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breakers? Vain man! let light and truth guide your feet to heaven and to God; purify your hearts; plant your hope on Christ, and cast anchor into the eternal throne; so that when all mysteries shall be solved, and the changeless destiny of the world fixed on the basis of moral character, you may stand with the heavenly throng on a sea of holiness, and harping the immortal praises of God.

CHAPTER XIII.

A SCHEME OF ERROR AND IMMORAL IN TENDENCY.

"Fear God and keep his Commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Ecc. xii. 13.

The words of Solomon contain the summary of religion. Whoever shall fear God with reverential and filial obedience, and conscientiously and truly, observe his precepts and instructions, will enjoy the power and glory of religion. Obedience to God will always tend to morality; and the guidance of truth will always conduct to virtue and right. All error stands up in opposition and contrast with truth, and exerts a contrary and desolating influence. Whatever system contains the elements of error and falsehood, must necessarily be adapted to effect mischief and be productive of evil. Morality can never grow upon the tree of error, nor can vital religion be originated and nourished in a disbelief and rejection of the essential doctrines of christianity.

That Universalism is a system of gross error, inasmuch as it contains none of the essential doctrines common to orthodox christianity, we have abundantly proven in the foregoing pages. The reader may say, that Universalists make use of terms and phrases, and profess a belief of certain doctrines common to christians, both in their public exercises and in their writings. This is readily acknowledged, and yet we are bold to declare, that the system of Universalism saps the very foundation of genuine religion, in doctrine and practice.

1. It is a system of duplicity.

The charge of double-dealing, dissimulation, and the use of terms and phrases Scriptural, and in common with orthodox teaching, merely to mislead, is pretty severe, and sounds harsh; nevertheless it will seem so obvious as to challenge a denial, when calmly and candidly considered. This species of procedure is common to all systems of error, and is only in keeping with the declaration of Christ, that those who do wickedly hate the light and dare not approach the light honestly, for fear of exposure. That Universalists in their preaching and writing, make use of the terms repentance, faith, regeneration; and the phrases, that Christ is our Savior, and that all shall be saved and enjoy final holiness and happiness in consequence of the death of Christall this is undeniable; but that they attach the meaning to the terms and phrases in which they are commonly understood, none among them of understanding, and of acquaintance with their system, will pretend to affirm. Inquire of Universalists whether they believe in repentance, the doctrine of faith and regeneration, they will give you an unequivocal answer in the affirmative; but should you demand and receive a clear and honest avowal of the ideas they couch under these terms, their faith would appear a mere historical belief; their repentance a mere sorrow and regret, and compunction of conscience an every day duty, and not a thorough and radical purpose to forsake the evil and live piously and righteously in the world; and their regeneration a mere change of party, opinion and mode of life for the better, as the drunkard becomes sober, and not a radical change of heart produced by the spirit of God. By the use of Scriptural phraseology, with new coined ideas, they deceive the people and impose upon the community in the most uncandid manner, and with treacherous duplicity. Without

a thorough cross-examination you will fail of arriving at a clear knowledge of their real sentiments. When they declare, that all will be saved, because Christ died for all, the common reader or hearer would infer, that the rest, holiness and eternal happiness of the soul, were received through the channel of the atonement, and were wholly attributable to the mediation of Christ, when their meaning is far from this; for they do not believe that heaven was ever forfeited by sin, and secured and inherited through Christ; for as Ballou says, that it is an utter mistake to assert that Christ came into this world to save us in another; and as Jason Lewis declares, that religion is designed only to make us holier and better in this world. The fact is, though Universalists employ many cant phrases and Scriptural terms, yet there is not a single doctrine of the Bible looked upon by christians as essential, which they, as a denomination, hold. Their theory is a complete overturning of all the fundamental doctrines of Holy Writ.

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Here is an important reason, why every community should be indoctrinated in their occult meaning and wary expositions; lest they snatch the hook of Universalism and delusion, because baited with Scriptural phrases and Israel's language. Beware of hypocrisy and duplicity as used to decoy, mislead and destroy; and recollect that Peter has long since warned the people against those teachers, who with feigned words make merchandise of souls." (2 Peter ii. 1-3.) Honesty and candor demand, that when men employ words and phrases out of the ordinary meaning, that they should fairly and clearly explain the ideas or peculiar doctrine they wish to convey. This will preclude deception, and manifest, at least an upright and fair intention. Double-dealing and duplicity should never characterize the deportment of those who would stand forth as public teachers of the holy religion of heaven, yet every

one acquainted with the system of Universalism, and their public teaching has been impressed with this gross and deplorable error.

2. Universalism is a system of gross error and full of palpable contradictions.

We presume that the candid reader of the preceding pages is fully convinced of this fact, and yet it seems important to recapitulate and place in juxtaposition, the most prominent doctrines of Universalism, in order to render this point the more obvious and comprehensive-to give the reader a bird's-eye view of the more important features of the system.

The system of Universalism teaches, that all the rational world must necessarily be finally, holy and happy; their other arguments are presented to prove and fortify this sentiment. They deny the doctrine of innate depravity, and assert that all are born as pure as Adam was, when he came from the plastic hand of his Maker-that heaven has never been forfeited by sin, and that the approbation of God has never been lost, and consequently that the children of men need no restoration to the favor of God,-that it is absurd to exhort men to secure an interest in Christ, and that men must necessarily, and as a matter of unfailing certainty, walk forth from the grave amid the glories of heaven.They deny that sin has its origin in the soul, but assert that it begins and ends in the flesh; that it is not a very great and culpable evil, nor fatal in its results; that upon the whole, the universe is better off with the introduction and presence of sin, than it would be in the absence of sin.They deny that the results or punishment of sin were ever designed to vindicate the authority and government of God, but to reform and amend the characters of its subjects-to make them holy and happy-that punishment is the grand ordeal of purification, the greatest blessing that can befall

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