enough to shew its fallacy, and the dangerous moral results to which it leads. As it has been embraced, however, by a considerable body of Christians, who in their search after truth are equally sincere with ourselves, we shall consider it a little more at large. If it entered into our plan to investigate the truth or fallacy of this doctrine, we would endeavour to prove from reason that it is impossible that a soul polluted by vice can be capable of moral happiness; and we would show, from the express declarations of the scriptures, that af ter death comes the judgment,—and that in the day of judgment men are to be judged according to the deeds done in the body; but our present inquiry relates not so much to the truth of this scheme as to its moral influ ence. We would by no means be understood as advancing the idea that Universalists must be bad men because they do not believe in a state of retribution after death. They make the same distinction between virtue and vice that we do. They believe, with us, that the former renders men acceptable to God, and that the latter subjects them to his displeasure-that He will reward the one and punish the other. Our objections to this system are not that it holds out no motives to virtue and goodness, but that the motives it presents are much weaker than those of the system we have embraced,-and that we think the retributions of another world necessary, to sustain man's virtue, at all times, under the trials to which he is here exposed. It is evident that the divine approbation or disapprobation of men's actions, as represented in this system, can only exercise a very limited influence. It is true, it teaches that sin will meet with its adequate degree of punishment in this life; but this retribution is, of course, of very short duration; and the man who will risk his happiness here, can sin with impunity as to every thing else; beyond this life all is safe. Even the limited restraint which might arise from this source will be still further weakened by what we witness here of the dispensations of Providence. We do not see the Almighty taking instant and signal vengeance on the sinner for his transgressions. On the contrary, the good and the bad are alike the objects of his paternal care. To both He gives health, food and raiment; and nothing is more common than to see bad men who continue to enjoy to the last a constant course of prosperity. Now on the supposition that sin is only to be punished in, this life, this is well calculated to make the sinner hope that he will escape altogether with impunity. The last objection to this system which we shall mention is, that the punishments under it would be, in a great measure, in an inverse ratio to the demerit of the sinner. It is clear that adversity, affliction and bodily suffering are not sent to us as punishments. They happen indiscriminately to all-to the good as well as to the wicked. Not that we believe them to come by chance. They are all dispensations of our heavenly Father, sent to draw us to Him, to wean us from our errours and to discipline us to a higher state of moral perfection. If, then, every sin is to receive its adequate measure of punishment here in this life, it must be through the agency of conscience. But a moment's consideration will convince us that this cannot be. When man first leaves the path of duty, conscience inflicts on him the severest pains,not to punish him for his transgressions, but to recall him to the path of virtue. But if he, disregarding her salutary monitions, continues in his vicious courses, then this still, small voice of God in the soul becomes gradually weaker,-until, at last, it ceases altogether to be heard; and thus, while he who has but just entered on the path of vice, who is as yet but half a sinner, is subjected to severe sufferings,-the man who has become hardened in sin feels nothing. Surely, a system of retribution, which operates thus partially, cannot belong to God.(g) (g)So far as our personal observation and our intercourse with Universalists of this class have enabled us to judge, we believe that their faith is founded on either one or the other of two opinions, both of which, we believe to be fallacious. A portion of them believe that the soul of man is in its nature or essence immortal,-and hence, that it must necessarily live forever. They believe, also, that all sin has its origin in the physical part of man's constitution, and hence, that, at the separation of the sout We have thus examined the moral influence of the most prominent systems of faith which are held in the christian world. We now pass to that of the system which we have embraced. The first feature of this system, which we shall remark on, is, that it is, more than any other, calculated to make man sensible of his dependance on God and grateful for His bounty. It teaches him that his being depends on the constant support of God, and that if that support should be, for one moment, withdrawn, he would sink back into his original state of non-existence. Hence, he is less liable to rest in second causes, and thus lose sight of the hand that blesses him. He feels the supporting power of his Benefactor, in every breath he draws, in every sunshine which cheers him, and in every event which causes him to rejoice in existence. Thus man learns to walk with God, and to see Him constantly with him, as his Father and his Friend, in the common events of life. The second feature we shall notice is, that this system presents us, more than any other, with motives to virtue and goodness, calculated to be appreciated by every man, and to operate upon him, whatever his moral character may be. All mankind wish to live. The desire of existence is universal, and appears to have been implanted in our nature by the Author of our being; and it is to this passion, thus universal, that the system now under consideration addresses itself, to win man to virtue. It holds out the promise of eternal life, -a life of from the body, the former, freed from all connexion with sin, must necessarily be happy. Another portion of the Universalists arrive at a similar result by a process of reasoning somewhat different. They find in the scriptures, that the penalty of death is every where denounced against sin, and hence they conclude, that, at what is generally called death, the penalty having been inflicted, man stands now acquitted of all further responsibility. The error here lies in the confounding of that death of the body, which is the common lot of all, with the death of the soul-that extinc tion of being, which is denounced against the finally im penitent. ༔ constantly increasing, never-ending happiness, to every one, who, by the proper cultivation of his moral powers, will qualify himself for its enjoyment. It connects, in the most intimate manner,. the present life with the future -making the latter the necessary consequence of the former. It makes man, in the strictest sense, the arbiter of his own fate, by setting life and death before him, and making his salvation to depend on his own conduct. It represents his heavenly Father, with extended arms, inviting him to come and. dwell with Him and be happy forever; and Jesus, by his precepts and example,. pointing the way which leads to his Father's man-sions, and promising there to bestow on him the crown. of immortality. And as this system, thus,. on the one hand, invites us to virtue by the offer of the most alluring rewards, so, on the other, it deters us from the commission of sin by the denunciation of the most appalling punishment. It tells the sinner, that, unless he reform, and return to virtue and to God, he shall not live again-but go back to that state of non-existence from which he was once called into being. And we cannot well realize any fate more terrible. To cease to think,-to cease to feel,-to become forever.insensible to the beauties of creation, to the voice of affection, and to the joys of existence, to be forever. separated from all those whom we here so tenderly loved, -to see them no more forever, to cease to be remembered by them, and to be even forgotten by God,-oh, Almighty Father, save us from this fate! Recall us, when we wander from Thee, by any means which Thy wisdom may devise-punish us when it becomes necessary to our salvation-order our destiny as Thou mayest deem good, but oh, let us never cease to be the objects of Thy paternal care and Thy sustaining power! While we remain encircled in the arms of Thy love we are safe! Should any one ask us concerning the joys of Heaven, we will tell him how he may, even here below, have a faint foretaste of them. Let him, when no eye but that of God sees him, go to the abode of the unfortunate. Let him relieve their wants, console them under their afflictions, and speak peace to their wounded spirits. And then, when their hearts open again to happiness-when he sees the mother's eye, glistening with the tear of gratitude, beam on her offspring with the complacency of returning hope, then, when he feels himself penetrated and ennobled by the honour of having been the instrument of his God in dispensing happiness to his fellow creatures, then let him, for a moment, cast a glance at his own heart. That which he then feels, that is moral felicity that is Heaven. An Extract. "Not a few, I suspect, conceive of Heaven as a foreign good. It is a distant country, to which we are to be conveyed by an outward agency. How slowly do men learn, that Heaven is the perfection of the mind, and that Christ gives it now, just as far as he raises the mind to celestial truth and virtue! It is true, that this word is often used to express a future felicity; but the blessedness of the future world is only a continuance of what is begun here. There is but one true happiness, that of a mind unfolding its best powers, and attaching itself to great objects; and Christ gives Heaven, only in proportion as he gives this elevation of character. The disinterestedness and moral strength and filial piety of the Christian are not mere means of Heaven, but Heaven itself, and Hea ven now. "The most exalted idea we can form of the future state is, that it brings and joins us to God. But is not approach to this great Being begun on earth? Another delightful view of Heaven is, that it unites us with the good and great of our own race, and even with higher orders of beings. But this union is one of spirit, not of mere place; it is accordance of thought and feeling, not an outward relation; and does not this harmony begin even now? and is not virtuous friendship on earth essentially the pleasure which we hope hereafter? What place would be drearier than the future mansions of Christ, to one who should want sympathy with their inhabitants, who could not understand their language, who would feel himself a foreigner there, who would be taught, by joys which he could not partake, his own loneliness and desolation? These views, I know, are often given with greater or |