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relation to God and the eternal world. She called her father to the bed-side,-" Father, are you sure that I shall go to heaven?" "Oh, yes, I guess so," somewhat lightly replied the father. "But do you know that I shall go to heaven? "Yes, my dear, I think you will," he still evasively replied, shrinking before the pointed question and the fearful responsibility.— Father," solemnly continued the dying girl, gazing earnestly in his face, "Father, I cannot trust my soul on guess-work; Oh! I must know that my soul is safe!" He could not pacify her; and at length he said, "Rev. Mr. H. is in town, and we will send for him." Mr. H. came. The same agonizing questions were put and reiterated," Do you know that I am going to heaven?" —and similar evasive replies were made; for that man, preacher of the soul-destroying doctrine though he was, could not, and, in that trying hour and that solemn presence, dared not tell that struggling spirit he knew that heaven should be her portion. Perplexed, and unable to satisfy her troubled heart, at length he took the word of God, and, turning away from all the chosen themes and texts of his customary preaching, that Universalist minister sat and read to the dying girl those passages that point the sinner to the Lamb of God as his only hope, and promise eternal life unto all that believe on Jesus;-in short, he laid before her, in the words of God, the very basis and conditions of the evangelical hope, " the hope toward God through Jesus Christ." He went his way. The good seed took root. It was a plant of our Heavenly Father's planting. She that had never heard an evangelical sermon, pondered alone on those words of God. The spirit of God

wrought evangelical faith in her heart, and she rejoiced in the hope of the gospel. Again she sent for her father-"Father, it is no guess-work now; I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth, and my soul is safe in his hands." And with kind invitations to her father to come also unto Christ, with cheerful, peaceful repose on her Savior, she passed away, rejoicing in the full assurance of faith. It is the name and work of Jesus Christ that sustains the sinking spirit. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." But if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

LECTURE SIXTH.

THE MORAL TENDENCIES OF UNIVERSALISM.

Ezekiel XIII: 22. Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.

IN discussing the system called Universalism, I have endeavored to present only the most indispensable considerations, and to compress the subject into the shortest limits. Much of my material remains unused. In my statement of the system, I have employed incontestable evidence, the printed statements of its ablest doctrinal writers, of the most modern date. Some other features of the system, quite as bad, or worse, I have refrained, thus far, from presenting. I have pointed out the nature and character of the system; some of the more obvious marks of its falsehood; and, in detail, the futility of its argument, both of its attempts to break down the Scripture threats, and to find Scripture authority for itself, or even to make a case out of the boasted appeal to God's love and paternal character; and its final resort to impenitent desires and passions;—an utter failure in every particular. I now wish to apply to it the criterion of this passage of Scripture, and speak of

THE MORAL TENDENCIES OF UNIVERSALISM.

I shall show that its moral tendency is worthy of its

parentage and its advocacy;-while it saddens the heart of the righteous, it "strengthens the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.”

Here, however, let me make a distinction between the system and the personal character of many of its advocates. Whatever may be the moral tendency of a doctrine itself, it does not follow that it will show itself in every one of its adherents. Thus, infidelity unquestionably tends to licentiousness and corruption, and wherever it has full scope, as once in France, it will break forth in all its power. But under the restraints of New England society and law, under the influence of early education, and the absolute necessities of his position as a religious teacher, I suppose Mr. Theodore Parker to be a man of good, if not irreproachable moral life. So, whatever are the tendencies of Universalism, and whatever the character of a great portion of its adherents, there is no reason to doubt, that in our larger places, especially, it numbers many honorable men and women,-persons who never have given themselves the trouble to look closely into a system that meets the desires of the unchanged heart. presume that some of those, even, who have listened to my discussion, have been nearly as much surprised as my own congregation at the facts I have presented. As the Roman Catholic doctrine is a dangerous departure from the truth, and its priesthood we consider unquestionably corrupt, yet have no doubt that there have been and are many good Christians among the laymen; so here, there are laymen for whom one feels much more respect than it is easy to feel for the minis

try as a body. Indeed, I know of one man, the leading Universalist in the town of N., in this State, whose notions are so high that he has repeatedly said he had never met a Universalist minister whom he was pleased with, or could respect; and though there is a Unitarian meeting in the place, he is a regular attendant at an evangelical church. So, I cannot doubt, there are in this city men and women, who, if they understood the bearings and hidden workings of the system, would run from it as from the pestilence; and who now are troubled with many a misgiving in view of the mixed group around them, and the strange exhibitions that they see. At the same time, a multitude of others love it, no doubt, for just what it is.

In attempting to discuss the present subject, I feel a difficulty. It is a system whose full workings none can fathom who has not been through it. There is so much that is deceptive about it, and so many of its worst effects lie beyond the range of respectable society, that the picture must be inadequate. Still, a good Providence has smiled on my attempts to get authentic information, till I have secured quite as much as I can use on the present occasion.

It should also be remembered that the system is of comparatively recent origin, and being held by a small minority, has been continually kept in check.

What are its moral tendencies ?-From the nature of the case, what must they be? Surrounded with temptations, and filled with perverse inclinations, but restrained by the voice of conscience and the fear of God's threatened vengeance, what must be the effect on any man, of hearing every Sabbath as the central