ose who
obstinately persist in their evil courses. If we may rely upon such
testimony, he desires _first_ the _holiness_ of his intelligent creatures,
and _next_ their _happiness_. Hence, it is well said by Bishop Butler,
that the "divine goodness, with which, if I mistake not, we make very free
in our speculations, _may not be a bare, single disposition to produce
happiness_, but a disposition to make the good, the faithful, the honest
man happy."(160)

He desires the holiness of all, that all may have life. This great truth
is so clearly and so emphatically set forth in revelation, and it so
perfectly harmonizes with the most pleasing conceptions of the divine
character, that one is filled with amazement to reflect how many crude
undigested notions there are in the minds of professing Christians, which
are utterly inconsistent with it. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his
way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?" This solemn
asseveration that God desires not the death of the sinner, but that he
should turn from his wickedness and live, one would suppose should satisfy
every mind which reposes confidence in the divine origin of revelation.
And yet, until the minds of men are purged from the films of a false
philosophy and sectarian prejudice, they seem afraid to look at the plain,
obvious meaning of this and other similar passages of Scripture. They will
have it, that God desires the ultimate holiness and happiness of only a
portion of mankind, and the destruction of all the rest; that upon some he
bestows his grace, causing them to become holy and happy, and appear
forever as the monuments of his mercy; while from some he withholds his
saving grace, that they may become the fearful objects of his indignation
and wrath. Such a display of the divine character seems to be equally
unknown to reason and to revelation.

Section I.

The reason why theologians have concluded that God designs the salvation
of only a part of mankind.

The reason why so many theologians come to so frightful a conclusion is,
that they imagine God could very easily cause virtue in the breast of
every moral agent, if he would. Hence arises in their minds the stupendous
difficulty, "How can God really desire the holiness and happiness of all,
since he refuses to make all holy and happy? Is he really in earnest, in
plea