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strengthened and encouraged in the labour of love, by an unwavering confidence, that even my opposing brethren shall not "perish from the presence of the Lord for ever." In them I behold the ransomed of the Lord. In them I recognise the children of our common Father. And I rejoice in believing that the whole race of mankind shall eventually bow to the life-giving sceptre of the Prince of Peace. Yours respectfully,

ABEL C. THOMAS.

TO MR. ABEL C. THOMAS.

Philadelphia, Jan: 31st, 1834. Dear Sir-I desired to know, distinctly, what scheme of universal salvation you believe to be true, that our controversy might be brought within reasonable limits. The Universalists who are called Restorationists, have proved, I think, unanswerably from the Bible, that there shall be punishment experienced by sinful men in a state of existence after the present. They have also attempted to show, without success, in my judgment, that after future punishment has been experienced for some finite, but indefinite, time, there will be, in the lapse of everlasting ages, a restoration of all human beings to happiness.

From your last letter I learn that you are not of their number. You have furnished me with two propositions which you are willing to support.

First, you assert, in your letter of December 9th, 1833, that you feel yourself OBLIGATED TO BELIEVE WHATEVER

DOCTRINE CAN BE FAIRLY AND CLEARLY ESTABLISHED BY

SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. This I adopt as one of the settled principles on which our discussion is to rest:

Secondly, you assert, in your letter of January 27th, that 66 you BELIEVE THE BIBLE FURNISHES NO EVIDENCE OF A PUNISHMENT BEYOND THE PRESENT LIFE."

This doctrine is held by some, in connexion with an opinion that this is man's only state of existence, and ac

cording to their theory, there is no future state for mankind, either of happiness or of misery; because man at death ceases to exist.

Others hold, that all men who arrive at the moment of death without having repented, will thereafter be annihilated; and so on the principle of the Destructionists, will escape all future punishment.

Others teach, that in the moment of entering the future spiritual state of existence, every man not before converted to God will become a renewed person, a child of God, a lover of holiness, and so will escape all future punishment.

Others again teach, that the present is the only state of retribution for man; that the judgment is already past; that strict, full, and final justice is done to all men in this life; and that the life to come is a state of happiness resulting from the mere, unmingled mercy of God, irrespective of the claims of justice, which have all been satisfied in relation to each individual before his death, by the punishment of his sins in his own person.

Others, finally, teach, that when men come to die, whatever may have been their sins, and whether they have repented of them or not in this world, Christ has, by his mediatorial work and full satisfaction for all the sins of all men, secured to them an immediate introduction to heaven. This is what they call universal salvation by free grace.

I should like to know upon which of these grounds you judge, that there is no punishment beyond the present life: or if you have some other scheme of universal salvation from all future punishment, which has not been named, that you would frankly disclose it. If you choose, however, you will undoubtedly have the right to resort to any one or all of these theories, which I deem refuges of lies.

That you may not take the trouble to argue against doctrines which I disclaim, I shall freely state my CREED on such subjects as I suppose may be involved in our present discussion.

I believe, then, that the one, only, living and true God, the Maker of man, exists, a wise, just, kind, and good moral governor of all rational beings-that his creature man is the intelligent, sensitive, free, accountable, efficient author of all his own moral actions-that every accountable, free, moral agent, of the human family, has freely, and without any compulsion, necessity, or divine efficiency, exerted in the case, sinned against his Moral Governor, by acting in opposition to God's law-that the present life is a state of trial, preparatory to a future state of endless retribution-that in the present life the providence of God causes much natural good and evil to mingle in every man's lot-that all the pains of this life are indicative of God's displeasure against sin; and that all the favours men receive from Heaven are indications of God's goodness-that in the present life obedience to the moral law is not fully and perfectly rewarded, nor disobedience universally and completely punished-that if men repent and become the friends of God, while in their present state of trial, all their sins will in the moment of such repentance be pardoned, for the sake of Christ's mediatorial work, so that they never more shall experience any pains which are not fatherly corrections, intended to improve them—that if men do not repent of their sins in the present life and become children of God by that great moral change which the Saviour describes as a new birth, they suffer pain in this life, and will suffer in a future state of being, and will suffer for ever, unpardoned, and accursed of their Maker-that all the sufferings of any one unpardoned sinner, after the present life, will be exactly proportioned to the amount of his crimes in this life; and will correspond to the measure of his continued sinning in the life to come-that no lost sinner in the future life will ever there repent and be pardoned -that all pain is an attribute of feeling, and that all the punishments of the damned will consist for ever in the feelings of their own minds-that sinful feelings are in their own nature, or their speedy mental results, painful -that all the sufferings of the lost are deserved and

suitable vindications of God's essential justice and moral government-and that no sinner will ever be damned of God one moment longer than he continues an obstinate rebel against the justice, mercy and goodness of God, manifested through Jesus Christ.

It may be important to add, that I believe mind to be a distinct substance from matter; that spirit is mind conceived of as capable of subsisting and acting independently of bodily organization; that the souls of men are active, sensitive, intelligent and efficient agents, in a state of spiritual existence, called the intermediate state, between death and the resurrection of the body; that a particular personal judgment passes on each spirit of a man so soon as it permanently leaves the body; and that there shall be, in the end of the world, a resurrection of every human body, not before raised from the dead; in order that each spirit may inhabit for ever its own former body, resuscitated, and adapted to its endless

state.

If you will deal with equal candour, give me your creed, and let our readers know how far we agree in sentiment; it may prevent much useless argumentation.

Should I meet you on the ground of reason and analogy, I should say, God is as good now as he will be at any future time; and yet his wisdom, power and goodness have not prevented all sin and suffering now; and therefore there is no reason to conclude these same attributes will preclude rebellion and misery at any time hereafter.

I might add, that man's wisdom and goodness do not prevent him from being wicked and miserable now, and there is no reason to infer that they will in future.; for all experience shows that wicked men and seducers wax worse and worse.

We come, however, to the Bible, and I am glad our inquiry is to be, What saith the Scripture?

The Bible throughout presents to my mind a contrast between the present character, and the future prospects of the righteous and the wicked. It sets in opposition salvation and damnation, heaven and hell. We read,

"The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy," Psalm cxlv. 20. "The way

of the wicked he turneth upside down," Psalm cxlvi. 9. "The ungodly," we are told in the first Psalm, "are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment:—the way of the ungodly shall perish." In the second Psalm, kings and judges are exhorted to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry; and they perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." "The Lord is known by the judgment

which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God," Psalm ix. 16, 17. "The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup," Psalm xi. 5, 6. "The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them," Psalm xxi. 9. Now to destroy the wicked, to turn their way upside down, to drive them away like chaff, not to let them stand in the judgment, to turn them into hell, and to have snares, fire, brimstone and tempest for their portion, must mean any thing rather than universal salvation.

I remain yours respectfully,

EZRA STILES ELY.

TO MR. EZRA STILES ELY.

Philadelphia, Feb. 8, 1834.

Dear Sir-In my last letter, I proposed the following joint question as the basis of our discussion, viz. Is the doctrine of endless punishment taught in the Bible? or does the Bible teach the final holiness and happiness of all mankind? As you have not objected to this proposition, it is presumable that you accede to it. This, then, I shall consider a settled point.

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