ishment is, to say the least, a very unreasonable doctrine, and I think it can be made equally obvious that it is an unscriptural doctrine. I am aware that you and your divines quote several passages of scripture to sustain the strange and newly invented doctrine of no-future judgment. But do these texts, when fairly construed, teach this hypothesis? I trow not.— Much dependence is placed upon Gen. 12: 3. 22: 18,where God says to Abraham: "And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." But why are these texts brought forward? Do they assert, or even imply, that all men are rewarded and punished in this world according to individual character, and that death sweeps all, both just and unjust, to glory? No. What is the blessing here promised to Abraham? Evidently Christianity. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a blessing indeed, incomparably greater than all other favors which God, in his goodness, has bestowed upon our fallen race. It is a blessing through the seed of Abraham-Christ, freely given to all nations, families, and kindreds of the earth. It is as rich as the love and munificence of God can make it, and as free as the air we breathe. But like all other blessings of God, it may be abused, and despised; and blessings perverted fall upon the heads of the guilty as a dreadful curse. Hence the preceding context of Gen. 12, 3, reads, I will bless them that bless thee, and CURSE them that curse thee." Hence Paul tells us: "For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish; to the one we are the savor of death unto death; to the other the savor of life unto life." 1 Cor. 2: 15. 16. Peter gives us a comment on this promise to Abraham, which you would do well to consider. Read it. "Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to BLESS you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." Acts 3: 26.

Here we have the blessing, its nature defined, and an illustration of the manner in which the first nation to which it was presented received it. We are here taught, (1.) That the blessing is the gift of a Savior, who came to turn every one from his iniquities, see Heb. 2:16. (2) That this blessing was first bestowed upon the Jews; for Peter addressing a Jewish audience says: "Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you." But were this nation all made holy and happy by the Mission of the Messiah? No: far from it. John says he came unto his own and his own received him not. John 1: 11. His coming among them proved to be "a savor of death

unto death." (3.) You see the blessing is the sending of the Son of God" to turn every one from his iniquities." Let me

ask then.

Are all turned from their iniquities in this world by the coming of Christ? This you will not pretend. Well then, did Jesus Christ come into this world to turn sinners away from their iniquities in the world to come? No-this you do not believe. How then can you get Universalism out of this text? You look around you and see that all men are not turned from their iniquities in this world. You look forward into eternity and you see no iniquity there from which men need to be turned. Where and when then does this blessing take effect upon all men?

But we have a little more light upon this promise to Abraham from the pen of St. Paul. The great Apostle to the Gentiles, has a few annotations upon this precious promise which we shall do well to consider. Let us hear him. He will tell us who inherits this blessing, which is so liberally provided for all nations.

"The scriptures forseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the GOSPEL UNTO ABRAHAM, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.-So then they that be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. 3:8, 9.

Here then we have an inspired commentary upon the text. It furnishes a key with which to unlock the whole subject. "THEY THAT BE OF FAITH ARE BLESSED with faithful Abraham," but none others. To all others the blessing is proffered, but like all other blessings good in themselves, they become a savor of death unto death when rejected or perverted. In the 22d verse of the same chapter the Apostle throws a flood of light upon the right application of this prom

ise.

"But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given TO THEM THAT BELIEVE,' See also verse 29.

"If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."-Here then we learn that no one is heir to this promise given to Abraham, but those who are Christ's, and that the blessing is given to those of all nations, and families "THAT BELIEVE."

Another text which I understand your preachers and authors egregiously pervert to squeeze Universalism out of it, is Prov. 13: 15. "But the way of transgressors is hard." is hard." This is a stereotyped text, to be found in almost every sermon of your

preachers. It is brought forward to prove that the wicked are always and fully punished in this world. But does it say or imply any such thing? No-It simply affirms a general truth, believed by all Christians, that guilt involves pain and condemnation. Those who believe in a future and eternal judgment regard the ways of the transgressor as hard indeed, involved as those ways are in darkness here, and terminating as they do in "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power." But if Universalism be true the ways of the transgressor are not so very hard; they are quite tolerable. A Universalist conscience, benumbed by fatality and seared with guilt, and case-hardened by an almost total absence of a sense of accountability, cannot be supposed to give the transgressor any very serious annoyance in his ways, especially if he be strong in the faith that a life of pleasure, infamy and guilt will inevitably terminate in glory. It will be a hard task to persuade such an one that "all is (not) well that ends well.”

There is a passage in Ps. 5: 8,11, which I have noticed your preachers often press into the services of Universalism. "Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth." But what does this text prove? Just what all Christians believe. All Christians fully believe that God rules or judges in the earth, by a general and special providence, that he gives seed time and harvest, sends rain and sunshine, that he raiseth up one and casts down another at his will, that by him kings rule and princes exercise dominion. To get Universalism out of this text you must be able to show that it teaches not only that God judges in the earth, but that he judges every sinner here, fully and equitably, and that he will not judge in the world to come.

You do not, I presume, often, if ever, hear a Universalist sermon without hearing repeated in some part of it, Prov. 11: 31.

"Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner." What does this passage prove? That a full and perfect retribution in all cases, takes place in this world? No-it neither affirms nor implies any such thing; so far from this, the passage as it now reads, indicates that while the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, that the wicked and sinner shall be much more than recompensed. The best of Hebrew scholars tell us that the literal rendering of this passage is thus; "Behold the righteous in the earth, he shall be recompensed; and surely the wicked and the sinner." Yes-they shall be recompensed; a perfect retribution does not take place now with them; but the time is

coming when God will give both the righteous and the wicked according to the works of their hands.

Another passage which your preachers and authors frequently quote to prove your peculiar doctrine, is found in Ps. 22: 27. "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee."

Does this passage prove that there is no judgment to come? Nothing of the kind is intimated here. This text is a practical declaration of the progress and triumphs of the gospel "in the world." It says nothing of the present condition or final destruction of those who have gone out "of the world" before they "remember and turn unto the Lord." Do all men "remember and turn unto the Lord" before death, judging from your own observation? This you will not pretend. Will all men in the future world “remember and turn unto the Lord?” Admit this, and your doctrine of no-future punishment falls to the ground. For if you admit that any turn to the Lord in eternity, then it follows as a matter of course, that they enter the eternal world, laden with guilt, and alienated from their Creator. And if guilt and consequent condemnation once pass into eternity, what becomes of your favorite doctrine?— Yea-more; if sin and condemnation pass the threshold of eternity, what fearful significance does the thought impart to those passages which assure us that they "who know not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power."

The Lord willing, you shall hear from me again soon.
Yours as ever.

LETTER X.

My Dear Sir:

Having in my last examined the most important Scriptural evidences of your doctrine which your preachers and writers adduce from the Old Testament, I now propose to call your attention to an examination of those passages which are brought forward for the same purpose from the New. You are probably well aware that the most intelligent Universalists do not even pretend that there is a single passage, which affirms in so many words, that all men are equitably and fully rewarded

in this life, or that there is no judgment to come. But there are some passages which are supposed to imply your doctrine. Let us examine them.

Much dependence is placed on that class of texts which teach the universality of the atonement. As for instance."Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." 1 Tim. 2: 6. See also, 1 John, 2: 2. 4: 10.

But what does this class of texts prove? That all men are rewarded and punished in this world according to their character? No! That death will break down all distinctions between the righteous and the wicked?-between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not? No; this class of texts simply affirms the fact, that in the sacrificial death of the Son of God, (a sacrifice in which, by the way, the Universalists have no faith at all,) provisions are made for all men.And if we believe the Word of God, this circumstance, so far from screening the sinner from condemnation, who lives and dies in rebellion against God, it will greatly aggravate his final ruin. The most bitter drug in the sinner's cup of condemnation, I apprehend, will be found in the solemn fact, that" light came into the world" and shone around him, and that "he loved darkness rather than light, because his deeds were evil;" -that he has trampled upon the atoning blood of the Lamb of God,"done despite to the spirit of grace; that while God in all sincerity, and with full provisions of grace, has called, he has refused. The Apostle Paul tells us that this gospel of the grace of God so richly and impartially provided for all, will prove to some a savor of life unto life," and to others of " death unto death;" 2 Cor. 2: 15, 16. As to the design and final result of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, hear the Divine teacher himself. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3: 14, 16. Here you learn from the lips of Christ, that universal provisions of grace are made, not that saints and sinners, Christians and Infidels, may equally and unconditionally have eternal life, but that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH in him (none others,) should not perish, but have everlasting life." The provisions are free and are for all, but they are conditional. They are rendered “a savor of life unto life to whosoever believeth." This class of texts then, affords your system no support.