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LECTURE IV.

REASONS FOR RENOUNCING UNIVERSALISM, DRAWN
FROM THE ARGUMENTS ADDUCED IN SUPPORT
OF THE DOCTRINE.

ACTS xvii. 11.

AND SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY, WHETHER THOSE THINGS WERE SO.

In the discharge of his duty, as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, Paul visited Thessalonica. The Jews of that eity were offended because Christ was preached among them; and they were enraged because he was preached by one, formerly of their own number, who was now preaching the faith that once he destroyed. Knowing that it would be impossible to answer or refute his reasonings, they first assailed his character; and then, gathering to themselves certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, they assaulted the house in which Paul lodged, and compelled him to depart from the city. He went by night to Berea. His reception there is thus described: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

This more noble conduct is recorded for our imitation. It is a great thing to know what the Bible

teaches in relation to human duty, and human destiny, in regard to the effect this life has upon the next; and how much our conduct and character in this state of existence will result in our eternal weal or woe. The Bible gives plain instructions upon these important truths. So clearly is our duty revealed, that "the wayfaring men, though fools, need not err therein." Though we may very properly avail ourselves of helps that we may understand the word of God, the responsibility returns upon us as individuals. We must hear and decide for ourselves; and to our own master we must finally stand or fall.

Universalists have always professed an ardent desire to have their sentiments examined. They invite and challenge inquiry. They complain that their faith is opposed as licentious; that it is rejected as untrue; and that many parts of the Bible are arrayed against it; while their expositions of Scripture are unnoticed, and the arguments urged in defence of their faith are passed by without examination.

One of the defenders of Universalism, who stands at the head of the sect, thus records the complaints of his brethren upon this point. He says, speaking of one who attempts to examine Universalism,—

"And what does he adduce? Why, nothing but the same texts that have been invariably quoted, for the same purpose, by his numberless predecessors, for the last twenty or thirty years, and as invariably explained with much care by Universalists in their replies and other writings. Not an allusion to their interpretations escapes in a single instance; not an intimation that any other meaning had ever been

pointed out, or attempted to be shown, than what he assigns. Let the opponents of Universalism, if they would be thought candid and honorable, change immediately their mode of warfare." (Expositor, vol. iii. 139, 140.)

Universalists cannot complain of this investigation. I purpose to do the very thing which they say has been left undone. I have already examined their interpretations of scriptures alleged against them. I shall now show that the proofs adduced in favor of Universalism do not sustain it; and that reason, nature, and the Bible, are arrayed against it. I take the ground that, if nothing could be said against its moral tendency; if no objections of any kind were urged against it; if it were to be tested simply by the amount of evidence it could summon in its own behalf, all reasonable minds would be compelled to reject it on account of the entire want of evidence in its favor. The scriptures quoted in its defence have no reference to universal salvation. The arguments urged in its support, drawn from other sources than the Bible, are either sophistical, or they prove too much, and so prove nothing; or they prove the very opposite of what they are brought forward to maintain.

Universalism stands before us as an error of the first magnitude. If it does not preach against repentance, it removes all motive to it, by teaching that repentance is not needful for salvation. If men do not repent, they will not perish. So argue its advoIf its instructions do not openly encourage vice, "it strengthens the hands of the wicked" by

cates.

assuring them, that, live well or ill, do good or not, keep God's law or break it, die a felon or a martyr, live in lust and die in crime,-all this, though it may subject them to some temporal inconvenience, will have no effect upon their future condition. Be pure in heart or vile, follow holiness or pollution, all will` at last see God alike, and dwell with him forever.

But immortal souls should demand affirmative proofs, abundant, conclusive, irrefragable, before they rest upon a system, which, if true, will not hurt them if they reject it; and if false, must ruin, for both worlds, all who trust it. I shall prove, I think, that the evidence offered in its defence affords it no support.

My purpose is to say a few plain things in a plain way; to meet Universalism as it exists in the community; and so to present the subject as to commend it to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

The arguments advanced in behalf of Universalism are of a twofold nature- those drawn from the Bible, and those drawn from reason. In this lecture I shall confine my remarks to such as are drawn from the Bible. I select them as I used them when defending the system, and as they are now employed by others. I shall give them all the force they receive when used by the advocates of Universalism.

The following proposition I offer as the subject of this lecture: THE ARGUMENTS

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ADDUCED FROM THE

Bible in favOR OF UNIVERSALISM DO NOT SUPPORT IT. I. Gen. iii. 15: "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."

It is a fact which any one so disposed may ascertain, that a large part of the proof-texts cited in favor of Universalism is found in the Old Testament; and yet, when pressed with the threatenings of the Old Testament, and called upon to explain texts like the following, "The wicked shall be turned into hell," "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt," (Dan. xii. 2,) Universalists tell us that such texts cannot refer to the future state, because the Old Testament does not reveal a future existence; and that its promises and threatenings are limited to this life. How, then, can universal salvation be taught in a book which has no reference to the future? If all the threatenings contained in it are bounded by time, so are all the promises. This answer is alone sufficient to sweep away the whole argument derived from the Old Testament.

But, not noticing this inconsistency any further, let us examine the texts said to teach Universalism, and see how they bear upon the question.

In what way does the passage quoted above prove the salvation of all men? It asserts that the head of the serpent shall be bruised; but what does this prove? It begins and ends with the victory of the seed of the woman over the seed of the serpent, but says nothing of the doom of the incorrigible. Universalists say that to bruise the head of the serpent is to conquer him, and deliver all who are subject to his power. But what will become of the millions who have lived and died in sin before this event

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