SCRIPTURAL INDICATIONS OF FUTURE

I.

THE

PROBATION.

HE Scriptures teach that God discloses Himself through gradual stages and continuous dispensations. This Divine method of action is involved in the very idea of progressive enlightenment and spiritual discipline. Immortal minds can be trained in the knowledge of God only by instruction and discipline, carried on through successive ages. The work of bringing rebellious wills into loyal submission may require gradual manifestations of the Divine purpose, and infinitely varied experiences for mankind. No intelligent being could rest in the belief that God wills that myriads of immortal spirits should remain in the stage of spiritual ignorance throughout all their endless existence; or that He has brought into existence countless multitudes of spirits, with boundless capacities and infinite possibilities, in order that they may be condemned to endless misery by a single act of Sovereignty.

2. If God has dealt with man in the past by varied methods, may this not be also His manner of training him in the future? He "visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him, and shows mercy unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His commandments." May not this be equivalent to the declaration that the Divine mercy is a thousandfold more powerful than human hatred, though never so obstinate?

3. May He not extend this principle of dealing with men into other worlds? Christ tells us that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for unbelieving Chorazin and Bethsaida. The meaning of these words may be that the light denied to Tyre and Sidon in this world will be afforded to them in the next. He affirmed that if the light withheld from Tyre and Sidon had been granted to them in their day, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. If this be the view which God entertains of the possibilities of human repentance, will He, in the yearnings of His selfsacrificing love, allow the light to be hid for ever from their eyes? His language clearly denotes that the light which would have induced repentance in this world, but which was not

granted, will, when granted in the next world, lead to repentance.

4. Christ's declaration, that the sin against the Holy Ghost is not forgiven, "neither in this world nor in the world to come," certainly implies, if it does not distinctly teach, that there are other sins forgiven in the after-stages of existence. An angel was sent to Cornelius, ere he had heard a word about Christ, to announce to him that his prayers were heard and his alms accepted before God. Now, had Cornelius died before Peter arrived at Cæsarea and preached to him the Gospel, would he have perished, or would he, in the next world, have had an opportunity of acquiring a saving knowledge of Christ? Peter also declared to Cornelius, and to those assembled with him, that God is "no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him." All this is in accordance with the spiritual consciousness of man. In the light of Peter's teaching, may we not ask whether those illustrious heathen who have been moved by the Spirit of God have perished for ever? Will they be given no opportunity of acquainting themselves with Christ in the after-state? Will the myriads who have never had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, and have died with

out faith, be granted no means of learning Christ?

5. If Christ went, either in His own person, or by His Spirit, and "preached to the spirits in prison," may we not conclude that there are stages of probation beyond the present life? Do not many who upon their first hearing of Christ reject Him, afterwards embrace Him? St Peter tells us that Christ went and "preached to the spirits in prison which were sometimes disobedient." Does not this statement indicate that there are dispensations of mercy in the worlds to come?

6. Such conceptions of God's methods and ends are certainly far more in harmony with His self-sacrificing love than those views which involve a conception of His character that appals and repels the mind. The human mind cannot rest satisfied in the belief that all who die without faith in Christ are endlessly lost. The bare attempt to believe so dreadful a doctrine necessitates an unconscious effort to crush out the heart of humanity.

I.

IT

SCRIPTURE DIFFICULTIES.

T is admitted that there are statements in the New Testament which at first sight seem to clash with others. Such, for example, are those texts which appear to teach the doctrine of endless punishment; and those texts, again, which seem to teach that Christ died only for a limited number of the race. Against these stand texts which teach that Christ died for all men, and that all men will ultimately be saved.

2. Now, are these apparently opposing texts really harmonious in essence, and capable of satisfactory reconciliation? Unless God's Word contradicts itself, there must be a higher unity in the perception of which we can ascend to a more comprehensive understanding of the principles of the Divine dealings with men. There must be some central principle which reconciles all God's teachings.

3. The principle cannot be found in any attempt to bring texts which speak of Christ's death as