The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-04-20

every day. The theory condemns IT.
self, and there is not so much as a
particle of evidence for it. 1t is con-
trary to all that we know of human
nature, and contrary to the Word of
God.
Not the slightest hint does the
Bible contain that mems characters
become so fixed on earth that they
can never afterward be changed. 1t
furnishes no support, in any way,
shape or manner, to the doctrine that
this life is state of probation, and
that no one can be saved after leav-
ing this world. On the contrary, it
distinctly teaches that men can
change after death, and that sooner
or later all men must be changed
and become vastly better than they
are in this world.
Not that it says in precisely such
words, that men who die in their sins
may repent after death and be ac-
cepted by God. But it says the same
thing in different way. 1t says it
indirectly and by implication great
many times. For it SAYS distinctly
that God is the Saviour of all men,
and will have all to be saved q. Tim.
iv: 10; ii: ~; that He will not cast off
forever, but that though He cause
grief, yet will He have compassion
according to the multitude of His
mercies Oam. iii; 81, 32); that His
mercy endures forever Cps. cxxxvi: ID;
that we must needs die, and are as
water split upon the ground, which
cannot be gathered up again; neither
does God respect any person; yet
doth He devise means that His ban
ished be not expelled from Him QI.
Sam. xiv: 14); that Jesus Christ will
draw all men unto himself John xiii
32); that in his name every knee shall
bow, and every tongue shall confess
to the glory of God phil. ii: 10, ~;
that God will gather together in one
all things in Christ (Eph. i: 10Y; and
that finally God will be all in all Ct.
Cor. XIV: 28). It explicitly teaches
that all men will be saved; and mas
much as it also teaches that no man
can be saved without faith and obed-
ience, and we know that many die
without faith and obedience, it me-
cessarily follows that there is oppor
tunity for all such to be saved after
death.
If it is said that a child will some
time be man, it is not necessary to
add that he will undergo the various
changes between childhood and man
hood If a person in this country
promises to meet another in France
or in England, he need not add that
he will cross the ocean in order to do
so. So the Bible, when it teaches
that all men will be saved, does not
need to add an explicit statement
that those who are not saved in this
world will have sufficient opportunity
to be saved in the next one. By i'm
plication, the latter truth is affirmed
when the first is declared.
The Bible fixes no limit to the OPP
portunity for repentance and faith
and salvation. 1t simply states the
everlasting conditions of salvation,
and the penalty of not conforming
to them, and the certainty that in the
end all mankind will conform to them.
They who maintain that the oppor-
tunity for salvation is limited fail to
show any scriptural proof of their the
DRY. Discredited by reason, it is un-
scriptural also. It's advocates and the
burden of proof in this matter rests
entirely on them cannot furnish a
scrap of good evidence for it.
Undeniably there are several scrip
tural passages which are supposed
by many people to teach the truth of
that theory. Indeed, many suppose
that there is a verse in the Bible
which says, word for word, that "there
is no repentance beyond the grave"
The quotation is purely home made
scripture. The Bible contains moth
ing like it. The verse which such
people wrongly think that they are
quoting is Eccl. ix:10, which reads
as follows; "Whatsoever thy hand
fndeth to do, do it with thy might,
for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave
whittier thou goest." That is GER
tainly good advice. No man can
work. with his hand after his body is
laid in the grave. If he has anything
to do which requires manual labor
as, for instance, the making of will
it behooves him not to postpone it,
for it will be impossible by and by.
But that has not the remotest bearing
on the mower of the immortal shirt