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SECTION XLII

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and cities about them in like man. ner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eter nal fire."- Jude. 7.

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A parallel passage to this is 2 Peter ii, 6, on which we remark, that there is a difference between 'suffering the ven. geance of eternal (aionion) fire,' and suffering fire eternally or endlessly. It will be observed also, that the destruction here spoken of was that which came upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, not upon individuals, and this destruc tion was set forth an example,' or, as St. Peter hath it, was made an ensample.' Now, it will be evident that the pun. ishment of an endless hell could not here have been meant, because this never can be set forth as an example' to deter others who live ungodly. BENSON remarks, By their suf fering the punishment of eternal fire, St. Jude did not mean that those wicked persons were then, and would be always, barning in hell fire. For he intimates, that what they suf fered was set forth to public view, and appeared to all, as an example (or specimen) of God's displeasure against vice. That fire which consumed Sodom, &c. might well be called eternal, as it burned till it had utterly consumed them, be. yond the posssibility of their ever being inhabited or rebuilt.' SECTION XLIII.

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"And said unto the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb." Rev. vi. 16.

This passage is found in the account of the opening of the 6th seal, when the 'sun bec me black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, and the heavens departed as a scroll,' &c. The same phraseology is used by the prophet Isaiah, in describ ing the day of the Lord's vengeance' coming upon Idu. mea and upon the people of his curse to judgment.' And in Math. xxiv. 29. 30, we have a repetition of the same in ref erence to the coming of the Son of man' before that gen eration should pass from the earth. (verse 34.) See also 2

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Peter iii. 10, where the same language is used in reference to the coning of the day of the Lord,' and the consequent es tablishment of new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleta righteousness.' Dr. Clarke of the text says, 'All these things may literally apply to the final destruction of Jerusa lem, and to the revolution which took place in the Roman Empire, under Co istantine the grent. Some apply them 10 the day of Judgment, but they do not seem to have that awful event in view.' Hammond and Lightfoot concur in opin ion that the destruction of the Jewish state was predicted in the highly metaphorical language of the text.

SECTION XLIV.

"And the s noke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever neceiveth the mark of his name." Rev. xiv. 9, 11.

The phrase day nor night,' in the above, would imply that the retributio is spoken of were temporal in their charac ter, as the success ve periods of light and darkness, caused by the revolution of the earth on its axis, cannot exist when time shall be no longer,' or when the globe is destroyed. And we have before seen that the figure of fire and brim. sto ie,' whose smoke ascendeth forever,' is a common mole of expression in the Jewish Prophets, expressive of temporal judgments. See Isaiah xxxiv. 9, 10.

SECTION XLV.

"But the fearful and unbel eving, and the atominable, and murderes an wh remo gers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death." Rev. xxi. 8.

In the preceeding chapter, 13th and 14th verses, it is reIcorded that death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.' and 'death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.' From which it would ap pear that the lake of fire and brimstone' is one thing, and hell' another, for the latter was to be cast into the former, which could not be, if the popular opinion be true that they are one and the same place, viz. the home of the damned!

As to the meaning of the phrase "second death' there is a

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diversity of opinion, but the major part of the learned, we be. lieve, interpret it to refer to the apos acy of the Christian church. A second death implies a first-that first was the death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.'— a moral death, or a death in trespasses and sins.' By being deliver. ed from that, is to have part in the first resurrection to life ev. erlasting or life of faith in the gospel of Christ. And when those who have once been enlightened and tasted the good word of God,' fall back to the beggarly elements of the world, they suffer this 'second death.' ́ Jude speaks of some who were "wice dead, plucked up by the roots.' plain these deaths to refer to the first and second destructions of the temple, and the overthrow of the Jewish polity and sys. tem of worship. Whatever may be the true meaning of the phrase, one thing is very certain, that it has no reference to the things of eternity, and though there may be a thousand deaths, yet death, the last enemy is to be destroyed, and mor. tality swallowed up of life. The phrase 'eternal death' be. ing one of pulpit manufacture, and not of scripture origin, is not worthy of special consideration.

SECTION XLVI.

Others ex.

"He that is unjust let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let hin be filthy sil, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. xxii 11.

This passage is sometimes wrested from its connexion, to prove the immutability of the final doom of man. But in the immediate context, we find that the time 'was at hand,' and 'behold I come quickly,' when that which was unjust should so remain. Indeed, there is much internal evidence in the book of Revelations, that all the events spoken of therein, rẽ. lated to persons and things upon the earth. It purports, in the outset, to be a Revelation of Jesus Christ to 'show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass'; and much the larger part of the book is acknowledged by Commenta. tors, to be of local application. Taking into view, also, the fact, that it was written, according to respectable chronologi. cal authority, before the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and many of its tropes and figures, and much of its extrava.

gant imagery wi'l be more readily understood. That any portion of it is prophetical of events now taking place on the earth, we cannot believe, much less can we join in the opinion that there is the least allusion, in the whole book, to the un, tried scenes of a future and eternal world.

Reader, this chapter is at an end. It is longer than we in. tended, but not long enough to give as fill an exposition of many passages, as we could have desired: nevertheless, it may be of some service in leading the blind by a way they knew not,' out of the labyrinth of spiritual error, into the lib erty of the gospel of Christ. So mote it be. Amen.

CHAPTER IV.

Popular Objections to the Doctrine of Universal Salvation consid ered and re:uted.

So common has it been for the doctrine of God's impartial Love to be misrepresented by its opponents, that the advo. cate thereof by no means finds his task completed, when he removes all the objections usually brought against his faith, from the scriptures of Truth. It is not a rare circumstance to meet with individuals, who, when driven from all the posi tions taken from the Bible in favor of the blasphemous no. tion of the perpetual existence of sin and suffering, in the empire of God, take refuge behind some cant saying, or some frivolous objectio, manufactured for the occasion, by the spir. itual craftsmen of the day! It thus becomes necessary that we pay some attention to those things, which are really unworthy of the least notice, save in view of the influence they may have upon the minds of the unreflecting and the unin. formed. To this o ject ther fore-the refutation of popular objections-will this chapter be devoted, in the humble hope that the sincere inquirer after truth may have all stumbling

blocks removed out of his path, and that the scoffer and the slanderer may discover their transgressions and go and sin no more.'

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OBJECTION 1. "IT IS A NEW DOCTRINE."-It is al. ledged that Universalism, as a system of religious Ielief, has only been in existence some fifty or sixty years, and that it therefore cannot be true, or else it would not have been un. known until so late a perio of the world. To this we re ply, that the objection is based on a false position. It is not true that the doctrine of the restitution is a new-fangled scheme. On the contrary, there is ample evidence of its ex. tensive prevalence from the time of the Apostles to the mid. dle of the third century, when the celebrated ORIGEN publicly taught it, and wrote in its favor. It prevailed also until the middle of the sixth century, without being condemned in the church. After the first rejection of the sentiment, about this period, traces of it are discoverable, during the dark ages, down to the period of the reformation. It has since spread extensively in Germany, the very cradle of religious emanci pation, until, at this day, scarcely an intelligent man is found in that country, who believes the doctrine of endless misery. The Rev. Mr. Dwight, (Presbyterian,) in his book of travels through Germany, says, that in this nation, containing thirtyfour millions of people, with her twenty two universities, six. teen thousand university students, and one thousand professors in the same, he saw bit one person who believed the dogma of an endless hell. He also says, that the divines of that country are acknowledged to be a century in advance of all others in biblical learning, and have done more to enlarge the knowledge of sacred criticism, than all the nations of Europe.'

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The doctrine has had distinguished advocates also in eve. ry part of the civilized world. In England, Scotland, Ire. land, Holland, Prussia, France, Switzerland, and even Italy, it has had an existence, through all modern times, to the present day, many of the highest dignitaries of the church hav. ing cherished and defended it. For a full account of the pre

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