life, by being born again of water and of the spirit; and as none others can enter into the kingdom of God, how, then, can it be possible to suppose, and to believe, that all men will be saved?

We owe to the indulgent patience of our readers, the entire developement of all the causes and motives which have led us to the adoption, and continues us in the unshaken confidence of the validity of our Faith. And we entreat their earnest attention to the following concluding remarks on this article of our Christian Faith, which we conceive to be worthy of consideration, particularly when taken in connexion, which the first section of this Manual. We believe that if there is one trait in the character of man, which, more than all the rest, goes to prove the degree of his moral depravity; it is to be seen in that disposition which evinces the most obstinate resistance to the sacred truth, that "the living God is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." Such men prove this depravity of nature by their unwillingness, that the Will of God should be accomplished, because it is in direct opposition to their depraved will; and this depravity may be considered as having reached its acme in those individuals; who imbibe the misanthropic opinion, and exult in the degrading belief, that the happiness of one small portion of human beings, placed in heaven, will be hourly increased, in proportion to the hourly increasing torments of the great remainder of their species, whom they have charitably consigned to hell! Alas, poor human nature!" How depraved! How greatly indeed dost thou need a Saviour!

Remarks.-1. The eternal, immutable nature of God, is one of the fundamental articles of the Faith of all Christians.

2. In whatever disposition the Will or Immense Mind was, at the Creation, the same Will or Mind, towards the creatures of his make, continues unaltered.

3. The Omniscience of Deity is agreed to by all; he therefore foreknew, and consequently foresaw, all events and contingencies connected with creation.

EVANGELIST'S MANUAL.

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4. His Omnipotence is unquestioned; his Power is illimitable. If, then, his Prescience foresaw the fall of man, and that its consequence would be the final and everlasting misery of an immense portion of mankind, and that the remedy which he provided would fail of its complete effect in the recovery of all men, in such case, the Deity would be an unmerciful Father, which it is impossible that he can be.

We see no just reason in the arguments which say, that if men are eternally lost, it is their own faults; that the remedy was conditional, and that men are left to their choice, either to accept or reject the remedy; that salvation is of an "initial nature," Christ having died for every individual man; but that nevertheless every individual man may not, and probably will not, be finally saved, We have already spoken of man's acceptance or rejection of the graces of the Spirit, (page 50,) and we are free to admit, that by such rejection, man renders himself obnoxious to the just judgments of Deity, and that they will suffer a limited, and not eternal, and hence unmerciful punishment, for this would be contrary to the actual designs of Deity, as set forth in the Scriptures.

5. God must have had a design in creating man in his own image; and as he is possessed of illimitable Wisdom and Power, it is morally and religiously certain, that his designs in creation cannot be frustrated.

6. The universal reconciliation of all men to himself, their restoration to holiness and happiness, and their final eternal salvation in Christ, was the predetermind will and design of Deity in the formation of man.

To argue the contrary, would be an insult to the Majesty of God, which the Bible Universalist would not by any means dare to offer; and they pity the morbid feelings of those who presume, not only to offer, but persist in their continued insults to the Deity, in attributing to him properties, which it is impossible for him to possess, unless they can prove him to be like themselves, a compound of light and darkness, or of good and evil, and this would

be to convert the religion of Christians to that of the hea

then pagans.

7. As it is impossible for any Being short of an infinite, to frustrate the designs of the Creator in his formation of man, particularly as he has declared, that "he willeth all men to be saved," if all men are not finally saved, it must be evident that God's will must, have been frustrated; and as no power short of infinite could possibly frustrate the will of God, according to the theory of the advocates for the eternity of hell torments, there are two infinites opposed to each other; and this, the religion of Christian Universalists, does not admit. However willing Christian Partialists are to maintain such doctrines, as do most unquestionably infer as much.

8. If the design of our Almighty Creator was the final happiness of all his intelligent creatures, we defy the congregated hosts of earth and hell to alter, frustrate, or change his design. But

9. If his design was the happiness of a chosen few, and the eternal torment of the rejected many, while we humbly acknowledge that God has an undoubted right to perform all the good pleasure of his will concerning his creatures, we cannot avoid the conclusion, that such a Being is a vindictive, cruel and unmerciful Being, and "not a God whose nature and whose name is Love." Such beings are some men, and such men the Christian Universalists will not have to reign over them; nay, not so much as to influence them in the most distant degree in their confidence in the unalterable designs of their Heavenly Father.

10. If eternal misery had been decreed in the immense Mind, as a consequence of original or actual sin, then no man can be saved, because all have sinned. It is of no use to talk about a Saviour who gave his life a ransom for all, or the Love of God, which induced him to send his Son to save the world, if eternal death or misery has been decreed; for as God changeth not, so neither can any of his eternal decrees change, and upon this principle, a decree of eternal misery is determined upon all, and none can be saved, unless some method can be pointed

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out for changing an unchangeable Being, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

11. "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Pet. iii. 9.) Wherefore, if any perish, or if all come not to repentance, it must be contrary to the will of God. But will any reasonable man admit that the Creator will suffer any to perish everlastingly; and that too, contrary to his Almighty will? We believe, that the hope of the unbelievers doth perish with their lives; and God by the prophet Ezekiel, affords an example of this kind, where it is said, "Then said he unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: We are cut off for our parts. Therefore, prophecy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my People, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." (Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12.)

12. That God has a secret, as well as a revealed will, is not denied. His revealed will, we have seen, is the salvation of all men, and that his secret will is of the same character we conscientiously believe; and "to say God's revealed will is contrary to his eternal and unrevealed will, would, in us, be blasphemy of the first magnitude."

13. If God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, to say that he has from everlasting predestinated innumerable human sonls to endless misery, and "to the praise of his vindictive justice," would be an abominable contradiction, and gross perversion of truth.

We might extend these remarks to a volume, and the candid reader will, no doubt, be able, of his own reflections on the character and attributes of Deity, to add numerous others from the same source, the revealed will of God in the Scriptures of his truth. And we make a candid and serious appeal to the judgment and decision of unprejudiced readers, whether it is possible for them to reconcile the doctrines of those Christian sects, who advocate the eternal never ending misery of millions of hu

man beings, with those passages of the Scriptures, which are quoted in the first twenty-two pages of this Manual. Or, if the final salvation of all men is not effected by Christ, that then, these Scriptures and the promises of God to that effect, and to which not only the oath of the Most High are affixed, but also the sufferings and death of Christ have fully confirmed, together with the testimony of all God's prophets since the world began, will be rendered inconsistent, contradictory, and altogether unworthy of their Divine author. And lastly, that upon no other plan than that of the final recovery and salvation of all men, can the Scriptures be reconciled with themselves, or be rendered consistent and harmonious in all their parts to the glory of God, to the magnifying the character and office of Christ, and to the comfort and consolation of the believers especially, and of all mankind generally and universally.

And here we take leave to observe, that it is by no means the wish of the Associates in this faith, to impose it upon any man. Their object in giving publicity to their belief is more in the character of a defence, than that of an attempt to deprive others of the right of judging for themselves. We profess to be Universalists from a thorough conviction, that the doctrines and tenets which we maintain, are perfectly in accordance with the entire truth of the Scriptures. We have not, indeed, been able to do justice to those splendid truths, which are the foundation of our Christian faith. We feel and acknowledge that we are but fallible, that in our views of many passages of the Holy Scriptures, we may have erred, as many others have done before us. Nevertheless, we are safe in asserting our faith, in all the doctrines that are deemed essential to salvation. We stand, therefore, upon equal ground with our brethren of every Christian denomination.

Are any of our readers, already believers, members of any one of the Christian churches? We earnestly bid them God speed; we have no wish, and must not be charged with the intention, of proselyting them to our