The doctrine by which Universalists are specially distinguished is that of the final holiness and happiness of all men. While they hold many doctrines commonly believed by others, this doctrine of the eventual salvation of the whole human race is what particularly characterizes them.

There are two classes of them. One class believe that there will be no punishment at all beyond death and the grave. The other admit that there will be punishment after death, but deny that it will be eternal. Both classes agree in holding that ultimately all men will be saved. They both hold that all punishment is disciplinary in character, and denounce punishment of any other character as cruel and unjust. They contend that punishment is a means to an end, and that end the final separation of men from sin to holiness. They teach that punishment is remedial, not penal.

I make a very few quotations from Whittmore's "Plain Guide to Universalism."

" Universalists are those who believe in the eventual holiness and happiness of all the human race " (page 7). "The sentiment by which Universalists are distinguished is this:that at last every individual of the human race shall become holy and, happy " (page 15). "It makes no difference what are the individual's views concerning punishment, if he holds the doctrine above described. There are some Universalists who hold to punishment after death; nevertheless we are glad to hail them as Universalists. They agree with us in our views of the great consummation:all punishment, in their view, is disciplinary; and they denounce punishment, either in this world or the next, having any other object, as cruel and unjust" (page 17).

These quotations show that I have fairly and truly characterized Universalism. I have given a statement of what Universalism is that Universalists themselves subscribe to. It is practically a description of their distinguishing doctrine in their own terms.

I shall now inquire:Is it the doctrine of the Scriptures ? Does the word of God teach that all men will eventually be saved ? Is it revealed that every member of the human race will ultimately be restored to eternal happiness ?

Now, to answer these questions, it will not be necessary to inquire into the way in which Universalists use and explain the Scriptures. If the Scriptures show that there is a place of everlasting punishment, and that at the end of time a portion of the human race are sent there, that this is their final disposition, then the Scriptures establish the doctrine of everlasting punishment, and the Universalist use and explanation of the Scriptures must be incorrect.

In Philippians 2:10 we read of three spheres, the inhabitants of each of which must ultimately, by means of, or in the power of (see the Greek) the name of Jesus, bow the knee. And the next verse tells us that without exception every one in each of these spheres will be compelled to confess the Lord-ship of the Man that in obedience to God submitted to the ignominious death of the cross. Some one may perhaps say:Why, here is the very doctrine of Universalism! But is it so ?Let us see.

The three spheres mentioned are :the heavenly places, the earthly places, and the subterranean places (see Greek). The latter might be called the under-world, or the infernal world. Now, bear in mind, the ultimate and complete subjection to the power of the name of Jesus of all who people these three spheres is not in question. Our Lord, in John 12:32, said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will drag (Greek)* all [men] unto Me." *I have changed the word "draw" of our common version here to " drag; " not that I particularly object to "draw," "but a meaning has been attached to it which is not in the word in the Greek, helkuso, the force of which may be seen by its use elsewhere ; e.g., John 21:6, 11, "not able to draw" the net; "and drew their net to land." Also, Acts 16:19, "they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the market-place, unto the rulers." It is plain the thought of compulsion is in the word.* He there proclaimed the same truth that is insisted on in Phil, 2:10, 11, that if He gave Himself up to death for the glory of God, every being in the whole universe would be forced to own the power of His name. All would, either willingly or unwillingly, submit to Him.

Let us turn now to Col. 1:20. Here we read of the reconciliation of two of the spheres mentioned in Phil. 2:There is to be a time when the heavenly and earthly spheres will not only be in subjection to the Man of the cross, but in happy reconciliation to this subjection. Has this reconciliation been brought about ? As yet, only in part. There can be no question that the holy and elect angels are happily reconciled to the power of the name of Jesus. It is equally true that all from among men who have believed in Him, whether as departed spirits or as still living in this world, are joyfully reconciled to the eternal supremacy and glory of Jesus. The apostle says, in ver. 21, "And you, that were some-time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled." Thus far the reconciliation spoken of in ver. 21 has been accomplished. But more than this is to be looked for. Ver. 20 assures us that the time is coming when every being both in the heavenlies and the earthier will be reconciled, will be in willing and happy reconciliation to the power of the name of Jesus.

This is not true now of either the heavenlies or the earthier. Scripture teaches us that the heaven-lies are still defiled by the presence there of Satan and wicked spirits (these latter, of course, not the spirits of men). (See Job 1:6; 2:i; Ephesians 6:12, Greek.) But the time is coming when Satan and these wicked spirits will be cast out of the heaven-lies. (See Rev. 12:7-9.) This will be by the power of the name of Jesus, for it will be under the banner of the Man of the cross that Michael and his angels will fight. When this takes place, the heavenlies will be cleansed, and all beings remaining in them will be in happy reconciliation to the Lordship of Jesus. There will be there then the elect angels and the saints who will have been raised from among the dead, and have received their bodies like that of the Lord. There will not be one among either class but what will be in most hearty submission to Christ. The heavenlies will then be reconciled and will forever remain so.

But the earthier will not yet be reconciled. Later on, after three years and a half of great wrath upon the earth, Satan will be cast into a bottomless pit (chap. 20:3); and, no doubt, his angels will go there with him. But even this will not be the reconciliation of the earthier. It is true Christ will reign for a thousand years, but there will still be on the earth some who are not reconciled-some who will feign submission (see psalm 18:44, margin), though all openly in subject will have been cut off by the judgments of the Lord. When the thousand years of Christ's righteous reign have been fulfilled, then Satan will be let out of the pit, and he will gather the unreconciled in hostility against the earthly saints and the beloved city; but they will be all cut off by divine judgment. Satan will now, and only now, be cast into the lake of fire. When he is cast into the lake of fire, two men, the beast and the false prophet, will have been there one thousand years.
Now this casting of Satan into the lake of fire is his final disposition. He is sent there to remain there forever. We are told that the portion of Satan and these two men is to be tormented unceasingly and everlastingly.

But further, after Satan is sent to his final and eternal doom, the great white throne will be placed, and the physical heavens and earth will flee away from before Him who will sit upon it. The process of this is given in 2 Pet. 3:10. It will be a dissolution of the elements by fire, the result of which will be a renewed physical heaven and earth-a new earthly sphere completely cleansed and fully reconciled to the power of the name of Jesus. Every inhabitant of this sphere, the new heaven and earth, will joyfully own Him as Lord of all. This will be the realization of the reconciliation of the earthier mentioned in Col. 1:20.

In this passage just referred to, there is no mention of the subterranean world. We never read of its reconciliation; for of this Phil. 2:10 does not speak. If now we turn to Rev. 20:12-15, we find ourselves at the end of time, and the beginning of eternity. A thousand years before this, the righteous dead have been raised, so that the dead now are all wicked dead. There is no question of anybody but the wicked here. They are raised and made to stand before the great white throne; and when judged according to what is written in the books, the records of their deeds, they are sent into the lake of fire- the place prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt, 25:41).Now it is plain that this is the final disposition of the wicked. They are here sent to Satan's final and eternal doom, and, like the two men cast into it a thousand years before Satan will be, are to share that doom with him. It is perpetual and everlasting torment.

Here, in unceasing and everlasting punishment, the Scriptures leave them. Never once do they declare their eventual recovery. Never once do they speak of their being finally saved out of the lake of fire. They tell us plainly that at the end of time they will be sent there. There is therefore punishment after death. This punishment is "day and night, forever and ever." Universalism, then, is unscriptural and untrue.

Beloved reader, if the word of God declares what the everlasting doom of those who are unreconciled to Christ is, it also asserts the right of Christ to give eternal life to all who put their trust in Him. This right He exercises freely toward all who turn to Him in this the day of His grace. He that believes will not come into judgment; but the wrath of God will abide forever on those who refuse to bend the knee while His grace gives them the opportunity voluntarily to do so. But how awful the torment of the man who, with an unreconciled will and heart, will be obliged, by the power of the name of Jesus, perpetually and eternally to declare the glory of a death he has despised! May the reader of this paper be saved from such an eternal doom. C. Crain