immortal strains must cease. Virgil and Homer must be blotted out. Pollock must be dissected. Coke and Blackstone must be remodeled. Locke and Paley must be sent to a long oblivion. Thousands and thousands of libraries, containing the standard theological works of all denominations, must be brought forth and piled for conflagration. Nor is this all. Other obstacles still more mighty and formidable, obstruct the march of Universalism. The history of the world must be altered. The wheels of time must be rolled back near sixty centuries, and this world must commence anew its revolutions, and the race anew its career with Universalists at the helm. The human mind must be remodeled, and one, if not all of its present faculties thrown away. And is this all? Is there no other obstacle? Does the standard of Universalism wave its folds over creation? Oh no! Hell's eternal foundations must be dug up by the spade of Universalism, its fires extinguished, and its lost and depraved inhabitants purified, recovered and brought back to God. And is this all that is necessary to the triumph of this monstrous system? Nay, but the throne of the Eternal must be torn down, the attributes of Jehovah changed, and a new system of divine law and government be erected over the universe. This work will require time and strength. We must confess, of all the reformers which have ever appeared in our world, the Universalists are the most resolute and bold. May they not claim affinity with him who "With ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Finally, we would exhort and earnestly entreat every Universalist to inspect his position well, before he ventures to pass that bourne from whence no traveller returns. If he goes forward and wakes up in eternity to realize the end of the fatal delusion under which he is now sheltering himself, it will not be possible for him ever to return to retrace his steps. Once gone, he is gone for ever. A long, long, long eternity will then roll upon him its unending and wasteless ages! Let every Universalist reader ponder well the following questions, and make no delay in seeking an interest in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." FIFTY SEARCHING AND SOLEMN QUESTIONS, ADDRESSED TO THE CONSCIENCE, UNDERSTANDING, AND HEART, OF EVERY UNIVERSALIST READER. 1. How came you to embrace Universalism? 2. Were your parents devoted Christians? 3. Did they pay particular attention to your early religious education? 4. Have you been a grief or a comfort to the authors of your being? 5. To what sect did you belong before you became a Universalist? 6. How came you to leave the sect to which you were once attached ? 7. If you were ever a professor of religion, were you a devoted Christian? s. Did you not entertain skeptical views upon many of the doctrines of revealed religion, before you openly avowed Universalism? 9. With what class of men were you intimate before you became a Universalist? 10. Have your minds been improved by your present principles? 11. Are you not in the habit of pursuing certain courses of conduct, which are not to be reconciled with the purity of God's law? 12. Have you not promised God, in times of imminent danger, that if he would spare you, you would renounce Universalism? 13. Are you in the habit of daily reading the Bible? 14. If you do read the Bible, do you read it to learn your duty, or to gain materials for controversy? 15. Did you ever take your Bible, and retire to your closet, and there, on your bended knees, implore the Spirit of God to enlighten your mind into the knowledge of all truth? 16. Are you in the habit of family prayer? 17. Are you in the habit of secret prayer? 18. Do you attend regularly any prayer meeting among your people, and take an active part in the duties thereof? 19. Is your denomination in the habit of maintaining social prayer meetings? 20. Do you contribute any thing towards the great benevolent institutions of the day, which receive the counsels and support of the people of God? 21. Would you not sooner give your money to promote Universalism, than to send the Bible, without note or comment, to the heathen? 22. Do you not have, at times, awful misgivings in relation to the truth of Universalism? 23. Would you not renounce it if you had not committed yourself before the public? 24. When are your fears most distressing, in times of great danger, or in times of safety? 25. Do you not intend to abandon your belief, before death shall overtake you, and seal up your doom for ever? 26. Do you really believe your system to be true, or do you only wish it may be true? 27. Does it not seem strange to you, that if your system is true, the Bible should contain so many passages which contradict it? 28. Are you not skeptical upon several of the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God? 29. Do you love the purity and extent of the divine law? 30. Do you believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration, and that holy men wrote the Bible as they were moved by the Holy Ghost? 31. Do you believe that everlasting salvation is offered to you, upon the condition of repentance and faith? 32. Do you believe that there is a period fixed at the end of time, when the Lord Jesus Christ will assemble the universe before his throne for judg ment? 33. Do you believe that every man will appear before the judgment-seat with the same moral character which he possessed when he left this world? 34. Do you keep holy the Sabbath day? 35. Are you faithful in the performance of all your relative duties, as a husband, wife, parent, and child? 36. Are you in the habit of using profane language? 37. Do you ever attend the theatre ? 38. Did you ever use an y unjustifiable means to induce any of your family to attend with you upon Universalist preaching? |