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 THE WOED! 
 
 ST. JOHN I. 
 
#. 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/wordoruniversalrOOdela 
 
fi 
 
 #■ 
 
y^^t^D/k^i^^ '^^ ^^^ 
 
THE WORD! 
 
 OK, 
 
 UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION AND SALVATION: 
 
 "PREOEDAINED BEFOEE ALL WORLDS." 
 
 A MOEEi EVANGELICAL, PHILANTHEOPIC, AND 
 CHEISTIAN INTEEPEETATION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ALMIGHTY GOD'S SACRED PROMISES 
 
 OF 
 
 INFINITE MERCY, FORGIVENESS, AND GRACE! 
 
 REVERENTLY SUBMITTED TO CHllISTENDOM, BY 
 
 GEORGE MARIN DE LA VOYE/ 
 
 A SEPTUAGENARIAN OPTIMIST. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WHITTAKEE AND CO., AVE MAEIA LANE. 
 
 TRUBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 {Copyright and Right of Translation reserved.] 
 
TO THE 
 
 FAITHFULLY EVANGELICAL 
 
 AND 
 
 FEKVENTLY CHRISTIAN CLERGIES, MINISTRIES, 
 
 AND LAITIES 
 
 OF 
 
 ALL KINGDOMS AND NATIONS, 
 
 AS A 
 
 SINCEEE TESTIMONIAL OF BROTHERLY LOVE IN JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 THESE inspired! INTERPRETATIONS OF INTRICATE PASSAGES 
 
 AND 
 
 MYSTICALLY VEILED ^ ALLUSIONS IN HOLY "WRIT, 
 
 ARE 
 
 RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 
 
 INSCRIBED BY 
 
 GEORGE MARIN HE LA VOYE.^ 
 
P B E F A C E. 
 
 TO PIOUS READERS OF ALL PERSUASIONS. 
 
 Incessaxtly driven into the most perplexing, yet greatly 
 reluctant doubts, (from our tenderest* youth^ upwards,) during 
 the perusal of those indubitably veracious and sacred Beeords, 
 so mercifully transmitted to us, " from everlasting," by the 
 Omniscient and Omnipotent Lord of Eternal Life and Truth, 
 through infinite love and paternal goodness, we finally deter- 
 mined, not without duly entreating for " promised aid from 
 above," to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, more 
 diligently and more trustfully than ever, — 
 
 "The Word "in its boundless terrestrial and celestial 
 sense of divine affection — 
 
 " The Word " in its, spiritual and immortal, avowed re- 
 lationship to man — 
 
 " The Word" as the almighty "Alpha and Omega" of all 
 Christian, temporal, and never-ending human and concomi- 
 tant* existencies — 
 
 The All-sufficiently Gtracious Word, in Trinity most 
 solemnly declared as, The Father, The Son, and The Holy 
 
 * For ttese referential numbers, see Notes at the end. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 Ghost, our infinitely compassionate Redeemer and All-for- 
 giving^ Judge and Saviour ! and thus, we triumphantly and 
 most gratefully discovered that (through " mysteriously hid- 
 den" divine motives, which we cannot, as yet, perfectly unravel, 
 albeit we are thoroughly persuaded they, one and all, wholly 
 tend to "fallen men's," as much so as to "fallen angels'," 
 universal redemption and salvation), we most gratefully and 
 triumphantly discovered, that — 
 
 Those sacred Records had, purposely, not been permitted to 
 be fully understood ; and we, most unaccountably, felt it our 
 " suddenly inspired" duty to make known, in what manner, 
 with what spiiit, under what present Christian faith, (with 
 suitable precursory prayers,) we should endeavour to compre- 
 hend, without delay, in these ominous and portentous days, 
 the length and breadth, the height and depth, the infinitude 
 of the Almighty's parental Love to us, His prodigal sons ; 
 through some inconceivable cause, originally estranged, long 
 before all worlds, and now most evidently gathered back by 
 the actual operations of divine grace ; in the glorious name, 
 and through the incalculable merits of Jesus Christ, the well- 
 beloved Son of God, the Almighty Messiah ; 
 
 "THE WORD!" 
 Read, and judge for yourselves, dear readers, whether we 
 have, under the Holy Ghost's infallible guidance, and the 
 blessing of God, really discovered that only way, which 
 leadeth to the Universal Salvation of All. 
 
 G. N. V. 
 
DIVINE INTEODUCTION. 
 
 " Your Father knoweth wliat things ye have need of, before 
 ye ask Him. 
 
 " After this manner therefore pray ye : 
 
 " Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 
 
 " Thy kingdom come. 
 
 " Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 
 
 " Give us this day our daily bread. 
 
 " And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 
 
 "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil : 
 
 " For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
 for ever. Amen. 
 
 " For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
 Father will also forgive you." 
 
 * See Lord's Prayer in the Index. 
 
For Answers to these Interrogatory Tests; first, 
 consult p. 313; and next, pp. 204, 299. 
 
 INTERROaATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. 
 
 1. How can " The Word " be differently, yet reverently, 
 interpreted ? See the whole book. 
 
 2. Is it possible to furnish satisfactory scriptural replies to 
 all the subsequent queries ? Consult the Index. 
 
 3. Why did the Lord G-od, in the beginning, create the 
 heaven and the earth ? 
 
 4. Why was Jesus Christ, first begotten in heaven, from 
 everlasting ? 
 
 5. Why were the devil and his angels driven from heaven, 
 to seek shelter on the dark earth ; in which, after a time, 
 Adam and Eve were to dwell ? 
 
 6. For what purpose was Satan ever admitted, with his 
 angels, within the sacred courts of heaven ? 
 
 7. Why were innocent beings like Adam and Eve created, 
 and exposed to the irresistible temptations of the Devil ? 
 
 8. Is there not a graciously hidden motive, for the permis- 
 sion of such perpetration, as the crime of Cain ? 
 
 9. Could not an excellent reason be given, for the presence 
 of angels in Eden, until the fall ? 
 
Xll INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. 
 
 10. Might not angels once have been our celestial com- 
 panions ; Jesus Christ, our Lord ; and the Holy Ghost, our 
 ever-present Guide, in the Kingdom of God ? 
 
 11. Must not the angels, after their expulsion, have under- 
 gone incarnation, on their reaching this sphere, to be rendered 
 accessible to earthly sufferings ? 
 
 12. In what way could our first parents have been redeemed 
 and saved ? 
 
 13. Ought we not to make the Lord's Prayer the principal 
 basis of our Christian, moral, and religious duties ? 
 
 14. Are we not incessantly to hope, having the Almighty 
 God as our Father ? 
 
 15. Should we not read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest 
 every word, that enables us better to understand the gracious 
 signification of the Lord's Prayer ? 
 
 16. What was the celestial existence of the Yirgin Mary, 
 before all worlds ? 
 
 17. Is Satan immortal ? Are his angels so ? 
 
 18. Which is the best Christian creed of all ? 
 
 19. Wliat are the greatest blessings, for which we should 
 thank the Lord God, with our endless love and gratitude ? 
 
 20. Who could prove that evil, in heaven, as well as in 
 earth, was not indispensable ? - 
 
 21. Why ought we to be indebted to God, beyond all 
 measure, for our forthcoming judgment day ? 
 
 22. May it not be probable, if not certain, that the fallen 
 angels were permitted to incarnate, for the sake of obtaining 
 Christian regeneration ? 
 
INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. Xlll 
 
 23. Is it not clear that former doctrines must be insufficient 
 in our present days ? 
 
 24. On what principles is a creation of new worlds abso- 
 lutely necessary ? 
 
 25. May we not reasonably, and piously, suppose that God 
 permits us to be tempted, from the best of Divine motives ? 
 
 26. Why was the Garden of Eden the principal gateway, 
 back to the kingdom of God ? 
 
 27. Was it not to serve almighty Mercy's ends, that Adam 
 fell? 
 
 28. May not Eve have purposely been less perfectly formed 
 than Adam, regarding purposes of grace ? 
 
 29. Can any sufficient reason be given for Satan's apparent 
 inadequate punishment in Eden ? 
 
 30. Are we not excusable when we attribute to the crime of 
 Cain a previously determined purpose of mysterious grace ? 
 
 31. Who can ascribe a satisfactory merciful use to the 
 existence of the original chaotic earth ? 
 
 32. May not countless numbers of our eyes have seen, in 
 our spiritual state, the wonders of Creation ? 
 
 33. Can any one account satisfactorily for the choice of 
 Peter, as an apostle, by Jesus Christ ? 
 
 34. Is it possible to give good reasons for our human claims 
 to angelic descent ? 
 
 35. Wherefore three Almighty Gods ? 
 
 36. May not years by myriads have elapsed during the 
 connubial connections of Angels with the daughters of 
 Men? 
 
XIV INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. 
 
 37. For what purpose was our merciful Eedeemer begotten 
 a first and second time ? 
 
 38. Are divine mysteries, with regard to our salvation, 
 to be for ever veiled ? 
 
 39. Had not our Almighty Father an ulterior object when 
 He sent His Son to be incarnated on earth, for our sake ? 
 
 40. Why do we pray not to be led into temptation, and 
 to be delivered from evil ? 
 
 41. Has any one adduced an appropriate reason for the 
 descent of Jesus Christ into hell ? 
 
 42. When was it necessary that angels should visit this 
 earth ? 
 
 43. Could it be imputed, without extenuation, as an excess 
 of cruelty, on the part of the Jews, to crucify Jesus Christ 
 between two malefactors ? 
 
 44. Where, in the Bible, are there to be found evidences, 
 that Resurrection does not exist ? 
 
 45. Are we not much indebted to the Jewish nation for 
 their oppression, during the Martyrdoms of the prophets and 
 Apostles ? 
 
 46. Was not our sacred Bible compiled under the sanction 
 of the Most Holy Trinity ? 
 
 47. Were not forms and ceremonies, and Eituals, divinely 
 encouraged during the Mosaic dispensation ? Were they 
 forbidden, by the Apostles, on the Advent of our blessed 
 Redeemer ? 
 
 48. How far back may we trace the Merciful Scheme of 
 our universal Christian Salvation ? 
 
INTERUOGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. XV 
 
 49. Have we been commanded, at any time, since the com- 
 mencement of the Christian era, to abstain from reading, 
 marking, and inwardly digesting, any portion of the autho- 
 rized Holy Testaments ? 
 
 50. Who is God ? What is He ? 
 
 51. What could possibly be the ultimate Destinies of the 
 fallen Angels ? 
 
 52. How will the Condemned Sinners eventually be treated 
 through infinite Grace ? 
 
 53. In what light did the Jewish nation stand, in the 
 Glorious Scheme of Universal Salvation ? 
 
 54. What was the Anti- Christian state of the Almighty 
 Jehovah's primeval Monocracy ? 
 
 55. Where was, primevally, the Holy Ghost, and why ? 
 
 56. May not a human trinity be discovered in man ? 
 
 57. What could positively be the meaning of, " Before all 
 worlds"? 
 
 58. Does it not appear to be a very great sin, to neglect 
 searching the Scriptures ? 
 
 59. How could the presence of Satan and Evil, in Heaven, 
 be anything else but gracious and salutary ? 
 
 60. What had the Lord God deemed very good to do ? 
 
 61. Can it be possible that eternal damnation may be 
 where Infinite Grace is found ? 
 
 62. What could fill primeval vacuity before all worlds ? 
 
 63. Is there a suitable name for antichristian sceptics ? 
 
 64. May not the guiltiest soul of all be saved ? 
 
 65. Was not the maternity of the Virgin Mary from ever- 
 lasting ? 
 
Xvi INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. 
 
 66. Have the Origin, Purpose, and Extent of the ways 
 of God ever been properly read, marked, learnt, and inwardly 
 digested ? 
 
 67. Must there not have been, anterior to our revealed 
 Triune Godhead, an unknown monotheistic autocracy ? 
 
 68. Had not the fall of the angels been everlastingly known 
 to the Almighty Father ? 
 
 69. Is the time at which all the human race and the fallen 
 angels shall be saved, without a single exception, satisfactorily, 
 that is, scripturally, ascertained ? 
 
 70. "Why should this book be most attentively read through 
 without apprehension or prejudice ? 
 
 71. Will Jews, Gentiles, and Atheists be condemned to 
 everlasting perdition at last ? 
 
 72. Are all those human acts we call virtues, accepted as 
 such in heaven ? 
 
 73. Can it be possible that the torments said to be inflicted 
 on the wicked, after the great judgment day, are for ever and 
 ever to last ? 
 
 74. What are the sad effects of those awful threats, and, 
 frequently too, the dreadful consequences of those appalling 
 chastisements and agonies, prophesied and described from the 
 pulpits of over- wrought Christian zealots ? 
 
 75. May not, after all, many of those stars and planets which 
 bespangle so gloriously the heavens of our present universe, 
 have been, and still be, compassionately prepared Reformatories 
 and Penitentiaries, that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, by 
 the will of God, have, from the beginning , appropriated to the 
 reception of those myriads of fallen spirits and souls, which 
 
INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. XVll 
 
 the blessed Son of God was, through permitted terrestrial 
 Incarnations, completely to redeem and to save ? 
 
 76. Why should we not furthermore imagine, that this very 
 terrestrial sphere itself, so evidently destroyed before, and in- 
 tentionally reduced to the chaotic mass, on which Satan fell 
 with his malignant hordes, might again be subjected to partial 
 destruction, for the gracious purpose of becoming the most 
 merciful scene of transitory human ordeals, tribulations, and 
 temptations, preordained to carry on and complete the gloiious 
 scheme of Universal Salvation ? 
 
 [See Index, for references.] 
 
PRINCIPAL OBJECTS OF THIS WORK. 
 
 Nothing iu Genesis, wliicli we purposely read over and over 
 again with the greatest attention, ever gave us the slightest 
 foundation for thinking that God, the Infinitely Merciful 
 Father and Creator of all things, had ever designed, when He 
 transformed the chaotic earth into an inhabitable world, to 
 make it any other place than a " transitory stage," suitable 
 to His vast scheme of merciful tribulations, indispensable 
 ordeals, perfect ultimate regenerations. 
 
 What miraculous proof of divine paternal love was this, the 
 Almighty's first step towards the accomplishment of universal 
 redemption and salvation ! 
 
 And consequently, when the Lord God breathed into the 
 nostrils of Adam the " breath of life," it was the " living soul " 
 of the least guilty of those hapless angels whom Satan had 
 been intentionally permitted to beguile out of the sacred path 
 of heavenly rectitude' * . . . This interpretation will be found 
 scripturally corroborated in the course of the following pages. 
 
 Being profoundly imbued with this constantly recurring 
 thought of the " Omnipotent Benevolence " of our blessed 
 Lord and Father, unremittingly progressing towards one 
 
 * For these referential numbers, see Notes at the end. 
 
 B 2 
 
XX . THE WORD. 
 
 single end — the total recovery of fallen souls — we very natu- 
 rally interpreted whatever we found in the Bible relating to 
 sin, its merited retributions and final remission, as miracu- 
 lously efiecting a gloriously paternal grand design of all- 
 sufficient, predestinated universal grace. 
 
 Our first object is then clearly evident. 
 
 It can be no other than a very excusable endeavour to 
 remove causes of unnecessary despair by fair admissions of 
 hope, built on the sacred words of holy writ. In this respect 
 we cannot help considering that our Christian end is ra- 
 tionally obtained. Heaven grant that it may be ! 
 
 Our next object became conspicuously important, and emi- 
 nently interesting to the religious world. 
 
 It was the discovery of some rational and legitimate means 
 whereby we could annihilate, in the sceptical unbeliever's 
 mind especially, the notion he pertinaciously entertains, that — 
 
 " The overthrow and banishment of the rebellious angels 
 was a fable. ^ 
 
 " The temptation of our first parents, a trivial tale.^ 
 
 *' The advent of Our Saviour, a huge and ridiculous impo- 
 sition." ' 
 
 Lamentable state, alas ! of deep darkness. 
 
 A second victory awaited us, in like nianner, here ; for all 
 mysteries instantly ceased, in our own private judgment, when 
 the veil was raised, and we were permitted to see, and clearly 
 to understand " the whole preordination of our ultimate perfect 
 recovery from utter ruin."* " Griory be to the Father, to the 
 Son, and to the Holy Grhost ! " 
 
TRIXCIPAL OBJECTS OF THIS WORK. XXI 
 
 The third principal purpose we had in view consisted in 
 making perfectly plain, by our earnest labours to establish it 
 as an evangelically authenticated fact, that universal salva- 
 tion was divinely provided for,^ "before all worlds." 
 
 We, nevertheless, maintain, as in an equal degree evident, 
 according to the orthodox instructions of oiir venerated Chris- 
 tian Churches, both Protestant and Catholic, that just, con- 
 dign, and proportionate punishments were furthermore clearly 
 " preordained " for every kind and degree of sin, transgres- 
 sion, and offence.^ 
 
 Preordained, first, to occur during man's mortal existence. 
 
 Secondly, during the intermediate state' of his soul, await- 
 ing, with millions of millions more, the last fate-fraught 
 judgment of our Lord and Redeemer,^ the Son of God. 
 
 And, thirdly, dui'ing a long succession of ordeals more or less 
 severe, more or less protracted, " in numberless worlds," most 
 mercifidly and expressly created by the Triune Almighty, eter- 
 nities'' ago, through ineffable and most inconceivable grace 
 and charity, towards spirits and men, condemned to long- 
 merited disgrace and tribulations. 
 
 Many more were the ends we had in view, the substance of 
 which being, in a certain measure, repetitions of proofs regard- 
 ing the undeniable" Omnipotence " of Our Lord and Savioui''s 
 all-sufficient atonement, promised before all worlds, we pre- 
 fer leaving, to the following elucidations and details, the 
 remaining development of our intentionally more philan- 
 thropic, than pompously learned, interpretations. 
 
XXll THE AVORD. 
 
 ASTRONOMICAL COREOBORATIONS. 
 
 " From what we know of our own system, it may be reason- 
 ably concluded that all the rest are with equal wisdom con- 
 trived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational 
 inhabitants.^ Let us, therefore, take a survey of the system to 
 which we belong ; the only one accessible to us, and from 
 thence we shall be the better enabled to judge of the nature 
 and end of the other systems of the universe^ . . . For 
 although there is an infinite variety in the parts of the 
 creation, which we have opportunities of examining, yet there 
 is a general analogy running through and connecting all the 
 parts into one scheme, one design, one whole.'^ 
 
 " And then, to an attentive considerer, it will appear highly 
 probable that the planets of our system, together with their 
 attendants called satellites and moons, are much of the same 
 nature with our earth,* and destined for the like purposes ; for 
 they are solid opaque globes, capable of supporting animals 
 and vegetables. . . . 
 
 " What an august, what an amazing conception, if human 
 imagination can conceive it, does this give of the works of the 
 Creator ! Thousands of thousands of suns, multiplied with- 
 out end, and ranged all around us, at immense distances from 
 each other ; attended by ten thousand times ten thousand 
 worlds,^ all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmo- 
 nious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed to them ; and 
 these worlds peopled with myriads of intelligent beings, 
 formed for endless progression in perfection and felicity. 
 
THE WORD. XXUl 
 
 " If SO much power, wisdom, goodness, and magnificence is 
 displayed in the material creation, which is the least consider- 
 able part of the universe, how great, how wise, how good 
 must He be who made and governs the whole ! " — James 
 Ferguson's Astronomy, improved and corrected hy Andrew 
 MacJcay, LL.D., 1809. 
 
 DOCTEINAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 An intimation appears, in this place, indispensably neces- 
 sary to be given, that, no mention whatever having been 
 discovered, throughout the Holy Testaments, relatively to 
 divine commandments, sacred laws, or even apostolic regu- 
 lations ; regarding distinctive sectarian denominations, where- 
 by "Christians" would be more favorably acknowledged 
 and approved in heaven, as deserving, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, our Lord, to be graciously redeemed, and mercifully 
 saved transgressors, debtors, or sinners : — 
 
 The author of these recently inspired interpretations,' of 
 the infinitely merciful decrees and preordinations, of the ever- 
 lasting Jehovah, our Almighty Creator and Father, conceives 
 it his paramount duty, most scrupulously to eschew all 
 manner of "' exclusive confraternity," with Roman Catholic 
 or Protestant, Calvinistic or Lutheran, Presbyterian or Dis- 
 senting believers of all classes and creeds, whatever may be 
 their separate persuasions : — 
 
SXIV THE WORD. 
 
 lu order to confess himself, all the more conscientiously, 
 wholly and truly, throughout the following pages, a thoroughly 
 Evangelical Christian. 
 
 What else better, in the character of a faithful servant of 
 God, could any human creature possibly presume to be ? 
 
 A Christian ! without any other title ; without any higher 
 claim to doctrinaP superiority — a respecter, besides, of all 
 worshippers, who acknowledge our Redeemer and Saviom', 
 in Trinity combined, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 Never as yet the writings of any man, have more clearly 
 established the incontrovertible fact that, a pauper's Christian 
 prayer, penitently and faithfully offered up, in a garret, 
 through the all-sufficient intercession and propitiation of 
 Jesus Christ, cannot fail to be heard, as graciously, by " Our 
 Father, which is in heaven," as those of an Archbishop or 
 Cardinal, magniloquently chanted within the consecrated pre- 
 cincts of a Metropolitan cathedi'al. 
 
 The Editor. 
 
THE WORD; 
 
 OR, 
 
 UNIVEESAL SALVATION : PEEOEDAINED THEOUGH 
 
 ALL-SUFFICIENT GEACE; 
 
 BY THE INFINITELY MEECIFUL CREATOR, 
 
 " EEFOSE ALL AYORLDS ! " 
 
 For "In the Trinity none is afore,' or after other: none 
 is greater, or less than another ; 
 
 " But the whole three Persons are Co-eternal together : 
 and Co-equal. '^ 
 
 " The Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty : and the 
 Holy Ghost Almighty.^ 
 
 " He therefore that will be saved : mvist thus think of the 
 Trinity"* (See Athanasian Creed). 
 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
 will toward men " (Luke ii. 14). 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 DIVINE AND SCEIPTUEAL CONFIEMATIONS. 
 
 " Who can too worthily magnify Thy name, God ! 
 or shew forth all Thy praise ? * 
 
 "For, in the greatness of Thy almighty power, Thou dost 
 delight to exercise it ; not in executing vengeance,* but most 
 chiefly in showing mercy and pity. 
 
 '•' For hast Thou not said, 
 
 " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as 
 snow : though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool?' 
 
 "And furthermore: 'I have no pleasure in the death of 
 him that dieth,* wherefore tm-n yourselves, and live.' " 
 
THE W O ED ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 UNIVEESAL SALVATION ; MOST EVIDENTLY FOEE- 
 TOLD IN HOLY WEIT. 
 
 For " the right Faith is, that we believe and confess : that 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
 " the Son of God, 
 *' is God and Man ; God, of the Substance^ of the Father, 
 
 " begotten before the worlds : 
 " and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the 
 
 world."' 
 " The angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream, 
 saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee 
 Mary thy wife ... for she shall bring forth a Son, and 
 thou shalt call His name Jesus" (Matt. i. 20). 
 
 DIVINE AND SCRIPTURAL CONFIRMATIONS. 
 
 " Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to 
 be baptized of Him. But John forbad Him, saying, I have 
 need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me ? And 
 
4 THE WORD. 
 
 Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to Le so now :* for 
 thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suf- 
 fered Him. 
 
 " And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straight- 
 way out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto 
 Him, and He^ saw the Sj)irit of Grod descending like a dove, 
 and lighting upon Him : 
 
 " And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved 
 Son,^ in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. iii. 13). 
 
 "Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and 
 bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was trans- 
 figured* before them" (Matt. xvii. 1, 2). 
 
 "When they were come to the. place, which is called 
 Calvary, there they crucified Him . . . Then Jesus said, 
 Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" 
 (Luke xxui. 33, 34). 
 
THE W O ED ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 UNIVERSAL SALVATION; FINALLY OBTAINED THROUGH THE 
 " CONTINUAL PRESENCE " 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST, 
 
 AMONG US, UNTIL THE END OF ALL GENERATIONS,^ 
 
 For, " Through Jesus Christ our Lord ; according to whose 
 most true promise it was ; the Holy Ghost came down from 
 heaven, in the likeness of fiery tongues, lighting upon the 
 Apostles, to teach them, and to lead them to all truth." ^ 
 
 *'With angels and archangels, and with all the spiritual 
 company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious 
 name."^ 
 
 " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ! " 
 
 DIVINE AND SPIRITUAL CONFIRMATIONS. 
 
 " Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest ! ! ! " 
 
 " Nevertheless ' I tell you the truth ; ' It is expedient for 
 
6 
 
 THE WOKD, 
 
 you that I go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will 
 not oojae nnto you; but if I depart/ I will send Him unto 
 you. 
 
 " Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come. He will 
 guide you into all truths . . He will shew you things to come. 
 
 " He shall teach you all things " ^ (John xiv.). 
 
 " He shall glorify me : for He shall receive of mine, and 
 shew it unto you " (John xvi.). 
 
 What should we be by this time, had not God the Al- 
 mighty, millions of ages ago, and infinitely more than that, 
 operated within Himself, through a miracle of charity, by 
 His omnipotent Word alone, and subdivided * His divine and 
 eternal Essence into Three Godheads — God the Creator, God 
 the Saviour, God the Comforter, Protector, and Guide ? 
 
 God the Creator — Foreseeing the fall of the angelic hosts ; 
 tempted ^ and perverted by Satan, the spirit of evil." 
 
 God the Savioui' — In merciful anticipation of the fall of 
 man, permitted, in all probability, with a gracious view to 
 
 universal salvation. 
 
 God the Comforter, Protector, and Guide. — For our 
 heavenly Father, foreknowing the insinuating wiles, the 
 treacherous ways, by means of which the arch-enemy of 
 mankind would incessantly beset us, to the end of all earthly 
 things ; preordained that the Holy Ghost, the very Spirit of 
 Truth, should succeed His beloved Son, and dwell among 
 men, until the very last of the " souls condemned " ^ should 
 be perfectly regenerated and saved. 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 DIYINE SUPPORT. 
 
 " There is ' nothing ' covered, that shall not be revealed ; 
 and hid, that shall not be known. ^ 
 
 " What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light :^ 
 and what ye hear' in the ear, that preach ye upon the 
 housetops, 
 
 "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him 
 will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 
 
 " But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I 
 also deny before my Father which is in heaven (Matt. x. 
 26, 27, 32, 33). 
 
 " Grlory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 G-host ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : 
 world without end ! Amen." 
 
 CONSEQUENT SUPPLICATION. 
 
 Unto Thy servant also. Lord Almighty Grcd, unto Thy 
 penitent and now enlightened* servant, who so ardently 
 wishes to confess Thee "more worthily still "before men, 
 although less than the least of Thy humblest worshippers, 
 grant the grace of being permitted " to preach " (by these 
 additional interpretations of Thy Word), among the present 
 generations, "the unsearchable riches of Christ." 
 
 Enable him. Holy Spirit of wisdom, and Lord of Divine 
 Inspiration, left amongst us as our Comforter and Guide, 
 enable him more extensively to make all men see what is 
 
» THE WORD. 
 
 the " fellowship of the mystery " which, from the beginning 
 of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things 
 by Jesus Christ ; to the intent that now, unto the princi- 
 palities and powers of this earth might be known, by the 
 Church and other efficient human means, the manifold 
 wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which He 
 purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 " Almighty God, therefore, unto whom all hearts be open, 
 all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid ; 
 cleanse the thoughts of Thy servant's heart by the inspira- 
 tion of Thy Holy Spirit, that he may perfectly love Thee, 
 and worthily magnify Thy holy name " in tliis humble 
 homage which he earnestly longs to do unto Thee, and 
 unto Thy Son Jesus Christ, and unto the Holy Ghost ; 
 through Christ Jesus om- Lord. Amen. 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 "EVEN I^ WILL SPEAK OF ALL 
 THY MARVELLOUS WORKS." 
 
 most pitiful and compassionate Creator ; who hatest 
 notliing that Thou hast made ; whose nature and property, 
 indeed, are ever to have mercy and to forgive ; 
 
 Of whose only gift it cometh also, that Thy faithful people 
 do unto Thee, true and laudable service ; Grant that We may 
 likewise truly know Thee, so as to obtain, our own self, 
 everlasting life, according to Thy Holy Word. 
 
 Our Father which art in heaven ; 
 
 Who art the Author of peace and Lover of concord ; 
 
 The Fountain of all goodness ; from whom aU holy desires, 
 and all good counsels do proceed : 
 
 Thou, who so graciously showest, to them that be in error, 
 the light of Thy truth ; enable Us rightly to acknowledge 
 the full glory, and the infinitely merciful purpose of Thine 
 Eternal Christian Grace. 
 
 High and Mighty King of kings, God of gods, who, never- 
 theless, ai*t always more ready to hear, than we are ready 
 to pray : 
 
 Hear us, good Lord ! 
 
 Hear us, we entreat Thee ! 
 
 We, Thy devoted servant especially ; through the inter- 
 cession and propitiation of Jesus Christ ; 
 
 c 
 
10 THE WORD. 
 
 Help Us, in these, our most zealous and earnest efforts, to 
 make Thee known, more evangelically and gloriously than 
 ever, in all merciful respects, according to Thy now most 
 plainly revealed Christian Grodhead : 
 
 The Infinitely Sacred Holy Trinity, 
 
 So solemnly declared to have existed, from the beginning, 
 and before all worlds ; and so irrevocably preordained to exist 
 for ever and ever more, world without end. 
 
 QUOTATIONS FEOM GEEAT WRITEES AND 
 ANCIENT PHILOSOPHEES. 
 
 1. " Prorsus credibile est quia ineptum est ; certum^ est quia 
 impossibile." — Tertidlian, 196 a.d. 
 
 2. " What sacraments,^ dearest brethren, are those of the 
 Lord's Prayer ? "— T. C. Cyprian, 200 a.d. 
 
 3. "We are now required to have more wisdom^ . . . than 
 all who lived under the Old Testament." — John Chrysostom, 
 347 A.D, 
 
 4. " If the ancient teachers oftentimes missed the meaning 
 of the inspired text, it is no marvel* . . . and who can tell 
 but that it was permitted?" — Great Sermons of the Gmat 
 Preachers. (See p. 8.) 
 
 5. " Some of the ancient teachers drew that inference that 
 what is commonly called the Day of Judgment would be a 
 thousand years." — John Wesley, A.M. 
 
 6. " Oh, if books had but tongues to speak their wrongs, 
 
THE WORD. 11 
 
 then might this book [the Bible] exclaim ... * Angels de- 
 lighted in my company . . . But ye mortals place masters 
 over me, subjecting me^ to the discipline and dogmatism of 
 men." — Edward Irving, M.A. 
 
 1. " God is always ready to grant heavenly blessings to 
 those who make the request in sincerity and truth." — 
 Fenelon, 
 
 2. " The soul of man subsists after death, and hath some 
 place of abode^ allotted to it till the resurrection." — John 
 Jortin. 
 
 3. "The last day of this life is to be regarded as the 
 birthday of an eternal one." — Seneca. 
 
 4. "I am in good hope that there is something remaining 
 for those that are dead." — Socrates. 
 
 5. " We ought always to believe the ' ancient sacred words,' 
 which show both that the soul is immortal, and that it hath 
 judges." — Plato. 
 
 6. " By soul I mean an immortal essence, and yet created,* 
 which is the nobler part of man." — Calvin. 
 
 7. " The souls of men remain alive* after they are separated 
 from their bodies . . . which is a most ancient tradition de- 
 rived from our first parents." — Groiius. 
 
 8. " God made Adam mortal ; ^ his body was like ours . . . 
 Adam was the son of God® in a more peculiar manner than 
 any other mere man." — Jortin. 
 
 9. " Let it be observed that, when the body shall be raised 
 from the grave, it shall not be such flesh ^ and blood as we now 
 wear" (see 1 Cor. xv. 44). — Watts. 
 
 c 2 
 
12 THE WORD, 
 
 1. "We may, therefore, now be allowed to assume, as 
 proved, that the notion of such ' an intermediate state of the 
 soul '^ has been communicated to man by divine revelation." 
 — Thomas Huntingford, M.A. 
 
 2. " Is the Lord almighty ? Then all things in heaven and 
 earth do bow before and obey Him ; consequently whatever 
 evil befall us is permitted by Him. Is He most merciful ? 
 Then, not only are we indebted to His mercy for preservation 
 from what evils we escape, but we may rest assured that even 
 the evils which happen to us are intended, like bitter medi- 
 cines for the sick, to work out our final good.- He who willeth 
 not the death of a sinner, chasteneth us in infinite love, even 
 as a father^ his son." — John James, D.I)., 1840, Prebendary of 
 Peterborough. 
 
THE WORD. 13 
 
 SCEIPTURAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL 
 AUTHOEITIES. 
 
 DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 
 
 Fro7yi the Morning Prayers. 
 
 1. Our Father which art in heaven. See the Index. 
 
 2. To the Lord God belong mercies and forgivenesses. 
 
 3. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. 
 
 4. He will cleanse us from all uncharitableness. 
 
 5. His goodness and mercy are infinite. 
 
 6. Almighty and most merciful Father. 
 
 7. He has declared His promises unto mankind in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. 
 
 8. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the 
 death of a sinner. 
 
 9. The Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods. 
 
 10. The Lord is our Maker . . . He made all living things. 
 
 11. The Lord is the Father everlasting. 
 
 12. The Lord God of Israel . . . created Adam and Eve. 
 
 13. The Lord is gracious, His mercy is everlasting. 
 
 14. The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. 
 
 15. The Author of peace, and Lover of concord. 
 
 16. High and mighty King of kings. 
 
 17. The only Ruler of princes. 
 
 18. The Fountain of all goodness. 
 
14 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 From the Evening Prayers. 
 
 1. God's mercy is on them that love Him, throughout all 
 generations. 
 
 2. The Lord exalteth the humble and meek. 
 
 3. He hath filled the hungry with good things. 
 
 4. Grod, our merciful Father, hath declared His salvation. 
 
 5. The salvation of our Grod hath been seen by all men. 
 
 6. The Lord deserves to be praised upon the harp. 
 
 7. He cometh, with charity, to judge the earth. 
 
 8. The Lord hath prepared His salvation before the face 
 of all people. 
 
 9. Grod is gradually making His way known upon earth. 
 
 10. Grod the Father, Grod the Son, and Grod the Holy 
 Ghost, are One. 
 
 [Here attentively read the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's 
 Prayer, p. 28.] 
 
 11. God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, 
 all just works do proceed. 
 
 12. It is God alone who lightens our darkness. 
 
 13. It is the Almighty God who hath promised, that when 
 two or three are gathered together in His name. He will 
 grant their requests. 
 
 14. It is God that granteth to us in this world, at suitable 
 seasons, the knowledge of His truth. 
 
 15. [Here read most attentively the Athanasian Creed ; sub- 
 stituting at the end, " adequate penalties and tribulations, of 
 
THE WORD. 15 
 
 proportionate durations," for " everlasting fire," wliicli could 
 never have been inflicted, by 
 
 1. A God of infinite grace, incessantly sbed upon us, 
 impotent creatures, so perpetually subjected to insuperable 
 temptations ; and to whom He hath declared His almighty 
 power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity.] 
 
 From the Litany. 
 
 2. Grod the Father, of heaven. 
 
 3. God the Son, Eedeemer of the world. 
 
 4. God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and 
 the Son. . . . Our ever-present Friend and Comforter. 
 
 5. God is that good God, whom we beseech to hear us. 
 
 6. He is that Lamb that took away the sins of the world. 
 
 7. God is that merciful Father, too, that despiseth not the 
 sighing of a contrite heart. 
 
 8. God graciously looks upon our afflictions. 
 
 9. God pitifully beholds the sorrows of our hearts. 
 
 10. God mercifully forgives, all who repent and pray. 
 
 11. God favourably with mercy hears, the humble and 
 repentant. 
 
 12. Both now and ever He vouchsafes to hear us. 
 
 13. He graciously heareth us, in the name of His Son, Jesus 
 Christ, our Lord ; and, as a Father, for the glory of His 
 Name, He turneth continually from us all those evils, that 
 we most righteously have deserved. 
 
16 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 From the Prayers and Thanksgivings. 
 
 1. The Lord Grod is the King of all kings. 
 
 2. He is the Governor of all things, whose power no crea- 
 ture is able to resist. 
 
 3. He is the Griver of all good gifts. 
 
 4. His nature and property is ever to have mercy and to 
 forgive. 
 
 5. He is a most gracious Grod. 
 
 6. He was the Creator, and He is the Preserver, of all 
 mankind. 
 
 7. The Almighty is the Father of all mercies. 
 
 8. He is a strong tower of defence imto His servants 
 against the face of their enemies. 
 
 From the Collects. 
 
 9. Our God is a blessed God, who has caused all Holy 
 Scriptures to be written for our learning, 
 
 [This beautiful collect, alone, embodies the whole Doctrine 
 of our Universal Salvation in Jesus Christ.] 
 
 10. It was that God, who left among us the omniscient 
 and all-sufficient Holy Ghost, to teach us, by inspiration, in 
 what wise we should hear those holy writings, read, mark, 
 learn, and inwardly digest them. 
 
 11. It was God who gave us His only-begotten Son, to take 
 our nature upon Him. 
 
 12. He purposely made that Son to be obedient to the law 
 of man. 
 
THE WORD. 17 
 
 1. He governed from the beginning, and will eternally 
 govern all things in heaven and earth. 
 
 2. He preordained that His Son should be manifested, that 
 he might destroy the works of the devil ! 
 
 3. He taught us, through His prophets and apostles, that 
 all our doings without charity are nothing worth. 
 
 4. He hates nothing that He has made. 
 
 5. Whose tender love towards mankind is universally 
 acknowledged. 
 
 6. And that omnipotent Lord, through His only-begotten 
 Son, Jesus Christ, hath overcome death, and opened unto us 
 all, without exception, the gate of everlasting life. 
 
 7. Our God showeth unto them that be in error the light 
 of His truth. 
 
 8. He alone can order the unruly wills and affections of 
 sinful man. 
 
 9. He sendeth all good things to those who really need 
 them, and faithfully ask for them. 
 
 10. He is the strength of all them who put their trust in 
 Him, 
 
 11. He is the Author of all good things. 
 
 12. His never- failing Providence ordereth all things. 
 
 13. He declareth His almighty power most chiefly in show- 
 ing mercy and pity. 
 
 14. He is always more ready to hear, than we to pray. 
 
 15. He is our Refuge and Strength, and the Author of all 
 godliness. 
 
 16. And properly to know Him is everlasting life. 
 
18 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 QUOTATIONS FEOM THE AETICLES OF 
 EELIOION, 
 
 In the Book of Common Prayer, 
 
 1. " There is but One living and true Grod,' everlasting, 
 ' without bodj,^ parts, or passions ;' of infinite power, wisdom, 
 and goodness ; the Maker and Preserver of all things both 
 visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead 
 
 2. " There be Three Persons,^ of one substance, power, and 
 eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost " (Art i.). 
 
 3. " The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten 
 from* everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God . . . 
 One Christ, very God, and very Man ; who truly suffered, 
 was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, 
 and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for 
 all actual sins of men " (Art. ii,). 
 
 4. " As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to 
 be believed, that He went down into Hell" (Art. iii.). 
 
 5. " Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again 
 His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to 
 the perfection of Man's nature ; wherewith He ascended into 
 Heaven, ' and there sitteth, until He return to judge all Men 
 at the last day ' " (Art. iv.). 
 
 6. " Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to sal- 
 vation" (Art. vi.). 
 
 7. *' The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius's Creed, 
 and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought 
 thoroughly to be received and believed" (Art. viii.). 
 
THE WORD. 19 
 
 1. " Original [or birth] Sin is the fault and corruption of 
 the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the 
 offspring of Adam" (Art. ix.). 
 
 2. " We have no power to do good works pleasant and 
 acceptable to Grod, without the grace of Grod by Christ pre- 
 venting us " (Art X.). 
 
 3. " Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of 
 God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) 
 He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to 
 deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath 
 chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by 
 Christ to everlasting salvation" (Art. xvii.). 
 
 4. "Although the Church be a witness and a keeper 
 of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree anything 
 against the same, so besides the same ought it not to en- 
 force anything to be believed for necessity of Salvation" 
 (Art. XX.). 
 
 5. " Things ordained [by men in General Councils] as 
 necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, 
 unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy 
 Scriptm^e " (Art. xxi. ; see also Art, xxvi.). 
 
 6. " The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect re- 
 demption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the 
 whole world, both original and actual ; and there is none 
 other satisfaction for sin, but that alone " (Art. xxxi.). 
 
 7. " Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not commanded by 
 God's Law, either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain 
 from marriage" (Art. xxxii.). 
 
20 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be 
 in all places one, and utterly like . . . 
 
 2. " Every particular or national Church hath authority to 
 ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church 
 ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done 
 to edifying" (Art. sxxiv.). 
 
 [See furtlier authorities at tlie end.] 
 
 ETEENITY OF DIVINE GRACE. 
 
 " In the beginning Grod created the heaven and the earth " 
 (Gen. i. 1). See also pp. 1, 3, 5 of this work. 
 
 " In the beginning was the "Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God " (John i. 1). 
 
 The human race, from Adam to the last of men, will therefore 
 infallibly he saved. (See the index.) 
 
 " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost ; 
 
 "As it was ' in the beginning,' is now, and ever shall be : 
 world without end." (See the Book of Common Prayer, in 
 which we are properly and repeatedly taught to praise God, 
 for having so mercifully preordained our universal salvation 
 from the very beginning of our dear Redeemer's celestial 
 existence.) 
 
 The earliest ascertainable scriptural authorities respecting 
 the first origin of our spiritual as well as material human 
 
THE WORD. 21 
 
 existence could not fail to be the best reliable fount of infor- 
 mation at which we could draw the essential knowledge 
 required for such a book as this. 
 
 Our present remark adverts to every item of additional re- 
 velation, which we have endeavoured to elicit, from out the 
 sacred arcana, which the Lord G-od "from the beginning" pur- 
 posely bequeathed unto us for our present guidance, through- 
 out the books of Moses, the prophecies, and the Gospels. 
 
 Holy secrets, truthful mysteries, such as those to which we 
 are alluding, were designedly hidden by temporary clouds of 
 impenetrable density, through which the probing inquiries of 
 ages, naturally more enlightened, were gradually to penetrate. 
 
 The period has arrived most evidently for " revealing all 
 that is covered ; " for " making known all that is hid." 
 
 " We may now speak in light what Jesus Christ ' ex- 
 pressly ' told us in darkness." 
 
 Ay and verily, the time is plainly come " to preach from 
 the housetops, what we unmistakably hear in the ear, by 
 merciful inspirations from the Spirit of Truth." 
 
 Liberty from above has indeed long been granted to those 
 who properly and reverently sought it, more profitably ^ to 
 investigate the language of heaven, not only in the written 
 Word, but in the equally intelligible parables and figurative 
 terms under which it was then most " inconceivable mercy to 
 conceal them. 
 
 That the wonders of divine grace with all the inestimable 
 blessings arising from our consequent universal redemption 
 and salvation were positively amongst the first ^ mysterious 
 
22 THE WORD. 
 
 operations of that Almighty Lord of Hosts, who, through 
 the inconceivable results of His omniscient meditations, had 
 clearly imagined the boundless past and interminable future 
 of the everlasting material, as well as ethereal, existence of 
 angels and men, cannot for an instant be rationally doubted. 
 
 A pious glance, therefore, at the scriptural quotations 
 which precede these observations (were there no other as 
 irrefragable proofs of such important facts) would amply 
 suffice to establish our celestial genealogy. 
 
 This genealogy once admitted, the Holy Bible becomes, 
 from end to end, the vast and most gracious record of a poly- 
 theistic ^ dynasty, whose angelic and spiritual progenies have 
 grown to be countless enough to fill the countless stars of the 
 unconfined heavens ; whose heavenly generations, divinely 
 made, " from the beginning," by the Word, when that 
 " Word was with Grod," have everlastingly progressed ac- 
 cording to irrevocable preordinations towards a universal and 
 infallible divine perfection, designed also " from the begin- 
 ning " by omnipotent means ultimately to form that ever- 
 lasting glorious kingdom which is to be : the "crown of glory" 
 awarded to that Almighty Word who then shall be once 
 more and for ever the true and only Grod of gods, King of 
 kings, and Lord Supreme of all lords. (See Art. 1, p. 18.) 
 
THE WORD, 
 
 23 
 
 THE LOBD'S PEAYEE: 
 
 ITS JUST APPEECIATIO.N AND REAL 
 CHEISTIAN YALTJE. 
 
 "After this manner, therefore, pray ye." — Matt. vi. 9. 
 
 " And Jesus said unto them, When ye pray, say." — Luke xi. 2. 
 
 " What sacraments, dearest brethren, are those of the Lord's 
 Prayer ! How numerous ! How weighty ! Gathered up in few 
 ■words, but with such wealth of spiritual virtue, that not anything 
 for prayer and petition of ours is left unincluded in this comprehen- 
 sion of heavenly doctrine." — T. Ccecilius Cyjorian (suffered martyrdom, 
 258 A.D.). 
 
 ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 
 
 " Your Father knowetli what things ye have need of, he- 
 fore ye ask Him. 
 
 " After this manner therefore pray ye : 
 
 " Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 
 
 " Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is 
 in heaven. 
 
 " Give us this day our daily bread. 
 
 " And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 
 
 "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 
24 THE WORD. 
 
 evil : For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory, for ever. Amen. 
 
 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly 
 Father will also forgive you" (Matt. vi. 8 — 14). 
 
 How beautifully affectionate is the " extempore " con- 
 struction^ of these prayers ! Full of genuine paternal grace ; 
 redundant with fraternal love ! Are they not evidently 
 framed, upon each occasion, by our Omniscient Saviour, with 
 the sincerest lovingkindness of a bosom Friend ? 
 
 Please, pious and benevolent reader, to ponder indulgently, 
 not critically, over our humble interpretations of their most 
 significant and extensive meanings. You will find them at 
 the end of the third prayer offered to your unprejudiced con- 
 sideration, as sheet-anchors, whereon we ourselves mainly 
 found our fullest hope of grace in Jesus Christ, who taught 
 us to say them. 
 
 ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 
 
 " And it came to pass, that, as [Jesus] was j)raying in a 
 certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto 
 Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 " And He said unto them. When ye pray, say. Our Father 
 which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom 
 come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 
 
 " Give us day by day our daily bread. 
 
 " And forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one 
 
THE WORD. 25 
 
 that is indebted to us.^ And lead us not into temptation ; 
 but deliver us from evil" (Luke xi. 1 — 4). 
 
 It is perfectly plain in this, as in the preceding prayer, 
 that Christ, our Omniscient Teacher, fully intended to teach 
 " us," as well as those who 'heard Him (through His dis- 
 ciples, whose request ^ He was granting) , first, how to pray, 
 and, next, how to suit our moral and religious conduct to the 
 spirit of the prayers He so charitably gives us as most signi- 
 ficative ensamples. 
 
 In our humble opinion, therefore, the expressions which 
 such a transcendently competent ' Teacher dropped as gracious 
 instructions on such an important occasion should be so 
 " infinitely sacred," that the very words, separately appre- 
 ciated, as well as the letters of those prayers in particular, 
 ought to be for ever individually treasured up and profoundly 
 venerated far beyond all the rest of the Scriptures. 
 
 Is not Jesus one and the same as the Almighty, the Omni- 
 potent Lord, and the Holy Grhost ? Yea, yea ; and for ever 
 and ever. 
 
 ACCORDING TO OUR MODERN LITURGY. 
 
 " Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. 
 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, ' as ' it is in 
 heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us 
 our trespasses,* as we forgive them that trespass against us. 
 And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil : 
 For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever 
 and ever. Amen." 
 
26 
 
 THE WOKD. 
 
 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE 
 
 TWO FOREGOING PRATERS. 
 
 ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW AND ST. LUKE. 
 
 ''Our Father."' 
 
 Soul-transporting apostrophe, comprising universal and end- 
 less felicity to the whole of mankind, from the first human 
 being created by the Almighty, to the very last ! 
 
 A unique, God-begotten human Son, alluding to His 
 Omnipotent Father, as unique and Divine as He is Himself ; 
 and so indivisibly connected, both Father and Son, with 
 respect to unlimited powers, immaculate virtues; purest 
 Essences of all that is good, and infinitely merciful, that, to 
 be, and will, was, before all Worlds, the miraculous Birth, 
 Being, and everlasting Duration of their combined indi- 
 vidually mysterious self-created and animated Perfections. 
 
 That theocratical Phenomenon, by simply bidding us to say 
 " Our Father," invites us afiectionately, and most conde- 
 scendingly, to call him Brother ! 
 
 To say that such a son "telling us," before thousands 
 assembled, to address His own Father as Our Father, " is 
 not," most pointedly, encouraging us to believe that, in due 
 time, through the AU-Sufficient EjQ&cacy of the Universal 
 Redemption, "prepared from the Beginning," and through 
 the "equally sufficient" Salvation infallibly to follow, we 
 shall. All, eventually be caught up again, as returning peni- 
 
THE WORD. 27 
 
 tent, and, no longer prodigal sons, into heaven, to be 
 gloriously presented, by our triamphant Brother, before the 
 Throne of Infinite Justice, Mercy and Grrace, that we may be, 
 according to sacred promises, alj of us everlastingly forgiven, 
 is, indeed, most wickedly refusing to accept and acknowledge 
 the Blessed Holy Trinity, as all that is, and will ever be. 
 Equitable, Merciful, and True. 
 
 Our Father ! Yes, indeed ; the offended Father of those 
 countless myriads of " deluded angels," who, gradually cor- 
 rupted by the Spirit of Evil, had most ungratefully rebelled 
 against their God — Souls, no longer immortal, who were 
 finally driven, with their Seducer, as they deserved, from the 
 Mansions of the Just. Consequently — 
 
 Our own Father ! For We are they. 
 
 And this fact shall be proved (D.Y.), as we earnestly hope 
 and firmly believe, in the course of this work. 
 
 Deus ipse scepe dixit. 
 
 " Because ye are His Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of 
 His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father " (Gal. iv. 6.). 
 
 "Which art in Heaven." 
 Boundless significant distinction ! Most merciful encou- 
 ragement : pregnant with the Redemption and final Salva- 
 tion of countless^ Worlds ! 
 
 Admission and Confession, most undeniably indispensable f 
 without which countless worlds had been lost: a devoted 
 Redeemer, and crucified Saviour, sacrificed in vain ! ^ 
 
 Our Divine Comforter, the Holy Ghost, deprived of a vast 
 
 D 2 
 
28 THE WORD. 
 
 portion of His gracious influence,^ leaving thus the whole 
 Scheme of our Eansom and restoration, fatally incomplete.^ 
 
 That distinction of celestial paternity, which " sincerely de- 
 vout Christians " can never too often repeat, had furthermore 
 been of no avail,^ had it unfortunately been recommended 
 to our pious observance, by any other Teacher, but our Our 
 Divine Brother, Jesus Christ, the well-beloved Son of Grod. 
 
 For, who could know better than He did, how much our 
 fallen Souls — having so wickedly served another Father,* in 
 heaven, which they consequently and, myriads of eternities 
 back,'' so deservedly, forfeited, by their treacherous rebellion 
 — needed, during their merciful terrestrial ordeals, incessant 
 repetitions of faithful allegiance, addressed above, by daily 
 saying, not only, " Our Father," but, furthermore, " Which 
 art in Heaven"? 
 
 Who could, indeed, know better than He knew, the Omni- 
 scient Messiah, there before them, that He alone, through 
 Grace incalculable, could, and would, both redeem and save 
 them all, by simply dictating to them the most appropriate 
 words ^ to use, in the all-sufficient prayer they were beseech- 
 ing Him to teach them ? 
 
 Their Redeemer; their Saviour; their future Judge,' it 
 was ; their Omnipotent God ; their forgiving Father, was 
 evidently saying to them, under the incarnated form of Jesus : 
 
 " Call me continually 'your Father '; 
 
 " Believingly confess to me that ' I am in Heaven '; 
 
 " Reverently and fervently declare that you ' Hallow my 
 Name.' 
 
THE WORD. 29 
 
 *' Intreat me to permit ' My kingdom to come again.' 
 
 " Pray before me, and wherever you may be, day by day, 
 that ' my will may be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' 
 
 "Humbly beg of me ' To give you this day your daily bread.' 
 
 " Earnestly ask of me to ' forgive you your sins ; as you 
 also forgive every one that is indebted to you.' 
 
 " Implore me, from the inmost depth of your soul, ' Not to 
 lead you into temptation,' but to ' deliver you from evil. 
 And I, who am ' The Fountain of all goodness,' ' The 
 Author of peace, and Lover of concord,' ' Who hate nothing 
 that I have made,' shall grant you your prayer ! 
 
 For:— 
 
 " Such as the Father, such is the Son . . . The Father is 
 Almighty, the Son Almighty . . . The Father is Grod, the 
 Son is God . . . The Father is Lord, the Son Lord." — Creed 
 of St. Athanasius. 
 
 " God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God."— 
 The Nicene Creed. 
 
 " The very and eternal God." ^ — Articles of Religion. 
 
 *' The Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
 with God . . . And the Word was made^ flesh, and dwelt 
 among us" (John i. 1, 2, 14). 
 
 "Our Father, which art in Heaven; Hallowed 
 
 BE Thy Name ! " 
 
 The necessity, which Our Lord Jesus Christ so emphati- 
 cally enforces,* at the very commencement of the Prayer, 
 which He so graciously composes for His disciples,* of " hal- 
 
30 THE WORD. 
 
 lowing the Name of Grod," besides acknowledging Him as 
 " Our Father," proves that a flagrant breach of filial affection 
 and loyal submission had long existed among myriads of the 
 angelic hosts, prior to their necessary banishment. 
 
 It proves, furthermore, that an "evil Spirit," of a for- 
 midable nature,^ possessing most insurmoimtable powers of 
 mischief and destruction, had usurped, for an inconceivable 
 lapse of time, an hostile, unaccountable authority, against 
 the Omnipotent Lord of Heaven. 
 
 That mystery must be left sacredly veiled. 
 One important fact is nevertheless sufficiently obvious, for 
 the purpose in view. 
 
 It is that, when the Most High determined to annihilate 
 the inveterate foe, whom He had, most undoubtedly, per- 
 mitted to exist,^ for wise and merciful ends, the fiend was 
 hurled, with his unfortunate victims, from the realms of 
 eternal bliss, into the scorching caverns, and the burning 
 depths of the still chaotic earth.^ 
 
 For, " Je§us said ... I beheld Satan, as lightning, fall 
 from heaven" (Luke x. 18). 
 
 Let us return, with boundless gratitude, to our blessed, 
 adorable Redeemer's Prayer : — 
 
 " Hallowed be Thy glorious Name," indeed, " Lord of 
 Sabaoth ! " Hallowed be likewise. Thine, Jesus Christ ; 
 our beloved Saviour ; the infinitely forgiving and merciful 
 future Judge of all fallen Angels and Men.* 
 
THE WORD. 31 
 
 For ever hallowed, also, be the awful Name of Thine in- 
 conceivable, impenetrable Self, Triple Spirit,^ proceeding 
 from the Father, and from the Son : Holy Gfhost ! Co-equal 
 and Co-eternal Godhead; our ever-present Comforter, and 
 terrestrial Gruide to everlasting life and happiness, in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Does it not fill every Christian with endless wonder, that 
 an appropriate international temple was not erected, and 
 sacredly perpetuated, to the latest end of all human genera- 
 tions, for the purpose of keeping, in magnificent golden 
 letters, those once audible words of our dearest Saviour's 
 All-sufficient ^ Prayer ? 
 
 "Thy Kingdom come." 
 
 After having persisted so long, during the latter part of 
 our antemundane state,^ in refusing to acknowledge the 
 supremacy of the King of kings; the Lord of lords; for 
 which unpardonable defection and ingratitude, we were so 
 justly flung from the, no longer congenial, brotherhood, and, 
 consequently, from the unsuitable habitations of our angelic 
 kindred : forbidden thus all further sight of the Holiest of 
 the holies : — 
 
 What humble supplications could we express, more likely 
 to allay Divine indignation, each morning and night of our 
 penitential human lives, than that which our sympathizing, 
 dear Redeemer was prompting us, eighteen and a half cen- 
 turies ago, incessantly to repeat, by 
 
 Saying, " Our Father, who art in heaven ; Hallowed 
 
32 THE WORD, 
 
 Toe Thy Name; Thy kingdom come" — that happy, that 
 glorious kingdom, we, all of us, so wickedly spurned — now, 
 may be, thousands of ages back ? 
 
 It was teaching us daily to add, from our hearts and souls, 
 ' Eeign over us again, we beseech Thee, for mercy's sake, 
 Almighty and Omniscient Euler of the Universe. Remove 
 from us, we beseech Thee, the dreadful ban which precludes 
 our ever returning under Thy Benignant Paternal sway." 
 
 « ' Thy kingdom come.' Through our Brother, Jesus, Thine 
 only-begotten Son, His prayer, hear us, Good Lord. 
 
 " Satan is a malevolent tja-ant ; a cruel, envious usurper, 
 whom we have, in our utter blindness, preferred to Thee. 
 Be merciful to us, and forgive us, Grood Lord ! Thy kingdom 
 come ! Thy kingdom come ! " 
 
 Before the wondrous worlds were framed, Inconceivable, 
 and inscrutable Author of miracles without end — which for 
 eternities past had been ; which for eternities more had to be — 
 Thou hadst preconceived and preordained the vast, exhaust- 
 less births of numberless regenerative wombs ; out of the 
 purifying and sanctifying depths of wliich celestial and ter- 
 restrial beings and things, obedient, all, to Thy laws, were 
 in perfection spotlessly at last, and finally, to come forth again ! 
 
 To Thine infinite wisdom nothing could be concealed ; to 
 Thy prescience nothing imperfect, spiritually or materially, 
 could be permitted to exist, without a merciful motive and a 
 gracious result. 
 
 Ubiquitous as much so as Almighty, Great God of gods ! 
 fore-knowing and predestinative^ must be the inherent attri- 
 
THE WORD. 33 
 
 butes of the universal presence and infinite extent of Thy 
 paternal knowledge and beneficent might. 
 
 Thou, the Glod of Abraham, the ,Grod of Isaac, the God of 
 us all, who hast prepared, for them that love Thee, such good 
 things as pass man's understanding : Thou art the strength 
 of all them that put their trust in Thee. Thy kingdom come, 
 we earnestly beseech Thee ! 
 
 " Thy Will be done as in Heaven, so in 
 
 Earth." 
 
 Those encouraging words strike us as being so teeming 
 with edifying humility, with dutiful entreaty, and in ac- 
 cordance^ with such gracious promises of infinite pardon, 
 that we shall divide them into three totally distinct parts, 
 interpreting them each in turn. 
 
 " Thy Will he clone:' 
 
 Conceive for awhile how genuine must have been the 
 humane^ affection, and unlimited efforts, to redeem and to 
 save, of that self-immolating Yictim, who, on His painful way 
 to Calvary, recommends you to pray, not to the great Grod 
 alone, but to Himself as well, and to the Holy Grhost, saying : 
 
 " Our Father . . . Thy will be done." 
 
 For, " Such as the Father is ; such is the Son ; and such is 
 the Holy Ghost ! " 
 
 A Redeemer like this — a Sa\'iour of this unparalleled 
 description, who imparts to the penitent exiles, whom His 
 Father has impartially and properly driven from His sight. 
 
34 THE WORD. 
 
 entreaties for pardon wliich He Himself is wording, — can He 
 be any other than the Omnipotent Jehovah, influenced^ by 
 the Holy Ghost, and assisted^ by the Messiah ? 
 
 He is, indeed, the Divine, consecrated and sanctified Em- 
 bodiment of the Eternal and AU-Sufficient Trinity, whereby 
 universal salvation shall finally be obtained, according to pre- 
 ordinations irrevocably willed before all worlds. 
 
 Such, therefore, is the earnest wish expressed by the faith- 
 ful servants of Christ Jesus, when they fervently say, "■ Thy 
 Will be done." 
 
 "As in Heaven^ 
 
 How plainly this is being divinely told by the Almighty 
 to beseech the Almighty, through daily acknowledgments of 
 His heavenly supremacy, for future permission to re-enter 
 those realms of perfect happiness over which He reigns, 
 and which our souls in their pristine state of innocent beati- 
 tude knew once, alas, so well ! 
 
 The Son knows how anxiously, how sincerely, the Father is 
 " willing to be convinced " that we really and truly long 
 to be forgiven. "Say." Therefore He tells us, "Thy 
 will be done, as in heaven;" and then, "My God and my 
 Father," which is your God and your Father, will throw open 
 those gates through which He flung Satan as lightning to 
 the earth ; and His ministering angels will triumphantly 
 welcome you back again, with joy unspeakable, into their 
 ranks, to love and to worship their Omnipotent Lord as they 
 do, for evermore. 
 
THE WORD. 35 
 
 Who can tell what contempt the devil and his diabolical 
 progeny^ instilled into us unremittingly before our fall? 
 By myriads of myriads of centuries, through incalculable 
 periods of time, we may have, we must have, increasingly 
 rebelled against heaven's sacred King. 
 
 A punishment was rightfully but reluctantly^ inflicted; 
 and " in earth " at last the Almighty's will was done, for 
 that will had been, long enough, spurned in heaven. 
 
 " So in Earth:' 
 
 Which undoubtedly signifies : — 
 
 "Thy will be done in earth," as Thou didst expect us, in 
 our celestial state, during eternities gone by, to have faith- 
 fully and joyfully minded it in heaven.^ 
 
 Now the degree of comparison used here was not so 
 emphatically marked by our Lord Jesus Christ on such a 
 solemn occasion without being intended to bear considerable 
 weight. 
 
 "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." Not, 
 as in earth, so in heaven — a very difierent order of words, 
 which would have, at that particular terrestrial era,* implied 
 a totally different instruction. 
 
 The omnipotent will of a God like our God could be under- 
 stood to be merciful, as it was merciful (before all worlds) to 
 angels and spirits according to the Divine laws, only by 
 spiritually-inspii'edimaginations,Hhe supernatui^al definitions 
 of which it would infinitely exceed the powers of our best 
 
36 THE WORD. 
 
 human intellects to compreliend without divine Grrace as- 
 sisting. 
 
 Our Omniscient Lord often used a figurative language, for 
 the understanding of which He, no doubt, imparted at the 
 time heavenly mental faculties of angelic origin, unnecessary 
 as yet for the general instruction of the intentionally be- 
 nighted multitudes : to wit, the impressive words recom- 
 mended to be used in His incomparable prayer, "As in 
 heaven, so in earth." 
 
 That is, " as our souls, before their fall, before their highly- 
 merited expulsion from Thy heavenly mansions, knew Thy 
 Father's will to be done there." 
 
 To those who '' zealously " read, mark, learn, and inwardly 
 digest ^ the holy mysteries and parables left us by our omni- 
 scient and devoted Preceptor, for our private meditation, 
 edification, and continual study, nothing seems plainer than 
 those comforting, encouraging allusions. 
 
 In short, they are everywhere present, throughout both 
 Testaments,^ as well as in all our dear Redeemer's invaluable 
 words of advice and sympathetic exhortations. 
 
 Nevertheless, to comprehend rightly the Scriptures (and 
 that all-sufficient prayer in particular). Christian readers 
 must be, through grace in Jesus Christ, gradually resuscitated 
 to heavenly thoughts and feelings.^ 
 
 " GrIVE us THIS DaY OUR DaiLY BrEAD." 
 
 Blessings, at all times, and in all places, are worth asking 
 for. It was not, however, that bread alone, which we eat. 
 
THE WORD. 37 
 
 that we were taught humbly to beg for, at the merciful hands 
 of the universal and eternal Dispenser of all good earthly 
 gifts. 
 
 A far better bread than all the worldly riches and perish- 
 able possessions of this pompously-boasted-of storehouse, is to 
 be earnestly prayed for, as our beloved Brother Jesus, in this 
 instance, tells us ; not only " daily," but " day by day," 
 also. For it is the " bread of Eternal Life," which we once 
 ate with Him in the halls of heaven, at the hospitable board 
 of our common Father.^ 
 
 " give us. Almighty Grod, not ' this ' day only, but every 
 day also, a foretaste^ of that Bread of Eternal Life, which we 
 so ardently long to partake of again, with our fellow-natives 
 of that glorious kingdom, where Thy Son, our Sovereign 
 Lord and Eldest Brother, with the ever-present Holy Ghost, 
 our Comforter, eternally dwelt under Thy parental care." 
 
 In other words : "0 Jesus Christ, our gracious Redeemer, 
 who didst, in Thy sermon on the Mount, advise us besides, 
 when we pray, to enter into our closets, to close our doors, 
 and then pray, saying to Thy Father, which is in secret, 
 ' Our Father :' permit us likewise to say, using Thine own 
 words to Thee, in our closets too, and wherever we pray: 
 ' Brother, our all-sufficient Saviour, give us all, this day, and 
 day by day, our daily bread, by mercifully again, and con- 
 tinually, sending unto us Thine Holy Ghost ; and Thyself 
 interceding for us, before the throne of Almighty God, 
 the Author of all godliness,^ and the strength of all them 
 that put their trust in Him.' "* 
 
38 THE WORD. 
 
 " And Forgive us our Debts, as we Forgive 
 OUR Debtors." 
 
 Now, be it well remembered that our incalculable debt to 
 God is : infinite and eternal gratitude, for the following 
 blessings, beyond all price : — 
 
 Human existence ; in other words, mortal life. 
 
 The fall of Adam, and the crime of Cain. 
 
 Certainty of ultimate death, and resurrection. 
 
 Universal Redemption, eflfected on Calvary. 
 
 Final judgment, before our gracious Redeemer's throne. 
 
 Porportionate punishments in posthumous states. 
 
 Final universal salvation, through the "all-sufficient atone- 
 ment " of the Martyrdom of Jesus Christ, according to the 
 infallible decrees and preordination of Almighty Grod, made 
 known in heaven before all worlds.* 
 
 It must not be overlooked in this place, that Jesus Christ, 
 our Lord, added, as it is seen in the 14th verse : " For if ye 
 forgive men their trespasses,^ your heavenly Father will also 
 forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
 neither will your Father forgive your trespasses " (Matt. vi.). 
 
 Conceive, if you can now, the enormous weight of such 
 debts, and such trespasses and sins.^ 
 
 Furthermore, bear in mind, as good and faithful Christians, 
 that you are to sue, day by day, with the most confident hope 
 of obtaining ; to sue, word for word, as He tells you, your 
 
 * See tlie interpretations of those blessings, further on. 
 
THE WORD. 39 
 
 prompting, assisting, propitiating Intercessor, in that sublime 
 prayer, for the full and perfect liquidation of all those over- 
 whelming debts, which, under no other possible circimistance, 
 you could hope to get completely cancelled. 
 
 You need not have any fear of becoming insolvent, " pro- 
 vided " the Solicitor you retain, the special Pleader defending 
 you, and the Judge hearing the cause, be satisfied, all Three of 
 them, as One and the same Mediator, that you have done, on 
 your part, implicitly, what a good^ Christian should do. 
 
 Would that our earthly judges were as charitable, merciful, 
 and impartially equitable,^ as the adorable Messiah will in- 
 fallibly be at our last great Assize ! 
 
 "And Lead us not into Temptation." 
 
 " Then," exclaims the scej^tic, addressing himself to fervent 
 Christians, who accept the Evangelical writings with bound- 
 less trust, as the sacredly authorized revelations of Cod's 
 immutable will and unalterable decrees, — " then, your Merci- 
 ful Father, the Lord of Hosts, Jehovah, leads us^ into temp- 
 tations ! " 
 
 He, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, entices us poor weak 
 mortals, whom he has created so frail, and so easily drawn 
 astray, into the commission of a multitude of sins, for which 
 we are to inherit death, and be inevitably doomed to ever- 
 lasting punishments ! ! 
 
 Good heavens ! What can this admission of your dear 
 Redeemer and dearest Saviour mean ? 
 
 It means, sadly incredulous reader, that, by dint of dis- 
 
40 THE WORD, 
 
 believing all thou hearest and readest, thou hast unfortunately 
 reached a state of doubt, which entirely darkens^ thy under- 
 standing, and prevents thy unravelling scriptural veracities 
 and sacred realities, wliich it is not permitted that minds like 
 thine should comprehend, sooner than their allotted time.^ 
 
 Jesus Christ knowing, perfectly well, that everything which 
 happens in this world, ay, throughout the whole universe, 
 must be permitted, for good or for evil (this latter being 
 simply apparent^), by His Almighty Father, uses such terms 
 as, " Lead us not," with a mysterious signification, which, to 
 the untrue, is fatally perplexing, but, to the sincere Christian, 
 clearly expressive of "glorious promises and realizations" of 
 universally granted forgiveness, and thoroughly efficient 
 Divine grace.* 
 
 Penetrated, as we feel, by the notions and sentiments 
 which usually animate zealous worshippers of the Most Holy 
 Trinity — trusting enthusiastically in the unlimited benevo- 
 lence, the parental afiection, of our Celestial Father — we have 
 no room whatever left in our mind, heart, or soul, for the 
 adoption of a single momentary feeling of doubt, respecting 
 the infinite Grace, Love, and Compassion of the "Three 
 Eternal Gods," represented by the " monotheocracy " we 
 most solemnly confess and devotedly adore. 
 
 "But Deliver us from Evil." 
 
 Establishing our dogmas on the manifold texts, which we 
 have most scrupulously and abundantly quoted in the fore- 
 going and subsequent portions of this work — all of them, more 
 
THE WORD. 41 
 
 or less, tending evangelically to corroborate the validity of 
 our own " private^ life " in the positive " universality " of 
 Angelic and human Redemption and Salvation — we shall 
 now undertake, with due reverence and unfeigned defe- 
 rence, to explain how we conceive that Temptation was, 
 and is, and will be, to the end,' the " chiefest means " used 
 through exhaustless grace, " before all worlds,"' by our then 
 autotheocratic Father, antecedently to the fall of the angels, 
 to bring back all His past, present, and future " Prodigal 
 Sons " (not one excepted)* into his Heavenly kingdom again. 
 
 No one, in his right senses, will venture to say that our 
 Eternal Almighty Grod, in any single respect, is limited, or 
 ever was, in His sovereign will and ruling power. 
 
 This is a sacred axiom which places, at the pious discretion 
 of all honest and Christian theologians, an exhaustless store 
 of fervent, faith-abounding arguments, which are amply 
 adequate to the solution of any amount of doctrinal problems. 
 They are, in short, perfectly adequate to the right under- 
 standing, and the full knowledge, of many of " those figura- 
 tive and parabolical words^ of God," which were purposely, 
 in times long passed, withheld from the unregenerated com- 
 prehensions of men. 
 
 It certainly is undeniably a fact, that, when our Lord 
 Jesus Christ taught that "ineffably efficient Prayer," He 
 was not to be looked upon, on this earth, even by His dis- 
 ciples and the Apostles, as a Cod : for, had He been so, the 
 merit of His martyrdom, the glory of His crucifixion, must 
 have been vastly lessened.'' 
 
 E 
 
42 THE WORD. 
 
 Our Saviour, terrestrially born, as He was, to expiatory 
 sufferings and deatli, retained, all througli His mortal life, 
 tlioughts and feelings, exclusively and incessantly, relating 
 to His Divine origin and mission. They rendered Him, 
 essentially and pre-eminently, an infallibly truthful Oracle, 
 in all He foretold; a perfectly Omniscient Interpreter, in 
 all He thought it right to explain and to teach. 
 
 Who can then doubt, for a moment, that His truly sacred 
 " Pater Noster " graciously embodies Words of Mercy and 
 Love, inspired by the Holy Ghost — who must have been ex- 
 pressly sent to Him, from alcove, on that particular occasion ?^ 
 
 Those heavenly Words, therefore, taken in a collective 
 or an isolated sense, convey very justly to the enthusiastic 
 believer's mind, heart, and soul, so comprehensive and com- 
 plete a compilation of Christian confessions; fihal submis- 
 sions and homages; ay, humble supplications and depre- 
 cations ; devoted allegiance and boundless praise ; that, they 
 might, with a very few doctrinal additions, constitute a suffi- 
 ciency of verbal worship,^ infinitely more acceptable, through 
 the propitiation, intercession, and sanctification of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, than all the pompous 
 adorations and ceremonious genuflexions of mistaken zealots 
 of every nominal Christian persuasion on the face of the earth. 
 
 Has there ever been an ecclesiastical attempt made, to 
 reconcile Divine use of temptation, with Divine exercise of 
 infinite Grace ? 
 
 Has the unaccountable presence of Satan in Heaven, first, 
 in Eden, next, and now, in the Earth, ever been inter- 
 
THE WORD. 43 
 
 preted as a blessing, granted unto us by the Most High, 
 from the Beginning/ through the intercession of our adora- 
 ble^ Eedeemer? 
 
 Such is, nevertheless, the Alpha of Christianity ; such is 
 its Omega. 
 
 We shall endeavoiu", in the next sections, to discover 
 whether or not, such a connexion of good and evil, for the 
 purpose of effecting " Universal Salvation," can be satisfac- 
 torily estabhshed on trustworthy data. 
 
 Our unlimited reliance, in the veracity of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, may lead us on, very inadvertently, to exceed the 
 right we assume,^ perhaps too rashly, of putting our own 
 constructions,* apparently paradoxical, on the sacred state- 
 ments we find, in both the Old Testament and the New. 
 
 Should this excess of Faith be imputed to us as a trans- 
 gression, heterodoxicaP as well as illogical, we prostrate our- 
 selves before the Throne of infinite Mercy, and penitently 
 repeat " the words," which we are hereby striving to magnify 
 and glorify, by saying more fervently and trustfully than ever : 
 
 " Our Father, which art in heaven . . . Lead us not into 
 temptation,*^ but deliver us from evil." 
 
 And, beseeching the Spirit of Truth, to enlighten our 
 understanding, we humbly commence our solemn task, by 
 ascribing whatever honour and glory may be due, should 
 there be any worthy of being so, to the Father, and the 
 Son, and the Holy Grhost, for ever and ever. 
 
 E 2 
 
44 THE WORD. 
 
 MOST MERCIFUL EXISTENCE i OF THE VIRGIN 
 
 MART, AND JESUS CHRIST, "BEFORE ALL 
 
 WORLDS." 
 
 A Father and His Son, acknowledgecP to have existed 
 eternities ago, may be very legitimately considered (we 
 speak foolishly, may be, as human speakers not unfrequently 
 do), under the reasonable aspect of two separate Beings : 
 the Elder preceding the Younger, in reference to time. No 
 further possible human calculation being accessible, regarding 
 the comparative durability of periods, between the existences^ 
 of an eternal Father and an eternal Son : — 
 
 Both Father and Son, Almighty. 
 
 Both Father and Son, coequal in Glory and Majesty. 
 
 Both uncreate and incomprehensible. 
 
 Both Gods, and botli Lords. 
 
 The Father, made of none : neither created, nor begotten. 
 
 The Son begotten of the Father, from tlie Beginning.* 
 
 The Son (physically speaking), not visibly eternal,'^ but 
 coexisting divinely in the Godhead of the Father. 
 
 The Son, begotten before all worlds, of an Archangelic 
 Mother f subsequently incarnated, for the purpose of effect- 
 ing the miraculously merciful incarnation of the Divine Son 
 of God, her own Spiritual Son ; in heaven, spiritually be- 
 gotten of the Father, before all worlds also. And further- 
 more, her own terrestrial Son, divinely conceived by tlie 
 Holy Ghost, as the breath of life was breathed "^ in the in- 
 
THE WORD. 45 
 
 animate body of Adam, on this earth, through the omni- 
 potent will of the everlasting Parent of us all. 
 
 Such we faithfully believe (many mysterious particulars 
 combining), to have been the infinitely gracious Origin of 
 the "Triunely self-constituted" Holy Christian Trinity : most 
 essentially Christian.' 
 
 ETERNAL MONOCRACY OF GOD. 
 Division of His Infinite Monotheistical Attributes. 
 
 As fair dogmatical deductions, from the foregoing Biblical 
 premises,^ we shall, in nomine Jesu C/wisti, humbly proceed 
 with our interpretations. 
 
 Grod the Father, for eternities, antecedent to the Christian 
 revelation* of His triune self-division of infinite monotheis- 
 tical* Power, Wisdom, and Mercy, as Omnipotent ante- 
 mundane Creator, autocratically reigned over a pristine Uni- 
 verse,^ which was called the kingdom of God, That king- 
 dom, which His adorable Son, our most beloved Lord, pro- 
 phetically enjoins us day by day to pray for, saying : " Our 
 Father . . . Thy kingdom come." 
 
 And therein sprang, alas ! within that incessantly blessed 
 kingdom sprang, "an awful bane," which first began to 
 undermine^ the perfect universal purity and beatitude, which 
 the sons of God spiritually enjoyed, under His infinitely bene- 
 ficent Rule ; joyfully obeying ; fervently worshipping ; grate- 
 
46 THE WORD. 
 
 fully, devotedly loving Him— the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, 
 Jehovah, whom it was inexpressible bliss continually to adore. 
 
 But that " bane," that awful bane, had taken root and 
 necessarily sprung.^ Many of the Angels and Spirits had 
 discontinued to consider it a pure source of happiness to be 
 totally " ignorant of evil." Their places were often vacant, 
 round the throne of Divine Majesty and Grrace. 
 
 An ArchangeP had even entirely withdrawn his attendance, 
 at the periodical courts of heaven. Mysterious had ever 
 been his ways. 
 
 His first appearance among the angelic hosts was sudden, 
 and seemingly'^ not approved of the Eternal King, but unac- 
 countably tolerated. The Divine Brow, so invariably radiant, 
 heretofore, each time the unlooked-for visitant came, in an 
 instant assumed a look of indignant blame.* 
 
 Taking for granted, that the reader has kindly perused the 
 pages preceding this, or that he still bears in mind their con- 
 tents, we shall again advert to our dear Redeemer's concluding 
 injunction, in the Prayer we are endeavouring to expound, 
 respecting temptation. 
 
 Temptations must be admitted as the *' first and only 
 causes" of celestial corruption : they were, most inconceivably, 
 the " real origin of sin."^ 
 
 It must be admitted next, because it is undeniable (we 
 cannot, as yet, tell the reader why)," that the arch tempter, 
 whose primeval apparition we have sketched some pages on,'^ 
 from a variety of scriptural details, was, and is, no other than 
 a menial subordinate being, compassionately employed by the 
 
THE WORD. 47 
 
 Almighty, to test and thoroughly pmify the long-forgiven 
 reprieved inhabitants of that glorious kingdom, into which 
 we all, who are sincere Christians, day by day, pray most 
 ardently to be received again. 
 
 From the moment that that mysterious archangel finally 
 left the dreaded presence of his Omniscient Judge, a Triune- 
 deate Council resolved^: — 
 
 That each monotheistic G-od should at once, and for some 
 thousands of ages, then to come, act apart.^ 
 
 That consequently, the Almighty Lord of lords, and King 
 of kings, imtil then, as our Heavenly Father now, should, 
 for a portion of that time, occupy the autotheocratic throne,^ 
 alone, and reign paramount over all. 
 
 That His only-begotten Son, our future Eedeemer, should 
 rule, Himself paramount also,* and alone, as G-od of Grod, 
 Very Grod of very Grod, over all the archangelic, angelic, and 
 spiritual hosts ; until His Divine mission of grace,^ preceded 
 by His most merciful and miraculous creation of this earth, 
 should begin. 
 
 That the Third Incomprehensible Grod, the Holy Grhost, 
 our predestinated terrestrial Guide and ever-present Comforter," 
 should first, through incessant inspirations and admonitions, 
 strive to induce those particular souls likely to fall, ere it 
 should be too late, to beware of that formidable and daring- 
 deceiver.'^ And, in the second place, carry on from the 
 creation of Adam, until the end of all earthly things, this 
 most important and " indispensable mission "^ of Divine 
 Grace, without which Universal Redemption and Salva- 
 
48 THE WORD. 
 
 tion, preordained from the beginning, could not be accom- 
 plished.^ 
 
 Here we must remind the reader, that the apostate arch- 
 angel, alluded to some pages back, was Satan : that Satan 
 who, besides tempting those unhappy spirits, which he snatched 
 thus so mysteriously from heaven, was the same demon foe 
 who tempted Adam and Eve ; tempted Cain ; tempted Jesus 
 Christ ; tempted, in short, from the earliest origin of evil, 
 and will continue to tempt us all, to the latest end of this 
 graciously transmigratory and purgatorial world.^ 
 
 So that, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
 evil : For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
 for^ ever : Amen," mystically reveals God the Father Him- 
 self, in the Divinely* incarnated Person of His earthly Repre- 
 sentative, Jesus Christ, urgently, and both paternally and 
 fraternally,^ advises us, all, to beseech Him alike, not to lead 
 us any longer into temptation, but to deliver us from evil : 
 acknowledging submissively that " His is the kingdom, and 
 the power, and the glory for ever." 
 
 FIRST AND FOREMOST SALUTARY" PRESENCE 
 OF EVIL. 
 
 It was the eternal monotheocratic Lord of All Things, 
 visible and invisible, who, having " mentally " created Adam,^ 
 upon first discovering that a self-generated incipient ether,^ of 
 an extremely virulent nature,^ was imperceptibly, but effec- 
 tively, contaminating the souls of His heavenly spirits and 
 
THE WORD. 49 
 
 powers, besides spreading- influential pestilence througliout 
 His principalities and kingdoms, had furthermore anticipatedly 
 composed^ those prophecies, revelations, and sacred warnings 
 (including Our Lord's Prayer), which were in due time to 
 constitute the most important portion of our Sacred Bible.^ 
 
 Although not yet self-multiplied, our Almighty Grod, the 
 ever-flowing " Fountain of Divine love and grace," combined 
 within His All-sufficient and formidable Oneness, "I am 
 Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last," all the won- 
 derful attributes of the Three incomprehensible Gods of that 
 Godhead, which He secretly purposed, after a time, by mira- 
 culous divisions and separations, mercifully to treble.^ 
 
 Therefore, annihilating for ever, by a single thought, the 
 total existence of the above-mentioned ethereal malefic prin- 
 ciples of evil,* Jehovah next evoked, from the infernal abysses, 
 where he had, for myriads of centuries past, confined him, at 
 the extremest verge of the immeasurable universe, that false 
 Archangel he intentionally formed and endowed^ as a 
 " spiiitual antidote," perfectly subservient to His Almighty 
 will, against the deplorable ills which He, from the very 
 beginning, had foreseen and forfended. 
 
 A God, like our God, cannot admit any bounds to his Know- 
 ledge, or Wisdom, or Power ; no more than He can to the 
 infinitude of His Merciful Grace and Paternal Love. 
 
 That Prayer, once more, to which all these interpretations 
 refer, proves this most consolatory, encom'aging fact, to an 
 
50 THE WORD. 
 
 extent that must have been incredible, had the sacred words 
 dropped from any other lips, but from those of our ever- 
 adorable Saviour; consequently from the Holy Ghost, and 
 from the Most High. 
 
 Observe, most gratefully too, how those grace-fraught, all- 
 sufficient words efficaciously terminate. By addressing His 
 own heavenly Father Himself, and saying, in our behalf — 
 " Amen, So be it ! " 
 
 Let us all, in our turn, most fervently add, " For Thine is 
 the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and 
 ever ! " Amen ! 
 
 The important variations, plainly noticeable in both prayers 
 by the assistance of unprejudiced Christian comparisons,^ 
 should not be overlooked. 
 
 In St. Matthew the discrepancy more particularly exists in 
 the words, " Our debts," and " Our debtors." We cannot, 
 meanwhile, help preferring St. Luke's, "as in heaven, so in 
 earth," to " in earth, as it is in heaven," adducing the reason 
 we have already assigned.^ 
 
 It is very strikingly evident that St. Luke, in his sacred 
 compilation, piously bore in mind, that he had sojourned him- 
 self also, in those forfeited realms of bliss, like all the kindred 
 souls he was meeting on earth,^ and he consequently regis- 
 tered, all the more faithfully, his "celestial experience" 
 regarding the manner of observing " the Will of God " in 
 heaven, as deserving priority of rank, infinitely more than the 
 
THE WORD. 51 
 
 " irreverent," not to say impious, sacrilegious way in wHch 
 that self-same most holy "will is observed by an enormously 
 vast majority of the heedless inhabitants of this world. 
 
 St. Matthew must, in this material instance, have recorded 
 His Divine Master's words with some degree of inattention^ 
 regarding his own individual origin, precisely similar to that 
 of his brother apostle. 
 
 •35- 
 
 With regard to Debts and Sins the difference of adoption 
 preferred by each Apostle must be ascribed to the national 
 " moral and religious " principles of their respective hearers. 
 
 One prominent featm^e appears to culminate in St. Matthew's 
 version, which would indicate that Jesus Christ, our ever-con- 
 siderate Lord, was impressed, when He used those tenns, with 
 a conviction that, having before Him a multitude, chiefly con- 
 sisting of buyers and sellers, that is, tradespeople of all degrees, 
 he would be best understood then by substituting " debts " for 
 " sins."2 
 
 And certainly, in our days, the generally accepted opinion 
 would infallibly be, that a Jew would infinitely, rather for- 
 give sins and trespasses,^ in any number, than a single " debt " 
 of the most trifling value ; which we must be allowed, from 
 repeated personal experience, to declare as being a most 
 egregiously unchristian aspersion.* 
 
 Chap. vi. 14, 15, following this Apostle's insertion of the 
 Lord's Prayer, becomes aU the more pointedly personal, 
 
52 THE WORT). 
 
 by being separately levelled at unforgiving trespassers^ as 
 well as debtors. 
 
 How vast, bow edifying tbe instruction, how universal and 
 suitable to tbe past, present, and future generations of our 
 ordeal states in tbis mortal existence ^ are tbe bumble and 
 penitent supplications of eacb filial and fraternal address ! 
 
 In Saint Luke we bave " apparently " ^ more earnestness, 
 more zeal, more anxious details ; as if our Divine Teacber 
 wisbed to leave notbing wbatever unsaid tbat could in any 
 possible respect obtain tbe compassionate and cbaritable 
 attention of His infinitely merciful and "Parental* Hearer." 
 
 It is not, for example, " Tby will be done in eartb, as it is 
 done in beaven ;'•' but, " As in beaven, so ^ in eartb." 
 
 Not, " Give us tbis day our daily bread ; " but, " day by 
 day our daily bread." 
 
 Not, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive tbem tbat 
 trespass against us ;" but, " Forgive us our sins ; for ^ we also 
 forgive every one tbat is indebted to us." 
 
 How many " scrupulously ^ pious " Cbristians are tbere wbo, 
 solemnly laying tbeir bands on tbeir bearts in token of sin- 
 cerest trutb, could take up tbose "ominously significative 
 words" of Jesus, addressing tbem, as He did, to His own 
 Fatber, and say, "For we also forgive every one"? 
 
 Nevertbeles — Sinners, trespassers, debtors, pray on, saying, 
 " Our Fatber," as fervently and trutbfuUy as you can. We 
 bave an Intercessor, a Redeemer a Saviour, an Almigbty 
 
THE WORD. 53 
 
 Father, " in Trinity combined," who knows to what a dreadful 
 extent ^ we are tried and tempted. He has atoned for all : 
 He has ransomed all : He has saved all ! 
 
 "For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and 
 
 THE GrLORY, for EVER. AmEN." 
 
 The appreciation of such an inconceivably comprehensive 
 " Creed " as the Lord's Prayer, extensive in pious meaning 
 as we have anxiously, dutifully striven to make it, would 
 be infinitely more inadequate to its object than it is, were it 
 left, with the above most important confession, merely in- 
 serted in this book as simply obligatory admissions. 
 
 Our Divine Mediator, after having told us precisely what 
 we should say to the Lord of lords, the supreme Arbiter of 
 all future human destinies beyond the grave, prudently warns 
 us finally and solemnly to declare that : — 
 
 His, and His only, is the everlasting kingdom of heaven ; 
 all other kingdoms merely habitations of a day.- 
 
 His, and His only, is that power before which all other 
 powers must humble themselves, as, perfectly impotent, and of 
 no avail. ""^ 
 
 His, and His only, that transcendent glory by the side of 
 which all other glories are but dim and evanescent pomps 
 and majesties, without equivalent effect or comparative 
 duration.* 
 
54 THE WORD. 
 
 EXPLANATOEY RETEOSPECT 
 
 CONCERNING THE 
 
 COMPAEATIYE EXTENT OF OUE DEBTS TO 
 
 GOD. 
 
 (See page 47.). 
 
 Let us examine, more minutely if possible, the separate 
 items, helping to form our respective debts, in those numerous 
 causes, which will most indubitably be tried, at the awful bar 
 of Divine justice, when the great day shall have dawned, 
 beyond which there will remain no further hope of appeal or 
 surcease. 
 
 Our enormous "individual^ debt" to God, is "eternal 
 gratitude," contracted by us all from the beginning, unre- 
 deemable, and which none ever will be able to liquidate. 
 
 WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD FOR OUR MORTAL 
 LIFE.3 
 
 Without terrestrial death, our souls must have been eternally 
 damned.^ 
 
 How so ? 
 
 Because, had the Almighty persisted* in keeping for ever 
 in exile, those immortal spirits and angels, which He originally 
 drove from His presence, for their most ungratefuP rebellion : 
 
THE WORD. 55 
 
 neither the Creation, nor death, nor redemption, nor judg- 
 ment ; nor the intermediate states, nor salvation ; could have 
 been necessary, by any explicable earthly motive^ whatever. 
 
 But we were they ! — that is, those rebellious spirits and 
 angels were we !^ 
 
 So, the Almighty and everlasting God willed, that the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, His own begotten Son — begotten of Him- 
 self, for that purpose, "before all^ worlds" — should, in due 
 time, first " create the present heaven, and the earth." 
 
 Thus, our Redeemer and Saviour, His merciful Father pre- 
 siding, and the Holy Ghost assisting,* created the earth, and 
 Adam and Eve therein : the first incarnated angels, trans- 
 formed into human souls ; through Infinite Grace reprieved, 
 and, thi'ough Jehovah's boundless mercy preordained, in this 
 manner, most impartially to be saved,^ with all their kindred 
 hosts. 
 
 WE SHOULD BE GRATEFULLY INDEBTED TO GOD FOR 
 THE FALL OF ADAM AND THE CRIME OF CAIN. 
 
 It is most impiously wicked to imagine, that an Omnipotent, 
 Omniscient, and infinitely good Legislator, as our eternal 
 lieavenly King proves Himself to have been, and to be, 
 throughout all His works, should have, in this single instance,^ 
 evinced a want of foresight, and common charity, such as 
 we could hardly have suspected in any of oui' species, save 
 amongst the brutal kinds,'' of the most uncivilized regions of 
 this earth. 
 
56 THE WORD. 
 
 Let us, on the contrary, rationally and gratefully fix a 
 totally different construction on this most marvellous operation 
 of " Divine lovingkindness and Christian^ compassion." 
 
 Foreknowing well the whole miracle of our adorable 
 Saviour's immaculate life, and meritorious death, so evidently 
 consequent on the sad defection and resulting banishment of 
 the apostate angels, whom His Son loved once, as brothers, 
 so well, — foreknowing too that, as long as Satan, the mys- 
 terious root of all the evil, and they, his wretched victims, were 
 not adequately punished ; each ingrate delinquent proportion- 
 ately to the awful malignity of his heinous offence, the 
 heavenly abodes of the just, made perfect, would be ceaselessly 
 exposed to further and worse corruptions, — the Lord God 
 determined severely to award full but considerate, justice 
 to all. 
 
 Then it happened that Satan was seen, by our Lord Jesus 
 Christ,^ fall like lightning, indignantly hurled, at the Al- 
 mighty's commands, from the skies. 
 
 Then it must have been also that the tempted myriads 
 condemned, too late repentant,^ were driven to herd with 
 their tempter fiend, in the frightful depths of his gloomy 
 realms, all utterly wi-etched and hopelessly lost. 
 
 And this is, furthermore, precisely the opportune moment 
 for us, with exultingly repeated hallelujahs of praise, and 
 anthems of thanks, to draw up the imaginary curtain, be- 
 hind which we have, so very often, pictured to ourselves the 
 heart-moving and soul-transporting wonders of Universal 
 Salvation, foreshadowed throughout the sacred rites, and 
 
THE WORD. 57 
 
 impressive ceremonies, of alP Christian Churches : and, more 
 conspicuously still, in those most edifying words of our 
 Divine Teacher's two solacing and encouraging Prayers. 
 
 Human beings, whatever may be their freedom of action, 
 cannot control their thoughts.^ Our own were always in- 
 clined, boldly to rove throughout the romantic regions of 
 mythological tales, and the beau ideal of supernatural 
 visions and dreams ; especially before we had attained our 
 riper years of worldly-tutored experience,^ and consequent 
 wisdom. 
 
 Like many other youthful Christians, we could not, even, 
 help reading the Holy Scriptures, without attaching to their 
 many undeniably singular and figui'ative allusions,* interest- 
 ing realities, of our own creation ; satisfactory solutions, and 
 what we thought infinitely more reverent and suitable in- 
 terpretations, than those we were then, through various cir- 
 cumstances of our social existence, compelled apparently to 
 accept.^ 
 
 There was one portion of our Biblical readings, which 
 riveted oirr attention above all the rest : it was the Creation 
 of this world, and the Fall of Adam and Eve. 
 
 We could not, for a very considerable time,^ reconcile, in 
 our inquisitive judgment, the ascribed motive, for example, 
 operating in Cod, during the six days of His miraculous 
 works ; comprising, not only this terrestrial globe, but all 
 the solar system thereunto belonging ; and furthermore, all 
 
58 THE WORD. 
 
 the starry universe, seemingly, so little connected with it,^ 
 as indispensable auxiliaries ; we could not reconcile, kindly 
 let us repeat it, dear reader, the vastly mysterious motive 
 of such a Creator, with His apparently inadequate^ object. 
 
 Years passed on, finding us constantly adverting, when- 
 ever theological conversations occurred, among our intimate 
 friends (and we frequently brought them on) to this most 
 welcome of all other themes. 
 
 MOST EVIDENT PURPOSE OF THE CREATION. 
 
 It could not possibly be, for the exclusive accommodation 
 of " one Being^ alone," ^vith His ofispring, that the Omni- 
 potent Divinity, so merciful, so omniscient, and infinitely 
 wise, filled the wide expanse of the boundless heavens, with 
 habitable spheres;* for the merely "necessary orbits" of 
 which, the space, unavoidably required, would outmeasure, 
 millions of times, that which we occupy, for the necessary 
 rotatory evolutions of our own. 
 
 "No, no!" we used solemnly to declare, before our in- 
 dulgent hearers. "Adam must have been the divinely in- 
 tended miraculous progenitor of forthcoming countless gene- 
 rations, with which the Lord Almighty was marvellously 
 and mercifully ^ designing to people, not only the fair garden 
 of Eden, and our wide hemispheres, from pole to pole, but, 
 moreover, those innumerable mansions, which so wonder- 
 fully spangle interminable space. 
 
 The natural consequence of so much spiritual® interest, 
 
THE WORD. 59 
 
 fortunately brought on a very considerable degree of daily 
 increasing pious curiosity, wHch could be satisfied, only by 
 fervently beseecbing the Holy Spirit, mercifully to open our 
 mind and heart to a proper and well-meaning^ " search of 
 the Scriptures," whereby our soul might be both enlightened 
 and edified through Jesus Christ. 
 
 We then commenced our anxious investigations, by closely 
 pondering over the three first chapters of Genesis ; comparing 
 them with the three Grospels of St. Matthew, St. Luke, and 
 St. John.2 
 
 We furthermore, and connectedly with the said chapters 
 of Genesis, and the Gospels, minutely examined our " Church 
 Service ;" our " Book of Common Prayer ;" and the " public 
 and private character of our own^ clergy," as much imder an 
 orthodox, as an ethic, point of view.* 
 
 These investigations and examinations concluded, after 
 further blessings prayed for, we considered oui'selves ade- 
 quately supplied with essential facts and evidences, to form 
 just estimates of the sacred corroborations we wished to 
 collect ; the quotations we should possibly have to cite ; the 
 data we might find it necessary to furnish. 
 
 TEMPTATIONS AND FALLS TURN TO BLESSINGS. 
 
 These labours having all been most scrupulously attended 
 to, and ending in a successful way towards our object^ we shall, 
 at once, confess that a perfect conviction came over us that : — 
 
 The " Temptation of Eve," the " Fall of Adam," and the 
 
 F 2 
 
60 THE WORD. 
 
 " Crime of Cain," were foreknown occurrences, intended to 
 be principally instrumental,^ in the ultimate accomplishment 
 of the '' Universal " Eedemption and Salvation of Mankind. 
 
 Ascribing the sacred character of the purest veracity to 
 every line of Holy Writ,^ that sets forth the mercy, the 
 compassion, the lovingkindness of God, usward ; fixing the 
 same sacred character on " every word," either in the Old 
 Testament and the New, spoken by the Almighty, in person ; 
 and by our Lord Jesus Christ, during His great mission on 
 earth, with reference to impartial justice f merciful retribu- 
 butions ; and proportionate punishments : not overlooking 
 those ineffable blessings of infinite atonement ; all-sujBficieut 
 ransom, and universal forgiveness, — 
 
 We enter on the reverent, but steadfast, exposition of our 
 views, sanctioned by many,* touching the glorious " motives 
 and objects," evidently revealed by the merciful existence 
 and presence of the most holy and charitable "Eternal 
 Trinity," from everlasting to everlasting. 
 
 As our own paternal Glod Himself acknowledges four 
 times, in the revelation of St. John, that He is Alpha and 
 Omega, the First and the Last, we may very reasonably infer 
 that a beginning must, in like manner, have been dateable, 
 respecting all things, animate and inanimate, in any way 
 connected with our antecedent spiritual, and subsequent 
 material, states of being. 
 
 It is at this inscrutable commencement of our Eternal 
 Lord's earth-connected Godhead, that undoubtedly originated 
 also in Him, by Him, or from Him, our pristine angelic essence. 
 
THE WORD, 61 
 
 EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEMS OF WORLDS.^ 
 
 We can well enough imagine an everlasting omnipotent 
 divinity, unique and triune,^ at will, having, for eternities 
 past, alone premeditated, organized, and created a number- 
 less succession of " experimental systems^ of worlds," in their 
 turn swept away, to serve at last, as huge chaotic fragments,* 
 for the final construction and completion of " our own " most 
 inconceivable, yet grace-preordained, Christian universe.^ 
 
 The Triune God " we " adore, may moreover during those 
 elapsed eternities, have given life to untold generations of 
 angels, giants, and demi-gods,^ each spiritually engendered 
 and tried in rotation, with other multiformed incarnated 
 creatures, and spirits, all periodically mortal ;^ that thought, 
 and acted, and spoke, under a variety of probationary laws,^ 
 during their appointed thousands of years; and, like ourselves, 
 rebelled (more or less wickedly), against their Maker, then 
 died at their predetermined time.^ 
 
 An impenetrable mystery veils the mighty cause, which evi- 
 dently then necessitated the inconceivably merciful presence 
 of a "totally" Christian Grodhead and Christian creation.^" 
 
 From the eternally Grod-begotten Lord of hosts, " our 
 present" Lord," to that Grod-created Sire of human-kind ; both 
 of whom, by divine behest, and irresistible fiat, were, and 
 
62 THE WORD, 
 
 are, and will be to the end, marvellously linked in the accom- 
 plishment of that infinitely wondrous scheme, — 
 
 The ultimate Trinity-fostered-and-sanctified existence, of a 
 spotless, perfect, and regenerated universe,^ of heavenly man- 
 sions, systems, and worlds, prepared from the beginning, for 
 the everlasting new^ habitations, of all existing souls, from 
 that of Adam (the second son of Grod), to that of the last^ of 
 the human race, ransomed and saved by the all-sufficient 
 oblation of Jesus Christ, our most adorable Redeemer. 
 
 Hallowed be Thy name, indeed. Our Father, who art in 
 heaven. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done ! 
 
 " Praise God from whom all blessings flow." 
 
 WE SHOULD BE GRATEFULLY INDEBTED TO GOD 
 FOR DEATH. 
 
 That vast broadway, which leadeth back into hopeful 
 immortality,* that erroneously dreaded gate, through which 
 myriads of myriads have passed, and myriads of myriads 
 more must inevitably pass, through which, indeed, they may 
 have repeatedly to pass and repass again !^ 
 
 Christian friend, dost thou know what thou utterest, when 
 thou sayest, " Thy kingdom come " ? Thou prayest that thy 
 turn may soon be, to be called back before thy God ; and 
 consequently to go along that broadway, and to pass through 
 that gate. That is — 
 
 To be found worthy, or not yet worthy, under the redeem- 
 
THE WORD. 63 
 
 ing grace of our adorable Saviour, and the forgiveness of our 
 Almighty Father, sanctified by the Holy Ghost, to form 
 again a part of that glorious kingdom, which thou art, by 
 those words, declaring thyself to be " earnestly yearning after." 
 
 But His kingdom may come to thee by foretaste. Our 
 Divine Instructor conveyed two meanings for the faithful 
 supplicant's mind, and heart, and soul to apply. 
 
 Although thy " death " is the chief blessing, by the advent 
 of which thou mayest the soonest return to that blissful 
 kingdom of heaven, yet thou mayest, by fervent repetitions^ 
 of that prayer, anticipate early communions with holy jojs ; 
 thou mayest, by incessant submission to the precepts incul- 
 cated in it, were it only in penitently repeating, at piously^ 
 selected moments " Thy kingdom come," hasten, in His 
 holy name, the happy moment of thy recall. 
 
 Death is indeed, to pious souls, the greatest source of 
 happiness they can wish on this earth to befall them. 
 
 The next to that is to be rendered, by Divine mercy, so 
 devoutly prepared to die, that all the pomps and vanities of 
 this world are as dross, compared with the felicity relied on, 
 beyond the grave : ''0 Death, where is thy sting then ? 
 Grave, where is thy victory ? " 
 
 WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD FOR OUR UNIYERSAL* 
 REDEMPTION. 
 
 Sensible readers of the Scriptures, not overcome by bigoted 
 prejudices,* of a superannuated nature especially, should 
 
64 THE WORD. 
 
 never forget that the early sovereignties of the Christian 
 Chiu-ehes, more particularly in ancient Rome, produced 
 clergies (let us call them by that name for simplicity's sake), 
 with " human " dispositions quite as much in accordance with 
 the temporal interests and necessities of their days, as our 
 present ecclesiastical bodies^ experience feelings in unison 
 with the regnant views of their own hierarchies, and with 
 those, more importunate still,^ of the actual world's predomi- 
 nant religious notions. 
 
 We, none of us, would be ready to admit that the Jews, 
 and the early Roman Catholics, as nations, were, at any 
 period of their prosperity, less interested, less venal, less con- 
 troversial and dissenting, in doctrinal matters, than we are 
 our own selves, as well as all Christian priesthoods, at home 
 and abroad. 
 
 These legitimate remarks enable us to establish, pretty 
 nearly as facts, that, judging by the numerous, say, almost 
 irreverent,^ interpretations, translations, and applications of 
 holy texts and Divinely sacred truths, to suit the sectarian as 
 well as the orthodox preaching, expounding, and praying of 
 several of our religious communities, in a doctrinal or profit- 
 able point of view. The interpretations, translations, and 
 applications from the self-same texts and truths of the Rabbis, 
 the subsequent Popes and celebrated Divines of Old, were 
 equal evidences of their rabbinical, papistic, and clerical 
 high notions of making their respective ex-cathedra versions 
 thoroughly agree with their individual principles and inte- 
 rests wherever they happened to rule paramount. 
 
THE WORD. 65 
 
 Add to the preceding conjectures/ fortunatelj supported by 
 most incontestable Divine corroborations, that the solemn 
 declarations of mercy and sacred promises of pardon from 
 both the Eternal Father and the equally Eternal Son, go the 
 full length to prove a total disparity and unconnectedness 
 between the autological predictions of Grod the Most High in 
 the Old Testament, confirmed, verbally,^ by Grod the Messiah, 
 in the New, when compared with the so-repeatedly transcribed 
 and translated, consequently, likewise, as frequently perverted 
 and exaggerated, traditional accounts of the same Immaculate 
 God's " implacable revenge and eternal wrath," which never 
 existed, and never can be true.^ 
 
 Inwardly digest your dear Lord's " Universal Prayer," 
 besides His " Sermon on the Mount." Eead, mark, learn 
 them* well ! For they are the holiest and truest paternal 
 and fraternal admonitions, your awaking soul could fervently 
 long for. 
 
 That Prayer, especially, embodies in an omniloquent as- 
 piration of returning and increasing contrition, submis- 
 sion, gratitude, and love, all fhe faithful hopes, and the 
 hopeful wishes, of an affectionate son ; begging, beseeching 
 to be restored to his beloved Father, and long-lost brethren. 
 
 We are therefore truly indebted to God, for our "most 
 evidently preordained^ Eedemption," as it was stated at the 
 beginning of these observations. 
 
 Why should, then, from their pulpits, over-zealous Ministers 
 of that forgiving and merciful God, strain all their mental 
 faculties to create the utmost^ terror, in their credulous 
 
66 THE WORD. 
 
 hearers, at the frightful description of the endless tortures, 
 irrevocably decreed to be eternally inflicted, on every sinner, 
 that repenteth not in time, and seeketh not " incessantly " 
 to be saved ? 
 
 Should servants of that infinitely atoning, and thoroughly 
 regenerating. Cross be so indefatigable, in their bitter efforts, 
 to demonstrate ^ the " uselessness " of unpredestinated trans- 
 gressors' endeavours to deserve Divine approbation, and fre- 
 quently crown their unchristianlike comminatory discourses, 
 with awful anathemas, and cruelly misapplied allusions, any- 
 thing but ^ true ? 
 
 Unreflecting terrorists ! 
 
 Your heavenly Father brought, on all such occasions, a 
 balm to heal up every wound, an anodyne, to soothe every fear. 
 
 It was a " rich man," He spoke of, in that allusion : and 
 there, as usual. His reference was striking, and most appli- 
 cable. The rich, and you may add with perfect confidence 
 in your veracity, the high Clergy,^ of every land, will find to 
 their cost, too many of them, alas ! " that it is easier for a 
 camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for them 
 to enter into the kingdom of Grod." 
 
 WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD FOR OUR FORTH- 
 COMING GREAT JUDGMENT DAT.* 
 
 The best evidence, which we could desire to possess, of our 
 ultimate " Greneral Salvation," as sinful offenders, banished 
 in disgrace, and awaiting, each of us, his separate doom, 
 
THE WORD. 67 
 
 has been most graciously voucTisafed to us, under the media- 
 tory absolution^ of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, on Calvary. 
 " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost ! " 
 
 It was done in this wise : — 
 
 First : Deservedly driven from our original heavenly 
 abodes, for having rebelled against our Almighty King, 
 at the wily instigations of an infinitely malignant foe f we 
 are justly condemned to everlasting^ penalties and tribula- 
 tions, the accurate* duration of which, it is an impious pre- 
 sumption, in any man, to detei'mine ; especially in our 
 present degenerate clericaP spirituality. 
 
 Secondly : Interceded for, after long-protracted woes and 
 sufferings, of an excruciating antemundane nature,^ which it 
 would be impossible for any one to describe ; rendered in- 
 tenser still, as they were, by the unknown termination, 
 which boundless mercy alone was endeavouring^ to obtain, 
 — interceded for, however, by our brotherly^ God, the well- 
 beloved Son of Jehovah, — we were, at last,^ transferred to 
 His tender mercies : He, from that moment, assuming in 
 our behalf the glorious title of " Cm* All-sufficient," and 
 "divinely accepted" Redeemer, and future Universal Saviour. 
 
 Thirdly : The Creation,^*' commenced and completed by the 
 Omnipotent " Word of God," which was God, was called 
 good, on the fifth day ; good, as the four preceding days 
 had been. 
 
 Then God the Father, seeing, on the sixth of those mira- 
 culous days, that " The "Word," His own begotten Son, 
 
68 THE WORD. 
 
 "from^ tlie Beginning," had created Man in His own 
 image, called par excellence " the sixth day," Yeiy Good — 
 better than all the other days : because the Man, which 
 was created by His only-begotten Son, the Word, in His 
 own image,^ was made. 
 
 Hosannah in the highest, therefore ! Praised be for ever, 
 and for ever adored, the Triunedeate, Coeternal and Coequal, 
 most boundlessly merciful, yet perfectly^ incomprehensible, 
 Holy Trinity ! 
 
 Who does not perceive here that Adam was graciously 
 formed of the dust of the earth,* the more effectively to 
 humble those conditionally reprieved angelic hosts, who were, 
 at their option, in his (that is, Adam's and Eve's) subsequent 
 generations, to be permitted, through repeated terrestrial 
 transmigrations;^ and after undergoing sufficient purgatorial 
 ordeals, in the first place, to be redeemed, and then, finally, 
 to be saved ? 
 
 ■56- 
 
 How inefiably full of sympathetic commiseration, is that 
 Divine ordeal of the Almighty Creator's masterpiece of in- 
 tellectual and physical human perfections ! 
 
 Having gifted them both, with every virtue that He could 
 impart ; having, besides, endowed them, each suitably, with 
 mind, heart, and soul, equal to the conception and perform- 
 ance of moral and spiritual wonders ; in thoughts, words, and 
 
THE WORD. 69 
 
 actions, most evidently denoting the glorious origin and 
 destination of their immortal souls, the Lord Grod, foreknow- 
 ing the object of their mission (Adam's and Eve's, on this 
 occasion exclusively), blessed them both and said, "Be fruit- 
 ful,^ and multiply." 
 
 We are not, for the sake of maintaining, scrupulously and 
 reverently, as many do, through compulsory restrictions^ 
 professionally imposed upon, the superannuated patriarchal 
 notions of the Mosaic^ dispensation ; we are not to allow a 
 most beautiful, and wisely preordained act of infinite Mercy 
 (which emanated, " long before the Fall of the Angels," from 
 the inconceivable grace and lovingkindness of the most holy 
 and Eternal Trinity) to be deprived any longer of its sacred 
 character of godly truth. 
 
 Why should we proudly, ay, impiously, continue to deny 
 the " Giver of all good gifts ;" the " Fountain of all Good- 
 ness;" "Our heavenly Father;" "Whose nature and pro- 
 perty is ' ever ' to have mercy and to forgive" ? Why should 
 we deny that Great God, the infinitely gracious merit of 
 having preordained that 
 
 The Fall of our First Parents, should be the natural con- 
 sequence* of their complete inexperience and perfect igno- 
 rance of evil ? 
 
 Granting this, we might argue very fairly in the subse- 
 quent way : — 
 
 The Lord God Almighty — having most charitably predis- 
 posed all things,^ so that the temptation to disobey could 
 not fail to be successful : owing to the supernatural astute- 
 
70 THE WORD. 
 
 ness of the irresistible Tempter ; the natural frailty of the 
 unsuspecting prey ;^ and the apparent triviality of the offence ^ 
 — must infallibly have had a far better ultimate purpose in 
 view ! What purpose could that be ? 
 
 A glorious purpose of Inconceivable Grace ! 
 
 Can any one suppose that our Supreme Lord of lords ; the 
 Sovereign Arbiter of all celestial and terrestrial existences, 
 the awful Jah ^ (whose past creations outnumbered, no doubt, 
 by myriads, the occasional creations of other systems like 
 our own, with their necessary planets, and auxiliary spheres, 
 in progress then), is a Grod who could stoop to disport 
 Himself, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the meaning- 
 less production of aimless wonders ? — is a God, indeed, who 
 could select no sublimer occupation than that which is ascribed 
 to Him here below, respecting His marvellous metamor- 
 phosis* of chaos ? 
 
 Gross misconception of the infinitely gracious Christian^ 
 attributes appertaining to the Almighty Godhead of that 
 Eternal King, whom we call Our Father ! Degrading ana- 
 lysis of the boundlessly kind purposes, for which the most 
 Holy Trinity, originally constituted itself, with a merciful 
 view to our final celestial recovery.'^ 
 
 Could such a miracle of Omniscient and Omnipotent Power 
 have been performed, as the construction of this Globe, from 
 the Beginning predesigned ? Could it have been accom- 
 plished, under no wiser intention, but that of merely planting 
 a model-garden, on a comparatively insignificant and in- 
 adequate section, of one of its vast hemispheres ; simply to 
 
THE WORD. 71 
 
 serve, as an eternally agreeable pleasure ground, for the 
 everlastingly innocent and peaceful felicity of an immortal 
 Pair ? 
 
 Can one imagine that the Almighty and Eternal Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, is likely ever to have created such 
 a Hapless Pair, in His own glorious image, and commanded 
 them, in that apparently unprofitable and unmeaning state, ^ 
 to be fruitful, and to multiply : minding only, for ever,^ and 
 above all things, to avoid, they, and their generations, 
 tasting of " one particularly forbidden ^ fruit " ? 
 
 " But of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, 
 thou shalt not eat of it : for in the clay * that thou eatest 
 thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. ii. 17). 
 
 To all faithful Believers, who have been taught piously^ 
 to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, " that singular termination " of so huge and prolific a 
 Christian^ Origin of wonders ; imagined and caused, by an 
 Almighty Lord of lords ; whose visible and tangible miracles 
 alone, reduce to perfect nothingness, all the mighty deeds, 
 attributed by idolatrous men, to their Jupiters of old, their 
 Brahmas, their Mohammeds : " that singular termination " 
 seems unsatisfactory — seems widely open to the excusable 
 admission of doubts, and reasonable "^ misgivings. 
 
 It cannot be ! 
 
 Our All- excelling. All-efficient, Infinitely- wise, " I AM " — 
 — Our All-gracious, All-paternal Alpha and Omega — The 
 Word — is not a God whose Majesty and Power are made 
 known, by allegorical declarations, which sceptical tongues 
 
72 THE WORD. 
 
 may turn into fabulous stories^ simply calculated to puzzle 
 the credulous or to amaze the weak-minded. 
 
 Whether in oracle, sermon, parable, when the lips are 
 Divine, from which the sacred language emanated, beware ! 
 A " Tree " may have produced floods of regenerative sap, 
 amply sufficient to cleanse the temporarily ^ perverted souls, 
 of all the heavens and worlds without number. "A fruit" 
 may have been gathered from that Tree, the miraculous juice 
 of which, may, through inexhaustible torrents of good and 
 eviP knowledge, have become the best possible channel of 
 Redeeming Grace and consequent Salvation.* 
 
 It was so ! Who could maintain, who could prove, that 
 the fallen Souls of Angels and Men, could have been ade- 
 quately atoned for, and impartially ^ purified, by Christian * 
 means, without the probationary presence of Evil, as well as 
 that of Good, in this Earth ? 
 
THE WORD. 73 
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWEKS- 
 
 TENDING TO PROVE THE ORIGINAL ^ NECES- 
 SITY OF EVIL. 
 
 Why did the Lord God conceive it necessary to con- 
 vert " Chaos " into a perfectly Christian ^ World, 
 
 WITH ITS PLANETARY SySTEM, IN ADDITION TO THE 
 
 COUNTLESS Worlds and Systems already existing ? 
 
 Such a miraculous infinitude of Divine ^ phenomena could 
 not have absorbed six days * of the Almighty's attention and 
 time, without the previous existence of an equivalent aim, 
 resulting from the Creator's boundless mercy, wisdom, and 
 justice. 
 
 For, " is He not the Author and Giver of all good things ? " 
 
 Our readers will kindly be prepared, it is hoped, during 
 the perusal of the following answers, to find that a " ruling ^ 
 thought " constantly predominated over the chief purposes of 
 all our considerations and conclusions. 
 
 That thought is touching " our aboriginal, celestial, and 
 
74 THE WORT). 
 
 * 
 
 immortal " connexion with the angelical hosts of heaven, their 
 Almighty Father, their devoted Brother Jesus Christ,^ and 
 their ever-present Holy Guide, our Divine Comforter. 
 
 The next equally influential principle that absorbs, with 
 the foregoing ruling thought, the whole of our Christian 
 feelings, is the perfect certainty we entertain, firmly relying 
 on the best possible Scriptural data, that " Universal Salva- 
 tion " was, is still, and will inevitably be to the last, the 
 unalterable determination of the Most High regarding the 
 ultimate fate of the whole human race. A sacred deter- 
 mination, irrevocably fixed, from the remotest commencement 
 of all imaginable theological knowledge, and the earliest 
 conceivable creation of all conjectured^ worlds; until human 
 flesh, wholly ransomed, purified, and " etherealized," shall 
 have recovered its regenerated and sanctified souls,^ on its 
 way back to Paradise. 
 
 "0 Grod, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, 
 and all just works do proceed ; Send upon us the healthful 
 Spirit of Thy grace ; and that we may truly please Thee, 
 pour upon us the continual dew of Thy * blessing." 
 
 We cannot reasonably be expected to do more, in our 
 humbly ventured statements, of the Almighty's verbal pur- 
 poses, as Scripturally recorded for our information, than 
 solemnly to surmise ^ them ; after close inspections of their 
 literal as well as figurative revelations, particularly with 
 respect to our origin and our ultimate destiny. 
 
THE WORD. /D 
 
 Having already alluded to this imjDortant subject, our 
 present reply must necessarily embrace an additional view of 
 the Divine purpose under inquiry. 
 
 An entirely new and exclusively ^ appropriated construction 
 of habitable spheres undoubtedly became indispensable ; a 
 special geogony, in short, totally differing from that of the 
 creations^ of former worlds. Unparalleled new wonders 
 consequently necessitated new stages and scenes. 
 
 Does not a dm^ation of six thousand j^ears, which our 
 earth has now lasted, since the first day of its metamorphosis^ 
 into this beautiful world "for our apparently anomalous 
 occupation," appear an infinitesimal fraction of time to birth- 
 less and deathless eternity ? 
 
 Does it not suggest a wish to ascertain, with reference to 
 anterior myriads of centuries, what were the destinies of by- 
 gone worlds, their populations, their moral and religious laws ? 
 
 It may not have done so in many. It must have done so 
 in a few. We belong, Grod be praised ! to the latter category ; 
 and the hapj)y result, with us, was this : — 
 
 We discovered " why " the Almighty Dispenser of all 
 earthly blessings finally conceived it necessary to transform 
 chaos, into that crowning boon of ineff'able grace, which we 
 could not fail, all of us, individually, to acknowledge as the 
 greatest of all the proofs He has lavished of His infinite love 
 for man. 
 
 Apathetic believers and lukewarm readers, who indolently 
 accept whatever information is doled out to them on moral or 
 
76 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 religious matters, have no doubt, by this time, long taken it 
 for granted that that " earth " which was without form and 
 void was nothing more than an enormously huge and shape- 
 less lump of barren rocks, dreary looking hills, accumulated 
 volcanic mountains, jumbled together in horrid confusion, 
 amidst bottomless burning abysses, frightful pits, roaring 
 torrents, and foaming, bellowing oceans. 
 
 Such was, they even now repeat it to you, most compla- 
 cently, the sad state of our poor earth when the Spirit of 
 God moved upon the face of the waters. 
 
 Whatever may have been the cosmogony of the primitive 
 earth,' it is evident, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a 
 shapeless mass of most frightful and desolate^ matter offered 
 itself to the Lord God, in the deepest depths of profoundest 
 darkness, when He benevolently and relentingly said,^ " Let 
 there be light ! " 
 
 A state of such horrid disorder, however, in so enormously 
 huge a body, comprising the sun and moon and all the 
 planets of our present terrestrial system, implies, to our 
 mind, a previous, irresistible law, given by an Almighty 
 King, which had thought it '"necessary" to decree, from 
 everlasting, that that wonderfully mysterious body should 
 be there, for some great future end, as well as for an 
 intermediate indispensable use, in close connexion with 
 that end. 
 
 And therefore we may suppose that the same Lord God 
 had originally said, "Let all- sufficiently teeming matter, 
 omnigenerative fire, and nutritive water, in temporal hideous 
 
THE WORU. 
 
 77 
 
 opposition, reign over this unliglited portion of our actual 
 Universe ! " And it was most likely so. 
 
 And we may further suppose that it was on this chaotic 
 wilderness that Jesus Christ said to His disciples : " I beheld 
 Satan, as lightning fall from heaven." 
 
 Suppositions, conjectures, solutions, cannot, shall not ^ be 
 denied us, whenever our sole object will be to make plainer, 
 to our fellow-Christians, the manifold proofs (so clearly 
 abounding in the Scriptures) of the incessantly gracious fur- 
 therance, maintained by divine mercy, towards the progressive 
 accompKshment of Universal Salvation, in addition to Uni- 
 versal Redemption. 
 
 Every act of Grod, which we can interpret as proceeding, 
 directly or indirectly, from the sacred attributes of the Holy 
 Trinity, is for us an unmistakable token of Christian love 
 towards mankind, individually and collectively included. 
 
 We hope furthermore to make it plain, that chaos, before 
 the creation, had served exclusively as a place of suitable 
 retributory exile for the Devil and his Satanic court ; where 
 indeed they are even now, most conspicuously, permitted to 
 exercise certain mischievous influences towards the mira- 
 culously operating grand result of our ultimate general re- 
 covery. 
 
 An awful and just punishment awarded to the malicious 
 fiends, and their vindictive chief, for having so cruelly led us 
 astray ! 
 
78 THE WORD. 
 
 Not a moment elapses, however, on this earth, without 
 producing glorious examples of the fruitless efforts made by 
 their infernal wiles and stratagems, to entangle our souls 
 afresh, within diabolical meshes, which even the Lord's 
 Prayer alone, fervently said, through Divine assistance, re- 
 duces into shreds. 
 
 To a relentless foe, can there be a more excruciating 
 wound inflicted, than for him to discover that all his in- 
 tended victims have been, and are, and will be to the end, 
 by steadfast faith and incessant Christian resistance, like their 
 triumphant Eedeemer and Saviour, found worthy of wearing 
 again, and for ever, that crown of glory, which our Almighty 
 Father has promised ? 
 
 Before the primeval existence of the apostate angels in the 
 kingdom of God, there could not have been any infernal 
 regions, any hell, requisite, in consistent ' harmony with the 
 perfection of the works of Omnipotence. 
 It may, at least, be reasonably so inferred. 
 The provision of such a place of penitential and purga- 
 torial 2 exile, could only be required for a season,^ more or 
 less protracted, to check the progress of further evil : when- 
 ever perfect extermination was not awarded, as preordained,* 
 by the Almighty Lord of heaven, to those mysterious agents, 
 He found it just and merciful, at various periods of His past 
 and subsequent reign, to evoke from nothingness, to effect 
 His most miraculous means of ultimate grace, ransom, and 
 pardon. 
 
 The Lord God, therefore, transformed chaos (until then 
 
THE WORD. 79 
 
 providentially ^ fitted to be the dreadful abode of demoniacal 
 spirits, under the subservient sway of their menial instru- 
 mental chief) into a beautiful but transitory sphere, as a 
 vast terrestrial arena, wherein all the Christian phenomena 
 of Incarnation, Temptation, Condemnation, Redemption, and 
 Salvation were forthwith to be gloriously and triumphantly 
 performed. 
 
 Why did that same God, so Omxisciext and Wise, so 
 Merciful and Almighty, after haying created 
 Adam and Eve, so Innocent and Pure, "expressly^ 
 
 MAKE the man IN HiS OWN IMAGE, " AFTER HiS OWN 
 
 likeness," and purposely expose them both to the 
 
 INSURMOUNTABLE TeMPTATION OF SaTAN ? 
 
 The two spotless beings, who stand through sacred tradition 
 mentally" before us in such unparalleled ^ excellence and un- 
 exampled beauty, may justly be looked upon as Divine 
 specimens of a typically* celestial species of material crea- 
 tures. 
 
 Grod, their Creator and Father, made them " intentionally " 
 under the heavenly form ^ of existing material bodies, for the 
 future reception of already living souls, which His infinite 
 wisdom had long foreseen would require incarnation, and 
 carnal ordeals. 
 
 Transmigratory corporeal trials were evidently then to be 
 the chief objects, not only of Adam's and Eve's " immediate 
 
80 THE WORD. 
 
 oflFspring, but furthermore of all the future earthly generations, 
 which the regeneration of fallen angels and spirits would 
 necessitate. 
 
 Now we entreat the reader to compare, without sceptical 
 antipathy or doctrinal enmity, the unaccountable interpretation 
 of this most interesting biblical account, for long centuries 
 past, justly declared, to a considerable extent, orthodox, and 
 still scripturally maintained as such ; with the following vastly 
 more consistent and divinely more merciful solution ; he will 
 confess that the Almighty appears most evidently just and 
 compassionate in the latter; and, in the former, most in- 
 conceivably severe. 
 
 The two immortal souls which the Lord Grod (His well- 
 beloved Son interceding) graciously confined, no doubt 
 through their own penitent entreaties, within those taber- 
 nacles of clay, were the best two of those unfortunate angels 
 who had undeniably deserved eternal banishment for their 
 ungrateful desertion from the kingdom of heaven. (See 
 p. 86.) 
 
 The immaculate Intercessor, infinitely merciful as He is, 
 prayed not for pardon. His Godly Father's impartiality 
 could not have listened a moment to such an entreaty, even 
 from the Lord of mercy. 
 
 " They shall be tempted once more," He replied ; " and 
 they shall fall ! To sue for grace again, according to my 
 unalterable will, determined from the first ! 
 
 " Their transgression in Eden shall be comparatively small ; 
 that their disobedience may be, through Thy sublime martyr- 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 81 
 
 dom, my most beloved Son, all the sooner forgiven ; and 
 not for that alone, but for their yet insufficiently punished 
 rebellion in our kingdom of heaven." 
 
 "Words like these, of course, were not used; but we 
 humbly presume to state that heavenly sentiments such were 
 felt. 
 
 Man was made " in the image of God, after His^ own like- 
 ness :" for the evident purpose of his inheriting, from that 
 primitively Pantheistic Grodhead, a share of " Divine omni- 
 science and j)ower, wisdom and mercy," proportionate to the 
 wonderful tasks which human mind, and heart, and soul 
 would have, in the progress of ages, to confront. 
 
 The forthcoming eventful existence, to which the offspring 
 of om" first parents were necessarily doomed, made it indis- 
 pensable — for their further protection against evil, and for 
 their judicious selection of good — that some miraculous means 
 should be unerringly selected to furnish them abundantly 
 with a perfect knowledge of both. 
 
 Who could be better calculated to do this than their 
 Creator ? 
 
 Our infinitely merciful Father, full of boundless omni- 
 science and wisdom, whose eternal omnipotence could meet 
 with neither obstacle nor limit, at the irresistible solicitations 
 of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, undertook the admi- 
 rable labour of ineffable Christian^ love. And so it must 
 have been that — 
 
82 THE WORD. 
 
 The Lord of Hosts, consequently, communed* with His Son 
 and the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 Anon, therefore also, the wonders of creation were begun ; 
 and, each day, the labours had been declared good ! 
 
 Then, the sixth day, 
 
 " God said. Let the earth bring forth the living creature 
 after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the 
 earth after his kind : and it was so. 
 
 " And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and 
 cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the 
 earth after his kind [the serpent among the rest] : and God 
 saw that it was' good." 
 
 Good, to have created the serpent after his kind, for the 
 merciful object He had in contemplation all through His 
 works ! 
 
 " Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the 
 field which the Lord God had made." 
 
 And the Lord God created neither poison, nor ferocious 
 beast, nor hurtful thing of any kind, which He did not pur- 
 pose as an instrument of mercy and goodness towards the 
 welfare of men. 
 
 Once more, then, and "through the transgression of Eve," 
 both Adam and his mate, the two least guilty of the re- 
 bellious angels, driven from the Almighty's presence, having 
 been permitted* (after long periods of tribulations) to be the 
 first souls incarnated at the creation, became 
 
 In the Garden of Eden voluntary penitents ; suing, 
 through terrestrial ordeals, to merit redemption and salva- 
 
THE WORD. 83 
 
 tion, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Grhost. 
 
 Perfectly intelKgible thus it is that — 
 
 It was good a serpent should be made, for Satan to trans- 
 migrate into ; it was good that a tree should be planted, with 
 a fruit, which was to serve as a most alluring temptation ; it 
 was good that a sufficient reason should be furnished for the 
 expulsion of those two most legitimate victims of both celes- 
 tial and terrestrial sin. 
 
 Why was so apparentlv trivial a Prohibition as 
 
 THAT or MERELY TASTING THE FrUIT OF THE TreE 
 IMPRESSED WITH SUCH SEVERITY ON THE INEX- 
 PERIENCED Minds of those Two unsuspicious Crea- 
 tures ? Why was no Warning given ? Why was 
 THE Tempter suffered to rove in that Garden ? 
 
 Had the Amighty, benevolently walking with Adam in 
 the garden, after having shown him the trees of trial (both 
 pleasant to the sight and good for food) strongly impressed 
 upon his mind the urgent necessity of guarding incessantly, 
 by watchfulness and prayer, against the insinuations of that 
 most artful and malicious of reptiles which He had called the 
 serpent, would it not have been very improbable, say next to 
 impossible, that that incalculably profitable, terrestrial original 
 sin^ could have been committed ? 
 
 " Beware, my son, the serpent and Satan are one ! " Such a 
 
84 THE WORD. 
 
 caution as this one alone could not have failed to keep Adam 
 and Eve from sin. 
 
 And sin is, and was "from the beginning," and will be to 
 the end, the all-sufficient Christian key whereby mercy's 
 boundless stores were loosened, to let floods of redeeming, 
 regenerating, and sanctifying grace in Jesus Christ, univer- 
 sally immerse the whole of human-kind, so as, through 
 " unlimited salvation," to recover, for all generations, their 
 former glorious station round the throne of an approving God, 
 where myriads of angelic hosts will fraternally greet them. 
 
 Please to bear " constantly " in mind, " with thorough 
 Christian faith and orthodox^ belief," that Adam was made in 
 the image of God, after His own likeness. 
 
 " Male and female, created He them," and from the self- 
 same mould.^ "And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and 
 multiply, and replenish the earth,^ and subdue it : and have 
 dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the 
 air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of 
 the earth." 
 
 " And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, 
 it was Yery Good." 
 
 He must be obstinately blind indeed who, in this age of 
 " amazingly* forward intellectual progress," especially with 
 respect to literature, sciences, and arts of every description, 
 does not perceive most clearly the originaP purpose of God in 
 having made us in His own image, after His likeness. 
 
THE WORD. 85 
 
 Miraculous results such as those which our infinitely merci- 
 ful God contemplatecU at our creation were not to be obtained 
 by any but most inconceivably secret means,^ which thousands 
 of years alone could enable man, in due time, gradually to 
 understand and slowly to benefit by. 
 
 It was evidently, not in such a pleasure ground as the 
 one in which they were made, that the Lord Grod intended 
 Adam and Eve should be fruitful, and multiply. 
 
 Cain and Abel were, from " the very first," to undergo a 
 penalty which their parents had not, as yet, apparently 
 deserved. 
 
 To leave such a fact unexplained, albeit most imperfectly, 
 would be wickedly to impute injustice to Grod. 
 
 Admit simply that the bodies of Adam and Eve were mer- 
 ciful incarnations of the spirits of convalescent angels divinely 
 transubstantiated,^ through grace, by the sympathetic Creator 
 into material tabernacles He had made expressly for their pro- 
 bationary* reception, the whole mystery of Eden becomes 
 what we solemnly take it^ " all " to be, a miraculous example 
 of infinite paternal tenderness and love which, all the parental 
 affection combined that this world ever produced, could in no 
 equivalent degree serve, in any respect, to illustrate. 
 
 We beseech you, therefore, dear readers, piously to ponder 
 over this portion, so incalculably important, of our humble 
 labours. 
 
 It is not our own unassisted^ discovery. On the contrary 
 we firmly ascribe the consolatory inspiration to the ever- 
 present comforting aid of the Holy Grhost, to which alone we 
 
86 THE WOUT). 
 
 gratefully confess ourselves indebted for all that is holy and 
 true in this book. 
 
 Why was so dreadful a Penalty inflicted on both 
 THOSE UNHAPPY Creatures alike,^ naturally uncon- 
 scious of the Mysterious Enormity of their Crime ? 
 
 The first two souls ^ that incurred punishment on this earth 
 were, very plainly, those belonging to our aboriginal progeni- 
 tors, which the Lord had made designedly for another state 
 (notwithstanding their likeness^ to Himself) at the end of 
 those wonderful labours of the Sixth Day, which He called 
 "VeryG-ood," Adam and Eve being the vastly pregnant 
 pair for which the world was made. 
 
 Let us add here, with deepest reverence, those expressive 
 words which the inspired writings have so miraculously pre- 
 served and transmitted to us : " And the Lord God breathed 
 into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life : * and man became 
 a living soui." 
 
 Now, in order that the inquiry may be perfectly impartial 
 respecting the "seemingly" over-excessive severity of the 
 tribulations to which the souls above-mentioned were to be 
 subjected, we must be permitted to ask what were the " sepa- 
 rate origins " of those equally immortal, and equally re- 
 sponsible, Divine gifts of life-imparting principle from our 
 most merciful Creator on such an important event as this. 
 
 Their separate origins were these — 
 
 But first let it be well understood that we do not presume 
 
THE WOKB. 87 
 
 replying to any one but ourselves on such solemn subjects as 
 these, unless it be to seriously anxious inquirers " honestly 
 homeward bound," like ourselves, who may be congenially 
 disposed to accept our verbal thoughts as they would the 
 thoughtful acts of a Christian service from a fellow-spirit, try- 
 ing again his lain-by wings upwards, led by a new celestial 
 map of fervently pious conjectures, wholly planned under 
 spiritual instructions, all exclusively emanating, through 
 Jesus Christ, from above. 
 
 This having been earnestly said, with perfectly benevolent 
 motives, we answer as follows. 
 
 The soul of Adam came to him, paternally, and directly 
 from the Lord Grod, who made him. 
 
 Such a soul as that, could not fail to be immaculate, and 
 divinely pure, above all other souls, in heaven and earth. 
 
 The soul of Eve, most probably, came from one^ of the 
 " discarded angelical bands," consequently stained, (but less 
 so, very likely, than all the rest,) with that sin, the Original 
 Sin of all.'^ 
 
 The more concisely to analyse now the separate merits of 
 both, let us say : — 
 
 Adam's soul : perfectly sinless, until the presence of Eve. 
 
 The soul of Eve : most decidedly sinful, antecedently to 
 her earthly existence. 
 
 Adam's soul, necessarily,^ and, for the first time, sym- 
 pathisingly transgressing in the Garden of Eden. 
 
0» THE WORD. 
 
 Eve, having first transgressed in heaven, transgressing a 
 second time, in the Grarden ; both times, without doubt, 
 " graciously allowed " to become a guileless agent of Satan. 
 
 Adam's original sin ; the only one : disobedience, from 
 an apparently excusable earthly motive ; for Eve was alone 
 his tempter. 
 
 Eve's original " sins ;" rebelling with Satan against Grod, 
 in heaven. Disobeying^ in Eden, with regard to the for- 
 bidden fruit. In both cases, seemingly abandoned, through 
 unaccountable operations of Divine Grace, to the irresistible 
 seductions of the serpent, which the Lord God, her Creator, 
 had made.^ 
 
 Both, undeniably, deserving punishment ! 
 
 Adam alone having acted, as an unconscious, but never- 
 theless sinful, " instrument, towards the accomplishment of 
 purposes of mercy." 
 
 Eve, through grace, rendered instrumental, in her turn, 
 for the same merciful purposes, yet, comparatively, the more 
 sinful of the two. 
 
 Adam, the pride of his Maker ; created as no one else was 
 created, touching his body. From the earth, thoroughly 
 terrestrial; from God, thoroughly divine. Unavoidably sin- 
 ful : for having loved his companion too well. Partici- 
 patingly sinful, in like manner, for mercy's sake.^ 
 
 Eve — ^less divine in soul : * wherefore, materially more 
 terrestrial ; more impressionable ; and consequently sooner 
 won and sooner lost — also sinned, but very naturally, from 
 excessive attachment to her mate. 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 89 
 
 What could be to her the tranquil joys of Eden, compared 
 with the pride and triumph of having made her beloved 
 Adam^ immortal ? Besides finding out what evil could be, 
 compared with good. 
 
 " So she took of the fruit, and did eat, and gave also unto 
 her husband with her f and he did eat." 
 
 Why was not Satan's Punishment, perfect 
 Annihilation ? 
 
 Can there be a keener torment, than that which a malicious 
 and vindictive foe, who, having treacherously circumvented'* 
 the unsuspecting and innocent family of his King and Bene- 
 factor,* finds himself compelled to undergo, by most insupe- 
 rable events, and overwhelming circumstances, in, not only 
 witnessing, but helping likewise to accomplish, that King's 
 most miraculous success,^ and signal victory ? 
 
 Such a torment, the Devil and his angels'' endured at the 
 Creation ; such, they endure daily now ; and such, they will 
 incessantly endure, until the last of the hapless victims, 
 which they seduced from the kingdom of Cod, shall have 
 been redeemed and saved, at the close of that world-wide 
 and world-long battle-field of human life, which will sm-ely 
 close in the " universaP conquest," gloriously won on Cal- 
 vary by Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 The serpent understood perfectly well the solution of the 
 curse, uttered against liim^ : — 
 
 H 
 
90 THE WORD. 
 
 " I will put enmity between tliee and the woman,^ and 
 between thy seed and her Seed." 
 
 ^ 
 
 Are you not, dear reader, excessively perplexed, sometimes, 
 at the perpetual presence of Satan, not only in heaven,^ before 
 the fall of the angels, but, ever since that fall, both in earth,^ 
 and in hell ? 
 
 The awful reign of that dreadful Spirit appears, indeed, 
 singularly* concomitant with what little we know of eter- 
 nity, and with all we know of Grod, concerning ^ Christianity, 
 especially as it comprises the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 One principal feature exists, alas ! above all the rest, in 
 this monster phenomenon of evil : it is its absolute insepa- 
 rabloness from our own individual earthly estate. 
 
 We neither wake nor sleep, we neither think nor speak 
 nor act, we neither breathe nor die, but that the Demon 
 Fiend, with the Almighty's leave, " prowls after us ; stoops 
 over us ; blows into us, not the breath of Light and Truth, 
 but the pestilential blast of rank deceit, deep darkness, and 
 sinful death ; and that, continually. 
 
 He is, even, with us again, no doubt, when our souls, 
 delivered, as we hope,'^ from all terrestrial bonds, by the fell 
 assistance of which, his malicious subordinates have done 
 their best, artfully, to fetter our bodies and minds, beyond the 
 very grave, — he is there, even, with us again, fui'thermore to 
 
THE WORD. 91 
 
 begin aneAV chain of diabolical ordeals;^ all tending to ensure 
 our everlasting destruction. 
 
 Hoping that a quotation,^ we shall make in this place, 
 may conduce to render more evident still, the power of doing 
 mischief, which has been imparted to that arch enemy of 
 mankind, we earnestly court your attention to its contents : — • 
 
 "The tempter accurately observes oui' infirmities, and 
 frames his temptations accordingly. Are we rich? he 
 tempts us to be puffed up with self-importance, to be vain- 
 glorious, and to have so little care for anything, but the 
 pomp, and riches, and the pride of life, that we gradually 
 forget the Griver in the gift, forsake our God, and become 
 slaves to the world. Are we poor ? he then suggests to us, 
 that we are not well dealt with ; he would fain make us to 
 doubt the gracious providence of God ; he encourages us in 
 our fatal self-love ; and strives to make us ' think more 
 highly of om'selves than we ought to think,' in order to lead 
 us to the sin of murmuring against the dispensations of our 
 heavenly Father. Indeed, in whatever circumstances we may 
 be placed, he presents to us that temptation, which he thinks 
 will most easily prevail against us." — Dt\ John Jamcs^ 
 " Comment upon the Collects.'^ 
 
 A sounder collection of orthodox instructions and precepts 
 we never met. It has been our incessant Sunday com- 
 panion, ever since January 19, 1843 ; the date^ on which we 
 received it as a parting gift from a dear friend, whom we are 
 still deeply regretting. 
 
 H 2 
 
92 THE WORD. 
 
 Then, once more, why was not Satan perfectly^ 
 annihilated from the commencement ? 
 
 Because tlie Omnipotent Lord God, having mercifully pre- 
 ordained, from the beginning, the regeneration of myriads of 
 His angels,^ who had been, and were still, gradually degene- 
 rating tlu'oughout the courts of heaven, determined to vouch- 
 safe a universal proof of His infinite goodness, by provi- 
 dentially forming and qualifying a subservient^ fiend, chosen 
 from the rebellious throngs, most charitably* to increase and 
 utilize already deep-rooted evil ;'' and the more mercifully 
 still, far and wide, to disseminate to that charitable end the 
 pestilential breath of temptation.^ It was no doubt for this 
 purpose alone, that the Almighty chose and endowed Satan, 
 the worst apostate of them all. 
 
 Celestial functionaries must therefore have occupied appro- 
 priate menial posts, in the boundless primeval realms of our 
 Almighty Father ; from the most mysterious dawn of sin, to 
 the unavoidable Fall of the apostate Angels. 
 
 "Where an Eternal Trinity of Omnipotent Grods, was deemed 
 indispensable, to carry out the merciful designs of infinite 
 Redemption and Salvation, it is very natm^al to suppose, 
 very orthodoxly consistent to conclude that, other Divine 
 expedients, must have been inevitably resorted to, to obtain 
 suitable agents, fitted to their appointed tasks. 
 
 ^ 
 
THE WOKD. 93 
 
 Why was a Fratricide the First-born Child 
 OF Eve ? 
 
 Here is another exceedingly material question, regarding 
 a vastly important point, whicli enables us better still to 
 establish our positive angelical identity as transmigrations,^ 
 " by tlie earthly incarnations " of those heavenly bodies of 
 spirits and angels, which occupied and constituted, with 
 myiiads of others, still there, the kingdom of God. 
 
 Was not the first-born child of Eve the grandson of Grod, 
 not begotten, but created with Adam, in Adam,- and conse- 
 quently made in the image of the Father, after His own 
 likeness ? 
 
 At such an early and critical period of the population of 
 the earth the smallest event, the most trifling circumstance, 
 becomes highly worthy of notice, especially when it serves to 
 demonstrate more foicibly the doubted primogenitive^ filiation 
 of mankind. 
 
 And that well-defined filiation is all the more indispen- 
 sable as we dive deeper into the sacred arcana of those most 
 miraculous seven days of Genesis, introductory to the subse- 
 quent mundane eras,* during which we hope to prove that the 
 souls of the fallen angels and spirits first began, by Divine 
 permission, their successive transitions into the material bodies 
 of human beings. 
 
 A terrestrial Medium having been mercifully considered 
 necessary by the Almighty (in gracious compliance to the 
 all-sufficient^ mediation of Jesus Christ) for the reception of 
 
94 THE WORD, 
 
 the spiritual souls, no longer now spotless since their fall, 
 Adam was intentionally formed from the dust^ of the ground. 
 In this mortal state alone could those corrupted souls be 
 redeemed through infinite grace ; and that only after having 
 undergone a succession'^ of purgatorial worldly trials, by volun- 
 tary incarnations, more or less often repeated,^ according to 
 their deserts and the boundless mercy of Grod. 
 
 The human body, therefore, of the first created man was 
 " purely and completely earthly," because the Lord God, 
 foreknowing that Adam would be the father of a countless 
 number of generations to come, knew furthermore that each 
 child born from that ordeal stock would receive " a soul" at its 
 birth already stained* with sin (its real original sin) com- 
 mitted during its pristine state " in heaven," whence it had 
 been but too justly driven. 
 
 It was also foreknown of God that the soul of Adam, 
 which had been breathed by Him in his nostrils, would re- 
 turn^ to Himself again when Adam died. 
 
 Not so the soul of Eve ; not so the souls of Adam and Eve's 
 generations ! 
 
 Adam's individual soul and body were both wholly and 
 exclusively God's own — never meant to fare the general 
 human fate. They were graciously brought into existence 
 solely for the purpose of first spreading the preordained bless- 
 ings of redemption and salvation, universally granted through 
 the all-sufficient intercession and oblation of His well-beloved 
 and only-begotten Son. 
 
THE WOKD. 95 
 
 Excepting tlie soul Divine of x^clam, consequently, every 
 soul, angelic or spiritual,* that has been permitted by the 
 Triune Grod to incarnate itself, voluntarily,^ for the sake of 
 Christian purification and sanctification, during the incessant 
 miracles of human generations, procreations, and nativities'' — 
 and every soul that shall hereafter be permitted so to incar- 
 nate itself; until all* have been incarnated, redeemed, brought 
 to judgment,^ and finally saved, — shall continue to undergo 
 (themselves consenting) these Christ-bought incarnations, as 
 sin-attainted angelic souls, waiting for judgment.^ 
 
 We have humbly presumed to imagine that two ''materially 
 difierent means of human incarnations, having evidently been 
 preferred by the Almighty Grod, when He set Adam asleep, 
 for the creation of Eve, He had considered it essential that 
 the souls of the two creatures He created, perfect as they 
 were in all other respects, each, respectively, should not be 
 perfectly the same, regarding their ethereal essence. 
 
 We cannot discard the excusable notion, which we enter- 
 tained, prima facie, touching the connubial consanguinity, 
 divinely meant to be understood as a " sacred^ union of 
 bodies," inseparably commingled for their lives, if not for 
 ever, between those two supremely favoui'ed beings, so 
 solemnly allied, actione Verbo que Bei. 
 
 The corporeal connexion of Adam and Eve, created, 
 brought together at their formation, and married,^ by their 
 God and Maker, was undoubtedly to serve as a consecrated 
 type, for the future enactment and observance of civil and 
 ecclesiastical laws and rites. 
 
96 THE WOED. 
 
 Our principal intention, besides all tMs, is meanwliile to 
 open your minds more and more convincingly to the exis- 
 tence of a mystical revelation, purporting that, in the ex- 
 traordinary Divine and terrestrial endowments of oiu" first 
 parents, the Lord God had in view to contrive a suitable and 
 satisfactory first ingress^ into this world for the souls of those 
 condemned angels, whose gracious commutation of eternal 
 chastisement into temporal ordeals, our adorable and in- 
 finitely compassionate Saviour had obtained from His Father, 
 the Omnipotent Dispenser of all mercies. 
 
 Adam and Eve were thence to be no other, from the first 
 day of creation, but " unconscious Incarnations^ of accepted 
 Representatives," mercifully authorised, through infinite 
 grace ; and entrusted by the Almighty Jehovah to the 
 Divine Intercessor, aided by the Spirit of Truth, 
 
 Towards the preordained accomplishment of Universal Re- 
 demption and Salvation. 
 
 What was the Ohiginal Use of the Chaotic Earth ? 
 
 The reader is requested constantly to remember that, not 
 only the archangels, the seraphim, the cherubim, and all the 
 angels and spirits of heaven, but, moreover, all the angelic, 
 the spiritual and ethereal, beings of the universe, from the 
 beginning, must have been, and must still be, incessantly 
 watching over the interesting events occiu-ring on this earth. 
 
 That huge chaotic block, which must alone have occupied 
 the central space, within the vast orbit wherein our actual 
 planetary system performs its periodical circumvolutions. 
 
THE WORD. 97 
 
 primitively was, in all human probability, the frightful and 
 gloomy shapeless mound,^ in the incandescent hollows and 
 blazing caverns of which Satan and his criminal hordes were 
 hurled for ever.^ 
 
 Our natural conclusion is, therefore, that the Spirit of Evil 
 (unable to unravel the Almighty's design) prowled after his 
 victims, Adam and Eve, now depending entirely on their 
 own exertions to live ; he constantly liu'ked about them, 
 seeking daily what further dreadful mischief he could accom- 
 plish. His hatred ^ was, as it is still, against God the Most 
 High. It was the " Creator " alone he burned to wrong and 
 to irritate. 
 
 So the Arch-Fiend entered the body of Cain, 
 
 He entered the body of Cain because, being the first-born, 
 he was neai*er akin to Grod than Abel could be. 
 
 And thus again the Deceiver, deceived, unconsciously carried 
 out the pm"poses* of the King of kings; for he^ was openly 
 cm'sed of Grod. " A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in 
 the earth . . . And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any 
 finding him^ should kill him. And Cain went out from the 
 presence of the Lord." 
 
 That curse, pronounced in the hearing of celestial as well 
 as terrestrial beings, visible and invisible" alike, wicked^ as 
 well as good, widely revealed the awful natm^e of the per- 
 petual warfare mankind had to expect from that moment at 
 the murderous hands of heaven's most inveterate foe. 
 
 And it also revealed — Grod be universally praised ! — the 
 omnipotent, omniscient, and most merciful power of a glorious 
 
98 THE WORD, 
 
 and holy Trinity, before which myriads of misguided hosts 
 (when it should please the Almighty to bring them back to 
 His flock) would have most gratefully to kneel in earnest 
 thanksgivings and prayers, to be redeemed, be sanctified, 
 and be saved ! 
 
 It was known, "before all worlds," that Satan would 
 maKciously instigate the first-born of Adam to perpetrate the 
 necessary^ deed. 
 
 Yes, the necessary deed ; for the curse of Cain is, even now, 
 word for word fulfilled to the letter ; just as God, before the 
 angels of heaven expressly assembled,^ most solemnly declared 
 it should be. 
 
 And the devil was there likewise, with his perjured, 
 treacherous bands.^ 
 
 Until the day of judgment that curse will surely last.* 
 
 Who dares doubt that, with God, the infliction of such a 
 doom is possible? Its perfect justice renders it an irre- 
 fragable law. 
 
 Was it not the " soul " of Cain that God punished ? It 
 was not his body,^ which has, no doubt, perished ; ay, perished 
 as many times as human generations have disappeared, in 
 their turn, from the face of this probational sphere. 
 
 Every human birth is the transmigration or incarnation of 
 a soul. 
 
 Supposing God breathed a second soul into the nostrils of 
 Eve : two souls may be accounted for as directly emanating 
 from the Almighty Creator's own immaculate, inexhaustible 
 fount of life.'' 
 
THE WORD. 99 
 
 This latter "supposed vivification" of the body of Eve 
 does not, however, require^ corroboration, inasmuch as 
 thousands of thousands of souls, awaiting their proximate 
 fates,^ were repentantly and hopefully wandering over the 
 dismal surface of chaos, when the Lord God, mercifully 
 descending from His eternal throne, approached the dark 
 immeasurable block, and said : " Let there be light : and 
 there was light." 
 
 And, when that glorious light had dawned for six successive 
 days ; on the sixth day, 
 
 " Having called " forth ^ into existence " all living things 
 after their kind, 
 
 " Grod said. Let us ' make ' man in Our image, after Our 
 likeness." 
 
 Then, as two terrestrial human bodies* alone were requisite 
 for the accomplishment of the mighty scheme of salvation, 
 which He had preordained, " God blessed Adam and Eve, 
 and said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 
 the earth." 
 
 No further need there was of human creation. Numberless 
 incarnations were, henceforth, to proceed from the Lord's omni- 
 potent command : and every soul which the Lord Almighty 
 God had driven from paradise (had such a soul fortunately 
 known that beautiful prayer), might now obtain, through 
 saying day by day, " Our Father which art in heaven. 
 Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be 
 done, as in heaven, so in earth," under the propitiation 
 of Jesus Christ, his promised Redeemer (who so graciously 
 
100 THE WORD. 
 
 since taught it to us^) a share in that universal grant of 
 Divine pardon, to which we shall all in His name be finally 
 entitled.^ 
 
 Why should not such souls ^ as that of Cain, for some 
 centuries "of centuries, if needs be," by the Omnipotent 
 Eternal's delegated will alone, be " reformatorily " compelled 
 to undergo incarnations, still perpetuated, during which they 
 should have to suffer physical and mental pains proportionate 
 to their crimes ? 
 
 Human lives, such as we may observe them, in many cases* 
 clearly indicate that they positively do, and in most evident 
 accordance with the mercif id ways of impartial justice. 
 
 The redemption of such souls as that of Cain has neverthe- 
 less taken place, like that of all the rest ; and their own 
 salvation, soon or late, will infallibly follow.^ 
 
 Hideous characteristic " marks " are, fui'thermore, amply 
 sufficient among men and women, and childi'en too, for 
 moral and religious physiognomists to find it no very difficult 
 matter to detect many Cains, alas ! every century, by the 
 side of the assassins and villains'^ vagabondizing and skulking 
 on tlie face of this globe. 
 
 How CAME Peter the Apostle to be chosen by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, as one of His Disciples? 
 
 Evil ways have not seldom led, most mysteriously, to 
 mercy's ends ! Witness Satan's existence ; the frightful 
 crime of Cain ; the horrid treachery of Judas Iscariot : besides 
 the repeated perjuries'' of Simon Peter. 
 
THE WORD. 101 
 
 All difficulties, of this theological nature, cease to perplex 
 us, the moment we ask ourselves again, ^ why the Lord of 
 lords, who " desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that 
 he may turn from his wickedness, and live," thought it kind 
 to place, without any warning, our simple-minded fii'st 
 parents, in a garden,^ so accessible to the " irresistible " 
 temptations of Satan. 
 
 Divine mercy influences, in some way or other, as it ever 
 did, every act of Providence. Nothing can visibly, or in- 
 visibly, be, and ever was, that the Omnipotent and Eternal 
 Jehovah did not predesign,^ or subsequently permit, " for 
 the welfare of man," in every possible respect, from the 
 beginning. 
 
 Had not Satan been permitted to enter into the garden of 
 Eden, the fortunate* temptation of Eve could never have 
 taken place ; and the hosts of heaven, instead of rejoicing, 
 would have wept. 
 
 Had Cain not killed his brother Abel, few indeed would 
 have been the suffered^ incarnations of the fallen celestial 
 souls, so compassionately "^ doomed to endure proportionate 
 wretchedness, by their justly offended God. 
 
 To Judas Iscariot's awful wickedness, must have been due, 
 the speedier '^ accomplishment of a "tragic scene," which any 
 unfavourable delay might have rendered less suitable, to the 
 Almighty's great act^ of Grrace. 
 
 And may it not be highly probable that Simon Peter's 
 cursing and swearing, and saying, " I know not this Man of 
 whom ye speak," were the very words on which our Divine 
 
102 THE WORD. 
 
 Saviour reckoned the most, to complete that perfect mental 
 torture of His last moments of utterest woe ? There is an 
 enormous amount of mysterious^ signification, in that momen- 
 tary apostasy of this " rock " of om* dear Redeemer's Church. 
 See Matt. xvi. 17. 
 
 The Fisherman of Bethsaida was selected as His future 
 disciple, by the apparent Son of Joseph, the carpenter, 
 because it was known to Jesus that this humble individual 
 (whom He had not seldom watched in heaven, in his pristine 
 state) was precisely the terrestriaP character He should 
 want, during the trials prepared for Him, as indispensable 
 Ordeals of Atonement, by His heavenly Father, during their 
 eventful separate progress, along the road^ to Golgotha. 
 
 Many good and virtuous men exist, over whom the fear of 
 a violent death would exercise, at one time, an insurmountable 
 power of intimidation, whom, at any other, it could not in 
 the least intimidate. 
 
 A vast insight is acquired into our sacred records, by those 
 who bear in mind that the pre-elected disciples and apostles 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ inhabited Paradise with Him, ante- 
 cedently to their expulsion* from the presence of Grod. 
 
 Saint Peter's soul,^ and the repentant malefactor's, on the 
 Cross, and all the souls of the rebellious spirits, which were 
 cast away with Satan, from the celestial abodes, were precisely 
 the same unhappy renegades which the charitable Son of 
 the Yirgin Mary had obtained leave to ransom and to save. 
 
THE WORD, 
 
 103 
 
 Who could, in tliis world, so profoundly appreciate the 
 almost insuperable difficulties whicli a zealous servant of Grod 
 has to encounter, when he sincerely desires to keep himself 
 spotless before his impartial Judge, as our anxious Redeemer 
 did, during His expiatory pilgrimage, in behalf of the sorely 
 tried human race ? 
 
 The sympathy, the compassion, of a God like our God, 
 who, Himself incarnated, for the special purpose, not only of 
 experiencing, through the flesh, the actual trials of His former 
 associates in His Father's kingdom, but, furthermore, of giving 
 those associates an example, in Himself, of patient endurance 
 and devoted resignation, cannot be called into question, 
 toiiching a single case, during His unparalleled martyrdom. 
 
 The best path our dear Redeemer could fix upon, along 
 which to conduct us " back to Heaven," was certainly that 
 which He pointed out to us, through the perils and vicissitudes 
 of His humble, painful, and precarious existence. 
 
 And the most edifying, influential guides He could re- 
 commend were unquestionably His disciples and apostles, 
 " exactly^ such as they were." 
 
 As scrupulous Christians may be found, in numerous con- 
 gregations, who, from very reasonable^ early sentiments of 
 devotion, may not help feeling very strongly averse to our 
 apparently presumptuous notions of aboriginal descent, we 
 shall, for their sake, in such an appropriate place as this, 
 digress into a cursory scriptural account of what we firmly 
 believe to have been our indubitable angelic origin. 
 
 When seemingly unnecessary mysteries appear to militate 
 
104 THE "WORT). 
 
 against decidedly consistent assertions, sound biblical argu- 
 ments should be reverently, yet resolutely,- resorted to. 
 
 Why might not all men have been, why might they not still 
 be, " for the sake of more satisfactory evidences of universal 
 Christian mercy," voluntary incarnations of angels and 
 spirits, penitently striving, through infinite Divine grace, to 
 recover their long-forfeited states of former happiness, as 
 humbled servants of God, earnestly yearning to be restored 
 to their forgiving Father's love ? 
 
 No sensible plea fairly offers itself, as a rationally valid 
 objection, to the desirable source of such an important channel 
 of purification, sanctification, and redemption. 
 
 Angels, material as vrell as ethereal, have, not unfre- 
 quently, visited this earth ; and dwelt in it. 
 
 Spirits, too, " evil," as well as good, have " possessed " 
 human beings, in sufficient numbers, and for periods suffi- 
 ciently protracted, to make it reasonable, if not perfectly 
 orthodox, to believe that such kinds of transmigrations have 
 been, and are still, the merciful means^ of regeneration, 
 through which our Almighty God has graciously sanctioned 
 Universal Salvation to be hoped for, and finally to be accom- 
 plished. ^ 
 
 Why should not Incarnated Angels and Metem- 
 PSYCHOSED Spirits have been our Forefathers ? 
 
 " Unprejudiced " reference to the following sacred quota- 
 tions is now most earnestly requested : — 
 
THE WORD. 105 
 
 "The sons of God took them wives ^ . . . from among the 
 daughters of men, and they bare children to them. 
 
 " The same became mighty men, which were of old, men 
 of renown"^ (Gen. vi., above 3,900 b.c). 
 
 " So He [the Lord God] drove out the man ; and He 
 placed at the east of the garden -of Eden cherubims^ ... to 
 keep the way of the tree* of life " (Gen. iii. 24). 
 
 Three angels stood before Abraham (Gen. xviii.). 
 
 An angel comforteth Hagar (Gen. xxi.). 
 
 An angel opposeth Balaam (Num. xxii.). 
 
 " An angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal " (Judges ii.). 
 
 An angel appeareth to Manoah's wife (Judges xiii.).* 
 
 Were we to be simply guided by our scriptural knowledge 
 of the first means of procreation,'^ applied for the general re- 
 production and continued increase of the celestial exiles,^ in- 
 carnated through the human species throughout the earth, 
 we should, without the slightest hesitation, determine the 
 subject, by solemnly declaring our full conviction that — 
 
 Adam, being an incarnated " Breath " of God {i. e., soul, 
 angel, spirit, " vital spark of heavenly flame ") — 
 
 He was, to all intents and purposes, the human son of a 
 Divine Father — a material body, mercifully and intentionally 
 containing a " spiritual soul," the first repentant and least 
 reproachable of the banished angelic hosts. 
 
 Such a miracle of wonders could not be formed, by an 
 omniscient and omnipotent God, for the sole purpose of being 
 tempted and everlastingly lost. 
 
 * See Elect Angels, and Souls Elect; at tlie end. 
 
 I 
 
106 THE WORD. 
 
 Where is it that you could find a model of perfections 
 more complete, so incomparable, as this sixth chef d'oeuvre of 
 the Almighty Lord of all ? 
 
 Did not Adam proceed, body, mind, and soul, from the 
 very hands of that eternal God, who Himself "wholly" 
 made him^ "in His own image;" and, moreover, breathed 
 within him that immortal spark and heavenly flame, which 
 is so imdeniably a sacred inexhaustible^ portion of His indi- 
 vidual triune Essence ? 
 
 How could the angels and spirits, any of them, ever have 
 been more gloriously gifted ? More angelical, more spiritual ? 
 The archangels themselves, the seraphim, the cherubim, 
 never could have excelled such a " Grodlike " creature^ as 
 Adam, the celestial primogenitor of human kind, in that 
 which particularly regards Divine extraction, perfection of 
 form, mental powers, primitive immaculateness of soul. 
 
 The Lord God did not simply create man, as an inhabitant 
 of luxurious pleasui'e* grounds : He thus anticipatedly pre- 
 pared new tabernacles of clay, for the regenerative reception 
 of His long-estranged sons and gods, when they should be sub- 
 missively suing, at last, to resume their bitterly regretted places, 
 in the glorious courts of His ever-blessed eternal kingdom. 
 
 It being of the utmost consequence that our positive human 
 descent from an antemundane origin be indubitably proved, 
 we hope that our anxiously repeated zealous ratiocinations 
 may be fairly examined, and equitably weighed,^ to that 
 pure and single efiect. 
 
 The consistent genealogy we have at last traced out, has 
 
THE WORD. 107 
 
 removed such a vast number of theological and geological 
 obscurities/ from the extensive field of our own private medita- 
 tions, that Christian Faith has now entirely ceased to be, in 
 our awaking mind, a merely interesting dream ; to become 
 a magnificent certainty of infinite blessings, past, present, 
 and future, secured to us, long before the compassionately 
 paternal love of God had mercifully resolved to create 
 " a new universe^ of worlds," for the glorious purpose of ulti- 
 mately effecting unlimited pardon and grace ! 
 
 Wherefore Three* Almighty Gods? 
 
 The simple fact that the Holy Trinity* was, from the very 
 beginning, " The unrevealed Triune, yet Unique Divine Provi- 
 dence," under whose autocratic laws^ all things were governed, 
 visible and invisible, animate and inanimate, temporal and 
 everlasting — that simple fact, reduces all religious testimonies, 
 touching the principal object, for which that particular 
 government existed from everlasting and still exists, that is to 
 say, the " self-constituted " Most Holy Trinity, to an all- 
 comprehensive axiom, which is — 
 
 That the Eternal Divinity (omniscient, ubiquitous, and 
 almighty) consisted then, and still consists, pro tempore,^ of — 
 
 An entirely Christian Triune Godhead. 
 
 A Triune Godhead, mercifully predestined to separate, at a 
 foreknown future era (the Christian era) into three omnipo- 
 tent and all-sufficient Divine principles of, infinitely merciful 
 action, infinite fatherly love, boundless filial and brotherly 
 
 1 2 
 
108 THE WORD. 
 
 affection, eternally directing and comforting spiritual inspi- 
 ration. 
 
 Sucli important data being to our mind satifactorily authen- 
 ticated, as they have been in this book, and shall further be, 
 we proceed with our scriptui-al proofs of human and celestial 
 extraction, and terrestrial angelic lineage. 
 
 In G-en. vi. you will find that angels constantly visited the 
 earth, and married the daughters^ of men. 
 
 Tears, by myriads, may have elapsed during those " sanc- 
 tioned " connubial connections ;'- nay, these may liave been no 
 more than casual cases, intentionally mentioned, as more or 
 less useful records for transmission and promulgation among 
 distant generations to be born, such as our own, and their 
 successors. 
 
 And when you remember that those coelo-terrestrial inter- 
 marriages took place above 4,000 years e.g., this most 
 material information certainly corroborates all that can be 
 said in support of our^ belief, that the mortal incarnations of 
 the fallen souls of angels, were the most merciful channels 
 that could be selected by all-atoning Grace impartially to 
 faciUtate, through ample repentance and prayer, the redemp- 
 tion and salvation of the whole human race. 
 
 Our souls, good or bad, from their first admission into a 
 state of incarnation, were and are decidedly immortal. 
 
 That must be accepted as an undeniable truth. What else 
 means " The resurrection of the dead"? 
 
 With exclusive respect to the soul of Adam, it was essen- 
 tially a part of that of G-od, imperishable and " immaculate," 
 
THE WORD. 109 
 
 for a short period only, assisting in the vast labour of universal 
 regeneration.^ 
 
 Now the soul of Eve must have been that of the " first " 
 penitent angel who sued for pardon, in the name of his well- 
 known Divine Intercessor, and consequently received merciful 
 permission to undergo earthly incarnation. 
 
 Let it be granted, as it must needs be, that the blessed 
 inhabitants of the perpetual kingdom of God are, without a 
 single exception, " all immortal," and it further implies that 
 they have eternally been so, and must everlastingly remain^ 
 immortal. 
 
 Add to this most rational statement that — 
 
 Such a kingdom as that of our Almighty Father, the King 
 of kings, being boundless as well as ever-enduring, mufet 
 necessarily have been, besides — 
 
 The ever-renewed spectacle of numberless heavenly courts, 
 wherein the glorious hosts of powers, dominions, and princi- 
 palities attending, could only be outnumbered, by the vastly 
 more endless and innumerable throngs of archangels and 
 angels incessantly hovering over, and round about the mighty 
 throne of Jehovah, the Most High, submissively to receive 
 His irrefragable behests and irresistible fiats. 
 
 Then tell us where (humanly speaking) could be more 
 charitably, more compassionately, and more appropriately 
 employed, after having endured long retributive penalties, 
 sufferings of the most excruciating mental and bodily nature, 
 "woes unknown,^ perhaps, on this earth, past all adequate 
 descriptions, for thousands of thousands of ages, in some awful 
 
110 THE WOKD. 
 
 cases of indispensable^ expiation, — those unhappy souls who 
 had incurred the just indignation of their offended, but still 
 benevolent, Grod ? Tell us where such souls,^ penitent and 
 amended, could be better employed than, upon so fit an 
 opportunity, as that of the " fall " of our first earthly parents, 
 in the garden of gracious^ ordeals — to be transferred, through 
 probatory and "thoroughly purgatorial incai^nations " (at 
 their own urgent requests), during the merciful wonders of 
 our Christian* creation, into those endless successions of gene- 
 rations that would ultimately serve to admit, to redeem, and 
 to save them all ? 
 
 Can Excess of Christian Faith, from Pious Motives, 
 BE Sinfulness Inexcusable? 
 
 A few of our scriptural interpretations have perhaps exceeded 
 here and there the limits of sacred^ veracity ; it was, however, 
 only when we thought it right to rely more implicitly^ than it 
 is orthodoxly sanctioned by the hierarchy, on the " recorded 
 infinitude," of the gracious efiects of Divine compassion, so 
 evidently personified in the most essentially constituted 
 Threefold Grodhead of our Almighty Father ; whose ChHstian^ 
 attributes, separately considered, are, in conjunction with 
 many more, far beyond our finite means of reckoning — 
 Continual pity — infinite grace — 
 Boundless love — inexhaustible goodness : — 
 A nature and property which have ever been, and will 
 ever be, " to have mercy, and to forgive." Being a Fountain 
 
THE WORD. Ill 
 
 of mercies ; from whom all holy desires, and all just works, 
 do proceed. 
 
 We hope, nevertheless, that (our own secret motives being 
 thoroughly known above) forgiveness may be granted likewise 
 unto us ; and that we also may be benevolently understood, 
 if the significations we have too literally attached, to our 
 testamentary authorities, do not always sufficiently coincide, 
 in their biblical sense, with the strict meaning of the promises 
 of our Lord Almighty Grod, according to their eternal purpose. 
 
 Why was ouk dear Brother^ Jesus Christ, begotten 
 A Second Time, and bred up for His earthly 
 mediatory^ Existence, among Carpenters and 
 Families of humble Rank ? 
 
 A Son, who has been solemnly revealed unto us by His 
 own Almighty Father, as His only ^-begotten, "before all 
 worlds," may, we humbly hope and trust, be afiectionately . 
 addressed and fondly alluded to by the divinely* acknow- 
 ledged, " created," sons and daughters of that same heavenly 
 Father, as their earthly Brother. 
 
 By simply connecting the gracious imports of the following 
 vastly significative quotations, we very excusably reached, 
 as many^ another might have done, the purely Christian con- 
 clusion that — 
 
 We and you, dear readers, all, are no other than a portion, 
 in disgrace, of those misguided angels (primevaP sons of Grod) 
 amongst whom our dear Redeemer was first, eternities ago, 
 
112 THE WORD. 
 
 miraculously begotten^ in heaven, for their protection against 
 the prince of evil : 
 
 And next, in earth, " miraculously " begotten once more, 
 for their salvation. 
 
 " Grod, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the 
 worlds : and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in 
 the world." — Creed of St. Athanasius. 
 
 " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " 
 (Matt. xvii.). 
 
 "And Christ said unto them. When ye pray, say, Our 
 Father, which art in Heaven " (Luke xi.). 
 
 " And Jesus answered and said unto them, My mother and 
 my brethren are these which hear the word of Grod, and do 
 it" (Luke viii. 21). 
 
 Touching our Saviour's humble birth. 
 
 Did not Jesus Christ come amongst men, to save penniless 
 Lazaruses, as well as kings, and princes, and opulent com- 
 moners ? 
 
 Most assuredly He did. 
 
 For He came expressly in humble guise, to teach, to guide, 
 and to redeem those proud,^ rebellious, and ungrateful hosts 
 who fell from heaven, and are likely, even now, and often* 
 again, through perverseness, worldly pride and obduracy, to 
 fall into repeated* ordeals, each time severer perhaps, until 
 summoned at the great universal assize. 
 
 Ay! 
 
 When the fatal " doom day " closes, on which the ran- 
 somed human race, wholly and perfectly atoned for (as we 
 
THE WORD. 113 
 
 all SO efficaciously have been), — when that most momentous 
 general arraignment shall have been proclaimed as for ever 
 passed,^ — 
 
 Then, let them prepare for further chastisements, propor- 
 tionate to their individual obstinate transgressions, all those 
 who have persisted, to the last, in daringly and incredulously 
 closing their ears to the merciful word of truth. 
 
 For it will be their turn, alas ! too late again, to discover 
 that. 
 
 Awful additional tribulations, in other states and other 
 worlds, will be justly and rigorously expected from milHons 
 of millions of souls, whose salvation, though infallibly se- 
 cured, must be, will be, as infallibly' postponed. 
 
 Are Divine Mysteries, all of them, for ever to 
 BE veiled from Human Knowledge ?^ 
 
 " The ways of Providence are past finding out." But we 
 are also told " diligently* to search the Scriptures ;" and "to 
 read, mark, learn, and inwardly^ digest" them. 
 
 This we have, more zealously than ever of late, been en- 
 deavouring to do ; and now intend (D.Y.) to persevere more 
 zealously still in doing, as long as we breathe. 
 
 Sacred mysteries, which, in our days of general proficiency, 
 are, it must be clearly perceived, gradually permitted to be 
 unravelled, were, in antediluvian eras, providentially^ kept 
 from the knowledge of men. 
 
 We all shall perhaps know, before many centuries are 
 
114 THE WORD. 
 
 elapsed, what angelic ranks we belonged to ; what joys, what 
 blessings we have been, most probably,^ for eternities past, 
 alas ! but too justly deprived of. 
 
 As the world grows older, the lapse of time is becoming 
 shorter, that keeps us, so deservedly, and yet withal so mer- 
 cifully,^ from the forfeited presence of our beneficent Father, 
 and His sacredly promised reception back into those heavenly 
 mansions, we once so happily occupied^ with the blessed, joy- 
 fully singing His praise, gloriously distributing His univer- 
 sally spread bounties and gifts. 
 
 Yes, verily, we were numbered, " before all worlds," with 
 the Almighty Father's "well-beloved and only-begotten 
 Son," among those angels and archangels, on whom the Most 
 High parentally shed His benevolent smiles, to whom He 
 delegated His Divine commands, by whom His secret behests 
 were transferred to the original* elect of His impartial choice. 
 
 The words we read in the Bible, from the first verse of 
 Genesis to the last lines of Eevelation ; and, more especially 
 than all, those proceeding, through direct Divine inspiration, 
 from either of the Three everlasting Triune Grods, confessed 
 as One alone, in our Holy Trinity — those words should be 
 the all-sufficient laws and precepts, at the sight or hearing of 
 which, from pole to pole, nations should kneel, and, bowing 
 their humblest submission, solemnly declare their fullest, their 
 most willing, compliance and obedience. 
 
 In lieu of which — 
 
 merciful Judge ! " forgive them: for they know not what 
 they do ?" " 
 
THE WORD. 115 
 
 Their teachers^ themselves vituperate each other. Churches 
 against churches strive to prove ^ that none is true, that none 
 is the " orthodox," that not one is " the real temple " in 
 which either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Grhost, can 
 love to dwell, and there to be implored and to be praised. 
 
 Creed against creed by its zealots is pitched. Sacraments 
 over sacraments, by their antagonistical defendants, are in- 
 temperately extolled. Prayers by ceremonies, jostled out 
 of time and place, become secondary in the worship of God, 
 to suit the vanities and fatuities of men. Heaven forgive us 
 all ! for we are all, more or less, most wickedly going astray. 
 
 Should we not hope that Christian Intercourse be- 
 tween Heaven and Earth, which has Existed 
 FROM the Beginning, may last until the End ? 
 
 Yisible^ angelic messengers, " in the beginning," were gra- 
 cious living evidences, of the eternal relationship, paternally 
 acknowledged in Heaven and earth by the Lord God, through 
 the continual " fraternal intercession " of Jesus Christ, our 
 Saviour, in behalf of the " already incarnated souls," who 
 had penitently solicited and obtained to be permitted, through 
 the forthcoming redemption, to undergo terrestrial penalties 
 and regenerating ordeals, " under Satanic temptations," in 
 anticipated humble* fellowship with their beloved Brother, 
 the Son of God, our own most merciful Messiah. 
 
 What, besides, could be more convincingly evident than 
 this Gracious Motive respecting those celestial missions, 
 
116 THE WORD. 
 
 effected by cotemporary incarnations of angels, during the 
 first ^ centuries of this inhabited earth ? 
 
 Were not archangels, angels, and spirits, employed from 
 the beginning, to communicate the omnipotent Creator's 
 sovereign will and pleasure, to the first sojourners, in bene- 
 ficent ^ exile, on this globe of retributive compensations ? 
 
 "Who were, for example, those three men at Abram's door, 
 predicting that he should become the father of many nations 
 (their own^ kindred), notwithstanding his having reached his 
 ninety-ninth year ? 
 
 To whom did Lot address himself at the gate of Sodom ? 
 
 Was it not an angel of Grod who called to Hagar out of 
 Heaven, and said unto her, " Hagar, fear not ; for Grod hath 
 heard the voice of the lad where he is" ? 
 
 By whom was the arm of Abraham stayed, and whose 
 voice was it * that called unto him out of heaven, and said, 
 " Lay not thine hand upon the lad" ? 
 
 And, finally, who could be those angels ascending and 
 descending on Jacob's ladder, but the spirits of heaven, 
 joyfully^ attending on the released souls of their human 
 bretliren, and triumphantly leading them up to their addi- 
 tional iutermediate^ states, transferred until the G-reat Day 
 of universal Judgment, by Christ Jesus, in the occasional 
 presence of their compassionate Father ? 
 
 Pray frequently to Grod, as all Christians of fervent good- 
 will should do,^ saying, " Our Father, who art in heaven," 
 
THE WORD. 117 
 
 when you read His Holy Word, that He may gra- 
 ciously vouchsafe to you also, who are then longing, no 
 doubt, as we do, to return home, — pray your heavenly 
 Father to enable you, also, through spiritual visions, 
 gradually to perceive your own celestial genealogy. 
 
 The blessed Scriptures, then, from end to end, will become 
 a vast " historical^ record" of the everlasting angelic race, 
 whose Almighty Father is God the Lord : whose long-lost 
 and wandering fraternity are we. 
 
 Why was our adorable Redeemer suffered by His 
 Father to be tempted in the Wilderness, to 
 die and to be buried, like ourselves ? 
 
 Mild^ measures have always been, will ever be, the most 
 successful means of allaying and subduing the unruly pas- 
 sions of men. Just like gentle medicines, judiciously and 
 perseveringly applied in moderated doses, have often overcome 
 the most serious disorders, which stronger medicaments, in- 
 expertly given, and in over-abimdant quantities, have very 
 frequently increased, instead of curing. 
 
 Four thousand years and upwards passed on, from the 
 creation of this " Christian^ world " to the nativity of the 
 infant Child, Jesus Christ, our Lord, a perfect and immacu- 
 late incarnation of the " Son of Glod." 
 
 During that long period of centuries, generations of incar- 
 nated spirits had succeeded generations, under an infinite 
 variety of Divine dispensations, both benignant and severe* : — 
 
118 THE WORD. 
 
 Never revengeful, wrathful, jealous, implacable, or un- 
 forgiving.^ 
 
 The retributive dispensations of God are invariably awarded 
 with most impartial justice, yet tempered, in all cases of in- 
 dispensable severity, with the utmost distribution of com- 
 passionate mercy. 
 
 Divine legislation, in those primeval millenniums, was, in 
 no single instance,^ similar to that which is exercised during 
 our modern days of infinite trials and temptations. Our 
 Omnipotent and Omniscient Lawgiver and Judge appKes a 
 code in all respects suitable to the moral and religious state 
 of each successive century. 
 
 When, therefore, the rising waters of the appalling deluge ; 
 when the pouring-down floods of the cloud-riding cataracts, 
 had immersed the lofty crest of Ararat, think not that. 
 
 Like Nero,^ 
 
 The fiendish monarch of burning Rome, exultingly hear- 
 ing the shrieks, the groans, the frightful agonies and woes, 
 of his writhing, expiring subjects. 
 
 Our offended God, 
 
 Just and impartial, as He is, witnessed, unmoved to pity 
 and commiseration, the struggling, the sinking bodies of His 
 former celestial sons,* with worldly satisfaction and triumph. 
 
 No, no ! The Lord of heaven and earth is not a revenge- 
 ful and merciless tyrant. 
 
 " God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the 
 earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his 
 heart was only evil continually. 
 
THE WORD. 119 
 
 " And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have 
 created, from the face of the earth ; both man and beast,^ and 
 the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air." 
 
 Now, the same Lord Almighty well knew that Satan had 
 done this, as he had tempted Eve, and tempted Cain, and 
 would also tempt His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ. 
 
 Therefore the Lord destroyed all living things, as He 
 declared He should do, because it was " gracious " as well as 
 just in Him, sacredly to keep His holy word ; but He mis- 
 sioned His Son Jesus, and His angels of mercy, to deprive 
 Death of all the stings it was not indispensable to inflict. 
 
 Noah will joyfully tell us, when we meet, aU, at last, in 
 heaven (which is the eternal and irrevocable purpose of the 
 Almighty), to what extent, infinite Divine Goodness, and, 
 above all, our adorable Saviour's boundless charity, were 
 exemplified, on that most painfully memorable of all sad 
 catastrophes. 
 
 The foregoing allusions to the eventful moral and religious 
 vicissitudes of our patriarchal ancestors' probatory ordeals, 
 seemed useful, as introductory data, whereon to found the 
 subsequent replicatory considerations. 
 
 Theological and doctrinal writings, of that very remote 
 antiquity, depend on a plenitude of Faith, which our sacred 
 Gospels and Epistles alone appear able fuUy to corroborate 
 and sanctify. 
 
120 THE WORD. 
 
 May it please Grod, the Omnipotent, to open the under- 
 standings of evangelical readers, and all sincerely anxious 
 Christians, so effectually as to enable them to perceive the 
 glorious truths, which abound in the Old, as graciously as 
 they do, in the New Testament. 
 
 Why were we taught to say, " Lead us not into 
 Temptation "? 
 
 Nothing can be plainer to the mind of an unprejudiced 
 inquirer^ than the constantly recurring fact, that temptations 
 beset us from our first steps into rational, responsible exis- 
 tence' until the last moment of our mental consciousness. 
 
 Such a state of incessant human ordeals, seemingly so in- 
 adequately provided for, through mysteriously intentional 
 preordination, during the antediluvian eras, made it infinitely 
 necessary that an impressive, all-subduing Grodlike Type of 
 victorious struggles against worldly, carnal, and Satanic 
 allurements, should be most conspicuously set before us. 
 
 This incomparably priceless blessing had been, "from the 
 Beginning," sanctioned,^ as a future grace, foreknown and 
 preordained, in the name, and through the intercession, of 
 His only-begotten Son, by Almighty Grod, when ^ 
 
 Sufficient proofs should exist, that an elect number of the 
 souls of men, edified and prepared, by angelical apostolic mes- 
 sengers, should be suitably fitted* to receive, and to treat 
 their long-expected Messiah — these, in the character of a 
 Redeemer and Saviour ; — those, in that of" an Impostor," thus 
 blindly mistaken,^ all the more infallibly to accomplish the 
 
THE WORD. 121 
 
 miraculous acts of Universal Atonement, through Divine 
 martyrdom. 
 
 The singular reception awaiting the Holy Child, yet un- 
 born,^ at Bethlehem and Jerusalem, were exactly such as the 
 Lord Grod foreknew ; such, moreover, as foreknowing. He had, 
 also from everlasting, organized,^ as the most appropriate to 
 the arduous and thankless labom^s of sin-offering and all- 
 suflBcient Ransom, which His dear Son had undertaken, in 
 behalf of His long-lost brethren. 
 
 Many as were the sufferings, meekly and patiently endured, 
 by the comparatively juvenile Mediator, on His toilsome way 
 to Calvary, the devoted young ^ Yictim underwent them all 
 with the most exemplary resignation. 
 
 We shall, however, be compelled, for want of room in this 
 place, to pass over their well-known details, the sooner to 
 reach "that awful wilderness," where His inveterate foe 
 devised the most insidious temptations and perfidies, most 
 effectually to destroy, both our hopes of redemption, and 
 our Almighty Grod's merciful promises of entire pardon. 
 
 Had His Divine Father, from any feeling of parental 
 attachment, in the likeness of man, or from any sense of 
 omnipotent right, spared Jesus a single pang, a single mental 
 or bodily smart, the self-sacrifice about to be offered up, would 
 have instantly been totally deprived of its indispensable cove- 
 nanted eflB.cacy. 
 
 Far from this. The sacred pact had been, before all 
 
 K 
 
122 THE WORD. 
 
 worlds, " that the Divine and solemn sacrifice should be most 
 strictly i^erformed, most integrally carried out, regarding its 
 minutest details." 
 
 And it may be seen, in the 26th chapter of St. Matthew, 
 the 29th verse, where the following impressive words are found, 
 how sacredly an Almighty God and His equally Almighty 
 Son kept their words : — 
 
 " my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : 
 nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." 
 
 Admirable act of submission ! 
 
 Would that the sons^ of men were like the sons of Grod ! 
 
 And the King of kings, the Lord of lords, for the sake of 
 redeeming and saving a world of fallen souls justly doomed, 
 eternities back, to universal destruction, abandoned"-^ His own 
 glorious Son, in whom He was so well pleased, to temptation, 
 crucifixion, and death. 
 
 Hosanna to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Grhost, 
 for ever and ever ! 
 
 " Crucified, Dead, and Buried," why did Jesus 
 
 DESCEND INTO HeLL ? 
 (See tlie Apostles' Creed.) ^ 
 
 After His frightful death on the cross, has it been maturely 
 pondered over, piously weighed, by competent^ readers, 
 whether our dear Redeemer descended into "hell," and- 
 " rose again " from the " dead," from no other motive than 
 that of graciously spreading, as early as He could, the first- 
 fruits of His most merciful oblation ? 
 
THE WORD. 123 
 
 What could our benevolent Lord, having already accom- 
 plished so much in our behalf, be doing during the lapse 
 of three such awful days^ in Satan's horrible dominions, 
 where torments and tortures the most excruciating are said 
 to constitute the diabolical occupations of his detestable 
 court ? 
 
 We shall attempt, according to our authorized belief, 
 founded on scripturaP revelations, to give you what we most 
 reverently conceive to have been the kind intention of our so 
 recently crucified Lord's resumed Godhead in that merciful 
 visit.^ 
 
 It was not, you may be sure of this. His victory over sin 
 and death He went there revengefully* and tauntingly to 
 proclaim. 
 
 It was not either rejoicingly to hear the gnashing of teeth, 
 the distressing shrieks of the tormented and tortui'ed, for 
 myriads of centuries to such agonies condemned. 
 
 No, no ; our Divine Terrestrial Brother entertained no 
 such ungodly thought. 
 
 He went not to hell either to inflict a single pain, or even 
 to express the slightest reproach.^ 
 
 Ten thousand thousand hosts of angels, by archangels, in 
 thousands more, marshalled, seen and unseen, formed their 
 recovered*' Messiah's escort. 
 
 But what went He there to do ? 
 
 Cruelly gashed in His side, brutally lacerated by that 
 ignominious crown of thorns. His hands, His feet frightfully 
 bored through by nails, the still bleeding Saviour, " resusci- 
 
 K 2 
 
124 THE WORD. 
 
 tating^ Jesus," descended into the very midst of hell, radiant 
 with Divine felicity ; and there — 
 
 Through a martyrdom that none of the martyrs had ever 
 suffered or known ^ — 
 
 Through oblations such as neither saint nor prophet of old 
 ever offered^ to the Almighty King of kings — 
 
 Through the inconceivable merits of an inexpressible 
 Omnipotent Triune Grodhead of purest Christian love and 
 charity — the Conquering Hero bade Satan set all his 
 victims instantly free.* 
 
 " They are redeemed," He said,^ "and, through my name, 
 by addressing the King of dory, and Power, and Majesty, 
 they are, each, one and all, finally to be saved. 
 
 " Say, therefore," He added, turning to the ransomed,*' " Our 
 Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy 
 kingdom come ; Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." 
 
 Then mysterious communions occurred between the spirits 
 of heaven attendant on their Lord, and descending at His 
 word ; and the grateful souls of the released knelt all round 
 at their Saviour's feet.'' 
 
 And prayers and hymns of praise, and sacred anthems 
 having filled the bottomless pit, throughout its length and 
 breadth and depth, the Devil, scared from his caverns, trans- 
 ferred his courts to the surface of this earth.® 
 
 His realms are for ever^ closed. 
 
 "We may be, many of us, the souls ^" ransomed, on that 
 memorable event, but not yet sufficiently regenerated and 
 sanctified. 
 
THE WORD. 125 
 
 Merciful Visits of our dear Redeemer to this Earth 
 long before his human^ incarnation, and since 
 His Glorious Ascension. 
 
 It is more than provable tliat the second Enoch, was a 
 gracious transmigration of the Son of God,^ rendered urgent 
 in the early centuries of this world, on account of the frequent 
 and familiar visits of those angels who married^ among the 
 daughters of men. 
 
 Many great divines have been, and are still, disposed to 
 think so. 
 
 We see no plausible reason to oppose such a rational Chris- 
 tian belief, inasmuch as our blessed Mediator's presence 
 among us, would very reasonably and applicably agree with 
 the biblical accounts of several miraculous circumstances* of a 
 supernatural character, perfectly unintelligible without such a 
 fact — a fact, furthermore, so evidently essential, that it would 
 appear an irreverent^ omission to leave it unmentioned. 
 
 But Enoch's translation into heaven, like that of Elijah, 
 the prophet, suggests other considerations of no mean interest. 
 
 Both those sublime® examples of positive incarnations, 
 clothed in their perishable substances, and admitted within the 
 mansions of the Almighty's kingdom, in the very presence, 
 and by the very side, of Divine ^ Majesty, prove that : — 
 
 Our own bodies also (whether in Paradise or on the appro- 
 priate discs of spheres appointed before all worlds for such 
 intermediate states), will most infallibly resuscitate, to pass 
 
126 THE WORD. 
 
 materially too, their individual arraignments, and receive their 
 glorious acquittals, or final condemnations.^ 
 
 Assuredly, our convictions cannot but be most excusable 
 in believing that : — 
 
 Oiu? preordained^ terrestrial Fellow-creature, the future 
 Saviom' of mankind, would not only exert to the fullest His 
 Divine attributes in heaven, to prevent, as far as it was then 
 compatible with impartial justice, our First Fall from 
 Paradise, but that He would, in addition to those gracious 
 efforts, after our irremediable^ banishment from Eden, 
 compassionately and fraternally visit us on this earth, 
 by mysterious* sojoumings, all preparatory to His most 
 compassionate and truly devoted human nativity. 
 
 We carry our persuasions considerably further than this, 
 for we are positively certain (as much so, at least, as worldly 
 minds may reverently be) that : — 
 
 The Son of Grod, essentially, ay, inseparably^ connected 
 as He is, and has ever been, from all eternity, with the spi- 
 ritual destinies of all celestial and terrestrial souls, walks at 
 times angelically and incarnatedly "^ with us. Not imfre- 
 quently during this present age, as He will, most probably, 
 to the end, communing — 
 
 Through holy raptures, and heavenly^ ecstacies, with 
 really fervent worshippers, earnestly, transportedly, confessing 
 " godly ^ creeds." 
 
THE WORD. 127 
 
 No sooner indeed does a heretofore apostate, a sincerely 
 repentant prodigal, a regenerating deist, a half-converted 
 idolater, an atheist, shuddering at his hereafter, begin — 
 
 To waver in their unsatisfactory, godless meditations, and 
 anxiously to long for trustworthy guides, benevolently dis- 
 posed to lead them on, by gentle persuasions, along securer 
 paths, to the fair land of promise, where reigns self-evident 
 faith, than — 
 
 The Spirit of Truth (and occasionally, too, no doubt, Jesus 
 Christ the Lord) invisibly hastens to their side, to stir up and 
 sanctify, to bless and to win, the recovered, wandering soul, 
 who is so mourningly yearning after Home. 
 
 Upon such merciful errands as these, depend upon it, 
 dear reader — depend upon it. Christian brethren, Jews and 
 Turks, — upon such errands as these it is that — 
 
 Our adorable, triimaphant Redeemer infallibly visits this 
 earth. 
 
 Over the death-beds of how many incarnated spirits might 
 you not see the radiant brow of our Divine beloved Brother, 
 expand with heavenly joy, when — 
 
 At the conclusion of a sinful, heedless life. He hears those 
 lips, moved by the contrite, regenerated soul, for some time 
 past, under the welcome and successful inspirations of that ever- 
 present other Lord, hopefully sigh, " Our Father which art 
 in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come"! 
 
 And when. His redemption and salvation proving graciously 
 efficient. He sees — 
 
128 THE WORD. 
 
 The spirit He has redeemed, the spirit He has saved, in the 
 midst of choral hallelujahs, escorted bj His Father's ministers 
 of grace — 
 
 Soar from the abandoned clay, and gratefully wing his 
 flight to that " kingdom " he so earnestly, though recently, 
 wished to reach. Grlory be then indeed, to the Father, to the 
 Son, and to the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 Why was the Son or God permitted to be crucified 
 
 BETWEEN Two MALEFACTORS? 
 
 Because Satan was graciously ^ permitted to tempt our first 
 parents in Eden ; and — 
 
 Because he furthermore is permitted, through additional^ 
 grace most inconceivable, to tempt us all on this globe, for 
 other purposes equally benevolent, leaving all our moral and 
 religious existence to indispensable means and powers, ob- 
 tained only through the intercession and propitiation of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 And because " three striking examples " were absolutely 
 requisite, on such a solemn occasion, for the edification of the 
 human race — immaculacy glorified, contrition rewarded, ob- 
 duracy punished.^ 
 
 Nothing can be imagined that denotes more apathetic* 
 carelessness about holy truths, in ecclesiastical teachers, as 
 well as theological writers, than the readiness with which, 
 some of them,^ pass over prophecies, parables, and revelations ; 
 as sacred mysteries, which they declare it would evidently 
 be sacrilegious to lay bare. 
 
THE WOKD. 129 
 
 Other motives of apparent reverence^ exist, which we might 
 very clearly prove, to have objects infinitely less pardonable — 
 venal ends, sectarian and worldly, for example. 
 
 The Almighty's omniscient purpose, in allowing so much 
 brutal insult to be heaped, on the Person of His spotless 
 beloved Son, during His judgment and doom, was surpass- 
 ingly benevolent, charitable, and " significant." Who could 
 justly gainsay this truth ? 
 
 Let us suppose the crucifixion of our Lord, to have simply 
 been the public exhibition of a solitary martyrdom, on a 
 lonely^ cross: the all-sufficient and infinitely redeeming 
 Deicide, would have been publicly deprived, of an incal- 
 culable amount of its universal^ benefit, to past, present, 
 and future transgressors of all degrees, and all climes and 
 creeds. 
 
 Did not Jesus say, " Father, forgive them :* for they know 
 not what they do "? — 
 
 And further on, to the penitent malefactor, " Verily^ I say 
 unto thee. To-day shalt thou be with me in^ Paradise " ? 
 
 It would not be at such a solemn moment of positive 
 anguish as this, in the presence of His God and approving 
 Father, in the hearing of all the heavens assembled to mag- 
 nify and glorify His name, that the immaculate Messiah would 
 use figurative words — would speak in metaphorical terms : — 
 
 *' They know not what they do !" " To-day shalt thou be 
 with me in Paradise ! " 
 
130 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 Whioli plainly implies — 
 
 "This Jewish people, whose Countryman I am, whose fathers 
 and forefathers I claim, as fellow-creatures and kindred, know 
 me not : their teachers, blinded themselves by Satan, whose 
 task this wise is set,^ their teachers mislead them, and they 
 act ill, most of them, believing that they act as they ought.^ 
 
 " Nevertheless, U Father, Thy will thus is done ; ' forgive 
 them : for they know not what they do.'" 
 
 Then, relatively to the pious ^ malefactor's most fortunate 
 contrition — 
 
 Besides being divinely recognized by Jesus, his Fellow- 
 sufferer, were not the Father there and the Holy Grhost, who 
 knew fi'om the beginning the real nature of the poor man's* 
 crime ? The latter of these Omniscient Gods in particular, had 
 no doubt, closely watched the perilous path, through which 
 his career had inevitably run, the insurmountable temptations^ 
 under which his uneducated mind and soul, had been left 
 from his birth to wander on. 
 
 And that Holy Benefactor, that ever-present Spirit of 
 Mercy, foreknowing where the benighted creature must in- 
 fallibly terminate his earthly steps, in pity, and through 
 delegated paternal grace, began to sow that heavenly*^ seed 
 of penitence and piety, which, at the eleventh hom^, so oppor- 
 tunely revealed itseK by the following address and reply : — 
 
 " Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same con- 
 demnation ? 
 
 " And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of 
 our deeds : but this Man hath done nothing '^ amiss. 
 
THE WORD. 131 
 
 "And he said unto Jesus, Lord,^ remember me when 
 Thou comest into Thy^ kingdom. 
 
 " And Jesus said unto him, YerUy^ I say unto thee, To-day 
 shalt thou be with me in Paradise. 
 
 " And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a dark- 
 ness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 
 
 " And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple 
 was rent in the midst.* 
 
 " And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice. He said, 
 Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit : and having 
 said thus, He gave up the^ ghost " (Luke xxiii. 40 — 46). 
 
 " Jesus, when He had cried again^ with a loud Yoice, 
 yielded up the grhost." 
 
 " And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain 
 from the top to the bottom ; "^ and the earth did quake, and 
 the rocks rent ; 
 
 " And the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the 
 saints which slept arose, 
 
 "And came^ out of the graves . . . and went into the 
 holy city" (Matt, xxvii. 50—53). 
 
 What senseless creatures must those be, who can apathe- 
 tically peruse the affecting accounts of that appalling, heart- 
 rending Death-scene, without feeling, like the malefactor, 
 like the centurion, like the shuddering throngs, indeed, 
 mournfully retiring, that — 
 
 When Jesus Christ, in His mortal agony, cried aloud 
 
132 THE WORD. 
 
 " once more ;" it was His last human shriek of Divine^ atone- 
 ment : a last imploring, interceding prayer, offered up, by 
 a self-immolated^ God of infinite grace, for the salvation 
 of a compassionately^ ransomed fallen race, but too justly 
 doomed to " unlimited " perdition ! 
 
 And deep darkness enwrapped the quaking, agitated earth, 
 visibly participating, with the whole universe, in this mysti- 
 cally awful, but indispensable, sin-offering. 
 
 Were there no further evidence of the Almighty's original* 
 intention of ultimate forgiveness, and universal final recon- 
 ciliation, through the preordained sacrifice of His only- 
 begotten Son (anticipatedly^ begotten before all worlds) ; this 
 terrific tragedy would alone amply suffice, to render it per- 
 fectly undeniable. 
 
 How could such an infinitely merciful event (awful as it 
 must have been) take place, without also calhng forth, under 
 considerations of boundless gratitude, the most demonstrative 
 signs of triumphant joy and happiness : — 
 
 In the kingdom of God, throughout its boundless extent ; 
 and amongst the angelic hosts, greeting by thousands, the 
 released souls of their redeemed brethren, just ® admitted into 
 intermediate states, prepared for those, whose salvation, on 
 the Grreat Day of Christian'' arraigns, is secured, beyond all 
 possible doubt ? 
 
 Such as was the Body of Jesus Christ on Earth, such 
 IS that most miraculous Body kow^ in Heaven. 
 
 A remarkable fact is constantly overlooked, at this tragical 
 
THE WORD. 133 
 
 conclusion of our blessed Saviour's most charitable human 
 existence. 
 
 It is that Jesus Christ, once " humanly dead," and, as it 
 were, consigned to the decomposing effects of usually inevi- 
 table corruption, resuscitated into eternal life, and bore away^ 
 with Him, from the sepulchre in the rock, that glorious 
 body, which had been crucified, pierced, and buried, for the 
 redemption and salvation " of the Jews^ and Gentiles," as 
 much so as for His own Christian brethren. 
 
 The entire generations of mankind, it should be remem- 
 bered, which, according to our unshaken conviction, signifies 
 the whole of the incarnated angels, who had repentantly 
 sought, from the beginning, to be mercifully allowed, through 
 additional grace, to transmigrate^ into human bodies, con- 
 stituted the chief bulk of the terrestrial populations, spread 
 over the face of the earth, when that all-sufficient atonement 
 took place. 
 
 It must be conceded that Jesus Christ, being (worldly 
 speaking) a Descendant of David, could not, as a boy, or a 
 youth, " until His Second Baptism,* in the Jordan," by St. 
 John, be considered, under any other sectarian distinction, 
 but that of a Hebrew and a Jew,^ of the tribe of Judah, who 
 subsequently assumed the name of Jews. 
 
 Joseph, of Bethlehem, and the Yirgin Mary, and the 
 Child Jesus, consequently worshipped God (until the Bap- 
 tism in Jordan) according to the law of Moses. 
 
 On His Father's side, the Messiah was completely Divine : 
 the ever-immaculate Son of God, legitimate Copartner in the 
 
134 THE WORD. 
 
 Omnipotent Jehovah's Godhead and glory, our merciful 
 Creator, and eternal theocratic King. 
 
 Hebrews, Jews, and Israelites; Grentiles, Infidels,^ and 
 heathens, in fine (as the offsprings, naturally descended from 
 Adam), were incarnated brethren; born, and bred up, in a 
 similar ^ manner to that of all the fallen angels and spirits of 
 heaven.^ 
 
 And Jesus Christ, our Lord, was intentionally incarnated, 
 according to the preordained will of His Almighty Father ; 
 not only, at a predetermined time, to make* evident our 
 celestial origin, but fiu-thermore to testify more plainly still, 
 through His infinite grace and impartial justice, the bound- 
 less love He ever^ felt, and ever will feel, towards that only 
 and beloved family, originally called into miraculous^ exist- 
 ence, before the creation of all worlds, which we were, and 
 are, and ever shall be. 
 
 Compared to all foregoing and subsequent sin-offerings, 
 what must have been "that" of our devoted Intercessor's 
 mutilated body, such as we may sympathetically picture it to 
 our minds, when His victorious spirit, having won for ever 
 and ever the crown of glory, left it on the tree ;^ to commune* 
 for a while with His Almighty Father and the Holy Ghost, 
 approvingly and encouragingly waiting, in the midst of all 
 the angelic hosts, greetingly assembled, unheard and unseen, 
 above the consecrated spot, of His ail-sufficiently consummated 
 universal atonement ! 
 
 There leave we that exultant happy family of " Divine and 
 angelic^ Grods," with — 
 
THE WORD. 135 
 
 " The Grlorious Company of the Apostles ; " 
 
 " The G-oodly Fellowship of the Prophets ; " 
 
 " The Noble Army of Martyrs : " praising Him : 
 
 The most devoted Martyr of them all, 
 
 The King of Grlory ! the Omnipotent^ Messiah ! the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 And, look we back, penetrated with awe and gratitude, at 
 that murderous cross, for-ever-dreadful, yet to-be-venerated 
 symbol of fraternal a.ffection, and infinite Divine mercy ! 
 
 "J(3 Deum landamusP^ 
 
 World-witnessed Homicide; Predestinated^ 
 Martyrdom. 
 
 Inanimate and cold, indeed, there the long-expected 
 Saviour's degraded, defaced, and desolate earthly tabernacle, 
 in solemn repose, waits its long-foretold^ burial place. 
 
 Sighs, and sobs, maternal, with holy prayers of all around, 
 ever and anon disturb the dismal stillness of the gathering 
 evening gloom. 
 
 sad and momentous interval* of anguish and terror ! 
 
 The pacified roaring winds, the crashing thunder-peals, 
 have stilled their resentful, condemnatory voices. 
 
 The now "hopeful" dead,^ in their winding-sheets, have, 
 blessing His holy name as they passed, retm'ned to their 
 sepulchraP homes. 
 
 Not a whit or tittle of that daring outrage^ to the universal 
 law of nations should be omitted, in the consequent reflec- 
 
136 THE WORD. 
 
 tions, of all "good" Christians, on tlieir piously taking 
 retrospective views of such an awful scene. 
 
 Ay ! heartlessly perpetrated, horrible murder of thousands 
 of thousands against One ! ^ chronicled by prophets of old, 
 recorded by apostles and martyrs, disciples and historians, 
 both sacred and profane ! 
 
 Whose body was it, they so reverently laid, in that newly 
 excavated rock, angels attending ? 
 
 See, what care they have taken of those limbs ; cruelly, 
 brutally perforated with nails ! 
 
 It was, nevertheless, with those mangled hands, with those 
 feet, so frightfully transfixed, that mercilessly bruised and 
 gashed body, that your Saviour, during a life of incessant 
 sufi'ering and contumely, so benevolently performed, in their 
 behalf, and our own, the most inconceivable acts of ineffable 
 grace. 
 
 And that heart, overflowing with love and unlimited com- 
 passion, towards foes and friends alike; that heart, whose 
 every pulsation was for His Grod and for man — 
 
 " It beats stiU. for us all;" our most merciful Redeemer's 
 heart ! 
 
 Look into that gaping wound in His side. Still imagine 
 it there, as the murderous steel was withdrawn. 
 
 Gush after gush, poured out your devoted Saviour's blood ; 
 and every drop that gushed out, ransomed and saved myriads 
 of myriads of souls ! 
 
THE WOKD. 137 
 
 Sacred Body of Jesus Christ, oiir blessed Lord! Indeed, 
 and truly, they knew not what they did ! 
 
 They knew not that Thou wast their affectionate Brother, 
 " from the beginning," graciously " predestined " to save 
 them, by theii' Father, the King of kings and Lord of all. 
 
 They knew not, in their incarnated state, that, having 
 formerly, i.e., eternities back, offended their Omnipotent 
 Euler in heaven ; compelled by His impartial justice, that 
 God had indignantly driven them from His kingdom, with 
 the malignant deceiver, who had, at last, totally corrupted 
 and degenerated their souls ; and, to such an extent, that it 
 was no longer possible for Him, to let them inhabit the bright 
 and holy realms of pure light and truth. 
 
 They knew not that, through Thy persevering, all-sufficient 
 intercession, before Thy Father, the everlasting God, Thou 
 hadst, Lord omnipotent of infinite grace, obtained per- 
 mission finally to redeem, and to save us all. 
 
 Such an act of awful disobedience as that of Eve — ^ 
 
 Such a detestable and unpardonable crime ^ as that of Cain — 
 
 Such a disgusting state of moral turpitude as that of the 
 antediluvian tribes, and that of many of the subsequent 
 populations — 
 
 Such a monstrous degree of depravity and loathsome 
 licence — 
 
 Such an atheistical absence of all principles, of fit and pro- 
 per rectitude, as those of the primitive Gentdes and Pagans, 
 down to the very advent of Jesus Christ, — could not possibly 
 have occurred, infinitely less have existed, had not 
 
 L 
 
 ■7 
 
138 THE WORD. 
 
 " The Fountain of all goodness," the "Lord of all mercies," 
 the " Griver of all good gifts," " whose nature and property is 
 ever to have mercy, and to forgive " — had not our Almighty 
 Father preordained that such enormous evil should, most 
 graciously, albeit most incomprehensibly, paved the way to 
 Universal Redemption and Salvation. 
 
 This, we shall, Grod willing, prove more evidently still, in 
 the following pages ; which we purpose devoting to closer in- 
 terpretations, as well as to visionary^ meditations, in both of 
 which, sacred truths may, (as we cannot help expecting it,) 
 reveal themselves, like particles of purest gold, sometimes 
 found on alluvial river strands. 
 
THE WORD. 139 
 
 CONCLUDING ARGUMENTS, 
 
 IN FAVOUR OF OUR SCRIPTURAL INTERPRE- 
 TATIONS. 
 
 "WHATEVER THINGS WERE WRITTEN AFORETIME, 
 
 WERE WRITTEN FOR OUR LEARNING." 
 
 Rom. XV. 4. 
 
 Abundantly as eventful circumstances, like those we have 
 just endeavoured to expound, furnish miraculous^ results, for 
 the pen of the fervent interpreter of sacred truths and facts, 
 now^ most urgently demanding to be promulgated far and 
 wide : — 
 
 Folios, by thousands, would not suffice to collect the 
 myriads of momentous details that, the genuine portions 
 alone,^ of the evangelical writings would require, to be made 
 adequately known. 
 
 Now, with due regard to the sacredness usually defending 
 the approaches of all sanctuaries, in which, as holiest of holy 
 tabernacles, the Lords* and Grods of heaven, in heaven, 
 choose, at certain periods, to retire ; we shall humbly select a 
 mode of access, which will most probably put us in possession 
 
 L 2 
 
140 THE WORD. 
 
 of a conjecturaP key; partly formed from reliable data, and 
 partly from deductions, gathered at the purest of legitimate 
 springs. 
 
 We conclude, therefore, in the first place, that, having met 
 in such a celestial tabernacle, infinitely beyond the bounds, 
 at which all celestial powers and principalities were unac- 
 countably forced, submissively to check their way : — 
 
 Divine communications were interchanged between the 
 Triune^ Grods, relatively to the character and extent of the 
 mischief already done, the vindictive, although^ subservient, 
 Satanic perpetrator's further resources, his malicious designs, 
 the number of angels already tainted, and the just retribu- 
 tions to be mercifully, yet not less impartially, awarded* from 
 the worst to the least guilty, of those haplessly unpardon- 
 able offenders. 
 
 HOLY TABERNACLE OF THE TRIUNE CHRISTIAN 
 GODHEAD. 
 
 Oh ! the infinitude of that Almighty Counsel of Grrace ! 
 Divinely foretold, and foreordained, all-embracing compassion ! 
 Total destruction, deemed unavoidable, graciously converted 
 into glorious existence, never-ending, and imiversal ! 
 
 So we find, throughout those consecrated and frequently 
 quoted portions of the scriptural records we daily read. 
 
 Por there you may, as plainly as we do, " mark, learn, and 
 inwardly digest " that the Lord Almighty God is said, by 
 the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians, to be — 
 
THE WORD. 141 
 
 A " Grod who is rich, in mercy"; and further on, adding 
 in his own words — 
 
 " For by grace are ye saved through faith." 
 
 " We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto 
 good works ; which God hath before ordained that we should 
 walk in them." 
 
 " For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto 
 the Father." 
 
 " Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, 
 but fellow-citizens mth the saints, and of the household of 
 God." 
 
 " Unto me ... is the grace given, that I should . . . 
 make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, 
 from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who 
 created all things by Jesus Christ." 
 
 " According to the eternal purpose, which He purposed in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 " Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named : 
 
 " That He would grant you, according to the riches of His 
 glory, to be strengthened with might, by His Spirit in the 
 inner man ; 
 
 " That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, 
 being rooted and grounded in love, . 
 
 " May be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the 
 breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 
 
 " And to know the Love of Christ, which passeth know- 
 ledge ; that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God '' 
 (Ephes. ii. ; iii.). (See page 149.) 
 
142 THE WORD. 
 
 FINAL SCHEMEi OF UNIYERSAL SALTATION, AS 
 
 PREORDAINED 2 BY THE MOST 
 
 HOLT TRINITY. 
 
 Having stated (as we felt ourselves morally and religiously 
 called to do) what we conscientiously conceived to be 
 the truth, according to our private unbiassed study of the 
 Scriptures, where they more particularly concerned the 
 sacred subjects, alluded to in the foregoing pages, we hope 
 that some share of Christian indulgence will be granted to us, 
 considering our purely benevolent motives : — 
 
 If, humbly imitating our enviable forerunners, Milton, 
 Young, and Hervey, we abandon, for a while, the reins of our 
 over-excited mind, to the description of fervent trances and 
 visionary transports, whereby we have really seen, most of the 
 wonders which we represent. 
 
 Perseveringly as we have striven to define, throughout this 
 work, to all our friends, the genealogical ties existing between 
 spmtual and human beings (our former selves), from the well- 
 known expulsion of the former, into the incarnation of the 
 latter, we cannot consider our task completed, until we have 
 attempted to give some humble accounts also, of the first 
 existence of our heavenly Father, the Almighty Creator of 
 us all ; not omitting, in their appropriate places, to bestow, 
 furthermore, some suitable allusions to that parent of evil, 
 from whom so many blessings have been transferred to us, 
 which he maKciously intended to be, the infallible causes of 
 our utter and eternal destruction. 
 
THE WORD. 143 
 
 In the Holy Trinity, why is "None Afore or 
 After Other" ? 
 
 It cannot but be confessed that sucb an important dogma 
 as this, stationed, as it were, with several others equally im- 
 portant, at the sacred^ portal of our Divine dicta and in- 
 spired evangelical truths, should be a valuable security 
 offered, that the contents of these pages have been rendered, 
 as worthy of trust as our holy references could enable us to 
 make them. 
 
 Our ever-present Guide and Monitor knows, as God only 
 knows, how anxiously we have endeavoured to perform 
 our Christian task ; how faithfully we are striving to end 
 it well. 
 
 This part is intended, further to light up, what might 
 still appear insufficiently expounded ; to render more obvious, 
 what might still be considered erroneous or rash ; to mora- 
 lize,^ to theologize and fertilize^ the whole, under the Divine 
 assistance of the Holy Spirit, so as to meet the approbation 
 of that Almighty and Merciful God, of whose only gift it 
 cometh,* that His faithful people do unto Him true and laud- 
 able service. 
 
 We are not consequently, through pusillanimous fears, un- 
 becoming devoted servants of the cross, about to abstain from 
 
144 THE WORU. 
 
 examining the intrinsicalness of the validity of superan- 
 nuated' doctrines, founded on exaggerated interpretations 
 of Mosaic dispensations and imaginary^ theosophisms. 
 
 Down to this period of our Christian churches ; by which 
 we intend to signify all manners of worship, the unique 
 object of which is the service of Grod, in His triune theocracy 
 of the most holy Christian^ Trinity ; we respect equally all 
 those believers, who honestly and piously attend to the sacred 
 duties of their respective creeds. 
 
 Again and again, we therefore repeat it. All sincere 
 Christians, whatever their sectarian principles* may be, who 
 act as morally and religiously as they profess to believe, are 
 proportionately well approved of Grod ! Their individual 
 rewards will be meted unto them, according to the extent of 
 their Christian zeal, and the purity^ and perfection of their 
 faith. 
 
 " None is Afore or After Other." 
 
 Why, then, does the Lord declare that He is Eternal and 
 Almighty, the only true God ? 
 
 And why does the same Lord declare, furthermore, that 
 His Son was begotten by Himself before all worlds, thus 
 acknowledging that Jesus Christ, our All-Sufficient Redeemer 
 and infinitely merciful Savioui^, was twice begotten, in heaven 
 first, and next in earth ? 
 
 We cannot help conceiving this to be, the master-key with 
 which, by the gracious permission of our omnipotent heavenly 
 
THE WORD. 145 
 
 Father, we may be spiritually enabled, partly to unlock the 
 Holy of holies, wherein the miraculous secret of our forgive- 
 ness and salvation, so long, has been purposely hid. 
 
 That which might be an ineffable mercy, at one time, at 
 another, might be a most calamitous curse. 
 
 Any primeval " angehcal" knowledge^ of ihe Divine pro- 
 creation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, during the 
 earlier eternities of His Almighty Father's kingdom, must 
 have destroyed the wonderful results, which His preordained 
 second generation, so happily and so successfully pro- 
 duced. 
 
 The two conceptions, irrespectively of their equally Divine 
 origin, must have been totally different as to their natures : 
 "the first," purely and wholly spiritual; "the second," 
 materially human and mortal, with the supernatural addi- 
 tional gift, for inconceivably^ merciful purposes, of the 
 faculty of resuscitation. 
 
 That there was, at some considerably anterior portion of 
 that infinite time (which we frequently misname Eternity^) ; 
 that there was a fatal moment, during which, a most insi- 
 diously contagious " core of evil," became engendered, in 
 some way or other, for the purpose of imperceptibly taint- 
 ing, the heretofore immaculate purity of the heavenly spirits, 
 cannot be for a single moment doubted. And to the Omni- 
 scient " I AM," the Eternal Jehovah, that immensely* preg- 
 nant fact was, from the Beginning, most minutely known — 
 not merely known, but by Him sanctioned to a triumphantly 
 glorious end, full of inexhaustible grace. 
 
146 THE WORD. 
 
 It was known, furthermore, by the everlasting Author of 
 all things in heaven and earth, that : 
 
 In His unlimited, universal realms, beauteous and perfect, 
 as He had originallv created them ; awfully prejudicial, nay, 
 vastly destructive, to the coimtless myriads of ethereal beings, 
 who were inhabiting them, there had been, there were still, 
 unmistakable signs and tokens of nascent impurities, and 
 growing banes, which He felt it indispensable to check, and 
 ultimately to annihilate. 
 
 A FEW MOEE INDISPENSABLE THEOLOGICAL 
 INQUIRIES.! 
 
 Since we solemnly engage to promulgate nothing anta- 
 gonistical that, in any respect whatever, may seem ^ to 
 militate against the Christian faith, such as it is, at the 
 present time professed to be, both by the clergy and the 
 pious laity ; we fearlessly proceed, in our well-intentioned 
 dissemination of, those scriptural^ discoveries in particular, 
 which serve more materially to increase the reasonable hope 
 we entertain, through grace, of being ultimately saved, all 
 in turn ; when our individual ordeals and punishments shall 
 have been proportionately endured,* according to the impar- 
 tial awards of infinitely benevolent Justice.^ 
 
 Patient and unbiassed meditations, on the pristine state of 
 the kingdom of heaven, as far as it may be attainable, by 
 
THE AVORD. 147 
 
 retrogressive thoughts, for that especial purpose, must con- 
 sequently be expected to fill a few of the forthcoming pages. 
 
 EXISTENCE OF SATAN: A DIVINE ACT OF MOST 
 MERCIFUL 1 RETRIBUTION. 
 
 So terrible "a presence as that of Satan" and his subor- 
 dinates,^ in the very midst of the celestial hosts, could not 
 have happened, considering the gracious^ nature of Grod's 
 most manifold attributes of goodness, each separately repre- 
 sented in the most holy Trinity, without its being an act of 
 " additional grace " in favour of man.* 
 
 For who is God ? What is lie ? 
 
 Not only that omnipotent Ruler, under whose irresistible 
 commands all things and beings bow, submissive, and obey, 
 whatever their inclinations may be : 
 
 But also, that Almighty Creator, whose word or thought 
 alone can make and unmake worlds, — ay, countless systems 
 of worlds, as easily as He can create or destroy motionless 
 atoms, and crawling, next-to imperceptible, mites. 
 
 He is that glorious Messiah, our devoted Brother in Grod, 
 who, soon or late, will triumphantly save and restore^ to 
 everlasting happiness again, the whole of the human race 
 (our o"WTi angelic brethren), and ourselves. 
 
 He is our all-sufficient, sin and death-conquering Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 He is, in short, that eternal Alpha and Omega; the mighty 
 Jehovah; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Grhost, by whom 
 
148 THE WORD. 
 
 were, most compassionately,^ most paternally, evoked from 
 utter nothingness,^ all the powers of hell, and the numberless 
 evils of this probatory earth, at the remotest existence of 
 time, the more thoroughly and appropriately ^ to purify, 
 sanctify, ransom, and save, all the fallen souls of heaven and 
 earth : (not a single * one allowed to be lost) . 
 
 ^ 
 
 Yery simple reasonings will go very far to prove, in 
 connexion with apostolic revelations, and evangelical testi- 
 monies,^ that our, seemingly bold, foregoing deductions 
 respecting the origin of evil, and the " divinely preordained 
 transitory^ being" of Satan, are rational conclusions, drawn 
 from the purest of dogmas. 
 
 Grod eternally was, is, and will everlastingly be, an 
 omniscient King of kings, and Almighty Ruler of all. 
 
 The Lord eternally was, is, and will be, the universally 
 confessed Omnipotent Creator of all visible and invisible 
 things, animate or not, material or not. 
 
 The Divine attributes of the holy Trinity, besides being 
 incalculable as the sands on the seashore, infinitely surpass, 
 in charitableness and parental love, all other Divine attributes 
 ever known. 
 
 Consequently, the infinitely benevolent Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, His only Son, begotten before all worlds, for 
 mercy's sake ; could create, and did create, for mercy's sake 
 likewise, before those worlds also, all the powers of hell, and 
 
THE WORD. 149 
 
 the unclean spirits of heaven and earth; the whole co-operation 
 of which, He well foreknew that He should require (for 
 periods only known to Himself) in the glorious scheme of 
 redemption and salvation, which He furthermore foreknew, 
 that He had predetermined from everlasting to prepare. 
 
 May not this, very naturally and logically, be a reasonable 
 solution of a vast number of scriptural problems, which have, 
 for ages past, induced wretched imbelievers to persist in their 
 fatal incredulities and doubts ? 
 
 TRIUNE CONFERENCEi OF THE MOST HOLT CHRIS- 
 TIAN TRINITY: ITS MOST MERCIFUL RESULTS. 
 
 The Divine conference, held by the infinitely compassionate 
 Christian Trinity, in the sacred Persons of the Three, so 
 eminently, so boundlessly^ charitable, but justly offended 
 Gods, conversing, parentally, filially, and fraternally,^ with 
 solemn reference to the proportionate indispensable punish- 
 ments, to be forthwith inflicted on those prodigal sons, many 
 of them already lost, and many, evidently and unavoidably,* 
 following the same unpardonable course, besides vast numbers 
 of future delinquents, foreknown ^ to be the next victims, of 
 irresistible temptations, purposely permitted, resolved itself, 
 no doubt, into an Almighty grace-fraught tribunal, and 
 unanimously decreed the adoption of the probable subsequent 
 scheme : — 
 
 Temporal production of Satan and his infernal courts ; of 
 
150 THE WORD. 
 
 moral and religious evil, and of future long-protracted carnal 
 death ; 
 
 Celestial and terrestrial government of the angelic, spi- 
 ritual, and human races ; and unlimited control over all the 
 powers of hell, sin, and death, entrusted entirely to Jesus 
 Christ and the Holy Grhost ; 
 
 Temporal expulsion of the rebellious angels from heaven, 
 until adequately tried first, by human temptations, tribula- 
 tions, ordeals, and sufferings on the earth, till the great day 
 of universal judgment ; 
 
 Creation of the world next, for temporal purposes of 
 mercy, exclusively devoted to Divine operations of redeeming 
 and saving grace ; 
 
 Miraculous and wholly merciful formation of man ; and 
 most significative extraction of Eve ; 
 
 The separate Creation of Eden ; 
 
 The unavoidable Flood ; necessitating the gracious regene- 
 ration of a probatory race, yet too unwise and stubborn, 
 gratefully to comprehend the meaning and extent of their 
 heavenly Father's infinite love, and disiDOsition to forgive ; 
 
 Immaculate,^ terrestrial conception, and second glorious 
 nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the sacredly- 
 promised Redeemer, and eternally ^ preordained omnipotent 
 Judge, of all the fallen souls of repentant^ angels and 
 men ; 
 
 Indispensable and complete* Atonement, through cruci- 
 fixion, voluntarily sufi'ered by the Son of God, for the ransom 
 of all in heaven and earth, from the first to the last of the 
 
THE WORD. 151 
 
 mercifiillj-sanctioned human incarnations of the angelical 
 hosts. 
 
 Further than this, we abstain from describing/ although 
 we are firmlj convinced, that all we have written is perfectly 
 true. In words, we may here and there exaggerate ; we 
 may also fall short, at various times, in our appreciation of 
 testimonies, solemn declarations, and prophecies ; but our 
 meanings, despite their logical constructions, always lead, 
 from authentic data, to sound and intrinsic solutions. 
 
 We, nevertheless, most j)ositively declare, relying entirely 
 on our knowledge, and long^ experience of Divine goodness 
 and equity that, after judgment,^ when the souls of the elect 
 and forgiven, in Jesus Christ, shall have received permission 
 to return to " their original station " among the greeting 
 ranks of the joyful angels : 
 
 The respited,* through Divine clemency, will be transferred 
 to other appropriate worlds, in the starry universe f there to 
 suffer new tribulations, and expiatory sufferings, for centuries ; 
 it may be, for eternities^ more, according to their finaP ver- 
 dict : (promised infallible salvation awaiting them, like the 
 rest, in the redeeming name, and for the sake of our com- 
 passionate Lord, and Almighty God, the eternal King) . 
 
 But unless our " angelic origin " be clearly established, as 
 we humbly presume, it has been, our own original sinfulness in 
 the garden of Eden cannot be sufficiently evident, to produce 
 equivalently good converting effects. 
 
152 THE WORD. 
 
 It was consonant, no doubt, with the infinitely wise pur- 
 poses of Providence that Christians should, for a time more or 
 less protracted, see through a glass darkly ; but, as we draw 
 daily, nay, hourly, nearer to the great day of final assize, it 
 seems strongly apparent that the minds of reflecting men, 
 through existing spiritual inspiration, should be di'awn 
 gradually nearer and nearer to the full discovery of the 
 blessed sacred truth. 
 
 We are now, indeed, being enlightened by the Divine 
 influence of that Holy Grhost so graciously sent among us 
 from above ! 
 
 Woe unto those who refuse to continue their Christian pro- 
 gress by the light of such a guide ! Their pilgrimage will be 
 found having many and many stages more of tribulations and 
 ordeals to journey through, before they can reach that glorious 
 harbour, in reserve sooner or later, for us all. 
 
 •5S- 
 
 What can possess Christian ministers and other would-be- 
 deemed just, pious, and charitable souls, during their private 
 and public ministrations, when they insist^ on representing 
 the Most High in the awful light of : — 
 
 An implacable, unforgiving, jealous, and revengefuP Judge? 
 
 Such an impious assumption, is nothing more nor less than 
 a wicked exhibition of the worst bigotry ; when it does not 
 exhibit the apparent contrivances of venal men, who, hke the 
 Pharisees and Scribes of old, make marketable use of the 
 
THE WORD. 153 
 
 terrors of hell, to exact ^ from over-credulous believers ransom 
 moneys and propitiatory fees.^ 
 
 Such uncharitable threats were never used by Grod the 
 Father, nor by Grod the Son, nor by Grod the Holy Ghost, 
 except on unavoidable^ occasions, when the callous, the obdu- 
 rate, the frightfully benighted hearers of yore understood no 
 gentler terms. 
 
 Is terrifying meek and humble, mercy-seeking, penitent 
 transgressors into despair, the way to bring back " wandering 
 sheep," into our deep and most adorable Saviour's flocks ? 
 
 A time there must have been, antecedently to the birth 
 of Christ ; and even for a few centuries subsequent to that 
 sacred birth ; when amongst the Jews, as well as amongst 
 Pagans and Grentiles, a kind of convenient mythological* 
 Atheism^ being purposely allowed to prevail, populations 
 knew not, religiously speaking, what they did. 
 
 It was during those sad years of incipient^ earthly proba- 
 tion ; so necessarily repeated, so mercifully preordained to be 
 what they were ; experimental ' ordeals, progressively advancing 
 towards that ne plus ultra of true and perfect faith, the wor- 
 ship of God in the Most Holy Trinity, that. 
 
 When St. John the Baptist announced the advent of the 
 Messiah, the most obstinate incredulity, deridingly received the 
 happy and joyful tidings, with the most sacrilegious scofis. No- 
 thing less hostile, than this cruel and oppressive reception, could 
 have met the omniscient views of all-foreseeing^ Providence. 
 
 M 
 
154 THE WORD. 
 
 The most uncharitable acts of hierarchical persecution ; the 
 most fanatical deeds of sacerdotal tyranny had, from ever- 
 lasting, been decreed as, the unavoidable doom, which the 
 Redeemer and Saviour of the human ^ race was' unsparedly to 
 undergo, and that doom, furthermore, was, "by the will of 
 God," to be most severely inflicted on no other, but the only- 
 begotten and beloved Son of that Very God, the Almighty 
 Father of us all. 
 
 Such being the irrevocable fiat of the unchangeable^ great 
 Lord of lords. King of kings, and God of gods, where v/as the 
 deicide* sacrifice " redeemingly " to be "most graciously and 
 divinely^ authorised"? 
 
 Amongst the Jews, and by the Jews ! 
 For were not the Jews the first human incarnations of 
 fallen souls, mercifully'' sanctioned by the Almighty God, in 
 His miraculous creation of Adam and Eve ? 
 
 And may not those fallen souls have been the least guilty 
 of the angelic spirits, which the justly'^ ofiended Lord found 
 it right to banish vsdth the apostate archangel from Paradise ? 
 Oh, yes ; they must have been so ! The whole of the 
 Jewish nation were, and are, and will be, until it pleaseth the 
 Almighty, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, to en- 
 lighten their purposely^ benighted understandings ; they were, 
 and are, and will be, to the last of their tribe, the guiltier and 
 guiltiest souls to whom Divine leave was graciously granted 
 to incarnate. And let us charitably add : 
 
 That they were, to an inconceivable^ extent, instrumental 
 auxiliaries in the infinitely merciful scheme of universal sal- 
 
THE \VORD. 155 
 
 vation, preordained and carried on, during the excruciating 
 existence of perfect atonement, which our devoted Redeemer 
 had so charitably, so sympathizingly, engaged to undergo. 
 
 For, indeed ; and most sacredly true it is, beloved, ador- 
 able Grod of heaven ; graciously made man, by Thine own 
 most^ miraculous paternal will : — 
 
 They knew^ not that Thou wast their affectionate Brother, 
 graciously missioned by Thy own heavenly^ Self, under a 
 temporary human form, to save them : — 
 
 They knew not, in their incarnated state, that, having 
 formerly — that is, eternities back — long offended their Al- 
 mighty God, in heaven, "Thy Divine* Self;" compelled by 
 impartial Justice, that Almighty Grod had driven them indig- 
 nantly from His presence, with the malignantly cruel, jealous,^ 
 and revengeful, meniaP Deceiver, who had subserviently cor- 
 rupted and misguided them ; as a fit chastisement, for the 
 purpose of a general, indispensable retributive regeneration ; 
 the merciful end'' of which was most mysteriously withheld 
 from their knowledge : — 
 
 They knew not, that, through Thy persevering, all-suffi- 
 cient propitiation and intercession, Lord Omnipotent of 
 Infinite Grace, Thou hadst, from the very* commencement of 
 Thy Christian existence, obtained Divine permission® ulti- 
 mately to redeem and to save them. 
 
 And consequently it was, in unsuspected^" submission and 
 obedience to preordained decrees, that Pilate condemned 
 Thee, and that the chief priests and officers cried out, saying, 
 " Crucify Him, crucif}^ Him ! " — 
 
 M 2 
 
156 THE WORD. 
 
 And that Thou, the sovereign, immaculate Source of all 
 Mercy, Justice, and Truth,^ saidst to Thy Father, " Forgive 
 them ; for they know not what they do." 
 
 APPARENTLY^ RATIONAL DEDUCTIONS, RESPECTING 
 
 THE ANTECHRISTIAN STATE OF THE 
 
 ALMIGHTY JEHOVAH'S PRIMEVAL MONOCRASY. 
 
 It will seem scarcely credible, no doubt, to a great number 
 of our readers, that, in the immeasurably extensive celestial 
 monarchy, over which had reigned, for eternities past, " abso- 
 lute^ and alone" the mighty Lord of hosts, material as well 
 as ethereal imperfections* should have long existed. But it 
 was so, nevertheless. 
 
 It will further seem scarcely probable that, in such a 
 monarchy, beings far from spotless, animate^ as well as in- 
 animate, should long have been occupying their appointed 
 places for predetermined periods, to pass away, turn by turn, 
 at that most inconceivable Ruler's irresistible fiats, as defec- 
 tive agents'^ and experiments, no longer worthy to be tried. 
 Yet it certainly so happened : for thus'^ declareth Holy Writ. 
 
 The, now sufficiently^ ascertained, preadamic states of our 
 own earth, enable us to form satisfactory conjectures, whereby 
 to solve many of those heretofore obscure points, which im- 
 pious sceptics brandished in their own defence, whenever 
 they blasphemously called the fundamental truths, on which 
 our most holy faith is founded, a ridiculous^ fable ; and all 
 those who believe in it credulous dupes, or weak imbeciles.-^^ 
 
 It cannot be irrelevant to our subject, for us to suppose 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 157 
 
 that celestiaP eras elapsed, during the incomputable chrono- 
 logy of heaven's eternity, when envious archangelic powers, 
 against equally rebellious other powers, alternately warred 
 with each other, to obtain that Divine supremacy, which 
 the Almighty Jehovah had everlastingly claimed, and most 
 legitimately swayed. 
 
 Let this be kindly accepted, in this suitable place, as a fair 
 datum, to which we may find it necessary, further on, to 
 invite your attention by way of useful corroboration. 
 
 At the momentous crisis which we have here expressly 
 selected, it is imagined (not without having most scrupulously 
 consulted scriptural revelations of undeniable sacredness, and 
 from the best of sources) that, having thoroughly quelled, 
 most efiectively awed, and entirely subdued, for temporaP 
 periods. He alone could protract or shorten, all the hostile 
 spirits,^ which until then had dared to disturb the peace and 
 happiness of His realms, the Omnipotent Eternal resumed 
 His absolute undivided Grodhead.* 
 
 But, so omniscient a mind as that of our Lord, so ubi- 
 quitously penetrating a "single glance of His, could not fail 
 to detect the latent evil, still lurking among myriads of other 
 angels and spirits, discontentedly wandering about the 
 heavenly courts. 
 
 And this, the Almighty, having detected, He mercifully 
 determined (universally, and for ever) to annihilate. 
 
 Therefore, to that miraculous effect, a sudden resolve pre- 
 
158 THE WOKD. 
 
 dominating, the Lord God of gods, the King of kings, to 
 infinite grace yielding, and by boundless love overcome, 
 instantly designed to be (for the future never-ending peace 
 and happiness, of numberless kingdoms, hereafter to be 
 created) the Eternal and Almighty Father, of an Eternal and 
 Almighty Son : regarding all other necessary^ Divine attri- 
 butes equal to Himself. 
 
 With this glorious object in view, the mighty Lord Jehovah 
 first evoked, from within the prolific inmost womb of im- 
 mensity, a subservient^ fiend, by myriads of demons escorted ; 
 himself above all, in wiles the worst and most artful, deeply 
 versed ; a living store of hate, malice, and envy ; a personi- 
 fication of implacable revenge ; a most inveterate foe to every 
 feeling and sign of holiness, sacred love, and pure adoration : 
 
 When, crouchingly obedient to that awful mandate, 
 
 Satan surged, and, bending low before his di'eaded Master, 
 stood, the "miraculous^ embodiment" of all those imperfec- 
 tions and impurities which had so long contaminated and 
 disfigured the celestial abodes, and which 
 
 The soon forthcoming* Messiah would have, by delegated 
 Divine power, to conquer, and at last totally to destroy. 
 
 Not long it was after these heavenly wonders (adopting 
 spiritual chronological terms ^) before the Holy Ghost, whose 
 presence was indispensably necessary, as cotemporary with 
 our intended Saviour, "before all worlds," proceeded from 
 the Father and the Son, to assist in the preordained universal 
 annihilation of celestial evil and subsequent terrestrial sin, 
 which were to be accomplished by Divine redemption and 
 
THE WOKD. 159 
 
 salvation, according to "the Word," from the beginning; for 
 " in the Holy Trinity none was, or ever will be, afore, or after 
 other." 
 
 "So THE WHOLE ThREE PeRSONS ARE CoEQUAL 
 TOGETHER AND CoETERNAL." 
 
 Such a miracle, as the theocratic Grodhead of the Almighty 
 Jehovah's being " di\dsible," should not perplex would-be. 
 Christian philosophers, in any respect. 
 
 A kind of carno-spiritual and temporal trinity " exists in 
 man," and will^ exist for ever in him, through human life, death, 
 and final resurrection, comprising his body, mind, and soul. 
 
 This triunely complex Being, or single bodied triple union 
 of physical, mental, and spiritual powers, only needs an 
 additional quahty, that of individual self-divisibility, to be 
 (humanly speaking) a most formidable phenomenon, whose 
 terrestriaP attributes, as an earthly king, not one of us could 
 possibly define. 
 
 The foregoing kind of syllogism has been used, noscit Deus, 
 to render the miraculous fiat, involving boundless grace, 
 operated through the most holy Trinity (our sheet-anchor of 
 ultimate Universal Salvation), all the more intelligible and 
 conclusively evident. 
 
 He THEREFORE THAT WILL BE SaVED, MUST NEEDS 
 BECOME AN ENTIRELY DeVOTED SeRVANT OF GrOD.* 
 
 Long-protracted woe betides those who will not be so, 
 during their merciful pilgrimage on this probational earth ! 
 
160 THE WORD. 
 
 We humbly presume to be sufficiently learned in Holy Writ 
 to tell tbem that, do what they may, there is but one road, 
 that leadeth *' back " to Paradise ; and through " that road " 
 must all, at last, that ever lived ; aU now living, all who will 
 ever live on this earth, piously and penitently, in the name 
 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, wend their 
 way. 
 
 And midway, as it were, let them incessantly bear it in 
 mind, a "love-set^ bourn," between heaven and earth, marks 
 the zealous Believer's path. And the love that fixed it was 
 that of Jesus Christ, our own beloved Brother in God. 
 
 That "bourn," at first, is not seen; but any Christian 
 Pilgrim, thither fervently bent, cannot choose but follow the 
 comforting Guide standing by, our ever-present Friend, 
 who joyfully and triumphantly conducts each recovered 
 prodigal Son, to the radiant welcome of his all-forgiving 
 Father, the great Lord of hosts. 
 
 Let us, in support of this most infallible accomplishment of 
 the Almi ghty's bounteous scheme of imiversal Salvation, as the 
 glorious fruit of our all-sufficient redemption, gratefully 
 quote the following exultation : — 
 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- 
 will towards men !" 
 
 And further ask : Who was praising God in this way ? 
 Who was saying such comforting words ? — ^promising such 
 mercies to man ? 
 
THE WORD. 161 
 
 It was not our Lord Jesus Christ, for He was wrapped 
 up in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. 
 
 It was an angel, attended by a multitude of the heavenly 
 hosts — the angel of the Lord : that angel, the Holy Ghost, 
 who said unto the Virgin Mary, " Fear not ; for thou hast 
 found favour with Grod." 
 
 Who, on the face of this earth, seeing that mercy-begotten 
 Babe, hearing those enraptured angels, by myriads of 
 myriads assembled, adore Him, and sing the Almighty 
 Father's praise, could refrain, at that moment, singing aloud 
 likewise, from pole to pole : — 
 
 " Gj-lory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- 
 will toward men " ? 
 
 Can you doubt, for example, dear reader, that " words 
 like these," bespoke, most unmistakably, universal salvation ? 
 
 Where is the want of Omnipotence to accomplish such an 
 infinite act of grace ? 
 
 There He is, the eternal King, the glorying Father of 
 that Child, the merciful Parent of us all, in the boundless 
 heavens ; on His everlasting throne ; with might irresistible 
 at His command; and powers, and dominions devotedly 
 repeating : — 
 
 " Glory to God in the higliest. 
 Now and for evermore !" 
 
 DIYINE IMPOSSIBILITIES; NOTi PROBABLE. 
 We have already noticed this, to many, most amazingly 
 incredible^ declaration. 
 
162 THE WORD. 
 
 To oiu'selves nothing just, impartial, and merciful is, in 
 the smallest degree, doubtful, which emanates from God. 
 
 Indeed, we always feel more eagerly disposed to ponder 
 over, and tenaciously to strive at unravelling, "mysterious^ 
 words," having the Almighty, or His beloved Son, for their 
 Author, than we are usually inclined to attach importance 
 to the apparently^ necessary scrutiny of Scriptural passages 
 and expressions, which the generality of readers, from their 
 comparative lucidity, readily believe. 
 
 This persistence, in our frequently-repeated former at- 
 tempts, to dive into the sacred arcana of secrets, which we 
 were not yet calculated fitly to decipher, became as frequently 
 and fortunately abortive.^ We humbly confess that, until 
 now, it principally was an unholy curiosity that prompted 
 our endeavours to remove the intentionally mysterious cur- 
 tain ; presumption and vanity were then our exclusive motives. 
 
 Grod be praised ! we have now considerably passed that 
 dangerous period of human literary pride, during which, 
 egregiously mistaken men foolishly labour to obtain worldly 
 renown, and, very rarely get, adequate pecuniary reward. 
 
 It seems consistent, as we proceed in our present task, for 
 us reverently to conceive that the probability is exceedingly* 
 great, that the angelic mother, who gave birth (before all 
 worlds) to the Son of God, in heaven, must have been the 
 same mother whose own^ soul, previously incarnated, prepara- 
 tory to a terrestrial nativity (as the infant Virgin Mary), 
 miraculously assumed, in due time, the natui'e and properties 
 indispensable to be (when the Holy Ghost should appear as 
 
THE WORD. 163 
 
 preordained) the earthly mother of our dear Redeemer and 
 all-forgiving Saviour. 
 
 Ceasing to be spiritual and^ Divine for a season, as the 
 daughter of Joachim, and the subsequent immaculate wife of 
 Joseph, she was made conscious of the operation graciously 
 renewed within her, only by the vivifying^ annunciation of 
 the angel of Grod, purposely sent by her Almighty Lord and 
 Creator. 
 
 Influenced by such enthusiastic sentiments of irresistible^ 
 Christian faith, how could we refrain from gratefully per- 
 ceiving the infinite goodness of God in every separate line and 
 word of those portions of the Testaments which were, to our 
 rapidly awaking mind, like communications expressly* sent 
 to us from above. 
 
 At the first mention made in the Bible of the " self-consti- 
 tuted triple^ Grodhead of the Most High; in which was so 
 manifestly comprised the glorious martyrdom and death of 
 our blessed Saviour ; we could not help remarking an incessant 
 accomplishment of all-atoning and all-absorbing predesti- 
 nated^ grace. 
 
 Nothing has seemed obscure, nothing doubtful, of late,^ to 
 our singularly expanded imagination on that amazingly 
 pregnant subject, the perfect regeneration and infallible salva- 
 tion of all human souls. 
 
 Our retrospective scrutinies of the past; our scrupulous 
 analyses of the present ; our prophetically^ supernatural an- 
 
164 THE WORD. 
 
 ticipations of the future ; all combine occasionally to display, 
 before our enraptured thoughts, heavenly scenes of universal 
 felicity, w^hich none^ but an Omniscient and Omnipotent 
 Eternal Trinity could have willed, and could achieve. 
 
 MOST MERCIFUL^ SIGNIFICATION OF "BEFORE 
 ALL WORLDS." 
 
 Primeval states must have been known, to the primitive 
 Bouls and intelligences, of originaP spirits and angels, omnipo- 
 tently governed, under primitive laws, expressly adapted, by 
 our own actual* Grod, at the most^ inconceivably remote birth 
 
 of time. 
 
 By "primeval states" is furthermore to be understood' 
 
 celestial kingdoms, and individual existences suitable to the 
 
 government of a monotheistic ^ Grodhead reigning over all — 
 
 gods, spirits, and angels. 
 
 An Eternal Grodhead, possessing, consequently then, within 
 its all-sufficient, single Essence the whole of those attributes 
 of might, justice, and boundless mercy, which jt possesses, 
 at this present moment, under the " Christian " tritheistic 
 title of Gl^od the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 This reasonable and orthodox'' definition of that primeval 
 Godhead of the everlasting Lord of lords, Jehovah, the Most 
 High, being devoutly confessed, it remains to be admitted, 
 with equal pious ^ confidence, that the primitive angels and 
 spirits existing in a probationary ® ethereal form, in those mono- 
 
THE WORD. 165 
 
 tlieistic antemundane eras, need not have been, any other than 
 ourselves, " now poor earthly mortals," undergoing our final 
 ordeals. 
 
 Our Almighty and Everlasting God, therefore, knowing 
 perfectly well, from everlasting, what He had already done, 
 and foreknowing equally well, what His omniscient Will and 
 Word had purposely and long preordained to do, gradually to 
 impart future wisdom, knowledge and experience (through 
 trials and temptations), by Him considered the best instruc- 
 tion of all, to the creatures for whom He had originally created 
 all things — 
 
 Delivered the whole of those kingdoms, principalities, and 
 dominions to the archangels, seraphim, and spirits of His 
 innumerable hosts, to be governed by them according to 
 immutable heavenly laws, which were, as He solemnly 
 decreed, to be for ever and ever observed. 
 
 Then, after blessing His happy and beloved family with an 
 infinitely gracious Grod's benignest of smiles, that " EtemaP 
 Author of Peace and Lover of Concord," " the Fountain of 
 all Goodness," our own present everlasting Father — 
 
 Seeing that " All was^ good" — 
 
 Majestically rose, amidst myriads of glorying choirs, to 
 resume His throne of boundless might and majesty, love and 
 grace. 
 
 Over-scrupulous ^ reverence, too humbly exercised during 
 our anxious endeavours obediently * to reach the full meaning 
 of figurative language ; so frequently recurring in Holy Writ ; 
 
166 THE WORD- 
 
 when we are earnestly reading, marking, learning, and in- 
 wardly digesting the Scriptures, should never be :^ 
 
 For our blessed Lord most evidently caused all holy commu- 
 nications from above, whether in plain terms, or in parables and 
 mystic revelations ; not excepting prophecies, to be written^ 
 for our edification and instruction ; that by patience and 
 comfort of His Holy Word, we might embrace and ever hold 
 fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. 
 
 Indolent, apathetic readers, alas ! there are many, never- 
 theless, who spend their useless^ lives in listlessly reading 
 their Bibles, without caring in the least to know the Divine, 
 the gracious* object of what they read. 
 
 They neither mark the sacred precepts which they meet, to 
 learn " more profitably " how to apply their right meanings ; 
 nor do they inwardly digest, by dihgently searching and 
 studying them, their Almighty God's merciful motives, and 
 His most graciously^ mysterious ends. 
 
 And yet that God has said, " Ask, and it shall be given 
 you ; seek [which is ' search '], and ye shall find ; knock, and 
 it shall be opened unto you " (Matt. vii. 7). 
 
 " In the Beginning." 
 
 When the Omnipotent Jehovah, through goodness* incon- 
 ceivable, and boundless beyond all measure, first '^ begat a Son ; 
 it most evidently was for a godly purpose ; and that godly 
 
THE WORD. 167 
 
 purpose, " before all worlds," must infallibly have been no 
 other but one of infinite Christian^ grace. 
 
 Such a purely pious conclusion is consistently and rea- 
 sonably arrived at, through a series of deep meditations 
 full fraught with sentiments of " most^ unlimited Christian 
 faith." 
 
 Did not the Most High declare, from the clouds, at the 
 miraculous baptism of that self-same only-begotten Son, after 
 His second^ advent, for purposes of additional grace, that, 
 "He was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased"? 
 (Luke iii. 21.) 
 
 Well, that God of very Grod was Jesus Christ, before all 
 worlds, as positively so as the divinely foretold Infant Jesus 
 was, in this world, the divinely announced only-begotten Son 
 of Grod, miraculously incarnated of Grod, within the virgin- 
 womb* of the immaculate Mary, divinely" predestinated from 
 everlasting to be, for evermore, acknowledged as — 
 
 The infinitely^ blessed and pre-elected mother of the " God- 
 of-God "-Eedeemer, and — - 
 
 The " Yery-God-of-very-God-Saviour," by whom all the 
 fallen souls of angels and men, past, present, and future, 
 shall be saved. 
 
 " God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten be- 
 fore THE World ; and Man, of the Substance of 
 His Mother, born in the World." 
 
 No one, after this, in his right senses, will any longer 
 object, most reverently, to accept, as sacredly true, the Divine 
 
168 THE WORD. 
 
 statement, wliich so emphatically alludes to a " conception " of 
 the Son of God before all worlds, and " another conception " 
 of the same Son of the same God in this world. 
 
 Whereby we firmly infer (as we have already endeavoured 
 to show) that, both the mothers, in both cases, must have been, 
 one and the same mother ; at one time, spiritual and immortal ; 
 at another, incarnated, and perishable, of the same only Son, 
 by the same unique and Almighty Father. 
 
 INQUIRIES ARISING FROM THE FOREGOING 
 ASSUMPTIONS. 
 
 Why was the presence of Jesus Christ, required so^ early in 
 the primeval heavens by that same Almighty Father who, 
 most sacredly, since then, acknowledged Himself (not only 
 by His own solemn declarations, but, moreover, by those of 
 His prophets and apostles, on this earth) as indispensably^ 
 requiring that very presence again, as well^ as that of the 
 Holy Ghost? 
 
 A clearer evidence could not possibly be furnished that the 
 Lord God had, " in the beginning," ascertained through His 
 eternally and ubiquitously gathered experience, that, too early* 
 a knowledge of evil, would prove next to irremediably inju- 
 
THE WORD. 169 
 
 rious, to the innocent existences, of those guileless creatures, 
 with whom He had primitively peopled His original^ king- 
 dom, than 
 
 The care he took to prevent " all access," during the experi- 
 mental- eras. He had, from the beginning, clearly and irre- 
 vocably fixed, (but now drawing to their termination), ay, 
 and most evidently too, than 
 
 The paternal care He took, to prevent all access, to that most 
 baneful and prolific root, of every imaginable temptation : 
 
 The dangerous^ knowledge of good and evil. 
 
 And, the preordained period having now just elapsed, for 
 initiating His celestial family, long enough prepared, by un- 
 tried submissive innocence, in the midst of bliss ; consequently 
 untaught to deserve, as yet, their intended meed, by necessary 
 trials ; He, their Omniscient Father, probably said — 
 
 " They shall now learn to be ' Gods ;' and, thereby, become 
 worthy of entering into our Paradise of perfect happiness, 
 which is to be finally, the everlasting celestial existence of 
 all the intellectual creatures I have made ! ! ! " 
 
 On a sudden then — 
 
 Archangels, Seraphim, and Spirits ; those secret messengers 
 of Love and Mercy, whose ready wings are never^ spread, save 
 for the godly purpose, of conveying happy tidings, of present 
 or^ future Grace ; 
 
 Quickly flew, to execute their mystic errands — 
 
 And— 
 
 Throughout the unconscious'' heavens, 
 
 Evil, 
 
170 THE WORD. 
 
 In ten thousand times, ten thousand thousand hypocritically 
 humble shapes/ and captivating forms, and alluring guises, 
 among the unsuspecting celestial hosts, on prescribed^ mischief, 
 subserviently rushed : their Leader unknown, as well as they ! 
 
 This act, of inconceivably gracious goodness achieved, 
 
 Another, (infinitely more merciful and miraculous), con- 
 temporaneously^ took place ! 
 
 For, 
 
 That one was, an Act of inconceivably gracious Beneficence, 
 greater than all, and immediately proceeding from God : — 
 
 The most compassionate Divine Conception, Birth, and 
 Advent, of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, our own Lord. 
 
 To well-educated pious minds, that first Advent of our 
 Redeemer among the Angels, of the primeval kingdoms of God, 
 will infallibly suggest the commencement, of the devoted 
 Messiah's most meritorious labours, in the preparatory opera- 
 tions, deemed indispensable, for the accomplishment of the 
 ensuing predetermined Scheme of Universal Salvation. So 
 
 that 
 
 It must now be sufficiently proved, that, previous to the 
 
 apparently fatal Fall, which We underwent, at the time 
 
 alluded to, in our primeval state, the Eternal Dispenser of all 
 
 things, past, present, and to be ; had deemed it Grood, Very 
 
 good indeed ; not only to preordain, by suitable Temptations, 
 
 our purgatorial Trials, in heaven ; 
 
 But furthermore : 
 
THE AVORD. 171 
 
 Our Fall, and just expulsion from Paradise ; 
 
 "Without which, 
 
 Our infinitely Merciful incarnations, on this earth, with con- 
 sequent, indispensable natnral deaths, could not reasonably 
 have ensued. 
 
 For, Adam and Eve had never been graciously subjected 
 again, in Eden, to an ordeal, which was so evidently to termi- 
 nate in their transgression ; their second mercifully-intentional 
 disgrace ; their temporal banishment ; and their own typical 
 deaths. 
 
 Consequently, alas ! 
 
 All 2^osf-mortem, additional ordeals, could not have been per- 
 mitted ; and, appalling truth to tell ! 
 
 The Grreat Judgment Day, with its most amply deserved 
 condemnations, must have been irrevocably decisive and 
 Eternal ; without any Divine merciful admission of final suffi- 
 cient expiations, through the complete Atonement of an 
 accepted Redeemer and Saviour. 
 
 N 2 
 
172 THE WORD. 
 
 EEVEEENTLY 
 SPECULATIVE CONJECTUEES. 
 
 HUMBLE CONFESSION OF OUR AMBITIOUS LONGING 
 FOR GRAPHIC POWERS, 
 
 EQUAL TO THE TASK WHICH WE ARE UNDERTAKING. 
 
 Ere we proceed therefore any further, in our attempt to 
 give a descriptive tableau, of the wonders, which our enrap- 
 tured imagination has, not unfrequently drawn, as a private 
 edification, for our faithful soul — 
 
 Suffer us, fervently to seek the all-sufficient assistance of 
 that " Ever-present Friend," from whom, all holy desires and 
 good counsels do proceed. 
 
 * 
 
 And let us cast a long retrospective glance, over those 
 apparently^ unoccupied, celestial realms, of ethereal intermin- 
 able space.- 
 
 And, God willing, under the same Divine^ aid, let us 
 moreover, through fair suppositions, and reasonably conse- 
 quent deductions, carefully corroborated, by the best authen- 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 173 
 
 ticated accounts, piously gleaned in Holy Writ, seek to 
 establish, an uncontrovertible groundwork^ for our present, 
 very legitimately fixed. Christian Belief. 
 
 Far from presuming to pass for a learned sage, touching 
 theological philosophy, we most sincerely beg to be looked 
 upon, as a common-place writer, honestly' loving God, and 
 truly venerating holy men,^ and holy things. 
 
 Every word we indite, is indited, (the Lord is our Witness !) 
 with the ardent hope, of being admitted to add, our humble 
 mite of grateful praise, and heartfelt thanks, to those of the 
 millions of generations, who have loved and worshipped, with 
 perfect siacerity and truth, the Great God of all, in the name 
 of Jesus Christ,* and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 So unselfish indeed are we, in these farewell^ efforts of ours, 
 to render heaven, accessible again, and for ever, to those 
 myriads of fallen souls, who once were^ there {i.e., your souls, 
 readers, as well as our own) ; that we may be seriously 
 endangering our individual chances of salvation, God for- 
 bid! by attempting too'' confidently, perhaps, and philan- 
 thropically, to prove that all, without exception, must, at last,® 
 infallibly be saved. 
 
 PRIMEYAL ORGANIC RUDIMENTS OF EXPERIMENTALs 
 CREATIONS. 
 
 What could fill universal vacuity, before all worlds ? . . . 
 
 God Almighty : the Eternal Lord of Hosts ! ! ! — 
 
 From whose everlastingly monotheistic, and Triune^" God- 
 
174 THE WORD. 
 
 head, the organic rudiments, of all the embryo^ creations, were 
 to proceed, which should be paternally used for the future 
 succession of worlds and creatures, preordained to be gra- 
 ciously tried,^ and ultimately to become, the pre-elected, 
 eternally blessed kingdom of heaven: — 
 
 A Godhead, furthermore, which was, which is, — which will 
 ever be : The "Word ! 
 
 That "Word-God of God, Yery God of Yery God, our 
 Almighty Creator ; infinitely merciful Father ; All-sufScient 
 Redeemer and Saviour — and — 
 
 That ever-present Friend, here below, who even now 
 counsels and guides us all ; that Holy Spirit of Truth, to 
 whom, we ourselves owe* whatever may be found, in these 
 humble pages, conducive, in any respect, to the increase of 
 the everlasting praise, and honoui', and glory, of " Our Father, 
 which is in heaven ! " 
 
 Hallowed be His holiest of holy names ! ! ! 
 
 So was primeval vacuity filled, before all worlds. 
 
 " In the Beginning God created the Heaven 
 AND THE Earth." 
 
 From various motives, not at all creditable, to the minds 
 and hearts, of those unfortunate individuals, who act and 
 speak, under such ungodly instigations : ^ many self-styled 
 Christians there are, alas ! who, nevertheless, persist in deny- 
 ing most bitterly whatever portion of the Holy Scriptures, 
 
THE WORD. 175 
 
 they are not able to understand : be tbe words from tbe 
 month ^ of Grod, or from that of inspired men. 
 
 Are we to forget (on such lamentable occasions), now 
 especially that our better enlightened modern generations, 
 are yearly being removed further and further from that 
 period, mystically called (and most indubitably, for an infi- 
 nitely wise and charitable purpose), "The Beginning" as 
 well as " From everlasting ;" are we to forget, that — 
 
 In that very " Beginning," evil spirits were purposely sent ; 
 and fallen angels, still unconverted, notwithstanding their 
 mercifully permitted incarnations, were allowed, for a time, 
 (and may still be allowed), to pervert truths most evident, and 
 to disfigure facts, the most positive, to the end that, many of 
 those lukewarm believers, many of them, wisely and inten- 
 tionally rendered so, for their own separate welfare, as well 
 as for that of others, shoidd continue in darkness, and thus 
 unconsciously help to carry out the gracious ends of Provi- 
 dence, towards the final edification of souls, spiritually under- 
 going regeneration and sanctification, on their fortunate way 
 back to their Grod ? 
 
 No ; we are not, above all things, to forget that most impor- 
 tant and solemn "prophetical, and evangelical" Declaration:^ 
 
 " But there were false prophets also among the people, even 
 as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall 
 bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that 
 bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."^ 
 (See also 2 Peter ii. 2—4.) 
 
 •3f 
 
176 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 Eatlier, in merciful pity, grant, charitable heaven ? Even 
 that, rashly overflowing with enthusiastic zeal, numbers of 
 mistaken worshi2:ipers, should exceed all the reasonable bounds, 
 of moral and religious exhibitions of ritual Faith, in their 
 extravagant^ praise of the great Lord of lords ; and in 
 their fanatical, their bigoted, ceremonial adoration of Jesus 
 Christ— 
 
 Than permit fatal scepticism, with its diabolical doubts and 
 delusions, to gain possession of their benighted souls ? 
 
 The awful consequence of such unmistakeable signs, of the 
 most deplorable infidelity ; not only being, repeated^ deaths 
 in this world ; but, in our intermediate^ states, and, after judg- 
 ment,* a proportionate continuity of expiatory tribulations, and 
 justly inflicted purgatorial retributions, which may far outlast, 
 (according to our deserts), the longest^ eternity, which this 
 world's most learned divines, could ever ascertain or conceive. 
 
 Notwithstanding which, " certainty " — 
 
 The Almighty Father's sacred words" of promise are as 
 irrevocable, as His omnipotence is infinite, and His Christian 
 Grace is all-sufiicient and true ; please to read, and inwardly 
 digest the following most consolatory Declaration of ineffable 
 Mercy : — 
 
 " Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : 
 though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
 snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool 
 . . . for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it " (Isaiah i. 18). 
 
 It reasonably follows that : 
 
 The guiltiest '' apostate of all, whose dreadful sin, may have 
 
THE WORD. 177 
 
 been, against the Holy Grbost ; shall, most^ infalHblj, be saved, 
 at last ! 
 
 "And the Spirit of God moved upon the Face 
 OF the Waters." 
 
 The scriptural quotation, to which we here refer the 
 reader, is very purposely aUuded to, that he may, all the 
 more clearly comprehend, the importance of the object, which 
 we had in view, when we thought it, indispensably necessary 
 to suspend, for a while, our current observations, 
 
 What, indeed, could claim a greater attention, than the 
 gracious paternity of Grod, from everlasting ; in conjunction 
 with the equally sacred maternity of the immaculate Vii'gin ; 
 and the Divine, as well as human lineage of Jesus Christ 
 from everlasting? For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it 
 all — Was not Jesus " Gfod, of the Substance of the Father ; 
 begotten before aU worlds ?" (See page 3.) 
 
 Our sacred Redeemer's being " Man of the Substance of 
 His Mother, born in the world," cannot destroy the fact of 
 His having been her Son also, "from everlasting;" since He 
 could not have been immaculately begotten by that same 
 Almighty Father in heaven, from any other mother than the 
 pre-elected Virgin, in her primeval spiritual state. 
 
 Hence, we cannot help concluding that : 
 
 The Son and the Mother, " through infinite grace," both, 
 rendered temporarily terrestrial, and made innocently mortal. 
 
178 THE WORD. 
 
 voluntarily submitted, (bj devoted participation), to undergo 
 earthly tribulations, and to suffer martyrdom, in the mysterious 
 accomplishment of the most miraculous and gracious scheme 
 of Universal Salvation. 
 
 How so inconceivable a Fact, for, it is a fact, (we feel unable 
 to refrain from boldly repeating it), because the Lord, Him- 
 self, hath, more than once, stated it ; how " such a fact," 
 could have been adopted, imder the unquestionable light of a 
 most sacred truth ; and transmitted most impressively to us, 
 as a people, thereby to be, ultimately ransomed and saved ; 
 ay, transmitted, during the lapse of thousands of centuries, 
 until now, we cannot account for; only, by most reverently 
 and gratefully adding ; that — 
 
 Our Grod's holy "Word "is as immutable and eternal, as 
 His goodness is boundless ; His will omnipotent ; His Grace 
 all-sufficient ; and His paternal love incomprehensibly vast. 
 
 For the Lord Almighty willed also, at that very time, 
 " from everlasting," and " before all worlds," 
 
 That human knowledge and wisdom, increasing among the 
 sons of men, who were originally, as we are again, with them, 
 to be, " the sons of God," a suitable, propitious, preordained 
 time should come ; at which, ^ 
 
 The Holy Spirit should be divinely commissioned, (through 
 perfecting purposes of inexhaustible mercy), to enlarge the 
 minds, and sanctify the souls of predestined servants of the 
 cross, who, more than ever then, would be rendered piously 
 disposed and resolutely determined, " at any risk," to remove 
 all further obstacles, which might still obstruct the arduous 
 
THE WORD. 179 
 
 way, along the, now, widening road, to the glorious kingdom 
 of His well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ. 
 
 Had not the continaal presence of the Holy G-host among 
 us; that invisible triunedeate government, indeed, of the 
 Father and the Son, (carried on by the Holy Spirit), Himself 
 proceeding from them both, been bequeathed to us, by the 
 triumphant Saviour, on leaving His disconsolate disciples and 
 faithful proselytes, our prospect of Universal Salvation, might 
 have been perfectly unattainable. 
 
 It was that " infinitely merciful legacy," which completed 
 our convictions ; when we first began to believe in the Divine 
 existence of such an ineffable, unmerited grace. 
 
 For, we thereby instantly understood the origin, the pur- 
 pose and extent of all the omnipotent ways of our Almighty 
 Parent-King. 
 
 "We retrospectively saw, as it were, in unaccountable 
 waking trances, the wonders of what we imagined to have 
 been " Primeval Unique Godhead." That miraculous first 
 " beginning " of heavenly powers, and creations ; that Word, 
 who spiritually filled, with angelic inhabitants, Paradise, 
 Eden, and the kingdom of Grod, and the everlasting mansions 
 of the pre-elected sons of " our own Christian Father." 
 
 We saw the providential evocation of Satan ; the gracious 
 temptations of the angels, and their fall ; preparatory to their 
 redemption and final salvation. 
 
180 
 
 THE WOKD. 
 
 As far as this portion of our discoveries, it was certainly an 
 immense revelation, which we had been divinely allowed to 
 make, and which we could not forego gratefully accepting, 
 for the benefit of our fellow-creatm-es, in no less a degree than 
 for our own. 
 
 It is not His own disciples, exclusively, whom, the blessed 
 Redeemer left the Holy Grhost, to inspire, to guide, and to 
 comfort, until judgment day. It is most evidently the Jews, 
 also, the Grentiles, and the generations of the actual era ; and 
 it is furthermore not only, until our great assize, but after 
 judgment, when our condemnations and punishments shall 
 have been awarded, that the same Holy Comforter, and ever- 
 present Friend shall continually preside over us. 
 
 There mainly lies the infinite mercy of the all-sufficient 
 scheme of Universal Salvation. 
 
 What else can signify, " until the end of all generations"? 
 
 Are God's eternal truths, and His sacred promises of mercy, 
 from everlasting, to be doubted ; that the declarations of men, 
 may be preferred ? 
 
 Admit that The Word was begotten, before all worlds — 
 It follows, that it must have been an act of grace, evidently^ 
 performed in behalf of those hapless angels, whose inability 
 to withstand the preordained^ temptations awaiting them, 
 during their celestial ordeals, would require a merciful Re- 
 deemer on the future earth, and a series of indispensable 
 regenerations, pm-ifications, and sanctifications, divinely^ 
 
THE WORD. 181 
 
 approved, through tlie intercession and propitiation of an AU- 
 SufSeient Saviour, who was to be, in all respects, a perfect and 
 complete atonement, for the salvation of all. 
 
 Admit, besides this, that The Word, "in the^ beginning," 
 created the heaven and the earth ; Adam and Eve ; and all 
 living things — 
 
 It follows, that it must have been, for the " sake of the 
 spiritual hosts, which the Almighty would find it necessary, 
 impartially to drive away, for^ ever, from His heavenly 
 kingdom. 
 
 And it justly ^ follows, in the last place, that Adam and Eve, 
 were to be the "fii'st of the fallen Spirits," (all of them 
 being thoroughly well known to the omniscient wisdom of 
 the Most High), who should experience the merciful eJ0Fects of 
 His most benevolent mercy, according to the many proofs, 
 which we have clearly furnished, in the foregoing as well 
 as the following pages. 
 
 Such a universal blessing, as that miraculous commence- 
 ment of general human incarnations, of which so convincing 
 an example is graciously given to us in the creation of our 
 first parents, could not have been better accomplished, by our 
 omnipotent Grod, who is both infinitely just and good, than — 
 
 By the subsequent terrestrial existence of His well-beloved 
 celestial Son ; 
 
 And therefore, in accordance with His irresistible will, 
 most mysteriously fixed " from everlasting," 
 
182 THE WORD. 
 
 The Word, was, a second time, to be begotten. 
 
 An expiatory atonement was next, by a mercifully pre- 
 ordained Deicide, to be cruelly yet intentionally, committed ; 
 
 Then, and last of all, a Day of Judgment ; as a most provi- 
 dential consummation, should happen, perfectly unforeseen ; 
 and — 
 
 Irrevocable verdicts, with their consequent acquittals or 
 retributions, would most infallibly follow — 
 
 When — 0, unexampled, most inconceivable proof of infi- 
 nite and all-sufficient Divine Grrace ! 
 
 The whole human race (as centuries should elapse, by hun- 
 dreds and by thousands ; in obedience to " final condemna- 
 tions," never overruled), the whole human race, resuming 
 their former angelic forms and states, each forgiven soul in 
 turn, should ultimately serv' e to form that New Kingdom of 
 God, which is to be, for evermore, the glorious inheritance of 
 Jesus Christ, our beloved Redeemer, Saviour, and Eternal 
 Lord. 
 
 "THERE IS BUT ONE LIYING AND TRUE GOD; EVER- 
 LASTING, WITHOUT BODY, PARTS, OR PASSIONS." 
 
 It is perfectly evident, as a very plausible conclusion, that : 
 Monotheistic Autocracy, must have been the Divine Grovern- 
 ment, of the Antichristian^ Godhead, assumed by that Omni- 
 potent, Omniscient, ubiquitous and Eternal Ruler, whose 
 
 Infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, as 
 
THE WORD. 183 
 
 Creator and Preserver of all things, both visible and in- 
 visible, to celestial eyes, maintained, from everlasting, the 
 existence and harmony of the numberless wonders, spread 
 throughout the vast infinitudes of His inconceivable and in- 
 comprehensible realms. 
 
 The above quoted ex cathedra datum, authorises the fore- 
 going most ^excusable conclusion, respecting the apparently 
 positive "non-existence" of either Son, or Holy Grhost, as 
 primarily necessary Triumdei, in that, (theretofore everlast- 
 ingly), undivided Grodhead. 
 
 How happened it then, after an eternal lapse, of undis- 
 puted, absolute sway, so described, a pantheistic^ mysterious 
 Spirit, should have found it expedient,^ to transform His 
 monocratic Godhead, (for a time^), into a most Holy Trinity, 
 consisting, ever since the first celestial nativity of Christ, 
 (our blessed Messiah), of "Three plainly revealed Persons": 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Grhost ? 
 
 It happened, God Almighty be everlastingly praised and 
 adored ! ! ! in consequence of an inefiable overflow of all-suffi- 
 cient Divine* Sympathy and Grace. 
 
 For, 
 
 Retrospectively and presciently^ reflecting over the mira- 
 culous past, present, and future creations, of His infinitely 
 more miracidous power and wisdom, that Eternal Lord of 
 lords, who so long had reigned alone, momentarily stopped 
 under a sense ^ of pain, when, 
 
184 THE WORD. 
 
 Sorrowfully contemplating the dieadful havoc, propagated 
 by the presence of an^ Evil, until then unavoidably necessary, 
 but, which it was now time to check, if it could justly be 
 done, resolved to ponder over the lamentable crisis, so in- 
 dispensably preordained. And, 
 
 That fatal crisis, alas ! dear Christian Brother, was, from^ 
 everlasting. 
 
 The predecreed expulsion, of those still misguided^ angels, 
 whose first expiatory* ordeals, in some former^ heavens, 
 having been, a long series of temptations, had failed in their 
 submission and faith, and again'' rebelled against their God : 
 regardless of the Messiah's compassionate admonitions, and 
 the friendly warnings of the Spirit of Truth ; both'^ endea- 
 vouring to prevent their ruin. 
 
 Their doom, consequently, could not be revoked. 
 
 But the Eternal Jehovah, 
 
 "Whether, in His triune Unity, operating alone ; 
 
 Or, in His separate Holy Trinity, each Grod acting apart, 
 is still, and will ever be, a great and glorious God ; 
 
 Whose compassion and grace, together united to Paternal 
 Love, are ever on the watch, to stay Divine Justice, when 
 the indispensable stripes, that impartial arm must inflict, 
 may, by sufficient atonement, be set aside, 
 
 Through the incessant intercessions of 
 
 A Beloved Word, 
 
 Which, never sues in vain. 
 
 Let us add now, and we cannot deny that we do it, with- 
 out the slightest fear of any really malevolent^ contradiction, 
 save from — 
 
THE WOED. 185 
 
 The pedantically doctrinal ; the venally ecclesiastical ; the 
 illiterate or the bigoted ; let us add that : 
 
 When the actuaP kingdom of heaven, shall have recovered 
 the total ^ presence of its primeval angelic hosts, including 
 the countless myriads, so deservedly expelled by their indig- 
 nant Lord, for their dreadful apostasy — 
 
 When, all further temptations shall have been completely 
 withdrawn from this world, not excepting all other, post 
 mortem^ probationary states; as it was, at the beginning, 
 most sacredly preordained, by inexhaustible, all-sanctifying 
 grace — 
 
 When evil and hell ; the arch-fiend, and his embodied de- 
 ceits, iniquities, vices, and crimes ; shall have been extermi- 
 nated, and totally swept away, from the paths of angels and 
 men, according to Divine promises of old — 
 
 Then: 
 
 When, the last, and, the most^ obdurate transgressor of 
 all, (let his sins have been as scarlet, and figuratively num- 
 berless, as the sands, on the sea-shore^), when that subdued, 
 weeping, broken-hearted^ transgressor, shall be heard, fer- 
 vently, penitently and trustingly pouring out, the agonies of 
 his soul, no matter where l'^ Through — 
 
 His acknowledged dear Redeemer's best and most effica- 
 cious of prayers, by saying, in His name : 
 
 " Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 
 
 " Thy kingdom come. 
 
 " Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 
 
 *' Grive me,^ day by day, my daily bread. 
 
 o 
 
186 THE WORD. 
 
 " And forgive me my trespasses ; as I am now also most 
 anxious to forgive every one that is indebted to me. 
 
 " And lead me no longer into temptation; but deliver me 
 from evil." (See page 23.) 
 
 Then, and, not until then ! ! ! 
 
 The Holy Grhost, triumphantly ascending to the joyful, 
 glorying heavens, will proclaim : 
 
 Universal Salvation won ! 
 
 Behold therefore, 
 
 infinitely blessed souls and spirits, of fallen^ angels 
 and men ! 
 
 The former heavens and worlds are, even^ now, passing 
 away — for your sakes^ — 
 
 " They are being folded up as a vesture, to be changed — 
 
 "As a garment, the present universe hath waxed old." 
 
 And the everlasting foundations of the new, are imper- 
 ceptibly, but, for ever, being laid ! 
 
 Glory be to the Lord Almighty God ! Infinite, indeed, 
 are His bountiful acts of goodness and mercy ! 
 
 
 
 SUMMAEY OF THE FOREGOING 
 INTERPRETATIONS. 
 
 If it be a triumphant satisfaction, to Christians of all ranks 
 and sects, (as it ought most unquestionably to be), to have 
 
THE WORD. 187 
 
 the following sacred facts, proved to them, beyond all manner 
 of doubt : — 
 
 First, that our ovra Divine Redemption, comprised the 
 " Universal Atonement " and " complete Eansom," not only, 
 of ' every soul,' incarnated by the infinite grace of Grod, 
 from that of Adam, to that of the very last human being, 
 who shall appear on earth . . . 
 
 But moreover, to the perfect purification, regeneration, 
 and forgiveness, of all the rebellious angels, whom the Omni- 
 potent Jehovah's impartial Justice found it indispensable to 
 expel from Paradise . . . 
 
 Such piously charitable Christians, formed after the im- 
 maculate model, of their devoted Saviour, Jesus Christ, will 
 obtain that most desirable satisfaction, by reading this book, 
 patiently and searchingly, from end to end. 
 
 And secondly : those good Christians will enjoy, to the 
 fullest extent of their brotherly desires, the additional con- 
 viction, that all those, so graciously regenerated souls, by the 
 blessings of that Divine Redemption, will ultimately form 
 with themselves, (not one exception permitted), that heavenly 
 seraphic and spiritual court ; the glorious and numberless 
 hosts of which, (totally incorruptible then), will for ever and 
 ever exist in 
 
 Joyously serving, 
 
 Fervently loving. 
 
 And everlastingly adoring, the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost, as a perpetual monocratic Trinity, once^ more 
 and then for ever united. 
 
 ■^ o 2 
 
188 THE WORD. 
 
 When Christians are alluded to, in our seemingly exclu- 
 sive references ; it must not be supposed, that — 
 
 Jews, Pagans, Idolaters, Atheists even of the worst de- 
 scription, are excluded in a single instance from the Universal 
 Eedemption and Salvation, which we most triumphantly pro- 
 claim, on sacred authorities, of the most irrefragable Divine 
 Origin. 
 
 We affirm, on the contrary, that, the greater the sinner ; 
 the less inclined the ungodly feel to beheve, to repent, and 
 to pray : 
 
 The more thoroughly unprincipled and impious the wretches 
 are, who have rebelliously given themselves up, mind, body, 
 and soul, to the detestable service of Satan, (biblically speak- 
 ing), we cannot help affirming that 
 
 The more positively indubitable is their final salvation. 
 (See Luke xv. 1, 6, 10, 18 ; Matt. xxvi. 74 ; Isaiah i. 16—18.) 
 
 Are not all the merciful attributes of the most Holy Trinity, 
 both infinite and eternal ? 
 
 What spot then, what indelible blemish ; what awful sin, 
 what inveterate vice, what hateful crime, is there, committed 
 on this earth, in addition, even, to those we, all of us, com- 
 mitted in heaven, (before^ our faUs) — 
 
 That, such omnipotent attributes, could not totally cleanse, 
 in the course^ of eternities — 
 
 That, such Divine attributes, could not sufficiently atone 
 for, could not entirely wipe away ? 
 
 Not One ! ! ! 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 189 
 
 For us therefore, in our deeply^ faith-founded interpreta- 
 tions of G-od's Holy Word, to leave one soul, unsaved, would 
 be most criminallj and impiously, to deny the infinitude and 
 endlessness of boundless grace, of paternal love, of universal 
 forgiveness and mercy. 
 
 And, would it not be furthermore . . . 
 
 To allow the arch enemy of mankind, under an endless 
 variety of human^ forms, assumed here below, malignantly to 
 scoff at the Almighty's inconceivable power; profanely to 
 ridicule His sacred promises of pardon and mercy ; and most 
 daringly to set at nought our compassionate Redeemer and 
 Saviour's all-sufficient mediation ? 
 
 The foregoing declarations and affirmations, are purposely 
 and solemnly^ repeated in this place, that we may have an 
 additional opportunity, of making more perfectly evident 
 still, consolatory and encouraging truths, on which, for full 
 fifty years past, we have, entirely and constantly relied. 
 
 The infallible scales, dear reader, in which, all our indi- 
 vidual moral and religious merits, will be separately weighed, 
 at the last awful universal summons, (reverently using a figu- 
 rative allusion, to be, all the better understood), are of a 
 celestial make ; 
 
 Immoveable to all natures of ponderance, which have not : 
 
 Fervent and sincere contrition ; perfect Christian faith, in 
 the all-sufficient grace of Grod ; everlasting brotherly grati- 
 tude, to our Lord Jesus Christ, touching His infinite love 
 
190 THE "WORD. 
 
 towards us ; present and never-ending submission to tlie Holy 
 Grhost, for His incessant spiritual inspiration and continual 
 aid, throughout our probationary temptations and earthly 
 trials — as their chiefest of all makeweights ! 
 
 General, and amply sufficient, thougb the grants of 
 redemption and salvation may be, which the boundless 
 goodness and mercy of God hold out, through the infinitely 
 meritorious sin-ofiering of our adored and beloved Lord and 
 Saviour ; 
 
 There will, nevertheless, be 
 
 A vast number of punishments and tribulations ; ordeals 
 and trials, to be undergone, during proportionate numbers of 
 centuries, and adequate myriads of eras, to which, we shall 
 have been, and we shall be, justly condemned, before and 
 after death — 
 
 Not punishments, tribulations, ordeals, and trials, of the 
 fabulous description, we read of, in the earKer annals of 
 primitive worships, instituted by mercenary churches — 
 
 But, body-and-soul infiictions, which Omniscience and 
 Omnipotence alone, can, and most certainly will appropriately 
 award, to each of us, in proportions, suitable in every respect, 
 to our separate deserts. 
 
 Are the means of equivalent retributions, at the Almighty's 
 disposal, so limited, that 
 
THE WORD. 191 
 
 The obdurately wicked, and the weakly sinful, must, all 
 alike, be everlastingly burnt, in continually incandescent fire 
 furnaces ; or incessantly exposed to be gnawed at, by never- 
 to-be-glutted worms, as immortal as their preys ? 
 
 It may be so,^ for determined lengths of time ; with regard 
 to the bodies of some, in their passage through intermediate 
 states, antecedently to their final judgment, at the awful 
 Com't of Last- Arraigns — 
 
 Our pen, however, refuses itself to notice such doubtful, 
 overdrawn martyrdoms, further than by inditing against their ^ 
 invention that 
 
 " The grace of Grod is infinite ; and the limits of His mer- 
 cies, are past finding out." 
 
 Until the permanent and firm foundation of the Christian 
 faith, in Europe, both Catholic and Protestant : — 
 
 The more terrifically the tableaux were drawn of hell, the 
 devil, and the torments inflicted within those horrid caverns, 
 over which, he was reported to have been and to be eternally 
 the despotic monarch — 
 
 The more successfully the proselyting efiects of intimida- 
 tion, appear to have progressed over the weak-minded, the 
 barbarous, and benighted populations, under ecclesiastical 
 rule. 
 
 "We shall not, in this work, inquire whether that deplorable 
 state of religious feelings arose, more especially, from the 
 venality of the priesthood of those unsettled days of public 
 worship, or from a universal sense of dread, created by the 
 timid perusal of scriptural passages, purposely rendered 
 
192 THE WORD. 
 
 appalling, to serve, occasionally good, motives of piously 
 authorized zealous worship. 
 
 We nevertheless denounce them all, now, as perfectly out of 
 date ; more particularly, as it concerns Protestant believers : 
 the lucratively disinterested, and the piously fervent and true. 
 
 Has the ever-present Holy Spirit of Grod, presided over us, 
 for the last eighteen hundred years and more ; to leave us, 
 groping still along our uncertain way back, to the mansions 
 of the blessed, and to the ' sacredly promised welcome ' of 
 our Almighty Father, and his well-beloved Son, our Lord ? 
 
 Are we, to be limited in our knowledge of temporarily veiled 
 holy truths ; are we, never to be permitted to seek, further 
 devotional acquaintance and intimacy, with those mysterious 
 revelations ; those dogmatical secrets ; those important arcana, 
 of heaven's Grodhead, and heaven's genealogies ; which the 
 Lord God hath commanded us so clearly — 
 
 To read, learn, mark, and inwardly digest. 
 
 Because — 
 
 Hierarchical Grovernments, from those of Jerusalem, to 
 those of the present day, have forbidden, and stiU forbid, their 
 disciples to step, one step further than they ? 
 
 A FEW OBSERVATIONS MORE REGARDING JUST 
 AND IMPARTIAL PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 Notwithstanding our own finite resources of invention, we 
 cannot readily acknowledge that : — 
 
 Were our means of just retaliation, and proportionate chas- 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 193 
 
 tisements, boundless ; our will, irresistible ; our dominions, 
 vast beyond all conception ; in short, were we — 
 
 A Mighty Sovereign, with attributes of paternal aflPection, 
 and merciful justice, like those of our own Almighty parental 
 Creator ; we cannot own, (this is speaking foolishly, albeit 
 honestly, we confess it), that we should be at a loss to pre- 
 scribe, compassionate, as well as effectual antidotes, to all the 
 dreadful evils of this Earth, incomparably superior to many 
 of those, which our original translators, and commentators 
 of the Holy Writings, have heedlessly, ay, not seldom too, 
 very wickedly ascribed to the awards and verdicts, of our 
 infinitely Merciful and Omniscient, Lawgiver, Judge, and 
 Gruide. 
 
 In this life, as well as in the next ; on this earth, as well 
 as on the numberless spheres, comprised in our actual, well- 
 known,^ universe of worlds, what admirably well-fitted stages 
 are there, whereon to finish purifying and sanctifying, the 
 still rebellious souls ; the perverted hearts and minds ; the 
 sensual flesh, of the obstinately impm-e ; the desperately mun- 
 dane, and the originally lost — 
 
 What penitentiaries ; what reformatories, so to say, may 
 not those countless stars represent, — whereon to continue,^ con- 
 verting and saving, after Judgment, all those who shall have 
 been justly^ condemned ? 
 
 That this globe, with the whole of its concomitant system, 
 shall be destroyed by an unexpected and general conflagra- 
 tion ; and that — 
 
 This huge phenomenon of terrestrial destructions shall 
 
194 THE WORD. 
 
 occur, as a thief rushes upon us, in the night ; not a rational 
 Christian behever would venture to doubt. For 
 
 In addition to its being a sacred and solemn verity ; the 
 frightful catastrophe, must inevitably be the effect of an 
 organic law, decreed before all worlds, by the Almighty 
 Grod, as 
 
 Indispensably necessary to the most miraculous formation 
 of that Enormous Plain, on which, the last awful, yet merci- 
 ful operations, of most inconceivable Divine Universal Grace, 
 shall be performed. 
 
 On that levelled, lengthless, breadthless, vast expanse, the 
 crumbled cinders, of our charred, so recently magnificent sun 
 and moon ; and the pulverized ashy wrecks, of this horror- 
 struck earth ; altogether forming a single arena, strewed with 
 human bones, and just refrigerating into treadable ground — 
 
 The Archangels and Seraphim shall, by loud and universal 
 trumpet-blasts, arraign the Dead, before the Lord of Hosts. 
 
THE WORD. 195 
 
 INDISPENSABLE ADDENDA. 
 
 WERE NOT THE THREE SACRED PERSONS, OF THE 
 
 MOST HOLT TRINITY, ACTIVELY AND 
 
 SEPARATELY PRESENT AT THE CREATION ? 
 
 (See First and Fifth Articles of Religion ; also the Creeds, in the 
 Book of Common Prayer.) 
 
 We are consequently here, representing the seven Miracu- 
 lous Days, at the commencement of the terrestrial existence 
 of mankind, according to the definitions, which we find 
 detailed in the Gospels. 
 
 The separate presence of the Triune Grodhead of Jehovah, 
 the Lord Almighty, must have been cotemporary with the 
 earliest dawn of evil in heaven : eternities before the Fall of 
 the Angels. 
 
 Such an evangelical deduction as this, very naturally led 
 us to believe that, being present, and separate, they triunely 
 operated, in so glorious an act of infinite grace and universal 
 mercy. 
 
 Therefore, we most reverently substitute to the Mosaic 
 accounts, founded on verbal traditions, the following evan- 
 gelical construction : — 
 
196 THE WORD. 
 
 God, the Most High, monocratically superintending, by 
 omnipotent will and almighty fiats (Gren. i.). (See also 
 Isaiah xliii. 10—12; Rev. i. 8—11.) 
 
 Christ Jesus, our Lord, as the future Redeemer of men 
 submissively creating, under the decrees of His most com- 
 passionate Father. 
 
 The Holy Ghost, as Giver of life, proceediug from both, 
 the Father and the Son ; moving over the face of all things, 
 in compliance with the Supreme Creator's behests : 
 
 The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 Archangels ; Seraphim and Cherubim ; all Angels and 
 Spirits ; rejoicingly and blessingly performing their appointed 
 shares of universal grace. 
 
 Implacable, vindictive, jealous, Satan, there besides : mali- 
 ciously designing further deeds of hate. 
 
 First Day. 
 
 " In the beginning God," the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost, " created the heaven and the earth." 
 
 " And the earth was without form, and void ; and darkness 
 was upon the face of the deep. And the Holy Ghost moved 
 upon the face of the waters." 
 
 When God, the Most High, our own merciful Father, " said, 
 Let there be light ; and there was light." 
 
 And Christ Jesus, our Lord, the preordained Redeemer and 
 Saviour of the human race, " divided the light from the dark- 
 ness ; which God saw that it was good." 
 
 And the Holy Ghost, " called the light, day ; and the dark- 
 
THE WORD. 197 
 
 ness, He called night. And the evening and the morning 
 were the first day" (Gen. i. 1 — 5). 
 
 Second Day. 
 
 And God, the Most High " said, Let there he a firmament 
 in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from 
 the waters." 
 
 And Christ Jesus, our Lord, " made the firmament, and 
 divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the 
 waters which were above the firmament : and it was so." 
 
 And the Holy Ghost " called the firmament heaven. And 
 the evening and the morning were the second day " (Gen. i. 
 6—8.) 
 
 Thikd Day. 
 
 And God, the Most High, said, " Let the waters under the 
 heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry 
 land appear." 
 
 And Christ Jesus, our Lord, separated the dry land from 
 the waters, and He called the dry land earth ; and the 
 gathering together of the waters, called He seas :" 
 
 And God, the Most High, " saw that it was good." 
 
 And God, the Most High " said. Let the earth bring forth 
 grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit 
 after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth :" 
 
 And the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the land : 
 " and the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed 
 after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in 
 itself, after his kind:" 
 
198 THE WOKD. 
 
 And Grod, the Most High," saw that it was good. And the 
 
 evening and the morning were the third day" (Gren. i. 
 
 9—13). 
 
 The Fourth Day. 
 
 And God, the Most High, " said. Let there be lights in the 
 firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night ; 
 and let them he for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and 
 years : 
 
 "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the 
 heaven, to give light upon the earth :" 
 
 And Christ Jesus, our Lord, " made two great lights ; the 
 greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the 
 night : He made the stars also." 
 
 "And" the Holy Ghost "set them in the firmament of 
 heaven, to give light uj)on the earth, 
 
 "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to 
 divide the light from the darkness :" 
 
 "And" God, the Most High, "saw that it was good." 
 
 " And the evening and the morning were the fourth day " 
 (Gen. i. 14—19). 
 
 The Fifth Day. 
 
 " And God," the Most High, " said, Let the waters bring 
 forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and 
 fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of 
 heaven." 
 
 " And " Jesus Christ, the Son of God, " created great 
 whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the 
 
THE WOKD. 199 
 
 waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every 
 
 winged fowl after his kind :" 
 
 And Grod, the Most High, "saw that it was good." 
 "And" the Holy Ghost " blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, 
 
 and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the 
 
 fowl multiply in the earth." 
 
 " And the evening and the morning were the fifth day " 
 
 (Gen. i. 20—23). 
 
 The Sixth Day. 
 
 And God, the Most High, " said. Let the earth bring forth 
 the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, 
 and beast of the earth after his kind," 
 
 And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, " made the beast of the 
 earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every- 
 thing that creepeth upon earth after his kind :" 
 
 And God, the Most High, " saw that it was good." 
 
 And God, the Most High, " said, Let us make man in our 
 image, after our likeness : and let them have dominion over 
 the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the 
 cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, 
 that creepeth upon the earth." 
 
 So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, "created man in the 
 image of His own Father, and of His own self ; male and 
 female created He them." 
 
 And the Spirit of God " blessed them, and said unto them. 
 Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and 
 
200 THE WORD. 
 
 subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and 
 over the fowl of the air, and over everything that moveth 
 upon the earth." 
 
 And God, the Most High, " saw everything that He, (con- 
 jointly with Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, and the 
 Holy Grhost, His Spirit of Grace), had made, and behold, it 
 was very good." 
 
 "And the evening and the morning were the sixth day " 
 (Gen. i. 25—31). 
 
 The Seventh Day. 
 
 " Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all 
 the host of them " (Gen. ii. 1). 
 
 " And on the seventh day God, the Most High, and Jesus 
 Christ, His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, ended their work 
 which they had made, and they rested the seventh day from 
 all their work which they had made " (Gen. ii. 1, 2). 
 
 And God, the Most High, " blessed the seventh day, and 
 sanctified it:" because that (in Trinity miraculously per- 
 sonified) the three Omnipotent and Omniscient Gods, " in 
 the seventh day had rested from all their work, which they 
 had created and made " (Gen. ii. 1 — 3). 
 
 MOST SIGNIFICATIYE, SEPARATE, AND SINGULAR 
 CREATIONS OF ADAM AND EYE. 
 
 And God, the Most High, seeing the man, which His 
 beloved Son had " formed from the dust of the ground, 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 201 
 
 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became 
 a living soid " (Gen. ii, 7). 
 
 And Christ, the Son of God, " planted a garden," (of pro- 
 bation and merciful^ ordeal) " eastward in Eden." 
 
 " And out of the ground made the Holy Ghost to grow 
 every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; 
 the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree 
 of knowledge of good and evil " (Gen. ii. 9). 
 
 And Christ Jesus, our Lord " took the man, and put him 
 into the garden of Eden ; to dress it and to keep it." 
 
 And God the Most High, " Commanded the man, saying, 
 Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : 
 
 " But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou 
 shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof, 
 thou shalt surely die " (Gen. ii. 17). 
 
 And the Holy Ghost said, "It is not good that the man 
 should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him" 
 (Gen. ii. 18). 
 
 And Christ Jesus, our Lord, " caused a deep sleep to fall 
 upon Adam, and he slept : and He took one of his ribs, and 
 closed up the flesh instead thereof : 
 
 " And the rib, which" Christ Jesus, our Lord, " had taken 
 from man," God the Most High, our most merciful Father, 
 " made a woman, and brought her unto the man " (Gen. ii. 
 21, 22). 
 
 GRACIOUSLY PRE-ORDAINED TEMPTATIONS OF EYE, 
 OF ADAM, AND OF GAIN. 
 
 " Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the 
 
202 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 field, which the Lord Grod had commanded His well-beloved 
 Son to make. 
 
 " And the serpent said unto the woman, Yea, has Grod said, 
 Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? (Gren. iii. 1). 
 
 " And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the 
 fruit of the trees of the garden : 
 
 " But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the 
 garden, God hath said. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall 
 ye touch it, lest ye die. 
 
 " And the serpent said unto the woma'n, Ye shall not surely 
 die. 
 
 " For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then 
 your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing 
 good and evil. 
 
 " And when the woman saw that the tree was good for 
 food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be 
 desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and 
 did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he 
 did eat. 
 
 " And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew 
 that they were naked " (Gen. iii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, to the end of 
 the chapter). ^ 
 
 FIRST INCARNATIONS OF THE FALLEN ANGELS: AC- 
 CORDING TO PRE-ORDAINED PURPOSES OF GRACE. 
 
 " And Adam knew his wife ; and she conceived, and bare 
 Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. 
 
 " And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a 
 
THE WORD. 203 
 
 keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground " (Gren. 
 iv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). 
 
 " And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it came to 
 pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against 
 Abel his brother, and slew him" (Gren. iv. 8 — 16). 
 
 " And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and 
 dwelt in the land of Nod, in the east of Eden. 
 
 " And Cain knew his wife ; and she conceived, and bare 
 Enoch : and he builded a city, and called the name of the 
 city Enoch" (Gen. iv. 16—26). 
 
 p 2 
 
204 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGINAL PEECIS: 
 
 SCEIPTURAL AXIOMS ; DOOTEINAL PRECEPTS ; 
 
 ETC. 
 
 [see general index.] 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Why are tlie Scriptures, in general, left so unin- 
 telligibly expounded, by the Clergies of Christian 
 nations? ......... vii 
 
 Is it not the sacred Duty, of every faithful servant 
 of Grod, to make the language of the Holy Bible 
 as plainly readable as possible to the devout of all 
 degrees of intellectual faculties ? . . . . viii 
 
 When the Omnipotent Creator, operating on the 
 dark, chaotic, penitentiary ^ world, first said, " Let 
 there be light!" it was, "Let us begin Our labours 
 of regeneration and grace !" which He addressed 
 to His only begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost . xix 
 
 A fervent and well-read Christian, whatever he is be- 
 sides, should always feel able and willing, kindly and 
 successfully, to reply to and check all unbelievers, 
 in the awftd act of jesting on Holy Truths . . xx 
 
 How glorious it must be for a Militant Pilgrim, to 
 
THE WORD was brought out early last year. 
 
 ^^^ Notwithstanding its List of seemingly paradoxical \ 
 Contents, it is, throughout its pages, essentially Scrip- 
 tural and truly Gospel-fraught. 
 
 The Author entreatingly recommends an initiative , 
 perusal of pages 54, 55, to 139. They will, in all proba- 
 bility, serve to induce the Reader kindly to attempt 
 further readings, which may reveal greater merits. 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 205 
 PAGE 
 
 find himself able to pursue to the end, his career 
 of enthusiastic Faith, victoriously defending the 
 Holy Cross ! xxi 
 
 Neither Astronomers nor Philosophers are mad, as 
 some declare, when they reverently labour, by 
 their noble researches, to read, mark, learn, and 
 inwardly digest, the mysterious works of Pro- 
 vidence ; all the better to know their Almighty 
 Creator ; and to love His adorable Son, with greater 
 fervour still xxii 
 
 Thoroughly evangelical Christians, need neither be 
 Protestant nor Cathohc : their High Priest is 
 God ; their Church, wherever Jesus Christ is wor- 
 shipped and glorified ...... xxiu 
 
 See what you must think of the Most Holy Trinity, to 
 be saved ........ 
 
 Our Heavenly Father neither exercises hate ; nor does 
 He feel revenge or wrath ..... 
 
 By having dwelt with us on this earth, may we not make 
 sure of the boundless compassion of that Redeemer, 
 who died on the Tree to save us all ? 
 
 Was He not Cod of Very G-od : co-equal with God ? 
 and did He not say to His Father, " Forgive them ; 
 for they know not what they do " ? . 
 
 Had the Son of God not been, in this world. Omni- 
 potent to save ; He had not been, in His intercessions 
 above, all-sufficient to provide us with an Ever- 
 
206 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 present Friend, to guide us, through this vale of tears, 
 
 in which He himself so often had wept ... 5 
 
 Aie, aie, all these are the infinitely merciful acts of the 
 Omnipotent Word of Grace ..... 6 
 
 When first the Messiah, by the side of Jehovah stood, 
 and the Holy Ghost had proceeded from both ; 
 Eternities back, Universal Eedemption and Salvation 
 were irrevocably sealed ...... 6 
 
 The Redeemer, the Saviom* declared it — No time is to 
 be lost : what was covered must be revealed ; what 
 was hid must be known ...... 7 
 
 When the Divine Son of the Virgin Mary bid Simon 
 Peter follow Him, to fish men ; He tj^ically bid, all 
 successors, who were that way inclined, to do the same. 
 We consequently, so considering, are attempting, less 
 worthy by far, to make, nevertheless, all men see what 
 is the " fellowship of the mystery " which, from the 
 beginning of the world, hath been hid in God . . 8 
 
 There is nothing that a truly pious man may not 
 achieve ; whenever, what he zealously undertakes, is 
 exclusively to redound, to the praise and glory of God; 
 and whenever prayer ushers in the faithful efibrts he 
 is about to make, to that most laudable end . . 9 
 
 Wise men, who seek to merit just applause, in their en- 
 deavours, fitly and fervently to serve their God, should 
 strengthen their labours of faith in Christ Jesus, by the 
 sanction of well-approved Holy Writers, whose lives 
 as well as writings have been impartially revered . 10 — 12 
 
THE WORD. 207 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Divine attributes of "Our Father" which is in 
 heaven, are sacred securities, bequeathed to us, by the 
 Son of Gl-od, respecting the infinite love of "His 
 Father," who is the Fountain of all Groodness . . 13 
 
 Can there be any terrestrial worth, in any degree equi- 
 valent, to that Mercy of Grod, which is on them that 
 love Him, throughout all generations ? . . .14 
 
 The Trinity, being a Spiritual embodiment of the three 
 distinct Persons, of the Omnipotent Father, the 
 Almighty Son, and the infinitely Omniscient, and in- 
 fluential,^ Holy Ghost, for most unmistakable purposes 
 of grace, what have we to fear,^ respecting our ultimate 
 purification, regeneration, and infallible reception 
 back, into the Kingdom of Grod ? . . . .15 
 
 A careful perusal of, and trustful reliance on, the bright 
 promises, so frequently contained in the beautiful Col- 
 lects, adorning, as it were, like hospitable gates, the 
 approaches to the Epistles and Grospels of your Book of 
 Common Prayer,^ ought at all times, to be a most con- 
 solatory refuge, in the sanctuary of which you should 
 concentrate your j^ious meditations. For our Grod is a 
 blessed God, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be 
 written for our learning. He is the Author of all good 
 things, and properly to know him is everlasting life. 16, 17 
 
 •55- 
 
 It was only by assuming a Triune Christian Godhead, 
 which the Most Holy Trinity represents, that the 
 
208 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 everlastingly living, true, and unique Grod, without 
 body, parts, or passions, could be the Maker and 
 Preserver of all things. 
 
 Thus it was, most evidently, that God the Father, and 
 God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, were indis- 
 pensably present at the Creation. . . . .18 
 
 As it is distinctly stated in the IXth Article of Religion, 
 that Original (or birth) Sin, cometh from Adam ; all 
 good Christians may infer, that Original Guilt cometh 
 furthermore from the rebellious angels, who were, 
 more deservedly still, driven from the presence of God. 
 (See Arts. XVII., XX.) 19 
 
 Why is Divine Grace from everlasting ? Because it 
 abideth in God ; and God is Eternal, Omnipresent, 
 Omniscient, and Omnipotent. ..... 20 
 
 The Books of Moses, the Prophecies, and the Gospels, 
 originally contained, and still contain, designedly hid- 
 den verities, which we are bound to unravel, through 
 the Assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, for our own edification, and that of all . 21 
 
 Our Celestial Genealogy once admitted ; the Holy Bible, 
 scarcely ofiers one single passage, that exclusively 
 refers to our ultimate salvation, which an intelligent 
 Christian could not clearly comprehend ... 22 
 
 Csecilius Cyprian wrote, about 1610 years ago, that the 
 Lord's Prayer was a Collection of Sacraments, so nu- 
 
THE WORD. 209 
 
 PAGE 
 
 merous and weighty, gathered up in few words, but 
 with such wealth of Spiritual Virtue, that not any- 
 thing for prayer and petition of ours is left unincluded 
 in this comprehension of heavenly doctrine. 
 
 We pray Thee furthermore. Dear Reader, to recollect 
 that this infinitely merciful Legacy, worth all the 
 treasures, that this earth could produce, were words of 
 ineffable grace, affectionately transmitted to us, by a 
 devoted Brother, incarnated* like ourselves, and under- 
 going Ordeals similar to oiu* own, for the sake of 
 bringing us back to the Kingdom of His Father, who 
 was originally the Father of us all , . . . 23 
 
 Whatever may be thought, said, or written, respecting 
 the incalculable merits of this invitation of Grod Him- 
 self, individually as well as collectively addressed to 
 us, to return with Him, soon or late, to everlasting 
 happiness, prepared and recovered for us, from the 
 very commencement of our earliest celestial existence, 
 would fall, as infinitely short of its most incomprehen- 
 sible Paternal Love and Mercy, as our original Gruilt in 
 Heaven, until our most merited expulsion, thoroughly 
 deserved the Eternal Punishment which Impartial 
 Divine Justice felt it an insuperable duty to inflict. . 24 
 
 We all should look upon that prayer, as if it were daily 
 taught to us, every morning and night of our earthly 
 days 25 
 
210 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 First conviction, gratefully felt, on reading or saying 
 the Lord's Prayer. ....... 26 
 
 Refusing to accept and acknowledge the blessed Holy 
 Trinity, as all that is, and will ever be^ Equitable, 
 Merciful, and True, is wickedness inconceivable . 27 
 
 Who could know better than Our dear Redeemer did, 
 how much our fallen souls needed penitently to re- 
 peat : " Our Father which art in heaven " ? . . 28 
 
 See who it was in reality that said to you so earnestly, 
 "Lead us not into temptation." .... 29 
 
 It is clearly evident that, " Hallowed be Thy Name," 
 at the beginning of our compassionate Saviour's all- 
 sufficient Orison, signifies : For ever and ever be Thou 
 Glorified, Yenerated, and Praised, Almighty Grod 
 of gods, and Eternal King of kings, whom we have 
 so long offended and despised ..... 30 
 
 What supplications could we express, more likely to 
 allay Divine Indignation, than repeating daily, hourly 
 indeed, from the inmost depth of our souls, " Thy 
 Kingdom Come " ? ....... 31 
 
 It was Thou, Lord Omnipotent of Heaven, who (fore- 
 knowing our individual, as well as universal, celestial, 
 and terrestrial destinies) , willed from everlasting and 
 pre-ordained all things : " Thy Will be done ! " Thy 
 Will be done ! the sooner the better : for it is very good 32 
 
 No language was ever more expressive of pardon, and 
 ultimate Salvation, than that which is used in this in- 
 comparable prayer .33 
 
THE WORD. 211 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Had we lacked expressions, of sucli an explicit meaning 
 as to allude more pointedly than in any other way, to 
 our Heavenly Parentage, we could not have collected 
 them from a better source, than from the very life of 
 the Son of Grod. Comparisons cannot be clearly estab- 
 lished, unless it is between well-known objects. Con- 
 sequently " As in Heaven," implies a retrospective 
 knowledge of Our Almighty Father's will, when we 
 were in heaven ....... 34 
 
 In other words, The Divine Instructor was literally say- 
 ing to His disciples : Thy will be done again, on the 
 earth, as Thou didst exercise it over us, in heaven. 
 The pre-elect and elect understood it well, in this guise : 
 and they, no doubt, explained it so, to their Neophites 35 
 
 Nothing but perfect regeneration of mind and soul, will 
 ever enable a Christian, properly to comprehend " The 
 Lord's Prayer " 36 
 
 Very few indeed are those who pray, even as humble and 
 dutiful supplicants, Beseech their God to give them 
 each day, their daily bread, under the impression, 
 which our most merciful Teacher wished to impart . 37 
 
 Unless the readers of these pages, have trustfully endea- 
 voured to adopt our interpretations of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, where we thought it most important, to modify 
 and to enlarge their significations, for the more profit- 
 able edification of present and future generations ; the 
 strictly evangelical constructions, we have put on many 
 passages, will not appear sufficiently to coincide with 
 
212 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 their own Cliurch instructions, well meant as they may 
 be. This however should not preclude a continuation 
 of their perusal, inasmuch as we solemnly engage, by 
 the end of the work, to prove that, whatever fervency of 
 belief may be their own, at the present moment, that 
 fervency will not, in the slightest degree, be altered, 
 but, to an infinite extent, improved and enlarged . 38 
 
 Evangelical Precis, and Scriptural Axioms. 
 Cease never to hope and pray, for the Lord is our Father, 
 
 and He is Omnipotently operating to save us all . 26 
 Most evident origin of Man's first disobedience . . 27 
 Authorized filial acknowledgements of Grod, as our own 
 
 Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, our own Brother 28 
 Best watch- word we all can use for admission back into 
 heaven ......... 28 
 
 " Intreat me to permit my Kingdom to come again " . 29 
 Hallowed be the Three Co-equal Names of God . . 30 
 Temple that should be raised, bearing no other inscrip- 
 tion but the Lord's Prayer, in golden letters, and all 
 modern languages. . . . . . .31 
 
 Before the wondrous worlds were framed, the Al- 
 mighty pre-conceived and pre-ordained innumerable 
 births, from exhaustlessly regenerative wombs . . 32 
 Most compassionate embodiment of the Holy Trinity . 34 
 Thy Will be done, as pre-ordained, regarding the 
 whole submission of mankind ! How can Satan 
 possibly thwart the Fiats of Jehovah ? . . .35 
 
THE WORD. 213 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bj prayers, all hidden holy truths, in time, become pro- 
 fitably known ....... 36 
 
 What better bread can we pray for, than that which 
 we once ate, alas ! with our Dear Redeemer in the 
 halls of Heaven ? . . . . . . .37 
 
 If man refuse to forgive their fellow-men their debts, 
 let them beware ....... 38 
 
 How sceptics interpret the Word of God ... 39 
 
 Evils exist on earth, exclusively for our ultimate welfare 40 
 
 Temptations pave back all our respective ways to 
 Heaven ........ 41 
 
 Each predictive word of Jesus Christ was an Oracle 
 of God 42 
 
 Saved are all who feel, believe, and practice the 
 Lord's Prayer. The Alpha and Omega of Jesus 
 Christ's progress, was Satan's presence on earth. 
 Men's motives alone are weighed in heaven . . 43 
 
 Christian co-existence of the Virgin Mary, with our 
 Lord and Saviour ....... 44 
 
 Eternal Monocracy of the Most High. Permitted 
 birth of Evil 45 
 
 First appearance of Satan in heaven for purposes of grace 46 
 
 Satan and all Evil Spirits must evidently be mortal. 
 Humbly supposed Divine scheme of Universal Re- 
 demption and Salvation ...... 47 
 
 Satan existed first, and will exist to the end of all or- 
 deals, through the boundless mercy of Our Heavenly 
 Father 48 
 
214 THE WORD, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Evocation of the Devil, tkrougli most evident mercy . 49 
 
 The best of all Christian creeds is decidedly the Lord's 
 Prayer . 50 
 
 Jesus died for Jews, as affectionately and charitably as 
 for Gentiles, Pagans, and Atheists . . . .51 
 
 Are there many who would venture to say, as Jesus 
 Christ instructed us to say : " For we also forgive 
 every one that is indebted to us " ? . . . . 52 
 
 Are Christians in general sufficiently aware of the 
 enormous importance, solemnly attached, by the 
 Divine Teacher, to the last words of his prayer : " For 
 Thine is the Kingdom " ? Whose were the King- 
 dom, the Power, and the Griory ? . . . .53 
 
 Our individual Debt to God, is unredeemable : it is 
 eternal gratitude ; contracted from everlasting. 
 Without Terrestrial Death, our souls must have 
 
 been eternally damned 54 
 
 Eepent, through gratitude and love alone . . .55 
 What is the evangelical construction we should prefer- 
 ably select, in allusion to the Fall of Adam, and the 
 crime of Cain. Thank God continually for the Fall of 
 Adam, and for the equally merciful curse of Cain . 56 
 Principal origin of this work : all-absorbing motive of 
 our labours ........ 57 
 
 Why were Adam and Eve made mentally so helpless ? 58 
 In human flesh is naturally insuperable weakness . 59 
 
THE WORD. 215 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The crime of Cain was most evidently a merciful means 
 of redeeming and saving mankind .... 60 
 
 Our terrestrial system, including its sun, moon, and 
 planets, was from tlie beginning, and will be to the 
 end, purely Christian . . . . . .61 
 
 There is no reason why men should not die, to resusci- 
 tate again in this world, for the gracious purpose of 
 undergoing a succession of additional ordeals, and 
 means of carnal purifications ..... 62 
 
 A few men die, through grace, at once to be saved . 63 
 
 The best Doctrine is that which is contained in our in- 
 finitely compassionate ^^Pater-JSfosfer" such as Jesus 
 Christ taught it to His disciples, before His all- 
 suflScient death of universal atonement ... 64 
 
 The more concise and plainer the Creed, the easier and 
 deeper the persuasive impression made ... 65 
 
 Ecclesiastical terrorists are the worst possible servants 
 of the Church of Christ 66 
 
 Graciously self-imposed Humiliation of the Angels . 67 
 
 Universal Salvation prepared from everlastiag . . 68 
 
 Universal Redemption predestinated and accomplished, 
 from the Fall of the Angels to the Birth of Jesus 
 
 Christ 69 
 
 Intentional insufiiciency of all former Christian Doc- 
 trines .... 70 
 
216 THE "WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Positive insufficiency of present Doctrines ... 71 
 Chief Scriptural bases of our private belief ... 72 
 Purely gracious Creation of entirely new systems of 
 
 Worlds 73, 75 
 
 To former most mysterious states, new heavens suc- 
 ceeded ......... 76 
 
 The Lord Almighty, we humbly hope, sees fit, most 
 compassionately, through us, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, to unveil the truth ..... 77 
 
 We may reasonably and hopefully look upon this wide 
 earth, as upon a vast ante-room, wherein, through re- 
 pentance and prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, to 
 edify and prepare our souls for readmission into the 
 
 Courts of Heaven 78, 79 
 
 Ordeals and tests, justly imposed on us by our Hea- 
 venly Father, through the intercession of our 
 adorable Redeemer, serve amply to cleanse the 
 foulest of stains ....... 80 
 
 Exemptions, none, from earthly trials, was divinely 
 sought ......... 81 
 
 Men's future states, in consequence of their angelic 
 
 origin, needed spiritual regenerations ... 81 
 During The Creation, what myriads of creations more ! 82 
 Good, therefore, very good, was all that God had made 83 
 Man's sinfulness entitled Fallen Angels to Redemp- 
 tion. Interpret The Word as an exhaustless Fount 
 of Mercy 84 
 
THE WORD. L>17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Eden was the chief gateway to worlds of Spiritual Re- 
 generation ........ 85 
 
 Was Eve's soul as pure as that of Adam ? . . .86 
 Were Adam and Eve simply instrumental or guilty ? . 87 
 The knowledge of good and evil was indispensable, as 
 a principal means towards the accomplishment of 
 the scheme of grace.^ " So Eve took of the fruit, 
 
 and did eat" 88 
 
 Satan, most reluctantly paves, with Christian virtues, all 
 
 the paths,^ which lead back, through grace, to heaven 89 
 To Grod's infinite parental love and mercy is mystically 
 due the bane of evil. ...... 90 
 
 Not any are safe, but those who fervently, and frequently 
 pray. Even the best, who cease to pray, are tem- 
 porally lost ........ 91 
 
 By skilful physicians, the rankest poisons are used . 92 
 Could a Fratricide have been perpetrated, so early on tliis 
 
 earth,^ had it not been towards a profitable end ? . 93 
 Salvation was apparently impossible, without universal 
 incarnations ........ 94 
 
 Human souls were impure Spirits before the Creation . 94 
 Through the flesh our souls are most mercifully purified 95 
 The marriage of Adam saved us all * . . . . 96 
 
 The saints in heaven and earth are blessed associates 
 of divine grace .... . . 96 
 
 Original use of the chaotic earth in the beginning . 97 
 Most probable effects of the gracious^ curse of Cain . 97 
 How Cain's soul must stiU be wandering on the face of 
 this earth ........ 98 
 
218 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Our own eyes probably saw, at the beginning "tbe 
 Light which Grod had made " . . . . .99 
 
 Sins as red as scarlet, only need Divine regenerative 
 
 waters, to be perfectly washed out and purified . 100 
 
 Sinners help men to be saints, as Satan helped Jesus 
 Christ to save us ...... . 101 
 
 To Jesus Christ, our Lord, all men were known from 
 everlasting . . . . . . . .102 
 
 To Jesus Christ, all generations were, and will be for 
 ever known ........ 103 
 
 Reasons given for our claims to Angelic descent . .104 
 May not unblemished Angels,^ for Mercy's sake, as 
 elect and pre-elect ministers of divine compassion, 
 have been frequently permitted to become men ? . 105 
 Incarnated^ Angels were doubtlessly our progenitors . 106 
 Jesus Christ was to all intents and purposes our 
 terrestrial Brother in God ; a human Son of a divine 
 
 Father 106 
 
 God, the Creator and Father of us all, could not be, unless 
 
 intentionally, Creator and Father of imperfect beings 106 
 How could the Angels and Spirits be better gifted^ than 
 we were from the beginning ? . . . .106 
 
 The simple Fact " that the most Holy Trinity is Eternal, 
 Omnipotent and Omniscient," sacredly proves beyond 
 all possible doubt, that Universal and infallible re- 
 demption and salvation were, from everlasting, the 
 merciful will and purpose of God . . . .107 
 
THE WORD. 219 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gracious original cause of human marriages between 
 angels and the daughters of men . . . .108 
 
 Preordained repeated deaths and resurrections ^ from the 
 Creation of Adam to the last of men . . .109 
 
 How the fallen Angels have consequently been graciously 
 and impartially redeemed, after just and well-de- 
 served retributions. What befell them for ages . 110 
 
 Twice begotten, for mercy's sake, was the Son of Grod . Ill 
 
 Rich, as well as poor, must learn to stoop before their 
 Almighty Lord 112 
 
 Proportionate punishments await us all . . . 113 
 
 Sacred mysteries are gradually permitted to be revealed 113 
 
 The marvellous Era of universal Revelations is fast 
 approaching . . . . . . . .114 
 
 Forms of Worship are unheeded f whilst fervent prayers, 
 and sincere acts of contrition, are registered in heaven 115 
 
 Most merciful paternal acknowledgments of our re- 
 lationship to the Sons of God, through the Redemp- 
 tion of Jesus Christ . . . . . .115 
 
 Were those men divine, at Abraham's door, for no mer- 
 ciful purpose ? — What could Jacob's ladder signify, 
 save a very important revelation, for future genera- 
 tions, of the divinely sanctioned visits of Angels 
 among us ? . . . . . . . . 116 
 
 Holy visions are foretastes of heavenly blessings . 116 
 
 Mild measures, used by the mighty and strong, have 
 always been, will ever be, the best of successful 
 means, to subdue the wicked, and the rebellious . 117 
 
 Q 2 
 
220 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 How awfully wicked and unjust must it be, to represent 
 the Lord God Almighty, whose Gentle Messiah was 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, as revengeful and unforgiving ! 118 
 
 And how imgrateful it is to call "Our Father, which 
 is in heaven," implacable and jealous ! . . . 118 
 
 Evils and woes, frequently with far stronger proofs than 
 blessings, are gracious harbingers of good . .119 
 
 On the Gospels and Epistles alone,^ Dear Christians of 
 our days, firmly establish your Faith . . .119 
 
 Temptations beset us, from our first rational steps into 
 life, until our latest moral power of action . .120 
 
 But our consolation should be that, each temptation to 
 do evil, which we overcome, is a step forward we take, 
 in our way back, to the everlasting kingdom, which 
 is preparing, for the piously good and wise . . 120 
 
 Every temporal agony, endured by our compassionate 
 Saviour, will prove to have been, an incalculable 
 addition to our eternal gain ..... 121 
 
 Why Jesus Christ descended into Hell ! . . . 122 
 
 Our dear Redeemer descended into Hell for the purposes 
 of Grace ........ 123 
 
 The Conquering Hero bade Satan set all his victims free 124 
 
 Frequent and familiar visits affectionately paid by 
 Angels to the daughters of men .... 125 
 
 Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ on this earth, in 
 
 merciful communions, which we shall know hereafter 126 
 It is always upon merciful errands of infinite Grace, that 
 Our Adorable Kedeemer visits this World . . 127 
 
THE WORD. 221 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Immaculacy glorified, contrition rewarded, obduracy 
 punished, in the presence of angels and men . . 128 
 
 Learn by constantly practising what is good, to eschew 
 what is evil ........ 129 
 
 Fittest time for parables ; best time for the promulga- 
 tion of truths ....... 129 
 
 How the crucified Malefactors were ; the one, saved ; 
 and the other, lost . . . . • . .130 
 
 Can one imagine the occurrence of such a scene, as that 
 of the Crucifixion of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, without being struck with the utmost amaze- 
 ment, at the apathy with which its appalling details are 
 perused by so many of us, down to the present day ? 131 
 
 Most convincing additional proof of pre-ordained uni- 
 versal salvation . . . . . . .132 
 
 Pharisaical pride was the intentional origin of Christian 
 Humility ........ 133 
 
 Christian Faith grew strong under Jewish^ oppression . 134 
 
 Inanimate and cold ; Jesus was dead . . . .134 
 
 His heart beats stiU for us all ! 135 
 
 Gush after gush, poured out Our devoted Saviour's blood 136 
 
 Body of Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Lord ; indeed, and 
 truly, they knew not what they did . . .137 
 
 Thou alone knewest the full purpose of infinite Crace, 
 for the manifestation of which Thine Almighty Father 
 had sent Thee 138 
 
 Every pang of mental or bodily sufibring, endured by 
 our adorable Redeemer, fully atoned for the souls 
 of millions ...•..-. 138 
 
222 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Folios by thousands would not suffice, to enumerate, and 
 tell of, the miraculous acts of Divine Grace, performed, 
 from everlasting to everlasting, in our behalf . ,139 
 Holiest of holy Tabernacle in heaven, within which the 
 
 mysterious Trinity met, in the Beginning . . 140 
 Oh ! the infinite mercy of that Almighty Counsel of 
 
 Grrace ! 141 
 
 Description of fervent trances and visionary transports, 
 whereby we have really seen most of the wonders we 
 are attempting reverently to describe . . . . 142 
 Why Jesus Christ was begotten before all Worlds . 143 
 Double nativity of the Son of Grod : Master Key, with 
 which we have, under the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit, (for so we most thankfully believe), un- 
 ravelled, in part, the Great Mystery of our Redemp- 
 tion and ultimate Salvation, through Jesus Christ, our 
 
 Lord 144—146 
 
 Who is God, and What is He ? 147 
 
 The Divine Attributes of the Holy Trinity, infinitely 
 surpass, in charitableness and parental love, all other 
 
 Divine attributes ever known 148 
 
 Temporal production of Satan and his infernal courts , 149 
 Destinies of the fallen Angels through Grace . .150 
 
 Unavoidable flood ; regeneration of a probatory race . 150 
 Divine Operations of universal Redemption commenced 150 
 The condemned at the Great and Last Assize, will be 
 respited, proportionately punished, and finally for- 
 given ......... 151 
 
THE WORD. 223 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The cruel comminations, collected and registered hy 
 men, are not of God. — Grod is neither unforgi\'ing, 
 implacable, nor vindictive, nor repentant^ , .152 
 
 A time existed when parabolical threats, were necessarily- 
 used, for the laudable purpose of awaking the dormant 
 feelings of apathetic, benighted idolators, who had 
 totally forgotten their Maker, to follow after Idols, 
 whose detestable orgies they infinitely preferred . 153 
 
 Divine preordinance of all the sufferings of Jesus Christ 
 our Lord ; through the foreknown, but not preordained 
 instrumentahty of the fortunately^ obdurate Jewish 
 nation ......... 154 
 
 Graciously^ permitted persecution of the aboriginal 
 Christians ; under the Romans as well as the Jews . 155 
 
 It was consequently, in unsuspected submission to 
 pre-ordained decrees, that the Son of God, our 
 Saviour, was so cruelly, yet so mercifully crucified . 155 
 
 No fear there will be very soon, that sceptics shall con- 
 tinue to exist, who will have it in their power, plau- 
 sibly to call the Christian Faith, a ridiculous Fable . 156 
 
 Eebellions discovered in heaven, long before the Fall . 157 
 
 Why Jesus Christ was first begotten in heaven . . 158 
 
 Surging of Satan, from the fiery depths of Chaos, at 
 
 the command of Almighty God . . . .158 
 
 Separate coexistence of the Holy Ghost, with Jesus 
 Christ the Son of God 159 
 
 Camo-spiritual trinity of Man, in part evident . . 159 
 
 The road back to heaven, which we all must finally take 160 
 
224 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 On what occasion was it that, the glorying hosts of 
 heaven, joyfully choired with thankful hymns and 
 human acclaims ; by loudly repeating above and 
 below, " Grlory to Grod in the highest, and on earth, 
 good will toward men "? . ..... 161 
 
 An all-sufficient Eedeemer was spiritually begotten of 
 God among angels, before all worlds ! — An omnipo- 
 tent and omniscient Saviour, was materially begotten 
 of the same God among men, in the midst of 
 worlds! 162 
 
 Nothing has seemed obscure, nothing doubtful, of late, 
 to us, regarding the perfect regeneration and infal- 
 lible salvation of all human souls , • . . .163 
 
 Primeval states must have been known, to the primi- 
 tive souls and intelKgences, of the original Spirits 
 and Angels 164 
 
 Primitive Creations of the experimental heavens . 165 
 
 The most culpable sin of Omission, will be severely laid 
 to the account, of those who have heedlessly read the 
 holy Word of God :^ it is the triunely-inspired com- 
 pilation, of no less an Author than : the Most Holy 
 and Omniscient God, in Omnipotent Partnership 
 united, for the universal welfare of mankind . .166 
 
 The greatest evidence of wisdom is : reading, marking, 
 learning, and inwardly digesting the Bible . .167 
 
 Why was the presence of Jesus Christ, our Lord, re- 
 quired so early in the primeval heavens ? . . 168 
 
 Cause of the Messiah's first Presence eternities ago . 169 
 
THE WORD. 225 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The necessary and salutary Presence of Evil, among 
 the celestial hosts . . . . . . .169 
 
 Another Act of inconceivably Grracious Beneficence 
 
 subsequently took place . . . . . .170 
 
 The expulsion of the rebellious Angels from Paradise, 
 
 besides its necessary purgatorial results . . .171 
 Evil from the Beginning was most evidently unavoidable 171 
 Apparently unoccupied celestial realms of ethereal 
 
 interminable space . . . . . . .172 
 
 Grood thoughts, words, and deeds, come to us from God 
 
 alone, through fervent and incessant prayers addressed 
 
 to " Our Father " in the name of Jesus Christ . .173 
 Infinite Grace clearly forbids eternal damnation . . 1 73 
 "What could fill universal vacuity before all worlds ? . 173 
 A Godhead which was, which is, which will ever be 
 
 The Word 174 
 
 There were, and there are still false prophets, for 
 
 merciful ends,^ among the nations of this earth . 175 
 
 Antichristian scepticism is a diabolical suggestion of 
 
 Satan. Nevertheless, the guiltiest^ apostate of all, 
 
 must infalliby be saved, at last . . . .176 
 
 Maternity of the Virgin Mary from everlasting . .177 
 WTien the Holy Spirit would be divinely commissioned, 
 
 (through perfecting purposes of inexhaustible mercy), 
 
 to enlarge the minds of men, to the full knowledge 
 
 of God 178 
 
 Christian origin, purpose, and extent of the ways of 
 
 God 179 
 
226 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Whose ever-present Almighty and Omniscient Friend 
 was to be the Holy Ghost ? 180 
 
 It was for the sake of the spiritual hosts, which the 
 Almighty would find it necessary to drive away 
 from heaven, that the twofold Miracle of Universal 
 Redemption, and Salvation was sanctioned and pre- 
 ordained ........ 181 
 
 Principal object of the Creation of Adam and Eve . 181 
 
 How the new kingdom of Grod shall come . . . 182 
 
 A Monotheistic Autocracy, was, before all worlds, con- 
 verted into a Most Holy and equally Omnipotent 
 Trinity, for evermore to reign and to last . . 183 
 
 Period irrevocably decreed for the perfect Salvation of 
 all, according to the will and co-operation of God 
 the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost 184 
 
 Future ransomed, regenerated, forgiven, and sanctifi.ed, 
 " New Kingdom of Heaven " . . . . . 185 
 
 The Holy Spirit of God, triumphantly ascending to the 
 Joyful, Glorying Courts of Paternal Love, Devoted 
 Filial and Fraternal Affection, will finally proclaim : 
 Universal Salvation won . . . . .186 
 
 0, infinitely blessed souls and spirits, of fallen angels 
 and men ! — The former heavens and worlds are even 
 now, gradually passing away, for your sakes . . 186 
 
 For your own sakes, therefore, dear Readers, study 
 this book from beginning to end, patiently and 
 searchingly too ....... 187 
 
 Then mark well and digest what the consequence will be 187 
 
THE WORD. 227 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jews, Gentiles, Pagans, and Atheists themselves, should 
 all be equally eager to ascertain what this book 
 teaches : to them, as well as to all ! . . . .188 
 
 Every truthful Christian expounder of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, who allows that one single soul can be lost, is 
 leaving means, at Satan's disposal, to prove that 
 Divine Mercy is not infinite ; heavenly Love, not 
 boundless; paternal Grace, not all-sufiicient^ . .189 
 
 Best weights to be weighed by at last . . .190 
 
 Tribulations and punishments justly kept in store, for 
 the obdurately wicked ; for the obstinately blind ; 
 the mysteriously reserved . . . . .191 
 
 Are Christians to be limited in their piously fervent 
 inquiries after evangelical truths ? ... 192 
 
 Be faithfully zealous, and, in the name of our blessed 
 Lord Jesus Christ, judge for yourselves . . ^ 192 
 
 Penitentiaries and reformatories await sinners after 
 death : Others will await them further on- , . 193 
 
 Huge phenomenon of destruction heralding Judgment 
 Day : Eternal condemnation will not be^ . . 194 
 
 In the four Gospels of the Evangelists, and that of St. 
 John in particular, you will find that the three Eter- 
 nal Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, must have 
 been actively engaged, during the miraculous labours 
 of the Creation ....... 195 
 
 Satan himself was there also ; indispensable, but in 
 no respect meritorious. His menial services, per- 
 mitted, yet not sanctioned, nor preordained . . 196 
 
228 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 It will be observed, we humbly request, tbat God the 
 Most High, during the whole of the six miraculous 
 days, omnipotently decrees and omnisciently approves 197 
 
 That Jesus Christ, dutifully creates, in silent charity, 
 hope and love ........ 197 
 
 That the Holy Spirit, almightily vivifies, fertilizes, and 
 sanctifies, in triune compliance with the will of both, 
 the Almighty Father, and Almighty Son . .197 
 
 It was God alone, the Most High, who separately saw 
 
 that ALL WAS GOOD ...... 198 
 
 And we must not above all overlook, that the end of 
 the Sixth Day, was the joyful evening, upon which, 
 God the Most High (foreknowing the triumphant 
 results of all those wonders), having seen that Jesus 
 Christ His Son, had fitly created Man, in His own 
 image, bid the Holy Ghost, to bless them, and de- 
 clared that ALL WAS VERY GOOD .... 199 
 
 So God the Most High, " blessed the Seventh Day, and 
 sanctified it," pre-eminently above all the other days ; 
 because on that day, God the Father, and His well- 
 beloved Son, and the Holy Ghost, in Trinity most 
 mercifully and for ever united, had completed and 
 perfected their six principal steps, in the marvellous 
 Scheme of Universal Eedemption and Salvation ; fore- 
 known, and consequently preordained before all 
 worlds ......... 200 
 
 For the Garden, which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
 planted, according to His Father's will, in Eden, was 
 
THE WORD. 229 
 
 PAGE 
 
 a probationary ground ; and the trees of forbidden 
 fruit, were to be most merciful means of ordeal, under 
 the boundless blessings of infinite Grace. . . . Now, 
 
 as Divine Omniscience knew from everlasting, that 
 Satan would tempt ; that Justice with Mercy would 
 purposely permit ; that Adam, unable to withstand, 
 unwarned, the threefold allurements, of knowledge, 
 love, and beauty,^ could not help yielding himself a 
 prey ; they both were most evidently predestined to 
 eat the fruit and to fall ; that Mercy's ends might, all 
 the better, be answered and gained. (Gen. iii. 4 — 6) 201 
 The very circumstance alone, which first reveals the 
 transmigration of Satan, amongst the reptiles of 
 Paradise, for the purpose of deceiving' the woman, 
 makes clearly known to all Christian souls, the bound- 
 less extent of Divine compassion ; the infinite love of 
 our Eternal and Almighty Redeemer ; His omnipo- 
 tent power to save ....... 202 
 
 Has it been furthermore sufficiently noticed thsct, the 
 size of the Garden of Eden had not been, from the 
 first, calculated as that of a ground, permanently to 
 
 last? 203 
 
 That beautiful abode, imagined in the secret Councils 
 of the Most Holy Trinity, was no other than a tem- 
 porary intermediate way, between heavenly forfeited 
 joys and earthly trials of unknown duration : a gra- 
 cious station of compassionate tests, repeated falls 
 and most merciful recoveries ; graciously granted by 
 
230 THE WORD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 our Father the Lord of lords, with a divine view to 
 ■ultimate purification, regeneration, and, in the name 
 of Jesus Christ, His only Son, to unlimited atone- 
 ment and universal salvation . . . . .203 
 Such was the Garden of Eden ; such its most wonderful 
 and incomprehensibly glorious end ! . . . 203 
 
 Many reasons, of a perfectly uncontrovertible nature, might 
 easily be furnished, with reverent and pious precision, to prove 
 that our first parents were never intended to pass their lives, 
 where the Lord God had created them. Inquirers need only 
 read over the Third, the Fifth, and the Sixth Days of Creation 
 plainly to ascertain this fact (Gen. i. 11, 12, 20 — 22, 24 — 28). 
 
 Progenies and generations alone, issuing from such innu- 
 merable stocks, as those which God the Almighty had created 
 and made, for totally different ends, would wonderfully soon 
 have replenished the land of Eden. And outlets into the 
 wide world, must right early have become indispensable from 
 all quarters. 
 
 Adam and Eve, with their countless ever-renascent genera- 
 tions, required quite another stage, whereon to undergo the 
 unavoidable vicissitudes of their forthcoming incarnations. 
 
 As we cannot feel satisfied with our present humble labours, 
 finite and imperfect as they will nevertheless still continue to 
 be, without endeavouring to explain and interpret the mean- 
 ing, alluded to in the fourth chapter of Genesis, beginning at 
 
THE WORD. 
 
 231 
 
 the sixteenth verse, we beg to be allowed to offer those im- 
 portant verses in an interrogatory form : — 
 
 What was, for example, the Land of Nod ? 
 
 How came an inhabited land to be there at all ? 
 
 Who could be that people for whom Cain built a city ? 
 
 And, might not the daughter, whom Cain married, in that 
 land of Nod, eastward of Eden, be the offspring of two of 
 those Angels, so justly driven away from Heaven with Satan, 
 for having wickedly rebelled against their Almighty Lord, 
 The Eternal and Omnipotent Jehovah ? 
 
 Above all things, it behoves very materially all good and 
 faithful Christians to expound, whenever they are able, and to 
 the best of their abilities, (after repeatedly offering up pious 
 entreaties, for aid divine), all those Scriptural references and 
 allusions to sacred truths, which they meet in Holy Writ ; 
 that no stumbling-block remain, which might by patient 
 teaching be removed ; that all crooked paths be made straight 
 again, which lead back to that heavenly Boui-n, from which 
 our original sins have now so long estranged us all. 
 
 Such, we solemnly and devoutly declare it, is the bounden 
 duty of every human creature, baptized, no matter how, and 
 no matter where, in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord : 
 whether born to Royalty, to Rank, to Professions, to Trade, 
 or to Want.^ 
 
 He alone, is a fervent and faithful Christian : (the most 
 honourable, the highest of all earthly titles !) And he alone 
 can hope, soon or late, through the all-sufficient Redemption 
 of our eternally-omnipotent and infinitely-merciful Saviour, 
 
232 THE WORD, 
 
 to return, thoroughly cleansed and saved, among the Angels, 
 the Saints, and the Just, who are anxiously awaiting the total 
 Salvation of AIL 
 
 Another important quotation cannot fail here very appli- 
 cably to conclude this part of our corroborative elucidations. 
 It appears particularly necessary, in this place ; in order to 
 complete the militant armour, which we have, all through our 
 subjects, striven to furnish, towards the defensive arguments, 
 that Christian logicians but too often need, to repel with 
 advantage the flippant and impious scoffs of unscrupulous 
 unbelievers. It relates to the exclusive punishment of Eve, 
 
 " Unto the woman, the Lord God said, I will greatly mul- 
 tiply thy sorrow, and thy conception^ ; in sorrow shalt thou 
 bring forth children . , ." (Gen. iii. 16). 
 
 This dreadful tribulation, besides implying a vast number 
 of other afflictive results, leads one very reasonably to infer, 
 that, had not our first parents transgressed, in Eden, concep- 
 tion and childbirth would have occurred without sorrow, and 
 without pain. Just as " the sons of God " in heaven doubt- 
 lessly were, at the beginning, begotten and born.^ 
 
 There must have been, eternities ago, exhaustless nativities 
 of gods and angels, as necessarily,^ as successive creations of 
 heavens, and celestial mansions. 
 
 Spiritual generations must have ensued, not, in any 
 respect, as generations proceed on earth, but as they origin- 
 ally must have proceeded (without sorrow or pain), when 
 the boundless universe first was called into actively sentient 
 useful* existence, before all worlds. 
 
THE WORD, 233 
 
 There is nothing presumptuous in this assertion ; because 
 we reverently ground it on the significative quotation which 
 we have just expressly selected. 
 
 Did not the Almighty solemnly declare His divine pater- 
 nity in the presence of the hearing heavens, saying, " This is 
 my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " ? (Matt, 
 iii. 17). 
 
 A sacred foretype like this, was purposely set up,^ as a 
 commandment to be observed by the angelic hosts ; in some 
 measure similar to that, which the Omnipotent Creator sig- 
 nified, by saying to Adam and Eve, after having blessed 
 them, " Be fruitfiil and multiply, and replenish the earth " 
 (Gen. i. 28). 
 
 The immaculate Virgin Mary's conceptions, both, evidently 
 must have been free from sorrow, as from pain.^ 
 
 Now, let us briefly state, in its turn, what we conceive to 
 have been the Land of Nod ; that nothing important may be 
 omitted ; which in the least degree assists, to make plainer 
 still, the theory, which we have uniformly adopted, on Scrip- 
 tural grounds, and which is that. 
 
 The whole human race consisted, and still consists, of those 
 myi'iads of angels and spirits, which God the Almighty found 
 it impartially just, and equitably charitable, through Divine 
 Grace, to drive away from Heaven ; and, on the chaotic 
 earth, long before the Creation of Adam and Eve, to await in 
 proportionate tribulations and suitable trials their ultimate 
 Dooms. 
 
2^4 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 Therefore, tlie Land of Nod, East of Eden, and the whole 
 land, at that time occupying the dismal surface of the chaotic 
 block, which ages of ages later became Adam's habitable 
 Globe, through the infinite mercy of his most compassionate 
 Maker ; that Land of Nod was. from pole to pole, and East 
 to West, the vast terrestrial arena on which, " Our Father 
 which is in heaven," through the all-sufficient intercession of 
 His well-beloved Son, mercifully consented to cast our 
 heaven-begotten progenitors, when they so ungratefully 
 rebelled against His laws. 
 
 It follows that the people, for whom Cain built a city, and 
 one of whose daughters he married, were simply a portion of 
 our banished celestial brethren, still undergoing earthly 
 tribulations, as we are; some of whom perhaps being yet 
 among us, subjected to further ordeals, arising from their 
 obstinate commission of further transgressions. 
 
THE WORD. 235 
 
 ADDITIONAL 
 SCEIPTUKAL AUTHORITIES. 
 
 (See pages 13 to 17 and 195.) 
 
 FEOM THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 First Proofs of Infinite Divine Mercy — Creation of 
 Adam — Temptation of Eve.^ 
 
 1. " And the earth was without form, and void ; and dark- 
 ness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit ^ of God 
 moved upon the face of the waters" . . . (Gren. i. 2), 
 
 2. " And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living 
 creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast 
 of the earth after his kind : and it was so. 
 
 3. " And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, 
 and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon 
 the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good," 
 (Gen. i. 24, 25). 
 
 4. " And God said. Let us make man in our image, after 
 our likeness" . . . (Gen i. 26). 
 
 R 2 
 
236 THE WORD. 
 
 1. "So God created man in His own image . . . male 
 and female created He them" (Gren. i, 27). 
 
 2. " The Lord Grod formed man of the dust^ of the ground, 
 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of hfe ; and man 
 became a living^ soul" (Gren. ii. 7). 
 
 3. " And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow 
 every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; 
 the tree of life ^ also in the midst of the garden, and the tree 
 of knowledge of good and* evil " (Gen. ii. 9). 
 
 4. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of 
 every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : 
 
 Most Gracious Temptation of our First Parents. — 
 Second Proofs of Infinite Mercy. 
 
 5. " But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou 
 shalt not ^ eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof 
 thou shalt surely *' die. 
 
 6. " And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man 
 should be alone ; I will make him an help meet '^ for him " 
 (Gen. ii. 16—18). 
 
 7. "Now the serpent was more subtil* than any beast of 
 the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto 
 the woman. Yea, hath God said. Ye shall not eat of every 
 tree of the garden ? 
 
 8. "And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat 
 of the fruit of the trees of the garden : 
 
 9. "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the 
 garden, God hath said. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall 
 ye touch it, lest ye die. 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 237 
 
 Intentional Presence of Satan in Eden. 
 
 1. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not 
 surely die : 
 
 2. " For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 
 then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 
 knowing ' good and evil.' 
 
 3. " And when the woman saw that the tree was good for 
 food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be 
 desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and 
 did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did 
 eat" (Gen. iii. 1—6). 
 
 4. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent,^ Because thou 
 hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above 
 every beast of the field . . . 
 
 5. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
 between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and 
 thou shalt bruise his heel " (Gen. iii. 14, 15). 
 
 FEOM THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 
 
 The Son of God before all Worlds. 
 
 6. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
 with God, and the Word was God.'^ 
 
238 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " The same was in the beginning ^ with God. 
 
 2. "All things were made by Him; and without Him was 
 not anything made that was made. 
 
 3. " In Him was life ; and the life was the light of men. 
 
 4. "And the Word was made ^ flesh " (John i. 1 — 4, 14). 
 
 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 
 Nativity of our Redeemer. 
 
 5. " Now the birth ^ of Jesus Christ was on this wise *, 
 When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before 
 they came together, she was found with child of the Holy 
 Grhost. 
 
 6. " But while [Joseph] thought on these things, behold, the 
 angel* of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, 
 Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary 
 thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy 
 Ghost.^ 
 
 7. " And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call 
 His name Jesus : for He shall save His people from their sins. 
 
 8. " Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in 
 the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men 
 from the East to Jerusalem, 
 
 9. " Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? 
 for we have seen His star^ in the east, and are come to worship 
 Him. 
 
 10. " Ajid, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went 
 before them, till it came and stood over where the young 
 Child was. 
 
ADDITIONAL SCKIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 239 
 
 1. "And when they were come into the house, they saw 
 the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and 
 worshipped^ Him " (Matt. i. 18, 20, 21 ; ii. 1, 2, 9, 11). 
 
 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 
 Most evident Proof of the separately-active Pre- 
 sences OF THE Father, the Son, and the Holy Gthost. 
 
 2. " John, the messenger of God,^ was clothed with camel's 
 hair, and with a girdle of a skin ahout his loins ; 
 
 3. " And he preached, saying. There cometh One mightier 
 than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy* 
 to stoop down and unloose. 
 
 4. "I indeed have baptized you with water : but He shall 
 baptize you with the Holy Grhost. 
 
 5. "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from 
 Nazareth to Galilee, and was baptized of John* in Jordan. 
 
 6. "And straightway coming up out of the water. He saw 
 the heavens opened, and the Spirit^ like a dove descending 
 upon Him : 
 
 7. " And there came a voice from heaven, saying. Thou 
 ART My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " 
 (Mark i. 6—11). 
 
 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 
 
 Angelic Participation, in the Miraculous Scheme of 
 Universal Redemption. 
 
 8. " There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a 
 certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and 
 
240 THE WORD. 
 
 his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was 
 Elisabeth. 
 
 1. "And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was 
 barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. 
 
 2. "And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's 
 office before God in the order of his course, 
 
 3. " There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord^ stand- 
 ing on the right side of the altar of incense. 
 
 4. " And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and 
 fear fell upon him. 
 
 5. " But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias : for 
 thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife EHsabeth shall bear thee a 
 son, and thou shalt call his name John. 
 
 6. "And thou shalt have joy and gladness ; and many shall 
 rejoice at his birth " (Luke i. 5 — 8, 11 — 14). 
 
 CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 ACCORDING TO THE FOUR PRECEDENT EVANGELISTS. 
 
 7. " When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but 
 that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed 
 his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of 
 the blood of this just Person : see ye to it. 
 
 8. "Then answered all the people, and said. His blood 
 be on us, and on our children. 
 
 9. " Then released he Barabbas unto them : and when he 
 had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified. 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 24 
 
 1. "And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet 
 robe. 
 
 2. " And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they 
 put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand : and they 
 bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, 
 King of the Jews ! 
 
 3. " And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote 
 Him on the head. 
 
 4. " And after that they had mocked Him, they took the 
 robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and 
 led Him away to crucify Him" (Matt, xxvii. 24—26, 28—31). 
 
 Celestial and Terrestrial Evidences of the con- 
 comitant, BUT now incessantly-active Divinity of 
 Christ. 
 
 5. " It was the third hour, and they crucified Him. 
 
 6. " And the superscription of His accusation was written 
 over. The King of the Jews. 
 
 7. "And they that passed: by railed on Him, wagging their 
 heads, and saying. Ah, Thou that destroyest the temple, and 
 buildest it in three days, 
 
 8. " Save Thyself, and come down from the cross. 
 
 9. "Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among 
 themselves with the scribes, He saved others ; Himself He 
 cannot save. 
 
 10. " Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the 
 cross, that we may see and believe . . . 
 
242 THE WORD. 
 
 1. "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness 
 over the whole land until the ninth hour. 
 
 2. "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud 
 Toice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ? which is, 
 iDeing interpreted. My Grod, my Grod, why hast Thou for- 
 saken me ? 
 
 3. "And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and gave 
 up the ghost. 
 
 4. "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from 
 the top to the bottom. 
 
 5. "And when the centurion, which stood over against 
 Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, 
 Truly this Man was the Son of God " (Mark xv. 25 — 39). 
 
 Efficacy of Repentance, even at the Eleventh Hour : 
 WHEN Sins have been as Scarlet. 
 
 6. "And when they were come to the place, which is called 
 Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one 
 on the right hand, and one on the left. 
 
 7. " Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them;^ for they know 
 not what they do. And they parted His raiment and cast 
 lots. 
 
 8. " And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed 
 on Him, saying. If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. 
 
 9. " But the other answering rebuked him, saying. Dost 
 thou not fear Grod, seeing thou art in the same condemna- 
 tion? 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTITRAL AUTHORITIES. 243 
 
 1. "And we, indeed, justly; for we receive the due reward 
 of our deeds : but this Man hath done nothing amiss. 
 
 2. "And he said unto Jesus, Lord,^ remember me when 
 Thou comest into Thy kingdom. 
 
 3. " And Jesus said unto him, Yerily I say unto thee, To- 
 day shalt thou be with me'^ in Paradise. 
 
 4. " And Jesus said. Father, into Thy hands I commend 
 my spirit : and having said thus. He gave up the ghost. 
 
 5. " And all the people that came together to that sight, 
 beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, 
 and returned" (Luke xxiii. 33 — 48). 
 
 Our Promised Redemption and Universal Salvation 
 
 INFALLIBLY SeCURED. 
 
 6. " Then saith Pilate unto Jesus, Sj)eakest Thou not 
 unto me? knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify 
 Thee, and have power to release Thee ?^ 
 
 7. " Jesus answered. Thou couldest have no power at all 
 against me, except it were given thee from above : therefore 
 he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 
 
 8. " From thenceforth Pilate sought to release Jesus : but 
 the Jews cried out, saying. If thou let this Man go, thou art 
 not Csesar's friend : whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh 
 against Csesar. 
 
 9. " When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought 
 Jesus forth . . . and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your 
 King!* 
 
244 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, 
 crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your 
 King? The chief priests answered. We have no king but 
 Caesar. 
 
 2. " Then delivered he Jesus therefore unto them to he 
 crucified, and they took Our Lord, and led Him away. 
 
 3. " And He bearing His cross went forth into a place 
 called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew 
 Golgotha : 
 
 4. " Where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, 
 on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 
 
 5. " And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And 
 the writing was, Jesus or Nazareth the King of the 
 Jews. 
 
 6. " After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now 
 accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,^ saith, I 
 thirst. 
 
 7. " Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar : and they 
 filled a spunge with some of it, and put it upon hyssop, and 
 put it to His mouth. 
 
 8. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar. He 
 said, It is finished : and He bowed His head, and gave up 
 the ghost. 
 
 9. " Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, 
 and of the other which was crucified with Him. 
 
 10. " But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was 
 dead already, they brake not His legs : 
 
 11. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 245 
 
 and forthwith came thereout blood and water " (John xix. 
 10—19, 28—34). ■ 
 
 JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD : HIS BURIAL AND 
 
 ASCENSION. 
 
 1. " When the even was come, there came a rich man of 
 Arimathsea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of 
 Jesus : 
 
 2. " He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 
 Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 
 
 3. " And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it 
 in a clean linen cloth, 
 
 4. " And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn 
 out of the rock : and he rolled a great ^ stone to the door of 
 the sepulchre, and departed"^ . . . (Matt xxvii. 57 — 60). 
 
 5. " And very early in the morning, the first day of the 
 week, [Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and 
 Salome], came unto the sepulchre, at the rising of the sun. 
 
 6. " And they said unto themselves : Who shall roll us 
 away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ? 
 
 7. " And when they looked up, they saw that the stone 
 was rolled away : for it was very^ great. 
 
 Angels converse with the Daughters of Men.* 
 
 8. "And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young 
 man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white gar- 
 ment, and they were affrighted" (Mark xvi. 2 — 5). 
 
246 THE WORD. 
 
 1. "And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed 
 thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining^ 
 garments. 
 
 2. " And as the women were afraid, and bowed down their 
 faces to the earth, they- said unto them, Why seek ye the 
 living among the dead ? 
 
 3. He is not here, but is risen : remember how He spake 
 unto you, when He was yet in Galilee. 
 
 4. Saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the 
 hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise 
 again " (Luke xxiv. 4 — 7). 
 
 RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 5. " Then the same day, at evening, being the first day 
 of the week, when the doors were^ shut, where the disciples 
 were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood 
 in the midst, and saith* unto them. Peace be unto you, 
 
 6. " And when He had so said, He shewed unto them His 
 hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when 
 they saw the Lord" (John xx. 19, 20). 
 
 7. "And . . . Jesus commanded them that they should 
 not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the 
 Father, which, saith He, Ye have heard of me . . . 
 
 8. " For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be 
 baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence . . . 
 
 9. " And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, 
 and in all Judea . . . and unto the uttermost parts of the 
 earth. 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 247 
 
 1. "And when He had spoken these things, while they 
 beheld, He was taken' up ; and a cloud received Him out of 
 their sight. 
 
 2. " And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as 
 He went up, behold, two men^ stood by them in white 
 apparel" . . . (Acts i. 4, 5, 8—10). 
 
 DESCENT OF THE HOLT GHOST. 
 
 3. " And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they 
 were all with one accord in one place. 
 
 4. " Suddenly there came a^ sound from heaven, as of a 
 rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they 
 were sitting. 
 
 5. " And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as 
 of fire, and it* sat upon each of them. 
 
 6. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance. 
 
 7. " And there were dwelHng at Jerusalem, Jews, devout' 
 men, out of every nation under heaven. 
 
 8. " Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude 
 came together, and were confounded, because that every man 
 heard them® speak in his own language " (Acts ii. 1 — 6), 
 
248 THE WORD. 
 
 SACRED WORDS, FROM THE LIPS OF 
 ALMIGHTY GOD. 
 
 1. " Before Me, there was no God formed, neither 
 
 SHALL THERE BE AFTER Me. I, EVEN I, AM THE LoRD ; 
 
 AND BESIDE^ Me THERE IS NO Saviour " (Isaiali xliii. 
 10, 11). 
 
 Third Proof of God's Infinite Mercy : — Crime 
 AND Curse of Cain. 
 
 2. " And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become 
 as one of us, to know good and evil : and now, lest he put 
 forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and 
 live for^ ever ; 
 
 3. " Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden 
 of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken " (Gen. 
 iii. 24). 
 
 4. " And Eve conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have 
 gotten a man from^ the Lord. 
 
 5. " And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was 
 a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 
 
 6. " And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain 
 brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 
 
 7. " And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock 
 and of the fat* thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel 
 and to his offering. 
 
 8. " But unto Cain and to his offering He had^ not respect. 
 And Cain was very*' wroth, and his countenance fell. 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 249 
 
 1. "And the Lord Grod said unto Cain, Why art thou 
 wroth ? and why is thy countenance^ fallen ? 
 
 2. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if 
 thou doest not well, sin Keth at thy door. And unto' thee 
 shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 
 
 3. "And Cain talked^ with Abel his brother : and it came 
 to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against 
 Abel his brother, and slew him. 
 
 Foreknown Condemnation of Cain. 
 
 4. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy 
 brother ? And (Cain) said, I know^ not : am I my brother's 
 keeper ? 
 
 5. " And Grod said. What hast thou done ? the voice of thy 
 brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. 
 
 6. "And now thou art cursed* from the earth, which hath 
 opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. 
 
 7. " When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth 
 yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond 
 shalt thou be in the earth" (Gren. iv. 1 — 12). 
 
 SACRED WORDS, FROM THE LIPS OF OUR OWN DEAR 
 REDEEMER, JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Divine Example of Filial Submission. 
 
 8. " Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, 
 to be baptized of him. 
 
 9. " But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be bap- 
 tized of Thee, and comest Thou to me ? 
 
250 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so 
 now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. 
 Then He suffered Him. 
 
 2. " And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straight- 
 way out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto 
 Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, 
 and lighting upon Him : 
 
 3. " And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my be- 
 loved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. iii. 13 — 17). 
 
 THEN JESUS IS TAKEN, OBEDIENTLY TO 
 
 THE COMPASSIONATE WILL OF HIS FATHER, TO BE 
 
 TEMPTED OF SATAN, FOR OUR SAKES.i 
 
 4. " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilder- 
 ness, to be tempted of the devil." 
 
 5. *' And when He had fasted forty days, and forty nights, 
 He was afterwards an hungered. 
 
 6. " And when the tempter came to Him, he said. If Thou 
 be the Son of God,^ command that these stones be made 
 bread. 
 
 7. *' But Jesus answered and said, It is written, Man shall 
 not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth 
 out of the mouth of God. 
 
 8. Then the devil taketh Him up into the Holy City, and 
 sitteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple. 
 
 9. "And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of Man,« 
 cast thyself down : for it is written, He shall give His * angels 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 251 
 
 charge concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear 
 Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. 
 
 1. " Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt 
 not tempt the Lord thy Grod. 
 
 2. " Again the Devil taketh Him up into an exceeding 
 high mountain, and sheweth Him aU the kingdoms of the 
 world, and the glory of them. 
 
 3. " And saith unto Him, All these things will I give 
 Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. 
 
 4. "Then saith Jesus unto Him, Get thee hence, Satan: 
 for it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and 
 Him only shalt thou serve.^ 
 
 5. " And, behold, angels^ came and ministered unto Him " 
 (Matt. iv. 1—11). 
 
 SEPARATELY IMPORTANT SAYINGS 
 OF JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD. 
 
 6. " Ye are the light of the world." 
 
 7. " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see 
 your good works." 
 
 8. " Go ye, and learn what that meaneth, I will have 
 mercy, and not sacrifice " (Matt. ix.). 
 
 9. " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He will send 
 forth labourers into His harvest." 
 
 10. " Take no thought how or what ye shall speak : for 
 it shall be given you . . . what ye shall speak." 
 
 11. " Fear not, therefore : for there is nothing covered, 
 that shall not be revealed ". . . 
 
 s 2 
 
252 THE WORD. 
 
 1. "What I tell jou in darkness, that speak ye in light: 
 and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house- 
 tops". . . 
 
 2. " Whosoever . . . shall confess me before men, him 
 will I confess also before my Father wliich is in heaven" 
 (Matt. X.). 
 
 3. " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is 
 in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother " 
 (Matt. xiii.). 
 
 4. "I speak to them in parables : because they, seeing, 
 see not ; and hearing, they hear not, neither do they under- 
 stand ", . . 
 
 5. " Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or 
 sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, 
 for my name's sake, shall inherit everlasting life " (Matt, 
 xix.). 
 
 THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS OF ALL. 
 
 6. " Then a pharisee, which was a lawyer, asked Him a 
 question, tempting Him, and saying, 
 
 7. " Master, which is the great commandment in the law ? 
 
 8. " Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
 thy mind. . . . 
 
 9. " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. . . . 
 
 10. " On these two commandments hang all the law, 
 AND the prophets " (Matt, xxiii.). 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 253 
 
 1. " And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude 
 of the heavenly host, praising G-od" (Matt. ii. 13, 15, 21). 
 
 UNDENIABLE MERCIFUL CONNECTION, 
 
 BETWEEN THE ANGELS OF GOD, 
 
 AND THE INCARNATED SOULS OF THIS EARTH. 
 
 IN SAINT LUKE. 
 
 2. " And there appeared (unto Zacharias) an Angel of the 
 Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense " 
 (Luke i. 11—13). 
 
 3. " He shall go before him in the Spirit and power of 
 Elias". . . (17, 18). 
 
 4. " And the Angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, 
 that stand in the presence of God " (19, 26 — 28). 
 
 5. " And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent 
 from God, unto a city of Galilee" (26—28, 29—31, 34—38). 
 
 6. " And, lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and 
 the glory of the Lord shone round about them " (ii, 9, 10). 
 
 7. " And devils also came out of many, crying out, and 
 saying. Thou art Christ, the Son of God " (41 ; vi. 18 ; 
 vii. 21). 
 
 8. " Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which 
 shall prepare thy way " (vii. 27). 
 
 9. " And certain women, which had been healed of evil 
 spirits ". . . (viii. 2, 12, 27, 29, 33—36, 38). 
 
254 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " And her spirit came again " (the maiden's soul, which 
 had left her) (Luke viii. 55 ; ix. 8, 26—30 ; xii. 8 ; xvi. 22 ; 
 XX. 36 ; xxii. 43 ; xxiv. 4, 23). 
 
 SAINT MATTHEW. 
 
 2. " But while he" (Joseph) " thought on those things, be- 
 hold the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him " (i. 20, 24 ; 
 ii. 2, 9, 10, 13, 19—22; iii. 16). 
 
 3. " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilder- 
 ness to be tempted of the Devil " (iv. 3, 5—7, 10, 11, 24). 
 
 4. " When the even was come, they brought unto Him 
 many that were possessed with Devils : and He cast out the 
 ' Spirits ' with His word " (viii. 16, 28, 31—33 ; ix. 32—34 ; 
 X. 1, 8). 
 
 5. " For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
 Father which speaketh in you" (x. 20 ; xi. 14, 18 ; xii. 22, 
 24, 27, 28, 43, 45 ; xiii. 19, 39). 
 
 6. " The Son of Man shall send forth His Angels " (xiii. 
 41). 
 
 7. " So shall it be at the end of the world : the Angels 
 shall come forth" Txiii. 49 ; xiv. 26 ; xvi. 22). 
 
 8. " And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and 
 John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high moun- 
 tain apart " (xvii. 1, 2). 
 
 9. " And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and 
 Elias, talking with Him" (3—5, 11, 12, 15—17). 
 
 10. " Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
 ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 255 
 
 always behold the face of my Father, -which is in heaven " 
 (xviii. 10). 
 
 1. " For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are 
 given in marriage, bnt are^ as the angels of God in heaven" 
 (xxii. 30—32). 
 
 2. " He saith mito them, How then doth David, in spirit, 
 call Him Lord, saying. The Lord said unto my Lord ?" (43, 
 44). 
 
 THE ELECT ANGELS, AND SOULS ELECT, 
 "BEFOEE ALL WOELDS:" 
 
 Glorious Associates, predestined by the Almighty 
 Father, to assist in the Glorious Operations of 
 Universal Redemption and Salvation. 
 
 IN SAINT MATTHEW. 
 
 3. " For then shall be great tribulations, such as was not 
 since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever 
 shall be" (xxiv. 22). 
 
 4. " And the Son of Man shall send His angels . . . and 
 they shall gather together His elect from the foiu: winds, 
 from one end of heaven to the other" (30). 
 
 5. " But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not 
 the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (36, 40, 41). 
 
 6. " When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, aud 
 all the holy angels with Him" (xxv. 31—33). 
 
 7. " Then shall the King say unto them on His right 
 
256 THE WORD. 
 
 hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation of the world " (34, 41 ; 
 xxvi. 29). 
 
 1. " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 
 and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of 
 angels" (53; xxvii. 52; xxviii. 2, 5). 
 
 FROM CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE. 
 
 Angels. 
 Gen. xlviii. 16 ; Exod. xxiii. 20 ; Numb. xx. 16 ; Judges 
 xiii. 19 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 15 ; 1 Kings 
 xiii. 18 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 21 ; Eccles. v. 6 ; Dan. iii. 28 ; 
 Isaiah vi. 9 ; Hosea xii. 4 ; Zeeh. i. 9 ; John v. 4 ; Acts vi. 
 15 ; X. 7 ; 2 Cor. xi. 14 ; Gal. i. 8 ; Eev. i. 1 ; Exod. xiv. 
 19 ; Judges xiii. 6 ; 1. Sam. xxix. 9 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 17 ; Acts 
 xxvii. 23 ; Gal. iv. 14 ; Gen. xvi. 7 ; Numb. xxii. 23 ; Judges 
 ii. 1 ; xiii. 3 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 2 Kings xix. 35 ; 1 Chron. 
 xxi. 12 ; Psakn xxxiv. 7 ; Zech. i. 11 ; Acts v. 19 ; Gen. xix. 
 1 ; Psalm viii. 5 ; Heb. ii. 7 ; Acts vii. 53 ; Eom. viii. 38 ; 
 1 Cor. iv. 9 ; Gal. iii. 19 ; Col. ii. 18 ; 2 Thess. i. 7 ; 1 Tim. 
 iii. 16 ; Heb. i. 4 ; 1 Peter i. 12 ; 2 Peter ii. 4 ; Jude 6 ; 
 Eev. xxi. 12 ; Gen. xxviii. 12 ; Heb. i. 6 ; Job iv. 18 ; Psalm 
 xci. 11 ; Heb. i. 7 ; Eev. xii. 7. 
 
 And Spirits. 
 
 Matt. iii. 16 ; Luke iii. 22 ; 1 Cor. xii. 8 ; Matt. xxii. 
 
 43 ; Gal. iii. 2 ; Eom. viii. 1 ; Matt. xxvi. 41 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; 
 
 1 Cor. V. 4 ; John iii. 6 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; Col. ii. 5 ; Psalm 
 
 Ii. 10 ; Acts vii. 59 ; Heb. i. 14 ; Mark v. 13 ; Luke vii. 21 ; 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 257 
 
 1 Sam. xviii. 10 ; Matt. xiv. 26 ; Luke xxiv. 37 ; 1 Jolin iv. 1 ; 
 Eph. iv. 30 ; Deut. ii. 30 ; 1 John iv. 3 ; Gen. xli. 38 ; Numb, 
 xxiv. 2 ; Eom. viii. 9 ; Zech. xii. 10 ; Isaiah xii. 2 ; Joel ii. 
 28 ; Zech. xiii. 2 ; Isaiah xi. 2 ; Deut. xxxiv. 9 ; Eph. i. 17 ; 
 Numb. xvi. 22 ; Psalm civ. 4 ; Prov. x. 2 ; Zech. vi. 5 ; Heb. 
 i. 14 ; Eev. x. 13. 
 
 SACEED PEOMISES, PKOPHECIES, 
 AND EEYELATIONS. 
 
 ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 1. Chap. i. 1—3, 14, 17, 32, 51 ; iii. 5, 6, 17; iv. 23, 24, 
 26 ; V. 26, 27. 
 
 2. " Marvel not at this : fur the hour is coming, in the 
 which all^ that are in the graves shall hear His voice " (28). 
 
 3. Chap. vi. 35 : " For I came down from heaven, not to do 
 mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me " (39, 40). 
 
 4. " No man can come to me, except the Father which 
 hath sent me draw him : ^ and I wiU raise him up at the last 
 day" (47). 
 
 5. "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven : 
 if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever : and the 
 bread which I shall give him is ' my ^ flesh,' which I will give 
 for the ' life of the world ' " (53). 
 
 6. "Whoso ' eateth* my flesh' and ' drinketh my blood* 
 hath eternal life ; and I mil raise him up at the last day " 
 (55-58). 
 
258 
 
 THE WORD. 
 
 1. "It is tlie SjDirit that quickenetli ; the flesh profiteth 
 nothing" . . . (63 — 66). "Then saidJesus unto the twelve, 
 Will ye also go away ?" (68, 69). 
 
 2. " Jesus answered them, Have not I^ chosen you twelve, 
 and one of you is a devil ?" (70) 
 
 3. " She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her. 
 Neither do I condemn thee : go, and sin no more " (viii. 
 10, 11). 
 
 4. Chap. ix. 1, 2 : " Jesus answered, Neither has this man 
 sinned, nor his parents :^ but that the works of God should be 
 made manifest in him" (4 — 7, 38, 39). 
 
 5. " And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : 
 them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and 
 there shall be ' one fold, and one shepherd ' " (x. 16, 26, 27). 
 
 6. Chap. xi. 1 — 3 : " When Jesus heard that, He said. 
 This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory ^ of God, 
 that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (5, 6, 11 — 14, 
 33, 35, 41, 43, 44). 
 
 7. " Then gathered the chief priests and the pharisees a 
 council, and said. What do we ? for this Man doeth many 
 miracles" (48—52). 
 
 8. " Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? 
 ^Father, save me from this hour : but for this* cause came I 
 unto this hour " (xii. 28 — 30). "Now is the judgment of 
 this world (31) : and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
 draw all men unto me." 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 259 
 
 1. " Wliile ye have the light, believe in the light,^ that ye 
 may he the children of light "... (xii. 36 — 40.) 
 
 2. " Jesus cried and said, He that belie veth on me, belie veth 
 not on me, but on Him that sent me. And he that seeth me 
 seeth^ Him that sent me " (45 — 47). " I came not to judge 
 the world, but to save ^ the world " (50). 
 
 3. Chap. xiii. 2 : " The devil having now put into the 
 heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him ; 
 Jesus riseth from supper" (3 — 5, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, 27). 
 
 4. " Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified 
 in Him" (32—34). 
 
 5. " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 if ye have^ love one to another " (36 — 38). " Yerily, verily, I 
 say unto thee. The cock shaU not crow until thou hast denied 
 me^ thiice." 
 
 6. " Let not your hearts be troubled. In my Father's 
 house "^ are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have 
 told you" (xiv. 1— 5). 
 
 7. "Jesus saith unto him [Thomas], I am the Way, the 
 Truth, and the Life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by 
 me." 
 
 8. " Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew^ us the Father, and 
 it sufficeth us. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, 
 and how say est thou then. Shew us the Father ? " (xiv. 9, 
 14). 
 
 9. "If ye love me keep my commandments" (16 — 18,21,23) , 
 
260 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the 
 Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things, 
 and bring all things to your^ remembrance, whatsoever I have 
 said unto you" (27, 28). 
 
 2. Chap. XV. 1,2: " Every branch in me that beareth 
 fruit, ' He purgeth^ it,' that it may bring forth more fruit " 
 (3—5, 8, 9, 12, 13). 
 
 3 "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command 
 you. 
 
 4. " Henceforth I call you not servants ; for all things 
 that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto 
 you. 
 
 •5f 
 
 5. " Ye have chosen me, but I have chosen you, and or- 
 dained* you .... These things I command you, that ye 
 love one another" (15 — 20). 
 
 6. " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not* 
 had sin : but now they have no ^ cloke for their sin " (23 — 25). 
 
 7. " They hated me without^ a cause " (26, 27). 
 
 8. Chap. xvi. 1 — 4: "And these things I said not unto 
 you at the beginning, because I was with you" (5, 6). 
 
 9. " Nevertheless I tell you the truth : it is expedient for 
 you that I go away. I have yet many ' things to say unto 
 you, but ye cannot bear them now " (xvi. 7, 12, 13). 
 
 10. " He will shew you things^ to come" (14—17,19, 20,22). 
 " Yerily, verily I say unto you, Whatever ye shall ask the 
 Father iu my name, He will give it you " (24, 25). 
 
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 261 
 
 1. " The time cometli, wlien I shall no more speak unto 
 you in proverbs, but ' I shall shew you plainly^ of the Father ' " 
 (26—30). 
 
 2. " Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe ? 
 
 3. "In the world ye shall have tribulations : but be of good 
 cheer; I have overcome the world" (31, 33). 
 
 4. Chap. xvii. 1, 2: " This i« life eternal, that they might 
 know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou 
 hast sent" (4—12). 
 
 5. " I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the 
 world, but that Thou shouldest ' keep them from the evil ' " 
 (16—19). 
 
 6. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which 
 shall believe on me through^ their words " (xvii. 20). 
 
 7. " That they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in me, 
 and I in Thee, that they may also be one in us : that the 
 world may believe Thou hast sent me " (22, 23). 
 
 8. " Father, I will^ that they also, whom Thou hast given 
 me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, 
 which Thou hast given me ; for Thou lovedst me before * the 
 foundation of the world " (25, 26). 
 
 9. Chap, xviii. 1 — 3 : " Jesus therefore, knowing all things 
 that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, 
 Whom seek ye ? " (5 — 7). 
 
 10. " Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He : if 
 therefore ye seek me, let these go their way " (9 — 13). 
 
262 THE WORD. 
 
 1. " Now Caiaphas was he, whicli gave counsel to the Jews, 
 that it was expedient that one man should die for the people " 
 (15—17, 25—27). 
 
 See Chap. xix. 30, 38, 41, 42 ; xx. 12, 13, 17, 20, 22 ; xxi. 
 1, 4, 7, 15—17, 20—24. 
 
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 THE AUTHOE'S DEEAM. 
 
 OUE STAES AND PLANETARY WORLDS. 
 
 ORTHODOX AND PURELY EVANGELICAL 
 REFLECTIONS, 
 
 IN SCEIPTUEAL ACCOEDANCE WITH THIS 
 PEESENT AGE. 
 
EXORDIUM. 
 
 Some years having elapsed, since the first appearance of the 
 following lines, in a volume of poems, published by Professor 
 George Marin De La Yoye, on a very remarkable and most 
 impressive occasion;^ it was thought that their insertion, after 
 careful revision and correction, at the end of these " Scriptural 
 Interpretations," might serve well as anticipated echoes. 
 
 They would furthermore tend to prove how long, and how 
 deeply, the Writer has continually had at heart, the sacred sub- 
 ject of " Universal Salvation," as a perfectly evangelical, and 
 divinely sanctioned doctrine. 
 
 With regard to the rhythmical form, which the author has 
 ventured to adopt, in order more impressively and effectively to 
 express, the fidl fervency of his thoughts and feelings, he humbly 
 begs to state that he entirely relies on the charitable indul- 
 gence of his Readers. 
 
 Senile poets seldom possess those enthusiastic energies of mind, 
 which enable younger Bards, so plentifully to draw, from their 
 imaginary Helicons, those vivid lights and erebian shades, by 
 means of which, they have at times portrayed Omnipotence and 
 Majesty, in the midst of such terrific grandeur and state, that 
 their innocently over-wrought readers, have fallen mentally 
 prostrate, before the ideal thrones of their unholy Gods. 
 
 T 
 
266 EXORDIUM. 
 
 Professor De La Yoye aims at no such pre-eminence of poetic 
 talent : his ardent wishes are bent in one direction alone ; he 
 now seeks no approbation, but that of his Eternal Father, and 
 the fraternal Love of his well-beloved Redeemer Jesus Christ. 
 
 Yet there are in old age, other raptures of heavenly birth, that, 
 from their daily increasing approximation, to the blissful realities 
 of after-life, reveal (even to Octogenarians) a boundless store of 
 Celestial truths, which, God be praised ! the fascinations of this 
 Avorld have long ceased to cloud over, iiy, sometimes, totally to 
 obliterate. 
 
 Such are the rational, all-solacing and hopeful extacies, which 
 may, here and there, be gathered, in the prose, as well as in the 
 poetry of this book. Ed. 
 
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD, 
 
 EEFLECTIONS. 
 
 To Die ! . . . 
 
 Not thence to Sleep ; but thence to Wake : 
 To things eternal, sound and spotless, Wake ! 
 
 Entombed, Thou think'st thy peaceful time hath dawned : 
 Deluded Mortal ! . . . Eead the Book of Truth ! 
 Those fateful pages tell of states, so rife 
 With restless motion, and existence new, 
 That human life, to after-life compared. 
 Is earthly movement, dull, of slothful wheel. 
 Liken' d to whirl of sphere, in swiftest orbit 
 Revolving ! . . , 
 
 No ! Thy Grave's the threshold dark, 
 Through which, condemn'd, thou art to pass, in form, 
 Mysterious, more than all thou canst conceive. 
 
 When flesh, of sense deprived, inert and cold. 
 No longer stirs, a sacred Vestibule, 
 Th' unsentient mass receives, its Dwelling Place ; 
 Its habitacle ; till, relentless Time, 
 Crumbling, ay ! pulverizing stone like bone. 
 Commingles Dwellers, and their Dwellings, with . . . 
 Almighty God ! . . . with that productive Mould, 
 Thou hast made — parent, and the nurse of all : 
 Destroyer too, how strange ! of all Thou'st made ! 
 
 A Vestibule at first, and next, a Dwelling Place ! . . . 
 Mark well the fact, replete with moral stern. 
 
 T 2 
 
268 DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The Soul, disrob'd in One, beyond this ball, 
 Takes wing for realms of purest love and bliss ; 
 Or, hurled adown th' unfathom'd void, awaits 
 The fatal knell of universal doom.^ 
 
 What Angel Sounds are those ? . . . 
 
 *iS. " A warning from the skies ! " 
 The Voice divine replies : 
 " When roughly Boreas blows, 
 " Dost thou know where it goes ? 
 
 " Then, foolish man, dare not, 
 
 ' ' So rash, to hint at things unknown : 
 " Too wise, when once a man has grown, 
 
 " Endanger'd most, becomes his lot !" 
 
 "Yet wait! . . . By supplications, well expressed, 
 " Thou may'st the lore obtain, that suits thee best : 
 " Some favoured seers have secrets caught by stealth, 
 " Outweighing far high rank, great fame, and wealth . 
 " No creed offend; no feelings wound; then start, 
 " Allowed to tell thy tale, to act thy part. 
 " The sacred ground thou tread' st, unsafe may be . . . 
 " Humbly, thy thoughts reveal, and trust in me !" 
 
 •j- TF. ! may my grateful thanks above ascend ! . . . 
 With help so strong, my course must safely run. 
 Success, from temp'ral springs, there can be none . . 
 On Those alone, who pray, Bless'd Gifts descend ! 
 
 Within the Dwelling Place, thou know'st full well 
 How, part from part, asunder decomposed. 
 Becomes so changed, so disfigured and null. 
 That sceptics, woe to them, unless they wake ! 
 
 * The writer seriously imagines that a tutelary Spirit apostrophises him. 
 
 t He resumes. 
 
 W. for "Writer — S. for Spirit. 
 
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 269 
 
 Set Resurrection Last, as false, aside. 
 
 Know'st thou, besides, a wonder greater still ? 
 That human Flesh, in pyramids concealed. 
 Or burnt, within sarcophagi of old. 
 Nay, earlier much, interr'd with hapless Eve's 
 And Adam's spoils, to Life^ hath oft returned? 
 Return' d to live, and die, and live again ! . . . 
 
 Each herb, each tree that grows, each man and beast. 
 By mould'ring Death, in course of time, assists 
 To form a huge amalgamated Store, 
 For vital sparks and human souls, to choose^ 
 Their Garments in . . . 
 
 ! what a Dawn of Gbace 
 Was that momentous Morn, on which was seen 
 Th' embodied earth, a human form assume ! . . . 
 Commencement of Redeeming Love, evinced 
 By canc'Uing Death, the Greatest boon oe at,t. ! ! 
 
 In sacred Shell consigned, of late departed, 
 Httmblest Remain, on whom, the coldest hearted 
 Dare not to sneer, much less presume to rail : 
 Though hare's the soil, that owns thine home-shed frail ; 
 The Great around, the Rich, the Haughty dwell. 
 In homes, no softer, now, than thy i'OOR shell ! 
 
 See'st Thou, at last, that earthly joys are short ? 
 The happiest life of man ? . . . A piteous sport ! . . . 
 We all, to This, must come : none can escape, 
 Whate'er his rank, his name, his giant shape. 
 Brief is the space of years, to men assigned. 
 Gifted or not with wealth, with might or mind . . . 
 But wealth and might, e'en talents rare, bring pangs. 
 Not one like thee can know, sharp, deep-struck fangs, 
 By mental pain, inflicted on his heart. 
 Who never felt, before, the slightest smart. 
 
270 DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 None leaving, save survivors, used to pain, 
 Th' INDIGENT die, while Death, for them, is gain ! 
 Sad Gain ! alas ! as well, to friends around. 
 Who find one less to feed, above the ground . . . 
 
 Fare ye well, then, whose present homes admit 
 The glorious hope of being call'd, to sit, 
 By His Eight Hand, who loved both young and poor ; 
 Having endured. Himself, a vast deal more. 
 
 Unfathom'd Nature, pregnant Mysteries scan ! 
 What is this Pause, in certain Death ? . . . that myth. 
 Now fixed and proved, wherein th' immortal soul. 
 Through forms ethereal, and material,^ moves 
 In Mediate States, unmeant to be supine ? 
 
 Most bounteous Signs ! ... In Graves and Tumuli, 
 
 May we not see, just such as God's own goodness. 
 
 Most infinite, hath vouch'd, of old, to grant ? 
 
 Forgiveness, past all Christian ken ! ... To fallen. 
 
 And, falling men ! . . . 
 
 May we not, grateful, speak ? 
 
 May we not figurative language use, 
 
 To stamp on those, who venture still to doubt, 
 
 This Truth, this Fact, most undeniable, 
 
 That Grace abounds, that Love by far exceeds 
 
 All Faith may hope, all Hope is taught to trust in : 
 
 Justice impartial, to whom Sacred Writ, 
 
 A fabled Story seems — with Mercy tempered, 
 
 To whom, " The Triune" on th' Eternal Throne, 
 
 Is earthly Bond, and everlasting BKss ? 
 
 TF". Are words, presumptuous like those,* to guide 
 Frail Mortals' doubtful, trembling steps ? . . . Decide, 
 ! Thou, whose sympathy, so like divine. 
 Does, erring thoughts, and wand'ring minds incline ? . 
 
 * Evil suggestions are impiously crossiug the writer's mind. 
 
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 271 
 
 W. Eeflections, such as mine, herein presumed, 
 May they, with due submission, be resumed ? . . . 
 
 Through undiscovered paths, to find a mean, 
 Whereby to solve, with reverence, a Dbeam, 
 On human reason stamp'd, but once before ; 
 
 In ideal states, imagined oft of yore, 
 To witness proofs, that Love divine redeems 
 Eejected souls, for whom no Hansom seems ; 
 
 By Facts, existing since the world began. 
 Show why stern Death's the kindest ekiend of Man : 
 
 Such are the themes, on which these lines may dwell ; 
 Shall they no further run ? . . . Great Mentor, tell ? . . 
 
 ^'S. " Hast thou not read that evil spirits wait, 
 " As well as Angel-friends, on sinful man ? 
 *' The scoffing laud,^ to which thy prayer alludes, 
 "Is praise derisive, sung to lead thee wrong. 
 
 " So laugh and sing the false, to cheat their friends : 
 "A dang' reus throng, abounding most in towns 
 " Where flatt'ry reigns ; but, most of aU, where gold 
 " And rank predominate . . . The bride avoid ! 
 " 'T might glad thy mind ; thy soul 'twould surely soil ! 
 
 "In good time, pray, remember this : Advice 
 " On thee bestow' d, by whom thou know'st as pure, 
 "And holy prone, instant, thou should' st adopt : 
 " In acting weU, by no delusion stopi^ed ! 
 
 " Whate'er thou speakest, speak, with motives good! 
 " Unfitly fed, thy mind ? . . . seek better food : 
 
 " A Book there is, for pious lore, by none 
 " On earth excelled — its pages read, and Learn. . . 
 " For sounder laws, believe ! Thou need'st not yearn. 
 " All thou attemptest forth, 'twill be well done : 
 " Thy Christian's course, thou canst not better run. 
 
 * Again the tutelary Spirit warns. 
 
272 DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 
 
 " To mortal eyes, so brightly shown, 
 
 " Though God's most marv'Ilous works outshine, 
 "By countless folds, all deeds divine, 
 
 " Of gods and men, who ever shone ; 
 
 " Though minds mayn't know those Titles claimed 
 ' ' By Him, whose power and wisdom reach 
 "Beyond the utmost bounds, men's speech 
 
 " To kings assigns and heroes famed ; 
 
 "Though He, in myst'ries deep be veiled, 
 " So that no mortal thought can mete 
 " His worth, His attributes complete, 
 
 " By learning weighed, or science scaled ; 
 
 "Why shouldst thou not, with pious care, 
 
 " Thy rational solutions speak ? 
 
 " On holy themes, new judgments seek, 
 " And facts, with problems dark, compare?" . . . 
 
 TF. But fears my soul dismay, lest reas'nings should 
 Turn Bight to "Wrong, make Evil seem like Good ? 
 
 S. " Thou need'st not dread, as long as, loving Eight, 
 
 " Unknown to thee, perchance, thou choosest wrong 
 "He's guilty, who, with pen profane, doth write, 
 " To suit the vicious, please the guilty throng ! " 
 
 W. My longing's to indite what best may show. 
 That Potency divine and heavenly Love, 
 In thought, in word, in deed, are far above 
 What men may think, express, or do below : 
 
 What men may think, of God-Creator, first ; 
 
 What men may say, of God-the-Saviour, next ; 
 
 How men may act, by Trinity perj)lexeJ, 
 Regarding Soijls redeem'd and Soitls accuksed ! 
 
THE author's dream. 273 
 
 S. " Bless'd be thy Labors tlien ! . . . Nor fancy spare ; 
 "Nor shun imaginative flights, to tell 
 " Of wonders, none can ever laud too well ! 
 **T' interpret Death, thou seem'st designed to dare." 
 
 W. Ye, burial Caves of old, then lift your heads ! 
 Huge catacombs, and subterranean vaults ; 
 From Saint Sebastian's Holy Graves, to those 
 Of ancient Eome, and Syracuse the Great ; 
 Ay ! those include, besides, of modern days. 
 Not less deserving note . . . far-famed Lutetia's, 
 And Mighty Albion's crypts, where lie the bones, 
 The evanescent dust of men, renowned 
 For words and deeds, more evanescent still. 
 
 Incarnately renascent, perishing 
 And living Globe, wherein the dust of ages. 
 So oft, has powdered down and disappeared. 
 Incessantly to reappear again : 
 Hereby, we gratefully salute ye all ! . . . 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S DREAM.* 
 
 Creation. 
 
 Most wond'rous scene ! . . . 
 
 Deep, soundless gloom o'erveiled 
 
 Yoid, universal space ! — Time, none could name, 
 
 For none was there . . . When, sudden, fell a Yoice, 
 
 Predestinating Birth of Future Life, 
 
 Throughout that gloom ; predestinating birth 
 
 Of Death, as well, and Resurrection Last ! 
 
 * WMcli has frequently recurred, under various aspects, since 1812, when 
 the writer well remembers at college, in Paris, first meditating on such holy 
 themes. 
 
274 THE author's dream. 
 
 That Voice was Triune, and triune th' effect produced. 
 A gleam illumined vast, immeasurable, 
 Quick'ning Immensity. — ! mighty throes ! 
 Miraculous production of ? . . . A World ! 
 
 The Heavens and the wide seas ; dry laud with trees ; 
 And all those things, that grow and germinate ; 
 Into perfection sprang. Eive setting suns, 
 Creation's marv'llous works beholding, ceaseless, 
 Proclaimed those " Labors " done : the sixth not dawned ! 
 The Blessed Sixth ! . . . Momentous to Mankind, 
 More, infinitely, than the whole amount 
 Of earthly Weal ! 
 
 A dazzling Centre shone 
 Amidst these sapphire-coloured clouds of night ; 
 
 Prismatic hues and tints were, not alone. 
 To deck that beaming, radiant flood of light. 
 
 There hover' cl round, in myriad circles spread, 
 Angehc forms, with adoration, kneeling ; 
 
 Seraphic melodies, their accents shed 
 
 On prayers, through choirs celestial, softly stealing. 
 
 Beneath, apparently compelled to hide. 
 
 Vast Myraids more of " other forms " stood still . . . 
 Their Chief, vindictive, his dark malice plied. 
 
 Each, with wrath and malevolence, to fill. 
 
 The FiETH Day closed. The Voice had said 'twas good ! 
 
 Good, as the four preceding days had been ! . . . 
 But wonders, far surpassing all that could. 
 
 By Heaven's bright hosts be hoped, were not yet seen. 
 
 Each living thing, on earth, at present moving. 
 
 Had serv'd His ranks to thin, whose name is " Fiend :" 
 
 Erom whom, no good proceeds, that's worth approving ; 
 By whom, no soul was e'er from evil weaned ! 
 
THE author's dream. 275 
 
 Alone, lie stood at last, except a fav'rite band. 
 
 Who, like himself, eternal hate selected ; 
 Preferring much, 'gainst Heaven's commands, to stand. 
 
 And, spite salvation, strive to blast th' elected. 
 
 ! Day of days ! ... Be hail'd thy glorious rise ! 
 How beauteous grow the roseate orient skies ! . . . 
 Ye stars, farewell ! Adieu ! thou. Globe so white ; 
 Benignly hung, to serve, as lamp of night ! 
 Where dost thou go, withdrawing thus from day 
 Thy modest face ? 'Tis plain ! . . . Each beaming ray, 
 Eclipsing more thy placid charms, tells thee. 
 Another globe, thy Eival's soon to be ; 
 And, there He comes, the Lord of mortal life ! 
 Betwixt whom, and night, never ending strife 
 Must e'er exist — Thus Good and Evil, meeting. 
 Are constantly seen, clashing and competing. 
 
 What green umbrageous trees ! What limpid streams ! 
 What undulating slopes, o'er which those beams 
 Delight to rove ! Perfection of Creation. . . 
 Defying art, inviting contemplation ! 
 All Living Things save Man, ye skies, behold ! . . . 
 
 Then, see, those creatures meet, in friendly play, 
 Disporting all, innocuous and gay. . , 
 
 Dolphins with swans in rivers, here, carousing ; 
 Young lambs with tigers, there, conjointly housing. 
 There's not an atom seen ; there's not a note, 
 By piping bird e'er sung, or warbling throat ; 
 There's not a leaf, there's not a grassy blade, 
 A solid inch, a fluid drop, He bade. 
 But now, this Day, the Sixth, is call'd "Well done :" 
 ! wait until we reach the setting sun ! . . . 
 
276 THE author's dream. 
 
 These, thy mii'aculous conceptions, Lord 
 Supreme, must have a cause, involve an aim ! 
 Goodness extreme, stern Justice, and a Wisdom, 
 Incomprehensible to human minds. 
 Lead us, reflective servants of thy Will, 
 Blest instruments, and creatures of thy Love, 
 From Christian zeal, and earnest wish, not merely 
 Ourselves, the better to appreciate Thee, 
 But, furthermore, to make Thee known, transcendent, 
 Throughout this universe. . . 
 
 Who can compute 
 The feeblest part of that amount, whereby 
 God's attributes^ are reckoned yet on earth? . . . 
 A meritorious act it must then be 
 To trace out proofs, to bring forth facts, attesting 
 That, where His Mercy seems to reach a bound, 
 Unlimited, it then o'erflows, in floods 
 Of Au. Forgiving Grace. . . 
 
 Canst Thou declare 
 That suff'ring animals and tortur'd beasts. 
 And all those living things He call'd to life. 
 Saying, " They were Good," were produced to perish, 
 Without benev'lent motive or design ? . . . 
 Canst thou declare, uncompromising sophist, 
 That compensation none's to be their meed ? 
 
 And yet, an all-suflB.cient way there is. 
 To reconcile injustice, seemingly 
 Intentional, with Goodness, strikingly 
 Conspicuous ; a way most militant. 
 It would be base, from dread, to set aside. 
 Devotedly full fraught with faith, to choose. 
 
 Save "the Fiend," and his minions, wholly lost, 
 May not, included be, great multitudes. 
 Less criminal, of Those, expelled from Heaven's 
 
THE author's dream. 277 
 
 Vast realms, to pass th.' incarnate ordeals, fixed 
 
 On creatures, human and promiscuous ? ^ 
 
 Are we, so deep imbued with. Christian Faith, 
 
 Our estimates of Mercy's boundless means 
 
 To circumscribe, and, selfish, say : so far, 
 
 And, not an atom further, shall extend 
 
 DrviNE Redeeming Love ? . . . 
 
 Is God, alone 
 
 The Grod of Man ? Of fallen Angels, Lord 
 
 Implacable, and unforgiving Judge ? 
 
 Of things that breathe and feel, besides, a foe ; 
 
 To kind commiseration deaf ? No ! No ! ! 
 
 No!!! 
 
 Has not that Grod once said : ! " Father," mine, 
 
 ** Forgive them ; for they know not what they do ?" 
 And did not that God's prophet, long before. 
 Declare that "to the Lord our God belong " 
 Great " Mercies and forgiveness, although 
 " We have rebell'd against him ; neither have 
 " Obeyed the voice of the Lord our God." . . . 
 
 Then, 
 "Why not, impartially, and, with intentions 
 
 Most reverential, fitly note and seize 
 Suggestions, purporting a thousand fold, 
 Ay ! multiplied by twice ten thousand times 
 Ten thousand more, to make appear immense, 
 His Triune Mercy, erst presiding o'er 
 That Fiat "Word, which, last of aU, was heard, 
 ! most paternally forgiving Love ! to say : 
 
 " Let tjs make Man in our " own " Likeness " too ! 
 
 Effulgent Glory ! though thy presence tells 
 HE now is " there ; " celestial fragrant smells 
 Perfume the Garden through, and indicate. 
 His final task, this day, the Good and Great 
 Jehovah's set himself . . . 
 
278 THE author's dream. 
 
 Afar and near, 
 With, deep amazement filled ; without a fear ; 
 Behold ! how congregate ail living things ! . . . 
 
 In circles drawn, still wider grow their rings. 
 Whilst angels bright, in radiant smiles attending, 
 These, fixing here ; those, further still extending ; 
 A broad arena leave, whereon a mound, 
 Conspicuous, is seen, by all around. — 
 
 Seraphs and cherubim are ho v' ring o'er. 
 The marv'Uous scene — Ethereal spirits more 
 Are thronging, emulous, to hymn His praise. 
 Whose ruling Will, the universe obeys . . . 
 
 Other spirits, too, by lurid mists concealed, 
 Eedueed, discarded band, but half revealed, 
 Impatiently, and horror struck, await 
 Their death-deprived, interminable fate. 
 
 A seeming Wall of flames now guards the Mound ; 
 
 And Grlass, like crystal waves, flows round the wall. 
 Both beasts and birds are still ; there's not a sound. 
 
 Save, in the welkin vague, some trumpet call . . . 
 Some trumpet call, well-known Archangel Blast, 
 
 To which, th' angelic hosts, in haste, respond ; 
 At which, the Dead themselves will wake aghast. 
 
 To hear their doom, and know there's none beyond. 
 
 Sudden, there rose a violent wind, which tore 
 
 The quaking earth— Fork' d lightnings flashed anon ; 
 
 And rocks were cloven through — A deaf 'ning roar, 
 From things unseen, and thunder claps, came on. 
 
 "A STILL SMALL VOICE," and soon, a Second spoke; 
 
 A Third, in sound the same, but louder each 
 Than that which first did speak, the silence broke : 
 
 Full calm now reign'd, as bade the " still small speech." 
 
THE AITTHOr's DREAM. 279 
 
 Debate/ most inconceivable ! . . . One Lord 
 With Two conversing — Power and Love divine, 
 
 And Justice, striving hard to meet accord : 
 
 The Three in One, Eedeeming Love, combine . . . 
 
 And Man's the glorious Theme !— ! Heavens above ! 
 
 Loud Hallelujahs sing ! . . . The Equal Three, 
 In ONE KIND Saviour join : Most Boundless Love ! 
 
 Let Joy be echo'd round, and holy Glee ! 
 
 ** So God created Man." — Gen. i. 27. 
 
 The wall of flames, the waves, had pass'd away : 
 Celestial forms, though still allow'd to stay, 
 Invisible to mortal eyes, on clouds, 
 Immovable awhile, reclined in crowds ; 
 Sweet symphonies afar, were heard, subdued ; 
 All living things, with wonder, seem'd imbued. 
 
 There, on the Mound, a Being stands ! His face 
 Most radiant ; His bright Self, all virtues grace . . . 
 No human charms, no Godlike feature wanted, 
 To make Him loved, admired, widely chanted. 
 Another Being's there ; so like in frame, 
 The images, of both, appear the same : 
 Yet One commands, and One obeys! 'Tis HE, 
 The Lord of Hosts, the Mighty God you see. 
 In Adam's nostrils, now. He breathes the Breath 
 Of human Life, a Man Complete ; till Death ? . . . 
 
 Till Death, forsooth ! . . . since, good although it seems 
 To live ; far better 'tis most times, to die. 
 Long lives, the happiest known, are tedious paths, 
 Through which, men, fearful, thread their slipp'ry way. 
 Each birth implies an end ; each end, a birth : 
 For, further Lives, or long or short, foreknown 
 Or fore-ordained, by Whom all things were good. 
 Are good, and shall be good. He will'd and made ; 
 
280 RESULTING REFLECTIONS. 
 
 And further Deaths, since that of Abel first, 
 To that of him who shall expire last, 
 Were all, are all, and all will surely be. 
 The destin'd causes, and the fated ends^ 
 Of boundless G-race, and everlasting Love. 
 
 Before the Universe, its vast existence 
 From Grod received, the Trittne Spirit knew 
 The length and breadth, the purpose and the fate 
 He meant, each system, far and near, immense. 
 And, by comparison, minute, as share 
 Appropriate, from Heaven's laws shoidd obtain . . . 
 
 He knew that Angels, lured from rectitude, 
 By deep satanic snares, would so imperil 
 Their blissful state, that stern necessity 
 Would make expulsion, first inevitable. 
 Perchance, hereafter, awful and eternal.^ 
 
 He knew that intermediate creatures, frail 
 And tempted too, must fall, and fall again. 
 Making destruction of this Earth, by flood. 
 As by fire too, the fruit of long transgressions, 
 His Justice could not pardon, unatoned. 
 
 And He well knew that fallen angels, like 
 Fallen mankind, could never be redeemed, 
 Be purified, regenerate, and saved. 
 Without ? . . . That all-sufficient Sacrifice : 
 Th' Immaculate Messiah Crucified ! ! ! 
 
 This knowing, what may we not be allowed, 
 Most innocently, to conclude ? . . . With Prescience ; 
 Omnipotence, Benevolence, combined, 
 Foreshadow clear impossibility to prove 
 That more than One shall " finally " be lost ! 
 Eternally and unredeemably^ 
 Condemn' d and Lost. 
 
THE author's uream. 281 
 
 No, No ! . . . 'Tis Satan's doom 
 Which "never" is to be reversed — That fell 
 Deceiver's doom ; for which, there's no Eedemption, 
 No compromise, no reconciliation, 
 Apparently, ^ can be sued for and gained ! 
 
 '^S. " Until now, persevering Eeasoner, thou, 
 
 " Both shrewd and circumspect, hast kept thy course ; 
 "Too positive thy statements grow . . . Take heed! 
 " 'Mong mysteries, some have a ' sacred source.' 
 
 " What knowest thou, unknown to Lore of old? . . . 
 " ' Eeflect ' awhile, on some less holy theme : 
 "Th' Omniscient can thy secret feelings read; 
 
 ** He may be pleased, He may not, with thy dkeam ! 
 
 " Thy thoughts, I know to be right well inclined ; 
 "Await the judgment. Learned Seers will pass. 
 " All thou couldst feel and state, by Them condemned, 
 "As useless dross would seem, and withered grass. 
 
 " Thy future labours ponder well ! 
 
 " We know th' important topics fixed, 
 "With what important subjects mixed, 
 "And how. Thou couldst excel, 
 " On such details, to dwell. 
 
 "Let morals good, and faith sincere, 
 
 " Conduct thy pen, t' indite the truth, 
 " To which, conjoin aflfectio'nate sooth ; 
 
 "And make thy motives clear, 
 
 " Combine with virtues dear. 
 
 " Like placid lake, with waters bright, 
 " Inviting all to come and drink, 
 
 * Once more the Spkit warns. 
 
282 THE author's dream. 
 
 " Trees redolent, close by the brink, 
 " And fruit for the' appetite, 
 " Fresh source of new delight. 
 
 " So are the Thoughts, of men endowed, 
 " O'er pages flowing, rich and full, 
 " Instructive, both, and beautiful ; 
 
 " Eich manna, dropp'd from clouds, 
 
 " On faint and dying crowds. 
 
 " Be my nest errands far or near, a call 
 
 " Eequiring me to thine aid, on this ball, 
 
 " As lightning flash, shall bring me to thy side. 
 
 " Though oft, from sphere to sphere, I'm bid to ride, 
 
 " My special mission's, first, on thee to wait." . . 
 
 " So spare not me, when barr'd by doubt or straight!" 
 
 Again I dreamt. . . . 
 
 A trance had charm'd my soul. 
 
 Spectator no more ; acting now my part . . . 
 By Angels soon escorted, side to side. 
 We stroUed, conversing ; not of things long past ; 
 Nor yet of things, that morrows should reveal. 
 
 But each rehearsing favours, granted late,^ 
 To Heaven's celestial Bann'd, " comprising me," 
 Me, just transformed, whose soul, by Grace transfused, 
 First Blessed of millions more, with fates alike 
 Awaiting them, am hence allowed to speed 
 Through destinies, as mystic as bountiful, 
 Until redeemed, atoned for, and restored ! . . . 
 Thus we stroU'd ; thus communed — happy time ! . . . 
 
THE AUTHOR S DREAM. 283 
 
 The sun declining fast, my spotless mates, 
 On wings outspread withdrew : 
 In haste, their blissful states 
 To reach, 
 They each, 
 In whirls ascending, flew. 
 
 Alone retiring slow, some grove I sought, 
 • To court refresliing sleep — 
 happiest state ! Methought, 
 Had I, 
 Close by, 
 A genial friend to meet ! 
 
 Thus, dreaming stiU, on mossy turf reclining, 
 I seemed that man, just made, who stood before 
 His Maker's face, a perfect masterpiece 
 Of Godlike frame. Erect like Him, endowed 
 With gifts so vast, so wonderful, that Heaven, 
 Like earth, appeared a well-remembered realm 
 Of bliss to me : Fair Eden, inferior much ! ^ . . . 
 
 All sentient powers, awhile, from self abstracted, 
 A Part withdrawn me-seemed had left, uufelt. 
 My person's side. ^ . . . 
 
 And then, a vision loomed, 
 Impressive, terror- with-delight-conferring, 
 From out a mass immense of clouds assembled ! . . . 
 
 Strange sense returned ; my feehngs instant rousino- ; 
 Though not yet roused the dormant flesh, 
 Weigh'd down and clogg'd by leaden slumbers still, 
 I, rapt, attentive, wonderstruck, appalled; 
 " O'ercome with gladness too," my gaze transferred 
 To columns deep, emerging and deploying. 
 In wide array, of seraph-like and cherub 
 Phantoms ethereal ... So far reached their ranks ; 
 
 u 2 
 
284 THE author's dream. 
 
 So high, so low, so vastly spread o'er endless space. 
 That, infinite, although iny visual powers 
 Had dreaming grown, not e'en th' angelic ken, 
 I now possessed, a millionth part could span 
 Of that huge multitude, whose eyes, amazed. 
 Were all converged on me ! ! ! 
 
 On whom besides ? . . 
 
 Converg'd, besides, those eyes appear' d, on Two : — 
 That One, with majesty, with might endow' d ! ! ! 
 
 An Angel bright of earthly mould was This ^ . . . 
 On bended knees, we, grateful both, low bowed, 
 To God uniting thanks, for so much bliss : 
 Echoed to boundless praise, our Te Deums grew. 
 
 Praise universal, hymned by countless voices 
 
 Throughout th' Empyrean Vault, and most of all 
 
 By souls immaculate, of angels pure, 
 Too firmly bound, by Heavenly love, to fall ! 
 
 Whom Satan's wiles, oft tried, could ne'er allure ; 
 At sight of whom,^ e'en God our Lord rejoices ! 
 
 But many more their rapture proved by sighs : 
 Repentant host, though driven from states divine, 
 
 Would kneel, devote, in adoration true ; ^ 
 Were Evil's Chief, by chastisement condign. 
 Hurled to perdition, to destruction too. 
 Away from those o'er whom his Malice plies. 
 
 ** Oh ! would that, opportune, some chance could be, 
 ''Whereby Temptation might, for evermore, 
 
 " Leave our celestial homes to Love and Bliss !" 
 Were heard two spirits,'' fervent, to outpour, 
 As down they sank within the dark abyss, 
 Ay ! ne'er again, perhaps, lost Heaven to see ! 
 
THE author's dream. 285 
 
 Those Two, what Mighty Arm ? what Botjnteous Will 
 Eedeeniingly, forgivingly upholds ? . . . 
 
 Their prayer, victorious o'er Thy just award ! 
 ! yes, for them it is this world unfolds 
 Its gifts, its unexpected high reward ! . . . 
 The Saviour's mercies sternest Justice fill. 
 
 This seeing, those eyes, on us still converging, 
 
 With joy, the pure ; with hate, the envious mark . . . 
 
 Their friends not lost, to some who know the end ; 
 To others, less inspired, a legend dark . . . 
 To all a token that He doth yet extend 
 His Grrace on earth, through Mercy's means diverging. 
 
 Thus Adam, in my Dream, was I ; and Eve, 
 
 The beauteous and the pure, that mate bestowed 
 
 By God on me : we both, fallen souls first tried ^ . . . 
 The Fiend, descending soon, with triumph glowed ; 
 To ruin us straight, an exc'llent plan he spied, 
 Well knowing we, so weak, would all believe. 
 
 He little deemed how well his fell design. 
 Successful, has th' intended purpose served. 
 By Provident Benevolence ordained^ . . , 
 Through him we fell ; through him have all deserved 
 Mysterious paths to tread, by time explained ; 
 For him, sad bane ; for us, a prize divine ! 
 
 TV. Honest Logician . . . Judge impartial, say, 
 That First of men, why, why created He ? . . 
 That woman, too. First mother of her kind, 
 So frail, so prone to fall, why left He there, ^ 
 (Defenceless unsuspicious prey), to guiles. 
 Before the least of which e'en angels yielded. 
 Thus sullied and undone ? . . . And why ? 
 
286 IMAGINARY COMMUNION. 
 
 S. "Say on, 
 " Unmindful of results ; for none can be, 
 " Save approbatory — Thy motives pure ; 
 "Thine aim? . . . Increase of Glory to thy God ! . . . 
 " The guerdon sought, for ventu'ring so to speak? . . . 
 "Additional encouragement from Heaven, 
 " Conferred by inspiration, for thy zeal." 
 
 W. ! why, then, why the kind Redeemer present, ' 
 When, the Great Spirit moved upon the face 
 Of those dark waters ? when, our God next said : 
 " Let there be light ?" . . . 
 
 And when the Holt Ghost, 
 The Comforter Himself, assisted there ? , . . 
 Might not thine Answer be, most reverential 
 That fair Creation, that Salvation, both. 
 Were not for Adam and for Eve alone. 
 But for those hapless angels cast away,^ 
 Through retribution just, but mitigated 
 By love's atonement, and by sanctifying 
 Commiserating Grace ? 
 
 Thy next reply ; 
 Might it not rationally be ? . . . 
 
 S. "No, Dreamer; 
 " It could not be !" . . . 
 
 That Yoice benign, in dread, 
 Abruptly interposed — " Not rational, 
 " Nor reverent ! . . . Does not the potter fashion 
 " His plastic clay, according to his will ? . . . 
 "Thy thoughts, suggestive, have as yet, agreed 
 "With wise ratiocinations, tempered right, 
 "As human thoughts should be." . . . 
 
 W. What ! There to warn, 
 To check, to guide, as Thou, so friendly didst. 
 
THE author's dream. 287 
 
 Dread Evil luring me,^ when one step more 
 Destructive bolts had drawn on me ! . , . I cried . • . 
 
 S. " Thy bold Replies, too bold are grown, 
 "Most prudently, th' Eternal Throne 
 " Should mortals dare t' approach ! 
 "Thou chancest now t' encroach 
 
 " On awful ground . . . 
 "Make thy Eeflections clear, and sound 
 " As should be found." 
 W. Are queries wrong ? May not all creatures ask, 
 What best may help, complete to make their task ? 
 
 S. "We read thy queries right; we know 
 " Thou meanest them for ' facts ' to go , . , 
 " The last,^ in haste to thee, 
 " Erom furthest space, brought me . . . 
 " A check I bring : 
 " Both, morally and meekly sing ! 
 " To reason cling ! " . . . 
 
 W. No meaning's mine, to give the least offence ; 
 I aim to set down nought, but common sense . . . 
 'Tis true, I wished to make appear that Grod, 
 Formed Man, for purpose better than to plod. 
 With Eve, in Paradise a weary life,^ 
 Next, on this sphere, exposed to fruitless strife. 
 
 A motive seems, to Wisdom such, required. 
 That earthly woes, in frightful guise attired, 
 And all the many tribulations felt. 
 Should be by souls deserved and justly dealt. 
 
 With mental powers endowed, so great and vast. 
 Mayn't we conclude that, t' evoke the Past, 
 The Present scrutinize ; the Euture solve. 
 On those, who deeply ponder, may devolve ? 
 
288 FERVENT INVOCATION. 
 
 A Fact exists, no Christian pen or tongue, 
 To lioly truths, through Faith, that ever clung, 
 Could dare ignore, less still misunderstand ! . . 
 
 That fierce temptations were to fill that land 
 Which God created, and His Son controls ; 
 On which, that Son was sent to save oiu' souls ; 
 In which. His Spirit, too, was left to dwell. 
 As guard and shield, against the snares of Hell. 
 
 A fact, so positive, that Christian Creeds 
 Containing it, through ages gone, by deeds 
 Heroic ; deaths of martyrs, burnt on stakes ; 
 The gore of armies slain ; the thousand aches 
 Of tens of thousands more, devote and true ; 
 Have been, must be upheld, long ages through ! ^ 
 
 S. ' ' Intentions, so replete with faith, thou'rt sure, 
 ' ' Will gain disciples to thy side . . . 
 " Thy notions none can blame ; abide, 
 "And hold by th' Holy Word, thou'lt prosper more ! . . . 
 
 " It may, and may not be that fallen souls, 
 
 "As sinful men transformed, are we. 
 
 "No matter 'tis, so long as Hk 
 "Thy saintly thoughts, thy love sincere unfolds "... 
 
 W. So far am I, believe me, heavenly Guardian, 
 From worldly pride or mean ambitious views, 
 That, sooner would I, suatch'd from earthly fame, 
 Spoiled of all chance of gain, be rendered null, 
 Ay, impotent until my latest day. 
 Than risk, a single moment, to displease 
 That God, whose praise I so devoutly long 
 Incessantly to sing ! . . . Let rather bolts. 
 From wrathful clouds, on me descend ! . . . fierce whirlwinds 
 The paths I tread destroy ! . . . All I, devoutly, 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS. 289 
 
 Beneath tlie skies, set love or value on, 
 For e'er be lost to me ! ... If renegade 
 To Christian fealty, by thought or -word, 
 Or step intentional, I should offend 
 That Lord, so merciful, who died for me ! 
 
 S. " When such the feelings are of pious men, 
 ** Mistaken, though their words may seem ; 
 "Always, for them, sweet mercies beam, 
 " And angels veil all th' errors of their pen ! . , . 
 
 *' To think that Jesus Christ, with Grod presiding 
 *' When worlds were made, Redemption shows ; 
 "But clearly proves thy trust o'erflows, 
 
 "In 'All-sufficient' Gloriofs Grace confiding! . . . 
 
 " To dream that fallen Angels were, from Eve, 
 
 " Through generations, earth-condemned, 
 
 "Incarnate, too, to be redeemed, 
 " Seems, Holy Truths, but strictly to believe. 
 
 " To date the doom of man, from Satan's fall, 
 
 "Thy faith displays, as most devout: 
 
 " He who sav'd Man, not one dare doubt, 
 " Could Angels save, the worst, as well as all ! 
 
 " A Saviour, Son of God, all worlds before, 
 
 "Means not for earthly sins alone, 
 
 "But past apostasies t' atone, 
 ' ' By floods of mercies, sent from kind Heaven's store. 
 
 " There's no transgression named, for praising God . . . 
 
 " With Love too deep, with zeal too great ; 
 
 " His Grace, with power commensurate, 
 " Mio:ht cleanse the foulest fiend that ever trod.' 
 
290 FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 " Thy just reflections, now, thou may'st resume. . . 
 " None can object to Wisdom's pleas, 
 " For proving kind the Lord's decrees, 
 
 "E'en when they, most, His sternest wrath assume." 
 
 Farewell, my serious thoughts, on sacred themes, 
 My soul-absorbing dreams of Heaven, farewell ! . . . 
 Though brief the time consumed in visions bright. 
 Of glorious hosts, and spheres celestial, beaming 
 Effulgent rays, through skies of azure blue, 
 Of worth to me, surpassing mines of gold 
 And jewels rare; Farewell! . . . ! visions past ! . . . 
 
 Would that, far from returning here, to things 
 Material, e'en the best but loathsome dross, 
 I, rapt in endless dreams, supremely blest, 
 Could lead, admiringly adoring Him, 
 The Great, the Just, Benevolent and Grood, 
 A pure immortal state of Adoration ! , . . 
 
 ! when my wond'ring sight observed Creation's 
 Most marv'llous works ; when, next, my mind conceived 
 Its purpose and its end, its motive, too. 
 Forgive, Thou Source Divine of sweet compassion 
 And sympathy, forgive, if dreaming thus 
 I stirred, unconsciously, Thy wrath ? ^ . . . It was 
 Because I thought the myst'ry clearly solved, 
 " Concealment now no longer sought " which veiled 
 Thy boundless, inconceivable designs. 9 
 
 To all dear Christian friends, sincere this prayer 
 Is humbly made, that they, to no presumptuous 
 Intent or wish, these thoughtful lines ascribe. . . . 
 
 A constant Dream, by night, by day, my soul 
 Incessantly possessing, I, at last, 
 Obedient bowed, submissive to the goad. . . . 
 
THE STARS AND OUR PLANETARY WORLDS. 291 
 
 The tilings so beautiful, herein described, 
 Not oft, but constantly, through visions, both 
 Awake and sleeping, I've, transported, felt 
 And heard, observed, and seen above, around 
 And under me revealed. 
 
 What pains I took, 
 To banish, from my troubled heart, the stings 
 Inflicted there, by doubts incredulous,^ 
 Not men could tell, for seldom men are found. 
 Unbiassed and unshackled, so as, dauntless. 
 To speak their mind. . . . That aid, so much desired. 
 Me failing, yet devoutly wishing still. 
 All worldly counsels I, for e'er rejected. 
 When supernatural, sudden suggestions ^ 
 My soul impelling, drove me, now inspired, 
 In testamentary divine Commands 
 To seek assistance last. . . . 
 
 Great Bible store ! 
 On Thee, ! truly philanthropic Mentor, 
 My whole belief I confidently lay ! . . . 
 
 I read, and read, and read again thy pages through ; 
 Those pages most, wherein, through Him abound 
 Excessive Love, Forgiveness, and, declared 
 So many times, God's Charity to Man^ . . . 
 
 Thou art our Savioiu-'s voice, our Comforter's 
 Diurnal Monitor, and, ever present 
 Disinterested Guide . . . 
 
 Indeed ! indeed ! 
 The real sum, in full, of Christian Hope ; 
 world ! human kind ! good and evil 
 Things, animate, or next to live ! It is . . . 
 God's MERCiFuii ajstd All-sufficient Love ! ! ! 
 
292 INTERMEDIATE STATES. 
 
 THE STARS AND OUR PLANETARY 
 WORLDS. 
 
 " God made the Stars also." — Gen. i. 16. 
 " Praise Him ... all ye stars of nigM." — Psalm cxviii. 3. 
 
 Benign and calm Companions of dumb Darkness, 
 Attune our thoughts, by startling themes o'erwhelmed . . 
 ! likewise, let our grateful hearts conjoin 
 Their solemn hymns of truthful praise with yours ? 
 
 How great, how good ; how sympathetically 
 Benevolent, is that Forgiving Lord, 
 By whom, ye stars, ye moon, ye countless spheres. 
 Were made ! . . . Not made to meet a present aim. 
 Distinct and separate from past design. 
 Unlink' d with wise ulterior schemes, foreknown ' . . . 
 
 Nay, nay ! . . . such stars as ye, such worlds were not. 
 As temp'ral globes, by lavish will, in space 
 Propelled, to whirl, to shine, to last in vain ! ^ 
 For ages more keep whirling on — A period 
 Is drawing near, when glories such as yours, 
 And glories, too, of this sublunar ball 
 Shall quickly pass away, and . . . 
 
 Who can tell 
 What ye, what we shall be— God's will be done ! 
 
 But, Lights so bland, of stars wide-spread, 
 What peaceful joys your gleams convey ! 
 Unlike the sheen of solar Day, 
 
 Your rays suit best the humbly bred. 
 
OUR PLANETARY WORLDS. 
 
 ! tell US, How the Life that's led, 
 By Angels, on your mystic orbs, 
 Their blest existence most absorbs, 
 
 So far from Mercy's Fountain-Head ? . . . 
 
 Are there poor creatures doomed to die, 
 As here, for sins on earth confined ? 
 Through hateful lures and wiles designed 
 
 Deep wrongs to do, then weep and sigh ? . . , 
 
 Yes, Stars of Light ; sad beings dwell, 
 Transformed, on all your hemispheres ; 
 Of Angels, late disgraced compeers — 
 
 They're banished so, because they fell ^ . . . 
 
 Yes, Stars of Light, His Mercy willed 
 That fallen souls, from earth removed ; 
 By other tribidations proved, 
 
 And with dear-bought experience filled ; 
 
 Regenerated and redeemed, 
 
 Should, last of all, on earth return ; "' 
 Through Grace Divine, their Pardon earn. 
 
 As ransomed souls, by Judgment deemed ! ! 
 
 293 
 
 Contributive, fair satellites of systems. 
 As marvellous as this ; whose self-perfections 
 By far, no doubt, transcend all wonders known, 
 Imagined or inspired ; dreamt or preconceived ; 
 Are ye not all, those stars of night, addressed 
 In David's songs? . . . On whom, entranced, he called 
 To praise that God from whom, all blessings flow ? . . . 
 
294 A christian's wish. 
 
 ! Stars of day, besides, were ye not meant. 
 So wide dispersed, all through, unbounded space ; 
 Your discs, like ours conformed, revolving too, 
 With suns and moons provided, as we are ; 
 Were ye not meant, in seeming, so terrestrial, 
 Likewise to be, for mortal or immortal 
 Inhabitants, occasional retreats ? 
 Homes penitential ? Lands retributive ? 
 With Earth subservient to His Mercy's ends ? ^ 
 
 Indeed, you must have been ; you still must be ! 
 The Lord of Sabaoth is not vindictive, 
 Not cruel, neither is our God implacable . . . 
 
 He draws the sword, when Justice bids it done ; 
 But Jesus wields the blade that strikes the blow '^ . 
 The Holy Spirit heals in time the wound. 
 
 So, NONE CAN SAY THAT GeACE DOES NOT ABOUND ! 
 
 Whate'er my trials might entail, 
 
 Through sorrows or through bod'ly pains. 
 That present suff'rings might avail 
 To help remove my moral stains ; 
 ! what great bliss, 
 It would then be for me. 
 To happier regions see, 
 Away, away from this ! 
 
 What matters distance, when Heaven's Grace 
 
 With might so great co-operates ! . . . 
 Eternal time, like boundless space. 
 
 Obedient bend, when Mercy waits . . . 
 Here once He came. 
 To order chaos wake ; 
 His fiats, systems shake ! 
 
 The Lord, the Lord's His name. 
 
A christian's wish. 295 
 
 Dear stars, farewell ! again to meet . . . 
 
 Would that it were "to-morrow" called, 
 "WTien both we might each other greet ! . . 
 For new probations fresh installed : — 
 I might regain, 
 
 By saving Love divine. 
 That place, which once was mine, 
 And there, and there remain ! 
 
 G. M. De. L. V. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 The small numerical figures, observed in many of the pages, 
 having been inserted, diu'ing our revisions of the proofs, for 
 the purpose of adding apparently useful elucidations and ex- 
 planatory comments, were found to require so excessively 
 great an addition of printed matter, that we have deemed it 
 preferable to postpone their appearance, untd another publi- 
 cation, which is in hand, shall appear. 
 
 A fui'ther reason amply justified us in this decision : it was 
 our conviction that, by simply consulting our Precis (p. 204), 
 and om- General Index, p. 299, any desirable solution of con- 
 sequence might easily be obtained. 
 
 Intending, besides, to bring out, before long, a French 
 translation, in which, not only such elucidations and com- 
 ments, shall have a place, but many additional topics of 
 great scriptm-al interest, to which no theological writer, to 
 our knowledge, has ever yet adverted, we rested assured that 
 our duty to our Headers would not, by that means, in any 
 respect, be neglected. 
 
 All friencQy communications of scriptural importance and 
 auxiliary support to this Work, wiU. be received and acknow- 
 ledged with sincerest thanks. 
 
 G. De L. Y. 
 
 31, Kensington Gardens SaxJARE, W. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 AND 
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 [See also p. 204.] 
 
 The "Word ; or, Universal Redemption and Salvation 
 
 Christian Dedication to the whole Christian World 
 
 Preface addressed to pious Readers of all Persuasions . 
 
 The Only Way to Universal Salvation 
 
 Divine Introduction, taught us by Jesus Christ our Lord 
 
 Interrogatory Scriptural Tests .... 
 
 Principal Objects of this Work .... 
 
 Astronomical Corroborations .... 
 
 Doctrinal Observations . . . 
 
 Universal Salvation : preordained through all-sufficient Grace 
 
 Divine and Scriptural Confirmations 
 
 Universal Salvation, most evidently foretold throughout Holy 
 
 Writ 
 
 Divine and Scriptural Confirmations 
 
 Universal Salvation, finally obtained through the Holy Ghost 
 
 Divine and Scriptural Confirmations 
 
 Divine Support. Consequent Supplication 
 
 " Even I will speak of all Thy Marvellous Works " 
 
 Quotations from Great Writers and Philosophers 
 
 Scriptural and Ecclesiastical Authorities . 
 
 X 2 
 
 PAGE 
 
 iii 
 
 V 
 
 vii 
 
 viii 
 
 ix 
 
 xi 
 
 xix 
 
 xxii 
 
 xxiii 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 10 
 13 
 
300 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Divine Attributes . . . . . . .13 
 
 Quotations from the Articles of Religion . . .18 
 
 Eternity of Divine Grace . . . . . .20 
 
 Just Appreciation and real Value of the Lord's All-sufficient 
 and Beautiful Prayer . . . . . .23 
 
 Analysis and Interpretation of both the Lord's Prayers . 26 
 
 Most merciful existence of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, 
 " before all worlds " . . . . . .44 
 
 Eternal Monocracy of God . . . . .45 
 
 Division of His monotheistical Attributes . . .45 
 
 First and foremost salutary presence of Evil . . .48 
 
 Explanatory retrospect concerning our Debts to God . . 54 
 
 We are indebted to God for oar mortal life . . .54 
 
 We should be gratefully indebted to God, for the fall of Adam, 
 and the Crime of Cain . . . . . ,65 
 
 Most evident purpose of the Creation . . . .58 
 
 Real purposes of Temptations and consequent Falls . . 59 
 
 Experimental Systems of Worlds . . . . ,61 
 
 Without Death, no chance of Salvation . . , .62 
 
 Man dies to be saved, and Jesus died to save us . . .62 
 
 How some ministers seem to strive, by their menacLng discourses, 
 to render Divine mercies abortive . . . .63 
 
 Best Evidence, which we could desire to possess, of our ultimate 
 Universal Salvation . . . . . .66 
 
 Why it would be most impious in us, to refuse God, our 
 Heavenly Father, the merit of having preordained the Fall 
 of our First Parents . . . . . .69 
 
 Questions and Answers tending to prove the Original Neces- 
 sity of Evil . 73 
 
 It was an Exclusively Christian World that the Lord God 
 created, when He converted chaos into our present solar 
 system ........ 73 
 
CONTENTS. 301 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A page or two, for the instruction of lukewarm and apathetic 
 readers . . . . . . . .75 
 
 Our reasons for boldly striving to make the Lord God's great 
 mercies and loving-kindnesses better known . . .77 
 
 The Omniscient Foreknowledge of God, was the only cause, 
 and merciful motive of the Temptation of Eve and the dis- 
 obedience of Adam . . . . . .79 
 
 Adam was made in the perfect image of God, for the express 
 purpose of being all the more angelically formed and con- 
 stituted, himself and his subseqiient generations, that human 
 resurrection should simply be, a preordained resumption of 
 forfeited spiritual forms, and heavenly rights, divinely re- 
 stored, through miraculous operations of infinite Grace . 81 
 
 Undeniable evidences of the intentional fall of Adam, as a re- 
 sult of the unavoidable expulsion of the apostate and re- 
 bellious angels . . . . . . .83 
 
 The sinfulness of Adam, plainly, not so great as that of 
 Eve ........ 86 
 
 The Universal presence of Evil, as it respects this earth, con- 
 sequently proving the ubiquitous presence of Satan, in this 
 world, leads us, likewise, to believe that this Earth and Hell 
 are identically the same . . . . . .90 
 
 Satan was not exterminated from the beginning, through a 
 Divine motive of infinite Mercy . . ,92 
 
 Why was a Fratricide the first-born son of Eve ? . .93 
 
 How came good as well as bad Angels to incarnate ? . .95 
 
 Chaos must have been, from everlasting, the predestined nucleus 
 of our terrestrial world . . , . . .96 
 
 Important pages about Cain . . . . .97 
 
 Motive which must have led Jesus Christ our Lord to choose 
 Peter as one of His apostles ..... 100 
 
 Reasons we offer for our angelic origin .... 104 
 
302 COIN TENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Excellent authorities, on which to establish the existences of 
 
 sexes, among the hosts of Heaven .... 105 
 Marriages may not be necessary, where all are morally and 
 
 religiously pure ; but there is no reason why celestial beings 
 
 should not, from the beginning, have spiritually multiplied 
 
 and replenished the skies ..... 105 
 
 A vast deal might be said, on sound Evangelical grounds, to 
 
 settle this point, by rational and most satisfactory arguments 108 
 Wherefore Three Almighty Gods ? . . . .107 
 
 Can excess of Chi'istian Faith, from pious motives, be sinfulness 
 
 inexcusable? ....... 110 
 
 Why was our dear Brother, Jesus Christ, begotten a second 
 
 time? .111 
 
 Are Divine Mysteries, all of them, for ever to be veiled from 
 
 human knowledge ? . . . . . . 113 
 
 Yisible Angelic Messengers, in the beginning, were constantly 
 
 visiting this Earth ...... 115 
 
 Why it was that our adorable Redeemer was tempted in the 
 
 Wilderness ....... 117 
 
 Why it was that He died, and was buried like ourselves . 117 
 
 Allusions to the retributive dispensations of God . . 118 
 
 Why were we taught to say, " Lead us not into Temptation"? 120 
 Sacred pact agreed to by the Three distinct Persons of the Most 
 
 Holy Trinity 122 
 
 " Crucified, dead and buried." Why it was that Jesus descended 
 
 into hell 123 
 
 Merciful visits of our dear Redeemer to this Earth, long before 
 
 His human incarnation, and since His glorious ascension . 125 
 When it is in particular that the Compassionate Saviour visits 
 
 us here below ....... 127 
 
 Divine objects in permitting the Son of God to be crucified 
 
 between two Malefactors ..... 128 
 
CONTENTS. 303 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " When Jesus had cried again with a loud voice. He yielded up 
 
 the Ghost" 131 
 
 Observations touching the Body of the Messiah after His 
 Crucifixion and Death ...... 132 
 
 World- witnessed homicide ; predestinated Martyrdom . . 135 
 
 Heartlessly-perpetrated horrible Murder, committed by thou- 
 sands of thousands upon One ..... 136 
 
 A few lines ; amply su.fiicient by themselves to certify that the 
 Lord God, so infinitely abounds with Mercy and Love, that 
 Justice becomes with Him, upon all Occasions, a painful Act 
 of Necessity; which He mostly leaves to His weU-beloved Son 
 and the Holy Spirit, the duty, with tender leniency to exercise 138 
 Concluding arguments, in favour of our Scriptural Interpre- 
 tations. (Would that we had suflScient room to develop them 
 as they deserve.) See p. 297 ..... 139 
 
 Holy Tabernacle of the Triune Christian Godhead . . 140 
 
 Final Scheme of Universal Salvation, as preordained by the 
 Most Holy Trinity . . . . . .142 
 
 In the Holy Trinity, Why is " None afore or after Other "? . 143 
 Christian Benevolence appealed to in behalf of subsequent pages 146 
 Existence of Satan, a diviae act of most merciful retribution . 147 
 Why it must have been so ..... 148 
 
 Triune Conference of the Most Holy Christian Trinity . . 149 
 
 Limits which we considered it reverent to fix to our fui-ther 
 interpretations on this solemn subject .... 151 
 
 Impious assiimption of some over-wrought Ministers under 
 erroneous impressions ...... 152 
 
 Periods during which, kinds of convenient mythological Atheism 
 reigned, in various parts of the Earth .... 153 
 
 Apologetic remarks, in alliision to the excusable conduct of 
 the Jewish Nation, duiing the human existence of our Lord 
 and Saviour ....... 154 
 
304 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Apparently rational deductions, respecting the Ante- Christian 
 
 state of the Almighty Jehovah's primeval Monocrasy . 156 
 
 How it was that Evil and Satan first appeared in Heaven , 157 
 
 " So the whole Three Persons are coequal together and coeternal 159 
 He therefore that sincerely longs to be saved, must finally 
 become an entirely devoted servant of Jesus Christ our 
 
 Lord . 160 
 
 Who should sing for ever, " Glory to God in the highest, now 
 and for evermore ! " . . . . . . 161 
 
 Divine impossibilities ; not probable nor possible . . 161 
 
 Upon what occasions, we more tenaciously than ever strive, 
 at unravelling the Scriptural sense of the Mysteries we meet 
 in Holy Writ . . . . . . .162 
 
 How it has happened that nothing has seemed obscure, nothing 
 doubtful, of late, to us, touching the perfect regeneration, 
 and infallible salvation of all human souls . . . 163 
 
 Most merciful signification of " before all worlds " . . 164 
 
 To whom did the Omnipotent Eternal, in the Beginning, after 
 having created all the Archangels, Angels, and Spirits, in His 
 primeval heavenly Kingdom, deliver all animate and inani- 
 mate things, to be governed by them ? ... 165 
 Why overscrupulous reverence, too humbly exercised, in our 
 pious endeavours, properly to reach the full meaning of 
 parables, and other figurative language, should sometimes, 
 now, be set aside ...... 166 
 
 Miracles, which, aU, intentionally took place, in the beginning, 
 exclusively, for our sakes ..... 167 
 
 God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before all worlds, 
 
 Why? 168 
 
 Man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world . . 168 
 
 Why it was that the presence of Jesus Christ became graciously 
 indispensable so early in the primeval kingdom of heaven . 169 
 
CONTENTS. 305 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Suitable temptations, mercifully preordained, for our purga- 
 torial trials in heaven; besides subsequent acts of infinite 
 Grace, as compassionately predecreed . . . .170 
 
 Reverently speculative conjectures . , . .172 
 
 Long retrospective glance, over tliose apparently luioccupied, 
 
 celestial realms of ethereal interminable space . . 172 
 
 Primeval organic rudiments of experimental worlds . .173 
 
 How seemingly apparent Primeval Vacuity was originally filled 174 
 It must not especially be forgotten that Evil Spirits were pur- 
 posely sent amongst us, i. e., in our pristine terrestrial exist- 
 ence, to make us aware, in the very face of our present errors, 
 that we deserved then, and deserve still, the best of us, to 
 undergo tests of faith, and trials of penitent devotion, indis- 
 pensable to our final purification . . . .175 
 
 The most extravagant excesses of piety ; personally genuine, 
 and individually considered right, from erroneous fervour or 
 mistaken zeal, are infinitely more likely to meet Divine 
 forbearance, than the hypocritical exhibitions of hollow 
 worship, enforced by preachers, whose minds alone loudly 
 declaim, whilst their hearts and souls, apathetically silent, 
 are asleep ........ 176 
 
 " Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord " . . 176 
 
 The Spirit of God did not move upon the face of the Waters, 
 simply to create the presence of Light . . . .177 
 
 It was to draw up, as it were, that universally spread Curtain, 
 which, on being lifted up, was gradually to reveal the first 
 wonders of our forthcoming Redemption . . . 178 
 
 Just appreciation of the "Word of God : see fourteenth line, p. . 178 
 Infinitely Merciful Legacy, bequeathed to us by Jesus Christ 
 our Lord ; by means of which our Redemption was perfected ; 
 our ultimate Salvation infallibly secured . . . From need of 
 which, all our souls had probably been for ever lost . .179 
 
306 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ai'e God's eternal trutlis, His sacred promises of Mercy, from 
 everlasting, to be doubted ?...,. 180 
 
 Most solemn and sacred Proof, discovered in the Birth of Christ 
 Jesus, before all Worlds, that the fallen angels were pre- 
 ordained to be saved . . . . . . 180 
 
 Equally solemn and sacred proof, through the Birth of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, in this world, that the whole of human 
 kind, cannot possibly fail, to be forgiven, and eventually to 
 be recalled, into the presence of our Almighty Father, as 
 the welcome brethren of His "Well-Beloved Son, Our Dear 
 Redeemer, and infinitely Merciful Lord . . . 181 
 
 Most glorious, all purgatorial and regeneratory consummation, 
 of the whole blessed scheme of Salvation ; which will most 
 assuredly be realized, before the Omnipotent and Omniscient 
 Throne of paternal Love, Justice, and Grace, of all the fallen 
 Souls of Angels, Spirits, and Men .... 182 
 
 There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without 
 body, parts, or passions ...... 183 
 
 How it happened that such a pantheistic, most mysterious 
 Spirit, found it expedient, nay, equitably charitable, to trans- 
 form His monocratic Godhead (for a time) into a Most Holy 
 Trinity . . . , . . . .184 
 
 What will unfailingly happen when evil and hell ; the Arch- 
 fiend, and his embodied deceits, iniquities, vices and crimes ; 
 shall have been exterminated ..... 185 
 
 Universal Salvation won ...... 186 
 
 Summary of the foregoing Interpretations . . . 187 
 
 Evidences furnished, that, the more positively doubtful, a 
 sinner's salvation appears, the more infallibly certain it is, 
 that he will be saved ...... 188 
 
CONTENTS. 307 
 
 PAQE 
 
 To leave one single soul, in danger of eternal perdition, in a 
 book of this nature, would be most impiously to question 
 the full efficacy of the everlasting omnipotency of Divine 
 Mercy . . . . . . . .189 
 
 Punishments and Tribulations inevitably to be undergone by 
 all alike, in proportion to their individual delinquencies . 190 
 
 Our Father which is in heaven is a just and Almighty Sove- 
 reign : He claims attributes so infinitely boundless and equi- 
 valently efficient, that His retributions are, as unlimited as 
 the transgressions of sinners are various, numberless, and 
 more or less criminal ..... 191 — 193 
 
 Destruction of this World by Fire .... 194 
 
 Indispensable Addenda ...... 195 
 
 Triune Operations of the Most Merciful and Almighty Trinity, 
 at the Creation : each acting apart ; the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost . . . . . . .195 
 
 First Day of Creation ...... 196 
 
 Second and Third Days . . . , , . 197 
 
 Fourth and Fifth Days . . ... . .198 
 
 The Sixth Day. So Jesus Christ created Man in the image of 
 His own Father, and of His own Self . . . .199 
 
 The Seventh Day ....... 200 
 
 "And on the seventh day, God, the Most High, and Jesus Christ, 
 His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, ended their work which 
 They had made, and They rested the seventh day from aU 
 their work which They had made " . . . . 200 
 
 And Christ, the Son of God, " planted a Garden " (of probation 
 and merciful ordeal) ...... 201 
 
 Graciously preordained temptations of Eve, of Adam, and of 
 Cain ........ 201 
 
308 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 First incarnations of the fallen Angels; according to pre- 
 ordained purposes of Grace ..... 202 
 Paginal Precis : Scriptural Axioms ; Doctrinal Precepts* . 204 
 What was the Land of Nod ? How came a land to be there 
 at all ? "Who could be that people, for whom Cain built a 
 
 City? 231 
 
 Exclusive punishment of Eve ..... 232 
 
 Miraculous Types of divine Paternity and Maternity in Heaven 233 
 Consequent generations of the Angels .... 234 
 
 Additional Scriptiu-al Authorities from the Old Testament . 235 
 First proofs of infinite Divine Mercy — Creation of Adam — 
 Temptation of Eve . . . . . .236 
 
 Most gracious Temptation of our first Parents — Second proofs 
 of infinite Mercy . . . . . . .236 
 
 Intentional Presence of Satan in Eden .... 237 
 
 The Son of God " before all worlds " . . . .237 
 
 Nativity of Our adorable Redeemer .... 238 
 
 Most evident Proof of the separately-active Presences of the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost . . . .239 
 
 Angelic Participation, in the Miraculous Scheme of Universal 
 Redemption ....... 240 
 
 Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, according to the four precedent 
 Evangelists ....... 240 
 
 Celestial and terrestrial Evidences of the inseparably con- 
 comitant and incessantly active Divinity of Christ . . 241 
 Efficacy of Repentance, even at the eleventh hour : when sins 
 have been as scarlet ...... 242 
 
 Our Promised Redemption and Universal Salvation infallibly 
 
 secured 243, 244 
 
 Jesus Christ Our Lord : His burial and ascension . . 245 
 
 Angels converse with the Daughters of Men . . . 245 
 
 * Please to consult those Precis ; they form part of our Index and Contents. 
 
CONTENTS. 309 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Resurrection of Jesus Christ ..... 246 
 
 Descent of the Holy Ghost . . . . .247 
 
 Sacred Words, from the Lips of Almighty God . . . 248 
 
 Third proof of God's infinite mercy .... 248 
 
 Crime and Curse of Cain ...... 248 
 
 Foreknown condemnation of Cain .... 249 
 
 Sacred words from the Lips of our own Dear Redeemer . 249 
 
 Divine example of Filial Submission .... 249 
 
 Jesus is taken, obediently to the Compassionate Will of His 
 
 Father, to be tempted of Satan, for our sakes . . . 250 
 
 Most important sayings of Jesus Christ . . . 251 
 " Go ye, and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and 
 
 not sacrifice "....... 251 
 
 The greatest Commandments of all . . . . 252 
 
 Undeniable connection between the Angels of God, and the 
 
 incarnated Souls of this Earth .... 253, 254 
 
 The elect angels, and souls elect, " before all worlds " . . 255 
 Noble Associates, predestined by the Almighty Father, to assist 
 
 in the glorious operations of Universal Redemption and 
 
 Salvation ....... 255 
 
 " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He 
 
 shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? " 256 
 
 Angels and Spirits, everlastingly attending on the Son of God 256 
 
 Sacred Promises, Prophecies, and Revelations . . . 257 
 " Jesus answered. Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents : 
 
 but that the works of God should be made manifest in him " 258 
 Many misdeeds and transgressions have been and are com- 
 mitted, for which no responsibility shall be incurred , 258 
 " Let not your hearts be troubled. In my Father's house are 
 
 many mansions " ...... 259 
 
 " The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, shall teach you all 
 
 things. He will shew you all things " . . . 260 
 
310 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Parables, Mysteries, and Proverbs, need no longer exist under 
 the reading of tliose, who piously seek to know them, for the 
 edification of others ..... 261, 262 
 
 Dwellings of the Dead ..... 263 
 
 The Author's Dream . . . . . .263 
 
 Our Stars and Planetary Worlds . . ; . 264 
 
 Exordium ........ 265 
 
 Dwellings of the Dead : Reflections .... 267 
 
 To die ! not thence to sleep ; but thence to wake . . 267 
 
 Dwellings of the Dead (continued) .... 268 
 
 O ! what a Dawn of Grace 
 Was that momentous Morn, on which was seen 
 Th' embodied earth, a human form assume ! . . . 269 
 
 None leaving, save Survivors used to pain, 
 Th' Indigent die, while Death, for them is gain ! . . 270 
 
 By Facts, existing since the World began. 
 Show why stern Death's the kindest Friend of Man . . 271 
 
 Why shouldst thou not, with pious care. 
 Plain Truths, with Problems dark compare? . . . 272 
 
 The Author's Deeam (continued) — 
 
 Most wond'rotis scene ! . . . 
 
 Deep, soundless Gloom o'erveiled 
 Yoid, universal Space !...... 273 
 
 The Heavens and the wide Seas ; dry Land, with Trees ; 
 And all those things, that grow and germinate ; 
 Into Perfection sprang ...... 274 
 
 Alone, he stood at last, except a fav'rite Band, 
 
 Who, like himself, eternal hate selected ; 
 Preferring much, 'gainst Heaven's commands, to stand, 
 
 And, spite salvation, strive to blast th' Elected . . 275 
 
CONTENTS. 311 
 
 PAGE 
 These, Tliy miraculous Conceptions, Lord 
 
 Supreme, must have a Cause, involve an Aim ! . . . 276 
 
 Is God, alone 
 
 The God of Man ? Of faUen Angels, Lord 
 
 Implacable, and unforgiving Judge ? . . . . 277 
 
 In circles drawn, still wider grow their rings, 
 While Angels bright, in radiant smiles attending, 
 These, fixing here ; those, further still extending ; . . 278 
 
 And Man's the glorious Theme ! — O ! Heavens above ! 
 
 Loud Hallelujahs sing ! ... The Equal Three, 
 In one kind Saviour join : Most Boundless Love ! 
 
 Let Joy be echo'd round, and holy Glee ! . . . 279 
 
 Resulting Reflections ...... 280 
 
 Thy thoughts, are known to be right well inclined ; 
 
 Await the judgments. Learned Seers will pass. 
 All thou couldst feel and state, by Them condemned. 
 
 As useless dross would seem, and Avithered grass . . 281 
 
 Again I dreamt. 
 
 A trance had charmed my soul . . . 282 
 
 Thus, dreaming still, on mossy turf reclining, 
 I seemed that man, just made, who stood before 
 His Maker's face, a perfect Masterpiece 
 
 Of God-like frame 283 
 
 " Oh ! would that, opportune, some chance could be, 
 
 " Whereby temptation might, for evermore, 
 " Leave our celestial homes to Love and Bliss ! " . . 284 
 
 Thus Adam, in my Dream, was I ; and Eve, 
 
 The beauteous and the pure, that mate bestowed 
 
 By God on me: 285, 286 
 
 No meaning's mine, to give the least oifence ; 
 I aim to set down nought, but common sense . . . 287 
 
 Fervent Invocation ...... 288 
 
312 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Let wrathful Bolts, from Clouds, on me descend ; 
 If renegade to faith, by thought or word, 
 Or step intentional, I should offend 
 
 That Lord, so merciful, who died for me ! . . . 288 
 
 Farewell Address ....... 289 
 
 To all dear Christian friends, sincere this prayer 
 Is humbly made, that they, to no presumptuous 
 Intent or wish, these thoughtful lines ascribe . . . 290 
 
 The Stars and our planetary worlds .... 291 
 
 Nay, nay ! . . . such stars as ye, such worlds, were not. 
 As temp'ral globes, by lavish will, in space 
 Propelled, to whirl, to shine, to last in vain ! . . . 292 
 
 Were ye not meant, through Grace, alike to be 
 Homes penitential ? Lands retributive ; 
 With earth subservient, to His mercy's ends ? . . . 293 
 
 Dear Stars farewell ! Again to meet . . . 
 Would that it were " to-morrow " called 
 
 When both we might each other greet ! . . . . 294 
 
 Notice . . ... . . . .297 
 
 THE END. 
 
 W. H. CoUingridge, 117 to 120, Aldersgate Street, London, B.C. 
 
INTEEEOGATOEY 
 SCEIPTUEAL TESTS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 THEIR COERESPONDINGl PAGINAL EEFEEENCES, 
 THROUGHOUT THE BOOK. 
 
 1. How can " Tte Word " be dilFerently, yet reverently, inter- 
 preted ? See pages : vii., xix., xxiii., 7, 9, 10, 20, 206, 207, 209, 235, 
 248, 252, 258, 260. 
 
 2. Is it possible to furnish satisfactory scriptural replies to all 
 tlie subsequent queries ? See pages : 7, 10, 16, 21, 36, 38, 139, 153, 
 166, 204. 
 
 3. Why did the Lord God, in the beginning, create the heaven 
 and the earth ? See pages : xix., 58, 97, 195, 201, 202, 300, 301, 307. 
 
 4. Why was Jesus Christ, first begotten in heaven, from ever- 
 lasting? See pages : 2, 4, 6, 18, 20, 44, 300, 304, 306, 308. 
 
 5. Why were the devil and his angels driven from heaven, to 
 seek shelter on the dark earth; in which, after a time, Adam and 
 Eve were to dweU ? See pages : 48, 59, 69, 73, 147, 157, 201. 
 
 6. For what purpose was Satan ever admitted, with his angels, 
 within the sacred courts of heaven ? See pages : 73, 75, 79, 83, 
 92, 147. 
 
314 INTEREOGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS, 
 
 7. Why were sucli innocent beings as Adam and Eve created, 
 and left exposed to tlie irresistible temptations of the serpent? 
 See pages : 55, 56, 82, 202, 236, 237. 
 
 8. Is there not a graciously hidden divine motive for the per- 
 mission of such an awful perpetration, as the crime of Cain ? See 
 pages : 93, 94, 97, 200, 234, 242, 243. 
 
 9. Could not an excellent reason be given, for the presence of 
 angels in Eden, until the faU ? See pages : 104, 114, 115, 116, 117. 
 
 10. Might not angels once have been our celestial companions ; 
 Jesus Christ our Lord ; and the Holy Ghost, our ever-present Guide, 
 in the Kingdom of God ? See pages : 108, 125, 126, 164, 165, 253. 
 
 11. Must not the angels, after their expulsion, have undergone 
 incarnation, on their reaching this sphere, to be rendered accessible 
 to earthly sufferings ? See pages : 104, 105, 106, 109, 110, 175, 256. 
 
 12. In what way could our first parents have been redeemed and 
 saved ? See pages : 40, 41, 42, 58, 170, 230. 
 
 13. Ought we not to make the Lord's Prayer the principal basis 
 of our Christian, moral and religious duties .'' See pages : 23, 26, 
 27, 28, 29, 40, 73. 
 
 14. Axe we not incessantly to hope, having the Almighty God as 
 our Father ? See pages : 24, 25, 30, 31, 45, 46, 53. 
 
 15. Should we not read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest every 
 word, that enables us better to understand the gracious significa- 
 tion of the Lord's Prayer ? See pages : 5, 7, 9, 63, 64, 65, 66, 113. 
 
 16. What was the celestial existence of the Yirgin Mary, before 
 all worlds ? See pages : 3, 44, 111, 112, 114, 116, 147. 
 
 17. Is Satan immortal ? Are his angels so ? See pages : 89, 90, 
 92, 96, 97, 98, 185. 
 
 18. Which is the best Christian creed of all ? See pages : 23, 28, 
 29, 30, 33, 42, 53. 
 
WITH THEIK REFERENCES. 315 
 
 19. What are the greatest blessings, for which we should thank 
 the Lord God, with our endless love and gratitude ? See pages : 38. 
 54. 59, 62, 68, 66, 72. 
 
 20. Who could prove that evil, in heaven, as weU as in earth, was 
 not indispensable ? See pages : 39, 56, 57, 60, 73, 74, 77. 
 
 21. Why ought we to be indebted to God, beyond all measure, 
 for our forthcoming judgment day ? See pages : 66, 67, 81, 82, 84, 
 118, 119, 121, 171. 
 
 22. May it not be probable, if not certain, that the fallen angels 
 were permitted to incarnate, for the sake of obtaining Christian 
 regeneration ? See pages : 22, 116, 117, 166, 167, 169, 170, 175, 181. 
 
 23. Is it not clear that former doctrines must be insufficient in 
 our present days ? See pages : vii., viii., xix., xx., 28, 43, 54, 
 xxi. 
 
 24. On what principles is a creation of new worlds absolutely 
 necessary? See pages: 58, 62, 148, 149, 158, 171, 182, 183, 184. 
 185, 186. 
 
 25. May we not reasonably, and piously, suppose that God permits 
 us to be tempted, from the best of Divine motives ? See pages : 59, 
 60, 61, 69, 70, 71, 201, 202. 
 
 26. Why was the Garden of Eden the principal gateway, back 
 to the Kingdom of God ? See pages : 85, 174, 175, 180, 181, 182, 
 183, 229. 
 
 27. Was it not to serve almighty Mercy's ends, that Adam fell ? 
 See pages : 235, 236, 237, 248, 249, 284. 
 
 28. May not Eve have purposely been less perfectly formed than 
 Adam, regarding purposes of grace? See pages: 86, 117, 147, 170, 
 201, 202, 232. 
 
 29. Can any sufficient reason be given for Satan's apparent 
 inadequate punishment in Eden ? See pages : 48, 49, 73, 76. 83, 84, 
 90, 91, 237. 
 
316 INTEKKOGATORT SCKIPTURAL TESTS, 
 
 30. Are we not excusable wlien we attribute to the crime of Cain 
 a previously determined purpose of mysterious Grace ? See pages : 
 19, 38, 39, 40, 41, 55, 60, 93, 236. 
 
 31. Who can ascribe a satisfactorily merciful use to the existence 
 of the original chaotic earth ? See pages : 6, 13, 73, 97, 98, 231, 234. 
 
 32. May not countless numbers of our eyes have seen, in our 
 spiritual state, the wonders of Creation ? See pages : 22, 25, 56, 78, 
 79, 84, 85, 253, 255. 
 
 33. Can any one account satisfactorily for the choice of Peter, 
 as an apostle, by Jesus Christ P See pages : 15, 17, 100, 101, 102, 
 103, 104. 
 
 34. Is it possible to give good reasons for our human claims to 
 angelic descent ? See pages : 22, 34, 35, 70, 71, 85, 92, 95, 248, 251. 
 
 35. Wherefore three Almighty Gods ? See pages : 1, 3, 5, 107, 
 
 108, 109, 110, 111. 
 
 36. May not years by myriads have elapsed during the connubial 
 connections of Angels with the daughters of Men ? See pages : 108, 
 
 109, 231, 232, 233, 234. 
 
 37. For what purpose was om' merciful Redeemer begotten a 
 first and second time ? See pages : xxii., 3, 20, 37, 103, 114, 126, 
 144, 161. 
 
 38. Are divine mysteries, with regard to our salvation, to be for 
 ever veiled? See pages : 21, 146, 148, 149, 151, 152, 162, 163. 
 
 39. Had not our Almighty Father an ultimate object when He sent 
 His Son to be incarnated on earth, for our sake ? See pages : 156, 
 166, 167, 168, 179, 184, 190, 191, 192. 
 
 40. Why do we pray not to be led into temptation, and to be 
 delivered from evil ? See pages : 40, 59, 60, 92, 120, 121, 236, 
 
 41. Has any one adduced an appropriate reason for the descent 
 of Jesus Christ into Hell ? See pages : 122, 123, 124, 127, 128. 
 
WITH THEIR REFERENCES. 3l7 
 
 42. When was it necessary that angels should visit this earth ? 
 See pages : 95, 153, 160, 161, 232, 253, 255. 
 
 43. Could it be imputed, without extenuation, as an excess of 
 cruelty, on the part of the Jews, to crucify Jesus Christ between 
 two malefactors ? See pages : 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 51, 133, 152, 153, 
 154, 155, 157. 
 
 44. Where, in the Bible, are there to be found evidences, that 
 Resurrection does not exist ? See pages : ix., 1, 7, 19, 109, 110, 131, 
 245, 246, 254, 255. 
 
 45. Are we not much indebted to the Jewish nation for their 
 oppression, during the Martyrdoms of the prophets and Apostles ? 
 See pages : 129, 130, 131, 134, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194. 
 
 46. Was not our sacred Bible compiled under the sanction of the 
 Most Holy Trinity ? See pages : 1, 158, 251, 257, 259, 260, 261, 262. 
 
 47. Were not forms and ceremonies, and Rituals, divinely en- 
 couraged dui-iug the Mosaic dispensation ? Were they forbidden, 
 by the Apostles, on the Advent of our blessed Redeemer P See 
 pages : xxiii., xxiv., 20, 21, 22, 176 ; see also Exod. xxv. to xxxi. 
 
 48. How far back may we trace the Merciful Scheme of our uni- 
 versal Christian Salvation? Seepages: 1, 3, 5, 6, 45, 61, 73, 107, 
 140, 141. 
 
 49. Have we been commanded, at any time, since the commence- 
 ment of the Christian era, to abstain from reading, marking, and 
 inwardly digesting, any portion of the authorized Holy Testaments ? 
 See pages : 2, 5, 6, 16, 17, 139, 140, 141, 166. 
 
 50. Who is God ? What is He ? See pages : 1, 3, 5, 147, 151, 
 152, 153, 156, 169, 279, 280. 
 
 51. What could possibly be the ultimate Destinies of the fallen 
 Angels ? See pages : 102, 150, 169, 180, 181, 182, 184, 199. 
 
 52. How will Condemned Sinners eventually be treated through 
 infinite Grace ? See pages : 151, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193. 
 
318 INTEKROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS, 
 
 53. In what light did the Jewish nation stand, in the Glorious 
 Scheme of Universal Salvation ? See pages : 51, 21, 133, 134, 135, 
 136, 137, 138. 
 
 54. What was the Ante- Christian state of the Almighty Jehovah's 
 primeval Monocracy? See pages: 61, 62, 75, 76, 156, 157, 158, 159. 
 
 55. Where was, primevally, the Holy Ghost, and why ? See 
 pages : 1, 5, 6, 143, 144, 147, 179, 247, 260. 
 
 56. May not a human trinity be discovered in man ? See page : 
 159. 
 
 57. What could positively be the meaning of, "Before all worlds"? 
 See pages : 164, 165. 166, 167, 168, 169. 
 
 58. Does it not appear to be a very great sin, to neglect searching 
 the Scriptures ? See pages : vii., viii., xx., xxi., 139, 151, 162, 163, 
 165. 
 
 59. How could the presence of Satan and Evil, in Heaven, be any- 
 thing else but gracious and salutai-y ? See pages : 48, 59, 73, 92, 93, 
 147, 170. 
 
 60. What had the Lord God deemed very good to do ? See pages : 
 73, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 200. 
 
 61. Can it be possible that eternal damnation may be, where 
 Infinite Grace is found ? See pages : 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23. 
 
 62. What could fill primeval vacuity before aU worlds ? See pages : 
 61, 62, 144, 145, 146, 156, 158, 161, 164, 174. 
 
 63. Is there a suitable name for antichristian sceptics ? See 
 pages: 151, 152, 153, 174, 175, 176. 
 
 64. May not the guiltiest soul of all be saved ? See pages : 97, 98, 
 101, 102, 103, 201, 242, 251, 258, 289. 
 
 65. Was not the maternity of the Yirgin Mary from everlasting ? 
 See pages : 1, 3, 44, 167, 168, 177, 178, 237. 
 
WITH THEIR REFERENCES. 319 
 
 66. Have the Origin, Purpose, and Extent of the ways of God ever 
 been properly read, marked, learnt, and inwardly digested? See 
 pages : vii., xix., xxiii., 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 267, 270, 273, 275, 280, 282, 287, 
 290, 292, 298. 
 
 67. Must there not have been, anterior to our revealed. Triune 
 Godhead, an unknown monotheistic autocracy ? See pages : 20, 45, 
 148, 156, 235, 237, 280. 
 
 68. Had not the fall of the angels been everlastingly known to the 
 Almighty Father ? See pages : 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20. 
 
 69. Is the time at which all the human race and the fallen angels 
 shall be saved, without a single exception, satisfactorily, that is, 
 scripturaUy, ascertained .» See pages: 186, 192, 275, 277, 288, 292, 
 294. 
 
 70. Why should this book be most attentively read through with- 
 out apprehension or prejudice ? See pages : xx., xxi., 6, 7, 9, 21, 26, 
 290, 291. 
 
 71. WiU Jews, Gentiles, and Atheists be condemned to everlasting 
 perdition at last ? See pages : 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 259, 
 276, 277. 
 
 72. Are all those human acts we call virtues, accepted as such 
 in heaven ? See pages : xxii., xxiii., 14, 16, 18, 19, 24, 28, 29. 
 
 73. Can it be possible that the torments said to be inflicted on the 
 wicked, after the great judgment day, are for ever and ever to last ? 
 See pages : 13, 35, 36, 37, 53, 71, 74, 107, 108, 109, 110, 132. 
 
 74. What are the sad effects of those awful threats, and, frequently 
 too, the dreadful consequences of those appalling chastisements 
 and agonies, prophesied and described from the pulpits of over- 
 wrought Christian zealots ? See pages : 63, 64, 65, 66, 117, 118, 119' 
 120, 140, 141, 189. 
 
 75. May not, after all, many of those stars and planets which 
 bespangle so gloriously the heavens of our present universe, have 
 
320 INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. 
 
 been, and still be, compassionately prepared Reformatoi-ies and 
 Penitentiaries, that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, by the will 
 of God, have, from the beginning, appropriated to the reception of 
 those mp-iads of fallen spirits and souls, which the blessed Son of 
 God was, through permitted terrestrial Incarnations, completely to 
 redeem and to save ? See pages : 255, 256, 257, 292, 293, 294, 295. 
 
 76. Why should we not furthermore imagine, that this very ter- 
 restrial sphere itself, so evidently destroyed before, and intentionally 
 reduced to the chaotic mass, on which Satan fell with his malignant 
 hordes, might again be subjected to partial destruction, for the 
 gracious purpose of becoming the most merciful scene of transitory 
 human ordeals, tribulations, and temptations, preordained to carry 
 on and complete the glorious scheme of Universal Salvation ? See 
 pages: 58, 59, 161, 162, 164, 165, 174, 175, 196, 202, 203, 273, 280. 
 
 ^^ Awaiting the just criticisms of the Press, as well as those of our private 
 friends, from whom we solicit none but impartial and necessary corrigenda ; we 
 are purposely delaying the publication of our own comments and corollaries,^ 
 until the appropriate time has amved for their indispensable appearance. 
 
 With respect to the promulgation of such new theories as ours ; such 
 unavoidably subversive, modern, biblical constructions of most evidently super- 
 annuated patriarchal renderings, bereby made known, we very naturally expect, 
 from a great number of our uncharitably-disposed readers, no kinder receptions, 
 than torrents of fanatical and bigoted maledictions, poured upon us, with the 
 utmost rancour of mistaken professional zeal. 
 
 This kind of apostohc fate, fully anticipated by us, could not however deter 
 us from devotedly running the risks of dutifully magnifying, on widely different 
 principles, that God of ioiinite Mercy, whose sacred Triune Godhead and 
 Attributes we felt so irresistibly called more adequately to praise and to glorify. 
 
 Let the malevolent use us as they may ; we have honestly laboured, as we 
 humbly hope, under the all-sufficient blessings of the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost, to obtain the benevolent approbation of all conscientiously 
 devoted fellow- servants in Jesus Christ ; and, if we do not, we are perfectly 
 resigned to endure further worldly sufferings and vituperations until death. 
 
Y