v. 18. St. Luke records the same speech of our Lord, in the following language: 'It is EASIER for Heaven and Earth to pass, THAN FOR ONE TITTLE OF THE LAW to fail.' -xvi. 17. Here we might rest, and safely permit the subject to stand, settled, we think, and immutable, as the Rock of Ages, upon the strong ramparts by which it is sustained in the scriptures we have already exhibited. Why then should we point to our former arguments, concerning the Disposition, the Purpose, the Will, the Promise and the very Oath of God for the Salvation of the Universe, in confirmation of the sublime truth to which we have here arrived? For the mind that would obstinately set itself against the force of evidences so clear and strong, would not scruple to discredit the very Oath of Jehovah, and yet to disbelieve "though one should rise from the dead!' Would it be of any avail to point such an one, who should persist in believing in the eternal reign of evil and disobedience to the Law of God, to those mighty words of the Lord of Power and Truth, 'I will Put MY LAW in the inward parts, and Write it in the Hearts' [of those who were not My People,] that ALL shall know Me, from the Least to the Greatest? With those who doubt that the Divine Spirit is the Sovereign of the human soul, it is of no consequence to urge upon them this great, recorded Purpose of the Almighty to stamp the impress of His own Spirit upon ours, to print His holy Law upon the hearts, and engrave it upon the minds, of All His People, blotting out the deep-dyed crimson stains of their iniquities forevermore.-Heb. viii. 10--16. But we shall here leave this part of our subject, to answer this 'free agency' objection which here arises, by itself, and shall thereby, we think, deduce an additional measure of strength to the irrefragible position at which we are planted.

"The Ransom'd of the Lord shall come to Zion's holy hill,

;

And songs of praise and shouts of joy the heav'nly courts shall fill
And Every Knee shall bow to God, and Every Tongue confess,
That God, the Lord, their Helper is, their strength and righteousness."
Mrs. J. H. SCOTT.

OBJECTION.

The Commandments of the Lord, in consequence of the inviolable liberty of our choice of evil or good, happiness or misery, are never accompanied with the means of enforcing their obedience, no more than human commands are, and therefore only appeal to us as exhortations or entreaties to holiness and life eternal.

ANSWER.

'I said not unto the seed of Jacob, [saith the word of the Lord,] SEEK YE ME, IN VAIN! I, the Lord speak Righteousness! I declare things that are RIGHT!-Isa. xlv. 9. The Only Wise makes no unreasonable, or useless, or vain Commands; none which He might foresee shall not be obeyed, or which He were not able to carry out, and none which were not absolutely necessary to be enforced to the accomplishment of His Purposes. Consequently, 'All His Commandments are SURE!' And His Commandment, therefore, upon All Men, to turn unto Him and live, will surely 'stand fast forever and ever, and be DONE, in truth and uprightness.' For He does not Command the weak children of humanity to Seek Him IN VAIN.

'I will Give them One Heart, and I will Put a New Spirit within You; and I will Take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will Give them a heart of flesh; That they may walk in My Statutes, and Keep My Ordinances, and DO them.'-Ezek. xi. 19, 20.

'Because thy rage and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put My hook in their nose, and My bridle in thy lips, AND I WILL TURN THEE BACK BY THE WAY BY WHICH THOU CAMEST.'-2 Kings, xix. 28.

'I will Put My fear [filial reverence] in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.'-Jer. xxxii, 40.

'From the place of His habitation, He looketh upon All the Inhabitants of the Earth, and [gradually, invisibly, mys teriously,] fashioneth their hearts ALIKE.'-Ps. xxiii. 14, 15, 'O, Lord God of our Fathers, art not Thou God in Heav

en? And rulest not Thou over All the kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thy hand is there not Power and Might so that None is able to withstand Thee?'—-2 Chron. xx. 6.

We would conclude our argument for Universal Salvation derived from the Commands and the Moral Law of God, which we have attempted to show shall ultimately be universally fulfilled, by quoting the following passage from a discourse by John Wesley, on 'The Perfection of Mankind :’

"When the Apostle says to the Ephesians, 'Ye have been taught, AS THE TRUTH IS, in Jesus, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, which is created after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness,' he leaves us no room to doubt that God wiLL thus renew us in the spirit of our minds, and create us anew in the image of God, wherein we were first created. Otherwise it could not be said that this IS the truth, as it IS, in [or through] Christ Jesus. And the Command of God given by St. Peter, 'Be Ye holy, as He that hath called you is Holy,' implies a Promise that We shall be thus holy. As God has called us to holiness, He is undoubtedly willing, as well as able to work this holiness in us. For He cannot mock His helpless Creatures, calling upon them to receive what He never intends to Give."

"In Thy hand is every spirit,

And the meed the same may merit,
All which all the worlds inherit,
Thine!

'Tis not to thy creatures giv'n
To scale the lofty ways of Heav'n—
Alway just and kind;

But, before Thy mighty breath,
Life, and Spirit, Dust, and Death,-
The boundless ALL is driv'n,

Like clouds by wind!"-FESTUS.

PROPOSITION EIGHTH.

It is the PLEASURE of the Father Almighty, that All Souls shall Ultimately be Purified and Gathered to Himself.

PROOFS. POSITIVE.

'According to HIS GOOD PLEASURE, - - That in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, He might Gather Together in One, ALL THINGS, in Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth.'-Eph. i. 9--11.

'1t PLEASED the Father that in Christ should ALL FULNESS dwell; and, having made Peace by the blood of his cross, BY HIM TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS TO HIMSELF, whether Things on Earth or Things in Heaven.'—Col. i. 19. 20.

The following passage, we think, may very justly be considered a parallel of this class of scriptures, and confirmatory of our Proposition: 'He REJOICETH more over that sheep which he sought and found, than over the ninety and nine which went not astray.'-Mat. xviii. 14. Is it not the obvious design of these parabolic words, to teach us the Good Pleasure of the Heavenly Father in the Salvation of the Erring, of the very last of them? In the next section we shall see that the Scriptures know of no such thing that the Lord shall ever cease to have Pleasure in, and Rejoice over, all the children of His creation and care.

'I know also, my God, that Thou HAST PLEASURE in Uprightness.'-1 Chron. xxix. 17. For the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness.'-Ps. xi. 7. Can it easily be inferred from such passages as these, that God shall be entirely well Pleased and reconciled to have 'the throne of Iniquity built up forever,' possessing an unbounded sway over a mighty universe of its own, where countless millions of His children shall be eternally held captive? And should heaven be a place of Pleasure and Rejoicing, when

so vast a proportion of the Universal Family were dragging out the immortality of their being, in insupportable miseries, beneath it?

'The Lord DELIGHTETH in Mercy.'-Micah vii. 18. And 'His tender Mercy is over All His Works,' and 'Endureth Forever.' There could not be a stronger proof of any proposition, than this, of the one we have in hand.

The Lord TAKETH PLEASURE in His People.'-Ps. cxlix. 4.

'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, Honor, and Power, for Thou hast Created ALL THINGS, and for THY PLEASURE they are, and were created.'-Rev. iv. 11.

NEGATIVE.

'Have I ANY PLEASURE AT ALL, saith the Lord, that the Wicked shall die? and NOT that he should return from his ways and live? [that is, that the moral death of the wicked, which, in fact, 'has passed upon all men,' for ‘in Adam all die,' should be total, and perpetual? Is it My

Pleasure that because a man becomes wicked, he should remain so, and not be redeemed from his sinful propensities, that he should never be turned from his evil ways and live?] -Ezek. xviii. 23.

'I HAVE NO PLEASURE in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord.'—Ezek. ¿viii. 22. It is not consistent with the Lord's goodness that He should derive any Pleasure or gratification from what is evil, for its own sake, though we cannot doubt that the transient existence of evil, in view of its glorious results, is in entire accordance with the Good Pleasure and the Supreme Will of the Almighty. Thus, although we are not at liberty to believe that the temporary and universal sinfulness and moral death of Mankind are contrary to God's Pleasure, we are at the same time forbidden to think that it is the Evil He delights in, and that He will perpetuate it, but the illustrious End to be attained through its means.

'As I LIVE, saith the Lord God, I HAVE NO PLEASURE in the death of the wicked; but [it is My Pleasure] that the Wicked turn from his evil way and live.'-Ezek. xxxiii. 11. We could not wish for a more explicit Scrip