The Anti-universalist, or history of the fallen angels of the Scriptures; proofs of the being of Satan and of evil spirits: intended as a refutation of the three main points of universalism, namely, that there is no hell after death; no devil or Satan as a being; and no future day of final judgment / by Josiah Priest ; embellished with twenty-two engravings. Part I.

  • Priest, Josiah, 1788-1851.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Anti-universalist, or history of the fallen angels of the Scriptures; proofs of the being of Satan and of evil spirits: intended as a refutation of the three main points of universalism, namely, that there is no hell after death; no devil or Satan as a being; and no future day of final judgment / by Josiah Priest ; embellished with twenty-two engravings. Part I. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    need not be doubted, so long as even ourselves are made capable of thought, without being necessitated to prcduce the image of every thought. Why not God, therefore, who is the antlicr of this capability ? Could he not rejoice^ if w^e may so express the idea, over all the works and beings which as yet he bad not made, as he can now that he has made them? Were they not always present wdth him, though to themselves, as yet, they had no being ? Could he not as easily rejoice over that which he had not as yet produced, as he can now be supposed to do, over worlds and myriads of beings not yet brought forth ? Most cer¬ tainly, or we retrench the attribute, omniscience. The mind of the Deity dwells with all that is past, and with all that is to ‘corne, the same as he does now with the present moment: of whose mind we dare not say, it ever had a first thovght—but rather that He is unbeginning, unimproving, unending and per¬ fect intellect; of which ideas we can have but small conceptions, further than to spell the words here on paper. The idea of solitude, as it relates to God, though he had not made or any thing besides, by millions of ages as soon as he did, or even never., is absurd ; for we may riot suppose his wmrks essential to his happiness, especially as it relates to companion¬ ship, or as furnishing occasion for a display of activity; as even now, though space seems filled with an infinity of worlds, and sys¬ tems of worlds, the works of his power, yet God. the sacred three in one, is as much alone as if the worlds had no being; for which of all his works, even among the hosts of his angels, is his fellow^ or who is his companion ? Within himself are his own infinite resources, and mode of being, the secret of which can never be communicated, as there can exist no being whose mind can dilate to receive the immense and shoreless communi¬ cation. But as to the second query, whether he could have begun his works of mind and matter sooner than he did. We answer, no. Because, had he, as we reckon time and progress, put forth his first tangible unnumbered ages sooner than he did, relatively speaking, it could have been no sooner in fact; or had he not till now begun to create, it could be no later. The terms late and early^ have no application to eternity ; as there is no starting point, so there is no ending. If he had not till millions of ages yet to come, have commenced creation, there could be no time lost, as there could be none gained in so deep a sea. Where there is no expenditure there can be no increase, for eternity is the habitation of the High and Holy One—the Eternal Being. It is an amazing thought, when we reflect, that myriads in numbers, beyond the power even of angelic computation, of such systems of universal nature may have been created, and have passed away, as now exists, and that they may have been as di-