6. The Scriptures teach that men will carry with them the same moral character into the future world, which they formed in this, therefore if they deserved punishment here, they will hereafter.

Though Universalism teaches that the soul remains unstained and holy, while man pursues a course of sin and folly, that the body with its lusts and inclinations accumulates all the pollution, and that the punishment due for transgression is his greatest conceivable blessing in this world, as a means for the accomplishment of an end; yet they earnestly contend that man must be punished for all his sins deserve, and that, in this life. Now, without disputing the nature or design of punishment, we would assume it as a mere fact, and argue, that if the wicked deserve punishment in this life because of their immoral character, which is inevitable, then they must endure punishment in the future world, provided they sustain the same character there that they do here. This is certain, and the point is proved, if we can sustain from reason and Scripture the above proposition; and if we succeed, then it is evident that Universalism is not from God.

“The wicked is driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope in his death." Prov. xiv. 32.

This passage sustains the doctrine, that the wicked who die in their sin and immoral character, shall be driven away with the same character, they formed in this life. They are driven away in their wickedness, and not from their sins; while the righteous hath hope in his death-not a hope of being delivered from his character, being good and righteous before God, but of immortal glory beyond death, for his works do follow him. But the wicked have no confidence in the past, nor hope of the future; the character they formed in wickedness, they shall retain and

with it they shall be driven away from God and "the glory of his power." Driven away in their vicious character in the hour of death, and so long as they retain that immoral character, they shall be driven away; and if they retain that immoral character to all eternity, they shall be driven from God and glory through the unceasing ages of eternity. If a man of business becomes bankrupt, and is compelled to leave the place of his residence by the demands of his creditors, he is driven away in his bankruptcy and with the bankrupt's character. And wherever he goes he retains that character-no circumstance in life, or change of location can 'separate that character from him. So it is with the wicked who die in sin, neither the ordeal of death, nor the untried realities of eternity, can change their bankrupt and immoral character; therefore they will be liable to punishment in the future world.

"When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done, shall he die." Ez. xviii. 26. Here we have a proof as clear as language can make it, that the wicked shall take with them their immoral character through death and into the future world. The prophet presents before us an apostate from God, "he turneth from his righteousness," and becomes an actual sinner, "he committeth iniquity," and now, if he die with this immoral and wicked character, undergoing a dissolution of soul and body, for his apostasy from God and wickedness he shall die, or suffer punishment in the future world. The first refers to his natural death, and the second to the death of the soul, or punishment for his crimes. They cannot both refer to his natural death, for this he would have suffered, had he remained righteous; in that case it could not be said, “for the iniquity he hath done, shall he die," for it would not be strictly true. The one death, the natural, he dies in sin,

and the other, the spiritual and eternal, he dies for his iniquity; and the latter takes place only after his natural death, therefore it cannot transpire in this life, but must be endured in the future world. And as the spiritual death is

the result of sin and of his apostate character formed prior to natural death, it is irrefutable, that the wicked carries his character with him beyond the grave. If his wicked character deserved punishment in this world, which is admitted on all hands, then he deserves punishment in the future · world; since he transfers the same character with himself into eternity. Christ said unto the Jews while on earth, "I go my way and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come." John viii. 21. If sin and wickedness exclude the children of men from the favor and mercy of God, and rear up an insurmountable obstacle in. the way to heaven, the place whereunto the Savior resorted when he retired from this world; then the position is tenable beyond the power of successful contradiction, that individuals will have the same moral character in the future world, that they formed in this state of probation. This being the case, the doctrine of a future retribution is demonstrated and clearly established.

"The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John v. 28, 29. The doctrine of the Savior is decisive proof of the proposition laid down above, that the wicked transfer their moral character into the spirit-world; for we are informed, not only that all those who do well, shall stand up in the resurrection with their good characters; but that all those who do evil, shall be raised up with their evil characters. Therefore if their evil characters deserved suffering and punishment in this world, they will deserve the same

in the future state of existence; for God and the administration of his moral government must necessarily be unchangeable. The wicked form their character in this life, they retain it in death, they wake up with it in the resurrection, and are now found in that state of existence, where the unjust, will continue to be unjust, and the filthy will be filthy; therefore they must quaff the bitter cup of sorrow and woe.

Universalists, in order to evade the force of this Scripture to prove the transmission of moral character from this world into the next, and the certainty of future punishment, deny the applicability of the text to the future world, and attempt to explain it as referring to this life. The various glosses and perversions they employ to do away the obvious meaning and the commonly received interpretation of the passage, we will briefly notice.

The interpretation of Universalists is, that this Scripture does not inculcate a literal resurrection, but a moral one; and that the resurrection to damnation means to condemination.

It would be perfectly absurd to speak of a moral resurrection to damnation. A resurrection implies, being raised from one state into another, therefore the wicked must be raised from a state of moral death to a life of holiness, to damnation. This idea is too absurd to be harbored for a moment, and should be sufficient ground to spurn the above interpretation as erroneous and unworthy of serious debate.

To consider the resurrection spoken of in this saying of Christ as moral and not literal, produces various perplexities in its interpretation. We read the "hour is coming, &c.;" but what hour, and specific period of time is referred to, is of difficult decision, if it is not understood as embracing the time of the general resurrection. The time was evidently future when the Savior uttered the words, and nothing is said by which we might infer that any such

time had already passed, or was then transpiring; yet this was clearly the fact, if it meant a moral resurrection, for many had already been raised to spiritual life by faith in Christ. It also declares, that "all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man and shall come forth, &c." Who are in their graves, and in what graves? If these do not mean the literal dead and the literal graves, what do they mean? It is true, the Jews while in captivity, to Babylon were represented as being in their graves; but the particular state in which the good and bad are as represented by the term "grave" in the text, if it be not taken literally, who can tell? If the grave represents moral corruption and spiritual death, it cannot be possible that the good are reduced to such a condition and involved in this moral state. Yet if understood figuratively, both the good and bad are promiscuously confined in the grave of sin and death; but if the literal resurrection is taught, then there is no difficulty, for the good and bad are literally dead and shall come forth from their graves at the voice of the Son of man. Not only so, but if a moral resurrection is spoken of, then the good are in the grave of sin and death, and those who have done evil come forth from their graves into a state of damnation. All this must be absurd, for they that do good, cannot be in such a state, nor can the bad have such a moral resurrection.

The context of the Savior's discourse overthrows the interpretation, that the text teaches a moral and not a literal resurrection, and that it includes a change from spiritual death to spiritual condemnation. He himself says: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." This interpretation of a moral renovation is quite different from that given by Universalist expounders of the Scriptures. The man who