future salvation by reason of a timely repentance on the death bed or under the gallows; gives a sanction to cursing and profanity among men, because it charges Deity with cursing his creatures with an endless curse; and has driven thousands to suicide, insanity and murder, by reason of its awful cruelty and utter desolation.

29. The belief of endless misery is inconsistent with the command to pray for all men. Those who do not believe in the final restoration of all things, when they pray for the salvation of all the human race, (which they do in almost every prayer offered up at the throne of grace,) are in the commission of known sin. They do not pray in faith, believing that they will receive-and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." No matter, reader, what a man's profession may be, if he prays in faith for the salvation of all mankind he is at heart a Universalist. Partialists cannot thus pray in sincerity and consistency-yet they dare not pray for the truth of endless misery-they cannot hope for it. Why then profess a faith so at war with all their wishes, their hopes, and their prayers? If there was no other argument than this to advance against the horrid sentiment, we should deem the question settled. It cannot be that God would ever have re. quired the petitions of his creatures for a matter which was contrary to his holy will, and which he had determined not to grant in answer to the prayer enjoined, and yet, have inspired his servants to teach us that it was sinful not to pray in faith. Let then the advocates of endless suffering for sin, prove the sincerity of their faith by praying as well as preaching that it may be true. Let them invoke high heaven to go on conquering and to conquer, until he has poured out the last vial of his hot indignation upon the souls of his reprobated children, and consigned them over forever to the keeping of the Prince of Darkness; and to the impious supplication let them add a hearty Amen, before they can expect us to abandon the true "faith once delivered to the saints,"-even that of a ransomed universe, and join them in a profession of that which brings a blight upon all the enjoyments of time,

which shades the tomb with, the gloom of despair, and anni. hilates the hopes of a blissful immortality for a large majority of our race. These then are some of the objections we

have to offer to the doctrine of endless misery.

Choose ye,

therefore, reader, whom you will serve. "If the Lord be God, serve him; but if Baal, then serve him."

CHAPTER VI.

Brief view of Universalists touching other topics of Theology.

Of the Existence of God.-We believe in the existence of a Supreme Intelligence-the Creator, Benefactor, and Father of all men, whose nature is Love, 1 John iv. 8-16, who is infinite in wisdom, power, goodness and truth-who is one and indivisible, Isaiah xlv. 5, 6—who is worthy to receive all glory and honor and power, because he has crea ted all things and that for his pleasure, Rev. iv. 11—who is not worshipped by his creatures because he needeth their homage, Acts xvii. 25-but because it is becoming in them to pay their gratitude and thanksgiving to Him who "first loved them," and is ever bestowing alike upon the evil and unthankful of his choicest blessings. We believe that there is a perfect harmony in the divivine mind-that all things sug. gested by his goodness will be carried into effect by his Almighty power, according to a plan devised in his infinite wisdom-that no accident can occur to thwart his divine purpose or render void his gracious counsel-and that so pure and holy a Being can never suffer the endless existence of any evil in his universe, but will order all things for his own de. clarative glory and the well being of his subjects.

From this sketch of our faith in relation to the Supreme Being, it will be perceived: 1st. That we are not Infidels or Atheists, who deny the existence of a Supreme First Cause

of all things. 2d. That we are not Tri-theists or Trinitarians, who believe in the mysterious union of three Gods in one. 3d. That we are not Polytheists or believers in more Gods than one. And 4th. That we are not Idolators or wor. shippers of an imaginary Being, whose nature is wrath, and from whose throne of terror the lightnings of infinite ven. geance flush in scathing desolation upon a large part of his offspring!

Of Revelation. We believe in the authenticity and divine origin of the mission of Christ-that the Bible contains a revelation of the will and purposes of our Heavenly Father, and of the duties and final destiny of the human family— that the Gospel of Christ is a message of "good tidings of great joy to all people," Luke ii. 10-that he came to do the will of the Father, John vi. 38-was the 'faithful' and true 'witness,' Rev. i. 5-that his mission was the effect of God's love to men, Rom. v. 8-and its important purpose was to save them from sin, and crown them with life and immortali. ty in a future state, 2 Tim. i. 10. Hence it will be perceiv ed that we are not Sceptics or Deists, who doubt or deny a future state, but are Christians, or believers in the Saviour of the world. We believe that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," 1 John v. 1, Acts viii. 37—that he is a full and complete Saviour-having given himself to be the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, 1 John ii. 2.

When we reflect that we are no where in the Bible com. manded to believe in the devil and an endless hell, but simply to confess that "Christ is come in the flesh," and is the Sa. viour of men, it would seem unreasonable that we should be deemed destitute of Christian principles, or unworthy of the Christian name, because of our want of faith in the absurd creeds and confessions of human device, and human institution. "Therefore thou art inexcusable, Oh man, whosoever thou art that judgest.'

Of Sin.-"All unrighteousness is sin." "Sin is a transgression of the law." "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed, then when lust hath

conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished,

bringeth forth death," James i. wars and fightings among you?

14, 15.-" Whence come Come they not hence even

of your lusts, that war in your members?" James iv. 1. Here we have the origin of sin--in the lusts of the flesh. No occasion then to admit the notion that sin first originated in heaven, and that a fallen angel or devil, is the real author of all evil. Nor can we admit the idea that sin is infinite and therefore deserving of infinite punishment. Man is a finite limited being, and is not, therefore, capable of committing any act more than finite. He cannot commit an infinite sin, or violate an infinite law, because such a law is above the capacity of the creature to understand. Nor can we believe that when the cause of all sin, the lust of the flesh, perishes with the body, that its effect, misery, will be more extended in du. ration. When the cause is removed the effect must cease, if there is any truth in philosophy.

Of Original Sin and Total Depravity.--These are dog. mas of the day, which are rejected by all Universalists, so far as has come to our knowledge. They can see no justice or propriety in making the posterity of Adam responsible or culpable for the transgression of our first parents, but believe that every man is responsible only for his own acts. The doctrine of original sin, as generally understood to be a taint of guilt and moral defilement which was the consequence of Adam's transgression, and descending upon all the human family, is an error, moreover, contradicted by the voice of inspiration-see Ezekiel xviii. 1, 4, 19, 20,-" The soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Besides "where there is no law there is no transgression," which is the case virtually with all idiots and infants. There is to them no law which they can understand, and hence none which they can violate. Of course then, such are in no sense sinners until they come to a knowledge of good and evil. Man comes pure from the hands of his Maker, and re

mains innocent and spotless until he is led captive to the "law of sin which is in his members."

For proof of this refer to the conduct of Christ in regard to little children. "But Jesus said, suffer lit.le children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,"--Mat. xix. 14. How then were children guilty of original sin or totally depraved beings, if they were fit subjects of the kingdom of the Messiah? In fact, if man is totally corrupt--"averse by nature to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil,"--in the language of the catechism, he is not an accountable being. He is destitute of a moral sense, and therefore, not a subject of praise or blame for any act he may perform. Hence how aggravating is the cruelty of punishing a creature constituted with a wholly depraved nature, and over which he has himself no possible control, and how diabolical that infliction if endless in its continuance!

Of the Atonement.-This is a doctrine of the Bible, which commands and receives the assent of all enlightened believers in the "restitution of all things," notwithstanding the sup. position of many to the contrary. It is true, however, that our views of the Atonement differ widely from the popular opinion on the subject. Instead of being viewed as a satis faction made to divine justice, by an innocent substitute, on behalf of the guilty sinner, and this satisfaction consisting in Christ bearing in his own person, the punishment due to the sins of men, and suffering in the room and stead of the sinner, the penalty of the divine law-we look upon the matter in quite the opposite aspect. The word Atonement means simply reconciliation, and the sinner was the recipient there. of, not Jehovah. The following passage will place this doctrine in its true aspect: "But God commendeth his love to * us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,' "for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement,"-Rom. v. 8, 10, 11. Here mark the following particulars: 1st. Christ's death was in commen.