dantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee."* To pass over a thousand evidences which might be adduced, I will direct your attention to the great and difficult duties if such any duty can be called―enjoined by the Saviour, and flowing from a sense of the impartial goodness of our common father. (See Matt. v, 43-45.) "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect?" There is no such thing as mistaking the application of this testimony, in any other way than we could mistake a smooth straight path, and wander off into a trackless desert with the light of the sun upon us; that is, by obstinately closing our eyes and refusing to see. The highest degree of moral excellence of which human beings are capable, consists in cheerfully imitating that perfect and glorious Being, who is impartially benevolent to his offspring; bles

*Ps. c. 4, 5; cvi, 1, 2, and cvii, 8, 15, 31; cxlv, 7, 10.

sing them all, the evil and the good, the thankless and the thankful, with genial suns and copious showers. Those whose conduct, in loving and blessing their enemies, bears the most striking resemblance to the examples of the Great Universal Friend of all, are best entitled to the name of his children;-"the children of your Father in heaven." But I shall weary your patience, I fear.

Inq. By no means, Sir. The theme of your discourse must be grateful to every benevolent mind. That heart must be perverted that would not thrill with joy while pondering on the noble sentiments of David, and of David's Lord and Saviour, in regard to the obligations of men, to praise the Lord for his great and wonderful goodness, and to imitate him as far as possible in all his imitable perfections. While you were speaking, I was reminded of the beautiful words of the Psalmist, on which my soul has often dwelt with unspeakable devotion and rapture.

I thought you might have quoted them with propriety.-They are found in the 72d Psalm, and nearly as follows. "He (Christ) shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; and all nations shall serve him. His name shall endure forever his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him: all

nations shall call him blessed." These are precious promises; and the righteous, howsoever scattered abroad and divided by sectarian names, may have this consolation, that the greater the number of the blessed in Christ, the greater will be the number to call HIM BLESSED. Should it be all nations of the earth, we should have reason to rejoice rather than mourn.

But can it be shown that the apostles of our Lord enjoined the practice of good works, on the ground of the universal grace of God, revealed for the salvation of all men? If this can be made evident, I shall be almost persuaded, that the difficulty embraced in my query is wholly removed.

Uni. Well, Sir, I can at once convince you that the apostles of Christ followed the example of their leader, and taught after the manner you have suggested. Still I am not anxious to have you, or any one else who has been educated in a limitarian scheme, become too easy a convert to the universal doctrine. I hope you will not yield assent, so long as a reasonable doubt of the truth of the system lingers in your mind, or a fragment of prejudice influences your will.

But now for the evidence in question. In the Acts of the Apostles, the doctrine of repentance, conversion, and forgiveness, is immediately connected with the "restitution of all things," as announced by all the holy prophets of the Lord. (See Acts iii, 19, 20, 21, which may be examined at leisure.) And St. Paul, in his eplstle to the Romans, after having labored his cause in a masterly manner, and shown that God had concluded all, both Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief,

that he might have mercy upon all, commences the 12th chapter of that book, with a warm and energetic exhortation to believers, to bring forth fruits worthy of the doctrine he had just illustrated and established. And to preserve a due connection between theory and practice, the premises and inferences, he grounds his moral suasion on "the mercies of God," which David represents as universal, and ever-enduring. Thus, "I beseech you, therefore, [or in view of the preceding arguments] brethren, by the mercies of God, [as just illustrated] that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Rom. xii. 1, 2.) Good works are here enjoined on Christians, in the most affectionate manner, on the ground of the universal goodness and mercy of God, and in reference to his will, that all men should be saved.

The next passages I shall name, are from the same apostle: "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, &c. For the grace of God which bringeth salvation unto all men, hath appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, &c. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works. These

things are good and profitable unto men." (Titus ii, in toto, and iii, 8, with the context.)

I may as well stop here as to multiply proofs. If the above selections do not demonstrate that the framers of our Profession of Faith followed the teaching of the apostles, then no language could afford such demonstration. However, if

Inq. Excuse me for interrupting you, Sir, as no further proof is demanded. All that remains to be done is, to remove such objections as may fairly be brought to bear upon the credibility of the doctrine of the restitution and salvation of the world. And yet, I am rather too fast. A query arose in my mind a few minutes since, which I had like to have forgotten to mention. It regards an important point of doctrine, which seems to have been purposely or accidentally omitted by the framers of your creed and the founders of your doctrine in America. There is nothing said about the moral agency or accountability of the creature. Nothing is said of sin and its punishment; whether the whole penalty of the divine law is endured in this life, or not at all, or in the future. How shall I understand this matter?

Uni. How shall you understand it, my good friend? Why, by divesting yourself as much as possible of prejudice, and looking over the matter with more care. You imagine that our Creed, as you call it, presents no declaration concerning the moral accountability of man; and yet, the first article reads, "We believe the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind.”