A. This does not prove universal salvation. It is the same argument with Nos. 47, 48, 49.

95. Because he also says, "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." Rev. xxi. 3.

A. This is said of the new heaven and new earth, but not of hell.

96. Because he furthermore declares, that " God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Rev. xxi. 4. Thus, we see, the doctrine of eternal weeping, eternal sighing, eternal sorrow, eternal pain, is false-false as the Bible is true. And although we read in the scriptures of the second death, yet if we read of thirty deaths, it would be no argument against Universalism, since the time is to come when "THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH."

A. This argument is the same with No. 50. Mr. Whittemore may quote as many such passages as he pleases, which describe the victories of Christ, and the state of the blessed, but they can never help him, unless he shows they describe the state of things among those that die in their sins. Of these latter, the Bible says that they gnaw their tongues with anguish, and blaspheme the God of heaven, but repent not. Rev. xvi. 9-11. It is the very torment of the damned, that there is no more death, when once they have entered that state called the second death.

97. Because God induces all good people to pray for the salvation of all men, which he could not do, if it were opposed to his will-because "if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us," 1 John, v. 14.-and because "the desire of the righteous shall be granted." Prov. x. 24.

A. Mr. Whittemore should have shown where in the Bible he learned that God inclines good people to pray for the salvation of ALL MEN. The apostle Paul has directed us to pray for all sorts of men-persons of all grades, as the context proves his meaning to be, but not for every individual of the race. For John says "If any man see his brother sin a sin

which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." 1 John, v. 16. "If we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us,” but it is his will, that they which believe not shall be damned, and to ask the salvation of the finally impenitent, is to pray in direct opposition to the declared will of God. "The desire of the righteous shall be granted," but the righteous will not ask God to save the finally impenitent, whom he has determined to damn.

98. Because all the threatenings of the word of God, when properly understood, harmonize with the doctrine of Universalism-the punishment spoken of being temporal punishments only and no threatening or law extending in its consequences beyond the resurrection.

A. So far from this being the fact, it is expressly said, and that too after the resurrection and the final judgment shall have taken place, and death and hell be cast into the lake of fire, that whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. Rev. xx. 15.

99. Because Universalism is the only hypothesis in which the perfections of God can harmonize, since if men are lost for ever by God's decree or permission, it impeaches his goodness; if by his neglect or want of foreknowledge, it impeaches his wisdom; or if sin be too mighty for him, and rebels too stubborn for him to subdue, it impeaches his power.

A. All this reasoning proceeds on the assumption, that God saves men by the efforts of his natural omnipotence, and that he is under obligations to make them happy, no matter how they have lived. Neither is the fact. The salvation of a sinner is not effected by a word, or an act of mere power, but by means, of a great preparation and array of moral means, provided in the plan of redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ, and of the influences of the Spirit of God in urging the truth on the minds and hearts of sinners. Man is a free agent -a moral and responsible creature, governed by law, having power, and being free to act in conformity with, or disobedience to, that law. All the promises of the gospel-all the threat

enings of the law, are addressed to his moral nature, and are adapted to his sensibilities and faculties as a free agent. God will not save in any way inconsistent with man's free agency.

The grave is not an alembic to refine or transmute the moral qualities of the being. The salvation of the soul can only be effected by bringing the sinner freely and cordially to renounce his sins, believe in Christ, and yield obedience to God. To make the process of death, and the resurrection of the body, the means of saving from sin, is to attach undue importance to physical influence, and actually to deny to God a moral government, or the power of exercising any efficacious moral influence in this world. God created man with capacities for enjoyment. He wisely and benevolently adapted the means of happiness to the nature of man; and gave his law, and armed it with tremendous sanctions, to induce men to seek it in the only way in which it can be found. And when that law was violated, and man in danger of punishment, he provided the scheme of salvation through Jesus Christ, and offers pardon and salvation to as many as will repent, return to God, and seek it in the way in which he has ordained.

He foreknows who will and who will not yield to the motives and influence provided in the law, and by means of the plan of redemption, and by the mission of the Holy Spirit. He brings the latter into existence, not to destroy, but for benevolent designs. He promotes the interests of his universe by means of them, notwithstanding their rebellion. Out of the loins of the wicked have sprung some of the saints of God; and to have refused to create the former, would have been to. prevent those from coming into existence, whom God foresaw would be holy and happy. He leaves both free to act. To do otherwise, would be to violate the law of their nature and to destroy their liberty, which would be inconsistent with his goodness. It would also be inconsistent with his wisdom, for it would prove that he was persuaded he had erred in making free agents, and in instituting a moral government, and therefore, to mend the matter, he had substituted a government of

simple power. And as for the power of God, the Bible teaches that God has limited the exercise both of his physical and moral power, for the salvation of men, to the plan of redemption through Christ, so that "it is impossible for those that were once enlightened, &c., if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance," (Heb. vi. 4.) since, if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Heb. x. 26, 27. In like manner, God asks, in reference to those who had experienced his tender care and solicitude, but who had resisted all, and were abandoned to the consequences of their rebellion, "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" Isaiah, v. 4.

Mr. Whittemore's dilemma involves himself inextricably. The fact is, the world is full of wretchedness and crime: multitudes here are subjected to suffering, and all to death. Now, if men suffer and die by God's decree or permission, it impeaches his goodness: if by his want of foreknowledge, or neglect, it impeaches his wisdom: or if suffering and death be too mighty for him, and man too frail for him to support, it impeaches his power. Let him answer this, his own objection.

100. Lastly, because "all things shall be subdued unto Christ-Christ shall be subject unto him that put all things under him, that GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL." 1 Cor. xv. 28.

A. And one of the proofs of the universal and triumphant establishment of the government of God, will be the condemnation of the wieked, and their confinement in hell, where they shall be kept, by the power of God, from ever tempting or molesting his holy and innocent creatures. The consummation of the reign of Christ, and the delivery of the kingdomto God even the Father, and consequently the end of all hope of salvation by his mediatorial reign, shall take place, when he shall have subdued all enemies UNDER HIS FEET, and "the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderous, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,

shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Rev. xxi. 10.

In reviewing the above tract, so ostentatiously claiming to prove Universal Salvation by A HUNDRED ARGUMENTS, We\ deem it proper to submit the following general reflections.

1. There are some of the paragraphs which have been constructed and tortured into what is called arguments, by quoting detached passages of Scripture, and making use of the mere words, in their isolated form, in a sense entirely foreign from that in which they were originally used by the sacred writers. It is easy to make the Bible prove any thing, even Atheism, and the worst forms of moral corruption, to be true and right, by such a process. No ingenuous mind will ever dream of thus perverting the word of God. The "unlearned and unstable will wrest such passages, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction." 2 Pet. iii. 16.

2. There are many texts quoted in proof of universal happiness and salvation beyond the grave, which were dictated by the Holy Ghost, in reference to the state of things in this world, before the resurrection.

3. There are many of them identical, and by the same method Mr. Whittemore might just as readily have made his tract to comprise a thousand such arguments, as one hundred.

4. The whole force of his arguments is derived from several false assumptions, which he has not attempted, and which we defy him, to prove. One is, that God saves man by an act of simple power. The word save, means to deliver from danger, and consequently takes its particular shade of import from the nature of the danger from which deliverance is had. Whether it be from drowning in the floods, or being consumed in the flames, or falling from a precipice, or embarking in ruinous speculations, or hearkening to dangerous counsels, or forming pernicious alliances, that a man is delivered, he will