friend, may be upon the ocean; he may fall into temptation and crime, or sit in the seat of the scorner. But upon the mast-head at midnight, in the haunt of sin, in the congregation of the impious, you will be remembered. If faithful to their souls, your sons and daughters will gather around your tomb, to bless you for what you have done for them.

How can I review my past life? The retrospect is terrible beyond description. Twelve years of this short life wasted, and worse than wasted! Employed in strengthening the hands of the wicked; in removing the restraints of the Bible; in preaching peace to the ungodly; in assuring them that they would not die, though they disobeyed God; in alluring men to destruction; in turning men from life to death; and in speaking encouragement to those already in the road to destruction, and urging them on their perilous way! O, what a retrospect! My pathway seems strewed with the wrecks and ruins 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! Could I do this, I would make any sacrifice. I would weep tears of blood, if I had them, to remove the impressions I have made upon the souls of men, while I was in the ministry of error. But this I cannot do. 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.

5*

"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 Universalism, so far as connected with my religious experience. These alone would be sufficient.

such light. I could not trifle with

God has been very gracious to me.

--

I could not resist

such convictions. To his name be

the glory, to his service be my remaining days devoted!

LECTURE II.

REASONS FOR RENOUNCING UNIVERSALISM, ARISING FROM THE DIFFICULTIES THAT ATTEND

ITS DEFENCE.

IN

MEEKNESS INSTRUCTING

2 TIM. ii. 25.

THOSE THAT OPPOSE THEMSELVES; IF

GOD PERADVENTURE WILL GIVE THEM REPENTANCE TO THE ACKNOWLEDGING OF THE TRUTH.

THE preaching of Universalism is attended with great trial. Many are the objections to it, arising from the contradictions in the system, its bad practical tendency, the irrelevancy of testimony offered from Scripture in proof of it, the sophistical nature of a large part of the arguments urged in vindication of its claims, and the passages of the Bible which obviously teach the contrary. These difficulties often appall even the most blinded advocate of this fearful delusion. I am very certain that, if those who lean upon the ministers of this error, and look for salvation without holiness of heart, because certain men assure them that all will be well in the life that is to come, could know the misgivings of a Universalist preacher, the objections that surround him, and the suspicions that he whispers to a confidential friend, they would feel that the risk was great in trusting such a doctrine.

The peril is fearful. There could not be a more e.oquent or impressive lecture upon Universalism, than a collection of the confessions of its advocates.

Before my mind was much disturbed in respect to the truth of Universalism, — before I seriously questioned the soundness of the arguments set forth in its defence, -I met with difficulties which made my ministry a painful one, and the support of my faith no easy task. I will name some of them.

I. DIFFICULTIES ARISING FROM THE DOCTRINES OF UNIVERSALISM.

Universalism in this country has had several fathers. Mr. Murray is the father of Universalism as it was; Mr. Ballou, the father of it as it is. Mr. Ballou informs us that he was led to adopt his views of religion by reading a Deistical book. By denying future punishment and the divinity of Jesus Christ, he, in 1818, changed the whole fabric of Universalism; and has earned the title of originator of its present form and character.

Though Mr. Ballou is the author of modern Universalism, it was not through his influence that it has displaced the system of Murray. It is well known that Mr. Ballou is a man of little reading, and limited in his knowledge of books. He had, at the beginning of his public life, barely a common education. And though, after preaching several years, he began to study English grammar, any one who hears him will be convinced that he must have abandoned the attempt soon after the commencement. He had neither

personal influence nor intellectual power enough to make his notions popular. Though he published them to the world, they met with little attention among his associates.

About this time, Walter Balfour professed conversion to Universalism. He adopted Mr. Ballou's sentiments, and carried them out with a bold hand. He went far beyond Mr. Ballou, and asserted such strange doctrines, and unheard-of notions, that he claims a place among the fathers of Universalism.

He professed to be a scholar. He talked about Sheol, Hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna, to such a degree, that his associates, unable to decide whether he was a learned man or a pretender, granted his claims, and shared his praise.

Mr. Balfour was brought up in the doctrines of the church of Scotland. He renounced them, however, and became a Haldanite, and as such came to this country, as a missionary, to enlighten the descendants of the Puritans in relation to the Bible, and to do the work of a missionary upon the soil of New England. He did not visit this country as a man of distinction. He was not, as Universalists represent, a popular Orthodox preacher. He was an open-communion Baptist, and the body of which he was a member, was feeble and almost unknown.

Soon after he reached this country, he introduced himself to the late Rev. Dr. Morse of Charlestown, and made known the purpose of his mission. Dr. Morse gave Mr. Balfour little encouragement. Soon after his arrival, Mr. Balfour changed his ground, and