UNIVERSALISM AGAINST ITSELF.

CHAPTER I.

PROOF-TEXTS OF UNIVERSALISM EXAMINED.

"PROVE ALL THINGS AND HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD."

1 Thess. 5: 21.

1. Gen. 22. 18. And in thy seed shall all the

⚫nations of the earth be blessed.

1. UNIVERSALISTS rely upon this text with its parallels, as incontrovertible evidence that the whole human family will finally be made holy and happy. The assumption that promises of a Universal, or general character are absolute or unconditional, form the bone and sinew of Universalism; and let it once be made to surrender this ground, and nine tenths of its fortifications have fallen before the artillery of truth.. With the reader's indulgence, we shall examine this subject thoroughly; and demonstrate that Universalism, as based upon the assumption of unconditional promises, has no foundation in the word of God, and like the splendid edifice erecupon the sand, must totter and fall to ruins.

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2. The whole force of the argument depends upon the word shall:-"In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Universalists assume that it is unconditional, because no condition is here expressed. But we shall now prove beyond successful controversy

that many of the promises and threatenings of the bible. are conditional, and depend upon the actions of men for their accomplishment, when the condition is not expressed, but merely implied. But previous to this, we lay down an important rule of interpretation, without which no man can shield the bible from numerous contradictions, and from an ignorance of which, have originated nearly all the false doctrines in christendom; and many, (especially among the Universalists,) from an ignorance of this rule, have turned avowed infidels, and denied in toto the divine authenticity of the bible. The rule is this: that a condition being expressed in any part of the bible with respect to any promise or threat, that condition must be understood as implied, in all other places where that promise or threat is recorded, if not there expressed! With this rule before us we shall now examine some of the threats and promises of the bible.

3. "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said: yet forty days, and Ninevah shall be overthrown." (Jonah 3. 4.) Here is no condition expressed. It is not said: "Yet forty days and Ninevah shall be overthrown," if they do not repent. But did not the Ninevites so understand it? Read the next verse: "So the people of Ninevah believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them." Now if the people of Ninevah believed God, as it is here declared, why did they repent in sackcloth, unless they understood that there was a condition implied in this threat? and that they might by repentance escape the threatened judgment? Why did they not coolly submit to their fate,— await the forty days, and be destroyed, without exerting themselves in the manner they did? The response of all must be: it was because they understood that there was a condition implied in that threat. But was their understanding of the matter correct? Read on. "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil he said he would do unto them, and he did it not." (verse 10.) Now Universalists

have to take one of three grounds: Either 1. That God told the Ninevites a positive falsehood: or 2. That the Ninevites were actually destroyed in forty days, and thus flatly contradict the bible: or 3. That there was a condition implied in that threat. The former two they dare not assert: hence the latter they are compelled to admit, which lays the axe at the very root of Universalism.

4. "Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith: I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father should walk before me forever; [no condition expressed here] but now the Lord saith: be it far from me; [to perform this promise,] for them that honor me, I will honor; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. 2. 30.) Thus, notwithstanding God had promised, without expressing any condition, that the house of Ely, and the house of his father should walk before him forever; but because they refused to honor him, by the contempt with which they had treated his ordinances, and thus did not perform the condition implied in this promise;therefore the Lord reversed the matter, and instead of continuing to confer upon them the honorary distinctions of sacerdotal dignity, brought upon them shame and confusion of face.

5. "Then said David: O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said: he will come down. (No condition expressed.) Then said David: will the men Keilah deliver me and my men into the land of Saul? And the Lord said: they will deliver thee up. (No if in the case expressed.) Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah,—and it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbare to go forth." (1 Sam. 23. 10-13.) Here again we have Universalists in a tight place. According to their doctrine, Saul did

come down; and the men of Keilah did deliver David and his men into the hand of Saul; because there was no condition expressed, and they tell us there can be none implied. Hence the bible is false, and David was killed by Saul in Keilah, notwithstanding he reigned King over Israel many years after Saul was dead. When God said, in reply to the requests of David: Saul will come down; and the men of Keilah will deliver thee up; it was implied: if you continue in the city. This the sequel proves; for David left the city, and consequently Saul did not come down, neither was David delivered in his hands. Universalists are compelled to acknowledge our position, or deny the truth of the Bible, or in the third place, take the ground that the Almighty told David a wilful falsehood.

6. We have another most striking evidence of the conditionality of divine promises when the condition is only implied; and that too in the case of Abraham. We can thus let one promise to Abraham explain another. To this none will object. "And he said unto Abram: know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years, but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again. (Gen. 15. 13-16.) This promise is without an expressed condition; and has just as much appearance of absoluteness, as the one under examination upon which Universalism is based. 1 can fancy I hear the Jews, as they were traveling through the wilderness, those disobedient fellows who were tinctured with Universalism,-debating with Moses and Aaron, and reasoning thus: "Surely we shall all be brought safely into the land of Canaan without the loss of one. This is as sure, and as firm, and as unalterably fixed as the pillars of heaven. For God swear to our father Abraham, that after his seed had sojourned in the land of Egypt 400 years, they should be brought again into this land; and there was no if in the case;hence it is unconditional. Mark the positive, absolute nner in which it is expressed. In the fourth gener