Then he loves the thought that all shall come to repentance and salvation! Is not this the desire of every new convert? Are they not then truly Universalists?

There is this most extraordinary and marked distinction between the different doctrines supported by the brother opposite, and myself. While I must not, and cannot PRAY NOT DESIRE that eternal sin and wretchedness may be the doom of any human being-while the Bible no where calls upon me to utter such prayer, or entertain such desire--my opponent can and will both pray and desire that ALL MANKIND may be brought to forsake sin, and obtain holiness and happiness!! His Bible expressly EXHORTS him to such prayers.

Where does such a desire come from, except from God? And if he gave it to man, does he not possess it himself? Can a stream rise higher than its fountain? Can the creature's desires be more expanded, more benevolent and holy than the Creator's? Is there not the same desire in Christ, and angels, and all who dwell in heaven. And if this Desire is so mighty in the soul of the Christian, as to lead him to bring all men to the feet of Jesus in repentance and love, had he the power, will not a similar desire in God-yea, an infinitely stronger desire, lead him, in his own good time, to do this great and good work? Has he not abundance of power to complete so great and glorious an enterprise?

2. The Prayers and Desires of the righteous shall be granted. "The prayer of the upright is his delight."—(Prov. xv. 8.) "He heareth the prayer of the Righteous."-(Prov. xv. 29.) "He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him.”—(Ps. cxlv. 19.) "The desire of the Righteous shall be granted."-(Prov. x. 24.) If the Prophets of old, the Apostles. the early Christian Fathers of the first centuries, all prayed for the salvation of the entire human race, as we have seen--if all righteous men, all true christians, in succeeding ages, and in the present day, sincerely pray for, and ardently desire, the reformation and salvation of all men-and if the prayers and desires of the Righteous shall be GRANTED by the same God, who moves them thus to pray, the argument is complete-all will eventually be brought to holiness and heaven.

My Seventeenth Argument is drawn from

THE PROMISES OF GOD.

PROPOSITION.-1. God has promised to bless all mankind in Christ and to bring them to holiness and happiness. 2. God's promises will ultimately all be fulfilled.

PROOF.-1. God has promised to bless all mankind in Christ, and to bring all to holiness and happiness. The careful reader of the Bible, will find therein two classes of promises, viz. Conditional and Unconditional. The Conditional Promises are those predicated on man-on his compliance with certain stipulations and conditions.

The promises of temporal good are made to depend on our yielding obedience to the laws of Industry, Health, Sobriety, Economy, etc. The Promises of spiritual good, the present enjoyment of Religion, of righteousness, of piety; the present comforts proceeding from an enlightened confidence in God, and trust in Jesus-all depend upon certain conditions of repentance, faith, and practice. The Scriptures abound with these conditional promises. But none of them are directly connected with, nor involve the FINAL DESTINY of mankind. This was a matter too important, too momentous, to be placed on any contingency resting in so frail, ignorant and blind

a creature as man.

But above these, there will be found in the Bible, certain Unconditional promises. They are Promises which man has no power to fulfill, and no power to frustrate. Their fulfillment rests primari. ly, and solely, in God. They depend wholly on his Veracity, his Power his Wisdom and his Resources. These promises therefore, will as certainly be fulfilled as Jehovah is the God of Truth! It is for the want of making this distinction between the Conditional and Unconditional Promises, that Theologians have wandered so far from a correct appreciation and understanding of God's gracious purposes. It is among the unconditional promises of God-those which depend upon him for Fulfillment-that we find a large and emphatic class which proclaim his purpose to bring all his intelligent creatures to holiness and happiness.

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PROMISE-i. "I 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 heel."-(Gen. iii. 15.)-True this language is figurative; but it nevertheless contains a great and precious promise. The Serpent represents sin. The seed of the woman," refers to Christ. The wound which the serpent inflicts is on the heel, a part where but little comparative injury can be done, represent that the assult of sin on the human race, will be temporary and curable. But the wound which the seed of the woman gives the serpent, is on his head, a place where a wound is fatal. In this we have a representation that Christ shall inflict a fatal wound on SIN--that he shall overthrow and annihilate it, and deliver those whom it had bound as captives. This promise is unconditional.

PROMISE. TO Abraham God made the following promise:"In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."--(Gen. xii. 3.) This promise was repeated to Abraham again and again. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." --(Gen. xviii. 17, 18.) Again :--" In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."--(Gen. xxii. 18. The same promise was renewed to Isaac:--"I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy Father. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries.

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”—-(Gen. xxvi. 3, 4.) This promise was also confirmed to Jacob:—“ In thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” -(Gen. xxviii. 14.)

The seed of Abraham so often mentioned in these promises, St. Paul declares, is Christ:-" 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.”—(Gala. iii. 16.)

Here then was a promise given to Abraham, renewed to Isaac, confirmed to Jacob, that in their seed, which is Christ, all the nations and families of the earth shall be blessed. These promises. constitute the whole sum and spirit of the gospel of Christ. St. Paul says they compose the gospel :-"And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." (Gala. iii. 8.) Is this the gospel proclaimed by those who style themselves evangelical preachers? Do they declare all nations and families shall be blessed in Christ? If they preach any other gospel than this, they preach a spurious gospel. What does St. Paul say of all such: "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."—(Gal. i. 8.)

It will be seen that these promises are entirely unconditional. True, they were made known to Abraham, as a reward for his faithfulness in obeying God. He was blessed in having revealed to him a purpose so great and glorious. The faithfulness of Abraham was not the condition on which these promises should be fulfilled, but the condition simply, on which they should be made known to him. God had determined thus to bless all men in Christ, long before Abraham was created. If Abraham had proved faithless, God would still have carried this great purpose into effect through other instrumentalities. Jehovah is under no compulsion to accomplish his plans in one particular way, or not at all. He chooses his own instruments, his own means, his own time. Thus should we understand the language of St. Paul:—“ Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."-(Gala, iii. 6.) Not that God would fulfill his great and precious promises because Abraham believed them. But Abraham believed he would fulfill them, and that belief was accounted to him for righteousness. Again the Apostle says:-" So then, they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham.”—(Gala. iii. 9.) Not that they which be of faith, shall as a reward, be included in the promises which God made to Abraham. But those who believe those promises-who have faith that God will thus actually bless all men through Christ --shall be blessed with the enjoyment of the peace which flows from that faith, as Abraham was.

Mr. Holmes in his seventh Negative Argument, attempts to show that these promises are entirely fulfilled in this life. In

this effort he makes a great display of critical acumen, in order that the sophistry involved may be the more effectually concealed. He declares that the promise to bless all nations, kindreds and families, in Christ, has been already fulfilied-that there is not a nation on earth which has not even now, been blessed in the Redeemer. This is strong language to be used, with any expectation of being believed. The credulity that will receive it, must be unbounded. It would be difficult to find another individual who would hazard before an intelligent audience, an assertion so utterly destitute of all support from sober fact, as this. Vast numbers of nations have lived and died, without knowing there was a God, a Savior, or a gospel. How have they been blessed in Christ? The Elder replies, that they have been blessed by being placed in a condition of initial salvation. To the wondering multitude, this word initial," may be supposed to convey a vast depth of meaning! But if it has any sense in the connection where my friend places it, it signifies a kind of salvation of which the poor heathen have no knowledge, until it is too late to be saved!!! Then, when cast into endless perdition, for the first time, they learn there is a Redeemer through whom they might have been saved, if they had not unfortunately been created in heathenism!! Truly they should be extremely thankful for the blessing of "initial" salvation! The Elder also says, the heathen have been blessed in Christ, by having the offers of salvation made to them. I meet this declaration with a flat denial of its truth! Who does not know that millions of heathen have never heard of salvation, much less had it offered them! It certainly indicates great courage, or great stupidity, to make statements which the veriest schoolboy in the audience can refute!! Moreover, Mr. Holmes insists the heathen have been blessed in Christ, by the salvation of all who die in infancy, through the atonement of Christ. If infants can be saved only through the atonement of Christ, it follows that all who died before the atonement was made, were lost forever!! There is no avoiding this conclusion from my friend's premises. And here we have, in all its odious deformity, the old Calvinistic doctrine of infant damnation!! The whole of this attempt to set aside the plain import of these promises, possesses a shallowness so evident, that it is astonishing Elder Holmes should jeopardize his reputation in making it! The pretence that ALL the NATIONS. all the KINDREDS, and all the FAMILIES of the earth have already been blessed in Christ, in this life, cannot be made by all the art of my friend, to put on even a show of plausibility!! It is a poor and pitiable attempt to conceal the light of one of the most glorious promises God has ever made the world!

How have those innumerable multitudes who lived in heathenism before Christ's advent-those since his advent, and those now in heathenism-been blessed in Christ, in any real and sub

stantial sense? This moonshine of "initial" salvation, and offers of mercy, never heard or dreamed of by those who are damned for not accepting them, falls infinitely short of coming up to the great blessing contained in the promise. Millions have lived and died upon whose ears the tidings of salvation never sounded. It is but utter mockery to them, and in plain violation of all meaning in words, to insist they have been blessed through Christ in this life.

We must look to another state of being for the entire fulfillment of these "great and precious promises." Dr. Doddridge says, "Promises of heavenly felicity were contained even in the covenant made with Abraham, which the Mosaic could not disannul." That promises to bless all men in Christ, composed the Covenant which God made with Abraham, is evident from Gala. iii. 16-18. The kingdom and reign of Christ are not confined to this brief existence. He does but little here, comparitively, to bring any soul into that perfection which he will ultimately bestow on all. Those nations and individuals, whom Christ does not bless in this existence, he will make objects of his influence and instruction, and the recipients of his blessing hereafter. The plain principles of Impartiality demand this. "The father loveth

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the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show him greater works than these, [i. e. greater works than Christ does on earth,] that ye may marvel."-(John v. 20.) "In my Father's house are many mansions. * * * * I go to prepare a place for you."-(John xiv. 2.) "For he must reign [both in this world and the next] until he hath put all enemies under his feet."--(1. Cor. iv. 25.) "To this end Christ both died and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."-(Rom. xiv. 9)

PROMISE iii.-Break forth into joy! Sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem. * The Lord hath made bare

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his Holy Arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."--(Isa. lii. 9. 10.) The words "all the ends of the earth" in scripture phraseology, signify all mankind. Notice the Universality of this promise. "ALL NATIONS-ALL the Ends of the Earth shall see the Salvation of our God." It includes every nation, every human being that ever has lived or ever will live in the earth. The promise is unconditional. All SHALL see and experience the salvation of God! Can any promise be more explicit or absolute?

PROMISE iv.- All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he is the Governor among the nations."-(Ps. xxii. 27, 28.) None can doubt that in the phrases, "all the ends of the world," and "all the kindreds of the nations," the Psalmist designed to de