 
 Jews. Between personal and national election 
 however, their is no difference in principle 5 for 
 personal election extended to a nation, becomes 
 national. But to what were Abraham and the 
 Jews elected ? Were they elected to eternal sal- 
 vation, to the endless exclusion of all persons and 
 nations but themselves ? By no means, they 
 were elected to receive, preserve, and transmit 
 the genuine worship of God, till the Messiah, 
 the true seed to whom the promises were made, 
 
OBJECTION I. jy 
 
 should come and dispense the same divine sys- 
 tem of religion to the nations. Since the com- 
 ing of Christ, and the calling of all nations to 
 the service of God, and the blessings of his 
 kingdom made by the gospel, all nations and 
 people are and have been elected to similar du- 
 ties, promises, and honours, to those before ex- 
 clusively enjoyed by the Jews 5 so that the call- 
 ing and election of the Jews, and the divine 
 dispensations towards them, were pledges of 
 the infinitely kind and gracious design of Deity, 
 to extend in the fulness of time, his great salva- 
 tion to all mankind, in Jesus, the true seed of 
 Abraham. And as a demonstration of their 
 having been originally separated from the rest 
 of the world, by an immediate revelation from 
 heaven — of their having enjoyed the special 
 care of a holy Providence, and been redeemed 
 from Egypt, and Babylon, by the hand of the 
 Most High — and also of the certain accomplish- 
 ment of all the purposes of God, relative to them 
 and the Gentiles, as a demonstration of this we 
 say, they have for 1800 years, though dispers- 
 ed, without either civil or ecclesiastical polity, 
 persecuted and derided by the nations for their 
 singularity, yet they have in the face, and to 
 the utter astonishment of the world, remained a 
 distinct and separate people, and will no doubt 
 continue so to be, till the gospel of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, whom they rejected and crucified, 
 
4U OBJECTION I. 
 
 shall succeed in uniting both Jews and Gen- 
 tiles, in one new and grand assembly of true 
 worshippers 5 and thus prove him to be the 
 salvation of God to the ends of the earth. 
 
 Election is often in the sacred writings ap- 
 plied to the selection which God makes of cer- 
 tain persons, for certain offices and duties. In 
 this sense, and in reference to his having been 
 appointed to the ever blessed office of mediator 
 between God and men, Jesus is proclaimed as 
 the elect and chosen of the Lord. Isa. xlii. 
 1. St. Mat. xii. 18. In like manner St. Paul 
 and the other Apostles were chosen vessels, 
 to bear the riches of the gospel to all nations 
 and kindreds of men. Acts, i. 24, xxvi, 16. 
 And St. John, xvii. 18. — and many other places. 
 In this way also all true christians are elected 
 and separated from the world by their faith, 
 principles of action, and hopes of glory ; and 
 are called not only to enjoy, but to exemplify by 
 their conduct, and diffuse and spread by their 
 exertions, the excellent principles, and rich 
 blessings of Christianity, until the moral wilder- 
 ness shall, beneath their genial influence, bud 
 and blossom as the rose 5 the whole earth be- 
 come the garden of the Lord ; and the nations 
 of it be brought to feel and own that christians 
 have been emphatically the salt that preserved 
 them, and the light that spread around them the 
 effulgence of heavenly bliss. Certainly my 
 
OBJECTION I. 41 
 
 Christian hearers, this view of the bible doc- 
 trine of election implies no eternal reproba- 
 tion, but proves that it is the grand purpose 
 of God to save the whole world ; and thus it 
 strongly supports the benevolent sentiment of 
 the final restitution of all things. The leading 
 principle in this doctrine of election, is this, 
 viz : — That the peculiarly elected, are so elect- 
 ed for the benefit and salvation of those who 
 are not, like themselves, specially elected. 
 
 We have now, as we hope, succeeded in 
 finding the true meaning of election, and 
 shown that it does not oppose, but wonderfully 
 favours the happiness of the world 5 and, there- 
 fore, seeing the mediation of Christ, the preach- 
 ing and mission of the apostles, and the united 
 influence of christians, and christian princi- 
 ples and examples, are all directed by the will^ 
 and aided by the spirit and power of God, in 
 establishing the universal empire of grace and 
 of glory, who can doubt its accomplishment, 
 to the praise of God, and the joy of angels ? 
 
 But several voices seem to say in my ear, 
 though we do not believe God has limited sal- 
 vation by election, yet we do not believe in uni- 
 versal salvation, because we think salvation to 
 be conditional : Therefore, the conditionality of 
 salvation will be our theme the next evening. 
 
 6 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 OBJECTION II. 
 
 HEBREWS XII. 14. 
 
 FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN, AND HOLINESS, WITHOUT 
 WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD. 
 
 However some men of proud and selfish 
 feelings may spurn the idea, there is no true 
 christian, could he be perfectly convinced the 
 whole intelligent creation of God would be 
 made eternally happy, consistently with the di- 
 vine perfections and the rights of human agen- 
 cy, that would not rejoice with joy unutterable 
 at such a conquest over sin and death, such a 
 triumph of the Redeemer's grace, and such 
 a glorious display of infinite goodness, wis- 
 dom, and power ; and that would not most cor- 
 
OBJECTION II. 43 
 
 dially join the song of angels in acclamations of 
 "Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace 
 and good will towards men." But there are 
 many who suppose that by the gospel, salvation 
 is truly and freely offered to all, upon such 
 conditions as they can readily accept or reject 
 as they please 5 and that during what they term 
 the day of probation, many will continue wil- 
 fully to reject the terms of grace, and so by 
 their own sinful neglect, come forever short of 
 the great salvation set before us in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 This objection being made to our religious 
 belief, not only by many persons, but by many 
 of profound learning in theology, and of distin- 
 guished piety and usefulness in the church of 
 God, we shall now investigate its merits with a 
 oare becoming its importance, and he that hath 
 ears to hear let him hear. 
 
 The doctrine of the objection is asserted to 
 have in its favour the most clear and unequiv- 
 ocal authority of both reason and scripture. 
 
 It is claimed to be perfectly reasonable, that 
 the Deity should bestow salvation on his crea- 
 tures by such conditions only as will perfectly 
 secure his own glory, and as will promote and 
 secure the obedience and perpetual happiness 
 of all the subjects of his kingdom 5 and such 
 the conditions of salvation are averred to be, as 
 will more fully appear by reference to the 
 
44 OBJECTION II. 
 
 scriptures on the subject. The objector as- 
 serts, that the substance of his objection is very 
 forcibly expressed in the text at the head of this 
 discourse, where complete salvation is implied- 
 ly offered to the sinner's acceptance, i. e. the 
 blissful visions of God's presence and glory, are 
 presented to our most enraptured imagination, 
 but not without conditions, which are these : 
 perfect holiness of heart and life. What can 
 be plainer than that no one can ever see and 
 enjoy God in his heavenly kingdom, except he 
 first follow after holiness, and obtain it ; which 
 irresistibly proves that holiness is the only con- 
 dition on which God can accept and save the 
 sinner. 
 
 The evangelical prophet Isaiah expresses 
 the same sentiments in the most beautiful and 
 familiar language, saying, " The willing and the 
 obedient shall eat the good of the land" — which 
 places it beyond controversy that the disobedi- 
 ent and the obdurate shall never enter into the 
 rest, nor taste the riches of that heavenly and 
 better country sought by the righteous. And 
 Jesus subscribes to the same opinion, when he 
 says, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 
 shall see God." If the impure in heart could 
 have seen him also, would Jesus have thus 
 spoken ? Also, when St. John saw the most 
 sublimated visions of the new heavens, and the 
 new earth, and of the city of Jehovah, with 
 
OBJECTION II. 45 
 
 those that shared its freedom, he exclaimed, 
 " Blessed are they that do his commandments, 
 that they may have right to the tree of life, and 
 may enter in through the gates into the city." 
 
 Not only these places, but much of the scrip- 
 tures of both the old and new testament are sup- 
 posed to establish the truth of the objection as 
 clearly as the light of day shows us the objects 
 that lie before us. But they also believe and 
 affirm, thai both Solomon, the wisest of the 
 kings of Israel, and Jesus the Lord of the holy 
 prophets, taught that the probation, or time, 
 and only time, when these conditions could ever 
 be accepted, is our day of life in this present 
 world. 
 
 Solomon exhorted the people of his time in 
 such language as may with great profit, be oft 
 repeated in our ears, i. e. " 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." 
 And Jesus, in the 8th chapter of John, warns 
 the Scribes and Pharisees saying, " I go my 
 way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in 
 your sins : whither I go, ye cannot come : for 
 if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in 
 your sins." These two passages, and some 
 others, are accounted sufficient authority for 
 believing that the day of grace is limited to the 
 period of the present life : so that all beyond is 
 
4*D OBJECTION II. 
 
 a night in which no work can be done, no 
 means of grace enjoyed or improved. 
 
 The objection thus fully and fairly stated in 
 connexion with the scriptural authority alleged 
 in its support, very naturally divides itself into 
 two branches : 1. The condition. 2. The day 
 of salvation. 
 
 There are some christians who apply the doc- 
 trine of the objection to the first covenant, 
 otherwise usually called the covenant of works, 
 but not to the second covenant, i. e. the cove- 
 nant of God's free and all-sufficient grace in 
 Christ Jesus. But as this view offers no objec- 
 tion to our sentiments, we shall waive its further 
 notice as irrelevant to the argument, and call 
 your attention to the first branch of the objec- 
 tion, the conditions or terms of salvation. 
 
 The question now to be decided is this, viz. 
 Is the salvation of the gospel conditional ? The 
 only difficulty in the way of giving a plain an- 
 swer to this plain question, grows out of the 
 different senses in which the term condition has 
 been used by different persons. Some for in- 
 stance have used it for what must necessarily 
 make uncertain, and limit the object to which 
 it is applied 5 — for what is a valuable equivalent 
 for the benefit received, as the terms of a con- 
 tract are supposed to be equal in value to the 
 object of it ; or for something to be perform- 
 ed in our own strength j and when performed 
 
OBJECTION II. 47 
 
 to give us a meritorious claim to salvation. In 
 this sense it has been employed by mere lega- 
 lists, and perhaps inadvertently by some others 5 
 and in this sense we consider it as both unscrip- 
 tural and useless. It is unscriptural, because 
 in the sacred writings salvation is every where 
 represented to be the effect of the free and 
 saving grace of God in a Redeemer, and not 
 in the least degree the production of works, or 
 of human merit. And to have offered salvation 
 to sinners on the terms of their giving what 
 may in any possible way be considered an equi- 
 valent in value for it, would certainly [have 
 been offering it on sjuch terms as could never 
 have been accepted by any of those whom Je- 
 sus declares to be wretched and miserable, 
 and poor, and blind, and naked ; and whom, 
 therefore, he counsels to buy of him (i. e. with- 
 out money and without price) never failing 
 riches, and the pure and spotless robes of 
 righteousness, that they may walk with the 
 blessed, and dwell forever with the redeemed. 
 Others apply this term to faith, repentance, 
 and other christian duties, as being the means 
 without which no one can be saved 5 giving 
 to conditions the force and use of means only ; 
 in which sense we are not opposed to them, 
 though on account of the abuse to which they 
 are liable, we much prefer the word means. 
 Because the means of salvation being appoint- 
 
4S OBJECTION ii. 
 
 ed by infinite wisdom, and adapted to reclaim 
 the world from sin, are so far from limiting 
 salvation, or even rendering it uncertain, that 
 they are the method by which God has made it 
 certain in the counsels of his goodness, and by 
 which, in his own time, he will accomplish to his 
 own everlasting praise, and the greatest possi- 
 ble good of the universe. 
 
 Before we proceed to show that the means of 
 grace are sufficient to effect their most glorious 
 end, the salvation of the world, we shall notice 
 the other branch of the objection, viz. that all 
 conditions or means of grace are limited to 
 this life. That some of the means of grace 
 are peculiar to this life we admit 5 but that all 
 of them are, we see no cause to believe, but 
 have many reasons for the opposite opinion. — 
 So long and so deeply has this opinion been 
 rooted in the minds of the greater part of Chris- 
 tendom, that to oppose it, or call its truth in 
 question, will probably be deemed by many a 
 species of profanity. But our object is truth, 
 regardless of all such considerations, though it 
 be found with the few, and be contemned by the 
 many. The great names that have supported 
 it are fallible like other men, and the scriptures 
 quoted above for its authority are far from be- 
 ing conclusive. 
 
 Solomon by bidding us to do with our might 
 whatever our hands find to do, because there 
 
OBJECTION II. 
 
 49 
 
 is no work, devise, wisdom, or knowledge in the 
 grave, had reference to the temporal works, and 
 social duties peculiar to the present world. 
 This passage, therefore, might be as successful- 
 ly quoted to prove there will be no conscious- 
 ness of being beyond (not in) the grave, as that 
 there will be no repentance felt, virtue ac- 
 quired, or pardon obtained there. 
 
 Nor does it appear from an attentive perusal, 
 and a careful regard to the scope of what our 
 Saviour says in the 8th of John, and the parallel 
 places, that he designed to teach the Jews that 
 after death there would be no possible method 
 for their salvation 5 but he seems rather to warn 
 them that his peculiar mission to them as his 
 own people, would soon close 5 that through the 
 stubborness of their unbelief they would reject 
 him, but after the Romans should besiege their 
 city, and the woes denounced against them 
 should threaten, they would then in vain seek 
 deliverance by the appearance, not of himself, 
 but of some false Messiah, and thus die in their 
 sins ; and the opportunity they then enjoyed 
 of entering in with Christ into his kingdom on 
 earth, and of so following him to glory as the 
 first fruits of grace would be lost by them for- 
 ever. 
 
 Had it been our Saviour's" purpose by the 
 words, " whither I go ye cannot come," to pro- 
 claim the endless seperation of the rulers and 
 
 7 
 
50 OBJECTION II. 
 
 people of Israel from his heavenly kingdom, 
 we cannot think he would have addressed the 
 same language to his own disciples, saying, "As 
 I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot 
 come; so now I say unto you." John xiii. 33. 
 
 Again, St. Paul, who certainly knew the 
 mind of Christ, says of these very Jews, who 
 were broken off for their unbelief, God is able 
 to graft them in again, and the receiving of 
 them shall be life from the dead ; and so all 
 Israel be saved. And to this agree the words 
 of Jesus in another place, John xii. 32. "And 
 I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
 all men unto me." 
 
 The spirit of what our Lord says on this sub- 
 ject seems to us to be this, viz. no unbeliever, 
 as such, can come to Christ either in the king- 
 dom of his grace, or that of his glory 5 that 
 those who continued in unbelief and die in sin, 
 as all do who die in unbelief, will continue to 
 have the same inability they had while living ; 
 and here he leaves the matter, but without 
 the least indication that natural death, which is 
 wholly a physical change, will make any moral 
 or spiritual change in the condition of men, 
 either for or against them. 
 
 And if, as St. Peter assures us was the 
 case, the gospel was preached after the death 
 of Christ to those who lived and died in sin 
 in the days of Noah, that they might be judged 
 
OBJECTION II. 51 
 
 according to men in the flesh, but live accord- 
 ing to God in the spirit; why should we 
 count it strange that those who died in sin at 
 Jerusalem should have extended to them equal 
 means of final salvation ? 
 
 The limitation of all means and methods of 
 grace to the narrow span of this life, not only 
 fails of a fair scripture support, but it is opposed 
 to reason and equity 5 for if all means are 
 limited to this world, there is a vast and glaring 
 disproportion and partiality in their bestow- 
 ment 5 some enjoying the clear day, and others 
 sitting in the cold regions of night. 
 
 Think what vast numbers of the heathen 
 have lived and passed off the stage of life, 
 without ever hearing so much as the name of 
 Jesus ; — think how many infants die even before 
 they are able to lisp the mercy of Christ 5 — and 
 how many there have been, and are, to whom 
 nature has been so sparing in her gifts that 
 their responsibility is a problem beyond our 
 reach. * 
 
 Shall we at once turn all these to destruction 
 without even the possibility of escape ? 
 
 How much more reasonable is it for us to be- 
 lieve that Christ, who is Lord both of the dead 
 and living, will continue to use with all his 
 creatures, in all conditions, the most appropri- 
 ate means for their reformation, till all shall 
 
52 OBJECTION II. 
 
 be subdued to him, and he resign his kingdom 
 perfect to the Father. 
 
 With both branches of this objection we 
 have now done 5 and shall close the lecture by 
 showing the strong probability there is of the 
 truth of universal salvation from the fulness 
 and efficiency of the means God has appointed 
 for that end. 
 
 Certainly if conditions have only the use of 
 means, no one could object to them 5 but as 
 in that case nothing but means would be 
 intended, it would clearly be more simple, 
 as well fas more analogous to nature, to use 
 the latter. The universe is a vast assemblage 
 of means and ends. God employs means for the 
 display of his own perfections ; and by them 
 carries on the kingdom of nature, providence, 
 and grace. Think of the vast number of 
 means which must be employed by the Creator 
 to effect the next eclipse of the sun, and with 
 what minute exactness they must each operate 
 to the same end. How countless are the 
 means employed in the changes and government 
 of the seasons, and the alterations of day and 
 night. 
 
 When the Lord marked Jerusalem, Nine- 
 veh, or the old world, for destruction, no means 
 to effect those astonishing events were wanting 5 
 nor when he would redeem his people from 
 bondage in Egypt, or from captivity in Baby- 
 
OBJECTION II. 53 
 
 lonr But while these events were accomplish- 
 ed by the most perfect cooperation of such 
 extended assemblages of instruments, others, 
 perhaps, of no less importance, were apparently 
 accomplished by single, or at least, a much 
 more limited number. Thus, when in later 
 times he would favour the world with a most 
 wonderful improvement in the science of as- 
 tronomy, he sent a Newton to measure the 
 spheres, number the stars, and note their move- 
 ments — and it was done. And when in his 
 good pleasure he would give independence to 
 the favoured descendants of the pilgrims, he 
 gave a Washington to their armies ; an Adams, 
 a Jefferson, and a Franklin to their counsel 5 
 and a rich inheritance was theirs. 
 
 But when God would exhibit the glories of 
 redemption, he sent his only begotten Son to be 
 the Saviour of the world ; and a glory above the 
 brightness of the sun in the firmament beamed 
 along the shores of death. 
 
 Jesus, also, in the amazing and benignant 
 transactions of his mission on earth, honoured 
 and employed means, simple means, in their ac- 
 complishment. The apostles, and faithful fol- 
 lowers of Christianity, by the gentle, yet pow- 
 erful and heavenly methods appointed by their 
 master, in a few years, and against a most 
 powerful and cruel opposition, established and 
 triumphantly spread the gospel through many 
 
54 OBJECTION II. 
 
 nations of the earth 5 so that for it now to 
 become the universal religion of the world 
 within two centuries to come, would not be 
 more surprising than that it spread as far as it 
 did in the three first. Such an event is believ- 
 ed by most christians, and is very susceptible 
 of proof by the scriptures. Consider how 
 many and how powerful must be the means 
 that shall unite the Jews and the Gentiles in 
 faith, in friendship, and in good works 5 and 
 yet the bible asserts, with peculiar force, that 
 this shall be done. 
 
 Now if there be means of grace sufficient to 
 fill the earth with a millenium glory 5 unite all 
 nations in Christ, and perfect them in holiness, 
 that they may see God and live forever 5 why 
 should it be thought more difficult for the Deity 
 to bring those of every age to see and enjoy 
 his heavenly kingdom, than to bring all of a 
 particular age ? seeing the dead also are his, 
 and when he will he can restore them to life, 
 to holiness, and heaven. To conclude, if the 
 united means of grace and power in the hands 
 of Jesus be sufficient for the salvation of the 
 world, as we think is very apparent from the 
 consideration of their spirituality, variety, and 
 efficiency when directed as they are by infinite 
 wisdom, then it follows, that the method God 
 has chosen by which to impart salvation to his 
 creatures, can never limit, or make it uncer- 
 
OBJECTION II. 55 
 
 tain to any, but must tend to spread and per- 
 fect it, till heaven and earth shall be full of its 
 praise. 
 
 I cannot close without remarking, that it 
 would be a most gross abuse of this doctrine 
 for any one to say, or attempt to argue, that 
 because God has appointed sufficient means 
 for the restoration of^all men to purity and 
 happiness, and because those means will, in 
 the hands of moral agents, prove successful 
 during the reign of the Messiah 5 therefore, there 
 is no need of our using them, and so we may 
 with impunity neglect our moral, social, or 
 religious duties, under the pretence that our 
 salvation is sure. We know that it is the 
 perfection of the gospel salvation that it is sure, 
 but it is no more sure than are the means used 
 by Christ to procure it, and also those to be used 
 by us for its attainment. While we neglect or 
 refuse to use them, we can never expect to be 
 happy in ourselves, or good examplers to 
 others 5 for none but enthusiasts and immoral 
 characters ever refuse to improve the means 
 recommended by the gospel. On the other 
 hand, what an encouragement does this senti- 
 ment give to every reasonable and good man, 
 to try in good earnest to hear the gospel, read 
 the scriptures, meditate on heavenly things, 
 watch his heart,seek christian conversation, and 
 also to hold communion with heaven Uy prayer 
 
56 OBJECTION II. 
 
 and praise 5 knowing that by this method he 
 shall promote his best interest on earth, and 
 be ripening for glory 5 and though but an hum- 
 ble servant, he will also be a coworker together 
 with Christ the Lord, who by the light of his 
 word, the blessed influence of his spirit, and 
 the power of the resurrection, will happily 
 succeed in bringing the world to see God, and 
 enjoy him forever. 
 
 It may be said by some, though there can 
 be no decree or condition shown to limit salva- 
 tion, yet if God has declared that some shall 
 suffer eternal misery, then of necessity all can- 
 not be saved. In the next lecture, therefore, 
 we shall, if God permit, respectfully, but fear- 
 lessly, examine the objection of endless misery. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 DURATION OF PUNISHMENT CONSIDERED. 
 
 GENESIS XVIII. 25. 
 
 SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT ? 
 
 The question to be considered this evening, is not 
 whether there will be endless, or no future punish- 
 ment? nor whether future punishment will termi- 
 nate in annihilation, or be extended without end ? 
 — but this is the question, whether future punish- 
 ment will be endless, or limited in degree and du- 
 ration, according to the character of the impeni- 
 tent, and so result in their restoration to happi- 
 ness ? This is a momentous question — one of 
 the most intense interest to the character of God 
 and religion — one, which has engaged the gravest 
 
 attention of the wisest and best of men, in ancient 
 
 8 
 
58 DURATION OF 
 
 and modern times — and one, 'which has justly 
 claimed and received the profoundest investigation; 
 for upon its answer depends an eternity of joy or 
 of grief, for myriads of the human race. This is 
 not, properly speaking, a sectarian question, but 
 one in which we are all deeply concerned ; and 
 therefore it merits the most serious treatment, and 
 our most prayerful consideration. 
 
 Punishment, either limited or unlimited, presup- 
 poses the existence of a Ruler ; of laws, and of 
 subjects, who are capable of knowing the laws, 
 and doing the will of the ruler. Therefore to 
 judge of the punishment, we must be acquainted 
 with the character of the Lawgiver, the nature of the 
 laws, and the capacity and circumstances of the 
 subjects. 
 
 The character of God, as seen in his works, is 
 most glorious. The creation around us is a mir- 
 ror in which we behold "his eternal power and 
 Godhead." The lofty mountain, the extended 
 plain, the starry heavens and the mighty deep, 
 give but a faint idea of his immensity ; the move- 
 ments of the heavenly bodies, the revolutions of 
 the earth, and the change of the seasons, all pre- 
 serving such perfect order, and resulting in the 
 production of so much good to the universe, are 
 but faint illustrations of his wisdom ; and the 
 cheering influences of the sun, the salubrity of 
 the air, and the productions of the earth and sea* 
 
PUNISHMENT. 59 
 
 sustaining and blessing such countless myriads of 
 various beings, are but the smallest proofs of his 
 goodness. But when we think of the power that 
 gave being to the universe, and the discernment 
 that reads the heart, and sees the end from the 
 beginning ; the mind, overwhelmed with reverence 
 and wonder, unites with the sacred writers, in as- 
 cribing to him the attributes of eternity, omnipo- 
 tence, and infinity, and also, the perfections of 
 knowledge, wisdom, and goodness. His natural 
 relations to man are those of Creator, Benefactor, 
 and Judge ; and thus far at least, he is the same 
 to every human creature, and they are the same 
 to him ; for having created them all of "one blood ," 
 he can be "no respecter of persons." And hence, 
 as the Judge of all the earth, he cannot but do, 
 right. 
 
 The law, by which we are to regulate our con- 
 duct, as the subjects of this Supreme Ruler, is re- 
 velation, without which we should never have 
 been able to merit from him either praise or blame ; 
 for nature and the works of God, unassisted by 
 the light of revelation, could never have taught 
 us the divine will in regard to our relative duties 
 to each other, or the worship to be offered to him, 
 much less could it have furnished those powerful 
 motives to obedience, drawn from a future state. 
 
 The chief designs of revelation are the glory of 
 God, and the good of men ; and its principal top- 
 
60 DURATION OF 
 
 -ics, the display of the divine perfections, the der 
 claration of the divine will, and the discovery of 
 the motives to its performance. 
 
 Its doctrines in reference to Deity, to the ori- 
 gin and destiny of human nature, to the present 
 and future state, together with the method of pre- 
 paration for an advancement to eternal life, are 
 most rational, pure, holy and sublime. Its pre- 
 cepts are most benevolent, just, and suited to pro- 
 cure for their author the greatest praise, and for 
 men the greatest personal and social happiness. 
 The promised rewards to faith and virtue, being 
 according to our honest designs and real good 
 works, are happily calculated to advance us by de- 
 grees in the attainment of perfection ; and the 
 threatenings to unbelief and vice, being also pro- 
 portioned to our voluntary assent to their influ- 
 ence, and being emendatory in their design, must 
 have a constantly increasing tendency to banish 
 such feelings and habits from human society. And 
 thus it is the manifest design and tendency of 
 God's holy government in all its administrations, 
 to produce righteousness in the hearts and lives of 
 men. 
 
 To be subjects of such a government, founded 
 on principle and extended by moral suasion, men 
 must be moral and free agents, i. e. they must he 
 capable of understanding the general scope of 
 revelation, the practical influence of its doctrines 
 
PUNISHMENT. 61 
 
 and precepts, and of feeling a conscious obligation 
 and ability to perform them. The sacred scrip- 
 tures therefore must be virtually their own expose 
 lor to every man who searches them prayerfully : 
 and he who does thus search them, must know 
 what the Lord doth require of him, and what it is 
 right for him to do or not to do ; and he must also 
 have the power of sincerely aiming to perform 
 what he thus knows to be right, or he can be no 
 subject of conscious desert, and of course no sub- 
 ject of moral government. 
 
 With this view before us of the character of 
 God, the general nature and design of his moral 
 government, and of the capacity of men to learn 
 and do his will, we may form a just idea of hu- 
 man accountability, and of the nature of that pun- 
 ishment ordained for the disobedient and the sin- 
 ner. It has been a question whether the punish- 
 ment of the wicked is local, that is, whether it 
 will be produced by the place occupied by the suf- 
 ferer, rather than from his character, and so be in- 
 separable from the place? The locality of punish- 
 ment has been asserted and defended by very 
 many persons of piety and talents, and rejected by 
 others of equal learning and worth. Among the 
 latter, are St. Origen and St. Augustine, and sev- 
 eral of the Fathers ; Calvin, with many others of 
 later times ; and by far the greater part of intelli- 
 
62 DURATION OF 
 
 gent christians of the present day. With these 
 we concur in the opinion that hell is a state or con- 
 dition of sinners in a future world, rather than a 
 place, for the reasons that follow. First, it does 
 not appear that any such place was created, when 
 all things visible and invisible were made and pro- 
 nounced good. Secondly, that if such a place had 
 been created for the punishment of all sinners who 
 die in impenitency, it would not have appeared 
 how they could have been therein severally pun- 
 ished according to their respective works ; as all 
 in that case would have suffered the infliction of 
 the same sufferings. Third, the scripture account 
 of it, cannot well be understood otherwise than 
 metaphorically. And fourth, because the punish- 
 ment of sinners will consist, according to the scrip- 
 tures, in a sense of the loss of the divine favor, 
 loss of the pleasures of innocence ; and also of con- 
 scious guilt for having abused divine goodness, and 
 betrayed into ruin their more innocent fellow crea- 
 tures. 
 
 From this course of reasoning, we arrive at the 
 satisfactory conclusion, that although the sinner 
 must necessarily occupy a place suited to his na- 
 ture and mode of being while he suffers, yet that 
 his sufferings will not proceed from the place, but 
 the state of his character; and consist in a sense 
 of shame, regret, remorse, and fear, inflicted by 
 the righteous Judge of all, upon the awakened 
 conscience. 
 
PUNISHMENT. C)3 
 
 There is therefore nothing in the character of 
 the Judge, the requirements of the law, the cir- 
 cumstances of the agent, or the nature and ten- 
 dency of the punishment, which would necessari- 
 ly or naturally incline us to the belief that it will 
 be endless ; but much that leads us to the contra- 
 ry opinion. And hence, if the endless duration of 
 hell torments can be supported, it must be by the 
 clear and express language of revelation. 
 
 Here, let us observe, that such is the impor- 
 tance of the doctrine, such the awful consequences 
 of unceasing woe, that if it were contained at all 
 in the sacred scriptures, we should expect to find it 
 expressed in the most unequivocal terms, and those 
 repeated by each of the sacred writers, and in 
 every book, if not in every chapter of the bible, 
 and to see it holding a most conspicuous place in 
 every creed and summary of christian faith, drawn 
 up by the primitive and early followers of Christ. 
 
 And yet, judging from the habit of some mod- 
 ern preachers, we shall upon examination be sur- 
 prised to find how sparing the sacred penmen 
 have been in the use of such phrases in connexion 
 with punishment, as have been supposed to mean 
 endless ; for instance, the words everlasting and 
 eternal, which are by no means the strongest terms 
 to express duration, they could have chosen. 
 These words occur only twice in relation to suffer- 
 ings, in all the old testament. They are employ- 
 
6*4 DURATION OF 
 
 cd but three times by St. Matt, and only Once in the 
 gospel of St. Mark. They are sought for in vain 
 in the gospel of St. Luke, and in all the accounts 
 given by him of the early preaching of the apos- 
 tles, in the book of Acts. St. John neither uses 
 them in his gospel or his epistles ; and everlasting 
 occurs but once in all the writings of St. Paul, 
 which make so considerable a part of the new tes- 
 tament, and then it is everlasting destruction, and 
 there is no mention made of everlasting or eternal 
 punishment, in the Epistle of St. James, or in 
 those of St. Peter. Not only have most of the 
 authors of the sacred writings wholly omitted, and 
 the rest of them been thus sparing in the use of 
 those terms supposed to be expressive of the 
 proper eternity of punishment in a future state; 
 but it is a fact worthy of notice, that the doctrine 
 of endless sufferings is not found in any summary 
 of christian faith, collect, or creed, drawn up by 
 christians in the early ages of the church. The 
 Apostles creed, for instance, does not enjoin the 
 belief of, or require the assent of christians to the 
 sentiment. Now, if as some suppose, the belief 
 of this doctrine be so essential to the christian 
 character, that he who rejects it cannot be a 
 christian ; how are we to account for its entire 
 omission in this confessedly ancient and short 
 summary of the fundamental articles of the christ- 
 ian faith, adopted by those who were best ac- 
 
PUNISHMENT. 65 
 
 quainted with genuine and primitive Christianity? 
 Nor is this all ; the opposite doctrine of the 
 Universal Restoration, advocated by many of the 
 fathers, was never censured by any act of the 
 Christian Church until the close of the 4lh cen- 
 tury, and never rejected, till the meeting of the 
 fifth general council, by whom it was for the first 
 time, with some other sentiments, anathematized 
 as a damnable heresy, and that rather on account 
 of the sentiments associated with it, than for its 
 own sake. These circumstances and facts con- 
 nected with the history and character of future 
 punishment, are mentioned, not as containing posi- 
 tive proof of the falsity of endless sufferings ; but 
 as throwing light on the general subject of our 
 present inquiry, and making it certain that the 
 doctrine of a limited punishment to be succeeded by 
 an universal restoration, was advocated by many, 
 and tolerated by the whole body of christians for 
 a long time, and that, while the Church was the 
 most pure. And if this sentiment, as we suppose, 
 was believed by the apostles, and therefore they 
 used the terms everlasting and eternal in a limited 
 sense, then we are not to wonder that these terms 
 were entirely omitted by some, and used so seldom 
 by others ; for in that case, they would use them 
 as being perfectly synonymous with all those 
 modes and forms of expression frequently used by 
 each and every one of them, to enforce a sense of 
 
66 DURATION OF 
 
 human accountability, and an apprehension of be- 
 ing judged according to the deeds done in the 
 body. And hence, these words in the cases above 
 alluded to, mean no more than that every man 
 must give an account of himself to God, and be 
 rewarded according to his works ; a doctrine 
 taught with equal force and clearness by our 
 Lord, his apostles, and the holy prophets, who 
 have also spoken of the "restitution of all things," 
 and all in perfect consistency. 
 
 Waving further remarks, having noticed the 
 question of the locality of punishment, let us now 
 give our attention to the more important inquiry 
 of its duration, and consider the grounds urged by 
 those who advocate its strict eternity. The prin- 
 cipal grounds relied upon for its support, are three, 
 the scriptures, justice, and reason. We come to 
 this work with perfect respect for the sincerity, 
 piety, and learning, of those from whose views we 
 freely use the liberty of dissenting, in the charita- 
 ble exercise of the christian rights of private judg- 
 ment. 
 
 As a fair specimen of the scriptural authority for 
 the sentiment, take the following ; Isa. 66 : 24. 
 St. Mark 9 : 43, 44. "And they shall go forth, 
 and look upon the carcasses of the men that have 
 transgressed against me, for their worm shall not 
 die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they 
 shall be an abhoring unto all flesh." "And if thy 
 
PUNISHMENT. 
 
 67 
 
 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 
 lire is not quenched." 
 
 The prophet in describing the future and com- 
 plete triumph of the true worship of God, the en- 
 tire overthrow of idolatry, and the punishment of 
 idolators ; represents the worshippers of idols in Is- 
 rael and elsewhere, after their defeat and the total 
 loss of their cause, as being thrown into the valley 
 of Hinnom, a place on the east of Jerusalem, ren- 
 dered extremely odious to the Jews by its being 
 once the seat of the idol Moloch, where the ab- 
 horrent, cruel, and impious spectacle, of innocent 
 children passing through the fire for his pleasure 
 and in sacrifice to him, was for a long time to be 
 seen ; and there too these impious Israelites, idola- 
 tors, and monsters of cruelty, are to be looked 
 upon as being consumed by the worm that never 
 shall die, and tormented by the fire that never 
 shall be quenched. And our Lord forewarned his 
 followers that it would be better for them to deny 
 themselves the enjoyment of advantages, gains and 
 pleasures, dear to them as a right hand, eye, or 
 foot, provided they led them to offend against the 
 gospel, than to enjoy them here, and thereby bring 
 upon themselves the punishment of a future state, 
 expressed by the lively and strong metaphors of 
 
68 DURATION OF 
 
 the fire, and worm, used by the prophet. For 
 the better understanding of these metaphors, let it 
 be remarked that the valley of Hinnom was subse- 
 quently to the days of the prophet, and in the 
 times of our Saviour, used as a place of punish- 
 ment in which men were burnt alive, or cast there 
 to be consumed by worms ; and that the worm and 
 the fire are the two agents, by whom the bodies of 
 those men are consumed. Both are therefore used 
 by Christ and the prophet as figurative expressions 
 to denote the punishment of the wicked in a future 
 state. By the repeated assertion that the worm 
 shall not die, we learn that it will not be interrup- 
 ted in the consumption of the body on which it 
 preys, until it hath completed its work. The fire 
 is unquenchable by those who are cast into it, and 
 shall not be extinguished by any other ; and hence 
 1% will certainly accomplish the object for which it 
 was kindled- 
 
 Those who understand these metaphors in any 
 other light than this, seem not to have examined 
 this subject, for in the valley of Hinnom the worm 
 died when its food failed, and the pile on which 
 human sacrifices were burnt to Moloch was often 
 extinguished. Newcome. 
 
 That the phrase unquenchable fire, upon which 
 so much stress is always laid in the argument for 
 endless misery, does not, in its scripture use, de- 
 note a fire which shall never cease, is most certain. 
 
PUxMSHMEM. 
 
 69 
 
 as will appear by reference to the following passa- 
 ges. Lev. 6, 13. Isa. 34, 9— 11. Jer. 17, 27. 
 and Ezek. 20, 45 — 48; and others. Wherein 
 Jehovah declares the fire shall ever be burning 
 upon the alter, it shall never go out ; that he will 
 kindle a fire in Jerusalem, which shall never be 
 quenched ; that every green tree and every dry 
 tree in the beautiful forests of the south shall be 
 consumed, and the flaming flame shall not be 
 quenched ; and that the streams of Bozrah shall 
 be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, 
 and the land thereof become burning pitch ; and it 
 shall not be quenched night nor day. Now 
 although the fire was never permitted to go out 
 upon the altar of God, while that alter stood : yet 
 with the overthrow of the altar, the fire ceased. 
 And notwithstanding the devoted inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem could not quench the fire that consum- 
 ed their Temple, city, and adjacent country, and 
 therefore by them the fire was unquenchable, yet 
 having accomplished the destruction of these ob- 
 jects of their solicitude, it has ages since been ex- 
 tinct. 
 
 Hence, the metaphorical representations of fu- 
 ture punishment derived from Gehenna, contain 
 no proofs of the unceasing duration of that punish- 
 ment, nor does the connexion or scope of the pas- 
 sages before us, from our Lord or his prophet, re- 
 quire us so to understand them. 
 
70 DURATION OF 
 
 The next authority which we propose to consid- 
 er, is the oft repeated assertion of oar Saviour, St. 
 Matt. 25, 46. 'These shall go away into everlast- 
 ing punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.' 
 The strength of the argument from this passage, 
 if indeed there be any strength in it, is drawn from 
 the meaning of the term everlasting, assumed to 
 be that of endless ; and its application to the hap- 
 piness of the righteous as well as to the misery of 
 the wicked, and that in the same passage, by way 
 of an antithesis. 
 
 This term, together with those of eternal, forev- 
 cr, and forever and ever, are confessed to be of 
 the same meaning, and to be translated from words 
 of the same stock, in the Hebrew of the old, and 
 the Greek of the new testament. What that mean- 
 ing is, has occasioned much inquiry and discussion, 
 which have resulted in the concession that in the 
 scriptures they are sometimes applied to things of 
 interminable perpetuity, and sometimes to things 
 which endure for a long time, for an indefinite pe- 
 riod, which is all we ask. This concession has 
 been made by the ablest writers, who are at the 
 same time advocates for the infinite perpetuity of 
 punishment, and therefore would never have yield- 
 ed this ground, but from the force of the clearest 
 conviction. Dr. Adam Clarke, and the late Presi- 
 dent Edwards, in their writings, agree with pro- 
 fessor Stuart, that these terms denote a limited 
 
PUNISHMENT. 71 
 
 period when applied, as they often are by the sa- 
 cred writers, "to the Jewish Priesthood ; to the 
 Mosaic ordinances ; to the possession of the land 
 of Canaan ; to the hills and mountains ; to the 
 earth; to the time of service to be rendered bv a 
 slave ; and to many other things of a like nature." 
 
 Let it not be supposed that we advocate the lim- 
 ited or finite meaning of everlasting, chiefly on ac- 
 count of its favorable influence upon the doctrine 
 of the restoration ; for if it were not understood 
 thus, it would be impossible to reconcile the old 
 and new testament together, and to harmonise the 
 scriptures. If the everlasting priesthood of Aaron 
 had been endless ; it could never have been suc- 
 ceeded by the priesthood of Christ, which was af- 
 ter the order of Melchisedeck. If the everlasting 
 ordinances of the law had been of unceasing per- 
 petuity and force, they could never have given 
 place to the more simple and spiritual institutions 
 of the Gospel ; nor if everlasting punishmnet be 
 endless, can it ever be followed by the "restitution 
 of all things" as promised by the holy prophets. 
 
 Now if as thus admitted, and for such good 
 reasons, the term everlasting be sometimes used 
 to denote a limited period ; then it can never in 
 any case, of itself, prove any thing to which it is 
 applied to be interminable, and therefore it does 
 not prove the punishment of the wicked to be 
 such. To make this clear, let us take the excel- 
 
il DURATION OF 
 
 lent rule given by the Editor of Brown's Diction- 
 ary of the Bible, for understanding the words eter- 
 nal, everlasting, and forever. " These words must 
 be understood according to the nature of the sub- 
 ject concerning which they are used, and accord- 
 ing to the connection of the places in which they 
 occur." By this rule it appears that we are nev- 
 er to admit everlasting as meaning endless, except 
 the subject concerning which it is used, be known 
 to be endless in its own nature, or proved to be so, 
 by something else. Now punishment is not end- 
 less in its own nature ; therefore everlasting, appli- 
 ed to it in the text, does not prove it to have that 
 meaning. 
 
 To prove that the punishment in the text, is 
 not in its nature endless, let it be noted that the 
 word rendered punishment signifies chastisement, 
 or correction, such as parents use with their child- 
 ren, hence it tends to exhaust the source from 
 whence it springs, and aids the restoration of the 
 sufferer, and hence the passage before us, awful as 
 it sounds to the ear, is rather a proof of the hy- 
 pothesis of the universal restoration, than of the 
 opposite sentiment. 
 
 Again it has been urged in favor of the perpetui- 
 ty of punishment, that it is placed over against the 
 happiness of the righteous antithetically, and that 
 the duration of the happiness of the one, and the 
 punishment of the other, are expressed by the 
 
PUNISHMENT. 
 
 73 
 
 same term ; and therefore that if everlasting means 
 endless in one case, it means equally so in the 
 other. To this it may be answered, that it ap- 
 peared to be rather the object of our Lord to pre- 
 sent to the view a contrast of the general subjects 
 of happiness and misery, than to prove their equal 
 duration ; and therefore he employed an indefinite 
 term to denote their continuance, leaving us to 
 form such opinions of the duration of the one and 
 the other, as the Scriptures authorise us to enter- 
 tain. 
 
 When we consider to how many different sub- 
 jects the word everlasting is applied in the sacred 
 volume, and how many different and at the same 
 time indefinite periods of time it is employed to 
 denote ; we certainly shall not think it strange 
 that Christ applied it to the misery of the wicked* 
 and to the happiness of the righteous. Nor can I 
 see the least reason or necessity for supposing it to 
 have the same meaning in the two cases. The 
 subjects with which it is connected differ in every 
 other respect, and why should we think them of the 
 same duration ? Again, the word everlasting does 
 not govern the character of the subject to which it 
 is applied, but the character of the subject governs 
 its meaning, as so applied. 
 
 If for instance, forever be applied to the exist- 
 ence of God, it means without beginning and with- 
 out end, because he is without beginning of days 
 
 10 
 
74 DURATION OF 
 
 or end of life ; but if the same word be applied to 
 the time a Jewish servant was required to serve 
 his master, it means merely as long as he should 
 live. How very different are the meanings of this 
 same word in these two cases ; and from what 
 does that difference arise ? Answer, from the 
 great difference between the subjects of its appli- 
 cation, the Deity and the slave. What can be 
 more different than are happiness and misery ? 
 The one originates with God, the other in the sin- 
 fulness of men ; why then should they be alike 
 enduring, seeing God delights in the one, but takes 
 no pleasure in the other ? It will avail nothing to 
 say that everlasting is connected with future hap- 
 piness and misery, and that in the same verse ; and 
 therefore it must mean as long in the one as the 
 other case. 
 
 There is a similar case of the same word being 
 applied twice in the same sentence to different 
 things, and having two very different imports. 
 Hab. 3. 6 : "And the everlasting mountains were 
 scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow; his 
 ways are everlasting!" yet who from seeing in 
 this passage that everlasting is in the same sen- 
 tence applied to the mountains and to the ways of 
 God, could reasonably conclude that the ways of 
 God and the mountains will be of the same dura- 
 tion, when the one must from the very nature of 
 the case continue strictly to eternity, and the oth- 
 
PUNISHMENT. 75 
 
 er can stand only for a limited time, being destined 
 to be brtmght low ? 
 
 We come then to this conclusion, that the wick- 
 ed shall be punished according to their deserts, 
 and the righteous rewarded according to the 
 laws of Christ's kingdom ; and that there is nothing 
 in the nature or circumstances of tire case, which 
 requires us to attach to the term everlasting, as ap- 
 plied to punishment in St. Matt. 25,46, the idea of 
 endless. Should it be thought that by this conclu- 
 sion we leave the happiness of the righteous with- 
 out sufficient proofs of its endless continuance ; as 
 from the above reasoning some persons may choose 
 to say that future happiness is not in its nature in- 
 terminable, and therefore everlasting when applied 
 to it does not mean endless, and this being the 
 strongest proof of its durability, it may come to an 
 end as well as misery, — to this it may be replied, 
 that the most conclusive proofs of the eternity of 
 future happiness, are not found in the application 
 of everlasting or any other term, used in the scrip- 
 tures to express the duration of punishment ; and 
 for two reasons, first because there are stronger 
 terms used in connection with happiness, than 
 are found connected with misery, and second, be- 
 cause other circumstances show it to be endless. 
 1. God declares that the righteous shall not be 
 confounded world without end ; that the saints 
 have in heaven an inheritance incorruptible ; that 
 
76 DURATION OF 
 
 they cannot die any more ; for they are equal unto 
 the angels ; and that they shall have afar more ex^ 
 ceeding and eternal weight of glory. See Isa. 45, 
 17.—1. Pet. 1, 4.— St. Luke 20, 36.-2. Cor. 4, 
 17. Where in all the bible is it said of the 
 misery of the wicked, that it shall be endless, or 
 continue ivorld icilhout end, or that the weight 
 thereof is far exceeding eternal, as it is here affirm- 
 ed of the happiness of the redeemed ? But second, 
 we depend not so much on these and many other 
 equally strong expressions and forms of speech, 
 made use of to denote the permanency of the 
 saints' felicity, (but are never applied to misery) 
 as we do upon their union to Christ: so that 
 while he lives, they shall continue in happy life ; 
 for Christ is made Priest by the power of an endr 
 less life, and he says to his disciples, because I live 
 ye shall live also ; therefore when we see him we 
 shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 
 And again, their happiness and life in heaven 
 flows from the infinite source of goodness as its 
 fountain, and hence it can never cease ; but this 
 can never be said of misery and death. 
 
 Our Lord's remark concerning Judas, the un- 
 happy man who betrayed him, St. Matt. 26, 24; 
 'it had been good for that man if he had 
 not been born,' has been supposed to furnish an 
 argument for the endless misery of the wicked. 
 
 To this it is sufficient to reply, that this language 
 of Christ is proverbial ; and that such a tremen- 
 
PUNISHMENT. 77 
 
 dous doctrine cannot be supposed to be founded 
 on the solitary use of a Jewish proverb. The im- 
 port of this saying seems to be this, that his pun- 
 ishment would be more than a balance for all the 
 blessings of this life, so that he would have been 
 a gainer, by passing immediately from his birth to 
 his grave ; for, to suppose that our Lord intended 
 by it, to say that if God had been good to him he 
 would not have conferred upon him his existence, 
 (the only view which can favor the doctrine of his 
 eternal perdition) would be an impeachment of 
 the Divine goodness. 
 
 Another passage which has been much relied 
 upon as a proof of the doctrine under considera-^ 
 lion, is that found in 2 Thes. 1 : 9. "Who shall 
 be punished with everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his 
 power.." That we may learn what St. Paul in- 
 tended by these words, let us consider that they 
 and their connection were addressed to the church 
 at Thessalonica : while under a grevious persecu- 
 tion from those who believed not the gospel. The 
 principal object of the whole passage was to en- 
 courage and comfort the "brethren" under all their 
 "tribulations," first, by assuring them that they 
 should be accounted worthy of the kingdom of 
 God for which they were suffering such tribulation, 
 and therein should find rest with the apostles and 
 others who remained faithful to the end. Second, 
 
78 DURATION OF 
 
 by assuring them that it would be a righteous 
 thing ivith God to recommence tribulation to their 
 persecutors, at the time when the Lord Jesus 
 should be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, 
 (the symbol of Divine Glory) with his mighty an- 
 gels, to give rest to, and to be glorified in all them 
 that believe, and also to punish with everlasting 
 destruction them that obey not the gospel. 
 
 From this general view of the scope of the pas- 
 sage, it appears (1,) that this destruction is future, 
 and will take place at the time when Christ shall 
 come in glory to judge the quick and the dead at 
 his appearing and kingdom; (2,) that the destruction 
 does not signify annihilation, as some have suppo- 
 sed, for it is called "tribulation" by the apostle, see 
 verse 6th ; (3,) that it will be a righteous recom- 
 pense for the trouble they have given to the saints. 
 There is nothing therefore in the nature of the 
 ease which requires the punishment to be endless, 
 but on the contrary, as the "trouble" they had giv- 
 en was limited, so it would rather seem that in 
 reason and justice, their "trouble" in return, to the 
 righteous, should also be limited. But not to in- 
 sist on this, we would farther say, the argu- 
 ment from the term everlasting in this text, has 
 already been fully answered ; and close our obser- 
 vations on this class of scripture proofs with the 
 single remark, that everlasting does not naturally 
 and necessarily imply that the punishment to 
 
PUNISHMENT. 79 
 
 which it is applied will be endless, nor do the 
 words destruction, punishment, or fire, or any two 
 of them united, imply the doctrine. 
 
 We come next to notice those passages in the 
 New Testament, where our Saviour speaks of the 
 wicked under the metaphors of a tree "hewn down 
 and cast into the fire," of chaff burnt up "with 
 unquenchable fire," of bad fish, taken in the net 
 only to be "cast away," and of foolish virgins, 
 against whom the door of mercy is shut. These 
 Scriptures have been much employed in support 
 of the irrecoverable loss of the wicked ; and the 
 challenge has been made with much assurance-, 
 "when the fruitless tree is burnt up, who shall re- 
 store it again ! when the chaff is burnt up with 
 unquenchable fire, who will be able to restore itl" 
 and so, also, of the bad, cast from the gospel net, 
 and of the foolish virgins against whom the door 
 of grace is closed. The whole force of the seenv- 
 ing argument from these passages, arises from the 
 literal meaning of these figures of speech, and the 
 natural impossibility there is of restoring the tree 
 or chaff to their former state, when once they are 
 burnt ; but not at all from their metaphorical use, 
 for there is no such impossibility with God, to re- 
 store sinners after having punished them. This 
 will appear, and the whole argument be conclu- 
 sively answered, if we refer to St. Paul's language 
 and argument found in the eleventh chapter to the 
 
80 DURATION OF 
 
 Romans; where he speaks of the unbelieving Is- 
 raelites under the metaphor of branches broken off 
 and rejected. Now nothing can be more obvious 
 than it is, that the very characters here styled bran- 
 ches by St. Paul, are by our Lord called trees, 
 chaff, &-c. and as he affirms, God is able to, and 
 will graft them again into their own olive tree, and 
 that the receiving of them shall be life from the dead, 
 and so all Israel be saved ; therefore we cannot 
 understand our Saviour in the above passages as 
 teaching the impossibility of the restoration of the 
 very same characters, whom St. Paul says shall 
 be saved. 
 
 Another ground of defence for the endless tor-* 
 ment of the wicked, is divine justice. Those 
 who assume this ground, reason thus ; because siri 
 is infinite in respect to the object against which it is 
 committed, therefore it deserves an infinite punish- 
 ment." But to this it is replied, that if for this 
 reason all sins are infinite as to their demerit, then 
 the demerit of all sins must be equal, and so there 
 must be equal reason for the pardon of all sins ; 
 for the demerit of no sin can be more than infi- 
 nite. And besides this, it from hence follows, 
 that God cannot render to every man according as 
 his works shall be ; because, although they commit 
 innumerable sins ; he can only punish them for 
 one ; as they cannot receive a punishment which 
 is more than infinite. The great error in this ar- 
 
PUNISHMENT. 81 
 
 gument consists in the supposition that sin is infi- 
 nite, which is absurd ; because it is the act of a 
 finite creature ; and therefore can be no more than 
 a finite act, whatever may be the aggravation of 
 its circumstances. Hence, the conclusion is ir- 
 resistable, that as sin is limited, being the act of 
 an agent of limited powers ; neither reason nor 
 justice can require an unlimited or endless punish- 
 ment, as such punishment would not be according 
 to his works. 
 
 The last source of its defence which we shall 
 mention, is that of reason. It is said to be rea- 
 sonable that we should be punished according to 
 our departures from the line of duty here, and 
 therefore it will be equally so that we should con- 
 tinue to be punished by the same rule so long as 
 we shall continue to be sinners, which will be al- 
 ways ; and hence our sufferings must be perpetual 
 and without end. To this we answer, that we do 
 not admit several things here taken for granted : 
 first, that men will continue to sin time without 
 end ; second, that there will be no means of grace, 
 or space for repentance beyond the present life ; and 
 third, that the only design of punishment is to sat- 
 isfy the demands of divine justice, and of course 
 never to be employed as an instrument or auxilia- 
 ry of the sinner's reformation. Could these things 
 be shown, the inference of endless misery would 
 
 follow ; but those scriptures which speak of Christ 
 
 11 
 
82 DURATION OF 
 
 as taking away the sin of the world, and being 
 the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, 
 plainly forbid the idea of its endless continuity ; 
 and the numerous passages which declare that the 
 severest judgments of God shall result in the sin- 
 ner's knowing and confessing the Most High, and 
 those which place all punishment under the gra- 
 cious government of the Mediator, who will sub- 
 due all beings and powers to himself, and subse- 
 quently resign his kingdom to the Father in per- 
 fect subjection to his holy and blessed will ; * 
 clearly prove the fallacy of limiting the work of 
 grace to the present life, or of asserting that the 
 only design of punishment is the satisfaction of 
 justice ; and hence the argument built on these 
 premises necessarily falls to the ground, and rea- 
 son, as alleged, is not for, but against the doctrine 
 that misery will have no end. Not only this, but 
 the places above referred to, with many others 
 which might be quoted had we time, strongly im- 
 ply the emendatory character and design of punish- 
 ment, and this is farther strengthened by the uni- 
 versal admission that the retributions of God are in 
 many cases salutary, and if as the Scriptures as- 
 sure us, there is no respect of persons with him, 
 then they must prove so in all cases ; and if the 
 punishment be salutary, then under its continuance 
 men must finally cease to commit sin, and conse- 
 
 * 2 Cor. 5, 10. Rev. 14, 10. 1 Cor. 15, 24—28. 
 
PUNISHMENT. 83 
 
 quently cease to be punished. Now from this ex- 
 amination of the doctrine of punishment, we come 
 very naturally to the conclusion that the punish- 
 ments denounced in the sacred writings against sin- 
 ners, are not endless, and therefore not opposed 
 to the doctrine of the final and universal restoration, 
 but rather in favor of that most desirable and glori- 
 ous hypothesis. 
 
 Having thus answered this most important ob- 
 jection, but whether satisfactorily or not, the hear- 
 er is left to decide ; we will now close with a 
 short reference to the reasons for believing that 
 future punishment is limited in degree and dura- 
 tion, by the number and aggravations of the crimes 
 for which it is inflicted. 
 
 We believe it . to be thus limited, because it 
 harmonises much better with the infinite love and 
 goodness of God, as revealed in the gospel and 
 attested by the Holy Spirit within us ; because it 
 accords much more perfectly with the general scope 
 and design of the gospel of Christ, and the numerous 
 means which it employs for the salvation of the 
 world : because it is perfectly consistent with that 
 justice which lies at the foundation of divine gov- 
 ernment, prescribing equal laws, and securing the 
 rights of God, and the rights of mankind : because 
 it is the only view of punishment, which can ren- 
 der it salutary to men, and conducive to the wil- 
 ling subjection of all minds to the will of God ; and 
 
84 DURATION OF 
 
 lastly, because it harmonises with all the attributes 
 of Deity, the promised triumph of Christ over sin 
 and death, and will issue in the ascriptions of glo- 
 ry and praise to the righteous Judge of all the 
 earth, by the happy millions of the human race. 
 
 My friends, being fully impressed with a sense 
 of how deeply the great question of this evening's 
 discussion concerns the Divine Character, the 
 reputation of the early christians and martyrs, the 
 success and prevalence of the holy scriptures and 
 of genuine Christianity ; — of the deep interest you 
 feel for yourselves and fellow creatures in this 
 great subject ; and for myself being perfectly con- 
 vinced that neither the Bible, the justice of God, 
 or the dictates of enlightened reason, sustain the 
 doctrine of the endless perpetuity of sufferings for 
 any of the human family, but that they perfectly 
 accord in giving their united authority to the sup- 
 port of a future limited, emendatory, and righteous 
 judgment of God, which will result in the bowing 
 of every knee to God, and the confession of every 
 tongue to Christ ; I therefore submit this 
 whole subject, with what has been said upon it, to 
 your best feelings and unbiased judgment in the 
 fear of God, for your prayerful consideration, pray- 
 ing that a careful search of the scriptures and the 
 super-human light and wisdom from the Holy 
 Spirit, may guide you to a right decision, and 
 that decision lead you to feel more true rev- 
 
PUNISHMENT. 85 
 
 ■erence for God, more filial fear of his dis- 
 pleasure, more sacred regard for the Holy Bible, 
 and more genuine sympathy for mankind ; and to 
 cherish a more ardent love to Christ, the great 
 Restorer of the world, and a more devout faith in 
 his religion, which has the promise of the life that 
 now is, and that which is to come. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 ~»»©@®««- 
 
 ANOTHER OBJECTION CONSIDERED. 
 
 TITUS II. 11, 12. 
 
 "FOR the grace of god that bringeth salvation, hath ap- 
 peared TO ALL MEN, TEACHING US, THAT DENYING UNGODLI- 
 NESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS, WE SHOULD LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUS- 
 LY AND GODLY IN THIS PRESENT WORLD." 
 
 The marginal reading of the eleventh verse is to 
 be preferred, not on account of its being more fa- 
 vorable to our views, but as expressing the mean- 
 ing of the apostle more clearly. The reading re- 
 ferred to is this : the grace of God that bringeth 
 salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching us, 
 that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
 should live soberly, righteously and godly in this 
 present world. If the grace of God, exhibited in 
 
CONSIDERED. 87 
 
 the gospel, had in the days of the apostles appear- 
 ed to all men, it must have been in some very re- 
 fined and spiritual sense, seeing many had never 
 heard of it ; but that it had then appeared to the 
 apostles and christians of that day, and was de- 
 signed to carry in its progress through the world 
 the glad tidings of salvation to the whole human 
 race, teaching them, as it progressed, to abandon 
 all false religion, and to live in obedience to God, 
 is perfectly consistent with the spirit and genius of 
 Christianity, and gives an easy and consistent view 
 of the passage. Should any choose to abide by 
 the authorised rendering, it will make no differ- 
 ence for or against the salvation of all men ; for as 
 the grace of God bringeth salvation, in every sense 
 in which it hath appeared to all men, salvation 
 must have appeared to and for them. 
 
 St. Paul seems to employ in the text, a most 
 beautiful and striking metaphor taken from the 
 sun, which is seldom noticed. As the sun appears 
 or shines out from the east upon the darkness that 
 broods over the face of the earth, and commences 
 by his diurnal rotation upon his own axis, and his 
 revolution in his orbit, his course of successively im- 
 parting light and its thousand blessings to the 
 whole creation, so the gospel of the grace of God, 
 has shined out, and will successively enlighten, 
 sanctify, and bless the inhabitants of every part 
 and region of the world, and in Heaven's great 
 
88 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 year, it will finish its course by bringing all flesh 
 to see the salvation of God. 
 
 It is the leading sentiment of the passage be- 
 fore us, that the same grace that brings salvation 
 to men, teaches them, and tends to produce in 
 them, the habits of piety to God, benevolence and 
 justice to their fellow men, and of personal sobrie- 
 ty and purity in the present life as a preparation 
 for the glory and happiness of a future state, and 
 consequently that all false religions tend, either 
 directly or remotely, to form and strengthen op- 
 posite habits, and to disqualify men for future 
 happiness. This sentiment is likewise supported 
 by the general voice of Scripture. " Ye shall 
 know the truths and the truth shall make you free" 
 "sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is 
 truth." The true faith ivorks by love and puri- 
 fies the heart — and overcomes the world. The 
 christian is required to yield his members ser- 
 vants to righteousness unto holiness : and called 
 unto virtue and to glory. By this shall all men 
 know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one 
 to another ; for love ivorketh no ill to its neigh- 
 bor, and is the fulfilling of the law. The good 
 tree is known by its fruit ; for the fruits of the 
 Spirit are in all, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
 gentleness, meekness, goodness and faith. While 
 on the other hand, it is affirmed with equal truth, 
 in vain do ye ivorship me, teaching for docirine 
 
CONSIDERED 89 
 
 the commandments of men — evil communications 
 corrupt good manners — and they that soiv to the 
 fleshy shall of the flesh reap corruption. There- 
 fore, although we would give all due credit to the 
 sincerity of those who are honestly in error, yet 
 we cannot for a moment agree with those who af- 
 firm that all doctrines, whether true or false, are 
 equally salutary in their influence upon the hearts 
 of those who believe them, and upon the moral 
 condition of the society in which they are promul- 
 gated. Nor do the scriptures warrant the belief 
 that errors in sentiment have no influence, ami are 
 therefore harmless. Still less do they countenance 
 that pretended charity, which says there are as 
 good men — men as strongly fortified in virtue, and 
 as thoroughly guarded against temptation, among 
 infidels and unbelievers, as are to be found among 
 christians. If we appeal to history, it will cor- 
 roborate the prophetic testimony of the scriptures, 
 by giving us the most satisfactory proofs that 
 Christianity has already greatly improved the po- 
 litical, moral, social and religious condition of 
 mankind . 
 
 What if there were some bright stars, that shone 
 to relieve the darkness of the long and dreary night 
 of pagan superstition, whose light borrowed a pe- 
 culiar lustre from the surrounding darkness? Is 
 not their light perfectly eclipsed by the rising sun, 
 
 whose day we live to see? But if it be inquired 
 
 12 
 
90 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 why the christian character has not arisen to a 
 much higher standard of perfection than we can 
 as yet claim for it among professing christians? 
 this is our answer : because Christianity has, through 
 ignorance or design, been adulterated and mixed 
 with the errors and darkness of former times, 
 which have served, in some degree, to neutralize 
 its heavenly influence. And hence, one method of 
 detecting error, is to trace its influence upon the 
 mind that receives it, and thus to expose its licen- 
 tious tendency in society. On this ground, that 
 is, its licentious tendency, our distinguishing doc- 
 trine, the final and universal restoration, has been 
 seriously objected to ; and therefore we cheerfully 
 put it upon trial, that its guilt, or its innocence of 
 the charge may appear, as compared with its oppo- 
 sing sentiment. 
 
 The vast importance of the Restoration to the 
 hopes and the happiness of mankind, and the equal 
 importance of the objection to it, which is now un- 
 der consideration, claim for this discussion a most 
 devout and serious attention. And that we may 
 proceed understandingly, we shall present a concise 
 view of the doctrine objected to, the objection to 
 it, and then endeavor to obviate and remove the 
 objection. 
 
 First, then, the doctrine is briefly this, viz. that 
 God, having created the human race to do his 
 will, and to enjoy his care and goodness, and they 
 
CONSIDERED. "91 
 
 having rebelled against his law, and forsaken his 
 service to their own condemnation and ruin, was 
 pleased in conformity to his original design to 
 make known by the gospel, his plan of infinite 
 grace for their salvation or restoration, to the ser- 
 vice and happiness for which they were at first 
 created, by turning them from idolatry and con- 
 firming them in the habits of practical holiness of 
 heart and life — that for the accomplishment of this 
 most glorious purpose of grace, he instituted the 
 kingdom and government of the Mediator, extend- 
 ing from the commencement of the gospel to the 
 resignation of said kingdom in perfect subjection, 
 at the consummation of all things — that he has 
 constituted all the human race the moral and ac- 
 countable subjects of the government of Christ, 
 not only while living here, but also in a future 
 state, for all their secret thoughts, feelings and 
 actions, wherever exercised or committed — that 
 therefore Christ will here or hereafter, and previ- 
 ous to the resignation of his kingdom, reward eve- 
 ry man according to his virtue, and punish the 
 wicked according to their neglect of, or disobedi- 
 ence to that gracious gospel that bringeth them sal- 
 vation, and that he will continue so to punish 
 them, till they by a sincere and hearty repentance 
 towards God, find peace and pardon in believing ; 
 and hence, punishment, in all cases, being not an 
 end of Christ's government, but a mean, cannot 
 
92 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 be endless ; for having accomplished its design, it 
 will of necessity subside and give place to the 
 salvation brought to light by the grace of God. 
 From this short statement of the Restorationists' 
 views in regard to the purposes of God, the issue 
 of the Redeemer's reign, and of the design and 
 character of punishment ; it will be seen that their 
 sentiments do not subvert but establish the scrip- 
 ture doctrine of salvation by grace, and at the 
 same time furnish sufficient checks to vice, and the 
 most efficient motives to reformation and the prac- 
 tice of virtue in the present world. Second, to 
 this however it has been objected ; and many 
 have alleged, that these sentiments do not suffi- 
 ciently guard men against the allurements of sin, 
 and the indulgence of sinful pleasure, ambition, 
 and revenge ; nor give to them the highest mo- 
 tives to self-denial, submission to Christ, and to 
 the obedience of the gospel— that it does not 
 sufficiently impress, alarm, and awaken the con- 
 science of sinners, to induce their repentarce, re- 
 formation, and return to God, with full purpose 
 of heart to serve him forever ; and hence that it 
 cannot prove to be practically the power of God 
 unto salvation. 
 
 These objections are supported by too reasons, 
 1. because the Restoration .extends the work of 
 grace beyond the present life ; and supposes that 
 jhose who leave this world impenitent and unbe- 
 
CONSIDERED. 93 
 
 lieving, will ultimately be subdued &nd reeonciled 
 to God. 2- because it presupposes punishment 
 to be limited in degree and duration to the char- 
 acter of the sinner, the aggravated circumstances 
 of his guilt, and the obduracy of his heart ; and 
 hence however long and severe it may be, it will 
 at last come to an end and the sufferer be made 
 happy. Therefore it is said the sinner will be 
 encouraged to continue in his sinful course, saying 
 •to himself, if I do not repent and reform here, I 
 shall have the opportunity of doing so hereafter ; 
 and if the punishment which I shall merit comes 
 upon me, yet it will not be interminable and so 
 1 shall be happy after all let me do as I will. 
 But if there were no future days of grace held up 
 to view, and the punishment were to be repre- 
 sented as strictly endless, he would have no such 
 excuses to make. Having thus clearly and fully 
 stated the objection and the reasoning on which 
 it is founded, we would here only remark for the 
 present, that the abuse of any religious sentiment 
 is not to be urged against its use ; for if it be, the 
 whole doctrine of grace must be abandoned. — 
 3. In our reply to this specious, and by many 
 thought to be an unanswerable objection, we shall 
 inquire into the motives by which men are gov- 
 erned in their conduct, and the influence which 
 limited and endless punishment are respectively 
 calculated to exert upon those motives. 
 
94 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 The motives by which the conduct of men are 
 governed, may be reducedto three, fear, hope, and 
 complacency. 
 
 As far as free moral agents permit their self-de- 
 termining power, their caprice, self-will, or their 
 sense of right, to be influenced in their decisions 
 by motives, so far they may be said to 
 be governed by those above named. The fear we 
 allude to, is the apprehension and dread of evil, 
 sufferings, or punishment, which will be incurred 
 by the perpetration of vicious actions, as the natural 
 consequences of sin, the awards of society, or the 
 inflictions of Deity, for the violations of his will ; 
 and whether these threatened evils, sufferings, or 
 punishments, relate to the body, the mind, or the 
 condition, or be apprehended in the present, or 
 future state, they form motives or inducements to 
 abstain from such actions. Hope is the pleas- 
 urable expectation of good, natural or spiritual, in 
 the present or future world, to be obtained as the 
 result of good actions, done for the benefit of men 
 and in obedience to the will of God ; and as such 
 becomes a powerful motive or excitement to the 
 practice of religion and virtue, from the first mo- 
 ment it is entertained. Complacency, is that 
 pleasure and satisfaction which the mind of a good 
 man experiences in performing noble and worthy 
 actions, the keeping of a good conscience, and in 
 doing the will of God from a conviction that it is 
 
CONSIDERED. 95 
 
 perfectly good and holy ; and hence it is the hap- 
 piest motive which can influence the good man to 
 persevere, and differs from hope in that it is more 
 immediately from himself, and refers especially 
 to the present ; whereas hope regards the future. 
 
 These motives act upon all persons in exact 
 proportion to their intelligence, aversion to suffer- 
 ings, and desire for happiness, influencing them in 
 all the duties and transactions of life. The vi- 
 cous will therefore be naturally most influenced by 
 their fears, the virtuous by their hopes, and the 
 perfectly good by their complacent feelings ; and 
 hence when these motives all unite and act to one 
 end, their influence is the most powerful, and 
 when the last only in connexion with gratitude and 
 assurance is sufficient, as will be the case in heav- 
 en, then the subject will be the most perfectly 
 happy, and obedience be bliss itself. 
 
 But fear, to be salutary, must not be superstitious, 
 that is, founded upon imaginary evils, such as have 
 no existence in fact, such as God's word does not 
 denounce upon sinners — it must not be slavish, a 
 mere dread of punishment, without any conscious- 
 ness of its justice, and our own deserts, for that 
 degrades the mind and hardens the heart — it must 
 not be excessive, without degree or measure, such 
 fear is despair, the palsy of the soul, which pre- 
 vents the possibility of reformation, and places the 
 unhappy victim beyond the reach of hope. Nor 
 
96 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 must hope, to be efficient, be presumptive, found- 
 ed merely on our wishes ; not delusive, having no 
 foundation in reason, fact, or the promises of God ; 
 such for instance as the hope of sinning wilfully 
 and escaping a just punishment, without sincere 
 Fepentance and faith in Christ ; the hope of arriv- 
 ing at angelic perfection in the present life ; or of 
 living our whole lives here in sin, and going im- 
 mediately to glory. Such hopes, being unsupport- 
 ed by the scriptures, tend to encourage pride, ar- 
 rogance, and a bold contempt of piety and pray- 
 er, benevolence and faith in Jesus ; and therefore 
 instead of being motives and incentives to virtue 
 and religion, are while they last, productive of the 
 very opposite; hence he that is flattered by them will 
 be sorely disappointed, and the staff on tvhich lit 
 leans, shall pierce his hand. It is then a mistake 
 not only to suppose that hopes such as banish all 
 fear from the sinner, are most favorable to reli- 
 gion ; but it is equally so, to conceive that the 
 greatest degree of fear, that which banishes every 
 ray of hope from the breast, can favor the cause 
 of reformation and righteousness. 
 
 Fear, to be healthful, morally speaking, must 
 he mixed with love and hope, and of consequence 
 the punishment which excites it must be just, that 
 is, proportioned to the sins of the sufferer, and the 
 aggravated circumstances under which they were 
 committed, both in degree and duration. Jt must 
 
QONSJDEREB 97 
 
 be reasonable, such as an -unperverted conscience 
 cannot but approve as right ; it must be benevo- 
 lent, tending to the emendation of the sinner, such 
 as a good father, looking to its effects, could con- 
 sistently administer upon the children of his care 
 and love ; it must be scriptural, such. as is clearly 
 supported by the general voice and spirit of reve- 
 lation, that the believer may have no doubt of its 
 truth ; it must be certain in all cases but that of 
 genuine repentance and reformation, as in the case 
 of the prodigal son in the gospel, and in that case 
 it must be sure of pardon, in the name and for the 
 sake of Jesus, who died " the just for the unjust, 
 that he might bring us unto God." It must be suffi- 
 cient, (not to expiate guilt, for that it neither can 
 nor was it intended ever to do,) but to subdue and 
 humble the sinner ; and therefore it must be con- 
 tinued till it has- produced that effect, and then 
 cease forever, that grace may henceforth reign 
 through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 This scheme of punishment, making it just, 
 reasonable, scriptural, certain to the impenitent, 
 while he continues to be such, remissible only to 
 the penitent ; and certain of accomplishing its de- 
 sign before it can cease, and certain to cease when 
 the sinner is humbled, will not fail to exert a most 
 salutary influence on the mind and conscience of 
 
 the impenitent sinner, and be a most powerful 
 
 13 
 
98 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 auxiliary to his repentance and reformation. It 
 commends itself to his sense of justice, his reason 
 and conscience, and to his own best interest ; and 
 being sustained by the plain letter of the scrip- 
 tures, it will readily command his full and un-* 
 doubting belief; and his faith thus established will 
 excite his fear and apprehension of an evil which 
 will far more than balance the pleasure he can 
 promise himself by the gratification of his sinful 
 propensities. And the fear thus founded on such 
 clear and high authority, will affect his reason and 
 understanding rather than his excited imagination, 
 and cause him to dread the commission of sin 
 rather than the hand that punishes it ; and conse- 
 quently it will be neither superstitious nor slavish, 
 but healthful and vigorous, awakening to a sense 
 of real danger, quickening and strengthening ev- 
 ery resolution and effort to escape by the only door 
 of hope ; and therefore this view of punishment, 
 and the system of doctrine and practice properly 
 connected with it, cannot be licentious in their 
 tendency. This is the view entertained by Res- 
 torationists, of the scripture doctrine of punish- 
 ment, and its tendency upon the moral condition 
 of mankind. 
 
 The doctrine which limits rewards and punish- 
 ments to the present life, is liable to the most se- 
 rious objections, as being not only unfounded in 
 scripture, and inconsistent with reason and justice ; 
 
CONSIDERED. 99 
 
 but as leaving vice without a sufficient check, and 
 virtue without an effectual support ; and must 
 therefore be licentious in its influence upon socie- 
 ty, being neither sufficient to give energy to the 
 moral government of Deity, or to secure the or- 
 der and peace of community. And although the 
 advocates of this sentiment arrogantly claim for it 
 the highest character for being benevolent and 
 emendatory, yet nothing can be more manifest to 
 our senses and experience than it is, that in a great 
 variety of cases it utterly fails to produce the least 
 visible emendation of heart or life in multitudes 
 who notwithstanding it, live and die in sin, and 
 without the least appearance of penitence. 
 
 A still more objectionable feature necessarily 
 connected with this doctrine is this, that rewards 
 and punishments are not only limited to the pres- 
 ent state, but that they are, by the Divine Coun- 
 sel, limited to the natural effects or consequences 
 of vice and virtue, in those who practice them ; 
 which amounts to a denial of the existence of re- 
 wards and punishments, in the common accep ation 
 of those terms. Let this sentiment be followed 
 up to its result, and it will repeal the penalties of all 
 laws, human and divine ; and leave vice uninter- 
 rupted and virtue unaided by the Deity or human 
 governments, in their struggle for the mastery in 
 society. 
 
 This modern opinion has been adverted to, 
 
100 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 merely that the reader may see and feel the differ- 
 ence between that and the sentiment above stat- 
 ed, and the difference of their spirit and influence 
 upon good and bad men, in the world ; for 4t is 
 the chief object of this part of the lecture to com- 
 pare our view of future limited punishment with 
 that taken by those who believe it endless ; that 
 by so doing we may the better judge of their com- 
 parative influence, and thereby show that ours is 
 free from the just charge of being licentious. 
 
 If future punishment be without end, it must 
 be entirely different from t*hat which is experi- 
 enced in the present life, which is confessedly e- 
 mendatory in its design ; and therefore he that 
 does not so improve it as to be made better by its 
 administration, increases his guilt. But to sup- 
 pose such a difference in the character and design 
 of God's moral government, in the present and fu- 
 ture states, is not supported by scripture or sound 
 reason, as we understand them ; and hence the 
 sentiment can have but a slender hold upon the 
 conscience — if it be vindictive, and expressive of 
 unalterable displeasure in God, it will naturally 
 harden the heart, and the fear of it will be slavish 
 and degrading to the soul, depressing the mind by 
 degrees to unutterable despair ; — if the fear of 
 interminable misery, unalleviated by hope or a 
 sense of the Divine compassion, once takes pos- 
 session of the mind, it will render it weak, gloomy, 
 
CONSIDERED. 101 
 
 and superstitious. In proof of this position, we 
 may successfully appeal to the heathen who worship 
 Gods, malicious and revengeful, and to many cases 
 of persons within our own knowledge, who have 
 unfortunately despaired of divine favor, and given 
 themselves up to the dread apprehension of un- 
 ceasing anguish, as their certain and unavoidable 
 doom. What if it be said these are extreme ca- 
 ses ? they are the very cases to try the principle. 
 Having thus stated the two schemes of limited 
 and endless punishment, and the kinds of fear they 
 naturally produce in the human mind ; if any 
 doubt remains as to which of them will exert the 
 most salutary influence, let us consider what it is 
 that renders punishment the most effectual to re- 
 form sinners, or to prevent the commission of 
 crime. Surely it is not its endless duration ; be- 
 cause the apprehension of sufferings far short of 
 endless, would be sufficient to deter any one from 
 sin. Who would purchase the momentary and 
 sensual delights of a short and uncertain life of 
 pleasure and dissipation, at the expense of only 
 one thousand years of excruciating and unallevia- 
 ted torments ? No one ; it is not in human nature 
 so to do. Much less would he accept such pleas- 
 ure upon the certain condition of suffering there- 
 for long and uncertain periods of severe punish- 
 ment, though he were certain it would after- 
 wards copae to an end, and he should be made for- 
 
102 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 ever happy by the grace of that Saviour against 
 whom he had sinned. Then, it is not the length 
 but the certainty of sufferings for sin, whether 
 limited or not, that deters men from its indulgence ; 
 for to the very same degree in which punishment 
 is uncertain, there is no occasion to fear : and be- 
 sides, we are always prone to flatter ourselves that 
 the chance will be in our favor, especially where 
 the allurement is great. Now for punishment to 
 be practically certain to us, we must sincerely be- 
 lieve in its truth ; for what we do not believe, is 
 nothing to us. Which then is capable of the clear- 
 est and strongest proof? Surely that view of pun- 
 ishment which is most scriptural, reasonable, just, 
 and salutary, will most easily obtain the credence 
 of mankind, and by them be deemed the most 
 certain, as coming from God. The reason why 
 men are no more restrained from sin by fear, is 
 not because they believe in limited future pun- 
 ishment, but because they do not believe in 
 any ; that therefore which will most readily 
 commend their belief, will have the best influence 
 when preached to them. Nor is that fear the 
 most effectual to check vice, and at the same time 
 to cherish and fortify virtue, which is the most in- 
 tense, but that which is most properly mixed with 
 hope ; so that while we fear a punishment suffi- 
 cient to subdue and humble us at the feet of Christ, 
 by a sense of the evil of sin, and a sincere and 
 
CONSIDERED. 103 
 
 hearty repentance therefor, and at the same time 
 leaves us the hope of relief by that repentance — 
 this, I say, is the most salutary fear. 
 
 Therefore as the gospel addresses men as being 
 already sinners, the true secret of successful 
 preaching is that instituted by Jesus and his apos- 
 tles, of so addressing the fears by the denuncia- 
 tion of a just, reasonable and disciplinary pun- 
 ishment, as to prevent their continuance in sin, 
 and at the same time so to encourage hope by the 
 promise of pardon and reward, as to produce re- 
 pentance and reformation. Excessive fear discour- 
 ages the sinner, and hurries him to despondency ; 
 and fallacious hope, without reformation, makes 
 him arrogant and reckless in his course of wicked- 
 ness ; but a just mixture of hope and fear, will 
 make him the humble, yet cheerful, devoted and 
 spiritual follower of Christ — check his propensi- 
 ties to evil, and strengthen his resolutions to good- 
 ness — chasten the enjoyment of worldly prosperi- 
 ty, and comfort and invigorate the heart in afflic- 
 tion and death ; — and hence, we come to the con- 
 clusion, that the doctrine of a future, just, and 
 salutary punishment, connected with the holy doc- 
 trine of the final restoration of the whole human 
 race, is not justly chargeable with being licentious. 
 No man in the full belief of its truth, and acting 
 in the presence of God, and with reference to a 
 future impartial judgment, ever said to himself, 
 
104 ANOTHER OBJECTION 
 
 because my punishment will not be endless, there- 
 fore I am resolved to sin on, indulge my propen- 
 sities, and knowingly subject myself to the pains 
 of this life, and the just retribution of a future 
 state. And not only this, but on the other hand, 
 we are persuaded that, if properly taught and en- 
 forced, it will conduce more effectually and pro- 
 perly to alarm the sinner to a just sense of his 
 condition by a strong appeal to his conscience, and 
 also to fortify the believer, by strong and certain 
 hope, mixed with trembling, against all the allure- 
 ments of temptation, than does the less reasona- 
 ble, and, as we have shown in the previous Lec- 
 ture, the less scriptural doctrine of endless misery. 
 
 That sentiment clothes the character of God in 
 terrors little suited to the Father of mercies and 
 God of infinite, impartial grace ; and throws 
 around religion a saddening gloom, which ill 
 comports with the clear shining of the true light 
 from heaven, that lighteth every man that cometh 
 into the world : thus rendering them repulsive to 
 the finer and more manly feelings of the heart ; 
 for who could desire for himself or for any human 
 being, the solemn and awful reality of endless 
 woe ? 
 
 But the restoration gives to the Father of the 
 Universe the most glorious character for justice, 
 mercy, and truth, — to religion the most inviting 
 aspect, and to the human race the most reasona- 
 
CONSIDERED. 105 
 
 ble and irresistable motives to virtue and piety ; 
 and therefore we are constrained to believe that it 
 will prove itself to be the power and grace of God 
 that bringeth salvation to all men, teaching all na- 
 tions and people to deny all ungodliness and 
 worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and 
 godly in this present world. 
 
 14 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
 
 ISAIAH VIL 3. 
 
 " And one cried unto another, saying, holy, holy, holy is the 
 lord ok hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory." 
 
 Having noticed in the previous lectures, some of 
 the principal objections frequently brought against 
 the doctrine of " universal restoration ;" we are 
 this evening, to commence the consideration of 
 the arguments and proofs in its favor, and shall pre- 
 sent first, those drawn from the Divine attributes. 
 To qualify his servant Isaiah for the sacred of- 
 fice of a prophet, it pleased Jehovah to appear to 
 him in a vision, seated upon a throne pure and 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 107 
 
 exalted, with an heavenly train ; and when the 
 prophet beheld, and heard the seraphim shouting 
 the praises of his holiness, immediately the whole 
 earth appeared to be filled with the reflected 
 splendors of his glory. And what was the glory 
 of the Lord ? It was the display of his goodness 
 then about to be made by the spirit of prophecy ; 
 for when Moses besought the Lord to show him 
 his glory, the answer was, " I will cause all my 
 goodness to pass before thee." And his lips being 
 touched with a live coal from off the altar, he 
 spake thenceforth of "the coming of the just one/' 
 and of " the glory that should follow." 
 
 By far the most wonderful exhibition of Di- 
 vine goodness ever made to the world, was made 
 in the revelation of the great plan of redemption 
 by a Mediator ; and as when Jesus Christ, the 
 likeness of the Father's glory, appeared to the 
 shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem, a choir of 
 the heavenly hosts gave glory to God in the high- 
 est ; so when his kingdom shall prevail, and ev- 
 ery knee shall bow to him in humble reverence, 
 then shall the saints sing " alleluiah, for the Lord 
 God Omnipotent reigneth ;" — and thus too, when 
 the glorious " restitution of all things," announced 
 by the spirit of prophecy, and confirmed by all the 
 holy prophets since the world began, shall have 
 been completed, then will every inhabitant of the 
 earth, unite with saints and angels, to give glory 
 
108 PROOFS DRAWN FRO$l THE 
 
 to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the 
 Lamb, forever and ever, for the holiness, goodness, 
 and happiness enjoyed by the Universe. 
 
 The proposition to be sustained is this, viz. 
 that the whole human race, after being judged ac- 
 cording to their works, will be restored to the Di- 
 vine favor, by the riches of grace, through genu- 
 ine faith, repentance, and the exercise of a truly 
 christian temper and disposition of heart ; and the 
 grounds of its support, are the character and at- 
 tributes of Deity, considered in their relation to 
 the human race. 
 
 For the sake of reasoning more clearly on this 
 subject, let us suppose that the scriptures declare 
 to us the being and perfections of Deity, but that 
 they are silent as to the destiny of mankind; in 
 that case, being left to reason only from a knowl- 
 edge of his perfections and relation to us, what 
 would be the conclusion at which we should most 
 naturally arrive on the subject ? For this purpose, 
 let us now contemplate the being, perfections, and 
 relation of God to man. 
 
 In reference to God I would then say, with the 
 profoundest reverence, he is that eternal, independ- 
 ent, self-existent being, whose purposes and ac- 
 tions are from himself ; who is absolute in his do- 
 minion, and pure and spiritual in his nature ; who 
 though he is indescribable in his essence, and in- 
 conceivable in the mode of his existence, illimit- 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 109 
 
 able in his immensity, and fully known only to 
 himself; yet we are instructed by reason as well 
 as scripture to ascribe to him certain attributes, 
 among which are the following ; 
 
 1. Infinite power; an energy to do and cause 
 others to do, whatever he wills should be done ; 
 by which he at the first created the worlds, and 
 upholds all things, visible and invisible. 
 
 2. Infinite wisdom ; that grand attribute of his 
 nature by which he knows all things possible, de- 
 vises whatever will promote his own glory, and 
 the greatest good of his creatures, and adopts all 
 such means as are best suited to its accomplish- 
 ment. 
 
 3. Infinite goodness ; that absolute perfection 
 which comprises perfect holiness, justice, truth, 
 and mercy, to all the subjects of his creation and 
 care. 
 
 Now to impress upon our minds as distinct an 
 idea as possible of this infinitely glorious and per- 
 fect Being, let us reverently contemplate him un- 
 der the figure of the human mind, originally 
 created in his image ; not indeed as it now is, but 
 pure, spiritual, and free from weakness or sin, with 
 all its faculties and virtues extended to infinity — 
 let us thus think of him as inhabiting eternity, pro- 
 ducing the universe by the instantaneous exercise of 
 his will, beholding at once all things past, present and 
 future— looking upon the heart and its most secret 
 
1 10 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 purposes, and speaking to the soul in a voice that 
 awakens and electrifies all its powers ; and who, 
 yet, is an invisible but infinite energy, that sur- 
 rounds, protects, and upholds us. Thus perhaps, 
 we shall arrive at the most familiar, and at the 
 same time, the most correct impressions of the na- 
 ture and attributes of God. 
 
 The Divine perfections of power, wisdom, and 
 goodness, are wonderfully displayed in the works 
 of creation and providence. The immensity, varie- 
 ty, and perfection of the works of creation, give the 
 most exalted idea of that power which created " all 
 things, visible and invisible," and upholds and cir- 
 cumscribes the universe. Psalms 139: 8, 11, 14. 
 Heb. 1 ; 3. Acts 17; 24, 28. If we look at 
 the order of nature, the harmony of the heavenly 
 bodies, the change of the seasons and the alterna- 
 tions of day and night — the nice adaptation of 
 part to part, and of means to ends, in the natural 
 and moral world, we cannot but admire the wis- 
 dom that contrived, as well as the power that exe- 
 cuted, and exclaim with the devout Psalmist, "how 
 manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou 
 made them all." Psalms 104; 24. 
 
 Nor when we observe the general tendency of 
 all things to promote the objects of benevolence ; 
 the provisions made for the support, defence, and 
 comfort, of the creatures of every element and 
 climate ; or the perfect manner in which the sen- 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 'Ill 
 
 ses of all creatures are suited to the objects with 
 which they are conversant, so as to derive not 
 only use, but also pleasure, each from their ap- 
 propriate objects — that the mind and heart are so 
 constituted as to derive succor from truth and vir- 
 tue, and happiness from the good it imparts to 
 others — I say when we carefully observe all these 
 benevolent arrangements, in the works and provi- 
 dence of God, we are constrained to confess and 
 adore the creator, as being " good unto all, and 
 his tender mercies over all his works." Psalms 
 145: 9. 
 
 Each of these attributes being unlimited, they 
 must all be present in every act of God, from the 
 greatest to the least ; especially must they all con- 
 cur in fixing and bringing about the destiny of 
 man, which from its connection with the hap- 
 piness of Angels and the glory of God, must be by 
 far the most illustrious display of wisdom, power, 
 and goodness, the universe can ever witness. Pow- 
 er therefore will perform nothing which is not di- 
 rected by wisdom, and wisdom can direct nothing 
 but what goodness approves. So that the power 
 of God, mighty and glorious as it is, will never 
 cast even a sparrow on the ground, without the 
 consent of his heavenly wisdom, and the holy ap- 
 proval of his infinite goodness. Although one at- 
 tribute of the Divine Nature may be more con- 
 spicuous in certain acts of God's government, than 
 
112 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 the others, as for instance, in the punishment of 
 sinners, the justice of God is specially manifested, 
 while in the pardon of the penitent his mercy 
 seems to triumph ; yet all must be supposed as 
 consenting to each act of his government, so that 
 there is ever the most perfect harmony between 
 the Divine Attributes. The perfect consistency 
 and harmony of the perfections of Deity, is most 
 wonderfully illustrated in the ever adorable plan 
 of redemption, by Jesus Christ our Lord, reveal- 
 ed in the Gospel, by which God and all his per- 
 fections will be glorified. To show this, will be 
 the pleasurable and interesting task of future lec- 
 tures ; but for the present, we shall content our- 
 selves with the consideration of the relation which 
 subsists between the leading attributes of God, 
 above mentioned, and the human race. 
 
 It is obviously true that the relation between 
 the glorious ruler of the universe and every individ- 
 ual of the whole race of mankind as creatures is the 
 same ; he being their creator, preserver, and the 
 disposer of their destiny. In the highest possible 
 sense he is their Father ; they having each and 
 equally derived from him their being, capacities, 
 means of improvement, and resources of enjoy- 
 ment. He only does or can protect and sustain 
 them. It requires the same power to create 
 one as another of the human family ; and the 
 same to preserve them from one moment or 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 113 
 
 hour to another, as it did to create them at first. 
 And hence the phenomena of our preservation ex- 
 hibits the constant exercise of creative and Omnip- 
 otent power, wisdom and goodness ; for should 
 these be suspended for a single moment, we should 
 fall into annihilation, and cease to be. How true 
 is it then, that in the highest sense " we live., 
 move, and have our being" in God, as the result of 
 his relation to us as our constant and equal pre- 
 server, and most holy and bountiful benefactor! 
 Every added moment of our existence brings us 
 new proofs of his infinite care and love, and should 
 excite us to renewed gratitude and obedience ; and 
 thus make our duty to him and to each other, as the 
 common sharers of his bounty, the richest pleas- 
 ure of life. 
 
 Not only isjGod good, and equally good to man- 
 kind, as their creator and preserver; but also as 
 their moral ruler and governor. Having created 
 them free, moral, and accountable beings, they all 
 hold the same general relation to his moral gov- 
 ernment, i. e. each is responsible in exact propor- 
 tion to the moral power given him, and to the op- 
 portunities afforded him for its improvement ; so 
 that one can as easily perform his duty as an- 
 other. 
 
 It should, however, be considered here, that 
 
 God's moral government is to be viewed as a 
 
 whole, and as extending over this and a future 
 
 15 
 
114 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 state. Taking in then, the whole course of its 
 administration, all the moral as well as natural at- 
 tributes of God will be fully developed towards 
 mankind, so that with him there will be "no re- 
 spect of persons." If therefore there be, as there 
 certainly is, a difference in the degrees of happi- 
 ness enjoyed by men in the present world, during 
 the intermediate state, and at the day of judge- 
 ment ; this is not because God is not equally good 
 to them, but because they do not equally improve 
 the power and blessings he has bestowed upon 
 them. 
 
 Justice, mercy, compassion and grace, are admin- 
 istered to every man upon precisely the same prin- 
 ciples, and with most perfect impartiality ; for that 
 which in one man procures punishment, procures 
 it in the case of every man ; and that which enti- 
 tles one man to mercy and pardon, entitles every 
 man to like favor. 
 
 Hence, mercy, justice, and every attribute of the 
 Divine Nature, are extended to every individual of 
 mankind upon equal conditions ; because those at- 
 tributes are infinite, and therefore equal : and 
 hence upon the same condition that one sinner can 
 be saved, all sinners may be saved ; so that the 
 wisdom and perfections of God are " without par- 
 tiality." Therefore it is not true that justice will 
 be glorified in the damnation of some sinners, and 
 mercy in the salvation of others equally guilty, 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 115 
 
 and in the same circumstances. This would sub- 
 vert all our ideas of impartiality on the part of 
 the divine government, and of moral equality on the 
 part of men as moral agents ; and be opposed to 
 the plainest declarations of scripture, and the 
 soundest dictates of reason. 
 
 Hence by this reasoning, we are naturally and 
 irresistably brought to the conclusion, that all men 
 as the creatures of his power, and as moral agents 
 or subjects of his moral dominion, are equally 
 the offspring of God, the subjects of his care, and 
 the objects of his love ; and that their conduct is, 
 and ever will be, the object of his approbation or 
 displeasure, and the subject of his reward or pun- 
 ishment, according as it is conformed or not con- 
 formed to his law. He that created them so fear- 
 fully, wonderfully and .mercifully, bestowed on 
 them his own image, and gave them such natural 
 and moral powers, must esteem and value them 
 not only as his own work, but for their capacities 
 to glorify and enjoy him and his kingdom forever. 
 That his esteem may be of use to them, and ex- 
 cite their gratitude to him, he has constituted them 
 with their agency and noble faculties, so immedi- 
 ately dependent upon himself for being, preserva- 
 tion ani< happiness, that without his constant aid 
 and help, they can neither exist nor arrive at per- 
 fect happiness, after which he has made them so 
 earnestly to aspire. And that a sense of this de- 
 
116 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 pendence should not be grievious to them, he has 
 required, and ever will require them, and each of 
 them, and that equally, to put their trust in him as 
 the guardian of their being, and the benefactor of 
 their happiness ; and to bestow on him their su- 
 preme love, as their chief good, here and hereaf- 
 ter : and this requirement is the spirit of " the 
 law and the prophets." Here let it be noted, that 
 the requiring of all to love and serve God, and to 
 confide in him, is virtually a pledge that his pow- 
 er, wisdom and goodness, are and will always be 
 exerted in their favor. 
 
 Such being the character of God, the nature 
 and tendency of his attributes, and their relation 
 to men ; and such being the nature, capacities, de- 
 pendence, and obligations of mankind to their 
 Maker ; the question now is, what destination 
 does reason, founded on these facts, teach us to 
 believe God will assign to them ? and will that des- 
 tination be the same to all ? 
 
 Three dispositions only can be made of men ; 
 they must be finally happy, or miserable, or be 
 forever annihilated. The power of God is able 
 to effect either ; but could wisdom and goodness 
 approve of perpetual misery, or of annihilation ? 
 Would it be an act of infinite wisdom to create 
 man with his present capacities, for the purpose of 
 enduring unceasing woe ? And, especially, what 
 goodness would there be displayed in the bestow- 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 117 
 
 merit of existence, either for perpetual sufferings, 
 or to be blotted out from the universe as an incur- 
 able ? It is an exercise of divine wisdom to pro- 
 duce good, and to extend the sphere of virtue, in- 
 telligence and happiness ; but what wisdom there 
 can be in creating intelligent beings to be loosers 
 by their existence, it would certainly be very diffi- 
 cult to show : and still more so, to describe what 
 exhibition of goodness there would be, in so do- 
 ing. Nay to make men miserable, or to annihi- 
 late them, requires neither wisdom nor goodness ; 
 but to secure them the possession of endless ex- 
 istence, and the enjoyment of endless happiness, 
 requires the perfection of those attributes, and the 
 aid of infinite power. Therefore if wisdom and 
 goodness were employed in the creation of men, 
 they must have been created for the attainment 
 and enjoyment of happiness, as the wisest and 
 most benevolent destiny which could be assigned 
 them ; but wisdom and love were employed in the 
 gift of their existence, and therefore their destiny 
 must be happiness, without the mixture of evil. 
 If then God intended Adam, and in him, man- 
 kind to be happy, then he must have had the same 
 purpose with reference to each individual ; be- 
 cause they all sustained the same relation to him, 
 and each other. And if he created each individ- 
 ual of the human race for happiness, then all his 
 attributes must have concurred in that design, and 
 
118 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 hence are pledged for its accomplishment — then 
 also human agency, with the nature and capaci- 
 ties of men, were constituted and given with re- 
 ference to that design ; and the whole moral gov- 
 ernment of God, suited to its ultimate execution ; 
 which being the case, the operations of justice, 
 as well as of mercy and the other attributes of his 
 government, must result in the production of hap- 
 piness and of equal good to every son and daughter 
 of Adam. 
 
 Therefore we answer the above questions, by 
 saying, that just reasoning, founded on the divine 
 character, the divine attributes, and the nature 
 and equality of men, teaches us to believe that the 
 design of God in the creation of Adam and each 
 member of his posterity, was that he and they 
 should be equally perfect in piety, virtue and hap- 
 piness : and also that notwithstanding the intro- 
 duction of sin by man, through the perversion of 
 his agency, yet the moral government of God, 
 founded on his holy perfections, will correct this 
 evil, restore the whole human family, and thus 
 carry into full effect the glorious design of their 
 creation. And indeed we are fully persuaded that 
 there is the same reason for believing that all men, 
 without exception, will ultimately be saved, that 
 there is for believing that any one of them will 
 be. We should therefore, reasoning upon the at- 
 tributes of God, as readily admit the endless per- 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEJTY. 119 
 
 dition of all, as of any one of the children of men. 
 
 Should it be objected to this, that God, consist- 
 ently with his holiness and goodness, administers 
 punishment upon sinners in the present world, and 
 therefore he may with equal propriety, as he chang- 
 es not, continue to do so to eternity ; we answer, 
 there is a wide difference between the punishment 
 which God inflicts upon transgressors, here or 
 hereafter, as a mean of subduing and reforming 
 them, and endless perdition ; the one promotes hu- 
 man virtue and happiness, the other necessarily 
 precludes both, and that to eternity. And hence 
 it does not follow that the goodness of God, could 
 as well admit the one as the other of these propo- 
 sitions. 
 
 We proposed in this lecture, to show that the 
 character and attributes of God, from their equal 
 relation to all mankind, furnish us with strong rea- 
 sons for believing in their final and universal resto- 
 ration to holiness and happiness ; and have we 
 not now redeemed our pledge ? And does not 
 this view, reflect the highest glory upon the di- 
 vine perfections, and present his moral government 
 in such a light as justly to command the rever- 
 ence, confidence, and obedience of every creature ? 
 Most certainly ; since according to it, God can ad- 
 mit no evil into the universe but such as he will 
 overrule for his own glory and the good of his ra- 
 tional creatures ; and since he will administer no 
 
120 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 punishment but such as is emendatory in its de- 
 sign, and will be salutary in its effects, result- 
 ing in the subjection and obedience of the sinner 
 to the divine will. 
 
 To conclude, we are confirmed in the correct- 
 ness of this result to which our reasoning hath so 
 clearly brought us, because the superior authority 
 of the scriptures, as we have shown in previous 
 lectures, offers nothing against it — because there 
 is nothing in the nature of our agency or responsi- 
 bleness to God, which opposes it — and because it is 
 sustained by the voice of inspiration, which assures 
 us that God hath " made all things for himself ;" 
 that he " will have all men to be saved and to come 
 unto the knowledge of the truth," and that he is 
 the Saviour of all men," having promised " the 
 restitution of all things by the mouth of all his holy 
 prophets, since the world began," as we shall at- 
 tempt more fully to evince in future lectures. 
 
 Moreover, we are persuaded that this view T of 
 the plan of God, when correctly understood and 
 received in the love of it, will offer the best incen- 
 tives to sincere piety, and the most universal en- 
 couragement to the practice of virtue among men, 
 as moral and accountable agents — that it best com- 
 ports with the desire of those who are most un- 
 der the influence of the spirit of pure religion, and 
 contributes most to the happiness of good men in the 
 present life ; for what good man can be happy in 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 121 
 
 seriously contemplating the endless sufferings of 
 his fellow creature* 
 
 But the salvation of the world, by a full display 
 of the divine perfections, will afford a theme of 
 joy for eternity, while in acclamations of praise 
 and glory to God in the highest, angels and the 
 redeemed shall vie with each other in cries of 
 " holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts ; the whole 
 earth is full of his glory." 
 
 16 
 
Lecture vii. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
 
 II. CORINTHIANS, V. 14, 15. 
 
 " FOR THE LOVE OF G6D CONSTRAINETH Us; BECAUSE WE THUS 
 JUDGE, THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD: AND 
 THAT HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THEY WHICH LIVE SHOULD NOT 
 HENCEFORTH LIVE UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT UNTO HIM WHICH DIED 
 FOR THEM, AND ROSE AGAIN." 
 
 It is the character of Christ which sheds over 
 the sacred pages such an heavenly lustre ; and 
 gives to them their infinite value to the children 
 of men. Take from the Bible the prophecies, 
 history, doctrines and precepts of Jesus,and it would 
 be little better to sinners than a blank-book — a 
 dead letter ; but with them, it is a light from 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 123 
 
 heaven, bringing glad tidings of salvation to all 
 people. The most important particulars in the 
 character of our blessed Lord, are his mission, 
 works, and death ; which, taken in connexion 
 with our lost condition, and as forming the ground 
 of our richest hopes, for the present and future 
 life, surpass all things else in the intense interests 
 which they awaken in the human breast. 
 
 Now that the mediation of Jesus Christ, and 
 the salvation which he came to bring, may be the 
 more highly esteemed by us ; and that his minis- 
 try and word may be the less neglected by our 
 indifference ; let us briefly consider the great ne- 
 cessity in which we stand of the aid and help of 
 such a Saviour. 
 
 The scriptures assure us, that although man was 
 created for happiness and glory, yet all have sin- 
 ned and came short of that glory — that as such 
 they were fallen in the region and shadow of death, 
 with no eye to pity and no arm to save, being 
 without God and without hope in the world. Such 
 was the forlorn condition in which Christ, accord- 
 ing to the authority of inspiration, found the whole 
 human race. Likewise, the voice of history de- 
 clares the unhappy state of the world in all ages 
 past, especially in those before the coming of 
 Christ, by reciting the sad account of the war and 
 carnage which have desolated the earth ; the op- 
 pressions which have made its inhabitants to ago- 
 
124 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 nise ; and the crimes which have embittered all 
 the relations of society, and the fountains of life. 
 
 From this condition, our own experience suffi- 
 ciently shows us that we could not have rescued our- 
 selves ; for we have neither power to release the soul 
 from the anguish of guilt, or the body from the pains 
 and bondage of death. Therefore, besides the 
 name of Christ, there is not a name given under 
 heaven whereby we could have been saved. But 
 such being our need of a saviour, God in his in- 
 finite compassion laid help for us on " one mighty 
 to save," and sent his Son from heaven to release 
 us, and bring us again " into the glorious liberty 
 of the sons of God." This view of the subject 
 should awaken in us the warmest gratitude to 
 Heaven, the most fervent love to Christ, and ex- 
 cite us to a most cheerful obedience to the gospel. 
 We propose now to examine the proofs of the 
 "universal restoration," found in the mission, 
 works, and death of Jesus Christ. 
 
 First then, the mission of Christ ; for what end 
 was he born ? for what purpose was he sent into 
 the world ? and what will be the result of that re- 
 ligion and system of means which he came to es- 
 tablish on the earth ? The purpose of God in 
 sending him into the world, must be either the 
 salvation of the whole world, or a select part of 
 it ; and therefore we adopt it as the scripture doc- 
 trine that he was sent to redeem, sanctify, and 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. VZ3 
 
 finally save, the whole human race, and that with- 
 out exception. 
 
 This doctrine relative to the object of Christ's 
 mission, is supported by the scriptures, in numer- 
 ous places, and by a great variety of modes of ex- 
 pression. They assure us that the mission of Je- 
 sus was the effect of God's love to the world ; 
 " for God so loved the world, that he gave his on- 
 ly begotten son, that whosoever believeth iu him 
 should not perish, but have eternal life. For God 
 sent not his son into the world to condemn the 
 world, but that the world through him might be 
 saved."* What greater proof of his love to the 
 world could God have given, than was given by 
 sending his son to be its saviour ! The name Je- 
 sus, i. e. saviour, given to Christ by the angel of 
 God, imports the nature of his mission, as being- 
 sent to " save his people from their sins."f The 
 first intimation of the Messiah's approach, an- 
 nounces him as the seed of the woman, who 
 shall bruise the head of the serpent ;J interpreted 
 by St. Paul, in these words, he shall "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. "| 
 Speaking of him, God says, by the prophet Isaiah, 
 " I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, 
 
 *St. John iii. 16, 17. |St. Matt. i. 21. JGen. iii. 15. 
 
 ||Heb. ii. 14, 15. 
 
126 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of 
 the earth. "^ 
 
 Jesus himself says, " I came down from heaven, 
 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. e. the heathen and uttermost parts of the earth) 
 I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again 
 at the last day."f And this view of the Fath- 
 er's will which Christ came to do, agrees with St. 
 Paul's interpretation of the will of God, " who 
 will have all men to be saved, and to come unto 
 the knowledge of the truth. "J Our Lord further 
 says, " the Son of man is come to seek and to 
 save that which was lost. j| And St. John pro- 
 claims with peculiar emphasis, " We have seen 
 and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be 
 the saviour of the world. "ff These are but a few 
 of the passages which might be quoted from the 
 sacred writings, to prove that the design of our Sa- 
 viour's mission into the world, was not the salva- 
 tion of a select part only, but the whole world; for 
 much of the New Testament, the sublimity and 
 benevolence of his doctrines, the purity and rea- 
 sonableness of his precepts, and the tendency of 
 his religion to universal happiness, might be suc- 
 cessfully urged in its support. 
 
 ^Isaiah xlix, 6. fSl. John vi. 38, 39. f 1. Tim. ii. 4. ||St 
 Luke xix. 10. ft 1- J°h Q fr« 14- 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 127 
 
 Expressive of the high authority and dignity of 
 him who came on such a mission, legions of an- 
 gels announced his approach, and ministered to 
 him, during the whole course of his ministry on 
 earth, and his return to heaven. And for the fin- 
 ishing of the mighty work of his mission, all pow- 
 er in heaven and earth was given into his hands ; 
 so that of his ability to finish it there can be no 
 doubt. 
 
 We are to notice some of the most important 
 works of Christ, performed in the progress of his 
 ministry on earth, in virtue of the mission and 
 power given him. 
 
 To say nothing of the ordinary works of our 
 Lord, as " he went about doing good," we may re- 
 mark that he performed, in the short space of his 
 brief ministry among men, forty wonderful and 
 splendid miracles, on forty different occasions, in 
 open day-light, before friends and enemies, in the 
 presence of the rulers, scribes, and multitudes of 
 the people ; and by these miracles did he exhibit 
 his complete power and dominion over the in- 
 visible world, by calling Moses and Elias from 
 thence to confer with him on the mount of trans- 
 figuration ; over the natural world, by stilling the 
 tempest and calming the sea ; over the men- 
 tal world, by restoring the shattered powers of the 
 lunatic ; over the moral world, by forgiving sin, 
 and removing the anguish of guilt from the peni- 
 
128 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 tent sinner's conscience ; over the bodies of men, 
 by healing all manner of diseases and raising up 
 the dead ; over demons, by casting them out and 
 releasing both the body and the soul from their 
 pernicious influence. These mighty works were 
 all done not only by a power manifestly from hea- 
 ven, but by a sympathy and kindness of feeling, 
 which wept at the grave of Lazarus, and at the gate 
 of Jerusalem ; had compassion on the wretched 
 woman that touched the hem of his garment ; com- 
 mended in his dying hour his mother to the care 
 of a beloved disciple, and his murderers to the fa- 
 vor of God, and was nobly touched with the feel- 
 ing of all our infirmities and sufferings. They were 
 therefore every one of them miracles of divine 
 mercy as well as of heavenly power ; and hence 
 to be regarded as practical proofs of the divinity 
 of his mission, and of his perfect ability and dis- 
 position to perform all its duties for the salvation 
 of men, and to the acceptance of the Most High. 
 Who that considers the vast variety of the wonder- 
 ful works of Christ, and places before his mind's 
 eye the most splendid and gracious of them all, his 
 ascension into heaven, in the view of men and an- 
 gels in a chariot of light, and dispensing as he as- 
 cended higher, rich, inestimable and saving gifts 
 to the world, whose cause he ascends to plead be- 
 fore the throne of heaven ; and not, with the de- 
 lighted men of Samaria, exclaim, " we have seen 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 129 
 
 him ourselves, and do know that he is the Christ, 
 the saviour of the world." But it is the sufferings 
 and death of Christ, rather than the beneficence of 
 his miracles, that we look for the proofs of his great 
 and saving love to the world ; and hence, 
 
 3. We come to the consideration of the death 
 of Christ. That he died is asserted by all chris- 
 tians, and that he died for the redemption of men; 
 but whether for the whole human race, is not a- 
 greed, some averring that he did, and others that 
 he did not. We propose not in this place to in- 
 quire whether his death be the procuring cause of 
 salvation, or the expression and attestation of God's 
 love, and hence the pledge that God will save 
 those for whom he died, by the means of grace 
 contained in that religion Which his death served 
 to establish ; for, although this question may be of 
 interest in some points of view, yet in regard to 
 our present inquiry it is of no importance, as in 
 either case, if he died for every man, then the sal- 
 vation of every man must be effected either by it 
 as the procuring cause, or by the redemption of the 
 pledge, given by it, through the faithfulness of 
 God. 
 
 The question then is this, did our blessed Sav- 
 iour suffer and die for every man without excep- 
 tion ? This question the apostle, in the text, an- 
 swers in the affirmative. True, he takes the fact 
 
 17 
 
130 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 that Christ died for all, for granted, i. e. as a sen- 
 timent which no christian of his day disbelieved,- 
 saying " if one died for all, (as you all admit) 
 then were all dead : and that he died for all, that 
 they which live, should not henceforth live unto 
 themselves, but unto him which died for them and 
 rose again." Here he states the admitted fact that 
 "one died for all ;" and then draws from it- 
 two inferences, one of fact, and the other of duty : 
 thus " if one died for all," then this inference is 
 plain, viz. all were dead, or under the sentence of 
 death: Again: if one died for all, then again the 
 inference is equally clear, viz. that all should " live 
 unto him who died for them." Now if any one 
 deny that Christ died for all, he must, to be con- 
 sistent with himself, also deny that all are dead or 
 under the sentence of death, and also that all are 
 obligated to live to Christ ; but this, we think, no 
 one would be willing to do. The equal necessity 
 of all for the redemption of Christ, connected 
 with the goodness of God, furnishes a very strong 
 argument in favor of the doctrine of the universal- 
 ity of his atonement. Yet we rest not the senti- 
 ment upon this or any other reasoning, seeing the 
 higher authority of revelation is at hand. 
 
 The three following passages seem to place this 
 inquiry beyond controversy, viz. 1. Tim. ii. 5, 6. 
 " For there is one God, and one mediator between 
 God and men, the man Christ Jesus ; who gave 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 131 
 
 himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due 
 time." Heb. ii. 9. " But we see Jesus who was 
 made a little lower than the angels, for the suffer- 
 ing of death, crowned with glory and honor ; that 
 he by the grace of God, should taste death for 
 every man." 1. John, ii. 2. "And he is the 
 propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, 
 but also for the sins of the whole world." 
 
 It is not easy to conceive how the universality 
 of Christ's death, could have been expressed in 
 stronger and more unequivocal terms than are em- 
 ployed in the above scriptures. The terms all, 
 every man, and the whole world, not applied to a 
 family, society, city, country, or nation, but to 
 mankind, must embrace the human race without 
 exception. And further, when it is considered that 
 there is not a single passage in the Bible, that 
 limits the death of Christ and its benefits to any 
 section or part of mankind, to the exclusion of oth- 
 ers, we cannot but perceive that the whole of the 
 sacred writings assent ,lo the truth affirmed by the 
 above passages, and therefore confirm their testi- 
 mony. And hence, the united voice of revelation 
 proclaims that Jesus died for all, and in that he 
 died for all, there is none for whom he did not die, 
 and give himself a ransom, that they might live, 
 and finally inherit life eternal. 
 
 The power and efficacy of the death of the 
 Lord Jesus, as a mean to accomplish the di- 
 
13&\ PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 vine purpose, is attested by the astonishing 
 events which accompanied it ; for when he died, 
 the sun refused to shine from the sixth to the ninth 
 hour ; the veil of the Temple was parted, the 
 rocks were rent, the graves of the saint? were 
 opened, and the earth shaken to its centre. And 
 these events were followed by the still more sur- 
 prising ones of the resurrection of the Lord, and 
 of many of his saints, who arose and appeared to 
 many, as the witnesses that death was conquered, 
 and life and immortality brought to light. 
 
 Again the gospel speaks of Christ crucified, un- 
 der the figure of a ransom ; and therefore wheth- 
 er it be a ransom of life for life, or of price for the 
 redemption of sinners, if accepted by the power 
 to whom it was offered, it must effect the release 
 of all for whom it was offered, or be wholly in 
 vain. 
 
 Now on the subjects of the mission, works, and 
 death of our Lord, the following reasoning appears 
 conclusive. 1st. If, as we have shown, God sent 
 his son to redeem, and finally, to restore all men 
 to holiness and happiness ; then it must be agreea- 
 ble to his counsel and purpose, that that great 
 event should be perfectly accomplished. And then 
 also it must be possible that it should be so done, 
 in perfect consistency with the moral agency and 
 freedom of men, the moral government of God, 
 and the scripture doctrine of rewards, punish- 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 135 
 
 ments, and pardons, as promised and dispensed by 
 the gospel. 2. If Jesus really performed the mir- 
 acles ascribed to him in the New Testament, as 
 all christians believe he did, and with the love and 
 compassion evinced by his voluntary sufferings and 
 death for every man ; then he must have both 
 power and the inclination to do and accomplish, 
 in a manner not in the least subversive of our re- 
 sponsibility to the divine law, whatever is necessa- 
 ry to the moral subjection, and the restoring of 
 every creature to the obedience of the divine will. 
 3. And if Jesus Christ, in addition to all he did 
 and said during his life on earth for the reforma- 
 tion, comfort and happiness of men, did, as the 
 ambassador of God and in obedience to his will, 
 give " himself a ransom for all," with the purpose of 
 effecting the regeneration of every son and daugh- 
 ter of Adam, in the present or future world, and if 
 God accepted him as such a ransom, as he most cer- 
 tainly did, when he seated him at his own right 
 hand in heavenly places ; then the " universal res- 
 toration" has the seal of heaven set upon it, as di- 
 vine truth. 
 
 Whosoever questions the correctness of this 
 conclusion, must deny that God sent his son into the 
 world to be the saviour of the whole human race, 
 or maintain that his mission will fail, the power 
 and grace exhibited by his works and miracles, be 
 incompetent, and the efficacy of his death prove 
 
134 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 insufficient to save the world ; which must pro- 
 duce an infinite disappointment to the Deity, and 
 cut off all ground of hope from men ; for if the 
 mission, power and death of Christ, as they are 
 proclaimed in the gospel, fail us as the ground of 
 hope, in what shall we confide ? And if God be 
 disappointed, why should not the plan of salvation 
 utterly fail, and the world be left in despair ? But 
 who would be willing to assume this ground of ar- 
 gument against our position? No one, we trust* 
 and therefore the mission of Christ, and the "uni- 
 versal restoration," must stand or fall together. 
 
 Such then being the design of our Saviour's mis- 
 sion, it claims from the world the highest respect, 
 and for his doctrines and precepts the most cor- 
 dial reception and the most cheerful and constant 
 obedience. Such being the character and tenden- 
 cy of his miracles and examples of life ; they are 
 the heavenly patterns of piety, virtue, and benev- 
 olence, given for the love and imitation of men i,n 
 every sphere of duty : and such being the purpose 
 and efficacy of his death ; every man for whom he 
 died, is under the highest obligations of gratitude 
 to heaven for the preaching of the gospel of Christ 
 and him crucified ; and has the highest interest in 
 placing himself at the foot of the cross, and own- 
 ing him who bled upon it as his blessed Lord and 
 Saviour. 
 
 Again : upon the truth of this view of the sub- 
 
MISSION, WORKS AND DEATH OF CHRIST. 135 
 
 ject, must depend the criminality of those persons 1 
 who reject the gospel ; for if there be any one of 
 all the human race, whom Jesus was not sent to 
 save, and for whose redemption he did not give 
 himself a ransom, his rejection of Christ and the 
 gospel, so far at least as his own salvation is con- 
 cerned, can be no violation of the will of God, or 
 of his own duty; as truth and justice cannot re- 
 quire us to believe what is not true. But if,- as 
 we have shown to be the case, Christ came down 
 from heaven, lived, died and rose again, for the sal- 
 vation of " every man ;" then whosoever denies 
 the messiahship of Jesus, scoffs at his religion, and 
 tramples upon the institutions of his gospel, de- 
 nies the Holy One, treads under foot the blood of 
 the covenant, and does despite to the spirit of 
 grace, as the fruit of God's everlasting love. 
 
 This doctrine of Christ crucified for the world y 
 is most admirably calculated to overcome the idol- 
 atry, irreligion, and skepticism, which have and' 
 still do prevail in the earth; and to unite men of 
 every age and nation in the worship of one Gody 
 the love of one Saviour, and in the blessed hop es 
 and comforts of one holy religion. It offers to 
 men the most reasonable inducements to honor and 
 love the name of Jesus, and to detest and avoid 
 infidelity as the basest ingratitude to heaven, and 
 the bane of human life. It invites a world from 
 the degrading vices, ignorance,, and cruelties of 
 
136 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 heathenism ; — from the licentiousness, the intem- 
 perance, and loathsome haunts of the profaners of 
 sacred truth; — from the awful and desolating 
 scenes of war, rapine and murder ; and bids them 
 seek at the feet of Jesus the pardon of their sins, 
 the instructions of his word, the heavenly rest and 
 peace, and joy of his kingdom on earth, and a 
 crown of life that fadeth not away in heaven. 
 
 In what way could our Lord so glorify the Father, 
 as by thus inducing the world to forsake their sins, 
 and to seek and find eternal life ? In what other 
 way could he clothe himself with such distinguish- 
 ed honor, or confer on the world such high and 
 sacred obligations of love, gratitude and obedi- 
 ence? And are not love and gratitude among the 
 most powerful incentives to virtue and piety, since 
 as christians, we love God because he first loved 
 us, and sent his son to die for us ? 
 
 Why then should it be thought incredible, that he 
 who came on such a mission, and who did so much 
 to make men holy and happy while he was here, 
 should continue to exert his power and grace, till 
 he brings every knee to bow, and every tongue to 
 confess, and wipe away the tears of grief from ev- 
 ery human eye f As the judge of men, can he not 
 sufficiently excite the fear and apprehension of sin- 
 ners, without the infliction of such a punishment 
 as must forever exclude them from being restored 
 bv his mercv ? This, we think, must be admitted ; 
 
CHARACTER AND ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY. 137 
 
 else to reward men according to their works, must 
 be opposed to the heavenly doctrine of salvation 
 by grace, a sentiment which would be most dis- 
 honorable to the moral government of our Heav- 
 enly Father ; for then the law of God would be 
 against his promises, which an inspired apostle has 
 asserted not to be true. And therefore no valid 
 objection can be brought against the moral ten- 
 dency of this noble sentiment. 
 
 Hence we are constrained to believe, that- the 
 blessed gospel of a crucified Saviour, will prevail 
 through the whole earth, and completely triumph 
 over idolatry, error and vice ; reconcile a world to 
 God and to each other, and fill the earth with 
 the praise and glory of his grace. Therefore let 
 every man that hath this hope in his heart, purify 
 himself from sinful and selfish feelings, cultivate 
 the most enlarged views of benevolence among 
 men, and use his utmost exertions to impart the 
 rich and saving knowledge of the mission, works, 
 and sufferings of Jesus to every nation, kindred, 
 tongue and people ; that every child of Adam 
 may behold him as the lovely shepherd of Israel, 
 feel their need of his help, cry to him and be saved. 
 
 Heaven grant that such a spirit and such a re- 
 ligion, may speedily come upon the rulers of the 
 earth, the ministry of the gospel, the church of 
 God, and upon all the people ; and to God and 
 
 his Christ be the glory, forever. 
 
 18 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
 II. CORINTHIANS, I. 20. 
 
 "FOR ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD IN HIM ARE YEA, AND IN HIM AMEN, 
 UNTO THE GLORY OF GOD BY US." 
 
 Revelation is the greatest and richest of bless- 
 ings to man. It discloses the perfections of Deity, 
 and the designs of his government ; it opens to our 
 view the felicities of Eternity, and shows us the 
 way to attain them ; and teaches us to aspire to 
 Heaven as our destined home. Compared with 
 these treasures, what are the riches, the honors, 
 or the pleasures of this short and changeful life ? 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 139 
 
 But that which adds to the scriptures their great- 
 est value to us as sinners, is the spirit of promise 
 and grace which runs through the sacred volume, 
 from the beginning to the end, as a vein of the 
 richest gold, offering divine aid and success to those 
 who seek the heavenly inheritance. These pre- 
 cious promises all flow through one only medium, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; for out of him there are 
 no promises of salvation. The spirit and design 
 of all the promises is therefore, to set forth the 
 the riches of grace in Christ for penitent sinners, 
 the treasures of glory he has prepared for them, 
 and the blessed rewards he will confer upon their 
 obedience and fidelity, as followers and friends ; 
 and thus to endear to men the goodness of Him 
 who sent his son to be the saviour of the world, and 
 thus to encourage- them in the practice of virtue 
 and filial piety. 
 
 When, however, we connect the several parts of 
 Christianity, its doctrines, histories, precepts, 
 promises, and warnings, as a whole, it is a most 
 perfect system of promises — one great promise, 
 embracing whatever could reasonably restrain our 
 propensities to evil, and check the vicious in their 
 rash career to wretchedness — whatever could con- 
 duce, to the temporal, spiritual, and eternal happi- 
 ness of men, individually and collectively. Hence, 
 all parts of the Bible are to be considered in con- 
 nection with the promises of salvation by a Re- 
 
140 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 deomer, and as necessary to their perfect ac- 
 complishment; nothing therefore, as designed by 
 the Holy Spirit, is against the promises, but all 
 the scriptures " are yea" and " amen" to the 
 glory of God," by the preaching of the gospel. 
 
 For this doctrine we have the authority of St. 
 Paul, saying " Is the law against the promises of 
 God ? God forbid." According to this authority, 
 the promises take the lead in the sacred writings, 
 expressing the great designs of their Beneficent 
 Author ; and hence all the requirements, warn- 
 ings, and denunciations therein contained, must in 
 their ultimate design and tendency, perfectly har- 
 monize with them ; so that the whole word of 
 God, may, in the comprehensive language of the 
 angel, be declared " good tidings of great joy, 
 which shall be to all people." 
 
 From this perfect harmony of the scriptures, it 
 follows, that all punishments therein denounced 
 upon the wicked, must be intended to reform the 
 transgressor, and thereby fit him to be partaker of 
 the promises ; so that the threatenings may all be 
 fully accomplished, and yet the promises all be re- 
 alised ; nay more, they are in the plan of infinite 
 wisdom and grace, necessary as preparatives, for 
 the fulfilment of the promises. There is an in- 
 describable beauty seen, by viewing the scriptures 
 in this pleasing light ; for the doctrines explain 
 the grounds, nature a-nd import of the promises ; 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 141 
 
 the threatenings warn us of the evils of sin, and 
 awaken us to a sense of our need of the blessings 
 promised by the gospel ; and the precepts teach us 
 how to obtain and enjoy the rich promises of 
 grace here, and of glory hereafter. 
 
 The benefits resulting from this glorious system 
 of promises, through one gracious Mediator, caa 
 be received on.ly by faith — faith in Christ, faith in 
 the promises, and not in the promises only, but 
 also in the precepts and threatenings with which 
 the sacred volume abounds ; for all parts of the 
 scripture being necessary to salvation, faith in all 
 those parts, must be necessary to a saving faith. 
 Without this faith, the promises, however great 
 and glorious they may be, can have no power to 
 comfort, strengthen or encourage us. They re- 
 main ,t9 us a dead letter, a mere nullity, till they 
 are received as sacred and revealed truth. But 
 when so received, they become " the power of 
 God unto salvation." 
 
 As well might we expect to enjoy the Tight of 
 the sun in the firmament without ejes, as to pos- 
 sess the promised blessings of grace without faith. 
 This faith in revelation, is not only a source of 
 consolation to the afflicted, and a powerful support 
 to the soul when the heart and the flesh are fail- 
 ing at the approach of death ; but it is also the 
 most powerful spring to virtue and piety. Who 
 would begin to build, if he had no faith he should 
 
142 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 be able to finish ? What husbandman would feel 
 courage in the spring, to go forth to the fields 
 and cast in the appointed seed, protect and watch 
 its growth with such interest and patience, were 
 it not for his faith that in the harvest he should 
 reap an abundant reward for his care and toil ? 
 Or what disciple could have felt the courage to 
 follow his blessed Saviour through evil as well as 
 good report, submit to the loss of all things, and 
 to death itself, had he not believed his Lor d, 
 according to promise, would be with him always, 
 make him more than a conquerer over death, and 
 give to him a crown of everlasting life ? 
 
 Having thus attempted to show the unity of the 
 promises, the harmony of the promises with the 
 other parts and doctrines of the scriptures, and 
 the necessity of faith in them ; let us now in- 
 quire whether God has promised in his word, the 
 universal restoration, i. e. in the fulness of times, 
 to subdue each of the human race to perfect obe- 
 dience, and to bring them to be genuine chris- 
 tians in temper, spirit, and feeling ; and thus make 
 them heirs of his everlasting kingdom ? Which 
 if we succeed to do, it will then be proved that 
 all the scriptures support the doctrine, and that 
 faith in it is necessary to salvation. 
 
 For the purpose of this inquiry, we may divide 
 the promises into those which declare the divine 
 purpose to remove the sources of evil, or the 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 143 
 
 obstructions in the way of human happiness; and 
 secondly, those that describe the good^ he will 
 confer. 
 
 The general and special sources of human mis- 
 ery are sin, sorrow and death. Sin is the general 
 source of all sufferings ; although sorrow and death 
 are second causes of great anguish and pain in the 
 world. Were men to be separated from sin,' they 
 would be free from death, sorrow, and every cause 
 of human disquiet. And if they were exempt 
 from death, and the other causes of grief they 
 would also be free from the dominion and influ- 
 ences of sin. Now the first class of the promises 
 to which we have alluded, very plainly announces 
 the destruction of all these sources of human woi 
 As, 1st. of sin. St. Johni. 29. "Behold the Lamb' 
 of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 
 Daniel ix. 24. " Seventy weeks are determined 
 upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish 5 
 the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and 
 to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring iri 
 everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision 5 
 and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." St. 
 Matt. i. 21. "Thou shall call his name Jesus; 
 for he shall save his people from their sins." 1 John 
 ii. 2. " And he is the propitiation for our sins ; and 
 not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
 world." Heb. ix. 26. " Now once, in the end of 
 the world, hath he appeared to put away sin, by 
 
144 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 the sacrifice of himself." Phil. ii. 10, 11. "That 
 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
 things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
 tinder the earth ; and that every tongue should 
 confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of 
 God the Father." 1. Cor. xv. 25. " For he must 
 reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet." 
 These promises of God show in the clearest man- 
 ner, that it is the divine purpose, and the office of 
 Christ, to restrain transgression, make an end of 
 sin offerings, as offered by the law, which he did, 
 by becoming the Lamb of God, to take away the 
 sin of the world ; that he will save his people, not 
 only believers, but the whole world from their 
 sins ; and that he will make an end of rebellion, 
 bring every creature to bow to his authority, in 
 heaven, in the earth, and under the earth, and al- 
 so to abandon their infidelity, confess him Lord and 
 Saviour, so that in the universe there will not be 
 found one single enemy to Jesus, one despiser of 
 his gospel, or one sinner before God. Such are 
 the promises. Do they not plainly declare that 
 sin shall be separated from the hearts and lives of 
 the whole intelligent creation ; and so forever be 
 destroyed and borne away ? 
 
 2. Another great source of sufferings, which 
 God has promised to remove, is death ; see Isaiah 
 xxv. 8. "He will swallow up death in victory." 
 Hosea xiii. 14. "I will ransom them from the 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 145 
 
 power of the grave ; I will redeem them from 
 death ; O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, 
 I will be thy destruction ; repentance shall be hid 
 from mine eyes." 1. Cor. xv. 26, 54. " The last 
 enemy that shall be destroyed is death. So when 
 this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
 and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
 shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
 Death is swallowed up in victory. O death ! where 
 is thy sting ? O grave ! where is thy victory ?" 
 Revelations xxi. 4. " And there shall be no more 
 death." According to these passages, God has 
 most solemnly promised, to overcome and conquer 
 death, ransom its subjects, and destroy the place 
 of its dominion ; so that nothing, bearing the 
 name or having the properties of death, shall be 
 found any more. Let it be here noted, that while 
 one of the human race remains subject to death, 
 temporal or spiritual, the saints will never be able 
 to sing in shouts of triumph, death! where is 
 thy sting? O grave ! (hell) where is thy victory? 
 But that they will have such a glorious victory to 
 sing, who can doubt? Since God will hide re- 
 pentance, or change of purpose, from his eyes, till 
 it be accomplished ; and St. Paul has assured us, 
 that, " As in Adam all die, even so, in Christ shall 
 all be made alive." 
 
 3. The last source and proof of misery among 
 
 men, now to be mentioned, which God has promis- 
 
 19 
 
146 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 ed to take away from the world, is that of sorrow, 
 grief, despair. The following are the promises 
 referred to ; Isaiah, xxv. 8. " The Lord will 
 wipe away tears from off all faces." Revelation 
 xxi. 4. " And God shall wipe away all tears from 
 their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, nei- 
 ther sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any 
 more pain ; for the former things are passed away.''' 
 These, with many other passages of like import, 
 prove most conclusively, fif-st, that God will wipe 
 tears from off all faces ; second, that he will wipe 
 all tears from each face. And third, that there shall 
 be no more weeping ; for all the causes of grief 
 will have passed away. 
 
 Therefore, by this class of the promises, God 
 has given us the strongest assurance that he will, 
 by the agency and grace of Jesus Christ, take 
 away the sins of the whole world, making an end 
 of its dominion over the human mind ; that he will 
 destroy death, release all that have been, are, or 
 shall be subject to its power, and bring all weep- 
 ing, grief and sorrow to a final end. 
 
 Having thus noticed the promises which speak of 
 the destruction of sin and misery ; we now come to 
 those that confer happiness. Of this class are 1. 
 The great leading covenant promise made of God 
 to Abraham. When God called Abraham to leave 
 his country and kindred, he gave him several great 
 promises, and concluded with these gracious words, 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 147 
 
 " And iii thee shall all the families of the earth be 
 blessed." See Gen. xii. 1, 2, 3. And after he 
 had passed the trial of offering up his son, it pleas- 
 ed Jehovah to confirm these promises by an oath, 
 saying, "By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, 
 for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not 
 withheld thy son^ thine only son : in blessing 1 
 will bless thee," &c. " And in thy seed shall all 
 the nations of the earth be blessed : because thou 
 hast obeyed my voice." Gen. xxii. 15, 18. This 
 same glorious promise was renewed to Isaac, in 
 these words, " And 1 will perform the oath which 
 I swore unto Abraham thy father, &C. And in 
 thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, 
 &-c. Gen. xxvi. 3, 4. 5. And the same was con- 
 firmed unto Jacob, in nearly the same language, 
 " And in thee, and in thy seed shall all the fami- 
 lies of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxviii. 14. 
 
 This glorious promise, the apostle calls the gos- 
 pel preached by Jehovah, see Gal. iii. 8. " And 
 the scripture foreseeing that God would justify 
 the heathen through faith, preached before the 
 gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all na- 
 tions be blessed." "Now to Abraham and his 
 seed were the promises made : he saith not, And 
 to seeds as of many ; but as of one, And to thy 
 seed, which is Christ." Ver. 16. 
 
 Surely, all nations, families, and kindreds of 
 
148 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 the earth, intend mankind without any exception ; . 
 and they all are to be blessed in Christ, with the 
 gospel blessings of justification and life eternal, 
 according to St. Paul's commentary of this prom- 
 ise of God made to the fathers : which is the 
 foundation of the gospel, and the only ground of 
 the faith delivered to the saints. 
 
 2. Those which proclaim the universal spread of 
 the gospel, see Isaiah xlv. 23. " 1 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." " 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 accomplish that which I please, 
 and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." " For 
 this is the covenant that I will make with the 
 House of Israel, after those days, saith 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 neighbor, and every man his 
 brother, saying know the Lord ; for all shall know 
 me, from the least to the greatest. Isaiah lv. 10, 
 11. Heb. viii. 10, 11. 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 1 W 
 
 These scripture promises not only assert that 
 the gospel which God sent into all the world, and 
 commanded to be proclaimed to evtrij creature, 
 will universally prevail ; but also that it will be 
 written in the hearts of all men, from the least to 
 the greatest, producing a most hearty and willing 
 subjection to the divine will, and effecting all the 
 purposes of its revelation. 
 
 3. Those which describe the extent of the Mes- 
 siah's kingdom and reign. Psalm ii. 7, 8. " 1 will 
 declare the decree ; the Lord hath said unto me, 
 thou art my son ; this day have I begotten thee. 
 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 
 inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for thy possession." " I saw in the night visions, 
 and behold, one like the Son of Man came with 
 the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of 
 Days, and they brought him near before him. And 
 there was given him dominion, and glory, and a 
 kingdom, that all people, and nations, and lan- 
 guages, should serve him ; his dominion is an ev- 
 erlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and 
 his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." 
 "And the kingdom and dominion, and the great- 
 ness 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 r 
 and all dominions shall serve and obey him." "And 
 the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great 
 
150 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world 
 are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
 Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." "He 
 that descended is the same also that ascended up 
 far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. 
 And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
 and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
 teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
 work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
 of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the 
 faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God un- 
 to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ." 
 
 " Wherefore God also hath highly exa'ted him, 
 and given him a name which 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. Dan. vii. 13, 14, 27. Hev. xi. 
 15. Eph. iv. 10, 11, 12, 13. Phil. ii. 9, 10 11. 
 
 These prophetic promises, (for so v\ e view them) 
 give assurance that the kingdom of Christ will 
 continue its growth, until it em I races in its 
 bosom all people, nations, and kingdoms of this 
 world not only, but all who have passed to the 
 world of spirits, each being of one faith, and 
 perfect in Christ, so that he will be reverenced 
 and admired as King of Kings, and Lord of the 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 
 
 151 
 
 dead and living. What a glorious dominion will 
 that be, which our Lord will extend over all men 
 in this, and a future world, as his redeemed, wil- 
 ling, and happy subjects, bound to him by perfect 
 love and gratitude. 
 
 4. Those which contrast evil with good, show- 
 ing that the latter will greatly surpass the former ; 
 that the good, by Christ, will more than balance 
 the evils, by Adam. " 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." 1. Cor. xv. 21, 22. 
 " Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the 
 world, and death by sin ; and so death passed up- 
 on all men, for that all have sinned ; therefore, as 
 by the offence of one, judgment came upon all 
 men to condemnation ; even so by the righteous- 
 ness of one, the free gift hath come upon all men 
 unto justification of life. For as by one man's 
 disobedience many were made sinners; so l;y the 
 obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. 
 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might 
 abound : but where sin abounded, grace did much 
 more abound; that as sin had reigned unto death, 
 even so might grace reign through righteousness un- 
 to eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." " Be- 
 cause the creature itself also shall be delivered from 
 the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liber- 
 ty of the sons of God." Rom. v. 12, 18, 19,20, 
 21. and viii.21. 
 
152 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 Here we have the apostle's contrast of death by 
 Adam, with the resurrection by Christ — of con- 
 demnation for sin, with justification by grace — of 
 sin, with righteousness — of the limited reign of 
 misery, with the endless reign of happiness — of the 
 bondage of corruption, with the glorious liberty of 
 the sons of God — and of the number that sinned, 
 with the number that shall be saved. And what 
 is the result of this contrast ? Answer, this is the 
 result ; the same persons that die in Adam are to 
 be made alive in Christ; the same persons that 
 are made sinners by the disobedience of Adam, 
 will be justified by the obedience of Jesus Christ; 
 and all who groan in the bondage of corruption, 
 will possess the glorious liberty of the sons of God. 
 What a glorious and universal restoration is here 
 promised of the whole sinful, suffering, and dying 
 race of Adam ! A restoration to life, purity, joy, 
 and glory ; wherein grace shall abound beyond 
 the reign of sin, and righteousness extend its do- 
 minion beyond the power of death, in an eternity 
 of bliss and glory. 
 
 We now ask what evils do exist in the universe 
 that God has not promised to destroy ? What good 
 that can be imagined for the human race, is there, 
 that God has not promised to bestow ? 
 
 Now for the confirmation of our faith, and the 
 encouragement of our obedience, let us notice that 
 the promises of God, on each of the above men- 
 
THE PROMISES OF GOD. 155 
 
 tioned subjects, lead us to the same conclusion ; and 
 each in their result, perfectly sustain the final res- 
 titution of the whole human race. For if the sin 
 of the world be separated from it, and taken away ; 
 then the world must be holy and happy ; if death 
 be destroyed, all must have life eternal; if all 
 tears be wiped from all faces, then perfect joy 
 must be the portion of each ; if every man of ev- 
 ery nation be blessed and justified in Christ, the 
 seed of Abraham, then guilt and sufferings must 
 cease forever ; if the true gospel and kingdom of 
 Christ prevail over the whole e^rth and be written 
 in every heart, and not only this, but if every knee 
 " of things in heaven, things in earth, and things 
 under the earth," shall bow to Christ, and every 
 tongue confess him to be Lord to the glory of God 
 the Father ; then must the restoration to perfec- . 
 tion and felicity be strictly universal, and the reign 
 of righteousness extend infinitely beyond that of 
 sin, misery, and death. Not only do all the prom- 
 ises but every part of the scriptures, even the 
 threatenings and judgments of God, according to 
 this plan, promote the cause of righteousness and 
 salvation. What a foundation is here laid for our 
 faith, hope and consolation ; what gentle cords of 
 love draw us to the obedience of him, in whom are 
 all the promises of grace and of glory ; what a ra- 
 tional and filial fear restrains us from the love of 
 
 sin ; and what a light spreads itself over the sa- 
 
 20 
 
154 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 cred pages, reconciling them in the most perfect 
 harmony ? 
 
 Thy judgments, O God, are right ; and thy 
 promises full of mercy. What thou dost prohibit 
 in thy wisdom, that help us to shun ; and what 
 thou hast promised, O help us to believe with the 
 heart, and obey that our souls may take hold on 
 eternal life. Let the moral universe experience 
 the blessed fruition of all thy promises ; and to thy 
 name be the glory, in Christ Jesus, amen and 
 amen. 
 
L.ECTURE IX. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
 
 ST. MATTHEW V. 44, 45. 
 
 " BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THEM THAT 
 CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR 
 THEM THAT DEsPITEFU l,LY USE YOU, AND PERSECUTE YOU ; THAT 
 YE MAY BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEA- 
 VEN ; FOR HE MAKETH HIS SUN TO RISE ON THE EVIL AND ON THE 
 GOOD, AND SENDETH HIS RAIN ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST." 
 
 The morality of the Jews, as well as that of Gen- 
 tiles, was extremely defective. It was so fram- 
 ed by its teachers, as to be selfish and partial in 
 its operation, it placed a part of the human race 
 
156 PROOFS DRAWN FROM 
 
 beyond the .sympathies and services of the rest of 
 mankind ; it allowed of causeless anger, contempt 
 and lust, provided they did not break out into 
 overt acts; it weakened the filial respect due from 
 children to parents; and it failed properly to 
 unite piety and virtue, — love to God, and love to 
 man, as essential and correlative branches of true 
 religion. 
 
 The basis of christian morality is supreme love 
 to God, and universal benevolence to mankind ; 
 for the gospel which reveals the greatness of God's 
 love to the world, also enjoins upon every crea- 
 ture the most profound reverence and love for 
 the Deity, and the most sincere good will to each 
 other. These principles carried out into actions, 
 produce a cheerful and conscientious performance 
 of all such acts and services as express reverence, 
 trust, love and gratitude to the Most High ; and 
 also all such acts of justice, truth, and mercy, as 
 express sympathy, fellow feeling, and good will to 
 men. Therefore the same revelation, which teach- 
 es the destiny that God has, in his great love, pur- 
 posed for us his rational creatures, contains also 
 all those precepts, by obedience to which, we 
 may express our piety and benevolence, and be 
 prepared to enjoy the condition he has assigned 
 us ; and hence the scriptures are the only standard 
 of christian faith, and the only perfect manual of 
 moral duty. 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 157 
 
 The precepts of morality, touching the duty of 
 man to man, found in the gospel, are the divine 
 will in regard to our conduct towards ourselves 
 and fellow creatures. And morality, thus un- 
 derstood, is a part, yea an important part of reli- 
 gion ; and it also makes a part of the perfect 
 moral government of God, which extends over 
 all intelligent beings, whether angelic or hu- 
 man, and whether living in this or a future 
 world. Hence, as the purposes and govern- 
 ment of the Supreme Ruler of Heaven and 
 Earth extend over this and a future state, it 
 must be plain that christian morals will in princi- 
 ple, be the same in a future state, as they are in this 
 state, and equally necessary to the future as they 
 are to the present happiness of men and angels. 
 
 For if God be unchangeable, and the nature and 
 purposes of his moral dominion be immutable — if 
 the nature of man, and of human felicity, be the 
 same in all worlds: then if God requires his chil- 
 dren to love each other here, he will ahvavs re- 
 quire them to do so; and if it be right for chris- 
 tians to respect justice, mercy and truth, in their 
 feelings and conduct towards each other and the 
 world now, it will never cease to be right for them 
 to continue so doing. This view of morality ren- 
 ders it truly sacred, adds much to its authority 
 and importance, and should awaken us to a lively 
 sense of the vast interest we have in gaining a 
 
168 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 correct understanding of it for ourselves, and of 
 the high obligations which rest upon us to aid its 
 universal diffusion through the earth. 
 
 Now as the character and designs of an earthly 
 law-giver are known by the character and tenden- 
 cy of the laws he enacts ; as the wisdom and vir- 
 tue of a father are plainly inferrable from the wise 
 and salutary rules of moral conduct which he pre- 
 scribes for the government of his children ; so the 
 benevolence of God, and his purpose to make the 
 intelligent universe ultimately holy and happy, are 
 proved by the tendency of the moral precepts of 
 the bible to effect that most desirable object. 
 
 Thus we " make the tree good and its fruit 
 good," which is of all others the most satisfactory 
 method of arriving at truth. For who can rea- 
 sonably doubt the patriotism of that legislator, all 
 of whose acts tend to the promotion of the pub- 
 lic good ? Then who can doubt the design of the 
 Kuler of the Universe to effect the restoration of 
 all his erring children, when all his moral prohibi- 
 tions and requirements tend to reform, and thus to 
 restore the whole sinful world to the performance 
 of their duty, and to the enjoyment of perfect 
 happiness, through the mediation of his blessed 
 son, and by the ministry of his word and spirit ? 
 
 This sentiment we shall now attempt to sustain, 
 by an inquiry into what is prohibited, and what is 
 enjoined by christian morality ; and by showing 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 159 
 
 that both the prohibitions and injunctions of the 
 word of God tend to produce and perpetuate uni- 
 versal happiness. 
 
 First then, the Almighty Guardian of the hu- 
 man race, who is also the avenger of their wrongs, 
 has solemnly prohibited the doing of the least in- 
 jury or wrong to any one of our fellow creatures 
 in their persons, their properties, or their reputa- 
 tions ; the uttering of falsehood one to another, 
 or the rendering of evil for evil to any. All fraud, 
 prevarication, revenge, injustice and violence, are 
 most peremptorily forbidden, by the scriptures. 
 Rom. xiii. 7, 8. Eph. iv. 25. 2. Cor. viii. 21. 
 Not only are all injurious actions prohibited, but 
 we are commanded not to be angry with a broth- 
 er without cause ; not to speak evil of any man ; 
 not to raise evil reports ourselves against a neigh- 
 bor, or spread them when raised by others. Matt, 
 v. 21, 22. Titus iii. 2. But when angry with 
 sufficient cause, we are not to retain it, lest it de- 
 generate into malice ; therefore u let not the sun 
 go down upon your wrath" is the solemn injunc- 
 tion of the Apostle. 
 
 We are forbidden to pass rash judgments upon 
 others, lest we should be judged of God ; and even 
 to " think evil" of them, is a violation of christian 
 duty. We may indeed be compelled to see or 
 know evil, but we are never to surmise or think it 
 of any, without proof. 
 
160 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 What a protection is here guaranteed to every 
 son and daughter of Adam against evil actions, 
 words, passions, and designs ! by him who conde- 
 scends to make their cause his own, and proclaims 
 " vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." 
 
 Second. Nor is christian morality merely neg- 
 ative; it enforces in the most explicit terms, 
 the duty of doing good to all men, as far as we 
 have ability and opportunity— to assist them in their 
 necessities and distresses, to sympathise with them 
 in afflictions and- sorrows, and to be ready to distri- 
 bute of our worldly substance, and earnings to 
 their relief and comfort ; to endeavor to convert 
 them from the error of their way, and to reprove 
 their faults in the spirit of kindness and meekness ; 
 and always and by all means to do all in our pow- 
 er to promote their temporal and spiritual welfare. 
 Gal. vi. 10. 1. Tim. vi. 18. Heb. xiii. 3, 16. 
 James v. 20. Gal. vi. 1. Rom. xii. 15. 
 
 By far the most difficult part of our duty towards 
 mankind, is that which relates to enemies, slander- 
 ers, and persecuters ; to these we are enjoined the 
 exercise of a mild and forgiving temper, and not 
 to be overcome of evil but to overcome evil with 
 good. And not this merely ; but to love ene- 
 mies, and to pray for slanderers and persecuters, 
 that they may see the evil of their w 7 ay, and turn to 
 the path of duty, is required by Christ and his 
 apostles, as things which should distinguish their 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 161 
 
 followers. Matt. v. 44. Rom. xii. 17, 21. l.Thes. 
 v. 15. 1. Pet. iii. 9. 
 
 From these general precepts, it is most manifest 
 that the gospel founds the duties of mankind to 
 each other on love ; and that it is the great and con- 
 stant object to recommend and enforce the prac- 
 tice of universal benevolence, without which there 
 can be no perfect morality, and no true religion. 
 
 Besides the general precepts prescribing the du- 
 ties of justice and benevolence to the whole race 
 of man, the gospel abounds in particular injunc- 
 tions to those who occupy the several stations and 
 relations of civil and social life, which are of the 
 highest importance to nations, families, and indi- 
 viduals. It requires rulers to be the just, vigilant, 
 and impartial protectors of their people ; and the 
 people to be submissive and obedient to their rul- 
 ers, praying for their prosperity in righteousness, 
 and rendering them all due support. It requires 
 parents to protect, instruct, govern, and train up 
 their children for usefulness and happiness ; and 
 children to respect and obey their parents. It in- 
 structs masters to be kind to their servants, remem- 
 bering that they also have a master in heaven ; and 
 servants are required to be faithful, rendering ser- 
 vice as to the Lord. Husbands are instructed to 
 love, cherish, protect, and support their wives ; and 
 wives directed to love, respect, and promote the 
 
 happiness of their husbands, and the order of their 
 
 21 
 
162 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 families ; that by their united examples, prayers, 
 and efforts, their children maybe holy to the Lord. 
 Likewise, superiors and inferiors, the elder and the 
 younger, the rich and the poor, are directed to a 
 proper course of conduct towards each other ; and 
 precepts are given to regulate the deportment of 
 equals among themselves, instructing them to be 
 courteous, in honor preferring one another, not 
 willingly giving offence to any, and endeavoring as 
 far as possible to live peaceably with all men. St. 
 Matt. xxii. 21. Rom. xiii. 1, 2. 1 Tim. ii. 1, 
 2. Tit. iii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 13, 15. Eph. vi. 5,9, 
 Col. iii. 22, 25, iv. 1. 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. Tit. ii. 2, 9, 
 10, 11. Eph. v. 22, 33. Col. iii. 18, 19. Tit. 
 ii. 4, 5. 1 Pet. iii. 8. Rom. xii. 10, 11, 18. 1. 
 Cor. x. 32. Phil. ii. 3. 1 Pet. ii. 17, iii. 8, 5. 
 
 In regard to those duties which relate more 
 particularly to ourselves, Christianity imposes upon 
 its followers the habitual exercise of meekness, 
 sobriety, temperance, chastity ; with humility, 
 cheerfulness, and thanksgiving — to maintain a due 
 degree of self respect, to assert their rights with 
 prudence, and to cultivate their mental, moral, 
 and social uatures ; and thus to arrive at perfec- 
 tion. Eph. iv. 26, 27, 31, 32. Col. iii. 12, 14. 
 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Eph. v. 20. Eph. iv. 1. 1 
 Tim. iv. 12. Phil. iv. 4. Acts xxii. 25. Eph. iv. 13. 
 
 Such are briefly the outlines of the morality of 
 the gospel ; a morality admirably suited to the 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 163 
 
 condition and character of human nature as it de- 
 velopes itself in society ; and which is perfectly 
 congenial with the pure and sacred doctrines of 
 revelation, as flowing with them from the same 
 fountain of wisdom and goodness, and designed to 
 aid the accomplishment of the same high and holy 
 purposes ; which brings us, 
 
 Thirdly. To inquire into its tendency. Does 
 it not manifestly conduce to moral and personal 
 happiness, by regulating the temper, passions and 
 affections, furnishing the mind with those noble 
 sentiments of justice, benevolence, and charity, 
 which inspire it with inward peace, and heavenly 
 joy ; and also by securing the body from injury, 
 disease, and suffering, through unnecessary expo- 
 sure and excess ? Does it not promote social happi- 
 ness, by prohibiting whatever could break the peace 
 or embitter the relations of society ; and by also 
 exciting all those dispositions of heart, and friend- 
 ly offices of life, which render the intercourse of 
 its members most useful and happy ? Does it not 
 afford a most pleasing view of human nature, as 
 being allied to one Supreme Father, and as a band 
 of brothers, under mutual obligations of love and 
 good will to each other ? And in what a heavenly 
 light does it present the Mighty Ruler of heaven 
 and earth, as a father in the midst of his vast fam- 
 ily, giving them such wise, just, and salutary di- 
 rections, in regard to their conduct towards one 
 
164 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 another, as tends to produce among all its mem- 
 bers the most perfect intelligence, safety, harmo- 
 ny, and happiness ? 
 
 Therefore we conclude that the morality of the 
 gospel tends to promote and perfect the welfare, 
 not of a part of mankind only, but of the whole 
 human race. The promised rewards to obedience, 
 and all experience as far as experience extends, 
 unite to confirm us in this conclusion. So far as men 
 have departed from this course of moral conduct, 
 they have been scourged with personal and social 
 calamity ; sickness, grief, discontent, contention, 
 and war, have kept pace with the departure. To 
 such degree as it has been reduced to practice by na- 
 tions and communities, those nations and communi- 
 ities have been united, intelligent, prosperous, and 
 happy. If there have been exceptions to this rule, 
 those ex ceptions have been the effect of predomi- 
 nant vice in others, and not of any defect in the 
 rule itself. 
 
 Having shown that God has prohibited the ex- 
 ercise of all such principles, and the performance 
 of all such acts, as tend to produce misery ; is it 
 not, therefore most evident that he did not create 
 men for the purpose of making them, or allowing 
 them to be made miserble, by themselves or oth- 
 ers, as the object of their creation ? And if, as will 
 not be denied, he has commanded them, and all of 
 them to cultivate and exercise all such tempers 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 165 
 
 feelings, and virtues, as make men happy ; then, 
 does it not also follow that he created them all for 
 happiness, as their final destination ? Can there be 
 any doubt on this subject ? Is there any doubt 
 whether the morality of Christianity tends to the 
 universal peace and well being of mankind ? Let 
 us suppose all men to be perfect in the practice of 
 all the moral precepts of the gospel ; and then 
 would they not all be happy ? Most certainly this 
 must be admitted. Then, if God has required all 
 men to do what will make them happy, does he 
 not will that they should be happy ? 
 
 Again, if the precepts and doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity came from the same source, partake of the 
 same spirit, and harmonise as do the tree and fruit ; 
 then as the precepts tend to make the whole hu- 
 man race happy, must it not also follow, that all 
 the doctrines of the gospel have the same gracious 
 tendency ? Were it true that obedience to the doc- 
 trines and precepts of religion, conduced to hu- 
 man misery; then we should rationally think that 
 its Divine Author purposed the misery of man- 
 kind. But as the reverse is so manifestly true, 
 we are constrained to believe that God ever has, 
 does, and ever will purpose the final and universal 
 salvation of his rational creatures. 
 
 Should it be admitted that the excellent morali- 
 ty of the bible leads to happiness in the same 
 sphere in which it is obeyed ; but at the same 
 
166 PROOFS DRAVViX FROM THE 
 
 time, be objected that it can only make men hap- 
 py through their obedience to its injunctions, we 
 answer, this is admitting all we ask; as it affords 
 the two following inferences, 
 
 1. That God wills that all should obey, and 2, 
 that those who obey should be happy. If there- 
 fore the Divine Author of this scheme of morality 
 purposes it as the rule of conduct to be submitted 
 to by the world ; will he not employ effectual 
 means to accomplish this purpose, by inducing an 
 universal obedience ? 
 
 Let us now, my friends, consider briefly some 
 of those circumstances which encourage the be- 
 lief that the excellent principles of moral conduct 
 and feeling, enjoined by the New Testament will, 
 sooner or later, be observed by the fulness of man- 
 kind. The first circumstance to which your at- 
 tention is invited is this, viz. that the capacity 
 of obedience, (being an inherent capacity in the 
 soul, not proceeding from the present mode of our 
 being, nor any future mode that may be given us,) 
 will always accompany us, not only in this but a 
 future state. To maintain the contrary, would be 
 to deny that the soul will always in all worlds pos- 
 sess the power of loving its Maker and fellow crea- 
 tures ; which would be making it an unfit subject 
 for moral government, incapable alike of being mor- 
 ally happy or miserable. 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 167 
 
 2. There never will come a period when God 
 will not require of every soul obedience to the 
 Gospel in thought, feeling, and all such exercises 
 as the mode of its existence renders contributarv 
 to the honor of God, and to happiness of men : 
 and therefore all his administrations towards men 
 in every possible condition, must, either directly 
 or indirectly, tend to effect in them those exercis- 
 es and sentiments. 
 
 3. This code of pure and holy morals, is so 
 connected with the heavenly doctrines of revela- 
 tion as the fruit is with the tree that produces it ; 
 and consequently, as the doctrines of the gospel 
 furnish the motives to their practice, if the fruit be 
 not good it will prove the tree is not good. 
 
 4. The moral precepts of the gospel are ex- 
 pressed in the clearest maimer, and without the 
 least ambiguity, describing not not only what we 
 are to do, and what we are not to do, and to whom, 
 but setting forth in the plainest manner the 
 principles, feelings, and motives, which are at all 
 times to influence us. 
 
 So that he who desires to know his duty, and 
 studies the scriptures for that purpose, cannot fail 
 of learning it ; and not only this, but the ministers 
 of Christ are directed to enforce it upon all peo- 
 ple in all the world, and all parents required to 
 impress a sense of it upon the tender minds of 
 their children. To all which are added the pe- 
 
168 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 culiar force of the most illustrious examples of Je- 
 sus, his apostles, and of early christians. 
 
 5. The principles of responsibility to a Father 
 in heaven, who has all knowledge and all pow 7 er, 
 are made perfectly plain ; not being restrained to 
 the present state, but extended to a future. So 
 that on the one hand there is no danger of loosing 
 our reward for well doing however long it may be 
 deferred,nor on the other, any possibility of escaping 
 the just punishment of evil doing, though it be not 
 speedily executed, except by a sincere and hearty 
 repentance followed by a genuine reformation. 
 
 6. The doctrine of rewards and punishments, 
 connected with christian morality, and designed to 
 act as motives to its obedience,are such as naturally 
 excite our hopes and awaken our fears. The 
 things promised are what we naturally most desire, 
 and the evils threatened are those to which we 
 have the most natural aversion. They are most 
 reasonable, being just and salutary, according to 
 our works, and the motives by which we are influ- 
 enced therein. 
 
 7. We have now and always shall have the 
 greatest interest in believing the doctrines, and 
 conforming to the precepts of Christianity. This 
 interest cannot be affected by death ; for our hap- 
 piness will depend on faith and reconciliation to 
 God, in a future state, as much as it does in the 
 present. 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 169 
 
 And this interest will be made more and more 
 apparent to us by the enlightning influences of the 
 Holy Spirit which God will pour out upon all flesh, 
 and also by our own experience, which will never 
 cease to teach us that holiness of heart is neces- 
 sary to our happiness. 
 
 Now, if men will never cease to have the power 
 to render obedience ; if God will never ceaseto re- 
 quire it ; if it be the natural effects of the doctrines 
 of the gospel, as good fruit is the effect of a good 
 tree ; if the duty of it be so plainly expressed as that 
 all may easily know it ; if all men are now and ever 
 will be responsible to God who sees the heart ; if 
 the punishments as well as the rewards of the gos- 
 pel tend to subdue and bring to obedience ; if man 
 shall never cease to have an interest in conform- 
 ing to the requirements of the gospel in regard to 
 faith and practice, and if a thorough consciousness of 
 that interest must and will be impressed on the 
 heart of every man by the spirit of God, and by 
 his own experience ; what, we respectfully ask, 
 can prevent every creature from rendering a per- 
 fect obedience to those doctrines and precepts 
 which are essential to their happiness, the desire 
 of which is the strongest desire of their natures ? 
 Can they be forever deceived in so plain a mat- 
 ter ; or continue forever knowingly, to sacrifice 
 their own eternal happiness ? 
 
 22 
 
170 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 Further, the scriptures appeal to our sense of 
 propriety and self respect, saying, " walk worthy 
 of your holy calling ;" to our sense of justice and 
 humanity, " do unto others as you would that 
 they should do unto you ;" to the sense of pure 
 gratitude to our blessed Lord, who said, " love 
 one another as I have loved you," and " follow 
 the Lamb whithersoever he goeth ;" and to the 
 highest principle of emulation of which the soul 
 is capable, requiring us to imitate our heavenly 
 Father, which is at once our glory and happiness, 
 saying " love your enemies, do good to them that 
 hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use 
 you and persecute you ; that ye may be the chil- 
 dren of your Father which is in heaven, for he 
 maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
 and sendeth his rain upon the just and upon the 
 unjust." 
 
 By all these and other motives does the gospel 
 persuade us to flee from the wrath to come and 
 the punishment of the disobedient, and seek to 
 encourage us to gain the reward of the righteous, 
 with the final plaudit of our judge at the las!t day, 
 of " well done good and faithful servants, enter 
 ye into thejoy of your Lord." 
 
 And He who instituted and employs these means, 
 the merits and grace of his son Jesus Christ, and 
 the. influences of his holy and quickening spirit, to 
 effect the obedience of the world, has assured us 
 
NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MORALITY. 171 
 
 of their success, saying " my people shall be will- 
 ing in the day of my power ;" so " that at the 
 name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in 
 heaven, (angels and men who have died in faith) 
 and things in earth, (all men living in the millenium) 
 and things under the earth, (all who shall have 
 died in unbelief) ; and that every tongue shall con- 
 fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the father ;" living " according to God in the 
 spirit." Psa. 110, 3. Phil. ii. 9, 10. 1 Pet. iv. 6. 
 Have we not now shown that the christian 
 scheme of moral sentiments and conduct is found- 
 ed on God's unlimited benevolence towards the 
 human race, and conduces to universal happiness ? 
 Have we not also answered the objection, that all 
 will not yield obedience to these beneficent re- 
 quirements, and therefore, will not be benefitted 
 by them ; by showing that the motives to this 
 obedience will and must ultimately prevail, and 
 a universe be made to share in its benefits ? and is 
 it not therefore true that the morality of the gos- 
 pel, while it justly endears itself to every reason- 
 able and benevolent mind by its benign influence 
 upon individuals and society, is a most practical 
 and powerful witness in favor of the universal re- 
 storation ? 
 
 I now close by saying, " if ye know these things, 
 happy are ye if ye do them ;'\for he that practices 
 the precepts of revealed religion, honors its doc- 
 
172 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 trines, and adorns the christian profession, pro- 
 motes his own best interest, advances the salvation 
 of the world, and contributes to the praise and glory 
 of God ; wherefore I pray that heaven will abun- 
 dantly strengthen you unto every good word and 
 work to do his will. 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 PROOFS OF THE FINAL RESTORATION. 
 
 EPHESIANS, I. 9,10. 
 
 " HAVING MADE KNOWN UNTO US THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, AC- 
 CORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE, WHICH HE HATH PURPOSED IN 
 HIMSELF : THAT IN THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES 
 HE MIGHT GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE, ALL THINGS IN CHRIST, 
 BOTH WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, AND WHICH ARE ON EARTH ; EVEN 
 IN HIM." 
 
 This evening, we propose to finish the present 
 course of lectures by presenting to your consid- 
 eration the arguments in favor of the Universal Re- 
 storation, deduced from the nature of man, and 
 
174 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 the scriptural character of future happiness ; in- 
 troductory to which, it is proper to notice some 
 leading facts on the subject, stated in the text. 
 
 First. That the will, purpose, and pleasure of 
 God, on the great subject of man's redemption 
 and destiny, are precisely the same ; it is there- 
 fore no less his will, purpose, or decree, that ev- 
 ery rational creature should sincerely repent, be- 
 lieve and obey the gospel, than it is his desire, and 
 good pleasure, that they should so do and be 
 saved. 
 
 Second. That it is the great object of Jehovah 
 to subdue and unite under one spiritual ruler and 
 head, even Christ, all the nations, and kindreds of 
 men ; that they henceforth should forever enjoy 
 his protection and favor, and be pure and happy 
 in his service. 
 
 Third. That there is a set time when this great 
 purpose of the Lord shall be accomplished, i. e. 
 " the dispensation of the fulness of times ;" and 
 hence we may not expect it previous to that time, 
 nor doubt of its being then accomplished. 
 
 Fourth. That the kingdom of Christ, when 
 perfected and united, will comprise all the inhabit- 
 ants of earth and heaven ; so that not only all 
 men and all angels will be under the dominion of 
 Christ Jesus, their Lord and our's, but they will 
 be gathered together, and united in their charac- 
 ter and service — not separated. 
 
MATURE OF MAN, &C. 175 
 
 On this subject, the best commentators agree 
 that it is the glorious purpose of God to unite the 
 Jews and Gentiles in the love and service of his 
 son, Jesus Christ; to assemble the living and the 
 dead in a future life of blessedness ; and to gather 
 the multitude of aagels and the vast company of 
 the redeemed, mutually to enjoy his kingdom, and 
 forever to celebrate his praise ! 
 
 What a blessed union will this be ! What a glo- 
 rious gathering of souls to Christ ! The time of 
 it, although future, will certainly come ; for the 
 scriptures assert in a very distinct manner, that Je- 
 sus must reign, till he hath subdued all things unto 
 himself. And when this is done, but not before, 
 he will resign the kingdom to the Father, that 
 God may be all in all. 
 
 This doctrine of God's will to unite all men and 
 angels in Christ, at the close of his dispensations 
 towards them, is, in the text, called a mystery; 
 but it is said to be such, only in reference to the 
 time previous to its being fully revealed ; for since 
 its revelation, it is capable of being clearly under- 
 stood, and is supported by the most satisfactory 
 scripture proofs, as well as from the nature of 
 man, and his final state of happiness. 
 
 What proof then, does this proposition derive 
 from the nature and character of man ? 
 
 In answering this inquiry, it must not be ex- 
 pected that we shall enter upon a detailed and phi- 
 
176 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 losophical investigation of human nature. It will be 
 necessary only to call the attention to some general 
 traits of character, belonging to the human race, 
 in common with each other, to show that it is rea- 
 sonable and scriptural that they should collectively 
 as well as individually, be gathered to the same 
 state of happiness ; and these we shall learn from 
 the holy scriptures themselves. 
 
 Man was distinguished in his creation from the 
 from the whole animal race around him, by being 
 made in the " image of God ;" by being formed 
 last, and therefore, the most perfect in body, mind, 
 and affections ; and by being placed over the other 
 works of God. The care of the garden in which 
 he was placed, and his dominion over all living on 
 the earth and in the sea, liken him in his office 
 and station, to the Supreme Governor of the uni- 
 verse. Let it be noted that this dominion is a joint 
 dominion ; for, it is not true, to much extent, that 
 any man individually has it : but associated, he 
 holds it with ease. Hence the honor and advan- 
 tages of it, belong to all as sharers. It is not so 
 much the sway of physical as of mental power ; 
 because reason and intelligence are the properties 
 of the immortal soul, and not of the body. The 
 soul is the seat of virtue, reason and skill ; and 
 its influence and dominion are given, directed, 
 and restrained by its Maker. It governs the body, 
 in which it is placed, in a most wonderful manner, 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 177 
 
 directing its energies and restraining its propensi- 
 ties, at its own will. And, by employing the body 
 as its instrument, and by other means within its 
 command, it governs the animal creation, traver- 
 ses and subdues the earth, navigates the seas and 
 gathers their treasure ; it erects governments, es- 
 tablishes commerce, and cultivates the arts and 
 sciences ; it erects cities, rears temples, and forms 
 associations commensurate with earth itself. By 
 it also he analyses the earth, the air, and the light ; 
 ascends to the heavens, names, numbers and class- 
 es the stars ; looks on the far distant planets, tra- 
 ces their course in their mighty orbits, and reduces 
 to system and harmony their vast and mazy move- 
 ments in the immensity of space. And by faith, 
 the soul explores a future and a higher world, lives 
 a future life, ascends to the throne of its Maker, 
 and lays up its treasure in heaven 
 
 Now when we consider these distinctions and 
 powers possessed by the creature man — the pecu- 
 liar notice taken of his creation by the angels of 
 God, those elder sons of paradise, who, as morning 
 stars and sons of the Highest, sang together and 
 shouted for joy at the birth of the great progenitor 
 of men — when we reflect upon the vastness, the 
 variety and usefulness of every part of the crea- 
 tion placed under his control, and see that nothing 
 was made in vain, is it reasonable to suppose that 
 
 man, made for such dignity, and to confer such pro- 
 
 23 
 
178 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 teetion and happiness on all other creatures, should 
 himself he unhappy ? Here let it he remarked, that 
 the happiness suited to the nature of man, is, like 
 his dominion, a joint one ; and to be perfectly hap- 
 py, they must all he happy. 
 
 Again : The human family are one by nature ; 
 for God " hath made of one blood all nations of 
 of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." 
 Therefore the national and other distinctions and 
 differences, which exist among men, must all pass 
 away, and one condition be finally assigned to 
 them all, as most suited to their character as so- 
 cial beings — as the offspring of one earthly pro- 
 genitor, from whom they derived their common 
 nature, capacities, senses, desires, and aversions— 
 and as best comporting with their responsibleness to 
 one heavenly Father for the manner in which they 
 employ their powers, and improve their means of 
 happiness, individual and social. They possessed 
 the earth, originally, as tenants in common, and 
 are alike capable of living in every climate and 
 region of it, and of finding there the comforts of 
 life for their support ; which shows that God is 
 equally good to them as the inhabitants of this 
 world, having made equal provision for their tem- 
 poral happiness. 
 
 Further, mankind have equally apostatised from 
 their Maker, and violated their obligations to him ; 
 " for all have sinned and come short of the glory 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 179 
 
 of God." If therefore the purpose of the Lord be 
 changed in regard to any, on account of sin, it 
 must be equally changed in regard to all ; for all 
 have sinned. Nor is this all. One Saviour hath 
 come down from heaven to live, suffer and die 
 for their universal redemption ; and if his media- 
 tion be sufficient to restore any part, consistently 
 with their free agency, why is it not so for the 
 restoration of the residue ? 
 
 Now, seeing the whole posterity of Adam in- 
 herit his nature, his capacities, his obligations, and 
 his guilt, by their descent from him, and by their 
 adopting his character ; it in justice follows that 
 his destiny will be theirs ; for if God created Ad- 
 am for happiness, then he created all his descend- 
 ants to share the same felicity ; for they, in their 
 nature, are but the first man extended. To say 
 therefore that God made the first and great pro- 
 genitor of mankind for misery, would be saying 
 that lie intended the whole race for the same end ; 
 which no one can admit for a moment. 
 
 Hence we infer from the unity of human na- 
 ture, the joint dominion given to it over the works 
 of God, the similarity of the capacities of men, 
 their equal responsibility and guilt, and the equal 
 means provided for their welfare, here and here- 
 after ; that they will not be separated from each 
 other in their final destination. This inference is 
 supported by the consideration of the vast and in- 
 
180 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 comprehensible capacities of the human intellect 
 for improvement in knowledge, virtue, and the so- 
 cial principle ; by its capacity for the service of 
 men, and for communion with God ; and by the 
 actual proficiency which has been made in science, 
 devotion, and philanthropy, by such persons as 
 Newton, Fenelon, Howard, and many others. 
 The principles which governed these men in their 
 illustrious course, are capable of being brought to 
 act on all human minds as a stimulent leading them 
 to emulate the bright examples of their distin- 
 guished lives. And to what heights of refinement, 
 knowledge and sympathy, is not the human mind 
 capable of being advanced by the means of grace 
 and the power of God ? Will the All-Wise Crea- 
 tor, then, suffer such capacities to be forever lost to 
 himself, to their possessors, and to the world ? 
 Surely not. For God himself hath proclaimed his 
 solemn purpose to bring them to be perfect, to be 
 one in Christ — to be one in heaven. Eph. i. 10 ; 
 iv. 13. Rev. v. 13. If such be not the purpose 
 of God, why are all men called to the practice of 
 virtue, and to seek a state of glory ? Why are we 
 required to offer prayers for all, and to practice 
 universal benevolence ? Why did Jesus give him- 
 self a ransom for all ; send his gospel to every 
 creature ; and promise the outpouring of the holy 
 spirit upon all flesh ? Do not these things, which 
 are admitted by all christians, show clearly that it 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 181 
 
 is the plan and counsel of the Lord, to bring all 
 his rational creatures, as a united family, to glorify 
 his name, and to enjoy his kingdom forever ? 
 
 Second. Let us inquire into the proofs of this 
 sentiment, afforded by the nature and character of 
 the happiness of the redeemed, as described in the 
 holy scriptures. It will be kept in mind that the 
 question under discussion is this, viz. whether 
 the final happiness of mankind will be universal, 
 or extend only to a part. In seeking the evidence 
 of its universality, we may first notice some things 
 in regard to the nature of heavenly felicity ; which 
 we shall attempt with a reverence befitting its sa- 
 cred character. 
 
 Heaven is a pure, spiritual and happy state of 
 the perfected souls and bodies of the redeemed ; 
 immortal, sanctified and forever delivered from all 
 suffering and death, and blessed with the beatific 
 vision of God, of Christ, and of angels — with 
 a view of the unfolded mysteries of eternity, 
 the glories of redemption, and the joy of saints 
 — an enchanting sense of the divine favor, and 
 of an overflowing gratitude for the unutterable 
 grace which pitied and redeemed them, with 
 the happy assurance of the endless perpetuity 
 of all their bliss. It is not local, that is, its inhab- 
 itants do not derive their happiness wholly from 
 the place, but principally from the moral and re- 
 conciled state of the soul — from a holy com- 
 munion with God, and a sacred regard to each 
 
16Z PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 other as fellow heirs of glory. Hence the idea 
 that men can go there by means of any physical 
 change, such as death or the resurrection, without 
 any mental preparation or renewal of heart, is 
 most visionary and unfounded. That, however, 
 there is in the universe a place where God will 
 make -special manifestations of his glory ; where 
 the saints will be gathered and united with the 
 holy angels ; and where there will be appropriate 
 and refined pleasures, suited to the spiritualised 
 senses of the immortal body, and that this place is 
 properly called heaven, is most likely. 
 
 There is in the scriptures a great variety of im- 
 agery employed to set forth the nature and felicity 
 of this heavenly state. It is compared to a coun- 
 try, abounding with health, peace, plenty, safety 
 and righteousness ; — -whose rivers are pure, and 
 whose trees are ever blooming and yielding their 
 fruit every month ; — whose mountains are brought 
 low, and whose valies are exalted, making one 
 vast beautiful plain, beneath a glory far surpassing 
 the brightness of the sun in his strength. To this 
 " better country," the inhabitants of every region 
 shall triumphantly and joyfully come to sit down 
 " with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," and share 
 with them its happy society, and its blisful scenes. 
 
 Again, it is likened to a kingdom, whose king is 
 most w T ise, powerful and good ; whose laws are 
 most righteous, holy and equal ; whose subjects are 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 183 
 
 the most united, secure, loyal, and happy. A 
 kingdom which will swallow up the glory of all 
 other kingdoms in its growth and grandeur, and 
 surpass all other dominions in the perpetuity of its 
 reign, and the eternity of its prosperity and splen- 
 dor. To a city, with pearly gates and golden 
 streets, — beautiful squares, and rich dwellings ; 
 living fountains and righteous citizens. To a house 
 eternal in the heavens, with spacious mansions, 
 and sure foundations. To a rich and splendid 
 feast, attended by numerous, intelligent, and con- 
 genial guests. To a family of heavenly descent, 
 divine parentage, rich inheritance, and numerous 
 members, gathered from earth and heaven, to 
 dwell together forever in the sweetest communion 
 of fellowship and love. And to a chorus of celes- 
 tial praise to God and the Lamb, in which every 
 creature in the universe are performers on the 
 golden harps of eternity, each contributing his 
 share to the harmony and to the happiness of all. 
 
 What is the principle that runs through all these 
 images of future happiness ? Is it not that of asso- 
 ciation or the combining of many in one body ? It 
 requires many people to make a great and happy 
 nation — many subjects to make a powerful and 
 prosperous kingdom, and many citizens to compose 
 a city of distinguished advantages. The same 
 principle holds true in the case of an assembly, a 
 family, or a concert of praise. Men individually 
 
184 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 can perform or enjoy but little ; but when associ- 
 ated in a proper manner, they can perform won- 
 ders, and produce surprising sensations of pleasure 
 and happiness. Human nature is decidedly so- 
 cial, being formed to live in families, cities, and 
 kingdoms ; but ultimately to be united in one uni- 
 versal empire of peace and joy. 
 
 Another principle observable in the above im- 
 ages of happiness, is that of unity in the charac- 
 ter, feelings and views of those who are associated, 
 in order to their individual or social welfare and 
 pleasure. For, " how can two walk together ex- 
 cept they be agreed ?" But when all men " shall 
 be of one heart and of one mind," and " see eye to 
 eye ;" then shall the knowledge and glory of the 
 Lord fill the earth " as the waters cover the sea." 1 ' 
 The happiness of heaven therefore, like the hap- 
 piness of the present world, is social, and to be 
 perfect, must be mutual, and to be mutual, all who 
 share it must have the same qualifications. If 
 then holiness be necessary to heaven, all who are 
 admitted there, must possess it ; and if they are 
 equally happy, must be equally holy. If repent- 
 ance and faith be prerequisites to holiness, then 
 those who leave this world in unbelief and impen- 
 itence, are unholy and unprepared for heaven. Yet 
 the felicity of heaven, to be perfect, must be uni- 
 versal, and hence those that are not prepared in 
 this life, must be qualified for it in another and fu- 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 185 
 
 ture, i. e. an intermediate state. And for this 
 purpose, the means of grace and repentance must 
 as necessarily extend through the intermediate 
 state, and the age of judgment, as does the king- 
 dom of Christ, who " is Lord" and Ruler "of the 
 dead and living," to whom all that die in unbelief 
 must bow, according as we have shown in a pre- 
 vious lecture. To illustrate the social nature of 
 happiness, we may look at the descriptions of it, 
 given above. Take for instance, that given un- 
 der the idea of a family. The happiness of a 
 family is strictly social and reciprocal ; for if " one 
 member suffer, all the members suffer with 
 it, or one member be honored, all the members 
 rejoice with it," so that no one liveih or dieth 
 to himself, but each liveth for the good of the 
 others. This agrees perfectly with our expe- 
 rience ; for while one parent, brother or sis- 
 ter of an affectionate family be sick, or suffers 
 greatly in body or mind, every member shares the 
 calamity. The same principle holds good in the 
 case of a city ; if sickness and pestilence prevail ; 
 if poverty and want oppress ; if vice and irreli- 
 gion spread corruption among the youth, every 
 citizen participates in the evil, and sympathises 
 with the immediate sufferers. And it becomes 
 more and more so, as the citizens become refined 
 in their feelings, and improved in the religious, 
 
 moral and social virtues of the heart. The lively 
 
 24 
 
186 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 and sincere christian, shares much more largely in 
 the tribulations around him, than does the harden- 
 ed and scoffing infidel. The happiness of good men, 
 therefore, in the present world, is severely taxed 
 by the criminal and innocent sufferings which ev- 
 ery where salute his eyes, and appeal to his heart. 
 Were there in our favored city, for the year to 
 come, to be no sickness, death, mourning — no in- 
 temperance, fraud, lasciviousness — no malice, evil 
 speaking, or contention — but were perfect benevo- 
 lence, cheerfulness and plenty to be universal a- 
 mong us ; would not the happiness of the best 
 men, and sincerest christians, be much advanced 
 from what it now is ? Truly it would. But would 
 it be as much so, if all the vicious were to be ban- 
 ished, as if they were to be reformed ? Answ T er, O 
 ye parents, who deplore the vices of some of your 
 dear children ; answer it, every good citizen. Yet 
 were the vicious already out of it, how should we 
 be shocked at the proposal to admit them into such a 
 peaceful and happy association, without their being 
 first separated from their destructive and pestilen- 
 tial vices! But if so prepared to add to our num- 
 ber and happiness, how joyfully should we hail 
 their admission ! " Even so there is joy among the 
 angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." 
 
 These principles applied to the whole human 
 race, prove that as a family or city, cannot be per- 
 perfectly blessed while any of its members are 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 187 
 
 separated from them, or are vicious and miserable 
 with them ; so no one of all mankind can be per- 
 fect in felicity, until all their number are perfected 
 in Christ, and joined with them in the joys of hea- 
 ven. Hence, the social character of heaven, as 
 well as the unity and sympathy of human nature, 
 prove that happiness must be universal \ because 
 otherwise it cannot be perfect, neither in degree, 
 nor extent. 
 
 Now he that wills the perfection of human fe- 
 licity, will surely so refine the hearts of all his 
 ransomed children, by his grace ; so quicken and 
 expand their sympathies by the quickening power 
 of the Holy Spirit ; and so enlarge their under- 
 standings and views by the light of the gospel, as 
 that they shall look upon all people as their breth- 
 ren, love them as they do their own souls, and 
 feel rising high in their sympathetic bosoms the 
 raptures of heavenly joy at the safe arrival of each 
 from the captivity of death and sin to the freedom 
 of perfect rest in the paradise of God. And this 
 noble sympathy, so completely resembling the 
 compassion of Jesus who pitied a lost world and 
 redeemed it by his ignominious and painful death, 
 will be the source of the purest and sublimest 
 pleasure, derived from the happiness of others ; 
 but which, should one of the vast fraternity of the 
 human race fail of gaining it, would fill heaven 
 with weeping at the distant sound of his hopeless 
 waitings in endless despair. 
 
188 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 But, I forbear — Christ having wept over a fall- 
 en world in the arms of death ; God will wipe 
 tears from off all faces, that the followers of the 
 Lamb may henceforth forever " rejoice with them 
 that do rejoice." Here no mother will lament a 
 daughter lost ; no father grieve over the ruin of a 
 prodigal son. Here every soul will have felt the 
 evil of sin, its need of a Saviour, and its obliga- 
 tions to divine grace; it will have passed the 
 scenes of bitter repentance, stood before the judg- 
 ment seat of Christ, plead guilty before God, 
 sought and obtained pardon in the name of Jesus. 
 Here each will wear the robes of a Saviour's 
 grace, and be crowned with a Saviour's righteous- 
 ness ; and all be united in perfect love to God and 
 each other, and in celebrating the fadeless glories 
 of redemption. 
 
 This glorious restitution of all things, of which 
 God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
 prophets since the world began, is a result of the 
 christian system devoutly to be desired. It will be 
 the capstone of the moral and spiritual temple of 
 virtue and glory ; it will confer immortal honor 
 and praise upon its divine founder and builder ; and 
 it will be the source of endless joy and blessedness 
 to the redeemed. To it there are no well founded 
 objections, as has been shown. The scriptural 
 views of election — that all are chosen of God to 
 aid in rearing it, and finally to enjoy it ? are in its 
 
NATURE OF MAN, &C. 189 
 
 favour ; the condition and means of grace will all 
 aid its completion ; the punishments of the wick- 
 ed being not endless but emendatory, will be its 
 powerful support ; and hence the genuine ten- 
 dency of its prevalence in society, must be to 
 check and remedy the spread of vice and irreligion, 
 and to promote the triumph of virtue and piety 
 among men. And not only this, but the united 
 operation of all the attributes of God ; the mission, 
 works, and death of Christ ; the united voice of 
 revelation ; the tendency of the moral precepts of 
 the gospel ; the nature of man, and the character 
 of his future happiness, all join to establish it as 
 the truth of God founded on the Rock of Ages. 
 
 This doctrine also establishes the certainty of a 
 future, just and equitable punishment for those 
 who die impenitent, and the gracious and salutary 
 design of such a retribution ; and therefore proves 
 most conclusively and rationally that the doctrine 
 of no future punishment on the one hand, and of 
 endless misery on the other, are unscriptural and 
 pernicious : the one releasing men from a suitable 
 sense of their responsibility to God, and of their 
 obligations to profess and obey the christian reli- 
 gion, and the other clothing the character of God 
 and of Christianity with an inexorable severity, sub- 
 versive of the grand design of God to gather to- 
 gether in one all things in Christ. 
 
190 PROOFS DRAWN FROM THE 
 
 To conclude, my beloved brethren, I now com- 
 mend to vour serious consideration and devout obe- 
 dience, the doctrine of the restoration, as one 
 most happily suited to make men truly religious 
 without being superstitious ; liberal and cheer- 
 ful, without levity and skepticism ; a doctrine 
 equally necessary to the happiness of each, and one 
 therefore in which all should feel an equal interest — 
 against which there is no objection, and in fa- 
 vor of which, reason and revelation both unite — 
 which, when it shall be accomplished, will perfect 
 the will of God, and answer the prayers of his 
 saints ; exhibit the happy result of all the means 
 of grace, and give to virtue and piety, their end- 
 less triumph ; and thus fill the universe with the hal 
 lelujahs of salvation and glory to God and the 
 Lamb, forever and ever, Amen. 
 
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