Page images
PDF
EPUB

most.---And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.'--Luke vii. 39---47.

'When they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more. But they likewise received every man a penny.--And when they had received it, they murmured against the Good man of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.---But he answered one of them and said, Friend I do thee no wrong; did'st thou not agree with me for a penny?

Take that thine is, and go thy way; I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am Good? So the Last shall be [as the] First, and the First [as the] Last,' FOR MANY [the Mass, MANKIND,] ARE CALLED, BUT FEW, [the Elect, as a pledge of the rest, and not for their exclusive or more ample fruition,] ARE CHOSEN.'---Mat. xx. 9--16.

'He shall Judge THE POOR of the People, He shall Save the Children of THE NEEDY; the Souls of THE NEEDY He shall save; He shall redeem their soul from [an endless hell?] deceit and violence.'---Ps. lxxii. 4, 13, 14.

'He will regard the prayer of THE DESTITUTE,-Ps. cii. 2. Though the Lord be High, yet He hath respect unto the lowly.'---Ps. cxxxviii. 6.

'Wo unto them that decree unrighteous Decrees, [does it not seem that this was especially fore-spoken against the framers and abettors of the 'Westminster Catechism?"] and that write Grievousness which they have prescribed. To turn aside THE NEEDY from judgment, and to take away the right from THE POOR of the People, that the afflicted may be their prey.'-Is. x. 1, 2.

"Whil'st far and wide Thy scatter'd sheep,

Great Shepherd! in the desert stray,
Thy love by some is thought to sleep,
Unheedful of the wanderer's way.

But Truth declares, they shall be found,
Wherever now they darkly roam,
Thy voice shall through the desert sound,
And summon every wanderer home.
Upon the darker ways of sin,

Instead of Terror's sword and flame,
Shall Love descend, for love can win,
Far more than terror can reclaim.
And they shall turn their wand'ring feet,
By Grace redeem'd, by Love controll'd,
Till All at last in Eden meet,

One, happy, Universal Fold."

PROPOSITION TWENTY-FIRST.

The Salvation through CHRIST shall be CO-EXTENSIVE with the Condemnation introduced by ADAM.

PROOFS.

'AS, by the Offence of one, judgment came upon All Men to Condemnation; EVEN SO, by the Righteousness of one, the Free Gift came upon All Men to Justification of Life.'---Rom. v. 18. Rom. iii. 23--27, to same effect.

'AS Sin hath reigned unto Death, EVEN SO might Grace reign, through Righteousness, unto Eternal Life.--Rom. v. 21.

'AS in Adam All Die, EVEN SO, through Christ, shall All be made Alive.'---1 Cor. xv. 22.

'AS the Gentiles in times past have not believed, yet have now obtained Mercy through their unbelief; EVEN SO, have the Jews also now not believed, that through the Gentiles' Mercy they ALSO may obtain Mercy. For God hath concluded them ALL [both Jews and Gentiles,] in Unbelief that He might have Mercy upon ALL.---O, the depth of the Riches!---Rom. xi. 30--33.

AS we have borne the image of the Earthy, we shall ALSO bear the image of the Heavenly.'---1 Cor. xv. 49.

'AS by one man's Disobedience Mankind [v. 12, 18, &c.] were made Sinners, SO, by the Obedience of one, Mankind .shall be made Righteous.'-Rom. v. 19.

'WHERE sin abounded, Grace did [even] MUCH MORE abound.'---Rom. v. 20. Listen to this passage of truthful criticism, and the involuntary burst of fervent rapture which fell, almost unconsciously, it must have been, from the pen of the learned Adam Clarke, in his comments on Rom. v: 'It,' [the Grace of the Gospel,] he says, "restores All to life at the resurrection, and over and above that, has provided a gracious dispensation for the pardon of their sins; for reducing them to obedience; for guarding them against temp tations; supplying them with strength and comfort; and for advancing them to eternal life. The Grace of the Gospel extends to All Men, with respect to the surplusage [i. e. the 'much more,'] in which it extends far beyond the consequences of Adam's transgression.---As extensively, as deeply, as Universally, as Sin hath reigned, subjected the whole earth and all its inhabitants unto death, temporal of the body, and spiritual of the soul; EVEN so, as extensively, as deeply, as Universally might Grace reign, &c. Thus,' he adds, 'we find here that the Salvation from sin, is as Extensive as the guilt and contamination of Sin. Death is conquered! Hell disappointed! The Devil confounded! and SIN TOTALLY DESTROYED! Amen! Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth !"

'The times of THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, which God hath spoken by the mouth of All His holy Prophets since the world began.'---Acts iii. 21. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places, smooth. And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and ALL FLESH shall see it together.'---Isa. xl. 4, 5.

"Thine for a space are they,

Yet shalt thou yield thy treasures up at last,
Thy gates shall yet give way,

Thy bolts shall fall,-inexorable PAST!

All that of good and fair,

Has gone into thy womb from earliest time,
Shall then come back to wear,

The glory and the beauty of its prime.

They have not perish'd—no !

Kind words, remember'd voices, once so sweet,
Smiles radiant long ago,

And features, the great soul's apparent seat ;

ALL shall come back,-each tie

Of pure affection shall be knit again;

Alone shall Evil die,

And Sorrow dwell a prisoner in thy reign !"'

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

Mr. SAWYER remarks on the above stanzas,---"Could language express more beautifully the doctrine of Universalism? All is to be restored but Evil, which alone is to die, and have no resurrection; and Sorrow itself is to remain a prisoner forever in the empire of the Past."

PROPOSITION TWENTY-SECOND.

The God of Abraham shall Redeem and Glorify All THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.'

PROOFS.

'The First shall be last, and the Last, first.'-CHRIST. 'What, are we then better than the Jews? No, in no wise; for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, they are all under Sin. - - ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified Freely by His Grace, Where is boasting then? It is Excluded.'---Rom. iii.

[ocr errors]

'Hath God [hopelessly] cast away His People? - - God hath not cast away His People, whom He foreknew,' and fore-ordained to fall.---Rom. xi. 1, 2. 'I say then, have they stumbled that they should [utterly] fall? God forbid.' ---ver. 11. 'What shall the Receiving of them be but life from the dead?'---ver. 15. 'God is able to graff them in again. For if the Gentiles wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall the children of Israel, which be the natural branches, be graffed again into their own olive-tree? And so ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED. For this is My Covenant unto

[ocr errors]

-

them saith the Lord, that I shall take away their Sins. · · touching the election, these are beloved for the fathers' sake. -- so, through the Gentiles' mercy, these also shall obtain mercy.'--vers. 24--31.

That he might Reconcile both [Jews and Gentiles] in ONE BODY by the cross.'---Eph. ii. 16.

"The Sin of Israel shall be Destroyed.'---Hosea x. 8.

'The Iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be None; and the Sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.' Jer. 1. 20.

'In the Lord shall All the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. Israel shall be Saved in the Lord with an Everlasting Salvation; Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world [duration] without end.'---Isa. xlv. 15, 17.

'Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is Mercy, and with Him there is PLENTEOUS Redemption.--And He shall Redeem Israel from all his Iniquities.'---Ps. cxxx. 7, 8. 'Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth and forever.'---cxxxi. 3.

Let it be borne in mind that we have here collected some of the proofs, of the spiritual Redemption only, of the house of Israel, and not those which refer to the future, glorious, earthly, National Restoration of that degenerated people, to which event the Scriptural prophecies bear abundant, minute, and luminous testimony. But it is our settled opinion, an opinion for which there may be raised the strongest argument, and which has also many abettors, that the glorious exaltation and moral emancipation of the rest of the nations of the earth is greatly dependent upon, and nearly co-temporary with, the promised spiritual aggrandisement of the Jewish people; and that the ultimate universal blessedness bears the same relation to the period of the earthly triumph of the kingdom of peace, and that these events are, in fact, in the light of revelation, nearly synony mous in era and character.

"Call thy God thy FATHER, and yet not thine alone,

For thou art but one of Many, the Brotherhood is of All: Remember His high estate, that He dwelleth King of Heaven So shall thy thoughts be humbled, nor love be unmix'd with

reverence :

« PreviousContinue »