'The chaff, it is written, will be thrown into the fire; but not a single grain of the wheat, that grew in the chaff; chaff can never be made wheat, nor wheat chaff. Tares never were good seed, nor never can be. Human nature was good when sown in the earth, but the enemy came and sowed his tares, and they will both grow together until the harvest; but no longer. The harvest is the end of the world, when the seed sown by the enemy shall be separated from the human nature, which was the seed sown by the Son of man; and, consequent upon this separation, the "people shall be all righteous; Isaiah lx. 21, Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.'

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Take away all sin, and the people will be all righteous. Sin is of the devil; it is the work of the devil; it is the seed of the serpent. But the human nature was not the seed of the serpent. It was God sowed this seed, and it is God who will reap it; and when he has thoroughly purged his floor, he will gather it into his garner. Observe, it is God who will do this; it is God who will thoroughly purge his floor, &c. &c.'

These were clearly Mr. Murray's views concerning sin, and its punishment, and the method of salvation. The sentiments of Mr. Winchester, therefore, in regard to punishment, he could in no degree approve.

'I have been conversing says he,' with a number of Mr. W—'s hearers, and I find them eagerly expecting life eternal, consequent upon regeneration, their own inherent holiness, their own faith, their own works, &c. &c.

Future punishments too, and for sin, make a part of their creed; and indeed, the only existing difference between them and that religious world, from which they have separated themselves, consists in a persuasion that the wicked may, and will, when cast into prison, pay by their own sufferings the uttermost farthing of their own debts, and that then they will of course be liberated.-Letters, &c. i. 348, 349.

He remarks in another place: 'I do not know now a single preacher in this country, if I except Rev. John Tyler, of Connecticut, who is with me in sentiment respecting gospel truth, although there are many private Christians who are happy in the belief of those glad tidings, which the angels delighted to proclaim. There are, as I informed you in my last, who preach another gospel, who assure us that all mankind will finally, through their own doings and sufferings, enter into life, forasinuch as God willeth that all men should be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth. Of this number is Mr. W., of whom I have spoken in former letters, and who is now in England. He is a zealous man, and an animated preacher. We can rarely discover any difference between him and the Methodists, except where they speak of the never-ending torments of the wicked.-Here he differs from them, for he supposes the wicked will be tormented only a few thousand years, or ages, or millions of years, according to the

magnitude of their transgressions, until being brought to love and serve God acceptably, they will be forever happy with the Lord.' -Letters, &c. ii. 277.

And he also remarks to a friend, much to the same purpose, "You inform me you have been told I am a Universalist; upon Mr. W.'s plan I am not. Mr. W. preaches the restitution of devils; I am not sent to preach to devils. Mr. W. considers weak, ruined individuals as paying their own debts; yea, to the uttermost farthing. I see no strength but in Christ Jesus; be you assured, therefore, I am not of Mr. W.'s school. I receive the doctrine of the general restitution, as did the Apostle Peter, according to the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets, ever since the world began. If your views of the great redemption be not as mine, I judge you not, I censure you not, I do not love you the less.'-Ibid. ii. 263.

Again: A second class of Universalists insist on purgatorial satisfaction, according to which, every man must finally become his own Saviour; for, if I must suffer as much in my own person, as will satisfy divine justice, how is, or how can Jesus Christ be my Saviour?

'If this purgatorial doctrine be true, the ministry of reconciliation, committed to the apostles, must be false; to wit, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto them their trespasses. In fact, I know no description of people farther from christianity, true christianity, than such Universalians. O, my friend, how exceeding difficult it is to keep in the narrow way! How much like a broken bow, is the human heart! How very ready to start aside! As I descend into the vale of life, these discoveries give me a taste of sorrow, and I anticipate a harvest of evil.'-Ibid. ii. 130.

Mr. Murray has given his views, perhaps, more fully on this subject in his Hints relative to forming a Christian church,' published in 1791, than in any other place. He was describing the different kinds of Universalists.

"There are a class of Universalists more respectable than the former, who insist, that although all mankind will finally be saved, they have much to perform or to suffer, in order to satisfy divine justice before this event can take place. All, say these Universalists, who have not a perfection of holiness in themselves in the present state, all who are not in this distempered state, pure in heart, must, before they can see God in glory, pass through a purgatorial fire, and there suffer some thousands of years, until they have paid the utmost farthing of the debt they owed the just God, according as the account stands in the book of the law; but when they have suffered, the just for the unjust, then they shall come forth with pure hearts filled with fervent affection to him, who graciously condescended to let them pay their own debt. These are called Universalists, and indeed they are Universalists in the strictest sense of the word, for as they do not conceive it is the

blood of Jesus, which cleanseth from all sin, so they imagine, that the same mode of procedure, which is adopted for the salva. tion of all men, will equally apply to fallen angels, and they therefore believe in the salvation of devils. That our Saviour passed by the nature of angels, and took upon him the seed of Abraham, makes, in the view of these Universalists, no difference; for as mankind must after all suffer for their own sins, devils can do the same, and therefore be saved in the same way. What God will do with the fallen angels, after they are sent into the fire prepared for them, I know not. "Men are the books we ought to read; the proper study of mankind is man."

'We go no farther in our inquiries than our own nature; so far these Universalists accompany us; but leave us here, and we are better pleased to find them advocates for salvation in any way. than if they were laboring to prove the eternal ruin of the greater part of God's offspring. Yet we conceive these sectarians cannot, with any degree of propriety, be called Universalists on apostolic principles; nor does it appear, that they have any idea of being saved by or in the LORD with an everlasting, or with any salvation. It is difficult to know what they will have to thank God for, at last, they having paid their own debt, and satisfied divine justice in their own persons. I wonder not, that such Universalists as these are opposed, and with success by the partialists. Such universalists have nothing to do with the ministry of reconciliation: the doctrines of the atonement and acceptance in the beloved is out of their plan; such doctrines are considered by them as unfriendly to holiness; such Universalists as these, are as far from the doctrines of the gospel on one side, as their opponents are on the other. These are Pharisaical Universalists, Universalists who are willing to justify themselves; and such Universalism as this will be much more acceptable to an adulterous generation, than the Universalism found in the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. We are very much at a loss to account for the suffering of Christ at all on the plan adopted by these Universalists; he either suffered for the unjust, or he did not; if he did not suffer for the unjust, he must have suffered very unjustly, inasmuch as he did not personally deserve sufferings, he in himself being holy, harmless, and undefiled. If he did suffer for the unjust, he either satisfied divine justice, or he did not; if he did not, then his resurrection is not our justification, nor did he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; then he cannot be the Saviour of the world, or of any individual in the world; nor can God be just, if he justifies the ungodly, and, of course, with respect to sinners, as their Saviour, he died in vain.

'If he did satisfy divine justice, and make reconciliation for iniquity, then this man is our peace, and we have the atonement, and God is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; then he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, and is just, although a

Saviour. The inconsistent plan, adopted by this class of Univer salists, is supported like all others of the same complexion by false views of some divine passages in the book of God. When they considered the tares and the goats as wicked men, sent into everlasting fire to do what Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, came to do, and which, by a single word, he can and will show them he hath done; they must of course continue in this everlasting fire, until the business be done, until complete satisfaction be made.'Letters, &c. iii. 359, 359.

The question, may here very properly be put, what were Mr. Murray's own views in regard to the future condition of those who died in unbelief or ignorance of the great salvation? Did he believe that they would be ushered immediately into the presence of God at death? He did not. Objecting to the sentiments of those who held 'that all mankind will be on a level in the article of death,' he maintained that if Jesus having abolished death was sufficient to put all upon a level in death, it was sufficient to put all on a level in life also, which certainly it did not do. God, it is true, hath ransomed all men; but none of the ransomed can be saved from misery until made acquainted with God as their Saviour. He who dies in unbelief,' says he, 'lies down in sorrow, and will rise to the resurrection of damnation, or, more properly, condemnation. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound; it is they, and they only, that walk in the light of God's countenance. If this was not the case, where would be the necessity of preaching the gospel at all? If, in the article of death, every one for whom Christ died were made acquainted with him, and consequently, with the things that made for their peace, why trouble mankind, in life, about these matters? Why go forth as sheep among wolves, suffering everything that the malice of blind zeal can inflict, in order to turn men from darkness to light, if the period to which we are all hastening, will effectually open the eyes of the understanding? If death destroys all distinctions, would it not be well to say, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry; for to-niorrow we die?" "We are commanded to preach the gospel, and this is a sufficient reason why we should preach the gospel." Very true; but why are we commanded to preach the gospel? Is it not, that faith may come by hearing, and that, living by faith on the Son of God, we may finish our course with joy? But, if every one of the ransomed race are to be equally happy in death, then, although they did not live by faith, they, nevertheless, finish their course with joy, nor shall any individual arise to the resurrection of condemnation. This may be consolatory, but it is not scriptural. These sectarians, aware of this error, support it by another, and, therefore, deny a future judgment.

'Blessed, saith the the Holy Spirit, are the dead, who die in the LORD; they rest from their labors. But if all are alike in death, it may be said, Blessed are the dead, who die in their sin, that is, in unbelief, for they rest from their labors; but this cannot be, since it

is only those, who believing the word of the gospel, put on the Lord Jesus, and having received him as their righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so walk in him, that they can be said to die in him. These, and these only, have part in the first resurrection, on whom the second death can have no power. These, in the resurrection, shall meet their Saviour with transport; they shall rise to the resurrection of salvation; they shall come to Zion with songs; they shall rejoice, while the many who are, nevertheless, redeemed, yet unacquainted with the things which make for their peace, and who rise in the second resurrection, shall be filled with anguish. It is from these unhappy, despairing beings, that the LORD God will wipe away all tears; it is from these benighted beings, that the hand of divine benignity shall take away the veil. Those who live and die in faith, shall have no tears to wipe away, no veil to remove. Tears, weeping, and wailing, will continue as long as unbelief, the procuring cause shall remain. These evils will be done away together, not in the article of death, but in the day of the LORD, when every eye shall see, and every tongue shall confess to the glory of the Father.'-Letters, &c. iii. 354, 355.

The 'day of the Lord' here spoken of was what Mr. Murray regarded as the day of judgment, at which time all misery and sorrowing and sighing shall cease. It was not, as Mr. Winchester believed, a day in which men would be sentenced to suffer the deserved punishment of their sins, but it was THE GREAT DAY OF UNIVERSAL JUBILEE, in which all unbelievers would be brought to the knowledge of the gospel, and seeing their names written in the book of life, would enter into the full fruition of eternal glory. Then would take place the separation of the sheep from the goats. The sheep are all those for whom the good Shepherd laid down his life-whose sins he bore, to wit, all mankind; for the Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all. The goats represent those things from which it is necessary to separate mankind, the sheep,—that is, the body of sin and death, in which Paul groaned, being burthened, and the fallen angels. Thus it will be said, on that great and glorious day of judgment, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared [not for mankind] but for the devil and his angels. Thus men shall be entirely delivered, every one of them, and joy shall take possession of every heart. These views will be found fully advanced in the extracts which follow, made promiscuously from his works.

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'The believer is, in death, peculiarly happy; he is then made perfect in holiness, and doth immediately pass into glory. He leaves every thing distressing behind, and enters into the glory of the Lord. Thus holy and thus blessed, he hath part in the first resurrection. The second death hath no power over him. He cometh not to the judgment; it is the world that will be judged. These having judged themselves, shall not be judged. These are not of the world, these were chosen out of the world. These rise to the