You still will continue to maintain the doctrine of Universal Salvation, by those texts, which I said you spake at the grave with such an emphasis; if they are to be understood only in a literal sense as they are expressed, I can quote as many or more spoken by Christ and his apostles which will contradict them in their literal sense: Christ says, "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Then shall he say unto them on his left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me and shall die in your sins: whither I go ye cannot come." John viii. 21, 24, "I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins." With respect to that text you quote from John xii. 32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." It is, I conceive, explained by Christ himself in John iii. 14, 15, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." By Christ being lifted on the cross the way of salvation is to be preached to all men; but it is only those that believe who will not perish and have eternal life, according to the foregoing scriptures I have quoted from Mark xvi. 16, and Mat. xxv. 41, 46. I could quote many more scriptures spoken by our Lord himself and explained by him; and I hope, sir, you will allow our Lord to be the best expositor of his own word. I conceive you think you have got a mighty argument when you mention the apostle Peter, who had a vision which instructed him in his duty to preach the gospel to the Gentiles; but remember, Peter says, "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." Then he began to preach the gospel to Cornelius and his friends; he preached Christ to them; he preached Jesus and the resurrection; he shows he is ordained of God to be the Judge of the quick and the dead; and says, "To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Did he say that every individual of the human race would be saved? No such thing! And though he had further light concerning the Gentiles, he never, as I can find, preached Universal Salvation, but to the contrary. Read his epistles, first and second, particularly 2d epistle, 2d chapter from 1st to the end of the 9th verse. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation; and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment, to be punished;" not to be liberated! Read 3d chapter, 7th verse, "But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Peter wrote these epistles after he had further light with respect to the Gentiles' having the gospel preached unto them.
As to what you write about my saying I do not envy you because great numbers go to hear you, I still say it, as far as I know my wicked and deceitful heart, and wish you might preach the pure and simple gospel, and that your hearers might desire nothing more than the sincere milk of the word, as new-born babes, preached unto them; that they might grow thereby, &c.
That place I directed you to in 1 John, iv. 5, 6, and wished you to consider, though I have in some measure already considered it, I will attempt more particular to consider it. 1st. You say, John says, "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof you have heard it should come and even now already is in the world." John in the preceding verse said, that every spirit that confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; do you think, sir, that every person that assents to this truth is a true believer? But few that have been born in a land of gospel light but what assents to this; but the soul that is born of God truly believes it, according to what the same apostle writes, 5th Chapter 1st epistle 1st verse, "Whosoever believeth Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him." Do all men that confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh profess to be born of God? Do they love the children of God that bear his image? No; they, if unregenerate, are of the world; they "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." Who does our Lord mean when he says, "If the world hate you, it hated me before it hated you, if ye were of the world the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you?" Sir, you know that there has been many antichristian professors of this truth, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that have shed much human blood, because they hated the dear children of God. Therefore I conceive this is the meaning of the text: we must know for ourselves that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as Peter did when he confessed him, and Christ said to him, "Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven—upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." I believe that true and saving faith is wrought in the heart by the spirit of the living God; and the soul that believes truly, is, as I have already said, born of God, is in union with Christ, is partaker of the divine nature, and has escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and is pressing forward towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I have wrote more than I intended, having received your other epistle and have considered some of it. This remains to be considered: what you wrote concerning your having great numbers of hearers. It is true Christ had a great number which followed, and heard him, but few which followed because they loved his doctrine, and followed him from right motives. He said unto them, "Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed," John vi. 26, 27. Our Lord says, John viii. 47, "He that is of God heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God." Hence you may see how our Lord and his beloved disciple John agree; it is not the truth as it is in Jesus, the populace are after; it is to gratify their curiosity, or hear something about their salvation in a way that has no cross in it. But Christ says, "If any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me." When Christ preached soul searching doctrine as he did in the 6th of John, "Many of his disciples went back and followed no more with him." And I believe when you preach repentance and faith, and shew what fruits they will produce in the true penitent and true believer, the world will not hear you and cordially like your doctrine. But they, as John says, are of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them; "We are of God, we that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us: hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." I have reason to think some popular preachers are good men, but the world do not like them nor their doctrine, because they are so; but because of their popularity their curiosity is fed, or gratified—and not their souls with the pure milk of the word. Sir, you answer in some way which is ambiguous to me about your preaching repentance, and say repentance may be preached without speaking the word repentance. What makes you shun speaking plainly as Christ did? Be explicit in preaching it. You cannot deny, but Christ and his apostles preached it explicitly. Christ said in plain language, "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish," Luke xiii. 3, 5. In your answer concerning the resurrection of the dead, you do not speak of that in a clear and explicit way, and your not mentioning it at either of the funerals, makes me doubt whether you believe it in as clear and literal a manner as it is expressed in the scriptures by Christ and his apostles. Paul says, "Seeing we have such hope we use great plainness of speech." I hope, sir, you will not be offended with me for plain dealing.
As to your apostasy, I hope I shall have an opportunity to confer with you about it. I am happy to say I feel no rancour or enmity against your person or people, as a neighbour and friend, but should be willing to assist you in, and as far as my ability and power with a good conscience will admit; and hope this will not interrupt our meeting together as usual in visiting the schools. I think we had best drop the controversy, and I think I shall no more write to you, and hope you will no more write to me on this subject. You may make what use you please of it; I hope it will be made of good use to you.
I now, dear sir, "commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build yon up in the truth as it is in Jesus, and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."
From your friend, and well wisher in the gospel of our dear Lord Jesus
Christ.
JOSEPH WALTON.
Mr. Hosea Ballou, Pastor of a Church.
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