THE TWO OPINIONS; TWO OR, SALVATION AND DAMNATION. "How long halt ye betwixt two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, PREFACE. If the reader is desirous of knowing the why and the wherefore of the following pages, his desire shall be granted. The author, in his various pilgrimages through the land, in the character of an "Evangelist of the grace of God," has frequently been asked for some work which will present at one view the essentials of the faith he advocates, and the points of difference, with the reasons for the same, between said faith and the popular theology of the age. Such a work is not extant, and hence many sincere inquirers after truth are prevented from prosecuting that examination to which their minds are disposed, and which would readily be given, were the means of doing so in their hands, without too great a sacrifice of their time and attention. The careful perusal of the various valuable works already published in favor of the final and blessed "restitution of all things," were these within reach, would be a task too arduous for many to undertake, while a single volume could be taken up at a leisure hour and be perused with interest and profit. Such a volume, so comprehensive as to present a general view of the whole matter at issue between Universalists and their opponents, and yet sufficiently copious in style for popular use, would seem then to be a desideratum in our literature which ought promptly to be supplied. Convinced also of the fact that it is in vain to hope for anything like a fair representation of the doctrine of Universal Salvation from the pens or lips of uncharitable, malignant or ignorant teachers of partial creeds and systems; and, moreover, that the people must have light before they can be expected to embrace sentiments radically different from those they have been accustomed to hear inculcated from the sacred desk and from the Bible, the duty becomes imperative that some one should gird himself to the labor of preparing and publishing a work which will supply the deficiency so palpable, especially in the South. (iii) |