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THOUGHTS

ON

THE DIVINE GOODNESS,

RELATIVE TO THE

GOVERNMENT OF MORAL AGENTS,

PARTICULARLY DISPLAYED IN

FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

"God our Saviour will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 2 TIM. ii. 4.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF

FERDINAND OLIVIER PETITPIERRE,

FORMERLY MINISTER OF CHAUX-DE-FOND.

PHILADELPHIA:

GIHON, FAIRCHILD & CO

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

would suffice for my necessities the remainder of my days. In this it has pleased God to prosper me beyond my expectations. And now, thanks to the divine Providence, I am free from worldly anxieties and at liberty to speak the truth as I find it in his word, and I employ the happy leisure which his goodness affords me in the preparation of this work upon the plan of God, that I may do my duty in this respect, in the only way that is now left me, and finish my career in this world as I began it, maintaining the word of the Lord."

THE reader of the following admirable trea- a livelihood, and by my labour to gather wha tise will naturally feel a curiosity to know something of its author. That he was a good *man, a sincere Christian, gifted with a sound mind and clear discriminative powers, no one it seems to me can reasonably doubt, but our acquaintance with his life is extremely limited and imperfect. We know, indeed, that he was a native of the canton of Neufchâtel, Switzerland, but of the time of his birth, of his family and connexions, we know nothing. He was a minister of the gospel at Chaux-deFonds, formerly a small village, but now a considerable town, eight or ten miles from the city of Neufchatel, the capital of the canton. On leaving Switzerland, he took up his This was probably about 1770. Here by a residence in London, where it seems he spent very careful and impartial study of the Bible, several years, but whether the treatise before guided by an earnest desire to gain a know- us was written there or afterwards on the ledge of the truth, pure truth, he was brought continent, I am unable to say. It is evident at last to an unwavering faith in the infinite from the passage above, that it was not writgoodness of God, and in the final holiness and ten till after he had been engaged in business happiness of all men. Nor did he shun to sometime, and probably had retired. The avow and proclaim so great truths. But following treatise first appeared in French at this frank and conscientious course soon in- Amsterdam, in 1786, and under the title; "Le volved him in very serious difficulties. A per- Plan de Dieu envers les Hommes, tel qu'il la secuting spirit has marked the history of the manifesté dans la Nature et dans la Grace." dogma of endless torments in every age and The Plan of God towards men, as he has manievery place where it has existed; and Petit-fested it in nature and grace. It constitutes, pierre was left to experience the "tender mercies" of that harsh creed which he denied. He was most unjustly and cruelly persecuted, was disgraced, deposed, deprived of the means of support at home, and virtually driven an exile to other lands. But the reader must hear him speak on this subject. I translate a passage from the second edition of his treatise. Speaking of the great advantages he gained by an impartial study of the scriptures, he adds

"It is true that it has sometimes exposed me to some temporal inconveniences. I was a minister of the gospel. In assuming that office I took an oath at the hands of the clergy that I would sacrifice my body, my life and my estate to maintain the word of the Lord. I have consequently desired to proclaim the counsel or plan of God according to his words without any farther regard to the received doctrine than prudence dictated. The clergy without deciding upon the truth or falsehood of my doctrine, forbid me to preach it, and imposed upon me a law of very rigorous silence. I could not submit to any law that violated my conscience, and was deposed. As I had no means of support but what my lost benefice afforded, I went to a foreign country to gain

however, but a part of the design which its author had formed, and which was to have been filled up by three other treatises, thus: The first part, which we here present, treats of the infinite goodness of God. The second was to have treated of man, natural or animal, and spiritual. The third of the salvation of all men; and the knowledge of the truth necessary to their being saved. And the fourth of the revelation of the truth in nature and in grace. In 1791, when a new edition of this treatise "carefully revised" was published in Amsterdam, the author expressed the hope that he should be able in a short time to give the second part of his work to the public, but added that if any unforeseen obstacle should prevent its appearance, this treatise which he had already sent forth might be regarded as complete in itself, "a treatise," he says, on the infinite goodness of God; and, strange to say, this sublime subject is as new as it is interesting." We know not that any other part of the work ever appeared.

The call for a new edition in the space of five years, is an evidence that it met with a very respectable sale. Indeed the English translator refers to the approbation it received on the continent, the ardour with which it was

sought, and the difficulty of obtaining copies | hearts a service which they cannot too speediin England as reasons for his undertaking a ly pay. Let some of the opposers of Univertranslation. This was in 1788, but two years salism refute it if they can, and if they cannot after its first publication at Amsterdam. it is time they abandoned a confession of faith, Whether a second edition has appeared in which virtually denies the fundamental truth England, I cannot say, but it is well known of this book as well as of the New Testament, to have gone through two or three editions in that GOD IS LOVE. I cannot conclude with. the United States, the first of which, I be- out expressing an earnest wish that every lieve, was that of Walpole, N. H., 1801. Universalist in the country would read with carefulness and prayer this treatise, and assist in sending it far and wide among those who with all their self-complacency are yet ignorant of the true God, the Father, who is the Saviour of all men. THOMAS J. SAwyer. New York, June, 1843.

I need not attempt an analysis of the work, nor is it necessary to say a word in commendation of it. Those who have read it will not require this at my hands; those who have not, of whatever creed or communion they may be, still owe their heads and their

PREFACE OF THE TRANSLATOR.

THE translator of the following pages having witnessed the approbation they met with abroad, the ardour with which they were sought, and the difficulty with which they were obtained; thinks it may be rendering service to the cause of religion, and contributing to the happiness of mankind, to make them easy of access, in a nation distinguished by its literature, and which in theology and philosophy has produced so many luminaries. The author, a native of Neufchâtel, must be well known to many in this country, having resided in its capital for several years. All who were acquainted with him there, or in Switzerland, admired and honoured him. If in its tenets he differs from those universally held in the Christian, even protestant churches, the candid and judicious reader will not be repulsed by the cry of heresy, for it is to truths thas stigmatized, that the reformation owed its rise. Let them read, examine, and determine for themselves.

a wretch so base as to sin because race has abounded, and with dauntless effrontery ventures to challenge the power and justice of his Maker-let him learn that in proportion to his guilt and depravity, will be his future punishment both in degree and duration. But let the honour of the wise and merciful Creator be vindicated, and mankind be taught to consider him as altogether amiable; whose severities are as much the effect of his goodness, as his rewards. Thus shall his love, and his fear arise together in our hearts; thus will he be known, and honoured, and wisdom be justified of her children.

Thirst of fame is disregarded by one who remains concealed, but though I wish to derive no personal merit as a translator, I would carefully avoid diminishing that of the author; to whose sentiments it shall be my endeavour to do justice, by a faithful but not a tedious translation. All who are conversant with the nature of the French language, know that it Nor let the humble pious follower of the admits of a certain declamatory style which gospel take the alarm, or apprehend the mo- they call unction, and which does not so well tives to virtue will be weakened, and mankind correspond with the genius of the English. grow more licentious. To behold the plan of Entirely to divest this work of its original the Deity, as more consistent with his nature idiom, would perhaps be to rob it of that and attributes, and more merciful to his crea- spirit and energy, by which the author has tures, can never be an incentive to vice. Fear, distinguished it. The reader is therefore sois indeed one powerful restraint on imperfect licited, if in the course of this translation some beings, but it must be a rational fear, and not deviations from the established mode of Ensuch as has given rise to infidelity in thou-glish diction should be found unavoidable; sands, or which, if believed, leads to despair. Besides, let me ask, have the terrors of the Lord, when represented in all the horrors of never ending misery, been sufficient to deter many from offending, who have been familiar with the idea from their infancy? Universal observation shows the contrary. Our Saviour draws us by the cords of love. But if there is

candidly to place them to this account. They will occur as seldom as possible, for though nobler motives than gratifying the ear by the harmony of flowing periods, actuate the person who gives this essay to the public, yet, as far as sense and sound can be conciliated, the translator would not wish to deprive it even of that recommendation.

PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

To render man universally and perfectly happy, seems to be the plan on which the Supreme Creator has established his moral government: and the method he employs to compass an end so worthy of its author; is that of enlightening their minds. From whence it follows, that from the knowledge of this plan, may be derived just views of that felicity which the greatest and best of beings, has graciously intended to dispense to the children of men; and of the means by which he will conduct them to it, the knowledge of the truth. This system is clearly expressed in that passage of Scripture, which I have made choice of in the title of this work, where the apostle declares that, God will have all men to be saved: this is their destination, and to come at the knowledge of the truth, is the mean by which he will raise them to it. I therefore dedicate the following pages to the examination and developement of these sublime words of St. Paul,

primitive ignorance renders them strangely presumptuous and decisive, their gross imagination, obscuring reason, has served them as a guide, insinuating itself as a judge of things spiritual, which belong exclusively to the more noble faculty of the mind.

But above all, self-love, temporal interest, sloth, vanity, pride, and a long list of other corrupt passions; make them deviate and wander through a maze of the most absurd, and sometimes the most monstrous errors; which they never fail to associate with the truths of religion, however incompatible. And as these errors are the unhappy effects of passion, they are afterwards supported by it. How often do men maintain them with a warmth bordering on fury, and impose them on the faith of others, with an inhuman ferocity, deciding for the rest of mankind, and even for posterity, by a plurality of voices, what they shall in future be obliged to believe, or possess as the truth revealed by God, under pain of damnation in the world to come, and frequently of the most cruel sufferinga in this, such are the bitter fruits, the sad but inevitable effects of the ignorance, the imagination, and the passions of mankind, even under that dispensation of light which God has vouchsafed them. Deplorable ef fects! which by the obstinate deist, are charged upon religion itself. What I have said on the corruption of truth in the hands of man, is no more than what fatal experience has proved more or less in every age.

The plan of God towards mankind, is in nothing different from religion itself considered in its theory. For though religion taken in a general view is the science of happiness and of salvation, yet it may be divided into the two branches, of theory and practice. In its theory it holds up to us, salvation as the destination to which God by his providence and grace calls us: thus far it is the plan of our Great Creator, which I shall endeavour to illustrate in this work. But when taken in a practical view, it shews us salvation as the grand end we are invariably to propose to To what else are we to ascribe that strange ourselves, and to which we are constantly to fatality, by which we see the absurd side of tend, by exerting all our efforts to the en-questions, though never so revolting and exlightening of our understandings, and the sanctifying of our hearts. In this point of view, religion is that part of his plan which the Supreme Being has assigned to us, that we may submit with docility to his government, and thereby become worthy of his benevolent designs towards us, or, as the apostle expresses it, be workers together with him.

Though the practical part of religion is of superior importance, that even the most perfect theory separated from it is so totally useless, that St. James represents a faith of that nature as dead. Yet it is of the theory of religion that I mean to treat, as that is incomparably more corrupted and disfigured by error, as I shall shew by explaining my reasons more particularly.

travagant, prevailing over the simple, natural, and rational; almost whenever they have been agitated? Such absurd errors when once received, and consecrated by public authority, and by their antiquity become the formidable obstacles of truth, and gain such a fatal ascendancy even over the minds of those whose understandings reject them, as leads them to suppress the truth, and tacitly to immolate it at the shrine of falsehood, by imposing upon it the most rigorous silence; leaving to error, known to be such; the exclusive privilege of appearing publicly, and of perpetuating itself by being openly and freely taught to the multitude. And can the sacred rights of truth be thus misconceived? 1 say misconceived, for who that properly Although mankind are universally made knows their value, can dare to trample them eapable of knowing the truth, their progress under foot? but when we reflect on the obstatowards it is slow and obstructed by many cles she meets with, may we not be tempted difficulties, and amidst their almost impercep- for a moment to believe, as some have boldly tible advances, ignorance, imagination and passion, have leisure sufficient left them, to change the truth of God into a lie, Rom. i. 25, that is to corrupt and falsify the first ideas of truth, even though revealed by himself. Their

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advanced, that she was of a nature too sublime and elevated for man, who instead of being formed capable of receiving her, was made the eternal, and melancholy sport of ignorance and error. But far be from us a

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