pal cause of the disagreement among Chris tians. DIALOGUE IV. OBJECTION.-Christ threatens the Jews that they should die in their sins, and that they could not come whither he went. ANSWER.-Our Lord told his disciples themselves that whither he went, they could not come, that is, then, as afterwards explained. 2. There are blessings promised in scripture, to all Israel, without exception. 3. Those that have been rejected and cast off shall at last return and be received. OBJECTION.--That the blessings promised only respect to those that shall be found alive on the earth at a certain time. ANSWER.-The inhabitants of Sodom, Samaria, and Jerusalem, with their daughters, or neighboring cities, shall all be restored, though destroyed long ago. 2. That all things are given to Christ without exception; and that all that are given shall at last come to him in such a manner as not to be cast out. From which promises, the Universal Restoration is inferred, and proved to be certainly true. OBJECTION.-God sware in his wrath that the Israelites should not enter into his rest. ANSWER.-The rest was the land of Canaan, being typical of the time of the Millennium, or Christ's reign on earth, and not of the ultimate state of happiness. OBJECTION.-There are some of whom we read, that he that made them will not have mer cy upon them, and he that formed them will shew them no favor. ANSWER. These words must necessarily be understood with some limitation, and refer to a particular season, when they shall have judgment without mercy, but finally mercy shall rejoice against judgment. OBJECTION. That the wicked shall never see light. ANSWER.-Not until subdued, or overcome, as the words ought to be rendered. OBJECTION. A great ransom cannot deliver those who are taken away by the stroke of God. ANSWER. -The great ransom cannot intend the blood of Christ, the power of which is unlimited, but gold, and all the forces of strength, riches, wisdom, &c. none of these can deliver their possessors from death. OBJECTION.-Solomon says, that there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave; and that in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. ANSWER. The first part of this objection respects only the state of the body in the grave, but cannot be brought to disprove the consciousness of the soul in a separate state, the resurrection of the body, a future state of existence, or the final Restoration. The second part of this objection has not the least relation to the subject; but belongs to quite another matter. OBJECTION.-The living have hope, but the dead have none, their love, hatred, envy, &c. are perished. ANSWER. This belongs to the present life, OBJECTION.-Our Saviour has said, the night ANSWER.-Our Lord was diligent in his work, OBJECTION.-Many terrible passages of Scrip- ture brought to prove the destruction and future ANSWER.-The Scriptures are an unanswer- able objection to those who deny a future state of retribution, but not so to the scriptural doc- trine of the general Restoration. QUESTION.-But does not punishment harden and inflame, instead of softening and subduing ANSWER.-Punishment to a certain degree produces the former effects, but in greater de- grees and longer continued, produces the latter. OBJECTION.-The deplorable state of wicked men, their aversion to good, their love of vice, their hardness of heart, and opposition to every method taken to reclaim them, seems to render their Restoration an event hardly to be hoped ANSWER. However difficult it may be for our reason to admit the possibility of such mon- OBJECTION.-There will come a time when confirmed, that no change can afterwards take place upon them. He that is unjust let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still, &c. ANSWERED.-1. By considering the words as belonging to a certain period, and by the consideration of many other scriptural passages of a like import. 2. By comparison; as even the most holy creatures are unclean, compared with God, so those who remain filthy and unclean, during the present life, may be so esteemed hereafter, in comparison of those holy souls, who have purged themselves from all uncleanness here, shall be reckoned as vessels of the highest honor in the house of God. OBJECTION.-Those who add or diminish shall have the plagues added to them, or their part taken out of the book of life, &c. ANSWER.-This is no objection to the general Restoration, but is a solemn warning for us to take heed that we do not fall under those dreadful punishments which await unbelievers and profane persons, nor lose those inestimable blessings which Christ has promised to the faithful, obedient, overcomers, &c. The reflections cast upon the doctrine of the Restoration by its opponents shewn to be highly absurd. The doctrine of annihilation considered. There can be but three things possible; endless misery, total annihilation, or the Restoration. The doctrine of annihilation, or a final state of non-existence, proved unscriptural. 1. By the wicked being actually tormented for a long season, ages of ages. 2. Because they are destroyed, not that they might cease to exist any more, but that they might come to know the Lord. 3. By the unexceptionable instance of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. who were so long ago destroyed, and yet shall have their captivity returned. The promises made respecting Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. prove the doctrines of annihilation and endless misery, both to be erroneous and the restoration alone to be true. An objection taken from Mr. B-'s sermon that sinners in hell, will be always under the necessity of committing fresh sin, therefore God will be obliged to continue their punishment to all eternity. ANSWERED. The objection unscriptural, merely a rash conjecture, totally unfounded. The scripture represents future punishment as the reward of sins committed in this world. Their intention is to destroy sin, and consequently will cause it to cease from being committed. Whatever rage punishments may at first seem to provoke, they must continue until the most rebellious are entirely subdued. The last objection. That sin is infinite, being against an infinite object, containing infinite hatefulness, and justly deserves infinite punishment; and which cannot be fully executed, and therefore endless misery must be their portion. This unscriptural, unreasonable, trite objection largely answered. 1. By shewing the absurdity of ascribing infinite actions to creatures. 2. Acts of the highest goodness do not extend |