Messiah, constituted the moral governor of the universe, an that all are therefore bound to obey him, as saith the poet: "Jesus, the name high over all, But this does not prove the salvation of all men; for this confession commenced among the devils more than eigh teen hundred years since, when they cried out saying, Luke iv. 34. "Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy one of God;" but we are not informed that his satanic majesty or any one of his angels are yet restored. 2. If it were admitted that the text speaks of true worship, still it will not follow that it will ever be performed by all men. The expression, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord," expresses no more than the obligation which rests upon all intelligent beings, in consequence of his exaltation. That men should worship Jesus Christ, that God exalted him that men should worship him we are willing to admit; but to infer from thence that all men will discharge this duty, is as absurd as it would be to argue that all men do, and must of necessity do, every thing which God has made their duty. God has exalted Jesus Christ, that all men should now bow and confess in this sense; but all men do not discharge this duty: We have now examined the principal texts which are urged in proof of universal restoration, and we venture that every candid and prudent mind will require stronger proof of so important a sentiment, than any thing contained in these scriptures, before they will venture their everlasting all upon its truth. V. Universalists argue the salvation of all men from the promises of God, especially from the promise made to Abraham. So much stress is laid upon this promise, that we often hear them call universalism" the Abrahamic faith." In order to show the ground taken by universalists on this subject, we will give an extract from the pen of the Rev. Pitt Morse. In giving an account of a public, oral debate, which he once held with the writer of these pages, he makes the following statement. "Then came up the all engrossing subject of conditionality. I took the position that God can control the human will without doing violence to human freedom. -This was sustained by argument, and confirmed by the unconditional covenant recorded in the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah and the eighth of Hebrews. I proved that the promises are universal and unconditional, that they contain spiritual blessings, that there is no law against them, and that they are confirmed by the oath of God." See Magazine, &c. published at Utica, N. Y. for Nov. 3, 1832. On the all engrossing subject of conditionality, as Mr. M. calls it, the reader is referred to what has been said in the preceding Chapter, Argument III. In this place we shall only attend to the promises which Mr. M. says, are universal and unconditional." In speaking of the covenant, recorded Jer. xxxi. we suppose he refers to the 33d verse, which reads thus: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." It would appear from Mr. M's own account that he relied upon this as a principal text in support of his theory; we will therefore show that it furnishes no support to universalism. 1. The text does not speak of all men, but of the house of Israel in distinction from all other men. Mr. M. says, "I proved that the promises are universal," and refers us to this text as one of the proofs he introduced on the occasion. From this, the reader can judge how well he sustained his cause. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel; I will put my law in their inward parts," &c. This, with Mr. M., is a universal promise, i. e. the house of Israel includes not only every individual of the descendants of Israel, but all the gentile world. Such conclusions are only worthy of the cause of error. Should it be said that the text relates to the days of the gospel, and that it includes all believers as the spiritual Israel of God, we grant it; but still it is not universal, for it can include only such as believe the gospel, experimental christians, in distinction from such as do not receive the gospel. Now is the time in which God said he would do these things, and all true christians enjoy the blessings promised in the text; but does it follow from thence that swearers, and liars, and filthy drunkards, have the law of God written in their hearts? 2. It is evident that the promise contained in the text is not unconditional, as Mr. M. supposes. It is true there is no condition expressed in the text, but still scripture, matter of fact, and the experience of all christians, prove that the blessing here promised, is conditionally enjoyed. A few observations must be sufficient to show this fact. The nature of the blessing must convince all of its conditionality. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." This implies that renewal of the moral man, which is termed in the New Testament being "born again," being "saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," being" after God, renewed in righteousness and true holiness," &c. It implies the difference between a true christian and one who is not. Now that all this is conditional, is evident from the following text. John i. 12. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name. It is true that the work of renewing the heart is the work of God, which none but God can do, as the 13th verse shows; but still that God may do this work for us, may put his law within us, and write it in our hearts, the text above quoted shows that we must receive Christ, and believe on his name; the blessing therefore is conditional. Again, the promise in the text is shown to be conditional from a consideration of the agent by which God performs this work for us. This agent is the Holy Spirit. It cannot be denied that it is by the Holy Spirit that God writes his law in the hearts of men. Now, we have shown in the preceding chapter that the influence of the Spirit, as well as all the other means which God employs to save sinners, may be resisted by the sinner himself; it must therefore be conditionally that God promises to write his law in our hearts. Once more, the promise in the text under consideration, is shown to be conditional from its partial fulfilment. In order to see this, it is necessary to fix on the time in which God has promised to do this work for us. “After those days, saith the Lord, I wil put my law in their inward parts," &c. After what days, or at what time, we enquire? This most clearly refers to the coming of Christ, and describes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of christians, which was given after his ascent to heaven. From this it appears that now is the time in which God promised to do these things for the house of Israel; that this time commenced with the opening of the gospel dispensation. The question then is, Does God write his law in the hearts of all men? This cannot be pretended; as we have remarked above, drunkards, liars, thieves, murderers, and all the abominable, cannot have God's holy law written in their hearts. This presents a dilemma for the consideration of universalists, holding out three alternatives from which they must choose, any one of which will ruin their cause. First, the covenant does not embrace all men ; or secondly, the covenant promise is conditional; or thirdly, God does not fulfill the promise in all those cases in which his law is not written in the heart. This must fully settle the question of the conditionality of the divine promises. Heb. viii. 10. to which Mr. M. also alludes as containing an unconditional promise, is a literal quotation of the words of the Prophet, on which we have just been remarking; and hence, must be the same in meaning, and therefore is sufficiently explained in what has been said on the original. The above is a sufficient reply to the argument drawn from the promises of God, which appear to include all men; for it is a matter of fact that the promises generally, which universalists urge in proof of their theory, speak of blessings which are the privilege of christians in this life, and which all men do not enjoy. Here again, plain matter of fact rears its unyielding front, against which universalist's arguments batter in vain; for as the promises of God speak of blessings to be enjoyed in this life, and as matter of fact says all men do not enjoy these blessings, it follows beyond dispute that the prom. ises do not unconditionally and absolutely secure the blessings of which they speak. These remarks will apply to the Abrahamic, as well as to the general promises of the gospel. We will notice a few of those promises on which universalists base their argument, and then dismiss this subject. The promise which God made to Abraham may be tound, Gen. xii. 3.-xviii. 18.-xxii. 18.-xxxvi. 4.-xxviii. 14. This promise is given in these words: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." In one of the places above referred to, the word, "families" is substituted for "nations ;" but this cannot alter its meaning, for the word families is undoubtedly used in this place to signify nations or tribes. We cannot, without transcending our intended limits, go into a full investigation of the Abrahamic covenant, but we will attempt to show, in few words, that it does not unconditionally secure the personal salvation of one individual adult sinner; which must be sufficient so far as this controversy is concerned. 1. It is perfectly easy to conceive that all nations of the earth, and all the families of the earth, can be blessed with the gospel of Christ, without supposing that every individual of all nations must consequently be saved. We as a nation, are now blessed with the gospel, or are blessed in the seed of Abraham, but every individual of our nation is not blessed with personal salvation from sin. eousness. 2. The apostle most clearly makes a conditional application of this promise, showing that none can enjoy the blessing of Abraham, who are not imitators of his faith. Rom. iv. 11, 22, 23, 24. "He received the sign of circumcision, as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe. And therefore it was imputed to him for rightNow it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." Gal. iii. 9, 26, 29. "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; and if be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." These quotations from the apostle clearly show that the promise of God to Abraham was conditional, so far as it related to the salvation of individual sinners, and that none but believers can be Abraham's children and heirs with him to the promised blessings. But Mr. M. says, the promises "are confirmed by the oath of God." This is granted; but it does nothing towards proving the salvation of all ye |