of mankind, for God does more uniformly punish sin, than reward virtue in this life. The Lord's dealings with us, show, that he loves obedience and hates transgression; that it shall be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked; and that from his imperfect retribution begun and carried on in this world, a perfect consummation of distributive justice may be expected in the day of judg

ment.

That salvation is "the gift of God," to all of those who are saved, and results not to them from the merit of their own good works, is granted, so that no man should boast, but ascribe all the glory of his being pardoned, sanctified and glorified in heaven, to "our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us."

The passage of Scripture on which you seem to rely with the greatest confidence is Colossians i. 19, 20, 21. "It pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell; and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works; yet now hath he reconciled." I am not, indeed, disposed to deny that he must be happy who becomes reconciled to God, by a change in his state and mental operations, so that he is a pardoned sinner and loves God. But you insist that ALL THINGS are to be reconciled; and seem to think they will be, or now are so reconciled as to become happy. "In my judgment," you say, "this passage distinctly teaches the final holiness and happiness of all mankind-inasmuch as it teaches the reconciliation of all things to God." ALL THINGS, are words, which if taken without restriction mean more than ALL PERSONS. Every object of conception, and every act of mind, is a THING. You surely do not mean to insist, that the stones of the street, the birds of the air, the cattle of the hills, the air we breathe, the winds and waves, are to be reconciled to God, in any such sense, as to render them capable of endless happiness. Inanimate objects are not capable of being reconciled to God, in the exclusive sense of which you

write, meaning a reconciliation in mental, moral, and legal estate, or in disposition of mind; and yet they come under the general class of "all things." Not all things, absolutely, are to be reconciled to God, then, in any such sense as to secure to them everlasting or even any happiness. If there is any single thing, a man, an apple, or a pebble, to be excluded from the class of all things to be reconciled, so as to be happy, your argument from absolute universality in this passage is lost. Reconciliation here must mean something different from a change of mental or moral state, preparatory to future bliss, or else the all things to be reconciled must be understood in a restricted sense. You may take which of these alternatives you choose. If you say that a thing may be reconciled to God, without being secure of everlasting happiness, then I subjoin, that the sinner may be that thing, and may in the sense of the text be reconciled to God, without ever being happy. If you say that all things are to be understood as denoting something less than absolute universality of being; then I add, that God will undoubtedly reconcile unto himself all the persons and all the things that are to be reconciled unto himself.

Moreover, the holy angels, which have not sinned, are comprehended under the expression all things; and they being referred to, as "things in heaven," have no need of such reconciliation as consists in a change of estate from condemnation to pardon; or a change of mind from rebellion to submission, from enmity to love. Hence we infer, that the reconciliation here spoken of does not necessarily imply any such change as is requisite to prepare the wicked for heaven, by making them holy in heart and life.

It would be easy to show, from the most learned lexicographers and commentators, that the word rendered reconcile primarily signifies to change any thing from one state to another; and hence, secondarily, when a man's mind is changed from enmity to love, in relation to any one, he is said to be reconciled to that individual. It is the primary sense of the word that is employed when it is

said, the Greek being literally translated, "For it seemed good, that in him all fulness should dwell, and to reconcile all things to him, he having made peace through the blood of his cross; by him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens." In consequence of Christ's having died on the cross to complete the work of redemption, it pleased God that in him as Mediator all the fulness of the Godhead should dwell, and that all things should be transferred to his dominion; so that he should be head over all things to his church. Dr. McKnight considered it a correct expression of the original, to say unite, instead of reconcile, all things to him.

There is yet another interpretation which would make the word reconcile mean nothing more than laying the foundation for actual reconciliation. Thus it is said, "if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God," i. e. we were atoned for, or the groundwork of reconciliation was done, "by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled" in our hearts and state, we shall be saved by his life," Rom. v. 10. Here sinners for whom the price of redemption is paid, are said to be reconciled to God, while they yet continue in a state of enmity; but subsequently they become actually reconciled by the renewing of their minds.

You refer to Coloss. i. 16-18, in which it is said of the "image of the invisible God," that "by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earthall things were created by him and for him and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the Church-that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." In these five instances you think I will allow the expression all things to be unlimited; and ask why then I should limit the declaration immediately after made concerning God's reconciling all things. I answer, that the all things created, are limited to all creatures; for while all creatures were made by him, there were some things in existence which were not made by him; such as the essence of the Deity, infinite space, and the action of free agents. He is before all things

that ever began to be, but not before all things absolutely, for that would make him to be before himself.

That all unbelievers as well as believers shall be reconciled to God, so as eventually to be holy and happy, you argue from 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, in which place we read, "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us [believers] to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling THE WORLD to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Because God is in Christ, by his word and Spirit, reconciling the world to himself, it does not follow that every individual of the world of mankind now is, or ever will be, actually reconciled. The process of reconciliation is going on in the world, but it has not been consummated. So far as Christ actually reconciles men to himself in the state of their souls, he does not impute their sins to them, but pardons them; but the ministry of reconciliation has not yet extended to every individual of the world of mankind, and therefore you have no reason to conclude that actual reconciliation has outstripped the progress of the means. The world and the whole world frequently mean any complete system of things; and hence we read of a world of iniquity in the tongue; of a world lying in sin, from which the apostles and saints were exempted; and of the world gone after Christ, while multitudes never went after him. There is a world of believers and a world of unbelievers.

In Philippians ii. 9, 11, we are informed, that in consideration of his work of redemption God hath highly exalted Christ, "and given him a name which is above every name: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Hence you infer the universality of holiness and happiness. You have forgotten that some confessed Christ and bowed the knee before him, acknowledging him to the glory of God the Father, who said, "Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"

The bended knee is but an external token of subjection; and when some shall say, "Lord, Lord, open to us," to be told, "depart accursed," they will confess Christ in such a way that God the Father will be glorified in their damnation. We grant that "whosoever offereth praise glorifieth" the Lord: but equally true it is that the wrath of man shall praise the Lord; and the remainder thereof, or that which would not glorify him, he will restrain.

No man can say, from the heart, with faith, hope, and love, that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost; but a parrot might say "Jesus is the Lord," without the least intelligence, and a man may say it with as little meaning as a parrot, ten thousand times, and then perish for ever. As no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed," so no man makes a truly evangelical confession of the supreme Deity of Jesus, who has not been savingly taught and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

"that

In your letter of March 15th, you assure me Universalists sincerely believe all that the Bible says about everlasting punishment;" and yet you hold that the Bible says nothing about it!

You think Luke xiii. 1--5, proves that unless men repent, they shall perish "IN LIKE MANNER," as those perished on whom the tower in Siloam fell, or those persons whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. Can you believe, that if men do not repent in this life, they shall all come to their death by some violent means; by the fall of a house, or by some bloody persecutor? If this were the case, we should regard such a general rule of perishing from the earth, as a strong indication of everlasting vengeance. We regard the declaration, that those who do not repent shall all likewise perish, as teaching nothing about the mode of their natural death. It simply means, that those who repent not shall so PERISH, being taken away in God's displeasure, by whatever death, as those persons on whom the tower in Siloam fell, or those persons whom Pilate murdered in the midst of their religious rites. Here the perishing or PERDITION threatened must refer to something else than the mode of dy