says my friend, God is unchangeable. Then he surely will not perpetuate sin, depravity, death, damnation, hell, forever. He chains none to the car of satan now, he will not hereafter. He locks none up in hell now, he will not in the future. Salvation is now free to the "lost," the "dead," the "chief of sinners," it will be free as long as souls are in those conditions. If in the future world God will not permit a soul to be regenerated, I want the reason, the Scripture for it.

I do not affirm, that God's will, pleasure and desire, are done at all times, and in all places in this world. Mr. S. will please remember that during this discussion. But I do affirm, that as God is unchangeable, all, eternally, will have OPPORTUNITIES EQUAL, at least, to those they have here, to grow wiser and better. Let him remember that too, for, unfortunately, he is very forgetful on that point. That is the argument from the will, pleasure, and desire of God. As my friend denies emphatically, earnestly, the correctness of this deduction from the character of God, it is for him to prove that he is right, and I am wrong- if he can. Let him address himself to this task. I shall press this point on his attention all through this discussion. Let him refute it, or yield the field. It is an old Orthodox, Catholic, Mormon, Pagan and Savage dogma, that all who die unregenerated have no chance whatever of salvation; that nothing but sin, darkness, death, damnation are provided for such. Hell is crammed full of such commodities, and its victims are doomed by the God of LOVE to feast on that horrid diet eternally. Love, mercy, goodness, charity, are all shut out of hell, and locked up in heaven. And this, it is said, is all done by him "Who is GOOD

unto ALL, and his TENDER MERCIES are over ALL his WORKS." This, in my estimation, is a monstrous error. Let Mr. S. show it to be the truth of God - if he can.

The gentleman says, "It is God's will now that all should be saved, and yet all are not saved — some refuse to be saved. Why may not some be unsaved to all eternity, for the same reason they are unsaved now?" But all can be saved now, salvation is free to all now even to the vilest of the vile, because there is a God who is good; and as there always will be a God of goodness, all ever can be saved. That is my position; and that is exactly what he denies. Let him prove that the God of love will compel all who die unregenerated, to sin and suffer forever - if he can. He can easier prove that God will be annihilated. Again, he says, "But what eternally will be God's will, I am not prepared to speak so positively as some do. That's more than I know." But he is very positive on that subject. He is very positive, that after awhile God will will the eternal sinfulness and wretchedness of all who die unregenerated. He wills their conversion now, but as soon as the other world opens to the vision of those who pass the grave unconverted, their damnation is sealed by the divine will. He does not like to say that in plain English. It is too horrible to utter without circumlocution, but that is the sum of his reasoning.

According to Mr. Sweeney, all those precious invitations of the divine Spirit, abounding in the Bible, to erring men to abandon the ways of folly, and walk in virtue's ways, are all to be revoked. They will no longer be required, no longer be permitted, no longer have an opportunity, to be virtuous, and then they will be damned

forever, for not doing what they will not be allowed to do! And he even attempts to sustain such a terrible notion by the words of the blessed Jesus. He cites this passage, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Rev. xxii. 11. This sentence, he thinks, will be pronounced, at a great judgment day in the distant future, on all who die unregenerated. A brief examination of this passage will show the absurdity of his application. The verses immediately before and immediately after this passage read thus, "And he saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the TIME IS AT HAND." "And behold, I come QUICKLY." Eighteen hundred years ago, then, the time was AT HAND when the passage he cited was to be fulfilled. It was then to take place QUICKLY. According to my learned friend," at hand" and "quickly" mean several thousand years. Webster's Dictionary should be revised if Mr. Sweeney is right. The passage clearly has no reference to his judgment day, has no reference to the future world. But even if it does refer to the end of time, as he supposes, it will have to be altered before it will sustain his cause. "Let" will have to be changed to shall, and "still" to eternally. The gentleman will have to prove, that "quickly " and at "hand" mean several thousand years, that "let" means shall, and "still" means eternally, before the passage will contain one particle of evidence that God's blessed invitations to sinners to cease doing evil, and learn to do good, will ever be abrogated.

I am requested to "point out the Scripture, that speaks of the future reconciliation and salvation of sinners." The good book abounds with such testimony. Some of

it has already been presented, and more will be adduced from time to time.

All through his speech he assumes, that because some die unconverted, their endless damnation is sure. With equal sense he might assume, that because some are not converted at the age of twenty-one years, their damnation is sure. God's mercy and saving grace are not restricted to any age, or world, or place.

the most precious truths of the Bible.

That is one of

God is an omni

scient Spirit. His love, wisdom, justice, mercy, are manifested here and every where, now and forever.

"I cannot go

Where Universal Love not smiles around,
Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns ;
From seeming evil still educing Good,
And better thence again, and better still,
In infinite progression. But I lose
Myself in Him, in Light ineffable!"

Away, then, with the error, that the love and mercy of the august Being whose presence fills infinity, are all expended in regenerating a few souls on this little spot of the boundless universe of the infinite God. It is amazing that a Christian minister should entertain such partial, such contracted notions of the Builder and Governor of the universe. O my friend, sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn better. It is true, that many die sinners. But God does not die when sinners die; neither is he transformed into a fiend when sinners die. He still lives and loves; his arms of mercy are still extended, and a new robe is ever ready for the penitent. "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," he says, to every repentant soul.

The gentleman tells us, that the reason why Jesus so loved sinners was, he knew they were not heirs of heaven,

were not children of God, but rather the children of satan. If Christ loved the children of an orthodox devil, he must have loved their father the devil himself. If sinners are really the children of such a devil, they are all devils themselves, for children always partake of the nature of their parents. If the devil is the father of sinners, they come into this world through the agency of satan, and are his offspring from their birth. If the devil. is totally depraved, his infant children are totally depraved. This, perhaps, is what Mr. Campbell means when he says, that children are sinful. According to our friend's luminous exposition, Jesus fell in love with the devil's offspring, and is trying to smuggle them from their rightful owner. Banish such folly from your mind, from your creed, from your heart. All mankind are God's children. Jesus tells sinners to pray, "OUR Father who art in heaven." Jesus told his disciples, soon after he selected them, that they should love their enemies, "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." God was then their Father, and of course, they his children, yet Christ told them to do something, that they might be his children. This is the explanation. God was their Father, they were his children, but their moral character was not yet Godlike, hence they were not God's children characteristically, morally. So, all sinners are children of God by nature, but not so morally. But when they observe the law of love, they are his morally, as well as by nature, and it was the mission of Jesus to transform our character into the divine image, and thereby make us God's children morally.

He tells us, that "God's mercy of itself never saved a soul." But it is through his mercy that salvation is at