SERMON V.

REPROACH OF UNIVERSALISM.

BY REV. HOSEA BALLOU, 2D.

"For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe."-1 TIM. iv. 10.

If we were to compare the Apostle's doctrine, in this passage, with the views that are commonly entertained in the religious world of the present day, we should find one point, here, in which all agree. And it may be well to set out from this point as our starting-place.

All agree that God is the Saviour" of those that believe." This is everywhere maintained, and everywhere repeated, in pulpits, in conference-rooms, and in private exhortations. “ Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." In short, there never was any question

that God is truly the Saviour of all believers. And here, people commonly stop.

It should be observed, however, that our text does not stop here. Our text asserts that God is indeed the Saviour of believers, in some special sense. But this is not all; it goes further. It asserts, also, that he "is the Saviour of all men." And you will observe that this is introduced, here, as the main proposition of the two, - that it takes precedence of the other, and that what relates to believers grows out of this, as a branch from the main trunk. Lest we might still suppose that the Apostle did not really intend to assert the salvation of all, but that he somehow meant to refer only to that of the saints, you see, from the very form of his expression, that he recognises the distinction of mankind into the two well-known classes: first, the race at large, "all men;" and then, as a special class out of these, the believers; and that he affirms that God is the Saviour of the former as well as of the latter, of the whole mass as well as of those who already believe. I cannot conceive of any thing more explicit, or more guarded against the chance of misapprehension.

If we now inquire, what it is that makes the speciality here mentioned, in the case of believers, the answer will readily occur to you. It is this, -that to believers God has already given the first-fruits of their salvation, as he has not yet done to the rest. In some degree, they have already come into "the joy set before them;" they have a foretaste of the inheritance that awaits them. As it is said in another place, "Believing, they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." This is what makes their case a special one, different from that of the common

mass.

But, then, we must not forget, my friends, that even these believers, who are now distinguished with this speciality, were once unbelievers themselves. They once belonged to the common mass, and were taken out of it, and converted, only because "God would have all men to be saved," and because he instituted the dispensation of the Gospel for this purpose. These believers had been brought into the faith at that early stage of the grand enterprise. But if God had not purposed the salvation of the whole world, there would have been no Gospel given,

and of course there would have been no believers. As St. Paul says again, "God hath concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." That was the ultimate object with regard to the whole race. The same Divine Power, who has already brought multitudes to believe, and "saved them by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost," is continually carrying on the work with those who belong, as yet, to the class of unbelievers. He is daily bringing them over, one by one, or in greater numbers. They are as the raw material out of which God makes all his saints, -pardon the homeliness of the expression, for its truth! For you know there never was a believer, but was taken out of the mass of unbelievers. Unconverted sinners are like ore in the mine, loathsome, perhaps, with filth, and unfit for use in their present condition; but there is One" who sits as a Refiner and Purifier of silver," and knows the value of the crude mass, as the Metallurgist knows the value of those unsmelted heaps of seeming rubbish, which the simple, in their ignorance, would be for throwing away. God will not throw away a single soul

from among the sinners. He knows a better use to which they may be put; he can make saints of them. And it should be remembered that this is the very purpose for which he instituted the whole economy of the gospel. Well did St. Paul say, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." They were precious in his sight; not so much for what they now are, as for what they may be made. We know that he is, every day, adding new subjects to his kingdom from among them; and the great enterprise of redemption can never rest in its victorious progress, until all are brought in.

We see, then, the propriety of the central proposition in our text, that "the living God is the Saviour of all men." We see why it is placed foremost, here, as the universal truth, on which the special corollary, which follows, depends. We see, likewise, that there is a speciality in the case of believers. In some measure, they have already received the salvation, which is in process for the whole race.

It was not our design, however, to dwell on this doctrine, which lies at the centre of our text,