the bible standard april 1883

8/3/2019 The Bible Standard April 1883

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.;llli1IIl~7r/fy RECEIVED THEWORD WITH ALLREAO I --NESS OF MINO ANOSEARCHED THE SCR IP-

- rU R E S' D A IL YWHETIIER17 I0SETHIHCS WERESOtHEREFORE MANYOF THEM BE j !EV ; ;; s JI .i // .

No. 7. Vol. VI. ONE PENNY.PRIL, 1883.PROPRIETORS: The" Conditional Immortal ityAssooiation.' ,PUBLISHINGEDITOR: Cyrus E. Brooks; Office,Malvern Link, Worcestershire.LONDONAGENT: F. Southwell, 27, Ivy Lane,E.C.

MONTHLYCONTRIBUTORS:BIBLICALEXEGESIS: Rev. B. B. Wale, Malvern.SACREDSONG: Rev. G. P. Mackay, Lincoln.NOTESANDQUERIES: Gen. H. Goodwyn, Reading.FAMILYCIRCLE: Mr. J. J. Hobbs, Poole.BIBLE LETTERS: " Devon."LIFE NOTES: )ADVENTNOTES:COSMORAlllA Editor.POSTALPICKINGS:REVIEWCOLUMN:

GENERAL CONTRIBUTORS:Mr. W. Laing, Edinburgh.Col. E. Armstrong, Madras, India.C. Underhill, Esq., J.P., Oxford.W. G. Moncrieff, Esq., London, Canada.Rev. E. 8.Taylor, Thames, New Zealand.M. M. Wilson, Esq., Liverpool.NOTICETO-AnVERTISERS

That such may personally judge as to thesuitability of our columns for their purpose, westate that-our previous issue numbered 2,350copies, and these circulated in the UnitedKingdom, Canada: Australia, New Zealand, Eastand West Indies, United States, and on theContinent. Our present issue numbers 2,425copies. Terms, on application to the Editor(enclosing copy of advertisement), or of any ofthe Agents named herein. No advertisement ofstimulants or drugs can be accepted.PREPAIDPOSTALCHARGES:

This Paper is sent free f rom the Publ ishingOffice at following rates-

} { ~~ ~.~ ~.~ ~~To the United Kmgdom, a ~ ~ t) l;,) ~~:~a~~'r~p~i:~~.~:~:~.' ~ 1s. 6d. 2s, 6d 48. 108. sa,Ea8t and We.t Indies ., ~ 28. 6d. 38.6d. 68. 16s. 6d.Africa, Austra.lia, & New Il .rZealand.. . 28. 40. 78. 19a, 6d

WANTED! The following fore-told general features cor-respond with the facts of this nineteenth century.To supply' the Christian Public with the These are-" they are corrupt-abominable works-none that doeth good, that understand andMONTHLY PERIODICALs-Bible Standard (Id.), seek God-all gone aside-altogether becomeMessengej' (2d.), Rainbow (6d.), and OTHER filthy-workers of iniquity-eat up the people-LITERATUREadvocating Conditional Immortality call not upon the Lord." That this is a trueand the Pre-Millennial Advent. MONTHLY description of our days, witness Russian Nihilism,PARCELSare supplied Oarriage Free, wherever German Socialism, French Communism, and thethere is Postal, Rail, or Steam Communication. Spanish "Black Hand." In Britain we haveA UNIFORM DISCOUNT ALLOWED. Address the ht e same features of social life, but not at pre-PUBLISHINGEDITOR of this Paper. s~nt bearing a distinctive. title. The family

N.B.-For India and the East all periodical likeness between all these IS the denial of theand other literature is ONE-THIRDHIGHER VALUE supernatural, the hatred of all authority-Divinethan the published English prices; and ONE- and human. To such the very Name of God isHALF HIGHER for Africa, Australia, and New I hateful.Zealand. This is owing to the heavy transit But these are not alone in their denial, forcharges. some men famous in science or letters have lentALL GOODSare sent at Senders' Risk, but are the~s~lv~s t~ereto. T? such all is material.Not Returnable. Where Import Duties and ThIS Iife IS alike ~he J;legmmng and end of e~ist-Excess Charges are levied on Literature, the ence. Immortality IS a dream. Heaven IS acharge must be borne by the Agent and added fable and Gehenna a bugbear.to the selling value. ' To such must be added many of the votariesof wealth and pleasure, to whom the Bible is ar : : : : s " DUE SUBSCRIPTIONS.-Those Mem- dreaded monitor, and thoughts of God andbel'S, Associates, and Subscribers who receioe jud.gm~nt flies. in their pot of world-ointment,the present number in a COLORED 'U'1'apper, WhICh if permI~ted t.o stay would spoil its per-'Z Z ki dl 'd . .. - 7 fume and their enjoyment. Alas! too, the'Unh. An y rlegSa1 ". as. an mt~'lnatwndt tat majority of those professing godliness, live ast eir nnua u scruptums are now ue; though their hearts were in the world; whilstthey will greatly oblige by forwarding, as too oft we fear, the w07 ld is ~n their hearts, andearly as convenient, to the SECRETARY. Go~ has little save hp. service, spare momentsof time-few and far between-and the crumbswhich fall from their tables-filled, as thosetables are, by the Divine bounty.Thus does the fool, (and the foolish ones, inthis=-however wise in less important concerns

say" in his heart,'THERE IS NO GOD!' "

AGENTS

BIBLE LETTERS.By "DEVON."

" The fool hath said in his heart, there is noGod."-Psalm. xiv. 1.D EAR FRIEND,-These words are painfullyappropriate to these God-denying and man-deifying days-for such is, practically, their mostprominent feature. This Psalm is a propheticone, designed to be descriptive of these latter-days, its scene being manifestly laid just priorto the Salvation of Israel," "when the Lordbringeth back the captivity of His people," atwhich time" Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shallbe glad."

Let it then be our mutual study in this" BibleLetter," to see where such an affirmation wouldlead us, what it is that is at stake amidst thisgrowing infidelity and atheism, that we may beon our guar~ against our common danger, maylearn and prize more fully our common Christianprivileges, and be quickened to contend moreearnestly" for the faith once delivered to thesaints."Supposing the fool's affirmation were truethese consequences would naturally follow:Thus, there would be


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86 THE BIBLE ST A N D A R D .AN END TO PRAYER!

For how can prayer be offered if there is no Earto hear, no Power to respond. Or praise, if noBeing to be praised. Under such circumstancesprayer ceases to be a hallowed and helpful occu-pation, and becomes an idle mockery. If thereis no God to hear and answer, let the closet beforsaken, the family-altar razed, and all privateand public intercession and giving of thankscease.Then, too,

THlI SANCTUARY MUST BE CLOSED!Sweet and hallowed a;e its associations. Here-first religious impressions were received. Here-worshipped those who bore the revered namesof father, mother. Here-were we dedicatedin infant life. Here-were our youthful vowsof consecrated service first uttered, and ourpublic attestation made in the baptismal waters.Here-have we received consolation in sorrow,strength in weakness, confidence in doubt, victoryin sore temptation. True, this is sentiment, butsentiment enters so deeply into our very beingthat we should be poor indeed if bereft of itsministry. But if no God, it is idle sentiment,-no God to worship, no house needed in which tomeet for worship. More-all these associationsconnected-therewith-are based-upon a myth, alie, and do but cheat us.

THE SABBATH ~IOST CEASE!For, if no God there is no validity in the wordswe have so long heeded-" Remember the Sab-bath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thoulabour, and do all thy work; but the Seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord." These wordswere never spoken-if no Divine Voice to speak,no Divine Person to command. There is noDay of Separation, of quiet rest, of sacred joy, ofhallowed intercourse.But we must go further yet. We must

DESTROY OUR HYMNOLOGY!It is based upon the existence of a SupremeBeing. It sings His praises-hymns our prayers.

Recalls His mercies-tells our needs. Speaks ofHis love-woos us to heaven and warns fromhell. Yet in all this it is false if there is noGod. Go it must, for we will not cheat oursenses with a lie-however pleasant and musical."Rock of Ages, cleft for me "-you must go,though a loved one may have hymned you inthe hour of death. "Jesus, lover of my soul"-we must part, though to consign such sentimentsto oblivion is like tearing up one's heart-stringsby the roots. "Praise God from Whom allblessings flow"-alas! that there should be noGod to praise, or bless. "Art thou weary?"-aye, verily are we, at such sacrifices as these."God moves in a mysterious way "-good-bye,truly He does if he has' permitted us and ourfathers to be juggled all these years by emptyrhymes: but then there is no God to " move ina mysterious way:" worse and worse, since itleaves life itself a mystery, an aimless mockery,and men but puppets, moved they know not how.But something worse than this has to befaced. We have-nay, had-a treasure, a thou-sandfold more precious than our hymns-itself ahymn-we must

PART WITH THE BIBLE!As a Book it professes to be a record of God's

dealings with, and a revelation of God's purposestowards man. But if " there is no God," thereis no" Word of God!" No Sacred Oracle! NoDivine Lamp! No Unfailing Standard! It is amyth-worse, a cheat, a lie. Its history-in-vention. Its Psalms-a merely human poemwritten by men themselves the subjects of amonSIl'OUSdelusion, 01', worse, who palmed it onhuman credulity for what they knew it was not.Prophecy-mere day-dreams. The GospelL-false. The Epistles-vain letters of deceived

men, who wrote of what had no existence, savein their diseased minds. Like a bubble all ourhopes are bursting. Can we pay the price de-manded? Think of the grandeur of its openingsentence-" In the beginning God created theheaven and the earth." The sweetness of itsassurance-c--" The Lord is my Shepherd; I shallnot want t " Behold, God is my salvation; Iwill trust and not be afraid." The graciousnessof its command-" Comfort ye, comfort ye, Mypeople, saith your God." The gladness of-" God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Himshould not perish but have everlasting life."The confidence of-" He was wounded for ourtransgressions, He was bruised for OU?' iniquities."The certainty of-" If ye shall ask anything inMy Name, I will do it;" "Ye shall neverper-ish;" " This corruptible shall put on incor-ruption, and this mortal shall put on immor-tality i " "Glory, honowr,' immortality, eternallife." But if no God we think of this in vain.Truly we are left poor and miserable, indeed ;-of all men most miserable. We are mariners-without a Compass: Pilgrims- without a Guide:Men-without a God.-What more?

NO HOLY SPIRIT!We ha d. a Fri-end in seasons of need=-aGuide

in moments of perplexity-a Comforter in timesof sorrow-a Strength-giver in hours of weakness-a Light-bearer in intervals of darkness, andwe called this Helper" the Holy Spirit." Wehad, once, but we have not now, for we havebeen deceived. For, if no God, there is no suchPerson in the Godhead as the Holy Spirit.What further? We must

PART WITH THE SAVIOUR!For if there be no God there cannot be a " Sonof God." The story of Christ is merely a fable,or else the record of an impostor's life, who, ifsuch, died with a lie upon his lips-" Father,forgive them: " since no Father to forgive. Thuswe are sinners-without a Saviour. Debtors-without a Ransom. Dying-without a Physician.No "Blood" to cleanse 'us. No" Life" to re-deem us. No" King" to reign over us.But more, we have

NO FATHER IN HEAVEN!since no God. The prayer, "Our Father inheaven," learned at a mother's knee, and neverforgotten down through all the changing scenesof life, must be forgotten now-for we areorphans, fatherless. We may not even have the'satisfaction of memory-as the child whosesoldier-father had fallen in battle, and who, onthe day the sad news came, at her evening-prayer said, " Mamma, let me say, Thank Godthat I had a father once "-for if no God wenever had a Father in heaven, but have all ourlives been juggled by a lie.But, alas! with this comes further loss; thereis also

NO FUTURE LIFE!Death is the end of life and being. Resurrec-tion is a baseless dream. Immortality a delu-sion. Life itself, a shadow, without force ormeaning. "Thy Kingdom come" is realizedonly in the silence and corruption of the grave-the kingdom of death. Man is but a dog, thedifference being one of degree only, and not ofdestiny. OlU nature itself, with its hopes andaspirations, is but a cheat-with no God to meetits instinctive wants, no immortality to satisfyits intense desires, no home, no heaven, no hope.We are left to say to corruption,-" Thou art myfather."These words-" There is no God" -are veI'yeasily spoken, and, alas! are often very thought-

lessly and flippantly spoken,-but, if true, theyleave us bankrupt indeed, wrecks upon theshores of time.

ARE THEY TRUE?Is there indeed no God? Has mankind fo6,000 years been deluded with a lie? Have. thgood and the great of all climes and ages liveand died trusting in a baseless desire, leaning oa reed? Has the strongest motive-force the rachas ever known-the power of heavenward lovand purpose-been but the force of a false hopeHas the "longing after immortality v=-whichhas led to life-long suffering and loss, anoftimes (yea, in myriad instances) to painful ~nuntimely death-been always quenched, and ISalways to be quenched, in six feet of earth, ithe darkness of the grave, no other realizationthan to afford a feast for corruption's worms?If it be so, let us draw down the blinds, puout the lights, stifle the sound of laughterquench the whisperings of hope, and go doggedland silently to the grave. Or, otherwise, rushing to the opposite extreme, since" the dead :isnot, let us eat and drink: for to-morrow we die.H it be true, we must be honest, we must facthe terrible fact, and go down to the grave as tan eternal sleep.

WHO AFFIRMS ITS TRUTH?For we must be satisfied that we lire underlogical necessity to believe ij;j _and then, wheconvinced, we will "play the man "-the bruterather-and away with air-bubbles. But ~I'Sto the -euidence ! Who makes the sffirmation-and what are the proofs? Is it

SOME CHRISTIAN COUNCIL?gathered from the four winds, which-havingmet in solemn, prayerful conference, and ehaustively examined into the Biblical evidenceand compared them with the facts of nature anhistory-has arrived, with broken heart anwithered reason, at this terrible conclusion?Or, failing this, is it the careful and un

prejudiced conviction of theWORLDS GREAT THINKERS

in Congress assembled ? The most renowneand thoughtful of the names famous in arscience, and literature? Is it the result-of thedeep, intense, and protracted enquiry? afttesting the question by every available means?-laying all nature under contribution in theanxiety to know the truth ? We know that somseientific men have said, or seemed to say, thGod was a shadow and eternity a dream,-buthave all said so? has even the majority? anfurnished to' the world the proo] on which thefounded their conviction-?Or, to go further, has an international jurywise, good, and

COMMON-SENSE MENdeputed by their fellows to this task, ever arriveat such a verdict ?-a jury, of course, of impartial and unprejudiced persons. What is thanswer? The text of our letter supplies it-

"'I'HE FOOL HATH SAID"!May we have patience to bear with the" fooin his folly, lest we should answer him accor

ingly, and say, "Who cares for ',:hat the f.saith?" As a class, such lire objects of PInot of honour, True, some few wise men-notwise in this-have joined the "fool" in thtestimony of folly, and thus lent weight to hassertion,-but it has been the exception, anot the rule. Yet, were it otherwise, we shourequire more than their unsupported word. Wcertainly should not give credence without proat least as strong as that of Holy Writ.

WHERE IS THE PROOF?It is not names we want, but reasons, facindisputable proof. Names prove nothing.they did, for every denier of God that the" foobrought, we could produce two or three affirmeIn geology wemight mention Hitcbcock or MillIn the drama, Shakespeare. In poetry, Miltoor Longfellow, or Tennyson. In statesmanship


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T H E B I B L E . S TA N D A R D . 87Washiugton, or t Lincoln, or Gladstone. Inphilanthropy, Wilberforce or Howard. In popu-larity, Cobden, or Bright, or Morley.. In astro-nomy, Newton. In arms, Wellington or Have-lock. But enough. We repeat, "Names provenothing," we ask for the proof.He who is qualified to deny the existence of aDivine Being must be

HIMSELFAGOD!For to substantiate his denial he must have ex-plored all space, and found it tenantless, save bycreatures. He must also have supplied satis-factory means of accounting for the existenceand perpetuation of the natural phenomena wesee above, around, beneath us; and, also thosefurther worlds of wonder revealed by the teles-cope and microscope; together with the how orwhy of the existence of life, rational and brute,insect and vegetable.No! no ! sir "fool," we should be the mostcredulous of mortals to take your bare and un-

supported word in a matter of such tremendousimport. We rejoice to know thatTHEREISAGOD!We believe in His Word, treasured in the Bible.

It comes to us luminous with proof. Crowdedwith evidence both internal and external. Whatits miracle and prophecy, its wonderful harmonyand beautiful morality, its higher flights ofthought than unassisted reason could attain to,teach us from within its pages=-is supported andendorsed by its experimental results. It upliftsmen and nations-and that in the exact degreein which He who inspired it is loved and obeyedby them. It has given birth to a world- widephilanthropy; and it is ever found upon theside of man's best and brightest hopes and in-stincts. It has saved the world from utter cor-ruption and swift destruction; and it is thesource of all that is good, true, and hopeful inits present history.On the other hand, what are the fruits of adenial of God? What the

RESULTSOFATHEISM?Sad things follow when we take away the re-straints which the fear of God imposes. Menriot in wickedness. One illustration will suffice.France, in the facts of history, supplies theanswer to the question. In her mad and godless" Revolution" when the Sabbath was abolished,and the very idea ofGod smitten out of all publicacts and teaching, then-A harlot was set up asthe Goddess of Reason I-Whilst no man daredcall his !'life his own.-The streets of Paris run-ning with human blood! Such is atheism.

11Amonster of such hideous mien;That, to be hated, needs but to beseen 1"What has resulted will again wherever menact on the assumption of atheism."We (however) believe inGODTHEFATHERALMIGHTY."

We bless and praise Him that-we can enjoy thePrivilege of Prayer-the Blessings of the Sane-tuary-the Rest of the Sabbath-the Melody ofSacred Song-the Teachings of the Sacred Word-the Grace of the Holy Spirit-the Joy of Salva-tion in Christ-the Hallowed Pleasure of possessing a Father in Heaven-the Certainty of aFuture Life ofImmortality.May the desire which has dictated this letterbe, by God's good grace, abundantly realised, eventhis-that our interest in the blessing of our

common faith, our enjoyment thereof and ourfidelity thereto,' may be vitalised and manifestedin fair and honest Christian Testimony with lipand life, against t~ swelling tide of doubt, iri-difference, scepticism, and atheism. That thistestimony may be full, clear, constant, pure andScriptural. Thus:-

ELOHIMOURJEHOVAH-is the earnest prayer ofYours" in Hope of Eternal Life,"Devon."

SYMPOSIUM ON TJ[E, INTERME-DIATE STATE.

[IN accordance with the W Ill of the Committee we openour columns to the above. It must, however, be dis-tinctly understood that neither the Association nor theEditor are to be held responsible for, or as endorsingin any way the views expressed herein. These aresimply the personal convictions of the several writers,and appear in these colums merely that our readersmay have the opportunity of studying the question asit appears to the different believers in the cardinaltruth of" Conditional Immortality," and then formingtheir own opinion thereon.-Eo. B.S.]

NINTH ARTICLE.BY REV. W. GRIFFITH.D EAR SIR,-My former paper on the Inter-mediate State dealt mainly in certain rootdistinctions of idea which seemed to me essential

to a clear conception of the subject. Thenarrow limits imposed upon contributorsallowed me no adequate space for applying thedistinctions to the crucial texts of Scripture onwhich any sound view of the State itself mustbe based. I venture therefore to send a fewmore paragraphs continuing the line of argu-ment then broken off.My position is that while death means theextinction of life, it does not mean the extinctionof being. I allow that it leads to the extinction

of existence, by the dissolution of the body: butwhen a man's existence is dissolved, his being isnot thereby destroyed. Man consisting of" spirit, soul, and body" is a living existence.His life, or soul, fails, becomes non est ; and hisbody by corruption passes out of existence; butthe elementary, things, material and spiritual,which in their combination made up the sum ofhis existence do not go into non- entity. Thematerial parts demonstrably ARE somewhere,.though we cannot trace and identify them. Andin like manner that part called spirit (in dis-tinction both from soul and body, and all theirfunctions) IS somewhere and somehow, when dis-sociated both from life and matter.Do the texts of Scripture which guide thisinquiry allow these distinctions; and do suchpassages as seem non-harmonious among them-selves lose their discord when examined by thetest which the distinctions supply? Supposewe say the departed believer" sleeps in Jesus."Still he IS or he could not sleep: and if he sleepsin Jesus, he must BEWITHJesus. Even shouldthe believer's sleep be an unconscious one, stillunconscious sleep necessitates the idea of being.First a thing must BEbefore you can predicateanything of it whatever. A non-entity can nomore sleep than it can breathe, think, or talk.So in death the Old Testament saints con-tinued to BE. Granted they were not alive, thatthey had neither consciousness nor action;nevertheless their being held on, and renderedthem capable of re-existence, and re-suscitationin their true personal identity. Had they goneout of BEING,their resurrection would have beenphysically and morally impossible. Other per-sons by the creative power of God might havebeen called into being, resembling them in agreat many points. But a person newly calledinto being with the memory and consciousnessof one who had lived before, hut who had goneto nothing, is unthinkable. The proposition isitself a logical contradictory. No one can enter-tain its full thought otherwise than as a con-tradictory. He who attempts to do so mustpractice a sleight-of-hand upon himself, for hemust assume all along that the essential part ofthe annihilated man IS at the call of theAlmighty. The moment that assumption isabsolutely dropped, he has to believe that twopersons, each with a distinct origin, are one andthe same. Which is impossible.'Lho Lord Jesus said to the penitent thief," 'I'o-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."

The distinction I have laid down is literallyembodied in these words. Thou shalt BEwithMe. Not thou shalt be alive and full of joy inthe presence of God. (Psa. xvi. 11.) TheSaviour Himself would not be in that glorifiedstate till His" flesh had rested in hope" throughthe Sabbath, and had felt the touch of resurrec-tion on " the first day of the week." "To.day,"said tbe Saviour, "thou shalt be with Me."That met the case abundantly. It assured himof pardon, of divine acceptance, of eternal safety ,of an identity of interest with Jesus. " Para-dise" is a word' of indefinite import. As apopular term denoting a state of acceptance withGod for the departed, it met the case precisely.But we cannot rely upon it for a single ideabeyond the general sense of divine acceptance.Our busy, bustling thought will be inventingdetails and particulars for such a general term;our very feebleness of intellect disqualifying usto pause and rest in the simple language ofChrist; nevertheless there stands the languageitself, so grand in outline that every associationof detail does but dwarf or becloud it.The Intermediate State for the Saviour illus-

trates the same distinction. "He died." Noone can gainsay that testimony. "I becamedead." He Himself averred to St. John; anddrew a contrast, adding, " Behold, I am alive forevermore." He-died, went under the power ofdeath, and continued in the thrall of death,-justas Isaiah, Daniel, and all the righteous men andmartyrs' of old times died; and continued deadtill the third day, when" God raised Him fromthe dead." ITo maintain that He was alivewhile His body was in the grave is to say thatEIenever died; and it is also to say that Goddid not mise Him from the dead; also thatresurrection is no restoration to Iile, Butthough Jesus was dead He never passed out ofbeing. His "spirit," the essential part of Hishumanity, never ceased to be. Jesus (as to Hishumanity), and the accepted thief were togetheron the day of their crucifixion and death, in thesafe keeping of God. "Father, into Thy handsI commend My spirit.".When St. Paul says," Then they also whichare fallen asleep in Christ are perished," he is

writing hypothetically, on the supposition thatthere is to be no resurrection, So essential isthe resurrection to the Christian system, that Ifit be not true, then no part of the whole schemeis true :-tbe resurrection of Christ is not true,the testimony of the Apostles is not true, thehope in which Stephen and all the others fellasleep in Jesus is a false hope. But, he argues-starting anew from the fact which was the burdenof apostolic testimony-" Christ is risen fromthe dead;" therefore our whole preaching istrue; and those who sleep in Jesus have not"perished," even temporarily. Tbey ARE" inHim," asleep on this side of their being and inrelation to earth; but enjoying the perfect andblessed vision of His" glory" (John xvii. 5, 26,)the glory He had with the Father before theworld was. Sleep on, ye departed ones I Nothingshall break the contemplation of that inex-haustible glory, till, at the Archangel's trumpet,Christ shall bring you with Him, to behold stillgreater glory.There is a difference in the death stateor intermediate state of believers, as com:pared with that of their Lord and Saviour.

"He died:" they shall "not die," they " shalllive forever." Christ died as the Old Testamentsaints died. Believers in Christ never die afterthat pattern. St. John's gospel explains thismystery. We learn from it that the believer isa God-begotten person-that throuah the re-gener.ation. o~th~ Holy Ghost he obtains a spirit.life m distinction from the flesh- life, -thathe comes into actual, present possession ofeternal life by receiving Christ-that he shallnever perish, and nothing, for a moment, shall


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88 THE 'BIBLE S T A N D A R D .pluck him out of the Saviour's hand. The con-trast drawn between those who die in the faithof Christ and those who died under the oldeconomy is the sharpest that words can express,It is just the difference between yea and nay." Your fathers did eat manna in the wildernessand are dead. This is the bread that comethdown from heaven, that a man may eat thereofand not die." "I am the living bread whichcame down from heaven; if any man eat of thisbread, he shall live for ever." If the believer inChrist died, as the manna-eating fathers did,these words of Jesus would have in them nocoherence. So far as flesh-life and earthly ex-istence go, Christians pass away just as theHebrews did. But Christians, having the moniallife which natural death cannot touch, never gointo the Hebrew Sheo1. This life qualifies themto be with Christ and to behold His glory, It isnot a life which dispenses with the resurrection.In the chapter where Jesus so emphatically says,"Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh Myblood, HATHeternal life;" He also says" ANDIwill raise him up at the last day." "Belovednow are we the sons of God,"-not moribundnon-eatities=-': and it doth not yet appear whatwe shall be." It is blessed to be a living, insepar.able branch in the living Vine; but that greatprivilege does not exhaust all the things Godbath in store for us.With the hope of continued life and unbrokenfellowship with Himself the Saviour comforted

His disciples in His last discourse. He de-livered their minds from the Old Testament ideaof Sheol, and from the Rabbinical notions ofHades by several distinct assurances: -- First theassurance of "a place" for them He was aboutto "prepare"-which must needs be differentfrom what had existed before. Secondly, Hepromised to come and" receive them unto Him-seli"-and to fix the time contemplated in thatassurance He put it in the present tense, " thatwhere I AM,there ye may be also." The wholediscourse assures them by all manner of utter-ance that death is not to break the communionoetween them. The great consolation culmi-nates in the words, " Father, I will that they alsowhom Thou has given Me, be with Me where IAM"-not where I shall be after thousands ofyears. This definite promise took hold of theApostolic mind and ruled their thoughts andexpectations. Hence Stephen in his last momentssaid" Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ;" throwinghimself literally upon the Saviour's word. Takethis ,sense out of Stephen's dying request, and itbecomes a drivelling remark. The same greathope animated Paul's language, "having thedesire to depart and be with Christ; for it isvery far better." It may be asked what is veryfar better ?-the former half of this statement,or the latter half ?-or rather the whole of ittaken together as it stands? No one will accusePaul of thinking it very far better to go into astate of unconscious sleep than to live andlabour, " for the joy" of his beloved Philippians.To be with Christ would be very far better; buthe was willing to forego that, and abide in theflesh for their progress and joy of faith. Wehazard nothing in saying Paul would very muchrather have lived, laboured and suffered for athousand years in such a cause, than gone intoan unconscious sleep. "To depart" and" to bewith Christ" are but two sides of one idea: hencethe two expressions are, linked hard and fasttogether in ths one adjective KREISSON,n thesingular number. Paul longed to be "at homewith the Lord." Saith he (2 Cor. v.) "Whilstwe are at home in the body, we are absent fromthe Lord; "-only so long. He knew of no gulfseparating the two states by thousands of years!A mall \ does not "depart" to go nowhere.Unless he removes to another place, he simplystops. To become a non- entity is just to ceaseto BEand nothing beside.Shall we say that in spite of the words of

Christ, and the triumphant hope which theApostles built on them, that He does not comeand receive us unto Himself; but leaves us,maugre the grant of eternal life and inseparableunion with Him; the victims of death, disrobed,dishonoured, severed from Him, dry rottenbranches dropped, away from the life sustainingVine, and gone -to corruption, to nothing? Isubmit it is no mitigation of this awful break tosay that the' unconsciousness of one, two, ortwenty thousand years will count for nothing inthe believer's actual experience. We have todeal with the hard fact itself. It does connt, andfor very much in the grammar and logic andevident sense of God's communication to us.How can Christ say "My sheep shall neverperish," if they lie in a "perished" state formillenniums? How can Christ say" they shallnot die, they shall live for ever," if they lie in astate of death for millenniums? How can Hesay, "because I live they shall live also" if theylie under the power of death for millenniums?It might as well have been written, "because Ilive they shall die."The unconscious sleep for the departed, indeath, exposes the Conditional Immortality As

sociation to some of the heaviest metal that canbe thrown from the battery of revelation, and itis a needless exposure. Nothing is gained by it,but the suspicion and alienation of many asincere inquirer. So at least it strikes me, and Ishould be glad if the Bible Standard could seeits way to forego those notions altogether, orkeep them very much in the back- ground.West Croydon.

TENTH ARTICLE.BY ALFRED WATSON.IAVE read the articles that have alreadyappeared in this Symposium with considerable

pleasure, and think it an admirable method ofevolving truth and enabling those who are inter-ested in this subject to read the arguments onboth sides, and (if they so please), to themselvespresent any aspect of the question they thinkhas been overlooked. May I, leaving somewhatthe beaten track hitherto trod by the contri-butors, submit a few thoughts to your readers,very simple, and yet, I venture to think,thoroughly germane to the subject?Previous writers have naturally confined their

attention almost exclusively to the question,"What is the correct interpretation of thevarious passages of Scripture, bearing on thestate of the dead? and as Revelation is theonly "Authority" we recognise in spiritualmatters-what "The Word" says MUST bedecisive; but where there is an irreconcilabledifference of opinion as to what" the Word"really does say upon this subject, it will help usto form our opinions correctly if we take a com-mon sense view of thc matter and ask-Whatdid those to whom Christ and His apostles spokeor wrote-those who saw the miracles they per.formed and to whom the" living Voice" madeits utterances-understand to be the meaning ofthose teachings and the import of those wond-rous works? It is a prevalent and misohievouserror that it requires an expert to interpret theBible, and we all give" professional" opinions ontheological subjects more deference than, Ithink, they merit. Some of our teachers wouldhave us believe that God's truth is so wrappedup in imagery, parable, and enigmatical expres-sions, that only those who have gone throughthe curriculum' of "the Creeds" can unfold itsdark sayings. Whereas we know it to be a dis-tinguishing characteristic of Bible teachings thatthey were meant for common people, were con-veyed to them in the ordinary language andmodes of thought with which they were familial',and were continually enforced by appeals to theconscience and understanding of those addressed.

If then we can ascertain what those who saa~d hea~d the miracles and messages of the Bihlunderstood thereby, we shall be far on the r~ato form a correct estimate of the truths embodIein those words and works.Let us then consider for a few minutes whathe impressions must have been that were p~duced on the minds of those who saw the mcidents and who heard or received the teachingthat throw light on the "Intermediate State.And,FIRST: In the numerous cases-both in thOld and New Testaments-where life was r

stored, the impression conveyed to the. beh?lderwas simply that of bringing back alllmatlOnthe corporeal frame' there being no shadowproof that the idea of calling back a disembodiedspirit to re-enter the lifeless hody was. evpresent to the mind. Elisha--thus resuscitatedthe" Shunamite's son" by making him breathagain. Christ-the son of the "widowNain " by bidding him" that was dead" to " Sup." And Paul-Eutychus, by falling on himand making the lifeless form once more t9 binstinct with vitality. In all these cases,person looking on oould have but one impr.esion, vis., that the dead person was made to hvagain. When Samuel was brought up to pronounce the doom of Saul, we are distinctly tolhe came from his grave; and his own utterance-" Why hast thou disquieted me to bring mup ?" would carry the conviction to an! unprejudiced mind that Samuel had been III thgrave and not in heaven. The vision of th" dry bones" of Ezekiel will perhaps be said tbe but a vision, but it shows that neither thprophet nor those to whom he wrote believeany immaterial spirit needed to be summonedfrom 'another world to give life to these bonesAnd if we take the cases in whioh our Lord restored life-from Jairus' daughter to the eulminating miracle performed on Lazarus who ha" been dead four days"-no word recorded giveths faintest idea that Christ called-or thathose who looked on imagined He called-thespirit of the departed dead to re- animate thbody. The sublime words, "Lazarus, comforth" were spoken to one who was in the tom-and from the tomb he who heard the Divinmandate issued forth. Matthew also, in recording the wonderful events attendant on thcrucifixion, tells of the saints" who came outtheir graves and appeared to many." In shorevery case, where one who had been dead wamade to live again, witnesses to the fact that thmodern idea of a disembodied spirit existingseparately from the body-had not then beeeven conceived.SECOND:Think for a moment-if those whthus returned to life had come from a conscioustate of happiness or woe, what a tale ihewould have had to unfold, and how eager everyone would have been to learn it ! I! And yet theyremained silent. It was then-Bs before finsince-the overpowering desire of our race tlearn the facts concerning the invisible worldand if Lazarus (for instance) had really spenfour days in heaven, his friends would havclustered round him, anxious to hear the revelation he had to make to them of what he had seeand experienced! 1 And yet he had not a word tsay on the subject-not one bit of informationto impart as to the unseen world. And why?Simply because he had only been in the tomb-in the land of darkness where" the dead knownot anything"-and not one of his friends probably entertained even the thought that hcould have anything to communieate.jgIf Hthen, and others on whom this miracle waperformed, went neither to heaven or hell, tparadise or purgatory, does it not follow irevitably, that all who die remain like them ithe grave, and do not go either to a place of joor woe? How shall we regard.vmoreover, thcalling of Lazarus from heaven or paradise t


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THE BIBLE STANI>ARD. 89unite him again to a body in which he mustsuffer-as an act of kindness 1-a token of theDivine favour-as it was evidently regarded byall, even by Christ Himself 1 Would it notrather have been unkind? almost cruel to com-pel him to give up the white robe, the crown oflife, and the golden harp that for four days hadbeen his; and to come and taste again the miserieswhich even the most favoured life on earth ex-periences? And yet this is what "orthodoxy"would have us believe, but which on suchinsufficient authority we decline altogether togive credence to.THIRD: Had all who are thus recorded ashaving "lived again" come from a consciousstate-either of joy or suffering-there would-have been, in some cases at least, a violation of

the solemn statements of God's Word summedup in the text, " as the tree falls so it hes." If,as Protestants, there is a doctrine we find taughtclearly and distinctly in that Word it is that thestate is fixed at death; and we' reject as apriestly invention, the dogma of mass~s andprayers to alter the condition of those departed.And. yet-as the utmost stretch of charity wouldnot Impel us to say that all thus restored to lifewere saved,-it is certain that any who had had,even an hour's experience of the pangs we aretold the lost endure, would not continue a courseof life that would ensure a return to such horrorsand so, at their first death they would have goneto hell, and at the second to heaven, an ideawhich needs only to be broached to be rejected.In urging these common sense views, we aresometimes met with the reply-" But thesecases were exceptional. The subj ects of these

miracles were not actually dead. It was only'suspended animation.''' Do those who saythis reflect on the stigma they affix on theSaviour and those servants of God to whommiraculous power was given? That they bringa charge which Strausse, Renan, hardly TomPains himself, would dare to lay at the door of~heDivine Man; That of lending Himself to anImposture, and pretending to raise those to lifewho were not really dead. To such sorry shifts,however, are those driven who are not contentwith the simple testimony of Scripture as to thestate of those who depart this life.It would be profitable to contrast the utteranceof God the Holy Spirit in almost the only case

where He speaks of the dead with the avermentsof hymnology. "Blessed are the dead that diein the Lord, ~aith t~e Spirit," and why? not (asthe hymns WIthWhIChwe are so familiar assureus) because they have" received their crowns"and are" for ever with the Lord," but" for theyrest from their labours, and their works do followthem." What a rebuke is this to the high-flown language in which the state of those who" sleep in Jesus" is commonly described! "Theyrest," but only for an instant, for the momentthe breath fails, is to the unconscious dead themoment when the Archangel's trump shall beheard, and Noah, Abraham, David, and otherOld Testament saints. shall enjoy no advantage,neither suffer any disadvantage as comparedwith those who may be "alive and remain" atthe coming of the Lord; for they" have not yetreceived the promises," and" without us shallnot be made perfect."And lastly: What says the same commonsense to the theory that beings will be broughtfrom a state where for ages tl; ey have knownand experienced their doom-to be judged?

Does not" orthodox" teaching reduce the" dayof jndgment"-a day to be thought or spoken ofonly with reverence and -awe-to a farce? andits august proceedings to solemn trifling? IfDaniel and Paul have already received theircrowns, and tasted the "fulness of joy," whyshould they go through the form of a trial, theeternal issues of which have already beendecided? And if Judas and Nero have reallyknown and even partially suffered for 1800 years

the punishment due to their crimes; what pur-pose could be answered by this arraignment atthe" Judgment seat of Christ" NoIWe willput aside the imaginative descriptions of thestate of departed saints and sinners, with whichour hymns and popular writings abound, andcontent ourselves with the grand and solemnpredictions of Scripture, all centring in "thatday," "when all who are in the graves shallhear His voice and come forth;" when, and nottill when, Paul expected to '.'see his Lord" and"receive his crown;" and when those who havedied impenitent shall hear their doom pro-nounced.I fear I have exceeded the limits proper tothis paper, but I thought, perchance, thesesimple aspects of the doctrine under considera-tion might be helpful to some humble readersof the Bible Standard, to whom the scholarlydisquisitions of those who give us the preciserenderings of the original Hebrew and GreekScriptures are not convincing, and I can onlyhope they may lead some seeker into "TheTruth."Salisbury.

" SIX ETERNALS. "WE extract the following from the ThamesAdvertiser of Sept. 25th.A LECTURE with the above title was given byEdmund H. Taylor, last evening, in theOdd Fellowa' Hall. He said: In bringing beforeyou the phraseology of Scripture relative to thefuture, it has been our lot to call in question thegeneral teaching "f the Christian churches con-cerning the end of the finally impenitent, and inso doing, our opposing brethren not unfrequentlyaccuse us of placing too limited an applicationto the words everlasting and eternal. To showthey are mistaken accusations, and that our useof the words is the legitimate one, we call. yourattention to the word eternal in six passages.The first is found in Heb, v. 9, " EternalSalvation." Here we are told Christ is becomethe Author of eternal salvation to all that obeyHim. This is a sublime truth, and one wecannot be too earnest in proclaiming, for" Howshall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? .,But would you not think it very peculiarreasoning if I said this meant that Christ hadbegun an act in which He would be engaged forever-an act that would have no definite effect?You would immediately reply, the evident mean-ing is that the act of salvation is temporary,almost instantaneous, but its result endless.Salvation takes place here, but its effects will benever ending, in the world to come. Temporaryact, endless result."Eternal Judgment" is found in Heb. vi. 2.Here, again, one cannot but recognise an all-important truth, and we would reason with you,

as one of old did, of a judgment to come. "Forall must stand before the judgment seat ofOhrist." But .think for a moment of anyonesaying that "Eternal .Judgment " should beunderstood to imply that when the Judge oncecommences judging He will continue so doingfor ever, without cessation. Such would be anabsurdity and a contradiction of Scripture, forwe read, " He hath appointed a day in which Hewill judge the world;" the work of a brief period,the effect of which work will last to the age of theages. Temporary process, endless result." Eternal Redemption:' is spoken of in Heb.ix. 12. Our High Priest is represented as havingobtained redemption by His own blood, and

entered into the holy place once for all. Do notconfound salvation with redemption. Salvationaffects this life; redemption is a return from thegrave, and is yet future. Paul says" we groanwithin ourselves, waiting for our adoption, towit, the redemption ofour body." Still the sameteaching is seen I so far as the word eternal is

concerned; not an endless act of redeeming,but a process of short duration, not requiringrepetition.We next observe the statement in Heb. xiii. 20," Eternal Covenant." This cannot be explainedto mean an everlasting covenanting, but a shortperiod in which God made a covenant that can

never be broken. Turn your thoughts for amoment to the time of Noah, and the wickednessthen existent. We read God destroyed everyliving creature save those in the ark, and aftermade a covenant with the saved ones not toagain destroy the world by a flood, and placedthe bow in the clouds as a sign; and He says,I will look upon it, that I may remember theeverlasting covenant I have made. The act ofcovenanting was of few days' duration at most,but eternal because unchangeable, and to-daystands good, and will for ever remain.In Rev. xiv. 6, we read of an angel flying inmid-heaven having an "Eternal Gospel" toproclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, andunto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, andpeople., Are weto understand from this that anangel at some future date will be endlessly pro-claiming the glad tidings to impenitent sinnerson this earth? If so, we are thrown into thisdilemma: This world will always be a sinful one,and an angel the preacher of good news whichwill not be accepted by all the then living sinners,a sufficient number rejecting to enable this angelto continually wing his flight over the world, andendlessly preach from his aerial position, theeternal gospel. Such, we think, no one wouldadvocate, but would draw the same conclusionfrom this as from the other passages-a tem-porary act of proclaiming, with an endless result.This brings us to our last illustration ofthe useof eternal, tobe found in Matt. xxv, 46, "EternalPunishment." So far as I am aware, no onewould accept the idea that the foregoing instancesof the use of this word "eternal" imply anendless process; yet is so applied to the futurepunishment of the wicked, the victim being con-signed to endless pain, variously called "Thedeath that never dies," "A living death," "'A.dying life," terms self-contradictory and: un>:scriptural. We then simply apply the word here,also, in its Scriptural form, as God's servants ofold did, meaning an endless result arising froma temporary act, and that result death. We arewell aware that our opponents will call usannihilationists for so doing. We reject thatterm, because unseriptural, but frankly admitthat our teaching is the "extinction" of thewicked; and all who care to read a " Thus saiththe Lord" will discover in Isaiah xliii. L 7, thisexpression," they are extinct, they are quenchedas tow;" and if God, by His prophet, states thatHe causes an army of men to become extinct,no preacher of whatever sect has a right to sayit is not so; and when we read the wicked shallbe "destroyed," or "consumed," or "shallperish," or "be cut off," it is not an endless actof pruning, or consuming, or perishing, but anact represented by the Psalmist as "swift"destruction, its result being eternal death, calledin Revelations the "Second Death" Let usremember that this is to be the fate of all whosenames are not written in the" Book of Life."

ADVENT NOTES.A WRITER in the Times says, speaking of thesocieties of Free-thinkers-Liberi Pensatori-" One of these processions appeared lately inRome, with a banner on which was inscribed'Satau.' "-As though anxious to assert theirdevotion to the "god of this world," and to" glory in their shame." Does not this remindus of the Saviour's warning as to the features ofthe latter days?Speaking of a visit to Jerusalem, the Bishopof Ballarat says, "One thing that filled him with


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90~ THE BIBLE S T A N D A R D .the intensest disgust was the Turkish Govern-ment there. He would defy anybody to go intoPalestine and see the way that the Turkmanages tha,t country without sharing the in-tensest horror and condemnation of the wretch-edness and weakness of that caricature of gov-ernment. A missionary told him that there wasa murder every week, of which not the slightestnotice was taken by the Government. I feelsometimes that if there were some crusade tosweep the Turk off the face of the earth, I wouldfor a time put off my robe, buckle a sword to myside, swing a gun -to my shoulder, and go andhelp it."-How long, 0 Lord, how long shallthe land be desolate? "Until the times of theGentiles are fulfilled." We may look forstirring changes shortly.A correspouden t of the Restitution, writingfrom Jerusalem on December 21, says,-" The

Sultan has sent a firm an to allow-the walls (ofthe city) to be taken down; also he last weeksent the information that all refugee Jews are tobe allowed -to come and remain in this land orcity as they please. This we think an extraor-dinary measure, as only three months ago hewould not permit them to land at Jaffa, andthey were obliged to leave. Many Jews arenow arriving with a more hopefulfeeling."-Yes,verily, however slowly, the land and the peopleare being brought together.-" Then cometh theend." God be praised for the promises whichspeak it near.

LIFE NOTES.T HE Rev. Henry Batehelor, of Newcastle-onTyne, on Sunday, February 25th, delivereda Sermon in Defence of the Natural Immortalityof the Human Soul. This was, probably, in-tended as a reply to our recent Course ofLectures in that town. The Local Committeehas met the revd. gentleman by inserting an ad.vertisement, which we copy from the NorthernEvening Express of February 28.-"THE BIBLE V. THEREV.HENRYBATCHELOR100 REWARDfor ONE Text of Scriptureproving Man's Natural Immortality. Forfurther information apply to," &c.A Dartmouth Correspondent writes-"Kindlyallow me room for a few remarks in continu-ance of mine of January last,-but before pro-ceeding, cannot help expressing my delight onreading that significant letter from a clergyman,in the Feb. issue, letters like this show the waythe wind is blowing. I asked a Methodist mini-ster about a month since, 'If he did not thinkthat many Methodist ministers had grave doubtsof the truth of what they now taught on thefuture of the wicked.' He said, that 'He be-lieved that hundreds of them did not believe inthe old creed; and moreover, that there wouldbe a wondeljull'evolution in the Churches in thatdirection, in a few years:'-"Having seen, whilst reading the Bible Stan-dal'd, several remarks on the celebratedAmerican Lecturer, Joseph Cook, I have beenreminded of what took place when he was lec-turing in this country, among other subjects onthat great question-' What is-life? ' This wasvery ably answered by the Rev. W. H. Dallinger,now Governor of Wesley College, Leeds,-in alecture to the students, on Biology. I read it inthe Methodist with very great pleasure, andthought that it entirely cut the ground fromunder Mr. Cook's feet. The closing words were._' Unless we can get something better than wehave hitherto had to prove the immortality ofthe soul, we are without a foundation.' Thiscalled forth a reply the following week, by awriter calling himself a 'student.' I thoughtwhen I read it, that he might have called him-self a ' babe,' for it was weak indeed. I noticed,however, that no reply came.from Mr. Dallinger,

my recent lecturing tours in Notts, Durham,Northumberland and Lancashire, and theanswers given, might prove not only interestingbut instructive, to some of your readers.Doubtless many of the questions put to me,have arisen at times in the minds of manyof the readers of the Bible Standard, and someof the answers given may remove such mentaldifficulties.I put the questions and answers down, not

always in the order in which they occurred, butin the order in which while I write they comeup to my own mind.QUESTION1IRST:-put by a Local Preacher." The Lecturer said, quoting a passage from thethird chapter of John, that when the Savioursaid-' Except a man be born of water and of theSpirit, he could not enter the kingdom ofheaven,' that by the word' water,' Jesus meant, death.' I should like to ask the Lecturer,what authority he has for making sucb a.state-ment? I contend that when Jesus . or HisApostles used the word 'water' they meant'water,' and'nothing else, and Icchallengethe'Lecturer to prove the contrary."ANSWER-The Questioner affirms that whenChrist or His Apostles used the word" water,"they always meant "water," and nothing else;is the gentleman prepared to stand by thatdecision ?-Questioner, "Yes, most certainly."-Very well. We turn fo the fourth chapter ofJohn, Jesus is the speaker-" If thou knewestthe gift of God, and Who it'is that saith. tothee, give Me to drink; thou wouldst have a.sl~edof Him, and He would have given thee livmgwater." Does the gentleman believe- that theSaviour meant, that He would have given theSamaritan woman a jug of cold "water? "-Questioner, "No! no! in that particular passageof course it means eternal life, but that is theonly passage where the word 'water' meansLife." The Lecturer,- Very well, let us see.John vii. 37-38, " Jesus stood and cried, saying,If any man thirst, let him come unto Me. D:nddrink, and out of him shall flow rivers of livingwater." Does the Questioner believe that theSaviour meant literal water? (No answer.) Ofcourse he does not, and dare not, in the face ofthe express statement of the Evangelist in thenext verse, " Thus spoke ge of the Spirit whichthey who believe on Him should receive." ThISthen is the second' passage where" water" doesnot mean" water;" We turn to a third, lastchapter of Revelations, "Let him that is aihirstcome, and take of the water of life (i.e. livingwater) freely." Does the Apostle here meanliteral water? To ask the question is to answerit. Among the Jews in the time of Christ,, water" with the word "living" prefixed,symbolised "life." Interruption by theQuestioner.-" But the Lecturer said that watermeant death, now he says it means Life."ANSWER:The gentleman is "shunting" on to aside-line, where I decline to follow him; he isthrowing dust into the eyes of the audience, butfor myself I decline to be blinded. The positionlaid down by the gentleman was this ;-thatwhen the Saviour or His Apostles used the word"water," they always meant "water" andnothing else, I have proved the unsoundness,and unscriptnral character of the position.Now, however, the gentleman shifts his ground,by attempting to show that while I affirmed inmy Lecture, that "water" meant death, I havenow proved in my answers, that it means" life."Now I admit that this move on the part of thegentleman, is what the Yankees would call"rather smart," and somewhat amusing, onlythe gentleman will remember that I never saidthat" living water" meant death. I leave thatto our orthodox friends, to say that death meanslife, and destruction means preservation. Inthe passage under dispute, (thethird John) the'word" living" does not occur.' The words are:-" Except-a man be born out of (Elt) water;

This disappointed and surprised me. I don'tknow the reason of his silence, but can guess.This only I know. At the following Conferencethere was a certain minister questioned on hisorthodoxy, and MarshallRendall (author of 'ForEver') was on the committee.-"While reading on metaphysics lately, I have

been much interested with tbe notions of theancients on the immortality of the soul. Ireally think that their arguments are far moreweighty and sensible than those given by- or-thodox believers of to-day. They taught thatthe soul was as old as God. They said therenever was a time when it did not exist: for; theyargued' a thing that had a beginning might havean end-a thing created could be destroyed.'-Very sensible, I think. Orthodoxy, howeversays,-' that the soul, though created, cannot bedestroyed.' If asked why? The answer is-'That it is a part of God' (monstrous); or-' animmaterial being created to live for ever, and putinto the body;' and that' It can live either in orout of it, but can never be destroyed.' And yetthese same persons are ever and anon singing-

HHe can create and He destroy."May the Lord of Life and Light give themLight."The Christian. Commonwealth says-"The no-

torious work of Rev. E. White on ' Non-eternityof Punishment' is receiving a severe handlingin an article of eight pages in the organ of theFree Churches of France, by one of its valuedcontributors."-We hail the publicity withoutfearing the severity of such "handling." Ourprincipal difficulty always is to induce our op-.ponents to discuss or "handle" the matter.The pagan notion of the transmigration ofsouls still lingers-fed by orthodox teachingtouching the nature of the soul. If Pythagorashearing the plaintive cry of a beaten dog knewits voice as that of a deceased friend, whose soulhad passed into the dog's form; so one or moreof the maid.servants in a Cornish vicarage,(St. Cleer,) anxiously preserve the spiders,because the soul of parson Jupp (the previousclergyman) has passed into one of the vicaragespiders-and they know not which. This isbelieved in the 19th century! One thing is clear,that vicarage must be the very paradise ofspiders.In a clever and interesting suppositious dia-

logue between the pulpits of Old Surrey and theWeigh House Chapels, London, the ChristianWorld of February 22, gives the following slyhit at our special tenet. Speaking of ThomasBinney, "Old Surrey" says,-" I heard someone of the new lights, a man from the blackcountry, call him' an old Pagan' the other day;but I was rather tickled, for the man to whomhe said it replied, 'Well it is better to be evensuch an old Pagan as he, than such a youngAtheist as you,' for the black countryman wasone of the conditional immortality heretics."As far as any sober condemnation of this tenet

may he concerned, we can say with the ApostlePaul-whose teaching we follow-" This Iconfess unto thee, that after the way which theycall heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers,believing all things which are written in thelaw and in the prophets." To which we link, asdescriptive of Paul's teaching, "For the wagesof sin is death: but the gift of God is eternallife through Jesus Chmst our Lord." We arecertainly in good company, if to declare this isto be an "Atheist."

NOTES OF MY LECTURINGEXPERIEN CE S.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.To the Editor of the Bible Standard.Dear Sir,-IT has struck me that the 'Various

and numerous questions put to me publicly in


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and of, or by the Holy Spirit (as the activeagent) he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."What I affirmed was, that our New Birth, orbeing" born again," takes place at the resurrec-tion, the" first resurrection;" begotten of incor-ruptible seed now,-but bo1'1~hen=-i.e. born outof death-and "water" without the prefix" living" means, and symbolises, (and meantamong the Jews)-a state of death, hence aphrase common among the Hebrews of thatday, to describe any calamity, was Mish-b1'ee-Mahveth--the "surging waves of death."QUESTIONSECOND:"The Lecturer has spokenof man as a unity; that man's body and soul

and breath, or spirit, are all one. I should liketo ask him how on his theory he can explain thelanguage of the Apostle who speaks of man aspossessing body, soul and spirit. He says 'Ipray God sanctify you wholly, body, soul, andspirit" -Kai Soma, Kai Psuche, Kai Pneumatos J-I should like to know what the Lecturer hasto say to that? "ANSWER: The Lecturer has to say in the firstplace, that the Gentleman makes the Apostlewrite very bad Greek. He" kais" too much, toRaynothing of the fact, that the gentleman hasreversed also the order of the words. TheGreek of the Apostle is :-To pneuma, kai hepeuche kai to soma. But let that pass.The Apostle is addressing himself to Chris-tians - to persons who had already beenbegotten of incorruptible seed, and had thereforereceived a new element of spiritual being, andthat consequently his description does not applyto the entire human race, or to man as man.And finally, I must decline to plead guilty touttering such nonsense, as the gentleman putsin my mouth-that man's body and soul andspirit were all the same. I might as well affirmthat a corpse is a living being, or that manbreathes when he is dead.QUESTIONTHIRD: By a Congregational Min-ister-" Does not the Lecturer admit that thereare degrees in iniquity, and that some men aremuch worse than others? "-The Lecturersignified his assent to this proposition.-" Then"-said the Questioner-" would it not be un-just of God to inflict the same punishment onall, those that were less and those that weremore guilty? But according- to the theory ofthe Lecturer, God will make no difference, butinflict the same penalty-utter .death, on al1."-Here the major part of the audience cheeredvociferously, and the gentleman looked trium.pliant.ANSWER: Does the Gentleman believe ineternal torment ?-(The gentleman admittedthat he did.)-Then, said the Lecturer, it cer-tainly seems most marvellous to me that thegentleman does not see the suicidal nature ofhis own argument. For this is precisely whatmodern orthodxyaffirms God will do-cast intothe same unending" torments, the child who diesat seven or eight years old, and a Nero, aDomitian, and an Alexander the Sixth. Theyare all equally tormented and that for ever.Here the audience were silent, and the gentle-man sat down.But another gentleman rose instantly, andsaid-" Does not the Saviour say that someshall be beaten with many stripes, and somewith few? That clearly to my mind proveseternal suffering."ANSWER: I thank the gentleman most cor-dially for quoting that text; he could not haverendered me a greater service. Will he kindlyanswer me one question, before I answer his?If the gentleman had to inflict a hundred stripeson one man, and a thousand stripes on another,would it not take him ten times longer to inflictthe thousand stripes, than to inflict thehundred ?-The Questioner answered in theaffirmative.-Then the "eternal suffering"of the man who received the few stripes, wouldcome to an end ten times sooner, than that of the

T H E B I B L E S T A N D A R D . 91~an who receiyed the thousand stripes, whoseeternal suffenng "would come to an end tentimes later. But both would have a terminationand therefore neither would be exposed t;eternal torment.Here for the present I conclude by subscribing

myse.lf, Dear Mr. Editor, yours most cordially,Burltngton B. Wale.:

and the estimate of faith, old things have passedaway. In verse 18 he goes on to say that" allthings" in this new creation are of God; andthen states in what the Gospel consists-ThatGod was in Christ reconciling the world untoHimself-and therefore could not be at thesame time imputing their trespasses unto them;and that he had committed to the Apostles theword of reconciliation. Then on behalf ofChrist. he besought these Corinthians to act thepart of reconciled ones, and to put away theirdisorderly walking, and partisan spirit, and to actthe part that became Christians; as we sometimessay to a man who is acting an unmanly part-" bea man!" and everyone understands what wemean (for he has just stated that God had re-conciled them to Himself), and then as a di-vinely accredited ambassador from God, he urgesthem to walk worthy of their name and position.

BIBLICAL EXEGESISBy Rev. BURLINGTONB. WALE, F.R.G.S.

2 Cor. v.Iour last paper we closed our exegesis withverse 9. We resume it at verse 10, wherehe assigns the reason why he laboured, whetherpresent or absent, to do that which was well-pleasing to the Lord :-" For wemust all be mademanifest before the judgment seat-(Beema) ofChrist." "We" i.e. those who are Christians, forthe Apostle is not speaking of the outside world,but of those who walk by faith, and not by sight;and he is careful to maintain. good works be-cause he is to be made manifest before the judg-ment seat of Christ; careful to maintain rightmotives, in the actions of life-to be careful asto whether those actions were to be hurtful, orhelpful to the cause of Christ. It is the judg-ment of the believer's works in and for the causeof Christ-not of his person. It has regard toService, and not to Salvation; to the" crown ofrighteousness," the super-added rewards of ser-vice-and not the free gift of eternal life. Thebeliever, saved by Christ, will then have thejudgment of Christ upon his actions in Christ'sservice, and will either receive the badge of ap-proval 01 suffer conscious loss. This will, in allprobability, take place when we are caught up tomeet the Lord in the air, and before we are pre-sented faultless to the Path er, without spot 01blemish or wrinkle, or any such thing. It may bethe action of a moment. in which we shall havethe "mind" of Christ on our service for him;it will be, not the "trial" of the Christian butChrist's estimate of his service for Him,-andthen the cup of cold water given in the name ofa disciple shall not be without its reward, forOhrist will be no man's debtor.Having this scene, this fear 01 reverence of theLord before his mind, he persuaded the Corin-

thians to have it constantly in remembrance.Then in verse 12 he defends himself from theimputation of egotism, and in verse 13 from thecharge of being beside himself, with which theCorinthians had charged him. The church atCorinth had neither bishops, pastors nor deacons,many of its members were walking disorderly;a spirit of partisanship was diffused through itsranks, and the Apostle in verse 14 contemplatingthis state of things, says that he was determinedto know none of them after the flesh, that thelove of Christ alone bound him to them.Here the Apostle uses a word (Swiekei ) whichrepresents the action of a cooper binding thestaves of a cask together; for they were gnarledand crooked characters, with whom he wouldrather live two hours than two days. He judgesthat they had (representatively) "died" withChrist, (not then were all dead-the Greek isapethasuni 3 pers. pl. aor. 2 ind. from apothmees-ko) i.e. that they were Christians, howevercrotchety.He then proceeds to say, that though they hdknown Christ after the flesh, henceforth knewthey Him no more after that manner. All pic-tures of Christ, all the ritualistic representa-tions of His birth, and death, and" crucifixion,are knowing Christ "after the flesh "-and for-gotting that He Who was once a "man ofsorrows," is now the Supreme Monarch of allworlds. If any man be in Christ, there is forhim a new creation, and in the purpose. of Godv

NOT~ES & QUERIES.EDITEDBYGEN. H. GOODWYN.

QUERY: A. B. M. writes on behalf of an' " intelli-gent gentleman" who wants" more light " as tothe terms and conditions on which eternal life isattainable. The writer deems it " of importancethat this question be fully replied to, in orderthat many inqnirers may learn The. Way as wellas The Truth. and The Life."-(::ltephens City,Va., U.S.A.) .REPLY: But one question is comprehendedherein, viz.:" By what "way" is eternal life

attainable, or' what has the Divine Author oforiginal or terminable life declared to be theconditions on which life everlasting can bebestowed? For," in them that are saved," theGospel is " a savour of life (temporal) unto life"(eternal). The Apostle's principle must herenecessarily be followed, and the matter expoundedfrom the beginning. Though I will be brief aspossible.The analogy of Scripture, as a whole un-

questionably shews that God had predeter~inedt? create a family in His own moral and spiritualIikeness ; and that the first creation, as well asredemption, were in order to its fulfilment.Immortality, or endless life, is the main root-feature of such resemblance, which will beevident as we proceed.This life was not possessed by patriarchalsaints, for, "God only having immortality," an,essential intrinsicality of His being, Adam couldnot have been created immortal, or God musthave made a duplicate of Himself! Apart fromthat, however, the prohibition of Gen. iii. 22 23,shuts him and his posterity out from the att'ain.ment of the contemplated LIFE, lest, in the pos-session, he become like God, knowing good andevil, and yet perpetuate the life of a sinner.For mark! God's unchangeable principle is,that the Divine life be possessed in inseparable'combination with its outward characteristicsrighteoiisness and holiness, as we learn froU:Eph, iv. 24, and Col. i. 15. As it is also written" the body is dead by reason of sin, but lthe spiritis life by reason of righteousness," its outwardevidence.-Rom. viii. 10.Furthermore, it may be asserted that the

" dominion" bestowed on man muat havenecessitated the exercise of such accessories ofrule, and yet, if righteousness was not found inthe Ruler, we know that he could not have hadTHELIFEwhich is its source. Thus this ,Adamicfailure becomes instructi ve, being a fore-intima-tion of another Adam, a "King who shall rulein righteousness" (Isa. xxxii. 1), and "a newe.~rth in ~hich dwe~leth righteousness" (2 Pet.ui. 13). I'he Adamio nature could not attain tothe Divine standard of holiness by any moralaction, either under compulsion, or through fear?f death; for, becoming c~nstitutionally corrupt,It could not warrant the glft of eternal life apart


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92 THE BIBLE S T A N D A R D .from the promised agency of "the Seed of the Christ Himself: union with Him, possession ofwoman." His moral likeness (1 John iii. 2), and jointThis leads to the consideration of the possi- occupation of His throne I(Rev. iii. 21.)

bility of attainment of LIFE in the next or legal NOTE.-As a corollary to the above, let theage. Scripture meets us at the outset with this' reader attentively consider 1 John v. 20. Thedecisive statement, "If there had been a law Son of God has Himself come into this world ofgiven which could have given LIFE, verily evil, to present an Object to our hearts. He hasrighteousness," its true and special character- also giveu us, who believe, an understandingistic, "should have been by the law" (Gal. iii. 21), that in the midst of all that is false we maybut it could not, for God hath said, "by deeds know HIM, that is The True One. We are thusof law shall no man be justified;" and the brought into the true light, that we may judgerecord of Rom. iii. is conclusive, for it declares according to truth, But this is not all. " Wethat up to the Advent of Christ" there was none are IN HIM,"-this" True One,"-partakers ofthat doeth good, no, not one. There was no His nature, identified with, and abiding in Him,fear of God before their eyes." In fact, the that we may enjoy the Source of Truth, evenentire moral conduct of man, and the principles Jesus Christ, the Son of God I It is thus weof his dominion" came short of" the righteous are in connection with the perfections of God.standard of" the glory of God." Thus" all the "THIS IS ETERNALLIFE" !world was guilty before God" (Rom. iii. 11, 12, Nothing like this could have been revealed in19, 23). This statement must be received as the ages before Christ came.generally applicable to human nature, not Reading.specific. On this ground alone could such gladtidings be proclaimed as those which state that"God so loved the world " even in its guilt,"that He gave His only begotten Son, thatwhosoever believeth in Him should not perish,but have everlasting life."Here, then, is the opening of "THE WAY."THIS LIFE, we have seen, could not be attainedby the Antediluvians; nor by man under the

legal age. There remains but the present Dis-pensation: "Now is the day of salvation,"wherein "the Seed of the woman," havingaccomplished the glorifying work of redemption,having been "delivel'ed for our offences, and raisedagain for our justification," salvation and thefree gift of eternal LIFEare declared on the con-dition of FAITH. "By grace through faith are yesaved." An age wherein "the righteousness ofGod, which is by faith of Jesus Christ;" is freelyoffered to all, howbeit it is attainable as theearnest of eternal LIFE, by "them only whobelieve" (Rom. iii. 22). The law, therefore,whilst it could not impart life, was a school-master until Christ came, that, the claims of lawhaving been met by Him, men might receive"justification unto LIFE," on the condition ofFAITH.Under law there was no access to the Presence

of God (Heb. ix. 8), "But Christ being come asHigh Priest," has not only" obtained eternalredemption," but has, as Priestly Representative,introduced believers in Hirnself to the Divinepresence (verses 11, 12,24). We have, therefore," boldness [through faith, now,] to enter in bythat new and living WAY,consecrated for us bythe blood of Christ" (Heb. x. 19, 20). HEverily, therefore, is the object of faith, Who said,"I am the WAY,and the TRUTH,and THE LIFE;"Who "hath abolished" continuance in a stateof death for the believer, " and brought LIFEandimmortality to light through the Gospel": Whomoreover said, "He that heareth My word, andbelieveth on Him that sent Me, hath euerlastinqLIFE, is passed from death unto LIFE;" and again,"He that believeth on ME, hath everlastingLIFE" (John v. 24, vi. 47).Lastly-One word more as to THEWAY. It isstated by Divine command in the Epistle to the

Ephesians, that believers "have been quickenedtogether with Christ, have been raised up to-gether, and set\J;ed together in Heaven," in thepresence of God, " INHnr "! Such a conditionis of course now, whilst still in the body, to bereceived by FAITH,as being an accomplished factin the Divine mind, to be realized in Resurrec-tion. Hence the truth that" our LIFE," as toall that constitutes its future enjoyment, "is hidwith Christ in God, and when Christ, WHOISOUR LIFE, shall appear, we also shall be mani-fested with Rim in glory"! (Col. iii. 3, 4).How certain, then, that eternal. LIFEis attain-

able only by the unmerited favour, or grace ofGod, through the one condition of FAITH, andthat THEWAYo its experience and fruition is

THE NEW CREATION.

GODSULTIMATEPURPOSE.By CHARLES UNDERHILL, J.P.

T HE object of this paper, and one or twoothers that may possibly follow, is to showthat to understand the various parts of God'sdealings with man, it is necessary if possible tohave a correct and complete view of God'spurpose, or end, towards which He is working.A large building in process of construction, withmany hundreds of workmen engaged upon itsinnumerable walls and terraces, presents a sceneof confusion and inextricable perplexity to acasual spectator, until he has seen the elevationof the proposed buildings, and grasped the mainfeatures of the architect's design; so until weplace ourselves (assuming that to be possible) atGod's standpoint, and view the glorious schemeof redemption in all its completeness and futuredevelopment; it is impossible for us to have aclear conception of many of its separate parts,which in God's gracious and wondrous handsare working surely and steadily to the finalaccomplishment of the glorious design of theAlmighty Architect.Should we attribute to the Divine Being apurpose in redemption which He Himself hasnot proposed, it will be no wonder if our minds

are confused and perplexed. If God's purpose,for instance, be assumed to be simply the moralelevation of human nature, and the bettering ofman's worldly condition ;-or if our theologicalsystem be built upon the Pagan doctrine ofnatural immortality; it will be no wonder if webecome involved in endless enigmas and contra-dictions ;-but once obtain the divine clue toGod's operations, and the whole fabric of truthbegins to assume an intelligible form, producingharmony and conviction.Now it is not in the earlier portions of the in-

spired Word that we expect to find a full de-velopment of God's purpose in redemption; it israther in the latter part, and indeed in the lastbook of all, that we have the authoritative an-nouncement that God is constructing a newcreation->" Behold, I make all things new,"-anew heavens, a new earth, new inhabitants, anew dominion, with Christ, the Second Adam ,at its head.The 8th Psalm is to be fulfilled in the Personof Christ, though as the Apostle says, (Heb. ii.8.) "we see not yet all tbings put under Him."Now when it is said that God has purposed tomake all things new, we do not understand thatthe old materials will be utterly annihilated, andthat the new will have no relation or connectionwhatever with the old ;-but what we understandis, that the old will be transformed,-that withregard to the physical globe the old materialswill be worked up into new forms of beauty and

utility; and that with regard to its sin-stainedinhabitants, even these under the transformingpower and grace of God, when united by faith tothe Second Adam, will become fitted to dwell in a.redeemed and glorified earth. Our reading of1st Gen. instructs us, that such was the natureof the change which passed over this mundanesystem, when God was preparing the earth forthe habitation of the first Adam,Geologists have sought to find in the six dayswork, traces of the various stratified rocks that

lie buried in the earth's crust; but any unsoph-isticated mind, who has no favourite systemto bolster up, must see that the days are sixliteral days, and the changes of a superficialcharacter, and just such as would be necessaryto transform the earth of the 2nd verse of Gen. i.into a fit habitation and dwelling-place for man-light-dry ground-grass and trees-sun,moon and stars, for signs and seasons-thewater stocked with fish, and the air with fowl-then cattle were created-and lastly man;-there is nothing here but what in God's handscould be accomplished easily in six days, and thusa world reduced by some great catastrophe to ashapeless mass of inanimate matter, was trans-formed and ennobled and made a glorious abodefor man.It is not God's purpose to allow Satan to

triumph over man's fall-sin has brought deso-lation and death upon all mundane things, butGod out of a ruined world will excogitate a newone far more beautiful and glorious; and willemploy not only the old materials, but will useeven Satan and wicked men as instruments tobring about His glorious purposes, and to accom-plish a state of things, that will in ten thousandways enhance the glories of our ever BlessedGod. The fiat has gone forth, "Behold I makeall things new!" (Rev. xxi. 3, 4.) "Behold theTabernacle of God is with men, and He willdwell with them, and they shall be His people,and God himself shall be with them and be theirGod. And God shall wipe away all tears fromtheir eyes, and there shall be no more death,neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there beany more pain; for the former things are passedaway." When this great purpose has been fullygrasped we shall understand, though imperfectly,yet with much higher intelligence the necessityof the various steps that are now contributing tothe accomplishment of this end; we shall seethe necessity of each step in the Divine proce-dure; many things which before seemed difficultto understand will then become plain; and anew light will be thrown upon the great cardinaldoctrines of our common faith :-for instance thenew birth or regeneration, the doctrine of theatonement, the second coming of the Lord JesusChrist; the resurrection of the just and the ever-lasting Kingdom and Reign of the Lord JesusChrist, all these and many more will assume aclearness and brightness which before was im-possible until we fully realized the fact that Godwas constructing a new creation with Christ atits head as the Second Adam, the Lord fromheaven, Who is a life-giving Spirit, and that Hispresent gracious operations are but so manyseparate steps towards the accomplishment ofthis glorious design. If the Lord will, I trust Imay have the opportunity of taking up some ofthese subjects and reviewing them from theforegoing standpoint.Oxford.

EASTBOURNE NOTES.A CORRESPONDENT writes :-" It is re-ported that on Sunday evening, February4, the Rev. - warned his congregation againstthe erroneous teaching of the 'ConditionalImmortality Teachers,' which he said had beentaught in this town from the pulpit, but did notname the place. He also said, ' there were goodmen amongst them, but they were in error,'


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T H E S T A N D A R D . 93

EDITED BY J. J. HOBBS.SO our beloved brother William Maude is gone

to the generation of -his fathers! Some ofour younger friends may perhaps be asking thequestion, Who is WilIiam Maude? Well, thewriter of these lines knew less of him probablythan some others of our circle, but at all eventshe will never forget an article that appeared inthe pages of the Rainbow, in 1869, entitled" Im-mortality," and written by Mr. Maude. Aboutthis time I was much perplexed, and in doubt onthe question of human destiny, when the readingof this essay proved light and gladness to mysoul; yes, and I may add, trial and trouble too.Delighted was I some years after to meet mydear friend, when, placing my hand upon hisshoulder, I heartily thanked him for it, and ex-pressed my deep sense of obligation. Our friendand brother has done yeoman's service since inbattling for the truth. Only three days before hisdeath he ceased writing in the very midst of anarticle on a favourite subject intended for Israel'sWatchman. Farewell, dear brother, 'till theglorious resurrection morning !-

"Asleep in Jesns, soon to wake,Yes. AWAKE WITH JESUS! Blissful stateOf holiness and love 1In store for those who, sleeping, wait SIR,-I saw some weeks ago in a number ofThe summons from above." your paper an assertion that" natural im-

" But the falling asleep of a witness bearer is a mortality and eternal torture are points ofcall for others to come forward in the holy cause." popular belief."So says Dr. Leask in his notice of Mr. Maude's This reminds me of a conversation I had withdeath. May it be so, and may many others Mr. Aldridge, at Bradford. He, in an address,show a holy determination to seize the fallen said that natural immortality was almost uni-standard, and carry it forward to victory. versally believed in. I told bim such was notWhilst penning these few lines, I see in vision the fact. Giving attention to what I said, hean intelligent young friend taking this paper to seemed to think I was right. The people, sir,his more intelligent father, saying, "How is this i.e., the mass, do not believe in natural im-father, that instead of saying Mr. Maude has mortality, or in eternal torture. They havegone to heaven, the writer speaks of him as little, if any, faith. They concern not them-being asleep, and then bids him farewell till the selves about matters not evident to their senses.resurrection morning? I have always been taught Their minds are on money, eating, drinking,at Sunday School, and have read, that good smoking, dancing, horse-racing, Sunday festivity,people go to be with Jesus when they die." frolic, and impurity. And do those who attendFATHER.-" It grieves me much, my dear boy churches and chapels believe in either? A few

that so many things are taught in schools, and of them may think they do; but as to real be-by preachers as well as in books, so very belief, their daily life shows tI;tere is .but a faiutwildering and so untrue." amount of it. It would be interesting to markBoy.-"But don't you believe then dear father the answers that the ministers of the Establish-that- . ' , ment or of Dissenting and Wesleyan bodies

'Holy children when they die I would give when asked in what they held toGo to that heaven above? ' consist the punishment of the wicked. In the

which he proved from the passage (John iii. 36.), He that believeth on the Son hath everlastinglife; and he that believeth not the Son shall notBeelife; but the wrath of God abideth on him.'He said it was' hath' not shall have. He alsomade the statement, that these' teachers' taughtthat 'the wicked die like the brute, and areannihilated.' "We are asked by onr correspondent-a Truth

Seeker-to give the name of the work whichcontains these last statements. We, of 'course,cannot answer for what extreme men of anyparty may write, but of this we are sure, that ofall the works circulated by friends of this Asso-ciation in Eastbourne and elsewhere, worksselected from our published list, not one hasever contained such a statement, for the suf-ficien t reason that our list contains none such.As to branding our teaching as " erroneous."-

Well, let the WOl'ddecide. We teach Immor-tality or Eternal Life as the alone gift of DivineGrace to Christian Believers. The reverendgentleman affirms that all men possess it by.nature-but that some are happy and othersmiserable in its possession. Well, let us take aConcordance, and, under the heading "life,"select a few appropriate passages.-Of courseonly those which speak of future as distinguishedfrom physical life. Thus ;-Gen. iii, 24, UA flaming sword which turned every way,to keep the way of the tree of Ufe."-Here we have thesinner deprived of access to the tree of Iife.c-." lest he putforth his hand, and eat: and livejor e v e 1 ' . "Mark X. 17, UWhat shall I do that I may inherit eternallife 1" Does the Saviour say he possessed it? No, butprescribes the means to secure its possession. HTake upthe Cross and follow Me."John Hi. 36, (which, singularly enough, is quoted againstus), 11He that believeth on the Son ha th everlasting life;and he that believeth not the Son .haU not see life ClheSaviour's words are absolute-shall not see life-neitherhappy nor miserable), but the wrath of God abideth onhim."John v. 40, " And ye will not come to Me that ye mighthave life." The words are clear and decisive, and they arealso the words of the USon of God,"-Life was only to behad by coming to Him; Whatever the meaning attachedto life. its source is one and one only-Christ. What isthis but "Conditional Immortality," or "Life only inChrist ? "John xx, 3I, U That ye might believe that Jesus is theChrist, the Son of God; and that believing ye might havelife thTO-ughRiB Na11l,e." No mention of life opart. fromHim.2 COT.V 4, 11 That mortality might be swallowed up oflife." Written exclusively of the righteous.James 1 . 12, If Blessed is the man that endureth tempta-tion; he shall receive the crown Of life, which the Lordhath promised to then" t hat love Him;"We leave these passages with the congregationof the reverend gentleman (many of whom will

receive a copy of this issue) for their personalmeditation. And now just a word ere closing onthe further remark-spoken surely in ignorance,for it would be too serious a charge against aChristian Minister to suppose it spoken other-wise-made against us, viz. ; that we teach that"the wicked die like the brute, and are anni-hilated."Sufficient here to state, and briefly prove, ourreal as against our supposed tenets on the end ofthe wicked. We teach the Everlasting Death orDestruction, of the sinner-but not until afterthe GeneralResurrection and Judgment. There

is no difference between us and the reverendgentleman, as to the time or endlessness of sin'sdoom-It is at the Resurrection of the Judg-ment Day. But there is a great deal of differ-ence as to the nature of that doom. What saiththe Word?Gen. ii. I7. 11Thou shalt surely die." What is it, inGod's estimation to diM' See Gen. EL 19, "Till thoureturn unto the ground (die) * * dust thou art and untodud shalt thou return."Not return to hell, whose fires even yet have

not received a victim, for he had never beenthere. There is no mention here of suffering,only of the grave. We therefore conclude thatHades, into which the wicked pass at death, issynonymous with the grave; and that after-lifeis dependent upon Resurrection. Thus" Hell"or " Gehenna" receives its human victims only

B I B L Eafter Resurrection and Judgment; not, however,to retain them in Immortal Life, but to put aneverlasting end to their being. Thus;-Matt. vii. I3, " Broad is the way that leadeth to destruc-tion."Rom. ix. 2211 Vessels of wrath f it ted to destruction."Phil. iii. 19, "Whose end is destruction."IThess. v. 3, 11 Then sudden destruction cometh uponthem * * and they shall not escape."

2 Thes. 1. 9, "Who shall be punished with everZaltingdestruction from the presence of the Lord."2 Peter ii. 1, UBring upon themselves swift dutruction."Jn

the bible standard april 1883

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