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IVIaps. plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6. il est filmd d partir de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cc ' , T^rmm% f-V ^^ »>> . ;.VVi.' li;.' vl^ ''''^ , . J,' «' .. *^ \ - V r '■■ ■r < 1 f FIRST PART OF SUPPLEMENT TO "Man's Only Hope of Immortality; an Exposition of Christ's Argument Against the Sadducees." BY WILLIAM GLEN MONCRIEFF, author ok '■ Conversations on Important Matters LONDON, ONTARIO: jAb. I. ANDERSON & CO., BOOKSELLERS, DUNDAS-ST. MONTREAL : Investigator Publishing Association, 534 St. Joseph-st. 1882. T P *' Smote by truth, fall ancient errors, Reared by power and propped by wrong And earth wonders, when they perish, That they stood the test so long. " Qirn LMj 5 Free Press Printing Co., London, Ontario. PREFATORY SENTENCES. This Supplement is mainly intended to answer some important questions likely to be suggested by ** Man's Only Hope of Immortality," &c., issued towards the end of 1880; and if possible to remove sundry popular objections to the conclusions wrought out therein. The author, while painfully conscious of his slender qualifi- cation for the task, trusts that his efforts, exegetical and otherwise, have not altogether failed. The remark may be allowed, as it seems fit and not uncalled for, that in the explanation of Scripture through- out the succeeding pages, the writer most anxiously endeavored to discover and present the exact meaning of the texts ; and in doing so he has proceeded with absolute unconcern as to who among his readers may agree with what is written, or who may dissent from it. May his earnest hope be more than realized, that this contribution to the literature of a momentous Christian debate and inquiry, may be examined in the spirit of tolerance and candor. Indulge him with one other observation : In justice to the author, not to mention the greatness of the topic under discussion, the antecedent small volume should be read first ; indeed, without that concession, it might be nearly, if not entirely, as well not to peruse the articles now presented at all. The treatise, though not appearing IV. PR K FACE. in complete form at once, is designed to be regarded as a unity, the parts progressively dependent on each other ; and nearly the whole of the sections in this portion derive, as a consequence, most of what force and practical valut.- they may happen to contain, from the evidence and reasoning submitted in the earlier division of the work. To all who have lent assistance, liberal and spontane- ous it has been, in obtaining (or the Exposition (under which short title the preceding volume will be referred to, when occasion requires, in the following chapters) a circulation so wide both here and in other countries, the author takes this occasion, the last he may ever enjoy, of expressing his profound and sincere gratitude. London, Ontario, June 26, 1882. CONTENTS. I. Man in Death according to the New Testament II. Nature of Man Page 7 II III. General Remarks on Some Difficult OR Misunderstood Passages - i6 IV. The Undying Worm and the Unquench- able Fire - - - - ^9 V. The Dying Thief - - - 24 ' MAN IN DEATH ACCORDINCJ TO THE NEW TESTAMENT. In testing tlie faith of the Sadducees as to the condition of man when removed from amongst the living, it was proper to examine the Old Testament only on the subject ; for that was their Bible, the New Testament having been composed at dates subse([iient to the inter- view. And yet we could not avoid making some reference to the Seconal series of revelations imparted to man ; as in explaining the prophecy concerning the soul of Messiah being imprisoned for a limited time in Sheol, which is applied to the Lord Jesus by Peter, first, and then by his fellow ^ervant Paul. That finished, we had logically nothing fuither to do \k'ith the pages of the later Testament. Lest some, however, should imagine, and strange imaginations will enter certain minds, that Messiah might cast new light on the condition of the departed, we felt bound to ask the question, " Could Jesus teach that DEAD MEN ARE ALIVE?" (See "Exposition," page 72.) In replying to which we had occasion to insist on the distinction, one never to be forgotten, between additional information, and deliverances antagonistic to and inevitably destructive of those already promulgated. Silence may be broken by speech, but that involves no contradiction, because nothing existed on record to be contradicted. Fuller intelligence is in our possession on many subjects imperfectly evolved, often in the garb of symbols, by the ancient teachers of Divine truth ; for instance, " Life and Immortality" — incorruption — which are said to have been brouglit " to light through the Gospel." — 2 Tim. i: 10. But there can be no ess'^ uial contrariety in the Sacred Word ; such would anni.iilate its value, and the last shred of its title to reverence. 8 Only weak, ignorant, and untruthful men contradict themselves; the Holy Spirit can be the author of a straight and harmonious testimony only, wide though the interval may be between the first and second, or thou- sandth inspired message. This principle, so devout and reasonable, if kept in view, will conduct students of the Bible past many dangers in understanding this subject — man in death, and others that invite profound meditation. Some are so inconsiderate as to suggest that we need not wonder if the Nev/ differs materially from the Old Testament ; at any rate, such is the obvious drift of their language, though they might not express themselves in a form so definite and reprehensible. The blaze of noon is the growth and development of the faint streaks of dawn, and in no sense alien to what may be called the day-break prophetic lines. As to the position of man when the pulses throb no more, the Old Testament speaks not dimly; in fact, it is clear to a marvel. Nothing could be more distinct and positive. No light was needed on that matter ; there was no mist of uncertainty to dispel. There was left room only for contradiction ; and that no one spiritually enli£,htened could deem within the range of possibility iii the circumstances. Neither Jesus nor his apostles could deliver testimony palpably at variance with what the Holy Spirit had previously conveyed. That is a first principle in dealing with the Sacred Volume ; and when it is ignored or contravened, the testimony is immediately rendered of no avail, even in the midst of protestations in favor of its supernatural quality. There is no trembling at the Word in that ; rather the opposite of reverence for its awful Source. Such being the truth as to the Old Testament declar- ations, and such being the sound rule as to all Divine inspiration, we would naturally expect on this question a complete uniformity between the . early and the later writings. If the Old Scripture says, " the dead know not anything," the New, if Divine, cannot uphold the reverse. They must coincide ; even appearances to the of of the its contrary must give way in pious reverence for Him who "moved" the holy speakers in far-back ages. If a second series of revelations might even modify the first, a third might throw doubt and uncertainty on the previous two ; and towards what rocky shore would we then be helplessly drifting? To lurid and atheistic unbelief, with its heaving disquietude, when man should recognize himself as a benighted orphan in a fatherless universe. The same principle holds with respect to direct guidance, promised to the saints in answer to their believing entreaties. It is written for their comfort, "The weak will He guide in judgment." — Ps. 25: 9; tind, " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." — Jas. i: 5, 6. Circumstances often occur in which direction is felt to be all-important ; and when no part of the Bible could be expected to lend the counsel in immediate demand. The child of God knows not what to think, what to do. No earthly friend can point out to him the proper line of conduct. But he is not left hopeless ; his Father, a refuge in times of trouble, will not forsake him in the crisis at which he has arrived. It must, surely, be easy for an Omnipresent Being to create an impression on the waiting, sensitive mind — to suggest the wisdom required at the moment, v/hich may assume the form of an unerring desire to do something, or of a doubt as to what appears to be the path of duty ; and those who are accustomed to deal closely with their great invisible Friend, will, without difficulty, apprehend the unspoken instruction, and profit by its guidance. Unless it had been possible to impart wisdom, we may be confident it never would have formed a part of the golden chain of promises. Now, of all such inspiration, this may be looked upon as an invariable feature — harmony with the will of God as already conveyed to us by the teachers whose sentiments illuminate the pages of Holy Writ \ in other words, it must be in accord with the revealed character of our heavenly Parent, and what He has been pleased to communicate to us of His thought. Direct 3SSB TO 1 and personal guidance cannot war with eternal principles of right and wrong, justice and truth, set up in the Old and New Testaments, for this self-evidencing reason, when what is supposed to be an immediate suggestion or inspiration of the Spirit is antagonistic to plainly expressed deliverances, thereby is given an infallible index to the subject of the impression that the guidance indicated is not from Heaven, and ought to be summarily declined. Another spirit than God's is at work misleading the human faculties ; and we must " try the spirits," and protect ourselves from imposition by the simple rule delivered above. The Divine Spirit is invariably consistent with Himself: never suggesting as proper what the written lesson condemns ; never pointing to a road already forbidden ; never teaching what does violence to the cardinal truths embodied in the law and the testimony. Yes, on the question in hand we expect harmony between the two Testaments, and discover it, too, without a flaw. The more ancient Scripture assures us that the dead sleep, and so does the New Testament — " our friend Lazarus sleepeth," says Jesus ; '* them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" — as he was brought from the tomb, is the language of Paul. Death, according to the heaven-instructed sages of old, is abhorrent to nature, and it is a signal blessing to be redeemed, by a new lease of health, from his power; and when Epa- phroditus, who had been " sick nigh unto death," was rescued from his perilous ailment, the apostle of the Gentiles, after the manner of devout Hezekiah, writes : " God had mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrov/." (Phil. 2: 27.) — a very inexplicable mercy and grief, if the sufferer was returned from the portals of glory to a sin- cursed and distracted world. We do not observe those in affectionate sympathy with Elijah in tears when they understood he had been carried aloft in the chariot of flame ; at the grave of Lazarus, however, " Jesus wept," because he realized his friend's sorely humiliated position II —tyrannized over by the grim, inexorable king, and a prey to noisome corruption. Nor had he any hesitation . m disturbing the sleeper's repose. Recalling him to the # consciousness and activities of life, was a mighty and * merciful deed ; but wherein would beneficence have I appeared had the emancipated been brought down from ^ the clime of bliss to tarry a while longer amid scenes of temptation and woe ? NATURE OP^ MAN. Not merely is there uniformity in respect to the state of the departed ; it is equally manifested in respect to the nature of man himself We have employed the creation narrative so often that its plain description can not have escaped from the reader's memory. Man was composed of dust— built up an organized material form— and placed at the head of terrestrial existences—" the paragon of animals," as our greatest poet has described him. This, the second volume of inspired teaching most explicitly confirms. icn ^f"^-- -Therein, again and again, man is spoken of as flesh"— sometimes as "flesh and blood." Take of instances a few : — I Pet. i: 24-25.-- All flesh"-maiikind-- is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away ; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. " If man as man never dies, then instead of being unlike "the word of the Lord, which endureth for ever, he would exactly resemble it in the attribute of perpetuity. But the very '' glory," and " all the glory " —whatever is excellent and valuable in his nature— is no less fragile than the flower of the field. He is flesh 12 and but flesh — an organic, feeble existence ; which explains the whole. Luke iii: 6.— "All flesh" — all men — "shall seethe salvation of God." That salvation which is destined ultimately to lift the ransomed from the animal and short-lived type of being, to the spiritual and everlasting. John xvii: 2. — " Thou hast given him power over all flesh " — over all human beings — "that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." If man had possessed or been an " immortal spirit," would not the Saviour have much more likely so described him in such a solemn moment as this ? But " flesh," simply flesh, is all. Mat. xvi: 17. — " Flesh and blood " — man, mortal man— "huth not revealed it unto thee." Eph. vi: I2i — "We wrestle not against flesh ard blood." — men like ourselves. Gal. i: 16. man. -" I conferred not with flesh and blood." — with no 2 Cor. iv: ii. — "That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh ;" — Or otherwise, in us frail dying men. Prof. Robinson says "mortal flesh" is here employed "in distinction from a future and spiritual existence." (See Lexicon, sarx 2. a.) This is the flesh, or animal stage of human existence; blessed are they who have known the glorified Saviour's supporting power and grace amid its sorrows and conflicts ; they shall see greater things than these in a spiritual form of being like His own, when this mortal has been exchanged for immortality. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and has no inherent perma- nence ; " that which is born of the spirit is spirit," adapted in its constitution to perpetuity of life and joy and praise. It required no revelation to inform us that our *' flesh" is mortal ; daily observation impresses that upon us by the sternest ^acts ; but how can we know beyond all cavil 13 nson tion sarx man ified rows se in ortal :h is rma- irit, joy Iflesh" IS by cavil V that we are spirits and that each human spirit is deathless, unless by Divine assurance to that effect ? But where is the assurance? From the singular frequency with which the language occurs in sermons and in all forms of popular Christian literature, one might reasonably suppose the phraseology we are alluding to would be discovered in every page of the Sacred Text. Yet not once is it in the whole Volume ! Such also was the nature which the " Son of God " condescended to assume when He appeared as the Captain of our Salvation. John i: 14. — "The Word was made flesh." — became a man. John vi: 51. — "My flesh," — my entire humanity — "which I will give" — render up to death — "for the life" — not the happiness, but the life — "of the world." Heb. ii: 14. — " Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,"— human nature — "he also himself likewise took part of the same" — that is, became a man. Rom viii : 3. — " God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." — a man resembling sinful men, but absolutely sinless. I John iv : 2. — " Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." In Other words, has been manifested as a real man, or in human nature, which is " flesh." Such is a clear and reliable account of this nature of ours, and we may as well part company at once with the fancies of traditional theology, and accept the simple unvarnished truth. The description is by Him who made us ; who knows our frame, and how transient we are. " Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit." (Isa. xxxi 13.); and what is true of the Egyptians, is true likewise of all human beings, who resemble the other " living souls " on the planet — they are flesh and not spirit. And if our nature is "flesh" — organism, however loftily and mysteriously strung and endowed, when that is dissolved at the final hour, what is to survive the prostrating blow ? Dust, in the end ; but where is the man ? The only answer is — for the present, "as if he had never been." The temple is in ruins. 14 In conformity with what has thus been manifested from Scripture, it may now be properly observed that tlie name originally given to " the first man " is just what we would expect it to have been if his terrestrial origin was to be significantly described and permanently recorded thereby. In the essential properties of his nature, he represented the whole race of which he was destined to be th'^ head ; so that as he was, we are, and all that have been, and all that may yet appear. What was that name ? Adam, or " the Earth-made ;" an appellation, as the author of Eiiaid remarks, " which implies an indivisible being." The informed and gifted writer adds, in the same connection, " The cosmogony of Moses teaches us that the Almighty Jehovah gave man a name founded on his material nature — Adam; the modern exponents of Moses call those who adhere to the heaven-given name " Materialists," and discarding the Adamic, or earthly, impose upon humanity a new name, "ghost," or "vapor !"* Are we not told that man was formed of the dust of the ground ? In other words, that the atoms entering into his composition were derived from the globe, and that the result, under the Divine plastic energy, was an organism — or human "flesh" — a human creature, endowed with the whole marvelous functions, animal, intellectual and moral, by which our nature is distin- guished. 2nd. Once more : bestowed upon man. Consider the descriptive epithets Rom. vi: 12. — "Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body." That is in your mortal persons, or in you mortal men. Quite parallel to the phraseology of Job (iv: 17) " Shall MORTAL " — not immortal — " man be more just than God ? " Rom. viii: 11. — "Shall also quicken your mortal bodies" — persons — " by his Spirit," &c. '* Enaid, or a series of brief essays upon tlie iiiiscripturnl cliar.icter of the division ot man s nature into soul and body, by Ricliard V. (.;riffiths, Baptist Minister and Barrister-at- Law.— London, Elliott Stock.— p. 27. i It ti n ii m is[ is m I"* thets ^5 2 Cor. iv: ii., which must be quoted once more in this connection. — "That the life of Jesus might be made mani- fest in our mortal flesh. " Meaning in our mortal persons, our mortal selves, or in us mortals as we are now. I Cor. xv: 54.— "This mortal :ihall have put on immortality." We who are mortal creatures shall then be immortal- ized. Rom. i: 23. — "And changed the glory (perfection) of the uncorruptible (indestructible, or immortal) God into an image made like to corruptible man." Then if man is corruptible, he is necessarily mortal ; and such is our constitution when accurately understood. It may not flatter the silly pride of the human heart, like the reigning Egyptian psychology of the churches ; but it enables us to see the boundless compassion of the Son of God, who invites us to have our names entered in the " Book of Life," for all inscribed on its leaves when He returns, shall be delivered from mortality, ana blaze forth in the splendor of an existence that corruption cannot invade. If each member of our race is mortal and exposed to corruption, how can man in any sense survive dissolu- tion? To expect life through death is the wildest delusion that ever seized on the human faculties ; to teach that in an age like this is exceedingly like prophesy- ing falsehoods in the name of the Lord. Painful it may be, yet it is literally true — " In death there is no remem- brance of thee ; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" Such is the direct testimony which we are required to place our seal to, and such the unavoidable inference from what our nature — the wonderful fabric of breathing humanity — is in Scripture declared to be. We now put it candidly to the unprejudiced reader : Why are we never warned amid these reiterations that man is "flesh," not for a moment to imagine that "flesh" is all ? Why never so much as one hint that though he is "flesh," there is something more — something infinitely more exalted and enduring in its properties; something 1$ which "smiles," or ought to smile, " at the drawn dagger and defies its point;" something as inextinguishable as Deity himself; something that comes not into the field of observation, like the organism, and therefore most likely to be undiscovered, and yet of all things the most important to be known ? Whether is the Bible at fault, or are the preachers and the poets, secular and sacred, grievously mistaken ? If what it does not teach is, with unrelaxing constancy, delivered as eternal truth, is that not guiding Scripture rather than taking Scripture as a guide ? II ■i 1 :i i 't ! GENERAL REMARKS ON SOME DIFFICULT OR MISUNDERSTOOD PASSAGES. While the prevailing tenor of both Testaments agrees exactly the one with the other as to man's being, and his lowly situation when conquered by death, there are several passages that seem to favor the generally accepted doctrine on these points. They are so often discoursed from, so often alluded to, that every one under public religious instruction is as familiar with their sound as with the alphabet itself The subject of unconsciousness in the grave has just to be mentioned in friendly inter- course, and instantly they are run off as fluently as a pious nun counts her beads. To quote them is held in many quarters to end the controversy at once ; and to question the meaning usually put upon them savors of impiety. This is peculiarly true of those who listen to the doctrine for the first time, when it necessarily appears painfully antagonistic to what they have been assured claims the united support of the Old and New Revelations, from their earliest to their closing paragraphs. We wonder not at their dissatisfaction; we can appreciate their alarm and suspicion; they are all most natural in as a 17 . . the circumstances. Whether they are excusable is a matter enti'% beyond our tribunal. The Lord, it is certain, is very merciful and forbearing, and all that He requires and looks for is that men should not set their hearts against change, when change might lead them out of darkness into light. If in His providence an oppor- tunity occurs of adding to our stock of knowledge, and rectifying serious mistakes in our understanding of His Word, the favor bestowed on us we can hardly over- estimate; and as our Judge, be it considcied maturely, He will closely observe how we conduct ourselves amid arrangements brought about in His providence for our spiritual improvement. The first thing we feel warranted to deliver about the knotty passages is — those must be explained, if they are explicable at all, in harmony with the constitution of man as defined by its author Himself. In other words, we must determine what man is before attempting to fix their import. Some of them are confessedly difficult, of which the multiplicity of views even in orthodox com- mentaries is ample evidence. Now, we take it as a wise rule that the simple, like the creation narrative, has a right to control the complex and the obscure. In fact, the simple is the key, and the only key to their contents; a key no one should be unwilling to employ. When the legendary conception of soul is used during the interpretation, no doubt they present something like a harmonious and corroborative response ; and who has not heard the response ? which was but the echo of his theory who attempted to unfold their meaning. But, alas for the theory when the trustworthy account of "soul" is reached ! The theory and the explanation drop in fragments together. Whatever the import of some of the verses may be, the correct understanding of man as a unity will enable any student of the Bible to say in reason at least : — The popular exposition cannot be the sound one. Now, that is a real acquisition to a lover of truth, and tends to simplify and shorten what remains of the inquiry. i8 I I One other observation : — If we should not be able to evolve a satisfactory meaning in every case, would it be seemly on that account to condemn all that has been advanced ? Even popular annotators, who endeavor to explain the verses, are not agreed in their conclusions ; aud surely if we have power to demonstrate what the me. Mng of the passage cannot be, the demonstration mur. hold its place, though we might not succeed in un- covering the hidden sense ; in that failing, as others have failed before us. Rejecting the ordinary interpretation, or the psychology, that is, the doctrine of soul, at its foundation, we shall do our best to explain them in unison with the Scriptural ideas of man ; yet even in that a satisfactory issue may not invariably reward our labor. But has not the reader a responsibility in the matter not inferior to our own ? We have, indeed, a common interest in understanding what is written in the Volume of the Book ; and after a patient endeavor on our part io elucidate what on all hands is admitted to be obscure, we would encourage the student of Holy Scripture to enter on the investigation independently for himself; while we trust and pray that better fortune will attend him in his efforts than perhaps he may reckon has been assigned to our lot. As the Crusaders fought for the empty tomb of Jesus with a zeal worthy of a nobler cause, so around these few passages the leaders of orthodox opinions have been accustomed to marshal their forces ; and around them they will likely still continue lo prolong the warfare. The very sound of the words, to an ordinary audience, will always be in favor of the popular champions. It is so easy to repeat them, and to hear them repeated, rather than tranquilly and fairly to weigh the vast diffi- culties which the common view suggests to a mind dis- turbed with a grave suspicion of its truth. Derive your system of psychology from the external aspect of the verses themselves, and the battle is easily won ; won, in fact, before it is commenced. But approach the mwith the simple and Biblical account of man, and the shout e able to uld it be »as been leavor to :lusions ; vhat the nstration ed in un- lers have 3retation, >ul, at its them in even in ward our ity in the indeed, a ten in the leavor on Imitted to of Holy dentiy for rtune will ly reckon 3 of Jesus And these lave been jnd them 2 warfare, audience, l>ns. It is repeated, vast diffi- mind dis- srive your xt of the ; won, in the mwith the shout »9 of victory must needs be postponed. Let our friends who differ begin at the beginning, and not at the end ; go down to ihe bottom, not play on the surface. Many will watch how the accepted defenders of the old notions about man will ("onduct themselves in future. Assume that he is what the musty creeds pronounce him, and the passages in (question may remain with orthodoxy, and please the orthodox to their heart's content ; but learn of God who made man, what man is, and the lessons derived from them by the help of a psychology alien to the Bible, will pall on the appetite of those who crave lieavenly instruction, and are not to be appeased longer with husks from Pagan shores. THE UNDYING WORM AND THE UNQUENCH- ABLE FIRE. Mark ix : (New Version.) Verse 44. — " And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell {margin, Gehenna) into the unquenchable fire. Verse 45. — *' And if thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it oft ; it is good for thee to enter into life halt, rather than having .: two feet to be cast into hell [margin, Gehenna). \ Verso 46. — '* And if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it I out ; it is good for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God I with one ej'e, rather than having two eyes to be cast into- f hell {margin, Gehenna) ; where their worm dieth not and I the fire is not quenched." 1 Archbishop Whately, of Dublin, some time before his 1 elevation to Episcopal supremacy, while yet a couiitry I pastor, issued a volume of sermons, in which, among other things, he treats of the future life, and the end of the incorrigibly impenitent. He contends with clear and 90 II III vigorous ability against the popular notion regarding the " everlasting ))unishment," and though guarded in his words — not making a decided avowal of his discoveries and convictions— any one without difficulty can perceive what he held to be most in accordance with Scripture on that alarming topic. In the course of his argument the two following extracts, undermining the endless torment theory, are worthy of the most serious consideration; and, fortunately for our present object, they contain his exposition of that language about the undying worm and the uncjuenchable fire, which has been so lamentably misunderstood : "This last expression of His (our Lord) is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah (Ixvi: 24), who speaks of 'the carcases of the men that have transgressed, whose worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring unto all tlesh,' describing evidently the kind of doom inflicted by the eastern nations on the vilest oftenders, who were not only slain, but their bodies deprived of the rites of burial, and either burned to ashes (which among them was considered a great indignity), or left to moulder above ground, and be devoured by worms." •' It may be said, indeed, that supposing man's soul to be an immaterial being, it cannot be consumed and destroyed by literal material fire or worms. That is true : but no more can it suffer from these. We all know that no fire, literally so called, can give us any pain unless it reach our bodies. The *fire,' therefore, and the ' worm,' that are spoken of, must, at any rate, it would seem, be something figuratively so called — something that is to the soul what worms and fire are to the body. And as the effect of worms or fire is not to preserve the body they prey upon, but consume, destroy, and put an end to it, it would follow, if the correspondence hold good, that the fire, figuratively so called, which is prepared for the condemned, is something that is really to destroy and put an end to them ; .and is called ' everlasting ' or ' unquenchable' fire, to denote that they are not to be saved from it, but that their suffering is to be final. So in the parable of the tares, our T^ord describes Himself as saying, ' Gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my garner ; ' as if to denote that the one is to be (as we know is the practice of the husbandman) carefully preserved, and the other completely put an end to." — (Scriptiire Revelations of a Future State.) To which quotations we beg to append a few remarks of our own, if possible the more thoroughly to satisfy I . I •I ing the I in his :overies )erceive )ture on lent the torment eration ; itain his orm and nentably from the le carcases 1 not die, abhorring nflicted by only slain, ler burned ignity), or \\ to be an ! by literal in it si/fftr i, can give refore, and ould seem, to the soul ; of worms t consume, espondence is prepared oy and put ^uenchable' It that their s, our Lord !, and bind ;at into my know is the d the other f a Future w remarks to satisfy the reader's mind about the exact meaning of the appallin^i words imder inspection. I St. Even the explanation as given in the extracts is so admirably transparent in its language and in the force of its reasoning, that we are unable to imagine how a candid mind could ever again employ the text, " Their worm dieth not," cS:c., in defence of man's inherent immortality and of ceaseless torment as the penalty awaiting those who reject the Gospel. It conveys in figures of terror the idea often presented in simpler words, such as these, " The wages of sin is death," and " The soul that sinneth it shall die," and others of a kindred nature. This fact we take the liberty of suggesting might, admirable as the exposition is, have been more effectively evolved by the distinguished reasoner, had he paid a little closer attention to the passage in Isaiah, whence the Saviour most likely borrowed the awful imagery of his discourse. The verse in the prophet (chap. Ixvi: 24) runs thus : " And they shall go forth and look upon the cayciisa; of the men that have transgressed against me ; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. " It is a prediction of wrath to be inflicted on certain transgressors, obviously in this world, and at a time when tha Son of God has returned to favor Jerusalem, and when he will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come, and see his glory. — v. 14. At that period he will reign, as we consider the language of prophecy to intimate, on the throne of his father Da /id, and as the Sovereign also of the entire world, of which he is the pre-destined Monarch. Not- withstanding the manifestations of his glorious actual presence, multitudes will continue unawed by his Divine Majesty, and obstinately refuse the allegiance he demands from continents and isles. But their end will be swift and appalling. To them it will happen as to the Assyrian host (2 Kings, xix: 35) — the angel of death once more spreads his wings on the blast, and I 22 II ' \^ ! breathes on the hostile raiks — the unyielding rebels — and the blight proves fatal in a moment. The retribution will be a spectacle for those who have kissed the Son to meditate upon. It will teach them in vivid symbols that "God is a consuming fire," and increase their devotion to a Power with whom vengeance is " his strange work" (Isa. xxviii: 21), for he delighteth in mercy. And as they look around on the judgment scene, what is to meet their eye ? The " carcases " of the men — the dead men in great numbers — who had withheld homage from their lawful Sovereign ; the worm, the quickly generated pro- duct of corruption, will be observed preying upon their swollen, festering remains, and fires kindled, as some- times they are on the battle field, will be seen reducing to ashes what the vile reptile leaves undevoured. Between the two agencies — the worm and the fire — they on whom the indignation is emptied out shall vanish like the harvest tares spoken of in the parable ; the worm feasting on the noisome forms while there is a bone to twine around and fatten on ; the fire burning while there is a fragment of poor mortality to support combustion. " The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs ; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away." — Ps. xxxvii: 20. Was there ever more demented logic than we are afflicted with when our faith is enjoined to believe that the worm's not dying means or implies that the sons of men cannot die ; that the fire's not being quenched intimates that rebels are unburnable and immortal? Why, in the case of those referred to by Isaiah, /i/e is gone before the nwrm and the flames perform their part. C orpses, not living offenders, are committed to their wasting energies. And while, in the execution of their doom appointed, the transgressors have already been deprived of sensation and consciousness ere passing under the gnawing of the worms, and the cremation of the flames, these two are described, the one as not to die, the other — the fire — as not to be quenched, to communicate the idea that the agencies summoned to wipe out the last 23 s — and ibution Son to >ols that evotion e work" I as they to meet 2ad men om their ited pro- ton their as some- iucing to Between on whom le harvest ng on the e around fragment le wicked be as the shall they an we are elieve that ;he sons of quenched rtal? Why, 'i/e is gone Corpses, jir wasting heir doom in deprived under the the flames, e, the other lunicate the out the last signs and shreds of impenitent humanity shall not be arrested till their work is thoroughly done. So soon as that point is reached, the worm, of course, expires, for its nourishment is exhausted ; and the burning, of necessity, goes out when the organic fuel fails. 2nd. In consequence of the prevailing notions about " Soul," Abp. Whately was required to invent a mysteri- ous something symbolized by the " worm " and the " fire," having power to do for the soul what the two natural agencies can effect for the body, namely, " consume, destroy and put an end to it." Substantially we are agreed that the finally godless are to be consumed and put an end to forever ; though, in our view, symbol- ism need not be invented at all. When the Scripture account of man as a soul — of man not as having a soul, but as lfei?ig soul altogether; that is, an intelligent corporeal existence, quickened exactly like the inferior creatures, or souls, in the world around us, — that will soon grow more and more apparent. We repeat, no mysterious something is required to compass the full penalty against sin. Guided by the exceedingly definite language in Isaiah, we might be warranted to affirm that the wicked described by our Lord when cast mto " hell " — the fire- hell (Gehenna) — are in all probability, like the hosts of Sennacherib, dead already. Dead — how ? " Punished with everlasting destruction from " — to come out from — " the presence of the Lord, and from " — to issue from — " the glory of his power " (2 Thes. i; 9) ; that is, in brief,. the Lord himself will destroy them. Cast dead or alive into Gehenna, Tophet,or Hinnom, for these are exchange- able terms, the worm, wherever iti this world the judg- ment scene may be, ultimately riots upon their corpses, and the fire as literally burns up the relics of their once breathing frames, according to the explanation in the previous division of these notes. Their worm as not to die, and the fire as not to be quenched, is, therefore, no assurance— for which let us be thankful— that they — the victims of Heaven's righteous displeasure — are to be agonized eternally ; but the very reverse, because it is. ffi 24 as men — or souls — already cut off, or about to be cut off, from life, and, of necessity, from the possibility of suffering, that they are consigned to the horrible region where the devastating power of both agencies shall be manifested. In a word, the account of the final punish- ment in the Gospel, when its phraseology is accurately understood, informs us that total and irremediable perdition (not always to be inflicted, perhaps, in the same manner) is reserved for the unholy. THE DYING THIEF. Luke xxiii: 42, 43. — "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." This most interesting passage is almost certain to be appealed to when the common doctrine respecting death and its immediate happy results in the case of God's children is called in question. And really by itself, as it meets the eye in our translation, we do not wonder very much that believers in natural immortality discover in it a sanction for their constantly reiterated tenet that dissolution is the gate to bliss. It is a favorite text with pulpit orators when some beloved disciple has fallen "asleep;' no, for while that is scriptural, it is rather shunned phraseology, as if it bordered on the equivocal ; let us say then, who has " crossed the river," — passed on to the higher life and untiring activity. And yet we hazard the statement that it lends no support whatever to the doctrine so rashly founded upon it. That we expect no one to receive on our word, nor would we thank any one to do so. Our opinion is based on reasons, sought after with diligence, that have com- mended themselves to our judgment ; and in a most 25 t off, ty of egion ill be inish- rately liable same member esus said be with in to be ,g death f God's itself, as wonder discover ;net that ;ext with is fallen is rather [uivocal ; lassed on i yet we whatever That we would we oased on ive com- 1 a most friendly spirit we beg that they may be impartially examined while we proceed to uncover them for the most rigid scrutiny. In the course of the Exposition already published we found an example in the words *' they all live unto him," in which one possible meaning is generally pre- ferred to another which alone has the merit of leaving the Master's reasoning against the Sadducees fair and unanswerable. The first, the popularly accepted mean- ing, child of the inherent immortality myth, is that the Patriarchs were alive and conscious while the argument was advanced — not really the point in controversy at all ; the other, which seems to us the only meaning that could sustain what our Lord designed to establish, viz.: that though the ancient writers were utterly dead — as dead as his antagonists believed them to be — still they all lived unto God, that is, the All-seeing vision beheld them, not as persons hopelessly obliterated, as his opponents con- tended, but as ])ersons destined sooner or later to resume life and the full exercise of their powers. On that ac- count he was still their God, and on no other. Had they been, after the teaching of Sadducism, extinct for ever, in that light they would have been beheld by the Supreme, and his connection with them must have been perpetually dissolved when they gave up the ghost, which is simply to affirm, in other language, that for them no resurrection was in store, But the connection being undissolved, they, at some future date, we are led to infer, must awake from the slumber of death, that the vision of them in God's mind as alive may be actualized, and the bond and affinity between them and their Divine Parent manifested, and on their side enjoyed. TWO METHODS OF UNDERSTANDlNCi THE ANSWER. Now, it is the same in the part of Scripture before us. Two methods of understanding the Reply in it have been proposed ; the first is the orthodox one, which accepts the pointing of the words as it stands in our 26 'J 1 k 1 version, thereby making the Speaker promise to the dying malefactor that he would be with him on that very day in Paradise, held to be equivalent to Heaven, or closely akin to it. According to the other method, the co'-nma is put after " day," making the verse read thus : " Verily I say unto thee to-day. Thou shalt be with me in Paradise," leaving the time when the promise would be fulfilled indefinite, or unfixed. The change in the version is very small, merely the trani^position of a point, and yet, as must have already been discovered by the considerate reader, a totally different sense results from that apparently insignificant arrangement. POINTS INTERPRET. It is surely plain enough *o every reader of thought, however moderate his capacity may be, that the use of stops is an interpreting device, whether the composition be original or a translation. They are of great service, and in a translation require to be employed with mature consideration, so as not to misrepresent the author's sense or idea. One who has been fairly educated generally points his sentences, where points are in use, so that the reader is assisted to catch his thoughts. The original writer knows what he purposes to communicate, and by the use of stops indicates and defines his meaning, to some extent ; but in translating impediments always arise making it difficult to ascertain the exact import of an author's language ; and in many cases it has to be determined and presented after a close study of the context, and his general style of thought, and mode of expressing himself. You caimot ask a man who has been dead for hundreds of years, perhaps, if your version of his work accurately reflects his mind ; and hence often the necessity of long consideration before the rendering is delivered to the world. There are even cases in which a guess at. most can be made as to what his meaning was, so imperfectly has the original text, for some cause or other, revealed it. 27 As the bearing of seemmgly unimportant points on the utterance and apprehension of meaning cannot be too clearly understood, for the object we have at present in view, we shall offer a small number of examples where the words in themselves are quii;e intelligible. Take first a line of poetry : — "The still, sad music of humanity." Tills is a correct transcript of the line, and the meaning obviously is, the low and mournful music or wail of humanity in its complexity of sorrows. But the author might have used "still" as an adverb qualifying "sad," in place of an adjective qualifying music, like its companion adjective, and his idea then would have been, the music of humanity, whether loud or low, is still, or up till this time, sad — the reverse of gladsome — as our observation shows it to be. Had the latter been the sentiment in his mind, omitting the comma after " still " would have indicated the limit of his thought, or his aim, at the moment of composition ; standing as it does, the idea is manifestly the explanation just given. Look at this sentence : — " William Prince of Orange attended the meeting." Put thus, " William, Prince of Orange, attended the meeting," it indicates a Prince of Orange, whose name was William; let it stand in this form, " William Prince, of Orange, attended," &c., and it intimates that some untitled individual, by name " William Prince," from a district or town called " Orange," was present on the particular occasion. But then from the mere words, " William Prince of Orange attended the meeting," no man, without other information than the words express, could with certainty declare who t! is " William " was. The correct reporter or historian introduces the needful comma in the right place, after " William," or after *' Prince," as the case may demand, and thereby prevents misapprehension of his meaning and the fact. Should he fail to do so, or if .f'rf 28 the printer omitted the stop when copying the manu- script into type, you would mentally insert it in its proper situation, guided by the context, or by information you had acquired from some other source different from the announcement before your eye. The same remarks are applicable to a sentence of this nature : — "John Duke of Manchester wrote on that subject." The reference may be to a Duke of Manchester Avhose Christian name was John ; or to John Duke, whose abode is at Manchester. A comma after "John" or " Duke,'"' thus makes a wide difference, and a correct writer will point the sentence so that all misapprehension will be debarred. PUNCTUATION OF SCRIPTURK A HU.MyVN DEVICE. It is now time to inform the reader, supposing him to be ignorant of the fact, as many are, that the Scriptures were originally written without any punctua- tion, and that our system of points was first adopted by Manutius, a learned Venetian typographer, of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Thus punctuation, like chapters and verses, with which we have been long familiar, is entirely a human affair, and has no more of inspiration, in the spiritual sense, about it tnan the color of the ink with which the words are written, or the binding of the volume we emphasize as the " Bible," or the Book. Being altogether human, we have a right to question the punctuation of each text, and if we can discover a better one, to employ it. So there is nothing irreverent in asking this question, is the comma in the Reply of the Saviour to the malefactor's entreaty where it ought to be, every circumstance bearing on the inter- pretation taken into account ? To be nervously afraid to make such an enquiry in this, or any other case, is nothing short of superstition, which fetters and degrades the mind — restricts and in truth abjures its God-given 29 its ition from mg him hat ^tbe )unctua- pted by of the ctuation, een long 10 more than the -n, or the 5ibU," or a right to f we can is nothing ,ma in the :aty where I the inter- usly afraid ler case, is d degrades God-given ptivileges. All proper gratitude to punctuators where their signs lead us in the right direction, but of that we must be sure as of verbal comments offered by learned and penetrating minds. Now to pave the way for what is soon to be presented to the reader for his candid decision, we shall instance a few cases in which by a change of the punctuation a better, or more Scriptural meaning, would seem to be evolved. We are not alone in thinking that the proposed changes would be improvements, but we cannot mention those who have suggested the alterations, as our space is limited and the patience of those who peruse our remarks has a claim to be treated with mercy. Eph. i: 4. — "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love : 5th. — ** Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." Let the colon be placed after 'Miim," thtn begin the next verse with " In love," and judge if a better and more appropriate meaning is not the result — " In love having predestinated us," or as it may be arranged, " Having in love predestinated us to the adoption of children/' Sec. The verse as pointed in our translation fixes attention on the subjects of transforming grace, who were to be rendered "holy and without blame before Him in love;" — the phrase "in love" acting with defining and illustrative force on the words " holy and without blame," and expressing by itself universal God-like love, created in their hearts, once so selfish and so hardened. That is certainly a precious truth, but not the idea prominent, as we judge, in the writer's mind. For he seems to be occupied more with God, the iiutliOi of the blessings, than with the blessings themselves ; though the second of necessity requires to be evolved in connection with his purposes and procedure in eternity past and in time. In a word, the apostle is magnifying God, whom he had already " blessed " in verse 3rd, by t "-.■P-'TK'"^ '' ! 30 exhibiting the immensity of his compassion for those whom he had chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. That merciful love, -as if he had said, explains all, and nothing else can explain his benign purposes and the realization of them in our salvation. Eph. ii: 4. — " But God, who is rich in mercy, for (on account of) his great love wherewith he loved us, ^th. — *• Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.'" Here we suggest that the comma at the close of the 4th verse should be obliterated and the two verses read coii- tinuously, as the development of a single idea. Thus the writer will be made to say that God loved the Ephesians 7i'/ien they icere dead in sins, and that his vast pity moved him to quicken them together with Christ. As thj passage stands in the English version, the apostle seems to say, God quickened those saints when they were (figuratively) dead in sins ; but is not all this implied in the fact already stated, at least beyond question implied, in the first verse ? Understand that the language makes this known that even when they were "dead" — utterly lost to everything that was Divine, spiritual and holy — God's heart was set on them, that it impelled him to accomplish their renewal and everlasting weal, and the grandeur of the statement becomes instantly far more impressively apparent. Again : Heb. x: 12. — '* I ut this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God.'' Place the comna after " for ever," '^ and the enduring sufficiency of ou/ Lord's sacrifice becomes more conspicu- ous ; and to manifest that, we are persuaded, was the writer's immediate design He offered one sacrifice for human guilt, and its efficiency was to remain unimpaired for ever. He will never immolate himself on any altar ■Ml- * The New Version actually does this. With the exception oi the " Prefatory Sentences," the Supplement as a whole was written many months before the Revision appeared, and unless where an exchange was easily made, the C»ld Version has been allowed to stand as in the manuscript when first composed. Changes in the punctuation, it may be added, are very common in the New Version ili;;l 31 sacvi again ; never require to do so. The change recom- mended leaves the concluding part of the verse free to admit without a jar those ideas apparently delivered in many parts of Scripture bearing on his second visit to this world, where his throne is to be established and his sovereignty joyfully acknowledged over its continents and isles. It may be, after all, they are essentially consistent ; in other words, the sacrifice once offered has eternal efficacy, and seated now " on the right hand of God " he is seated there " for ever." Perhaps it is only from our limited conceptions that we apprehend any difficulty in a statemfint, were it positively made, that he reigns perpetually there. The language is highly figurative, beyond a doubt ; and surely wherever in his mediatorial function he acts by his Father's will, and wears the imperishable regal splendour thrown around him, he is on the right hand of Eternal Majesty, be it in sjiheres above or in spheres below. Look beyond figures ill such a case, bearing in mind the omnipresence of the King Immortal and Invisible, and the truth underlaying and partially misrepresented — inevitably misrepresented — l)y material imagery, will be discovered, and yield l)ermanent satisfaction to the intellect trained to seek after and entertain subtle and more adequate conceptions of the Divine Being and his appointments. Some will readily understand these words, and at once enter into sympathy with the thoughts ; others, who have not escaped, and perhaps never will escape, from the bondage of figures and allegorical representa- tions, when the spiritual, and especially the infinite are in (question, may feel rather bewildered by them, and the author must crave their indulgent forbearance. To instance but one more : - Heb. xiii: 7. — " Remember them which have the rule over you (meaning, your guides), who have spoken unto you the word of God : whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation" (behaviour): Verse 8. — "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." - 'III ill iili on that clay, nor until forty days after I lis resurrection, he would not hesitate for a moment in saying, then surely the * to-day ' must, and cannot otherwise but, be connecte ' with the former clause, * I say unto thee. ' " "And if an English eye would ihu^ reason and judge, much more would any one acquainted with the idiom of the Greek language, which hardly ever places the adverb before the verb and its adjuncts, but most commonly after ; so that it is the analogy of grammar to connect it rather with the first than with the second clause. In proof of this idiom, let me refer to these two passages: — Matt, vi: li, which is, being translated out of the original, 'Our daily bread give us today;' Luke ii: il, 'That there is born to you to-day a Saviour ;' and from the Septuagint many passages of a like nature might be quoted. Hetter in grammar, therefore, I hold it, and absolutely nocessary to preserve consistency with all the other Scriptures where the word paradise is mentioned, is it to change the punctuation and write it thus : — 'Verily I say unto thee to-day, thou shall be with me in Paradise.' " One whom I felt honored to call my friend, whose scholarship was so excellent, whose intellect was so clear and metaphysical, whose disposition was so amiable, modest, and Christianly devout — the late Prof. C. ¥. Hudson, of Cambridge, Mass., — .says in his erudite volume, " Debt and Grace": — "Nor does the reply of Christ to the thief on the cross sustain the modern view (the 'expectation of entering Heaven at death.') The mef ning may be, * I say unto thee, even this day, when it all seems so unlikely, thou shalt be with me in Paradise, when I enter my Kingdom.' " — p. 257. EVIDENCE WARRANTINCi A CHANGE OF THE COMMA AND A NEW EXPOSITION. After the evidence accumulated in the "Exposition," bearing on the constitution of man, assuring us more particularly that his nature is a unity with its most marvelous endowments; and evidence also regarding his condition when subjected to death — that it is one of unconscious sleep in the grave ; after the elaboration of Christ's argument in opposition to the Sadducean tenet (to all of which the inquirer is most respectfully referred, for none of it can be reproduced here); and after what is m 35 written at the commencement of this, the second division of our work — is it possible for us to hold any other conclusion than that the orthodox representation of the blessed words from the dying Saviour to his dying companion cannot be true ? We point and read the reply, therefore, thus: — " Verily I say unto thee to-day (or /io7e')y thou shalt be with me in Paradise." And we feel warranted to assume this position irrespective of the meaning, whatever it might be, put Ijy the malefactor into the words of his prayer ; and also of what may be the exact signification of " Paradise," where our Lord announced prophetically he would at some time be. If this course and combination of reasoning, which strikes at the root of all difficulties as to the time when the suppliant would enjoy his inheritance, does not satisfy the reader, we frankly confess at once that we can do no more for his enlightenment and conviction. We refrain purposely from all such modes of argumentation as that there is here not a word about "soul" or "spirit," because our discoveries as to man's nature, developed in the earlier work, and in the first article of this portion of the Supplement to it, teach us how valueless and time- wasting such a process of reasoning would be. We take our firm stand on this, that it was a man who prayed to our Lord, and it was to the man — the "thou" — whatever entitled him to the name of a human being, that the answer was returned. We have learned what makes up a human personality, and what death effects in each individual case ; at its touch the organism sinks into absolute inaction, and the spirit of life, which is not the man, though essential to his vitalization,and the evolution of intellectual and moral attributes, returns, like that ot every breathing existence at last, to Him who gave it. That ends for us the controversy as to the time in question. We are taught beyond misapprehension as to when, at least, it was an impossibility for the promise to be fulfilled, since we are unable to believe, 36 iS! involi'ing as it does to our thinking a palpable contra- diction, that the contrite one could remain in life when he was doomed to die ; could rise upward when he was fated to go down ; could see Christ alive in another world when Christ himself was about to enter the tomb ; could meet Him in a few hours beyond earth and its shadows, whose associate he was to be in the silent land, whence there is no escape but by resurrecting force, which the one God hides in His infinite will. I AM NOT YET ASCENDED. " The conclusion that the promise, whatever it involved, was not to be accomplished on the day when it was delivered, and, in fact, could not be accomplished on that day, is fairly borne out by our Lord's address to Mary Magdalene very soon after his resurrection : — ^' Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father ; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." — John xx: 17. So that Jesus did not ascend from the cross to Paradise, which the popular teaching assumes to be on higli, being regarded, not incorrectly, as synonymous with heaven, the abode of peace ; and if He rose not upwards, neither, we may be sure, was His penitent companion in woe transported thither on his decease. Messiah tells us whither He went, whither He had to go, as we repeat His triumphant anticipation of revival: — "Thou wilt not leave my soul (me) in hell" {New Version — Hades) — the grave, or the condition of the dead, Acts ii: 27. There is truth and piili in these few words from Enaid (p. 18.) — "All this doctrine of 'paradise' (immediately after death) is founded upon a comma not existing in the Greek MSS " (manuscripts). 37 WHAT DID THE PROMISE MEAN ? But before leaving the passage, it seems proper to examine its substance with a closer inspection than it has hitherto received in our hands. This volunteer duty we enter on cheerfully, even though the time when the promise could not be fulfilled is the simple point we were called upon in the circumstances to determine. From its nature as a promise, the Reply, of course, refers to time future, and we have collected positive proof that, whatever might be the hour for its realization, at no time on the day when it was spoken could its accomplishment be effected, — hence the imperative demand for a change in the punctuation. THE PENITENT AND HIS PETITION. ',naid lately ng in Well, then, firsts let us direct our thoughts to the penitent malefactor and his petition: — "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdorr." About the suppliant little is known, ^ "^^ what stands on record in the Gospels wears a touching and an abun- dantly suggestive as))ect. He has no name, and we first hear of him as being nailed to the cross for public crime, in company with another deeply stained with kindred guilt : Jesus, the blessed and the holy, was elevated between them on a similar instrument of death. Both of them at the commencement of their sufferings joined the railing crowd, either close at hand or not far off, who, in tlie hour of their exultation, mingled bitterness and insult with the Saviour's woeful chalice. Matt, xxvii: 44; Mark xv: 32. Their mockery, with that of the High Priests and Scribes, was to this effect : — " He saved others: himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him." ? 38 How long the two continued .their pitiful derision we are not informed, but, like a gust of wind, it soon passed over, and gave place to other thoughts in one of them, at least. He in whom our interest centres, appears to have relented (Luke xxiii: 39-41), in consequence of some sudden and beneficial change in his mind, and actually expostulated with his associate in guilt and vengeance for speaking offensively to the meek sufferer over whose head was the superscription, " The King of the Jews." In his rebuke he bears witness against him- self and in favor of our Lord : — " Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ^ And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds ; but this man hath done nothing amiss." A fearless statement in which he virtually charged the guilt of atrocious murder on the rulers of the nation, sacred and civiljwho had delivered Jesus when innocent to torture and death — as if He had been polluted all over witli crime. The one rebuked obviously underwent no spiritual revolution in the midst of his lingering pangs ; but at length, we may imagine, sank into the silence that fevered, brain-clouding agony superinduces, «: "iding by and-by in the unbreathing repose that wiisis up the anguish of guilty and innocent alike. What was the instrumental cause of the testifier's penitence has not been disclosed. It has been imagined that Jesus, who in all moments yearned over sinners, preached to them both the gospel of life and mercy, and pled with them to improve their time ; all of which may be true, but then no syllable to that effect has place on the record, and we dare not build upon unsubstantial conjectures, when our province is merely to read and explain what is written. This thing is certain, we may affirm without any hesitation, that to all appearance he who became suddenly humble and contrite had some knowledge of Christ before he was led out for execition ; and, in spite of his wild, unseemly railing, all that he knew was in Christ's favor. No doubt the marvellous bearing of his innocent 39 fellow-sufferer made a strong impression on him, as it did on the heathen centurion present at the execution, who spontaneously uttered this testimony: — "Truly this was the Son of God." — {literally, The son of a god.) Add to this the sun-obscuring preternatural gloom, continuing for the last three hours of the exalted sufferer's life, during which the confession of sin, the rebuke, the witness and the prayer, seem to have been uttered, very likely had its alarming and solemnizing influence on the more thoughtful culprit's mmd. In some way, for which God in Heaven be praised, the poor sinner discerned his true position before Him who is the Judge of all ; concluded that there might be mercy and hope, even for him ; and turning an imploring look to the calm and mysterious being at his side, with a voice of trembling, pitiful eagerness, said : — " Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom." Here is a recognition of Christ's inherent superiority, even when the dark elements of his outward condition seemed to betoken the reverse. Not very lordly did He look, when held captive by the men in power ; when nailed fast to the accursed tree ; and when saluted with all but universal scorn. Yet, piercing through the unfavorable externalities, the speaker satisfied himself of His integrity, and on that as a ladder climbed to the apprehension of His greatness and official dignity; in a word, as none less than what by profession He was--King of the Jews, and Saviour of men, by the will and ordination of His Father in Heaven. Thus the contrite heart recog- nized him as the promised Messiah, the heir of a glorious kingdom, and the dispenser of its bounties, honors, and felicities. Arriving at this conclusion about Him, though " despised and rejected of men," though in sore weak- ness and loaded with as much ignominy as malignant and fanatical skill could assemble round his name, it was most natural for the awakened sinner to venture a modest prayer that this Lord might keep him in mind — him so ■( i !:■ !i! T vile and worthless — when the hour for His investment with royal power and effulgence might arrive : — " Remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom !" It was well for him — the stricken, weary one — to do so. The ear he addressed was never deaf to any suppliant's cry, however far he might have wandered in prodigal ways. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. M\ OUR f.ORDS ANSWFRTO THE PETITION. i :|i i ! I ii This brings us, second, to the Saviour's answer on hearing the prayer: — "I say unto thee to-day, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise." Whether he understood with much clearness — as we might say, Scripturally — the essential greatness of him lie styled " Lord," and the " Kingdom " referred to in his petition, and how the being he addressed was to reach his final altitude of sovereignty, and how he himself could be privileged to enjoy a vision of Him when enthroned, and why one so elevated in rank was now the derision of His foes and about to expire without a supernatural effort being put forth to rescue Him from impending fate ; all these are matters on which we prefer to be silent. When we recollect how ignorant at the same date those were who had been for at least three years under the Master's teaching, yet through fogs of prejudice constantly misunderstood his words — words generally so plain to us when we read them ; those who had even proclaimed His message, while most imperfectly seizing its import ; we could hardly expect that the suppliant fully apprehended the meaning of the language of his own prayer. Yet he had a meaning — it may have been only a distant approach to the truth. The words may have been dark to himself, and in all likelihood they were, but the devout feeling under them, and rising through them, and shining above them, was that which arrested our Lord's attention, and satisfied His sympa- 41 thetic heart. He could look beyond the haze, far down into the depths of the suppliant's nature, and detect there the yearnings of a contrite spirit, " something good towards the Lord God of Israel ;" the finest spectacle that could meet His eye. Not His in any case to break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. Beholding the contrition and sincerity, and having been, as we may without impropriety conjecture, soothed in His forlorn state by the unreserved testimony to His innocence, when not a friend had an open word in His behalf, a reply was promptly returned. Perhaps a reply was not expected, the lonely one being content, a fairly probable supposition, to leave his petition in hope that it would be answered sometime in the unknown future, whither his mind, with eager desires for insight and mercy, had been wandering of late on very tremulous wings. But the loving heart of Jesus, who delights to bestow peace on the weary, would do more for him than he could ask or think, and the cup of solace was therefore immediately brought to his lips : — " Thou shalt be with me in Para- dise!'^ Whether, again, he formed a definite conception of this language, may well be looked upon with considerable doubt. Our Lord spake many words which His hearers but dimly apprehended, nay sometimes even entirely misunderstood. The imperfection was on their side, not on his. Even if the suppliant did not come up to their exact import, the words of the Saviour, we may be confident, were intended to allay his anxiety, and were fitted in the highest degree to that end, even if but imperfectly understood. Of that we may feel confident, else they never would have been addressed to him at all. They were not, it will be observed, an answer to his prayer after its own form of words and conception. He spoke of Christ coming into His Kingdom, which are not necessarily sound words because he used them : the response makes only mention of " Paradise," saying nothing about King or Kingdom : — " Thou shalt be with l' •' 42 me in Paradise." And though the language is not what he likely counted upon hearing, if he counted on receiving any vocal response whatever, it must have been adapted for its gracious aim, and the best that could be chosen wherewith to impart the needful measure of consolation in his troubled state. Little insight it gave him as to the future, but that little was sufficient — so the Saviour judged ; it may be all that was possible in the circum- stances. ■T. t 111! PARADISE. What could he know of Paradise? As a son of Abraham, which may fairly be assumed, it was a term with which he could scarcely be unacquainted. There, at the beginning of Genesis, is an account of a beautiful garden into which Adam and Eve were introduced ; a garden said to have been arranged and adorned by no human hands. It is represented to us as the seat of primeval innocence and hope ; where was the Tree of Life, and where celestial visitors appeared with embassies of love to man. Now, Paradise, a foreign word signifying a garden, is em- ployed by the Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible to designate the garden of Eden ; and as that version, called the Septuagint, completed 400 years before the Christian era, was in common use in our Lord's time, Paradise would be a familiar word in the households of Israel, and would reproduce the early scene, as depicted in the first book of their Scriptures, vividly and at once on their imaginations It is a choice appellative with ourselves when we would describe by one word a sheltered and lovely spot ; and, as the human mind acts much in the same way in all civilized ages, we may, not without reason, conjecture that it was similarly employed among the Hebrew tribes when an individual would paint with a single appellation an exquisite retreat where life would be serene, or v.hen he expressed a wish for some fair and tranquil refuge from the anxieties and turmoil of the world. Is it not, then, a most reasonable I y. vhat 43 supposition that the lowly petitioner had often heard the word, and had an intelligent conception of its meaning, and of the general ideas — beauty, order, sweet nourish- ment, peace — suggested by it? PARADEISOS " AMONG THE LATER JEWS. If there is good authority, and perhaps there may be, for the statement under Paradeisos in Robinson's Greek Lexicon that in the later Jewish usage the prominent word in our Lord's reply meant the abode of the happy after death, it would appear that it represented then exactly what is now understood by " Heaven." We care nothing for their opinion, if such it was, that saints, perhaps we should rather say faithful Pharisaic partizans, were at once admitted into the celestial abode through the gate of death ; all that can have importance to us would be the fact, if fact it was, that they had been accustomed to apply the word Paradise to scenes beyond earth, to the joyous home, let us say, of angels, and that they believed, or fancied, that the saints of God, or those to whom they assigned the title, would at some time be transported thither. If that was a common acceptation of the term in the age when our Lord appeared, then it is highly probable that it would still further suggest to the penitent listener ideas associated with the blest, the unseen, and the eternal. He was not ignorant of God, for he inquired of his guilty companion: " Dost thou not fear God ? "' He was not dreaming of some miraculous deliverance from the cross and death, but, looking beyond the thick gloom he was about to enter, seems wisely concerned about his lot in the unknown future, whose solemn disclosures he would be required in some mysterious mode to confront for his unspeakable comfort or unspeakable dismay. HI' J.; .1 ' { ' 44 THE ANSWER WAS BLISSFUL. ii! M' With these ideas, more or less founded in truth, and more or less defined, the words of the Merciful must have fallen with blessed tranquilizing power on his agitated heart. '•' He has deigned," thus he may have reasoned with himself, "to reply, He casts no reproaches on my wicked life, He speaks tenderly as from a pitying soul ; more wonderful still, He declares: — 'Thoushaltbe with me in Paradise!'" All of which would suggest that in the great hereafter it would be well with him ; that no terror would devour him as he entered its portal, and that under God's own care the scenes of glory and bliss, wherever they might be, would open as a paradise to his enraptured gaze. From the words, of Jesus — was there ever such a friend of the fallen and the lost ? — he gathered this surely, with no haze around it, that his sins which were many had been forgiven ; and that with his Father's benediction resting like the morning dew on his faith and contrition, he could pass through what agony remained with murmurs of joy and praise on his lips, and enter the dense shades, now close at hand, in patient confidence that what he had listened to would somehow, and at some time, yet be verified in his experience. THE EXACT MEANING OF THE REPLY. And here it may be asked, what was the exact meaning of the blissful reply ? The penitent one may not have compassed its perfect significance, while it conveyed enough — should we not rather say suggested enough ? — to inspire him with hope. Now we dare not be so ready with explanations as many have been, of whose piety we entertain no doubt. Our fear is— and why should we not speak with friendly candor? — that zeal for theories, or favorite views, may have controlled their exegesis instead of inflexible adhesion to the sense of the prominent word in our Lord's answer, and the 41 totality of the information bearing legitimately on the accurate explanation of the verse. That totality is remarkably small. This we know positively, the word is never purposely and directly explained, and it only occurs three times in the English Bible from first to last. The earliest example is in the passage we are considering, and from it no one could with a show of reason declare its meaning to be this or that, or that it is equal to some other language, such as " Kingdom of God," " New Jerusalem,'* or " Heaven ;" nor where its location is, nor where it is destined yet to bt\ Assertions on these points are easily made, and have often been made, but on what authority do they stand ? It is the least difficult thing in the world to dogmatize, which means to assert without proof ; but proof we must have, and proof we must unfurl if men with independent judgment are to be convinced. Do the other passages in which the word "Paradise" occurs throw any light on this one ? Let us subject them to a patient scrutiny, laying aside without reserve all preconceived notions as to their import and reference. 2 Cor. xii: 2. — **I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell ; or whether out of the body, 1 cannot tell : God knoweth ;) such a one caught up to the third heaven Verse 4. — "How that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." As this passage will again in a future section cor under our notice, though for a different purpose, we shall now merely fix our thoughts on what more especially serves our immediate requirement. It is the record of a vision during an ecstatic elevation of the writer, but how accomplished, whether by a temporary corporeal translation or merely by mental exaltation, he himself was totally unable to determine. Being of this peculiar nature, a thoughtful student of the lines will be doubly careful lest he should run the risk of , I J: 46 saying more about the narrative than a holy prudence seems fairly to warrant. What we desire to know is something about " Pu.adise ;" indeed, at this moment such is our exclusive object, so that if perad venture v/e may the better understand our Lord's reply from the cross. PARADISE "AND "THE THIRD HEAVEN." !i:;h ^t?' I St. Paul, to the best of our judgment, makes " Paradise " equal to " the third Heaven ;" at any rate, *' Paradise" in his view was there. It appears to be a correct account that the Jews were wont to distinguish three Heavens, the cloudy Heaven, the visible sidereal Heaven, and the Heaven beyond the sidereal, where God was imagined to have His throne, all radiant with uncreated and inconceivable splendors. There the angels, seraphim, cherubim and archangel stood before Him, and thence they went forth on light- ning wings to execute His high behests. Somewhat of the fanciful likely went to complete their idea of the celestial region proper ; still it rested on a solid platform of truth. For if we admit the existence of such beings at all, their home must obviously be definitely somewhere. As every one knows, mention is again and again made by our Lord and His inspired servants of a locality bearing this deli^^'itful name — " Heaven ;" in fact, the references are so abundant that nothing but absolute perversity could ignore their localizing significance. Are we not assured that the angels in Heaven rejoice over repentant sinners ? Are we not declared to be citizens of Heaven, as sons of God ? Are we not commanded to lay up treasure in Heaven, and to set our affections on things above ? Are we not assured that for the faithful an incorruptible inheritance is reserved in Heaven? Is it not said that we have in Heaven a better and more enduring substance than any terrestrial estate ? Then are we not informed that in forty days after His resurrection our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, ir 47 was taken up into Heaven ? where, encompassed with ineffable splendors, He has existed on till this moment of time. Nay more, when he would magnify Christ, the favorite exercise of his sanctified genius, does not the Apostle Paul, laboring hard under his vast conceptions of the Eternal Father's delight in honoring His Son who became obedient unto death, with grand sweeps of his glowing pen, represent Him as made " higher than the Heavens ? " and as having " ascended far above all Heavens?" — words, these, of apparently more emphatic significance than other forms, such as "the right hand of God ;" yet when thoughtfully examined they turn out to be of equal import, for the Imperial seat of Emmanuel is not merely, and now of course, in the third or highest Heaven, but rises sublime above it, and overlooks its sunny plains, and, by necessity, the less sacred Heavens below. Do we not read that His people while in this lowly vale are made to sit together (are held now to be sitting along with Him) in heavenly places, or in Heaven itself? And does not that vivid representation suggest to them an unfailing and inspiring guarantee that they will yet be personally with Him where He has been since His ascension, that the unity between them may be manifested to the whole intelligent universe, and that, in answer to His prayer shortly before He was crucified, they may behold His glory in all its extent and variety ? Well, then, what does Paul affirm? That he was caught up to this transcendant sphere — " the third Heaven ;" not carried away down time that he might witness what had there arisen, not privileged with a prophetic vision of what in after ages was to be ; no, he was caught up into it, or he had a glimpse of what was then in actual existence, and this scene — this grand abode, where ineffable splendor dazzled his eye, and words were heard that by no effort of his could be repeated — this he says was " Paradise," and why should we not look his teaching directly in the face ? Why not unwaveringly trust that in the end all inspired truth will be seen to harmonize ? — only let us have patience, and I" 4* rest m peace, till the secret is disclosed. He details his experience, be it never overlooked, not while the sublime spectacle was in the act of being presented to his inner or mental eye, when a certain amount of nervous excitation would in all probability agitate his entire being, interfering somewhat, one might naturally con- clude, with accurate observation ; but long after it had happened he calmly reproduced in his imagination and enwove with his soberest though in this epistle the exalted picture, or the supernal phenomena— as a rule excluding details — which he classes with " visions and revelations of the Lord." The third, and only other passage, is :— Rev. ii: 7. — "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." PARADISE EXISTS NOW. I I This language immediately suggests to us the descrip- tion of the Garden of Eden, contained in the second chapter of Genesis, where grew a tree of life — a life- giving tree — and from which, on account of their dis- obedience, the two inhabitants of the lovely region were at length debarred by Divine authority. But this, it need hardly be remarked, is a different " Paradise," as to the localization of which not one syllable is spoken. It is assumed, and very plainly so, by the glorified Redeemer who dictated the epistle, that " the angel of the church of Ephesus," and also the disciples under his charge, would readily understand the terms of the promise, without any explanations being required. They are used apparently as a familiar mode of speech ; language that would at once suggest an unspeakable privilege — an immense boon, even liberty, as the ultimate reward of their Christian fortitude and constancy, to eat of the life-imparting fruit . provided in the Paradise of God. Be it observed that of this marvelous tree the word is not that it will be in the Paradise of God, as if while they were carrying on the conflict of faith, the 49 garden and the Tree had no existence ; the statement is very positive that the Tree had been already planted, it ** IS in the midst of the Paradise of God," apparently intimating that at that very moment the whole arrange- ments for accomplishing the promise were completed. Frequently, we are quite aware, the present is used in Scripture for the future tense ; but when that happens to be the case, something will usually be found guiding us to read a verse in the future when delivered in the present form. Illustrations of this (see " Exposition " p. 87) are clearly presented in Isaiah, liii., and they occur again and again in other oracles. We discover no plain reason to follow that rule here, for this statement is not a prophecy about Paradise and the Tree of Life ; it is simply a promise to Christians, or, should the phrase- ology be preferred, a prophecy to them that, on certain unalterable conditions, they shall, in the day of spiritual awards, be invited to eat of the Tree of Life — the Tree that nourishes life, that is, immortal life — which is in God's Paradise. Had we been informed in other places that at such and such a time in the future Paradise would be prepared, and the Tree of Life planted for the saints' benefit, it might have been proper to read the verse as if it ran "will be" instead of "is;" had there even appeared the semblance of a hint to that effect, viz., that the garden and the Tree were not in being when the letter was sent to the Ephesian church, we might have felt some hesitancy in speaking positively as to the significance of its language ; but there is nothing of the kind, and, therefore, a candid. God-fearing interpreter is bound to take it as it stands. For aught we know, this marvelous Tree is there for the nutriment of others, as well as the sons of the better resurrection. Is it altogether improbable that angelic deathlessness is conserved by some instrumentality, such as the pious and habitual consumption of a life-giving tree, in obedience to a Divine injunction, expressed or understood ? That the heavenly ministers, whose rai- ment is shining whiteness, are immortal in virtue of 1 1 50 11 ' inherent undecaying properties in their nature is an assumption that appears to us alike contrary to the analogies of life, contrary to what creature existence seems to presuppose, and contrary to the express testi- mony of the Word. God only hath immortality ! He depends on nothing from without for perpetuity of duration ; and we are inclined to think that superior beings like the holy angels are not mereh immortal by His concession, but are nourished on some mysterious provision which He has supplied for the prolongation of their existence in endless days. That provision may be the very *' Tree of Life " in the midst of the celestial Paradise, adapted at once to angelic and human require- ments. CONFUSION IN EDWARD IRVING'S DOCTRINE. In that portion of his works already quoted from, Edward Irving has this language, and many other godly and gifted men have spoken to the same effect : — ** Seeing Paul identifies Paradise with the third Heaven, the dwelling-place of God, and John identifies the New Jerusalem with the dwelling-place of God, what can any one say, but that the New Jerusalem and Paradise are one and the same ?" Again : — ' ' Paradise never by any chance means the separate state, but always the New Jerusalem, which is above with God, and when it shall come down to the earth, will be the proper antitype of the Paradise of Eden." How a city bearing the title " New Jerusalem " can be the same as "Paradise," which means a garden, is, we frankly own, beyond our comprehension. We are greatly at a loss to understand the symbolic parts of the Revelation, and often have we tried to solve its enigmas ; but still more perplexing than the book itself are many interpretations that have come before us, of which the above is a specimen. Surely two places may be the dwelling-places of God, and not on that account identical. While discerning the figurative character of the language. 51 we can freely admit that His throne is on high, but did He not also dwell between the cherubim in the ancient Jewish temple ? If He specially manifests Himself — has His abode — in the world of light, is not the heart of a truly pious man also His favorite seat ? Surely there may be " Paradise " and a " New Jerusalem," without our being necessitated to regard two things so incon- gruous as one and the same. The difficulties in the way of a clear apprehension of much that is contained in the highly figurative and symbolic regions of Scripture, are great enough without any superadded entanglements and obscurities to its perplexing chapters, which men with the best intentions have nevertheless essayed to unravel and divine, as if the keys of all mysteries were in their charge, when silence and inaction would, so we verily believe, have redounded infinitely more to the praise of God, and the sober advantage of His loyal people. "PARADISE" IN CHRIST'S REPLY. Let US now look back, and using the verses we have reckoned it necessary to examine, make this final inquiry — do they help us in any degree to fix the true meaning of the Saviour's answer to the penitent ? If they supply not definite guidance of some kind, where else is it to be procured ? By " Paradise " we, therefore, understand our Lord to mean the " third heaven " of his aposde — that glorious locality, wherever in wide space it may be, of which He Himself is now an inhabitant, and where He holds the scsptre of supreme power over all who dwell there, as He does over all the other provinces and spheres of being, this little world of ours included. There the contrite supplicant, rescued at the last moment from eternal perdition, shall yet behold Him — see Him as He is — as distinctly as he perceived Him on the cross. He shall yet, when resurrected by the Omnipotent fiat, witness the heavenly land, and hear its ravishing sounds, and especially be ravished with the ''King in His beauty," !>'! ! I Who redeemed him on Calvary with His blood. How long he may tarry there as his home we presume not to determine; this thing we do affirm, and surely our warrant for the affirmation is valid, he shall behold his Lord in that hallowed, blissful region; and that wherever his Saviour may be, accomplishing as " Head over all things " the eternal purposes of redemption and universal sovereignty, there likewise he shall be with Him, a spectator of His grandeur through the unclosing ages. THE PENITENT'S FAITH, ACCEPTANCE AND PEACE. All this, it would be vain to imagine, he could extrrct from the gracious response — " Thou shalt be with me in Paradise ;" for the sayings on which we have reared the interpretation the amplified exhibition in feeble earth- born words of the Saviour's glory — had not been imparted to the church as they were revealed by holy apostles and prophets after His exaltation. But with dim vision he gathered enough, as formerly written, to assure him of acceptance, and to carry his faith on to things unseen and eternal with a humble and joyful hope that, amid the awful realities, he would yet appear one ransomed by the might of Him whose divine office and tenderness he had just begun to discern and appreciate. And thus while in the earliest dawn of spiritual life, and encom- passed with perplexities and racking woes, we are ill able to gauge, — " This poor man cried, and " — as an encour- agement to all the guilty — '* the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." J* i I I 11 ^ Lately Published by the Same Author.#^ I'l^IOE 25 OBITTS. ik Man's Only Hope of Immortality;" (An Exposition of Christ's Argument Against ttie- Sadducees.) 109 pages. *♦••- *• His clear, logical, and convincing arguments." — Rainbow. *' With great force of reason and clearness of statement, this author proves his position (as to the unconsciousness of the death- state, and the absolute necessity of Resurrection), whilst doing the fullest possible justice to his opponents' arguments. "—^«W^ Standard, ^•» " The above, like the present work, may be obtained from the Publishers named on the title page, or from the Author, London, Ontario, who, on receipt of the price, will forward the order POST FREE to any address in Canada, the Old Country, or the United States. •♦• The other Parts of the SUPPLEMENT, likely two in number, will be issued without any unnecessrry delay. I f