POPULAR DEBATE.-No. III.

RELATIVE TO THE CLOSING PARAGRAPH OF MATTHEW XXV.

UNIVERSALIAN VIEWS OF SAID PASSAGE.

I feel, my auditors, the magnitude of the task I have undertaken relative to the subject before us: it is two-fold in its nature; first, o uproot from your minds prepossessions of long standing, and associated with your earliest remembrances: and secondly, to introduce and impress in their stead ideas entirely novel to you, and in contrariety to those entertained by full fifteen sixteenths of all christendom. Nevertheless, as I have in my own mind the utmost assurance of the truth of my views, and as I know the documents by which I am to sustain them to be clear and unequivocal, I enter upon the undertaking without the smallest solicitude as to the result; requesting only that you will listen to, and weigh with impartial attention, all that shall be adduced on both sides. As my friend of the opposite faith is to follow in a review of my arguments, I shall not anticipate many of his objections; but will attend to them, as they come from himself, in my rejoinder "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and

me.

say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Then shall he say also unto them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal." (Mat. xxv. 31-46.) 1st. I observe that there is no mention in the text of a reference to the future world; no intimation that the events it describes are to transpire subsequent to the resurrection; all this rests on the mere assumption of our opponents. On the contrary, the passage bears evidence on its face that its true and intended application is to things of time: this is what I propose to make apparent, in opposition to the generally received opinion, that it describes a judgment in eternity. Mark well the reading of the passage: "And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another." Separate whom? Every grammarian knows that nations is the antecedent to the pronour them in this place; nations, then, are what are to be judged, and separated, at the time to which the text looks forward this is a different thing entirely from the sort of judgment to which it is commonly applied; for that supposes that all the human family will be parcelled out, according to moral classification, and severed individually from one another: husband from wife, parent from child, &c. but nothing of the kind is intimated here. Are our opponents willing to abide a literal application of the text to a judgment in eternity? If so, we shall have the different nations of mankind severed from each other; and whilst some, en masse, are taken to heaven, others will be driven to hell! Surely they will not admit this as true; and yet on their own plan of exposition it most assuredly is, according to the grammatical import of the language.

bible, and to the "For I was an

2nd. If this text describes an after-death judgment, it is plain that salvation will be awarded strictly on the ground of works! and this is contrary to the plain teaching of the avowed doctrine of every protestant church! hungered, and ye gave me meat:" &c. No mention made of faith, repentance, regeneration, or any other generally admitted prerequisite to salvation.

3d. These features (not to mention others) of the text, demand for it an exposition different from that which is usually given; this I shall in all simplicity attempt. Observe then, that the subject matter of it is, the coming of Christ in glory-accompanied by angels-the gathering of all nations—and the rewarding them according to their works. Suppose now that it can be shown, that these events were to transpire within a third of a century from the time of Christ's ascension: will not the popular views concerning it be at once refuted? Well, this is precisely what 1 propose to do.

4th. See first, verses 30, 31, of the preceding chapter: "And then shall appear the sign of the. Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Can it be denied that this is the identical coming noticed in my text? Mark well, then, the verses immediately succeeding, "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree, When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Here you have the time fixed by the solemn asseveration of Christ himself. And that you may be assured that this parallelism is not solitary, nor accidental, I will introduce Mark and Luke to the same point; in Mark xiii. 26-30, it reads as follows: "And then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Now, learn a parable of

the fig-tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye, in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, That this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." In Luke, chapter xxi. 28-32, the same is expressed in nearly the same terms: "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig-tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of yourselves that summer is nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled." Here are three distinct testimonies to the fact that the coming of Christ to judge the nations, was to take place within the then existing generation. Christ even proceeds to caution his disciples how to regulate their conduct with reference to that event; that it might not come upon them by surprise; which clearly implies that they should live to witness it. "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come on you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke xxi. 34—6.) It would at once astonish and amuse you, my auditors, to know how erudite commentators have strained their learning and ingenuity in order to reconcile these passages with their pre-conceived opinion, that the coming of Christ is to ensue at the end of time. Dr. Clarke even carries his efforts at evasion so far as to affirm, that by "this generation," Christ may have meant that race of people, viz., the Jews that they should not become extinct as a nation before he should come to judge the world! But this is pitiful, yea contemptible: for

5th. The same evangelists have recorded another declaration of Christ to the same effect, and in phraseology which will not bear such an interpretation; and, besides, the contexts of the ditferent passages already quoted make it clearly manifest, that the

word gencration was used by the Saviour to denote, the people of that age. "For these," said he, "be the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled :" (Luke xxi. 22.) again, at the close of his description of Jerusalem's overthrow, he proceeds to tell that his coming shall be " immediately after the tribulation of those days;" (Mat. xxv. 29.) and in Mark xiii, the same is repeated in another form, "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken: and then they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven :" &c. (24-26.) and his caution to his disciples immediately follows, implying, as before remarked, that his coming was to take place in their day, for they are told to look for their Lord; "lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping." (36.) And yet grave and erudite biblical critics inform us, that (although eighteen centuries are since elapsed) this event is yet to transpire! But we will look at other scriptural testimonies.

See, first, Mat. xvi. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (27, 28.) What think you now? Did Christ's appearance in his glory, to reward and punish, occur in that age; or are some that were then among his auditors still living on the earth? To the same purpose speaks Mark, "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." (viii. 38.) " And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." (ix. 1.) And Luke, “ For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But 1 tell you of a truth, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.” (ix. 26, 27.) Surely testimonies so emphatic, and repeated, should be admitted