I protest against teaching that “all” means in scriptural phrase absolutely “all” when some evil is foretold, but that “all” means only “some” when spoken of final salvation. So rooted is this most inequitable mode of interpretation, that it has become involuntary.
The restitution of all things means, we are told, that only some beings are to be restored, while some are tortured for ever, or annihilated. That God shall be finally “all in all” means that he will shut up many for ever in endless evil, to blaspheme and hate him eternally, and only save the rest. That his tender mercies are over all his works means, in the ordinary creed, that his tender mercies expire at the gates of hell. Solemn as is the question, there is something almost ludicrous, when we find those who so teach, then turning around to charge us with evading the words of Scripture. I submit that the entire history of exegesis contains no stranger fact than this persistent ignoring of so large a part of the New Testament.