I do not ask whether it is probable that Timothy would so have understood the apostle ; but whether such a thing is within the remotest limits of possibility? And I answer without hesitancy, that, in my own opinion, it is not. If I am not grossly mistaken, it is one of the very last things which could have come into the mind of Timothy, or, of any other man who possessed a spark of common sense; and, who had the least acquaintance with the character of Paul, or the legitimate import of language.

The most natural construction which can be put upon the apostle's declaration, is, that he, and those associated with him in the christian ministry, believed and preached the doctrine of the salvation of all men through the grace of God manifested in Christ Jesus; and that they solemnly enjoined upon all whom they inducted into the same holy ministry to believe and preach the same doctrine.

Hence he charges Timothy, as in the latter verse of the text, "These things command and teach." Now the things which Timothy was required to command and teach as a christian minister, were, among others, that "the living God is the Saviour of all men ;" but in a special manner of those who have a true faith in him, as such; and, that this peculiar feature of the christian faith was the chief cause of the reproaches

and persecutions which were heaped upon the early friends and defenders of the gospel.

In this view of the subject, there are no difficulties nothing to perplex the mind. All appears plain and natural, though not justifiable. There were no just provocations for the obloquy and sufferings to which the apostles and early christians were subjected; but still, we can plainly perceive the grounds upon which they were administered. Had the primitive christians professed to believe in the living God, as one among the numberless divinities worshipped by the heathen of that age, they would have escaped the violence of the Roman government; and had they professed to believe in him as the special friend and exclusive Saviour of the Jewish nation, they would have avoided the indignation and cruelty of the chief priests and rulers of that deJuded people.

I may remark again, that, had Paul and the other apostles professed to believe in the living God, as the Saviour of only a part of mankind, by those of discriminating opinions and feelings, they might have secured the friendship and cooperation of many nominal christians from both these quarters, who, on their conversion, brought with them into the christian church, the superstitious prejudices, and partial sentiments of their early education.

But had they pursued either of these courses, they must have despised themselves. They knew better. They must, therefore, have been temporising dissemblers, utterly unworthy of the great and glorious cause of their Master. They would have been distinguished from the mass of Jews and heathen around them by their name alone, and some circumstantial and indifferent peculiarities.

But such was not their election. They dared to be honest men. They determined to be honest men, and to leave the event with the God in whom they trusted. They were honest men. Such, they lived, and such, they died, and as such, they ought to be copied by every one who names the name of Christ. They believed in the living God as the Saviour of all men, and they fearlessly and openly proclaimed their faith in the ears of the world. They did this under the certain conviction that this distinguishing peculiarity in their sentiments would not fail to bring upon them the jealousy and virulent opposition of all descriptions of religionists. Jews, and Gentiles, and false brethren, they knew, would be equally unsparing in their reproaches. History evinces that this was the fact.

Now such violent measures, fomented and pursued by such high and almost universal authority, tended very naturally, and I may say, inevitably, to intimidate and discourage ordinary

minds; and hence, as might have been expected, the great body of christians, in process of time, relinquished this distinguishing and paramount article of primitive christianity, and adopted a creed which corresponded better with the prevailing partialities and superstitions of the world.

There have always been, however, some high and fearless minds, some master-spirits, which were inflexible,-which numbers, and names, and dangers could not awe; and which, therefore, could neither be subdued nor silenced. Regardless of personal security, or of popular applause, they have publicly professed, and zealously propagated, this sublime and all-interesting article of pure christianity, They have perceive ed in it a moral grandeur and glory worthy of the great and ever-blessed God-a compassion suited to the helpless and miserable condition of a world lying in ruins by sin. These discoveries were analogous to the largeness and benevolence of their own great minds. They answered their prayers. They filled the measure of their hopes and their joys. They armed them with a pano ply more than mortal; and though they fell martyrs in the conflict, they were "more than con querors through him that loved them."

The great object of their efforts was obtained. They disseminated the truth in the world, and deepened its impressions in the hearts of their

fellow-men. Their sentiments outlived the violence by which they themselves were cut off and they will continue to live and to flourish till they fill the whole earth. They are immortal, and destined to become universal. The enemies of these devoted men tauntingly applied to them the epithet" merciful doctors," a title which, however contemptible in the eyes of those who selected it, Gabriel himself might be proud to bear.

These faithful heralds of the cross were, at times, only a little band; but their cause they knew to be great, and good, and glorious, and they struggled valiantly against the hosts which rushed in their might upon them. Origen, in the third century, and other kindred spirits, openly professed this doctrine, and labored nobly and zealously for the diffusion of it; and it was not till the beginning of the fifth century, that it was formally pronounced a heresy, and publicly anathematized by an ecclesiastical council.

From this time till after the subversion of popery by the reformation, the believers in universal salvation were obliged, in a great measure, to conceal their faith. But there were, undoubtedly, in the darkest of the dark ages some who believed it, and who derived from it great consolation and joy. From its first revelation, God has not, I apprehend, left himself without living witnesses to the truth of this great doctrine; and