xiii. 10. This is a very forcible argument. God's nature is the very essence of benevolence, and benevolence cannot be the origin of endless evil. If love worketh no ill, God can work no ill; and, therefore, God cannot be the author of endless evil. 13. God loves all mankind. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." John iii. 16; and, as Jesus died for all men, so God loves all men. This argument adds great force to the last. 14. God loves even his enemies. For he requires men to love their enemies, which he could not do if he hated his. (Matt. v. 44.) And Jesus declared, "for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Luke vi. 35. This is but an amplification of the preceding argument. If God loves his enemies, he certainly loves all men; for no one doubts that he loves his friends. And can God cause those to be endlessly miserable whom he loves? THE WISDOM OF GOD. 15. God is wise; and it cannot be a dictate of wisdom to create beings, and then make their existence a curse by entailing endless suffering to it. God foresaw all the consequences of our creation when he made us. He knew fully what the result would be to each individual. Is it possible, that infinite goodness could breathe life into unoffending dust, when it was clearly foreseen that endless evil would ensue? It was not possible. God must have created only to bless. "Love worketh no ill." 16. The wisdom of God is "full of mercy," and "without partiality." James iii. 17. "Full of mercy," says Adam Clarke, i. e. "ready to pass by a transgression, and to grant forgiveness to those who offend; and PERFORMING EVERY POSSIBLE ACT OF KINDNESS." Surely, a God of infinite power and skill, who "performs every possible act of kindness," will save his fallen creatures from their sins. "Without partiality," i. e. without making a difference. God is no respecter of persons. He is kind to all men and he will perform every "possible act of kindness " to all men. THE PLEASURE OF GOD. 17. The pleasure of God is in favor of the salvation of all men; and, therefore, neither death, sin, nor pain, can be the ultimate object of God in reference to man. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Death, and sin, and pain, may exist for a time; but if God have no pleasure in them of themselves, they are not the end at which he aims, but the means by which he accomplishes that end. The end in which God rests as his pleasure, design, or purpose, must be essentially benevolent, because he is essentially a benevolent God. Neither death, nor sin, nor pain, can be his ultimate plan or pleasure; they are the means by which his holy and righteous designs are carried into effect. 18. God created all men expressly for his pleasure, and, therefore, not for ultimate death. "Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev. iv. 11. Adam Clarke has a fine remark on this passage. He says, "He made all things for his pleasure; and through the same motive he preserves. Hence, it is most evident, that he hateth nothing that he has made; and could have made no intelligent creature with the design to make it eternally miserable. It is strange, that a contrary supposition has ever entered into the heart of man; and it is high time that the benevolent nature of the Supreme God, should be fully vindicated from aspersions of this kind." 19. The pleasure of God shall prosper in the hand of Christ. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Isaiah liii. 10. Clarke says, on Isaiah liii. 10, that the pleasure of God is, "to have all men saved, and brought to the knowledge of the truth.". Compare this with the 20th section. 20. God's pleasure shall surely be accomplished. "So shall my word be that goèth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah lv. 11. "I will do all my pleasure." xlvi. 10. Does not this passage show that God's PLEASURE shall certainly be accomplished? His word shall not return unto him void: it shall accomplish what he please, and prosper in the object which he sent it to accomplish. God has no pleasure in the death or suffering of the sinner. That was not the object of creation. God created men for his pleasure, and his pleasure shall certainly be accomplished. 66 THE PURPOSE OF GOD. 21. God hath purposed the salvation of all men. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." Eph. i. 9, 10. It is evident from this passage, that God hath purposed to gather together all things in Christ. God's purpose agrees with his will or pleasure. He wills to have all men saved; he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; and accordingly he hath purposed to gather together in one, all things, in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth. This is God's purpose; this is what he hath purposed in himself. And this is not the gathering together of those things only which are in Christ, but the gathering together of all things in him. "Unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Gen. xlix. 10. And Jesus confirms this: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John xii. 32. Thus we see all things are to be gathered into Christ. They are all to have his spirit, and partake of his new creation; for "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things By the phrase says, is meant, See the neuter See more on 27. 22. The purpose of God cannot fail: it must certainly be accomplished. "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand." Isaiah xiv. 24. "For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" "I have purposed it, I will also do it." xlvi. 11. Now, whatever God purposes must take place. God can have no second thoughts; he cannot see reason to change his own plans. He has the power to work all things according to his purpose; hence, Paul speaks of "the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel [i. e. the previous consultations.or deliberations] of his own will." Eph. i. 11. What, then, shall hinder the accomplishment of this purpose? Has God designed a work which he cannot do? Has he formed a plan which he cannot execute? No; the concurrent testimony of the sacred writers is, that whatever God has purposed, SHALL BE DONE. So let it be, O Lord. THE PROMISES OF GOD. 23. God promised to Abraham, his servant, that he would bless all mankind, in his seed. "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xii. 3. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." xxii. 18. All the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth, according to this promise, are to be blessed in the seed of Abraham. The language is absolute it is without any condition. "All the nations of the earth shall be blessed." And who is this "seed of Abraham," in whom all the nations and families of the earth shall be blessed? I agree with Dr. Adam Clarke on this matter. He says, in his note on Gen. xii. 3, "In thy posterity, in the Messiah, who shall spring from thee, shall all families of the earth be blessed; for as he shall take on him human nature, from the posterity of Abraham, he shall taste death for every man; his gospel shall be preached throughout the world, and innumerable blessings be derived on all mankind, through his death and intercession." 24. God made the same promise to Isaac. "I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father, and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Gen. xxvi. 3, 4. This passage is precisely of the same import with those quoted under section 23. It refers to precisely the same subject, and asserts the same facts. We repeat it here, because God saw fit to repeat the same promise to Isaac which he had made to his father Abraham; and it forms a distinct argument of itself. 25. The same promise was repeated to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. "And in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.". Gen. xxviii. 14. The apostle Paul (and higher authority we do not wish) fully settles the question in regard to who is meant by the "seed of Abraham." "Now to Abraham and his seed, were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, WHICH IS CHRIST." Gal. iii. 16. Christ, then, is the seed of Abraham; and in him ALL the nations and families of the earth shall be blessed. He says, 26. Peter, the apostle, understood this promise as referring to the salvation of men from sin, by Jesus Christ. "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds |