Equally decisive are those which represent that there is no change of character from sin to holiness after death, as Rev. 22: 11, 12. He that is unjust let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is holy let him be holy still. And behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be. Date this sentence of confirming the characters of men when you will, it excludes universal holiness and salvation. There is to be a time when those that are unjust and filthy will be confirmed in that character forever. And it will of course be when there are some to possess that character. And as there can be no happiness even in heaven without holiness, such unjust and filthy ones cannot be saved. Prov. 14: 32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death. This passage already quoted for another purpose is proof also that the wicked is confirmed in his wicked character, and of course in hopelessness of salvation at death. Dan. 12: 10. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand. John 8: 21. Then said Jesus unto them, again I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins, and whither I go ye cannot come. Dying in sins is here made an equivalent to a complete hindrance to coming where Christ is, i. e. to heaven, as he himself explains it in the con text. Those passages also which confine the portion and enjoyment of the wicked to this life, are decidedly subversive of the Universalist theory. Psalms 17: 14. From the men of the world who have their portion in this life,-implying that there is no portion for them in the future life. Psalms 4: 9. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him, though while he lived he blessed his soul. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. 73: 3-17, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the. prosperity of the wicked.- -Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Thou castedst them down into destruction. And this destruction was not the mere death of the body. For the mystery of which the Psalmist had been speaking was, that the wicked both lived so prosperously, and died so quietly," there were no bands in their death." Their being consumed with terrors, and cast down to destruction, and the glad reverse of the condition of the righteous, must be a something which takes place after death. On this verse the writer fixes his eye, and winds up the Psalm with,-Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Thus the contrast between the portion of the righteous, and the portion of the wicked, is complete. The one ends with this life, and the other is a portion forever. Luke 12: 16. And he spoke a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man, brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits; and he said this will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasures for himself, and is not rich towards God. But if Universalism be true, wherein was that man a fool, for making dependence on his abundant earthly portion, to the neglect of being rich towards God? On that supposition his heavenly portion was just as sure, and abundant, as if he had been ever so rich towards God. Luke 16: 25. But Abram said, son, remember, that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus his evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Luke 6: 24. Woe unto you that are rich, for you have received your consolation; implying that there is no more consolation for them hereafter. If there be salvation for them in heaven, it is infinitely greater than all other consolations, and by way of eminence should be called their consolation. James 5: 5. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton, ye have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Here is a tremendous implication of punishment coming upon the oppressor, when the Lord shall come—it being said in the context that the cries of the oppressed had gone up into the ears of the Lord of hosts—that the oppressed had heaped treasure together for the last days, that their riches were to be a witness against them, they were bid to weep and howl for the miseries that were coming upon them. Another class of texts, running in the very teeth of Universalism, is composed of those which speak of the wicked as perishing, cast away, rejected, burnt as chaff. 1 Cor. 1: 18. The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. 2 Cor. 2:15. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. Perishing is here put in contrast with being saved. 2 Peter 2: 12. And shall utterly perish in their own corruption. Luke 9: 25. For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be a cast away? 1 Cor. 9: 27. But I keep under my body, fand bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others I myself also should be a cast-away. Heb. 6: 8. That which beareth thorns and briars, is rejected. Matt. 3: 12. But the chalf he will burn in unquenchable fire. Matt. 43: 40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And verse 47. The kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full they drew to the shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels and cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let such testimony speak for itself. If all are finally saved, there is no propriety in speaking of any as lost, perished, cast away, rejected, and cast at the end of the world into unquenchable fire. To these may be added those passages which directly or indirectly express an exclusion of the wicked from heaven. John (Rev. 21) after describing the blessedness of the New Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God out of heaven, says—But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Then after having given a particular description of the city and its glories, he adds, and there shall in no wise enter into it, any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Heb. 12: 14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. Gal. 5: 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strifes, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of which I before tell you, as I have also told you, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor. 6: 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of of God. Rev. 22: 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates of the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I have now some unclassed texts to introduce. Rom. 2: 5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of of the righteous judgment of God, who will render unto every man according to his deeds,-to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Can the doctrine of eternal rewards and punishments, have a more unequivocal and tremendous assertion? And though it has such plain reference to the last judgment, Mr. B. in his Essay on that subject has not favored us with his comments upon it. Here an impenitent life is represented as treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and it is asserted that in that day of wrath God will render to all the world, Jew and Gentile, acccrding to their deeds. Such a day of course as the day of Jerusalem's destruction, was not a day when eternal life is awarded to those who by well-doing have sought for glory and honor and immortality—a day when will come upon the wicked from all the world, a retribution which requires such an accumulation of fearful epithets to express, as is hardly to be found elsewhere in the compass of written language—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. Rom. 9:22. What if God, willing to show his wrath, and make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory, on the vessels of mercy, which he hath before prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? Can anything here be meant by glory, short of the glory of the heavenly world? And if not, what can be meant by the destruction with which the glory stands in contrast, but the destruction in hell? And if vessels of mercy are the objects of eternal salvation, the vessels of wrath are the objects of eter |