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Divine character secured from all ground of impeachment, when it is once shown that we have had a full and fair occasion for the exercise of our moral freedom.

In replying to this mode of argumentation, so far as I wish to consider it now, I have nothing to say concerning the free-will of man. I would ask attention to another matter directly involved, viz: the free-will of God. There was an act of free-will on his part prior to any of ours; nay, prior to our existence, and on the character of which every thing subsequently depended. He had the choice of existence or non-existence for us, and with a full view of all which that existence would become, either in regard to sin or punishment, he deliberately preferred it to our non-existence. We could not choose for ourselves, but he freely chose for us; enforced our existence without our knowledge or consent; and no sophistry, short of denying his foreknowledge, can avoid the conclusion in this case, that he preferred the infliction of an infinite curse upon us. Dr. A. Clarke's evasion of this difficulty, though as rational as any attempt of the kind which I have seen, is simply too trifling to require much notice. To assume that God has simply the ability to know all things, even human volitions, beforehand, but that he suspends his knowledge in regard to these, appears very silly. Who does not see that to suspend knowledge, in reference to certain things, pre-supposes a knowledge of such things? Dr. Clarke does indeed plead only for infinite ability, infinite capacity; and, strictly speaking, seeks to deny any infinite knowledge, though he involves it in the very attempt. So that the difficulty comes back upon us, in all its force. God, in voluntarily choosing existence for myriads of his creatures, has actually preferred an infinite evil for them, rather than that non-existence from which he drew them forth. And yet it is pretended that he is good, infinitely good!

Here, then, I ask that the rules of evidence, already suggested, may be fully and faithfully applied. What kind and amount of evidence would justify me in receiving these opinions? I fear that this matter is not regarded as it ought to be. Nay, I know that it is not. People generally imagine that nothing more than ordinary proof is required here; that almost any kind or amount which

would satisfy us of the truth of a common fact, ought to be regarded as sufficiently convincing in this case. But this is a mistake. No greater error could possibly be committed. For it must be borne in mind that what we are called upon to believe here, involves no common facts. It is no merely ordinary thing which is required to be proved in this case. The facts assumed are really the most extraordinary of any thing of which the human mind can conceive. The same difficulties are involved which were connected with my supposed charges against John Howard. Essentially the same principles will apply to both cases, though in the case of the Divine government, as stated, the conflict of facts is infinitely greater than in that of Howard. And to maintain these facts fully, therefore, and so to authenticate them as to command, or even to justify, belief, would require a kind of evidence which is irresistible, and an amount that is absolutely overwhelming.

I pray the reader to reflect upon this matter. It is beyond the power of the human imagination to invent a worse belief than is here asked for. Nothing more revolting could be attributed to the Almighty, than the voluntary choice of an infinite curse for us. And nothing more truly incredible ever entered into the dreams of an enthusiast, than the facts of the Divine character and conduct as they have been stated here. No man, therefore, has a right to receive them without evidence such as I have suggested. Nothing but the most stubborn proof should drive one to the admission of their truth. All seeming evidence in support of such a belief, which can be denied, should be denied. Every circumstance which appears to favor it, should be doubted as far as doubt is possible. All proof of it should be resisted and fought against, as long as resistance and fighting could be thought to weaken it. In short, nothing but necessity should ever be allowed to compel its admission.

And now I ask, what, and where, are those proofs so very convincing that there is no way to meet and answer them? For many years have I looked for them in vain. I have interests involved in them as great as those of any one; all my personal interests for time and for eternity. And I have looked to those, who ask for faith in these

pretended facts, to give me the mighty evidences which they seem to demand.

And now I ask, in all candid humility, yet, as a reasonable being who cannot be satisfied, on a subject of such infinite magnitude, to take surmises, or assumptions, or sophistries, or hoary traditions, as sufficient authority,where and what are the decisive considerations in support of faith here, which cannot be met and answered by the most common intellect? What do all the best and most weighty of them amount to? Can any thing, in the form of proof, be pointed out, which an ordinary mind cannot easily encounter and overcome?

I do not propose now to go into an examination of these supposed evidences. My principal purpose, as the title of this paper indicates, is rather with the kind and amount of evidence needed here. But there is one fact, in regard to this matter, which I cannot pass by in silence. It is, briefly, that whatever these proofs may really be, or however conclusive they may appear to some minds, there are doubtless more than a million of persons in these United States alone, who openly and boldly declare that they are not and cannot be convinced by them. In spite of all that has ever been urged in their favor, with the influence of popular convictions, and all the pressure of education and prejudice, they are compelled by a deep and irresistible necessity to reject them, and look forward to a state of holiness and happiness for all mankind. This would seem to evince, to some extent, the character of these evidences to which I have been alluding. It shows us that they are not necessarily convincing. They can be met and answered to the entire satisfaction of all our host of believers in Universalism. Then I say that they are not weighty enough to meet the wants of the case. They do not fully answer the demands which the subject makes upon us. Because, to be sufficiently conclusive, they

should be such that no mind could for one moment rationally resist them. As I have already suggested, we are bound to contest every inch of ground in this case. our love and reverence for the character of God demands

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it of us. We are not lightly and carelessly to receive such a report regarding him. His honor, as well as our own hopes, is at stake. We are only to yield to proof

here such as cannot reasonably be resisted. Any thing less than this is to be regarded as wholly insufficient.

In closing my present remarks upon the subject, I cannot well avoid adding, that if the views of God's government, to which I have been referring, are really correct, then, perhaps, the worst feature of the whole case,-the one which, more than all others, reflects severely upon the character attributed to the supreme Being, is, that the proofs of their reality are no stronger, and no more generally apparent. Here we are enwrapped in the thick folds of mystery and doubt, exposed to an evil the immense magnitude of which no human mind can fully grasp, and, yet, we have no warning of it—none, at least, which is sufficient to convince millions of its reality! Is not this strange? Is it not indeed incomprehensible? If we are really liable to such a doom as that of unending torments, why has the Almighty never told us of it in terms which could not reasonably be mistaken? Why has it not been uttered in the ears of all men with irresistible conviction? Certainly, if it were true, it should have been! Its proofs should have stared us in the face, turn which way we might. Nor is this all. Before I could receive this dreadful opinion, which would extinguish the last ray of light in the universe, I must first see destroyed all the multiplied evidences of the Divine perfections, every one of which is an insuperable barrier to its admission. I must cease to believe in a God, (Saxon -good) and believe only in a Devil. All the beauties and glories of the outward world must pass from sight; the visible features of good in all things must be blotted out; all traces of divine love and care in providence must be obliterated; and even the sweet springs of human affection must all be dried up, before I can listen patiently to a plea for such a faith. And, more than all this, the life of Jesus must be erased from the page of history, or he must be shown to have been an impostor; the exhibitions of the Father which he made in himself, must be denied; every manifestation of goodness displayed in his life, must be shown to have been misrepresentations of the Almighty; the rich promises of the divine grace and mercy given by him must be proved as false as the light which the wrecker kindles upon the shore; all this, and

more, must be done, or, like doubting Thomas, I cannot, will not believe ! Certainly, nothing short of this will answer; nothing less can ever shake my present trust in the Father, that He will finally draw all things unto himself.

M. B.

ART. V.

Christ, the Light of the World, and the Life of the World.

WHEN we apply these metaphorical terms to Jesus Christ, we mean, as we suppose the inspired writers mean in using them, that he was the One appointed of Heaven to enlighten mankind in the knowledge of spiritual truth, and to give them that true religion which was the spiritual

life of the soul.

There are two ideas which we may distinguish, at the outset. It is important to observe, in the first place, that, so far as respects the characters, or offices, denoted by these figurative appellations, Jesus Christ stood wholly alone. There can be no other Christ, no rival, nor successor. As the Teacher come from God, and as the immediate author, or rather the agent, of a new moral life among mankind, there never was any like him before, and there was to be none like him afterwards. He might have followers, who would share in his life and light; but they must derive these elements from him, and not from any independent source of their own. He was the one,

sole, great Orb of moral light to the world, as the sun is the one great source of day to the solar system. Christ was the "Sun of Righteousness," as he had been foretold in ancient prophecy. There were, indeed, "lesser lights," and there always have been such, like the stars and planets, that shed a dim, cold, powerless glow. But he was the Luminary that brought the day, with its vivifying light and warmth. Two suns are not provided for our system. We think that all who are familiar with the language of the Four Gospels will be aware, at once, how fully

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