Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1878-04-13
UNIVERS.ALISM.

| on the SUBJECT OF unlVerSal Sai'ation
at considerable length. The letter is
very well written SO far as grammat-
ical and rhetorical construction is con-
cerred. but very lame in argument,
we think, because based upon false,
or at least unestabIisbed premises
his own opinion of what Gods mercy
is or should be. Claiming that He
can not he mcrcful God and at the
same time punish men for their wick
edness. "Who art thou, oh man,
that repliest against God! Shall the
thing made say to him that formed it,
why hast thou made me thus!" RO-
mans, 8: 30. Can you, finite being,
presume to say where the mercy of
an infinite God shall end, and His
justice begin! You contend very
earnestly for all the attributes of
Deity. Do not yourself attempt to
deprive Him of His attribute Of JUS
tiee. God is of long suffering and
penteous in mercy, but justice is as
essentially one Of bis attributes as
mercy.
Yonr admission, however. that the
wicked are to be punished eternally,
if we take the Bible as meaning liter
atty what it SAYS, obviates the ncces-
sitv of an argumenlativc reply TO
your letter: for if we are not to re-
ceive large portion Of it as meaning
! literally what 1t saws, then instead of
being the revealed will of God, the
Bible is fable. an enigma, useless
does mean literally what it says, and
can be understood by those who will
read it with unprecedented minds. As
intelligent man as you are can very
readily distinguish the literal from
the symbolic expressions in the Bible,
if he will For instance there is no
symbolism in this plain. simple declar-
alton of our Savior: He that believ-
eth and is baptized, shall be saved;
but be that beleveth not shall be
damned Mark 16: Is. Again, the
passage quoted by you is bound TO be
taken literally, because it means moth
ing only what it SAYS: He that be-
lieveth on him Christi. is not coh-
deemed hut be that believeth not is
condemned already" and why? ''be-
cause he hathShot believed in the or
ly begotten Son of God."-John 3:
Is. Condemned to what? To perish;
and not to perish is to have everlast-
ing life. See verses ii, Is and l6 Of
tbis] same chapter. Many OF Gods
promises and all his commands are
plain. simple and literal.
We admit that God foreknows all
things; that all eternity is present with
Him; to deny it would be to deny one
of his most Godlke attributes and
place Him on plane below the
prophets, who were inspired with fore
knowledge by Him. Furthermore,
we believe 10 the election and predes-
tination unto salvation, through
Christ, of every one who believes, ac-
cOrding to the eternal purpose of God,
and that none others will be saved
Read 9Th chapter Of Romans. Hence,
we believe that he always knew who
would and who would not be saved,
for to say He did not would be bias
phemy, because it would make him no
God at all. But we do not admit or
believe, for this reason, that be created
any man for the express purpose of
damning him. His damnation is the
result of bis own choice as much as
that of the purpose of God, aud. al
though God knew be would reject sal
walton, be did not create him for that
purpose.
You ask. "Where is your free
grace ?" Herein is grace free; be-
cause it is given without price tie all
who receive it, unmeriled, for no one
ever merits forgiveness and salvation;
but through their faith in Christ his
righteousness is imputed unto be-
levers and they arc saved through
his merit; are not dragged to eternal
life against their will.
We do not believe in mans free
agency, perhaps. in the sense in which
you cOnstrue the meaning of the
phrase. but we do believe in bis ac-
countability aud ability to do what is
required of him
Do we pray for our enemies? Ger
tainly, just as Christ commanded us
to do. and as nearly as we can, as
be did for his enemies. Do we pray
for the salvation of the world? We
pray, as Christ teaches us, for the
coming of his kingdom. in full faith.
but we do not pray for Gods pur-
poses to BE- thwarted. for tba. would
not only be silly. but sinful. We
pray for the forgiveness of our sins
and the sins of others, believing that
1t is in accordance with his purpose to
answer the pray Of faith, because it is
his spirit that dictates the PRAYER,
I working in ma both IN x.,;ll onb % 4.