The retrospect is terrible to me, beyond description. I have wasted twelve years of this short life, and done much to lead men to perdition. I have encouraged those already on the road to destruction, and have urged them on their perilous way.

O, what a retrospect! My pathway seems strewed with the wreck and ruin of souls! My hands and my garments seem stained with the blood of my fellow-men. On every side, lost souls cry out, "But for you we might have been saved!" O that I could recall the past! O that I could wipe out the influence I have exerted, and make those twelve years a blank! I could weep tears of blood to remove the impressions made upon the souls of men, while I was in the ministry of error. The past has gone to God. All that remains

for me is, to lift my voice in defence of truth, and tell men what great things God has done for my soul.

"The world will wonder, when they see

A wretch like me restored;
And cry, Behold, how changed is he

Who once despised the Lord!"

Such are my reasons for renouncing Uni

versalism, so far as connected with my religious experience. These alone would be sufficient. I could not resist such light-I could not trifle with such convictions. God has been very gracious to me. To his name be

the glory to his service be my remaining days devoted!

CHAPTER III.

DIFFICULTIES OF UNIVERSALISM.

To the system of Universalism there are many and mighty objections in the minds of all reasonable and sober men, who think upon the subject at all. Those difficulties increase upon a more familiar acquaintance with the system. None know them in their full power and extent but those who minister at its altar. In the system are many contradictions. Its practical tendency is bad. The proof adduced in its support from the Bible is not relevant. Reason and the Bible abound with arguments which teach a contrary doctrine. With all these the preacher of Universalism is familiar. He feels their power; they meet him everywhere. Could his confiding hearers know the misgivings of a Universalist preacher, the objections that surround him, and the suspicions that he whispers to confidential friends, they would feel that the risk was great in trusting such a doctrine. There could not be a more eloquent or impressive lecture upon Universalism, than a collection of the confessions of its advocates. I will state some of them.

I. The system is new.

In principle and spirit, Universalism is old as sin. It was taught in Eden, by Satan, who promised our parents exemption from punishment, should they break the divine command. In the time of the false prophets, it cried peace to the wicked in their sins, and assured them of endless life, though they turned not from their evil ways. From the age of the apostles till now, it has been steadily pursuing its work of death. It has not always been called by the same name; nor always been similar in its mode of attack upon the truth; nor uniform in its own defence or creed; yet has it ever been found opposing itself to the command and authority of God, and urging men to walk in the way of death, with the assurance that, at the end, they would find peace and rest in heaven. But, as a system, it is a modern affair. To give this delusion a form and name; to call it Christianity; to attempt so to wrest the Bible, as to make it seem to countenance Universalism, belongs to modern days.

After

the truth and nature of Christian doctrine have been settled for eighteen centuries, Universalism appears; upturning all past belief, and introducing doctrines, not one of which ever

before entered into a system called Christian; while it rejects all which have been regarded by Christians in all ages as the fundamental doctrines of grace.

Universalists claim Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and some others among the early fathers. Yet these fathers held not one doctrine peculiar to Universalism; neither did they believe in the salvation of all men. Origen taught the preëxistence and the transmigration of souls. He believed that all men were created at one time; that in some period of their existence the lost would be restored; that they might again sin and again be lost; that while the once lost would ascend to heaven, those in heaven would descend to hell. The Universalism in which he believed consisted in a migration from hell to heaven, and back again. Clement of Alexandria taught that all who died without a knowledge of Christ would have space for repentance. He did not believe that all thus favored with the opportunity would repent; much less that any could be saved without repentance.

As a system, Universalism took its rise in England, and was early transferred to this country. Repudiated in the land of its birth,