my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." (John xx. 26.) There can surely be no merit in an act in which we are passive; equally so as in the act of respiration and that such is the case in the business of belief in general, that it is not a matter of volition, is as susceptible of demonstration as is any moral axiom whatever.

2nd. Let us suppose perfect holiness one of the conditions: "without which no man can see the Lord:" (Heb. xii. 14.) where now shall we find one who comes up to this mark? Paul acknowledges that he had not, (Phil. iii. 15.) and Solomon says "There is not a just man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not." (Eccle. vii. 20.) How small then is the chance of salvation beyond death to any, if it depend on the attainment of true holi ness here! My opponent himself will confess, first, that with the taint of sin upon his soul he cannot enjoy the felicity of heaven, and second, that he will never in this world be free from that taint. What remains then? Ergo. Except changed after death he must be endlessly damned! I would not willingly give head-room to a doctrine which closed all chance of future bliss even against myself.

3rd. If neither faith nor holiness, separately, is sufficient as a term of admission to heaven, but the union of both is required, it then follows, that with the highest degree of perfection attainable by man, an individual may yet be endlessly lost, if he have the misfortune to be ignorant of gospel truth! And then too, what becomes of another item in the same creed, viz. that, in a future world, every man will be rewarded according to his works?

Thus on every hand we meet insuperable difficulties in the way of a future conditional salvation, whilst on the other side I know of none that may not be easily obviated: many are startled, it is true, at the idea, that even the deepest guilt into which a man may plunge himself, will not utterly sink him beneath the reach of divine grace, and shut the gates of future bliss against his soul: but let such reflect that even according to their own belief, the worst of sinners experience a free pardon upon repentance in this life, and that here or hereafter God's mercy is the same-his love to his creatures the same-the power of his grace, and the benevolent objects of his government the same; or all that we are told of the immutability of his nature must go for nothing. That the

mere depth of human guilt will prove no barrier against the efficacious operations of divine grace, is obvious from his promises, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah i. 18.) It is a most pitiful puerility to object that promises of this nature only indicate the divine dispositions toward man in time, for that implies that in eternity these dispositions will have changed; and that the reformation of sinful intelligences will have ceased to be an object with God! which are most gross absurdities.

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My opponent alleges that ours is the doctrine alluded to by Ezekiel, which "strengtheneth the hands of the wicked by promising him life;" and thereby "makes the hearts of the righteous sad." If the righteous are made sad by being told that all sin, and misery, and death, and disorder, shall eventually come to a period that the infinite purity and felicity will be transfused into all conscient existence-that God's promises will be verified, his will accomplished-the ends of Christ's death consummated, and their own prayers answered; if this, 1 say, is saddening to righteous hearts, I can only say it is pity for them, and that I most fervently pray to be delivered from a heart of the kind! But is it true that we strengthen the hands of the wicked? we promise him life in his wickedness? Nothing can be farther from truth than an affirmative answer to these questions. We insist that death-certain-present death-death constituted of remorse, misery, degradation, and every kind of mental (and often bodily) suffering, shall be the harvest of the sinner in proportion to what he sows. It were an easy thing to retort the charge upon the doctrine of my opponent, and to show that it promises absolute impunity to crime; however deep, and longcontinued, provided that it be but repented of this side the grave! But as I have been already diffuse in my reply, I will not dwell upon this manifest advantage in favour of my theory.

I could say much relative to the restraining effects of his doctrine of post-mortem rewards and punishments: I might point to countries in which this belief is universal, (such is the case in Mahomedan and Pagan lands,) and consider the moral and religious condition of those countries: I might point to ages past when no voice was lifted, nor allowed to be lifted, against this tenet, and

expose the degradation and infamy of those ages; but let this pass, it will suffice to remark that in our own age and country, at least nineteen twentieths of the criminal offences committed, are by persons who believe and have been educated in that doctrine : when these dark and mystic fables, shall have given place to manlier and more scriptural views of God's character and government, there is every reason to think that the tone of moral feeling will be more pure and elevated.

In the conclusion, then, let me earnestly entreat you, my friends, to lay every selfish and party consideration aside, and search diligently for truth; let no croaking menaces, dictated by craft, and in all times resorted to for their effect upon weak minds, discourage you from the pursuit, or repress your efforts for mental emancipation. Heed not my opponent's counsel by praying to be guarded against this or that belief: you cannot certainly know which, or whether either, is correct; it would therefore be a mockery of God to offer up a prayer of the kind; it would be virtually asking him to keep you in your present faith right or wrong! This is the essence of bigotry. Rather pray to have your minds disenthralled from prejudice-to have its educational mists dissipated, and to be guarded against the influence of selfish or party considerations in the search for truth. You may be told that this or that doctrine is not safe; treat such suggestions with the contempt they merit; they have been used by every corrupt party, whether in politics or religion, in order to repress exertions toward reform: Not safe, is the monarchist's watchword of alarm against a change in government; the same is echoed by the Papist against reform in religion; and it is reiterated by the advocates of an endless hell, against an advance in divine knowledge this watchword has, to some extent, accomplished its intended ends, but it is becoming trite, and is losing its power. Truth is safe, whatever that truth is; and its pursuit is safe, for should we even fail of the end we cannot but get the nearer to it for our exertions, and fail, if fail we must, with thousands of the noblest and purest of mankind who have failed before us

POPULAR DEBATE.-No. II.

UNIVERSALISM REDUCED TO AN ABSURDITY.

In a popular attempt to refute this daring heresy, I deem it not only perfectly allowable, but also the most proper and successful mode, to point out its absurd nature and consequences; or in other words, to use the method of argumentation termed by logicians the reductio ad absurdum. I shall adopt this course on the present >>ccasion, and, therefore, I ask in advance that my auditors will pardon, for the motive's sake, such of my remarks as may seem to border on levity. I hold it to be self-evident, that a doctrine which is fairly reducible to absurdity, must be false.

1st.—What can we possibly gain by adopting the universalist faith? It is not pretended that we shall thereby render our future salvation more secure: admitting its truth, we shall all share its benefits in another life, whether we have believed in it or not. Perhaps we may be told, that to be possessed of this faith will add to our present happiness; but this cannot be granted. I am as happy in my belief at the present as though I were a universalist, and I know not but happier. There is then nothing to be gained by the adoption of this faith, if even true; and if it be false dreadful! dreadful will be the issue to those who are deluded by it!

2nd.-Universalists manifest a marvelous faculty in believing the promises of God; but tell them of his threatenings, and you will find them nowise disposed to credit them. Oh no, "God is too good to punish men; it cannot be that he means what he says in this matter." All which, to be sure, is in strict accordance with the carnal heart. If a father promise his son an apple, or any other present, the little urchin will take good carẻ tọ jog his memory about it; but if a beating be promised he will soon contrive to forget that, and flatter himself his father will forget it too. So it is exactly with universalists in regard to the deity

3rd. No doctrine could be hit upon more consoling or convenient to wicked men; for the bible tells them they shall not live out half their days;" and this system says to them, "Never mind it, sinners; you shall go immediately to heaven," There

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is a decided advantage accruing from sin according to this teaching; for if sin shortens men's days, it only takes them the sooner to heaven! The antediluvians, for instance, were, on account of their abominable crimes, swept away to glory by the waters of the flood! whilst poor old Noah, for his piety, was doomed to linger for years in this vale of sorrow! The same was the case with the Sodomites, Egyptians, Assyrians, etc. who provoked the wrath of God to kill them, and take them home to a world of bliss! A fine doctrine, this.

4th.-How would you like, my brethren, to sit down in the kingdom of God with murderers, adulterers, thieves, and every description of wicked persons; the rag, tag and bob-tail of mankind? This will surely be the case, if universalism be true! All the moral classifications of human society will be merged in one motley and conglomerated mass! If heaven is to be graced with this kind of neighborhood, I can only say, "O my soul, come not thou into their secret: and to their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united!" Those who wish for such a heaven may have it to themselves for me.

5th. This doctrine furnishes not an apology merely, but even a motive for suicide. Who would bear the ills of life, its disappointments, sorrows, pains, bereavements, &c. if at any moment he pleased, he could leave it for a better? Surely universalists are fools to buffet with the storms of time, when if they chose it they might at once push home their bark into a peaceful eternity! If I were of this belief, I would look about me for the easiest mode of translation to glory, and would put an instant period to this troublesome existence by drowning, or hanging, or shooting, or poisoning; for according to universalism, these are all but convenient instruments of removal from earth to heaven!

6th. It furnishes a motive to murder also. I should certainly think it right, if I were of this faith, when I saw my friends in affliction or embarrassment, to despatch them in the easiest manner I could, and thus put an end to their misery. Who could blame me, when my motive was so good?

7th.-Universalists tell us that all the punishment due to sin is inflicted in this life. Let me suppose a case. An individual spends his whole life in the most atrocious crimes; from bad te worse he goes, and goes with accumulated speed, down the steep