poor orphan souls which cannot cry, Abba, Father? Shall He limit punishment to forty stripes, "lest thy brother seem vile," and Himself inflict far more upon those who though fallen still are His children? Is not Christ the faithful Israelite, who fulfils the law; and shall He break it in any one of these particulars? Shall He say, "Forgive till seventy times seven," and Himself not forgive except in this short life? Shall He command us "to overcome evil with good," and Himself, the Almighty, be overcome of evil? Shall He judge those who leave the captives unvisited, and Himself leave captives in a worse prison for ever unvisited? If He could do this, might not the adversary reproach, and say, Thou that teachest and judgest another, teachest thou not thyself? Not thus will God be justified. But, blessed be His name, He shall in all be justified. And when in His day He opens "the treasures of the hail," and shews what sweet waters He can bring out of hard hailstones;1 when He unlocks "the place where light now dwells” shut up, and reveals what light is hid in darkness

1 Job xxxviii. 22. The two questions of the book of Job are, How can man, and How can God, be justified? Job's complainings, in substance, amount to this--How can God be justified in treating me as He does? His three friends, who cannot answer this, urge him rather to ask, How can man be justified? Elihu answers this latter question; and God then answers Job's question by asking him if he knows what God can bring out of things which at present are dark and crooked. Job's question is not the sinner's question, but that of the "perfect man;” (ch. i. 8.) a question not unacceptable to God, who declares of Job's three friends, that "they have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job." ch. xlii. 8.

and hardness, as we see in coal and flint, those silent witnesses of the dark hard hearts, which God can turn to floods of light; when we have "taken darkness to the bound thereof,"1 and have seen not only how "the earth is full of God's riches," but how He has laid up the depths in storehouses; "2 in that day when "the mystery of God is finished," and He has "destroyed all that which now corrupts the earth," then shall it be seen how truly God's judgments are love, and that "in very faithfulness He hath afflicted us."4

§ III. POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

III. I have thus stated what I see of God's purpose and way; and it is, I believe, the key to all the difficulties and apparent contradictions of Holy Scripture on this subject. There are however certain current objections, which have weight with those who tremble at God's Word. It is said that this doctrine is opposed to the voice of the Church, to Reason, and above all to Holy Scripture. If this last be true, the doctrine cannot stand. God's Word is. the final appeal on this and every other subject. For the rest, if the Church speak with God, woe to those who disobey her. But if by reasonings or traditions she make void the Word of God, "let God be true, and every man a liar."

1 Job xxxviii. 19, 20.

3 Rev. xi. 18.

5 Rom. iii. 4.

2 Psa. civ. 24; and xxxiii. 7.

4 Psa. cxix. 75.

Let us look at these objections:—

2

(1) First, it is said that the Church has never held, but on the contrary has distinctly condemned, this doctrine. What does this prove, if, though yet beyond the Church's light, the doctrine is really taught in Holy Scripture. Many things have been hid in Scripture for ages. St. Paul speaks of "the revelation of the mystery, which had been hid from ages and generations; "1 some part of which at least, though hidden, had been "spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets since the world began." " There are many such treasures hidden in Scripture, open secrets like those in nature which are daily opening to us. But when have God's people as a body ever seen or received any truth beyond their dispensation? Take as an instance Israel of old, whose ways, "ensamples of us," prefigure the Church of this age. Did they ever receive the call of the Gentiles, or see God's purpose of love outside their own election? A few all through that age spoke of blessings to the world, and were without exception judged for such a testimony:-"Which of the prophets have not your fathers slain?" Was God's purpose to the Gentiles therefore a false doctrine; or, because His people did not receive it, was it not to be found in their own Scriptures? The doctrine of "the restitution of all things" is to the Church

1 Rom. xvi. 25, 26; Eph. iii. 5.

2 Acts iii. 21.

• 1 Cor. x. 6 ; τύποι ἡμῶν.

what "the call of the Gentiles" was to Israel.

1

And

if the Church, like Israel, can see no truth beyond its own, and has judged those who have been witnesses to a purpose of love far wider than that of this age,which is not to convert the world, as some suppose, but only "to take out of the nations a people for God's name," is God's purpose, though declared in Scripture, to be damned as false doctrine, simply because the Church is blind to it? Is Israel's path to teach us nothing? Are men's traditions as to God's purpose to be preferred to His own unerring Word? When I see the Church's blindness at this day, almost unconscious of the judgment which is coming on it,-when I see that if I bow to the decisions of its widest branch, I must receive not Transubstantiation only, but the Immaculate Conception also,—the last of which cuts away the whole ground of our redemption, for if the flesh which bore Christ was not ours, His Incarnation does not profit us, I can only fall back on that Word, which in prospect of coming apostasy is commended to the man of God, as the guide of his steps and the means to perfect him. It is indeed a solemn thing to differ with the Church, or like Paul to find oneself in a "way which they call heresy," simply by "believing," not some, but "all the things which

1 Acts xv. 14. Compare S. Matt. xxiv. 14:-" This gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations."

2 2 Tim. iii. 14-17. Compare the connexion of this passage with the opening words of the chapter.

1

are written in the law and in the prophets." But the path is not a new one for the sons of God. All the prophets perished in Jerusalem.2 And above all the Lord of prophets was judged as a Deceiver,3 by those whom God had called to be His witnesses. The Church's judgment, therefore, cannot decide a point like this, especially if it be in opposition to Holy Scripture.

(2) But the doctrine is further said to be opposed to Reason. Several arguments are urged by those whose opinions are entitled to the most respectful attention. I confess I care little to answer these, because to me the question simply is, "What saith the Scripture;" because too, I know that those who urge these reasons would instantly abandon them, if they believed Scripture spoke differently; for I am sure I may answer for them and say, that no reasons if opposed to Scripture would weigh with them; because, too, if it be made a question of reasoning, as much may be said against as for the doctrine of never-ending punishment. Still, as some of these reasons are perplexing simple hearts, I may notice those which are most often heard.

(i) The first is, that this doctrine militates against the atonement, for if all men shall at length be saved, God became man to redeem from that which is equally remedied without it.

1 Acts xxiv. 14. 2 S. Luke xiii. 33, 34.

Surely, Christ did

S. Matt. xxvii. 63.

Pusey's Sermon on Everlasting Punishment, p. 29; and Caze

nove's Essay on Universalism, p. 13.