to assert something of this nature, it is because he is not understood. But they are not at liberty to set their judgments up as the standard, or to say, We will believe so much of what he says as harmonizes with our conceptions of the case. Το do this, is to substitute the nature of the testimony instead of the character and qualifications of the witness, as the ground of credence. It is to say that the witness has and can have no claim to confidence, no absolute credibility in himself, but is to be impugned or doubted at the whim of any listener. It is thus entirely to reverse the order of things. It is to upset and disregard every law of evidence. It is virtually, to put court and jury upon the witness-stand, by giving them the right to say what testimony must be given to be believed, instead of requiring them to take the attitude of learners, and to make up a verdict according to the facts reported.

The pertinency of all this, as bearing upon Christ's relations to us, cannot fail to be seen. He offers himself to us as the telescope God has given, through which we may study the firmament of spiritual truths. He says he is the witness God has put upon the stand, to inform us of the facts of being. He is what he thus asserts, or he is not. Is he? or is he not? This is the question for us to decide; and in deciding it, our inquiry is to be, not primarily, What does he say? but, What are his vouchers?

On this issue, it is competent for us to put him to the proof, and to use our reason and moral judgments in examining the evidence he submits. It is competent for us, still further, to use our reason and moral judgments in interpreting his testimony, and thus to determine whether or not a given interpretation is worthy of our acceptance as in harmony with his character, with the principles he proclaims, or with those moral sentiments and needs and primal instincts to which he habitually appeals. But in respect to his testimony itself, if we decide that he is the spiritual telescope, the Godsent witness he affirms he is, we have no right, when we have used the best means at our command to interpret it, except to receive it as the infallible truth; and the moment we begin to question whether this or that portion of it is true, or to assume

that it is for us to decide, by standards within ourselves, how much of it we will, or will not, believe, that moment we deny that he is reliable at all; that moment we do precisely what the astronomer would do, who, reversing his glass, should look into himself to study the heavens, or insist that he would believe only so much of what his telescope reports as seems to him probable; that moment we do precisely what a judge and the jury would do, who — instead of saying to a witness, Furnish evidence of your reliability, and then tell us what you know, assured that we shall believe what you say should proclaim, Tell us what we think ought to be true, or we shall turn you out of court!

Already we have But, as we said in

We will not pursue the subject further. far exceeded the limits we had proposed. opening, the subject is vital to our Christian faith, and it has grown upon us in our desire to make the treatment of it as thorough as possible. We cannot but think the conclusion for which we have argued, unmistakably reached. For ourselves, at least, this conclusion has all the clearness and force of demonstration; nor can we understand, we are frank to say, how it can be otherwise to any one professing the slightest faith in Christ's Providential mission and miraculous credentials, or even in his honesty and good sense. We can understand how one who pronounces Christ a pretender and Christianity an imposture can deny his infallible authority; but we can only wonder in utter amazement at those who deny it, and yet talk of Christ as worthy of our confidence as a good man ; and above all, at those who deny it, and yet say that he was, in any sense, specially sent of God, to teach and save the world. The only logical position in respect to this subject, the only position that can make the remotest pretence even to the commonest consistency, we are more and more convinced, is the position of the old infidels who frankly said, Christ is a cheat, and we reject him altogether; or the position of those who, bowing at his feet in the confession of his absolute right to say what we shall believe and what we shall do, cry, "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief."

ARTICLE XVI.

German Universalists.

"UNIVERSALISM: That is, God all in all. The Scripture doctrine of the Restoration of All Things: enlarged by abstracts from writers of ancient and modern times, for the instruction of those to whom salvation in Christ has been obscured by the doctrine of endless damnation." With an Introduction, by J. Messner, of Stammheim. Stuttgart, 1863.

THE first excitement produced by the Reformation had hardly ceased, when the freedom of thought which was awakened thereby opened new channels that had hitherto been pent up. The human mind is naturally active. It is often influenced by its surroundings. Germany is, so to speak, an inland country, isolated, to a certain degree, from the great highways of commerce; and therefore its people could not enter so extensively as other nations into that pursuit. The piratical tendencies of the Northmen were gradually softened, and are now manifest in commercial pursuits among their descendants, whose white sails dot every sea. And a similar or even greater change has come over that wild, liberty-loving, persevering, and especially the idolatrous spirit of the barbarous hosts who carried terror into Italian homes; who, with their bravery and utter disregard of life, also exhibited an ardent devotion to their grim gods and their religion; who longed that their souls might dwell forever in the Walhalla, there to drink the nectar of immortality from cups formed of the skulls of their enemies slain in battle. It is manifested in the ardor that is displayed in the study of the arts and sciences, especially theology, which affords the widest scope to minds naturally prone to contemplate upon the mysteries that surround them. As the fathers were devoutly attached to their deities, whom they supposed to rule the elements, so are their children to the true God, the universal Father, who "dwell. eth not in temples made with hands," and to Jesus, his Son, the universal Saviour. They knew not what they worshipped; but their descendants sought the truth, and gradually found

it. The truth glimmered through the mists of the Middle Ages, occasionally exhibited in splendid coruscations of light in the midnight of heathenism, as also amidst the dense fogs which the church of Rome spread over the face of Southern and Central Europe. But there was an inherent principle of religion, a respect for things sacred, which could not be uprooted by the grossest forms of heathenism, nor by the corruptions to which Christianity was subjected. In the cells of the cloisters the truth often found a home; the universal Father was often there worshipped and adored in a manner and with an understanding that would reflect credit upon any in our time, surrounded as we are with civilization. Among the Mystics, we find not a few, who looked upon God as the Father of all, and who will eventually save all.

These Mystics were firm believers in future punishment; but in not a few instances, some of them openly announced their belief in the eventual purification of all men. It must be borne in mind that the doctrine of purgatory favored this idea. The church fathers, it appears, gave great prominence to future disciplinary punishments; and notwithstanding the terrible threatenings which their writings contain, an end to punishment, and a restoration of the offender, is often hinted, if not openly announced. Origen proclaimed it boldly. It shines forth dimly in Irenæus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Ambrose.'

1 Our compiler gives an extract from Tertullian, which, although it is not directly connected with German Universalism, we cannot refrain from introducing. As we have no translation in English, we re-translate it from the German rendering:

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"When time shall have passed away, when the world shall have been delivered up in the great day of the Lord - that day of wrath and recompense- which is now hid from us, and only known to the Father, yet still prepared by signs and wonders, in the rending of the elements and commotions among the people, then will the saints receive an angelic nature and being. No one enters heaven; for so long as the earth remains, it is locked up from us. Only when the world is destroyed will the kingdoms of heaven be opened. Everything that heretofore existed shall then be restored. How wonderful is this arrangement in nature! In order to preserve, she destroys; in order to give, she takes away; in order to renew, she corrupts; in order to increase, she lessens; in fine, everything will be more beautiful and perfect; and truth and justice shall rise above falschood and injus- `

There was, no doubt, much of Universalism existing among the Fathers, if Neander and other historians are to be credited. The venerable Hosea Ballou 2d has brought to light a great deal thereof, in his "Ancient History of Universalism." The field for this kind of labor is wide, and we hope that some new laborer will enter upon and finish the work so well begun by Dr. Ballou. He will derive great assistance from the labors of German theologians.

We have stated that the doctrine was held to a very great extent among the Mystics, and it was also entertained by others who lived before the Reformation. Albert, Bishop of Regensburg (commonly called Albertus Magnus), who lived in the year 1205, believed in the redemption of all, as the accompanying extract will show :

"This (the restoration of all) will occur when all love, all desires, every effort, mind, and thought, everything that has transpired, which transpires now, and which is yet to occur, everything that is said and hoped, shall belong to God; and the unity which exists between the Father and the Son shall be manifested in all hearts."

His arguments for the restoration of all mainly consist in the love of God, in the reconciling power of the gospel, and in the order and harmony that is manifested in the works of Providence. He but followed, in this respect, Erigena Scotus, who lived and taught in England, in the ninth century.

During the Reformation, we find but little of Universalism. The whole influence of the Catholic church was undoubtedly used to suppress it and every other doctrine that conflicted with priestly prerogatives. Still the church had not sufficient power to destroy it entirely. The seed sown by the apostles and fathers had been wafted into every portion of the then known world, and though many efforts were made to destroy it, it yet found a place to grow where we should have least

tice. That which you lose will be restored. Everything returns to its proper place; everything begins where it has ended. All things end, in order that they may begin. Nothing is lost, unless it is in order to save.'

Whatever else Tertullian may have written, this seems to have the ring of the pure metal.