.^^■SFTOW^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/universalismdoctOOmoor UNIVEKSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. BY REV. ASHER MOORE. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED FOR THE PUBLISHER, BY J. H. GIHON, K. E. CORXEH. OF SIXTH X^D CHliSTKUT STS. 1847. Entered according to Act of Congress, by J. L. Gihon, in the District Court for the Eastern Di.srrict of Pennsylvania, in the year 1847. CONTENTS. Introduction, _ . . - 5 Chapter T. — The Divine Existence, - 12 II.— The Creation, - - 20 III. — The Divine Purpose in the Creation, 24 IV. — The Introduction of Sin into the World, - - 31 V. — The same subject continued, - 42 VI.— The Fall of Man, - - 51 VII. — Retribution under the Old Testa- ment Dispensation, - 67 VIII. — The same subject continued, 84 IX. — Gospel Promises of the Old Tes- tament, - - - 106 X. —The Trinity, - - 124 XI. — The same subject continued, - 140 XII.— The Person of Christ, - 148 XIII.— The Mission of Christ, - 163 XIV. — Universal Salvation, - 171 XV.— Special Salvation, - - 191 INTRODUCTION. We propose in the work upon which we now enter, to consider a variety of important and in- teresting subjects. And we shall aim so to connect the several topics of discourse as to present a tole- rable synopsis of Universalist TnEOLOGr. Be- ginning with the Divine Existence and the great work of creation, we intend to close with the final consummation of God's economy in the govern- ment of his offspring. Such is the vast field which we shall attempt in some measure to explore. But the magnitude and the extent of the subject admonish us in the outset to be moderate in our calculations, and to promise no more than an imperfect investigation of some of the more prominent points that will be presented to view. Fully to consider the great theme in all its multiform bearings and relations would require more time than we can bestow, and far greater abiUty than we can command. But we are persuaded that the Scriptures record certain momentous facts that rise prominently out of the general subject of which they treat, and 1* 5 6 INTRODUCTIOPr. which may be followed in their proper connexion from the origin of man to the ultwiate destiny of our race. And instead of even attempting a tho- rough examination of the whole subject of Christian Theology, we shall expect merely to note the great landmarks that appear in the field before us. — Guided by the lights of revelation, and utter re- gardless of the vain philosophy of the world and all the wild and visionary speculations of men, wise in their own conceit, we feel a confident as- surance, that though we may overlook many im- portant facts, and widely err in regard to others, we can succeed in eliciting all the leading and fun- damental truths of our holy religion. Although sharp controversies have arisen, and unhappy dissensions have ensued, on account of slight disagreements of opinion concerning the religion of Christ, the fact cannot be denied that his avowed followers hold doctrines which embrace the most opposite and conflicting principles. One teaches that God is the Savior of only a part of the human race — another holds that he " is the Savior of all men." One contends that God will eternal- ize sin, and invest it with his own attribute of im- mortality and unceasingly torment a portion of his own offspring without intending ever to do them INTRODUCTION. 7 any good — and another maintains that all sin is Umited in nature and duration, and that though the chastenings inflicted by the Divine hand are not joyous, but grievous to the sufferer, they will '• afterward yield the peaceable fruit of righteous- ness unto them which are exercised thereby." — Heb. xii. 9-11. Surely these are not trifling dif- ferences, but truths of infinite moment are here involved. And in view of these things, all disputes about the number of persons in the Godhead, the mode of water baptism, the forms of worship and the ordinances of religion, appear too insignificant to be made the theme of anxious inquiry, or the ground of zealous contention and strife. The most deeply important subject that ever engaged the attention of the human mind, is that which relates to the purpose and the destiny of our being. What IS ** the doctrine of baptism," or of orders in the church, compared with the great problem of man's immortal destiny ? And how small and unmean- ing is the business of sharp and acrimonious con- tentions about such things, while the infinitely greater question, involving the endless weal or woe of the human family remains undetermined, and is hardly cared for. Let it first be decided whether God, who " is good unto all," and whose '* tender 8 INTRODUCTION. mercies are over all his works/' and who never changes, " will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." When this great question, embracing the highest interests and involving our final and immortal destiny, is fully settled, other subjects, less momentous, may properly be considered. We feel unwilling to employ our time and waste our energies in controverting any minor point of doctrine, while a great and important question, in- volving the ultimate destiny of the human race, is undecided in the public mind. After ages of in- quiry and disputation, this question is not yet settled. With the help of God, we are determined to do all that we can toward deciding the con- troversy. And though we claim no superior pow- ers, we are fully impressed with the belief, that leaving all the creeds of men out of view, and divesting the mind of all unreasonable prejudice, a direct appeal to the oracles of divine truth will enable us to understand " all the counsel of God." We consider the Scriptures sufficiently explicit on every important point of faith to direct the honest and candid mind aright. And one reason why the testimony of the Divine Spirit is not now more generally understood, is, that the investigations of INTRODUCTION. S Christian people have been too much devoted to things that belong not to essential truths. Tiie time, we think, has now come when the most im- portant of all doctrines must be decided. There is a spirit of inquiry abroad in the land that will never rest satisfied until it is known whether St. Paul testified truly, when he declared that " the living God is the Savior of all men." We believe that the apostle was right. And we are not with- out hope that we shall be among the humble in- struments in the hands of God of making known this great and glorious truth to many who are " in darkness even until now," and who groan in the bondage of fear ! We should most heartily rejoice to witness a more general and earnest attention to the deeply interesting and absorbing theme of which we have thus spoken. And we are free to confess in this early stage of our labor that the chief objects which we have in view, is to show by the word of God for what high and holy purpose we were called into existence, and whai should be the final end of our being. Let it not be supposed, however, that this one subject will be constantly pressed upon the attention of the reader, to the utter neglect of every other topic embraced in the general theme. This 10 INTRODUCTION. is the chief and highest end at which we aim. But in the prosecution of the work, we venture to hope that the candid and atttentive reader will be both interested and profitted in regard to a variety of topics, all bearing upon, or holding a certain rela- tion to the one general and glorious conclusion. UNIVERSALIS!, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. CHAPTER I. THE DIVINE EXISTENCE. "It is related of Epicurus, that when a boy, read- ing with his preceptor these verses of Hesiod, " Eldest of beings, Chaos first arose, Thence Earth wide stretched, the steadfast seat of all The Immortals," the young scholar first betrayed his inquisitive ge- nius by asking, ' And Chaos whence ?' When in his riper years he had persuaded himself that the ques- tion was sufficiently answered by saying that Chaos arose from the concourse of atoms, it is strange that the same inquisitive spirit did not again suggest the question, 'whence V And it is clear that how- ever often the question 'whence?' had been an- swered, it would still start up as at first." It is therefore easily perceived that however remotely we may trace the causes of existing things, and whatever curious and fanciful theories we may indulge on this subject, we must ultimately arrive at the grand conclusion that there was in existence before all created things, a life-giving and an intelli- 2 13 14 ITNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRIi\E OF THE BIBLE. gent First Cause. The skill and design manifest- ed in the works of creation — the order and harmony of the universe — and the wise and perfect adapta- tion of one thing to another, and of means to ends, can be rationally and satisfactorily accounted for in no other way. This great Cause we call God — leaving others to call it what they please. If any choose to call it Nature or the Laws of Nature, 4ve shall not dispute their right, though we must ques- tion their good sense. And, indeed, we are strong- ly inclined to the belief that the whole controversy is more about words than any thing else : for it seems impossible for the mind to believe that any sane man is actually an Atheist ! No credulity can go beyond that which supposes that all created objects have come into existence without the will of a presiding Intelligence, and just as blind and unknowing chance happened to determine ! He who should believe that a watch, or the most curiously wrought piece of mechanism that human ingenuity ever invented, came together of itself, and arranged all its motions and opera- tions, without any previous skill or design, would be reasonable, compared with him who should be- lieve that my hand or my eye was produced by a blind and an unthinking power ! And in viewing ourselves — mere specks in the immensity of God's works, may we not well say with the devout and contemplative Psalmist, " He that planted the ear, shall He not hear. He that formed the eye, shall He not see ?" One of the most convincing proofs of the wisdom and the power of God, is presented in the fact that every created object of which we have any know- THE DIVINE EXISTENCE. 15 ledge, is a compound; and must therefore have been composed of particles or elements that previ- ously existed in a simple state. And the distinct forms, and properties, and infinitely diversified or- ganizations which the works of creation exhibit, can be explained by no fancied tendency of things to form themselves with the different shapes and colors and qualities by which they are distinguished. Tfrner, in his Sacred History of the World, has said with good sense and true philosophy : — " If the material world had been one uniform homogeneous mass, its eternal existence would have been always a possibility. It would then not have contained any evidence in itself to contradict the supposition. But the actual fact is, that all visible nature is a multifarious association of verj'- compounded substances. Nothing is simple — no- thing is uncompounded. Every thing we see, feel, or handle is a composition, a mixture or union of more particles, or of more elements than one. Not merely the grosser earthly bodies are so, but even the water, the air, andthe light are in this compound- ed state. Now it is impossible that any compound can have been eternally a compound. Composition and eternity are as incompatible as to be and not to be. The particles of which compounds consist must have been in some other state before they were compounded together. The single condition of the elements must have preceded their union in the composition ; and thus it is physically im- possible that a compound can have been eternal. The schoolboy perceives at once that his plumcake cannot have been eternal ! The plums, the flour, the butter, the eggs, and the sugar, of which it is 16 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. composed, must have been in some other place or state, before they were brought together to make the substance which gratifies him. So the mighty- world we live on, the rocks, the mountains, the minerals — so every substance around us, animate and inanimate, — cannot have been eternal, because every one is a combination of numerous particles, usually very heterogeneous, and the primary ele- ments of each must have been in their elementary state, and in some other position, before they moved and joined into their compounded one." In view of the important and undeniable fact here stated, what can be more manifest to the thinking mind than that some skilful and contriving hand has moulded the materials of nature into the infi- nitely varied forms and substances which we behold around us ? These formations can be traced to no natural tendency of things, which chance, in its wild workings, might have determined ; but they exhibit incontestible proofs of previous arrange- ments and skilfully devised plans to produce cer- tain and distinct results. And here we ask per- mission to introduce another extract from the author whom we have just cited. " In no part of our terrestrial abode is a creating mind more visible than in its vegetable kingdom ; for, here, we see everywhere specific combinations producing specific effects, and no other, and with undeviating constancy and with the exactest cer- tainty, each phenomenon arising from a peculiar and adapted organization distinct from every other, which invariably produces its suited result, and only that; yet each but the union, in different arrange- ments and quantities, of the same common particles. THE DIVINE EXISTENCE. 17 No fancied tendency will explain this. The same particles could not tend to be a thousand dissimilar things. No assumed tendency can explain diver- sity : a tendency to diversity is an impossibility, because that would be a tendency to be and yet not to be, which maybe justly deemed an absurdi- ty. If the particles of vegetable nature tended to form a rose, the same particles could have no ten- dency in themselves to compose a lily. All tenden- cy, if such a thing existed, must be specific and uniform; it could not be variable. A tendency to form, is a tendency to do so, but cannot be also a tendency not to do so. A tendency to form a rose could never form a lily, because that would be a tendency to form and not form a rose, which would be both a self-contradiction and an impossibility. No presumed tendency can therefore explain the numerous diversities of vegetable organization. All plants are formed of similar component parti- cles, varying only in arrangement and amount ; and no particles that tended to form one composi- tion could tend to form another. But instead of vegetable nature being only one composition, there are from 40,000 to 80,000 diversified species. The theory of tendencies is a mere fallacy of words. Not a single tendency has been proved to exist. All nature is, in each of its departments, an assem- blage of various compounds of similar elementary particles. A tendency of these to form any one would form only that one, and no other. Bat in- stead of all things being only multiples of a single compound, the universal character of nature is, in all its classes, that of multiform multiplicitv ; of 2* 18 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. compound diversity so inexhaustible, that of the inexpressible millions of millions of substances which are around us, scarcely any one is the exact counterpart of another. "You will therefore only smile when you find that some men can gravely say, and others gravely repeat, that one particle tended to unite with another, and these with others, but only in a straight line, and then, that they tended to bend that line into a ring, and then to enlarge that into a vessel, and then to branch out that into other vessels, and then to make bone, and then to make blood, and then to form nerves and flesh, and then to extend into limbs, and then to make a heart, and then a pair of lungs, and then all the other functions of the human body, one after another : giving thus a thousand different and inconsistent tendencies to the same elementary particles, none of which can be proved, or is likely, to iiave had any tendency at all." There is something peculiarly forcible and con- vincing in the simple facts which are here present- ed ; and to the reasoning mind they exhibit the utter impossibility of the multifarious combinations that exist in nature, without the contrivances of wisdom and the directions of infinite skill. And we are persuaded that the more carefully these facts are considered, the more firm will be the conviction of every rational man that the Psalmist spake the words of truth and soberness, when he said in view of the wonderful productions of almighty Power, — "0 Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches '" THE DIVINE EXISTENCE. 19 The heavens and the earth — the ocean and the air, are filled with the marvellous doings of Him who " is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working V It is He who directs the varying sea- sons of the year, and has filled the earth with innu- merable forms of animal and vegetable life, and determined the bounds of our habitation. While his mighty hand directs the motions of unnumbered worlds, his unsleeping eye sees the sparrow that falls to the ground — while he upholds the universal frame of nature, he hears the ravens when they cry and stops the young eagles' mouths with food — and while he exists far beyond the extent of our vision, he is " not far from every one of us :/or in him ive live, and move, and have our being.^^ CHAPTER II. THE CREATION. By the ^*six days" in which the work of creation is said to have been accompUshed, we should per- haps understand so many ages or dispensations. Six periods of time, called " days" in the account, were occupied in the work of creation : and a like period of rest afterwards ensued, in which, it is not unreasonable to suppose, the whole work gradual- ly attained a state of perfection. We cannot there- fore positively determine whether the Mosaic ac- count should be dated at the commencement, or at the close of the work of creation. Nor is it really important that we should know : for our conviction of the fact that " God created the heaven and the earth," does not depend upon our knowledge of the precise time when the work was either begun or finished. And as to the discrepancy which some sharp- sighted philosophers profess to have detected be- tween the first and the second chapters of the book of Genesis, we think the alleged contradiction is, after all, to be imputed to a very superficial read- ing. For although the first chapter records the creation of all things, and the second speaks of a time when " there was not a man to till the ground," it should be understood that the sacred historian first gives a mere synopsis of the whole subject, THE CREATION. 21 and afterwards enters more into detail. After hav- ing briefly and comprehensively stated all the ma- terial facts connected with the history, it is not strange that he should have said, " These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created." He referred to what he had before declared ; and so far from contradicting him- self, he merely repeated in another form and with greater particularity, the generations or the order of the work of creation. And we should hardly charge a biographer with absurdity or inconsisten- cy, if he should first record the time of a man's birth and the time of his death, and afterwards in the same work speak of a time when the man was still in existence, and actively engaged in the affairs of life. But we need not pursue this train of thought. And we think it may well be questioned whether any good end can be gained by attaching great importance to all the empty quibbles aud vain cavils of skepticism. But we desire particularly to notice the import- ant facts stated at the close of the general account of the creation. These facts are, that God saw every thing that he had made ; and that when he thus saw all his work, he was well satisfied, and perceived that they were perfectly good. " And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good.'' We are here taught, 1st. That God saw every thing that he had made, and was therefore well acquainted with all the productions of his hands. There was nothing in any creature to which he had given life, nor in the whole world which he had spoken into being by the word of his power, but what his omniscient 22 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OP THE BIBLE. eye saw, and his infinite understanding perfectly understood. He knew the nature, the wants and the capabilities of his entire animated creation ; and clearly perceived all the feelings, desires and pas- sions that dwell in the earthly constitution of man. His power alone produced the work, and nothing, either immediate or remote, was in any wise con- cealed from his all-searching vision. Whatever was in man the great Creator himself implanted there. And God plainly foresaw all the bearings and operations and results of every cause that could ever possibly affect the condition or the destiny of any of his creatures. We are here taught, 2d. That with this perfect knowledge of all the productions of his omnific power, God pronounced the whole work of creation — every thing that he had made, very good. He was a Being of unbound- ed and immeasurable love — for " God is love,^^ and he possesses nothing by measure. He had no counsellor to offer advice and none to instruct him. No principle opposed to his own pure and holy nature could have actuated his will or influenced the exercise of his creative energy. No feeling of malevolence (for none existed with him) could have controlled the operations of his wisdom and power. He was prompted only by the impulses of his own nature. He intended his work to be worthy of himself. And when it was completed he saw the whole, and with unmingled satisfaction pronounced it all " very good." From this simple declaration we can reasonably infer nothing less than that the life of every creature was intended to be a blessing — that all were con- stituted for enjoyment — and, in a word, that every THE CREATION. 23 living thing was to be a gainer by existence. For it would impeach the benevolence as well as the veracity of God, to suppose that he would pro- nounce any of his creatures very good, with the certain and infallible knowledge that such creature's existence ever was or ever will be a curse. Such then is the state in which we find the whole creation as it came from the forming hand of the great Creator. And so far, we are free to presume, there is a perfect concurrence of senti- ment among all believers in divine revelation. Whatever diversities of opinion may be held in regard to the final results of God's dealings with his creatures, all will agree that the works of crea- tion were all originally good. The note of Dr. A. Clarke on the declarations in question, namely, that God saiv every thing, and pronounced it very good, most clearly and forcibly expresses the trutFi of the whole matter. And we are happy to find that a distinguished opposer in doctrine has so clearly stated the very truth which we aim to set forth. He says, " and behold, it was very good, SwperlativeJy or only good : as good as they could be. The plan wise, the work well executed, the different parts properly arranged, their nature, limits, mode of existence, manner of propagation, habits, mode of sustenance, &c., &c., properly and permanently established and secured ; for every thing was formed to the utmost perfection of its nature, so that nothing could be added or dimin- ished without encumbering the operations of matter and spirit on the one hand, or rendering them in- efficient to the end proposed, on the other ; and God has so done all these marvellous works, as to be glorified in all, by all, and through all." CHAPTER III. THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN THE CREATION. Having proceeded thus far, we are now prepared to state a few self-evident propositions, that have a most important bearing upon our whole subject. We have seen at the close of the creation a work that was in all respects well known to God, and by him pronounced very ^ood. So far all his designs were accomplished, and the ends of his benevo- lence fully attained. But we intend to push our inquiries still farther, and ascertain, if possible, the divine purpose in reference to our whole existence and the final destmy of our being. ]st. In creating man, God designed him for some particular end; or else he did not thus design him. That the former of these propositions is true, seems necessarily to result from the nature and character which the Scriptures and all reasonable men as- cribe to the Divinity. He is infinite in wisdom ; and a wise being never puts forth his power in any work without design. Nor can we reasonably sup- pose that with a perfect knowledge of all his works, God would pronounce them either good or bad, without reference to some purpose for which he intended them. When a man constructs a machine and pronounces it .ifoofl?, we all understand him to mean that it will operate according to his intentions, and pro- 24 THE DIVINE PUIIPOSE I\ THE CREATION. 25 duce the results which he designed — or at least that his estimate of its value depends upon the ends which he expects it to accomplish. With the Uttle and erring wisdom which we possess, the marks of design appear in all our doings. And notwithstanding the infinite diversity of opinions which prevails among men, it would seem impossi- ble for any thinking man really to believe that He who is the very source of all wisdom should give us existence without dengning the end of our being. Of the divine purpose in the creation of the ma- terial world which we inhabit, we read in the 45th chapter of Isaiah,' " For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens ; God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he creat- ed it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited.''^ Such is the purpose for which the earth was form- ed. And shall we suppose that man, the last and noblest work of God upon its surface — man, who was created in the likeness and image of his Maker, was created for no final purpose ? We should be sorry to believe that any man seriously holds such an opinion. All concur in the belief of this simple but important fact, that man was made for some purpose. And it appears so self-evident and un- deniable, that nothing farther need be said to sub- stantiate it. 2d. The end for which God purposed man was benevolent ; or else it was not benevolent. The affirmative of this proposition may be established by the same train of argument which we have al- ready employed. God was a being of perfect and unbounded goodness. No extraneous cause could 26 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. possibly have influenced his mind in the work which he intended to perform. Love alone prompt- ed the exercise of his creative power ; and what- ever he purposed must have been perfectly com- patible with the principles of his own nature. Every thing was made according to his own will ; and all the purposes of his mind were formed independently of any influence without himself. When, therefore, we come to the Scriptures, we find the most conclusive and satisfactory proof that the purpose of the Almighty in the creation was good^ and only good. Jesus is called '' the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.^^ His death was embraced in the original purpose of God in the creation of man. And who need be inform- ed that the Lamb was slain as a ransom for our race from sin and death and every enemy ? St. Paul speaks on this interesting theme in language not to be misunderstood. To Titus he says, " In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began.^^ Our Maker could hsive promised nothing but what he purposed to accomplish. And in making this promise, or in forming this purpose in his mind before the world began, he must surely have intended that man should become the happy participant of the bless- ing promised. The same inspired author more- over speaks to Timothy of the purpose and grace of God, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but now made manifest by the appearing of him who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That divine purpose wiiich was formed before the breath of life was breathed into man, was therefore THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN THE CREATION. 21 gracious ; and in making it manifest to man, the Savior of the world revealed the resurrection state of immortal glory and bliss. And as the benevolent and gracious purpose of our Maker in reference to the destiny of man, was formed in his own mind before the world began, the conclusion seems reasonably to follow that what he purposed for one man he purposed for all men. For we cannot conceive what could possibly have prompted him to form more than one purpose — or to design a part of his offspring for a benevolent end, and exclude the remainder from all the bless- ings of his grace and the joys of his redemption. And accordingly we find it thus plainly declared in the word of life, that God " hath abounded to- ward us in all wisdom and prudence ; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according 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?" Ephes. i. 8-10. Such, then, according to the Scriptures, was the original purpose of God in reference to the ultimate destiny of that race of beings upon whom he was graciously pleased to impress the likeness and im- age of himself. He intended all men for eventual happiness. And in order to accomplish that bene- volent intention, he sent his only begotten and well beloved Son to taste death for every man, to give his life a ransom for the world, and to draw all men unto himself! 3d. We now come to state our last proposition, which contains the substance of the whole argu- 28 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OP THE BIRLE. merit. God knew when he formed the benevolent pjirpose of which ive have spoken that it woxdd certainly he accomplished, or else he did not know. One of these propositions must be God, a Being of unbounded knowledge and infi- nite understanding, knew what v/as in man and what was in the world. He perceived the opera- tions and the results of all causes, however remote, that could ever possibly affect his creatures. And he saw the end with as perfect knowledge as he saw any part, or even the beginning of his work, — otherwise his vision was imperfect and his know- ledge limited ! And what says the voice of inspiration, which is of far higher authority on this subject ? " Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.'' " I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying. My counsel shall stand, and 1 will THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN THE CREATION. 29 do all my 'pleasure.''^ And can we suppose, in view of these and similar declarations of Scripture, that the final destiny of any man was ever unknown or uncertain to God ? He both knew all his works and declared the end from the beginning. And when he pronounced all his works very good, he therefore saw the complete and glorious accom- plishment of his gracious purpose in the ultimate blessedness of all mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is the life and the Savior of the world. Here, then, leaving all creeds entirely out of view, is the great conclusion to which we are ir- resistibly led by the plain teachings of reason and the authoritative instructions of Scripture truth. God had a purpose in the creation of man — that purpose was purely benevolent and gracious — and he saw and declared its accomplishment from the beginning of the world, — and though heaven and earth should pass away, the sure word of our God will never fail ! Should an objector on receiving the foregoing argument, allege that man is d. free-agent, he is in- formed that we shall not dispute that matter with him, because we are unable to perceive that it has any proper connexion with the subject which we have attempted to discuss. Suppose man to be perfectly free — more free by far than the winds of heaven which blow where they list, does it hence follow that the benevolent purpose of God in the creation of man, and his certain knowledge and positive declaration of the execution or fulfilment of that purpose must to any extent be rendered void ? It does not so appear to our minds. And we have never yet heard anything like a plausible 3* 30 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. reason to justify the belief that God has bestowed, upon any of his creatures a freedom or a power, by the agency of which his own purposes will at last be defeated ! We trust that no such calamity will ever occur. The God of salvation, " who only hath immortality," will never be baffled in his plans; nor do we fear that his best purposes will ever be*, frustrated by an agency which he him- self has bestowed upon man. And though there- is a strange propensity in some persons to fly from every subject into wild and extravagant notions' about the uncontrollable power o( human beings, we are satisfied to believe upon the authority of the Scriptures, that God's counsel shall stand, and that he will do all his pleasure. We therefore rest in the assurance, and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory in the belief^ that God will never abandon any of the works of his hands, or become the foe of any of his crea- tures ; but that he will continue the operations of his saving power and his redeeming grace, until "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear, surely shall say, T?i the Lord have I righte- ousness and strength!^' CHAPTER IV. THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. We have already shown that the entire work of creation, as it came from the forming hand of the Almighty, was very good. Every thing was made according to his own will — or, to adopt the language of Scripture, ke created all things for his own pleasure. There was purpose or design in the Divine Mind in all the productions of creative power — and every thing was pronounced very good, because it was clearly foreseen and perfectly understood that God would be glorified by all, and through, and in all the works of his hands. But the progenitor of our race did not long con- tinue in his primitive state of innocence. Sin and suffering soon entered into the world ; and they have ever since been the common lot of humanity, and the great scourge of our whole race. Did evil come into the world by accident? Was it in no sense embraced or contemplated in the original plans of divine wisdom? Has its existence de- ranged the schemes of the Almighty ? And will its unhappy consequences be as enduring as God's own being ? These are questions demanding our most careful and serious consideration. And we think they may all be resolved into this one simple question, How, or by what means did sin enter into the world ? But before directly attempting to 31 32 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. consider this question, we desire to have it well understood that we believe without a doubt that God intended from the first that sin and suffering should exist in this world. We are fully convinced that our present life, which is only the incipient state of our existence, was intended as a state in which man should be the creature oi hope, looking onward to a better country, even a heavenly. Man in his original state, formed of the perishable dust of the ground, was not fitted for a perpetual exist- ence without a change of state. Here in this world he was to be "compassed with infirmity" — here he was to be subject to vanity, and the child of sorrow and pain — and here in this earthly taber- nacle he was to groan, being burdened, " earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." Hence we find that as soon as sin had entered into the world and man began to experience its sorrows, the gracious promise was given that evil should be subdued and destroyed. iflope was thus early encouraged in the human heart. And from that time to the present, it has been strictly true in regard to our existence, that "Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never is, but always to be blest." It may be thought quite impossible for us to determine with any tolerable degree of probability how sin first entered into the world. Man was created without sin, and by his Maker pronounced very good. How then came this pure creature, inheriting no depravity, and influenced by no evil examples, to commit sin, and thus to bring dreadful and lasting sufferings upon the world ? THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 33 An eminent theologian has said, " That man is in ^fallen state, certainly needs no argument to prove it : the history of the world, with that of the life and miseries of every human being, establish this point beyond successful contradiction. But how and by what agency was this brought about? Here is a great mystery ; and I may appeal to all persons who have read the various comments that have been written on the Mosaic account, whether they have ever yet been satisfied on this part of the subject, though convinced of the fact itself. Who was the Serpent ? Of what kind^ in what ivay did he seduce the first happy pair? These are questions which remain yet to be answered^ Clarke. Now we shall not deny that this author felt him- self altogether unable to solve the several questions here proposed. But we are persuaded that the inexplicable mystery of which he speaks, does not properly belong to the subject itself, but rather to errors and inconsistencies involved in his own creed. And though we claim no special revelation, nor superior abilities, by the aid of which we are enabled to unlock the deep mysteries that have puzzled abler minds, we still believe that the whole subject, when set free from all unauthorized constructions, will admit of an easy and a rational exposition. We shall be guided in our investiga- tions by the teachings of the Bible, explained con- sistently with reason, comparing Scripture with Scripture. And instead of attempting to astonish the reader with some fanciful theory, which nobody can understand, and which must fail to satisfy the 34 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. inquiring mind, we shall aim at nothing but the truth. It may be well to remark in this place, that a distinction should be drawn between physical evil and what we call moral evil, and also between the causes from which they proceed. The former is endured in common by all creatures that bear an earthly nature — while the latter, being the effect of sin, is exclusively confined to intellectual and accountable beings. Tlie irrational brute experi- ences suffering — but it knows nothing of moral responsibility — it stands amenable to no moral law — and it cannot, therefore, be the subject of penal retribution. But the subject of our present inquiry relates to moral evil or sin, and to the cause by which it was first produced in the world. We may incidentally remark, however, that the physi- cal nature and constitution of man seem not to have been affected in the least by the first trans- gression. He required the same bodily nourishment, and was subject to the operations of the same general laws, after having sinned, as before. He was originally fitted to be an active, laborious being — for before he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or in other words, before he had known the difference between good and evil by actual experience, " the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.'' Gen. ii. 15. Hence it is easily perceived that before man had sinned, he was not only fitted but actually commanded to toil. His original nature, which we think, has never been radically changed, required for its proper exercise and health all that is now necessary. The THE INTRODUCTION OF JJiN INTO THE WORLD. 35 change which the first man experienced on the day of transgression, was purely of a moral nature. He fell from a state of purity and innocence into the guilt and misery of sin. He thus became subject to the influence of a law which he had not before known, the law of sin, which is now in our mem- bers. And, we repeat, that our present concern is, to ascertain what caused the first sin, and how it originated in the world. We shall not attempt to soar upon the wings of imagination to distant worlds, and to amuse the reader with some curious speculation, which God never revealed nor man understood. " The poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling," has already seen strange wonders in this subject, and tasked his genius to the utmost to set them forth in all the unreal grandeur of fanciful creations — but all this without yielding any satisfaction to the sober and candid mind. The subject is involved in greater mystery and obscurity since the poetic fancy of a Milton followed the falls and flights and mischie- vous freaks of the Prince of Darkness, and at last charged upon him the crime of blasting all the joys of Eden with the deadly and accursed fruits of sin. And we shall not expect to pursue the wild vaga- ries of dreaming poets, any further than it may seem necessary to explode such relics of their fancies as still serve to mislead and bewilder the minds of those who are most fond of marvellous things which they cannot understand. Milton pretended that the whole subject was most clearly revealed in the Scriptures. But his notion seems to require far more explanation than 36 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. the Scripture account itself. He says, addressing the Spirit, "Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell, say first what cause Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state, Favor'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will, For one restraint, lords of the world besides 1 Th' infernal Serpent ,- he it was, whose guile, Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his host ^ Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equall'd the Most High, If he oppos'd; and, with ambitious aim, Against the throne and monarchy of God Rais'd impious war in Heav'n and battle proud. With vain attempt." Here the inspiring Spirit is represented as declar- ing the cause and the manner of the first sin in the world, showing that a former inhabitant of heaven, having vainly made war against God, was hurled headlong from his high and glorious abode — and that in order to revenge himself, he craftily seduced the first unsuspecting pair of the human family. But we shall find on examination that this view of the subject is attended with insuperable difficulties, and is not only destitute of all support in the word of God, but positively ridiculous and absurd. From time immemorial the most discordant and contradictory opinions have been entertained in regard to the origin of evil and the cause of sin. Many of the ancients supposed that there were two eternal and opposing principles in the universe, the one good and the other evil — and that from their THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN IIVTO THE WORLD. 37 conflicting powers and final admixture the present heterogeneous state of things was produced. This opinion was held by the Magians, a sect among the ancient Persians — and also in the third century of the present era by the Manicheans, a very sin- gular class of religionists, who claimed to be Chris- tians. But the famous Zoroaster, who flourished more than five hundred years before Christ, perceiving the gross and palpable absurdity of admitting the existence of two first causes, undertook the task of reforming the established religion of the Magians. He introduced into his system a god superior to both in which his predecessors had believed, and traced the causes of all good and of all evil to the agency of subordinate beings. " In short, Zoroaster held that there was one supreme independent Being, and under him two principles, or angels ; one the angel of light or good, and the other the angel of evil or darkness; that there is a perpetual struggle between them, which shall last to the end of the world ; that then the angel of darkness and his disciples shall go into a world of their own, where they shall be punished in ever- lasting darkness; and the angel of light and his disciples shall go into a world of their own, where they shall be rewarded with everlasting light." Prideaux says of Zoroaster, " To avoid making God the author of evil, his doctrine was, that God originally and directly created only light or good, and that darkness or evil followed it by consequence, as the shadow doth the person ; that light or good had only a real production from God, and the other afterwards resulted from it, as the defect thereof." 4 The ancient theories to which we have thus referred might have appeared to their beHevers to account most satisfactorily for the origin of evil. They who beheved in the existence of two eternal and opposing principles, the one good and the other evil, would very naturally attribute the intro- duction of sin into the world to the influence of the latter. And they who held to the existence of two subordinate principles under the Supreme power, would in like manner charge the evil of sin upon the angel of darkness. But these old theories, absurd as we all agree in pronouncing them, conceived in the ignorance of heathenism, and brought forth in an age and country of spiritual darkness, were not half so inconsistent and preposterous as the notion which now gene- rally obtains in regard to the origin of sin. In these days it is commonly believed that sin did not originate in this world, but that it existed before the creation of the human race, and was trans- planted here by an evil being who once lived in the perfection of holiness and in the regions of celestial light and glory ! We are then by this strange hypothesis directed to a far distant region, and to a period j)rior to the creation of the world, to find the origin of sin. Now when we consider the utter silence of the Mosaic history in regard to any thing of this kind, it seems almost unaccountable that persons who profess to be guided by the Scriptures should trace the beginning of evil to the very abodes of immacu- late purity, and to the most perfect and holy beings that ever adorned the Creator's works ! Why not be more consistent, and rather suppose that evil THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 39 came from some region of darkness and foul pollu- tion ? It is presumed that no person now really believes that the Scriptures plainly teach that sin received its birth in heaven. And in the formation of opinions without express authority — where the mind has full scope to act without restraint, why not fancy something more compatible with reason and the nature of things ? The supposition seems both shocking and absurd that the very opposite of holiness should start into being nearest the great Fountain of purity and love ! If the scene had been laid in any other part of the vast domains of the universal empire, and among any other beings than those which surround the throne of the im- maculate God, the theory in question would seem less preposterous. Where^ in all the record of God's truth can there be found any thing to favor such a notion ? Who dare affirm that in the whole history of the first temptation and sin in the world, Moses gives the slightest intimation that sin began its existence in heaven, and was begotten in man through the agency of an immortal being, who forfeited heaven by his own rebellion and wickedness ? And if the sacred historian has said nothing of the kind, who is authorized to assert that such must be his mean- ing? And as to o^^er portions of the Scriptures, they not only agree with the account given by Moses, but positively state through whose instru- mentality sin was first brought into the world. The apostle Paul says plainly, "By one man sin entered into the world." Rom. v. 12. It was by no superhuman being — no former inhabitant of heaven — but by man. We need not therefore travel one step beyond the creation of man to find the origin of that evil which has corrupted the fountains of human happi- ness through every generation of our sinful race. And we might now proceed at once to offer a plain scriptural exposition of our subject. But a word further touching the more common opinion seems to be demanded. Suppose then that we admit that the first sin was committed by a holy angel in heaven, and came through his wicked devices into this world. The question will arise in the inquisitive mind, What caused that angel to sin? All must admit that no being ever sins except through the influence of temptation. There must therefore have been some outward temptation in heaven, or else some evil passion within the first sinner to instigate to wick- edness — otherwise that angel could not have sinned. If there was outward temptation, heaven could not have been a holy place — and if there were sinful passions within, that angel could not have been an immaculate being. Nay, if that angel had been perfect and holy, what possible influence could temptation of any kind have exerted over his mind? And if sin did once exist in heaven, who can say that it may not again, and finally pervade and depopulate the whole place ? These questions are here proposed to excite a spirit of inquiry in the minds of those who have not yet fully examined the subject under conside- ration. And though they may be very familiar to many minds, there are others who are not fully aware of the many and insuperable difficulties THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 41 involved in the more common view of the first temptation and sin. But we shall be told that both Peter and Jude speak of fallen angels. The fact is not denied. But it should be well understood that neither of them has made any wonderful disclosure about the fall of celestial beings /rom heaven to the earth — to hell — or to any other place. We believe in the existence of angels, in the common acceptation of the term — that is to say, we believe in a superior order of beings called angels. But the simple word angel is nevertheless expressive of office, and does not therefore necessarily signify a superhuman being. The angels of the seven churches of Asia, mentioned in the Book of Revelation, were the ministers of those churches, and consequently men in the flesh. And some of those angels, messen- gers or ministers, fell from their first estate, and were drowned in the destruction and perdition of ungodly men ! But we shall search the Scriptures in vain for the account of a celestial being who once fell from heaven, and afterwards brought sin to the abodes of man. Both Peter and Jude, in discoursing upon other subjects, incidentally refer to unfaithful angels or messengers, who were deposed and pun- ished for their wickedness. And they make the reference as though the subject was well under- stood — and not as if they were declaring some new and wonderful revelation. And we may carefully examine the whole Bible from the first of Genesis to the last of Revelations, without finding any thing to contradict the fact stated by St. Paul, namely, that sin entered into the world by man. 4* CHAPTER V. THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. (continued.) Having shown that the Scriptures date the commencement of sin in this ivorld, and declare that it entered by man, we are now prepared to show hoiv man was tempted, and how sin origi- nated. When Adam was created and placed in that state of innocence represented by the garden of Eden, he was allowed freely to partake of the fruit of every tree of the garden, save that ''of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." The man was acquainted with good in his primitive state of innocence. And the prohibition of God was that he should avoid that course of conduct which would give him the knowledge of evil as well as of good. Such, we suppose, is what was meant by " the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Let us here then present the entire Scripture account of the first temptation and sin. " Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made : and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden : But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, 42 THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 43 Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat ; and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked : and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day : and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou ? And he said ; I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid myself. And he said, who told thee that thou wast naked ? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done ? And the woman said. The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.'' Gen. iii. 1-13. Here then we have the history and the whole history of the first temptation and sin of man. And here let the question be candidly considered. Is there in this whole account even an intimation concerning a superhuman and an immortal being. 44 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OP THE BIBLE. who fell from the regions of celestial light and glory, and brought sin into this world ? We feel confident that every candid and unprejudiced per- son will at once answer, there is surely nothing here to favor any such notion. And, suffer us to say, that it is from what Moses has said that we are to learn his meaning — and not from what he has not said ! But some person may feel disposed to inquire whether we really suppose that a literal serpent conversed with the woman, and beguiled her to sin. Our answer is, that we do not. But in Scrip- ture language we find that the serpent is used as an emblem or a hieroglyphic of wisdom. This fact is manifest from the command of our Lord to his apostles, — " Behold, I send you forth in the midst of wolves ; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.'^ And a very slight attention to the teachings of the Bible will show that it speaks of two entirely different kinds of wisdom. St. James says, Epis. iii. 13-17, "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, with- out partiality, and without hypocrisy." Here we perceive the opposite characters of these two kinds of wisdom. The one is pure and heavenly, and THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 45 produces good fruits — and the other is sensual and devilish, and leads to confusion and every evil work. Now let the fact be well considered that Moses had declared, before recording the introduction of sin into the world, that the serpent was more sub- tle, that is, sly, artful and cunning than any beast of the field. The serpent was therefore the fittest emblem that could possibly have been chosen to re- present the deceitfulness of that earthly and sensual wisdom which has ever been the /ew/j^ez-of man,and which originates in the lusts of the flesh. St. Paul speaks of " the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusis.'^ Ephes. iv. 22. None can doubt that our first parents were deceived into trans- gression through the influence of temptation. And we feel justified in concluding that they were deceived by their own earthly and sensual lusts. For, whatever may be said of the immortal and sin- less nature of Adam, in his original state, we read that he was made of the dust of the ground. He was at first constituted with an earthly nature — and in that nature there were earthly feelings and passions that gave birth to sin. And in view of these simple facts, the following testimony of St. James on the subject of temptation and sin is perfectly intelligible to every capacity : — "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man : but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James i. 13-15. Here is 46 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. the very same tempter of which Moses speaks under the similitude of a serpent — the lusts of the flesh. " Every man is tempted ivhen he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed.^^ And being made of the dust of the ground, with an earthly nature, Adam felt within him the workings of lust, and yielded to its deceitful influence. Jind by this one man sin entered into the world. St. Paul says, 1st Tim. ii. 14, "The woman being deceived was in the transgression." And the nature of that deception which caused our first parents to transgress the command of their Maker, is easily understood. God charged them neither to eat nor to touch the tree in the midst of the garden. Nay, he positively declared of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ''for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.^^ To eat of this forbidden tree we believe was to learn the diflerence between good and evil by actual experience. And God forewarned Adam that in the very day that he committed evil he should surely die. The threatened death would certainly come, and be experienced immediately. What then was the deceitful suggestion of the tempter? *< Ye shall not .fwre/y die" — the threat- ened penalty maij not be executed — " ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil" — ye shall find a pleasant and desirable fruit, and enjoy happiness in sin — and as ye shall not surely die, according to the declaration of God, peradventure you may for- ever escape the death that has been denounced. Such was the device of the tempter, of which " every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." But God's word was THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 47 true — and in the very day of transgression Adam experienced the most distressing guilt and fear and shame, and sought to hide himself from the pres- ence of his Maker. Death to innocence, and death in sin speedily came upon him, " For the wages of sin is death,'' ^ and *' to be carnally minded is death.^^ As to the particular act that constituted the first offence of man, we have no means by which to determine. All we know is, that it was an act of disobedience against the express command of God. It was, moreover, an act that made man acquainted with evil, which he had not known before. And that " first disobedience" was caused by the feel- ings and appetites and passions with which man was created. But we shall be charged with making God him- self the author of sin, because we hold that he created man with that earthly nature and those lustful passions which seduced him into the way of transgression. It is, however, not a little amusing to hear our opposers bring a charge of this kind against us. They surely do not look very far into the nature of things. And let us inquire for a moment how the matter stands in regard to their own creed. They believe that God created a celestial being, who sinned in heaven with no other being to tempt him — and we believe that God created a man, who sinned on earth with no other being to tempt him. And pray, where is the great difference between us with respect to God ? Why should we, any more than they themsel ves be charged with making God the author of sin ? If sin com- menced in heaven, it is declared that God had nothing to do with the matter — but when we affirm 4S XJNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. that it began on earth, and came into the world by one man, we are very gravely charged with ascri- bing the origin of sin to the Supreme Being him- self! A distinction, truly, without a difference — or at least without a difference that is creditable to our accusers ! And it strikes our mind that our opposers would do well to explain the difficulty involved in their own doctrine, before they presume to bring any railing accusation against ours ! We hold that God made the first man of the dust of the ground, with a fleshly nature and a mortal constitution — and that the workings of natu- ral lust tempted and enticed Adam to sin. And while we find it expressly declared, Rom. v. 12, that "by one man sin entered into the world," we have never yet been able to find a passage of Scripture which ascribes the introduction of sin into the world to any other being or to any other means. The vain conjectures of poetic fancy on this subject, weigh not a feather in the scale against the simple truth taught in the Scriptures, and sanctioned by our own reason. It was in reference to the ancient Persian doc- trine of two creative powers, that the Lord said to Cyrus the Persian King, Isaiah xlv. 7, " I form the light, and create darkness ; I make peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all these things." This address was made to the monarch of Persia by the prophet Isaiah, as though spoken by the Lord him- self. And if it be wrong to ascribe the creation of evil to God, Isaiah was certainly liable to just cen- sure. But we are satisfied that the prophet testi- fied truly — and we are convinced beyond a doubt that there is in the universe but one creative power. THE INTRUDUCTION OF SIN INTO THE WORLD. 40 which is God. Evil or sin was evidently contem- plated in the very plan of creation — for the great remedy was provided in the counsels of divine wis- dom before the first man was brought into existence. Hence Jesus Christ is called " the Lamh slain from the foundation of theworldP It was provided from the very first that he should be the Redeemer and Savior of man. And if sin had not entered into the world, man could never have been the subject of salvation — the whole scheme of redemption would have been utterly unmeaning and without effect — and we could never sing praises to the Lamb for having redeemed us from sin and washed us in his own blood ! We therefore plainly perceive that the introduc- tion of sin into the world was not an accident^ nor any thing that was not foreseen and known from the beginning. It was necessary to the plan of redemption — for without it there could have been no such thing as redemption. And though we cannot but deplore the reign of sin, we rejoice to believe that God can and will restrain its power — and that he will cause grace and life through Jesus Christ our Lord to abound far beyond all sin and all suffering. It has pleased the Father of our spirits in his deep and unsearchable wis- dom to lead us through sufferings of an hour to joys that never end. And in view of the bright revelations of the Gospel concerning the better life that is to come, we may well say in the language of St. Paul : — " For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed •in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature 50 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected tlie same in hope ; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into tke glorious liberty of the children of God.'' Rom. viii. 18-21. CHAPTER VI. THE FALL OF MAN. We have pursued our general theme only so far as to ascertain the origin and the cause of the first sin in the world. And we shall now proceed to consider what is commonly called " the fall of man.^' This particular topic seems to come next in order, and is certainly deserving of very careful exa- mination. We have shown how and by whom sin entered into the world. It entered through the influence of temptation, originating in the lusts of the flesh — and it was committed by man. And we are now concerned to ascertain what were the consequences resulting from the first sin of man — or, in other words, to examine the doctrine of" the fall." The original constitution of man has long been a subject of controversy — and very contradictory opinions in reference thereto are still found to pre- vail in the world. While some persons hold that man in his primitive state was a perfect and an immortal being, others believe that he was from the beginning subject to vanity and liable to death. And it is of the utmost importance that we should obtain a just understanding of what man was at first — and that we should ascertain what changes, if any, were wrought in his nature and constitution by the influence of sin. These particulars may be 51 52 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. regarded as holding an intimate connexion with the objects of the Messiah's mediations, and as having an important bearing upon the whole Scripture doctrine of salvation. And a missap- prehension in regard to the actual condition in which sin has involved our race, may mislead the mind on almost every subject of revealed truth. Now notwithstanding all that has been said and written about "the fall of man,'' and the widely different opinions that are held on this subject, we cannot but think that the whole matter, when pro- perly divested of all fanciful and unauthorized con- jectures, will ; be found perfectly^plain and easy to be understood. And though it may be thought uncharitable, we are well persuaded that, to the influence of venerated human creeds, and the proneness of man to follow in the footsteps of his fathers, and to support whatever is generally ap- proved, may be traced the gross errors and glaring absurdities that now prevail in regard to this very simple subject. These false notions are held by those who seem to think freely and correctly in reference to most other things. And while we hope ever to bow with becoming submission to the authority of God's word, we desire to lend our aid, however feeble may be our efforts, to bring men into the free exercise of reason and candor in the investigation of religious truth. Let it not be supposed, however, from what has been said, that we are prepared to defend all the notions that were peculiar to the Pelagians of old. But we are not in the least terrified by the name — nor do we fear to embrace and avow any truth, because it is taught by such as have long been THE FALL OF MAN. 53 pronounced heretics. We are not ashamed to ex- press the belief that that ancient and much de- spised sect held correct views relative to the origi- nal nature and constitution of man. They believed that Adam was by nature mortal — and that all new-born infants are in the same condition in which he lived before he had sinned. And if their doctrine on this subject had been opposed with no other weapons than such as are supplied by reason and Scripture, we think it fair to conclude that it would have been permanently established in the days of Pelagius himself But being an innova- tion upon popular belief, it found no favor in the eyes of the ruling powers, but was soon suppressed by the edicts of councils and the terrors of penal enactments. There was not independence enough in the world to maintain an unpopular doctrine, known to be compatible with reason, and sanc- tioned by the high authority of divine truth. Igno- rance and prejudice ignobly triumphed — and the arbitrary decisions of popes and their pliant allies, protected an error, which, without their aid, would have died in its infancy ! In later times, and where human authority is not exercised to the same extent in matters of religious beUef, there are still found in operation sufficient causes to perpetuate the gross errors of darker ages. The portraiture of too many theologians is exhib- ited in the character and conduct of the celebrated Dr. Paley, of whom his biographer has said, "Through the whole course of his life, Dr. Paley seemed too willing to support established doctrines ; and to find plausible reasons for existing institu- tions ; even in cases in which he must have felt 5* 54 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. those doctrines to be at variance with truth, and those institutions in opposition to the best interests of mankind. His great and vigorous mind ought to have disdained the paltry subterfuges of disen- genuous subtlety, and interested sophistication." We fear that these censures, though very severe, find a just application in the case of more doctors than one. Excommunication, with the loss of high honors and great emolument, has been threat- ened the man who dares to dissent from the esta- blished doctrine of the Church concerning man's original perfection and holiness, and his entire cor- ruption by " the fall." And too many, alas ! seem willing to support doctrines known " to be at vari- ance with truth," rather than forfeit their high standing in the church, and the profits of their calling. Hence the worst forms of error are easily perpetuated when they once become well establish- ed — and however feebly they may be supported, they are extremely difficult to be eradicated. — Paley, dreading the loss of patronage, advocated the eternity of punishment for sin, which he did not believe — and we fear that many others, in im- itation of his unworthy example, have concealed their light under a bushel, and willingly sanc- tioned the time-honored errors of human creeds. — But we need not pursue this train of thought. In what is commonly called " the fall of man," we are free to confess that we have no more faith than we have in the Koran of Mahomet or the pretended revelations of the Book of Mormon ! And though we desire ever to cherish a decent and becoming respect for our opposers and their doc- trine, we still claim the right of speaking in Ian- THE FALL OF MAN. - 55 guage that may be understood. We have no creed of man's device for our guide — and we feel per- fectly free to examine the subject before us in the hght of reason and of Scripture truth. We beheve that the nature of man — moral and physical — is the same now as it was when the progenitor of our race came from the forming hand of his Creator, and breathed the freshness of that spirit which con- stituted him *' a living soul.'' And our reasons for thus believing will be given as we proceed. But it seems proper that we should here exhibit a fair statement of the common doctrine of " the fall." It is believed, then, that the entire nature and constitution of man underwent a radical transfor- mation in consequence of the first sin of our first parents. And that we may not be suspected of misrepresenting the belief of our opposers in doc- trine, we shall quote from acknowledged authority. In the latest and amended edition of the West- minster Assembly's Catechism, which is now in full force, and which may be considered as ranking among the highest of human authorities, we find the following question and answer : — " Q. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell? A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Jidam' s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called origi- nal sin; together with all actual transgressionsjwhich proceed from it." It is also stated in other creeds, and the belief is quite common, that "the fall" de- notes " the loss of those perfections and that hap- piness which man received at his creation." And in presenting the evidences by which this doctrine 56 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. is thought to be sustained, Buck thus eloquently but fancifully discourses: "i^or that man is a fallen creature, is evident, if we consider his mis- ery as an inhabitant of the natural world — the dis- orders of the globe we inhabit, and the dreadful scourges with which it is visited — the deplorable and shocking circumstances of our birth — our na- tural uncleanness, helplessness, ignorance, and nakedness — the gross darkness in which we natu- rally are both with respect to God and a future state — the general rebellion of the brute creation against us — the various poisons that lurk in the animal, vegetable, and mineral world, ready to destroy us — the heavy curse of toil and sweat to which we are hable — the innumerable calamities of life, and the pangs of death/' And even Calmet, with all his characteristic moderation and good sense, speaks of Adam's hlood being poisoned by sin Now in view of the doctrine of "the fall," as thus stated, let us turn our attention to the Scrip- tures and see what lesson they teach on this sub- ject. St. Paul says, Rom. viii. 20, " For the crea- ture was made subject to vanity." And having been thus created, man was from the beginning liable to deception and to sin, as the history of Adam abundantly proves, and as we shall yet plainly show. And it will also appear, as we have before stated, that man was originally intended to be the creature of hope in this world, looking for- ward to " a better country, even a heavenly." A slight examination of the connexion of the pas- sage before us, will show that by the creature the apostle means the same as by " the whole creation" THE FALL OF MAN. 57 in a subsequent verse. Indeed the expressions are the same in the original text. And to our mind it obviously appears that the writer treats of the ori- ginal creation of man, and not of something that subsequently happened. That he speaks of the creation of man, and not of some other order of beings, is too evident to admit of reasonable doubt. For the very same creature that was made subject to vanity, was also made the subject of hope — and the reason assigned is " because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of cor- ruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.'' And that man was not thus subjected to vanity by reason of his own choice, or on account of any doings of his own, is sufficiently proved by the declaration, "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly.^^ It was not a matter of choice on the part of man — for he could have had no volition before hej was created — but it was done by that great and good Being who has encouraged us to hofe that we shall at last be delivered from this state of vanity, and from all the corruptions and sufferings of mortality ! But it has been maintained that man in his pri- mitive state was an immortal, a 'perfect and a holy being. Now if this position were admitted, the common notion of the fall would be most easily sustained. For if such was the original state of man, the fact is perfectly clear that he has greatly degenerated from his primeval exaltation and per- fection. Only grant a man all his premises, and but a small measure of abiUty is needed to estab- lish any conclusion that he may desire. But we 58 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. fault the premises — and we here demand proof that has never yet been furnished. And unless it can be shown that man was at first immortal and perfect and lioly^ it is idle and preposterous to assert that he has fallenixom. his original nature — and then to refer to his present mortality, imper- fection and sinfulness in proof of the fact. Tacitus, the Roman historian, says, "In the early ages of the world, men led a life of innocence and simplicity. Free from irregular passions, they knew no corruption of manners; and void of guilt, they had no need of laws. In the natural emotions of the heart they found incentives to virtue, and rewards were unnecessary. Having no inordi- nate desires, they coveted nothing, and pains and penalties were unknown." This is indeed a very beautiful picture — but it happens to be notiiing more than imagination. And the translator of Tacitus has well said in a note, — " It may be made a question, whether a period of pure simplicity and innocence ever existed. Seneca expatiates in praise of those times, and the poets have been lavish in their description of the golden age ; but the history of mankind has no proofs of the fact. An ingenious writer says, who were those men that lived in so much innocence ? The first man who was born into the world, killed the second. When did the times of simplicity begin .^" And we may go back one step farther, and say, the first man that ever lived in the world, exhibited the imperfection of his nature in the very act of sin- ning. When did the perfection and immaculate holiness of human nature begin? The ancient Persians held notions very similar THE FALL OF MAN. 59 to those of Tacitus in regard to the primitive nature of man. In stating their beUef, Gibbon thus speaks:— "The vvise^ benevolence of Ormusd [the good God] formed man capable of virtue, and abundantly provided his fair habitation with the materials of happiness. By his vigilant providence, the motion of the planets, the order of the seasons, and the temperate mixture of the elements, are pre- served. But the malice of Ahriman [the evil God] has long since pierced Ormusd's egg ; or in other words, has violated the harmony of his works. Since that fatal irruption, the most minute articles of poison spring up amidst the most salutary plants ; deluges, earthquakes, and conflagrations, attest the conflict of Nature, and the little world of man is perpetually shaken by vice and misfortune.'' Such opinions were common among benighted Pagans. And all have heard of Pandora, the first woman, according to Grecian Mythology, who suffered her fatal box to be opened, when "there issued from it a multitude of evils and distempers, which dispersed themselves all over the world, and which, from that fatal moment, have not ceased to afflict the human race." All this has doubtless been believed. And the candid thinker and close observer is not ignorant of the fact that notions of a very similar character are still regarded by many persons as the teachings of divine truth. But when we take our leave of mere fables and legends, and direct our attention to the Scriptures, do we really find any thing of the kind there stated — any thing to justify the belief that the first man of our race was created immortal and perfect, but became mortal and imperfect by sin ? We know GO UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. of but one passage that even seems to favor such a supposition — and the proof which that passage af- fords is surely^ of a very questionable character. Speaking of the difficulty of understanding all the devices of the human heart, Solomon says, Eccles. vii. 29, *' Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright ; but they have sought out many inventions." Now it must cer- tainly require a very keen perception, such as we dare not boast, to find in this place any proof that the whole nature of man was radically changed on account of Adam's " first disobedience." If seeking out inventions means a change of human nature, we should be led to conclude that our poor nature must have undergone a great many trans- formations since the days of Adam ! Man was made upright and innocent, though sub- ject to vanity — and after coming to the knowledge of good and evil, he sought out many and various kinds of inventions. But we find nothing here to countenance the common notion of " the fall." And indeed we find that Dr. Clarke has frankly said of this passage, — " I doubt much whether the word [here rendered inventions'] should be taken in a bad sense. It may signify the whole of human devices, imaginations, inventions, artifice, with all their products," &c. But we shall be told that Adam was created in the image of his Maker, and must therefore have been in his original state both immortal and perfect. However conclusive this argument may appear to others, we are unable to perceive that it has any force whatever. Though Adam was thus created, it does not necessarily follow that he had THE FALL OF MAN. 61 any pre-eminence in this respect above his posteri- ty in general. As late as the apostle James, when the whole world lay in sin and wickedness, it was declared that men '^are made after the similitude of God." James iii. 9. And if being made in the likeness of God did not constitute man perfect and immortal when this inspired apostle wrote, neither did it when Adam was created ! Besides, supposing our first parents to have been created perfect and holy, what possible influence could temptation of any kind have exerted over their minds ? They were tempted and caused to sin through the power of deception. "The woman being deceived was in the transgression." But how or by what mQdins perfect beings could be de- ceived is not easily imagined — and surely the fact itself affords but sorry ^roo{ of perfection f We therefore see the strange difficulties in which the common notion of " the fall" is involved. And we at once perceive that the very act of sinning was the strongest evidence that Adam could pos- sibly have given of the imperfection and the^^ec- cability of his original nature. With this fact in view, nothing could exceed the extravagance and absurdity of the supposition that Adam was crea- ted an immortal and a fcrfect being. Nothing of the kind is stated in the divine record — and sure- ly the history of man should lead to any other con- clusion ! Let us now candidly inquire as to what altera- tion was really effected in the moral constitution of man by " the fall." That he was in his origi- nal state susceptible of being tempted, and of sin- ning, too, was fully demonstrated by the memora- 6 62 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. ble event in the garden of Eden. And it is fur- thermore evident that God knew from the begin- ning that man was liable to sin — else why the pro- hibition ? If Adam had not been created subject to vanity, and susceptible from the first of being deceived into transgression, why was he warned against the influence of evil ? That he was ex'posed to sin, is too manifest to require proof. And it is equally plain and certain that in his original state he was possessed of no holiness or perfection that secured him against sinning ! It appears from the account recorded in Genesis that Adam was not unlike his posterity in all sub- sequent times. He was tempted, and he yielded to the influence of temptation. And who need be told that such has ever been the case, and still con- tinues ? It does not seem that Adam was any more impeccable than mankind in general. We have no account of his having withstood the power of temptation for a long season, or for any time. On the contrary, he seems to have yielded to the very first that ever appeared to his mind. And in view of these considerations, it does really appear to us that Adam fell far more short of perfection than some of his posterity. He sin- fully yielded to the very first dictate of the tempt- er — while Joseph resisted the power of evil, and maintained his virtue and innocence to the last. And yet, by a sort of logic, peculiar to religious errorists, we are gravely told that the former was created di perfect and holy being, but that the latter came into the world in a state of total depravity If this notion be indeed true, who can deny that a state of utter corruption is vastly preferable to the " original righteousness" of man ? THE PALL OP MAN. 63 But the sober fact is, that when we search the whole record of divine truth, we find nothing to contradict the statement of St. Paul, that man was made subject to vanity — and that his moral as well as his physical nature is therefore the same now as it was when the spirit of God first inspired him with life ! And we have no more reason for sup- posing that human nature was changed for the worse by the sin of Adam, than we have for sup- posing that it was changed for the better by the righteousnes of Abel ! We are aware that it is quite common to speak of the heavy and awful curse that fell upon our race on account of the first man^s disobedience. And this curse is declared to include all the mise- ries of this life, death itself, and the pains of hell forever ! But it may be well to inquire whether the Scriptures furnish any proof sufficient to warrant an opinion at once so monstrous and unreasonable. We find that the serpent was cursed, and so was the ground cursed for man's sake. And that part of the ''curse" which relates directly to man, was expressed in these words : — cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life : thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Now as the very utmost extent of this denuncia- tion was till man should ^'return unto the ground,"" we need not attempt to show that "the pains of hell" beyond death formed no part of the threatened 64 UNIVEKSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. penalty. And we are well convinced that very- gross errors prevail in regard lo the heavy male- diction that came upon man even in this life. Is it a real cu7'se for man to till the ground, and to gain his living by the sweat of his brow ? Were we not intended for exertion ? And do not our health and happiness depend upon the proper exercise of our natural powers ? If then, when the human race began to multiply, the ground had not been so cursed as no longer to yield of itself sufficient sus- tenance for the support of life, the curse upon man would have been far greater ! Our race began to increase as soon as sin entered into the world — and it therefore became necessary that bread should be obtained by labor and toil. Thorns and thistles and other natural evils had to be encountered — and so long as man bears an earthly constitution, and is subject to vanity, sin and suffering will be his unavoidable lot. The ''^ curse,' ^ as it is called, seems to be inseparably connected with the estab- lished course of things in this world. Man can en- joy no perfection here— this is not the state in which the full perfection of his nature is to be developed — for here he is the creature of hope. Here there can be no entire freedom from toil and sorrow — for the place of the spirit's peaceful rest is beyond the bounds of mortality in the home of the blessed. Toil and pain continue until the earthly race is run. And then man returns to the dust of the ground, because he was taken out of the ground — and the spirit returns unto God because it came from him. In view of this brief and imperfect consideration of the doctrine of" the fall,'' we think the conclu- THE FALL OF MAN. 65 sioii cannot reasonably be avoided, that St. Paul spoke the truth when he declared that " the crea- ture was Tnade subject to vanity." In his pri- mitive state, Adam was innocent before God, though he was neither immortal nor perfect — and he maintained his innocency until he sinned. The same is true of his posterity. And our Savior most plainly recognized the perfect innocency of , little children, who had not come to the knowledge of good and evil, when he took them in his arms and blessed them, and declared that of such is the king- dom of heaven! They were in a state of simple nature — the very same, indeed, in which Adam lived before he sinned, and thus lost his native in- nocency. The first man, though the spirit of God was breathed into him, was still made of the dust of the ground — and though the inner man was an emana- tion from above, there, were still earthly feelings and passions in his nature. And yielding to the influence of earth-born propensities, he was de- ceived and slain of sin. " For the flesh (says an apostle) lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. '^ It is from this warfare of conflicting feelings and powers in our nature, that sin always has been and still is produced. And the great duty of man, as made known in the Gospel of Christ, is, to " crucify the flesh with the afl'ections and lusts"— to restrain and subdue the power of earthly and sensual feelings — to cherish and strengthen the purer and better principles of our nature — and to live and act in obedience to " the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." G6 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. In concluding this part of our labor, it may be well to remark that great as the evil of sin certain- ly is, it did not come by accident — nor was it per- mitted to enter into the world without a wise and gracious purpose on the part of him who does all things right. On this important subject the apos- tle Paul speaks as follows : — " Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound :\ That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." We here learn that the introduction of sin into the world, and its reigning unto death, afforded an opportunity and caused the necessity for the exercise of divine mercy and grace in delivering the whole creation from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the chil- dren of God! The music of heaven will be the song of rede?np- Hon through the blood of the Lamb. That glad song of triumph and joy could never be sung, if man had never sinned. The whole plan of redemp- tion would have been without effect — and the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the worlds would have bled and died in vain. But all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And when the great work of justification unto life by the grace of God manifested through the Re- deemer, shall have been finished, the full jubilee of the whole creation shall be heard in the courts of the Lord, and the happiness of heaven shall be perfect ! CHAPTER VII. RETRIBUTION UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT DISPENSATION. The subject upon which we are now about to enter covers a vast extent — and instead of being obUged to seek for topics of discourse, we are re- quired to select from a great multipUcit5^ We pro- pose to glance at the character and operations of the Divine Government through the whole period of the Old Testament Dispensation, particularly in reference to the rewards and punishments that were administered by the Supreme Ruler during that time. We shall aim at nothing more than a general view of the subject. And though it ex- tends through a long duration, and relates to the execution of retributive justice under a great varie- ty of circumstances, we think it will not be ques- tioned that God's government was administered upon the same principles, and that rewards and punishments were of the same general character from the days of Adam to the times of the Messiah. It is freely granted that during this long period different institutions were established, according to the progress and wants of man. But none will undertake to maintain that any change took place, either in the principles of the divine economy, or in the nature and duration of recompense for 67 68 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OP THE BIBLE. human conduct. We are to inquire what motives to virtue and what dissuasives from vice were pre- sented before the minds of men in the word and deaUngs of God in the olden time — and to ascer- tain, if possible, whether rewards and punish- ments were administered in the present life, or reserved for the future world. And though a very- wide field is thus spread out before us, we hope to be able to present a few positive declarations and to refer to several examples of retribution, that will sufficiently explain the nature and character of the whole subject. Under the dispensation of the Old Testament God was recognized as the Ruler and Lawgiver and Judge of the people — and his whole government was a Theocracy. His regal character was dis- played in the authority which he maintained and directly exercised over the concerns of nations and the^aftairs of individuals. He was the King, and men were the subjects of his reign. As the Law- giver, he announced the rules by which men were obliged to govern their actions. And as the Su- preme Judge, he awarded the deserts of righteous- ness, and executed the penalties of sin. Whatever blessings resulted from faithfulness and duty, were believed to proceed directly from the divine hand — and whatever evils were endured by reason of transgression, were regarded as the sensible mani- festations of God's displeasure. Nor was any material change effected with re- spect to these things by the appointment of Judges, and subsequently of Kings, in Israel. These seve- ral officers stood in the capacity of God's vice- gerants upon earth. And although they declared RETRIBUTION. 69 his will, enforced his authority, and executed the requisitions of his justice, He was still the King, the Lawgiver and the Judge. The same Theocracy was continued from the first man who was created, down to the last of the prophets. And as to the age of darkness between Malachi and the Baptist, nothing need be said. Now that God exercised his regal authority dur- ing the whole time of which we speak, will not be denied. The fact is also freely admitted that in the course of the same dispensation he fully dis- played himself in the character of a Lawgiver. And shall we suppose that his judicial work was left undone, and deferred to a future and far dis- tant period ? Did he publish his commands as the Supreme Lawgiver and King, and yet as the Judge of all the earth fail to execute the justice of his law? It has been asserted with very great posi- tiveness that the Sovereign Judge pronounced his righteous decisions upon the conduct of men in an- cient times — but reserved the full rewards of virtue and the awful penalties of sin to be administered at a distant time and in a future world. But we have never yet been favored with any proof that seems sufficient to warrant this assertion. The Scriptures manifestly declare that while God gave laws to his people, he also executed his righteous judgments. The Psalmist not only said, " Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth^^ but he also declared, "The Lord is known by the judg- ment which he execuieih.^^ And we feel fully justified by these and other passages of like mean- ing, to conclude that under the Old Testament dis- pensation, God was as fully displayed in his judicial 70 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. character, as he was in giving laws to his people and in governing the nations upon earth. The simple fact declared by Moses, Deut. xxxii. 4, should be kept constantly in view in the consi- deration of our subject — ^^For all his ways are judgment.^' In all God's dealings with mankind since the beginning of the world, judgment has formed an important branch of his general admin- istration. Man, in every condition of life, and un- der all possible circumstances, has ever been sub- ject to the operations and influences of certain and invariable laws. Adam, commencing the course of life without the experience of infancy and child- hood, was at once made acquainted with an ex- press commandment of his Maker. His violation of the law to which all stand amenable, diff'ered, therefore, in one respect, from the transgressions of his immediate descendants. He disobeyed a law which was declared in words — and they were un- faithful to the law of their own understanding. But they all, without exception, experienced the judgments of the same just and righteous Ruler. St. Paul speaks very plainly on this subject, Rom. V, where he says, *' For until the law, (that is, the law of Moses,) sin was in the world : but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless^ death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.'' A knowledge of God's revealed law increases the obligations of duty imposed upon man by natural reason and conscience. Where this law is not known, sin is not imputed in the same manner and to the RETRIBUTION. 71 same extent, as where it has been revealed. From Adam to Moses, no man could sin after the simiU- tude or hkeness of Adam's transgression— because he received an express command from God, and no such law was given to the rest of mankind during that period. Nevertheless, tlie natural fruits or the just consequences of human actions, were still ex- experienced. Moral or spiritual death, ever the certain result of evil doing, reigned from the time of the first man to the lawgiver of Israel, the same as after the memorable code was received from the Arabian Mount. For all God^s ivays are judgment. All men, we repeat, in every condition of life, are the subjects of law. There has ever been a natural and a necessary connexion between the ac- tions of man and their equitable results as declared in the Scriptures. And one of the most mischiev- ous and dangerous errors that have ever prevailed, is the supposition that in this ivorld God merely watches our doings, and records our deeds in the book of his remembrance, and will in the future world reward and punish us, — and not even there according to our general character and conduct in life, but according to the last act of our mortal being. Thusit is denied that God's ways are judg- ment in this world — while it is believed that the rewards of virtue may be lost, the punishments of sin eluded, and the righteous ends of the divine government effectually defeated. To the influence of this fatal error in some of its forms, may be ascribed a vast proportion of the sins and consequent sufferings of the world. It throws a blinding deception over the human mind 12 UMVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. and while it obscures all the loveliness and beau- ty of virture, it gilds vice with every false and de- ceptive charm. It lurks like an evil genius in the breast of every man who fancies that he can sin with impunity, and find real happiness in a course of disobedience to God. And we earnestly desire, according to the measure of our ability, to correct this dangerous mistake, and to convince the world that all God's ways are judgment. We have one word more to offer before we pro- ceed. The subject of our present inquiry, if pro- perly considered, will shed much light upon the retributions of divine justice as declared in the Christian revelation. The Gospel is expressly pro- nounced a new and better covenant than the old, because ** established upon better promises.^' And after we shall have ascertained what were the na- ture and duration of recompense under the old dis- pensation, we may safely assume that nothing less merciful in God, or less favorable to the happiness of man, is revealed in that glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which proclaims good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all people ! The first case of retribution recorded in the Scrip- tures is that in which the progenitor of our race was the subject of God's dealings. Created in in- nocency, and supplied with the means of subsist- ence and of happiness, Adam was allowed freely to enjoy all the blessings of the earth, while he was strictly forbidden to seek a knowledge of good and evil by the commission of sin. The simple law instituted for his government was very express in its provisions — and the penalty in case of diso- bedience was unequivocally declared. And, aside RETRIBUTION. 73 from all the wild and fanciful conjectures that have been indulged on this subject, there seems to be no reasonable ground for controversy touching the intent of the law, and the nature and extent of the penalty denounced. " And the Lord God com- manded the man, saying, Of every tree of the gar- den thou mayest freely eat : Bat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. ii. 16, 17. We shall venture no opinion concerning the gar- den and the trees here mentioned. Nor shall we puzzle ourselves to settle the question as to the precise act that constituted " the first disobedience of Adam. The garden doubtless represents man^s original innocence, and by his partaking of the for- bidden fruit is meant that he transgressed the com- mand of his Maker. And whatever might have been the act committed, it cannot affect the na- ture of our subject. But there are two questions which here seem to demand our particular attention. 1st. What was the declared penalty of Adam's disobedience? The divine record gives the simple answer — it was death. So far as this plain matter of fact is concerned, a perfect concurrence of be- lief is found to prevail among all Christian people. But when we come to explain the extent of mean- ing expressed, and the nature and duration of the punishment signified by the term death,, we ascer- tain that the most discordant and contradictory opinions are entertained. The more common no- tion in our day is, that this simple word embraced nothing less than a threefold death — that is, spirit- 7 74 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. ua], temporal, and eternal death — or, in other words, " all the miseries of this life, death itself, and the pains of hell forever." But is it supposi- ble that any thinking man will seriously contend that any thing of the kind is really stated in the history of Adam ? We think all candid persons must admit that this notion, however sincerely be- lieved, is susceptible of no positive Scripture proof. And if an}'- person has authority to affirm that three deaths were intended when but one was expressed, why may we not with equal propriety assert that a still greater number was meant } We have never yet heard one creditable argu- ment to prove that all the miseries of this life (to say nothing of any other) are the penalties of sin. That sin in some form is the cause of all the moral disorders of the world, we shall not attempt to de- ny. But we hold that there are evils and suffer- ings necessarily connected with our earthly exist- ence and our mortal constitution, which do not pro- ceed from any violations of the moral law of God. And we find that when our Savior was questioned in regard to a certain case of bli)idness, and asked, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind ? he answered. Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents ; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Here was a great evil that did not result from sin, either in the parents or in the child — but it came in the established course of God's wise and mysterious providence. It is therefore not true that all the miseries of this life are the inflictions of ^retribu- tive justice. And as to "eternal death," we are quite confi 2* . RETRIBUTION. 75 dent that such a thmg is not once named in any part of the Bible — nor has any expression of equi- valent meaning ever yet been found in the sacred volume. This part of the subject may therefore be dismissed without another word. Leaving the subject of temporal death for the present, for reasons that will hereafter appear, tlie whole matter is now brought down to simple mo- ral or spiritual death. And such, we firmly believe, was the full penalty of Adam's disobedience. This opinion is well sanctioned by the Scripture usage of the word death. When Moses gave command- ments to the children of Isarel, and set before them the evils that would befall them in the land to which they journeyed, in case of transgression, he assured them that he had thus set death before them. St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians of their having been delivered from death — and he also testifies that " to be carnally minded is death,^^ and, " the wages of sin is death:^ Such testimony could be greatly multiplied — but it seems unnecessary. Death to innocence — death in sin — and all the pangs of guilt and the keen stings of conscience, were denounced as the penalty of transgression in the garden of Eden. 2d. When was the penally of Adam's disobedi- ence to be executed ? Here again the simple his- tory of the man furnishes a very plain answer. It was in the day of his transgression. This decla- ration of God himself gives the strongest confirma- tion to the opinion which we have already express- ed — namely, that spiritual or moral death covered the entire ground of the denunciation. And it very clearly proves that even temporal death — to 76 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. say nothing of ceaseless woes in the future world — formed no part of the threatened penalty. Natural death is the necessary result of our earthly nature and a mortal constitution — while moral or spiritual death is the effect of sin. And that this latter death was the penalty of Adam's disobedience, is con- clusively proved by the fact that he experienced it, according to the sure word of God, in the day of transgression — and yet afterwards continued to live many years as an inhabitant of the earth ! It is therefore easily perceived that the threat- ening declared to Adam did not extend beyond the period of his natural lifetime. The very far- thest extent of the curse denounced against him / after he had transgressed, was till he should return I unto the ground, out of which he was taken ! And ^ if this man's retribution was thus limited by the express declaration of God, we have no authority, nay, we positively contradict the divine testimony when we assert, that any other motives were pre- sented to his mind '*to pursue the good and to avoid the evil, than those which were derived from the rewards and punishmeuts of this life." Let us now briefly notice the next case of retri- bution that appears in the history of our race. The hands of Cain were stained with the blood of mur- dered innocence. And for the horrid crime of slay- ing his brother — his only brother — he was doomed ^ to a fearful punishment that caused him to ex- claim in the bitterness of his grief, " My punish- ment is greater than I can bear.'" That atrocious act was committed without provocation, and with the most shocking and revolting cruelty. There was no circumstance connected with all that terrible RETRIBUTION. 77 tragedy to extenuate the guilt of the deUberate and cold-blooded murderer. The long and black cata- logue of crimes from his day to the present time may be diligently searched, and a more deeply malicious act cannot be found on record ! And what was the awful penalty denounced in this case? Who dare affirm that Cain, with his hands stained with the blood of a brother, was sentenced to any other retribution than that which was endured in this world } Let it be well understood that the question be- fore us is not — what amount of punishment did Cain deserve? — or what kind and degree of retri- bution would have produced the most salutary re- sults upon mankind in after ages ? With these questions we have now no concern whatever — they have nothing to do with the subject before us. If any person desires to speculate in regard to these things, and to give his opinion to the world, we have no objections to offer. But the only proper question now before us, is, what say the Scriptures touching the doom of Cain for his wickedness? And here is the answer : — " And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fxi^ i- Iwe and a vag abond shall thou he in the eart/C Such was the*"very extent of the 'whole denuncia- tion. And whatever opinions may be held on this subject — whatever alarming outcry may be raised about demorahzing doctrines — and whatever loud and daring assertions may be made in regard to the just doom of the murderer — we may safely 7* 78 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. defy any man living to prove by the Scriptures that Cain was adjudged of God to any penal sufferings beyond his natural lifetime ! We shall devote the remainder of the present chapter to a consideration of the case of the Ante- diluvians and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, whom God drowned in the flood and destroyed by fire from heaven. We include these two judg- ments in one, because of their manifest similarity of character, and because what we have to say of one will be found alike applicable to the other. The inhabitants of the old world corrupted their way before the Lord, and at last became so exceed- ingly wicked, that they were swept from the earth by a terrible judgment from Heaven — and the same was afterwards the case with reference to the dwell- ers in the cities of the plain. And while Noah and his household were saved from the general deluge as a mark of divine favor, Lot was deliver- ed from the judgment on Sodom as a recompense for his righteousness before the Lord. The history of those wicked people ends with the account of their death — and the judgment which God execut- ed in their destruction from the earth was the last judgment concerning them of which we find any record in the Scriptures. Of the Antediluvians God said, " I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth." And of the cities of the plain, we read Gen. xix. 24, 25, "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brim- stone and fire from the Lord out of heaven ; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." RETRIBUTION. 79 We may remark, in this place, that the ground upon which the cities of the plain stood, being filled with bitumen, continued to burn long after the cities were destroyed — and it has been affirmed by travellers and historians that even as late as the times of the apostles, and afterwards, "smoke and small flame did sometimes break out/' The long continuance of this fire led St. Jude to call it " eter- nal fire." But the learned Gilpin, as cited by Paige, has truly said, " The apostle cannot well vaediW future punishments, because he mentions it as a deigma — something that was to be a visible example to all. That word deriving from deikiiu- mia, to show, or exhibit, properly signifies to give a sample of something to be sold.^^ And because Jude spoke of a visible vionutnent on eauth of the ancient and terrible judgment that befell the cities of the plain, it by no means follows that the sub- jects of that judgment were doomed to lasting and merciless woes in the future and unseen world ! But here we shall be met with the old and oft- repeated objection that if the doctrine which we hold be true, the Antediluvians and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah fared far better than righte- ous Noah and Lot — inasmuch as the former were taken immediately to heaven, while the latter were left behind to endure all the evils and to buffet all the tempests of life. Now we have not a word to say about the particular condition of those wicked re- bels immediately after death. And when we are directly and earnestly questioned in regard to their final estate, we can only answer, according to the Scriptures, that they shall be made alive in Christ : " For as in Adam a// die, even so in Christ shall all vSO UNIVBRSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. be made alive." But our doctrine does not oblige us to believe that those wicked people accelerated their progress to heaven by the commission of- sin. This is what our opposers have labored hard to charge upon us — but we have never avowed nor believed any thing of the kind. But we do believe, as the Scriptures testify, that Christ was the first fruits of those who slept, 1st Cor. xv. 20, and the firsihegotton of the dead. Rev. 1.5. And we there- fore deny that the wicked people of whom we speak had entered into heaven, or were made alive in Christ, even when the ^XQdX forerunner of all ascended as the^r*^ who rose from the dead to die no more ! The objector, let it be noticed, seems to consider life in itself as an evil, and death as a deliverance from this evil — for he supposes that if there be no dreadful sufferings beyond mortality, the Antedilu- vians and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were very highly favored in being removed from the earth, while righteous Noah and Lot were left behind to bear all the ills of this life ! But if this reasoning be correct, how shall we reconcile the justice and the mercy of God with the fact that these good and holy men were not swept off in the general destruction, instead of being left behind to linger out a miserable existence in this vale of tears? Surely they would have gone safely, what- ever might have been the fate of the wicked. And if death, without exposure to future misery, was no punishment^ but a blessing, why was this bless- ing withheld from righteous Noah and Lot ? But it should be well understood that the Scriptures consider life as the greatest of all blessings, and RETRIBUTION. 81 premature and violent death as the most awful fun- ishment. And one Scripture declaration weighs more with us in a matter of this kind than a thou- sand groundless opinions and as many naked as- sertions. Let us here bring into view a few of the many proofs of what we have said in regard to life and premature death. The Psalmist represents God as saying of "the man that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High," ''With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. '^ And again, "But thou, O God, shalt bring them down to destruction : bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.'^ And Solomon says of wis- dom ^'Length of days is in her right hand'^ "Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many.'^ " The ivicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." " The years of the wicked shall he shortened.^' The Scriptures abound with such declarations. They could be furnished to almost any number, but it seems useless to give any more. Now whether life is really a blessing, or not, is a question with which we have no concern in this place — though we are fully convinced that our Savior testified truly when he said, " for all that a man hath will he give for his life." It is certain that the Scriptures consider life a blessing. And this fact is quite sufficient for our present purpose. And let it be carefully no- ticed and well remembered, that the good man was not promised a speedy departure from this world to the enjoyment of blessedness in eternity — but long life on earth J Neither was the wicked man S2 UNIVERSALISM, THK DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. threatened with a lengthened existence in this world of sin and sorrow, and a merciless curse to follow hereafter — but with being cut off from the earth! Let us now introduce two individual cases in which the prolongation of human life was received as a direct blessing from God. We are informed, 2d Kings, XX, that King Hezekiah became sick unto death — but that because he had w^alked be- fore God in truth, and with a perfect heart, and had done that which was right in his sight, the Lord said unto him, '^ Behoki, I will heal thee ; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I loill add unto thy days Jijteen years.^^ Now no one can suppose that this righteous man would have passed into a state of misery beyond death, if he had died of this sickness. Still his life was prolonged fifteen years as a reward for his great piety! And every discerning person can at once perceive that in like manner Noah and Lot were preserved alive, while their wicked and un- godly neighbors were swept from the earth as a judgment for their sins ! Again, St. Paul says in his Epistle to the Philip- pians, '^ Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow-soldier. * * * For indeed he was sick nigh unto death : but God had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also, lest 1 should have sorrow upon sorrow.'' Now all will most freely admit that this good and righteous man would cer- tainly have gone to heaven if he had died of this sickness. And yet the apostle declares that God had mercy on him in not permitting him to die ! That is, according to the objector's notion, Epa- RETRIBUTION. S3 phroditus was fully prepared for heaven, but God was so merciful and kind towards him that he would not suffer him to depart — but graciously- doomed him to tarry still longer in this evil world ! In view of the foregoing considerations it is easy to understand how the Antediluvians and the peo- ple of Sodom and Gomorrah could be punished for their sins, without being made the hapless victims of furious and merciless curses in the future world. They were cut off from the earth as a punishment for their sins, while Noah and Lot were left to en- joy the blessings of life. The former died under the judgments of God — and the latter lived out the full period of mortal existence, and died the death of the righteous. But we shall be told that if a man is deprived of his life as a judgment from God, and suffers no penalty after he is dead, his premature death can- not be considered as a punishment for sin. This assumption, however, is disproved by facts. None believe that Moses and Aaron, the ancient servants of God, departed out of this world into a state of ceaseless woe — and yet they both died as a judg- ment from God, because they had transgressed against him. It is stated in Deut. xxxii. 2, that Moses was commanded to ascend Mount Nebo and there die, as his brother Aaron had died in Mount Hor, — '^because ye transgressed against me among the children of IsmeW^ And if dying for sin as a judgment from God, proves the end- less punishment of the Antediluvians and of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, why does it not equally prove the same doom for Moses and Aaron? But it is contended that the mere fact that the for- S4 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. mer suffered death as a judgment from God, proves their endless suffering — and yet it is supposed that in regard to the latter the same fact does not prove that they suffered one moment after death! We confess that we have no liking for such consisten- cy in argument ! The reader will recollect that Abraham plead with God to spare the lives of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. A wise man never overlooks the greater calamity, while he weeps and mourns over one of less magnitude. And if those ungod- ly people were really plunged into a state of inter- minable wretchedness, what are we to think of Abraham for pleading that their lives might be spared, and yet manifesting no manner of concern about the salvation of their immortal souls from endless misery? The only fair and just conclu- sion is, that he prayed for the deliverance of the people from the greatest evil to which they were ex- posed — and that evil actually came upon them in their utter destruction from the earth ! Every body will freely grant that there can be no greater punishment than that of endless misery. Such being the fact, if we can prove by direct and incontrovertible testimony, that any people ever suffered a ^rea/er punishment than that of the men of Sodom, it will follow of necessity that their retribution was something less than endless tor- ment, to say the least. Hear then what the word of the Lord has said in reference even to the tem- poral calamities that were to befall the people of Israel. Lam. iv. 6. " For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater (mark the expression) is greater than the pun- RETRIBUTION. 85 ishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her." From this passage it is perfectly obvious, not mere- ly that the cities of the plain suffered merely tem- poral punishment, but also that greater evils than they endured were to be experienced, and that too in the present life. They perished as in a moment, and no hands stayed on them — while the people of Israel were subjected to the most severe and pro- tracted sufferings. And hence we find that our Savior, in speaking of the terrible overthrow of Je- rusalem, declared that then there should be a time of trouble such as never had been from the begin- ning of the world, and such as shall never be known again ! The most then that we are authorized by the Scriptures to say of the people of the old world and of the cities of the plain, is, that they suffered a premature and a violent death as a punishment for their sins — while righteous Noah and Lot were spared alive as monuments of divine mercy. And although they thus perished, they were still in the power of Him who is Lord both of the living and of the dead. And we rejoice to believe that they will finally be numbered among the kindreds of the earth, all of whom shall be made alive in Jesus Christ, who is "the Head of every man" — the "Lord of all" — and '*//ie Savior of the world.^^ 8 CHAPTER VIII. RETRIBUTION UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT DISPENSATION. (continued.) The aim of the present chapter is to continue and to conclude our consideration of the particular subject to which the last was devoted. That sub- ject is Retribution under the Old Testament Dis- pensation. We have already proceeded so far as to bring into view the awful judgment that de- stroyed the cities of the plain. And thus far we feel justified in the conclusion that no record has been found of any penal retribution in eternity for the conduct of man in this world. The ancient oracles of God, however, contain a variety of passages which are supposed plainly to teach that the recompense for human actions did extend into the future life, and was pronounced upon the highest authority to be of endless dura- tion. A few of the strongest passages of this char- acter will be brought under review in the present chapter. And if they fail to furnish the proof which our opposers claim to find in them, we shall not think it presumptuous to conclude that all others of like meaning are equally insufficient to prove that rewards and punishments in the olden time were suspended in this vi^orld, to be admin- istered in the spiritual and immortal life. 86 RETRIBUTION. 87 The simple declaration of Solomon, Proverbs xi. 31, " Behold, the righteous shall be recom- pensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner," seems to have not only a direct, but a most important bearing upon the whole subject of our present investigation. We can think of no pas- sage in all the Old Testament that speaks more plainly concerning the rewards of righteousness and the punishments of sin. Its meaning need not be sought by any lengthened train of logical argu- ment, or by any far-fetched inferences — for nothing could be more obvious and free from all ambiguity. The wayfaring man, though a fool, could hardly mistake the meaning of this declaration ; ''Behold^ the righteous shall he recompensed in the earth : much more the wicked and the sinner,^^ No less than six distinct propositions are here expressed — and we believe them all. And they briefly, but most clearly and certainly comprehend the entire doctrine of the Old Testament in regard to the re- wards of righteousness and the punishments of sin. 1. There is such a thing as righteousness among men. 2. There is such a thing as wickedness in the world. 3. There is a recompense for the righteous. 4. There is a recompense for the wick- ed. 5. The recompense of the righteous is in the earth. And 6. The recompense of the wicked is ill the earth. Now, aside from all the traditions and com- mandments of men, such is the plain doctrine of the declaration before us — and it is a doctrine which harmonizes in every respect with the whole tenor of the ancient Scriptures. We shall find in them the record of no reward or punishment, conferred 88 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRtNE OF THE BIBLE. or inflicted in any other than the present state of existence. The reward of righteousness and the punishment of sin were administered in the earth— but we are not informed that they extend in any case into the unseen world. And whatever alarm- ing apprehensions may be indulged by those who would be considered the conservators and guardi- ans of all true religion and pure moraUty, in refer- ence to the subject now before us, we do not feel authorizedby any pretence whatever, to go beyond the word of the Lord to say more or less ! We are not to inquire concerning what doctrine is the best suited to the condition and wants of man — the best adapted to restrain the evil pas- sions of his nature — and the most certain to exert a healthful moral influence upon the world. In reference to these things great diversities of opin- ion prevail — and we grant that they reasonably claim the serious attention of every man. But this is not the proper place for the discussion of these matters. The moral tendency of doctrines does not come within the scope of our present labors. Nor need we here attempt to ofl'er our views concern- ing the state of the dead, showing what we be- lieve to be the condition of man immediately after the death of the body. These things present very suitable subjects for human investigation. But they do not belong to the subject now before us. And if we would ever come to the knowledge of the truth, we should endeavor to confine our thoughts to one subject at a time. The simple question now before us relates to what the Scriptures say touching the subject of re- tribution under the olden dispensation. And it is RETRIBUTIOX. 89 not for me or for any other person to set up his own private opinion, not sanctioned by the law and the prophets, in regard to the inducements and prohi- bitions that should have been presented to the an- cient people of God, in order to restrain them from vice, and to guide them into the ways of virtue and hoUness. It is sufficient that we know what mo- lives were presented to their minds to shun the way of the transgressors, and to obey the command- ments of God. And having fully and satisfactorily ascertained this fact, neither a Christian spirit nor becoming modesty will suffer any man daringly to assert that some other kind of discipline would have been more salutary in its influence, and pro- ductive of more happy consequences in the world! After all the extravagant encomiums that have been lavished upon the heathen dogma of endless misery, its healthful moral influence is not only ex- tremely questionable, but, we think, positively dis- proved by facts. We shall find on reviewing the his- tory of the Christian Church, that in the darkest and most corrupt periods of its existence, this doctrine prevailed to the greatest extent, and consequently exerted its mightiest influence upon the human heart. The doctrine of Universal Salvation, as taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles, was publicly con- demned by the arbitrary decree of a General Coun- cil of the Church, at Constantinople, in the year 553. From that unhappy day to the 16th century, a period of nearly a thousand years, the powers of darkness prevailed, and the saving and sanctifying doctrine of endless misery was allowed freely to wield all its mighty and redeeming: energies over the hearts of men. And what was the state of 8* 90 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. public morals and of private virtue during all that undisturbed reign of a doctrine so highly extolled for its saving and redeeming powers ? Crime, pol- lution and blood were the marks of the Church — and modest virtue and pure religion were almost unknown. But since the deadly spell was broken by the great Reformation, the light and saving power of divine truth have been gradually extending their benign influence throughout the whole Christian church. And knowledge, virtue, refinement and genuine religion have been promoted in the world in exact proportion to the advances of all denomi- nations toward the doctrine and principles of uni- versal benevolence ! Wherever mental freedom and general intelligence are found to prevail, the antiquated and barbarous dogmas of the church loose their hold upon the human mind — and the morals and the happiness of society are consequent- ly improved. And we certainly think that in view of these facts — facts which none can gainsay — the advocates of that doctrine which puts off rewards and punishments to a distant and hereafter state of being, and represents them as being extremely un- certain withal, should at least speak with some de- gree of modesty concerning its wonderfully moral tendency and sanctifying effects. But we wander. The peculiar phraseology of the passage in Pro- verbs, to which we have referred, may require a word of explanation. It would seem that no per- son could fail to understand its general meaning. But some persons may possibly be unable to de- termine what is signified by the expression " much more?^ " The righteous shall be recompensed in RETRIBUTION. 91 the earth : much more the wicked and the sinner." It may be thought that the recompeuse of the sinner was to be much greater than that of the righteous. But a reference to this phrase as used in other parts of the Scriptures, will lead to a very different^con- clusion. Our Savior said to his disciples — '* If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more cloth you, O ye of little faith ?'^ Here a plain fact is first stated, namely, that God does clothe the grass of the field — and the expression much more was not intended to contradict or even to weaken the force of this fact, but simply to ren- der the declaration more emphatic that God would certainly clothe the disciples of his Son. We may notice one more instance of this kind. Jesus said to his hearers — " If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much MORE shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him ?" The fact is here plainly admitted that earthly parents do give good gifts to their children. And from this fact it is argued that God, with infinitely greater benevo- lence, will certainly bestow good things upon them that ask him. But it would be extremely unrea- sonable to suppose that one fact was introduced to disprove the other. In the light of these passages the meaning of the declaration before us is easily understood. The righteous are recompensed i7i the earth — and cer- tainly the wicked and the sinner are also thus re- compensed. Dr. A. Clarke renders the original of this place, "Behold, to the righteous it shall be re- turned on the earth ; and also to the wicked and 92 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. the transgressor." Note on 1st Peter iv. 18. Both classes were to receive according to their works — and the recompense was to be administered in the earth. And the same doctrine is declared in terms no less positive and unequivocal in many other parts of the ancient Scriptures. We may barely notice a {qw passages of this character. The Psalmist says, *' Verily there is a reward for the righteous ; verily he is a God that judgeih in the earth.'''' And Jehovah himself says in the 9th chap- ter of Jeremiah, " I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth.^^ These passages, with others of like meaning, that could be cited, conclusively show that the present world was considered a state of retri- bution — and that here the judgments of the Lord were executed in rewarding the virtuous and in punishing the vicious. In attempting to examine the particular passages before referred to, we shall avail ourselves of the concessions of our opposers. We have a right to employ their acknowledgments as arguments on our side of the question. Men do not admit facts that bear against their own favorite theories, until the evidence becomes too strong to be resisted. And such admissions coming from men of sound learning and deep research, furnish no inconsid- erable proof against their own doctrines. All such j)roof, however, will be considered only as colla- teral. 1st. The first passage to which we shall direct our attention is found in Deut. xxxii. 22, and reads thus : — " For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the loinest hcll.^^ This text has RETRIBUTION. 93 been regarded as a most awful threatening of the ter- rible woes that awaited the wicked and rebeUious Israehtes in the future and spiritual world. And it has been supposed that they were to sink into the lowest depths of that awful pit of perdition, where there are sufferings so intense and excruti- ating, and of such fearful horrors, as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man ever been able to conceive. But though the sound of these words has become as shocking to many ears as the fabled clanking of the prisoner's chains in hell, we can find nothing in the connexion of this passage to warrant any such exposition. Nay, we are there furnished with abundant proof that the threatened punishment was to be endured in this world. Let us read the connexion of the passage. " For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth for land] with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mis- chiefs upon them : I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and de- voured with burning heat, and with bitter de- struction : I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison o{ serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also, with the man of gray hairs.'-' And shall we suppose that the teeth of beasts, the poison of serpents of the dust, and the sword of the conquering ivarrior will be made the instru- ment of horrid tortures to immortalized sufferers in the world of spirits ? And in that miserable throng, disowned and tormented of God, will there 94 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. be found tlie tender suckling with the man of gray hairs ? A doctrine that cannot be sustained with- out substituting such wild fancies for sohd proof, is unworthy of the beUef of any thinking being. And if, to justify their construction of this passage, our opponents assert that the instruments of punish- ments here named merely represent the outpourings of terrible vengeance in eternity, we have only to remind them that this assertion, though very easily uttered, requires /^roo/" that has never yet been fur- nished ? As to the phrase " the lowest hell," we find it used in such a manner as seems altogether to pre- clude its reference to the spiritual state of existence, while it manifestly confines its application to the concerns of this life. In view of his happy deliv- erance from a condition of extreme debasement and suffering, David thus rendered thanksgiving to God — " Great is thy mercy toward me : and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.^' If then, David could be in the lowest hell without suf- fering immortal pains beyond death, there seems to be no necessity in the nature of the case, for sup- posing that the Israelites to whom we have referred, could not sufi'er the like punishment in the present mode of existence. And in view of these considerations, the only thing that excites our astonishment in the follow- ing important concession of Dr. Clarke, is his un- usual candor. In commenting on the passage in Deut., before cited, he says," The lowest hell — the very deepest destruction; a total extermination, so that the earth, their land, and its increasej and all their property, should be seized, and the foun- RKTRIEUTION. 95 dations of their mountains, their strongest for- tresses, should be razed to the ground. All this was fulfilled in a most remarkable manner in the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans : so that of the fortifications of that city not one stone was left on another." We take our leave of this passage with the sin- gle remark, that people must feel that they are hard pressed for proofs of a favorite doctrine when they will eagerly seize upon a text which relates only to temporal judgments in the earth, and without any proper regard for its connexion and obvious meaning, insist upon applying it to the concerns of another world ! 2d. There is a passage in the 9th Psalm, which has been quoted times without numher as a proof- text of the strongest kind in favor of the graceless dogma of infinite sufferings for a vast proportion of the human race. *^ 77*6 ivicked shall be turned info hell, and all the nations that forget God.^^ Now it is easily perceived that the entire proof drawn from this passage rests upon one word — hell If the Psalmist had merely said, the wicked nations icho forget God shall he cut off from the earth, no one would have supposed him to counte- nance the doctrine in question. And it strikes our mind that the opposer assumes entirely too much, when he confidently takes it for granted that this simple word must denote a state of ceaseless and immortal sufferings beyond death. Its literal mean- ing, according to the consent of candid persons, and agreeably to its constant usage in the Scrip- tures, is the state of the dead in general. Hence Jacob declared that he would go down to hell. 96 UNIVERSALISM, where he hoped to meet his son Joseph, whom he supposed to have been slain of wild beasts. And hence also we read that Christ's soul was not left in kell. But the same word is also used figura- tively^ to denote great sorrow and distress and pun- ishment for sin — as when David said, " the sor- rows oihell compassed me about," and " the pains of hell gat hold upon me" — and also when Christ said to Capernaum, " And thou which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be thrust down to Ae//." Besides, it should be understood, that the 9th Psalm was a hymn of thanksgiving to God for vic- tory over the heathen enemies of Israel. Mark the language of the Psalmist. "The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they have made : in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment which he ex- ecuteth : the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten : the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O Lord ; let not man prevail ; let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, Lord ; that the nations may know themselves to be but men." The meaning of the Psalmist, we think, is well expressed by the learned No yes, (who will not be suspected of any desire to favor our peculiar views,) in the following words — The heathen shall be " driven into scheol, [hell,] i. e. pursued by vic- torious enemies till they are destroyed." And Dr. Allen, late president of Bowdoin College, Maine, thus speaks in his published Lectures on Universal Salvation, and in reference to the passage now un- RETRIBUTION. 97 der consideration — " The punishment expressed, is cutting off from life, destro^^ing from the earth, by some special judgment, and removing to the invisible state of the dead. The term [scheol] does not seem to mean with certainty any thing more than the state of the dead in their deep abode.'' And we may add to all this that the Psalmist's ex- ultation over the enemies that had fallen, and his declaration that the judgments of God would still pursue the enemies of Israel, and cut them off from the land of the living, should hardly be deemed conclusive proof of the notion that immortal suf- ferings were denounced against any soul of man ! 3d. We next present a passage from the 33d chapter of Isaiah. "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ?" Here, it is said with an air of boasting confidence, that we have the account of a punishment that was to be ever- lasting, and which must therefore have extended into a state of being that is without end. We do not doubt that this notion is most sincerely be- lieved — but we feel quite confident that its believers leap to the conclusion without stopping to consid- er i\\Q premises. And the doctrine before us is not derived from the passage, but the passage is violently warped and twisted to make it suit the doctrine. Now there is hardly a fact stated in the Scrip- tures that is susceptible of stronger and more abundant proof, than that the word everlasting \s commonly applied to things having both their be- ginning and their end in this world. The posses- sion of the land of Canaan by the Jews, was called 98 UNIVEKSALISMj THE DOCTRINE OF THE BI13LE. everlasting — so was the priesthood of Aaron — and so also was the covenant of circumcision. All these things and many more that might be mentioned, commenced and closed in this state of being. And in whatever sense the word everlasting may now be used, we are concerned only with its Scriptural signification. Besides, it deserves to be particularly noticed that the passage now under consideration is ex- pressed in the form of a question — and perhaps the answer which follows may throw some light upon its true meaning. "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" Such lan- guage, rudely severed from its proper connexion^ and without any reference to the response imme- diately succeeding, is quite unintelligible. And if we would know any thing of what was intended, we should exercise a little patience, and attend to- the answer, instead of trying to be satisfied with the mere sound of words, and then flying off to something else. The prophet gives the true answer in these words: — ^'■He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly ; he thatdespiseth the gain of oppressions, that shakethhis hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. H^ shall dwell on high : his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks ; bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure." Such was the man who was promised security from danger and harm amid the most terrible judgments of God against the hypocrites and sinners in Zion — and which judgments were represented by devouring fire and RETRIBUTION. 99 everlasting burnings. Though Uving among the wicked during the time of their punishment, the good man, walking righteously and speaking up- rightly, should still be protected in his integrity, and pass unharmed through every fiery trial. Here, then, we have the plain meaning of the prophet as exhibited in the answer to his own question. And he who can find any thing in this passage in proof of merciless penal sufferings in the future world, must have powers of perception rarely found among men, and far from being desirable in any. 4th. We shall notice but one more passage from the Old Testament, supposed to be at variance with the positions which we have assumed. Many per- sons would no doubt regard it as a most desperate act to attempt to expound such a passage consist- ently with the doctrine which holds that under the old dispensation, the recompense of righteousness and the punishment of sin were administered in the earth. But we are not to be held accountable for all the strange things which people please to fancy — and the only object of our search is truth. The pas- sage referred to iscontaineS in the 12th Chapter of Daniel, and reads thus : — " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Perhaps this passage is relied upon with greater assurance, and more confidently cited to substanti- ate the doctrine from which we dissent, than any other contained in the Old Testament. We wish not to be presumptuous — nor do we set up the claim to any extraordinary abilities in expounding the sacred oracles. But we cannot bow submis- 100 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. sively to the opinions of the majority, and beheve without reason or proof, and against the testimony of the Scriptures. And we only ask that our views and the reasons by which they are sustained, may be weighed in the balance of candor, and fairly tested by the only infallible standard of truth. It seems not to occur to the minds of those who construe the passage in question according to the popular belief, that it contains a prophecy — and that the fulfilment of this prophecy has been de- clared by him who spake as never man spake. Let us carefully notice the connexion of the pas- age itself, that the testimony of our Lord may be clearly understood. Daniel says, "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people ; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time : and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.^' And in a sub- sequent part of the same chapter, the tim^e is again stated to be, " when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished." Now let us be careful to notice the following declarations of our Lord in the 24th chapter of Matthew, concerning the destrnction of the holy city, and the scattering of the power of the ancient people of God : " When ye therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth RETRIBUTION. 101 let him understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the house top not come down to take anything out of his house : Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. * * * But pray- that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath-day : For then (mark the very lan- guage of the prophet Daniel) for then shall be great tribtilatien, such as was not from the begin- ning of the world to this limey 7io nor ever shall beV Here, then, we find a positive declaration of the fulfilment of Daniel's prediction at a time which is now past. It referred to the time when the power of the holy people should be scattered, and the abomination that maketh desolate should be set up in the holy place. That time did come — and the prophecy was accomplished to the very letter. And that the holy people, or the people of God who were called holy without reference to charac- ter, should be represented as sleeping in the dust of the earthy need excite no surprise, when we re- flect that Ezekiel declared the same people to be in their graves, when they were captives in Baby- lon — and gave them the assurance that they should be brought up out of their graves, and re- instated in their own land. Ezekiel xxxvii. Isaiah called upon Zion, or the ancient Church of God, to arise and shake herself /rom the dust of the earth — that is, to arise from her slumbering and degraded condition. The whole house of Israel thus slept in the dust of the earth, when the Son of God came to execute judgment in the earth. And while some came forth at the sound of the Gospel to the enjoyment of that everlasting life, which 102 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. consists in the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ — others arose to the judgment of con- demnation, and to the suffering of shame and ever- lasting contempt ! We have now briefly, but we trust fairly con- sidered a number of the principal texts of the Old Testament, which are supposed to prove that it threatened man with punishment in the immortal world for the sins of the present Ufe. And we have found that they all utterly fail to yield any such proof. They are wrested from their proper con- nexion, and applied to a subject to which they bear no necessary relation, when used for the sup- port of this doctrine. We have not attempted to discuss the question whether there will be penal sufferings in the future world for the sins of the present life. We have only aimed to show what the Scriptures of the Old Testament taught in re- gard to rewards and punishments for human con- duct. And in view of all that has been said, we cannot avoid the conclusion that Dr. Jahn testified truly when he said in 314th section of his Biblical Archaeology : " We have not authority, therefore, decidedly to say that any other motives were held out to the ancient Hebrews to pursue the good and to avoid the evil, than those which were derived from the rewards and punishments of this life. That these wem the motives, which were present- ed to their minds in order to influence them to pur- sue a right course of conduct, is expressly asserted in Is. 26 : 9, 10, and may be learnt also from the imprecations, which are met with, in many parts of the Old Testament." There is one important consideration connected RETRIBUTION. 103 with our subject, which we desire briefly to no- tice before we conchide. St. Paul says in the 2d chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, " For if the word spoken by angels (that is, the law, which Stephen says was received ' by the disposition of angels^) was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salva- tion ?" The fact is here most plainly asserted that under the law of Moses, every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of re- ward — that is, a recompense proportionate to the deeds of every transgression. And pray who need be told that that recompense must have been limit- ed in duration, or else it could not have been re- ceived in full? That the recompense of which the apostle speaks did not extend into another state of being, will appear still more evident when we consider that God would not inflict upon his ancient people a punishment of which he never apprised them — and when we reflect that our Savior brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. A fu- ture state of being was not, therefore, fully revealed to the world under the Old Testament Dispensation. And the distinguished Dr. Campbell, of the Pres- byterian Church, has said, " It is plain that in the Old Testament the most prof ound silence is observed in regard to the state of the deceased, their joy or sorrow, their happiness or misery." This state- ment is true, if it means (as we suppose it does) that nothing was said in the Old Testament in re- gard to the particular condition of man in the future life. And who is prepared to assert that rewards 104 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. and punishments beyond death were taught in a book which was confessedly written before the im- mortal state of being and the condition of man in eternity were fully brought to light through the Gospel of Christ ? In conclusion, we shall briefly notice an objec- tion that may be urged against the argument of the chapter. It may be said "that if man was destined to a resurrection from the dead into immortality before the immortal state of being was fully re- vealed in the Gospel, some of our race might be made happy and others miserable after death, ac- cording to their conduct while in the flesh — and that the Gospel might, therefore, have made reve- lations of future punishment, as well as of future hap- piness." In view of this objection we remark, that it would be difficult to show the justice of God in dooming his creatures to a punishment of which he never warned them. And we should be slow of heart to ascribe to him the procedure of con- demning men to penal sufferings beyond death, at a time when his word " observed the most pro- found silence in regard to the state of the deceased!" That God should have designed man for the enjoy- ment of the immortal and heavenly inheritance, is consistent alike with justice and goodness — for that inheritance is not the recompense of works, but the free gift of divine grace. Man has no power over it — and God revealed the resurrection and spirit- ual state of glory, just when it was proper in the plan of his government that such knowledge should be communicated to man. Besides, it should be well understood and never forgotten, that the Gospel is expressly called a new RETRIBUTION. 105 and better covenant than the legal, because estab- lished upon better promises — and 720^ because it reveals dreadful and horrible evils that were alto- gether unknown to the old dispensation. It de- clares that God "is the Savior of all men." And its clear testimony in regard to the future and im- mortal life is " For as in Adam all die, even so IN Christ shall all be made alive.'' CHAPTER IX. GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. In this chapter, which will be the last relating particularly to the Old Testament, we shall en- deavor to prove that the ancient Scriptures pro- mised the final holiness and happiness of the whole human race. The reader of the preceding chap- ter may be somewhat astonished that we should now attempt to defend such a position. We have maintained that the state of man in the future and immortal life was not fully revealed until the intro- duction of the gospel dispensation. And we now propose to show that the olden Scriptures did pro- mise the ultimate blessedness of all mankind in the heavenly nature of Jesus Christ, beyond mortality and death. At first view their seems here to be a manifest contradiction — and no doubt it will ap- pear to some minds entirely impossible to maintain and harmonize these two apparently conflicting positions. The fact that the final condition of man in the future and immortal state of existence was not fully revealed to the world under the Old Testament dispensation, is now very generally admitted, and we think may be considered incontrovertible. And this fact need not be denied or concealed in order to establish the position which we have assumed. For although the Old Testament promised a future 106 GOSrEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 107 and happy life for the human family in the second man, who is the quickening spirit, its meaning was never clearly understood in all its fulness and ex- tent, until the great " Sun of Righteousness" arose in the brightness of his glory, and shed upon its pages a new and heavenly light. On the subject of man's immortality, or his condition in the im- mortal state, the Old Testament may be represent- ed by the figure of the moon in the heavens, which is dark of itself, but which glows with a clear and bright lustre " when shining with reflected light." And as seen in the bright effulgence of the gospel revelation, that ancient book is found to abound with great and precious promises of salvation — promises which not only extend beyond death, but which also embrace the final glory and bliss of the vast family of Adam ! The New Testament plainly declares that our Savior, Jesus Christ, hath brought life and immor- tahty to li^kt through the Gospel. 2d Tim. i. 10. It is therefore plain that this great revelation of truth was not fully made known until the " more ex- cellent ministry" of our Redeemer was instituted in the earth. And yet we find that in addressing the Sadducees in reference to the resurrection of the dead and the life immortal, Jesus assured them that the books of Moses, in which they trusted to the exclusion of all other Scripture, contained cer- tain evidences of man's future and immortal ex- istence. After declaring that in the spiritual world marriage shall be unknown, and that the children of the resurrection shall there be " as the angels of God in heaven," he thus testified : " But as touch- ing the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read 108 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the hving." Mat. xxii. 31, 32. And St. Luke, after recording this same dialogue adds to the declaration," God is not ihe God of the dead, but of the hving : for all live unto him?^ Now when God thus spake to Moses out of the bush, the patriarchs of whom he declared himself still to be the God„ had passed off the stage of mortal existence, and their bones were mouldering in the dust. And as Jehovah was still their God, it is manifest that they were still in existence, since "God is not the God of the dead but of the living: for all live unto him." But this certain proof of life for the soul beyond the dissolution of the material body, was not clearly understood and fully dis- cerned by man, until God's chosen Messenger of the new and better covenant of promise, shed the light of immortality around the grave of the sleep- er, and laid open to the vision of faith the glorious and heavenly inheritance of our race ! And with the aid of this better revelation, a careful investi- gation will remove every doubt that the Old Tes- tament did promise a happy life beyond death, and immortal blessings in Christ beyond all corruption and every evil. Such promises, however, were not fully understood, until explained in the clear light of the Gospel. The spirit of divine promise saw far more than the ancient Seers were themselves permitted to behold. But some of their predic- tions, though uttered before the immortal life was brought to light through the Gospel, must have their ultimate fulfilment (as we shall attempt to GOSPEL TROMISKS OF 'J'HE OLD TESTAMENT. 109 show) ill the redemption of our race from the bondage of corruption into the glorious Uberty of the children of God ! Our Savior affirmed that he came into the world to bear witness unto the truth. And it seems evi- dent from his own language that the truth to which he bore testimony was contained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament — though that truth was not well understood until explained by himself. He said on a certain occasion to the Jews, " Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me." Jno. V. 39. No person need be informed that Jesus here referred to the Old Testament — for the Keio was not then written. The Jews searched their scrip- tures to find that knowledge which is eternal life — and Jesus assured them that those very scriptures testified of him. And hence he reproved them for their obstinacy and unwillingness to come unto him that they might receive the very life which they thought to find. The Messiah not only brought to light the im- mortal state of being — but he also revealed the mind of the Spirit in the ancient records of divine truth. Holy men of old truly spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God — but they did not so clearly and perfectly understand the meaning of that Spirit, as did He who came from the bosom of the Father, full of grace and truth. We must therefore search the plain revelation of Christ to as- certain the real meaning and intent of the law and the prophets. And we should remember that our Savior declared in reference to those who receive the truths of his kingdom, "Among them which are 10 110 UXIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. horn of woman there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist : notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.'^ It should be particularly remarked in this place, that the great mystery which the Gospel unfolds relates to the divine 'promises — and that the reve- lation of this mystery shows the large extent and the glorious fulfilment of these promises. This pro- found mystery was the object of deep and strong desire with the wise men and prophets of old — and even angels are represented as desiring to look into the promises which God made unto the fathers. We find nothing, however, in all the revelation of Christ concerning dreadful and lasting sufferings, of an entirely different character from any that were made known to man before the introduction of the better covenant. But it shows something exceed- ing in excellence and glory all the former concep- tions of the human mind — and it opens to the pros- pect of our faith the incorruptible and unfading inheritance of heaven for the whole race of man ! On this interesting theme the apostle Paul thus speaks to the Colossians : — '' I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God ; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but is now made manifest to his saints ; to whom God would make known what is i\\Q x\q\\qs o{ the glory of this mystery dimons, the. Gentiles ; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.^^ Such was the great mystery that had been concealed from ages and from generations. And the revelation of this mystery in the Gospel opens to the prospect of our faith the inheritance of heaven GOSPEL I'ROMIf^ES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. HI and inspires the liope through Christ of immortal and unfading bhss. And it is moreover proved by the clear testimony of the same apostle that this revelation declares the eventual ingathering and blessedness of all mankind in one Lord and Re- deemer. He says, Ephesians 1. 8-10, " Where- in he (that is God) hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence ; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according 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." Now in view of all these considerations, we are prepared to understand what the apostle means, 2d Peter i. 21, " For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man : but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The an- cient prophets of the Lord did not draw their pre- dictions from an observance of the signs of the times, and a calculation of probable occurrences. They gave expression to the spirit of divine pro- mise which dwelt in them. And we may well con- clude that in many instances they knew nothing of the extent and glory of the prophecies which they indited through " the inspiration of the Almighty." They declared not their own opinions, but spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. And though they searched diligently into the things of which they spake, and even angels desired to look into those things, the great mystery was never solved, until the chosen Messenger of the new cov- enant laid open the whole plan of gospel grace, and 112 UNIVERSALISar, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. declared himself to be the resurrection and the spiri- tual life of the world ! St. Peter again says of our Redeemer, ^' Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye seejhim not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory : receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophecied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ whicli was in them did signify, when it testified before- hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, hut unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; which things the angels desire to look into." From this passage it is manifest that the prophets of old spake of the salvation of man through Jesus Christ. And it is also shown that while they dili- gently searched into this salvation, and desired to ascertain the time when it should be fully revealed, they were sensible that they ministered to future generations, to whom this great mystery should be made known. We are blessed with the reve- lation of this mystery. And in the clear light of the Gospel we now plainly see that the ancient pro- mises of God embrace the resurrection of the dead and the final glory and bliss of man. And indeed we find that when St. Paul stood accused before King Agrippa, he plainly declared in his defence, — "And now Istandandam judged for the hope of the GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 113 promise made of God unto our fathers : unto which promise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, Khig Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. W/ii/ should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the deadV^ Here, then, we plainly perceive that in declaring the ancient promises of God, the apostle made them embrace man's future and immortal life. These promises, therefore, though not perfectly understood at the time when they were first spoken, are now seen to have extended beyond the reign of sin and death — while they give to us comforting assurances of final blessedness in the Lord of life and glory ! But though this train of thought might be great- ly extended, we trust that enough has already been said to render it obvious to every mind that the Old Testament did contain promises of immortal life and heavenly bliss. And here we are reminded that the promises themselves deserve to be carefully noticed. We shall not feel justified, however, in seizing upon any passage in the ancient Scriptures that seems to promise universal blessedness, and without any regard to its true meaning, insist upon forcing it into a proof of ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ. But when we find a passage of the Old Testament thus explained in the New, we surely do no violence to the sacred text in present- ing such explanation in connexion with the passage itself. And it will be perceived that the few pas- sages about to be introduced are applied in the Gospel to the final and glorious results of Christ's mediation between God and man. 10* 114 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. We camiot well pass over that most remarkable promise which God made to the earliest inhabi- tants of the earth — a promise which extends to the completion of the Messiah's work in the salvation of the world. Some persons have indeed supposed that the first sin of man deprived him of all favor of God, and exposed both him and all his posteri- ty to interminable woes! But this notion, alike op- posed to reason and to scripture truth, will be abundantly refuted as we proceed. On referring to the 3d chapter of Genesis, we find the whole account, not only of the first temp- tation and sin, but also of the curse that was conse- quently denounced. In the same connexion we find one of the most gracious promises on record. And this great promise was made immediately af- ter the first transgression — thus showing that sin it- self had not removed the paternal love of God from his offspring on earth. Tliere was a curse pro- nounced upon the cause of sin and mortal woe, which was the tempter, or the principle of evil represented under tl^e similitude of a serpent. And ihe promise of which we speak was declared in these memorable words : — "And 1 will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heal." Now we do not pretend that this promise was understood in all its length breadth at the time when it was uttered — and that it was then perceived to mean that evil and all its works shall be destroyed by the Savior of the world. We look to the New Testament for the true explanation— and the whole subject is there made perfectly plain. Jesus is said to have been GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 115 '^made of a woman" — and perhaps he was thus designated because he had no father on earth. And the fact is abundantly testified that he was empow- ered of God to destroy the devil and his works. It should be remarked that the seed of the serpent was merely to braise the heel o( the seed of the wo- man. A slight wound only was to be inflicted — and that was to be done by the hands of those who were in character the children of the devil. And the fact is worthy of notice that our Savior said to those who maliciously sought liislife, and at last put him to death, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do^ He did not mean that those Jews whom he addressed were in reahty the offspring of an evil being — but that they sustained such a character, and were so influenced by the power of evil, as to render it proper that he should denominate them a ^^ generation ofvipers.^^ The principle of evil is thus personified, and repre- sented as the agent who acted through them in put- ting to death " the man Christ Jesus." But the seed of the woman was to inflict a more deadly blow. He was to bruise the head of the ser- pent. And hence we find it written, Heb. ii. 14, "For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Christ) also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might de- stroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Nor is it merely declared that the seed which was promised will destroy the devil himself. The apostle John proceeds still farther, and affirms, " For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroij the works of the devil. '^ 1st John iii. 8. 116 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. Such is the great work which the Redeemer of the world has undertaken to perform — and all power in heaven and in earth has been given him for its accomplishment. We rejoice to believe that he will succeed — for the unalterable oath of the Living God has been pledged for his prosperity. And when he shall have destroyed death, which is the last enemy, there can be no foe left to tor- ment man — and while grace and life through Jesus Christ our Lord shall become triumphant and uni- versal, God himself shall be all in all ! Again, the promises that were made to Abraham and renewed to his descendants, are so explained in the New Testament as to justify their application to the final condition of mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every reader is supposed to be fami- liar with these remarkable promises — and such as are not may become acquainted with them by con- sulting the 12th, 18th, 22d and 26th chapters of Genesis. In examining these places we find that all the nations and all the families of the earth were to be blessed in the promised seed. And that the entire race of man was embraced in this great promise, so plainly appears from the exposition which St. Peter has given it, that no room is left for any reasonable doubt. In speaking to the Jews, he says. Acts lii. 25, " Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.^^ Now if absolute universality is not here expressed, we confess our ignorance of the meaning of language, and our inabihty to find any words that will express this idea. Althongh it GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 117 might be supposed that some men are of no nation, and Others allied to no particular family, yet to talk of a man who is not a kindred of the earth, is to use language without meaning. The conclusion is therefore irresistible that the promise in question includes every human being, and purposes to bless them all without respect of persons. V And having thus settled this point we may pro- perly inquire concerning the nature of the pro- mised blessing. All the kindreds of the earth, it is declared, shall be blessed in the seed of Abraham, or in the seed of the woman who sprang from his posterity. After calling this promise the Gospel, which God himself preached to Abraham, saying, " In thee shall all nations be blessed." St. Paul thus speaks. Gal. iii. 16, " 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.^' Here, then, in the clear light of the Gospel the ancient promise of God to Abraham is explained to mean nothing less than the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ. And after citing this promise in all its fulness and extent, St. Peter im- mediately added to the persons whom he addressed, "Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.''^ In strict accord- ance with this fact, Jesus is called "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the icorldJ^ His office is to finish sin — to destroy the devil and his works — and to reconcile all things unto God. And he will not fail nor be discouraged in his work — but the pleasure of the Lord will prosper 118 UNIVERSALTSM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. in his hand, and he will see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied ! We are aware of the belief that the promise of which we have spoken is fulfilled when salvation is prvoided and freely offered to all mankind — though but a part will actually be saved. But if this notion be true, all the kindreds of the earth might be blessed in Christ, according to the promise, and yet not one soul ever inherit the promised bless- ing ! For 'provisions might be made for all, and the offer might be presented to all, and still no man be actually blessed in the promised seed ! This would be rather a strange fulfilment of promise ! But the promise itself, as we have found it stated and reiterated, says nothing whatever about pro- visions and offers — but it plainly declares the fact that all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed in Christ Jesus ! And the only proper question be- tween our opposers and ourselves is, whether this ancient promise of God will ever be fulfilled. The notion prevails to a great extent that none of mankind can ever be blessed in Christ, after hav- ing died in Adam, except such as believe and com- ply with certain conditions in the present world. But the very advocates of this notion themselves are not satisfied with the conclusion to which it cer- tainly leads. They know that millions of our race die without ever having heard of a Savior — and that if this notion be true, they must all eternally perish. And yet they shudder at the bare thought, and deny all faith in the conclusion resulting from their own avowed belief—and they at once freely admit and even contend that many will be blessed in Christ, who have never in this life exercised GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 1 19 faith in his name ! Such they certainly hold will be the case with all who die in infancy. And the mo- ment it is admitted that one human soul may be blessed in Christ without having exercised faith and performed good works in the world, that mo- ment it is fully conceded that these things are not essential to the inheritance of the promised blessing of heaven ! We humbly trust that we prize the blessings of faith in the Redeemer as highly as any other peo- ple, and we earnestly insist upon the performance of good works, because, as an apostle has testified, and as our own experience declares, " these things are good and profitable unto men." But we do not believe that any doings of our own will either se- cure or forfeit the life and blessings which God has graciously promised to us and to all mankind in his Son. And hence we find that immediately after citing and explaining the promise under conside- ration, St. Paul asks the question, "Is the law then against the promises of God?" and gives this sig- nificant answer," God forbid.^^ Gal. iii. 21. The apostle did not believe that there is any penalty annexed to God's law, the infliction of which will to any extent nullify the divine pro- mises. But he did believe, as the Scriptures abundantly teach, that God will render to every man according to his deeds — and yet that far be- yond all rewards and punishments, and of his own free and impartial grace, he will bless the whole race of Adam with immortal life and joy in the second man, who is the quickening spirit and "the Savior of the world." We shall introduce but one more passage in 120 UNI VERS ALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. proof of the fact that the Old Testament promised the universal salvation of our race through Jesus Christ. The passage has been so frequently re- peated, and is so familiar to all, that it need hardly be quoted at length. In the 25th chapter of Isaiah we find a prediction concerning the mountain in which the Lord of hosts was to make a feast of fat things for all people — and it is there promised that " he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will sivallow up death in victory : and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. ^^ Now St. Paul speaks, Gal. iv, and Heb. xii, of the old and new covenants under thefiguresof Mount'SinaiandMount Sion. And we think it but reasonable to conclude that the moun- tain in the passage just cited, and in which a feast was to be prepared for all jieople, means the Gos- pel Covenant^ v/hich embraces all the kindreds of the earth, and which furnishes the bread of God for the life of the world. But the clear explanation presented by the apostle himself will prove far more satisfactory than any that we could offer. In the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians we are furnished with a full and connected discourse on the subject of man's future state of existence and the final and glorious results of the Messiah's king- dom. The fact of Christ's resurrection from the dead is first stated, and abundantly proved by re- ference to the testimony of a great cloud of living and credible witnesses. From this fact it is shown that all mankind will in like manner be raised from the dead, and made alive in Him who is our forerunner to glory — " the head of every man" — GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 131 and " the Savior of the world.'' And when this universal triumph over death shall have been achieved, it is declared that the last enemy shall be destroyed, and all things shall be nsade subject unto Christ, even as he also shall be subject unto the Father, that God maxj he all in all I The apostle afterwards proceeds to illustrate the resurrection, and to show how the dead are raised up and with what body they come. He says, ''It is sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." And here it should be observed, that the apostle speaks not of any particular class of mankind, but oithe dead — or, in other words, he speaks of all who die in the earthy nature of Adam. And while he certi- fies that '^ as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,'' he also declares, " And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly V Having proceeded thus far wih his explanation of the resurrection of the vast family of Adam, and the successful, and glorious issue of the gospel dis- pensation, the apostle gives utterance to the follow- ing language, which will show the full meaning of the passage cited from Isaiah : — " Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery ; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changedy in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; (for the trumpet shall sound;) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 11 122 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. changed. For this corruptible must put on incor- ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incor- ruption, and this mortal shall have put on immor- tality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Now no person need be told where this saying is written. We have already read the original pro- mise of God in the ancient record of his truth. And the apostle Paul has declared the fulfilment of this promise. The saying will be brought to pass, when death, the last enemy, shall be swallowed up in victory. And it should not be forgotten that when this last and great victory of the Son of God shall be accompUshed, tears shall be wiped FROM OFF all FACES — and pain and sorrow will therefore be unknown to any soul of man ! Then shall the glad song of victory through the Lamb of God over sin, death and hell, dwell upon every tongue — the perfect praises of a whole fami- ly in heaven shall be heard in the grand jubilee of redemption — Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, shall see the re- sults of his labors with satisfaction and delight — and the Lord himself shall rejoice over his works with singing and joy ! Thus, then, we find that God has of a truth spoken of the restitution of all things by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. We rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory that the clear light of the Gospel of Christ has been shed upon the ancient record of God's truth — so that we are now enabled to see what prophets were not perruitted to behold, and to understand the things GOSPEL PROMISES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 123 into which angels had desired to look. And we bless the holy nsane of God that we are now per- mitted by faith — strong and confiding faith — to behold the bright and happy period, when unto God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, every knee shall bow in humble submission to the power of love, and every tongue shall joyfully de- clare, " Ix THE Lord have I righteousness and CHAPTER X. THE TRINITY. The subject which we now propose to discuss is the doctrine of the Trinity— d^ doctrine which we do not beheve is taught in any part of the word of God. We feel perfectly free to investigate this doctrine with the aid of reason in the light of the Scriptures. And though we shall use great plain- ness of speech, we hope not to betray a want of pro- per respect for the opinions and feelings of any of our Christian brethren. Others have the same right to hold and to defend what they honestly believe to be God's truth, that we dare claim for ourselves. But we cannot allow that any doctrine tliat has ever been revealed to man should be considered too sacred to be freely and thoroughly examined. Let it not be supposed, however, that we intend to make our own feeble reason the great standard of faith. We believe that the Scriptures are the true standard. But the meaning expressed in the Scrip- tures can never be apprehended without the pro- per exercise of that reason and that understanding, which are the highest endowments of our nature. And while we desire to bow with all becoming submission to the authority of God's word, we feel that duty requires us diligently to seek a knowledge of the sense and meaning of that word. 124 THE TRINITY. 135 The subject before us opens a wide field for dis- cussion — and we have no expectation that we shall be able fully to examine it in all its parts. The attention of the reader will be directed to several of the most plausible arguments in favor of the tri- personality of the Godhead — and afterwards we shall offer a number of insuperable objections against this doctrine. And the conclusion of the whole matter will, we think, be found most clear- ly expressed in the following words of St. Paul : — *'''For there, is one God and ont Mediator between God and men^ the man Christ Jesus J^ 1st Tim. ii. 5. In order to avoid even the appearance of mis- representing the doctrine of the Trinity, we shall carefully state this doctrine in the very language of its believers. The first article of the Articles of Religion of the Episcopal Church is thus express- ed : — " There is but one living and true God, ever- lasting, without body, parts or passions; of infinite power, wisdom and goodness; the Maker and Pre- server of all things visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead, there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity ; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.'^ And in the Shorter Catechism of the Presbyterian Church, we find the following question and answer : — " Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead? A. There are three persons in the Godhead ; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.'' Such then is the doctrine of the Trinity. It holds that there are three persons in the Godhead — and that these three several persons are of the same 126 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. substance^ equal in power and glory, and co-ex- istent in their being. All Trinitarians, we think, will freely admit that such is the doctrine which they believe. We may safely assume in the outset that no man will attempt to adduce arguments in support of this doctrine from any other source than the Scrip- tures. For surely none can pretend that there is any thing either in reason or in nature to warrant the supposition that three persons ever existed in one being. So far as the instructions of reason are concerned, we might as well suppose that three beings could exist in one person. Reason teaches no man that a so?i can be as old as his father. And nature never instructed any one to believe that three persons were ever numerically but one and the same being. The Scriptures, then, must be regarded as fur- nishing the only supposed proofs of the Trinity. The believers of this doctrine will freely admit that it is purely a doctrine of revelation. And here we are quite willing to rest the whole argument. We ask for no more effectual weapons to refute and overthrow this doctrine than such as the Scrip- tures furnish. And without attempting any thing farther by way of prelimit)ary, we shall proceed at once to state and to examine the principal argu- ments drawn from the Scriptures to prove that there are three persons in the Godhead, of one sub- stance, and equal in power, glory and eternity. 1st. It is declared that Christ is expressly called God in numerous places of the divine word — that the incommunicable name of Jehovah is applied to him — and that therefore he must be of the same THE TRINITY. 127 substance, and equal in power and glory with the Almighty Father. Now we certainly wish not to deny or to keep out of view any fact stated in the Scripture — and we therefore freely grant that Christ is called God. But we deny that this fact proves him to be the Supreme Deity, and his own father and his own son ! Let us notice the places where Christ is called God, and endeavor to ascertain what is really meant in such places. There is a passage in the 9th chapter of Isaiah, which has been urged with very great confidence to establish the Trinitarian hypothesis. It reads thus: — "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given ; and the govern- ment shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Now here it deserves to be carefully noticed, that the person of whom the prophet speaks, was a child, and was given to us by another. It is plain, therefore, that he must have had a father, and must also have proceeded from a giver. And without attempting to present before the reader a lengthened argument on this subject, he is left to decide for himself whether it is proper to say, or reasonable to conclude, that the prophet meant to teach that the Supreme God was ever a child and given to us ! As to the several names here used, they effect not the nature of the person of whom the prophet dis- courses. And if it be earnestly insisted that this per- son must be the Supreme Deity, because he is called God, the argument will be found to prove entirely too much, and to destroy itself. Moses 128 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. ' was expressly called God — but no one argues from this fact that he was the Almighty Jehovah. Thus we read, Exodus vii. 1, ^' And the Lord said unto Moses, see I have made thee a God to Pharaoh ; and Aaron thy brother shall by thy prophet." And again we read, Pslam Ixxxii. 6, 7, " I have said, ye are Gods ; and all of you are children of the Most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." It was in reference to this passage that our Lord said to the Jews in the 10th chapter of John, "Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are Gods ? If he called them Gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scrip- ture cannot be broken ; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world. Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the Son of God ?" And as to names, it may still farther be remarked that Elijah means God the Lord, the strong Lord — Eli means my God — Joshua means the Lord, the Savior — Jihimael means a father sent from God — and Eliphalet means the God of deliverance. The catalogue of such names might be greatly extended. They were freely applied to men, on account of the offices which they sus- tained, or because of the particular works which they were appointed to perform. In like manner Christ was called the mighty God— (but never that we can learn the Almighty)— and the everlasting Father, or the father of the everlasting ages. The Septuagint have megales Boxdes Anggelos, the Messenger of the Great Counsel. Jesus himself declared, as we have already seen, that they were called gods imto whom the word of God came. The word of God THK TRINITY. 129 came to him — and why should lie not also receive this name, and that too, without being considered equal in power and glory and of the same eternity with that Almighty Father from whom both he and the word itself proceeded ? We read, 1st Cor. viii. 5, 6, " For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." Here the apostle freely admits that the name god has been applied to others than the Most High. But to us — that is, to Christians— there is but one God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if St. Paul had considered Christ and the Holy Ghost as per- sons in the Godhead, equal in power and glory with the Father, why did he not say, to us there are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost? But St. Paul knew nothing of any sucli doctrine, as we shall yet attempt to show. The foregoing considerations, we think, suffi- ciently explain the declaration of Jehovah to his Son — "Thy throne, God, is forever and ever." Heb. i. S. Jesus, receiving the Divine Spirit in im- measurable fulness, was called God, as others had been before him. But at the same time it should be well understood that he expressly and repeated- ly acknowledged his entire dependence upon the Almighty, declaring that he could of himself do no- thing — and he certainly confessed his own inferi- ority when he said, " For my Father is greater than /." John xiv, 28. And whether the epithet Jehovah is ever applied to Jesus Christ or not, we 130 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. find that it is frequently applied to places and things on earth. Thus we read, Gen. xxii. 14, " And Abraham called the name of that place «7e- hovah-i'ueh.^' Exodus xvii. 15, "And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah- nissi." Judge vi. 24, " Then Gideon built an altar there, and called it Jehovah-shdAom.^^ In this place we deem it proper briefly to notice the argument which Trinitarians draw from the 1st chapter of John's Gospel. The name of God is there emphaticallyapplied to our Savior, according to the common version of the New Testament. But it should be understood that the word logos, here applied to Christ, is a word bearing the greatest variety of meaning. This word comes from the Greek verb lego, to speak — and we find that in the Lexicons it has no less than forty-five distinct sig- nifications. Wakefield has rendered it ivisdom. And among other definitions given by Parkhurst, we find the following — " a word," "speech," " dis- course," "reason," "anafl'air, matter, thing, wliich may be the subject of discourse." The word is translated ivisdom in the 8th chapter of Proverbs, where it is personified, and represented as saying, " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." This divine energy, power or wisdom was with God in the beginning, even before the world was — by or through it he created all things— and in the fulness of times it was made manifest to the world by Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh. It was made flesh and dwelt among men. "And we beheld his glory (says John,) the glory as of the THE TRINITY. 13l only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.'' And in the same connexion the Evange- list affirms, '^ No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The divine wisdom and power were displayed in our Savior — and through him God was made manifest to the world. And as they were called gods unto whom the word of God came, this title pre-eminently belonged to Him who came from the bosom of the Father, full of grace and truth, and who is far exalted above all creatures in heaven as well as on earth ! Jesus may therefore well be con- sidered as a manifestation of God in the flesh. He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the ex- press image of his person. In him we behold all of the great Invisible that mortals are capable of beholding. And while we cheerfully ascribe to him all the honor and glory that are due to his high and exalted name, we must render our high- est devotions to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God ! i>d. Jesus plainly declared, " / and my Father are one.^^ John x. 30. And this declaration has been thought to prove beyond all reasonable con-' troversy that Jesus and his Father are persons in the same being. But however plausible this argu- ment may at first appear, we are satisfied that it cannot long withstand the force of candid investi- gation. And if it should even be admitted as sound and tenable, it would effectually defeat its own object by proving entirely too much. Because the Scriptures say of two or more persons they are owe, must we conclude that such persons constitute 132 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. but one 6e/;i^.? Let US apply the test. St. Paul says, 1st Cor. iii, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planted anything, neither he that watereih ; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one : and every nnan shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." Are we to infer from this passage that Paul and Apollos, though existing in distinct per- sons, were in fact but one and the same being ? The supposition is too palpably absurd to be en- tertained for one moment by any person capable of thought. Again, we find that the same apostle in writing to his Christian brethren of Galatia, said, " For ye are all one m Christ Jesus.'' Gal. iii. 28. But can any one suppose that St. Paul meant to certify the persons addressed that they had' actually lost their individuality and really been all merged into one being? He simply meant that they had been called by one spirit, and in one hope of their calling — and that therefore a unity of feeling and purpose should pervade all their hearts, that thus they might strive together as one man for the faith of the Gospel. Once more. The argument before us will be still more satisfactorily refuted by referring to the language of our Savior himself on this subject. He says, John xvii, ''Neither pray I for these alone, (that is, not merely for the disciples who were with him) b.ut for them also which shall believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou THE TRINITY. 133 gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one EVEN AS WE ARE ONE.'^ Now here we plainly perceive that onr Lord prayed that all the believers in his name might be one in the very same sense that he and his Father xcere one ! Did Jesus mean that they should all be concentrated into one being, though existing in ni?ir\y persons ? No man, we think, can persuade himself into the belief of such a notion. But Jesus prayed that all his fol- lowers might be actuated by the same pure mo- tives and feelings, and thus be enabled to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And here it may not be improper to remark that though Paul and Apollos were engaged in the same work, and labored together to advance the same cause and to accompUsh the same ends, and were therefore in a certain sense one, the one was a greater apostle than the other. In like manner, though the Messiah was filled with the spirit of God, and they were one in feeling and purpose and in the great work of human redemption, Jesus positively declared, "J/y Father is greater than i." And their perfect oneness of spirit and pur- pose did not, therefore, constitute them orie being, and equal in power and glory ! 3d. But here we shall be met with an argument, thought to be more formidable than either of the foregoing, and which many persons have deemed entirely conclusive touching the subject before us. St. Paul says in the 2d chapter of Philippians, that Christ Jesus, " being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." " Here," says the Trinitarian, " we find unequivocal proof that Christ considered himself to be equal with God, 12 134 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. and he must therefore be a person in the God- head/' We shall not pretend to deny that this argument appears highly satisfactory to many minds, and altogether unanswerable — nor shall we censure any person for thus believing. Bat we beg that the reader will not hasten to any such con- clusion, but stay his judgment until we shall have bestowed some little examination upon this subject. What is the subject of discourse with which this particular passage stands connected ? It is the humility of our Savior. Suffer us to read the pas- sage with the context. ^' Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedi- ent unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefere God also hath highly exalted hini, and given him a name which is above every name," &c. Now was it truly a display of humility for Christ to claim an equality with the Sovereign King of the universe ? Did he make himself of iw reputation in asserting his eqiial power and glory with the Almighty and life-sustaining Jehovah ? What greater honor — what higher reputation could he have claimed ? And was this his humility and extreme lowliness of mind, which Christians are exhorted to imitate? No — St. Paul never reasoned after this fashion. It is easily perceived that the entire force of the whole argument now under consideration, is^ derived from the meaning of the word robbery. THE TRixnr. , 135 Christ " thought it not robbery to be equal with God." This word is harpai^mon in the Greek, and means a thing coveted or stolen. Wakefield renders the place, " Let the same disposition be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus ; who, though in a divine form, did not think of eaget^Iy retaining tfiis divine likeness.'' And even the Trinitarian Dr. Clarke says, ^' But the word haiyagmon, which we translate robbery, has been supposed to imply a thing eagerly to be seized, coveted, or de- sired-, and on this interpretation, the passage has been translated, who being in the form of God, did not think it a matter to be earnestly desired, to ap- pear equal to God ; but made himself of no repu- tation.^^ And after stating certain reasons in favor of this translation, he still farther says, " On this account, I prefer this sense of the word haripag- 7?zo;7, before that given in our text; which does not agree so well with the other expressions in the context." Christ, then, though the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his per- son, and invested with power over all flesh, did not eagerly covet ru. equality with God; "but made himself of no reputation,''^ and hutnbled himself to the capacity of a servant and to the re- proach of the cross. This was his great humility. And that he did not aspire to claim an equality with his Father, is furthermore evident from his own language to the Jews, before cited. The Jews stoned him for what they called blasphemy, and because, as they alleged, that he, being a man, made himself God. Did Jesus labor to confirm them in the impression that he did make himself 13f> UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTniNE OF THE BTRLE. to be the Supreme Divinity ? He surely did not. But he immediately answered in these words, "Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods ? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world. Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the Son of GodV Jesus promptly and posi- tively denied that he claimed to be the Almighty- while it is plain that he merely claimed to be the Son of that Father, whose will he came into the world to perform. 4th. It may still be said that the disciples of Jesus ivorshipped him — and that innsmuch as they knew that all worship belongs to God, they thus clearly acknowledged Jesus Christ to be the Supreme Being. But little need be said concerning this argument. Of course we readily admit that none but God him- self is worthy of supreme adoration. But it is plain to every attentive reader of the Scriptures that they speak of a worship of subordinate beings, and even of men. What is worship? Park- hurst thus defines the word rendered worship in the New Testament : — " Prosku7ieo, from pros to, kuneo, to adore, which is from kuon, hunos, a dog, and so properly signifies to ct^ouc/i, to crawl, and fawn,\\VQ a dog at his master's feet. To prostrate one^s self to, after the eastern custom, which is very ancient (see Gen. xvii. 2, xix. 1, xxii. 7, xxvii. 29, xxxiii. 3), and still used in those parts of the world. It was the posture both of civil reDcrence or homage, and of religious worship. Whether the former or the latter was intended must be de- termined by the circumstances of the case." THE TRINITY. 137 Prostration in obeisence or supplication before a king or any superior, is worship. Hence we read, Dan. ii. 46, that Nebuchadnezzer, regarding Daniel as his superior , ''fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel.^'' And we also read in the 10th chapter of the Acts, "And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up ; I myself also am a man." Dr. Clarke has very well said on this passage, " As Peter's coming was announced by an angel, Cornelius might have supposed that Peter himself was an angel, and of a superior order; seeing he came to announce what the first angel was not employed to declare ; it was probably in consequence of this thought, that he prostrated himself before Peter, offering him the highest act oi civil respect; for there was nothing in the act, as performed by Cor- nelius, which belonged to the worship of the true God. Prostrations to superiors were common in all Asiatic countries." And of the answer of Peter, " / myself also am a man.^^ the same annotator says, " I am not an angel ; I am come to you simply on the part of God, to deliver to you the doctrine of eternal life." In like manner Jesus Christ received — and most deservedly — the homage of the children of men. But it should not be forgotten that he himself wor- shipped God. And in reference to religious or spiritual homage — such as belongs to God alone — Jesus declared this important truth, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Are we told that every creature in heaven and 12* 138 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. on earth will at last bow at the name of Jesas, and that every tongue will confess him to be Lord? We do not deny this fact. But who will receive all the glory ? St. Paul gives the following an- swer, — " That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.^^ Phil. ii. 10, 11. Jesus is the conquering Prince of life — and he will subdue all things unto himself, and make every subject willing in the day of his power. And when this work shall have been accomplished, he will deliver up his kingdom to the Father, {who loill receive all the glory through him,) that God may be all in all. 5th. One more supposed proof of the Trinity still remains to ^be noticed. It is written in the 1st Epis. of John, v. 7 : **For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three are one." Now whatever this singular passage was intended to express, it is now well known, and very freely ad- mitted by the learned among Trinitarians as well as Unitarians, that it does not belong to the sacred text. Dr Adam Clarke says, " One hundred and thirteen Greek Mss. are extant, containing the First Epistle of John ; and the text in question is want- ing in 112!" He furthermore says, ^^ Ml the Greek fathers omit the verse.'' The Latin fathers do not quote it ! "It is wanting in the German trans- lation of Luther, and in all the editions of it pub- lished during his lifetime." " It is inserted in our early English translations, but with marks of THE TRINITY. 139 doubtfulness:'' '' In short," he says, " it stands on no authority sulficient to authenticate any part of a revelation, professing to have come from God." And concerning the solitary Greek MS. that does contain the verse in question, the learned and Trinitarian Hokne says, after carefully ex- amining the whole subject — " Upen the whole, it does not appear that the date of this MS. can be earlier than the close of the Jifteenth\century !^^ And in another place he says, " the disputed clause (meaning the passage before us) is confessedly s^pu- riousP Such is the testimony of able, zealous and learned Trinitarians themselves. And as the pas- sage in question is shown by them to be entirely spurious^ we do not think it either necessary or proper to occupy our time in any attempt to ex- plain its meaning. . CHAPTER XI. THE TRINITY. (continued.) Having in the preceding chapter stated the prin- cipal arguments in favor of the Trinitarian doctrine, and shown, as we trust, that they utterly fail to estabUsh a dogma so manifestly opposed to reason, and so entirely inconsistent with plain Scripture truth — we are now prepared to offer a few objec- tions which we deem conclusive and unanswerable, against this doctrine. Or, in other words, we shall briefly attempt to show that Jesus Christ is not the Supreme Divinity, but a dependent and a subordi- nate being. We believe that he is far exalted above all creatures — and we regard him, not as a mere man, but as the great Mediator or middle person between God and man -but we ac- knowledge only one God, who is his Father and our Father ! 1st. Jesus worshipped God. He sang praises to the Almighty, and frequently retired from the peo- ple who pressed about him to offer up prayers to his Father. He thus manifestly acknowledged his dependence upon a higher power — nay, he even said, as plainly as he could speak, " I can of mine own self do nothing?'' John v. 30. Now if Jesus was in reality the Supreme God, though veiled in the flesh and blood of man, why should he offer 140 THE TRINITY. 141 his devotions to any other being in the nniverse? What possible meaning or intention could there be ill such acts? Who could be his superior and the God of his reHgious homage ? Did he Worship an equal? And if so, it is not improper for us to inquire whether that equal, ever worshipped him ? If prayers are exercised among equals, we can think of no possible reason why they should not be reciprocal. We can pray to our equals with no greater propriety than they can pray to us. And yet we are no where informed that God ever wor- shipped his Son ! But it has been supposed that Jesus Christ was both a perfect man and the perfect God— that man- hood and the eternal Divinity were hypostati- cally united in him — and that when he prayed it was the prayer of his human nature to his 'God- head. Be it so. What part of Jesus, then, was it that was his Supreme Divinity — that which perished upon the cross?— or that which outlived his human nature ? The Trinitarian will certainly answer, '' His body was that of a man, but his spirit was no other than God himself'^ Very well. So far we can understand the subject. When, therefore, Jesus declared that his Father was greater than himself, he is understood to have meant that his Godhead was superior to his hu- manity. And when he earnestly prayed to his Father, the address is supposed to have proceed- ed from his human nature to his Supreme Divini- ty. Thus far the subject no doubt seems quite sa- tisfactory to many minds — and here many persons rest their inquiries. But we hope to be pardoned if we push our inquiries a little farther. Let it not be said that this subject is a holy mystery — for Scripture does not mean mystery^ but the revela- tion of mystery. Follow our Savior then to Calvary, and there behold him pouring out his soul unto death for the sins of men. His human nature is about to ex- pire. But where is his spirit — his Godhead ? Hear his dying words : ^'Father, unto thy hands I commend" — commend what ? His humanity ? No — for that is just ready to die upon the cross. His Deity? To whom shall he commend the Supreme God of the universe for safe-keeping and protection? But be said, "Father, into thy hands I commend mt spirit." And who does not at once perceive from this declaration alone, that the spirit of Christ was one thing, and his Almighty Father a much greater ? Nothing could be more palpably incongruous and preposterous than the suposition that the infinite Jehovah was com- mended into his own hands. But the spirit of Christ — all that constituted him the Son of God, Mras commended into the hands of Him from whom he received all his power, to whom he tender- ed his homage and devotion, and by whom he was exalted to be a Prince and a Savior I Here, then, we have an argument which we consider conclusive and of irresistible force, against that doctrine which holds the tripersonality of the Godhead, and maintains that Jesus Christ is equal in power and glory with the Almighty Father ! We have never heard, nor do we expect to hear an answer to this argument. 2d. Although Jesus had power over all flesh, and was the Lor.d of life and glory, liis power was THE TRINITY. 143 all deinved from God, and his glory was conferred upon him by his Father. Hence our Savior him- self plainly said, ''All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Mat. xxviii. 18. Now if he had eternally and independently possessed that power, there would have been no propriety in this declaration, nor would it have been consistant with simple truth ! And then as to the glory of Christ, are we here reminded of his words : John xvii. 5,"0 Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was^'} We answer that in the same chapter he also says, " And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them." And again," Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." The glori/ of Jesus, therefore, as well as his power, was all derived from God, upon whom he most freely ac- knowledged his entire dependence, and to whom he offered his prayers and supplications ! And the reader is left to decide for himself whether two persons can be strictly equal in power and glory, when one of them has received his only power and glory from the other ! 3d. St. Paul calls our Savior " the brightness of the Father's glory," and " the express image of his person." Heb. i. 3. And again he says of Christ, " who is the image of God." 2d Cor. iv. 4. And" still again he pronounced Jesus to be "the image of the invisible God, xhe first-born of every creature.^^ Col. i. 15. Now no person can be the image of himself — and no born creature can him- 144 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. self be the original source of life to all creatures ! A painting may strikingly represent the personal appearance of a man, and a child may wonder- fully display all the moral qualities of his father. But it would still seem quite absurd to suppose that the ininge and the person whom it represents are in fact the same and exactly equal — or that the parent and the child, though existing in dis- tinct persons^ are in reality but one being! The fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in our Savior, and the spirit of God was given him with- out measure — he was a perfect representation of the invisible God — and indeed he even said to Philip, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." And in explaining his meaning to Philip he said, " Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." John xiv. God then operated through him — and we worship the Father through him — for he is the "one Mediator between God and men." 4th. The fact that Jesus was ignorant of some things that were well known to his Father, con- clusively proves that he was not equal ivith God We need not attempt to notice the many instances in which he asked for information, with the obvious desire to obtain it — but our attention will be con- fined to a single passage, relating directly to this point. In speaking of the overthrow of Jerusalem, which he declared should take place during the generation then existing, Jesus said, Mark xiii. 32, *' But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither THK TRINlTi:'. 145 THE Son, but the Father." Now how Jesus could be the Supreme God, and yet not know that day and that hour which were perfectly known to his Father, is a great mystery, which we leave for the believers of this doctrine to explain — if they can. Our neighbor, Mr. Barnes, has had the candor to say of the passage in question, " This text has ahcays presented sei^ioiis difficulties.^^ But these difficulties are found only in Trinitarianism. And we certainly think that they are of so serious a nature that they ought to bring the believers of this doctrine to sober and serious reflection. 5th. We can think of no sufficient evidence to warrant the belief that the Holy Ghost is di person in the Godhead — or indeed any other person. True, it is sometimes spoken of as a person — and so are wisdom and understanding and a thousand other things, personified in the Scriptures. But would it not be manifestly improper to speak of a XQdi\ person diS being ponred out upon another? Certainly it would. And yet we read. Acts x. 38, that " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth loith the Holy Ghost, and with power." Now surely God did not pjoiir out a real person upon his Son — but he anointed him with the spirit of divine truth and grace. And indeed we find that our Savior pro- mised his disciples that he would send them the Uoly Ghost, which he declared to be the Spirit of Truth and the Comforter. What many people have considered the third person in the Trinity , is then in fact, strictly speak- ing, 720 joerso^i at all.' It is that divine Spirit of power and truth, of grace and comfort, which pro- ceeds from God — which enabled our Savior to per- 13 146 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. form all his wonderful works, and to speak as never man spake — and which still accompanies in some degree, the faithful ministrations of the Gos- pel of our salvation ! eth. The testimony of history on the subject before us is highly important — and it proves, ac- cording to the acknowledgments of Trinitarians themselves that the Trinity was not even con- sidered a Christian doctrine until the 4th century of the Christian era ! The learned and Trinitarian Dr. MosHEiM says, "In the year 317, a contest arose in Egypt upon a subject of much higher im- portance, and its consequences were of a yet more pernicious nature. The subject of this warm con- troversy, which kindled such deplorable division throughout the Christian world, was the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead^ a doctrine which, in the three preceding centuries, had hap- pily escaped the vain curiosity of human re- searches, and been left undefined and undeter- mined by any particular set of ideas." And in the same connexion, he says that during all this time, that is, from the establishment of the Christian Church to the commencement of the 4th century, the most" profound silence" was observed in re- gard to this doctrine. The Trinity, then, was plainly a new doctrine in the 4th century — or, at least, it had not before received the attention of the Christian world. And how was this novel doctrine at last defined, de- termined, and incorporated with the faith of pro- fessing Christians? Dr. MosHEiM himself gives us the true answer in the same chapter of his his- tory. Speaking of a general Council of the Church, THE TKINITT. 147 held at Constantinople in the year 381, by order of Theodosius, he says, " A hundred and fifty bishops, who were present at this Council, gave the fini h- ing touch to what the council of Nice had left im- perfect, and fixed in a full and determined manner, the doctrine of three persons in one God^ which is still received among the generality of Christians." Such then, is briefly the history of the Trinity, as given by an eminent believer of this doctrine. It was introduced into the Christian Church in the 4th century — we think it will be very likely to be put out in the 19th. Although it wasfxed in'a full and determined manner by 150 bishops, its foundations will fail — but the Scripture doctrine that there is " one God and one Mediator between God and ?nen^'' will remain forever ! We have now proved that Jesus Christ wor- shipped God — that he derived all his power and glory from the Father — that his spirit was not the Godhead nor a person therein — that he is the image of God, and the first-^orw of every creature — that there were some things which he did not know, but which God knew — that the Holy Ghost is not really a person, but the spirit of Truth — and that the doctrine of the Trinity was unknown in the Christian Church until the 4th century ! Our next labor will be to show who and what Christ is. Meantime, the subject discussed in the present and preceding chapter is earnestly com- mended to the careful study of the reader, in the hope that he may be led into all truth on this and on every other subject of Divine Revelation. CHAPTER XII. THE PERSON OF CHRIST. When certain officers who had been sent from the Chief Priests and Pharisees to bring Jesus of ]>Jazareth to trial for being a disturber of the pubhc peace and a pretended prophet, returned from their mission alone, they exclaimed of our Savior — "iVeyer man spake like this man.'' John vii. 46. The officers heard Jesus speak — but they had never heard such speech before — they instantly became impressed with the thought that he was a wonderful person — and instead of attempting to lay hands upon him, they hastened back to pubhsh his fame. Whether these officers considered Jesus to be anything more than a man of extraordinary powers, may well be questioned. Having heard of him through his enemies, they entirely mistook his true character — and when they came to hear his lessons of wisdom, moderation and peace, en- forced with an authority and power which they had never before witnessed, they were at once dis- armed of all power against him, and thought only of sounding his praise ! We learn from the chapter containing the excla- mation of the officers referred to, that a great varie- ty of opinions prevailed among the people con- cerning the person and character of our Lord. "And there wa? (it is said) much murmuring 148 THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 149 among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man : others said, Nay; but he de- ceiveth the people." All confessed that the works which he wrought were of a truly marvellous character — but while some seemed candid enough to judge of him by his conduct, and to pronounce him a good man, others, in the perverseness of a bad spirit, spake evil of his good deeds, and re- viled him with the charge of wicked deception. While opposing opinions were thus freely expressed in regard to Jesus, he went up into the temple at Jerusalem in the midst of the feast, and there still more astonished the people by the wisdom and power of his instructions. " And the Jews mar- velled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, hav- ing never learned ?" A meek and unpretending man, who had sat at the feet of no doctor of the law, nor sought instruction at any school of the age, stood forth in the midst of the people and dis- coursed in words that glowed with fire and burned with love ! The people, knowing the meanness of his birth and the history of his humble life, but charmed with his unearthly eloquence and awed, by his authority and power, began among them- selves to inquire, " Whence hath this man this wis- dom, and these mighty works ? Is not this the carpenter's son ? Is not his mother called Mary ? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas ? And his sisters, are they not with us ? Whence then hath this man all these things? Jesus, witnessing the astonishment of the people, modestly certified them that the doctrine which he \aught was not his own, but his who sent him to each man the way of life. And as he spake with 13* 150 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. boldness in the midst of his foes, some of them of Jerusalem said, " Is not this he whom they seek to kill? But lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ. Howbeit, we know whence this man is : but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.'^ Still, it is added, '* that many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?'' The Pharisees and Chief Preists were now filled with alarm — and they instantly despatched officers to arrest Jesus and to bring him to trial. But the of- ficers, as we have already seen, quite forgot the object of their mission, and returned only to tell the wonders which they had seen and heard. The Pharisees, vexed in spirit and filled with indigna- tion, said unto them, " Are ye also deceived ? Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him ? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed." The causes of the very different opinions which prevailed among the people concerning the person and character of our Lord during his ministry on earth, are easily understood. The common people heard him gladly, and were profitted by his instruc- tions — while such as held high stations in the church, and were reputed as skilful in all divine wisdom and knowledge, dreaded the influence of his ministry and doctrine, and maliciously sought to destroy him. And when we extend our view still farther, we learn that the rejection of Jesus by his kinsmen according to the flesh, had been fore- told by the ancient prophets, a?id was necessary to THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 151 carry out and fulfil the purposes of divine wisdom and grace. • But aside from the opinions of the Jews, diver- sities of belief in regard to the Messiah seem to have been introduced into the Christian church as early as the days of the apostles. The Cerinthians, Gnostics and other heretical seels, soon sprang up and began to introduce their new forms of doctrine into the church of the Redeemer. While the Ce- rinthians maintained that Jesus of Nazareth was a mere man, and the natural son of Joseph, the Gnostics entirely denied his humanity, and con- tended, " on the principle that every thing corporeal is essentially and intrinsically evil," that he was merely a man in appearance. Controversies on this subject (though not in regard to a trinity of per- sons in the Godhead) seem to have been continued until the commencement of the fourth century, when the great Arian strife rent the church into factions. The Arians '* maintained that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father ; that he was the first and noblest of those beings whom God had created — the instrument, by whose subordination he formed the universe ; and, therefore, in^rior to the Father both in nature and dignity : also, that the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power of the Son. The Arians owned that the Son was the Word ; but denied that Word to have been eternal. They held that Christ had nothing of man in him but the flesh, to which the logos^ or Word, was joined, which was the same as the soul in us." The Arian doctrine, after having very extensively prevailed, was publicly condemned by the authority ot the church, and 152 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THF- BIBLE pronounced a dangerous and pernicious heresy — and the Trinitf , or the doctrine of three persons in one G )d, was substituted in its place, and has ever since been considered the true doctrine of Christ by a nnajority of professing Christians. But we need not attempt to trace the history of opinions in the Christian church in regard to the Messiah. We intend merely to bring into view the three prominent opinions which are now held on this subject, and to show which we hold, and which we believe is sanctioned by the word of God. The most common opinion on the subject before us is, that Jesus Christ is the second person in what is called the Trinity, and is therefore fully equal in power and glory with the Almighty himself! This we humbly consider one of the extremes of the errors into which professing Christians have fallen with respect to the Messiah. The Scriptures surely tell us nothing of the Trinity. No word or expression, embracing any such idea, has ever yet been found in the word of God. It is manifest to every candid reader of the Bible that it speaks of one God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But who can pretend that we there read that this one God exists in three persons, and that these three persons combined make one God ? We can truly say that we have never found anything of the kind in the divine record, though we have seen much of it in the creeds of human device, and heard it in the preaching of men. The doctrine of the Trinity, we think, has been successfully refuted in the preceding chapters. — We there showed, after fairly considering the THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 153 principal arguments relied upon to establish this doctrine, — 1st, That Jesus worshipped God, and could not therefore have been the Supreme Divinity himself, since it would be extremely absurd to suppose that the Ahnighty was ever his own worshipper, or the worshipper of any other being. And as to the attempt of Trinitarians to explain this difficulty, by alleging that Jesus was both a perfect man and the Sovereign Jehovah, and that his inferior part prayed to his superior part, we proved that even the spirU of Christ, over which death had no power, was entirely distinct from the Godhead. — For when the human nature of our Savior perished upon the cross, he exclaimed, in the agonies of his death, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.'' The spirit of Jesus, then, which could not die, was not the Almighty, but it was com- mended into the hands of the Almighty. We showed, — 2d, That although Jesus possessed all power in heaven and earth, he expressly declared that that power was given him, and acknowledged that of himself he could do nothing. Nay, he even de- clared of the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, that it was given him. These declarations cannot be harmonized with the notion that Jesus eternally possessed his power and glory, and derived neither from any other being in the universe. We showed, — 3d, That Jesus is declared in the Scriptures to be *'the image of the invisible God, and the Jirst- born of every creature.'' An image, it appears to us, cannot be the same as the person which it rep- 154 UMVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. resents — nor has it ever seemed to us proper to say- that the Living God, from whom all creatures de- rive their existence, was ever the first-born of any creatures ! We showed, — 4th, That Jesus was ignorant of some things which were well known to his Father, and that he even confessed in reference to a certain time : "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the So?if but the Father." And to assert, in view of this declaration, that Jesus Christ was the Almighty God, and in all respects equal to his Father, is to disregard the Scriptures, and to utter words in violation of sense. We showed, — 5th, That what many people call the third person in the Trinity, is in fact no person at all. Jesus himself has told us that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth and the Comforter. This spirit was poured out upon our Lord— for we read that *'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with pov\''er." A person was not poured out upon the Messiah — nor was a person sent among the apostles on the day of Pentecost, when they were "filled with the HoIt/ Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.'' The Holy Ghost, then, is nothing more nor less than the spirit of truth and of power, which proceeds from God. And why this Spirit should be called a person in the Godhead, or God the Holy Ghost, we have never yet been informed. And we showed, — 6th, That, according to the testimony of Trini- tarians themselves, the doctrine of the Trinity was unknown in the Christian Church until the com- THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 155 menceinent of the fourth century. It is purely a doctrine of the Papal Church, and was baptized in the name of Christ by no other than human au- thority. We reject it as an old error, as foolish and as false as the monstrous doctrine of transub- stantiation. The other extreme of error in regard to our sub- ject, holds that Jesus Christ was a mere man, of the earthy race of Adam, and the natural son of Joseph. This opinion we cannot hold and never could believe, because we are persuaded that it stands opposed to the manifest doctrine of the New- Testament. The account which we have in the Scriptures of the birth of Jesus Christ into the world, proves that birth to have been miraculous. He had no father on earth, but was begotten of the Holy Ghost — and hence he is expressly and re- peatedly called the Son of God, and the only-begot- ten Son of God ! Surely, we are not at liberty to say that these and similar expressions are without meaning, and to assert in opposition to what they obviously signify, that Jesus Christ was a mere descendant of the earthy Adam, and came into the world just as other men do. The first or earthy Adam was directly created by the Lord without the agency of any creature. God moulded him into form of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the spirit of life, and thus constituted him a living soul. This crea- tion was truly miraculous, because neither a man nor a woman was made the agent by which it was effected. It was a more wonderful work than the conception of Jesus by the Holy Ghost in the Vir- gin Mary. In the former case God acted without 156 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. any agent, in the latter the woman was made the instrumeni by which the work was wrought. And when we are told, in the face of Scripture testimo- ny, that it is unreasonable to believe in the miracu- lous conception of Jesus of Nazareth, we have only to ask in reply, what then shall we think of the original creation of man, which was a far greater miracle ? From the first man, formed of the dust of the ground, the entire race has proceeded. All alike partake of his nature, his infirmities and his death. Hence the Apostle Paul says, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. '' When the fulness of time had come, God brought into the world the second man, who stands at the head of the new or spiritual creation, as the first man did at the head of the old or earthy creation. And this second man, though pronounced to be the quickening spirit and the Lord from hea- ven, and though begotten of the Holy Ghost, was born of a woman, to show the connexion in him between the divine and the human nature, and to prove that he is in fact the Mediator or middle person between God and men ! As a partaker of flesh and blood, he was touched with the feeling of our infirmity, and tempted in all points like as we are — but as the Son of God, the only-begotten and well-beloved of the Father, he sinned not. In his humiliation he died the death of man — but as the resurrection and the life of the world, he triumphed over the powers of death, and gloriously ascended to heaven ! And though he took part of our na- ture by being born of a woman, and died as a man, THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 157 it was to convince us that we also shall be made partakers of his nature in the resurrection from the dead ! St. Paul has most clearly and beautifully set forth this subject in his discourse on the resurrec- tion and the life immortal. He says, 1st Cor. xv, " There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first Adam was made a living soul ; the last Adam v^as made a quicken- ing spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural ; and afterward tliat which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Now it appears to us that the important truth here expressed, is denied and en- tirely shut out of view by the supposition that Jesus Christ was notliing more than an extraordi- nary man, a distinguished reformer, and an eminent prophet. And this supposition seems also to un- dermine the very foundations of Christian faith and iiope, and to leave man with no certain and blessed assurance of that immortal and heavenly inheri- tance which the Scriptures have promised us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Reader, think on this subject. Jesus is declared to be the second man, the quickening spirit, and the Lord from heaven. What are we to under- stand by these expressions? Do they convey to the mind no significance whatever, but leave us still to suppose that Jesus was nothing more than 14 158 UNIVETtSALISiM, THE DOCTKINE OF THE BIBLE. a descendant of the first man and the earthy Adam? If Cain had been called '• the second man,'' the expression might well be understood in this sense. But in this case there could have been no proprie- ty in calling him the quickening spirit and the Lord from heaven. It is in Jesus, in his image and nature that we are promised life and blessings, after having died in the nature of Adam. This is the hope of the Christian. But if Jesus be not the second man, and the head of the new and spiritual creation, in which we are promised life, we are without hope, and our faith is vain. All our assurance of the blessings of immortality and heavenly bliss is founded upon the promise that we shall be made alive in Christ. And the joy of this assurance is increased even to fulness and perfection by faith in the promise that all who bear the image of the first man shall be made alive and blessed in the nature of the second man. — Hence the Apostle Paul says of the Savior, Jesus Christ, ^' Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, ac- cording to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Phil. iii.21. And again, it is written, " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," 1 Cor. xv. 22. When this declaration shall have been fulfilled, it is added by the inspired apostle, that all things will then be made subject to Jesus, eye/z «5 he also shall be subject unto the Father, that God may be all in all! The reader, then, will understand that we reject both the Trinitarian and the Humanitarian doc- trines. We deny that Jesus was the Supreme God ; THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 159 and we also deny tliat lie was a mere man. Not holding either of these notions, which we consider the two extremes of error on the subject before us, we maintain what the Scriptures plainly declare, that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, the second man, the quickening spirit, the Lord from heaven, and the one Mediator between God and men. As to the pre-existence of Christ, that is, his existence before his appearance among men in the flesh, we do not feel fully authorized to re- ject this doctrine. St. Paul says of Jesus, " Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature.^'' And in speaking of the ancient fathers, he also says, 1st Cor. x. 2-4, "And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink : (for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and thai Rock was Christ.'')^ And we still further find that St. Peter, in speaking of the salvation wrought out by Christ, says, in his 1st Epistle, and 1st chapter, " Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you : searching what, or what manner of time tfye spirit of Christ v)hich was in them did signify, when it testified before- hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." Now in these passages Christ is certainly spoken of as having existed, and as being with men and infusing his spirit into them, long before his advent into \he world. It should also be remembered that he frequently spake of himself as having come down from heaven. And this declaration perfect- 160 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. ly agrees with the testimony of St. Paul, that Jesus is the second man, and the Lord from heaven. — We are informed in the 16th chapter of Matthew, that Jesus inquired of his disciples, saying, *' Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist ; some, Ehas ; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the hving God." Now mark the answer of Jesus : ^'And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto tiiee, but my Father which is in heaven." What was this revelation that was made to Peter by the Al- mighty ? Was it that Jesus stood before him as a simple man? It surely needed no revelation from heaven to acquaint Peter with this fact. He had eyes, and could see. But Jesus, we believe, was something more and greater than a man. And the revelation which Peter had received from heaven enabled him to perceive that Jesus was the Son, and the only begotten Son of the Living God ! But a still stronger passage relating to this sub- ject, is found in 2d Cor. viii. 9 : *' For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye, through his poverty might be rich." Now it would seem extremely absurd to suppose that God ever became poor in any sense whatever. He is infi- nitely self-sufficient, and necessarily and eternally rich in all his perfections and glories. But Jesus Christ was ric.li^ and he became i^onr. And it has well been asked, " If Jesus Christ, as some contend, THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 161 was only a mere man, in what sense would he be said to be rich ? Wis family was poor in Bethle- hem ; his parents were very poor also ; he himself, never possessed any property among men, from the stable to the cross ; nor had he anything to be- queath at his death but h\s peace. And in what way could the poverty of one make a multitude rich? These are questions, which on the Socinian scheme can never be satisfactorily answered." Ad- mit that Jesus lived before Abraham, and that at the proper time he came down from heaven, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and humbled himself even to the death of the cross — and the whole subject is at once rendered plain to every mind. We see how he was rich — how he became poor, and how we through his poverty are niade rich! While we thus speak, however, the reader will understand us to mean that Jesus Christ is a crea- ted and a dependent being. The glory which he had with tlie Father before the world was, he plainly declares, was given him — his power was all derived from God — and he freely confesses that of himself he could do nothing ! In what is called the eternal sonship of Jesus, we certainly have no faith. W^e believe that there was a time when he did not exist, but that God created him. He is not only distinct in his person from God, but he is the child and the creature of God. But he still jiolds a relation to the Divinity which no other creature bears, being the only begotten Son of the Father. It is promised that all men shall be made alive in his nature — but even then he will hold the pre-eminence as our Elder Brother and the Head 14' of every man. God has made him a Prince and a Savior, and given him power to have life in him- self — and throngh him God will raise the dead and finish the work of redemption. Dr. Clarke, of the Methodist Church, in his at- tempt to prove that there never was a time when Jesns did not exist, has expressed exactly what we believe in regard to the notion of eternal sonshi/p. He says, in his note on Luke i. 35, " Here I trust I may be permitted to say, with all due respect for those who differ from me, that the doctrine of the eternal sonship of Christ is, in my opinion, anti- scriptural and highly dangerous. This doctrine I reject for the following reasons: " 1st. I have not been able to find any express declaration in the Scriptures concerning it. " 2ndly. If Christ be the Son of God as to his divine nature, then he cannot be eternal : for son \m^\\QS ?i father ; and father implies, in reference to son, 'precedency in time, if not in nature too. — Father and son imply the idea o^ generation^ and generation implies a time in which it z^rt.9 effected, and time also antecedent to such generation. " 3dly. If Christ be the Son o( God as to his divine nature, then the Father is of necessity prior, consequently superior to him. "4thly. Again, if this divine naliire were begot- ten of the Father, then it must be in tiine ; i. e. there was a period in which it did. not exist, and a period when it began to exist. This destroys the eternity of our blessed Lord, and robs him at once of his Godhead. " 5thly. To say that he was begotten from all eternity, is in my opinion absurd ; and the phrase THE PERSON OP CHRIST. 163 eternal Son, is a positive self-contradiction. Eter- nity is that which has no beginning, nor stands in any reference to tmie. Son supposes time, gene- ration, and father ; and time also antecedent to such generation. Therefore the conjunction of these two terms son and eternity is absolutely im- possible, as they imply essentially different and opposite ideas." The arguments here presented, though intended to prove that Christ has existed from all eternity, and as to his divine nature was never begotten, plainly set forth the truth in regard to the sonship of the Messiah. We believe that Jesus in refer- ence to his whole nature, and in every sense of the word is the Son of God — that there was a period in which he did not exist, and a period when he began to exist — and that tiie Almighty is prior in existence, and consequently .superior to him. As a creature existing on the earth and in the human form, Jesus was not and could not be considered " the first-born of every creature''^ — for many gene- rations had been born long betbre his appearance in the world. But Jesus was begotten when he began to exist as the first of all God's creatures. — And St. Paul has said, Heb. i. 7, "And again, when he bringeth in the First-begotten into the world, he saith. And let all the angels of God wor- ship him." Here Jesus is represented as being the first-begotten of the Father before he was brought into the world. ^' This (it may truly be said) destroys the eternity of our blessed Lord, and robs him at once of his Godhead" — for " son sup- poses time, generation^ and father ; and time also antecedent to such generation." We therefore re- 164 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. ject the doctrine of the eternal sons/tip. of Christ, not because we suppose that he has eternally ex- isted, but because we beHeve that he was created by that One Eternal and Self-Existent Jehovah who was never begotten in any way, ari^ who never began to exist ! What we have now said in regard to the exis- tence of Christ as a creature of God before his ap- pearance in the flesh, the reader is desired candidly to consider for himself. The writer wishes not to force his peculiar belief upon any person. He claims no infallibility, but humbly confesses his great liability to err. Still the Scriptures are our guide — and he who attempts to preach the doctrine of Jesus, should teach just what he honestly be- lieves the Scriptures to teach. And whether we be right or wrong in our views of the pre-existenco of the Son of God, we feel very confident that the Scriptures present him before our minds as a being far superior to man. He stands at the head of that better and spiritual creation, in which we hope to enjoy immortal life and blessings, after our feeble earthly tabernacles shall have, mouldered away in the dust. Jesus, under God, is our Sa- vior and the Savior of the world — and in him, we rejoice to believe, that all who die in Adam shall be made alive and blessed. This is our hope, our joy, and the crown of our rejoicing. CHAPTER XIII. THE MISSION OF CHRIST. For what purpose did the Son of God come into the world ? On this subject many persons have strangely erred — and in their attempts to exalt the Son, they have fearfully detracted from the love- liness of the Father. It has been supposed that God was incensed against the human race — that the glittering sword of his vengeancs was un- sheathed and about to strike the fatal blow that would have brought the whole race of Adam to unceasing woes — but that Jesus, moved with ten- derness and compassion, flew upon the wings of lo^e to the world, and shielded guilty and helpless man, by consenting that the sword of the avenger should be bathed in his own innocent blood ! In this way it has been thought that vindictive justice was turned back from its course — that the indig- nation of the Lord was stayed in its fearful might, and that man was thus afforded a hiding place and a shelter from the overflowing scourge of ven- geance ! With such notions of God and his Son, men have been taught to fly to Jesus to escape the wrath of God ! And what seems still more wild and extravagant, persons who thus believe and teach, maintain, after all, that God and Christ are but one and the same being ! ! What a strange confusion of ideas is thus pre- sented before us ! God burning with fierce indig- 165 166 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. nation against men — Jesus loving and pitying them, and laying down his life to save them from the endless curses of God's wrath — and yet God sent his Son into the world on an errand of mercy, and they are in fact all the while the same Being ! Did ever the folly of man in its wildest excesses, conceive of any thing more strangely contradictory and shocking to all common sense ? But when we leave such wild vagaries and turn our attention to the Scriptures, we there find no- thing of the kind, but the very reverse. The mission of Christ into the world was not only in obedience to the Divine will, but it was emphatically a mani- festation of the ^re«/ love which God bore to the children of men. On this subject it is not necessary that we should cite a multitude of passages. One or two positive declarations of the Divine Word ought to be considered quite sufficient. In the 5th chapter of Romans, we read as follows :—" For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God com?nendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Here it is worthy of special remark, that Christ did not come into the world and suffer and die to secure for us the love of God— but his death was the commendation and the proof of that love which already existed in the Divine mind. No scheme of God was baffled — no change was effected in him — no new principle was introduced into his government — no work was wrought but that which he planned — and no love was displayed but that which proceeded from Ilim alone ! THE MISSION OF CHRIST. 167 Again, we read, Ephesians, 2(J chapter, •' But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love where- with he loved us, even when we were dead 171 sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus." The lowest condition of man is here described, for he is even represented as being dead in sins. And yet God in his great love sent his Son to be the Savior of the world — and intended in this way to display to future ages the exceeding riches of his kindness and grace through the great Deliverer of men from the power of sin and death ! To us this bright display is now made — and generations yet unborn will rise up to praise God for the hopes and the comforts of the Gospel. It was the intention of our Father in heaven to open in the world through his only begotten Son a dispensation of mercy and love, which will continue to bless our race to the latest generation — and which will not end until that Son, seeing the travail of his soul with satis- faction and joy, shall deliver up the mediatorial kingdom to the Father, that God mai/ be all in all! Jesus, then, came into the world to do the will of God and to commend his love to the children of men. He died to abolish the whole law of sacri- fices by the one perfect offering of himself; and that he might thus be enabled to rise from the dead, and give us the assurance of our future and immortal life. He now lives as the exalted Prince and Savior, being Lord of the dead as well as of the 16S UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. living — and though all things have been given into his hand, he has himself testified that .of all the Father hath given him, he will lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day ! We believe on his word and confide in his promises, and we are thus enabled by faith to look onward to the time when death shall be despoiled of his victoty and mortality swallowed up of the triumphs of life, when the work of redemption shall be finished, and the happiness of heaven shall be full and perfect ! The principal doctrinal truths which Jesus came into the world to teach, may be briefly comprised in the following particulars : 1st. He taught the universal paternity of God, declaring him to be the Father of all men, and kind even to the unthankful and the evil. And from this common relation of God to the spirits of all flesh, and his impartial and universal beneficence, Jesus drew the great lessons of duty which his Gospel requires at the hands of man. After urging us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to do good to those who hate us, and to pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us, he thus states the reason by which these duties are enforced: — "That ye may be the children [that is, in character'] of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un- just." God then is the Father even of such as neglect these duties — but the obedient become his children in feeling, in spirit, in conduct, and in character. 2d. Jesus also taught the universal brotherhood of man, declaring to the multitude and to his dis- THE MISSION OF CHRIST. 169 Q,\^\Q^^^Uind all ye are brethren.^' This truth, as well as the foregoing, is repeated in a great variety of forms, and may be regarded as one of the es- sential truths of the Gospel. St. Paul not only declares tliat "there is. one God and Father of all," but he also testifies that all are members of one body, and " that the head of every man is Chrisf See 1st Cor. xi. 3. And, 3d. Jesus has furthermore taught, and herein consists the greatest glory of his revelation, that man is destined to a holy and happy existence be- yond the grave. On this momentous subject no certain and comforting hope was ever enjoyed, until He who is himself the resurrection and the life, came to bring life and immortality to light through his Gospel. Nor has he merely given us assurances ^i future life, but he has taught us that in the future world the children of the resurrection shall be equal unto the angels, and free from the power of death, and the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. And that that happy and glorious life is intended in the purposes of God for all mankind, is proved by the testimony of the apostle, who declared that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. '^ Such then are the distinguishing features of the doctrine of the Son of God. Much more could be said in reference to these things — but we have aimed merely at a very brief statement of the purpose for which our Savior came into the world, and of what he taught the children of men. Here we pause for the present, intending in the chapters that shall follow to consider the subject of salva- tion, and to show how God can be the Savior of 15 170 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. all men, according to the Scriptures, and yet the special Savior of none but believers. In the con- sideration of that subject we shall find it necessary to notice at greater length several topics merely glanced at in this chapter. The reader is desired to ponder with a candid spirit upon what we have said concerning the per- son and the mission of the Son of God — to guard against believing merely because we have written, and to search only for truth. And may God, from whom all truth must come, guide you into the right way, and give you peace. CHAPTER XIV. UNIVERSAL SALVATION. St. Paul said, 1st Tim.iv. 10, " For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, ivho is the Savior of all men, espe- cially of those that believe.^' Guided by the truth here expressed, it shall be our object in the follow- ing chapters to establish two important facts — namely, 1. That God is the Savior of all men; and, 2. That the true believer in Christ enjoys a special salvation. Before proceeding Avith this labor, how- ever, it may not be improper barely to notice an objection which is frequently urged against the doctrine which we believe. It has been said that "if Christ and his apostles taught the doctrine of universal salvation, it seems unaccountably strange that they should have suf- fered so much opposition and abuse at the hands of wicked and ungodly men — inasmuch as this doc- trine is exactly suited to the depraved feelings and corrupt passions of the vile and the irreligious." Now persons who thus speak, and who fancy that they have found a great wonder, on the supposi- tion that our doctrine is true, might find a very plain answer to their great objection in the very words of St. Paul, already cited. It is there de- clared in language which none need misunderstand, that the apostle and his fellow-believers in Christ labored and suffered reproach because thev trusted 171 172 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. The very thing, therefore, which the objector most coolly assumes would have exempted the apostles from all oppo- sition at the hands of the ungodly, was the means of exposing them toreproach, and of bringing down upon their heads the malice of wicked men ! Who were they that bitterly persecuted Jesus of Nazareth, and reviled and abused the chosen mes- sengers of his truth ? Were they the publicans and sinners and common people, who were not reckoned among the pious, the holy and the sanctified elect? No. These despised classes of people loved the instructions of our Lord, and listened with wonder and admiration to the "gracious words that pro- ceeded out of his mouth." The 15th chapter of Luke begins with these words, "Then drew near unto him (Jesus) all the publicans and sinners, for to hear him. And the Pharisees and Scribes mur- mured, saying. This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." And we are also informed in the 12th chapter of Mark, that the common people heard Jesus gladly. The instructions of our Lord were peculiarly adapted to the wants of the publicans and sinners and the common people — and. they heard him with satisfaction and delight. They were not the people who pursued Jesus with deadly malice and inve- terate fury, and at last nailed him to the cross. But the chief priests and pharisees, the scribes and the doctors of the law, who boastingly esteemed them- selves the only true servants of God, and who claimed for themselves all the religion in the world, were the enemies and the murderers of the Prince UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 173 of life ! And it must be confessed that they were most corrupt and wicked men. But, we must be permitted to say that the doctrine of universal sal- vation was neither consistent with their faith, nor congenial to their depraved feelings. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous — and as a necessary consequence, they despised others. And they could not endure even the thought that the Messiah promised their fathers, should be a light of the Gentiles^ as well as the glory of his people Israel ! Such were the men who heaped reproaches upon the meek Son of Man, and at last pursued him unto death. We will not say that men of a like spirit and similar character now oppose the preaching of a doctrine which embraces others be- sides themselves, and promises the final salvation of all men! On this subject the reader can judge for himself. We are informed in the 22d chapter of the Acts, that when St. Paul defended himself before the Jews at Jerusalem, they eagerly sought his life be- cause he assured them that he was commissioned to go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles. The apostle represented Jesus as saying unto him, " De- part ; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gen- tiles. And they (the Jews) gave him audience unto this ivord, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth : for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging ; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him." It is therefore 15* 174 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. plain that Jesus and his apostles were reproached and abused, not because they preached a doctrine which limited the grace of God lo a few or a part of the human race — but because their doctrine was too benevolent in its character and too extensive in its provisions, to be congenial to the partial and corrupt feelings of their persecutors and revilers. Or, in other words, they labored and suffered re- proach because they fearlessly avowed their trust in the living God, whom they declared to be the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe I The believers of this doctrine are still reproached for proclaiming the grace of God and the good tid- ings of salvation to publicans and sinners — and for teaching that God is the Savior of all men. But we trust that the violence of the warfare is past — and we are not without hope that even those who now "limit the Holy One of Israel," and set bounds to the saving power of the Son of God, may yet be brought to believe and to rejoice that the same grace which secures their salvation is suffi- cient to save even the chief of sinners ! But let us come at once to the main subject of discourse. The two important facts which we propose to establish are clearly set forth in the de- claration that the living God " is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe." To our minds the doctrine of universal salvation is ob- viously taught in this passage — and we cannot con- ceive tiiat it is in the power of language to express this doctrine in more plain and positive terms. If God " is the Savior of all men," according to the simple declaration before us, it certainly needs no argument to convince the candid and unprejudiced UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 175 believer of the divine word, that all men will be ?^ saved. It would seem to betray a strange lack of' good sense and common discernment to suppose that God is the Savior of any man, who never was and never will be the subject of salvation. As • well might we affirm that God is not the Savior of \ those whom he will save. The proposition that j God is the Oreaior of all men, is never for a I moment made the subject of controversy — and for | the simple reason that there is no room whatever for any difference of belief in regard to its meaning. All understand it to signify just what it plainly ex- presses. And we should be inclined to suspect that there was a want of common understanding in that man who should seriously contend that this proposition means nothing more than that God is the Creator of a part of the human race ! But, it is true, that when a favorite creed is to be sustained, in opposition to Scripture truth and in violation of all reason, no argument is considered too absurd, and no sophistry too glaring to be pressed into service ! There are some passages of Scripture which are so simple and so easily understood, that we know not how to attempt an elucidation of their mean- ing. Of this class is the one now before us. It is so perfectly plain that we feel unable to say one" word that will render its meaning more plain, and more intelligible to every capacity. It has never to our knowledge been pretended that the passage is not faithfully translated, or that there is any thing in the connexion which seems to favor any other than the obvious and clearly expressed mean- inff. What more then, or what less can we say, 176 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. than that it does mean just what it manifestly ex- presses ? But while we thus speak, the thought may arise in the mind of the reader, " Have not the learned divines who believe in the doctrine of endless mi- sery, carefully considered this portion of the Scrip- tures, and perfectly reconciled its meaning with their own doctrine ?" Some of them, we confess, have made this attempt. And it is indeed amus- ing beyond all expression to see how strenuously they have labored to invalidate its proper signifi- cation, and how little apparent success has attended their mighty efforts. We have recently examined two works written expressly to disprove the doc- trine of Universal Salvation — Edwards against Chauncey, and Parker on Universalism. The for- mer of these writers was distinguished in his day for great powers of mind — and the latter is equally distinguished in our day for quite opposite quali- ties. Now it is a strange fact that neither of these doctors happened to think of the particular passage of Scripture now in question — or, thinking of it, neither of them chose to make it the subject of a single remark ! Still, we are bound to admit that some of our opposers have buckled on their armor like men, and actually ventured what they would have us consider an explanation of the text. We feel very thankful for this small favor — and shall now in our turn examine the explanations which they have been kind enough to offer. We shall first give attention to the Calvinistic exposition, and afterwards to the Arminian. If, after hearing these profound and learned expositions, and in view of the high sources whence they emanated, the reader UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 177 should be disposed to repeat the ancient declara- tion, " Great inen are not always ivise,''^ he is in- formed that that is a matter with which the writer has no concern. Dr. Gill, the eminent Calvinistic Baptist Com- mentator, whose praise is in all the churches of the sect to which he belonged, has the following com- ment on these words, " who is the Savior of all men" — " In a providential way, giving them being and breath, preserving their lives, and indulging them with the blessings and mercies of life ; for that he is the Savior of all men, with a spiritual and everlasting salvation, is not true in fact." There, reader, who will ever think again of asking for an explanation of this text ? Does not God give breath to all men ? And is not he therefore the Saviour of all men ? How direct and conclusive the argument seems ! It comes to the point in a moment ! And who is able to resist the tremendous force of such overwhelming logic ? But a strange and stubborn thought seems here to be presented to the mind. According to the comment which we have just quoted, it is plain that God is the Savior of the whole brute creation in the very same sense that he is the Savior of all men — that is, he gives to the brutes "being and breath, upliolds them in their beings, preserves their lives, and indulges them with the blessings and mercies of life ; for that he is the Savior of all brutes with a spiritual and everlasting salvation, is not true in fact." And this, Dr. Gill maintains, is what we are to understand by the proposition that God " is the Savior of all men." And the primi- tive Christians, he would have us believe, labored 178 UNIVERSALISMj THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. and suffered reproach for proclaiming to the world the wonderful and highly important revelation that " God is the Savior of all men in a providential way, giving them being" ^ — aye — and only of it — breath too, " and indulging them witli the bless- ings and mercies of life !" Now this miserable attempt to explain away the obvious sense of an important declaration of Scrip- ture trath, deserves nothing better than ridicule. It has neither good sense, nor wit, nor ingenuity, nor any thing else to reconmiend it to the serious at- tention of any reasonable being. And we marvel exceedingly that a man of learning and great re- flection would not feel ashamed to write such a comment, and send it out into the world as an ex- planation of Scripture. But he is not the only man who has sought to " darken counsel by words without knov/ledge." And the manifest absurdity of the comment should not be ascribed entirely to the author himself— but partly to the false and par- tial system of faith to which he was wedded as Ephraim was joined to his idols. The persecutors of Jesus and his apostles believed that God gives being and breath to all men, up- holds them in their beings, and supplies them with the blessings and mercies of life. And the simple proclamation of this truth Would have been no re- velation at all — nor would it have subjected the heralds of the cross to the cruel reproaches which they were caused to suffer for trusting in the living God as the Savior of all men. We are therefore brought to the conclusion that the Calvinistic view of the text throws no new light upon its meaning, and entirely fails to show that it signifies something very different from what it plainly expresses. UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 179 Let US now see how the Arminians manage the matter. It may be thought that they have found out some better system of explanation. Calvinism is not much thought of in these days. And the greatest admirers of the doctrine of endless misery for a vast proportion of the human race, prefer to do the work of expounding on the free-will plan. This, they fancy, furnishes a very convenient mode of settling all difficulties. According to this plan, the most positive declarations of divine truth mean anylhing or nothing, just as the free-will of man may happen to decide — so that the masters of this potent invention can shape things to suit themselves and their own creed. Dr. Adam Clarke, the great Methodist Commentator, has shown us how charm- ingly this whole system works. St. Paul was plain-hearted enough to declare that the living God is the Savior of all men, and to leave us to conclude that he actually meant just what he said. But the learned doctor whom we have mentioned has step- ped forth in his might to correct our simple blunder, and to show, by the magic of free-will, that the de- claration in question embraces nothing more than a doubtful offer of salvation to any man ! We here give the whole of his lucid annotation on the words, '* Who is the Savior of all men^^ — *' Who \\2iS pro- vided salvation for the whole human race ; and freely offered it to them in His word, and by His Spirit.^^ Here the explanation is presented in two words— pi'ovided and offered. There is, however, no very striking resemblance, that we can detect, between the text and the comment. The former says nothing about providing and offering — and the latter speaks about nothing else. But the free- ISO UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. will plan can evidently do wonders. And it is en- tirely to this plan that v/e are to impute the appa- rent disagreement between a simple passage of Scripture and what is called an exposition of such passage. Now in view of this attempt at explanation, the reader is desired candidly to consider this question: — Is it true that salvation is freely offered to the whole human race in the word of God, and. by his Spirit ? It is meant, you will understand, that such offer is alleged to be made in thh life — for it is po- sitively denied that any offer of salvation will be made to men in the future world. The writer of this comment himself knew that millions of our race die without even having heard of God'' s word. And yet he tells us that God is the Savior of all men, because he has provided salvation for the whole human race, and freely offered it to them iii his word, and by his Spirit V Surely, this is hard straining to make the Scriptures countenance a favorite theory of human device ! It is easily perceived that according to the expo- sition now before us, God's being the Savior of all men, means that he has provided salvation for all, and freely offered it to them in his word and by his Spirit — but is after all the Savior only of a. part of mankind. But if providing salvation for all men, and offering it to them make God their Savior, then it is certain that he may be the Savior of all men, without saving one individual of the human race. For all for whom he provides salvation, and to whom he freely offers it, may be eternally lost, and God still be the Savior of all men, according to this doctrine ! UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 181 We are, however, still so stupid on this subject that we cannot exactly understand how God can be the Savior of any man whom he never saves. True, the learned doctor whose comment we have just cited, has been kind enough to inform us that God is the Savior of all men because he has 'pro- indecl salvation for all, and freely offered it to them in his word and by his Spirit — though this author must have known very well that according to his own doctrine, this offer never was and never can be made to all men ! Still, he perhaps thought it best to say something — and we suppose that he said the very best thing that he could say. The man is not, therefore, to be censured. But we nevertheless feel somewhat disposed to test this ex- posiiion by the aid of a very simple illustration, for which we cannot claim even the merit of great originality. Let us suppose then that I should see ten men seated upon the wreck of a vessel fast sinking under the water, and should provide for their rescue, and offer to save them. Would I not then be their Savior ? The answer from every person is, no, not unless I saved them. There can be no salvation where there is none, wimtever may be the provi- sions and offers. But suppose that in addition to the provisions and offers, I should actually succeed in saving five of the men, would I not then be the Savior of them all? The answer again is, no, I could not be the Savior of any more than I saved. But suppose that I should redeem nine from death, and that the remaining one of the ten should be so foolish and perverse as to choose death rather than life, would I not then be the deliverer of them all .^ 16 182 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. Again the reply comes, there was one that you did not save — he was one of the all — and therefore you did not save all! Now it would seem impossible to convince any man of common understanding that I was the Savior of all of those ten men, when in fact I saved only a 'part of them. And if I should publish to the world that I saved them all^ every body would understand me to mean just what I said — and no person living could suppose that I meant nothing more than that I provided means and offered to save them aZ/, and at the same time suffered a part of them to sink to the bottom ! It is therefore a plain contradiction in terms to say that God is the Savior of all men, but will not save all men. And all the learned subterfuges that have been resorted to in order to explain away the obvious sense of the Scriptures, have only resulted in the demonstration that it is impossible to make it appear that they plainly express one thing, but mean a very differ- ent thing ! The particular passage in question, the reader will be careful to notice, says not one word about Grodi^s providing and offering salvation to all men, or to any man. But it states a very simple fact in very plain language — The living God is the Savior of all men. Why then try to obscure the manifest sense of this declaration, by talking about provi- sions and offers, which amount to nothing at all, without the actual gift of the promised blessing ? Our Savior did not say, " For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,'^ and -pro- videth and freely offereth life unto the world — but, " and GivETH life unto the world." He also says UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 183 in the same connexion, " All that the Father giveth rne shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For 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 should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.'' And in another chap- ter it is also declared, " For the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." And from these united testimonies of Scripture we learn that all things have been given into the hands of Jesus of the Father — that all that have been given him shall come to him, and not be cast out — and that Jesus is the bread of God which giveth life unto the world ! All this perfectly agrees with the declaration of the apostle that the living God is THE Savior of all men. And a great many simi- lar testimonies of the Scriptures could be adduced in proof of the same glorious truth. We propose, however, to offer but one passage in confirmation of the fact that God is the Savior of all men. But before presenting this passage, we think it proper briefly to explain what we mean by that salvation of which all mankind shall partake. In the present world all men are not the subjects of salvation, as we shall yet show — but we trust that when all the promises and purposes of the Al- mighty shall be fulfilled, all men will be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. St. Paul certifies us in the 3d chapter of Philippians, that Jesus Christ our Lord ^' shall change our vile body, that it maybe fashioned like unto \\\^ glorious body ^ according to the working whereby he is able even 184 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. to subdue all things unto himself." This passage teaches us that we shall be delivered and raised up from the corruptible constitution in which we now live, and through the mercy and favor of God, be made holy and happy in the glorified nature of Jesus Christ. And in speaking on this same sub- ject, the apostle declares in the 8th chapter of Romans, that the whole creation shall be delivered from, the hondaf^c of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God I Such is the salva- tion of which all mankind shall be made partakers. It consists in the deliverance of the human family from corruption to incorruption^ from dishonor to glory, from a natural body to a spiritual body, and from the earthly nature to the heavenly nature — for, " as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This salvation is promised in the word of God, not for any portion of the human race, but for all man- kind — the whole creation. And in view of this salvation God is declared to be *' the Savior of all The particular passage which we propose to in- troduce to confirm what we have already said on the subject of Universal Salvation, is 1st Cor. xv. 22, " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." This passage plainly affirms that all men die in Adam or the earthy na- ture — and that all men shall afterwards be made alive in Christ or the heavenly nature — and it there- fore clearly teaches the doctrine of Universal Sal- vation. And it may also be said of this passage that it is so perfectly plain that we know not how to attempt an explanation of its meaning. But UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 185 here again the reader may desire to know how our learned opposers manage this passage — and may also think that we onglu to notice wliat they have to say about its meaning. This desire is quite reasonable, and it shall be gratified. The Methodist Commentator, Dr. Clarke, who has given to the world a very lengthened commen- tary on the Scriptures, chose to pass by the passage under consideration, without offering one word of comment — although the verse before it and the one after it were both thought worthy to receive his attention. But we think that he did far better, even with his utter silence, than others whose comments we are about to notice. In a recent work, entitled, " Lectures on Universalism, by Rev. Joel Parker, D. D., President of the Union Theo- logical Seminary, New York," we are favored with an explanation of the passage before us, which the author no doubt thought to be very satisfactory. True, he has not quoted the passage correctly. But perhaps it suited his purpose just as well as if he had been a little more careful. We will not be so nice, however, as to make this circumstance the ground of any particular complaint. Some doctors feel that they have a kind of right to manage things their own way. And indeed a doctorate would be worth nothing, if it did not confer some special privilege. Possibly, however, the printer was at fault — for it happens that even the number of the verse is not correctiy stated. The entire comment of this doctor and President (though he is not a President now) is not very long, and we here pre- sent it entire. He says, pp. 57, 58, "The 16th verse of the 15th chapter of 1st of Corinthians, is 16* 186 UNIVERSALIS^, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. often quoted as a proof of the doctrine of universal salvation. For, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive ? Tliis whole chapter is taken up with an argument for the resurrection of Christ's disciples, drawn from the resurrection of the Savior himself. Neither the salvation of saints nor sinners is hinted at in the text — the text plainly speaks of the resurrection of the body, and nothing else. Time will not permit us to protract these ex- aminations." Now we cannot bnt regard it as peculiarly un- fortunate that tliis author was so hard pressed for time —and especially when we consider that his famous Lectures have been preached and published and preached and published again for many years, and still farther consider that we have quoted from the very latest edition. Bat while we regret that he was so sadly cramped for time, there is one comforting reflection still left us — and that is, that if he had had an abundance of time, and had largely extented his ^- examinations,^' they would probably have been of no great value. In the short speci- men of examination with which we have been favored, we are informed that " this whole chapter is taken up with an argument for the resurrection of Christ's disciples.^' Bat here it seems proper that we should ask the question, if we may law- fully assume such liberty, How many of the human race die in Adam ? Even our opposers themselves will answer, *^ll men. How many then shall be made alive in Christ } The passage under exami- nation gives the true answer — ^^ Even so in Christ shall all be made alive." It is plain, therefore, that the very same all men who die in Adam shall UNIVERSAL SALVATIOJT. 187 be made alire in Christ. And what a sorry attempt it is to set aside this manifest proof of universal salvation, for a man coolly to remark that the whole chapter is taken up with an argument for the re- surrection of ChrisVs disciples, and then to dismiss the subject with the convenient declaration, "lime will not permit us to protract these examina- tions!!^^ Examinations ! Fsmaous examinations, truly ! The man puts forth his naked and daring assertions, unaccompanied by any thing wearing the appearance of a decent investigation — and then, really fancying that he has been engaged in the work of inquiry, he dashes off with the flourish, "time will not permit us to protract these exami- nations!^' But we will have some mercy upon this poor man, even if he had none upon himself — and we therefore take our leave of him. In a work, entitled, "Notes, Explanatory and Practical^ on the First Epistle of Paul to the Cor- inthians, by Albert Barnes," we are furnished with another and very different explanation of the passage before us — though both authors belong to the same school, and if we mistake not, to branches of the same individual church. The comment of this author is too long to be presented entire — for he has a remarkable faculty of continuance, and seems capable of writing on a particular stibject long after ho has written all that he really has to write ahont it. But the following extract contains the substance of all that he has said — " The argu- ment of the apostle here (he says) is ample to prove that all men are subjected to temporal death by the sin of Adam ; and that this evil is counteracted fully by the resurrection of Christ, and the resurrection 188 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. through him. And to this point the passage should be limited. If this passage means, that in Adam, or by him, all men became sinners, then the cor- respondent declaration 'all shall be made alive' must mean that all men shall become righteous, or that all shall be saved. This would be the natural and obvious interpretation ; since the words * be made alive' must have reference to the words ' all die' and must affirm the correlative and opposite fact. If the phrase ' all die ' there means all became sinners, then the phrase ' all be made alive' must mean all shall be made holy, or be recovered from their spiritual death ; and thus an obvious argu- ment is furnished for the doctrine of universal sal- vation, which it is difficult, if not impossible, to meet. It is not a sufficient answer to this to say, that the word ' all,' in the latter part of the sentence, means all the elect, or all the righteous ; for its most natural and obvious meaning is, that it is co-exten- sive with the word 'all ' in the former part of the verse. And although it has been held by many who suppose that the passage refers only to the re- surrection of the dead, that it means that all the righteous shall be raised up, or all who are given to Christ, yet that interpretation is not the obvious one, nor is it yet sufficiently clear to make it the basis of an argument, or to meet the strong argu- ment which the advocate of universal salvation will derive from the former interpretation of the passage. It is true Uteralhj that all the dead will rise; it is not true literally that all who became mortal, or 'became sinners by means of Adam, will be saved. And it must be held as a great principle that this passage is not to be so interpreted as to teach the doctrine of the salvation of all men." UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 189 Now this interpretation, the reader will perceive, entirely sets aside and overthrows the former one about the whole chapter being " taken up with an argument ibr the resurrection of Christ's disciples:^ Here it is shown that the passage in both its parts plainly speaks of all men. It is, however, aheged, but without any good reason, and merelv to dodge the whole truth, that the passage must 'be limited to the single point of the resurrectio}i—{\mi is, without regard to the condition in which the sub- jects of the resurrection are to live ! And yet in this very chapter it is declared that <• the dead'' — not any particular class of mankind— but that Ihe dead shall be raised in i7icorruj)tion, power, honor, glory, in a spiritual body, and in the hea- venly IMAGE. Why, then, we ask, is it not clearly proved that all men, being made alive in Christ beyond death, will be saved from the power of sin and the bondage of corruption, and made holy and happy in the heavenly nature of our glorified Re- deemer? The following answer is given by the author from whom we last cited:— " It inust be held as a great principle that this passage is not to be so interpreted as to teach the doctrine of the sal- vation of all men." Ah ! why must it be so held } What is it that causes this fatal necessity ? We do not understand this flourish about a " great prin- ciple.'' The principle may be great enough, but we should like to know what it is, that ice might see its greatness too. The word of God, we judge, has been given as the rule of our faith. But if any man in his profound researches and deep and far- reaching wisdom has found " a great principle" which forbids that we should understand that word 190 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTINE OF THE BIBLE. according to its plain and obvious sense, we think he ought at least to be accommodating enough to let us know what that ^^ great principle^^ is. It is surely not kind to keep the world in the dark in regard to such an important discovery. But I sup- pose we must try to be satisfied with the mere de- claration that it MUST BE held as a great principle that the Scriptures, whatever they say, must not be so interpreted as to make them teach that the living God is the Savior of all men ! Still, we can- not but experience something of the feeling of poor Galileo, who, after swearing upon his knees that the world was flat and never moved, stamped his foot and exclaimed, '^Jind yet it moves .'" Even in view of the alleged necessity iox holding the ^^ great principle,^' (though we do not know what it is,) we must be permitted to say, And yet God is the Savior of all men. CHAPTER XV. SPECIAL SALVATION. In the preceding chapter we have spoken of, and endeavored to prove the doctrine of Universal Sal- vation. But the Scriptures also speak of a salva- tion that is not universal, but special. The living God "is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.^' Of the common salvation all man- kind shall be made partakers. That salvation con- sists in the deliverance of the whole creation from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. All shall be raised through Jesus Christ from sin, death and corruption, and made equal unto the angels of God in heaven. " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." And this heavenly and im- mortal life of which all shall partake in the resur- rection-state, is the common or universal salvation. But in addition to all this, believers in Christ ex- perience a special salvation, which comes through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth — and which is enjoyed in this present life, where faith is exercised — and not in the future world where there will be no faith, and consequently no salvation by faith. It is by confounding these two salvations together and making them one, that some persons fancy that they find "a great prin- ciple," which will not allow them to believe that God " will have all men to be saved, and to come 191 192 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. unto the knowledge of the truth." But if they understood the proper distinction between the uni- versal and the special salvation, they would soon perceive that their "great principle" is quite a small affair, after all, and that fair interpretations of the word of God n:iight be tolerably managed without it. St. Paul says to the Ephesians, 2d chapter, " For by grace are ye saved throiii^h faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." This spe- cial salvation, which is consequent of faith, and which none but believers can enjoy, is a present salvation. Mark the expression — *' By grace are ye saved.^' The persons here addressed were already in a state of salvation, enjoying its bless- ings. He who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ with the heart unto righteousness, and lives and acts conformably to the spirit of the Gospel, is saved. He enjoys the rich blessings of that present salvation of which the apostle spoke, when he de- clared to Titus that they had been saved from folly, disobedience and deception, from the service of divers lusts, from living in malice and envy, from being hateful, and from hating one another. And he also knows, under the happy influence of his faith, what it is to be delivered or saved from bond- age to the fear of death. ^ Now persons dying in the age of infancy can know nothing of such salvation — because they never believed the truth, nor exercised faith in Christ. Still, we hope and trust that they will be made partakers of that future salvation which God has promised to our race, and in view of which ho is declared to be "the Savior of all men." They SPECIAL SALVATION. 193 will receive the heavenly inheritance without ever having enjoyed it by faith. And such, we rejoice to believe, will at last be the case even with such as now reject the Son of God, and are strangers to all the peace and joy of his holy religion. We cannot believe that any declaration of the word of God was ever intended to contradict and falsify any other declaration of that word. And when the apostle declared that God is specially the Savior of those that believe, he did not surely mean to intimate that the previous declaration, namely, that God is the Savior of all men, is not strictly true. Both declarations are true. And indeed if God were not the absolute Savior of more than those who are specially saved, what sense would there be in saying that he is the special Savior of those that believe ? In what would the special sal- vation consist, if there was no other salvation ? If there is but one salvation, it cannot be special. And it is therefore plain from the language of the apostle that there is a salvation of which all men shall par- take — and there is also a special and present salva- tion, which none but believers can enjoy, and which is in fact the result or the fruit of their faith. Dr. Clarke says of the expression, ^^ specially of those that believe'' — '• What God intends for all, he actually gives to them that believe in Christ, who died for the sins of the world, and tasted death for every man." According to this notion, God intends sa\vdiiion for some upon whom he will never confer this blessitjg. That is, he in- tends salvation for all, but does not intend it for all ! These are marvellous intentions, indeed I But we must doubt the right of any man to impute 17 194 UNIVERSALISM, THE DOCTRINE OP THE BIBLE. such a jnmble of nonsense to the hving God. The apostle does not say, God is not the Savior of all. men, but only of those that believe. But he plainly teaches a very different doctrine — 'for he declares that God is the Savior of all men, and also the spe- cial Savior of those that believe. Believers will not only be blessed with that salvation of which all who die in Adam shall partake — but they also enjoy a special and 'present salvation through faith in the truth and by their obedience to God. It may not be improper briefly to notice the Scripture usage of the word specially. St. Paul says, Titus i. 10, " For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision." Now did the apostle mean that they of the circumcision were the only unruly and vain talkers and deceivers? Certainly not — but they in particular sustained this hateful character. Again, he says, 1st Tim. v. 17, " Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labored in the word and doc- trine.*' It is plain that the apostle would have all the elders that ruled well counted worthy of double honor — but more parlicularly they who labored in the word and doctrine. Once more, he says, 2d Tmi. iv. 13, " The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments." Now did Paul really want his cloak and books, or did he desire nothing but the parchments? Suppose Tim- othy to have come to Paul, and the weather daily be- coming more cold, Paul asks. Where is the cloak I sent for? 0, says Timothy, I did not bring you either the cloak or the books, because you said in SPECIAL SALVATION. 195 your letter especially the parchments — and that showed plainly enough that you did not really mean that 1 should bring either the cloak or the books, (though you mentioned them both, but with a sort of unmeaning intention,) but the parch- mentsonly. How do you suppose, reader, that the apostle would have liked that kind of reasoning? It seems to us that he could not have entertained a very exalted opinion of the understanding of his student — nor would he have felt very comfortably under his disappointment ! We therefore conclude that the word specially in the last clause of the passage to which we have given particular attention, was not intended to dis- prove the former part of the passage. It is just as certain, according to the testimonies of the Scrip- tures, that God is the Savior oi all men, as that he is specially the Savior of believers. And although we do not expect by our faith to secure immortal blessedness in the heavenly nature, which is the free gift of divine grace, and which all who die in Adam shall enjoy — we nevertheless feel and acknowledge the great importance of believing the truth of Christ, that we may be saved from the love and practice of sin, and from bondage to the fear of death. There is a peace tliat passeth all under- standing, and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory in believing the gracious promises of God's word — and there is pure and exalted happiness to be found in the faithful practice of Christian duty. Let us, therefore, friendly reader, render un- feigned gratitude and thanksgiving to "the Father of mercies'' for the blessings of the Gospel — let us do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our 196 UNIVERSAI.ISM, THE DOCTRINE OP THE BIBLE. God — and while we labor and suffer reproach, be- cause we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, let us ever strive to be numbered among those who are specially saved. Amen, . i'^7"^ 17' CATALOGUE OF UNIVERSALIS! BOOKS. In order to afford an opportunity to the citizens of Philadelphia and its neighborhood, to obtain the different works treating on the subject of Universalism, the sub- scribers have been induced to act as agents for the sale of the works published by that denomination of Chris- tians, and respectfully solicit a share of the public patron- age. The following is a list of some of the Books on hand, with the prices annexed : THE UNIVERSALIST BELIEF: or the doctrinal VIEWS OF Universalists. By Rev. Asher Moore. Neatly printed on fine white paper, and handsomely bound in Cloth, Price 50 ceiits. This is a work of great merit, and one which has been eagerly sought after. The first edition was speedily disposed of, and the publisher has been unable to supply many orders which have recently been received. It is written in a chaste and forcible style, and furnishes as clear an exposition of, and convincing argument for the main points of our faith as any book ever issued from our press. ^ CATALOGUE OF UNIVERSALISM, the Doctrine of the Bible.— By Rev. Asher Moore. Printed on fine white paper, and handsomely bound in Cloth. Price 50 cents. This work is written in the author's very best style, and will, we have no doubt, be considered one of the most able works ever written in defence of the final holiness and happiness of all mankind. LECTURES TO YOUTH. By Rev. Stephen R. Smith. Neatly printed, and bound in cloth. Price 50 ce7its. This book is entirely free from sectarism. It is written in a very beautiful style, and inculcates through- out its pages the purest lessons of virtue, the true foun- dation of all religion. No family should be without it. Rev. a. C. Thomas. Price 50 cents. A beautifully got up book, designed as an aid to de- votion in public and private assemblies. THE SELECT THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. This is a series of valuable Universalist Books, printed in the cheap form with a view of an extensive circula- tion. Each work is printed without abridgement, in book style, on fine white paper, with new Brevier type, in a neat and handsome manner, and enclosed in a well printed and appropriate cover. Some of the most useful Uni- versalist Books are furnished in this style at about one- fourth the price for which they have heretofore been sold. These books are sold so extremely low, and the beneficial influence they are calculated to exert is so very great, that it is hoped their publication will so far receive the approval of Universalists as to induce each one to UNIVERSALIST BOOKS. 3 buy several of them, and distribute them gratuitously among those of opposing sects. Persons residing in country places can derive much advantage from these publications — for beside their extreme cheapness, they can be sent to any part of the country at the bare cost of periodical postage . The following works have been published in the series, and may be obtained wholesale or retail of the agents : — THE UNIVERSAL RESTORATION : exhibited in Four Dialogues between a Minister and his Friend: comprehending the substance of several real conver- sations ivhich the author had with various persons, both in America and Europe, on that interesting subject ; chiefly desigjied fully to state and fairly to answer the most common objections that are brought against it from the Scriptures. By Elhanan Win- chester. To this work is attached a brief Memoir of the Author by Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2nd, D. D. — The former editions ivere sold for 75 cents — the price of this is 18| cents — six copies for $1.00. It is almost unnecessary to say any thing in favor of this excellent book. The fact of its having run through four or five editions at a high price, speaks much in its favor. THOUGHTS ON THE DIVINE GOODNESS, re- lative to the Government of Moral Agents, particu- larly displayed in Future Rewards and Punish- ments. Translated from the French of Ferdinand Olivier Petitpierre, formerly minister of Chaux-de- fond. With a Preface by Rev. T. J. Sawyer, A. M . Former editions sold for $1.00 — the price of this is 12^ cents — tm copies for 1.00. 4 CATALOGUE OF This work is worthy of attentive perusal. It is one of the most pleasing defences of Universal Salvation that was ever published. Petitpierre was not only amiable in his character, but he was a man of clear intellect, and the traits both of his mind and his affections are plainly seen in this work. THE TWENTY-FOURTH AND TWENTY- FIFTH CHAPTERS OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL, illustrated with notes, ^^c. By Hose a Ballou, 2nd, D. D. Price only 6| cents — ten copies for $1.00. A clear and convincing commentary on one of the most important portions of the New Testament, written by one of 'the ablest Theological writers of the present day. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DIVINE GOVERN- MENT. By T. Southwood Smith, M. D. Price 25 cents— Jive copies for $1.00. This has universally been regarded as one of the best books in the whole range of our publications, and is one of the very best works in the English language to con- vince a thinking man of the truth of Universalism. It has passed through several editions, none of which have ever sold for less than 75 cents but this, which is only 25 cents. UNION; a Treatise of the Consanguinity and Affinity between Christ and his Church. By James Relly, with a Preface by Rev. A. C. Thomas, and an ar- ticle on The First Transgression, by Rev. T. F. King. Price only I'lr^ cents. This is a rare and interesting work, written in a clear argumentative style, and is well worthy of an attentive perusal. This book is peculiarly interesting to the Uni- UNIVERSALIS!' BOOKi<. 5 versalist denomination, as being the means of leading John Murray to a belief of the doctrine of the final holiness and happiness of all men. "A copy of the Union falling providentially in his way, Mr. Murray was led, step by step, to unwavering trust in God as the Savior of all." THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS : or a Vindication of the Goodness and Grace of God, to be manifested at last in the recovery of his whole crea- tion out of their fall. By .Jeremiah White, Chap- lain to Oliver Cromwell. With an additional Pre- fdce^ by Rkv. Thomas Whittemore. Price 25 cents— five copies for $1.00. As its title imports, the sole object of this work is to set up and defend the doctrine of Universal Salvation, which is done entirely upon the ground of the Scriptures, according to the views entertained by the author. He was a Trinitarian, and held the doctrine of future pun- ishment. The first edition of this work was printed in London for Clifi'e & Jackson, at the Three Crowns in the Poul- try, in 1712. Another edition was printed for J. Wood- ward, in Scalding Alley, near Stocks market, and J. Morphew, near Stationers' Hall, to which no date was prefixed. Another edition was printed in the year 1779, for John Denis &l Son, No. 2 Bridge Street, London. From the last mentioned edition, the present, which is the first American edition, w^as printed. TEN LETTERS ADDRESSED TO Mr. PAINE, IN ANSWER TO HIS PAMPHLET ENTITLED THE "AGE OF REASON" : containing some clear and satisfactory evidence of the truth of Divine Revelation ; and especially of the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. By Elhanan Winchester. — Price \2k cents — ten copies for $1.00. 6 CATALOGUE OF This is an able refutation of Paine's celebrated Age of Reason, and is one of the very best of the productions of its eminent author. We not only have all the arguments of Paine completely destroyed, but we have an able and eloquent vindication of the truths of Divine Revelation, and of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL, commanded to he preached by Jesus Christ, Judge of the Living and Bead, unto all creatures, [Mark 16: 15j concerning the Eternal Redemption found out by him, whereby Devil, Sin, Hell, and Death, .^hall at last be abo- lished, and the ivhole creation be restored to its primitive purity; being a testimony against the present anti-christian ivorld. By Paul Seigvolk. Price 12^ cents — ten copies for $1.00. This work contains a great amount of thought, and some of the clearest and most scriptural views of the Divine character and government, and is the book that first led the celebrated Elhanan Winchester to em- brace Universalism. Mr. Winchester says, "It was the first book that ever I saw which treated upon the subject of the Universal Restoration, and it was by reading a little therein that I first began to turn my thoughts and attention to the system which I now hold. Indeed the arguments pressed upon my mind in such a manner tliat I could not get rid of them : and though I strove long against them, yet they conquered me in about three years. I cannot help therefore having a great regard for this work, as it proved the first means of my con- viction, and at length brought me to embrace this most glorious and universal plan of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord." OPINIONS AND PHRASEOLOGY OF THE JEWS, CONCERNING A FUTURE S fATE ; from the time of Moses, to that of their final disper- sion, by the Romans. By Hosea Ballou, 2nd, D. D. UNIVERSALIST BOOKS. 7 THE ARGUMENT FOR THE ABOLITIOJN OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, in twelve essays.-^- Price 12.1 cents — ten copies for $1.00. The two above named works are put under the same cover. The first is from the pen of one so well known to the Universalist denomination, that the appearance of his name on the title will secure it a welcome wherever it maybe received. The other, "Essays on Capital Punishment," is the production of a gentlemen of this city, whose talents and acquirements are the admiration of all who know him. It is probable that these essays contain a clearer and more extensive view of the subject discussed, than can be found in any other work now before the public. FAMILIAR CONVERSATIONS, in which the Sal- vation of all mankind is clearly exhibited and illus- trated ; and the most important objections which are now brought against the doctrine, are fairly stated and fully answered. By Russell Streeter. Price 25 cents— five copies for $1.00. This work is too well known to the Universalist pub- lic to need much commendation here. It has already gone through two large editions, and the third has been for some time loudly called for. And we are sure that nothing could be published more welcome to our de- nomination, or more useful to our cause. UNVERSALISM AGAINST PARTIALISM. By Woodbury M. Fernald. The price of the Boston edition was 50 cents, the present edition is only 18| cents, six copies for $1.00. This is a modern work, an edition of which was re- cently published, and rapidly sold in Boston. The un- usual demand for it since it has been out of print, as well as the intrinsic merit of the work itself, has induced the 18 8 CATALOGUE OF publishers to obtain the privilege of issuing it in the cheap form. It is a powerful refutation of the doctrine of endless punishment, and a clear exposition and de- fence of Universalism. SELECT THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. Neatly bound in cloth. Price $1 .00. This work contains The Universal Restoration, by Elhanan Winchester ; Thoughts on the Divine Good- ness, by Ferdinand Olivier Petitpierre ; The Twenty- fourth and Twenty-fifth Chapters of St. Matthew's Gos- pel, illustrated with notes by H. Ballou, 2d; Illustra- tions of the Divine Government, by T. South wood Smith; Union, by James Relly ; The First Transgres- sion, by T. F. King; The Restoration of All Things, by Jeremiah White. It has received the unqualified recommendation of the conductors of every Universalist press in the country, as well as of almost, if not every clergyman, and a vast number of the laymen of our de- nomination. The style in which it is issued, the cha- racter of the works published, and the terms for which it is furnished, have all met with general approbation. THE UNIVERSALIST EXPOSITOR. Edited by HosEA Ballou and Hosea Ballou, 2nd. 2 vols. Svo. This is a reprint of a truly valuable work, and con- tains some of the most valuable writings ever produced by Universalists. It is page for page with the original edition, and furnished at only half the cost. Each volume contains 384 large octavo pages, neatly done up in a paper cover, and is sold at one dollar a volume, or one dollar and seventy-five cents for the two volumes. Those who wish to obtain this standard work, and no family should be without it, must procure it early, as only a small edition has been published. UNIVERSALIST BOOKS. 9 THE PLAIN GUIDE TO UNIVERSALISM : de- signed for inquirers to the belief of that Doctrine, and believers to the practice of it. By Rev. Thomas Whittemore. $1.00 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PA- RABLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, ar- ranged according to the time in ivhich they ivere spoken, ^y Rev. Thomas Whittemore. 15 cents. SKINNER'S DOCTRINAL SERMONS. — ^ Series of Sermons in Defence of the Doctrine of Universal Salvation. By Rev. Otis A. Skinner. 50 cents. AN EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF FUTURE RETRIBUTION, in connexion ivith the Moral Nature of .Man, the principle of Analogy and the sacred Scriptures. ByRi^v. H. Ballou. 50 cts. NOTES ON THE PARABLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, Scripturally illustrated and argu- mentatively defended. By^Ev. H. Ballou. 62^ cts. A TREATISE ON THE ATONEMENT; in which the Finite Nature of Sin is argued, its cause and consequences as such; the necessity jond nature of atonement and its glorious consequences, in the Final Restoration of all men to Holiness and Happiness . By Rev. Hosea Ballou. 50 cents. DISCOURSES ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. By Rev. E. H. Chapin. 50 cents. ORTHODOXY AS IT IS ; or its Mental Influence and Practiced Inefficiency and Effects Illustrated by Phi- losophy and Facts. By Rev's. R. '1'omlinsox, ayid D. P. Livermore. 50 coits. 10 CATALOGUE OF THE LAYMAN'S LEGACY, or Fifty Sermons on important subjects. By Henry Fitz. 2 vols. $2.00. A DISCUSSION of the conjoint question. Is the Doc- trine of Endless Punishment taught in the Bible ! Or does the Bible teach the Final Holiness and Hap- piness of all Mankind? By Rev, Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, Presbyterian, a7id Rev. Abel C. Thomas, Uni- versalist. 50 cents. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAW OF KINDNESS. By Rev. George W. Montgomery. 50 cents. A VOICE TO THE MARRIED : being a compen- dium of Social, Moral, and Religious Duties, ad- dressed to Husbands and Wives. By Rev. John M. Austin. 62i cents. AN ARGUMENT FOR CHRISTIANITY. By Rev. I. D. Williamson. 50 cents. AN EXPOSITION AND DEFENCE OF UNIVER- SALISM. By Rev. I. D. Williamson. 50 cents. ALLEGORIES AND DIVERS DAY DREAMS.— By Rev. Abel C. Thomas. 12^ cents. THE BOOK OF PROMISES ; or the Universalisfs Daily Pocket Companion, being a collection of Scrip- ture Promises, arranged under their proper heads. By S. S. BuLFiNCH Emmons. 25 cents. SELECTIONS FROM EMINENT COMMENTA- TORS, who have believed in Endless Punishment, and who agree with Universalists in the Interpreta- tion of Scripture relating to Punishment. By Rev. Locius R. Paige. Cloth, $1.00. UNIVERSALIST BOOKS. 1 1 LIFE OF GEORGE ROGERS— Memoranda of the Eperience, Labors and Travels of a Universalist Minister. Written by himself . gl.OO. This is an interesting volume, containing an account of Rev. George Rogers, the Missionary of the West — his labors, travels, hardships, controversies, scraps of sermons, (fee. — his removal to the West, his perils in the new country, &;c. TALES FROM LIFE ; designed to illustrate certain Religious Doctrines and Practices which prevail at the present day. By Rev. George Rogers. 50 cts. ADVENTURES OF ELDER TRIPTOLEMUS TUB ; comprising important disclosures concerning Hell — its magnitude, morals, employments, climate, ^"C, — all very satisfactorily authenticated. To which is added The Old Man of the Hill-side. By Rev. George Rogers. 50 cents. HISTORICAL SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT AND PROGRESS OF Universalism in the State of New York. By Rev. S. R. Smith. 50 cents, THE CHRISTIAN COMFORTER — ^ Gift for the Afflicted and Bereaved. By Rev. Henry Bacon. 50 cents, DUTIES OF PARENTS. By Rev. E. H. Chapin. 50 cents. FAMILY WORSHIP ; containhig Reflections and Prayers for Domestic Devotion. By Rev. 0. A. Skinner. 50 cents. BALFOUR'S SECOND INQUIRY ; containing In- quiries into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Devil and Satan — the extent of duration expressed 18* 12 UNIVF.RSALIST BOOKS. by the terms Olinu Aion and Aionios^ rendered Everlasting, «^c., 4'C., in the Bible, and especially when applied to Punishment — the New Testament doctrine of the possession of Devils. By Rev. Walter Balfour. $1.00. THE LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN MURRAY.— Written by himself. 50 cents. NAMES AND TITLES OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. % Rev. Charles Spear. $1.00. MEMOIRS OF REV. S. W. FULLER. By Rev. Asher. Moore. 50 cents. THE UNIVERSALISTS' MANUAL, By Rev. Menzies Rayner. 50 cents. THE FLORAL FORTUNE TELLER. A beautiful Gift Book. By Miss S. C. Edgarton. 37^ cents, HOURS OF COMMUNION. By E. H. Chapin.— 37 d cents. THE SACRED FLORA; or Flowers fro3i the Grave of a Child. By Rev. Henry Bacon. — 371 cents. SIBYLLINE VERSES ; or the Mirror of Fate.— Ji beautiful Gift Book. By Miss H.J. Woodman. Plain, 50 cents — Gilt, 75 cents » CURTIS & NORCROSS, Odd' Fellows^ Keio Hall, Sixth St., below Race. WILLIAM CLAUSEN, No. 47 Chestnut Street. GEORGE H. McCULLY, Ab. 216 South Second Street. JOHN RAPHUN, Sexton of the Lombard St. Universalist Church, ;V ^'tW"^-^^v<4.,.^H^ "^^^r^^ ;« Theological Semmary-Speer Library 1 1012 01029 3506