stituted of remorse, and an absence of the divine goodness—some affirm that we shall be damned if found out of the faith and communion of the true church-some, that in whatever faith or church we are found, or whether in none at all, if we improve aright such opportunities as have been afforded us, it will go well with us, but if otherwise we shall be damned for the nonimprovement some maintain that the neglecting to secure the new birth will be the ground of our damnation; and some, that we must be baptized or be damned, whatever else we may do or leave undone, etc., etc. Universalists, however, do not contend against each other on account of their diversity of views; and this is much more than can be said of the believers in endless torments: the former, indeed, have no motives for contention-the latter have very weighty ones; for if the interests of the immortal state are in any degree dependant upon a correct faith in this world, we should doubtless strive with all our might to save men from their heresies, at whatever expense to their earthly peace or interests; hence this doctrine fully justifies persecution for opinion's sake, but universalismi does not; for it does not represent God in the character of a holy inquisitor, tormenting his short-sighted creatures in everlasting flames, because of their misfortune in failing to find and believe the truth. True it is, that universalists deem the acquisition of truth to be of great importance to men for their present benefit, and nence they endeavor to gain them over to embrace and enjoy it : but as this motive for zeal in the propagation of their faith is based upon a desire to extend the bounds of human happiness, it would ill comport with that motive to quarrel with men because they were not of their opinion in religion.

AN INTERMEDIATE STATE CONSIDERED.

To human wisdom, relative to the state immediately subsequent to death, very narrow limits are assigned; and the paucity of information upon this point in the sacred writings, sufficiently proves that they were not given for our enlightenment in regard to it. From many portions of the Old Testament it might be inferred, that a future sentient existence was not at all believed in by the writers. Solomon saith, "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." (Eccles. ix. 5, 6.) And again he says, in the tenth verse of the same chapter, that there is no knowledge in sheol (the separate state) whither we are going. Hezekiah says, "Death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into sheol cannot hope for thy truth." (Isa. xxxviii. 18.) In the following language from Job, there is an evident vacillation of mind betwixt hope and doubt relative to a future being. "For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands." (Job xiv. 7—12, 14, 15.) Nothing was ever better conveyed than is the alternation of hope and doubt in the mind of the speaker, relative to the important topic of which he speaks.

From the reluctance, too, with which death was contemplated in Old Testament times, it seems fairly inferrible, that a state of felicity immediately subsequent thereto was not expected. When

it was announced to the good Hezekiah that he was to die, he received the announcement with extreme sorrow, and humbled himself before God in prayer for a continuance of his life. In numerous instances, too, we find, that length of days is promised as a reward of a virtuous course of conduct. Both Moses and Aaron had their mortal lives abridged, as a punishment for certain specified acts of disobedience. These facts seem to imply very clearly, that it was not in those days believed, that death occasioned an immediate transit from earth to heaven.

Nor does the New Testament, as I think, afford much clearer ground of faith upon this point. I know that certain texts can be adduced, which, considered by themselves, would favor the notion that men pass at death from earth to immediate felicity; but then I also know, that the weight of these is countervailed by other texts, and a legitimate deduction from certain scriptural facts.As, then, we can have no possible interest in being deceived on this head, let us briefly, yet candidly, take a view of what may be said on both sides.

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Christ's words to the dying thief afford, perhaps, the strongest argument in favor of the notion of immediate post-mortem happiness. To-day, shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke xxiii. 43.) But it is usual to take quite too much for granted in the popular application of this case, viz., that the thief had a true faith in Christ's messiahship-that he was convicted, and repented of, his sins-that, when he begged to be remembered of Christ when he came into his kingdom, he had reference to Christ's coming in the final judgement—and that Christ's answer implied, that he should be with him that day in heaven. Now to my mind there is very great improbability in each of these items; and since they are taken on sheer assumption, I will offset against them the following, which, at least, may be supported by a better show of reason, viz: That the confession of guilt which the thief made, had only respect to the crime for which he suffered, not his sin against God—that his notions of the Messiah being Jewish, he expected him to come and establish a temporal dynasty, and to this he had reference in his petition-that Christ's answer was designed to call off his attention from such expectations, and direct it to the fact, that he should that day be with himself in the separate state. Such is my judgement of this case, and here are the reasons for it

Christ's own apostles had not correct ideas, at that time, of the nature of the kingdom he came to establish; for, only the night previous, they had contended among themselves as to which should be the greatest under his reign; which proves that their notions on this subject were Jewish, and it is irrational to suppose that the thief had more correct notions about it than they who had listened to Christ's instruction for years! But again. When was Messiah to come in his kingdom? Not surely at the close of time; for then it is that he is to "deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father." Christ came in his kingdom spiritually (and in no other sense was he to come) when, at the close of the Jewish dispensation, he established his church in the world. It will hence be seen, that the thief could not have had the evangelical faith in Christ which the popular application of the subject supposes. Moreover, the Savior went at death to the separate state, or hades, and not to heaven. See how Peter speaks to this point. "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts ii. 29-31.)

Another passage which seems to favor the idea of immediate happiness after death, is that which describes Christ's transfiguration. "And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias; who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke ix. 30, 31.) If Moses and Elias were translated to immediate felicity, it may be argued that such may be the case with all righteous persons at their decease. There is a real difficulty in this case, which I by no means feel disposed to overleap, (as others have done,) by assuming, that the whole affair was a mere vision. I would rather suppose that, as the transfiguration of Christ was but of temporary duration, and evidently miraculous in its nature, so the appearance and felicitous existence of Moses and Elias may also have been out of the ordinary course of things, and for only the time being. Who, for instance, would

argue from the following fact, which took place at the Savior's last groan, that the same kind of a resurrection is constantly going on? "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." (Matt. xxvii. 52, 53.) Here was a rising from the graves, but whether the risen remained alive, or returned almost immediately to their quiescent state, we are not informed; but I suppose the latter, as nothing is subsequently said of them.

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Again, Paul intimates that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord;" it is, (he says,) to "be with Christ, which is far better:" and hence he conceived, that "to die, is gain." Stephen, also, commended his parting spirit to the Lord Jesus-as Jesus himself did his into the hands of his Father.These, on the face of them, seem decidedly to favor the notion of felicity immediately subsequent to death. I have no wish to force upon them a different signification; nor to do anything with them which would abstract from their natural weight in this discussion. Let them stand, then, as we find them.

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The following passage is also supposed to convey an argument favoring the same side of the question. Now, that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him." (Luke xx. 37, 38.) The argument couched in this passage is, that as "God is not the God of the dead," and yet terms himself" the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob," who at the time had no existence on the earth, it therefore follows that they must have had a sentient existence somewhere; and if they, then the rest of the dead also, " for all live unto God,” The usual reply to this is, (at least I suppose it is, for I have seen but little on the subject,) that since all are destined to be raised in God's own time, and all duration, with all its events and existences, is present to his mind, persons may be said to live unto him, who either have not yet come on to the stage of actual be ing, or have passed off of it: for Jehovah "speaks of things that be not, as though they were."

I, however, take a different view from the preceding; I believe that man is in possession of an undying essence, usually called