UNIVERSALISM,

OR, A DANGEROUS PRESUMPTION.

And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth. To them that by patience in well-doing, seek for glory and honor and incorruption,-eternal life; but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness,-shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil. Romans 2:2, 7, 8 and 9, R. V.

He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still; and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still; and he that is righteous let him do righteousness still; and he that is holy let him be made holy still. Revelation 22:11, R. V.

G

OD is infinite love. He sends no one to hell.

He delights not in the death of any. He "willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth," I Tim. 2:4. "Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 33:11. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to

our God, for He will abundantly pardon," Isaiah 55:7. Christ, who is the perfect embodiment of mercy, the repository of grace, the expression of the Father's will, says: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls," Matthew 11:2830. From the beginning to the end of the Bible the inspired writers ring the changes on the goodness and mercy of God, who is willing and able to save unto the uttermost. Man is a free moral agent. He determines his own destiny. He can choose or refuse eternal life. Even Paul said: "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision;" an intimation, this, that he might have resisted. If any intelligent, responsible human being, either from Christian or heathen lands, wakes up in eternity and finds himself in hell, it I will not be God's fault. I can not believe that any one goes to hell by an arbitrary act of God, any more than I can believe that He forces men into the kingdom of Christ. There is a real sense in which men make their own hell and their own heaven.

Heaven and Hell Are States and Conditions of Being. Many there are who have erroneous conceptions of heaven and hell. They seem to think that heaven is simply a place where one escapes the punishments and torments of hell. But they

are both states and conditions of being. Heaven is a state or condition of holiness. Hell is a state or condition of unholiness; heaven of cleanness, hell of uncleanness; heaven of righteousness, hell of unrighteousness; heaven of love, hell of hate. John, the beloved of Christ, writes these words concerning heaven, the home of the holy: "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, nor worketh abomination, nor maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." The writer of the letter to the Hebrews informs us that "the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven," is composed of "the spirits of just men made perfect." The Apostle Peter speaks of "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled." Hell is described in the Scriptures as a state or condition, just the opposite of heaven,-the abode of Satan and his angels. Now, think for a moment of putting wicked mortals in the next world on a par and in the same place with Mary, the mother of our Lord; Herod playing with innocent children; Guiteau and Garfield walking arm in arm; Catherine de Medici and Miss Willard singing the same songs; dissolute Byron, drunken Payne, profligate Henry the Eighth, that devil incarnate, the red-handed Nero-all in heaven with John and Paul, the apostles, Moody the evangelist, Bliss the sweet singer, Carey the missionary, and Spurgeon, the mighty man of God. Carnal hu

man nature must be changed; the natural human heart, which is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," must be cleansed before one can pass into heaven, the home of absolute purity. Christ said, even to a moral man: "Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God." Even if a man with an unclean heart should be admitted to the society of the redeemed and purified in heaven, he would not feel at home; he would be ill at ease, and as certainly as there is a law of gravitation he would go to his own place, which he made for himself while here on earth.

All Mankind Are on Probation in This World for Their Moral Character and Eternal Destiny. -It has been said: "Every man's mind is the book in which is recorded all the thoughts, words and deeds of his whole life." These things determine the quality of his soul and his future existence. The nature of one's ruling love writes the sentence of life or death, salvation or condemnation. This ruling passion of the soul is being formed while here. This probation, this test of character, is not limited to those who live in Christian lands and have known of the personal Christ. For four thousand years the world did not know him as the Savior of humanity. And yet, as Dr. Robinson has expressed it: "The eternal Word whispered in the souls of men before it spoke articulately aloud in the incarna

tion. It was a divine thought before it became a divine expression." Christ, in one way or another, has always been in the world. He was the inspiration of Abraham and the companion of Moses. He was Shilo to Jacob on his deathbed. He was Job's daysman, Isaiah's Messiah and Malachi's covenant angel. The apostle says of Israel: "For they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." Thousands upon thousands of souls were doubtless saved through Christ under the old dispensation. Some there were who "died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth." In other words, they embraced the light that they had and obeyed God. Speaking of Christ, Paul says: "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." Romans 3:25.

Are the heathen nations on trial, too? They certainly are. God is neither a limited nor an exhausted Deity. He has ways of giving to every intelligent, responsible human being a fair trial for the formation of his character and the determining of his destiny that we know not of. In our limited knowledge we are incompetent judges of what constitutes a fair chance for eternal life.