stances of things; and all good men, in every part of the world, were accepted and saved! In the sacred Hebrew vol. umes, down from the time of Abraham, some are mentioned who had the knowledge of the true religion, who neither were descended from him, nor were of the people Israel, nor ingrafted in among them. The like may be supposed of some in other nations, who also will obtain salvation.""

But to this question why Christ was not sent of God sooner if he was so necessary to the world's welfare, Arnobius (A. D. 300), in whose time it was current, replies by the argumentum ad hominem: "I will ask you too," he says, "if your god Hercules was to be born, or Esculapius, or Mercury, or Bacchus, or other benefactors of mankind, why were they sent so late, so that most of the ancient sages did not know them? Do you say that there was some good reason? You must own then that there might have been a good reason for the late coming of Jesus the Saviour."

These comparisons might be extended to any number of heads, showing the same results. For example: it is often urged by those who would disparage the teachings and influence of Christ, that he taught nothing really new, that his best sayings had been uttered centuries before he was born. This too was

a favorite argument with ancient unbelievers, especially with Celsus. "Let us see," says Origen, "how he affects to lessen us with regard to our moral doctrine, saying that it is only the same with that of other philosophers, and contains in it nothing weighty or new. He also says that others as well as Christians, had denied the divinity of gods made with hands, forasmuch as oftentimes they were formed by wicked men. And again he says the same things had been better taught by the Greeks, without threatenings or promises from God or his Son."

He quotes Matt. xix. 24, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God;" and says it was evidently taken from Plato, but that Jesus, had spoiled it by his way of stating it;

7 Lardner, Works, vol. vii. 440.

Plato's words being much more simple and effective: "To be very rich and very good is impossible." Again he refers to Matt. v. 39, "Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also," &c.; and remarks that Plato had said the same thing before, and in a much better way.

To this Origen replies, that if Plato had said it, only a few learned knew it, and it wrought no benefit to mankind; but that the words of Jesus had reached and blessed the multitude. This is a just answer. Suppose Confucius, Zoroaster, or Plato, had said the same things Jesus said, ages before, what ever came of it? It was Jesus only who imparted vitality to the words and thoughts, and sent them out into the world a moral and spiritual force, quickening new life in the hearts of the millions. On one point ancient and modern unbelievers seem not to agree. Celsus thinks that Jesus borrowed from Plato; but Renan decides that it is not probable that Jesus could read Greek" still less had he any knowledge of Greek culture."

The above illustrations of the subject in hand are all that room will allow us to give in this article. The purpose of writing, as remarked in the beginning, is to demonstrate the fact that no new discoveries have lately been made in the way of objections to the Scriptural narratives, or the methods of attack upon them; and to calm the apprehensions of some timid believers lest the historical integrity of the New Testament, and the divine authority of Christianity, may be destroyed by the assaults of the enemy, or of the traitors in our own camp. Sixteen hundred years ago the same attacks were made by men as strong, as learned, as acute and subtle in argument, as those of to-day, aided too by all the powers of popular hatred and government persecution. Every possible form of assault against the religion of Jesus was tried. Criticism and ridicule, logic and history, accusation and denial, pagan law, patriotism, superstition and piety were arrayed in

8 Life of Jesus, p. 73.

opposition to it; the philosopher, the priest, the magistrate, and the mob, all launched their bolts against it; and yet it lived, and in spite of them all it moved on, extending its conquests, strengthening its power, till at last, in the words of Gibbon, "it planted the cross on the ruins of the Capitol at Rome!" It lived-lived through all the centuries, and to-day scatters broadcast through the world the blessings of its civilization, the warnings of its righteous law, and the encouragements and consolations of its immortal hopes.

Let us not fear, then, for Christianity, or for the Bible. The great moral and religious truths which they bring from God to the world, are indispensable to its spiritual growth, its social and political welfare, its highest civilization. And the world knows this too well, and feels it too deeply, to be shaken from its confidence in their divine origin by any questions affecting the authorship of the Pentateuch, or the astronomy, geology or arithmetic of the Old Testament; or by any smail criticisms touching the differences of the Evangelists in words, numbers and unimportant facts.

Truly we may say it- the Bible in every way is a wonderful Book! And when we think of the changes and revolutions through which it has passed, of the conspiracies and multiplied efforts, in high places and low, to crush it; from Celsus, with his diligent reading, his quick eye to the slightest appearance of discrepancy, and his reckless perversion of facts, down to Strauss, with his large learning and exhaustive criticism, down to the swarming ephemera of to-day, dancing in its sunbeams, and vainly striving to obscure its splendorwhen we think of these various attempts against the Bible, protracted from age to age, all confidently predicting its overthrow, or at least the end of its reign and influence; and then, in contrast, consider how steadily, in the face of all this, it has held its high position, and from generation to generation sent out its redeeming influences to bless even those who have cursed it when we think of the place it occupies among the most enlightened and cultivated nations of the earth, the imNEW SERIES. VOL. 1. 14

portant part it has had in the work of promoting the civilization, education and happiness of mankind, we cannot resist the conviction that the God who made us, and who cannot be indifferent to our welfare, has spoken to us in this Book; that he is in some way with it and in it as he is not with or in any other. And on a careful survey of the whole field of evidence, historical, moral and religious, we are ready to say of it, reverently, what Nicodemus said of Jesus, "We know that thou art a Teacher come from God!"

ARTICLE X.

Early History of Universalism in New England.

WHENEVER a new Sect arises in a nation, its early history, obscured by the prejudices of contemporary partisans, and the paucity of materials which it leaves to posterity, is usually found to be difficult to be traced. Especially is this true where the advocates of the new theory are from the humbler walks of life. From that cause, alone, they are regarded with suspicion. "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" is the question which the wisdom of this world asks. It is forgotten too generally that new movements have originated, in a majority of cases, with the weak and the despised. God hides his counsels from the wise and prudent, and reveals them unto babes. He sends out a prophet, and he is" without honor in his own country;" he sends his Son, and the people say, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” Yet prophet and Son have a mission from Him, and fire and fagot are powerless to stop them. They may die on the cross, amidst the derision and jeers of their opponents; but "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church," and future ages reap the harvest.

Christianity, at the outset, was condemned as a heresy.

The Reformation was a heresy in the darkness of the middle ages. And in the dim twilight of the Puritan theocracy, Universalism was a heresy of the deadliest dye. The light was abroad, but it was not comprehended.

It is not generally known that some of the earlier settlers of New England were earnest believers in the doctrines of free grace, and the final restitution of the whole human family. That there were controversies in the Church, and that they were violently waged, every one knows; but the nature of those controversies, and the precise points involved in them are not so clear. The disputants, on the one hand, were the many and powerful, and, on the other, the few and the weak. Rarely did they meet upon terms of equality. Governor Vane, to whom we shall have occasion to refer hereafter, seems to have been the only one who, by birth and education, was formidable as an antagonist; and even he was finally silenced, and left the country, to act abroad the noble part which has crowned his name with imperishable honor.

It is the aim of this article to gather up the fragmentary hints of Universalism which have been gleaned from the writings of those early days: a task of some difficulty, as the controversies referred to did not hinge upon this point particularly, but rather upon matters of discipline and authority. Whether the church had a right to demand uniformity, was the question at issue. Coming out, as the Puritans professed to, from the corruptions and abuses of the Anglican Church -Separatists in fact, if not in name; claiming independency, though not conceding it on what ground could they refuse to others the right to think and judge for themselves? Yet Church and State were united by the Puritans; and the laws of the land admitted to citizenship those alone who were "of the household of faith." Others were debarred the elective franchise. A test so narrow was unpalatable to many, especially to those who had come here for conscience sake, and who found, on arriving, that the only conscience which was recognized as supreme, was that of the magistrates and dignitaries of the Church. The watchword, therefore, was "liberty