Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

az.

"For, if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteoufnefs, fhall reign in life by one, Jefus Chrift :")

For if by the offence of one death reigned over all men; much more all men who receive the abounding grace, and the gift which proceeds to forgivenefs of all offences, and juftification, which was just mentioned, fhall reign in life by one, even Jefus Chrift.

18. "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even fo by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto juftification of life."

The inference, is, that, as by the offence of one judgment unto condemnation was upon all men; so by the righteousness of one the free gift unto justification of life is unto all men.

19. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made finners; fo by the obedience of one fhall many be made righteous."

For, as by the disobedience of one man, Adam, all men were made finners; juft fo, by the obedience of one man, Jefus Chrift, fhall all men be made aighteous.

20.

"Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound; but where fin abounded, grace did

much more abound."

Further fill, the law by Mofes was given to difcover the malignity and evil nature of fin, and to

aggravate

aggravate these, if men would ftill perfift in fin; but however abundant or aggravated have been the fins of men, grace hath abounded beyond the number and aggravation of them all,

21. “That as fin hath reigned unto death, even fo might grace reign through righteoufnefs unto eternal life, by Jefus Chrift our Lord."

The final conclufion of all is, that, as fin hath reigned unto death over all men, so grace might reign over all men, through righteousness and holiness, unto eternal, by Jefus Christ our Lord.

If this paffage of fcripture were to be confidered by an unprejudiced judicious mind, I am not at all at a loss, what his judgment would be of St. Paul's opinion with regard to the universal falvation. Every verfe in the whole paffage contains the idea clearly. In feveral of the verses, it is expreffed in fo many words. The 18th and 19th verses, though they perfectly contain the fame idea with all the reft, exprefs it a little more plainly.

18, 19. "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; eyen fo by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto juftification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made finners; fo by the obedience of one fhall many be made right

cous.'

I cannot but take notice of fame of Mr. S.'s ob. fervations upon this paffage of fcripture. In p. 233, he fays, "It hath been fufficiently shown already,

already, that the phrafe all men, neither in the fcriptural nor common ufe, neceffarily means all the individuals of the human race; but is very often applied to numerous claffes and bodies of men, not meaning the whole of mankind.”

If we should allow this remark to be juft, what then? Will it neceffarily follow that, when St. Paul ufes the phrafe all men, it means only fome numerous class or body of men, and not all the individuals of the human race ? let us try the experiment with St. Paul's language in the 18th and 19th veries of the 5th chapter of his epiftle to the Romans.

18, 19. "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon the Jews to condemnation ; even fo by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon the Jews to juftification of life. For as by one man's disobedience the Jews were made finners; fo by the obedience of one fhall the Jews be made righteous."

A man of half common fenfe, and one dram of honefty of heart, would readily fee, and frankly own, that St. Paul muft mean the fame by all men, in one part of the verse, that he does in the other. And what is the inference, from the reading we have giv en the verses, in compliance with Mr. S.'s remark? The Jews, moft certainly, are all faved. This Mr. S. cannot deny. And what becomes of the rest of mankind, of the whole Gentile world? St. Paul tells us, that fin entered into the world by one man. The Gentile world then have never known fin;

they

they are all holy and righteous. They will, therefore, certainly, all be faved. So that universal falvation is most permanently founded on a scheme of Mr. S.'s own fabrication.

It does not avail for Mr. S. or any other man, to attempt to take St. Paul's writings out of the hands of those pernicious errorists, the Univerfalifts. For common fense will always be able to reduce any observations they fhall make for this purpose, to the grossest absurdity. They had better quietly agree to refign these writings to the Univerfalifts, or to demonftrate to the world that they are interpolated. To explain them, fo as to make them speak in favor of eternal mifery, they

cannot.

Mr. S.'s next obfervation is, p. 233, "It must be supposed that St. Paul is confiftent with himfelf in his writings. In the first part of this work, I have taken a general view of all his canonical writings, and particularly of his epiftle to the Romans, from which this paffage is taken; and colleced a great number of places, in which future and co ternal punishment is afferted in the most express

terms."

One fide of the grand question is, that all men will be faved. The other fide is, that fome men will not be faved. How is it proved that fome men will not be faved? Plainly, by proving that the future punishment, which it is conceded on all hands, that fome will fuffer, will be endless.

This proof must come from reafon, or fcripture, or both. If from scripture, it will be expreffed, or implied. If expreffed, it will be in plain, unequivocal language. If implied, the manner of expreffion will be fuch as to communicate the ideas intelligibly, to every intelligent, attentive reader. A thing is not expreffed, if doubt and uncertainty at tend the mode of expreffion.

As to the falvation of all men, we fay the fcripture is exprefs, because it afferts it in plain unequivocal terms, and in fo many words.

"God, our Saviour, who will have all men to be faved."-" For as by one man's difobedience many were made finners; fo by the obedience of one fhall many be made righteous.""

We say these paffages are exprefs, because they affert the falvation of all men in fo many words.

Mr. S. affirms that he has collected a great number of places, in which future and eternal punishment is afferted in the most exprefs terms. If he has made fuch a collection from St. Paul's writings, he fecretes it from the public, at leaft, it is not in the book in which he affirms he has made the collection. He may have given it to the public in fome other book.

There is but one fingle expreffion, in all those paffages which he hath cited from St. Paul, that gives any idea of the continuance of future punishment. If what I now affirm is true, Mr. S.'s affirmation cannot be true. That what I affirm is true, any one may fatisfy himself, by looking over the paffages

« AnteriorContinuar »