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essence of folly to deny, for otherwise it would not be. When a father corrects a child, has he pleasure in the pain he inflicts? No. Why then does he inflict it? Because he approves the end it is designed to bring about. Did God approve of the betrayal, denial, and murder of his son, on their own account? No. Nevertheless, it is clear from the scripture, that he appointed these events; and to what end? A world's redemption. Now would not the philosophy have been weak and hobbling in the extreme, which in Christ's day would have argued, "that inasmuch as God's pleasure had been violated in the matter of his son's death, that therefore it might to all eternity be so violated, and all his purposes respecting his rising again, and ascending to glory, be forever baffled ?" You must see the weakness of such reasoning in that case; why not then in regard to the case before us? The fact that God's will, pleasure, and purpose, are in favour of the ultimate extinction of sin and redemption of mankind, warrants the conclusion that these objects will in due time be effected; for the apostle does not affirm that God wills such a consummation at the present, but "in the dispensation of the fulness of times."

THIRD. This doctrine is in agreement with THE PROMISE OF GOD. (Gen. iii. 15. Acts iii. 25. Ibid. 21. Gal. iii. 8. Titus 1, 2, etc.) We are often told, I know, that the promises of God respecting future blessings are exclusively applicable to the righteous; to those who have been born again, &c. but such is not the fact; for when Peter was preaching to the murderers of Jesus, and shortly subsequent to the wicked transaction, he told them, "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, In thee shall all nations be blessed." (Acts iii. 25.) If the murderers of the saviour were the legitimate heirs of this promise, can any good reason be assigned why any are not so? When God is represented as saying, in regard to the Jewish people, "For this is my covenant with them when I shall take away their sins," (Rom. xi. 27.) are we to understand the promise as applicable to those only whose sins were already removed? "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (Psl. xxii. 27.) This, surely, is not subject to the limitation above noticed! Not only all the nations are here embraced, but all the

kindreds of the nations.

"All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. (Psl. lxxxvi. 9.) If there are any nations whom God hath not made, they, to be sure, are not included in this promise. "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah xl. 5, 6.) This passage cannot (as some pretend), refer to the millennium, for the state of things signified by that word, it is supposed, will be gradually and progressively effected; but here we have the assurance of a simultaneous discovery of the divine glory on the part of all mankind, "all flesh shall see it together." Again, the same prophet saith, “And in this mountain will the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined; and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast upon all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people will he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah xxv. 6, 7,8.) To whatever event the prophet may have looked, it is certain that Paul understood the language as appropriate to the era of the resurrection, for while writing upon that theme, he says, “And then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." (1 Cor. xv. 24.) And, indeed, to what other time, or circumstance will the language intelligibly apply? The apostle conceived that the morning of the resurrection would be one of unclouded glory, the opening of a day which should never give place to night, an era of universal rejoicing and triumph. Who, in his description, can find one word to countenance the horrible idea, that the bursts of rapture, the extatic swells of praise, shall be blended with the despairing groans of full three-fourths of a world?

From the following passage, I have often thought the revelator must have had in his eye the promise of God to Abraham; and if so, he certainly understood it in the widest sense of which the language is susceptible. "After this I beheld, and lo, a great

multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the lamb." (Rev. vii. 9, 10.) Suppose we limit this great, this innumerable multitude, to a part only of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues; even

en it would form a circumstance against the doctrine of endless suffering; for it is certain that, if that theory be true, there must be many nations and kindreds out of which no part could be saved. For example, all that were involved in the deluge; and since, the people of Sodom, Gomorrha, Tyre, Sidon, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, &c. beside the numerous tribes that have perished from the earth in a condition of moral darkness and idolatry; whereas the multitude John saw was composed of ALL nations, kindreds, peoples and tongues. Stronger phraseology could scarcely be framed for expressing the entire human family. If, however, stronger language for the purpose can be found, we have it from the same writer, and upon the same subject," And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,* heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and to the lamb for ever and ever." (Ibid. v. 13.) Here then we have the Psalmist's exhortation reduced to practice, "Let every thing which hath breath praise the Lord." (Psl. cl. 6.) What scene could be more fitting for the winding up of earth's affairs? What commentary upon the text "God saw all things that he had made, and behold they were very good," could be more beautiful? Does not such an issue justify the angelic rejoicings at the birthday of time? When the morning stars sung together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." (Job xxx. 7.) A foresight of such a consummation might well cause all the arches of eternity to echo and re-echo with rejoicing. And when infinite love creates, what rational being can doubt, that such will be the result?

* Ah! but it does not include those that are in hell." Perhaps not. Let me see. Are you quite sure that hell is not "under the earth?" I pretend to no accurate knowledge with regard to its locale, but if the christian hell be the ha-des of the heathen poets, which I shrewdly suspect, then must it come within the range of the above passage.

FOURTH. The theory of universal salvation is in accordance with the OATH OF GOD. "Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Surely shall say [I omit the words added by the translators] in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall come; and they that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. and shall glory." (Isaiah xlv. 22-25.) This is very absolute and very unequivocal; it expresses not merely the fact of the ultimate salvation of all, but also the nature of that salvation; which will consist in their being clothed with divine strength and righteousness; and this indeed constitutes the essence of gospel salvation: for the removal of moral beings from one to another of the different worlds in the universe (however agreeable the exchange in a physical point of view) can make but little difference in the enjoyment of those beings, except their moral condition be suited to it. Salvation from sin, therefore, not in it, is that for which we contend; when every individual shall be able to say, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength;" there will be no sinners in existence, and if no sinners, no moral suffering.

The great apostle has given us the above prediction in a version somewhat different, but which diminishes nought of its universality. "Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. ii. 9, 10, 11.) I know of but one scriptural way of access to God, and Christ is that way. "No man," saith he, "cometh to the Father but by me." (John xiv. 6.) Our opponents tell us there is no change after death; and it is certain that infants, and the hundreds of thousands who yearly pass from time ignorant of the gospel, do not in this life come to God by that only way. What ground of assurance have we, then-what scriptural ground, that these shall be saved? None whatever, if the doctrine of endless misery be true! Paul, however, removes the difficulty

satisfactorily; he shows us that the time will come when every knee shall bow in allegiance to God, and every tongue so confess Christ as that God shall be glorified. It would not be to God's glory, surely, to extort (as our opponents affirm he will) an involuntary confession from finite creatures. Omnipotence glorified by forcing an acknowledgement from worms! Yet such is the meager and grovelling view which some seem to entertain on this head.

FIFTH. God is expressly called "THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN." (1 Tim. iv. 10.) In what sense can he be consistently so called, except in a final sense? All surely are not saved now; they are not saved from sin, suffering, death-nor, if the doctrine of ceaseless suffering be true, from hell, for thousands are hourly descending thither. I am aware that it is assumed by some that he is the saviour of all men merely by having placed them in a salvable state: but then I also know that this is sheer nonsense; for if they had ever been out of a salvable condition, they could never have been put into it. Would a sensible physician talk of putting an incurable patient into a curable state? Men were either always salvable, or they were not; if they were not, they could not be made so; if they were, they did not require to be made so.

But what is meant by God being the saviour "especially of them that believe?" Whatever it may mean, it certainly does not that he is their saviour only, for he is also "the saviour of all men." If I save ten, out of a score of persons, from a burning house, or any other danger, am I warranted in calling myself the saviour of the score? I can surely not be considered the saviour of the portion that perished! And although I had made great exertions for the rescue of the whole, still I was in fact but the deliverer of those who by my means were actually delivered. The true meaning, however, of God being called "the saviour of all men, especially of them that believe," is, that the latter class are saved in the present life, while the former are not-the latter are entered into rest, (Heb. iv. 3.) but unbelievers are yet in the wilderness of sin and consequent trouble-the latter class are justified by faith, and have peace with God, (Rom. v. I.) but unbelievers are "without God, and without hope in the world”—the latter class are quickened from a death in trespasses and sin (Eph. ii. 1.)

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